9LUDO VWRUP D GD\ DIWHU OXOO - Daily Pioneer

16
I n a big relief to shopkeepers and common people as well, the Government has allowed opening up of all shops in res- idential areas, except malls, urban marketing complexes and liquor and barber shops, but the States have to take a final call in deciding the modalities. The shops will function with 50 per cent staff and will not be allowed to open in hotspot zones, which are decid- ed by the State Governments. In notification, the Home Ministry said shops, the sales points defined under Shops and Establishment Act which includes non-essential items too. But e-commerce in non- essential is not allowed. The officials also pointed out that like liquor, cigarettes, gutka, and pan masala also come under the regulated items under the hazardous to health list. “So these will also be come under prohibited category under the Disaster Management Act and other State Acts,” said officials. The Home Ministry’s first notification, which came out in the intervening night of Friday- Saturday, a lot of created con- fusion due to separate classifi- cation of rural and urban shops and its categories. On Sunday morning came the first clarifi- cation that Liquor shops will not come under the category of shops that can be opened. By afternoon came a sec- ond clarification excluding bar- ber shops or saloons from the ambit of relaxation. “We were facing flood of queries from public as well as media and also from social media about the opening of liquor shops, cigarettes, barber shops and saloons,” said a senior official of the MHA. The officials explained that as public transport and vehicle plying is not allowed till May 3, public can only walk to nearby shops. “Hair salons and barber shops render services. Our order is applicable on shops which deal in sale of items. There is no order to open bar- ber shops and hair salons. There is no order to open liquor shops,” said Punya Salila Tripati, MHA spokesperson. “All shops registered under the Shops and Establishment Act of the respective State/UT, including shops in residential complexes and market com- plexes, except shops in multi- brand and single-brand malls, outside the limits of municipal corporations and municipali- ties, with 50 per cent strength of workers with wearing of masks and social distancing being mandatory,” reads the MHA order. A fter a day of somewhat subdued rise in number of coronavirus cases, Maharashtra and Gujarat, two of the worst affected States, recorded big spikes on Saturday that saw India’s total count reaching 26,277 with a death toll of 825, with 44 dying on Saturday. At 11 pm on Saturday night fig- ures tallied from States saw addition of a record 1,829 cases during the day, the single biggest spike so far in 12 hours. Maharashtra added 828 cases and Gujarat 256, taking their respective total of positive cases to 7,628 and 3,071 and death toll of 323 and 133 respectively. On Friday, Maharashtra had added just 390 cases and Gujarat had added 188 cases. Delhi added 111 new cases, so far a total count of 2,625 and 154 deaths. Uttar Pradesh also saw big spike adding 172 cases which took its overall count to 1,793 and death toll of 27. Rajasthan added 49 new cases, five more than Friday and Tamil Nadu added 66 new cases. Rajasthan has now 2,083 cases, Madhya Pradesh 1,945 and Tamil Nadu 1,821. The Saturday rise came a day after India saw its daily growth in number of cases dip down to 6 per cent, which is low- est daily growth rate recorded since the country crossed 100 cases. The country’s recovery rate has reached 20.52 per cent while the mortality rate is restricted to 3 per cent, less than the global average of nearly 7 per cent. Till Friday, the death rate was around 3.1 per cent while the recovery rate was more than 20 per cent, which are comparatively better than most of the countries. The Government feels that this is due to positive effect of the lockdown in the country, along with the cluster management and containment strategy. Turn to Page 4 T he Centre on Saturday asked States and Union Territories to put on hold the use of Covid-19 rapid antibody test kits till their accuracy is rechecked by apex health research body, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). According to the sources, teams constituted by ICMR are analysing the rapid antibody test kits, procured from two Chinese firms, to check their efficacy after some States reported that they are faulty and giving inaccurate results. An official said, “After a meeting the Union Health Ministry held with States on Friday, they were asked to halt the use of Covid-19 rapid anti- body test kits for the time being till their accuracy is val- idated by the ICMR.” “Moreover, WHO has also not commented on its accura- cy. ICMR is reviewing the effi- cacy of the test and the kits in its own labs and shall come out with fresh guidelines soon,” said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday. T he spat between the Centre and the West Bengal Government continued over inspection of implementation of lockdown in the State. On Saturday, the Centre’s appoint- ed inter-ministerial Central team (IMCT) wrote to West Bengal Government and Union Home Ministry alleging the State did not provide it ade- quate logistical support and security during their visits to assess the impact of coron- avirus outbreak. The IMCT has sought to know details about steps taken by the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation to identify and quarantine those who returned from the Tablighi Jamaat con- gregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area. Presently two Central teams are visiting the State — one in Kolkata and the other at Siliguri in north Bengal. In a letter to Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha, the IMCT led by Additional Secretary Apurva Chandra said it is yet to receive a response from the State Government to the letters it has written to Sinha since its arrival in the city on Monday. In his letter marked also to the Union Home Secretary, Chandra said he wrote four let- ters to the State Government till Saturday, but received no response. Turn to Page 4 I nitially dependent on imports, India is now pro- ducing more than 1 lakh per- sonal protection equipment (PPE) kits and N95 masks daily in the country itself. The production of indigenous ven- tilators has also started and orders have been placed for more than 59,000 units through nine companies. The Union Health Ministry in a high-level meet- ing of Group of Ministers (GoM) on Covid-19 said domestic manufactures, which were identified earlier, have already started the production of PPE kits, face masks, etc, and adequate quantity of the same is available now. “As on date, more than one lakh PPE kits and N95 masks are being manufactured every day in the country. There are, at present, 104 domestic man- ufacturers of PPE and three of N95 masks in the country,” the Ministry said in a statement. Initially, the Government had to face lots of criticism as the kits were not sufficient to meet the increasing demand because of the country’s depen- dence on countries such as China for supplying such items. Turn to Page 4 M osques across the country remained shut on the first day of holy month of Ramzan which began on a subdued note on Saturday after imams, Ulema and Muslim leaders gave a call to Muslims not to congregate in mosques and perform Iftaar and Taraweeh (special prayers) at home to maintain social dis- tancing norms amid coron- avirus outbreak. Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Mumbai’s Hamidiya Masjid, Kashmir’s Hazratbal Mosque, Kolkata’s Nakhoda masjid and Makkah masjid in Hyderabad wore a deserted look as people offered namaz and performed the sahari rituals at their homes and refrained from public gathering. Most of the masjids have put notices on the gates that no prayers will be held during Ramzan. However, there were reports from some markets having brisk shopping and crowds flouting the social dis- tancing norms. “This is the first time in many years we are unable to offer morning (fajr) or evening prayers (maghrib) or Iftaar in mosques due to lockdown and ban on gatherings for physical distancing,” said Khurram Raza, a scholar from Aligarh Muslim University. Every year the sighting of the Ramzan moon brings great cheer for Muslims as they scamper to make preparations for fasting and head to mosques to begin special Taraweeh prayers, but not this time. In Delhi, Shahi imams of Jama Masjid and Fatehpuri Masjid in Delhi have appealed to Muslims to offer namaz during the holy month of Ramzan at home and follow lockdown guidelines to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, in a video message asked people not to venture outside unnec- essarily and remain indoors during Ramzan for prayers. “Namaz and Taraweeh (ritual prayer) should be offered at home. Care should be taken that not more than three-four people read Taraweeh because large numbers can be harmful for the families and the society in view of the pandemic,” Bukhari said. Turn to Page 4

Transcript of 9LUDO VWRUP D GD\ DIWHU OXOO - Daily Pioneer

������������������������� ������� � ��� ������������������������ ���� ���������������������������� ����������������������������������������� ������������������� ��

������������ �������� ��� ����������������� ������ ���������� �����������������������������������!����"��#������� ����������� �$������������ �

���!���"�� #�"������� ����$� %&��%'(�������� ��#�����������%�������������� ������&��������!�����'�"�����!�����������$�����������������(�(���������������#���)�����(������� �"�!'!�����&���

� �� �*+�,*-./�

In a big relief to shopkeepersand common people as well,

the Government has allowedopening up of all shops in res-idential areas, except malls,urban marketing complexesand liquor and barber shops,but the States have to take afinal call in deciding themodalities.

The shops will functionwith 50 per cent staff and willnot be allowed to open inhotspot zones, which are decid-ed by the State Governments.

In notification, the HomeMinistry said shops, the salespoints defined under Shopsand Establishment Act whichincludes non-essential itemstoo. But e-commerce in non-essential is not allowed.

The officials also pointedout that like liquor, cigarettes,gutka, and pan masala alsocome under the regulated items under the hazardous to

health list. “So these will also be come

under prohibited categoryunder the DisasterManagement Act and otherState Acts,” said officials.

The Home Ministry’s firstnotification, which came out inthe intervening night of Friday-Saturday, a lot of created con-fusion due to separate classifi-cation of rural and urban shopsand its categories. On Sundaymorning came the first clarifi-cation that Liquor shops willnot come under the category ofshops that can be opened.

By afternoon came a sec-ond clarification excluding bar-ber shops or saloons from theambit of relaxation.

“We were facing flood ofqueries from public as well asmedia and also from socialmedia about the opening ofliquor shops, cigarettes, barbershops and saloons,” said asenior official of the MHA.

The officials explained that

as public transport and vehicleplying is not allowed till May 3,public can only walk to nearby

shops. “Hair salons and barbershops render services. Ourorder is applicable on shops

which deal in sale of items.There is no order to open bar-ber shops and hair salons.There is no order to openliquor shops,” said Punya SalilaTripati, MHA spokesperson.

“All shops registered underthe Shops and EstablishmentAct of the respective State/UT,including shops in residential

complexes and market com-plexes, except shops in multi-brand and single-brand malls,outside the limits of municipalcorporations and municipali-ties, with 50 per cent strengthof workers with wearing ofmasks and social distancingbeing mandatory,” reads theMHA order.

� �� �*+�,*-.�

After a day of somewhatsubdued rise in number of

coronavirus cases, Maharashtraand Gujarat, two of the worstaffected States, recorded bigspikes on Saturday that sawIndia’s total count reaching26,277 with a death toll of 825,with 44 dying on Saturday. At11 pm on Saturday night fig-ures tallied from States sawaddition of a record 1,829 casesduring the day, the singlebiggest spike so far in 12 hours.

Maharashtra added 828cases and Gujarat 256, takingtheir respective total of positivecases to 7,628 and 3,071 anddeath toll of 323 and 133respectively. On Friday,Maharashtra had added just390 cases and Gujarat hadadded 188 cases. Delhi added111 new cases, so far a totalcount of 2,625 and 154 deaths.

Uttar Pradesh also saw big

spike adding 172 cases whichtook its overall count to 1,793and death toll of 27.

Rajasthan added 49 newcases, five more than Fridayand Tamil Nadu added 66 newcases. Rajasthan has now 2,083cases, Madhya Pradesh 1,945and Tamil Nadu 1,821.

The Saturday rise came aday after India saw its dailygrowth in number of cases dipdown to 6 per cent, which is low-est daily growth rate recordedsince the country crossed 100cases. The country’s recovery ratehas reached 20.52 per cent whilethe mortality rate is restricted to3 per cent, less than the globalaverage of nearly 7 per cent.

Till Friday, the death ratewas around 3.1 per cent while

the recovery rate was morethan 20 per cent, which arecomparatively better than mostof the countries. TheGovernment feels that this isdue to positive effect of thelockdown in the country, alongwith the cluster managementand containment strategy.

Turn to Page 4

� �� �*+�,*-.�

The Centre on Saturdayasked States and Union

Territories to put on hold theuse of Covid-19 rapid antibodytest kits till their accuracy isrechecked by apex healthresearch body, Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR).

According to the sources,teams constituted by ICMR areanalysing the rapid antibodytest kits, procured from twoChinese firms, to check theirefficacy after some Statesreported that they are faulty

and giving inaccurate results.An official said, “After a

meeting the Union HealthMinistry held with States onFriday, they were asked to haltthe use of Covid-19 rapid anti-body test kits for the timebeing till their accuracy is val-idated by the ICMR.”

“Moreover, WHO has alsonot commented on its accura-cy. ICMR is reviewing the effi-cacy of the test and the kits inits own labs and shall come outwith fresh guidelines soon,”said Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan on Friday.

� �� �*+�,*-.�

The spat between the Centreand the West Bengal

Government continued overinspection of implementationof lockdown in the State. OnSaturday, the Centre’s appoint-ed inter-ministerial Centralteam (IMCT) wrote to WestBengal Government and UnionHome Ministry alleging theState did not provide it ade-quate logistical support and

security during their visits toassess the impact of coron-avirus outbreak.

The IMCT has sought toknow details about steps takenby the Mamata Banerjee-leddispensation to identify andquarantine those who returnedfrom the Tablighi Jamaat con-gregation in Delhi’sNizamuddin area. Presently twoCentral teams are visiting theState — one in Kolkata and theother at Siliguri in north Bengal.

In a letter to Bengal ChiefSecretary Rajiv Sinha, theIMCT led by AdditionalSecretary Apurva Chandra saidit is yet to receive a responsefrom the State Government tothe letters it has written to

Sinha since its arrival in the cityon Monday.

In his letter marked also tothe Union Home Secretary,Chandra said he wrote four let-ters to the State Government tillSaturday, but received noresponse.

Turn to Page 4

� �� �*+�,*-.�

Initially dependent onimports, India is now pro-

ducing more than 1 lakh per-sonal protection equipment(PPE) kits and N95 masksdaily in the country itself. Theproduction of indigenous ven-tilators has also started andorders have been placed formore than 59,000 unitsthrough nine companies.

The Union HealthMinistry in a high-level meet-ing of Group of Ministers(GoM) on Covid-19 saiddomestic manufactures, whichwere identified earlier, havealready started the productionof PPE kits, face masks, etc, andadequate quantity of the sameis available now.

“As on date, more than onelakh PPE kits and N95 masksare being manufactured everyday in the country. There are,at present, 104 domestic man-

ufacturers of PPE and three ofN95 masks in the country,” theMinistry said in a statement.

Initially, the Governmenthad to face lots of criticism asthe kits were not sufficient tomeet the increasing demandbecause of the country’s depen-dence on countries such asChina for supplying such items.

Turn to Page 4

� �� �*+�,*-./

Mosques across the countryremained shut on the first

day of holy month of Ramzanwhich began on a subdued noteon Saturday after imams,Ulema and Muslim leadersgave a call to Muslims not tocongregate in mosques andperform Iftaar and Taraweeh (special prayers) athome to maintain social dis-tancing norms amid coron-avirus outbreak.

Delhi’s Jama Masjid,Mumbai’s Hamidiya Masjid,Kashmir’s Hazratbal Mosque,Kolkata’s Nakhoda masjid andMakkah masjid in Hyderabadwore a deserted look as peopleoffered namaz and performed the sahari rituals attheir homes and refrained frompublic gathering.

Most of the masjids haveput notices on the gates that noprayers will be held during

Ramzan. However, there werereports from some marketshaving brisk shopping andcrowds flouting the social dis-tancing norms.

“This is the first time inmany years we are unable tooffer morning (fajr) or eveningprayers (maghrib) or Iftaar in

mosques due to lockdown andban on gatherings for physicaldistancing,” said KhurramRaza, a scholar from AligarhMuslim University.

Every year the sighting ofthe Ramzan moon brings greatcheer for Muslims as theyscamper to make preparations

for fasting and head tomosques to begin specialTaraweeh prayers, but not thistime.

In Delhi, Shahi imams ofJama Masjid and FatehpuriMasjid in Delhi have appealedto Muslims to offer namazduring the holy month ofRamzan at home and followlockdown guidelines to preventthe spread of coronavirus.

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, theShahi Imam of Jama Masjid, ina video message asked peoplenot to venture outside unnec-essarily and remain indoorsduring Ramzan for prayers.“Namaz and Taraweeh (ritualprayer) should be offered athome. Care should be takenthat not more than three-fourpeople read Taraweeh becauselarge numbers can be harmfulfor the families and the societyin view of the pandemic,”Bukhari said.

Turn to Page 4

��������������� ��������������������� �������������������������� �����������������������������

���������� )��������������� � /��� ��'����$�������(�$�� ��(������������((��"������

����� ����(��� /�� �*������$������ ����0���"�1������ ����(��� ����(����

���� ��������(�� ����������� ���� ���(����������0��������(�� ���� ����((��"�������������� � ����1���)������������(��������������������1��(����� ����

��������"�� ������� ���������2����� ����������������������1��(����1�� � .�����������1�1������(�������������� ����� ������(��������� ����������� ������(����1��(����� ����(���������(��0���������3����

�������������������������������������������

���� ������������������������������������������������� � �������������

���������� ������!���"#����#���������������$%�����!������&���#&� �

'����(�)�����"���&�)������������#&�� *�$��&��$�)�����+�

�,�--.�!�����/��+�!���&��#������ �� ������ �&+� ���������� �������������������������

��������������+�����,��45���

������������� ����� ��������������������� ������������������������������������������ ��������������������� �� ������������������������������ ����������������������!�����������������������������������������"��������������������������������� ������� ���������� ����#�������������������������� ������������������������������� ��� �����$����������������������� ��������%���������������������������� ������������������������ ����%�����������������������������������������#������������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������&������������������� �������������$�����������������#�������������� ������������������$�������� ������������

"��� ���������������������� ������� ����������������������������������#������������#����������������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������������$���������������$���������������������������������'�������������()������((�

"���������������������������������()#�����$������������������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ����� ������������� �������������� *���"��� �������������+,+,���������������������������*����� �������������������������������� �����+-#������������������������������� ���� ���������������������������� ��������� ���������������������������������������#�������������������������������������� �����'�������������������������������� ���������� ����"������� �������������������������������������� ������������������������������ ������������� �����������

�������������� ��������������������������������� ����������������#������#����� ���������������������������������������������������������������� ���������������#�����������������������������������#���������������������������� ����������������������� ������ ������������ ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������.������ ������/��� ��������������� ������0�����

����������� �����������������������������������������������������������#������ ����#�������������������1�� ����� ��������������������� �����������������������2��������� ���� �� ������������������ ����������� ����������� ��� ������ ������������������������������������� ���#����������� ���������������

����� ������3������� ��������������������� ������������������������������� �����"����������������� ����� ���� ����������������� �������������������������� � �������#������������������������#������� ������������������������������������������������������������ ����������������������������� �������� ������������������������������������������������������ ���� ��������������������������������������������� ������� �������������������������������������������� ����������������� �� ��

"�������������������� ������������������������������ �����������������������������������4������������������� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������"���������������������������������������������� ���������������������������������������������#������������ �������������� �� ����#� ����������������� ���� � ���������5������������������������������� ��������������� ����� �����6������������ �������������������'��������� � ��������������������#������#�������������� ���������#������������������������������������������7�����#������ ����������������������������� �����

&��������������� ���������������������������������� ������������#������������������������������������������������������*����� ��������������������� ������������ ��������������������������8����������#������������������������ ������������������ ������������ ������������������� �� �������� ��� ����������� ����#��������������������� ����� ��������������������"������������������������ ������������ �� �������������������� ������������ ��������� � �����������

0������8�������������������������������������������"�������� ����� ����������������������'���������������������������������6���������������#�������������� ��� ��������������'�������%�������4����������� �%���� ������2���� �����������������������'�������������� ��� �������������� ������������%������������������&����1��� �������������� ���������������������������� ����������7�����#�����4������������8�����#�����4�����'������������������������������ ��������������������� ���������������������

6������ ������8������������#����������������������������������������������������������� �����������������������������������'����������������������������������������������#�������������������������� ����������������������� ���6���������� � ��� #���������������� ���������������� ������ �������������9��� '����/������������������ ������������������������������������ ����������������������������������������������#�������������������������������� �������������������� �� ���������������� ��������������������� �������������������������� ��� ���������������������������������

0������������������� ��������������������������������������������� �� ������ ���#������������������������������ ������������������/��������������������������

����!��"������������"����������6� ���������1�"���������������������(�1������� ���������������������������"������������������(�����������"�����(� ������7�����������/� ������� �������������������� �������������"��1���1������$��������(������������1����������(�������#�����&��� �����������

�������������������������������

���������������������������������������������� ������ ��!������������� "#$

�������������%���&��'������������������� ����!������������� "#$

��������� ����+��� �.����8�"��3���

���� ������� ������&����"����������&����������(�����(��(����������������������� ��������������(� ����������� �9$::$:::���� ����"��1�

� 5���� ����4�&����������������������(�1����"�����"���������;:$������1���� ����� �������������������� ����� ���$������������

� /��������������������1�� �"����$��9<)���)�� �������� ����&������������� ��"���������,����#�4�����������/�����(�����"�(��������� �

!�����������"�� �������

��������� ����������������� ����������������� ���������������������������������� �������!�"� ����

=-��!�� $+', ;:��-- % >>?=����������"��* ������((���1��

�-.�*'�-(%/�0123 ������������ ��������������� ���������� ���������������� ����!"���#$%���

###$%��&'��( $)��

�-0�1��2+!��*6/��-8�����/--.�5����5�@�A�.5-

30�,'���86�*8@�!./�����*+�B85��'/A5��/��,*!�C>D

%0/.4��!*��A*��8�4/'*�?�EE-�6*�A/!

�8��*��87��5-�*���8�����*�$�5��

��������)�� ��"� �������2)��4�45������0�63��F

G���,���������� ���1�������0 ���(������5������#���* ���"������0 ���(������0

The lockdown has left us allhomebound. This can be a little

stressful especially for the kids who are ina habit to go out once in a while, if notmore. During these times of crisis, theOTT platforms are like a silver linning inthe grey cloud, which are offering variedcontent. From movies, to cult classics tothe modern day web series, there issomething for everyone. Now that the kidsare at home too, without having to watchthe new episodes of their favouritecartoons, the OTT platforms is here totheir rescue.

A lot of digital platforms are turningkids-friendly lately. All thanks to theincreased usage and demand of theseplatforms.

These shows will lift your child’smood immediately and will make themstay indoors and roll on the floor as theyhold their bellies while learn a thing or two.There are a series of entertaining showsthat can keep your child entertained, butthese shows stand out and are sure to takeyour kids on a joyride and enhance theircreative side.

Here is a list of a few kids-friendlyshows that you along with your little onescan binge watch.

��������#� ����Don’t miss out on this one! Golmaal

Junior is an adaptation of the legendarycomedy movie series — Golmaal whichcenters on the adventures of Gopal andMadhav — the two mischievous rivals,who encourage their gangs to plays prankson the other which often results in fun,drama and chaos. Watch their pranks,quarrels and allthings fun on theVoot Kids app.

7��7�7"�A show that

will make adultsgo awestruckwhile kids mayhave started theirown Baby Corpalready. BossBaby is about anew baby’s arrival

and how it impacts a family. But before youknow it, this adorable baby wearing a suitis a spy on a secret mission, that involvesprotecting baby love in the world. Watchthis adorable baby and his gang on Netflix.

���7�� �� ������������The classic show, Mr. Bean is

everyone’s favorite bumbler. While theoriginal series is hilarious, tune in to theanimated series with brand new stories andhis moronic decisions. Whether it is a tubfull of tadpoles or teddy's birthday party,he never fails to make you laugh. Let yourkids enjoy this legendary show in ananimated format on Voot Kids andAmazon Prime Video.

���� �Funny and Simpsons go together.

Another legendary show that will glue theentire family together to watch the show.Simpsons — the ultimate nuclear familywhere Homer — the father, Marge - themother and children Maggie and Bart aresure to give you family goals. Theirquarrels, fun, laughter and all familydrama are encircled with love. Watch thisold classic newly released onDisney+Hostar.

���� �� �����7��Timon and Pumbaa are the most

beloved best friend duo. The popularcharacters from the classic movie — TheLion King are a pair of meerkat and awarthog. Living with their motto —

Hakuna Matata which means there are notroubles, this inseparable duo will makeyou go crazy with their problem-solvingskills. Watch this wise cracking Pumbaasteal all Timon’s idea as his own onDisney+Hotstar.

������������������Are you having a trouble finding

something? Do not worry. We have Dorato save the day with her lovely friend Boots.Experience the numerous adventures inthe wilderness with her friend Boots, amonkey, and a variety of fun and usefultools while she finds your things for you.Watch her journey of findings on VootKids.

����������Peppa believes in true family love as

this adorable piggie participates in manyenergetic activities with her friends andfamily and enjoys it all leaving with ameaningful message. She learns somethingnew every day and has a lot of fun withher family and friends. Watch her happymoments on Voot Kids.

���!����While your kids are all stuck at home

and do not know what to do next? Engagetheir creative side with Artzooka as itfeatures entertaining creative activitiesperformed by children with a broad rangeof tools, technologies, and materials at theirdisposal. Kids are sure to love this one, helpthem develop their creative skills on VootKids.

����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+. �� ��������

���������� �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ��������������� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �!����������������"���������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ���� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������#��������������������������� ���� ����$����%����&�������������������������� ��������������� �����������������������'����������������������������������� ���������������"��������������������(�����������������������������

����������� ������ ����������������� ������������������������������������� �� �� �����!��"����#��� $����%&&'''(� �����)'&&%*'&&'*++���,,��������-�����).%/&�!��������-0$1����,�����#�%('&/'&�2��������)'&('%*3453''6*3455''����������7#����8�������$(&'�(&&!�����%�/�����92���:�;�����)����������10<!2<�=1<�;��� (�'';��)������������)���>���)��, �61�,�� �!����)��#����6�������������)��?��������8�� -�����)*��.�����!��!������#�������.�@ �<������8�� %((�'&��A���������)'+((%(/*�**/�(/*�***�(/*�**+�

�� �����������������

�����"��"���������&���!����&����$������� ������ �����������(���������"���((��������������2�������(���� $���������&��� ��������������������������������������+�������������������������"�������� �������$�6����A�#��������� ���������� ����� ���������������������

6�����A���������������"�����������6�������������������������������� ��������������������������1������ ��"��"���������������(��"����� ��(��&���"� � ����"��������� ����

B���"��(������ �(��$�6�����A����(��&� ��"������� ����������� ���������(����������� � �������������������������&��"���������(������,�����

+�����(����������������1�����"����(��� ������������&�������������� @��/��&���&�����(���������� �������&�&�������������48����"��������������������� �$�������/��&�� ��� �������� �����������1����� ������������������1����������������������$(��(���������� ����1���"�������( ������������������������1��������� ������������������������������������"���������������$�/������(��"�(��(�������������� ��� � ��������������.�(��������������(��������� �����������������1�����������������

���8������ ��������������������B#����"�)���� �&����� ��&��

�������������� �����(����&������������� ��������3��"��� �������� ������ ����������������(�����&����������� ����������$������ ������������

������"������������$��&��1����������"���������� ���)�����.���&��$�� ���� ��"����������������������������������$������&��1�������"��������

��������� ���"������������� ��������� ����������4����������$�(����"�����������.�����6��������������������1��������������(�� ��"������������������������� ���

6 ��6�����H��.�����6����I���1��������"��������������������������������&���@������������&��������������������� $����/���(�������� ���"����������"�����������,����"�������"������$����������"�� �������������� ����������($�/��&����� ���������������� �/��� ���"��&������"�����������"$������"��������$������"�������$���1����������8��������$�����$�/��&�1���� ���"������������)����1�������"���������"������� �����"�����)� �����������/��������� ��"�1�������/�� (��&�������(������ �1������ �#��� � ����������� �����/�����%����"��������&�����/������ ��&���������������7�����$�/�����"��������������������$���/�������� ����

*�(������"���������(��������������"���������������$�4������� @����������������������&��"��������1�������2�������(���������(�����1� ������ ��&��������"������������� ���������� ���%���1��������"���������$�/��&������1��� ���"����� � ������������ ��������������

���������������������B$�/� �#���� ��"���� ��"�����

����������������$���������1���"������ ��������� ����"��������������������"��1�� )������(�����������"�����&����������������"���"����(����

B���"��"����������(���������� �����������$��������B$���������� �� ����"��������� ����"����� ��"�&�����&�������������"������������������� ����+����&���1�������������(���(����$���� ������ ������(����1��������������������������1����"������� ������������ ��������������������������������������B�&���� ��� ������&��1������������"���&��������������������

!����� ���(��&� ��"�&����) ��&����"�)���� ������������������������ 1����������������$��������B������������� ������������������������������1�� )����������������"�

�����������������7��,����"�����(������������� ������"

�����(��(�������(�� ��"��������������$�J����'������� ��1���"��1������������������������������� ������� ����� ���������������D:�

����"���B��������������������������(������(��������&�K�������������������������������(�(����� ��(���)�������"(��(���$���������������������L��$����(������������������������������������� ��������������1����������� ��&����������"��������"�$�����"�������(����9<�

+����������������������������� ���������������������������������� ����&��� ����������(���$������������������ �(���� ��&�������1��������� ��� ��������������� ���������&�����������"��������(�(����� �������1��"���� ��������������������&�������������������D:���/����$�����������������������"�����������(���������� ����"����1��(�����&��������1� ���7��������������"��������(�������$������������������������(���� ����������� ��4���� �������������(���)�������"�� (�����������"��$�����"������(����9<$��&����6�� ����7�� ��>>@;:�(��

B���C��������������������������������"���"�1��K�J����'������&��"�������������� ������������"����� ����������������� ����"����!8'/,)>D�-��� ���������"�����(��&������C����� � ����"���-��� ���$�J����'����������������������""��"�(���� � ������� ����(�����(�����"����� ���"������������������$���������� �����������������(��� � ���"������������"�����������/� ��������������������� ������"��""�����&��"��������������������������������1������*�(�������1��� �������&���%����$�B��1�����������������)����� ��������1��B��1�$���������&����6�� ����7�� ��D@;:��$�����"�������(����9<�

������������7����������� �00��������������������"�� ����C��

���"����������������������������������)*���M���� )������"���������������������8&���>:�"��������������$������N���&���8C-���$�6���!�1�$B�1��!������$�-����4������$�A�1��.��%&���� �,���� �����$��&����&��� ������������ ���������������������(��$����������� �� (����������� ��$������()(�� ����� �(��(��$����������"��������1�����"�������������������������������������������� ��(��������������"��)���"��"�� ������)1�����"�(����������1������������� ���&���� ����� ���������&��1�����������������!������� ��"" ����������� �����&�������/� ����'����>EC��8���(������N�'������������(����9?$�������� �1�����/� ��)���&�����(�����������6��>E$�����"�6�� ����7�� ��D�(�$���������!������/�������

�����/���

-��4�#&��� �6��7�+�������

/����������������$�����"��� �������������� ������������+����$� ��� (������ ������ ������"� �� ���(���� (� ����� � 1�$� J��� !����� ��� � �(����

���(����� ���� �&���� B������� � ��&��� ������ ��� ��������� ��� ������ ����� �������#� ���������� � ������� ����'����1���"�������&���������"��� ��"�����������"����&�$�J���!�����1���"��1����� � (�������� ��� ��� ���"��� ������"� � � �������������� ��������� ��� ��� ������� ��� ���&�����$O����&�� ��� A� ���1�� ��� ��C� ���� ��� ���(��(����O.����1�����1�������C������������� �� ���� ��� ������� ��&���� ��� ��� ��������� ��B������� �N����1��B������

O� ���������$���$���������%� �������&������������ ���C$������&����������������������������� ���"��$��������� ���������������������������� ����O���1��B�����C��.������������������������.�� ��!�����������1� �����������&��"�����������+��������"������� �1������&������������ �(������������� ���"���� ��������������1����A������ �����"���������������������$����������������������&��� ������������� ��"������"��"������� ��(��������������"��� ���������� $����� �$�B�"B���&�������������������������(�����������

B����������&��� ��((��������������1�B��������J���!�������������������������������&��"����������&�����

����'��2 �++'�%����'��9 ��:(�%%����-.�����'��1 (�(%�-(�(����'��; �++<������'�=4 ��/(����++���>�0�� �-%%*��>���� �%%&����>�=�� ���/

+����������������"�����1����� ����1����1�������&����������1��B�����$�J��!���������������� ���(���������)�(�������O���)�����.������J���!����C��&������������

���1��B�����C�������1�������������� ������������������������"����������������������"���� �� ����(��� ������������������� ��.����&����������(����"�� ���������"�� ����������� ��1������� ���� ����������(���������������������$�1�������������� ��� ����1���������������������������������������������� ���%�������������1��B�����C�����������&����

#�$$�%&��'()%(8���(�������������%������� ���$������&��(�����������������������"������������$�����65�B��.��.6/

� This is the eighth time you areplaying Lord Shiva. What attractsyou to the role?

The main reason for me to say yesto Devi — Aadi Parashakti was thefact that yet again I got an opportunityto essay the role of lord Shiva. I haveportrayed the character numeroustimes but those stories were focusedon other mythological characters.However, in this show, I finally got achance to be the lead opposite thecentral character which is essayed byRati Pandey.� Does this pose any challenges?

Yes, it is very challenging to playthe same role again and again. I makeit more interesting by addingsomething more to the character. Andto keep adding on, I read as much aspossible from wherever I can onMahadev. It gives me inspiration.� From Kabhi Aaye Na Judaai toDevi Aadi Parashakti, how has thejourney been?

