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MONEY 8FITCH SOLUTIONS SAYS RBI MAY CUT INTEREST RATES BY 75 BPS

ANALYSIS 7THE JURY IS OUT ON THEPERFORMANCE OF NETAS

SPORTS 12CA CHIEF HINTS FIVE MATCHTEST SERIES AGAINST INDIA

VIJAYAWADA, WEDNESDAY APRIL 22, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

}‘DIRECT OTTRELEASE OFNISHABDAMIS NOT TRUE’

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 169*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated April 21, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Paush & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Amavasya: Full NightNakshatram: Revati: 01:18 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:14 pm – 01:48 pmYamagandam: 07:32 am – 09:06 amVarjyam: NILGulika: 10:40 am - 12:14 pmGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 10:36 am – 12:24 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: NIL

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: SunnyTemp: 40/27Humidity: 45%Sunrise: 05:55 amSunset: 06:33 pm

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Sensex tanks 1,011 pts as oil pricecrash sparks sell-off on global scale

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Popularity of oldserials promptsreview of DD selection process

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Central teamclaims lack ofcooperation byMamata govt

Hiring freeze set to kill a million dreams in IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

COVID-19 lockdowns andsocial distancing have not onlytriggered job losses acrossindustries in India but are alsoresulting in scarcity of freshjobs as companies have turnedoff the hiring tap, which is adouble whammy for those whoare affected by the coronavirustsunami.

Besides the aviation, traveland hospitality industrieswhich are the worst affected,other key industries thatshowed a decline in hiringactivity in March in India ver-sus last year same time wereretail (50 per cent), auto/ autoancillary (38 per cent), pharma(26 per cent), insurance (11 percent), accounting/finance (10

per cent), IT-software (9 percent) and BFSI (9 per cent),according to the aNaukriJobSpeak Index for March2020.'

Overall, hiring activity inIndia registered a decline of 18

per cent (year-over-year) lastmonth.

New jobs for professionals inthe hotel/restaurants, ticket-ing/travel/airlines and mar-keting/advertising/MR/PR sec-tors witnessed a dip of 51 per

cent, 48 per cent and 33 percent, respectively.

Hiring across experiencelevels has been impacted. Thesenior management roles (13-16 years of experience)declined by 29 per cent, lead-ership roles (16+ years of expe-rience) declined by 29 per centand middle management roles(8-12 years of experience)declined by 20 per cent.

The horror tales have justbegun. A report by Microsoft-owned LinkedIn said onMonday that 25 per cent of theIndian workforce has reporteda decrease in their incomes,while 39 per cent reported adip in personal savings due tothe impact of COVID-19 pan-demic.

Those surveyed feel confi-

dent about long-term outlookbut are troubled with overarch-ing concerns in the short-termregarding availability of jobs,company's financial situation,and the impact of these factorson their incomes and person-al savings.

Leading job portal Indeed iskeeping a tab on the currenthiring situation in India.

"It's too early to say, but as aleading labour marketresearcher, this is somethingthat we will be looking atmoving forward. One of thebigger conversions that is hap-pening as a result of this situ-ation is focused around thefuture of how we work," SashiKumar, Managing Directorsaid.

Special focus on 4 hotbeds inAP to control spread of virusPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Addressing a review meeting oncontaining the spread of Covid-19 in the state, Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy onTuesday told officials to espe-cially focus on Kurnool, Guntur,Krishna and Nellore districts,which have emerged as hotbedsof the deadly contagion.

“More tests should be con-ducted in these four districtscompared to others and moremeasures shall be taken in thesedistricts to contain the spread ofthe virus,” the Chief Ministersaid. The officials informedJagan that distribution of facemasks has gained momentumin the Red and Orange Zonesand that tests were being carriedout in right earnest.

Vizianagaram andSrikakulam were the only dis-tricts where there were noCovid-19 cases, but tests werestill being carried out even inthese two districts with 225TreuNat machines, said theofficials. The government hastaken a decision to convertGGH in Kurnool into a Covid-19 Hospital. Accordingly,patients in this hospital wouldbe shifted to other hospitals.Permission has been sought to

conduct Plasma therapy at thehospital and an adequate num-ber of Personal ProtectionEquipment (PPEs) and maskswould be kept ready, the officialstold the Chief Minister.

They informed that testswere conducted on 2,000 of the32,000 people identified in theintegrated survey and tests forthe remaining would be com-pleted soon. There are 7,100patients in the quarantine cen-

tres, they said. The ChiefMinister directed the officials totake immediate action to resolvethe problems being faced byfarmers by purchasing theirproduce at the earliest.

Deputy Chief Minister AllaNani, Chief Secretary NilamSawhney, DGP Gautam Sawangand Special Chief Secretary forMedical and Health JawaharReedy were among those present.

VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday urgedhis Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani toensure all possible assistance tofishermen from Andhra Pradeshstranded in Gujarat due to the ongoinglockdown to contain the spread ofCoronavirus. Vijay Rupani respondedpositively to Jagan’s request andassured him of all possible help. TheGujarat Chief Minister promised that

his government would provide food and accommodation to thefishermen from AP, besides helping them with essentialcommodities during this time of crisis. Scores of fishermen fromAndhra Pradesh have gone over to Gujarat to carry out fishingactivity off the coast of the northwestern state.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh reportedtwo more deaths due toCovid-19 on Tuesday, takingthe number of fatali-ties to the deadlyvirus to 22. Thehotbeds in thestate contin-ued to registernew positivecases; the tallyof infectionsshot up to 757with the additionof 35 on Tuesday, thegovernment said.

Four more patients recov-ered from the disease andbeen discharged from hospi-

tals in the last 24 hours end-ing 9 am on Tuesday, takingthe total number of thosecured to 96.

The latest Covid-19 bul-letin said two fresh

deaths were reportedin Guntur district,which now has atoll count of six.

The state nowhas a total of 639active Covid-19

cases undergoingtreatment in various

hospitals . Off icialsources said about 40 of

these patients were in ICUand some of them in criticalcondition.

Two deaths, 35 newcases reported in AP

IMA CALLS FOR PROTEST AGAINST ATTACKS ON DOCTORSVIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada unit of the Indian MedicalAssociation (IMA) has asked doctors and all people whosympathise with healthcare professionals to stage a protest againstthe physical attacks against them by lighting candles at 9 pm onApril 22. “Please light candles at the said time and date to expresssolidarity with the medical professionals who are facing physicalattacks in the backdrop of Covid-19 outbreak,” the IMA officebearers said.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu onTuesday demanded that theYSRCP Government give upits adamant attitude and holdan all-party meeting to takethe opinion of all Oppositionparties in the fight against theCoronavirus epidemic.

The Leader of theOpposition took strongobjection to the ruling partyleaders attributing motives tothe TDP, BJP, Jana Sena andLeft leaders, instead of takingtheir advice to take forwardthe struggle against the killervirus.

Naidu: Jaganmust talk toparties, stopbeing adamant

‘Earliest anti-corona drugis a year away or longer’DAVE BENNETT SILVERY n HYDERABAD

Although research on the CellCulture system is picking up,and systems are in place to starttesting antiviral compoundsproduced by various institu-tions,the earliest drug thatcan come out will take atleast a year or longer, DrRakesh Mishra, directorof the city-based Centrefor Cellular andMolecular Biology(CCMB) toldThe Pioneerin an exclu-sive inter-v i e w .

The city-based premier instituteis working on new methods ofCovid-19 testing that involve ahuge number of samples andsensitive samples. “Once thereis progress, we can involvecompanies to get them to pro-duce on a large scale,”he added.

An ICMR-approved test-ing centre for Covid-19,CCMB is currently receiv-ing samples ofs u s p e c t e d C ov i d - 1 9patients from government

hospitals across the33 districts of

Telangana State.

Jagan asks Rupani to take careof AP fishermen stuck in Gujarat

3

3

33

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PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Though the Andhra Pradeshgovernment has decided toenforce partial lockdown andexempt a few sectors from therestrictions from April 20 asdecided by the Centre, it isadopting a cautious approachin allowing the industries tofunction. While 242 industrieshave applied for no-objectioncertificate for starting opera-tions outside Red Zones, thestate government has permit-ted just four.

Only two industries inChittoor and one each inSrikakulam and Krishna couldget the NOC, though manyothers who applied for the per-mission are outside the RedZone. The industries depart-ment has not been allowingany industry in the Red Zones.

For instance, in the indus-trial hub of Visakhapatnam,where a majority of the ITcompanies and large-scale

manufacturing units are locat-ed, not a single unit was givenpermission though 60 compa-nies have applied for reopen-ing, as the entire port city hasbeen declared as Red Zone.

In Anantapur, 52companies applied forrestarting but none ofthem have been giventhe green signal.SouthKorean automobilegiant Kia Motors Indiaand its ancillary unitsalso remain shut

ICMR ‘suspends’ rapid test kitsl Variations in results of test and RT-PCR kits forces ICMR to issue advisory to statesPNS n NEW DELHI

Amid complaints about faultyrapid test kits, the IndianCouncil of Medical Researchon Tuesday advised states notto use them for the next twodays, saying it will issue anadvisory after their teams carryout field validation of theseequipment.

At the daily governmentbriefing on the Coronavirus sit-uation in the country, ICMR’sDr Raman R Gangakhedkarwas asked about the faultyrapid testing kits. “We havereceived complaint from a stateyesterday and so far discussedwith three states. Too muchvariations have been reportedin results of rapid test kits andRT-PCR kits. We advise statesnot to use them for the nexttwo days,” he said.

“These kits will be tested andvalidated in the field by ourteams. We will issue a clear-cutadvisory in two day. If prob-lems are detected in batches,we will tell the companies for

replacement,” he said. He saidthat a total of 4,49,810 samplesfor COVID-19 infection havebeen tested till Tuesday of

which 35,852 were done onMonday. As many as 29,776samples have been tested in 201labs under the ICMR network,

and 6,076 at 86 privatelaboratories, he said.

The Chairman of the 4thEmpowered Group (to tackle

COVID-19) said that the gov-ernment has created a portalwith the master database ofhealthcare professionals andvolunteers. “Till now, details of1.24 crore human resources ofvarious kinds have been addedto it,” he said.

Details of Corona warriorsin 20 categories and 49 sub-cat-egories, who can contribute toCOVID-19 managementefforts, are available to statesand union territories on the

portal, he said LavAgrawal, the Joint

Secretary in theHealth Ministry,told the press con-ference that18,601 positivecases have beenreported across

the country so far.As many as 3,252

people have beencured till now, he said,

adding 705 of them recov-ered on Monday. “This takesour recovery percentage to17.48,” he said.

Rapid Kits only for preliminarytesting in AP, says Nodal Officer

Nodal Officer for Covid-19 cases Dr Arja Srikanth on Tuesday saidthat the rapid testing kits which the State had imported from

South Korea are not meant for confirming Covid-19 infections. DrSrikanth told The Pioneer that these kits are being used as apreliminary test kit on Covid-19 suspect patients if he/she is likelyto get infected with the virus or likely to be prone to the infection.This preliminary test would enable the health official tosend the Covid-19 suspect to quarantine or conductfurther tests on a large scale in that particular areabased on the preliminary result. These tests willalso avoid a large number of people coming fortests and would enable the doctors surveilsuspects with symptomatic conditions, the

Nodal Officer said. Dr Srikanth recalled that for the last 37 days the Indian Councilfor Medical Research (ICMR) was recommending rapid test kits to the stategovernments across the country. However, if ICMR gives standing instruction to stopusing it for 2 days we will follow their guidelines, he added.

LOCKDOWN RELIEF

Only 4 industriesget AP govt nod

Trump hints at suspendingimmigrationto USPNS n HYDERABAD

In a shocker for lakhs ofIndian immigrants and workvisa holders, PresidentDonald Trump tweeted thathe will be signing an execu-tive order to temporarily sus-pend immigration to theUnited States.

Trump on Monday nightsaid that this would be donein view of the Covid-19 pan-demic and to protectAmerican jobs. While itcomes as a shocker for thoseawaiting Green Card andresidency, techies on H1Bvisas are in wait and watchmode.

CoronaVirus

Cases inindia

3,931645

Recovered

Deaths20,004

3

PNS n KAKINADA

Minister for Agriculture KKannababu, along with MPVanga Geeta, on Tuesdaylaunched door delivery of fivetypes of fruits at Rs 100 in thetown.

The HorticultureDepartment and MEPMA isselling the fruit kits at thedoorstep of people at anaffordable price.

On one hand, the measurebenefits horticulture farmersand on the other hand, peoplewould derive benefit in theform of nutritional values.

First, the sale would com-mence inR a j a m a h e n d r a v a r a m ,Amalapuram, Kakinada and

would be extended graduallyto other parts.

The minister said that 104tonnes of mangoes wereexported to other States fromVisakhapatnam and 1.2 tonnesto overseas from Tirupati.

Vanga Geeta appealed topeople to make good use of theState government’s offer ofproviding five types of fruits.

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for anydamage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement beforeresponding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020 vijayawada 02

Vedanta-VGCB reaching outpeople in battle against Covid-19PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Covid-19 pandemic hasposed unprecedented challengesfor India and the world with therise in number of infected. Aspart of the Vedanta Group’sefforts to support people in dis-tress, Vedanta-Vizag GeneralCargo Berth (VGCB) is rampingup its community outreach pro-grammes and reaching out to allstakeholders in this battle againstthe pandemic.

With the objective to ensurethe protection of those whoprotect people by jeopardisingtheir lives and leading from thefront during emergencies,Vedanta-VGCB has providedN-95 masks, alcohol-based sani-tisers and hand gloves to

Harbour Police Station ofVisakhapatnam Port Trust. Thematerial and personal protectivekits will help ensure the safety ofpolice force during the Covid-19pandemic.

Vedanta-VGCB has proac-tively carried out fumigationand sanitisation activities at var-ious police stations and govern-ment offices. Fumigation and

sanitation helps in killing ofpests, termites or any otherharmful living organisms andhelp in significantly reducing the chances of infections for peo-ple working in that particulararea. In line with Vedanta's phi-losophy of care and communi-ty welfare, Vedanta-VGCB hasset up a team of people to pro-vide relief to the vulnerable andmost needy sections of society,who have been harshly impact-ed by the pandemic, and facedsignificant disruption in theirlivelihoods.

Vedanta-VGCB has extendedseveral on-ground support activ-ities to combat the Covid-19 andthe same will continue throughall possible means to battleagainst this pandemic.

Elderly medicare hit by lockdownPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Hundreds of elderly peopleand those suffering fromchronic medical conditions inVisakhapatnam are finding itdifficult to get everyday med-ical assistance due to the lock-down, according to doctors,hospital authorities and organ-isations providing home care.

The daily medical assistanceincludes checking blood pres-sure, blood glucose level andadministering insulin andinjections. Assistants at localpharmaceutical stores, popular-ly called ‘compounders’ are notavailable at most places, whilemost private hospitals havestopped sending their person-nel to houses to collect samplesas a precautionary measure toprotect their staff from thevirus.

Health-care experts said thatbecause of these two factors,many people suffering fromdiabetes, renal ailments, hyper-tension, chronic obstructivepulmonary disease (COPD)and other diseases are findingit difficult to get their condi-tions monitored regularly or themedical support they used toget readily before the lock-down kicked in.

V Ram Prasad, 59, a residentof Railway New Colony, is dia-betic for many years and recent-

ly underwent amputation of hisright leg below the kneebecause of gangrene. “My fatheris bed-ridden and needs phys-iotherapy. But now, I am notgetting any physiotherapist. Ihad approached the hospitalwhere he underwent thesurgery but they failed to pro-vide one,” said Kiran, RamPrasad’s son. Ram Prasad,works in a real estate firm,would also get his blood glu-cose level examined by anassistant at a local medicineshop. But that person had goneto his village due to the lock-down, said the son.

“I have purchased a machineto measure the blood glucoselevel but my father needs hisblood pressure checked, too.There is no one to do it,” said

Soma Sekhar. A 65-year-oldman living in Thatichetlapalemneeds an injection to be admin-istered every 10 days, whichkeeps his haemoglobin levelnormal. “My father is diabeticand his kidney is affected, too.He does not need dialysis.Doctors said the injection canboost the haemoglobin level sothat the vital organs are not fur-ther damaged. But the manwho administers the injectionis not available now,” said herdaughter. The doctor has toldher to wait till the lockdown isover.

“These medical store assis-tants are lifesavers for thou-sands of people inVisakhapatnam. Their absencehas made these people helpless.Many of them are reluctant to

go to hospital because they arescared of getting infected by theCoronavirus. So, nebulisationfor patients suffering fromCOPD, or setting up of oxygencylinders, dressing of wounds,administering intra-muscularinjections and checking bloodpressure are seriously affected,”said Dr K Santosh Kumar,internal medicine specialist.Dr Kumar said many elderlypeople, who stay alone becausetheir children work in othercities, are wary of takinginsulin, or getting blood pres-sure and blood glucose levelchecked by themselves.

“We are trying to guidethem through video calls andsending them links. But stillmany are scared to do these ontheir own,” he said. The CEOof a private hospital in RamNagar said they were gettingcalls from people, who are suf-fering from fever or other ail-ments like urinary tract infec-

tion and need to get the com-plete blood count test done.

“Two of my employees inthe sample collection depart-ment have been quarantined athome after they went to collectblood samples of a personwho later tested positive forCovid-19. So, we have stoppedsample collectors from visitinghouses,” said the CEO. Manyother hospitals have takensimilar steps.

“We are asking people tocome to our hospital and getcheck-ups done because thereare no Covid-19 patientsadmitted here. But many peo-ple still don’t want to come,”said a senior official of anoth-er private hospital. There areorganisations providing homecare for such people but thenumbers covered are notenough, said health-careexperts. But these organisationsare also receiving much morecalls than usual.

This Assamese man walked 1,500 km on foot to be homePNS n GUWAHATI

Amid the nationwide lock-down, a 45-year-old migrantworker from Gujarat reachedhis home in Assam in 24-daysafter a 2,890-km trip, of whichhe had to walk about 1,500 km.

Jadav Gogoi, who was work-ing as a security guard inGujarat's Rajkot city, was admit-ted to the civil hospital atNagaon district headquartersfor mandatory quarantine fornCoV. He was rescued by localsand police at Ahotguri, 35-kmfrom the district headquarters,on Sunday evening.

Doctors attending to Gogoisaid that besides obligatoryquarantine formalities, he need-ed other medical treatments ashe was physically exhaustedapart from other ailments forwalking thousands of kilome-tres without sufficient foodand other precautions.

According to the man's fam-ily and villagers, when the lock-down started on March 25,Gogoi left Gujarat with histhree colleagues from Bihar inan Uttar Pradesh-bound goods-laden truck. From UttarPradesh, Gogoi and his threecompanions started walkingfor Bihar on March 27.

"The exact distance andnames of places he walkedcould not be ascertainedbecause Jadav, who is not com-fortable in reading and speak-ing Hindi, also could not distin-guish where he had alighted inUttar Pradesh. "Guided by histhree colleagues, Gogoi walkedtill Bihar where the others

stayed back," Asom JatiatabadiYuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP)leader Dibyajit Hazarika saidover phone.

The distance by road fromLucknow to Nagaon in centralAssam is around 1,500 km. ForGogoi, the last leg of his jour-ney on foot across Bihar was themost strenuous one. FromBihar, he alone had to walk theremaining stretch of around1,000 km. Hazarika said thatGogoi was in a hurry to reachhome and did not even take aday's rest when his colleaguesstayed back in Bihar.

According to the AJYCP

leader, right from the begin-ning, he survived on biscuitsand unhygienic water as road-side hotels, food stalls andother eateries had been shutbecause of the lockdown.Besides, he did not have moneyas he was robbed of the Rs 4,000he carried and other valuables,including mobile phone on theway.

Gogoi's wife Puspalata toldthe local media: "He (Gogoi)was working in Gujarat for thepast nine months. He had toldme that he would come backhome permanently on BohagBihu and start farming in the

village. When the lockdownwas announced, he feared wewould suffer in his absence andthat forced him to come backhome on foot."

Ranjit Phukan, a neighbourof Gogoi, told the media, "FromMarch 27 till Sunday, Jadavcalled me several times from hisown mobile and subsequentlyfrom others' mobile (after hewas robbed), but I was not ableto lend any real help to himexcept to give some suggestionsduring his walkathon."

The Assam government onMonday launched the ‘AssamCares’ app to provide financialaid to thousands of Assamesestranded in various States dueto the lockdown.

Assam's Finance and HealthMinister Himanta Biswa Sarmasaid over phones and onlineplatforms, over 4.25 lakhAssamese stranded in otherStates had been contacted. "We

provided a one-time ex gratia ofRs 2,000 to Rs 86,000 of the 4.25lakh people.

Another installment wouldalso be considered during thelockdown," he said. He saidover 68,000 Assamese werestuck in Karnataka, 36,000 inTamil Nadu, 34,000 in Kerala,21,000 in Maharashtra and therest in other States.

"Through the process of pro-viding financial aid, the govern-ment will be able to create data-base of the stranded. It will helpthe State locate them on returnto the State after the end oflockdown," the Assam Ministersaid.

According to officials of sixother northeastern States(excluding Assam), over 15,000people, including migrantworkers of the northeasternregion, were stranded in differ-ent States of the country due tothe lockdown.

Is the YS JaganmohanReddy government seri-ously contemplating going

for local body elections at atime the world is in turmoilover the Covid-19 out-break?

Appointing a new StateElection Commissioner(SEC), replacingNimmagadda RameshKumar with the help ofordnance amending thePR Act is believed to be a hintof the State Government’splans.

While the State Governmentmay have every right to holdelections for the local bodies,especially when a mammothRs 4,000-odd of the 14thFinance Commission funds isat stake, it is the timing of theelection that is forcing one toask if the ruling party has gotits priorities in the right order— holding the election at atime the virus is spreading orkeeping the safety of the pub-lic at the forefront.

There are otherquestions too, ones

that the governmentwould do well to find theanswers to — are there

any relaxations in the con-ditions put forward

by Finance Commission forreleasing the funds to states

that are unable to conduct localbody polls as per schedule dueto a rarest of rare situation likethe pandemic?

