JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

`̀ 98 per kilo

`̀ 126 per kilo

`̀ 155 per kilo

`̀ 54per Dozen

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY8

MAHARASHTRACHIEFMinisterUddhavThackerayonFridaysaidhis government may seek thedeployment of central reserveforces in the state to providesome breather to the over-stretched and overworked po-lice personnel. Uddhav also de-nied that therewas any plan todeploy theArmy inMumbai.Maintainingthatmanywere

workingunderenormousstressforthelasttwomonths,Uddhavsaid that there is a need to pro-

vide some relief to such over-workedworkers. So far, 618po-licemen in the state have beeninfectedwithCOVID-19."Many people, such as doc-

tors,nurses,revenueofficialsandpolice personnel are workingunder strain. Police officers aretiredduetopatrolling.Someare

falling sick and a few have diedwhilefightingforus.Thereisalsoa need to give themabreak. So,wemayask foradditionalman-power from the Centre if re-quired to give rest to the policepersonnelinphases.Butitdoes-n'tmean thatweare calling theArmy,"headded."Rumourshavebeengoingin

the last two to three days thatMumbaiwill be handedover tothe Army and all shops will beclosed.ThereisnoneedofArmyat all. I have told you earlier aswell that you are the soldiers inthis fight against coronavirus.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI,MAY8

A DAY after the Central team’svisittoMumbaianditsobserva-tions on the rising COVID-19cases insidecontainmentzonesin the city, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray onFridaytransferredMumbaiciviccommissionerPraveenPardeshi.ThackerayonFridayevening

transferred the high-profile bu-reaucrat as additional chief sec-retarytotheUrbanDevelopmentdepartment. IqbalSinghChahal,who was holding the UrbanDevelopment secretary’s post,has succeeded Pardeshi asMumbai’snewcivicchief.At the epicentre of the pan-

demic,thecityhassofarreported

12,142casesand462deaths.OnThursday,aCentralteam,

headed by Joint Secretary(Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare)LavAgarwalhadvisitedMumbai for an on-spot assess-ment. Sources said the Centralteam had red-flagged a rise incases in the city’s containmentzones.Pardeshi, a 1985-batch IAS

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

INSIDE

FIRSTTRAINWITHMIGRANTSLEAVEMUMBAIFORUPPAGES 3,4,5

No Army, may seek central forces to givebreather to overworked cops: Uddhav

Day after Central teamvisits Mumbai, BMCcommissioner transferred

IqbalSinghChahal (right)replacedPraveenPardeshi.

SUKHBIRSIWACHCHANDIGARH,MAY8

ASMIGRANTworkers head forhome across the country, asmany as 1.09 lakh from BiharandUttarPradeshhaveappliedon a Haryana governmentwebportal to come to the state.Datashows79.29%haveap-

plied to come to Gurgaon,Faridabad, Panipat, Sonipat,Jhajjar, Yamunanagar andRewari. Little over 50,000 of

themwant to come toGurgaondistrict. Thesearedistrictswithmaximum industrial activitiesandbusiness establishments inthe state.Haryana Principal Secretary

AnuragRastogisaid, “Ifmigrantworkers want to come toHaryana, we will try to makearrangements to bring themback. Industrial activities havealready started in the state.”Officials believe the state’s

low coronavirus numbers areanother factor in the workers

seeking to return. Till Friday,Haryanahad647positivecases,including 14 Italian nationals,and eight deaths. Of the 647cases, 279have recovered.HaryanaCIDchiefAnilKumar

Rao, who is coordinating withotherstatesonthetransportationof migrants, told The IndianExpress, “They are people whowanttocomebacktowork,apartfromthosedesperatetocometomeet totheir relativeshere.”A senior IAS officer from

Haryana said, “A large numberamong themmight have goneto Bihar andUttar Pradesh ear-lier,butotherswouldhavegoneduringthelockdown.Nowthey

are finding it difficult to comeback toHaryana because of therestrictions. It’s almost twomonthsandtheydon’thaveanyjobopportunitiesthere.Asbusi-ness activities at shops and in-dustries have started inHaryana, theirownersmightbecalling them back, which mayhaveprompted themtosubmittheir applicationsonline.”The Haryana government

launched the web portal sixdaysago, for thosewhowantedtoleaveHaryanaforhomestatesas well as those seeking to re-turn. TillMay8,while 1.46 lakhhad applied to return to thestate,7.95 lakhwantedto leave.

Three-fourths of thosewhowant to come back (74.5%) arefrom Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,while82.55%of thoseseekingtoleave belong to the two states.Haryana has sought 100 trainsto send them, reiterating onFriday that it would not chargetheworkers anymoney.Asmany as 23,452migrant

workers have already been sentbacktotheirnativeplaces,mainlyin Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand,BiharandMadhyaPradesh.

PAGE1ANCHOR

MigrantscrossoveratShedungtollplazaontheMumbai-PuneroadonFriday.NarendraVaskar

Reverse trend in Haryana: over 1 lakh apply to come backINSIDE

TRUMPURGEDTOHALTWORKERVISASCBSEBOARDEXAMSJULY 1 TO 15TOLL 11,WORKONTOCONTROLGAS LEAKATVIZAGPLANTPAGES6, 7,8, 12

Trust forAyodhyatemple getsspecial I-TexemptionENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY8

DONORSCONTRIBUTINGtotheShri Ram Janmabhoomi TeerthKshetra,setuponFebruary5thisyear, to build a temple inAyodhya,willbegrantedtaxex-emption under Section 80G ofthe Income-tax Act from finan-cial year2020-21.InanotificationonFriday,the

CentralBoardofDirectTaxesno-tifiedtheShriRamJanambhoomiTirathKshetra as “a place of his-toric importance and a place ofpublicworshipofrenown”underclause (b) of sub-section (2) ofSection 80G of the Income-TaxActandgranteddeductiontotheextentof50%tothosewhomakedonationstotheTrust.The income of the Trust

wouldalreadybeexemptunderSections 11 and 12 of theIncome-Tax Act like other noti-fied religious trusts.The exemption under

Section80Gisnotavailabletoallreligious trusts. A charitable orreligious trust has to first applyfor registration for income tax

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Crowding at liquor vends: SC says statescan look at online sale, home deliveryANANTHAKRISHNANG&ARUNJANARDHANANNEWDELHI, CHENNAI,MAY8

THESUPREMECourt Friday saidstatescouldexploretheoptionofonline sale or home delivery ofliquortoavoidcrowdingatvendsinviewoftheCOVID-19situation.Dismissing a PIL against the

re-opening of liquor vends, thebench of Justices AshokBhushan,SKKaulandBRGavai

saidwhile itwasnot inclined toentertain the plea “however, itshall be open for the concernedstate government to considernon-directsaleincludingonlinesale/home delivery of liquor tofacilitate socialdistancing”.In Tamil Nadu, the Madras

High Court, in an interim orderonaclutchofpetitionsincludingonebyMakkalNeedhiMaiamofactor-turned-politician KamalHaasan,directedclosureofgov-ernment-runretailliquoroutlets

in the state till the lockdownis inplace.The bench of Justices Vineet

Kothari and PushpaSathyanarayanasaidthegovern-ment can use online and homedelivery models to sell liquorduring the lockdown.IntheSupremeCourt,thepe-

tition by Noida residentGuruswamyNataraj urged thebenchtodeclaretheMay1Covidguidelines by the Centre as

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

THELIQUORindustry,whichcontributesanes-timatedRs2.5 lakhcroretostates,hasbeenpress-ing foronlinesaleandhomedeliveryof liquor.It says thiswillnotonlyhelpstatesmobilise re-sources theysobadlyneed,butalsoensureso-cialdistancing in thetimeof thepandemic.

Help inresourcesE●EXPLAINED

Around200workers fromBiharreturnedtoTelanganaFriday,onanappealbythestate. Express REPORTPAGE7

RAILWAYSTELLSSTAFFTOOBSERVE ‘ABUNDANTCAUTION’

20 left fromJalna,hopingtocatchatrain150kmaway;were25kmfromastation

CHANDANHAYGUNDE&AVISHEKGDASTIDARPUNE,NEWDELHIMAY8

SIXTEENMIGRANTworkers —part of a groupof 20headed to-wards villages in MadhyaPradesh andwhowere restingonthetracks—wererunoverbya goods train inMaharashtra’sAurangabaddistrictearlyFridaymorning.While15of themdiedonthespot,onepersonlatersuc-cumbedtohis injuries.Themigrantworkers,mostly

from villages in Shahdol andUmaria districts of MadhyaPradesh andworking in differ-ent companies in Jalna, hadstartedwalkingaround7pmonThursday.InspectorSantoshKhetmalis

of AurangabadRural Police saidthe group was walking fromJalnatoBhusawal,about150kmaway,fromwheretheyhopedtoboard a ‘Shramik Special’ train.“Afterwalking for about 45km,theystopped for somefoodandrest, between Badnapur andKarmad stations in NandedDivision.Whilesomefell asleepon the tracks, the others slept afewmetres away. A goods trainranover themaround5.15 am,”hesaid.Railwayofficials said thatby

the time the driver noticed thepeople on the tracks, it was toolate.“Thelocopilotnoticedsomepeople along the tracks. Hehonked and tried to stop the

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI,MAY8

THENUMBERofcoronavirusca-sualties reported by Lok NayakHospital, RamManohar LohiaHospital,LadyHardingeMedicalCollegeandtheDelhiandJhajjarcentres of AIIMS stands at 116,according to data from thesehospitalsandconfirmedbytheirofficials toThe IndianExpress.This is higher than theDelhi

government’s official Covid-19deathtoll,whichstoodat66un-

til Thursday night. According tothe Delhi government’s dailybulletin,atotalof33deathshavebeen recorded from these spe-cifichospitals.Whencontacted,aDelhigov-

ernment spokesperson said:“There is an audit committee ofdoctors that investigates everydeathincidentreportedbyCovidhospitalsandensuresthateverydeath is reported. There’s nointerference of any kind in thework of this committee... Everysinglefactisbeingpresentedbe-fore the public correctly and

transparently.”While RML Hospital has

recorded 52 deaths of patientswho tested positive for Covid,the Delhi government’s healthbulletin until Thursday nightrecorded 26 deaths from here.Askedaboutthediscrepancy,

theMedical Superintendent ofthe hospital, Dr MinakshiBharadwaj, said: “We are regu-larlygivingourdatatotheDelhigovernment. We don’t knowwhy incorrect data is reflected.Even the total number of

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Tablighi FIR:Police probeindicates Saadaudio clipwas doctoredMAHENDERSINGHMANRALNEWDELHI,MAY8

INITIAL INVESTIGATION by theDelhi Police Crime Branch hasfound that an audio clip men-tioned in the police FIR againstMarkaz Nizamuddin headMaulanaSaadKandhalvi,whichsuggestedhehadaskedTablighiJamaatmembers not to followsocialdistancingnormsandpro-hibitory orders, may be “doc-tored”andstitchedtogetherus-

ing severalaudio files.Police have

nowsent all theindividualaudioclips as wellas the allegedlydoctored clip toa forensic sci-ence laboratory.Saad and six

otherpeopleas-sociated with

themanagement committeeofthe Alami Markaz BanglewaliMasjid, theheadquarters of theTablighi Jamaatoutfit,hadbeenbooked by the Delhi Police oncharges of culpable homicidenot amounting tomurder (IPCSection304) forallegedlygoingahead with a gathering ofaround 2,000 people at themosque in the Capital’s Niz-amuddinWestinlateMarchde-spitewarningsfromauthorities.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

IRAMSIDDIQUEMUMBAI,MAY8

“WEHAD registered two-threedaysago(forthespecialtrainstogo back home), but didn’t getcalled.Gharparbhikaamtha,tohkya karte, nikal gaye (Wewereneededathome,soweleft,”said25-yearoldShivbhanSingh.That is why, after weeks of

waitingoutthenationwidelock-down, the group of 20 decidedto walk the 850-km journey

fromtheirsteelfactoriesinJalnatotheirhomesacrosstheborderinUmariyaandShahdoldistrictsof Madhya Pradesh. Shivbhanwasoneoffourinthegroupwhoescaped unhurt while 16 of histravelcompanionsweremoweddownby an empty freight trainin Aurangabad district earlyFridaymorning.ThegroupfromMPhadbeen

waiting to return home, muchlike the thousands of migrantsduring the lockdown. “Ourcon-tractor tried to stop us and said

the factory will start in sometime, butmy kachcha ghar backinthevillageneededfixing.Ihadto return,”hesaid.After convincing their con-

tractor to allow them to leave,thegrouppackedsomerotisandchutney for the journey aheadand, around 7 pmon Thursday,setoutfromJalna.Shivbhansaidthey had covered about 40 kmonanarrowinteriorroadwhen,at a place calledBadnapur, theyspotted railway tracks and

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

16walking home toMP fall asleep onrail tracks, run over inMaharashtra

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

Documentsandphotographsof someof the16migrantworkerswhocameunderagoodstrain inAurangabadFriday.ANI

LOCKDOWNDAY

45

CONCERNDELHI: Tabligh

cases almost over,but numbers rise

CAUTIONMP: Rise slowerthan before, butdeath count high

A GLIMMERKERALA: 0 caseslast 3 days, only27 active cases

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Gujarat■Delhi■TamilNadu■Rajasthan■WestBengal

TOTALCASES17,9747,0135,9805,4093,3221,548

DOUBLINGRATE**10.9412.3810.376.2720.318.44

SURGEIN24HRS1,2163884485809892

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*

6.58%5.82%6.94%11.49%3.55%8.53%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:56,342

RECOVERED: 16,540 |DEATHS: 1,886TESTS: 14,37,788 |DOUBLINGRATE: 12.25**

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last 7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

Basedondailydata releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncil ofMedicalResearchandstategovernments

Bookedforculpablehomicide

They thought no trains were running,loco driver spotted them too late to stop

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

NEWAPPROACHNEEDEDFORECONOMYREVIVALBYARVINDSUBRAMANIAN&JOSHFELMAN,PAGE10

PARENTSRUNOVER INUP, TWOSURVIVE P7

50%want toreturntoGurgaon;74.5%of applicants fromUP,Bihar

GUJARAT EASESLABOUR LAWSFURTHER PAGE 13

116 vs 66: Mismatch betweentoll of Delhi govt, hospital dataAuditpanel lookingintoeachcase, full transparency:Govt

INSIDE

SCARYBUTNOTFATAL,STAMPOUTFEAR,SAYSRAHULPAGE7

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

Tablighi FIRThe event has been linked to anumber of Covid-19 casesacross the country.The FIR was registered on

thebasisof acomplaintbySHO(Hazrat Nizamuddin) MukeshWalia,whoallegedthat“anau-dio recording purportedly byMaulanaMohdSaadwasfoundin circulation onWhatsApp onMarch21, inwhichthespeakerwas heard asking his followerstodefythelockdownandsocialdistancing,andtoattendthere-ligious gathering of theMarkaz”.Highly placed sources told

The Indian Express that policerecovered a laptop from theMarkaz member who put outtheir audio clips, and had gonethrough all. “After scanningthem, police found there areover 350 audio clips in threeforms — raw clips of Markazevents;audioclipssent totheirfollowers; and ones uploadedon their YouTube channel,” asource said.A team led by Inspector

SatishKumar, thathasbeentry-ing to find the specific audiowhichwentviralandwasmen-tioned in the FIR, has so far re-covered no such clip from thelaptop. On the other hand, theinvestigators found that Saad’scomments on police and reli-gion from other events hadbeen taken out of context anddoctored.In theaudioclipmentioned

in the FIR, a man can be heardsaying “there is noneed for so-cial distancing as it is notwrit-ten about inour religion”. “Theinvestigationteamnoticedthatthe viral audio is a mix of sev-eral clips,whichhavebeen ed-ited and doctored. They heardall audio clips again and foundthatstatementsfromaround20had been used. Kumar in-formed his seniors about thedevelopmentandwasaskedtosendall clipsaswellas theviralaudio to the FSL for further ex-amination,” a source said.Earlier, Special CP (Crime)

Praveer Ranjan had said, “Wehave found an audio clip goingviral on social media, and arenow sending it to forensic ex-perts. We are gathering evi-dence tosubstantiate that theywent aheadwith the event de-spitewarningsbyseveralagen-cies.”OnFriday,hedidnot takecalls or respond tomessages.

Liquor vendsunconstitutional, null andvoid“to the extent they permit thesale of alcoholic liquor for hu-man consumption at liquorvends/shops through directcontact sales during the lock-downperiod”.Appearingforthepetitioner,

Advocate J Sai Deepak told thebench that the number ofvends were few compared tothe demand and there wascrowdingat theoutlets, result-ing in social distancing normsbeing flouted.He said there were about

70,000licensedliquorvends inthecountryandapproximately5 crore consumers.The bench said there were

reports that some discussionsabout home delivery etc weregoing on and asked how anArticle 32 petition could bemaintainable in thematter. SaiDeepak said stateswere open-ing the vends as theyhadbeenpermitted by the Ministry ofHome Affairs and as such theplea was directed at the MHAguidelines with respect to di-rect contact sales.HepointedoutChhattisgarh

wasalready implementingon-line sale and home delivery, abetteralternativetodirectcon-tact sales. He said all the gainsmade due to lockdownwouldbesquandered if prohibitionofdirect contact sale was notbroughtback.Hesaidabalance

could be struck between thestate’s interest of generatingrevenue and public health bypermitting only non-directcontact sales through onlineand home delivery mode. Hesaid the life of a commonmanshouldnotbeaffectedbecauseof the re-openingof the vends.The petition, filed through

Advocate-on-Record AninditaMitra, said: “The reopening ofliquor vends/shops,which relywholly on direct contact salesto the consuming public, is re-sulting and will result in un-manageablecrowds, leadingtothe high risk of transmissionand spread of Covid-19 due todifficulties inmanaging physi-caldistancingduringsuchsales,apart from serious issues ofmaintenance of law and orderat such liquor vends/shops.”In Chennai, petitioners had

approached the High Court,seeking closureof liquor shopsover violationof conditions forre-opening of Tasmac shopsfromMay7.Followingthe interimorder

forclosureof liquorshops,gov-ernmentsources indicatedthatthiscouldbechallengedbeforethe SupremeCourt.

Ayodhya temple

exemption under section 11and12, followingwhichtheex-emption under Section 80G isgranted to thedonors.Before this, theCentralgov-

ernment had in 2017 notifiedArulmigu KapaleeswararThirukoil inMylapore,Chennai,AriyakudiSriSrinivasaPerumalTemple in Kottivakkam,Chennai and Shri Ram andRamdas Swami SamadhiTemple (Mandir) and RamdasSwami Math in Sajjangad,Maharashtra as places of his-toric importance and places ofpublicworshipandallowedfordeductionsunderSection80G.Donations to other religiousplaces such as Gurdwara SriHarmandir Sahib, Amritsar arealsoexemptundersection80Gof the IncomeTaxAct.Section 80G of the Income-

taxAct allowsdonationsmadeto specified relief funds andcharitable institutions as a de-ductionfromgrosstotal incomebefore arriving at taxable in-come.Clause(b)of sub-section(2) of Section 80G of Income-taxActprovides for taxexemp-tion for “any sums paid by theassessee inthepreviousyearasdonations for therenovationorrepair of any such temple,mosque, gurdwara, church orotherplaceas isnotifiedby the

Centralgovernment intheoffi-cial gazette tobeof historic, ar-chaeological or artistic impor-tance or to be a place of publicworshipof renownthroughoutany state or states”.On November 9, 2019, the

SupremeCourthadallowedtheconstruction of a Ram templeat the site of the demolishedBabri Masjid in Ayodhya, andordered handing over another5-acreplot totheUttarPradeshSunni Waqf Board for themosque. Less than threemonths later, the governmenthad cleared the formation of atrust for construction of RamTemple in Ayodhya. The Trust,called the Shri RamJanmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra,set up on February 5, has 15members.

116 vs 66Covid-19positivecases is incor-rect. We have informed themmany times but the number isstill not corrected.”At the AIIMS Delhi and

Jhajjar campuses — the latteralso has patients from theCapital — 14 people have died,Dr D K Sharma, MedicalSuperintendent of AIIMS, said.The Delhi government healthbulletinputstheAIIMSfigureat

two.Askedwhether thedatahas

beensharedwiththeDelhigov-ernment, he said: “We are giv-ingthemthecompletedata,butI think they might be takingonlyDelhi data. Theymight besayingthat Jhajjardata isdiffer-ent,whereas Jhajjar isourcam-pus. It may be located inHaryana but the patients havebeen transferred fromDelhi.”Lok NayakHospital, a dedi-

cated Covid facility, has re-ported 47 deaths of patientswith coronavirus. The Delhigovernment bulletin says fiveCovid positive patients havedied in thehospital so far.Dr J C Passey, Medical

Director of the hospital, toldThe Indian Express: “The totalnumber of deaths reported inmy hospital due to Covid posi-tive patients is 47.”Lady Hardinge, which, ac-

cording to the health depart-ment, hasn’t reported a singledeath so far, confirmed thatthreedeathsof coronaviruspa-tientshavebeenreportedinthelast one month, according toMedical Director Dr N NMathur.With 5,980 cases and 66

deaths,aspertheDelhigovern-ment bulletin until Thursdaynight, themortality rate in the

national capital stood at 1.1%.On Friday, the Capital reportedtwomore coronavirus deaths.The Indian Express sent

messages to Delhi HealthMinisterSatyendar Jain,HealthSecretary Padmini Singhla andDirector General of HealthServices Dr Nutan Mundejaaskingaboutthediscrepancies.Their responsewas awaited.Earlier in the day, when

askedaboutOppositionclaimsthatDelhiwasunder-reportingCovid figures, Jain told re-porters: “There is no questionof hiding any data by theDelhigovernment because if some-one testspositive, it shouldnotbe hidden. Once the reportscome, the hospitals have to in-form the government. OnThursday, 448 fresh Covid-19caseswerereportedfromDelhi,which was an all-time high. Ifwe wanted to hide the num-bers, thenwewould have said48 cases and not 448. If wewanted to hide, we could havesaid zero positive cases in aday.”When contacted, a Delhi

government spokespersonsaid:“It isunfortunatesuchpo-liticallymotivated false allega-tionsarebeingmadewhentheentire government is fightingcorona. Every single fact is be-ingpresentedbeforethepubliccorrectlyandtransparently.Forinstance, inthelast fewdaysthenumber of cases in Delhi haveincreased. We reported thesame correctly. If we had tofudge the figures, we couldhave fudged those figures also.Wehave increasedthenumberof tests in Delhi, which has ledto an increase in the cases be-ing reported. Therefore our in-tentions arehonest.”On April 20, the Delhi gov-

ernment had formed a three-membercommitteetoconductan audit of all Covid-19 deathsin the city. “The responsibilityof the committee would be toaudit daily each and everydeath in which the Covid-19test is positive in governmentandprivatehospitalsbeforere-leasing data. All governmentand private hospitals are di-rected to report all suchdeathsto the committee along withthecopyof casesheet fordeathaudit,”anorder fromthehealthdepartment stated.The committee has so far

conductedanauditof38deathsin thecity, oneof themembersof the committee said, adding:“Theroleof thecommittee is tofind out the primary cause ofdeaths inpeoplewhohavealsobeen declared Covid positive.Thecasesheetsareprovidedbythe health department andbasedonthatweverifytherea-son for the deaths. We receiveonly thosecaseswhoareCovidpositive. There might be somecases in which the primarycause of death is not Covid-19.They might be Covid positivebut the primary cause may bedue to a co-morbid condition.”

UddhavYouarefightingitwithpatienceand grit. There is no need ofArmy and it (Army) will notcometoMumbai,"Uddhavsaidwhile addressing the statethroughwebcast.He further said that the

lockdown is a “speed breaker”and has helped the state inslowing the speed of the dis-ease. "Butwehavenotyetbeenable to break the chain... Weneed to break that chain now.We we should follow restric-tions strictly to stop the infec-tion fromspreading."Expressingdispleasurethat

some people were not follow-ing lockdown restrictions incities likeMumbai,Uddhavsaidthat “this only means extend-ing the crisis”."If lockdownrestrictionsare

followed strictly, we can comeoutof the crisis as early aspos-

sible.Nobodyfeelshappyinex-tending the lockdown. Thelockdown is like sitting in acage.Discipline isnotbeingfol-lowed in some places, includ-ingMumbai. If we are not dis-ciplined, then it meansextendingthecrisis,"headded.Referring to the railway ac-

cident inAurangabad, inwhich16migrantswere killed after atrain ran over them, the CMsaid:" I am pained... We havestartedarrangingspecial trainsfor thesemigrants to transportthemto their states.”“The trains have started.

Don't believe in any rumours. Irequestyoustaywhereyouareanddon'tpanic,"hetoldthemi-grant population in the state.OntheincidentofCOVID-19

patients being treated next tocorpses incivic-runSionhospi-tal in Mumbai, Udddhavwarned doctors against actionif any negligence is found onpart of hospitals. "I can't toler-atenegligence. Ialwayssaythatthe police and doctors are likeGodforus.Nobodyshouldfightwith them and they shouldn'tbeattacked.Similarly, Iwant totell the doctors that thereshouldn'tbeanynegligenceonpart of hospitals.When every-thingisgoinggood,don'tputusin a situation that we have totake action against you," hesaid.

BMCofficer, took over as theMumbai civic chief onMay 11,lastyear fromAjoyMehta(whobecamethechief secretary) af-ter serving almost five years astheadditionalchief secretarytoformer Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis.In that post, Pardeshi was

seen as themost powerful bu-reaucrat in Mantralaya. Aftertakingoverthereinsof thestatelast November, Thackeray hadcontinuedwithPardeshias thecivic chief.Withathree-partycoalition,

headed by a first-time CM inpower, the chief secretary’s of-fice became the main pivot ofgovernment functioning.Sources in Mantralaya saidMehta’sofficeandPardeshihaddisagreements over dealingwith thepandemic.When asked, Mehta said:

“Therewerenocoordinationis-sues. The BMC is an au-tonomousbody.”Pardeshiwasunavailable for comment.BesidesPardeshi,Thackeray

on Friday also transferred twoof the four additional munici-pal commissioners. JaishreeBhoj,whowasonlyrecentlyap-pointed to the post, was trans-ferred to Maharashtra SmallScale Industries DevelopmentCorporation, while AbbasahebJarhadwasappointedassecre-tary, Relief and Rehabilitationdepartment.While formermanagingdi-

rector of the Mumbai MetroRail Corporation, AshwiniBhide, has been appointed inBhoj’s position, former Thanecivic commissioner SanjeevJaiswal will take over fromJarhad.After differences between

the state public health depart-ment and the BMC healthma-chinery over contact tracing,Thackeray had last month de-putedBhideonaspecialassign-ment to theBMC.“Shehasnowbeenassigned

a full-time post. Her postingandeven Jaiswal’s further con-firms Mehta’s stamp on thetransfers,” said a source.Chahal took over as the

commissioner on Fridayevening, reaching the BMCheadquarters around 7.30 pm.A1989-batchofficer,hehashistask cut out. “He has had nopreviousstintwiththeMumbaicivicbody. Itwillbeachallengeto take over midway throughthe crisis,” a senior bureaucratsaid.

FROMPAGEONE

16 walking home to MP fall asleep onrail tracks, run over in Maharashtra

They thought no trains were running,loco driver spotted them too late to stop

train, but failed to stop intime,” said Chief PublicRelations Officer of SouthCentral Railway, Ch Rakeshsaid, adding that an inquiryhas been ordered under theCommissioner of RailwaySafety.Expressing grief over the

incident, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi tweeted,“Extremely anguished by theloss of lives due to the rail ac-cident in Aurangabad,Maharashtra. Have spoken toRailwayMinisterPiyushGoyaland he is closely monitoringthe situation. All possible as-sistancerequiredisbeingpro-

vided.”TheRailwayshassofarnot

decided to award any ex-gra-tia to the kin of the victims. Astatement from Railways de-scribed as the migrants hav-ing “infringed” on the track.According to Railway

rules, anything coming in theway of a train is consideredtrespassing. “The incidentoc-curred even as the loco pilotof thegoods trainhonked thehornassoonashenoticedthegroup of people on the railtracksandalsomadeallpossi-ble efforts to stop the train,”thestatementbytheRailwayssaid.

In the Amritsar case of2018, when 40 people on thetracksweremowed down bya train, the Railways did notpay any ex-gratia. However,the PM Relief Fund had paidRs2lakhtothekinofeachvic-tim.In a letter on Friday to all

its zonal offices, the RailwayMinistrysaid, “There isaneedtostartadrivetoensuresafetyintheprevailingsituation.TherelevantprovisionsofGeneralRules. should be reiterated toall concerned so that any ac-cident, unusual occurrenceetc can be prevented in fu-ture.”.

Later, Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeraysaid in a statement that thestategovernmentwastalkingto the Centre for more trainsto take migrant labourers totheir respective states.“So far, one lakh labourers

have reached their homes.More trainswill be started totake the labourers to theirdestinations. In the mean-time, we are making allarrangements to providethem food and shelter.Migrant labourers shouldnottake any kind of risk andshould not lose their pa-tience,” theCMsaid.

startedwalkingonthose.The survivors andofficials

said the group was headingBhusaval,350kmfromtheac-cident site, fromwhere theywere confident of gettingsome transport into MadhyaPradesh. They were only 25km from Aurangabad, fromwhere a trainwas to leave forMadhya Pradesh on Fridayevening,butthegroupdidnotknowabout that.As the night progressed,

around 3.30 am, the ex-haustedgroupdecidedtorestfor the night. Singh, alongwith Briandra Singh andIndalal,were lagging200me-tres behind the group andslept on the ground near thetracks,while the17whowereaheaddecided to lie downonthe tracks.Railway officers said 14 of

themseemed tohave sleptonthesleepers,evenrestingtheirheadsontherail,whilethere-mainingthreesleptclosetothetracks. The group, they said,must have been confident inthebelief that itwassafe todoso because passenger trainservices had been suspendedaspartof the lockdown.“We could not see them

clearly but they switched ontheirmobiletorchlightstosig-naltousthattheywererestingthere,” saidShivbhan.Meanwhile, piloting the

empty goods train fromCheralapally inHyderabadonhis way to Paniwada inManmadinMaharashtra, locopilot Ramashish Kumar wasrunning between Badnapurand Karmad railway stationswhen he spotted some ob-struction on the tracks, saidRailway officials, adding thatitwasonlywhen the traingotto 160 metres from the “ob-struction” that Ramashish re-alised that therewere peopleon the tracks.According to Divisional

RailwayManager for Nanded,Upendra Singh, as soon as theloco pilot realised that thereweremenonthetracks,heap-pliedemergencybrakes,press-ing the hooter to give out awhistle.“Thetrainwasmovingat a speed of 70 kmph,” saidSingh,andbythetime it cametoahalt, itwas too late.Up ahead, Indalal,

ShivbhanandBirandarSingh,lyingoutside thetracks,wokeup to the shrill sound of thetrain’shooterpiercingthough

the night. “Before I couldwakeup fully, itwasall over,”said Indalal.Thetrainmoweddownthe

14menwhoweresleepingonthetracks.Twootherssleepingrightnexttothetrackswerein-jured grievously and died inhospital. Sajan Singh,who toowas sleeping close to thetracks,managedtojumpoutofthe train’s way, but his bagcameunder thewheels of thetrain. He has injuries to hiskneesandback.The train’s long hooter

alerted people in the nearbySatna village, who rushed tothe spot as the loco pilot in-formed the railway controlroom.Thosewho survivedwere

rushed to the civic hospital inAurangabad, where a post-mortem procedure was con-ducted, while an accidentaldeathreportwas registeredatthe Karmad police station.Railways have ordered an in-quiry into the incident byCommissioner of RailwaySafety.Additional Superintended

of Police Ganesh Gawde saidbodiesof the16victims,alongwith two of the survivors,

wouldbesentbacktoMadhyaPradesh. “Of the other two,Sajan Singh is in hospital andBirandar Singh is stayingbackwithhim.”While Shivbhan and the

other survivors said they hadregisteredforthespecialtrains,Madhya Pradesh AdditionalChiefSecretaryICPKesharitoldThe Indian Express that theworkershadnotregisteredfora spot on any of the specialtrains, neither in MadhyaPradesh nor inMaharashtra.Keshari said themigrants de-cidedtoheadhomeafteranar-gumentwith the labour con-tractor, whowanted them tostay back andwork in the fac-tory thatwas to restart opera-tions.Kesharisaidthecontrac-tor did not let the workersregisterwithauthorities.AtrainthatreachedBhopal

on Friday had 170 workersfromJalnaandanother70fromJalna were set to leave forJabalpur late Friday. The vic-tims apparently did not knowabout either of the trains. Thetrainwill nowcarry 16bodiesto Jabalpur in a sealed com-partment. From Jabalpur, thebodieswillbetakentoShahdolandUmariadistricts.

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Hardhitbutsomehope:COVID-19’simpactonagricultureNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

Whymilkandpotatopriceshavegoneupdespiteproductionbeinglow,andhowfarmerproducercompaniesinMaharashtraareensuringsupplyoffruitsandvegetables

DOWNLOADAPP

LEARNINGONTHE JOB, EPIDEMIOLOGISTSARENOWMUCHSOUGHTAFTERInTelangana'sfightagainsttheCOVID-19pandemic,alongwithalargenumberofdoctors,paramedics,nursingstaff,healthworkers,sanitationworkers,andlawenforcers,theyoungvolunteersofEpidemiologyandPublicHealth,too,hashadaroletoplay.