It has been one roller coaster ofa journey. One moment I am at thetop then again it goes down andeverything seems like a big struggle.I feel I haven’t achieved even 10 percent of what I have in my mind. I stillfeel like a newcomer.� You have played varied roles.How did that transition happen?

When I started out, I was offereda lot of negative characters and I tookthem to run my kitchen. Then I foundout that I was enjoying those roles. Butthe game changer was when I playedking Vikramaditya in Vikram AurBetal on Colors. After that peoplestarted noticing me. They thoughtthat I had the physique and languageskills to play historical andmythological characters. I was thenoffered the role of Ravan in Devo KeDev Mahadev which established mein this genre.� A role that you would say no to.

I would never want to portray anegative character wherein I have tophysically torture children or women� Was acting always on your cards?

No, acting wasn’t always on mymind. When I started as a model, I alwaysdreamt of earning enough to buy a car. Inthe bargain, I managed a few extra thingstoo.�Was there a moment when you felt likequitting?

There was a phase when I wasn’tgetting the kind of roles or rather any rolesthat I wanted. But I didn’t know anythingelse, so I just waited for an opportunity.And God has been very kind to bless mewith tremendous opportunities. � What are your upcoming projects?

Currently, I am doing Devi AdiParashakti on Dangal TV. It’s the journeyof the goddess in all her avataars.� What is keeping you busy during thelockdown?

I am watching performances of myfellow industry friends because that is thebest way to learn and grow. To keep myselffit, I am working out regularly andensuring that I spend good quality timewith my family.

�*(+)�#,*))*���������"��-��&��������$�������!.��$����*��/�����������������������+&�*�,*&,������������������������"�"�������������� ����������������������������������"������������ ����

8�������� ������!�������+�&"

����������� � �!����"�����������#�� ������$�%����������&������� ����'�� ���(�����(�� ���)����������� �( ��� ��"����!( ���((��$�&�����& ����*���# ���������+��'���#�����) ���&� ���������

#�'�����,����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

��������������� �*+�,*-./�

Deputy Chief Minister andEducation Minister of

Delhi, Manish Sisodia chaireda meeting with officers of theEducation Department, teach-ers, students and parents, onthe effectiveness of the onlineclasses and support activities.

Amidst lockdown, thefocus of discussion titled‘Parenting in the time ofCorona’ was to understandhow these daily activities andonline classes have helped thestudents to enhance their learn-ing even during these timeswhen schools are shut due tothe pandemic COVID 19.

While interacting with stu-dents, Sisodia said the ideabehind running daily onlineclasses for students is to mini-mize the effects of the lock-down and the consequent shut-down of schools on their aca-demics. “Happy to note thatmore and more students areattending the online classes

everyday,” “ I am glad to seethat 1,33,193 students of Class12 (the students of class 11 whoare awaiting their results) havebeen registered for the onlineclasses. Around 6 lakh studentscurrently studying in classes -Nursery to standard 8th, arealso connected with us throughSMS and IVR. They receive adaily exercise/assignment ontheir parents’ mobile phones

everyday, We have also gar-nered a great response for theHappiness Class that is beingstreamed online for entire fam-ily everyday at 4 pm,” Sisodiasaid.

“Lockdown has no doubtaffected us all. It has alsoimpacted our young generationa lot. It has hampered thestudies of our students and so,our education department has

been trying to introduce newways (like online classes) toreduce this impact on the stud-ies of the students and helpthem cope with their acade-mics. We introduced the onlinemode of learning in the firstweek of April, and here we aretoday discussing how theonline technology has helpedus in minimizing the damagecaused by COVID 19,” headded.

Notably, Delhi governmenthad tied upwith CareerLauncher to train around 60teachers on how to conduct liveonline classes for students ofclass 12.

“It is like a revolution thathas started in education. Wewere apprehensive initiallyabout going from real class-rooms to virtual ones but thetransition has been smooth.Students are fearlessly askingquestions in chat boxes duringonline class, more than theywould do in real classrooms. Ihave also been showing them

documentaries on history tounderstand the chapter better!”,said Dr Harita, PGT, History.“It is only because of your deci-sion to distribute tabletsamongst teachers that we havebeen able to teach our studentsremotely. I am happy to say thatI started my online classes inMarch. All thanks to you,”added Jyoti.

The education departmenthas also collaborated with theKhan Academy to offer spe-cially curated Maths content forClass 9 students of its school.

“For the past 10 days, wehave been discussing with theKhan Academy team on how tosupport students of class 9 inthe subject -Mathematics.”

“Last time we had seen theBoard results and noticed thatonly 71% percent of our stu-dents passed in Maths in com-parison to subjects like Socialsciences and Languages whichwe generally have a 97% pass-ing results. To not let our stu-dents suffer in Maths, we have

collaborated with the KhanAcademy, a globally recog-nised educational non-profitorganisation, which has beendeveloping interactive learningmaterials for our students,”said Shailendra Sharma, Officerin DoE department.

“It is a 10 week long pro-gram. Starting this monday,the parents will receive an smswith a link to open that day’smicro lesson. It will have twoor three videos and a couple ofexercises. These lessons willreach the parents/students for10 weeks", said Sandeep Bapna-Managing Director, KhanAcademy India. This partner-ship is expected to benefitmore than 3 lakh students.

For students in smallergrades- KG to class 8, DelhiGovt. is sending a daily SMSwith general activities to 5,71,661 parents of KG to class 8thstudents. A daily SMS alert isalso being sent to 12,14,049parents of KG to class 12 forHappiness class at home. Apart

from this, 5,18,626 parents ofclasses 3 to 8 receive IVR forMission Buniyaad activitiesevery alternate day. And so arethe 5,71,661 parents of KG toclass 8 receiving IVR forHappiness activities every alter-nate day too.

Sisodia also spoke over thephone with parents of youngstudents who had been receiv-ing SMS and IVR for activitieseveryday.

Satisfied with the dailylessons sent by the Departmentto facilitate the learning cycleof his kid, Sanjay, a parent said,“I really like the kind of activ-ities that are sent everyday. I tryto make it a point that I sit withmy kid everyday to do this dailyactivity and I have also beenfollowing the Happiness classeveryday at 4 pm.”

Harvinder Kaur, a home-maker and a mother of a Class5 student also had all praisesabout these online learningactivities introduced by theDelhi Govt. which is also

making her child aware of a lotof general issues like waterconservation. "Today we got anexercise asking if we had 15litres of water then how wouldwe manage our household. So,I taught my child and madehim aware about how to con-serve water,” she said.

0/,�/.�$,6��*�����������&��+��������������&�����#�������&���

��������������� �*+�,*-./

The Delhi Government hasdecided to implement the

Centre's latest guidelines onopening of shops, however noactivity will be allowed in con-tainment zones, officials said.

A senior government offi-cial said that non-essentialshops will be allowed to open,but not in coronavirus con-tainment zones. No activity willbe allowed in containmentzones," the official added.According to government offi-cials, 95 areas in Delhi fallunder the containment zonecategory.

Notably, MHA in its ordermentioned that In rural areas,all shops, except those in shop-ping malls are allowed to open.

“In urban areas, all stand-alone shops, neighborhoodshops & shops in residentialcomplexes are allowed to open.Shops in markets/market com-plexes and shopping malls arenot allowed to open,” orderread.

MHA also clarified thatsale by e-commerce companieswill continue to be permittedfor essential goods only.”It isfurther clarified that sale ofliquor and other items contin-ues to be prohibited as speci-fied in the National Directivesfor Covid-19 management,”quoted MHA statement.

8(����"������(�@�4�&����(�����6.���� ��

��������������� �*+�,*-./

A54-year-old sanitationworker, who had tested

positive for coronavirus, diedon Saturday.

The South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) in astatement said “He was postedwith in Bhogal area ofDaryaganj ward and wasadmitted in AIIMS on April 22.However, He was also sufferingwith liver related issues andeven admitted to holy Familyhospital and availed medicalleave from December 19, 2019to February 5, 2020 for treat-ment,”

“He had also availedearned leave from 10 Februaryto 23 February 2020. However,his final medical report fromhospital is awaited. SDMC iscommitted to extend all possi-ble admissible help to the fam-ily of its deceased employee,” itsaid.

The civic body alsoinformed that Sunita who isposted in ward 6S TagoreGarden, was declared COVID-19 positive on Thursday,

declared negative on late Fridayand discharged from hospitalwith instruction to put herselfof 14 days home quarantine.

Following the declaration,the West Zone of SDMC haswithdrawn the isolation orderissued to nine colleagues whocame in her contact.

At least six sanitationstaffers of municipal corpora-tions have been tested positivefor Covid-19 till now. Out of six staffs, two of them havedied. The Corporations hadplaced 48 asymptomatic staffersunder home quarantine whocame in contact with three staffwho tested positive ofCoronavirus.

The North Corporationhas on Friday also issued adetail guidelines for sanitationstaff and concessionairesengaged for lifting of MunicipalSolid Waste (MSW) duringprevailing Covid-19 crises

“All the sanitation staff has

been directed to ensure that allthe supervisors of the corpo-ration will record the temper-ature of every employeethrough thermal screeningdevice at the time of takingattendance of swachhta karam-chries in each shift beforeallowing them to join duties,”it said.

“The sanitation workerswere also directed to conveytheir supervisory staff to ensuresanititisation of hands beforeand after putting their thumbimpression or signature on theattendance register,” it said.

The civic body has alsoasked its workers to equipthemselves with ‘PersonalProtective Equipments’(PPEs) before embarking inthe containment zones, theofficial said, adding that thePPE kits can be obtained bysupervising sanitation Stafffrom the in charge of‘Docking Centers’.

��������������� �*+�,*-./

The Indian Railways hasstarted production at Rail

Coach Factory (RCF) inKapurthala to meet thedemand for parcel coachesrequired to ensure supply ofessential items during the lock-down across the country.

The Ministry said that in arelentless battle against COVID19, factory has been openedadhering all safety precautionsand issued guidelines by the‘Ministry of Home Affairs’(MHA) orders and localadministration.

“A total 3,744 employeeshave been permitted to join thework who are residing inside

the ‘Rail Coach Factory’ (RCF)premises township. As per theguidelines of MHA and advi-sory of State Governments,other production units ofIndian Railways will resumeproduction as and whenadvised,” it said.

“Despite the limited avail-ability of resources, in twodays the RCF Kapurthala hadbuilt two coaches, it said.

“All employees who joinedduty after lock down have been

issued a safety kit havingmasks, sanitizer bottle andsoap to individual. All permit-ted employees have been callon duty in factory for coachproduction. In administrativeoffices, all officers have joinedoffices and 33 per cent staff isbeing call in rotation rosterbasis, the ministry said in astatement.

The ministry further saidthat workers are being called inthree shifts having differenttimings. “There is a gapbetween the entries, lunch timeand exit timings for all threeshifts. Every employee is beingscreened at the entrance gatesby thermal scanners for theirbody temperatures,” it said.

��������������� �*+�,*-./

A32-year-old man wasstabbed to death on

Saturday over an issue of settingup a cart in southeast Delhi'sNizamuddin area. The deceasedhas been identified as Hasin, aresident of Khusro Nagar.

According to a seniorpolice official, on Saturdayaround 9.15 am, one Kajalcalled police and informedthat her husband was killed bysomeone.

"Police went to the spot andfound the body with multiplestab wound. The police teamconducted an enquiry andfound that Hasin was last seenwith three men," said the seniorpolice official.

"Police questioned themwho said that a quarrel tookplace between the deceasedand mother of a juvenile forsetting up a chart. Thereafter,two juveniles, along with oneNikhil, hatched a conspiracyand stabbed the deceased withknives," said police.

Later, police arrestedNikhil (20) and apprehendedboth the juveniles. A case ofmurder was registered, saidpolice adding that weapons ofoffence have also been recov-ered from their possession.

��������������� �*+�,*-./

TheDelhi Police on Saturdayarrested a 34-year-old man

for allegedly killing his wife inwest Delhi’s Madipur area.Police said that the incidentoccurred over future of man’schildren from earlier marriage.

The accused has been iden-tified as Rahisul Azam, a resi-dent of Madipur. Police saidthat the accused used to workas a street vendor sellingfootwears in Jahangirpuri.

According to DeepakPurohit, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), West district, Azamcalled police at 3.56 am onSaturday and informed themabout a quarrel with his wifeGulshan (39) following whicha police team was dispatched

for the spot. “When police reached the

spot, it was found that he hither head with a stick during thefight. Due to the head injury,Gulshan died on the spot,”said the DCP.

“This was their secondmarriage which was solem-nised three months ago. Afight broke out on the questionof future of their children whoreside at their native village inMotihari, Bihar from theirrespective earlier marriages,”said the DCP.

“The Sub DivisionalMagistrate (SDM) has beeninformed for proceedingsunder 176 code of criminalprocedure (CrPC) as deathhappened within seven years ofmarriage. The house of accusedcomes under the containmentzone declared by DistrictMagistrate (West) on April 13after 2 COVID-19 positivecases were found there,” saidthe DCP.

“All the preventive andprecautionary steps are beingtaken while investigating theabove case so as to adhere tothe containment zone guide-lines and at the same time toconduct effective investiga-tion,” the DCP added.

��������������� �*+�,*-./

On the first day of the holymonth of Ramzan,

Muslims in various parts ofDelhi stepped out on Saturdaymorning to buy essential itemswith local mosques shut askingdevotees to observe the fast andstay indoors.

Meanwhile, the ShahiImam of Jama Masjid SyedAhmed Bukhari on Saturdayextended greetings to the com-munity on the occasion andurged them to stay indoors.

However, the festivitieswon't be the same this year dueto the lockdown situationnecessitated by the coronaviruspandemic.

In northeast Delhi’sJaffrabad, which is a Muslim-domimated area, people

stepped out in the morning tobuy essentials. “Many of theshops are closed. We hadstepped out to buy milk, kha-jla and vermicelli for sehri butmost of the shops were closedand wherever they were avail-able, they were expensive. OnFriday we were not able to buythese items due to crowd,” saidAnjum, a resident of the area.

Arsalan, another residentin the area, said that owing tothe lockdown, our unit is closedand there is also cash crunch,so festival might be celebratedlightly this time. “Every year,we go to the mosque for iftarbut this year, we are worriedabout where will we go foriftar,” he said.

Kashif Mirza, a resident ofJama Masjid area in Old Delhi,said, “We stepped out only to

buy essential goods like ver-micelli but followed social dis-tancing norms. Announcementwas made from Jama Masjidthat we should pray insidehomes and not step out. We aremissing the festivities andmeeting people but hopefullythings will be fine next year.”

In Hauz Qazi, the socialdistancing between the peoplewas not visible due to congest-ed and narrow lanes as peoplestepped out to buy essentialsduring morning hours.

According to a seniorpolice official, flag marcheswere conducted in ChandniMahal area and announce-ments were made asking peo-ple to stay indoors. He said thateven local mosques in OldDelhi urged people to stayinside and pray.

��������������� �*+�,*-./

The Delhi Police on Saturdayregistered over 100 cases

and detained 2,861 peopleacross the national Capital forviolating government ordersduring the coronavirus lock-down.

According to the datashared by the police, 125 caseswere registered under section188 (for disobedience to orderduly promulgated by publicservant) of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) till 5pm.

Police said that a total of2,861 people have beendetained under section 65 (per-sons bound to comply with rea-sonable directions of policeofficers) and 241 vehicles havebeen impounded under section66 of the Delhi Police Act.

“The police also registered55 cases against people forstepping outside their resi-dence without wearing masks.A total of 366 movement pass-es have been issued,” policesaid.

Since March 24, around90,000 people have beendetained so far for violatingorder under section 65 of theDelhi Police Act.

However, on SaturdayDelhi Police received around800 calls on their 24x7 helpline

number to resolve issues relat-ed to lockdown. Police said thattotal 29,349 number of callsreceived by police till Saturdayon their helpline 011-23469526.

“Police received 7pp callsfrom Friday 2 pm to Saturday2 pm. Out of 800, around 55calls were related to outsideDelhi, which have beenreferred to respective statehelpline numbers. A total ofnine calls were received relat-ed to no food/no money, whichhave been forwarded to NGOfor direct relief at their address-es,” said police.

“While 600 calls were relat-ed to movement passes andwere advised to apply online onwebsite of Delhi Police,” saidpolice.

The food delivery networkestablished in all 15 districtswith involvement of nearly 400NGOs/ RWAs/GoodSamaritans facilitated by DelhiPolice has led to provision ofmeals/food packets at morethan 250 locations whichenabled feeding of nearly326844 persons and dry rationkits to 2074 persons," said thepolice.

The move comes followingnationwide restrictions due tocomplete lockdown imposedacross the country to containCoronavirus.

��������������������(�������������������������������������

'�� ����11� �� ����&������"��(��������3�� ��

�,,�����������������#+#:;����� �������������� ����� ���������

6����� ����������"�������&���"�����1������ ���C�������

�.�&�-�<+ �/�.(�.�(%�(�.�(�-&�<%�(%�/�&�.(���-.�?:�/ ����.(%�<��(.,�� %�.+�.(%�(%�/��@ �>)�-(%�/�%/�+��.(%�-�+.

&�������������������� �����012&������������������������������������������)������������ ��

�������-����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

� ������ ������ 656B�/

In a huge spike in the numberof deaths and infections in

Maharashtra, as many as 22persons died of Covid-19 onSaturday, taking the total num-ber of deaths to 323 and arecord 811 people tested posi-tive in a day in the State, evenas the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)prepared itself to undertakePlasma therapy for eligiblecoronavirus patients.

On a day when the infect-ed cases jumped from 6,817 to7,628 triggering considerableanxiety among the health offi-cials in the State, coronavirusclaimed 22 more lives.

With fresh deaths, theCovid-19 death tally mountedto 323 in the deaths. Of thedeaths, Mumbai accounted for13 deaths, 4 in Pune, one eachin Malegaon, Pune rural,Pimpri-Chinchwad, Dhuleand Solapur.

The death toll in Mumbaiclimbed to 191, while therehave so far been 73 deaths inPune.

With a staggering 602cases reported on Saturday,the total number of infectedcases in Mumbai has risen to5049. Similarly in Pune, thetotal number of infected cases

mounted to 1030. Of those dead, 16 were

men, while 6 were women.Eleven of them aged over 60years, eight were from the agegroup 40 to 59 years and threewere under 40 years of age.“Thirteen out of 22 patients(59%) had high-risk co-mor-bidities such as diabetes, hyper-tension, asthma, heart disease,TB etc,” the state health bulletinsaid.

Out of 1,08,972 laboratorysamples tested till Saturday,1,01,162 were negative and7628 have been tested positivefor coronavirus.

There are 555 active con-tainment zones in the state cur-rently. Total 8194 surveillancesquads worked on worked onFriday worked today acrossthe state and surveillance of31.43 lakh population wasdone. 1076 patients have beendischarged till date after fullrecovery. 2.

Currently, 1,25,393 peo-ple are in home quarantine and8,124 people are in institutionalquarantine.”

Meanwhile, the BMC ispoised to start Plasma therapyfor eligible Covid-19 positivepatients. “Three units of plas-ma from recovered patientshave already been collectedfrom eligible donors. The recip-

ient of Plasma Therapy hasbeen identified and will receivePlasma as per Physician'sadvice. Patients’ blood group isgetting matched,” the BMCbulletin said.

According to the bulletin,five more recovered Covid-19patients have been screened todonate plasma. “Other recov-ered Covid-19 patients arebeing contacted, so that morenumber of severely ill patientscan be benefitted from PlasmaTherapy. Plasma pheresismachine is installed at Nairhospital to expedite the plasmaseparation and effective extrac-tion,” the bulletin said.

Considering the vulnera-bility of Senior Citizens toCovid-19 and those with Co-morbid conditions likeDiabetes, Hypertension,Asthma & Heart Disease, theBMC will undertake a house tohouse survey in slums ofMumbai, to identify the seniorcitizens & ensure that they aretaking their medications forchronic diseases regularly. “Theteam will also check theOxygen Saturation with PulseOxymeter on spot and if foundlow such citizens will bereferred to non-CovidPeripheral Hospitals with areferral note for further treat-ment,” the bulletin added.

����&�����������9)���%������ �������� Chandigarh: Twelve more peo-

ple tested positive for coron-avirus in Haryana on Saturday,taking the number of cases inthe state to 287, according toofficial data.

Sonipat reported the max-imum number of fresh infec-tions at six, followed by four inGurgaon and one each inAmbala and Panipat, the statehealth department said in itsdaily bulletin.

Among the total 287Covid-19 cases in Haryana are24 foreigners — from Italy, SriLanka, Nepal, Thailand, SouthAfrica and Indonesia — and 64people from other states ofIndia, it stated.

According to the bulletin,Haryana has 93 active Covid-19 cases. While 191 patients

have been discharged, threehave died due to coronavirus.

Nuh (57), Gurgaon (51),Faridabad (43), Palwal (34),Sonipat (19) and Panchkula(18) are the state's worst affect-ed districts.

As of Saturday, the state hasa recovery rate of 66.55 percent, fatality rate of 1.04 percent, Covid-19 positive rate(proportion of positive cases tototal tests conducted) of 1.58per cent, the bulletin stated.

The doubling rate of casesin the state is 18 days and testsper million being conductedare 800, it said.

As many as 20,270 sampleshave been tested so far, out ofwhich 17,787 have tested neg-ative. The reports of 2,196samples are awaited. PTI

13� ��������,�"���� �������������345

Chandigarh: A private labo-ratory which has been underthe Haryana Government'sscanner for alleged discrepan-cies in Covid-19 test results on Saturday assertedthat it stands by its findings andis open to getting these samplesre-tested at any Governmentlab.

The Haryana Governmenthad on Monday ordered aprobe after four samplesreported positive for coron-avirus by SRL Diagnosticstested negative in confirma-tion tests done at differentGovernment labs in the State.

The State Government willgive no samples for testing tothe private lab, pending theoutcome of the probe, HealthMinister Anil Vij had said.

Gurgaon-based SRL

Diagnostics on Saturday saidit re-tested the samples, whichwere first tested on April 18,and the results again cameback positive for coronavirus.

It said it conducted a re-test "using the RNA extractsfrom the same samples whichare stored with the lab underthe recommended guidelinesby ICMR (Indian Council ofMedical Research)."

"The test results are outand once again read positive,"said Dr. Anurag Bansal, tech-nical head for north and eastIndia and lab operations direc-tor for Gurgaon ClinicalReference Laboratory, SRL Ltd.

Bansal and ArindamHaldar, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of SRL Ltd., addressedthe media through a videoconference.

"We would like to reiterateour testing lab in Gurgaon isICMR-approved and is alsoNABL (National AccreditationBoard for Testing andCalibration Laboratories)accredited.... And is run byhighly professional, qualifiedand experienced doctors. Withreference to Covid-19 testing,we are only using ICMR-approved kits and testing tech-nique - RT PCR," Haldar said.

Bansal said it is critical tounderstand that there are mul-tiple reasons which can influ-ence a test result.

"When we got the noticefrom them (health depart-ment) stating that there is (a)discrepancy in these fourresults, we again ran these testsand again these came positive,"Bansal said. PTI

*�����"+�����������������������������+�������������������������������

Bhopal: With 103 more peopletesting positive till Saturdayafternoon, 56 of them in Indore,the number of coronavirus casesin Madhya Pradesh climbed to1,945, health officials said.

Seven deaths were alsoreported since Friday evening,taking the Covid-19 death tollin the state to 99.

Four deaths were reportedin Ujjain, two in Indore and onein Hoshangabad, officials said.

Indore, the worst affecteddistrict, alone now accountsfor 57 deaths.

Since Friday night, Indorerecorded 56 new infection cases,followed by Bhopal at 28,Jabalpur at 12, Hoshangabad atfour and one each in Ujjain and

Khandwa.Indore has the highest tally

of Covid-19 cases at 1,085 fol-lowed by Bhopal (388) andUjjain (103).

The number of coronaviruscases in Jabalpur has nowclimbed to 43. Hoshangabad has30 cases, Khandwa 36 andChhindwara five.

Number of cases in otherdistricts is: Barwani 24, Raisen26, Morena and Vidisha 13each, Ratlam 12, Mandsaureight, Shajapur six, Sagar five,four each in Gwalior andSheopur, three in Alirajpur,two each in Shivpuri andTikamgarh and one each inBetul and Dindori. No freshcases were found in these dis-

tricts on Saturday.Two patients hail from

other states.Apart from Indore where

the death toll has reached 57, 15patients have died in Ujjain,nine in Bhopal, six each inDewas and Khargone and oneeach in Jabalpur, Chhindwara,Mandsaur, Agar Malwa, Dharand Hoshangabad.

So far, 281 patients haverecovered and returned home.499 containment areas havebeen set up in affected cities.

Coronavirus figures inMadhya Pradesh, thus, are asfollows: Positive cases 1,945,deaths 99, discharged 281, activepatients 1,565, number of peo-ple tested so far 36,887. PTI

5��������167����� ��������/��8��� ������� ����1�29:

Dehradun: Covid-19 cases inUttarakhand will now be treat-ed only in the hospitals desig-nated for the purpose, ChiefMinister Trivendra Singh Rawatsaid on Saturday.

The hospitals where onlyCovid-19 cases will be treatednow are Mela Hospital(Haridwar), Doon Hospital(Dehradun), Medical College(Rudrapur) and Sushila TiwariGovernment Hospital(Haldwani), he added.

The rest of the hospitals inthe state will function as earli-er, Rawat said.

Earlier, Covid-19 cases werealso being treated at other healthfacilities. Hospitals in nine dis-

tricts, where there are no posi-tive coronavirus cases, havebeen opened now and will func-tion from Sunday as earlier, thechief minister said. In a separatemessage on the start of the holymonth of Ramzan, Rawat greet-ed people and appealed to themto do "ibadat" at home, main-taining social distancing. "Withmutual cooperation alone wecan defeat the coronavirus pan-demic," he said.

Uttarakhand has reported48 positive coronavirus cases sofar, of which 25 have recovered.There are 11 containment zonesor hotspots in the state — sevenin Dehradun, three in Haridwarand one in Nainital. PTI

����� ��������+;�������������������"���������������������

From Page 1The IMCT was given half-

hour notice for a visit to CNCIHospital and Bangur Hospitalon April 23 and Damurjolaquarantine centre and SanjivanHospital in Uluberia sub divi-sion of Howrah district onApril 24. The Chief Secretaryof West Bengal has been wide-ly reported in the media tohave stated that the IMCT isfree to visit anywhere, and theState Government cannotwaste its time by accompany-ing them, Chandra wrote.

“The above stand is a vio-lation of the order by theUnion Home Ministry and theState Government is expectedto provide logistics supportand facilitate all field visits,”Chandra said in the letter.

“The stand of the StateGovernment on facilitatingthe visits of the IMCT andensuring the safety and secu-rity of the team members asalso providing informationand records may be madeclear through a written com-munication rather thanthrough media so that furthersteps can be taken by theIMCT,” the letter read.

Chandra has also soughtto know from the StateGovernment that in theabsence of police escort, if itwould take responsibility forthe safety and security of theIMCT if it ventures out on itsown. “Whether the BSF

accompanying the IMCT onbehalf of the Government isfree to take action to ensuresafety and security of theIMCT in absence of policesupport,” the letter asked.

It said no senior State offi-cial accompanies them on vis-its and their only expectationis that doctors and officers atthe venue should meet andprovide information to theteam. “Whether it is a fact thata DCP of Bengal Policeinformed Bengal officers atBSF guest house on April 21that the IMCT cannot leavethe campus without the per-mission of the StateGovernment as lockdown is inforce and if it leaves it is onlypermitted to go to the airport,”the letter read, seeking toknow if there is truth to thisstatement.

It said the StateGovernment is expected toprovide ‘accommodation,transportation, PPE andextend all cooperation fortheir visits to local areas, pro-duction of records as request-ed’, according to the MHAorder.

In another letter to BengalCS and Home Secretary,another IMCT led by VineetJoshi, in north Bengal, saidmore field officers are requiredto monitor and provide feed-back about the effectiveness ofvarious measures undertakenby the Government.

From Page 1Ramzan marked by fasting

by followers of Islam startedfrom Saturday as per the lunarcalendar. Shahi Imam ofFatehpuri Masjid MuftiMukarram Ahmed said thosewho are under quarantine andunable to observe ‘Roza” (fast)can compensate for it through‘Qaza’ or feeding one person.

In Kolkata, the apex body ofimams in West Bengal askedMuslims to offer namaz at home,and advised them not to assem-

ble at mosques because of thecoronavirus outbreak. “Allmosque committees have beenasked to communicate to themembers of Muslim communi-ty that they should not crowd themosques and offer daily namazat home,” Chairman of BengalImams Association MohammedYahia said.

Kochi’s PadivattomMahallu Muslim Jama-athmosque’s Imam remains insidethe mosque while it is shut forthe general public. Posters have

been put up outside themosque that masjid is shut tillfurther order. “This year, wehave directed the faithful toprepare food at home andbreak the fast with their fami-lies. Muslim organisations havestrictly directed the people toobserve all Ramzan relatedprayers and rituals at home.These instructions must befollowed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the prominentMuslim body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had, appealed to Muslims

to adhere to the lockdownguidelines and perform all reli-gious rituals during Ramzan bystaying at their respective homes.

President Maulana ArshanMadani said, “In view of dead-ly COVID-19 that has causeddeath and destruction all overthe world, medical experts havesuggested that social distancingis the only option to break thechain of the spread of this dan-gerous virus.” All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin

Owaisi, also had appealed to theMuslims of the country duringRamzan not to go out of theirhomes to offer Ramadanprayers.

Ramzan is the ninth monthof the Islamic calendar duringwhich Muslims worldwiderefrain from eating and drink-ing from dawn to dusk and endtheir fast in the evening. As perthe Islamic beliefs, God forgivesthe past sins of the devotees whoprays and fasts with faithfulintentions.

From Page 1In view of inadequate sup-

ply from China and otherimporters, the Governmenthas ramped up domestic man-ufacturing of personal pro-tective equipment (PPE) andmedical equipment, includingventilators, to meet theincreasing demand, amidserious concerns over short-age of PPE for health workers.

The Defence Research andDevelopment Organisationhas collaborated with localmanufacturers to produce20,000 N99 masks per day,while Bengaluru-based BharatElectronics Ltd will providesupport for manufacturing30,000 ventilators.

“The domestic manufac-tures which have been identi-fied earlier have already start-ed the production of PPEs,masks etc., and adequatequantity of the same is avail-

able,” the Ministry said today.“As on date, more than 1 lakhPPEs and N95 masks arebeing manufactured every-day in the country.”

PPE kits, including gloves,coveralls and N95 masks, arenot meant for re-use. Nurses,doctors and other medicalpersonnel who tend to sus-pected and confirmedCOVID-19 patients mustchange these after every shift.

The GOM was alsobriefed on state-wise details ofdedicated COVID-19 hospi-tals, along with the adequacyof isolation beds and wards,PPE kits, N95 masks, drugs,ventilators and oxygen cylin-ders, among others, the healthministry said.

Given that there are wellabove 10 lakh people withsuspected Covid-19 in quar-antine and over 18,000 con-firmed cases under treat-ment at hospitals, the per-dayrequirement of these kits andmasks already likely to beabove 1 lakh.

The GoM had a detaileddeliberation on the mea-sures taken as on date by theCentre and various statesand Union territories forprevention, containmentand management of coron-avirus and all the districtswere asked to follow andfurther strengthen their con-tingency plans to combatCovid-19, the Ministry said.

The GoM also deliber-ated on the various tasksassigned to several empow-ered committees and it wasinformed that around 92,000

NGOs, self-help groups(SHGs) and civil societyorganisations were workingand contributing by providingfood to migrant workersacross the country.

It was also informed thatthe national level meta-data ofhealth workers, NSS, NYK,NCC, doctors etc. has beenshared with all the States, dis-tricts and other officials tomobilise resources and vol-unteers (Covid warriors) tomuch-needed locations.

There is presently datafor more than 1.24 crorehuman resources on the dash-board and it is continuouslybeing updated with the addi-tion of new groups and sub-groups according to speciali-sation, the GoM wasinformed.

The dashboard containsState and district-wise infor-mation about the number ofhuman resources availablefrom each group, along withthe contact details of therespective state and districtnodal officers.

“These Covid warriors arebeing trained through onlineplatforms such as the ministryof health website and theiGOT training portal,” thestatement said. Minister ofCivil Aviation Hardeep S Puri,Minister of External Affairs SJaishankar, Minister of Statefor Home Nityananda Rai andMinister of State for Shippingand Chemical and FertilisersMansukh Mandaviya, amongothers, were present at themeeting, along with otherofficials.

�,�--.��/���+�!��&��#������� :::

'����(�)�����"���&�)������������#&�� *�$��&��$�)�����+�

&�����"�(��<��������� �����������������

����������������*+�,*-./�

Under its operationSHIELD, the Delhi

Government on Saturdaysealed three more areas tak-ing the total containmentzone count to 95.