Only those in the govern-ment would be able to accu-rately say why it is consistent-ly linking the issue of fundsmeant for development activ-ities with the elections.

At the moment, the ball is inthe AP High Court and assuch, there is no chance of thestate government taking for-ward the election process, tillsuch time the matter is settledin the court of law.

In the affidavit filed on itsbehalf in the High Court, theAP Government’s contention isentirely different from that ofthe stance adopted by leadersof the ruling party on theissue of replacement of RameshKumar as the SEC.

The ruling party cadre andleaders alike had attackedRamesh Kumar using his casteas a portent weapon, but theaffidavit does not reflect this.The affidavit says that theamendment to the PR Act was

brought by way of an ordi-nance only to ensure that thelocal body elections are con-duced in a transparent and fairmanner. The affidavit also jus-tifies the change of SEC by say-ing that this was done only forfairness in the poll process.

Interestingly, the tirade by theYSRCP men against RameshKumar on caste lines is in pub-lic domain, while the affidavitskips this angle altogether.

Perhaps this was done toescape any possible rap by the

Court, even possibly strictures. The questions on everybody’s

mind are whether the Courtwill accept the Government’smove to replace a 65-year-oldofficer with a 74-year-old, espe-cially when the age for the sameappointment has been pre-scribed to be below 65 years inthe amended PR Act?

Can government show the

door, with the help of an ordi-nance, to a serving officer whohas been assigned to look afteran independent body?

It would be very interestingto see how the Court reacts tothese points.

Incidentally, the High Courthad on Monday put the gov-ernment in an embarrassingposition with its order toremove the ruling partycolours painted on VillageSecretariat buildings acrossthe state within three weeks.Implementing the HC ordersmight be a tough task for StateGovernment considering thefact that it had sought threemonths to carry out the task.

Also, what would happen tothe State Government's prepa-rations to conduct the localbody polls, at a time Covid-19has stalled life itself?

Would the Central

Government question the pro-priety of the State Governmentin conducting these polls at thiscrucial time? Will the Centreallow the State Government torisk the lives of crores of peo-ple by getting them out to casttheir votes?

Can the AP Governmentsubstantiate its stand that theState has the freedom of con-ducting local body polls and itdoes not require prior permis-sion to do so?

Can the GoI exercise itsdiscretionary powers to stopany eventuality that may posea serious threat to the lives ofpeople?

A point to be rememberedis how the Union Governmentviewed the Kerala govern-ment’s decisions on partiallockdown lifting.

Going by the numbers, thenationwide lockdown appears

to be showing some results inAP, as there has been no com-munity spread of the virus assuch. However, the lockdownhas not fully served its purposedue to failure of the people tomaintain social distance.

This is especially true inrural areas where people aremoving freely in market places,and in the lanes and by-lanesof urban areas.

While the security forcesappear to be concentratingonly on the principal thor-oughfares that look deserted,life goes on as usual in the inte-rior roads. This situation isextremely alarming.

In case of one person gettinginfected, the life of almost allresidents of that area will be indanger, if social distancing isnot maintained.

Here is hoping that goodsense prevails.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

Interestingly, the tirade launched bythe YSRCP leaders against RameshKumar on caste lines is in publicdomain, while the affidavit skips thisangle altogether

Has the Jagan government got its priorities in the right order?

PINPOINT

Jadav Gogoi, who was working as a security guardin Gujarat's Rajkot city, was admitted to the civilhospital at Nagaon district headquarters formandatory quarantine for nCoV. He was rescued bylocals and police at Ahotguri, 35-km from thedistrict headquarters, on Sunday evening

l Health-care experts said that because of thesetwo factors, many people suffering from diabetes,renal ailments, hypertension, chronic obstructivepulmonary disease (COPD) and other diseases arefinding it difficult to get their conditions monitoredregularly or the medical support they used to getreadily before the lockdown kicked in

Door delivery of fruitkits at Rs 100 launched

Vja Divisiontransports451 tonnes of essentialsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Vijayawada Division trans-porting 451.7 tonnes of essen-tial commodities throughSpecial Parcel Express trainsduring the lockdown period,according to South CentralRailway, Vijayawada Division,in a release on Tuesday.

The Division also trans-porting 4.5 tonnes of medi-cines to various stations on apriority basis to keep thesupply chain intact.Vijayawada Division is focus-ing on transportation of allessential commoditiesthrough timetabled SpecialParcel Trains.

Vijayawada Division underthe supervision of P Srinivas,Divisional Railway Manager,has been transporting a largenumber of essential com-modities through SpecialParcel trains to different partsof the country.

A total of 451.7 tonnes ofessential commodities likelime, fish, eggs, ghee tins,mangoes, perishables, otheressentials, including 4.5tonnes of medicines, weretransported to various desti-nations from Vijayawada,Rajahmundry, Eluru, Gudur,Nellore and Anakapalle sta-tions of the Division till date.

For the convenience of railcustomers, train movementdetails and information havealso been fed along with trainnumbers on the NationalTrain Enquiry System (NTES)to keep track on the live sta-tus of the Special Parcel trains.Interested parties, merchantsand aggregators are request-ed to contact helpline numberof Zonal Commercial ControlOffice (9701370083) or Officeof Senior DivisionalCommercial Manager,Vijayawada, and chief parcelsupervisors at respective sta-tions for loading essentialcommodities.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

District Collector Md Imtiazinstructed officials to distribute73,060 masks in red zone areasof Vidyadharauram inVijayawada, Machilipatnam,Nuzvid, Jaggaiahpet and othertowns in Krishna districtimmediately.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration is all set to dis-tribute 30 lakh masks in urbanareas in the district with threemasks for each person. The dis-trict administration has pro-cured 2,76,400 metres of clothfrom APCO out of which 1.94lakh metres was given toMEPMA and 64,929 metres toDRDA for making masks.

MEPMA has set up 26 man-ufacturing units with 2,765sewing machines in all towns,including Vijayawada.Likewise, the DRDA is makingmasks in six clusters using1,200 sewing machines. So far,1.05 lakh masks were ready fordistribution.

Officials also told to distrib-ute masks for fish traders andbuyers at the fish market in

Vijayawada. He said that themaximum number of masksshould be distributed inVijayawada. District Covid-19

special officer Siddhartha Jainand MEPMA Project DirectorPrakasa Rao also addressedofficials on the occasion.

Thirty lakh masks to bedistributed in urban areas

l MEPMA has set up 26manufacturing units with 2,765sewing machines in all towns,

including Vijayawada. Likewise,the DRDA is making masks in six

clusters using 1,200 sewingmachines

l Officials alsotold to distributemasks for fishtraders andbuyers at the fishmarket inVijayawada

PNS n ANANTAPUR

A couple living in a mangoorchard on the forest fringevillage of Buchchaiahgaripallein Anantapur district wasattacked by a leopard inflict-ing series injuries on thewoman in Puttaparti mandal,reports reaching here said onTuesday.

Under the impact,Lakshmamma received severehead injuries. Villagers suspectthat the wild cat might haveentered the mango orchardfrom forests for want of drink-ing water.

Lakshmamma and her hus-band of Madanapalle region inChittoor district purchasedmango grove nearBuchchaiahgaripalle. They livein the orchard and whileworking in orchard on fatefulday, the wild cat pounced on

the couple inflicting seriousinjuries to the woman. Thecouple raised a hue and cry. Inturn, the wild cat ran away.

Villagers alerted the forestdepartment officials, who tooksteps to send the injured toRuia Hospital in Tirupati.Forest officials advised farm-ers not to venture into forestareas.

Woman injured inleopard attack

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020 vijayawada 03

Maternal uncle travels100 km on bicycle tosee newborn nieceSRIKAKULAM: A maternaluncle travelled on his bicycle100 km to see his newbornniece as transportation washalted due to the lockdown. Hewas identified asDharmavarapu Suresh, aresident of Palasa mandal. Heworks in Bhogesh brick kiln atRamakrishnapuram in Palasamandal. As delivery time of hisyounger sister Durga neared,he thought of seeing her takingwith him some money andessential commodities. Shedelivered the baby at RIMS inRanasthalam on Monday. Hegot information that the childwas born under such a zodiacpattern that the maternal uncleshould see the baby girl onTuesday, or else he isprohibited from seeing thebaby for the next five years.Therefore, Suresh set out on a100 km journey from Palasa toRanasthalam on bicycle andsaw his bundle of joy.

Work at HC toremain suspendedtill May 3PNS n AMARAVATI

Judicial and administrativework of High Court and sub-ordinate courts will continue toremain suspended till May 3after taking into considerationthe circulars issued by theUnion Ministry of HomeAffairs.

Issues of serious naturewould only be consideredthrough e-Filing by the HighCourt. Parties desirous of tak-ing such matters for hearingthrough video conference mayfurnish their joint consent,along with particulars of theissue to the Registrar (Judicial),in which, the cases will be list-ed subject to availability of thebench concerned and afterprior approval of the ChiefJustice. Subordinate courts willtake up urgent cases for hear-ing through video conferenceas per the instructions of therespective Principal DistrictJudges.

One-stop centres forvictims of domesticviolence launchedVIJAYAWADA: The governmenton Tuesday started one-stopcentres in all 13 districts for thebenefit of women facingdomestic violence during thecurrent lockdown period. Thecentres would function roundthe clock. The centres wouldprovide health, mental healthand legal experts’ services fromthe centres. The governmenthas provided security to thevictims in 23 Swadhaar homesin the State. Besides the policeprotection for them at thehomes, they can access round-the-clock women’s helpline 181.

CAPSULE Kanna swindled moneyfrom BJP, says Vijaya SaiPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Rajya Sabha MP V Vijay SaiReddy said he could prove thefraud committed by BJP RajyaSabha member YS Chowdary,as to how he duped banks lead-ing to near collapse and merg-er, and how BJP State unit pres-ident Kanna Lakshminarayanaswindled the party money dur-ing the last elections.

He refuted the allegationsmade by these two leadersagainst him regarding pur-chase of rapid kits from SouthKorea and the role of PragatiBharati Charitable Trust.

Accusing YS Chowdary asan epitome of corruption, hesaid Chowdary floated sever-al fake companies and drewthousands of crores of rupeesfrom the banks. He trans-ferred money from one com-pany to another and declaredbogus turnover making ringentries of the companies.

Calling BJP president KannaLaksminarayana as the mole ofTDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu, he alleged that Kannaallegedly swindled all the fundssent by the Central party unitin the last general elections.

“Will Kanna explain howmuch he had spent for Gunturconstituency or how muchwas given to Purendeswari?Did he inform the party head-quarters on the money spent inthe elections? he asked.

He alleged that Kanna hastaken Rs 20 crore from NChandrababu Naidu to launcha tirade against the YRCP gov-ernment. The senior leaderalso did not spareChandrababu Naidu.

“Naidu is beginning to suf-fer from Alzheimer’s diseaseand repeatedly raking up thecapital issue alleging that thegovernment was hiding virusstatics. We are determined to

shift the capital toVisakhapatnam and none canstop it,’’ he said. On Pragathi

Bahrati Charitable Trust, hesaid only members contributefunds and the organisation

never collected funds fromprivate individuals or organi-zations, he clarified.

He refuted theallegations madeby these twoleaders againsthim regardingpurchase of rapidkits from SouthKorea and therole of PragatiBharatiCharitable Trust

Kanna dances to thetunes of Naidu: AmbatiPNS n VIJAYAWADA

YSRCP MLAs AmbatiRambabu andGudivada Amarnathsaid that BJP leaderK a n n aLakshminarayana hasbecome a mouth-pieceof N Chandrababu babu.

Speaking to the media here on Tuesday,Ambati Rambabu said that KannaLakshminarayana is a puppet of Naidu anddances to the tunes of the latter. He furtherstated that Kanna Lakshminarayana has toprove his sanctity by taking swear atKanipakam temple. Rambabu questionedKanna Lakshminarayana whether hisremarks on the purchase of test kits areagainst the State government is his party line.

Despite maintaining transparency in pur-chase, opposition members are still politicis-ing the issue, where even BJP leader KannaLakshminarayana also joined the band-wagon led by Naidu forgetting the fact thatUnion government itself made a purchase ata higher price than the State government,"Ambati Rambabu reminded.

Kanna dares Vijaya Saito prove he took moneyPNS n VIJAYAWADA

BJP State unit presidentKanna Lakshmi-narayana dared YSRCPMP V Vijaya Sai Reddyto swear on LordVinayaka at Kanipakamtemple stating that hehad taken Rs 20 crore from Opposition leaderN Chandrbabu Naidu. He said that he will fixthe date after the lockdown.

Addressing a press meet on Tuesday, he chal-lenged Vijaya Sai Reddy to keep up hispromise. He recalled that Vijaya Sai Reddy isgoing every week to the court and swearing onthe Bhagavadgita; similarly, he would come toKanipakam temple to swear on Lord Vinayaka.

He condemned allegations levelled againsthim stating that he misused the party funds dur-ing elections. Making it clear that the BJP hasno culture to distribute money in elections, healleged that YSRCP leaders had spent hugemoney in elections and came to power in theState. He recalled that he questioned the gov-ernment about the cost of Covid-19 test kits butin turn, the MP was making personal allega-tions against him.

Investigate AMTZ madetesting kits: EAS SarmaPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Former union secretary EASSarma, who had urged theUnion Health Minister tocheck the rapid testing kits fourdays ago, also stressed on theneed of investigating the testkits being made at the AndhraMed Tech Zone in Vizag, too.

He said fault testing resultkits would compound theproblem as Covid-19 positivepersons would keep spreadingthe virus. The test result of theAMTZ produced kits should beinvestigated to ensure the testswould have high accuracy.

AMTZ has started manufac-turing 2,000 testing kits every daythat would be supplied not onlyto the State but also in the coun-try. There are plans to increasethe manufacturing capacity to25,000 kits per day to fulfil thegrowing demand in the countryas the number of cases ofCoronavirus continues to rise.

“To the best of my knowl-edge, no testing approach canassure 100% accuracy. The RT-PCR testing meets both thesecriteria, but at best with only90% accuracy. That impliesthat even if one tests negative inthis test, it is always possible thatthere is a 10% chance thathe/she is positive. It is thereforenecessary that, in every case, thesame person should be subjectto a second independent test toestablish the result beyond anyreasonable doubt. RT-PCR testtakes considerable time for theresult to come out. In a fastevolving situation, certainly,

rapid testing needs to be con-sidered, provided it is accurate,”said Sarma.

The rapid testing methodol-ogy, as I understand, is based ondetermining the presence ofanti-bodies, IgM and IgG in aperson to find out whetherhe/she is infected and hasdeveloped the antibodies. Iunderstand that the IgM anti-body arrives within five toseven days of the patient acquir-ing the infection, whereas IgGarrives later, when the personhas recovered. The results ofrapid testing come out withinless than an hour,” he added.

However, according to thescientific evidence available,these tests are not as accurateas RT-PCR tests. Though theyare rated to have 80% accura-cy, in one reported case, Spainhad to return Chinese-maderapid testing kits, as they hadan accuracy of less than 30%.Even if these kits can providean accuracy of 70-80%, theresults obtained from them canbe wrong in 20-30% cases. It is

also not certain whether thoseconducting the tests are ade-quately trained and whetherthere are any technical short-comings in the way they areconducting the tests.

AMTZ has startedmanufacturing 2,000testing kits every daythat would be suppliednot only to the Statebut also in the country.There are plans toincrease themanufacturing capacityto 25,000 kits per dayto fulfil the growingdemand in the countryas the number ofcases of Coronaviruscontinues to rise

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for EducationAdimulapu Suresh on Tuesdaydirected Vice-Chancellors ofvarious universities across theState to take steps to completesyllabus during the currentlockdown period by conduct-ing online classes.

He asked officials of agricul-ture department to study howthe AIR and Doordarshan areconducting classes for stu-dents. He asked the Vice-Chancellors to completesemesters online and conductexams also online, if necessary.

He asked them to study theholidays and festivals in thenext academic year and ensurethat the number of workingdays does not come below 220.Before taking possession of thehostels and other buildings ofeducation department beingused as quarantine facilities, hewanted the Vice-Chancellorsto obtain the utilisation certifi-cates from education depart-ment. Buildings should beused again after getting thor-oughly cleaned and sanitised.

He told them to ensure that

the GO No 63 pertaining toeducation reforms is beingimplemented. Students, whofailed to travel overseas during2020-21, will apply for seats inuniversities, he said askingthe Vice-Chancellors to ensurethat there is adequate numberof seats and there is no short-age of seats.

Special Chief SecretarySatish Chandra, HigherEducation Council chairmanHemachandra Reddy andVice-Chancellors of universi-ties took part.

Edu Minister asks V-Csto conduct classes online

He asked officials ofagriculture depart-ment to study howthe AIR andDoordarshan areconducting classesfor students. Heasked the Vice-Chancellors tocomplete semestersonline and conductexams also online, ifnecessary

ICMR asksstates not to userapid test kits...

Continued from Page 1

The Chairman of the 4thEmpowered Group (to tack-le COVID-19) said that thegovernment has created aportal with the master data-base of healthcare profes-sionals and volunteers. “Tillnow, details of 1.24 crorehuman resources of variouskinds have been added toit,” he said.

Trump hints at suspendingimmigration to US

Continued from Page 1

C Vamsi working in US onH1B visa said, “It is just a tweetand the draft is not yet released.H1B and F1 are non-immi-grant visas. I140, refugee, GreenCard process and citizenshipcome under immigrant process-es. So we might not be impact-ed by this, but certainly gettingcitizenship was never a cakewalkand will never be”. On the otherhand, several techies initiallyexpressed apprehensions overthe statement. Subhakar Alapati,Director Global Tree, said, “Whathe said is generic statement, it isnot a law and it needs to beapproved by the US congress. Hemade such statements in 2016 aswell but nothing became law as

it didn’t get majority. Already forimmigration, it is taking 7-10years, Trump is tightening thisprocess”. “Another aspect is thata lot of Americans have lost jobs.But 90 percent are on Non-STEM programme. They are notIT jobs or skilled engineer jobs.He want to stop immigration, toprotect job for Americans. So theleast affected are IT and STEMjobs”. Subhakar added, “Topthree immigrants to the USA areIndians, Chinese and Mexicans.Trump has been claiming thatChina was reason for pandem-ic. So in case it becomes law,China and Mexico will be firsteffected. Also, in this crisis,India is exporting Hydroxy-cholorquine to the US andTrump will look at us favourably.”

‘Earliest anti-corona drug is a year away or longer’Continued from Page 1

CCMB is the only non-ICMRlab to be part of the Centres ofExcellence (CoE) that validatenon-US FDA- and non-EUA/CE-IVD-approved kits forCovid-19 testing.Excerpts:

Q: What method of testingis currently being used?

A: Real-time ReverseTranscription–PolymeraseChain Reaction (real time RT-PCR), one of the most accuratelaboratory methods for detect-ing, tracking, and studying thecoronavirus. It detects nucleicacid in the nasal swab orthroat/saliva swab. It is thestandard testing which isaccepted. The other testingmethods are only indicative,not conclusive.

Q: How about rapid testingkits and the growing concerns?

A: Rapid testing is general-ly antibodies-based method. Itdetects the antibodies in thecell. However, it is not effective.The rapid testing does not

detect for seven to eight days,whereas pooling methoddetects infection much quick-er. Even asymptomatic peoplewill be spreading the virus. So,rapid testing does give someinformation, but does not con-tribute much in stopping thespread of the virus.

Q: Is pooling method oftesting effective?

A: In the whole country,only CCMB is doing the pool-ing method of testing, which ismore effective in producingresults. This method is not onlyeffective, but also efficient andcheaper compared to othermethods used. Besides, it isdone in a shorter period oftime.

Q: Could you throw light onwhole-genome sequencingmethod?

A: Whole-genome sequenc-ing is a method used to deter-mine the complete DNAsequence of a specific organ-ism’s genome. The genomicresource obtained from thissequencing will also allowidentification of new targets of

diagnosis and drugs for Covid-19. It will help understand theevolution of the virus. Theapproach for sequencing thecoronavirus involves gettingsamples from patients andsending these to the sequenc-ing centre. Genome sequenc-ing needs a very large numberof samples for study.

Q: What is the progress onwhole-genome sequencing ofnovel coronavirus so far?

A: Several hundred genomesare needed to give definitiveresults. It gives an idea of howthe virus is changing and howgood can a vaccine be. We canalso figure out how the virus isspreading, what is the prima-ry source, which part is beingaffected, among others. Someother institutions are alsoworking on the same project.We will soon pool ourresources and then be able tomake good progress.

Q: Has any new therapy forcoronavirus come to lightbased on the Cell Culture sys-tem?

A: Research on the Cell

Culture system is beginning topick up now. From the nextweek, we can start testingantiviral compounds that insti-tutions have asked us to test.We aren’t producing any drugourselves. If anyone comes upwith a drug, we can test it, andcheck as to how effective it ison the In Vitro Assay System.The earliest drug that cancome out will take at least ayear or longer. Cell Culture sys-tem will enable researchers tosave a few lives by adoptingserological-based treatment,by using antibodies of therecovered patients. However,the research has its own limi-tations.

Q: How cheap can a test kit be? A: A test kit can be for Rs 500

or less as well. But as there is ashortage in the market rightnow, the prices are high. As ofnow, we are validating other kitsthat are brought to us by differ-ent organizations, so that thereis more availability which willeventually lead to reduction inprice. We have not begun man-ufacturing test kits ourselves.

Q: How many samples arereceived for testing per day?

A: Depending on the collec-tion, it varies. We sometimestest upto 350 samples andsome days we test 50. We havecapacity to test higher num-bers. Since we have startedpooling now, the capacity willalso increase. However, thesample has to be from areaswhere the infection is less,maybe two to three percent. Ifthe infection is more than fourpercent, then pooling is noteffective.

Q: How many people aretrained for testing from CCMBand where are they deployed?

A: We have trained 25 per-sons from five medical schoolsin the state and also personnelfrom Gandhi, NIMS, Osmania,Fever hospitals and WarangalMedical College. Due to short-age of trained persons, newtraining has begun for personsfrom HCU, IICT; they will beready in three days. We havealso invited applications andwill be training new batchesevery week.

