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News Brief

Migrant workers from Maharashtra on their way to board a bus to reach toMadurai Railway Station where Shramik Special train depart to Mumbai, inNagercoil, Tamil Nadu on Saturday UNI.

Boys go ecstatic taking dive into the pure Ganges water in this holy townon Saturay UNI.

Migrants board a train arriving from various state at Danapur station to reach their native places duringnationwide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Patna on Saturday UNI.

People with air, railticket need nomovement pass inNoida

Gautam BuddhNagar,

People in GautamBuddh Nagar will be al-lowed to move by showingtheir train or flight tickets, apolice officer said.

The officer said thatflight and train services aregoing to be resumed in thecoming days, so passengerswho have confirmed ticketswill be allowed to travel tothe airport or railway stationwithout any other pass.

The government hasdecided to operate domes-tic flights from May 25 andtrains from June 1 and forthis online ticket bookinghas already begun. The Rail-ways are going to start 200trains from June 1 and alsoissued guidelines for thesame. Additional policecommissioner AshutoshDwivedi said, “All the policepersonnel on duty shouldensure that passengers withconfirmed flights and railtickets have no trouble get-ting to the airport and rail-way station. They will notneed any other identitycard.”

Delhi govt allowsreopening of 66private liquor shops

New Delhi, The Delhi government’s

excise department has al-lowed reopening of 66 pri-vate liquor shops in the na-tional capital from Saturday,but the shop owners havebeen asked to strictly ad-here to the odd-even rule.

According to the de-partment, the shops canoperate between 9 a.m. and6.30 p.m. on alternate days.The L-7/L-9 shops were onlyallowed to resume sale sub-ject to certain conditions.

“They shall deposit 70per cent special corona feeon total sales daily, whichwill be deducted from theirledger account linked withtheir Vend-ID in ESCIMS.They should, therefore,maintain the requisite bal-ance in their ledger ac-count,” the excise depart-ment said on Friday.

The department alsoasked the shop owners tostrictly abide by the Na-tional Directives for COVID-19 Management and to takeall possible measures in-cluding deployment of ad-equate number of guards,proper barricading, markingto ensure social distancing,in coordination with DelhiPolice and local administra-tion.

Pak crash survivorhas Indiaconnection

New Delhi, The PIA plane which

crashed on Friday has onlytwo survivors — one ofwhom is Bank of Punjab topexecutive Zafar Masud. Hisroots are in western UttarPradesh’s Amroha and hebelongs to the family ofKamal Amrohi of “Pakeezah”fame. Masud, who wasonboard the flight thatcrashed near the Karachi air-port leaving 90 dead, es-caped with injuries on hiship and collar bone.

His family migrated toPakistan in 1952, his relativeAdil Zaffar told IANS in India.Adil Zafar, who is documen-tary film maker in Mumbai,is the first cousin of hismother. Zafar said that hemet Masud in 2015 inKarachi and Masud is veryfond of India and wanted tovisit Amroha to see his an-cestral home.

Zafar Masud’s mother isdirectly related to KamalAmrohi as his maternalgrandfather Taqi Amrohi,who was a journalist in Pa-kistan, was the “Pakeezah”filmmaker’s cousins.

Masud family belongs toSaddo Mohalla in Amroha.

His grandfather MasoodHasan was lawyer and hisfather Munnawar Sayeedwas TV artist in Pakistan.

New Delhi, Former Union Finance

Minister and senior Con-gress leader P.Chidambaram, on Saturday,slammed the central gov-ernment and questionedwhy the Reserve Bank of In-dia (RBI) is infusing more li-quidity as the growth in fi-nancial year 2020-21 isheaded towards negativeterritory.

In a series of tweets,Chidambaram said, “RBIGovernor says demand hascollapsed, growth in 2020-21 headed toward negativeterritory. Why is he then in-fusing more liquidity?”

The former Minister innext tweet also said thatShaktikanta Das should

Chidambaram slams govt, askswhy RBI is infusing liquidity

bluntly tell the government— “Do your duty, take fiscalmeasures”.

“Even after RBI’s state-ment, is the Government orFinance Minister (NirmalaSitharaman) lauding them-selves for a package that hasfiscal stimulus of less than 1per cent of gross domesticproduct (GDP)?” he said.

Slamming the RashtiyaSwayamsewak Sangh (RSS),Chidambaram said, “RSSshould be ashamed of howthe government hasdragged the economy intonegative growth territory.”

His remarks came a dayafter the RBI delivered anemergency rate cut for thesecond time in as manymonths on Friday as it

judged that the Covid-19pandemic poses a gravethreat to the country andwill lead to the first eco-nomic contraction in 40years.

Das on Friday an-nounced a 40 basis points(bps) cut in repo and reverserepo rates, while markedlypivoting the central bank’sfocus from inflation controlto fostering growth. Daspledged to take whatever“measures are necessary” tomeet the challenges posedby the pandemic.

He also said that India’sGDP growth rate for the fi-nancial year 2020-21 is likelyto be in the negative terri-tory.

—IANS

RSS worker diesafter hit by speedingvehicle in UP

Lucknow, A RSS worker suc-

cumbed to his injuries afterbeing hit by a speeding ve-hicle in Uttar Pradesh’sBarabanki district, policesaid on Saturday.

Ajay Chaturvedi was dis-tributing food to migrantworkers on Friday when avehicle hit him from behind,leaving him critically in-jured.

Ajay was rushed to anearby hospital where hedied during treatment, po-lice added.

Ajay had been spear-heading a campaign to pro-vide food and ration to theneedy for nearly twomonths amid the Covid-19lockdown. A large numberof RSS activists and leadersincluding MLA SharadAwasthi and District Presi-dent Satish Sharma reachedthe hospital and asked thepolice officials to initiate aprobe. —IANS

GoM to meet Saturday todiscuss economic situation

New Delhi, A meeting of a Group of Ministers will take place at the

residence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at 5 p.m. onSaturday. This is the second such meeting of the ministersin six days. The last one was held on May 18.

The agenda of the meeting will be the current economicsituation in the country.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Sitharaman,Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar among others will be present at themeeting.

The meeting is likely to discuss a roadmap to extendthe benefit of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package tothe target group for the recovery of several sectors whichare reeling under the impact of the lockdown.

Government sources said that all ministers will makesuggestions received from people and various other sec-tors with regard to reducing economic difficulties. A finalreport will be sent to the PMO. The Modi government hasannounced a package of Rs 20 lakh crore to revive theeconomy which has faced tremendous pressure due to thelockdown. Apart from this, the central government alsoannounced the privatisation of eight sectors such as coal,minerals, defence production, airspace management, air-ports, power distribution, space and nuclear power.

Now the challenge before the government is to putthese measures to work on the ground. The Group of Min-isters under Rajnath Singh has been deliberating on thisand is tasked to come out with a roadmap. —IANS

14,753 cases and 98 deathswhile Gujarat is at the thirdspot with 13,268 cases and802 deaths. Delhi has so farreported 12,319 cases with208 fatalities and 5,897people recovering from thedisease. States with morethan 5,000 cases areRajasthan (6,494), MadhyaPradesh (6,170) and UttarPradesh (5,735).

Other major states andUnion Territories that havereported more than 1,000cases are West Bengal(3,332), Andhra Pradesh(2,709), Punjab (2,029),Telangana (1,761), Bihar(2,177), Jammu and Kashmir(1,489), Karnataka (1,743),Odisha (1,189) and Haryana(1,067). States and UTs thathave reported a significantnumber of corona cases areKerala (732), Jharkhand(308), Chandigarh (218),Assam (259), Tripura (175),Chhattisgarh (172) andUttarakhand (153).

India’s Covid tally crosses1.25 lakh mark, 3,720 deaths

New Delhi, As Lockdown-4

brought in easing of restric-tions across the country, In-dia crossed the 1.25 lakhmark coronavirus cases withthe total number rising to1,25,101, the Union HealthMinistry data revealed onSaturday. Of the total cases,69,597 are active, 51,783have recovered while 3,720people have lost their livesdue to the deadly virus.

The worst hit state con-tinued to be Maharashtrawith 44,582 cases, 1,517people deaths while 12,583people have recovered.Next is Tamil Nadu with

New Delhi, Banks may not extend

second moratorium to alltheir customers amidgradual resumption in busi-ness activity and rising assetquality risk emerging fromlonger duration loan for-bearance.

Sources said that banksare evaluating their loanportfolio with regard to cus-tomers who availed morato-rium of interest repaymentduring the fist instalmentperiod of March 1 to May 31.Fresh extension on morato-rium will be offered only tocertain clients with goodtrack record and healthybusiness operations.

“Unlike the first round,banks will now be extend-ing the moratorium selec-tively (1m-3m) basis to new/old customers, while goodcustomers too will be reluc-tant, given the higher inter-

Banks may not extend second moratorium to all customersest cost and some pick-up inbusiness activity,” saidEmkay Global in a reportprepared after talking toseveral bankers on the freshannouncements by the Re-serve Bank of India (RBI).

As part of COVID-19 re-lief package, the RBI on Fri-day extended the morato-rium on term loans and in-terest on working capitalloans by three months tillAugust 31. Also, as a relief forworking capital borrowers, itallowed conversion of accu-mulated interest on theseloans to Funded-InterestTerm Loan (as typically hap-pens under restructuring)instead of one-shot pay-ment at the end of themoratorium, but still pay-able before March 31, 2021.

Bankers are indicatingthat instead of the 3 monthmoratorium, forbearance onasset classification or selec-

tive restructuring (mainlyfor SME) would have been abetter solution, with busi-ness activities resuminggradually. Longer moratori-ums are acceptable for long-tenure loans like mortgage,but not for short-tenureloans, and also disruptscredit discipline even forrelatively good customers inthe long run, the brokeragesaid in its report on the ba-sis of comments from bank-ers.

It is now expected thatthat salaried class, whichwas relatively reluctant inthe first round, may opt fora moratorium in the secondround due to rising joblosses/pay cuts. Moratoriumbehaviour from corporateswas mixed in the first round,with even good ratedcorporates availing morato-rium, but may not take theextension. —IANS

New Delhi, The Partial Credit Guar-

antee Scheme (PCGS) forNBFCs has become opera-tional and the Rs 3 lakhcrore collateral-free creditline for MSMEs is expectedto be operational soon, ac-cording to the Departmentof Financial Service (DFS).

In a tweet, post themeeting of Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman withchiefs of public sector banks(PSBs) on Friday, the DFSsaid that the formalities forthe government-guaran-teed credit for MSMEs areunderway.

“PCGS scheme opera-tional! Ensuring liquidity to#MSME! 100% Govt. Guaran-teed Rs. 3 Lakh Cr credit lineexpected to be operationalvery soon. Formalities un-derway,” said the DFS tweet.

In another tweet, thedepartment further saidthat PSBs will prioritise sanc-tions under emergencycredit, reassessment ofworking capital and guaran-teed credit line in tier-II cit-ies in each state and UnionTerritory by June 1.

The government andthe PSBs have aimed for

‘PCGS for NBFCs operational, Rs 3lakh cr credit line for MSMEs soon’

fully digital loan documen-tation process of all the li-quidity measures under theRs 20 lakh crore economicpackage.

The DFS also said thatthe PSBs remain at the fore-

front in fight against thepandemic and 97 per centbank branches and 80 percent ATMs were operationalthroughout the lockdown.

“Helping nation tideover the economic distresscaused due to #Covid19!PSBs sanctioned Rs. 1.22Lakh cr to 92 per cent of eli-gible MSMEs & corp. loanaccounts of PSBs. underCOVID-19 related emer-gency credit products & en-hanced working capital,”said a tweet.

The details of theschemes and the loanssanctioned by the PSBShave came after Sitharamanon Friday met heads of pub-lic sector banks (PSB)through video conferencefor the operationalisation ofthe economic package un-der the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’initiative.

She also reviewed loansanction pace, concerns ofborrowers and bankers, in-terest rate transmission.

The DFS said that every-one attending the confer-ence was aligned on theneed to quickly address theneeds of MSMEs and othercustomers. —IANS

TN salons, beautyparlours to openfrom Sunday,except Chennai

Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minis-

ter K. Palaniswami on Satur-day said barber shops andbeauty parlours in all mu-nicipal areas barring areasfalling under GreaterChennai Corporation canstart functioning from May24 onwards.

In a statement issuedhere, Palaniswami said bar-ber shops and beautyparlours in all areas otherthan ones falling under theGreater Chennai Corpora-tion will be allowed to openfrom Sunday onwards. Hesaid that the shops shouldbe sanitised five times a dayand social distancing has tobe maintained.

Agra, As Agra sizzled at 45

degrees Celsius on Friday,there was a slight respite onthe COVID-19 front. With sixnew cases, the total countstood at 843. Two deathswere reported from the ru-ral areas, taking the toll fromCOVID-19 to 30.

However, the number ofrecovered was 707. Nowonly 105 cases remain ac-tive. Health officials specu-lated the rising mercury washelping containment of thevirus in the open.

People too, have learnt alot during sixty days of thelockdown, medical activistssaid. More people were us-ing masks and were main-taining social distancing, asenior medical practitionerobserved.

Interestingly, the num-ber of senior citizens out inthe open, in parks or in pub-lic places is negligible. Myfamily members were notletting me stir out of thehouse, commented insur-ance agent Sudheer Gupta,of Vijay Nagar colony.

The district administra-tion has formed manyteams using battery oper-

New Delhi, The opposition meet,

convened by Congress chiefSonia Gandhi and attendedby 22 political parties, hereon Saturday, condoled thedeath caused by cycloneAmphan and extendedsympathy and support tothe governments and thepeople of West Bengal andOdisha. Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackarey,West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, NCPleader Sharad Pawar andDMK chief M.K. Stalin alsotook part in the meeting.

“This meeting of leadersof opposition parties con-veys its deepest condo-lences to the families ofthose who lost their lives,”said a resolution.

Stating that people inOdisha and West Bengal ur-gently need support andsolidarity of the govern-ments and the people, theopposition parties urgedthe central government toimmediately declare it a na-tional calamity and help thedisaster-hit states.

At this juncture, reliefand rehabilitation should bethe top priority, they saidand added, the possibility of

Opposition meet condoles death& devastation due to cyclone

outbreak of diseasescouldn’t be ignored.

Former Prime MinisterH.D. Devegowda, RahulGandhi, Jharkhand ChiefMinister Hemant Soren,CPI(M) chief Sita RamYechury and CPI leader D.Raja were aming the attend-ees.

Respite from corona asAgra sizzles at 45 degrees

ated rikshaws, to movearound the city, in con-gested streets, to blare outhealth related messages.Every morning scores of Co-rona warriors drive throughmarket places on twowheelers with hooters andsirens, to sensitise people.

The Rapid Action teamsof the police have been de-ployed in all sensitive are as,ahead of the Eid. Though themaulvis and maulanas havebeen appealing to the faith-fuls to pray at home, and notto come out on the streetsor throng mosques, the cityadministration is not takingchances.

Meanwhile, more than500 inmates of the two jailshave been screened so far,including 28 Kashmiris.Scores of suspected casescontinue to remain isolatedor in quarantine.

The UP Roadways offi-cials said on Saturday thatthe number of migrantworkers has been drasticallyreduced after more than 80percent were transported totheir destinations in the pastfew days. A few hundred stillwait for their turn at the busterminal. —IANS

Free buses inRajasthan forimmersion of mortalremains in Ganga

Jaipur, Special buses will run

from Rajasthan toUttarakhand for immersionof mortal remains of peoplewho died under differentcircumstances during thelockdown, said chief minis-ter Ashok Gehlot.

Reviewing a high-levelmeeting here on late Fridaynight, the chief minister saidthat many families could notimmerse the mortal remainsof their family memberswho passed away duringthe lockdown. Hence wehave decided to run busesfree of cost to ensure theycan immerse the mortal re-mains of their deceasedmembers in Uttarakhand.

VOL. 53 * NO. 303* AHMEDABAD SUNDAY* 24/05/2020

Ahmedabad, Page 2

Editorial2

Keeping the peace: OnIndia-China border tension

India and China must end tensions on the borderby clarifying the LAC

With four incidents along the Line of Actual Con-trol (LAC) in recent weeks, the India-China border iswitnessing the highest tensions since the Doklamstand-off in 2017. In the three years since, both sideshave done remarkably well to keep the peace. PrimeMinister Modi and President Xi both agreed differ-ences should not be allowed to escalate into disputes.Also, a clear message was sent to the two militaries toabide by the detailed protocols already in place, suchas those agreed to in 2005 and 2013. These regulatethe activities of troops in the contested zones that liein between both sides’ overlapping claim lines of theundefined LAC. If Army Chief General Manoj Naravanewisely sought to cool the temperatures with his May14 statement, China has unhelpfully raised them. OnMay 19, its Foreign Ministry accused the Indian Armyof “attempting to unilaterally change the status” of theLAC. The stand-off in Ladakh appears to have beentriggered by China moving in troops to obstruct roadconstruction activity by India. Last year, India com-pleted the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg Oldi (DBO) roadwhich connects Leh to the Karakoram Pass. India alsomaintains a key landing strip at DBO at 16,000 feet.The broader context for the tensions is the changingdynamic along the LAC. India has been upgrading itsroads as it plays catch-up, with China already enjoy-ing an advantage in both terrain and infrastructure.China now seems to be telling India it has no right tocarry out the kind of activity that Beijing has alreadydone. India is well within its right to carry out construc-tion work. Delhi needs to remind Beijing that a funda-mental principle that underpins all previous agree-ments is recognising the right to mutual and equalsecurity of the two sides.

