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

FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

`̀ 105 per kilo

`̀ 133 per kilo

`̀ 165 per kilo

`̀ 54per Dozen

SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,MAY7

A total of 77 inmates and 26staffers at theMumbai CentralJail, popularly known as theArthurRoadjail,havetestedpos-itiveforCOVID-19,MaharashtraHomeMinister Anil Deshmukhsaid on Thursday, a day after itemerged that one prisoner andtwoguardswere infected.Inmates who have tested

positive will be shifted to StGeorge and GT Hospital onFridaymorning. Theywere seg-regatedwithinthe jailpremiseson Thursday evening. The in-fectedprisonstafferswillalsobeshifted toaquarantine facility, aprisonofficial said.Officialsclaimedthatmostof

the 77 inmates were lodged inthe samebarrack as the first in-matewhohadtestedpositiveonTuesday. Following this, swabsof144peopleweresentfortests

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At ArthurRoad jail, 77inmates, 26staffers testpositive

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,MAY7

THEMORNING of April 21wasjust like any other day for KNarayanan, Mumbai presidentof the Centre of Indian TradeUnions(CITU),whohadsteppedout inAndheriWest,alongwithtwoof his colleagues, todistrib-ute food to stranded migrantlabourers.Hourslater,Narayananfound

himself locked up byMumbaiPolice in aquarantine facility, inspite of showing no symptomsfor COVID-19. Hewould spendthe next twoweeks at the facil-ity, till May 5, while the policewithheldfromhimthereportofthe COVID19 test hewasmadetoundergo.Earlier this week, the

Bombay High Court repri-manded theMumbai Police forputting him in quarantine

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HC raps police for sending CITUleader forcibly into quarantine:‘It’s not preventive detention’

ABHAGORADIAMUMBAI,MAY7

JUST ABOUT a fortnight ago,whenDr SanjayGangurde (56),an ENT surgeon at the NashikCivil Hospital returned fromwork,hisneighbourshailedhimas a “corona warrior” andclapped andwhistled for him.ButonTuesday,afterfindingoutthat he had tested positive, DrGangurdesaidtheydidnotallow

himtoenter thebuilding.DrGangurde,whoisalsothe

actingcivilsurgeonatthehospi-tal, testedpositiveonTuesday.AmessagewassooncirculatedonWhatsApp groups that “a civilhospitaldoctorlivinginNashik’sGangapur Road has been foundtobepositive”.The doctor lives in ‘Rushiraj

Hi-rise Society’ on GangapurRoad.Since Dr Gangurde was

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Nashik doctor tests positive,advised home isolation, butneighbours bar his entry

APURVAVISHWANATHNEWDELHI,MAY7

NOTTHATanybodywouldofferhimthat,buthewouldnothaveaccepted the Government’s of-fer of a Rajya Sabha seat; theSupremeCourthasn’t“comeoutbetter” after the allegations ofsexual harassment against for-merChief JusticeRanjanGogoi;the January 2018 press confer-

ence by SC judges “was not agood idea,” cases involving “bigmoney and “fancy law firms”seem to get priority in listing.Supreme Court judge JusticeDeepak Gupta, who retiredWednesday after a three-yearstint,spoketoTheIndianExpress.

Beforeretirement, someSupremeCourt judgestakeastandonwhethertheywillacceptpost-retirement jobs

fromthegovernment.Whatareyourviews?I will not accept any offers

fromthegovernment.Therearesometribunalsthatarerequiredby law to bemanned by ex-SCjudges and somebodyhas to beappointedtothesepostsbutit isnot for me. You have to distin-guish short-term assignmentsfor the SC to head committeesetc from government appoint-ments.Thathasbeenmyjudicial

andpersonalview.

WouldnominationtotheRajyaSabhabythePresident,

as inthecaseof formerCJIRanjanGogoi,qualifyasapost-retirement jobofferedbythegovernment?

Inmy view, it does. I wouldnot have accepted it. Although Ithink nobodywould offer it tome in the firstplace.

JusticeGogoisaidhewouldactasabridgebetweentheexecutiveandjudiciary inhisstintasaparliamentarian.Yourcomment?The bridge between the ex-

ecutiveandthejudiciaryexists.Itis the Chief Justice.When IwastheChief Justice inhighcourts, Ihave dealt with Chief Ministersonvarious issues.

Youhavebeenveryvocalonprotectingtheright to

dissentandhavesaidthattherearenoholycowswhenitcomestodissent.Howdoyouseetheexpressionofdissentamongst judges inJanuary12,2018pressconference?I was not in Delhi and was

travelling abroadwhen it hap-pened. But when I got to knowabout it, I was very perturbed.Going to the press was not agood idea and the institution isalwaysbigger thanany individ-ual. My personal view is thatthey (Justices Ranjan Gogoi, JChelameswar, Kurian JosephandMadan Lokur) should havesettledwhatever issues within

the system. However, havingsaid that, I think that the CJImustalsobereceptivetotalkingtoall the judges.

Duringyourtenure,werethereanyformalconsultationsamongjudgesonthesecontroversial issuesconcerningthe judiciary?No. No CJI called for a full-

courtontheseissues.Wehardlyhad any full-court meetingsexcept for fixing calendars anddesignating senior advocates.There was a request made toformer CJI Dipak Misra oncebut it did not happen.

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PAGE1ANCHOR

LGCHEMPLANTWASREADYINGTOREOPENAFTEREASINGOFLOCKDOWN

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL,MAY7

INTHEMIDSTof its fightagainstCovid-19, Madhya Pradesh onThursdayannouncedaslewofre-forms in labour laws togiveem-ployersmorefreedomtooperate.These includechangingcontractlabourconditions,allowingthirdpartyinspections,allowingwork-erstoworkupto72hoursaweekif they arewilling and are paid

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January2018pressconferencewasn’tagood idea,SCdidn’t comeoutbetter (in thesexualharassmentallegationsagainstex-CJI), says JusticeDeepakGupta THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

JUSTICEDEEPAKGUPTA

SUPREMECOURTJUDGE (RETIRED)

‘Would not have accepted (RS seat)...nobody would offer it to me’

Moreinvestmentmeansmorerevenue

EXEMPTINGfactoriesand industrialunits fromadhering tomultiple labour lawswillhelpMadhyaPradeshattractmorebusinesses to invest in thestate. Theproposedrelax-ationswillhelpunitshiremoreworkers, increaseworkhours, andsimultaneouslykeep inspectorsatbay.Eventually, thiswill attractmore investment, andhelpgeneratenot just jobs,butalsomore tax revenues.

MP takes a leap in easing labour laws,allows 72-hour working week, overtime

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD,MAY7

AT LEAST 10 peoplewere killedand nearly 350 hospitalised af-ter gas leaked from a chemicalfactory on the outskirts ofVisakhapatnam in AndhraPradesh in the wee hours ofThursday,whileitwasbeingpre-pared for reopening after theeasingof the lockdown.At least 2,000 people in five

villageslocatedina5-kmradiusaroundthefactoryownedbythemultinational LG Chemwere

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AASHISHARYAN&PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,MAY7

THE VISAKHAPATNAM unit ofLG Polymers India, where a gasleakkilledatleast10peopleandleftseveral injured,didnothavean environmental clearance foritspetrochemicalplantforasub-stantial period of its operationsbetween1997and2019,accord-ing to documents accessed byThe IndianExpress.In an affidavit submitted to

the State Level Environment

Impact Assessment Authority(SEIAA), the companyadmittedthat asofMay10, 2019, theunitdid not have a “valid environ-mentalclearancesubstantiatingtheproducedquantity,issuedbythecompetentauthorityforcon-tinuingoperations”.It also acknowledged that it

hadexpandedtheproductionatthe plant “beyond the limit ofenvironmental clearance orchanged the productmixwith-outobtainingpriorenvironmen-talclearanceasmandatedunderthe EIA notification, 2006”.

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Last May, company toldstate: don’t have green nod

10dead in gas leak at Vizag LG factoryLeaknotpluggedyet,2,000peoplein5-kmradiusaffected,200inhospital

Achildbeingrushedtohospital inVisakhapatnam,hoursafter thegas leakonThursday.AP

Passengersarrive fromAbuDhabiatKochi internationalairport,Thursdaynight.Courtesy:Air IndiaExpress RELATEDREPORTS,P8

Orissa HC on returningmigrants: Only those whotest negative can returnSAMPADPATNAIKBHUBANESWAR,MAY7

THE ORISSA High Court onThursday said only those mi-grants who test negative forCOVID-19 should be allowedinto the state, forcing the stategovernment to immediatelycancel permission given toother states, including Gujarat,to transportstrandedlabourers

by train.A bench of Justices S Panda

andKRMohapatra,whilehear-ingapetitiononthereturnofmi-grants, said, “State governmentshould ensure that all the mi-grantswhoareinqueuetocometoOdisha shouldbe testedneg-ativeofCOVID-19beforeboard-ing theconveyance”.Theorder is expected todis-

rupt the returnof thousandsofCONTINUEDONPAGE2

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI,MAY7

OVER 3,000 members of theTablighiJamaatremainconfinedatdifferentquarantinecentresinDelhidespitetestingnegativeforCOVID-19 and completing themandatoryquarantineperiod.And for reasons not ex-

plained, the Delhi HealthDepartmenthaswrittentwicetothe Union Ministry of HomeAffairs—onApril17andMay3—seeking “directions and proto-cols”ontheirrelease,sayingthey“have not only tested negativebut also completedmore than28daysofstayinhospitals/quar-antine facilities”.On Thursday, Delhi Health

Minister Satyendar Jain told re-porters that theTablighi Jamaatmembers couldnot be releasedearlier, despite completion oftheir quarantine period, due tothe total lockdowntillMay3.“If police have to act against

anyone, it is free to do so.Otherwise,thosewhoareinquar-antineandthosewhowereposi-

tiveandhavenowtestednegative,shouldbereleased,”Jainsaid.Asked why they were

stopped from leaving after thequarantine period, Jain said: “Itwasdue to the lockdown.Therewasabsolute lockdowntillMay3when all kinds of movementwere restricted. Now thosestrandedcanbeshiftedandthisis why these people, who arealsostranded,shouldbeshifted.”A March gathering of the

Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddinin Delhi has been blamed byhealthauthorities forthespreadofCovidcasesacrossthecountry.FIRs have been registered in

Delhi and different parts of thecountry in this regard. Somemembersof theTablighiJamaat,who travelled to India fromdif-ferent countries, have beenbooked for alleged violation ofvisaconditions—authoritiessaytheycameontouristvisasbutat-tendedareligiouscongregation.Jain said the Delhi govern-

ment has reached out to otherstates with lists of TablighiJamaat members under

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Quarantine, testslong over, 3,000Tabligh membersstill not released

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAY7

INDIA ON Thursday launchedoneof itsbiggestevacuationex-ercises, bringing back the firstbatch of expatriates strandedoverseas amid the COVID-19shutdown. At 10.20 pm, an AirIndia Express flight from AbuDhabi landed in Kerala’s Kochiinternational airport with 177passengersand fourchildren.Minuteslater,inNorthKerala’s

Kozhikodeairport, another flightlandedfromDubaiwith177pas-sengersandfivechildren.India had earlier announced

thataspartofPhase1ofanevac-uation plan titled ‘VandeBharatMission’, 64 flights and threeNavyshipswouldbeoperatedtobringhomenearly15,000Indiansstrandedoverseas.On Thursday, passengers

who landed in Kochi andKozhikodecamehometoanun-usual welcome. Instead ofcrowdsofrelativesthrongingthearrivals gate, theywere greetedby officials and healthworkerswhostoodinPPEgearinthedis-infected terminal.Thepassengerswereushered

inbatchesintoatriagearea,wherethey were made to undergomandatory health screening.Those symptomatic will beshifted to Covid hospitalswhiletheasymptomaticwillbemovedtoinstitutionalquarantinecentresfor14daysintheirhomedistricts.However, pregnantwomen,

the elderly, children below 10andtheindisposedhavebeenal-lowed to travel to their homes,where they will have to stay

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PassengersarriveinKochiandKozhikode,keptinquarantine

In Gujarat, over 1,200cases in three daysEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,RAJKOT,VADODARA,SURAT,MAY7

WITH383newcases, the num-ber of confirmed infections ofnovelcoronavirusinGujarathascrossed the 7,000-markThursday — more than 1,200cases were added in the lastthreedays. Twenty-ninedeathswere also reported from thestate, takingthetotal toll to425.Gujarathasthesecondhigh-

est number of cases and deathsin the country, afterMaharashtra. And just asMumbai contributes a bulk ofthe cases as well as deaths inMaharashtra,anoverwhelmingnumber inGujarat has been re-ported fromAhmedabad.OnThursday, 275 of the 383

newcaseswere inAhmedabad,

which accounts for 71 per centof all cases in thestate.Mumbaiaccounts for 63 per cent of allcases inMaharashtra.The new cases in

Ahmedabad included five doc-tors on Covid duty and the 26employees of CadillaPharmaceuticals Ltd in Dholkathat had to be closed down.AhmedabadcityremainsunderacompletelockdowntillMay15,with paramilitary forces de-ployed incontainmentzones.Among those who tested

positive were two doctors ofJamnagarwhowereondeputa-tionattheAhmedabadcivilhos-pital. “Total 18 resident doctorsand six facultymembers of MPShah Government MedicalCollegewere tested for COVID-19 in Ahmedabad after theycompleted theirweek-long

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LOCKDOWNDAY

44

CONCERNGujarat: No.2 incases, very highcase-fatality ratio

CAUTIONPunjab: Nandedpilgrims continueto test positive

A GLIMMERBihar: Dip in

growth of casesover last 4 days

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

TOTALCASES16,7586,6255,5324,8293,2241,456

DOUBLINGRATE**14.8615.9717.396.6729.3614.50

SURGEIN24HRS1,233380428771129112

3-DAYAVG.GROWTH*

4.84%4.51%4.14%10.80%2.45%4.97%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:52,952

RECOVERED: 15, 266 |DEATHS: 1,783TESTS: 13,57,413 |DOUBLINGRATE: 16.08**

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last 3days **Calculatedover3days’ growth

Basedondata releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthand ICMRonMay7Thesix statesaboveaccount foralmost73%of thenational case load

First flights land in Kerala with 363 from UAE

GOVTCONSIDERSCASHDOLESTOPERSUADEMIGRANTSTOSTAYBACK PAGE4

INSIDE

JusticeDeepakGuptaretiredonWednesday

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

Orissa HCmigrants, someofwhomareontheirway to the state. Five trainsthatwere to leave from FridaywithmigrantworkersfromSurattoOdishahavebeencancelled.SuratDistrictCollectorDhaval

Patel said, “We got informationfromOdishagovernmentofficialsthattheyhavecancelledtheNOC(no-objection certificate). AsperHighCourtorders,allpassengersshould be tested negative andthen they should be sent toOdisha.Itisimpossibleforthelo-cal administration to carry outmedicaltestofsuchalargenum-berofpassengers.”Patel said that over 500peo-

ple are tested for coronavirus inSurateveryday.With799casesason Thursday, Surat is a hotspotandhasthesecondhighestnum-berofcasesinGujarat.According to Odisha’s

InformationandPublicRelationsDepartment,Ganjamdistrictsawaspike incoronaviruscasesafter17 people who returned fromSurat tested positive. Odisha’scoronaviruscountreached219onThursdayevening.Nearly three lakhworkers,

mostlyfromOdisha’sGanjamdis-trict,workindiamondcuttingandtextile units in Gujarat’s Surat.They started coming back toOdisha after theCentre allowedmovementofmigrant labourersduring the ongoing lockdown.ThefirsttrainfromSurattoOdishawas flaggedoff onMay2,and16trains have left for Odisha fromSuratcarrying19,200people.(WithENSGujarat)

Tablighquarantine-notonehadbeenre-leaseduntilThursday.States like Uttar Pradesh

started theprocess of returningstranded people and migrantworkers evenbefore theCentrecameoutwithguidelinesontheirreturn.InitsMay3lettertotheMHA

-itwasincontinuationofaletteron April 17 - the Delhi HealthDepartment also mentioned“mountingpressure”onthegov-ernment to release the TablighiJamaatmembers.“Since amonth has already

passed after the completion ofMarkaz evacuation exercise, thepersons shifted from thesemasjids to varioushospitals andquarantinefacilitiesarerestlesstogo back to their respectivestates/countries. As on today, allthe 3,013personshavenot onlytested negative but also com-pletedmorethan28daysof stayinhospitals/quarantinefacilities.”“Administrationishavingatoughtimeconvincingthesepersonsfortheirextendedstay,moresodur-ingtheholymonthofRamadan,”DelhiHealth Secretary PadminiSinglawrote to the AdditionalSecretary(UT),MHA.“Department is receiving re-

quests from various states fortheirrelease.WearenotinreceiptofanyorderofMHAregardingthesame in response of our earlierletter asmentioned above. Theearlier orders ofMHA issuedonthe release of quarantined per-sonsreturningfromforeignloca-tionswasfollowedscrupulously.Now in the light of above-men-tioned facts, you are kindly re-quested to issue requisite direc-tions/protocols for the sameimmediatelyasthereisamount-ingpressureonthegovernment,”Singlawrote.It is not clearwhy theDelhi

HealthDepartmentsoughtaspe-cificprotocolonthereleaseoftheTablighiJamaatmembers.Singladid not respond to requests forcomments.In his interaction with re-

porters, Jain did not refer to anyabsence of protocol in releasingthem.Ofthe3,013atthequarantine

centres,567areforeignnationalsand2,446 Indians.Of the Indiannationals,191belongtoDelhi.Thegovernment had evacuatedaround 2,346 persons from the

Markazbuilding inNizamuddin.Of those evacuated, 536 wereshiftedtohospitalsandtheresttoquarantinecentres.TheMHAdidnot respond to

questions regarding the letterswrittenbytheDelhigovernmentorontheprotocolforrelease.

Justice GuptaIthasbeenayearsinceanemployeeoftheSCaccusedthenCJIGogoiofsexualharassment.AninternalcommitteefoundnosubstanceintheallegationsandgaveacleanchittoGogoi.Howdoyouevaluatethecourt’sresponseinhindsight?Iamnotprivytothemeritsof

the case andwhat transpired inthecommitteebutinmyopinion,thehearingonApril20,2019onaSaturdaymorning (InReMatterof Great Public ImportanceTouchingupontheIndependenceof the Judiciary inwhich justiceGogoi presided over the benchbut did not sign the order)wasuncalled for. Simply put, theSupremeCourthasnotcomeoutbetteraftertheincident.

TherewascriticismthatthecommitteehadnoexternalmembersandonlySCjudges.Idon’tagreethatthecommit-

teemusthaveoutsiders.Youhaveto show trust in the institution.The committee can drawup itsown procedure so I would notcommentonit.

TherewasalsoaprobebyformerSCjudgeAKPatnaikintothe“largerconspiracy”inthesexualharassmentallegation.Didthatreporthaveanyimpact?My information is also that a

reportwas submittedbut I havenotseenit.

There’sbeencriticismonthepriorityorlackthereofgiventocertaincasesintheSC.Whilesomecrucialcaseslikethecaseoftheelectoralbondsarenotlistedforyears,manyothersaretakenupandfast-trackedwithoutexplanation.Doyouacknowledgethisisanissue?I do.TheSC isaveryregistry-

driven court and so the registryneeds tobepeppedup. The reg-istrars come fromdifferent highcourtswithvariedexperiencebutdonothavemanagerialskills.TheCJIandregistrydecideeverything.The listingneeds tobemanagedby technology and leave littleroomfordiscretion.I havemyself seen that cases

involving bigmoney and fancylawfirmsarelistedexactlyinfourweekswhenwesaylistafterfourweeksbutthoseinvolvingjuniorlawyersarenotlistedevenforsixmonthsdespiteourorderssayinglistthecaseinfourweeks.

YouarethefirstSCjudgetohavehadavirtualfarewellkeepinginwiththeCovidtimes.Whatarethelessonscourtsmustlearntoadapttothisvirtualworld?Even without Covid, we

shouldhaveusedtechnologybet-terbutwehavenot.Thisisagreatopportunitytoshifttovideo-con-ferencingcertaincases,especiallythose in pre-trial stages. For ex-ample, remandhearings of un-dertrials, service of cases can allbedonevirtually. I seenoreasonwhy the SChearings shouldnotbe live-streamed.Video-confer-encing has its benefits even forjudges.Theunnecessarytheatricsof lawyerswillalsoreduce.

Somejudges,includingJusticeGogoi,havereferredtothisaspectof lawyersallegedlytryingtobrowbeatjudges.Isthatwhatyouarereferringtoastheatrics?Therearesurelysomelawyers

who criticise the judgeswhenfavourableordersarenotpassed.Someproclaimtheyhavenofaithin the judiciary and then still

come to the court. It happenseverywhere. However, I believethe court cannot refuse to hearanybody simply because theycriticised the court. It is a funda-mental right to be heard by thecourt.

Gujaratdeputation toAhmedabad civilhospital.Outof them,samplesoftwoasymptomaticresidentdoc-tors- onemale andone female -returnedpositive for COVID-19.Three others are equivocal andtheywill be tested further,” saidDrNandiniDesai,medicalsuper-intendentofGGGeneralHospitalwhichisattachedtotheJamnagarcollege.Theotherpositivecasesinthe

stateincludedtwomigrantwork-

ersinSurat,whowerearrestedbypolice for their alleged involve-mentintheviolenceatVarelivil-lage twodays ago that left threepolicemen injured. The districtrecorded45newcases,takingthetallytooneshortof800,andfourdeathsthattookthetollto37.

UAE flightunder strict home quarantine.Therewere around60pregnantwomeninthefirsttwoflights.Airport authorities said bag-

gagewill behandedover topas-sengersonlyafter strictdisinfec-tion procedures - a spray ofsodiumhypochlorite,followedbyexposure to ultraviolet rays bypassingtheluggagethroughtwotunnels. Theultraviolet disinfec-tionsystem,developedbyDRDO,

wasrecentlyinstalledatKochiair-port.Afterpassengersgettheirlug-

gage,theywillbegroupedaccord-ingtotheirhomedistricts,beforebeingtakentoquarantinecentresthereinspecialbuses.

MP labour lawsovertime, and introducing com-poundingprovisionstoreducein-dustrialdisputes.ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh

Chouhansaidthereformswouldattractnewindustries,createjobsfor youths, and theunemployedworkers,bycreatingapositiveat-mosphereforinvestment.HesaidMPwasthe first state tousher inthisrevolutionbyamendinglawsthatarewithinitsambit.Tobringotherchangesintoef-

fect thestatehasalreadysent, oris in theprocess of sendingpro-posals,totheCentrethatrequiresitsapproval.Registrationandlicenseforin-

dustries,shopsandbidimanufac-turersamongothers,willnowbegiven in just onedayagainst theexistingprovisionof30days.Thestatehasalreadynotifiedchangesin the Public Services DeliveryGuarantee Act thatwill entail afineontheauthorityresponsiblefor registration and licencingtheseservices.Theapplicantwillreceivethefineascompensation.Factory licensewill hence-

forthbe required tobe renewedonlyonce in tenyears insteadofannual renewal. Under theContractLabourAct,thestatewillnowgivelicensefortheentiredu-

rationof thecontractratherthanforacalendaryear.Contractorswhoemployless

than20workersarenotrequiredtoseekregistration.ThestatehasproposedtotheCentretoincreasethe number ofworkers to 50 togive the contractorsmore free-dom.Also,theregistrationwillbegrantedonline.Itissendingapro-posaltotheCentretomakepun-ishable offences under theContract LabourAct compound-able.Except the clause that deals

with safety of workers, theMPgovernmenthasgivenrelaxationsinallprovisionsoftheFactoryActfor the next three months.Chouhansaid the statehasdonewhatwaspossiblewithinitsam-bit,butitwantstoextendsimilarrelaxationsforthenext1,000daysforwhichithassentaproposaltotheCentre.Except Section 25 of the

IndustrialDisputesAct, the statehasrelaxedallotherprovisionstoallow industry owners to selectworkers as per convenience.Industries employing less than100workershavebeenexemptedfrom the provisions of theMPIndustrial Employment(PermanentOrder)Act.NowMSMEswill be able to

hirelabourersaspertheirrequire-menttoincreaseproductivity.TheIndustrialEmploymentActwhichwasapplicabletoestablishmentswithmore than50workerswillnowbeapplicable if thenumberofworkersis100ormore.Atpresent,under theFactory

Act,unitsrunningonpowerneedregistration if they employ 10workers.Thestatehassentapro-posaltotheCentretoincreasethenumber of workers to 50. Thestate has argued that itwill givefreedom to such units from theprovisionsof theFactoryActandtheywillbeable to increasepro-ductiontotheirfullcapacity.Also,industriesnotrunningonpowerare required to be registered ifthey employ 20 workers. Thestatehasproposed to theCentrethatthelimitshouldberemoved.Citing the conditions created

byCOVID19pandemic, thestatehasallowedindustriestoincreaseworkers’ shifts fromeight to 12hours. Employeeswill be able toworkupto72hoursaweekiftheyarewillingandarepaidadditionalamountforputtinginmorehours.Various labour laws require

industriestomaintain61registersandfile13returns.Nowtheywillhavetomaintainjustoneregisterandfileonereturn,withself-cer-tification being treated as suffi-cient.Smallandcottageindustriesemploying less than50workershavebeenkeptfreefrominspec-tion.Henceforth,theycouldbein-spectedonlywiththepermissionof the labour commissioner andin the event of someone filing acomplaint.ThestatehasissuedanotificationrelaxingprovisionsofMPIndustrialRelationsActtillfur-therorders.Thiswillallowfactorymanager and the tradeunion toresolvedisputesaccordingtotheirconveniencewithoutgoingtothelabourcourt.