Hiring freeze set to kill a million dreams in IndiaContinued from Page 1

Social distancing has createda new opportunity to see howworkforces can have more workfrom home flexibility or couldeven allow for more remotework options in the future espe-cially if employers see benefits.

"Our data shows that search-

es for remote work have increasedby over 261 per cent as a share ofall searches on Indeed Indiasince February 2020, indicatingjobseeker expectation mirrorsthese measures,a informedKumar. Overall, job searcheshave increased by 278 per cent asa share of all searches on IndeedIndia since September 2019, said

the company. A snap poll conducted by apex

industry chamber Confederationof Indian Industry (CII) involv-ing 200 chief executives acrossindustries found 52 per cent ofthem are foreseeing job losses intheir respective sectors.

A significant proportion of thefirms (47 per cent) expected less

than 15 per cent job losses but 32per cent firms expect to shedabout 15-30 per cent jobs oncethe lockdown ends. The thing toremember here is that the CIIsnap survey was done during thefirst 21-day lockdown period,which has now resulted in a 41-day long, stay at home for work-ers across the spectrum.

Naidu tells Jagan to give up adamant attitude...Continued from Page 1

Addressing a video confer-ence, Naidu wondered why CMYS Jaganmohan Reddy wouldnot talk to Opposition leaderswhen PM Narendra Modi hadspoken to former Presidents, for-mer Prime Ministers, floor lead-ers and all political parties to dis-cuss the Covid-19 threat.“Instead of taking the rival par-ties along with it, the YSRCP isindulging in political mudsling-ing against every leader, includ-ing BJP state unit presidentKanna Lakshminarayana, JanaSena president Pawan Kalyanand others,” Naidu said.

He said that the Chief

Minister should explain why hedisregarded the advice of rivalparties and made “paracetamolcomments” that have now leftAP facing the virus threat. “Thegovernment's failure to providepersonal protection equipmentto the field-level staff caused thedeath of an ASI in Anantapurdistrict,” the former ChiefMinister said. He blamed Jagan'sadamant attitude for what hedescribed as his MLAs' irrespon-sible behaviour in freely violat-ing lockdown restrictions. “Hadthe CM restrained his MLA, theSrikalahasti incident would nothave led to 13 government staffcontracting the virus. The localMLA held a huge rally to thank

donors for their contributions tothe Chief Minister's Relief Fund,which now resulted in a viruscluster there,” Naidu said.

Stating that lockdown-2 hadworsened the situation, Naiduappealed to the AP governmentto announce immediate financialassistance of Rs 7,500 to Rs10,000 to the poor families.

In addition, essential com-modities should be delivered tothe doorsteps like in Keralawhere they were giving 19 itemsenough to last for two months.Even though AP has a big net-work of gram and ward volun-teers, it is not making door deliv-ery of essentials, the Leader of theOpposition said.

2 deaths, 35 new cases reported in APContinued from Page 1

After 16 on Monday, tenmore cases were added inKurnool district, taking theaggregate to 184, the highest inthe state. Guntur district, whichis the second in the table, report-ed nine new cases, making it atotal of 158. Krishna district, withthree additions, now has 83cases, of which 63 are active fol-lowing the discharge of 14patients and death of six.

In the last 24 hours, Kadaparecorded nine, West Godavarifour and Anantapuramu threefresh cases. For the third consec-utive day, SPS Nellore andPrakasam districts did not reg-ister a single new case.

The two north coastal districtsof Srikakulam and Vizianagaramcontinued to maintain a cleanslate with zero cases till date.

Of the four patients dis-charged, three were fromKurnool and the other from SPSNellore. The bulletin said a totalof 5,022 samples were testedfrom 9 am on Monday to 9 amon Tuesday, of which 4,987turned negative.

Meanwhile, medical staffworking at a quarantine centrewere reported to have fallen ill inBhimavaram of West Godavaridistrict. The quarantine centrewas set up in an open land. Adoctor, who went to collectblood samples, became sick andfell unconscious at the centre; hewas given the first aide atBhimavaram government hospi-tal and sent home.

Two village revenue officerswere among the 24 Covid-19infectees detected in the holytown of Srikalahasti of Chittoordistrict. With this, the patients’

tally in the town and Chittoordistrict rose to 53. So far, fourpersons from the district weredischarged from hospitals afterrecovering from coronavirus.

IMA calls forprotest...

Continued from Page 1

Dr Prasad Reddy and DrPhanidhar, president and secre-tary of the Vijayawada Unit ofthe IMA, also appealed to thepeople to bring the issue to thenotice of the Centre and the Sta-te governments. They also urg-ed people to highlight the impo-rtance of providing protectionto the healthcare professionalsin discharging their duties.

Only 4 industriesget AP govt nod

Continued from Page 1

Similarly, in Vijayawada, whereseveral small-scale industries are locat-ed in the Autonagar industrial estate,45 applications were received forreopening, but permission was grant-ed to only one industry on the first day,because of the Red Zone restrictions.In Anantapur, 52 companies appliedfor restarting but none of them havebeen given the green signal.

South Korean automobile giantKia Motors India and its ancillary unitshave also remained shut. Similarly, 24industries in East Godavari, 11 in WestGodavari and six in Guntur alsoapplied for restarting but did not getthe approval for commencing opera-tions because of Red Zone areas, indus-try sources said.

Jagan asks Rupani to take careof AP fishermen stuck in Gujarat

Continued from Page 1

Besides f ishermen,migrant workers in theunorganised sectors arethe worst-hit by thenationwide lockdownwhich has been in forcesince March 24 and hasbeen extended till May 3across the country.

As all public movementhas been prohibited aspart of the crippling lock-down curbs, India hasseen several thousands ofmigrant labourers brave-ly walking thousands ofkilometres over severaldays to reach their homestates. However, there are

lakhs more who remainstranded in states acrossthe country, and strug-gling to make both endsmeet, reeling under thelockdown restrictions.

In view of their plight,authorities of their parentstates have been coordi-nating with their coun-terparts in areas wherethey are stranded, toensure that their basicnecessities are beingtaken care of.

The AP government ledby Jagan has already initi-ated adequate measures toprovide succour to all themigrant workforce strand-ed outside the state.

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

IAF choppers airliftessential commoditiesto remote ArunachalITANAGAR: Indian Air Force(IAF) choppers are airliftingessential commodities andmedical equipment to a remoteArunachal Pradesh area withoutroad connectivity. Vijoynagar, aremote circle in Changlangdistrict without roadconnectivity is strategicallylocated along the India-China-Myanmar tri-junction. Itcomprises of 16 villages andhas a population of 4,438. Thenearest town is Miao which is157 km away and takes aboutsix-days to reach by foot. IAFchoppers are airlifting essentialcommodities and medicalequipment to Vijoynagar circle,Arunachal Pradesh CivilSupplies and Consumer Affairsminister Kamlung Mossangsaid on Monday. "With ChiefMinister Pema Khanduapproving sorties byhelicopters of Skyone and IAFto airlift rice given by the Centreunder National Food SecurityAct, five kg free ricehave been provided to eachration card holder besides otheressential commodities,including medical equipmentfrom Miao to Vijoynagar,"Mossang said.

Nurses in Ghaziabadhosp demand activequarantine

Man arrested forposting objectionablepictures of PM, CMBAHRAICH (UP): A man wasarrested here on Tuesday forallegedly posting objectionablepictures of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath and otherleaders on social media. Aresident of Qudauni localityunder Kaiserganj police stationarea, Mohammed Imran Sheikhhad posted objectionablepictures of the prime minister,the chief minister and otherleaders on his Facebook wallon Monday, Superintendent ofPolice Vipin Mishra said. Assoon as the police got theinformation about it, a casewas lodged and he wasarrested, the SP said, addinghis phone with objectionablematerial has been confiscated.

GHAZIABAD: Nurses at ahospital here demanded thatthey be put under activequarantine as they are treatingCOVID-19 patients. On Monday,they also lodged complaintswith the health department thatthe personal protectiveequipment (PPE) beingprovided to them was sub-standard. One of the nursessaid as there were coronaviruspatients at the districtcombined hospital in SanjayNagar arrangements should bemade to quarantine medicalstaff. Another nursing staff saidthe PPE given to them is sub-standard. Chief MedicalSuperintendent of the hospitalNaresh Vij told PTI that onlytwo COVID-19 patients wereadmitted here while "we have a100-bed facility". Just for twopatients the whole medical staffcannot be kept in activequarantine in hotels and otherfacilities, he said.

Over 1,300 firms getMIDC nod to resume work

47 staff members of AMUmedical college quarantined

PNS n MUMBAI

Over 1,300 companies, includ-ing manufacturing units,foundries, textile firms, havereceived the MaharashtraIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation's (MIDC) certifi-cation to resume their opera-tions amid the COVID-19lockdown.

The MIDC is the state gov-ernment's nodal agency tofacilitate industries in terms ofland allotment, permissionsand policy making.

"We received registrationof some 3,000 industries acrossthe state, of which 1,300 havereceived certification from thestate to resume production,processing or manufacturing,"a senior MIDC official said.

As many as 20,000 employ-ees will report to work atthese companies, of which 60per cent will get accommoda-tions near their plants, the offi-cial said.

On April 3, the MIDClaunched a portal calledhttp://permission.midcindia.org and asked companies tosubmit their proposals toresume operations.

"The MIDC has made itmandatory for companies to

enforce social distancing atwork, provide adequate supplyof sanitisers and temporaryaccommodation to employeestill further notice," he said.

Companies that adhere tothese norms will get certifica-tion to begin operations and sofar, 1,355 units have been per-mitted, the official said.

Palghar lynching: Bharti asksMaha CM to book cops for murderPNS n BHOPAL

BJP vice president Uma Bhartion Tuesday urged MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray to register a case ofmurder against the policemenwho failed to save three men,including two seers, frombeing lynched by a mob inPalghar district.

In a letter to Thackeray, theformer Union minister termedthe lynching of seers as a greatsin and said she was observinga one-day fast on Tuesday torepent the incident.

She said all those foundguilty of the crime should bepunished.

"I request that you(Thackeray) punish the mur-derers, including all the policepersonnel, otherwise you willalso be a partner to this sin,"Bharti said in the letter.

She said the "helpless sadhus

were holding hands of police-men and pleading for protec-tion".

"But instead of saving theseers, the policemen handedthem over to the crowd andsaved themselves. The police-men are also accused of killing.A case should be registeredagainst them under IPC sec-tion 302 (murder). If theywanted, they could have savedthe seers by firing in the air, shesaid.

Bharti said she will visit the

incident site after the lockdownis lifted.

"I am observing fast at myresidence in Bhopal today foratonement, and I haveappealed to the sadhu samaj toobserve a day-long fast whilestaying at their places," the BJPleader said in the letter.

She said the killing of thegreat sadhus by a mob inPalghar is a heinous crime interms of law, but a great sin inthe eyes of religion.

The incident took place onthe night of April 16 whenthree men - two seers and theirdriver - were going fromMumbai in a car towards Suratin Gujarat to attend a funeral.

Their vehicle was stoppednear a village in Palghar districtwhere the three were draggedout of the car and beaten todeath with sticks by a mob onsuspicion that they were child-lifters.

PNS n ALIGARH

Forty-seven staff membersof a medical college attachedto Aligarh Muslim Universitywere quarantined after theycame in contact with a coro-navirus patient, an officialsaid on Tuesday.

The authorities at AMU'sJawaharlal Nehru MedicalCollege have also suspendeda doctor for negligence afterhe allegedly referred thepatient to the emergencywing of its hospital instead ofthe isolation facility. The dis-trict authorities have serveda notice on the institution toexplain the lapse.

They also cancelled thelicence of a diagnostic centrewhere the patient got his X-raydone three days ago on therecommendation of a privatedoctor who was treating himfor chest-related problems forthe past several days.

Chief Superintendent of

the AMU hospital ProfShahid Siddiqi said the staffmembers, including eightdoctors, had “inadvertently”came in contact with theman, who was brought tothere on Monday in a seriouscondition.

The man,in his 40s, wasreferred to the hospital'semergency department by DrAnjum Chugtai after prelim-inary examination, for whichhe has been suspended fornegligence, as per a medicalcollege notification. He, alongwith his entire family, hasbeen quarantined.

Popularity of old serials promptsreview of DD selection processPNS n NEW DELHI

The massive popularity of'Ramayan' and 'Mahabharat'serials on Doordarshan hasprompted the national broad-caster to review the way it picksits entertainment programmesso that people constantly pre-fer it over private channels,Information and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekarhas said.

The Union minister saidthe current process, referred asL1 under which work is allot-ted to the lowest bidder, of pro-gramme selection had"destroyed" quality. The conse-quent "low quality content"took Doordarshan (DD) downbefore it saw a revival of sortswith the rerun of 'Ramayan'and 'Mahabharat' serials.

The public broadcasterdecided to re-telecast 'Ramayan'on DD National and'Mahabharat' on DD Bharatiduring the nationwide lock-

down to check the spread of thenovel coronavirus, and bothserials have been the mostwatched programmes. The twoserials based on the Hinduepics of the same names hadbeen massively popular whenthey were first telecast morethan three decades ago as well.

Javadekar said the L1method of serial selection was"unfortunately" introduced1990s onwards.

"We want to review thisfully. The best serials should be

on the national broadcaster.This is our target.... We havedecided that we must bring ingood (programmes), allow thesystem to bring good serialsand programmes so that peo-ple prefer public broadcastersover others," Javadekar said.

"L1 has destroyed... and lowquality of our content was theproblem which took DDdown," he added.

COVID India Seva launchedPNS n NEW DELHI

Union Health Minister HarshVardhan on Tuesday launchedthe 'COVID India Seva', aninteractive platform for establish-ing a direct channel of commu-nication with millions of Indiansduring the pandemic.

This initiative is aimed atenabling transparent e-gover-nance delivery in real-time andanswering citizen queries swift-ly, at scale, especially in crisis sit-uations like the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic, an officialstatement said.

Through this, people can posequeries @CovidIndiaSeva andget them responded to in almostreal time.

The @CovidIndiaSeva worksoff a dashboard at the backendthat helps process large vol-umes of tweets, converts theminto resolvable tickets, andassigns them to the relevantauthority for real-time resolution,the statement said.

"Trained experts will shareauthoritative public health infor-mation swiftly at scale, helpingto build a direct channel for com-munication with citizens," theminister said in a tweet.

“Over time, Twitter has provedto be an essential service for boththe government and citizens to

interact and exchange informa-tion, especially in times of need.We are happy to make a concert-ed online effort by adopting theTwitter Seva solution.

"It is powered by a team ofexperts at our end who aretrained and equipped to treat andrespond to each query uniquely,and at scale. This will enable usin establishing a direct channelwith Indian citizens, connectingwith them in real-time to provideauthoritative health and publicinformation," Vardhan said.

The dedicated account will beaccessible to people be it local ornational in their scope.

Whether it is for latest updateson measures taken by the gov-ernment, learning about accessto healthcare services or seekingguidance for someone who per-haps has symptoms but is unsureabout where to turn to for help,

@CovidIndiaSeva will empow-er public to reach out to theauthorities, the statement stated.

"It is important to note that theministry will respond to broad-er queries and public healthinformation. This does notrequire the public to share per-sonal contact details or healthrecord details.

On the launch of the interac-tive platform, Mahima Kaul,Director, Public Policy, India andSouth Asia, Twitter said, "Weunderstand our role as an essen-tial service for both the govern-ment to communicate with cit-izens and for the public to stayconnected with each other. As#IndiaFightsCorona with socialdistancing, we are committed toworking with the Government ofIndia as they use the influence ofsocial media to connect with thepublic at large."

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Internet infrastruc-ture is not ready for the para-digm shift to online learningmandated by the situation aris-ing due to COVID-19, accord-ing to a report by QuacquarelliSymonds (QS), which comesout with coveted global rankingfor educational institutions.

The report titled "COVID-19:A wake up call for telecom ser-vice providers" is based on a sur-vey conducted by QS I Guage,which rates colleges and univer-sities in India with completeoperational control held byLondon-based QS.

The report pointed out con-nectivity and signal issues as themost prevailing problems facedby students while attendingonline classes. "The surveypointed out that the infrastruc-ture in terms of technology in

India has not achieved a state ofquality so as to ensure sounddelivery of online classes to stu-dents across the country. It is seenthat both the state and the privateplayers have not yet managed toovercome technical challenges,for instance, in providing ade-quate power supply and ensur-ing effective connectivity as the

data reveals," the report said."Although, due to the out-

break of COVID-19, the worldhad witnessed a massive shiftfrom the traditional Face to Face(F2F) to online platform as amode of delivery of classes.Due to lack of proper infrastruc-ture, a shift to a total reliance onthe online platform for the

delivery of lectures seems to bea distant dream," it added.

According to the report, thesurvey with over 7600 respon-dents found that in order to useinternet at home, 72.60 percentof the respondents use mobilehotspot, 15 pc use home broad-band, 9.68 pc use WiFi dongleand 1.85 pc have poor to no

internet connectivity."The data revealed that

amongst the respondents whoused home broadband, over 3 pcfaced cable cuts, 53 pc faced poorconnectivity, 11.47 pc facedpower issues and 32 pc faced sig-nal issues. When it came tomobile hotspot, 40.18 pc facedpoor connectivity, 3.19 pc facedpower issues and 56.63 pc facedsignal issues. "Studies and reportsregarding the consumption ofpower by the state authoritiesreveal that the states are not usingpower entirely due to COVID-19 situation thereby leaving a sur-plus supply for private entitiesand general public," it said.

Schools and colleges wereclosed in the country ahead ofnationwide lockdownannounced on March 24 tocontain the spread of coron-avirus. The lockdown has nowbeen extended till May 3.

Indian Internet infra not prepared for shiftto online teaching-learning, says QS report

Frame policies to safeguardelderly officials during COVIDPNS n NEW DELHI

A doctor from the Geriatricdepartment at AIIMS has urgedthe prime minister to framepolicies to safeguard elderlyofficials from coronavirus, not-ing they are vulnerable to infec-tious diseases and that there isa direct correlation betweenmortality and age.

While lauding the tirelessefforts of the PM to tackle theCOVID-19 pandemic in thecountry, Dr Vijay Kumar Gurjar,an assistant professor said someemployees in vulnerable grouplike healthcare workers, policeofficials, defence personnel, san-itation workers, administratorsand politicians who have con-ditions such as heart disease,lung disease, diabetes or kidneyailments do not have a strongimmune system and thus aremore vulnerable to infectiousdiseases.

"There is a direct correlationbetween mortality and age.These people are more likely toget acute respiratory distresssyndrome, the acute lung injury

that is causing many of thedeaths.

"But it seems the virus is alsomore likely to affect the heartthan any similar viruses, sothey are actually seeing peopledying from heart attacks whohave COVID-19," Dr Gurjarwrote in his letter.

"We are aware of the fact thatoutcomes will depend not onlyon the robustness of the healthsystem, but also the average ageof the country. In manyinstances a single sick personwas exposed to around 100

health workers so they had toself-isolate. Most of them recov-er but if someone with co-morbidities gets infected itwould be fatal for them" he said.

Gurjar also cited examples oflate Dr John L Sailo Ryntathiang,the 69-year-old founder ofBethany Hospitals, late AnilKohli ,52-year-old Ludhianaassistant commissioner of police(ACP) who succumbed to thisillness and said its evident thatage with multiple illness is themost common risk factor.

"We as society and govern-

ment really just need to take careof our seniors as you men-tioned in your address to thenation by changing our behav-iour and policies for two to threemonths. They should not beasked to retire or quit from jobsas we know they are competentenough to serve the nation butshould be asked to socially iso-late themselves," the doctor said.

He underlined the need forprioritising human resourcesby using them judiciously andavoiding unnecessary exposureof senior officials.

There is a directcorrelation betweenmortality and age.These people aremore likely to getacute respiratorydistress syndrome,the acute lung injurythat is causing manyof the deaths

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi Lieutenant GovernorAnil Baijal on Tuesday tookstock of the lockdown imple-mentation in the nationalcapital and visited temporaryshelters for migrant workersand the homeless to reviewarrangements.

According to an official, thelieutenant governor visited twoschools at Ludlow CastleNumber 2 that have been con-verted into shelter homes amidthe ongoing lockdown to com-bat the coronavirus outbreak.Baijal, along with top officers,also made a surprise inspectionof a night shelter being run bythe Delhi Urban ShelterImprovement Board (DUSIB).On Monday, the total numberof coronavirus cases in Delhirose to 2,081, with 78 freshcases and two deaths beingreported in a day.

Delhi LG visitsshelter homes

The report titled“COVID-19: A wake upcall for telecom serviceproviders” is based ona survey conducted byQS I Guage, whichrates colleges anduniversities in Indiawith completeoperational control heldby London-based QS

We want to reviewthis fully. The bestserials should be on

the national broadcaster. Thisis our target... We have deci-ded that we must bring ingood (programmes), allow thesystem to bring good serialsand programmes so thatpeople prefer publicbroadcasters over others

— PRAKASH JAVADEKAR,Information aand BBroadcasting MMinister

PNS n DEHRADUN

The Uttarakhand governmenton Tuesday authorised districtmagistrates to give concessionsto people outside containmentzones on humanitarian andpractical grounds during theextended coronavirus lockdown.

"It has been left to the DMsto make concessions to peopleon both humanitarian and prac-tical grounds during the lock-down" Rawat said in a videomessage.

"The marriage season hasbegun. We have told the DMsto allow families to go aheadwith marriages if they adhere tothe norms of social distancing,"he said. People who got stuckoutside their homes due tosudden imposition of the lock-down can now return homewith the permission of the dis-trict magistrate, he said.

Meanwhile, Rawat alsoappealed to people to show sen-sitivity towards frontline coro-na warriors like police andhealthcare personnel, saying itwill strengthen the country'sfight against the pandemic.

"Police personnel are stand-ing in the scorching sun andhealthcare professionals likenurses, asha and anganvadi vol-unteers are working 24x7 risk-ing their own lives to save oth-ers. They deserve every bit ofour respect. We must offerthem food and water. It willboost their morale manifold andstrengthen our fight againstthe pandemic," he said.

