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After a marathon video con-ference that lasted more

than four hours, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andthe Chief Ministers on Saturdayagreed to extend lockdown inthe country for two more weeksbeyond April 14 with a possi-ble relaxation for agriculture,migrant and daily wagers.

Maharashtra and WestBengal Chief Ministers sepa-rately announced extension oflockdown in their States tillApril 30. Odisha and PunjabChief Ministers have alreadyannounced the continuation oflockdown in their respectiveStates.

The Prime Minister, whoheld the video conference withthe Chief Ministers to firm upa decision on extending lock-down to contain any surge inthe coronavirus cases, agreedwith them that it was importantto “balance lives with the liveli-hood”.

After the video confer-ence, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackerayannounced his decision toextend the lockdown in the

State till April 30. “Maharashtrawill continue to be lockeddown till April 30. The Statewill show the way to the coun-try even in these tough times,”he said.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee also said theState would extend the lock-down till the end of the monthand added that educationalinstitutions will remain shut inthe State till June 10. “The PMhas officially decided to extendlockdown till April 30, we willnot differ,” she said. “We willalso extend it till April 30 andreview closer to that date.”

Both Odisha and PunjabGovernments have alreadyextended the lockdown in theirStates till the end of the month.

Modi discussed with theChief Ministers exit-plan whichsources said would be “gradual”or in a phased-manner. Withthe harvest season ahead, theagriculturists along with thedaily wagers and migrant work-ers may be given some leeway.

Modi suggested specificmeasures for agriculture andallied sector, including modi-fication in Agriculture ProduceMarket Committee (APMC)

laws, to facilitate sale of farmproduce. Fisheries zone willalso be given relaxation duringthe extension of lockdown afterApril 14.

The Prime Minister gave anew mantra of “Jaan bhi, jahanbhi” by improvising the popu-lar saying “ Jaan hain to jahanhain.”

Modi said “next two orthree weeks are crucial”towards the effective contain-ment of the virus which in last24 hours has registered a sharprise of 1,035 cases and 40deaths in the country.

The Prime Minister saidthe efforts made by the Centreand the States have definitelyhelped reduce the impact ofCovid-19 but since the situa-tion is rapidly evolving, a con-stant vigil is of paramountimportance. “ Team work is keyto facing the challenge”, hesaid.

It is expected that thePrime Minister may addressthe nation in a day or two anddetail his views on the exten-sion of the lockdown.

While speaking to ChiefMinisters, Modi pointed to theimportance of Arogya Setu

App saying it is essential tool incountry’s fight against Covid-19 and can subsequently act ase-pass to facilitate travel.

While focusing on socialdistancing which remains themain weapon to battle out thecoronavirus, the PrimeMinister condemned attacks onhealth professionals and inci-dents of misbehaviour withstudents from North-East andKashmir.

Giving a strong warningagainst black-marketing and

hoarding, he assured the CMsthat the country has enoughsupplies of essential medicines.He talked about strengtheninghealthcare infrastructure andreaching out to patientsthrough tele-medicines.

This was the third interac-tion of the Prime Ministerwith the Chief Ministers afterthose held on April 2 andMarch 20.

The Prime Minister was ofopinion that the crisis is anopportunity to become self-

reliant and turn the countryinto a “powerhouse”.

All the CMs sought thePrime Minister to extend thelockdown saying that an earlyending of it could impact thegains made in last three-weeksin containing the spread ofcoronavirus in the country.

The interaction was alsoattended by Union Home,Defence and Health Ministersand Principal Secretary andCabinet Secretary.

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The Centre on Saturdayclaimed that without lock-

down and containment mea-sures, the country would havewitnessed 8.2 lakh Covid-19cases by April 15. The figure ofpositive cases would have goneup to 1.2 lakh with contain-ment measures and no lock-down.

The country is in the thirdweek of the world’s biggestever lockdown involving 1.3billion people with nearly 8,000Covid-19 cases. The virus haskilled over 239 people fromacross the country withMaharashtra topping the list ofworst-hit (1,666 cases) and110 fatality.

Talking to reporters here ata Press briefing, Lav Agarwal,

Joint Secretary, Union HealthMinistry, reiterated importanceof following social distancingmeasures and containmentstrategies which he said werelike a social vaccination thatcan help the country fromspreading the disease.

“Without these steps,Covid-19 cases could have reg-istered a 41 per cent cumula-tive increase to 8.2 lakh casesby April 15. With contain-ment measures and no lock-down, it could have gone up to

1.2 lakh till April 15,” saidAgarwal, citing a statisticalmodel to capture the project-ed cases.

He cited example of Agrasaying it has emerged as thefinest example in best practicesin cluster management, wherea smart city control room wasconverted into a war room tofight the outbreak of coron-avirus from a person who hadreturned from Italy onFebruary 25.

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With 1,035 new Covid-19cases and 40 deaths in the

past 24 hours, the Governmentis preparing for an exigency. Ithas marked a total of 586 hos-pitals as dedicated Covid-19hospitals having capacity ofover one lakh isolation bedsand 11,500 ICU beds.

Similarly, the IndianRailways is transforming up to20,000 old coaches into emer-gency care units that can bedeployed to remote and hard-hit areas experiencing a short-age of hospital beds.

Emphasising that India hasbeen deploying a gradedresponse to fight coronavirusoutbreak, Union HealthMinistry Joint Secretary LavAgarwal said on Saturday, “Atleast 1,00,000 isolation bedsand 11,500 ICU beds havebeen reserved for Covid-19patients across the country.Also, 587 dedicated Covid-19hospitals have been earmarkedat Central and the State levels.

“PPEs, ventilators andother critical medical suppliesare being ensured by the Centreto States. The containmentaction plan, contact tracingand other planning are beingensured,” Agarwal said whiletalking to reporters here.

While the Government haschalked out three-tier plan tocategorise the patients depend-ing on the severity of theirinfections, private hospitalsacross India have been asked todesignate dedicated wings totreat the affected patients, pre-pare for sample collection, dis-charge patients who are stableand divide medical staff intotwo groups so that even if onegroup gets infected, the othercan work.

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Parents of a commando offi-cer awarded with Shaurya

Chakra for gallantry had todrive more than 2,100 kmfrom New Delhi to Bengalaruto attend his cremation thereon Saturday as red tapebetween Defence and HomeMinistries did not permit themto travel in a service aircraft.This happened despite clear-ance by Defence MinisterRajnath Singh, who alone canonly authorise airlift for a civil-ian in a military plane.

The dilly-dallying betweenthe two departments thatforced the 70-plus grievingduo to drive all the way fromNew Delhi to Bengalaru has ledto outrage amongst the veter-ans. They gave vent to theirfeelings on the social mediawith former Army ChiefGeneral VP Malik tweeting

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In a repeat of the recentattempted exodus of thou-

sands of migrant workers fromthe national Capital, hundredsof migrant workers, stuck inSurat amid the lockdown, wenton a rampage on Friday night,setting many vehicles on fire.

Mostly from Odisha, theseworkers wanted to be provid-ed logistics for them to returnto their native places and dis-bursal of their unpaid dues.Making a mockery of the lock-down, the workers took to thestreets and set ablaze handcarts.

Police have detainedaround 80 migrant workers.This is the second time that themigrant workers have taken tostreets in Surat. On March 30,over 90 migrant labourers werearrested in Surat city for defy-ing the lockdown.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has declared that the

Corona Warriors would begiven �50 lakh as compensa-tion in case of death whileworking during the COVID-19pandemic.

A government order (GO)in this regarded was issued onSaturday.

The �50 lakh compensa-tion will cover all employees ofhealth department, local bod-ies, police and others engagedin different works for preven-tion of the spread of coron-avirus and those servingCOVID-19 patients or others.

The contractual employeesand those who are from out-sourcing agencies will also beeligible for the compensation incase of their death.

The order says that the dis-trict magistrates will use thestate disaster fund to pay the

compensation after completingall formalities like autopsy.

Meanwhile, with one morefatality reported fromBulandshahr, the COVID-19death toll rose to five in UttarPradesh on Saturday, while thenumber of cases climbed to 452as 19 persons tested positive forthe novel coronavirus in the last24 hours.

A health department bul-letin said one person died ofCOVID-19 in Bulandshahr onSaturday. With this, one deatheach has been reported fromBasti, Meerut, Varanasi, Agraand Bulandshahr due to thedreaded virus.

Of the 19 fresh cases, foureach were reported fromMeerut and Agra, three eachfrom Lucknow andBulandshahr, two fromGhaziabad and one each fromSaharanpur, Badaun andBhadohi, Additional ChiefSecretary, Home, Awanish

Awasthi said.Of the new cases, eight

were linked to last month’sTablighi Jamaat event in Delhi,he said, adding that altogether,254 of the cases in UttarPradesh had links to the reli-gious congregation held atNizamuddin in the nationalcapital.

Till Friday, the coronaviruscount in the state stood at 433.The virus has spread to 41 ofthe state’s 75 districts, with Agrabeing the worst hit.

The district-wise tally in

the state is: Agra (92), GautamBuddh Nagar (64), Meerut(48), Lucknow (32), Ghaziabad(27), Saharanpur (21), Shamli(17), Bulandshahr, Firozabad(11 each) and Sitapur (10), thebulletin said.

The districts that haverecorded cases in single digitare: Basti, Kanpur and Varanasi(nine each), Amroha (seven),Hapur, Maharajganj,Pratapgarh, Rampur andBareilly (six each), Ghazipur,Baghpat (five each), Azamgarh,Hathras, Muzaffarnagar,Jaunpur and Lakhimpur Kheri(four each), it added.

Besides, Auraiya hasreported three cases, Pilibhit,Banda, Mirzapur, Rae Bareli,Kaushambi, Mathura, Badaunand Hardoi have reported twocases each and Moradabad,Shahjahanpur, Barabanki,Bijnore, Prayagraj and Bhadohihave reported a case each, thebulletin said.

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Apolice and medical teamwhich went to seal a coro-

navirus hotspot near Jali Kothiin Delhigate area of Meerut wasattacked by the local residentson Saturday.

A magistrate along with asub-inspector and several othercops and paramedics wereinjured in the attack.

Later, the police arrestedfour persons, including animam, and a case was registeredand National Security Actinvoked against them.

District Magistrate AnilDhingra and SeniorSuperintendent of Police AjaySahani rushed to the area andinitiated action against theattackers. As per reports, threeTablighi Jamaat members whocame to Meerut on February 24

had stayed in Dariwali mosquein Jali Kothi area and they test-ed positive for coronavirusinfection on Friday. The localadministration then decided toseal the area and a team wassent there on Saturday.

However, a mob suddenlyattacked the team, injuringSub-Inspector Mukesh Shuklaand City Magistrate SushantJain, who suffered a fracture.Later, additional police forcerushed to the area along withsenior officers after which theattackers escaped.

A heavy police force wasdeployed in the area and thecops were patrolling the area.

In Mathura, 10 personswere arrested for violating lock-down and pelting stones at apolice team in Govardhan areaon Saturday. SSP Gaurav Groversaid that the police were

informed that lockdown wasbeing violated in Bhim Nagarvillage after which a police teamreached there. He said that notonly were shops open in the vil-lage, people were also playingcards in the open. Crowds hadgathered outside shops andnorms of social distancing werebeing flouted. As the policeteam tried to drive sense into thecrowd gathered there, the mobsuddenly became violent andattacked the cops with lathis,rods and even pelted stones atthem.

Later, additional force wasrushed to the area and 10 per-sons were arrested, while 28identified and 24 unidentifiedpersons managed to escape.

In the process, a cop sus-tained injuries.

A case was registered andefforts were being made to

arrest the miscreants. Meanwhile, Additional

Chief Secretary (Home)Awanish Awasthi said thatmore than 14,000 FIRs wereregistered under Section 188 ofthe Indian Penal Code forlockdown violation against45,483 persons and 35,000were sent to jail. He said a totalof 367 FIRs were registeredunder EC Act against 463offenders. Similarly, over20,000 vehicles were seizedand Rs 6 crore was collected asfine for violation of trafficrules during lockdown.

Speaking on TablighiJamaat members, Awasthi saidthat 2,428 Jamaatis were iden-tified in 20 districts of UP and2,231 of them were quaran-tined. He said a total of 259 for-eign Jamaatis were in UP andtheir passports had been seized.

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After the lockdown ends,labourers who have

returned to their native state(Uttar Pradesh) from all partsof the country in view of thecoronavirus pandemic are like-ly to go for work to cities andtowns closer to their respectivevillages instead of metropolitancities.

Organisations working forthem said that currently, thissector is in deep agony and thebroader understanding is thatthey may not go far for workafter the trauma which they areundergoing. Representatives ofthese organisations said the

labourers are in dire need ofmoney to make ends meet.“Fortunately, with the harvestseason on, some of them willwill get employment, but mostof their home villages which areextending help may not beable to help them for long,” theysaid. Dr Siraj Mehedi fromGorakhpur EnvironmentAction Group, working in east-ern villages (primarily inGorakhpur and Kushinagar)said the migrant labourers areunder extreme trauma.

“There are several whocould lay their hands on foodafter three days, while manyothers faced problems in get-ting any means of transport to

their destination,” he said. Headded that there are a lot of het-erogeneous groups amongstthese labourers and much ofthe course of action willdepend upon which groupthey belong to.

“There are some whoworked under the contractorsand faced a very difficult timebecause these contractorsbehaved badly, while therewere others who worked inhouses and migrated in groups.Some labourers are unskilledand they are likely to move totier-2 cities closer to theirhomes after lockdown.However, many have to opt forbigger cities because there is lit-

tle employment for them intier-2 cities,” he pointed out.

Sandeep Khare from theVigyan Foundation, working inthe migrant labour sector, saidthat currently, the major prob-lem which the migrants are fac-ing is hunger.

“Getting meals is difficultfor these labourers. However,many of them are from unor-ganised sector and will not havethe luxury of options. There isno course of action for themexcept to return to the same bigcities because they need toearn. Currently though, the dis-cussion which is taking placeamongst them is how to getfood,” he added.

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While Chief Minister YogiAdityanath is leading the fight

against coronavirus to prevent its spreadin the UP and provide relief to theneedy, Bharatiya Janata Party stateorganising secretary Sunil Bansal hasbeen holding the fort at the party level.He has been asking party workers towork at the grassroots level and ensurethat no one sleeps hungry.

Here are excerpts of the interviewwith him.

Pioneer: The BJP government isdoing its bit to control coronavirus.What is the BJP organisation doing?Have you directed BJP workers to tellpeople about prevention and control

of spread of the virus.Bansal: Yes, party workers were

issued directives after the lockdown wasimposed. We have told leaders andworkers to go to the people and makethem aware of the virus and preventivemeasures to keep it away. Medicalguidelines are being followed in letterand spirit. Party workers have also beenasked to contribute generously to theCovid Care Fund.

Pioneer: This is a contagious dis-ease and you are saying that partyworkers are interacting with people.Is it not dangerous?

Bansal: The guidelines issued toworkers are clear – maintain social dis-tancing, use mask and wash hands fre-quently. They are not holding meetings

and are only telling people at villagelevel about preventive measures.

Pioneer: That means the workershave been asked to tell people to usemask.

Bansal: That’s correct. If they do nothave mask they can use gamchha orwomen can use dupatta to cover theirfaces. The basic point is that oneshould not touch the mouth and noseregularly.

As we speak, our woman workersare stitching masks at homes. They havestitched and distributed more thanone lakh masks. These are not medicalbut cotton masks which can be used.These are being distributed free to thepeople.

Pioneer: BJP is a big party withover a crore of members in the state.How is it coping up with the lockdownand what are the party workers doingduring this period.

Bansal: Party workers have beenasked to arrange food for the needy,open community kitchens in wards andblocks.

Pioneer: Are you monitoringwhether BJP leaders and workers areactually helping people?

Bansal: Yes, we are doing it overphone or through video-conferencing.We also ask people to send photos andcross-check them from others. I canguarantee that the BJP workers areworking at the grassroots level with‘sewa bhav’.

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With chances of the exten-sion of lockdown gaining

ground, the Uttar Pradesh gov-ernment gave a huge relief tofarmers by deferring crop loanrepayment under Kisan CreditCard till May 31.

An announcement to thiseffect was made by AdditionalChief Secretary (Home)Awanish Awasthi in Lucknowon Saturday.

“The government hastaken many important deci-sions in the agriculture sectorto benefit farmers. Repaymentof crop loan taken by farmerswith Kisan Credit Cards standsdeferred till May 31. The deci-sion is set to benefit over 148lakh farmers across the state,”Awasthi said in his daily newsbriefing on Saturday.

“Besides, the governmenttransferred �2,000 each in theaccounts of marginal and smallfarmers under Pradhan MantriKisan Samman Yojana. Thegovernment transferred �3,700crore through DBT which willagain benefit 185 lakh farmers,”the additional chief secretarysaid.

He said that sowing ofcrops had been completed inover 70 per cent agriculturalland and seeds and fertiliserswere made available to thefarmers.

“The government has alsopermitted opening of agri-based service centres, spareparts shops and other associ-ated centres. Even rail androad transportation is allowedfor agriculture. The YogiAdityanath government hasalso provided exemptions onuse of combine harvesters forreaping Rabi crops,” Awasthisaid.

“Harvesting of oilseeds,wheat and pulses is almostcomplete and almost 99 percent of oilseeds, 90 per cent ofpulses have been harvestedwhile reaping of wheat and bar-ley is underway at a fast pace.Purchase of wheat at mandiswill start from April 15,” theadditional chief secretaryadded.

Meanwhile, the Agriculturedepartment has issued detailedguidelines, asking farmers tomaintain social distancing,

wash hands regularly and takeother preventive measures dur-ing the harvesting.

The government had ear-lier decided to start purchase ofmustard, gram and lentils(masoor). The government willbuy 2.64 lakh metric tonnes ofmustard, 2.01 lakh metrictonnes of gram and 1.21 lakhmetric tonnes of lentil(masoor) from farmers at des-ignated centres for 90 daysstarting April 2.

Lucknow (PNS): Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav expressed concern over police action againstindustrial workers stranded in Surat (Gujarat) dueto lockdown. He said that the government shouldlearn from these incidents and provide immediaterelief to the stranded workers. The workers, mostlyfrom Odisha, were cane-charged by the police in Suraton Friday after they blocked traffic and indulged inviolence, demanding transit to their native places.

Akhilesh said that the SP was abiding by the lock-down to curb coronavirus spread and was also help-ing the needy. “As a responsible opposition, the SP

is aware of its duties and cannot run away from itsresponsibility. Team 11 set up by the UP chief min-ister to monitor corona relief needs to be more sen-sitive and receptive to grievances of the common peo-ple and should adopt a consistent style of working,”he said. Criticising filing of an FIR against editor ofa news website, Akhilesh said that the governmentshould refrain from adopting discriminatory stancetowards the media.

The website had published a story questioningthe participation by chief minister in an event inAyodhya for shifting the idol of Ram Lala from the

makeshift temple to another temple. Akhileshalleged that coercive action against the media was aconspiracy against democracy.

The SP chief further said that the his party hadalways been an advocate of positive and creative crit-icism. “Should the government not be asked as towhat relief works were being undertaken for farm-ers, unemployed, women, youth and affected sections?What is the condition of children and elderly whoare locked inside their homes due to the lockdown?Is it a crime to speak for the weaker sections of soci-ety?” Akhilesh asked.

Lucknow (PNS): UttarPradesh Shia Waqf BoardChairman Waseem Rizvi hasdirected mutwallis (caretak-ers) of Shia Waqf Board prop-erties to immediately informthe police about anyone stayingon their property with a histo-ry of attending Tablighi Jamaatgathering at Nizamuddin in

Delhi.Rizvi said that if there was

any Jamaat member staying intheir mosque or madarasa,then they should inform thepolice or Waqf helpline imme-diately.

“If any such persona isfound in properties of ShiaWaqf, caretakers will be held

responsible and will be heldaccountable by the police andare likely to be arrested andNational Security Act (NSA)will be invoked against them.

Terming the Jamaat mem-bers as anti-nationals, Rizvicautioned the mosques andmadarasas situated on theIndo-Nepal border.

�� A woman constable suffered a deep cut after manjha of a kite

got entangled around her nec at Polytechnic over-bridge underGhazipur police station area on Saturday morning. Preeti Rajputof Pilibhit is presently attached with the office of DCP (Crime)and lives at a rented accommodation in Indira Nagar. Around8.30 am when she was going to her office in Gomti Nagar, themanjha got entangled around her neck. She lost balance and felldown due to which she fractured her left hand. She was admit-ted to RML Hospital.

�� The Jankipuram police registered a case against a mea

t seller for opening his shop during lockdown on Saturdayevening. Reports said some residents alerted the policeabout opening of the shop on Saath Fita Road in the locality anda team reached the scene. The police apprehended the showown-er, identified as Munna Quesrhi. The police said Quesrhi hadopened a small gate behind his shop and was stealthily sellingmeat.

��5�� % � The Lucknow police recovered 70 litres of coutrymade liquor

during raids at three different establishments in Mohanlalganjon the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Those arrest-ed were identified as Mahesh, Sonu, Ram Chandra andHareram, all of Mohanlalganj.

�� % �� A person, accused of attempting to molest a girl, escaped from

police custody in Malihabad on Saturday on the pretext of answer-ing nature’s call. Reports said the accused was accused of barg-ing inside the house of a man of Hafiz Kheda village in Malihabadon Friday night and acting fresh with a woman. Following a com-plaint, he was apprehended by police. Around 6 pm, he pretendedto go to toilet and later scaled the boundary wall of police sta-tion and ran away. Police detained his brother and launched amanhunt for the accused.

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All the staff members of Bank of Baroda,Lucknow zone, contributed �21 lakh to the CM ReliefFund. On Saturday, Bank of Baroda general manag-er, Lucknow zone, Ram Jass Yadav presented a chequeto Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Regional manag-er AK Singh was also present on the occasion.

��%�� 6� � Governor Anandiben Patel has extended the term

of Vice-Chancellor of King George’s MedicalUniversity Dr MLB Bhatt, who was due for retire-ment on April 13. The Governor has extended theVC’sterm for three months or till the appointment of a newVice-Chancellor, whichever happens first.

�� A mutual agreement was signed between

Lucknow University and 112 UP Police. Under thisagreement, psychological support will be provided tothe personnel on duty in COVID-19 challenge. “Thesepersonnel have been overstressed, ar personal risk andunder emotional trauma of dealing with tragedies ona daily basis. The programme coordinators will beArchana Shukla from the department of Psychology(LU) and Shashi Shekhar Singh, Additional SP (112UP Police). Head of Psychology departmentMadhurima Pradhan also assured her cooperation,”LU media spokesperson said.

�� Vice-Chancellor of AKTU Vinay Kumar Pathak

addressed the students of affiliated institutes on Fridaythrough a live session on Facebook and Youtube. Hesaid 287 ideas were sent by the students in the ‘WeeklyCovid-19 Ideathon’. The winner will be announcedby the screening committee. He said all the studentsshould continue their works by staying home. He saidthe students who are short of text books can get thebooks from e-consortium of the technical universi-ty. Pathak said they are organising an online poolplacement drive for placements of the students. Headded that they would be given online internship.

�� 0�� CII has donated 40,000 masks and 4,500 bottles

of sanitiser to UP government to lend support to thefight against COVID-19 pandemic. The CII members

have pledged to support the government in tacklingthe virus and working towards reducing the suffer-ings and losses. Personal hygiene material was hand-ed over to infrastructure and industrial developmentcommissioner Alok Tandon by former chairman ofCII (UP) Jai Agarwal and state head of CII (UP) AlokShukla for distribution in various affected districts.Individually too, the members are undertaking var-ious relief works for their employees as well as thecommunity.

��!�� Aiman Saif, a student of City Montessori School,

Gomti Nagar Campus I, has been offered admissionwith a scholarship of US$ 23,000 by the Wichita StateUniversity, USA, for pursuing higher studies there. Thescholarship has been offered to her for the entire studyperiod of four years. Apart from this, two more USuniversities — Northern Arizona University andUniversity of Delaware — have also offered her admis-sion for pursuing higher studies.

�� %�� 5� ��Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow University AK Rai

presented a cheque �Rs 34,81,918 to Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath as teachers’ and staff ’s contributionto the Covid Care Fund. Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor called on Governor Anandiben Patel at RajBhawan and and apprised her of the university’s readi-ness and preparations for NAAC visit. Rai also dis-cussed with ther crucial points like the existingteacher-student ratio and facilities for students.

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Owing to the sharp fall instate revenue in the 2019-

20 fiscal due to the lockdown,the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has deferred the pay-ment of arrears of stateemployees till June 30.

The financial sanctionsby different departments formajor construction work andland acquisition will be issuedafter June 30, after priorapproval from Finance depart-ment.

Financial sanctions forrelease of state share forCentrally-sponsored schemeswill also be issued with priorapproval of Finance depart-ment.

However, the governmentwill make payments of thenature of committed expen-diture like salaries of stateemployees, teachers of state-run primary schools, andteaching and non-teachingstaff of government-aidededucational institutions,

autonomous bodies aided bythe government.

Payment of wages andhonorarium of home guards,ASHA Bahu, Prantiya RakshaDal and Anganwadi workerswill also be as usual and therewill be no delay.

As per orders issued byAdditional Chief Secretary(Finance) Sanjeev Mittal onSaturday, all other necessarypayments to the staff of police,medical and health, revenue,medical education will bemade as usual.

He said that all necessaryexpenditures to be incurred bydifferent government depart-ments for fighting COVID-19would continue to be made.

The urban local bodiesand other government bodieshave been asked to make reg-ular payment of electricitybills to UP Power CorporationLimited.

The departments havealso been asked to pay prop-erty and water tax to urbanlocal bodies.

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Lucknow (PNS): UttarPradesh Congress secretarySachin Chaudhary was arrestedfor making controversialremarks against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath duringa press conference, defying lock-down, in Amroha on Saturday.A case under Section 188 andother sections of the CriminalProcedure Code was registered.Chaudhary, who fought the LokSabha poll on Congress ticketfrom Amroha, along with twoothers were also charged for vio-lating Section 144 of the CrPC.The arrested Congress leadersaid in the presser that the lock-down was imposed without anypreparation and like a socialemergency, made people uneasy.He said that the worst affectedwere those from lower middleclass as they were finding it dif-ficult to arrange two squaremeals.

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Three persons residing inSadar, one of the hotspot

areas sealed by the districtadministration, on Saturdaytested positive for coronavirus.

Confirming the same, thechief medical officer (CMO) ofLucknow said the patients arethe family members of thosewho have tested positive ear-lier. The CMO said they havealready carried out an extensivecontainment plan in this areaand are in the process of col-lecting more samples.

KGMU tests have revealedthat those who tested positivefrom Lucknow include a 55-year-old man and two womenaged 38 years and 30 years.

Divisional CommissionerMukesh Meshram said thosewho tested positive were con-fined to those localities wherehotspots are identified andwhere sanitisation drives arebeing conducted so that thevirus does not spread to otherareas. He pointed out thatmany samples being sent dailyfrom the hotspot areas are alsocoming out as negative. “We are

sending around 50 samplesfor testing on a daily basis andreports of many of them arecoming as negative” he said.

Meanwhile, KGMU hasreceived directions from theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) to train per-sonnel from 27 governmentand 24 private medical collegesacross the state for COVID-19testing. KGMU Vice-Chancellor Dr MLB Bhatt,who attended a video-confer-encing with the Central gov-ernment authorities, told thisreporter that the private med-ical colleges would have toprocure their own machinesand the responsibility given tothe medical university is totrain, guide, monitor andassure quality testing.

He said the governmenthas decided to start the testingfacilities in all the medical col-leges of the state. “The decisionhas been taken by the MedicalCouncil of India and ICMR.KGMU is ready for providingconsultancy and advice to themedical colleges,” he said.

He added that the govern-ment would be providingmachines to government col-leges while private collegeswould have to arrange theirown machines for the purpose.

“In government medicalcolleges, it’s a Covid level-2 hos-pitals who will be doing the

tests. Both methods — physi-cal inspection and inviting theinformation through electron-ic means — will be employedfor quality assurance. Externaltesting will also be carried out,wherein the samples will beinvited (be it positive or nega-tive) and then confirmatorytests will be carried out as well,”he said.

He said some of the med-ical colleges have already start-

ed the testing. “There are 6-7medical colleges that havealready started testing, includ-ing Meerut Medical College,Allahabad Medical College andGorakhpur Medical College.Testing facilities in all othermedical colleges will be start-ed soon,” he added.

Head of KGMU’sMicrobiology department DrAmita Jain, who is also thenodal officer for the same,

said they are working on anextensive plan. “This has to bedone in a phased manner. Wewill have to see who is preparedand who wants to do it,” shesaid. She added that trainingfor this cannot be impartedonline and the personnel to begiven lab training will have tobe physically present.

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King George’s MedicalUniversity has completed test-ing of more than 4,000 samplestill date, almost half of the totalnumber tested across the state.KGMU spokesperson said thattesting of the samples havebeen carried out sinceFebruary 4 by two machinesinstalled in the lab. He said that300-400 samples were tested inthe lab on a daily basis and onSaturday, 557 samples weretested in a day. The departmentis receiving samples from near-ly 35 districts of the state.

Meanwhile, 19 samplestested positive for coronavirusin the state on Saturday, takingthe toll to 452. In Agra, thenumber of positive coron-avirus cases is 92, followed by64 in Noida, 48 in Meerut, 27in Ghaziabad and 32 inLucknow. The death toll roseto five with one death inBulandshahr.

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Divisional CommissionerMukesh Meshram said that

the administration is preparedif the lockdown is extendedafter April 14. He said it is anongoing process and they areprepared for any kind of situa-tion. The district administra-tion officials involved in supplyand distribution of food andessential commodities said theyare prepared if the lockdown isextended.