Entire street no - 9,Shalimar Village , Entire galiNo -3, Shalimar village ,Blockno X, from HN 303/6, GaliNo 1 to HN-289, Gali no-3,Yadav villa areas have beensealed in the wake up of ris-ing corona cases.

1�&���������������'�����

Mumbai: A special court hereon Saturday remanded activistAnand Teltumbde to judicialcustody in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case and rejected hisplea for temporary bail, whichhe sought in view of theCOVID-19 outbreak.

The National InvestigationAgency had arrested the Dalitscholar on April 14 after he sur-rendered before it following theSupreme Court's directives.

Teltumbde, the grandson-in-law of Dalit icon Dr BRAmbedkar, was produced beforespecial NIA court judge A TWankehede, who remandedhim to judicial custody.

The activist then soughttemporary bail citing the

COVID-19 pandemic.In his bail application,

Teltumbde said he was sufferingfrom respiratory problems andwas at risk of contracting thedeadly infection while in prison.

The court, however, reject-ed his plea.

Teltumbde, civil rightsactivist Gautam Navlakha andnine others, have been bookedunder stringent provisions ofthe Unlawful ActivitiesPrevention Act (UAPA) forallegedly having Maoist linksand conspiring to overthrow theBJP-led government. Theactivists were initially booked bythe Pune police following vio-lence that erupted at Koregaon-Bhima in the district. PTI

��������;����������������������%���� �����=� ��

Guwahati: Veteran Congressleader Devanand Konwar diedof old age ailments at hisGuwahati residence onSaturday. He was 86.

The politician is survived byhis wife, two daughters and ason. The body of Knowar wastaken from here to his home dis-trict Sivasagar for the last rites,his family members said.

He was Governor of Biharfrom July 24, 2009 to March 8,

2013 and of Tripura betweenMarch 25, 2013 and June 29,2014. He had also served as gov-ernor (additional charge) ofWest Bengal from December2009 to January 2010.

Konwar had joined theCongress in 1955 as a studentleader. He became a Cabinetminister in the Governments ofAssam headed by HiteswarSaikia and later by Tarun Gogoi.

Assam Governor Jagdish

Mukhi, Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal and oth-ers condoled the death ofKonwar who was also an emi-nent advocate. In his condo-lence message, Governor Mukhidescribed Konwar as a dedicat-ed leader and worker who con-tributed immensely to the gen-eral welfare of the people at largeby serving the state with deepcommitment, compassion andlove for them. PTI

!�������������������$�������#�������

New York: A 45-year-oldIndian-origin man has becomethe first person to face criminalcharges in the US under thecountry's Defence ProductionAct for allegedly hoarding thescarce personal protectiveequipment and selling it athuge markups during theCOVID-19 pandemic, author-ities said.

Amardeep Singh stockpiledtonnes of respirators, surgicalgowns, hand sanitisers andother personal protectiveequipment (PPE) at a LongIsland warehouse and sold itonline through various websitesand Nassau County storefrontsat “unconscionably excessiveprices,” Prosecutors from theUS Attorney's Office inBrooklyn said in a statement onFriday.

A criminal complaint wasfiled on Friday in a federal courtin Central Islip charging Singhwith violating the DefenceProduction Act (DPA) of 1950by hoarding PPE at a warehousein Brentwood, New York, amidthe COVID-19 pandemic, andprice-gouging customers of hisretail store in Plainview, NewYork, the statement said.

If convicted under theDPA, which is a misdemeanourcharge, Singh faces up to one

year in prison. He will self-sur-render to authorities next week,the US Attorney's Office said.

"As charged in the com-plaint, Singh's amassing of crit-ical PPE during a public healthcrisis and reselling at hugemarkups places him squarely inthe cross-hairs of law enforce-ment armed with the DefenceProduction Act,” said RichardP Donoghue, United StatesAttorney for the EasternDistrict of New York.

"This Office is workingtirelessly in coordination withthe COVID-19 Hoarding andPrice Gouging Task Force toprevent a pandemic of greed byprofiteers."

"The criminal complaintdescribes a defendant whoallegedly saw the devastatingCOVID-19 pandemic as anopportunity to make illegalprofits on needed personal pro-tective equipment,” said CraigCarpenito, head of theDepartment of Justice's nation-wide COVID-19 Hoarding andPrice Gouging Task Force.

There has been a massivescarcity of PPE in the US dur-ing the coronavirus outbreak.The US grapples with criticalshortages of supplies andcoronavirus cases continueto soar. PTI

���;�&�<��+��&<����������&��<��&���;<�#<�<�--.���=�

����� 45+�.��/

Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal on

Saturday asked the animal hus-bandry and veterinary depart-ment to conduct an inquiryinto swine flu cases in thestate and take remedial mea-sures at the earliest.

During a meeting with topofficials and scientists of thedepartment, Sonowal directedit to send samples of the affect-ed pigs to the National Instituteof High Security AnimalDiseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal,for detection of swine flu.

The flu has recently hitsome parts of the state this year.

Agriculture Minister AtulBora added that sale and dis-tribution of pork meat hasbeen banned in Assam.

�������&��&��>#�& ��������� �#��������6��+

From Page 1“The average doubling rate

of the country is 9.1 days as ofnow,” the Union HealthMinistry said.

A group of Ministers head-ed by Health Minister HarshVardhan on Saturday reviewedthe testing strategy and avail-ability of testing kits across thecountry, along with the strate-gy for hotspots and clustermanagement.

The GOM was briefedabout the number of public andprivate laboratories presentlytesting for Covid-19, alongwith the number of tests thatare being conducted every daythrough this network of labo-ratories.

A detailed presentation onthe Covid-19 status in thecountry, along with theresponse and management ofthe disease, was made for theMinisters.

?�&�����&+�� ��&:::

Dharamshala (HP): TheCentral Tibetan Administrationhas announced a three-weekcampaign in support of the11th Panchen Lama, taken intocustody by Chinese authorities25 years ago and not seen inpublic since then.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima,who was recognised by theDalai Lama as the reincarnationof the 10th Panchen Lama whenhe was six-year-old, turned 31on Saturday.

China did not recognisehis reincarnation and arrangedthe installation of another con-tender as Panchen Lama, thesecond-highest spiritual title inTibetan Buddhism.

China has earlier saidGedhun Choekyi Nyima and hisfamily are leading life as ordi-nary citizens in the country.

Tibetans worldwide, how-ever, been demanding his releaseover the years. “As we celebrate

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima's birth-day, we also remember his dis-appearance for the last 25 years,”Central Tibetan Administrationpresident Lobsang Sangay saidin a statement here.

He said the CTA — thebody is unofficially known asTibetan government-in-exile —has launched global campaigndemanding his immediaterelease by China.

“Unfortunately, because ofthe coronavirus pandemic,which originated in Wuhan, weare not able to do the physicallobbying but we are doing vir-tual lobbying all over the world,”he said. He urged UnitedNations to hold a hearing on theissue. “I hope the Chinese gov-ernment will pay heed to theglobal appeal and at least allowGedhun Choekyi Nyima to bewith his family members, to bewith the Tibetan community inTibet.” PTI

������������0��0��������� ����>�������/�� ���-���;� �������

�������.����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

������� ������*+�,*-./

Nine CRPF men of the 11investigated for

Coronavirus so far have testedpositive for Covid-19, trigger-ing a contact-tracing exerciseacross the Force’s formationsthroughout the country. Thosefound positive belonged to agroup of 47 CRPF personnelquarantined at its facility hereat Narela.

All the positive cases havebeen isolated at the quarantinecentre or transferred to desig-nated hospitals for manage-ment of the viral disease. Withthis, 12 CRPF personnelincluding a CMO and a RAFHead Constable have testedpositive for the pandemic.

Following the outbreak,the paramilitary headquarters

has asked all formations acrossthe country to furnish data ofthe personnel deployed inhotspots and other operationalareas in the last 20 days and ifanyone in these areas had test-ed positive for Covid-19 as partof a larger contact tracing exer-cise for taking effective mea-sures.

The 47 personnel quaran-tined earlier belong to the 31Battalion of the CRPF deployedin the national Capital. Themove to quarantine them wastaken after aConstable/Nursing AssistantRajesh Sharma, who rejoinedduty on April 7 after availingleave, tested positive for theviral disease.

Those found to be positivefor the viral disease include aSub Inspector, a HeadConstable and seven consta-

bles. All their contacts arebeing quarantined/isolated tocheck the spread of the disease,officials said.

According to a circularsent across all the formationson Thursday, a proforma forseeking information of thepersonnel regarding regularand additional deployment of troops inhotspot areas during the last20 days has been sought.

Through the circular, theparamilitary has also soughtdetails of personnel as alsocivilians who worked withthe troops during deployment in

hotspots in the last 20 daysand if anyone tested positivefor Covid-19.

Insiders in the Force saiddespite the outbreak of thedisease, location sharing of thepersonnel deployed at theparamilitary headquarters andthe Northern Sector here hasnot been initiated.

They said a number ofpersonnel hailing from theadjoining States visit theirhometowns during the week-ends despite there being a pro-hibition to leave station without due authorisationfrom the superiors to checkthe spread of the disease.

����� ��#"����� �*+�,*-./

The Goblet and Ciliated cellsin the human nasal passage

have high levels of entry pro-teins that the COVID-19 virususes to get into our body,according to researchers.

In two studies, published inNature Medicine and in thejournal Cell, the researchersindicated that goblet cells high-ly express a receptor enzymecalled ACE2 that binds to thespikes covering the outer sur-face of SARS-CoV-2, the virusthat causes the COVID-19 dis-ease.

"These studies largelyagree with each other andprovide new insights into thespecific type of cells targetedby the SARS-CoV-2 infec-tion," said Dr. NicholasBanovich, a TGen AssistantProfessor and member of theLung Biological Network ofthe Human Cell Atlas, aninternational effort to createcomprehensive referencemaps of all human cells as abasis for diagnosing, moni-toring and treating disease.

In both studies, Gobletcells - which produce mucusin the nasal passages - werefound to overly expressa n g i o t e n s i n - c o nv e r t i n genzyme 2 (ACE2), whichserves as the entry point intocells for some coronaviruses.This could help explain thehigh rate of transmission ofthe virus.

"A lot of information wasknown about the path ofinfect ion from previous studies of SARS-CoV, includ-ing the fact that the first step

in viral entr y into the human body is the binding ofthe coronavirus spike proteinto the ACE2 human receptor and an associatedgene called TMPRSS2, whichhelps activate the coronavirusspike protein, enabling it toenter the cell," Dr. Banovich

said.Using data sets from the

Human Cell Atlas, the NatureMedicine study used single-cell profiling of healthy sam-ples to examine cells exclu-sively in the human airways,including nasal passages,lower airways and the lungs.

The study revealed that twotypes of cells in the nasal pas-sage -goblet and ciliated cells-most highly expressed ACE2and TMPRSS2.

In addition, it found thatACE2 also is expressed inAT2 cells in the lungs.

"The results of these stud-

ies suggest that these cells inthe nasal passage may serve asa viral reservoir, helping todisseminate the virus withinan individual and spread thedisease between individuals,"Dr. Banovich said.

Using existing and newdata, the Cell study looked atmultiple human, primate and

mouse tissues. This study alsofound that nasal goblet cellshighly express ACE2. In addi-t ion, researchers foundexpression of ACE2 inabsorptive enterocytes within the gut, which couldhelp explain why manyCOVID-19 patients have GIsymptoms.

The most significant find-ing in this study, however, isthat ACE2 is stimulated byinterferon, which is releasedby the body's immune systemin response to viral infections.

"The body's own immunesystem may be causing neigh-boring cells to become targetsof the virus," Dr. Banovich

explained. "A patient's ownimmune response may becreating new shots on goal forthe virus' target."

"These two studies reallydemonstrate the power of theHuman Cel l At las community and of single cellRNA sequencing. Pullingtogether this large group ofresearchers and data setsal lowed the science to move at incrediblespeed," Dr. Banovich said.

The study with HumanCell Atlas Lung BiologicalNetwork found that cells inthe eye and some other organsalso contain the viral-entryproteins.

The identification of thesecells by researchers from theWellcome Sanger Institute,University Medical CentreGroningen, University Coted'Azur and CNRS, Nice andtheir collaborators in theirstudy further shows that cellsin the eye and some otherorgans also contain the viral-entry proteins.

The study also predictshow a key entry protein isregulated with other immunesystem genes and revealspotential targets for the development of treatmentsto reduce transmission.

The two key entry pro-teins ACE2 and TMPRSS2were also found in cells in thecornea of the eye and in thelining of the intestine.

This suggests anotherpossible route of infectionvia the eye and tear-ducts, andalso revealed a potential forfaecal-oral transmission, asper the study.

�����������$�&��<��� �����#+���� *���#�

� �� �*+�,*-./

Days after developing alco-hol-based herbal sanitis-

er, scientists at the CSIR-National Botanical ResearchInstitute (NBRI), Lucknow,have prepared a herbal decon-gestant spray for those findingdifficulties in breathing andcongestion in the respiratorysystem due to wearing of maskfor a long time. The aim is tohelp the netizens to fight coro-navirus.

The herbal-based formu-lation helps in clearing thewind pipe and congestion byremoving the mucus or coughleading to ease of breathing. Italso reduces stress due toexcessive use of mask anddecongestion. This spray hasbeen prepared as per guide-lines of the Union AyushMinistry.

“The main reasons behindthis problem include the accu-mulation of carbon dioxide

and humidity in the inner cav-ity of the mask. When a per-son breathes in, this goes backto the lungs again. Repetitionof this process over a period oftime causes discomfort inbreathing and congestion”, saidDr. Sharad Srivastava, SeniorPrincipal Scientist, CSIR-NBRI, who led the team ofresearchers for this study.

“Herbal decongestantspray is a fine blend of fourplant-based oils, but the namesof these plants cannot be dis-closed right now because ofissues related to intellectualproperty. This product isdeveloped based on the prin-ciples of Ayurveda and con-tains ingredients reported intraditional scriptures”,explained Dr. Srivastava. Theinitial results of this NBRI'sherbal spray have beenextremely impressive. Peoplewearing masks for a long timeare getting a lot of relief fromthis, say researchers.

The Institute plans to

transfer the technology ofthis inhaler for commercialproduction so that it can beproduced on a large scale andsent to the frontline worriersfighting against COVID-19pandemic.

About the herbal sanitis-er that contains Tulsi essentialoil as herbal constituent whichis strong natural antimicrobialagent and 60 percent of iso-propyl alcohol for killinggerms, Director NBRI, Dr SKBarik said, it has been clini-cally tested and found to behighly-effective against sur-face microbes.

He said, its impact lastsfor about 25 minutes and itprevents skin from dehydrat-ing. The product will be avail-able in the market very soonunder the brand name of‘Clean Hand Gel’. The tech-nology of the herbal hand san-itizer has been transferred toLucknow based companySadguru Biologicals PrivatedLimited.

*����������������������������,����������������������

� �� �*+�,*-./

In an initiative to make thecountry self-reliant in raw

materials for drugs, particularlythose used in fight against theCovid-19, CSIR-IndianInstitute of ChemicalTechnology (IICT),Hyderabad, has joined handswith LAXAI Life Sciences, aHyderabad-based integratedpharmaceutical company, todevelop and manufactureActive PharmaceuticalIngredients (APIs) and drugintermediates, the key compo-nents of any drug that pro-duces the intended effects.

The collaboration will pri-marily focus on Umifenovir,Remdesivir and a key inter-mediate ofHydroxychloroquine (HCQ)used in fight against theCoronavirus that has takentoll on around 750 people inthe country.

So far, India has heavilyrelied on China for supply of

APIs and drug intermediates.The initiative may help inreducing the dependency ofthe Indian pharmaceutical sec-tor on Chinese imports ofthese ingredients, said aGovernment statement here.

IICT, a laboratory underthe Council of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR), isalready working with LAXAIfor synthesis of drugs beingused in the fight against theCorona Virus.

India, one of the largestproducers of anti-malarialdrug HCQ, has seen a spurt indemand in the recent weeks. Ithas sent HCQ to over 50countries over the last fewdays, including the UnitedStates.

The collaboration willresult in a cost-effectiveprocess with minimal depen-dency on China for key rawmaterials. In addition,Remdesivir, which has beenpreviously administered toEbola virus patients, is cur-

rently under clinical trials toevaluate efficacy and safetyagainst COVID -19.

Realising that drug secu-rity and undisrupted access toessential medicines are criticalfor public health, UnionCabinet chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, hasapproved a special package forpromotion of bulk drug man-ufacturing in India and reduc-tion of our dependence onChina.

The collaboration will usethe know-how for commercialmanufacturing of the prod-ucts. LAXAI Life Sciencesshall be one of the first few tocommercialize these products.The manufacturing of theseAPIs and intermediates will betaken up at U.S. Food andDrug Administration(USFDA)/Good manufactur-ing practice (GMP) approvedplants held by LAXAI throughits subsidiary, TherapivaPrivate Limited, said the state-ment here.

$$-#'���������������.�$��������������������������"$�������������������

� �� �*+�,*-./

Congress president SoniaGandhi on Saturday wrote to

Prime Minister Narendra Modidrawing his urgent attention tothe financial crisis in the MSMESector by announcing a �1 lakhcrore wage protection packagefor it besides setting up a �1 lakhcrore credit guarantee fund. Shealso called for an extension of theRBI's moratorium on payment ofloans for the MSMEs beyond thestipulated three months.

Pointing out that the Micro,Small and Medium ScaleEnterprises (MSMEs) con-tributes one-third to the nation’seconomy, Sonia wrote to PMdemanding a package to give liq-uidity and confidence to the sec-tor.

"The last five weeks havebrought our nation face to facewith several challenges. As wecontinue our fight against Covid-19, I felt it essential to highlightan economic concern that needsimmediate attention and inter-vention. If ignored, this issue hasthe potential of having a devas-tating and expansive ripple effecton our economy," Sonia said.

She wrote the MSMEs con-

tributed close to one third of thenation'’s gross domestic product(GDP), accounted for almost 50per cent of exports and employedover 11 crore people.

"At this moment, withoutappropriate support, more than6.3 crore MSMEs stand on theverge of economic ruin," she said.

Stating that every single dayof the lockdown is costing Rs30,000 crore to the sector, theCongress leader said nearly allMSMEs had lost sales orders,seen complete cessation of work,and had revenue negativelyimpacted.

"Most worrying of all, 11crore employees are at the risk oflosing jobs as MSMEs struggle topay wages and salaries. Thegovernment needs to introducea series of measures to meet thiscrisis head-on or risk a muchlarge economic crisis down theroad," she said.

She said the actions taken bythe Reserve Bank of India (RBI)must get reflected in banks''measures to ensure adequate,easy and timely credit supply toMSMEs.

"These measures need to besupported by an expansion andextension of the RBI''s morato-

rium on payment of loans for theMSMEs beyond the stipulated

three months," she said.

� �� �*+�,*-./

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwatwill deliver an online

address on Sunday on the cur-rent situation in wake of theCoronavirus pandemic andneed for a united response tothe crisis.

This is for the first timethat such an address of its headis being held by the RSSthrough a virtual platform,said the RSS.

The RSS said, Bhagwat willaddress on 'Current Situationand Our Role' on April 26 at 5pm.

"All of you are invited tojoin this session along withfamily members and well-wishers," the Sangh said.

Bhagwat is expected togive his organisation’s view onthe present scenario, nationalresponse, future challenges andopportunities.

The Sangh chief addressesonly twice a year - once on`Vijaydashmi`, which sets the

agenda and gives direction toRSS workers for the upcomingyear and in the first week ofJune on the conclusion of theannual training session of theRSS for its workers.

The Sangh said the focuswill be on suggesting the wayout from this crisis and anation-wide united response tothe crisis. And at the same timewhat changes are required inthe aftermath of this crisis, the

sources said.The address comes after

the RSS chief urged all‘Swayaemsevaks’ to activelyjoin the national fight againstcorona pandemic.

“While situation is grim ,the response of the country’sleadership and the entire soci-ety has been wonderful”, saysthe Sangh invite.

RSS said ‘Swayemsevaks’are themselves making theirown contribution to mitigatethe situation created by theCoronavirus pandemic.According to the Sangh, it hasdeployed over two lakh work-ers across the country to“serve” those affected by thepandemic.

� �� �*+�,*-./

Parliament and Assemblies ofsome States have opened up

control rooms to help MPs andMLAs to facilitate real-timeinformation on Covid-19 reha-bilitation works.

Rajasthan, Haryana,Odisha, Delhi, Uttarakhandand Madhya PradeshAssemblies have become firstStates to start control rooms.These control rooms are con-nected with each other to shareinformation on inter-stateissues especially regarding theissues related to migrant labour,supply chains etc, said LokSabha Speaker Om Birla.

Parliament control roomnumbers are +911123035160,+911123035163. The controlrooms will help to alert theMPs and MLAs about theissues faced in their con-stituencies and also act to alertthe local administration aboutthe need of the area and peo-ple. Speakers will only dailybasis monitor the control roomand grievances settlement. LokSabha Speaker said that thismechanism would be a quick-er interface in settling publicgrievances and make works ofMPs and MLAs effective.

Birla said that theParliament and StateLegislatures stand firmly withthe Executive, and theMembers of Parliament andMLAs/MLCs shall remain atthe forefront in our nationaleffort to contain its spread.

� �� �*+�,*-./

Undeterred by the possibil-ity of contracting coron-

avirus and harsh weather con-ditions, the Border RoadsOrganisation(BRO) onSaturday threw open theRohtang pass at 13,500 feetnear Manali, HimachalPradesh, for traffic three weeksin advance. This road is thealternate strategic route toLadakh and the BRO hasalready opened the Srinagar-Leh road two weeks back there-by connecting the region withthe rest of the country.

The Rohtang pass sawHimachal Pradesh agricultureminister Ram Lal Markandaleading a convoy of vehiclescarrying essential supplies andapproximately 150 farmers toLahaul and Spiti districts,sources said here. With theopening of the pass, the much-needed essential supplies tofight the pandemic besidesreviving agriculture activitieswill begin in the right earnestin the region.

Giving the details of themeasures taken to clear the passof heavy snow, they said theclearance opening is carried outevery year as it remains snowbound for almost six monthsfrom mid-November to mid-May thereby cutting off Lahauland Spiti districts besides

Ladakh from the rest of thenation. Ladakh and Lahaul andSpiti districts apart from otherregions of Himachal Pradeshare then sustained by air dur-ing winter months.

Last year, the Rohtangpass was kept open ti l lDecember 12. The StateGovernment on April 11 thisyear approached the BRO toexpedite the snow clearanceto facilitate return of farmersto start cult ivat ion andmovement of essential sup-plies and relief material toLahaul Valley in wake ofCOVID-19.

Following this, the BROinducted hi-tech machineryfrom both Manali andKhoksar side, the Army saidadding snow blizzards, freez-ing temperatures and fre-quent triggering of avalanch-es at Rahala Fall, Beas Nallahand Rani Nallah delayed theoperations but the snow clear-ance teams kept workinground the clock with allCOVID-19 precautions.

Meanwhile, the ongoingconstruction of the 8.8 kmlong Atal tunnel below theRohtang pass connecting thenation with Lahaul through-out the year and other partsof the state and Ladakh wasalso stalled when the lock-down came into force.However, work on all critical

activities of Atal Tunnel havecommenced with all neces-sary COVID-19 precautionsin place to ensure its com-pletion in September 2020 asplanned, official said.

Responsible for con-structing and maintainingstrategic roads all over thecountry, the BRO recentlycompleted a bridge inArunachal Pradesh therebyensuring all weather logisticalsupport to the troopsdeployed on the Line ofActual Control(LAC) facingChina besides local popula-tion. The bridge was con-structed despite the lock-down over Subansiri river.

The BRO also managed toclear the 450-km longSrinagar-Leh highway ofsnow a fortnight back andconnected Ladakh with theentire country. The BROteams had to face the toughchallenge of clearing snowreported to be heaviest in thelast six decades.

Similarly, the agencymanaged to construct a per-manent bridge on River Raviin Punjab thereby providingthe much-needed relief tofarmers in the region.Personnel of the BRO havealso collectively contributedRs One Crore to the PMCARES Fund over and aboveOne Day Salary, they said.

����������&���/������������&�&0/�������

� �� �*+�,*-./

The Congress on Saturdayurged the Government to

formulate a national plan forhandling the coronavirus cri-sis under the DisasterManagement Act and allegedthat bureaucrats, who do nothave any idea about groundrealities, were formulating pol-icy for the Centre during thelockdown.

At a Press conference,senior Congress leader KapilSibal said, "You cannot have alockdown of people, and alockout of the economy. Thatis not the way to formulate pol-icy. We are not criticising, weare only saying it is time torethink, we will support thegovernment in every possible

way."“Bureaucrats sitting in

North Block are formulatingpolicies. I am sorry to say theyhave no capacity to do that asthey do not know what ishappening on the ground.This top-down approachwould not work, it has to be abottoms-up approach," theCongress leader said.

"Our Prime Minister'slimited role, so far as we cansee, is addressing the nationfrom time to time. TheNational DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA) made no prepara-tions to put in place a plandespite the WHO declaringthe virus to be a public healthemergency towards the end ofJanuary,” Sibal alleged.

!��"�������"���!��������������������(�������� ���"�&������������

��������������+��������������������+������������+������������

� �����( �# ������ � ������)#���������/

��#����01����� �*2) # � �� �� ��(��������

(�� ����#������3���)��"��

���� ��'#���(������

1��������������"��������������������������+����

� �� �*+�,*-./

The CISF has developedvarious IT applications for

distinct functional streamssuch as Administrative (e-Vetan, Legal, TIMS-TechnicalInventory ManagementSystem, Operational(WARRoom and Bio-MetricKote Management System),Welfare (e-Leave, e-Grievance,Securitypedia etc),Tr a i n i ng ( TM S - Tr ai n i ngManagement System) andmany more to count at zerocost to state exchequer.

"In the present situation oflockdown, movement of phys-

ical system of file handling hasbeen temporarily delayed.Because of this, operations areliterally dragging and havecreated towering hump of filesin every office. Non-essentialservices may wait but there arevarious essential services,which need to be first taken outof this towering hump and beattended immediately. CISFIT wing is here again with itsIn-House developed web appli-cation “e-Karyalay”," a CISFofficial said. This is an appli-cation, which mimics eachand every function of tradi-tional file movement in CISF.

-$�2��������������������������������

4����3�5������� ��#������6���

-��������������&"��&������������-�+��,34�������������������

����� ��665

Hundreds of inmates inprisons across Jammu and

Kashmir have volunteered andjoined efforts to fight the coro-navirus pandemic with massproduction of face masks in jailpremises, officials said onSaturday.

They said the prisonersstarted manufacturing the highquality polypropylene maskslast month after the prisonsdepartment's proposal got thenod of the Lt Governor G CMurmu administration whichhas called for universal usage offace covers to contain thespread of the contagious dis-ease in the Union Territory.

Jammu and Kashmir hasrecorded six coronavirus deathsso far – four in the Valley andone each in Udhampur andBaramulla districts with near-ly 450 others infected in theunion territory.

"������������������%5(����������������

�������7����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+. ��$��80;���������7���

Chennai: The Tamil NaduGovernment on Saturday turneddown the request of the familyof neurosurgeon SimonHercules who died of Covid-19to bury his body at a cemeteryin Kilpauk locality.

The wife of Hercules hadearlier appealed to ChiefMinister K. Palaniswami to per-mit the casket containing herhusband's body to be taken outfrom a different cemetery andbury it at a cemetery as per hislast wish.

The Greater ChennaiCorporation has decided to turndown the family's request basedon an expert committee's deci-sion.

The Corporation said it isunsafe to take out the body and

bury it elsewhere after it wasburied safely first.

The 55-year old Herculesdied here recently at a privatehospital and his mortal remainswere taken to Kilpauk cemetery,but the locals protested againstthe burial fearing spread ofvirus.

His body was then taken toa different cemetery where a

large crowd gathered andattacked the ambulance and itsoccupants protesting against theburial there.

However, the body wasburied after police intervened.The police have arrested 20persons in this connection.

On Wednesday ChiefMinister K. Palaniswami spoketo Hercules' wife AnandhiSimon and consoled her.

In a video message, sheappealed to Palaniswami to shiftthe casket containing his mor-tal remains to the Kilpauk ceme-tery as per his last wish.

She said her husband beforebeing put on the ventilator hadexpressed his wish to be buriedas per the family ritual. IANS

1/�&�@��������������� ������&"���#&�����!���

������� ���������665

On day one of the holymonth of Ramzan,

Kashmir valley reportedhighest ever spike in totalnumber of cases as 42patients tested positive andone more death was report-ed due to Covid-19 onSaturday.

With this death, thenumber of casualties due tothe novel coronavirus hasreached to six in J&K. Sofar, three deaths have beenreported from Baramulla,one each from Srinagar,Bandipora and Udhampurdistricts.

According to officialsources, a 72 year oldpatient, suffering fromhypertension and other ill-nesses, was admitted in theSKIMS since April 13 andwas undergoing treatmentafter he tested positive forCovid-19.

According to RohitKansal, spokesman of theJammu & KashmirGovernment, "a total num-ber of 40 new cases weretested positive fromKashmir division on satur-day,taking the total tally to494". Two more casesadmitted in Chest diseaseshospital tested positive lateSaturday evening. Out of42 cases, highest number of14 cases tested positivefrom Kharpora area ofAnantnag.

He said, J&K hasenhanced its testing capac-ity and at present testingmore than 1000 samples aday. He said, three patientsrecovered, two fromJammu and one fromKashmir,taking the totaltally of recovered patientsto 112. The two patients,who were discharged fromJammu included a retiredpolice officer and his ser-vant.

The total number ofcases in the most affecteddistrict of Bandipora sat-urday rose to 116 whileSrinagar stood at numbertwo slot with 83 positivecases and Shopian at num-ber three position with 63coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, majority ofmosques across Kashmirvalley wore a deserted lookand no where 'iftaar' wasorganised at the end of theday long fasting.Worshippers offeredprayers inside their homesor on the rooftops beforebreaking their fast.

Giving partial relief toresidents located in some ofthe red-zones in Jammu,Deputy CommissionerSusham Chauhan informedfour localities of Janipur,Gujjar Nagar, Bhatindi andSunjwan have been kept inOrange zone now. In astatement she said, "thetransition from Red zone to

orange has been permittedin Janipur, Gujjar nagar,Bhatindi & Sunjwan, keep-ing in view the guidelinesfor the same".

She said that further,transition from orange togreen will take place as perprocedure, in due course oftime (second week of May,if situation remains as it istoday).

The District Magistratesaid that the order/ notifi-cation of withdrawal shallbe issued when the transi-tion from Red zone togreen zone is complete.

The district authori-ties in Rajouri and Poonchhave also sealed entry andexit points along theMughal road to preventmovement of people viaShopian.

Large number of vil-lagers have tested positivein Heerpora,one of thelocalities declared as red-zones in South Kashmir.

� ������ ������ 656B�/@

The MVA Government has written to theGovernments of Rajasthan and Punjab

expressing their readiness to bring backnearly 2000-odd students and people strand-ed in these two states.

In two separate communications sent onSaturday, Maharashtra’s director for DisasterManagement Abhay Yawalkar requested theHome Secretaries of the two states to conveyto the respective institutions where the stu-dents and people are stranded and direct thestudents and people to act as per the existingprotocols issued for Covid-19 issued by thetwo Governments.

Anywhere 1800 to 2000 people fromMaharashtra are stranded at Kota inRajasthan. Through its communication, theMaharashtra Government has requested theAshok Gehlot dispensation to ensure the “safepassage” of stranded students and people fromits state.

According to the communication, the stu-dents and people will be returning from Kotaby road via Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat

states. “The State Governments of MadhyaPradesh and Gujarat and their district author-ities are requested to co-operate with thereturn journey of the students and people,”Yawalkar wrote.

On their return from Rajasthan, the stu-dents and people would be screened andhome-quarantined for 14 days in Maharashtra.

In Punjan, “80 to 90” students are strand-ed on Lovely University campus. Like in thecase of Rajasthan, the State DisasterManagement director has requested thePunjab government to ensure the “safe pas-sage” of stranded students and people fromits state.

The students from Lovely University willbe returning to Maharashtra by road by viaRajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. ThePunjab Government has requested the gov-ernments of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Gujarat and their district authorities arerequested to co-operate with the return jour-ney of the students.

On their return from Punjab, the studentswould be screened and home-quarantined for14 days in Maharashtra.

�(%�AA8>%���+'/��%�? '%-/�%/�(%�%��%?%�.'>��.�����B�.%�(+-��.�'���/�(�-C+�.�'��%C���-�&%�%

.�:%��.+��'�� :�?%C%.%�>)* .�.(%�'+?�'-���+.%-.%/�����-.�.(%�* ���'�<%�����

-��%�/�+<�B�� -

�������������� �� �8!./

The number of coronavirus casestested positive in Tamil Nadu

reached 1,821 with 66 persons testingpositive for covid-19 all over the Stateon Saturday. This was disclosed by DrC Vijaya Baskar, Tamil Nadu Ministerfor Health during a media briefing onSaturday.