The chief minister also askedpeople to be kind to animalsincluding street dogs and feedthem. He thanked the people fortheir cooperation in the contain-ment measures being taken tofight the pandemic, saying theirrestraint during the extendedlockdown has helped minimisethe effects of coronavirus.Rawat said he expected thesame cooperation from them inthe future to ensure the successof steps taken by the governmentto contain the virus.

Some of the norms being fol-lowed during the lockdownmay have to be continued evenafter it is lifted, he said.

DMs in U'khand asked to giveconcessions on humanitarian grounds

Northern rlys to deliver itsfirst order of 2,000 masksPNS n NEW DELHI

Having made face masks out offabric meant for employees'uniforms, the NorthernRailways has bagged its firstorder of 2,000 masks that arewashable, cheap and even avail-able in orange, the colour wornby trackmen on duty.

A Delhi Residents' WelfareAssociation is the NorthernRailways' first paying client andreceived the first batch of thesemasks on Tuesday.

With the government mak-ing wearing of masks mandato-ry in public and at the work-place, these come at a cost Rs5.94 each against the marketprice of Rs 7.50 and could wellserve to meet the rising demandof masks in the coming days.

Its USP of being a multi-usemask gives it a leg up from the

ordinary masks which have tobe disposed off after every use,making it an expensive affair forany household.

Since the priority for railwaysis to cater to the needs of itsemployees, the masks made bythe zone will first be distributedamong its 1.3 lakh employees.

The workshops under thezone have already manufac-tured 35,000 masks, officialssaid, adding that by May end thefigure is likely to touch a lakh.

"They are such a hit now thatsome RWA's have shown inter-est in them and are placingorders. They are made of sur-plus cloth meant for uniformsfor our employees whichremained unused. We havereceived orders from a RWAand we will be supplying themwith the reusable masks," ArunArora, Principal ChiefMechanical Engineer ofNorthern Railway told PTI.

The zone will be fabricating10,000 such masks every week,some of which will be given torailway employees while otherswill be given to associationswhich are requesting them on apayment basis, he said. TheJagadhri Workshop of northernrailway has in fact also made dis-posable masks for the railways'medical staff, the cloth for whichis being bought separately.

People who got stuck outside their homesdue to sudden imposition of the lockdowncan now return home with the permissionof the district magistrate, Rawat said

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Lockdown: 2 workerson way home on footrun over by trainKORBA: Two labourers whowere heading towards theirhome on foot due to thecoronavirus lockdown werekilled after being run over by afreight train in Chhattisgarh'sKoriya district on Tuesday,police said. The mishap tookplace around 8 am betweenUdalkachhar and Darritolarailway stations underMandendragarh police stationlimits in Koriya. As perpreliminary information, thevictims, Kaleshwar Rajwade(21) and Gulab Rajwade (20),along with two other workersleft from Pendra-Marwahi-Gaurela district on Monday toreach their native villages inSurajpur district, locatedaround 130 km from Pendra,by walking along the rail tracks,a police official said.

Coronavirus: Twowomen cops in Odishapostpone wedding

Two held for makingTiktok video on policeMUMBAI: Two persons fromsuburban Mankhurd in Mumbaiwere arrested on Tuesday forallegedly making a TikTok videotargetting the police byviolating the coronaviruslockdown norms, an officialsaid. The video was made bySalim Sheikh (24) and FahadSalim Sheikh (27) saying thatthe police "don't beatcelebrities", apparently in thecontext of the compliance withthe lockdown directives, anduploaded it on social media, hesaid. The duo can be seenappearing in the clip withoutwearing masks, the officialsaid. They have been bookedunder various sections of theIndian Penal Code (IPC)including 188 (Disobeying theorder promulgated by publicservant) and the EpidemicDiseases Act, he said, addingthat they were released on bail.

BHUBANESWAR: Marriagescan wait but not the call ofduty against coronaviruspandemic. At the time whenpolicemen are playing a vitalrole, two women policepersonnel in Sundergarhdistrict of Odisha havedecided to postpone theirweddings so that they do notshirk from their professionalcommitment. Home guardTilotama Meher's weddingwas scheduled for April 12while constable Sunita Adhawas scheduled to tie the knoton April 25, DGP Abhay saidafter his recent visit toSundergarh district. "Tilotamahas postponed her wedding tobe on coronavirus duty formaking the world safe for allbrides," the DGP said.Regarding Sunita, who isposted at Birmitrapur, the DGPsaid that she postponed herwedding to make her localitysafe for all. "Our complimentsto Tilotama and Sunita," theDGP said.

TMC on central teams' visitto West BengalPNS n NEW DELHI/KOLKATA

The TMC on Tuesday dubbed as"adventure tourism" the visit oftwo central teams to West Bengalfor an on-the-spot assessment ofthe COVID-19 situation, andasked why such delegations werenot sent to states with muchhigher numbers of infections andhotspots. Addressing a digitalpress conference, TMC MPsDerek O' Brien and SudipBandyopadhyay claimed thatChief Minister Mamata Banerjeewas informed about the inter-ministerial central teams'(IMCTs) visit three hours aftertheir arrival in the state, whichthey said was unacceptable.

"The IMCT is on an adventure

tourism. The CM was told aboutthe team's visit three hours afterthe team landed," said O'Brien.

He also questioned why cen-tral teams did not visit states suchas Gujarat, TN and UP that havehigher numbers of coronaviruscases and many more hotspots.Why central teams are being sentto WB which does not appear inthe list of the top 10 states interms of infection, the TMCleader in Rajya Sabha asked. "TheCentre has to clarify. Why thechief minister was informedafter the team had arrived? In afederal structure, you have to firstinform the state government.The motive behind sending suchteams is not yet clear. It needs tobe clarified first,” he said.

PNS n KOLKATA

With the coronavirus outbreakcausing major disruption innormal activities, the AsiaticSociety, Kolkata has themedthe last edition of its monthlybulletin on the COVID-19pandemic, carrying the plaguemanifesto of SwamiVivekananda over 200 yearsback.

The April bulletin has acover picture with the message"We shall overcome" with pho-tos of mask wearing people inthe background.

The bulletin, among others,reprints the plague manifestowritten by Swami Vivekanandain 1898 which starts with theline: "We feel happy when youare happy and we suffer whenyou suffer. Therefore, duringthese days of extreme adversi-ty, we are striving and cease-lessly praying for your welfareand an easy way to save youfrom disease and the fear of anepidemic."

Swamiji said in another part

of the manifesto "Do not payany heed to rumours. TheBritish government will notvaccinate anyone by force.Only those who are willing willbe vaccinated."

He also said if there is noneto help the affected person,he/she can send informationimmediately to "the servants ofShri Bhagavan Ramakrishna atBelur Math. There will be nodearth of help that is physical-ly possible."

"We thought about bringingto public view Swamiji's think-

ing during the plague epidem-ic in undivided Bengal in the19th century. Some of his viewsseem so much topical even inthe present times," a spokesmanof the Asiatic Society, whichwas set up in 1784, said.

The bulletin also containsarticles like CoronavirusDisease 2019: An overviewand update by two eminentdoctors, under the shadow ofa globalised disease by an aca-demician, future of the past: ashort history of COVID-19and the world beyond 2020,

articles of contagious diseaseslike tuberculosis and Spanishflu - among others.

"Our next bulletin will be atribute to maestro Satyajit Rayon his 100th birth anniversarybut considering the present sit-uation there will also be write-ups on the virus," thespokesman said.

Asiatic Society bulletin carries plaguemanifesto of Swami Vivekananda

PNS n NEW DELHI

As the world battles the coro-navirus pandemic, fraudstersare minting easy money withnumerous 'blessing loom'scams, where gullible peopleare being lured with promise ofat least eight-fold returns ifthey pay to enter certain onlinegroups in 'good faith' or for'counting their blessings'.

At the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, which has left manyjobless and a lot others withinconfines of their homes for'work from home', the lure ofmaking some quick bucks hasmade a large number of peo-ple vulnerable to online fraudsand complaints have startedpouring in with Indian author-ities as well about many gettingenticed to such scams, whichare like age-old pyramid orponzi schemes recycled with a'blessing' twist.

Derek Loom, the Americancitizen widely credited to havestarted this scam by roping in'blessed investors' throughFacebook, got arrested lastyear itself, but he had alreadymade at least USD 10 millionby that time and authoritiescould not press any tangiblecharges against him, as per var-ious media reports.

Since then, the scam contin-ues to reverberate across con-tinents from Africa toAmericas to Asia and the coro-navirus crisis seems to haveprovided it a fertile ground togrow multi-fold, including inIndia.

The scam has already gaineda multi-national colour, giventhe online world being itsmain playground and digitalwallets the key instruments fortransferring the money, thoughthere are indications about ithaving moved to the offlinespace as well with the peoplefrom unconnected places alsobeing lured in the name ofhelping the coronavirus victimsand also "earning" some easymoney in the process.

The scam typically plays onconcepts like 'good faith','count your blessings', 'con-tribute for the community' etc,besides promising some easymoney by helping build a'shared economy'.

Beyond these 'blessed' con-cepts, the idea is similar to atypical ponzi scheme whereevery investor or contributor isrequired to rope in at least eightother investors or contributorsto make an exit of at least eight-times of his or her contributionmade in the name of the 'entryfee', which the main perpetra-tor Loom had kept at USD 100but now differs from scheme toscheme.

In India, the 'initial input'seems to vary from as low as Rs

100 to as high as Rs one crore,an official said while citingcomplaints received so far.

In some cases, it is alsocalled 'blessing loop' as itinvolves getting more andmore people into a loop beingmarketed in the name of get-ting 'blessed' for helping oth-ers in the time of a pandemic,the official added.

Every passing day, morenew concepts are beingexplored and one of thoseinvolve the person at the cen-tre getting at least seven others-- in the name of seven basicelements (nature, water, fire,earth, light, darkness and spir-it) involved to complete theeight-member look.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The benches of CentralAdministrative Tribunal (CAT),that adjudicates service matters ofcentral governmentemployees, will remainsuspended till May 3,a Personnel Ministrycommunique issuedon Tuesday said.

The governmentannounced the relax-ation of conditions oflockdown, scheduled toend on May 3, in respect of cer-tain activities aimed at ensuringthe supply of essential com-modities and in particular foodgrains apart from the measuresto provide livelihood to the

poorer sections, it said. The offices are permitted to

function in a highly restrictedmanner without permittingentry of, or any physical contact

with, the public in general,the communique said.

"It is thereforedecided that thefunctioning of, andhearing in, thebenches of the

C e n t r a lA d m i n i s t r a t i v e

Tribunal shall remain sus-pended till May 3, 2020. The fea-sibility of working on certaindays already declared as holidaysor vacation shall also be consid-ered once the functioningbegins," the statement said.

Central AdministrativeTribunal benches toremain closed till May 3

India heaven for Muslims;their rights secure: NaqviPNS n NEW DELHI

Days after the Organisation ofIslamic Cooperation expressedconcern over alleged incidentsof "Islamophobia" in India,Minority Affairs MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi onTuesday said India is heavenfor Muslims and those tryingto vitiate the atmosphere ofprosperity cannot be theirfriends.

Asserting that the social,economic and religious rightsof Muslims are secure in India,Naqvi said "secularism andharmony" is not a "politicalfashion", but a "perfect passion"for India and Indians.

His remarks come after theOrganisation of IslamicCooperation (OIC) on Sundayurged India to take "urgentsteps" to protect the rights ofits minority Muslim commu-nity and stop the incidents of"Islamophobia" in the country.

Asked about the OIC's crit-icism, Naqvi said, "We aredoing our job with conviction.The prime minister wheneverhe speaks, he talks about therights and welfare of 130 croreIndians."

"If somebody cannot seethis, then it is their problem.India's Muslims, its minorities,all its sections of the society, areprosperous and those peopletrying to vitiate this atmos-

phere of prosperity, they can-not be friends of IndianMuslims," he told reporters.

On criticism of India byscholars in Gulf nations, Naqvisaid, "India is a heaven forMuslims and minorities." Thesocial, economic and religiousrights of Muslims are moresecure and stronger in Indiathan in other countries, he said.

"If somebody is sayingsomething with a prejudicedmindset, then he should lookat the ground reality of thiscountry and accept it," theminister said.

"In this country, there issuch a large population ofMuslims. An analysis of theireducational, social and eco-nomic conditions in the last fiveyears should be looked at, theirshare in government jobs has

increased and they have beeneducationally and economical-ly empowered," Naqvi said.

Muslims ave had an equalshare in the progress of all sec-tions and if India is progress-ing, the community is also pro-gressing, he asserted.

"We should ensure that ourstrength of unity in diversity'is not get weakened under anycircumstances, he said.

"Professional bogus bashingbrigades" are still active andconspiring to spread misinfor-mation, Naqvi said.

"We should remain cautious ofsuch evil forces and we need towork unitedly to defeat theirnefarious misinformation propa-ganda," Naqvi said. He also cau-tioned against fake news andconspiracies aimed at spreadingmisinformation, he said.

Visiting centralteam meetsRajasthan CM PNS n JAIPUR

A visiting five-member team ofthe Central government held avideo-conference with ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot onTuesday over the coronavirussituation in the state. The chiefminister apprised them aboutthe prevailing conditions andreiterated the state govern-ment's demand from the Centreto deal with the pandemic.

“A five-member team of theCentral government hasarrived here for 4-5 days tohelp the state. The chief min-ister held a video-conferencewith the officers and raised thestate's issue before them,”Health Minister Raghu Sharamsaid. He said that Gehlot raisedthe issues of migrant labourers,demanded a relief packagefrom the Centre to all thestates, aid for reviving businessand ensuring social security ofpeople, among others.

He said the team will visitRamganj area and SMSHospital in Jaipur duringtheir stay.

PNS n KOLKATA

A day after West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeclaimed she was kept in "dark"about the visit of central teamsto assess the COVID-19 situa-tion, the leader of one of the pan-els claimed the state governmentis not extending adequate coop-eration.

The central government hasconstituted six Inter- MinisterialCentral Teams (IMCTs) to makean on-spot assessment of theCOVID-19 situation in theseplaces and issue necessary direc-tions to the four states —Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Rajasthan and West Bengal —for redress.

The Union home ministry

said on Monday morning theCOVID-19 situation is "especial-ly serious" in Mumbai, Pune,Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata and a fewother places in West Bengal, andthat the violation of lockdownmeasures risk the spread of thenovel coronavirus.

Apurva Chandra, the leader of

one of the two teams sent to thestate, claimed its members weretold they "will not be going out"on Tuesday.

Chandra, an Additional sec-retary in the Defence Ministry,said,"We have been deployed bythe central government and ourorder of deployment says that thestate government is to providelogistic(al) support to us... Ihave been in touch with the chiefsecretary and seeking his supportsince the time I landed here.

"I had also met him yesterday.But today we have beeninformed that there are someissues so we are not going outtoday. The chief secretary islikely to visit us and we will againhold a meeting with him," he tolda TV news channel.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Tuesdayextended its guidelines issuedto prevent the spread of coro-navirus in children's homes toNari Niketans or women'sshelter homes and asked thegovernment to look into thepossibility of releasing theinmates wherever feasible toavoid overcrowding.

A bench of Justices N VRamana, S K Kaul and B RGavai said state governmentsshould assess the ground situ-ation and take appropriatesteps to prevent the spread ofcoronavirus at the women shel-ter homes.

The top court had on April3, taking suo motu note of con-ditions and preparedness ofchildren's homes across the

country in view of pandemic,issued a slew of directions tostate governments and theauthorities concerned to pre-vent the spread of coronavirus,or COVID-19.

During the hearing, advo-cate Shoeb Alam, appearing forpetitioner Rishad Murtaza,

said that looking at the situa-tion due to the pandemic, hewas seeking extension of theApril 3 guidelines to NariNiketans or women's shelterhomes.

He said several adult womenwere staying in these homesinvoluntarily and they should

be released to prevent over-crowding in these shelterhomes.

Solicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theCentre, said however that eventhe accused in jails, who arebeing released, are facing dif-ficulty in going home due tothe lockdown protocols.

The bench said that it isdirecting the government tolook into the matter and con-cerns raised in the petition andwherever it is feasible, thewomen should be releasedafter assessing the ground sit-uation.

The petition, filed throughadvocate Fauzia Shakil, said thedeadly and extremely conta-gious coronavirus / COVID-19outbreak has triggered a glob-al pandemic and panic.

CRPF feeds 2 wedding partiesstuck in Naxal-hit GadchiroliPNS n NEW DELHI

A CRPF battalion deployeddeep inside the Naxal hotbedof Gadchiroli in Maharashtrahas been providing meals totwo wedding parties for closeto a month after they got stuckin the remote location due tothe lockdown clamped to con-tain COVID-19 infection inthe country, officials said onTuesday.

Serving the wedding partiesin Desaiganj Tehsil, about 60kms from the district head-quarters, is a young AssistantSub-Inspector (ASI) of theparamilitary force Sonu Kumarwho had to cancel his leave fortravel to Uttar Pradesh. He wassupposed to get married onApril 5.

The unique situationoccurred when two weddingparties, one from neighbour-ing Bhandara and anotherfrom Chandrapur, reachedGadchiroli on March 23 alldecked up. Each wedding partyhad about 20 people.

While the marriages took

place, the parties got stuck inthe area after the lockdownwas declared the next day.

"There are two weddingparties comprising about 20people each who are being pro-vided meals by our unit sincethe last over 20 days now.

"The families of the twobrides are daily wage earnersand as soon as we wereinformed about the situation,we decided to mobilise all ourresources," Prabhakar Tripathi,Commanding Officer ofCRPF's 191 battalion, told PTIover phone from Gadchiroli.

As the wedding hosts werepeople with limited resources,they did not have ration tocater to these many people forso long.

The CRPF unit was thensent an SOS call by locals toprovide food to these membersand the hosts as their rationhad run out.

The neighbours of the twobride families made livingarrangements for the pro-longed stay of the weddingparty in their own houses andsome common area, the CRPFCommandant said.

Kashmiri scribe Masrat Zahraquestioned by police over her postPNS n SRINAGAR

Journalist Masrat Zahra, whowas booked for uploadinganti-national posts, was ques-tioned by police on Tuesday inconnection with the case filedagainst her under UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act, offi-cials said.

Zahra was questioned formore than an hour at theKashmir's Cyber Police Stationin Shergarhi area of the city,they said.

After the questioning, thefreelance journalist said she hasanswered the investigators'questions.

"I met the concerned policeofficials of the case and

answered their questionsregarding the investigation, Ihave not been arrested and theinvestigation is going. Thanksall for the support," she tweet-ed.

Ahead of her appearingbefore the police, Zahra saidshe was going to defend her

rights as a journalist. "So wishme good luck because it's timeto defend my rights as a jour-nalist, Going inside cyberpolice station," she tweeted.

Zahra is one of the two jour-nalists in Kashmir who werebooked on Monday for report-edly posting anti-national con-tent on social media and pub-lishing a "fake" news story,police said.

While she was booked for aFacebook post about slainHizbul Mujahideen comman-der Burhan Wani, Srinagarcorrespondent of The HinduPeerzada Ashiq was booked fora story about recent Shopianencounter in which two mili-tants were killed.

SC orders women shelter homes under Covid-19 guidelines

Scamsters spin ‘blessing looms' tomint easy money in corona crisis

Since then, thescam continues toreverberate acrosscontinents fromAfrica to Americasto Asia and thecoronavirus crisisseems to haveprovided it a fertileground to growmulti-fold, includingin India

If somebody cannotsee this, then it istheir problem. India's

Muslims, its minorities, all itssections of the society, areprosperous and those peopletrying to vitiate thisatmosphere of prosperity,they cannot be friends ofIndian Muslims

— MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI,Minority AAffairs MMinister

"We thought aboutbringing to publicview Swamiji'sthinking during theplague epidemic inundivided Bengal inthe 19th century.Some of his viewsseem so muchtopical even in thepresent times," aspokesman of theAsiatic Society,which was set up in1784, said

‘ADVENTURE TOURISM'Central team claims lack ofcooperation by Mamata govt

In Europe, Spain, with a population of46 million, is closely following the foot-steps of Italy in terms of COVID-19fatalities. It has suffered more deaths permillion inhabitants than any other

nation with the death toll crossing 20,000 onApril 17. There were more than 9,000 newcases on March 31 and 950 deaths on April2, the biggest daily death figure. These hor-rific statistics were provided by the SpanishGovernment’s top scientific advisor on thepandemic, Fernando Simon. ImmunologistAlexander Edgar of the University of Readingsaid, “A lot of the spread had happened beforepeople realised. Most of them assumed thatthe problem was elsewhere — Wuhan, whichwas shut off since January.”

This is analogous with Myanmar’s HealthMinister saying in Yangon when it claimedzero COVID-19 that “Hubei was 1,200 milesaway from the country though it shares a1,900-mile border with China.” The threemain reasons for the high fatality rate in Spainare the country’s slow response; demographyand social behaviour; and low testing capac-ity. This, despite the country having an excel-lent healthcare system and not to forget thehigh-life expectancy in Europe due to itsMediterranean diet. But Spain’s ageing pop-ulation has been shrinking since 2010 due torecession and migration. More people diedin 2018 than were being born here and thepandemic started with the elderly contract-ing it first, like in Italy where social and cul-tural behaviour matches that of Spain’s.

On a holiday in Spain months before theoutbreak of the Wuhan virus, one had heardof the Spanish flu and influenza pandemic thatoccurred in 1918-1919 duringand after WorldWar I, where one in three human beings wereinfected and around 17 million to 100 mil-lion perished across the world. Calling the fluSpanish is a misnomer: It started in Kansasat Fort Riley when the US was preparing tojoin the war. Others say it started in the con-gested trenches of Europe, which at that timewere filled with young men and laterAmerican soldiers. The Spanish flu was real-ly bad as it came in three waves and reachedacross the world, including Africa andAustralia. Medicine, too, was not extensive-ly developed.

The holiday was memorable. EthiopianAirlines describes Madrid as the city of greatmonuments. I would add museums and PlazaMayor to that list. It has just one cathedral andthat, too, constructed in the mid-20th cen-tury as the Archbishop of Toledo, the old cap-ital of Spain, would not allow it. Madrid sitsastride Rio Manzanares with gentle slopes onboth sides of the river connecting the twoparts of the capital with a blend of ancient andultra-modern bridges, marvels of architecturereflecting the extraordinary vision of theSpanish rulers building six-lane bridges in16th century.