VIDEOOF THEDAY TECH

INDIANSEVACUATEDFROMMALDIVES

Over700Indians intheMaldiveshaveregisteredtoreturn

WEB

EXCLUSIVE

SCANTHISQRCODETODOWNLOADTHEAPP

XIAOMI’SMI 105GSMARTPHONE

Will ithelpthefirmgetpremiumcustomers inIndia?

■VISUAL STORIES

■ DAILY BRIEFING

■ PODCASTS

■ CUSTOMIZABLENEWS EXPERIENCE

IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

Accused of‘huggingpeople’, manbeaten up bypolicemanand locals

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY8

ANAC repairmanwas allegedlythrashedbypolicepersonnelaf-ter hewas accused of “huggingpeople”inacolonyinSouthwestDelhi onWednesday.AvideoofImran (30) being beaten up bypolicepersonnelandlocalswithsticksemergedonsocialmedia,followingwhich the constablehas been suspended. The inci-dent took place in SagarpurwhenImranwaswalkinghome.Additional DCP (Southwest)

IngitPratapSinghsaid,“Wehaveidentified the personnel in thevideoasaconstableatSagarpurpolice station. He has been sus-pended.A departmental inquiry has

beeninitiated.”Policesaidacasehas been registered against theconstableunderIPCsections323and321.In the video, the constable

canbeseenhittingImranwithalathi. He tries towalk away butisbeatenupagain—thistimebystick-wieldinglocals.Thepolice-man does little to dissuade themen from beating up Imran.When a passerby askswhy theman is being beaten up, anunidentifiedmansays,“Yehparkke paas gale mil raha tha, iskomaaro.”DCP (Southwest) Devender

Aryasaidan inquiry ison.The victim’s sister Raveena

claimedImran“hasbeenfalselyaccused of hugging people... Hewaswalkingneartheparkwhenpolice personnel accosted him..My brother was scared as hethought he was violating thelockdown by walking on theroad, sohestartedrunning.”Raveena said Imran told his

family thatassoonashestartedrunning,thepolicemanshouted,“Iskocoronahai”.“Hetoldusthatpeople joined the policeman inattackinghim.Theyaccusedhimof having coronavirus; mybrother doesn’t have it...,” shesaid.In another incident, allega-

tionshaveemergedagainstapo-lice constable hitting a 16-year-oldboy inRohini.Thechilddieda day later. The incident tookplaceatRajaParkandthevictimhasbeenidentifiedasRajneesh.

HC notice toHaryana, Centreover borderrestrictionsPRITAMPALSINGHNEWDELHI,MAY8

THEDELHIHighCourtFridayex-pressed displeasure over theHaryana government’s decisionrestrictingmovement of trucksfromDelhi to Sonepat aswell asmovementofdoctors,nursesandcourtofficials,observingthattheorder “constitutes an infringe-ment”onrightsof thecitizens.Justice Manmohan and

Justice Sanjeev Narula also is-sued notice to the Centre andHaryana government andsought their response on thepleabyOPGuptabeforethenextdateof hearingonMay11.He stated before the court,

during hearing of the petitionthrough video-conferencing,thatas“Sonepat isnotonlycon-tiguoustoDelhibutalsoapartofNCR,anumberofDelhiresidentshave to travel to Sonepat for es-sential work and similarly anumber of Sonepat residentshave to travel toDelhi”.

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

THEOUTBREAK Maharashtra

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,MAY8

A DAY after 77 inmates at theMumbai Central jail, popularlyknownasArthurRoadjail, testedpositive for COVID-19, they con-tinuedtoremainlodgedatthejailtill late Friday, as arrangementscouldnot bemade to shift themtotwocivic-runhospitals.Officialssaidthataplacehasbeenfinalisedin Mahul where they will beshifted“assoonarrangementsaremade”.No other inmate, who had

sharedthebarrackwiththe77orhadcome in contactwith the26jailofficialsmwhohadalsotestedpositive,wastestedonFriday.State Home Minister Anil

DeshmukhhadonThursdaysaidthattheprocesshasbeguntoshiftthosewhohavetestedpositivetoStGeorgehospital andGThospi-tal. Civic officials, however, saidthat due to space constraints at

boththehospitals,adecisionwastaken to shift the inmates to aMHADAbuildinginMahul.“Aspaceprovidedbythecivic

bodyhasbeenfinalisedinMahuland once the arrangements arecompleted, wewill shift them.

Afteraweek,ifspacecanbemadeatthetwohospitals,wecantakeadecisionon shifting themback,”saidanofficial.The official added that since

the77inmates–whoareasymp-tomatic–requiringquarantineare

undertrials in judicial custody,MumbaiPoliceofficerswillbein-charge of their security. Food,however, will be arranged bythejail.Residents of Mahul had

protestedoveraweekagowhenasimilarattemptwasmadetoturna fewbuildings into quarantinecentres. Friday evening also sawprotests by residents,whichalsodelayed the shifting of the in-mates,anofficialsaid.The familymembers of un-

dertrialsalsodemandedthattheybe shifted to hospitals. “Theyshouldatleastshiftseniorcitizensandthosewithcomorbiditiestoacivichospital,” saida relativeof aseniorcitizenwhohastestedpos-itive. The Bombay High Court,whilehearingapleaofa66-year-old accused in the PNB allegedfraud case –who testedpositiveatthejail–onFridaydirectedthathebetakentoagovernmenthos-pital.Welfare and rights' groups

raisedconcernsoverthoserequir-ing quarantine being shifted toMahul, which has refineries inclose proximity, and was de-scribedbytheBombayHighCourtasanareawhich“continuestobeadangerouslypollutedregion”.Earlier,nearly100peoplefrom

Lumbini Baug in Govandi andCheetahCamp inChembur,whoarehigh-risk contacts of COVID-19patients,hadbeenshiftedtoabuilding inMahul. Thosewhowere shifted had requested au-thoritiestomovethemelsewhere,statingthatthemovewasriskingtheir livesas the infectioncausessevere acute respiratory syn-dromeandcouldaggravate theircondition. Theyalso complainedoflackofbasicfacilities,includingwaterandaccommodation.They,however, continue tobehousedthere.Meanwhile, themedical offi-

cer of Byculla jail has also testedpositive.Officials saidhehadnotbeenondutyforthelast20days.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY8

THEEXAMSforfinal-year,finalse-mester graduate andpostgradu-ate students acrossMaharashtrawillbeconductedbetweenJuly1and30.Allotherstudentsofnon-agriculturalstateuniversitiesandits affiliated collegeswill bepro-motedbasedontheirpreviousse-mester’sperformanceandmarksobtainedinthepresentsemester’sinternal exams, Higher andTechnical Education MinisterUday Samant announced onFriday.Thedecisionsarebasedonthe

recommendations of a commit-teeconstitutedbytheministerlastmonth, and in accordancewithUniversity Grants Commission(UGC)guidelines.Thereportwassubmitted to thedepartmentonMay6,followingwhichitwasdis-cussed with CM UddhavThackerayandotherministers inthecabinet,saidSamant.Studentswhoarenot in their

final yearwill bepromoted con-sidering50per cent of their pre-vioussemester’smarksaswellas50 per cent of their internalexam’smarks. For studentswhoweretogivetheirfirstsemesterorfirst-year exams, the gradationwill be fully based on perform-anceintheinternalexams.Thosestudentswhowish to improvetheirmarks can appear for op-tional exams once colleges re-open. The timetablewill be de-clared by the universitiesindependently. In case any stu-dentfailsaftergradation,theywillalsobepromotedontheconditionof appearing for thefailedsubjectsinthecomingaca-demicyear.Even ATKT studentswill be

passed on the same condition.“Wewillensurenostudent’saca-

demic year is harmed,” saidSamant. For queries ordoubts ofstudents or parents, counsellingcentreswillbesetup inverydis-trict, he said.He asked final yearandfinalsemesterstudentstobe-gin studyingwith theconsidera-tionthatexamswillbeconductedduringthisperiod.The report of the committee

hasreceivedunanimousconsentofallvicechancellorsofnon-agri-cultural stateuniversities. AsperUGC guidelines, the academicyear of all non-agricultural stateuniversities will begin fromSeptember1.Theresultsforallex-amswillbedeclaredbyAugust15.The decision on Common

EntranceExam(MHCET)will betaken in the coming eight days,Samantsaid. Incasepracticalex-amshavenotbeenconductedforany diploma, graduate or post-graduatestudies,thestudentswillbeassessedbasedonthejournalssubmittedbythem.Forcoursesthatfollowannual

exampattern,theexamsforonlyfinal yearwill be conducted. Fortwoyear courses, only fourth se-mesterexamswillbeconducted.Forstudentsstudyingforfouryearcourses,onlytheexamsforeighthsemester will be conducted.Whereas for five year courses,onlytenthsemesterexamswillbeconducted. All universities havebeenaskedtodecidesummerva-cations at their own level, afterconsideringthewelfareofprinci-pals and teaching staff. All au-tonomouscollegesarerequiredtofollowthesameformatregardingexams,asannouncedbytheUGC.Given that Gondwana

Universityfalls ingreenzone,theuniversity has been allowed toconductitsexamsanddeclareitsown timetable as per the geo-graphical conditions. SNDTUniversitywillconductitsexamsasperstateuniversitiestimetable.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY8

AS COVID-19 cases surge inMumbai, BMChas released de-tailed guidelines for patientswhoareasymptomatic,havenocomorbidities andare less than55 years old. The guidelinesstate that these people shouldbe kept in home isolation andtheir hands should be stampedto ensure they follow a 14-dayisolation period and don’t stepoutof theirhomes.BMC's latest circular, re-

leased on May 2, is similar towhat followedbycountries likethe US and South Korea, wheremildly ill and young patientswereadvisedhome isolation tokeephospitalbedsfreeforthosecritical. Till Thursday, Mumbaihas reported 11,394 cases and437 deaths. At least 2,000 (20per cent) of the infected are se-riously ill and require intensivesupport and treatment.Until now, all those testing

positive were being kept in

COVID-19carecentersaswellasdedicated health facilities andhospitals based on their symp-toms. BMC now plans to keepasymptomaticpatientsathomeif theydonotpose riskof trans-mission to others. However,asymptomatic slum dwellerswho test positive but have nopersonaltoilet,willbeshiftedtoinstitutional centres if needed.Thismoveislikelytohelpre-

ducepatientloadby60to70percent ingovernmentandprivatecentres.In its guidelines for home

isolation, BMC has advised pa-tients toprovide their details tothelocalwardofficers,consultaphysician after testing positive,and give a signed undertakingthattheywill followall rules forhome isolation.Ithasalsoaskedtheinfected

to stay at home only if they donot have any symptoms likecough, fever, lossof taste, lossofsmellordiarrhoeaandif theydonotsufferfromhypertension,di-abetes, heart or lung ailments.Only those with severe symp-

tomsof infection,comorbiditiesor those aged above 55 are ad-vised to reach out to BMC forhospitalisation.The BMC plans to track

homeisolationpatientsthroughasoftwaretoensuretheydonotmove out of their house.Officials said if the patients athome develop breathing diffi-culty, they should immediatelyreachouttoadoctor.Allneedtoundergo a chest X-ray and CTscan to check whether theirlungshavedevelopedpneumo-nia. These tests are compulsoryin repeat visits to doctors.Officials said home isolationmay be extended if the personcontinuestotestpositiveforthevirus.The city currently has 4,750

intensive care unit beds for pa-tients. In lastweek, it increasedits ICU bed strength by 1,750.TheBMCisalsosettingupisola-tion facilities at NESCO,MahalaxmiRaceCourse,NehruScienceCentre,BandraMMRDAgrounds and Mahim NaturePark.

LAXMANSINGH&TABASSUMBARNAGRWALAMUMBAI,MAY8

A SHORTAGE of ambulances isdelaying response time in at-tending to COVID-19 patientsand those suffering from otherillnesses inMumbai.Currently, theMaharashtra

Emergency Ambulance Service(MEMS),whichrunsthe108tollfree helpline, has allocated 66ambulances for COVID-19 pa-tients and 30 ambulances forothers. Across Maharashtra,MEMShas committed 305 am-bulancesonCOVID-19duty.Whileadeathauditcommit-

teereport–surveyconductedbyBMC–had advised that an am-

bulance be stationed near slumsettlementsfortransportingcrit-ical and patients suffering frombreathlessness inMumbai, therecommendationisyettobeim-plemented. Patients and civicrepresentatives said waitingtime for an ambulance is any-where between three to sixhours.“To pick up a COVID-19 pa-

tient, thedriverhastowearPPE.After dropping the patient, theentire ambulance has to sani-tised. The whole process ofwearing and removing PPE andof cleaning ambulance can taketwo to three hours. This resultsin a longer waiting time,” saidAlpa Jadhav, thecorporatorrep-resentingAndheriWest.

Ambulanceshortagehasalsoresultedindelaysintakingawaybodies fromhospitals. On April26, as theMuslim communitythesecondfastofRamzan,afam-ilywaited for sevenhours for anambulance inStGeorge’shospi-tal to carry their 63-year-oldmothertothecemetery.Thesen-iorcitizendiedat2.45amduetoCOVID-19. After the hospitalfailed to provide an ambulance,thefamilystartedcontactingdif-ferent hospitals for an ambu-lance. A private ambulancewasfinallyarrangedaround3.30pm.“Wecannotuseourownam-

bulances due to infection con-cerns.Wheneverthereisadeath,each time we have to wait forBMC to send a vehicle,” said

medical superintendent DrAkashKhobragade.Thehospitalcame across three caseswherefamilieshadtowait forover fivehours foranambulance.OnApril30,thestategovern-

ment issued a notification ask-ing the disaster managementcell of BMC to controlmobilisa-tionofambulancesinthecity.AsperanaffidavitsubmittedbytheBMC to the BombayHigh CourtonApril25, ithasearmarked60civic ambulances for COVID-19patients, and30 forothers.Thishashad its own impact.

VasudeoNatekar, who sufferedfromaheart ailment, diedashewaitedforanambulanceearlierthis week. PralhadWorlikar ofWorli Koliwada Boat Owners

Association said that at WorliKoliwada, ahotspotwithapop-ulation of 80,000, non-COVIDpatients were not getting asmuchattention.“Due to COVID-19, the de-

mand for an ambulance has in-creasedandinmanycases,peo-plesufferingfromotherdiseases,fail to get an ambulance. TheBMChad promised a dedicatedambulance but it is yet to ar-rived,”Worlikar said.In another case in the slum,

on April 13, Dilip Navrat (50)diedathomeafterwaitingforanambulance for more than sixhours.Accordingtoaneighbour,the family called 108 and otherhelplinesbuttonoavail.“Hewasunwell and on April 13 after-

noon, suffered an epilepsy at-tack. Local doctors asked to gethim admitted. The ambulanceoperator said that all theambu-lances were busy in handlingCOVID-19 patients. By the timeambulance came, Navrat hadlosthis life,” aneighboursaid.On Thursday, aman named

Sachin Gawane raised the issueon Twitter and tagged TourismMinister Aaditya Thackeray. Inreply to the tweet, Aaditya, theWorliMLA, agreed that there isshortageofambulancesandtheyaretryingtoresolvethe issue.A seniorBMCofficial said an

ambulance was arranged forKoliwadabuttheycouldnotfinda driver for it. “Nobody is readyto ferry COVID-19 patients.Wehave even offered themhighersalary.”

Mumbai:Amendinganearlieror-der, theBMCFridayreducedem-ployeestrengthinitsofficesto75per cent tomaintain social dis-tancinginthewakeofcoronavirusoutbreak.Thecivicbodyhad,inanorder datedApril 30,mandated100percentattendanceforall itsemployees in offices andon thefield,with some relaxations. In afresh order, BMC stated all staffwho live outside BMC limits —Thane, Navi Mumbai, MiraBhayanderandPalghar—wouldhave tocontact thenearestwardoffices and join thenearestwardofficesinsteadoftheiroriginalcur-rent posting. The employees, itstated,willbeengagedincontact-tracing, quarantine centreman-agement, upgrading civic hospi-talsorpre-monsoonwork. ENS

IRAMSIDDIQUEMUMBAI,MAY8

A24-COACHtrainwith1,111mi-grantworkersonboarddepartedfrom Lokmanya Tilak Terminus(LTT)forBastiinUttarPradeshonFriday, becoming the firstShramik special to leaveMumbai. The train departed at6.12 pm, after passengers inbatchesof22to25werebroughtinbusesfromaroundJogeshwaritoboardthetrain.Central Railway (CR) officials

said thedecision to run the trainfromLTTwastakenasperthede-mandraisedbythestategovern-ment.Thoseonboardweremostlymigrant workers from aroundJogeshwari. Theywere notifiedearlyFridaybytheMumbaiPolicetoarriveatthestation.AdilKhan(25),oneofthepas-

sengers, said he received a callaround2aminforminghimaboutthetrain.“Ihadfilledupthetravelformhardly three days ago anddidnot understandwhy thepo-

licewould callmeat 2 amto thechowki,” added Adil, who hadcome toMumbai in February toworkasazariworker.Afterreach-ingthepolicestation,Adilwastoldthathewouldbesentbackhomeinatrainandwouldhavetoarriveat adesignated spot fromwherearrangementswouldbemadetopickhimup.Instead of calling all passen-

gers,thepolicehaddividedthelistof travelers intogroupsof 30, as-signingonegroupleaderforeach.Eachof thesegroupleaderswerecalledintogettheirgroupsreadyto leave. In theafternoon, theas-signed workers assembled atJogeshwarihighway,fromwhereBESTbuseswith20passengersineach, were dispatched for LTT.Afterreachingthestation,thepas-sengerswerescreenedforsymp-toms.After theworkers assembled

outside LTT, the group leaderswere asked to collect the ticketfareofRs685eachfromthemandbuy tickets from the counter.Apart from the ticket cost, the

workers alsopaidRs20each fortheirbusride.Among those travellingwas

also Arif Hussain, who alsoworked at a zari unit inJogeshwari, and had reachedMumbaionlytwodaysbeforethelockdown was imposed.“Everyonewasfillingtheforms...Ialsodidthesame. Ihadnohopesof actuallygetting to travel in thetrain,”addedArif,whowasstrug-gling to get two squaremeals inthecityandwouldoftensleeponemptystomach.ChiefPROforCentralRailway,

Shivaji Sutar, said, “We ensuredthat all necessary precautionswere taken, social distancingnormswerefollowedandtheen-tirestationpremiseswassanitisedafter the train departed.” Untilnow,suchtrainshaddepartedleftfromBhiwandi, Panvel, Kalyanand Thane in MumbaiMetropolitianRegion.AlongwiththeLTT-BastiShramikSpecial,an-other train left fromKalyan forBiharwith1,200passengers on-board.

UNIVERSITY

Only final year,final semesterexams to beheld: Samant

Staff ofArthurRoadjailbeingtakenfor institutionalquarantine,onFriday.GaneshShirsekar

FirstShramikspecial train leavesMumbai’sLokmanyaTilakTerminus,onFriday. PradipDas

First train with migrants leave Mumbai for UP

7 IAS officers to work on reducingdoubling rate of cases to 20 daysLAXMANSINGH&TABASSUMBARNAGRWALAMUMBAI,MAY8

TO IMPROVE doubling rate ofCOVID-19 cases inMumbai, theBMChasdecidedtoappoint IASofficers as in charges of sevenzones in thecity.Inacircularissuedbyformer

municipal commissionerPraveenPardeshionMay7,BMChassetatargetof improvingthedoubling rate of cases from 10days to20daysbyMay17.Thecircularstatedthatthese

IASofficerswill beon fielddailyat their respective zones frommorningtotill2pm.Afterfinish-ingfieldworkandreviewingthesituation,theywillbrief themu-nicipal commissionerdailyby6pmviavideoconferencing.Asperthecircular,ALJarhad

was given the charge of zone 1(Colaba, Byculla, CST, MalabarHill), Manisha Mhaiskar wasgiventheresponsibilityofzone2(Worli, Dharavi, Parel, Sion), NRamaswamiforzone3(Bandra,Santacruz), Suresh Kakani forzone 4 (Andheri, Goregaon),Jayshree Bhoj for zone 5(Chembur,Kurla),AshwiniBhidefor zone 6 (Ghartkopar,

Bhandup, Mulund) and PVelarasu for zone 7 (Kandivali,Borivali,Dahisar).However, officials said

thatwiththeFridaytransfersof JarhadandBhoj,theirpred-ecessors are likely to take uptheresponsibility.A seniorBMCofficial said

thatfortheofficerstoachievetheir target, theywill have toworkon10-pointagenda, in-cludingmapping of positivecases, contact tracing, con-tainmemt zones forming,house tohouse survey, iden-tifying comorbid patients,testing symptomatic peopleas well as organising feverclinics.“Theideaistomonitorthe

situationverycloselyandtakepreventivemeasures. Theseofficerswilldecidestrategyintheir zones to achieve this,“saidaseniorofficial.On Friday, Mumbai’s

COVID-19 count stoodat 12,142– the cases have doubled in 10days from6,169onApril 28.AreaslikeDharavi,Worliand

Wadala are the worst hit withsignificantriseincasesinslums.Mumbai’s doubling rate as

onMay1stoodat9days.Inmid-April, itwasbetween4to6days.BMChassofardeclared1,900ar-easascontainmentzones inthecity.

Arthur Road jail: No hospitals available,77 infected inmates to be shifted to Mahul

RAVI KANOJIA(07 JUNE 1982 - 09 MAY 2016)

Fondly remembered byhis family andcolleagues at

The Express Group

Patients who have no symptomsto be hand-stamped, stay at home

Delay in ambulance services continue, wait time several hours

BMC cuts staffstrength in civicoffices to 75%

Mumbai’sdoublingrateasonMay1stoodat9days. Inmid-April,itwasbetweenfourtosixdays

MEMShasallocated66ambulances forCOVID-19patientsand30forothers

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

THEOUTBREAK Maharashtra

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

COVID-19FEAR INSTATEJAILS

Govt announcedto release 11,000prisoners, just 50%let out so farMOHAMEDTHAVER&SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,MAY8

MORE THAN a month afterMaharashtra Home MinisterAnilDeshmukhannouncedthat11,000prisonerswillbereleasedto decongest prisons and pre-vent COVID-19 from spreadingin the overcrowded jails, onlyhalf that number have been re-leasedtilldate.Anotificationforthe release of the prisoners toohas not been issued by the gov-ernmentasyet.The delay has now come to

haunttheadministrationwithatleast103inmatesofArthurRoadjail, one of the most crowdedprisons in the country, testingpositive forCOVID-19.Speaking to The Indian

Express, Deshmukh said, “Wehavereleasednearly5,500pris-onersalready. Inthenexttwotothree days, thosewho are eligi-ble for the process will be re-leased.” On fears of the virusspreading among inmates, theministersaid,“Thosewhotestedpositivewerefromthesamebar-rack.Weareconductingtestsonothers aswell but it has not yetreachedtheotherbarracks.”While Arthur Road jail has a

capacity for 800 inmates, it ishometo2,800 inmates,mostofthemundertrials.Soonaftertheannouncement by DeshmukhonMarch26,Homedepartmentofficials had said that undertri-als,convictswhohaveinthepastbeen granted parole and fur-loughwould be eligible for the“emergencyparole”.These parameterswere laid

downafterameetingofthehighpowered committee set up bythe state government followingtheSupremeCourt’sordertode-congestprisons.Thenotification,usingwhich

prisoners could seek “emer-gencyparole”, however, hasnotyet been issued by the govern-ment. An official said that thenecessary paperwork had beensent to the top bureaucracy bythe committee, but it had notseen anymovement thereafter.Toworsenmatters, the term ofAdditional Chief Secretary(Appeals and Security) SrikantSingh, who had been in chargeof prisons, ended on April 30.Currently, Principal Secretary(Water supply and Sanitation)Sanjay Chahande is holding ad-

ditional chargeof theportfolio.Aprisondepartmentofficial

said, “While the granting of pa-role and furlough for convicts islargelydependentonprisonof-ficials,when it comes to under-trials, they have to be grantedbailbythecourts.Sowhiletherehasbeenadelay in thenotifica-tion, ultimately the courts willalso have to grant thembail forthemtobereleased.”InMumbai, most courts are

considering theminutes of thecommittee’s meeting held onMarch 25, while deciding bailapplicationsofundertrialscitingthe coronavirus outbreak or insomecases, evenwhenarguingonmeritsof thecase.A petition filed before the

Supreme Court this week andonebeingheardby theBombayHigh Court says that the com-mittee’s categoryof prisoners is‘contrary to the broad parame-ters’ laiddownbytheSC’sorder.InDelhiforinstance,women

were recommended for bail ir-respective of their offence, andundertrials facingupto10yearsinjailwerealsotobeconsidered.In Allahabad, accused grantedbailbutunabletofurnishsuretytooweredirectedtobereleasedonPRbond.A representationmade be-

foretheMaharashtracommitteeby Prayas, a field action projectof Tata Institute of SocialSciences, workingwith prison-ers, had suggested that prison-ers with severe disabilities andserious illnesses can be consid-ered for release, like a womanlodged inKalyan jailwithblooddisorder and amanwill 80 percentdisabilities inThane jail.“The Undertrial Review

Committees set up in each dis-trictcanalsorecommendreleaseof up to14 categories of prison-ers, includingwomenoffendersandthosewhoaresickorrequirespecialisedmedicaltreatmentasper the Standard OperatingProcedures set by NALSA. Thiscould have been done immedi-atelytodecongest jailsasunlessthe categories are expanded,overcrowding cannot be re-duced,” said Vijay Raghavan,projectdirectorof Prayas.Aprisonofficial said, “In light

ofwhat has happened atArthurRoadjail, ineverydistrictwewillbeasking the reviewcommitteeto intervene in order to recom-mendmoreandmoreinmatesbereleasedonbailbythejudiciary.”

Flamingos inNaviMumbaionFridayafternoon.AccordingtotheBombayNaturalHistorySociety, therehasbeena25percent increase in flamingomigrationsince lastyear.AmitChakravarty

KAVITHAIYERMUMBAI,MAY8

FORCOVID-19patients not cov-eredbyeitheragovernmentmed-icalinsuranceschemeoraprivateinsurer, the Pune Zilla ParishadFridayrolledoutafirst-of-its-kindfinancial assistance scheme fortreatmentatprivatehospitals.The Dr Rukhmabai Raut

Financial Aid Programme forCovid-19 scheme, named afterIndia’s first qualified women

physician,will allowanyCOVID-19patientinPunedistrictwithoutan insurance cover to avail assis-tanceforpaymentofprivatehos-pitals’billsfromfundsmadeavail-able through a public-privatepartnership. While themulti-stakeholder, Pune Platform forCOVID-19 Response (PPCR),whichincludesnearly100corpo-ratesaswellascivilsocietymem-berswill raise private donationsfor the scheme, Rs 5 crore hascome fromtheDistrict PlanningandDevelopmentCouncil(DPDC)

fundsandRs5crorefromtheZillaParishad’s(ZP)cessfunds.Thereisnoincomeceilingfor

patientsavailingthescheme,of-ficials said. The Pune ZP hasMoUswith finding institutionsandhospitals,andpatientsatallauthorised private hospitals inPunedistrictwill beeligibleun-der thescheme, theyadded.Applications, which will be

accepted from Friday, will beapproved by the ZP’s StandingCommittee and will be ac-cepted until the lifting of curbs

imposed under the EpidemicDiseasesAct.“This allows for universalisa-

tion of public healthcare,” PuneZilla ParishadCEOAyushPrasadtold The Indian Express. “Patientswho are not covered under anyother public healthcare scheme,such as Pradhan Mantri JanArogya Yojana (PMJAY) or theMahatma Phule Jan ArogyaYojana(MPJAY),arecoveredhere.”Underthescheme,therewill

benocappingof costs formedi-cines and consumables, while

upper limits for payment ofothercomponentsof thebill, in-cluding payment for doctors,nurses, PPE, room charges, etcwill be Rs 25,000 for asympto-maticpatients,Rs50,000forpa-tients withmild symptoms, Rs75,000 for critical patientswhorequire ICUadmission, andRs1lakh for critical patients requir-ingventilatoror life support.“Treatment costs at private

hospitals have been a concern,so this will be a further step inrampingupthefightagainstthe

pandemic,”Prasadsaid.Following reports of a very

high cost of care at private hos-pitals, theMaharashtra govern-menthadrecentlyissuedanoti-fication for private hospitals tocap surgery costs for both coro-navirus-infected and other pa-tients. Butmajor hospitals havenow reached out to ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray re-questing that the order be re-scinded, citing losses.Sudhir Mehta of PPCR, also

chairmanandmanagingdirector

of Pinnacle Industries, said cor-porate India has a stake in seek-ing good and accessible health-care for all. “Under this scheme,corporates support part of thecost. Already one or two largecorporateshavemadedonationsand the PPCR is contributingsomemoneytoo,”Mehtasaid.For now, the Jankidevi Bajaj

grouphasdonatedRs2croreforthescheme.Askedhowlongprivatecom-

panies will be able to supportsuchaschemegiventhatCOVID-

19positivecasesareexpectedtoemerge for several months,Mehta said the idea is to givesuch a scheme a start or impe-tus.“Corporateshavesteppedupbecausethere isaneed,butcor-porates have limitations, too, asbusinesses are badly affected,”he said, adding that this initia-tive will help establish data oncosts, procedures, transparencyandpavethewayforperhapsfu-ture schemes in which statefundsshoulderthelargerburdeninsuchcases.

Pune zilla parishad rolls out financial scheme for uninsured patients at pvt hospitals

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY8

NEARLY6,700essentialservices'passeswereissuedonadailyba-sisbytheMaharashtraPoliceeversincethelockdowncameintoef-fect in the state on March 22.Besides,thepolicecontrolrooms(PCRs) across the state receivedover1,800callseverysingleday--majorityofthesefrommigrantswhowerestrugglingtogetfood.According to records shared

by Home Minister AnilDeshmukh, 3,10,194 emergencypasses had been issued for resi-dents sinceMarch 22. “Majorityof thesewerecaseswhereeitherthe personhad ahealth issue orwasstrandedwithdependantsinother states,whohad no one tolookafterthem,”anofficialsaid.In Mumbai, while initially

emergencyservicepasseswereis-suedbyDCP (Operations) at the

policeheadquarters, thetaskwaslater assigned to local police sta-tions.DCP (Operations) PranayaAshok said, “Evennowwehavearound25,000onlineapplicationsfor emergency passes pending.However, of all the applications,only 10 per cent were issuedpassesincaseofarealemergency.”When it came to calls to

PCRs,85,309callshavebeenre-ceived–whichishigherthanthenumberof calls receivedduringnormaltimes.InMumbaiforex-ample,anofficersaidthatwhilegenerally PCRs received 5,000calls everyday, thenumberhadgoneupto10,000afewdaysaf-ter the lockdownwas imposed.Deshmukhsaidpoliceacross

thestatehaveregistered96,000offences, mainly for violatinglockdown and arrested nearly18,000 peoplewhile collectingRs3.26crore inpenalties.Policealso tracked down 649 peoplefloutinghomequarantine.

3 lakh essential passes issued,85,000 calls to police helpline

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY8

UNDER a new project to reachout to families of tribal studentsandassesswhatkindofhelptheymay require during the currentpandemicandlockdown,teach-ers and superintendents fromAdivasiAshramSchoolshavebe-guncallingparentstoadviseandinformthemonpolicy-making.Called Sneha Setu or ‘bridge

of affection’, the state TribalDevelopmentdepartmentproj-ectwillhelpofficialsunderstandthecoreconcernsof tribal com-munities, said TribalDevelopmentMinisterKCPadvi.“Theprojectaimstoconnect

with our students’ families and

convey a singlemessage to thetribal community—thatwearein this together,” said Padvi. “Adialoguewith parents will alsohelp us understand their mainconcerns. The departmentwillthenwork to formulatewelfarepolicies after evaluating andanalysing the information col-lected,” theminister said.The extended lockdownhas

ledtoextensivelossof livelihoodfor tribals in large parts of thestate with work at brick kilns,construction sites andmarketsamong others shut sincemid-March. A report by various civilsociety organisations has alsofoundthataccesstoprotectedar-eas to gather forest producehasbeendifficult insomeregions.Principal Secretary, Tribal

Development department,ManishaVermasaid theonus ison the department to engagewith the parents of ashramschool students and enquireabout their wellbeing. “SnehaSetuisachannelwhichwillhelpformtheconnectwiththecom-munity,”Vermasaid.The104 teachers andsuper-

intendents operating the SnehaSetu programmewill use tele-calling app, Super Receptionist.Vermasaidtraininghasbeenim-partedtoteacherstoconductan“open dialogue” about any ur-gentneeds, includingessentials,and slowly inform them aboutmultiple welfare schemes thatthe department has as well asthe cash transfersmade to stu-dentsviaDirectBenefitTransfer.