Nashik doctorasymptomatic, hewas advisedhome isolation. The HealthMinistry’sguidelinesspecifythat“verymild/pre-symptomaticpa-tients having requisite facility athis/ her residence for self-isola-tionwillhavetheoptionforhomeisolation”.But the residents of ‘Rushiraj

Hi-riseSociety’ reportedlyheldameeting and decided to bar hisentry. Dr Gangurde said he gotphone calls from the building’scommitteemembers,tellinghimnottoreturnhome.AndwhenhestillwentonTuesday,hewasnotallowedtoenterthebuilding.Whencontacted, somecom-

mitteemembers of ‘RushirajHi-riseSociety’refusedtocommentontheissue,whileothersdidnotrespondtocalls.Thedoctorsaidhehadnoop-

tionbut to remain at theNashikCivilHospital.Whilethe100-bed

hospitalisaCOVID-19treatmentcentre, DrGangurde saidhehasisolatedhimselfinastorageroom,whilehiswife,atehsildar,isinanadjoiningroom.Sheiswaitingforhertestreport.Theirmealsarebe-ingarrangedbytheirfriends.“I used to distributemasks

andsanitiserstoalldoctors.Hereatthehospital, Ihavenomaskorsanitiser. There are few facilitieshere to isolate and take care ofoneself.Athome,Icouldhavehadthingsatmydisposal.Neitherthehospitalauthorities,nor themu-nicipalcorporation,northepolicearewilling to intervene.Mywifeis terribly upset,” Dr Gangurdetold The IndianExpress.He saidhewas finally given a sanitiserwhenheaskedforit.ButDrSureshJagdale,District

CivilSurgeon,said:“HeisnotinaquarantinefacilitybutataCOVIDcarecentre.Hehasbeenkeptinaspecialroom,andIcanassureyouthatitisnotastorageroom.Iagreethatthefacilitiestherearenotakintowhat you can expect at one’shome.Hehasbeenholdingavi-talpositioninthehospitalandwearetakingadequatecareofhim.”Twootherdoctorsofthehos-

pitalhavetestedpositivesofar—oneisinthesamehospital,whiletheotherhasbeenadmittedtoaprivate hospital.Meanwhile, DrGangurde’ssons,bothstudyingintheUS, have expressed concernandsoughthelpfromtheauthor-ities inapostcirculatedonsocialmedia. WITH INPUTS FROMZEESHANSHAIKH

Arthur Road jailoverthelasttwodays.Thebarrackhas500inmatesinall.Asked if tests are being con-

ductedontheremainingprison-ersinthebarrack,aseniorjailof-ficial said that so far, 270peoplehavebeentested,includingprisonstaff, but "precautions are beingtaken".Thereisalsoconcernthatthe 26prison stafferswhohavetested positivemayhave inter-actedwithmanymore,includinginmatesfromotherbarracksandjailofficials.Anofficialsaidthat93staffers

have been on rotational duty inthe jail since the lockdown, in-cludingjailorsandprisonguards.ArthurRoad jail is oneof the

most overcrowded jails in thecountry.Itcurrentlyhouses2,800inmateswhileithasacapacitytoaccommodate only 800.“Following social distancingnorms is notpractically possibleinjailslikethis...So,wearetakingsteps toensure thateach inmateandstaffer remainsafebysegre-gatingwhoeverneeds tobe iso-lated,”anofficialsaid.Jailauthoritiessaidthatprac-

ticalstepswillhavetobetakentoensurethatthejailisdecongested,since there is no space to followisolationorsegregationnorms.Deshmukhhad inMarchan-

nounced that 11,000 prisonerswillbereleasedacrossthestatetodecongest jails,butadecisiononthe criteria for release set by ahigh-powered committee – ap-pointed on thedirections of theSupreme Court – is yet to betaken.AsonMay2,over5,000un-dertrials have been releasedacross 37 jails, including 582 inArthurRoadjail.Thejail,underlockdownsince

April 9, hasnot allowednewad-missions. Ithasalsostoppedvis-itsfromlawyersandfamilymem-bersoftheprisonersfromMarch18.Thefirstcasehadcametolight

when an accusedwas sent to JJHospitalafterhesufferedapara-lytic attack and subsequentlytested positive for COVID-19.Officialssaidtheysuspectthein-fectionmayhavespreadthroughoutsidersvisitingthejailsforsan-itationpurposesandthosedeliv-eringessential items.Moreover, officials said that

fourundertrialswhowereshiftedfromYerwadaCentralJailinPuneto a jail in Satara, hadalso testedpositivelastweek.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

10 dead as gas leaks from Vizag factory

12 months ago, company told state: no green clearance

affected,withseveralfallingun-consciouswithbreathingdiffi-culties. VisakhapatnamPoliceCommissioner Rajiv KumarMeenasaidat least twopeoplediedaccidentally,onefallingintoawell and another off a two-storeybuilding, as they tried toescape the pungent-smellingstyrenegas.“Officialsevacuatedthe villages once itwas ascer-tainedthatthegaswasnon-poi-sonous.Allthepeopleadmittedinhospitalsarestable,”hesaid.The LG factory, a polymers

manufacturingunit located15km fromVisakhapatnam,wasset to reopenonThursday andaround 20 workers werepreparing for it when the gasstarted leaking. PTI reportedsources as saying that themo-mentthegas leaked, thework-ersfollowedanestablishedpro-tocolandwerenotamongthoseaffected.Thedeadincludedtwochil-

dren.While over 1,000peoplewerebrought tovarioushospi-tals, only346remainedadmit-tedbyevening,ofwhom20re-quired ventilator support. Thegas leak has not been fullypluggedyet.Originally established in

1961asHindustanPolymers tomanufacture polystyrene, thefactorywastakenoverbySouthKorea-based LGChem in1997,which renamed it as LGPolymers Limited. The factorymanufacures general-purpose,high-impact and expandablepolystyrene,aswellasengineer-ing plastics compounds, andemploysaround300people.Chief Minister Y S Jagan

MohanReddy,who rushed toVisakhapatnamandmet someof those hospitalised, ques-tionedwhy the alarms in thefactoryhadnot goneoffwhenthegas leaked.AnFIRhasbeenregistered against the factoryandaninquirystarted.Industries Minister M

GouthamReddysaidguidelineshave been issued to all indus-triesregardingsafereopeningoffactories. “Our initial informa-tionisthatworkerswerecheck-ing a gas storage tankwhen itstartedleaking.”The officials struggled to

contain the gas leak for nearlyfour hours. VisakhapatnamCollectorVVinayChandsaidallthe fivevillageshadbeenevac-uated. “The situationwas veryserioustill6amasthegasleakedtill then.Now, it haseasedabitandweareabletogointotheaf-fectedvillages. A largenumberof animals, includingpet dogs,livestockandbirds,havedied.”LG said the leak had been

noticedbycompanystaffwhowere inspectingmachines torestart the factory, and thatthey had raised an alarm. Itsaid none of its employeeswere among the dead, andthat it was cooperating withIndian authorities to help theresidents and its employees.“Thegasleakageisnowundercontrol. We are investigatingthe extent of damage and theexact cause of the leak anddeaths,” it said inastatement.Thepeople living innearby

areas first realisedwhatwashappeningwhen police vanswentaroundtheareaatabout3

am,soundingsirensandaskingpeopletocomeout.Officerssaidthey had to break intomanyhomesastheresidentswereei-ther fast asleep or may havefaintedduetothegas.A villager talked about

waking up to cries for help.Visuals of people gasping forbreath as they staggered tosafety,of parentscarryingun-consciouschildren,andofsev-eral fainting, evokedmemo-ries of the 1984 Bhopal gastragedyand led topanic.PoliceandNDRFteamsres-

cued the factory workers. Ateam from the naval base inVisakhapatnam also helpedwith the rescue, bringing 50breathing apparatuses. Apartfrombreathing trouble, peoplecomplainedofrashesandburn-ing eyes.Officials said that dueto Covid-19 preparations,dozensofambulancesandven-tilatorswerereadilyavailable.With the gas still not fully

dispersed,theevacueesmaynotbeable to returnhome for twomoredays.Adefusingmaterialis being transported fromGujarat.The gas leak also impacted

themovement of trains fromVisakhapatnam, including atleast nine Shramik SpecialTrains takingmigrants to vari-ous places. Staff at SCMNStation inthecityexperiencedburning in the eyes and suffo-cation. Trainmovement wasstopped across SCMN from8.35amto12noon.TheAndhragovernmenthas

announced ex-gratia of Rs 1croreeachforfamiliesofthede-

ceased,besidesacompensationpackage for those affected andthosewhohavelostlivestock.The Centre has decided to

dispatch a CBRN (Chemical,Biological, Radiological andNuclear) Emergency Team ofthe NDRF from Pune, whichspecialises inhanding chemi-cal disasters.Thedecisionwas takenat a

meetingheldbyPrimeMinisterNarendraModi to take stockofthe situation. The PM alsotweetedabouttheincident,say-ing hewas praying for every-one’ssafety.NDRFDirectorGeneral SN

Pradhansaid:“Thesituationhasbeen controlled and the silo isleakingvery littlenow.Wewillbe there till it is completelystopped.” He added, “Styrenegas is heavier than air and set-tleswithwater. Sowater is be-ing sprayed. The gas intensitytoohascomedown.”AIIMSDirectorDrRandeep

Guleria,whowaspresentattheNDMA press briefing onThursday,saidtherewasnoan-tidotetostyrene,alsoknownasethenylbenzene andvinylben-zene, and the treatmentwaslargelysupportive.“Itcancauseharmthroughinhalation, lead-ing to irritation of eyes, throatandbreathingdifficulty. Incaseof high inhalation, it can causeheadache, dizziness and evencoma. In certain cases it canbefatal,” he said, adding that thegaswould not leave any long-termimpact.

(ENSINPUTSFROMDELHI,PTIINPUTSFROMVISAKHAPATNAM)

Thecompanyhadthenalsoundertaken that it would not“repeat any such violation infuture”.Furthermore,thecompany’s

plans to expand the unit lastyearwasclassifiedasa‘CategoryA’projectforwhicha“prioren-vironmentclearance” fromtheUnionMinistryofEnvironmentwas required. However, thecompany filed for clearancewith theAndhraPradeshStateEnvironmental ImpactAssessmentAuthority,whichinJune2019, transferred thepro-posaltotheCentre.According to information

sourced from the UnionEnvironmentMinistry,thecom-pany’s proposal was delistedfromthe environmental clear-anceportal inNovember 2019sayingthat“itseemsthatthePP(company) is not interested tocontinuetheproject”.LGPolymers,whichhad in

1997 bought the plant fromMcDowell&Company,appliedforanenvironmentalclearancefor the plant from AndhraPradeshPollutionControlBoardinMay2019whenitwantedtoexpand its capacity from415tonnesperday(TPD)to655TPD.The unitmanufactures poly-

styrene and expandable poly-styreneusingimportedstyrene.Italsoreprocessedprimaryplas-ticsintoengineeringplastics.Questions sent to the LG

Chemical’sVisakhapatnamunit,its parent company in SouthKorea,aswellasAndhraPradeshPollutionControlBoardelicitednoresponse.In a statement issued

Thursday in Seoul, LG Chem,the parent company of LGPolymers,saidthegasleakwasunder control and that thecompany was cooperatingwithauthorities. “...the leakedgascancausenauseaanddizzi-ness,soweareinvestingeveryeffort to ensure proper treat-ment is provided swiftly,” itsaid. “Weareinvestigatingtheextent of damage and the ex-act cause of the leak anddeaths.”Earlier, McDowell &

Company,whichusedtooper-atetheunitbetween1982and1997, had, prior to selling theunittoLGPolymers,decidedtodecommissiontheproductionof styrene and alcohol-baseddistillery, considering theplant’s “proximity to popu-latedareas”.The plant, located on the

outskirtsof thecity, founditselfbetweenpopulaceovertimeasthe city expanded.After takingover the company fromMcDowell & Company, LGPolymers decided to continuemaking polystyrene and ex-pandable polystyrene, albeitfrom imported styrene. Thecompany had received a con-sentforestablishmentandcon-sent foroperationof theunit inNovember2001andMay2002,respectively.According to the

Manufacture, Storage andImport of HazardousChemicalRules1989,styreneisclassifiedasa“hazardousandtoxicchem-ical”. Styrenemonomer,whichwasbeingusedatthemanufac-turingplanttoproduceexpand-ableplastics,needstobestoredat a temperature below17de-greesCentigrade.Whiletheinvestigationsare

underway regarding the acci-dent,apossiblereasoncouldbethatduringtheshutdownoftheplant due to Covid-19, styrenegaswasnotbeing storedat theappropriatetemperature,caus-ing pressure to build up in thestoragechamberandthatledtothe valve to break, resulting inthegasleakage.

In 2018, the company hadplannedanexpansionofitsunit.Theproposedexpansionby240TPDwas tocostRs168crore tocreate newproductionblocks,utilities and enhance effluenttreatmentsystem.Thecompanyhad then also said that it pro-posed to employworkerswholivedinnearbyvillages forcon-struction,andthustherewasnoneed of providing themwithhousingunitson-site.In itsMay2019application,

thecompanyhadadmittedthathazardouschemicalswouldbeused for the manufacture ofpolystyrene and expandablepolystyrene, itwouldnot have“anysignificant impact”on theheathofvulnerablepeoplesuchasthepatients,childrenandtheelderlypeople.“All thehazardousmateri-

als will be stored inMS (mildsteel)drums,inacoveredshedandnocontaminationofsoil isexpected. Same philosophywill be followed for the afterexpansion,” the applicationstated.Italsosaidalltheinbuiltsafety precautions would betaken during the expansion,andthat there“willnotbeanydamagetoenvironmentorhu-manhealth”.

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3THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY7

SIONHOSPITALhas initiated aninquiry a day after a BJP MLAposted a video onWednesdayshowing COVID-19 patients inbeds alongside other beds onwhichlaybodiesofdeadpatientstiedinblackwrapping.TheBMC,whichrunsthehos-

pital, onThursday set up a com-mitteetoprobeintowhythebod-ieswerenotremoved,andaskedit to submit its reportwithin 24hours to authenticatewhetherthe video is of Sionhospital andtakeactionagainstthoserespon-sible for keepingdeadbodies forhoursinwardswherepatientsareundergoingtreatment.In the video of award in the

hospital, therearepatients lyingon their beds, and on four bedsin the same ward are bodieswrappedinblackplastic,insomecases a bed-sheet covered theplasticwrapping.Theincidentisallegedly of ward number 3,which is an isolation ward forCOVID-19patients inLokmanyaTilakMunicipal Hospital, com-monlyreferredtoasSionhospi-tal.Afamilymemberofapatientis also seen in thevideo, though

therulesbarvisitors.TheMinistry of Health and

FamilyWelfare guidelinesman-datethatadeadbodymustbedis-posedattheearliesttopreventin-fection risk. The guidelines statethatthebodymustbesealedinaplasticbagtoavoidleakageofflu-ids and be disinfected withsodiumhypochlorite solution.TheGovernmentofMaharashtraguidelinesonApril30mandatedabodyshouldberemovedwithin30minutesfromward.Followingthis, Sion hospital issued freshguidelinesonMay2todisposeoffbodiesfromawardwithinhalfanhourofdeath.LocalcorporatorAshrafAzmi

saidhealsoreceivedseveralcom-plaints frompatients inhospitalabout the delay in disposing ofdeadbodies.“Ihadinquiredaboutthistwo

weeks ago in the hospital. IwastoldthatthereisashortageofclassIVstaffersforthisjob,”Azmisaid.He saidmanpower shortage re-mainsamajorhurdle in runningthehospitalsmoothly.“Bodiesre-main in theward for a long timeunless awardboymoves it out,”hesaid.Headdedthat similar is-sueshave risen inKEMandNairhospitalthatarerunningtofullca-pacity but do not have 100 per

centstaffattendance.On somedays, Sion hospital

records half a dozen COVID-19deaths in a singleday.AccordingtodeanDrPramodIngale,onsev-eral occasions familymembersarenotavailableordon’t answercalls followingdeathofapatient,insomecases theyrefuse to takechargeof thebody fearing infec-tionrisk,whichhasledtodelayindisposing the dead in certaincases.“Asahospitalitourrespon-sibilitytohandoverallbodieswithdignity at theearliest.Wedonotknowthisvideo isofwhichdate,whether itwas takenbefore theguidelineswere issuedonMay2bymeor after that.Wewill takeactionaccordingly,” Ingalesaid.“Civic hospitals generally

avoidtransferofaCOVID-19bodytomortuary to keepmortuarystaffers safe.Noautopsy is beingperformed. Most bodies arehanded over to family from thewarddirectly.Ifthereisadelaythebody continues to remain there.Staffersarealsoscaredinhandlingdead bodies,” a forensic doctorfromthehospitalsaid.“Toavoidsuchincidents,hos-

pital administration is taking allprecautions and all concernedhave been instructed,” a state-mentfromBMCsaid.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY7

APRINCIPAL secretary-rankoffi-cer,apartoftheCOVID-19controltask force, testedpositive for thevirusThursday.ThreeotherIASof-ficers, including two additionalchiefsecretary-rankofficialswhomayhavebeenexposedtothein-dexcase,wereputonhomequar-antine,whiletheprincipalsecre-tary-rankofficerwasadmittedtoahospital.SeniorMantralaya officials

saidtheofficerwassymptomatic.Herhusband, alsoacivil servant,testednegative for the virus buthasbeenputunderobservation,officialssaid.Access control at the state’s

disastercontrolroomonthefirstfloorofthemainsecretariatbuild-inghasalsobeentightenedwithnoonebeingpermittedentry,be-sidestheimmediatestaff.Inthelastcoupleofweeks,the

principal secretary-rank officerwasoverseeingthetaskof trans-portationofmigrantworkersoutofthestate.Meetingswerebeingheld at the first-floor controlroom. Shewas also apart of theteamcoordinating relief meas-ures in shelter homes acrossthestate.When contacted, the Relief

and Rehabilitation Secretary,KishoreRajeNimbalkar,said,“Theentiredisastercontrol roomstaffhasbeenstayinginisolationpodsfor the past fortnight.” Only lastweek, an extensive disinfectiondrive was carried out inMantralayaafterdetectionoffourothercases.Earlier this week, a deputy

secretary-rank official with theHome department had alsotestedpositive.OnThursday,ad-ditionalprecautionarymeasureswere adopted for governmentbuildings housing senior bu-reaucrats.“Contacttracingisgo-ingoninboththecases.Allpro-tocolswillbefollowed,”aseniorofficial said.Measureswere tightened at

Yashodhan, a high-rise building

oppositetheCricketClubofIndia,where someof the senior-mostbureaucrats reside. “All entriesand exits to the building havebeenbarred.Thefourthfloorhasbeencordonedoff,”asenioroffi-cialsaid.Thermalscreenershavealso been provided at allsuchbuildings.Aspurtofcaseshasalsobeen

reportedfromBellHaven,anotherIAS accommodation inMarineLines.Aformerseniorbureaucrat,nowbedridden,who resides onthepremisesisamongthosewhohave tested positive. Others arecasesfromtheservantquarters.Withseniorbureaucratsnow

confined to work from home,functioningof somekeygovern-ment department will beimpacted.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY7

MUMBAIPOLICECommissionerParamBir Singh visited JJ Margpolice stationonThursdayafter26policemenpostedat the sta-tion,including12officers,testedpositive for COVID-19. Sixtyotherpolicepersonnelatthesta-tion have been sent to homequarantine.Sources in the department

saidthatstaff fromotherdepart-ments have been deputed at JJMarg police station to supporttheexistingstaff.Anofficer saidSingh visited the police stationtoboostthemoraleofthepolice-menpostedatJJMargpolicesta-tion, as it remains themost-af-fectedpolicestationinthestate.Inavideoof Singh'svisit cir-

culated onWhatsApp, he couldbe seenmotivatinghis subordi-

nates. He said in the past theyhave fought tough battlesagainst the underworld andeven against terrorist, like dur-ing the 26/11, and “despite los-ing ourmenwe have come outvictorious”.“Thisbattleisagainstan invisible enemyand like anyotherbattle,wewillcomeoutontop,”Singhtoldhismen.AdditionalCommissionerof

Police (south region) NishithMishra and DeputyCommissionerofPolice(zone1)SangramsinghNishandarwerealsopresenton theoccasion.So far, 263 policemen from

the city have tested positive forCOVID-19. Besides, 16 police-men from Sahar police stationhavealso testedpositive.An officer said, “In our juris-

diction, Lelewadi area is theworst-affectedzone.Majorityofthese policemen who got in-fectedwerepostedinthatarea.”

LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI,MAY7

AFTER WORLI Koliwada andJijamataNagar,nowBDDchawlsatWorliandNMJoshiMarginGSouthWardwere on Thursdaysealedforthenextsevendaystoimplement a strict lockdownprotocol.With about 70 cases of

COVID-19, the BDD chawls inWorli andNM JoshiMarg havenow emerged as newhotspots.The decision to seal the chawlswastakenasBMCwasfindingitdifficulttoimplementsocialdis-

tancing normswithmost resi-dentsfrequentlysteppingoutforone reasonor theother, said of-ficials.Mumbai Mayor Kishori

Pednekar,whoisalsothecorpo-rator fromWorli, said in avideomessage that the BDD chawlswill besealed foraweek.“It has been observed that

despite these areas reporting ahighnumberofcases,peoplearenot taking social distancingnormsseriously.Alargenumberof people are always out on theroads...ManytimesBMCandpo-lice personnel have visited theareaandmadeannouncements

urging them to stay at home.However, people still comeout.Ihavewrittentothepolicetoim-plementstrictlockdownbyseal-ing the entrance of thesechawls,”Pednekaradded.AcrossGSouthWard,which

has reported about 900 cases,BMC has decided to seal areaswhere large number of caseshavebeen found.BDD chawls poses a chal-

lengefortheBMCasthesethree-storeyoldbuildings,with180sqft rooms, have a common pas-sage and toilets on each floor.Also,with large families stayingin small houses, it is difficult for

themtostayathome.Officials said that so far, 350

infectedpeoplehavebeencuredand50havediedfromtheward.BMC officials said that cases inhotspots ofWorli Koliwada andJijamata Nagar have seen a de-clinesincethelastfewdayswithstrict enforcement of the lock-down.“Nearly9,600people livein about 120 BDD chawls inthesetwohotspots.SevenroadsleadtotheseBDDchawlsandallwill beshut,” saidanofficial.Assistant Municipal

Commissioner(GSouth)SharadUghade was not available forcomment.

Mumbai:Thestatepolicehasreg-istered219casesagainstresidentsfor attacking police and healthpersonnelsincethelockdownbe-gan. Data released by the policeThursday showed 189 of theseFIRswerefiledagainstindividualsforattackingpolicepersonnelen-forcing the curfew. The latest oftheseattacktookplaceatavillageinSolapurruraldistrict lastweekwhenamanallegedlytriedtoseta policeman on fire. Pune rural(13)andSolapurruralaccountedforthemaximumcasesofattacksagainst policemen, followed byPalghar (10), Satara (9) andLatur(8)districts.AsofThursday,73po-licemen andoneHomeGuards’personnelwere injured in theseattacks. So far, 683 people havebeenarrestedforattackingpolicepersonnel. ENS

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI,MAY7

PALGHARSPGauravSinghwasonThursdaysentonforcedleavebythe state government, threeweeks after two sadhus fromaMumbaiashramandtheirdriverwere lynchedby villagers in thedistrict.Home Minister Anil

Deshmukh Thursday visitedGadhchinchle villagewhere theincidenttookplaceonApril16.Hewas accompanied by stateDGPSubodhJaiswalandofficersfromthe stateCID that is now investi-gatingthecase.Sofar,110villagershavebeenarrestedinthecase.In a video after his visit,

Deshmukh said, “Imet the localelected representatives and resi-dents to understand the reasonbehind the incident. After listen-

ingtothem, thegovernmenthasdecidedtosendPalgharSPGauravSinghonforcedleaveandgivetheadditionalSPofPalgharthechargeintheinterim.”Earlier, five policemen from

theKasapolicestation, includingthein-charge,weresuspended.Asmanyas35policepersonnelweretransferred from the police sta-tion,underwhosejurisdictiontheincidenttookplace.Sourcessaidthatafterspeak-

ingtothelocalrepresentatives,in-cludingtheMLA,theMPandthesarpanch of the village,Deshmukhcametoknowthatthepolicewere aware that rumoursweredoingtheroundsintheareaaboutthievesandchildliftersbe-ing on the prowl. “It is believedthat if strict actionwas taken tocurb therumourmongering, thelynching could have beenavoided,”anofficialsaid.

The official added thatDeshmukhalsoreceivedapplica-tions fromthe familiesof severalarrestedaccused,sayingthattheywere wrongly picked up.DeshmukhtoldthemthathewillwaitfortheCIDtocompleteitsin-quirybeforetakingadecision.The lynching incident had

taken place on April 16 whenChikne Kalpvrukshgiri (70), hisdisciple SushilgiriMaharaj (35)and driver Nilesh Telgade (30)were headed to Surat fromKandivali toattendthefuneralofaseniorsadhu.Thevehicleman-agedtoevadepolicecheckpointsset up for the lockdown, andreached right up to theMaharashtra andDadra-NagarHaveliTaluka.Theywerestoppedthereby forest guardsand itwasontheirwaybackthattheyweremistaken as child lifters andlynched.

Day afterMLA postsvideo of corpses nextto Covid patients, Sionhospital starts probe

70 positive: BBD chawls in Worli,N M Joshi Marg sealed for a week

Top cop visits JJ Margpolice station after 26personnel test positive

IAS officer on Covid task force tests positiveOfficer’shusband,3seniorbureaucratsquarantined

PALGHARLYNCHING

3 weeks later, SP sent on forced leave

ABHAGORADIAMUMBAI,MAY7

ASA student of graduatingMASocialWork (Criminology andJustice)classatTISS, the24-year-oldwas looking forward to be-cominganemployedprofessionaljust threemonths ago. Hewaspartof thecohortwhopaidTISS’centralplacementcommitteeandtheSchoolofSocialWorktoregis-ter for the year’s placement op-portunities. But COVID-19 inter-vened.TheTISS student isnot alone.

Acrossthecountry,thelockdownhasforcedseveraleducationalin-stitutes to put their placement

processesonhold.Evenstudentswho have received offers fromcompaniesarenotsureiftheirap-pointment letterswill be hon-oured.“Foracourselikemine,I’mlesshopefuloffindinganyoppor-tunityrightaway.Otherthanfor-mal placements, we have aWhatsAppgroupforjoboffersbutmanycompaniesarenowaskingforpriorexperienceoftwotofiveyears.Mostofusarefreshers,”theTISSstudentsaid.As for thecentralplacements

forwhichhehadregisteredalongwitharound400others,lessthan60 have been placed. A studentrepresentative of the cell saidfewerthan20companiescametothecampusthisyear.

Another roundof placementonce TISS reopens is unlikely.Someschoolshaveaskedcompa-nies if they could conduct theprocess online. For the School ofSocialWork, absence of govern-ment-runcompaniesinthisyearwasdisappointing, said anotherrepresentative.The campus placement sys-

tem, throughwhichmanygrad-uating students found jobswellaheadoftheirfinalsemester,hasbeenanearlycasualtyofCOVID-19.Placementsformostcollegesbegin after August. With theeconomy already sluggish, theprivatesectortoohaveindicatedthat thiswouldbeabadyear forrecruitment.