The Minister said though thenumber of coronavirus cases showedan upward march, there were someencouraging information from thefield. “Saturday saw thedischarge of 94 persons who had beenadmitted to various hospitals in theState and who were cured of the pan-demic. Till date 960 persons who havebeen admitted to various hospitals inthe State have been cured completelyand discharged,” said theMinister.

He said Tamil Nadu topped thetable of States with good recovery rate.“ As on Saturday, the recovery rate in

Tamil Nadu is 52 per cent and we areleading the table,” he said.

With the passing away of a 34-year-old man in a Chennai hospital, 23persons have died in Tamil Nadu sincethe outbreak of the pandemic, the min-ister said.

The next four days will see allmajor cities in the State observing totallockdown as per the order issued by theState Government.

The lockdown order has beenissued following the recommendationby the expert committee appointed bythe chief minister to study the patternof spread of the coronavirus and withan eye to prevent community trans-mission.

The Government has ordered thatAmma Restaurants, a concept eaterylaunched by the former chief ministerlate J Jayalalithaa would function tillMay 3 despite the lockdown orders andserve free food to all workers andlaborers who have been thrown out ofwork.

?����@@�����8��� �����)�����"��� ����1�431

�������������� �� �8!./

Though a section of the medicalfraternity and media are agog

with expectations of a major break-through in developing a vaccine tofight and neutralise the dreadedcoronavirus, veteran medical scien-tists and doctors (both modern andIndian systems) are of the view thatit is doomed to fail.

What is shocking is that MikeAdams, popularly known as HealthRanger, has said in his medical jour-nal that coronavirus vaccine wouldnot work and might actually createmore new viruses through recombi-nation in human hosts.

“Any vaccine for the Wuhancoronavirus would actually createmore viruses inside people’s bodies,making the situation worse than italready is,” says Adams in his researchreport.

A team of researchers led byHelena Jane Maier of PirbrightInstitute, UK had said in a scientif-ic paper published in the journalCoronaviruses (of the NaturePublishing Group) in 2015 itselfthat attempts to develop a vaccine forcoronavirus would end up in failure.

“Over the past 50 years the emer-gence of many different coron-aviruses that cause a wide variety ofhuman and veterinary diseases hasoccurred. It is likely that these virus-es will continue to emerge and toevolve and cause both human andveterinary outbreaks owing to theirability to recombine, mutate, andinfect multiple species and cell types,”said Jane Maier and her team.

This was also substantiated bythe 15 year long research by DrRemya Krishna and Dr Raj Kumar,associate professors at Rajiv GandhiAyurveda Medical College, Mahe,Government of Puducherry. DrRemya told The Pioneer on Saturdaythat it would not be an easy task todevelop a vaccine for coronavirus.“We have found from our researchthat a vaccine may succeed in neu-tralising the virus which case pan-demics but the same virus wouldreappear in more virulent form inanother name to claim more lives.Results of our studies prove that anykind of pandemic, let it be fever orother contagious disease, could becured by finding the root cause of thedisease and prescribing the medicineas per the protocol mentioned in the

great Indian books Charaka Samhita,Aashtamga Samgraham , SusruthaSamhita etc,” said Dr Remya, anative of Thalassery in Kerala.

Dr Raj Kumar has authored abook by name Unveiling The Truthsin Ayurveda based on the researchheld by the husband-wife duo.According to Dr Kumar, all varietiesof pandemic, swine flu, bird flu orcovid-19 break out in the bodywhen the host person loses thepower of immunity. “It is by address-ing this weakness and strengtheningthe immunity power of the body wecan fortify a person against coronavirus or any other disease,” said DrRaj Kumar.

Dr B Rajeeve, Perumbavoorbased Ayurvedic physician who hasbeen collaborating with Remya-RajKumar duo in their research said thatit was possible to identify any kindof fever in the initial stage itself basedon Ayurvedic principles and decidethe treatment protocol. “Till date wehave not encountered any failure,”said Dr Rajeeve.

The Pioneer had reported earli-er that the Union Government hasbeen cold shouldering the Ayurvedabranch of medicine in its fight

against coronavirus. Prof BM Hegdeand Dr C V Krishnaswamy hasexpressed their agony over the step-motherly treatment of Ayurveda bypowers that be. “The vaccine whichthey claim to be on the verge of mar-keting is nothing new but anotherversion of Ebola vaccine which hadfailed. I do not think it is going to bea success. What happened to earliervaccines and tablets like Tamiflu?Cochrane Review which analyses andstudies medical research findings hadruled that Tamiflu and Oseltamvirwere not advisable because of sideeffects,” said Dr Krishnaswamy.

Both Prof Hegde andKrishnaswamy said that 55 per centof the companies manufacturingvaccines are owned by a billionairebusinessman. “This philanthropisthad approached me while I was thechairman of the Bihar State HealthSociety’s Expert Committee with anoffer to donate hundreds of milliondollars to treat the kala-azar disease.“I told this man that Kala-azar couldbe eradicated by a neat house with-out crevices to prevent the carriersand fly from breeding during therains and better nutrition. Hence welost the money,” said Prof Hegde.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan onSaturday said seven more individuals have tested positive for thenovel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state, taking the total num-ber of people presently under treatment to 116. In all, those present-ly affected and cured cases stands at 457.

"A total of 20,580 people are under observation at homes and464 others are being observed at various hospitals in the state," saidVijayan.

"One fresh positive case is of a lady health professional at Kollam.Besides, an 84-year old-M. Abubacker who was positive and undertreatment at Kozhikode Medical College hospital has now recov-ered and is a commendable achievement of our health officials,there," said Vijayan.

"The Centre is seeing our work against COVID-19 in a veryappreciate manner... especially the arrangements we have made inadvance to receive the Kerala diaspora and it can be taken as a modelfor other states. This was told to our chief secretary by the centralCabinet secretary," said Vijayan. IANS

� �� ��665�

In the last 24 hours, 'hot pur-suit' approach adopted by the

security forces resulted in thekilling of five terrorists in twodifferent operations in Kulgamand Pulwama districts ofKashmir valley.

In the absence of any truceon account of Ramzan, securi-ty forces Saturday eliminatedtwo more terrorists and onehardcore associate in anencounter in Goripora area ofAwantipora in South Kashmir'sPulwama district.

Earlier, two terrorists werekilled in Kulgam while rescu-ing a kidnapped jawan of rail-way protection force on Fridayevening.

Kashmir zone police in atweet said, "two unidentifiedterrorists and 1 hardcore asso-ciate of terrorists killed inAwantipora encounter onSaturday". The security forceswere carrying out searches inthe area to rule out the possi-bility of presence of someexplosives at the encountersite.

Meanwhile, the policeteams lifted DNA samples ofslain terrorists and opted forsilent burial far away from the

original place of residence oflocal terrorists.

The police authorities haddecided not to handover thedead bodies of terrorists totheir families as they wereanticipating large assembly ofpeople at the burial site. Thehealth authorities had also puttheir foot down as in the pastassembly of people in pocketsof South Kashmir had clearlyresulted in spread ofCoronavirus in parts ofKashmir valley during funeralprocessions of slain terrorists.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onSaturday made it clear that nopublic gatherings will beallowed in the State till June 30.

"CM Adityanath has givenstrict instructions to the officersthat no crowd of any kind cangather by June 30. This decisionhas been taken with the inten-tion of keeping the coron-avirus under control,"Mrityunjay Kumar, MediaAdvisor to Aditynath said in atweet on Saturday.

The directions from theChief Minister came two daysahead of the scheduled meet-ing of the chief ministers withPrime Minister Narendra Modion April 27 via video confer-ence. The issue of lockdown isto be discussed during themeeting with the PrimeMinister.

Modi has already extend-ed the nationwide lockdown tillMay 3 to combat the spread ofCOVID-19 across the country.

On Saturday, the death tollin Uttar Pradesh rose to 25 with1,621 number of COVID-19cases out which 247 have beencured. IANS

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh'sCovid-19 tally crossed the1000-mark on Saturday morn-ing. With 61 new cases detect-ed during the course of testingdone between 10 a.m. onFriday and 10 a.m. on Saturday,the number of coronaviruscases in the state touched 1016,while the death toll reached 31.Srikakulam which did not havea single case till date, hasreported 3 cases.

The latest surge in the stateis from Krishan district with 25cases, followed by Kurnoolwith 14 new cases. Anantapurdistrict reported 5 cases,Kadapa and Nellore districtsreported 4 cases each, whileEast Godavari, Guntur andSrikakulam districts reported 3cases each.

This is the first time thatCovid-19 cases have beendetected in Srikakulam districtwhich along withVizianagaram district had notreported a single case till date.

The state nodal officerinformed that of the 6928 sam-ples tested during this period,61 tested positive. With thetesting stepped up over the past

three days, Andhra Pradesh hasbeen reporting a relativelyhigher number of Covid-19positive cases.

On Thursday, the state hadconducted 6306 tests, of which,62 cases tested positive.Similarly, on Wednesday, 6520tests were conducted and 81cases were reported from thestate.

With two more deathsreported in the past 24 hours,the death toll in the state standsat 31. Incidentally, the death tollin the state is the highest

among southern states, eventhough the tally is higher insome of the other states in theregion.

While neighbouringTelangana has reported 25deaths till Friday, the death tollin Tamil Nadu is 25, and 18 inKarnataka, while Kerala hasreported 4 deaths so far.

The AP Government istaking note of the high deathrate in the state and officialssaid that a clinical audit of thedeaths is underway to study theissue. IANS

5����� ��������#����A11@�������������

1�����93����������8������BC#�

� ������ ������ 656B�/@

Maharashtra HealthMinister Rajesh Tope on

Saturday indicated that thelockdown in the containmentzones of Mumbai and Punemay be extended till May 18, inview of the rapid increase in thenumber of coronavirus cases inthese two cities.

Tope said that the mainobjective of the lockdown wasto arrest the spread of the coro-navirus and if the spread wasbeing contained, the StateGovernment would not haveany alternative but to extend thelockdown in areas where pan-demic is not contained, foranother fortnight after the endof lockdown on May 3.

“At present, the issue isonly with the slums where pos-itive cases are increasing rapid-ly. We have to ensure that all thecontainment zones are com-pletely cordoned off. If required,we will extend the lockdown for15 more days after 3 May onlyfor the containment zones, ifnot for the entire Mumbai andPune," Tope said, while inter-acting with “Mint” newspaper.

There are 512 active con-tainment zones in the statecurrently. In Mumbai, the

Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) has iden-tified 31 areas containmentzones in Mumbai, while thereare seven containment zones inPune.

As on Friday evening, therewere as many as 191 Covid-19triggered deaths, while the totalnumber of infected cases hasmounted to 4870. In Pune,there have so far been 73 deathsand 1030 infected cases.

Tope said that his ministryhad asked the state governmentto enforce lockdown restric-tions on schools, colleges andpublic gatherings acrossMaharashtra till May 18. “ForMumbai and Pune, all non-essential services will not beallowed to operate in thehotspot areas for at least anoth-er 15 days after 3 May,” Topesaid.

��������������-�+��+������������������60������

5�������� �"�������� ���-� ��� ���8�9

��������������� ����������������������� ���(�=��/��=��

� ������ ������ 656B�/

As many as 21 more personstest positive for coron-

avirus in Mumbai’s Dharavi onSaturday, taking the total num-ber of cases to 241 in Asia’slargest slum where there havebeen as many as 14 Covid-19deaths so far.

A day after six infectedcases and one death werereported from Dharavi, theauthorities recorded 21 infect-ed more cases on Saturday,resulting in the total Covid-19tally in this densely populat-ed slum to 241.

The new infected caseswere reported from the areas ofKoliwada, Mukund Nagar, M60 feet road, Shanti Shivanhousing society, Kanchi KarveNagar, Indira Nagar, Kalpataruhousing society, Kalyanwadi,Social Nagar, Rajiv GandhiNagar and Matunga Labourcamp.

Among those who testedpositive were ten women and11 men. There are two teenagegirls among the infected.Those infected were in the age

group of 13 to 66 years. What has caused anxiety

among the city health author-ities is that infected cases havebeen reported from most partsof Dharavi, which is spreadover 240 hectare area

Dharavi, which is home to4 lakh people, is one of theCovid-19 hotspots in Mumbai.

Ever since first few cases ofCovid-19 were reported in theearly first week of April, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) is closelymonitoring the situation inDharavi where the healthauthorities have clamped atotal lockdown.

9>�������������,��&�������9F>

&��6&���������������������&������"���������������&�37

� �� �*+�,*-./

The Rotary Club of Delhi Heritagehanded over 5,000 reusable masks

each to the Kendriya Bhandar and theDelhi Police on Saturday.

According to a statement, the club issupplying around 50,000 reusable masksfor distribution, in coordination with thePIB, responding to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi''s call to help the peopleby donating relief material during theCovid-19 crisis.

It stated that the face masks have beenmade by women tailors working fromhome during the ongoing lockdown.

The statement said that KuldeepSingh Dhatwalia, Principal DirectorGeneral of PIB, and Rajeev Jain, ADG ofPIB, handed over 5,000 masks each toNew Delhi DCP Eish Singhal andKendriya Bhandar CMD Mukesh Kumarat the National Media Centre.

Jain handed over the masks on behalfof the Rotary Club of Delhi Heritage.Rakesh Jain, president of Rotary Heritage,was present on the occasion, it added.

A����!��1����,����.���"��"�&���?:����������� ���B�� �$�,������������

�+�%�-��/�.(�.�.(%�C���+*@%?.�B%�+<�.(%�'+?:/+&��&�-.+����%-.�.(%�-��%�/�+<�.(%

?+�+��B�� -���/��<�.(%�-��%�/&�-�*%����?+�.���%/)�.(%�.�.%�+B%��C%�.�&+ '/��+.�(�B%��>��'.%���.�B%�* .�.+�%D.%�/.(%�'+?:/+&�������%�-�&(%�%���/%C�?��-��+.�?+�.���%/)�<+���+.(%��<+�.���(.��<.%��.(%�%�/

+<�'+?:/+&��+����>�=

L�"�@����(�1���"�����"����5�����������;:�

*��������"� ������1�666�&���������������1��� ����

)������:����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

Rome: Italy will start distrib-uting free protective masks tonursing homes, many of whichhave been devastated by coro-navirus infections and deaths.

Domenico Arcuri, the gov-ernment’s commissioner forthe pandemic, says doing so isa “ gesture of solidarity andnearness and support to theseplaces ever more at the epi-center of this great crisis.”

Arcuri says free masks alsowill be distributed to publicofficials, transport workers and

police. Millions of Italians willbe allowed to return to work-places starting on May 4, whenlockdown restrictions will beconsiderably eased.

Italy, with some 26,000reported deaths, most of themof elderly persons, has Europe’shighest toll from COVID-19.In Lombardy, Italy’s moststricken region, prosecutorsare investigating about twodozen homes, including one inMilan where some 200 resi-dents died. AP

Gaza City: For the first time inyears, sewing factories in theGaza Strip are back to workingat full capacity — producingmasks, gloves and protectivegowns, some of which arebound for Israel.

It’s a rare economic lifelinein the coastal territory, whichhas been blockaded by Israeland Egypt since the Hamas mil-itant group seized power fromrival Palestinian forces in thestrip in 2007. The blockade, andthree wars between Hamas andIsrael, have devastated the localeconomy, with unemploymenthovering around 50 per cent.

But the sudden opportu-nity also shows how Gaza’seconomy is at the mercy ofthose enforcing the blockade —and how depressed wages havebecome. Workers earn as littleas USD 8 a day.

So far, Gaza appears to

have been largely spared fromthe coronavirus pandemic,with only 17 cases detected, allwithin quarantine facilities setup for those returning fromabroad. Many still fear an out-break in the impoverished ter-ritory, which is home to 2 mil-lion people and where the

health care system has beenbattered by years of conflict.But for now, authorities arecautiously allowing most busi-nesses to stay open.

Rizq al-Madhoun, owner ofthe Bahaa garment company,said he has produced more than1 million masks in the past

three weeks, “ all for the Israelimarket.” Gaza may not havethe advanced machinery seenin other places, but he said res-idents’ sewing skills areunmatched. “ Gaza workersare distinguished in handiworkand they are better than work-ers in China or Turkey,” he said.

Another factory, Unipal2000, is able to employ 800workers across two shifts toproduce protective equipmentaround the clock.

Both factories import fab-ric and other materials fromcustomers in Israel and thenproduce items like masks,gloves and surgical gowns.Unipal makes about 150,000pieces a day, and demand ishigh as countries around theworld grapple with shortages.

Asked about doing busi-ness with Israeli customers,both factory owners said they

did not want to discuss politicsand framed their work interms of business and human-itarian needs.

“ Despite the siege in Gaza,we export these masks and pro-tective clothes to the wholeworld without exception,”Bashir Bawab, the owner ofUnipal 2000, said.

“ We feel we are doing ahumanitarian duty.” In recentyears, Tamer Emad, a skilledtextile worker, was able towork one week per month atbest. But over the past month,he has been on the Unipal fac-tory floor every day, earningaround USD 8 per shift.

“ This has provided uswith a good opportunity aheadof Ramadan,” he said, referringto the Muslim holy month,which began Thursday, whenfamilies traditionally splurge onfood and shopping.

Such wages are typical inthe depressed Gazan economy,but would barely keep a fami-ly afloat. It costs around USD250 a month to rent a two-bed-room apartment.

Omar Shaban, an econo-mist who heads a local thinktank, said the conditions cre-ated by the blockade allow for“ exploitation,” but that low-wage jobs still provide incomefor many people.

Unipal 2000 first openedin an industrial zone along thefrontier in 1998, when thepeace process was in fullswing. But like many otherGaza businesses, it was forcedto shut down after the Hamastakeover and the blockade.Israel says the blockade isneeded to prevent Hamas, anIslamic militant group thatopposes Israel’s existence, fromarming itself. AP

London: Downing Street onSaturday went into strong denialmode after a political row brokeout over a UK media reportclaiming that British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson’s topaide had attended secret meet-ings of the scientific groupadvising the government on itsCovid-19 response strategy.

‘The Guardian’ claimed thatDominic Cummings, Johnson’schief strategic adviser, and anofficial associated with the Brexitcampaign were part of the meet-ings of the Scientific AdvisoryGroup for Emergencies (SAGE).This triggered Opposition angeras it implies government influ-ence over what is pegged as anindependent advisory body, the

membership of which has notbeen made public.

“ The scientists on SAGEare among the most eminent intheir fields. It is factually wrongand damaging to sensible pub-lic debate to imply their adviceis affected by governmentadvisers listening to discus-sions,” a Downing Streetspokesperson said.

“ Public confidence in themedia has collapsed during thisemergency partly because ofludicrous stories such as this,”the spokesperson said.

Johnson’s office stresses thatCummings and Ben Warner, adata scientist associated with theVote Leave campaign for theUK’s exit from the European

Union (EU), are not members ofthe group and had only listenedin to SAGE meetings in order tobetter understand the scientificdebate around coronavirus.

They “ occasionally” askedquestions or offered help withreaching out to civil servants atWhitehall when required.

SAGE is a panel of medicaland scientific experts, chaired bythe UK’s Chief Scientific Officer,Sir Patrick Vallance, that pro-vides independent advice to thegovernment during any crisisand has been leading on crucialdecisions such as the length andnature of the Covid-19 lock-down. Its advice feeds into min-isters’ decision-making processand is not made public. PTI

Washington: The United Statesis working with other countriesto make sure they understandthat coronavirus originated inWuhan, China, Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo has said.

Stressing that the burden ison Beijing to explain where thevirus came from, Pompeo toldThe Ben Shapiro Show in aninterview on Friday that Chinaknew about the virus byDecember, 2019.

“ We need to hold account-able the parties responsible forthe deaths here in the UnitedStates and the enormous eco-nomic costs that have beenposed on the US,” he said.

Pompeo said that the entireglobal economic system hasbeen decimated.

“ Diplomatically, we’rereaching out to countries allacross the world to help them dothe right thing, to help theireconomies get started back up,to make sure that when the timeis right we can get internation-al travel kicked back up so thatglobal commerce can recom-mence, he said.

“ If you get demand back up,that will matter an awful lot toworkers right here in the UnitedStates of America,” he said.

“ We are also working withthose countries to make surethey understand that this was infact a virus that originated inWuhan, China, that the ChineseGovernment knew about this

certainly by December of 2019,”he said.

“ ... And that they (China)failed to comply with their mostfundamental obligations as anation, and importantly, too,failed to comply with the inter-national health regulations of the

World Health Organization andthen did a lot of things — andwe can talk about them at greatlength — to cover that up,”Pompeo added.

Those are the kinds ofthings that the US needs toaddress, he said.

Pompeo alleged that theWorld Health Organisationfailed in its mission to protect theworld from the pandemic.

“ We’re not going to let thathappen again, and we’re going toset up something, a system,which delivers an outcomewhich reduces the risk that any-thing like this can ever happenagain, from China or from any-place else,” he said. PTI

Washington: Trying to wrig-gle out of the backlash hereceived for his outlandishsuggestions, US PresidentDonald Trump has said that hewas being “ sarcastic” when hetold his medical experts thatthey should consider usingUV light, heat, or injecting disinfectants into the

COVID-19 patients as apotential treatment.

Trump faced intenserebuke on Thursday for his far-fetched suggestion from health

experts who urged people notto listen to the President’s “dangerous” advice.

Doctors and the companythat makes Lysol and Dettolwarned that injecting oringesting disinfectants wasdangerous.

When Trump was askedabout his comments during abill signing on Friday, he said:“ I was asking a question sar-castically to reporters like youjust to see what would happen”.

“ I was asking a sarcastic —

and a very sarcastic question —to the reporters in the roomabout disinfectant on theinside,” he said.

Trump suggested he wastalking about disinfectants thatcan safely be rubbed on peo-ple’s hands.

“ But it does kill it, and itwould kill it on the hands andthat would make things muchbetter. That was done in theform of a sarcastic question tothe reporters,” The Hill quot-ed Trump as saying. PTI

Beijing: China has approved itsthird coronavirus vaccine forthe second phase of clinical tri-als as it reported 12 newCOVID-19 cases, taking thetotal number of infections inthe country to 82,816.

China has approved threecoronavirus vaccines, includingthe one developed by Chinesemilitary, the People’s LiberationArmy (PLA) for clinical trials.

An “ inactivated” vaccinedeveloped by Wuhan Instituteof Biological Products underthe China NationalPharmaceutical Group(Sinopharm) and the WuhanInstitute of Virology (WIV)started its clinical trials, state-run Xinhua news agencyreported.

An “ inactivated” vaccineconsists of virus particles, bac-teria, or other pathogens thathave been grown in culture andthen lose disease producingcapacity. In contrast, live vac-cines use pathogens that arestill alive.

WIV has been in the eye ofthe storm in recent weeks as USPresident Donald Trump andtop American officials allegedthat the coronavirus may haveescaped from there anddemanded a probe into it. Anofficial of the WIV denied it,terming the allegation “ entire-ly based on speculation” .

A total of 96 persons inthree age groups have receivedthe vaccine in the first phase ofclinical trial as of April 23. PTI

>+&����������������� ����������������� ���������������������?����.

Washington: The global coro-navirus has claimed at least200,568 on Saturday as theUnited Nations launched aninternational push for a vaccineto defeat the pandemic.Governments around the worldare struggling to limit the eco-nomic devastation unleashedby the virus, which has infect-ed nearly 2.8 million peopleand left half of humanity undersome form of lockdown.

The United States is thehardest-hit country by far inthe pandemic, recording52,869 deaths and more than930,171 infections.

The virus has killed over120,00 people in Europe withmore than three quarters ofthose fatalities in Italy, France,Spain and Britain, according toan AFP tally on Saturday usingofficial figures.

With 120,140 deaths and1,344,172 cases, Europe is the

continent hardest hit by thepandemic that emerged latelast year. Italy has the mostdeaths with 26,384 followed bySpain with 22,902, France with22,245 and Britain with20,319.

The scale of the pandem-ic has forced medical researchon the virus to move atunprecedented speed, buteffective treatments are still faraway and the United Nationschief said the effort willrequire cooperation on a glob-al scale.

“ We face a global publicenemy like no other,”Secretary-General AntonioGuterres told a virtual briefingon Friday, asking for interna-tional organisations, worldleaders and the private sectorto join hands.

“ A world free of COVID-19 requires the most massivepublic health effort in history.”

The vaccine should besafe, affordable and available toall, Guterres stressed at themeeting, which was alsoattended by the leaders of

Germany and France.But notably absent from

the meeting were the leadersof China, where the virus firstemerged late last year, and the

United States, which hasaccused the UN’s WorldHealth Organization of notwarning quickly enough aboutthe original outbreak. AFP

(,0A6,�'.617 10,,�10-���22B

London: The number ofdeaths in the UK hospitalsfrom the novel coronaviruscrossed the grim milestone of20,000 on Saturday, up by813 over the previous day –among the highest daily deathtolls recorded this week.

These official figuresreleased daily by the UK’sDepartment of Health andSocial Care do not account fordeaths that occur elsewhere inthe community, which means

the overall number ofCOVID-19 deaths in thecountry is much higher.

Last month, in response toa question at the dailyDowning Street briefings,Stephen Powis, the MedicalDirector of National HealthService (NHS) England, saida total number of deathsunder 20,000 “ would be agood outcome” .

However, that figure hasnow been crossed within 51

days of the first UK deathrecorded from the coron-avirus.

The government’s ChiefScientific Adviser, Sir PatrickValance, had also said it wasthe “ hope” that the death tollwould be kept below 20,000.

The UK’s death toll nowmakes it just one of a numberof countries to have crossedthe 20,000 fatalities mark,after France, Spain, Italy andthe US. PTI

+#���������������� ������� ��������36�666����������

��<�� � ����������� ������� �������������� ��������

>��=� ��������� � �����.������ �������"������ ���� +��./�4�8�

For the first time, PresidentDonald Trump cut off his

daily coronavirus task forcebriefing on Friday without tak-ing any questions from reporters.It may not be the last time.

There have been discus-sions within the White Houseabout changing the format ofthe briefings to curtail thepresident’s role, according tofour White House officials andRepublicans close to the WhiteHouse who spoke on conditionof anonymity because theywere not authorised to discuss

the matter publicly.The briefings often stretch

well beyond an hour and fea-ture combative exchangesbetween Trump and reporters.

Trump was angry after aday of punishing headlines onFriday, largely about his com-ment at the previous evening’sbriefing wondering if it wouldbe helpful to inject disinfec-tant into people to fight thecoronavirus.

That idea drew loud warn-ings from health experts whosaid the idea was dangerousand sharp criticism fromDemocrats.

?�����,����� ���������������� ����������������������

Colombo: Nearly 4,000 SriLankan Navy personnel andtheir families have been quar-antined at a major naval facil-ity after 60 COVID-19 caseswere confirmed in two days, amedia report said on Saturday.

The move came as 30 Navypersonnel tested positive forthe COVID-19 virus each onFriday and Saturday at thecountry’s Welisara Naval camp,the state-run Daily Newsreported.

“ Today 30 Navy personnelhave tested positive for theCOVID-19 virus. Another 30had tested positive for thevirus yesterday,” ArmyCommander LieutenantGeneral Shavendra Silva wasquoted as saying by the paper

during his media briefing ofthe National Operation Centrefor the Prevention of COVID-19 here.

Following the new cases,nearly 4,000 naval personneland their families at the navalbase have been isolated with-in the camp, the paper report-ed, citing an order issued bythe Sri Lankan Navy.

The spurt in new casescame amidst Sri Lanka decid-ing to lift the nationwide cur-few imposed to stem thespread of the coronavirus onMonday.

Sri Lanka has been undera strict curfew since March 20to combat the COVID-19 thathas claimed seven lives andinfected 420 people. PTI

9�666�-������)��"�������������������� ���@6�������8��

Berlin: The World HealthOrganisation is cautioningagainst the idea of “ immuni-ty passports.” It says there iscurrently no evidence that peo-ple who have recovered fromCOVID-19 and have antibod-ies are protected against a sec-ond infection.

The concept of “ immuni-ty passports” or “ risk-free cer-tificates” has been floated as away of allowing people pro-tected against reinfection toreturn to work.

But the Geneva-based UNhealth agency says in a scien-tific brief released Saturdaythat more research is needed.It says that “ at this point in thepandemic, there is not enough

evidence about the effective-ness of antibody-mediatedimmunity to guarantee theaccuracy of an ‘immunity pass-port’ or ‘risk-free certificate.’”

It argues that people whoassume they are immune toreinfection may ignore publichealth advice, and such cer-tificates could raise the risks ofcontinued virus transmission.

WHO adds that tests forantibodies of the new coron-avirus also “ need further val-idation to determine theiraccuracy and reliability.” AP

Washington: Asserting thatChina’s CommunistGovernment needs to be heldaccountable for “ lying” aboutthe coronavirus pandemic, topIndian-American Republicanpolitician Nikki Haley haslaunched an online petitionurging the US Congress to act.

More than 40,000 peoplehave signed the ‘StopCommunist China’ petition byFriday night, hours after beinglaunched by the former gover-nor of South Carolina who has

set a goal of getting 100,000 sig-natures. “ China’s Communistgovernment needs to be heldaccountable for their role in lyingabout the Coronavirus pan-demic, and the US Congressneeds to respond – now,” said48-year-old Haley, a former USAmbassador to the UnitedNations. “ Join us in our fight tostop China from gaining influ-ence in America and around theworld. Sign this petition andplease share with your friends,”she added. PTI

/�!!��7�� ��#�����8����$�++#����$��"��+��<

Lahore: The number ofPakistani doctors infected withthe coronavirus has reached160 with three deaths even asthe protest by the medicsagainst the lack of PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE)entered the ninth day onSaturday.

Dr Muhammad JavedIqbal, who contracted the virusover a week ago, died inPeshwar. Earlier, one doctoreach from Gilgit-Biltistan andKarachi lost their lives due toCOVID-19.

According to the PakistanMedical Association, some 250medics including 160 doctorshave been infected with thecoronavirus so far.

The Grand Health Allianceof doctors and nurses’ hunger

camp outside the Punjab healthdepartment entered the ninthday for paying no attention tothe medics falling victim to thedeadly virus due to the non-availability of adequate pro-tective medical kits.

“ We will continue holdingthe protest till the governmentmeets our legitimate demands,”Grand Health Alliance chair-man Dr Salman Haseeb toldPTI.

Primarily, the alliancewants the government to takecare of the doctors and otherstaff serving in the testing timeof COVID-19 and providethem with a complete protec-tive gear, he said, adding thatthe protest would continuethroughout the month ofRamzan. PTI

��2�-!���������&��)�&#����&������<���--.����&�<������#���

Madrid: Spain’s health authori-ties say 2,944 new COVID-19infections were confirmed in theprevious 24 hours, taking thetotal to nearly 206,000 cases.

Authorities say the dailyfigure is a 1.5 per cent increasefrom Friday, compared to over20 per cent from a month before.There were 378 reported deathsin the last 24 hours, taking thedeath toll since the start of thepandemic in Spain to nearly23,000. “ The recent tendency ofthe evolution of the pandemicappears to hold true, each dayimproving a bit, but it is impor-tant to not fall into excessiveeuphoria,” Spanish health offi-cial Fernando Simón said. AFP

����&���&����������)�&#������

?,'������������������ �>�������"���������.

������'#.������������ ���� �� ���� ����������>�/(���� ����1����

1������ ����""��"���(��������$������(���������������� $������"�����������������������������"�� &������� ��1��������"�� ����(�����������������+�%�����"(���������� ���(��� �P>E���������������&�������&����$����"���������1������������������>9$PD;����>9� ����������������$�� ����(������ ��+'+C*+������-��������� �� �� � ���������� ������������������"������� ������$������ ��"!����1�$�����6��F����������(�� ������� � ��������&����������������$������ ���4�1�A%(��#���������������� $� ���������/��� ���������� � �����"�������1������FD�����������������"��� ��

*�������*�������

���������� (�������B������.�������������� �������012�� ��� ����������

/�����D�������������������������$� �>12

����"��������������� ����������"9������� ��������

�������������������������������������2�����������������������+���������������+����������������������������������������������������������+��������������������������&����������������������� �"

�������;����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

� �� �*+�,*-./

In a bid to provide free puls-es to 20 crore households

through public distributionsystem, the Centre will dis-tribute 5.88 lakh metric tonnesunder the Pradhan MantriGarib Anna Yojna (PMGAY) toStates and Union Territoriesamid coronavirus lockdown.

According to the Ministryof Consumer Affairs, most ofthe beneficiaries will receive thequota for the first month with-in April or latest by the firstweek of May and several stateswould be able to distributepulses for all three months inthe first go itself.

According to the ministry,the massive operation of trans-

portation and milling of 5.88lakh tonne of pulses will haveto be milled for distribution of5.88 lakh tonnes of milled andcleaned pulses under the PDSfor three months under thePMGAY. While the monthlyrequirement of pulses is about1.96 lakh tonne under thePMGAY, about 1.45 lakh tonneof milled and cleaned pulseshave so far been offered tostates for distribution throughPDS, also called ration shops.