Teachers, superintendentsreach out to tribal families

ASHRAMSCHOOLS

ZEESHANSHAIKHMUMBAI,MAY8

EVENAS hospitals inMalegaonstruggletocopewithanincreasein the number of Covid-19 pa-tients, BJP legislators in Nashikareopposingamoveby thedis-trictadministrationtoshiftsomepatients from Malegaon toNashikcityforfurthertreatment,saying that it would further ex-posetheresidentsofNashikcityto the infection.Malegaon, located 280 kms

northofMumbai,asofThursdayhad a total patient count of 450with12deaths.Itaccountsfor88percentof thepatientcountand100per cent fatalities of Nashikdistrict, which as of Friday had510positivecasesand12deaths.Malegaon has created sevenquarantine facilities with a ca-pacity of 930 beds, five CovidCare Centreswith a capacity of740, three dedicated CovidHealth Centreswith capacity of170 and two Dedicated CovidHospitalswithacapacityof 90.However, there have been

complaints that the facilities atthe centres are not up to themark, including non-functionalventilators. Malegaon has alsobeenfacingashortageofhealth-careworkers and the state gov-ernmentrecentlyhadtoforciblysend 88 healthcare profession-als drawn from other places toMalegaon. Many of them havecomplained of poor accommo-dation facilities. In view of allthis, the district administrationdecidedtoshiftsomecriticalpa-tients toNashik,100kmsaway.However,onThursday,adel-

egation of BJPMLAs includingSeemaHiray and Rahul Dhiklealong with Nashik mayor and

BJP leader Satish Kulkarni metNashik district Collector SurajMandhare askinghimto recon-sider his decision tomove pa-tientsfromMalegaon.TherearethreeAssembly seats inNashik,andall threearewithBJP.When contacted, Hiray said

she hadmet the Collector be-causeofdemandsfromhercon-stituency. “I have taken thisstand based on the demand ofpeople of my constituency andother stakeholders. So far therehasbeennocommunity spreadinNashikandwewouldwant ittoremainthatway.Bringingpa-tientsallthewayfromMalegaonwill be stressful on the patientsaswell. Itwould be far better toimprove the health infrastruc-ture of Malegaon than to bringpatients toNashik,”Hiraysaid.Dhikle, whowas part of the

delegation,saidthatbringingpa-tientsfromMalegaonwouldputresidentsofNashikat risk.“The patients can be treated

locally in Malegaon. Bringingthem here increases the threatof further spread of the virus inNashik.Thereisoppositionfromlocals to allow these patients,”Dhikle said.District officials said that

whiletheBJPMLAsweregivenahearing,thereisnochangeinthedecision that patients fromMalegaon will be brought toNashikcity for treatment.Other political parties criti-

cised the BJP MLAs for theirstand. “Malegaon is in Nashikdistrict. It is very unfortunatethat a town that is part of thisdistrict isbeinggivensuchstep-motherly treatment in times ofcrisis. The demands of theseMLAsisunreasonable,unlawfuland shameful,” MalegaonMLAfromAIMIMMufti Ismail said.

BJP MLAs opposeshifting patientsfrom Malegaonto Nashik city

After over 80 casesin Hingoli, 72 fromSRPF’s Aurangabadunit test positiveSUSHANTKULKARNIPUNE,MAY8

DAYSAFTERasmanyas83menwere found to have contractedcoronavirusdisease(COVID-19)in the Hingoli unit ofMaharashtra State ReservePolice Force (SRPF), 72 person-nel from its Aurangabad unittested positive for the virus onFriday, taking the total numberofcasesintheSRPFto270,whilethenumberof cases instatepo-lice force rose to618.The deployment of SRPF

companies in Malegaon city,whichhasemergedasaCOVID-19hotspot, isasourceof seriousconcern for officials. All the 72personnelwhosetestswerecon-ductedonThursday,andwhoseresults came back positive onFriday,werepartofa110-strongcompanyof theSRPFwhichhadreturnedfromitsdeploymentinMalegaon.InthecaseoftheHingoliunit,

83 personnel from two compa-nies which were deployed inMalegaonandMumbai,anothercitywithhundredsofCOVID-19cases,had testedpositive.The Aurangabad unit of the

SRPF had deployed one com-pany inMalegaon tohelpout inefforts tocontainthepandemic.

The company repatriated to itsunitonThursdayandalltheper-sonnel underwent swab tests.The results came back positivefor 72men on Fridaymorning.All of them are already in isola-tion and thosewith symptomsarebeing treated inahospital.In addition to the sevenper-

sonsfromAurangabadunitwhohadtestedpositiveearlier,thede-tectionof72newcaseshastakenthetotalcountintheAurangabadunit to79, saidanofficial.Aurangabad District Civil

SurgeonDrSundarKulkarnicon-firmedthat72ofthe110samplestakenonThursdayeveningfromSRPFpersonnelhavetestedpos-itive.AdditionalDirectorGeneralof Police with SRPF, ArchanaTyagi, said, "As a precautionarymeasure, we have started con-ducting tests of all personnelfromthecompaniesdeployedinhigh COVID-prevalence areas inMaharashtra. These increasingnumbersarearesultofproactivetestingthatwearedoing.Astheyare physically fit, most of theCOVID-19positivepersonnelareasymptomatic and those show-ing symptoms are getting thebestpossiblemedicaltreatment.Onapositivenote,eightperson-nelwhowere earlier COVID-19positive, have now tested nega-tive intwotests."

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,NAGPUR,MAY8

MAHARASHTRA ON Fridayrecorded 1,089 fresh Covid-19cases taking the total count inthestateto19,209.Itstotaldeathnow stands at 731with 37 newdeaths registered on Thursday.Mumbai recorded 748 newcasesand25deathstakingitsto-talcountto12,288positivecasesand462deaths.With over 1,000 new cases

being recorded each day,Maharashtra is expected to sur-pass the 20,000mark in coron-avirusbySaturday.Itaccountsforone-third of the country's totalpatient count. The state has col-lected2.12 lakh laboratory sam-plesofswabsand19,209ofthemare positive for Covid-19, takingpositivityrate to9percent.While India's overall rate of

Covid-19 patients recoveringstands at 29.3 per cent (16,540have recovered), Maharashtralagsbehindwith18per cent re-covery rate -- 3,470 of 19,209cases have recovered and dis-charged from hospitals. Whileearliertwotestswerebeingcon-ducted in a gap of 24 hours tocheck if both samples are nega-tive, bed and testing kit con-straints have forcedMumbai toswitchtojustonetestforasymp-tomaticpatients. If itcomesneg-ative, thepatient isdischarged.Meanwhile, the central gov-

ernmenthasdecidedtorunclin-icaltrialforplasmaconvalescenttherapy in five hospitals ofMaharashtra. Across India 21hospitalswillbepartof thetrial;others that will participate in-clude Rajasthan, Gujarat, TamilNadu, Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Telangana, Punjab,

KarnatakaandChandigarh.AcrossMaharashtra, follow-

ing Mumbai that recorded 25deaths,10diedinPune,andoneperson died in Jalgaon andAmravati.Of the37whodied27had other illnesses and 17wereagedabove60years.The state has over 2.42 lakh

people under quarantine athome,schools, inhotels,hostels,governmentcentres,andhospi-tals. Theseareallhighriskcasesthat are suspected tohavebeenexposed to thevirus.Akola registered 35 new

cases and one death on Friday,takingthetotalnumberofcasesin the district to 129. AmravatiDivisionalCommissionerPiyushSinghsaid,"Allthenewcasesarefrom the containment zonecalled Baidpura. A 78-year-oldwomanfromthelocalitywasthelatest casualty.”Withthis,Akolatopsthemor-

tality list in Vidarbha with 12deaths,oneofthembeingasuicidebyanativeof Assamlastmonth.Amravati, which is another

hotspot, had no new cases tillFridayeveningbut some test re-portswere expected later in thenight.Thedistricthassofarseen11Covid-19deaths.YavatmaladdedonlytwocasesonFriday,takingitstallyto94.Thedistricthasn'tseenanydeath so far.Nagpur,whichsaw a jump of 100 cases onWednesday and Thursday, sawjustonecaseonThursday.

Numberofdeaths 731

Totalnumberofpeopledischarged 3,470

Numberofpeople tested2.11 lakh

Totalnumberquarantined13,494

Numberofnewcases 1089

TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRA

19,209CORONAWATCH

Govt allowsschoolsto collect fees for theacademic yearMumbai:Thestategovern-ment has directed schoolsacross the state to collectfeesforthepresentandup-coming academic year bysplitting them intomonthly and quarterlypayments.Thenotification,issued by Additional ChiefSecretary of SchoolEducation departmentVandana Krishna Friday, isapplicableonschoolsof allboardsandacrossallmedi-ums, from pre-primary toClass12.Italsodirectsthemnot to increase fees for2020-21 academic year. Incase certain facilities arenotusedinthe2020-21ac-ademicyear, or the spend-ingonthesefacilitiesislesscompared to the moneytaken,theParents-TeachersAssociation should pass adecision to reduce fees, itstates. Schools have alsobeen directed to give par-ents the option of payingfees online. The depart-ment, inanearliernotifica-tion, had said the schoolsshouldnotforceparentstopay fees during the lock-downperiod.ENS

Threeheld fortransporting,selling tobaccoMumbai:Mumbai policecrime branch arrestedthreepersons forallegedlytransportingandsellingto-bacco products, not cov-ered under essential com-modities, amid lockdown,and seized gutka, paanmasala and tobacco prod-uctsworthRs53lakhfromGovandi.DCPAkbarPathansaidthethreeaccusedweretransportinggutkapacketsinavanwhentheywasap-prehended Thursday. Thevan reportedly had a noteclaiming it was carryingfruits and vegetables, theDCPsaid.Thethreeaccusedhave been identified asMohammad Khan (38),ShizadKutchi (31), andSNKhan(27).ENS

■CasesregisteredunderSection188(Violatinganorderissuedbyapublicservant)of IPC:2,543 (98,774)

■Personswhoviolatedquarantine:4 (653)

■Phonecallsmadeto100pertainingtoCOVID-19:937 (86,246)

■Numberof infectedpolicepersonnel:87 (618)

■Casesof illegaltransport: 5 (1,286)

■Arrests: 224 (19,082)

■Vehiclesseized:818 (54,148)

■Fines imposed:RS9.49LAKH (Rs3.66cr)

NUMBERWATCH

*FiguresinredarefromMay8;inbracket total so far

19,209 cases, 37 newdeaths

Government of IndiaMinistry of Social Justice & Empowerment

Department of Social Justice & EmpowermentAPPLICATIONS are invited for scholarship for pursuinghigher education viz. Masters degree and Ph. D. abroadunder the Central Sector Scheme namely NationalOverseas Scholarship (NOS) for Scheduled caste etc.candidate being implemented by the Department of SocialJustice and Empowerment, Government of India. Theapplications can be submitted through the portal"www.nosmsje.gov.in" only. In order to be eligible, theprospective candidate should belong to Scheduled Caste orDe-notified Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribe or LandlessAgricultural Labourers and Traditional Artisans category.The prospective candidate should be having minimum 60%marks in the qualifying examination. The qualifyingexamination for Master's degree is Bachelors degree andfor Ph. D., it is Masters degree. The total family income ofthe prospective candidate should not exceed Rs. 8.00 Lakhin previous year. Applications or documents receivedthrough any mode other than the NOS portal are notacceptable. For details, refer to the scheme guidelines forselection year 2020-21 available at the NOS Portal.

DAVP 38101/11/0003/2021

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,MAY8

WHILE APPRECIATING overallefforts taken by MaharashtraPoliceinensuringproperimple-mentation of lockdown acrossthe state, the Nagpur bench oftheBombayHighCourtreferredtonewsreportsandwarnedcer-tain police personnel giving al-leged unusual and humiliatingpunishments in the garb of en-forcing lockdown.A single-judge bench of

Justice Rohit B Deo Friday di-rected theMaharashtra HomeDepartment, through video-conference, to respond toapleaalleginghumanrightsviolationsby certain police personnel inanxiety to strictly enforce pro-hibitoryorders.

Referringtonewsreportscit-inginstancesofunusualpunish-ments by the police, the benchobserved,“Thiscourthasnorea-son to suspect the intent.However, the enddoesnotnec-essarily justify the means...While extraordinary situationsmaycallforextraordinarymeas-ures, the measures must havethesanctionof law.Humandig-nity and rights cannot be sacri-ficedatthealtarofextraordinarysituations nor can the constitu-tional right to a dignified life behostagetosupposedintentions.”

Thecourtdirectedthatnoex-tra-legal measures or punish-mentsshouldbetakenrecoursetowhileenforcingthelockdown.“Thepolicemachineryhassuffi-cient power under the provi-sionsof lawwhichwouldenablestrict enforcement of the lock-downdirectives,” it said.It was hearing a PIL filed by

oneSandipMadhuNair,throughadvocateAnilKamale,contend-ing that in an anxiety to strictlyenforcethelockdowndirectivesissuedtocombatCOVID-19,cer-tainpolicepersonnelwereguiltyof gross violation of humanrightsandsuchpracticesshouldbecurbed.ThePILclaimedthatpersons

who allegedly violated lock-downdirectives, including sen-ior citizens onmorning walks,were subjected to inhuman in-

dignities.Advocate Anil Kamale said,

“The alleged violators are pho-tographed holding placards de-claringthattheviolator isanen-emyofthenation,thesociety,thefamily andhumanity sincehe isa lawbreaker.” He further sub-mitted that photographs of theviolatorshavebeenpublishedinprominentnewspapersandhavegoneviralonsocialmedia.Additional government

pleader, K S Joshi, appearing forthe state, submitted that it willtake instructions from theCommissionerofNagpurPolice.Joshi submitted thatwhile cer-tain instances occurred in thefirstphaseof lockdown,humili-atingphotographshavenotbeenpublished by the police.“However, I amnot inapositionto make a statement, at this

stage…andassurethecourtthatsuch a statement shall bemadeonthenextdateof hearing.”After hearing submissions,

the Court said, “In view of ‘ex-tremelydisturbing’avermentsinthe plea, it is appropriate to re-questgovernmentpleadertoas-certainwhetherthehighlightedinstanceshaveoccurred.”The court asked the Nagpur

PoliceCommissionertoholdthesenior officer withinwhose ju-risdiction the incident has oc-curred, accountable. Directingrespondent authorities to re-spond to the plea, Justice Deoposted further hearing in thematteronMay21.

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,MAY8

DIRECTING THE Maharashtragovernment to give adequatepublicity to its decision of con-ducting freemedical screeningsofmigrantworkers before theyboard buses or trains for theirhometowns, the BombayHighCourtonFridayaskedthestatede-cide on bearing their travel ex-penses.Thedirectionscameafter the

statesubmittedthatitisyettotakea final decisiononwhowill bearthe remainingcostof ticket faresinviewof85percentsubsidyan-nouncedbytheRailways.Justice Suresh C Guptewas

hearingPILsfiledbyseveralNGOsseekingreliefs formigrantwork-ers,slumdwellersandthehome-less. The plea claimed thatmi-grantworkerswere required topay to obtainmedical clearancecertificatestoreturnhome,whichthegovernmentshouldpayfor.However, on Friday, the state

lawyer informed the court thatthegovernmentonMay7haddis-continued the need to producemedicalcertificateswhileseekingpermissiontotravelfromthepo-lice. The order, signed by ChiefSecretaryAjoyMehta,hadstatedmigrants and stranded personswill be screenedbygovernmentmedicalstaffatthetimeofstartoftheirjourney,freeofcost.To this, theNGOs submitted

that many workers were notawareofthisanditneedstobead-equatelypublicised.Theyreferredto the incident at Aurangabad,where16migrantswererunoverby a goods train on early Friday.“Lack of awareness about state'smeasuresledworkerstrytoreachstationsbyanymeans...theywererunoverbyatrain,”thelawyersofthe NGO argued. The HC thenaskedthegovernmenttogivead-equatepublicity to it conductingfreemedical screenings of mi-grantworkers.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,PUNE,MAY8

CONCERNED OVER the risingnumberofCOVID-19casesbeingreportedfromthewholesalemar-ketsofVashiAgriculturalProduceMarketingCommittee(APMC)inNaviMumbai, the state govern-ment on Friday decided to keepthe market shut from May 11to17.Authorities said they were

hopeful that analternatemarketchainsetupatBKCinMumbaiwillhelp Mumbai MetropolitanRegion (MMR) to get its share ofessentialgoods.All the five markets in the

APMC–grains, spices, fruit, veg-etables aswell as onion andpo-tato – will remain shut thesesevendays.Officials said75peo-ple connectedwith themarket,including traders, wholesalers,mathadiworkers andmembersoftheAPMC,havetestedpositivesincethelockdown.Following concerns raised

about the spread of the virus, a

meetingwasheldbetweenNaviMumbaiMunicipal CorporationCommissionerAnnasahebMisal,PrincipalSecretaryAnoopKumar,members of variouswholesalemarkets within the APMC andleaders of Mathadi Kamgargroups,whoareinvolvedinload-ingandunloadingoftheproducethatreachesthemarketsintrucks.“It was decided to shut the

marketforaweekandundertakedisinfectionofallbuildings,shops,offices, roads and other areas,”saidAnilChavan,APMCsecretary.During this period,medical

screeningwill alsobeconductedon security guards, mathadiworkers,sanitationstaff,commit-teemembers andpoliceperson-neldeployedat theAPMC.Thosewho show symptoms will bemadetoundertakeatest,Chavansaid.Officials directed themarket,

which provides basic essentialsupplies tomanywholesale andretailmarkets acrossMMR,willremainopenovertheweekendsothat supplies for at least thenext10dayscanbeensured.

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

MAHARASHTRA

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY8

IN Amajor disappointment tosenior leaders Eknath Khadse,Pankaja Munde, Vinod Tawde,and ChandrashekharBawankule,theBharatiyaJanataParty (BJP) Friday announcednames of four fresh candidatesfor theMay21elections tonineMaharashtraLegislativeCouncil(MLC) seats.Theofficial list of candidates,

approved by the central BJP, hasnamed BJP Nagpur city chiefPravin Datke, GopichandPadalkar, Ajit Gopchade andRanjitsinhMohitePatil,sonoffor-merMaharashtra deputy chiefminister VijaysinhMohite Patil.AllthefourcandidatesFridayfiledtheir nomination for theMay21electionatVidhanBhawaninthepresence of state BJP presidentChandrakant Patil and Leader ofOppositioninthestateAssemblyDevendraFadnavis.

TheElectionCommissionhadlastweekannouncedpollstothenine seats thatwere postponedduetothecoronavirusoutbreak.ChiefMinisterUddhavThackerayis also seekinganelection to theCouncil as his six-month dead-linetodosoendsMay27.Accordingtosources,theBJP

preferred its Nagpur city chief,Datke, over former powermin-ister Bawankule, whowas ear-lier denied a ticket in 2019Assembly polls. Bawankule fol-lowershad thengoneonrecordtosay that “denialof ticket”and“humiliation” to the family hadcost the BJP at least six seats —Nagpur North, Nagpur West,Ramtek, Katol, Sakoli andGondia—ineasternVidarbhaintheOctober2019elections.PankajaMunde had lost the

2019AssemblyelectionfromtheParliseat(inMarathwada)toes-

tranged cousin and NCP leaderDhananjay Munde, and hadblamedtheparty forherdefeat.Meanwhile, Khadse, who

was denied a ticket in theAssembly polls from theMuktainagar seat, had recentlysaid hewas keen on represent-ing theparty in theCouncil. Theparty,however,haskeptKhadseatarm’slengthafterhehadtore-signfromthepreviousDevendraFadnaviscabinetoverseveralal-legations.“Ihadexpressedmydesireto

work in theCouncil. But then, ifthepartyhasdecidednottocon-siderwhatcanonesay.Afterall,I have given everything to buildthepartyforthelast40yearsandavoided defecting. I hoped theywould consider it onmerit,” hesaidFriday.Claiming that the emphasis

wasoninfusingyoungerleaders

in the Council whowill aggres-sivelycounterrulingMahaVikasAghadi government, a highlyplacedsource intheBJPsaidthe“central leadershiphad reasonsto deny tickets some of thesesenior leaders, else theywouldhavebeenaccommodatedintheCouncil”.Another source said that by

nominating RanjitsinhMohitePatil,whojoinedtheBJPaheadofthe2019LokSabhaelections,thepartyhadsoughttostrengthenitspolitical base in Madha con-stituency of westernMaharashtra.While RanjitsinhjoinedtheBJPofficially,hisfather,formerMaharashtradeputychiefminister VijaysinhMohite Patil,hasn'tdonesoformally.A Dhanger leader, Padalkar

hadlosttheLokSabhapollsfromSangli on a Vanchit BahujanAghadi ticket. He joined the BJP

ahead of the 2019 Assemblypolls and unsuccessfully con-tested against Ajit Pawar fromtheBaramati seat.While candidature of Ajit

Gopchade, a practising doctorfromNandedandBJP’sAll IndiaMedicalCellpresident,hascomeas a surprise, insiders say themovewastoensurecasteandre-gional balance inMarathwada,Vidarbha, and westernMaharashtra.Gopchade is also the vice-

president of MaharashtraMedicalCouncil.With105MLAsand support

of11membersofsmallerpartiesand independents, the BJP ex-pects to get all its candidateselected to the Council. It needs116 first preference votes to getits four candidates elected. Thequotaforawinningcandidateis29votes.

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR,MAY8

AS AN extraordinarymeasure,Maharashtra’s Principal ChiefConservator of Forest (Wildlife)Nitin Kakodkar has sent a pro-posaltothestategovernmentfor“translocaton”of about 50 tigersfromChandrapurtozoos,tigersa-faris and otherwildlife areas totacklethegrowingman-tigercon-flict.Experts,however,saysuchanideaisneitherlegallynorethicallyallowed, norwill it serve its pur-pose.“Iproposedabouttwomonths

ago (before the lockdown) thatabout 50 tigers should be re-moved from the Chandrapurlandscape tomitigate theman-tiger conflict,which is assuminggreaterproportionseachpassingyear,”Kakodkarsaid.“Thesetigerscanberemoved

from there in a phasedmannerandputinotherwildlifeareas,res-cuecentresor tigersafaris. Ihavewritten to Nagpur’s GorewadaRescueCentre toaugment its ca-pacity to holdmore tigers and Ihavealso askedChandrapur andYavatmal Chief Conservators ofForesttoexplorethepossibilityofsettinguptigersafaris,”headded.“Theman-tigerconflictisonlygo-ing to grow further withChandrapur having asmany as160tigers. It can’tholdsuchabigpopulationwithouttheircominginconflictwithhumans,”hesaid.HesuggestedthatBrahmapuri

and Central Chanda divisionscouldbetheprobableareasfromwhere tigers can be relocated.Brahmapuri division,which is anon-protectedforest,hasover44tigers, considered a very heavypopulation for the area. It’s alsoChandrapur’s mainman-tigerconflictarea.Kakodkar said, “The idea is

subject to approval by the StateWildlifeBoardandNationalTigerConservationAuthority(NTCA).”Vidarbha haswitnessed 18

deathssofarthisyearinbigcatat-tacks, nine of themduring thelockdown. Only five of thesedeaths have occurred outsideChandrapur. Last year,Chandrapursaw24deathsintigerandleopardattacks.Past experience shows it is

verydifficulttocatchholdofprob-lemtigers.Ittookover10monthsto kill T1 (Avni), the problem ti-gress of Pandharkawda inYavatmal district, in 2018.Kakodkarsaid,“Theideaistopickup non-problem tigers, whichshouldn’tbesuchaproblem.”Wildlife activist and former

member of National Board forWildlife Kishore Rithe said,“Translocation is allowed for re-populating areas that have losttigers like itwas done to restoretigers to Panna and Sariska. ButtheWildlife ProtectionActdoes-n’tallowthemtoberemovedandput inzoosor rescuecentresun-lesstheyareprovenprobleman-imals.” He added, “Moreover,whenyouremoveatigerfroman

areaitisreplacedbyanothertigerincourseoftime.Sowhatyouaredoing is just a stop-gap arrange-ment.We need tomanage thetiger areas in a more nuancedfashion.”NTCA member-secretary

AnupNayak said, “Tigers not inconflict with humans can betranslocated to repopulate areasthat have lost tigers, like it wasdoneinSariskaandPannabutdef-initelynottobeputinzoosorsa-faris.What theMaharashtra for-est department can do isstrengthenthecorridorsthatwillfacilitate the tigermovement toIndravati reserve inChhattisgarhor Kawal in Telangana,” adding,“removing somany tigers is ab-solutelyunwarranted.”Chandrapurhonorarywildlife

wardenBanduDhotresaid,“Ihavebeensuggestingremovaloftigerslike those roaming the prosopisjungle on Chandrapur SuperThermal Power Station (CSTPS)that has become a regular tigerhabitat. These tigers have been

venturing into fringe localities ofChandrapurcity.Recently,a tigerfromherewasseenwakingontheoverburdenofWesternCoalfieldsLimited (WCL). In theChichpalliforestonChandrapur-Mulroad,asmall7-kmradiusareaisfoundtohave four tigresses with cubs.Tigers inChandrapur are chang-ing their habitats and also foodhabits.We are sitting on a tigerlandmine that iswaiting to ex-plode. So, I had suggested to thePCCFthatweneedtotranslocatesuch tigers. But putting them incagesor inzoosandsafarisdoes-n’tfittheconservationbill.”Aconservationistsaidoncon-

dition of anonymity that in anygivenyear,oneseesnotmorethan2-3 tigers turning into problemanimals.Itmeanstheothertigersare harmless and have come tolivepeacefullywith locals. “So, toremove such a huge number oftigers is scientifically andother-wise not only untenable butwouldn’tservethepurposesinceitwon’tendconflict,”hesaid.

Mumbai: After the MMRDAgroundsinBandraKurlaComplex(BKC),theJioconventioncentreinBKCislikelytobeconvertedintoa1,000-beddedicatedCOVID-19fa-cility.MumbaiGuardianMinisterAslamShaikhonFridayvisitedtheReliance Jio conventioncentre inBKC as well as the MMRDAgroundsnearby.Thetwofacilitieswilltogetherbeabletoaccommo-date 2,000patients. Shaikh saidhe reviewedwork underway attheMMRDAgrounds. “Talks be-tweenRelianceandtheBMChavebegun tomake the conventioncentre available for patients.Mumbai iswell prepared aswenow have several quarantinezones, butwemay requiremoreasthenumberofpatientscontin-uestorise,”Shaikhadded. ENS

FormerNCP leaderRanjitsinhMohitePatil,BJPNagpurcitychief PravinDatke,GopichandPadalkar, andAjitGopchade filenomination forMay21election

BJP announces list for Council polls,skips senior leaders Khadse, Tawde

HC lauds police efforts, but says no to extra-legalmeasures, punishments while enforcing lockdown

Mumbai:Dr Pramod Ingale, thedeanofSionhospitalinMumbai,wasaskedtostepdownbyBMConFriday, twodaysafteravideoof corpses lying in the hospitalward, where patientswere un-dergoing treatment, went viralonsocialmedia.Dr RN Bharmal, the dean of

Nair hospital until last month,hasbeengiventhechargeofSionhospital.Ingale had set up a commit-

tee on Thursday to inquire intothe incident. The videowas al-legedlyofward3,whereCOVID-19patientsarekept in isolation.At least four bodieswere foundlying on stretchers in theward,all wrapped in black plastic, aspatientsoccupiednearbycots.OnFriday,soonafterPraveen

Pardeshiwas sackedas themu-nicipal commissioner, Ingalewasaskedtostepdownasdeanand continue working as thehead of biochemistry depart-mentatSionhospital.Bharmal,whotookchargeat

Sionhospitalintheevening,washolding the charge of director(medical education) in BMC af-terhewas removedas thedeanofNairhospital. ENS

Sion hospitaldean steps down

PROPOSALTOTRANSLOCATECHANDRAPURBIGCATS

Tigers cannot be put in zoos,safaris or rescue centres: experts

Vashi APCM to be shutfor a week from Monday

Jio conventioncentre in BKClikely to be Covidcare facility

HCTOSTATE

‘Publicise freemedical screening,decide who willpay for travel ofmigrant workers’

Athree-year-oldtigress,N1,believedtohavekilledfivehumansinChandrapurandGondiadistricts,wascaughtinnearNawargaonreservoirThursday,theforestdepartmentsaid.Thetigress,originallyfromBrahmapuriinChandrapur,hadkilledthethreepersonsbetweenlastNovemberandJanuarythisyear.ItlaterwentontokilltwopersonsinMarchandApril. ItwasbroughttotheGorewadaRescueCentreinNagpur,wheresheissettospendtherestof itslife.

ThecourtwashearingaPIL filedbyoneSandipMadhuNair, throughadvocateAnilKamale

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,MAY8

ADAYafterthegovernmentmadeit clear that itwill chargemoneyfromIndianswhoarebeingevac-uated byNavy ships, NewDelhi

said themove is in linewith thegovernment’spolicyandthatthecharge is a “nominal” one “tocoverservicesonboardincludingmedicalfacilities”.The IndianHighCommission

inMaletoldthestrandedIndiansonThursdaythattheywillhavetopay $40 - around Rs 3,028 - as“evacuation services charge” for

repatriation by INS JalashwaonFriday.InFebruary-March2011,dur-

ingtheArabSpring,whenanop-erationtoevacuate16,400IndianswascarriedoutfromLibya,IndianNavy ships INS Jalashwa, INSMysore and INS Aditya werepressed into service, butnopay-mentwaschargedfromtheevac-uees.

ANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI,MAY8

THE SUPREME Court Fridaystayed an interim order of theOrissaHighCourtwhichdirectedthe state government to “ensurethat all themigrantswho are inqueue to come toOdisha shouldbe testednegative for COVID-19beforeboardingtheconveyance”.A bench of Justices Ashok

Bhushan, SKKaul andBRGavaistayedtheorderandissuednoticeonaSpecialLeavePetitionfiledbytheMinistryofHomeAffairsafterhearing SolicitorGeneral TusharMehtawhooutlinedtheprecau-tionarymeasuresbeingtakenfortravelofmigrants.Mehtaalsocon-

tended that the Centrewas notheardinthematter.“We are of the view that the

orderoftheGovernmentof Indiadated29.04.2020providesampleprotection. It appears thatbeforetheHigh Court, the order of theGovernment of India dated29.04.2020 and the guidelineswereneitherbrought intonoticenorwereunderchallenge.Inviewof the aforesaid,we stay the in-terimorderdated07.05.2020,”thebenchordered.It said“wefurtherclarify that

the strandedmigrants shall bedealtwithaspertheorder/guide-lines of theGovernmentof Indiadated 29.04.2020 readwith theguidelines dated 01.05.2020 is-sued thereunder by the

Governmentof India,MinistryofHomeAffairs”.Mehtasaidundertheseorders

and rules, “thenodal authoritiesintheStatesaretofirstcompilearegister of the strandedpersonswithintheirStateswhoareorigi-nally fromother States. After thesaid list of stranded persons iscompiled,thesendingandreceiv-ingStatesmayconsulteachotherandmutuallyagreetomovementbyroad.Beforethepersonwhoismovingboardsthevehicleorthetrain,asthecasemaybe, thesaidpersonwouldscreenedandonlythosewho are found asympto-matic(evenafter40daysof“lock-down” restrictions)wouldbeal-lowed toproceed. Thevehicle orthetrains,asthecasemaybe,areduly sanitized. On the arrival ofsuchgroups at their destination,suchperson(s)wouldbeassessedbythelocalhealthauthorities,andkept inhomequarantine, unlesstheassessment requireskeepingtheperson(s)ininstitutionalquar-antine”.

EXPRESSNETWORK6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

09Th May 1997

Sashastra Seema Bal fondlyremembers with gratitude andcherishes the valiant sacrificeof its brave hearts Shri A. C.Kumar, Deputy InspectorGeneral and Naik/GD L.Ranjan Singh who madesupreme sacrifice of their livesin the line of duty for Nationon 09th May, 1997. Shri A. C.

Kumar, Deputy Inspector General and Naik/GD L. Ranjan Singh wereposted at Divisional Headquarters of Manipur and Nagaland Division inImphal, when they were attacked by unidentified assailants in theDivisonal Headquarter campus and they lost their lives in the attack.We salute the supreme sacrifice of the brave soldiers.

SASHASTRA SEEMA BAL

07.09.1970 – 09.05.2017Sashastra Seema Bal fondly remembers andcherishes the valiant act of its brave heart SI/GDAmal Sarkar who made supreme sacrifice of his lifein the line of duty for Nation. On this day in theyear 2017 a search and combing operation waslaunched at Manas forest of Assam to nab NDFBmilitants. During the operartion the search partywas indiscriminately fired upon by militants, SI/GDAmal Sarkar promptly retaliated and foughtvaliantly. He sustained several bullet injuries.Before succumbing to his injuries, he showed extra-

ordinary courage and continued to fight. He fired several rounds andkilled a militant Birbal Islary alias I Banso, who was a wanted cadre ofmilitant outfit NDFB. His gallant act will continue to inspire us all.We salute the valor and supreme sacrifice of the brave soldier.

SASHASTRA SEEMA BAL

SALUTE THE SOLDIER

Shri A. C. Kumar,Deputy Inspector

General

Sub-Inspector(GD)

Amal Sarkar

Naik/GD L.Ranjan Singh

U.T ADMINISTRATION OF DADRA NAGARHAVELI & DAMAN AND DIU

OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENTGOVERNMENT HOSPITAL, MARWAD, DAMAN

PH. NO. 0260-2254965 / 9909943025EMAIL ID : ghddmn@gmail.com

E-TENDER NOTICENo.GHD/DMN/E-TENDER ANNUAL ALLO MED/2020-21/355

Dated:08.05.2020The office of the Medical Superintendent, GovernmentHospital, Daman, invites sealed tender for Purchase ofAllopathic Medicine for Govt. Hospital, Daman from thereputed Manufacturer/ Authorized Distributors/ Supplier,so as to reach on or before 01.06.2020 upto 12.00 hrs. bypost/Courier or deposit into the tender box kept in theoffice of the undersigned.Further details and downloading of tender documents,please visit www.daman.nic.in.

Sd/-No. IP/DMN/2/5/20-21/140 Medical Superintendentdtd.: 08/05/2020 Government Hospital, Daman

The Punjab Health Systems Corporation, Mohali(Department of Health & Family Welfare, Punjab)invites online bids (www.eproc.punjab.gov.in) for theRate Contract of one year for the supply of HepatitisB Immuno - Globuluin (HBIG) in the State of Punjab.