On both sides of the river are walkways,partly covering the Madrid marathon cyclingtracks. Spaniards ride bicycles whenever and

wherever they can. September isa great time to arrive in Madrid’snew and a design wonder airportwhere immigration officials tookjust four seconds to stamp mycongested passport. But immi-gration rules will change now.

Madrid has one palace, onecathedral, more than 50 muse-ums, 46 art galleries and 23concert venues. All of these wererenovated for the 400th anniver-sary of the Plaza Mayor, whichrecords Madrid’s heartbeat withits ancient square and adjoiningfood and wine markets.

I am not a connoisseur ofwine but Spanish rioja is excel-lent at 3 to 4 euro per bottle. InMadrid, in the grocery shops, Icould find only Spanish wine. Abottle a day is bound to keepspirits high, ideally with freshstrawberries, ham and cherries.Bar Nakama, a hole in the wall,is run by the solitary English-speaking barman Robert.Nakama, he explained, meant“friend” in Japanese, though wenever saw a Japanese in here. Inhis bar one could buy a glass ofreasonable wine for 2 euro,which is accompanied by plen-tiful snacks and gratis. Excellentespresso coffee and Spanishbeer were available, too.

All roadside cafes charge 1 to2 euro extra for service except thechain 100Mantidelos, where selfservice rules, which is pronto.Madrid is not expensive likeLondon and Paris or evenBrussels and Amsterdam.Though museums charge an

average of 7 to 10 euros, many arefree between 7 and 9 on somedays and gratis all times for EUand Latin American nationals.

September is also the monthfor art, music and theatre festivalsorganised by DCode, supple-mented by exhibitions and con-certs by Arte Madrid andAppertura. World class bands,including Team Gallagher andOasis, Broadway musicals,English theatre artistes, flamen-co dancers, singers and gui-tarists, all perform here. Bullfighting happens only betweenApril and June but Spain standsdivided on whether the sportshould stay or be banned alto-gether. Madrid boasts of a threeMichelin-star restaurant CairellaBistro that has a Valencian chef.The most famous landmark isthat of a male Spaniard, leaningon a balustrade near CalleAllemedine and Calle MayorJune. Most tourists mistake thebronze life-size statue for real andbrush past it whispering inanitiesand rubbing its bottom for goodluck. They call him the goodbum. Toledo is a world modeltourist attraction. On a Sunday,it was bursting with human kindwith tour guide-led columnscrawling like ants. It takes an hourto reach the old capital of Spain,which is surrounded on threesides by River Tagus. From themoment one alights the bus, oneis elevated to Plaza de Zocodoveron a series of escalators rising 500feet to reach the panoramicheights of the old city famed for

a blend of three cultures. Over a period of time,

Christians, Moors and Jews livedtogether peacefully (not quite liketoday in West Bank inJerusalem). A 10th centurymosque, preserved for two cen-turies before it was turned into achapel, is in good shape. Toledo’scathedral, built in the 13th cen-tury contains El Grecho master-pieces of de-robing Christ. Thebell in the tower weighing 30,000kilos apparently rang only onceas it caused a minor earthquakein which a 90-metre high clockhad one of its needles disappear.A 14th century synagogue is wellpreserved in the Jewish quarter,next to El Grecho’s recreatedhouse. Toledo is an experience ofa lifetime. Equip yourself with atourist map, the Es Madrid mag-azine and mucho gracias foryour travel whenever you canplan one in the future.

Fast forward, Prime MinisterPedro Sanchez said on Mondaythat current measures of lock-down will extend beyond April25 and schools will be closed tillSeptember. Like elsewhere inEurope, he has announced a sec-tor by sector opening of the econ-omy. Sunday saw the smallestone-day death toll, 410, sinceMarch 22, which means thecurve is bending.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)Anews story published by the BBC

spoke about the cruise ship MSCMagnifica as the last one on planet earth.

Well, the story itself said that this was not tech-nically true as there are two other ships, thePacific Princess and the Costa Deliziosa thatare about to disembark their passengers andcrew. By the time this goes to print, it is like-ly that all three ships would have docked andemptied out. But the question is whether thiswill be the last ship sailing with passengers.As is known, for many tourists, cruises are

the ideal vacation. Be that as it may, the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak hasalso proved that as much convenience and luxury it offers, cruises also providea golden opportunity to get sick. The cruise ship industry, like every other partof the travel and tourism sector, is under immense stress at this point of time.But given that cruise ships such as the notorious Diamond Princess that dockedat Yokohama, Japan, became a focal point of the viral outbreak, is there goingto be a return of the floating cities? Some of the largest ships across the worldhave a combined passenger and crew complement of close to 10,000 souls.Yet, by their very size and the fact that they are self-contained spaces, the shipsbecame a harbour for disease. This followed a few years when huge outbreaksof diarrhoea overtook ships, particularly in the US. This has led to speculationthat this particular part of the travel and tourism sector might take a lot longertime to revive than others. The bad public relations that the industry has sufferedmight mean that the golden age of the cruise ships, which constantly got larg-er and larger and brushed off disasters like the Costa Concordia with ease, isover. Hopefully when the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the cruise industry willdo its best to lure the passengers with cheaper prices.

Back home, there will be a huge impact on employment. Here, it must bekept in mind that the cruise industry’s economic model is one that hires peoplefrom poor countries, who are willing to endure exploitation and mistreatment.Thousands of Indians had been working onboard such ships, which includedthe cleaning staff, those in the kitchens and even entertainers. Of course, therewere the merchant navy officers running the ships, too. Many of them, like mil-lions of other Indians, will not have a job to return to anytime soon. With theentire travel industry expected to be in the doldrums for a couple of years, theremaybe be very few options as well. India would do well to encourage smallercruise lines to operate in and around its shores once this crisis is over. If fornothing else but to get its people working again. It must use the post-COVID-19situation as an opportunity to grab a larger slice of the tourist trade whenever itdoes recover.

They say paranoia is more dangerous thananything else. And the Coronavirus, withuncertainty about its cure and its preda-

tory march on life, has sent us into spasmsof madness. As we do not have any expla-nation or understanding of the virus, as inse-curity and helplessness weaken us, we shiftour fury to anything that remotely fits into abox called reason. Or the way we would liketo define it. What else can explain the moblynching three men in Maharashtra’s Palghardistrict, two of them mendicants apparently,

thinking they were thieves who were out to steal goods and possibly even kid-nap children? The crowd, comprising mostly tribals, had formed community vig-ilante groups as a self-protective measure in the times of the virus. They mobilisedthemselves after they received information that organ-harvesting gangs and childlifters were operating in the area. The police, who are stretched to the seams inenforcing the lockdown, were clearly overwhelmed by this human malady ofdistrust and hatred. And considering that sadhus were involved, soon politicalparties seized a new talking point, giving it a communal colour. Union HomeMinister Amit Shah even called up Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ensurethat the culprits be brought to justice, considering that the incident could havea negative impact on the BJP’s core constituency. The communal card has alsobeen played on social media by extreme Islamophobists after the indiscretionsof Tablighi Jamaat — indeed a most irresponsible lot — to amp up demonisa-tion of an otherness they can rationalise vis-à-vis the spread of the virus. Wecould do without xenophobia of any kind, be it on social media or in reality, dur-ing a pandemic that doesn’t spare anybody. There has been a lot of hue andcry over famous personalities being blocked out by Twitter for incendiary remarksfrom both sides of the divide, leading to the accusation that the social mediaclampdown was part of a US conspiracy, which didn’t like to see things froman Indian perspective. We certainly cannot allow this kind of extremism of thoughts,political opportunism or a dilution of priorities during the nation’s darkest hour.Or endorse a behavioural code separating COVID-19 patients into wards basedon their religion. There is enough stigma going around the virus-affected andeven frontline health warriors themselves. Surely we could do without addingmore variants to it. India’s civilisational moorings are compassionate and accom-modative and are being tested at this moment of crisis. We would be winnersif we make it through, losers if we demonise and kill our own.

Of course, at the administrative level, the Palghar incident represents a ter-rible failure of the law and order machinery. Lockdown or not, the State can-not be allowed to descend into chaos. The job of the police is to prevent sucha mess. The State Government must, therefore, take the strictest action againstthe police, which cannot be seen as caving into the mob instead of reining itin. We must also remember that too many examples and media reports ofpolice negligence and inaction will erode faith in the law and order machin-ery. And at a time when food riots or migrants’ discontent are pushing thebarricades of civic life, a system has to appear robust. Else, even the lock-down would not hold. As fear, panic and anxiety loom large, the forces mustbe calm, alert and composed and should nip every rumour in the bud. It isnot like the police did not sense a gathering of people was up to somethingor the basis of their fears, real or imagined. It shouldn’t have led the situationto slide to this extent. In fact, the police in all States should maintain a reas-suring community outreach to streamline COVID-19 management instead offrittering away resources for trivial issues. Any administrative authority nowneeds to appear sterner and ensure the enforcement of the rule of law. Noneof us can afford lynchings and riots at a time of a national health emergency.The nation’s job is to save lives, not watch them waste away silently.

No lynchings, please

Environmental lessons

Sir — As we celebrate the EarthDay today, Percy Bysshe Shelley’squote, “Away, away, from men andtowns; to the wildwood and thedowns — to the silent wilderness;where the soul need not repress;its music lest it should not find;an echo in another’s mind; whilethe touch of nature’s art har-monises heart to heart,” comes asa tight slap on the face of human-ity. Earth Day is an annual eventcelebrated around the world onApril 22 to demonstrate our sup-port for the environment.

Every year, we come up withmany resolutions to save planetearth but this year, the latter hasitself found ways to rejuvenate.This year we celebrate this daywhen the Coronavirus pandemichas wreaked havoc in our lives andseverely disrupted economiesacross the world. The outbreak ofthe virus has taught us that weshould anticipate, evaluate andplan to deal with potential threats.If there was ever a time in whichhumanity should finally recognisethat we belong to one connectedfamily on earth, this should be it.

Srishti MathurUjjain

Clouds of suspicion

Sir — The Modi Governmenthas sought to look at an entireera prior to 2014 through differ-ent prisms — one of negation ofpolicies and ethos of gover-nance and the other by suspect-

ing the decisions made by theprevious Government. If theformer clouded the socio-polit-ical canvas, the latter disruptedthe economic base.

The approach that worked forthe Government during the fairrun of the economy, not to speak

of electoral dividends, is nowproving a millstone. If the post-demonetisation period was notenough, the spread of Coronavirushas made matters worse.

For three years now, PublicSector Units (PSUs) have enoughliquidity but officials went into a

shell when it came to lending. TheFinance Minister, who hadexhorted the PSUs to lend with-out any fear of inquisition, has notsince followed up on this withclear directives.

Ministers, Secretaries and offi-cials continue to be under relent-less eyes for the decisions taken bytheir offices. Add to this the ongo-ing extraordinary course of theeconomy, which demands a spurtin lending across sectors, big,medium, small and at the individ-ual level. Clouds of suspicion arenot known to bear rains.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

Welcome decision

Sir — It was good to learn thatlabourers, who are stranded dueto the ongoing lockdown, will beallowed to go to their respectiveplaces of work within a State. Indoing so all social-distancingnorms must be followed. Busesmust be sanitised to avert any fur-ther spread of the disease.

Prerna AgrawalVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionVIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020

06

Sun will shine, again

ASHOK K MEHTA

With more than 20,000 deaths, Spain, which used to be a tourism hotspot, has turned intoa contagion hotbed. But hopes are high that it will soon be able to return to normalcy

When will India’s poor wake up?You are dying due to starvationand it (Govt) is engaged in disinfecting the hands of the rich by making a sanitiser from your share of rice.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

In spite of contributing to thepopulation boom, having threekids to be with is a treat. Theyare in all shapes and sizes. Theday goes by being with themeach for a couple of hours.

Actor—Shah Rukh Khan

Trust us. The worst is yetahead of us. Let’s preventthis tragedy. This virus isdangerous. It exploits cracks between us when we have differences.

WHO chief—Tedros A Ghebreyesus

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Education system must adapt itself to changes

There is no need for us to fret about the academicyear during the pandemic. It is time for our teach-ing community to rise to the occasion and handle

the situation to the best of their ability. They should desistfrom holding online examinations as it may lead to somedissatisfaction in the student community. Exams can beconducted in the month of July and the consequent slightdelay in university admissions is tolerable, given the pre-vailing conditions.

India is no stranger to such delays and has the expe-rience to handle similar situations in the past. In the 70s,during the JP movement days, strikes in colleges anduniversities were the norm. During those years, our uni-versities used to normally remain closed for two to threemonths in a year with students protesting against con-ducting certain examinations. The universities used tohold those exams later. However, our teaching systemor students never suffered academically in any way.

With times changing, we should adopt some mod-ifications. Online-centric education, which is currently beingsought as an alternative to holding classes, will drive thelearning process forward. It is my sincere request to alluniversities, schools, junior colleges that they refrain from

fee hikes and collect only tuition fees. Give your studentsmore time to pay them, or pay in instalments and don’tconstrain them with a deadline. Some years from now,you will not be remembered on the number of graduatesyou have produced or the courses you have offered dur-ing this academic year. You shall be remembered for theway you responded to this pandemic.

Ravi Teja Kathuripalli Hyderabad

SEPTEMBER IS THEMONTH FOR ART, MUSIC

AND THEATREFESTIVALS

ORGANISED BYDCODE,

SUPPLEMENTED BYEXHIBITIONS AND

CONCERTS BY ARTEMADRID ANDAPPERTURA.

WORLD CLASSBANDS, BROADWAY

MUSICALS,ENGLISH THEATRE

ARTISTES,FLAMENCO

DANCERS, SINGERSAND GUITARISTS,

ALL PERFORMHERE

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Sailing into the sunset

Secularism and harmony arenot political fashion but perfect passion for India andIndians. This inclusive culturehas united the country withthe fabric of unity in diversity.

Union Minister—Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

As we battle the darkest hour of our times, the virus shouldbe the only priority, not politicisation of the kind at Palghar

The last cruise ships sailing the open seas have docked anddisgorged their passengers. What next for this industry?

The revivalist surge

THE GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND DIDN'T REALLYUNDERSTAND THE LIST. HE DIDN’T NEED TO BUY

500,000 TESTING KITS FROM SOUTH KOREA. —US PRESIDENT

DONALD TRUMP

I HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT’S GOINGON. AND I APPRECIATED THE INFORMATION PROVIDEDBY (TRUMP’S) TEAM, BUT HE WASN'T THERE FOR IT. —GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND LARRY HOGAN

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The Tablighi Jamaat (society of preachers)was founded by a Deobandi Islamic schol-ar, Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi, in

Mewat, India, in 1926 with the objective of estab-lishing a group of dedicated preachers as aMuslim revivalist society, who could reclaim“true” Islam, which he felt was not being prac-tised by many Muslims across the world.

The slogan Kandhlawi coined for his neworganisation captured the essence of its activi-ties — “O Muslims, become true Muslims.” Bythe mid-1930s, the Tablighi Jamaat had a pro-gramme of belief, which included, beyond thefive pillars of Islam and Islamic doctrinal tenetsthe following: Islamic education; modest Islamicdress and appearance; rejection of other religions;high regard for Muslims (yet allowed to operatein India since 1947); propagating Islam; self-financing of Tablighi trips; lawful means of earn-ing a living and strict avoidance of divisive andsectarian issues.

The Tablighi Jamaat is often consideredextremely orthodox in its interpretations of Islam,with the ability to convert Muslims into radicalbelievers. They believe that the ProphetMohammed has commanded all Muslims to con-vey the message of Allah to the world and theTablighis take this as their solemn duty.

They divide themselves into small jamaats(societies) and travel frequently across theworld to spread the message of Islam to Muslimhouses. During this travel, they stay in localmosques. This free spread and the access to theremotest part of the country with ease hasenabled them to meet vulnerable and deprivedsections of the non-Muslim population in India.

Some fringe groups within the organisationare backed by the power of petro-dollars, the InterServices Intelligence’s (ISI) dirty money machine,the vast network of underworld don DawoodIbrahim and other anti-national entities. Theseelements have converted a large section of thepopulation in the last 70 years with ease and with-out coercion.

Radicalism and its role in acts of terror:Some Tablighi Jamaat followers have worked asallies of jihadi and sectarian organisations.However, once they joined militant organisations,they cut off their links with the Tablighis.However, over the years, the terror groups haveused some of the Tablighi Jamaat congregationsas recruitment camps. Some fringe elements inthe Tablighi Jamaat have been sympathisers andsupporters of jihadi organisations such as theHarkat-ul-Mujahideen (Hum), the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the Al Qaeda and theTaliban.

As per WikiLeaks, “Some of the 9/11 al-Qaeda suspects detained by the US inGuantanamo Bay had stayed in the TablighiJamaat headquarters in Nizamuddin West, NewDelhi years ago.”

According to Pakistani security analysts andIndian investigators, HuM members, involved inthe hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 in1999, were members of the Tablighi Jamaat.

The 2011 US investigation reports suggestthat the Tablighi Jamaat had supported membersof the Al-Qaeda to get visas and funds to trav-

el from Pakistan. Saad, the new Khalifa: Born on

May 10, 1965, Maulana MuhammadSaad is the Amir (chief) of the TablighiJamaat. He is the grandson of MaulanaMuhammad Ilyas, who founded theJamaat. Maulana Saad became thechief of the Tablighi Jamaat onNovember 16, 2015 and claims to have100 crore followers in 214 countries.

This huge number includes almostthree-four crore converts in westernUttar Pradesh (UP) that the Jamaat hassuccessfully targetted in the last 70 yearsin connivance with the so-called sec-ular political parties.

The Tablighi Jamaat has changedthe religious landscape of UP, Bihar,West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana,Kerala and Maharashtra extensively bytargetting vulnerable and marginalisedsections of the non-Muslim populationallegedly aided by the secular rulingelite of India by creating a votebank forsecular parties and in return, convert-ing millions of citizens by exploitingweakness of Article 25(1).

This Article guarantees to everyperson and not merely to the citizensof India, the freedom of conscience andthe right freely to profess, practise andpropagate religion.

The Tablighi Jamaat used itsweapon extensively for the last 70years by inviting many radical preach-ers and import of petro dollars to facil-itate the growth of the Muslim popu-lation from less than seven per cent in1947 to 14.5 per cent in 2011 to likely16.8 per cent in 2021.

Furthermore, there are indeedsome links between the fringe elementsin the Tablighis and the world of jihad.

First, there is evidence of indirectconnections between the group and the

wider radical/extremist Deobandinexus composed of anti-Shiite sectar-ian groups, Kashmiri militants and theTaliban. As per Intelligence reports,Rohingyas residing in camps in differ-ent parts of the country have a directlink with the Tablighi Jamaat.

The Coronavirus pandemic 2019-2020: Amid the Coronavirus lockdown,patients from Nizamuddin were testedand found to be positive for the virus,which resulted in the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi Government registering anFIR against Kandhlawi for arranging aTablighi Jamaat programme despiterestrictions on such gatherings afterMarch 16 at the Nizamuddin Markaz.The Tablighi Jamaat congregation tookplace between March 13 and15 but over2,000 people stayed back in the Markaz.They had sought help from authoritiesfor vacating the premises on March 25.On March 31, an FIR was filed againstKandhlawi and others by the DelhiPolice Crime Branch under Section 3(the penalty for offence) of theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897 andSections 269 (Negligent act likely tospread infection of disease), 270 (malig-nant act likely to spread infection of dis-ease), 271 (disobedience to quarantinerule) and 120b (punishment of crimi-nal conspiracy) of the IPC.

Later the police slapped the 304charge (punishment for culpable homi-cide not amounting to murder) whilethe Enforcement Directorate has fileda money laundering case and the ITdepartment is scanning the bankaccounts and suspicious transactions ofthe Tablighi Jaamat.

Why Tablighi Jamaat antago-nised their defence: Spitting and pelt-ing stones have almost become weaponsof war for the Tablighis. It makes one

question as to what can be the reasonfor this kind of deplorable behavior?According to some news reports, therehave been protests against medical staffand resistance against going to hospi-tals is not related to COVID-19. Someof the issues cited by them are theCitizenship Amendment Act, theNational Register of Citizens, TripleTalaq, Babri Masjid and so on.

Unfortunately, some parts of thecommunity are still focussing on pol-itics and discrediting the Governmentat any cost while the entire nation iscombatting the national health emer-gency. The country must take thethreat of the Tablighis as an eye-open-er for future planning that must includea ban and seizure of assets. We mustidentify ancillary units of the TablighiJamaat so that they can be stopped fromoperating under different names. Wemust punish the traitors of COVID-19,immediately amend Article 25(1) sothat the money and preachers from out-side the country can be restricted intheir operations (it is a national secu-rity threat), set up an expert commit-tee to re-examine provisions underArticle 25-30 in the Indian Constitutionand give additional power to the policeto identity and book anti-nationals. Itis important that Deoband, Barelvi,Salafi ideologies managing the networkof mosques in India must be broughtunder Government supervision andcontrol just as the temples of India aresupervised under the ReligiousEndowment Act, 1873. An absolutefreedom in the name of religion and atthe cost of the nation must be imme-diately curbed.

(The writer is Editor-in-Chief,Opinion Express and regular columnistwith The Pioneer)

The Tablighi Jamaat is often considered extremely orthodox in its interpretationsof Islam, with the ability to convert Muslims into radical believers

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Learn to beEarth stewards

INDRA SHEKHAR SINGH

The ‘conquest of nature’ has got us to the precipice ofdoom as environmental degradation is the gravestthreat to human life, second only to nuclear war

PRASHANT TEWARI

SOMEFRINGE GROUPS

WITHIN THEORGANISATION

ARE BACKED BY THE POWER OFPETRO-DOLLARS,

THE INTERSERVICES

INTELLIGENCE’SDIRTY MONEY

MACHINE,THE VAST

NETWORK OFUNDERWORLDDON DAWOODIBRAHIM AND

OTHERANTI-NATIONAL

ENTITIES

April 22 will be a historic day for the national Capital and perhaps,the world, for it shall be the cleanest Earth Day, since 1970. JohnMcConnell, creator of Earth Day, may be smiling in heaven final-

ly, due to the lack of noxious clouds and vapour trails. The increasedoxygen might have made the angels slightly euphoric too. But cosmicevents aside, can we conserve our planet? As we introspect, it is clearthat the “conquest of nature” has got us to a precipice of planetary doomas environmental degradation is the gravest threat to human life, sec-ond only to nuclear war. It has very serious geopolitical consequences.Noam Chomsky recently on Democracy Now said that India and Pakistan,may go to nuclear war over shrinking water resources. Overall the roastis cooked and the Earth cannot take more violence. Pandemics and dis-eases are corrective reminders from nature, that it is time to steer awayfrom our ecologically-destructive design and recreate a new economyand a new world.