Meanwhile, the officialsadmitted that the restrictedmovement of vehicles from9.30 am to 6 pm created prob-lems for the medicine market.

A senior official said theproblem cropped up on Fridaywhen the traders complainedthat the vehicles of dealerscoming from outside of thestate to pick up medicines facedissues in entering the city andtheir vehicles were stoppedbecause of the restrictions.However, he said they held ameeting and the issue was sort-ed out. He also pointed out thatin the hotspot areas, they facedthe problem of miscommuni-cation as the wholesalers of veg-etables started receiving ordersinstead of the retailers from res-idents of hotspots.

“Local volunteers had to be

contacted for retail items butbecause of the miscommunica-tion, the wholesalers startedreceiving orders. The issue wasalso sorted out,” he added.

Meanwhile, DivisionalCommissioner MukeshMeshram and DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakashinaugurated the EpidemicResponse Centre at theIntegrated Command Centre ofthe Smart City. The contactnumber of the centre is9650682159.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration has made

arrangements for home deliv-ery of fish through mobile fishparlours. Dilip Kumar, owner ofa mobile fish parlour, can becontacted on 9335202595.9519244444 can be dialled forsupply of fish to Gomti Nagar.Imran Hussain Khan can bereached out on 9839790941for supply of fish to IndiraNagar while Shaaz Alam can becontacted on 9335178992 forsupply to Ashiyana. Sunil Singhcan be contacted at7785951865, 7379791333 and8317062080 for supply of fish toChinhat.

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Lucknow (PNS): BahujanSamaj Party supremoMayawati on Saturday saidthat in view of the rising num-ber of COVID-19 cases in thecountry, if the Centre decidedto extend the lockdown herparty would welcome the deci-sion. Mayawati said the gov-ernment should take a decisionregarding the lockdown whilekeeping in mind the interestsof the people of the countrywho were facing the chal-lenges arising from the coron-avirus pandemic. She said theBSP would stand by everydecision of the government in

this regard. Taking to Twitter,the BSP supremo said, “If theUnion government decides topursue the ongoing 21-daynation-wide lockdown fur-ther, after reviewing it thor-oughly at every level and keep-ing in mind the wider publicinterest, the BSP will welcomeit.” The BSP president appealedto the Centre and state govern-ments to rise above caste, reli-gion and party politics in thistime of national crisis andkeep in mind the interests ofthe poor people, weaker sec-tions, labourers and farmerswhile taking a decision.

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The enforcement wing of traffic police challaned508 people for moving around by vehicles in the

city on Saturday. Besides, the police issued challansto as many as 286 offenders and impounded ninevehicles. According to traffic officials, they challaned270 persons driving two-wheeler without wearinghelmets and 85 for driving in wrong side. Eight chal-lans were issued for triple-riding. They said 45 chal-lans were issued to owners of four-wheeler drivingwithout wearing seat belts. “The offenders were chal-laned at Munshipulia, Polytechnic crossing,Khurram Nagar, Engineering College crossing, ITcrossing, Ahimamau road, Amausi, PGI andUthretiya crossings,” the officials said.

The police had a tough time dealing with peo-ple venturing out despite restrictions and at someplaces, the offenders had a showdown with the cops.Around 3 pm on Saturday, a woman wearing a maskwas stopped by a team of police and civil defenseworkers at Rooppur in Khadra locality. The womenconfronted the cops after which she was chased away.She took shelter in a home in the locality. The policecalled PAC personnel and reached the house wherethe woman had taken refuge. Though the womanwas let off, the police said they were mulling to reg-ister a case against her.

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As many as 109 labourers, stuffed in a truck goingto their hometowns in Bihar, were stopped at

the Lucknow-Barabanki border in Gosainganj onSaturday morning. They were kept in RadhaswamiShelter Home in Mohanlalganj. Police arrested thetruck driver, Guddan Khan of Etawah. The labour-ers will be made to undergo a medical check-upbefore they are shifted to their hometown later.

According to Gosainganj SHO DheerendraKushwaha, a team spotted the truck in Gangaganjlocality in the morning. “The truck driver tried toflee the scene but was nabbed by a police team,” hesaid. He said that the labourers worked at cold stor-age in Aligarh and were “loaded in the truck” inAligarh on Friday night. “The truck driver put thelives of labourers at risk by overlooking the normsof social distancing and also defied the lockdown,”he said. The SHO said a case against the cold stor-age owner and truck owner Bablu Khan of Etawah,and truck driver was registered while the truck wasimpounded. The labourers told the police that theylost their job after the cold storage was closed dueto lockdown.

They said they spent some days in Aligarh butthen ran short of money in due course of time. “Ouremployer did not help us. We were looking for a wayout and when Guddan came up with the rescue plan,and agreed,” they told the police.

It surfaced during investigation that the truckhad two registration number plates, one of whichwas meant for supply of foodstuff and essentialgoods, and a lockdown pass was also issued for it.During checking, it surfaced that the validity of thepass had expired several days back but the truck dri-ver used it to evade checking. “UP75M8247 wasinscribed on one side and MP06HT1615 on theother,” the SHO said. He added that the truck dri-ver took Rs 1,500 from each labourer for the trip.

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Lucknow (PNS): The Lucknow district administra-tion has relaxed the restriction on movement of vehi-cles between 9:30 am to 6 pm for drug dealers goingto the wholesale drug markets in Aminabad andTransportnagar. A senior district administration offi-cial said that this restriction would not apply to peo-ple coming to or leaving these wholesale drug mar-kets to purchase drugs, raw materials and medicalequipment. He said that these people could show acopy of the drug licence or the GST and they wouldbe allowed to move. The official said that it wouldbe ensured that no ill treatment was meted out tothe drug dealers. The official said that as the busi-ness of the drug dealers continued till late hours,the restrictions would not apply to them. He saidthe order would also apply at the city limits for thevehicles coming to purchase drugs in the city. Hesaid all two-wheelers coming to the Aminabadwholesale drug markets should be parked on LaTouche road.

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All tall claims made by theadministration to ensure

supply of various ration andother articles, medicines andeven money from banks andpost offices at people’s door-step seem not very effective yetthough the nationwide 21-daylockdown entered the 18th dayon Saturday in view to preventthe spreading of worldwidecoronavirus pandemic. Thisineffectiveness and vast gapbetween the claims and reali-ties are still raising eyebrows ofmany over the achievements ofobjectives of lockdown.Besides, it has also raised seri-ous questions over social dis-tancing and proved the appealof the authorities to stay athome not very fruitful.

Even during the first weekof lockdown, the districtadministration had launchedthe home delivery systemclaiming that some selectedfirms of different areas wouldsupply various articles to theresidents at home. To someextent, the system may be fruit-ful but it still not seems perfectas majority of residents livingin different localities and nar-row lanes either remainedignorant of this doorstep deliv-ery system or they are stillbelieving their faith in theirregular traders from wherethey generally purchased arti-cles. Similarly, a system wasimplemented to help the oldaged persons, handicapped andwomen to get their medicinesat home and District Magistrate(DM) had claimed that byFriday, the medicines by 72delivery boys of 31 medicalshops had supplied to 3550people at their homes. Thoughthe figures seem big on thepapers but it is meagre in a citylike Varanasi and it was the rea-son why long queues were atsome medical shops in thecity.

Not only this, recently

Divisional Commissioner (DC)had issued some phone/ mobilenumbers of post office officersand claimed that upto � 10,000amount the people can getfrom their PO and bankaccounts in nationalised banksat home and the residents haveno need to go to ATMs formoney withdrawal for theirroutine needs. It is said thatpostmen will deliver the moneyat homes. The claims soundgood but not seem practical,especially in the city where dueto shortage of postmen, eventhe residents did not get theirposts in time. Even after a longgap, the post office could notopen its area office atMehmoorganj and one cannotexpect that the Dak Mitras willregularly reach every localitydaily in long Mehmoorganjareas after getting their postsfar away from CantonmentPO (Nadesar). The other

shocking picture is that even allthe ATMs are not workingproperly and many of them hadno cash and due to this, longlines were seen at some ATMs.

Similarly, in view to checkchaos like situation duringfood and ration supply by sev-eral organisations, the districtadministration had madearrangements of supply thesame through its own.Thousands of packets are alsobeing delivered to Police-PublicAnnapurna Bank and othersdaily but yet no system of sup-ply the same at doorstep is vis-ible. The tired police personnelafter discharging long duties atdifferent areas to keep thelockdown successful are beingseen busy in delivering suchhundreds of packets at policeoutposts. Similar, shocking pic-tures are also being seen atsome other offices as variousorganisations continued their

efforts to show their charity atthis point of crisis with bighearts.

Meanwhile, ParshwanathVidyapeeth, Karaundi distrib-uted 165 lunch packets throughfood security officers. Similarly,Lok Samiti in association withMuhim and Asha Trust dis-tributed ration packets amongthe needy people of five villagesthrough the concerned policestation of Mirza Murad. Agroup of Samajwadi Party (SP)workers with the help ofDaranagar and Kabirchaurapolice outposts continued itscharity work.

The CRPF personnel of 95Battalion also continued theirdedicated work by providinghelp to the needy peopleduring the ongoing lockdown.NDRF, RPF and otherpara-police units also contin-ued their efforts in this direc-tion.

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The District Magistrate, DrBR Tiwari on Saturday

informed that all the JanSuvidha Kendra were opera-tional and and will continue torun till further orders so thateligible can obtain ration cardsfor those people who had beenleft out on some pretext. Hesaid there was a facility of fill-ing forms online and alsothrough mobile phones. Hesaid despite that if one had anyproblem then they can do so atJSK but maintaining strictsocial distancing and ensureone sported face masks. He saidin the current times of distressthere was a big section of poorpeople who had been left outand thus this move was toensure that they obtainration cards so they start get-ting foodgrains from the levyshops.

The DM also informedthat on Friday a sum of � 1.1crore was transferred to CovidCare Fund. He said there wasno restriction on the openingof wholesale medical shopsespecially located at BirhanaRoad and it will continue toremain open between 8 am and6 pm and appealed to thewholesale druggists to ensuremedicines were supplied strict-ly following the social distanc-ing norms.

He said directives had beenissued to the police stations andofficials to ensure that passeswere made on priority forthose who were involved in saleand supply of medicines. Hesaid in case of any problempeople can contact DrugInspector, Sandesh Mauryamobile number 9956590933.He directed that the wholesalegrain merchants ofCollectorganj should ensurestrict social distancing with

immediate effect. He alsodirected that those involved inthe delivery of medicine shouldbe allowed so that people whoneed medicine can avail them-selves of the facility.

The DM visited the hotspotareas to cross check if thecomplete lockdown was beingfollowed. He said it had beenwitnessed in quite a few areasthe early in the morning peo-ple rush out with their cars andbeeline in markets.

He said they threw theentire norms of social distanc-ing and thus the threat ofspread loomed large. He madean appeal to the people espe-cially the literate class to ensurethey display some restraintand care for themselves. He

said the supply of milk, dairyproducts, fruits and vegetableshave been permitted fordoorstep delivery. He said anyperson who had travelled andhad come in contact with anyperson affected with coron-avirus need to immediatelyinform the Chief MedicalOfficer, Dr AK Shukla or onthe toll free number18001805159 or on 05122333810.

Meanwhile Solidarid,which was a company fromThe Netherlandsand was work-ing for cleaning of Ganga underthe three year pact handedoverr 10,000 masks, 2000 sani-tisers of 200 ml each was hand-ed over to the DM on Saturday.Besides Solidarid also donated

2,000 masks and 500 bottles ofsanitisers to the GSVMMedical College.

Meanwhile the DM alsoinaugurated a blood donationcamp held at Basant Vihar,Naubasta which was organisedby the support of Ma PathrahiDevi Sewa Samiti.

The Mayor, PramilaPandey was also present on theoccasion.A total of 100 peopledonated blood.

He said a single unit ofblood can save three lives andsaid in view of the dangerousspread of coronavirus it was thebounden duty of every personto donate blood at the time ofcrisis. He thanked the organis-ers for holding a blood dona-tion camp.

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With the detection of ayoung positive COVID-

19 patient from nearbyBhadohi district, all the districtsof Varanasi division have inten-sified vigil on the migratedlabourers who arrived in thispart of Purvanchal (easternUP) from Delhi recently.

As many could not reachtheir homes in different partsof Bihar, it would be yet anoth-er a big challenge for theadministration to identify thesuspected coronavirus carriersamong such migrated workersafter recent episode of TablighiJamaat Markaz.

The first positive coronacase which came into the lightfrom Bhadohi is an 18 year-old-youth who belongs toKatihar in Bihar. As he couldnot go to his hometown inBihar, he was kept at a shelterhome at National Inter Collegein Bhadohi with over hundredother such migrating workers.In a random testing of about 25

migrants on the instructions ofstate government his samplewas found positive and it notonly increased the worries ofadjoining Vidhyachal(Mirzapur) division but also inVaranasi division.

The coronavirus positiveyouth was sent to MirzapurDivisional Hospital for treat-ment and the place where hewas staying along with otherswas fully sanitised.

However, the incident hasincreased the worries in all thethree divisions of Varanasi,Mirzapur and Azamgarh inthis belt of Purvanchal whereout of 25 positive COVID-19patients so far, a sizeable num-ber was of those who hadattended Nizamuddin’s Markazrecently.

In Varanasi division, sofar 18 patients were foundpositive COVID-19 patientsand three of them includingtwo of Varanasi and one ofJaunpur were recovered welland discharged while one inVaranasi died. The rest of 14 are

still being treated at PanditDeen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU)Government Hospital,Pandeypur here. They includ-ed six from Varanasi, five fromGhazipur and three fromJaunpur. There is not a singlepositive patient fromChandauli district of the divi-sion so far.

Meanwhile, all the all the10 hotspots in the divisionremained sealed and tight secu-rity arrangements have beenmade there. There are four suchhotspots in Varanasi where allthe thermal scanning and othertesting process have been com-pleted in affected Madanpura,Bajardiha, Lohta and Gangapurareas.

Besides, there are also fourhotspots in Jaunpur district andthree of them are in the north-ern parts of Gomti river includ-ing Ferosepur, Lal Darwajaand Badi Masjid apart fromDeoria village in Badlapur area.In Ghzaipur, five positive caseswere detected and the twohotspots at Mahuwabagh in the

city area and Markazi Masjid inDildarnagar area have beenfully sealed.

As the present 21-daynationwide lockdown is inch-ing to close and it is expectedthat its duration may beextended, the marketsremained closed and roadswore deserted look on the 18thday on Saturday.

Earlier, in view to make itsaction more stringent, the dis-trict police lodged six FIRsagainst seven persons for vio-lating the lockdown on Friday.As many as 20 persons werearrested under Section 151CrPC.

During checking at 14 bor-der points and 49 police barri-ers, 898 vehicles were challanedapart from seizing of eightvehicles. Since the imposing oflockdown, 165 FIRs have beenlodged against 277 personsand 368 were arrestedunder Section 151 of CrPC.Besides, so far 16,759 vehicleswere challaned and 548 wereseized.

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Chhatrapati Shahu JiMaharaj University,

Kanpur, has set up a specialmedical cell at the communitycentre on the universitypremises.

Vice-Chancellor DrNeelima Gupta said head ofdepartment of UniversityInstitute of Health Sciencesand nodal officer of thecentre, Dr PravinKatiyar, along with ateam of doctors would be pre-sent for telemedicine consul-tation.

Dr Gupta said people inneed of medical help couldcontact the centre by phone orWhatsApp for free consulta-tion.

She said specialists of var-ious diseases would be availablefor consultation at a fixed timeand people were free to call onthe numbers and within theprescribed time for consulta-tion.

The medical team com-prises ENT specialist Dr PankajGulati (11am to 12 noon ,mobile number 9839707085).paediatrician Dr VK Tandon(9 am to 10 am, mobile num-ber 9415043517), gynaecologistDr Sharmeeli Oberoi (12 noonto 1, 9839114969), generalphysician Dr RN Katiyar (3 to4 pm, 9984487877), ortho-dontist Dr DK Jaipuria (10 amto 1 pm, 9839030090), psychi-atrist Dr Rohan Kumar (1 to 2pm, 8795338800), ophthal-mologist Dr Sanjeev Rohatgi(10 am to 12 noon onMondays, 7007927645), gynae-cologist Dr Neerja Katiyar, (10to 11 am on Fridays,9415134392), dentist DrAbhinav Kushwaha (11 am to1 pm, 9450132427), paediatri-cian Dr Ashok Puri (10 am to12 noon and 5 to 7 pm,9839020432). Besides, in caseof any other problem, peoplecan contact Dr Pravin Katiyaron mobile number9415132492).

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Regency Health has startedtelemedicine services for

people. Regency HospitalDirector Dr Atul Kapoor saidthe hospital would set up aCOVID-19 ward if need arose.He said in the case of need ofambulance, one could call0512-3502660. Dr Kapoor saidthe hospital would issue passon email which could be shownto the police to reach the hos-pital. He said round-the-clockthermal scanning was beendone to check the temperatureof all persons entering the hos-pital premises. He said depart-ments of cancer, renal disease,diabetes and other serious dis-eases were working normally.Dr Kapoor said PPE kits hadbeen provided to the doctorsand the paramedical staff andsafety and security was notbeing compromised at anycost.

YOUTH TESTS CORO-NA POSITIVE: A youth ofKannauj, who himself had pre-ferred to undergo medical testas a precautionary measure on

the basis of his travel history,was tested corona positive. Theinfected youth was immediatelysent to Kanpur and admittedhere in the isolation ward ofSarsaul CHC. Besides, theentire village of Kannauj wasdeclared home quarantine. Allthe members of his familywere also quarantined andtheir swab samples were sentfor lab testing. According toreports, a youth of Thathia vil-lage of Kannauj was employedin a factory in Bhiwari(Rajasthan). He had arrived tohis village on March 28. OnThursday, he reached theGovernment hospital forundergoing his medical test asa precautionary measure. Inview of his travel history, doc-tors collected his sample andsent to Saifai Medical Collegefor testing. In the reportreceived on Friday evening, hewas tested COVID-19 positive.Immediately, Medical Officer-incharge of Tirwa DrAwadhesh Kumar along withteam of doctors reached the vil-lage and sent the infected youthto Sarsaul (Kanpur) CHC.

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The North Central Railwayheadquarters has created a

COVID-19 Fund to providerelief to the needy and helplesspeople during the lockdown.

Voluntary contributions tothe tune of � 7,16,000 havebeen received so far fromofficers and staff of variousdepartments posted of theheadquarters office inSubedarganj.

Similar funds have alsobeen created by Prayagraj,Jhansi and Agra divisions toprovide relief to the needypersons.

During the lockdown peri-od which is to end on April 14but is expected to be extendedby another two weeks, IndianRailways has been continuingand upscaling goods trainsmovement across the lengthand breadth of the countrybesides introducing as many109 timetabled parcel trains onas many as 58 routes to ensurethat adequate supply of eachessential commodity is ensuredin every part of India .

North Central Railway,which plays a very importantrole in connecting North withEast , West and South throughmobility of trains on its net-work, has also made elaboratearrangements and geared up totransport even a single packetof parcel through availablegoods and parcel trains.

Besides discharging its pro-fessional duty of national trans-porter, North Central Railwayis also standing shoulder toshoulder with fellow Indianstowards its social responsibil-ity.

Of the approximately 200goods trains operating daily onNorth Central Railway duringlockdown, about 30-35 trainsare exclusively carrying food-grains, salt , sugar , edible oiland fertiliser besides bulktransportation of other impor-tant items like coal, petroleum,LPG etc in balance freighttrains . On an average, two foodgrain rakes are unloaded dailyover NCR to ensure adequateavailability of edibles.

Amidst suspension of pas-senger services during lock-down, Indian Railways has

introduced timetabled parceltrains for facilitating trans-portation of essential itemslike medicines, foods etc., insmall and medium quantities.Out of the 109 timetabled ser-vices introduced on 58 routesof Indian Railways, 17 arecatering to various stations ofNCR while one daily pair ofservice between Prayagraj andJhansi has been introduced byNorth Central Railway.

During the ongoing lock-down, North Central Railwayis ensuring that even if a singlepacket of parcel is booked it istransported through the sys-tem. This can be gauged fromthe fact that railway, which nor-mally discourages piecemealtransportation, is running onecoach parcel train betweenPrayagraj-Jhansi on daily basistill April 14.

Although the cost of oper-ating this parcel train (No.00435/00436) with just oneSLR and utilising same loco-motive and other operationalinputs which otherwise areused for full train load , is muchmore costly than the value ofparcel being booked, yet North

Central Railway is committedto sustain and increase parcelservices in discharge of itsduty as national transporter.With the motto to serve thecountry, parcel stations onNCR transacted 2.171 tonnesof parcel on April 10 forinsignificant booking amountof � 7,751.

Besides contribution ofone day salary by all employ-ees of North Central Railwayamounting to more than � 7.3crore, many individual andcollective efforts are beingmade by all three divisions andHQ office to serve food/rationetc. to the needy and the poorduring the lockdown .

As per the directions ofNCR and NR General ManagerRajiv Chaudhry, divisionalfunds have already been aug-mented by the contributionsfrom NCR HQ COVID19Fund to the tune of � 1,50,000to Prayagraj division and �75,000 each to Jhansi and Agradivisions. Further contribu-tion to divisional funds willcontinue to substantiallyaugment the efforts of divi-sions.

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Ultramodern level 3 coro-na-testing laboratory will

be established in Microbiologydepartment of Banda MedicalCollege. This information wasgiven by Principal BandaMedical College Dr MukeshYadav while talking to ThePioneer on Friday. He said thatUttar Pradesh government hadsanctioned �486 lakh for estab-

lishing biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) corona testing lab. Yadavwhile expressing great happi-ness over it said that it wouldprove to be a boon for the res-idents of entire Chitrakootdhamdivision. Principal Yadav saidthat at present samples relatedto coronavirus were being sentto King George’s MedicalUniversity (KGMU), Lucknow,for test. As soon as this lab wasestablished in Banda Medical

College doctors would be ableto get reports within a shortspan of time and ensure closemonitoring of Covid-19patients. Principal Dr MukeshYadav said this project had alsobeen approved by MedicalCouncil of India and ICMR.Yadav said that Avas VikasParishad had been made theworking agency. Dr Yadav saidthat this lab would be estab-lished within one month.

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MLA from Banda PrakashDwivedi said that he had

distributed 120 ration kitsamong the villagers at SherpurShyoda under Girwan policestation on Friday. Talking to‘The Pioneer’ MLA said that theration kits were distributedamong the poor while follow-ing the social distancing guide-lines. Dwivedi said that peopleof his Vidhan Sabha seat wouldnot remain hungry. Dwivedisaid that he has directed hisparty activists to distributelunch packets among the needypeople of the city on a regularbasis. MLA said that his aimwas to see smile on the faces ofthe poor and needy people.Dwivedi that he had identifiedthe needy people and lunchpackets and ration kits werebeing distributed among them.Dwivedi said that 4,000 lunchpackets were distributed at PeeliKothi, Padmakar Chauraha,Diggi Chauraha, Balkhandi

Naka, Kiran College, Karbala,Kanchanpurwa, MuktidhamRoad, Ken Path Khaipar,Rahuniya, Khutla, Civil Lines,Jawahar Nagar, Gayatri Nagar,Sarvodaya Nagar, ShukulKuwan, Kalu Kuwan, StationRoad, Roadways bus stand, rail-way station, Chhiptahari,Kyotara, Chhoti Bazar andAliganj areas of the city. Dwivedisaid that among those distrib-uted these ration kits and lunchpackets were district presidentBJP Ramkesh Nishad, RamKrashna Shukla, Akhilesh NathDixit, Vinod Singh, Amarmani

Tripathi, Sudhir Mishra, ShashiBhushan Shukla, MunnilalChaurasiya, AnurudhaTripathi, Pushkar Dwivedi,Rajat Seth, Swadesh Shivhare,Golu, Rahul Dwivedi, RamManohar Yadav, NeerajTripathi, Santosh Rajput andRakesh Gupta.

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A 16-year-old girl Guddan,daughter of Sharda Yadav,committed suicide by hangingherself with a rope from a treein the field at Simauni village

under Baberu kotwali here ofFriday. Police took the body ofthe deceased into their custodyand sent it for the post-mortemexamination. Police said thatthe deceased committed sui-cide when her mother askedher to harvest the crop in thefield. She refused to do it andcommitted suicide. Meanwhiletwo women consumed poiso-nous substance and wereadmitted to District HospitalBanda for treatment. Reportsreceived here said that Shivdevi(35), a resident of Pipari villageunder Dehat Kotwali had con-sumed poisonous substance ather residence. In other incidentPriyanka Singh (32), a residentof Saimari village under theTindwari police station, madean attempt to suicide by con-suming poisonous substanceand she was also admitted toDistrict hospital Banda. ASPLKB Pal said that both the vic-tims were out of danger. Hesaid that they tried to commitsuicide due to family dispute.

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District Magistrate AmitSingh Bansal told total

8,509 labourers who hadreturned to their villages fromMumbai, Surat, Delhi, Noidaand Ghaziabad had been keptin 36 quarantine centres of thedistrict. DM said that 27 sam-ples had been sent to KGMU,Lucknow. DM said that these27 people of different quaran-tine centres had complained offever, cough and cold. DMBansal said that if any persontested positive samples of all theremaining labourers, includingdoctors and paramedical staff,would be collected and sent toKGMU, Lucknow, for Covid-19test. DM Bansal said that strictinstructions had been issued toofficers incharge of these quar-antine centres to maintainsocial distancing among thelabourers kept there. DMBansal said that these 27labourers had been kept in aseparate ward of BandaMedical College till their

reports reach here. DM Bansalsaid that two labourers had notrepor ed their arrival to Bandacontrol room and had reachedtheir respective homes. Theywere searched by revenueteams from Tindwari andBaberu and they both werechecked up by doctors and hadbeen kept under home quar-antine. DM Bansal said thatthere were only two patients inisolation wards of BandaMedical College. DM Bansalsaid that a close watch wasbeing kept over 27 patientswhose samples had been sentto KGMU Lucknow. DM saidthat UP Government, MedicalSection has declared Covid-19 an epidemic. The buildingof Forestry University of BandaUniversity of Agriculture andTechnology would be used forkeeping the people under quar-antine. All the expenses, likeelectricity bill, water bill and formaking available other essen-tial facilities, would be paid byBUAT and district administra-tion would not pay for it. DM

Bansal said that two hotels ofthe city would also be used forquarantining the doctors andparamedical staff of level 1 and2 who were engaged for treat-ing covid-19 patients. ADMBanda Santosh Bahadur Singhhas been nominated to paycompensation against facili-ties to be provided to the doc-tors and paramedical staffunder UP DisasterManagement Act, 2005. DMBansal said that City MagistrateSurendra Singh would be issu-ing instructions to the own-ers/managers of these hotels.

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District Magistrate AmitSingh Bansal said that FIRs hadbeen lodged against two gro-cery shopkeepers underEssential Commodities Actcaught selling essential com-modities at a higher price.Bansal said that he had alreadyissued instructions to DSO toask all grocery shopkeepers tosell the essential commodities

at the fixed prices only inorder to facilitate the peopleduring lockdown period. Hesaid that he had receivedreports that some groceryshopkeepers were violating hisinstructions. DM said that hedirected DSO Banda RajeevTiwari and police chiefSiddharth Shankar Meena toraid these grocery shops. DMsaid that District Supply Officerand SP deputed a joint team toconduct raid in civvies.Thereafter raids were con-ducted by the officials at a shopsituated in Anjali Nagar, AtarraRoad, and at City Kotwali Road.The DM said that he had direct-ed DSO to lodge FIR against thesegrocery shopkeepers. DSO RajeevTiwari said that FIRs have beenlodged against these shopkeepers.DM said that DSO had beenasked to cross- check the pricesof the commodities from the cus-tomers while purchasing fromdifferent shops. DM said thatwhosoever was found sellingessential commodities at a high-er price would not be spared.

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During nationwide lock-down to check the spread

of Covid-19 infection theNorth Eastern Railway (NER)administration was taking anumber of preventive mea-sures. They include contactlesswashbasin in various placesthrough which water comes outwithout touching the knob,making face masks and sani-tisers and distributing them asrequired, checking at the timeof entering the railway premis-es and arrangements for wash-ing of hands, sanitising the rail-way area, creating awarenessabout social distancing amongrailwaymen, railway workersand general public visiting itspremises and working with aface mask. Besides, humani-tarian work is being done bythe railwaymen in the entireNorth Eastern Railway regionlike distributing face masksand sanitisers and providingfood to the hungry, poor, des-titute, needy, labourers besideswomen and children. RailwayProtection Force (RPF)wasalso contributing in theseworks. Some such selected rail-waymen are being honoured bybeing declared the ‘CoronaWarriors of the Day’ every dayso that their morale remained

high. In this series on April 9one railwayman from each ofthe three divisions of NorthEastern Railway was selected asthe ‘Corona Warriors of theDay.’

Rajesh, posted on the postof inspector, Railway ProtectionForce at Prayagraj Rambaghrailway station, along with hisscheduled works, has also pro-vided food to the hungry, poor,destitute, workers, women andchildren in the areas ofPrayagraj Rambagh, Bai KaBagh, Daraganj etc. Duringthe lockdown period Rajeshhas distributed 1,500 packets offood, water and facemask sofar. For it he was declared‘Corona Warrior of the Day’ ofVaranasi division. SP Maurya,

posted as a fitter atBadshahnagar railway station,along with his co-workers dur-ing this period repaired thebelow three feet main pipelineof line No 3 at Burhwal stationyard which had burst due towhich the water supply was dis-rupted in the entire Burhwalrailway station, railway colonyetc. The work done by Mauryaunder such circumstances waspraiseworthy, for whichMaurya was declared as the‘Corona warriors of the Day’ ofLucknow Division.