Pre-bid conference date, time & place:18.05.2020 at 12:00 Noon in Committee Room ofPHSC Mohali.

Closing Date & Time: 04.06.2020 upto 12:30 P.M.For details log onto www.eproc.punjab.gov.in.

NOTE: Any corrigendum(s) to the Tender Notice shallbe published on the above website only.

Sd/-MANAGING DIRECTOR

PHSC, SAS NAGAR

PUNJAB HEALTH SYSTEMS CORPORATIONE-Block, 2nd Floor, Phase-8, (Sector 62)

Punjab School Education Board ComplexSahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar (Mohali), PUNJAB

Phone: 0172-2232243, 2232245 & 2232247Visit us at: punjabhealth.co.inE-mail: proc.phsc@gmail.com,

Ref No. E-Tender/PHSC/Proc/2020/02

C-793/PB

ANDHRA PRADESH STATE WAREHOUSING CORPORATION(A State Government Undertaking)

D.No. 55-17-3, Stalin Corporate Building, 2nd floor, BehindAutonagar Bus Stand, VIJAYAWADA -520007. A.P.Phones No.0866 2556244. FAX:(0866) 2556344

SWC/M2/00378/B.Mats /2019 - 2020 Date: 07.05.2020NOTICE INVITING E- TENDER

We are Inviting E- Tenders in Two Bid (Technical Bid & Price Bid)System for supply of Bamboo Mats on Annual Rate Contract basis .Interested Bidders may contact at our Head Office on Phone No. 0866-2556244 or view on our Website www.apswhc.com &www.tenderwizard.com/APSWC.RO. No. 40PP/CL/ADVT/1/1/2020-21 MANAGING DIRECTOR

Sd/- Managing Director

A.P. STATE WAREHOUSING CORPORATION

We are Inviting E-Tenders in Two Bid (Technical Bid & Price Bid) Systemfor supply and installation and commissioning of 60 Mts. capacity Pit lessType Electronic Lorry Weighbridge for different places. Interested Biddersmay contact at our Head Office on Phone No. 0866-2556244 or view on ourWebsite www.apswhc.com & www.tenderwizard.com/APSWC

(A State Government Undertaking)D.No. 55-17-3, Stalin Corporate Building, 2nd Floor,

Behind Autonagar Bus Stand, VIJAYAWADA - 520 007. A.P.

Phones No. 0866-2556244, Fax : 0866-2556344

NOTICE INVITING E-TENDERSWC/M2/LWB/Installation/2017-18 Date: 07-05-2020

8 x 4

The EOI is invited for the following workon Design Build Finance Operate Transfer (DBFOT)basis at Paliwal Park,Agra as below-

Chief EngineerAgra Nagar Nigam

AGRA NAGAR NIGAMvkxjk uxj fuxe

NOTICE INVITING EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)

S. No. Name of Work1. DEVELOPMENT OF AMUSEMENT PARK;2. DEVELOPMENT OF LASER SHOW;3. DEVELOPMENT OF FOUR TRAFFIC ISLANDS4. DEVELOPMENT OF MINI TOY TRAIN5. DEVELOPMENT OF FOOD COURT

1. Last date for Purchase of EOI : 09.06.2020 till 16:00 Hrs.

NIT No. 94/D/CS/20 Date: 07/05/2020

2. Last date of pre-bid queries through mail atamcagra@gmail.com

3. Date of Pre bid Meeting

4. Last date for submission of tender

5. Last date for Submission of Hard Copy ofTender Bid

6. Technical Bid opening date7. Tender Document and other details shall be available on https:etenders.up.nic.in,

www.nagarnigamagra.com.

8. Hard copy submissions shall be submitted before the date and time mentioned at ChiefEngineer Office, Agra Nagar Nigam Premises, Near Sur Sadan, Agra - 282002)

9. Amendment to NIT, if any would be published on website only.10. Any clarification related to the EOI can be sought from Mr. R.K. Singh, Executive Engineer,

Agra Nagar Nigam. Contact No.- +91-7300740617

30.05.2020 at 12:00 Hrs.

30.05.2020 at 16:00 Hrs. at Chief EngineerOffice, Agra Nagar Nigam

09.06.2020 till 17:00 Hrs.11.06.2020 till 17:00 Hrs.

12.06.2020 after 12:00 Hrs.

:

:

::

:

TThhee IInnddiiaann EXPRESS

BUSINESSPOULTRY

VENCOBBVENCOBB Ex-FarmYesterday’s price inPune Rs. 107/-.Suggested Retail Priceis Rs. 125/-

0070701559

Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it is not possible toverify its contents. The IndianExpress (P.) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamage incurred as a resultof transactions withcompanies, associations orindividuals advertising in itsnewspapers or Publications.We therefore recommendthat readers make necessaryinquiries before sending anymonies or entering into anyagreements with advertisersor otherwise acting on anadvertisement in any mannerwhatsoever.

''IMPORTANT''

SC stays Orissa HC order totest migrants before return

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL,MAY8

THE INDORE district adminis-trationonFridaybegananauditof deaths at Gokuldas Hospitalfollowing allegations of negli-gence levelled by relatives offour patients who died onThursday. One of the key doc-tors of the hospital denied theallegations.The decision for the audit

wastakenafteravideomadebyrelativesof thepatientswentvi-ral, in which they alleged thatthe hospital was in a hurry to

move from the yellow category(where suspected COVID pa-tientsaretreated)togreencate-gory (non-COVID facility) andpaidnoattentiontothepatientsadmitted there.A team of doctors led by

IndoreChiefMedicalandHealthOfficer Dr Praveen Jadia visitedthehospitalandcollectedtreat-mentpapersofthedeceasedpa-tients late Thursday. On FridayDr Jadia said the hospital’s li-censehasbeentemporarilysus-pended. The 13 patients in thehospital were shifted to otherhospitals. However, late Friday,the CMHO told The Indian

Express that the licence has notbeen suspended, and that anysuch actionwould follow if theprobeestablishesnegligence.When asked about allega-

tions that other patients hadbeenturnedawaybythehospi-tal management, Dr Jadia saidthe teamwas looking into it.Hesaid the collector of Mandsaurdistrict had also written to theIndoreadministrationbasedonacomplaintthatthehospitalhadrefused to treat aMandsaurpa-tientwho laterdied.Dr Sanjay Gokuldas, a top

doctoratthehospital,deniedtheallegations.

Fare’s fair: Govt on charge for evacuation by ship

After allegations of negligence,Indore audits hospital deaths

Gujjars threaten protestover minor’s gangrapeJaipur:Members of the Gujjarcommunity have threatened aprotestoverthegangrapeofami-nor, accusing the police of inac-tion.Theminorwasallegedlygan-grapedonthenightofMay5.TheTonk police arrested threemenanddetained a juvenile, officialssaid Friday. According to thepo-lice, the victimhas said themen

kidnapped her when she hadgonetorelieveherself inafield.“The incident is despicable.

What isdisappointing is that theadministrationwas silent for anentire day. All political leaderswho go to such places only talkabout compensation.Wewantjustice.,” saidGujjar leaderKiroriSinghBainsla. ENS

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

338 cases, 2deaths in Delhi;first Covidcasualty in Noida

Paswan on rationdistribution: Don’tleave everythingto Central Govt

15 detained after mob throws stonesat police in Gujarat, 5 cops injured

MANOJCGNEWDELHI,MAY8

COVID-19ISa“scarydisease”,butit is “dangerous” and “fatal” onlyto1or2percentofthepopulationsuch as the elderly and peoplewithotherhealthproblems,RahulGandhi saidonFriday, andaskedthePrimeMinistertotakeaggres-sive steps to root out the fear as-sociatedwiththedisease.Lifting the lockdownwould

havenoimpactiftherewasanat-mosphere of fear in the country,the former Congress presidentsaid.TheBJPretortedthatthePrime

Minister had been consultingwith chiefministers and subjectexperts indealingwith thepan-demic, and asked Rahul to actwith“wisdomandpracticality”to“fight thebiggestcalamity inhu-manhistoryundertheableguid-ance”ofModi.The lockdownhasunleashed

aneconomictsunamiofunimag-inableproportions,andtheecon-omycannotmoveagainwithouta massive economic stimulusfrom the central government,Rahul said.Heasked thegovern-menttoimmediatelyannounceafinancial package for small andmediumbusinesses, extend in-come support of Rs 7,500 to at

least 13 crore of the pooresthouseholds,doubletheman-daysofguaranteedworkunderMGN-REGA, andofferwageprotectionand credit guarantee schemes,and interest subsidy facilities toMSMEsandbigbusinesses.The government, Rahul said,

must putmoney in thehandsofmigrantworkers and the poorwithout delay, and be transpar-entlyonitsstrategyforexitingthelockdown.“Itisimportantthatthegovernment tells thepeople thatthese are the criteria thatwearegoingtobeusing.Andifthesecri-teriaaremetthenwearegoingtoopen,”hesaid.Thenovelcoronavirusdisease,

Rahul said, “isdangerous for cer-tain groups of people. It is ab-solutelydangerousforolderpeo-ple, peoplewith diabetes, heartdisease, hypertension, chroniclunginfection.Butotherthan.itisnotadangerousdisease”.

He said: “Covid was not adeadly disease before the lock-down.After lockdown it has be-come a deadly disease in themindsofthepeople.Thisisamis-conception.Covidisadeadlydis-easebut for1or2percentof thepeople. And it is our duty to ex-tendcompleteprotectiontothat1or2percent.Andnotletevenoneamongthemgetinfected.Butitisalso our duty to tell the country,make themunderstand that it isnota fataldisease for99percentof thepeople.“This the Prime Minister

should aggressively do—weallshouldaggressivelydo—becausethere is anatmosphereof fear inIndiaandinothercountries.Ifwewanttoliftthelockdown,thenwewill have to root out this atmos-phere of fear. Otherwise, peoplewillnotcomeoutevenifyouopenup.” Reopening the economy,Rahul said,would be amassivetransition thatwouldrequireco-ordinationbetweenthestategov-ernments, central government,districtmagistrates and thepeo-ple of India. The Centre shouldviewstatesaspartners,”hesaid.“Weneed one strong Indian

leader, be it aDMor a farmer, ateverylevel.weneedtotackletheproblemand finish it at the locallevel,”hesaid.

(WithPTI inputs)

Rahuladdressesmedia. ANI

Govtmust stamp outfear over Covid: Rahul

RITIKACHOPRANEWDELHI,MAY8

THECENTRALBoardofSecondaryEducation(CBSE)willconducttheremaining exams for ClassXII inthe first twoweeks of July, HRDMinister Ramesh Pokhriyal an-nouncedonFriday.Thegovernment,sourcessaid,

hasdecided that ClassXII boardexams should finish before JEE(Main)isconducted.Theentrancetest for admission toNITswill beheldover fivedaysbetween July18and23.CBSEhasbeenaskedtowrapupitsremainingpapersbe-forethat.TheBoardwillannounce

thedetailedscheduleforeachpa-perinthenextfewdays. OnApril1, CBSEhad said that itwill con-ductexamsfor29subjectsoutofthe approximately 90 thatwereleft around the time thenation-widelockdownwasimposed.ForClassX, only exams for studentsofnorth-eastDelhi,whocouldnotappearfortheexaminationduetotheriots,willbeheld.ForClassXII,CBSEwillconduct

exams for Business Studies,Geography, Hindi (Core), Hindi(Elective), Home Science,Sociology, Computer Science(Old), Computer Science (New),Information Practice (Old),Information Practice (New),

InformationTechnologyandBio-Technology.Apartfromthis,allthetests thatClassXII students fromnorth-east Delhi could not takebecause of the riots,will also beheld. CBSE is alsoworking to re-sume evaluation of answerscripts, which was stopped inMarchduetothelockdown.Ithasdecidedtodeliveranswerscriptstotheexaminersathome.Theresultsfortheexamscon-

ductedfromJuly1to15islikelytobe announced inAugust beforethe Indian Institutes ofTechnology (IITs) declare themerit list for JEE (Advanced). JEE(Advanced) has been scheduledforAugust23.

ASSAMGuwahati teenis secondCOVID deathGuwahati:A 16-year-old girlwho died in Guwahati onThursday became the state'ssecondCOVID-19casualtyaf-terasampletakenpostdeathtested positive for the virus.She had complained of painin her legs and fever onApril27 and was taken to a localhospital,where shewaspre-scribedmedicines. Then, shemoved toher grandmother’shouse in the staff quarters ofa cancer hospital in the city.She died on Thursday after-noon. Doctors at theGuwahati Medical Collegeand Hospital advised that asamplebecollected fromthebody. Thesampletestedpos-itive later. ENS

J&KRailways askedto run trainsfor migrantsJammu: The Jammu andKashmir administration hasasked the Railways to runspecialtrainstobringbackitsstranded residents.“Necessarycoordinationwiththe states as also withRailway authorities is goingon,”saidanofficialstatement,addingthat“thesetrainswillstart arriving shortly’’. Thestate government has de-cidedtobear thecostof tick-etsandthereturneeswillnotneed tomake any paymentsfor their return journey bytrain, it added. ENS

RAJASTHANOne newdeath, tolltouches 100Jaipur:Thenumberofcoron-avirus deaths touched the100 mark in Rajasthan onFriday, officials said. As ofFriday evening, one deathwas recorded in Ajmer. Asmany as 64 new cases werealso recorded on Friday, tak-ingthetotalnumberof casesto 3,491 in Rajasthan. Jaipurcontinues tobe theworsthitwith 1,137 cases. A total of1,52,245 tests have takenplace in thestate.And, outofthe3,491positivecases,1,916people have recovered and1,620of themhavebeendis-charged. Currently, there are1,475 active cases inRajasthan. ENS

CORONAWATCH

KathuaSSPShailenderMishraspeakstotextileworkersprotestingpaycuts inKathua.Express

CBSE to hold remaining ClassXII board exams in July first half

Peopleat IGIAirport inNewDelhionFridayonarrival fromSingapore.AbhinavSahaASADREHMAN

LUCKNOW,MAY8

ACOUPLE on a 750-kmbicyclejourneyfromLucknowtoBemetradistrictinChhattisgarh,werekilledin a road accident on Thursday.Their two children, the elder 3yearsoldandtheyounger1,whowerewiththemsurvived.LateWednesday,KrishnaSahu

(45),whoworkedas a construc-tionworker, set off on his cyclewithwifePramilaSahu (38), andtheirchildrenChandniandNikhil,fromtheirhomeinSikandaravil-lageofLucknow.Sahuhadcycledfor around25kmwhen, around2.30am,thefamilywashitbyave-hicle that’s yet to be identified.

While Pramila died on the spot,Krishnawas taken by police toKingGeorge’sMedicalUniversity,where he succumbed to his in-juries.TheirchildrenChandniandNikhil,whosurvivedwithminorinjuries, are at thehomeof theiruncle, Krishna’s brother RamKumarinLucknow.

“Mybrotherdidnottellmebe-foreleaving,buthewasstrugglingto feed his children after workstoppedatconstructionsites.Ihadspoken tohimaweekor so ago,and he had told me he had nomoney...”saidRamKumar,38.“Mybrother’schildrenarenow

withme.Thegirl,Chandni,hasaninjuryonherhead,whiletheboyhasinjuriesonhis legandasmalloneonhishead...”saidKumar.StationHouseOffice, Sushant

Golf City, Ajay Singh, said, “Anunidentifiedvehiclehitthecoupleearly Thursdaymorning. Theirbodieswerehandedoverafterthepost-mortemprocedure to theirbrother Ram Kumar,” said theSHO. Police said that a case hasbeenlodged.

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI,MAY8

BLAMING STATE governmentsfor the delay in distribution offree foodgrainandpulsesunderPradhan Mantri Garib KalyanAnn Yojana (PMGKAY),Consumer Affairs, Food andPublicDistributionMinisterRamVilasPaswanonFridaysaidthatstates should not leave every-thing to the Centre and shouldworkon“war footing”.Theminister told themedia,

“We are putting ourmaximumefforts. I want to reiterate thatthereisnodearthof foodgrain. Ifsomeonesaysthereisashortage,then Iwould say that state gov-ernmentsareresponsibleforthesituation.”Paswansaid, “Statescanbuy

asmuchfoodgrainas theywantand distribute it to the peoplewho do not have ration cards.Theycanusethefundsavailablein State Disaster Relief Fund forthepurpose....Statesshouldtakepracticaldifficultiesbeing facedin foodgrain distribution seri-ously. Theyshouldworkonwarfooting.”He said, “If we send some-

thing to your state, at least youshouldtaketheresponsibilitytodistribute it in your state.... Youcan at least distribute it at locallevel.”Paswan’scommentscomeat

atimewhentheissueofdelayindistribution of pulses has beenraisedby theOpposition.

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,MAY8

HAVING STARTED the phasedevacuationprocess, the govern-menthasfoundthatone-thirdofIndians stranded abroad whohave registered for repatriationflights are students. A quarter ofthemaremigrantworkers,whoformthesecondlargestgroup,fol-lowed by thosewhohad short-termvisas(tourismorbusiness).This is the outcome of the

analysis doneby theMinistry ofExternal Affairs (MEA), as itprocesses requests from67,833Indians,whohaveregisteredsofartoflybackfrom12countries.“Thesearerequestswhichare

specificinnature-thatonewantstogetonaspecificflight,”asourcesaid.As per data available until

Fridayevening,requestsfromstu-dents(22,470)form33percentofthe total, while those frommi-grantworkers (15,815) is 23percent. There are 9,250 requestsfrom short-term visa-holdersfacedwithvisaexpiry,5,531frompeoplefacedwithmedicalemer-gency or seeking treatment forterminal illness, followedby re-questsbytouristsstrandedabroad(4,147),pregnantwomenandthe

elderly(3,041),andthoserequiredtoreturnduetodeathof a familymember(1,112).Analysis of state-wise break-

upofrepatriationrequestsshowsKerala,at25,246,isatthetop,fol-lowed by Tamil Nadu (6,617),Maharashtra (4,341), andUttarPradesh(3,715),Rajasthan(3,320),Telangana (2,796), Karnataka(2,786), AndhraPradesh (2,445),Gujarat(2,330),andDelhi(2,232).Sixty-four flights carrying

nearly 15,000 people returningfrom12countriesareexpectedtoland at 14 airports across thecountry fromMay 7 to 15. Thethirdphaseof lockdownendsonMay17.As of now, four flights have

landed. AftertwoAirIndiaflightsfromAbuDhabiandDubaiarrivedon Thursday at Kochi (with 181passengers) andKozhikode (182passengers), respectively, onFriday 234 passengers arrivedfromSingapore toDelhi and168peoplefromDhakatoSrinagar.Twenty-sevenflightswilltake

off from the Gulf; seven fromBangladesh; 14 fromSoutheastAsia(fiveeachfromSingaporeandthe Philippines and four fromMalaysia), and seven flights takefromfourUSairports:NewYork,WashingtonD.C.,ChicagoandSanFrancisco.

Cycling home to Chhattisgarh, couplekilled in accident, children survive

KrishnaandPramilaSahu

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY8

ASMANYas338freshCOVID-19caseswere reported fromDelhiFriday, taking the total numberof confirmedcases to6,318.Thedeath toll reached 68,with twomorecasualtiesbeing reported.OnFriday,89morepeoplere-

coveredandweredischarged.Sofar,2,020peoplehaverecoveredand937peopleareunderhomeisolation.The Delhi government also

issuedanorder toconstituteanenquiry committee to look intovarious aspects of major dis-crepancies in reports issued byDrLalPathLabs.Officialssaidthedecisionwastakenafterthede-partment received multiplecomplaints of delayed reportsfrom the lab. Delhi has per-formed81,367 tests so far.Meanwhile, over 200 daily-

wageworkerswereshiftedfromfour shelter homes to differentaccommodationsacrossthecap-italafteracaretakeratoneof thecentretestedpositiveforCOVID-19.Officialssaidtheyhadtosealfourshelterhomesastheyareinclose proximity to each other,andcaretakersoftengo toothershelters forwork.The shelter homes, run by

DelhiUrbanShelterImprovementBoard (DUSIB), have accommo-datedmanydailywageworkerssince the lockdown. After thecaretakertestedpositive,officialshave since begun screening allpersons inthe fourshelters.Bipin Rai, advisor at DUSIB,

said,“Manymenwereatriskandwe didn’twant to evict anyone.So,wescreenedeveryone.Thosewhofeltunwellwereshiftedtoaquarantine centre; otherswereshiftedtoanothernightshelter.”

Of those flying in,33% students: Data

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,MAY8

ASCOVID-19 infections in para-military forces crossed the 500mark,HomeMinisterAmitShahFridayheldameetingwithchiefsof all the forces and expressedconcern. Among suggestionsmadeduringthemeetingtocurbthe spread of infection are thepitching of tents in camps to in-creasedistancingandcontactlessservingof foodinthemess.Sourcessaidthesystemofliv-

ing inbarracksmakes social dis-tancingdifficult.Theproblemhasbeen aggravatedby the fact thatmostoftheinfectedpersonnelareasymptomatic.“It has been decided that

wherever barracks do not haveenough space, forceswill pitchtentstoensuresocialdistancing,”aparamilitaryofficersaid.Therewould be significant

changes inmessmanagement.“Therewill be different sets ofpeople for cutting andwashingvegetables,andcookingandserv-ing. Foodwill be served in shiftswithfewerindividualsallowedatatime,”anotherofficersaid.TheCOVID-19countintheBSF

reached224Fridaywith30morenewcases. In ITBP, 12newcasestookthecasecountto92.InCRPF,162caseshavebeenreportedand38CISFpersonnel havebeen in-fectedsofar. InSSB,14personneltestedpositive.Fourparamilitarypersonnelhavedied sofar.AnMHAstatementsaid,“The

HomeMinister enquired aboutthe situation regarding the secu-ritypersonnelaffectedbyCOVID-19ineachof theCAPFs...”TheDGofaparamilitaryforce

said, “Ourmen are deployed onlaw and order duties, some ofthemincontainmentzones,soin-fections are unavoidable... Thegoodthingisourmenarefit... ex-pectingaveryhighrecoveryrate.”

Shah discussesways to curb casesamong ranks withparamilitary chiefs

AMITABHSINHA,TABASSUMBARNAGARWALA&ARUNJANARDHANANPUNE,MUMBAI,CHENNAI,MAY8

INTHElastfewdays,TamilNaduhas been adding cases of novelcoronavirus infection at a ratefasterthanmostotherstates,butit has also been testing manymore people. In fact, on Thur-sday, Tamil Nadu overtookMaharashtra's testing figures toemerge as the state that hastestedthemaximumnumberofsamples tillnow.AsofThursdayevening,Tam-

ilNaduhadtested202,436sam-ples while Maharashtra haddone 202,105. On Friday, TamilNaduconductedanother13,980testsandMaharashtra10,245.In an epidemic like this,

where a large proportion of in-fectionsremainslatentandwith-outanysymptom,highertestingusually leads togreaternumberof infections being discovered.That is why scientists and ex-perts havebeenasking authori-ties toscaleuptestingnumbers,sothereisabetterestimateofthespreadof the disease, andmorepeople can be prevented fromtransmittingthevirus.Maharashtra,whichhashad

more cases than anyother statein India,hadalwaysmaintaineda comfortable lead in testingnumbers. In the last 10 days,however, Tamil Nadu rapidlyrampedupitstesting.Thisperiodcoincidedwith a surge in newcasesbeingdiscoveredthere.Since April 28, Tamil Nadu

has seen its infection numbersgrowfrom2,058to6,009. Inthesameperiod,itstestingnumbersmore than doubled from 1.01

lakh to 2.16 lakh. Maharashtratested 82,419 samples duringthis time, while its confirmedcases rose from9,318to19,063.Tamil Nadu has tested at a

much faster rate even thoughMaharashtra has the highestnumber of testing laboratoriesinthecountry—64.TamilNaduhas only 52. But Maharashtrahas been utilising only 64 percentof its testingcapacity.Dr Tanu Singhal, an infec-

tiousdiseaseexpertatKokilabenDhirubhai Ambani Hospital inMumbai,suggestedthattherel-ativelyfewertestsperdaycouldbe a deliberate decision by thestate governmentwhosemed-ical infrastructure was alreadyoverwhelmedbythelargenum-ber of COVID-19 patients.Another reason forMaharashtra’s below-par test-ingnumberscouldbethatapart

of its testing capacity is locatedin districts that did not havemanycases,andasaresultwerenot testingenough.However, state officials in-

sistedthatMaharashtrawasdo-ingmoretargetedtesting,whichwasthereasonforitshigherpos-itivityrate.Maharashtrawasdis-covering8.9infectionsforevery100 samples it tested, whileTamilNaduwasfindingonly2.6positivepatientsper100tests.“Maharashtrahasfolloweda

targeted policy. The key indica-tor is the number of tests com-ing positive,” said SanjayMukherjee, Medical EducationSecretary,Maharashtra.TamilNadusaidthatdespite

therapidriseinnumberofcases,increased testing coupledwitheffectivetrackingandquarantin-ing had helped contain thespreadofthediseaseinthestate.

Number of tests conducted bymajor states(figures as revealed till Thursday,May 7)State Total Totaltests Testsper Positivity

cases million Ratio**population*

Maharashtra 17974 202,105 1,798 8.9Gujarat 7,013 100,553 1,664 6.9Delhi 5,980 77,234 4,602 7.7TamilNadu 5,409 202,436 2,806 2.6Rajasthan 3,322 145,510 2,123 2.2MadhyaPradesh 3,252 61,020 840 5.3UttarPradesh 3,071 113,670 569 2.7Punjab 1,644 34,701 1,251 4.7Kerala 502 35,171 1,053 1.4WestBengal 1,548 32,752 359 4.7NATIONAL 56,342 1,437,788 1,187 3.9

*(2011Census) ** (Percentageofpositivecases in total tests)

HOWSTATESSTACKUP

TN tops Maharashtrain tests conducted

SREENIVASJANYALA&SANTOSHSINGHHYDERABAD,PATNA,MAY8

ATAtimewhenmigrantworkersare heading back to their homestates—onfoot,inbusesortrains— 222 workers, mostly fromKhagariadistrictofBihar,optedforthe reverse journey as theyboarded a special train toTelanganaonThursday.Thetrain,which left Khagaria in the earlyhours of Thursday, arrivedat theLingampalli Railway Station inHyderabadat1pmonFriday.“The Telangana Chief

Secretaryhad requested that theworkersbe sentback for the ricemills in the state. The local coor-dinators,whokeepintouchwith

migrantworkers,contactedthem,and 222 workers boarded thetrain,” said Bihar Deputy ChiefMinisterSushilKumarModi.RicemillownersinTelangana

provided thenamesandcontactdetails of labour contractors, su-pervisors and workers to thestate’s civil suppliesdepartment,whichthencoordinatedwiththeBihargovernmentofficials.Arrangementsweremadefor

theworkerstoreachtheKhagariarailwaystation.Accordingtooffi-cials, each groupof 18-20work-ers had a supervisor,whose jobwas to ensure that theworkersreachedtherailwaystation.Whilemost of the workers are fromKhagaria, a few are fromMadhepuradistrictofBihar.After theworkers arrived in

Hyderabad, officials of the civilsupplies department registeredtheirnamesandcontactnumbers,and then sent them in buses tootherdistricts.“Chief Minister K

Chandrashekar Raohas assuredtheworkersthattheywillbewelltaken care of.We arranged fortheir journey andprovided foodand water. We have arrangedbusestotakethemtothericemillswhere theywork.Wewill alsogive them dry rations to startwith,”saidKamalakar.Thetrainfarewaspaidbythe

Telangana government. Lastweek,thetrainhadferriedabatchof migrant workers fromHyderabadtoPatna.Officials inTelanganasaidthe

state is facing a shortageof farm

labour, asmost of theworkerswhowenthomeforHolicouldnotreturnduetothelockdown.Whilepaddy andmaize are ready forharvest, the ricemills too don’thaveenoughworkers.“Withoutthesemigrantwork-

ers, itwill be difficult to operatethericemills.Wearegratefulthateveninthisdifficultsituation,theychosetocometowork.Weexpectmore workers to return in thecoming days,” said GNarender,president of the Telangana RiceMillOwnersAssociation.Rajesh Singh, 32, who was

amongthosewhomadethejour-neyfromKhagariatoHyderabad,said he had just Rs 200 in hispocketandachangeofclothes.“Iwenthome inFebruary for

Holi andwassupposed to return

inApril-end, but got stuck there.There is no work or money athome.Itisadesperatesituation.Iwas in touchwith the labour su-pervisorandtherice-millowner,”hesaid.“I heard that the Telangana

governmentwasarrangingatrainto take backworkers, so I regis-teredmyself.Iamrelievedtostartwork again. I can send somemoneyhomebythismonth-end,”saidRajesh.SagarChaudhary,32,also fromKhagaria, said he hadspent all themoney that hehadtakenhomeduringtheHolibreak.“Without any income, wewillstarve.Duetothelockdown,thereis nowork at all. I hope to sendsomemoneyhomesoon,”hesaid.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

220 Bihar workers make reverse journey to Telangana

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,MAY8

FIFTEENPEOPLEwere detainedafteramobpeltedstonesatapo-lice team in Shahpur area ofAhmedabad on Friday eveningafter which the police resortedto tear gas shelling and lath-icharge, amid complete shut-downin thecity.Fivepolicepersonnel, includ-

ingthepoliceinspector-cumin-chargeofShahpurpolicestation,R K Amin, were injured in thestone pelting which occurredaround6pminNagoriwadarea

of Shahpur in old cityAhmedabad,whichhasbeende-claredasacontainmentzone.The clash broke out after a

scuffle between a few residentsandateamofRapidActionForce(RAF) personnel whowere de-ployedintheareatoensurelock-down. A few locals were al-legedly beaten up by RAFpersonnel as they had steppedout of their house to procurefood commodities despite acompleteshutdownobservedinAhmedabad.After the scuffle, as the local

teamofShahpurpolicestationar-rived at the spot, amob of over

twodozenresortedtostonepelt-inginwhichfivepolicepersonnelwere injured. Theywere rushedto a nearby primary health cen-tre(PHC)fortreatment.“We have rounded up 15

peopleinvolvedintheclashandthey have been detained as ofnow.Firstwewillbookthemun-der Section 188 and EpidemicDiseasesActforviolationof lock-down and later they will bechargedforassaultingaspertheprocedure.Onepoliceinspectorand I received stone injuries,whilethreeconstableswerealsohit,” said R K Amin, in charge,Shahpurpolice station.

VIRUSDANGEROUSFORONLY1-2%,SAYSCONGLEADER

EXPRESSNETWORK8 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEHYDERABAD,MAY8

EVENASthedeath toll fromthegas leak at the LGPolymers fac-torynearVisakhapatnamroseto11 on Friday, a team of expertsworkedtoneutralisethestyrenegas at the chemical factory aswell as in villages where it hadspread.“It might take 48 hours

to neutralise the gas every-where,” Andhra PradeshIndustries Minister GoutamReddysaid.All the chemical tanks in LG

Polymers are safe following 60per cent polymerisation of thestyrene vapour so far, DistrictCollectorVVinayChandsaid.“Wehavetakenallmeasures

to plug the leak completely andexperts are closelymonitoringthe situation. The situation isnow fully under control," headded.While 10 people died due to

thegasleakonThursday,anotherperson succumbed during thenight. As many as 554 peoplewere admitted to King GeorgeHospital,and128haverecoveredcompletely,saidAndhraPradeshHealth Minister A KrishnaSrinivas. “There are 305 peoplestillinhospital,including52chil-dren. All of them are out ofdangerandnoone isonventila-tor. About121others are receiv-ing treatment at private hospi-tals, but all are out of danger,”hesaid.Meanwhile,aspecialteamof

chemical,biological,radiologicaland nuclear (CBRN) team andother experts were engaged inneutralisingthegasatthefactoryand fiveaffectedvillages.The IndustriesMinister said

thatNDRFteamsareconductingdoor-to-door surveys in the af-

fected villages to check for thepresenceof gas.“Following this incident, the

government has taken up thetask of safety audit of 86 indus-triesinthestatewhichwillopenafter the lockdown,’’ Reddyadded.The District Collector said

nobodywould be allowed intothe affected villages until med-ical expertsdeclare themsafe.A large number of residents

of other areas like Gopala-patnam, Marripalem andPendurthi,whohadfled fearingfortheirsafety,returnedtotheirhomes after officials declaredthat the gas had not spread tothoseareas.Chief Secretary Nilam

Sawhney, whowas camping inVisakhapatnamandoverseeingthe reliefmeasures, said thesit-uation was under controland that all tanks in the unitweresafe.Sawhney also issued an or-

der appointing a high-levelprobe into the causes behindthegasleakandtosuggestmeas-ures to improve theprotocol forindustrial safety of similartypesof plants.A large number of people

spentthenightontheroadasru-moursofanothergasleakspreadonsocialmedia.“Several people drove to

Beach Road or other areas andspent the night on the road orinsidetheir four-wheelers.Theyreturned home in themorningafter assurances that those ar-eas were not affected. Therewas no second gas leak in thenight… it was all rumour. Wesentteamstoinformthepeoplecamping outside that their ar-eas were safe,’’ PoliceCommissioner Rajeev KumarMeena said.