“While, as on date, about30,000 tonnes of pulses havebeen distributed, this wouldspeed up in the first week ofMay. For the remaining states,the efforts are being made tocomplete the distribution for allthree months within May itself,

preferably within the third weekof May, it added. About one-third of the monthly require-ment of pulses has been takenby states and union territories tofinal destinations for distribu-tion, it said. Each kilo of pulsegoes through at least three (inmany cases four) trips by truck

and as many cycles of loadingand unloading. While for longdistances, transport is beingdone through goods trains, inmost cases transportation is byroad through trucks, the min-istry added.

This kind of massive oper-ation would involve about two

lakh truck trips and loading aswell as unloading operationover a period of 4 weeks, theministry said, adding that it ischallenging during the lock-down as many dal mills andgodowns are located in thehotspot areas.

Around 17 States and

Union Territories such asAndhra Pradesh, Assam,Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh,Maharashtra, Meghalaya,Arunachal Pradesh,Andamans, Chandigarh,Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan,Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, and

Telangana have begun distrib-ution. Several other States andUTs have decided to distributepulses along with foodgraindistribution in the first week ofMay for reasons of social dis-tancing and public safety.

Some States and UTs suchas Andaman and Nicobar,Chandigarh, Dadra NagarHaveli, Goa, Ladakh,Puducherry, Lakshadweep andeven Punjab have been provid-ed milled/cleaned pulses for allthree months in one go, it said.

Several States with dal millswithin their jurisdictions havebeen asked to lift the milledpulses by themselves to speedup the process, it added.

The cooperative NAFED isexecuting the task, it said and

noted that “the scale of thisoperation is massive and farmore complex than foodgrainmovement”.

According to the ministry,NAFED has been allowed touse the pulses stock lying in its165 godowns for this purpose.

The cooperative, which hasroped in over 100 dal mills sofar, is selecting the millersthrough online auctions. Also,a five group of officers of bothConsumer Affairs andAgriculture Ministries havebeen created for coordinatingwith states, NAFED, dal millersand warehousing corporations.

The Cabinet Secretary ispersonally monitoring the dis-tribution on a day to day basis,the ministry added.

New Delhi: Most States will use escapeclause given in their respective FRBMActs to breach the 3 per cent fiscaldeficit target set for FY21 as theCovid-19 pandemic wrecks on theirfinances while pushing up expenses forhealthcare services.

Sources in the government saidthat states have already pushed forhigher deficit target for FY21 with theCentre and they have been told to toethe line taken by the it to raise theirdeficit by 0.5 per cent of gross statedomestic product (GSDP) which iswithin their respective FiscalResponsibility and BudgetManagement (FRBM) Acts.

Union Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman already used the escapeclause in her February budget -- muchbefore the Covid-19 pandemic —after lower growth impacted govern-ment finances. Accordingly the FY20deficit target was raised to 3.8 per centof GDP from earlier 3.3 per cent. Also,FY 21 central fiscal deficit target has

been revised to 3.5 per cent.The need for breaching the deficit

target by states is arising out of hugeexpenditure needs they have project-ed to deal with Covid-19 pandemic.Moreover, with central revenue alsounder stress, states expect to get a lotlower share from central pool of taxes.So a higher fiscal deficit will allow themto borrow more to meet the addition-al funding need in this period of cri-sis. According to an analysis done byMotilal Oswal of the fiscal position of18 states, eight states have already bud-geted for a 3 per cent fiscal deficit ofthe GSDP or higher for FY21, Anotherfive states have budgeted for a fiscaldeficit of 2.5-2.9 per cent of theirrespective GSDPs. Only five states havebudgeted for a fiscal deficit of less than2.5 per cent of GSDP in FY21.

Of the states studied by the bro-kerage, only seven states have target-ed a surplus on the revenue accountand 10 states have outstanding liabil-ities of 24 per cent of the GSDP or

more for this year.What’s more, for 10 states, the

committed expenditure (interest, salaryand pension payments) amounted tomore than 53 per cent of the revenuereceipts, as against the average of allstates at 49 per cent, the brokeragenoted in its report. “The state financesof several states are under stress andCovid-19 will further their ability toconsolidate financially while expand-ing deficit to meet additional fundrequirement for the healthcare sector,”said an analyst. On an aggregate basis,all states spent only Rs 1.3 lakh croreor 0.73 per cent of GDP on medicaland public health in FY18, amountingto 4.5 per cent of total spending bystates. A study of 22 states and UTsconfirms that Delhi tops the list withthe highest share of health spending(12.5 per cent of total spending), fol-lowed by Assam at 6.6 per cen per cent.Telangana and Andhra Pradesh spendthe least (3.5 per cent of total spend-ing) on health sector. IANS

New Delhi: The Indian bullionmarket will not witness thebuying fervour as seen everyyear on the auspicious occasionof Akshya Tritiya that falls onSunday this year due to a nation-wide lockdown in place to fightthe coronavirus pandemic.

However, the trade bodiessaid that jewellers will to takethe digital route to explore thepossibility of selling.

Meanwhile, the recentorder of the Centre may givethe Indian bullion market anopportunity to trade if thestate governments allow open-ing of shops, said SurendraMehta, National Secretary,India Bullion and JewellersAssociation (IBJA).

Gold prices are ruling nearan all-time high in the domes-tic market while the yellowmetal rallied to over a seven-year high in the global marketamid the coronavirus crisis.

Mehta said this is goodnews for the Indian bullionmarket that ahead of the aus-picious occasion of AkshayTritiya, the government has

offered some relaxations toopen the shops in non-con-tainment zones.

The Union Ministry ofHome Affairs on Friday allowedopening of shops as part of theeasing of lockdown restrictionsannounced on April 15 withneighbourhood shops and oth-ers being allowed within the cityand all shops except those inmalls allowed outside themunicipal limits with 50 per centstrength of workers. But suchrelaxations in any particulararea would be decided by therespective state governments.

“We have asked all thejewellers to get in touch withthe buyers though the digitalroute and if they are interest-ed, they can purchase onlineand get physical delivery ofitems when the lockdownends,” said Mehta. Usually thewedding season starts withAkshya Tritiya in the country,but people are postponing orcancelling wedding schedulesas social gathering is notallowed due to the coronavirusoutbreak in the country. IANS

New Delhi: Civil AviationMinister Hardeep Singh Purion Saturday said that the coun-try’s civil aviation infrastructureis “working round the clock” toensure transport of life-savingmedical supplies.

In a tweet, the Ministersaid: “Our robust civil aviationinfrastructure is working roundthe clock to ensure timelytransport of life-saving medicalsupplies to regions where theyare needed.

“Lifeline UDAN has tillnow transported 649 tonnes ofsupplies on 368 flights across3,63,819 kms.”

The Lifeline Udan flightsconnect hubs in locations suchas Guwahati, Dibrugarh,Agartala, Aizwal, Dimapur,Imphal, Coimbatore,T h i r u v a n t h a p u r a m ,Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Ranchi,Port Blair and Goa.

Accordingly, the flights areoperated by Air India, AllianceAir, IAF, Pawan Hans, BlueDart, SpiceJet, IndiGo andVistara.

IANS

$��&�����<�)���:��,�+��&��������� ��#���������������=1�

C������&������!����<���&�#��������6!�� �1&���

-�+���+�������������������,��+������������������6&�������

����� ��������)�������2���"��� #�'�#��� �����)������#����5��+

New Delhi: Markets regulatorSebi has imposed a total penal-ty of Rs 30 lakhs on six individ-uals for indulging in fraudulenttrading in the shares of MaproIndustries.

The regulator through anorder levied a fine of Rs 6 lakheach on six persons — BijayKumar Chourasia, ShyamKanheyalal Vyas, Jyoti Jha,Mukund Kumar Jha, SatyendraKumar Jha and Prem LataNahar.

Sebi had conducted aninvestigation in the scrip ofMapro Industries betweenNovember 2013 and June 2014.

The probe found that theseentities were engaged in artifi-cial and non-genuine tradeswith a view to manipulate theprice of MIL. Such trades creat-ed a misleading impression ofstock price increase. Byindulging in such trades, theyhave violated the provisions ofPFUTP (Prohibition ofFraudulent and Unfair TradePractices) regulations, Sebi saidon Friday. In separate orders,Sebi has imposed a penalty of Rs10 lakh and 8 lakh on the bro-kerage houses, Arihant Futures& Commodities Pvt Ltd and

Kantilal Chhaganlal SecuritiesPvt Ltd, respectively for misus-ing clients’ funds.

During the probe, Sebifound that Arihant Futures andKantilal Chhaganlal have mis-used the clients’ funds withcredit balance for meeting oblig-ations of debit balance clients. Bydoing so, they have violated theprovisions of SCRA (SecuritiesContracts Regulation Act).

In an another order, the reg-ulator has levied a fine of �6 lakhon Era Infra Engineering for dis-closures lapses.

The firm did not submitcompliance certificate to theexchanges and did not givemake submission aboutinvestors complaints to thebourses within specified time asrequired under LODR.Separately, the regulator hasslapped a fine of 3 lakh onViking Industries for failing tomake disclosure to 20 MicronsLtd and exchanges when itsshareholding in the companycrossed 5 per cent thresholdthereby violating the provisionsof SAST (SubstantialAcquisition of Shares andTakeover) and PIT (Prohibitionof Insider Trading) norms. PTI

����� �*+�,*-./

Two apex industry bodiesICEA and Confederation

of All India Traders (CAIT)have jointly written to UnionHome Minister Amit Shah,seeking permission for sale ofmobile phones by pleadingthat such handsets are pivotalfor communications duringthe lockdown.

The India Cellular andElectronics Association(ICEA) — whose membersinclude Apple, Foxconn,Wistron, Flextronics, Xiaomi,Vivo, Oppo, Lava, among oth-ers — in its earlier communi-cations to government author-ities had said that mobilephones are at the heart of thisecosystem and their non-avail-ability can be life threatening.

In a joint letter to Shah onApril 22, the industry bodiesmentioned that a very largenumber of citizens don’t haveaccess to basic mobile phoneseven during these extraordi-nary circumstances.

“Therefore, there is anurgent requirement and des-peration amongst citizens to atleast have access to basic fea-ture phones or entry-levelsmart phones which can caterto their varied needs relatingto communication, children

education, entertainment,medical and business require-ments,” the letter said.

According to industry esti-mates, around 2.5 crore peo-ple in the country may be hav-ing a non-functional or dam-aged phones leading to toughtime for them in accessingessential services during theongoing lockdown which hasentered into 5th week.

“In addition to this, a largenumber of citizens are cur-rently suffering on account offaulty mobile devices which require urgent repairingand replacement,” the lettersaid.

In a separate letter to HomeScretary Ajay Bhalla, the ICEAhas said that more than 10 croresenior citizens at the bottom ofpyramid do not have access toeven feature phones and arebeing denied access.

The government hasallowed opening of standaloneof shops but not shops in themalls or shopping complexthat house most of the mobiledevices retailers.

The Ministry ofElectronics and IT has alsorecommended inclusion ofmobile devices, personal com-puters and related accessoriesin list of essential goods tosupport work from home and

access other essential services. The Home Ministry had

earlier allowed e-commercecompanies to sell non-essen-tial items during the secondleg of the coronavirus lock-down but after protest fromvarious sections includingtraders’ body theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT), the decisionwas withdrawn.

The joint letter by theICEA and CAIT said thatshops providing retail salesand services of mobile devices number only 2.5 lakhs,which is just a small subset ofthe 10-15 lakh telecom ser-vices establishments spreadacross the country which pro-vide telecom services whichinclude sale of recharge, SIMcard, etc.

“India Cellular andElectronics Association andConfederation of All IndiaTraders jointly recommendallowing the sale and service ofmobile devices and its acces-sories without any furtherdelay. The operationalisationof these shops shall be done instrict compliance to thedefined SOPs (standard oper-ating procedures) and pre-ventive measures notified bythe government from time totime,” the letter said.

����� �*+�,*-./

Against the backdrop ofCOVID-19 pandemic, the

Government on Saturday askedtruckers to take all possibleprecautions while transportingessential goods across the country.

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways alsoreleased an animation video

with illustration of ‘Dos andDon’ts’ for Truck/Lorry Drivers as they handle increas-ing movements of goods acrossthe country.

“Union Ministry of RoadTransport and HighwaysMinistry has released an illus-trative animation video whichprovides for broad Dos andDon’ts for truck/lorry drivers asthey are handling trips to trans-

port essential goods across thecountry.

“The animation calls uponpeople to respect and cooperatewith truck/lorry drivers who areworking to ease life by trans-porting essential goods andmedicines in the scenario whenGovernment had to extendlockdown to curb COVID-19and save lives,” the ministry saidin a statement.

Mumbai: At least 328 entities across sectors, includ-ing state-owned and those backed by big con-glomerates, have opted for availing the ReserveBank’s three-month moratorium on their debtrepayments, rating agency Icra said on Saturday.

The list of entities, rated by it, include Air IndiaExpress, ONGC Petro Additions, entities from TataGroup, JSW Group and GMR Group.

On March 27, the RBI had given borrowersa three-month moratorium on debt repaymentsfor the March-May period due to the COVID-19pandemic.

This is a voluntary measure and interest keepsaccruing on the loan during the period of mora-torium, and experts have opined that such a movewould generally elongate the loan repayment peri-od. Icra said it is disclosing the names of the enti-

ties as per a mandate received from Sebi, andmade it clear that missed payment by these enti-ties even in the case of pending formal approvalfrom the lending institutions prior to the origi-nal due date, is not considered an instance ofdefault. Air India Express having a debt of �1,301crore, and ONGC Petro Additions — which haddebt of �33,180 crore and $155 million in foreignborrowings, have opted for the moratorium onits loans, the agency said. Interglobe Hotels, withdebt of �811 crore, and having its outlook on rat-ing revised to negative earlier this month due toworries on the hospitality sectors, has also optedfor the moratorium, it said, adding that other hos-pitality sector companies, including Lemon TreeHotels, and Barbeque Nation Hospitality have alsosought relief. PTI

&����������������/����������������������������������������������������

8�+���������������������������������+���������������������+����

*�����734�������������� ��(��.�70��������������D�� �

&�����������76����� ������������������� �� �����������

Your phone beepsand there’s a mes-sage on the familyWhatsApp group. Nose andMouth are declared as private

parts till further orders. Keep them coveredin public. A moment later, another messagepops in with a video tutorial of how to makeice soup during lockdown. Take a glass of waterin a pan, stir it, now add five-six ice cubes andmix them together. Your ice soup is ready toserve.

Laughing on COVID-19 jokes all day is ourguilty pleasure. But from where does thishumour comes from? Does it appear out of thinair? The fact of the matter is that humans havelearnt the art of laughing all the worries away.Be it a deadly virus that is affecting people allover the globe or a nationwide lockdown or eventhe falling economy, we can just laugh it away.

Kartik Verma, a 22-year-old sound produc-tion student, who is actively coming up withjokes and videos tells you that it is a matter ofcreativity and a way to help those in distress.“There is so much of negativity around us thesedays. Switch on the TV and what one see is head-lines flashing of so many deaths related toCOVID-19 and the rising cases. This is dis-turbing. We, young adults can infact find a wayto relax and chat with our friends but our par-ents and grandparents, they are exposed to thenegativity all day. It affects them. These videosare just a way of helping them having a goodlaugh and erasing all the distressing news foratleast sometime,” he tells you.

Such has been the frenzy for these jokes, thatpeople of all age are taking to social media toshare their kind of jokes. It is the only thing aftercooking that is keeping them busy and givinggood dose of laughter. One such joke that isdoing rounds is: “Tera nash jaye China, teri wajahse bar ki jagah vim bar aur scotch ki jagah scotchbrite haathon mein aa gayi hai.”

It only shows how distressed people havebecome with having to do ghar ka kaam auroffice ka kaam all day.

Dr Sneha Karamani, consultant psychiatrist,Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, Pune says thathumour is nothing but a way discovered to dealwith anxiety and stress.

“Humour helps us deal with tragic times andstress in a lighter, healthier way. It helps over-come psychological anxiety and is a mature egodefence mechanism. We have seen a lot ofhumorous WhatsApp and social media memesbeing forwarded in this pandemic and there isa lot of creativity around it. These are times ofexistential crises, and one definitely needs a dashof humour,” she says.

Sadly, there are a lot of negative, unauthenticpieces of information streaming around. Oneneeds to be cautious not to spread fake news andnegativity. “While sharing information availableto us is a way of staying connected with our sig-nificant others and the world around us, it servesour need for validation to a certain extent. We

m u s talso be mind-ful of whatinformation weconsume andwhether it comesfrom a valid source,before levitating itthrough various chan-nels,” she advises.

YouTuber Harsh Beniwal, whorecently posted a video pertaining to the currentlockdown scenarios — Bhai, Behen AndLockdown says that he just followed the trend.

The 18-minute long video begins with alight-hearted narration on how the earth is reju-venating itself after years of suffering manmadechaos and goes on to talk about the brother-sis-ter banters during the lockdown. The hilariousvideo strikes the right chord in the hearts of theaudience who is more or less going through thesame situation, with siblings not in a habit ofstaying 24/7 together without fighting.

“Memes and jokes are all fine until they arenot hurting the sentiments of others. I am enjoy-ing all these funny forwards in the frazzled sce-nario. It helps in reducing tension and have agood laugh. So is the case with my video thattalks about what happens when a brother andsister are left homebound during the lockdown.In one of the scenes, I ask my sister for her cholibecause I want to make TikTok videos, while sheis on call with her boss wearing my blazer. I tellher: Mera blazer kisse puch kar pehna, tere baapka hai kya, utar isey,” Beniwal tells you, whosefavourite meme is: Time Traveller: Which yearis this? Me: 2020. Time Traveller: Oh! First yearof quarantine. Me: Eeee, what!

Pulkit Sharma, clinical pyshologist andauthor of When The Soul Heals tells youthat he himself has come across certain videosand jokes that deals such a heavy subject withan extremely light approach and it is a healthytrend unless it is spreading rumours. “Humouris a healthy defence mechanism psychology.When you laugh, you are able to turn your eyesaway from the grim reality for sometime.Biologically speaking, when you laugh certainneurotransmitters are secreted that can upliftyour mood instantly. In fact it also boost yourimmunity. At the end of the day, we have to lookfor something that can make us laugh. It is a nat-ural way for people to cope with reality,” he says.

It is out of constant frustration and anxietythat people have started to joke about the issue.“First trigger was definitely coronavirus. Second

t r i g -ger to

t h e s ememes was

lockdown, whichwas a result ofthe pandemic.Now people

are left with nooption but to deal

with it on a lighternote. It is the con-

stant frustration that iscoming out in the form

of this humour. It is not onlyrelieving but it also gives a sense of satisfactionthat all is not lost. We still have to something tolaugh about and that way we can just laugh allour worries away,” Sharma tells you.

It is the teens who are taking the lockdownseriously and taking a dig on their parents. “Inan unsettling reversal of my teenage years, I amnow yelling at my parents for going out,” says onefrustrated teen.

Amit Pandey, senior scriptwriter at CosmosMaya, who writes scripts for cartoon shows likesSelfie with Bajrangi, Tik Tak Tail and Eena MeenaDeeka which airs on major channels includingDisney and Cartoon Network, who is activelyposting jokes around coronavirus lately tells youthat it is just a matter of spending and utilisingtime during the ongoing lockdown.

“As we all are stuck inside our house fol-lowing the COVID-19 lockdown protocols,everyone is finding their own way to utilise orpass their time during this crisis. While manyof us are busy cooking, painting, writing anddoing other stuffs; social media has turned outto be a good supporting platform for everyoneduring this tough time. People are enjoying var-ious social media challenges l ike#Saree_Challenge, #Quarantine_Look,No_Makeup challenge, #Me_at_20 challenge,memes have emerged as the winner during thistime brining a smile to everyone’s face. I am alsoenjoying posting memes unlike never before andfriends are loving them,” he says.

Pandey was always good with passing wittycomments and this was just the right time toshowcase his skills. “I was always good with pass-ing witty comments and one-liners since child-hood (as my friends used to say) and now beinga scriptwriter of comedy cartoon shows, it is eas-ier for me to create these funny posts. I am justkeeping up with the trends of social media. I amgetting more responses on my such posts as com-pared to others. For example, I saw everyonemaking Dalgona Coffee at home and posting thephotos on Facebook. One day, while I was peel-ing potatoes, the idea strike my mind and I post-ed the photo of a half-peeled potato with the cap-

tion “Dalgona Aaloo”. The post gar-nered a lot of attention from people.Few days later, I posted a photo ofburnt rice with a caption “Choco

Lava Rice — the experimental dish”.It too received some hilarious reactionsfrom family and friends. I’m glad that

my posts are bringing a smile on peo-ple’s face during this stressful time. My job

is to make kids laugh with the kind of scripts Iwrite but I am fortunate that I can utilise thiscreativity to make people of all age have a goodlaugh,” Pandey says.

All this is fine but then some memes go over-board and end up insulting a person or coun-try. Making fun is alright but then it should notcross the line where it ends up spreading a false-hood about someone. There have been somegood memes also but gradually it is ending upgoing extreme with targeting communities orcountries. Problem lies in the fact that some peo-ple with vested interests are using such memesto spread the misconception.

The need is to understand that not every-body with access to social media is educatedenough to take it lightly. Some memes thoughare really targeted to educate people and this isbeing used by authorities to bring home theimportance of steps that the Government is tak-ing. One such instance is when helpline depart-ment of Uttar Pradesh Police, Call 112, posteda meme “Dur se dekha toh...phir main paas gayahi nahi. Aakhir physical distancing chal rahi haibhai. Unlike the ‘in your face’ memes, suchresponsible ones also leave the readers in splitsand are a glaring example of how making some-one laugh can be informative and be used tospread positive messages.

A case in point is the memes related to DIYmasks. People are going to such lengths and havemade the process so bizarre — masks made ofbra cups and sanitary napkins — that at timesit becomes difficult to differentiate who is seri-ous and who is not.

Another one that can sit well for some whilestands out as offensive for others: “Coronaviruswon’t last long because it was made in China.”

To add to the list: “When someone sneezesat a Chinese airport...Warp to the grave-yard?OK...No.”

The not so common query now is whetherit is right to poke fun at a pandemic that is claim-ing lives worldwide and sees no stopping.However, turning to comedy is what humans havebeen doing since the historical era.

Humour can relieve anxiety; it can also stokeracial tensions or spread misinformation. So, theanswer isn’t simple. But until and unless, thesememes stick to the purpose — that of enter-taining people without hurting the sentiments ofanyone — and is all in good spirits, we can enjoya few without letting them get on our heads.

Now, one for everyone that sits well in thecurrent scenario. “Dear Tummy, kya tumhein alagse samjhana padega, lockdown mein baharnahin nikalna hai.”

'�#����<�����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

+��-�.+�*%�-.��?.'>��B+�/%/���.(%�? ��%�.�?��? C-.��?%-● '���(���� ����%�������� �����

H����������1� ��I● ��������)�� ����� H��

2����������I● !$��%� ������$��$)��$����

H����������I● �$ �*�����������#�+++��$(��

)�� ���(������ H���#������ ��"�4�&������#�����������Q���������� ���I

● �� ����������$)�������H����� �I

�+&%B%�)�-+C%����?+C�'�%/�-+��-�?���*%<�%%'>�- ��● !����$��� ���������,����

)�� � H1�����������I● !����� ��������������

������+++���)��������� H������ �1������(���I

● -���$�������$(��� �(� �����#� ������,������$�� H�������� ����� ������� ��I

● -�$%�������������$�� �%$����� H��������������������I

�.*��-�45*$ ����(� $�6���$�++//$������+�$�'�����+�$�6���"����-� A�&���� �A�"��A�&��$�����!����� $�������������������!����� $��3���������4�����$�,������������B�����$����������B�����$�5�������������B�����$�!��������/����$���� ��"�(����������������� ��(��$����(������&��������*"�(���>D?P$�>DP<���1)/������+�$�8��1���>D<;+�$�+��)*��!�� �+�$�/��)/�2�+�$7����4����+�$�7������� ��.������$�7��� � �����"����������&���5�����B����

%�����"����*5$�B�������&��"����*5$�(�����>)><$�/� �(�� ������������������������ ������$�>F�B������������6�������$!������� �,��$�!������� �!����$�� ����� �7��"��$�.����� �6�"�$�>F������������� ���$�<��� �����"�$�FE/����������6�������$�D�5���������)4������$�;� $�F�$�� �?��7�����A�(�1����$�6 �!���,�����$�����/�����$�((����'$������ $�+�)7�$�!�&� $�8����1������������������&�������(������$����������

<����$$ �!����������������������� 0�������**�� ����

5 % 3 � � � � & = > � � 3 � � % % ? �

�./��-8!�),8+� ���"���"�� �� ��������/C&��� ����"���/C&�� ������� ��������&������(����������������������������$�� ���1���"��������� (����������� �����"��/ � �C�������������"����������"�������������(����������"��(������&������"��������������� "���.�������"�&������

��������/���� ������(�1��������� �C���� ���������"�������������������&��������������������� ��� ��� �������������(������������� ������1��������""��� �/�"���&�����������(�� &��� ���������(����������"���� �������"��B����������������(1��� ����"����������������� ������1�����&���

�������������� ��1�������� � � � �#����������(�������������� � �C�������� �����$�%���"&������1������������� �������1�����������������"�N��� �����"��������"��(�������������� ���&�������������� ���� ����� �/��������"� �� ��������������� ��������������"����� ��N�(������������"����������

���������� ������1����$� ����1��������� �/ � �C��&�����"����� ����+����/��� ����1�����1������"$������������� ������������������� �(�����������������"��.���&��$�������� $������������"���� ���"������������ �&������"������1������$����������������(������"�������"�����K

7=%0=� B6�0�/6D7�������%�����������)�)��������(�����,/L�����$�������� �����������"���� ������������"������������� ��������"�����������"���"����1���������+����������� ��������������������� �!8'/,)>D$������������������&����������(�����������������������1��������65�B��.��.6/��������������

6*6*����,��8�*���A*�--�7/�*�5��/-��.*L

�A*��8��.5A�/�4��.*�*��/6*����87�8�.*A��

/��6�*��8L/�4��--�.*�*�75��L

78A+�A,��/���.*7A�JJ-*,��!*��A/8��/�

.*-���/��A*,5!/�4�*��/8����,�.�'*��

488,�-�54.���8�/���.*!��*�+/�.�6L�'/,*8

�.�����-����B85�+.���.���*���+.*���

BA8�.*A���,��/��*A�A*�-*7��.86*B85�,

,5A/�4��.*�-8!�,8+�N�.�A�.�B*�/+�-$

L85�5B*A

'����+�����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

�� �� � Cricket WestIndies have said they are“flexible” about rearrangingtheir tour of England butwill not risk their players’health just to complete athree-Test series.

The fixtures were alldue to take place in June butFriday saw the ECB extendthe delay to the start of itsseason until July 1.

English officials remainhopeful they can resched-ule all international fix-tures in a programme thatalso includes three moreTests against Pakistan andwhite-ball matches againstAustralia and Ireland, fromJuly until September.

CWI chief executiveJohnny Grave insisted whilethe West Indies were opento a change of dates, play-er safety remained priority.

“Clearly playing in Juneis now not possible and wewill continue our discus-sions with the ECB andother international boardson trying to find new dates,”said Grave.

“Our respective med-ical teams are beginning todiscuss how this (England)series could be playedwhilst guaranteeing thehealth and safety of ourplayers and support team.

“We will be as flexibleas we can without compro-mising the safety of ourteam,” Grave, himself anEnglishman, added.

Even if the two boardsfind mutually acceptabledates, Britain’s lockdownrestrictions would have toease for the series to takeplace in England and evenrules banning mass gather-ings would likely still be inforce, meaning matches

would have to take placebehind closed doors.

ECB chief executiveTom Harrison said theboard had received “multi-ple offers” from other coun-tries to help them completethe domestic season.

His comments cameafter Surrey chairmanRichard Thompson earliersaid Abu Dhabi hadoffered to host games.

But Harrison,while still aiming forEngland to stage afull home 2020international season,warned: “We’reprobably getting tothe point now whereany further delays beyondwhere we’ve already start-ed planning for will involvelosing cricket rather thanrescheduling again.” AFP

����� 656B�/

Star India batsman KL Rahul saidthe heartbreaking World Cupsemifinal loss to New Zealand,

after a near-perfect show in thegroup stages, “continues to haunt”him and his teammates.

In a chat show The Mind Behind,Rahul said if he was given a chanceto change the result of any onematch in the past, it would be the2019 World Cup semifinal.

“It has to be the World Cup semi-final. I think most of us are still notover that loss, it is still haunts ussometimes,” he said.

“I can’t imagine what the seniorplayers must have felt but you knowin a World Cup it just becomes evenharder knowing that we played sowell in the entire tournament. I stillwake up to that nightmare some-times.”

India were perhaps the mostdominant side in the group stage ofthe tournament, winning each oftheir matches except the one againsthosts England.

The Virat Kohli-led side was thefavourite going into the semifinalagainst eventual runner-up NewZealand but lost the contest by 18runs.

Asked if he had to pick one crick-eter to bat for his life, Rahul said: “I’llgo with Virat (Kohli) because Iknow, everybody knows he is a great

player. We share a great friendshipand he will give it all to save my life.”

Going back to his formativeyears, Rahul was asked to describe his

exact moment where he scored a phe-nomenal 100 in Sydney.

“I think that innings, that seriesjust changed the way I looked at

myself, the confidence that I got frombouncing back so quickly and at aninternational stage, where, you knowit’s a dream for every player, was

incredible. I realized that, you know,if I put my mind to it, there are thingsthat I can achieve, that even I hadnever thought I could. So that inningsdid give me a great deal of confidenceand it just changed who I was as aperson and as a cricketer.”

BAT AUCTIONEDKL Rahul has auctioned the bat

he used in the 2019 World Cup for�2,64,228. He also auctioned a slewof other equipment with his brandGully with the proceeds going to theAware Foundation to help vulnerablechildren during the ongoing coron-avirus pandemic.

Among other memorabilia thatwere auctioned were his helmet,which he sold for �1,22,677, his padsfor �33,028, his ODI jersey for�1,13,240, his T20 jersey for�1,04,824, his Test jersey for �1,32,774and his gloves for �28,782.

The auction was done in collab-oration with Bharat Army, the fanclub of the Indian team.

“I have decided to donate mycricket pads, my gloves, helmets andsome of my jerseys to our collabora-tion partner Bharat Army. They aregoing to auction these things out andthe funds will go towards the AwareFoundation. It’s a foundation that looktowards helping children. It is veryspecial and I couldn’t pick a better dayto do this,” said Rahul according toTimes of India.

����� -8�,8�

Sachin Tendulkar says he was“clueless” on his Test debut and

almost cried thinking it was allover for him.

When he walked out for thelast time 24 years later, Tendulkarwould do so as a batting greatwith a record 200 Test appear-ances to his name.

“I was clueless, I have toadmit that. I played the first Testas if I was playing a schoolmatch,” Sachin told NasserHussain during the Nasser meetsSachin episode on Skysports.

In his first Test in 1989,Tendulkar was up against aPakistan pace attack comprisingImran Khan, Wasim Akram andWaqar Younis.

Recalling the outing, he said,“Wasim and Waqar were bowlingquick, and they were deliveringshort balls and all sorts of intim-idating things they could do. I hadnever experienced anything likethat, so the first outing wasn’t apleasant one.

“Occasionally, I got beaten bytheir pace and bounce, and whenI got out on 15, I felt embarrassedwhen I walked back to the dress-ing room.

“I was like ‘what have youdone, why did you play like this’and then when I reached thedressing room, I went straight tothe bathroom, and I was almostin tears.”

Now the owner of innumer-able batting records, Tendulkar, atthat point in time, felt he was notgood enough for internationalcricket.

“I felt I was completely out ofplace. I looked at myself and ques-tioned myself and said: ‘looks likethis is gonna be your first and thelast outing’. I felt that I’m not goodenough to play at this level. I wasupset and feeling low,” Tendulkarsaid.

He said a conversation withRavi Shastri, now the coach of theIndian team, helped.

“I still remember the conver-sation I had with Ravi Shastri.Ravi said, ‘you played as if it wasa school match. You are playingagainst the best bowlers; youneed to respect their ability andtheir skill’.

“Then I told Ravi that I gotbeaten by their (Pakistan bowlers)pace. To which Ravi said: ‘Thathappens to quite a few, you don’tworry. You just look to go out andspend half an hour in the middleand then you will get adjusted totheir pace, and everything will fallinto place after that’.”

Tendulkar was picked for thesecond Test and showed he hadit in him with a gritty half-centu-ry.

“When I was picked to play inthe second Test at Faisalabad, theonly thing on my mind was, I’mnot gonna look at the score-board. I will only look at the clockand not worry about scoringruns.