The immediate priority is for both sides to use ex-isting channels and step back. Flag meetings betweenbrigade commanders have so far been unable to breakthe stalemate. The incidents have underlined how thenew LAC situation is placing existing mechanismsunder renewed stress. India and China should graspthe current situation as an opportunity to revive thestalled process of clarifying the LAC. China has resistedthis as a distraction to the boundary negotiations. Butrather than agree on a line, both can instead simplyseek to better understand the claims of the other andreach a common understanding to regulate activityin these areas. Clarifying the LAC may even provide afresh impetus to the stalled boundary talks betweenthe Special Representatives. Beyond the posturing,both sides know a final settlement will ultimately haveto use the LAC as a basis, with only minor adjustments.Only a settlement will end the shadow boxing on theLAC. With both countries in the midst of an unprec-edented global pandemic, the time to push for a settle-ment to a distracting, protracted dispute is now.

FromEditor’sDesk

Summer treats to help control High Blood PressureSummer is here and it’s about time we make changes

in our kitchen according to the hot and humid season. Witha majority of us currently staying at home amid COVID-19pandemic, staying on top of our health is a priority moreso than usual.

People with high blood pressure are among those whoare at heightened risk for more severe complications shouldthey contract Covid-19. In order to survive the summeralongside the pandemic and avoid health issues, we needto keep ourselves cool and healthy witha nutritious diet.

Dr. Manoj Kutteri, Wellness Directorat leading wellness centre, AtmantanWellness Centre, shares his SummerFood Calendar to help control HighBlood Pressure:

Berries contain flavonoids that havestrong anti-oxidant properties. Thesecan help reduce oxidative stress relatedto heart disease. Berries are also high infibre which can support heart health.You can consume a variety of berries topromote heart health.

Banana is a common fruit that youcan easily get throughout the year. It isa good source of potassium whichhelps fight Hypertension. Banana alsopromotes digestion and contains vita-min C. It is a healthy snack that can helpyou fight hunger pangs, they also con-tain fibre which can keep you full for longer.

Watermelon can be a tasty and healthy treat to fighthigh blood pressure. Watermelon has high water contentalong with a good amount of lycopene, vitamin C, vitaminA, potassium, amino acid, antioxidants and low in sodium

and calories. It helps to lower inflammation and reduce oxi-dative stress. Remember, as watermelon is slightly acidic innature so eating on an empty stomach and late-nightshould be avoided. Serving size of an adult can be two cupsa day.

Muskmelon contains potassium which makes it ben-eficial for your blood pressure numbers. High fibre andwater content of muskmelon also contribute to controlledblood pressure numbers. You can cut muskmelon into

pieces and consume this as an evening snack or any timeof the day.

Cucumber is an inexpensive edible packed with watercontent that helps to detoxify your overall body and worksas an excellent coolant. This cool and crisp energizing green

will stave off problems of constipation, enhance your im-munity and tame inflammation while also calming a sun-burn. Along with cleansing your body, the presence of sili-con and sulphur in cucumber is excellent to support hairgrowth and volume. The best way to consume cucumberis adding it in salads or drinking cucumber juice.

The hypertension diet should have foods with highmagnesium, potassium and fibre content in it. They shouldbe necessarily low in sodium. Leafy greens like spinach, let-tuce and celery are high potassium and magnesium foods.Make sure to cook your greens as this increases the amountof magnesium you get per serving by up to 6 times. In ad-dition to leafy greens, other vegetables high in magnesiuminclude potatoes, broccoli, and carrots.

Loaded with the goodness of healthy bacteria like Lac-tobacillus and Bifidobacterium, Yoghurt and other fer-mented food help in brain development and are great forrelieving anxiety. It also offers gut-friendly microorganismsthat aids in the process of digestion during summers. Eat-ing yoghurt helps in reducing chronic inflammation whichare responsible for anxiety, stress, and depression You canconsume curd in the form of smoothies, buttermilk, sweetlassis and raita.

Coconut water can benefit by upholding electrolytestability in your body. It’s an exceptional summer drink thatalong with assisting you to combat the hot weather bykeeping you hydrated, also facilitates in boosting your di-gestive ability. Additionally, by maintaining the electrolytebalance in your body, it helps to foster cell growth, regu-lates blood pressure and above all performs the functionof a natural diuretic.

Herbs and spices are great for managing hypertension.This includes Hibiscus tea, Cinnamon teas, Chamomile teas,Mint juices, Amla juices, Orange juice, lime juice etc are verygood during this season to reduce blood pressure.

There is a lot of rhetoricand despair surroundingthe current COVID-19 sce-nario which has declaredthe market slow-moving oroutright stagnant. A cere-bral two-day webinar,STIMULUS 2020, was de-signed to cut through thevolume by speaking withindustry experts who havedealt with similar cards be-fore. To connect with strate-gists, business owners andexecutives in order to can-vas possibilities and newideas in media, luxury,lifestyle, leadership andother industries.

IANSlife spoke to KaranBhagnay, Founder of TheGlobal Luxury Group whoco-organised the eventwith, Crosshairs Communi-

COVID-19 Impact: The way forwardcations (PR Partner) & WIN(Women Inspiring Network- Content Partner) to findout his thoughts on thetopic.

Q. Luxury is recessionproof but is it also COVID-19 proof?

Bhagnay: We, at The Glo-bal Luxury Group agreeupon the reality that thecustomer’s mindset at everylevel will change postlockdown. This could lead tominimalism in a large con-text, hence, it will actuallyaffect the shopping patternof certain customers; it willin turn increase its effect onthe entire luxury market. Sothere will be huge demandversus supply. Hence unlikewith recession, I think theentire luxury industry will go

through a huge shift inmindset which will provethis that luxury is notCOVID-19 proof. It is not.

Q. Startups to flourishor wither with impact ofCOVID-19

Bhagnay: According tome it is a very inappropri-ate question. It’s directlypropotional to whatstartups are doing. For ex-ample if you were earliersolving problems l ikethese which became acatalyst to the currentway of l iv ing then thestartup will do well. But ifyou are running a startuparound social interactionsor an event companythen you wil l see thatyour numbers wil l fa l ldrastically, it can nullify

especial ly during thelockdown and later.

Hence, startups willflourish or fade away is spe-cific to what startup you rep-resent. In my case it;s beingable to hustle between adigital world and the physi-cal world, its about hustlingbetween events andecommerce; so, my eventsbusiness will go throughrough times in the currentdays, but my ecommercebusiness and my digitalbusinesses will flourish inthe coming days.

Q. E-commerce anddigitization the new nor-mal for any and everybusiness?

Bhagnay: I truly think so.It is true that ecommerceand digitalization is going to

be the new social. You got tohave your presence here,otherweise your company,whether it is a small luxurybrand or a large scale mall,is going to loose its targetaudience attention soon.Without digitalization andecommerce I think it will bevery difficult to sustain inthe coming wave of para-noia amongst the individu-als. I think digitalization andecommerce are here to stay.

Q. Events like The In-dian Luxury Expo willovercome the fear of so-cial proximity and will beback to business as usual?

Bhagnay: The currentstate is one and equal foreverybody globally. I can notconfirm that it will bounceback the way it has in its old

glorious days. Indian LuxuryExpo will tweak itself be-coming a much meaningfulevent amongst select indi-viduals. And that is how it’sgoing to redo itself than be-ing a large scale event whichcalls for a huge social gath-ering. I think row concept ofsocial gathering is going tofade for some years atleasttwo three years to come.

Q. Is India is set to be-come the world’s fastestwealth creator in the nextfew years?

Bhagnay: Well definitelythe way current govern-ment actually coped withthe scenario, it is true thatIndia will not be affected tothe average potential ofhow it could have been,knowing our population

and our way of living lifewhich is quite social com-pared to Europeans orAmericans.

We do indulge in a lotof social gatherings in ev-ery context from our of-fice work to our transportsystems to our religiousbeliefs. K nowing al l ofthat I think we have noteven touched an averageestimate of what thiscould impact in India. Andbecause we are overcom-ing that India remainspretty much safe in termsof its business.

Since a large part of theIndian population consistsof mainly youth, we are go-ing to be wealth creators ina large way. We are a youngnation, 70 percent of the

total population is youngand thus digitalised. Thegovt. has invested heavilyin last five years in digitali-zation. Now most of thepeople are equipped withsmart tools like mobilesphones and good internetconnections. This will helpthe Indian economy to bemuch better than all theother large affectedeconomies like Europe,United Kingdom, China orU.S.A. I think they are go-ing to experience a sharpcut down in their GDP, intheir entire scheme of be-ing wealth creators. Now Ithink India will evolve as ahuge young nation look-ing forward as a wealthcreator in varoius ways. —IANS

In India, one thread thatbinds us unequivocally as anation, one ritual that trulysymbolises ‘unity in diversityis our love for tea. The teaculture in India has evolvedwith changing trends andpreferences.

This International TeaDay, IANSlife spoke to KaranShah, the fourth generationdirector of Society Tea whotakes us on the journey oftea in India and its changingtrends. He also speaks aboutthe challenges faced by theindustry and shares somemyths and facts related totea.

How do you think thetea culture has evolved inIndia? And where do yousee it heading?

Shah: With the changingtimes we have seen the pal-ates of Indians develop too,implying an alteration in thetea market. From a regularand masala chai, to anelaichi, ginger, lemon andmore — one thing has, how-ever, remained the same:people like to experimentand get innovative withtheir steaming cups of in-vigorating chai. Moreover,there is a strong inclinationtowards healthy and immu-nity boosting green teasand the chilled yet refresh-ing iced teas.

But with the changing

How India’s tea culture has evolvedtrends, do you think the tra-ditional tea is losing its im-portance?

Shah: The love for ‘tradi-tional tea’ is undeniable allacross India. Although therehas been a shift in the teaculture of the country , onething we are witness to isthe fact that love for tradi-tional taste of tea, thehousehold favourite blendof the aromatic Indianspices- the masala chai is al-ways going to stay.

A study conducted bythe Tea Board of India re-vealed some interestingconsumption patternsamong Indian tea drinkers:

About 80 percent teadrinkers in India consume iteither with or before break-fast

The eastern states of In-dia especially West Bengalhave a remarkably high teaconsumption when com-pared to North, West orSouth India

Tea is regularly con-sumed in about 64 percentof homes in India and by 96percent of the family mem-bers residing therein

More than 80 percent In-dians prefer their tea withadded milk

About 70 percent of In-dians prefer buying tea fromlocal grocery stores

While these have been

true for India as a market, wehave observed some shiftspicking up in the country.Two major trend for thecoming year are rise inPremix Teas and Herbalblends.

Premix Teas: There was a

time when premixes suf-fered from a bad image, la-belled as an unhealthy alter-native to traditional tea.However, there has been acomplete shift in percep-tion. The market for instantpremix tea has grown at ahealthy rate since 2011.While the most popularflavours in the market ismasala, other blends in-clude lemongrass, gingerlemongrass etc.

Herbal blends: Whilegreen tea now enjoys goodawareness levels and is fastcatching up, herbal blends

are on a rapid rise too. Teasinfused with flavours of gin-ger, tulsi, mulethi, stingingnettle tea etc. are known toboost immunity, fightagainst cancerous cells andsoothe throat troubles. Notjust this, but a warm cup of

tea will help youfight against cavi-ties, which is greatfor your oralhealth.

What chal-lenges is the tea in-dustry facing atpresent?

Shah: Tea is anatural productand there are a lotof factors involved- like the health ofthe bush, the natu-ral light etc. These

factors are major contribu-tor that bring about varia-tions in taste, blends, liquoretc. As a brand or for any teaplayer, the biggest chal-lenge will always be tostabilise these factors andgive consistent taste & qual-ity of the product.

Tell us some myths andfacts about tea?

Shah: There have beennumerous myths surround-ing tea, one of which is teais dehydrating. Tea is actu-ally diuretic which means ithelps in water retention.Also there is a misconcep-

tion that green tea, black tea,white tea come from differ-ent tea buds. They all are aresult of different levels ofprocessing.

Share some details ofyour #StayAtHome cam-paign.

Shah: We at Society Teahave always been subtly in-vested in our duty towardssociety and as India experi-ences social distancing wehave recently launched ourvisually appealing#StayAtHome campaign.Celebrating India’s uniquetea drinking culture, we bor-rowed poignant shots fromour human interest photoseries titled ‘Tea SocietyCalled India’, illustrating allthose small moments in theday, wherein people cometogether to brew a delight-ful experience over a cup ofchai.

We aim to encouragepeople that until such a timeis back, let’s not only#StayAtHome #StayIndoors#StaySafeAtHome and graba cup of Society Tea andlook forward to enjoyingthese moments with ourfriends, family and closeones. Society tea has comeup with the second episodeof its musical web series‘Sounds of Society’. Pleaseshare some details of it.

Shah: Music being an in-

tegral part of our lives, hasthe power of bringing to-gether people across bor-ders, just the way tea does.#SoundsOfSociety is agenre-free, no-rules, and anall-inclusive approach topresenting music-makingand its associated perform-ing arts. It features musi-cians and their grassrootsapproach to making music,in an entirely collaborativeformat season.

With Sounds of Society:Season 2, we aim at bring-ing soulful melodies by col-laborating with versatileartistes. It is produced byUrban Beat Project andcurated by Laiq Qureshi, andfeatures Woodnote, a saxo-phonist, composer and pro-ducer hailing from Bristol,the UK, accompanied byBellatrix, a fast rising singer-songwriter, who also hap-pens to be a professionalbassist and former worldbeat boxing champion, hav-ing brewed an exceptionalarrangement titled, ‘SugarOn My Sweets’. Both musi-cians are no strangers tospontaneity, and are knownfor creating intricate struc-tures on the fly. What youhear is absolutelyunpractised, and showcasestheir versatility and sheergenius both, as a musicianand as a producer.

New Delhi, The nationwide

lockdown being imposedto curb the spread ofcoronavirus pandemic hasbeen keeping a large num-ber of people indoors, butas they say humans have anever-ending spirit andtheir innovative ideas aremightier than the problem,so, keeping in view the so-cial distancing norm, manyinstitutions have turned tovirtual space across thecountry and Raja DinkarKelkar museum is one ofthem.

Located in the Punecity of Maharashtra, themuseum recently offered a3D virtual tour to the artlovers across the globe.

Speaking to IANS,Sudhanva Hari Ranade, Di-rector of the museum said,“Since the lockdown wasimposed, the museum wascompletely closed for thevisitors. We had expectedthe third phase oflockdown to end on May17. Therefore we hadplanned to launch formallythe 3D virtual tour of themuseum on the occasionof the International Mu-seum day on May 18, butwhen we learnt that thegovernment was to extendthe lockdown and muse-ums to remain shut, we de-

Pune’s Raja Dinkar Kelkarmuseum goes virtual

cided to offer the 3D Vir-tual Tour to the people atlarge by using the SocialMedia platforms such asWhatsapp and Facebooketc.”

Ranade told IANS thathe was surprised by theoverwhelming response ofthe people.

“The response receivedfrom the audiences andgeneral public was incred-ible as on May 15, at least2,44,800 unique visitorstook the 3D virtual tour for5,10,800 times worldwide.This is perhaps the biggestachievement of any of themuseums in India tillnow.”He further addedthat the museum has beenshut completely sinceMarch 16 and having noincome at all through thesale of tickets.

“It was essential to atleast reach the publicthrough digital medium inorder to let the peopleknow about the Museumvirtually. I am also expect-ing more people to reachthe Museum once thelockdown is lifted and lifegets back to normalcy. Theintroduction of the Mu-seum virtually may lead toincrease in the footfall, re-sulting in an increased rev-enue post pandemic,” saidRanada.

Just two years ago this week, we were treated to the wedding of the decade. Millions around the world tuned inas the bells rang out for Harry and Meghan, the modern face of the Royal Family. Today, the vintage champagne hasgone flat, the bells have long stopped ringing, and the couple have turned their backs on Britain, opting to liveamong the shallow royalty of Hollywood rather than the real thing. The Sussexes' long goodbye has cost the Houseof Windsor much in damaged reputation. But that is nothing compared to the financial cost to the British public.Pictured: The Sussex's on their wedding day, inset, their PR coordinator Sara Latham, top right, Frogmore Cottage,centre right, a private jet, bottom right, Prince Harry and Prince Charles

UN chief calls forsolidarity in Eid message

United Nations, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for

solidarity and unity in the context of the COVID-19 pan-demic in his Eid message.

“Our world is like one body. As long as one part is af-fected by this virus, we all are affected. Now more than ever,solidarity and unity must be our leading principles,” he saidon Friday in an interactive discussion with member statesrepresenting the Organization of Islamic Cooperationahead of Eid al-Fitr, which falls on this Sunday, Xinhua re-ported.

He called for solidarity for a large-scale, coordinated andcomprehensive health response, guided by the WorldHealth Organization, with a focus on developing countriesand vulnerable people.

He called for solidarity in tackling the devastating socio-economic dimensions of the crisis — keeping householdsafloat and businesses solvent, and prioritizing the mostaffected: women, older people, children, low-wage earnersand other vulnerable groups.

He called for solidarity for peace and solidarity in speak-ing out against the rise in ethno-nationalism, stigma andhate speech targeting vulnerable communities and exac-erbating suffering.

