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I n its biggest spike till date, India over the past 24 hours till Wednesday night recorded 386 new cases of coronavirus taking the tally to 1,906 with the Government blaming the spurt in cases on the travel by members of Tablighi Jamaat and asserted that it was not a national trend. “The number of positive cases has gone up since Tuesday. One of main reasons for it is travel by members of Tablighi. This is not a nation- al trend,” said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Health. According to Ministry’s website, the total number of active COVID-19 cases reached 1,637 in India by Wednesday noon, whereas the death toll has risen to 42 from 32 recorded on Tuesday. Globally, the death toll due to novel coronavirus in the US has reached 3,400, surpassing China. The global death rate has reached past the 44,000- mark while around 9 lakh are infected by COVID-19 across nearly 170 countries. Dr R Gangakhedkar, sci- entist from ICMR, said so far, 47,951 tests for COVID-19 conducted in country out of which 4,562 tests done at ICMR network labs on Tuesday. On a query, he said Hydroxychloroquine is not to be used on every person. “This is not for everybody. It is just a demonstration study for doctors and their contacts of lab confirmed cases care- givers and data will be analysed which will tell if we can rec- ommend or not the drug to the people who come in their con- tacts,” he said. Agarwal said 74 flights operated till date under Lifeline Udan for transporting medical cargo across the country. So far over 22 tonnes cargo was trans- ported on March 31, he said. Following the Supreme Court directives, the Health Ministry on Wednesday called for providing a social protec- tion to migrant workers, saying they are prone to social, psy- chological and emotional trau- ma in lockdown situations. Immediate concerns faced by such migrant workers relate to food, shelter, healthcare, fear of getting infected or spreading the infection, loss of wages, concerns about the fam- ily, anxiety and fear. “Sometimes, they also face harassment and negative reac- tions of the local community. All this calls for strong social protection,” the Ministry said in a document. It further said migrant workers faced the situation of spending a few days in tempo- rary shelters, which may be quarantine centres, while try- ing to reach to their native places, are filled with anxieties and fears stemming from var- ious concerns, and are in need of psycho-social support. Meanwhile, several State Governments have continued the difficult task of tracking the movements of Tablighi atten- dees in the Delhi conference, including foreigners and their “human contacts” as more Jamaat delegates who transited through Jamaat Markaz (cen- tre) in Nizamuddin East were quarantined in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra while 140 of delegates were reported untraceable in Hyderabad. Over 250 foreign nationals have been quarantined or admitted to isolation wards in various States in the country following the disclosure that they had attended the Tablighi conference. A total of 16 States have been searching for Tablighi members. According reports, at least 200 from Karnataka, 140 from Andhra Pradesh and 45 from Telangana have been identi- fied. The total number of those who attended the con- ference varies from State to State with Maharashtra listing 185 and Karnataka estimating 342 to have participated in the meeting. With the Tabligh incident spiking the coronavirus num- bers in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister and asked the State to trace out the missing Jamaat members who attended the Delhi con- ference. The State DGP held a Press conference to give his account on the issue. The aim of the search for Tabligh attendees is to prevent them from inadvertently cre- ating new clusters of infection across the country. The mag- nitude of the task is immense: Three southern states — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka — were trying to track at least 2,500 people, many of who had tested posi- tive for coronavirus. In Kashmir 855 people (at least 167 attendees and people in contact with them) were being traced, only nine had been found. Continued on Page 4 E ven as the authorities have cleared Tablighi’s Nizamuddin headquarters and evacuated 2,361 people in 36 hours till Wednesday evening, Nizamuddin Markaz cleric Maulana Saad has been untraceable since March 28 after he was served a notice by the Delhi Police. “Police teams are raiding several places across the west- ern Uttar Pradesh and Mewat region in Haryana to nab Saad,” said a senior police official. Police have also recovered an audio clip in which Saad can be heard saying there is no bet- ter place to die than in a mosque. The audio clip is believed to be of March 18. “Leaving mosques would bring no good. Do not leave mosques even if trusted doctors ask you to,” said Saad in the audio clip. On Tuesday, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against seven people, including Saad, Zeeshan, Mufti Shehzad, M Saifi, Younus, Mohammed Salman and Mohammed Ashraf. The police have registered the FIR under sections of the Epidemic Disease Act and other sections of the IPC, for not following Government orders on the management of the Markaz in relation to a social, political or religious gathering and thus endanger- ing the lives of the people. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said authorities are tracking mobile phones of peo- ple under quarantine to check their movement. Continued on Page 4 A lready busy tackling the Covid-19 cases, doctors across the country are finding themselves hard-pressed with spurt in number of patients reporting alcohol withdrawal symptom because of non avail- ability of “booze” due to the ongoing lockdown. Doctors from country’s premier health institute AIIMS said that people with alcohol withdrawal related problems are coming at their emergency department as OPDs are closed. “When they are deprived of alcohol or sub- stance they are so depended upon they will face varying degree of health related issues. Usually, heavy drinkers need proper counseling and med- ication,” said Dr Atul Ambekar, Professor of Psychiatric at National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of AIIMS.. Superintendent Dr Uma Shankar from Mental Health Hospital in Erragadda, Hyderabad, said that a as many as 100 persons with withdraw- al symptoms visited the out- patient ward on Monday. She said many of them were treat- ed as outpatients and a few were admitted for constant observation. According to the doctors, there would be four to five alco- holics among an average 30 outpatients on any normal day. However, the number sudden- ly increased manifold since Saturday. At least three cases of suicide were reported from the State after the lockdown was announced last week. Dr Smita Deshpanday, Professor of Psychiatrist from Delhi-based RML Hospital said that such tipplers develop seri- ous problems like alcohol with- drawal fits, hallucinations and depression. However, all patients do not require hospi- talisation. They need proper guidance, good food and reg- ular intake of healthy fluids. “In fact this is the golden chance for the Government to treat their heavy dependence on alcohol and tobacco as such products weaken their lung systems,” she added. Indian medical Association Kerala president Dr Abraham Varghese echoed similar views stating that those showing withdrawal symptoms should be provided scientific treat- ment, which can be given at homes or in hospitals. “They need treatment. Giving them booze is not a solution,” he said. Liquor is out of bound across the country except Kerala and Meghalaya, which recently allowed the sale of liquor with a medical testimo- nial from a qualified doctor due to rising cases of suicide. . Their decisions have drawn flak from the Indian Medical Association which feels that it would only encourage others to fake their health conditions. Interestingly, there are various global studies that say that alcohol withdrawal never results into a suicide unless the person is suffering from other mental health issues such as depression. Continued on Page 4 A new study shows that cur- rent physical distancing guidelines provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may not safeguard you against coron- avirus infection. A research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association warned that the gas cloud from a cough or sneeze may help virus particles travel up to 8 metres. The existing guidelines issued by the WHO and CDC are based on outdated models from the 1930s of how gas clouds from a cough, sneeze, or exhalation spread. Study author, MIT associate professor Lydia Bourouiba, however, thinks otherwise as she says that exhalations cause gaseous clouds to travel up to 27 feet (8.2 metres). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a spe- cialised US health agency, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for six and three feet (0.9 m and 1.8 m) of space for maintaining social distancing to keep at a bay the droplets of coronavirus causing deadly Covid-19. Continued on Page 4 T he Centre has ordered changes in the domicile status rules for Government jobs in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and also amended 109 erstwhile State Acts and repealed 29 Acts, drawing flak from the political parties of the Union Territory. According to the notifica- tion, anyone who has resided in J&K for 15 years or has stud- ied in the State for seven years, and appeared in either the Class 10/12 examination, will be eligible for domicile certifi- cates. This would allow them to apply for gazetted and non- gazetted Government jobs. The new rules also state that migrants registered by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner need not fulfil the amended requirements. According to the new rules, children of officials with the Central Government, all India services, public sector under- takings, public sector banks, statutory bodies, Central uni- versities and recognised research institutes of the Central Government who have served in J&K for 10 years will also be eligible to apply for gazetted and non-gazetted Government jobs in the UT. The drastic changes were implemented through the J&K Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020, issued late Tuesday by the Centre. As per the earlier rules, only J&K residents were eligi- ble to apply for jobs or own immovable property in the erstwhile State. The Union Government’s new decision comes amid apprehension in the UT that there would be a demographic change in J&K following the scrapping of Article 370, which guaranteed State subjects the right to jobs, owning property and legislat- ing laws. It also comes at a time when J&K, along with the rest of the country, continues to be under a lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. The latest MHA order also defines domicile as an admin- istrative category rather than identity-based residency. Continued on Page 4 T wo deaths from coron- avirus, the first such cases in UP, were reported on Wednesday. While a 25-year-old youth, who had died two days ago at the BRD Medical College hos- pital in Gorakhpur, was con- firmed to have succumbed to the virus on Wednesday, a 72- year-old man, who had tested positive for coronavirus, died in Meerut. The youth had been admit- ted to the BRD Medical College hospital on Sunday and he was suffering from kidney and liver problems, the medical college principal Dr Ganesh Kumar said. “The sample of the patient was found positive for the coronavirus,” an official of the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) said in Lucknow. The youth hailed from Basti. “Six people, including doctors and paramedical staff, who came in contact with the youth have been quarantined. The driver of the ambulance and the deceased’s brother-in-law in Gorakhpur are also in quar- antine,” District Magistrate Vijyendra Pandiyan said. “He had been treated in Basti district hospital and other places for the last three months. He had renal failure and he was immuno-compromised. He was having some breathing problems and as per protocol, his sample was taken and sent for test in Gorakhpur and he was found COVID-19 posi- tive,” Pandiyan said. “We have alerted the Basti administration and they are also tracking each person who came in contact or attended the funeral, to put them in quar- antine. We are trying to estab- lish all links with CCTV cam- era footage and mobile phone call details to know who came in the contact with the man,” he said. In Meerut, the victim was was possibly infected by his son-in-law who lives in Maharashtra, and had visited him recently. The victim’s wife, his four sons and daughter-in-laws are admitted to the Meerut medical college hospital’s coronavirus ward. Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad told media persons in Lucknow that the Basti youth had no travel history and was suffering from kidney ailment for the last two years. Meanwhile, the father-in- law of the 35-year-old Canadian doctor who had test- ed positive for coronavirus, was on Wednesday found to be infected, taking the tally of Lucknow to 10. Defence PRO said that the retired colonel tested positive in the result that came on Wednesday evening. “He is still at his residence and the decision to shift him to the Command Hospital will be taken on Thursday,” the PRO said. The Canadian doctor was the first coronavirus positive patient in Lucknow. She had tested positive on March 10 and her mother-in-law was found to be infected March 29. Currently the doctor’s mother-in-law is admitted at Command Hospital. With this, the number of COVID-19 patients jumped to 108 with five more new cases, four of them in Noida
Transcript of English News Paper | Breaking News | Latest Today News in ...€¦ · Maulana Saad has been...
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In its biggest spike till date,India over the past 24 hours
till Wednesday night recorded386 new cases of coronavirustaking the tally to 1,906 withthe Government blaming thespurt in cases on the travel bymembers of Tablighi Jamaatand asserted that it was not anational trend.
“The number of positivecases has gone up sinceTuesday. One of main reasonsfor it is travel by members ofTablighi. This is not a nation-al trend,” said Lav Agarwal,Joint Secretary in the UnionMinistry of Health.
According to Ministry’swebsite, the total number ofactive COVID-19 casesreached 1,637 in India byWednesday noon, whereas thedeath toll has risen to 42 from32 recorded on Tuesday.
Globally, the death toll dueto novel coronavirus in the UShas reached 3,400, surpassingChina. The global death ratehas reached past the 44,000-mark while around 9 lakh areinfected by COVID-19 acrossnearly 170 countries.
Dr R Gangakhedkar, sci-entist from ICMR, said so far,47,951 tests for COVID-19conducted in country out ofwhich 4,562 tests done atICMR network labs onTuesday. On a query, he saidHydroxychloroquine is not tobe used on every person.
“This is not for everybody.It is just a demonstration studyfor doctors and their contacts
of lab confirmed cases care-givers and data will be analysedwhich will tell if we can rec-ommend or not the drug to thepeople who come in their con-tacts,” he said.
Agarwal said 74 flightsoperated till date under LifelineUdan for transporting medicalcargo across the country. So farover 22 tonnes cargo was trans-ported on March 31, he said.
Following the SupremeCourt directives, the HealthMinistry on Wednesday calledfor providing a social protec-tion to migrant workers, sayingthey are prone to social, psy-chological and emotional trau-ma in lockdown situations.
Immediate concerns facedby such migrant workers relateto food, shelter, healthcare,fear of getting infected orspreading the infection, loss ofwages, concerns about the fam-ily, anxiety and fear.
“Sometimes, they also faceharassment and negative reac-tions of the local community.All this calls for strong socialprotection,” the Ministry said ina document.
It further said migrantworkers faced the situation ofspending a few days in tempo-rary shelters, which may bequarantine centres, while try-ing to reach to their nativeplaces, are filled with anxieties
and fears stemming from var-ious concerns, and are in needof psycho-social support.
Meanwhile, several StateGovernments have continuedthe difficult task of tracking themovements of Tablighi atten-dees in the Delhi conference,including foreigners and their“human contacts” as moreJamaat delegates who transitedthrough Jamaat Markaz (cen-tre) in Nizamuddin East werequarantined in Telangana,Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Naduand Maharashtra while 140 ofdelegates were reporteduntraceable in Hyderabad.
Over 250 foreign nationalshave been quarantined or
admitted to isolation wards invarious States in the countryfollowing the disclosure thatthey had attended the Tablighiconference. A total of 16 Stateshave been searching forTablighi members.
According reports, at least200 from Karnataka, 140 fromAndhra Pradesh and 45 fromTelangana have been identi-fied. The total number ofthose who attended the con-ference varies from State toState with Maharashtra listing185 and Karnataka estimating342 to have participated in themeeting.
With the Tabligh incidentspiking the coronavirus num-bers in the country, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi spoketo Maharashtra Chief Ministerand asked the State to trace outthe missing Jamaat memberswho attended the Delhi con-ference. The State DGP held aPress conference to give hisaccount on the issue.
The aim of the search forTabligh attendees is to preventthem from inadvertently cre-ating new clusters of infectionacross the country. The mag-nitude of the task is immense:Three southern states — TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh andKarnataka — were trying totrack at least 2,500 people,many of who had tested posi-tive for coronavirus.
In Kashmir 855 people (atleast 167 attendees and peoplein contact with them) werebeing traced, only nine hadbeen found.
Continued on Page 4
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Even as the authorities havecleared Tablighi’s
Nizamuddin headquarters andevacuated 2,361 people in 36hours till Wednesday evening,Nizamuddin Markaz clericMaulana Saad has beenuntraceable since March 28after he was served a notice bythe Delhi Police.
“Police teams are raiding
several places across the west-ern Uttar Pradesh and Mewatregion in Haryana to nab Saad,”said a senior police official.
Police have also recoveredan audio clip in which Saad canbe heard saying there is no bet-ter place to die than in amosque. The audio clip isbelieved to be of March 18.“Leaving mosques would bringno good. Do not leave mosqueseven if trusted doctors ask youto,” said Saad in the audio clip.
On Tuesday, a FirstInformation Report (FIR) wasfiled against seven people,including Saad, Zeeshan, MuftiShehzad, M Saifi, Younus,
Mohammed Salman andMohammed Ashraf.
The police have registeredthe FIR under sections of theEpidemic Disease Act andother sections of the IPC, fornot following Governmentorders on the management ofthe Markaz in relation to asocial, political or religiousgathering and thus endanger-ing the lives of the people.
Meanwhile, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal onWednesday said authorities aretracking mobile phones of peo-ple under quarantine to checktheir movement.
Continued on Page 4
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Already busy tackling theCovid-19 cases, doctors
across the country are findingthemselves hard-pressed withspurt in number of patientsreporting alcohol withdrawalsymptom because of non avail-ability of “booze” due to theongoing lockdown.
Doctors from country’spremier health institute AIIMSsaid that people with alcoholwithdrawal related problemsare coming at their emergencydepartment as OPDs areclosed. “When they aredeprived of alcohol or sub-stance they are so dependedupon they will face varyingdegree of health related issues.Usually, heavy drinkers needproper counseling and med-ication,” said Dr Atul Ambekar,Professor of Psychiatric atNational Drug DependenceTreatment Centre of AIIMS..
Superintendent Dr UmaShankar from Mental HealthHospital in Erragadda,Hyderabad, said that a as manyas 100 persons with withdraw-
al symptoms visited the out-patient ward on Monday. Shesaid many of them were treat-ed as outpatients and a fewwere admitted for constantobservation.
According to the doctors,there would be four to five alco-holics among an average 30outpatients on any normal day.However, the number sudden-ly increased manifold sinceSaturday. At least three cases ofsuicide were reported fromthe State after the lockdown
was announced last week.Dr Smita Deshpanday,
Professor of Psychiatrist fromDelhi-based RML Hospital saidthat such tipplers develop seri-ous problems like alcohol with-drawal fits, hallucinations anddepression. However, allpatients do not require hospi-talisation. They need properguidance, good food and reg-ular intake of healthy fluids. “Infact this is the golden chancefor the Government to treattheir heavy dependence on
alcohol and tobacco as suchproducts weaken their lungsystems,” she added.
Indian medical AssociationKerala president Dr AbrahamVarghese echoed similar viewsstating that those showingwithdrawal symptoms shouldbe provided scientific treat-ment, which can be given athomes or in hospitals. “Theyneed treatment. Giving thembooze is not a solution,” he said.
Liquor is out of boundacross the country exceptKerala and Meghalaya, whichrecently allowed the sale ofliquor with a medical testimo-nial from a qualified doctor dueto rising cases of suicide. .
Their decisions have drawnflak from the Indian MedicalAssociation which feels that itwould only encourage others tofake their health conditions.Interestingly, there are variousglobal studies that say thatalcohol withdrawal neverresults into a suicide unless theperson is suffering from othermental health issues such asdepression.
Continued on Page 4
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Anew study shows that cur-rent physical distancing
guidelines provided by theWorld Health Organisation(WHO) and by the US Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention (CDC) may notsafeguard you against coron-avirus infection. A research,published in the Journal of theAmerican Medical Associationwarned that the gas cloud froma cough or sneeze may helpvirus particles travel up to 8metres.
The existing guidelinesissued by the WHO and CDCare based on outdated modelsfrom the 1930s of how gasclouds from a cough, sneeze, orexhalation spread. Studyauthor, MIT associate professorLydia Bourouiba, however,thinks otherwise as she says
that exhalations cause gaseousclouds to travel up to 27 feet(8.2 metres).
The Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention, a spe-cialised US health agency, andthe World Health Organization
(WHO) has called for six andthree feet (0.9 m and 1.8 m) ofspace for maintaining socialdistancing to keep at a bay thedroplets of coronavirus causingdeadly Covid-19.
Continued on Page 4
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The Centre has orderedchanges in the domicile
status rules for Governmentjobs in the Union Territory ofJammu & Kashmir and alsoamended 109 erstwhile StateActs and repealed 29 Acts,drawing flak from the politicalparties of the Union Territory.
According to the notifica-tion, anyone who has resided inJ&K for 15 years or has stud-ied in the State for seven years,and appeared in either theClass 10/12 examination, willbe eligible for domicile certifi-cates. This would allow them toapply for gazetted and non-gazetted Government jobs. Thenew rules also state that
migrants registered by theRelief and RehabilitationCommissioner need not fulfilthe amended requirements.
According to the new rules,
children of officials with theCentral Government, all Indiaservices, public sector under-takings, public sector banks,statutory bodies, Central uni-
versities and recognisedresearch institutes of theCentral Government who haveserved in J&K for 10 years willalso be eligible to apply for
gazetted and non-gazettedGovernment jobs in the UT.The drastic changes wereimplemented through the J&KReorganisation (Adaptation ofState Laws) Order, 2020, issuedlate Tuesday by the Centre.
As per the earlier rules,only J&K residents were eligi-ble to apply for jobs or ownimmovable property in theerstwhile State. The UnionGovernment’s new decisioncomes amid apprehension inthe UT that there would be ademographic change in J&Kfollowing the scrapping ofArticle 370, which guaranteedState subjects the right to jobs,owning property and legislat-ing laws. It also comes at a timewhen J&K, along with the restof the country, continues to beunder a lockdown in the wakeof the Covid-19 outbreak.
The latest MHA order alsodefines domicile as an admin-istrative category rather thanidentity-based residency.
Continued on Page 4
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Two deaths from coron-avirus, the first such cases
in UP, were reported onWednesday.
While a 25-year-old youth,who had died two days ago atthe BRD Medical College hos-pital in Gorakhpur, was con-firmed to have succumbed tothe virus on Wednesday, a 72-year-old man, who had testedpositive for coronavirus, died inMeerut.
The youth had been admit-ted to the BRD Medical Collegehospital on Sunday and hewas suffering from kidney andliver problems, the medicalcollege principal Dr GaneshKumar said.
“The sample of the patientwas found positive for thecoronavirus,” an official of theKing George’s MedicalUniversity (KGMU) said inLucknow.
The youth hailed fromBasti.
“Six people, includingdoctors and paramedicalstaff, who came in contactwith the youth have beenquarantined. The driver ofthe ambulance and thedeceased’s brother-in-law inGorakhpur are also in quar-
antine,” District MagistrateVijyendra Pandiyan said.
“He had been treated inBasti district hospital and otherplaces for the last three months.He had renal failure and he wasimmuno-compromised. Hewas having some breathingproblems and as per protocol,his sample was taken and sentfor test in Gorakhpur and hewas found COVID-19 posi-tive,” Pandiyan said.
“We have alerted the Bastiadministration and they arealso tracking each person whocame in contact or attended thefuneral, to put them in quar-antine. We are trying to estab-lish all links with CCTV cam-era footage and mobile phonecall details to know who camein the contact with the man,” hesaid.
In Meerut, the victim waswas possibly infected by hisson-in-law who lives inMaharashtra, and had visitedhim recently.
The victim’s wife, his foursons and daughter-in-laws areadmitted to the Meerut medicalcollege hospital’s coronavirusward.
Principal Secretary
(Health) Amit Mohan Prasadtold media persons in Lucknowthat the Basti youth had notravel history and was sufferingfrom kidney ailment for the lasttwo years.
Meanwhile, the father-in-law of the 35-year-oldCanadian doctor who had test-ed positive for coronavirus,was on Wednesday found to beinfected, taking the tally ofLucknow to 10.
Defence PRO said that theretired colonel tested positive inthe result that came onWednesday evening.
“He is still at his residenceand the decision to shift him tothe Command Hospital will betaken on Thursday,” the PROsaid.
The Canadian doctor wasthe first coronavirus positivepatient in Lucknow. She hadtested positive on March 10 andher mother-in-law was foundto be infected March 29.
Currently the doctor’smother-in-law is admitted atCommand Hospital.
With this, the number ofCOVID-19 patients jumpedto 108 with five more newcases, four of them in Noida
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����������������%�������,78 �?�
Passing on information about a suspected coronaviruspatient led to the murder of a woman in Mainpuri
while a street vendor was killed for not serving ‘chaat’during lockdown in Lakhimpur Kheri.
In Mainpuri, Vinay Yadav of Annipur hamlet of Kurrawas engaged as a rojgar sewak. On Tuesday, Army per-sonnel Shailendra Yadav and his cab driver brotherGaurav Yadav of New Delhi returned home. Suspectingthem to be afflicted by the coronavirus, Vinay includedtheir names as visitors from outside and gave it to thelocal authorities for action.
On coming to know about this, Shailendra threat-ened Vinay to remove his and Gaurav’s name from thelist, but the latter refused and asked them to go for med-ical check-up for the safety of other villagers.
On Wednesday morning, things got ugly whenShailendra, Gaurav and other kin struck at Vinay’s houseand opened fire in which Vinay’s sister-in-law SandhyaYadav (32) was killed. Before the police reached the crimescene, the assailants escaped.
A case was registered and efforts were being madeto nab the accused.
In Lakhimpur Kheri, Chhotu aka Mauseem ofMudiya Khera hamlet of Kotwali area used to sell ‘chaat’
in the neighbourhood. However, due to lockdown, he hadsuspended his business.
On Tuesday, his neighbours Raunak, Lal, Mohammedand six others pressed him to prepare ‘chaat’. But whenChhotu refused to do so, they barged into his house andhacked him to death. A case was registered and effortswere on to nab the assailants.
In a separate case in Bulandshahr, a 30-year-oldwoman, who was seven-month pregnant, torched her-self along with her two children after a tiff with her hus-band.
Vikram aka Bobby of Bardauli used to run a sweetshop in Delhi. Due to lockdown, he returned home twodays back. On Wednesday morning, he had a tiff withhis wife Pushpa after which the woman locked herselfalong with her sons Himanshu (8) and Niyanshu (3),poured kerosene and set themselves fire.
The locals somehow rescued them and rushed themto a hospital but all the three died on way.
Meanwhile in Jaunpur, a youth was murdered whilea couple ended their lives in Agra.
In Jaunpur, the body of a youth with bullet woundswas found near Pili Kothi area of Line Bazaar onWednesday morning. It seemed that the victim was killedsomewhere else and the body was dumped there.
The victim was later identified as Utkarsh Dikshit (21)
of Puranpur area of Kairakat in Jaunpur. His father, JaiChand Dikshit, said that his son went missing on Tuesdayevening. A case was registered and investigations are on.
In the Agra, 22-year-old jeweller Gopal Sharma andhis wife Priya (18) were found hanging from the ceilingof their bedroom in Ram Swaroop Colony of Shahganjon Tuesday afternoon.
They had tied the knot on January 18 last. The family members failed to give any reason for the
extreme step. The bodies were sent for autopsy and the girl’s fam-
ily at Firozabad was informed about the tragedy.
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With banks set to restore normal functioningafter government order, Additional Chief
Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi issued directivethat police arrangement be made to ensure socialdistancing and other norms.
Apprehending that a large number of people,including old age pensioners and labourers, wouldbe queuing up at banks to withdraw money, the gov-ernment directed the police force to help bank offi-cials in ensuring social distancing.
“Banks will work normally between 10 am and4 pm till further orders. Hence all district policechiefs have been directed to deploy policemen inbanks for helping bank officials and ensure healthnorms,” Awasthi said.
It may be mentioned here that the dues of MGN-REGA workers, salary of employees and monetaryrelief to the poor, farmers and others have beentransferred to the bank accounts of the beneficia-ries and hence people in large number are expect-ed to swarm banks as they open.
This might lead to violation of social distanc-ing norms and make it difficult for officials to ensuresafety measures.
Meanwhile in Bareilly, amid apprehensions oftwo officials of State Bank of India’s zonal officebeing suspected cases of coronavirus infectionafter coming in contact with positive patients, theoffice was evacuated in Subhash Nagar area onWednesday. About 300 people work in the zonaloffice.
SBI Divisional General Manager PradeepKumar. posted at the zonal office, said that apartfrom being evacuated, the office was also sanitised.Both suspected officials are under supervision ofdoctors.
Of the six residents of Subhash Nagar who test-ed positive for the virus, one is a loco-pilot at Bareillyjunction and had been in contact with 32 people,including loco lobby (running staff) and operatingstaff. Later, these 32 people were quarantined inMoradabad division of Northern Railway. The loco-pilot had brought Ala Hazrat Express to BareillyJunction on March 25.
A five-kilometre radius has been sealed inSubhash Nagar area.
����������������%�������,78 �?�
Uttar Pradesh Governor AnandibenPatel said that she expected vice-chan-
cellors of all state universities to donate aday’s salary of teachers and staff to theChief Minister’s Relief Fund to help thepeople affected by lockdown.
Talking to vice-chancellors of stateuniversities through video conferencingfrom Raj Bhawan, Patel said that sheexpected them to extend help voluntari-ly. Apart from this, hostels or guest hous-es lying vacant be provided to districtadministration to be turned into quaran-tine centres if need be, she added.
She also said that students living inhostels at present should not be asked tovacate their rooms and the universityadministration should ensure food tothem.
The UP Governor also directed thevice-chancellors that no deduction bemade from the wages of daily waged or
contractual workers employed by stateuniversities.
She directed the vice-chancellors ofSanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute ofMedical Sciences, Ram Manohar LohiaInstitute of Medical Sciences and KingGeorge’s Medical University that doctors,para-medical staff and other workersengaged in the treatment of coronaviruspatients be provided sanitisers, masks andliquid soaps in adequate quantity.
Patel also directed the vice-chancel-lors to prepare a list of people arrivingfrom outside, through NSS and NCC stu-dents, which could be provided to the dis-trict administration so that those individ-uals could be quarantined.
During the video conferencing, Patelalso inaugurated the new website ofLucknow University.
Meanwhile, the vice-chancellorsinformed the Governor that studentswere being provided education throughYouTube, e-content and online classes.
They said lectures and e-content were alsobeing uploaded on the website so that stu-
dents could continue their study fromhome.
����������������%�������,78 �?�
Declaring that salary of stategovernment employees
would not be deducted for thelockdown period, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidthat people should remainindoors and stay safe so thatlockdown could be effectivelyimplemented.
The chief minister issuedthis directive during a meetingof COVID officers in Lucknowon Wednesday while reviewingthe lockdown and availability ofessential commodities in themarket. “The only way to defeatcoronavirus is to implementlockdown effectively. If we canensure that people stay athome, we can win this battledecisively,” he said.
The chief minister askedofficials to ensure that peoplegot all basic necessities likemilk, vegetable, rice, flour andpulses easily at MRP (maxi-mum retail price).
“There is apprehensionthat salary of governmentemployees could be deductedfor the lockdown period. Thisapprehension is baseless. Salaryof employees will not bededucted. Even in private sec-tors, owners should pay fullsalary to their employees. Thisis a time of crisis and everyoneshould chip in with their con-tribution,” Yogi said.