How can we create a new world? Do we renounce the material worldand choose a life devoid of technology? No. The Coronavirus providesus with an opportunity to reduce mindless consumption and reimaginea new paradigm, where the air is healthy and waterbodies are clean. Tosurvive climate change and extinction, we need to adopt five principles:Reduce, Reuse, Regenerate, Swadeshi and Agro-ecology. We need astrong “green economy” (non-polluting, circular, renewable-based) torebuild India and the world. For most part of the last century, technolo-gy has been used to destroy the Earth, we have to bridge the two now.The Industrial Revolution 4.0 needs to be built on a “green economy.”But where does this path begin? We begin this journey by bringing “Earthawareness” into our lives. The Earth is alive, she is not merely dirt, orwater or mountains to be mined. We have to reconnect with our land,mountains and rivers. We have to respect it.

Once this consciousness fills us, the next step is to reduce our imprinton this planet. Each action or product we buy/use has an impact on thisEarth. Yet all our parameters of success — big houses, many cars andso on are ecologically lopsided. Reducing water, fossil fuel and electric-ity consumption, is not only “smart” but economical too. We need toget off the consumption bandwagon and fossil fuel economy to discov-er alternatives. A very simple way to reduce consumption is to reusethings. One can start by reusing gallons of RO outlet water for plants orwashing dishes, or converting old clothes into blankets. India is filledwith innovative ideas of reusing and recycling things.

Discarding two negative patterns of consumption definitely adds upto one big environmental positive. Humans are not masters of the world,but in the words of the renowned American conservationist Aldo Leopold,mere “stewards of the land.” This land we have received from our ances-tors, but only borrowed it from our descendants. And carbon reduction-ism, viewing actions/climate action in terms of their carbon footprint only,is not the only solution. We have to take the positive and holistic approachof regeneration versus an isolated negative outlook of carbon reduction-ism. Our efforts should not be to replace the fossil-fuel-economy withbio-fuels, or low carbon tech but reinvent the economy and our lives,with regenerative principles of creation.

Mahatma Gandhi outlined the solution for us. He called it Swadeshieconomy. This is a system is pillared on self-sufficiency, dignity and localco-operation, while having minimal or a positive impact on the environ-ment. This economy was a decentralised system of production, whichshared surpluses and took from other what it could not produce. It isabout time we accept a Swadeshi 2.0 in India, aided by ecological tech-nologies. Before you buy something ask yourself can I replace this, withsomething as good made locally or sustainably?

Now for the final pillar of this pledge: Agro-ecology. Industrial foodsystems including cattle and poultry farms have destroyed human healthand lives. Farmers suicides, cancer, foreclosures of small farmers, abuseand crime in rural communities all around the world are mere symp-toms of a rabid production system. Our rivers are polluted with fertilis-er and pesticides run-off and the consumer family is experiencing a pletho-ra of diseases. But is agro-ecology viable? Scientist ML Jat has provedso. Agro-ecology does not only provide healthier food, but the practicereduces chemicals and fossil fuels in our food system. It has providedeco-system services by cleaning waters, sequestrating carbon, normal-ising the nitrogen cycles and flavourful food. So where can we begin?Start at your own home, grow a garden with veggies or plant herbs likecoriander in a pot, but remember without chemicals. Reach out to a farmerwho can grow food agro-ecologically for you. The culmination of theseprinciples is the foundation of a green economy. As the world has descend-ed into economic darkness, India needs to emerge from the ashes of abroken economic and industrial system to embrace it. On this Earth Daywe need to embark on the path of science, resilience and the Earth.

(The writer is Director, Policy and Outreach, National Seed Associationof India)

The time has come forState chieftains to showtheir leadership quali-

ties in handling theCoronavirus pandemic afterthe lockdown ends and thecountry starts going about itsbusiness as usual.

The days ahead are crucialfor the economy of the coun-try as well as for our fightagainst the virus but there is ahealthy competition amongthe Chief Ministers to excel indealing with these issues.

It is heartening to note thatmost States have risen to thechallenge and each ChiefMinister is trying to tackle thepandemic in his/her unique

way. Their response has beenquick and positive and they areleading from the front.

For instance, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee has set up a commit-tee of experts, including someNobel laureates, to advise heron the relief measures to betaken in her State.

Similarly, Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot hasshown that his “Bhilwaramodel” could be emulated byother States to contain thepandemic. The “Kerala model”,too, has won praise from allaround the country.

There are others like theKarnataka Chief Minister BSYediyurappa, Telangana’sChandrashekhar Rao, Punjab’sCaptain Amarinder Singh andOdisha’s Naveen Patnaik whohave done a good job of han-dling the Corona crisis.Interestingly most of thenon–NDA Chief Ministershave done quite well.

The Centre, too, has

realised the importance ofsome lockdown relaxations insectors like agriculture andconstruction.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has also left it to theStates to decide about furtherrelaxation of the shutdownguidelines as most of the ChiefMinisters had told him duringa video-conference with themthat there was a need for a stag-gered lockdown exit as theeconomy was suffering.

The Chief Ministers willface huge challenges in theirrespective States after the lock-down ends in May. For them itis a double whammy. On onefront they have to contain thepandemic and on the otherthey have to find resources todeal with the situation.

At the April 11 videocon-ference with the PrimeMinister, most Chief Ministersof Opposition-ruled Statesexpressed grave concern overlack of resources and depletingrevenues, as well as the huge

slide in the economy. A calibrated exit from the

lockdown is needed becausethe revenues of the Centre andStates have collapsed due to theshutdown and its extension. Infact, most States claim that theywill not be able to meet theirsalary bills beyond April. Theyhave sought special assistancefrom the Centre to sustain thebattle against the Coronavirus.

For instance, MamataBanerjee has demanded anational package of aroundsix per cent of the GrossDomestic Product (GDP) tocounter the pandemic’s impactand as relief for the micro,small and medium enterprises(MSME) sector.

The Punjab Chief Ministerhas demanded a three-monthcrop loan waiver. Gehlot hassought a Central relief packagefor his State’s tourism and hos-pitality industry, MSMEs andall the weaker sections of soci-ety. Tamil Nadu has sought`4,000 crore for augmenting

health services. Others havedemanded their Goods andServices Tax (GST) shareimmediately.

Pending Central assistance,some Chief Ministers havegone ahead and started to lifttheir States out of the mire withtheir own resources.

Kerala took the lead byannouncing a `20,000 crorepackage to kick-start the econ-omy. Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath wasone of the first to assure a guar-anteed income to daily-wagelabourers.

In Odisha, Naveen Patnaikhas set up three fully-equippedCOVID-19 hospitals and inChhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghelhas ensured extra rations for all.The list of initiatives goes on.

On its part, the Centre hasthe big problem of findingresources to deal with theunprecedented crisis. The slidein the economy is a big worryas almost all the sectors, includ-ing civil aviation, manufactur-

ing, agriculture, infrastructure,travel and tourism have beenimpacted and it will need ahuge stimulus to uplift theeconomy.

The Centre has to pump inat least four to five billion dol-lars urgently into the economy.It has so far provided only 0.8per cent of the GDP as a stim-ulus and part of this is appro-priated from existing Statefunds linked to constructionlabour and mineral develop-ment.

The Coronavirus hasshown how unprepared Indiawas to tackle a pandemic likethis. Many States do not haveadequate hospitals, enoughhealthcare personnel, medicalequipment and testing kits.

By and large most Statesare depending on the Centrefor the supply of testing kits andthey can perform their dutieswell only when they get theequipment. Hence, improvingthe health sector is very impor-tant and must be done on a war

footing if we are to win thisCorona war.

Then there is the agricul-ture sector. The Centre hasrelaxed the lockdown for farmlabourers. But the States thatare depending on the migrantlabour from Bihar, UttarPradesh and other States willhave to ensure that they canretain the workers for the har-vest season. Meanwhile, Punjabdoes not have gunny bags topack the harvest in and Singhhas written to Mamata to sendthem over speedily. This willbenefit West Bengal’s jute farm-ers and weavers.

On the whole, while theChief Ministers function asgenerals, the Prime Ministerremains the supreme com-mander. The bottom line is thatunless they show their leader-ship qualities, they will not beable to win the next elections.The jury is out on their perfor-mance rating.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

The jury is out on the performance of netasWhile the Chief Ministers function as generals, the Prime Minister remains the supreme commander. The bottom line is

that unless they show their leadership qualities, they will not be able to win the next elections

KALYANI SHANKAR

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

F O R E I G N E Y E

There are social as well aseconomic reasons forwanting children to go backto school. But any decisionmust be based on evidence.For now, the more urgentquestions than whenschools will reopen arewhy and how. That is, notwhy people want children toreturn to school (which isclear enough) but whyschools in May, June orSeptember will be any safer— for pupils, their familiesand teachers — than theyare now.(The Guardian editorial)

TO REOPEN ORNOT TO REOPEN

VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Tata Motors extendscommercialvehicles' warrantyexpiring in lockdownNew Delhi: Tata Motors onTuesday said it has extendedby two months the warrantyperiod for all of its commercialvehicles which are expiringduring the period of thelockdown. In the wake of theCOVID-19 pandemic, TataMotors has extended thewarranty for its commercialvehicles customers worldwide,the company said in astatement. As part of theservice extensions for thecommercial vehiclecustomers, Tata Motors said itis providing two-monthextension for free servicespreviously scheduled duringthe lockdown period.Moreover, the company hasalso extended 'Tata Suraksha'annual maintenance contractfor all those with an expiryduring the period of lockdown.

Huawei India appoints David Li as CEONew Delhi: HuaweiTelecommunications Indiaon Tuesday said it hasappointed David Li as itsChief Executive Officer. Hereplaces Jay Chen who hasbeen promoted to handleAsia Pacific level businessrole. "I am very excited tobe given the opportunity tolead HuaweiTelecommunications inIndia. As a global ICTsolutions provider, we arecommitted to the strategicdevelopment of India's ICTindustry and will continue towork with the Government,customers and ecosystempartners to bring futuretechnological innovations,"Li said in a statement. Lijoined Huawei in 2002 andhas experience of working inthe India market, includingin roles like vice presidentsales and vice president HRduring different phases ofhis career. He was servingas CEO of Huawei Cambodiabefore returning to India totake on his new role. "In hisnew role, David will beresponsible for overseeingall aspects of HuaweiTelecommunications India'sstrategy, directions andoperations in the country,ensuring its commitment as astrategic and reliableICT(information andcommunications technology)partner in accelerating thedigital visions of India," thestatement said.

Spot gold marketsremain shut due tonationwidelockdown: HDFCNEW DELHI: Spot goldmarkets on Tuesday remainedshut due to nationwidelockdown, according to HDFCSecurities. "Spot gold marketsin India remained shut due tocountrywide lockdown toprevent spreading of COVID-19 virus infections," it said. Inthe international market, goldwas trading with marginalgains at USD 1,693 per ounce,while silver was flat at USD15.19 per ounce.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) is expected to cut inter-est rates by 75 basis points byMarch 2021 as monetary eas-ing measures till now are insuf-ficient to lift the economy reel-ing under the stress of theCovid-19 pandemic, FitchSolutions said Tuesday.

"In the light of a wideninginterest rate corridor as well asother aggressive monetary eas-ing measures by the RBI, wehave revised our expectationsto 75 bps worth of cuts byMarch 2021, which imply arepo rate of 3.65 per cent anda reverse repo rate of 3.00 percent," it said.

On April 17, the RBIannounced a range of addition-al liquidity enhancing measuresaimed at supporting credit flowto the economy.

These measures included a25 bps cut to its reverse repur-chase (repo) rate to 3.75 percent to lower the incentive forbanks to park their surplusfunds with the central bank.

The policy repo rate was leftat 4.40 per cent.

"We believe that existing

monetary easingmeasures are stillinsufficient to liftthe economy outof the economiccrisis broughtabout byt h eC o v i d -19 out-break, andsoftening infla-tionary pressureswill allow for theimplementation ofmore easing measures,"Fitch Solutions said in anote.

Other measuresannounced by the RBI on April

17 included target-ed long-term repoo p e r a t i o n s(TLTRO 2.0) for anaggregate amountof Rs 50,000 crore.

T h ef u n d s

availed bybanks under

TLTRO 2.0will have to be

invested in invest-ment grade bonds,

commercial paper, andnon-convertible deben-

tures of non-bank financialcompanies (NBFC), with at

least 50 per cent of the totalamount going to small and

medium-sized NBFCs andmicro-finance institutions(MFI). In addition, banks haveto make these investments with-in one month from receiving thefunds from the RBI.

Also, it reduced the liquiditycoverage ratio to 80 per cent,from 100 per cent previously andprovided a special financial facil-ity of Rs 50,000 crore to All IndiaFinancial Institutions (AIFIs) atthe repo rate. Besides, anincrease in the amount state gov-ernments can borrow wasallowed by further increasing theways and means advance(WMA) limit for states by 60 percent on top of March 31 levelsuntil September 30, up from a 30per cent increase announced onApril 1.

RBI also relaxed the 90-daynon-performing asset (NPA)classification norms for accountsbeing granted the three-monthloan moratorium announcedon March 27. However, an addi-tional loss provisioning of at least10 per cent of the total of theseaccounts have to be made, to bephased over two quarters (quar-ters ending March and June2020) at no less than 5 per centper quarter.

Fitch Solutions says RBI maycut interest rates by 75 bps PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensex onTuesday sank over 1,011points on heavy losses inbanking, IT and auto countersas historic oil plunge broughtmore unease into marketsalready reeling from coron-avirus crisis.

After hitting a low of30,378.26, the 30-share indexended 1,011.29 points or 3.20per cent lower at 30,636.71.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyplummeted 280.40 points, or3.03 per cent, to 8,981.45.

IndusInd Bank was the toplaggard in the Sensex pack,sinking over 12 per cent, fol-lowed by Bajaj Finance, ICICIBank, Axis Bank, M&M, TataSteel, ONGC and Maruti.

On the other hand, BhartiAirtel, Hero MotoCorp andNestle India were the gainers.

According to traders,domestic market plunged fol-lowing selloff in global equitiesas rout in crude market hitinvestor sentiment world over.

US benchmark oil WestTexas Intermediate (WTI)crude for May delivery recov-ered to USD 1.10 a barrel.

With space to store oilscarce, WTI for May deliveryplunged to – USD 37.63 a bar-

rel ahead of Tuesday's close forfutures contracts -- whentraders who buy and sell thecommodity for profit wouldhave had to take physicalposession of it. Brent crudecontracts for June deliverywas trading 20.30 per centlower at USD 20.38 per barrel.

On Wall Street, stockscrashed after US oil pricesturned negative on Monday forthe first time ever. Bourses inShanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyoand Seoul ended with signifi-cant losses. Stock exchanges in

Europe were also trading up to2 per cent lower.

Further, concerns overmounting Covid-19 cases alsokept investors jittery, traderssaid. The death toll due to thepandemic rose to 590, whilethe number of cases in thecountry climbed to 18,601.

Global tally of the infectionshas crossed 24.7 lakh, withover 1.70 lakh deaths.

The rupee, meanwhile, set-tled for the day lower by 30paise at 76.83 (provisional)against the US dollar.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The income tax departmenthas sent e-mails to 1.72 lakhassessees, including start-ups,companies and individuals,who have outstanding taxdemands as well as tax refundsasking them to provide asupdate on the payment.

Since April 8, the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT)has been fast-tracking refundpayments to help taxpayers inthe COVID-19 pandemic sit-uation and has till date issuednearly 14 lakh refunds involv-ing an amount of over Rs9,000 crore to various taxpay-ers including individuals,Hindu Undivided Families(HUFs), proprietors, firms,corporate, start-ups, and micro,small and medium enterprises

(MSMEs).The CBDT in a statement

said its e-mail seeking clarifi-cation from all those who areentitled to get tax refund butalso have outstanding tax topay cannot be misconstrued asharassment.

"An opportunity is providedby the department to the

assessee to either clear thedemand or intimate the statusof said demand to the I-Tdepartment. Invariably, suchcommunication is made bythe department by sending ane-mail to the assessee inform-ing it of the quantum of out-standing demand and provid-ing an opportunity to pay the

demand or respond with evi-dence regarding payment ofthe same if already made, orupdate the status of any otheraction on it," it said.

The CBDT said that theassessees are required to fur-nish details of the pendingdemand, whether it has beenpaid or has been stayed by anyappellate/competent authorityso that the department couldkeep the same in abeyance anddo not deduct this amountfrom refund.

"Thus, following the existingprocedure of recuperation ofoutstanding demand, similar

mails have also been sent to 1.72lakh assessees including start-ups to intimate to the I-Tdepartment, the status of thedemand outstanding andwhether it has been stayed bythe competent authority so thatappropriate action can be takenfor release of refunds withoutdelay to the start-up," it added.

The CBDT said these e-mails are part of the facelesscommunication and are auto-generated under Section 245 ofthe I-T Act in refund caseswhere there is any outstandingdemand payable by theassessee.

Sensex tanks 1,011 pts as oil pricecrash sparks sell-off on global scale

PNS nMUMBAI

Private equity and venture cap-ital investments in India maydecline up to 60 per cent in 2020due to COVID-19 pandemic,according to a report by consult-ing firm EY.

Fund raising activity, whichtypically influences futureinvestments, has also gone“cold”, if one were to look atMarch's data of private equity(PE) and venture capital (VC)funds having raised only USD85 million, EY said in a state-ment.

In the past few years, fundraising activity has been touch-ing record highs, and grew 28per cent to USD 48 billion in

2019. However, there havebeen concerns on the same afterthe emergence of the pandem-ic, which is set to lead to aunprecedented impact on eco-nomic activity due to lock-downs and social distancing.EY projected Indian PE and VCinvestments at USD 19-26 bil-lion in 2020, which is a 45-60

per cent decline over the 2019figures. It said March 2020 sawinvestments of only USD 818million, the first time in threeyears that the monthly figurehas slipped under the USD 1billion mark.

In January-March, thePE/VC investments fell by 50per cent at USD 5.1 billion.

PE, VC investments in India maydip up to 60% in 2020 due to virus

I-T dept sends e-mails to 1.72 lakh assessees

On April 17,the RBI

announced arange of

additionalliquidity

enhancingmeasures

aimed atsupporting credit

flow to theeconomy.

According to traders, domestic marketplunged following selloff in globalequities as rout in crude market hitinvestor sentiment world over

Since April 8, the CBDT has been fast-tracking refund payments to helptaxpayers in the COVID-19 pandemic

Milagrow to test robotsat AIIMS to containspread of COVID-19PNS n NEW DELHI

Consumer robotics firmMilagrow on Tuesday saidtwo its robots will be tried atthe advanced COVID-19 wardof AIIMS Delhi to contain thespread of the pandemicamongst doctors and health-care workers.

The Milagrow iMap 9 is afloor disinfecting robot thatcan navigate and sanitize thefloors without any humanintervention.It destroysCOVID spores on floor sur-faces using sodium hypochlo-rite solution, as recommend-ed by ICMR, Milagrow said ina statement. The MilagrowHumanoid ELF enables doc-

tors to monitor and interactwith contagious COVID-19patients remotely with no per-son-to-person contact, there-by significantly reducing thetransmission risk, it added.

"Milagrow Floor RobotiMap9.0 & MilagrowHumanoid will be tried atAIIMS Hospital, New Delhi,"AIIMS Director RandeepGuleria said.

Milagrow Robots is veryhappy to support AIIMS in itseffort to fight the COVID-19pandemic and will work close-ly to develop more productsbased on the feedback of actu-al conditions, MilagrowFounder Chairman RajeevKarwal said.

NSE cautions tradingmembers about ZoomPNS n NEW DELHI

Leading stock exchange NSEhas cautioned trading mem-bers about video conferenc-ing app Zoom and cyberthreats amid increased usageof the platform in the wakeof nationwide lockdown tocontain coronavirus pan-demic.

Many organisations haveswitched to work-from-homedue to outbreak of the pan-demic with employees usingonline communication plat-forms, including Zoom,Microsoft Teams, for remotemeetings and webinars.

It has been observed thatsome of these apps are notsecured and are vulnerable tobe exploited thus revealingusers identity, location or

content of the discussion,the National Stock Exchange(NSE) said in a circular.

The exchange requestedall trading members toundertake appropriateactions as applicable to theirenvironment.

To mitigate the threat, ithas been advised that offi-cials may refrain from usingZoom meeting for discussioninvolving sharing of classifiedor sensitive information, theexchange noted.

Amul eyes 15 pc growth in turnoverthis fiscal despite COVID-19 crisis PNS n NEW DELHI

GCMMF, which markets dairyproducts under Amul brand,expects its turnover to grow 15per cent this fiscal year from Rs38,550 crore in 2019-20 despiteeconomic slowdown causedby the nationwide lockdown tocontrol coronavirus outbreak.

The household consump-tion of milk and other dairyproducts is expected to riseand will compensate any tem-porary loss of sales caused byclosure of hotels, restaurantsand cafeterias (HoReCA seg-ment) during the ongoinglockdown period, said R SSodhi, the managing directorof Gujarat Cooperative MilkMarketing Federation Ltd(GCMMF).

"COVID-19 will not haveany impact on demand of thefood products. Our sales invalue terms during thismonth are at par with thesame month last year. Thedemand of some productshas come down but at thesame time sales of many

products have risen," Sodhitold PTI in an interview.