(WITHPTI INPUTS)

ESHAROYNEWDELHI,MAY8

THENATIONALGreen Tribunal(NGT) Friday directed LG Poly-mers India Pvt Ltd to deposit aninitialamountofRs50crorewiththedistrictmagistrateofVisakh-apatnamfor“damagetolife,pub-lichealthandenvironment”.NGT Chairperson Adarsh

KumarGoelalsoissuednoticestothe Andhra Pradesh StatePollution Control Board, districtmagistrate of Vishakhapatnam,Central PollutionControl Board,MinistryofEnvironment,Forestsand Climate Change and LGPolymerstosubmitreportsonthegasleakfromtheplant.Taking up the matter suo

motu, the tribunal set up a five-member committee, includingformer judgeof AndhraPradeshHighCourtJusticeBSeshasayanaReddy;Prof. ChVRamaChandraMurthy,formervice-chancellorofAndhra University; ProfessorPulipatiKing,headofchemicalen-gineering department, AndhraUniversity;Member Secretary,CPCBandDirector,CSIR to inves-tigatetheincident.Styrenegasisahazardousche-

mical as defined underManuf-acture, Storage and Import ofHazardousChemicalRules,1989.Initsorder,theNGTobservedthatthere “appears to be failure tocomplywith the said Rules andotherstatutoryprovisions”.Meanwhile, former bureau-

crat EAS Sarma filed a petitionwith theNGTdemanding shut-downof theplant, and fixing re-sponsibilityofAPPCBofficials.

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,MAY8

LGPOLYMERSIndia,asubsidiaryof SouthKorea-based LGChem-icals,hadonMay10,2017,toldtheConsent for Establishment (CFE)CommitteeoftheAndhraPradeshPollutionControl Board (APPCB)thatitdidnotrequireanenviron-mentalimpactassessmenttostartproduction of engineering plas-tics at its Visakhapatnamplant,and therefore shouldbeallowedtogoforproductionimmediately.According to theminutes of

meeting of the CFE, accessed byThe Indian Express, LGPolymerscitedaJune25,2014,amendmentmadebythecentralgovernmentto the Environmental Impact

Assessment(EIA)notificationandclaimed that the new rules ex-empted EIA for “products frompolymergranules”. Basedon theamendment, LG Polymers hadaskedtheCFEtodeletethecondi-tion for requiring environmentalclearancebeforestartingproduc-tionofengineeringplastics.The CFE of APPCB, however,

refused LGPolymers' stand andaskedittoapproachtheMinistryofEnvironment,ForestandClim-ateChangeandgetclarificationonwhethertheplantneededan“en-vironmentalclearance” forman-ufacturingengineeringplastics.Engineering plastics are a

groupof enhancedplastics thathavebettermechanicalandther-malproperties than lowergradecommodityplasticssuchaspoly-

styrene,polyethylene,andpolyvi-nylchloride.Theyareusedtomakecarbumpers,motorcyclehelmetsamongotherhigh-gradeproducts.MailstoLGChemicalreprese-

ntatives in South Korea and LGPolymersrepresentativesinVisa-khapatnamandGurgaononwhe-ther theyhadapproachedMoEFdidnotelicitanyresponse.As reported earlier by The

IndianExpress,LGPolymershadinanaffidavitonMay10lastyearac-cepted that its Visakhapatnamplantdidnothavegreenclearancefor its petrochemical plant be-tween 1997 and 2019. The affi-davitwas submitted to the StateLevel Environment ImpactAssessmentAuthority.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Womenmournastheywaitoutsideamortuarytoreceivethebodyof arelative.Reuters

Don’t need nod to start production,LG Polymers had told green panel

NGT tells firm todeposit Rs 50 cr,issues notices

VISAKHAPATNAMGASLEAK: THEDAYAFTER

Expertswork toneutralisegas, toll now11

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI,MAY8

HOURS AFTER 16 migrantlabourers were run over by agoods trainearlyThursdaynearAurangabad, Maharashtra, theRailways has been asked to ob-serve“abundantcaution”aboutmigrants walking along thetrackswith“falsesenseof secu-rity”about the tracksbeingsafesince train services stand sus-pendeddue to the lockdown.In a letter to the Railways,

Chief Commissioner of RailwaySafety,SKPathak,statedthatthemigrants had apparently gath-ered along the track assumingtherewould be no train due tolockdown, oblivious to the factthat goods trains and parceltrainsareoperating.TheRailwayshasbeenasked

to issue directions to all zonalrailways to issue directions sothat railwaymen on duty canprevent suchmishaps in future.“...all efforts must be made topreventrecurrenceof suchinci-dents in future,” Pathak wrotetoChairman,RailwayBoard,VKYadav.“ItisessentialthatallRailway

personnel connectedwith trainoperation,maintenanceandpa-trollingactivitiesshouldbecau-tionedto immediatelycommu-

nicate any such occurrence ofpersonswalkingalongthetrack,if noticed by them, to the near-est station so thatnecessaryac-tion like Caution Order to allpassing trains…may be taken,”the letter states.Pathak has reiterated the

rulesandproceduresrelatedtosafety, and duties prescribedfor all railway officials to pre-vent accidents in the courseofwork.TheRailwayministry’sletter

to all its zones on Friday stated,“There is a need to start a drivetoensuresafetyintheprevailingsituation. The relevant provi-sionsofGeneralRules…shouldbereiteratedtoalltheconcernedsothatanyaccident,unusualoc-currenceetccanbepreventedinfuture.”While the Railways has so

farnotdecidedanyex-gratia tothekinof thevictims, followingtheElphinstoneBridgeaccidentinMumbai in2017,whichkilled23 people, Railways had givenex-gratia of Rs5 lakh fordeath,Rs1 lakh for serious injury, andRs 50,000 for simple injury. Inthe 2018 incident in whichnearly60peoplewererunoverby a train near Amritsar, theRailways did not pay any ex-gratia. However, the PM ReliefFund had paid Rs 2 lakh to thekin of eachvictim.

After fatal mishap,Rlys asked to observe‘abundant caution’

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,MAY8

AFTERAgapof twodays,specialtrain services to take migrantworkers in Karnataka to theirhometownsresumedonFriday.Four trains with 4,800 passen-gerslefttwostationsontheout-skirts of Bengaluru for UttarPradesh,Biharand Jharkhand.The services were halted

sinceMay6after theKarnatakagovernment wrote to south-western railways, citing lack ofpreparedness to receive mi-grants in the states they wereheadedto.Divisional railwaymanager

for south-western railway,AshokVerma,saidtwotrainsareheaded to Lucknow, and oneeach to Danapur in Bihar andHatia in Jharkhand.The trains were operated

fromChikabannavaraandMalurstations outside Bengaluru to

preventcrowdingandchaos.Since May 2, about 14,000

migrants in 12 trains have leftKarnataka for their hometownsin Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,JharkhandandRajasthan.Schedulesforthetrainswere

notpublicisedtopreventcrowdsfromgatheringoutsidestations,said a railway police official.“Evenwe are alerted only a fewhoursbeforedeparture.'”

“The workers are selectedfromconstructionsitesbasedondatawehavecollected...andthereadiness of the receiving sta-tions,” state Minister forEducationSSureshKumarsaid.“Wewantthemtostayifthey

wanttoworkbutif theywanttogoback,thereisnopointinstop-ping them. Train services werehalted for awhile aswedid notgetagreensignalfromtheotherstate governments,” theminis-teradded.Cancellationofthetrainserv-

ices had triggered a politicalstormwith theBJP governmentin Karnataka drawing criticismfromseveralquarters.Thedecisiontostoptheserv-

ices was taken soon after ChiefMinister B S Yediyurappametrepresentatives of a real estateindustry body who expressedapprehensions over the large-scaleexodusofmigrantworkersandtheimpactitcanhaveontheindustry.

Special train services from Karnatakaresume, 4,800 migrants leave for home

WaitingtoboardanUttarPradesh-boundtrainfromBengaluruonFriday.PTI

SMITANAIRPANAJI,MAY8

TRAINTICKETexaminersandGoagovernmentofficialsclappedandwavedtothepassengersasaspe-cial train formigrants leftThivimstation for Gwalior inMadhyaPradeshFriday.Thiswasthefirstspecial train

formigrants to leave Goa. Thetrain,20compartmentsofwhicharetaking1196passengershome,is expected to reach GwaliorSaturdaymorning.Among the passengerswas

KisanKumarfromSatna,wholosthis job. “Returning home feelsgood, but the future looks bleak.Farming is an option but condi-tionsarenotgoodbackhome,”hesaid.NexttohimwasSauravPatel,25, who said he plans to growmoonginhisfields.“MybrotherisstuckinDelhi. InGwalior, Ihavea

family to feed after our fatherpassed away. Iworked in ahotelbut with no guests now, theownersaidit isbestI leave.”The exercise to send themi-

grants home involved coordina-tion by thenorth and south col-lectoratesofGoa,statepoliceand

theKonkanRailway.IAS officer Kunal explained

that thepassengers for the trainwereselectedonthebasisoftheirhomedistricts.“ThesepeoplearefromeightdistrictsnearGwalior.We have shared the data withMadhyaPradesh.”

NorthGoaCollectorRMenakasaid,“Themigrantswerescreenedand given food for the journey.Fewof thosewhohadregisteredinitiallytogohomelatercalledtosay they have startedworkingagain.Weensuredtheonesindis-tressweresentfirst.”OnThursdaynight,officialsof

the twocollectorates assembledthemigrants at one locationbe-fore taking them to the station.Between6amand11am, busesreachedThivim.Thepassengerswerethermal-

screened, given a parcel of foodand allocated seats in the com-partments. In adherence to dis-tancingnorms,60passengerssatineachcompartment.Officials fromDirectorate of

Health Services said all themi-grantswerescreenedforfeverandeight of themwere asked to re-turntotheirshelterandpromisedajourneyoncetheyfeelbetter.

While some leftwithno lug-gage, some were seen takingclothesandutensilsbackhome.MalikKhan,60,whoworksas

ahelper,said,“Afewofusreceivedcalls that a stormhas damagedourhutsbackhome.Wearegoingas it is tough to eat free food atsheltersherewhenyourfamilyisstrugglingwithoutaroof.Ourjobsare gone anyway. I want to gohometohelpmyfamily.”DeepuShakyacarriedapaint

bucket, likemanyothers. “Manyof us worked as masons andpainters. Thesebuckets are fromwork sites.We have nothing tocarryourclothesin,soweareus-ing them. Builders told usworkwill not begin for a fewmonths,sowearereturninghome.”SouthGoa collector Ajit Roy

said,“Manyareleavingbecauseofafearofuncertainty.Wewillkeepourshelters running.All energiesarefocusedonhandlingthiscrisis.”

A FEW PEOPLE LATER SAID THEY HAD BEGUN WORKING AGAIN, SAYS COLLECTOR

‘Returning home feels good, but future looks bleak’

Thetrainwith1,196migrants leavesThivimstation. Express

PSU begins procurementof kit on ICMR’s behalf

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI,MAY8

INAmajor shift in the procure-mentoftestingkits,apublicsectorfirmunder theHealthMinistrybeganissuingtendersonbehalfofICMRonFriday.Themove comes after ICMR,

onApril13,issuedatenderasking

central PSUs to act as procure-ment agencies for essential sup-pliesrelatedtoCOVID-19testing.The agency had beenunder thelens for delay inprocurement oftesting kits. The PSU, HLL InfraTechServicesLtd,invitedane-ten-der for three medical types ofequipment:RT-PCRkits,RNAex-traction kits, and Viral MediaTransportonFriday.

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI,MAY8

WHILEMOSTof thebigcities, in-cludingall themetros, are in theredzone,theabsenceoffield-levelhealthworkers inurbanareas isemergingasamajorhurdle.Meanwhile,atthedailybrief-

ing on Friday, HealthMinistryJoint Secretary LavAgarwal said“it is important thatwe learn tolivewith the virus and practisebehaviouralchanges”.Thedoubling timehas come

downto10days,from12daysonMay5.With3,390newcasesand103deathsbeingreportedinthelast 24 hours, the total count isnowupto56,342(16,539recov-ered)and1,886deaths.“Of the 37,916 active cases,

3.2%needoxygen,4.7%areintheICU and 1.1% need ventilators,”Agarwalsaid.Even as Brihanmumbai

Municipal Corporation (BMC)CommissionerPraveenPardeshiwas shunted out on Friday,sourcesintheHealthMinistrysaidthehighcase loadinMumbai in-dicates the largerprobleminbigcitiesacrossthecountry.While the National Urban

Health Mission (NUHM) wasclearedby theCabinet in2013, itwasnolongerapriorityayearlater.Hence,thereisashortageofdedi-catedhealthworkers, likeASHA(AccreditedSocialHealthActivist)workers and ANMs (AuxiliaryNurseMidwife), on theground.Moreover, the structure of theIntegratedDisease SurveillanceProgramme(IDSP)isdesignedforaccess into rural areas.“Therealproblem,notjust in

Mumbaibutinurbanareaselse-where,aswearefindingoutnow,is the lack of surveillance infra-structure.TheNUHMnevertookoff. In the villages,we are usingASHAworkersandANMs-thereare enough field-levelworkers,they just need to bemobilised.Butwhereare they in thecities?Municipalbodiesarenotattunedtosurveillancework,”saidanof-ficial.“The other surveillance in-

strument is the IDSP, with athree-tieredstructure-national,state and district. The needwasneverfelttoincreaseitspresenceinurbanareas,”hesaid.He said the structure ofmu-

nicipal bodies, inwhich sanita-tionworkersandasanitationin-spector oversee areas, is not therightmodelfortheintense,activecase search and contact tracingthat isneededforCOVID-19.TalkingaboutMumbai,asen-

iorHealthMinistry official said:“We are on the edge. Theyneeded to quarantine early on.They did not do that. However,we are hopeful thatwe can stillpullback.”Sofar,Mumbaihasre-ported 12,142 cases and 462deaths.“In some states like

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi,Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh and

TamilNadu, there is a spurt.Weare coordinatingwith state gov-ernmentstostrengthencontain-mentefforts,”saidAgarwal.However,officialswhovisited

Mumbaisaidthereisstillnocom-munity transmission in the city,addingthatthefeverclinicsout-side the containment zonesandthesurveillanceforinfluenza-likeillnessesinthebufferzoneshavenotreturned“anysignificantpos-itives.”Themainproblem,theysaid,

is the impossibility ofmaintain-ingsocialdistancingintheslumsthere. “In some of these places,peopletaketurnstosleep-basi-cally, four people spend eighthourseachinone‘shift’inaroom.Now, all 12 are crowded in thesame space. Howdoes distanc-ing happen?Wehave asked forgyms, community halls, what-ever isavailable, tobemadeintoquarantine centres, usemakeshift cardboard beds andshift people out. It’s notmuch,probably can’t even accommo-dateafraction,but it’sstillbetterthan the current situation,” saidanofficial.Praising the system put in

placebytheBMC,anofficialsaid:“Theyactuallydidonebetterthanwhatwe asked for.We said onecontainmentzoneandonebufferzone. They even set up a thirdzoneoutsidewheretheydidtheILIsurveillance.Buttheywerelaxin the containment zone, partlybecause of inexperience andpartly becauseof the conditionsof theurbanslums.”Atthedailybriefing,Agarwal

said it is possible that “with ad-herence to social distancingnorms and aggressive contain-ment, Indiamay never hit thepeak.”“Whena fresh listof districts

inred,greenandorangezonesisdrawnup,wewill share itwiththestates.Butaswetalkaboutre-laxationsandreturnofmigrants,it is important thatwe learn tolivewith the virus and practicebehaviouralchanges,”hesaid.While 216 districts have not

reportedanycasetilldate,42dis-tricts have not reported a freshcase in the last 28 days, 29 dis-tricts in the last 21 days, 36 dis-tricts in the last 14 days, and 46districts inthelast7days.Meanwhile,theICMRhasini-

tiatedamulti-centreclinicaltrialcalled PLACID trial - “Phase-IIOpen-Label,RandomisedControlledTrial,

to assess the safety and efficacyof convalescent plasma to limitCOVID-19 associated complica-tionsinmoderatedisease”.The study has received ap-

proval from the COVID-19National Ethics Committee(CONEC). The ICMR has short-listed21hospitalsforthetrial-5inMaharashtra; 4 in Gujarat; 2each in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,Madhya Pradesh and UttarPradesh; and 1 each in Punjab,Karnataka, Telangana andChandigarh.

Lack of health workers aconcern in cities, govtsays must live with virus

KAUNAINSHERIFFM,GARGIVERMA&ABHISHEKANGADNEWDELHI,RAIPUR,RANCHI,MAY8

AS THE Supreme Court Fridaystayed an interim order by theOrissaHighCourtaskingthestategovernment to ensure that themigrants seeking to come back“should (have) tested negative”for Covid-19, concerns are risingin thestateaboutcases linkedtoreturningworkers.Ganjamdistrict,thathadtwo

cases onMay 2, has 47 now, alllinkedtomigrantlabourerscom-ingfromhotspotSuratinGujarat.In the orange zone earlier,GanjamnowisthirdinOdishainnumberofcases,afterJajpur(55)andKhurda(50).OnFriday,a40-year-oldmigrant worker whohad returned from Surat wasfounddead at a quarantine cen-treinGanjamdistrict.Authoritiessaidhehadepilepsy.OtherdistrictsinOdishahave

also reported cases of labourersreturningfromSurattestingpos-itive—Bhadrak (3), Kendrapora(5), Balasore (2),Mayubhanj (4)andJagatsinghpur(4).Similar concerns have been

raised in Palamu district inJharkhand, where two positivecases have turned up amongthose who returned fromChhattisgarh. Principal HealthSecretary,NitinKulkarni,accused

Chhattisgarh of sending thelabourers into Jharkhandbeforetheir test results came. ChiefSecretary Sukhdev Singh said,“Weareluckyweinterceptedthelabourers before they couldmixwithacrowd.”The cases are a jolt to the

Centre’s calculation that Covid-19wouldmimickthe2009H1N1pandemicinIndia,wheresmallertownswithlowpopulationden-sitiesreportedonlyafewcases.Thefirsttwopositivecasesin

Ganjam had been screened atSurat, which seemed to havebeen ineffectual as they wereasymptomaticatthetime.Oneofthe two, a 17-year-old, said heshared a roomwith five room-mates inSurat and“sometimes”

visited a nearbymarket. He leftSurat on April 27 and reachedGanjam three days later, travel-ling with 56 others, includingthreeofhisroommates,onaspe-cial bus. Put in a governmentquarantine,hetestedpositiveonMay 2. The second case inGanjamwasofa22-year-oldwhostayedaloneinSurat,“oftenwentoutside to have food”, and trav-elled back on the same bus.Ganjamsawtwomorecases, onMay 4 and 5, both 18-year-oldswhohadreturnedfromSurat.A day later, on May 6, the

numberofpositivecasesamongthose returning from Suratjumpedto17,seeingafurtherin-creaseby26onMay7.Over May 5 and 6,

Mayurbhanj and Jagatsinghpursaw four positive cases eachtraced to Surat. On May 7,Bhadrak, which had 11 activecasesthen,sawthreecaseslinkedto Surat, while the next day,Kendrapa,with eight cases, sawseven.Balasorereportedtwopos-itive cases among themigrantworkers who came back fromSuratonMay7.The fresh cases mean

Jagatsinghpur andMayurbhanjarenowinorangezone.Themigrant labourer who

diedonFridayhadbeenputupata quarantine centre in Polasarablock since Tuesday, after he ar-rivedfromSuratonatrain.OnFriday,Odishaextendedits

mandatoryquarantineforCovid-

19suspectcases,includingthosecomingfromoutside, to28days,including21daysof institutionalquarantine and seven days athome.In Jharkhand, twoof the five

cases in Palamudistrict are con-structionlabourerswhoreturnedfrom Chhattisgarh in the lastweek of April. Jharkhand hasclaimedthattheyspentalmostamonthinquarantineshelterssetup by the Chhattisgarh govern-ment andwere symptomatic aswell as had tested positive onApril30butyetmanagedtoreachPatan in Jharkhand fromKoriyainChhattisgarh,260kmaway.AccordingtoChhattisgarhof-

ficials,thetwohadbeenworkinginNashik andNagpur andwerefirst stopped at a shelter inRajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, onApril 1, and then, 15 days later,shiftedwitharound100otherstoKoriya.The district officials at the

Koriya shelter collected theirsamples onApril 27. The IndianExpresswentthroughreportsbyAIIMS-Raipur, the nodal testingcentre, dated April 30, showingboth as positive and sympto-matic.A government official in

Raipur said, “By the time wefoundoutthattheywerepositive,weweretoldtheyhadalreadyleftthecamptogohome.Theauthor-itiesconcernedwereinformed.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

MigrantsleaveforhomesafterarrivingatHatiaRailwayStationinRanchifromTamilNaduFriday.PTI

Alarm over migrant workers as Odisha seesspike; Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh spar on cases

PARTHASARATHIBISWASPUNE,MAY8

ON APRIL 11-12, scientists at the LocustWarning Organisation (LWO) observedgroups of grasshoppers at Sri Ganganagarand Jaisalmer districts of Rajasthan. But farfromordinaryhoppers,theseweredesertlo-custs—thesamedestructivemigratorypestscurrentlydevouringacresofmaize,sorghumandwheat crops inEastAfrica.While locusts are seen in India as well,

thatisnormallyonlyduringJuly-Octoberandmostlyassolitaryinsectsorinsmall isolatedgroups.TheirbeingspottedalongtheIndia-Pakistan border beforemid-April this time—andcomingafterthedamagetheycausedto the growing rabi crops along westernRajasthanandpartsofnorthernGujaratdur-ing December-January — has raised thealarm bells, and comes at a timewhen thecountry is battling the more high-profilenovel coronaviruspandemic.

Whatexactlyare locusts?Thedesertlocust(Schistocercagregaria) is

ashort-hornedgrasshopperthatisinnocuouswhile it is in a “solitary phase” andmovingabout independently. Thesewinged insectsdifferfromnormalhoppers,andbecomedan-gerousonlywhentheirpopulationsbuilduprapidly and the close physical contact incrowded conditions triggers behaviouralchanges. They, then, enter the “gregariousphase”, by grouping into bands and formingswarmsthatcantravelgreatdistances(upto150kmdaily),whileeatingupeverybitofveg-etationontheway.Ifnotcontrolledattherighttime, these insect swarms can threaten thefoodsecurityofcountries.Kenyaisalreadyre-porting itsworst locustoutbreak in70years,whileEthiopiaandSomaliahaven'tseenonethisbadinquarterofacentury.

Howseriouslyshouldthefirst sightingsof the locustsbytheLWObeviewed?There’snothingmuchtoworryrightnow,

as the rabi crophas already beenharvestedand farmersareyet tocommenceplantingsfor thenewkharif season. The LWO(part oftheUnionAgricultureMinistry’sdirectorateofplantprotection,quarantine&storageandwith its field headquarters at Jodhpur inRajasthan)hassince thesecond fortnightofApril detected “gregarious” hopper groups,including at Fazilka in Punjab adjoining thePakistan border. But these have been low-densitynymphsin“2ndto4thinstar”stagesor immaturewingedadults.Nobreedingor

swarmmovementhasalsobeenseensofar.Thetiming, though, iscause forconcern.

The normal breeding season for locusts inIndiaisJuly-October.Butthistime,theyhavebeensightedbymid-April.Lastyear,too,theywere seen towards end-May as isolatedgrasshoppers. They could, nevertheless,breedtohighenoughpopulations for form-ing swarming andwreaking havoc duringthe rabi season in Rajasthan (especiallyGanganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner,Jaisalmer,Jodhpur,Nagaur, JaloreandSirohi)andGujarat (Banaskantha).Thelongertimeto breed ismore conducive for build-up ofgregariousinsectswarms,asopposedtosoli-tary, innocuoushoppers.

Whatkindofdamagecantheycause?Locustsarepolyphagous,i.e.theycanfeed

onawidevarietyofcrops.Secondly,theyhaveanabilitytomultiplyrapidly.Asinglefemaledesertlocustlays60-80eggsthriceduringitsroughly 90-day life cycle. K LGurjar, deputydirector of LWO, estimates that a 1-square-kmarea canaccommodate40-80millionofthese insects, making the growth of theirswarms exponential quite like the Covid-19virus. The damage potential of locusts hasbeen limited in India only because of the

country hosting a single breeding season—unlike Pakistan, Iran and East Africa, wheretheyalsomultiplyduring January-June.

What is thegenesisof thepresent locustupsurge,particularly inEastAfrica?It lies in theMekunuandLubancyclonic

stormsofMayandOctober2018thatstruckOmanandYemen,respectively.Theseturnedlarge desert areas in remote parts of thesouthernArabianPeninsulaintolakes,whichallowed the insects to breed undetectedacrossmultiplegenerations.Theswarmsat-tacking crops in East Africa reached peakpopulationsfromNovemberonwards,whilebuilding up since the start of this year insouthernIranandPakistan(Balochistanandparts of the Indus Valley and Punjab).WidespreadrainsinEastAfricainlateMarchandAprilhaveenabled furtherbreeding.AccordingtoKeithCressman,seniorlocust

forecaster at the Food and AgriculturalOrganizationof theUN,apartof thenewgen-eration of swarms forming there in late-June/JulymaymigratefromtheHornofAfricaacrosstheIndianOceantothedesertareasalongbothsidesoftheIndia-Pakistanborder.Priortothat, the locusts fromspringbreedingareasofsouthwestPakistanandsouthern Iranwould

arrive inRajasthanandGujaratduringMay-June.Theywould,then,breedwiththeonsetofthesouthwestmonsoonrainsandcontinuedo-ingsothroughthekharifcroppingseason.

Whatcanandshouldbedone?Ifthemonsoonisgood,andintheabsence

ofcontroloperations,themagnitudeofattackcouldbeworse than in the2019-20rabi sea-son.Gurjarpointsoutthatlastyear’slocustin-cursionswere the first andmost significantsince1993.LocalauthoritiesinRajasthanandGujarathadtotreatover4.30lakhhectaresofinfestedareaswithsprayersmountedontrac-tors andother vehicles. Thankfully, even oldgeneration organophosphate insecticidessuchasMalathion(96%ultra-lowvolumeaer-ial application) are effective against locusts.Aboutonelitreofthechemicalisnecessarytotreatahectareoftheirbreedingareas,includ-ingtreeswheretheyhaltforthenight.Gurjarsaysthat there isamplestockofpesticidestocontrol any swarms. Control operations alsorequireprocurementofequipment,trainingoffieldteams,prepositioningof supplies inkeybreeding areas and updating contingencyplans.Theseoperationsaretechnicallynotre-strictedunder thecurrent lockdownregime.Butthereisnotmuchtimetowasteeither.

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

A new concern: early locustsSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

LocustsnormallyarriveduringJuly-October,buthavealreadybeenspottedinRajasthan.AtatimeIndia isbattlingCovid, theypresentanewworrywiththeirpotential forexponentialgrowthandcropdestruction

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY8

ON FRIDAY, Rutgers University announcedthat the United States Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) has given emergencyapproval to testing for SARS-CoV2 on salivasamples sent by people themselves, fromhome.ThetesthasbeendevelopedbyRutgersUniversity’s RUCDR Infinite Biologics lab, incollaborationwith SpectrumSolutions andAccurateDiagnosticLabs.

What is differentThestandardtest forSARS-CoV2infection

isdoneonthroatornasalswabs(RT-PCR).Theselookforthepresenceofthevirusintheswabs.Variouscountriesalsohaveprovisionsfortest-ing blood samples for antibodies, including

Indiawhichallowsitincertainhotspots.Rutgers University and its collaborators

havedevelopedanapproach thatuses salivaastheprimarytestbiomaterialforSARS-CoV2.The approach recently got approval of the

FDA;thiswasforhealthcareworkerscollect-ingsalivafromindividualsattestingsites.OnThursday, the FDAamended the emergencyuseauthorisationforthefirstSARS-CoV2testthatwill allow people to collect their ownsaliva at home and send to a lab for results,RutgersUniversityannouncedinastatement.A company called Vault Health too has

been advertising saliva tests for SARS-CoV2.The FDA has not approved it, The New YorkTimesreportedrecently.

How it helpsCollection of nose and throat swabs at a

healthcarefacility,ortestinglocation,requiresphysical interactionwithahealthcareprofes-sional.Thenewat-homesalivaself-collectionassayallowsforbroaderscreening,Rutgerssaid.TheRUCDRlabhasalsolaunchedagenetic

testingservice.Thiscantestthousandsofsam-

ples daily, Rutgers said;with the new salivatests and expanded collection strategy, thatnumber can increase to tensof thousandsofsamplesdaily.“Collectinga saliva sampleathomemiti-

gates theriskof exposureneededtotravel toa facilityordrive throughand is less invasiveandmorecomfortableandreliablethanstick-ingaswabupyournoseordownyourthroat.Protectingbothpatientsandhealthcarepro-fessionals fromanyunnecessaryexposure isof paramount importance and saliva homecollectionaddressesalmostall issuesaroundtestingquality,safetyandavailability,”AndrewBrooks,chiefoperatingofficeranddirectoroftechnology development at RUCDR, said inthestatement.The approval alsomeans that healthcare

professionalsneednolonerbeputatriskforin-fectionbyperformingswabcollections,hesaid.

Saliva from home: howUS-approved test works

E EXPLAINED TheOutbreak

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

ATTHEheightoftheSARScrisisthathitEastAsia in 2003, the Health Minister ofVietnam,Madame Tran Thi Trung Chien,toldme, “Mr Indu,wecancatchcrabsonlyduring low tide.” Vietnam being largely acoastalcountry,shehadverycogentlycon-textualised Churchill’s famous quote,“Never let agoodcrisis go towaste.”I used toheadhealth sector operations

attheAsianDevelopmentBankatthattimeandwasinvolvedinplanningandsupervis-ing the implementation of its response tothe SARS crisis. Considered amajor publichealthcrisisatthetime, itpalesincompar-ison to thecurrentCovid-19crisis in termsof both spread and impact. SARS infected

onlyslightlyover8,000people in29coun-tries,with774deaths.Nonetheless, itshookthe people and governments in East Asiaoutof their slumberandmanyof themin-deeddidnot let this crisis go towaste.Lessons learnt fromtheSARSepidemic

have helped shaped East Asian countries’responsetotheCovid-19outbreak.Vietnamstandsoutamongthem—outof288casesbetweenJanuary23andMay8,only47areactive, andnonehavedied.

What SARS taughtLifestylesperceptibly changed inmany

East Asian countries after SARS. In placeslike China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan andKorea, the use of face coverings in publicplacesbecamethenorm.Thepracticewascontinuedevenaftertheoutbreakwasover.Peoplewithcoughsandcoldsattendofficewithfacecoverings.Newnormsdevelopedfor touchingof surfaces inpublicplaces. InEast Asia,most people nowpress elevatorbuttonswitha fingerknuckle, avoidingdi-rectcontactwiththeirfingertips.Peoplearealsomore careful and usemore hygienicsense in using public restrooms. Frequent

handwashing isanorm.SARSalsopromptedsomeintrospection

about working and travel arrangements.Facedwith temporary travel restrictionsduring the epidemic, the AsianDevelopmentBankexperimentedwithun-dertakingloannegotiationsthroughvideo-conferencing. This turnedout tobeas effi-cientasface-to-facemeetingsandhasnowbecome the norm. A realisation set in thatmuchof business travel couldbe severallyrationalised.Butmore than any of these outcomes,

by far the biggest impact of the crisis wasthatgovernmentsrealisedtheimportanceof investinginhealth.BeforeSARS,govern-mentswere generally not keen to borrowfrom development banks for the healthsector and preferred bilateral grant re-sourcesinstead.Theywouldprioritisehardinfrastructure projects for loan resources.As they would often rely on a false di-chotomy — hardmoney for hard sectorsand soft money for soft sectors. After thecrisis, this mindset changed. Many coun-tries realised that theywere spending toolittle on thehealth sector and that the rel-

atively small grant funding from bilateraldonorswouldnot suffice.China recognised the weakness of its

healthsystemandadoptedatwo-prongedapproachof strengthening itsgovernmenthealth facilitiesandexpandinghealthcov-erage through social health insurance,much likeAyushmanBharat.Governmenthealth expenditure tripled in a few years’timeandalmostentirepopulationreceivedhealth assurance. Other countries, evensmaller countries like Laos andCambodia,also investedheavily in their public healthsystems, improved their surveillance andreporting capacities, and significantly in-creased their health sector budgets. Ahealthy demand for large loan projects inthe health sector ensued. For example,Vietnam borrowed heavily to establish astrong and interlinked laboratory systemcovering theentirecountry.SARS, and subsequently H1N1, also

prompted East Asian countries to deepentheir regional cooperation on pandemicpreparedness and response. Coordinatedby the Association of South East AsianNations and other international develop-

ment agencies, systems and agreementswere put in place to identify emerginghealthemergenciesandshareinformation.SARSalsoprovidedamajorpush to the

WorldHealthOrganization’sefforttorevisethe InternationalHealthRegulations (IHR)tomakethemmoreeffective.TherevisionsallowedWHO to seek information frommember states andmandated sharing ofanyepidemicinformationwithneighbours.Starting in 2003, the revised IHRwere ap-proved by all member states within 18monthsinMay2005—aspeedakintothatof light intheglacialworldof internationalagencies where negotiations on only onephrasecan takeyears.These reforms have definitely helped

East Asian countries in effectively dealingwith the Covid-19 pandemic. These coun-tries,despitebeingcloselyconnectedwithChina through trade, tourism, culture andthediasporaandhavingagingpopulations,haveseenarelativelymodestimpactof thepandemic.While further researchwill tellusmore, anecdotal evidence suggests thatthewidespreadhygienicandface-coveringpracticesandstrongpublichealthsystems

havehelped in this process.Manyof thesepractices and systems developed as a re-sponse toSARS,H1N1andMERS.