Sudhanshu Gangwar, post-ed as as Senior SectionEngineer (signal) at MathuraCantonment Station, in col-laboration with his colleaguesin order to provide food to the

distressed workers, women,children, hungry, destitute andhelpless people during thislockdown period started acommunity kitchen. They areproviding food to about 150-200 people every day. Theexpenditure is being bornevoluntarily by the employees ofSignal Department. Gangwar isproviding facemask, sanitiser,handwash etc to all the subor-dinate employees. Gangwarwas declared the ‘Corona war-riors of the day of Izzatnagardivision.The NER will contin-ue to honour railwaymen whohave done such commendablework during the lockdownperiod. Northeast Railway wasproud of its employees.

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In this challenging time in theevent of Covid-19 outbreak,

the Northern Coalfields Limited(NCL) family is working day andnight to fulfil nation’s energy aspi-rations.

Under such circumstances thesafety of its personnel and takingprecautions was absolutely neces-sary for NCL management.

Under it as part of its innov-ative initiative the Nigahi area ofNCL has built a sanitary chamberusing fully indigenous and localparts. It’s speciality was that if onepassed through this chamber hisor her entire body was fully sani-tised. The first such sanitiserchamber has been set up at thenew workshop attendance point inthe Nigahi project benefiting the

NCL personnel as well as its con-tractual workers.

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Commissioner JayantNarlikar, District

Magistrate, K VijayendraPandian, SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP)Dr Sunil Gupta and Chief

Medical Officer (CMO) DrShrikant Tiwari inspected theBRD Medical College onFriday evening. The commis-sioner first held a meetingwith the doctors of the medicalcollege. The commissioner alsowent to the corona ward madein the medical college andsought information about theventilator and isolation ward

there. Meanwhile principal,BRD Medical College, DrGanesh Kumar said that in theisolation ward of 200 bedsthere was facility of ventilatorin 20 of them. The commis-sioner has instructed that that20 more ventilators should be

increased. Thereafter direc-tives were issued to treat thepatients properly as no negli-gence would be tolerated. Thecommissioner said that peopleof the division besides thosefrom other districts could comefor treatment.

Under such a situationcomplete preparations shouldbe made, he said.

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One criminal was appre-hended by the personnelattached to Shahpur police sta-tion here recently. The crimi-nal, Dharmendra Bihari, had

come home from Delhi due tothe panic in view of novelcoronavirus outbreak. BesidesShahpur, the personnelattached to the Gulriha policestation too were also lookingfor him for a long time. He waswanted in as many as eightcases of theft in Shahpur. TheSenior Superintendent of Police(SSP) had also declared a

reward of �15,000 on him.Reports said that criminalDharmendra, a resident ofTarkulaha under the Gularihapolice station, was wanted inseveral incidents of theft in theShahpur area. On coming toknow that the police was look-ing for him since the beginningof March he had fled to Delhiin order to evade arrest. Afterthe nationwide lockdown wasannounced to check the spreadof Covid-19 he had returnedfrom Delhi and had gone to hissister’s house. After staying ather place for few days he thenreturned to his village. On theother hand, the police wastipped off about him by aninformer following which itapprehended him. An earlierreport said that a girl who hadhanged herself from the roofdied during treatment in themedical college. The policehas registered a case against ayouth of the victim’s village forcompelling her to commit sui-cide. Her parents said that ayouth the village used to teasetheir 18-year-old daughter dayand fed up with it she hadhanged herself from the roof onMonday night.

She was taken admitted tothe medical college but the doc-tors could not save him.Belipar Station House Officer(SHO) Santosh Kumar Singhtold newspersons that follow-ing a complaint lodged bymother of the deceased a casewas registered against SachinSahni, a resident of the village,in this regard and he would bearrested soon.

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The members of the KalyaniMahila Samiti under the

Block B Project of NorthernCoalfields Limited (NCL)under the guidance of thechairperson of the committee,Shashi Duhan, distributedration and masks among theneedy families in the nearbyrural areas. The committeedistributed ration among 25families and also handed over500 masks to the public repre-sentatives of Podi, Bargawanand Gorbi panchayats.

It may be pointed out herethat the Kalyani Mahila Samitiwas constantly trying to helpthe needy families in the areain the view of the difficult sit-uation owing to Covid-19 out-break.

Meanwhile the PrernaMahila Samiti under NCL Binadistributed masks under theguidance of the chairpersonVijay Lakshmi Rai with thehelp of the principal and staff

among the people at the isola-tion centre set up in the DAVSchool of Bina Project. Thefood and health needs of theseresidents were being managedwith the help of school man-

agement without the supervi-sion of the district administra-tion. The Prerna Mahila Samitiwas constantly providing rationand masks to the helpless fam-ilies struggling with unexpect-ed problems arising due to thelockdown.

On the other hand theSamarpita Mahila Samiti underNCL’s Jayant area under theguidance of the chairpersonNeelu Prasad distributed asmany as 250 masks in thenearby rural areas.

All villagers were also giventhe message of social distanc-ing, washing hands repeatedly,wearing masks and stayingindoors.

It may be pointed out herethat earlier too ration andmasks had been distributedamong the needy villagers.

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District Magistrate SRajalingam and

Superintendent of PoliceAshish Shrivastava inaugurat-ed sanitisation work from alocality in Lodhi gram pan-chayat on Saturday.

To prevent coronavirusinfection District Magistrate SRajalingam andSuperintendent of PoliceAshish Srivastava haveinstructed the district pan-chayat raj officer to use tanker-fitted machine to sanitise thedistrict in less time. Earlier 529machines were being used forsanitisation work but it was tak-ing too much time. Thereforearrangements for newmachines had been made toquickly sanitise the area.District Panchayat Raj OfficerRK Bharti immediately madearrangements for fivemachines. The sanitation workwith them was jointly inaugu-rated by District Magistrate SRajalingam andSuperintendent of PoliceAshish Shrivastava from alocality in Lodhi gram pan-chayat n Saturday.

Reports said that the spe-cialty of this machine was thatit was fitted with a tanker andcovered an area up to 100metres. It would not take morethan one day to sanitise everyhouse of the gram panchayat.

District Magistrate said thatnow five machines had becomeavailable in the district. He said

that the DPRO has beeninstructed to make arrange-ments for 100 machines with-in two days in order to checkcoronavirus infection so thatthe district could be sanitisedmany times. Bleaching powdersolution was being used atpresent for sanitisation work.Thereafter hypochlorite solu-tion would be used for the pur-pose. Disclosing that not asingle case has been found in

the district so far, he said thatit was being fully ensured thatall the houses in the district

were sanitised so that infectiondid not spread. During the pro-gramme Block DevelopmentOfficer Robertsganj, assistantdevelopment officer, Panchayat,Robertsganj, gram pradhan,Lodhi Shamsher BahadurSingh and others were present.

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Namo kits comprising rice,flour, pulse, potato, onion, oil

etc were distributed amonghundreds of needy and poortribals by BJP district secretaryAjit Rawat on the instructionsof BJP district president AjitChaubey in backward area ofMarkudi gram sabha inNagwan block while followingthe social distancing guidelines.Stress was laid on cleanlinessand masks were distributed.District secretary Rawat saidsocial distancing should bemaintained besides washinghands frequently with soap. Hesaid that one should not step goout of the house and nor callanyone else at home. He saidthat prevention could onlycheck the spread of the coronaepidemic. He said that we allneed to fight the coronaviruson a warfooting. He said thatwe would simplify the work ofdoctors, mediapersons, nurses,medical staff, police, bank per-sonnel etc by staying at home.All of them were helping thepeople by putting themselves atrisk in the interest of the nation.He said that all those who wereengaged in treating or helpingothers were taking care of oth-ers more than themselves. Thesociety was indebted to suchpeople. If we stayed at home,we would be able to control thecorona epidemic soon. On theoccasion divisional presidentDeepak Chaubey, GulabJaiswal, Abhishek Gupta andothers were present.

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Distribution of food packets in rural areas from the com-munity kitchen located in Niyamtabad development

block office premises has begun. On Friday people of grampanchayat and tehsil administration gave food packets to150 needy persons in Maheva village. On the occasionthe representative of gram pradhan DN Yadav said thatfood packets being made in the community kitchen onbehalf of the district administration were being distrib-uted in the villages. Among those present on the occasionwere kshetra panchayat member Jamuna Bharti, lekhpalRakesh Singh and others.

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Mahraura gram pradhan Manoj Yadav (35) who wasshot at by some unidentified assailants in Mehraula vil-lage under Kailavar outpost under the Balua police sta-tion around 8 pm on Thursday died during treatment onFriday. He was seriously injured in the incident. Earlieron getting information the Balua police station inchargereached the spot and took Manoj to the trauma centreimmediately for treatment. He died on Friday morning.

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In a suspected case of arsonand rioting, a group of peo-

ple staying at shelter homes inNorth Delhi’s Kashmiri Gatearea on Saturday pelted stonesat police and volunteers andalso set ablaze three shelterhomes. The Fire departmentsaid that the blaze was con-trolled before it could cause anydamage and no casuality hasbeen reported.

Meanwhile, police said thatthey have arrested 6 six prsonsinvolved in the incident andregistered a case of rioting andarson against them.

According to Anil Mittal,Additional Public relationOfficer (APRO), Delhi Police,the incident occurred at around5:15 pm on Saturday when abody was found floating nearNigham Bodh banks of Yamunariver near shelter homes.

“Earlier, while distribut-ing food, the volunteers hadasked the people staying inshelter home to follow guide-lines while standing in the

queue for food but they werenot following it,” said APRO.

“The volunteers and policetook an action following whichsome 4-5 people had jumped inthe yamuna river though theycame out after a short span andsaid that one of them is miss-ing. Police had called divers butduring search operation nobody was found in the river,”said APRO.

“On Saturday, a body of anunidentified man, which policesuspect came floating fromsome other place, was taken out

by the people living in theseshelter homes. They claimed itto be with them but so far theman has not been identified,”Mittal said.

“The crowd set on fire theshelter homes and even peltedstones at the Police ControlRoom (PCR) van and volun-teers. A case under relevantsection of law has been regis-tered at Kashmiri gate policestation and the body has beensent to hospital,” said Mittaladding that further investiga-tion is going on.

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Rishikesh: A group offoreigners was madeto write "sorry" 500times for flouting thelockdown guidelineshere on Saturday.

Ten foreignersfrom different coun-tries were caught tak-ing a stroll in the Tapovan area here amid theongoing 21-day lockdown to curb the spreadof the novel coronavirus and not maintainingsocial distancing, Sub-Inspector Vinod KumarSharma said.

Each one of them was made to write a sen-tence of apology 500 times as a punishment,he added.

"I did not follow the rules of lockdown soI am so sorry," each one of them wrote 500times, Sharma said.

Around 500 foreigners are staying in theTapovan area these days and they are oftenseen violating the lockdown rules, throwingcaution to the wind, he added. The operationto penalise them was conducted to send outa strong message to those who tend to take thelockdown lightly, Sharma said. PTI

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New Delhi: The CentralAdministrative Tribunal (CAT)has clarified that the decisionregarding its functioning amidthe Covid-19 pandemic woulddepend upon the stand the gov-ernment takes with regard tothe extension of the ongoingnationwide lockdown.

"The future course ofaction would be decideddepending on the steps the gov-ernment takes with respect tothe period from April 15onwards. Even if there existsthe slightest possibility to con-duct the courts, the same wouldbe availed," a statement issuedby the tribunal read.

Until then the CAT willcontinue with its mini vacationwhich began on April 2.

"With the imposition oflockdown, it became impossi-ble for the benches to function

since neither the advocates, northe employees of the tribunalwere in a position to attend tothe work. The principal benchin fact was scheduled to be ona mini vacation from April 2-12," it said.

The tribunal attempted tofunction in these tough timesbut it failed in doing so. "Thesittings were arranged keepingin mind that social distancingwas maintained. However, eventhat became impossible in viewof the steps taken by the gov-ernment from March 24onwards," the statement read.

The option to conduct thehearings through video confer-ence was not available, firstlybecause the necessary equip-ment and infrastructure werenot in place and secondly, it wasnot possible to procure them inview of the lockdown. IANS

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Leh: With the Srinagar-Lehnational highway reopened forlimited vehicular traffic, theLadakh administration onSaturday warned of stern legalaction against anyone attempt-ing to enter the Union Territorywithout permission.

“The highway was onlyopened for limited traffic toreplenish essential supplies inthe twin districts of Leh andKargil…It is not open for nor-mal traffic for the time being sowe reiterate our appeal to thepeople, including local resi-dents staying outside, not to tryto enter Ladakh,” CommissionerSecretary (Health) RigzinSamphel told reporters here.

The 434-km highway,which is the only road linkingLadakh with Jammu &Kashmir, was reopened for lim-

ited vehicular traffic afterremaining closed for over fourmonths owing to heavy snow-fall along the Zojila pass.

A convoy of 18 oil tankerscarrying petrol, diesel andkerosene oil reached Kargilafter starting their journey fromSonamarg in Ganderbal districtof central Kashmir.

“Even if you manage toreach Sonamarg, you will notbe allowed to enter Ladakh. Ifsomehow, you manage to reachDrass (after crossing Zojilainto Ladakh), you will be sentto quarantine for 28 days therebesides action as per law willbe taken for violation of theCode of Criminal Procedure(CrPC), Natonal DisasterManagement Act andEpidemic Diseases Act,”Samphel said and urged the

people not to enter the regionunless the government givesthem the clearance.

As per the schedule issuedby the Divisional Commissionerof Ladakh for the first week dur-ing the transition of vehicles intothe UT, a maximum of 10trucks would be allowed tocross Zojila on April 13, maxi-mum 14 HPCL trucks carryingLPG cylinders on April 15,maximum 15 trucks on April17, maximum 15 trucks onApril 19, maximum 15 truckson April 21 and maximum 15trucks on April 23.

Regarding the managementof COVID-19 in the region,Samphel said only four patients– two each in Leh and Kargil -out of 15 cases are still undertreatment and three of themhave also tested negative. PTI

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Hyderabad: A COVID-19 patient dis-charged from a State-run hospital hereafter he tested negative was called backafter a second test result turned out to beweak positive, a medical official said onSaturday.

"The patient, who tested positive onMarch 23, was discharged after the testresult came out negative.

But it came weak positive in a secondtest. So we called back, admitted him inthe hospital and again sent (the samples)for testing, the official said.

The man was discharged on Thursdayand was again admitted to the hospital onFriday, he said.

The patient did not go around muchand those who came in contact with himhave been put in quarantine, the officialsaid. An enquiry was held and a report onthe matter had been sent to the authori-ties concerned, he said. PTI

/��!��"��!��1��1�� Mumbai: Budget carrier IndiGo

on Saturday said one of its staffpassed away due to coronavirusinfection in Chennai.

While the airline did notprovide details, a source told PTIthat the employee was an aircraftmaintenance engineer and he passed away on Friday.

The engineer was in his mid-50s and had beenworking with the carrier since 2006. He was posted inChennai, the source said.

"We are extremely sorry and saddened by the demiseof one of our beloved employees in Chennai due toinfection of Covid 19 virus," an airline spokespersontold PTI on Saturday.

This is possibly the first case of death of an avia-tion personnel due to coronavirus infection in thecountry.

"This is a heartbreaking moment for all of us atIndiGo and in this time of sorrow we stand with hisfamily and request that we respect the privacy of ouremployee and his family," the spokesperson said.

The number of infections in the country has crossed8,000 and more than 260 people have died. PTI

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Noida (UP): The GautamBuddh Nagar police onSaturday issued prohibitoryorders under a central law toprevent landlords and residen-tial societies from pressuringdoctors and paramedical staff tovacate premises, officials said.

The prohibitory orders havebeen issued under the NationalDisaster Management Act,2005, said Ashutosh Dwivedi,Additional DeputyCommissioner of Police, Lawand Order, Gautam BuddhNagar.

“According to these orders,action will be taken againstlandlords and society man-agers if they create pressure ondoctors and paramedical staff tovacate premises. Doctors andparamedical staff are playing acrucial role in preventing thespread of coronavirus and alsotreating patients who are infect-ed with the virus,” Dwivedi said.

He said the police havetaken cognisance of a fewreports that some landlordsand society managers were ask-ing doctors and paramedicalstaff to vacate premises.

“Strict action will be takenagainst the violators,” he added.

He said this pressure fromlandlords and society managerswill adversely affect the deliveryof essential services provided bythe medical staff to the com-munity as a whole.

Violators will be bookedunder Section 51 of the NationalDisaster Management Act, 2005and also under the EpidemicDiseases Act, 1897, he said.

“There is also a provision toinvoke the National SecurityAct, 1980 against the viola-tors,” Dwivedi said in a state-ment.

Also in public interest,orders have been issued underCrPC Section 144 (which barsassembly of four or more peo-ple), so that delivery of essentialservices is ensured across Noidaand Greater Noida, he said.

“These orders will remaineffective till April 30,” he added.

Gautam Buddh Nagar,adjoining Delhi, has so farrecorded 64 positive cases ofcoronavirus, the second highestin UP after Agra (92), accord-ing to official figures. PTI

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New Delhi: The TelecomRegulatory Authority of Indiaon Saturday recommended thatthe reserve price for FM radiochannels for 273 new cities hasbeen fixed at 80 per cent of thevaluation for each city.

The reserve price will be 80per cent of the valuation exceptfor the cities in the northeastregion, and Jammu & Kashmirfor which it has been fixed at 40per cent of the valuation foreach city.

The Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting(MIB) had sent a letter to TRAIin August last year, requestingit to furnish recommendationson fresh reserve price for 283cities — 260 new and 23 exist-ing, under FM phase-III policy.

TRAI finalised its recom-mendations after considering allcomments received from stake-holders during the consultationprocess and further analysis ofthe issues.

TRAI recommended thatthe valuation of FM radiochannels in 273 new cities hasbeen worked out as a simplemean of the three valuation

approaches which are based onpopulation of the city, per capi-ta gross state domestic product,listenership of FM Radio, percapita gross revenue earned bythe existing FM Radio opera-tors, and market intensity indexof various cities. "The reserveprice for FM radio channels foreach of the 273 new cities hasbeen fixed at 80 per cent of thevaluation for each city exceptfor the cities situated in NorthEast (NE) region, Jammu &Kashmir for which reserveprice has been fixed at 40 percent of the valuation for eachcity," TRAI said.

For 10 cities of 'others' cat-egory, having a populationless than 1 lakh in the borderareas of Jammu & Kashmir andthe northeast region, thereserve price is kept as �5 lakhfor each channel of each city,the TRAI said. PTI

+5�� 9,��

From Page 1In his discussion with the PM, Delhi Chief

Minister Arvind Kejriwal favoured extension of thelockdown till April 30, saying “if the lockdown iseased, all kinds of transport, either rail or road,should not be allowed.”

Punjab Chief Minister Captain AmarinderSingh and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot alsoargued for extending the lockdown for one fortnightand urged the Centre to provide special concessionsfor industry and agriculture sectors and faster sup-ply of rapid testing kits. They also said that prop-er strategies should be made to help farmers in har-vesting Rabi crops.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra SinghRawat and UP CM Yogi Adityanath have also askedPM Modi for an extension of the lockdown peri-od.

Goa CM Pramod Sawant said he also suggest-ed that the lockdown should be extended but eco-nomic activities should continue. “From Monday,OPDs of private and Government hospitals willbegin to function. While from today, fisheries activ-ities have started in the State,” he said.

From Page 1The Indian Council Of Medical Research

(ICMR) said 1,71,718 samples had been tested. OnFriday, 16,564 tests were conducted through a net-work of Government and private labs.

Maharashtra which reported over 200 cases onSaturday is severely affected by the coronavirus pan-demic with total 1,666 cases. With 13 news deaths,the death toll in the State surged to 110. Maharashtraaccounts for over 45% of the total coronavirus deathsin the nation.

After Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu confirmed thehighest number of Covid-19 patients. As many as58 people in Tamil Nadu tested positive for the coro-navirus in last 24 hours, taking the total tally in theState to 969 while Delhi also witnessed a steep risein coronavirus patients. The national Capitalrecorded 166 new cases on Saturday and its totalstood at1069.

Kerala, which had reported first coronavirus casein the country, has registered 364 cases whileMadhya Pradesh confirmed at least total 678 cases.The death toll in the State stood at 39. Uttar Pradeshconfirmed over 400 coronavirus patients.

Andhra Pradesh recorded 405 Covid-19 cases.Gujarat registered 90 fresh cases in last 24 hours,raising the total count in the State to 460. 22 peo-ple died in Gujarat since the outbreak emerged.

More than 215 cases have been reported inKarnataka and 224 in Jammu & Kashmir. HimachalPradesh, Haryana and Punjab too reported newcases.

In the meantime, the Union Health Ministrymaintained that no community transmission is tak-ing place as yet in India. The World HealthOrganisation has put India in a category named ‘clus-ter of cases’.

From Page 1“Deepest condolences!

Have a safe journey. Sad GOI(Government of India) didnot help. Rules are never writ-ten on stone. They are modi-fied or changed in special cir-cumstances.”

There was a deluge ofmessages from the former sol-diers offering condolences tothe father and condemningred tape that came in the wayof t giving permission in suchexceptional circumstanceswhen there is a lockdown andrail and air travel are closed.

The deceased SpecialForces officer Colonel NavjotSingh Bal, 39, died fightingcancer in a military hospital inBengaluru on April 9. He wasawarded Shaurya Chakra,nation’s third highest gallantry

medal during peace time, in2008 for counter-terroristoperations in Jammu &Kashmir. His father Lt ColonelKS Bal is a retired officerfrom the Garwhal Rifles. Thedeceased officer is survived bywife and two sons aged 8 andfour respectively.

A day before he passedaway, the commando officerclicked a selfie from his hos-pital bed which went viral onsocial media. He was highlyrespected in the Army for hisleadership abilities. He diag-nosed with a rare form of can-cer in 2018, and in 2019 hisright hand was amputated tocontain the spread. Despitethis amputation, Bal led hismen in an exercise inRajasthan last year.

After he succumbed tocancer, his family was giventhe option to airlift the mor-tal remains to Delhi to per-form the last rites. Bal’s wife

and children were inBengaluru, so his parentswanted to travel there instead,sources said here.

Following this, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh report-edly gave the permission toairlift the parents to Bengaluruin a C-17 plane which was ona scheduled flight there afterChief of Defence Staff GeneralBipin Rawat brought the mat-ter to his notice.

However, it was felt thatdue to the lockdown concur-rence of the Home Ministrywas needed and the HomeMinistry had requisitionedthe transport plane. Whileverbal approval was given bythe Home Ministry, some offi-cials in the Defence Ministryinsisted on a written approvalwhich Home Ministry officialswere not sure they could provide. Bal’s parents had nooption but to take the roadroute.

From Page 1In the management plan

under slogan “Corona Haarega,Agra Jeetega’’ (coronavirus willlose, Agra will win)”, a frame-work where all the city authori-ties coordinated, was deployedfor a data-driven active contactscreening and isolation of coro-navirus cases.

A total of 1,248 teams weredeployed, which surveyed over9.3 lakh population by screening1.65 lakh households in Agra, thefirst cluster in India where oper-ations were carried out undercontainment and rapid emer-gency response.

In this initiative, the privatesector also contributed, and thelocal authorities maintained theessentials supply chain. Activepublic-private partnership helped

in setting up testing and treat-ment facilities and isolation cen-tres, said the Health Ministry.

Agra had a total of 38 epi-centres of the coronavirus impactwere identified, and 10 epicentreshave been closed so far.

A total of 4,054 quarantinecentres were made functional --566 paid institutional quarantinecentres, 3,060 free institutionalquarantine centres and 428 offi-cial quarantine centres. Till April11 in Agra, 5 cases have recov-ered and 87 are under watch.

Agarwal said, “Contact trac-ing began after February 25,after the arrival of a positive per-son from Italy.

“The authorities tracked hismovement in Agra at his resi-dence, at the restaurant he vis-ited and also the factory he hadgone to. The district adminis-tration identified the epicentreand hotspot and then a clustercontainment plan was pre-pared.”

From Page 1“Hundreds of workers, mostly from

Odisha, hit the streets demanding thatthey should be sent to their nativeplaces. They also claimed that the foodserved to them by an NGO is tasteless andthey have to stand in queue to get themeal,” ACP CK Patel said.

“Out of anger, they torched somehandcarts and tyres in Laskana area. Wehave detained 80 migrant workers. Heavypolice deployment and strict vigil by theadministration has brought the situationunder control, he said.

The Surat episode will send alarmbell ringing in other cities also wheremigrant workers have been staying andare desperate to get back to their homesamid uncertainty about the duration ofthe lockdown.

On Saturday, , the number of coro-navirus cases in Gujarat rose to 468 afteraddition of 90 more cases. The death toll due to coronavirus reached 23, offi-cials said.

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The authorities in national Capitalhave increased vigil in the Walled

City’s Chandni Mahal after threecoronavirus deaths were reported inlast three days. Taking the first step,on Friday the Delhi Government hadsealed the area to control spread ofCovid-19 after 102 people, includingforeigners who had attended TablighiJamaat meet in March, were evacu-ated from mosques, in the area ear-lier this week and 52 of them weretested positive.

According to officials, so far outof 903 cases reported till Fridaymore than 450 are linked to TablighiJamaat while across the country thegathering has been linked to morethan 1,000 coronavirus cases.

They were isolated at a quaran-tine centre in Gulabhi Bagh, 8kmfrom the locality.

Meanwhile, after a few reportsregarding people gathering in the areaand mosques surfaced the DelhiPolice has increased its presence inthe area and they are also using dronesurveillance.

“The area is cordoned off andthrough public announcement systempolice teams are repeatedly request-ing residents to stay indoors,” said asenior police official.

The Municipal Corporationauthorities have started door-to-doorsupply of essentials in the ChandniMahal. The authorities have also ini-tiated sanitisation of the area underthe containment plan to prevent fur-ther spread of the deadly disease.

New Delhi: A group of doctors and scientists have sought support from their col-leagues in demanding revocation of the suspension of an Andhra Pradesh medicofor allegedly complaining about shortage of protective gear for medical staff at ahospital. The group has called upon medical associations and professional bod-ies to oppose punitive measures against doctors and other health workers for rais-ing the issue of lack of personal protective equipment and other issues pertain-ing to fight against COVID-19, its chief Harjit Singh Bhatti said.

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More than 30 crore poor peoplehave received �28,256 crore

financial assistance under PradhanMantri Garib Kalyan Yojanaannounced by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman last month toprotect them from the impact of 21-day nationwide lockdown. As part of�1.70 lakh crore relief package, theGovernment announced free food-grains and cash doles to women andpoor senior citizens and farmers tomitigate hardship faced due to thelockdown.

“More than 30 cr beneficiarieshave been directly given supportthrough Direct Benefit Transfer

amounting to �28,256 crore under#PradhanMantriGribKalyanPackage,”a tweet from the Finance Ministrysaid.

Of the total disbursement,�13,855 crore have gone towards pay-ment of first installment of PM-KISAN. Under the scheme, nearly6.93 crore out of 8 crore identifiedbeneficiaries got �2,000 directly intheir account. As many as 19.86 crorewomen Jan Dhan account holdersreceived �500 each in their account.The total disbursement under thehead was 9,930 crore, it said.

The National Social AssistanceProgramme (NSAP) disbursed about�1400 crore to about 2.82 crore oldage person, widow and disabled per-

son, the ministry added. Each ben-eficiary received an ex-gratia cash of�1,000 under the scheme.

As many as 2.16 crore construc-tion workers received financial sup-port from the Building andConstruction Worlers’ Fund man-aged by state governments. Underthis �3,066 crore were given to ben-eficiaries. The Government, underthe Pradhan Mantri Garib KalyanAnn Yojana, is in the process ofreleasing 12 million MT of food grainduring April-June.

“It will provide for 80 crore peo-ple @5 kg per head per month at nocost. Free rations have alreadyreached 2 crore beneficiaries,” theMinistry said in another tweet.

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Shipment of anti-malarial drughydroxychloroquine to the US is

likely to start next week, a leading phar-ma industry body has said.

Hydroxychloroquine is being tout-ed as game changer in fight againstCOVID-19 pandemic

“The shipments of hydroxy-

chloroquine to the US are likely to startnext week. Indian pharma companiesare committed to meet both, domes-tic and export commitments,” IndianPharmaceutical Alliance SecretaryGeneral Sudarshan Jain said. This is inline with India’s role as pharmacy ofthe world, he added.

India manufactures 70 per cent ofthe world’s supply of hydroxychloro-

quine. Companies like Zydus Cadilaand IPCA are the major manufactur-ers of hydroxychloroquine in thecountry, Jain said. The Indian phar-maceutical industry earlier this weekhas said there is enough stock ofhydroxychloroquine in the countryand drug firms are ready to ramp upthe production to meet domestic aswell as export requirements.

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The Ordnance Factory Board(OFB) has come up with a

cost-effective solution for isolationwards with the manufacture oftwo-bed tents with medical equip-ment for screening, isolation andquarantine. These special tentscan be used for medical emer-gency, medical screening, hospitaltriage and quarantine purposes.These tents with floor area of 9.55square metres are made up ofwaterproof fabric, mild steel andaluminium alloy.

These tents can be set up inany place & terrain and help in cre-ating additional facilities otherthan those in conventional hospi-tals within a short period of time.Ordnance Equipment Factory,Kanpur has manufactured thesetents. Fifty such tents have beensent to Government of ArunachalPradesh.

Moreover, Opto ElectronicsFactory, Dehradun, a unit ofOrdnance Factory Board, hasdonated 2,500 bottles (100 mleach) of hand sanitisers and 1,000face masks to the Governor,Uttarakhand, on April 6, 2020.Cordite Factory Aruvankadu,another unit of OFB, handed over100 litres of sanitisers to theNilgiris District Police authoritiesin Tamil Nadu on April 08 whileHigh Explosives Factory (HEF) inPune despatched the first batch of2,500 litres sanitisers to M/s HLL,Belgavi on April 9.