Asked about the outlookfor this fiscal year, he said: "Weexpect our turnover to grow by15 per cent."GCMMF clocked17 per cent growth in itsturnover at Rs 38,550 croreduring the 2019-20 fiscal year.

On the current situation ofits milk operation, Sodhi said,"Gradually things are settling

down."Regarding sales, he said the

demand for fresh milk hasdeclined by 8 per cent as hotelsand restaurants are closed."HoReCa segment contributes12-15 per cent of the totaldemand. But, fall is less ashousehold consumption offresh milk and butter milk hasincreased."

Sodhi noted that sales ofbutter, ghee, paneer, cheese andmilk powder have gone up inthe range of 20-35 per cent aspeople are consuming more.

However, he pointed outthe demand of ice-cream hasfallen sharply by 85 per cent,while sales of cream and moz-zarella cheese are down by 70per cent and 50 per cent,respectively. Sodhi said thecompany has diverted the idlesupply chain of ice-cream into

distribution of other dairyproducts.

"Our milk procurementfrom farmers has increasedby 15 per cent as unorganisedplayers are not buying”, he

said.

Higher dependence on digital toolsdrives demand for telecom services PNS n NEW DELHI

The coronavirus-driven lock-down and social distancingmeasures have led to higherdependence on digital tools,driving demand for telecomservices, and there is "minis-cule" financial impact on ser-vice delivery given essentialnature of communicationsofferings, according toEdelweiss.

However, the lockdown isexpected to arrest 4G sub-scriber addition and churnwhile accelerating SIM-consol-idation, Edelweiss said in itslatest telecom sector update.Maintaining a positive stanceon the sector, it howeverflagged specific but "distant"risks including possibility of a

prolonged economic slow-down eroding consumers' abil-ity to spend, and the Indiantelecom sector historicallybearing disproportionate bur-den of government finances"which may continue in thecurrent phase".

It noted that a paradigmshift in consumer behaviour isunderway in the wake of thelockdown and social distanc-ing measures, that are aimed atcontaining the spread of coro-navirus.

"We argue this is leading tohigher dependency on digitaltools such as videoconferenc-ing, collaborative applications,etc, thereby driving up demandfor telecom services," Edelweisssaid.

The lockdown has implod-ed data demand globally asmore people are working fromhome than ever before andtriggered an uptick in the con-sumption of online content.

Such changes are expectedto spur data demand struc-turally, increasing the walletshare of telecom services.

"Besides, we expect the lock-down to have little financialimpact as the classification oftelecom services under essen-tials has ensured service con-tinuity," it said.

Sale of butter,ghee, paneer,cheese and milkpowder has goneup by 20-35% aspeople areconsuming more

Gold jewelleryretail industryto be creditnegative: ICRAPNS n MUMBAI

The coronavirus outbreakand the lockdown ahead ofAkshaya Tritiya is a creditnegative for the gold jewelleryretail industry in the shortterm, according to Icra. Goldjewellery buying is consideredauspicious during AkshayaTritiya, which falls in the lastweek of April this year.

Over the last two years, thedomestic gold jewellery retailindustry has been affected byfactors like weak consumerdemand amid slowing eco-nomic growth, rapid rise ingold prices and faltering ruraloutput, regulatory policyinterventions and cautiouslending environment, Icrasaid in a report.

“Given this background,the widened outbreak ofCOVID-19 and subsequentlockdown, ahead of the crit-ical Akshaya Tritiya season isa credit negative for the goldjewellery retail industry in theshort-term,” it added.

McAfee Indianames RahulArora as SalesDirectorPNS n NEW DELHI

Security solutions firmMcAfee on Tuesday said ithas named Rahul Arora asSales Director for its Indiaand SAARC operations.

As a key part of the Indialeadership team, Arora willbe responsible for leadingthe company's sales teamsand technical experts to helpdrive the cloud security mar-ket within India, a statementsaid.

He will be instrumental inbuilding a strong pipeline,ensuring solid sales execu-tion, and drive customer rela-tionships to achieve sustain-able growth.

Kia Motors tooffer financialsupport to its dealersPNS n NEW DELHI

Kia Motors on Tuesday saidit has come up with variousinitiatives to financially sup-port its dealer partners amiddifficult business environ-ment due to COVID-19 pan-demic.

The company said it hasformulated a programme tohelp its dealers steer throughthe challenging phase, whichincludes multiple initiativesto sustain and improve cashflow to the dealer partners.

The automaker said itwould provide support interms of interest cost of deal-er stock, including vehicles inphysical and transit stock.

Besides, unutilised deal-er funds lying with the com-pany have already beenremitted back to their currentaccounts, it added.

Further, all the acceptedservice claims for warrantyhave been credited to thedealers' accounts, Kia Motorssaid.

Food insecurityrising evenbefore Covidcrisis: ReportPNS n PARIS

Food insecurity was on therise last year and the coron-avirus crisis is likely to fur-ther exacerbate the situa-tion, according to the GlobalReport on Food Crisesreleased Tuesday by theUnited Nations.

It found that 135 millionpeople in 55 countries werein living in situations ofacute food crises or outrighthumanitarian emergencieslast year.

The increase by more than20 million people takes it toa record level in the fouryears the report has beencompiled.

This is a great opportunity forgovernments to introduce some plansto help the planet. They can take newactions like limited vehiclespermission, and others, post thelockdown to reduce pollution.Lockdown is definitely helping thenature revive itself.

— G KALYANI

We never believed thata day would comewhere we have togo out wearingmasks. Thegovernment musttake somenecessary actionsto maintain lessusage of vehiclesand others to helpnature.

— D RAMU

Accordingto myobservation, lockdownbenefits for the Earth aretemporary. Right now, sincethere is no transport and a

decline in human intervention,it has helped in reducing air

and water pollution.

— P NARAYANA RAO

Lockdown called by several countries around the world as a result ofthe Coronavirus pandemic has, in many ways, healed the Earth. Theworld is getting healthier since there has been a reduction in air,water and other kinds of pollution. Environmental activists suggestthat perfect plans from the government is the need of the hour tomaintain the same, post lockdown, reports V SATEESH REDDY

ockdown acrossthe globe hasbrought a drasticreduction in thepollution levels ofair, water and oth-

ers. It helped Earthto heal from the

wounds that humanshave caused for years in the

name of development. Recentreports revealed that air pol-lution levels have dropped to71 per cent in Delhi.According to the WorldHealth Organization, towardsthe end of March, Delhi wit-nessed a gradual decrease inair pollution from anunhealthy 91 micrograms percubic meter to 26 microgramsper cubic meter. Even theCentral Pollution ControlBoard of EnvironmentMinistry said that there hasbeen a 71 percent decrease innitrogen dioxide levels in thecountry.

With today being is the50th World Earth Day, envi-ronmental activists and vari-ous organisations are strivinghard to help nature. On theocassion, The Pioneer spoketo a few environmentalactivists about the impact thelockdown has had on theplanet and what’s next.

P Narayana Rao, founderof Environment and Peoplemagazine, has been makingpeople aware of climate crisisthrough his magazine since1994. The monthly magazineexplains how people aredestroying the environmentin the name of infrastructureand development. His maga-zine also lays down methodsto follow to protect nature.

Narayana Rao says, “It’sbeen 50 years since the incep-

tion of World Earth Day inApril 1970 and here we aretoday, still causing destruc-tion to the Earth by overusingour natural resources. FormerPrime Minister of India, lateMrs. Indira Gandhi startedclean water and clean air Actsin the 1970’s. During the 1992Rio Conference, variousthings were discussed on howto tackle climate issues in the21st century. Over the years,people have stopped caringabout natural resources.”

When asked if the unex-pected lockdown is helpingthe earth, he shares,“According to my observa-tion, lockdown benefits forthe Earth are temporary.Right now, since there is notransport and a decline inhuman intervention, it hashelped in reducing air andwater pollution. The lock-down has also brought a stopto various activities across theworld like Afforestation,Water treatment, among oth-ers. It has also stopped theGreta Thunberg climate crisismovement and is a set backfor environment protectionmovements all over theworld.”

Ramu D, a techie, has beenstriving hard for years toreduce plastic usage byHyderabadis by introducingvarious activities. He is gift-ing plants to people who givehim plastic. Ramu shares, “Itis a healing period for theEarth. It is an appreciablemove by the Telangana gov-ernment to extend the lock-down till May 7. It gives moretime for the Earth to settle.We have all walked into thissituation. We have seen anexcessive usage of natural

resources for decades forunnecessary things. We neverbelieved that a day wouldcome where we have to goout wearing masks. This feelslike the Earth is punishing usfor our deeds. The govern-ment must take some neces-sary actions to maintain lessusage of vehicles and othersto help nature.Decentralisation of develop-ment too, will helpHyderabad cure itself. Everyyear, we celebrate Earth Dayby introducing various activi-ties but this time around, thisis not possible due to thelockdown. On Earth Day, weare planning to explain topeople about minimal andthoughtful usage of ourdepleting natural resources.”

Social activist G Kalyanihas started the SwasaFoundation and is conductingvarious environmental aware-ness activities all overHyderabad. She says, “This isa great opportunity for gov-ernments to introduce someplans to help the planet.Many studies revealed thatthe human brain takes morethan 21 days to follow newchanges. With more than 21days of ockdown all over thecountry, it is the best time forour leaders to think aboutnature. The government cantake new actions like limitedvehicles permission, and oth-ers, post the lockdown toreduce pollution. Lockdownis definitely helping thenature revive itself. But Ibelieve that it is a goldenopportunity for our leaders totake any action towards help-ing the environment. If wedon’t take up action now, weare sure to be doomed.”

Lockdown,A GOLDENOPPORTUNITY

to setthingsright

Wor

ld E

arth

Day

L

In an exclusiveconversation

withV SATEESH

REDDY, actorLakshman

Meesala sharesabout his

struggles toenter the filmindustry, his

inspiration, lovefor experiments,upcoming films

and more

elugu actorLakshmanMeesala hasreceived appreci-ation from thefilm fraternity

for his natural acting skillsin movies like RX 100,Falaknuma Das, GeorgeReddy, Palasa 1978 andmore. Inspired by the leg-endary NTR, Lakshmancame to Hyderabad in 2007with a dream to someday,appear on the silver screen.Inspired by NTR garu

Lakshman spent a lot ofhis time watching NTR’sfilms in his childhood. Hesays, “I’m a very big fan ofsenior NTR garu and wouldwatch all of his films. Aftermy SSC, I came toHyderabad to pursue a

career in acting. I faced alot of struggles to get

movie offers. Iworked under DS

Deekshitulu sir formany years and

honed my acting skills. Atthe time, I got my firstopportunity to act in thefilm Ko Ante Koti whichwas produced bySharwanand. I later wenton to do other films.”Acted in over 50 plays

Lakshman acted in morethan 50 plays. “I acted inmany plays and got goodname and fame. I receivedthe Bandi award for myacting in the play KomaramBheem. For the role, I hadto live in Nizamabad andother districts of Telanganato learn the slang,” he remi-nisces. Lacked skills ofself promotion

Lakshman played keyroles in movies like RX 100,Palasa, George Reddy,Falaknuma Das. He says hefailed to use his good rolesto promote himself becausehe lacked the skill of selfpromotion.

He adds, “RX 100 was avery big hit and I played akey role in the film. LikeRX 100, I got good roles inmovies like George Reddy,Palasa and other movies.Even though I was part ofgood films, I failed to pro-mote myself. I never caredabout name and fame. All Iknew was I had to preparebetter for the next role formy next film.”

Director SS Rajamauliwas all praise for his role inthe film Manamantha. Hesays, “Even though I playedprominent roles in goodfilms, I attended auditionsfor several other roles.Established actors usuallydon’t do that, but I did. Ifthe unit recognised my cal-ibre they give me a role. Ifthey don’t, I go audition forthe role.”Commitment for roles

One can recogniseLakshman with his typicallong moustache and beard.

When asked about his look,Lakshman shares, “We needto maintain a particularlook until we finish shooting for that role in the film. For one of myroles in a film, I had tosport a long beard and thefilm somehow got shelved.I maintained that look forquite a long time and lostsome offers along the way,because of the long beard.But the okay, becauseeveryone has to go throughissues to ekerge strongerand get to the top.”Love experimenting

Lakshman says he lovesto take up experimentalroles. He adds, “I loveexperimental characters inmovies and I believe that ittakes some time for me toget to those roles. When adirector approachees mewith a role, I try to give itmy best shot byimprovising it.Theatre has more

scope for experimentalcharacters than cinema.In movies, most of the

experimental roles aredesigned for lead roles. Ithink it’ll take me a whileto get such roles. I love toplay mythological rolesbecause it is always a chal-lenge to remember thosedialogues. They also helpus learn more about ourhistory.”Upcoming films

About his upcomingmovies, Lakshman shares,“At present, I’m workingon a film called Vanara. It

is an independent film. I’malso playing a small role inthe film Akasha Veedhullo.In another film Kanakam,I’m playing the role of ayoungster. The movie is allabout three youngsters. Myrecent movie, Yekam hasfinished post-productionwork but could not bereleased due to the lock-down.”

‘Love to take up experimental roles'T

I love experimental characters in movies and I believe that it takessome time for me to get to those roles. When a director approacheesme with a role, I try to give it my best shot by improvising it. Theatrehas more scope for experimental characters than cinema. In movies,most of the experimental roles are designed for lead roles. I think it’lltake me a while to get such roles. I love to play mythological rolesbecause it is always a challenge to remember those dialogues.

out of the

BOX

WednesdayApril 22, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Wednesday April 22 2020 what’s brewing

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

Immunity-boosting,yet tasty veggies are

the need of the hour

he onething on thetop of ourminds todayis theCOVID-19

pandemic that hasimpacted communitiesaround the globe.Everyday preventivemeasures — such ashandwashing, avoidingcontact with sick indi-viduals, and goodhygiene — can go along way in reducingyour risk for viruses,bacteria, and otherpathogens.

However, scientificevidence suggests thatnutrition and otherlifestyle measuresinfluence immunestrength and suscepti-bility to infectious dis-eases.

However, for nuclearfamilies, it is always achallenge to have freshvegetables and fruitsstocked up as mostvegetables are simplynot ‘practical’ to storein your regular refrig-erator. Pumpkins are“too big”, snake gourds“too long”, bittergourds are “too bitter”.This leads to very pre-dictable choices thatmay not serve thefunction of boosting

your immunity.But what if we get a

choice of having apumpkin that fitted inperfectly in the refrig-erator or a snake gourdsmall-enough for one-time use and bittergourd that are nutri-tious but not too bit-ter? What more?Immunity boosting inthese troubled times.

“We want vegetablesto be flavourful but, atthe same time, avail-able in a practical sizeand shape. This is oneof the objectives set byour company founderDutch seedsman and2019 World Food Prizelaureate Dr. SimonGroot,” says DilipRajan, ManagingDirector of East-WestSeed India, a Dutch-owned, tropical veg-etable seed company.

“Take, Covai, ourshort snake gourd vari-ety. Usually, a snakegourd is very long upto 1 meter or half long,which is 50 to 60 cm.Our variety is shortand high yielding andproduces snake gourdsthat are uniformlycylindrical, whitish-green, 24-28cm longwith 200-300g weight.Perfect for a family of

four and one-timecooking. According toexperts and reliabledata, Snake gourd is apowerhouse of nutri-ents, vitamins, andminerals. Known as‘Padwal’, it is an all-natural antibiotic andexpectorant,” addsDilip Rajan.

Similarly, East-WestSeed India has comeout with small-sizedcucumbers — Minhaaz327 (12- 15 cm) andMuskan 395 (15 -18cm). “Cucumbers areoften very long andbulky, making themdifficult to store. Ourvarieties come in avery convenient size.Cucumbers are immu-nity boosters,” he adds.

East-West SeedIndia has introducedButternut pumpkins,which weigh just 450gm to 700 gm and canbe stored withoutrefrigeration for anextended period. It isalso famous for itsvariety of bitter gourds.

So what made East-West seed India thinkof coming up withvarieties that are sopersonalised and con-venient to use? DilipRajan replies, “Inurban India, there has

been a gradual disinte-gration of the jointfamily system and theemergence of a‘nuclear family’, withsmaller households.This made us thinkabout how we couldrephrase our approachto making more nutri-tious vegetables avail-able for large popula-tions. Our approach tobreeding is unique inthat we look at highlyspecific local factorsand breed particularvarietals with thosefactors in mind. We donot believe in a “one-size-fits-all” approach— we look at our workas an investment in thesuccess of farmers inthese regions, andbreeding seeds thatwill thrive in thoseareas is critical to thatwork.”

The team is alsoworking closely withseveral institutionsacross the country towork on the project.

The team plans tolaunch new varieties ofTomato, Okra, and HotPepper and will soonintroduce innovativetechnologies beyonddisease resistant andhigh yielding veetablevarieties.

l Keep fruit at aconspicuousplace in apresentablemanner. Placeseveral ready-to-eat washedwhole fruits in abowl or storechopped colorfulfruits in a glassbowl in therefrigerator totempt a sweettooth.

l Explore andchoosesomething newwhen you visitthe supermarketor a Bazar.Variety and color

are critical to ahealthy diet. Onmost days, try toget at least oneserving fromeach of thefollowingcategories: darkgreen leafyvegetables,yellow or orangefruits, andvegetables; redfruits andvegetables;legumes (beans)and peas; andcitrus fruits.

l Choosevegetables thatare packed withdifferent

nutrients andmore slowlydigestedcarbohydrates.

l Try cooking newrecipes that

include morevegetables.Salads, soups,and stir-fries oftasty vegetablesare great ideas.

Tips for eating more vegetables and fruits each day:

T

people are going to workand even more so in oursport, where we keep at alarge and safe distance andwe play on opposite sides ofthe court,” world numbertwo Nadal said during anInstagram Live.

Nadal treated tennisfans to an Instagram Live inwhich he spoke to bothRoger Federer and AndyMurray about their experi-ences during lockdown.

“I am not playing ten-nis, I do not have a court athome and I miss it a little,”Nadal said.

“I am sticking to myphysical routines. From thegym of my academy theywere able to bring me somemachines when lockdownbegan so I try to work a lit-tle in the morning, a littlein the afternoon.

“It is very important tohave both the head and thebody focused and it is whatI am trying to do at alltimes.”

Federer meanwhilegave an update on his rightknee after the 20-timemajor winner decided toundergo surger y inFebruary.

“I’ve been hitting a bitagainst a wall, (doing)rehab with the knee,”Federer said.

“It’s OK, I had a reallygood first six weeks, then itwas a bit slower, now it’sgetting better again but Ihave plenty of time.

“There is no stress, norush. If there is anythingpositive (about being inlockdown) that’s the onlything really. I just wantthe knee to be good, itdoesn’t matter when Ireturn.”

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 22, 2020

AFP nMUNICH

Talented Canadianteenager Alphonso

Davies says it is a“dream come true” toextend his BayernMunich contract until2025.

Davies is the latestBayern star offered anextension after Muellerand Flick both recentlysigned new contractsuntil 2023.

Davies, 19, was originally signed until June 2023,but the versatile teenager has impressed this season,both on the left wing and at left back.

“I’m very happy. Bayern Munich is one of the bestclubs in the world, and for me it’s a dream come trueto play here,” Davies said in a statement.

“I want to win as many titles as possible with thisclub.

“The mentality of always wanting to win every-thing is in FC Bayern’s DNA.”

He joined the German giants from VancouverWhitecaps in 2019, but has made the breakthroughto Bayern’s first team this season by starting 17 ofMunich’s 25 league games and made his ChampionsLeague debut.

“Alphonso has developed very well at FC Bayernand has earned this contract extension with hisimpressive performances,” said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

“We are happy that he will remain in the longterm.”

IANS n MUMBAI

Young India opener Prithvi Shaw onTuesday said ‘idol’ Sachin Tendulkar has

advised him to always play his natural gameand stay calm off the field.

In an Instgram Live chat with hisIndian Premier League franchise DelhiCapitals, the 20-year old who is theyoungest Indian to score a Test centu-ry on debut, said: “He has had a biginfluence on me. I first met him whenI was eight. He always tells me to playmy natural game and according to thesituation. Off the field also, he askedme to stay calm.”

Shaw, who was part of thetwo Tests in New Zealandrecently where he openedthe batting with MayankAgarwal in the absence ofRohit Sharma, saidTendulkar had once askedhim not to change hisgrip.

“I am bottom-hand play-

er and Sachin sir had asked me not tochange my grip. I was young and I used tochange my grip as per coaches’ advice. Butafter Sachin sir told me, I did not changemy grip.”

In September 2017, at 17, Shaw becamethe youngest player to score a century onDuleep Trophy debut, a record previously

held by Tendulkar.Commenting on the contsant

comparison with the legend, Shawsaid: “There is pressure when peo-

ple compare me to him. But I take itas a challenge. I try to play like him.

He is the God of cricket.”Commenting on his

experience of workingwith BCCI PresidentSourav Ganguly who wasearlier mentor with DC,Shaw said: “There havebeen experiences to behonest and he helped alot as he knew how tomotivate youngsters in

the team. It was great.”

AFP n MADRID

Rafael Nadal on Mondayexpressed his frustration

that tennis players remainunable to practise due to thecoronavirus pandemic, whileRoger Federer revealed hewas happy with his recoveryfrom knee surgery.

The Spanish governmenthas extended the country’sstate of alarm until May 9,with the entire populationconfined to their homesexcept a small number work-ing in specific sectors, leavingNadal perplexed as to why hecan’t train.

“It’s true I don’t under-stand very well because wecannot play tennis when many

AFP n BARCELONA

Barcelona will raise moneyfor the fight against coro-

navirus by selling the nam-ing rights to their CampNou stadium next season forthe first time in the club’s his-tory.

The income generatedfrom the re-naming ofBarca’s 99,000-seater homefor one year will be puttowards “research projectsand other projects involvedin the battle against theeffects of COVID-19, both ata local and internationallevel”.

The stadium will keep‘Camp Nou’ in its name

while also including the newsponsor.

The club have previous-ly advertised UNICEF chil-dren’s charity for free ontheir shirts.

In a statement onTuesday, the club said theprocess of finding a buyerwill begin “in the next fewweeks”.