A student from IIT-Bombay'sShailesh J Mehta School ofManagement, placed in aBangalore-basedconsultingfirm,was to join office on April 1.“Luckily, the firmhas sent amailsaying theywill share a joiningdateshortly.But therehavebeencaseswhere students have notbeengivenoffer letters after be-ingselected,”hesaid.“There is awordonour cam-

pus (IIT-B) that companies arebackingout. I last receivedamailfrom the company that had re-cruitedme saying said that thejoiningdatehas beenpushed toAugust,” said a studentofmetal-lurgical engineering, who hasbeenplacedby the Indian coun-

terpartofanAmericanMNC.Training andplacement offi-

cerofIIT-B,BVRaviShankar,said:“Wehavemovedtoonlineevalu-ationofcandidatesforcompanieswho are willing.” The secondphase for placements had com-menced on January 20.“Companies have establishedcontactwithmostoftheselectedcandidates. Rolling out offer let-tersgenerallyextendstillMay.”Ofthe121studentsofMasters

in Management Studies atMumbai University’s AlkeshDinesh Mody Institute forManagementandFinancialstud-ies, 89 had been placed, saidDirectorSmitaShukla.Of35com-panies that had come for hiring,

10backedout.“Weaskedcompa-nies if theycanoffer jobs thatof-feredstudenttheoptionofwork-ingremotelyandsomedid.Sincemanymarketingjobsinvolvego-ing to the field, someofferswerewithdrawn,”saidShukla.NarseeMonjee Institute of

Management Studies said all itsstudentswereplacedinsummerinternships and final-yearplace-ments, conducted fromOctoberto January and December toJanuary, respectively. However,the students claimedotherwise.“Whilemanyinternshipsgotcan-celled, some companies havestartedonlinelearningplatforms,whichwearenot interested in,”saidaMBAstudent.

CAMPUSPLACEMENTS

Some offer letters revoked, on campus recruitment postponed

MumbaiPoliceCommissionerParamBirSinghat JJMargpolicestation,onThursday.GaneshShirsekar

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY7

A FOOD delivery outlet, work-ing during the lockdown as anessential service provider, wasforced to shut shop for thefourth time on Thursday afterallegedlybeingharassedanditsstaff lathichargedat least thriceby thepolice.Saransh Goila, owner of

Goila Butter Chicken at D NNagar inAndheriWest, tweetedthat he decided to shut downhisoutlet onThursdayafterhisstaff was lathicharged by thepolice on Wednesday night.Goila Butter Chicken has fiveoutlets, but currently only itsBandraandAndherioutletsarefunctioningwith13 staffers.“Thefirst timethepoliceen-

teredourshopandlathichargedmyemployees, I visited thepo-licestationtounderstandif Iamsupposed to stop delivery offood.Thepoliceofficersaidnei-theranysuchorderhasbeenis-sued, evenbyBMC, norhas thearea been declared a contain-ment zone,”Goila said.He added: “But every few

days, policemen come to shutthe outlet.”KrishnaChandra,astafferof

Silver Spoon, another outlet inthe lane, said police frequentlyvisits them at night to shut theoutlet.“They have not hit us, but

they ask us to keep the outletopen for a limited time periodonly,” he added.When contacted, senior

InspectorParmeshwarGanameofDNNagarpolicestation,said,“I am not aware of what hashappened,but if theystandout-side their outlets, policemenmusthavebeatenthemup.”Headded that he has reached outtoGoila.“The matter has been re-

solved,”Ganame said.Officers said on several oc-

casions, fooddeliveryagentsarefoundstandingoutsidetheout-letsandnotfollowingsocialdis-tancing norms. Officers onlystoptodispersethecrowd,saidanofficer.

Food deliveryoutlet shuts,claims policeharassment

Mumbai:Workhas commencedontheMumbaiMetro7(DahisarEast toAndheri East)withMM-RDA receiving 12 escalators andtwoelevatorsinthelastthreedaysfromChina.Themachinerycamein 30 containers. “All necessaryprecautionswere taken for theshipment,” said a statement byMMRDA, adding thatwork hadbegunona“warfooting”. ENS

Escalators forMetro 7 arrives

219 FIRs forattacks on cops,health personnel

AtDharavi,wherethenumberofCOVID-19casesreached783,with50newcasessurfacingonThursday. PrashantNadkar

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

THEOUTBREAK Maharashtra

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

■CasesregisteredunderSection188(Violatinganorderissuedbyapublicservant)of IPC:533 (96,231)

■Personswhoviolatedquarantine:7 (649)

■Phonecallsmadeto100pertainingtoCOVID-19:364 (85,309)

■Numberof infectedpolicepersonnel:35 (531)

■Casesof illegaltransport:2 (1,281)

■Arrests:136 (18,858)

■Vehiclesseized:259 (53,330)

■Fines imposed:RS5.43LAKH (Rs3.56cr)

NUMBERWATCH

*FiguresinredarefromMay7;inbracket total so far

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI,MAY7

AFTER THE BJP ruled states ofHaryana and Karnataka,Maharashtraisnowconsideringcashtransfersforpersuadingmi-grantworkers tostayback.Anexpertpanel setupby the

Uddhav Thackeray-led govern-ment in the state has recom-mendeddirectbank transfers forthenextthreemonthsfortheen-tirelabourforceengagedintheun-organised sector. A stateCabinetsub-committeeisexpectedtode-

liberatethemoveonFriday.The recommendation comes

atatimewhenindustrycaptainshavewarnedthatongoingreversemigrationwouldhurtthepaceofindustry’s revival fromthedam-age inflicted by the coronaviruslockdown.WithMaharashtrabe-ing epicentre of COVID-19 infec-tions in India, lakhs of strandedworkersaredesperatetoreturntotheir native villages even in themiddleof thepandemic.The11-memberexpert com-

mittee,comprisingseniorservingand retired bureaucrats, whichwas set up by the state govern-

mentearlylastmonthforsuggest-ingwaystorevivethestate’secon-omy,hassaidinitsreportthattheunorganised sectorhasbeen theworst-hitduetothelockdown.“With the economic activity

comingtoascreechinghaltduringthelockdown,lakhsofdailywageearnershavealmostgoneamonthandahalfwithoutearninga sin-gle rupee. The livelihoodofmostworkersisatstake.Theyneedgov-ernment’sfinancialsupporttosur-vive,”thepanel’sreportstates.OnApril18,theChiefMinister

haddivedintofundscollectedbythe state-run Maharashtra

BuildingandOtherConstructionWorkersWelfare Board, whichcollects one per cent cess fromproperty developers forworkerwelfaremeasures,toannounceamonthly cash handout of Rs2,000 for threemonths to con-structionworkers. But thepanelhasnowrecommendedthat thegovernment should dip into itsownkittytocomfortotherunor-ganisedworkers includingheadloaders, house helps, and otherdaily-wage earners. It has saidthat even thosewho survive bybegging alms should be consid-eredasbeneficiaries.

About 12 croreworkers areengaged inMaharashtra’s uror-ganised sector, official statisticsshow. “The direct transfer willhelp themsurvive thesedifficulttimes. Free foodpackets and ra-tionaregood.Butyouneedcash-in-hand for meeting the chal-lenges,” a committeemembersaid.Panelmembersalsofeelthatthe cashhandoutsmay just per-suadesomeofthemigrantwork-ers to staybackand facilitate therevival of the economy.Contending thathelp fromcom-munitygroupsandwardortalukalevel officials could be sought to

registerallbeneficiaries,thepanelhas also suggesteda simplewebapplicationformatfortheprocess.Haryanawas the first state to

rolloutcashtransferfortheunor-ganisedsector.Afterpubliclyurg-ing strandedworkers inhis stateto stay back, Karnataka ChiefMinisterBSYeddyurappa,too,hasannouncedcashdolesforasectionoftheunorganisedworkforce.In Maharashtra, the

Congress, a partner in the gov-ernment,hasalreadydemandedamonthly “unemployment al-lowance”ofRs5,000amonthforthe next three months to the

daily-wageworkers.Theparty’stask force for COVID-19 controlmeasures, headed by formerChiefMinisterPrithvirajChavan,has already recommended thismeasure to thegovernment.Meanwhile,fortheMSMEsec-

tor, thepanelhas recommendedthat the government should ab-sorb100percentinterestonfreshcapital loans for a six-monthpe-riod. “MSMEswouldneedwork-ing capital to restart production.Weareplanningtorequestbanksto give loans to raise it.Wewillbear the interest cost for sixmonths,”apanelmembersaid.

IRAMSIDDIQUEMUMBAI,MAY7

INAmajorrelief tothousandsofmigrant workers and otherstranded personswilling to re-turn to their home states amidthe lockdown, theMaharashtragovernmentThursdaydiscontin-ued the need for amedical cer-tificatefromaregisteredmedicalpractitionerwhile seeking per-missiontotravelfromthepolice.The order, signed by

Maharashtra Chief SecretaryAjoyMehta,statedmigrantsandstranded persons will bescreened by governmentmed-ical staff at the time of start oftheir journey, free of cost.Subsequently,alistofallpassen-gers, indicating that they havebeen screened and found to benotdisplayinganyinfluenza-likeillness, will be issued by themedicalpersonin-charge,whichshall suffice, it stated.Migrant workers stranded

across the state had faced diffi-cultiesprocuringthecertificatesfrommedicalpractitioners,withmany forced to stand in line forhours outside the few privateclinics that were functional.There have also been severalcomplaints of overcharging formedical certificates.The order coincides with

Maharashtra State RoadTransport Corporation (MSRTC)efforts to roll out a portal to en-sure hassle-free bookings forbusestravellingwithinthestate.The portal, expected to be up in

thenexttwodays,willallowany-one to register for their travelwithinthestateafterobtaininganodfromthelocalpolicestation.“Thetravelpermitswillbeis-

suedbythepolice,dependingonthe zone fromwhich an appli-cant belongs. Those under con-tainment zones will not be al-lowed to travel, as per the stateguidelines,”aseniorofficialfromthe transport department said.Eachbuswill ferryagroupof20people for a particular destina-

tionwithin thestate.Peoplefromthecitylimitsof

Pune and Mumbai, deemedcoronavirus hotspots, exceptfrom areas earmarked as con-tainment zones, can avail theservice, officials said.While buses are currently

chargingRs44perkmalongwithtaxes, state TransportMinisterAnil ParabWednesdayhad indi-catedthatthestatemayallowfreeofcosttransportationofmigrantsstuckinvariouscitiestotheirdis-

trictswithinMaharashtra. “Wehavemadea request to the stategovernment to allow thosestrandedwithinthestatetotravelfreeofcost.Weareawaitingtheirresponse,” Parab said Thursday.Theissueoftransportationofmi-grantswas reportedly also dis-cussedinthestateCabinetmeet-ingWednesday.Thestateisalsoconsideringa

proposal to deploy buses alongstate border to ferry people en-tering Maharashtra to their

hometowns,Parabsaid.Meanwhile, six buses carry-

ingmigrants and stranded per-sons toRajasthanwere stoppedat the border formore than sixhours, as the state refused to al-low them permission to enter.“We are not sure of the fate ofthese buses, if they will be al-lowed to enter.We have urgedtheMaharashtragovernmenttointerveneandallowthemtoen-terRajashtan,”saidHarshKotakof BusMalakSanghatna.

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI,MAY7

STATEHEALTHMinister RajeshTopehaswarnedof stern actionif private hospitals did not com-plywiththepricecapandfollowthenewscheduleofratesforvar-iousmedicalproceduresreleasedbythegovernmentonMay1.“Wecameacrosscomplaints

thatprivatehospitalsarecharg-ing anywhere between Rs50,000andRs1lakhforasingledayoftreatment.Wehavetakenadecisiontocappricesofproce-dures.Andwewill be firmon it.Privatehospitalshavetocomplyandcapcharges,”Topesaid.OnMay 1, the state govern-

mentreleasedanotificationask-ing hospitals to follow theGeneral InsurancePublicSectorAssociation (GIPSA) rates, andthose hospitals with no agree-mentwithinsurancecompanies,to follow scheduled rates pre-paredby thestategovernment.Stateofficialssaiddespitethe

notifications,hospitalshavecon-tinued to overcharge. Amajorcomponent of the bill, they said,are personal protective equip-ment(PPE)kits.Thestategovern-menthas cappedchargesof PPEfrompatientatnotmorethan10per centover andabove thecostof suchakit tothehospital.OnWednesday,stateofficials

hadwarnedNanavatihospital, adedicatedCOVID-19hospital, tocomplywith the price capping.

Officials said theyhave receivedmultiple complaints of “over-charging” by the hospital inCOVID-19 treatment on a regu-lar basis. Dr Sudhakar Shinde,State Health Assurance Societyhead, said, “I havewarned them(the hospital) of strict compli-ance, else wewill take action.They have assured compliancefrom today.”Nanavati hospital’sspokesperson,however,declinedtocommentonthematter.The state government has

askedpatientstocomplainonof-ficial email addresses of districtcollectors if they face issues ofovercharginginhospitals.Allhos-pitalswerenotified to start abid-ing by the new rates Thursday.“Wealsoappealtonursinghomes,dialysiscentres,andclinicstoopentheirservices.Alotofdialysisandheart surgeries are gettingpost-ponedbecausehospitals arenotfunctioningnormally,”Topesaid.The minister added they

have reachedout to theCentralandWesternRailwaytoconverttrainwagonsintoisolationfacil-ities.“Thiswillbeourlastresort,butwehave requested the rail-ways for this.We are preparingfortheworstandhopingforthebest,” he said.

STAND ALONEResidentswait for their turnasanNGOdistributesrationpackets inMumbai’sDharavionThursday. NirmalHarindran

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,MAY7

INAmeetingwithleadersofvar-iouspoliticalpartieson thecur-rent COVID-19 situation, ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray onThursday indicated that thelockdownmightbeextendedtilltheendofMay in thestate.“Wemanaged to control the

spread of the infection due tostringent implementation oflockdown.Now,wehavetotakemore care till May-end,”Thackeraysaidduringtheinter-actiononThursday, adding thatitcouldonlybedonewithevery-one’s co-operation.HesaidtheBMChadsetupa

largenumberof isolationcentresatBKC,WorliandRaceCoursetotackletherisingnumberofcases.Thechiefminister said thestategovernment has also requestedthe Army and theMumbai PortTrusttomakeavailableICUbeds.“We are taking all possible

carewhiletransportingmigrantstotheirhomestates.Wewillalsotakepropercarebeforegrantingpermission to people for theirtransportation within state sothatitwon'tcreateanydangerinorangeandgreenzones,”hesaid.Themeeting, held through

video-conference,wasattendedby Deputy Chief Minister AjitPawar, Leader of Opposition inLegislative Assembly DevendraFadnavis, Leader of Oppositionin Legislative Council PravinDarekar, ministers BalasahebThorat, Ashok Chavan andEknath Shinde, MNS chief RajThackeray, Vanchit BahujanAghadi leader PrakashAmbedkar and leaders fromother smallerparties.Anofficialsaidsuchanexten-

sionwas likely. “Since thenum-berofcasesisrisingeveryday, it

is likely that the lockdownmaybeextendedtillMayend,”theof-ficial added.Bahujan Vikas Aghadi MLA

HitendraThakursaid, “CMindi-cated about the extension oflockdown when he said thatmore care needs to be taken tillMayendtostopfurtherincreaseincoronaviruscases.”Thakurdemandedthata few

local trains be started for peopleworking in essential services.“Thereisalotofcrowdinginbusesthatessentialserviceworkersuse.Ifafewtrainsarestartedinmorn-ingandevening, then thesepeo-plecanmaintainsocialdistancingand travel safely. Entry on thesetrainscanbegivenaftercheckingtheirIDcards,”headded.DeputyCMAjitPawarsaidthe

state governmenthas requestedtheReserveBankof India togivecrop loans to the farmers whohave availed the benefits of thefarm loanwaiver. “The talks areonwithRBI.Also,thegovernmentwillensurethatthereisnoshort-ageofseedsandfertilisersforthekharif season,"headded.Meanwhile, Fadnavis said

thousandsofmigrants couldbeseen walking to their homestates. “The state governmentshouldseekmoretrainsfromtheCentre. It should also givemoreattentiononthehealthsituationinMumbai andMaharashtra,”said Fadnavis, while extendingcompletesupporttothegovern-ment. The government shouldensurebettercoordinationintheadministration,headded.

Thackeray hints atextending lockdownin state till May-end

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI,MAY7

ONAdaywhenacentralgovern-ment team visited Dharavi inMumbaitoinspectcontainmentmeasures,Maharashtrarecorded43deathsduetoCOVID-19—itshighest single-day toll so far.With this, 694 people have suc-cumbedtothevirus inthestate.Thecentralteamhasadvised

thestate toaggressivelyexpandits isolation facilities and shifthigh-riskpeopleincontainmentzones of Dharavi—which as onThursdayhasreported783cases— to institutional quarantine tocurbcommunity spread.With 1,362 new cases re-

ported on Thursday, the overalltally stands at 18,120 inMaharashtra.Mumbaireported826ofthenewcases.Sofar,ithasrecorded 11,394 cases and 437deaths. While Pune reportedseven deaths, it also recorded161newcases.Inall,Punehasre-ported134and2,461casessofar.Nagpur,too,continuedtowit-

nessahugespurtincaseswiththetally rising to 262 on Thursday.With this, the city has seen 100new cases in the last 48 hours.Almost all of these cases havebeenreportedfromthetwocon-tainment zones of Mominpura(85)andSatranjipura(12).Thecityhadrecordeditsfirst

caseonMarch11.Ittook56daystoreachthe150-markbutinthenext two days, 100more caseswereaddedto the tally.WhileinitiallyonWednesday,

44newcaseswerereported,laterin thenight, 24morecasesweredetected. On Thursday, 32 cases

wereaddedtothelist.Thecityhasregisteredthreedeathssofar.Meanwhile inMumbai, the

central government team foundthatsocialdistancingwasdifficultto achieve in dense pockets ofDharavi. It currently has ninequarantine facilities in schools,sports complexes, hostels andcommunityhalls.TillWednesday,2,380peopleremainedunderin-stitutional quarantine, but thecentral teamsaid thenumber of

thosewho require isolationmaygoup,possiblyintofivedigits,ifallhigh-risk contacts are shifted toquarantinefacilities.“Wehaveaskedthemunicipal

commissioner to aggressivelytakeover schools,marriagehallsandgroundstosetupquarantinefacilities,” said HealthMinisterRajeshTope.OnThursday,50newcaseswererecordedinDharavi.Atleast 21peoplehave succumbedtotheinfection,includingadeaththatoccurredonThursday.The central teamalso visited

Worli and SevenHills hospital.“Theteamhasassuredof centralgovernment aid whenever re-quired. They advised that high-riskpopulationshouldbemovedtocompulsoryinstitutionalquar-antine,”saidAnupKumarYadav,Director,NationalHealthMission.Of43deathsinstate,Mumbai

recorded26,followedbyseveninPune, five in Vasai-Virar, two inSolapur,andoneeachinPalghar,AkolaandAurangabad.The state has 1,087 contain-

ment zones at present and hasscreenedover51lakhpeopleforsymptomsof C-19.

Govt considers cash doles to persuade migrants to stay back

State to screen migrants before travel, noneed for individual medical certificates

Migrants leave inatouristbus for theirhometowns inRajasthanfromMumbaionThursday. PrashantNadkar

Mumbai: A Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) head con-stablepassedawayonThursday,just 24 hours after testing posi-tive forCOVID-19.The deceasedwas posted at

the Air Cargo Complex ofChhatrapati Shivaji MaharajInternationalAirportinAndheriEast. CISF PROHemendra Singhsaidtheheadconstablehadbeenadmitted to a hospital inMumbaionMondayafterdevel-opingcoughandfever.“Hiscon-dition continued toworsen.HisCOVID-19 test camepositive onWednesdayandhepassedawaytoday (Thursday),”hesaid.Theheadconstablehadbeen

onactivedutyuntilhefell sickonMonday.Heisthefirstcasualtyintheparamilitaryforcethatprotectsvitalinstallationsinthecountry.Last month, 11 CISF jawans

livinginNaviMumbaihadtestedpositive. Singh said all of themhavesince recovered.ENS

Day after testingpositive forCovid, CISF headconstable dies

ChiefMinisterUddhavThackeray

Numberofdeaths 694

Totalnumberofpeopledischarged 3,301

Numberofpeople tested2 lakh

Totalnumberquarantined13,494

Numberofnewcases1,362

TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRA

18,120

Isolatemore in Dharavi:Central teamas statecases cross 18,000

Ataprivateclinic inDharavionThursday. PrashantNadkar

Tope asks pvt hospitalsto comply with pricecaps, warns of action

Stateofficials saiddespite thenotifications,hospitalshavecontinuedtoovercharge

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

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MAYURAJANWALKARMUMBAI,MAY7

BEFORETHE first threeweeksofthe nationwide lockdownwereup on April 14, Dr ShubhangiParkar, a de-addiction specialistandProfessorEmeritusatthede-addiction centre at the KEMHospital inMumbai, heard fromthewifeofapatientafteragapoftwoyears.Thewoman,ateacher,wept profusely over the phoneandsaidthatherhusband,apost-graduatewith awell-paying job,hadhit their 16-year-olddaugh-ter. “Foralmosttwoyearshewassoberbuthiswifetoldmehehadstarteddrinkingagainoverthelastsix or sevenmonths. Hehadhisstockforeighttotendaysbutthishappenedwhenitgotover.He isa goodman. Even hiswife anddaughterssaysobutwhenhehitthe daughter she calledme andwelearntthatthesemaybewith-drawal symptoms,” said Parkar,whoseinterventionandtheavail-abilityof theprescribedmedica-tionhelpedcontrolthesituation.Thiswas, however, no stand-

alonecase. The imagesof peoplecrowding wine shops by thehordesall over thecountrywentviralonsocialmediaonMonday.InMumbai, a day later the BMCaskedwine shops todown theirshutters again.However,what ismissing fromthedebate aroundopeningwineshopsornot,med-icalprofessionalsfeel,islookingatalcoholdependenceasamedicalconditionwithoutmoralbaggage.Parkarexplainedthatwhilea

largenumberofpeoplewhocon-sume alcoholmayhavemild tomoderatedependencethatcanbecontrolledwithhydrationandnu-trition, but about 20per cent fallin the high-risk group thatmaysuffer fromcomplicated or pro-tractedwithdrawalsymptomsintheabsenceofalcohol.“Whenthelockdownstarted,

asade-addictionspecialist, Iwasworried.Forthehigh-risk,vulner-ablegroup,thecravingisbiologi-cal and if thepatient reaches thestageofdeliriumtremens(DTs)–a severe form of withdrawalsymptom–it isalwaysworryingand it has highmortality,” saidParkar.Dr YusufMerchant, founder

and president of Drug AbuseInformation, Rehabilitation andResearch Centre (DAIRRC), saidthatatthestageofDTs,oneintenpersons dies and it is surprisingthat no suchdeath has been re-portedduring the lockdownpe-riod.“Delirium tremens is thestage atwhich a person's handsstart to shake. It is harrowing fortheirfamilies.Unlikeadrugaddict,analcoholaddictwhohasanelec-trolyte imbalanceneeds IV sup-plements,”saidMerchant.He added that with people

throngingwine shopsas soonastheywereopened,hadputevery-oneincludingpolicemenmanag-

ingthecrowdattheriskofCOVID-19infection.“Homedeliveryofal-cohol should be permitted andthat should be the end of thestory,” he said, adding that the“government canup theprice ofalcoholby200percentifitwantstoandusethefundsforaugment-ingmedicalinfrastructuretobat-tle the global pandemicbecausethosedependent onalcoholwillbuyitatanyprice.”“Alcohol in itself is not bad. It

is bad if youareanalcoholic, likesugarisnotbadbutitisbadifyouarediabetic.Alcoholismislikeanyother disease, like typhoid ormalaria,butinalockdown,nocopis going to allow an alcohol de-pendentpersontogobuyalcohol.Ifhehadaheartcondition,hemaybe allowed to go to the chemist.So, if homedelivery of alcohol isallowed, itwillmake ahugedif-ference.”Merchant said thede-addic-

tion centre nearKalyanwasun-der quarantine andnoone fromoutsidewas allowedduring thelockdown as it would requireCOVID-19 screening. Parkar saidthattreatmentattheKEMde-ad-dictionwas also not advisableduring the lockdownas itwouldberiskyforpatientswhomayal-readyhaveaweakrespiratorysys-temoradamagedlivertostepoutof theirhomesamidthethreatofCOVID-19.Bhaskar S of the Alcoholics

Anonymous (AA), MumbaiRegion, however, said thatmak-ing alcohol available couldundowhat this lockdownmight haveachieved by forcingmany alco-holicstoabstain.Inchroniccases,hesaid,apersoncouldalwaysbetakentoadoctororahospital.In theMumbai region,while

there might be about 15,000membersof theAA,at least250-300 regularly attend daily AAmeetingsheldinabout12centresfromColabatoGovandi,BhiwandiandPalghar.Amidthelockdown,meetingshavemovedonlineandhave seen larger participationwithpeoplejoininginfromothercountriesaswell.InIndia,hesaid,about10-12percentAAmembersarewomen.Hesaidmanyalcoholicssober

upduringtheHinduholymonthof Shravanbutassoonas the lastpuja is done, they get back todrinking.Thesituationduringtheprevailing lockdown has beensimilar,hesaid.“This lockdown has helped

manypeoplebecomesober,evenif itmaybe forced sobriety. Thisperiod couldhave beenbetter ifwe could have reached out andgiventhemessageof abstinence,whichwasnot possible becauseof the lockdown.During thepe-riod of abstinence, an alcoholicmaybebetterplacedtolistenandrealisewhichbrackethestandsin.Whencravingsarestrong,hemaynot.Thissituationcouldhavebeenfavourable if these people couldbereached,”saidBhaskar.

