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12
P rime Minister Narendra Modi is to address the nation at 10 am on Tuesday to throw light on how the Government proposes to keep the country under lockdown and reopen the industry and business activities in the coun- try. A day after the Commerce Ministry proposed opening up most of the industries with safeguards, Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Government is seeking ways to resume construction of high- ways and arterial roads in dis- tricts least impacted by the coronavirus outbreak as it charts out a plan to revive Asia’s third-largest economy. Even as there is gradual rise in the numbers of cases affect- ed by coronavirus, the Central Government is considering easing some restrictions during the likely extended duration beyond April 14 and a revival plan for economy may also be on table. The Modi Government will run special train and bus services for agricultural labour and farm industry workers. Special package is being worked out for the labourers working during the lockdown period in the wake of Covid-19 threat, according to Government officials. Essential industrial sectors would also be opened for ensuring that the key econom- ic sectors are also kept running. PM Modi has directed all Ministers and officials above Joint Secretary rank to resume work from this week to work towards a post-lockdown eco- nomic revival. The Government has allowed inter-State movement of trucks and States like Odisha and Punjab have given per- mission to harvesting, irriga- tion, transport of seeds and agriculture products, agricul- ture machineries and cold stor- age. In some States, construc- tion of highways may also be exempted from the total shut- down. Districts which are away from the urban centres and where there have been zero Covid-19 cases may be exempted from the lockdown and construction activity of roads should be allowed as it is essential for any economy. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are also in discussions with various States to evaluate the situation on the ground. Some States and districts had sought permission to start road construction work where the density of population is low. They had also said the guide- lines of social distancing would be followed to commence the project. The view in the Government is it needs to move fast and introduce some fiscal measures that can assure money will still flow into the bank accounts of those affect- ed individuals and small busi- nesses and keep them afloat with cash flow happening even during lockdown on a daily basis, sources said. According to sources, lee- way would be given to unor- ganised sector that constitutes 65 to 70 per cent of country’s economy where workers have lost their wages and jobs dur- ing the ongoing lockdown. Relaxation will be accorded to small-and-medium enterpris- es too. A day ahead of the comple- tion of 21-day lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the coun- try saw the biggest single day spike in the number of positive cases with both Maharashtra and Delhi reporting more than 300 fresh cases on Monday. The total cases countrywide stood at 10,452 and the single day rise was 1,241 plus. This worrying signal emerged even as the Government on Monday said that containment measures have started showing results with at least 25 districts from 15 States not reporting any new case in the last 14 days. Mumbai became the first city to record more than 100 deaths, whereas Maharashtra’s total death count stood at 150 and total positive cases was recorded at 2,314. Delhi’s total count stood at 1,510 positive cases after the national Capital reported 356 fresh cases, 315 of them linked to Tablighi Jamaat. Talking to reporters at a routine presser, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in Union Health Ministry, said at the ground level containment measures have started yielding results. “At least 25 districts from 15 States have not reported any new case since the last 14 days. These are Gondia in Maharashtra, Rajnandgaon, Durg, Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, Davangiri, Kodagu, Tumkuru, Udupi in Karnataka, South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam in Kerala, West Imphal in Manipur, Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir and Aizawl West in Mizoram. T amil Nadu, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Puducherry on Monday decid- ed to extend the ongoing lock- down till April 30 to tackle the spread of the coronavirus. Odisha, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and West Bengal have already extended the lock- down even before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Centre’s stand on this issue on Tuesday. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the move is in accordance with the recommendations made by public health experts. In a statement, the State Government said they had suggested to the Centre that the lockdown be extended in order to avoid the further spread of the infection. Referring to the meeting of the Chief Ministers of 13 States with the PM on coronavirus, Palaniswami said leaders of several other States favoured extending the lockdown. The Puducherry Cabinet also approved the decision to extend the lockdown till the month end. The extension was in line with the decision of neighbouring Tamil Nadu to contain the spread of the infec- tion, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said. A fter three staffers, includ- ing a doctor, a nurse and a non-medical staff, of Max Hospital tested positive for Covid-19, the leading private hospital asked its 39 staff members, including doctors and nurses, to go on self-quar- antine. In a statement, Max Hospital at Saket claimed that there is “no chance” that these people have contracted the disease from the hospital. The number of coronavirus cases in Delhi on Monday stood at 1,510 with 24 deaths. The hospital authorities on Monday in a statement said, “So far, three hospital staffers have tested positive a doctor, a nurse and one non- medical staff. All of them are recovering.” Recently, two patients admitted for cardiac treatment at Max Hospital had tested pos- itive for Covid-19. “Thirty- nine healthcare workers, who were contact traced, have been quarantined within a separate and isolated wing at Max Hospital, Saket,” it said. All 39 individuals are asymptomatic and will be test- ed on the fifth day of exposure, which is April 14. “There are 154 employees deployed in shifts in the Covid ward of Max Hospital, Saket,” it said. “None of these employees has had any exposure to the virus. They are working in shifts and are staying on the hospital premises to reduce any risk of infection to their families and neighbours,” the statement reads. Meanwhile, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital also conducted Covid- 19 tests on all 115 healthcare workers who were quarantined two weeks back. “Out of 115, only three healthcare workers tested pos- itive and rest 112 was tested negative for disease,” the hos- pital said in a statement. Incidentally, as many as 114 health workers of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) were kept in quarantine fol- lowing two of its patients recently testing positive for Covid-19. S everal Union Ministers and senior officers from the rank of Joint Secretary and above returned to their offices on Monday following direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They will work with minimum support staff. All Ministers who resumed their offices donned home- made face masks. The presence of Ministers in their offices is aimed at sending a strong mes- sage that the Government was committed to restart the wheels of economy even during the lockdown. Officials said that all the Ministers and officers were screened with temperature guns before they were allowed to enter their respective offices. Their vehicles too were sani- tised at the gate. According to officials, the Ministries became fully oper- ational while following stan- dard operating procedures (SoPs) for maintaining social distancing in offices. The Ministers on Monday took stock of the situation under their Ministries and were preparing business continuity plan to minimise the econom- ic impact of the lockdown. E ven as Odisha is battling the coron- avirus crisis and going to remain under the second phase of lockdown till April 30, the State Government made a few exemptions on Monday. Addressing a Press meet, Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena said transportation of seeds, movement of tractor would be allowed during the sec- ond phase of lockdown. Vegetables would be procured directly from farmer producer organisations. All cold storages and godowns would be kept open. Jena said that in view of the harvest- ing of Rabi crop and the upcoming Kharif season, the Government has decided to exempt farming and the subsequent irri- gation of the farmlands in the second phase of lockdown. Movement of the equipments and vehicles like tractors would be allowed during this period. All shops relating to manure, sale and repair of agricultural equipments would also remain open. “All cooperative banks and LAMPSCS will remain open for the farmers for avail- ability of loans for the Kharif season. The programmes under MGNREGA, PMAY, Biju Pucca Ghar and Swachh Bharat will continue too,” he said. Fisheries and Animal Husbandry- related activities, food processing and packing units, veterinary services, marine fisheries and hatchery activities, chemi- cal testing, fertiliser testing and seed test- ing laboratories, plantation and nursery activities have been exempted from the lockdown rules, he added. In a relief for truckers and transporters, the roadside dhabas and restaurants would be allowed to open but only for takeaway and home-delivery purposes. No food can be consumed there Jena said home delivery of all kinds of products and courier services by platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Blue Dart, DTDC and BigBasket would also resume in the remaining lockdown period.. The exemptions made earlier by both the Central and State Governments dur- ing the lockdown would remain intact. Besides, the Government would also issue a special set of lockdown norms which would be implemented in the capital city Bhubaneswar during the second phase of lockdown, said Jena. A 32-year-old man under home quarantine for coronavirus allegedly com- mitted suicide by hanging in Jajpur district on Sunday night. Before his death, Suresh Sahoo of Deoda village had posted a video on the social media stating that some vil- lagers abused and assaulted him and refused to pay him money which they had bor- rowed from him. Sahoo had been home- quarantined after he returned from Chennai on March 18 to check spread of COVID-19. He was working in a hotel in Chennai. Sahoo hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his house at Deoda under the Dharmasala police station. Police seized his body and sent it to the District Headquarters. “After examining Suresh Sahoo’s video, we have detained ten villagers, whom the deceased named in the video,” said Dharmasala police station IIC Saroj Sahoo. A lready finding it tough to fight against the coron- avirus, the State is now faced with another challenge, heat wave. On Monday, 12 stations of the State recorded temperature above 40 degree Celsius. Capital Bhubaneswar and Titilagarh turned the hottest places with temperature of 41.5 degree each. They were fol- lowed by Balangir at 41.2 degree and Baripada at 41 degree. Chandbali and Angul were at 40.7 degree each, Talcher 40.5, Boudh 40.5, Malkangiri 40.2, Nayagarh and Paralakhemundi 40 degree each. Cuttack recorded maxi- mum temperature of 40.1 degree. Though nobody is sure whether the rise in temperature would help contain the COVID-19 spread, the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) feels the situation may compound the challenges in controlling the coronavirus. OSDMA Managing Director PK Jena had earlier written to the district Collectors urging them to put standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place for imple- menting the heat action plan. Officials feel the heat wave may not cause much harm as most of the people remain indoors. However, the Government is worried for the safety of the people engaged in the battle against the corona pandemic.

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Page 1: ,ˇ ˇ˜˚ˇ- =#˘& ˝ 0 ˜> ˝ *+ ,!’*&˚-./01 .2%2.% 3 .%/0 1 .4 ... · move fast and introduce some fiscal measures that can assure money will still flow into the bank accounts

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Prime Minister NarendraModi is to address the

nation at 10 am on Tuesday tothrow light on how theGovernment proposes to keepthe country under lockdownand reopen the industry andbusiness activities in the coun-try.

A day after the CommerceMinistry proposed opening upmost of the industries withsafeguards, Road and TransportMinister Nitin Gadkari said theGovernment is seeking ways toresume construction of high-ways and arterial roads in dis-tricts least impacted by thecoronavirus outbreak as itcharts out a plan to revive Asia’sthird-largest economy.

Even as there is gradual risein the numbers of cases affect-ed by coronavirus, the CentralGovernment is consideringeasing some restrictions duringthe likely extended durationbeyond April 14 and a revivalplan for economy may also beon table.

The Modi Governmentwill run special train and bus

services for agricultural labourand farm industry workers.Special package is beingworked out for the labourersworking during the lockdownperiod in the wake of Covid-19threat, according toGovernment officials.

Essential industrial sectorswould also be opened forensuring that the key econom-ic sectors are also kept running.PM Modi has directed allMinisters and officials aboveJoint Secretary rank to resumework from this week to work

towards a post-lockdown eco-nomic revival.

The Government hasallowed inter-State movementof trucks and States like Odishaand Punjab have given per-mission to harvesting, irriga-tion, transport of seeds and

agriculture products, agricul-ture machineries and cold stor-age.

In some States, construc-tion of highways may also beexempted from the total shut-down. Districts which are awayfrom the urban centres andwhere there have been zeroCovid-19 cases may beexempted from the lockdownand construction activity ofroads should be allowed as it isessential for any economy.

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways andthe National HighwaysAuthority of India (NHAI) arealso in discussions with variousStates to evaluate the situationon the ground.

Some States and districtshad sought permission to startroad construction work wherethe density of population is low.They had also said the guide-lines of social distancing wouldbe followed to commence theproject.

The view in theGovernment is it needs tomove fast and introduce somefiscal measures that can assuremoney will still flow into the

bank accounts of those affect-ed individuals and small busi-nesses and keep them afloatwith cash flow happening evenduring lockdown on a dailybasis, sources said.

According to sources, lee-way would be given to unor-ganised sector that constitutes65 to 70 per cent of country’seconomy where workers havelost their wages and jobs dur-ing the ongoing lockdown.Relaxation will be accorded tosmall-and-medium enterpris-es too.

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Aday ahead of the comple-tion of 21-day lockdown

imposed to curb the spread ofCovid-19 pandemic, the coun-try saw the biggest single dayspike in the number of positivecases with both Maharashtraand Delhi reporting more than300 fresh cases on Monday. Thetotal cases countrywide stoodat 10,452 and the single day risewas 1,241 plus.

This worrying signalemerged even as theGovernment on Monday saidthat containment measureshave started showing resultswith at least 25 districts from15 States not reporting any newcase in the last 14 days.

Mumbai became the firstcity to record more than 100deaths, whereas Maharashtra’stotal death count stood at 150and total positive cases wasrecorded at 2,314.

Delhi’s total count stood at1,510 positive cases after thenational Capital reported 356fresh cases, 315 of them linkedto Tablighi Jamaat.

Talking to reporters at aroutine presser, Lav Agarwal,Joint Secretary in Union HealthMinistry, said at the groundlevel containment measureshave started yielding results.

“At least 25 districts from15 States have not reported anynew case since the last 14 days.These are Gondia inMaharashtra, Rajnandgaon,Durg, Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh,Davangiri, Kodagu, Tumkuru,Udupi in Karnataka, SouthGoa, Wayanad and Kottayamin Kerala, West Imphal inManipur, Rajouri in Jammuand Kashmir and Aizawl Westin Mizoram.

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Tamil Nadu, ArunachalPradesh, Mizoram and

Puducherry on Monday decid-ed to extend the ongoing lock-down till April 30 to tackle thespread of the coronavirus.

Odisha, Punjab,Maharashtra, Karnataka,Telangana and West Bengalhave already extended the lock-down even before PrimeMinister Narendra Modiannounced the Centre’s standon this issue on Tuesday.

Tamil Nadu Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palaniswami saidthe move is in accordance withthe recommendations madeby public health experts. In a

statement, the StateGovernment said they hadsuggested to the Centre that thelockdown be extended in orderto avoid the further spread ofthe infection.

Referring to the meeting ofthe Chief Ministers of 13 Stateswith the PM on coronavirus,Palaniswami said leaders ofseveral other States favouredextending the lockdown.

The Puducherry Cabinetalso approved the decision toextend the lockdown till themonth end. The extension wasin line with the decision ofneighbouring Tamil Nadu tocontain the spread of the infec-tion, Chief Minister VNarayanasamy said.

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After three staffers, includ-ing a doctor, a nurse and a

non-medical staff, of MaxHospital tested positive forCovid-19, the leading privatehospital asked its 39 staffmembers, including doctorsand nurses, to go on self-quar-antine.

In a statement, MaxHospital at Saket claimed thatthere is “no chance” that thesepeople have contracted thedisease from the hospital. Thenumber of coronavirus cases inDelhi on Monday stood at1,510 with 24 deaths.

The hospital authoritieson Monday in a statementsaid, “So far, three hospitalstaffers have tested positive adoctor, a nurse and one non-medical staff. All of them arerecovering.”

Recently, two patientsadmitted for cardiac treatmentat Max Hospital had tested pos-itive for Covid-19. “Thirty-nine healthcare workers, whowere contact traced, have beenquarantined within a separateand isolated wing at MaxHospital, Saket,” it said.

All 39 individuals areasymptomatic and will be test-

ed on the fifth day of exposure,which is April 14. “There are154 employees deployed inshifts in the Covid ward of MaxHospital, Saket,” it said.

“None of these employeeshas had any exposure to thevirus. They are working inshifts and are staying on thehospital premises to reduceany risk of infection to theirfamilies and neighbours,” thestatement reads.

Meanwhile, Sir Ganga RamHospital also conducted Covid-

19 tests on all 115 healthcareworkers who were quarantinedtwo weeks back.

“Out of 115, only threehealthcare workers tested pos-itive and rest 112 was testednegative for disease,” the hos-pital said in a statement.

Incidentally, as many as114 health workers of SirGanga Ram Hospital (SGRH)were kept in quarantine fol-lowing two of its patientsrecently testing positive forCovid-19.

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Several Union Ministers andsenior officers from the rank

of Joint Secretary and abovereturned to their offices onMonday following directionfrom Prime Minister NarendraModi. They will work withminimum support staff.

All Ministers who resumedtheir offices donned home-made face masks. The presenceof Ministers in their offices isaimed at sending a strong mes-sage that the Government wascommitted to restart the wheelsof economy even during thelockdown.

Officials said that all theMinisters and officers werescreened with temperatureguns before they were allowedto enter their respective offices.Their vehicles too were sani-tised at the gate.

According to officials, the

Ministries became fully oper-ational while following stan-dard operating procedures(SoPs) for maintaining socialdistancing in offices. TheMinisters on Monday tookstock of the situation undertheir Ministries and werepreparing business continuityplan to minimise the econom-ic impact of the lockdown.

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Even as Odisha is battling the coron-avirus crisis and going to remain

under the second phase of lockdown tillApril 30, the State Government made a fewexemptions on Monday.

Addressing a Press meet, SpecialRelief Commissioner Pradeep Jena saidtransportation of seeds, movement oftractor would be allowed during the sec-ond phase of lockdown. Vegetables wouldbe procured directly from farmer producerorganisations. All cold storages andgodowns would be kept open.

Jena said that in view of the harvest-ing of Rabi crop and the upcoming Kharifseason, the Government has decided toexempt farming and the subsequent irri-gation of the farmlands in the second phaseof lockdown. Movement of the equipmentsand vehicles like tractors would be allowedduring this period. All shops relating tomanure, sale and repair of agriculturalequipments would also remain open.

“All cooperative banks and LAMPSCSwill remain open for the farmers for avail-ability of loans for the Kharif season. Theprogrammes under MGNREGA, PMAY,Biju Pucca Ghar and Swachh Bharat willcontinue too,” he said.

Fisheries and Animal Husbandry-

related activities, food processing andpacking units, veterinary services, marinefisheries and hatchery activities, chemi-cal testing, fertiliser testing and seed test-ing laboratories, plantation and nurseryactivities have been exempted from thelockdown rules, he added.

In a relief for truckers and transporters,the roadside dhabas and restaurants wouldbe allowed to open but only for takeawayand home-delivery purposes. No food canbe consumed there

Jena said home delivery of all kinds ofproducts and courier services by platformslike Amazon, Flipkart, Blue Dart, DTDCand BigBasket would also resume in theremaining lockdown period..

The exemptions made earlier by boththe Central and State Governments dur-ing the lockdown would remain intact.Besides, the Government would also issuea special set of lockdown norms whichwould be implemented in the capital cityBhubaneswar during the second phase oflockdown, said Jena.

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A32-year-old man underhome quarantine for

coronavirus allegedly com-mitted suicide by hanging inJajpur district on Sundaynight.

Before his death, SureshSahoo of Deoda village hadposted a video on the socialmedia stating that some vil-lagers abused and assaultedhim and refused to pay himmoney which they had bor-

rowed from him.

Sahoo had been home-quarantined after he returnedfrom Chennai on March 18 tocheck spread of COVID-19.He was working in a hotel inChennai.

Sahoo hanged himselffrom the ceiling fan in hishouse at Deoda under theDharmasala police station.Police seized his body andsent it to the Distr ictHeadquarters.

“After examining SureshSahoo’s video, we havedetained ten villagers, whomthe deceased named in thevideo,” said Dharmasalapolice station IIC Saroj Sahoo.

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Already finding it tough tofight against the coron-

avirus, the State is now facedwith another challenge, heatwave.

On Monday, 12 stations ofthe State recorded temperatureabove 40 degree Celsius.Capital Bhubaneswar andTitilagarh turned the hottestplaces with temperature of 41.5degree each. They were fol-lowed by Balangir at 41.2degree and Baripada at 41degree.

Chandbali and Angul wereat 40.7 degree each, Talcher

40.5, Boudh 40.5, Malkangiri40.2, Nayagarh andParalakhemundi 40 degreeeach. Cuttack recorded maxi-mum temperature of 40.1degree.

Though nobody is surewhether the rise in temperaturewould help contain theCOVID-19 spread, the OdishaState Disaster ManagementAuthority (OSDMA) feels thesituation may compound thechallenges in controlling thecoronavirus.

OSDMA ManagingDirector PK Jena had earlierwritten to the districtCollectors urging them to putstandard operating procedures(SOPs) in place for imple-menting the heat action plan.

Officials feel the heat wavemay not cause much harm asmost of the people remainindoors. However, theGovernment is worried for thesafety of the people engaged inthe battle against the coronapandemic.

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Aday after the OdishaGovernment lauded con-

tribution of women in the fightagainst COVID-19, a disturb-ing report came to the fore that35 per cent of the coronaviruspatients were women in theState against the national aver-age of 24 per cent.

The Government on April11 named the prominentwomen like

NHM Director ShaliniPandit, RMRC Director DrSanghamitra Pati, AIIMSDirector Dr Gitanjali

Batmanabane OMCL MDYamini Sarangi, Labourand ESI Principal SecretaryAnu Garg, Misson ShakitiCommissioner SujataKarthikeyan as Odisha’sfrontline warriors againstcorona.

Data released by theHealth and Family WelfareDepartment said the propor-tion of male Covid-19 positivesin the State stood at around 64per cent. Among the 54 posi-tives, 35 are males and 19women, including two minorgirls aged 9 years and 5 years.

It also said that there wasno woman Covid-19 patient inthe age group of 60 years orabove. A 51-year-old woman ofDhenkanal got infection fromthe Nizamuddin link.

What has worried health

experts is that two of thewomen patients were below 10years of age. Most of the femalepatients were in the age groupof 30 to 50 years.

COVID-19 patients havebeen reported form nine dis-tricts, Khordha (41), Bhadrak(3), Kalahandi, Sundargarhand Kenddrapada (2 each),Cuttack, Jajpur and Puri (1each). A patient from WestBengal’s Medinapur is in ahospital in Bhubaneswar.

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The Indian Child ProtectionFund (ICPF) on Monday

said that Bhubaneswar isamong the cities where thedemand for generic childpornographic material (alsoreferred to as Child SexualAbuse Material) is highest,thereby posing grave risks to itschildren during the Covid-induced lockdown.

The ICPF reported thatsince the lockdown, onlinedata monitoring websites areshowing an increase in demandfor searches like ‘child porn’,‘sexy child’ and ‘teen sex videos’.

Data from Pornhub, theworld’s largest pornographywebsite, also revealed that traf-fic from India has increased by95 per cent between March 24

and 26 compared to their aver-age traffic before coronavirus.