Also, Ordnance FactoryAmbajhari (OFAJ) Nagpur has

developed fumigation chamberfor the purpose of sanitisation. Itis fully portable and can be shift-ed with ease. It is installed at themain entrance of OFAJ Hospital.Ordnance Factory Dehradunhanded over indigenously madepedal-operated handwashing sys-tem fitted with soap dispenser tothe police authorities on April 7.Ordnance Factory Dehu Road,Pune distributed food kits amongstlabourers at Dehugaon village onApril 6.

Two units of OFB namely theSmall Arms Factory (SAF) Kanpurin Uttar Pradesh (UP) and theHeavy Vehicle Factory (HVF)Avadi in Tamil Nadu (TN) havebeen granted accreditation by theNational Accreditation Board forTesting and CalibrationLaboratories (NABL) for con-ducting the ‘Test for BloodPenetration Resistance’ as the testequipment manufactured by themmet the ASTM F 1670:2003 andISO 16603:2004 standards.

The equipment was devel-oped by a number of OrdnanceFactories in a competitive missionmode in a record time of a fort-night.

The basic principle of the testis to expose the fabric, used as araw material to manufacture cov-eralls to ‘synthetic blood’ at dif-ferent pressure levels for specifiedperiods of time. The test is essen-tially required to facilitate bulkmanufacture of coveralls by man-ufacturers all over the country inlarge numbers for health workersand first responders dealing with

patients aff licted with theCoronavirus (COVID-19).

Hitherto, this test was availableonly with South India TextileResearch Association (SITRA),Coimbatore in the entire countryand testing of the fabric for man-ufacture of coveralls had emergedas a critical bottleneck especiallyduring the nationwide lockdownand in the absence of logistics.

With the latest development,another test facility has been cre-ated in South India and the firstsuch facility has been establishedin north India. This will not onlyenable the OFB to ramp up pro-

duction of coveralls in the cloth-ing factories, four of which are inUP and one in TN, but will alsoenable other agencies engaged inthe manufacture of coveralls toavail this crucial testing facility

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Adelay in receiving mechan-ical ventilation— the device

that becomes the deciderbetween life and death-— hasbeen a major reason for death ofthe majority of the Covid-19patients, a study has found.

Ventilators’ shortage isendemic in the developing coun-tries, including India.

The study, which assessedthe clinical characteristics ofpatients with novel coronavirusinfection in China, noted thatonly about one-fifth of patients

who died of COVID-19 receivedinvasive mechanical ventilationand further aggressive respira-tory support prior to death.Covid-19 can lead to severelower respiratory tract infec-

tion, which means patients oftenneed ventilator support.

The research, published inthe Journal of the AmericanMedical Association, assesseddata obtained from 21 hospitalsin Wuhan, China, about thedemographic, comorbidity andrespiratory support provided to168 patients who died ofCOVID-19 between January 21and 30.

According to the scientists,including those from ZhongdaHospital, Southeast University inChina, while all patients receivedoxygen therapy during theirhospital stay, 46 patients onlyreceived nasal or face mask oxy-gen before they died.

About one-third of patients,they said received high-flownasal oxygen therapy, and 72patients received non-invasiveventilation.

The study noted that only 34patients were intubated andreceived invasive mechanicalventilation.

Based on these findings, thescientists believe that manypatients had delayed intubation.So far over one lakh people havedied across the world.

They said several reasonsmay explain this low proportion.First, the study said somepatients with critically low lev-els of oxygen in the blood did nothave other symptoms, such asshortness of breath or dyspnea.

The lack of enough invasivemechanical ventilators was alsoan important reason preventing

patients from receiving intuba-tion, the researchers said.

Third, they said, a medicalteam which is not dominated byintensivists may not receive crit-ical care training and may beuncertain on the timing forwhen a patient requires intuba-tion.

The study also validatedearlier findings that hypertensionis the most common chroniccomorbidity among patientswho died.

Based on earlier studies, thescientists said the novel coron-avirus infects the lungs throughthe angiotensin-convertingenzyme II receptor.

However, they said furtherresearch is needed to find themechanism of COVID-19,adding that clinical studies arealso needed to confirm whetherangiotensin-converting enzymeinhibitors and angiotensin recep-tor blockers could be beneficialfor patients with COVID-19.

Noting the limitations of thestudy, the scientists said the dataanalysed were from patientswho died during late January2019, and they may not be rep-resentative of later cases ofCOVID-19.

According to Johns HopkinsUniversity, the demand for ven-tilator can be as high as 1 millionin the country. Current avail-ability in India is estimated tohave between 30,000 and 50,000ventilators. It says, the US hasabout 1,60,000 ventilators and isrunning short in most places.

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In the relentless fight against thecoronavirus pandemic, more

than 2,000 National Cadet Corps(NCC) cadets are now assisting thecivil administration in variousStates and nearly 50,000 morecadets are on the standby if thenational effort has to be ramped upin the coming days. This apart,more than 5,000 ex-servicemen arealso pitching in the endeavour.

Giving details of the deploy-ment of the NCC cadets, defenceministry officials said here onSaturday the cadets above the ageof 18 are working shoulder toshoulder with civil, defence andpolice personnel in 12 States. Themaximum deployment of the

cadets is in Tamil Nadu.As the lockdown continues,

more and more states are in theprocess of requisitioning NCCcadets for various tasks.Headquarters Directorate GeneralNCC is monitoring the number ofcadets volunteering for the cause.Around 50,000 cadets have so farvolunteered to contribute in‘Exercise NCC Yogdaan’.

Volunteer NCC cadets above18 years and from Senior Division(For boy cadets) and Senior Wing(For girl cadets) are being employedfor these duties. The cadets are vol-untarily contributing to the cause.It is ensured that the cadets aretrained and properly briefed aboutthe tasks before being deployed.

The State machinery is ensur-

ing that all the cadets are provid-ed with proper safety equipmentlike masks and gloves during theirdeployment. The cadets are beingemployed under the supervision ofOfficers and Junior CommissionedOfficers to ensure safety and secu-rity of the cadets. They are notbeing employed in areas which aresealed or are earmarked as hotspotsby the respective StateGovernments.

The cadets are deployed forvarious duties like, traffic man-agement, supply chain manage-ment, preparation and packagingof food items, distribution of foodand essential items, queue man-agement, social distancing, man-ning control centres and CCTVcontrol rooms. Apart from this,

NCC cadets are sensitising the pub-lic against COVID-19 by sendingmessages on social media platformslike Twitter, Instagram andWhatsApp, etc.

The NCC is 14-lakh strong andhas a reach throughout the coun-try, with its 17 directorates cover allthe 29 states and nine union terri-tories. These directorates are fur-ther divided into 99 groups and 826units, thus ensuring availability ofcadets to the district administrationin all the states. As the instructionshave reached various district head-quarters, to utilise the cadets forlogistics and supply chain man-agement duties, the district admin-istration is seeking their support, byrequisitioning them from the NCCdirectorates.

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Amid the prevailing gloomdue to the coronavirus pan-

demic, fish lovers have some-thing to cheer them up. TheCentre has allowed activities inthe fisheries sector, includingthe sale of fish by exempting itfrom the lockdown rules.

“The 5th addendumexempts from lockdown restric-tions the operations of theFishing (Marine)/AquacultureIndustry, including feeding andmaintenance, harvesting, pro-cessing, packaging, cold chain,sale and marketing; hatcheries,feed plants, commercial aquar-ia, movement of fish/shrimpand fish products, fish seed/feedand workers for all these activ-

ities,” the Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) said in a state-ment on Friday.

Briefing the media onSaturday, Ministry of HomeAffairs spokesperson PunyaSalil Srivastava said that districtauthorities would oversee thefunctioning of the activities inthe marine, aqua culture andsale of fish in the markets.Social distancing norms shouldbe maintained in the marketsand States and District admin-istrations will organise andmonitor.”

For the past few days, allChief Ministers from coastalstates were demanding theexemptions citing the plight ofcrores fishermen communitiesand fishing industry’s troubles

due to the lockdown for the past18 days.

They pointed out thatCovid-19 has not yet affected

the coastal zones till date.In Assam, the Kamrup dis-

trict administration has alloweda door-to-door sale of fish to the

residents but banned its sale inthe open market.

The Fisheries sector is saidto provide livelihood to around

1.6 crore people in the countryand seafood exports brought in$6.7 billion to the country’sexchequer in 2018-19.

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After Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s sugges-

tion for agriculture and alliedsector, including modificationof Agriculture Produce MarketCommittee (APMC) Act tofacilitate sale of farm produce,the Ministry of Agriculture hasasked the States to suspend cer-tain provisions of their respec-tive APMC Laws to allow farm-ers to sell their harvest frommultiple locations and to anybuyer. Any relaxation in theprovisions of the Act will haveto be done through state gov-ernments. The APMC Actempowers state governments tospecify market areas - operat-ed and regulated by marketcommittees - where farmersbring their produce for sale.

Top sources said that themove is aimed at encouragingsocial distancing and also end-ing farmer distress during theongoing lockdown to fight thecoronavirus disease, with dis-rupted supply chains forcingmany producers to destroytheir harvests.

During an interaction withchief ministers of all States and

Union Territories, PM Modihas suggested that direct mar-keting for farm produce can beincentivised to prevent crowd-ing in mandis, for which modelAPMC laws should bereformed swiftly. Such stepswill help farmers sell productsat their doorstep. He also sug-gested that direct marketing forfarm produce can be incen-tivised to prevent crowding inmandis, for which modelAPMC laws should bereformed swiftly. Such stepswill help farmers sell productsat their doorstep.

The APMC Act regulatesbuying and selling of farmproduce in about 5000 mandisor markets across the country.

Any relaxation in the provi-sions of the Act will have to bedone through state govern-ments. The APMC Actempowers state governments tospecify market areas - operat-ed and regulated by marketcommittees - where farmersbring their produce for sale.

Farmers in many stateshave been forced to dump per-ishable harvest due to lack ofbuyers, which has alsodepressed farm gate prices.Most farmers in northern andcentral India are in the middleof harvesting the biggest win-ter staple, wheat. The govern-ment has kept over 300,000trucks ready to ferry harvestsunder the aegis of the nation-

al agriculture markets, anonline trading platform thathas been updated to meet theneeds of farmers during thelockdown.

Officials of agricultureministry also informed thatRailways introduced 67 routesfor running 236 ParcelSpecials(out of which 171 aretime table parcel trains) to

supply essential commoditiesincluding perishable horticul-tural produce, agriculturalinputs, milk and dairy productsat fast speed which will facili-tate farmers/FPOs/traders andcompanies for continuity ofsupply chain across the coun-try.

According to the ministry,the Central Insecticide Board& Registration Committee(CIB&RC) through VirtualPrivate Network (VPN) haveissued 33 Nos. of Import per-mits for import of more than1.25 lakh metric tons of variouschemicals. 189 certificates forexports have also been issuedto facilitate exports of pesti-cides. 1263 certificates of reg-istration have been issued invarious categories to facilitateindigenous manufacturing ofpesticides.

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Congress Chief Ministers onSaturday demanded finan-

cial support from the Centreduring a video conferencemeeting with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi convened todiscuss the future strategy ofthe Covid-19 lockdown. ButPuducherry CM VNarayanasamy alleged thatthe PM refused to respond onthe issue.

He said the CMs talkedabout lack of funds in thestate. Not only the Congress-ruled States but even otherChief Ministers conveyed toPrime Minister that they don’thave the sufficient funds tomeet the expenditures in theirStates, he maintained.

“The Prime Ministershould give the package to allthe States, increase their FRBM and also give moratori-um on the debts and also give

additional funds, for which the Prime Minister did not respond,” Naranswamy said.

On another question thatthe Centre says corporatewouldn’t be allowed to con-tribute their CSR funds toChief Minister’s relief fund,Narayanasamy said on behalf ofhis counterparts: “In fact, Iwrote to the Prime Minster, thisissue was raised in the meeting.The PM Cares for which themoney is being paid by the cor-porate, why not to the ChiefMinister’s relief fund, for whichthere was no reply from thePM. But we are going to write to the Prime Minister andthe corporate would like tocontribute money for the ChiefMinister’s Relief Fund. It shouldnot be prevented by the CentralGovernment, when they areallowing the foreign countriesto contribute for the spendingthe money for Coronavirustreatment, why not the corpo-

rate.”Ahead of Modi’s meeting

with the chief ministers, formerFinance Minister PChidambaram had urged thoseof the Congress-ruled to unan-imously demand for transfer ofcash to every poor family.

He said the poor have losttheir jobs,exhausted their sav-ings and now standing in linesto get free food. Chidambaramsaid remonetising the poorwould cost only Rs 65,000crore, which is economicallyviable.

Congress Chief Ministerswho participated in the PMmeeting were AmarinderSingh, Ashok Gehlot, BhupeshBaghel, V Narayanasami.

Chidambaram had alsourged Congress alliance chief Ministers UddhavThackeray, Hemant Soren andE Palaniswani to tell the primeminister that just as lives areimportant, livelihood of thepoor is important.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court Bar Associationappealed to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and hiscompanion judges on Saturday to cancel the sum-mer vacation this year and treat it as a working peri-od in the larger interest of litigants and justice.

The lawyers’ body said now that restrictions arelikely to continue after the first phase of coronaviruslockdown ends on April 14, the CJI and the com-panion judges should take more proactive steps tomitigate the distress of litigants. It also urged thejudges to take measures to gradually restore the fullfunctioning of the top court.

Accordingly, the Executive Council resolves toappeal to the CJI and his companion judges to can-cel the summer vacation and treat the period “asworking of the Supreme Court of India”, the resolu-tion passed unanimously by the bar association said.

It said it is “deeply concerned” about the distresscaused to litigants because of the restricted func-tioning of the courts throughout the country– firstdue to Holi recess and then due to the nationwidelockdown, which necessitated very limited hearingof only urgent matters through video link.

The SCBA resolves that all lawyers practising inthe Supreme Court will give up the summer vaca-tion scheduled from May16 till July 5 and make them-selves available for work, the association said.

It demanded that the temporary video-confer-ence facilities be improved for live-streaming of courtproceedings using an efficient multi-user platformsuch as those being used by the Council of Ministersand government officials.

“It is only if all contesting lawyers, instructingAdvocates in Record, and litigants can have simul-taneous access to the video-conference proceedings,that the same can become an effective system for con-ducting full-fledged court proceedings at par withthose which our judicial system requires should nor-mally be conducted in open courtrooms,” thelawyers’ body said, adding, that its PresidentDushyant Dave should bring this resolution to thenotice of the Chief Justice of India.

The bar association said it fully supports therestrictions, which were unavoidable in the unprece-dented situation faced by all in the first phase of thelockdown. On Saturday, advocate Ashok Arora, sec-retary of SCBA said the CJI will review the func-tioning of the apex court every three-four days in con-sultation with other judges and officials of the HealthMinistry.

He said the demand from bar leaders and otherbodies that summer vacation this year be preponedcan wait for a while and till then status quo is to bemaintained.

“I spoke to Chief Justice of India on April 10 at12noon and was informed that he was going to reviewthe situation after every 3/4 days after consulting theother Judges and health ministry. Till then status quo.So better, we wait for a while,”Arora said. Meanwhile,senior advocate Dinesh Goswami has written to theCJI, requesting suspension of summer vacation. Thetop court on March 23 virtually went into the lock-down to prevent the spread of coronavirus and sus-pended for indefinite period the entry of advocatesand other staff in the high-security zone on the basisof their proximity cards. On April 9, the Delhi Highcourt decided to suspend the summer vacation thisyear, previously scheduled from June 1 to 30. The highcourt also cancelled the summer break of subordi-nate courts in June this year. PTI

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The Centre and WestBengal Government

locked horns on Saturday.The MHA shot off a letter tothe Mamata Banaerjee dis-pensation over the “gradualdilution” of lockdown rules inthe State by allowing reli-gious gatherings in mosquesand ruling party TMC to dis-tribute food to large gather-ings besides permitting flower,sweet and pan shops to openin many areas.

In the letter to the StateChief Secretary and DGP, theUnion Home Ministryexpressed displeasure overthe violation of lockdownrules and asked them to stopit immediately. The MHAalso sought an action takenreport from them.

The Home Ministry’s let-ter was shot to the State soonafter Chief Minister MamataBanerjee took up the allegedabuse of power by GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar in hervideo conference meetingwith Prime Minister NarendraModi.

“Corona is a deadly dis-ease a dangerous virus and nota communal virus and sothey should refrain from com-munalising the issue,”Banerjee said in an apparentreference to the letter.

Later in the evening, theGovernor came out with avideo message in social mediaappealing people of the stateto keep lockdown and socialdistancing norms to prevent

the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

“As per further reportsreceived from security agen-cies, gradual dilution of lock-down has been reported fromWest Bengal with an increasein the number of exceptionsbeing provided by the StateGovernment. For instance,shops relating to non-essentialitems have been allowed tofunction. There is no regula-tion in vegetable, fish andmutton markets where peoplehave been thronging in com-plete violation of social dis-tancing norms,” said theMinistry of Home Affairs (MHA).

It pinpointed the hugecrowds in Kolkata’sRajabazaar, Nakel Danga,Topsia, Metiaburz,Gardenreach, Ikbalpur andManiktala. Incidentally, thestated areas are minority-dominated pockets— including large slums— ofKolkata.

In the strongly-wordedletter, the MHA pointed outthat Narkel Danga is alreadywitnessing more Covid-19cases. The MHA said, “It hasbeen reported that police havebeen allowing religious con-gregations. Free ration hasbeen distributed not throughthe institutional delivery sys-tem but by political leaders.This may have resulted inspread of Covid-19 infec-tions.”

The Home Ministry saidsuch activities are in violationof the Central government’sorders issued from time totime under the DisasterManagement Act, 2005, andare liable for penal actionunder the Act.

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The Union Home Ministry on Saturday wrote to the ChiefSecretaries and police chiefs of the States to provide securi-

ty to doctors and other health workers. The Ministry said thatthe hospital staffers and doctors must be given security duringtheir visits to the homes of quarantined patients and screeningof patients. The Ministry reminded that the Supreme Court onApril 8 passed necessary orders to give protection to all healthworkers, who in line of their duty have been attacked and assault-ed in several States.

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Union Ministers and officers from the rank of JointSecretary and above will start working from the offices from

Monday in what is being seen as a move to ensure the wheelsof Government machinery continue to roll on. According toofficials, the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday directed thatother officers will start working from offices on rotation basis.The functioning of Ministers and senior officers will be strict-ly adhered to the norms of social distancing and visitors willnot be allowed for time being.

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Hyderabad: A Hyderabad-based lifesciences company hasdeveloped coronavairus testkit named Quantiplus COVthat can give the result in twohours.

Huwel Lifesciences onFriday received approval fromthe Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) for the testkit.

Its production would beginat the company's Narsingi andKokapet facilities on Monday,Huwel Lifesciences DirectorShesheer Kumar told IANS onSaturday.

Quanitplus COVID-19detection kit is based on pub-lished protocol of the Centersfor Disease Control andPrevention (CDC), the nation-al public health agency of theUS.

"The kit has synthetic gene

cloned in a plasmid as positivecontrol. The primers set iscross-verified for specificitywith several RNA and DNAviruses and bacteria," he said.

Designed to exclusivelydetect the Covid-19, it canalso detect SARS-CoV and batSARS related CoVs.

According to HuwelLifesciences, all high-qualityreagents required for the test,including enzymes, are madein-house. The company calls ita one-stop solution for detec-tion kit, extraction kit, molec-ular transport medium andswabs for sample collection.

He said all testing tech-nologies for Covid-19 werebased on three differentreagents of virus updated byWorld Health Organisation(WHO) and the CDC. "Basedon that you need to decide the

technology. Too much experi-mentation can't be done atthis point because of non-availability of too much data onsequences." he said.

Only difference with othercompanies was HuwelLifesciences makes its ownenzymes. "We make every-thing except one componentwhich is imported. It 'sscaleable, quality can be con-trolled and consistency can bemaintained," he said.

A test using QuantiplusCOV kit costs Rs 1,000 and theresult will be available in twohours. "We have a single for-mulation where you don't needto add separate componentswhile setting up reactions. It'seasy to set up and also avoidscontamination and reducestime of reaction," he said. IANS

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Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao on

Saturday urged Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to extend thenationwide lockdown by anothertwo weeks to check the spread ofcoronavirus.

He also suggested that thefood processing industry beallowed to continue its operationsso that farmers don't suffer and atthe same time supply of essentialcommodities is maintained.

During the Prime Minister'svideo conference with all statechief ministers, ChandrashekharRao made various suggestions.

KCR, as Rao is popularlyknown, gave his suggestions withregard to saving people's lives,agriculture and economy, said astatement from the ChiefMinister's Office.

Stating that India is unitedlycombating COVID-19, the chiefminister called for moving aheadwith the same spirit. He noted thatinternational journals are laudingIndia for its efforts in tackling thesituation.

KCR said the Prime Minister

standing by the states was boost-ing their morale. He exuded con-fidence that India will win this bat-tle against coronavirus.

Claiming that lockdownproved helpful in controlling thevirus, he felt that it should be con-tinued for another two weeks.

KCR laid special emphasison the need to help the farmerssaying they are key to the coun-try's food security.

He called for steps to ensurethat food processing units operatesmoothly. He said efforts shouldbe made to operate rice mills, oilmills and various agro basedindustries.

He demanded linking agri-culture to MNREGA to help thefarmers in the distress. He said iffarmers pay half of the wages fromthe labour from their pocketsother half should come fromMNREGA.

Stating that crores of tonnes ofagricultural produce is ready to beharvested in the country, he saidwarehouses were not available tostore the produce. He suggestedthat people be supplied ration forthree months so that some spacecan be created for storage.

Chennai: DMK President M.K.Stalin on Saturday urged TamilNadu Chief Minister K.Palaniswami not to delay thedecision on extending the lock-down period to prevent thespread of coronavirus in thestate.

He also said the "onenation, one corona and oneprocurement" policy shouldbe avoided as it delays the mea-sures to prevent the spread ofthe virus. In a letter toPalaniswami, Stalin, the Leaderof Opposition in the stateAssembly, said there should beenough time for the people tomentally prepare for the lock-down extension.

Demanding adequate pro-tective equipment for the med-ical professionals treatingCovid-19 patients, Stalin alsosaid the Government shouldgive a special assistance of Rs5,000 to the poor and also rice,oil, pulses and other essentialitems free of cost.

Stalin also said that facemasks and sanitisers shouldalso be provided to the peoplefree of charge. IANS

Agartala/Aizawl: In view ofthe lockdown and closure ofeducational institutions for anindefinite period, Tripura andMizoram Governments ininnovative steps on Saturdayannounced teaching throughtelevision channels and onlineplatforms.

Tripura Chief MinisterBiplab Kumar Deb in aFacebook post said theEducation Department hastaken another important deci-sion to continue teaching dur-ing the lockdown.

"There are many studentsin the State who do not haveprivate tutors. Teachers wouldgive coaching to studentsthrough different media (likeTV, online). The schedulewould be informed later. In thenew system, students wouldfeel like normal school classesat their homes. All parents inthe state would take a leadingrole in this matter," the ChiefMinister added. IANS

Jaipur: With 63 new cases, thenumber of coronavirus cases inthe Rajasthan capital reached286, the highest for any city inthe state, said Additional ChiefSecretary Rohit Kumar Singh,here on Saturday.

The 63 new cases werefound in Jaipur's Ramganj areaduring the house-to-house sur-vey as well as from RajasthanUniveristy Health Serviceswhere suspected patients havebeen quarantined.

All over the State, 117 newcoronavirus cases were report-ed during the day, taking thetotal to 678.

In the number of newcases, next to Jaipur was Tonkthat reported 18 cases takingthe city's total to 45, and Kota14, raising the town's Covid-19tally to 33.

Banswara, another smalltown, reported 13 new casesthat took the total Covid-19cases to 37. With four newcases, Bikaner's total reached24. Dausa reported one caseincreasing the tally to 8.

Number of Covid-19 casesin Jaisalmer and Karauli dis-tricts increased to 28 and 3,respectively.

Singh said 24,857 sampleshad been tested and 1,586 testswere under process. IANS

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Terming the sudden 21-day lockdown hastyand unplanned, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S)

supremo and former prime minister HDDeve Gowda on Saturday said lakhs of farm-ers and workers were reeling under its domi-no impact.

"The lockdown was a hasty decision takenwithout foresight and proper planning due towhich lakhs of farmers, labourers and work-ers across the state are suffering untold hard-ship as their life has been disrupted as neverbefore," Gowda said in a letter to state ChiefMinister B.S. Yediyurappa in Kannada.

Though Gowda assured Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of his support to the centralgovernment's war against the virus when thelatter spoke to him on Wednesday, he did notmince words in saying the state governmentshould have consulted experts, farmers, tradersand other stakeholders before clamping thelockdown overnight, with buses, trains andflights suspended.

Though the central government tweakedthe guidelines to allow farmers and growers tocarry on their activities, including harvestingthe crops and sowing for intermediary crops,the absence of transport and curbs like socialdistancing have hit them hard.

"With 60 per cent of the state's 6.5-crorepopulation dependent on the agriculture sec-tor despite its 3-4 per cent contribution to theGDP," Gowda said farmers and growers werefacing acute financial distress due to the lock-down and the inability to sell their produce.

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The number of patientstested positive for coro-

navirus in Tamil Nadureached 969 by Saturdayevening, according to KShanmugham, ChiefSecretary of the State.

Speaking to the pressafter an-hour long meetingof the Tamil Nadu Cabinetpresided over by ChiefMinister EdappadiPalaniswami, he said thedeath toll due to COVID-19reached ten on Saturday

with one more patient suc-cumbing to the pandemic atErode.

Shanmugham said thatthe Chief Minister had par-ticipated in the video con-ference convened by thePrime Minister in themorning and had anexchange of informationwith the latter. “Any decisionregarding the extension ofthe lock down would beannounced by the PrimeMinister when he address-es the nation and TamilNadu Government wouldabide by what he says,” said

Shanmugham. He said the Chief

Minister had told the PrimeMinister that air, train androad services should remainsuspended for the next fort-night in the backdrop of theunabated spread of the dis-ease.

The chief secretarypointed out that Tamil Naduwas the State with secondlargest number of coronavirus patients and it cannottake a decision on its ownabout the extension of thelock down period. “Thecouncil of ministers which

met this evening was of theopinion that the lock downshould continue for a peri-od of two weeks but thedecision about the period ofextension has been left tothe Prime Minister,” said theChief Secretary.

According toShanmugham , 58 personstested positive for coronavirus on Saturday.“Containment and quaran-tine activities are in fullswing all over the State.Our priority is to check theprogress of the corona virusfrom the present stage -2 to

stage- 3,” he said. It was alsodisclosed by the chief sec-retary that the PCR testkits ordered by theGovernment had reachedthe State and this wouldbring down the time takenfor testing the samples to 30minutes. The chief ministerreminded the PrimeMinister that the State wasyet to get any financial assis-tance despite pleading withthe Centre for Rs 9,000crore for the rescue, reliefand rehabilitation packagearising out of the coronapandemic.

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The 21-day lockdown to contain Covid-19spread would be extended by 2 weeks from

April 15 in Karnataka too, said Chief MinisterBS Yediyurappa on Saturday.

"In the prevailing circumstances, it hasbecome inevitable to extend the lockdown by15 days more to break the chain of coron-avirus," Yediyurappa told reporters here aftera 4-hour marathon meeting with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi through video con-ference.

Asserting that lockdown would be imple-mented strictly, Yediyurappa said Modi wouldannounce the lockdown extension from April15-30 in a nationwide address at 8p.m. onSaturday.

"The Prime Minister has received sug-gestions from chief ministers of all states acrossthe country to extend the lockdown till April30, as the next 2-3 weeks are critical to over-come the pandemic crisis," said Yediyurappa.

Hinting that agricultural and industrialsectors would be given relaxation rules, theChief Minister said the Centre would issue in2-3 days guidelines to be followed during thelockdown extension to ensure supply ofessentials and revival of production.

"We must not compromise on lockdown

because if the situation worsens, we have toface the consequences as a nation,"Yediyurappa cited Modi as telling the chiefministers during the interaction.

The Prime Minister also hinted thatlockdown would be lifted after April 30 in agraded manner to ensure the country passesthrough the virus crisis with minimal loss oflife and damage to the economy.

Claiming to be doing well with everythingunder control, Yediyurappa earlier said Modialso gave tips to deal with lockdown in forcesince March 25 to contain the virus spread inthe state.

"We are doing well and everything is incontrol to fight Covid. The Prime Ministergave suggestions to deal with the lockdown sit-uation," tweeted Yediyruppa in Kannadaafter his interaction with Modi.

State cabinet ministers also attendedYediyurappa's video conference with Modi onsteps to be taken to contain the pandemic afterthe 21-day lockdown ends on April 14.

"We discussed vital strategies and actionsto implement in our state. We will do every-thing in our control to tackle the crisis.Measures to control the infection were alsodiscussed," he said in another tweet.

The Chief Minister also urged the peopleto stay home and maintain social distancingto get out of the Covid trouble.

Amaravati: Even as hefavoured continuation ofthe lockdown in the state'sred and orange zones, andrelaxation in areas unaf-fected by COVID-19,Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister Y.S. Jagan MohanReddy, on Saturday, assuredhis support to implementPrime Minister's decisionon the matter.

During the course of thePM's interaction with chiefministers across the country,Jagan Reddy appraised himof the measures taken in thestate and the impact ofcoronavirus on farmingactivities in the state.