He called for solidarity to ensure that the recovery fromthe crisis leads to more equitable, inclusive and sustain-able economies and societies that are stronger and moreresilient. “As millions of Muslims around the world celebrate,let us draw from the many Ramadan lessons of mercy andcompassion, of dignity and rights, of mutual.

AHMEDABAD SUNDAY 24/05/2020

Ahmedabad, Page 3

A H M E D A B A D * M A R K E T * G U I D E

In the news 3

63 containment zones in Gautam Buddha Nagar: DMNoida,

With the increase in thenumber of coronavirus pa-tients in Uttar Pradesh’sGautam Buddha Nagar, thenumber of containmentzones is also increasingsteadily. At present, the dis-trict has a total of 63 contain-ment zones.

Gautam Buddha NagarDistrict Magistrate Suhas L.Y.shared the information onthis late on Wednesday nighton social media.

The tweet from his officialTwitter handle stated, “Con-tainment Zone has been up-dated. (Its) size will be smallerthan the previous lockdown.Officers are defining Param-eter and Buffer Zone.”

The Containment Zone isdivided into two categories‘First and Second’ in the listissued. Accordingly, there are37 Containment Zones in thefirst category and 26 in thesecond category. In the firstcategory, the area ofcontaiment would be 250meters, and the second cat-egory would be an area of500 meters.

Areas which fall in the firstcategory of ContainmentZone are: Sector-48 Noida,Sector 7 Noida, Ajnara Daffo-dil Housing Society Sector-137 Noida, Chaprauli VillageSector-168 Noida, DadupurVillage Sector-83 Noida,Yakubpur Village Sector-83Noida, NCR City VillageGirdhpur Chapraula GreaterNoida, Mangrauli VillageJewar, Sai Upvan Society NearHabatpur Village GreaterNoida, Nawada Village Sector-68, Suthiyana Village GreaterNoida, Kalicharan TempleKasna Rater Noida, GalaxyNorth Avenue-2 and GaurCity-2 Greater Noida West,Salarpur Village Sector-102Noida, Shramik Kunj Sector-110 Noida, Purvanchal RoyalPark Housing Society Sector-137 Noida,

Panchsheel HainishHousing Society Sector-1Greater Noida, CISF CampGreater Noida, CRPF CampGreater Noida, Sector-46Noida, Sector-40 Noida, SayaZion Housing Society GreaterNoida, Him Sagar ApartmentSamriddhi Grand Avenue

Housing Society GreaterNoida, Nirala Estate HousingSociety Greater Noida West,Ace City Housing SocietyGreater Noida West, HIGApartment Sector Omicron-1Greater Noida, Sector-41Noida, Surajpur Village NearVishal Megamart, Yamuna Ex-press Way Authority PlotsSector-24, Jalvayu Vihar Sec-tor-47 Noida, Faleda VillageJewar Greater Noida, Sector-19 Block A Noida andChhalera Village Street Num-ber 4, Sector-44 Noida.

According to the secondlist, 26 areas are in tier II Con-tainment Zones which in-clude: Sector-30 Noida, Advo-cate Colony Greater Noida,Bisarkh Village Greater Noida,Skytech Housing Society Sec-tor-76 Noida, Sector Alpha 1Greater Noida, Sector-10Noida, Nat Madhiya VillageGreater Noida, Paras TiereaHousing Society Sector P3Greater Noida, Sector-19BBlock Noida, Sadarpur VillageKhajur Colony Sector-45Noida, Sector-9 Noida, NithariSector-31 Noida, Sector-8Noida, Mamura Village, Sec-

tor-66 Noida, Malkapur Vil-lage Greater Noida, Sector-12Noida, Sector-63 Noida, Sec-tor-5 Noida, WHO HousingSociety Sector Chi-2 GreaterNoida, Nagla Village Phase-2Noida, Sector-15 Noida, Sec-tor-27 Noida, Sunshine HeliosHousing Society Sector-78Noida.

The activities of theHealth Department are goingon in all these containmentzones. People are being madeaware of social distancingand infection preventionmeasures.

The Containment firstclass zone is where a case ofCOVID-19 infection has oc-curred. Thereafter, rescue andrelief operations are carriedout within a radius of 250meters, considering thepatient’s home as theepicentre of infection. On theother hand, a residential areawith more than one case iskept in the second category.Considering the houses of in-fected people as epicentre anarea of 500 metres or halfkilometre is marked as thecontainment zone. —IANS

Agartala, A scientist of Tripura

University has made a robotfrom locally available andscrap materials to assist thefront-line health workers,including doctors, to takecare of the coronavirus pa-tients from a distant place.The remote-controlled ro-bot can carry 10-15 kilo-grams of materials, has anoperational range of 15-20metres, and can deliver food,medicines and other essen-tial items to the COVID-19patients.

“I have just spent Rs25,000 and took a week’stime to make the robot. Dueto the ongoing lockdown, Icould not collect the latest

Tripura scientist makes robot to take care of Corona patientsand modern devices andtools from outside Tripura,hence I have to depend onthe local and scrap materi-als. I used the vital receiverof the robot from an old toyof a son of my relative,” sci-entist Harjeet Nath toldIANS on Tuesday.

Nath, who received theprestigious young scientistaward in 2018, said that therobot can be of enormoushelp to the doctors, nursesand other health workers todeal with the patients of thehighly contagious nCoV.

An assistant professor ofthe Chemical and PolymerEngineering Department ofthe Tripura University, a cen-tral varsity, the 32-year-old

scientist said that the robot,regulated by a transmitterand a receiver, can work foraround 90 minutes after thelad acid rechargeable bat-tery (135 watts) is given fivehour’s charge.

In the robot, Nath hasinstalled a two-way commu-nication device of a Wi-Fi-controlled camera withinbuilt microphone andspeaker to help both thedoctors or nurses and pa-tients to communicate di-rectly with each other main-taining a safest distance.

A resident of southernAssam, the enterprising re-searcher had earlier devel-oped the first of its kind por-table water purifier in the

country, which can benefitpeople during calamitieslike flood and also reducepollution.

He said that as the front-line health workers includ-ing the doctors and nursesare at the risk of getting in-fected with the highly infec-tious virus as they have toclosely take care of theCOVID-19 patients.

“In India and abroadmany doctors, nurses andhealth workers were alreadyinfected by the dreaded vi-rus. The robot would reducethe risk for the frontline war-riors to a large extent,” hesaid. Nath, who was a re-search scholar at the IIT-Guwahati, said that he canadd many more skills includ-ing thermal screening ofsuspected patients, sanitiz-ing the hospital floors to theexisting robot to make themachine many more otherhealth related jobs besidespurposeful.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressing MSMEs E-conclave themed, ‘BusinessContinuity for MSMEs in Defence and Aerospace Sector’ in New Delhi on Thursday.Also seen are Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Secretary (Defence Pro-duction) Raj Kumar, President of SIDM Jayant D Patil, former president of SIDM BabaN Kalyani and Director General of CII Chandrajit Banerjee UNI.

Telangana Minister for Health Etela Rajender inaugurating India's first ICU bus, 'Mo-bile Covid ICU', designed and run By Grace Cancer Foundation in Hyderabad on Thurs-day UNI.

Ranveer Singhwants Indian SignLanguage to be23rd officiallanguage

Mumbai, Bollywood superstar

Ranveer Singh is campaign-ing for Indian Sign Lan-guage (ISL) to be declaredthe official language of ourcountry.

The actor is signing apetition that aims to in-crease awareness for thecause. He is also urging In-dian citizens to show sup-port.

Ranveer has also re-leased rapper-poetSpitfire’s “Vartalap”, a signlanguage video, as part ofthis effort, under his ownlabel IncInk.

“Through this endeav-our of ours, we’re lendingsupport to the cause ofmaking Indian Sign Lan-guage the 23rd official lan-guage of India,” saidRanveer, adding that hewould soon sign an officialpetition filed by NationalAssociation of the Deaf(NAD), India, with supportfrom the organisation, Ac-cess Mantra Foundation.

—IANS

AHMEDABAD SUNDAY 24/05/2020

woman starts prioritizingher needs and begins to fo-cus on her menstrual healthand hygiene, without guilt,without shame.

Taking this conversationfurther and in keeping withthe brand’s commitment to-wards #SheFirst, on the oc-casion ofWorld MenstrualHygiene Day, Paree, in a first-ever Human Resource land-mark, announces PeriodLeave forall its female em-ployees.

Paree’s #SheFirst#PadsAreEssential cam-paign was about her homewhile this leg extends to theworkplace. Office is whereshe spends most of hertime.With this announce-ment, Paree addresses theissue of emotional andphysical discomfort that of-ten accompanies menstrua-tion.

The brand has alwaysbeen vocal about real issuesthat women face duringtheir periods, be it HeavyFlow and now Cramps andPMS with this.

To make the announce-ment of period leave comealive, Paree created a videotitled “Keep It Real#PareePeriodLeave” captur-ing different reactions oftheir employees.

Paree announces a landmark ‘PeriodLeave’ policy for its women workforce

New Delhi:Paree, a young Indian

homegrown sanitary nap-kin brand has been champi-oning the cause of men-strual hygiene by position-ing sanitary pads as essen-tial and to make them acces-sible to as many women aspossible especially thosewho need it the most.

Through its #SheFirst#PadsAreEssential cam-paign, Paree started a dia-logue around how womenare the backbone of our so-ciety yet their needs tend totake a backseat.It encour-aged women to put theirneeds and hygiene First.TheCompany strongly believesthat it is time that every

Ahmedabad, Page 4

City-State4Migrant workers ‘attack police,

vandalise property’; 35 arrestedAhmedabad: As many

as 35 persons were arrestedafter a group of migrantworkers employed at the IIMAhmedabad site inVastrapur area vandalisedoffice property, governmentvehicles and assaulted po-lice personnel and otherworkers, demanding thatthey be allowed to returnhome.

Police said they firedtear gas shells and resortedto lathicharge when theirate group assaulted otherworkers, pelted stones atpolice teams and vandalisedproperties. All 35 arrestedare from Jharkhand, theyadded.

According to police,around 10 am on Monday,Vastrapur police station re-ceived a message that amob of over 250-300 mi-

grant workers had as-sembled at the GMDCGround behind Alpha Onemall, demanding that theybe allowed to go back totheir home states.

The workers, carryingiron rods, pipes and sticksstarted marching towardsIIM Ahmedabad area whenpolice stopped them at theoverbridge intersection. Themob then threw stones athe personnel before enter-ing the IIM Ahmedabad pre-mises where they broke theglass windows of the siteoffice and vandalised threecabins of the securityguards.

The workers from PSPconstruction company werehired by IIM managementfor construction work. Theywanted to return toJharkhand but was not able

to due to limited number oftrains. This angered theworkers who resorted toviolence, leading to the ar-rests , said SR Gamit, incharge officer, Vastrapur po-lice station. The workers alsodamaged police and privatevehicles stationed outsideIIM campus with iron pipesand wooden sticks. Later,they also assaulted othermigrant workers whostayed with them in shan-ties at the GMDC groundwho did not join them. A to-tal of 500 workers and fami-lies live in shanties at theGMDC ground of Vastrapur.

We all want to go homebut some workers startedassaulting the supervisor ofour company when he triedto reason with them. Myhusband was also attackedby the mob saying that we

should also protest andvandalise property to goback home, said Anita, a mi-grant worker from MadhyaPradesh. For the past fewdays, we were being told thattrains are being arranged tosend us back home. Theworkers have been waitingafter registering, said SushilMahto, a worker from WestBengal. The chief administra-tive officer’s office to the IIMAcommunity with the subject,unrest of migrant workers atnew campus constructionsite entrance, stated that theworkers were fromJharkhand and were agitatedas they could not go homedue to want of trains. Con-struction work of new aca-demic, faculty and hostelblocks at IIMA’s new campuswas put on hold due tolockdown.

New hospital building designatedfor Covid-19 treatment

Ahmedabad: Anticipating further surge in COVID-19cases, the Gujarat government designated a newly-builthospital building on the campus of civil hospital here forthe treatment of coronavirus positive patients.

The new multi-storey building, which was supposed totreat children with heart problems, is located adjacent tothe existing U N Mehta Institute of Cardiology and ResearchCentre (UNMICRC), popularly known as heart hospital.

This new structure was supposed to be inaugurated byPrime Minister Narendra Modi on March 22, but theprogramme got cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel visited the newbuilding which can treat 228 coronavirus patients.

Global trends suggest that we may have to live withcoronavirus for a long time. As a precautionary measure,we have decided to utilize this new building for treatingCOVID- 19 patients whenever a need arises. We have madenecessary changes in infrastructure of the building, Pateltold.

Ahmedabad civil hospital with the capacity of 2,000beds and 800-bed civic-run SVP Hospital are the two majorhospitals designated by the government to treatcoronavirus patients.

The combined capacity of these two hospitals is around2,000 beds. We have also notified some private and trustrun hospitals across Gujarat for COVID-19 treatment, saidPatel who also heads Health ministry.

Workers issue notice to IIM-A, govtAhmedabad: A day af-

ter the migrant workmenclashed with police officialsoutside the new Indian Insti-tute of Management,Ahmedabad (IIM-A) cam-pus, the workers served alegal notice to the IIM-A Di-rector as principal employerand the Gujarat govern-ment, for non payment ofwages during the lockdownperiod and seeking arrange-ments to return to their na-tive places.

The workmen’s advo-cate Anand Yagnik said thatthe legal notice was issuedunder the Inter-State Mi-grant Workmen Act, 1879,calling upon IIM-A directorand the contractor to payminimum wages andearned wages not paid tilldate. He said that the IIM-ADirector was served the no-tice because the workers

were engaged in construc-tion at new IIM-A campus. Italso calls upon the authori-ties to enure immediate re-lease of all the migrantworkers of Jharkhand andWest Bengal who were de-tained after unfortunate in-cident and who have notbeen release, yet and to en-sure their repatriation totheir respective parentstates free of charge andmeanwhile make interim ar-rangements with regard totheir appropriate living andhygiene conditions.

The lawyer said the no-tice was required becausethe employers failed tomeet their obligations to re-patriate the stranded mi-grant labourers to their na-tive places. These workersare not being paid wagesand inspite of repeated re-quest after April 28, neither

IIM-A as the principal em-ployer nor the contractormade any arrangement torepatriate more than 500workers who are working ascontract labourers on con-struction of the new build-ing of IIM, Ahmedabad, thelawyer said and added thatthe Sections 14 and 15 ofthe Inter-State MigrantWorkmen Act are with re-gard to displacement allow-ance and journey allowance.The obligate the employerto bear repatriation, dis-placement and journey al-lowance costs.

IIM-A Director Prof ErrolD’Souza said that all workersare paid their dues. The pri-mary issue that led to theunrest is their understand-able perceived delay in ob-taining of transportation bythe state authorities. On thenotice, he said.

Ahmedabad: ‘DesiDhaba’ on Eating Street inWembley has become agroup kitchen primarily tohelp the Nationwide HealLearn Extra Chintan Pandya(34) and his spouse Monabegan an eatery in Februarywithin the UK, however therising severity of Covid-19pressured its closure quickly.The couple may have satidle at house, however as analternative they determinedto transform the enterpriseinto charitable exercise.

Their enterprise ‘DesiDhaba’ on Ealing Street inWembley has become agroup kitchen primarily tohelp the Nationwide Wellbeing Service (NHS) em-ployees and susceptible,aged and remoted people

NRG couple converts their UKeatery into community kitchen

inside the group. They havebeen joined by the restau-rant chef and employeesand help from 40-odd vol-unteers to organize Indianmeals and ship packets onthe doorsteps of the needy.

Pandya, whose motherand father migrated to theUK in 1960s from Nadiad,when the federal govern-ment notified that each oneeating places and bars mustshutdown, Mona and I madea decision to make use of theamenities to help NHS em-ployees working tirelessly toavoid wasting lives. Monaherself works within theNHS particularly with sus-ceptible, aged people andwe have now many mem-bers of the family who aremedical doctors, nurses, NHSkey-workers on the frontline,all working extremely ardu-ous to make sure the gen-eral public’s security andwell-being. This can be a trig-ger near our coronary heartand we wished to provideagain to our group.

The couple was joinedby like-minded people. As-sist started to pour in frompeople in addition to fromspiritual and group organi-zations. ‘Meals provided areeasy however nutritious’

Chintan Pandya stated,our fantastic cooks, bravevolunteers, donors andmembers of the broader

group and Indian groupthroughout London and theUK have so generously andgraciously supported us andwe’re overwhelmed withthe love and properly needswe have now acquired.

The restaurant has untildate ready and delivered48,000 meals at doorstepsof not simply Indians how-ever individuals of variousethnicity. The meals are easyhowever nutritious togetherwith dal-rice, curry-rice androti and subzi. The supplytakes place throughout Lon-don metropolis.

They have to make suresecurity of each particularperson related on this workin addition to of those thatare served as a result of thelatter contains aged indi-viduals. It is crucial for us tomake sure the protection ofeverybody working with usand we guarantee all au-thorities protocols and pro-cedures are adopted,Pandya stated.

On the exercise under-taken amid the pandemic,he additional stated, we areattempting to help and pro-vides again to our group inany means that we will.There are various differentpeople doing the identical,which is wonderful. So longas all of us work safely wewill get by these tough in-stances collectively.