A crisis to learn fromLives,socialpractices,workingarrange-

ments and thehealth sectorwill surely ir-reversibly changewith theCovid-19crisisin our country as well. Let us wait andwatch the shape and extent of thesechanges. The extent to which handwash-ing and other hygienic and physical dis-tancing practices become part of ourlifestyles;ourworkarrangementschange,with greater reliance on technology-en-abledconferencingandsupervisionandre-ducedtravel;accesstohealthcareincreasethroughenhanceduseof telemedicine;ourdiseasereportingandsurveillancesystemsbecome stronger; and expenditure onhealth becomes comparable to our peernations, is yet tobe seen.I firmlybelievethatIndiatoowillnotlet

this crisis go towaste.

InduBhushan isChiefExecutiveOfficer,AyushmanBharat-PM-JAY

ANEXPERTEXPLAINS

Indu Bhushan

What SARS taught East Asia, andwhat India can learn fromCovid

SwarmBandsGroupsAdultsHoppers

Breeding&Movements(May-June)

(LateMay)

(mid-June)

AFRICA

INDIA

A R A B I A NS E A

WHERE THEY ARE, WHERE THEY ARE HEADED

Themap, fromtheUNFood&Agriculture Organization, showsareasof locustpresenceandprojections for theirmovement; thephotographof locustsonashrubis fromtheLocustWarningCentre,Governmentof India.

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

104,691Iran

215,858Italy

169,430Germany

207,977United Kingdom

174,918France

221,447Spain

1,259,777US

137,309Brazil

133,721Turkey

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 3,877,914 DEATHCOUNT:270,537

THEWORLD

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonMay6

187,859Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 56,342 (1,886 DEATHS)

17,974Maharashtra

5,409Tamil Nadu

1,847Andhra Pradesh

3,427Rajasthan

1,644Punjab

3252MP

3,071 UP5,980 Delhi

7,012Gujarat 1,548

West Bengal

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,May8.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.16,540PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN30STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

INApandemicwhoseimpactonpub-lic health, the economyand the envi-ronmentisstillunfolding,hereisanewfinding:While traffic pollution hasbeen falling, the lockdownmay beleadingtothegenerationof adanger-ouspollutant,urbanozone,whichcancauseairwayinflammationinhumans.TheresearchisspecifictotheUK.It

has been conducted by experts fromTheUniversityofManchester, ledbyHughCoe, Professor ofAtmosphericComposition, plus airpollution expert DrJames Allan fromManchester’sDepartment of Earthand EnvironmentalSciences. The findingshavebeensubmittedinresponsetoacallforev-idencefromtheUKgov-ernment’sDepartmentfor Environment, FoodandRuralAffairs(Defra),theuniversitysaidinastatement.NITROGENOXIDES:Levelsofni-

trogenoxideswere foundreduced inmost locationsintheUKduringmid-March andApril. The level of declinerangesfrom20%to80%. Levelsofni-trogen oxides fall less in rural areasthanurbanareas;andtheyarehigherin the morning than compared tolater in theday.

PM2.5:Therewasnoevidenceofadecrease in PM2.5. “While these par-ticleareproducedbyvehicles,theyarealsoknowntooriginatefromdomesticwoodburningandchemicalreactionsinvolvingemissionsfromindustryandagriculture, so there has beenno sig-nificant improvement inairquality inthatregard,”ProfessorCoesaid.URBANOZONE:TheManchesterteam speculated that photochemi-

calproductionofozonemaybecomemoreim-portant in urban areasduringsummertimeintheselowconditionsofoxides of nitrogen. Asnitrogenoxidesreduce,photochemical pro-duction may becomemore efficient and canlead to higher ozoneconcentrationsinsum-mertime as highertemperatures increase

emissions of biogenic hydrocarbonfrom natural sources such as trees.Thesebiogenichydrocarbonssignifi-cantlyaffecturbanozone levels.While ozone is important for

screeningharmful solarUV radiationwhenpresenthigherupintheatmos-phere, it can be a dangerous at theEarth’ssurface,andcanreacttodestroyoraltermanybiologicalmolecules.

Source:UniversityofManchester

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

Lockdown air: less NO2, samePM2.5 and more urban ozone

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands33ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 54Bihar 550Chandigarh 135Chhattisgarh 59DadarNagarHaveli 1Goa 7Haryana 625HimachalPradesh 46JammuandKashmir 793Jharkhand 132Karnataka 705Kerala 503Ladakh 42Manipur 2Meghalaya 12Mizoram 1Odisha 219Puducherry 9Telangana 1123Tripura 65Uttarakhand 61 Nucleicacidextractionworkstationfor

processingsalivasamplesforSARS-CoV2testing.DavidSokolowski/RutgersUniversity

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould like explained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.com

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CAUTIONARY TALEVizaggasleakmustbeprobedquickly,accountabilityenforced.Otherchemicalplantsrestartingoperationsmustbechecked

TWOTHOUSANDPEOPLEaffectedina5kmradiusinadenselypopulatedcity,hundreds in hospital and 11 dead— the gas leak in Visakhapatnam revivesdarkmemoriesofBhopalin1984,whentheUnionCarbideplanttherecausedoneofthebiggestindustrialdisastersever.Byallaccounts,recurringinstances

of human oversight and callousness appear to have precipitated the disaster at the LGPolymers Indiaunit. Theoriginal owners of theplant,McDowell&Co, had sold itwhenthefast-developingcityofVisakhapatnamdrewuncomfortablyclosetoit. Itwouldhavebeenwise torelocatesince thehazardous feedstockof styrenewas inuse,butLGtook itover in1997andcontinuedproduction, admitting last year that ithadexceeded theca-pacity permitted by its environmental clearance. It had then sought permission for ex-pansionfromthestateauthorities,thoughthecentralministryofenvironmentandforestsis the competent authority. Theministry later dropped thematter in thebelief that thecompanyhad lost interest.ThisseriesofunfortunateeventsmayhavelaidthegroundfortheaccidentonMay7

—itisbeingsaidthattheleakoccurredbecausethestyrenehadbeenstoredforalongtime,due to the lockdown. A failure to check hazardous chemicals and storage vessels is nolessmystifying than the failure to secureenvironmental clearancebefore restartingop-erations— the role and responsibility of the company, the state administration and theUnionministrymust be probed and accountabilitymust be enforced. Themanagers ofthecompanyshouldhaveknownthatstartingaproductionlinewhichhaslaindormantforalongperiodisnotatrivialprocess.Beforethrowingtheswitch,theyshouldhaverunthroughtheentire safetydrill.A flurryof official activityhas followedthegas leak.TheNationalGreenTribunalhas

ordered LGPolymers India to pay interimdamages of Rs 50 crore and issuednotices tothe company, the Central Pollution Control Board, the state and the Centre. The policehaveregisteredacaseof culpablehomicideandcausinggrievoushurtagainst theman-agement,undertheIndianPenalCode.TheYSJaganmohanReddygovernmenthassetupafive-memberteamtoprobetheincident,andtheUnionministryof chemicalsandfer-tilisershasadvisedchemicalplantstoreopenwithcaution.Now,theprobereportshouldbecalledinassoonaspossible,actionmustbetakenagainsttheguiltyandauthoritiesis-suing environmental clearancesmust identify any other defaulters and prevent themfromrestarting.

TRAGEDY ON TRACKSAurangabad incidentmustdrawattentiontovulnerabilityofmigrantworkers incrisis,needtoaddress iturgently

THEPUBLICHEALTHchallengeof confronting thenovel coronavirushas trig-geredaterriblehumanitariancrisis inthecountry.Amongstthedefiningim-agesof the lockdown imposed tocontain the spreadof thevirus—arguablythemoststringentintheworld,andannouncedatshortnotice—arethoseof

migrantworkerswalkingbackhomeonthecountry’shighways,carryingtheirchildren,andattimeselderlyfamilymembers,ontheirshouldersandintheirarms.Therehavebeenreports of manyworkers collapsing by thewayside, weakened by hunger and fatigue.SixteenmorenameswereaddedonFridaytothelengtheningtoll—ofmigrantsrunoverbyafreighttraininAurangabad,Maharashtra,afterthey, inexhaustion,fellasleeponthetracks,onthewaytotheirhomes.Thelivelihoodsof theseworkershaddriedupaftertheironfactory in Jalna,whichemployedthem,hadpulleddownitsshuttersbecauseof thelockdown.TheworkersweretrekkingtoBhusawal,about150-kmaway,tocatchaShramikSpecial train to return to theirhomes inMadhyaPradesh.There is littledoubt that themigrantworkersareessential and indispensable for the

wheelsof thecountry’seconomytoturn.Theyhelprunfactories,buildroadsandhouses,harvest crops, collect garbage andpull rickshaws. But it’s ameasure of their invisibilitythat there isvery littleofficialdataontheirexactnumbers—according to theEconomicSurvey,2017,ninemillionpeoplemigrateacrossstateseveryyear,butotherstudiessug-gest that this could be a conservative estimate. There is a growing body of literature onthemultipledeprivationsandinjusticestheymustbear.AccordingtothePeriodicLabourForceSurvey(PLFS)of2017-18, for instance,morethan70percentof theworkers inthenon-agriculturalsectorwitharegularsalary—mostofthemmigrants—didn’thaveawrit-tenjobcontract,about55percentwerenoteligibleforpaidleaveand,50percentdidnothaveanysocialsecuritybenefits.Anybreakdownofeconomicactivity,suchasthatcausedby thepandemic, leaves theseworkers to fend for themselves.Thepublichealthchallengeposedbythenovelcoronavirushasledtosomemeaning-

fulconversationsonimprovingthecountry’shealthcarefacilities. Itshouldalsooccasiondiscussions on putting in place social security nets for themigrantworkers. After thepandemic, theseworkerscannotgobackto the ill-lit shadowsof theeconomythat theyhavebeen forced tooccupy for so long.

A DECENT EXCHANGEEconomiccrisisbroughtonbyCovid-19has ledpeople inFiji

backto thebarter system.There isasilver lining

KARLMARXTHOUGHT,aboutacentury-and-a-half ago, that societymovedfromprimitive communism, through various forms and structures of in-equality,tocommunismproper.Economicsystemsmovedforward,resolv-ing their contradictions and creating new ones. Turns out hewas, at best,

onlyhalf right.Mediumsof exchangewith fictionalvalue—money, inall its formsandabstractions

—are premised on a leap of faith. People accept the “promise to pay the bearer” fromadistant authority, and lives, communities, economies and civilisations are built on thistrust. Butwhen the system isn’t enough, and themargins swell enough to flood theen-tire system, a different, more relatable form of exchange comes into place. In Fiji, andmanyotherPacific Islandnations, COVID-19has forceda return to thebarter system. Inepidemiological terms, the regionhasbeen relatively less affectedby thepandemic:AttheendofApril,onlysixPacificcountriesandterritoriesbetweenthemhavereported260casesandsevendeaths.Yet,over10percentof Fiji’spopulation—1,00,000people—areactive ona Facebookgroup called “Barter for aBetter Fiji”. Similar groupshave croppedup inTonga, SamoaandVanuatu.Thetourismsector in theregion isdevastated,andpeopleareoutofwork.Yet, in the

absenceofmoney,manyaresustainingthemselvesthroughwork,andthedignityof so-cialexchangesthatengenders.Labour—whetheryou’reacarpenter,teacheroraccount-ant—canbeexchangedformeat,foodandothercommodities.Professionalphotographylessonsarebeingexchangedfor food.The ideabehindthisnetworkof exchanges issim-ple:Aneconomiccrisisneednotdescendtoahumanitarianone.Thinkingofwhateachmember of society can offer, and negotiating the value of that good/servicemight notleadtoaUtopianidealofequality.Butastheworldstrugglestotreatpeoplewithdecencyamidapandemic, it is at least amoremoralequilibrium.

Arvind Subramanian and Josh Felman

KhaledAhmed

WithCovidcrisisdealingsharpblowtostrugglingfinancialsector,revivalcalls fornewapproach

TURNING INWARDS, LOCKING MINDSEducational reformunder ImranKhan isawayofembracing isolationism

SLOWLY BUT PERCEPTIBLY,we aremovingintoadifferentphaseof theCovidcrisis. Thehealth situation remains serious, of course,precludingnormalsocialinteractions.Butastheexit fromlockdownstarts, albeit slow inpace and differentiated across geographies,attention isbeginningto focusonthetaskofreviving economic production. WarrenBuffettfamouslysaidthatonlywhenthetiderecedes canwe see the jagged rocks. As theCoviddelugerecedes,what jaggedrocksarewelikelytosee?Andwhat isthebestwaytorepair thedamage?Forsometime,wehavearguedthatprod-

uctionandgrowthhavebeenheldbackbydi-seased balance sheets, afflicting key sectorsof the economy. As far back as December2014,wehighlightedthatthebankingsectorandinfrastructurefirmshadcomeunderfina-ncial stress, a problemwe termed the TwinBalanceSheet(TBS)challenge.ByDecember2019,wedocumentedthat theproblemhadspread to the NBFC and real estate sectors,raisingthenumberofstressedbalancesheetsto four.Now, following the Covid-19 shock, red

inkwillbeblottingbalancesheetsacrosstheeconomy.Formorethanamonth,firmsofallsizesandsectorshavebeenunabletoselltheirgoods;many households have been unableto earn; financial institutionshavebeenun-abletocollectontheirloans;andthegovern-ment has been unable to collectmuch taxrevenue.Thedamagetoalltheirfinancialpo-sitions has been severe, andwill take a longtimetorepair.How bad is the damage likely to be?

Reportssuggest thataroundone-thirdof in-dustrial and service firms have applied formoratoriaontheirbankloans. Ifonlyaquar-terofthesedeferredloanseventuallygobad,then the stock of non-performing assets(NPAs)wouldincreasebyRs5lakhcrore.Andthis is a conservative estimate. Senior bankofficialshavebeenquotedasestimatingthatthestockofNPAscould increasebyasmuchas Rs 9 lakh crore. In this case,wewould belooking at NPAs of Rs 18 lakh crore, equiva-lent to around 18 per cent of current loansoutstanding. For planning purposes, it isworth considering whowill pay for suchlosses, if theydomaterialise.

At one level, the answer is simple: Theshareholders of the financial institutions,whichinmostcasesmeansthegovernment.But this iswhere theubiquityof thebalancesheetproblemcomesin.WhentheTBSchal-lenge first materialised, after the GlobalFinancial Crisis of 2008-09, thegovernmenthadarelativelystrongbalancesheet:Deficitswerelow, andtheconsolidateddebt-GDPra-tio,havingfallenby17percentagepointsovertheprevious7years,stoodatjustover60percentofGDP.So, fiscalroomwasavailable,al-lowing the government to recapitalise thePSUbanks.Thistime,thegovernment’sfinancialpo-

sitionwillbequitedifferent.Centralandstategovernment deficits anddebtswill increasedramatically this year, as revenues, alreadyslowing, have been decimated by the Covidcrisis,whileexpenditureshaveincreased.Addin a slowly recovering economy, and it be-comes clear that the fiscal positionwill re-mainweak for someconsiderable time.Asaresult, thegovernmentwillwant topass theburden onto the corporate and householdsectors, in theformofhigher taxes,morear-rears,andpossiblyhigherinflation.Butthesesectorswillresist,fortheyhavefinancialprob-lemsof theirown.Itwillbetemptinginthesecircumstances

todelayrecognisingtheproblem,pushing itintothefuture,forexamplebyallowingbanksnottoclassifybadloansasNPAs,andbarringthemfromtakingdefaulterstotheInsolvencyand Bankruptcy (IBC) system. But this time,morethanever,thiswouldbethewrongap-proach. The reason is that, in circumstanceswherenosectorhasastrongabilitytobearaloss, it becomes imperative tominimise thesizeof that loss.How can this be done? Broadly, in two

ways.First,bypreventingbankruptciesfromoccurring in the first place. Todo this, bankswillneedtoidentifythefirmsthatareviable,and lend them the funds they need to tidethemover the immediate crisis. But banksare facing their owndifficulties, and are re-luctanttobeartheriskofmakingsuchloans.So, the governmentmight need to create aguarantee fundtosupport lending,asoneofushasproposed.Second,whenfirmsdodefault,theyneed

toberesolvedasquicklyaspossible.Speedisnecessary because the financial position ofstressedfirmstendstoworsenovertime.Bydefinition,stressedfirmshavepoorcashflowsand can’t obtainmuch in theway of loansfrom banks. So, they don’t have enoughmoney to fund their operations properly,whichmeansthatovertimetheirunderlyingbusiness deteriorates, destroying the firms’market value. Considerwhat happened tonow-famousHouseofDebtfirms,the17largecompanies (excluding Essar Steel and theAdanigroup)thatCreditSuisselongagoiden-tified as stressed. InMarch 2010, theirmar-ketvaluewasRs3.1lakhcrore.Adecadelater,theirvaluehadfallentojustRs0.8lakhcrore,alossofRs2.3lakhcroreornearly75percent.Accountingfor inflationoverthisperiod, therealvalueof that loss isevengreater.Asthisexampleshows,whilepublicatte-

ntionfocusesonthesizeoftheNPAs,amuchmoreimportantnumberistherecoveryrate—thedegreetowhichthebankscanrecoverontheseloans.Andtheonlywaytomaximisethe recovery rate is to sort out thebad loansspeedily. If this can be done, and firms putback on their feet quickly, the economywillreapanadditionalbenefit,sincetheresolvedfirmswillbeablecontributetotherecovery.Torecapitulate, theCovidcrisis isdealing

asharpblowtoanalready-struggling finan-cial sector. But no sector is in a strong posi-tiontorescuethebanks,sincebalancesheetsacross theeconomyarenow impaired. Thatmeansthecostscannotbespread,theymustbeminimised,whichinturnrequiresurgentactionbecausedelaysseverelyerodetheun-derlyingvalueof assets.Anewapproachisconsequentlyneeded.

The immediateproblemscreatedbythecri-sismustbeaddressed,decisivelyandquickly.Then the attentionwill have to turn to ad-dressing thepre-Covid legacybalance sheetproblems,whichhavebeenintensifiedbythecrisis. In the next column, wewill suggesthowbothcanbedone.

Subramanian is formerchiefeconomicadvisor to thegovernmentof IndiaandFelmanis former IMFResident

Representative to India(Thisisthefirstoftwopiecesbytheauthors)

REACTING TO PROTEST marches called“AuratMarch”thisyearbywomenwhowanttocontrol their lives inmattersof educationandmarriage, PrimeMinister Imran Khanannounced:“Wewill,hopefullybynextyear,introduceacoresyllabus forall schools thatwill bemandatory for students apart fromthe additional subjects each institutionchoosestoteach.Thisishowyoucreateana-tion.This ishowyouendrival cultures fromdeveloping. The AuratMarch that just hap-pened... a different culturewas visible in it.this is a cultural issue and this comes fromtheschoolingsystem”.Whathehintedatwasthatthe“liberated”

women who wanted more rights were“Westerneducated”andwereresponsibleforthesocietaldividethathisgovernmentwouldend by adopting a “uniform education sys-tem”.Theobviousinferencefromhisremarkis that hewould like to “merge” Urdu andEnglish-mediumeducationwiththemadras-sasorthereligiousschoolsfunctioninginthecountry:Hewould be less able to prune theextremistreligious-ideologicalmaterialintheUrdu-medium-madrassasectorwhileexpur-gating the “liberal” aspect of the English-mediumsector.Pakistan’seducationalsystemhasconsis-

tentlyopposedthe“liberalism”thatthegrow-ingmiddleclassallowsitschildrentoimbibein the English-medium sector. Therewas a

timewhen Khan used to accuse his “mod-ernised” opponents of “liberal fascism”. Butno one ideologically inclined thinks of tack-ling the extremismnurtured by the Urdu-mediumandmadrassasectors.GivenPakistan’spoor levelof intellectual

sophistication, theproject of educational re-formunder Khan runs the risk of becomingBokoHaram—which translates literally to“Western education is forbidden”— since2009. As a movement of the Muslims ofnorthern Nigeria, Boko Haram’s army ofIslamicsoldiershaskilledmorethantwomil-lionpeople, andkidnappedand raped thou-sandsofMuslimgirls.The uniformity of mind created in the

state-sector schools is a kind of preparationfor the final takeover by the puremadrassastream—theutopiaPakistanaspiresto.Ama-jorityofthesuicide-bomberboyswhodidthedirtyworkoftheTalibancamefromthestate-runschools.Themadrassas,ontheotherhand,providedthewarriors thatwagedcross-bor-derjihadandattimes,defiedthepatron-stateitself.Today,Pakistanissimplynotintellectu-ally equipped to handle the problem it hasposited to itself. Themost lockedmind inPakistanislocatedinsidetheeducationalbu-reaucracy serving in the federal andprovin-cialministries.Khanmight create a system thatwould

stillhavetwostreams:Urdu-mediumandthe

madrassas.Will this create the “single” sys-temhewants?Giventhegeneral intellectualbackwardness of Muslims fromNigeria toIndonesia,hemightendupisolatingPakistanfurtherthrougha“newmind”embracingtheisolationismof Iran.Why is Pakistan upset by the “three

streams”? Pakistan is going through awith-eringprocessofisolationism,whichisanotherword for turning inwards and showinghos-tility towards anything smelling of foreign-ness.Liberalismisunderattackandliberaled-ucation is already not in favour even in theprivate sector streamwhere the financiersknowitpaystocreatespacefor ideologyanduniformityof themind.PakistanischolarMadihaAfzalinherbook

Pakistan under Siege: Extremism, Society, andtheState,observes:“Whileeducationappearstomakepeoplelessfavourabletowardterror-istgroups,thereisalsoaworryingincreaseinfavourability towardthesegroupsat thesec-ondary school level.My analysis of PakistanStudiestextbookshelpedexplainwhythat isthecase:ThebookssetupaframeworkoftheworldinwhichPakistanisviewedasthevic-timofconspiraciesofbothIndiaandtheWest,andPakistanisandMuslimsarepitchedinop-positiontoothercountriesandreligions.”

Thewriter isconsultingeditor,NewsweekPakistan

How bad is the damage likelyto be? Reports suggest thataround one-third ofindustrial and service firmshave applied for moratoriaon their bank loans. If only aquarter of these deferredloans eventually go bad, thenthe stock of non-performingassets (NPAs) wouldincrease by Rs 5 lakh crore.And this is a conservativeestimate. Senior bankofficials have been quoted asestimating that the stock ofNPAs could increase by asmuch as Rs 9 lakh crore. Inthis case, we would belooking at NPAs of Rs 18lakh crore, equivalent toaround 18 per cent of currentloans outstanding. Forplanning purposes, it isworth considering who willpay for such losses, if they domaterialise.

Pakistan is going through awithering process ofisolationism, which isanother word for turninginwards and showinghostility towards anythingsmelling of foreignness.Liberalism is under attackand liberal education isalready not in favour even inthe private sector streamwhere the financiers know itpays to create space forideology and uniformity ofthe mind.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020 WORDLYWISEWith the breakdownofmoney economy thepractice of international barter is becoming

prevalent. — JOHN KEYNESTHEEDITORIALPAGE

ASSAM STATUS QUOTHE CENTRE DOES not appear to be in ahurry to find a solution to the Assamprob-lem, definitely not beforeMay15when thedeadline given by the student leaders ex-pires. The mood in Delhi is of “wait andwatch”.TheimpressiononegetsisthatDelhiwould take the initiative after theassemblyelections. Attemptsmade to persuade theCentre to relook the problemhave notmetwithanysuccess.Therewasafeeleronbehalfof somenon-partymen,whohave contactswiththeorganisersoftheAssammovement,to try to bring the student leaders and thecentralgovernmenttothenegotiatingtable.But the latterdidnot respondto that.

NATWARLAL SENTENCEDNATWARLAL,WHOSE NAME has becomesynonymouswithcheatingandforgery,hasbeen sentenced to 14 years’ rigorousimprisonmentontwocountsofcheatingbythe chief judicial magistrate of Indore.There areabout200cases against themas-ter imposter for defrauding banks and therailwaysofmorethanRs2crore. Ifheiscon-victedinall thesecases,hewillbegiven150years’ imprisonment.ButNatwarlalsaysnoprisoncanholdhimforlong.“Nojail inIndiacankeepme formore than a year”, he said.Natwarlal has escaped fromvarious jails atleast half-a-dozen times. Police custodymeans little to him. “To walk out of it is a

mere plaything”, he said as he clicked hisfingers, emerald rings flashing.

MEETING BREZHNEVPRIME MINISTER INDIRA Gandhi metthe Soviet president, Leonid Brezhnev, andwarned him about the growing anxiety innon-aligned nations over Sovietintervention in Afghanistan, an Indianspokesman said. The spokesman saidthetalks,whichlasted45minutes, concen-trated almost exclusively on questionspertaining to Afghanistan. Although Indiahas friendly relations with Moscow,Mrs Gandhi has opposed the Soviet incur-sion inAfghanistan.

MAY 9, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

The economic malaise

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“In the longer run, there are no quick solutions to our society’s healthinequalities. They are deeply rooted... The pandemic has exposed howdevastating they can be, and when it ends, the need to address them will be asdeep as ever.”

— THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

AMIDSTRIGHTFULJUBILATIONovertheex-ecution of a colossal nationwide lockdown,the plight of haplessmigrants has raised animportant, long dormant issue. Theirpredicament has triggered a volley of ques-tions—aboutwhythemagnitudeof themi-grantexoduswasnotanticipated, leadingtoacrisis situation.Anguishover theirhunger,and unresponsiveness to their natural urgeto returnhome,bereft of dailyearnings, hasreceivedextensivemediacoverage.But the basic reason whymigrants re-

mainthewaytheydohasnotbeendiscussed.This article does not answer the valid ques-tions but, instead, attempts to unravel whothemigrantsareandwhytheyremainmar-ginalised fordecades.The fact that half the population of a

megapolis like Mumbai or Delhi lives inslums and shanties is well known. All gov-ernmentsmake attempts to improve theirlives.Within a couple of days of the COVIDlockdown,Delhislum-dwellersreceivedfreerations to last sixweeks,womengotmoneyand pensioners saw a doubling of their de-posits. The needy got hotmeals twice a daywithin 48 hours of the lockdown and, eversince,2millionpeople(thepopulationofthecityof Patna)arebeing feddaily.Then why do we see hundreds of mi-

grantsontelevisionscreenscomplainingbit-terly about staying hungry?Why did theSupremeCourthavetoadviseonerationcardforallduringthelockdown?Isthereadiffer-encebetweenslumdwellersandmigrants?Seasonalorpermanent?Settledorstranded?Tounderstandthis,onehastoseetheconsti-tutional provisions and policies governingthepoliticaleconomy.Thelatterenduremi-grantsforeconomicreasonswithoutamalga-mating them under the state’s food safetynets.According to theConstitution,urbande-

velopmentistheresponsibilityofmunicipalgovernments and themanagement of mi-gration isone facetof that.While theCentrecangivedirections, thestateshavethepow-ers to legislate on urbanmatters. Of course,likemuch else, policies are determined bywhere the political advantage lies. Thislargelyexplainsthehugedisparitiesthatcon-tinuetoexist inlevelsofsocio-economicde-velopment.In administering welfare schemes, mi-

grants are not equatedwith state residents,be it the regulation of minimumwages,housing,andpoliticalparticipation.AWorldBank study has referred to “migrant un-friendlypolicies”thatprevailthroughoutthecountry.Everystatemaintainsreservationingovernment jobsandhighereducation, tar-gets foodgraindistributionandprovidesso-cialwelfareessentiallyforthestate’sownres-idents. Nurturing migrants is consideredsuicidal as it upsets the local residentswhoassert first claim on benefits, theMarathiManoos syndrome being a case in point.Political parties find it difficult and unpro-ductive to promotemigrantswith no rootsasvoter constituencies.Whilemigrantscanaccesshospitalsand

receive treatment, this hasnever extendedtohabitation.On first arrival newmigrantsjust try and get enough room to sleep.

Eventually, after years, theymight negoti-ate an address to show continuity of stay,whichalonecanenablethemtogetanelec-tioncardandarationcard.Fordecades, theyhavetravelledtothecities—athousandmi-grants disembark just at Old Delhi railwaystation every day. Initially, they depend onmama-chachanetworkswhile scouting forwork. After years, they fetch the family.Seasonal workers are different, as they of-ten come as a family. Many were leftstrandedafter the lockdown.Successive chief ministers have treated

migrants as “not our problem”. Most mi-grantswouldbehaving rationcards in theirhome states but these are not transferable.Onlywhen elections are on the horizon arethey facilitated in getting a local PehchanPatra (election card) and a ration card. Butuntil thosedocumentsareacquired (orpro-cured), theyremainoutside thewelfarenet.Themagnitude of inter-statemigration

inIndiawasreportedtobecloseto9millionannually between 2011 and 2016, whileCensus 2011 pegged inter- and intra-statemovementatcloseto140millionthen.Someestimatespitchmigrantstobeatleast10percent of the labour force, contributing sub-stantially to theGDP.Since the Constitution enjoins citizens

with theright to resideandsettleanywhereinthecountry,nopermissionsarerequiredtomove or stay anywhere—mostly on publiclandwith the tacit approvalof severalpolit-icalandpublicauthorities.Althoughthestateisenabledtomakelawsimposingreasonable

restrictionsinpublicinterest,theyhaveshiedaway from regulatingmigrant settlement.Indispensableastheyare,migrantsarecon-sideredunsupportable innormal times.During theCOVIDpandemic, themedia

hashighlighted a situationnowelfare statecan afford to turn away frommuch longer.Turning a Nelson’s eye to the arrival of mi-grantsandlettingthemroughitoutontheirowncancontributetounmanageablehealthhazards putting entire populations at risk.Permitting the vicious cycle of slums andsqualor has shown how infection can per-meate intodensepopulations. If COVIDhasnot taught this lesson, nothing will. Thestatesmust now start to register everymi-grant. Only regular head countswill enableacorrectmeasureof theentitlements.But registration is only the first step.

Finding state resources for them, unlessbilled to projects hiringmigrants, will bemind-blowing. Registrationwill be a hugechallenge. Unless the processes are simple,transparent and lowcost, they canbecomeexclusionaryandexploitative.TheAadhaar card couldbeused tokick-

start migrant registration. The states withgreaterpullfactorswillneedtotakeacallonhabitation andwelfare — if not spurred byhumanitarianism,thenatleastbytheobliga-tion to safeguard the health of their resi-dents.

Thewriter isa former secretary to thegovernmentof Indiaand formerchief

secretary,Delhi

STRANDED WORKERSTHIS REFERS TO the editorial,‘Workers’ choice’ (IE,May 8).Migrantlabourers cannot be expected to stayput with so much uncertainty overtheir employment. The governmentshould immediatelyputthemtoworkon thehugenumber of infrastructureprojects lying unfinished across thecountry.Withoutthehindrancetohu-man and cargo movement, down tominimum levels thanks to the pan-demic, these projects can be fast-tracked. We should not lose this op-portunity to keep our migrantlabourers gainfully employed.

SBBhalerao,Mumbai

THISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Workerschoice’ (IEMay8). It is a relief to learnthat thedecisiontocancel thetrain formigrantworkershasbeenrolledback.In this great crisis, the governmentsshould feel obliged to facilitate thejourneybackhomeforstrandedwork-ers. But theoriginaldecision tocancelthe trains without consulting theworkers (who had registered to goback) and the logic behind that deci-sion surely point out how poorly thedecision-makers hold the opinionsand interests of thepoor.

PritamSingh,Delhi

CHINA SUFFEREDTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Enemy is

coronavirus, not China’ (IE, May 8).The reports of coronavirus casualtiesemergingoutofWuhanat thetailendof2019wereagonising.Noconspiracytheory canbelittle the suffering facedby the Chinese people due to thispandemic. China’s firsthand experi-ence in dealing with the outbreakcame handy for the rest of theworld.On its part, China should seriouslyreconsider its decision to opera-tionalise the wet markets dealing inexotic animals and support researchon zoonotic diseases withwider par-ticipationfromacademiciansof inter-national repute.