The chief minister askedthe Energy department not totake fixed charge from indus-tries during the lockdown peri-od. “It is the responsibility ofthe state government to lookafter migrant workers stayingin shelter homes across thestate. Provide them water andfood regularly and if anyone
needs medical help, do extend-ed it also. Those who are fast-ing during Navratri be provid-ed fruits,” the chief ministersaid and added that no oneshould be allowed to travel ingoods train and the guilty bepunished as per law..
Yogi also asked officials tosend action taken report to theprime minister and home min-ister’s offices regularly.
The chief minister furthersaid that as procurement ofwheat would start from April15, officers should ensure thatall mandis were sanitised.
“If need be, fire-tenders beused for this purpose. Duringthe purchase of wheat, socialdistancing should also beensured,” he said.
During that meeting, Yogialso enquired about the oper-ation of community kitchensand said that the facility beextended to all areas where thepoor live. “Daily wage earnersshould get the benefit of thesecommunity kitchens,” headded.
Yogi also asked officials tolook for options to start outpatient department (OPD) sothat basic health facilities couldbe extended to the people.“Retired PHMS and ArmyMedical Corps doctors can beemployed for this purpose. Ifneed be, doctors should pro-vide consultation over phone,”he said. IndustrialDevelopment CommissionerAlok Kumar informed the chiefminister that all flour mills, ricemills and oil mills were oper-ating as per directions of Healthdepartment.
DGP HC Awasthi said thatgloves and masks had beenmade available to all police per-sonnel of the state.
����������������%�������,78 �?�
With the Centre issuingadvisories to states to
trace Tablighi Jamaat memberswho participated in Delhi’sNizamuddin Markaz gatheringbetween March 13 and 15, theUttar Pradesh governmentidentified 569 such people stay-ing in different mosques in thestate.
Apprehending that theymight have attended theNizamuddin Markaz event, allof them, including 218 foreign-ers, have now been quaran-tined.
The UP Police were alsoinvestigating into the visaclause of foreign missionariesattending the Markaz event inviolation of tourist visa norms.This was disclosed byAdditional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish Awasthi tomedia persons in Lucknow onWednesday.
Awasthi said that the policewere still searching more peo-ple who attended the Markazand might have been holed insome mosques in the state.
He appealed to the peopleto inform the police if they getany input about people whowere hiding in any place.
“We are in touch with theexternal affairs ministryregarding foreign missionariesand would initiate actionagainst them as per law.Anyone doing missionary workwith tourist visa is violatinglaw,” the additional chief secre-tary said.
However, he did not dis-close whether any of theseMarkaz participants weredetected with coronavirus sofar.
Already several FIRs havebeen lodged against foreignersin different districts for notinforming the local policeabout their presence. Clericstoo have been booked for hid-ing these foreigners in religiousplaces.
“Officials have been askedto complete the tracing processon a war footing,” Awasthisaid.
The state government alsoissued strict instruction ontotal ban on fake news in com-pliance with the order ofSupreme Court and warnedthat anyone indulging in suchact in social media or anyother place would face theconsequences. “We have set upa cell in the informationdepartment to track suchposts,” Awasthi added.
It may be mentioned thatNizamuddin congregation hasturned out to be a major sourceof infections across the coun-try, with Telangana reporting
that all its new caseswere from attendees of theTablighi Jamaat meet. The meetis suspected to have been heldin violation of several restric-tions imposed on large gather-ings and holding of religiousevents.
Meanwhile in Sultanpur, asmany as 25 of the 115 personswho were quarantined afterreturning from other states,fled the shelters.
District Magistrate CIndumati said that 115 individ-uals who arrived in the districtfrom other states were quaran-tined at KNIMT premises inFaridipur after medical check-ups as a precautionary mea-sure.
However, 25 of themescaped from the first floorthrough the backside way of theshelter home by using bedsheets and scarves for climbingdown late Tuesday night.
A police team has beenformed and it is trying to tracethem and put them back inquarantine.
A case has also been regis-tered against them and actionis being initiated.
����������������%�������,78 �?�
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadavon Wednesday expressed condolence over
the death of a youth affected by novel coron-avirus in Gorakhpur.
The SP president demanded that an assis-tance of Rs 25 lakh be given by the governmentto those who died while on their way to theirhomes during the lockdown.
Yadav said that the death of a 25-year-oldin Gorakhpur was a cause of seriousconcern. He said the youth, who was anative of Basti, was undergoing treatmentat BRD Medical College hospital inGorakhpur.
Akhilesh said that the bodies of peoplewho had succumbed while returning home
should be identified by the government and itshould make arrangements to send the bod-ies to their homes and the family members ofthe deceased should be given Rs 25 lakh asfinancial help.
Akhilesh said that hospitals needmedical equipment and testing kits on a largescale.
He said the medical college and hospitalhad only two ventilators in Banda.
He alleged that the whereabouts of 3,000masks issued in the name of doctor inAzamgarh was yet to be ascertained.
Akhilesh said the government shouldmake personal protection equipment availableto doctors and para-medical staff and alsoarrange sanitisers and testing kits in adequatenumbers.123.%�4�.2#.32����5�%�&##+�6���!������������!���� �������������������������������������������3��������*������7�
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With two senior IndianPolice Services officers
retiring on Tuesday, the stategovernment transferred shift-ed IPS officers on Wednesday.
Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Awanish Awasthi saidin Lucknow that DG (FireServices) Javid Ahmed andDG (CB-CID) Virendra Kumarretired from service onTuesday.
As per the new postings,DG (Special Inquiry)Vishwajeet Mahapatra has beenposted as DG (CB-CID) whileDG (Rules and Manuals)Chandra Prakash has beenshifted as DG (Special Inquiry).
ADG (PTC, Moradabad)Brajraj has been promoted asDG at the same post while DG(Police Recruitment andPromotional Board) RKVishwakarma has been givenadditional charge of DG (FireServices).
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Uttar Pradesh governmentsaid there was no shortage
of fruits, vegetables and food-grains in any part of the state.The government said all thefood grain, fruit and vegetablemandis across the state werefully operational and wouldcontinue normal function onthe arrival of fresh Rabi crop.
This was stated by thecommittee on harvesting andagriculture produce set up byChief Minister Yogi Adityanathon March 25 for effectiveimplementation of the ‘coronaaction plan’.
A total of eleven commit-tees were constituted to mon-
itor the situation following themeasures taken to check spreadof the corona virus.
From the mandis underUP State Agriculture MarketingBoard, so far doorstep deliveryof fruits and vegetables is beingdone through 36,449 mobilevendors and 43,984 persons areinvolved in doorstep delivery.
The committee report saidsocial distancing was beingenforced in all the mandisacross the state.
The report said if farmersfaced any problem in transport-ing their agriculture produce tomandi or taking the produce tocold storage for warehousing,they should contact the districtcontrol room for the redressal
of their grievances.The state government has
granted permission for themovement of 3,316 combineharvesters for harvesting thewheat crop. The state govern-ment will set up 5,000 procure-ment centres for the purchaseof wheat from farmers on min-imum support price. The cen-tres will be operational fromApril 15. The government hasalso set up 31 procurement cen-tres for purchase of pulsesfrom farmers. The centres willstart working from Thursday.The report said there were2,057 cold storages in UP and1,911 were operational. Of thetotal 119 mills, presently 114were still operating.
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UNICEF experts said thatbesides being at greater
risk of infection, people withdisabilities also face obstacles inaccessing prevention andresponse measures.
“Limited availability of dis-aggregated data results ininability of surveillance systemsto determine the impact onpeople with disabilities. Also,inaccessible information andcommunication means thatpersons with hearing, visual,intellectual or physical disabil-ities may not receive key infor-mation about prevention andassistance,” the experts said.
They said the differently-abled face obstacles in access-ing essential health services andother facilities due to environ-mental barriers and limitedcapacity of health workers tocommunicate and work withthem.
“Girls and boys with dis-abilities may be at risk of exclu-sion from education if remote,distance learning program-mers are not accessible or theydo not have assistive devices toallow participation and accom-modate learning needs. Personswith disabilities can be dispro-
portionately impacted by inter-rupted home, community andsocial services and support,including personal assistance,”the experts said.
Psychologists say that incase of care of the differently-abled children, professionalschool counsellors can be moreeffective in their work with par-ents. Jagriti Singh, who is work-ing with children of specialneeds, said nowadays, they areunder lockdown and it is achallenging situation to moth-ers of special children in termsof how to manage, look afterand explain COVID-19 sever-ity and precaution to them.
“Social distancing meansthat schools are closed, and thisis very hard for our specialneeds of all ages. These thingscan trigger intense stress andlead to a meltdown or a shut-down, therefore, I tell youabout useful resources that thespecial children and their fam-ilies can use during this time.Explain them with stories,videos or pictures of our newchanges and about coronavirusprecaution. Create a template tomake a new daily schedulewhich helps change their rou-tine easily. Keep your childrenentertained, make interesting
activities according to the theirinterest and also include theirtherapy and education part onthem and demonstrate it in aplayful way,” she said
Kumud, another psychol-ogist, said as all schools areclosed, what can parents of thedifferently-abled do for theirlearning, development, chanel-lising their energies is a bigquestion for them.
“Try to involve children inother regular household worksand activities. Sometimes, itwill take more time for parentsto finish their work but by thisway, children get emotionalwarmth and parents canexplore something different,development of better commu-nication skills, emotional bond-ing with siblings as well ashelpers. Parents will not get allequipment or tools which areused in schools and centres butthey can involve them in dust-ing and playing or makingsomething with dough can bea good exercise for fine motorskills,” she said.
She added that parentsknow their children better thananyone else and have completeunderstanding of their physi-cal, social, developmental, andfamily history.
�������������'8+5�����9,:1�;���������6 �:9Lucknow (PNS): Vice-Chancellor of KGMU said thatsince coronavirus outbreak,they have spent over Rs onecrore in providing facilities topatients, doctors and otherstaff. He said the state govern-ment has also assured them fullsupport.
“This includes treatment ofpatients, fooding and lodgingof the staff stationed at KGMU,and setting up of operation the-atres along with facilities forisolation and quarantine,” theKGMU VC said. The graph inthe city has been stable in butit is growing in UP, though notas sharp and steep as it is incountries like the USA andItaly. “It is essential to test peo-ple five days after they havecome in contact with a coron-avirus patient. As for theKanika Kapoor episode, testswere conducted hurriedly afterpanic button was pressed. Itwas fortunate that no one test-ed positive even after twoweeks and the patients arebeing monitored on a day-to-day basis,” he said. Dr Bhattsaid it is unfortunate that peo-ple are not following the essen-tial rule of social distancing.
����� ,78 �?�
Distribution of ration free ofcost by the district admin-
istration from shops throughpublic distribution system(PDS) for people belonging tolow income category com-menced on Wednesday.Divisional CommissionerMukesh Meshram said theydistributed 60 per cent of thematerial by noon. He said thatwith this system, the poor
would have ration delivered attheir doorstep.
The DivisionalCommissioner said that exceptfor a few server problems, theydid not face any other issues.District Magistrate AbhishekPrakash said ration had beengiven away to 26,000 people bynoon. The distribution startedat 6 am and continued till 9 pm.
He said ration was givenaway to labourers possessing‘Antodaya’ card, those regis-
tered under MNREGA &Labour department, and dailywagers registered under UrbanDevelopment department. TheDistrict Magistrate appointed anodal officer for the shopsdistributing essential com-modities while also givingdirections that the list of ben-eficiaries should be made avail-able to shopkeepers concerned.He said the accounts would becheck and verified for distrib-ution of ration. He said direc-
tions were also issued for socialdistancing other precautions toprevent COVID-19 infection.
The District Magistratesaid the daily wagers workingin all shops should be paid byApril 7 and if the shopkeepersdo not comply with the direc-tions, they are liable to bepunished and can be jailed forone year or fined.
Meanwhile, with suppliesto residents taking a structuredform, officials from the admin-istration said they are workingon to ensure there is no crisisof essentials in the comingdays. A senior district admin-istration official said they willbe holding to see that problemsdo not arise in the coming days.
The official said that dur-ing their daily inspections,they found that most of theshops had a a rate list and wereselling essential commodities atappropriate rates.
Regarding the sale of veg-etables, the official said theirmain focus is on flour, lentilsand rice. “Vegetable vendorshave been allowed to move asthose carrying edibles havebeen allowed to take thesecommodities door to door. It isnot easy to regulate the pricesbut they are likely to be charg-ing more for earning profits forthe facility that they are provid-ing,” the official said.
����� ,78 �?�
Governor Anandiben Patelinaugurated the new and
revamped website of LucknowUniversity from Raj Bhawanon Wednesday. She browsedthrough the content andextended best wishes to theuniversity. The launch eventwas ingeniously held throughvideo-conferencing.
LU Vice-Chancellor AKRai said the new website(www.lkouniv.ac.in) waslaunched with the sole pur-pose of facilitating uninter-rupted education at a timewhen they cannot come toclassrooms. The website con-tains all updated e-contentfrom almost all departmentsof the university as well asimproved online l ibrar yremote access and accessibil-ity to Tagore Library’s massiveselection of e-books, journalsand articles.
It also has links to theYoutube channels of variousdepartments, videos of eventsrecently held at the universi-ty, a photo gallery of campuslife, updated profiles and con-tact numbers of every admin-istrative official of the univer-sity, information about stu-dent life including, how theycan be more involved withNational Service Scheme,National Cadet Corps andthe cultural wing (Sanskritiki).It also has extensive informa-tion on the upcoming UP-JEE(BEd), including the onlineapplication structure, general
admission and examination,and has links to redirect aviewer looking for informa-tion and websites of the col-leges associated with the uni-versity. The Governor alsoreleased the maiden issue of
the university’s newsletter,‘The Chorus’, named after thenarrators in ancient Greektheatre. The journal is pub-lished monthly by the Centrefor Information Publicationand Public Relation, LU’s
media cell, and is a reflectionof the active campus life ofstudents as well as facultymembers. E-editions of thejournal are available on thenew website under the ‘Media’tab.
����� ,78 �?�
Amiddle-aged man waskilled while his son suf-
fered injuries during a groupclash under the newly set-upSushant Golf City police sta-tion area on Tuesday night.Police allegedly hushed up theissue to keep its slate clean.However, the family of thevictim informed mediaper-sons, forcing the police toswing into action. Theynabbed two of the accused onWednesday afternoon. Thevictim was identified asLalaram (55) while his friendas Pankaj, both of ChaudharyKheda under Baruna Majra ofthe locality.
As per reports, Lalaramhad enmity over land-relateddispute with his neighborDhaniram and both cameface to face over the issuearound 9.30 pm on Tuesday.Lalaram’s son Pankaj wentout af ter his his fatherengaged in a heated exchange
with Dhaniram.“Dhaniram called his sons
and other relatives and soon,all of them armed with sticksand iron rods surroundedLalaram and Pankaj,” villagerstold the police. The villagerssaid that the attackers hitboth Lalaram and his sonwith sticks and iron rods.“Lalaram and Pankaj wereunarmed and they could not defend themselvesor retaliate,” the villagersclaimed.
On the information ofthe villagers, a police teamreached the scene but bythen, the attackers had takento their heels. The villagersrushed Lalaram and Pankaj toa hospital where Lalaram suc-cumbed to injuries onWednesday.
A police spokesman saida case of murder, murderousassault, rioting while armedwith weapons and on othercounts was registered againstthe attackers. He said the
police arrested Mannu andDataram, both sons ofDhaniram, and a minor inthis connection. “The minoraccused will be sent to juve-nile home while the adults tojail,” he said. He added thatthe police teams were insearch of Dhaniram and otheraccused.
About the motive, thespokesman said both the par-ties had a long standing dis-pute over a piece of land andthey fought over this onTuesday night. The policespokesman failed to explainwhy the local police did nottake action earlier when theyhad information about enmi-ty between both the parties.The incident also exposedpolice laxity. Sympathisers ofthe deceased said the attack-ers kept at it while threaten-ing villagers. “The attackerswarned us of similar treat-ment if any of us intervenedto save Lalaram,” the villagersclaimed.
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Asuspended sub-inspectorcreated a scene by beating
several people, including anewspaper hawker, and laterlocking himself inside hishouse in Ashiyana, thus keep-ing a heavy police forceengaged for 4-5 hours onWednesday. By night, the SIwas overpowered and sent toa hospital. He was identified asAjay Singh of 2012 batch,presently attached with SitapurReserve Police Lines. AshiyanaSHO Sanjay Rai said Singhhad been under treatment forsome mental disease for twoyears. A case was yet to be reg-istered in this connection. Asper reports, Singh lost his coolaround 6 am on Wednesdayafter he spotted a newspaperhawker, Pradeep Mishra ofRavi Khand. He attackedPradeep, forcing him to flee thescene abandoning his bicycle
and the bundle of newspaper.As some people confront-
ed Singh, he yelled at them,scaring them away. A policeteam reached the scene butfailed to overpower the SI.
In the meantime, a milkvendor, Avinash ChandraPandey of Sector-K, reachedthere and was spotted by the SI.He attacked him with the stick,causing injuries. The SI did notstop there and caught hold ofan LMC supervisor, JaiPrakash of Kalli Paschim, andother employees busy in sani-tising the locality and thrashed them.
Locals sought the help ofcorporator Vinod Maurya afterwhich additional police wassent to the place. By the timethe police reached the scene,the SI had locked himselfinside his house. As the SIrefused to come out, the delayin his arrest had the LMCemployees enraged and they
assembled in huge numbersand protested, demandingaction against the errant cop.The protest exerted pressureon the police and a class XIIstudent, accused of helpingSingh, was detained.
The Ashiyana SHO saidSingh was being treated forsome mental disorder for thelast two years. “He lockedhimself in his house. We talkedto his family and it surfacedthat he was under treatmentfor some mental disease. Wesought the help of the doctorafter which Singh was takeninto custody and later sent tohospital,” the SHO said.
He said as the police wereyet to get a complaint, no FIRwas registered in this connec-tion so far. He said the policetook 4-5 hours to bring the sit-uation under control. Sourcessaid luckily, the SI did not useany firearm or the situationwould have been worse.
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A16-year-old boy went miss-ing after he was accused of
stealing the purse of his employ-er and was slapped, in Madiaon.Police registered a case 12 daysafter he went missing while thefamily accused the cops of play-ing dilly-dallying tactics.
As per reports, the teen,identified as Shubham ofMadiaon, left for his work-place, a factory manufacturingpickle in the locality in themorning on March 19 but didnot return home ever since.
His father Shiv Kumar saidhe called factory owner Dineshto inquire about Shubham andwas told that the teen hadstolen his purse. “Dinesh toldme that he slapped Shubhamand turned him out of the fac-tory,” Shiv Kumar said.
He said he kept searchingfor Shubham at all possiblelocations and later reached thepolice station on March 25 toseek help. “The case was nottaken up following which Icomplained to commissioner-ate office. Thereafter, a case wasregistered in this connection,”
he said. He said he feared for safety of his son’s life and requested the police totrace him.
Meanwhile, cyber thugswithdrew Rs 9,500 from the
bank account of a Chinhatresident through cloning onWednesday. Reports said thecomplainant, identified asDiwakar Pandey of GoelHeights Apartment in thelocality, received a messageregarding deduction of cashfrom his bank account in themorning on Wednesday. “MyATM card was with me andnone of family members madeany transaction over the lastweek. I am surprised how thecash was withdrawn,” Pandeysaid. Police said investigationwas underway.
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Lucknow (PNS): LucknowUniversity, in collaborationwith the Institute of TourismStudies (ITS), has launchedonline internship program-mers wherein students canimprove upon their skillset inthe midst of lockdown.
These programmers willbe conducted under the guid-ance of Vice-Chancellor AKRai, who gave his nod to theinitiation led by ITS. LU mediaspokesperson DurgeshSrivastava said the meaningfulcollaboration has created‘Global Traineeship
Programme 2020’, led by WEdu Corp, in association withFlightNtours.com as theirindustry partner. “This projectis exclusively designed keepingthe students of tourism (UG &PG) in mind. The trainingmakes participants industry-ready by the end of the mod-ule keeping in mind the glob-al scenario. It will be a well-blended and distinctly guidedtraining opportunity for thestudents to gain required skills,”he said. Srivastava said thatalong with this, the e-contentwriting organisation of Aadox
through ITS has also providedstudents of Lucknow Universityto earn some practical exposurein terms of content writing andnecessary nuances.
“The content writing expo-sure is open to all the studentsof Lucknow University whowish to make a career in writ-ing and search engine optimi-sation (SEO). All you need is agood command over Englishlanguage to qualify. The candi-dates interested are advised tomake the most of the opportu-nity the university is givingthem,” he added.
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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment issued orders to all
district authorities to ensurethat all private hospitals andclinics opened for a specifictime every day.
Chief Secretary RK Tiwarisaid on Wednesday that thedistrict administrations shouldensure that all private hospitalsand nursing homes along withclinics opened for at least a fewhours so that basic healthfacilities could be extended tothe people.
“The authorities shouldalso ensure that private doctorsshould prefer to attend topatients at their residences,”Tiwari said.
The directive said that pri-vate hospitals should not onlyprovide emergency servicesbut also take care of regularpatients.
Meanwhile, the govern-ment notified COVID-19 hos-pitals of which 80 are Level 1in rural areas, 51 are Level 2hospitals at divisional and dis-trict levels and six hospitals areof Level 3 in major cities andinclude hospitals of medicalcolleges in Prayagraj, JhansiMeerut, SGPGI, Lucknow andPGI, Saifai.
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Lucknow (PNS): TheLucknow police onWednesday registered threeFIRs against foreign nationalsstaying in three mosques inKaiserbagh, Kakori andMadiaon police stations areasand the caretakers of thesemosques.
In Kaiserbagh the FIR wasregistered against caretakerAli Hasan and six foreignnationals, in Madiaon againstcaretaker Miraj, landlordKadri and seven others and inKakori against 10 persons.
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Continuing the joint effortsagainst the spread of coron-avirus, UPSRTC officers andstaff donated safety equipmentkits (1,000 face masks, 1,000gloves and hand sanitiser bot-tles) to the police and home-guards personnel ensuing safe-ty and security of people byenforcing effective lockdown.The kits were handed over toCommissioner of Police SujitPandey by UPSRTC managingdirector Raj Shekhar. “Weappreciate and support oursecurity forces for the com-mendable work they are doingon the ground to contain thespread of virus and are at veryhigh risk in handling the pub-lic directly,” the UPSRTC man-aging director said.
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Pradesh Metro RailCorporation (UPMRC) KumarKeshav inspected safety and
security of various stations andalso inquired about the healthof staff members. The UPMRCmanaging director reviewedthe availability of masks, sani-tiser, paper napkins and soapsat each station. He was updat-ed about the daily routineworks being executed in the
depot-cum-maintenance way,including the daily mainte-nance of rolling stocks, tracks,signalling system with otherequipment and rooms.Meanwhile, UPMRC onWednesday set up infrastruc-ture facility of communitykitchen in the staff canteen of
Transport Nagar Metro Depotto make arrangements of foodpackets, boxes under the direc-tions given by LMC for migrantworkers in distress and stuck inLucknow during the lockdown.UPMRC joined hands with theUP government to providerelief to the poor in the time of
humanitarian crisis by arrang-ing 500 food packets for distri-bution in the labour camp inthe city after getting raw mate-rial and essential supplies fromLMC on Wednesday. A seniorLMRC official said that the sup-ply of food packets is totallydependent on the demand fromLMC. “This facility of commu-nity kitchen is being run byUPMRC staff deployed at thestaff canteen of Metro Depotpremises. On Tuesday, over200 packets were given away tothe needy and destitute with nomeans of livelihood to feed theirfamilies and are, therefore, suf-fering from starvation,” he said.
������������%����The coronavirus pandem-
ic has impacted the poachingactivities with the Indo-Nepalborder having been closed andit has also helped forest areasget rejuvenated. A senior for-est official said Indo-Nepalwas a porous border and peo-ple used to cross over. However,
he admitted that poachingactivities have been on thedecline in the past few years.“There are essentially two kindsof poachings; one for the potand the other for trophy.Poaching for the pot means foreating, which has vanishedowing to the multitude varietiesavailable in urban areas andbecause of changing palatepreference while the poachingfor trophy — for the skin andhead — is not possible becausethe stakes are very high,” hesaid. He pointed out that in theabsence of human beings andtourists, the forests have gotrejuvenated, both in terms offlora and fauna. He said thoseengaged in patrolling havebeen given all necessary equip-ment such as masks and sani-tiser. “Instructions have alsobeen issued since a lot ofmigrants are returning, theyshould be medically screenedand quarantined before beinggiven work in the forest area,”he added.
���������������City Montessori School on
Wednesday contributed Rs 50lakh to support the humanitar-ian work by the governmentduring the coronavirus pan-demic. CMS president GeetaGandhi Kingdon handed overthe cheque to MunicipalCommissioner IndramaniTripathi at his office. Theamount is a contribution to
community kitchens providingfood to nearly 50,000 pooracross the city on a daily basis.Nearly 3,000 CMS employeescontributed Rs 35 lakh as theirone-day salary while the man-agement added Rs 15 lakh.Besides, CMS also suppliedration to the communitykitchen set up by joint secretaryof LDA Ritu Suhas at JaneshwarMishra Park.
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In Tamil Nadu, the State was tracking at least 1,500people, 300 of whom were still untraceable as ofTuesday night.
Nearly 300 people from across Karnataka attend-ed the congregation, State Home Minister BasavarajBommai said on Tuesday, creating a “dangerous sit-uation”. Only 26 of the delegates (all from Bidar) havebeen traced. The Tumakuru preacher who attendedthe meet is learned to have had direct contact withat least 82 people, including 45 family members. The26 delegates who were traced all tested negative, StateHealth Minister B Sreeramulu tweeted.
In UP, police in 18 districts had tracked down 128of the 157 people from the State who had attendedthe congregation. While 120 were found quarantinedin Delhi, eight were traced to their native villages andcities and have been quarantined at home. A searchis on for the remaining 29. The police also traced 95others who had attended Jamaat event and were noton the list of 157 from UP shared by the Delhi Police.
A total of 185 people from Maharashtra hadattended the congregation, officials said. MaharashtraMinority Development Minister Nawab Malik, how-ever, said he had learned “from the media” that 109people from his State had attended the meet.
“I have asked officials to find out how many actu-ally attended it. We are also talking to members of theTablighi Jamaat to find out,” he said. The Ahmednagardistrict administration later said it had found 35returnees, mostly foreign nationals.
At least 20 villages across Bandipora, Pulwama,Shopian and Budgam in J&K have been identified asred zones and the administration has prepared a 50-page list of people from the UT who either attendedthe event at the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz or had beenon contact with attendees.
A total of 1,548 people have been evacuated fromthe Nizamudddin Markaz. Of this, 441 have been hos-pitalised because they exhibited symptoms while theremaining 1,107 people have been quarantined. Ofthose hospitalised, 24 have already tested positive forCovid-19 and, given the symptoms and history ofdirect contact with positive cases, doctors said therewas a high likelihood of many others testing positive.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Beela Rajeshannounced that by Tuesday at least 67 of the TablighiJamaat cluster had tested positive, taking Tamil Nadu’spositive cases to 124, the third highest afterMaharashtra and Kerala; 50 of these infections wererecorded on Tuesday.
The TN Government also admitted that at least300 of the 1,500 delegates from the State were untrace-able. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamiappealed to people to come forward for screening.
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Tablighis, including foreigners from Malaysia,Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan,Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Djibouti, SriLanka, Bangladesh, England, Fiji, France and Kuwait,had assembled at Nizamuddin Markaz, which isamong the major COVID-19 hotspots in the coun-try, to participate in religious congregation fromMarch 1 to 18.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia saidthe premises have been vacated after a 36-hour effortby the concerned agencies.
“The staff of health, administration, police andDelhi Transport Corporation (DTC) worked togeth-er in this 36-hour operation, putting their lives at risk.Hats off to all of them,” Sisodia said in a tweet. Thetotal number of coronavirus cases in Delhi climbedto 152 on Wednesday.
Sisodia further said a list has been prepared inwhich the phone number and other details of thesepeople were noted and handed over to the Delhi Policecyber cell for further action.
“The police will trace their movements’ history.With the help of their mobile phones details, policecan easily find out that how many people have cometo their contact and police can easily find out theirwhereabouts,” said Sisodia.
He appealed to the people, who came toNizamuddin West to participate in the Markaz inMarch to contact administration without any further
delay and surrender to the local medical facilitiesimmediately so that they can go through a propermedical checkup.
“I request all people who came here for Markazto corporate with the police and local administration.If you will create any trouble for local police andadministration and not voluntary disclose about youand later if it emerged that you are infected and hid-ing your diseases, then a strict action will be takenagainst you,” said Sisodai.
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Kerala has seen nine deaths including suicides notdue to the infection but because of the non-availabil-ity of alcohol. In Karnataka too, reports of addictedpeople along with alcohol consumption issues werebrought to them by their family members werebrought to the notice of the Government.
Alcohol is among the leading causes of preventabledeath worldwide, with 3 million deaths per year attrib-utable to alcohol.
According to a report published in The Lancet lastyear, Indians are drinking more than ever before, withthe annual per capita alcohol consumption going upby 38 per cent in seven years to 5.9 litres (ltr) in 2017,up from 4.3 ltr in 2010. The study on harmful alco-hol use in 189 countries said that globally, alcoholintake increased from 5.9 ltr per adult per year in 1990,to 6.5 ltr in 2017, and the total volume of alcohol con-sumed per year went up by 70 per cent - from 20,999million ltr in 1990 to 35,676 million ltr in 2017.