Gujarat Covid-19 tally at 12,539; recovery rate at 41.62%Ahmedabad: Gujarat

on Wednesday recorded398 new Covid-19 cases and30 deaths, taking the casecount to 12,539 and thenumber of fatalities to 749,an official said.

Jayanti Ravi, principalsecretary (health), said outof these 30 deaths, 26 werereported from Ahmedabad.Also, 176 people were dis-charged in last 24 hours. Asof now 5219 people havebeen discharged, 47 peopleare on ventilator. A total160772 tests have beendone so far, Ravi said.

The principal secretarysaid it is to be noted that thestate government was on itstoes in the last two monthsand is still working 24 hoursto curb the crisis.

Gujarat led India from

the front in the maximumnumber of Covid-19 tests. Atthe same time, the state ac-counts for the highest dis-charge rate among all thestates. The recovery rate ofGujarat is 41.62%. The dis-charge rate of Gujarat is alsohigher than the national av-erage which is 39.62%, saidRavi.

She said that chief min-ister came up with dedi-cated Covid-19 hospitalsand thousands of patientsare still availing free of costtreatment till date. Chiefminister of Gujarat VijayRupani also launched theHu Pan Corona Warrior(Even I am a Corona Warrior)campaign.

Ashwani Kumar, secre-tary to chief minister saidthat we were safe within the

four walls of our houses tilltoday. But now, we have tostep out and realize thatCovid-19 will stay with us tilla permanent cure is found.The fight is a long drawnprocess. Small mistakes canprove fatal. We must learn tolive with COVID-19. Fear isnot an alternative. We mustinculcate the mantra ofTread cautiously, but with-out fear.

The aim of this cam-paign is to keep us keep theelders and children of thefamily indoors. People don’tstep out without a mask. Atthe same time, we must en-sure to not step out withouta concrete reason. Also, tofollow social distancing at allpoints of time, said Kumar.

He added that the stategovernment has kept a

number of interesting tasksunder this campaign. Every-one must upload a selfiewith their grandparents onMay 22 on their social me-dia. We ought to take care ofthe elderly and we must cre-ate awareness about thesame.The officer further toldthat the chief minister is in-debted to the selfless gov-ernment employees, doc-tors, paramedical forces, po-lice personnel, health andsanitation workers whohave proved their mettle inthis scenario. They weretermed them as CoronaWarriors till today. But nowthat relaxations have beenprovided based on termsand conditions, the ChiefMinister has appealed ev-eryone to be a corona war-rior, said Kumar.

Ahmedabad's Covid-19 casescross 9000 and deaths 600Ahmedabad: One of the most affected Covid-19 dis-

tricts in India, Ahmedabad crossed 9000 cases and 600deaths. The district now has 9216 Covid cases and 602deaths. In the pat ten days, the district has added 221 deaths.In terms of mortality, the district’s rate of 6.5% is highestamong the Indian cities having more than 5000 Covid-19cases. Compared to Ahmedabad, Mumbai’s mortality rateas on today was 3.5 per cent, Delhi’s 1.6 per cent andChennai’s 0.7%.

Gujarat in 24 hours added 398 cases, third highest everin a single day, and thirty deaths. Total tally of cases is nowat 12,539 whereas total deaths are 749. Gujarat is third inIndia in terms of total cases and second in terms of deaths.

Jayanti Ravi, Principal Secretary Health & Family welfare,said that out of thirty, Ahmedabad has recorded 26 deaths.Out of the 26 deaths, 11 were recorded at Civil Hospital,whereas four were recorded at IKDRC, 3 at SVP Hospital andSola Civil Hospital each, two at GCRI and GCS each and oneat LG Hospital.

A total of 176 patients were discharged in past 24 hours,taking the total number of discharged patients to 5219, saidRavi, Now the state’s recovery rate is 41.65%.

Ravi said that Gujarat currently has 6571 active patientsout of which forty seven are on ventilator, Ravi defendeduse of Dhaman=I ventilators by state hospitals. She addedthat the state is also segmenting allopathic treatment withayurvedic and homeopathic medicines at select hospitalssuch as Civil Hospital and SVP Hospital in Ahmedabad.Gujarat carried out highest over 8098 tests n a day, takingthe total tests in the state to 1.6 lakh.

BJP leader ‘sees off migrants withoutface mask’, Congress seeks action

Ahmedabad: Congressleaders in the city onWednesday demanded ac-tion against Surat MunicipalCorporation (SMC) council-lor and BJP leaderGirijashanker Mishra whoallegedly went to the Suratrailway station withoutwearing a face mask to seeoff migrant workers whowere travelling to UttarPradesh.

A purported video ofMishra waving to migrantworkers at the railway sta-tion without a face maskwas widely shared on social

media, following which theCongress sought police ac-tion on the councillor.

Mishra, municipalcouncillor from ward No.28 of Bamroli area in Surat,uploaded a video of overfour minutes duration onhis Facebook page on May19, where he is seeing offmigrant workers in aShramik train at platformone of Surat railway sta-tion. Surat railway authori-ties had banned the entryof political leaders on thepremises of the station afew days ago.

Surat GovernmentRailway Police (GRP) ar-rested Surat city Congresspresident Babu Rayka,vice-president Deep Naik,spokesperson Kiran Raykaand secretar y PramodChaudhary for flagging offa train in which they spon-sored the tickets of mi-grant workers. The Con-gress leaders, who werebooked under IPC section188 and section three ofthe Epidemic DiseasesAct.

Rayka forwarded thepurported video of Mishra

to the director of Suratrailway station, CR Garuda.Rayka said, Railway au-thorities are

doing injustice as theyare allowing BJP leaders toremain at the railway sta-tion and not Congressleaders. We have informedthe authorities to registeran offence as they (police)did with us.

Deputy Superinten-dent of Police, Surat GRP,DG Kanthariya said, we willcheck CCTV footage andascertain when the inci-dent took place.

Associations ask hospitals to take inCovid cases

Ahmedabad: After several meetings with theAhmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) over issuesranging from per patient costs to the facilities pro-vided to hospitals, Ahmedabad Medical Association(AMA) and Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing HomesAssociation (AHNA) appealed to its members to startadmission of Covid-19 positive patients without wait-ing for formalities like signing of MoUs.

In an appeal by Dr Mona Desai, president of AMA,doctors were asked to admit patients referred by thegovernment and AMC as part of their wider social re-sponsibility.

Dr Bharat Gadhvi, president of AHNA, said that themembers have decided to start admitting patientsconsidering the continued rise in the mortality rate.

Many patients have been transferred to these pri-vate hospitals from Civil Hospital Medicity and SVPHospitals. All patients whose treatment costs will bepaid by AMC as per the government circular, will besent to the private hospitals by the nodal medical of-ficer of AMC, said Dr Gadhvi. There will be no directadmission of patients whose treatment costs are be-ing borne by AMC/state government

So far 5,347 patients treated: Healthdept

Ahmedabad: The state health department onWednesday said that it has treated 5,347 patients withCovid-19 symptoms at Asarwa Civil Hospital, of whom1,994 were discharged after they tested negative. Inall, since the outbreak, 914 patients had opted forhome isolation after they appeared stable, a press re-lease says. Another 1,177 Covid-19 patients who werebeing treated at Civil Hospital and appeared stablewere transferred to specially established Covid-19 carecentres.

The state health department stated that a total of338 patients had succumbed to the disease, of whom242 had high co-morbidity conditions. As of now, 924Covid-19 patients are still under care at Civil Hospital,says a senior hospital official. The press release saysthat there are 336 oxygen beds and 212 ventilatorbeds at the hospital.

This special 1,200-bed Covid facility at Civil Hos-pital, which was set up in record 15 days by the stategovernment, has a dedicated OPD for consulting andtesting, a triage area for stabilizing patients, a generalward for stable patients, and a donning-doffing areafor patients, and a special biomedical waste area..

Gujaratis return from MalaysiaAhmedabad: About 50 Gujaratis, stranded in Ma-

laysia because of the Covid-19 pandemic, have re-turned to Gujarat. They arrived late at Ahmedabad air-port, and were sent to institutional quarantine facili-ties after a check up.

Hitendra Shah of Nadiad said he had gone to Ma-laysia to meet his daughter, but got stranded therebecause of the lockdown The lockdown in Malaysia isgoing to continue until June 9, and I am happy to beback home, he said.

Vinu Rajani of Surat said the Indian embassy hadbeen a help and helped him get back to the country.Vipul Shah, a petrochemical engineer with a multina-tional company, said he had been attempting to re-turn to India since April 10. I am finally back and it isgood. The government helped us a lot, he said.

Female TikToker arrested for makingvideo during lockdown, released onbail

Ahmedabad: Tiktok fame Sonu Nayak, 21, ofKundaliyavas in Isanpur was arrested by Isanpur po-lice making a TikTok video on Isanpur bridge duringlockdown period at about 9pm on Monday. In thevideo she is heard saying that This our Isanpur Bridge.Modiji open the lockdown then laughs and again saysthat please show us by sleeping on the bridge whenthe lockdown opens. Nayak also made another videoand then posted them on TikTok”, said inspector JMSolanki of Isanpur police station.

Another policeman dies of Covid-19:Ahm’d

Ahmedabad: A 56-year-old assistant sub-inspec-tor (ASI) of Ahmedabad Police died on Tuesday nightof Covid-19, taking the count of policemen who suc-cumbed to the infection to two in the city.

Govindbhai Babubhai Datania, an ASI attached toAhmedabad Police headquarters, died at Civil Hospi-tal in Asarwa on Tuesday night. He was shifted to theintensive care unit of the hospital on Sunday after hishealth deteriorated. A resident of Shahpur, Dataniatested positive for Covid-19 on May 13 after which hewas admitted to the hospital. He was deployed forbandobast duty in the earlier phases of lockdown inAhmedabad.

Datania is the second police officer to fall in theline of duty amid the pandemic after head constableBharat Somajibhai succumbed to coronavirus onMonday. According to officials, 303 personnel ofAhmedabad police have been infected with Covid-19, out of which, 240 have recovered.

Special commissioner of police, Ajay Tomar, saidthat the remaining 63 police personnel who are stillinfected are in hospitals, home isolation and in ho-tels. Those who don’t have access to a house for quar-antine have been kept in isolation in hotels. We havebooked three hotels in Ahmedabad for the same.

We have also tied up with the Ahmedabad Medi-cal Association, if any personnel gets infected, doc-tors can connect to them on phone consultation andmedicines are given free of cost. If one works in a hun-gry and dehydrated state, the chances of getting theinfection is higher. Policemen who are deployed incontainment zones, are being provided lemonade,buttermilk and sprouts on regular intervals. Police sta-tions have been asked to provide free meals to thepersonnel on daily basis, Tomar added.

4 surrogate babies still wait for theirbiological parents at Anand hospital

Vadodara: Four out of the 27 surrogate babiesborn at Akanksha infertility centre in Anand districtof Gujarat since the nationwide lockdown was en-forced on March 25 are yet to be with their biologicalparents. These four babies, include a pair of twins bornto a couple based in Mumbai, a baby boy from Kolkataand baby girl from Bengaluru all of whom are aroundthree weeks old now.

While the couple from Kolkata has started by roadto Anand to take custody of their baby boy, the couplefrom Mumbai and Bengaluru are yet to receive gov-ernment permission for travel. On May 5, The IndianExpress reported that 17 of the 27 babies born dur-ing the lockdown at the Akanksha Infertility Centrewere stranded as their biological parents were unableto reach them due to travel restrictions.

Akanksha Hospital had the biggest number ofsurrogate babies stranded at a single facility in thestate. Following the report published in this newspa-per, the couple from Pune, which has seen a largenumber of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, were ableto travel to Anand to take custody of their daughter,born by the end of March. Dr. Nayna Patel of AkankshaHospital said that we are so happy that the parentswere able to reach and take their children. The Punecouple had a permission valid for three days and sothey came and returne.

‘Hu pan corona warrior’: Gujarat CM VijayRupani declares campaign to fight Covid

Gandhinagar: ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani de-clared a week-long cam-paign called “Hu Pan CoronaWarrior” to spread aware-ness about measures tocombat the virus amonggeneral public.

Rupani will launch thecampaign through videoconference in Gandhinagarand var called “Hu Pan Co-rona Warrior” to spreadawareness abious notedpersonalities of the state willjoin the launching from 33different locations inGujarat.

In his social media ad-dress to announce the cam-paign, Rupani said that so fardoctors, nurses and para-medical staff were the co-rona warriors.

But now, the role of co-rona warrior becomes im-portant; because now a di-rect fight has started againstcoronavirus. So far, we weresafe inside homes. Now, wewill move out for daily work.Till we get a cure of corona,it is among us and we will

have to fight a direct fightagainst it. A mistake canbring problem. So, we needto live, and called “Hu PanCorona Warrior” to spreadawareness abfight, with co-rona. For my belovedGujaratis, I am announcingthis Hu Pan Corona WarriorAbhiyan, he said.

Under the campaign,Rupani asked people to takethree resolu called “Hu PanCorona Warrior” to spreadawareness abtions: not to letelders and children in thehouse to move out, not tomove out without wearingmask and to maintain socialdistance. He also askedpeople to make efforts toincrease th called “Hu PanCorona Warrior” to spreadawareness abeir immunity.

The chief minister saidthat, following his request, anumber of noted personali-ties of Gujarat called “HuPan Corona Warrior” tospread awareness abhavejoined the campaign whowill guide people on COVID-19 during the entire week.

To make the campaignpopular, people will begiven various tasks to per-form on the theme of fightagainst COVID-19. For ex-ample, on May 22, peoplewill be encouraged to takea selfie called “Hu Pan Co-rona Warrior” to spreadawareness abwith theirgrandfathers and grand-mothers and post it on theirsocial media platforms withthe hashtag,HuPanCoronaWarrior.

An official release fromthe state government onthe announcement listedthe initiatives taken by thestate gove called “Hu PanCorona Warrior” to spreadawareness abrnment tocombat COVID-19 duringthe lockdown.

It is to be noted that thestate government was on itstoes in the last two monthsand is still working 24X7 tocurb the crisis. Gujarat ledIndia from the front in themaximum number of Covid-19 tests, he said.

Biggest migration inindependent India: Rupani

Ahmedabad: Describ-ing the evacuation of mi-grants affected by thelockdown as “biggest migra-tion in independent India”,the Gujarat government hasput out a video showcasingits efforts, and said it wouldcomplete the evacuation of13 lakh migrant in the nextseven days, throughShramik trains.

Gujarat accounts for themaximum number ofShramik trains. Perhaps, thisis the biggest migration inindependent India whichGujarat has done, Chief Min-ister Vijay Rupani, said in avideo prepared by thelabour and employmentdepartment regarding themigration of workers fromthe state.

According to the stategovernment, Gujarat has sofar run 562 Shramik trains.The video says, of the totaltrains run in the country, 41per cent has been operatedfrom Gujarat under the lead-

ership of Vijay Rupani wherea lot of people were sentback home respectfully, asguests and in sleepercoaches.

Total 1,770 trains oper-ated across the country.Over 8.08 lakh migrantshave already left the state inthese trains, says AshwaniKumar, secretary to ChiefMinister. According to him,Maharashtra has so far run314 such trains, Punjab 226and Karnataka 108. Gujaratbegan the evacuationthrough Shramik trains onMay 2.

Gujarat has requisi-tioned for 350 more trains totransport an additional 4.5lakh migrants in the nextseven days. “We will com-plete evacuating about 13lakh migrants in the nextseven days. We have askedfor 350 more trains to helptransport 4.25 lakh of theremaining migrants in thestate,” says Vipul Mittra, ad-ditional chief secretary,

labour and employment de-partment, who is alsoamong the officials spear-heading the migrant evacu-ation in the state throughShramik trains.

The government said itwill run 72 trains, which willinclude 46 trains to UttarPradesh, 23 trains to Bihar,two train for Jharkhand andone train to Tamil Nadu.

The longest Shramiktrain that originated fromGujarat has been the one toManipur. It covered a dis-tance of 2,400 kilometresand carried people fromthree states, includingAssam, Meghalaya andManipur.

It took about 50 hours toreach, Mittra said. The gov-ernment will run one moretrain to the northeast toferry students or those em-ployed in health clubs, ho-tels, restaurants, gymnasi-ums, spas, beauty parloursand other places.

AHMEDABAD SUNDAY 24/05/2020

Ahmedabad, Page 5

International 5

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: I can disclose that Lady Forsyth quietly sold the couple's beloved marital home before theproperty market went into lockdown. She is pictured with Sir Bruce, left, while their marital home is seen right. Clev-erly, she is said to have secured a sale price around £5.5 million - £1.5 million more than it was officially valued at in2018, the year after her much-loved husband died aged 89. Wilnelia confirms the sale, telling me: 'It was hard to leavea place with so many happy memories for me and my family, but I think they all understand.' She adds, movingly: 'Itwas sometimes sad to be in such a home without Bruce.'

A quarantine regime will be introduced on June 8 requiring arrivals to the UK to self-isolate for 14 days. Butministers hope to strike quarantine-free pacts with summer destinations - such as France, Spain and Greece - byAugust and possibly July. They are also examining the idea of 'Covid passports' to let those who have had thedisease travel more widely and without having to go into quarantine on their return. The new border regime willapply to almost all arrivals, including incoming Britons. Home Secretary Priti Patel (right) said quarantine was vitalto prevent new cases of coronavirus being brought in from abroad. Left: Passengers wearing PPE queue up toboard a China-bound flight at Terminal 2 of Heathrow Airport today.