SudipKumarDey,Kolkata

11

THEFALLOUTof the lockdown inorder toreduce thespreadof COVID-19highlightsthe urgent need to rationalise the legisla-tiveframeworkforlabourinIndia.Migrantlabourhasbeenamongtheworstaffectedduetothelockdown.Theireffortsto leavethecitiesbeforethelockdown,andtheex-traordinaryeffortssomeputintogetbackhome, suggest that they have verylowresiliencetostayincitieswithoutem-ployment. They fall through the cracksof India’s social security net, and thegovernmentresponsehasshownasignif-icant gap between high-minded inten-tions reflected in existing laws and theirimplementation.Akeypieceof legislationgoverningin-

ter-statemigrantsinIndiaistheInter-StateMigrant Workmen (Regulation ofEmployment and Conditions of Service)Act, 1979. TheActwasenacted topreventthe exploitation of inter-state migrantworkmenbycontractors,andtoensurefairanddecentconditionsofemployment.Thelaw requires all establishments hiring in-ter-state migrants to be registered, andcontractorswhorecruitsuchworkmenbelicensed.Contractorsareobligatedtopro-videdetailsofallworkmentotherelevantauthority. Migrant workmen are entitledto wages similar to other workmen, dis-placementallowance, journeyallowance,andpaymentofwagesduringtheperiodofjourney. Contractors are also required toensureregularpayment,non-discrimina-tion,provisioningofsuitableaccommoda-tion, freemedical facilities andprotectiveclothing for theworkmen.In the immediate aftermath of the

lockdown,stategovernmentsweretakenunawares by inter-state migrants whoweredesperatetoreturnhome.Manyhadlost jobs,wouldnot be able to afford rentandwereafraidof fallingseriously illawayfrom their families. The full and properimplementation of this lawwould havemeant that state governments had com-plete details of inter-statemigrantwork-men coming through contractors withintheir states. While this would still leaveout migrants whomove across states ontheirown,a largesegmentwouldbeauto-matically registered due to the require-ments of the Act. States would conse-quentlyhavebeenbetterpreparedtotakestepstoprotectsuchworkmenduringthislockdown. However, almost no stateseems to have implemented this law inletter and spirit.The primary reason for this seems to

be theonerous compliance requirementssetoutinthelaw.Itnotonlyrequiresequalpay for inter-state workmen, but also re-quires other social protection that wouldmake their employment significantlymoreexpensivethanintra-stateworkmen.This includesthepaymentsofdifferental-lowances,andrequirementsthatcontrac-tors provide accommodation andhealth-care for suchworkmen. Compliancewiththese requirements isnotonlyonerous, itmakes thecostof hiring inter-statework-menhigherthanhiringsimilarlabourfromwithin the state.SincetheAct isbarely implemented, it

existsasanother lawthatpotentiallypro-videsrent-seekingopportunitiestoenter-

prisinggovernment inspectorswhile fail-ing in its main objective. Another conse-quenceofweakimplementationistheab-sence of government preparedness andtheconsequent failure inpreventinggen-uinehardships for vulnerablegroups.Notonlydoesthisraisequestionsabout

the utility of suchwell-meaning but im-practical laws, italsohighlightsthe lackofstate capacity to enforce such provisions.Toimplementthis lawalone,governmentinspectors would not only have tomain-tain records of inter-state workmen, butalso verify whether all the other require-ments regarding wages, allowances, ac-commodation and health care are com-pliedwith.Theissueswiththelawanditsnon-en-

forcement are symptomatic of the social-istera,whenthemereenactmentof a lawwithaspirationalrequirementsbackedbylegal coercion was considered adequatefor creatinggoodoutcomes. This law, andmany other labour-welfare legislationnever considered issues like compliancecosts, government capacity for enforce-ment, and importantly, counter-produc-tiveconsequences.Forexample, theoner-ous requirements set out in this lawincentivise contractors and employers tounder-report inter-stateworkmen ratherthan to register them.Theconsequencesof thelockdownare

already proving to be disastrous for mi-grant labour. One of the lessons from thisepisode is to not let aspirational require-mentsbecomeahindrancetotheeffectiveprotection of the very groups these re-quirements are designed for. Thiswill re-quireaprincipleddistinctionbetweenfor-malisation and ostensible social-welfare.Whiletheformerseekstomakepeopleoractivitiesvisibleor“legible”, thelattergoesa step further. Social-welfare protectionsare predicated upon formalisation, butnon-compliancewithoneroussocialwel-fare requirements can instead inhibit for-malisation. This is notmerely because ofhigh compliance costs, but also becausethe state canbarelykeepupwith the taskofensuringcompliancewithsuchrequire-ments,madeworsegiventhedisincentivesto comply.Thishascreatedatwo-tiersystem-for-

maland informal.Those in the formal tier— fewer than10percent of theworkforce— enjoy considerable protections, whilethose in the informal tier get almost noprotections.Sincewelfareschemesarealsopredicated on the visibility of those get-ting thebenefits, informalworkers, espe-cially inurbanareas, fall throughcracks inthesystem.The lackof anywelfarenet forinformal workers in urban areas reflectsthe consequencesof formalisationonpa-per—whilefarmersgetcashtransfers,andlabourers in rural areas haveMGNREGA,therearehardlyanyschemesfor informalworkers inurbanareas.Laws such as the Inter-State Migrant

WorkmenAct,1979must thereforebera-tionalised to remove requirements thatdisincentivise formalisation.Wemust bepragmaticandensurethatemployersandcontractors have incentives to come for-wardandregister labourerswithoutbeingworried about punitive action or imprac-tical social safety requirements.

Krishnan is a retired civil servant. Rai andBurmanarewith thepolitical economy

program inCarnegie India.Viewsarepersonal

According to theConstitution, urbandevelopment is theresponsibility of municipalgovernments and themanagement of migration isone facet of that. While theCentre can give directions,the states have the powers tolegislate on urban matters.Of course, like much else,policies are determined bywhere the political advantagelies. This largely explains thehuge disparities thatcontinue to exist in levelsof socio-economicdevelopment.

KPKrishnan,AnirudhBurmanandSuyashRai

ShailajaChandra

Let down by lawInter-StateMigrantWorkmenAct,1979,mustberationalisedtoremoverequirementsthat

disincentiviseformalisation

Story of the nowhere people

CR Sasikumar

Howshort-termpoliticalvisionandpublicpolicyhaveconspiredtocreateamigrantproblemthere isnomoreturningawayfrom

THEWORLDmight soon realise the im-mense need to include India in the UNSCclub,andCOVID-19will likelyactasthecat-alyst foraUNSCpermanent seat.Let’s consider the context.While China

keptbriefingtheWorldHealthOrganisation(WHO) and other countries that the situa-tionwasundercontrol,andthatnohuman-to-human transmissionwas traced, the sit-uation in Wuhan — where the virusreportedly originated—was getting out ofhand. Officially, China only declared thedeathof2,535duetoCOVID-19,asonMarch30though local residents, andother indica-tors, suggested otherwise. Approximately40,000-50,000 urns had been delivered tothe eightmortuaries inWuhanduring thatperiod. Locals were being paid 3,000 yuan($685)as “funeral allowance”aswell.It took the Chinese government almost

sevenweeksafterthefirstcaseofCOVID-19toimposealockdowninWuhan.Despitein-formingtheWHOabouttheunknownvirusonDecember 31, China allowedmillions ofpeopletotravel toandfromWuhanoutsidethe country around January 17, the time ofChinese lunar new year celebrations.According to a study by the University ofSouthampton in England, had China actedthreeweeksearlier,95percentoftheworld-widecases,andtheconsequentspreadofthe

virus, couldhavebeenstopped.ItseemsthatChinaalsostartedhoarding

masksandsanitisersjustbeforethevirusbe-came apandemic. China had reportedly al-readymade half of theworld’s totalmasksbefore January: They not only stopped ex-porting themasks from January onwards,but they also started buying the remainingstockworldwide.The global number of cases is nowover

one-and-a-half million with more than1,00,000 people dead. The AsianDevelopment Bank has predicted that theeconomic damage toworld GDPwould becloseto$4.3trillion. IntheUS,millionshavealready filed unemployment claims. InAfrica,31outof thecontinents’54countrieshave already imposed a full border closureand an estimated 50 per cent of the jobs inthe continent are at risk. In Spain, close to amillion people have also filed unemploy-mentclaims in justamonth.TheUNhaspredictedthatfortheupcom-

ingfinancialyear,exceptforChinaandIndia,everymajorcountry in theworld is likely tofacerecession.Fromthepastyeartothisyear,the world saw 178 new billionaires, 80 ofwhichwerefromChina:Thetop100billion-aires in theworld saw six newChinese en-tering the list. Most of them had boughtshares in companies producing goods and

services which are now in prime demanddue to the lockdownworldwide, for exam-ple, Zoom, thedigitalmeeting app, or com-paniesmaking certainmedicines,masksorventilators.Andwhiletheworldisgrapplingwiththispandemic,Hubeiprovince—whereWuhancityislocated—hasalreadylifteditstrade restrictions. They have declaredWuhan open once againwith a big festivalinvolvinglaserlightsandfireworksnoless.Infact, since the start of the pandemic, fromJanuary31toMarch31thisyear,thetop100billionaires of theworld lost over $400 bil-lion of theirwealth. Strangely enough, onlynine of those 100were richer at the end ofMarch then theywere in January. And theyallhappentobeChinese.India, one of the foundingmembers of

theUN,hasbeenclaimingapermanentseatat the UNSC for a long time. Out of the fivepermanentmembersoftheUNSC,fourhavebeeninsupportof Indiagettingapermanentseat.ChinahasbeentheonlynationblockingIndia’s entrybyusing itsvetopower.Thetraditionalsuperpowersareoutraged

atChina’s supposed involvement in theori-gin and the spread of COVID-19. And ten-sionsflaredupfurtherafterChinaapparentlydemanded that France give 5G contracts toHuawei toprocureCOVID-19 testingkits.Indiawouldbetheperfectcountertocurb

Chineseinfluenceandpowerintheregion.AUNSC reform is long overdue, but countrieslikeGermany,BrazilandSouthAfricaarenotviable options at present. And Chinawouldneveragreetotheseatgoingto Japan.India’s response to the pandemic has

beenarguablyoneof thebest. Indiahasalsoimposeda largely successful lockdownandenjoyed relative success in slowing thespread so far. The Indian government’s ef-forts to leadtheG20aswellasSAARCcoun-triesintacklingthepandemicreflectitswill-ingness tobe the leader at this crucial time.India’s leadershiphasnotonlybeenpraisedbysmallerneighbouringnations,butalsobyAustralia.China has already proposed India as a

temporarymemberoftheUNSCseatfortwoyears, starting in 2021. But, there is a highchance that by the time theworld recoversfromCOVID-19,thepictureisentirelydiffer-ent.Chinawill surelybe inatoughsituationasquestionswillcontinuetomountregard-ingitsroleinthepandemic.Ofteninthepast,ChinahasuseditsvetopowertoblockmanyWTO resolutions to benefit itself. If India isalso given the same access, it could be agame-changer in terms of the shift in bal-anceof power inworldpolitics.

Thewriter isa researchscholarat IIM-Indore

A seat at the tablePandemiccouldactascatalystforreworkingworldorder,givingIndialeadingrole

Akshat Jain

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●SOCIALISINGLOSSES:SAKINADHORAJIWALA&RAJENDRANNARAYANAN

●● DOINGAWAYWITHREDTAPE:SUNILALAGH

www.indianexpress.com

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheWorld

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SOUTHKOREA

Nightclubcasesleadtoprobe,concernsSeoul: South Korean offi-cials are concerned afterfindingmorethanadozeninfections linked to club-goers in Seoul. The casesraisedfearsaboutanothersurge in transmissionsaf-ter the country eased so-cial distancingmeasures.SouthKorea's Centers forDisease Control andPrevention reported 12newcasesof COVID-19 inthe 24hours beforemid-night Thursday, the firsttime in fivedays thedailyjumpwasmore than 10.ViceHealthMinisterKimGang-lipsaiditdetectedatleast 13 more cases, alllinkedtoa29-year-oldpa-tient who visited threenightclubs in Seoul'sItaewondistrictSaturday.

Noticeataclub.Reuters

PANDEMICWATCH

SINGAPORE

Spreadindorms‘notduetopoorconditions’Singapore: The outbreakamong themigrant for-eignworkersinSingaporein dormitories for themcannotbeattributedtobadliving conditions aloneeven if there are abysmalexamples, a senior politi-cian has said. Speaker ofParliamentTanChuan-Jinon Thursday pointed outthe contagious nature ofthe coronavirus and thefact that dormitories in-volvegroupsofpeopleliv-ing in close quarters aremore likely to have con-tributed to the spread. "Itis something thatwewillwork on, butmeanwhile,let's grapple with the(present) issues...” hewasquotedassaying.

NORTHKOREA

KimpraisesChinasuccessBangkok: North Koreasays leader Kim Jong Unsent a personalmessageto Chinese President XiJinping praisingwhat hedescribedasChina's suc-cess in getting the epi-demicundercontrol.Thereport followed an as-sessment by SouthKorea's spy agency thatthe pandemic is hurtingthe North's economy.China is North Korea'smost significant ally andeconomic lifeline. TheKorean Central NewsAgency says Kim in themessagetoXi"congratu-lated him, highly appre-ciatingthatheisseizingachance of victory in thewaragainst theunprece-dentedepidemic”.

AGENCIESWASHINGTON,MAY8

FOUR TOP Republican senatorshave urged President DonaldTrumptosuspendallnewguestworkervisasfor60daysandcer-tain categories of new guestworkervisas,includingtheH-1B,forat leastayearoruntilunem-ployment figures return to nor-mal levels in the US amidst thecoronaviruspandemic.PresidentDonaldTrumpsaid

on Thursday his administrationistalkingtoRepublicansenatorsaboutworkvisaissues,amidtheoutbreak that has wreakedhavocontheUSeconomy.The letter to president

Trump, datedMay 7, has beensigned by Senators Ted Cruz,TomCotton,ChuckGrassleyandJoshHawley.Theletterspecificallycallsfor

suspensionofallnon-immigrantguest worker visas for the next60days,followedbyacontinuedsuspensionofcertaincategoriesof new non-immigrant guestworker visas for a year or untilthe national unemploymentfigures return tonormal levels.Exceptionstothissuspension

should be rare, limited to time-sensitiveindustriessuchasagri-culture and issued only on acase-by-case basis, when theemployerscandemonstratethatthey have been unable to find

Americans to take the jobs, thesenatorswrote.After 60 days, the senators

urgedTrumptocontinuetosus-pendnewnon-immigrantguestworkersforayearoruntilthena-tionalunemploymentfiguresre-turn tonormal levels."That suspension should, at

aminimum, includeH-2B visas(non-agricultural seasonalworkers), H-1B visas (specialtyoccupation workers) and theOptionalPracticalTraining(OPT)programme (extension of for-eign student visas after gradua-tion). We also urge you to sus-pend the EB-5 immigrant visaprogramme, effective immedi-ately," the lawmakerswrote.The senators argued that

there is no reason why unem-

ployed Americans and recentcollegegraduatesshouldhavetocompete in such a limited jobmarketagainstaninfluxofaddi-tionalH-1Bworkers."Temporarilysuspendingthe

issuanceofnewH-1Bvisaswouldalso protect the hundreds ofthousands of H-1Bworkers andtheir familiesalreadyworkingintheUnitedStates--workerswhocouldotherwisebesubjecttode-portation if they are laid off formorethan60days," theysaid."Of course, appropriate ex-

ceptionscouldalsobecraftedtotheH-1Bprogramsuspensiontoallow for doctors, nurses andother healthcare professionalswhowishtocometotheUnitedStates toassist incombatingthecoronaviruspandemic,"thesen-

atorswrote.Theirlettercamedaysafterthe

Trump administration urged afederal district courtnot toblockanObama-era rule allowing cer-taincategoriesofspousesofH-1Bvisa-holderstoworkinthecoun-try, saying American workershavenotbeenirreparablyharmedbysuchworkauthorisation.

PresidentDonaldTrumpatameeting inWashington. AP

YOSHITASINGHNEWYORK,MAY8

AN INDIAN-AMERICAN fatherand daughter, both doctors inNewJersey,havediedduetotheCOVID-19, with Governor PhilMurphydescribingtheirdemiseas “particularly tough" andhailedthemfordedicatingtheirlives forothers.Satyender Dev Khanna, 78,

was a surgeonwhoservedbothon staff and as the head of thesurgical departments formulti-ple hospitals across New Jerseyfor decades. Priya Khanna, 43,was a double board certified inboth internal medicine andnephrology. She was Chief ofResidentsatUnionHospital,nowpartof RWJBarnabasHealth."Dr Satyender Dev Khanna

andDrPriyaKhannawerefatherand daughter. They both dedi-cated their lives to helping oth-ers. This is a familydedicated tohealthandmedicine.Ourwordscannot amply express our con-dolences,"NewJerseyGovernorMurphytweetedonThursday.Satyenderpassedawayatthe

Clara Maass Medical Center

where he hadworked formorethan35years.Murphy described him as a

"pioneering doctor” who wasone of the first surgeons to per-formlaparoscopicsurgeryinthestate. He is being rememberedby colleagues as a “gentle andcaringphysician."Priya did all of her medical

training inNew Jersey and thendidherfellowshipinnephrologyinSouth Jerseywith theCooperHealthSystem.Like her father, she too

worked at Clara Maass, whereshedied.“Priyawillberememberedas

acaringandselflesspersonwhoput others first. And evenwhileinthehospital, fightingherownbattle,shecontinuedtocheckupon her mom and dad and herfamily,”Murphysaid.“This is a family, by theway,

dedicated to health andmedi-cine,”hesaid.The governor spoke with

Satyender'swifeKomlishKhanna,whoisapediatrician.Thecouplehas two more daughters -SugandhaKhanna,anemergencymedicine physician andAnishaKhanna,apediatrician. PTI

MARKING VICTORY DAY, WITH CAUTIONUkrainiansoldiers takepart incelebrationstomarkVictoryDayandthe75thanniversaryof theendofWorldWar IIat theSovietWarMemorialatTiergartenPark inBerlin,Germany,onFriday. Reuters

ABDILATIFDAHIRNAIROBI,MAY8

WHENVALENTINE Ochogo ar-rivedhomeinKenyaafterbeinglaid off fromher job at a hot-airballoon business in Dubai, shewas put in quarantine in a uni-versity dormitory with othertravelers— one step in the gov-ernment’s aggressive, often-laudedcampaigntopreventthespreadof thecoronavirus.But insteadof themandated

14-dayquarantineperiod,shewasconfined for 32days, often cold,hungryandsofrightenedthatshesaidsheblockedthedooratnight

withanemptybed.Althoughshetestednegativeforthecoronavirusthreetimes,shesaidthatgovern-ment officialswouldnot releaseheruntilshepaid$434infees.After shemanaged to nego-

tiate the amount down to $65,Ochogo,26,was freed.“Amout,” a relievedOchogo

texted on April 24, saying later,“I got really lucky.”Somecitizensandhealthex-

perts have praised Kenya for itsresponsetotheoutbreak:itsus-pended international flightsearly, conducted tens of thou-sandsoftestsandimposedapar-tial lockdownonsomeareas.ButtheKenyangovernmentis

nowfacingmountingcriticismforitsresponse—particularlyitsuseof quarantine centers. Citizensstoppedbythepoliceforviolatingcurfewornotwearingmaskshavebeen sent not to police stations,but to quarantine, sometimesheld in compoundswithpeopleknowntobeinfected.“Quarantine can’t be a re-

sponse to people breaking thelaw,”saidGeorgeKegoro,theex-ecutive director of the KenyaHuman Rights Commission, anongovernmentalorganisation,“becausewhatitdoes,itexposesthem to the possibility of infec-tion, the very thing you are try-ing to fight.” NYT

Islamabad: A record 1,764 newcoronavirus cases reported inPakistan in one day, taking thetotal number of patients to25,837, the healthministry saidonFriday.Meanwhile, the European

Union has offered an aid pack-ageofmorethan$163milliontocash-strappedPakistantotacklethe pandemic and to boost thecountry'seconomicandsecuritydevelopments, the EUmissionheresaid inastatement.The Ministry of National

HealthServicesaidthat35morepatientshavedied in the last 24hours, taking the death toll to594. As many as 7,530 peoplehaveso far recovered, it said.Punjab reported 10,033 pa-

tients, Sindh 9,093, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa3,956,Balochistan1,725, Islamabad 558, Gilgit-Baltistan 394 and Pakistan-oc-cupied Kashmir 78 patients, itsaid.PTI

OTHERTOPGLOBAL STORIES

JULIETURKEWITZ&FRANCESROBLESBOGOTÁ,MAY8

A DISENCHANTED band ofVenezuelanpoliticiansandmil-itarydesertersgatheredinsecretlastyeartoplottheoverthrowofVenezuela’sauthoritarianleader,Nicolás Maduro. They deter-mined they would need fourtools tosucceed:men,money, aplanandguts.JordanGGoudreau,aUnited

States citizen and formerGreenBeret,wouldbetheguts.Atleast,that’soneversionof thestory.Overtheweekend,agroupof

self-declaredfreedomfighterssetsail fromColombia toVenezuela

onanapparentmissionhatchedbyMr. Goudreau to overthrowtheVenezuelangovernment.The operation failedmiser-

ably, and themenwere appre-hended by the authorities.Eight of the rebels were killed.Two Americans, formermem-bers of the US Army specialforces, have been arrested.But the figure who has

emerged as the central charac-terinwhatoneofficialdescribedassomethingoutofaHollywoodscript, isGoudreau,43,whowasnoton themission.TheMaduro administration

has blamed the attack on theUnited States government,which has denied a connectiontoGoudreauorhisFlorida-based

security company SilverCorp.The company claims it had en-tered into a $220million agree-mentwith the Venezuelan op-

position tohelpoustMaduro.The plan was called

“OperationGedeon.” Intheend,therewere just two boats with

60menwhowere to storm thecapital and capture Maduro.Goudreau later said his menvomited the entire way andnearlyranoutofgasolineastheyheadedtowardVenezuela.Thirteen of the men were

takenintocustody,includingthetwo US citizens, both formerGreen Berets said to have beenrecruitedbyGoudreau.Statetel-evision ran photographs of theallegedprisoners, facedownonthepavement.“Theywereplay-ingRambo,” saidMaduro.In an interrogation video re-

leasedbytheVenezuelangovern-ment, LukeDenman, one of thecaptured Green Berets, said he“was helping Venezuelans takebackcontroloftheircountry,”and

expected to be paid $50,000 to$100,000forhisefforts.Reached by telephone this

week, Denman’smother, LindaKayDenman,saidshehadnoideawhathersonhadbeenupto,andthought he had been attendinganunderwaterweldingschool.Alemán said he understood

that theattack looked likeasui-cidemission, but urged peopleto understand the level of des-peration shared by manyVenezuelans. He said he oftenvisited the training camps andsometimes spoke withGoudreau about his reason forworkingwithgroup.“It pained him,” he said, “to

see howVenezuelanswere suf-fering.” NYT

ASSOCIATEDPRESSWASHINGTON,MAY8

IN AN abrupt about-face, theJustice Department said it isdropping the criminal caseagainst President DonaldTrump’s first national securityadviser,MichaelFlynn,abandon-ingaprosecution thatbecamearallyingcryforthepresidentandhis supporters in attacking theFBI’sTrump-Russiainvestigation.The action Thursday was a

stunning reversal for one of thesignature casesbroughtby spe-cial counsel Robert Mueller. Itcomeseventhoughprosecutorsfor the past three years have

maintainedthatFlynnliedtotheFBI in a January 2017 interviewabouthisconversationswiththeRussianambassador.Flynn admitted as much,

pleadingguiltybeforelateraskingtowithdrawtheplea, andhebe-cameakeycooperatorforMuellerasthespecialcounselinvestigatedtiesbetweenRussiaandTrump’s2016politicalcampaign.Thursday’sactionwasswiftly

embraced by Trump, who hasrelentlessly tweeted about the“outrageous”caseandlastweekpronouncedFlynn“exonerated,”and it is likely to energise sup-porters of the president whohave taken up the retired Armylieutenantgeneral asacause.

Father-daughterdoctor duo of Indianorigin die of Covid-19

Unemploymenthit 14.7 pc inApril, 20.5 mnjobs lost: Report

NEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,MAY8

THE LABOR Department saidFriday the economy shedmorethan 20.5million jobs in April,sendingtheunemploymentrateto14.7percent—devastationun-seensincetheGreatDepression.The report underscores the

speed and depth of the labormarket’s collapse as the coron-avirus pandemic took a devas-tating toll. In February, the un-employment rate was 3.5percent,ahalf-centurylow.Andevensincethesurveywastaken,millions of people have filedclaims for joblessbenefits.TheApril job lossesalone far

exceedthe8.7millioninthelastrecession,whenunemploymentpeakedat10percent inOctober2009. If anything,thereportun-derstates the damage. The gov-ernment’s definition of unem-ployment typically requirespeople tobeactively looking forwork. And the unemploymentrate doesn’t reflect themillionsstillworkingwhohavehadtheirhours slashedor theirpaycut.

EU offers aidof $163 mnto Pakistan

Kenyans held for weeks in quarantinewere told to pay for their release

An incursion into Venezuela, straight out of Hollywood

Special forcesstandguardafter the failed incursion.Reuters

US justice dept droppingFlynn’s Russia-Trump case

TopRepublicansciteeconomy, job loss; saysomevisacategoriesshouldbehalted forayear

Trump urged to halt all guestworker visas

WHILETHEpolitical tusslesover the“origin”of thecoron-avirushas increasingly takencentrestage in recent stage,expertshavecontinued to lookat the issueofwetmarkets.It iswidelybelieved that theseopen-airmarkets,whicharefoundacrossAsia,need tobebetter regulated,withhigherlevelsof hygiene.Expertshavesaidonlya fewwillhave tobeclosed.Wastemanagementandproperhandlingof liveanimalsare seenassomekeysteps in tackling the issue.

Focusonwetmarkets,their regulationcontinues

KJMVARMABEIJING,MAY8

CHINA ON Friday askedAmerican politicians not to"waste" their time by trying todrivea"wedge"betweentherul-ing Communist Party and theChinese people over the deadlycoronaviruspandemic.Chinese Foreign Ministry

spokesperson Hua Chunyingduringamediabriefingheresaidit was under the leadership ofthe Communist Party of China(CPC),Chinesepeoplemadeim-portant progress in fighting thepandemic.“Accusing Chinesepolitical system.We cannot ac-ceptthis.Theyaredoingitoutofmaliciousintentions.Theywantto drive a wedge between theCPCandpeople,"Huasaid.“TheUSpoliticiansshouldn't

waste time in driving awedgebetweentheCPCandthepeople.Ourpolitical systemscanco-ex-ist and this serves the commoninterest of both thepeople," shesaid,respondingtocriticismonahostof issuesrelatedtoChinabyUS Secretary of State MikePompeo. PTI

Ataschool inWuhan.AP

US driving wedgebetween CommunistParty, Chinese peopleover Covid-19: China

AWHOLESALEmarketinWuhanplayedaroleintheoutbreak,as thesourceorpossiblyasan“amplifyingsetting”, theWHOsaidFriday

AWHOexpert said,“Butwhatrolewedon’tknow,whetheritwasthesourceoramplifyingsettingorjustacoincidence...”

ITWASnotclearwhetheranimalsor infectedpeoplebroughtthevirus tothemarket,hesaid, callingformoreresearch. ASSOCIATEDPRESS

ROME,MAY8

THENUMBER of people in Italywho've diedwith COVID-19 in-fectionshas topped30,000.The Health Ministry regis-

tered 243 deaths on Friday,bringing the total of thosewhodiedinthecountryto30,201.Asper a BBC report, the toll is thehighest in theEuropeanUnion.Authorities saymanymore

likely diedwith the infection athomeorinnursinghomeswith-outbeingdiagnosed.With1,327morecasesregis-

teredinthe24-hourperiodend-ingFridayevening,Italynowtal-lies 217,185 confirmed coron-avirus infections. Some 11,000more people have recoveredfrom the illness than are cur-rentlypositive for the infection.Lombardy accounted for

nearlyhalfofthecasesregisteredonFriday.Health and government au-

thoritiesareconcernedthatpar-tial easingearlier in theweekofsomelockdownmeasures, suchas re-opening of public parksandgardens,couldseeanuptickin contagion if people ignoresafety-distance rules.

DAILY TESTING

Washington:US PresidentDonaldTrumphasdecidedthat hewill be testeddailyforcoronavirusafteroneofhisvaletstestedpositiveforthedeadlydisease.AmilitaryaideofTrump,

whomtheWhiteHouseof-ficials described as a per-sonal valet, tested positivefor coronavirus. Thevalet, amember of the military,wouldhavehad very closecontactwithTrump,andas-sisted him with his food,clothes andother personalneeds,CBSNewsreported.Trumpsaidhe, thevice

presidentandotherstaffoftheWhiteHousewouldbetestedeveryday."I justhadatest. Infact, Ihadoneyes-terday and one today, anditisnegative. Mikejusthadatestandit isnegative,"hesaid. PTI

Death toll in Italy tops30,000, highest in EU

13SENSEX: 31,642.70 ▲ 199.32 NIFTY: 9,251.50 ▲ 52.45 NIKKEI: 20,179.09 ▲ 504.32 HANG SENG: 24,230.17 ▲ 249.54 FTSE: 5,935.98▲ 82.22 DAX: 10,879.65 ▲ 120.38

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`41,705

RUPEE`75.54

OIL$26.15

SILVER`38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsshutdueto lockdowninmajorstates; IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY8

SUSPENSIONOF labour lawsfor thenext 2-3 years exceptfor provisions of minimumwages, bonus and statutorydues,nationaldatabankofmi-grant labourers and increasein themaximum limit of 33per cent of workforce to atleast 50per cent after the re-opening of industriesweresomeofthesuggestionsraisedby employers’ associationsand industry chambers intheirmeetingwithLabourandEmploymentMinister Sant-oshKumarGangwarFriday.According to a release by

the LabourMinistry, the in-dustry bodies sought relax-ations, such as raising theworkinghoursto12perdaytohelp themrevive operations.Theyalsoflaggedconcernsre-gardingmigrantworkers.“Aprogrammemaybefor-

mulated for return of thesemigrant labourers toworkbyprovidingcounselling toalle-viatetheir fearsonCOVID-19,providing financial help fortheir transportation, provid-ingfreegroceriesforaboutsixmonths,etc,”thereleasesaid.Thesuggestiontosuspend

labour laws follows theUttarPradesh government’smoveto bring an ordinance thisweek to suspend all labourlaws,barringsomeprovisionsforthenextthreeyears,togiverelieftotheindustryhitbytheongoinglockdown.Some states, including

Rajasthan, Punjab andHimachal Pradesh, have al-ready approved extensionoftheirworkinghours.Theemployersalsosought

relaxationofprovisionsoftheIndustrialDisputesActtotreatthelockdownperiodaslay-off,alongwith covering ofwageexpensesunderCSR funds inviewof the difficulties beingfacedbythe industryandliq-uiditycrisis, thereleasesaid.Gangwartoldtheemploy-

erassociationsthattheMinis-tryisconsultingotherconcer-ned line ministries forresolvingissuesbeingfacedbythe industry, particularly theMSMEsector.LabourSecretaryHeeralal

Samariyasaidthefocusshouldnowbeonrevivingtheindus-try andopening of the econ-omy, to fully reviveeconomicactivities and employmentopportunities.The industry associations

also suggested that power totheindustrymaybesuppliedatsubsidisedrates,alongwithresumptionof all activities innon-containmentzones.TheCII, among its recom-

mendations,askedforextend-ing the provisions of lay-off,suggestingallowingtheindus-trytopaywagesasperthelay-off (50percentbasicplusDA)provisionsfornoworkcarriedoutforAprilandMay.TheAll IndiaManufactu-

rers’ Organisation in its sug-gestions recommended set-ting up of amigrant labourwelfare board alongwith re-laxationinlabourlaws.

COVID-19 EFFECTLABOURLAWS

Employer bodiesseek longer workinghours, easing of someprovisions for 2-3 yrs

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY8

THECENTRALgovernment’stotalmarketborrowingsrequirementshave jumpedby awhopping53percenttoRs12lakhcroreinthecurrent fiscal, as falling revenuesandrisingexpensesledtoasharpdeteriorationinthegovernment’sfiscal position. This indicates theCentre’sfiscaldeficitforthe2020-21 could spurt to 5.5 per cent ofGDP,asharpjumpof2percentagepoints from the target of 3.5 percent,accordingtomarketanalysts.TheFinanceMinistry,inconsulta-tion with the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI), on Friday revised itsborrowingcalendarfortherestofthefinancialyear.“The estimatedgrossmarket

borrowing in the financial year2020-21will beRs12 lakh croreinplaceofRs7.80lakhcroreasperBE 2020-21 (Budget Estimates).Theaboverevisioninborrowingshasbeennecessitatedonaccountof theCOVID-19pandemic,” the

Ministrysaidinastatement.Rising borrowings are ex-

pected to put pressure on thebondmarket, crowding out re-sourcesfortheprivatesector.Thefiscal deficit is set to shoot upsharply, indicating that the gov-ernment has limited space topush through a massive fiscalstimulus toprotect theeconomyfromadverseeffectsofCOVID-19.“Given that the fiscal deficit

wastobeRs8lakhcroreforFY21,this increase of Rs 4.2 lakh crorewillunderunchangedconditionsmean a fiscal deficit ratio ofaround5.5per cent from3.5percent targeted earlier,” CARERatingssaidinastatement.“...thereareclearsignsofgov-

ernment financesbeing affected

by the shutdownas revenuehasebbedandexpenditurepressurewill be there through the yearevenafter the lockdown iswith-drawn.Atakeawayisthatthisalsomeans that presently there is nointentionof RBI lendingdirectlytothegovernment,” itsaid.StartingMonday, the Centre

willbeborrowingRs30,000croreper week each week tillSeptember25, asper the revisedcalendar,whichissharplyhigherthan Rs 19,000-21,000 croreplannedearlierwhentheborrow-ingcalendarforApril-SeptemberwasreleasedonMarch31,2020.Due to the shutdown of the

economy, the government is ex-pectedtofacesharpshortfallinitsnet targeted tax revenues of Rs16.36lakhcrorebudgetedforthecurrentfiscal.Aslumpinthestockmarketsfromtherecordhighlev-elswillmake it difficult to raisefundsthroughstakesaleinstate-ownedcompanies.TheCentrehastargetedRs2.1

lakh crore through divestmentthisyear.Ontheotherside,expen-

diturewill spike as the govern-ment recently announcedRs1.7lakh crore of relief, including in-cometransferandsupportmeas-uresforthepoor.Higher borrowings are likely

to push up bond yields, unlessopenmarketoperations (OMOs)orotherinstrumentsaredeployedby the RBI. The yield on bench-mark6.45per cent bondmatur-ingin2029was5.97percent,low-est since January 27, 2009, asagainst6.03percentonThursday.Aditi Nayar, principal econo-

mist, ICRA, said, “Theupwardre-visionintheGoI’sborrowingsforthe remainder of FY2021, al-though sharp, was inevitablegiventheestimatedextentofrev-enue loss following the lock-downs related to the COVID-19pandemic.”“However,lesspressureonex-

penditure compression to offsetthe expected revenue shortfallwouldalloweconomicactivitytodisplaysomesemblanceofrecov-ery in the latter part of this fiscalyear,”Nayarsaid.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY8

CREDIT RISK schemes and sev-eralotherdebt fundswitnessedoutflows during April 2020 asthe Franklin Templeton fiascopromptedworried investors topulloutfundsfromriskyschem-es.Creditriskschemesofvariousfundhouseswitnessedoutflowsof Rs 19,238 crore in April afterTempleton abruptly decided towinddownsixcredit schemes.Thetotalcorpusofcreditrisk

fund category declined sharplyto Rs 35,222 crore from aroundRs 55,000 crore inMarch. Ultrashort duration funds, lowdura-tionfundsandmediumdurationfundsalsosawoutflowsofuptoa total of over Rs 16,000 crore.However,liquidfundsregisteredinflowsof Rs68,848crore.Investors shifted fromcredit

schemes after Templeton de-cidedtoclosesixschemesblam-ingpoor liquidity in thewakeoftheCOVID-19breakout.Withstockmarketswitness-

ing high volatility, equityschemeswitnessedlowernetin-flowsofRs6,212.96croreduringApril as against inflows of Rs11,723 crore inMarch. The totalassets under management(AUM) of themutual fund (MF)industry also declined to Rs23.93 lakh crore as of April, ascomparedtoRs24.70lakhcroreinMarch2020.Accordingtofiguresreleased

by the Association of MutualFundsof India(Amfi),SIPcontri-bution for April stood at Rs8,376.11 crore as compared to8,641.20 crore inMarch. SIP as-setswereatRs2,75,982croreasof April as against Rs 2,39,886crore inMarch.NSVenkatesh, Chief Execut-

ive, Amfi, said, “It is hearteningto note that despite subduedeconomic scenario, retail in-

vestorsareseentobecontinuingwith their goal-based invest-mentdiscipline, displayingma-tureinvestmentconduct,asseenfrommonth-on-month rise inretailAUMs, asalsomarkedrisein thenumberof SIPaccounts.”“Intheprevailingscenarioof

lowinflation,expectedsofterin-terest rate regime,MF industrywouldseeheightenedinterestinfixed income schemes, espe-ciallylowdurationschemes,”hefurther said.Total retail assetswere at Rs

9,89,032 crore as of April asagainst Rs 8,80,810 crore in theprecedingmonth,ariseof12.28percent.