“I batted for half an hour, andI felt really comfortable and Iscored 59 runs in that match andafter that things started changing,”Tendulkar, whose favourite all-rounders are Kapil Dev, ImranKhan, Richard Hadlee, MalcolmMarshall and Ian Botham, said.

��������� Saliva and sweatare components that cannot beentirely done away with, insista few distinguished Indiacricketers, as the ICC contem-plates legalising ball tamperingpost Covid-19 by using artifi-cial substances to prevent virusspread.

Former India pacer AshishNehra and spinner HarbhajanSingh feel that saliva’s use inshining the ball is a “must”.

While discussions are atnascent stage, questions arealready being asked aboutwhat external substances couldbe used if ball tamperingbecomes legal?

Is it going to be bottle capin pocket to scuff up one sideof the ball, vaseline to shine(made famous by John Lever)or chain zipper?

“Get one thing clear at theonset. The ball will not swingif you don’t apply sweat or sali-va on the ball. That’s basicnecessity of swing bowling.The moment ball gets scuffedup from one side, sweat andsaliva must be applied on theother side,” Nehra, who com-pletely shot down the idea ofusing external substances said.

He went on to explain whyvaseline alone can’t help apacer.

“Now let’s understand whydo you need saliva? Sweat is

heavier than saliva but both areheavy enough to make oneside of the ball heavier forreverse swing. Vaseline comesinto the picture only aftersweat and saliva, not beforethat.

“It is lighter and doesn’teven ensure conventionalswing. It can keep the shine butdoesn’t make the ball heavy,”the World Cup-winning for-mer pacer said.

Nehra then gave theexample of Englishman Leverwho created a furore during histeam’s 1976 tour of India byapplying vaseline during aTest match.

“I can bet Lever usedsweat and saliva and thenapplied vaseline. Vaseline onlyhelps the ball to skid andnothing more. You apply vase-line only, the ball will just gostraight. You can check thatwith any fast bowler,” he said.

Harbhajan also agreed thatsaliva if one has alreadychewed mint, which has sugarin it, makes it heavier. Butwhen it comes to using exter-nal substance, he wants toknow what can be the options.

“It’s not that murray mintcan be used without putting itin your mouth. The coat ofsugar on the saliva makes itheavier after one side getsscuffed. A scuffed up ball isalso good for spinners as itensures a better grip than ashiny new ball. But my ques-tion is, if you allow, what’s thelimit?

“Suppose you legalise balltampering and let people usebottle cap. Now the ball startsreversing from the fifth over.Is it fair? Or may be umpirescome into play and they tellyou now is the time when youcan use external substance.

“I mean, in any case, tak-ing saliva out of equationmeans taking swing out whichmay not be good idea,” said theowner of 700-plus internation-al wickets. PTI

�����6*-B85A�*�

The Australian governmentmight make travel exemp-

tions for the Indian team’s tourDown Under later this year tosave the cricket board from los-ing a staggering 300 millionAustralian dollars in the wake ofCovid-19 pandemic.

Cricket Australia is underhuge financial pressure due toglobal lockdown and has laid off80 percent of its staff. India’s four-Test tour in December-Januarycould provide a relief to thestruggling bldy

As of now, Australia’s bordersare sealed till September 30 buttheir could be an extension oftravel sanctions.

According to a report in

ESPNCricinfo,”internationalexemptions to allow an Indiatouring party to arrive inAustralia next summer would be

seriously considered by the fed-eral government in the event ofwider travel bans, strongly sug-gesting that Cricket Australia

will be able to avoid losing up toA$ 300 million in revenue in thewake of the coronavirus pandem-ic.”

The website also reportedthat CA has received a positiveresponse from its government.

“...The governing body isunderstood to have receivedhighly encouraging news abouttheir outlook, at least as far as thelucrative India tour is concerned,”the report stated.

Cricket Australia was expect-ing revenue of A$ 500 millionfrom this financial cycle, primar-ily from broadcast rights. Even ifspectators are not allowed andcricket becomes a TV only event,they happen to lose A$ 50 mil-lion.

But if India fail to tour, the

repercussions will be of giganticproportions.

“Such a scenario (only liveTV coverage) would likely leaveCA with a hole of around A$ 50million in its annual revenue ofnearly A$ 500 million, butnowhere near the sort of blowthey could have expected withoutbeing able to welcome India fora series of Test and limited oversmatches due to pull the organi-sation out of the low point of itsfour-year revenue cycle,” thereport stated.

Meanwhile in other update aBCCI official said that a decisionon that playing an extra Test dur-ing the scheduled tour can betaken at the right time and anyplanning at this stage would betoo early in wake of pandemic.

��� ������ Reopening ofschools and colleges onceCovid-19 pandemic is undercontrol is more important forthe younger generation thanresumption of sport which cantake a back-seat for the timebeing, feels Kapil Dev.

The world has come to astandstill with no immediatesigns of resumption of sport ofany kind. But sport can wait,feels the 61-year-old formerIndia captain.

“I am looking at the larg-

er picture. Do you think crick-et is the only issue we can talkabout? I am rather worriedabout the children who are notbeing able to go to schools andcolleges because that is ouryoung generation,” Kapil toldSports Tak.

“So, I want schools toreopen first. Cricket, footballwill happen eventually,” Kapilsaid. The legendary all-rounderalso reiterated he is not infavour of a bilateral seriesbetween arch-rivals India and

Pakistan and said if Pakistan isso desperate to resume bilater-al cricket with India then thecountry first stop anti-Indiaactivities at the border andinstead spent that money innoble causes.

“You could be emotionaland say that yes, India andPakistan should play matches.Playing matches is not a prior-ity at the moment. If you needthe money, then you shouldstop the activities at the border,”he said. PTI

�� �� �*+�,*-./

Former Australia speedsterBrett Lee believes Virat

Kohli can surpass the extraor-dinary feat of “god” SachinTendulkar.

“We are talking about phe-nomenal numbers here, so youmentioned seven to eight yearsof cricket and at the rate he(Virat Kohli) is going, yes, hecan definitely knock it off,” Leesaid while speaking on StarSports Cricket Connected show.

Lee, who played 76 Tests,221 ODIs and 25 T20Is forAustralia, however added thatit still will not be easy to breakTendulkar’s massive record.

“But, how can you saysomeone can go past SachinTendulkar — this is God here,

can someone go better thanGod, we will wait and see,” the43-year-old said.

Tendulkar made his debutagainst Pakistan at Karachi in1989 as a 16-year old. The mas-ter batsman went on to play 200Tests for India, scoring 100 cen-turies across Tests and ODIs. In463 ODIs, Tendulkar scored18,426 runs including 49 tonsand in Tests, he has 15,921 runsto his name including 51 cen-turies.

Kohli, on the other hand,has scored 44 ODI hundredsand 27 Test tons so far in hiscareer, and is just 29 centuriesaway from equallingTendulkar’s feat.

According to Lee, threefactors work in favour of thecurrent India captain in sur-passing Tendulkar’s cricketingfeats.

“It comes down to threethings, there is one thing Iwould like to eliminate — so,you talk about talent as a bats-man, he’s definitely got that tal-ent, eliminate that first and fore-most,” he said.

“Then fitness — ViratKohli has got that fitness, so forme it is all about fitness at theage of 30 and also that mentalstrength, the mental capacity toget through those hard times,being away from home, fromhis wife, or when they will havechildren.

“He will do it easily with histalent, it comes down to hismental strength and if he staysfit enough and I believe hehas got all those threecomponents to gopast Sachin”? theformer fastbowler added.

�� �� �England fast bowler Jofra Archeron Saturday said he’d “gone mad” look-ing for his World Cup winner’s medal afterlosing the prized piece of silverwarewhile moving house.

Last year saw the Sussex quick estab-lish himself on the global stage as hehelped England win their first men’s 50-over global title.

The 25-year-old, who only made hisinternational debut in 2019, was also giventhe daunting responsibility of bowling theSuper Over in the final at Lord’s.

Archer, however, held his nerve bril-liantly as England edged out New Zealandin a thrilling finish decided on boundarycountback after the teams’ scores werelevel after both regulation play and crick-et’s answer to ‘extra time’.

But the Barbados-born quick, askedon Saturday about where his medal wasnow, told BBC Radio: “I had it hangingoff a portrait someone did for me and sentto me, I had my medal hanging on that.

“I moved flat and the picture is on thenew wall but there’s no medal. I turnedthe house upside down for about a weekbut I still haven’t managed to find it.

“I know it should be in thehouse so I will keep eyes out forit but I’ve gone mad looking forit already.”

Archer, who returned tothe United Kingdom fromBarbados last month, said

the fact all majorcricket world-wide, includingthe start of the

English season,was suspended

because of thepandemic at least gavehim time to continuesearching for themedal.

“There’s nothing elseto do in isolation. It’s allhands on deck.” AFP

��� ������ Indian spinnerKuldeep Yadav spoke aboutthe influence that GautamGambhir and Wasim Akramhad on him in his early daysat the Kolkata Knight Riders.Kuldeep said that Gambhir,who captained KKR to twotitles in 2012 and 2014, gavehim confidence by assuringhim of a place in the teamwhile Akram prepared him onthe mental aspects of thegame.

Kuldeep says thatGambhir continues to talk tohim even after the end of thelatter’s stint at KKR and hisplaying career itself.

“Gauti bhai had a hugeinfluence on me from the startof my stint at KKR,” Kuldeeptold the franchise’s officialwebsite www.kkr.in. “Healways spoke to me a lot. Notonly during the time he wasat KKR, but even after that,over these last two years.

“He always kept me moti-vated. Before the 2014 CLT20,he gave me a lot of confidenceby telling me ‘You’ll play everygame, just keep putting in thekind of effort you have shown.’When you get that kind ofconfidence from your captain,it becomes a huge plus pointfor any player. It helps you

remain confident, and thattranslates into good perfor-mances.”

Kuldeep said that he usedto talk to Akram, a formerPakistan captain and one ofthe most successful fastbowlers of all time, duringgames in the dug-out and pickhis brain.

“Wasim sir used to likeme a lot too. He didn’t speakmuch about bowling, but heprepared me a lot in terms ofmentally taking on the game.He prepared me to take ondifferent situations in differentways, and taught me how toreact when batsmen put you

under pressure,” said Kuldeep.“When he was at KKR, I

used to sit with him and pickhis brain a lot. I used to sit nextto him in the dugout duringmatches and ask questionsabout real-time situations. Iused to ask him what hewould have done in certainsituations, and he would testme by asking me what myapproach would have been.

“So apart from Gauti bhai,he was someone who had abig influence on me duringthose early years. He also hasa very good sense of humour,so it was great having himaround.” IANS

�������Pakistan women’s cricket team’sformer captain Sana Mir on Saturdayannounced her decision to retire frominternational cricket, bringing downcurtains on a 15-year-long successfulcareer. During a successful career, 34-year-old Mir, played 226 internationals,including 137 as captain from 2009 to2017.

The off-spinner is her country’s lead-ing ODI wicket-taker with 151 scalps in120 matches at an average of 24.27, whileher 89 T20Is wickets from 106 matchesare only behind Nida Dar’s 98.

Mir is also Pakistan’s third-highest run-scorer in ODIs

(1,630), and isamong a select

group of players tohave the double of 1000

runs and 100 wicketsin ODIs. She has therare achievement ofhaving played 100T20Is. PTI

9-����������������������6�����

:����(���������������+������������������������$����/���������������� ��;�����������<=34$-- 9����-���������������� �"

������ �������������������D��������

!������������1����$����������������@��(��&����������������������������������� ������� ����)�����,����=��

6#��(�)�����!�<����&)����E�+������ �&�������+

������������������������<)E�����@-�����������#��>::����������

:����(�������������������$����/������������ �">2���"������

���������&��������������+!��� �

4��� ��������9$"�9$ $." @��� ���A!����������(�����

8���������������������������������((�6(������

(������?���+���8�����8������

%���*� ������������������19�����������������"���������<=34������ �"

'����++����������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

����� �.*�.�45*

The Dutch football federa-tion (KNVB) called an end

to the 2019-20 season on Friday,as the Eredivisie became thefirst top European league calledoff due to the coronavirus pan-demic.

No team will be declaredchampions after Ajax and AZAlkmaar were left level onpoints at the top of the tablewith nine games still to play.

“Unfortunately, given themeasures (banning large-scalegatherings) taken by the gov-ernment, it became impossibleto finish the 2019-2020 season,”the KNVB said in a statement.

“Public health alwayscomes first. It’s not just a foot-ball problem here given whatthe coronavirus is doing tosociety. Nonetheless, the profes-sional football committee isaware that today’s decisionsare going to cause great disap-pointment for some,” it added.

Leaders Ajax, above AZon goal difference, will qualifyfor next season’s ChampionsLeague, according to theKNVB, which will await adefinitive verdict from UEFAon May 25.

AZ will likely enter thecompetition’s preliminaryrounds, with Feyenoord, PSVEindhoven and Willem II set tocompete in the Europa Leaguebased on the final standings.

It marks the first time since1945 the Dutch season has fin-ished without a league champi-on.

“As a player and as a club

you naturally want to becomechampion,” Ajax chief executiveEdwin van der Sar told theclub’s website.

“You want to show it on the

field and we have been at thetop all year round.

“It is a pity that you are notdeclared champion, but in thissituation that may be under-

standable. There are moreimportant things at the momentthan football."

NO RELEGATION & PROMOTIONThe KNVB announced its

intention to scrap the season onTuesday following the Dutchgovernment’s decision to extenda ban on mass gatherings untilSeptember 1.

Matches behind closeddoors were said not to be anoption as they are consideredevents which require a permitand police presence.

The final decision wasmade following a meeting withthe clubs on Friday. Next sea-son will begin with the same 18teams that started the abortedEredivisie campaign.

“There will be no relega-tion, nor promotion,” said theKNVB, which is expected toface legal action from SCCambuur and De Graafschap— the top two clubs in the sec-ond division.

“This feels like the biggestdisgrace in the history of Dutchsports,” Cambuur managerHenk De Jong told Dutchbroadcaster NOS. His side was11 points clear of the play-offplaces when the league washalted.

The Belgian Pro League isexpected to take a similar deci-sion to that of their neighboursnext week, with Club Brugge tobe awarded the title.

��� � -8�,8�

The English Premier Leagueare eyeing a resumption of

the season on June 8, behindclosed doors due to the coro-navirus pandemic, and reach-ing a climax on July 27, accord-ing to The Times.

The paper claims footballchiefs, along with other sportsgoverning bodies, have beenholding talks with the Britishgovernment about when theycan resume and at only“approved grounds”.

The Premier League has 92games remaining since it sus-pended the season on March 13with Liverpool agonisinglyclose to their first ever EPL title.

The Times says PremierLeague bosses shared theiridea ‘Project Restart’ with theshareholders last week.

The matches would beplayed behind closed doors —a maximum of 400 people

would be pemitted to attendincluding media though only ifthey tested negative for thevirus — and at selected stadiato limit stretching the limitedresources of the medical ser-vices.

Extra changing facilitieswould be introduced to ensuresocial distancing measureswere in place whilst playerswould be required to turn up

for training individually andalready in their kit.

They have also suggestedAugust 22 as the date for thestart of the 2020/21 campaign.

The main sticking point,though, remains the lack oftests available.

Should the season beunable to resume — it wouldbe a financial nightmare for theclubs.

����� ��A/�

Footballers in France’stop flight will return to

their clubs the week start-ing May 11 to undergo“full medical checkups”with a view to restartingLigue 1 in June pendinggovernment clearance, theFrench league (LFP) saidon Friday.

The LFP board met toreview the main points ofa draft document on med-ical and health protocolspresented by the league’srepresentative for clubdoctors, it said in a state-ment.

The document “fore-sees a return of players totraining centres the weekof May 11 to carry out fullmedical checkups, as wellas swab tests, followed by

daily monitoring, whichwill be detailed ... betweennow and the end of April,”it said.

The LFP has also indi-cated its preferred optionremains a “resumption ofleagues in mid-June sub-ject to knowing the termsof easing confinementmeasures which will bepresented by the govern-ment in the coming days”.

Meanwhile, Frenchfootball federation presi-dent Noel Le Graet hopesboth the French Cup andLeague Cup finals can beplayed before the leagueseason restarts.

Paris Saint-Germainare due to meet Saint-Etienne in the French Cup,while Thomas Tuchel’s sideare scheduled to face Lyonin the League Cup.

�����6��!.*��*A

Manchester United executivevice-chairman Ed

Woodward has said talk ofmega-money football transfermoves “ignore the realities thatface the sport” because of thecoronavirus outbreak.

United have been linkedwith a £200 million ($247 mil-lion, 228 million euros) bid tolure England captain HarryKane away from TottenhamHotspur.

But Woodward’s commentssuggest any such deal is unlike-ly in the current climate.

It is six weeks since thePremier League suspended allmatches and, with no certain-ty as to when or if the sea-son can resume, clubfinances are under strain atall levels.

United, one of worldfootball’s commer-cial powerhouses,are better off thanmost, however,with Woodwardtelling a fans’forum late Fridaythe club weredetermined toplay their part inaiding thoseaffected by thevirus.

“We havealways believed

that our commercial modelgives us greater resilience thanmost clubs and we are gratefulfor the enduring support of ourcommercial partners in helpingus achieve that,” he said.

“However, nobody shouldbe under any illusions about thescale of challenge facing every-one in football and it may not be‘business as usual’ for any clubs,including ourselves, in the trans-fer market this summer.”

Woodward added: “On thisbasis, I cannot help feelingthat speculation around trans-fers of individual players forhundreds of millions of poundsthis summer seems to ignorethe realities that face the sport.”

Looking ahead, Woodwardsaid he hoped “a seasonwhich still held so muchpromise for us in thePremier League, the Europa

League and the FA Cupwhen it was suspend-ed” could resume.

“And while itmay be that gamesneed to be played

behind closeddoors in theshorter term,we all recog-nise that foot-ball will notbe fully back

to normal until support-ers are once again inattendance.”

�� �� B*A-/�

Bayern Munich midfielderPhilippe Coutinho has

undergone surgery to removeloose fragments from his rightankle and will be sidelined for atleast two weeks, the club said.

The Brazil international ison a season-long loan fromBarcelona and has scored eightgoals in 22 Bundesliga appear-ances for Bayern.

“Philippe Coutinho under-went an operation on his rightankle, during which loose jointfragments were removed,” theclub said in a statement.

“The operation was a suc-cess. The Brazilian will begin hisrecovery program in around 14days.”

France midfielder CorentinTolisso also had an operationearlier in the week on his ankleand will miss the league’s poten-tial restart date on May 9.

�������#� ����Football may be goingthrough its richest phase right nowfinancially but Brazilian footballlegend Pele feels that we are current-ly not in a golden age as far as thequality of players is concerned.

The three-time World Cup win-ner, widely regarded as the greatestplayer of all time, said that there arenot as many truly great players incountries that are strong in thesport.

“Once, you found two or threein every country with a great foot-ball culture,” Pelé told SportStar.“Eusébio, (António) Simões, (Johan)Cruyff, (Franz) Beckenbauer,(Diego) Maradona, Garrincha, Didi.How many did I say? There were somany.”

“Today, we have two or three inall. (Lionel) Messi, CristianoRonaldo, I would say Neymar —who in Brazil has not yet managedto become a great figure.”

Neymar was considered as the

player who would take over as thebest in the world after Messi andRonaldo phase out. The Brazilianeven finished third in the race to theBallon d’Or in 2015. However sincehis word record transfer fromBarcelona to Paris Saint-Germain,injuries have led to the 28-year-oldnot attaining that heights that wereexpected off him.

Pele however believes thatNeymar is an excellent player andhopes that he comes good at the 2022Qatar World Cup. “I hope that at thenext World Cup he is in good phys-ical condition,” he added. “Peoplecriticise him, I even did it a few times,but we forget that he is a product ofours, of Santos.

“We always want the best forhim. I talk about him often with hisfather. Technically, he is an excellentplayer.”

Both Messi and Ronaldo are intheir 30’s but continue to dominatefootball. Pele said that he considersMessi as the most complete playerand that he would have loved to playalongside him.

“He (Messi) is a skilled player,gives assists, passes, scores, dribbleswell,” he said. “If we were in the teamtogether, the opponents shouldworry about two players, not justone! Today, Messi is the most com-plete player.” IANS

����� �*+�,*-./

Star shuttler P V Sindhusays she was desperate to

win the WorldChampionships title lastyear after a string of runner-up finishes as people start-ed call ing her “SilverSindhu”.

Sindhu, who also won aSilver medal in the 2016 RioOlympics, admitted that shefelt bad when people saidshe has a “final phobia”.

“In the WorldChampionships (last year),it was my third final, I havealso won two Bronze. Ithought I have to win this atany cost. I was so desperateto win the title. I did notwant people to say she lostin final again,” Sindhu said.

“I thought no matterwhat happens, I will give 100per cent and I have to justwin this title. There weretimes people say ‘SilverSindhu’ about me.Sometimes these thingscomes to my mind,” shetold Indian women crick-eters Smriti Mandhana and

Jemimah Rodrigues on thetalk show Double Trouble.

Talking about that dayof final when she beat hernemesis Nozomi Okuhara ofJapan 21-7, 21-7, Sindhusaid, “Even if we say we arefine and cool, we have a bitof pressure. But I thought Iwill just focus on my game.I gave my best and won thefinal.”

Asked how she copedwith the constant criticismof faltering in the final hur-dle, she said, “After the 2016Olympics, I have seven toeight Silvers in a row in2017. People started tellingme that ‘you have a finalphobia’ and you always losein the final.

“It is not easy to come tothe semifinal and final, butpeople do not know that.They are like ‘she lost in thefinal again’. But winningand losing is part of life.”

The 24-year-old Sindhusaid after every loss, herfocus automatically used toshift to her next outing.

“My thinking was ‘allright, I can win this final’.You should not bother peo-ple criticising you. For me,it is like ‘all right I can do itthis time’. Just come back,rectify your mistakes and dobetter.”

She said she did notexpect to win the Silver inthe 2016 Olympics as it washer first Olympics. Sindhulost to Spain’s CarolinaMarin in the summit clashin Rio.

“I thought I will need togive my best and I just wentout there with that thought.”

Sindhu said the turningpoint of her career waswhen she beat then reigning(2012) Olympic championLi Xuerui of China in a tour-nament in 2012 (ChinaOpen Super Series).

7��7� �� Staying fit and training with thesame intensity as would normally be thecase is “tricky” during the shutdown,World No1 Ashleigh Barty said. Barty isin her hometown Brisbane and like othertennis players, is waiting out the uniqueperiod where the sport has come to a haltdue to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s kind of tricky to train with thesame intensity as always,” the 24-year-oldtold the Sunday Herald Sun. “Obviously,we’re still not sure when we’ll go back.

“Now, it’s about maintaining for if andwhen we get an opportunity to play againthis year, you can kinda flick that switchand go from there.”

Barty would have been in the thick ofher preparations to defend her FrenchOpen crown at this time of the year. Theclay court Grand Slam was to be heldfrom May 24 to June 7 but it has sincebeen postponed to September 20 toOctober 4, making it the last Grand Slamof the year.

“Just kind of sitting back, this is real-ly bizarre,” she said. “You’re preparing for

that (hardcourt) swing and then you’re ona plane back to Australia. “It’s different foreveryone. For tennis players, there’s thatuncertainty. We need for pretty much thewhole world to be clear before we canstart our tour again. IANS

�� � �*+�,*-./

Sports Minister KirenRijiju on Saturday said thegovernments policy wouldbe conditioned according tothe needs of the sports com-munity. “We want to create abig sports culture in the coun-try so that we can improveour presence in world sport.It is our obligation to raise thelevel of sport in India,” hesaid.

Speaking at the inaugur-al session of the six-day onlinetechnical officials' seminarjointly conducted by theSouth Asian AthleticsFederation (SAFF) and theAthletics Federation of India(AFI), Rijiju said the govern-ment would frame athlete-centric and sports-centricpolicies .

“Athletics is the heart andsoul of the Olympic Gamesand we need to raise the levelof our athletics,” he said.

“I want to give the youngathletes the opportunity to

realise their dreams.”World Athletics President

Sebastian Coe complimentedSAAF and AFI for conceivingthe six-day seminar.

“Our sport simply doesnot function at any level with-out the contribution of thetechnical officials,” he said.

“It would be unrecognis-able without one of our sport'smost endearing aspects, theenshrining of the volunteer

contribution 24x7.”Coe said World Athletics'

major task in the time aheadwas to keep as many of itscompetitions intact.

“We owe it to the athletesand the member federationsto maintain a structure thatwe can optimistically lookforward to so that we can givethe athletes the chance to getback to competition as soonas is possible, but in a fairway,” he said.

Referring to WorldAthletics decision to suspendthe Olympic qualification tillDecember 1 this year, he saidthe structure would have to bedesigned so that the athletesreturn to the competition in afair way.

“We need to ensure thatour athletes get back to com-petition safely and securelyand in a way that does notdamage the integrity of all ourcompetitions.

“I know the IndianFederation has embracedtechnology in a big way not

only to reach larger audi-ences but also to meet the sus-tainability challenge by gettingrid of paper,” he said.

In his opening remarks,AFI President Adille JSumariwalla said the federa-tion had been at the forefrontof using technology for sever-al years now.

“AFI is the first nationalfederation to host onlinecourses for coaches and tech-nical officials. We also plan onhaving our annual generalmeeting on May 2 and all oursub-committee meetingsonline,” he said.

Asian AthleticsAssociation President Gen.Dahlan Jumaan al-Hamadcomplimented SAAF and AFIfor the initiative to enhancethe knowledge of the SouthAsian region’s technical offi-cials.

SAFF President Lalit KBhanot said the seminar wasa true reflection of the grit,resolve, sportsmanship andlove for athletics in the region.

��� � -8�,8�

Chelsea have said they won’timpose a pay cut on their

first-team squad in response to thecoronavirus outbreak.

But the Premier League sideadded Saturday they had askedplayers to continue donating tocharities during the ongoing pan-demic.

It has been reported the westLondon club have been in talkswith their players about a salaryreduction of around 10 percent ina bid to reduce costs at a timewhen football has been suspend-ed because of the virus.

That figure, however, is signif-icantly lower than the PremierLeague’s suggestion of 30 percentfor all clubs.

But that has not stopped theStamford Bridge side from takingtheir own course of action as theyhighlighted the #PlayersTogetherinitiative launched by PremierLeague players earlier this month,

which aims to raise and distributefunds for charities supportingBritain’s National Health Service(NHS).

“Representatives of theChelsea board have recently heldextensive talks with the men’s firstteam to discuss how they can con-tribute financially to the clubduring the coronavirus crisis,”

said a club statement.“The objective of these talks

has been to find a meaningfulpartnership around ensuring wepreserve jobs for staff, compensatefans and participate in activitiesfor good causes.

“We are grateful to the teamfor having played their role inassisting the club with communi-ty activities as well as all the char-itable causes they have been sup-porting in their respective homecountries and through the PlayersTogether initiative supporting theNHS.”

The statement added: “At thistime, the men’s first team will notbe contributing towards the clubfinancially and instead the boardhave directed the team to focustheir efforts on further support-ing other charitable causes.

“As this crisis develops theclub will continue to have conver-sations with the men’s first teamregarding financial contributionsto the club’s activities.”

����� B*�4�-5A5

The string of good outings by theIndian women’s hockey team

last year has helped keep theentire group motivated as theycontinue working hard despiteCovid-19 lockdown, feels forwardNavjot Kaur.

The year gone by was fruitfulone for the Indian women, whichsaw them produce some outstand-ing performances across tourna-ments. They won the FIH Women’sSeries Finals Hiroshima 2019,Olympic Test Event in Japan, andthe FIH Hockey OlympicQualifiers Odisha, along with vic-tories in their tours of Spain,Malaysia, Republic of Korea andEngland. “I think the kind of per-formances we produced in 2019,especially at the FIH Women’sSeries Finals and FIH HockeyOlympic Qualifiers, has reallyhelped us to stay motivated andcontinue putting in the hard yardsin whatever way we can,” Kaur said.

The coronavirus outbreak has

forced the sporting world to cometo a standstill. And in this testingtime, the 25-year-old says theteam is focussing on maintainingfitness and staying in touch withthe sport as much as possible.

“There’s no doubt that it’sbeen difficult for everyone acrossthe globe, but we have to stay pos-itive and continue moving for-ward. All of us here are workingvery hard on our fitness and stick-work drills in our rooms.”

DUTCH LEAGUE END WITHOUT CHAMPION

�'��@� ������#�����������������A#��!�����������������������2����������������������+���������� �"

�-�������(�����(��(�������������������

-����������������������������������'��

!����������������� ��������D ?����

-�"���>�(���������� ��"��O������ ����������(�#������6��>>

� �� ����'���(�� ��'���#��

��� ���������� ��(���������+��� �!C���(����(��(����� ������"�����O���&������ ��C

": ������������������<=341929����-�����������8��������

!�������������������������������61��� 7��1���������"�� ���"���(�����@�����

-�����#��(������������&���(�������&� @ �&%�

$����������������+���������������������6��'�'�

With the lockdown beingextended till May 3 and theuncertainty of when and

how things will be back to being whatthey were, turning to digital tech-nologies has become the next big thing.

From food delivery apps likeZomato and Dominos turning todeliver essentials to digital giftingbecoming the new norm, brands areleaving no stone unturned in keepingpace with the changing market demanddue to the lockdown.

What is grabbing eyeballs though,is the idea of digital gifting. The quiteand isolated birthdays and anniver-saries can upsetting if it is a mile stonenumber lije the 16th birthday or even25th wedding anniversary. The goinggets tougher, if the loved one is awayfrom home in another city. Thethought of getting no gifts can add tothe quarantine blues. While physicalgifts is a big no-no, it doesn’t mean nogifts at all.

To beat the quarantine blues,Ferns N Petals has introduced digitalgifting options like guitarist on videocall, personalised video message andpersonalised e-story books. The tech-nology enabled gifting options aredesigned to make not just birthdaysand anniversaries, but everyday of theirloved ones more special and memo-rable while practicing social distanc-ing.

Pawan Gadia, CEO, online andretail, Ferns N Petals, India, UAE &Singapore, tells you that the concept isnew but it already has many takers. “Atpresent, we all are in midst of anunprecedented crisis and staying athome is the only way to flatten thecurve. In order to spread positiv-ity in the current situation, thenewly launched digital giftingoptions is a great way to cheer upand gift happiness to your lovedones even when they are milesapart. Though, it has been only amonth since we have launched it, butpeople are already loving it. Requestsare pouring in from almost every cityfor these digital gifts,” he says.

Music, he says, is a magical rem-edy to fight tough times with ease andthat is the reason the digital giftingoptions are enabled with melodiousmusic of customer’s choice. As a brandit is an initiative to keep gifting aliveand engage our customers with inno-vative heart whelming gifting ideas in

quarantine.The most loved of them all is the

guitarist on video call. One can sim-ply book an musical evening for 10 ton30 minutes with the songs of theirchoice. The guitarist or someone fromthe team will video call you and the onefor whom the gift is meant for and you

are all set to hear themelodies that will instant-ly touch your heart. It is

not just the music that will keep youengaged, but the guitarist too who willput in all the extra efforts to make theday just as special — be it wishing youfirst and foremost or even asking youto sing along or just having a casual chitchat all through the call. The experi-ence will be extremely personalised.

“The plan is to get going with thedigital gifting options even after thelockdown is lifted, with some advance-ments,” Gadia tells you. The cost of

these gifts starts from �500.Another brand that went a step

ahead and came up with a similar ini-tiative to cope with the current timesis Rapid Delivery, a courier deliverycompany. The company has come upwith an ecommerce site for deliveringessentials when the courier market isfeeling the heat of the moment.

“We are the first courier companyto start an ecommerce website fordelivering essentials, mainly because wealready have the workforce, theprocesses and systems required andwanted to utilise our capacities in a lotof areas, which were not receivingessential products due to the lockdown.We realised the need for the deliveryof the COVID-19 gear to all medicalpractitioners as well as citizens. As acourier company we wanted to lever-age our strengths in this time of crisis.So we decided to launchessential.rapidd.co as a brand underour existing brand. We launched thiswebsite on April 14, 2020,” AaqylChagla, director of Rapid Delivery, tellsyou.

Unlike other major delivery sta-tions, the website has no minimumorder concept. “We decided to go forno minimum order approach to avoidhoarding of essentials. We were clearin our understanding that expectinglarge quantities to be ordered wouldadd to the hoarding of products,thereby leading to shortages and con-sequently, rising prices. OurGovernment has taken the necessarysteps to ensure that there is enoughsupply coming in. Hence we want ourbuyers to order only what they need.Many consumers are complying withthis policy,” he says.

In such time of crisis, even a smallstep feels like a huge help. More so,when certain stocks are running out farand wide, this website is like the silverlining in a grey cloud. “We havereceived good response. We look for-ward to continue this initiative evenafter the lockdown gets lifted. We feelthat people’s trust in our brand due tothe quality of products and timelydelivery are two factors that will playa key role in gaining consumer loyal-ty in future too when everything willcome back to normal, Chagla says andtells you that the company will keep onadding an extensive variety of productsso that there is something for everyoneeven during the hardest of times.