Julia Lawrence interviews Amber Rudd (middle) and her two children Flora (far left) and Alasdair Gill (third fromleft). Those familiar with Twitter will know that Flora - whose father was the hugely controversial food critic andcolumnist A.A. Gill - has gleefully picked up the family mantle for shock journalism. She 'outed' her mum as a day-time tippler (middle) and shared her calling Alasdair her favourite in the family group chat (right).

Senate confirms Trump’s pick as US intel chiefWashington,

The US Senate has con-firmed President DonaldTrump’s nominee, TexasCongressman John Ratcliffeas the next Director of Na-tional Intelligence (DNI).

Senators on Thursdayvoted 49-44 on Ratcliffe’snomination, largely alongparty lines, reports Xinhuanews agency.

Republicans hold 53seats in the Senate.

Ahead of Thursday’svote, Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell praisedRatcliffe while Senate Mi-nority Leader CharlesSchumer vowed to opposehis nomination.

“Today, we’ll confirm thenext director of national in-telligence. John Ratcliffe willlead the Intelligence Com-munity in counteringthreats from great powers,rogue nations, and terrorists- and ensuring that work isuntainted by political bias,”McConnell said.

In comparison, Schumersaid that Ratcliffe has “notdemonstrated the qualitiesfor the independence that

we should expect”.“It requires someone

with unimpeachable integ-rity, deep experience andthe independence andbackbone to speak truth topower. That’s what DNIs, in-cluding the previous one,Dan Coats, did. Unfortu-nately, Ratcliffe doesn’t evencome close to meeting thathigh bar,” Schumer added.

A report by The Hill newsoutlet said Ratcliffe’s confir-mation was the most politi-cal vote that has occurredfor the DNI position, whichhas traditionally beenviewed as an apolitical po-sition.

Dan Coats, who left thepost in August 2019 after atenure in which he con-flicted with the White Houseon a number of national se-curity issues, was confirmed85-12 for the post in 2017.

James Clapper, his Sen-ate-confirmed predecessor,was confirmed by a voicevote.

Ratcliffe, 54, was nomi-nated again by Trump inFebruary to be the nation’sspy chief, several months af-

ter the Texas Republican’sfirst nomination was with-drawn amid bipartisan con-cerns about his qualifica-tion.

Trump picked Ratcliffeas new chief of national in-telligence on July 28, 2019,four days after RobertMueller testified before theHouse Judiciary Committee,when the Republicanfiercely questioned theformer special counsel overhis two-year investigationinto the alleged Russian in-terference in the 2016 presi-dential election, and Trump’spossible obstruction of jus-tice.

First elected to the USCongress, Ratcliffe sits onthe House judiciary and in-telligence committees.

As a frequent Trump’sdefender, he has beenviewed as one of the mostconservative members ofCongress based on his vot-ing record. He was also amember of Trump’s im-peachment defence team.

The DNI position hasbeen filled in an acting ca-pacity since Coats stepped

down in August 2019.The DNI is a cabinet-

level official in the US gov-ernment that serves as thehead of the 17-member USIntelligence Community, agroup of separate intelli-gence agencies and subor-dinate organizations engag-ing in intelligence activitiesthat support American for-eign policy and national se-curity.

The post was created inthe wake of the terrorist at-tacks on September 11,2001.

Draft decision on HK national securitylegislation submitted to China’s NPC

Beijing, A draft decision on es-

tablishing and improvingthe legal system and en-forcement mechanisms forHong Kong to safeguardnational security was sub-mitted to China’s nationallegislature for deliberationon Friday.

Wang Chen, Vice Chair-

man of the Standing Com-mittee of the NationalPeople’s Congress (NPC) ex-plained the draft decision tothe third session of the 13thNPC, which runs from May22 to 28, reports Xinhuanews agency.

The draft decision con-sists of an introduction andseven articles, according toWang.

Since the return of HongKong to the motherland,China has been firmlyimplementing the prin-ciples of “one country, twosystems”, “the people ofHong Kong governingHong Kong,” and a high de-gree of autonomy, Wangsaid. The practice of “onecountry, two systems” hasachieved unprecedentedsuccess in Hong Kong, hesaid.

But the increasingly no-table national security risksin the city have become aprominent problem, theVice Chairman said.

Law-based and forcefulmeasures must be taken toprevent, stop and punishsuch activities, he noted.

Article 23 of the BasicLaw of the HKSAR stipulatesthat city will enact laws onits own to prohibit any actof treason, secession, sedi-tion, subversion against theCentral People’s Govern-ment, or theft of state se-crets, to prohibit foreign po-litical organizations or bod-ies from conducting politi-cal activitie, and to prohibitpolitical organizations orbodies of the Hong Kongfrom establishing ties withforeign political organiza-tions or bodies.

Unicef warns of dangers formigrant kids forcibly returned

United Nations, The Unicef has warned of the dangers for migrant chil-

dren who are being forcibly returned during the COVID-19pandemic. Since early March, at least 1,000 unaccompaniedmigrant children have been returned from the US to Mexicoand El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras despite seriousprotection risks in their communities of origin aggravatedby COVID-19, reports Xinhua news agency.

Over the same period, at least 447 migrant childrenwere returned from Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras,the Unicef said on Thurday. It warned that acts of violenceand discrimination are being perpetrated against return-ees perceived to have been infected with the disease andthat they face major protection risks during their reinte-gration. “For children on the move across the region, COVID-19 is making a bad situation even worse. Discriminationand attacks are now added to existing threats like gangviolence that drove these children to leave in the first place,”said Unicef Executive Director Henrietta Fore.

“This means many returned children are now doublyat risk and in even greater peril than when they left theircommunities. It is never in a child’s best interest to be sentback to an unsafe situation.” Limited public informationabout COVID-19 testing, treatment and containment pro-tocols in the region is causing confusion and fear amongreturnees and the general population.

Trudeau urges Canadians tocontinue taking pandemic seriously

Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged citizens

to continue taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously as apossible second wave of the deadly disease is loomingahead.

“One of the things we know is that in pandemics, thereare usually second waves,” Trudeau said during his pressconference on Thursday.

“The question that we’re very much focused on is that,as that second wave begins, or as we start to see resur-gences in a reopened economy, how quickly are we ableto contain them and control them?” he asked.

Canadian medical experts also warned of a secondwave of COVID-19 infections in the country, reports Xinhuanews agency.

Trudeau repeated his government’s recommendationfor Canadians to wear non-medical masks in a situationwhere physical distancing can not be maintained.

Some Canadian provinces have started to reopen theeconomy after the COVID-19 curve continues to show signsof flattening in Canada. Trudeau stressed that it has neverbeen more important to follow public health instructions.

“Keep washing your hands, stay home, and if you needto, wear a mask.” He promised that his government is will-ing to help the provinces and territories in the country in-crease their testing and contact tracing capabilities againstthe COVID-19. “It is going to be important to increase test-ing now but also make sure that as we move forward readyto act extremely quickly so that the population at largewon’t be in situations of having to go back into confine-ment,” Trudeau added.

3 women killed in Sri Lankastampede over COVID-19 aid

Colombo, At least three women

were killed and nine othersinjured in a stampede dur-ing the distribution ofcoronavirus-related aid inthe Sri Lankan capital, policesaid.

Police said the incidenttook place on Thursday inthe Maligawatta area of Co-lombo, where abusinessperson had orga-nized an event to distributecash donations of 1,500 SriLankan rupees ($8) to thepoor, reports Efe news.

The island country is un-der a nationwide lockdownthat has pushed theeconomy to the brink amidno tourism, with millionslosing their livelihood.

Police superintendentJaliya Senaratne said sixpeople who had organizedthe charity event were ar-rested following the inci-dent. “Everything happenedwithin five or 10 minutes.Over 1,000 people had gath-ered to get the donation.Three were killed and nineothers injured,” Senaratne

told reporters.The police rushed the

injured to a hospital.Senaratne said the

businessperson and five ofhis associates had orga-nized the event near amosque on the eve of thelast Friday before the end ofRamzan, the holy Muslimmonth of fasting.

“The people had gath-ered at a road near themosque where they were

given cash donations. Wewere told people were given1500 rupees each,” a policeofficer told Efe news.

The accused facecharges of violating socialdistancing regulations byorganizing a public eventwithout informing police, ata time when the govern-ment has prohibited largegatherings to stop thespread of COVID-19.

Senaratne said the ar-

rested also face charges “re-lated to the origin of thestampede”.

The charity event wasorganized to help thosewho have been hit hardestby the weeks-long curfew.

The restrictions wereeased last week as the coun-try has so far reported justover 1,000 positive casesand nine deaths. The relax-ations have allowed manypeople to return to work.

In a bid to aid poverty-hit people, the governmenthad initiated a scheme todistribute a monthly grantof 5,000 Sri Lankan rupeesto each family from Marchonwards.

However, the govern-ment discontinued the pro-gram after a National Elec-tion Commission request, asit could be considered a vio-lation of the code of con-duct before the upcomingparliamentary elections.

The poll body had fixedelections for April 25, butdue to the pandemic theywill now be held on June 20.

—IANS

NZ oppn elects new leader ahead ofSeptember polls

Wellington, New Zealand’s main opposition party on Friday

elected a new leader ahead of the September 19 gen-eral elections.

Todd Muller has been elected as the leader of theNew Zealand National Party, while Nikki Kaye wasnamed as his deputy, reports Xinhua news agency.

“There is no Team Todd, there is no Team Nikki, oranyone else — there is only Team National,” Mullersaid in a statement.

“National has always been a coalition of city andcountry, business and community, conservatives andliberals — National is the party for all New Zealanders,”he said.

“New Zealanders need a National governmentwith the experience and management skills to get ourcountry through the worst crisis since the end of theWorld War II,” Muller said, adding he will focus on thecountry’s economic recovery and the strengtheningof every community throughout New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the popularity of incumbent PrimeMinister Jacinda Ardern has soared in the country fol-lowing her management of the COVID-19 crisis, withmonths to go before the general elections.

Ardern, who took office in October 2017 and hassince then dealt with two other major crises, has anapproval of 59.6 among New Zealanders, accordingto a survey published on May 19 by the Newshub-Reidagency.

If she can maintain the current support, tArdern,who currently leads a coalition government with NewZealand First and Green Party, could come to powerwith an outright majority, securing 72 of the 120 seatsin Parliament, in the upcoming elections, accordingto the survey.

—IANS

Bolsonaro, governors give initial signof unity against COVID-19

Brasilia, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his

country’s 27 state Governors set aside some of theirdifferences to provide a measure of unity againstCOVID-19 at a time when the pandemic was acceler-ating in the South American giant.

On Thursday, Bolsonaro, one of the world’s mostsceptical leaders regarding the seriousness of the situ-ation, reached minimal agreements with the Gover-nors regarding federal financial aid to the country’sstates and municipalities as the virus has infected310,087 people and killed 20,047 others, reports Efenews.

A video-conference meeting revolved around afinancial aid program to the states and municipalitiesalready approved by Parliament but still not green-lighted by the President.

The bill sets forth that the federal government willdistribute a total of 120 billion reais (about $21 bil-lion) to the states and municipalities to combat thecoronavirus, of which the first half will be releasedpiecemeal over the coming four months.

However, in return for supporting it, Bolsonaro saidhe intended to introduce a clause that freezes the sala-ries of all federal, regional and municipal public offi-cials until the end of 2021, a move that was acceptedon Thursday by the local government leaders.

As Bolsonaro said, it’s a “share of sacrifice” that isbeing asked of the public sector amid a profound cri-sis in which informal workers and private business sofar have been the most heavily affected.

According to figures from the Economy Ministry,since the pandemic erupted in Brazil a total of abouteight million workers in the private sector have seentheir workshifts and pay reduced.

Bank of Japan allocates $279 billionfor loans to SMEs

Tokyo, The Bank of Japan (BoJ) on Friday announced a

new loan scheme worth 30 trillion yen ($278 billion)to provide liquidity to companies in the face of thedifficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative was approved by the monetarypolicy board of the Japanese central bank during aFriday emergency meeting, which focused on discuss-ing additional actions to support the private sector inthe face of the impact of COVID-19 and measures tocontain its spread, reports Efe news.

The low-interest lending scheme for mainly smalland medium-sized enterprises will remain in forceuntil March 2021, financed by a fund guaranteed bythe BoJ and managed by commercial banks, and fol-lows other measures to support individuals and busi-nesses already adopted by the authorities of theworld’s third-largest economy.

The BoJ also decided to leave its monetary policyunchanged after easing its policy at its previous meet-ing at the end of April with the aim of cushioning theimpact of the economic crisis caused by the pan-demic.

The new lending program is intended to “furthersupport financing mainly of small and medium-sizedfirms, with a view to addressing the spread of the novelcoronavirus”, the Japanese central bank said in a state-ment released at the end of its meeting.

Under the scheme, the central bank will lend in-terest free to commercial banks for one year so thatthey in turn offer loans to companies and for whichthe BoJ will the pay the banks 0.1 per cent interest.

The loans will be backed by a government guar-antee program framed within its comprehensive eco-nomic stimulus plan and are aimed at meeting thegrowing liquidity needs of businesses that are mostvulnerable to falling demand or disruption of theiractivities due to the pandemic.

—IANS

Kathmandu sealed toprevent COVID-19 spread

Kathmandu, The Nepali government has decided to seal off all the

entry points to capital Kathmandu, in an effort to stop thespread of COVID-19 in the densely-populated city, officialsat the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

The number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise in Nepal,with a dozen of COVID-19 cases reported in the capital citytaking the nationwide tally to 457, according to Ministry ofHealth and Population. The country has so far reportedthree COVID-19 deaths. “A meeting chaired by Home Min-ister Ram Bahadur Thapa and represented by Chief Districtment in the Kathmandu Valley on May 14 had decided tostop entry of vehicles all the entry points without vehiclepass issued by concerned government authorities,”

Chechen leader transferred toMoscow with suspected COVID-19

Moscow, Head of the Russian region of Chechnya Ramzan

Kadyrov has been transferred to Moscow as he was sus-pected to have contracted coronavirus, according to asource. “Ramzan Kadyrov has been brought to Moscow withsuspected coronavirus infection. He is now placed undermedical observation,” the source told the TASS NewsAgency on Friday.

According to the source, the head of Chechnya is instable condition.

But TASS could not officially verify this information.Earlier, Baza Telegram channel reported that Kadyrov

could allegedly have contracted the virus and was trans-ported to a Moscow hospital on Thursday.

AHMEDABAD SUNDAY 24/05/2020

Ahmedabad Page 6

6 Sport

Ryan Giggs, centre, has played alongside some exceptional talent during his time at Manchester United, but now the former Wales international has revealed CristianoRonaldo, left, and Paul Scholes, right, as the greatest he has shared a pitch with. The Manchester United legend, who spent his entire career at Old Trafford in a 24-year spell, sawthe likes of Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Eric Cantona come through the door and dazzle fans. But Giggs, now Wales manager, has reserved special praise for thePortuguese superstar, who he labelled as 'brilliant' and former midfielder Scholes, who he claimed was a nightmare to play against in training, inset.

It was 15 years ago today that Rangers snatched the title away from Celtic in dra-matic fashion on 'Helicopter Sunday' (main), but how does it compare to other greatfinal-day title fights across Europe that include David Beckham's Real Madrid success(top right), Sergio Aguero's late heroics for Manchester City (bottom left), a shock titlefor Olivier Giroud's Montpellier (bottom right) and heartbreak for Ronaldo (top left)after a final day loss for Inter Milan,

ZOOM INTERVIEW BY MATT BARLOW: Mauricio Pochettino is in relaxed mood. Heis tanned with a sparkle in his eyes befitting his six months free from the stresses ofthe touchline. His wife Karina does not approve, he says, but the 48-year-old has growna lockdown beard, grey in contrast to his dark hair. A new, wiser image to accompanyhis search for a new challenge. It is six months since he was sacked with Spurs lan-guishing 14th in the Premier League and he has sifted through what went wrongwith his inner circle of coaches. There are plenty of Spurs fans still pining for the manthey sacked but any bitterness has been washed from his system and time has deliv-ered perspective.

We’ll be ready for Kohli & boysthis time, says Pat Cummins

Melbourne, Australia pacer Pat

Cummins feels his team isfar better prepared andequipped to face Team Indiathan last time when ViratKohli and men travel DownUnder later in the year.

India, under Kohli in the2018/19 series, became thefirst Asian side to beat Aus-tralia in a Test series in theirown den. The series featuredstellar performances frombatsmen CheteshwarPujara, Rishabh Pant andKohli and the fast bowlingbattery featuring JaspritBumrah, Mohammed Shamiand Ishant Sharma.

“I think we’ll be ready forthem this time,” Cumminstold cricket.com.au

Australia were withoutthe services of Steve Smithand David Warner in the lastseries as both were servingtheir bans handed over tothem by Cricket Australia fortheir involvement in theSandpaper Gate contro-versy. However, the duowould, in all likelihood, in thesquad, thus providingstrength to the batting unitof Australia.

“Everyone’s a little moreexperienced this time be-cause obviously we’ve got acouple of class batters back

in the side and someone likeMarnus (Labuschagne) hasplayed a bit more and donebrilliantly,” Cummins said

“So I feel like we’re in abetter position,” he added.