BUDGETESTIMATEFORGROSSMARKETBORROWINGWAS`7.8LCR

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY8

US-BASEDVISTAEquityPartnersonFridayannounceditwillinvestRs11,367crore in JioPlatforms, awholly-owned subsidiary ofRelianceIndustries(RIL),peggingtheIndianfirmatanequityvalueofRs4.91lakhcroreandanenter-prisevalueofRs5.16lakhcrore.Vista’s investmentwill trans-

late into a 2.32 per cent equitystakeinJioPlatformsonafullydi-luted basis, making Vista thelargestinvestorinJioPlatformsbe-hind RIL and Facebook. Jio hasnow raised Rs 60,596.37 crorefromleadingtechnologyinvestorsin less than threeweeks. SilverLake recentlyproposed to investRs5,655.75croreinJioPlatforms,

while Facebook agreed to buy a9.99percentequitystakeinJioforRs 43,574 crorewith an eye onIndia’s 6 crore small businessesandahugedigitalcustomerbaseof1.3billionusers.Vistaisaleadingglobalinvest-

mentfirmfocusedonempower-ing andgrowingenterprise soft-ware, data and technology

enabledcompaniesthatarerein-ventingindustriesandcatalysingchange.Vistahasover$57billionin cumulative capital commit-ments and its global network ofcompaniescollectivelyrepresentthe fifth largest enterprise soft-warecompanyintheworld.Mukesh Ambani, chairman

andMD,RIL, said, “Likeourother

partners,Vistaalsoshareswithusthe samevisionof continuing togrow and transform the Indiandigital ecosystem for thebenefitof all Indians. Theybelieve in thetransformativepoweroftechnol-ogytobethekeytoanevenbetterfuture for everyone.We are ex-citedto leveragetheprofessionalexpertiseandmulti-levelsupportthatVistahasbeenoffering to itsinvestmentsgloballyfortheben-efitof Jio.”“We are thrilled to join Jio

Platforms todeliver exponentialgrowth in connectivity acrossIndia, providing modern con-sumer,smallbusinessandenter-prisesoftwaretofuelthefutureofoneoftheworld’sfastestgrowingdigital economies,” saidRobert FSmith, founder, chairman andCEOofVista.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY8

FRANKLINTEMPLETONhas“un-conditionallyapologised”toSebiforitsglobalCEO’sstatementthatthemarketregulator’sregulatorychanges led to abrupt closure ofits six credit risk schemeswithacorpusofRs28,000crore.The fundhouse also claimed

that the media quoted JennyJohnson, itspresident&CEO,outofcontext.“Wedeeplyregretanyunintendedslight thismayhavecausedtotheesteemedofficesofSebiwhomwehavealwaysheldin highest regard and uncondi-tionally apologise for the same,”itsaidinanotice.On Thursday, stung by

Johnson’s accusations, the

SecuritiesandExchangeBoardofIndia (Sebi) asked Templeton tofocus on returningmoney to in-vestors“assoonaspossible”.The regulator pulled up

Templeton after its global CEOshifted the blame for the recentwindingdownof itssixschemestoSebi’sOctober2019decisiontonotletfundsinvestmorethan10percentinunlistedinstruments.“Despite the regulations be-

ing clear, some mutual fundschemesseemtohavechosentohavehighconcentrationsofhighrisk, unlisted, opaque, bespoke,structured debt securitieswithlow credit ratings and seem tohave chosen not to rebalancetheir portfolios even during thealmost 12months available tothemsofar,”themarketsregula-torsaidinastatement.

“It is clarified that someme-dia outlets in India have quotedMsJohnsonoutofcontext,whichdiluted the essence of her re-sponses. Theheadlines and arti-cles erroneously suggested thatMs Johnson stated that Sebi’sguideline on unlisted securitieswasthemainreasonforthedeci-siontowinduptheschemes.Thisis neither factually correct, norsubstantiated by the commentsmadeduringtheconferencecall,”FranklinTempletonsaid.Inaninvestorconferencecall

earlier this week, Johnson hadsaidthehigh-yieldmarket isstillveryimmatureinIndia.Sources said Franklin

Templeton’s India unit is underSebi’s scrutiny overwhether ithadviolatedrulesoractedinthebest interestof its investors.

Franklin Templeton apologises to Sebi

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY8

MOODY’SINVESTORSServiceonFriday trimmed its FY21growthprojection sharply to 0 per centforIndiainthewakeoftheCovid-19outbreakandwarnedofapos-sible rating downgrade for thecountryif fiscalmetrics“weakenmaterially”.Theglobal ratingagencyhad

inNovember2019reviseddownits outlook for India from stableto negative, although its sover-eignratingofBaa2isstillanotch

above those of S&P and Fitch—boththeratingagencieshaveas-signed the lowest investmentgradeto India,withastableout-look.In its latest credit opinion,

Moody’ssaid:“Thiswouldprob-ably happen in the context of aprolongedordeepslowdowningrowth, with only limitedprospects that the governmentwouldbeabletorestorestrongeroutput through economic andinstitutional reforms.”Moody’s warning follows a

similarstatementbyFitchandisexpected to add to policy-mak-

ers’unease, as they firmupare-liefpackagetopropuptheecon-omy.Already,severalanalystshave

warnedof anegativegrowth forthe entire fiscal, amid a nation-wide lockdown.Manufacturingand services activities havewit-nessed unprecedented contrac-tion inApril, as per the PMI sur-vey.Unemploymentratesurgedtoasmuchas27.1percentintheweek throughMay 3, accordingto the Centre forMonitoring ofIndianEconomy.Moody’s,how-ever, expects GDP growth to re-cover to6.6percent inFY22. FE

Moody’s cuts FY21 growth forecast to 0%

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY8

THE ASIAN InfrastructureInvestment Bank (AIIB) has ap-provedfundingof$500milliontosupportIndia’seffortstofighttheCOVID-19pandemic.ThegovernmentandtheAIIB

on Friday signed a COVID-19EmergencyResponseandHealthSystems Preparedness ProjectthatwouldhelpstrengthenIndia’spublic healthpreparedness. Thisisthefirsteverhealthsectorsup-port fromtheBeijing-headquar-teredbanktoIndia.The project will be imple-

mented by theNational HealthMission (NHM), the NationalCentreforDiseaseControl(NCDC)andtheIndianCouncilofMedicalResearch(ICMR).“This newsupportwill cover

all States andUnion TerritoriesacrossIndiaandaddresstheneedsof infectedpeople, at-risk popu-lations,medical and emergencypersonnel and serviceproviders,medicalandtestingfacilities,andnationalandanimalhealthagen-cies,”theFinanceMinistrysaidina statement. Theprojectwill en-able the government slow andlimit as much as possible thespread of COVID-19 in India byproviding immediate support to

enhancediseasedetectioncapac-ities,oxygendeliverysystemsandmedicinesamongothers, itsaid.Department of Economic

Affairs Additional SecretarySameerKumarKharesaid“AIIB’stimely assistancewill help thegovernment in its efforts to re-spond to the threat posed byCOVID-19andstrengthenthena-tional health systems for pre-parednessinIndia.”DJ Pandian, AIIB Vice-

President (InvestmentOperations), said that building aresilienthealthsystemthatcanef-fectively treatCOVID-19patientsandprevent its spread is the im-mediatepriority,andthisfundingwill address this need andstrengthen India’s capacity to ef-fectivelymanage future diseaseoutbreaks.

AIIB clears $500-mnloan to support India’sfight against COVID-19

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY8

INDIA’S PHARMACEUTICAL ex-portsmissed its $22-billion goalinthe2019-2020fiscal,duetotheimpact of theongoingCOVID-19pandemicandlockdown.Exportsin this sector grew7.57per cent,asagainstthetargeted15percent,totouch$20.58billion,withship-mentsdroppingnearly3percentinthefourthquarterofthelastfis-cal,accordingtoanotebythePha-rmaceuticals Export PromotionCouncil(Pharmexcil)onFriday.“Usually, Indian pharma ex-

portsduring Feb&Mararequitebriskandaretoanextentof22-23per cent in the first tenmonths(Apr-Jan). Having seen the goodpaceofexport trendinfirst threequartersandpricestabilisationintheUnitedStates,itwasestimatedthatFY2020exportswouldreach22 bn USD mark,” stated thePharmexcilmedianote.“India being dependent on

China to an extent of 60-70 percentofitsneedsofbulkdrugshassuffereddisruption in thesupplychainwiththeoutbreakofCOVID19. Our imports of bulk drugswent down significantly inFebruary,” itstated.

Pharma sectormissed FY20export targetof $22 bn, saysindustry body

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAAHMEDABAD,MAY8

THE GUJARAT government onFriday said it will go all out towelcometothestatefirmswant-ingtoshiftoutofChinabygivingthemlandwithinsevendaysandallclearancestosetupindustriesin15days.The Vijay Rupani govern-

ment also announced that newindustries being set upwill notbe bound by labour laws for1200 days (3.2 years) from thestartofmanufacturingtoattractforeigndirectinvestmentandlo-cal investment post the COVID-19pandemic.“At present, a large number

of industries and MNCs fromJapan, USA, Korea and otherEuropean nations arewilling toshift their production fromChina toothercountries.“Wehavedecided tocoordi-

natewith various Central min-istries, including the ExternalAffairs Ministry, and approachmissions of different countriesto attract such industries toGujarat,” Rupani said in a videomessage.“Atotalof33,000hectaresof

landisavailableforindustrialusein Khoraj, Sanand, Dahej SEZSaykha, Dholera SEZ and otherprivateSEZs inGujarat,”hesaid.

Guj govt: Sops,break from fewlabour laws toattract industries

NewDelhi:FormerRBIGovernorRaghuramRajan has suggestedthegovernmentshouldgoinformonetisation and higher fiscaldeficit ina ‘measured’way.Monetisation, which is

loosely referred to printing ofcurrency by the Reserve Bank,neednotbeaconstraintongov-ernmentspending,Rajansaidina blog, adding, “governmentshouldbeconcernedaboutpro-tecting the health of the econ-omy and should spendwhat isneeded.” PTI

Rajan: Go in formonetisation,higher fiscaldeficit inmeasured way

ASSOCIATEDPRESSNEWYORK,MAY8

UBERLOST$2.9billioninthefirstquarter as its overseas invest-mentswere hammered by thecoronavirus pandemic, but thecompanyislookingtoitsgrowingfooddeliverybusinessandaggres-sivecost-cuttingtoeasethepain.The ride-hailing giant said

ThursdayitisoffloadingJump,itsbikeandscooterbusiness,toLime,acompanyinwhichitisinvesting$85million.Jumphadbeenlosingabout$60millionaquarter.“WhileourRidesbusinesshas

beenhithardbytheongoingpan-demic,wehavetakenquickactiontopreservethestrengthofourbal-ance sheet, focus additional re-sourcesonUberEats,andprepare

usforanyrecoveryscenario,”saidCEODaraKhosrowshahi.“Alongwiththesurge in food

delivery,we are encouraged bythe early signswe are seeing inmarkets that are beginning toopen back up.” OnWednesday,San Francisco-basedUber said itwascutting3,700full-timework-ers, or about 14 per cent of itsworkforce, as people avoidingcontagion either stay indoors or

trytolimitcontactwithothers. ItsmainUSrivalLyftannouncedlastmonth itwould lay off 982peo-ple,or17percentofitsworkforcebecauseofplummetingdemand.Careem,Uber’s subsidiary in

theMiddleEast,cutitsworkforceby 31 per cent. Uber brought in$3.54billioninrevenueinthefirstquarter, up 14per cent from thesametimelastyear.RevenueinitsEatsmealdeliv-

erybusiness grew53per cent ascustomers shuttered at homeopted to order in. The companyexitedmarketswhereitsfoodde-liverybusinesswasunprofitable,including the Czech Republic,EgyptandHonduras. Butitaddedkeyaccounts includingChipotle,Dunkin’ and Shake Shack, and itenabled delivery from groceryandconveniencestores.

INVESTORSHAVEturnedcautiousafterFranklinTempleton’sde-cision toabruptlycloseschemeswithassetsofRs28,000crore. Theyare likely to ignoremu-tual fundschemeswhichhavehighcon-centrationsof highrisk,unlisted,opaqueandstructureddebt securi-ties—with lowcreditratings—of lesserknowncompanies.Investorswant fundhouses to rebalancetheirportfoliosasperthedirectionsofmarketregulatorSebi.

Investorsturncautious,mayavoidriskyschemes

Uber loses $2.9 bn, offloads bike & scooter biz

BRIEFLYCBDTprovidesrelieftoforeignnationals,NRIsNewDelhi:ProvidingarelieftoNRIs and foreignnation-alsstuckinIndiaduetolock-down, the CBDT on Fridaysaidtheirstayinthecountryduringtheperiodwillnotbecounted for the purpose ofdeterminingtheirresidencystatus for taxationpurpose.The nationwide lockdownsinceMarch25andcancel-lationofinternationalflightsto contain the spread ofCOVID-19 has forced non-resident Indians (NRI) andforeignnationalstoprolongtheirstayinIndia. PTI

GIFTCitystartsRe-dollarderivativesAhmedabad: FinanceMini-sterNirmalaSitharamanonFridayvirtuallylaunchedru-pee-dollarderivativesontheinternational exchanges ofBSE and NSE in GIFT City,Gandhinagar.BSE,inastate-ment, said that the launchwill attract more partici-pants to the IFSCandmakeINXIndiaaleadingcentreforraising capital for issuersacrosstheglobe. ENS

‘Excise duty hike unlikelyto help bridge fiscal gap’The record excise duty hike on petrol and diesel will nothelp the government bridge the fiscal gap as planned,Bank of America Securities India said in a note

2%OFGDP:EXPECTEDFISCALSLIPPAGEFORCURRENTFISCAL,DESPITEOILTAXHIKEOF0.7PERCENTOFGDP

4.8%OFGDP:EXPECTEDFISCALDEFICITFORFY21,OVERSHOOTINGBUDGETTARGETBY130BASISPOINTS

` 1.6 lakh crore:Expectedadditional revenue this fiscalfromexcise duty hike on petrolbyRs 10 a litre and on diesel byRs 13 a litre

0.3%ofGDP:Expectedstimulus for small andmedium-sized enterprises(SMEs), state-run banks andrealtors to be announced byCentre

EFFECTIVENEWEXCISEDUTY:■ Petrol: Rs32.98/litre

■ Diesel: Rs31.83/litre

50-100bps:Expected rise instates’ fiscal deficit, abovethe3.1 per cent ofGDPforecast earlier

Source: Bank of AmericaSecurities/PTI

EQUITY INFLOWS, TOTALAUMDECLINE

Post-Templeton fiasco,credit risk funds seeoutflows of `19,238 cr

“Theabove revision inborrowingshasbeennecessitatedonaccountof theCOVID-19pandemic”

FINANCEMINISTRY

Fiscalstrain:FY21govtborrowingpeggedat`12Lcr,up53%fromBE

ThegovernmentandtheAIIBonFridaysignedaCOVID-19EmergencyResponseandHealthSystemsPreparednessProjectthatwouldhelpstrengthenIndia’spublichealthpreparedness

■VistaEquityPartnersisnowthelargestinvestorinJioPlatformsbehindRelianceIndustriesandFacebook.Jiohasnowraised`60,596.37crorefromleadingtechnologyinvestorsinlessthanthreeweeks

■Vistaisaleadingglobalinvestmentfirmfocusedonempoweringandgrowingenterprisesoftware,dataandtechnologyenabledcompaniesthatarereinventingindustriesandcatalysingchange

THIRD INVESTOR IN THREEWEEKS FORRJIO

Vista Equity Partners to invest `11,367 cr in Jio Platforms

Theride-hailinggiantsaidThursdayitisoffloadingJump,itsbikeandscooterbusiness,toLime,afirminwhichitisinvesting$85million

14THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY9,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Vol. LXIVNo.109Printed for theproprietors, The IndianExpress (P) LtdbyMsVaidehiThakaratThe IndianExpressPress, PlotNo.EL-208,TTC IndustrialArea,Mahape,NaviMumbai -400710andpublished from 1st floor, ExpressTowers,NarimanPoint,Mumbai -400021.Editorial&AdministrativeOffices:ExpressTowers,NarimanPoint,Mumbai -400021.Phone:22022627/67440000. Fax:022-22835726.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha,Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Mumbai):NirupamaSubramanian.* (*Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct)

Additional air surchargeof `1 .00 -Goa.Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Ltd.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

COVID-19IMPACTONDOMESTICCRICKET:SeveralplayersyettoreceivetheirduesfromBCCI,stareatfinancialhardshipindaystocome

DEVENDRAPANDEYMUMBAI,MAY8

EVERY YEAR after the Ranji Trophy season,ChhattisgarhskipperHarpreetSinghBhatiawouldspendthesummerinEnglandplayingclubcricket.Onreturn,hewouldturnout inafewlocalprizemoneytournamentsbeforethenextdomesticseason.Thisyearhowever,heissittingathisrentedhomeinRaipurget-tingrestlessduetotheCOVID-19lockdown.A one-time India under-19World Cupper,Bhatia,28,saysit isn’tboredomthatbothershim;hisbiggerworryishisrapidlyexhaust-ingsavingsandanuncertain future.With the BCCI yet to clear last season's

matchfees,duetomostdomesticcricketers,andsubstantial arrears -pertaining toplay-ers’sharefromIndiancricket’sannualearn-ings-pendingforthelastthreeyears,Bhatia,likeamajorityofthe950first-classcricketersaffiliated to theworld’s richestboard, is fac-ingafinancialcrunch.Whileaplayerisenti-tledtoclosetoRs40,000foreachdayof first-class cricket they played last season, theshare from the BCCI, running into lakhs,varieseachyear.Aregularplayerforhisstateunit can expect approximately Rs 10 lakhfrom the BCCI pie for a year, whichmeansBhatiaexpectsachequeof Rs30 lakh.“Itdoesn’tmatter to thoseplaying inter-

nationalcricket.But thosewhoaredepend-ent on only domestic cricket are certainlyworried inthesetimes. Iamworried. Idon’thaveany IPLcontractora job. Thedomesticmoneywhichweearnnevercomesontime.Wehaven’treceivedourdomesticmatchfeesfor last season till now. I’m yet to get threeyears’ gross money for playing domesticcricket,”Harpreet toldThe IndianExpress.TheBCCIblamesthelockdownforthede-

layedpaymentswithtreasurerArunDhumalsaying the process of disbursal has begunwithmanyplayersstartingtogettheirdues.“The process has started. We have re-

leasedpaymentstoplayers,officialsandstateassociations.Becauseofthelockdown,thingsareslow.Ourstaff verifiesdocumentsof150playersandofficialsdaily,afterwhichwesendout instructions to release the payments.Therecouldbeafewcaseswheresomemighthave not gotmatch fees, including old dues

likegrossrevenueshare,buttheywillbeget-tingitsoon.Ifthelockdownhadn’thappened,things could have been done faster. Thosewhohaven’t receivedpaymentswill be get-ting it in thecomingdays,”Dhumalsaid.That would be good news for several

cricketers, spread across the country, whoThe Indian Express spoke to. Aditya Tare(Mumbai),TanmaySrivastava(Uttarakhand),Faiz Fazal (Vidarbha), Ishwar Pandey(MadhyaPradesh), IshankJaggi(Jharkhand),Upendra Yadav (Uttar Pradesh), ParvezRasool (J&K), Arpit Vasavada (Saurashtra),Shreevats Goswami (Bengal) andAbhimanyu Singh (Baroda) confirmed thatthey are yet to receive match fees for theRanjiTrophynorhavetheyhavegotthecom-plete‘grossrevenue’payment.SomeplayersfromteamslikeGujarat,KarnatakaandDelhitooconfirmedtheyareinthesameboat.LikeBhatia,theysaidthatreceivingtheirdueswillbeabighelpat this juncture.Bhatia also gave an insight into the in-

come-expenditure imbalance he is jugglingwiththesedays.“Problemshavestartednow.I used to travel to England to play minorcountycricket inYorkshireandused toearna bit from therewhich used to helpme, butthat is not happeningnow.After playing forIndiaunder-19and theDuleepTrophy, I stilldon'thaveajob,soyoucanunderstandhowtough it is to be a cricketer. Recently, I haveshiftedtoRaipurinmyrentedapartmentandif no cricket happens, things will becometougher.Thebiggestproblemforadomesticplayeristhattheydon’tknowwhentheywillreceivetheirmatchfeesanddues.Thereisnoconsistency,notimeperiod,”he lamented.

Under-23off-spinnerSalmanKhan, sonof agroundsman,athishome,a tent,atCrossMaidaninMumbai. PrashantNadkar

DEVENDRAPANDEYMUMBAI,MAY8

ATENTatCrossMaidan isU-23Mumbaioff-spinnerSalmanKhan’shome.Heisthesonofa groundsman,who looked forward to sum-merswhenhe could earnmoneypreparinggroundsforcampsandclubmatchesbutnowtheKhan family is staringatheading into themonsoonwithoutanysavings.Salman, 21, was looking forward to the

Mumbai Premier League (MPL) inwhichhewas toplay forAkashTigers,which in anor-malsummerwould’vebroughthimRs1lakh- anamounthe could’veused tomove into arented housewith a roof on his head. If thecoronaviruspandemichasscuttledthelivesofhundreds of first-class cricketerswaiting forpayments for last season, the situation isdis-tinctlywretchedfortherungsbelow.

Salman,whoturnedupforRailwaystrials,isuncertainof anyprogressonthat track too,andwaitsthesedaysforfreerationfromgen-eroussouls.AfewMumbaiCricketAssociationofficials did lend a helping hand. “HadMPLhappened, I would have shiftedmy familyfromthistenttoarentedplacesomewhereinMumbai.But isbimaarinesabtabaahkardiya.I don’t have a jobandmy limited savings arefastdisappearing,”theyoungspinnersays.Cricket,whereeventhefourthandfifthrung

couldcarveoutacomfortablelivelihoodinnor-mal times, is seeing thebaseof thepyramidcrumblinggradually.Mostominously,around350clubandstatecricketersand51coachesinMumbai,SaurashtraandTamilNadu-threeoftheworst affected regions -willmiss out onearningmoneythissummerasthethreeasso-ciationsarelikelytosuspendtheirannualstateT20leagues inthecomingdaysonaccountoftheincreasingnumberofCovid-19cases.

“It’s lookingvery toughat themoment toholdourleague.Ourbigworryiswhathappensif there’snodomesticcricket,”saysSCAsecre-taryHimanshuShah. Local T20 leagueshelpplayersearnbetweenRs75,000to5lakhwhilemarqueeplayersmakebetweenRs6-7lakh.SaurashtrapaidRs25,000pergameto its

Ranji players during the SPLwhile under-23playersmadeRs15,000andothersRs10,000foreverygame.However,youngpacerChetanSakariya, part of the Ranji Trophywinningteam, iswaitingfor theBCCI toreleasematchfeesandprizemoneybeforehissavingsgetex-hausted.Thedisappointmentofasuspendedseason is alsohurting cricketerswhousuallyplayminorcountycricketinEnglandforthreemonths.SandeepKonchikor,aclubplayerfromDharavi,was looking forward to theMPL. “Iwouldhave earned8-9 lakhbyplayingMPLandclubcricketbutnocricketmeansabiglossof income,”hesaid.

CROSSWORD4113

ACROSS1 Giveupandgetplastered(6)4 Verygoodarticle forcakedecoration(8)

9 Mint that’s stillwrapped?(6)10 If youwanttousetheweighingmachine,hurry!(4,2,2)

12 Whatmightbesaid fromtheplatform(4)

13 Appears tounderstandwhat iswritten(5)

14 Staunchsupporter (4)17 Amonsternovel (12)20 Don’t interfere -with thewatersupply? (3,4,5)

23 Somecurrencyback incirculation(4)

24 InFrance itappears friendship iswrong(5)

25 Notasignof a fatalwound(4)28 I’veonlyapieceofmaterialaroundmeandtrembledwithcold (8)

29 Opera formotorists (6)30 Languagesmaster? (8)31 Gemsandpelts (6)

Down1 Completecancellationof agolfmatch?(5,3)

2 It’s todowithships inactualtrouble (8)

3 Looksatakeyagreement (4)5 Occasionwhenvictorymustbeobtainedquickly? (2,4,2,4)

6 Seeanorientalagent (4)7 Hadamealat thepubfirst - it’sinstinctive (6)

8 ComplaintaboutMa’shat (6)11 Poolenthusiasts? (4,8)15 Desk Iorderedhasgoneupa lot(5)

16 Goldsovereign?(5)18 Trainachaptobeadriver (8)19 Directions formakingmachineparts (8)

21 Craft inwhichwivesseldomexcel (6)

22 Freshair, andthat’sessential foraman(6)

26 Country inwhichhoperunshigh(4)

27 Fledbeforethestartofthestorm(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)There isasense inwhichyourhoroscope is lookingamiterepetitive,

whichmeansthatyoumayfeelas if youarestill facingthesameold issues.Thewaytoboostyourmorale today is tosplashoutextracash,perhapsallowingyourself a littleextravagance.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)There is still agreatdealgoingonthat’srelatedto the lowerrecessesof your

chart,whichsuggests thatwhileontheonehandhomeandfamily relationshipsarestillvitally important, it isyourownindividualneedswhichmusttake firstplace.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Thechanceofargumentsathomeisverysmallbut, forsomeof you,no less

real for that.This iswhyadiplomaticapproachmightbenecessary,evenwhenyouareapparentlysureof yourground.Yousee,howevercertainyouare, therewill alwaysbeinformationthathasn’t comeyourway.

CANCER(June22- July23)It is ratherconvenient thatyourchart favoursshorttripsandexcursions,

sometimeswithaseriouspurposebutalmostinvariablywithanenjoyableoutcome.Thecentral themeseemstobetheneedtostayclose toyourhomebase,anddoingyourbestbyfamilymembers.

LEO(July24-Aug23)There isagreatdealtobesaid forputtingthebrakeson. Idon’tthinkyouwillbe

compelledtoslowdownorstopaparticularcourseof action,butabrief pause for thoughtmightreveal someinterestingside-effectsof recentemotionalendeavours.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Youmayberightnotto trust someoneelse. It’snot thattheyareunreliable

orabout to letyoudown,just that the linesofcommunicationarenotsmooth.Youmayenjoyjointactivitiesandsharedfeelings,butdon’t feelobligedtoexplainyourself.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Asimplereadingofyourchart indicatesthatabusinesslikeday favours

shoppingtripsandbargains.Onthedeeper level, if youhaveanydoubtsaboutaparticularrelationship,bring themintotheopenandyoumayseethatthere’snothingtoworryabout.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)There’sa real chanceof anemotionalsquall, but itpassesquicklyand iseasyto

avoidwith justa littlegoodwill.Theconverse is that it’sadaywhenyoumaysail a smoothcourse, accomplishingmuchandrisking little, justas longasyouwatchout forothers’interests.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Whatonearthhaveyougot tobesosecretiveabout?Perhapsnothing!

Thesimple fact is thatwhile theMoonis inadeepandemotional region,youfeel theurgetokeepcertain things toyourself, andotherpeopleshouldrespectyourright todoso.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Yourbusinesslikestarsaregraduallydispersing, reducingyour financial

concerns.As theymoveapart,sootherconsiderationscomeintoplay, like traveloroverseasconnections,moral issuesand,for someofyou, thepromiseof anewinterestorcourseof study.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Sometimesyou justhavetowaitwhileotherpeoplecatchup.Frankly, itnow

looksas if someoneelseowesyouanapology,butwhetheryouget it isanothermatter.Youwillonlybepreparedtocollaboratewithpartnersasanequalwhentheyhavemadethenecessarychanges totheir lifestyles.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)TheMoonrightupthere inapowerfulregionof yourchartisattractingyouto

higher thingsanddistantplaces.This isnicelyappropriate if it’saday foreitheroverseas traveloraspotof quietcontemplation.Youcantakeyourpick-anddoyour thing.

SUDOKU4204

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4203

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.The___isveryimportant.Because,yourbehaviourradiateshowyou__.-LouFerrigno(8,..,4)

SOLUTION:GEESE,AUDIT,LITTLE,FEUDALAnswer:Theattitudeisveryimportant.Because,yourbehaviourradiateshowyoufeel.-LouFerrigno

GSEEE EILLTT

DUAIT AELDFU

SolutionsCrossword4112:Across:1Papaw,4Sortout,8Rio,9Snowdrift,10Aniseed,11Organ,13Naiads,15Strops,18Tonic,19Flavour,21Entertain,23Ice,24Steamer,25Latin.Down:1Pertain,2Provision,3Waste,4Shoddy,5Redcoat,6Obi,7Titan,12Geologist,14Decorum,16Surgeon,17Affair,18Tress,20Annul,22Tie.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

‘I amworried, I don’t have job, IPL contract’

MPL player Salman can’t move out of his tent

It doesn’tmatter to thoseplayinginternationalcricket.Butthosewhoaredependent ononly domestic cricket are certainlyworried in these times.”

HARPREETSINGHBHATIACAPTAIN, CHHATTISGARH

Anand,HarikrishnaleadIndiatowinChennai: Former world championViswanathan Anand and PHarikrishnaledIndiatotheirfirstwinin the Online Nations Cup, beatingRest of theWorld 2.5-1.5 in the sev-enth round, on Friday. Anand beatTeimour Radjabov in 37 moves.Anandhadpostedhismaidenwin inthe tournament on Thursday bythrashing Russian IanNepomniachtchi in just 17 moves.Harikrishnapostedhis firstwinafterfour draws and a loss (to VladislavArtemiev yesterday) by putting itacross Jorgi Cori. India No.2 ViditGujrathi's struggles continued as hewent down to the talented, youngAlirezaFirouzja forRestof theWorldtopickupapoint.Itwashisfourthlossinthetournamentsofar.DHarikaandMariyaMuzychuk settled for a drawas India posted amuch-neededwin.IndiahaddrawnwithRussiaand losttoUSAonThursday.

Ad-hocbodysettorunDelhicricketNewDelhi:Without a president andits secretary in jail, the controversyand corruption-ridden Delhi andDistricts Cricket Association (DDCA)is set to be directly governed by theBCCI through an ad-hoc committee.TheBCCIhasalreadystoppedDDCA'sannualgrantandtherehasbeenadis-cussiontoputanad-hocbodyinplaceduring a tele-conference betweenApex Council members a couple ofdays back. "There are endless com-plaintsofcorruptionatall levelsasfaras DDCA is concerned. Most of theApexCouncilmembers feel that till aproper set up can be put in place, anAd-hocbodyshouldbeput inplace,"a senior BCCI official told PTI on con-ditionsofanonymity.TheDDCAisal-readywithout apresident since sen-ior journalist Rajat Sharma resignedwhilegeneral secretaryVinodTiharaisinaMeerutjail forallegedviolationof theCustomsAct.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA

BRIEFLY

Foreignplayers inISL, I-LeaguetobereducedThe Technical Committee of All India Football Federation on Fridayrecommended the implementation of the continental body's rule onfielding foreign players in a domestic match from next year, reducingthe number to four from five, including an Asian player.

Invest in independent journalism. Subscribe to The Indian Express E-paper

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE

Introductory offer

Save 29%Save 29%

Available on

indianexpress.com | E-mail | WhatsApp | The Indian Express App

* Offer valid till MAY 31, 2020 | **Full refund, if cancelled during the Free Trial period.