Pointing out that thestate is largely agrarian con-tributing to 35 per cent ofGross State DomesticProduct (GSDP) andemploying nearly 65 percent of the workforce, JaganReddy apprehended thatlakhs of farm-families stare at destitution, if thepresent circumstances con-tinued.

Speaking about thestate's COVID-19 strategy,the Chief Minister said 141clusters have been identifiedfor focused containmentmeasures. He pointed outthat of the 676 mandals inthe state, 37 are red zones orseverely affected areas, and44 are orange zones whichare partially affected.

In all, 81 mandals arecategorised as red andorange zones. The remain-ing mandals are unaffectedand denoted as green zones,he explained to the PrimeMinister.

"Lockdown should belimited to red zones.Restrictions can be contin-ued in places with massgathering. Social distancingcan be continued in otherplaces.

While I have given myopinion, the country shouldmove ahead with one singlestrategy. Whatever strategyyou suggest, we will goahead with it," he assuredthe Prime Minister. IANS

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Ayoung woman from Khour areaof Akhnoor in Jammu tested

positive for coronavirus, a day aftershe delivered a baby here at ShriMaharaja Gulab Singh hospital(SMGS) on Saturday.

She was among seventeen freshcases of novel coronavirus reportedin Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday,taking the number of infected per-sons in the J&K to 224.

Spokesman of the Jammu &Kashmir Government, Rohit Kansalin a tweet said,“17 new cases report-ed in J&K on Saturday. 5 fromJammu division and 12 from

Kashmir. Total positive cases now224".

Speaking to The Pioneer, Headof the Gynaecology department atSMGS hospital, Dr Surinder Kumarsaid, "a pregnant lady was admittedin the hospital on April 9. A day latershe delivered a baby by C-section. DrKumar said, "she showed no symp-toms of cough and fever at the timeof admission and even during hersurgery". He said, post surgery thepatient complained of fever andcough and her sample was taken. Wequarantined her immediately in theseparate room. Dr Kumar said, "wehave intimated names of surgeon andhis assistant who had handled the

patient during surgery". "There was no need to be pan-

icky as our team of doctors and otherstaff members were fully equipped tohandle the patient". "The sample ofthe newly born was yet to be takenwhile fresh sample of the mother wastaken on saturday", Dr Kumar added.

Meanwhile, out of 12 fresh casesin Kashmir, six were reported posi-tive from Bandipora, 3 fromKupwara and one from Budgam dis-trict. The Government agencies con-tinue to focus on red zones andscreening the patients by conductingdoor to door monitoring of sus-pected cases to prevent spread ofcoronavirus.

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Five contacts of a Mysuru pharmaceutical com-pany worker are among 8 new Covid-19

cases, raising Karnataka's tally to 215, accord-ing to an official here on Saturday.

"Till date, 215 Covid-19 positive cases havebeen confirmed. It includes six deaths and 37 dis-charges," said a health official.

Currently, 166 Covid-19 patients, includinga pregnant woman, are isolated at designated hos-pitals and are stable, and four patients in ICU.

Karnataka's 208th coronavirus positive caseis a 32-year-old man from Bengaluru, a contactof 196th case. A 46-year-old man from Mysuruis 209th case. He is a contact of the 88th case,an employee of Jubilant Generics, from whereseveral cases emerged.

Next, a 43-year-old man from the sameplace with similar contact history has emergedas the 210th case. A 50-year-old woman fromBidar is 211th case. She is the wife of 122ndcase's brother.

The state's 212th case is a 27-year-old manfrom Mysuru, another contact of the pharmacompany employee.

Similarly, a 31-year-old man from the sameplace and similar contact history is the 213th case.Likewise, the last case for Saturday morning andKarnataka's 214th case is also a contact of JubilantGenerics employee, a 26-year-old man.

In the next five hours, one more Covid pos-itive case emerged, a 26-year-old man fromBengaluru, son of 92nd case.

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Mamata Banerjee has askedPrime Minister Narendra

Mori to earmark 6 per cent ofIndia’s Gross Domestic Productfor the country’s war againstcorona.

The Bengal Chief Ministerwho attended the PrimeMinister’s video conferencewith other Chief Ministers hasalso asked the Centre to devicea Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR)-likemechanism where tax benefitis provided to those whodonate in the Prime Minister’sRelief Fund.

The CSR benefit schemeshould also be extended tothose who donate in the ChiefMinister’s relief Fund, Banerjeeis known to have told thePrime Minister besidesdemanding special packages forthe workers of unorganisedsector as also the moribundmedium, small-scale andtourism industries which weresuffering because of the lock-down, sources said.

“When the Prime Ministersuggested an extension of lock-down because the next twoweeks are very crucial andcritical I told that we have noreason to oppose the proposalas we are fighting a common

war against the Corona… butat the same time we haverequested him to see thehumanitarian side of it,”Banerjee said adding Bengaltoo will extend its lockdown tillApril 30.

The Chief Minister told inthe meeting that workers com-ing under the 100-days’-work-scheme should be paid twomonths’ wages. Besides, a com-posite management of themigrant workers stuck in dif-ferent states should be preparedshe said.

“I have also asked for acomplete suspension of inter-national flights and long-dis-tance trains, apart from sealingof the borders … Bengal is acrucial for its location. If ourborder is not sealed and ifBengal gets largely affectedthen the disease can spread tothe North East from here,” shemaintained.

Apart from the generallockdown all schools and col-leges of the State will remainclosed till June 10, the Banerjeesaid. “This we will do consid-ering the approaching summervacations… instead of openingthe schools for a few days wewill let the educational institu-tions be closed till June 10 …with a provisions that onlineclasses will be held during this

period,” she said.Meanwhile, amid claims

made by the BJP that the StateGovernment was not sharingthe real facts regarding coronainfections the Chief Ministersaid that Bengal had recordedsix new infections in the past24 hours taking the total num-ber of cases to 95. Out of these95 affected patients 70belonged to 16 families, shemaintained dismissing theBJP’s allegations.

A delegation of the saffronoutfit on Saturday metGovernor Jagdeep Dhankharwith complaints of irregulardistribution of relief and sup-pression of facts regarding thenumber of infections in theState.

“According to the numbergiven by the central govern-ment the total number of coro-na cases is 116 whereas thisGovernment is bringing itdown to 95,” said State BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh whileanother senior leader RahulSinha said that the State wasnot giving the rice, dal andother relief items provided bythe Centre.

Bengal Government hasrequisitioned kits for “rapidtests which will help us toidentify the areas,” better theChief Minister said.

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In yet another horrible dayfor the Covid-19 battered

Maharashtra, as many as 17persons died of the pandemictaking the total number ofdeaths to 127 and with 187fresh cases, the total number ofinfected cases rose from 1584to 1761 in the state

As has generally been thecase, Mumbai accounted for amaximum of 12 deaths, whilethere two deaths in Pune andone death each in Satara,Dhule and Malegaon.

Of the 17deaths reportedon Saturday, 11 were men and6 women. Six of them agedover 60 years, while 8 patientswere from the age group 40 to60 years and 3 were less than40 years old.

Sixteen out of these 17patients (94%) had high-riskco-morbidities such as dia-betes, hypertension, asthma

and heart disease.Following the fresh deaths,

the death toll in the state dueto Covid-19 has risen to 127.

There has not been anyrespite from either the con-tinued increase or substantialcases in a day. As many as 187more persons tested positivefor the Coronavirus takingthe total number of infectedclimbed to 1761.

Of the total infected cases,Mumbai accounted 136 freshcases. With the fresh cases, thetotal number of positive casesin Mumbai has risen from1008 to 1146.

Meanwhile, a medical bul-letin put out by the Statehealth department said: “Ofthe 36,771 laboratory sam-ples, 34,094 were negative and1761 have been tested positivefor coronavirus until today. Asmany as 208patients have beendischarged till date after full

recovery”“Similarly, 38,800 people

are in home quarantine and4964 people are in institutionalquarantine. As per the guide-lines of the Government ofIndia, cluster containmentaction plan is being imple-mented in places where clus-ters of patients have beenfound in the state,” the bulletinsaid.

“There are total 4641 sur-veillance squads deployedacross the state and surveil-lance of over 17lakh popula-tion has been done,” the bul-letin said.

A three-member RapidResponse Team under theleadership of Dr. P K Sen(Additional Director General,Government of India) is cur-rently in Pune to review theprevention and control mea-sures of Covid-19. The teamvisited BJ Medical College,Naidu Hospital, District

Hopital Aundh and YCMHospital Pimpri-Chinchwadover the last two days.

Dr. Dilip Mhaisekar, PuneDivisional Commissioner helda discussion with this team onSaturday.

In a major revelation, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation said in its medicalbulletin on Saturday that of thetotal cases in Mumbai, 75cases had the history of trav-elling to Coronavirus-affectedcountries and “as the availableinformation, 531 cases havebeen detected as a result ofcontact tracing, containmentmeasure, fever clinics etc”.

In a related development,the BMC has – as per theguidelines of the Governmentof India -- identified 186“cororna care centres” for quar-antine of two levels of patients– high-risk contacts from con-gested areas and suspectCovid-19 patients awaiting lab

reports and positive asympto-matic.

“Eleven isolation facilitiestermed as Dedicated CoronaHealth Centres for mild ormoderate symptomatic Covid-19 positive patients are func-tional. Similarly 26 DedicatedCorona health Centres arefunctional for critical or mor-bid patients,” a daily medicalbulletin put out by theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC)said.

“We have screened 2248people during the fever clinicswe held from April 5 to 10.During this period, we havecollected 861 swab samplesfrom these suspected cases,”the BMC bulletin said.

Meanwhile, the BMC con-verted Acworth MunicipalHospital at Wadala in north-central Mumbai into a wellequipped 30 bed Covid-19and quaratine hospital.

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With warmer weatherbeckoning, Italians are

straining against a strict lock-down to halt the coronavirusthat is just now showing signsof ebbing at the end of fiveweeks of mass isolation.

Italy was the first Westerndemocracy to be hit by thevirus, and it has suffered themost deaths of any nation:nearly 19,000. Now it is likelyto set an example of how to liftbroad restrictions that haveimposed the harshest peace-time limits on personal free-dom and shut down allnonessential industry.

Right now, schools areclosed and children are not per-mitted to play in parks. Walksoutdoors are limited to a dis-tance of 200 meters (yards) andany excursion not strictly amatter of necessity risks heftyfines.

The official line is patiencewith measures that have shownsuccess in slowing the virusspread, until there is a cleardecline in the number of newcases. Still, officials have begungrappling with the question ofhow to manage social distanc-ing on mass transit, re-openordinary commerce andrelaunch manufacturing with-out risking another peak.

The so-called Phase II isbeing described as a cautiousreopening, as society continuesto live alongside the virus untila vaccine can be developed,

perhaps in 12 to 18 months. “We obviously don’t want

to delude ourselves that every-thing will change,’’ PremierGiuseppe Conte told Italiansthis week.

On Friday, Conte extend-ed the nationwide lockdownthrough May 3. That includesall nonessential industry, afterwhich, “I hope we can startagain with caution and gradu-ally — but restart,’’ he said.

A technical committeeadvising the government isworking to expand testing forCOVID-19, the disease causedby the virus. to get a better pic-ture of how widespread it is inItaly before measures can beeased. Preparations are alsounderway to launch a mobileapp that will allow people toknow if they have been nearanyone who is positive, some-thing that is expected to take atleast a month.

‘’With this you can allowpeople to have more freedomof movement,’’ said WalterRicciardi, a public health expertand member of the WorldHealth Organization boardadvising the Italian govern-ment.

The technology for theapp already exists but author-ities were working on technicaldetails on how to deploy it.

Experts in Italy are coor-dinating with their Europeanpartners so the tracking can beapplied across borders, whichhave been de facto closed bythe virus.

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The United States becamethe first country to report

more than 2,000 coronavirusdeaths in a single day, markinga grim milestone as billionsaround the world celebratedthe Easter holiday weekendunder lockdown from home.

The global death toll fromthe virus surged past 1,06,000 onFriday, with the United Statesquickly becoming the epicentreof the pandemic that firstemerged in China late last year.Europe has so far shouldered themajority of all deaths and infec-tions -- though there were signsof hope the curve could bestarting to flatten in some of thehardest-hit countries.

On Friday, the UnitedStates reported 2,108 newdeaths, the highest daily toll outof any country since the out-break was first reported in thecentral Chinese city of Wuhanin December. With more thanhalf a million reported infec-tions, the United States alreadyhas more coronavirus casesthan anywhere else in theworld. The global infectionrate now stands at more than1.7 million, though with manycountries only testing the mostserious cases the numbers arelikely far higher.

But President DonaldTrump said with the US infec-tion trajectory “near the peak”and social distancing workingwell, he was considering waysto re-open the world’s biggesteconomy as soon as possible.

He acknowledged the riskof higher death tolls if busi-

nesses restart too soon -- afterthe World Health Organizationon Friday cautioned countriesagainst lifting lockdown mea-sures too quickly.

“But you know what?Staying at home leads to deathalso,” Trump added, pointing tothe massive economic sufferingfor millions of Americans.

It is unclear when that willbe possible, with New YorkGovernor Andrew Cuomo say-ing millions in the state — thehardest hit in the US — will haveto be tested before it can reopen.Easter weekend kicked off innear-empty churches aroundthe world as parishionersremained locked in their homes.

Pope Francis was due tolivestream his Easter Vigil froman empty St Peter’s Basilica laterSaturday, after he presided over

an empty Good Friday Serviceto kick off the holiday weekend.

The pontiff was praised by Italy’s PrimeMinister for his “gesture ofresponsibility” to observeEaster in private.

“We will remember thisspring as the one in which, forthe first time in history, thepope presided over the gener-al audiences and conducted theAngelus (prayer) by livestream,”Giuseppe Conte wrote in Italy’sCatholic daily Avvenire.

“His words, although spo-ken far from Saint Peter’sSquare, which was wrapped inan unreal silence, have reachedeveryone.” Worshippers inRome stocked up on traditionalEaster cakes ahead of the week-end, some piling them ontoscooters outside of grocery

stores, eager to maintain partsof the holiday tradition evenfrom home.

Across Europe, govern-ment urged citizens to stayhome for the weekend, fearingpeople would flock outdoors toenjoy warm weather or flee toholiday homes.

France deployed some160,000 gendarmes to patrolbusy roads, while Lithuania setup road blocks to prevent trav-ellers from leaving cities.

And Turkey announcedwith little warning Friday thata 48-hour lockdown orderwould be in place in dozens ofcities, including Ankara andIstanbul, as its virus death tollcrept past 1,000.

Shoppers crowded super-markets in Istanbul late Fridayin a rush to stock up on sup-

plies before the curfew startedat midnight. The World HealthOrganization has warned thatprematurely easing lockdownmeasures — as has started incentral China where to virusfirst emerged — could spark adangerous return of the disease.

“Lifting restrictions tooquickly could lead to a deadlyresurgence,” WHO chief TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus warnedFriday. Some countries, espe-cially in Asia, are worried abouta possible second wave of infec-tions imported from travellersas life creeps back to normal.

But Governments areunder pressure to strike a bal-ance between keeping peoplesafe and keeping already bat-tered economies stable. Andwhile President Trump hasdiscussed a rapid return to eco-nomic stability, the US gov-ernment’s top infectious diseasespecialist Anthony Fauci saidthat despite signs of progress,“this is not the time... To bepulling back at all” on socialdistancing efforts.

The pandemic has shakenthe global economy, and theInternational Monetary Fund— which has $1 trillion in lend-ing capacity — said it wasresponding to calls from 90countries for emergencyfinancing.

It said this week the worldnow faces the worst downturnsince the Great Depression ofthe 1930s. G20 energy minis-ters, meanwhile, pledged towork together to ensure oilmarket stability after major oil producers agreed tocut output.

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Pakistan said on Saturdaythat it will take a decision

on whether to extend the ongo-ing nationwide lockdown orease restrictions on Monday, asthe number of coronaviruspatients rose to 4,970.

Speaking at a Press con-ference here, Planning andDevelopment Minister AsadUmar said that Prime MinisterImran Khan will take a decisionafter his meeting with theNational CoordinationCommittee on COVID-19,

comprising senior officials ofall provinces and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

“We will make a nationaldecision on the lockdown,”said Umar. He also said that thecountry would suffer aboutRs1,400-1,500 billion shortfallin revenues due to the nation-wide shutdown.

Prime Minister’s Advisoron Health Dr Zafar Mirza saidthat Pakistan had lower num-ber of cases than projected butpeople should not relax and fol-low the restrictions. “It will bea mistake to relax,” he said.

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British Home Secretary PritiPatel on Saturday warned

the UK public to continue tofollow the strict social dis-tancing as the death toll fromcoronavirus rose by 917 to hita total of 9,875.

The senior Indian-originCabinet minister, who led thedaily Downing Street briefing,said that a majority of thepopulation have been followingthe Government’s stay-at-homeguidance but there was a smallminority who should be awarethat the police forces have thepowers they require to imposethe lockdown measures.

“We have given the policepowers to enforce the necessarymeasures we have put in place,including through enforce-ment fines. “If you don’t playyour part... Our selfless police

will be unafraid to act. You willbe endangering the lives ofyour own family, friends andloved ones,” she said, addingthat the police forces would befollowing the UK’s overarching“policing by consent” doctrinewhen striking a balancebetween force and commonsense.

The minister also unveileda new set of measures to com-bat domestic and child abuse,including a 2 million poundsfund to enhance online supportservices and helplines, as shehighlighted a new set of chal-lenges being faced by the coun-try’s security services duringthe lockdown imposed to curbthe spread of the deadly virus.

Meanwhile, British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson, whotested positive for coronavirus,is on the road to recovery at aLondon hospital ward, taking

short walks, Downing Streetsaid on Saturday. It alsoemerged on Saturday that puz-

zles, sudoku and films arekeeping the UK Prime Ministeroccupied.

Madrid: Spain registered a fallin its daily death toll from thenew coronavirus for a thirdconsecutive day on Saturdaywith 510 people dying, theGovernment said.

It was the smallest dailyincrease since March 23 inSpain, which is suffering one ofthe worst COVID-19 outbreaksin the world.

The update for the last 24hours raised the country’s over-all number of fatalities to16,353 and the number of con-firmed cases another 4,800 to161,852.

Masks will be handed outat metro and train stationsfrom Monday as some compa-nies re-open after a two-week“hibernation” period, the healthminister said Friday. AFP

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China’s health authorities onSaturday asked the public

to strengthen protective mea-sures and avoid gatheringsafter a number of cluster infec-tions of the coronavirus werereported in some parts of thecountry, sparking concernsabout the re-emergence of thevicious virus.

All localities should inten-sify screenings and detection ofCovid-19 cases, targeting keyplaces and groups with highrisks of infection, in order to

minimise the risk of an epidemicrebound, Mi Feng, a spokesper-son for the National HealthCommission (NHC) said.

Noting that cluster infec-tions have been reported insome parts of the country, Miurged the public to strengthenprotective measures and avoidgatherings, the state-runXinhua news agency reportedon Saturday.

Concerns about the secondwave of coronavirus cases grewas hundreds of Chinese citizensreturned from abroad, includ-ing from countries hit hard by

the coronavirus.On Saturday, China report-

ed 46 new coronavirus cases,including four local and 34asymptomatic infections, whilethree more people died due tothe global pandemic, taking thedeath toll in the country to3,339.

According to the NHC,the Chinese mainland report-ed a total of 1,183 importedcases as of Friday. Of them, 449have been discharged fromhospitals after recovery, and734 are being treated with 37 insevere condition.

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The year 2020 wil l beengraved in our minds for

decades to come. TheCOVID-19 vi l lain hasmanaged to do the impossible— it has brought shooting ofshows to a complete standstill. This means that theviewers have nothing new towatch. In such a scenario,many people are taking aboutthe good old shows that usedto keep them captivated. TheGen Z also wants to knowwhat made these classics sogood that their parents stilltalk about them even thoughit has been years since theywent off air.

Just like Doordarshan hasbrought back shows l ikeRamayan, a few other channelsare also geared up for the re-run of some iconic shows inorder to maintain the dailydose of fun, laughter and thrill.

While Star Bharat is backwith the laugh-riot —Sarabhai vs Sarabhai andKhichdi , f rom Apri l 13between 10 am and 12 pm, Zee TV is noless and Hum Paanch is back too fromtomorrow — Monday April 13, 2020.The re-telecast signifies how theseshows are still in demand.

Ashok Saraf who played AnandMathur in Hum Paanch says that theonly reason that these shows havealways been in demand is because theyare still relevant.

“The sole reason that these iconicshows have been so popular is becauseof the fact that they were and still arerelevant to the audience and hence, theyare making a comeback on TV. I believeHum Paanch is relevant to the audienceeven today. This is because the makerswere such visionaries that they createda show in a manner that the audiencecould relate to it at any given point oftime. It is a show that was written sowell, inculcating such minute details andevery episode depicting something new,that it never failed to surprise theviewers. A new issue was addressedevery single time and they were alsodealt with innovative solutions. Thismade it stand out. As humans, ourproblems have remained more or lessthe same, we just deal with themdifferently. The show depicts exactlythat, with hilariously accurate comictiming,” he tells you.

He tells you that everyone on thesets used to listen to him since he wasthe eldest. “To be honest, everyday feltlike a rollercoaster ride on the sets, it wasso much fun. I miss those days and sinceI was the eldest, I remember everyone

used to listen to me. We all worked likeone big family,” Saraf recalls.

He adds that the pace of comedy

shows has changed over years andbecome extremely fast. “These dayspeople don’t pay much heed to thescript. I fail to understand how they takesomething so essential, so lightly. Ashard it is to write a comedy, at the endof the day, a good script is the backboneof it. Improvisation is obviously anecessity, but a good script can dowonders. The comedy scene today isvery different, or if I may say, fast ascompared to what we used to do backin the day. Moreover, TV these daysdoesn’t really make comedy showsanymore either. Today, the daily soapsare dominated by the saas-bahu drama,may be because audience also likes it,but I feel comedy will always have aspecial place. Also, today’s comedyshows are more of reality shows,” hesays. Sumeet Raghavan who played DrSahil Sarabhai in Sarabhai vs Sarabhaiagrees with Saraf and says that he iswaiting for the re-run of Buniyaad andHum Log.

“All these shows have a special placein the hearts of the people. We havegrown up watching these shows thereforethere’s a different connect with them orfor that matter with the charactersSarabhai vs Sarabhai came in 2004. Theshow is still evergreen. While theseshows are available on digital platformsthere’s a different feeling of watching itwith your family on TV and even eagerlywaiting for it to come. This feeling can’tbe replaced. It has a nostalgic value. It isa great step taken by the channels to re-telecast these shows,” he says.

�What is your role in Jag Jaanani MaaVaishnodevi — Kahani Matarani Ki

I play grown up Maa Vaishno Deviin the show. The story unfolds asVaishnavi realises her powers that of agoddess. She goes on a journey tobecome the universal Mother, where shemakes sure that all the sins arediminished in the world. She strives toend paap (the evil in the world) and notthe paapi (the sinner). �What brings you to the show?

I am glad that I am playing MaaVaishno Devi in the show. Well there’sa saying: You don’t choose a character,character chooses you. Somethingsimilar happened with me as well. I havealways been a bhakt of Maa VaishnoDevi. And getting an opportunity toplay a character as such is a meet ofdestiny. When I was approached for thecharacter I didn’t give it a secondthought. I immediately said yes. This isnot just a character. This is somethingpeople worship. �What preparations did you have todo?

The show has already completedmore than 100 episodes. The characterhas already been built in the mind ofour audience. Maisha Dixit who playedyounger Vaishno Devi in the show hasdone an amazing job to hook theaudience with her striking acting skills.Now, to play an older version of MaaVaishno Devi in the show, I take it as abig challenge. I have always made surethat I give my best when it comes toplaying such roles. The viewers don’tjust see you as a character but as a divineperson whom they have a godly connectwith. To get into the nook of thecharacter I researched a lot by readingbooks. I spent some time with Maishatoo trying to get those minute details

which I can use in my character.�What kind of rapot do your sharewith your co-actors?

People in the show have alreadybeen working with each other since thebeginning. I have entered recently in theshow. But all of my co-actors have madeit easy for me. We have gelled well andare having a fun time workingtogether.�What is your takeon the trend ofmy t h o l o g i c a lshows?

I believethat there is alot to learnfrom Indianmythology interms of wit,strength andlife lessons thatwill help yougrow as a person.More than that,these mythologiesform our roots. Theseshows not just entertain theviewers but also educate them about ourvalues and culture. Like for this show, wehave made the story relevant to today’syouth as it’s very important for them tounderstand our core values.Today, notmany people like to read about themythology, so these shows are a mediumto showcase our roots in an entertainingway. This is what I like the most aboutthis trend.�What kind of fitness regime do youfollow?

First things first. My take on fitnessis everyone should understand theirbody type and then identify and followa particular pattern of fitness. Oneshould be healthy only then the person

can be fit. And it goes foreveryone as generallypeople are careless abouttheir fitness and they feelonly actors need to be fit, butit’s wrong. All of us should beequally careful about our health andalways be fit so that during hard

times like these we don’t have tobe scared much. Exercise

boosts our immunityand a balanced

healthy dietplan will keepus in goodhealth always.I follow abalanced dietmore thanworking outas I get very

less time to goto gym, but I

prefer doingyoga daily.

�What do you dowhen not acting?

I love travelling anddancing. This is something thatI do to refresh my mind. Aperson needs to take a breakout of his/ her busy schedule.These are the things that Ido to rejuvenate andreenergise myself.� What are yourupcoming projects?

As of now, myfocus is only on JagJaanani MaaVaishnodevi —Kahani Matarani Ki.No plans for future,completely committed to my show.

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Some moments are not just moments,those are precious memories that one

cherishes forever in their life. Recently,Ishita Ganguly went back in time andshared a nostalgic moment with Govindaon the stage. The actor who is essayingthe role of Maa Kali in the show JagJaanani Maa Vaishno Devi — KahaniMata Rani Ki is making the best use ofquarantine. She has been in constanttouch with her fans on Instagram and ismotivating people during these difficultdays.

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The doctors and nurses are busy treatingCOVID-19 patients. Away from hospitals,entrepreneurs, IITs and even school stu-dents are busy giving their ideas wings tocome up with gadgets that will keep peo-

ple safe and healthy during and after the epidemic.Their motto: Prevention is better than cure.

D Venkatesh, an entrepreneur from Tirupur,Tamil Nadu, who runs a water treatment business(WTT Technology Services India Pvt Ltd), is one suchperson. Even though Venkatesh was staying homebecause his factory is shut, it didn’t stop him and hisfriends from talking about the Coronavirus impact.Long phone chats led him to explore optionsthrough which he could contribute. It was not untilMarch 29, 2020 that he finally decided to do some-thing about it.

“It was a Sunday. I had not stepped out of thehouse since the lockdown was announced. We need-ed some household items and went to the market. Thescene shocked me. It looked like a mela. There musthave been over 1,000 people at the farmers’ marketin total disregard to social distancing. I had seen atunnel structure on YouTube spraying people inTurkey with a disinfectant using the humidifyingmethod. That fascinated me and got me thinking.Next day, on Monday, I opened my factory andworked on a tunnel that suited us. On March 31, 2020,the 16-foot tunnel was ready,” Venkatesh says.

Making the structure was easy but what camenext, to figure out how to spray the disinfectant onthe people was tricky. The tunnel uses one of the twodisinfectants — hypochlorite and Chlorine. “I hadstarted my career working with an Italian companyand hence the attitude that human safety comes first.I had to ensure that the spray didn’t affect the eyes,nose and skin. This meant that no water dropletstouched the skin. I made a system with a pump of70 bar pressure with tiny holes of three microns. Withsuch high pressure and tiny holes, the solution of waterand hypochlorite becomes a mist. Another challengewas to ensure that the mist covered the entire humanbody — from hands to feet,” Venkatesh tells you.

The test was done in the local market afterVenkatesh managed to speak with the Collector whogave him the go-ahead. He used hypochlorite witha PPM of 0.5, what is used in swimming pools.Venkatesh also had to ensure that this misty disin-fectant actually killed the virus and people didn’t carryit with them. So, people needed to raise their handswith palms out when they walked through the tun-nel. Just like one has to take a shower after a swim,a shower after the tunnel walk is also must after onegets home. But Venkatesh was not sure how manypeople would actually do so, hence the low PPM.

“It is judicious to shower once you are home. Thecontact time inside the tunnel is three seconds —enough to kill the virus but not harmful to humansif they don’t shower. There is also a reason why I keptthe tunnel that long. I know that people don’t havethe time or patience to stand in a queue. The 16-foottunnel means that there is a steady flow of peopledoing away with long queues,” Venkatesh explains.

Since his test run on April 1, 2020, Venkatesh hasbeen busy and has sold 50 such tunnels that cost�85,000 each to various cities, including Bengaluru,Kochi, Calicut and Hyderabad. His idea was to makefive such tunnels and donate them. But the over-whelming response that his invention got ensured thathe is working long hours to make many more. He isgetting queries from mall owners, the Railways andcinema hall owners. He is also getting calls fromMinisters, Collectors and MLAs.

Up North, 2,845 km away, a team at LovelyProfessional University (LPU) in Phagwara, Punjab,has been busy trying to find answers on how to ensuresocial distancing. Prabin Kumar Das, a BTech student(Electronics Communication and Engineering) at theuniversity, along with his professors, has developedan IoT device — Kawachh — to promote safe socialdistancing. The device, a pendant, vibrates and glowsin case someone breaches the user’s safe space of ametre. Not only that, the device is equipped with a

handwash reminder that beeps every 30 minutes aswell as a temperature sensor that alerts via an SMSin case their body temperature crosses the prescribedlimit.

Dr Lovi Raj Gupta, Executive Dean of Scienceand Technology, LPU, tells you that, at present, thereare three pressing issues to COVID-19. First, to main-tain distance. Second, to wash and sanitise hands.Third, and most important, to monitor one’s health.