“This is a blatant violationof the directions of theHonourable Supreme Courtand a violation of nationalpolicy. Pornographic websitesare playing hide-and-seek withIndian law and judiciary bysimply changing their websiteURLs. The Government ofIndia must urgently crack-down on child pornographyand also initiate a global dia-logue for an international con-vention against child sexualabuse material,” asserted ICPFspokesperson Nivedita Ahuja.

The ICPF has released areport titled ‘Child SexualAbuse Material in India’, aresearch of child pornographydemand in 100 Indian citieslike New Delhi, Chennai,Mumbai, Kolkata,Bhubaneswar and Indore.

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Lt Gen (retired) KPDhalasamanta from Odisha

passed away at a private hos-pital in New Delhi on Monday.He was 71 and is survived byhis wife Sumananjali Devi andson Pranab Dhalasamanta,Deputy Executive Editor ofThe Economic Times.

Dhalasamanta, who wasbattling with cancer, was a for-mer Director General of theRashtriya Rifles, India’s premiercounter insurgency forcedeployed in Kashmir. He hadfought in the 1971 war on theeastern front and was awardedthe Poorvi Star.

He was among the veteransinvited regularly to Bangladeshas a mark of honour for theirvaliant efforts in the liberationof Bangladesh.

Gen Dhalasamanta hadalso participated in OperationBlue Star in Punjab. He hadcommanded an artillery regi-ment in the Siachen Glacier.During the 1999 Kargil war, hewas instrumental in helpingdeploy the 155mm Bofors gunsin difficult conditions.

On retirement, he wasmade Member of the thennewly created Armed Forces

Tribunal in Kolkata before set-tling down in Bhubaneswarsince 2014 onwards.

Gen Dhalasamanta hasalso written several Odiapoems and was involved inOdia theatre. Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik, UnionMinister Dharmendra Pradhanand many other eminent per-sonalities mourned theGeneral’s demise.

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Stressful times are the periodto test the resolve of a peo-

ple. I don’t think a nationState, a legal entity, can be test-ed in the times of dire distress.The legal and constitutionalmechanism may fail; the lead-ers may do just the minimumexpected out of them or sim-ply abandon the people totheir own fate.

But the resolve,coherence and the col-lective strength of a peo-ple can be tested at thetime of war, famine, pesti-lence and pandemics. Acountry either rises to itshighest values of sacrifice,brotherhood, national-ism and cooperation dur-ing the crisis or they sim-ply collapse and recedeinto the background ofhistory. The recentCorona pandemic offers

examples of both.While diseases, especially

unknown ones, can originateanywhere and anytime, theresponsibility of the nationwhere such a disease originatesis above all supreme in terms oftimely alarm to the world andseeing to it that all efforts aremade to contain as well as cureit with full disclosure to theworld.

How much China fulfilled

this international obligationwill be known in due course oftime. What is most importantnow is to contain a virus whichseems to go out of control.Well, at least in Europe and theUSA, it definitely seems so.

While President Trumphides behind his characteristicbravado despite bodies pilingup in New York morgues andItaly, Spain, the UK and Franceresign to their fate and virtuallystop fighting, China afterexporting the virus to theworld is now poised to exportthe means of containing it andexpecting a hefty profit, bothfinancial and political.However, only one nationstands tall in the fight againstthe dreaded menace.

India under the visionaryPrime Minister Narendra Modiis drawing praises from allaround right from the WHO toall the leading nations of theworld for its deft handling of

the situation. When the USA,also a democracy, refused toimpose a lockdown, India, inan unprecedented movebrought the nation to a stand-still for 21 days in just a mat-ter of 48 hours.

The naysayers this time didnot even raise a murmur. Theirexperience during demoneti-zation and GST roll out solid-ly behind them, they knew thecountry would rally behindthe wisdom, good governanceand charisma of Modi Ji. Andexactly that’s what happened. Anation of 130 crore people justfollowed the sagacity ofModiJi’s decision and stayed home.

This perhaps saved count-less lives as would be clear inthe days to come. The redeem-ing feature is that at the time ofwriting this article as we enter18th day of the lockdown, allessential services are function-al, all essential commodities arestocked in plenty and the life-

line of cargo movement bytrain is in full force.

It’s no mean feat to bringthe whole railway network to astandstill and yet motivate peo-ple to work for cargo shipment.Same with other services suchas banking, telecom and cook-ing gas and oil. The PrimeMinister being tech savvy, tookto the digital media to exten-sively monitor and direct themassive operation and ensuredthat his Cabinet colleagues fol-low suit.

Most praiseworthy is thecomplete coordinated efforts ofthe Centre and the StateGovernments. It is unprece-dented in the country to see acoordinated effort from villageto the State capital, from theState capital to the national cap-ital; the same views, the samestrategy, the same informationis flowing seamlessly. It waspossible only because of the‘India First’ attitude of the

Prime Minister. Only the pur-pose matters irrespective ofpolitical compulsions.

A few things stand out inthis crisis. The traditionalIndian attitude of feeding theneedy is in full swing and bothGovernment and individualefforts are showing results.The earlier success of having aJan DhanAccount of everypoor family showed dividendsas the Government could sendmoney instantaneously to thepoor and needy. It’s the largestDBT operation in the world.The Government tackled theproblem from all angles.

Announcing a Rs 1.70 lakhcrore package for the needy toeasing the financial burden ofthe business class by makingavailable cheap credit of Rs 3.7lakh crore and taking care oflakhs of migrant labourers,Modi Ji has not left any stoneunturned to come out of thiscrisis successful.

A salute is due to ourhealth system workers fromdoctors to nurses to para-medics and health entrepre-neurs who left no stonesunturned to fight the menaceoften putting themselves atrisk. All because of a greatersense of purpose and sense ofsacrifice instilled in them byour Prime Minister.

Above all, the world isnow looking up to India as aleader in the fight against thepandemic.

President Trump thankedIndia; Brazil and Israel followedsuit and India showed gen-erosity and consideration whenit allowed supply of muchneeded drugs to the affectedcountries without any precon-dition.

The strategy of lockdown,containment and an appeal tothe good sense of people alongwith the symbolism of prayerand thanking the frontline

workers is showing results asIndia is even now at stage twoof the pandemic and theabsolute number of positivecases as well as fatality is thelowest in the world per millionof population.

No doubt, the economywill take a toll and it is a her-culean task to restart the econ-omy once the lockdown iseased. But the leadership ofModi Ji will find a way so thatthe pain of recession and reset-ting the economy remains min-imum.

In true Antodaya principle,he has taken care of the lastman in the queue first and willcontinue to do so till the spec-tre of the pandemic is over. Thenation salutes the visionaryleadership of Modi Ji and hiscore team of Ministers, expertsand bureaucrats.

(Dr Samantsinghar is BJPState secretary)

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Keeping in view the finan-cial condition of parents

during the COVID-19 pan-demic, All Odisha PrivateSchool Association (AOPSA)has decided to defer pay-ment of school fees of thestudents.

At a meeting of theAOPSA, it was decided togive an option to parents todeposit school fees of threemonths from April to andJune without fine by the endof June after opening ofschools.

As to why the fees were

not waived, the AOPSA saidthat over 5 lakh employeesare engaged in around 9,000private schools in the State.During the lockdown, theschools authorities are underextreme pressure to bearmonthly salaries of employ-ees, school rent and otherexpenses, said AOPSA pres-ident Satya Narayan Mishra.

The AOPSA meeting wasconvened after Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik had urgedthe private schools to con-sider reduction or defermentof school fees from April toJune.

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To boost the morale of people, Ministerof Energy, Industries and Micro, Small

and Medium Enterprises (MSME) andMinister of State Home CaptainDibyasankar Mishra has adopted an inno-vative fight corona.

"This is a biological warfare. Coronavirus does no know any international orregional boundary or even does not knowany religion. The only fact known is res-piratory disorder in human beings and ithas not left any animal kingdom also. I aman air warrior. I have fought Kargil war. Myfather has fought against Chinese in 1965war and against the Pakistanis in 1971 forwhich he was awarded with the war pen-sion by the President of India. With thisbackground, if you want to fight an invis-ible enemy, the rules of the warfare needto change," told Mishra.

"In the war against corona, our mili-tary services do not fight, but the entire cit-izens of the country do that as warriors andwe have to be victorious at the end," hesaid.

The most important factor is disciplineand then comes the weaponry. What is theweaponry against corona? This is thebiggest question today.

“Prime Minister Modi asked us to

switch off all lights, lit up candles and clapfor the corona warriors. The members ofthe health services, police, administration,media and sanitation works deserved it;and we did that.

The entire world including UNESCO,WHO and the Government of India is inappreciation of timely intervention by

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in fightingthe COVID-19.

"As a student of science, my weapon-ry is a bucketful of water, a soap and a cleantowel. If all these are placed in front ofevery household, I am sure corona wouldnot dare to enter into our premises," toldMishra.

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Commissioner of Police (CP)Sudhanshu Sarangi on

Monday clarified that a doctoris entitled to a pass, not his orher relatives during the lock-down period. Sarangi made thestatement when earlier in theday, brother of a woman doctortweeted alleging that police cre-ated trouble for him when wasaccompanying her sister to thehospital in a vehicle.

The CP further said thataccording to the ACP and theIIC, when the woman doctorrequested for a pass at thepolice station of her locality,police immediately providedthe same to her.

Sarangi further said it is notclear why the woman doctoraccused the police of creatingtrouble for her in reachingAIIMS, Bhubaneswar, whereshe works. Police have request-ed the AIIMS authorities toprobe the matter, he added.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi, Governor Ganeshi

Lal and Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Monday greetedpeople of the State on theoccasion of Odia New Year andMaha Bishuba Sankranti.

Taking to Twitter, thePrime Minister wrote in bothOdia and English, “Happy OdiaNew Year and Maha BishubaPana Sankranti. May the com-ing year bring happiness andgood health in everyone’s lives,”he wrote.

The Governor wishing thepeople of happiness and good

health urged them to take apledge on the day to ensure vic-tory over coronavirus.

The Chief Minister whilewishing on the occasion prayedto Lord Jagannath that peopleof the State get strength to fightcoronavirus.

The Maha BishubaSankranti festival is celebratedby the Hindus of the State vis-iting Shiva, Shakti, orHanuman temples and takinga holy dip in rivers. But due tothe coronavirus lockdown,temples were closed with peo-ple celebrating the festival athomes to maintain social dis-tancing.

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US - b a s e dOdia biotech

scientist andsocial worker DrSitikantha Dashhas donated15,000 dollar orRs 11,43,000 tothe ChiefMinister’s ReliefFund for Covid-19.

Dr Dashbelongs toSalepur ofCuttack districtand owns a lab inthe US. He is alsothe founder of DrD a s hFoundation, which is engagedin various humanitarian worksacross the globe. The founda-tion runs an innovation centreat the IIT Bhubaneswar.

Dr Dash is also known forestablishing various templesand educational institutions athis village. He is devoted topropagation of Odishan culturein the US.

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The celebra-tion of Odia

New Year wasmarred due tothe coronavirusthreat onMonday.

"On the OdiaNew Year, Odiapeople sing,dance, make resolutions andvisit temples. Meetings andseminars are held. But thecoronavirus has dampened thefestive mood of Odia people,"said Utkal SammilaniManchshwar Industrial EstateBranch president DillipDashsharma in a statement.

He informed that he con-ducted a puja at home and

prayed to Lord Jagannath forthe wellbeing of all Odia peo-ple.

Branch advisor DrDwaraka Nath Mohanty, sec-retary Gobinda ChandraSubudhi and joint-secretariesSidharth Sankar Gadanayak, ErShiba Prasad Mishra andKshetra Mohan Nayak too cel-ebrated the New Year at theirhouses.

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The Jan Adhikar Manch onMonday urged the State

Government to coordinateefforts and action with otherState Governments and ensurethat the necessary steps aretaken to enable migrant work-ers reach their homes and fam-ilies. Until then they need to begiven two square meals a dayalong with safe and healthy liv-ing arrangements. Equallyensure that they are paid allwages that are due to them bymaking the necessary arrange-ments, the Manch said in a let-ter to CM Naveen Patnaik.

Citing that over one lakh ofworkers from Odisha arestranded in other States who inutter difficulties are pleading tothe Odisha Government tohelp them reach home, theManch requested the CM to

come to their rescue. It appre-hended that the migrant work-ers may attempt to reach thereon foot repeating the odd expe-rience of past if immediatemeasures are not taken.

"It is extremely concerningthat workers are succumbing todepression and anxiety in thisatmosphere of fear around thepandemic. They are simplybiding time without any workin relief camps and sheltersonly longing for their familiesor near and dear ones. Theirfamily members are alsoundergoing many hardshipsand emotional turmoil. Wecannot rule out the possibilitythat something untoward mayhappen in the days to comegiven the conditions of reliefcamps and shelters and work-ers’ own mental agony anduncertainty,” said the Manch inits letter.

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Keeping in view the bloodshortage at blood banks

due to Covid-19, the SwadhinEkta Sangh Sambalpur, joinedthe campaign "Giving is in myBlood" by motivator LaxmanSwain.

As many as 27 donorsdonated blood at the DistrictHeadquarters Blood Bank atSambalpur. President SwadhinEkta Sangathan Rajib Mishraand Bipin Bihari Panda andAbinash Mishra fromParichaya motivated thedonors to join the campaign bydonating blood .

President Havildars’ andConstables’ Association ofSambalpur Ramdas Pandahelped in blood donation.

Dr Kalpesh Kakkad,Santosh Gouda and DinabanduPatel of the blood bank helpedin collecting blood units.

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Containment zone restric-tions imposed in Pattapole

area of Cuttack city were liftedon Monday following all sam-ples of primary contacts andsymptomatic cases from thezone tested negative for thevirus.

Since all the samples of pri-mary contacts and sympto-matic cases from the contain-ment zone have tested negative,it is hence understood thatthere is no local transmissionin the zone,” an official ordersaid.

However, regular restric-

tions of lock-down wouldprevail tillf u r t h e rorders in thearea ofPat t ap o l e ,the orderadded.

T h elocality wassealed anddeclared as a‘containment zone’ for activesurveillance after a person ofthe area tested positive forCOVID-19.

Similarly, containmentrestrictions imposed on wardNo.1 of Jairampur gram pan-chayat (GP) in Nischintakoilitehsil and ward No. 12 and 13of Mirzapur GP in Salepurtehsil in Cuttack district werewithdrawn on the day, an offi-cial order said.

The two areas were earliersealed and declared as ‘con-

tainment zone’ to restrict novelcoronavirus transmission as aCOVID-19 patient of Jajpurdistrict had visited the locali-ties. Decision regarding liftingof the restriction was taken assamples of the primary contactsand symptomatic cases fromthe containment zone havetested negative.

However, the regularrestrictions of lockdown wouldprevail strictly as perGovernment notification inthe said areas, the order said.

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The first dedicated COVIDHospital in Baleswar dis-

trict became operational onMonday. The unit having 120beds was opened at the JyotiHospital at Kuruda.

The hospital is funded bythe Odisha Hydro PowerCorporation (OHPC).

District HeadquartersHospital senior doctorDulalsen Jagdeo is the In-Charge Medical Officer of thehospital.

Also on the day, a 150-bedCOVID Hospital was inaugu-rated in Jeypore town inKoraput district with the build-ing of the old Sub-DivisionalHospital being converted intothe new facility.

While doctors would beaccommodated at two hotels inthe town, the paramedicswould stay at the newly-builtlocal Vikram Dev College.

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Surubudhi Rana, a 40-year-old widow ofPitamahul village in Birmaharajpur

block of Subarnapur district had lost herhusband 4 months ago. She is now resid-ing in a mud house along with her two chil-dren.

Her son is studying in class 10th anddaughter is in 8th . She is a daily wage earn-er and also having a small piece of land.That’s the limited source of income for herfamily. Although she had applied for thewidow pension, it was in process at the offi-cial level.

During the lockdown, she is not get-ting any job. At present, she doesn’t haveenough food material. She is covered underthe NFBS, but the advance PDS for next 3month had not reached her. This was detectedon April 8 by the volunteers of GRAMOTH-HAN and SSIYA Pariwar during the campaignagainst COVID 19, facilitated by ActionAid andthe district administration, Subarnapur.

The matter was brought to the notice of theDistrict Magistrate and Collector, SubarnapurMonisha Banarjee. It was a rapid response by the

administration.On the very next day, 50 kg of rice and Rs

1,000 was delivered at her doorstep. She is nowprovided with cooked food.

Her application for widow pension wasapproved recently. Surubudhi is extremelyhappy with the timely and swift action by theSubarnapur district administration.

������������� ����

Sir, Namaskar. Kebe amoroexam hebo? (When will

our exams be held?)”. I amreceiving this question fromthe students at least twentytimes every day. Their voic-es tremble with fear and anx-iety. I can understand theirplight as their exams werestopped abruptly and there isuncertainty about their futuredates.

I convince them as far aspossible and assure them thatI will intimate them the examdates as soon as they areannounced. Ours is a remotedistrict of Odisha where lit-eracy rates, transport andcommunication are very poorand it is difficult to pass on theinformation to the students atshort notice.

Students are the worst hitby the nationwide lockdown

unable to adjust with the sud-den change in their routines.The uncertainty of the con-duct of examination and eval-uation is taking an emotion-al toll on the young minds.

The abrupt closure of theexaminations results in rest-lessness, anxiety and irritationamong the students. The Class12 students are away from onesubject for completion of theirexamination. The second andfourth semester degree exam-inations scheduled to be heldin April are postponed indef-initely. Till now I am con-vincing the students that soonafter the lockdown, i.e., April14, the authorities will take adecision and by the end ofApril, their examinations willbe completed. Now Odishabecame the first State in thecountry to declare extensionof lockdown till the end ofApril. I am preparing myself

how to answer the queries ofthe students and counsel themnot to panic.

The University of Calcuttaissued a notification that thePsychology and AppliedPsychology Departments willprovide free counselling ser-vices to all students of the uni-versity. It released a list ofnames of professors and theircontact numbers whom thestudents can contact during aspecified time. Many reputedcolleges and universities arealso following the same in theinterest of their students. Eventhe parents can also avail thecounselling services. There isevery need to introduce thesame thing in Odisha.

No doubt, the lockdownand home stay are in theinterest of the public and it isprudent to follow theGovernment guidelines. Butthe tender age of the student

may not understand the sever-ity of the pandemic. The men-tal pressure on the youngminds can be better under-stood by the teacher and everyteacher should act as a coun-sellor.

During the lockdownperiod, it is the best thing ateacher can do and there bycontribute for the develop-ment of mental health of thestudents. At the same time,they have to clarify theirdoubts online, if facilities areavailable. They must be madeacademically and mentallystrong by injecting confidenceand hope. This is the need ofthe hour.

(Dr Biswal is Head,Department of Commerce,Nowrang pur College,Nabarang pur, Odisha.Mob:9437125286. [email protected])

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The Neelachal Executives’Association (NEA) has

urged for resumption of pro-duction in the ailing NeelachalIspat Nigam Limited (NINL)claiming that the plant is capa-ble of achieving more than100%-capacity utilisation.

NEA president Avijit Koleyand general secretary AjitPradhan have written toMMTC CMD SudhanshuPandey pleading for his inter-vention in saving the NINL.

Notably, the MMTC is themajor shareholder of the NINL,which is at present in direstraits.

The NEA has demandedsufficient infusion of funds forday-to-day operation of theNINL as all the productionunits of the steelmaking firmhave been shut down.

The NEA has said thatdiscontinuation of productionhas thrown future of theemployees and workforces into

darkness and contractual work-ers are losing their jobs. Whilesalary payments of employeesand executives have beendelayed and irregular, this is acause of worry.

The NEA has requested theMMTC to impress upon theUnion Government for trans-fer of shares of NINL held bythe MMTC to other PSUs likeSAIL or RINL. It would be atransfer of shares between twoGovernment entities; and as theNINL is having a rich iron oredeposit, it would justify thetransfer as SAIL and RINLrequire the raw material.

The NINL is having a cap-tive iron ore mine; and it wouldcater to the requirement of theplant, which can be scaled upto 10 million tonnes perannum.

With the NINL sharestransferred to SAIL and RINL,it would allow more investmentin future modernisation andexpansion plans.

As the Ministry of Steel is

setting up a steel hub inKalinganagar, it would be in syn-ergy with the policy of theUnion Government. While theSAIL has set a capacity expan-sion target of 50 MTPA by 2031and RINL expansion target of 16MTPA by 2031, both of the steelPSUs need not go for land acqui-sition for capacity expansion.

The NINL has 2,500 acresof undisputed land, which issufficient for a 10-MTPAexpansion.

The NINL’s merger withSAIL or RINL would be a steptowards the UnionGovernment’s objective of asingle public-sector-ownedsteelmaker to bring efficiency,productivity, profitability, fasterinvestment decision, get cheap-er funds for expansion andreducing dependency onGovernment, said sources.

Over 10,000 people aredepending on the NINL direct-ly and indirectly and they pina lot of hopes on the firm,which has a huge potential.

����� <'*<�34�5�+

The countrywide lockdownin force since March 24,

2020 has drastically affected thenormal life and business ofpeople, including fishermenand fish farmers.

Many States have exempt-ed fisheries and aquacultureactivities, including trans-portation of fish, from thelockdown restrictions.

The Odisha Governmenthas also taken such an initiativeto ensure availability of fish inthe market.

The Fisheries and ARDDepatment has, however, askedto maintain social distancing inthe fish markets.

It is learnt that local admin-istrations are providing allcooperation in that regard.

For example, the Nimaparamunicipality and the BMChere have allowed all the retailand wholesale fish markets toopen on daily basis.

To maintain the social dis-tancing among buyers and sell-erd, mongers in the fish mar-ket, circles have been drawnwith 1.5 metre gap betweenthem.

Fish buyers have also beenadvised to wear mask. Fish ven-dors and fish buyers areencouraged to have cashlesstransactions by UPI mobilepayment system.

Similar arrangements areseen in various parts of theState.

Odisha is an importantmaritime State in India with 45million population equivalentto that of Spain.

Majority of Odia peoplerelish on fish and per capita fishconsumption is about 15.50 kgwhich is higher than nationalaverage of 9 kg.

Though Odisha is the 5thlargest fish producer in Indiawith annual average produc-tion 750,000 metric tonne, stillit imports nearly 50,000 MT offreshwater fish every year.