If current trends continue, the world will not meetthe WHO’s target of reducing harmful use of alcoholby 10 per cent by 2025. “To achieve global targets toreduce harmful alcohol use, the authors call for effec-tive policy measures such as the WHO best-buys,including increasing taxation, restricting availabili-ty, and banning alcohol marketing and advertising,to be introduced globally, especially in rapidly devel-oping countries with growing rates of alcohol use,” saidthe report.
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In a Journal of the American Medical Associationarticle published last week, Lydia said peak exhala-tion speeds can reach 33 to 100 feet per second (36km/h and 110 km/h) and "currently used surgical andN95 masks are not tested for these potential charac-teristics of respiratory emissions.”
Lydia was doing research on dynamics of exha-lations (coughs and sneezes, for instance) for yearsat the Fluid Dynamics of Disease TransmissionLaboratory.
Her research could have implications for the glob-al COVID-19 pandemic, though measures called for“there’s an urgency in revising the guidelines current-ly being given by the WHO and the CDC on the needsfor protective equipment, particularly for the front-line health care workers,” A Lydia told US TODAY.
WHO's advisory suggests that "droplets can trav-el only short distances through the air and either landon people or land on surfaces that people later touch."This is the basis for the hygiene protocol that urgespeople "to wash hands frequently and not touch theface, because that could bring the virus into contactwith the nose or mouth."
Lydia's research, however, calls for better measuresto protect health care workers and, potentially, moredistance from infected people who are coughing orsneezing. She said current guidelines are based on"large droplets" as the method of transmission for thevirus and the idea that those large droplets can onlygo a certain distance.
Dr. Paul Pottinger, an infectious disease profes-sor at the University of Washington School ofMedicine, said questions remain about the distancesat which the virus is effective.
"For me, the question is not how far the germscan travel, but how far can they travel before they'reno longer a threat. The smaller the germ particles, thelower the risk that they might infect somebody whowould breathe them in or get them stuck in their noseor their mouth," Pottinger told US TODAY.
WHO referred to a recent scientific brief on themethods of transmission, which recommended
"droplet and contact precautions for those people car-ing for COVID-19 patients."
Bourouiba said she wants to see recommendationsmade based on current science not "policies based onsupply, for example, because we don't have enoughPPE (personal protective equipment)."
"Although there remains a lot of questions to beaddressed about how much virus is at a given distanceor not, we have no answer one way or another at thistime," she said. "Therefore, the precautionary prin-ciple should drive the policies to state that we shouldhave high-grade respirators used for healthcareworkers."
"Once that's decided, that's the thrust that's need-ed to now mobilise most effectively the kind oftremendous high production level that is possible toreach in a great country like the United States. Thisthrust is not happening," she added.
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In the gazette notification issued by the Ministryof Home Affairs, classified as extraordinary, the Centrehas repealed the J&K Civil Services (special provisions)Act.
It has also introduced changes in Sections 3, 5,6, 7, 8 and 13 of the J&K Civil Services (decentrali-sation and recruitment) Act, 2010. The Act is among109 laws of the erstwhile State that have beenamended through Tuesday’s order that also repeals29 other laws. While Section 5A now states that noperson shall be eligible for appointment to a post car-rying a pay scale for not more than Level 4 “unlesshe is a domicile of UT of J&K”, in Sections 6, 7 and8 the words “permanent resident of the State” havebeen substituted with “Domicile of Union Territoryof Jammu & Kashmir”. These sections of the J&K CivilServices Act, 2010, dealt with appointments at dis-trict, divisional and State levels.
The Section 13 of J&K Civil Services Act, 2010,which has been omitted completely, defined residencein the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir. The newrules have also been extended to children of those whofulfil the above mentioned criteria even if they do notlive in J&K.
Political parties in the Valley termed the Centre’snew rule as adding insult to injury of the people asthe rule lacked the promised protections. TheNational Conference termed the new rules as hollowand the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said the ruleswill give rise to massive problems for residents of J&K.
“Talk about suspect timing. At a time when allour efforts & attention should be focused on the#COVID outbreak the Government slips in a newdomicile law for J&K. Insult is heaped on injury whenwe see the law offers none of the protections that hadbeen promised,” National Conference leader OmarAbdullah said in a series of tweets. The former ChiefMinister who just released from detention said the newlaw was so hollow that even politicians with “Delhi’sblessings” were forced to criticise it.
“You can imagine how hollow the domicile lawis from the fact that even the new party created withDelhi’s blessings, whose leaders were lobbying in Delhifor this law, have been forced to criticise the#JKdomicilelaw,” he added. Omar was apparentlyreferring to the criticism of the domicile law by Jammu& Kashmir Apni Party founder Altaf Bukhari.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said the rules willgive rise to massive problems for residents of J&K.
“The domicile law as it appears is not only try-ing to shake the boundaries of an already existing State,but it is also trying to give rise to massive problemsfor residents of J&K,” tweeted the PDP.
The party said the Centre’s “manipulation of thelaw” would only further alienate the people.
“As the GOI (Government of India) tries tomanipulate a law that provides guarantees toKashmiris, it is only further alienating people, bydepriving them of their constitutional rights. WhenGOI imposes orders that relegate elected Kashmirileaders to nothingness, GOI shows how it doesn’t wantlocal Kashmiris to govern the land they fought for,”the PDP said. Jammu & Kashmir People’s Conference(JKPC) led by Sajad Gani Lone said the Presidentialorder defining the domicile law issued at the depthof night while the world is under the grip of a dead-ly pandemic, falls way short of expectations even forthose who expected some relief and some reconcili-ation process.
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The number of persons test-ed positive for coronavirus
and admitted to various hospi-tals in Tamil Nadu crossed the234 mark by Wednesdayevening, according to BeelaRajesh, Secretary, departmentof Health.
Speaking to reporters atChennai, Rajesh said 110 per-sons tested positive onWednesday alone. “All of thesepersons who returned from thereligious congregation held atNew Delhi. Efforts are on toidentify and trace all the 1,103persons from the State who hadattended the congregation. Thepatients admitted to hospitalson Wednesday include tworeligious preachers fromMyanmar and Indonesiarespectively,” said the HealthSecretary.
Officials of the departmentof health and local bodies areon a house-to-house search inTamil Nadu to trace more than500 persons who had attendedthe religious congregation heldin New Delhi early last monthand had gone missing sincethen. Most of them are fearedto carry the deadly COVID- 19the cause for corona disease.
The State’s efforts to control
the spread of coronavirus pan-demic went on a tailspin sinceTuesday following a suddenspurt in the number of casesdetected positive with COVID-19.
Tuesday alone saw 57 per-sons testing positive for coro-na virus and more than 50 ofthem were those who hadattended the religious congre-gation in New Delhi. With theadmission of 57 patients onTuesday, the number of personsundergoing treatment for coro-na virus in the State has crossedthe 125 mark. This includesten foreign nationals who arereligious preachers by profes-sion.
This is the highest figurerecorded in Tamil Nadu in asingle day since the pandemicbroke out in the country. TheState has been one with mini-mum Corona positive casesever since the administrationcommenced issuing bulletinsabout the number of patientstested with the pandemic.
Tamil Nadu, the focus ofwhich was to prevent commu-nity transmission of the virusand was confident of checkingthe progress of local transmis-sion to community transmis-sion was seen fighting a see-saw
battle as the number of positivecases shooting over the roof fol-lowing the exodus from Delhi’sNizamuddeen.
According to the office ofthe Chief Secretary KShanmugham, 1131 personshad attended the religious con-gregation in New Delhi. “Wehave detected 515 of them andonce we trace the remainingindividiuals, we will be able toprevent the progress of coronavirus in the State,” saidShanmugham.
The seriousness of the sit-uation could be understoodfrom the words of the Stateadministration which acceptedthat the New Delhi returneeshad turned the trajectory ofCOVID-19.
Chief Minister EdappadiPalaniswamy himself came outon Wednesday morning andpaid a surprise visit to some ofthe Amma Restaurants in thecity that offer subsidised foodto the common man. AmmaRestaurants were launched bylate Chief Minister JJayalalithaa and this had earnedher a lot of good will amongmigrant workers and lowincome employees becausethey could getbreakfast/lunch/dinner for�five each.
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Adopting a more aggressiveapproach towards contain-
ing spread of Covid-19, theJammu & Kashmir administra-tion on Wednesday decided toconduct testing of over 2000contact persons of positivecases with immediate effect.
At present 58 active cases,48 in Kashmir division and 10in Jammu division, are under-going treatment in differenthospitals.Addressing a pressconference late Wednesdayevening, spokesman of Jammu& Kashmir Government andPrincipal Secretary, RohitKansal told reporters, "we planto test every single one of the2000 contacts that we haveidentified".
He said, these contact per-sons were traced as a result ofa vigorous contact tracing
exercise undertaken by the dif-ferent wings of the administra-tion. So far 62 cases have test-ed positive in J&K, he added."Out of these 58 are active casesincluding 48 from Kashmirdivision and 10 from Jammudivision".
Kansal said, a total numberof 17041 cases are under sur-veillance. Kansal told reporters,Jammu & Kashmir has beentesting cases aggressively. Ourtesting rate has been nearly 77.5per million,one of the highestin the country and next only toKerala.
Due to sudden spike inpositive cases, concerns wereraised as it became clear thatlarge number of suspected casesof coronavirus, who may havecome in contact with religiousteachers and identified positivecases, went untraceble and maylead to further spread of cases
in rural pockets of vulnerabledistricts.
More than 30 villagesacross eight districts of Jammu& Kashmir have already beendeclared 'red zones by the gov-ernment, thoroughly restrictingmovement of people from oneplace to another.
At present, 52 patients havebeen kept in hospital isolation,516 under hospital quarantine,and 3961 under home surveil-lance. Out of 977 samples, 911have tested negative and reportsof four are awaited.
Meanwhile, in Srinagar,two hundred and thirty-six(236) persons who wereshifted into administrative
quarantine upon their returnto Srinagar two weeks agowere discharged Wednesdayafter successfully complet-ing their 14-day quarantineperiod.
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On the recommendations ofthe Empowered Group of
Officers 10, the Centre onWednesday launched theNational MonitoringDashboard to ensure timelyimplementation of COVID 19Response Activities.
Over 300 public griev-ances, including those relatedto non-adherence of the ongo-ing lockdown and request forrescue from foreign countries,have been received by the cen-tral government under arecently-launched mechanism.The dashboard was launchedby Minister of State forPersonnel JitendraSingh.According to officials,the nature of grievances relat-ed to quarantine facilities, lock-
down not being adhered tocomplaints, essential suppliesrelated complaints, examina-tion related complaints,rescheduling of interest repay-ments on loans, evacuationrequests from foreign coun-tries.“Out of the total 336 pub-lic grievances, 28 were on"lockdown not adhered to", 25were "requests for rescue fromforeign countries" and 14 wererelated to "quarantine”. On Day1 of the launch, the dashboardreceived 43 grievances ofMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare, 31 grievances ofMinistry of External Affairsand 26 grievances of Ministryof Finance. A total of nine wererelated to "inadequate facilitiesin hospitals", seven were"examination-related", six were"stuck at some place due to
lockdown", five "essential sup-plies not being provided", fourwere related to "harassment"and one was on "problem indonating to the PM-CARESFund", the officials said.It aimsto ensure timely redress ofCOVID-19 grievances.Directions have been issued toall ministries and departmentsto prioritize these grievancesand provide redress in threedays.There were 101 sugges-tions received by the govern-ment and 136 public grievancesfell under "others" categories,they said. Giving further detailsof grievances related to non-compliance of lockdown, anofficial said, people claimedthat "private sector employeeswere still being called at work"and also "postal departmentwas calling employees to work".
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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has asked
for �61,000 crore from theCentre to ward off the crisisarising out of the coronaendemic. This amount includesthe financial dues that the"Centre owes" to the State.
A day before her videomeeting with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi the ChiefMinister has written a letter to
the former seeking a financialpackage of �25,000 crore tomeet the expenses for provid-ing free ration to the people ofthe State along with other pub-lic welfare schemes plannedamid massive shortfall in theState’s revenue during postcorona lockdown.
Apart from this the ChiefMinister has also asked theCentre to clear the past duesamounting to about �36,000crore, senior officials said. The
Chief Minister had earlier com-mitted free ration to the 9 crorestrong population of the Statethat started on Wednesdayamid large-scale crowding ofmarket places throughout thedistricts.
In the letter the ChiefMinister wrote that her State’sfinances “like many otherStates” were in a “dire situationwith practically no revenueflows after the closure of allbusiness.”
The letter further read thatregardless of the grim situationon account of the lockdown theState has “somehow been ableto pay the salaries, wages andpensions of Governmentemployees this month thoughsome major states of the coun-try could not do that on full.And even with the massive debttrap left behind by the previousGovernment we were able toservice the debt so far butfuture remains uncertain.”
Asking the Centre to sanc-tion a special grant of �25,000crore Banerjee wrote that herGovernment “required to meetour commitments towards girlchild, students, farmers, unor-ganized workers, weaker sec-tions, minorities, SC, ST andOBCs. We are also having tohonour our commitments ofproviding free ration to almost9 crore people who need this socrucially to survive in this per-ilous time.”
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In response to the call givenby the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, var-ious organisations continuedtheir efforts to serve articlesand food packets to the poorand needy people so that thelatter cannot face any hardshipsduring the ongoing 21-daylockdown. Regional BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) presidentMahesh Chandra Srivastavadistributed 300 packets con-taining various essential itemsto the people at ChowkaghatWater Tank. Rajesh Srivastava,corporator Shailendra KumarSrivastava and many otherswere present there.
Meanwhile, the presidentof Income Tax Bar AssociationOm Prakash Shukla, alongwith his predecessor ArvindShukla handed over a demanddraft of �1.21 lakh for PM CareFund to the District Magistrate(DM) Kaushal Raj Sharma. Hesaid that in collection of thesame fund, 46 members of theassociation including secre-tary Ajay Singh gave their con-tributions. The Sanjha
Sanskritik Manch (SSM) alongwith Jan Vikash Samiti, LokChetna Samiti, Joint ActionCommittee, Asha Trust andVishwa Jyoti JansancharKendra continued its efforts forthe seventh day distributingpackets to 200 families inKonia, Nakkhighat, PremChand Nagar (Pandeypur),Safai employees’ locality inPandeypur and Nagwa andclaimed that the efforts wouldbe continued till the end oflockdown period.
Continuing its efforts,Orange Café also distributedfood packets to 210 rickshaw-pullers and old aged persons inNawabganj and Ravindrapuriareas. On the instructions ofGarhwaghat PaathediswarSwami Sarnananad, the ashramhas decided to distributed 2000packets of essential articlesdaily in Varanasi andChandauli districts and in thisdirection, the four teams dis-tributed the same to the poorfamilies at Mughalsarai,Alinagar and Naibasti inChandauli and Chowkaghat,Jaitpura, Nariya and Chittupurain Varanasi. Chairperson ofDiksha Mahila Kalyan Shodh
Sansthan Santoshi Shukla hasinformed that the organisationdistributed articles among 100families of rickshawpullers,and daily wage labourers.
Besides, senior members ofKashi Agrawal Samaj AnlKumar Jain, Pankaj Agrawaland Santosh Kumar Agrawalsaid that the organisation isproviding � 2000 to the widowsand others during lockdownperiod. Under the joint aus-pices of Sewa Bharti Samiti,Srimati Ratna Devi Samaj SeviSanstha and Seth AnandramJaipuria School Tarna, 500 foodpackets are being distributedamong the people daily sinceMarch 28 last and on the day,they did the same in Sindaura,Shivpur, Dharhara and otherareas.
POWER EMPLOYEESWORKING HARD: Despite21-day lockdown, the powerdepartment employees areworking hard to ensure unin-terrupted power supply round-the-clock in this parliamentaryconstituency of the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi. TheManaging Director (MD) ofPurvanchal Vidyut VitranNigam (PVNNL) Vijay Pal has
instructed all the chief engi-neers, superintendent engi-neers and executive engineersto maintain smooth powersupply in the region. Inresponse to the same, the EE ofUrban Electricity DistributionDivision (UEDD)-IVChandresh Upadhyay has alsoasked all the SDOs, JEs andother line staff to ensure attend-ing the faults quickly so thatduring the lockdown, thepower customers do not faceany inconvenience whilestaying indoors and passingtime watching TV pro-grammes.
He said that we were mak-ing all the efforts to ensureround-the-clock power sup-ply during the lockdown peri-od so that they can stay indoorseasily during lockdown periodand helped the nation preventspreading of coronavirus. Healso said that in this direction,all the officers and staff havebeen deployed on duties shift-wise and all the divisional,sub-divisional and other poweroffices are being sanitised reg-ularly apart from instructingthem to maintain social dis-tancing.
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‘Khaike paan Banaraswala,khool jaye bandh akal ka
tala…’ is the super-hitAmitabh-starrer Bollywoodmovie of 1980s ‘Don’. The songitself not only highlights thepopularity of Banarasi paan butalso how it is a life of manyBanarasis. The 21-day nation-wide lockdown to preventspreading of worldwide coro-navirus pandemic, not onlyaffected the traders but also thepoor who supply ‘pattas’(leaves) in which paans areserved as in this holy cityrarely any paanwala (betelshopkeeper) uses papers likemany other cities for the samepurpose. There are hundreds ofsuch poor people, mostlywomen, who collect theseleaves of some specific trees to
supply the same to paanwalas.There is a big market of thesame, along with betel leaves,at Paan Dariba in Chetganjareas.
Due to lockdown, not onlythe betel and other leave sup-pliers, but also others who sellvarious ingredients use inBanarasi paan including supari,tobacco, elaichi, laung, kathaetc. are facing huge losses.Secretary of Shree Barai SabhaKashi Anjani said ‘betel leavesuppliers would suffer losses ofabout � 10-15 crore during thelockdown period as only atPaan Dariba, the daily sale ofonly betel leaves is around � 50lakh.’ The sale of other articlesis several times more as thereare rarely any lane in the citywhere there are no betel shops.
The most costly betel leavesare Magahi, which are grown in
36 villages in Nalanda area inBihar and its main supply isheld till March. ‘As manywholesale traders have collect-ed huge stock of the same forthis peak season, they are fac-ing a really tough to maintainthese leaves because they arerotten quickly. Besides, manycould not get the supply due tolockdown and they would faceshortage of the same as the nextsupply will be come after har-vesting of new crops inOctober,’ he said.
However, Magahi is smallquantity of total betel leavesused in the city because it iscostly among all betel leaves.The most used betel leaves areJagarnaathi and Deshi, mainlysupplied here from Odishaand West Bengal apart fromBihar. As the life of Sanchileaves is short, only a few
paanwalas prefer to use thesame, said Anjani.
As thousands of Banarasisare addicted to chewing paans,they are also facing tough dur-ing lockdown as the shops arenot allowed to be opened.Many of them had collectedmaterials prior to lockdown tomake paan at home them-selves. ‘Though five to 10 percent famous paanwalas, whosedaily sales are in thousandswould not face much problemsdue to lockdown but a major-ity of small shopkeepers whoseearnings is just in a few hun-dred are facing a serious hard-ship these days,’ said a paanwalaof Shivpurwa area Anil. ManyBanarasis who cannot livewithout chewing paan wereseen facing the police lathiswhile trying to search paanduring lockdown restrictions.
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Despite extending somemore reliefs to the resi-
dents, the normal life in the citycontinued to remain paralysedas the nationwide lockdownentered eighth day here onWednesday in view to preventspreading of worldwide coro-navirus pandemic. The marketsin most of the areas remainedclosed and with the permis-sions of the Health department,the OPD at government hospi-tals and some private clinicsopened to examine the patientssuffering from seasonal cold,cough and sneezing. Line ofpatients maintaining social dis-tancing was seen at Shree ShivPrasad Gupta (SSPG) Hospital,Kabirchaura and others for thefirst time since March 22 whenJanata Curfew was imposed onthe call of Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19
sample of first positive patientof the district admitted to Pt.Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU)Government Hospital,Pandeypur was sent toMicrobiology department inSir Sundarlal Hospital (SSH),Banaras Hindu University(BHU) for third time for tesing.The patient hails from Chitauravillage in Pindra area. Both thepositive COVID-19 patientsare in DDU Hospital fromwhere the samples of fourmore suspected patients havealso been sent to BHU for test.In all, 22 suspects are at presentbeing treated at quarantineward of the hospital. Besides, a77 years old person and a 30years old youth reached SSHBHU with some coronavirus-like symptoms and they wereadmitted. In all out of 86 sus-pects were brought to SSHfrom which the reports of 83found negative whereas two of
these negative suspects diedduring treatment due to someother reasons. The reports ofthree are still being awaited.
On the instructions of thedistrict administration that allthe wholesale vegetable andfruit markets would remainopen even on weekly closingday, Chanduwa Satti remainedclosed as per tradition ofremaining closed on first day ofevery month. Due to this,heavy rush of people was seenthere at retail sellers and thepolice personnel had toughtime to ask the customers tomaintain social distancing. Thepolice have set up ‘Police PublicAnnapurna Bank’ and invitedall to give their contributions tothe same so that the essentialitems and food packets can beserved to the poor and helplesswithout any problem. A goodnumber of locals had con-tributed the same also but still
several social organisationsand others are conducting theircharity programmes them-selves creating sometimeschaos like situations as neitherthe beneficiaries nor the otherswere seen respecting socialdistancing.
Earlier, in view to make itsaction more stringent, the dis-trict police lodged seven FIRsagainst 14 persons for violatingthe lockdown on Tuesday. Sofar, 10 persons were arrestedunder Section 151 CrPC andduring checking at 14 borderpoints and 49 police barriers,555 vehicles were challanedapart from seizing seven vehi-cles and the total number ofpeople arrested under 151CrPC has increased to 109,while 81 FIRs lodged against137 persons. Besides, 423 vehi-cles were seized and 7670 chal-laned so far since lockdown hasbeen clamped in the district.
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Serving and retired railwayemployees can now pur-
chase the medicines prescribedto them on their OPD slipsfrom market till April 30.
This was disclosed byNorth Central Railway andNorthern Railway (NCR &NR) General Manager RajivChaudhry, who held a reviewmeeting through video confer-encing on Wednesday.
He said to minimise rou-tine visits to hospital and toavoid hardship to serving andretired employees during thelockdown period, the RailwayBoard had authorised them tobuy their monthly OPD med-icines (for BP, sugar, neuro/car-dio diseases etc.) from thelocal medical shops and get theamount reimbursed after pro-ducing the bill. He said thisbenefit would be available tillApril 30 and would be applic-able to retired Railway employ-ees also covered under RELHS.
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District Magistrate Dr BRTiwari said on Wednesday
that eligible people would gettheir monthly ration from pub-lic distribution system (PDS)shops throughout the month.
He said foodgrains werebeing delivered to the PDSshops between 6 am and 8 toensure that they do not run outof stock. He added that therewas no need to panic as enoughfoodgrains were in stock andcould be purchased by the
card holders from the autho-rised shops.
At the same time, the dis-trict magistrate stressed onmaintaining social distancing atthe PDS shops and sanitisationof hands.
Tiwari said other shopsselling essential commoditieswere being regularly moni-tored to ensure that there wasno blackmarketing or over-charging by the shopkeepersand if there was any com-plaint in this regard, theshopowner would face legal
action. The district magistrate said
that any report of blackmarket-ing could be made on phonenumber 8931094988.
He said that 1,135 shopshad been listed for home deliv-ery of household goods underthe supervision of the localpolice stations. He said peoplecould search the list of theirrespective police station onKanpur Municipal Corporationwebsite kmc.up.nic.in.
Tiwari said the KanpurNagar Nigam had been direct-
ed to remove garbage fromevery lane and bylane of all the110 wards of the city.
He said entry and exitfrom the city and district wasbeing strictly monitored andcheckposts had been set up atall entry and exit points toenforce complete lockdown.
Besides, supplies werebeing maintained in the whole-sale medicine markets andthere was proper availability ofmedicines in all retail chemistsshops across the city, the dis-trict magistrate added.
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Kamdhenu Cattle Feed PvtLtd (KCFPL) has con-
tributed � 51 lakh to thePrime Minister’s NationalRelief Fund (PMNRF) for thefight against coronavirus.
KCFPL Managing DirectorSurendra Shivhare handed overa cheque of � 51 lakh to theDistrict Magistrate of Kanpur(City), Dr BR Tiwari, onWednesday.
Shivhare said the organisa-tion stood with the nation inthis hour of crisis. He said theorganisation was also con-tributing in other ways throughCSR.
Meanwhile, JK CementLimited President AK Saraogisaid in an official statementissued on Wednesday thatmore than 2,661 employees of
the Kanpur headquarteredcement company had con-tributed � 57,03,161 fromtheir salaries to thePrime Ministers National ReliefFund.
He said that apart from the
monetary contribution to thegovernment, the company wasalso supporting the local com-munities around its variousplants and offices by providingthem food and shelterbesides timely payments for
casual workers, and medicalfacilities including PPEs, topeople.
“We remain committed tosupport the efforts of the gov-ernment in this difficult time,”Saraogi said.
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In the wake of the coronaviruspandemic, 88 undertrials
and convicts were freed fromthe district jail on bail/paroleon Tuesday.
This has helped the jailadministration to some extentin accommodating otherinmates in the limited spaceavailable there.
The released inmates werelodged in the jail against caseswhich have conviction forseven years or less.
The state administrationhad granted permission torelease 88 undertrials and con-victs. Accordingly, after com-pleting procedural formalities,all the 88 undertrials and con-
victs were released onbail/parole late Tuesdayevening.
Jail Superintendent AshishTewari said on the instructionsof state administration, he hadsent a proposal to JailHeadquarters for the release of273 undertrials and 70 con-victs.
Of these, the JailHeadquarters had directed thespecial committee to take deci-sion by allowing the release of99 inmates. During the day-long meeting of the specialcommittee held on Monday,members rejected the release ofeight inmates, while three pro-posals were found to have beensubmitted in duplicate.
This way, the committee
ordered to release 88 inmateson Tuesday.
Kin of all the inmates hadalready been informed abouttheir release in advance.
On Tuesday, with the sanc-tion of their bail/parole one-by-one, all the inmates were freedby evening for eight weeks.
During the bail/parole,they are not required to reportto their respective police stationdaily. However, they have beenfreed on the condition that theywill not go to any other placeexcepting their home duringthe bail/parole period, Tewarisaid. As there was no one fromtheir families at the jail gate, allthe inmates had to march onfoot in the absence of any con-veyance due to lockdown.
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7��������������KANPUR (PNS): An
elderly couple was safely res-cued after their flat suddenlycaught fire in Chandra Nagarlocality under Chakeri policestation on Wednesday morn-ing.
The couple was living alonein the flat and on seeing themsurrounded by flames, the localresidents safely rescued them.
On being intimated aboutthe fire, three fire-tenders wererushed to the spot but beforethe could arrive, the neigh-bours had controlled the fire.
Cloth trader ShadabQureshi lives in flat No. 102 onthe first f loor of SonaApartment in Chandra Nagar.
Due to the lockdown, hehad gone to his ancestral villageBilgram in Hardoi with allfamily members, leaving hismaternal uncle and aunt tolook after the flat.
Around 6 am on
Wednesday, fire broke out inthe flat due to short-circuit.Seeing the flames, the neigh-bours informed the elderlycouple, the police and the firebrigade about the fire.
As the room opening in thecommon corridor was sur-rounded by flames, it was verydifficult to take out the elder-ly couple from there. As panicprevailed and other residents ofthe apartment rushed out onthe street, some local residents
used ladder to reach the bal-cony of the flat and safely res-cued the elderly couple bybreaking the window.
In the meantime three fire-tenders reached the spot but bythen the locals had extin-guished the fire with the helpof their submersible pumps.
Chakeri outpost inchargeRakesh Dixit said the fire brokeout due to short-circuit whenthe elderly couple was presentin the flat.
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Amidst nation-wide lock-down, the employees of
North Central Railway’sPrayagraj division, while risk-ing their lives, are playing avery important role in saferunning of goods trains.
These employees are livingaway from their families andare working tirelessly so thatnecessary items like coal forelectricity, wheat, rice, salt,vegetables, medicine, and milkreach different parts of thecountry without any delay.
Thousands of railway staffof signal and telecommunica-tion department of Mirzapur,Prayagraj, Fatehpur, Kanpur,Aligarh, Tundla, Etawah areserving the nation 24x7 bydoing regular maintenancework of field signals, points,track circuits etc. for seamlessmovement of train also main-taining social distancing asadvised by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to check thespread of coronavirus. Therailways is maintaining verystrict hygiene and social dis-tancing protocol. Availability ofsanitisers, masks, soap, cottontowel (gamcha) etc. is beingensured among essential cate-gory staff through inhouse aswell as sourcing from markets.
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Superintendent of PoliceManilal Patidar distributed
masks and sanitisersamong police officers,employees, PRDjawans, homeguardsand guards posted inthe city. Police officersand employees weregiven necessary guide-lines and asked to takeproper precautions inorder to prevent thespread of novel coro-navirus. On the occa-sion they were told to usemasks and sanitisers duringduty.Additional Superintendentof Police (ASP) PRO DevendraKumar Shukla and others werepresent on the occasion.
Meanwhile the DistrictMagistrate Awadhesh KumarTiwari and SP Manilal Patidarreviewed the distribution of
ration in the city onWednesday. They urged thepeople to maintain social dis-tancing and directed the offi-cials concerned to ensure avail-ability of ration to everyone.
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Additional DistrictMagistrate (ADM)
Prameel Kumar Singh alongwith social workers distrib-uted food and other essentialitems among the needy. Thedistrict administration alongwith some social workers vis-ited the interior areas of thetown like Lahariya Purva andgave lunch packets to theneedy.