“The income generatedwill create a fund that will bedivided in the following way:a part will go towards a pro-ject on COVID-19 driven bythe sponsors themselves andthe rest will be shared outamongst other projects thatare being developed in par-allel,” the statement added.

IANS n LAHORE

Former Pakistanspeedster Shoaib

Akhtar has said he does-n’t see cricketing activitiestaking place for the next12 months as the entireworld battles withCOVID-19 pandemic.

“If you ask me hon-estly, I don’t know forhow long the coronavirusoutbreak will last, untiland unless it is notknown that how manypeople are infected, onecannot go ahead withany kind of cricket any-where,” Akhtar said onhis YouTube channel.

“I do not see cricketbeing played for at least

a year due to the coron-avirus. I see the virustroubling us for one year,these are troublesometimes and I just hope wecome out of this

stronger,” he added. TheRawalpindi Express is alsooff the view that whenev-er cricket resumes, use ofsaliva for shining thecricket ball should not be

allowed so as to stop thespread of the virus.

“I don’t think thatone can apply saliva onthe ball now, we asbowlers apply saliva onthe ball to make the ballshinier, the ball goes inthe hands of everyone onthe park, I saw a report ofthe ICC which saidbowlers would not beable to apply saliva on theball, Akhtar said.

“Cricket is a gamewhich requires contact, ifICC is thinking aboutpassing the law related toapplying saliva on theball, then I welcome thedecision keeping coron-avirus in mind,” headded.

IANS n BRISBANE

Cricket Australia CEOKevin Roberts hasexpressed the board’s

desire to host a five match Testseries against India later this year.India’s tour of Australia current-ly consists of four Tests and threeODIs, however, Roberts hashinted that there could be anadditional Test in the serieswhen Virat Kohli and companyreach their shores in November.

Terming their relationshipwith the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) as‘strong’, Roberts said a five matchTest series is a possibility but nota certainty at this stage.

“There’s no certainty aboutthat (five match Test series) forthe coming season, but what Ican say is that the relationshipbetween the BCCI and CricketAustralia is really strong,”Roberts told reporters on avideo call.

“We’ve discussed a shareddesire to evolve to five matchTest series between Australia andIndia in the future.

“It’s something we’ve bothcommitted to in principle in thefuture, the big question iswhether or not we can bring thatin before the next future tourscycle in 2023.

“We don’t know whatprospect there is of that next sea-

son, but certainly with a chang-ing landscape...we won’t rule outa possibility of that until we getcloser to the time,” he added.

Roberts also revealed theboard is looking at the prospectof hosting all the matches at asingle venue in their bid to keepthe players and staff safe amidcoronavirus pandemic.

“We won’t rule anythingout in terms of the Indian series.Along with the BCCI and Indianplayers, we want to stage a

series that inspires the cricketworld, whether or not there arepeople in the stands,” Robertssaid.

“We need to face into allpossibilities. Fortunately, wehave a little bit of time to workout the scenarios,” he added.

DEFENDS PPAY CCUTCricket Australia CEO

Kevin Roberts also defended thesalary cuts of staff as he high-lighted the precarious financial

position the board is currentlyin due to the coronavirus pan-demic.

With no cricket beingplayed, Roberts stated pay cutsare necessary to keep CA finan-cially stable.

“In pre-coronavirus world,we were already projecting thatour cash and investments wouldreduce to about $40 million atthe start of September this year,”Roberts told journalists.

“The unfortunate reality

of that is that we’re estimatingthat we’ve taken a $20 millionimpact thus far. We have toanticipate that there will bemore risks than that $20 mil-lion.

“If you contemplate theprospect of the internationalseason, in particular, beingaffected, we have an issue ofhundreds of millions of dollarson our hands,” he added.

KARACHI: Pakistan great Zaheer Abbason Tuesday said corruption has beenthere in Pakistan cricket for far toolong and has damaged the sport asmuch in the country as the 2009attack on the Sri Lankan team.

The Pakistan Cricket Board hasasked the government to frame a lawthat would criminalise match-fixingand spot-fixing in cricket.

“It is the right thing to do for thePakistan board because for too long,we have been soft while dealing withcorruption cases and these have ledto a string of scandals which badlydamaged our image and also hurt ourcricket’s progress,” Abbas said.

“If the militant attack on the SriLankan team bus dealt a big blow toPakistan cricket as we were forced toplay away from home, these corrup-tion scandals have not been lessdamaging to our cricket over theyears,” he added.

Asked to comment on that, hesaid: “In the end it is Pakistan crick-et which suffered as we lost good play-ers and more importantly we sent outthe wrong message to cricketers andeven those who try to lure, entice andcorrupt players.”

Abbas said no one should bespared as corruption is the worst thinga cricketer can do.

“I say spare no one because thisis the worst thing a cricketer can doto his country, team and sports,”Abbas said.

“I have already spoken to the gov-ernment about this because othercricket playing nations like Australia,New Zealand, Sri Lanka have enact-ed laws that make match-fixing acriminal offence,” PCB chairmanEhsan Mani said.

The PCB had closely followed theprocedure adopted by the Sri Lankanboard, Mani said, while legislating itslaw against match-fixers.

Recently, former Pakistan captainand decorated commentator RamizRaja has said tainted players like left-arm pacer Mohammed Amir shouldnot be allowed to play.

Pakistan batting great JavedMiandad had also said that cricketersinvolved in match-fixing should behanged. IANS

IANS n MADRID

The SpanishFootball League

(LaLiga) and theSpanish FootballFederation (RFEF)have announced anagreement to tryand finish the cur-rent league season,which has not seenany games sinceMarch 8 due to thehealth crisis trig-gered by the coron-avirus pandemic.

The two orga-nizations held an8-hour meeting at the offices of the Spanish gov-ernment’s Superior Sports Committee on Mondayand have agreed to return to training “when thesanitary conditions permit, and under stricthealth protocols.”

Spanish media reports state that dependingon government guidelines and permission, play-ers could return to individual training in the mid-dle of May, with group sessions a week or twoweeks later. All players would be tested for thecoronavirus.

The aim is then to restart the competition oneither the last weekend in May, or the first week-end in June and attempt to play two matches aweek.

The matches would be played in empty sta-diums with no supporters allowed and there is alsoa chance that some clubs may opt to hold their fix-tures in their training grounds.

Marca and Diario AS both report that RealMadrid are considering playing their matches atthe Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium at their Valdebebastraining complex in the outskirts of Madrid.

Monday’s meeting also saw the RFEF andLaLiga agree to set up a contingency fund of 10million Euros to help smaller clubs which couldneed financial aid because of the crisis.

SAN JUAN: The World BoxingOrganisation (WBO) hassuspended all activity till atleast June 15 due to the glob-al coronavirus pandemic.Additionally, its annual con-vention scheduled forOctober is also in doubt.

Apart from applying tothe release of rankings andadministrative actions, thesuspension also applies to allfights in this period. WBOPresident Francisco Valcarcelsaid that the decision hasbeen primarily taken due torestrictions on social gather-ings that are in place in mostcountries around the world.

“I think the fans are anessential part of boxing,”Valcarcel told ESPN. “Even if

boxing is a TV event, thefights that are of most inter-est to the public, I don’tthink we’ll be able to see themthis year, at least not until wecan have fans.”

Valacarcel admitted thathe has his doubts on whetherany fights will take place inAugust or September. “For usto have fans, we need a vac-cine — it’s a complicatedthing. They say they might beable to fight in August orSeptember, but I have mydoubts. We must sacrificemoney or time waiting on avaccine.

“Promoters are going tohave to give up money if theywant to do it before that,” hesaid. IANS

IANS n LONDON

Former Liverpool mid-fielder Jamie

Redknapp fears arch-rivals Manchester Unitedare set to beat his formerclub for the signing ofBorussia Dortmund for-ward Jadon Sancho.

The 20-year-oldEnglishman is current-ly one of the mostsought-after playersin European foot-ball andRedknappb e l i e v e sSancho will end up inPremier League soon-er than later with theRed Devils in poleposition to snap the hot

shot winger.“I think it is a matter

of time with JadonSancho coming to thePremier League. We are

talking about a gen-uine superstar. Aplayer that can do

i n c r e d i b l ethings withthe ball.Played 70odd gamesin the

Bundesliga,scored 27 goalsfrom a widearea which isvery good,”

Redknapp toldSky Sports.

“We havemissed out on the

likes of the Neymars inthe Premier League buthe can come and reallylight it up. Personally Iwould call it. He will bea great signing for who-ever he goes to.

“I would like to seehim at Liverpool, but Ithink he is going to endup at United though,” headded.

Since making themove to Bundesliga fromManchester City in 2017,Sancho’s rise has beennothing but meteoric. Inthe last two seasons forDortmund, Sancho hasscored 20 goals andassisted 28 times for theGerman giants.

Rishabh Pant, left, plays a shot in front of Tim Paine on day 2 during their fourth Test in Sydney AP/File Picture

CA chief hints five match Test series against IndiaGavaskar proposes T20 WCswap between Ind & AusIANS n NEW DELHI

In a bid to reduce the effectof coronavirus crisis on

world cricket, former Indiacaptain Sunil Gavaskar hascome up with a solution withrespect to the T20 World Cupthat is scheduled to be held inAustralia later this year.

“At the moment, as we allknow, Australia has barredforeigners from entering thecountry till the 30th ofSeptember. The tournament isstarting from mid-Octoberor the 3rd week of October, soit’s looking a bit difficult at themoment,” Gavaskar was quot-ed as saying by India Today.

The legendary Indiaopener suggested that Indiacan host the T20 World Cupin 2020 while Australia canhost the next edition, which isoriginally slated to be held inIndia next year. This is contin-gent to coronavirus threat

being minimalist in the India“If it can be done... next

year’s T20 World Cup is inIndia. If it can be done...where India and Australiacome to an agreement... incase the curve in India flattensout and India and Australiaswap... so the T20 World Cupis in India in October-November this year andAustralia in October-November next year, then itcan happen,” he said.

Gavaskar also batted forthe 13th edition of the IndianPremier League (IPL) to beheld just before the T20 WorldCup, so that players getenough match practice beforethe multi-national event.

“If it is going to happenthat way, then maybe what canhappen is the IPL can be heldjust prior to the T20 WorldCup so that it’s enough prac-tice for the players to have T20World Cup,” Gavaskar said.

Enjoyed how SA competed as ayoung bowling attack: LangeveldtCAPE TOWN: South Africa bowlingcoach Charl Langeveldt believesthere have been some decentplayers who have progressedthrough the ranks over the pastseason, highlighting the factthat talent was evident withinthe domestic structures.

The likes of Anrich Nortjeand Janneman Malan enjoyedbreakthrough performancesduring a challenging summer inwhich the national team wentthrough a serious transition inthe form of a new coaching set-up, as per a report on CricketSouth Africa official website.

Graeme Smith, the recent-ly appointed full-time Directorof Cricket, brought in a newTeam Director in Mark Boucherand a whole new coaching teamback in December on the eve oftheir marquee tour againstEngland.

“It’s been an interesting timecoming back from Bangladesh,”he was quoted as saying bywww.cricket.co.za.

“It’s always nice to coachyour country. I think when itcame to making the deal backthen, Jacques Faul (ChiefExecutive Officer) and GraemeSmith were brilliant behind thescenes making it possible for thetransfer to come through toSouth Africa. The BangladeshCricket Board (BCB) were alsoexcellent and they were brilliantin releasing me.

“It was never going to easy.We (the new coaching staff)started with the Test seriesagainst England in Decemberand we didn’t have enough timeas a team to gel.

“England being Englandand having a settled team withguys who have played a lot moreTest cricket together than us, wehad a lot of youngsters cominginto the team and into the set-up, that was really hard.

“The guys played well inpatches but as a unit we justcouldn’t get it together. We gotbetter in the limited-overs tours.Lungi Ngidi was excellent,Temba (Bavuma) and Quinny(Quinton de Kock) were also

good. Against Australia, Lungiagain with the ball was fantas-tic and then Janneman was out-standing. Overall we were a lotbetter.”

Langeveldt was brought intothe set-up from his position asBangladesh bowling coach.

Despite opting to rest seniorplayers in the white-ball contests,South Africa still managed topull their weight and compete,something that former Proteasquick Langeveldt relished.

“I really enjoyed how wecompeted as a young bowlingattack at an international level,”he beamed. Anrich, Lungi,(Lutho) Sipamla, (Tabraiz)Shamsi, they all stepped upvery well.

“All-round everyonechipped in. Where we camefrom starting in December andwhere we ended up,I think CSAcan be really proud of what theydid on a domestic level to getthese players through. That’swhere these players come fromand they showed a lot of matu-rity which is a big plus for usgoing forward.”

Langeveldt added that thereis plenty more potential in thedomestic cupboard, somethingthe national coaching team weremeant to explore during the finalweeks of April.

However, with COVID-19striking, that has been placed onhold. “We are looking around forthe up and coming fast bowlers,”the coach added. “We were sup-posed to have a camp starting onApril 19 for six days, but that hadto be cancelled because of thevirus, but we are definitely look-ing because you always have tohave replacements. There havebeen a few names that havepopped up, Lifa Ntanzi, GeraldCoetzee, there’s GlentonStuurman, Stefan Tait and thenobviously Lutho Sipamla, whosebeen brilliant in the national set-up.

“So there’s a few out thereand these are the guys that willbe the back-up for the nationalteam and they are the ones wewant to see.” IANS

I try to play like Sachin sir: Shaw Don’t see any cricket being playedfor next one year: Akhtar

Federer happy withsurgery recovery

Right thing to criminalisematch-fixing menace:Zaheer Abbas

Utd to beat Liverpool for Sancho’ssignature: Redknapp

All WBO activities suspended till June 15

Davies extends Bayern deal

Barca offer Camp Nou naming rightsBarcelona’s Camp Nou stadium UEFA/Twitter

Euro 2020 playoffs in Oct-Nov: UEFAWASHINGTON: UEFA vice president Sándor Csányisays playoffs to decide the last four places in thepostponed European Championship could beplayed in October or November.

The 16-nation playoffs have twice been post-poned because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Csányi tells Hungarian media that Octoberand November are options while there is uncer-tainty about when football can resume in Europe.All 55 UEFA member countries are currentlyscheduled to play Nations League games inOctober and November.

Hungary was drawn to play at Bulgaria in thesingle knockout Euro 2020 playoffs. The winnerwill host either Iceland or Romania with a placein the final tournament at stake. AP

LaLiga, RFEF hope to restartseason by May end

akul Preet Singh is enjoying hercaffeine-free immunity booster,which she feels is extremely nec-essary during the coronaviruspandemic lockdown.

Taking to Instagram, theactress shared: “We need our immunity to

be at its best in times like these andwhat better way than to do it natu-

rally!”Rakul Preet also shared

the recipe for her fansto follow, because

immunity inneeded to

resist thenovelcoron-avirus.

“@rashichowdharythanksss for the recipe. Add

pinch of ginger, pepper, turmeric, cinna-mon and cloves to 500 ml water.. let itboil till it becomes half. Add organichoney if you like. It tastes so good andis perfect replacement for caffeinetoo!! #stayhealthy #stayhome #natu-ralremedies,” she wrote.

The Dhruva actress, who is a teeto-taller refrains from consuming fastfood, sweets, fried and processedfood, and works out regularly.

The actress, who was shuttlingbetween Hyderabad and Mumbaibefore lockdown was announced,will be next seen opposite Nithiinin Chandrasekhar Yeleti’s Check.

12

tollywood

Neelakanta’sShow gets a sequel

ore than 17 years afterits release, directorNeelakanta’s Show,which won theNational Award forBest Telugu Feature

and for Best Screenplay, is set fora sequel, The Pioneer has learnt.Actor-turned-filmmak-er Srinivas Avasaralawill be spearhead-ing it as the lead,while relativelynew faces willform the sup-porting cast.

Neelakanta, who has been keep-ing a low profile in Telugu cinemaof late, will be directing the sequelfrom his own script, while SriRanjith Movies chief DamodarPrasad is tipped to produce it.

Avasarala tell us exclusively, “Itis titled Second Show and like thefirst part, will be a pure drama

predominantly. We were sup-posed to start it sometime back

but because of Covid-19 out-break, we couldn’t meet anddiscuss our plans on how totake it forward. It’s there onthe cards but not sure

when it will go in front of thecameras.”

Second Show is the actor’s thirdsuccessive signing as a lead actorin the recent past. Besides wrap-ping up 90 per cent of NootokkaJillala Andagaadu (NJA), whichhe has written, he has also com-pleted a major part ofNRI–Nayana Rara Intiki, withdirector Bala Rajasekharuni. Oncethe shooting restrictions are lifted,he will dive into the shooting ofNJA, directed by his protégéRachakonda Vidyasagar, andcomplete it, before shifting atten-

tion to other acting assignments.Then there is Palana AbbaiPalana Ammai, which he isdirecting. Starring Naga Shaurya,Malavika Nair and AkankshaSharma, it’s an intense love story.A foreign schedule awaits it.

On the other hand,Neelakanta, who prefers theroad less travelled by withhis choice of stories, hasrecently completed thefilming of theMalayalam remakeof Hindi superhit, Queen.

Vijayawada Wednesday April 22 2020

Actor-turned-filmmaker SrinivasAvasarala will bespearheading it asthe lead, whilerelatively newfaces will form thesupportingcast, finds NAGARAJGOUD

M

ActorSrikanth and his

team who hasbeen helping

the police andpublic by pro-

viding themwith free meals,has on Tuesday,

distributed sani-tisers and masks

to the BanjaraHills police. He

was all praisefor the effortsby the policedepartment.

Srikanth distributes sanitisers, masks to cops

Direct OTT releaseof Nishabdam isnot true: PeopleMedia Factory

umors about the makers ofAnushka-starrer Nishabdammtoying with the idea of releasingthe film directly on streamingplatforms have been doing therounds for the past one week.

With the film deferred from the release dateof April 2 due to lockdown; the interests

have piled up, causing a financialheadache to the producers, it was beingsaid. Buzz also had it that the actress wasaverse to the idea, rather wanting the film

to make it to theatres first.In the wake of rumours flying thick and

fast, the makers issued a statement onMonday, saying that Anushka was a pillar ofsupporting to them throughout the goodand bad times. “From the day 1 of shoot till

date, our stars and techni-cians have been a pillar of

support to us throughgood and bad times,especially AnushkaShetty garu. Pleasedo not believe inany baselessrumours you comeacross. If there isany major develop-ment, we shallannounce it offi-cially,” productionhouse People MediaFactory said in astatement.

Also featuringMadhavan, Anjali,Shalini Pandey,Subbaraju andAvasarala Srinivasand popularHollywood actorMichael Madsen inkey roles,Nishabdam, shotcompletely in the US,

is a horror-thriller.

R

This is the best time fora writer: Swaroop RSJ

ilmmaker SwaroopRSJ, who debutedwith the much-lovedwith Agent SaiSrinivasa Athreya lastyear, is utilising the

lockdown period to watchshows, write and cook. “I believethis is the best time for a writerto sit and write. Invariably, therewill be a production delay of six-seven months because of theprevailing conditions, so it’s bet-ter for writers to pen down newideas or fine-tune the old ones,”he notes, adding that he is keep-ing himself updated of anychanges in the way stories arebeing told internationally byconsuming a lot of contentonline. “I’m enjoying Panchayaton Amazon Prime. It’s nicelywritten, organic and realistic. It’sfor the first time that I saw aweb series which is clean andbereft of foul language. I’ve com-pleted Better Call Saul (onNetflix) long time back but I’mwaiting for a new episode to

drop every week. I’m also watch-ing Korean detective thrillerSignal (Netflix).”

Swaroop, who isright now inBengalurualong withhis wifeanddaughter,has alsowatchedMoneyHeistfourthseasonrecently butadmits to bedisappointedwith it. “The antag-onist of the fourth seasonis not as strong as the third one. I’m a big fan of the thirdseason,” he points out, furtherrevealing that he caught filmslike Vikruthi (Malayalam),Mirage (Spanish) and inKannum KannumKollaiyadithaal (Tamil).

Shows and films aside, he ishelping his wife on the homefront, cooking and doing house-

hold chores. “I was in theUS for 18 months years

ago, so I know cook-ing. I’m good at

south Indian cui-sine. I’ve alwaysshared cookingduties with mywife in the pastbut as she iswriting her PhD

thesis presently,I’m doing the

heavy lifting,” hestates, with a chuck-

le.He is also doing his bit

as a citizen. “I got to know that some of

the people I know in Hyderabadare helping the needy with fooddaily. So I supported food for300 individuals a week ago. Thetimes are such that it’s impera-tive for us to help the disadvan-taged,” he concludes. — NG

F

Aday after director Sandeep Reddy Vanga challenged his colleagueSS Rajamouli to do the chores of his house and#BeTheRealMan, and the latter complied, it's now actors Ram

Charan Tej and NTR Jr's turn. The Baahubali director, after sharing avideo in which he can be seen sweeping, cleaning along with his wife,tagged the actors of his upcoming film RRR, to do the challenge. Actors Ram Charan and NTR Jr have accepted the challenge ontwitter and shared the videos of themselves doing household chores.Looks the #BeTheRealMan challenge is going spread across theTelugu Film Industry, much to delight of their fans.

ctor Charandeep, who is known forhis turns in Loafer, PSV: Garuda Vegaand Kalki among others, has steppedinto a new business. Joining handswith his friend Sunil Kumar, the actorrecently launched an app called Just

Happy, which renders door-delivery services offood essentials like fruits, milk, curd, chicken,mutton, fish and such non-vegetarian products.All that a user has to do is order via ‘Just Happy’.

In the market for a year, the app is a successstory as it nearly 10,000 loyal patrons. The actoris making efforts to expand the footprint in newareas. In Hyderabad, the app is active in BanjaraHills, Jubilee Hills, Film Nagar, Manikonda, BalaNagar, Chintal, Shapur, Jeedimetla, Suchitra andKompalli. It’s also available in Khammam.“Compared to other online stores, we are offer-ing food at modest prices. We are continuing tooffer new discounts every day,” Charandeepsaid.

The actor, who was last seen in megastarChiranjeevi-starrer Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, iscontinuing to attract more offers from Tamiland Kannada.

Charandeepenters intofood business

A

R

Rakul enjoysher caffeine-free

immunitybooster cuppa