KAVITHAIYERMUMBAI,MAY7

POINTING TO the widespreadlossof livelihoodanddeepeningeconomic distress among tribalcommunitiesacrossthecountryonaccountofthelockdownsinceMarch22, civil societyorganisa-tionshavecalled for aCOVID-19response cell to be set up in theUnionMinistry of Tribal Affairsthatcancoordinatewiththestategovernmentsandactiviststopro-viderelieftoindigenouscommu-nities through the remainder ofthe lockdownandafter.In a preliminary assessment

reportonthe impactof thepan-demic and the lockdown ontribal communities, organisa-tions including CommunityForest Rights - Learning andAdvocacy (CFR-LA), All IndiaForumof ForestMovements aswellasindependentresearchersand experts have said a con-certed response from theMoTAis necessary to curtail the num-bers of COVID-19 cases amongtribals. TheUniongovernment’sidentifiedCOVID-19hotspotsin-clude 19 scheduled districts.Other tribal pockets have re-portedpositivecases too.COVID-19responseschemes

specifically for tribal people

must focus on raising aware-ness,rampinguptestingintribalareas, providing food securityand livelihood support, andthese may be supportedthrough funds available underArticle 275 as well as fundsavailable in theDistrictMineralFunds,SpecialPurposeVehiclesfor various projects, etc, the re-port said.To ensure food security, the

report recommends free gro-ceries, includingnutritious foodsuch asmillets, wheat, dal andvegetables, to be suppliedthrough the Public DistributionSystem (PDS) for the next sixmonths. It has also recom-

mended plans to ensure wageemployment for all tribals andOtherTraditionalForestDwellers(OTFD)underMGNREGAaswellastheadditional50daysofworkthat land titleholdersunder theForestRightsAct are entitled to;effectivemechanismsforcollec-tion, storage, procurement andsale of non-timber forest pro-duce (NTFP)during theongoingcollectionseason;waiverofGSTon tendu leaves; andmodifica-tion of the Union government’sApril 6 order restrictingmove-mentofpeopleinnationalparks,tiger reserves and other pro-tected areas, a move that ad-versely impacts an estimated 3

million people living in andaroundtheseprotectedareas.“High level of social depriva-

tionandexclusionhas led to theprevalenceofdiseasesandhealthconcerns such asmalnutrition,malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis(TB)andotherdiseases.Absenceof healthcare facilities can se-verelylimitthecapacitiestodealwith anymajor COVID-19 out-break in tribal areasposingase-riousthreat to thetribalpopula-tion,” thereportsays.Tushar Dash of CFR-LA said

the report presses for amecha-nism to specifically address is-sues faced by tribals due to thelockdown and the pandemic.

“We have submitted the reporttovariousstateandcentralagen-cies, but there has been no re-sponse except regarding theguidelines for NTFP andmini-mum support price for forestproduce.Andthosedonotactu-ally address the issue compre-hensively,”hesaid.Dash said Kerala and

Chhattisgarhhaveshownsomeproactive measures for tribalsand Particularly VulnerableTribalGroups (PVTGs) throughPDS, health facilities and MSPfor forest produce.Odisha and Maharashtra

have similarly released guide-lines for support price.

Thereportalsocitesinstancesof tribalmigrantworkers beingstuck in citieswith no access tofoodorworkormeans to returnhome, and their livelihood af-fected due to difficulties in ac-cessingNTFPorMFP.“Thosewhoarestuckinthecitiesarewithoutanysupportsystem,shelter,food,orwaterandfacingacutehungerand almost a famine like situa-tion. Inaddition, theyhavetoof-ten face police atrocities andcriminalization, causingmentaland psychological distress,” thereportsays.Oncollecting forestproduce,

aKolamtribalatKinwattalukaofNanded district was reported

beatenbylocalofficialsforgoingintotheforesttocollectbamboo,it says.“An estimated 100million

forest dwellers depend onMFPfor food, shelter,medicines andcashincome.TheNTFPcollectionseason from April to June pro-videsmajor income support totribals(almost60percentofan-nual collection takes place dur-ingthisperiod)and,mostunfor-tunately,itcoincidesexactlywiththe lockdown,” the report says,adding that as women are ac-tively engaged in thiswork, theripple effects on the generalhealthof familieswillalsobeaf-fected.

MOHAMEDTHAVER&SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,MAY7

IT IS to feel sad, scared, angry orstressed during a crisis. The op-tions: not normal, normal, goodandbad.Thiswasoneof thequestions

in aquizdistributedamongover2,000 adolescents staying inKandivali,Dharavi andKalwaar-easonWhatsAppbyNGOSneha.While the topic for this quiz ismental health during the lock-down, previousweek itwas re-

latedtoinformationonCOVID-19.Withnothingmuchtododur-

ing the lockdown,NGOs,whichworkwith children inMumbai’sslums, are banking on weeklyquizzes, one-on-one conversa-tionswithchildrenandinvolvingtheminoutreachprogrammestokeepthemengaged.Mitchelle D’Souza, ICT con-

sultant with Sneha’sEmpowerment Health andSexualityofAdolescents(EHSAS)programmeinDharavi,Kandivaliand Kalwa, said they came toknow fromtheir volunteers thatyoungsterswere not taking the

COVID-19 threat seriously andwere“grouping” in theirareasasthey did not knowwhat to dowiththefreetime.“Our volunteers also told us

childrenwere panicking everytime apatient tested positive intheirlocality.Mid-March,wehadabrainstormingonwhatcouldbedone tokeep themengaged.Weasked themabout it.Majority ofthem said theywanted to learnEnglish,” D’Souza said. The sug-gestionledtothequizeveryweekon WhatsApp. “However, wewantedtodomore.So,whilethefocuswas English, we themed

these quizzes around topics likeCOVID-19andmentalhealthdur-ing the lockdown,” D’Souzaadded.Volunteers are also talking to

thesechildrenoverphone.RamaShyam, programmedirector ofEHSAS, said, “Wehavemoved totele-counselling support as fieldinteractions are restricteddue toCOVID-19.Lastweek,wecollectedphonenumbers of those part ofour programme or the contactnumbers of their parents.”D’Souza said, adding that on adaily basis they are reachingoutto72adolescents.

It has its fair share of chal-lenges.“Unlikeface-to-faceinter-actions, we have to coordinatewith thework timings of theirparentsastheydonotthemselvesownaphone.Sometimes,theirre-sponsesaremonosyllabicastheyarearoundtheirparentsbuttheycallbacklater,”Shyamsaid.Adolescents are also helping

outwith outreachprogrammes.“InKalwa,therearefamilieswholive on the other side of thepipelinewherethefoodtruckdidnot reach. Twelve girls in touchwithusidentified119vulnerablefamilies there and contacted the

local corporator, who ensuredfoodreachedthesestrandedfam-ilies. Adolescents inDharavi tooarehelping locatepeoplehavingtrouble receiving food,”D’Souzasaid. Arun Kumar, CEO ofApnalayawhichworks inMEastward, said, “We knew mostyoungsterswouldstruggletostayindoors given the small houses.Hence,wehaveinvolvedtheminrelief distribution in their owncommunities.Itisplayingtotheirstrengthastheyknowtheircom-munities better than any of us.With their helpwe have com-pleteddistributionin12slums.”

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI,MAY7

FORTY-THREE DAYS into thelockdown,Mumbai is reportinganovel coronavirus (COVID-19)positivity rate of about 15%,againstanationalaverageof3%,sendingalarmbells ringing.Health Minister Dr Harsh

VardhanWednesday reviewedthe status of Maharashtra andGujaratandaskedstatestofocusonsurveillanceandcontacttrac-ing.Theofficialpositionremainsthat there is no communitytransmission in thecountry.“The Mumbai situation is

very worrying,” a source said.“Nationally, for about 12,76,781tests, we have about 50,000cases,whichcomestoapositiv-ityrateofabout3%.Mumbai,ontheotherhand,hasabout11,000casesagainstabout73,000testsdone,whichcomes toapositiv-ityrateof about15%.This iswaytoo high. There are also ques-tions aboutwhere the samplesarecomingfromandhoweffec-tive the contact tracing is, giventhesenumbers.”Mumbaiwasamongtheear-

liest coronavirus hotspots andhas been theprimary contribu-tor to Maharashtra’s tally of15,525 cases and 617 deaths.There are also concerns aboutthecrowdedlivingconditionsinthe urban slums of the city, es-pecially Dharavi, fromwherecasesarenowbeingregularlyre-ported.“There is no community

transmissioninthecountryasawhole, some places are report-ingmorecases.Butitisalsoafactthatpeoplearelesscarefulinur-ban areas than in rural ones.They have a sense of invincibil-ity.Asforthemortality, it isclear

that in somecases theyseemtohave arrived late to hospital,” asenior government functionarysaid,emphasisingtheneedtore-movethestigmaassociatedwiththedisease.Adeathauditreportsubmit-

tedbyacommitteesetupbytheBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation had earlier foundthatwhile the average timebe-tween the onset of Covid-19symptomsinapersonanddeathwas6.4daysinMumbai, theav-eragetimebetweenhospitalad-missionanddeathwas2.4days.In some international studies,the latter figure is over 15 days.This meant that people inMumbai were arriving late tohospital, when their chances ofsurvivalwere far less.India on Wednesday re-

ported 2,680 fresh coronaviruscasesand111deaths, taking thetotal tally to 49,391 cases and1,694deaths.Inhisreviewmeet-ing, theHealthMinisteralsoex-pressedconcernsaboutthehighmortalityrates insomedistrictsof both Maharashtra andGujarat.“Statesneedtofocusonmore

effective surveillance, contacttracingandearlydiagnosis,tore-ducehighfatalityrate.Properin-terventions, screeningandtest-ing of Severe Acute RespiratoryInfections/InfluenzaLikeIllnesscases need adequate attentionas thismay prevent the spreadof infection in other areas. Theimplementation of an effectivecontainment strategy needs bethe top priority of states to re-duce themortality rate. It is theneedof thehourtotakepreven-tive, pre-emptive and compre-hensivemeasures in a system-atic manner and follow theprotocols laid down by theCentre,”DrHarshVardhansaid.

Mumbai positivityrate 15%, Centrestresses oncontact tracing

Access to forest produce, livelihood for tribals hit due to lockdown: report

TICKET TO HOMEThefirst ‘ShramikExpress’, a special trainto ferrystrandedworkers,departedforRewainMadhyaPradeshonThursdayeveningwith1,173passengers, fromUruliKanchanRailwayStation inPune. ArulHorizon

AMRITADUTTA&JOHNSONTABENGALURU,MAY7

ADAY after its decision to stoptrainservicesforstrandedmigrantworkerscameunderseverecriti-cism, the BJP government inKarnataka onThursdaydecidedtoresumetrainservices.Byby then, Chandrabhushan

Sahani,24,aworkerataconstruc-tion firm in Hebbal, northBengaluru, had startedwalking.WithRs300inhispocketandhisphoneat90percentcharge,bothofwhichhehopedwouldlasthimon the 2,100-km-long journeyhome. On Thursday afternoon,Sahani beganwalkingonNH-44highway, towards Hyderabad,hoping to reach his home inSiddharthNagar district inUttarPradesh.“Wewill reach Hyderabad,

and then somehow if they let uscross the state border, wewillkeepgoing. Ineedtokeepspeak-ing to my mother and wife athome. I amworried about run-ningout of charge. So I amusingit sparingly,” he said.With himwere a groupof 23 fellowwork-ersat thesameconstructionsite,allfromUP’sSiddharthNagarandGorakhpur districts.They were among several

groups of migrant labourers inBengaluruwhosetoff onfoot fortheir homestates, after the stategovernmenthaltedtrainservicesformigrants onWednesday. TheOppositionandothersreactedan-grilytothegovernmentdecision,allegingithadstoppedtrainsun-

der pressure from the construc-tion and infrastructure lobby,which feared the long-termstallingoftheirprojectsifmigrantworkersleftthestatecapital.As the government reversed

itsdecision,thestaterevenuesec-retarywrote to thegovernmentsofotherstates,askingthemtopre-pareforthearrivalofmigrants.“Oncethetrainschedulesare

fixed, then workers will bebroughtfromconstructionsitestothe place of departure of trains.Theywillbetakentorailwaysta-tionsandwillbeputontrainsgo-ingtotheirstates,’’saidKarnatakaEducation Minister S SureshKumar.“Train services could resume

inadayortwo.Logisticaldecisionshavetobetakenastowhoshouldbe accommodatedon the trainsand where they should be al-lowed toboard the train inordertoprevent chaos. It is going tobedonediscreetlyandallthosewhowanttogowillbeallowedtogo,’’said a senior functionary in thegovernment dealing with mi-grants.But Sahani,whoworkedas a

painterattheHebbalconstructioncompany, isn’t waiting for thetrainstostart.“There is nothing for ushere.

Wehave not been getting food,normoney.Bahut pareshani hai.Yahankasarkarhumarisuntinahihai.Wohlogandarbaithehai,humdikhtenahi unko (There is a lot ofdistress here. The governmentheredoesnotlistentous.Theyareall insidetheirhomes,wearenotevenvisibletothem),”hesaid.He said that for the last five

years, he had been coming toBengalurutowork,earningaboutRs 20,000 amonth, ofwhichhewouldsendRs12,000tohisfam-ily. “Now,we are having to askthemtosendusmoney. I amtheonly earningmember at home,”hesaid.“Wewentmany times to the

Amrutahalli police station, fillingup forms to request for a trainticket.Butthentheysaidtheyhavecancelled trains, sowepacked afewclothes and startedwalking.Thepolicemightstopus.Butwhatelse canwe do?Dheere dheerepahuch jayenge (Wewill slowlyreach),” saidBhagirathi Sahani, a22-year-oldfromthesameregionwhowaswalkingwith Sahani.Otherthanafewhundredrupeeseach, theworkers said they car-riednofoodsupplies.Intheinitialweeksofthelock-

down, the company that em-ployed themgave themeachRs500, once a week. “For threeweeks now, they have stoppedgivingeventhat.Thewatertankerthatusedtosupply toourcolonystoppedcomingbecausewehavenomoney. There is nowater tobathe or wash hands. We gotsomerationbutthattoogotover.Thegovernmentherehelpsonlythe locals, theydonot carewhathappenstous,”Sahanisaid.Both theworkers said they

weresodesperatetoreachhomethattheywerenotwaitingforthecontractortopaythem.“Thecom-panyhasnot beenpayingus fullwagessinceDecember.Itowesallof us aboutRs 8 lakh. Even then,wedon’twant towait.Here, ourlivesareindanger,”saidSahani.

Raju, 28, a paani puri vendorin Bengaluru’sWilson Garden,had also set off with his familymembers anda few friends. Thegroupof sevenwalkingmigrantsincludedhisbrother,sister-in-lawandthecouple’sone-and-a-half-year-olddaughter. Theywere allheadedtoJhansi,UttarPradesh,adistanceof2,100km.“Rightnow,thereisnowayto

travel other thanby foot. But byevening,Iamsuresomelorrywillagree to takeus for a reasonableamount,”hesaid.Some lorry-driverswere de-

mandingRs 5,000-Rs 8,000perhead, Raju said.He said the fam-ily decided to startwalking be-cause their earningshaddippedtozeroandtheywerecertainthelockdownwouldextendbeyondMay17.“Not just us, others have

startedwalkingtoo.Wehavemetmanygroupsontheway,”hesaid.Inthecity,Rajusaid,whilehis

landlordwaived the rent for thedurationof the lockdown, itwasdifficulttomaketheirmoneylastwith the prices of basic goodsshootingup.“WhatshouldcostRs50 now costs Rs 100. And theykept saying trainswould run to-day, tomorrow, day after. Yes,somepeoplediddonateussomeration.Buthowlongcanwesur-viveoncharity?”hesaid.Some acquaintances did the

same journey a few days ago.“TheywerecaughtattheAndhraborder, but then they paid Rs2,000commissionandslippedoffinthenight.Letmereachthebor-der,ma’am.Iwillcallyouandtellyouifwemakeitornot,”hesaid.

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI,MAY7

THE CAPITAL is likely to see a“peak” in coronavirus cases inJune-July, said the doctor head-ing the coronavirus responsecommittee formedby the ChiefMinister on Thursday, as Delhirecorded448freshcases.This isthe thirdday ina rowthatDelhihaswitnessed400-pluscases.Of the5,980casesinthecap-

ital, 1,431 have been reportedsincethebeginningofthisweek.Sixty-six people have suc-cumbedto thevirus so far.“The number is expected to

stay between 400-500 cases aday foraroundthenext10days.This is the natural course of avirus.Thesearethepatientswhowere infected 10 days ago andare nowdeveloping symptomsof the disease. The number ofcases is also higher asDelhi hasimmenselyincreasedtestingfa-cilitiesacrossthestate.Thepeakseason inDelhi is likely to comein June-July where we mightwitness a surge in cases.Theaimistokeepmortalityratelow,whichDelhi ismaintainingso far,” Dr S K Sarin, who headstheDelhigovernment’sCovidre-sponsepanelandisalsotheheadof the Institute of Liverand Biliary Sciences.Atotalof77,234peoplehave

beentested in thecity so far.Basedonthecommittee’sas-

sessment of the capital’s health

infrastructure, three scenarioshad been envisaged: Stage 1,when the capital will start re-porting100casesinaday;Stage2with500casesaday;andStage3,where1,000casesormorewillbe reported inasingleday.Thecapitalappearssettoen-

terStage2,especiallyagainstthebackdrop of relaxations in thelockdown.As per the panel’s assess-

ment, once Delhi starts record-ing500casesaday, therequire-ment of personal protectiveequipment kitswill shoot up to1,500-2,000aday.Thereshouldbe50bedswithventilators,125ICUfacilitiesandabout325bedswith oxygen support, the com-mitteehasnoted.“As of now,we are prepared

for Stage 2 as well. If there are500casesreportedinaday,then20%of them, that is 100people,will need hospitalisation. So, ifthetrendcontinuesforfivecon-secutivedays,500peoplewillbehospitalised over a period oftime.Theestimatesgivenbythecommittee to the governmentseem to be under control as ofnow,” saidDrSarin.Thereare11,000beds ingov-

ernment hospitals and approxi-mately 30,000 beds in privatehospitals. “What is requirednowisthateverypatientvisitingahos-pitalmustwearamask. It is timetothinkaboutthesafetyofhealth-careworkersaswell,”hesaid.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Delhi to peak in June-July,says Covid panel chief

Karnataka to restart trains formigrants, butmany startwalking

Maharashtra doctorstreating addiction sayhome delivery of alcoholshould be permitted

Quiz, community work keep youngsters busy in Mumbai slums

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY 8,20206

INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)

NATIONAL COMPETITIVE BIDDING

THROUGH E-PROCUREMENTIDENTIFICATION NO: RWS&S DIVIN., PURI -01 OF 2020-21

((06752) 251276, Fax :- (06752) 251276E-mail:-eerwss_puri@nic.in

The Executive Engineer, RWS&S Division, Puri on behalf of Governor

of Odisha invites Percentage rate price bids through e-procurement in

double cover system according to the norms of e-procurement system.

in on-line mode from eligible contractors.

Sl.

No.

Nature of work: Rural Piped Water Supply

1 No. of works: 01 (One)

2 Estimated Cost: Rs 404.79 lakhs (app.)

3 Time for completion: 12 (Twelve) months

4 Cost of bidding document: Rs.10000/-

5 Class of Contractors

eligible:

A & Special

6 Availability of bids on-line: From 17 hour of 07.05.2020 to 17.00

hours of 30.05.20207 Last date and time for

seeking clarification:

17.00 hours of 27.05.2020

8 Date & time of opening of

technical bids:

On dt 01.06.2020 at 11.00 Hours in the

office of the Executive Engineer,

RWS&S Division, Puri (All documents

should be submitted in online only. No

original documents should be dropped

in dropping box before opening of

technical bid in Division Office).

9 Date and time of opening

of financial bids:

To be decided.

O.05

Further details can be seen from the websitehttps://www.tendersorissa.gov.in.

Sd/-Executive Engineer,

25017/11/0001/2021 RWS&S Division, Puri

ODISHA STATE MEDICAL

CORPORATION LTD.(A Govt. of Odisha Undertaking)

(Assuring Quality, Saving lives)

Phone No. : (0674) 2380608

Website: www.osmcl.nic.in

E-mail: admn.osmcI@nic.inNo.03/OSMC/HR/2020 Date:07.05.2020

Advertisement for recruitment (Revised Dateline)

In view of the lockdown due to COVID 19 situation and in

pursuance of Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd. (OSMCL)

advertisement no. 02/OSMCL/HR/2020, dated 07.03.2020

published for the posts of Sr. Manager-IT, Biomedical Engineer

and Logistics Assistant and Office Order No. 4131, dated

06.04.2020, the last date of submission of online application

form is further extended to 31.05.2020, 11:59 PM and the last

date for receipt of applications and documents by speed

post/ registered post is further extended to 12.06.2020,

5:30 PM. Applications received by Speed Post / Registered

Post after 12.06.2020, 5:30 PM for the aforesaid post will be

rejected.

Sd/-

Managing Director

10112/11/0005/2021 Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd.

CAD-02

OFFICE OF THE ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF,

RURAL WATER SUPPLY & SANITATION, ODISHAJAL O PARIMAL BHAWAN UNIT-V, BHUBANESWAR - 751001

Tel: 0674-2395734 FAX: 0674-2394946

e-mail: cerwssodisha@gmail.com

File No. OWSM-WQ-270/2020 Letter No. 2279 Date: 24.04.2020

CANCELLATION OF BID IDENTIFICATION NO.2236

EIC/RWSS-51/2019-20 DT.13.03.2020The Tender Call Notice No. 2236, EIC, RWSS-51 /2019-20 dt.

13.03.2020 for the work “Design Development, implementation &

maintenance of ERP system for Water Testing Laboratories as a

part of Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance System in the

State of Odisha” is hereby cancelled.

Sd/-

25040/11/0001/2021 Engineer-in Chief, RWSS

O-02

GUJARAT MEDICAL SERVICES CORPORATION LIMITED(A Government of Gujarat Undertaking)

Regd. Office : Block No. 14/1, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan,

Sector-10, Gandhinagar

079-23250767, 23250766, 23257698

Tenders are invited online from reputed Manufactures/formulators

/direct importers for Purchase of Tablet & Capsules, Injections

and Miscellaneous items on rate contract basis and details of

specification, quantity is available on https://gmscl.gujarat.gov.in

and www.statetenders.com. All tender documents can be

downloaded free on the website: https://gmscl.nprocure.com &

Tender Notice. Interested biders are requested to submit the

tender through e-tender process.

Duration of Downloading of tender document (online) :-

08/05/2020 to 29/05/2020 up to 15.55 Hrs.

Last date for Submission (online): 29/05/2020 up to 18-00 HRS.

Last date for Submission of Physical document : 30/05/2020 up to

18-00 HRS

Opening of Technical Bid Date (online): 01/06/2020 At 15-00 HRS.

INF/74/20-21 MANAGING DIRECTOR

TENDER NOTICE: D-01/2020-2021

The tender notice was published on07.05.2020 in the Indian express videRc.No.TSMF/Seeds/853/2020-21, whereint h e e - au c t i o n was p r oposed i nhttps://auction.telangana.gov.in andWWW.neml.in.

A partial modification is hereby decided thatthe e-auction will be conducted in onlyhttps://auction.telangana.gov.in ontechnical grounds.

Email: seeds.tgmarkfed@gmail.com

R.O.No.: 594-PP/CL-AGENCY/ADVT/1/2020-21

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY7

REITERATING THE country’sgoodrecordinbothcasefatalityrates and recovery rates ofCOVID-19, the government onThursday said the number ofnovel coronavirus cases hadgone up by 3,561 in the last 24hours,with111moredying.Thistakes the total number of casesto52,952anddeathsto1,783.Sofar, 15,266 people have recov-ered.Health Minister Dr Harsh

Vardhansaid:“Indiaisinabettercondition than many othercountries as the fatality rate is3.3%andrecoveryrateis28.83%.There are 4.8% patients in ICU,1.1% on ventilators and 3.3% onoxygen support, among the ac-tive cases. The testing capacityhas increased and it is 95,000tests per day, with 327 govern-ment laboratories and 118 pri-vate laboratories. Cumulatively,13,57,442 tests have been doneso far.”Headded that therearecur-

rently180districtswithnonewcases in the pastweek, 180 dis-tricts with no new cases inseven-13 days, 164 districts

which have not had any newcase in14-20days, and136dis-tricts with no new cases sincethe last 21-28 days. He also re-viewed the situation in WestBengal, Uttar Pradesh andOdisha.Besides,13states/Unionter-

ritories, includingAndamanandNicobar Islands, ArunachalPradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa,Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh,Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala,Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya,Mizoram and Odisha, have notreportedanycase in thepast24hrs. Daman & Diu, Sikkim,Nagaland and Lakshadweep

have not reported a single casetill date.“Statesneedtofocusonmore

effective surveillance, contacttracing and early diagnosis tokeep the fatality rate low.Surveillance for Severe AcuteRespiratoryInfections/InfluenzaLike Illnesses should be intensi-fied in unaffected districts anddistrictswhichhavenotreportedcases for the last 14 days andmore,throughtheIDSPnetworkin collaboration withmedicalcollegehospitals.Suchmeasureswillhelpindicatethepresenceofanypossiblehidden infectionatanearlystage,”Vardhansaid.

111 more corona deaths,but record stays good onfatality, recovery rates

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,MAY7

TWOBSFpersonnelsuccumbedtoCovid-19as the totalnumberof infections in theborder forcereached 193, officials saidThursday.The new infections have

takenthenumberofcasesintheparamilitarytoover480,includ-ing162 inCRPF,82 in ITBP,32 inCISFand17inSSB.Mostof thesecases have been reported fromDelhi, except for about 30 BSFcasesinTripuraand19fromCISFinotherpartsof thecountry.OnThursday,90paramilitary

personnel testedpositive at theCentral Armed Police Force’sReferral Hospital in Greater

Noida, including41fromBSF,37from ITBP, one from CRPF andtheothers fromCISFandSSB.Of the two BSF personnel

whodied,officials said,onehada kidney ailment. Sources saidthe patient had been undergo-ing treatment at the BSF’s R KPuramhospital and contractedthediseaseduringavisittoasu-perspeciality hospital for dialy-sis.Officialssaidtheothervictim

was 45 years old, had no co-morbidities, and diedMonday,within two days of developingsymptoms.Histestresultscametwodaysafterhisdeath.BSF spokesperson

Shubhendu Bharadwaj saidmost of thosewho have got in-fectedweredeployedwithDelhi

Police for internal security dutyduring the pandemic. Of the 41new infections, 12 are from thecompany thatwas deployedonlaw and order duty in JamaMasjid and ChandniMahal ar-eas.Thiscompanyof94person-nelhas73positivecases.The CISF has recorded 13

cases inDelhi, including11per-sonnel deployed at Metro sta-tions and the rest at IGI airport.Theforcealsoreportedthedeathof a head constable, who wasposted at theMumbai interna-tional airport, due to Covid-19.All theSSB, ITBPandCRPFcasesare fromDelhi.At the ITBP’s Tigri camp in

South Delhi, where one deathhas been reported, the casecounthasreached72.Therestof

the infections have been re-ported from a company de-ployed with Delhi Police inShastri Park on law and orderduty.For CRPF, the force’s Mayur

Vihar camp has emerged as ahotspotwith137cases,andonedeath.“Whathasworsenedthesit-

uation is thata largemajorityofcaseshavebeenwithout symp-tomsand soldiers largely live inbarrackswhereproximityisnat-ural,”aparamilitaryofficersaid.Taking to Twitter, Home

MinisterAmit Shahsaidhewas“deeply pained to know aboutthe loss of our two brave” BSFsoldiers. Inanofficialstatement,the BSF said that the forcewas“grief stricken”over thedeaths.