�How did your acting journey begin?I had just completed Class X and

at a function Asha Parekh had comeas a chief guest. Her manager was thereand got talking and suddenly said I

wanted to be an actor. At the functionI had a Kathak dance and was told that

pans would be made for a film keep-ing in mind me and my performance.

I graduated in dance but never went tocollege. I auditioned and got my first film.

� Was acting never on the radar then?I was not the kind of person who was

spotted at a coffee shop. I hung aroundthose enough but never got noticed. I hadto get a portfolio done and started giv-ing it out. I got rejected a lot. Then came1920. I went to meet the team who saidI didn’t fit the look but still gave the audi-tion which they liked and hence cameon board.� What is the best and worst part ofbeing an actor?

The best part is that I get to play allthese characters. The worst is proba-

bly the uncertainty — when onewould get the first movie. One

can’t make any mistakes sinceyou are not from the industryand you get only one chance.I knew that I had only oneshot with my first project andhad to give a performance asif it was not my first film.� You have been in the

industry for over a decadenow. How has it treated you till

now?I would say I have been in the

industry for a century. I have beenthere since 1920 (laughs). I made a hash-

tag on social media — #100yearso-

fadahsharma. The first thing about thisjourney, I have not aged one bit. Second,it has been an awesome so far. I am try-ing to figure it out as I move along. I havebeen lucky that I met people who trustmy talent. I was fortunate that my firstfilm was a horror because nobodydoubted my acting potential.� You have done varied roles andgenres. Has it been tough to switch?

Actually, the easiest part is to switchfrom one character to another. The toughpart is how to get the next project.Probably, pray. In between projects,hone skills and be ready even if the rolesfar and between. One must be readywhen opportunity comes knocking. In1920, there were 30 action scenes —climbing up the wall and levitating.When Commando came, I was ready. Ihad even been training on my accentbefore I got the role.� How did you come to do BhavanaReddy?

I had just completed a Telugu filmand came back to Mumbai to auditionfor part II for a role of a Haryanvi cop.I got a call after two months and met theteam. I love mimicry and as a joke I didan accent. The next day I was called andwas told that instead of a Haryanvi cop,they would go with a Telugu cop sinceBollywood has not done it before. Theyrewrote the lines and Bhavana Reddy wasborn.�You were there in part II as well. Howdid that happen?

I am fortunate that as a woman Ihave been repeated in a franchise. It hasnow become my franchise. The series isincomplete without Bhavana Reddy. It is

also interesting that a woman has got todo as much action as the male lead andnot be just a damsel in distress. It is alsogreat that I get to bring in humour to therole.� It is an action movie. Indians are nottoo keen on watching them. Were thereany apprehensions?

There is a huge audience for horrorand action. A good film is a good film.Genre doesn’t matter. Action has manytakers. It is just that most action filmshave sub-standard action. But it was dif-ferent with the series.� You are also doing Man to Man.What is it about?

I am excited about the role. It is yourusual rom-com where a man meets awoman, falls in love with her and mar-ries her. Only then he comes to knowthat the woman he married is actually aman. I am the man. It is a lot of fun andpeople will enjoy it.�We find that newer films are findingtheir way into TV. How does that workfor actors like yourself?

It is nice that films are now beingreleased legally instead of piracy. Giventhat we are under a lockdown now, manymore people will get to watch it and enjoyit sitting at home and being safe.

!�#"'�#"�+������������*������ *������ +,-�+.+.

�How did your musical journey start?I used to sing even when I was in Class VI-VIII. Apart from

my parents nobody knew I could sing well. I come a business classfamily and it was till I was in Cardiff Metropolitan University, UKthat I started singing at open mics. People started coming for showssince they liked my voice. I performing there and realised I couldtake up seriously. I came back to India and decided to take up musicmore seriously and started training in Hindustani classical music. �Why not pursue a career as a Hindustani Classical singer?

I have been training in classical music for the last two years. Ihave always had an ear for music, even when I was teenager, notthat I am master of it. But I understand the subject and work onit. I want to raise the bar of my music and do bigger things in thisfield. The reason why I have not taken up Hindustani classical pro-fessionally is because there isn’t a much feel people market for it.Not that I care for it but I want to establish myself in the Pop space.I have knack for singing such songs. Once I am established, I cando my stuff and people will follow.�Why pursue Sports Management?

I have always been passionate about sport. I used to play forCricket Association of Bengal. I wanted to play the game profes-sionally. But then I went to a hostel and the game took a backseat.I am still passionate about sport. But music and singing is keep-ing me busy at present. I was just not confident that I could singprofessionally.�When did you realise that music was your calling?

Music has become thing now in India. Back then making acareer in music was not so easy. The confidence came much later.It was in the UK that I decided to get into the English scene sinceI used to sing English songs. So, yes, the confidence came in theUK.�I understand that you are mentoring with Kumar Mukherjee.What are you learning?

He is my mentor and have been training with him since 2018in classical music. He teaches me ragas and paltas. He is from theKasur Patiala Gharana. The gharana is about training in music ina manner where one can use the vocals in any genre of music. Iam able to sing all kinds of genres due to the exercises he is giv-ing me. I train for seven-eight hours a day. Of course, not at a stretch.�Do you still perform with your band — The BombayGramophone Company?

Yes, I do. I recently performed in Kolkata but due toCoronavirus it didn’t have large gathering. I started my career fromstage with four friends. My band is very Kolkata-oriented but I want-ed to explore my music and wanted to do different things. I want-ed to do my kind of stuff.�Is it tough to make a place for yourself in the independent space?

It has been. When we formed the band, we became popularwithin a year. But when it came to indie space it was different. Buttime has been on my side. People started noticing me and knowmy name now. I can compose but writing songs is a challenge sinceI have never written it.�How did you tie-up with Zee Music Company?

I tied-up up a project — Yaadein — and it had done very well.It garnered a million views and has been growing. My initial planwas to work with Sony but then Zee came and happy working withthem. I have not tied-up with them but we have an understand-ing — my next single will be released through them. �Any Bollywood plans?

Initially, when I came to Mumbai I wanted to playback. But Igot a feedback that I needed to do my stuff since I have a good voiceand Bollywood would notice me automatically. If I get a chance,I would take it up. I am waiting for my time. I would love to do asong like Abhi mujh me kahin by Sonu Nigam I would take up ina jiffy. I look up to him. He is a beautiful singer.�What next?

I am working on another English song. Billboard had taken itup and put it on upcoming artists. I wanted to be on the main list.But I don’t have a list of many songs. If I had that I would be some-where on the main list. Once the lockdown opens, I will shoot thesong. I want to do more English songs and work with internationalmarket.�Is there scope of English songs in India?

Millennials are growing and their vison is international. Whathappens in the US comes to India 10 years down the line like rap.Now everyone is rapping. I look up to John Meyers and see myselfand want to make music of that level. I see English music grow-ing in India.

**(E*)��*)�,�*����������������������F������ �� ������������� �����������������������&,*-�)��&*#&%)*���������������������������� ����������� ��������"���������

=>�����������$� ��������������/

&�������������� ��� ���)�����&� ���!������'������������# �$�&�� � ��)�!�#���������# �$�� �

��� � �#��'����)� ���

B ������3����

>�.��������������"������ ���.

���������������������������=���� ������������� ��������������G��*)E* /*�%-������������������������������������"���"���� � ���������������� ����������������������������

?/���� �������������������

&����������� '����'� �������� �

#������� ������2�� ���)�������# ��

�(����(��(��'��� ���(�����)�����# �����'�����(� �''�� ��������

��������� ������) ��� ���������� ��'���$&�� ���)������"��'

(��(�����C���)���=���

TalktimeADAH SHARMA

She has worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamilfilms. She won the Filmfare Award for BestFemale Debut nomination for 1920 back in2008. She was recently seen in Commando 3

which now premiers on Zee Cinema. SHALINI SAKSENA chats up the

actress about her journey andupcoming project

With everyone’s life goinghaywire this past month,

your pet has been affectedtoo. Here are some problematicbehaviour issues that maydevelop as a result of your dogbeing cooped up with you athome.

Attention seeking:Staying home means a lotmore attention for your dog.You’re bored, there’s less workfor you so more play-time forman’s best friend. While thelockdown is a great opportu-nity us all to reconnect withour pets, I suggest you don’tgive in to everything your dogasks for. He may ask for some-thing by barking, pawing youor it might even start of withjust a look. You know thosepuppy eyes are irresistible,don’t you? Ensure that you are

always the one initiating gamesand deciding when you’regoing to pet him. What startsoff as something reallyadorable like nudging you toget a pat on the head can turninto extremely annoyingbehaviour like barking whenhe wants it.

Fear of going out: If yourdog is already fearful of theoutside world (noises, peoplescare him), you may havenoticed he would have takentime to get used to outsidewalks in the first place. Withthis change of fewer peoplebeing out and outings kept toa minimum. It would onceagain be a task to get him to becomfortable going out oncethings are back to normal.You can't really prevent this,but what you can do is build

his confidence in you and thatwould help him overcomethose barriers faster.

Toilet training gone bad:Lots of toilet training faux pasare being seen during lock-

down. Some of your pets mightbe soiling the carpet, due toanxiety or tension that theymight be picking up aroundthe house. Some might beconfused if they’re not allowedout of the house anymore andare suddenly expected to pee inthe bathroom or on a puppytraining mat, which they aren'tused to. Some pets may not beused to relieving themselves inthe building compound, andprefer to go outside. To preventmore issues, consistency iskey. Try to stick to the sametimings that you used to takethem out. When they do pee inthe correct place, please rewardwith a lot of praise. You caneven start training them to peeon command. Say the com-mand ‘hurry up’ just as theystart bending or lifting up

their leg to go. Once they startassociating the command withthe action, toilet training ismade much easier on com-mand.

Separation anxiety: Allthis quality time with your petmight lead to an unhealthyrelationship between you two,which can cause trouble lateron. Ensure that you spendsome time in another roomevery single day, so that hestays in the habit of being byhimself. You can make beingalone more fun for him by giv-ing him a chewy, a bone or aninteractive toy stuffed withfood. That way when youleave, he looks forward to itinstead of getting worriedabout it.

#��������������������5����+�������

7���� �"���"����"��(������������������(��� ���&����"���������$���"��������� ��� ��������������"����1����������������"�� ����"�������� �����65�B��.��.6/�������������1�� ����� ���"���(����������������������#�����

A���������#������������

���������!��

��A��<��>#��������&)�&�

Ihave been fortunate enough to haveexperienced many crises during mylifetime. My choice of the word ‘fortu-nate’ is deliberate. The Chinese wordfor Crisis is two characters: ‘danger’

and ‘opportunity’. According to Lao Tzu, theChinese writer and philosopher, ‘Good for-tune has its roots in disaster’. And, over theyears, I have come to understand these wordsand have realised that these crises are oppor-tunities to learn, grow and develop.Certainly, we have no control over the handthat we are dealt, but we have total control onhow we play it. I have realised that if we con-sider a crisis in a positive way, we can alwaysfind an opportunity to learn and develop andmake our lives more enriching as a result.

�������������� ������� �����������������

While the current global health emergencywill end, unfortunately, this hopeful scenariowill not be the case with global warming. It isan ongoing situation which will affect each andevery one of us. And it highlights our intercon-nectedness.

Climate experts believe that we are near atipping point of no return. Some believe wehave already passed it. We already have 400parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere.Even if we reduced our carbon emissions con-siderably and followed the targets established inParis in 2016, we will still hit 500 parts per mil-lion.

Even if we were to slam on the brakes andturn around, we would not be able to becausenature itself would continue the global warm-ing process as a result of feedback loops, suchas methane escaping from below the Arctic andthe Antarctic, less reflection from glaciers thathave disappeared, warmer seas emitting CO2

rather than absorbing them and so on.The warming planet has already killed

more people today than the current global pan-demic that has brought us under siege: In 2003,the European heatwave killed as many as 2,000people a day and 35,000 Europeans died. In2010, 55,000 people died during a Russianheatwave in which 700 people in Moscow diedevery day because of the heat. In 2016, duringthe heatwave that besieged the Middle East,temperatures in Iraq broke 100°F (37.7°C) inMay, 110°F (43.3°C) in June, and 120°F(48.8°C) in July. Temperatures seldom droppedbelow 100°F, and only at night. We survive in avery fragile ecosystem that we are undermin-ing. Our actions to date have already causedmore death, misery and disaster than COVID-19 ever will.

This pandemic will end but the importantquestion is whether the bond we have with theway we live and our daily reality has been suffi-ciently broken, and whether we can attach our-selves to a new reality and a new way of doingthings; or if we will just go back to our oldways.

�������� � �����It is so important, in the midst of this cur-

rent crisis, that we take this opportunity tochange our values, our priorities, and impor-tantly, how we live our lives. So, how would thisnew reality look? Let me share our Sonevaexperience with you.

At Soneva, our core purpose is engagingand imaginative “Slow Life”. So, being sustain-able is part of our DNA, and we strive to limitthe negative environmental impact of our activ-ities — something which is both difficult aswell as critical for a company which operatesresorts in remote places of pristine, naturalbeauty.

We may not always meet our own highstandards, but we are very clear about ourresponsibilities as custodians of the communi-

ties we operate in. Since our guests fly to theMaldives from all over the globe, this commit-ment is somewhat complicated so our responseto our social and environmental responsibilitiesis as much global as it is local. Let me explain:

Twelve years ago, I noticed a huge numberof plastic water bottles washed up on ourbeaches at Soneva Fushi in the Maldives. Wedecided not to point fingers at those who wereallowing their water bottles to spoil our oceansas we were still serving bottled water in ourresort and were therefore still part of the prob-lem. So we took the decision to stop offeringbranded bottle water, and instead serve filtered,mineralised, alkalised, and bottled-on-sitewater in reusable glass bottles. Today, all therevenues from our water sales go to the SonevaFoundation to fund the work of charities suchas Water Charity and Thirst Aid, and morerecently, Soneva Namoona.

Soneva Namoona, which we launched in2019, aims to solve a problem that has bedev-illed the Maldives for a generation: how toproperly dispose of waste. Presently, islandcommunities burn their garbage in toxic, openbonfires; meanwhile significant amounts ofwaste, especially single-use plastics, washes upon the beaches, litters the jungle, and smothersthe coral reefs. Soneva Namoona is a partner-ship between Soneva Fushi, the three nearbyBaa Atoll Island communities of Maalhos,Dharavandhoo, and Kihaadhoo, and interna-tional NGO Common Seas. The partnershipseeks to provide a blueprint for all Maldivianislands on how they can cleanly and effectivelymanage their waste, reduce the use of single-use plastics, and inspire a love for the naturalenvironment. (Recycle, Reduce, and Inspire).

In the middle of 2019, we achieved a first,we installed the first glass water bottling centreon a regional island. Traditionally, the waterconsumed in restaurants, guest houses andgenerally by the public on islands is from plas-tic bottles from the water bottling company inMale, the capital of the Maldives. SonevaNamoona Water filters and mineralises thedesalinated island water and then places it insterilised glass water bottles. When the bottles

are returned, the user achieves a 20% saving ontheir water purchase. So, they are financiallybetter off. As I write, Soneva Namoona waterhas sold the equivalent of, and avoided 60,000plastic bottles.

���������������������������In February 2020, we celebrated another

Maldives’ first: Maalhos became the first islandin the country to end the practice of burning itsgarbage in open bonfires. This was made possi-ble by the opening of the island’s Eco Centrowaste to wealth centre, funded by Soneva andmodelled on Soneva Fushi’s own Eco Centro.The Maalhos Eco Centro is a waste-processingfacility that sorts all the waste into differenttypes such as plastic, glass, tin and wood. Itcompacts, crushes, and chips it where possible,and sends it off the island for recycling. Later in2020, we hope to open Eco Centros onDharavandhoo, Kihadhoo. It is encouraging tosee that many of the major hotel companieshave now started to take the path that Sonevadid back in 2008 and eliminate the single use ofplastic in their properties including, mostimportantly, plastic water bottles.

Another result, following the 2013 SonevaSymposium, was Soneva Fushi’s establishmentof a ‘Learn To Swim’ programme with ourneighbouring island Eydhafushi. It is remark-able that many children in our island nation,the Maldives, do not swim. A fear of the wateris compounded by a nationwide waste problemthat sees local island beaches used as a dump-ing ground for household waste. By teachingchildren to swim, we hope that they will learnto love their ocean, and when they love it, theywill protect it. We are now looking to scale thisprogramme to offer intensive swimming pro-grammes across the Atoll, partnering withother resorts, local and national NGOs, envi-ronmental awareness groups and governmentministries. Supported by filmmaker andNational Geographic adventurer JonBowermaster, who made a documentary film ofthe swimming programme, we aim to developa model of environmental inspiration and edu-cation that can be applied around the world.

These examples of Symposium initiativesgive an insight into what we can achieve whenwe collaborate.

In a post COVID-19 world, consumers willbe more conscious of the impact that they willhave on both nature and the communitieswhich they visit. The example of the CostaBrava in the 1970s will never be allowed tohappen again, not just by the Government, butby the visitors themselves.

I have to specifically mention air travelwhich, while it is a big part of an individual’secological footprint, is a very small contributorto greenhouse gases and its contribution is lessthan the negative impact of the beef and dairyindustry.

Since my diagnosis of cancer and thechanges to my lifestyle that I adopted, ourresorts have also followed suit and adaptedtheir menus. Our chefs have, as one of their keyperformance indicators, the reduction of sugar,dairy, white flour, beef in our menus. Beef con-sumption has reduced by 75%. Dairy consump-tion has reduced considerably as well. It is ourgoal to bring the consumption of these twoingredients almost to zero. Apart from beinggood for our guests’ health, this approach hasalso been very good for the environment. Afterthe built environment, the dairy and beef envi-ronment are the next biggest contributor togreenhouse gases. According to the Food andAgriculture Organisation of the UnitedNations, animal agriculture and the associateddeforestation is responsible for more than 18percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and isexpected to increase 80% by 2050. This dwarfsair travel, which is at 2% to 3%, and transporta-tion as a whole, which is at about 8% of globalgreenhouse gases.

We have adopted this approach and madeit central to our core purpose. The private sec-tor has a huge role to play in the solutionsagenda and it would be valuable if all corpora-tions looked back to the history books andremembered that having a purpose should becentral to their mandate — and that this contri-bution should be measured and valued asrobustly as any financial returns.

����������������At Soneva, we have always used nature as an

inspiration for our innovation. I have long beena fan of the biologist and author Janine Benyuswho describes innovations inspired by nature inher book Biomimicry. For example, LeonardoDa Vinci imagined the first helicopter by closelyobserving the behaviour of the Hummingbird. Itwas Leonardo’s drawings that helped IgorSikorsky in his invention of the first helicopter.So, the helicopter is the result of biomimicry.

It is my hope that in a post-COVID-19 era,we will become more sensitive to nature’s inno-vations. We will try to work in harmony withnature rather than try to battle it. It’s my opin-ion that this terrible virus came about becausewe ignored nature’s laws.

Let me share with you a recent success atSoneva Fushi which exemplifies this point. Inthe middle of last year at Soneva Fushi, we set atarget to become the first island in the Maldivesto be completely mosquito free. We decided totrap mosquitoes by studying their habits andcreating a natural trap. We have installed 500buckets throughout the island. In each bucketis a little swab that mimics human sweat andthe smell of lactic acid. We then mix sugar andbaking soda and create a pump system to gen-erate CO2. So, these traps smell and breathelike a human being. The mosquitoes are luredinto the net and then cannot escape.

We started this initiative in June 2019 andended our contract with Rentokil, our pest-control operator. No more spraying. Instead wewould use only these buckets. In the first daysof implementing this, our 500 buckets caughtabout 9,000 mosquitoes a day, on average 20mosquitoes per bucket. The catch on the islandnow has reduced to low double digits. We havetwo mosquitoes on the island, the Aedes andthe Culex. The Culex is nearly extinct and wehope that the Aedes will soon follow. It is myhope that this will be a perfect example of how,by closely following and understanding thelaws of nature, and innovating around it, wecan find effective solutions.

The current global pandemic has highlight-ed how interconnected we are, and how impor-tant it is that as humanity on planet earth, webreak through our national boundaries andcollaborate together in order to preserve life onearth as we know it.

If we do not change, and just go back tobusiness as usual after this crisis, it will be asad, lost opportunity. And, all the suffering thatwe have been through over these past monthswill have been for nothing.

The writer is the CEO and Joint CreativeDirector of Soneva

�.��-�+�'>�&(%������(>-�?�'�<+�C.(�.���-����.�?���<� ?.�<>��.-

:��C��E��+-�.�B%���/��%��.�B%

5 3 % � � > � & 4 � & ? �

�%''�(������(�0���0��(1�0�%0�2��0)����0��&��$��03��%(

%)0�4�' �)��5��%0�����(

'���E� � �#&�+��

.���?� ��#�6��� �+;#�+,+,

"����������#� �������������������������������#��� ������� ������1��#������ ����������������������� �������������� ������ ���' �� �&�����@2�������48.A�47�B?646.�#������������������ �������� �������������������������������� �����������5������4����0����#� � �����

B8��!2��#C 0*��$#����#�$ !$���#0�/

�.*�!5AA*���4-8B�-���,*6/!�.��

./4.-/4.�*,�.8+/��*A!8��*!�*,�+*

�A*$���,�.8+/6�8A�����/��/���.��

���.56��/�L�8��-��*��*�A�.$�+*

BA*����.A854.�85A���/8��-�B85�,�A/*�

��,�!8--�B8A��*�84*�.*A�/��8A,*A�8��A*�*A'*�-/7*�8�*�A�.����+*���8+�/�

� � � � � & 4 � B � � � � % � 3 & � �

�'%��-����+<�C��/�?���<�?�'�.�.%'++:�����.�.(���-����.(%����(.�%�-�%?.�B%���/���?:� ��.(%����(.�'%�/

���������!��

������������.���?� ��#�6��� �+;#�+,+,

6*,/���/8��!���.*-��5�*6BA�!*�85A�+8AA/*�$

85A�7*�A$�85A���4*AR���,�.���/��'*AL�.*�-/�4N��./!.��.���.��.

>&??�4������A�68,����.��

For the first time in their life people are experiencing thiskind of a situation. We learnt that movement is life. Wenow realise that staying put is life. And this is for the

whole world. Super powers with their guns and bombs appearclueless to the wrath of a tiny biological entity visible onlywith an electronic microscope. Human Intelligence andArtificial Intelligence never appeared so helpless. There isanxiety and fear all around as the questions what next or whonext send a chill down the spines of entire humanity.Naturally, every body is stressed. Those who are inside worrywhen this will end. Those who are outside dread being so.A life style aberration of this magnitude was beyond imag-ination of all. As the rich worry how long would their stockslast, the poor wonder where the next meal will come from.And to make things worse social media sites are poisoningminds with scary scenarios. Coping with anxieties andthanatophobia of this scale is a tall order. More so becauseeven in these times there are some who are offering magicsolutions for a fee. But that is human nature. However, theimportant issue is not letting fear and anxiety worsen theplight. Here are some tips, and free, like all good things ofnature. First and foremost, there is need to reassure your-self even if you are not sure. Indulge in some kind of auto-suggestion. The bad thing about good things is that they cometo an end. But the good thing about bad things is that theyalso come to an end. The trick lies in engaging the mind pos-itively. Remember, an empty mind is a devil’s workshop. Thebest antidotes for the adversities as well as the viruses areFaith and hope. Faith in God and hope that he listens. Andhe does. But to only who have faith. Don’t believe so thatyou may have faith. Have faith so that you may believe. Allother things follow from this. Even the most die-hard votaryof the verifiability principle of science cannot deny that faithand motivation alter situations. Particularly this kind of asituation where medical science has little clue and is relyingon para scientific ways to fight a pathogen that can be dealtwith toilet soap. After seven decades of a world level agencydedicated to health. So there is little else we can do exceptrelying on healing powers of faith. If the answer to the virusis immunity, we must know that fear and anxiety lowersimmunity, while faith and hope strengthens it. But at the sametime some physical exercise is also needed to boost theimmune system. So engaging in aerobics for half an hourmay do a lot of good. Health is wealth and we now realisewhy. But physical and mental resilience go together. The ideaof Psychoneuroimmunology is now fairly accepted. And allthis is not coming from actors who are looking for some timepass and engagement themselves or some modern day sor-cerer who tries to find commerce in everything. This isresearch based opinion. And some genuine one. Though thesedays people researching in computer viruses are talking aboutbiological viruses. But, that not withstanding, the times aretough and we will have to acquire toughness of the mind,the body and the soul also. For the soul then, do some goodwithout posting on Instagram.

"����������������������������������������������������������������A*����������������������A���D�����A���

Is this a question anymore? Has thisvirus not brought the world to itsknees? What has happened to the

rich and powerful? They have gone intohiding, afraid that they maybe strick-en by the dangerous Corona. The richare learning to exist without their ret-inue of help; they are beginning to real-ize that they are quite helpless really.

This feeling is a recent realisation,but the facts are all in support of the real-ity of us, souls, being small and help-less. Can we stop troubles from com-ing like this virus? Several countrieshave taken the unprecedented step oflocking down. Still, there is spread of thediseases though limited due to internalmixing. Social distancing has beenrecommended in several other coun-tries, but it is not that effective. Likewise,we cannot control events, for examplefires in Australia and USA, whichraged out of control earlier. Because, toomany factors are beyond the control ofhuman beings. Then, we are unable toobtain desired results. Wouldn’t we wantvaccine and medication for this virus?But we are unable to do that at least fornow.

On the subtle level, we are unableto gain sleep as desired, especiallydeep or sound sleep. Even the length ofthe sleep is out of our control. Sleep isa small matter, peace is bigger. Howmany of us are really peaceful? Not a bigpercentage. We are unable to stop wor-ries, fears, etc from overpowering us.These cripple the mankind; people suf-fer helplessly. Why are there so manymental diseases? We lose our near anddear ones helplessly. Can you imaginethe lifelong pain of a couple, who losttheir two children in a tsunami? We areso small and helpless that we cannotstop ourselves from aging and then wedie. Our identities change as we get into

new bodies; we are no longer what wethought we were. Lastly, many of us can-not even relax — a simple activity with-out taking alcohol, which harms in somany ways.

Whether we accept this stark factor not, we need God now more than atany other time. Only He can bail us out.We need God’s guidance because Heonly knows the Big Picture, that is theentirety of the situation. Otherwise, weare likely to make costly mistakes act-ing in panic. Personally, I seek God’sguidance and help every time a newproblem appears. Believe me, Godguides and helps because this is theCosmic Design. How else can smallsouls exist well. Holistically speaking, wecannot survive well without God’sactive help. We need God’s interventionmore than we can imagine.

The present situation has playedhavoc with our moods. Mostly, themode of darkness is reigning supreme,which causes fears, lamentation, depres-sion, etc. The other two modes, that isgoodness and passion are taking backseats. With God in the picture, they getboost and we are no longer so defeat-

ed and hopeless. When people ignoreGod, sacrifice, doing good to others, etc.go out of fashion. People indulge insense gratification, some unlimitedly.And the result is degradation of the soci-ety. God is needed to correct this dan-gerous situation. A society is law abid-ing when there is enforcement of laws.Similarly, God is required to make peo-ple aware that the principle ofkarmaphala will be enforced. Similarly,God is needed to escape crippling pun-ishment by taking. His shelter; Hemakes it manageable/tolerable.

Have you ever wondered aboutexalted devotees like Shankaracharyawriting so glowingly about God? Theanswer is: God responded to them. Thismust have really surprised them in thebeginning, i.e. God — the omnipotentbothering to pay attention to them. Itis no wonder that they spoke so high-ly about God; they were simply over-come by emotions towards the munif-icent Lord. I am beginning to get a tasteof same. This will explain why I keepon writing about our need to seek God.1���������������������������������������

�����������D�'���������A���

Emotions: love, hate, anger,elation, pain, fear and anendless list of sensationsthat wash over you given thesituation. They seem to have

a life of their own in our minds, witha form so large they engulf us in ourentirety. We welcome the embrace ofsome emotions, while with some oth-ers we seem to be locked in a choke-hold. At a physical level, these emotionsare the work of hormones and neuro-transmitters, but what truly is their ori-gin? What brings emotions andthoughts into our minds? Could wepossibly free ourselves from the choke-hold of negative emotions? Hold on tothese thoughts for a while.

To fully grasp the answer to thosequestions, one must understand theconcept of Chitta, Vritti and Nirodha.Chitta is the mind in its totality — atthe conscious, subconscious andunconscious level; the individual mindas well as the ethereal mind. In otherwords, the word chitta means the mind(in a holistic sense). That is, not just ourphysical mind (that perceives theworld around us through our senses),but also the mind of the ethereal orspirit body, as well as our intuitive fac-ulty (that is available to our innermostlevel of consciousness). Thus, chitta isan infinite ocean, undivided, impossi-ble to define by a single parameter.

Vrittis are ripples or disturbancesin the form of thoughts or emotions inthe ocean that is chitta. Anything that

can be expressed is a vritti. Vrittisinclude correct perception, imagina-tion, sleep, memories, acceptableknowledge or even wrong knowledgeor misunderstanding for that matter.And vritti is transient — one momentit is there, perceivable, and the nextmoment it vanishes, replaced by anoth-er ripple; some moments being longerthan others.

The relation between chitta andvritti is most beautifully understoodthrough an analogy of chitta with theocean and vritti with waves. Chitta isreality and the whole truth, the vastocean. Vritti is a disturbance or wavein this whole truth, but in its substanceit is still water. We give form to vritti,make it an object, think of it as a real-ity, a whole entity, whereas in truth itis nothing but a transient disturbancein the chitta, which itself remainsunchanged and whole. Vritti has noseparate existence. It is, at its core,defined by the chitta and not the otherway around. When you are sad, it is notthat the chitta expresses and is definedby sadness, sadness is only a ripple thatpasses through the chitta, a passing sadthought. Intellect alone may not beenough to understand what chitta is.It cannot grasp the infinite, as the intel-lect is only a part of the whole. It canonly produce vritti.

Nirodha is the practice of under-standing the true nature and relationbetween chitta and vritti, their onenessat the core. It is the knowledge that sor-

row, physical and psychological painand suffering can come to an end with-out seeking to alter the physical reali-ty, without changing the situation oneis facing. Nothing is altered except theunderstanding of it, which undergoesa tremendous transformation.

Vritti originates in the chitta as areaction an action to the happeningsin your surroundings. These happen-ings are like the wind that creates thewaves out of water in the ocean. Theyeither ebb away just as they come orsometimes are replaced by a new setof vrittis. You must understand thatreaction to a vritti passing through thechitta leaves an imprint of that vritti inyour karmashaya (an ethereal harddrive so to say), which stores memo-ries of each lifetime, amounting to yourkarmic balance. In the bargain, afleeting thought becomes yours andbecomes a credit or debit in yourkarmic record. A person having under-stood the concept of nirodha willbegin to observe thoughts and emo-tions entering his mind from thepoint of view of a third person, a dis-passionate, detached spectator. Hedoes not try to control his vritti, doesnot suppress it or eliminate it orencourage it. He is an unmoved, unaf-fected, silent, non-participative spec-tator, merely observing as waves enterand leave his chitta. This must not beconfused with not having thoughts orevading emotions in their entirety. Itis in fact the phenomenon of preclud-

ing the conscious mind from succumb-ing to the easy path of seeing vritti asa separate complete reality or as some-thing generated from within or takingownership of the same.

Nirodha is a state of being, that onemust condition themselves to absorbinto the very fibre of their consciousthinking, and not just practice for a fewminutes every day. Every time youthink of a new string of thoughts, con-sciously remind yourself, these are justpassing through your chitta. They arenot permanent, not yours. Repeat thisthought in your mind consciously withevery string of thoughts, whether neg-ative or positive.

It is only when in physical formthat a spirit can fructify its karma, bothpositive and negative, exhausting allthat is stored in its karmashaya. Theultimate goal of every spirit (even if youdon’t know it) is to attain mukti/mok-sha and to exhaust the constant cycleof birth, death and re-birth, eventual-ly becoming one with the supreme con-sciousness. To move towards thisobjective, one must ensure that whilestored samskaras from past lives fruc-tify, no new karma is added to the kar-mashaya. And for this, the practice ofnirodha needs to be developed andpreferably mastered.

Each individual possesses anaatma within. The aatma is energy,which is in fact, part of the universalenergy. To evolve spiritually, it is thisenergy and one’s aura that must grow.As it grows, the intention is to connectto the core aatma within us, creatingcomplete harmony of energy at everylevel. When the mind identifies withvrittis, the ego sense takes ownershipof the thoughts and everything they areabout. These thought waves cause usto identify with the mind and ego sensewhich are the delusionary aspect of ourself-identification, maya. They hidefrom us our true reality, the aatma, andsuperimpose on the consciousness ofthe aatma leading us to a sustaineddelusion. In the inability to practicenirodha, one invests energy into eachpassing vritti, depleting your aura as itpasses. Vritti, if you allow it, creates dis-cord and conflict between the aatmaand the physical self, disrupting thesynergy. Instead of growing your aura,you begin to lose energy. The intellec-tual mind reflects the vrittis as they passthrough the chitta.