Lockdown and closure ofNational Highway has stoppedtransportation of fish fromAndhra Pradesh to Odisha.

Due to this, price of local-ly priduced fish has gone up by

about 30%. Prior to lockdown,Catla and Rohu prices wereabout Rs 170-180 per kg atretail markets and now it is sell-ing between Rs 220 and Rs 250per kg. The traditional fisher-men continue selling fresh fishin markets within 30-50 kmdistance from fishing points.

But the prices of marinefish in coastal districts have notsignificantly changed.

However, most of the fish-ermen with mechanized boats(trawlers, purse seiners, gillnetters, etc) have stopped fish-ing due to non-availability ofice, restrictions on movementsof transport vehicles and fish-er workers etc.

This has brought downthe fish exports to other Statesand affected the livelihoods offishermen.

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About 99.42 lakh PrimeMinister Ujjwala Yojana

(PMUY) beneficiaries in theState would be benefitted asthey would be supplied freeLPG refills over a period ofthree months from April toJune.

Union Petroleum andNatural Gas Minister

Dharmendra Pradhanannounced free distributionof Ujjwala gas recently.

This is part of the UnionGovernment's initiatives takenunder the Pradhan MantriGarib Kalyan Yojana(PMGKY) to alleviate the hard-ships faced by the poor due toeconomic disruption by coro-navirus.

Booking of 1.26 crorecylinders has been done thismonth by PMUY beneficiaries,totalling 8 crore in the country,out of which about 85 lakhcylinders have been delivered.

����� + *+�4/�

Sundargarh Sadar BJP MLAKusum Tete has written to

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikurging him to provide facilitiesat the Veer Surendra SaiInstitute of Medical Sciencesand Research VIMSAR, Burlaand the Ispat General Hospital,Rourkela for conductingCovid-19 tests.

“To prevent the coron-avirus in Sundargarh, it is ofparamount importance to con-duct tests and equip hospitalsfor the treatment in the district.Both symptomatic and asymp-tomatic cases are on the rise inOdisha and as well as inSundargarh. The two cases inSundargarh district, beingasymptomatic COVID-19, is amatter of concern," wrote Tete.

She too demanded thatfacilities for treatment and test-ing be created hospitals in

western Odisha. “It is verypainful that till now the VIM-SAR in Burla has not been pro-vided with facilities for con-ducting COVID-19 tests,”wrote she.

“I request you to take earlysteps for providing adequate

facilities at the VIMSAR andthe IGH for conductingCOVID tests and treatment,"urged Tete.

She has also sent copy ofthe letter to the HealthSecretary and the SundargarhCollector.

������<+�'��.�*+

At a time whenblood collec-

tion has been hitdue to coron-avirus threat andpatients are suf-fering a lot, theB r a h m a p u rSabuja Bahini andthe AmchalikaBikash Parishadorganised a blood donationcamp for the fifth time undera campaign named "AsantuGadhiba Rakta Sampark" (Let'sbuild blood relation) at theBrahmapur Blood Bank hereon Sunday.

A total of 13 units of bloodwere collected. Dr RashmitaPanigrahi and Susmita Behera

collected bood. Sabuja Bahinipresident Sibaram Panigrahiand Parishad secretary BijendraMajhi coordinated the camp.Bishnu Prasad Das, SatyaNarayan Das and Durga PrasadPanda provided coopratio.Nine youths from Lanjia villageand four from Brahmapurdonated blood.

#������������ �<�/4�5�+

While the COVID-19 scarehas affected livelihood

of all, irrespective of profes-sions, in north Baleswar thebetel vine farmers are the worstsufferers during the lockdownperiod.

They fear that their condi-tion would further deteriorateas the lockdown period inOdisha has been extended tillend of April by Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik.

Not only the farmers, otherpeople associated with the cul-tivation and profession, includ-ing transporters, are sittingidle having no hope to keeptheir profession afloat. It maybe noted everyday hundreds oftons of betel leaf are trans-ported to several places ofIndia including Delhi, Mumbai,

Banaras , Azamgargh etc sincethe betel leaf demand ofBaleswar is high in the marketbecause of its special qualityand taste.

The betel leaf is highly per-ishable and on regular basisthey are plucked and thenprocessed before being sentoutside. North Baleswar betelleaf has a special demand with-in the State.

Since there is no scope oftransporting betel leaf these-days, they are not pluckedfrom the yards, leaving them torot. Sources said hundreds ofacres of betel vine yards are fac-ing similar fate.

Betel vine culture is one ofthe main sources of income ofthe area. Not only the farmers,but also the people associatedwith it are bearing the brunt ofthe lockdown.

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Page 4: ,ˇ ˇ˜˚ˇ- =#˘& ˝ 0 ˜> ˝ *+ ,!’*&˚-./01 .2%2.% 3 .%/0 1 .4 ... · move fast and introduce some fiscal measures that can assure money will still flow into the bank accounts

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Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora

and fellow commissionersAshok Lavasa and SushilChandra have decided to takea voluntary 30 per cent cut intheir basic salaries for one yearto fund fight against the spreadof coronavirus outbreak, fol-lowing the example of the pres-ident, vice-president, PrimeMinister, the Union council ofMinisters and members ofParliament. The decision wastaken at a meeting heldbetween chief election com-missioner Sunil Arora and-election commissioners AshokLavasa and Sushil Chandra.

The three commissioners,including the Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC), are enti-tled to a salary which is "equalto the salary of a judge of theSupreme Court", according tothe provisions of a law gov-erning their conditions of ser-vice. Supreme Court judgesdraw a monthly salary of �2.50lakh, besides other entitle-ments.

"The numerous steps beingtaken by the Government andcivil society organisationsrequire vast resources for whichcontribution from all sources,including reducing the burdenof salaries on the exchequer,might be helpful...

"The commission hasdecided to contribute in theform of voluntary reduction of30 per cent in the basic salarypaid by the ElectionCommission to the ChiefElection Commissioner andthe Election Commissionersfor a period of one year com-mencing April 1," the EC saidin a statement.

Union Ministers and MPshave recently taken a 30 percent cut in their salaries andsome allowances to fund fightagainst COVID-19.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has given up ayear’s salary to help the Statefight the Covid-19 crisis.Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,Odisha and Rajasthan tooannounced a cut in salaries ofGovernment employees.Maharashtra, which is bearingthe brunt of the coronaviruscrisis, has decided to pay thesalaries in instalments.

����� 345�&4/'2

In an apparent reference toan incident wherein a

Uruguayan woman threatenedthe Delhi police personnelwhen she was stopped for notwearing a mask, the externalaffairs ministry on Mondaysaid it is regularly advising thediplomatic community toadhere to the lockdown guide-lines. The incident had takenplace on Saturday evening.

The ministry response onMonday came after reportsindicated that the womanclaimed her embassy had notinformed her about the lock-down restrictions and arguedwith the police personnelwhich stopped her. While reit-erating that the Government isregularly informing foreignenvoys, sources also said theGovernment has issued a verylimited number of curfewpasses for essential work

adding the restrictions are intheir(diplomatic personnel)interest and well-being of eachand everyone.

The woman was stoppedat Paschimi Marg, VasantVihar when she was cyclingthere without a mask. TheDelhi Government has made

it compulsory for people towear face masks when step-ping outside their houses in abid to check the spread ofcoronavirus.

The Residents WelfareAssociation(RWA) of VasantVihar often complained to thepolice that diplomats and

other foreigners living in thearea are stepping out for jog-ging and cycling without wear-ing masks.

A senior police officer,along with his team, waspatrolling the area when theystopped the foreign nationalwhile she was cycling for vio-

lating the Government order,the police said.

In a video clip recorded bythe police, the woman couldbe seen arguing with the policewhen he told her that she wasviolating a government orderby not wearing a mask. Thewoman continued to argue

and also noted down the nameof the police officer, a seniorpolice official said.

When asked to show heridentity card, she refused tooblige, following which thepolice noted down her name,officials said. A representativefrom the RWA was present

when the incident took place.He assured the police that theywere taking all measures andtrying to convince the foreignnationals staying in the area tofollow the guidelines. Thepolice later wrote to theembassy of Uruguay about theincident.

����� 345�&4/'2

The National PharmaceuticalPricing Authority (NPPA)

has invoked a clause of a legis-lation that will equip it to issuedirections to the manufactur-ers for regulating distributionof drugs in case of emergencyor in case of non-commercialuse in public interest with aview to achieve adequate avail-ability of medicines and med-ical devices.

The move aims to ensureconsistent supply of medicinesand medical devices in thecountry which along with othernations is grappling with thedeadly Covid-19 pandemic.The virulent pathogen has sofar claimed over 350 lives.

A senior official from thenational drug price regulator,NPPA said that Para 3 of theDPCO (Drug Price ControlOrder)-2013 has been invoked.

“Invoking of para 3 ofDPCO-2013 will help the drugpricing regulator to resolveissues associated with the avail-ability, supply and shortage ofdrugs and medical devices.”

He explained, “as per para3 of DPCO-2013, NPPA maygive directions to manufac-turers of active pharmaceuticalingredients (APIs) or bulkdrugs or formulations with aview to achieve adequate avail-ability and to regulate the dis-tribution of drugs, in case of

emergency..“… or in circumstances of

urgency or in case of non-com-mercial use in public interest,direct any manufacturer ofany APIs or bulk drug or for-mulation to increase the pro-duction and to sell such APIsor bulk drug to such othermanufacturer(s) of formula-tions and to direct formulatorsto sell the formulations toinstitutions, hospitals or anyagency as the case may be,” theofficial said.

����� 345�&4/'2

Amid coronavirus scare,Aarogya Setu app, a tech-

nology initiative taken by theCentre, has found huge takers.So far over 3.5 crore peoplehave downloaded the app.Aarogya Setu app helps sig-nificantly in contact tracingand curbing the spread of thedreaded Covid-19 pandemic.It uses location data from per-sons’ smartphones to tell usersif they have been near some-one who tested positive forCovid-19, explained an offi-cial.

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����� 345�&4/'2

Following the CommerceMinistry’s suggestion for

opening the industries, theUnion Home Ministry hasdirected the States to ensure the“smooth movement” of trucks,workers and functioning atwarehouses and cold storages.

Union Home Secretary AKBhalla in his letter to the Stateauthorities said that all trucksshould be permitted with thedriver carrying valid drivinglicences. One more person cantravel along with the driver.

“Inter-state and intra-statemovement of all trucks andother goods / carrier vehicleswith one driver and one addi-tional person is allowed aslong as the driver is carrying avalid driver’s licence. This isirrespective of the nature of thecargo, whether essential orotherwise.

No further permit orapproval would be required.Empty trucks/ goods carriersshould also be allowed to oper-ate while on way to pick upgoods, or returning after com-

pleting a delivery. Hence, there is no cause to

stop empty trucks providedthey have valid documentssuch as driving license & roadpermit etc.

“Local authorities shouldactively facilitate the move-ment of truck drivers andcleaners from their place of res-idence to location of theirtrucks. Local authorities shouldfacilitate the easy to and fromovement of workers to work-place and back, in respect of allthe permitted industrial/ com-mercial activities.Railways,Airports, Seaports, andCustoms authorities havealready been authorised toissue passes for their staff andcontractual labour. This may beensured,” said MHA in state-ment.

����� 345�&4/'2

The Centre on Monday askedsugar mills to surrender the

sugar quota which could not beexported by March-end andsubmit a detailed report by nextweek.

In a communication tosugar mills, the food ministryalso warned that if mills fail toexport the quota, they would notbe entitled for their claim fortheir quota of fourth quarterunder the MAEQ scheme andalso for maintenance of bufferstock.

The Government also gavemore time till April 20 for millsto submit the quarterly report ofsugar export. Earlier, mills weresupposed to submit the report byApril 3.

For the current 2019-20season (October-September),the Government has allowedexport of 6 million tonnes ofsugar under the MaximumAdmissible Export Quantity(MAEQ) scheme to help dealwith the surplus sugar. However,some mills have not been able toexport their quota.

The Government has real-located about 6,50,000 tonnes ofunexported sugar that was sur-rendered by mills.

In February, a senior foodministry official had said thattotal sugar exports could reach5 million tonnes in the currentseason on higher globaldemand. India has exported

3.8 million tonnes of sugarduring the 2018-19 marketingyear against the mandatoryquota of 5 million tonne.

The country's total sugar

production is expected totouch 27 million tonnes thisyear, lower than 33 milliontonnes achieved in the past twoyears.

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Despite its several detractorswho had criticised the

concept of connecting prima-ry markets through an onlineplatform, eNAM, at four (as onApril 14), is going strong. Thee-platform, with 585 connect-ed mandis across 16 States andtwo Union Territories, and1.7 crore farmers and 1.3 lakhtraders on board, is all set toadd another 415 mandis to itsfold this year. There are more

than 1.9 lakh transporters andover 7 lakh trucks available oneNAM now. Besides, morethan 1.66 crore farmers and1.28 Lakh traders registered one-NAM platform.

According to AgricultureMinister Narender Singh

Tomar, total trade volume of3.39 Crore MT of bulk com-modities & 37 Lakh numbersof Bamboo & Coconut worthapproximately �1Lakh crorehas been recorded on e-NAMplatform.

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Providing a relief to thestranded foreign nation-

als in the countr y, theGovernment on Mondayextended on gratis basis theregular visa and e-visa ofsuch foreigners who arestranded in India due toCOVID-19 till April 30.

In a statement the Home

Ministry said, all those for-eigners whose regular visa, e-visa or stay stipulationexpired or would be expiringduring February 1 (mid-night) to April 30 (mid-night), would be "extendedtill April 30 (midnight) ongratis basis, after making anonline application by the for-eigners".

The foreign nationals are

stranded in the country dueto the 21-day lockdownannounced on March 24 tocurb the spread of the dis-ease.

In order to remove anykind of confusion, the homeministry had on March 28granted consular services ongratis basis to the foreignnationals, presently staying inIndia due to travel restric-

tions in the context ofCOVID-19 outbreak, tillApril 30.

Earlier, the Governmenthad extended the regularand e-visa of those foreign-ers who are currently inIndia and unable to leave thecountry due to the outbreakof coronavirus, till April 15.

The decision to extendthe visa exemption till April

30 was apparently taken inview of the near certainextension of the onging lock-down till April 30.

It is also an indicationthat international flights,cancelled since March 25,will not resume before April30.

Thousands of foreignnationals are stuck in thecountry since the imposition

of the travel restrictions, andare unable to exit the coun-try during the validity oftheir visa.

The ministry has alsoprovided essential consularservices through the office ofForeigners RegionalRegistration Officers andForeigners Registrat ionOfficers to foreign nationals,presently in India

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����� 345�&4/'2

Congress president SoniaGandhi on Monday wrote

to Prime Minister NarendraModi saying it must beensured that "no one faceshunger" because of the coro-navirus lockdown.

While she welcomed theCentre's decision to providegrain at low prices, she urgedthat the scheme should beextended till September "giventhe chronic economic dis-tress".

Her party colleague, for-mer Commerce MinisterAnand Sharma, suggested thatthe Centre should removeCOVID-19 lockdown in aphase-wise manner and point-ed out that there is a necessi-ty to start the economic activ-ity in the country.

"I hope this letter finds youwell. Lakhs of vulnerable peo-ple across the country facechronic food insecurity due tothe lockdown. This is tragicgiven that India has largebuffer stock of food grains pre-cisely for exigencies like thecurrent pandemic," she said.

"I welcome your decisionto provide free of cost, 5kggrain/person in addition to theentit lements under theNational Food Security Act(NFSA) from April-June, 2020.However, given the adverseimpact of the lockdown and itsprolonged impact of people's

livelihoods, I write to you toconsider a few suggestions,"she added.

At a Press conference,Sharma said the lockdownshould be lifted in a staggeredmanner.

"The economy of thecountry was already in poorcondition and after the coro-navirus outbreak the crisishas deepened. So it is neces-sary for the Prime Minister toremove lockdown in a phase-wise manner by making apolicy framework. It is neces-sary to start the economicactivity in the country,"Sharma said at a video con-ference AICC briefing.

"For the MSME sector, it isimportant that the govern-ment enables the movement oftrucks laden with goods. TheMSMEs should be given loansat zero per cent interest rate,"he said.

"Farmers' produce shouldbe purchased on district andsub-division level. As per thereport of the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO), 40crore labourers may go belowthe poverty line, so the gov-ernment should review its fis-cal policy," the senior Congressleader said.

He said that theGovernment should allowCSR money to be donated toChief Minister's Relief Fundamid the COVID-19 pan-demic.

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����� 345�&4/'2

Vice President M VenkaiahNaidu on Monday asked

the Universities and othereducational institutions toharness the power of tech-nology to ensure continuity ofacademic calendar during thelock-down period.

Naidu interacted withthe Vice Chancellors througha video conference duringwhich he urged the institu-tions to reach out to studentsby utilizing technologicaltools to ensure interactivelearning.

Those who participated inthe conference were ViceChancellors of Delhi,Puducherry, Punjab, MakhanlalChaturvedi Universities andDirector of Indian Institute ofPublic Administration.

Naidu appreciated the uni-versities for taking adequatesteps to ensure that the teach-ing-learning process was nothindered during the lock down.He said, online courses wouldsupplement face-to-face learn-ing. He also emphasized theneed for universities and edu-cational institutions to takemeasures to safeguard the healthof students residing in hostels.

The Vice President urgedthem to ensure strict adherenceto social distancing and isolation

instructions given by theGovernment and health experts.

He advised the students tofollow healthy dietary habits, doregular physical exercise andspend time with nature. He alsosuggested the students to takepart in social service activitiestaken up by NGOs in theirrespective areas.

On the other hand HRDMinister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank too conducted a meet-ing with top HRD officialsincluding HRD Secretary AmitKhare.

The meeting was to reviewthe decisions and initiativestaken to develop an online edu-cation ecosystem in the coun-try.

Khare informed HRDMinister that more than 3700

suggestions from educationistsand stakeholders have beenreceived for ‘Bharat PadheOnline’ campaign in just threedays of its launch.

"The campaign is gainingpopularity among social mediausers and the HRD Ministry hasreceived more than 3700 sug-gestions for ‘Bharat PadheOnline’ campaign in just 3 dayson Twitter and e-mail. Peopleare appreciating this initiativeand also thanking the Ministryfor promoting the online edu-cation system.

The narrative around thecampaign has picked on socialmedia in a big way so muchthat it was found trending in topten on twitter today.

‘Bharat Padhe Online’ cam-paign is a one week long cam-paign for Crowd sourcing ofIdeas for Improving OnlineEducation ecosystem of India .The campaign aims to invite allthe best brains in India to sharesuggestions/solutions directlywith HRD Ministry to over-come constraints of online edu-cation while promoting theavailable digital education plat-forms," a HRD Ministry state-ment said.

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Relaxing its earlier condi-tions in view of the coro-

navirus pandemic, theSupreme Court Mondaydirected the release of thosedetainees who were declaredforeigners and have beenlodged in the detention cen-tres of Assam for two years ormore.

A bench of Chief JusticeS A Bobde and Justices L NRao and M Shantanagoudar,referring to the top court'sMay 10, 2019 order, also low-ered the personal bondamount from Rs 1 lakh to�5,000 while reducing theminimum period of detentionfrom three years to two years.

The top court hadimposed certain conditionswhile directing the release ofsuch detainees including thatthey should have spent more than three years indetention, and were to bereleased upon furnishing abond of �1 lakh along withtwo sureties.

The order on Mondaycame on intervention appli-cation filed by Justice forLiberty Initiative, a Assambased Public Charitable Trust,seeking the release ofdetainees lodged in six Assamdetention centres in view ofcoronavirus pandemic.

During the hearing,Attorney General K KVenugopal objected to their

release apprehending that

they would infect people invillages or where ever they goafter their release.

Advocate Shoeb Alam,appearing for the applicant,informed the court that theapprehension of the AttorneyGeneral was based on anunfounded premise that everysuch person was alreadyinfected by the virus.

The bench observed thatthe very purpose of framing ofguidelines and the release ofpersons was to prevent theseprisons and detention centresfrom becoming a hotspot ofinfection.

Alam also contended thatthe two-year period be dis-pensed with or furtherreduced on account ofunprecedented pandemic sit-uation.

The bench observed how-ever that at this stage it wouldrelease only those who havespent two years or more in thedetention and for furtherreduction it would considerlater.

Referring to the orders ofthe apex court passed onMarch 16, the plea filedthrough advocate Talha AbdulRahman, said that the courthas in the present matteralready taken a bold and deci-sive step towards ensuring that prisons do notbecome breeding grounds ofCOVID-19 and has ordered ahigh powered committee tocome up with modalities of releasing prisoners on parole.

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The Supreme Court Mondayobserved that Indian citi-

zens stranded in various coun-tries due to the COVID-19pandemic should "stay wherethey are" after the Centre saidit would not be feasible to"selectively evacuate" those whowant to return due to variousreasons.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde said thiswhile hearing through video-conferencing a batch of pleasseeking evacuation of Indiancitizens from different countriesincluding United Kingdom andGulf nations.

"People should stay wherethey are right now," said thebench, also comprising JusticesL Nageswara Rao and M MShantanagoudar.

When one of the lawyersreferred to students stranded inthe UK, the bench observed,"Have you seen the affidavit ofUnion of India? You are securethere. Why do you want tocome back?"

In its affidavit filed on aplea seeking evacuation ofIndian students stranded inUK, the Centre has given detailsof the steps taken by the con-cerned authorities includingthe Indian High Commission atLondon to assist Indians there.

Detailing the Centre's posi-tion regarding evacuation ofIndians from abroad amidcoronavirus or COVID-19, theaffidavit said the country has avery large Indian communityabroad including NRIs andIndian students in foreigncountries.

"It is true that the GoI(Government of India) initial-ly undertook some evacuationoperations of Indian nationalsas also nationals of other coun-tries from China, Japan, Iranand Italy when the situation ofcoronavirus situation in Indiawas not so grim.

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Despite a Statewide manhunt, the youth afflicted

with coronavirus, and whoescaped from the VillupuramGeneral Hospital last week,remained elusive which hasbaffled the Tamil Nadu Police.