The World No. 1 Testbowler also said that theAustralia bowling unit willneed to “take their medi-

cine” to outlast Pujara in thehome series this summer.

Pujara was one of thedefining factors of India’shistoric win over Australia in2018/19. He was the topscorer in the series with 521runs and faced a whopping1258 balls.

“He (Pujara) had a mam-

moth series for them (in2018-19). He’s one of thoseplayers that’ll take his time,he’s in his own little bubbleand he doesn’t get dis-turbed by too much,”Cummins said.

“We’ve got to find a wayto outlast him if he bats theway he did last time. Therewasn’t too much in the pitchso you couldn’t manufac-ture anything. So I think (weneed to) take our medicinea bit more and try andoutlast him,” he added.

The right-arm pacer isalso hoping that unlike lasttime, Australian pitches willassist the hosts pacers sothat they can disrupt theconcentration of the Indianmiddle-order batting main-stay.

“But we’ll wait and see.Hopefully the wickets are abit bouncier (and) we’ve gota few more options,” he said.

“They (India) showed uswhat you have to be, whatlevel you have to be at, to bethe best team in the world,”he added.

—IANS

In chess you don’t beat the board,you beat the player: Anand

Mumbai, Star Sports 1 Tamil show

Mind Masters by MFORE hasbeen drawing the attentionof viewers with some of thefinest guests from the sportsfraternity talking about theimportance and necessity ofmental strength and condi-tioning in sports. In the up-coming episode of MindMasters by MFORE, on StarSports Tamil on Sunday at 7pm, host and former Indiancricketer S. Badrinath getscandid with five-time WorldChampion, ViswanathanAnand.

The Chennai Ace is cur-rently held up in Germanywhere he was participatingin Bundesliga Chess and re-cently participated in anonline chess exhibition toraise funds for PM Caresamidst the COVID 19 situa-tion.

Anand talks about his il-lustrious career spanning 35years — starting from hisinitial days to finally beingconsidered as one of theelite Indian sporting leg-

ends. He also sheds light onthe importance of mindskills training and how ithelped him as a chess player.Anand talks about the im-portance of mind skills inchess.

“In chess, you don’t beatthe board. It’s more impor-tant to beat the player onthe other side. Everyonethinks you make the bestmoves, but it’s more aboutwho makes the last mistakeon the board. You need toconstantly put yourself inthe minds of the opponentsand study their game alongwith your own. You cannotpump your fist and there’sno emotional release in agame like chess. After agame I always go to the gymnot for fitness but to calmdown and the stress goesaway,” he says.

Anand speaks abouthow his journey began at avery early age, “I was sixyears old when my olderbrother and sister wereplaying chess, and then Iwent to my mom and asked

her to teach me as well. Myprogress as a chess playerwasn’t sudden, it camethrough lots of hard workover many years. The chess Ilearnt in the 80s, we nolonger play chess like that.The introduction of com-puters has changed the ap-proach, the way you studycompletely. Only the twoplayers in front of the boardhas not changed.”

Talking about two of themost important tourna-ments of his career, Anandsaid: “Winning the firstWorld Junior in 1987 was amatch I will never forget, thefeeling of overcoming theRussians gave me greatpride. And, winning theWorld Rapid Chess Champi-onship in 2017, at a time inmy career when I was con-templating retirement, thatwin came just at the righttime and gave me great sat-isfaction.” In the showAnand is joined by the nextbig hope for Indian chess,14-year-old Grand Master R.Praggnanandhaa,

Great initiative, buthard to implement: Lee

on saliva ban

Buttler says he wasdesperate to play the IPL

London, England batsman Jos Buttler feels Indian Premier

League (IPL) has helped in the growth of English cricketand that’s why for him, the T20 league is the second-besttournament after the World Cups.

“There’s no doubt that it (IPL) has helped English cricketgrow and the numbers of players who were involved inthe last few years,” Buttler said in the BBC Podcast ‘TheDoosra’.

“It was something I was desperate to play. For me it’sthe best tournament in the world, taking out the WorldCups,” he added. Buttler has been a part of two franchisesin the IPL. He played for Mumbai Indians in the 2016-17season and then moved to Rajasthan Royals in 2018.

According to the World Cup winner, the league is likethe fantasy cricket he aspired to play as kid, with top crick-eters playing against each other.

Shah Rukh came across as verypassionate about KKR, says Gower

New Delhi, Despite being a global

Icon and one of the mostrenowned faces of Indianmovies, Shah Rukh Khancomes across as an astutecricket fan and he meansserious business when itcomes to leading from thefront as a co-owner ofKolkata Knight Riders, feelsformer England captainDavid Gower.

In a freewheeling chaton ‘Q20’, an initiative byGloFans for fans to get upclose with sporting iconsthrough a unique and inter-active Q&A session, Gowerconceded that despite be-ing a man of such reputeand coming from a differentvocation, his love and pas-sion for the game is some-thing that is indeed worthpraising.

“I was in Kolkata last yearand was invited to thematch between KKR andKings XI Punjab. I was deliv-ering a speech and fromthere after the dinner wasescorted straight to theEden Gardens for the match.It was at fag end of thematch when I reached andwas led straight to ShahRukh’s den and was intro-duced to him. I had a formalintroduction with him andthat is when I realised thathe is an ardent fan of thegame and a very passionateowner,” Gower said.

“I got just got the im-

pression that he wanted,you know, his prime motivewas there to watch thegame. He wasn’t really atthat stage too fussed about,you know, sitting down hav-

ing a long conversation, butit was very nice to be intro-duced to him and see thatis what strikes me aboutpeople like that. I mean, theyhave their own reputations,huge as they are. They lovethis game of cricket. It’s ex-traordinary, not just in India,but you know, here in theUK, around the world, thesort of people who becomepassionate about the gameof cricket.

“The match was easilywon by KKR when I got tothe stadium and despitethat, SRK was still very muchfocused on the game. But forme, the interesting thing,apart from meeting him, ofcourse was that just to bethere at night, all game forthe first time. Eden Gardensis one of the greatest stadi-ums, obviously because ofits reputation and size, thenumber of people it can ac-commodate. So just to bethere was special, to meetSRK made it even more spe-cial.

“And without givingaway too many secrets, hedid say that if, Knight Ridershad made the playoffs, hemight just fly me back, comeand see how they got on.Sadly, that wasn’t to be, butI’m available. Next time,Knight Riders get to thesemi-finals, get to the play-offs of the IPL, I would loveto be there,” he concluded.

—IANS

Basketball legendPatrick Ewinghospitalised withCOVID-19

Washington, Basketball Hall of

Famer and GeorgetownUniversity coach, PatrickEwing has announcedthat he is being treated ata hospital after testingpositive for COVID-19.

“This virus is seriousand should not be takenlightly,” the 57-year-oldsaid, Xinhua reported.

“I want to encourageeveryone to stay safe andtake care of yourself andyour loved ones. Nowmore than ever, I want tothank the healthcareworkers and everyone onthe front lines. I’ll be fineand we will all getthrough this.”

A statement releasedby the university on Fri-day said Ewing is the onlyteam member who con-tracted the virus, and heis isolated at a local hos-pital. The legendary cen-ter forward, who won twoOlympic.

11 clubs disqualified from 2020season of Chinese football leagues

Beijing, The Chinese Football Association (CFA) an-

nounced on Saturday that 11 clubs have been dis-qualified from professional leagues due to wagearrears, while five clubs, including last season’sChinese Super League (CSL) side Tianjin Tianhai,have withdrawn from professional football.

The 11 clubs include four who competed in thesecond-tier last year and seven from the third-di-vision, reports Xinhua news agency. “The clubs hadwage arrears and couldn’t resolve it, and thereforeare being disqualified from professional leagues,”noted the CFA.

Five more clubs withdrew from their respec-tive leagues, all reportedly struggling with finan-cial difficulties, including Tianjin Tianhai which said“the club’s financial situation could not support itsoperation, and the club decided to dissolve” onMay 12. CFA president Chen Xuyuan has voiced hisconcerns on the financial sustainability of profes-sional clubs several times since his inaugurationlast year. “Our clubs can barely achieve sustainabledevelopment. The owners have invested a lot butearn little back, and this could be detrimental toChinese football.”

UEFA goes online, hosts eSportsversion of Euro 2020

Nyon (Switzerland), Euro 2020 may have been postponed to next

year but European football’s governing body UEFAwill be streaming the finals of the eSports versionof the tournament this weekend. The eEuro will bestaged virtually and streamed live Saturday andSunday.

UEFA says in its website that the tournamentfeatures all 55 football associations affiliated withit. “The format of the tournament is similar to UEFAEURO 2020, involving a qualification phase andculminating in the final tournament. It is playedexclusively on Konami’s eFootball Pro EvolutionSoccer 2020 (PES 20) on Playstation 4,” said UEFA.

The qualifying phase ran between March 9 and30. A draw placed the 55 teams into ten groups offive or six, with each country playing two matches(1-vs-1) against the other countries in the samegroup; points from both matches were added tothe group table. The ten group winners qualifieddirectly for the final tournament.

Bayern Munich will not makeCoutinho move permanent

Berlin, Brazilian international Philippe Coutinho will

leave FC Bayern this summer after the Bundesligagiants chose not to activate the buyout clause forthe Barcelona loanee.

The 27-year-old joined the Bavarians on loanin 2019 with an option to buy as the ‘trequartista’failed to impose himself at Camp Nou after theBlaugrana splashed out 160 million euros (about$174.4 million) in 2018, reports Xinhua newsagency. Bayern Munich chairman Karl-HeinzRummenigge has disclosed that the Star of theSouth would not make the move permanent as thebuyout clause was invalid.

“The clause has expired, so we didn’t activateit. We are preparing for the next season, so we willsee whether he can help us,” he added. —IANS

Hertha thrash Union 4-0 inBundesliga’s Berlin derby

Berlin, Hertha Berlin scored two quick goals after half

time and snatched all three points against localrivals Union Berlin with a 4-0 win in the curtainraiser of the 27th round of the Bundesliga.

On Friday, the hosts controlled possession fromkick-off, whereas newly promoted Union kept alltheir men behind the ball to lurk for counter at-tack opportuniti7th round of the Bundesliga.

On Friday, thes, with their rivals as Lukebakiorounded Gikiewicz to double the lead only 70 sec-onds after the opereports Xinhua news agency.

Hertha increased the pressure and had theirfirst chance with 18 minutes played when DodiLukebakio tested Union goalkeeper RafelGikiewicz in a one-on-one.

Gikiewicz remained in the thick of things as hehad to be on guard at the half hour mark asMatheus Cunha released a back-heel flick on tar-get. Union lac with their rivals as Lukebakiorounded Gikiewicz to double the lead only 70 sec-onds after the opeked penetration and focussedon their defence, but managed to unleash a dan-gerous free kick through Robert Andrich beforethe interval.

Used to taking bit of spit on fingersbefore I catch the ball: du Plessis

Mumbai, The coronavirus pandemic has seen the rise

of new safety guidelines and the ICCs Cricket Com-mittee has recommended banning the use of sa-liva to polish the match ball. While it is a given thatcricket in the post-COVID era will see players be-ing stopped from using saliva to shine the ball,South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis feels that it willbe a little difficult to get used to this change.

Speaking on Star Sport’s show Cricket Con-nected, du Plessis said: “I’m used to taking a bit ofspit on my fingers before I catch the ball at slip. Ifyou look at someone like Ricky Ponting, he has abig spit on his hands every time he tried to catch aball.” Interestingly, Australia pacer Pat Cummins ina recent interview for Kolkata Knight Riders hadsaid that if the situation is such that applying sa-liva or sweat to a ball can lead to spread ofcoronavirus, cricket wouldn’t be starting in the firstplace. And Shreyas echoed the sentiments.

Former Inter Milan coach GigiSimoni passes away

Milan, Former Inter Milan coach Gigi Simoni has died

at the age of 81, the club has announced.Simoni, winner of the UEFA Cup with a side

which included the Brazilian Ronaldo, had joinedInter before the start of the 1997-98 season at thesame time they signed Ronaldo from Barcelonaand led them to second place in Serie A behindJuventus and to the UEFA Cup final, where theybeat Lazio 3-0. “His way of living, both in life andfootball, was never over the top. His football re-flected that: it was humble, functional and capableof making the most of what he had on offer,” saidInter in a statement on Friday.

As a coach, in addition to the UEFA Cup withInter, he lifted the Anglo-Italian Cup withCremonese and won five Serie B titles (three withGenoa, two with Pisa).

In 1998, he received the Panchina d’Oro as thebest Italian coach.

“This is how we remember him: with his whitehair, in our dugout, while he enjoyed the magic ofRonaldo with a smile on his face, enveloped by thefans’ affection,” the statement further read.

the transmission of the virusthrough saliva, and unani-mously agreed to recom-mend that the use of salivato polish the ball be prohib-ited. “The committee alsonoted the medical advicethat it is highly unlikely thatthe virus can be transmittedthrough sweat and saw noneed to prohibit the use ofsweat to polish the ball woshine the ball.

Speakihilst recommend-ing that enhanced hygienemeasures are implementedon and around the playingfield.”

Interestingly, Australiapacer Josh Hazlewood hasalso said that it is almost sec-ond nature to use saliva tokeep shine on the ball tohelp it to swing. “I’d like sa-liva to be used obviously butif that’s what they’ve put for-ward, I guess everyone isplaying the same game,” hetold Sydney’s Daily Tele-graph.

“Once it comes back toyou as a bowler, it’s secondnature to just give it a littletouch up if you see some-thing, and that’s going to behard to stop to be honest.And it’s a tough thing tomonitor for sure,” he added.

—IANS

Mumbai, With an eye on the

coronavirus pandemic, theInternational Cricket Coun-cils (ICC) Cricket Committeehas recommended banningthe use of saliva to polishthe match ball. While allformer and current playersbelieve that it important toensure safety at this time,they also believe that it willbe slightly difficult to keepoff the natural habit of usingspit to shine the ball.

Speaking on Star Sports’show Cricket Connected,Brett Lee said: “When youhave done something yourwhole life from 8,9, 10 yearsof age where you lick yourfingers and you put on theball, it’s very hard to changethat overnight too. So, I thinkto shine the ball. Speakoshine the ball.

Speakino shine the ball.Speakigs. It’s a great ini-

tiative, it’s going to be veryhard to implement I think,because cricketers havedone this for their wholelife.” The ICC in its statementsaid: “The ICC Cricket Com-mittee heard from the Chairof the ICC Medical AdvisoryCommittee Dr Petero shinethe ball. Speaki Harcourt re-garding the elevated risk of

AHMEDABAD SUNDAY 24/05/2020

Ahmedabad, Page 7

Business Brief

Business 7Facebook employees to face paycut if they move to cheaper areas

San Francisco, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has laid out a detailed

remote-working plan to make half of his 50,000-strongworkforce work from home by 2030, and employees whomove to cheaper areas will face pay cut as salaries are basedon cost of living in each location.

In a virtual town hall meeting with his employees,Zuckerberg said that Facebook employees who choose torelocate from the Silicon Valley may see a change in theirsalaries. “That means if you live in a location where the costof living is dramatically lower, or the cost of labor is lower,then salaries do tend to be somewhat lower in those places,”said Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg told staff on Thursday that theywould need to move back to their homes by January 1, ortell the company where they are choosing to live insteadso Facebook can adjust salaries, which he said was neces-sary for tax and accounting purposes, reports NBC News.“We’ll adjust salary to your location at that point. There’ll besevere ramifications for people who are not honest aboutthis,” he added.

According to him, about half of Facebook employeeswould work from home five to 10 years from now.

“We are going to be the most forward-leaning companyon remote work at our scale, with a thoughtful and respon-sible plan for how to do this. We’re going to do it in a mea-sured way over time,” said Zuckerberg.

As of 2018, the median employee compensation atFacebook was more than $240,000 a year.

According to Market Watch, the median home price inMenlo Park, California, where Facebook has its headquar-ters, is $2.4 million, while the median home price in the widerBay Area was $928,000 last year. Nearly 60 per cent saidthey’d prefer to move to a smaller city or town.

New Delhi, The current tariffs in the

Indian solar sector, hoveringat Rs 2.50-2.87 per kWh,have stabilised at rates 20 to30 per cent below the costof existing thermal power inIndia, and up to half theprice of new coal-firedpower, a new study said onFriday. It concludes that thelucrative prices provideenormous opportunities toinvest in clean, zero emis-sions solar industry.

The study undertakenby the Institute for EnergyEconomics and FinancialAnalysis (IEEFA) and JMKResearch & Analytics com-pared domestic tariffs andthe conditions enablingproject returns, with the re-sults juxtaposed against so-lar developer expectations.

Their findings are pub-lished in the report — De-velopers and Global Inves-tors Snap Up India’s SolarPower Tenders - Decoding

India’s solar tariff stabilises,lower than thermal power

Tariffs vs. Returns for SolarProjects in India.

Co-author Vibhuti Garg,IEEFA energy economist,told IANS that their model-ling found that as per thecurrent market conditions,tariffs below Rs 2.50/kWhare financially not viable inthe Indian solar sector.

“Developers have al-ready reduced their returnexpectations from 14 to 12per cent, with tariffs beingachieved as low as Rs 2.5/kWh,” said Garg. “While thisrate is very competitivecompared to thermal planttariffs, and lucrative forpower distribution compa-nies entering long-termpower purchase agree-ments, this is a floor for de-velopers if they want tomake money.”