“Emotions are a symbol of human-ity” — nothing could be more accuratethan this widely established cliché.Emotions are a trait of the physicalrealm, of humans, in flesh and bone.In order for the soul to evolve howev-er, it must rise above the physical exis-tence and its traits. The fuel to propelthis ascent is nirodha.

#�������������������������������� ����������������������

������ �����"����

����������������������

?�"������������H+������������(��������$������� �4� ��������������������������8����4� ����������B�"�������$�������/���56�A�B/�.�8/

����������� �����������$�����"����������(����������&������6� ������ �����"������ �������(�1�����������$������!.�AL���A�'**��!.�5.��

/�����������������(����������������(���������������������$�(����&��� ��"�&�$�� �����"������������� ������������ ����$ ����./�48A/�

This is the time, when people are prac-ticing social isolation which is said tobe helpful for preventing the virus.

However, it is necessary to understand thatconstant worry about your financial condi-tion and staying away from your loved onesmay take a toll on your emotional healththereby leading to depression that may beharmful for your immunity system. If youpractice meditation and chant mantras youwill be able to keep away the virus by mak-ing your body stronger.

Covid-19 pandemic has already takenover the world at a massive scale. In such acondition it is said that a strong immunesystem can help to avoid the virus. A strongimmune system can be of help in prevent-ing the illness caused due to virus and pre-venting the serious complications. Studieshave shown that meditation can help cureillnesses. Thus, if you have a strong immunesystem, you will eventually be able to fightthe virus too. It causes improved cognitivefunctioning and reduced physical problems.

Your immune system is not responsiblefor the physical functioning to ward off thediseases but also to enhance the thoughtsand moods. Furthermore, it is responsiblefor transmitting the thoughts to your cells.Hence, it is very necessary to transmit theright signals. We have no control over ourlife, but we do have a control over how werespond to situations. Mantras and medita-tion is the best option to ease the function-ing of your immune system and to treat it.

Reciting mantras and Meditation, anage-old spiritual practice, always remainedshrouded in the realms of awe and marvel,and was perceived miraculous in effect ifpracticed. Chanting mantras forms a part ofmany religious rituals, and diverse spiritualtraditions consider chanting mantras as aroute to spiritual and worldly development.Meditation on the other hand is aimed atrelaxing your body. Meditation is aimed at

improving how your body functions. Mantra is a specific combination of syl-

lables and is based heavily on the science ofNaad. These sounds or vibrations tune, qui-eten and focus the mind. These specificcombinations of syllables, words andrhythms hold great power in their soundcurrent to create and elevate consciousness.These sound vibrations that infiltrate everycell of human being and let the mind deli-quesce. Reciting a mantra produces an actu-al physical vibration, which corresponds toboth a specific spiritual energy frequencyand a state of consciousness. These vibra-tions bring about positive changes in theimmunity system and strengthen it.

Modern neuroscience is now beginningto discover the relationship between theway mantras are chanted and the impact onthe functioning of the mind. When wechant a mantra, the frontal lobes of ourbrain ‘light up’ and the nerve endings fireup. There is increased flow of oxygen andblood. Frontal lobes are responsible for

thought, learning, perception and emotion.Chanting mantras can have an effect on usfrom the vibrations they send out, affectingbrain patterns. The brain uses certain fluidsto transmit messages. Reciting mantras andpracticing meditation activate these fluidsin a positive way. Thus, we can use mantrasto heal the body, mind and emotional state,and also to attract or create prosperity, suc-cess, love and positivity. Studies have shownthat practicing meditation can be helpful forboosting your physical functioning.Improved physical functioning is a result ofimproved immunity system.

If you are feeling stressed and anxiousowing to everything going around you late-ly, it is time that you turn to mantras andmeditation to calm your mind. Mantras andmeditation can be a great boost for yourpsychological and immunity buildup there-by helping you cope up in the stressful envi-ronment.

#�����������!����,�������������������������������������� ��������������

���������������������

*68�/8����A*���A�/��87��.*

�.L�/!�-�A*�-6$87�.56���$�/�

7-*�.���,�B8�*��/�8A,*A�78A��.*�85-��8�*'8-'*

.8+*'*A$�/��65��A/�*��B8'*��.*

�.L�/!�-*S/��*�!*���,�/��

�A�/��

���������!��

���� ���.���?� ��#�6��� �+;#�+,+,

$�)����&&���<�����#�� � �&���)����

&�(*� ���$($�

� $#�((C&��

��3�����&1��

��?%��.-���?%�.�+����0;29)�.(%��+�'/��.%''%?. �'���+�%�.>������F�.�+��(�-*%%��'� �?(���� C%�+ -����.��.�B%-%�.(%��.+�-.�C '�.%?�%�.�B�.>�+��.+��-���%�C��>����.(%�%���(%�>�.+�- ��%�(%�/,��+�%�.(�-C�--�+��.+����+B�.%&�''�*%��*'%�.+�-(+&.(%�( C���.>����%&�+�/�<+��(+�%���/��+-�%��.>,�+&%B%�) �'%--�.(%��'+*�''�*%��'�+�/%��.�:%-?(���%��C�/�.(%�+B�/80;�?��-�-)�.(%�����-�C�--�+��<+����+B�.���- -.����*'%�< . �%��-��+.��+--�*'%

The “World WorldIntellectual Property Day”

is celebrated today (April 26)on the theme, “Innovate forGreen Future”. Unlike the past,this year, the World IntellectualProperty Organization(WIPO), the special agency ofthe UN, has urged people tospread awareness purelythrough virtual campaignbecause of the global pandem-ic Covid-19, widely believed tobe originated in China.Otherwise each year, theWIPO celebrates this day witha new mission and vision onlyto inspire and show pragmat-ic means to realise the goal.

The WIPO has adopted avery unique path this time.This World IP Day is simplybringing innovation and the IPrights that support it to heralda green future. The very idea ofIP rights is embedded withinnovation.

Further, these rights makeit absolutely possible for thecreators and innovators toreceive their dues with fair legalglobal regime. Of course coun-tries do vary in their legal prac-tices and statutes, but the basictenets of enforcing IP rightsremain almost uniform acrossthe world.

With globalisation andpost-globalisation, we all havealmost forgotten to sustainnature, resulting in irreparablelosses to humanity. Last year weall saw the rise of youngsterslike Greta Thunberg to bringback the planet to sustainabil-ity. She has called out the glob-al leaders to save the earth. Andthis Times Person of the Yearhas categorically warned theUN saying how the world lead-ers or elders can spoil thefuture of the coming genera-tions. She has added morestrength to the warriors whohave been fighting to save thisplanet. What we all are yearn-ing for is sustainability that haslots to do with what the WIPOon this World IP Day is doing.Our joint efforts to innovate fora green future can definitelysave the earth.

Creating a global IPregime, equally applicable toall, poses a serious concernbetween the developed anddeveloping nations. Since thebirth of the WTO and its his-toric Trade Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights(TRIPS) Agreement in 1995,the fight between these twogroups of nations has beengoing on. The central contro-versy around the TRIPS fordeveloping countries is allabout the protection of indige-nous rights, traditional knowl-edge-related resources andstandardisation of the IP gov-ernance systems to the level ofadvanced nations. Herein PeterDrahos rightly underlined thisstruggle way back in 2002:“The reality of standard settingfor developing countries is thatthey operate with an intellec-tual property paradigm dom-

inated by the US and the ECand international businessinterests…TRIPS sets mini-mum standards. Bilaterally thebar of IP standards continuesto be raised. When developingcountries turn to WIPO forlegislative assistance it steersthem down the TRIPS-pluspath. They are not in a position to mobilise webs ofcoercion and have to rely onwebs of dialogue.”

And in this war for sur-vival, the global governance ofIP has clearly divided thenations into two mutuallyexclusive camps. Unfortunatelythe major chunk of the warrevolves around sheer corpo-rate greed of the top global cor-porations of the advancednations. Therefore, the verypurpose and vision rightlyemphasised by the articles ofthe TRIPS is not leading to aglobal IP regime wherein allnations can have a sharedfuture. To tackle such imbal-ance, the need of the hour is tomove international IP policyfrom IP cooperation mostlyinformed by narrow corporateand national interests of thedeveloped nations to globalgovernance that squarely bal-ances public and private inter-ests in knowledge creation anddistribution around the globe.

The role of private actorsneed to be minimised in inter-national fora such as the UN,WTO, WIPO, World Bank,the IMF, etc. It is to be done justto secure a shared vision of theglobalisation wherein thedeveloping countries and theless developing nations couldfind a commonplace to survivealong with the developed coun-tries and definitely forge ahead.

Though sceptics argue thatthis global governance isdoomed to fall when notions ofgovernance are fluid and sus-ceptible to customary dynam-

ics, where notions of globalism,democracy and individualrights are divergently inter-preted, where notions of fair-ness, justice, participation andwelfare are irreconcilable andwhere limited national andcorporate interests dominate.But we need to move muchbeyond this and proved thenaysayers wrong.

We sincerely need to flashback why we all have becomeso greedy. What has con-tributed to our sudden desirefor accumulating more wealth,space and power is nothing butthe trio-junction of liberalisa-tion, globalisation and priva-tion (LPG). At the centre ofthis, acceleration is the comfortand ease of doing almost every-thing under the superior gripof excellent application ofinformation and communica-tion technology.

Technological innovationhas played a significant role inerasing our territorial bound-aries in the recent past. It haslargely affected the broad con-tours of our economy, trade,political order, identity for-mation and warfare at themoment. This has necessitatedthe remapping of the post-international global politicalorder on an urgent basis.

While altering this globalorder, many more actors havetried to occupy their spaces orthe existing powers have tight-ened their hold over it toremain there wherever they are.This has led to a continuouspower struggle worse than theyesteryears Cold War. And thisvirtual war, so to say, hasmoved us to a no point ofreturn.

The US sponsored liberalinternational order has seencracks as of now. The problemis that both the order and itssponsor are in crisis today.With President Donald Trump

at the helm of affairs and againhoping to come back to theWhite House next year, thedeclinists have only predictedgloom for this order and itsleader. Is it so? To many as theliberal order is fast decaying, itsposition is all up for grabs. Butthen who will grab it? Is itChina under Xi Jinping num-ber one in the list? Of coursenot. China needs to manage itsown borders before it tries tograb the rest of the world. It hastoo many problems though itpretends to overcome all.Starting from Xinjiang to HongKong through Taiwan to SouthChina Sea, its plate is absolute-ly full of thorns. Why to getobsessed to compete with theUS? In that case, many expertssay China is not trying toreplace the US as a globalhegemon. Precisely it is work-ing hard with both its moneyand muscle power to resist theUS coming to its own sphere ofinfluence, particularly in theIndia-Pacific. And for some theunipolarity dominated by theUS after the Cold War has justvanished. The much awaitednew bi-polarity has once againreturned with China at one endand the US at the other pole. Byonly looking at the Covid-19crisis and its serious impact onthe globe, it would be unwiseto project China as a re-emerg-ing power to counter the US.

The American leadership,its long held influence and thesuperior leadership it hasoffered in the past would sim-ply not vanish as the naysayerssay as it is. Building up a greenand sustainable future, demanda definite world order to per-sist. In such an order, nationsmust feel secure and convergetheir interests so as to surgeahead. When China’s muchtalked about rise has beenquestioned by many and par-ticularly by its immediate

neighbours, the advocates ofthe liberal order led by the USmust rethink how to re-arrangeit or so to say re-fashion it. Theplanet demands a stable lead-ership. Certainly rise and fall ofsuch orders are part of thegame. To celebrate basic demo-cratic values and credentialsenunciated by liberalism, anorder based on a democraticframework is what the world islooking for.

Human faculties needspace to pursue research, inno-vation and development in afree atmosphere. Not the onebound and encircled by horrorsof authoritarianism and singleparty structure as the one wesee now in China under theCommunist Party of that country. It simply negates theunderlying philosophy of mul-tilateralism.

China is vying for top glob-al leadership position withouteven guaranteeing the basichuman rights to its own people.In an atmosphere as brought bythis Covid-19, China is notcoming up transparent.

It is resisting opening uphow the virus has originated inthe Wuhan city if at all it hasstarted there. Its movementsseem to be doubtful when thewhole world is witnessing sim-ply disaster. It was a rare oppor-tunity for China to demon-strate its leadership, but it hasalready lost it. It has onceagain offered the West to takecharge of the globe and offeredhope back to this planet. Unlessthe global liberal order takescharge amid the crisis of theCovid-19, the WIPO’s mis-sion for innovating greenfuture would not be possible.Such a mission demands freeaccess to knowledge, informa-tion and communication. Thislies at the heart of a progressivehumanity.

World is now a civilisation

with no time even for ourselves.To cut short our greed, and toopen up our creativity, we allhave to somewhere enhanceour human connectivity where-in we minimise the role of tech-nology to a great extent.Technology will surely guide usbut we it should not take us tothat point wherein it simply dic-tates our life cycle. Arguably,technological change has alwaysbeen necessary, but not suffi-cient to infuse innovation andcreativity at all time.

The yammering of a“Green Future” is long felt byhumanity. Indeed the greencover across the world hasincreased in the last one or twodecades. This is not enough tooffer a sustainable solution tohumanity.

At a time when the worldis grappling with an unprece-dented coronavirus crisis thatis leading us to the death ofalmost two lakh people andaffecting nearly 28 lakh glob-ally, the WIPO can certainlyshow us a unique road tocounter this menace. But thenwe all need to resolutely standbehind the shared objectivesenunciated in the basic frame-work of the WIPO.

The hurdle for us today isour madness to achieve our tar-get before time. In this race, weare simply gulping what even wecannot digest. Whether werespond to Covid-19 or anysuch catastrophe in future, theinternational community needsto stay united. But practicallyspeaking, marshaling ouractions towards such a course ofaction is full of hurdles eitherconditioned by ideological path-ways or competitive rivalries.

Thus countries such as theUS, China, Russia, India,Germany, Japan, etc, can noway think of linking their goalsand visions to a single point.And even if they can, they are

again racing for reaching thesame point at the same time.

Much beyond traditionalrivalries, China and Americatoday are fighting a massivetrade war wherein their mutu-al stake lies. Hence globalexperts opine that China’s quietrise can no more be peaceful.It’s going to shake the globalstatus quo for sure. This shouldnot come on the way to realisea sustainable future of human-ity. Chinese leadership must beable to visualise a future where-in all the nations have a future.It’s not just expanding a regimeof international grab and it isall about directing the world tosurvive.

Finally, a Covid-19 of thismagnitude can largely be min-imised by the noble initiativesof the WIPO. Since its incep-tion in 1967, the organisationhas been launching numerousinitiatives either to encouragecreativity or to inspire many inthe periphery to surge ahead.Hope this mission to innovatefor a green future will be ableto show humanity a new roadfor hope and prosperity.

We have witnessed manymore crises in the past. Covid-19 is not an exceptional one.But what we need is pure inno-vation either from the inter-national scientific and healthcommunity or from our lead-ers a path-breaking solution tostamp this virus out from thisplanet. Global economic slumpmay soon be stropped once itsdrivers that is humanitybecomes fit and fine. At thisjuncture, only innovation canoffer options. This innovationcan rightly indicate the keys tounlocking the solutions andapproaches to create a greenand sustainable future forhumanity.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

*������������������� ����� ���D�(�������� �������The coronavirus pandemic

has taken the world bysurprise, eroding almost $500billion from the market andseverely impacting the econo-my of more than 75 per centcountries in a short span offour months. India has beenproactively fighting the pan-demic with certain stringentmeasures such as over amonth-long complete lock-down to enforce social dis-tancing and prevent the spreadof Covid-19. One of the side-effects of the lockdown is thedisruption of production &distribution of goods and ser-vices as the manufacturingand logistics operations havebeen curtailed completely.

However, the traditionalmom-and-pop shops, popu-larity known as the kiranastores in India, have emergedas the lifeline of the country tofulfil the essential needs of 1.3billion inhabitants. These storeswere marginalised in the last

decade by modern organisedretail and e-commerce plat-forms, especially in the urbanareas, but have flourished againas the modern trade grappleswith restrictive Governmentpolicies, supply chain issuesand non-availability of labour.

Here are reasons why thesekirana stores have emerged aswinners at the time of globalcrisis.

Firstly, they maintain arobust supply chain, withinventory replenishment, andfrequent deliveries by suppliers.They can cope up with thereduced production and supplyas they carry limited productvariety, have mostly cash-to-cash payment cycle and havelow returns. They are easilyaccessible by the distributorseven if they are in small andnarrow streets as most deliv-eries can be made by the sup-pliers on smaller vehicles, suchas hand-operated or battery-operated rickshaws. Moreover,

many store owners/staff go tothe wholesale distribution out-lets themselves, enabling themto overcome labour shortages.They also enjoy strong andclose relationships with thesuppliers/distributors becauseof long-term association andnetworks.

Secondly, they have lessersafety concerns over Covid-19infections being spread amongconsumers as they are visited inless numbers and frequency.Trust has become an importantcurrency with consumers asmore attention is paid to strin-gent health, hygiene and safe-ty norms of social distancing,sensitisation and deep cleaning.Consumers continue to rely onthese stores during the lock-down as maintaining strin-gent safety norms and socialdistancing of 6 feet are easy tofollow in the small shops thanin supermarkets.

The customers are servedat the door of the store pre-

cluding the need of the cus-tomer to enter the store. Use ofsanitiser or handwash, masksand gloves by the owner andstaff members is a more com-mon sight in these stores nowa-days.

Thirdly, accessibility hasalways been a key strength ofkirana shops, especially insmall towns and villages, whichaccount for 70 per cent retailspending in India. The e-com-merce and modern trade plat-forms are more prominent inlarge cities and metros. Duringthe Covid-19 pandemic, thesestores are leveraging their prox-imity to the end-consumers toprovide enhanced customerservice. As main roads remaininaccessible for cars and othervehicles due to barricades putup to prevent movement exceptto those having e-pass, formany consumers modern tradeis out of reach. The kiranastores located in every nookand corner of the country

ensure steady supply of gro-ceries and other essential com-modities to the households asmany consumers do not mindwalking a short distance to getdaily needs. Many stores havetied up with the resident wel-fare associations of housingsocieties to deliver groceries atthe specified time slots whereindividual customers can picktheir packets, and makecash/digital payments.

Fourthly, the kirana storeshave leveraged their biggeststrength of extending creditfacilities to the trusted cus-tomers in the hour of need. Asmany customers struggle withreduced salaries, these storeshave come to their rescue withthe all familiar phrase of,“Never mind, you can paytomorrow, or I will put it in theregister and you can pay atmonth end”.

This type of customer ser-vice is unheard of in the mod-ern retail. They have also been

silently transforming them-selves over the years with tech-nology initiatives such as offer-ing customers digital paymentoptions, billing and adoption ofinventory management sys-tems to ensure better customerservice and efficient opera-tions.

Finally, some of thesestores are also serving as theextension counters or last miledelivery hubs and pickuppoints of many e-commercegiants such as Amazon and BigBasket and modern trade suchas Big Bazaar. The e-com-merce companies have invest-ed in these stores, overhaulingand remodelling them withfresh design, pleasing lightingand technological tools andapps.

In return, these stores pro-vide valuable customer pur-chase behaviour data thus mak-ing it easy to track customerpurchases at a micro level.Moreover, these stores also

provide value added servicessuch as money transfer, phonerecharge facilities and ATMsmaking them first choice forthe consumers who have lim-ited mobility in the present cir-cumstances.

To conclude, one impor-tant learning for most con-sumers from the Covid-19pandemic is to go back to theessential daily-products andfresh produce and the kiranastores have risen to the occa-sion remarkably well with theiragile and responsive supplychain, easy accessibility to theconsumers, hygienic store con-ditions with “limited touchpoints” and value-added ser-vices.

(The writer is Director ofCII School of Logistics; AmityUniversity, Noida where sheteaches and researches innova-tive and emerging supply chainmodels. She can be contacted [email protected])

������-.+�%-�(�B%��-%��.+�.(%�+??�-�+�&�.(�.(%������'%���/�%-�+�-�B%�- ��'>?(���)�%�->�??%--�*�'�.>�.+G*>?+�- C%�-)�(>��%��??+�/�.�+�-�&�.(�H'�C�.%/.+ ?(��+��.-����/�B�' %8�//%/�-%�B�?%-

�������������������(������������ ��������������������������&��������������������������)�(���������������������"�����1���� � �����������&�������&������ �(��������������������������� �� �����1����,����"����(� ����$����������������� ��������������������1��������������������$�����������&����������%�1��������������"��������������"���"�� ���������������������������� �(�����������������1��&���� ��� ��"�%�1��B����&���������������������%�1��������"����"����� ����(�����"���������������� ��&�$������������������������"������1�� �� ����������������(����1�����������(��������&��$�����������&��������������������� �(��(������ ����������1��"�����$�� �����(����������

� ?:>�� C*%� >>� ?:>�?+'+ �+���� ?:>�/�> 6�� �

6��.� 6% )��+78�' ���79

������������������������� �������� �������������������1���������������(��&����"���������������"����������������������������������������((��������������������������������1������������1��������"������6� ��������1������������������,��#�1�� ��((���� �1������"���"����"�� ������������� ��(��������� �������1��������8��������������$���&����"��������������� ��"����1���������������������� �&���(��������������1���&���1����,�������� ���$�����������1�������������������(��(��$�������(���������������(�����&�����������������(��(�������������$����������(���� �������������� ���������������������* (��������������1����������������

� ?:>�� C*%� D� ?:>�?+'+ � 8��"�� ?:>�/�> ��� �

16=�=���' ���+.86%&�+.

L������������������"� ���������"��� �������L�������)����� ����������(��&����1�������"��������&���������������(�������"������������������� ���������B��"����������������1������"����������� ����������������������������������������(����&������������ ������(��&����1������&�������������!����)����$�������������� 1������ ������"�� ���������(������%�1��������������������������1��"��� ��������� � ����������������������1�������������������������������������������������� (�����$��������������� �1� "��� �&�� ��������������((��"���������������(��������������������������"������8�����(�����������$����������������(�������(���������������

� ?:>�� C*%��99� ?:>�?+'+ � A� � ?:>�/�>+� ��� �

(.%�/��6%&�+78"�(�+.

+����������������������"�������� ��$����������������������N���"��������� �������������� ��$�� �� �����������"�� �������8��������������$������������������ �� ������������"����������L������ ���1�����"�)����� ��������������������� ������(���������������1���"�������������"��� ���(��&���������(�������������������L����������� ��((������� ����(���������/������������(��������(���(�� ��"� ������������&�����(�����������"�������������������������1�����8�����(�����������$�����������������������"�������������L��������������1�� �(������� �"��������"�� ������������&����

� ?:>�� C*%� >E� ?:>�?+'+ � 4����� ?:>�/�> 7�� �

$6/$.��"�(�+78"��&�++

L�������������"���1�������������8&����������������"�� ������������������������(���� ����"���(�� ���&���L���������&���������������������� ������ �����1���������������������������������&������������� ��������������������� �1��������"��"�(������������������&�� �"���"���������""�����&��1���������"���������������"����������&���$��������� ���� ����1����!��������� ���(������&���������������������8��������������$���������������((��������L���������"�����"�����"�������������������"���""��������������������L������ ����� ���� ����(��������������1���������������8�����(�����������$����������������������������(��(����B���������������(����������� ��� ������������������(�

� ?:>�� C*%� >9� ?:>�?+'+ ��4�� ��� ?:>�/�> ��� �

?��(0���1�+:8�'�++

L��������1��&���������������������������������� ��������������"����1������������������������������� ��������������&������������������(��&������������� �"�&��������������"����������������������� ��������������"����������1��������(�������������������������������� �����1���"�������������L����������������������� $���������(���1����������((����"���������������������������"���&������� �1������L����� ���((������ ����������� ����������0 �(��������� �1�����(��������������������� ����������������,�����1�����������������������(��(��#�(���(���&���-��� �������1���"��(��(��������������1��������� ����� ����������������������� ������� �����������(������ ������&�����������������������

� ?:>�� C*%� ;� ?:>�?+'+ � ����� ?:>�/�> +� ��� �

,�A�6��'�+:8�)0�++

+������&����������"�������������$�������� ������������1������"��� ���%������"�� ����"��������������������+��&������� �$����(������(���� ���%������������������$��� ������ ���%����"�� ���������������������������������� �������������������������������$�������(�� �����"� ����"��7����������1��������&��� ��������"$�� ���������������"�����������������$�"�� ����������� ��� ��6��������$��������������������� ������"���������������������"�� ������8&����$��������� �������"�� �(���� ��������������� ���������� ��������� &�"��������,������ ��"�����"����(�������"�������������"���8����(�����������$������������� ����������1������������������������%�����������������(���

� ?:>�� C*%��9>� ?:>�?+'+ � 6"��� ?:>�/�> +� ��� �

�$0�-�0��)0�+:8��4�+7

���������"�� ������������������������ �(����������)1���"��L����(����&��((����������"�������1����"������(�������������������"���������������"� ��"����������������� �� ��������������������1��"�� ��L��������������������������������������(������� (��������L������������������ ������ �������������������������������� ��)���������1�������$���������������1�����������������������������������"���������������������������B�����������������1������"��,��#������������"��� ��8�����(�����������$��������1����&��&� ���������������������7�����"��������(���������� ��������� ���� ��"������ ��� ����������������������������((����������������������1���

� ?:>�� C*%� >D� ?:>�?+'+ � ����B���� ?:>�/�> 7�� ��

6F=6��=� "%(�+.8���7;

�������������������1����"�������"� $������� �� �"��)������ ��L���������������������������(���� � ����� ������������� � ����"��������L������������� ���������������(������������L�������(������1������������������������$�������&��������������������"�� ��,�������������"����$��������(��(�����(�������(� ���&���L����������"������1�����1���������������#��"�� �1������L���� ����������� �1��������������������&������� ��A����1�������#������ �������1����������������� ������������1�������������8�����(�����������$������ &��� ��������������������1����������(��(����������������� ��B�������������������������� �����������������������(���"����� ����������"�"��������

� ?:>�� C*%� >:� ?:>�?+'+ � B����� ?:>�/�> ���� �

-��$.�����7986% )��+.

��������������(�����%���������� �(���� $�1���"��"%���������� �������$�1�����2����������������� ��������L��������$������� ��((�����������)���� �/������������ � ����������������������)���������2���������(����������������������������������� �����������������������������!����)����$������� ������������� (�����������������&������"��������������1���������$���������$����� ���������1���������������������L������ ������ ����������������(������� ���"�������� ��������������� ������ (�������������������� ��"����8�����(�����������$�����������������������"����������� ������������������������ ���� ��"�� �������"����� �����������6���� ����(������� ��������������(�����

� ?:>�� C*%� P� ?:>�?+'+ � ����� ?:>�/�> 7�� �

$6-��$0�/��)�++8"%(�79

�������������������� ���� ����� ��������������������""���"� ��1��� ��� �������)�����������L��������������������������������$��������������������������������������������������������(�� ����"�����������(�����&��������B���������������������� � ��� ����1������������� �1��������������(������������"���������������"��!����)����$�������������"�� ��L�������1��((����� ������������������� ��� �������+����� �� � ����� ���$��������(�����������������������������������������������"��A�� �� ��������������������� �1� "���,������� ��"������������������((��"��A��������(�����$�������������������1�(�������� �����"�����L��������������������&���������� 33���"�(���������

� ?:>�� C*%� 9:� ?:>�?+'+ � /� �"�� ?:>�/�> ���� �

,.0 "��&�+:8��1�++�L����������������(�� ���������(������(������������ (����� ������������7�������� ����$���"$�� ��������1���"�1������ �"��������"������������������"��"������������"���"�(� ������L�������1��1�������� ��������������������������������,��#�1������������������������4�&��������(�(���������������� �&������������������������������"��(���������������$������������((��� ������ ����&� ��������������������������������L�����������������(��(��������(��(�������������'���������������������������� ���� �� ���� &����������������"�� ������"�����������"�� ����������������(������L����(�����������&������"��������������������� � ������������"�������"��1��������������������

� ?:>�� C*%� >;� ?:>�?+'+ � B���� ?:>�/�> ����� �

�6(�116��=����4�++8�)�+7

�%�3@��9

�>��?6�,.5��8�/L�

���������!��

��� ����8�+.*A*�!���6���7/�,��T5/*�*A�8A�68A*

5��A85B-*,�A*�A*���.���/��./��8+���85-N�6�A!5���5A*-/5� .���?� ��#�6��� �+;#�+,+,

To continue from where we left inthe previous issue, let me nowrelate a story believed to be associ-

ated with Lord Buddha. For, it willexplain the rationale behind the simpleprocess suggested for relaxing the mind.Buddha was travelling with his discipleswhen he felt thirsty. So, he camped andthen asked a disciple to fetch water froma nearby water stream. As the disciplewas approaching the stream, he saw ananimal crossing it. Evidently, the mudunderneath the stream got stirred up,and so water did not remain worth con-sumption. How could he offer his gurudirty water to drink? So, the disciple didnot collect water. Later, when Buddhaasked for water, the disciple informedhim that water was dirty. Buddha thensaid: “The mud would have settled downby now. So, go again.” This time, thoughthe mud had largely settled down, waterwas yet not clean. So, he again returnedempty handed. It was during his thirdvisit that he could fetch clean water,when the mud had finally settled.

Remember, mind can be comparedto a running water stream. Instead ofwater, thoughts keep continuously flow-ing through the mind-space. On the

way, lot of negative and inconsequentialthoughts do also keep intruding themind-space. They can be attributed totwo factors. First, memory impressionsof unpleasant experiences one wouldhave had in the past. Second, many wildthoughts unmindfully arising in courseof daydreaming one often gets into.They are comparable to mud at the bot-tom of the water stream getting stirredup. These unwarranted thoughts vitiateyour thought process so much that youlose your sense of reasons and order,which doesn’t allow space to objectivelypursue your thoughts. As you let loseyour mind, and remain disengaged fromthe thoughts cruising your mind, over aperiod of time, unwanted thoughts goout of reckoning. It is just as the mudsettles down when the water stream isallowed free flow for a while. As themind settles down, fresh space becomesavailable to process your thoughts objec-tively, in turn enabling you to pick upthe right lead. Mind, thus, gets trainedto maintain its sense of order. Taste ofthe pudding is in eating. Pursue theprocess regularly. Initially, it may not beeasy to bear with thoughts flooding yourmind space. As you close your eyes, you

get cut off from the outer world, butthought impressions lying at the subcon-scious level come into full play, makingyou restive. As time passes by, mind willsettle down, and you may feel relaxedand at peace.

Once the mind settles down, you areready to move on to the next stage andget further empowered. You then needto declutter your mind of all the unwar-ranted thought impressions lying at stillat deeper layers of mind. These imprints,coming as they may as Karmic carryover from the past birth, preconditionyour mind one way or the other. Thatvaries from person-to-person, accordingas individual specific experiences onewould have had, which defines theunique character of every being, eachmanifesting varying desire trends, habitsand attitudes. Seen in practical terms, inthe first place, these memory imprintsserving as defining principle of mindhold the key to how you conduct in dayto life — good or bad. Second, it limitsyour scope of vision to a narrow windowframe through which you look at theworld view. Consequently, you often failto look at issues in hand in the right per-spective due, and with obvious conse-quences.

The question now is: How to declut-ter the mind of all its limiting influences.Again, lie down on a hard surface overyour back. Close the eyes. Inhale deepand then exhale slowly. Focus yourattention on the breath cycle — inbreath and outbreath in running cycle.Once again you will be flooded withthoughts. As you watch them, you mayfind definite patterns emerging that maythrow light on your habit tendencies.Becoming aware thus, you could resolvethem through fresh educative inputs.Better seek guidance from an enlight-ened Guru, who may help you get overthe limiting influences faster. Followingcleansing of mind, you may be able tolook at issues in hand free from any lim-itations whatsoever. That may facilitatelooking at things in the right perspectivedue, to pick up the right lead.Consequently, you may be able to sailthrough life with relative ease and com-fort.

The issue continues...#���������������������������++���������������

������������������������A99��������������8,33=<�11����� ����� ��22������--�����

��!!����,333===<E#��6443,333,FF47F7FGE>4737=HG<GH

0����6����������������������D�����A���

���3%���B.�A���B.5�.�����,6�,*8

&����(������������������������������������������2�������&��� ���$����������#�������!�+�������A-�������������6�����D����������A�������A����������A����&647GH<7HHH3

$����� "�"������

�������� �� ���U���'�**� 6*�,/A����$�!8��5-�/�4�*,/�8A�V ★ ��"����� ������ U ���/�.�!.��,A�����.68-�$��*�/8A�*,/�8A�H!A*��/'*I

.��������������������������� ����������C���� ���