Nithin Sharma, who cameto Puducherry from NewDelhi, to attend an interview,was taken into custody by theofficials of the health depart-ment along with a group of per-sons who had returned fromNew Delhi after attending areligious congregation. Thegroup was found to be free of

corona virus in the firsttest and they wereallowed to go home.But four persons includ-ing the Delhi youthtested positive for coro-na virus in the secondtest. Though the police man-aged to catch hold of the threepersons tested positive,Sharma, gave a slip to thepolice and escaped from thesurveillance network in thedistrict.

While the police haddeclined to reveal the identityof the individual along woth hisname and picture, Sharmaescaped from all possible hide-outs in the distroct. The news

from ICMR that acorona virus carriercould infect 406 per-sons over a period of30 days made thepolice release hisname and details. But

by the time the police consti-tuted seven teams to nabSharma, he managed to escapefrom Tamil Nadu itself.

A man-hunt is on zero ionon the youth, reported to be acatering diploma holder. NithinSharma is giving Tamil Nadupolice sleepless days and nights.It is feared that he could haveboarded some long distancetrucks and fled the state in his“Return To Delhi” mission.

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Even as the number of persons afflict-ed with coronavirus continues

unabated in Tamil Nadu, especially inChennai and Coimbatore, the officialssit back and look skywards in the hopeof a decrease in the spreading of the dis-ease.

While the Tamil Nadu Governmentis struggling hard to feed the poor whohave lost their livelihood because of thenational lock down, there are organi-zations in Chennai city which ensurethat the helpless and infirm are well fed.Leading the army of warriors who fightdisease and hunger in the metropolis isSri Guru Nanak Sat Sangh SabhaGurudwara Saheb in T-Nagar, the maincommercial center in Chennai.

The Gurudwara Saheb feeds morethan 500 persons in the city through theoffice of Chennai MunicipalCorporation. Thrice daily, a mini truckowned by the Corporation could beseen coming to the Gurudwara for col-lecting the delicacies and nutritious foodprepared in the kitchen by experiencedhands. The menu include rotti, chap-pathi, vegetable curries, fried rice andlassi. Since the closure of eateries in thecity as part of the lock down, theGurudwara has started cooking veg-etable fried rice as well as sambar rice(staple food of Chennaites) to be servedamong the beneficiaries.

“We serve food free of cost for allthose who come to the Gurudwara forprayers. There is no limit to the num-ber of people who come here for wor-ship and we offer langhar to all.

Moreover we provide heavily sub-sidised accommodation for those whocome to Chennai for medical treat-ment,” said Amandeep Singh Kandhari,president, T-Nagar Gurudwara Saheb.

Even as the priests read from theGuru Granth Saheb and Bhai JoginderSingh Ji Rair’s mellifluous voice res-onates the atmosphere with “WaheGuru Naam..”, the Gurudwara staff (allvolunteers from the Sikh community inthe metropolis) are busy serving foodto the hundreds who have lined up inthe dining room. Sardar Kandhari andSardar Harbans Singh are ensuring thatthe diners maintain social distancespecified by medical experts.

Prof Poojappura Krishnan Nair, lit-

erary icon from Kerala, stands withcurious eyes watching the goings on inthe Gurudwara. “This is the real serviceto God Almighty and humanity . Ourscriptures mention that AnnadaanamMahaadaanam ( Offering of food to theneedy is the biggest service). You get adivine feeling here because of Gurbaniand the serving of food,” said Prof Nairwho is of the view that there never canbe an India without the turbaned Sikhcommunity.

Sam Rajappa, veteran journalist ,says that Gurudwara and Sikh com-munity members were always in theforefront with their helping handswhenever Chennai or Tamil Nadu wasstruck by disasters. “I myself was res-

cued and rehabilitated by the Silkh com-munity during the 2015 floods that dev-astated Chennai. I stayed at theGurunanak College for almost a fort-night and the Gurudwra officials lookedafter us nicely. Ill never forget thosedays. We always pray that all districtsin Tamil Nadu should haveGurudwaras,” said Sam.

Dr S Kalyanaraman, director,Saraswathi Research Centre, said thatservice and sacrifice are the hallmarksof the Sikh community. “They contin-ue to do it generations after generations.The service they do to the society isunique and serene,” he said.

Sardar Kandhari and members ofthe Sikh community observed Baisakhi,the day Shree Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the10th Guru of the Sikhs laid the foun-dation of Panth Khalsa on Monday. “Forus it is Thanksgiving Day -thankingGod for the abundant harvest and alsopraying for future prosperity,” saidKandhari. “

“Let the Sikhs prosper so that theywould guard us from all kinds ofattacks, attacks from across the bordersas well as invasion by species likecorona virus,” said Prof Nair. TheAryan Sikhs helping the DravidianTamils! All one could tell about thegoings on in Gurudwara Saheb is“Wahe Guru.. Wahe Guru..”

Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh):A new born boy in UttarPradesh's Saharanpur districthas been named 'Sanitiser'.

His father Omvir Singh,resident of Vijay Vihar, said hehad named his son 'Sanitizer'because it had the capacity tofight against the coronavirus.

"Whenever people will talkof Corona, they will rememberthat it was Sanitizer that savedthem."

Sanitizer was born onSunday in a hospital and hismother Monika said that assoon as her husbandannounced that his son wouldbe named 'Sanitizer, all medicalstaff started smiling.

The couple has asked allrelatives and family membersto wait for the lockdown to belifted before they celebrate thebaby's coming.

A baby girl born inGorakhpur on the day of JanataCurfew has been named'Corona', while a boy born aweek later in Deoria district ofthe state has been named'Lockdown'. In Rampur, a new-born boy has been named'Covid'. IANS

Guwahati: Most of the 30 Covid-19patients in Assam are recovering andtheir discharge from hospitals isexpected to start on Wednesday.

"Most patients, earlier infected bynCoV, are either stable or good. Ifeverything remains fine, their dis-charge is likely to start from April 15,"said Assam Health and Family WelfareMinister Himanta Biswa Sarma, hereon Monday.

Addressing the media, he said, "Ofthe 3,209 swab samples collected,3,070 were found negative. Of the 1,421samples of Tablighi Jamaat meet par-ticipants, 29 tested positive and 1,358negative. Test report of 34 samples areawaited."

Two more coronavirus cases - a 35-year-old man from Assam and a 33-year-old man from Nagaland -- werereported in Assam on Monday.

The Minister said a person fromDhubri (western Assam), linked with

the Tablighi Jamaat meet atNizamuddin Markaz (in Delhi), hasbeen found coronavirus positive.

A private hospital in Dimapur(Nagaland) referred a patient to theGMCH (Guwahati Medical Collegeand Hospital). He tested positive andwas undergoing treatment at theGMCH, he said.

The man from Nagaland had trav-elled from Kolkata to Dimapur onMarch 24 and when he developedsymptoms of nCoV, he was shifted toGMCH on April 5.

Of the 37 positive cases in fivenortheastern states -- Assam (31),Manipur (2), Tripura (2), Mizoram (1)and Arunachal Pradesh (1) -- 30 hadattended the Jamaat meet.

According to the Assam Minister,the state reported its first coronavirusdeath in Hailakandi district on April10. The Covid-19 death in Assam wasalso the first in the northeast. IANS

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Amid reports of new corona infec-tions in some medical facilities

leading to partial shutting down ofat least two more hospitals, includ-ing the Calcutta Medical CollegeHospital, in Kolkata the CentralGovernment has dashed off yetanother letter to the StateGovernment asking it to imposelockdown restriction in proper man-ner.

The letter, third in row from theUnion Home Ministry has ‘request-ed” the State to “take necessaryaction in order to ensure strictadherence to lockdown measures.District authorities and field agenciesmay accordingly be directed so as toprevent any such recurrence infuture,” State officials said.

Pointing out deficiencies towards“strict adherence” of the lockdownmeasures the letter has said how therelarge assemblies of people werebeing allowed “in establishmentsdispensing essential commodities.”

The MHA has also referred toreports of how “shops dealing withnon-essential commodities wereallowed to remain open in Siliguri.”It has further pointed out how “thelockdown was violated in somemosques in Murshidabad district.”

While the latest letter sent by aDeputy Secretary to Bengal ChiefSecretary and Director General ofPolice was summarily dismissed asa “routine exchange,” Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee had on Saturdayreacted sharply saying “you all knowby mentioning the areas where thelockdown is allegedly not beingimplemented properly Delhi wants topinpoint a particular group of pop-ulation … But I want to tell them thatwe are fighting against a deadly virusand not a communal virus. I will notallow any communal politics here.”

The letter comes amid reportsthat the State Government was strict-ly implementing the wearing ofmasks, particularly in Kolkata. Thecitizens who were seen movingaround without masks were either

sent back home or forced to purchasemasks from medical shops sourcessaid.

Meanwhile, two medical facilitiesincluding the Gynaecology depart-ment of the Calcutta Medical CollegeHospital and the Charnock Hospitalwere closed down following report ofcorona infection among somepatients, sources said. At least 50 doc-tors and nursing staff of the stateddepartment have been sent to quar-antine sources said.

Earlier two nursing homes atPark Circus and some departmentsof RG Kar Medical College andNRS College were closed down andtheir medical staff were sent to com-pulsory quarantine following reportsof corona infections.

The latest infections took thetotal number of corona cases inBengal to 122, sources said adding 7patients had died due the disease --- with two deaths reported in last 24hours. Health Department sourcessaid there were “95 active coronacases in Bengal as of now.”

Lucknow: Ramakrishna, acorona warrior, who was laud-ed by Congress GeneralSecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra for leaving his home inTelangana to help in coronatesting in Lucknow, has nowadmitted that he even lied tohis parents to return toLucknow.

The Ph.D scholar in the

microbiology department ofLucknow's King GeorgeMedical University (KGMU)said he was helping his parentsin agricultural operations intheir fields in their village inKhammam district when hereceived a call from DoctorAmita Jain, who is the head ofthe department of microbiology. IANS

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Two suspected terrorists attacked a patrollingparty, stationed at Tander police picket

under the jurisdiction of Dacchan police sta-tion of Kishtwar district, with axes and fled awaywith their service weapons after killing one ofthem on the spot and seriously injuring otheron Monday.

The injured SPO was evacuated by thejawans of the nearby police post and airliftedto Government Medical college hospital inJammu where he was undergoing treatment tillthe time of filing the report. Meanwhile, thejoint teams of the Special Operations group ofKishtwar police and Army have launchedmassive manhunt in the area to track down theassailants. According to official sources, one ofthe suspected terrorist, facing charges of rape,was released on bail barely 20 days ago.

Inspector General of Police, Jammu range,Mukesh Singh also rushed to Kishtwar to supervise the ongoing operations.

Sharing details of the gruesome attack,police spokesman in a statement said, "at around1.30 p.m police picket Tander Kishtwar report-ed that two assailants attacked two SPOs

namely Pashid Iqbal and Vishal at some distance(about 200/300 metres) from the post TanderDachhan with axes and seriously injured bothof them".

Out of these two, SPO Pashid Iqbal suc-cumbed to his injuries while SPO Vishal Singhwas airlifted to GMC, Jammu.

According to police, both the SPO's hadgone to the upper area of Tander for patrolling.The assailants have been identified as BasharatHussain S/O Gh. Qadir Gainoo and AshiqHussain S/O Bashir Ahmed both residents ofvillage Tander, Dachhan.

According to police, Ashiq Hussain wasinvolved in case FIR No 06/2018 U/S 363,376RPC of P/S Dachhan. He went out on bail 20days back. Former BJP Minister and ex MLA,Kishtwar Sunil Sharma visited GMC, Jammu tomeet injured SPO. Sharma told reporters, anattempt is being made since 2018 to revive mil-itancy in the region.

He said, after large number of active mili-tants, involved in killing of BJP leaders and RSSworker and his PSO were neutralised, severalactive OGW's have been making desperate bidsto revive militancy. He said it is for this reasonthe assailants involved in the attack on SPO'shave fled away with their service weapons.

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Atotal number of 25 cases ofCovid-19 were reported

from Kashmir division whileJammu region recorded zerocase in the last 24 hours,tak-ing the final tally of positivecases to 270 across the UnionTerritory of Jammu & Kashmiron Monday.

In Srinagar, two children,who had tested positive earli-er, were discharged fromJLNM Hospital RainawariSrinagar along with theirmother who was Covid-19Negative but was staying withher daughters.

The repeat samples ofboth the children and of themother came 'negative' forCovid-19 on Monday.

Spokesman of the Jammu& Kashmir Government,Rohit Kansal also tweeted ona happy note, "The brightspark - the number of recov-ered and discharged cases nowgoes up to 16. Tremendouseffort by the doctors and allsupport staff both at Jammu

and Srinagar "Even though the number

of positive cases have beensteadily increasing in the val-ley over the past 10 days thegovernment agencies arefocusing on contact tracing ofpositive cases and urging moreand more people to reporttheir travel history in order tobreak the chain.

Out of 270 Covid-19cases, 250 are active. 38 casesare active in Jammu and 212in Kashmir division. Srinagar,Bandipora and Baramulla dis-tricts have accounted for max-imum number of 70, 51 and 40cases so far in Kashmir valleywhile Jammu has reported 21cases and Udhampur 19 so far.

While four patients havedied in Jammu and Kashmir,one in Jammu and three inKashmir valley.

More than 53,000 peoplehave been kept under surveil-lance, including those whoare either in Governmentestablished quarantine facili-ties or in home quarantine.

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Dubbing IAS officerAmitabh Gupta’s decision

to give “safe passage” to scamaccused Wadhawan brothersand 21 other family membersto Mahabaleshwar amid lock-down period as a “conspiracy”to defame the MVAGovernment, the Shiv Senaon Tuesday said that Gupta hadbeen appointed by the StatePrincipal Secretary (Home) byformer chief minister andsenior BJP leader DevendraFadnavis.

Indirectly accusingFadnavis of behind the “con-spiracy” to malign the UddhavThackeray government, theShjiv Sena – in an editorialpublished its mouth-piece“Saamana” said: “The currentleader of the Opposition in theAssembly (Fadnavis) says thatGupta might not have giventravel permission toWadhavans on his own. Theremust be someone behind it..Why is he making all kind ofbaseless allegations?. TheWadhawan incident happened,when the entire Maharashtragovernment was pre-occupiedwith waging a war againstCoronavirus.

“The IAS officer, who gavethe ‘safe passage” toWadhawan, was reportedlyappointed in the Home depart-ment during the previousregime by Fadnavis himself. Bygiving special concessions tothe Wadhawans, the same IASofficer has tried to put the stategovernment in an embarrass-ing situation. That it wasFadnavis who had reportedlyhandpicked and appointed asPrincipal Secretary (Home)explains who must have beenbehind the IAS officer con-cerned who asked him to give

travel permission toWadhavans,” the Saamana edi-torial said.

“We are pretty sure that aconspiracy was hatched todefame MVA government. Ifthe state government were tohelp out Wadhawans, then whydid the Satara district officialsapprehend them and put themunder quarantine inMahabaleshwar? Why did theSatara district (in whichMahabaleshwar falls) ignorethe travel permission lettergiven by Gupta and act legallyagainst them?,” the editorialsaid.

“The Maharashtra govern-ment has sent Gupta on com-pulsory leave. Since he is anIndian Administrative Officer,it is for the Centre to initiatefurther action against Gupta.One should ask the Centre asto what action it will takeagainst Gupta and who wasactually prompted him to issueto travel permission to thePrincipal Secretary (Home),”the Saamana said.

It may be recalled that onApril 10, the Maharashtra gov-ernment sent PrincipalSecretary (Home) AmitabhGupta on ‘compulsory leave’ forallowing the scam-taintedWadhawan brothers and theirfamily members to travel fromKhandala to Mahabaleshwaron Wednesday during theongoing lockdown period.

The State governmentinstituted an inquiry againstGupta under Additional chiefSecretary (Finance) AdditionalChief Secretary Manoj Sonic italso registered an offence undersections 188, 269, 270, 34 ofIPC and section 51 (B)ofDisaster Management Act andsection 11 of MaharashtraCovid-19 Regulations”.

Twenty three members of

Wadhawan family weredetained by the police atPanchgani on Thursday nightwhile travelling in five carsfrom Khandala to another hillstation of Mahabaleswar inSatara district of westernMaharashtra. They were car-rying with them a “To whom-soever it may concern” issuedto them by Gupta on his per-sonal head, permitting theWadhawans and others to crossfrom Khandala in Pune toMahabaleshwar in Satara.

“This is to just inform youthat following are well knownto me as they are my familyfriends and travelling fromKhandala to Mahabaleshwarfor family emergency… Henceyou are here by informedthrough this letter to co-oper-ate with them to reach theirdestination,” Gupta’s letterread.

The Saamana editorial saidthat one hand the ordinarypeople were adhering to thelockdown norms and staying athome, while on the other therecould not be different set ofrules to the moneyed people.“This proves that the people arevigilant and the governmentmachinery is not corrupt. Ifanyone in the government isinvolved in the Wadhawan safepassage incident, they wouldhave stopped the Satara districtofficials from taking actionagainst the Wadhawans,” theeditorial said.

“The Uddhav Thackeraybelieves in the rule of law. Ittreats everyone equally. It doesnot differentiate between thepoor and the rich. The people( Fadnavis and other BJP lead-ers) who are speaking out nowwill shut their mouth, if onegoes into the details of the partyto which Wadhwans donatedmoney to.

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The Maharashtra Cyberpolice have arrested as

many as 37 persons and regis-tered as many as 183 casesagainst persons disseminatingfake news, rumours and hatespeeches relating to Covid-19over social media in the State.

Of the total cases, 176 arecognizable cases, while theremaining seven are for Non-cognizable offences.

“In all, there are 37 accusedare arrested. Of the totalaccused, 114 have been identi-fied,” Dr Balsing Rajput,

Superintendent of police(Cyber), Maharashtra CyberCell said .

“There has been a risingtrend in hate speech cases dur-ing the last few days. Of thetotal cases registered , 88 relateto hate speeches over socialmedia.

“We have issued take downNotices to all concerned plat-forms of social media. We haveso far removed 32 objectionableposts, Rajput said.

“During the last 24 hours,we have registered 6 cases invarious parts of the state,”Rajput added.

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With no let up in the con-tinued deaths and sub-

stantial number of infectedcases in Maharashtra, as manyas eleven persons died ofCovid-19 on Monday takingthe total number of deaths to160 and a record 352 otherstested positive in various partsof the State.

On a day when the totalnumber of infected cases rosefrom 1982 to 2334, Mumbaiaccounted for nine deaths,while one death was reportedfrom Malegaon and Pune.

Of the 11 deaths reportedon Monday, four were menand 7 women. Six of themwere aged over 60 years, while5 deceased were in the agegroup 40 to 60 years. “Eightout of these 11 patients (73%)had high-risk comorbiditiessuch as diabetes, hyperten-sion, asthma and heart disease,”the state medical bulletin said.

With 11 fresh deaths, thetotal number of deaths inMaharashtra has gone up to160.

The number deathsinMumbai has risen to 101.

Of total 352 infected casesreported on Monday, Mumbaiaccounted for 242, while therewere 39 cases from Pune.

“Out of 43,199 laboratorysamples, 39,089 were negativeand 2334 have been testedpositive for coronavirus untiltoday,” the bulletin said.

“ A total 4223 surveillancesquads were working todayacross the state and surveillanceof 15.93 lakh population was

done,” the bulletin said.In all, 229 patients have

been discharged till date afterfull recovery.

Meanwhile, the state healthauthorities said that they werecarrying out a thorough searchof citizens who had attendedthe religious gathering atBanglewali Masjid atNizamuddin last month wasunderway at the level of all dis-tricts and municipal corpora-tions.

Of the Tablighi Jamaatevent attendees, 755 have beentested and 50 have been foundto be positive for Covid-19

Meanwhile, theMaharashtra Government hasconstituted a Task Force ofSpecialist doctors to suggestmeasures to minimise deathrate and suggest measures forcritical management of Covid-19 patients particularly criti-cally ill patients and further totreat the patients in six desig-nated hospitals.

The six designated Covid-19 Critical Care Hospitals are:Dr Bulabhai Nanavati Hospital,St Georg Hospital, SaifeeHospital, Wockhardt Hospital,HHS Balasaheb ThackerayHospitgla and Seven HillHospitals.

The nine-member taskforce be headed by Dr SanjayOak. It will comprise doctorsfrom eight different hospitals.

Among other things, thetask force will establish Patients’management protocol and torecommend requirement ofspecialist doctors and healthcare support staff in the six des-ignated Covid-19 Critical CareHospitals.

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Some contours of the post-Coronavirus world are clearly visible.The nation State has regained legiti-macy; the case for free flow ofrefugees/immigrants across a border-

less world has collapsed; and Governmentsare facing the critical test of whether they canrally their people behind them to overcomethe disease. India has performed remarkablywell so far, though critics may carp that stepstaken in February and March could have beentaken earlier. Perhaps, or as MauriceMaeterlinck mused: “It is easy for those whoare wise after the event to see what ought tohave been done when time has brought fullknowledge of what was really taking place”(Wisdom and Destiny).

Doomsday accounts of Cassandras inreputed (sic) Western media and theiracolytes in India have proved demonstrablyfalse. India’s vibrant democracy and culturalgenerosity have created the synergy neededto face the challenges posed by COVID-19.Immediately after the lockdown wasannounced, civil society across the countryrose as one to daily feed millions in every city,without discrimination; virtually everymandir, matham, gurdwara is at work. Fivestar hotels, dharamsalas and guest houses areproviding quality accommodation for over-worked medical staff. Even migrant labour-ers, who were misguided to leave Delhi orpanicked and left other cities, have been pro-vided for by citizens along the route.

The Indian Railways imaginatively con-verted unused bogeys into quarantine facil-ities. Research labs, companies and youngengineers are innovating to make ventilators,splitters for ventilators, fumigation chambers,protective gear for medical staff, smartstethoscopes and sanitiser trunks. Householdsare making and distributing masks to theneedy. In Pakistan, NGOs are denying foodand rations to poor Hindus and Christianssuffering from Coronavirus, an act that hasangered even its Muslim neighbours. Longsuffering Balochistan complains of neglect;medical staff lack Personal ProtectiveEquipment (PPE) and quarantine facilities aredisgraceful. The silence of the hyperactiveinternational media is deafening.