The ADM said that in viewof the three-week-long nation-wide lockdown people belong-ing to the economically weak-er sections of society here werefinding it difficult to get foodand other essential items. He
urged the social workers tocome forward to help the needypeople. The initiative taken bydistrict administration andsocial workers to distributelunch packets was being appre-ciated. AdditionalSuperintendent of Police (ASP),Dr Awadhesh Singh, formerchairman, Nagar Palika,Orai,Vijay Chaudhary, socialworker Jaleel Seth, Manoj Raja,Vicky Parihar, Sanjay Guptaand Devendra Yadav were alsopresent on the occasion.
Meanwhile former chair-man Nagar Palika, Orai, VijayChaudhary, has appealed to thesocial workers to come forwardand extend their help to theneedy at this critical juncture.
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District District MagistrateAmit Singh Bansal and
police chief Banda SiddharthShankar Meena inspected thepolice checkposts establishedon the Banda-Mahoba andBanda-Fatehpur borders anddirected the policemen to fol-low the instructions of thegovernment to keep the bor-ders sealed. DM Bansal saidthat the police authorities andthe officials had directed toallow the entry of vehicles withvalid pasess only. DM saidthat the policemen wereinstructed to get the verifica-tion of vehicle passes donewith the responsible authoritiesif case of any doubt. He saidthat they were directed toensure the thermal screening ofpassengers coming on foot. SPSiddharth Shankar Meena saidthat entry of vehicles withoutvalid passes had been restrict-ed on the borders. SP said thathe was taking regular rounds ofdistrict along with DM BandaAmit Bansal. Meena said thatlockdown in the district wascent per cent. SP said that
police had been instructed notto allow people on road with-out urgent work.
DM Amit Singh Bansalwhile tlaking to ‘The Pioneer’that he had issued instruc-tions to authorities concerned
to ensure that people who havereturned home after a foreigntrip or attended the TablighiJamaat Markhaz inNizamuddin, Delhi, were quar-antined for 14 days. Bansal saidthat it was the moral responsi-
bility of all such people toannounce their names volun-tarily, come forward for ther-mal screening and remain inquarantine for 14 days. If some-one was found guilty of hidingtravel history and was suddenly
found Coronavirus positivethen he or she would be pun-ished under Section 144 of theIndian Penal Code (IPC). DMBansal said that coronavirushad already been declared aspandemic and under Section 2
of the Pandemic Act, 1897, itwas mandatory to quarantinethose people who came to thedistrict from foreign countriesor other states of the nation for14 days. DM Bansal said that hehad made SDM JP Yadav asnodal officer to look after thiswork. DM said that those whowanted to share any detailsabout their travel history couldcontact the authorities on dis-trict control numbers 05192-224460 and 0192-285260. DMsaid that the survey of personswho had come about fromforeign countries and otherstates of the nation had alreadybeen done and their details hadbeen noted down by theauthorities. DM said that hehad issued instructions to allsuch people to reach grampradhans, gram panchayatmembers etc. DM Bansal saidthat he had directed sub-divi-sional magistrates (SDMs) ofBanda, Baberu, Naraini andAtarra to trace all such peoplein their areas and take them tothe quarantine centres andensure stern action againstthem. No laxity in work wouldbe tolerated, DM said.
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In view of ongoing nation-wide lockdown to check the
spread of coronavirus pan-demic district president ofBharatiya Janata Party, SuryaNarayan Tiwari, distributedfood packets to patients whohad come to the districtwomen’s hospital, labourersliving in Malviya Nagar, help-less families living in KashiramAvas besides the poor living indifferent parts of the city.Giving this information tomediapersons, the districtmedia incharge, Vishnu PratapShukla, said that on the call ofthe nation and state leadership,the entire team of BharatiyaJanata Party was currently help-ing the poor and helpless peo-ple. During this time, all theBJP officials, including citypresident Vishal Agarwal,regional office secretary,Shubham Awasthi, PawanSrivastava and RaghavendraTiwari were present.Meanwhile on being informedby policemen that the problemof food has arisen in front ofsome poor, disabled, helplesspeople due to the lockdown toprevent the spread of coron-avirus police officer KK Ranagot food prepared in the messof the police station. Thereafterhe constituted a team com-
prising SSI Rakesh KumarSingh and S-I Pramod KumarAgnihotri food packets weredistributed among the needypeople in Majha village. Policeofficer said that helped wasbeing provided to those whofaced the problem of food. Hesaid that the Kotwali policewould continue to assist thepoor and helpless people.Diwan Rajkishore, Abrar Khan,constables Akhand PratapSingh, Jitendra Singh, womenconstables Sushma Yadav andVaishnavi Tiwari and otherpersonnel extended their coop-eration.
Another report said thatthe men in khaki showinghumanity provided food andwater to the hungry and thirstypeople who had travelled longdistances. Inspector incharge ofKarnalganj Kotwali KK Ranaalong with police force got themedical examination of thefpassengers who arrived bybuses from Delhi, Mumbaiand Ambala at CSC trifurca-tion under the KarnalganjKotwali conducted atVivekananda Inter College.Thereafter inspector inchargeand along with elite citizensprovided food and water to allpassengers with the help of elitecitizens. The passengers praisedthe police for their kind gesture.On this occasion along with
inspector incharge sub-inspec-tor Ranjit Yadav, head consta-ble Rajkishore, constablesAkhand Pratap Singh, RahulPaswan and women constablesKanaklata Devi, Priyanka Singhand Sushmita Pal were also pre-sent.
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Commissioner DevipatanDivision Mahendra Kumar onTuesday held a meeting withDeputy Inspector General(DIG) of Police, Dr RakeshSingh, District Magistrate DrNitin Bansal and Healthdepartment officials to reviewpreparations and arrangementsin view of the lockdown forprevention of coronavirus.
In the meeting theCommissioner directed theAdditional Director of Healthto prepare a list of availabilityof health resources in all thedistricts of the division requiredto deal with it and present itbefore him so that the govern-ment could be made awareabout it so that it could makenecessary arrangements. Healso directed all the ChiefMedical Officers (CMOs) toseek reports daily of the workdone to tackle with this disas-ter at the primary health cen-tres and community healthcentres located in their respec-
tive districts. TheCommissioner further saidthat such arrangements shouldbe there so that 100 per centcompliance of lockdown orderwas ensured. He said thatbesides screening of peoplewho were coming from outsideproper arrangements for quar-antining them should also beensured so that there was nopossibility of infection. Besidesreviewing door-to-door deliv-ery, he also asked the authori-ties concerned to ensure thatthere was no shortage of essen-tial items and no personremained hungry. At the sametime, DIG Dr Rakesh Singhinstructed all the police officersof the division to ensure 100per cent compliance of lock-down and keep a close watchon those spreading rumors.District Magistrate Dr NitinBansal explained in detail aboutdoor-to-door delivery, avail-ability of essential goods andother arrangements besidesthose for screening and quar-antining people who had comefrom outside. Superintendentof Police (SP) Raj KaranNayyar, AD (Health) Dr AshokGupta, Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Gonda Dr MadhuGairola, Chief MedicalSuperintendent (CMS) DistrictHospital Dr Arun Lal andother officials were present.
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As many as 38 employees ofvarious departments, sig-
nal workshop and mechanicalworkshop located at NorthEastern Railway (NER) head-quarters retired on Tuesday.They include 15 employeesfrom various departments atthe headquarters, six fromaccounts department, threefrom signal workshop and 14from mechanical workshop.The settlement amount of theseemployees was paid on the duedate despite the countrywidelockdown.
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People are coming forwardto extend help to the peoplewho were facing problems in
earning their livelihood due tothe lockdown in view of coro-navirus. Chandravati Devi(75), a resident of ChaturBanduari in Bansgaon areadonated packets containingwheat and rice to the needypeople belonging to the villageand its nearby area. She saidthat everyone should comeforward to save humanity.
Meanwhile as many as1,000 people who had comefrom Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab,Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtraand other states and districtswere quarantined onWednesday. As many as 3,725people have been quarantinedin the 1,395 quarantine centresbuilt in 20 blocks of the districtsince Sunday, last reportsreceived here said. Apart fromit more than 7,000 people hadbeen quarantined at home,
including children and women.The quarantine centres set up ingram panchayats have a capac-ity to accommodate 27,024 peo-ple. On the instructions ofDistrict Magistrate food anddrinking facilities were beingprovided at the centre itself. Theresponsibility of this centre hadbeen assigned to the BDO, sec-retary of Panchayati RajDepartment and pradhan. ChiefDevelopment Officer (CDO)Harshita Mathur said that thebiggest problem was keeping thepeople who had from outside atthe quarantine centre. OnTuesday night it was reportedfrom several places that peopleforcibly went to their homes andlater they were somehowbrought back. At many placeshelp of police had to be sought.The official said that strictaction would now be taken
against the quarantined peoplewho run away from there andadded that efforts were beingmade to explain things to themthat violation of the instruc-tions could put their familiesand society at risk.
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A fire broke out due to anelectric short circuit in wardnumber 7 at Narkat under theChauri Chaura police stationaround 6:30 pm on Tuesday.On getting information aboutthe matter hundreds of people,including representative of theNagar Panchayat Chairman,Jyoti Prakash Gupta, reachedthe spot. The flames weresomehow extinguished bythem. People also informed thefirebrigade about the matter.
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Principal Rajkiya MedicalCollege Dr Dwijendra Nath
issued guidelines to prevent thespread of coronavirus. He saidthat they had 200 beds forquarantined patients with eightwards of 25 bed each. He saidthat they also had 20-bed iso-lation ward with 10 bedsequipped with ventilators. wasthere on 10 beds.PrincipalMedical College Dr DwijendraNath said said that social dis-tancing and hand wash wasnecessary for every individual.
He said that they had com-pletely sanatised RajkiyeMedical College. He also
appreciated the staff for work-ing hard for the welfare of the
people. CMS Medical CollegeDr Sanjeev Gupta said that
intake of vitamin C and zincwould increase immunity
which would be helpful in pre-venting novel coronavirus. Dr
Ravindra Rajpoot, HoD-ENTdepartment, said that drinkinghot water and lime water couldalso play a major role in pre-venting coronavirus. Dr ManojVerma, HOD Orthopaedicdepartment), Dr NutanAgarwal, nodal officer, coro-navirus, Dr Veerendra Gupta,Dr Sushil Kumar Verma, DrPC Purohit, Dr Shailesh PratapSingh, Dr Chandra Shekhar, DrSumit Sachan, Dr ArunAhirwar were also present.Few intern doctors who wereworking voluntarily were DrSandeep, Dr Arvind, Dr SwatiVerma, Dr Meenakshi, Dr AjaySaroj, Dr Pankaj , Dr RohitBharti and Dr Akansha.
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Co m m i s s i o n e rChitrakootdham Division
Gaurav Dayal and DeputyInspector General (DIG)Chitrakootdham RangeDeepak Kumar inspected tem-porary screening centres/shel-ters established at Mahoba,Charkhari and Gaurhari forlabourers who came here dur-ing the lockdown period. Afterinspecting these temporaryscreening centres/sheltersDayal told ‘The Pioneer’ thatthey visited rain baseraMahoba and found that 72labourers were staying here.They said that district admin-istration had made arrange-ments for their stay and food.They said that they had comefrom Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabadand Mumbai. These labouresunderwent thermal screeningand were advised to be kept inquarantine for 14 days.Commissioner Dayal said thatinstructions were issued toDM Mahoba Awadhesh KumarTiwari to look after the
arrangements and issueinstructions to SDMs and grampradhans concerned to ensurethat these labourers were quar-antined in the school/govern-ment office buildings in the vil-lages. Commissioner Dayalsaid that later he and DIGKumar inspected DivisionalRevenue Training schoolCharkhari and observed that 19labourers who came fromNoida and Delhi were staying.These people also informedthem that arrangement fortheir stay and food was made
by the administration.Commissioner said thatinstructions were issued toDM to take care of the labour-ers and coordinate with theauthorities to ensure that theywere quarantined for 14 days inthe schools / government officebuildings. Later they moved toPanchayat Bhawan, Gaurihari,in Charkhari tehsil. As many as29 people were found stayinghere. These labourers had comefrom Delhi, Noida andFaridabad. They said that theirthermal screening was done by
the doctors and were advisedthat should be quarantined for14 days. Commissioner saidthat the local administrationhad got a television installed forentertaining these labourers.These people told that theywere being served breakfast,tea, lunch and dinner on time.They all appreciated thearrangements made for them.These labourers said that theywere given soaps and sanitizersto take care of hygiene.Commissioner said that therewas no fan in the building. Hedirected gram pradhan to getone installed in the buildingimmediately. He said thatinstructions were issued togram pradhan to take care ofthe labourers staying atPanchayat Bhawan.Commissioner said that thearrangements made for theselabourers were found satisfac-tory. He said that DM MahobaAwadhesh Kumar Tiwari hadbeen directed to ensure that thesuspects found during ther-mal/physical screening werequarantined.
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Additional Superintendentof Police (ASP) Premchand
and Sakaldeeha Circle Officer(CO) Jagatram Kanaujia dis-tributed foodgrains among thepoor and helpless people inDheena. ASP said that pulses,rice, wheat, flour, oil, vegeta-bles, salt and potatoes were dis-tributed among poor and help-less families so that they did notface any problem during theongoing three-week-longnationwide lockdown in forceto check the spread of coron-avirus. Circle Officer (CO)
Jagatram Kanaujia while dis-tributing foodgrains amongthe poor made an appeal forhaving patience in this difficultsituation. Meanwhile youthsand social workers were con-stantly working to help theneedy. On Tuesday the youthsof Dharav and Dhanapur town-ship provided relief materials tothe needy at their doorstep.Social workers Sajid Khan,Tufail Khan, Satyadev Yadav,Vimal Singh Dada, DharamSingh, gram pradhan, Sakrari,Sanjay Singh, Subedar Singhare constantly helping the poorhelpless persons.
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Senior Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leader Shravan Kumar
Singh, served food to poorlabourers in Dharkar andcrusher areas in Chopan, Bari,Dala, Sinduria and Bardiamade an appeal to them to stayin the house in view of thenationwide lockdown orderedby Prime Minister NarendraModi to check the spread ofCovid-19. He said that theysaid that there was no coron-avirus patient in this area yet allof us needed to be alert andaware. He told them that theyshould not shake hands withanyone and maintain a distance
of one metre from each other.Prime Minister Narendra Modi
had made arrangements forfood for all the people. He said
that if anyone faced any kind ofproblem they could call on thenumber 112, inform the per-sonnel there about it and theirproblem would definitely besolved. He said that they try towash their hands regularly. Hesaid that the UP Governmenthad announced financial aid of�1,000 each to labourers inview of coronavirus outbreakand they had received it. He saidthat they could tell their prob-lems to the pary workers andthey would solve them. On theoccasion president of BJP’sChopan division Sunil Singh,Dharmesh Jain, Amit Agarwal,Vikas Choubey, Praveen Shuklaand Ankur Jaiswal were present.
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Agang of unidentifiedthieves struck at three
houses in Rath and decampedwith gold and silver ornamentsbesides the battery of a tractorhere at night. The victims hadlodged a complaint anddemanded action in the matter.According to a report, Banta, aresident of Mohalla FRasouliana of the city, toldRath police that he was sleep-ing in his second house whenunidentified thieves targeted itand stole clothes of childrenand other belongings. Nizam,son of Kallu, said that he hadgone to Dagwan village whenthieves broke open the lock ofhis house and stole gold and sil-ver ornaments besides �5,000in cash. In the third incident.Rahman, son of BaliMohammad, a resident ofMohalla Chhoti Zulheti, saidthat the thieves stole the batterof the tractor which had beenparked in front of his door.
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Taking the side of a ‘chaat’seller proved costly for a
man in Mudiya Kheria villageunder the MohammadiKotwali here. Some assailantssuddenly barged into his houseand murdered him.
When contacted inspectorincharge Sanjay Tyagi said thatChhotu sold chaat on a hand-cart in front of his house.Some persons of the villageused to pick up stuff from thereand did not even pay moneyafter having chaat there.However, when Muneer (45), aresident of the village, object-ed to it some persons bargedinto his house and attacked himwith an axe as a result of whichhe was seriously injured andrushed to the nearby commu-nity health centre (CHC) wherethe doctors on duty declaredhim dead. Inspector inchargesaid that a case had been reg-istered against the culprits inthis connection and the bodyof the deceased had been sentfor the post-mortem examina-tion. A hunt for the assailantswas on, he added.
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Continuing with their effortsto fight the coronavirus
pandemic, the Armed forceshave taken several measures tomeet any exigency in the com-ing days including readyingmore than 9,000 beds, 8,500doctors, nurses and supportstaff and airlifting more than 25tons of medicines to the northeast and Ladakh in the last five days.
Giving these updates in avideo conference review meet-ing held here on Wednesday byDefence Minister RajnathSingh, the Services also said25,000 National CadetCorps(NCC)cadets weremobilised to assist the localadministration and the armedforces were in constant touchwith the civil authorities.
The Defence Ministerappreciated the efforts beingmade by various Services,organisations and DefencePublic SectorUndertakings(DPSUs)s interms of evacuation, provisionof health care in quarantinefacilities and research & pro-duction of medical equipmentsuch as sanitisers, facemasksand Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPE). He directedall the organisations to redou-ble their efforts and work inclose coordination with otherMinistries/organisations of
central government in this cru-cial time.
Chief of DefenceStaff(CDS) General BipinRawat informed Singh thatseparate hospitals have beenidentified to exclusively dealwith COVID-19 and morethan 9,000 hospital beds havebeen made available. Over1,000 evacuees are quaran-tined at facilities in Jaisalmer,Jodhpur, Chennai, Manesar,Hindan and Mumbai. Theirquarantine period will end byApril 7, 2020.
Air Chief RKS Bhadauriainformed that the Air Forceplanes conducted several sor-ties within the country in thelast five days to transportapproximately 25 tonnes ofmedical supplies.
He said, critical opera-tional work is continuing whileensuring all necessary precau-tions. Navy Chief AdmiralKarambir Singh said navalships are on standby to extendany required assistance. Hesaid, the Navy is also extendingassistance as required by localcivilian administration.
Army Chief General M MNaravane said more than 8,500doctors and support staff areavailable to extend necessaryassistance to civilian adminis-tration. Referring to thedefence minister’s directionthat help should be provided toneighbouring countries, he
said assistance to Nepal in theform of medical equipmentwill be delivered shortly.
Secretary Department ofDefence R&D and ChairmanDefence Research andD e v e l o p m e n tO r g a n i s a t i o n ( D R D O ) GSatheesh Reddy said 50,000litres of sanitizers made byDRDO labs were supplied tovarious security entities,including the Delhi Police andanother one lakh litres weresupplied all over the country.
He said, a five-layered nanotechnology face mask N99 arebeing made on war footing.More than 10,000 have alreadybeen made and soon per dayproduction will be extended to20,000, Reddy said adding theDRDO laboratories have alsosupplied 40,000 other facemasks to the Delhi Police.
The DRDO Secretary,being a member of the empow-ered Group of Secretaries, iscoordinating closely withMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare regarding the require-ment of medical equipment.Another DRDO laboratory hasalso made arrangements tomake 20,000 PPE per day. TheDRDO is also engaged inminor modification of ventila-tors so that one machine cansupport four patients at thesame time.
Director General ArmedForces Medical
Services(AFMS) Lt GeneralAnup Banerji informed theDefence Minister that neces-sary equipment has been pro-cured and dispatched to vari-ous hospitals. Retired healthprofessionals have also beenkept in readiness to volunteertheir services. Approximately25,000 National Cadet Corps(NCC) cadets are beingmobilised to provide necessarylocal assistance.
Various DPSUs such asHindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL), BharatElectronics Limited (BEL),Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited(MIDHANI), Bharat DynamicsLimited (BDL), Bharat EarthMovers Limited (BEML),Hindustan Shipyard Limited(HSL) and Goa ShipyardLimited (GSL) have con-
tributed 40 crores of their cor-porate social responsibility(CSR) funds to PrimeMinister’s Citizen Assistanceand Relief in EmergencySituations (PM-CARES) fund.In addition, they have alsocontributed one day salary ofall their employees to the PM-CARES fund.
Following the directionfrom the Defence Minister,the DPSUs conveyed to himthat they have made salary pay-ment to all the casual andcontractual workers also. TheOrdnance Factory Board(OFB) is also engaged in man-ufacturing hand sanitisers, facemasks and PPE.
The video conference wasattended by Minister of Statefor Defence Shripad Naik,Chief of Defence Staff General
Bipin Rawat, Chief of NavalStaff Admiral Karambir Singh,Chief of Air Staff Air ChiefMarshal R K S Bhadauria,Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane, Defence SecretaryAjay Kumar, Secretary(Defence Production)RajKumar, Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare)Sanjeevanee Kutty, Secretary(Defence Finance)Gargi Kaul,Secretary Department ofDefence R&D and ChairmanDefence Research &Development Organisation(DRDO)G Satheesh Reddy,Director General ArmedForces Medical Services(AFMS) Lt General AnupBanerji, heads of DefencePublic Sector Undertakings(DPSUs) and other senior civiland military officials.
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Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi urging him to consider giving
advance wages to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers hit by the nationwide lock-down. Congress too reiterated its demand on Wednesday that theunion government should announce minimum three months loaninterest waiver on EMIs for salaried, middle class and medium smalland micro enterprises (MSME).
This is the third such letter that Sonia has written to Modi inthe last one week urging the union government to take steps to tack-le on financial aspects in the midst of Corona outbreak and lock-down. “Social distancing norms have rendered all works unfeasi-ble under lockdown. Furthermore even after the work commences,MGNREGA workers have to wait for more than a month to receivewages,” Sonia said in the letter.
“Given the urgency of providing support to the rural poor, dueto lost wages, the government may consider immediate advance pay-ment of wages for 21 days to registered and active MGNREGA work-ers. The advance may be adjusted against the work to be done bythe workers, once MGNREGA sites are opened up,” she added.
Last week Sonia had written to Modi to consider direct cashtransfers to the poor, a six-month suspension of recoveries from farm-ers, waving off equated monthly instalments (EMIs) for the salariedclass for six months and a sector-wise relief package for business-es in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.
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India’s external and internalintelligence agencies failed to
read, assess and report thewarning signals emerging fromthe Tablighi Jamaat stable with-in and outside the country.
As Tablighi Jamaat contin-ued its ijtema (congregation) inKuala Lumpur (Feb 27-Mar 1),Lahore (March 13), Sulawesi,Selatan in Indonesia (Mar 18),26 Covid-19 positive Jamaatmembers were reported inMalaysia and 45 in Lahoreand an unknown numbers inIndonesia. But India’s externalIntelligence agency Researchand Analysis Wing (R&AW)did not report the viral epi-demic at Tablighi events in theregion or issue an alert to theeffect.
Similary, the IntelligenceBureau ignored the foreignTablighi members’ movementacross the country spreadingthe pandemic to the hinterland.
The issue of the Jamaat’scongregation in Kuala Lumpurwas highlighted there in themedia due to the threat itposed to public health amid thecoronavirus pandemic. Takingcognisance of the Jamaat-relat-
ed developments in Malaysia,Indonesia did not allow theTablighi to hold the congrega-tion from March 17 to 19.However, a number of theTablighis who had alreadyarrived on the venue inIndonesia infected a number ofco-participants.
While the COVID-19 out-break trend was developing inthe region in Tablighi’s con-gregations, hundreds of theJamaat members were assem-bled in the Nizamuddin areadespite concerned citizensexpressing concerns to theauthorities over the presence ofso many people in a relativelysmall facility amid the push forsocial distancing.
The returning jamaats weregiven clear instructions byTablinghi Jamaat chiefMohammad Saad to accessmore and more mosques aftergoing back from Nizamuddin.
Scores of foreign Tablighi
members spread across thecountry, spreading the coron-avirus to the interiors of thecountry and posing a majorthreat to public health amid theongoing lockdown in the coun-try to counter the COVID-19pandemic.
This is not the first timethat the Research and AnalysisWing, responsible for gatheringexternal intelligence, did notmeet the expectations of theGovernment as it could notassess the mood in theEuropean Union after the pas-sage of the CitizenshipAmendment Act by theParliament here. A resolutionagainst the CAA was movedrecently and the agency wascaught unawares.
Likewise, the IB has alsorecorded back to back lapseswith the agency not being ableto generate any credible inputsahead of the communal riots inthe national capital last month.
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The Centre may disburseover �8,000- �10,000 crore
to farmers as compensation forthe loss of kharif crop whichgot damaged due to excessiverains in October andNovember last year. Theamount is expected to bereleased by April 20. TheMinistry of Agriculture hasalso asked states to conductyield assessment of rabi cropalso to assess the damage. TheCentre disbursed compensa-tion of around �4,500 crore tofarmers in Maharashtra a fewweeks ago.
Officials of agricultureministry said that excess mon-soon rains and the floods
caused by them affected cropsin Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat,Karnataka, Assam, AndhraPradesh, Punjab, Odisha andBihar. Bihar has not soughtcompensation for kharif croploss due to excessive rains andflood.
“ The maximum payoutnow would be going to MadhyaPradesh where �2,500 crore-3,000 crore would be disbursed,followed by Karnataka (�1,500crore), Rajasthan (�1,200crore), Andhra Pradesh (� 800-1,000 crore) and Chhattisgarh(�600 crore),” officials added.The compensation for farmersin Rajasthan includex lossesincurred due to locust attacks,which damaged standing crops
in January-February 2020besides the kharif crop losses.
“The ministry is pushinginsurance companies to releasethe compensation at a timewhen farmers are facing severeproblems during lockdown,”officials added. TheMaharashtra government hassought �7,207-crore financialassistance from the Centre tocompensate farmers for theircrop damages due to unsea-sonal rain. Unseasonal rainhas damaged more than67.52% of the total kharif cropsown this year. As per theMaharashtra governmentclaim, it has damaged 94 lakhhectares of crop and 103.52lakh farmers were severelyaffected. in the state.
According to Skymet, thecountry as a whole received 110per cent of the long periodaverage (LPA) of 89 centimetresof rainfall during the four-month-long southwest mon-soon period, making it to theabove normal category. Amongmeteorological divisions,Central India and SouthernPeninsula received the maxi-mum rainfall of 129 per centand 116 per cent of their LPA,respectively. Among the 36meteorological sub-divisions,western Madhya Pradesh with161 per cent of its LPA emergedas the largest surplus, while thesubdivision that includesHaryana, Chandigarh andDelhi had a deficiency of 42 percent.
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Amid the coronavirus pan-demic, a study by top
Indian microbiologists haveclaimed that the strain of thevirus that causes Covid-19 dis-ease in India is not as deadlyas the ones which are taking atoll in Italy, Spain and the US.
On Tuesday, the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) had said that three
types of coronavirus strainsare doing round in the country.
In an in-depth genomicanalysis of rapidly revolvingSARS-CoV-2(COVID-19)viruses, a team of scientists ledby top Indian microbiologistsdiscovered that strain found inIndia, matches with thesequence of new coronavirusfound in Wuhan, and is less vir-ulent.
However, while the strain iscomparatively less virulent, the
scientists also suggested thatbased on data, it is assumed that
the virus is mutating very rapid-ly. It means that the vaccinedeveloped for one strain mightnot work for other strains cir-culating in other countries.
If the virus after entering ahuman body mutates rapidlythen it often becomes difficultto counter it.
The study analysed thedata taken from different coun-tries including, Italy, Spain,US, China, Nepal and India.
“The study shows that virus
is mutating very rapidly. In sim-pler words, we can say the virusis cor hanging its structurequickly...which means it will bedifficult to develop a vaccine forprevention from this dreadedvirus.
“Even if we develop a vac-cine, we are not sure that thesame vaccine will work in otherparts of the world, looking atthe nature of different strains ofCOVID-19,” said Rup Lal, asenior scientist with The Energy
and Resources Institute(TERI).On why people are dying
more in Spain, Italy and now inthe US, scientist Vipin Gupta,a key member of Lal’s team, saidin their study it was discoveredthat virus which changed itselfrapidly in Europe and then inthe US, was more devastating.
On being asked about thevirus isolated here in India,Gupta said: “We cannot con-clude but safely say at thispoint, that strains of virus
found in India is less virulentwhen we compare it with theUS’’.” During the study, Indianmicrobiologist discovered thatgenomes of six isolates, specif-ically from the US, were foundto harbour unique amino acidand showed amino acid sub-stitutions in proteins.Interpreting the scientific ter-minology for common man,Gupta, who specialises inBioinformatics said, “This sug-gests the severity of mutating
viral genome in the populationof US. Simply to say the virusstrain in US is quite threaten-ing for humans”.
Lal said that differentstrategies are required and see-ing the fast changing charac-teristic of the virus, treatmentwould also be difficult.
“Our study is on, and themore we look deep into thesequence the more facts we willbe able to dig out,” added VipinGupta.
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With railway stations shutdown for passengers due
to Covid-19 lockdown, theAkhil Bharatiya Railway KhanPaan Licence WelfareAssociation (ABKPLWA) hassought intervention of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andRailway Minister Piyush Goyalseeking relief on license fees ofthe vendors involved in cateringneeds to passengers at railwaystations.
“As all small licensees havedeposited considerable amountof license fee, to provide assis-tance to them, it is urged to takeimmediate decision and issueinstructions to forego license feeand 18 per cent GST periodicallyas per contracts, “ said RajinderGupta, ABKPLWA president,in a letter to the RailwayMinister.
Gupta said since FinanceMinistry has taken a note of thefact that likely intensity of coro-navirus disease necessitatesmobilisation of financial help toneedy people and announcedvarious relief packages for weak-er sections and daily wage work-
ers in these days of gravest cri-sis, the vendors association ofIndian railways network tooseeks measures to help lakhs ofpeople associated with this busi-ness.
“While Ministry of Railwayshas granted relaxation in demur-rage-wharfage and Ministry ofFinance for payment of wages tooutsourced persons it is hightime to forego license fee as wellas GST of small catering vend-ing licenses for March 2020onwards so that they may be ableto help lakhs of families of rail-ways catering vending vendors,“ Gupta said.