The authors found SolarEnergy Corporation of India(SECI) and NTPC also playeda key role in building inter-national investor interest.

Contractual certainty is inplace with counter partyand payment risk assurancefrom these Central govern-ment agencies.

Co-author Jyoti Gulia ofthe JMK Research said con-ditions in India are very dif-ferent to other energy mar-kets. “We found a number ofcompeting concerns in ouranalysis,” said Gulia.

“Interest rates, modulecosts, and capacityutilisation factors in particu-lar have a major impact onsolar tariffs and project re-turns. “The cost of financingis a big element in determin-ing tariffs and returns. Sig-nificantly higher interestrates in India compared toother leading renewableenergy countries are one ofthe reasons for higher do-mestic tariffs. The zero in-dexation for the 25 year pe-riod is also a key value forIndia that is not explicit inthe year one tariff.

“The landed cost of im-ported modules at a time ofcurrency devaluation is alsoadversely affecting tariffs,however this might be com-pensated with the fallingmodule prices. “Finally, ca-pacity utilisation factors(CUF) differ across states inIndia, given significantly dif-ferent solar resource quali-ties. Any drop in utilisationrates has a significant im-pact on project returns. Asper our report findings, athree per cent drop in theCUF results in over sevenper cent fall in equity re-turns.”

Garg said developersmust be mindful of all theparameters impacting tariffswhen bidding.

“To earn reasonable re-turns on project invest-ments, it is crucial for projectdevelopers to factor in therisks and rightfully estimatethe costs of every compo-nent,” said Garg. —IANS

New Delhi,The Indian Railways

which converted 5,231coaches into isolation wardsfor COVID-19 patients hasnow decided to take back 60per cent of such coaches tobe utilised in the ShramikSpecial trains for the trans-portation of the strandedmigrant workers.

The Railway Board wroteto all zonal railways on May21 regarding this after thedemands for the ShramikSpecial trains shot up in thelast one week. The nationaltransporter is now operat-ing over 200 Shramik Spe-cial trains everyday.

The railways initially de-cided to convert 5,000coaches for over 80,000 pa-tients and then it also de-cided to convert 20,000coaches for over 3.16 lakhCOVID patients.

A railway official said5,231 non-AC coaches wereconverted into isolationwards for corona patientssince these coaches werestanding idle for long and in

Railways to use 60% of isolationcoaches in Shramik Special trains

view of the low demandfrom the state governmentsfor the train coach isolationwards. However, these isola-tion coaches, before beingput into service in theShramik Special trains, firstneed to be restored as nor-mal non-AC compartments,the railway officials saidadding that thereconfiguration would takeabout a week’s time as manychanges are required to re-store them to the originalshape.

The conversion exerciseinvolves many alterationsfor equipping the coachwith a bathroom and otherfacilities. Now it has to beredone to make it a normalcoach with toilets and cur-tains have to be removed.

As per the latest direc-tive, about 3,000 isolationcoaches have to be recon-verted into normal coachesto cater to the increased de-mand for more non-ACtrains while the rest will beused as isolation coaches forCOVID patients.

The decision comes twodays after the railways de-cided to run 200 specialtrains on timetable basisacross the country fromJune 1.

The railways started torun the Shramik Specialtrains from May 1. And tilldate, the national trans-porter has operated 2,317Shramik Special trains andferried over 31 lakh peopleto their native places acrossthe country.

The public transporter islaunching 100 pairs ofpopular trains like Duranto,Jan Shatabdi, Purushottam,Lucknow Mail, Vaishali Ex-press and Samprak KrantiExpress to facilitate move-ment of stranded passen-gers from June 1. The rail-ways has also started to run15 pairs of special air condi-tioned trains from May 12.The railways has faced flakfrom the opposition partiesas well as from the migrantworkers, who complainedthat the ticket price was outof their reach. Thousands of

migrant workers have goneback to their native placeson foot or bicycle, tricyclecarrying their children, par-ents in their shoulders.

The railways, which wasearlier only taking onlinebookings for the 15 pairs ofthe Special AC trains and200 special trains hasstarted to take bookingsfrom the PRS counters, postoffices, Yatri Ticket SuvidhaKendra (YTSK) andauthorised agents of IRCTCfrom May 22. A senior rail-way ministry official saidthat the opening of all thesebooking facilities onceagain will mark an impor-tant step in the graded res-toration of passenger rail-way services and makingthe task of ticket bookingeasy for people from allparts of India in reservedtrains.

The official said that run-ning of Shramik Specialtrains will continue to behandled by the state gov-ernments as per the existingprotocols.

Nine companies in BSE 500 where promoterstake went north see boost in stock price

New Delhi, What is the correlation

between promoters increas-ing their

stakeholding in compa-nies and the consequentimpact on the company’sshare price?

Usually, an increase inpromoter stake is seen as asign of confidence in thecompany by the promotergroup and is sometimesused as a tactic to give con-fidence to the markets thatthe promoters see value inthe company when theprice is depressed. Ninecompanies in the BSE 500saw an increase in promoterholding during the marchquarter compared to theDecember quarter of 2019.These companies also sawan increase in the shareprice between Decemberand May. According to a re-port by LKP Securities,Aurobindo Pharma, JBChemicals, Deepak Nitrite,Vaibhav Global, Mindtree,Tata Consumer, Sun Pharma,

Deepak Fertilisers and BajajElectricals are among thenine companies where thepromoters stake increasedbetween December andMarch and the stock priceincreased between Decem-ber 31-May 20. AurobindoPharma was up by 55 percent, JB Chemicals up by 52per cent and Deepak Nitritewere among the top threegainers although the pro-moter stake only increasedmarginally by 0.14 per cent,0.23 per cent and 0.05 percent respectively. There isalso a category of 12 com-panies where the promoterstake increased during the

quarter and the stock pricedecreased during the lastfive months. According toLKP Securities, NCC wasdown 61 per cent, HFCL wasdown 48 per cent, GHCL wasdown 47 per cent, JagranPrakashan was down 41 percent, Tata Power was alsodown by 41 per cent, GodrejIndustries down 41 per cent,Tata Steel down by 40 percent, Just Dial down by 38per cent, Godrej Agrovetdown by 31 per cent andGMR Infra, Chambal

Fertilisers and Dishmancarbogen down by 18 percent, 11 per cent and 10 percent respectively.

In addition, in the BSE500 universe there are 11companies where the pro-moter stake went down andso did the stock price.

Unlike the previous cat-egories, there is a steep cutin the promoter stake in thiscategory. The price cuts alsosteep From December 31 toMay 20. The promoter stakein Future Retail was downfrom 47 per cent in Decem-ber 2019 quarter to 40.3 percent in the March quarter by6.7 per cent. The stock pricewas down by a substantial79 per cent from Rs 342 onDecember 31 to Rs 71 onMay 20.

American billionaires richer by$434 billion during the pandemic

New York, As millions of US citizens lost their jobs in the Covid-

19 pandemic, nations billionaires saw their net worth jump$434 billion in the first two months of pandemic, led byAmazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos ($34.6 billion) andFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($25 billion).

The top five US billionaires - Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, MarkZuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Oracle’s Larry Ellison - sawtheir wealth grow by a total of $75.5 billion, or 19 per cent.

“America’s billionaires bound far ahead financially evenas the rest of America was locked down during the firsttwo months of the coronavirus pandemic,” according tothe report by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) and the In-stitute for Policy Studies – Programme on Inequality (IPS).

“The surge in billionaire wealth during a global pan-demic underscores the grotesque nature of unequal sac-rifice,” said Chuck Collins, director of the IPS Program onInequality and co-author of the ‘Billionaire Bonanza 2020’report.

“While millions risk their lives and livelihoods as firstresponders and front line workers, these billionaires ben-efit from an economy and tax system that is wired to fun-nel wealth to the top,” Collins added.

Between March 18 and May 19, the total net worth ofthe 600-plus US billionaires jumped by $434 billion or 15per cent, based on the group’s analysis of Forbes data.

During that same approximate period, more than 38million working Americans lost their jobs, nearly 1.5 mil-lion Americans fell ill with the virus and almost 90,000 diedfrom it.

Covid-19 claims 3 lives of Cadilapharma Ahmedabad

Gandhinagar,The global pandemic Coronavirus has claimed

three lives of the employees of Cadila pharmaceuti-cals situated at Dholka in Ahmedabad. According tosources, around four dozens of the company's em-ployees are infected with the virus.

Cadila pharmaceutical company Ahmedabad hasbeen hugely affected by the Corona virus, as around40 to 50 of its employees have been tested positivefor the virus infection, sources said. During the pastcouple of days, three of its employees have suc-cumbed to the dreaded virus.

"We are terribly saddened by losing three of ourcolleagues. We are in touch with their families for ex-tending all the necessary support and help," saidspokesperson of Cadila pharma.

"We also take this opportunity to reiterate ourcommitment to the safety and wellbeing of our em-ployees. We are in constant touch with all our employ-ees who are in hospital or in quarantine," the spokes-man added.

Looking at the spread of the outbreak, the com-pany set up its own COVID-19 quarantine facility atits manufacturing unit at Dholka, where it gave theoption of quarantine facilities to its employees orchoose to get quarantined at their homes. Till Friday,9,724 persons have tested positive for theCoronavirus in Ahmedabad, the union governmenthas declared it a hotspot. The city also saw losing 645lives to the global pandemic.

Transporters say #NoTruckForMe tobecome ‘self reliant’

New Delhi, The All India Transporters Welfare Association

(AITWA), a body representing over 9 million roadtransport service providers of India has put out anadvisory for its members not to buy any new trucksfor the entire financial year 2020-21.

In a letter addressed to the members of the roadtransport fraternity, the transporters body said: “As oursector is going through financial turmoil during theongoing pandemic, we are constrained to adopt mea-sures to safeguard our businesses and trade in gen-eral.”

AITWA rued the lack of stimulus and decided tobecome self reliant. “Till now there is no stimulus fromthe Government of India to support our industry. Weneed to be self-reliant as suggested by our Prime Min-ister,” AITWA wrote in the letter.

AITWA has given an advisory to its members ofthe road transport sector is to consciously decide notto purchase any new trucks atleast for full year of 20-21. This will help in utilizing the trucks which are al-ready on the roads, mostly owned by single truckowners.

“We strongly feel for our trade to survive, the freshsupply of trucks needs to be stalled. Unless we helpourselves, we cant expect anyone to help us. Ourmantra for self reliance will be #NoTruckForMe,”AITWA said.

US stocks end mixed amidcoronavirus uncertainty

New York, US stocks closed mixed on Friday as investors

grappled with uncertainties over the COVID-19 pan-demic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased8.96 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 24,465.16. The S&P 500rose 6.94 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 2,955.45. TheNasdaq Composite Index increased 39.71 points, or0.43 per cent, to 9,324.59, Xinhua reported.

Investors continued to digest some key economicdata. US initial jobless claims came in at 2.438 millionin the week ending May 16, the Department of Laborreported on Thursday. Over the past nine weeks, morethan 38 million Americans have filed unemploymentinsurance claims, as the economy continues to reelfrom the COVID-19 pandemic.

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell saidThursday that the US economy is facing an unprec-edented level of uncertainty as a result of thecoronavirus outbreak.

“We are now experiencing a whole new level ofuncertainty, as questions only the virus can answercomplicate the outlook,” Powell said at a virtual Fedevent. The US central bank chief said while the bur-den is widespread, “those taking the brunt of the fall-out are those least able to bear it”.

Franklin Templeton for recoveryagainst Essel after default

New Delhi, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund is evaluating

recovery proceedings against Essel Infraprojects Lim-ited (EIL) defaulted on a Rs 92 crore maturity obliga-tion of non convertible debentures (NCD).

The NCDs are backed by a pledge of listed sharesof Zee Entertainment, Dish Tv, unlisted shares of EILand personal guarantee of Subhash Chandra andcorporate guarantee.

On maturity date of May 22, the issuer was un-able to meet the obligation. “These NCDs are currentlyfairly valued at Rs 92 crore in our portfolio at 15 percent of maturity value after providing a 85 per centhaircut,” Franklin Templeton said.

The maturity value, including redemption pre-mium, was Rs 616 crore but it is only valued at mar-ket value of Rs 92 crore.

This does not have any impact on the NAV perunit of the schemes in comparison to the NAV of May21. “We have appointed a legal counsel and are ac-tively considering all necessary actions to maximizerecovery value. The schemes will continuously moni-tor the developments in EIL and take appropriatesteps in the best interests of unitholders,” the fundsaid. There are four schemes with exposure to thisEssel Infra debt namely, Dynamic Accrual, Credit Risk,Short Term Income Plan and Low Duration.

Essel group which had around Rs 7000 crore tomutual funds has earlier sought a ime extension forrepayment of loans by selling its group assets andequity in Zee Entertainment. —IANS

Consumer spend on videogames surges in April in US

San Francisco, Consumer spending in

US on video gamesllion andmaking a new rec surgedfurther in April, touching$1.5 billion alliollion andmaking a new recn andmaking a new recnd makinga new record for the monthas people stayed home.

Video games sales rose73 per cent overall fromApril last year, according tomarket research firm TheNPD Group.

Hardware sales were ledby Nintendo Switch again.

“The year-to-date salesof the Switch are the high-est of any platform in US his-tory, topping the run of theNintendo Wii in January-April 200llion anllion andmaking a new recd makinga new rec9,” saillillion andmaking a new recon andmaking a new recd gamesindustry analyst MatPiscatella.

Games like Call of Duty:Modern Warfare topped bythe debut of Final FantasyVII: Remake which became

third best overall this year.In the January-March

quarter, the overall totalspending on video gamingreached a record $10.86 bil-lion.

The first quarter sawrecord sales driven by digi-tal content spend acrossconsolllion allion and mak-ing a new recnd making anew rece, mobile and PCgaming platforms, accord-ing to The NPD Group.

Nintendo Switch de-vices had an especially goodsales quarter, helping pushhardware sales up 2 per centover a year ago to $773 mil-lion.

Overall total industryconsumer spending onvideo gaming saw an in-crease of 9 per cent, com-pared to tllion and makinga new reche same time pe-riod last year.

“Video Games havebrought comfort and con-nection to millions duringthis challenging time,” saidPiscatella.

—IANS

10 Karnataka specialtrains ferry 13,233

migrants homenear Bengaluru to Basti inUP at 7.30 p.m. with 1,484passengers.

The seventh special trainleft from Hosur in TamilNadu to Khurda Road inOdisha at 8:35 p.m. with1,504 migrants.

Friday’s eighth specialtrain departed fromBengaluru at 8.50 p.m. toBarkakhana with 1,519 mi-grants. The ninth specialtrain left from BengaluruCantonment to Malda Townin West Bengal at 9.10 p.m.with 1,600 migrants.

The 10th special traindeparted from KSRBengaluru at 10.59 p.m. with947 migrants to Gwalior inMadhya Pradesh.

Hitherto, the railwayzone has run 128 Shramikspecials to ferry more than1.8 lakh migrants.

The special trains arebeing run following theMinistry of Home Affairs’permission for the move-ment of stranded migrantlabourers, workers, students,tourists and others. —IANS

Bengaluru, The South Western Rail-

way (SWR) zone has run 10Shramik special trains totransport 13,233 migrantsback home to five states, incentral, north and east India,an official said on Friday.

“First Shramik specialtrain from SWR left fromHubballi to Lucknow at12.10 p.m. with 1,636 pas-sengers,” said a SWR spokes-person. Friday’s second spe-cial train departed fromBellary at 12.25 p.m. toDhanbad with 1,556 mi-grants. Third Shramik specialtrain left from BengaluruCantonment with 1,538 pas-sengers at 3.15 p.m. toBarauni in Bihar.

The fourth special traindeparted from KSRBengaluru station at 4.40p.m. with 1,500 migrants toAzamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.Friday’s fifth special train leftBengaluru Cantonment at 7p.m. with 1,549 migrants toSaharsa. Similarly, the sixthspecial train departed fromChikka Bannavara station

AHMEDABAD SUNDAY 24/05/2020

SYMPHONY LIMITEDCIN - L32201GJ1988PLC010331

Regd. Off. : Symphony House, 3rd Floor, FP12-TP50, Bodakdev, Off S.G. Highway, Ahmedabad –380 059, Gujarat Tel: +91-79-66211111, Website: www.symphonylimited.com

E-mail ID – investors@symphonylimited.comNOTICE FOR LOSS OF SHARE CERTIFICATE(S)

Notice is hereby given that following share certificate(s) of Rs. 10/- each of the Company havebeen reported lost/stolen/misplaced and the member(s)/ their Claimant(s)/legal heir(s)/havelodged claims to get their duplicate share certificate(s) of Rs.2/- each/ from Company /IEPFAuthority:

For, SYMPHONY LIMITEDSd/-

Mayur BarvadiyaCompany Secretary

Date : May 23, 2020Place : Ahmedabad

Any person who has claim in respect of the aforesaid share certificate(s) should lodge his/herclaim to the Company at its registered office within 10 days from date of publication of thisnotice, failing to which the Company will proceed to issue duplicate share certificate(s) / willreturn their undelivered share certificate(s) of Rs. 2/- each also note that claim will be processedonly if the documents are found in order and Company is satisfied with the same.

Further following share certificate of Rs. 2/- each of the Company have been reported lost /stolen / misplaced and the member(s) / legal heir(s) have requested the Company for issuanceof duplicate share certificate in lieu of said original share certificate(s) / process claim of IEPF.