What makes India’s response unique isthe Union Cabinet’s decision to reducesalary, allowances and pensions of allMembers of Parliament (MPs) by a whopping30 per cent for one year, with effect from April1, 2020. The President, Vice President andGovernors voluntarily took a similar pay cutas social responsibility. The MP Local AreaDevelopment Scheme (MPLADS) has beensuspended for two years (2020-21 and 2021-22); all money saved will go to theConsolidated Fund of India. This scale of per-sonal sacrifice is unmatched in the world sofar; even children have been inspired to givetheir savings (for bicycle, birthday) to feed theneedy.

Most noteworthy is the speed withwhich India evacuated its stranded citizens,

first from Wuhan (epicenter ofthe outbreak) and then fromother cities: Milan and Rome;Tehran; Manila and Singapore.Of the 890 people evacuatedfrom COVID-19-affected coun-tries, 48 hailed from the Maldives,Myanmar, Bangladesh, China,the US, Israel, Madagascar, SriLanka, Nepal, South Africa andPeru. They were evacuated at therequest of their Governments.

Special efforts were made torescue 124 people quarantined onboard the Diamond Princess, thecruise ship off the Japanese portof Yokohama, which includedfive nationals from Sri Lanka,Nepal, South Africa and Peru.India did offer to rescue Pakistanistudents from Wuhan butIslamabad rebuffed; sevenMaldivians were evacuated.

Prime Minister NarendraModi held a video conferencewith leaders of the South Asiannations and launched a fund,with an initial contribution of $10million, to check the spread of thepandemic in the region. Indiaalso responded to requests foremergency medical equipmentfrom Bhutan and the Maldives.The country also participated inthe G-20 video conference to dis-cuss containment strategies andthe economic impact of the out-break, especially unemployment.

Our country has alreadytaken the lead in the struggle todevelop a vaccine and on April11, the Department of Scienceand Technology agreed to fundSeagull BioSolutions Pvt Ltd todevelop Active Virosome Vaccineand Immunodiagnostic kits for

COVID-19. As the largest man-ufacturer of hydroxychloroquine(HCQ), currently considered alife-saving drug for fightingCoronavirus, India is supplyingit to 30 countries, including theUS, and ramping up productionfor future needs. However, theactive pharmaceutical ingredient(API) used to manufacture HCQcomes from China, which con-tinued supplies throughout thecrisis but in the coming days, wewill have to revisit our domesticmanufacturing strategy.

The anti-tuberculosis BCGvaccine is emerging as anotherpotential cure. India’s low deathrate is said to be due to its uni-versal immunisation schedulethat includes BCG and a fairamount of population immuni-ty to malaria. An ongoingresearch at the New York Instituteof Technology shows that coun-tries that discontinued the BCGvaccine (the US, Italy, Germany,Spain, France, Iran and the UK)have proved very vulnerable toCOVID-19.

Comparisons are undesir-able at this apocalyptic momentin human history but given theuncalled for attacks on India fromsome responsible quarters, somepoints are in order. India saw itsfirst case of Coronavirus in thelast week of January, around thesame time as Europe and the US.After initially claiming the diseasewould go away on its own, USPresident Donald Trump said onMarch 30 that administrationestimates show that COVID-19could kill 100,000 to 200,000 peo-ple in America and such a toll

would indicate that his adminis-tration has “done a very goodjob.” Imagine an Indian leadersaying such a death toll is accept-able and surviving. At the time ofwriting, the world had 1,853,327cases and 114,250 deaths; Indiahad 9,152 cases and 308 mortal-ities.

The pandemic has inflicteddeep pain, disrupting incomesof those dependent on dailywages, creating havoc amongsmall businesses and manufac-turing units and triggering massunemployment. Sadly, India islooking at an extension of thethree-week lockdown imposedon March 25 because thousandsgathered at the Tablighi JamaatMarkaz in Nizamuddin, Delhi,including 280 from Malaysia,Indonesia, Saudi Arabia andKyrgyzstan, to attend a meetingon March 13, defied prohibito-ry orders.

Many left and spread thedisease to other States and coun-tries. Police escorted some to theairport after the March 22 jana-ta curfew but they returned sur-reptitiously; the authorities werecalled only on March 30 afterone person died. Thereafter,the behaviour of many in hos-pital has been unmentionable.Yet, Indian medical staff haveserved them with exemplarydedication and moral fortitude;all talk of the “sectoral targettingof a particular community” isinvidious and deserves outrightcondemnation.

(The author is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal.)

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Sir — The Government has noother option than to listen toStates and save precious lives.Arrangements to provide medicalfacilities to those affected byCOVID-19 and supply of essen-tial commodities to other citizensare a must. Stopping the spreadof fake messages and frequentcommunication is needed usingprint and social media and otherreliable forms of information.

Varun DambalBengaluru

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Sir — It’s deeply concerning thatthe spraying of disinfectants onpeople through tunnels has beenordered in several locations tocontain the spread ofCoronavirus. The efficacy of suchtunnels is yet to be ascertained.Scientists and healthcare profes-sionals have opined that such dis-infection tunnels would create afalse sense of security and peoplemay be diverted from handwashto the tunnel.

The Kerala Sasthra SahithyaParishad (KSSP), a prominent sci-

ence body in the State, has arguedthat there is no scientific evidencefor the effectiveness of such tun-nels for disinfection. Even theWorld Health Organisation

(WHO) doesn’t recommend sodi-um hypochlorite or hydrogenperoxide, which are being used inthe disinfectant tunnel, for fumi-gation. People may get a false

impression that once they passthrough the tunnel, they are safeand cent per cent protected fromthe disease.

Healthcare departments and

other public agencies must takeurgent measures. The need is todesign non-contact COVID-19testing chambers, like the onesused in South Korea. This willfurther protect our frontlinersand assist the Health Ministry aswe move towards mass screeningof affected populations.

M Pradyu Kannur

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Sir — With the entire nationunder lockdown, our so-calledVIPs are all out, flouting allnorms of social distancing.Defaulters in the Yes Bank case,DHFL promoters Kapil Wadhwanand Dheeraj Wadhwan, accompa-nied by over 20 family members,secretly travelled toMahabaleshwar, allegedly usingtheir connections. TheGovernment must take strictaction and impose heavy penal-ties on such brazen violatorswithout differentiating between acommon man and a VIP.

Sucharita SahooVia email

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Once, when there was no electricity in a vil-lage in Odisha, there was a scramble toget batteries to generate power, so that the

whole community could watch its favourite tele-vision programme. No, it wasn’t Big Boss that thevillagers wanted to see. Neither was it any of thepopular serials or music and dance realityshows. It was Kalyani , a pioneering health pro-gramme broadcast by Doordarshan (DD) to raiseawareness about preventable ailments like malar-ia, tuberculosis, water-borne and tobacco-relat-ed diseases and iodine deficiency disorders. Theprogramme also featured episodes on leprosy,blindness, cancer, HIV/AIDS, sexual and repro-ductive health.

First broadcast in May 2002, Kalyani ran for10 years in nine States, making it the longest-run-ning health communication initiative not just inthe country but also globally. However, in April2012, this bi-weekly show was discontinued andreplaced by Swasth Bharat, a similar health pro-gramme. However, Swasth Bharat has not struckthe same chord with the people as Kalyani did.

At a time when healthcare-related informa-tion can mean the difference between life anddeath, Kalyani was a trailblazer in its communi-cation strategies. Even today, chloroquine tabletspromoted by the programme as a measure againstmalaria are better known as “Kalyani tablets” inmany villages in Madhya Pradesh, thanks to thepopularity of the programme and the awarenessit created on the mosquito-borne disease.

Though it may seem unbelievable butKalyani even garnered profits and TRPs equiv-alent to news programmes. It also won prestigiousinternational awards, including the GatesFoundation Award for malaria, Asian MediaInformation and Communication Centre (for thebest communication strategy on HIV/AIDS) andthe Rose d’Or, popularly known as the televisionOscars for its effective health communication.

A brainchild of DD’s DevelopmentCommunication Division (DCD), the pro-gramme was produced in partnership with theMinistry of Health and Family Welfare and theNational AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).Broadcast on Mondays and Thursdays from 6.30to 7 pm, the half-hour programme was strategi-cally broken into different segments to includequiz competitions, phone-ins, panel discus-sions with doctors as well as real life stories. Witha catchy title song composed by popular musiccomposers Jatin-Lalit, penned by eminent lyri-cist Naqsh Lyalpuri and sung by famed singerKavita Krishnamurty, the programme reachedout to thousands in the nine States wherehealth indicators were poor. These States includ-ed Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh (UP) and Uttarakhand.

In Kunra, a small village in Raipur districtof Chhattisgarh, a group of women were soinspired by Kalyani that they decided to gettogether to spread awareness in their village. Butthey didn’t know how to go about it. So theyapproached the producer of the programme whosuggested the idea of forming a “Kalyani club”that would carry forward and implementKalyani’s messages on health. Within four yearsof the institution of the club, awareness aboutHIV/AIDS became so widespread that evenschoolchildren in the village knew the differentmodes of transmission. The women dovetailedinformation on HIV/AIDS with information onother health programmes like diarrhoea, a

major childhood illness in the village(and State), malaria, tuberculosis andreproductive health problems.

But first the Kalyani club membersdiscussed these diseases among them-selves to ensure that they were well-informed about them. Then the womenwent from door-to-door to disseminateinformation about the diseases. Bypackaging information aboutHIV/AIDS with other infections, theywere able to bring down cases ofmalaria and reproductive tract infec-tions (RTI) and ensure special care forpregnant and lactating mothers.

When women of neighbouringvillages heard about how the club hadengendered development and improvedhealth indicators, they were galvanisedinto forming similar clubs of their own.Consequently, over 300 clubs, each witha membership of at least 25 women,were formed in 16 districts ofChhattisgarh.

The clubs became an integral partof the lives of women. According toUsha Bhasin, then DCD head, theobjective of forming Kalyani clubswas to give a platform to women, par-ticularly those who had never steppedout of their homes, to participate in theprocess of development. This way thegender component was also integratedin the communications strategy. It alsomeant dedicated partners in the fieldto keep hammering the health messageshome to ensure their sustainability andtotal recall. This is exactly what thewomen of the Kalyani clubs did in theirown innovative ways. One such noveltactic adopted by Sunita Vishwakarma,president of Kalyani club in villageRaveli in district Durg, was to get thehealth messages printed on the coverof ration cards. Her rationale was thatsince all club members were housewiveslike her and used ration cards, it wouldbe a simple and effective way of gettingeveryone in the house to see the mes-

sages. But Vishwakarma did not stop atration cards. Having heard on theKalyani programme that her districthad the highest prevalence of HIV inthe State, her club members knew theyhad to stop families from following thetraditional practice of tattooing. Theyknew it would be difficult but they wentdoor-to-door explaining how HIVcould be transmitted through unster-ilised needles used for tattooing. It tookseveral months and repeated visitsbefore the practice completely stopped.

Data showed that three years afterthe programme was launched, therewas rise in the percentage of womenwho had heard about AIDS as well asthose who knew condoms could reducechances of getting it. Additionally,more pregnant women began to availof facilities at hospitals for deliveries.This was a big change, as earlierwomen used cow dung water to inducelabour pain and give birth at home.

After the women of Kalyani clubsgot into action, this practice came downand the increase in institutional deliv-eries helped to reduce maternal mor-tality and infant mortality.

Although the entire credit for theseimprovements does not go to Kalyaniclubs, some part of it can be attributedto them. This was because at least onemember of the Kalyani club was amitanin (community health worker).This was an integral part of the strat-egy to enable these clubs to providehealth services. In villages where therewere no mitanins, the club selected onemember for training. This way theircredibility as well as skills increased.

The local woman sarpanch (head)and anganwadi (rural child care centre)workers also become members of theKalyani clubs and this added to theirclout.

Thousands of Kalyani clubs formedacross these nine States, where the pro-grammes were produced and broadcast,

strengthening the Kalyani programmesfurther.

It was the huge network of Kalyaniclubs that translated the words of theprogrammes into action and broughthealth and sanitation to these villages.Roads were swept by the community,ponds cleaned of garbage and even aprimary healthcare centre, that hadremained closed because it was in aNaxal-infested area of Jharkhand,reopened.

In village Kandarka, Kalyani clubmembers were seen as equivalent tomedical doctors. When 24-year-oldDeepmala was in a dilemma whetherto ask her husband to use condoms ornot, she sought the advice of Kalyaniclub members. Dhaneshwari Thakur,21, an agricultural labourer in Ravelivillage said that if it wasn’t for the per-sistence of Kalyani club members whoensured timely vaccinations duringhis wife’s second pregnancy, she maynot have been able to deliver a healthychild. In fact, several newborn girls werechristened Kalyani and as the namedenotes, they were seen as a blessing ora benediction.

During the time the 3,000 Kalyaniclubs were active in the nine States, thepercentage of fully immunised childrendoubled. The number of children(under three years) breast-fed withinone hour of birth also registered anincrease. In a country where pneumo-nia, diarrhoea and low birth weight killhundreds of children every day,informed Kalyani clubs were able tomake a difference thanks to the wellthought out messages shared by thehealth programme.

Their success also underlined theimportance of putting people at the cen-tre of health communications andengaging their active participation andownership, something which is lackingin the present milieu.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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Has the Coronavirus pandem-ic altered Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s style of

functioning? It certainly looks likeit. This is because Modi knows thatdealing with the pandemic is notonly a test of his leadership but alsoif he succeeds, it will be his legacy,which will be remembered for long.

Hence, the Prime Minister, whotill now was known for being a hardtaskmaster and for doing his ownthing at the risk of offending the

Opposition and the people of thecountry alike (demonetisation andthe abrogation of Article 370 in theerstwhile State of Jammu andKashmir) has shown his softer sideto the citizens of late.

He has donned the mantle of thehead of a family, a firm yet caringfather who must take some toughdecisions to lead his family of 1.3 bil-lion through difficult times.

He has been apologetic for theinconvenience and hardship causedto the people during the nationwidelockdown, even though his has beena delayed response to the pandem-ic and the shutdown was a “just intime” decision despite Congressleader Rahul Gandhi stressing on theneed for it many weeks ago.

He has long-last shown a teamspirit in dealing with the ChiefMinisters (CMs) of the States, irre-spective of whether they are BJP-ruled or not. What is even more sur-prising is the fact that the Prime

Minister (who has often been per-ceived to be unfriendly to the media,particularly those who criticise theGovernment) has of late taken toappreciating the media for their rolein disseminating information on theCoronavirus and the nation’s initia-tives. For the first time perhaps,Modi also sought the support of themedia and briefed the top editorsand media barons on the measurestaken by his Government.

Modi has even been taking theleaders of the Opposition into con-fidence before and after announcingdifficult decisions, which is far-removed from his usual style of func-tioning. Even his oratory shows apersuasive tone.

From January onwards, eversince it became apparent that Indiawas not to be spared the scourge ofCOVID-19, the Prime Minister hasheld several rounds of meetings anddiscussions with various stakehold-ers in order to find ways and means

to fight the pandemic. The first thinghe did was to work out a strategy.First he eased the people into a one-day curfew to get them used to theconcept. When that turned out to bea success by and large, he announcedthe 21-day lockdown. He imposedit with apologies and addressed thepeople thrice in a short span toimpress upon them the fact that thenation has to make sacrifices to savethe lives of people. Then came thetricky issue of continuing the lock-down for another two weeks, as mostCMs wanted it and there was also thequestion of getting the cooperationof the CMs who didn’t. After all,health is a State subject and withouttheir unstinted cooperation,Coronavirus cannot be tackled.Though Modi had advocated coop-erative federalism and competitivefederalism in the last six years it wasnot practised in earnest, as mostly allnon–BJP ruled States accused theCentre of playing politics. There had

not been too many meetings withthe CMs in the last six years, too. Sotaking them all on board was vital.He had three meetings with CMs onthe strategy and also lockdown exit,trying to emerge as a team leaderand a consensus-builder.

Modi, on his part, praised differ-ent States for their handling of thesituation and extensive teamwork. Totheir credit, the CMs, too, under-stood the nature of the crisis and theneed to show their leadership in theirStates. Now, as they ask for morefunds to tackle the virus, it remainsto be seen how Central funds will bedistributed.

Earlier, Modi never showedmuch inclination to deal with theOpposition either in Parliament oroutside. The Opposition, too, wasdivided and weak, with the mainparty the Congress facing a leader-ship crisis. Despite that, in a rare ges-ture Modi showed maturity in tak-ing them into confidence and briefed

them on the measures taken by theGovernment and also sought theirviews for ways to end the lockdownsafely.

The Opposition, including theCongress, did rise to the occasionand give support but there wasmuted criticism on the plight of themigrant labourers the need forfinancial relief to the affected and soon. Modi even roped in religiousleaders in the fight againstCoronavirus and asked the CMs toconvene a meeting of religious lead-ers and ask them to convince theirfollowers to follow the Government’sguidelines.

On the global level, Modirevived the SAARC and establishedhis leadership in the region and othermembers, too, had to come onboard, including Pakistan.

Now the crisis is entering a dif-ficult period. The coming monthswill be a testing time. There issome exit plan but the real problem

is livelihood and the sliding econo-my. The poor need basics like food,clothing and shelter and this iswhere the Government should deliv-er in the coming days. Millions ofjobs need to be generated. With anexpected huge slide in the global andIndian economy, funds need to beinjected without any delay. It is notenough just to disburse money toStates. Modi must also ensure thatthey deliver.

For Modi and the CMs, the pre-sent crisis is both a challenge and anopportunity. The country has to bat-tle the worst-ever pandemic. Modihas underlined during his virtualmeeting with the CMs that theGovernment’s earlier stand of “jaanhai to jahaan hai (life is everything)”has now changed to “jaan bhi,jahaan bhi (life and everything withit.” This should indeed become thegoal.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist)

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Kepuh: Kepuh village inIndonesia has been haunted byghosts recently - mysteriouswhite figures jumping out atunsuspecting passersby, thengliding off under a full-moonsky. The village on Java islandhas deployed a cast of “ghosts”to patrol the streets, hoping thatage-old superstition will keeppeople indoors and safely awayfrom the coronavirus.

“We wanted to be differentand create a deterrent effectbecause ‘pocong’ are spookyand scary,” said AnjarPancaningtyas, head of a villageyouth group that coordinatedwith the police on the uncon-ventional initiative to promotesocial distancing as the coron-

avirus spreads.Known as “pocong”, the

ghostly figures are typicallywrapped in white shrouds withpowdered faces and kohl-rimmed eyes. In Indonesianfolklore they represent thetrapped souls of the dead.

But when they first startedappearing this month they hadthe opposite effect. Instead ofkeeping people in they boughtthem out to catch a glimpse ofthe apparitions.

The organisers have sincechanged tack, launching sur-prise pocong patrols, with vil-lage volunteers playing the partof the ghosts.

President Joko Widodo hasresisted a national lockdown to

curb the coronavirus, insteadurging people to practise socialdistancing and good hygiene.

But with the highest rate ofcoronavirus deaths in Asiaafter China, some communi-ties, such as Kepuh village, havedecided to take measures intotheir own hands, imposing theghostly patrols, lockdowns andrestricting movement in andout of their village. “Residentsstill lack awareness about howto curb the spread of COVID-19 disease,” said village headPriyadi, “They want to live likenormal so it is very difficult forthem to follow the instructionto stay at home.”

There are now 4,241 con-firmed cases of the coron-

avirus in Indonesia, and 373deaths, with fears the numberswill rise significantly.

Researchers at theUniversity of Indonesia esti-mate there could be 140,000deaths and 1.5 million cases byMay without tougher curbson movement. When Reutersrecently visited Kepuh village,the supernatural strategyseemed to be working, with vil-lagers running off in frightwhen the ghosts materialised.

“Since the pocongappeared, parents and chil-dren have not left their homes,”said resident Karno Supadmo,“And people will not gather orstay on the streets after eveningprayers.” Agency

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The worldwide death tollfrom the novel coronavirus

pandemic rose to 1,17,726 onMonday. More than 1,897,306declared cases have been reg-istered in 193 countries and ter-ritories of which 438,212 havebeen recovered. Many coun-tries are testing only the mostserious cases.

COVID-19 MOREDEADLIER THAN H1N1: WHO

The World HealthOrganization (WHO) said onMonday that the novel coron-avirus is 10 times more dead-ly than swine flu, also calledH1N1, which caused a globalpandemic in 2009, calling forcontrol measures to be lifted“slowly”.

“We know that Covid-19spreads fast, and we know thatit is deadly, 10 times moredeadly than the 2009 flu pan-demic,” WHO chief TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus told avirtual briefing from Geneva.

NEW YORK TOLL ABOVE 10,000In the United States, now

the epicentre of the pandemic,the death toll stands at 22,948with 5,57,590 infections. Atleast 41,831 patients haverecovered.

New York’s death toll fromcoronavirus topped 10,000,with hospitals still seeing 2,000new patients a day, Gov.Andrew Cuomo said Monday.The state tallied 671 new deathson Sunday. It was the first timein a week the daily toll dippedbelow 700. Still, the governornoted people are still dying ata “horrific level of pain and griefand sorrow.” “This virus is verygood at what it does. It is akiller,” Cuomo said during astate Capitol news briefing.

Cuomo said almost 2,000people were newly hospitalizedwith the virus Sunday, thoughonce discharges and deaths areaccounted for, the number ofpeople hospitalized has flat-tened to just under 19,000. Thegovernor said the state’s tenuousprogress will likely continue as

long as people continue to fol-low stay-at-home restrictions.

“The worst can be over,and it is over unless we dosomething reckless,” Cuomosaid. “And you can turn thosenumbers on two or three daysof reckless behavior.”

Meanwhile, New York Cityis in danger of running out ofswabs for COVID-19 tests andis urging medical providers tocontinue testing only patientswho are gravely ill, the cityhealth department said in amemo to health care providers.

ITALY’S VIRUS DEATHTOLL TOPS 20,000

Italy’s death toll from thenovel coronavirus topped20,000 on Monday but itsnumber of critically ill patientsdropped for the tenth succes-sive day as its rate of infectionsslowed.

The 566 new deathsreported by the civil protectionservice takes Italy’s fatalitiestotal to 20,465 — officially sec-ond in the world behind theUnited States.