2BSFmen fall to COVID-19,480 cases in paramilitary

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI,MAY7

INDIA’STESTINGcapacitycontin-uestobemajorlyreliantonglobalsupply chains even as domesticmanufacturing of other COVID-19-relatedrequirementshasbeenrapidlyrampedup.An examination of procure-

ment and company approvalsshowsthatforeignfirmsaccountforthelargestchunkofcompanyapprovals forCOVID-19diagnos-ticmaterialsinthecountry.AccordingtotheCentralDrugs

Standard Control Organisation(CDSCO) list released onWednesday,85of95(closeto90percent)approvedantibodytestkit manufacturers are foreigncompanies.Similarly,11outof21(morethan50percent)ICMR-ap-provedRT-PCRmanufacturersareforeign. Sixty per cent of the ap-provedrapidantibodytestmanu-facturersareChinese.Similarly, India’s recent pro-

curementof35lakhRT-PCRtestsby the Department of HealthResearchis90percentimported,accordingtoadetailedpresenta-tion onMay 1 by P D Vaghela,Secretary, Department ofPharmaceuticalsandChairmanofthe EmpoweredGrouponPPEs,ventilators,etc.Evenafter the IndianCouncil

of Medical Research halted theuseofantibodytestkitsaftertheirfaulty results, the latest approvallistshowsacontinuingrelianceonChinese-madeproducts.CDSCO’s antibody testing kit

approval list onApril 5 featurednoIndiancompanies,27Chinese

onesandtwoKoreanones.It is the shortage of essential

components that has madeIndia’s antibody testing capacityalmostentirelyreliantonforeigncompanies. India has begun tosource these components fromcountries like China,where theoutbreakbeganearlierandscien-tistshavehadtheopportunity tosynthesisethem.An official of a foreign com-

pany,which is providingRT-PCRextractionkits fortheCentreandseveral states, told The IndianExpress that the obstacle for RT-PCRkitswasmoreinfrastructural.“Other countries that havebeendoingthisformonthshaveaneas-iertimescalingupthanIndia,”hesaid.Among other COVID-19-re-

lated requirements, the highestimportedcategoryisN-95masks,of which 40per cent (1 crore of2.49 crore units) is purchasedfromabroad. Second is personalprotective equipment (PPEs), ofwhich one-third (80 lakh of 2crore)hasbeenorderedfromfor-eigncompanies.“Domesticproduction(ofPPE)

wasnothingbeforethis,andnow1.87 lakh are beingmade everyday,” said Vaghela at theMay 1pressconference.Vaghela emphasised theun-

precedented levels of procure-ment by the government, espe-cially for products that Indiahasbeen able to source entirely do-mestically.Allof the1.3lakhpur-chasedoxygencylindersarefromIndianmanufacturers, and an-other 5 lakh industrial oxygencylinderswill be converted intomedicalones.

LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI,MAY7

PRESIDINGOFFICERSof theLokSabha and Rajya Sabha onThursdaydecidedtoexplorethepossibilityofholdingparliamen-tary panel meetings via video-conferencing, even as theOppositionhasbeenpushingfororganising these meetings onvirtualplatforms.There are indications that it

couldtakelongertorestorenor-malcyandlifttravelrestrictions,and the “next viable option”could be considered “becausethemeetings cannot be put offindefinitely”, sources said.After a meeting between

Vice-President M VenkaiahNaidu and Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla at the former’s resi-dence, theydirectedsecretaries

generalofbothHousestoexam-ine the pros and cons of such aprocess. “The report of the twotop officials of Parliament willform the basis for a considereddecision by both the PresidingOfficersinthematter,”anofficialnote released after themeetingsaid.“Theyfeltthatif thesituation

does not allow regular conven-tional meetings of theCommittees in the near future,alternative means of enablingsuch meetings may be ex-plored,” it said.According to a source, with

the number of COVID-casescrossing 52,000, restrictions ontravelandgatheringscouldcon-tinue for a fewmore months.“Withoutairtravel,MPswillnotbeabletoattendmeetings.Onceairtrafficopensup,meetingscanbe held while following social

distancing norms,” said thesource.Earlier, Congress leaders

Anand Sharma, who heads theStanding Committee on HomeAffairs,andITCommitteechair-manShashiTharoorhadwrittentoNaidu andBirla, respectively,seeking permission to convenethemeetings.The parliamentary panels,

which study and deliberate onBills andbudgetsof all themin-istries, have not been function-ing due to the lockdown sinceMarch 24. The secretariats ofbothHouseswere not in favourof holdingvirtualmeetings, cit-ing theconfidentiality clause.Sources said both the pre-

siding officers were advisedthat video-conferencing couldnot be possible as committeemeetingsarestrictly in-cameraevents.

Testing capacitymostly dependenton foreign firms

Parliament to consider virtualmeetings for House panels

WomenlineuptoreceiveRs500 intheir JanDhanaccountsAssam’sBaksadistrictonThursday.DasarathDeka

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,MAY7

THE AHMEDABAD district au-thorities on Thursday directedCadilaPharmaceuticalsatTrasadvillageinDholkatehsilinthedis-trict to shut down its operationstill further orders after 26 of itsemployees tested positive forCOVID-19.While five employeeswere

foundpositiveonMay5,21moretested positive onWednesdayforcing the authorities to shutdowntheunitwhere1,200-1,600employeesworkedintwoshifts.“Weareshuttingdowntheof-

fice and thepackagingunit aftertheemployeestestedpositive.Ofthosetested,21werefoundtobepositive.TheywerenotjustfromDholka, but came fromGandhinagar, Ahmedabad,Kheda and other parts. Theyshouldhave takenmorecarees-peciallywhenafewpeoplewerefoundpositiveaboutaweekback.They should have takenprecau-tions. Incontinuationof thecon-tact tracing,we testedmore andthenwe got these 21more em-ployees,”saidArunBabu,DistrictDevelopment Officer ofAhmedabadwhovisitedDholkaonWednesday evening beforethedecisiontoshutdownthefa-cilitywastaken.A senior administrative offi-

cer from the district said thatapart from its main office, thepharmafirmhasapackagingunitin Dholka. “The packaging unithas also been asked to shut. Thecompany’sresearchunitwhichissituated near Gandhinagar hasbeenallowed tocontinue its op-erations,” theofficersaid.

Cadila plant inGujarat shut as26 employeestest positive

4 hospitals cleared to join WHOSolidarity trial, more to followKAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI,MAY7

FOURCOVID-19 treatment cen-tres, in Jodhpur, Ahmedabad,Chennai and Bhopal, have re-ceived regulatory approvals fortaking part in “Solidarity”— theWorld Health Organisation’s(WHO)internationalclinicaltrialtohelpfindaneffectivetreatmentfornovelcoronavirus—andmorearesettofollow.Confirming this, Dr Sheela

Godbole, Head, Division ofEpidemiology, ICMR-NationalAIDS Research Institute, andNational Coordinator of theWHO-India Solidarity Trial, saidtheICMRplans“toinitiatethetrialat20-25clinicaltrialsitesinmanystatesacrossIndia”.“These sites are in various

stagesofbeingapproved.Thesitesrequireapproval fromtheir insti-tutional ethics committees, andhave to be trained andupdated

withtheDrugControllerGeneralof India(DCGI)andClinicalTrialsRegistry-India (CTRI). Somesitesare already registered, someareclose to registration, andmanymoreareintheprocessofobtain-ing approval from their ethicscommittee,”shesaid.The four which have been

cleared so far are fromcities thathavereportedahighcaseload:AI-IMSinJodhpur,ApolloHospitalinChennai, B JMedical College andCivilHospital inAhmedabadandChirayu Medical College andHospitalinBhopal.Thecasecountso far is 842 in Jodhpur, 2,644 inChennai, 4,991 in Ahmedabad,and605inBhopal.According to theWHOweb-

site,theSolidaritytrial“willcom-pare four treatment optionsagainstthestandardofcare,toas-sess their relative effectivenessagainstCOVID-19”.The treatment options that

have been selected are:Remdesivir;Lopinavir/Ritonavir;

Lopinavir/ Ritonavir withInterferon beta-1a; andChloroquine orHydroxychloroquine. “By en-rollingpatients inmultiplecoun-tries, the Solidarity trial aims torapidly discoverwhether anyofthedrugsslowdiseaseprogressionor improve survival.Otherdrugscanbeaddedbasedonemergingevidence,”saystheWHOwebsite.Dr Godbole confirmed that

Indiawill be testing all the fourtreatment options. Remdesivir,whichisexclusivelymanufacturedbyGileadintheUS,andInterferonbeta-1a, “havebeendonatedbyWHOfor trial in India,” she said.“Allfourtreatmentswillbetested.Patientswhoarewillingtopartic-ipateandprovide their informedconsentwillbeallottedrandomly,throughacomputerprogramme,to anyoneof the four treatmentoptions,”DrGodbolesaid.Chloroquine and hydroxy-

chloroquine are very closely re-lated and used to treatmalaria

andrheumatologyconditionsre-spectively. The ICMRhas autho-risedhydroxychloroquineaspro-phylaxis (preventive treatment),recommending it for healthcareworkers and those takingcareofCOVID-19patientsathome.In China and France, small

studiesprovidedsomeindicationsof thepossiblebenefit of chloro-quinephosphateagainstpneumo-niacausedbyCOVID-19,buttheyneed confirmation through ran-domisedtrials,theWHOhassaid.Remdesivir isadrugwithan-

tiviralpropertiesthatwasmanu-facturedby aUS-basedbiotech-nologycompanyin2014, totreatEbolacases;itwasalsotriedinpa-tients of MERS and SARS, bothcausedbycoronaviruses.OnMay 1, the US Food and

DrugAdministration(USFDA)au-thorised the emergency use ofRemdesivir as an experimentaldrug to treat severe cases ofCOVID-19who are hospitalisedandneedoxygenorventilators.

Astudentreturnsafterpurchasing booksatamarket inChandigarh’sSector19onThursday. KamleshwarSingh

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI,MAY7

ASSAM’S FIRST COVID-19 pa-tient, a 52-year-oldman suffer-ingfromcanceranddiabetes,hasrecoveredfromthediseaseafterundergoingtreatmentforoveramonth.Hisrecovery,doctorssay,is remarkable as his ailmentsmadehimmorevulnerable.A resident of Karimganj dis-

trict inBarakValley, themanisasenior member of the TablighiJamaat. He was a madrasateacherandranasmallbusiness.He was found to be sufferingfrombloodcancer inFebruary.OnMarch5, amidhis cancer

treatment, he attended theTablighiJamaatmeetinginDelhi,and uponhisreturn,testedpos-itiveforCOVID-19.OnMarch31,themanwasdeclaredthestate’sfirstcoronaviruspatientandad-mitted to the Silchar MedicalCollegeandHospital (SMCH).“It was a tough time for the

family.Me andmybrother tookhimtotheSMCHthatdayandwewerequarantinedafterhetestedpositive. Fortunately, we testednegative,andsodidothermem-bers of our family,” his son toldThe Indian Express over thephone.The patient was discharged

Wednesday and sent for obser-vation for 14 days at a hospitalclosetohisresidence.“Weweretold that blood cancermadehissituation worse. But by God’sgrace hemade it through. Nowthe cancer treatment will con-tinue,”his sonsaid.Dr Babul Bezbaruah, princi-

pal of SMCH, said the man’streatment was “very difficult”,withhisconditiondeterioratinginmid-April. DrBezbaruah saida high-level teamwas consti-tutedtoadviseonhistreatmentandmonitor the prognosis on aday-to-daybasis. “It shouldbeacaseforresearch.Hewassuffer-ing from leukemia — a gener-alised and not localised cancer-which made his conditioncomplicated.His immunitywaslow and hewas already takinganti-cancer drugs,” DrBezbaruahsaid.As of Thursday afternoon, a

totalof45patientshavereportedpositive for the coronavirus inAssam.Thirty-fourof themhavebeen discharged, 10 are beingtreated, andonehasdied.

Cancer patient,Assam’s firstCOVID case,beats virus

Chennai:Amid a constant surgein COVID-19 infections and anewclusterofcaseslinkedtothestate’s largest vegetablemarketin Koyambedu, the Tamil Nadugovernment Thursday openedretail liquor outlets across thestate, a day after announcing a15 per cent increase in exciseduty on Indian Made ForeignLiquor (IMFL), in a bid to tacklethedeepeningeconomiccrisis.Tamil Nadu reported 580

new positive cases Thursday,taking the total to5,409.Liquor outlets of the Tamil

NaduStateMarketingCorporationLimited (Tasmac)opened to longqueueseverywhereinTamilNadu,exceptChennaiandcontainmentzones. ENS

Cases rise, TNliquor shops opento long queues

without any reason, saying that"quarantine cannot be used forpreventivedetention". It orderedthepolice to lethimgo,bywhichtimehehadalreadyspent14daysatthefacility.According toNarayanan, he

andhis colleagueshadbeendis-tributing foodandessential sup-plies tomigrantworkers and thepoorsincethelockdownwasim-posed.OnApril21,around10am,in light of a nationwide protestcalledbyCITUagainstCentre'sal-leged apathetic attitude to theplight of farmers andworkers,NarayananandhistwocolleaguesarrivednearAjmeriMasjidcarry-ing flags,placardsandfood itemsto be distributed to the partici-pants thereandGaodeviDongarareainAndheriWest.“Priornoticehadbeensenttothetahsildarandthepolice.Wewerewearingfacemasksandmaintainingsocialdis-

tancingprotocols,”NarayanantoldTheIndianExpress.He added at thedistribution

site,DeputyCommissioner(Zone9)AbhishekTrimukheandseniorInspectorParmeshwarGamaneofDNNagarpoliceaskedNarayananandhiscolleaguestocometothepolicestation.There,whilehiscol-leagueswere allowed to leave,Narayananwastakentoaprivatelab. “I was taken to SuburbanDiagnoaticsinJogeshwariwithoutbeing toldwhy. A testwas con-ducted, a quarantine stampwasputonmyhandandIwastoldthattheresultwillbesentonmyphonewithin48hours,”saidNarayanan.He claimed that hewas sent

back to thepolice stationandthepoliceproceededunderSection41ofCrPC,whichempowersittoar-restanypersonwithoutawarrantororderofthemagistrate.Hewastoldthathewasbeingbookedun-

dersections188(disobediencetoorder promulgated by govern-mentservant)and269(negligentactlikelytospreadinfectionofdis-easedangerous to life)of IPCandtheDisasterManagementAct.“The police took away my

phoneandmyrequest to informCITUmembersorlawyerswasre-fused.Iwasthentakentoaquaran-tinefacilityatWestBluehotelandputinaroomontheseventhfloor.”When his colleagues ap-

proachedthepolice,theyweredi-rected toBMCofficials, but tonoavail. Thereafter, CITUmembersrushedtothefacilityandspoketoNarayananbrieflythroughtheho-telintercom.Toldthathistestresultwould

not be declared for at least twoweeks, CITU moved HC.“Narayanan’s detention showsabuse of power exercised as apunitivemeasuretomakeanex-ample of him,” the pleamovedby Mahendra Singh, a CITUmember, said. On the first hear-ing on April 27, Justice C V

Bhadangorderedthepolicetore-turnNarayanan’sphoneandpro-videhimwithfreshclothes.AtthenexthearingonApril30,

while Public ProsecutorDeepakThakareandadvocateSRShinde–appearingforthepolice–claimedthat BMC had detainedNarayanan, thecivicbodydeniedanyknowledgeoftheincident."Hewasdetainedsincehewas

seencomingoutofaredzoneareainAndheri (West)andwasfoundto be residing in a containmentzone,"thepolicesaid.AtthefinalhearingonMay5–

heard by a new judge, JusticeRevatiMohite-Dere–theBMCin-formedthecourtthatNarayananhadbeensenttothefacilityasperpolice’sdirection.However,itsaidhehadtestednegativeandhis14-dayquarantineperiodhadendedthe previous day, onMay4. Thestate andBMCalso claimed thatNarayananwas seencomingoutofredzoneareainAndheri(West)and thathe resided in a contain-ment zone. Narayanan toldThe

IndianExpresshewas staying atthe CITUoffice inAndheri sincethelockdownbegan.The court observed,

“Quarantine cannotbeused forpreventivedetention.ACOVID-19 negative person may catchcoronavirus in the facility.” Thejudgenoted that the police hadfailed to establish any due pro-cedure of law under whichNarayanan’s phone and otherbelongings had been confis-cated.Shesaidtherewasnolawto keep Narayanan in custodyand ordered his immediate re-lease.“Icouldnotaccessmycell-phone for nine days and couldnot contact my family orlawyers. Igotholdofmytestre-port, whichwas negative, only14 days after being tested andarbitrarily being sent to a quar-antine facility. The police couldnothavedetainedmeformerelydistributingessential fooditemsto migrants and constructionworkers,” Narayanan said afterhis release.

CITU leaderFROMPAGEONE

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MANOJCG&APURVAVISHWANATHNEWDELHI,MAY7

THE GAS leak at the L GPolymers plant inVisakhapatnam on Thursdayputsunderthespotlightgapsinthe legal framework in dealingwith suchaccidents.A decade ago, the issuewas

raised even during discussionsontheCivilNuclearLiabilityAct,2010. The 2010 Act deals withinstituting civil liability for nu-clear damage and grantingprompt compensation to vic-timsof anuclear incident.While participating in a de-

bate on the Act on August 30,2010, then Leader of theOppositioninRajyaSabhaArunJaitley had said, “Wehave a sadand unfortunate experience ofthe Bhopal gas leak. This lawdeals only with nuclear inci-dents. I think, two lessons stillremain. If there are incidentsand accidentswhich are not onaccountofanuclearincidentbutbecause of which a large num-berofcasualtyanddamagedoestakeplace,ourlegalregimeeventoday is only the conventionallegal regimethat thevictimsgoto a civil court, and then have

theirremediesadjudicated,andweareall consciousof the limi-tationsofourlegalsystemthatitalmosttakesdecades,notyears,in order to compensate the vic-tims...”“So, I would urge the

Governmentwhiledealingwiththis expeditious legal remedymachinery for victims of a nu-clear incident to also considerthatother incidentsof thiskind,which are not caused on ac-count of a nuclear leakage, alsothere ought to be a similar lawwhichwoulddealwith it.”While the civil nuclear law

does not deal with criminalremedies,hesaidcriminalrem-edies are going to be the same,whether it is a nuclear leak or agas leak or a chemical leak, andargued that the legal architec-tureregardingthemneedstobestrengthened.“...whenyoustoreor utilise the hazardousmate-rialandit isutilisedinamanner,thefactthatthereisaleakageit-self is a proof that you did nothandle it properly, and, there-fore, youmust be taken to taskfor this,” Jaitley said.Thisprincipleof strict liabil-

itywasevolvedbytheSupremeCourt in the 1987 Oleum Gasleak case to fix civil liability oncompaniesandcompensatethe

victims.The Environment Relief

Fund(ERF),acentral fundunderthe Public Liability InsuranceAct, 1991,was set up to provideimmediate relief to victims ofaccidentsinchemicalindustries.In March, a study by VidhiCentre for Legal Policy foundthat a corpus of Rs 810 crorewith ERF has remainedunutilised for nearly threedecades.The other provision for fix-

ing liability can be found in theEnvironment Protection Act,1987, brought in the aftermathof Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Underthis, the Centre has notifiedManufacture, Storage andImportofHazardousChemicalsRules, 1989 and the HazardousWastes(Management,HandlingandTransboundaryMovement)Rules, 2008 for regulating haz-ardous substances.Violation of these regula-

tions or failure to comply withstandards would constitute anoffence. The Act also has provi-sions against government offi-cialsfoundviolatingthelaw.Theaccused are booked underSection304Aof theIPC,pertain-ing to causing death by negli-genceandwithaprovisionof jailtermofmaximumtwoyears.

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD,MAY7

“Several people lay on the road,catching their throatsor rubbingtheir eyes. One person fell fromthemotorcyclehewassittingon.Mywife and I gasped, unable tobreathe.”TadhiVenkaiah,60,described

aThursdayearlymorningof“hor-ror” as police cameknocking ontheir doors to tell themgas hadleaked fromanearby plant andthey should leave. “The soundofthebangingonthedoorwokeme.I thought something had hap-penedtomycowandaneighbourhadcome,butsomeoneshouted‘police’. Iwas really scared. Theysaid therewasagas leakandmywifeandIshouldgowiththem. Iwas groggy and I had difficultywakingupmywife,sopolicemenpickedusupandputusinavehi-cle. They calmed us down andbroughtustohospital.”OfthefivevillagesnearVisak-

hapatnamevacuateddue to gasleakfromtheLGPolymersfactoryonThursday,Venkaiah’sVenkata-puramwastheworst-affected.Among the dead were two

children,6and9yearsold,73-yearoldMekaKrishna,whohadrespi-ratoryproblems,CGRaju (48),ANarasimha (55), KNaryana (35)andAChandramouli, 19. A first-year MBBS student of AndhraMedical College, ChandramouliwasathishouseinGopalapatnam

village,whichfellinthegasleakra-dius.Hisfather,AEaswaraRao,saidChandramouli struggled tobrea-theanddiedonwaytohospital.KantaRao fromVenkatapur-

amvillage,whostudiesatAndhraUniversity,saidthescenewaslikeout of a zombiemovie. “Peoplewalkedoutofhomesandjustcol-lapsedon the road. Theygaspedforairandfrothedat themouths.Cows and buffaloes moaned.Womenandchildrenwerecrying.Policemenwhocame to the res-cuealsocollapsed.Afewpersonswho owned autorickshaws orfourwheelers rushed people to

hospitals before theambulancesstartedarriving,”Raosaid,addingthat chaosprevailed forhours asfamiliestriedtotrackeachother.Sagar, a local registeredmed-

icalpractitioner, said, “Therewasa foul smell in the house and Icouldnot understandwhatwashappening.Ifirstthoughtgaswasleaking fromtheLPGcylinder inour kitchen. Then I opened thedoors and therewas this strong,pungent smell. By that timebothmychildrenhadstartedcryingandwere struggling to breathe. Onebecame unconscious and theotherwasbarelybreathingbythe

timewereachedhospital.Theyarebothfinenow.”Doctorssaidthatmanyof the

victims endedup inhalingmoregasastheyraninpanic.DrMVijayofGeneralMedicine

atKingGeorgeHospitalsaidpeo-plewerebroughtinastateoftotalshock. “The inhalationof gashadmadethemsemi-conscious,delir-ious. It hadaffected their centralnervoussystem.Theywereunabletowalk. The first half-an-hour inthehospitalemergencyroomwaschaosas it tookustimetounder-stand the scaleofwhathadhap-pened,” saidDrVijay,addingthat

theycalledinalltheirdoctorsandnursingstaff.“Thankfullywewerepreparedwithoxygenandventila-tors as KGH had been made aCovid-19hospital.Theventilatorshelpedsavenumerouslives,espe-ciallythoseofchildren.”Policesaidsomeofthescared

villagersmay have run into thehills around a local temple, andtheywerescouringthearea.Bobby,anautorickshawdriver

whohelpedtakethreepersonstoKingGeorgeHospital, said theyhadnoclue initiallywhichdirec-tion toheadas theydidn’t knowwhere thegaswascoming from.“Wemet an ambulance and thedriverdirectedus tonearbyhos-pitals,”hesaid.Several villagers andofficials

praisedpoliceforreactingswiftly,especiallyDepsutyCommissionerofPoliceBUdayBhaskar,afterre-ceiving the alert around 3 am.Autorickshawdrivers likeBobbyalsocameinforpraise forriskingtheirlivestotakepeopleout.“Withintwo-and-a-halfhours,

about5,000peoplewereevacua-tedfromfivevillages,thankstopo-liceandfireandemergencyserv-ices.Theseven-seaterautodriversaretherealheroes,”saidVisakha-patnamMPMVVSatyanarayana.Banquethalls in theareaopenedtheirdoors toaccommodate theevacuees.Officialssaidtheyhadof-feredtohost thevillagers till theycouldbackhome.PeoplearealsobeingkeptintheaccommodationscreatedforCovid-19quarantine.

Afterthegas leakatLGPolymers inRRVenkatapuramvillageofVisakhapatnamThursday. PTI

JUNE12,2014Bhilai,ChhattisgarhAleak inamethanegaspipelineat theBhilaiplantof SteelAuthorityof IndiaLimitedresults in6deathsandleavesover50 injured

JUNE27,2014Nagaram,AndhraPradeshAgas leakresults inamassive fireat theGasAuthorityof IndiaLimited’splant,killing29peopleandinjuring10.

MARCH15,2017Kanpur,UttarPradeshAnammoniagas leakattheKatiyarcoldstorageresults inanexplosion,killing5peopleandseveralinjuries.

OCTOBER9,2018Bhilai,ChhattisgarhAblastnearapipelinenearthecokeovensectionoftheBhilaiSteelPlantresults in11deathsandleaves14people injured.

KILLERGAS LEAKSomeof theworst industrial accidentsoverthepast fewyears in India linked togas leak

DECEMBER2-3,1984 Bhopal,MadhyaPradeshMethyl isocyanategas leaks fromUnionCarbideIndiaLimited’spesticideplant, resulting inmorethan3,000deathsandaffectingover1 lakhpeople.This remains theworld’sworst industrialdisaster.

Victimsof theVisakhapatnamgasleakatahospital.PTI

Under the spotlight: Gaps in lawto deal with mishaps like leaks

ADAY after HizbulMujahideenoperations chief Riyaz Naikoowas killed in an encounter,KASHMIR IGP VIJAY KUMARspeaks to ADIL AKHZER abouttheimpactthiswillhaveonmil-itant recruitment in theValley.