He informed Rail Ministrythat soon after the lockdown theassociation issued advisory to allsmall licencees and their vendorsworking over Indian Railwaysplatforms network to take allprecautionary measures.
“Since complete closure ofRailways has been declaredthere is absolute shut down ofcatering vending stalls, trolleys,trays and lakhs of vendors’workers and their families areaffected so financial benefitsextended to all will be appreci-ated,” the letter said.
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The Union HRD Ministryon Wednesday directed the
Central Board of SecondaryEducation (CBSE) to promoteall students of Classes 1 to 8 inthe country to the next Class inview of the nationwide lock-down due to the deadly coro-navirus.
Besides, it also announcedthat CBSE Class 10th and 12thresults are expected to bedeclared by May end providedthe CBSE board exams 2020 getover in April.
CBSE exams for class 10and class 12 were postponed onMarch 18 given the coron-avirus pandemic across thecountry. These exams, sched-uled between March 19, 2020to March 31, 2020 will be con-ducted post the 21 day lock-down imposed by the govern-ment. CBSE, however, is yet torevise the Class 10 and Class 12examination dates.
“Students are advised tokeep a watch on the officialCBSE website for latest infor-mation on results,” said a CBSEcircular.
This is not the first timethat CBSE exams have beenpostponed. The CBSE Class 10and Class 12 exams were alsopostponed due to the violence
that rocked Northeast Delhi. “The exams in the area for
class 12 will begin on March 31and conclude on April 14,while exams for class 10 willbegin on March 21 and con-clude on March 30,” a seniorHRD Ministry official said.
The board also announcedto promote all students ofclasses 1 to 8 in the all the CBSEaffiliated schools across thecountry.
“In view of the current sit-uation due to #COVID19, Ihave advised @cbseindia29 topromote ALL students study-ing in classes I-VIII to the nextclass or grade,” HRD MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’said in a series of tweets.
He also said that the stu-dents of classes 9 and 11 will bepromoted on school-basedassessments conducted dur-ing the year, adding that thosewho failed to get promoted thistime due to low assessmentscan appear in school based testsonline or offline.
“Students studying in class-es IX & XI will be promoted tonext class/grade based on theschool-based assessmentsincluding projects, periodictests, term exams, etc. con-ducted so far. Students notpromoted this time can appearin school-based tests, online oroffline,” Nishank tweeted.
The HRD ministry alsodirected the CBSE to conductclass 10 and 12 board exami-nations for only 29 main sub-jects which are crucial for pro-motion and admission to high-er educational institutions.
“Have advised CBSE toconduct board exams only for29 main subjects that are
required for promotion andcrucial for university admis-sions.
Whenever CBSE is in aposition to hold board exams,it shall conduct for 29 subjectsby giving adequate notice. Forrest of the subjects, CBSE willnot hold board exams andinstructions for their marking,
assessment will be issued soon,”he said.
The CBSE also announcedthat it will not conduct pend-ing class 10, 12 exams inschools affiliated to the boardin foreign countries.
The exams were postponedin view of the coronavirus out-break in the country.
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HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on
Wednesday directed theIndian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs) to ensurethat placements of studentsare not affected due to the sit-uation arising out of the coro-navirus pandemic.
In a meeting with headsof 23 IITs through video conferencing, he directed thata task force be set up for thepurpose.
“A task force call forplacements may be set up ininstitutes to liaise with variouscompanies to ensure that ade-
quate placement not belowthe levels of past years maytake place in these institutes.Academic calendar of theinstitutes may be prepared sothat students do not losesummer and winter intern-ships,” Nishank told the IITheads.
“Mental health-relatedchallenges of students duringthe lockdown period alsoneed to be addressed by allthe institutes and a helpline beestablished in this regard.There should be a task forceset up by every institute whichshould include psychologiststo handle mental healthissues,” he added.
The institutes are closed
and exams suspended due tothe nationwide lockdown inview of the coronavirus out-break that has claimed 38 livesin the country till now.
The Minister alsoinstructed the IITs to ensurethat they should conductactive research work in thearea of COVID19. PokhriyalNishank advised the institutesto continue with its researchwork already being done but given the pre-sent circumstances it isresponsibility of all citizens tocontribute for welfare of thenation and IITs have to playa crucial role for technologi-cal advancements includingmedical equipments.
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In one of the strongest con-demnations of the Tablighi
Jamaat, Union Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvion Wednesday termed its reli-gious congregation a “Talibanicrime”and an “unpardonablesin” committed “intentionally”by the organisation.
The National Commissionfor Minorities also said theJamaat caused a “big damage”and asked states to ensure strictcompliance of the lockdown bymadrasas and other religiousplaces. It is said many congre-gation participants in Delhistayed in as many as 16mosques in the national capital.
“Talibani Crime by TablighiJamaat. This is not negligence.It’s a serious criminal act. Whenthe entire country is fightingunited against Corona, such asin is unpardonable,” the minor-ity affairs minister said in atweet.
Naqvi said Tablighi Jamaatcannot be pardoned for the reli-
gious gathering in Delhi’sNizamuddin area amid the out-break of novel coronavirus.
Naqvi also posted on hissocial media accounts mes-sages by Muslim religious lead-ers appealing to people to strict-ly follow the coronavirus lock-down and other guidelines tocontrol the virus.
Reacting on the TablighiJamaat gathering atNizamuddin area, Naqvi said,“They have put lives of manypeople in danger. Strict actionshould be taken against suchpeople and organisations thatdefy government directions.This has been done intention-ally and this is unfortunate.People who are not obeying thelockdown should not be for-given.”
In a letter to chief secretariesof states and union territories,NCM chief Syed GhayorulHasan Rizvi said theNizamuddin incident was a“serious violation” of the lock-down, and has put the lives offellow citizens at risk.
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With the Chinese making aconciliatory statement, thewar of words — of accusa-tions and counter accusa-tions — between the US
and China appears to be thawing. As theepicentre of the pandemic has shifted fromChina to Europe and the US, there may bea window of opportunity. With the success-ful handling of the Coronavirus crisis, evenas the rest of the world is grappling withthe menace, China maybe eyeing to squeezediplomatic capital out of such a humani-tarian overture. It’s truly a case of schaden-freude. Foreign leaders, from the SerbianPresident Aleksandar Vucic to theHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbanand Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio,have all thanked China loudly for the med-ical supplies and teams of doctors receivedby them while at the same time chidingtheir neighbours for abandoning them.Spain has already decided to buy medicalequipment and supplies from China wortha few hundred million US dollars.
Pakistan is reported to have opened itsland border with China on the Karakoramhighway in order to receive a generous con-signment of medical supplies. In fact, aninformal offer of building makeshift hos-pitals in India to treat COVID-19 patientson the pattern of the set-up in Wuhan alsoexists. And despite all the controversies,China continues to be the biggest suppli-er of medical equipment to the US.
Talking of controversies, there aresome, which refuse to die, even with thepassage of time. Considering the wide-spread human interest involved, some ofthese continue to be kept alive by conspir-acy theories. In the context of Coronavirus,a lot has already appeared in the media butin a latest salvo, US President DonaldTrump has targetted the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) while China has spo-ken strongly in support of the globalhealth body. However, there is a back-ground to the accusations made by Americavis-a-vis the WHO.
Its contention is that despite the diseasein its initial stages remaining confined toWuhan, where the virus first caused an out-break, it was neither tagged with China northe province. Even when all the details werenot available, it could have been tagged geo-graphically or simply named as the Chinesevirus. It was much later that the WHOnamed it as COVID-19, avoiding anymention of China. On the other hand, wehave seen in the past, Spanish flu, Japaneseencephalitis, German measles and someother country or place specific diseases,breaking the geographical barriers tobecome international pandemics. China hassomehow managed to escape this tagging.
We are aware that both H5N1 bird fluand Severely Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS) had originated from the Chinese
province of Guangdong. Yet,both these, even at their peaks,had managed to avoid theChinese tag.
Sometimes, the name tagscan also be greatly misleadingwith disastrous results. It is nowknown that the 2009 pandem-ic, which was popularly knownas the Swine flu, was actuallyspread by humans and notpigs. But in its attempt to pre-vent contagion, a country in theMiddle East mistakenly slaugh-tered a few lakh pigs.
Undeniably, there appearsto be a certain degree of poli-tics attached with the nomen-clature of labelling such fataldiseases. In this regard, thedecisions are taken at the levelof the WHO, which hosts theInternational Classification ofDiseases (ICD). The currentguidelines for nomenclaturehave been criticised by a num-ber of scientific organisations.
It is the general opinionthat by simply giving numbersto alphabetic codes, people atlarge are unable to appreciatethe gravity of the disease. Forinstance, the letters HN denotethe genetic size and sequence ofthe virus HemagglutininNeuraminidase. On the otherhand, geographical labels tendto convey some very useful
information for the world atlarge.
By leveraging their finan-cial clout over certain interna-tional institutions, the Chinesehave disturbed the existingorder. This has not gone wellwith Western powers, who inany case had been increasing-ly looking inwards. Besides,there has been the question offinancial support to such insti-tutions, too. This is bound tomake an impact on the post-Corona economic revival. Inthe given situation, the Chinesestand to gain substantially at thecost of others and emerge as adomineering influence cannotbe ruled out.
Such a situation was in themaking for a long time. In fact,ever since the economic down-turn of 2008-09 and with thedrying up of resources, thereappeared to be some kind of avacuum as far as investments inEurope were concerned. Thisspace was readily occupied byChina.
According to data com-piled by the Institute for Studiesin Industrial Development(ISID), New Delhi, the Chineseinvestments in Europe between2010-17 have been of the orderof $318 billion, which is 45 percent more than their invest-
ments in the US. In fact, theyhave been targetting technolo-gies that can, in the long run,provide a key to their own crit-ical infrastructure. During thisperiod, China has taken over360 European companies, rang-ing from Pirelli & cSpA of Italyto Kuka AG robotics ofGermany. ChemChina, achemical firm in China, hasacquired the Swiss giantSyngenta for $46 billion. Thepenetration of the communica-tion giant Huawei with its 5Gnetworks has already raisedenough of hackles among theNATO countries.
It is in the backdrop ofthese developments that thepost-Corona scenario must beviewed. The Chinese are mak-ing a quick economic revivalwith heavy investments whileother nations are still reelingunder the virus onslaught. Thiscoupled with China’s outreachprogramme for medical andhumanitarian aid are bound topay it handsome dividends.For the decades to follow, thenext few months are going to becrucial for politics, economy,diplomacy and the world order.
(The writer is a formerGovernor and a Senior Advisorat the Pranab MukherjeeFoundation)
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Sir — There may be theories thatother nations may have a milderversion of the Coronavirus but itsduration and transmission out-side the human body is still thesame. Distancing is only a stop-gap, not the silver bullet. We mustnot be complacent because Indiahas registered far lesser cases thanChina, Italy or the US. For, wemay just be in the primary incu-bation phase whereas othernations are in advanced stages.
Unless we start a massive testprogramme based on excellentalgorithms on data, we are sure tofind too late that social distanc-ing has its limitations. China, theepicentre of the virus, undertookdraconian isolation measures butit was mass testing that helped itkeep casualties in check.
The US failed in isolating itscitizens but is now trying toredeem the position undertakingmillion tests per week. SouthKorea was the smartest. It simul-taneously went for testing and iso-lation. Let us not be lulled by datawhen tests are yet to be greatlyscaled up.
R NarayananNavi Mumbai
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Sir — In times of crisis, benevo-lent hands should come forwardto reach out to the poor and theunprivileged. Genuine feelingstowards the affected sow the
seeds of charity. The “reverse gift”of life is giving back to society. Indoing so, no one will becomepoor. In view of the spread of theCoronavirus pandemic, contribu-tions made by the people canstrengthen India’s battle againstthe infection. Generous donations
have come but more is needed. In particular, efforts of the
Kerala Government need to beapplauded. The Pinarayi VijayanGovernment rolled out a �20,000crore financial package to miti-gate the impact of the deadly virusand counter its economic fallout.
Its efforts to help migrant work-ers stuck at the borders, too, havebeen commendable. The State hastaken steps to ensure the welfareof the labourers and treated themas its guests. Most of them havepreferred staying back.
Ganapathi BhatAkola
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Sir — The quote, “Uneasy lies thehead that wears a crown” is veryapt in the case of Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan, who isvery much upset over the suici-dal deaths in his State for want ofalcohol as beverages outlets wereclosed due to the lockdown.Taking a lenient stand towardsboozers, Vijayan kicked off acontroversy by directing the StateExcise Department to provideliquor to those carrying medicalprescriptions. The truth of thematter is that it’s difficult foraddicts to give up on drinking.The Chief Minister has a peculiarsituation to deal with.
TK NandananChennai
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The spread of the deadly Coronavirusthrough human-to-human transmissionand the growing number of fatalities are giv-
ing birth to all kinds of conspiracy theories, blamegames and racism. However, the growing prefer-ence for isolation, erection of walls, closing ofboundaries, restrictions on travel and tourism arealso exhibiting that the world is no longer a glob-al village and we are now divided into numerousGoogle villages.
The ills of globalisation and relative interde-pendence are visible in the acute dearth of pro-tective gear for fighting the contagion, even in themightiest of all countries, the US. Since China isthe largest producer of protective gear like masks,ventilators, respirators, protective suits and test-ing kits, America’s helplessness and dependenceon China, which controls 95 per cent of the USmarket for the supply of these kits, are easily under-standable. This is a warning sign for not just theglobal super power but also for other nations thatthey need to reduce such dependence and startproduction of everything, which used to be out-sourced for manufacturing to China or othercountries. The Coronavirus is shaping up to bean enormous stress test for globalisation. As crit-ical supply chains break down, nations hoard med-ical supplies and limit travel, the crisis is forcinga major re-evaluation of the interconnectedglobal economy. Not only has globalisationallowed for the rapid spread of contagious diseasebut it has fostered deep interdependence betweenfirms and nations that makes them more vulner-able to unexpected shocks. Now, firms andnations alike are discovering just how vulnerablethey are.
Another major impact of the Coronavirus isthe fact that it is challenging and redefining theworld order as we know it. The inability of the USto quickly control the spread of this virus and savethe lives of its citizens has exposed the weaknessand lack of vision of the US leadership in takingstock of the situation and providing the much-needed guidance to the administration. As a result,the number of casualties today in the country hascrossed the number of deaths in China, where thewhole nightmare began.
The status of the US as a global leader has beenbuilt not just on wealth and power but also on thelegitimacy that flows from its domestic gover-nance, provision of global public goods and theability and willingness to muster and coordinatea global response to crises. The Coronavirus pan-demic is testing all three elements of US leader-ship and so far Washington is failing the test.
On the other hand, as this deadly virus trav-elled from China’s Wuhan province to virtuallyevery part of the globe, therefore, primarily Chinais being considered the villain by the world. Thisis also in major part due to the fact that it con-cealed the information about the contagion for along time. Had it informed the global village intime, the precautions, which are being taken now,could have been taken earlier and the large-scalespread of the virus could have been averted.
At present, the concerns about the dominanceof the world order through economics, expansionof trade, commerce and route connectivity havetaken a back seat and the control of the pandem-ic has taken a front seat. Though by locking downWuhan province through draconian measures,China succeeded in containing the spread of theoutbreak to other parts of the country, hiding thenews of the contagion, it was unable to preventits spread to the rest of the world. Apart from the
42,352 people across the globe who havedied because of the Coronavirus, theother big casualty of the pandemic is theglobal village-based world order, asnow every country has sealed its bordersand even flights have been grounded fornow. Currently, the only thing that iskeeping the world united and linked isthe internet as the Google village is avail-able for accessing and exchanging infor-mation and ideas.
After being castigated and ostracisedby the world community for hiding andspreading the virus globally, the ChinesePresident sought India’s support to con-front its isolation and face the worldbravely. Even in the time of a crisis,China has not forgotten its world-dom-ination ambitions and in order to showits greatness and maintain its status asa major power on the world stage, as agoodwill gesture, it is willing to share itsexperiences and strategy with India.
As the US fumbles around, China ismoving quickly and adeptly to takeadvantage of the opening created byTrump’s mistakes, filling the vacuum toposition itself as the global leader in theresponse to a major crisis. It is workingto tout its own system, provide materi-al assistance to other countries and evenorganise other Governments. But theworld community, including the US, isnot going to forget what China has doneand how Beijing is using this opportu-nity to increase its military and econom-ic might by offering to supply the med-ical necessities to Europe and the US.
Beijing’s move to block the recent-ly-called United Nations SecurityCouncil meet on the Coronavirus pan-demic also indicates that China is aspir-ing hard to maintain its image of a gen-erous leader of the world, ready to helpwith loans and equipment.
Chinese attempts clearly hint that
this pandemic will surely change theglobal scenario but the power game willremain unhampered because China,even in the wake of the crisis, is not leav-ing any stone unturned to make its pres-ence felt in the Indo-Pacific.
Although it was felt that theCOVID-19 outbreak would halt China’soverseas investments, interestingly thesignals coming from China right nowindicate that it is not likely to stop invest-ment in its ambitious Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) project and will also keepon exploring the possibility of grabbingnew markets for its goods, commoditiesand investments. Because, through thisit can fill the power gap and make itspresence and power felt in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in the BRIcountries.
According to reports, recentlyChinese military aircraft carried out anti-submarine drills in the contested SouthChina Sea (SCS), to respond to patrolsby US warships, which suggest thatCoronavirus or no Coronavirus, Chinais not going to mend its ways, tone downits assertiveness and leave any opportu-nity to exhibit its power politics. Theclaims of controlling the COVID-19 inWuhan have made it more aggressivethan ever. Even though the People’sLiberation Army’s (PLA’s) activities onthe Tibetan plateau have reduced due tothe outbreak, PLA intrusions wererecently reported from Naku-la, southof the watershed in northern Sikkim, aborder said to be “settled” by China.
In view of China’s obvious movesfor domination, most of the countries,including the World HealthOrganisation, are looking at the othermajor power in the region India’sresponse and efforts to confront thischallenge, with interest and anxiety.
If this crisis is not handled careful-
ly by India, the death toll and the num-ber of sick people would be unimagin-able and would take the country back bydecades, something which would not bein favour of New Delhi and its allies asthey look to stop China’s march.
In this context, it would be appro-priate to highlight that while in thedomestic sector, India is taking all nec-essary steps to contain the outbreak, itis also at the forefront of the fight againstCoronavirus internationally.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s callfor cooperation to fight the pandemic inthe SAARC countries places the nationat the front and centre of the fight againstthe pandemic in the region and gives ita place at the global power high table.With the creation of the $10 millionSAARC Emergency Fund to fightCOVID-19, India has also suppliedtesting equipment and sanitisers to theMaldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Nepaland Bangladesh. In a recent meeting, theG-20 group also pledged to introduce $5trillion into the global economy toblunt the effect of the virus. PrimeMinister Modi has also advocated theneed for developing a new crisis man-agement protocol to deal with globalhealth issues, which indicates patient andgood leadership and signals India’seffective presence in the global powerscenario. The seriousness and gravityshown by the Indian leadership andappeals to people for restraint anddetermination are a great example of eth-ical leadership in the time of a crisis. Thewell-timed lockdown and appeals by theleadership for social isolation are allow-ing all of us to forget the concept of glob-al village and just turn into a Google vil-lage with limited exposure to people butunlimited contacts for our well-being.
(The writer is Vice-Chancellor HNBGarhwal University, Srinagar, Garhwal)
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As the old proverb goes, “Everydark cloud has a silver lining.”The ongoing COVID-19 crisis,
too, has a silver lining as it has giventhe environment the much-neededbreak from the relentless degrada-tion and exploitation by mankind.
The Earth is healing itself even asits biggest “parasite” humanity,grapples with the virus by practisingsocial distancing amid strict lock-downs. Suddenly, the urban as well asperi-urban areas have started experi-encing a resurgence of nature as the
lockdowns have brought with themfresh air, clearer skies and the revivalof urban wildlife.
Social media is abuzz with citizensposting pictures of the night sky glit-tering with stars that were not visibletill now in most cities due to the pol-lution. They are also posting videosof wildlife like deer, Blue Bulls, the rareIndian Civet and so on, straying intotowns. There are more birds singingthese days and the flora is actuallylooking green instead of the usualdusty brown. The light showers in thelast few weeks have only helped to fur-ther bring down pollution and fresh-en up nature.
The city of Wuhan, the epicentreof the COVID-19 pandemic, hasbeen witnessing clear blue skies andfresh air instead of the usual low-hanging smog. In fact, satellite imagesof China collated by the NationalAeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA), showedmajor reduction in Nitrogen Dioxide
(NO2) levels due to the restrictionsimposed in the wake of the virus con-tainment efforts. The European SpaceAgency (ESA) also reported similarfindings of a drop in NO2 levels acrossEurope, especially Italy. The canals ofVenice, now devoid of the boat traf-fic, sport clearer waters with a freshspurt in aquatic life.
Furthermore, the suspension ofall air traffic in most parts of theworld, including India, and the lackof vehicular traffic on roads due to thelockdowns have considerably reducedpollution levels and especially easedparticulate matter (PM) 2.5 woes.
Stanford University has conduct-ed a research on the long-term ben-efits of this current rejuvenation of theplanet and the study showed thathumanity will stand to benefittremendously in future due to therespite received by the environment.These benefits would translate intolives being saved on account ofreduced pollution levels of the PM 2.5
kind, which claim lives of children andthe elderly.
The study’s findings were even-tually published in the interdiscipli-nary group, Global Food, Environmentand Economic Dynamics (GFEED).Other research data from across theworld also supports these findings andadditionally suggests that China iscurrently experiencing a 25 per centdrop in carbon dioxide emissionswhich is equivalent to 200 tonnes.
Research aside, the fact that itrequired a pandemic for the environ-ment to experience this much-required relief and recovery isappalling. Our daily routines do notoffer any concessions or respite for theenvironment. Neither do the period-ic climate conferences, which becomea battleground of opposing views butwitness very little meaningful actionin the best interests of the planet. InIndia, too, the peak polluting monthscompel us to adopt environmental-conservation measures in a half-
hearted manner. Compliance withregulations then is not anywherenear the current level of obediencethat we are witnessing regarding thelockdowns. This is unfortunate as itshows that we humans respond withsincerity only when our lives arethreatened.
The current phase can be a majorlearning curve for the IndianGovernment and environmentalauthorities. The pattern of publicbehaviour and response to a matterof community emergency is evidenthere and the Government must takenote of the same. So that in future,when environmental conditions wors-en and require a community-basedaction, the Government can follow asimilar methodology. This is essentialbecause the current lockdown rules— though not 100 per cent success-ful — have been followed sincerely bymany of the citizens.
The current situation also high-lights another important aspect of
how nations and governments mea-sure the real-time improvement ordeterioration of the environment.The authoritative and authentic satel-lite visuals of the ESA and NASA wererelied upon to draw conclusions onthe state of the environment of Chinaand Europe. India, too, must stop pol-itics over environmental assessmentand data collection and instead relyon impartial international data. Thiswill provide the real picture and dis-able any attempts at manipulation ofState agency data by vested interests.
The rejuvenation of the Earthcomes as a succor at the time ofanguish and pain to mankind. Everyhuman being pauses, even if it is fora second, to marvel at the beauty ofnature and forgets the hardshipsbeing faced in this difficult time. Ifhumanity needs a break from thispandemic, the environment needs abreak from us.
(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)
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GST collections in Marchslipped below the psy-
chological �1 lakh crore-markfor the first time in four monthsto �97,597 crore as COVID-19lockdown that shut most busi-nesses compounded tax col-lection woes in an alreadysluggish economy.
Goods and Services Tax(GST) mop-up in Marchrecorded a 8.4 per cent declineover March 2019 collection of�1.06 lakh crore. The collec-tions were lower on account ofdip in revenues from domestictransactions as well as imports.
In the last four months —
November 2019-February2020 — GST collection sur-passed the �1 lakh crore-mark. In February, mop-upwas �1.05 lakh crore, January(�1.10 lakh crore), December(�1.03 lakh crore) andNovember (�1.03 lakh crore).The number of GST returnsfiled during March was 76.5lakh, lower than 83 lakh filedin February — reflecting poorcompliance.
“The gross GST revenuecollected in the month ofMarch, 2020 is �97,597 crore ofwhich CGST is �19,183 crore,SGST is �25,601 crore, IGST is�44,508 crore (including�18,056 crore collected on
imports) and Cess is �8,306crore (including �841 crorecollected on imports),” afinance ministry statement saidon Wednesday.
The Government has settled�19,718 crore to CGST and�14,915 crore to SGST fromIGST as regular settlement. Thetotal revenue earned by theCentral Government and StateGovernments after regular set-tlement in March, 2020 is�41,901 crore for CGST and�43,516 crore for the SGST, itadded. The ministry furthersaid that GST revenues fromdomestic transactions hasshown a negative growth of 4 percent over March, 2019.
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Markets began the new fis-cal with yet another
bruising selloff on Wednesdayas global sentiment remainedgrim due to the Covid-19 pan-demic. Reversing the previoussession’s gains, the 30-shareBSE barometer Sensex slumped1,203.18 points or 4.08 per centto finish at 28,265.31.
Similarly, the NSE Niftytanked 343.95 points, or 4 percent, to close at 8,253.80.
Global equities skidded asweak factory data from Asiaand a steady rise in coronaviruscases pointed to the toughroad ahead for the world econ-omy. Dismal auto sales num-bers and reports of India miss-ing its fiscal deficit targets by awide margin further sappedinvestor confidence here,traders said.
Tech Mahindra was the toploser in the Sensex pack, crash-ing 9.21 per cent, followed byKotak Bank (8.81 per cent), TCS(6.23 per cent), Infosys (5.65 percent), Axis Bank (5.50 per cent)and SBI (5.26 per cent).
Hero MotoCorp, BajajAuto, Bajaj Finance and Titan
were the only gainers, spurtingup to 2.21 per cent.
According to traders,domestic equities plunged intandem with global stocks asno respite from the coron-avirus pandemic seemed insight. Extensive lockdowns tocontain the spread of the virushave severely hit business out-look, they said.
Around the world, totalnumber of infected casessurged past 8.6 lakh, whiledeaths have crossed 42,000.
“The first day of the finan-cial year started off on a nega-
tive note, impacted by the neg-ative global markets and alsodomestic uncertainties withregards to banks’ stressed assetsand auto numbers. FIIs havenet sold around �62,000 crorein Equity in March and withvirus infections increasing,markets are anticipating aworsening of the situation,”said Vinod Nair, Head ofResearch at Geojit FinancialServices. All sectoral indicesended with losses. BSE IT,teck, bankex, telecom, finance,FMCG and power indices fellup to 5.58 per cent.
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The country’s leading carmakers Maruti Suzuki
India (MSI) and HyundaiMotor reported steep drop insales in March as the transitionto BS-VI emission norms andthe COVID-19 lockdownimpacted the dispatches.
Tata Motors, Mahindra &Mahindra (M&M) and Toyota
Kirloskar Motor (TKM) alsoreported a double-digit declinein domestic sales last month.
The country’s largest carmaker MSI saw its domesticwholesales dip 46.4 per cent at79,080 units last month asagainst 1,47,613 units in March2019. Sales of mini-cars com-prising Alto and WagonR inMarch 2020 stood at 15,988units as compared to 16,826units in the same month lastyear, down 5 per cent.
Similarly, sales of compactsegment, including modelssuch as Swift, Celerio, Ignis,Baleno and Dzire, fell 50.9 percent to 40,519 units, against
82,532 cars in March 2019.Sales of utility vehicles,
including Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga, also declined 53.4 per cent to 11,904units in March.
Hyundai Motor Indiareported 40.69 per cent declinein domestic sales last month at26,300 units, compared with44,350 units in March 2019.
Similarly, M&M reported90 per cent sales drop in thedomestic market in March to6,130 units. It had sold 59,012units in March 2019.
“Our performance inMarch has been muted onaccount of the impact of the
current lockdown related toCovid-19 and the disruption inour BS-VI ramp-up plan,”M&M Chief Executive Officer(Automotive Division) VeejayRam Nakra said.
The latter was plannedbetween February and Marchbut was affected due to thechallenges of parts’ supply fromglobal and local suppliers, headded. Tata Motors said itstotal domestic sales were down84 per cent at 11,012 units ascompared to 68,727 units inMarch last year.
Passenger vehicles’ saleswere affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent
nationwide lockdown, TataMotors Passenger VehiclesBusiness Unit PresidentMayank Pareek said.
Similarly, TKM said itsdomestic sales declined 45 percent to 7,023 units last monthas compared to 12,818 units inMarch 2019.
“Even though the compa-ny has been long successful inliquidating all BS-IV stock andtransitioning to a 100 per centBS-VI manufacturing facility,last month has been very chal-lenging for us, both in terms ofsales as well as production,”TKM Senior Vice-PresidentNaveen Soni said.
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New Delhi: Shares of public sec-tor banks closed the day on amixed note after the mega merg-er of PSU lenders came intoeffect from Wednesday.
As per the mega consolida-tion plan, Oriental Bank ofCommerce and United Bank ofIndia merged into PunjabNational Bank (PNB); SyndicateBank into Canara Bank; AndhraBank and Corporation Bankinto Union Bank of India; andAllahabad Bank into IndianBank. Shares of Punjab NationalBank dropped 5.72 per cent,while Canara Bank fell margin-ally by 0.17 per cent on the BSE.In contrast, Indian Bank gained1.86 per cent and Union Bank of
India rose marginally by 0.17 percent.
The broader market depict-ed a weak trend, with the 30-share BSE barometer tanking1,203.18 points or 4.08 per centto close at 28,265.31.