DEATH TOLL IN BRITAINRISES ABOVE 11,000

The death toll in Britainfrom coronavirus has risen to11,329, according to health min-istry figures published onMonday — an increase of 717 onthe previous day’s figures. Thedaily increase is the lowest forseveral days, although it is notunusual for numbers to dropafter a weekend due to delays incollating data. The numbersonly refer to deaths in hospital.

SPAIN DEATH TOLLFALLS AS SOME SECTORS

GO BACK TO WORK

Workers in Spain’s con-struction and manufacturingsectors cautiously returned towork Monday as the dailydeath toll resumed its down-ward trend and new infec-tions fell to the lowest level inthree weeks.

Spain is one of the worst-hit countries in the world, andsaw the daily death rate fall forthree consecutive days lastweek, only to rise again onSunday.

But on Monday it fell again,with 517 deaths in 24 hours,putting the overall death toll at17,489 with the number of

cases now standing at 169,496.

IRAN REPORTS 111 VIRUS DEATHS

Iran’s Health Ministry onMonday reported another 111deaths from the novel coron-avirus, taking the official over-all toll in the worst-hit MiddleEast country to 4,585. Ministryspokesman KianoushJahanpour said 1,617 newinfections took the total num-ber of cases in the country’soutbreak to 73,303, of whom45,983 had recovered.

GERMANY MOVING TOWARDS

GRADUAL REOPENINGAS VIRUS CASES DROPSGermany is moving

towards a progressive lifting ofrestrictions linked to the coro-navirus outbreak as new infec-tions fall and the number ofdeaths remains far below itsEuropean neighbours.

The nation’s Academy ofSciences Leopoldina recom-mended on Monday a gradualrelaxing of restrictions in stages if new infections sta-bilise at a low level and personalhygiene measures to avoidspread of the coronavirus aremaintained.

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Perhaps the best that can besaid about a “stay home”

tweet from Japanese PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe is that it’sgiven bored copycats sitting athome waiting out the coron-avirus ample inspiration.

It apparently rubbed manypeople frustrated by Abe’s han-dling of the crisis the wrong way.Abe, like US President DonaldTrump, has faced accusations hismoves to counter the coron-avirus were too little, too late.Until late March, Abe’s admin-istration was still insisting theTokyo Olympics would go aheadas planned in July. It’s now beenpostponed until July 2021.

Abe declared a month-long state of emergency inTokyo and six other prefecturesdeemed at highest risk of anexplosion of coronavirus infec-tions just last Tuesday. The gov-ernment asked people in thoseareas — later expanded to all ofJapan — to stay at home.

But the “stay home” mes-

sage has incensed many whonote that most Japanese cannotremain at home because thegovernment’s social distanc-ing policy is voluntary anddoesn’t come with compensa-tion for cash-strapped workers.

The video posted onTwitter, on a split screenaccompanied by a guitar-play-ing popular singer, shows Abesitting at home looking bored.Abe reading a book. Abe cud-dling his dog, sipping from acup and flipping channels witha remote.

“You cannot see yourfriends or organise drinkingparties, but your actions aresurely saving many lives,” saysthe video’s written message.“Everyone please cooperate.”

The sight of Abe, heir to awealthy political dynasty, insuch genteel surroundings has-n’t resonated well with familiesbeing asked to stay cooped upin cramped apartments andwith workers still having tocommute, since many Japanesecompanies have been slow to

switch to remote work. Somepeople have lost their jobs orhad their salaries cut.

“An elegant tweet despite anational crisis,” blared a head-line in the Nikkan Sportstabloid. “Abe the aristocrat!!”

Many on Twitter mockedAbe with their own satiricalversions of his poses, includingone person who did so in thenude with “stay home” mes-sages written in marker on hisbare chest and tummy, his pri-vates camouflaged with propsincluding a Chinese lion dancehead he cuddled as if it was apet.

“Who does he think he is?”said one commentator. “He is so out of touch.”

“It was an extremely visu-al way of understanding theprime minister’s lack of aware-ness, and I’m just appalled,”tweeted Takanori Fujita, a pro-fessor at Seigakuin University who runs a non-profit support group for thehomeless, jobless or others infinancial difficulties.

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The World HealthOrganization said on

Monday that a safe and effec-tive vaccine would be neededto fully halt the spread ofCovid-19, which has killedmore than 114,000 peopleworldwide.

“Our global connectednessmeans the risk of re-introduc-tion and resurgence of Covid-19 will continue,” WHODirector-General TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus told avirtual briefing from Geneva,stressing that “ultimately, thedevelopment and delivery of asafe and effective vaccine willbe needed to fully interrupttransmission.”

Islamabad: The PakistanGovernment has delayed untilTuesday its decision whether toextend the nationwide lock-down or not, as the number ofthe novel coronavirus casesrose to 5,478 in the country.

Prime Minister Imran Khanon Monday chaired a meeting ofthe National CoordinationCommittee comprising chiefministers of all provinces andleader of Pakistan-occupiedKashmir, where he was briefedabout the situation in the coun-

try in the wake of the coron-avirus outbreak. Speaking to themedia after the meeting,Planning Minister Asad Umarsaid that the issue of lockdownwas discussed and it was decid-ed to have another meeting onTuesday. The government hadenforced a lockdown until April14 to curb the spread of thevirus.

Umar also said that it wasimportant to adopt the TTQstrategy — tracing, testing andquarantining. PTI

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China has imposed restric-tions on the publication of

academic research papers on theorigin of coronavirus, accordingto an American media reportamidst its public spat with USPresident Donald Trump forcalling it a “Chinese virus” andthe growing interest all over theworld about how and where thepandemic originated.

CNN reported on Mondaythat two Chinese universitiespublished on their websitesthe central government direc-tive stating that under the newpolicy, all academic papers onCovid-19 will be subject toextra vetting before being sub-mitted for publication.

Studies on the origin of thevirus will receive extra scruti-ny and must be approved bycentral government officials,according to the online posts

on Fudan University inShanghai and China Universityof Geoscience in Wuhan whichwere subsequently deleted fol-lowing inquiries, according tothe American news network.

After containing coron-avirus in its epicentre, Wuhan,where the virus first reportedin December last year, Chinahas firmly opposed to Trumpcalling Covid-19 as “Chinesevirus” and “Wuhan virus”, say-ing such allegations amountedto stigmatising the country.

On April 9, ChineseForeign Ministry spokesmanZhao Lijian, while replying to

allegations of cover-up by USSecretary of State MikePompeo, said: “China was thefirst country to report Covid-19 to the World HealthOrganization (WHO) thatdoesn’t mean the virus origi-nated from Wuhan”.

“Epidemic may break outfirst anywhere in the world. Butits origin is a matter of scienceand we should leave it to sci-ence and medical community,”Zhao who earlier created astorm by alleging in a tweet onMarch 12 that US army mayhave brought the virus toWuhan leading to a diplomat-

ic protest by Washington.Initial reports said the virus

reported to have originatedfrom the Hunan SeafoodMarket in Wuhan where liveanimals are sold. It was subse-quently shut down and has notbeen re-opened so far.

The US has accused Chinaof delayed action resulting inthe pandemic spreading toother countries, an allegationBeijing vehemently refuted,asserting it was working withthe international community inan “open and highly responsi-ble manner” to contain theglobal crisis. About the newrestrictions on the publicationof research studies on the coro-navirus origin, CNN quoted aChinese researcher who spokeon condition of anonymity assaying that the move was aworrying development thatwould likely obstruct importantscientific research.

Washington: President DonaldTrump asserted on Mondaythat he is the ultimate decision-maker for determining howand when to relax the nation’ssocial distancing guidelines ashe grows anxious to reopen thecoronavirus-stricken countryas soon as possible.

Governors and local lead-ers, who have institutedmandatory restrictions that

have the force of law, haveexpressed concern that Trump’splan to restore normalcy willcost lives and extend the dura-tion of the outbreak.

Trump has pushed toreopen the economy, which hasplummeted as businesses haveshuttered, leaving millions ofpeople out of work and strug-gling to obtain basic com-modities. AP

Moscow: President VladimirPutin says Russia is facing asurge in the number of seri-ously ill Covid-19 patients andneeds to prepare for the worst-case scenarios.

Putin told officials duringa conference call that theyshould be ready to move med-ical personnel and equipmentbetween regions to respond tothe rapidly changing situation.

He said the preparations

must anticipate “any possiblescenarios, including the mostdifficult and extraordinary.”

Putin ordered officials torecruit additional personnelfrom universities and medicalschools.

Russia had recorded 18,328coronavirus cases and 148deaths, as of Monday. Moscowand its surrounding regionaccounted for about two-thirdsof all cases. AFP

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The total number of vehiclessold (wholesale) in India

between April 2019 and March2019 stood at 21.55 million, asagainst 26.27 million in thesame period the previous year,a decline of 17.76 per cent.

While the numbers forMarch 2020 are horrendous,this was on expected lines asmany showrooms for all sortsof vehicles had shut their doorsby the end of the first week ofthe month. And with factoriesshutting down a few days aheadof the nationwide lockdown,production tumbled as well.

The country’s largest car-maker, Maruti-Suzuki IndiaLimited saw production downto 91,602 vehicles, a decline of32.27 per cent in March 2020compared to the same monthlast year, but domestic salesdropped 45.98 per cent to78,344 units.

Across the board the num-bers were terrible for the indus-try, and of all the larger manu-facturers only Hyundai MotorIndia could claim that they didnot have as bad a year as the oth-ers, with annual domestic whole-sales declining just 10.99 per centto 485,309 cars and the Koreanmanufacturer could even claimthat they might have ended theyear even as sales of the second-generation Creta launched just

before the lockdown got stalledby recent events.

At the same time, newentrants such as Chinese man-ufacturer MG Motor couldclaim to have had a decent2019-20 with sales of 21,954units of their Hector SUV butthe real winner of the yearcould be seen as Korean man-ufacturer Kia which sold 84,903units of their Seltos SUV.

However, despite some suc-cess in the passenger vehiclessegment, the true bloodbathhappened in the commercialvehicles market. With the roll-out of new BS6 vehicles making

consumers question the need tobuy new trucks as well as theunintended consequence of theGoods and Services Tax (GST)leading to higher efficiencieswith existing fleets thanks tosmoother border crossings,made even smoother with thewidespread implementation ofthe FASTag at tollgates, sawcumulative commercial vehiclessales decline 28.75 per cent forthe year 2019-20 and sales forthe month of March collapsing 88 per cent.

The news for India’s largetwo-wheeler industry was alsodismal. Overall sales for the

year were down 17.76 per centat just 17,417,616 units andMarch 2020 was the first monthin almost a decade where totalunit wholesales were underone million motorcycles. Everylarge manufacturer felt thepinch of declining domesticsales. The only silver lining forthe entire Indian automotiveindustry was provided by the7.3 per cent rise in two-wheel-er exports from India to3,520,376 units on the back ofBajaj Auto which contributedover half the export volume.

Industry sources do notexpect sales to recover in 2020 after a dismal run of over18 months since the last quar-ter of 2018.

The Federation of AutoDealers Associations put togeth-er another appeal to the PrimeMinister with a list of demandsincluding a waiver of interest onloans during the lockdown peri-od as well as interest subvention.

They also demanded thatsince the virus attack was a‘health pandemic’ that theEmployees State InsuranceCorporation (ESIC) payemployees salaries. They alsomade some supply-side sug-gestions to boost demand in thewake of the pandemic such as a reduction of GST ratesfor cars, an extension of thedepreciation benefits and ascrapage policy.

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Market benchmarks Sensexand Nifty suffered heavy

losses in a volatile session onMonday as investors anxious-ly waited for an almost certainextension to the natiowidelockdown amid mountingCovid-19 cases.

The BSE gauge Sensexclosed 469.60 points or 1.51 percent lower at 30,0690.02, whilethe NSE benchmark Niftyended 118.05 points or 1.30 percent down at 8,993.85.

With the 21-day lockdownperiod ending, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will address thenation on Tuesday in which heis expected to announce a fur-ther extension in the spell.

Indian market will remainclosed on Tuesday forAmbedkar Jayanti. Comingback to Monday’s trade, Indianbourses also felt pressure ofsubdued global equities reelingunder the coronavirus crisis.

In the Sensex chart, BajajFinance was the top laggard,

plummetting over 10 percent, followed by M&M,Titan, Hero MotoCorp,ICICI Bank and TechMahindra.

On the other hand, L&T,Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank,UltraTech Cements andNTPC were among the gain-ers. Sensex heavyweightsHDFC twins fell as much as3.12 per cent, while RelianceIndustries shed 2.46 per cent.ICICI Bank dropped 3.44 percent.

Sectorally, BSE realty,consumer durables, finance,auto, bankex, energy andFMCG indices fell up to4.92 per cent.

In contrast, telecom,capital goods, industrials andmetal indices rallied up to 4.82per cent. In the broader mar-ket, BSE midcap and smallcapfell up to 0.93 per cent.

“In Spite of the hope thatinfections are peaking out inEurope, Indian markets closednegative with virus infectionsseen to be increasing in some

regions of India. The Indian mar-kets are awaiting the decision ofthe government regarding thecurrent lockdown. Governmentis expected to announce a planfor a staggered withdrawal fromthe lockdown,” said Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services.

Any continuation of the

lockdown in its currentform will put further pres-sure on economic growthand corporate earnings andwill have a negative impacton the markets, he added.

Meanwhile, partcipantswill be interested in con-sumer inflation data duelater in the day. Elsewherein Asia, bourses inShanghai, Tokyo and Seoulended significantly lower.

Stock exchanges inEurope remained closed for‘Easter Monday’.Meanwhile, the rupee set-tled for the day on a flatnote at 76.27 against the USdollar. Brent crude futures,the global oil benchmark,

fell 2.06 per cent to USD 30.83per barrel.

The commodity had ralliedearlier in the day after Opecproducers dominated by SaudiArabia and allies led by Russiathrashed out a compromisedeal on Sunday to cut produc-tion by nearly 10 million bar-rels per day from May.

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New Delhi: Retail inflationslowed to four-month low of5.91 per cent in March and cameback to the RBI’s comfort zone,mainly due to easing prices ofkitchen essentials like vegetables,eggs and meat. The retail infla-tion based on Consumer PriceIndex (CPI) was 6.58 per cent inFebruary 2020 and 2.86 per centin March 2019.

The inflation in the foodbasket was 8.76 per cent inMarch 2020, lower from 10.81per cent in the previous month,as per the CPI data released bythe National Statistical Office onMonday. The retail inflation,which is factored in by the RBIto arrive at its monetary policy,has been on decline since lastmonth. The previous low was5.54 per cent in November 2019.

The Government has askedthe RBI to restrict the inflationaround 4 per cent, with a mar-gin of 2 per cent on the eitherside. The retail inflation was rul-ing above 6 per cent since

December 2019. As per thedata, inflation in eggs was 5.56per cent during March as com-pared to 7.28 per cent in the pre-vious month. The rate of pricerise in vegetables was 18.63 percent as against 31.61 per cent inFebruary. The rate was alsoslower in fruit prices as well aspulses and related products.

However, the inflation inmilk and products was slightlyhigher in March over February.

The data also showed that infla-tion in fuel and light segmentwas marginally higher at 6.59 percent in March. This compareswith 6.36 per cent in February.

The NSO, in the Ministry ofStatistics and ProgrammeImplementation (MOSPI), saidprice data are collected fromselected 1,114 urban marketsand selected 1,181 villages by thefield operations division in a uni-form weekly roster. PTI

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New Delhi: The income taxdepartment on Monday saidemployees will have to informtheir employers about theirintention to opt for the newoptional tax regime to enablethe latter to deduct TDS whilepaying salaries.

The new income taxregime, announced in Budget,provide an option to individu-als and Hindu UndividedFamilies (HUFs) to be taxedatlower rates if they do not availspecified exemptions anddeductions, like house rentallowance (HRA), interest onhome loan, investments madeunder Section 80C, 80D and80CCD. Under this, totalincome up to �2.5 lakh will betax exempt.

A 5 per cent tax will belevied on total income between�2.5 lakh and �5 lakh, 10 percent on �5 lakh to �7.5 lakh, 15per cent on �7.5 lakh to �10lakh, 20 per cent on �10 lakh to �12.5 lakh, 25 percent on �12.5 lakh to �15 lakh,and 30 per cent on above �15lakh. PTI

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Banks and non-bankingfinancial companies

(NBFCs) may find it difficult toextend the Reserve Bank ofIndia’s moratorium on securi-tised loans under the currentform of agreements, accordingto a report by CARE Ratings.

Last month, the RBIannounced a relief packagethat included a three-monthmoratorium on payments of allterm loans outstanding as onMarch 1.

According to the report, inexisting securitisation transac-tions, the loans are not con-sidered to be the assets of theoriginator/servicer which maybe NBFCs or banks. “Hence,

the servicing NBFCs/ MFIs /banks would not be able toextend the moratorium to theunderlying loans in these secu-ritisation transactions unlessthey have obtained consentfrom the investors,” the ratingagency said in a report.

If the originators or ser-vicers extend the moratoriumto the borrowers of the under-lying loans in these securitisa-tion transactions without theprior approval of the investors,then it would be considered asa breach of contract, the reportsaid. Even the existing docu-mentation for these transac-tions does not envisage any such scenario of disruption in collections fromunderlying loans.

Chitranjan: The PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE)s— a specialised cover- all cloth-ing worn by medical profes-sionals for protection againsthealth & safety hazards — hasbeen developed in-house by theCLW to help Indian Railwaysand the nation to fight against#COVID-19.

The prototype of this hasbeen prepared and regular pro-duction to the extent of 200-

250 to start soon after obtain-ing the approved material.

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Top oil-producing countriesagreed on “historic” output

cuts to prop up prices ham-mered by the coronavirus cri-sis and a Russia-Saudi pricewar, sending crude prices soar-ing on Monday.

The US benchmark WTIclimbed 7.7 per cent to $24.52a barrel in early Asian tradewhile Brent was up 5.0 per centat $33.08.

OPEC producers domi-nated by Saudi Arabia andallies led by Russia thrashed outa compromise deal via video-conference Sunday after

Mexico had balked at an earli-er agreement struck on Friday.

In the compromise reachedSunday they agreed to a cut of9.7 million barrels per dayfrom May, according toMexican Energy Minister RocioNahle, down slightly from 10million barrels a day envi-sioned earlier. OPEC SecretaryGeneral Mohammad Barkindocalled the cuts “historic”.

“They are largest in volumeand the longest in duration, asthey are planned to last for twoyears,” he said. The agreementbetween the Vienna-basedOrganization of the PetroleumExporting Countries and part-

ners foresees deep output cutsin May and June followed by agradual reduction in cuts untilApril 2022.

Barkindo added that thedeal “paved the way for a glob-al alliance with the participa-tion of the G20”.

Saudi Energy MinisterPrince Abdulaziz bin Salman,who chaired the meetingtogether with his Russian andAlgerian counterparts, alsoconfirmed that the discussions“ended with consensus”.

US President DonaldTrump welcomed a “great dealfor all”, saying on Twitter itwould “save hundreds of thou-

sands of energy jobs in theUnited States”.

He added he “would like tothank and congratulate”Russian President VladimirPutin and Saudi Crown Princeand de facto leaderMohammed bin Salman, bothof whom he had spoken to.

The Kremlin confirmedthe joint phone call, adding thatPutin and Trump agreed on the“great importance” of the deal.

“This is good,” CanadianNatural Resources MinisterSeamus O’Regan tweeted. “Wewelcome any news that bringsstability to global oil markets.”Initial reticence from Mexico to

introduce output cuts had ledto a standoff that cast doubt on efforts to bolster oilprices, pushed to near two-decade lows.

Oil prices have slumpedsince the beginning of the yeardue to the Covid-19 pandem-ic that has sapped demand ascountries around the worldhave put their populationsunder lockdown.

Compounding the prob-lem, key players Russia andSaudi Arabia had engaged in aprice war, ramping up outputin a bid to hold on to marketshare and undercut US shaleproducers.

Hong Kong: Asia markets fellon Monday with investors cau-tious on news of an interna-tional deal to shore up oilprices and tentative signs ofprogress in efforts to combatthe coronavirus pandemic.

OPEC producers domi-nated by Saudi Arabia andallies led by Russia thrashed outa compromise deal on Sundayto cut production by nearly 10million barrels per day fromMay. Oil benchmarks surged inearly Asian trade, with WTIclimbing nearly eight per centand Brent up five per centbefore lunch.

The rally followed monthsof slumping prices after theCOVID-19 outbreak sappeddemand as countries aroundthe world have put their pop-ulations under lockdown.

A Saudi-Russian price waralso saw the ramping up of pro-duction as both countries bidto hold on to market share and undercut US shaleproducers.

OPEC Secretary GeneralMohammad Barkindo calledthe cuts “historic” in size butanalysts said the measures maynot go far enough to secure along-term rebound. PTI

Washington: Top global oil pro-ducers are considering cuttingproduction by 20 million barrelsper day under the terms of a dealto boost prices, US PresidentDonald Trump said on Monday.Trump, who took credit for bro-kering the deal, said the agree-ment was bigger than expectedand will help the energy indus-try recovery from the impact ofthe coronavirus pandemic.

“Having been involved inthe negotiations, to put it mild-ly, the number that OPEC+ islooking to cut is 20 MillionBarrels a day, not the 10 Millionthat is generally being report-ed,” Trump tweeted. AFP

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Actor Anushka Sharma hasalways raised her voice to

bring attention to issues per-taining to society at large andthis time she is urging peoplenot to discriminate againstpatients suffering fromCoronavirus. On a daily basis,cases of societal stigmatowards COVID-19patients and medicalprofessionals who aretreating them, areon the rise.

While somedoctors andhealthcare pro-fessionals havebeen stoppedto enter locali-ties in whichthey stay, othershave beenattacked for doingtheir job. Theactor is unhappyabout the lack ofe m p a t h yt o w a r d spatients andfrontline doc-tors who arerisking theirlives to savepeople.

She tookto socialmedia andvoiced her

concern on this issue thatneeds immediate attention.“Deeply disturbed readingsome reports about howCoronavirus patients and evensome medical professionals,who are in the frontline takingcare of such patients, are beingdiscriminated,” she said.

The actor wants allcitizens to exercise sen-

sitivity towardspatients and medicalprofessionals. Sheeven asked thenation to standshoulder to shoulderin times like this. “At

times like this, it isimportant that

we care foreach other

and areextremelysensitiveto the suf-fering ofo t h e r s .Let’s nottreat fel-low citi-zens withdisrespect

and stigma.It’s the time

to stay unitedand standunited,” shesays.