Howbigasuccess isNaikoo’skillingforsecurity forces?Weneutralisedfourterrorists

WednesdayandoneofthemwasidentifiedastheHizb(operations)chief.Hewasa localmilitantandwouldoftenissueaudiomessagesand instigate youths. I have nohesitation in saying that hewasinfluential. Hewas involved incivilian killings. On March 25,whenthelockdownstarted,here-leasedavideothatJ&KPoliceandArmy are more harmful thanCOVID-19. Soon, attacks startedonpolicemenandcivilians.Therewas anattackon civilians on thepretextthattheywereinformers.Theywere totally innocent... Hiskilling is a big success for us.Notonlyforsecurityforces,itwillalsobringrelief tocivilians.

What is the lawandorder

situationintheValleyafteryesterday’sencounter?OnWednesday, for the first

timeafterAugust5,wesawsuchalawandordersituation.Butthepositive signwas that itwas lo-calised. I conducted a recce ofSouth Kashmir fromhelicopterWednesdayandtherewasnoma-jorproblem.Threeofourvehiclesweredamaged.Some10-11mis-creantswereinjuredandthreere-ceivedbullet injuries. The condi-tionof thoseinjuredisstable.

DoyouthinkrecruitmentofmilitantswillgodownnowthatNaikoohasbeenkilled?Whenever youeliminate the

leadership, itwilldefinitelybringdownmilitantrecruitment.Youth

andtheirfamilieswillrealisethatviolence isn’t an appropriate re-sponsetoanyissueandmilitantshave to face such fate one day...Naikoowasalsoinvolvedinnarcoterrorism in South Kashmir.Narcotics hasbeenamajor chal-lenge forpolice.Wehave to saveouryouthfromnarcotics.

InternetandphoneservicesweresuspendedWednesday.Whenwill theyberesumed?Yes,we had to snap Internet

and phone services... otherwiseit would have led to rumour-mongering.Wewillreviewit,de-pendingonthesituation.

Anewoutfit,TheResistanceFront (TRF),hasbeenfloated.Canyoutellusabout it?PostAugust 5, Pakistan faced

a lot of international pressure.TheycreatedthisoutfittogiveanimpressionthatTRFisalocalorg-anisation and theyhavenothingtodowithit.ButallTRFmilitantskilledrecentlywereinLeTcateg-oryinourlist.TheyevenincludedsomeHizbmilitants.WecansayTRFisamixofLeTandHizbcadres.

‘Naikoo’s killing big success for us...militant recruitment will come down’

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,MAY7

INDIASAIDthatit is“deeplycon-cernedattheupsurgeinviolence”andsupportedthecallfor“imme-diate ceasefire” as US SpecialRepresentative for AfghanistanReconciliationZalmayKhalilzadmet External AffairsMinister SJaishankar andNational SecurityAdvisorAjitDovalonThursday.TheIndiansideemphasisedto

theUSenvoythat“puttinganendtoterroristsafehavensandsanc-tuaries is necessary for enduringandsustainablepeaceandstabil-ityinAfghanistan”.Jaishankar and Doval also

mentioned theneed for “protec-tionof rightsofall sectionsof theAfghansociety, includingAfghanHindusandSikhs”.ThiswasKhalilzad’s first visit

to India after theUS andTalibansignedanagreement inDohaonFebruary 29where they agreedthatUSandNATO troopswill bewithdrawn fromAfghanistan in14 months. The deal, which isfraughtwithrisksanduncertain-ties,posesmanyquestionsonthewayforward.Khalilzad,whowasaccompa-

niedbytheSeniorDirectorintheUSNationalSecurityCouncil,LisaCurtis,andtheUSAmbassadortoIndia,KenJuster,providedan“up-date”ontheUSpeaceandrecon-ciliation efforts inAfghanistan, a

statement by the Ministry ofExternalAffairssaid.“The US side recognized

India's constructive contributionineconomicdevelopment,recon-structionandhumanitarianassis-tance to Afghanistan. They laidimportance to India's crucial andcontinuing role in sustainablepeace, security and stability inAfghanistan,”thestatementsaid.Indiahasoveradecadeandahalfmadeacommitmentof$3billiontowardsAfghanistan’sreconstruc-tionanddevelopment.JaishankarandDoval, in their

conversationwithKhalilzadreit-erated India's continuedsupportfor“strengtheningpeace,security,unity, democratic and inclusivepolity andprotectionof rights ofallsectionsoftheAfghansociety”,thestatementsaid.It also said, “India is deeply

concerned at the upsurge in vi-olence and supports the call forimmediateceasefireandneedtoassist thepeopleof Afghanistanin dealingwith the coronaviruspandemic.”It alsosaid that India remains

engagedinextendinghumanitar-ian foodandmedical supplies toAfghanistantodealwiththesitu-ationcreatedbycoronavirus.“Itwas emphasised thatput-

tinganendtoterroristsafehavensand sanctuaries is necessary forenduring and sustainable peaceand stability inAfghanistan”, thestatementsaid.

JAISHANKAR,DOVALMEETUSAFGHANPEACEENVOY

‘Deeply concerned at violenceupsurge, back call for ceasefire’

Punjab: Twoaides of Naikooassociate heldChandigarh: Punjab PoliceonWednesdayarrestedtwoaidesofHilalAhmedWagay,a close associate of HizbulMujahideen commanderRiyazNaikoo,fromAmritsar.Naikoowas killed in an en-counterWednesday.PunjabPolice had arrestedWagayonApril25andsharedinfor-mation received fromhimwiththeCentreandJ&Kad-ministration.The two arrested on

Wednesdayhavebeeniden-tified as BikramSingh andhisbrotherManinderSingh.Police have seized 1 kg

heroin and Rs 32 lakh inIndiancurrency fromthem.Thiswaspart of a Pakistan-sponsored conspiracy tosmuggle narcotics andweapons into thestate, saidDGPDinkarGupta. ENS

VISAKHAPATNAMGASLEAK

‘Peoplewalkedoutand just collapsed…womenandchildrenwerecrying’

KASHMIR IGP VIJAYKUMAR

Navy to charge Indiannationals it evacuatesSHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,MAY7

THEGOVERNMENTwill for thefirsttimechargeIndiannationalswho are being evacuated byIndianNavy ships. Earlier evacu-ationoperationsbytheNavywerenotchargedtothepassengers.The Indian High

Commission in Male told thestranded Indians on Thursdaythat theywillhavetopay$40—aboutRs3,028—as“evacuationservicescharge”forrepatriationby INS JalashwaonFriday.InFebruary-March2011,dur-

ingtheArabspring,whenanop-eration to evacuate 16,400Indians was carried out fromLibya, Indian Navy ships INSJalashwa, INS Mysore and INSAdityawerepressedintoservice,but no payment was chargedfromtheevacuees.ThedecisiontochargeIndians

this time flows from theHomeMinistry’sguidelines,whichsaid,“Thecostoftravel,asspecifiedbyCivil Aviation Ministry orDepartment of Military Affairswillbebornebysuchtravellers.”While Air India is charging

for the evacuation of Indiansfromdifferentpartsoftheworld,the IndianNavyorAir ForcehasneverchargedIndiansforevacu-ating them.ConstantinoXavier, a Fellow

(foreignpolicy)attheNewDelhi-basedthinktankBrookingsIndia,toldTheIndianExpress,“InvolvingtheNavy in repatriationposes adilemma.Itwillprobablymakeforbadoptics to see Indian citizenspaying theirwayon toan IndianNavyship toensure safepassagehome, which would also goagainstthemilitary’sethosofserv-ice.Ontheotherhand, if theyareexempted fromthepay-per-useprinciple set out byMHA/MEA,

therewill be resentment amongcitizensfromothercountriesthatwill have tobuy theirwayhomeon an Air India plane,” he said,pointingout thatcitizens inMalecomehomefreeonINS,butfromDhakahavetopayRs12,000.“In any case, militaries are

usually involvedonlyasanaux-iliaryforcewhenevacuationop-erationsareheldinavolatilese-curity context, especially inconflict areas, as in Yemen(2015). Inthecurrentcrisis,withthe government focusing on acivilianevacuationoncommer-cial basis in peacetime, it maymake more sense to use theIndianNavyandAirForcetode-liversupplies,medicalrelief,andsafepassage,”hesaid.In his paper on “India’s

Expatriate EvacuationOperations: Bringing theDiaspora Home” published atCarnegie India in January 2017,Xavier—whohasdoneresearchon every Indian evacuation op-eration from 1947 to 2016 —wrote, “The navy has, in manyways, already taken the lead,withits2007maritimestrategylisting ‘actions to assist theIndian diaspora and Indian in-terests abroad’ as a ‘likely sce-nario’ for the use of militaryforce.” In the paper, Xavierquoted the then Navy chiefAdmiralNKVermain2011,whodescribed theseevacuationopsas a “newpriority”.Accordingto theNavy, ithas

launched Operation “SamudraSetu” —meaning “Sea Bridge”,as part of a national effort torepatriate Indian citizens fromoverseas. Indian Naval ShipsJalashwaandMagarwill evacu-ate 1,000 people, keeping inmind COVID-related social dis-tancingnormsvis-a-visthecar-rying capacity andmedical fa-cilities availableonboard.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY7

WISHING THE country onBuddha Purnima, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidthat“Indiaismakingeveryeffortto save the life of every Indian,and is following its global obli-gations equally seriously”. Healsosaidthat“thosewhoareen-gaged in the service of human-ityatalltimes,dayandnight,arethe true followers of Buddha”,andthat“thisspiritkeepsillumi-nating our lives, keeps it mov-ing”.Inhisvideoaddress through

socialmediaonThursday,Modisaid the “lack of physical pres-enceisnotsofelt”inthetimesofsocial distancing as themindsconnect.“Bothour scalesandgoalsof

success will change over time.However, the thing we alwayshave tokeep inmind is that ourwork should be donewith con-tinuous service.When there iscompassionforothers,compas-sionandasenseofservice,thesefeelingsmake us so strong thatyou can overcome the biggestchallenge,” he said. “I am fullyconfident thatwithsuchorgan-isedefforts,wewillbeabletogethumanity out of this difficultchallenge and reduce the trou-blesof thepeople.”Speaking about Buddha

symbolising dedication, strongwillandself-sacrifice,Modisaid,“Look at the good fortune of allof us, at this timewe are seeingmany people around us, whoserveothers,treatapatient, feeda poor person, clean a hospital,maintain law and order on aroad, theyareallworkingroundtheclock. In India,outsideIndia,every such person deserves asalute, a tribute.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

BUDDHAPURNIMA

Those engagedin service ofhumanity aretrue followersof Buddha: PM

BUDDHA PURNIMAFullmoonasseenfromMumbaionThursday. AmitChakravarty

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,MAY7

THEUPCongress Thursday saidit was ready to reimburse theticket fares paid by migrantlabourers for special trains thatbrought themback to the state,but alleged the Yogi Adityanathgovernmentwas not providingthemthe listofmigrants.UP Congress president Ajay

Kumar Lallu and CongressLegislature Party Leader in thestateAradhanaMishra said theywrotetoYogiAdityanath,seekingthe list of workerswho had re-turned,buthedidnotrespond.Party General Secretary

PriyankaGandhiVadra said shehadwritten to the Amethi andRae Bareli DMs for the list “so

thatwecanpayfortheirtickets”.Adityanath,meanwhile,said

thathehasaskedotherstates toprovide a district-wise list ofworkers fromUP in their statessothatimmediatearrangementscanbemadetobringthemback.Healsoassuredthatworkwouldbe given to everyworker as pertheir skills. “For this, our actionplan is almost ready,” said theCMinanofficial statement.

Ready to reimburse migrants’fare but UP CM mum: Cong

UPCMYogiAdityanath,PriyankaGandhi

Srinagar:Aciviliandiedofbulletinjuriessustainedduringclashesfollowing the killing of HizbulMujahideen operations chiefRiyazNaikooinPulwamadistrict.HewasidentifiedasJehangir

Yusuf Wani, a resident of

Uthmulla inPulwama.Ahealthdepartmentofficial

in Pulwama said Wani wasbrought to Tahab PHC. “He hadbullet injuriesandwasdeclaredbroughtdead,” theofficial said.

ENS

Civilian injured in J&K clashes

The gas that leaked:what styrene is for,and how it behaves

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI,MAY7

IT HAS beenwell understood that amongvarious countries responding to the Covid-19 outbreak, India enforced one of thestrongestlockdownsatanearlyphaseofcasegrowth. Now, an index created by theUniversity of Oxford quantifies that. TheStringencyIndexhasfoundthatIndiaindeedhadoneofthestrongestlockdownmeasuresintheworld—ata100scoresinceMarch22.It was relaxed slightly on April 20 after thegovernment easednorms for certainwork-places in regionsoutside theredzones.

What is this index?It isamongthemetricsbeingusedbythe

Oxford COVID-19 Government ResponseTracker. The Tracker involves a teamof 100Oxfordcommunitymemberswhohavecon-tinuously updated a database of 17 indica-tors of government response. These indica-tors examine containment policies such asschoolandworkplaceclosings,publicevents,publictransport, stay-at-homepolicies.TheStringency Index is a number from0 to100thatreflectstheseindicators.Ahigherindexscore indicatesahigher levelof stringency.

Whatdoesthe indextellus?Itprovidesapictureof thestageatwhich

anycountryenforceditsstrongestmeasures.Oxford provides an overlay of countries’deathcurveandtheirstringencyscore.Somecountriessawtheirdeathsjustbegintoflat-tenastheyreachedtheirhigheststringency,suchasItaly,Spain,orFrance.AsChinapulledstrongermeasures,itsdeathcurveplateaued.In countries such as theUK, theUS, and

India, theOxford graphs find that the deathcurvehasnotflattenedafterstrictestmeasureswereenforced.Fromthehighestdeathcountattheirstrongestmeasures,thecountriescom-paredwere France, Italy, Iran, Germany,UK,Netherlands, Sweden, Mexico, Canada,Belgium,Ireland,US,Turkey,Israel,China,India,andSwitzerland.

Howdoes Indiacomparewithothers?Whencomparedtoothercountrieswith

similar or higher case load, India called itsstrictlockdownatamuchearlierpointonitscaseanddeathcurves.These18othercoun-tries hadmore than 500 cases when theycalled their strictest lockdown,while Indiahad 320. Again, India had only four deathsonMarch 22, when its score reached 100,while most countries hadmore deaths atthatpoint (exceptSwitzerland;nodeaths).Spaincalledforitsstrictestmeasureslater

in its case and death count than all others.Sweden has had themost liberalmeasures

in this set, and Iran thesecondmost liberal.Other countries with a 100 score are

Honduras,Argentina,Jordan,Libya,SriLanka,Serbia,andRwanda.Indianowhasthehigh-estnumberof cases in this set.

Whatelsedoesthisresourcecover?In a researchnote, these researchers ex-

amined if countries meet four of the sixWorldHealthOrganization’s(WHO)recom-mendationsforrelaxingphysicaldistancingmeasures. These are: control transmission

toalevelthehealthcaresystemcanmanage;thehealthcaresystemcandetectandisolateall cases (not just serious ones); managetransfer to and fromhigh-risk transmissionzones;andcommunityengagement.India scored 0.7 (below Australia,

Thailand,Taiwan,andSouthKorea)becauseitscored0forcontrollingitscases.Thehigh-estscorersonthisindex,at0.9,wereIceland,HongKong,Croatia, andTrinidad&Tobago.Oxford foundno countriesmeet the four

measuredrecommendations,but20areclose.

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

FOLLOWINGA coordinated suicide attackon a gurdwara in Kabul on March 25, inwhichseveralSikhswerekilled,Daesh(ISIS)claimeditssecondeverattackonIndianin-terests inAfghanistan. Identifying the loneattacker as Abu Khalid al Hindi(MuhammadMuhsinfromKerala,whohadgonetotheGulf in2018), ISIStermedit“re-venge forMuslimsofKashmir”.Subsequently, Afghan security forces

arrestedtheAmirof IslamicStateKhurasanProvince(ISKP,theISISbranchinAf-Pak)—a Pakistani national, Aslam FarooquiAkhunzada — and others, includingKashmiri militant Aijaz Ahangar, wantedfor twodecades. ISKPpostedapictureandavideoofanAfghanofficerintheircustody,andpictures of his “beheading” onMay4.TheAfghanTalibancalledAslama“stooge”ofAfghanforces,buthisorganiclinksintheregion have been known even before ISISwasborn. The chainof eventsdoesneces-

sitate closer scrutiny of the ISKP threat inthe region.

ISIS and TalibanLess than amonth after the fall of the

Caliphate (March 23, 2019), ISISmountedspectacularattacksontargetsinSriLanka.InMarch 2020, in Kabul, ISIS claimedmortarattacksonahigh-profilepoliticalgathering,PresidentAshraf Ghani’s inauguration, andonUStroopsinBagrambasetwice.WastheMarch25attackan“anniversaryattack”?DidISIS intendto target “enemies”usinga localradicalisedgroupasithadsoughttodowiththe July 2016bakery attack inDhakaor theApril2019attacksinSriLanka?InacountrywhereISISpresumablyhasahandfulof tar-gets, it is curious as towhy it endorsed thetargetingofaminusculeminority.Moreover, inrecentyears,especiallyaf-

ter the US-Taliban agreement, the Talibanhave repeatedly claimed to have finishedISKPinAfghanistan. Inarecent issueof theweeklyalNabha,criticisingtheagreement,ISIShasexhortedsupporters to target “en-emies” as their resources are tied upwithCovid-19. Over the last fewweeks, a fewlonewolfattackshavebeenreportedacrossEurope.Thus,thetargetingofagurdwaraissurprising.Moreover, the claim of using asingle foreign fighter, themodusoperandi,andweak propaganda doesn’t indicate asignature attack by ISIS. However, owning

up to the ISKPattacks could suggest apos-sible shift inpost-Caliphatestrategy.TheWilayat Khurasan — comprising

parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran andCentralAsia— isaconceptborn in January2015,whenISISdesignatedaformerTehrik-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) commander fromOrakzai, Hafiz Saeed, as “Wali” and a dis-gruntledAfghanTalibancommander,AbdulRauf,as“deputyWali”. FollowingthekillingofTTPAmir,Hakimullah,inadronestrikeinNovember 2013, Hafiz Saeed and TTPspokespersonSheikhMaqboolhaddriftedaway from TTP towards the ISI. The intra-Mehsud fightwithin TTP led to the emer-gence of Mullah Fazlullah as the Amir,whichledtoanexodusofsomecommand-ers whowere being courted by the ISI toturn themtowards targetingAfghanistan.InOctober2014,HafizSaeedandSheikh

Maqbool suddenly pledged allegiance toISIS.Aroundthattime,theISISideologywasgainingtractioninPakistan;notsomuchinAfghanistan.ThegroupdidattractPakistaniand Afghan foot soldiers. The groupwentonline for propaganda and recruitment offoreign fighterswhofound itdifficult togotoSyria-Iraq,especiallyfromPakistan,India,BangladeshandCentralAsia.However,thisrecruitment was very small, except fromPakistan.AccountsfromtheWestdescribedthe group as ISKP. Online recruiters fromKashmir surfaced as Abu Usman Al

Kashmiri,akuniya(akindofname)usedbyAijazAhangar,andasHuzaifa-al-Bakistani,akuniyausedbyhisson-in-law,reportedlykilled inNangarhar.Inno time,hundredsof local fightersof

ISKP displaced themightier Taliban fromNangarhar while, across the border thePakistan Army had a formidable presenceto control cross-bordermovement for itsownsecurity. Ithastakenclosetofiveyearsfor ISKP to be dislodged froma small area.Some ISKP nodes did surface in Kunarprovince, where Pakistan has for years al-leged the presence of TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrarbases.ThegeographicalspreadofISKP,its selective and big attacks (promptly de-nied by Taliban) and its “near peaceful co-existence”withTalibancannotbemisread.Four ISKPAmirshavebeenkilledanda

fifth is now under arrest. The group hasnevergainedmuchtractioninAfghanistanor Pakistan. Except claiming a few big at-tacks in Kabul and Quetta, ISKP has notshownanykeenness toexpand its areasofinfluence. Post-Caliphate, nomassmove-mentofregionalforeignfightersbacktothefoldof ISKPhasbeenreported.SomecentralAsianfightersofdubiousconnectionshavesurfaced, especially in the north andNangarhar,recruitingTajiksandUzbeksforlocalandoverseasoperations.However,thelocal impactof suchgroups ismarginal.Aslam Farooqui is one of the first

Pashtun commanders of tribal areas ofPakistanwho, alongwithMoulvi NazeerandHafizGulBahadur,alignedwithTalibantofightagainstUS-ledISAF,withactivesup-port of the Pakistan Army way back inOctober 2001. He was also one of thefoundersoftheTTPnetworkthatturnedtheheat on the Pakistan Army for targetingtheir fiefdom. However, Aslam Farooquiwas reported to havemade a “deal” withthePakistanArmyaroundDecember2012.Like all suchdeals inPakistan, this toowasdeniedas soonas itbecamepublic.

In the region, the signsItiswidelybelievedthatover100Indians

hadmigrated to theCaliphate,while itwasgaining traction among foreign fightersacross theworld. Subsequently, it becameknownthatagroupof Indians fromKerala,including women and children, hadmi-gratedtoAfghanistanaround2016-17.Somechildrenwerebornthere.Atotalof60-plusIndianswere believed to be living in terri-tory controlled by ISKP in Nangarhar.BetweenOctoberandDecember2019,over1,400 peoplewith ISKP, including fightersand their families, surrendered beforeAfghanforcesinNangarhar.Theseincludedfighters from Pakistan, Bangladesh andIndia. Some Indianwomen and childrenwereinthisgroup.AfewIndianfightersarebelieved to have been killed,with no solid

proof as yet, while a few are still missing.WiththesurfacingofMushin,itappearsthata fewmore Indiansmayhave joinedISKP.Inrecenttimes,onlineentitiescalledthe

Islamic State Hind Province (ISHP) orIslamicState-Kashmir(IS-K)havesurfaced,withfocusonpropagandaandrecruitmentof Indians,orof fightersfromtheregion,forattacksonIndianinterests.TheactivitiesofISHPandIS-KarecloselylinkedtoISKP.Thearrest of aKashmiri couple byDelhi PoliceSpecial Cell in earlyMarch, being linked toISHP/IS-K,mayhavebeenanattempttotestthewaterswith Indians— thosedrivenbypersonalgrievances,radicalisedinthenameof ISIS—tohittargetsinDelhiorelsewhere.Although thesourceof ISKP/ISHP/IS-K is

known,thisdoesnotreducethethreatsposedby them. Since ISIS is currently claimingall“verifiable”attacks,theseentitieshaveaready-to-useplatform forpropaganda for recruit-ment.Moreover,throughtheCovid-19phase,ISIS is becomingquite active in cyberspace.WhileISISwouldhappilyownuptomanyat-tacksbythelikesof theISKPnetwork, itmaynotmisstheopportunitytoropeinandguidesuchnetworkstoattacktargetsintheregion.Thus, apart fromstemming radicalisation, itiscriticaltocloselywatchthreatsemergingintheregion,especiallyforIndiaandtheWest.

AnjuGupta isan IPSofficer.Viewsarepersonal

India lockdown, other lockdownsSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

AStringencyIndexcreatedbyOxfordUniversityshowshowstrictacountry’smeasureswere,andatwhatstageof thespreaditenforcedthese. India imposeditsstrictestmeasuresmuchearlier thanothers

ANEXPERTEXPLAINS

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

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

AnjuGupta

Why it is necessary towatch the emergence of ISIS in the region

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD,MAY7

THEGASthatleakedfromachemicalfac-tory on the outskirts of VisakhapatnamonThursday, leavingatleast10deadandsending hundreds to hospital, is calledstyrene. A look at its structure, the kindof industries that use it, and the kind ofhealthhazardsexpertsassociate itwith:

What isstyrene?Styreneisanorganiccompoundwith

theformulaC8H8,itsmolecularstructureas pictured. It is a derivative of benzene(C6H6). It isstoredinfactoriesasaliquid,but evaporates easily, andhas tobekeptat temperaturesunder20°C.

What isstyreneusedfor?Styrene is themain rawmaterial for

synthesis of polystyrene, or (C8H8)n.Polystyrene, in turn, is a versatile plasticthat is used tomakeparts of various ap-pliances such as refrigerators ormicro-ovens; automotive parts; and parts ofelectronics such as computers; and alsotomanufacture disposable cups and infoodpackaging.Styreneisalsousedasanintermediate to produce copolymers —whicharepolymersderivedfromoneormore species of monomers such asstyrene.

Whathappens if someoneisexposedtostyrenegas?Exposure to styrene gas affects the

central nervous system, said Dr K VijayKumar, Head of the Department ofRespiratoryMedicine, AndhraMedicalCollege. “Breathlessness, respiratoryproblems, irritation in eyes, indigestion,nausea, transient loss of consciousness,unsteadygait,giddinessarecausedbyex-posuretoit. Inthis incident,peoplewereexposed to the gas for a short duration,so theremay not be any long-term ef-fects,”DrKumarsaid.However, in people suffering from

respiratory illness such as asthma, andthosewhohavechronicobstructivepul-monarydiseases, theseconditionsmayget exaggerated,DrKumar said. “Thosesufferingfromdiabetesorhypertensionmayhave anxiety disorders.”It is the mucous membrane that is

mainly affected by exposure to styrenegas. In Visakhapatnam, the styrene gasleakcausedacutebreathlessnessamongmanypeople,afewofwhomasphyxiatedtodeath.

Whatarethe long-termeffects?Expertssaythatifpeopleareexposed

to the gas for a long period, there is achanceoftheirdevelopingleukaemiaandheadaches. Studies on the effects onhealth due to occupational exposure tostyrenehave,however,beeninconclusive.As per the United States

Environmental Protection Agency, testsinvolvingacuteexposureofratsandmicehaveshownstyrenetohavelowtomod-erate toxicity by inhalation and oral ex-posure.Animalstudieshavereportedef-fects on theentral nervous system, liver,kidney,andeyeandnasal irritationfrominhalation exposure to styrene. Liver,blood, kidney, and stomach effects havebeen observed in animals followingchronicoral exposure.

Whatwasthefactoryfromwhichstyreneleaked?Styrenegasleakedfromastoragetank

ofLGChemPolymers.Thefactorywases-tablishedin1961,originallyasHindustanPolymers,tomanufacturepolystyrene.ItwasmergedwithMcDowell &Coof theUB Group in 1978, then taken over in1997 by South Korea-based LG Chem,which renamed it LGPolymers. The fac-torymanufacuresgeneral-purposepoly-styreneandhigh-impactpolystyrene,ex-pandable polystyrene, and engineeringplastics compounds. It is located at RRVPuram in Gopalapatnam, 15 km fromVisakhapatnamcity.A companyofficial said 1,800 tonnes

of styrenewas stored in a tankof capac-ity2,400tonnes.Thegasleakedfromthistankwhenofficialswerepreparingtore-openthefactorythatwasshutfor44daysdue to the lockdown. About half the gasleakedbefore itwascontained.