The consolidation exerciseassumes significance as it tookplace at a time when the entirecountry is under the grip of theCOVID-19 outbreak, which hastriggered a 21-day lockdown.State-owned Punjab Nationalbank on Wednesday said allnation-wide branches of UnitedBank of India and OrientalBank of Commerce has startedfunctioning as PNB branches.
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2 %����������6�>�����������������������������������NEW DELHI (PTI): Three-month moratorium on EMI pay-ments offered by banks is unlikely to bring much relief to bor-rowers hit by COVID-19 lockdowns as they will have to bear theextra cost of interest charged by lenders and a longer repaymentperiod, according to experts.
Experts feel that the three-month moratorium on repaymenton loans to help people fight the impact of coronavirus seems tobe benefiting banks rather than borrowers as they will have topay accumulated interest through increased number of EMIs. Itis an expensive proposition for any borrower to opt for three-month suspension as announced by the RBI under the relief mea-sures to mitigate the hardship of those hit by the outbreak ofCOVID-19 pandemic. Last Friday, the RBI had announced thatall term loans, including retail and crop loans and working cap-ital payments, will be covered by the three-month moratorium.
Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 1116.20 1124.95 1044.75 1080.65INDUSINDBK 386.25 390.00 320.00 342.30ICICIBANK 320.00 323.45 308.30 311.45BAJFINANCE 2166.00 2286.00 2134.65 2220.10HDFCBANK 869.90 869.90 820.00 829.70HDFC 1628.60 1690.95 1575.00 1584.40KOTAKBANK 1291.10 1292.00 1157.05 1182.10INFY 640.00 640.00 594.25 604.10SBIN 195.50 195.50 185.30 186.60TCS 1830.00 1834.00 1702.25 1709.55MARUTI 4301.00 4424.90 4195.30 4243.60AXISBANK 380.00 380.00 353.30 358.45HCLTECH 440.00 440.00 408.40 413.05TATASTEEL 267.00 268.00 258.30 266.45BHARTIARTL 443.00 443.00 412.60 421.10BRITANNIA 2695.00 2781.60 2510.00 2561.00TATAMOTORS 71.10 71.60 67.60 67.95HINDUNILVR 2304.00 2324.45 2159.90 2179.25IBULHSGFIN 99.90 105.10 96.05 99.35HEROMOTOCO 1594.20 1646.70 1565.30 1639.15TECHM 562.00 562.00 510.00 511.20JINDALSTEL 82.95 82.95 64.10 70.35ITC 172.40 172.80 164.55 166.35LT 809.20 811.75 767.00 774.75POWERGRID 160.00 162.05 153.25 154.40BPCL 313.90 315.75 293.70 303.20ESCORTS 648.00 651.00 576.10 599.05RBLBANK 141.60 143.70 127.60 131.35BAJAJFINSV 4550.00 4668.80 4462.45 4499.30TITAN 939.00 941.55 902.55 936.75SBILIFE 635.30 658.50 628.95 635.40CONCOR 333.15 337.80 311.10 316.65MOTHERSUMI 61.00 61.65 57.30 57.95ASIANPAINT 1651.00 1655.00 1585.05 1603.90BHARATFORG 234.10 234.10 223.40 230.05DELTACORP 68.75 68.75 68.00 68.75BANDHANBNK 207.95 208.00 191.10 194.85DIVISLAB 2005.00 2005.00 1845.50 1881.50CIPLA 430.00 431.00 410.60 413.55PEL 940.00 949.95 909.50 936.30M&M 284.00 284.00 265.55 272.65ONGC 67.75 67.75 65.15 65.75IDEA 3.12 3.15 3.02 3.04HDFCLIFE 439.00 447.00 424.25 429.65JSWSTEEL 146.45 146.45 139.10 142.95AUROPHARMA 435.00 435.00 384.75 392.15PVR 1185.00 1191.60 1041.00 1054.45LICHSGFIN 236.00 249.00 229.35 232.90VEDL 66.00 66.00 62.40 62.75ASHOKLEY 43.05 44.20 40.10 41.10HINDPETRO 191.00 195.50 180.90 184.50MRF 57135.50 57135.50 54800.00 55172.15BANKBARODA 54.00 54.00 50.85 51.20SOBHA 131.15 148.90 131.15 147.65DRREDDY 3180.00 3180.00 3068.70 3096.20JUSTDIAL 293.25 313.15 285.90 309.35GAIL 76.00 78.70 74.55 75.75HDFCAMC 2138.95 2218.40 2115.00 2188.25PIDILITIND 1368.90 1374.35 1277.40 1292.35SRTRANSFIN 650.00 667.80 607.95 621.65SUNPHARMA* 355.00 355.00 338.60 343.55DLF 130.00 136.90 130.00 132.65APOLLOHOSP 1130.00 1137.50 1080.00 1088.90EICHERMOT 13200.00 13301.15 12723.30 13001.30BIOCON 280.00 285.40 274.55 278.30L&TFH 50.85 52.00 50.05 50.60JUBLFOOD 1475.00 1486.05 1368.00 1383.35GODREJCP 532.80 565.70 532.80 548.65INDIGO 1045.00 1047.50 982.95 999.75IOC 82.00 82.15 78.00 79.00COALINDIA 140.00 141.20 137.00 139.40NESTLEIND 16380.00 16458.75 15504.85 15668.70CANBK 93.90 93.90 88.25 90.25AAVAS 1186.00 1290.00 1126.95 1180.50HINDALCO 95.00 95.05 91.05 91.70NAM-INDIA 250.00 263.70 244.65 258.50ICICIPRULI 355.00 367.70 340.60 342.65PNB 32.50 32.55 30.30 30.50BAJAJ-AUTO 2048.90 2095.60 1990.90 2051.90WIPRO 197.00 197.00 187.10 189.75BEL 72.25 76.10 67.45 69.05MARICO 274.40 284.05 262.15 265.10ULTRACEMCO 3254.00 3256.80 3106.00 3140.55BALKRISIND 796.00 817.00 739.05 803.25BOSCHLTD 9415.00 9733.60 9072.00 9234.55MUTHOOTFIN 609.00 614.30 591.00 604.15FEDERALBNK 41.00 41.55 39.35 41.30TATACONSUM 298.90 304.00 277.50 280.15DMART 2258.00 2275.00 2090.70 2092.95TVSMOTOR 296.90 297.15 274.70 277.95NTPC 84.20 84.45 80.65 81.10ADANIPORTS 249.60 249.60 235.20 244.90ZEEL 124.00 126.50 120.00 120.80DABUR 459.00 459.00 430.75 434.90BATAINDIA 1249.90 1249.90 1170.45 1190.25OMAXE 154.40 159.00 151.75 152.20MANAPPURAM 94.75 96.00 90.35 93.40IPCALAB 1384.00 1454.95 1371.40 1394.70BERGEPAINT 509.95 509.95 476.75 484.80MINDTREE 781.00 818.95 714.65 753.45GRASIM 477.00 484.50 453.00 474.55LUPIN 591.35 592.15 575.70 579.20MCX 1121.05 1121.05 1017.20 1023.05UPL 325.00 327.00 303.00 306.00IGL 427.70 427.70 377.35 391.20AMBUJACEM 148.05 158.45 148.05 156.75ABBOTINDIA 15000.00 16190.00 15000.00 15639.50NCC 19.00 19.15 18.10 18.70
NIITTECH 1140.00 1204.90 1081.60 1168.00STAR 322.00 350.80 318.85 326.30NOCIL 67.40 73.00 65.25 67.70CGCL 170.70 172.00 156.00 159.90HAVELLS 479.90 489.00 466.60 485.10SRF 2802.80 2808.85 2621.40 2657.60M&MFIN 146.00 153.50 143.00 152.60VOLTAS 476.20 484.90 464.50 470.85CASTROLIND 99.90 103.65 98.15 101.20GLENMARK 206.10 213.30 200.40 203.90APOLLOTYRE 80.00 80.00 76.80 78.00DEEPAKNI 389.90 400.25 376.80 380.05ADANIENT 144.00 144.00 131.90 134.00CHOLAFIN 152.00 152.00 137.85 143.30SAIL 23.25 23.25 21.85 22.20SHREECEM 17323.20 17327.00 16500.00 16566.50EXIDEIND 130.80 134.95 129.50 131.85BHEL 20.60 21.20 20.40 20.70SUNTV 290.00 290.00 270.15 272.45INFIBEAM 34.35 37.40 33.60 37.15CADILAHC 272.50 273.25 260.85 263.85NMDC 80.70 81.90 76.25 78.50IDFCFIRSTB 21.10 21.20 20.35 20.55COLPAL 1274.70 1285.00 1225.00 1241.00PIIND 1185.00 1277.05 1168.25 1192.35ICICIGI 1085.70 1142.00 1052.75 1103.00RECLTD 88.10 91.20 86.10 86.95AMARAJABAT 472.70 494.20 462.15 478.65CUMMINSIND 329.00 329.75 305.00 308.35AUBANK 526.10 534.25 483.45 489.45MGL 839.85 839.85 801.90 814.80PFC 91.05 94.20 87.85 88.90TATAELXSI 634.85 652.50 601.30 608.10SPICEJET 37.95 38.70 37.85 38.70PETRONET 203.25 204.20 193.20 200.40TRENT 472.00 489.75 456.25 465.55EMAMILTD* 170.00 179.65 163.00 171.70HEG 500.00 515.00 485.10 505.70ADANIPOWER 27.50 27.60 26.60 26.80GODREJPROP 610.00 647.00 593.80 596.70HSCL 32.00 35.45 31.80 35.00INDIACEM 105.15 108.00 102.15 102.90MFSL 383.25 401.25 375.55 382.50LTI 1433.00 1489.45 1380.05 1391.10HINDZINC 159.95 166.55 152.60 160.50DIXON 3601.00 3790.00 3507.90 3569.40UJJIVAN 146.00 150.00 143.95 148.80SIEMENS 1155.00 1155.00 1065.15 1086.80CEATLTD 787.25 790.00 729.00 736.45
OIL 81.00 82.45 77.60 79.25ACC 965.00 967.80 948.50 962.10TORNTPOWER 277.60 284.00 276.40 280.80PAGEIND 16878.00 16912.55 16520.35 16621.75PFIZER 3996.95 4000.00 3833.15 3970.30HAWKINCOOK 3969.85 3969.85 3776.00 3860.30JUBILANT 263.80 273.70 251.15 267.35ADANIGAS 87.75 91.15 85.95 89.10NAUKRI 2179.90 2179.90 1982.50 2011.30TATAPOWER 32.75 32.80 31.40 31.55IRCON 386.95 398.25 373.45 393.15UBL 918.00 937.95 883.00 890.75STRTECH 62.70 66.40 62.70 63.40PNBHOUSING 165.00 171.35 162.50 170.05TATAMTRDVR 31.05 31.30 29.35 30.00NATIONALUM 28.50 29.15 28.05 28.35MPHASIS 654.20 676.15 647.00 675.85INFRATEL 158.40 160.50 150.70 155.30GHCL 93.15 93.15 88.75 93.00WOCKPHARMA 174.00 182.40 173.80 177.90POLYCAB 740.00 768.45 726.60 734.75RVNL 12.80 14.19 12.65 13.96KAJARIACER 378.00 379.10 355.80 363.00SANOFI 6299.00 6515.00 6295.00 6483.75GLAXO 1252.95 1268.05 1154.70 1209.85TORNTPHARM 1972.10 1979.95 1933.30 1960.45JKPAPER 75.00 78.40 74.10 76.85SPARC 99.80 103.30 96.25 97.80LALPATHLAB 1423.00 1441.00 1371.95 1384.40MEGH 37.60 42.40 37.60 40.40LTTS 1160.15 1229.25 1110.00 1182.20CESC 424.40 424.40 387.90 393.10EQUITAS 41.70 43.80 40.80 41.50AVANTI 299.85 299.85 281.80 283.35
BEML 450.00 468.30 443.00 444.80GNFC 114.00 116.00 111.00 111.90GUJGAS 235.00 246.65 225.00 227.00MIDHANI 181.00 181.00 172.55 174.35GRANULES 143.00 143.30 139.55 141.30JINDALSAW 47.95 50.00 43.80 48.90BALMLAWRIE 78.75 89.50 78.45 84.45GODFRYPHLP 951.30 987.00 941.50 959.40INDIANB 44.60 46.35 42.65 43.90SWANENERGY 99.95 103.50 99.80 100.05CUB 128.10 128.20 119.30 119.95RADICO 267.20 274.00 264.30 267.50RCF 28.90 29.50 26.70 27.30GODREJIND 283.25 283.25 276.00 277.30MOTILALOFS* 493.10 497.20 465.85 476.80INDHOTEL 75.00 75.65 70.30 72.05GSPL 170.10 190.00 168.60 182.40RAJESHEXPO 561.60 565.80 542.00 561.95CANFINHOME 279.00 286.15 271.60 274.85BOMDYEING 45.60 46.45 44.50 45.75ABFRL 153.00 154.35 147.25 150.75NAVINFLUOR 1250.00 1250.00 1190.00 1199.50RITES 245.70 253.00 239.45 243.55BAJAJHLDNG 1890.00 1890.00 1706.25 1756.80RESPONIND 80.45 82.30 80.00 80.05GMRINFRA 16.15 16.30 16.05 16.15HEXAWARE 235.95 235.95 222.30 226.25APLLTD 541.00 544.65 527.00 538.25FCONSUMER 6.66 6.66 6.66 6.66HONAUT 25633.80 26397.00 25290.00 25317.30ATUL 4007.85 4045.10 3874.40 3897.00GODREJAGRO 373.60 379.75 348.00 354.30ITI 61.10 62.60 58.10 59.60RAYMOND 222.80 232.00 216.65 224.80CREDITACC 338.35 355.25 321.45 338.70PGHH 10200.00 10439.95 10150.00 10386.45WABAG 83.85 84.90 78.65 78.70SOUTHBANK 5.76 5.80 5.52 5.72IRB 56.90 56.90 50.10 51.10SUZLON 2.10 2.10 2.10 2.10VBL 539.90 540.85 515.00 534.50SUDARSCHEM 375.50 380.05 354.65 357.30ABCAPITAL 41.30 43.80 41.30 42.90UNIONBANK 29.90 29.90 28.55 28.80RELAXO 606.70 607.95 570.00 585.25GSKCONS 9993.10 10075.00 9435.20 9548.30NBCC 16.30 16.90 16.10 16.20VIPIND 238.00 238.55 228.80 233.95TATACOFFEE 56.55 58.00 54.35 54.90IEX 130.45 130.45 124.00 129.10QUESS 213.00 222.10 209.10 211.90NHPC 20.00 20.15 19.30 19.45CARERATING 341.40 345.70 329.65 334.30ORIENTELEC 185.50 200.10 180.00 185.40SADBHAV 27.85 28.35 26.90 26.90WELCORP 62.40 64.55 60.30 61.45FORTIS 132.50 132.50 120.20 121.05PRESTIGE 171.65 184.90 162.90 181.80BANKINDIA 32.00 32.70 32.00 32.35TIMKEN 789.00 813.15 782.40 792.50JAICORPLTD 50.55 50.55 48.35 49.25BBTC 744.00 758.60 721.00 727.10INOXLEISUR 270.00 277.15 260.00 270.40PHILIPCARB 64.20 65.00 62.85 64.10KRBL 149.90 149.90 149.90 149.90PTC 39.00 41.00 38.80 39.25VENKYS 865.00 865.00 830.35 842.30SCI 37.95 37.95 35.75 36.70OFSS 2018.85 2048.15 1899.55 1927.00TRIDENT 4.33 4.49 4.25 4.44JCHAC 2116.55 2280.00 2116.55 2144.25RAMCOCEM 507.00 509.30 489.00 495.85KEC 182.00 189.00 168.10 170.55COCHINSHIP 270.00 274.00 250.00 252.00IDFC 15.01 15.24 14.40 14.53LAXMIMACH 2396.60 2550.00 2297.00 2340.65BAJAJCON 138.90 140.10 133.00 134.55HAL 566.00 566.00 527.65 532.70ALKEM 2381.00 2381.00 2255.40 2274.75PGHL 3600.00 3683.10 3540.00 3669.75DCBBANK 95.25 96.35 90.00 92.20VINATIORGA 783.00 819.00 780.00 804.653MINDIA 19000.00 19000.00 18100.05 18477.05GILLETTE 5471.00 5563.40 5067.00 5155.95TV18BRDCST 15.70 15.75 14.90 15.15IDBI 19.30 19.45 18.60 19.30CAPPL 282.00 289.55 271.90 275.45ADVENZYMES 136.40 164.00 136.40 137.70DEEPAKFERT 75.10 76.00 72.50 72.90ADANIGREEN 154.60 159.00 151.35 152.65JBCHEPHARM 525.00 525.00 493.20 504.75AJANTPHARM 1369.45 1390.00 1300.00 1364.20KANSAINER 386.15 391.15 385.05 387.40ENGINERSIN 60.30 60.30 57.60 59.10IBREALEST 42.75 42.75 39.30 39.60AEGISLOG 145.75 145.75 131.10 133.75GREAVESCOT 68.55 72.80 67.25 67.70RAIN 56.75 57.70 53.65 54.85METROPOLIS 1295.95 1328.95 1255.00 1267.65WHIRLPOOL 1806.70 1806.70 1756.40 1776.95FORCEMOT 716.30 749.95 714.55 723.55SONATSOFTW 164.90 178.00 164.00 168.65ASTRAZEN 2424.90 2424.90 2348.20 2405.05DBL 212.50 212.50 201.85 208.95BLUESTARCO 451.15 458.80 437.05 442.75PARAGMILK 63.95 65.75 62.00 64.70KTKBANK 43.75 43.75 41.25 42.05VGUARD 155.70 163.00 152.50 157.55ESABINDIA 1098.65 1177.85 998.00 1009.85
ISEC 278.00 283.45 275.00 280.25HINDCOPPER 22.70 22.70 21.40 21.65CYIENT 235.00 239.90 229.00 232.70NIACL 105.00 111.00 105.00 105.30SYNGENE 236.00 254.20 230.00 243.75CHAMBLFERT 108.10 109.75 105.00 106.10WELSPUNIND 21.90 22.10 20.20 20.75SUPREMEIND 874.00 877.05 834.40 836.35CRISIL 1300.00 1300.00 1205.10 1211.05JISLJALEQS 3.30 3.45 3.21 3.35RALLIS 172.35 174.60 167.05 172.10CARBORUNIV 219.70 228.40 218.00 222.30DISHTV 4.19 4.19 3.93 3.98AMBER 1245.85 1340.15 1245.85 1266.50ASTRAL 940.00 965.00 923.00 959.70EIDPARRY 139.05 143.40 135.00 135.60PRSMJOHNSN 32.90 32.90 28.20 28.70
BASF 1130.00 1140.00 1090.00 1096.60BAYERCROP 3427.50 3450.00 3295.00 3326.10SUNTECK 211.40 211.40 195.80 203.55RPOWER 1.28 1.28 1.27 1.28NESCO 490.30 491.40 460.05 462.60FSL 27.50 28.20 26.90 27.85DALBHARAT 495.00 495.30 453.00 458.60THYROCARE 510.00 510.00 490.00 499.45CENTRUM 9.50 9.55 9.50 9.55J&KBANK 12.60 12.65 11.81 12.06JAMNAAUTO 23.80 24.15 23.05 23.85GUJALKALI 226.60 232.60 223.00 224.20NLCINDIA 43.60 44.70 43.05 43.20HEIDELBERG 141.00 141.00 136.80 137.50HUDCO 20.85 20.85 19.15 19.20AIAENG 1390.00 1390.00 1299.00 1331.15VMART 1445.30 1578.00 1400.50 1469.45CROMPTON 210.40 212.95 200.00 202.90DCAL* 56.00 56.25 53.05 56.25TTKPRESTIG 4898.90 4939.65 4611.80 4661.05RELCAPITAL 4.60 4.60 4.40 4.48NATCOPHARM 505.00 505.00 491.90 497.65GMM 2517.00 2529.95 2473.85 2498.80WESTLIFE 301.10 343.05 301.10 331.60ITDC 134.00 136.50 130.45 136.45ASHOKA 41.80 42.50 39.25 39.55WABCOINDIA 6143.00 6236.95 6143.00 6182.70BALRAMCHIN 109.10 109.10 109.10 109.10JKTYRE 41.25 41.25 39.00 40.15IIFL 75.00 78.10 74.05 78.05GSFC 37.25 37.90 36.15 36.55UCOBANK 9.34 9.34 8.90 9.15MAHSEAMLES 193.35 193.35 189.00 191.70SHANKARA 224.55 232.10 219.00 221.05LAURUSLABS 329.50 331.90 320.00 323.45FINOLEXIND 400.20 400.20 375.00 380.80FRETAIL 75.00 75.00 74.85 74.85JYOTHYLAB 92.10 95.55 91.15 94.00KALPATPOWR 181.50 182.00 177.50 181.50ALKYLAMINE 1209.00 1219.60 1108.80 1136.60JSWENERGY 42.70 43.90 42.50 42.95REDINGTON 68.05 70.00 66.00 68.85MASFIN 530.10 552.70 515.00 532.55GICRE 105.40 107.20 103.80 105.10MOIL 106.00 106.00 101.65 102.45APLAPOLLO 1223.15 1259.20 1220.05 1224.55AKZOINDIA 2150.55 2194.20 2102.95 2184.40ALLCARGO 58.65 62.90 57.00 60.25GMDCLTD 31.60 32.10 31.00 31.00MRPL 23.00 24.25 22.90 23.55FINEORG 1925.70 1939.90 1860.00 1881.90TIINDIA 274.00 279.90 258.00 259.10SHILPAMED 251.00 256.70 251.00 256.70VSTIND 2780.00 2781.65 2690.00 2720.90FINCABLES 221.00 223.60 195.55 219.55SCHNEIDER 65.95 66.00 62.95 63.85LUXIND 920.00 940.75 891.00 917.85TNPL 89.75 91.00 87.50 87.85OBEROIRLTY 332.10 338.40 324.15 325.60CHENNPETRO 60.60 64.00 59.15 59.65IFCI 4.06 4.06 3.95 3.97ASTERDM 95.00 96.70 92.20 93.50NH 243.60 254.10 238.75 251.00BIRLACORPN 414.10 420.00 401.00 416.95SJVN 20.60 21.00 20.55 20.75TATAINVEST 664.00 665.40 630.00 646.65JMFINANCIL 64.10 64.35 62.65 63.10PCJEWELLER 12.12 12.12 12.12 12.12SYMPHONY 791.10 821.00 786.10 804.95BDL 185.40 189.00 182.25 185.10GRAPHITE 133.45 133.45 133.45 133.45BLISSGVS 101.95 104.80 99.80 101.55BLUEDART 2159.90 2159.90 2051.00 2079.95JKLAKSHMI 195.30 199.80 190.15 197.70FDC 191.00 196.20 191.00 194.05
SUNDRMFAST 285.55 288.20 274.00 276.20CHOLAHLDNG 287.20 287.50 260.00 273.65DHFL 9.07 9.07 8.40 8.62DCMSHRIRAM 218.05 220.95 214.00 215.70CENTURYPLY 117.00 117.00 106.40 107.95LEMONTREE 24.00 24.00 21.55 21.80GPPL 60.95 60.95 53.45 54.55IBULISL 40.90 41.45 40.65 40.65COROMANDEL 543.90 545.40 525.00 534.55VARROC 128.00 130.95 124.00 124.75JKCEMENT 916.05 933.05 915.95 928.65NETWORK18 18.15 18.65 17.70 17.80KEI 280.00 281.10 272.00 281.10PHOENIXLTD 565.25 568.05 502.10 515.50MMTC 12.95 12.95 12.20 12.35LAKSHVILAS 10.95 11.49 10.95 11.47KPITTECH 36.00 37.10 34.50 36.00BAJAJELEC 271.45 272.40 265.30 270.15MINDAIND 245.00 245.00 227.85 231.55MAHSCOOTER 2038.00 2075.00 2010.55 2072.50GEPIL 500.05 500.05 460.00 467.55PNCINFRA 94.00 99.35 92.00 97.70DBCORP 81.20 83.65 78.70 79.65JSLHISAR 41.90 43.45 39.40 40.05SCHAEFFLER 3631.20 3705.00 3558.00 3584.75THERMAX 743.35 755.00 725.50 736.40GALAXYSURF 1190.20 1196.80 1150.00 1165.25TEAMLEASE 1600.00 1632.65 1506.50 1547.30NILKAMAL 985.05 985.05 957.00 961.50ECLERX 367.45 367.50 357.00 363.45CCL 179.80 184.10 175.05 177.60LINDEINDIA 471.00 478.50 462.00 466.20ARVINDFASN 158.95 158.95 135.10 138.05GARFIBRES 1150.00 1150.00 1056.75 1072.55SFL 1300.00 1327.40 1269.35 1293.70GRSE 137.05 139.50 128.95 137.85MAHINDCIE 71.95 72.80 70.70 71.65MAHLOG 233.30 239.90 212.50 226.50ESSELPRO 155.80 160.00 151.00 153.75GET&D 73.60 73.65 65.40 66.60TCIEXP 571.15 571.15 517.00 545.00SKFINDIA 1489.95 1518.05 1448.00 1479.55GICHSGFIN 62.45 62.45 59.50 60.15REPCOHOME 115.00 122.80 111.50 111.80PERSISTENT 550.00 550.00 529.35 540.15NBVENTURES 34.75 37.80 34.35 36.85ADANITRANS 185.00 191.40 185.00 189.20VAIBHAVGBL 805.00 831.00 785.65 791.05MAXINDIA 61.60 61.90 59.40 59.55HERITGFOOD 213.15 219.90 211.70 215.25EDELWEISS 40.05 40.05 40.05 40.05GESHIP 222.00 222.00 197.65 201.80IFBIND 261.05 266.80 259.00 265.65ZYDUSWELL 1321.45 1325.00 1237.60 1242.25VRLLOG 158.00 158.30 148.40 149.35BRIGADE 131.80 140.00 124.85 135.70IOB 7.90 7.90 6.90 7.02KPRMILL 340.00 349.10 325.00 331.95VTL 625.65 625.65 611.00 617.60NAVNETEDUL 64.60 64.60 61.50 62.05TATAMETALI 328.35 339.60 328.35 333.15JSL 24.50 24.95 24.15 24.35SOMANYCERA 90.05 95.00 90.00 91.45KNRCON 197.00 198.10 195.10 196.10MAHLIFE 185.95 200.00 182.60 197.40CENTRALBK 12.20 12.54 12.05 12.23DHANUKA 330.00 330.00 321.65 328.45SIS 427.50 445.00 426.00 431.65GULFOILLUB 533.45 550.00 525.85 546.80HFCL 9.05 9.07 8.71 8.87ORIENTCEM 43.90 44.65 43.00 43.45TAKE 38.40 39.85 37.75 38.15ZENSARTECH 87.90 90.80 84.20 90.75MINDACORP 58.30 58.30 56.50 56.95CERA 2242.30 2323.00 2215.00 2301.85MAHABANK 9.09 9.09 8.81 8.90SHOPERSTOP 197.90 201.85 189.95 193.65ERIS 372.40 372.40 367.00 368.30RATNAMANI 939.95 939.95 869.70 893.65EIHOTEL 65.80 67.10 64.50 65.65GAYAPROJ 8.66 8.66 8.54 8.66GRINDWELL 462.95 469.00 449.00 454.25INDOSTAR 249.80 251.15 245.50 247.95HIMATSEIDE 60.65 63.15 58.45 61.70MHRIL 140.85 141.15 130.00 134.30FLFL 112.15 112.15 112.15 112.15GDL 94.00 95.70 91.70 95.40TEJASNET 31.50 32.50 31.30 31.65JAGRAN 44.70 47.00 44.35 45.35ENDURANCE 590.15 610.00 582.00 601.25LAOPALA 150.80 157.90 148.45 150.00ITDCEM 29.60 30.00 29.00 29.30UFLEX 136.35 139.35 133.70 137.45RELINFRA 10.60 10.60 10.60 10.60TVTODAY 169.20 170.10 158.40 158.65TVSSRICHAK 915.00 932.10 908.75 929.95SOLARINDS 902.80 930.00 885.80 907.65INOXWIND 18.80 20.00 17.90 19.00SHRIRAMCIT 771.00 788.90 770.00 773.00TIMETECHNO 26.20 26.20 23.05 23.75SHK 75.00 75.00 72.05 73.55INTELLECT 57.40 57.40 57.40 57.40SUPRAJIT 117.25 121.85 117.25 121.85STARCEMENT 68.15 70.90 68.15 69.80JTEKTINDIA 39.00 39.75 38.50 39.05CHALET 196.00 202.00 189.75 198.75HATHWAY 12.80 13.53 12.80 13.23TCNSBRANDS 353.90 353.90 335.00 335.00ORIENTREF 117.00 121.15 117.00 120.75
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 8584.10 8588.10 8198.35 8253.80 -343.95HEROMOTOCO1590.10 1647.35 1565.00 1636.00 39.55BAJAJ-AUTO 2000.00 2095.80 1990.00 2043.00 20.65BAJFINANCE 2180.00 2286.90 2132.65 2226.00 10.20TITAN 929.70 950.00 902.00 934.90 1.20COALINDIA 138.75 141.25 137.05 139.70 -0.35DRREDDY 3119.95 3144.00 3066.00 3102.00 -18.75EICHERMOT 13095.90 13319.00 12725.00 12990.00 -105.90TATASTEEL 266.00 267.95 258.10 266.65 -2.95GAIL 76.60 78.75 74.50 75.70 -0.85MARUTI 4290.00 4424.85 4190.10 4229.00 -59.30GRASIM 477.90 484.30 452.60 469.00 -7.10POWERGRID 159.00 161.95 153.15 156.00 -3.10ADANIPORTS 246.05 247.80 235.05 246.10 -5.20BAJAJFINSV 4560.00 4667.70 4460.00 4491.00 -100.20CIPLA 424.90 430.90 410.40 413.55 -9.30JSWSTEEL 145.95 145.95 139.05 143.00 -3.25SUNPHARMA 353.00 355.25 338.40 344.35 -7.95ZEEL 124.00 126.75 120.00 121.00 -2.95INDUSINDBK 386.40 390.00 320.00 342.50 -8.80VEDL 65.00 65.40 62.35 63.00 -1.70RELIANCE 1122.25 1124.60 1045.20 1084.00 -29.75IOC 81.65 82.20 78.00 79.45 -2.20HDFC 1645.50 1693.60 1575.90 1588.00 -45.10ITC 171.70 172.75 164.55 166.65 -5.05ULTRACEMCO 3245.00 3259.95 3105.25 3142.00 -102.85INFRATEL 160.00 160.50 150.50 154.55 -5.45NTPC 84.30 84.35 80.60 81.30 -2.90ONGC 67.00 67.25 65.10 65.90 -2.40M&M 281.00 283.00 265.50 274.60 -10.35ASIANPAINT 1650.05 1655.00 1584.25 1604.80 -61.70HDFCBANK 863.85 863.85 820.00 829.55 -32.35ICICIBANK 319.00 323.75 308.10 311.50 -12.25NESTLEIND 16300.25 16456.00 15500.00 15670.00 -630.60LT 806.85 812.40 766.55 775.55 -32.95WIPRO 195.70 195.70 187.00 188.65 -8.05HINDALCO 94.95 95.40 91.00 91.70 -4.00BHARTIARTL 440.00 440.00 412.40 422.00 -18.90TATAMOTORS 70.50 71.65 67.55 67.95 -3.10BPCL 312.00 315.90 293.50 302.95 -13.95BRITANNIA 2700.00 2780.00 2505.00 2563.55 -125.40HCLTECH 433.00 433.20 408.20 414.65 -21.75SBIN 194.00 194.50 185.25 187.00 -9.85HINDUNILVR 2293.20 2324.90 2158.05 2179.00 -119.50SHREECEM 17500.00 17546.30 16500.00 16523.00 -1023.35INFY 634.35 637.50 594.00 603.90 -37.60UPL 328.50 328.50 303.00 307.00 -19.50TCS 1825.90 1834.75 1702.00 1714.00 -112.10AXISBANK 376.25 379.80 354.00 355.50 -23.50KOTAKBANK 1294.90 1294.90 1158.00 1183.50 -112.55TECHM 560.00 560.30 510.00 512.35 -53.15
SE 500B
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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 21168.30 21286.00 20592.65 20664.55 -451.70GODREJCP 535.00 565.30 525.30 550.00 29.15BIOCON 277.95 285.70 274.40 278.15 7.60HINDZINC 155.00 167.00 152.25 159.70 4.30HDFCAMC 2125.00 2220.00 2115.00 2159.00 46.20ICICIGI 1084.00 1143.00 1051.10 1105.00 23.35PETRONET 199.00 204.50 193.05 204.00 4.30IBULHSGFIN 98.30 105.00 97.05 98.50 1.75AMBUJACEM 155.40 158.40 150.70 158.20 2.50ADANITRANS 190.10 193.90 185.00 191.90 2.85PGHH 10161.30 10499.35 10125.00 10414.00 144.65HAVELLS 480.00 489.00 466.50 481.00 0.55ACC 964.80 969.00 948.00 968.00 -0.50GICRE 105.20 107.00 104.05 105.00 -0.20SBILIFE 641.90 659.00 628.00 639.50 -1.50PEL 938.00 950.00 910.20 935.00 -4.50COLPAL 1260.00 1285.00 1224.75 1234.00 -18.70LUPIN 589.85 590.80 575.45 580.60 -9.05IDEA 3.10 3.15 3.00 3.05 -0.05NMDC 79.00 81.90 76.20 78.50 -1.50CADILAHC 270.00 273.30 261.15 262.00 -5.25L&TFH 51.20 52.00 50.00 50.25 -1.05PAGEIND 16900.00 16950.00 16526.80 16600.00 -363.50SIEMENS 1115.00 1124.80 1065.10 1089.00 -24.40BOSCHLTD 9399.00 9750.00 9070.60 9185.00 -210.55NHPC 19.90 20.15 19.30 19.50 -0.45UBL 927.50 938.10 882.70 895.00 -23.85BAJAJHLDNG 1819.00 1819.00 1725.50 1750.00 -48.55BERGEPAINT 500.40 500.85 476.40 484.45 -13.50PFC 91.60 94.20 87.80 89.30 -2.65DABUR 450.90 454.80 430.30 435.00 -15.05ICICIPRULI 351.00 367.95 340.35 343.50 -12.20HDFCLIFE 438.10 447.40 424.05 425.75 -15.60DLF 135.95 136.95 130.30 132.55 -4.90CONCOR 334.00 337.70 311.30 319.00 -12.65MCDOWELL-N 489.00 503.80 458.40 466.00 -18.60HINDPETRO 190.10 195.40 180.85 182.20 -7.90BANDHANBNK 205.90 207.70 191.00 195.00 -8.75BANKBARODA 54.00 54.35 50.80 51.25 -2.30ASHOKLEY 43.05 44.20 40.10 41.20 -1.85PIDILITIND 1355.00 1374.40 1290.00 1298.00 -58.40MARICO 277.05 284.30 262.00 262.90 -11.95OFSS 2060.00 2060.00 1888.25 1925.00 -98.65DIVISLAB 2000.00 2000.40 1844.25 1890.00 -99.05DMART 2218.00 2230.00 2078.15 2078.15 -109.35AUROPHARMA 415.00 416.15 384.45 392.35 -20.80INDIGO 1051.00 1052.40 982.00 1009.00 -57.15SRTRANSFIN 645.10 668.90 607.05 623.90 -36.75MOTHERSUMI 60.50 61.80 57.20 57.65 -3.40PNB 32.50 32.50 30.25 30.45 -1.90NIACL 112.30 113.95 105.00 105.00 -7.30
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Late last year — long beforemost people had heard of
the new coronavirus nowsweeping the globe — scien-tists in Germany sprang intoaction to develop a test for thevirus that was causing anunusual respiratory disease incentral China.