“People forget to maintain social distancing withfamily and friends. The battery-operated device helpson all three counts. It gives an alert after a specifictime to wash hands and beeps if the one-metre dis-tance is breached. The device also keeps a record ofone’s health because we know it is not possible forpeople to monitor their temperature every few hours.To get an alert on one’s health, one needs to pair itwith a device like one would do with a Fitbit,” Guptaexplains.

He also tells you that they realised theCoronavirus doesn’t discriminate and it was neces-sary to keep the cost low. Building the prototype costthe team approximately �500. Gupta and his teamhope once the lockdown opens, they will be able tointroduce this locket at a cost of �400.

It is not just the safety of masses that is in ques-tion here. Several doctors too, who had been work-ing with COVID-19 cases, fell prey to the virus. Inorder to keep the medical staff safe, three students— two from KIIT World School in Pitampura andone from Modern School, Barakhamba Road in theCapital, have come up with an innovative idea.

Saurav Maheshkar of Class XII, Nishant Chandnaof Class X and Aditya Dubey have conceptualised,designed and built the robot — Prithvi — a batteryoperated prototype, a programmable board and basicmotors at a cost less than �5,000. Due to the lock-down, the trio had to make the bot with cardboard.However, when it goes for mass production, the botwould require a sturdier built. The aim here is toreduce contact between healthcare workers andCOVID-19 patients.

Maheshkar tells you that the idea came after theirprincipal asked students to come up Corona fight-ers. “The robot is meant to deliver food and medi-cine to those in quarantine. It can be programmedto go to the patient deliver food, medicine and if theperson under quarantine wants, he can speak withhis family via video conferencing. We have used —arduino controller — openly available chips that peo-ple use to make codes with motors to run the bot witha 25-volt battery that can run for an hour of contin-uous work. One can increase the battery volt toincrease the working hours,” Maheshkar says. Thethree are now looking for help from universities tobetter their bot. Interestingly, Maheshkar andChandna met Dubey at an activist meet to protestagainst the rising air pollution levels in New Delhi,last year.

Chandna tells you that there were some challengeseven though this was not the first bot they had builtfor the healthcare sector. “The challenge came whenI had to make the body. I had to use cardboard. Wehave been working on robotics for the last two-threeyears. Our team had won the nationals — we had ear-lier made a bot for the physically challenged. But thisbot has been modified keeping in mind the viruspatients. It took me around two weeks to completethe bot,” Chandna says.

Then there is the problem of keeping track ofthose people who have recovered from COVID-19but their movement needs to be restricted. To meetthis challenge, start-ups and entrepreneurs from IITRoorkee have come up with a surveillance system.Raven Eye, an incubated start-up founded byProfessor Kamal Jain, Department of CivilEngineering, IIT Roorkee, has developed a system tofight COVID-19 through a tracking mobile applica-tion. Using geo-fencing technology, the system gen-erates alerts if any individual violates quarantine.

There are some in-built guards against hacking.In case the network is not available, the app will sendan alert through SMS. In case the phone is switchedoff, it will send a message to the main server. If theperson steps beyond the Lakshman rekha, it will senda message. If the person tries to delete the app, it willsend a message. “In no case can the person try to side-step the system which we have been using in track-ing vehicles even before GPS came to India. So, track-ing COVID-19 patients will not be a big task. Thesurveillance system is a plug-and-play device whichallows tracking with an accuracy of +/- 5 metresthrough notifications at two, 10 or 20 seconds. Besideslive tracking, the administrator can view the entiremovement history of an individual,” Jain says.

The IIT Roorkee has also developed a low-costportable ventilator. Named Prana-vayu, the closed-loop ventilator has been developed in collaborationwith AIIMS, Rishikesh, and is equipped with state-of-the-art features. The manufacturing cost per ven-tilator is estimated at �25,000.

Helyxon, a health tech start-up that works in closecollaboration with IIT Madras Healthcare TechnologyInnovation Centre, has come with AI-enableddevices for better management of the pandemic. Vitalhealth parametres like temperature, oxygen satura-tion as well as heart rate offer critical clues to the healthcondition of the patient and this can be done via twodigital solutions – OXY-2 and 98.6 Fever Watch pricedat �5,799 and �2,499, respectively. “The AI-backedbiosensor devices reliably capture trend of parame-tres like temperature and alerts the remote medicalstaff or an attendant in case of anomaly. This allowsimmediate intervention when needed. It also cutsdown the work of regular manual monitoring whichis, in any case, impossible for thousands of patients,”Vijai Shankar Raja, founder, Helyxon, says.

In the North-East, the Indian Institute ofTechnology Guwahati has developed a low-cost UVCLED-based disinfectant system for surfaces. DrSenthilmurugan Subbiah, Department of ChemicalEngineering, IIT Guwahati, says that the aim is to dis-infect surfaces — be it homes, hospitals or malls andeven water. “This system works the same way a vac-uum cleaner works. It has wheels at the bottom andone needs to move it to clean the floor. There is avelocity at which it needs to move. Anything fasterand it won’t work. A certain area needs to be exposedfor 30 seconds for the UVC LED light to kill the virusat the dosage that has been pre-set,” explains Subbiahwhose team had started working on the mop backin mid-February.

The normal UV rays can damage the eyes, butthis device will stop working the minute one lifts itfrom the floor. The idea is to protect people from theharmful rays. The rechargeable in-built battery-oper-ated system will have variants depending on whereit has to be used. Unlike for home where the mop willbe manual, the ones for commercial areas will be auto-mated and programmed to go wherever necessary.The team is also in the process of making a devicethat can be used to clean doorknobs. The team ainsat ensuring that the device is not expensive by keep-ing the cost under �1,000.

“The COVID-19 is protein-based with RNA andDNA. The UVC LED system interchanges thestructure of the protein. Once its changed, it is moreor less dead. If 36 Joules of a dose is given to a cer-tain surface, it kills 90 per cent of the virus sitting onit. This mop gives 4-log dose killing 99.99 per centof the virus. Whatever is left will not harm,” Subbiahsays.

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The doubting thomases“should be careful” aboutwhat they wish for as there

is no second coming for a once-in-a-generation player likeMahendra Singh Dhoni if peo-ple “push him into retirement”,former England captain NasserHussain said on Saturday.

Hussain, one of the mostrespected voices in world crick-et feels that the soon-to-be 39year old former India captainstill has a lot to offer in Indiancricket.

“Once Dhoni is gone, thereis no getting him back. There aresome legends of the game, appre-ciating while around, becausethey are once-in-a-generationcricketer and don’t push him intoretirement too early. Only Dhoniknows his mental state and in theend the selectors select and play-ers turn up when asked to,” 52-year-old Hussain told Star Sportson its new show CricketConnected.

Dhoni last played for Indiain the World Cup semi-finalagainst New Zealand in July.Since then he hasn’t played anycompetitive cricket with formerlegends like Sunil Gavaskar andKapil Dev making it clear that it’sgetting increasingly difficult for

the Jharkhand dasher to make aninternational return anytimesoon after such prolonged sab-batical.

But Hussain, who ledEngland from 1999-2003, feelsotherwise.

“Is MS Dhoni still goodenough to get in the Indianside? It is as simple as that. Thatshould apply for anyone acrossthe board. What I have seen ofDhoni, I still think MS Dhonihas a huge amount to offer forIndian cricket,” he said.

However one of England’sshrewdest captains admitted thatDhoni did err on a couple ofoccasions during World Cupwhere he couldn’t force the paceof the innings.

While Hussain’s commentsdidn’t specify which match hewas talking about but it is in alllikelihood the games againstWest Indies and England wherehe failed to force the pace of theIndian innings.

“Yes, its been one or twooccasions where he (MSD) got itwrong in run chases, there wasa World Cup game in Englandwhere he sort of blocked at theend for some unknown reason,but in general MS Dhoni is stilla really good talent and be care-ful what you wish for,” elaborat-ed Hussain.

�� :�-�:

Australian all-rounder Shane Watson saidthat the ability to trust players and keep faith

in them is what sets Chennai Super Kings apartfrom other franchises. Watson had won the IndianPremier League title in the inaugural season withthe Rajasthan Royals and a decade later, he wonit again with CSK in 2018.

“You can go for 10 games not scoring runsand still get picked. Last season, thank you to MSDhoni and Stephen Fleming for keeping the faith,”he said in an Instagram Live session on CSK’s han-dle.

“Every other franchise would have been ‘Youare gone. Thank you for coming, but you are sit-ting and you are running the drinks’,” he said.

He smashed 117 off 57 balls in an innings thatincluded 11 fours and eight sixes in the 2018 finalagainst Sunrisers Hyderabad to almost single-handedly take CSK to victory. He almost repeat-ed the heroics the next year against MumbaiIndians, scoring 80 off 59 but CSK fell incredi-bly short of MI’s total of 149.

Watson had experienced a lean run in theearly part of that season but started firingtowards the latter stages.

“Through that period, unfortunately I felt likeI was batting well but I was just not scoring runsand that kept going on and on. At some stage Iwas feeling after a couple of games that they aregoing to have to move me on, but they didn’t,” saidWatson.

“And then when things turned around,which I knew it would at some stage, I thankedMS and Fleming for keeping the faith, and theysaid there was never any doubt,” he said.

“And that’s phenomenal. That made me feel10-foot tall. That’s the power of amazing leader-ship. To know when to stick with people youbelieve in, and that’s amazing for me. And I amforever indebted to those guys.”

�� :��-:

Australia’s unprecedented homeTest series defeat to India in

2018-19 served as a “wake-up call” forJustin Langer, who reckons the serieswill prove as the defining moment ofhis coaching career.

Langer was appointed as theAustralian coach in May 2018, follow-ing the infamous ball tamperingscandal that saw skipper Steve Smithand his deputy David Warner slappedwith year-long bans.

Without their star batsmen, theAustralian side struggled to maintainits high rate of success with Langer atthe helm.

The men from Down Under tast-

ed their first Test series loss toIndia on home turf. ViratKohli’s men handed thema 2-1 defeat.

“That was a massive wake-up call and a really tough timein my life,” Langer was quoted assaying by the AustralianAssociated Press.

“I’ve got no doubt in 10years’ time, I will lookback on that periodand it will be the mak-ing of my coachingcareer.”

The 49-year-old compared itto another diffi-cult phase of his

life, when he was dropped asa player at the start of 2001Ashes.

Used to playing atnumber three, Langer was

picked to open the inningswith Mathew Hayden later in

the series which served as aturning point for him.

Langer’s career wasrechristened as he

became the coun-try’s most suc-cessful opener,scoring 16 of his23 Test cen-turies.

“In 2001when I got

dropped from the Australian team at31 years of age I thought that was theend. That was the making of me as acricketer and a person. It was amaz-ing what lessons you can learn inadversity,” he said.

The former opener believes dif-ficult situations are opportunities tolearn lessons of life and shouldn’t besquandered.

“In adversity, like in the great cri-sis we are going through right now(with the coronavirus). Like the cri-sis of the Australian cricket teamwhen sandpaper on the ball, in adver-sity never waste it.”

“Because great lessons come fromthem and if you grasp them you willbe a better person.”

��/

The Wisden while naming the Five Cricketersof the Year in 2019 gave Indias ODI deputy

Rohit Sharma a miss and it came as a huge sur-prise because Rohit hit five hundreds in the 2019World Cup and former India batsman VVSLaxman has said the same, calling the move ashocker.

Speaking on Rohit Sharma not featuring inWisden Cricketers of the Year list, Laxman said onStar Sports show Cricket Connected: “I think any-one who follows the game of cricket will be sur-prised and shocked not to see Rohit Sharma’s namein those five players list. The Ashes is an impor-tant series, the World Cup is bigger than Ashes. Andsomeone who has scored five hundred; rememberthe first hundred was on a tough wicket inSouthampton against South Africa and none of theother batsmen got runs. And he played anotherimportant knock against Pakistan. I am reallyshocked and surprised, and every cricketer will beshocked and surprised by this announcement fromWisden.” England’s Ben Stokes and Ellyse Perry ofAustralia were on Wednesday named the LeadingCricketers of 2019 by Wisden Almanack.

Across the 2019 calendar, Stokes hit 821 Testruns at 45, including an Ashes hundred at Lord’s,and 719 in ODIs at almost 60.

Along with Perry, Wisden named PatCummins, Marnus Labuschagne, Jofra Archer andSimon Harmer as the Five Cricketers of the Year.

�� .68-

Former England skipper turnedpundit Michael Atherton vis-

ited Pakistan during the PakistanSuper League and the formeropener believes that while it wasindeed sad that cricket returnedto the country after a long hiatusdue to security issues, the turn outduring the PSL was also a positivesign as the country gears up tohost more international cricket inthe future.

“Well, you only have to lookaround: the crowds, enthusiasmand packed houses for everygame. Importantly, all these for-eign players will now know thatit is safe here and they will be ableto take that message to the play-ers from their own countries.

“I was at the hotel and therewere about eight to nine Englishplayers like Moeen Ali, RaviBopara, Tom Banton, Lewis

Gregory, Liam Dawson and theywere all saying how much they’veenjoyed the competition, thetournament’s standard has beengreat and they feel perfectly safe

here. So, this message will getpassed back and that will encour-age more and more players andteams to come,” he told the PCB’smedia team during an interview.

Commenting on the Pakistanteam which has over the yearsproduced greats, Atherton said:“When I played against them,they had some great bowlers inparticular. The last attack that Iplayed against on my tour here of2000, they had Wasim and Waqar(Younis) then Mushtaq (Ahmed)and Saqlain (Mushtaq). Now youhave got four great match-win-ning bowlers there.

“Pakistan, of course, haveproduced great batsmen, but Ithink in recent times, the strengthand depth of their bowling andparticularly the kind of wicket-taking bowlers — pace bowlersand mystery spinners — have setthem apart.

“I don’t know why Pakistan

particularly produces greatbowlers. I suspect it has some-thing to do with the relative lackof infrastructure. In order to pro-duce lots and lots of great bats-men, you’ve got to have facilitiesand infrastructure and coachesand a very formal system, but Ithink bowlers can spring andemerge from anywhere and that’sprobably why Pakistan produce somany.”

Asked about Pakistan’supcoming tour of England in thesummer, Atherton said that he islooking forward to seeing the likesof Babar Azam shine in condi-tions which won’t be easy.

“It should be terrific. It’s a bigsummer for England. It won’t beas big as the last summer becausethat was the World Cup and theAshes, which are always slightlydifferent. But, this year, we’ve gotPakistan and West Indies coming.Pakistan have a very good record

against England in recent years inEngland.

“They’re always a valuableteam to come and they get goodsupport from the crowds. Thecricket should be good and high-ly competitive. We’re looking for-ward to seeing Pakistan inEngland this summer. BabarAzam looks a fabulous player tome. He looks so skillful and thegame looks so easy to him attimes.

I am very much looking for-ward to watching him play.

“It is a challenge for playerswhen they come from the sub-continent to England. The lasttwo, three years conditions, inEngland, have been extreme actu-ally: the Duke’s ball and thefloodlights and, you know, theway the ball has moved around,so it's going to be a challenge forall Pakistan’s batsmen, but I thinkthey will be up to it,” he smiled.

�� 8�,./�

Pakistan’s centrally-contract-ed players are mentally pre-

pared for pay cuts if the healthcrisis created by the coron-avirus pandemic persisted for afew months, Test captain AzharAli said on Saturday.

In a video interaction withthe media, Azhar said he and hiscolleagues are aware that the sit-uation is not ideal due to theCOVID-19.

“It is not a good situation forany country and we know thatif this lockdown situation con-tinued for a few months, theBoard might ask us to take paycuts in the old or new centralcontacts,” Azhar said.

“If such a situation arisesthat we are asked to take pay cutswe are mentally prepared for itand we will sit down with theBoard and take the best deci-sions.”

The veteran of 78 Tests alsosaid that cricket playing nations

and players cannot sit at homefor months and no cricket isheld.

“Yes at some stage if this sit-uation persists the option ofplaying in front of empty stadi-ums can be discussed but onlyif proper health and preventivemeasures are put in place byauthorities for all stakeholders,”he added.

“It is unfortunate that fansare not watching any action evenon TV and if cricket is playedbehind closed doors, it will pro-vide fans with an opportunity to(at least) watch some cricket, butthe health of the public shouldnot be compromised,” he said.

The PCB has so far said itwould ensure payment of themonthly salaries of all central-ly-contracted payers and thosewho have been given domesticcricket contracts at least untilend of June.

But the board has made itclear even it is not sure what sce-nario would emerge after June.

�� -��-�./

The coronavirus-forced lockdown is nowgetting into India spinner Yuzvendra

Chahal’s nerves, so much so that he says he cando with staying away from home for threeyears once it is lifted.

“I will get lock-downed from myhome, I will not come back to myhome. I can’t take this anymore,can’t stay at home for longernow. These days of staying athome will suffice for the nextthree years now,” Chahal saidduring a chat with a televisioncricket presenter.

The cricketers, who would have beenplaying the IPL had it not been for theunprecedented global health crisis, areinstead confined to their homes formore than a fortnight.

India leg-spinner Chahal, who plays

for Royal Challengers Bangalore in theIPL, is struggling to come to terms withthe lack of activity.

“I will live in a nearby hotel butwill not stay at home, that’s it for me

now, can’t bear anymore lockdowndays.”

In the absence of sportingaction, Chahal has been busyon social media platforms.

“I am going to theground, I really want tobowl. When there is a lot ofcricket to play we say ‘thereis so much going on’ butwe start missing it when

there is no action.“I miss bowling, I am what I

am because of cricket only. I willsurely go and bowl at least a ballon the day lockdown gets over,” hesaid.

� �� RavichandranAshwin is a prolific performerbut former Australia chinamanbowler Brad Hogg feels thatNathan Lyon has upstaged theIndian tweaker as the best off-spinner in longest format.

Just like most internationalplayers are doing during lock-down, the 49-year-old Hogg,who played 7 Tests and 123ODIs for Australia, had a TwitterQ&A session for cricket lovers.

When asked whom among

Ashwin and Lyon does he con-sider better in Test cricket, Hoggreplied: “I feel Lyon has taken themantle from Ashwin over thelast year just as the best off spin-

ner, but I love the way both con-tinue to improve there gamesand not be complacent wherethey are at. #hoggytime,” Hoggtweeted.

Probably Hogg drew hisconclusion from the fact thatAshwin hasn’t had great overseassuccess as compared to Lyon,who has got wickets in all con-ditions. Ashwin has so far taken365 wickets from 71 Tests whileLyon has 390 wickets from 96Tests. PTI

�� 6��6�

England pacer Stuart Broad dis-missed Australia opener David

Warner seven times in 10 innings in thelast Ashes and it was almost a given thatevery time Broad had the ball in hishand in the series, he had Warner’snumber. The pacer has finally revealedhow he got the better of the destructiveopener as Warner finished the serieswith only 95 runs.

“He is such a dangerous player andone of the best third-innings openingbatsmen in the world,” Broad said in aSky Cricket podcast.

“Having played against him a lotover the last eight or nine years, I foundthat, as I am a taller bowler, when he satback in the crease he was cutting andsquare driving me a lot to the bound-ary.

“I decided I was just going to try and

hit his stumps every ball. I was not goingto try and swing it away from it as I feltthat gave him width, I was just going toscramble the seam.”

Broad said that after the dismissalat Lord’s, he believed that he was win-ning the battle between the two crick-eters.

“Once I got him at Lord’s, the thirdtime in a row, I just got that feeling likeI was getting a bit of a competitive edgeover him,” said Broad.

The pacer has 485 wickets from 138Tests and has a brilliant camaraderiewith opening bowling partner JamesAnderson.

Commenting on what makes themsuccessful, Broad said: “I love the com-petitive side of cricket, the moment ofwinning, working a batsman out, get-ting a wicket, but he just loves any sortof bowling and is at his happiest justtrucking in.”

�� Former Pakistan wicket-keeper MoinKhan feels that current players don’t believe inidolising or comparing themselves with theirheroes that have played in previous sides.

“People come and tell us your generation hadamazing players. My personal opinion is that weused to idolise great players who came before us,”Moin told Wasim Akram in a video uploaded onBSport Pakistan’s YouTube channel.

“We tried to reach their standard and set thebar high for ourselves. Nowadays, players tendnot to compare their performances against oth-ers. Maybe they are just playing for themselves,that could be one of the reasons. Also, there are

lot of cricketers these days due to T20 cricket soconsistency is a bit difficult for players these days,”said Moin.

Wasim said that his aim when he first brokeinto the team was to consistently take more wick-ets than captain Imran Khan.

“When I broke into the team, my aim wasto take more wickets than Imran Khan. Whenyou came into the team your mindset must beto take more catches and effect more stumpingsthan your heroes,” Akram said.

Moin said that it was the same withInzamam-ul-Haq, with whom he used to sharerooms. IANS

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The 13th edition of the IndianPremier League was set to be

a testing ground for former skip-per MS Dhoni. While some felthe was past his prime, headcoach Ravi Shastri had made itclear that the IPL will decideDhoni’s fate along with someothers who were vying for a spotin the team for the Twenty20World Cup at the end of the year.

Speaking on Star Sports’show Cricket Connected ,Srikkanth said: “I am not goingto be diplomatic. I am talkingabout if I was the chairman of theselection committee, what wouldI do. If the IPL does not happenthen his chances are very, verybleak. Because straightaway, inmy opinion, KL Rahul will be thewicketkeeper-batsman. RishabhPant, I still think he might be abit of a doubt, but I believe thatRishabh Pant is highly talented.

“So, I wouldn’t mind takinghim along with the squad, butdefinitely, if the IPL doesn’t hap-pen, then Dhoni will have a dif-ficult time getting back into the

team for the T20 World Cup.Let’s be very honest about it. Heis absolutely fit, he is a legend, heis brilliant. I am a great fan ofDhoni myself. But the questionis for the World Cup team. Soyou’ll have to put the Indianteam first and then the individ-uals.”

Meanwhile GautamGambhir has backed formerIndia star all-rounder YuvrajSingh claim that there is notenough role models in the cur-rent Indian team besides ViratKohli and Rohit Sharma, addingthat the line of respect for seniorshas become thin.

“I agree with Yuvraj thatthere is a dearth of role modelsin the Indian team currently, likein the 2000s, we had Dravid,Kumble, Laxman, Sourav andSachin to guide the team. It isimportant to have senior playersaround you who can help youwhen you're going through arough patch. Right now, I don’tthink there are enough seniors inthe Indian camp, who will setaside their self-interest to helpyoungsters,” he said.

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Ada Hegerberg’s voice infootball is a powerful one

given she claimed the firstever women’s Ballon d’Or,owns four Champions Leaguetitles with Lyon and hasearned her place among thefinest female players on theplanet, all by the age of 24.

Hegerberg’s talent ismatched too by a fearlessnessin standing up for the rightsof her gender in her sport.

She refused to play forNorway at last year’s WorldCup due to perceived inequal-ity with the men’s team anddrew widespread praise aftercollecting her Ballon d’Or in2018, having refused toindulge a request that shetwerk on stage.

Yet even for one of thegame’s most successful players,the sprawling effects of thecoronavirus pandemic bringdoubt. “It’s a strange situationfor everyone,” Hegerberg said.

“Everything is uncertain.”Unable to see her husband

in Poland or her family inNorway, Hegerberg is con-fined to her apartment in theFrench city of Lyon, where sheis recovering from the anteri-or cruciate ligament injury shesuffered in January.

She has an exercise bike,physios, who visit but main-tain the health measures inplace, and history books. “I’mreading Ken Follett at themoment — history in the13th century, it takes yourmind off things a bit,” she says.

�� But Hegerberg is con-

cerned about the future tooand she is adamant thewomen’s game must not beforgotten in football’s fight forsurvival.

“It’s very, very importantwomen’s football doesn’t lose

position,” Hegerberg says.“Obviously men’s football is infirst place, with all the ques-tions about money and whenleagues will restart, but it isvery important women’s foot-ball pushes for position aswell.

“We will be sitting in thesecond row in all of this butwe can’t fade into the back-ground.”

Most women’s teams inEurope operate at a financialloss, relying instead on theprofits of men’s sides untilprogress allows them to sup-port themselves.

But football’s economiccrash as a result of coronavirusmeans nothing is guaranteed.

�� With even the world’s

biggest clubs taking measuresto avoid extinction, the fear isstaff, players and even teams

on the women’s side will bedeemed expendable.

“Women’s football is stillin its beginning phase and wehave to push for the samerights, whatever gets decided,and we have to push for thesame changes we were push-ing for before,” saysHegerberg.

“We also need men’s foot-ball to be stable so we have ourposition and get that financialhelp before we can supportourselves.

“If you see how the biggestmen’s clubs are struggling,you can only imagine how thisis going to affect women’steams.”

Players have come underpressure to help clubs andtheir lower-earners throughwage cuts but blanket agree-ments have proven difficult toachieve.

Lyon are yet to confirm

reductions but Hegerberg,whose reported 400,000-euro($440,000) annual salary putsher among the highest earn-ers in the women’s game,insists players are ready tohelp.

“We are in discussions atthe moment but for me, as anindividual player, I’ll do what-ever is necessary to help theclub,” she says.

“We can all make a differ-ence. We all have our own opin-ions but my view is, ‘how wecan help?’ I can’t speak for allclubs but players want to makesure we come out of this. Crisescan create solidarity too.”

Lyon were three pointsclear at the top of the Frenchwomen’s Division 1 when theaction was halted. The shamefor the sport overall was that thepandemic developed just aswomen’s football was hitting itsstride, with record crowds turn-

ing out across Europe in theslipstream of the 2019 WorldCup.

The danger is momentumwill be lost. “Of course there isthat danger, there have been alot of positive things happeningin recent months and we haveto keep pushing for it, nowmore than ever, because itwon’t happen by itself,” saysHegerberg.

“It’s very hard to say wherewomen’s football will be inweeks, months or even years,the uncertainty is everywhereright now. It would be a shameto cancel the season, absolute-ly, we all want to be doing whatwe used to do.

“But there are so manyother parts of society at risk atthe moment, it’s hard for me tosay ‘we have to start the leagueagain’. We have to sit still. Wejust have to make sure we areready.”

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Some of the world’s elite shoot-ers will transform their living

rooms into competition ranges onApril 15 for a first-of-its-kindinternational online championship,the coronavirus lockdown trigger-ing another out of the box think-ing.

An electronic target setup,beside a mobile phone with inter-net connection, is all they requireto shoot in the championship.

From India, the event hasattracted big names such as ManuBhaker, Sanjeev Rajput andDivyansh Singh Panwar, whoseTokyo Olympics dreams have beenput on hold for a year after theGames’ postponement last monthdue to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An initiative of former Indiamarksman Shimon Sharif, thechampionship, which will be livestreamed on the internet, will seeabout 50 shooters, including dou-ble Gold medallist at the 2019World Cup in Delhi VeronikaMajor (Hungary), Nicolas FragaCorredoira (Spain), EmilaFaulkner, Isobel Mactaggart andLucy Evans (all Scotland), amongothers.

To make it more interesting,there will be live commentary byOlympian Joydeep Karmakar.

This comes after the unprece-dented global health crisis forcedthe International Shooting SportFederation (ISSF) to cancel all theirtournaments this year, includingthe World Cups.

“This competition is an effortto keep our sport alive even in

these tough times,” Sharif, who runthe indianshooting.Com portalsaid.

“This one is only for the eliteshooters but later we will organ-ise competitions which will beopen to all once every quarter witha prize money.”

All participants will shoot atthe same time from their respec-tive homes and it will be streamedlive on internet through an appwhich “makes the competitionvery transparent”.

The world’s first internation-al online championship will alsobe streamed Live on the indian-shooting.Com Facebook page sothat more people can watch Liveaction.

There will be a panel of jurywho will also be logged in to mon-itor the shooters throughout andkeep a track of scores.

The competition will be heldat 4:00 PM India time. Shootersfrom different countries and timezones will all have to join in andshoot at the same time.

“The idea is that without trav-elling abroad and spending somuch on travel etc shooters cancompete against each other fromtheir home or their local ranges.

“All they need is an electron-ic target set up and a mobile withinternet. It could be very motivat-ing for a junior shooter to shootalongside a world class shooter,”Sharif, who has competed in anISSF World Cup in Korea, said.

Besides India, shooters fromHungary, Spain and Scotland havealready confirmed their participa-tion.

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Paris Saint-Germain wingerPablo Sarabia says that

beating the coronavirus wouldbe the ‘real victory of the sea-son’, with most professionalfootball shut down due to thepandemic.

France's Ligue 1 was sus-pended on March 13, withPSG sitting 12 points clear ofMarseille at the top of thetable, while having alsoreached the ChampionsLeague quarter-finals for thefirst time since 2016.

But Spanish internationalSarabia says public health hasto come first ahead of gettingback onto the pitch.

“No, I’m not afraid aboutthat (the season not restart-ing), it’s not the thing I amworrying about,” he said.

“I am thinking about myfamily first and foremost andthen about getting this sorted.This is a critical situation.

“Who knows right nowwhether the league will restartor not — it is hypothetical andwe all need to focus on thepandemic. Coming throughthis would be the real victoryof the season.”

Football players havecome under pressure to takesalary cuts, with Barcelona,Real Madrid, Juventus andBayern Munich stars allamong those to accept areduction in pay.

And Sarabia says that theFrench clubs are also planningto take similar measures.

“All that is in our hands, ifwe can help, donate some-thing, do what is in our hands,(we will),” he said.

“We are talking about itand our captains are in discus-sions and all we can do to helpPSG and the country in gen-eral, we will try to do that.”

�� Sarabia, 27, joined the

French champions from LaLiga outfit Sevilla last year andhas impressed in Paris, scor-ing 14 goals in all competitionsso far this season.

He is hoping to use his

unexpected free time toimprove his French, havingsigned a five-year contractwith PSG.