Amid the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, people from all

around the world are practicingsocial distancing and are trying tostay safe indoors. Everyone, includ-ing your friends and even yourfavourite celebrities are going liveon Instagram these days, and hereyou are wondering why it’s such adeal? Well, of course it is! InstagramLive is a great way to show your fol-lowers the real, authentic you andconnect with them like neverbefore. Interestingly, in India,Instagram Live views haveincreased more than 60 per cent.

So take the leap and go livesoon. But before you do that, makesure you know these tricks of thetrade to make your Insta liveengaging:

��#�������#��� ��Make sure your followers know

well in advance when you will begoing live, as it is important toincrease visibility. And with thecountdown sticker, you can ensurethey know very well when your liveis about to begin — a day inadvance, post a countdown stick-er letting your fans know when tocount down till the moment you golive.

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The worst thing that can happenduring your live is that you drop outmid-way, leaving viewers confusedand waiting for you to return. Toavoid this, make sure you test yourconnectivity in advance by doing arandom live, or ask a friend to tryit out for you to make sure every-thing’s ready for the session.

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While there will be a set of eagerfollowers who will be tuned in assoon as you begin, make sure youstay on for a while to also share yourmoment with those who didn’t tunein the moment you started. OnInstagram, you can go live for an

hour — so make sure you utiliseyour time to the fullest and reach asmany fans as you can.

H#�� ������Going live is a fun way to

engage with your fans in real timeand answer their questions inperson. Adding the questionssticker to your live is a cool way toengage with followers as youanswer them during the live. Ifyou don’t want to do that, youcould always do an AMA andsource the questions in advancevia the questions sticker in storiesand answer them during the live.

�� ����$� ����Inviting a friend, fellow

creator or celebrity on to your live

is a turn out to be a coolcollaboration. It is a great elementof surprise for the people whohave tuned in. Doing this willincrease your audience base andreach among a wider network.

������ ����������A live is all about being

natural and in the moment. Yourfans tune in because they want tosee and connect with the real you.So it’s important to prepare inadvance but always remember notto be overproduced. Be your ownunique, authentic and casual self,and hold the camera yourself soyour fans can see your face.There’s nothing like a dash of you,this will make your live totallyengaging.

Can traditional TV keep up in timesof digital world? This debate hasbeen raging ever since OTT chan-

nels cast the first stone and created wavesin the entertainment space. It not onlycatered to the millennials but also madethe adults in the house switch from typi-cal saas bahu dramas to some good con-tent with its taut storytelling and snazzyproduction. However, with most citizensconfined to their couches this April dueto the nationwide lockdown amidCoronavirus pandemic, there’s a lot moretime for the audience to watch television,binge on some new series or engage inmovie marathons everyday. Moreover,without live sports, viewers are looking forother engaging content to pass the time.And hence, the never-ending debate hasjust taken a U-turn.

Well, to match it up to the level of OTTand give the viewers something to hold onto during their time at home, theInformation and Broadcast Ministryemerged with an advisory to the DTH(direct-to-home) and cable operators tobroadcast the most-liked shows of the1990s. Some biggest examples being there-run of Ramayana, Circus, Mahabharata,Khichdi and Dekh Bhai Dekh onDoordarshan and Sarabhai vs Sarabhai onStar Plus. So who will win the war ofscreens this quarantine — TV or OTT?Here’s a look at the many factors that haveensured a stalemate — as of now.

HOW FIERCE IS THE COMPETITION?

A recent Nielson report indicated thatthe overall TV consumption has risen upto eight per cent over the past few weeks.However, OTT platforms still have anupper hand because if the TV viewershiphas gone up, the hours spent scrollingthrough smartphones have also seen asharp rise during the lockdown. Accordingto an industry survey, users are spending12 per cent more time on online stream-ing platforms during the lockdown(between March 20 to April 3) than theydid before.

Anirban Chaudhuri, associate profes-sor, Marketing, Great Lakes Institute ofManagement, Gurugram, says, “Globally,TV viewing has gone up and the genre thathas gained the most is TV news as peo-ple have been scouting for credible infor-mation and announcements in these tur-bulent times. In India, the overall TV view-ership in the second week of lockdowngrew up to 37 per cent compared to pre-lockdown period as reported by theBroadcast Audience Research Council(BARC).”

However, it is not just news but otherforms of entertainment too that have seena spike in viewership. Ferzad Palia, Head,Voot Select, Youth, Music and EnglishEntertainment, Viacom18, says, “India isa hybrid market with consumers for bothTV and OTT. During the lockdown, thetrend that we have observed is an increasedfamily viewership of both TV and OTTcontent for selective viewing and binge-watching though the latter certainly givesa more personalised experience. When itcomes to youth, time spent on both TVand OTT platforms has gone up, too.

Looking at the trend, content from differ-ent channels must be platform-agnostic,should speak their language and be avail-able to them at any time. And while lin-ear TV serves as a traditional medium forcontent consumption, many are nowsubscribing to OTT platforms due to itsflexibility across devices and a biggerlibrary to choose from. Well, content isking.”

This can be seen in the increase in thenumber of subscriptions of OTT plat-forms, which have seen a steady rise. AliHussein, CEO, Eros Now, says, “We havealso seen an increase in paid subscribersdaily over the past few weeks. We haveobserved a 78 per cent increase in dailytraffic on the platform. We recentlylaunched a global campaign, Eros Now#StaySafe, wherein consumers can accesstwo months free subscription of thechannel.”

Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5, recently saidthat the channel’s premium subscribershave gone up by 100 per cent — one of thereasons why it has also made a lot of itspremium content free so that customers

can stay calm and be entertained. He tolda national daily that just like demonetisa-tion made digital payments a hit, COVID-19 will be the turning point for digitalvideo consumption.

As per an industry report, viewers arespending 32 per cent more time watchingoriginal series on online platforms.Examples of some popular Indian origi-nals indicated Sacred Games and SHE onNetflix, and Special Ops on Hotstar as themost-watched shows during the lockdown.Anirban argues that even though originalson OTT are highly preferred, the “size ofthe library still remains a challenge.”

The report also indicated howDisney+Hotstar garnered approximately80 lakh paid subscribers in India withindays of its launch. The number of userswatching movies on platforms like Netflix,Amazon Prime Video and VOOT hasgone up by 56 per cent. For sports series,the number has declined by 98 per cent.

HOW MUCH ARE THE 90s SHOWS GAINING?

As per the data, the re-runs ofRamanand Sagar’s Ramayana (1980s)have garnered Doordarshan record-break-ing TRPs for the first time in threedecades. On an average, each of its episodehas seen 42.6 million tune-ins. Anirbansays, “As BARC reports, it garnered 51 mil-lion viewers on the Sunday evening of itsfirst week of comeback. Certainly, somenostalgia but it was the Navratri week inIndia. However, yes, for TV, re-run of oldcontent is the only way to keep connect-ed to its audience. But the chances of themgarnering viewership is based on the pastequity of these shows.”

Riding on the nostalgia bandwagon,DD became the most watched channel inIndia for week ended April 3, BARC said.The national broadcaster could achieve thefeat, which involved a nearly 40,000 percent jump in viewership in the evening andmorning bands.

Hussein points out that there are pre-defined audiences for different platformsbe it TV or OTT. He says, “Re-running of

some old TV classics is certainly a goodway but we believe that there are differentaudience sets that consume TV program-ming and other fence sitters who watch theOTT content.” Not observing any partic-ular bias, he adds that both platforms haveseen a significant growth in both viewer-ship and time spent in the last couple ofweeks.

Ferzad says, “The lockdown has result-ed in the emergence of many unfetteredtrends with nostalgia seeming to appealmore in television-viewing. Despite therebeing nearly limitless options across OTTplatforms, viewers are often drawn back toTV viewing with family. Some shows areperennial and have a universal appealacross age groups and genres. For instance,the 1990s’ sitcom Friends continues to beone of the best performing and highest-rated shows on Comedy Central, airing onthe channel even before the quarantine.”

WHAT ABOUT THEIR APPEALAMONG THE MILLENNIALS?

Despite favouring OTT platforms fortheir seamless and mobile-friendly access,millennials are also the most demandingwhen it comes to the content they con-sume, believes Ferzad. He adds,“Committing to a new show for them oftendepends on various factors like ensemblecast, reviews, concept, genre and more. Butdue to lockdown, they’re becoming moreopen to experimenting with shows, includ-ing re-runs. These shows trigger a nostal-gia that gives emotional comfort and alsofinds room for conversation among fam-ily members and on social media. Re-runsreignite many memories associated withthose shows among people who had seenthem as adolescents. The lockdown hasincreased the viewership of such shows andit is imperative to maintain a balancebetween not only content offerings but alsoplatforms as one of the key drivers to sus-tain. We have brought back our popularepisodes of some marquee properties likeRoadies, Splitsvilla X, Love School S3 andMTV Ace of Space S1 — some youth-cen-tric shows.”

Shashi Shekhar Vempati, chief execu-tive, Prasar Bharti, earlier pointed out thattoday’s internet generation has no mem-ory of Doordarshan. Since even youngergenerations have been watching the re-runsof Ramayana religiously during the lock-down, Vempati said, “This, in a way, is theproverbial first moment of truth for themto experience what DD used to be.”

INTERRUPTION OF ADS ON TV ABARRIER?

In this digital age, a viral video onsocial media could do more rounds thanan advertisement on TV. So what about adswhich interrupt TV shows every now andthen? Will they still be a barrier amid lock-down?

Ferzad says, “Only subscription-basedOTT services are ad-free, which is why it’sa growing market. Hence, consumers ofAVoD services are still served ads, makingthe experience similar to TV viewing. Thatbeing said, TV channels are airing ad-freemarathons of relevant and top-rated showsand movies on special days. ComedyCentral and Colors Infinity often airmarathons for some of the most enjoyedand fan favourite series guaranteeing non-stop entertainment to the audience.Currently, we are airing back-to-backepisodes of The Big Bang Theory, Mom,Superstore, Mike & Molly in the form of our‘Quaran-Binge’ bloc to entertain viewers.”

For Anirban, “General EntertainmentChannel (GEC) on TV and OTT is not an‘either’ or ‘or’ concept but clearly a case offlirting with both during this time of socialdistancing. And they do not mind inter-mittent ads running at a time where theinformation from any credible source iswelcome. ‘Brand speaks’ have become morepowerful to nudge change in behaviournow than ever before.”

Well, while OTT does rule in terms ofproviding new content to the viewers, TVpaves a way for them to revisit memoriesand have some conversations about the oldclassics at home.

Anushka disturbed by stigmaagainst Corona patients

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Liquor, cigarettes and othertobacco products like gutkha

and khaini may give you tempo-rary relief from stress during theCOVID-19 lockdown, but doc-tors say that giving in to suchtemptations may hit yourimmune system and increase thechances of getting infected withthe deadly pathogen.

Smoking is known to weak-en the body’s ability to respondeffectively to infections. Smokersmay also already have lung dis-ease or reduced lung capacitywhich would greatly increase therisk of serious illness.

The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) and theEuropean Centre for DiseaseControl and Prevention(ECDCP) have warned thatsmoking can expose people toserious complications fromCOVID-19 causing pneumoniawhich is different from the mostcommon cases that people areadmitted to hospitals for.

Cases of coronavirus pneu-monia tend to affect the lungs,instead of just small parts.

Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi,deputy director, Center ForCancer Epidemiology at TataMemorial Center in Mumbaicites the findings of a study pub-lished in the Chinese MedicalJournal which undertookresearch among patients affect-ed by the coronavirus.

“It found that those with ahistory of smoking were 14times more likely to developpneumonia than who did notsmoke at all,” he says.

He adds that early evidenceshows that the ACE2 geneexpression which the novelcoronavirus uses to infect cells,is significantly higher in smok-ers than in non-smokers, there-by suggesting a higher suscep-tibility among smokers.Therefore, the entire cellularalteration that happens becauseof chronic smoking predispos-es the body to infection and sub-sequent mortality.

The mode of transmissionof the COVID-19 infection isthrough the respiratory epithe-lium which is the lining of ourbreathing tract, explain experts.This breathing tract is lined bya certain barrier called the cil-iary epithelium which is knownto get damaged in chronicsmokers. “Now, when thisimmunological barrier is absent,the virus has a free entry into

body’s circulation leading toinfection and subsequent dam-age,” says Chaturvedi.

Yet another study of morethan 1,000 COVID-19 patientspublished in the New EnglandJournal of Medicine in February2020 found that smokers —both past and present — faredpoorly, with smokers compris-ing more than 25 per cent ofthose that needed mechanicalventilation, admission to anintensive care unit, or who died.

In fact health experts haveadvised the smokers to dump

the butt as this is the absolutebest time to quit smoking.

“Quitting during this pan-demic could not only save yourlife, but by preventing the needfor your treatment in a hospital,you might also save someoneelse’s life,” says Dr SmitaDeshpande, professor of thepsychiatry department of theDelhi-based RML hospital.

Doctors tells you that thevirus seems to attack the bodyby attaching to a binding recep-tor called angiotensin-convert-ing enzyme-2, or ACE-2.

Tobacco use may increase theexpression of ACE-2. That iswhy doctors and researchersspeculate that smokers maybecome infected with morecopies of the virus than otherpatients. Consuming alcoholtoo can be risky. The WHO haswarned that alcohol is anunhelpful coping strategy tocombat stress during lockdownwhich has been introduced byvarious countries worldwide tocontain the spread of theCoronavirus which has takentoll of over one million lives.

In fact experts as also theWHO have cautioned againstturning to alcohol to cope withthe coronavirus lockdown as itcan have severe implications onmental and physical health.

It recommends that peopleshould be minimising theunhelpful coping strategies.

Dr Aiysha Malik, technicalofficer for the WHO’s depart-ment of mental health, said: “Forpeople without addictions, usingsubstances will not help to man-

age the stress of self-isolation.They can make things worse.”

She said that the WHOwanted to ensure people lookafter their mental wellbeing byeating healthily, exercising andsleeping properly.

Dr Malik added: “Whenwe’re staying at home routinesare very important for creatinga sense of structure.

Experts also points out asWHO also mentions, peoplewho smoke are likely to touchtheir fingers to the lips and,therefore, the risk of transmis-sion from the fingers to themouth is high. Also, if a personalready has a smoking-relateddisease such as the ChronicObstructive Pulmonary Disease,then the chance of developingCovid-19 is also high say theexperts.

They assert the importanceof healthy habits such as eatinghealthy diet, getting regularsleep, managing anxiety, exercis-ing and strengthening one’simmune system.

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Researchers suggests that it is very important to keep your mouthhealthy as it has direct connection with our stomach and ulti-

mately with our full body. Oral problems can lead to a lot of dis-eases mainly heart diseases, cancer and Diabetes. Maintaining oralhealth is a fully fledged commitment and should be taken up ear-lier in life. The earlier you learn oral hygiene habit the better it willbe to fight against unwanted health issues and medical procedures.

To maintain the health of the mouth you need to do more thanjust regular squeezing of toothpaste, brushing your teeth and reduc-ing the consumption of soda and sugar. You need to take propercare of your mouth in order to gain appropriate results. Follow thesesmart actions to celebrate healthy smile lifelong.

Inter dental cleansing: It is important to do the inter dentalcleansing that is cleaning the in between area of the mouth to removeall the plague that is stuck in your teeth. This step is necessary toattain optimal oral health as cleaning this are will help you to clear40 percent of your tooth surface. As most of the tooth brush does

not access that area of the mouthyou can do this by using water-pik or floss.

Tongue cleaning: This isanother most important step tomaintain your oral hygiene.Tongue cleaning helps in remov-ing the biofilm that forms overyour tongue, due to bacteria. Itdulls the effectiveness of your tastebuds, not allowing you to fullytaste your meal. You need to scrapyour tongue gently to clean themicroorganism. Also, make anote not to clean it rigorously.

Replace your toothbrushfrequently: Our toothbrush is thefirst line of defence against all theunwanted bacteria in our mouth.Therefore, it is very important touse brush that help us to fightagainst them and clean themproperly. Soft bristle brush cleansall the bacteria and food that arecollected on the surface of ourteeth and tongue. It very impor-tant to brush your teeth twice a

day. Also, to support oral hygiene you need to change your tooth-brush about every three months as the bristles get frayed and arenot effective enough.

De snacking: To prevent good oral health, it’s important tounderstand what to eat and how often to consume it. The changein our mouth start as soon as we eat something. The bacteria thatare present in our mouth transform sugar and carbohydrate to acidand this transformed acid harms our oral health. Therefore, it isimportant to know when to consume food what like it's not badto consume sweet but it’s good to have it just after the food andnot anytime of the day.

Eat healthy: Consume food that are nutritious and supply ourbody all the require elements like iron, vitamin etc. As these ele-ments maintains our oral hygiene and also help our body to stayhealthy. Consume food like chicken, cheese, milk, nuts etc that pro-vide calcium to our teeth enamels that mineralise our teeth. So,always keep in mind to eat healthy to stay healthy!

Visit your dentist: It is very important to visit your dentist everymonth to know about your oral health. It is very essential to haveknowledge about your oral health to keep your body fit and helpit to be healthy. Also, understand the fact that healthy mouth is equalto healthy body!

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��������Tomatoes are high in dietary fibre, antioxidantsand nutrients.

They are an excellent source of Vitamin C and other antiox-idants which may help protect your body against cancer.Consuming tomatoes daily may help keep your body hydratedduring summers. They also support normal bowel movementand reduce constipation.

They also support heart health and can reduce the risk ofcardiovascular diseases. Tomatoes also contain folate. This helpsto balance homocysteine levels. Homocysteine isan amino acid that results fromprotein breakdown. It is saidto increase the risk of heartattacks and strokes. Themanagement ofhomocysteine levelsby folate reducesone of the riskfactors for heartdisease.

Tomatoes are a rich source oflycopene, lutein, and beta-carotene. These are powerful antiox-idants that can protect the eyes against light-induced damage andthe development of cataracts.

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During the recent times thereare is lot of confusion andquestions in people’s mind

related to coronavirus. Here are theanswers to few of them.

Difference between cleaningand disinfecting.

These guidelines are focused onhousehold settings and are meant forthe general public.

Cleaning refers to the removal ofgerms, dirt, and impurities fromsurfaces. It does not kill germs, but byremoving them, it lowers their num-bers and the risk of spreading infec-tion.

Disinfecting refers to using chem-icals, for example, EPA-registereddisinfectants, to kill germs on surfaces.This process does not necessarilyclean dirty surfaces or remove germs,but by killing germs on a surface aftercleaning, it can further lower the riskof spreading infection.

Can the virus go up to eightmetres?

Many people believe the novelcoronavirus can be transmitted onlyshort distances in respiratory dropletsfrom a sneeze or cough. But aNational Academy of Sciences letterand papers published in The NewEngland Journal of Medicine andJAMA suggest it’s possible that thenovel coronavirus can hang in the airfor hours and remain infectious.This means people could spread thevirus just by breathing normally, andthe virus could even be propelled asfar as eight metres by a sneeze.However, some skeptics remainunconvinced that the respiratoryparticles can transmit infection.

When hydroxy chloroquine andazithromycin combination shouldnot be given?

Withhold the drugs in patientswith baseline QT prolongation orwith known congenital long QT syn-drome; monitoring cardiac rhythmand QT interval and withdrawinghydroxychloroquine and

azithromycin if QTc exceeds 500msec; correcting hypokalemia to lev-els greater than 4 mEq/L and hypo-magnesemia to more than 2 mg/dL;and avoiding other QTc-prolongingagents when possible.

Can one have unilateral pneu-monia in COVID-19?

No.Asymmetrical lung involve-ment is common, but it is rare for onlyone lung to be affected.

What are two patterns of oxygenrequirement?

First, those with mild-to-moder-ate hypoxia, who improve slowly overtime. Second, those with rapidlyescalating oxygen needs, who proceedquickly to intubation.

How do we know the status ofasymptomatic infections?

A new study has begun recruit-ing at the National Institutes ofHealth in Bethesda, Maryland, todetermine how many adults in theUnited States without a confirmedhistory of infection with SARS-CoV-2, have antibodies to the virus.

The presence of antibodies in theblood indicates a prior infection. Inthis “serosurvey,” researchers willcollect and analyze blood samplesfrom as many as 10,000 volunteers toprovide critical data for epidemiolog-ical models. The results will help illu-minate the extent to which the novelcoronavirus has spread undetected inthe United States and provide insightsinto which communities and popu-lations are most affected.

What is blood purificationdevice to treat COVID-19?

The US FDA issued an emer-gency use authorisation (EUA) for ablood purification system to treatpatients 18 years of age or older withconfirmed COVID-19 admitted tothe intensive care unit (ICU) withconfirmed or imminent respiratoryfailure.

The authorised product works byreducing the amount of cytokines andother inflammatory mediators, i.e.

small active proteins in the blood-stream that control a cell’s immuneresponse by filtering the blood andreturning the filtered blood to thepatient. The FDA added that the pro-teins that are removed are typicallyelevated during infections and can beassociated with a cytokine storm thatoccurs in some COVID-19 patients.This leads to severe inflammation,rapidly progressive shock, respirato-ry failure, organ failure and death.

After lungs which is the mainorgan involved?

Kidney is one of the other majororgans involved.

A Negative Ultrasound Is theMost Useful.

There are situations where lungultrasound can be considered defin-itive.

For instance, if we see a patientwith mild signs of the disease, justfever, and lung ultrasound showsnothing, lung ultrasound rules outpneumonia.

This patient may have COVID-19 of course, but they do not havepneumonia, and they can be treatedat home, awaiting the result of theswab test. And this is useful becauseyou can reduce the burden in theemergency department.

On the other hand, there arepatients with acute respiratory failurein respiratory distress. If the lungultrasound is normal, you can rule outCovid-19 and you need to use otherdiagnostic procedures to understandthe problem.

What are lung ultrasoundscores?

A score of 0 is given when thepleural line is continuous and regu-lar, with the presence of A-lines,denoting that the lungs are unaffect-ed.

An area is given a score of 3 whenthe scan shows dense and largelyextended white lung tissue, with orwithout consolidations, indicatingsevere disease.