Weresafetyprotocols inplace?Asexplained,styrenehastobestored

ingas tanksunder20°C tokeep it stable.The temperaturehas tobecontinuouslymonitored, and any exposure to light orheat may result in polymerisation. Ateam of 15 engineers and officials re-mained on duty at the factory through-out the lockdownperiod tomonitor it. Iftemperature rises, inhibitors have to beadded to keep the styrene stable. At LGChem,aninhibitortankisattachedtothestyrene storage tank but it failed to sta-bilise it in time. As a safetymeasure, thestyrenetanksareneverfilledtocapacity.

Whycouldthe inhibitornotpreventwhathappened?As the styrene was stagnant for 44

days, officials said, it was possible thatsome gas accumulated at the ceiling ofthestoragetankanditstemperaturerosebeyond the specified 20°C, and thestyrene started vaporising and escaped.This is called auto-polymerisation.However,theexactcauseisstillbeingas-certained. The company has not ex-plained how the storage tank rupturedandthegasescaped.

H

H H

H

HH

H

CC

CCC

CC

C

H

Molecularstructureof styrene(C8H8),withbonding intheformC6H5CH=CH2.Usedforsynthesisofplastics, it is storedasa liquid infactoriesbutevaporatesrapidly.

UNITEDSTATES

1Jan 1Feb 1Mar 1Apr

Reporteddeaths

Stringencyindex

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

11May

100

80

60

40

20

0

D E A T H C U R V E S A T V A R I O U S L E V E L S O F S T R I N G E N C Y

FRANCE INDIA

1Jan 1Feb 1Mar 1Apr

Reporteddeaths

Stringencyindex

ITALY

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

11May

100

80

60

40

20

0

1Jan 1Feb 1Mar 1Apr

Reporteddeaths

Stringencyindex

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

11May

100

80

60

40

20

0

1Jan

DatafromMay3,2020,For individualcountries, thedatamaybeseveraldaysolder.Source:OxforCOVID-19GovernmentResponseTracker.Moreat:bsg.ox.ac.uk/covidtrackerorgithub.com/OxCGRT/covid-policy-tracker

1Feb 1Mar 1Apr

Reporteddeaths

Stringencyindex

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

1

1May

100

80

60

40

20

0

IRAN

1Jan 1Feb 1Mar 1Apr

Reporteddeaths

Stringencyindex

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

11May

100

80

60

40

20

0

SPAIN

1Jan 1Feb 1Mar 1Apr

Reporteddeaths

Stringencyindex

100,000

10,000

1,000

100

10

11May

100

80

60

40

20

0

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

103,135Iran

214,457Italy

168,655Germany

202,359United Kingdom

174,224France

220,325Spain

1,231,992US

127,389Brazil

131,744Turkey

THEWORLD

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonMay7

177,160Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 52,952 (1,783 DEATHS)

16,758Maharashtra

4,829Tamil Nadu

1,777Andhra Pradesh

3,317Rajasthan

1,516Punjab

3,138MP

2,998 UP

5,532 Delhi

6,625Gujarat

1,456West Bengal

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?Write to explained@indianexpress.com

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,May7.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedhere.15,267PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN30STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands33ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 45Bihar 542Chandigarh 120Chhattisgarh 59DadarNagarHaveli 1Goa 7Haryana 594HimachalPradesh 45JammuandKashmir 775Jharkhand 127Karnataka 693Kerala 503Ladakh 41Manipur 2Meghalaya 12Mizoram 1Odisha 185Puducherry 9Telengana 1107Tripura 43Uttarakhand 61

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 3,784,085 DEATHCOUNT:264,679

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

A TURNING POINTKillingofRiyazAhmadNaikoo isan importantmilestone in thebattleagainstmilitancy inKashmir, andamoment tobuildon

AFTERANEARLYthree-year-longmanhunt,theArmyandJammu&KashmirPolicehavesucceededineliminatingarguablytheValley’smost importantmilitant, Hizbul Mujahideen’s Kashmir operations chief, Riyaz AhmadNaikoo.After the2016killingof BurhanWani, and the subsequentkillings

ofmostof theothers in thatgroupof anewgenerationofmilitants, themucholderandmoreexperiencedmilitantfromAwantiporakeptthePoK-basedgroupinbusinessintheValley—bycarryingoutattacksonuniformedpersonnelandciviliansalike, andbyma-nipulating theangerandalienation inasectionof Kashmiri youth to recruitnewcandi-datesintothegroup.Naikoobecamethefaceof theindigenousmilitancy,thoughhekepta lowerprofile thanWani.AftertheAugust5changesinKashmir,Naikoowasresponsibleforciviliankillingsin-

cludingthatofmigrant labour,afruit traderandatruckdriver.Earlier,hehadkidnappedseveral J&Kpolicemenafterhis fatherwastakenawaybythepolice, releasingthemonlyafter thepolice lethis fathergo. ForNaikoo,whochose togiveup theblackboard for thegun,aviolentendwasforetold.Forthesecurityforces,hiskillingisanimportantturningpoint in the continuing battle againstmilitancy in the Valley. It shows that despite theturbulence,thepolicenetworkof informantsineveryvillageisaliveandkicking—itwasonatip-off thatNaikoowastracedtohisvillageBeighpora inAwantipora,wherehehadgone tomeethis family.Itwouldbemisplaced, however, to think thatmilitancy in theValleyhas endedwith

hisremoval,orthattheeliminationofdreadedmilitantsaloneisthesolutiontoKashmir’sproblems.Onlydaysago,anewmilitantgroupthatcallsitselfTheResistanceFrontwasableto inflict aheavy tollwhenanoperation inaHandwaravillagewentwrong for the secu-rityforces.Thereweremorecasualtiesthenextday,thistimeintheCRPF.Despitetheirhard-wonsuccesses,eventheArmyandpoliceareonlytooawareofthevitalimportanceofthepoliticalprocessinfindingthewayoutofthistunnel.WhatKashmirneedsisanopenandparticipatory process that canprovide answers to thepolitical vacuumwhichmilitancyfeedson, and thenewchallenges in thewakeof theAugust5decision tochange the sta-tusof J&K.Byallaccounts,thereislesstrustintheintentionsoftheCentreinKashmirthantherewaseveninthefivetumultuousyears leadinguptoAugust2019.TheCentreneedstoacknowledgeandaddressthetaskaheadwithhonestyandsincerity.Naikoo’sdeathisamilestoneandthechallengeistobuildonit—usethespacecreatedtosecurethepeace.

WORKERS’ CHOICEKarnataka’s rollbackontrains formigrantscarries important

lesson forplans toresumeeconomicactivity

THEKARNATAKAGOVERNMENThasdonewelltorollbackitsorderofMay5,can-celing trains that would have ferriedmigrants back to their home states.ThousandsofmigrantsfromBihar,UttarPradesh,MadhyaPradesh,Rajasthan,Tripura,Manipur, Jharkhand,Odisha andWest Bengalwere reportedly left in

the lurch by thedecision. In a series of tweets, KarnatakaChiefMinister B SYediyurappahadcitedeconomicreasonsforwithdrawingthetrains:“Barringtheredzones,business,con-structionwork and industrial activities have to be resumed. In this context. unnecessarytravelofthemigrantworkershastobecontrolled”.Thedecisionhadrightlyprovokedwide-spreadoutrageandthestategovernmentwascalledoutfordenyingthemigrants,alreadydriventothewall, therighttochoose.Pandemics are cruel not just because of the toll they take on thehealth of people but

alsobecauseofthesocialandeconomicdisruptionstheycause,theanxietiestheybreed.Theurgencyof thecash-strappedstates—andindustry—togetworkersbacktofactoryfloorsandconstructionsitescannotbeoverstated.Yet it isalsoevident that therelaxationof thelockdownhasn’t assuaged the fears of workers atmost places, including in Karnataka.Migrantworkers,wholiveprecariouslyeveninthebestof thetimes,haveconcernsaboutgettingworkonasustainedbasisevenaftereconomicactivitiesresumeand,withnosafetynets inplace,manyprefer toreturnhome.Anempatheticattitudetowardssuchanxietiesandrespectforworkers’dignityandsafetyshouldinformallplanstoresumeindustrialac-tivitiesafterthelockdown.States—andindustry—mightwelltakealeafoutofthePunjabbook,wheremanyseatsonthetrainscarryingbackmigrantsarereportedlyempty,appar-entlybecauseeffortstoreachouttomigrantsandpersuadethembygovernmentandfac-toryownershavebeensuccessful.Thatseveralindustrialunitshaveputinplacesafeguardsfor the employeeswhohave reported back towork after the relaxation of the lockdownmayalsohavecontributedtothisdevelopment.Toitscredit,Karnatakahasputinplaceapost-lockdownrevivalroadmap.Aneconomic

package,announcedonWednesday, recognises the importanceof theMSMEsector,agri-culturistsandhorticulturists, and informalsectorworkers. Itprovides financialassistanceto the self-employed such asweavers, autorickshawand taxi drivers, and barbers. TheKarnatakagovernmenthasalsosetupaboardtodealwithissuesrelatedtowagesandre-trenchmentofworkers,manyofwhomaremigrants.Yet if, despiteall incentives, themi-grantsstillwanttogobackhome,thestate,andindustry,mustrespecttheirchoice.

RETURN TO THE FIELDBundesligaseasoncouldpavethewayfor resumptionof other

games. Itwillbewatched likeneverbefore

THEBUNDESLIGASEASONhasbeen cleared to restart in eight days, bereft ofspectatorsbutofferinghopethatfootball inGermanywillchalkouttheblue-print for the resumption of other European football leagues. France and theNetherlandshavealreadyscrappedtheseason,coppinghugefinanciallosses,

whileothersareengulfedinuncertaintyandpaydisputes. Inthisbackdrop,theresump-tionofBundesligacomesasawaveofoptimism.Or,asGermanchancellorAngelaMerkelput it: “Peoplegetbackashortpieceof normal life”. The return to the fieldwasasmuchasafinancialnecessityasanemotionalneed.Abortingtheseasonwouldhavemadetheleague, financially themost robust inEurope,poorerby800milliondollars.But, there’s fear in certainquarters:Will the restart usher inanotherwaveof thepan-

demic?ThreeCologneFCplayerstestedpositivelastweek,andSalomonKalouirresponsi-blyfilmedhimself ignoringsocialdistancingmeasuresandgotdulysacked.Football isnottakinganychances.Thepre-matchscreening isdetailed,now.Playerswillbetestedtwiceaweek,threeteambuseswillbeusedforsocialdistancing,playerswillenterthefieldsep-aratelyandtherewillbenohandshakes.Off thepitch,foodwillbedeliveredtotheirroomsandtheymustprovidelistsof familymemberswhentheygohomeaftermatches.Fromaplayer-clubperspective,everymeasureisinplacetopreventanotherepisode.But

still,questionsremain.Andtheseconcernthefans.Spectatorscanbekeptoutof thestadi-ums,butnotoutofthegame.MoresoinGermany,whichhasthehighestaverageattendancefiguresinEurope.Soevenif thegameswillbeplayedbehindcloseddoors,chancesarethefanswillthrongoutsidestadiums,crowdpubs,parksandothercommunityspaces.Theun-known, unregulated crowds could undo thehardwork the country’s health care systemhasput intocurbthepandemic.TheworldwillbewatchingBundesliga likeneverbefore.

The future of justice

Madan B Lokur

Arjun Subramaniam

Socialdistancing ishere tostay,willprofoundlychangetheway inwhich justice isdelivered

REDEFINING SECURITYCovidconstraintsondefenceexpenditurecouldhelp transformmilitaryculture

THELOCKDOWNHASgeneratedseveralwe-binarsonjusticedelivery,technologyandthefuture.Thediscussionsfocusonthewayfor-ward in tackling the problem of social dis-tancingwith lawyersandlitigantscrowdingthecourtsevenafter the lockdownis lifted.There are three kinds of courts in our

justice delivery system. First, conventionalcourts located in court complexes wherejudges, lawyers and litigants are physicallypresent. Second, online courts where thejudgeisphysicallypresentinthecourtroombut the lawyer or litigant is not. This is thepresent arrangement, except that now thecourtroom is the residential office of thejudge, due to the lockdown. Third, virtualcourtswherethereisnojudge, lawyerorlit-igantandacomputertakesadecisionbasedonthe inputsof the litigant.About15yearsago,Delhi initiatedapilot

projectwithTihar Jail fordealingwithrouti-neremandcasesofprisoners.Theprocedurepostulatedprisonersbeingproducedincourt,notphysicallybut throughvideoconferenc-ing(VC),henceanonlinecourt.Thepilotproj-ectstartedtentativelywithsomehiccupsbutprovedtobeasuccessandnowseveralcourtshave adopted the online processwith vary-ingdegreesof commitment.A few intrepiddistrict judgeshave taken

astepforwardandrecordedthestatementofpartiesincasesofdivorcebymutualconsent.Asofnow,severalsuchcases,includingthoseinvolvingNRIs, aredealtwith throughVC inonline courts. Punjab and Haryana judgeshave gone even further ahead. The onlinecourtsrecordtheexpertevidenceofdoctorsfromPGIMERthroughVC.Thishas freedthedoctors from time consuming trips to thecourts andhas resulted in savingsof severalcroresfortheexchequer.Similarsuccesssto-ries are available fromother district courts,butadeterminedandconcertedeffortisnec-essarytopopulariseonlinecourtsat thedis-trict level.Some high court judges in Delhi and

Punjab and Haryana have completely dis-pensedwithpaper—everything is ona softcopy, through e-Filing and scanned docu-ments.Lawyersandjudgeshavemadeneces-

saryadjustmentstothenewregimeandthecasesareconvenientlyheardanddecided in“paperless courts”. A few other high courtsinitiated similar steps, but have yet to insti-tutionalise“paperlesscourts”.Online courts have not caught on in the

absenceofanycompellingneedtodoso.Thelockdown has provided that opportunity,whichshouldbeseized.Thepresentongoing“experiment” has, however, indicated thatthemajorproblemwithonlinecourts isun-familiaritywiththemediumofcommunica-tion. Judges are simply not used to con-sciously facing a camera generally and inparticular while hearing a case. Similarly,lawyers find itdifficult tocomfortablyarguewhile seated. Body language, facial expres-sions, the tone and tenor, both of the judgeand the lawyer,make for important signalsand clueswhich cannot be captured in VC.However, these and additional skills can bedevelopedandfine-tuned,butnotovernight.Onlinecourts introduceaparadigmthat thesystemistodaynotfullypreparedfor,butcancertainlygetreadyfor induecourse.Some technical problems in conducting

onlinehearingshavealsosurfaced.Theband-width isnot adequateor stable enough. Thepicturesometimesbreaksorgetsfrozenandthevoiceoftencracks.Ironically, in the hearing relating to

restorationof4GinJammuandKashmir,thelinksuddenlysnapped.Consultationsarealsoaproblem.Lawyersoccasionallyneedtocon-sult their client or the instructing advocate;judges also need to consult each other dur-ing a hearing. Attention needs to be paid tothesereal-timeissuesotherwiselawyerswillharbourmisgivingsabouta fairhearing.The chairmanof theBar Council of India

has voiced a concern that 90per cent of thelawyers are not computer literate or techsavvy. Law and jurisprudence are not staticbutmirror societal needs and often shapethem. Therefore, the Bar Councils and BarAssociationsmuststretcheverynervetoed-ucate the district and taluka lawyers on theadvantagesofacceptingtechnology.It’salonghaul for sure and the task cannot be com-pletedinadayorso—itmighttakeayear,but

abeginninghastobemadenow.Avirtualcourtisauniquecontributionof

theeCourtsProject.Apilotvirtual courtwaslaunched in August 2018 inDelhi for trafficoffences and it has been a great success.Virtual courts have been successfully triedoutinDelhi,Haryana,MaharashtraandTamilNadu.Avirtualcourt isasimpleprogrammethroughwhichapersoncanfindoutifachal-lan has been issued to himor her through asearchfacility.Ifachallanhasbeenissued,thedetails are available online and the personmaypleadguiltyornotguilty.Onaguiltyplea,theminimumfine is imposed andonanot-guilty plea, the case is electronically trans-ferred to the traffic court for trial. At theendof theday,a judgereviewsthecasesanddis-poses of them electronically depending ontheoptionexercised.One judge isall it takestomanagethevirtualcourtforDelhioranen-tire state.With the launch of virtual courts,the daily footfalls to the courts have drasti-cally reduced and thousands have pleadedguiltyandpaidthefineelectronically.Thevirtualcourtsystemhasthepotential

of being upscaled and other petty offencesattractingafinesuchasdelayedpaymentsoflocal taxes or compoundable offences canalsobedealtwithbyvirtual courts. Thiswillease theburdenonconventional courts andthereforemustbestronglyencouraged.Post lockdown, justice deliverywill cer-

tainlyundergoa transformationand judges,lawyersandlitigantswillneedtoadapttothenewnormal.Socialdistancing isheretostayandwillbringaboutprofoundchangesintheway justice is administered and delivered.Opencourtswillremainasalsoopenjustice,butsomedefinitionswillchangewithamoreaggressiveuseoftechnology,notonlyincon-ventional but also online and virtual courts.Several countries and courts havemadead-justmentsnotonlyfortheperiodof thepan-demic or lockdown, but also for the future.We should certainly not be left behind butmustalsomakearoadmaptomeetthechal-lenge.AstheBoyScoutssay:Beprepared.

Thewriter retiredasa justiceof theSupremeCourtof India inDecember2018

THE FREEZINGOF fresh capital acquisitionsbythedefenceforces,delaysinprocurementand inductionof existingorders, andauster-itymeasures in the administrative domain,wereexpected.Itiseasytoapproachthisprob-lemtacticallybyissuingdirectivesandguide-linesandthenseekingperiodicfeedbackfromthemilitaryontheprogressmade,targetsmet,shortfalls and remedialmeasures instituted.Thiswouldbeamyopicapproachandatbestresultinshort-term,tenure-basedoutcomes.Instead,thisshouldbeseenasanopportunityto evolve a transformational culture in theIndianmilitary,basedonclearpoliticalguide-linesdrivenbyexistingandfuturisticcapabil-ities, expectedstrategicoutcomesandantic-ipatedstrategicchallenges.A comparison between the approaches

taken by India’s principal adversaries is in-structive.Pakistanstagnatesinanexistential-threat-based and India-centric approach tonational security. China’s expansive globalstrategy andunbridled capability-basedde-velopmentsurgehaveovercomethedangersofdirectcompetitionwiththeUS.Ithasclosedthegapthroughan“indirectapproachtointer-nationalsecurity”,whichlooksatbuildingonstrengths in areas such as cyberspace, non-contactwarfare,economicanddiplomaticco-ercion.StrategicguidelinesforIndia’ssecuritymanagersmust shift from a threat-basedmethodologytoamulti-disciplinarycapabil-ityandoutcome-basedorientationtofitwiththenation’spoweraspirations.Thereare fivevisiblesilosmostcritical to

kick-start the transformation. The first is toacceleratethecreationofindigenousdefencecapability.Doingthiswithoutbrushingawaytheshortandmedium-termrequirementofselective imports will be the key to a cali-bratedmarchtoself-sufficiency.Thenextcrit-icalcomponentisleadership.India’smilitaryleadership is very hierarchical and sequen-tialinitsapproach.However,thissamelead-ershiphassuperboperationalskillsandpos-sesses aquickunderstandingof technology,tactics, techniques and procedures.Consequently, strategic leaders need to beidentified and their transition towards be-comingmorethanmereexecutorsofopera-tional plans and campaigns needs to be en-abled. Multi-disciplinary thinking, lateralassimilationandaworld-viewareamongthespecific skill-sets thatneedtobenurtured.Trainingandeducationformthenexttwo

silos in the process of transformation. Let ustakethedevelopedWesternmodelforexam-ple.Severalmilitaryofficersatthecolonellevel—freshoutofwarcollegesandtheuniversityenvironmentwheretheyspendayearofed-ucation (not training) — are posted at thePentagon and NATOHQ. Here, they workalongsidecivilians,politicians,lawmakers,notforgettingtheirownjoint leadership. Insuchanenvironment,itisnotdifficulttomark,trainand recognise talent inways that gobeyondthemere rank structure. It is high time Indiagoes down that road because even thougheconomicglobalisationmaybeonhold forawhilepostCOVID-19,thereisgoingtobeaflat-

teningof theworld fromasecurityperspec-tive.Therewillbecommonthreatsthatwouldneedtobefoughtjointlybynations.Thethreepre-requisites in these siloswill be an amal-gamof service-centric and joint operationsexpertise,operationalacumeninaglobalen-vironment, andbroad-based education thatdevelopsintellectualcapital.TrainingintheIndianmilitaryistop-notch

andneedsalittletweakingtohelpofficersandmenunderstandtherulesofengagementinaVolatile,Uncertain,ComplexandAmbiguous(VUCA)world.Itisdiversifiededucationatalllevelsof leadershipthat isaweakarea.Somehave suggested radicalwaysof se-

lecting future chiefs, suggesting a “deep se-lection”andafour-yeartenurebasedonsev-eralcriteriathathavebeenhighlightedinthisarticle.Theyhavealsohighlightedtheaccom-panyingrisksofsuchamove.Keepingthatasanaspirationallong-termoutcomemaybeagoodideaastheprocessesneededtoincorpo-ratesucharadical changeareeithernascentorabsent fromthecurrentsystem.Finally, the silo of jointness and integra-

tionwithout losing identities and compro-mising competencies is an outcome thatneedstobechaseddownwithfocusandde-termination.Therewillbepainandturfswillbetrampledon,butwithtransformedandin-tellectuallyempoweredleadership,nobridgewill too far tocross for the Indianmilitary.

Thewriter isa retiredAirViceMarshalandamilitaryhistorian

Online courts have notcaught on in the absence ofany compelling need to doso. The lockdown hasprovided that opportunity,which should be seized. Thepresent ongoing ‘experiment’has, however, indicated thatthe major problem withonline courts isunfamiliarity with themedium of communication.Judges are simply notused to consciouslyfacing a camera generallyand in particular whilehearing a case.

This should be seen as anopportunity to evolve atransformational culture inthe Indian military, based onclear political guidelines thatare driven by existing andfuturistic capabilities,expected strategic outcomesand anticipated strategicchallenges.

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,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020WORDLYWISE

All that I knowmost surely aboutmoralityand obligations I owe to football.

— ALBERT CAMUSTHEEDITORIALPAGE

URANIUM FOR TARAPURPRESIDENTCARTERHASset inmotionpro-cedureswhich should lead to the shipmentofbothenricheduraniumconsignmentsforTarapur forwhich there are pending appli-cations, American officials disclosed. Eachapplication is for approximately 20 tonnesof enriched uraniumwhichwill meet theneeds of one year’s fuel for Tarapur.Whilenaturally hoping that India will eventuallyagree to full safeguards, officials also pointoutthatthereisawaiverprovisioninthelawitself. Under this, even if India continues torefusetoacceptthesafeguards,thepresidentof the United States can still sanction ship-mentsevenafter the lawgoes intoeffect.

SUGAR IMPORTSTHEUNIONGOVERNMENTisunderstoodtohave decided to import sugar so as to in-crease the availability and check the rise inthepricesof freesalesugar.However,noof-ficial confirmationwas available of the re-portedpurchaseofabout1,50,000tonnesofsugarbytheStateTradingCorporationintheLondonmarket. The country has not im-ported sugar for over 20 years. The govern-ment decision follows a steep fall in sugarproductionin1979-80withthetotaloutputestimatedat fourmillion tonnes.

POLICE DISCONTENTTHERE IS GENERAL discontent among the

police officers in Punjab and Haryana,particularly among those belonging to theIPS cadre. Immediate causeof theunrest isallegedharassmentat thehandsof thenewpolitical bosses and registration of casesagainstpoliceofficers inthetwostates.First,a former deputy director of the CBI, N KSingh, was arrested and humiliated at theinitiative of the Haryana government.RCSharma, formerSSPofKarnalis is facingthe same fate. He is currently on bail andhas not only been superseded but placedon a junior post. Sharma is considered anupright officer and there is a lot ofsympathy for him among the officers andother ranks.