“I like to talk and if I don’tunderstand the language and

can’t communicate that frus-trates me a bit,” said Sarabia.

“I’m trying to make themost of these days to studyand come out with a betterlevel of French.”

PSG’s main aim since thetakeover by a Qatari invest-ment group in 2011 has beento lift the Champions Leaguetrophy, but the capital clubhave still not reached thesemi-finals since 1995.

A last-16 victory overBorussia Dortmund lastmonth, though, having trailedafter the first leg, raised hopesthat PSG could finally make aserious tilt at European foot-ball’s greatest prize.

“It was a difficult timewhen we lost in Dortmundbut everything that has hap-pened has shown how unitedwe all are as a team,” saidSarabia.

“I could see in the eyes ofmy teammates that we weregoing to get through, youcould feel it.

“(But) there is still a longway to go before the final, andas I said before I don’t think weshould be thinking about thatjust now.”

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Liverpool legendKenny Dalglish has

tested positive for coro-navirus but is notshowing symptoms ofthe disease, his family saidon Friday.

The 69-year-old formerScottish international striker,who started his career atCeltic, was admitted to hospi-tal on Wednesday for treat-ment for an infection whichrequired intravenous antibi-otics.

“He was subsequently test-ed for COVID-19 despite hav-ing previously displayed nosymptoms of the illness,” saida family statement.

“Unexpectedly, the testresult was positive but heremains asymptomatic.

“Prior to his admission tohospital, he had chosen tovoluntarily self isolate forlonger than the advised peri-

od together with his family.“He would urge everyone

to follow the relevant govern-ment and expert guidance inthe days and weeks ahead.”

Dalglish won the Scottishleague title with Celtic as aplayer on four occasions beforesigning for Liverpool in 1977.

At Anfield, he capturedeight English league titles,three FA Cups and three

European Cups during a glit-tering 13-year stint as a play-er and in two managerial spells.

In his Liverpool playingcareer, he scored 172 goals in515 games.

As well as his role inLiverpool’s golden era in the1970s and 1980s, Dalglishreceived plaudits for support-ing victims’ families after 96fans died in the 1989Hillsborough stadium disaster.

He also went on to coachBlackburn Rovers to thePremier League title in 1995.

Former Liverpool skipperSteven Gerrard, now managerof Glasgow Rangers inScotland, posted a picture tohis Instagram page of Dalglishwith one of his daughters,with the message: “Get wellsoon king.”

Dalglish, who also mademore than 100 internationalappearances for Scotland, wasknighted by Queen ElizabethII in 2018.

�� Former Manchester United andEngland midfielder Paul Scholes has revealedthat Italian club Inter were interested in buy-ing him in 2000. Scholes said that apart fromthat he has never really had any club callinghim up enquiring about a potential move.

Scholes said that he was with Englandat Euro 2000 when he got to know about theinterest.

“I was never ever made aware of anyteam coming in for me,” Scholes told BBCRadio 5 Live.

“I did have one phone call off an agent,(former Manchester United captain) BryanRobson’s old agent, he rang me while we were

away at Euro 2000 to ask me if I would beinterested in going to Inter Milan but that’sthe only phone call I ever had. I never heardanything after that and the manager (Sir AlexFerguson) never said anything to me.

“I was playing at my boyhood club, I wasa Manchester lad, we were winning trophiesall the time,” he said.

Scholes was an integral part of theManchester United side that won the treblein 1999 and dominated English football inthe early part of the 21st century withArsenal. He said that he never felt the needto go to any other big club in Europe andwould have done so only if Ferguson want-ed him out.

“If the manager said to me that he did-n’t want me I would definitely have gone ifthere was a big club abroad who wanted mebut there was never any need to ever thinkabout Barcelona, Real Madrid or AC Milanbecause I was at the biggest club in the worldanyway,” said Scholes.

“We didn’t win as many ChampionsLeagues as we should have but we wereevery inch as good as those teams, if notbetter.” IANS

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League ManagersAssociation chief exec-

utive Richard Bevan hassaid that the English seasoncan only be restarted if allfootballers are tested forcoronavirus.

“Tests must be madeavailable first to NationalHealth Service (NHS)workers and patients,”Bevan told the BBC.

“Once that’s happened,by all means let’s access itin sport.”

Football has alreadybeen shelved for a monthdue to the virus which haskilled nearly 9,000 peoplein Britain.

Football League chiefsbelieve they can finish theseason in 56 days once it issafe to resume.

“We’re not really goingto see more accurate fore-casting about when we canget on the pitch until theend of April,” added Bevan.

“In Germany, if youlook at discussions aboutcoming back in May, that’sprobably a direct result ofsome very clear thinkingfrom their governmentbecause they’re doing50,000 tests a day.

“In this country we’redoing 10,000 per day,although the governmentare targeting 100,000 eachday by the end of themonth.

“Our managers do notwant to be back on thepitch unless the playershave been tested.”

Clubs in theChampionship, LeagueOne and League Two weresent a letter by the FootballLeague this week revealingthat the governing bodyhope to complete the sea-son this summer despitethe on-going pandemic.

But Bevan insists boss-es should have been con-sulted.

“You’re going to haveto get the support of thecoaches and managers. Youdo not do that by not talk-ing to them,” Bevan said.

“You’re going to haveto get the goodwill of theplayers because you’regoing to have at least threeweeks of training to getback on the pitch at least.

“The most importantthing guiding every princi-ple is health, and gettingback on the pitch withoutensuring fully-fit players isa very big call to make.”

�!�� 6��6��

Former world championCarl Frampton fears

boxing could take “monthsor possibly years” to recov-er from the damage causedby the coronavirus pan-demic.

Frampton believesonce boxing returns sportsfans will be cautious aboutspending money due tothe financial impact of thepandemic.

The Northern Irishfighter also expects peopleto be slow to return to sta-diums in case there is stilla risk of catching the virus.

Frampton, a formersuper-bantamweight andfeatherweight world cham-pion, is also concerned fel-low boxers in the lower lev-els will be forced out ifprize money drops.

“It might take a longtime to recover. I’m talkingmonths and possibly yearsaway from getting it back towhat it once was,”Frampton told BBC RadioFive Live on Saturday.

“In my position mostof the money and the purseI received comes from TV,but there are guys fightingon non-televised showsthat need bums on seats

and need to sell tickets tomake a living.

“If people are appre-hensive about large gather-ings and these guys aren’tgoing to be able to sell theirtickets, or if people can’tafford to buy them becausethey’ve lost their job or forother reasons.

“I think it’s going tochange a lot once we comeout the other side of this.”

Frampton, 33, echoed asuggestion from TysonFury’s promoter Bob Arumabout the likely need toreduce the cost of tickets toencourage fight fans toreturn.

“I’m glad that a pro-moter has said that. TheUK ticket prices are astro-nomical compared toAmerica. It’s definitelysomething that needs to bethought about,” Framptonsaid.

“If you suddenly put afight on once this is all overhow are people going toafford it if the pricing isn’treasonable?”

Frampton was prepar-ing for a planned world titlebout against WBO super-featherweight championJamel Herring slated formid-June, but there is nonew date for the clash.

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Former India captain BhaichungBhutia has said that he will con-

sider contesting for the post of AllIndia Football Federation (AIFF)president in future.

Bhutia retired in 2011, afterbeing Indian football’s posterboyfor more than a decade.

“That is definitely something tobe considered in future,” he saidwhen asked if he wants to becomethe AIFF president one day, whileanswering questions on Facebook.

“At the moment I am focussing

on grassroot footballwith Baichung BhutiaFootball School andUnited Sikkim cluband also at districtlevel (in Sikkim). Infuture, I will definite-ly consider it (the AIFFpresident’s post),” saidthe legendary strik-er who was knownas Sikkimese Sniperfor his goal-scoringabilities.

The currentAIFF president

Praful Patel has effectively been atthe helm of affairs since 2008when then chief Priyaranjan DasMunshi fell sick.

He was elected as president in2012 and again in 2016, and isunlikely to be eligible to fight forthe top job this year under the

Sports Code.The 43-year-old Bhutia,

who was the first Indianfootballer to have played100 internationalmatches, picked Indiaand FC Goa playerBrandon Fernandes as

the country’s best midfielder at themoment.

“The most gifted striker rightnow is obviously Sunil Chhetri,there is nobody else. He has beenscoring goals and the record itselfspeaks a lot.

“The midfielder who has real-ly impressed me this year isBrandon Fernandes of FC Goa. Hehas really done well for FC Goa.The way he had controlled the mid-field for FC Goa (in ISL) and linkedup with the upfront has been fan-tastic. He is also in the nationalteam.”

� �� The 2020 InternationalChampions Cup (ICC) footballtournament has been cancelled dueto the ongoing global coronaviruspandemic, organisers haveannounced.

The ICC is a series of pre-season friendly matches thattake place primarily in NorthAmerica and Asia, and has fea-tured some of the world’sbiggest teams since the tour-nament’s inception in 2013.

Already, planned summercompetitions like Euro 2020, theCopa America and the Olympicshave been postponed and now theICC has joined that list.

Danny Sillman, chief executiveof organisers Relevent Sports Group,

confirmed the cancellation in a let-ter to fans, noting that the health andsafety of players, staff and fanswould take priority.

“The lack of clarity of whensocial distancing and shelter-in-place restrictions will belifted and the uncertain inter-national football calendarwith the potential forEuropean domestic leaguesand UEFA tournaments beingplayed into August, means

planning a Men’s InternationalChampions Cup this summer isunfeasible,” he said.

“We look forward to bringingthe best clubs and most iconicmatchups in the world to the US andAsia in 2021,” he added. IANS

�� Aaron Ramseymight have recentlyjoined Juventus fromArsenal, but he can-not stop praisingteammate CristianoRonaldo, calling himunbelievable.

In an InstagramLive with singer andsongwriter NiallHoran, Ramsay said:“He’s an exceptionalathlete. He’s first inthe gym, he goesthrough his wholeroutine first and thenhe's out onto the

pitches. He’s a winner,wants to win everysingle game, everysmall-sided game,whatever it is, thenhe’ll be out there prac-tising his free-kicks

and things like thatand shooting.

“You don’t needme to tell you howgood or driven he is,he’s unbelievable, he’sone of the greatest inthe history of thegame.”

Earlier, Juventusgoalkeeper WojciechSzczesny praised histeammate saying thatthe Portuguese “isobsessed with win-ning and he thinksjust about work, evenon trainings”. IANS

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There is a difference between dis-ability and inability. While somefail to identify it and surrender

themselves to the circumstances, oth-ers decide to walk an extra mile andovercome the challenges that time hasposed on them. A case in point is AditiSharma, a 20-year-old hearing impairedfrom Madhya Pradesh. She is a kathakdancer and is pursuing Bachelor of FineArts. She recently won the title of MissDeaf India International 2020, organ-ised by Wheeling HappinessFoundation, a brainchild of DevikaMalik and co-founder Deepa Malik,and All India Deaf Arts and CulturalSociety (AIDACS).

“I feel comfortable in expressing myinner beauty through modelling,” shesays.

Sharma never had any apprehen-sions in taking up the field, all thanksto her sky high confidence. “I steppedin to the field because this is what makesme happy. I am performing kathaksince my childhood and have been onstage many times, therefore I built upthat confidence in me over time,”Sharma tells you.

Another reason behind Sharma’sconfidence is her family who supportsher through thick and thin. “My fam-ily has been extremely supportive. Myfather learned tabla and kathak todasfor my kathak practice, my momlearned speech therapy to help me andmy elder brother, Ankit Sharma, whois working in the US is my partner incrime,” she says.

Coming from a small town,Sharma faced many difficulties infinding a training institute for kathak.That’s when she decided to take the dig-ital route. “I tried finding training insti-tutes in my city, but couldn’t find any.That’s when my family advised me learnit online and it worked,” she tells you.

Sharma had to go through a lot ofindifferent behaviour in school. “Ifaced a lot of difficulties in class. It washard for me to understand what theteacher was saying or teaching. I usedto feel alone and left out. My classmatesthought that I was abnormal. It was dis-heartening,” she recalls.

But now things have changed.People have started recognising andrespecting her. “After I won the title,there was a change in people’s behav-iour towards me. They understood thatI was not abnormal but specially-abled and there’s nothing to feelashamed of. I got felicitated by ThavarChand Gehlot, cabinet minister ofSocial Justice for winning. Saksham, anorganisation that works for divyangjan(differently abled people) honoured meas the State Brand Ambassador on

March 14, 2020. All this recognitionhave brought about a positive changein the behaviour of people towards me,”she tells you with a smile.

Another man who stole the lime-light at the event and won the title ofMr Deaf India International 2020, isRamesh R. A 24-year-old from a village— Sivasubramaniyapuram inTirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu is ableto live his dreams through modellingbut is still searching for a permanentjob. “I had that self-confidence since mychildhood that even I can presentmyself well in front of others. Clickingselfies was my favourite pastime and Ireceived a lot of compliments on mypicture from friends and family. Iknew that I can try my hand at mod-elling but that compliments came as avalidation for me. That’s when I made

up my mind to do modelling,” Rameshtells you.

Like any other person, he too wasa bit apprehensive to explore theunchartered waters. “Being a specialperson, I had the feeling that may be Icouldn’t pick up beats and match mysteps with the music while on the ramp.But like people say — Practice makesa man perfect. I too overcame all thechallenges,” he tells you.

Ramesh doesn’t like to recall thehardtimes whatsoever. For him whatdefines one’s personality or destiny ispassion. “With passion nothing is hardor impossible. I love the field I am inso it gradually became easy for me tomake my way. Having said that, as beingdifferently abled, I have to face certainproblems in communication.Sometimes, I can’t understand what

others are trying to convey and at timesI receive phone calls which I can’tanswer and have to depend on my fam-ily for that. But I cannot run from thesethings. All I can do is to accept the factand never let anything pull me down,”he asserts.

Beauty is something you acquirenaturally, everyone is beautiful in oneor the other way, he says. “For me innerbeauty is more important than physi-cal one. But still there are a lot of peo-ple who value both equally and there’sis nothing wrong in it. The key is toknow what suits you. Nothing expen-sive can make you look good unless itgo well with your personality andphysique. So anything that makes youlook good is fashion and in trend,” heopines.

He has a piece of advice for thosewho fear to rise above the challenges.“Don’t follow the herd. Know who youare, do what you like to and follow yourpassion. Challenges are there in every-one’s life but remember that everyordeal has a solution. Try to find it. Ifnot, then just believe in that it will van-ish one day or the other. Follow an opti-mistic approach in life and see every-day as a new beginning. Lastly, neverlose faith in yourself,” he tells you.

�Your latest song Manjha receivedgood response and is trending. Howdoes that feel?

I am happy about it. The success ofthe song has gone beyond my expecta-tions. I was sure that it will get a goodresponse but trending was something thatI didn’t expect. I am happy and excitedthat people like the audio and the lyricsand the song by and large. Because it isdifferent from the kind of music that iscoming out these days.�The song talks about the love for kites

in the times of TikTok. Doyou think relation-

ships these days arelosing essence?

The rela-tionships areevolving withevery decade.With thee v o l v i n gtechnology,we are defi-nitely losing

the essence of abasic relation-

ship. When was Ia teenager, that time

we didn’t have socialmedia, there was no direct

way of getting in touch with theone you love. If somehow one is to

manage their contact number, then theconfusion was how to call them up, what

if their parent’s will answer the call.Somehow we used to get through andthen feeling excited for the first conver-sation. People used to discover each oth-ers’ likes and dislikes gradually and in realtime unlike today when everything is justa click away. Those days were just rightfor having and maintaining good rela-tionships.

Now, once can find a partner or socialmedia. The chase and the desire to bewith your partner is lost in a way.Couples, even if they are together, arebusy in conversing with the worldthrough their mobile phones instead ofeach other. Therefore, relationships havedefinitely lost that essence and spark.�You featured in the song along withSaiee Manjrekar. How was it like towork with her?

She is an extremely pleasant personto work with. She brings a lot of positiveenergy on the sets. This is my first expe-rience working with her and all I can sayis she is extremely sweet. She has a lot ofhumour. And more than everything else,she is an qualified actor. She is a differ-ent person when the camera is notrolling and the moment the director says‘action’ she becomes serious and just getsinto the skin of the character. At times,I used to make funny faces in between theshots to make her laugh. But she juststicks around her character and didn’teven pass a smile. �What is keeping you busy these days?

We are all quarantined right now andthe only thing that is keeping me busy ischanging my daughter’s diapers, givingher food, carrying her around, spendingtime with Ahil (son) and watching ani-mated movies with him. That’s what I amdoing until the lockdown is over and postthis, once everything is settled in thecountry we will be revealing the pre-pro-duction of my next film, which I am veryexcited about. The announcement shall

come in sometime. �How do you think you have evolvedas an artist?

I still haven’t reached the stage whereI can say I have achieve everything or Iam a versatile actor now. When I didLoveyatri, it was like teenage kind ofromance now when I did Manjha, Ichanged my approach and my physique.I had to look like a mature man. So, Ineed to keep working hard and improv-ing myself. No actor at any point can saythat I have learnt it all. Every role you playand every project that you do, teaches yousomething new. I have just started off andI have a long way to go. After a career of20 years, most likely I can say I haveachieve it all. As of now, I am just a stu-dent of acting.�What are some of the milestones thatyou aim to achieve?

I want to bring in new things withevery project that I do. I want to explorethe field and just surprise the audiencewith everything that I do. I want to playan antagonist, a grey character andexplore comedy. In the long run, I justwant to come forward and say I have doneit all. The milestone I want to achieve isthat a person should turn around and saythat we cannot imagine Aayush in justone thing. He can do everything out there.�What kind of roles attract you?

Like I said, I want to play a grey char-acter. Films are very much made keepingin mind what appeals to the maximum

number of people. When you are play-ing a protagonist, most of the times it ispurely a white character irrespective ofwhatever is happening in the film. I wantto play a honest character, who can haveflaws. and something that reflects thesociety. He doesn’t need to be perfect. Iwant to experiment with that, nowwhether I will land such a role is a dif-ferent conversation altogether.�Does that mean you would like to playa character like Kabir Singh?

We, at cinema say that we shouldn’tpropagate something that is not right. Itis a two conversation part. Both are right.The other says that we have the largerresponsibility to make sure that peopledoesn’t imitate what we do on screen.Having said that, there is also a side of thesociety who are not influenced of whatwe are doing and they do certain things.What is right and wrong is a parameterthat depends on the relationship of theperson. The society can’t tell what is rightor wrong, it depends on the relationshipat the end of the day and what people areokay with and what not. I don’t see anyproblem with Kabir Singh because suchcharacters are already there, you can’tdeny the existence of such characters. Idon’t mind playing a character like KabirSingh. The kind of success the film hasseen shows that people do associatewith him. If not, they wouldn’t havedecided to see the film. It shows that theyunderstand that such characters do exist.

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�What is the latest single about?It is a sad song about a boy who is put in a friend zone, a story

of many people out there. It has beautiful lyrics. Usually, I put outa song every Valentine’s Day and even during monsoon season.But this time instead of releasing it on that day, I decided to releasepost the day.�You have composed the song as well. How did that happen?

I have always been singer-song-writer-composer. In betweenI collaborate with songs. But when it comes to independent songs,I compose all my songs. Tere Zikr, one of my biggest hits has alsobeen composed by me. There are others who pen down the wordsbut for Kaash Aisa Hota besides composing it, I have written it aswell.�I understand that you have been releasing a Valentine’s Dayand monsoon single for the last 5 years. Any particular reason?

Like every festival people prepare for the festivities, I do a songfor February and July. My fans wait for the song. People know thatI will release a song on monsoon and Valentine’s Day. It has becomea tradition. They even know the date and the time I will release it.No song for winters and summers since I am busy singing forBollywood (laughs).�Is it tough to keep a balance between Bollywood and indiespace?

It is not tough. This is because I am particular about the kindof project I take up for the industry. I don’t take up a song just forthe sake of it. I do because I identify with it.�Why is it that most love songs centre around break-ups?

Love is a pure form of emotion. Any pure form of emotionbrings sadness and happiness. Love songs that are on a happy noteas just as popular. Sad songs on the other hand touch the heartsof the people. I make sad songs because I want people out therewho are upset feel that there is someone out there who understandsthem and it with them. I want my songs to be like a friend to thepeople.�Do you think that music connects people at a personal level?

I was sceptical before. But when my songs started becomingpopular, I was not able to gauge if there was a connect with thepeople even if the song was a hit. But for the last one year, after Istarted doing concerts, I came to realise that people find a con-nect. My song Tu Mileya has no video, just an audio and when Ising that song people cry. This is an emotional moment for me. Inow know that they live the song.�What is the good, bad and ugly of the situation where two-three singers sing the same song?

Earlier, people used to have one composer. Now, you have four-five composers and each has a favourite voice that they want touse. Some time, you have one composer and four-five singers. Thisdepends on the makers and what they are looking for. More peo-ple means more people get a chance. Also, this keeps the artist onhis toes.�What is the attraction of doing independent songs?

One main reason is to connect with the fans. I have been doingindependent songs for the last nine years. There is more freedomin this space. I can express myself better here. I wanted to createone-to-one connection with my listeners.�What about live performances?

Today, we differentiate among platforms and genres. But themain aim is to reach as many people as possible. If it means thatI have to sing on the radio, I would do that as well.�What has been the best fan moment?

I have many, it is difficult to mention one. I just performed inDelhi and my fans had come with a cake to celebrate the successof my latest song. They wait for hours to take a photograph withme, they motivate me and share beautiful things. Each city has whatI call Darshaners and Blue family. They give me extreme love.�What next?

There are a few movie songs that will release later this year.

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Have you lost track of whatday of the lockdown is ittoday? Or are you keeping acount? In times when thereappears to be no immediate

solution to tackling Coronavirus, except forphysical distancing, have you wondered what isour biggest challenge today? The answer reallyis a no brainer. We just need to ensure that wefollow whatever it takes to avoid a pandemicthat has wreaked havoc all over the world fromspreading. So how does one stay safe ? Is thereeven a way? Well clearly information is the key.Thankfully, a few things have beensubstantiated by now. So it is only safe to followwhat is known and understood.

First of which, without doubt, is the factthat social distancing or staying away fromother humans is the best known way to avoidinfection. Simple solution for that is to stay putin your homes to stay safe. That’s the mantrathat needs to be taken very seriously — chant itand practice it, strictly. After all your life maydepend on it.

Secondly, soap and water are our first lineof defence. And a very effective one at that. Sowash your hands obsessively and don’t beembarrassed about getting obsessive abouthygiene. Washing with the soap is found to beeven more effective than using a sanitiser. Thevirus is a self-assembled nanoparticle and theweakest link is the lipid bi-layer. When youwash your hands with soap it dissolves the fattymembrane and the virus falls apart thusbecoming “inactive”. So please wash your handsand keep washing them!

Third, and equally important, is to eat cleanand right, Our body is under assault from adeadly virus. And if there is one thing one mustdo right, it is to begin eating clean. There areenough red flags about processed foods toconvince anyone who values their health, to gooff them. And this holds true specially now,when we need to give the body all the helppossible to avoid and fight the virus. Eatingclean is truly the most effective way to go, togive our body a fighting chance.

Clean eating means cutting down onprocessed foods and eating only real foods. Sofocus on local produce — fresh fruits andvegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds and wholegrains, keep an eye on sodium, and cut downon sugar, and meat consumption. And just stopeating out of packets, cans and tins. This willalso help to keep the weight in check.

Another benefit you can score during thistime is that you be able to break your addictionto processed foods. All processed foods aredesigned to be addictive, to attack the rewardcentre of the brain, and not really to provideyou nutrition. So be careful, take a good look atwhat you are eating, and start pruning the toxicfoods from your diet. Understandably, a blanketban is not possible, and not even needed, just abit of pruning will go a long way in taking to

healthyhabits.Watch closely both theportions and the frequency of the processedfoods that you consume. Make a rule, forinstance, to consume no more than oneprocessed food item a day. That should be agood start.

Fourth, boost your immunity. Strongimmunity helps. It could well be the differencebetween you catching the infection or not, andif you do catch it, then in deciding the severityof the symptoms and your pace of recovery. Athriving immunity is, in fact, your best ally inthese trying times. It is the body’s ability toprotect itself from foreign invaders like viruses,disease and infection. It is a system thatconstantly patrols our body to detect anddestroy infectious microbes.

Since we can’t just depend on the naturalimmunity that we are born with, speciallybecause we keep devaluing it due to our toxiclifestyle, it is important to keep optimising itsfunction — all the time, and specially now withthe threat of coronavirus on our heads.

We must take this crisis as a wake up call tobegin working on our immunity proactively. Toshare a food list that would help you boost yourimmunity, people who eat the most fruit andvegetables have the healthiest lung function.Our lungs need all the support as this organ isthe biggest casualty in this pandemic. Theconnect is due to vitamins C and E that thisfood group delivers in plenty — both areknown immunity boosters and thus help wardoff flu. Here’s a list of easy, inexpensive foodsthat you need to include regularly in your dietto boost your immunity:● Amla: This humble, inexpensive food isactually the richest natural source of vitamin C.It is a powerful antioxidant and due to itsantibacterial and astringent properties, it helpsto fight against various infections, thus, makingthe immune system strong. ● Flaxseeds: These have always been reveredand for good reason. They contain alpha-linolenic acid, omega-3 fatty acid andphytoestrogens called lignans — all theseingredients are important for an efficientimmune system.● Lemons: Lemons are the ideal food forrestoring acid alkali balance. It helps maintainthe body’s internal “climate” at a pH whichsupports healthy bacteria instead of the virusesand harmful bacteria which thrive in moreacidic environment. Get lemons and makesome lemonade everyday.● Carrots: Bugs Bunny rarely came down withthe flu, and for good reason. Carrots, his foodof choice, contain loads of beta carotene, which

gets convertedinto vitamin A in the body, apowerful nutrient that boosts theproduction of infection-fightingnatural killer cells and T cells. Carrots alsodeliver vitamin B6 which boosts the productionof antibodies. Gajar ka halwa anyone!● Barley: This grain, that has all butdisappeared from our kitchens, needs to make acomeback. First because it contains beta-glucan,a fibre with potent immunity boostingproperties and second because it delivers thedifficult to score trace mineral selenium thathas a powerful positive effect on our immunesystem.● Chickpeas: Time to bring back khatte choleon the menu. That’s because chickpeas deliver alot of antioxidants and mineral zinc that helpsto control inflammation in your body.● Garlic: Swallowing a clove, or two of crushedgarlic every morning was a norm earlier, andfor good reason. Garlic stimulates the activity of“natural killer cells” and thus helps destroyviral-infected cells. Garlic also contains sulfurwhich assists the body with zinc absorption.● Sweet potato: There’s a reason whyshakarkandi ki chaat was so popular. Sweetpotato is high in vitamin C, which is a brilliantantioxidant and also delivers a lot of vitamin A,an ace immunity-boosting vitamin. In fact, onemedium sweet potato provides your body withthe complete recommended daily allowance ofvitamin A and then some.● Mushroom: This food was probably not partof your traditional food platter, but it makessense to include it now. This is one of the rarefood sources of vitamin D, a vitamin essentialfor good immunity. Plus it helps increase theproduction of cytokines in the body, the cellsthat help fight off infection, and containspolysaccharides, compounds that support ourimmune system.

Back to the pointers, fifth don’t forget yourmood. It is important to understand that eatinghealthy is important not only for our physicalhealth, but our psychological well being as well.The best foods for our mental health aregenerally the healthiest foods. Just follow thesesteps, and you would be good: ● Focus on complex carbohydrates, found infruit, vegetables, whole grains and lentils. Thesenourish our body and mind, as they releaseenergy slowly and help to stabilise our mood. ● Eat foods high in vitamins A, B, C, D and E,as well as the minerals — iron, zinc andselenium. Get in enough B vitamins, found ingreen vegetables like broccoli and spinach,beans, bananas, eggs, poultry, fish and beetroot,as they are needed for the functioning of thehappiness chemicals, serotonin and dopamine.Their deficiency is in fact linked to depression. ● Care for your gut. The state of our gut has animpact on our mood and how we behave.Score prebiotics and probiotics, throughfermented foods to cut inflammation, and stay

happier. ● Do onecalmingactivity everyday — gardening,cooking, pickling,solving puzzles, craft,sewing, meditating,reading that pile of bookson your bedside.

Sixth, sleep. Yes, it’s important. Just like ourschedules for eating, working and exercising, itis important to follow a regular sleep routine. Itcan help keep you calm, in a better mood andwith more stamina, plus help maintain a senseof normality. By the way, sufficient sleep doesn’tjust allow your body to recuperate, it alsoboosts the immune system. During the slow-wave sleep phase, neurotransmitters arereleased and the immune system springs intoaction. Sleep deprivation during this time canaffect your health negatively, seething you canafford these days.

Seventh exercise every day. Exercise makesus feel good and is also linked to better sleepand reduced stress and anxiety. Agreed youcan’t move out and all the gyms are closed, butthere lots that one can do at home. For instance,you can:● Walk in the house. Break that up into three10 minute sections — 10 minutes in themorning, 10 in the afternoon, and 10 in theevening. There are online classes being offeredfor everything — yoga, pilates, dance teachers— some for free. Look them up and follow.● Walk up and down the stairs in your home,or in your building.● Do some shadow boxing, or jumping jacks, orsit-ups, or push-ups.● Play hide and seek with your children.● Do gardening● Housework — moping, cleaning, washingclothes etc are good workouts too.

Eighth, maintain social connection. Nowmore than ever, we need our friends — even ifwe can’t really go meet them. Social interactionsdon’t have to be face to face to be meaningful.The need of the hour is to invent and pursuenew ways social connectivity. Meet up throughvideo calls — you could organise a virtualdinner via apps like Zoom, Google Hangouts,or take a friend on a virtual walk or do ahousebound activity together, like craft ordrawing.