No. ofShares

Old Distinction Nos. From To

Old ShareCertificate No.

FolioNo.Name of Member(s)

Chinnamma Kuriakose Jt. Mundackal Kuriakose

No. ofShares

Distinction Nos. From To

ShareCertificate No.

FolioNo.Name of Member(s)

Mamta Arora (Mamta Singh) 004781 113865 69250351 69250850 500 Alkesh Desai 006546 999 33901926 33902425 500

000303 8163 4783201 4783300 100

DisclaimerA d v e r s t i s e m e n tappeared in this NewsPaper have not beenverified factually and“WESTERNTIMES” doesnot stand responsible forthe sales proposition.

WhatsApp beta adds QR codes for easy contact sharingSan Francisco,

WhatsApp is workingon a new feature that willmake it easier for users toadd contacts to their listby scanning a QR code.

According to a reportin WABetaInfo, a fanwebsite that tracksWhatsApp beta, QR Codescanning was first intro-duced in the iOS beta andnow has made its way tothe Android beta of the

app. The feature is avail-able in the 2.20.171 ver-sion of the app.

Android beta users willbe able to find their owncustom QR codes in theSettings section of theapp on the top right sidein front of the name.

Users who have en-abled the feature will beable to display their ownQR code to others andscan codes of other

WhatsApp accounts.The QR codes can be

revoked if users decidenot share their numberwith someone else any-more, the beta notes con-firm.

As per the report, theexact date it will be madeavailable to the publichasn’t been confirmed,but it could be in the nextfew days.

—IANS

News in a Nutshell

Ahmedabad Page 8 CMYK

CMYK

8 National

Buses parked at Manglapuri Bus Terminal and passengers waiting for their respected route bus, during nation-wide lockdown-4.0, in New Delhi UNI.

A Hindu woman dry strands of vermicelli, a specialty eaten during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan,to dry at a factory during a nationwide lockdown to slow the spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), inPrayagraj UNI.

Farmers plucking watermelons in a field in Phallan Mandal area on Jammu outskirts. The fruit growers havealleged less demand of watermelons due to Corona Virus UNI.

BJP’s Swamy to drag UN official tocourt over Muslim ‘comment’ row

New Delhi, What started off as a

war of words is about to re-sult in a legal suit. BJP MPSubramanian Swamy hasannounced that he will beprosecuting United NationsUnder Secretary GeneralAdama Dieng for defama-tion after Dieng accusedSwamy of an anti-Muslimhate speech. Swamy hasalso rubbished the allega-tions, questioning the cred-ibility of Dieng’s source ofinformation.

The BJP lawmakertweeted: “I am honoured &encouraged to receive fromthe BJP National PresidentJ.P. Nadda and office bearerstheir best wishes for successon my endeavour to pros-ecute for defamation theUnited Nations Under Sec-retary General Mr. AdamaDieng. I am also thankful tothe MEA for facilitation.”

If this tweet is anythingto go by, Swamy has thebacking of both his partyand the government in hislegal offensive against theUN Official.

IANS was the first to re-port about this controversy.Earlier, Under-Secretary-General Adama Dieng saidon Monday that alleged

statements attributed toSwamy like “all people arenot equal”, and that “Muslimsare not in an ‘equal category’as others” were extremelyalarming. Dieng added:“Hate speech and thedehumanisation of others

go against international hu-man rights norms and val-ues.” However, the BJP law-maker, while speaking toIANS then, demanded toknow “the source or me-dium” of the alleged state-ment attributed to Swamy

by Dieng. Swamy asked, “Oris it cut and paste fakenews?” Later, Swamy re-leased a second salvo atDieng saying, “That is cutand paste production. Getthe unedited 2-hour inter-view tape which they aredeclining to give me,” aftera short version of the link tohis interview where hemade the purported com-ments was provided as“source” of the UN official’scharge against him.

But this time around,Swamy seems determinedto take Dieng head on, in alegal face-off.

Dieng claimed that theexpedited citizenship givento non-Muslim minoritiesshould be extended to Mus-lims in order to be non-dis-criminatory. Excluding Mus-lims “is contrary to India’sobligations under interna-tional human rights law, inparticular on non-discrimi-nation,” he said, without ex-plaining how a measure toexplicitly protect religiousminorities from Pakistanand Afghanistan, which areofficially Islamic countries,and Muslim-majorityBangladesh, would apply tothe members of the major-ity religion there.

—IANS

With highest spike of 6,654 cases in24 hrs, India crosses 1.25 lakh-mark

New Delhi, In just 24 hours flat India added 6,654 positive cases

on Saturday. It is 566 cases more in a single day than it re-ported on Friday. With this the total tally went across the1.25 lakh-mark. Before the first week of the fourth phase ofthe nationwide lockdown ended, cases continuallybreached the highest record everyday in the last four days.

With a total of 1,25,100 cases, data from the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare, there now 69,597 active, 51,783who recovered while 3,720 people have lost their lives tothe deadly virus, including 137 in the last one day, which is11 less deaths than 24 hours ago.

The worst hit state continued to be Maharashtra with44,582 active cases, 1,517 people died while 12,583 peoplehave recovered. In the past 24 hours 2,940 cases have comeup while 821 new recoveries have occurred.

Tamil Nadu is on the second number with 14,753 casesand 98 deaths while Gujarat is third with 13,268 cases and802 deaths. Delhi has so far reported 12,319 cases with208 fatalities and 5,897 people recovering from the disease.

States with more than 5,000 cases each are Rajasthan(6,494), Madhya Pradesh (6,170) and Uttar Pradesh (5,735).

Other major states and Union Territories that have re-ported more than 1,000 cases each are West Bengal (3,332),Odisha (1,189) and Haryana (1,067).

‘Back to Business’ safety guidelinesfor salons and barber shops

By IANSlifeNew Delhi,

While there has been anease on restrictions duringLockdown 4.0, salons andparlours continue to be oneof the few businesses whichremain closed. According toa survey by Redquanta, sa-lon visits are among the top3 activities that peoplemissed the most, with 56percent saying they missedgoing to salons.

L’Oreal India has devel-oped a support guide forIndian salons outlining hy-giene and operating guide-lines for when businessesare able to reopen. The cos-metic giant will also helphairdressers exceed theusual salon safety and sani-tary measures, to keepthemselves and clients safeby supplying masks, handsanitizers alongside the newoperating guidelines. Withmore than 110 years of pro-fessional beauty heritage,L’Oréal is committed toserving as a partner and ad-vocate for the industry.

This ‘Back to Business’hygiene and safety guide,will be distributed to its

45,000-strong salon net-work and over 170,000 hairdressers, ahead of lockdownrestrictions being lifted. Thesupport guide includespost-lockdown advicearound ensuring the safetyand wellbeing of customersand employees; safer oper-ating procedures; includinghand cleansing, tool disin-fecting, salon routing, pre-booking, reorganisation ofsalons to space out appoint-ments and electronic pay-ment, all to ensure the socialdistancing requirements.These guidelines are nowavailable to all hairdressersor salon partners of L’OrealProfessional Product brands- L’Oreal Professionnel, Ma-trix, Kérastase and Cheryl’sCosmeceuticals.

The L’Oreal ProfessionalProducts Division has beenactive to keep hairdressersup-to-date on their skillsand visible to their clients byproviding extensive onlinetraining to help upskill themwhile their businesses aretemporarily closed. Over4,250 e-training sessionshave been conducted for50,000 hairdressers andbeauticians in this period. It

also announced a credit ex-tension for all its distributorsand direct salon partners for

the period of the lockdown.Amit Jain, MD, L’Oreal In-

dia said: “The Hairdressingindustry is a key source ofemployment and it is impor-tant hair salons get back tobusiness safely, oncelockdown restrictions arelifted. The past few monthshave provided us with evengreater awareness of the im-portance of our hairdressersand the demand from con-sumers for hair salons re-opening is high.”

D.P. Sharma, Director,Professional Products Divi-sion, said, “L’Oreal’s Profes-sional Products Division inIndia has over 170,000 hairdresser partners, operatingin over 45,000 salons. We arestrongly mobilised to helpour salon partners navigatethese challenging times,with the primary objectiveof ensuring the safety ofconsumers, our partner sa-lons and their employees.We are committed, nowmore than ever, to our roleas partner and advocate ofthe hair dressing industryand will continue to worktirelessly to lessen the im-pact of this crisis on them.”

—IANS

DMK MP RSBharathi arrestedfor derogatoryremarks againstjudges, Dalits

Chennai, Rajya Sabha MP and

DMK Organising Secre-tary R.S.Bharathi was ar-rested on Saturday morn-ing from his residencehere, on charges of mak-ing derogatory state-ments against the judgesand Dalits.

His speech on Febru-ary 15 at a party officeagainst judges and Dalitswas considered insultingand a police complaintwas lodged by the leaderof Athi Tamilar MakkalKatchi Kalyanasundaramunder the ScheduledCastes and ScheduledTribes (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act. Speakingto reporters Bharathi saidhis speech.

Sneakerheads anticipatea return to normal soon

DMK will not be cowed down byfalses cases: Stalin

Chennai, The Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) Presi-

dent M.K.Stalin on Saturday condemned the arrestof the party’s Organising Secretary and MPR.S.Bharathi, saying that DMK will not be coweddown by false cases.

In a statement issued here, Stalin said Bharathihad given an explanation to his speech made at aparty office and also expressed regret.

Stalin said there are two cases in the Madras HighCourt to quash the First Information Report (FIR) reg-istered pertaining to the case.

Without taking that into account the AIADMKgovernment led by Chief Minister K.Palaniswami hasarrested Bharathi which is nothing but shameful, theDMP President said. The Leader of the Opposition inthe Tamil Nadu Assembly Stalin said Bharathi hadcomplained against corruption in the governmentand hence his arrest was to divert the attention. —IANS

India’s K-Pop Contest goes onlinethis year

New Delhi,Cheering up all K-pop fans, Korean Cultural Cen-

tre India, the culural wing of the Embassy of the Re-public of Korea, has announced the virtual openingof this year’s K-Pop Contest, a pan-India talent huntfor the popular cultural genre.

“There is no doubt that K-Pop has reached stag-gering heights of popularity in India. The youngstersof India are also inclined towards the Korean lan-guage, K-Drama, and also Korean Cuisine. K-Pop hasbecome a phenomenon among the young genera-tion and they enjoy together by establishing fanclubs in major cities of India and play a significantrole in K-Pop contest as well,” Mr Kim Kum-pyoung,Director, KCC India told IANSlife over email.

Last year, the annual contest that began in 2012,saw the highest number of participants - 3,475 par-ticipants in 1,952 teams. The competition is for In-dian nationals who love K-Pop, Korean pop music, agenre that has boomed in popularity worldwide. Oneof the most notable K-Pop songs in India has been‘Gangnam Style’. Recently, there were several paid K-Pop concerts held in India for the first time, whichopened the opportunity of having concerts of bigK-Pop stars.

The Centre is conducting the contest’s first andsecond round online with single person entry only.Participants can post their performance video onYouTube, and register at www.kpopindia.com June15 for Round 1.

According to the organisers, the regional roundwill be held online with performance videos of theselected winners from the first round in these 18 cit-ies of Ahmedabad, Aizawl, Bengaluru, Bhopal,Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Guntur, Hyderabad,Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai,Nagpur, Patna, and Pune. “This year as a precaution-ary measure for the COVID-19 pandemic, we will holdregional round online with 18 cities, in cooperationwith the fan clubs. Although it is sad that we cannotallow group entry this time, but only.

A video campaign to promote bondingBy IANSlife

New Delhi, While the current situa-

tion has imposed social re-strictions, caused financialuncertainty, increased stressand anxiety, it has also pro-vided couples with extratime to spend together,helping them bond better.

Capturing the momentsof togetherness and com-panionship, W released ashot-at-home music videoshowcasing how thelockdown has broughtmany men and womencloser.

The overarching themeof the video is ‘W is M, M isW’, representing Men andWomen who are workingtogether, having fun to-gether, and empoweringeach other along the way.Conceptualized by OgilvyIndia, the video captureshow the lockdown hasblurred gender lines, as menand women have foundnew ways to bond togetherby partaking in the others’work and making it theirs.With the larger goal of sur-viving the unprecedentedcrisis, the video celebratesthe loving, caring, and un-

derstanding efforts fromboth men and women to-wards shared learning andgrowing love and mutualrespect.

The video resonateswith the idea of equal stakeand equal responsibilitieswhere both parties are step-

ping up to fulfil daily com-mitments together and en-abling each other.

“Today, despite all theoffice work at home, coupleshave found time and newways to bond together, trig-gering a transformationwhere men and women are

sharing and owning dailyresponsibilities equally. Bydonning each other’s hats,couples have blurred thegender lines, fosteringgreater understanding andmutual respect betweeneach other. The W is M andM is W is all about these en-dearing stories of compan-ionship. With W always reso-nating with the modernwomen and rooting for pro-gressive culture, we feel thecompanionship depicted inthe video is a celebration initself,” Anant Daga, Manag-ing Director, TCNS ClothingCo. Ltd. said.

Ritu Sharda, Chief Cre-ative Officer, Ogilvy India(North) said, “As life turnedupside down, and we foundourselves huddled togetherat home, we realised some-thing beautiful that MEN &WOMEN may be differentbut are somewhere like twosides of the same coin. Stay-ing in has made us realizethat our roles as homemak-ers were not sacrosanct andwhen situations demandedwe could step into eachother’s shoes effortlessly.This role reversal has madeus see each other in a newlight of respect.

Delhi: Unruly crowd robs street vendorof mangoes worth thousands

New Delhi, In a sickening act of inhumanity, a handful of passer-

byes in the national capital ruthlessly pounced upon unat-tended crates of mangoes belonging to a street vendor.

By-standers took advantage of the situation and looteda man who reportedly goes by the name of Chotte, of fruitsworth thousands of rupees after he left his cart unguarded.

The ghastly incident took place in Jagatpuri area innorthern part of Delhi in a broad-daylight and was caughton video. In the footage, the unruly crowd could be seenstopping their vehicles to sprint and get hold of the man-goes. People carried at least 4-5 mangoes with them, each.A man, clad in blue, was also seen calling out others to grabthem, while another took away a few in their helmet.

At a time when the COVID-19 lockdown has thrownstreet vendors and others out of business, such a prepos-terous act has splattered ink on humanity.

The social distancing norms went for a toss in the areaas people stood closed to each other without donning themasks or gloves. The ruckus and halting of vehicles at thejunction also caused a traffic jam in the area. The video ofthe incident

With highest spike of 6,654 cases in 24hrs, India crosses 1.25 lakh-mark

New Delhi, In just 24 hours flat India added 6,654 positive cases,

Health Ministry data showed on Saturday. It is 566 casesmore in a single day than it reported on Friday. With thisthe total tally went across the 1.25 lakh-mark. Before thefirst week of the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdownended, cases continually breached the highest record ev-eryday in the last four days.

With a total of 1,25,100 cases, data from the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare, there now 69,597 active, 51,783who recovered while 3,720 people have lost their lives tothe deadly virus, including 137 in the last one day, which is11 less deaths than 24 hours ago.

The worst hit state continued to be Maharashtra with44,582 active cases, 1,517 people died while 12,583 peoplehave recovered. In the past 24 hours 2,940 cases have comeup while 821 new recoveries have occurred.

Tamil Nadu is on the second number with 14,753 casesand 98 deaths while Gujarat is third with 13,268 cases and802 deaths.

Delhi has so far reported 12,319 cases with 208 fatali-ties and 5,897 people recovering from the disease.

adidas Yeezy 700 Alvah - anew silhouette the commu-nity had been waiting for, af-ter the brand’s websitecrashed because of hightraffic. “It took me aroundtwo hours of non-stop re-freshing on the site to finallyget my hands on it at 1:45a.m.” Adding, “It’s all I thinkabout, daydreaming all dayabout sneakers, waiting fordrops of sneakers, waiting tomeet fellow sneake anyother non-essential item themarket for them will also bebacrhe any other non-es-sential item the market forthem will also be bacadsand helping each other copsneakers and just having agood time, I have literallystopped buying anythingelse other than food andsneakers,” he said.

Talking about thesneakerhead community,Bhalla said that there aremany new faces now andthe growth is super fast. “Weare all excited for the future,our community is very uni-fied and everyone is on thesame page. The best partabout this is that we finallyhave someone to share oursneakers and sneaker talkswith and the joy of doingwhat we like together as acommunity.”

New Delhi,Delhi-based businessan

Aditya Bhalla, who is part ofIndia’s growingsneakerhead communityand is a proud owner of125+ pairs of sneakers col-lected over a few years, feelsthat fashion sales may havetaken the COVID-19 hit butis certain that these figureswill rise in no time.

“I feel the common manhas had his prioritieschanged and as they should,and I’m sure sales havetaken a huge hit, but the nuany other non-essentialitem the market for themwill also be bacmbers will beback up in no time. Thoughour sneaker community hasjust been waiting for every-thing to restart and we willbe ready to buy again assoon as shipping of non-es-sential items resumes. I’msure it will be normal withina few months,” Bhalla toldIANSlife.

In the last couple ofyears demand for theseproducts has grown, and asany other non-essentialitem the market for themwill also be back to normal,he said. At this time of finan-cial low and store closures,the sneaker enthusiast man-aged to get his hands on the

AHMEDABAD SUNDAY 24/05/2020