Intermediate cases: On theButterfly algorithm, the suggestion isto look for B-lines, caused by fluid andcellular infiltration into the intersti-tium, and to weigh that against theneed for supplementary oxygen.

The Italian team, in contrast, saysa score of 1 is given when the pleur-al line is indented, with vertical areasof white visible below.

A score of 2 is given when thepleural line is broken, with small tolarge areas of consolidation and asso-ciated areas of white below.

Can covid cause GBS?Physicians in China are reporting

what they believe is the first case ofCOVID-19 initially presenting asacute Guillain-Barre syndrome(GBS). The patient was a 61-year-oldwoman returning home from Wuhanduring the pandemic.

GBS is an autoimmune neu-ropathy, which could be triggered byvarious infections, correspondingauthor Sheng Chen, MD, PhD,Shanghai Jiao Tong University Schoolof Medicine, China,

It may be an association and nota causal relationship.

The case study was publishedonline April 1 in Lancet Neurology.

Can COVID 19 present as acutehepatitis?

A woman presented to the emer-gency department with high liverenzyme levels and dark urine. Shedeveloped fever on day two of care,and then tested positive for the newcoronavirus, researchers at NorthwellHealth, in Hempstead, New York,report.

The authors say the case, pub-lished online in the American Journalof Gastroenterology, is the first docu-mented instance of a patient withCovid-19 presenting with acutehepatitis as the primary symptombefore developing respiratory symp-toms.

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Eating fat and oil is important. It helps usabsorb the oil soluble vitamins like A,

D, E, as well as lubricate our joints anddecrease inflammation. They also make ourfood tasty. However, there is always a pho-bia as well as confusion around which oilsto use for what. If there is an imbalancebetween saturated and unsaturated fats, weend up increasing our inflammation andhence of the risk of getting deadly lifestylediseases including cancer. So it is not thatsome oils are good and others are bad, it isthe balance that we must keep to ensure thatwe can enjoy the taste of our food as wellas keep our minds and bodies healthy.

Always remember the smoke point ofan oil and use it below the smoke point. Ifyou use an oil above it's smoke point, itbecomes cancerous. Here are the oils andfats and their mysteries unravelled:

Sunflower, rice bran & mustard oil:These can be used for high flame cookingand deep frying. All of them have a smokepoint of 227 degrees celcius. When we deepfry something, the temperature reachesaround 177 degrees Celsius. This makesthese three oils safe for deep frying andIndian cooking where a lot of masalas allsauteed on high flame and our typical tadkafor the dal is put. Use them sparingly as thebenefits of these for heart health and low-ering inflammation are limited. They areneutral except for rice bran oil, which hasheart protective qualities, as long as we con-sume them in limited quantities.

Extra virgin olive and flaxseed oils: Alot of people say that they do all their cook-ing in extra virgin olive oil. This is the mosthazardous thing anyone can do from ahealth perspective, because extra virgin oliveoil has a smoke point of 160 degrees. Whenwe cook in extra virgin olive oil, we are wayabove its smoke point, hence making thiswonderfully anti-inflammatory oil inflam-matory and cancerous in nature. The sameapplies to virgin flaxseed oil. Hence, extravirgin olive and falxseed oils should bestrictly used raw, for salads or smoothiesonly. They should come in a glass bottle, notplastic, and should say cold press/extractionsomewhere on the bottle. Extra virgin oliveand flaxseed oils are rich in omega-3 fattyacids, making them ideal for reducing badcholesterol and inflammation inside thebody. One should aim at 25-30 ml per dayof these raw oils in salads every day.

Saturated oils: These include coconutoil, butter and ghee and their smoke pointsare 177 degrees. They should be used verysparingly as saturated fat can increase ourtriglycerides and cholesterol as well as therisk of stomach-related cancers and prostatecancer. A lot of people use butter, ghee orcoconut oil for tempering spices on highflame, however, the smoke point for theseoils is 177 degrees Celsius. This means thatwe are dangerously close to converting theminto carcinogenic oils as they have alreadyreached their smoke point of 177 degrees.A good measure is not more than 5 per centof the total fat you consume.

A great way to balance your fat and oilintake is to use minimal oil for cooking.

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Former India strength andconditioning coachShanker Basu feels main-

taining fitness without run-ning on the field is going to bequite tricky for the fast bowlersand advises the cricketersagainst too much screen timeduring the ongoing lockdown.

Basu, who oversaw the fit-ness transformation of theIndian team between 2015 to2019, worked extensively withthe potent pace attack compris-ing Jasprit Bumrah, IshantSharma, Umesh Yadav andMohammad Shami, andensured they don’t break downoften.

“In the current scenario (oftraining at home), the batsmencan still get away but it is toughfor the fast bowlers despitethem doing the best they can,”Basu, who is now back with IPLfranchise Royal ChallengersBangalore said.

“This fast bowling unit isvery sincere and they will do

everything in their capacity tostay fit — nevertheless nothingcan substitute the actual run-ning in a field and access to anygrounds is not possible now,hence the conundrum.”

The challenge will be to bematch ready when cricketingactions resumes.

“When things come back tonormalcy they should be awareof the fact that matches will beslotted and in a jiffy the scenewill change and you would berequired to turn on your per-forming hat and steam in andbowl fast.

“This sudden change intraining loads and spikes in highspeed running can be a hugerisk factor for fast bowlers.

“They can run on a tread-mill but it’s not the same.However, this is the case for allathletes. These are difficulttimes and current day cricketersare an informed lot and theyknow how to keep in shape.”

But with every Indiancricketer nowadays taking theirfitness “very seriously”, the play-

ers will do just fine, said Basu.Each player is already

following a customisedworkout routine designedby the current strength andconditioning coach NickWebb.

“It is commendable tosee all these boys do their bitat home. Most of them havesome sort of gym set-up athome. They work on thestrength part but don’t knowhow much conditioning theyneed to do. “The boys arementally very tough but inthis case nobody knowswhere the finishing line is,”said the 51-year-old.

Basu’s advice to all ath-letes including cricketers is“avoid too much screen time”.

“Train twice in a day —once before first meal andonce before your secondmeal. Try to have a routineand it’s not easy, I under-stand, but as an athlete that’sthe challenge.

“Lying down and brows-ing channels through the

day may not be the rightanswer. It is a direct invita-tion for pains and aches. De-training effects starts within48 hours.

“Planning the day isimportant. You decidewhether to sleep early orsleep late. Based on that youplan the following day. If youwant to sleep early, do anactivity first thing when youwake up in the morningand then have breakfast.Then do another activitybefore lunch.

“If you are an owl type(sleep late-rise late) — activ-ity after waking up and firstmeal and another activity inthe evening to get your steamout,” he said.

One also tends to eatmore when home all thetime.

“Try to limit your bigmeals to just two in the dayand try snacking in a healthyfashion to stay afloat withregards to your fat percent,”Basu concluded.

�������� � BCCI is currently not in aposition to take a call on the future ofIPL and it would be “too premature”to comment on whether the tourna-ment can be slotted in place of the ICCWorld T20 in Oct-Nov, treasurer ArunDhumal said on Monday.

The IPL has been postponed tillApril 15 in the wake of COVID-19pandemic and with the country sched-uled to go for another two weekextension of the lockdown, it is but nat-ural that the cash-rich league can’t beheld during its dedicated April-Maywindow.

“Right now, the picture is veryhazy. We don’t even know when thelockdown will end and if we don’tknow, how can we even have a mean-ingful discussion. Once we get a clar-ity from the government, we can thensit and take fresh stock of the situation.Any speculation about it’s future willbe premature,” Dhumal said.

“Everyone wants IPL to happenbut let’s have some clarity first.”

The treasurer also provided somepractical insight into rescheduling ofIPL as speculations are rife about theOctober-November window.

“Tell me one thing. Firstly, ifAustralia is under lockdown for six

months, how can we conclude that theywill allow their players to travel from

next month right away?What if the travel restric-tions for its citizens are stillin place. How will theycome to India then? Anddon’t forget that otherboards also need to agree,”

Dhumal said.“Secondly, even if the lockdown

ends in India, what if some of the majorcities still have those COVID hotspots?Can we risk the lives of our sportsper-sons? Thirdly, the players are likely togo without training for months.

“Even if we are in a position to con-duct a tournament, for internationalplayers, we need to give them a bareminimum time to do full-fledgedtraining before we can start a tourna-ment. All these factors can only be clearwhen we are in a position to discuss,”Dhumal said. PTI

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Former India openerGautam Gambhir says

if IPL is not played thisyear, it will be difficult forMahendra Singh Dhonito make a comeback to theIndian team.

Dhoni last played forIndia in the World Cupsemi-final against NewZealand in July last year.

Since then he hasn’tplayed any competitivecricket and was expectedto be seen in action at thisyear’s IPL but the chancesof T20 league are remotedue to COVID-19.

“If the IPL does nothappen this year, then itwill become very difficultfor MS Dhoni to make acomeback. On what basiscan he (Dhoni) be select-ed since he’s not been play-ing for the last one or oneand a half year,” Gambhirsaid on Star Sports showCricket Connected.

The 38-year-oldGambhir picked KL Rahul,who has been keeping inODIs, as an “apt replace-ment” for Dhoni.

“Obviously his(Rahul’s) keeping is not asgood as Dhoni’s, but if youare looking at T20 cricket,Rahul’s a utility player, cankeep and bat at No 3 or 4.If the IPL does not happen,then Dhoni’s chances for acomeback look dim.

“Ultimately, you arerepresenting India, sowhoever dishes out the

best performance and canwin the match for Indiashould play for the team,”added Gambhir.

The southpaw also feltthat retirement wasDhoni’s personal decision.

“As far as his retire-ment plans go by, that’s hispersonal choice,” saidGambhir.

However, his formerteammate and Test special-ist VVS Laxman feels thatDhoni can continue play-ing IPL.

“Not only this IPL, he(Dhoni) will probably playin the next couple of IPLs,and then we will take a callabout his future as a crick-eter,” Laxman said on thesame show.

However, the veteranof 134 Tests, said that thenew selection committee,chaired by Sunil Joshi, willhave to discuss Dhoni’sfuture with him.

“Dhoni will be veryclear, as far as his plans areconcerned, I’m sure hemust have communicatedthat with (captain) ViratKohli, (coach) Ravi Shastriimmediately after the 2019World Cup in England,”said Laxman.

“The new selectioncommittee will have to sitdown with MS Dhoni andunderstand his future, asfar as Indian cricket isconcerned. But MS Dhoniwill continue to play forCSK and do well for CSK,”said Laxman, whoamassed 8,781 Test runs.

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South African swashbucklerAB de Villiers says he does-

n’t want to create any “falsehopes” of a much-awaited come-back at the T20 World Cup thisyear, which, he feels, could bepostponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I can’t see six months intothe future. If the tournament ispostponed to next year a wholelot of things will change. At themoment I feel available, but atthe same time I don’t know howmy body will see it and if I willbe healthy at that time,” DeVilliers told Afrikaans-languageSunday newspaper Rapport.

“...I might get to a pointwhere I have to tell Bouch(coach Mark Boucher) I wasinterested, I would like to playa role but I’m not going to beable to play myself. I’m afraid ofsuch a commitment and creat-ing false hope,” he added.

De Villiers said he does notfeel entitled to walk into theSouth African team as has beenalleged in the past.

“If I am 100 per cent as goodas I want to be, then I will beavailable. But if I am not I won’topen myself up to that becauseI am not the type of person whodoes things at 80 per cent. ThenI have to do trials and showBouchie I’m still good enough.

“They should choose mebecause I’m really better than theguy next to me. I’ve never beenthe type of person who felt Ishould get just what I wanted.”

The T20 World Cup inAustralia in October andNovember could be a perfect

stage for de Villiers comingback but he was mindful ofavoiding a repeat of the debaclethat unfolded during last year’s50-over World Cup in Englandafter reports emerged that hecasually expressed offer to comeback and was rejected.

“I am uncertain about giv-ing a definite answer because Ihave been very hurt and burnedin the past. Then people willagain think I have turned myback on our country. I can’t justwalk into the team.

“...I have to work for myplace and deserve it. It was veryhurtful for me last year whenpeople thought I assumed therewas a place for me. I feel avail-able and I will give it a go witheverything I have, but I don’twant special treatment.”

If de Villiers can make acomeback, the credit would goto South Africa coach MarkBoucher, who convinced him torethink his retirement decision,taken in 2018.

“I could write a book onBouchie’s impact just on my life,never mind cricket. I rediscov-ered that when I played underhim at the Spartans (in theMzansi Super League) inDecember. He was born to be aninstructor. When he talks there’srespect.”

“Bouch asked me why don’tI give it another go,” de Villierssaid.

“I’ve always said to him, ‘I’venever not wanted to be there. I’vealways wanted to be there. It’sjust, my life has changed’.”

De Villiers played in 176 ofBoucher’s 461 matches for SouthAfrica across the formats.

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India will host the Asian BoxingChampionships for men and

women in November-Decemberthis year, the national federationrevealed on Monday, expressingconfidence that the COVID-19pandemic will be well and trulyunder control by that time.

India last hosted the men’sAsian meet back in 1980 inMumbai, while it conducted thewomen’s event in 2003 in Hisar.The tournament became a com-bined event for men and womenlast year.

“We were awarded the host-ing rights in February after ameeting of the Asian BoxingConfederation. The tournamentwill be held in November-December and the host city willbe finalised after things nor-malise,” Boxing Federation ofIndia’s (BFI) Executive DirectorR K Sacheti said.

“It is an extraordinary situa-tion no doubt but we are all hop-ing for this to be brought under

control by June. Then anotherthree-four months will go intoresuming normal activities,” hesaid.

The event is usually a bien-nial competition but has beenheld in consecutive years in thepast.

“Bids were sought in January.The formal announcement by theAsian Boxing Confederation willbe made once the COVID-19 sit-uation improves a bit,” Sachetisaid.

“The window we have keptfor the championship allows ustime to plan. The Olympic qual-ification programme is also like-ly to resume around November-December, according to theInternational OlympicCommittee (IOC),” Sacheti rea-soned.

“So, if things can start rollingelsewhere, we can also conductthe championship. That’s why wehaven’t zeroed in on a host cityright now. That discussion willhave to wait until the end of thelockdown,” he added.

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Veteran South Africa pacerDale Steyn is unsure whether

the T20 World Cup, scheduled totake place in Australia inOctober, will take place or notamid the coronavirus outbreak inthe world.

Steyn was doing an #AskDalesession on Twitter and a fanended up asking about histhoughts on the impending ICCtournament late this year inAustralia.

“Is it even gonna happen?”Steyn replied.

Steyn was also asked to namethe best batters he bowled to dur-ing his illustrious career.

"They all good ey! Pontingwas prime, Sachin was a wall,Dravid, Gayle, KP, they were allso good!" he said.

Steyn also said his seven-foragainst India in Nagpur and six-wicket haul against Pakistan atthe Wanderers remain one of hisbest bowling spells.

"Nagpur (7 against India)and wanderers (6 againstPakistan)," he replied to anoth-er fan's question.

The 36-year old also said heis honing his cooking skills dur-ing lockdown in South Africa.

Steyn also picked his firstTest wicket as the most memo-rable one.

"My first one, I guess I'llalways just remember it so it's thewinner. "I loved bowling a bats-man when he left the ball, oftenit came from a set up so Ienjoyed that my often silly plansended up working," he added.

One T20 wicket or a spellthat is special to Steyn?

"I played a 20/20 againstWest Indies in Port Elizabethmany, many years ago, blew a fewpoles away with some yorkersand a good slower ball, loved thatperformance, but we still lost,haha," replied the ace quickregarded as one of the best of alltime.

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Star opener SmritiMandhana on

Monday revealed theIndian women cricketteam has traded the batand ball for a dice as theplayers are maintainingtheir bond by playingludo together onlineamid the COVID-19 pandemic. The BCCI onMonday tweeted a video of Mandhana talking abouthow she is spending time off the field.

“We, all friends together play ludo online, so thatkeeps us all bonded, all the teammates,” Mandhanasaid.

The ace batter like all other athletes has turnedto home workouts to stay physical fit.

“Staying fit is very important, so I am working out.I keep in touch with the trainer and receive the feed-back. He keeps sending us all the workouts that weneed to follow,” Mandhana said.

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Former ManchesterUnited captain Gary

Neville believes thePremier League may forceclubs who are looking tocut player wages duringthe coronavirus crisis toaccept transfer embargoes.

Clubs in England’stop-flight have requestedplayers take up to a 30 per-cent pay hit in cuts anddeferrals to help soften theestimated £1 billion blowof potentially failing tocomplete the season.

Neville saidTottenham striker HarryKane would be the ‘per-fect’ signing for his oldclub Manchester United,but dismissed speculationover the England captain’sfuture in the current cli-mate.

“The Premier Leaguespent £1.4 billion last sum-mer on transfers and theprevious three summersthey also spent over £1 bil-lion. If you’re trying to get30 percent pay cuts from

existing players, you mayhave to put a transferembargo in place,” Nevilletold Sky Sports.

“Transfers are thingsthe fans love, and we loveplayers moving around,but it does seem to me tobe awry when we’ve gotsuch a behind-the-sceneswar going on with respectto players taking cuts, theclubs needing support,and then in the next breathyou’ve got a £200 milliontransfer speculation goingon.”

Kane, who has been

sidelined by a hamstringinjury since New Year’sDay, opened the door toleaving Spurs last month.

“If I don’t feel we’reprogressing as a team orgoing in the right direc-tion, then I’m not some-one to just stay there forthe sake of it,” said Kane inan Instagram chat withformer Spurs midfielderJamie Redknapp.

Neville and Redknappbelieve that Tottenham’sconduct during the crisiswill not have sat well withKane.

“He’s a clever lad andhe’s not somebody whowould get caught out if hedidn’t want to say some-thing. The little opening ofthe door that he left in thatInstagram piece withJamie was probably some-thing that had somethingin it,” added Neville.

“In my mind, I thinkhe would have been warn-ing them and saying ‘justbe careful because I’mwatching you and it’s notsomething that we do’.”

��������Rafael Nadal and AndyMurray are among 12 players con-firmed to play in the virtual MadridOpen tennis tournament thismonth.

David Goffin, John Isner, KarenKhachanov, Eugenie Bouchard,Kristina Mladenovic and KikiBertens will also participate fromtheir homes in the April 27-30online competition that is expect-ed to be broadcast live on TV andsocial media channels.

Khachanov says “this initiativeis interesting and it will bring backsome competition in our sport. I’mlooking forward to challenge my fel-low players and show my skills tothe tennis fans around the world.”

There will be 150,000 euros($164,000) distributed in prizemoney for each of the men’s andwomen’s events. The winners thendecide how much they want todonate to tennis players who arehaving a hard time financiallywithout any tournaments to play.Another 50,000 euros ($55,000) willbe donated to reduce the socialimpact of the pandemic.

Each draw is expected to have16 players competing. AP

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Afriend in need is afriend indeed, and for

India’s top table tennis play-er G Sathiyan it is his robotwhich has now become his‘best buddy’ amid theCOVID-19 lockdown.

A three-week lock-down has disrupted dailyroutines of top athletes likeSathiyan. But a highlyadvanced robot, whichSathiyan imported fromGermany, is not only help-ing the Chennai paddler asa playing partner everydaybut also making him getbetter technically.

“The robot concept hasbeen prevalent before butthis robot was veryadvanced as it could put 120balls per minute. That’s like2 balls a second which isinsane. It could vary speed,trajectory and put the ballin any direction,” Sathiyansaid from his Chennai res-idence.

“You can set up lot ofexercises. Like a backhand,forehand these kind of exer-cises can be set. Up to 100exercises can be set. A com-bination of exercises can be

set. It is very close to ahuman.

“It can replicate lot ofideas and it can put a shortand a long top spin in thesame exercise.

“A human can see yourbody and then give the ballaccordingly but I feel thisrobot is as close to a humanas it can be,” added Sathiyanwho broke into the top 25of the ITTF rankings in2019, making him the firstIndian table tennis player todo so.

Called the ButterflyAmicus Prime, the portablerobot is easy to handle anda person can also alter thetype of shots that he or she

wants to practice. “We gotit in November last year.This was the idea of mycoach Subramanian Ramansir. He insisted we get therobot in special preparationfor the World Cup. This isto increase speed, reflexes,technique and everything.We thought this might giveus the supporting hand orextra bit of edge in playinga big tournament like aWorld Cup. So we got thisidea by seeing some videos,”Sathiyan narrated.

“So we got it inNovember and when thelockdown was announced Ithought this might be veryuseful to take it back home.

It was at the centre.“So I got it at home.

Now I have a table and arobot. I am trying to hitaround couple of hourseveryday with the robot. Iam playing different combi-nation of sequences and toimprove speed and skilland my reflexes. To improveoverall technique,”explained Sathiyan whopaired up with veteranAchanta Sharath Kamal towin the men’s doubles Silverat the Hungarian Openbefore opting out of theOman Open in a bid to stayinjury-free and manage hisworkload in an Olympicyear.

“So in this kind of sit-uation the robot hasbecome my best friend andmy sparring partner,” hesaid.

“This is made only forprofessionals. There arethree levels of it. Generallypeople think robots canput one kind of ball and isfor amateurs. But this hasgone above all expectationsand putting high qualityballs with lot of variationsespecially in a period likethis.”

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�������� �Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feelsit is highly unlikely former skipper Dhoni will play forIndia again.

“MS Dhoni has not told anyone anything. He hasa different story. What almost everyone think is thathe might return to the Indian team if he performs wellin the IPL. But I personally feel he played his final matchfor India at Manchester against New Zealand”?he saidin a YouTube video with former Pakistan skipper RamizRaja.

“Since then, he has not made himself available tothe team. He has not been dropped. I feel he has madeup his mind that he is no longer going to play for India.”

But the former opener feels there can be a changein stance if either BCCI President Sourav Ganguly orthe team management calls for his services.

“Unless, of course, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli orRavi Shastri pick up the phone and tell Dhoni to helpthe team out in the T20 World Cup. If they tell Dhonithat they want him to play the World Cup, then thereis a chance he could return” he said.

“Otherwise, in my opinion, Dhoni has made uphis mind that ‘I am not going to play, I don’t need afarewell match. I came quietly, I will leave quietly’. Hedoesn’t need grandstanding. He is not that kind of play-er.” IANS

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