The writer is a Delhi-based weight manage-ment consultant, nutritionist and author of Don’t

Diet! 50 Habits of Thin People and UltimateGrandmother Hacks

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The threat from the tiniest of the creations of natureshows where homo sapiens stand in the scheme ofthings of the mighty universe. Pushed to the wall inside

the homes, the haughty humanity seems to be at its wits endtrying to tone down its ambitions of conquering the sun, themoon, the stars and the oceans. Once again, we learn thebasic lesson that survival of humanity is a formidable chal-lenge that economic prosperity may not help in fighting. Butagainst this backdrop comes an important realisation thatwhat our ancestors practiced during the ages which we lostin history and complacence made much more sense thanwhat we thought, inebriated by the power of modern sci-ence. As the pleasant and mild Namaste becomes the normreplacing a hot and vigorous handshake, we understand theimportance of social distancing. The present scenario takesme back more than 5 decades in the time machine when mymother had quarantined me after the infection from chick-en pox virus and those painful and itchy eruptions had madelife miserable. I was lodged in a room where only my moth-er would enter and give whatever was required. No outsiderwas allowed to visit the house nor anyone from the housewould leave station. It made little sense to me as I had start-ed studying everyday science in my standard 6 class. But myQuarantine was religiously followed in the name of GoddessShitala and no chappals were allowed. My clothes would betaken and dipped in boiled water. The treatment, thoughlargely palliative would involve warm water in which Neemleaves ware soaked to wash my face and body, and a fewbranches of thin Neem twigs with new leaves to brush andfan the rashes that had erupted. It all appeared so archaic.But I was given no option. The other regular feature of thosedays was that just in the beginning of first month of the Hinducalendar, the chaitra month, for the first 7 days we were allmade to drink a few spoonful of juice of Neem leaves whichwas too bitter to consume. Again no option. Of course tocounter bitterness we were given a few small pieces of sugarcandy or jaggery. Similarly, there were many such practicesthat appeared meaningless but were religiously followed. Onething was always emphasised. The religious significance ofthose practices that made us adhere to them. As modern sci-ence now explains the significance of many of those prac-tices we come to realise that our ancestors, too, had wisdomand scientific temper. It was our attitude towards those prac-tices and the assumptions ingrained in our minds that Westwas best led to dismissing our traditional knowledge as triv-ial. But we need to revisit the treasure trove of our tradition-al knowledge and use them scientifically. Traditional knowl-edge and modern scientific information need not be two dis-crete bodies of knowledge but a Continuum for the benefitof humanity. We need to understand, as we struggle to buyhand sanitisers, that the potash alum the village barber usedas after shave was quite effective and cheap. Similarly, theeveryday practice of lighting lamps at dusk, with camphorpieces, also had a scientific basis. The rituals which we prac-tice were not just rituals. They had meaning. It is time to reca-pitulate what has been gradually obliterated from our mem-ories as a result of interventionist informational onslaught.

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Have you wondered about whythe world is in such a mess rightnow? Why has the climate

change become such a burning issue?Why has plastic become such a men-ace? Why are powerful nations compet-ing with one another rather than co-operating? The answer is that perhapsthey are trying to become bigger thanothers. Let us examine this issue usingan example that will shed light on thisquestion. Heady after the success of afew films, an upcoming actress beganaccepting whatever films were offeredto her. She became ambitious andwanted to be the biggest star. Some ofthese films were doomed to fail. Surely,her health suffered but she ignored thewarning signs and continued till therewas a serious breakdown. Her filmcareer was ruined by her ambition torace to the top.

Unfortunately for all those who aretrying to become big, there are readytraps opening up. A small soul will eter-nally remain small, a brief period of feel-ing big does not last long. We see themighty getting humbled on a regularbasis. Why don’t we try to become bet-ter or simply good, which will help allof us? What is wrong in doing that?Bigger does not help anyone, betterdoes; good does.

Similar is the problem of becomingcontrollers. It is a natural tendency forhuman beings. We try to control eventsand we are unable to do so in the ulti-mate sense. Couple of examples willhelp here too. Silver has been a targetfor many investors; they have tried topurchase large stocks of the preciousmetal, and have hoped to manipulate itsprice to their advantage. Time and againthey have failed in their attempts. Onthe other hand, Bill Gates has chosento serve the humanity in a sincere way

and has succeeded beyond belief. Intoday’s virus affected world, who is ableto control the situation? Big leaders areeither themselves stricken or are cryingin public regarding their helplessness.Sooner we realise the reality of oursevere limitations, being small souls,better for everyone that will be. God isthe only controller and will remain theonly one. Have you ever wondered whyso few people genuinely take God’s shel-ter? Because they want to control and,therefore, endlessly keep on thinkingabout different matters hoping to con-trol.

This brings me to the third majorfault of us, we humans wish to beabsolutely independent. Being indepen-dent as far as maintaining self goes isfine, because one should, but when wedon’t wish to accept God’s position, weare in serious trouble like right now.Why is social distancing necessary intoday’s troubled time? Why not contin-ue to do what pleases us as we weredoing. Why submit to lock downs? Whyeven Presidents and Prime Ministers aresubmitting to restrictions on what theycan do and they shouldn’t? The same

reality applies here also. God is the oneand only independent entity and wisepersons take His shelter. In theBhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna has stat-ed very forcefully this fact. In case any-one wants peace, etc. he or she must takeGod’s shelter, otherwise they be readyto suffer, just as humanity is sufferingpresently.

God has given us a wake up call. Wehave become godless and damaging thevery nature, which sustains us. We havebecome too addicted to sense pleasures.We are in a self-destruct mode. We mustchange our attitude. A small soul cannever either become big or become con-troller or absolutely independent. Godoccupies that position. We, small souls,should accept this reality. It is never toolate. God gives ample opportunities toreform ourselves. As a small soul, ourhope to exist well in this impermanentmiserable world (9.33) is to take God’sshelter. (18.62) I have personally real-ized this truth and am beginning to reapsome of its benefits. Please take advan-tage of God’s instructions.4��

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There is a lot of turmoil in theworld right now. Television,newspapers, magazines,blogs, the internet, smart-phones, tablets, and all

other devices, are buzzing with break-ing news about the catastrophe that weare dealing with today. It’s hard to gothrough any social media withouthearing of the suffering that people areundergoing around the world.

�� The news seems to be filled with

the tragedies being faced by the world.We are continually hearing of existingand impending financial and econom-ic calamity. The stock markets havecrashed. The very thought of healthdanger to us and our close ones is caus-ing immense worry and anxiety.

A lot of us have started believingthat life brings nothing but sorrows.People facing these challenges accuselife of bringing only suffering. Is thatall life is but a series of disasters strungtogether? Is there any cure for the sor-rows of life?

��There is a place of safety where

you can find refuge from the sorrowsof life. There is a life raft to make itsafely through the stormy seas of life.You can sail away from the sorrows oflife to attain the happiness that is your

birthright. There is a place you can goto relax far away from the sadness andsuffering. You can renew your spiritsand come in contact with a place freefrom sorrows.

Where can you find that place freeof sorrows? That place free of sorrowsis within you. It is a place where youcan connect with the peace of yoursoul. You can find relief from the suf-ferings of life. You can find the peacewithin you by sitting in meditation.

In meditation, you have a periodof time during which you are not bom-barded with news of the sorrows of theworld. It is a concentrated time whenyou can focus on your soul, on thespiritual treasures within. Immersedwithin, you are filled with peace andjoys.

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In meditation, you can experiencecalm and bliss. You realise that with-in you is a place where there is no painand suffering. Meditation can help youawaken to the realisation that yourexistence is more than the outer worldin which your body and mind under-go suffering. You have a spiritual sidewhich is connected to the peace andhappiness within you.

When you emerge from medita-tion, you see the world in a differentlight. You know that the outer sorrows

of life are temporary. They will pass.When you see for yourself that thereis a place of peace and joy within, youare strengthened with fortitude to passthrough the difficult times knowingthat happiness is accessible to youwithin.

Through meditation you can findrelief from the sorrows of life. Whilethe wheel of life keeps spinning, youcan take some moments to jump offthe wheel to enjoy relief during thetime you meditate. You can enjoy a fewminutes, a half hour, or an hour or two,free from breaking news of the world’ssufferings. You will get a boost to helpyou soar above the realm of suffering,in order to experience realms free ofpain and sorrow.

��

These are stressful and confusingtimes for many of us. Fear and anxi-ety can be overwhelming and causestrong emotions in people. Daily lifeis disrupted completely for everyoneacross the globe. People are feelinguncertain about what could happen inthe coming weeks. Feelings of anxiety,uncertainty and fear are very commontoday. People are worried about theirown health and the health of theirloved ones. How can we deal with allour fears under the current circum-stances?

We need to learn that our empow-ered soul is the one who is really fac-ing our challenges. If we connect withour empowered soul, we will overcomeall fears and gain a lasting sense ofpeace and security. Our empoweredsoul, being one with God, is there forus. It is there to help us through thechallenges of life. We just need to sitin silence and experience our empow-ered soul.

��Meditation is the process by which

we take our attention away from theworld outside and focus it within our-selves. In doing so, we defocus from theturmoil of our surroundings and con-nect with our soul which is a part ofGod, source of all love and all joy. Wecannot put an end to life’s challenges.We have no control over the outer uni-verse. There is a lot happening in theworld currently that might not be with-in our control. But there is somethingthat is within our control. Amidst theuncertainty and ambiguity, we can con-trol our attitude. What we can do is facethese challenges with a sense of fear-lessness so that we are not incapacitat-ed by fear and despair. What we cando is take a break from constantly read-ing, watching or listening to news sto-ries, including social media and spendtime in meditation and experiencingour empowered soul. This is the timefor us to be positive, and to spread pos-itivity around us.

The upliftment we receive inmeditation stays with us throughoutthe day. This may not change the outersuffering of the world, but we are ableto spend some time daily in a place ofjoy and positivity that we can spreadto others. Our own spirits are lifted andwe can then make others feel good.When we realise there is a place freeof sorrows within, we can help othersto access that place too. We see lifefrom a different angle.

��Through meditation we will also

realise that all things are transient inlife. This knowledge can help usmaintain a sense of balance when weface the highs and lows of life. We canstay at an even keel through thestorms and sunny days of life by find-ing a calm center. We can reach thisstill point through meditation.

So let us not forget that the cur-rent situation that we are facing is tem-porary. We will get through this. If wesit in silence and remember God daily,we will not be troubled by this tem-porary phase of life. We will find a stillcenter, filled with peace and balance,which will provide us with permanenthappiness despite the outer variationsof life.

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Character and resilience of a humanspirit is truly tested in tough times.Those who capitulate in the face of

adversity become dispirited and there arealso those who tap into something deepdown and rise above the difficulties. In onevoice, they decide to be tougher than thetoughest times and rise above to realisetheir destiny. How do they do it? It is notbecause they are biologically or geneticallydifferent. What is different is their mentalconditioning and the will to win.

The reason some people give up tooeasily is that they either indulge in self-pityand paint themselves as victims or they justdon’t feel that their cause is worth fightingfor and so they choose the easy route of giv-ing up. Truth is that your dreams, yourhopes and your right to live a meaningfullife is always worth a fight. The moot pointhowever remains — how does one get the

strength to keep on going when nothing isworking out. As the author of the recentlyreleased bestselling novel titled Dhruv —Love Story of an Alchemist, which is an odeto everyone who has survived throughtough times, I believe that three things helpus immensely in bouncing back fromabysmal depths. Let’s be honest when we arehit by adversity in our gut, it pains and itpains hard. I suggest we should initiallyaccept the pain for what it is but we shouldbe quick to re-group ourselves and startpreparing for a bounce back.

The first approach that always helps ishaving gratitude. Stepping back and count-ing your blessings gives us immensestrength in bouncing back. As long as one’shealth is intact, gratitude is the key toimmense mental strength and it fires up ourspirit to soaring heights. It is the secret drugthat makes one fearless in the face of testing

times. As for the proverbial question ofglass half-full or half empty, I would alwaysbe grateful for it being half-full and be total-ly pumped up to make it completely full.

The second step that helps one bounceback is abandoning the fear of failure. Thetruth is that most of us are too afraid of fail-ure, too afraid of being labeled foolish ordumb. This fear never really allows us toexpress ourselves in a free-flowing manner.It is like driving a car with the hand-brakeon. Have you ever wondered why certainsports teams always choke under pressure ?Well the reason behind it is that they are tooover-awed by the occasion. Even when theyare in a winning position, the fear of losingcontinues to lurk in their minds. We have toabandon this fear of failure. There is a rea-son why Lord Krishna told Arjun on thebattle-field that ‘Karma’ (action) belongs tohim whereas the fruits of the action belongto the lord. This basic understanding of thefact that all we have control over is oureffort, instills in us a fearlessness. Itstrengthens our mind to a point where weare so consumed by the process that we stopthinking about the result.

The third approach is the one that cata-pults you to a league of the extraordinary. Icall it — loving the grind! Those whoaccomplish great tasks in life are the oneswho can take both the bouquets as well asthe brickbats with equal grace. They love thecrests as well as the troughs cause mostimportantly they love the game of life. Everyadversity for them is an opportunity to riseabove to the next level. They push the enve-lope, they are pumped up all the time andwhen the hovering dark clouds of adversitypass by, they shine like the stars above.

These hustlers keep hanging in thereduring the toughest times cause they knowthat the darkest nights produce the brighteststars!

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China is on its own course.This year it is completing

the 71st year of itsIndependence. From MaoZedong to Xi Jinping, Chinahas travelled a long distance.Dispelling fears among theworld powers that its rise isabsolutely peaceful. Despite itsdomestic problems and mount-ing global challenges, the coun-try’s communist leadership hasbeen able to make friends andallies and keep the enemies atbay so far. However, its neigh-bours in the Asian continentand the rest of the world viewChina with suspicion.

China is working hard toensconce herself in a desiredglobal order so that dominantpowers, like the US, find it dif-ficult to drag her away.Following the teachings of SunTsu, the veteran Chinese warstrategist, Taoist philosopherand general of the 6th centuryBCE, the successive Chineseleaders have been able to over-come troubles since its birth asan Independent nation onOctober 1, 1949.

Mao Zedong, known pop-ularly as “Chairman Mao” whoruled China from 1949 to1976, established a Communistregime and ruled the countrywith iron fists. Marking a starkcontrast from the then existingCommunist regime in theUSSR which was purely basedon the teachings of Karl Marxand Vladimir Lenin, Mao pro-claimed his brand of socialismas “socialism with Chinesecharacteristics”. But then inreality, this socialism was noneother than a kind of socialismthat reflected Marxism-Leninism adapted to theChinese circumstances.

During Mao’s “Great LeapForward” from 1958-1962, asmany as 45 million peopledied from his failed attempt toconvert small family firms tocommunes while pushing theminto steel production at thesame time. And another disas-ter that Mao heralded was the“Cultural Revolution” from1966 to 1976. What Mao didwas another blot on the mod-ern Chinese history. He indeedsurpassed the record of thecountry’s first emperor QuinShi Huang, who buried 460scholars alive thinking them asthreats to his power.

However Mao’s campaignto eradicate both cultural relicsand the traditionalism theybring and academic intellectu-alism led to the killing of near-ly 46,000 scholars. And thiseventually brought downindustrial production by 14 percent in 1967. Though Mao eraended with more of chaos andinternal disorder, China hadmade its unique mark in thecomity of nations.

By 1979, Deng Xiaopingadopted the historic “OpenDoor Policy” which spear-headed the process to bring ina real economic miracle in thecountry. However the biggestirony was that the CommunistChina could not find its mira-cle within the tenets of its veryown trilogy of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, but finallyrediscovered it in the heart ofcapitalism only. The Chinaadvocates boastfully say thatthe country’s success comesfrom an effective hybridisationof both capitalism and social-ism. And it’s not simply China’staste of capitalism. For exam-ple, the hallmark of suchhybridisation could be direct-ly pointed out at the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) thatsingle-handedly dominated thecountry’s economy in thebeginning, but then their roleswere gradually reduced in suc-cessive years. Strikingly, theSOEs once again have receivedthe same treatment now underthe Xi regime.

What exactly operates inChina is that sovereign helppreferential financing, andlarge subsidies normally offera big boost to Chinese firms incomparison to firms in othercountries. With the coming ofXi in 2012, China has main-tained a 6 per cent plus GDPgrowth. What critics say isthat he has done it at the costof massive debt. Under histutelage, the building of ghostcities and roads have continuedin the name of expandinginfrastructure facilities andincreasing employment oppor-tunities. His regime has allowedselect companies to remain as

defaulters under his very noseeven as he is raging a waragainst corruption, misman-agement and nepotism. At thisjuncture, the Western econo-mists come to realise thatChina’s state- owned enter-prises could easily devour badloans the way it can’t bethought of in a market econo-my. Many analysts believe thatChinese banks may have tentimes more bad loans than theyactually report in public and tothe outside world.

The ongoing trade warbetween the US and Chinarevolves around many keyissues. But initially PresidentDonald Trump was reallyunhappy about the fact thatAmerican export to China wasmore than $540 billion where-as China to the US was $120billion per annum in 2018. Butthis trade war includes range ofother controversial issues suchas theft of intellectual proper-ty rights to state subsidies.Around the same time, thecontroversy around the tech-nologies made by Huawei, aChinese software giant came tothe forefront of trade tensionsbetween America and China.

The US suspicion regard-ing Huawei predated the cur-rent trade dispute but the legalbattle around the arrest of thecompany’s chief financial offi-cer Meng Wenzhou added thetensions between Trump andXi. The main controversybehind the Huawei is that itsfounder, and current CEO,Ren Zhengfei, was previouslyan officer in the People’sLiberation Army (PLA).

And many companies andGovernments who normallymistrust the ChineseGovernment and its enterpris-es veer around the idea that theHuawei’s huge database of cus-tomers may be used by Beijingfor espionage network.

The first of such espionagecharges came out in 2012.Then a US Congressional panelconcluded that both theHuawei and ZTE Corporation,a rival Chinese telecom com-pany, could pose a securitythreat to the country. And itwas followed by the UK,Australia, New Zealand, etc, byexcluding Huawei and the ZTEfrom their 5G network.

Today it has been realisedthat the 5G network developedby China with at least its threetelecom giants is 20 timesfaster than 4G network. The 5Gnetwork can enable better con-nectivity among all kinds ofdevices starting from smart-phones to driverless cars. Onthe other hand, the 5G networkdeveloped mostly privately andregulated by the federal andstate agencies in the US hasbeen allowed to play a muchsmaller role than the Chineseones. These all have added tothe growing business warbetween the US and China. Itmay be a conspiracy on thepart of the WesternGovernments and tradingcompanies to pull down aChinese company that is fasttaking both their businessspace and network.

The Covid-19, a Chineseoriginated epidemic from theheart of its wet market inWuhan, has taken a deadly tollacross the world. Today manyin the West and around theworld are simply branding thisnew virus as a kind of “bio-logical weapon” launched byChina to put the rest, especiallythe US and Europe, behind.

Some of the China scepticsare labelling this disease as anew type of “Red War” or“Red Threat” released by theCommunist leadership inBeijing to teach the world a les-son. It is alleged that China hasfought the Third World Wareven without fighting a singlebullet. How has this dreadedvirus challenged the scientificinventions and discoveries thathave failed to stop its assault onthe mankind around theworld? Is it not unbelievablethat despite the world fastturning out to be a graveyard,China is opening up theWuhan wet market and busi-ness activities across the Hubeiprovince? Surely, scientificresearch and technology caneasily find a solution soon forCovid-19.

China’s fast opening of theWuhan province seems littlemysterious when the wholeworld is grappling with the fearof a virus originated in that cityonly. It means China musthave made a new drug to con-trol the virus and hence restart-

ing its business and allowingpeople to come out. If it is so,Beijing must come out openlyand help the rest of humanityto stop this menace. If it is notdoing this, there must be someulterior motive behind thespread of the virus. Only time,adequate scientific researchand smart intelligence couldestablish the fact in due courseof time.

Keeping these in mind,today it is uncertain whetherChina’s rise will be absolutelypeaceful. In fact, it can’t bejudged solely by its rhetoric orits politically framed narrativesreleased by the CommunistParty. When we go by the tra-ditional liberal and conserva-tive frameworks offered byglobal experts, what we gath-er from them is that a countrywill be willing to use peacefulmeans to resolve any conflictsituation provided it is in thenational interest of the nation.

But then history does notbear any single route for anation to become a dominantpower with a peaceful rise. Andherein the rise of China cer-tainly raises some pertinentquestions as to its real inten-tions while engaging the rest ofthe world. While echoing thepostulations of American the-orist Hans J Morgenthau, onecan safely say that it is very nat-ural that a new rising powerwill definitely challenge the sta-tus quo. And this will lead tothe rise of the new power lesspeaceful unless there is somekind of balance of power totame the new one. Whileadvancing his thesis for a fiercepower struggle between the sta-tus quo and the new power, hestrongly rejects the liberal the-sis that advances in education,culture, and technologiesenhance the prospects forpeace and stability. But theo-rists such as Samuel PHuntington believe that it is notthe power trajectory but therecould be an obvious clash withChina from cultural perspec-tives.

Huntington argues that“China’s history, culture, tradi-tions, size, economicdynamism and self-image allimpel it to assume a hegemonicposition in East Asia. Thisgoal is a natural result of its

rapid economic development.All other major powers, Britainand France, Germany andJapan, the United States and theSoviet Union, have engaged inoutward expansion, assertion,and imperialism coincidentalwith or immediately followingthe years in which it wentthrough rapid industrialisa-tion and economic growth.No reason exists to think thatthe acquisition of economicand military power will nothave comparable effects onChina”. This indicates thatChina will have a directencounter with the West orwith the rest of the establisheddominant powers in interna-tional politics.

Hu Jintao, the predecessorof Xi, advocated for “peacefulrise” and “peaceful develop-ment”. But many internationalobservers remained puzzledas to whether this was a tacti-cal or strategic move in thattime or for future.

Also it was broadly dis-cussed around the worldwhether such a strategy isgoing to last or to be changedas per the global and regionalsituation demands.

Alongside, many scepticsargued that when Chinaobtains primacy in the globalaffairs, will it continue to seekreciprocal relationships withother dominant powers andmaintain a benign position inthe Asian continent.

But when we analysetoday’s China and its leader-ship, we could visualise two dif-ferent situations: first, the advo-cates of a revisionist China orChina threat theory clearlypoints out that China willobviously try to alter the exist-ing global order and its rulebook as to suit its owndemands.

And in fact, this was doneby the major powers in thepast. During the time of Hu,China was more or less non-aggressive and today underXi, the country is fast appear-ing to take a more dominantrule, taking the advantage ofthe decline of the US and theEU’s roles at major global plat-forms and circumstances.

That’s why many of theseChina threat theorists under-lined the point that the coun-

try’s current strategy seemsbenign and calm. But itremains unclear the coursethat China will follow if its cur-rent “peace and development”strategy fails to succeed.

When we flip through thepages of history, what we expe-rience is more of a pessimisticscenario of China’s rise. In2006, John Mearsheimer, in hisseminal article in the “CurrentHistory” rightly highlightedthat China’s rise would not bepeaceful. It is very much evi-dent from the policies andstrategies adopted by Xi sincethe time he took over from Huin 2012.

He has rightly moved fromthe earlier strategy of peacefulrise to his grand “ChinaDream” wherein he aspire hisnation to be simply a globe-trotter very much like him.

China has re-emerged forquite some time when theworld has witnessed almost thedownfall of the liberal order.Many say the West has experi-enced in many of its countriesthe rise of the illiberal order.And around the same time, theEurozone is facing a debilitat-ing financial crisis accompa-nied by a looming Brexit crisis.

Undoubtedly, China hasfilled this gap. Its doom as pre-dicted by many liberal theoristswith its entry into the era ofmarket economy has not so farcome true. Rather China andits Communist leadership haveadequately placed its socialistsystem in tandem with thecountry’s capitalist expansion.

Sadly, with Xi, the countryhas seen an extraordinary levelof animosity not only with itsneighbours but also with themajor powers of the world. Heand his regime as dubbed cor-rectly as a reincarnation of“Chairman Mao” is simplybrewing infighting within theParty and chaos around theoverseas territories of Chinasuch as Hong Kong, Taiwan,South China Sea, East ChinaSea and most prominently,within the country in therestive province of Xinxiang.

His truly authoritarianstyle of functioning and mak-ing him the President for lifei.e. lifting the two years presi-dential terms is indicating thereturn of a Mao-era.

His over-ambitious OneBelt One Road (OBOR), ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC) and rapid encircling ofIndia in and around the IndianOcean are simply starting newgreat game in the continent.High investments in Maldives,Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh,Myanmar, and finally makingPakistan an all-weather friendcan be regarded as the begin-ning of a new war theatre in thesub-continent.

China’s rise or re-emer-gence can be laced with highprobability of big falls for sure.The threat of a Red China aspropagated by the West duringthe Cold War era cannot bebrushed aside. Its journey frompeaceful rise to peaceful devel-opment is today viewed withapprehension in many quarters.

Its money, muscle powerand authoritarian leadership alltogether have given what it hasachieved today. Its attempt toexpand beyond borders cancreate insecurity not only foritself but also for the rest of theworld.

If China is strictly follow-ing what Sun Tsu said manycenturies back: “the supremeart of war is to subdue theenemy without fighting and allwarfare is based on decep-tion”, it would certainly lose therare chance of leading worldonce and for all. At this Covid-19 moment, China must comeout transparent so that theglobal community can reposefaith in its leadership.

Truly speaking, by thebeginning of the last decade ofthe 20th century, Wilsonianismseemed triumphant becausethe Russophobia and theCommunist ideological traphad been overcome by the cre-dentials of liberal democracy.

But then, with the start ofthe 21st century, when welargely encounter a downfall ofthe liberal order, an Asianorder under the leadership ofChina (though many in Asiawill simply reject Beijing’s men-torship) could have shown anew path to the internationalcommunity. It seems Chinamay rightly lose the same.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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Nobody, not even doctors wereaware of coronavirus before ittrapped the whole world into its

fold. Only after pandemic broke out thatthe medical scientists have begun theirresearch to find the right medicine andvaccine to checkmate this menace infuture. So remains true about astrologersalso. None could foresee this pandemic. Icould just see possibility of mass deathfrom eclipse chart of December 26, 2019.Now we are trying to analyse data relat-ing to pandemics in earlier times to fig-ure out planetary alignment pointing topossibility of such pandemics. Majorpandemic broke out every 100 years —1720, 1820, 1920, and now in 2020. Inbetween also, pandemic broke out onvarious occasions, already discussed inone of my earlier issues.

In course of the study, it came outthat the distant planets — Uranus, Pluto,and Neptune — play a very importantrole in so far as catastrophic events oflarge dimension are concerned.Unfortunately, most of Indian astrologersdon’t pay any attention to these planets.Fact, however, remains that but for tak-ing them into consideration, it would notbe possible to explain unusual happen-

ings of large scale. In fact, ever sinceUranus, in course of its periodic motion,entered Aries sign in April 2017, I havebeen wondering its probable implicationsin world matters during its seven years ofstay there. For, earlier during Uranus’stransit through Aries sign, have beenmarked with major issues confrontingthe world. Bear in mind, when astrologi-cal chart of the world is drawn, Ariessign is taken as lagna, as it is the firsthouse of natural zodiac.

From 1933 to 1940, Uranus wasthere in Aries. Second world war hap-pened during this period which tookabout 16 million valuable lives. In theprocess world economy was devastated.It took years to bring back the economyon rails. Period from 1849 to 1856 ismarked with Taiping rebellion in China,which cost more than 10 million lives.Second British Burma war took placeduring this period. Crimean war hap-pened. Period from 1765 to 1773 ismarked with American revolution. Nowwe are faced with the present pandemic.It is nothing short of a world war like sit-uation. During world wars, apart fromthe major players in the war theatre,about 20 to 30 countries would have

directly or indirectly been affected. Thepresent pandemic has overtaken theentire world.

Having said that, let me make itclear, Uranus alone can’t play that big adevil. Other planets carrying negativeimplications have to join hand. In thisrespect, Pluto is believed to be mostlethal. Saturn, Mars, Rahu, and Ketuforming adverse alignment further addon killing propensity. During allunprecedented events, the chart drawn atthe time of major eclipse during the year,Pluto has been found to be either withJupiter, Saturn, or Ketu.

During 1720 pandemic, Pluto wasthere with Jupiter and Uranus. In 1820,Pluto was with Saturn, another death sig-nifying planet. In 1920, Pluto was oppo-site Mars in the death indicating 8thhouse, which was ill-disposed off toUranus. The Sun and Moon were placedadverse to mischievous Neptune. Duringeclipse that happened on December 26,2019, Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn, and Ketuwere together on the eclipse axis. Theresult is there to see. More than a millionpeople have already been found infected.The death toll too has been mountingevery day. The economic recession there-of needs no elaboration. So, we need tokeep a watch on the movement of the

distant planets to figure out their futureimplications in the world and over ourcountry.

I am afraid, the impact of Uranuswon’t be over even after this pandemic isbrought under control. It has still to stayin Aries for another four years.Meanwhile, Saturn and Pluto are there inCapricorn sign. Jupiter too is there for awhile but will be soon back to Sagittariussign. Once again, Jupiter will enterCapricorn in November this year. So,during next year, Saturn will be degree-wise placed square to Uranus (an adverseplacement sometime in 2021. At somepoint of time, Mars may also join handswith them. Such planetary alignmentagain points to possibility of a difficultsituation, in what way, time ahead willspeak. So, we can’t afford to be compla-cent. The purpose of this deliberation isnot to scare you. It is, however, the needof hour to consolidate ourselves as muchas would be possible, so that we are wellprepared to take on the challenges aheadin strength.

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