They had one by mid-January — and labs around thecountry were ready to startusing it just weeks later, aroundthe same time that Europe’smost populous country regis-tered its first case.
“It was clear that if the epi-demic swept over here fromChina, then we had to starttesting,” said Hendrik Borucki,a spokesman for BioscientiaHealthcare, which operates 19labs in Germany.
That quick work stands instark contrast to delays andmissteps in other countries.Coupled with Germany’s largenumber of intensive care bedsand its early social distancingmeasures, it could explain oneof the most interesting puzzlesof the COVID-19 pandemic:Why are people with the virusin Germany currently dying at
much lower rates than inneighboring countries?
The numbers are remark-able: As confirmed cases inGermany passed 71,000, thedeath toll Wednesday was 775,according to a tally kept byJohns Hopkins University. Incontrast, Italy has reportedalmost 106,000 infections andmore than 12,400 deaths, whileSpain has more than 102,000cases with over 9,000 deaths.
France has four times asmany virus deaths as Germanyand Britain has twice as many,even though both countrieshave fewer reported infections.
There may be many factorsat play, but experts said early onthat fast and widespread test-ing gave Germany an edge.
“The reason why we inGermany have so few deaths atthe moment compared to thenumber of infected can belargely explained by the factthat we are doing an extreme-ly large number of lab diag-noses,” said virologist Dr.Christian Drosten, whose teamdeveloped the first test for thenew virus at Berlin’s Charitéhospital — established over300 years ago to treat plaguevictims.
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For the first time since theCOVID-19 outbreak, China
on Wednesday revealed thepresence of 1,541 asympto-matic cases carrying the dead-ly novel coronavirus, raisingconcerns of a second wave ofinfections amid the relaxationof stringent measures in thecountry initiated to contain thedeadly disease.
Asymptomatic coronaviruscases are those who carry thevirus but do not show anysymptoms and can cause spo-radic clusters of infections. In asurprise announcement onTuesday, China’s NationalHealth Commission (NHC)said it would begin to release thedata of asymptomatic patients.A total of 1,541 asymptomaticpatients infected with COVID-19 have been put under medicalobservation in China by the endof Monday, including 205imported cases, state-runXinhua news agency quoted theNHC in a statement.
Besides the asymptomaticcases, there are reports of 35new imported cases and onedomestic infection, NHC saidon Wednesday. The total num-ber of imported cases has risento 806, it said. Seven more peo-ple have died of the disease, tak-ing the total number to 3,312.
As of Tuesday, a total of81,554 confirmed cases of theCOVID-19 had been reportedon the Chinese mainland.
The announcement aboutasymptomatic cases came as theother countries are includingasymptomatic cases in theirnumber of confirmed cases fortheir potential to infect others.Hong Kong-based South ChinaMorning Post reported that thedata suggested that by the end ofFebruary, more than 43,000 peo-ple in mainland China had test-ed positive for the coronavirusbut had no immediate symp-toms. They were not included inthe official tally of the con-firmed cases. There is no officialexplanation why these caseshave not been included earlier.
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The UK reported its biggestsingle-day coronavirus toll
of 563 on Wednesday, takingthe total number of COVID-19deaths in the country to 2,352.
The Department of Healthsaid 29,474 people have testedpositive for the virus, anincrease of 4,324 cases since onTuesday, as the countryremains under lockdown withthe Government’s advice forpeople to stay at home andobserve strict social distancingwhen outside for exercising orbuying essentials.
The latest virus positivetests mark an increase of near-ly 20,000 confirmed cases inthe UK in just one week.
The Government has saidits focus remains on rampingup testing for frontline NationalHealth Service (NHS) staff,who are treating the risingnumber of patients comingthrough hospitals and clinics.
Downing Street spokesper-son for British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson who remains inself-isolation after his COVID-19 diagnosis last week — con-firmed more than 2,000 NHS
frontline staff in England havebeen tested for coronavirussince the outbreak began in apush to get healthy self-isolat-ing medics back to work.
UK Cabinet OfficeMinister Michael Gove had
said on Tuesday that a shortageof chemicals needed for thetests meant the NHS, whichemploys 1.2 million in England,could not screen greater num-bers of its staff for the virus.
Meanwhile, several
makeshift hospitals are becom-ing functional across the UK asthe NHS aims to boost its bedcapacity to cope with the grow-ing number of COVID-19cases. It follows the conversionof London’s ExCel Centre intoNHS Nightingale — a 4,000-bed hospital facility.
A push for more ventilatorsis also in place as a new set ofmanufacturers plan to deliverthe first batch by early nextweek. “We are doing everythingwe can to support our NHS stafffighting this battle on the front-line, and it’s crucial we get evenmore ventilators there as soonas possible,” said UK HealthSecretary Matt Hancock.
“We have seen a fantasticresponse from businesses toour call for a national effort --and I’m delighted these com-panies accepted the challengeto save lives across the country,”he said.
The Government said ithas provided a number of let-ters of intent to purchasepotentially thousands moreventilators with companieswho have credible designs,subject to them passing the reg-ulator and strict safety tests.
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The heads of three globalagencies warned on
Wednesday of the risk of aworldwide “food shortage” ifauthorities fail to manage theongoing coronavirus crisisproperly. Many Governmentsaround the world have puttheir populations on lockdowncausing severe slow-downs ininternational trade and foodsupply chains.
Panic buying by peoplegoing into confinement hasalready demonstrated thefragility of supply chains assupermarket shelves emptied inmany countries.
“Uncertainty about foodavailability can spark a wave ofexport restrictions, creating ashortage on the global market,”said the joint text signed by QuDongyu, head of the UN’s Food
and Agriculture Organisation(FAO), Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus, director-generalof the World HealthOrganization (WHO) andRoberto Azevedo, director ofthe World Trade Organisation(WTO).
“In the midst of theCOVID-19 lockdowns, everyeffort must be made to ensurethat trade flows as freely as pos-sible, specially to avoid foodshortage(s)” from developing,they said in their statement.“When acting to protect thehealth and well-being of theircitizens, countries shouldensure that any trade-relatedmeasures do not disrupt thefood supply chain,” they added.
Over the longer term con-finement orders and travelrestrictions risk causing dis-ruptions in agricultural pro-duction due to the unavailabil-
ity of agricultural labour andthe inability to get food tomarkets.
“Such disruptions includinghampering the movement ofagricultural and food industryworkers and extending borderdelays for food containers,result in the spoilage of perish-ables and increasing foodwaste,” said the three leaders.
They also stressed the needto protect employees engaged infood production, processingand distribution, both for theirown health and that of others,as well as to maintain food sup-ply chains. “It is at times likethese that more, not less, inter-national cooperation is essen-tial,” they said. “We must ensurethat our response to COVID-19does not unintentionally createunwarranted shortages ofessential items and exacerbatehunger and malnutrition.”
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Though factories have shut,planes have been ground-
ed and cars left in the garage,the coronavirus pandemic ishaving very little impact on cli-mate change, the WorldMeteorological Organizationsaid Wednesday.
Any reductions in pollu-tion and carbon dioxide emis-sions are likely to be temporary,said Lars Peter Riishojgaard,from the infrastructure depart-ment of the WMO, a UnitedNations agency based inGeneva.
“It does not mean much forclimate,” he told a virtual press
conference.Riishojgaard said there was
a lot of media speculationabout what impact the globalpandemic might have on theclimate, greenhouse gas emis-sions and longer-term globalwarming.
“The answer to that is itprobably does not mean very
much,” he said.While in the short term,
carbon dioxide emissionswould go down as cars stay putand aircraft remain on theground, “we expect the impactwill be fairly short-lived,”Riishojgaard said.
“The pandemic will beover at some point and the
world will start going back towork and with that, the CO2emissions will pick up again,maybe or maybe not to quitethe same level.”
He said visibility in citiessuch as New Delhi hadimproved because there werefewer traffic-emitting fumes,but cautioned that it was only
down to an “artificial halt” tonormal activity.
“You could see it as maybescience experiment: what hap-pens if all of a sudden we turnthe whole thing off?” saidRiishojgaard.
“It will lead some people,and perhaps also some gov-ernments, to rethink.” He
reflected on China shuttingdown much industrial pro-duction during the Beijing2008 Olympics.
“They demonstrated veryclearly that you can absolutely, if you have enoughcontrol over the situation, youcan turn off the air pollution,”he said.
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The US is headed for a “verytough two weeks”, President
Donald Trump has warned,advising people to be preparedfor the “hard days” ahead, as the country was atwar with a deadly coronaviruspandemic that the WhiteHouse projects could claimone to two lakh lives during thenext fortnight.
Trump’s remarks came asDeborah Bix, a member ofWhite House Task Force oncoronavirus, based on a modelfrom actual data from theground, said the death toll inthe US could be between1,00,000 to 2,00,000, with thestrict implementation of theexisting mitigation measuresincluding social distancing tillApril 30.
If no steps were to betaken, the death toll couldrange between 1.5 million and2.2 million, Brix said on a day
when the confirmed number ofcoronavirus infections in theUS, according to the JohnsHopkins Coronavirus ResourceCenter website, zoomed toover 1,89,500, adding morethan 25,000 new cases in a sin-gle day and the fatalities rose toover 4,000.
“I want every American tobe prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” agrim-faced Trump told reporterson Tuesday at a briefing whichhas now become his daily coronavirus press conference atthe White House for more than10 days.
“We’re going to go througha very tough two weeks andthen, hopefully, as the expertsare predicting, as I think a lotof us are predicting after hav-ing studied it so hard, we aregoing to start seeing some reallight at the end of the tunnel.But this is going to be a verypainful, very, very, very painfultwo weeks,” Trump said.
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The worldwide number ofofficially confirmed fatali-
ties from the novel coron-avirus rose to 45,309 onWednesday. More than 902,715declared cases have been reg-istered in 186 countries and ter-ritories since the epidemic firstemerged in China inDecember. Of these cases, atleast 1,90,639 are now consid-ered recovered.
The coronavirus pandem-ic has claimed more than30,000 lives in Europe alone, aglobal tally showed onWednesday, in what the head ofthe United Nations hasdescribed as humanity’s worstcrisis since World War II.
Italy and Spain bore thebrunt of the crisis, accounting
for three in every four deathson the continent, as the grimtally hit another milestone eventhough half of the planet’spopulation is already undersome form of lockdown in abattle to halt contagion.
Spain reported a record864 deaths in 24 hours, push-ing the country’s number offatalities past 9,000.
The toll is only dwarfed byItaly’s, where the virus haskilled nearly 12,500 people.
President Donald Trumphas warned of a “very, verypainful two weeks” as theUnited States registered itsdeadliest 24 hours of what hecalled a “plague”. In a scrambleto halt the contagion, govern-ments have shut schools, mostshops, and ordered millions ofpeople to work from home.
Cancellations of key eventson the global calendar haveswept both the sports and cul-tural worlds, with theEdinburgh arts festival the lat-est to be scrapped.
For UN Secretary-GeneralAntonio Guterres, the extraor-dinary upheaval spurred by thevirus presents a real danger tothe relative peace the world hasseen over the last few decades.
The disease “represents athreat to everybody in theworld and... An economicimpact that will bring a reces-sion that probably has no par-allel in the recent past,” he said.
“The combination of thetwo facts and the risk that itcontributes to enhanced insta-bility, enhanced unrest, andenhanced conflict are thingsthat make us believe that this
is the most challenging crisiswe have faced since the SecondWorld War.”
With most business activ-ity grinding to a halt for anundetermined period of time,scenes of economic desperationand unrest were emergingacross the globe.
In Italy, queues werelengthening at soup kitchenswhile some supermarkets werereportedly pillaged.
Half a million more peoplenow need help to afford meals,Italy’s biggest union for theagriculture sector Coldirettisaid, adding to the 2.7 millionalready in need last year.
“Usually we serve 152,525people. But now we’ve 70,000more requests,” confirmedRoberto Tuorto, who runs afood aid association. It was cru-
cial to “ensure that the economiccrisis unleashed by the virusdoesn’t become a security crisis,”he warned. The economic painof lockdowns is especially acutein poorer nations.
In Tunisia several hun-dred protested a week-old lock-down that has disproportion-ately hit the poor. “Never mindcoronavirus, we’re going to dieanyway! Let us work!” shoutedone protester in the demon-stration on the outskirts of thecapital Tunis.
Africa’s biggest city Lagoswas just into its second full dayof lockdown on Wednesday —but with some of the world’sbiggest slums, home to millionswho live hand-to-mouth, con-tainment will be a challenge.
Wary of a collapse of theworld’s economy, the globe’s
leading central bankers havepumped billions of liquidityinto the system.
In the European Union, theterms of a rescue plan threat-ened to divide the bloc.
Worst-hit Italy and Spain areleading a push for a shared debtinstrument — dubbed “coron-abonds”, but talk of shared debtis a red line for Germany andother northern countries.
The tone sharpened thisweek, with some Italian politi-cians even taking out an adver-tisement in a major Germannewspaper to remind Europe’sbiggest economy of WWIIdebts to jolt it into action.
The economic cost of thecrisis was still piling up as lock-downs remain at the forefrontof official disease-stoppingarsenals — a strategy increas-
ingly borne out by science.Researchers said China’s
decision to shutter Wuhan,ground zero for the pandemic,may have prevented hundredsof thousands of new cases.
“Our analysis suggeststhat without the Wuhan travelban and the national emer-gency response there wouldhave been more than 700,000confirmed COVID-19 casesoutside of Wuhan” by midFebruary, said OxfordUniversity’s Christopher Dye.
At the same time, focus isnow turning to how asympto-matic cases may be fuelling thespread.
Germany and France werealso ramping up testing of thepopulation to establish howmany already have immunity.
For now, the focus of the
health sector in the hardest hitcountries remains the scramblefor available facilities to treatpatients. Emergency hospitalsare popping up in event spaceswhile distressed medical staffmake grim decisions abouthow to distribute limited pro-tective gear, beds and life-sav-ing respirators.
In scenes unimaginable inpeacetime, around a dozenwhite tents were erected toserve as a field hospital inNew York’s Central Park. Buteven with the extended capac-ity, doctors say they are stillhaving to make painful choic-es. “If you get a surge of patientscoming in, and you only havea limited number of ventilators,you can’t necessarily ventilatepatients,” Shamit Patel of theBeth Israel hospital said.
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Taipei: It may be the global day for pranks but with the worldunder assault from the deadly coronavirus pandemic manyGovernments on Wednesday were warning against virus-themed April Fools’ jokes — some even threatening jail.
The April 1 tradition sees families, web users and corpora-tions embrace practical jokes. But few are in the mood as the glob-al death toll mounts and billions remain under some form of lock-down. Google, a company renowned for its elaborate annual stunts,told its employees it would “take the year off from that traditionout of respect for all those fighting the Covid-19 pandemic,”according to an internal email obtained by Business Insider.
The deadly outbreak has already been accompanied by a del-uge of online misinformation, making it harder for governmentsto keep their citizens safe. Some are now threatening jail for viruspranks. Taiwan, which has been held up as a model for how totackle an outbreak, warned people who spread false rumours thatthey faced up to three years in jail and a TW$3 million fine($100,000).
“On April Fools’ Day we can exercise our sense of humourif we have to but we can’t make jokes on the pandemic to avoidbreaking the law,” President Tsai Ing-wen posted on Facebookalongside a photo of one of her cats. AFP
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Can you recall the last time youstepped out with your childrenhappily? When did you last shop
for yourself? Don’t you miss the coffeebreaks with your colleagues? Well, thisconversation might seem far-removedfrom present day reality when theworld is facing a crisis. A large part ofthe world, which wakes up to emptystreets due to COVID-19, has acceptedthe lockdown and empty grocery storesas a way of life.
The virus has become a social andeconomic threat due to its global impact.It has changed the way we eat, socialise,work, play and travel. But what is evenmore scary is that we have not found itscure yet. Doctors and practitioners arestill in the process of researching on avaccine for this virus. Amidst all thiscrisis, there are experts who feel that fol-lowing some Ayurvedic ways and build-ing immunity can help us fight thisvirus.
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In Ayurveda, strong digestion playsa vital role in fighting against any virusand disease. Opting for a healthierlifestyle and shifting towards organicproducts are important steps to fight thepandemic. Besides this, here are sometips by Ayurveda expert, AcharyaManish:� As we all know, this is the time ofNavratra and people are fasting. Thoughpeople usually do it because of religiousreasons but fasting at least once a weekis good for health. It detoxifies the bodyand improves the immunity.� During fast eat salads, vegetables, dryfruit, seeds, coconut water and herbaltea. This diet may prevent the spread ofthe virus.� Take ayurvedic herbs such as giloy,turmeric, ashwagandha, tulsi and amla.They are effective in improving theimmunity.� Since the virus is caused by comingin contact with infected patients, avoidthat and follow hygiene guidelines likefrequent handwashing and isolatingoneself if there are any symptoms.� Avoid heavy meals, eggs, meat andfish these days.
� Use napkins, tissue paper while sneez-ing and throw them in the bin after use.� Try not to come in contact with anyanimal.� Drink hot water, also called ushan Jalin Ayurveda. It is easily digestible andremoves toxins from the body. It alsohelps to maintain the immunity of thebody and protects it from viral infec-tions and respiratory problems — oneof the symptoms of the virus.
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You need to focus on buildingimmunity not just to fight Coronavirusbut all diseases caused by bacteria andviruses. “You must have seen that manypeople fall ill frequently or have coughmost of the time while some rarely fallill. This difference is because of theimmune system. The ones with weakimmunity frequently fall ill,” says AcharyaManish.
He adds that adding tulsi, guduchiand turmeric in diet can help in increas-ing the immunity of the body. Eatinghealthy food is the first step towardsboosting immunity. One should alsoconsume citrus fruits like oranges andgrapes regularly. They have vitaminC which is believed to be effec-tive in increasing the produc-tion of white blood cells.Broccoli also helps inincreasing the immunityof the body as it containsvitamin A, C, E and a lotof fibre.
Ayurvedacharya DrPartap Chauhan, director,Jiva Ayurveda, says thatone should ditch regu-lar tea. As we workfrom home, our rou-tines have gone for atoss. To cope with workstress, we increase ourcaffeine doses. But it is timewe replace our regular caffeinedose with an Ayurvedic tea. One
can make it at home with ginger, tulsileaves and honey. These ingredients aregood for the respiratory system andimmunity too. Not only this, these alsogive the added benefit of stress relief.
Herbs like brahmi, ashwagandha,jatamansi, sankhpuhspi, sarpgandha arealso great for reducing stress.
-�������������-“Yoga is no longer a lifestyle fad, it’s
a necessity. Fix 30 minutes every morn-ing for yoga. Composing your mind inthe morning will fortify it for stressassaults all day long. Pick a calm spot in
your home, like your balcony or nearan open window and practicePadmasana, Shavashana and other
forms,” says Dr Partap.
���������%�����������-��%���It is one of the oldest systems of tra-
ditonal medicine. The ancient wisdom inthis system has the potential to cure anydisease. But Acharya Manish questionsthat why have people forgotten Ayurvedaand it’s importance? Well, probablybecause it works slowly and people wantfaster results.
“In this fast-paced life people aresticking to allopathic medicines more asthey give faster results. This is because itonly kills the symptoms of the disease. Onthe other hand, Ayurveda works on theroot cause. We need to focus on the factthat Ayurveda has a solution for all thediseases. It takes time but cures the dis-eases properly without any side effects,”adds Acharya Manish.
Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas hasdecided to donate $100,000 along
with the organisation BON V!V SpikedSeltzer to the women out there who areworking for the betterment of societyamid the coronavirus pandemic.
Taking to her Instagram Story,Priyanka revealed that she was sup-posed to launch a promotional cam-paign with the brand in the next fewweeks but due to the coronavirus pan-demic, she decided to halt the plan. Shewill now use the resources for the fourwomen who are in need.
She posted a video in which is seenrequesting her users to nominate suchwomen. “Our worlds changed quick-ly, and needless to say, we couldn’t goforward with our original plans tolaunch this campaign. Each week I’llgo live with @BONVIVSeltzer toshare the stories of four women whoare overcoming the struggles of ournew realities in their own powerfulway. If you know a woman we shouldhighlight, visit the link in my bio fornext steps. We are all in this together.#togetherwomenrise #partner,”Priyanka wrote.
The actor also issued a statement,which read: “If you know a woman weshould highlight, share her story withus, whether she is in the serviceindustry, from a large business, smallbusiness owner, or first responders onthe front lines. We want to commem-orate her. #TogetherWomenRise.”
The actor and her husband NickJonas have also donated to organisa-tions like the PM-CARES Fund,Unicef, Feeding America and Goonj.
There are several other actorsfrom the industry who are doingtheir bit. Actor Ajay Devgn will alsobe donating ��51 lakh to Federationof Western India Cine Employees(FWICE) to aid daily wage film work-ers, who have been left without jobsdue to the lockdown amid the ongo-ing coronavirus pandemic.
Confirming the news, AshokDubey, general secretary of FWICE,said: “Ajay has pledged to donate � 51lakh to FWICE. I’m glad that peoplelike Ajay and Rohit (Shetty) are help-ing the daily wage workers who needit the most during the downtime. Wehave received more enquiries from
others wanting to provide monetaryhelp. We are providing them theaccount details. I hope more andmore people come forward to helpdaily wage workers,” Dubey added.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khanwas the first industry bigwig who tookthe initiative to help the 25,000-odddaily wage workers of the film indus-try whose lives have been affectedowing to the lockdown.
Filmmaker Rohit Shetty subse-quently donated � 51 lakh to FWICE.Frames Production Company andShashi Sumit Productions have alsoprovided ration and money for thecause. FWICE will utilise all thedonated money to help its daily wageworkers like junior artistes, stuntartistes, light men, and spot boysamongst others.
Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal
also donated � 1 crore to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s relief fundand Chief Minister’s (Maharashtra)relief fund, to lend support to theongoing battle with COVID-19 pan-demic.
He also shared a note onInstagram: “While I am blessedenough to be seated with my lovedones in the comforts of my home, thereare many who are not as fortunate. Inthis time of crisis, I humbly pledge tocontribute an amount of � 1 crore toPM-CARES and Maharashtra ChiefMinister Relief Fund. We are in thistogether and we’ll win this together. Letus all do our bit for a healthier andstronger future.”
Many Bollywood celebrities likeAkshay Kumar, Kartik Aaryan, DiljitDosanjh, Anushka Sharma amongmany others have come forward tocontribute monetarily in these timesof crisis.
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Cricket is not just a sport, it is the heart ofIndians. It’s something that unites us.
With its mission to inspire creativity and bringjoy, TikTok, a platform for short format videoshas become the go-to platform for cricketersfrom all over to explore their fun and creativeside.
Cricketers such asSuresh Raina,Yuzvendra Chahal,Virender Sehwag,Irfan Pathan,Mohammad Shami,Chris Gayle and YusufPathan have joinedTikTok to showcasetheir talent apart fromcricket. Many of themcan be seen experi-menting with the new filters available on theplatform such as submarine game, zoom myface and halloween, making fun and comedyvideos. They can also be seen participating inthe ongoing challenges and sharing their fitnessregime, inspiring millions on the platform.
With over three million followers onTikTok, India’s finest right-arm-leg spinner,Chahal is a big hit on TikTok. His comedyvideos and fun banter with fellow cricketersleaves his fans in splits of laughter. Sharing hisexperience on TikTok, Chahal said, “It is amaz-ing to be on this platform as it helps me exploremy fun side. I’ve come across some users whoare sharing different and exciting content. I’vealso collaborated with some talented creatorson the platform and was stunned to see theirdedication and creativity to always deliver thebest.”
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In view of the current nation-widelockdown due to COVID-19 pan-
demic, the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) has declared that themonthly membership subscription,monthly user charges and monthlycoaching fees will not be charged atDDA’s sports complexes and golf cours-es during the period. The deductionwould be made on pro rata basis. Allcaddies at DDA Qutab Golf Course andBhalaswa Golf Course, who are notpaid by management, are also beinggiven daily relief of `250 during thelockdown.
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)has mobilised a large number of
healthcare services across all five of itsmain hospitals located in the five integrat-ed steel plants to fight the Coronaviruspandemic.
The five hospitals include JLNHospital & Research Centre at Bhilai,Durgapur Steel Plant Main Hospital atDurgapur, Ispat General Hospital atRourkela, Bokaro General Hospital atBokaro, and Burnpur Hospital at IISCO,Burnpur.
SAIL has also created isolation wardswith 330 beds, necessary facilities for thequarantine with 592 beds, ICU beds alongwith other necessary health equipment tospecially deal with the cases of COVID-19 infections. These facilities have beenmade available to the local administration
for utilisation as well. The company is alsoproducing masks through self-help groupsand providing large quantities of masks,PPEs and sanitising facilities across all the
health units and work areas. SAIL’sRourkela steel plant is handing over fiveventilator units to Odisha government tocater to their requirements as well.
NTPC Ltd, India’s largestpower producer, has
stepped up its vigil againstglobal pandemic of COVID-19by converting its hospitals intodedicated Coronavirus units.
R K Singh, Minister ofState (I/c) of Power, New andRenewable Energy andMinister of State of SkillDevelopment, has decided toutilise NTPC’s 45 hospitalsand healthcare units to makeisolation facilities and pro-
cured requisite number ofequipment for the medicalstaff to handle such cases effec-tively.
As many as 121 beds, withall facilities, have been turnedinto isolation wards in thesehospitals. The key medicalinfrastructure is been provid-ed by state governments totackle COVID-19 cases,including the hospital atBadarpur in Delhi and themedical college hospital of
Sundergarh in Odisha. KorbaHospital is also being exam-ined to be taken over by thestate government.
The medical staff has alsobeen trained over video callsabout the use of PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE).Mock drills are getting con-ducted at all hospitals as perMOHFW guidelines.Furthermore, 1,160 PPEs,30,000 masks and 30,000gloves have been dispatched to
all the projects and stations. A total of eight ventilators
are being procured atHazaribagh for district admin-istration. Additionally, thereare 18 Advanced LevelAmbulances (ALAs) with ven-tilators.
It has contributed funds tothe district administration ofNTECL Vallur for procuring1,000 bedsheets for a hospital.
At NTPC Bhilai, fundshave been reserved for support
to the district hospitals to pro-vide foods to nearby localitiesthrough NGOs and also forproviding essential medicine inPrimary Health Cares (PHCs).
Similarly, NTPC Rihandhas assured adequate funds fordistribution of sanitisers andother protective equipment.
The requirement of con-tractor workers has also beenrationalised at NTPC projectsstations in accordance with theGOI guidelines. The agencies
have been asked to treat theworkers’ absence in theseextraordinary circumstancesas on duty. As far as wages areconcerned, there will be nohindrance and they will begiven timely. In some cases,including advances havealready been given.
Accommodation, food andmedical facilities for the con-tractor workers have also beenarranged at many of NTPC’sproject stations.
In the wake of the nation-widelockdown amid the ongoingCoronavirus pandemic, children
missing out on their education is ahuge cause of concern for parents andteachers. However, the Ministry ofHuman Resource Development(MHRD) is fully prepared to copewith the situation. The MHRD hasbeen working on various projectsthrough which quality educationcould be reached through variousmeans of communication to allschools for the last five years.
The three organisations under theMHRD — the Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE), theNational Institute of Open Schooling(NIOS) and the National Council ofEducational Research and Training(NCERT) — are collaborating topool up all resources at their dispos-al to make academic content reachschool-level learners across Indiapursuing education through CBSE,NIOS or any other school boards ofthe country. Amit Khare, secretary ofeducation, Government of India,personally discussed the plan with theorganisations and given directions towork on a contingency plan.
The CBSE has developed the‘DIKSHA’ portal, through which aca-demic lessons in various Indian lan-guages have been placed for differentlevels. The material has been divid-ed into two major areas — for teach-ers and students. Students from dif-ferent school boards of different
states would be able to study adopt-ed material for their state in their ownlanguage.
Similarly, the NIOS has made thecontent available for secondary andsenior secondary classes on the‘SWAYAM’ portal of the MHRD(www.swayam.gov.in/nios). Throughthe portal, learners can log in andstudy courses of their choice and alsowatch related videos and audiolessons. Later, they can also takeonline tests. The course-coordinatingteacher will also be available to
answer queries, if students have any.Another major initiative of NIOS isthe running of four DTH TV chan-nels on the SwayamPrabha bouquetof channels. While Channel 27 Paniniis dedicated to secondary classes,Channel 28 Sharda is dedicated tosenior secondary and Channel 30Gyanamrit to sign language. There isalso Channel 32 Vagda which will bededicated to live, interactive classes.
The NIOS is also starting live ses-sions for students to ask questions andget answers. It has been conducting
live interaction with teachers in thelast two years but now this facility willbe expanded to students. SantoshMall, commissioner, KendriyaVidyalaya, has assured to provideexperts and teachers, who would beavailable to take questions throughcalls on Vagda channel. Anita Karwal,chairperson, CBSE, is coordinatingwith all the three organisations tomake available online classes to allschool children across the nation.
Parents, whose children sat for12th board examinations in 2020,
would be anxious to know about theresults so that they don’t miss out oncollege admissions in India andabroad. However, there shouldn’t beany concern or anxiety as all theboards have deferred the examina-tions and as soon as the condition isnormalised, all boards, includingNIOS will conduct examinationsafter giving sufficient time to prepare.The evaluation will be done at warfooting and results would be declaredat the minimum possible time.Hence, students would have sufficienttime to apply for admissions. Highereducation institutions will also extendtheir admission deadlines.
Chandra Bhushan Sharma, chair-man, NIOS, said, “We don’t wantteachers to start preparing lessons toteach over the internet as this is atechnical job for which they do nothave prior training. They should con-centrate on providing counselling andremedial lessons online in smallgroups. They should prod their stu-dents to log in to the online materi-al, which has been prepared byexpert teachers and media profes-sionals.”
He added, “It has also beenmade compulsory for all cable oper-ators to carry DD channels. Wehave also requested to the I&BMinistry to instruct cable operatorsto carry the SwayamPrabha channels.This will be a great service to theapproximately 25 crore school-levellearners in the country.”
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The competent authority of the Council of Architecture hasdecided to postpone the first test of National Aptitude Test
in Architecture (NATA 2020), which was scheduled to be heldon April 19. The new date of the examination will be announcedafter the period of complete lockdown amid COVID-19 is over.
It has also been decided to extend the registration date uptoApril 15. Other important dates such as image uploads allowedtill, fee payment, candidate correction window, publication ofadmit card, also stands revised. The candidates and parents areadvised to kindly regularly visit the websites for latest updates.
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The Ordnance Factory Boardis in the forefront to fight
COVID-19. The first batchcomprising 1,500 litre of handsanitiser was despatched bythe Cordite FactoryAruvankadu in Tamil Nadu toThiruvananthapuram. Thetruck was flagged off remotelyby the DGOF and chairman,Ordnance Factory Board, HariMohan, from OFBHQ atKolkata.
Hindustan Latex Limited(HLL), which has been nomi-nated as the nodal agency, has
placed an order of 13,000 litresof hand sanitiser. This is beingmanufactured in a number offactories.
Hand sanitisers which con-tain ethanol can only beprocessed in a cool environ-ment with proper ventilationand requires extensive safetyprecautions. Various teams ofofficers, staff and workmentoiled ceaselessly to establishand then scale up the produc-tion. Apart from hand sanitis-er, the units of OFB are alsodeveloping masks and coverall.
The Government of India has decid-ed to provide Pradhan Mantri Garib
Kalyan Package, an insurance schemecover of �50 lakh for 22.12 lakh publichealthcare providers for 90 days includ-ing community health workers, whomay come into direct contact ofCOVID-19 patients. They are at highrisk of being impacted by this.
New India Assurance CompanyLimited is providing this insurancecover. Private hospital staff, volunteers,local urban bodies, daily wage, ad hoc,outsourced, contractual, retired employ-ees, and staff requisitioned by thestates’ or central hospitals orautonomous hospitals of central, stateor UTs, AIIMS and INIs/ hospitals ofcentral ministries, will be coveredunder this scheme.
India’s top economists, socialscientists, workers’ organisa-
tions and former civil servantshave appealed for urgent inter-vention from PM/CM of statesto ameliorate the impact onVulnerable Workers andPopulations induced byCOVID-19 lockout. The mea-sures are as follows:
- The Centre and Statestogether should try and ensurea minimum transfer of at least�6,000 per month to each JDYwoman account holder with amajor part borne by the centralgovernment over the next threemonths.
- All State governmentsshould ensure that at least 10 kgfree ration per month, alongwith other necessary items,are available for all eligible
households.- Three to four fold
increase of the current short-term relief package for impact-ed informal workers.
Amid the Coronaviruspandemic, while welcomingthe central government’s �1.7trillion package and variousmeasures taken by the Stategovernments, the IndianSociety of Labour Economics(ISLE) and the signatories tothis letter strongly appeal to thegovernment of India all theserequests. In the letter to thePrime Minister and the StateChief ministers, we have pro-posed urgent additional mea-sures that are required toaddress critical gaps that existin the short-term relief mea-sures announced so far.
���LIC of India has contributed
�105 crore to PM-CARES Fund forsupporting the efforts of theGovernment of India in fightingCOVID-19. Out of the �105 crore,�5 crore has been donated from LIC’sGolden Jubilee Fund.
In a statement, LIC’s chairman,MR Kumar said, “India is facing ahuge challenge in wake of the glob-al pandemic. LIC is committed to thewelfare of India and the people.Living up to our motto‘Yogakshemam Vahamyaham’, whichmeans ‘your welfare is my responsi-bility’, we promise our solidarity withthe efforts of the Government andwill take every step to ensure safetyand security of people.”
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The CGWWA contributed �1.5lakh to PM-CARES Fund to furtherstrengthen the Government of India’sefforts in tackling the pandemic ofCOVID-19.
CGWWA, with its motto ‘SelfHelp’, aims at empowering ICGwomen through varied educationaland skill development programmes.CGWWA has also been extendingtheir assistance to women and chil-dren from the underprivileged soci-ety through various schemes. Itactively took part in sensitising thelocal populace about the preventivemeasures to be adopted againstspread of COVID-19.
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PFC, the NBFC in the power
sector, has pledged to contribute�200 crore to the Prime Minister’sCitizen Assistance and Relief inEmergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) to support the battleagainst COVID-19. PFC’s employ-ees will voluntarily contribute aday’s salary to further strengthen thenation’s fight against the dreaded dis-ease.
Earlier, PFC had agreed to pro-vide financial assistance of �50 lakhto Indian Red Cross Society inRajasthan. Under the CSR Initiative,PFC’s financial aid will be used fordistribution of masks and sanitisersas a part of preventive measuresagainst COVID-19.
PFC and its employees remainvigilant and alert in these testingtimes. As a responsible corporate,PFC is relentlessly working towardsimplementation of all precautionarymeasures to deal with the pandem-ic.
���BHEL has made a contribution
of �7 crore through its CSR funds,while its employees have made ahumble contribution of donatingtheir one-day salary to the PM-CARES Fund to bolster the fightagainst this unprecedented medicalemergency.
Significantly, BHEL’s Ranipetunit has developed in-house a sprayassembly that atomises the sanitisingliquid and can be used for mass sani-tisation to combat Coronavirus,while consuming comparatively lessliquid. It has been named Bhelmisterand has been donated to the localadministration of Ranipet for sani-
tising the whole town on a massscale. The design is being shared withall other units of BHEL so that it canbe adapted and used by them as well.
Also, three-ply masks have beenmade in-house by the company’sJhansi unit to meet the requirementof the unit’s hospital, guest house,security guards and employees work-ing under essential services.
����NHDC, the largest hyrdo power
generating company in MadhyaPradesh, has contributed �10 crorefrom its CSR fund to PM-CARESfund to combat the crisis ofCoronavirus.
NHDC has also sanctioned �50lakh to District Administrations inKhandwa for purchase of medicaland protective equipment to fightCorona in the district. Being asocially responsible corporate,approximately �15 lakh have beenearmarked for sufficient distributionof hand sanitisers, face masks,healthcare items, food grains in theproject areas of NHDC. A total of �5lakh have also been provided toSewa-Bharti in Bhopal for distribu-tion of food packets to the needy.
Apart from this, employees ofNHDC have also pledged to con-tribute one day’s salary to fight thedisease.
�����%�����������������To help the nation win the bat-
tle over COVID-19, RVNL has con-tributed �5 crore CSR Fund to PM-CARES Fund. RVNL employeeshave also voluntarily contributedone-day salary for the same.
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NMDC Limited, declared thatthey will contribute �150 crore to thePM-CARES Fund to help in the fightagainst COVID-19. This will be thebiggest support offered by any PSEin the country to help the fightagainst Corona so far. N BaijendraKumar, IAS, CMD, NMDC, said,“Coronavirus is one of the biggestchallenges that our country hasfaced and has been unprecedented inits severity. We at NMDC, hasalways been at the forefront in timesof need for the country. But thebiggest need is at this time is to beunited and strengthen the hands ofthe Government of India. Togetherwe will be able to defeat this pan-demic.”
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Wimbledon organisers onWednesday scrapped the old-est Grand Slam tennis tourna-
ment for the first time since World WarII as the coronavirus wreaks furtherhavoc on the global sporting calendar.
The cancellation of the only grass-court major at the All England Clubleaves the season in disarray, with no ten-nis due to be played until mid-July.
“Devastated,” tweeted eight-timechampion Roger Federer, while SerenaWilliams, who has won the tournamentseven times, said she was shocked by themomentous decision.
Wimbledon was due to run for twoweeks from June 29, with NovakDjokovic and Simona Halep set todefend their singles titles.
But tournament chiefs bowed to theinevitable on Wednesday, saying in astatement that they had made the deci-sion with “great regret”.
All England Club chairman IanHewitt said the decision had not beentaken lightly.
“It has weighed heavily on ourminds that the staging of TheChampionships has only been interrupt-ed previously by world wars,” he said.
“But, following thorough and exten-sive consideration of all scenarios, webelieve that it is a measure of this glob-al crisis that it is ultimately the right deci-sion to cancel this year’s Championships.”
Halep tweeted her disappointment.“So sad to hear @Wimbledon won’t
take place this year,” she said. “Last year’sfinal will forever be one of the happiestdays of my life! But we are goingthrough something bigger than tennisand Wimbledon will be back! And itmeans I have even longer to look forwardto defending my title.”
The decision to cancel the tourna-
ment was widely expected, with theworld struggling to contain the spreadof COVID-19.
It also prompted the ATP and WTAto cancel the grasscourt swing in thebuild-up to Wimbledon, meaning thetennis season will not now recom-mence until July 13 at the earliest.
The US Tennis Association respond-ed by saying the US Open was still dueto take place as planned, from August 31to September 13.
“At this time the USTA still plans tohost the US Open as scheduled, and wecontinue to hone plans to stage the tour-nament,” it said in a statement.
“The USTA is carefully monitoringthe rapidly-changing environment sur-rounding the COVID-19 pandemic,and is preparing for all contingencies.”
Organisers had earlier ruled outplaying Wimbledon behind closed doorsand postponing the event would also
have created its own problems,with shorter days later in the
English summer.The cancellation of
Wimbledon could meanmultiple championsFederer, Serena
Williams and VenusWilliams have played at the
All England Club for the finaltime.
Federer and Serena will be nearly40 by the time of the 2021 champi-onships and Venus will be 41.
Serena, beaten in last year’s final byHalep, is stuck on 23 Grand Slam sin-gles titles — agonisingly one away fromequalling Margaret Court’s record.
The French Tennis Federationprovoked widespread anger with itsunilateral decision to move the FrenchOpen from its original May 24 startdate to begin on September 20.
That puts the start only one weekafter the planned date of the US Openmen’s final.
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Epicentre of the COVID-19 pandem-ic before it gripped Europe and the
USA, China will host the third editionof the Asian Youth Games in Shantou inNovember next year, the OlympicCouncil of Asia said on Wednesday.
The OCA has decided to hold theAsian Youth Games from November 20to 28. The host city was decided by theOCA in 2019 but the dates of themulti-sporting event was announced onWednesday.
“The OCA while maintaining avery strict isolation policy is still con-tinuing its activity and liaising with thevarious Asian Games OrganisingCommittee to ensure that the prepara-tions for the Games are not hindered,”the OCA said in a letter sent to all itsmember nations in Asia.
“In this respect I have the pleasureto inform you that the OCA in coordi-nation with the Shantou 3rd AsianYouth Games Organising Committee(SAYGOC) has decided the dates andsports programme of the 3rd AsianYouth Games, which are from 20th to
28th November 2021,” OCA DirectorGeneral Husain Al Musallam said in theletter.
The 3rd Asian Youth Games willhave 18 sports in its roster — Athletics,Aquatics, Badminton, Basketball (3x3),Beach Volleyball, Dragon Boat Racing,Football, Gymnastics, Golf, Handball,Hip Hop Dance, Rock Climbing, Rugby,Surfing, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, WindSurfing and Wushu.
The Asian Youth Games were firstheld in Singapore in 2011 and then againin Nanjing in China in 2013.
The 2017 event was awarded toHambantota in Sri Lanka but the islandnation dropped out following a series ofproblems.
Jakarta was then lined up as areplacement but it also withdrew.
In 2019, Shantou was awarded theGames in 2021, marking the event’sreturn after eight years, that too in thesame country for the second time.
The Asian Youth Games are consid-ered the second biggest multi-sportingevent in the continent and nearly 2500athletes took part in the 2013 edition inNanjing in China.
������� World Cup-winningcaptain Eoin Morgan says he isopen to England fielding twoteams on the same day at sepa-rate venues if the coronavirusoutbreak leads to a compressedhome international season.
The England Test team,skippered by Joe Root, couldface either West Indies orPakistan, who are both due toarrive for three-match series,while Morgan’s white-ball sidetake on Australia in 50-over andT20 matches scheduled in July.
“I see every option beingviable during this extraordi-nary time,” said England limit-ed-overs captain Morgan duringa conference call on Wednesday.
“Certainly I’ve never expe-rienced anything like it and Idon’t think anyone else has. I
think the serious nature of thesituation economically andfinancially for the game is some-thing that we have never comeacross.”
All domestic cricket in
England has been postponeduntil May 28 at the earliest, withthe West Indies series still sched-uled to start on June 4.
England and Wales CricketBoard chief executive TomHarrison, announcing a £61million aid package on Monday,said touring international sideswere being “very flexible, inno-vative and massively under-standing”, with Morgan indicat-ing his teammates would adopta similar approach.
“Certainly from a players’point of view, we want to do asmuch as we can to try and keepthings going,” Morgan said.
“If there’s an opportunity toplay as much cricket as we can,I’d like to think every playerwould be behind it. I certainlyam. AFP
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India’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur has said India’sdomestic scructure is “five-six years behind” Australia
and England, adding that skill wise they are at par withthem.
India lost to Australia in the T20 World Cup finalby 85 runs last month.
“Definitely we are five-six years behind them in theseaspects,” Kaur told Mumbai Mirror.
“But now girls have understood their responsibil-ity towards being fit. Earlier there used to be a huge dif-ference between a domestic player and what is expect-ed at the international level. But now some 30 girls aregiven individual programme by the BCCI.
“So when one of them is picked for India, she is notclueless about what is expected of her. As we keepimproving our domestic level, the performances at theinternational level will improve. That is why I said weare five-six years behind these teams because our domes-tic set-up is not as good as it should be.”
“Now the players are getting more aware about beingfit and following the right daily routines,” Kaur said.
“The things we have grasped in the last two-threeyears, England and Australia have been doing from longbefore.”
Kaur said it is more about fitness and not skills thatseparate them from Australia or England.
“Just the fitness. In these two countries fitness is partof their culture. Unfortunately, in India we start thesethings late,” Kaur told The Week.
“For the last three years the girls have been work-ing hard on fitness. It does not improve overnight, weneed to work on it for longer durations. Earlier, we wouldcome close to these teams and lose, but now we are win-ning matches against them. Skill-wise we are better bat-ters and bowlers than these two countries.”
Kaur’s form was poor throughout the World Cupcampaign in Australia. But the 31-year old dashing bat-ter said she is not thinking too much about pressure andalso captaincy.
“From the outside it may look like that, but person-ally I have never felt so,” she said when questioned onthe captaincy.
“I really enjoy this part. I feel more involved. Thecaptaincy keeps me alert all the time. Earlier, I used tothink about my performance alone. Captaincy has mademe a better person. [ Now,] I cannot think only aboutmyself, but [have to think] of other things, too.”
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UEFA have made a move towardsclearing the decks for the return
of club football by announcing onWednesday that all internationalmatches that had been pushed back toJune have now been postponed untilfurther notice.
“This includes the play-off match-es for UEFA EURO 2020 and quali-fying matches for UEFA Women’sEURO 2021,” said European football’sgoverning body in a statement.
“All other UEFA competitionmatches, including the cen-tralised international friendlymatches, remain postponeduntil further notice.”
The decision followed avideo conference with Europe’s55 member federations aspart of discussions onhow to adapt thefixture calendar inthe face of the
ongoing coronavirus crisis.The play-off semi-finals and finals
that are supposed to decide the lastfour qualifying berths for the nextEuropean Championship were initial-ly postponed at the end of March andpencilled in provisionally for June.
That was “subject to a review ofthe situation” amid uncertainty overhow the pandemic will develop andwhether many European countriescurrently in lockdown will be able toreturn to some kind of normality.
However, UEFA has alsostated a determination to finishall domestic and club compe-titions by June 30.
While that currently looksambitious at the very least,clearing the international fix-
tures from the same month doesbuy some more time as they aimto complete the Champions League
and Europa League competi-tions as well as domesticleagues.
���� ������ Even a shortenedIPL with just Indian playerswould be good enough in these“extraordinary times”, RajasthanRoyals Executive ChairmanRanjit Barthakur said onWednesday, revealing that afinal call on the glitzy event’s fateis unlikely before April 15.
The top executive spelt outhis franchise’s wish even as thenumber of positive cases anddeath toll due to the pandemiccontinued to rise across theworld.
“We are open to a shortenedtournament with only Indianplayers, at the end of the day itis the Indian Premier League,”Barthakur said.
With a nationwide lock-down in place to combat thespread of the disease, the eventseems unlikely to go ahead
unless the BCCI figures analternate window later in theyear.
The RR executive thoughsaid they are confident that theBoard will take a decision keep-ing in mind the best interests ofthe franchises.
“These are extraordinarytimes and the BCCI will do thebest it can when things improve,”he said.
“Earlier we could not thinkof an Indians-only IPL but nowthere is enough quality to choosefrom. It is better to have anIndians-only IPL than not at all.
“When can we have it? ThatBCCI decides. And I think thatcall be taken only post 15th
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Australian spin legend ShaneWarne has named former skip-
per and current BCCI PresidentSourav Ganguly as the captain ofhis all time India XI, which includesmaster blaster Sachin Tendulkarand Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Warne said he ignored formerskipper MS Dhoni and current cap-tain Virat Kohli because he pickedonly those Indian players againstwhom he had played.
“I am only picking players thatI played against and that’s why MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are notgoing to be a part of the side. WhileDhoni is probably the greatestwicketkeeper-batsman to haveplayed the game, Kohli is one of thegreatest batsmen across formats,”Warne said in Instagram Live post.
Warne also ignored VVSLaxman, who was once consideredhis nemesis. He justified his deci-sion, stating that the stylish
Hyderabadi batsman faced the axeto accommodate Ganguly.
“I went for Ganguly because Iwanted him to be the captain of myside, that is why Laxman missedout,” he said.
Nayan Mongia was his pick asthe wicket-keeper of the team,which also includes the likes of1983 World Cup-winning captainKapil Dev, spin duo of HarbhajanSingh and Anil Kumble and Javagal
Srinath among others.The 50-year-old spin wizard
named Virender Sehwag and Sidhuas openers in the strong battingline-up which also includes thelikes of Rahul Dravid, Tendulkarand Mohammad Azharuddin.
On picking Sidhu ahead ofother openers, Warne said theright-hander from Punjab was thebest player of spin during his play-ing days.
“I had to pick Navjot SinghSidhu because he was the best play-er against spin I have ever playedagainst. All the other spinners Ihave played with, they have alsotold me that Sidhu was brilliantagainst them,” Warne said.Shane Warne’s all-time IndiaXI: Sourav Ganguly (c), VirenderSehwag, Navjot Singh Siddu,Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar,Mohd Azharuddin, Kapil Dev,Nayan Mongia (wk), HarbhajanSingh, Javagal Srinath, AnilKumble. PTI
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Asix-time world championand an Olympic Bronze-
winner, surely M C Mary Komcan be expected to have a“secret mantra for success”. Butas it turns out, she has none.
On Wednesday, she wasspeaking on the subject“Making of a Champion” forSports Authority of India’sFacebook Live session for ath-letes, who are mostly confinedto their homes or hostel roomsright now amid a nationallockdown to contain the pan-demic.
Mary Kom said she does-n’t have any secret recipe toshare for the stupendous suc-cess she has achieved.
“I don’t have any mantrasfor success. Just work hard andbe honest to what you are
doing, that’s all. Ups anddowns are always there butyou should not lose focus onyour dreams,” said the trail-
blazing boxer.“My boxing journey was
not easy. To reach national,international and Olympiclevel is not easy. But if youhave the will, and want toachieve in life, you can,” sheadded.
The fierce competitor inher can’t wait for the crisis tobe over so that she can resumenormal training.
“When all this is broughtunder control, we will getback to training in big way,”she said.
“I am trying my level bestfor an Olympic Gold but I amincomplete without yourblessings. Pray for me,” sheadded.
SAI has lined up morethan 20 such sessions for ath-letes to help them cope withthe lockdown.
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Star Indian wrestler BajrangPunia is assured of a top-four seeding in the 65kg
category at next year’s TokyoOlympics even if he skips the lastranking series tournament,going by the latest world stand-ings.
The fast-rising Ravi Dahiyaalso seems set for a top-fourbilling at the mega-event, whichwill be held from July 23 toAugust 8 next year.
Wrestling’s world governingbody UWW announced thefresh rankings which placedBajrang at number two in the65kg category. Dahiya is fourthin the very competitive 57kg cat-egory.
Russian Olympic championGadhzimurad Rashidov leadsthe 65kg rankings. Four Pointsseparate Rashidov (60), Punia(59) and Kazakshtan’s DauletNiyazbekov (56) for the topseeding.
But the Russian and Indianwrestlers have such command-ing leads over the field thatthey can sit out of thefinal ranking seriesevent and still earn atop-four seeding at theOlympic Games.
R a s h i d o vowns the topspot in 65kgafter finallyclaiming hislong-awaitedworld Gold inNur-Sultan lastseason.
Punia began theyear ranked num-ber three with 25points after hisworld Bronzemedal. He hasoverthrown worldfinalist Niyazbekovfor the number tworanking.
Punia added16 points to hisworld champi-onship total after heerased a three-pointdeficit against JordanOliver (USA) to winthe 16-point MatteoPellicone RankingSeries Gold medal.
Although he stumbled inthe Asian finals against 2018world champion TakutoOtoguro(JPN), Punia collected18 points and pushed himself towithin one point of the Russiandefending world champion.
The 57kg is led by reigningworld champion and numberone from Russia Zaur Uguev (60points).
World runner-up SuleymanAtli is firmly in the number twoposition after runner-up finish-es at the World and EuropeanChampionships. He has 58points and is followed by StevanMicic (48) and Dahiya (45).
Dahiya needs a 12-point fin-ish at the final Ranking Seriesevent to secure one of the top-four seeds. There is slim chancethat the Indian wrestler can grabthe number one seeding.
For that to happen, Dahiyawould need Uguev, Atli andMicic to sit out of the finalRanking Series event and winGold in a bracket with morethan 11 wrestlers to earn the 16points he needs to clear his top-three rivals.
Nurislam Sanayev is rankedfifth in this weight and trailsDahiya by six points.
World ChampionshipSilver-medallist Deepak
Punia is ranked second in65kg behind Iraniangreat Hassan Yazdani,
who underwent kneesurgery earlier thisyear and had nochoice but to skip
the Matteo Pelliconeand Asian Championships.
He commanded a 20-point lead over Deepak butthe Indian wrestler closedthat gap on Yazdani with a14-point Asian champi-onship Bronze-medal fin-ish. Deepak leads RussianArtur Naifonov by sevenpoints after the conclusionof the continental champi-onship season.
No Indian figures intop-10 of the 74kg, 97kgand 125kg categories, thethree other olympicweight categories.
The top four in eachcategory will be seeded at
the Tokyo Games.
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Acting on the directives from the cen-tral government in March, the BCCI post-poned the IPL until April 15. PTI
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������������ ����I������������������������� Sportspersons beingasked to take pay cuts have beenmaking news ever since the out-break of the coronavirusbrought the world to a standstill.But BCCI Treasurer ArunDhumal has made it clear thatthere is no such thought processat present when it comes to thesalary of the Indian cricketers.
He made it clear that therehave been no such discussions.
“No, we have not spoken
about this (pay cut). Whateverthe steps after this setback, it willbe taken judiciously and keep-ing the interest of all people inmind. Any step taken needs tobe thought out and right nowwe haven’t even thought aboutit. Obviously this is a big set-back, but we will go about thisin a way that nobody getsaffected. These things can bediscussed once things settledown,” he said. IANS
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