MAY 8, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“Ministers and officials have failed to address the trade-offs between healthand privacy by being ambiguous about the app’s safeguards.” — THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CURRENTLY, THE COVID-19 pandemic isspreadingallovertheworld.Facingthisun-precedented public health crisis, all coun-tries in the world should work together.However,someWesternpoliticiansaretak-ing the lead in a newwave of China-bash-ing, spinning conspiracy theories varyingfrom“Chinesevirus” to “Chineseproblem”,or “Chinese responsibility”, and even“Chinese threat”. These assertions are veryarrogant and fierce, but if you take a closerlook,theyallbearthesamestereotypeofdis-crimination against China in history. It is a300-year-old culture trying to tarnish a5,000-year-old civilisation.First they called COVID-19 the “Chinese

virus”, which reminds us of the notoriouscliché of “sick man in East Asia” a centuryago — it is pure racial discrimination. WemustlistentotheWorldHealthOrganisation(WHO) and the scientific community anddisregard the yarns spun by someWesternpoliticians.Secondly, they call it the “Chinese prob-

lem” — that China didn’t handle the crisiswell,orChinesemedicalproductsareprob-lematic. It is fair to say that, facing an un-known enemy, what China has accom-plishedwithin amonth, namely, informingtheWHOoftheepidemic,sharingthewholegenomesequenceof thenovel coronavirus,andimplementinganeffectivelockdownofthemegacity,Wuhan,noothercountrycandobetter. In the fightagainst thepandemic,about half of the world’s medical suppliescome fromChina.China’s important roleasthe “global anti-pandemic factory” is wellknownand reliable.Thirdly, they refer to the so-called

“Chinese responsibility” and threaten tobring lawsuits and huge claims againstChina. This is typical political blackmail. Itmustbepointedoutthatattemptstousele-galmeanstoseekpoliticalends lacktheba-sic commonsenseof jurisprudence.Fourthly, these always lead to the so-

called “China threat”, which claims thatChina will soon surpass the United Statesand rule theworld, through the pandemic.Insteadof fightinga commonenemy, someWestern politicians are trying to link thepandemicwiththeirelections,orgeograph-ical, political or economic gains. Theworldwill move on its own path after the pan-demic. Perhaps, some people are even se-cretly betting on a “China collapse theory”.But, again, that is wishful thinking; laugh-able, and sad.Equality andmutual respect are the ba-

sicnormsof international relations.But thecolonialhangoverisstillverymuchactiveinmany people’sminds, and they just cannotlookatChina’sriseonanequalfooting.Chinahasnoweffectivelycontrolledtheepidemic,and its economy and social life are back to

normal. SomeWestern countries couldnotacceptthefactsandarefullof anxieties thatChina will be the “winner” after the epi-demic. So politicians andmedia are work-ing hard to shame China. Those baselessclichésattackingChinaaretypicallythe“oldwine”ofcolonialthoughtsina“newbottle”,no different from the notice boards affixedin theolddays that said, “Chinese anddogsarenot allowed toenter”.As amatter of fact, there is nowinner in

theepidemic.Chinaisalsoavictimoftheepi-demic. China suffered the first attack,madehugesacrifices tocontain theepidemic, andwon precious time for the global anti-epi-demicwar. It should be treated fairly ratherthanblamed.Thebottomlinehereistheen-emy is coronavirus, not China, rather Chinaisareliablepartner infightingtheepidemic.Franklyspeaking,weliveinaworlddom-

inatedbyWesternbusiness.AccordingtotheInternationalMonetary Fund, theUSdollaraccountsforaround40percentof theinter-national reserve currency, and the Euro ac-counts formore than 30 per cent. As far asthemedia are concerned,Westerners cer-tainlyhavea“loudspeaker”,whilethevoicesofChinaandIndiaget lost inthiscacophony.Especially intoday’sworld, theextremeim-pact of newmedia is so intense and ridicu-lous, that you can simply run a countrythrough tweets. The dangers of fake newsandmaliciousstigmatisationaremuchmorethaneverbefore.Facedwiththeepidemic, thebuzzwords

I hear in India andChinaarenaturally simi-lar — “going home” or “returning to nativeplace”. Because deep down, we know thatthebasicunitofhumanityiscommunityanda shared future. In this regard, China and

Indiacouldjointly leadthecivilisationalap-proach, to cure theglobal village.Both China and India are great civilisa-

tions with a long history. Peace and toler-ancearethecoreofourphilosophy.Chinesephilosophyadvocates“theunityofmanandnature”, while the ancient Indian philoso-phy and Gandhi’s idea of peaceful coexis-tence with nature speak to the same idea.AsaChinesesayinggoes,“Donotimposeonothers what you yourself do not desire”.China has never colonised any other coun-try, rather italwaysworkshardfortheben-efit of its citizensandglobalwellbeing.China and India are promotingmutual

cooperation in fighting COVID-19. Centraland local governments aswell as the busi-nesscommunitiesinbothcountriesarejoin-ing hands andmoving ahead. Mumbai isplayinga crucial role in thebilateral air cor-ridor ofmedical supplies. The “green chan-nel” of Indian cargo flights from China toIndia— the first time in history—has beeninitiated inMumbai. Besidesbeing theeco-nomicandfinancialcentreof India,Mumbaiis also a big hub formedia and cultural in-dustry, fromwhich China could learn a lot.NowwithsomeWesternpoliticalfiguresus-ingCOVID-19 to slander China, theChinesepeople’sangerisunderstandablyontherise.ChinaandIndiashouldfurtherpromoteme-diacooperationtoensurethatourviewsgetacross todifferent cornersof theworld. TherenaissanceofAsiancivilisationrepresentedbyChinaandIndiaandtheriseofdevelopingcountries, is unstoppable. No provocationcanchange thishistorical trend.

Thewriter is consul-general of thePeople’sRepublic of China inMumbai

11

MULTIPLE COUNTRIESHAVE started con-ductingatscalerandomisedantibodysero-prevalence studies to understand theprevalence and trends of COVID-19 infec-tion in specific hotspots, including inMunich, SantaClara in theUSand Italy.Based on current guidelines and avail-

able research, rapid antibody tests aloneare not reliable as a diagnostic tool or forcontact tracing. Further, these tests havelower specificity and sensitivity as com-pared tomolecular assay tests — like RT-PCR—leadingtoahigherincidenceof falsenegatives and positives. A positive on theantibody testmerelymeans that the per-sonhasbeenexposedtoCOVID-19andde-veloped antibodies. The negative testmeans that the person has not been ex-posedtoCOVID-19andmaybesusceptibleinthefuture.Hence,aspertherecentlyan-nounced ICMR guidelines on the use ofrapidantibodykits,theycanbepotentiallyused for epidemiological and surveillancestudiesatacommunity level.These studies canhelpunderstand the

spreadof the infection inhotspots, proba-ble nature of spread in terms of asympto-matic vs symptomatic carriers, facilitatepolicy-making and help in evaluating theimpact of different protocols andpolicies.However, these studiesmust be designedcarefully alongwith experiencedmedicalandepidemiologyprofessionals tobeabletodrawmeaningfulconclusions.Basedonlearnings from the research team at theStanfordSchoolofMedicine,thefollowingcritical factorsmust be ensuredwhile de-signing and conducting the study:Selection,testingmethodologyandrobuststatistical analysis.Well-thought-through study partici-

pantselectionmethodologyshouldbede-velopedtoensurerepresentativenessofac-tual population demographic and tominimiseselectionbias.Appropriate testingmethodology and

kitsshouldbeselectedtoensurehighspeci-ficity andsensitivity, and implementationchallengesmustbefactoredin—forexam-ple, pooled RT-PCR testing vs rapid anti-bodykits,orboth.Thesamplesizeforsuchtestsshouldbedeterminedbyappropriatestatistical analysis driven by demograph-icsandtheaccuracyofthetestsbeingused.TheSantaClaraandMunich-basedstudieshaveused a sample size of approximately3,000participants.Robust statistical analysis is needed to

determinetheappropriatesamplesize,ac-counting formultiple factors such as thespecificityandsensitivityof thetestsused,as well as to draw conclusions from thestudy tounderstandprevalence.While Mumbai and other cities have

significantlyrampedupdiagnosticRT-PCRbasedtesting,thisisstill insufficienttoun-derstandthepotential spreadof the infec-tionespeciallyintheasymptomaticpopu-lation in hotspots such as the slums inDharavi.Targetedstudiestounderstandtheprevalenceoftheinfectioncouldbecarriedout for selected hotspots, such as RedZones, which can help the authorities toplanandpreparebetter.Thiswillalsohelpintheprogressofepidemiologicalresearchonthedisease.The studycouldbe ledbyanacademic

institute of repute, as in the Santa Clarastudy inwhichStanfordUniversity ledtheresearch supportedbyeither governmentor private labs approved to undertakeCOVID testing. The estimated costs areknownforvarioustestingmethods.FortheStanford study, the cost of the rapid anti-bodykitswasapproximately$7perkit.Many countries (including India) and

stateshavereporteddeficienciesintheout-putofantibodytests.AvarietyofantibodytestswerevalidatedinastudydonebytheUniversityof California, SanFranciscoandtheHarvardMedicalSchool.TheNewYorkTimes reported on the study’s results onApril 26.Makersoftheantibodytestsdefendtheir

research andpoint out howantibody testshave beenwrongly used. US-based SureBiotechhashelpeddevelopmorethan200rapid tests for viruses such asHIV, herpesandhepatitis.Thecompany’santibodytestshavehadaspecificityof100percentinonestudy. On countries reporting a highnum-beroffalsepositives,SherylDunnofBiosurewrites “someusers don’t understandhowtousetheserologytests.Theyarelessfordi-agnosticandmorefortestingforpastinfec-tions.IfyouuseserologytestsbetweenDay1-14,duringacurrentinfectionperiod,theycatchonlyaproportionof the truepositivecases. They are a supplement to PCR tests,which test for current infections but so fararenotasportable.”The science of testing is evolving.

Scientistsarecooperatingwitheachotherfaster than the speed of sound. Our ques-tions to researchers in the Stanford studyelicited a quick response (it helped thatmany of the researchers are of Indian ori-gin). Bill Gates said in a recent interviewthatwe“need toget to thebottomof this”— referring to understanding howmuchthe virus has spread in communities.Researchers are racing to give the answer.Itmaysoonbepossible to self-test, justbywipingyournoseandprovidinga swabofsaliva via mail to a lab. Academics at IITDelhi are sequencing bits of the COVIDgenome andmaking tests that are afford-able. Testing is critical in the fight againstCOVIDandinfindingananswertowhenitis safe togoback towork.

Thewritersarepartof theMahacovid, avoluntary informalgroup includingfoundations,managementconsultingfirms, companies, publicofficialsand

experts inpublichealthanddataanalyticswhoareworkingontheground in

Mumbai,Maharashtra tohelp in fightingtheCovid19pandemic. Thisarticle isbased

onconversationswith researchersaroundtheworld

Equality and mutual respectare the basic norms ofinternational relations. Butthe colonial hangover is stillvery much active in manypeople’s minds, and they justcannot look at China’s rise onan equal footing. China hasnow effectively controlled theepidemic, and its economyand social life are back tonormal. Some Westerncountries could not acceptthe facts and are full ofanxieties that China will bethe “winner” after theepidemic. So politicians andmedia are working hard toshame China. Those baselessclichés attacking China aretypically the “old wine” ofcolonial thoughts in a “newbottle”.

Acing the testsTestingiscriticalinfightagainstCOVID,andinansweringquestionofwhenitis

safetogobacktowork

CR Sasikumar

ThereisneedforcoordinatedresponsebyCentreandstatestomeetcrisis

GLOBALECONOMICPROSPECTShavebeenseverelydentedbytheCOVID-19pandemic.This medical-cum-economic emergencyhas causedmassive dislocations in globalproduction, supply chains, trade andtourism.COVID-19has impactedeconomicactivity in India directly due to nationallockdownandviasecond-roundeffectsop-erating through lower global trade andgrowth.Thegovernmenthasannouncedaneco-

nomic stimulus packageworth Rs 1.7 lakhcrore, designed to helpmillions of low-in-come households bear the lockdown. Thispackage was supplemented by variousmeasures fromtheRBI,which includedre-ducingthereporateby75basispoints,pro-vidinga three-monthmoratoriumonpay-ment of instalments of term loans, anddefermentof interestonworkingcapital fa-cilities by threemonths.The sharp reduction in international

crudeoilpricescouldimproveIndia’s termsof trade, but the gains are not expected tooffset thedrag fromtheshutdownandlossof external demand. Tomanage the stress,economicpolicyhastofocusonguarantee-ingthefunctioningofessentialsectors,pro-viding enough resources for people hit bythe crisis and preventing excessive eco-nomicdisruption.TheChinesecharacterofthecrisisrepresentsbothchallengeandop-portunity. Hence, we need to focus on thefollowing aspects.In the last three decades, China has be-

come the global factory. The disruption inthesupplyof finishedgoodsandrawmate-rialshasledtoanincreasedawarenessof therisks of this concentration. Companies are

increasinglyexploringthepossibilitiesofdi-versifying their manufacturing and supplychains to avoid putting all their eggs in theChinabasket.WeshouldleveragethistoouradvantagesothatChina’s loss is India’sgain.MSMEs formthebackboneof the econ-

omy.Buttheyarequitevulnerableandhaveminimal reserves tomeet difficulties. Thelockdown has left them with unmet ex-penses,utilitybills, rents, salaries.Andpay-ments owed to theseunits are stuck, creat-ing a double squeeze. On April 15, thegovernmentannouncedcertainrelaxationson the lockdown restrictions. According toan assessment by the Federation of IndianExport Organisations (FIEO), these relax-ationswillhelprestartabout80-85percentof export-orientedmanufacturing units. Ifthese units can operate by early May, itwould help them to pay wages for May.Further, restarting labour-intensive indus-trieslikefoodprocessingandconstructioninrural areaswould generate income formi-grant labourers. Allowing transport, ware-housing and cold storage would ensuresmoother functioningof the supply chain.Businesses have started facingmassive

workingcapital/cash flowissuesandthesewill continue even post the lockdown be-causeof reduceddemand.MSMEandstart-ups are the worst hit. Though the govern-ment has taken steps via SIDBI and otherschemes to help MSMEs, we need to domore. The government can also procurefromMSMEs and startups, thus helpingthem sustain. Restoring pre-COVID levelsofpurchasecouldtakesixmonthsormore.Until then,businessesandworkersneedtobrace themselves for drastic cuts in de-

mand, salaries and jobs. But with speedyaction, the government could significantlyease thedamage.Another focus area is pharmaceuticals.

Despite the country’s strength in thegeneric drug scene, Indian pharmamajorshave been importing rawmaterials fromChina though some of these are availablelocally. Indiacouldbethelargestexporterofmedicines. It can also present itself as acredible alternative in the textile and ap-parel segment. Other promising areas in-cludeminerals andmetals, homeware, ce-ramic tiles, engineering goods andfurniture.Further, with businesses transitioning

to a digital model, the demand for onlinetools forcommunicationandcollaborationwill increase. Online methods of skilling,upskilling and reskillingwill grow, leadingtoaspikeindemandforgoodonlineeduca-tioncontent.Light industries invillages,es-pecially in food processing, will also get aboost.Startupsshouldbeencouragedtode-velop cold-chain logistics with a properecosystem.Thetoppriority today is toget theecon-

omy back on track while ensuring there isnoresurgenceof thedisease.TheRajasthanstategovernmentshouldsetaside funds totake care of our first responders (across allessential services) and patients. It shouldprovide a universal basic cash payment toeveryhouseholdsothatminimalneedscanbemetevenunderalockdown.Thegovern-ment must also ensure the uninterruptedflow of critical supplies and services, andinvest in the much-needed health infra-structure.

The government shouldwaive-off util-itybills fortheurbanpoorforthreemonths.Similarly,MSMEsshouldbeexemptedfromelectricity duties for three months. Taxeslevied by local/state governmentmay alsobe exempted for threemonths for specificsectors.Along with the private sector, the gov-

ernmentmustcreateanemergencyframe-work to manufacture low-cost sanitisersandmasks, testingkits andprotective gearto support healthcare professionals.Additionally,manufacturing low-costven-tilators, digital thermometers and criticalvaccineswill helpmitigate the loss of life.OrganisationsshouldcreateaCOVID-19

response fund through their corporate so-cialresponsibilityspending.Adisasterman-agement framework focused on creating arobust channel toprovide informationandcreate awareness is essential. The govern-ment shouldalsoensuredisaster responsetraining programmes. The Rajasthan stategovernment shouldalsopush theNationalAgricultureMarket (eNAM).Flatteningthecurve isofutmost impor-

tance. India is battling this medical-cum-economicemergencythroughisolation,so-cialdistancingandupscalingdiagnosticandtestingrequirements.Butgiventhemagni-tudeof thecrisis, there isacompellingneedfor coordinatedeffortsbyall stake-holders- central and state governments, doctors,nurses, planners and policy-makers andeven those at the helmof affairs at variouslevelsof administration.Allofusmustplayourpart inmeeting this challenge.

Thewriter is governor of Rajasthan

Regroup and reinventKalrajMishra

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

BEYOND THE CALLSTHISREFERSEDITORIAL,‘Otherhealth-care fronts’ (IE, May 7). In the rush toprotect the country against COVID-19,those suffering from other ailmentsmustnotbeignored.Currently,thegov-ernmentismarshallingalltheresourcesat its command incontaining thevirusand the treatment of all other diseaseshasbeenputonthebackburner.Thosewith serious and critical illnesses can-notbecuredtelepathicallybytelemed-icine.Thegovernmentought todeployits limitedresourcesoptimally.

DeepakSinghal,Chennai

FORSEEN PROBLEMSTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Weaklinks intostrengths’ (IE,May6).Manyof the issues relating to supply chainsand logistics of essential goods couldhave been foreseen in a pre-COVIDworld. The FCI wouldn’t have had tostrugglewithtransporting food-grainhad godowns been established at thedistrict level.Thiswouldhavereducedtransportation costs and delays.Thegovernmentmustdevelopalogis-ticspolicy in fornationalemergenciesandkeep inmind that it shouldn’t be-comereliantonthebenevolenceof in-dividuals andNGOs to fulfil its sover-eignduties.

NoelTherattil,Delhi

WATER IT DOWNTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Drink forthought’ (IEMay 7). The recent stam-pedehasshownthatpeopleacrossthelength and breadth of the country arewilling to spendastronomical sumsof

money to indulge in fewmoments ofpleasure. With 40 days of lockdown,andallothersourcesofrevenuehavingdriedup,theeasiestoptionforthegov-ernment is to sell liquor. But the statehas a social obligation to preserve themental-physical well being of citizensas well. The freedom to drink inmoderationmust be balanced by thisconcern.

MohitSwami,Bikaner

SAVE MSMESTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘COVID&MSME’ (IE, May 6). If the governmentwants to put this sector back on theroadtorecovery, itmustcomeupwithfiscal and other stimuli immediately.Unfortunately, there is nothing on thehorizon.It’stimeforthegovernmenttowakeup.

SKPrabhakar,Gurugram

TangGuocai

Covid-19hastriggeredanewwaveofChina-bashing.Thefactis,Chinasufferedthefirstattackofthevirus,andisnowareliablepartnerinfightingtheepidemic

Enemy is coronavirus, not China

Swati Piramal andMahesh Balsekar

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

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●●THERIGHT CRISISPOLICYMIX:SIMRITKAUR

ANDKAMALDEEPKAURSARNA

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12THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheWorld

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

BANGLADESH

GovtliftscurbsonmosqueprayersDhaka: Bangladesh onThursday allowedMuslimstoattendprayercongregations inmosques as the govern-ment continues to easethelockdownrestrictionsamid the coronavirusoutbreak which has in-fected 12,425 people inthe country so far.However,mosqueleadersarenotallowedtoorgan-iseIftargatheringsonthemosque premises in linewiththesocialdistancingrules,theBdnews24.comreported. The mosquesand devotees have beenasked to comply with aset of safety protocols tohold prayer congrega-tions,theReligiousAffairsMinistry said.

InDhaka. Reuters

PANDEMICWATCH

UNITEDKINGDOM

Indian-originUKMPsackedascareworkerLondon:AnIndian-originOpposition Labour PartyMP, who had returnedpart-time to her role of acareworker,saysshewassacked for speaking outagainst the shortage ofpersonal protectiveequipment (PPE)."Because I've spoken outaboutthis[PPEshortages]I'vebeensackedfrommyemployment. But this is-n't just aboutme, it's notjust aboutone individualcase, or even one em-ployer. Care workersacrossthecountryarebe-ing easily exploited bytheir employers, espe-cially if they're on zero-hourscontracts,"said24-year-oldLabourPartyMP.

CANADA

WagesofkeyworkerstobeboostedOttawa: Canada and the10provinceshave agreedto increasepay for essen-tialworkerssuchasthoseworking in seniors’ resi-dences,wheremanycaseshave occurred, PrimeMinister Justin Trudeausaid Thursday. “Workersare risking their health toprovide uswith essentialcare andservices, andweneed to make sure thattheyarepaidproperly fortheworktheydo,”hesaid.Ottawa will contributeC$3 billion, representing75%percentoftotalcostofthe increasedwages, thegovernmentsaid.Trudeauearlier said the amountwasC$4billion.

NEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,MAY7

THETRUMPadministrationhasrejected detailed guidelinesfrom health experts to helpschools, restaurants, churchesandotherestablishmentssafelyreopen, saying theyare toopre-scriptive, according to severaladministrationofficials.TheWhite House has asked

forrevisionsfromtheCentersforDiseaseControlandPrevention,whose public health expertswrotetheguidance,butsomeof-ficials at the CDChave privatelyexpressed concern that the rec-ommendations will never bepostedpublicly.In a senior staff meeting at

the White House last week,MarkMeadows,thechiefofstaff,expressed concern that theguidelines were “overly pre-scriptive,”accordingtoapersonfamiliar with the discussion.Meadows’ concern, the officialsaid, was that the guidelinesweretoouniformandregressivefor places withminimal num-bersof cases.A copy of the guidance ob-

tained by The New York Timesincludes sections dealing withchildcareprograms,schoolsandday camps, communities of

faith,employerswithvulnerableworkers, restaurants and bars,andmasstransitadministrators.President Trump has been

desperatetoreopenthecountryquickly amid the worst eco-nomicmeltdownsincetheGreatDepression. The detailed CDCguidancewasseenbymembersof theWhiteHousecoronavirustask force and other aides as adocumentthatcouldslowdown

that effort, according to severalpeople with knowledge of thedeliberations inside theWestWing. The dissension on theguidelineswas first reportedbyTheAssociatedPress.Theguidance,whichtheCDC

first submitted to the WhiteHouse in draft form twoweeksago,wasmeanttohelpstates,lo-calgovernmentsandbusinessesadoptmeasuresthatwouldhelp

keep the virus from spreadingoncetheyreopened.Butseveralfederal agencies, including theDepartment of Labor and theOffice of Civil Rightswithin theDepartment of Health andHumanServices,protested,say-ing itwouldbeharmful tobusi-nessesandtheeconomyandtooprescriptive for houses of wor-ship in particular, a federal offi-cial said.

Policeremovepeople fromthesubwaytodisinfect it, inNewYorkCityonThursday.Reuters

NEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,MAY7

Another3.2millionpeople filedfor first-time unemploymentbenefits last week, in the latestevidence of the economic dev-astation fromthepandemic.TheUSgovernmentreportre-

leased Thursday brings the totaltally over sevenweeks tomorethan33million.Theweeklynum-bershavedeclinedsincereachingapeakof6.9millionclaimsinlateMarch. But the data remainsshocking:Officialsinsomestatessaymore than a quarter of theworkforceis jobless.Economists expect the

monthly jobs report from theLaborDepartment,dueFriday,toshow that the unemploymentrate in April was 15 per cent orhigher, a Depression-era level.The figurewill almost certainlyunderstate thedamage.The current economic pic-

tureis, inaword,bleak.Buteveninthelongerterm,manyecono-mists warn, the outlook is farfrom promising, and the quickrebound that Trump predictsmaynotmaterialise.“We don’t knowwhat nor-

mal is going to look like,” saidMartha Gimbel, an economistanda labormarketexpert.

Thecountryhasalreadysuf-fered its worst decline in grossdomestic product in a decadeand theworst retail sales reporton record. And it is part of abroaderglobaldownturn.Morethanhalfof stateshave

begun to reopen theireconomiesorplantodososoon.Butmostfailtomeetcriteriarec-ommended by the Trump ad-ministrationtoresumebusinessandsocial activities.

CLIMBING THE DOMEPeopleat theBoudhanathStupaduringthebirthanniversaryofBuddhaamidthe lockdowninKathmandu,Nepal,onThursday.The IMFhasapprovedadisbursementof about$214milliontohelpNepalcoverpandemiccosts. Reuters

HAMIDSHALIZI&RUPAMJAINKABUL/MUMBAI,MAY7

MORE THAN a third of con-firmed coronavirus cases in theAfghancapitalhavebeenamongdoctors and other healthcarestaff, two senior health officialssaid on Thursday, in a sign thatthe war-torn country is strug-glingtodealwiththepandemic.Theofficialscitedalackofpro-

tective equipment formedics aswellasalackofawarenessamongsomemedicalstaffoftheprecau-tionsneededtoavoidinfection.The high rate of infection

among healthcareworkers hassparked alarm amongmedicsand some doctors have closedtheir clinics.However, it is not clear

whether theapparentlydispro-portionate rate of infectionmightbeatleast inpartbecausemedical staff aremore likely tobetestedfortheillness.Fewpeo-ple with the classic COVID-19symptomsofhighfeverandres-piratory problems are beingtestedinAfghanistan,becauseofa shortageof testingkits.The total of 925 confirmed

cases in Kabul has includedsome 346medical staff, a gov-ernment health official and anAfghan doctor who is on theboardofagovernment-ledpan-demic task forcesaid.Asof Thursday,3,563people

havetestedpositiveand106peo-plehavediedinAfghanistan,ac-cording to official figures. Thetwoofficials,whoaskednottobenamed as theywere not autho-rised to discuss thematter pub-licly, said at least 13doctors haddied in different parts of thecountry last month and in thefirstweekofMay. REUTERS

OTHERTOPGLOBAL STORIES

AGENCIESJERUSALEM,MAY7

IN A ruling late Wednesday,Israel’s Supreme Court refusedtobar PrimeMinister BenjaminNetanyahu fromformingagov-ernment,clearingthelastmajorobstacletohisclaimingarecordfifth termas Israel’s leader.Thehighcourtunanimously

rejected petitions that soughtto disqualify Netanyahu be-cause he faces prosecution onfelony corruption charges, rul-ing that ithadno legalgroundsto do so.The court also declined to

blockanunusualpower-sharingarrangement that NetanyahustruckwithBennyGantz,thefor-merarmychiefwhohad foughthim to a draw in three straightelections.Israel's Parliament on

Thursday approved amend-ments to two basic laws by aheftymajority, paving thewayforNetanyahu.The Knesset or Parliament

voted by 71 votes to 37 to backthepower-sharingdeal.The bills were necessary for

BlueandWhitetobeabletorec-ommend Prime MinisterNetanyahu to form a govern-mentbyThursdaynight'sdead-linetopreventafourthelection,thepaper said.Netanyahu,70, immediately

announced he would take theoath of office onMay13. Gantz,60, is to take office as deputy oralternateprimeminister.

ASSOCIATEDPRESSBAGHDAD,MAY7

IRAQ'S FORMER spy chief wassworn in as primeminister bylawmakersearlyThursdayafterweeks of tense political negoti-ations as the country faces a se-vereeconomic crisis spurredbyplummeting oil prices and thecoronaviruspandemic.Themajority of 255 legisla-

tors approved the governmentplanandthemajorityofCabinetministers proposed byMustafaal-Kadhimi,officiallyinaugurat-ing him as Iraq's sixth premiersince 2003 and ending fivemonthsof a leadershipvoid.

Legislatorsaccepted15minis-tersandrejectedfive,amongthemtheministriesoftrade,justice,cul-ture, agriculture andmigration.Theministriesofoilandforeignaf-fairs also remainvacantpendingfurther political negotiations.AccordingtoIraq'sconstitution,agovernment canpass if overhalfofaproposedCabinetisapproved.Al-Kadhimi,whogaveupthe

intelligence post when he be-cametheprimeminister-desig-nate, assumes the premiershipas Iraq faces unprecedentedcrises amid falling oil revenuesthatwill likelypromptunpopu-lar austeritymeasures, a risingdaily tally of coronavirus cases,andexpectedUS-Iraq talks.

BRIANELLSWORTH&ANGUSBERWICKCARACAS,MAY7

AFORMERUS soldier capturedin Venezuela said onWednesday he had been con-tracted by a Florida securityfirmtoseize control of Caracas’airport and bring in a plane toflyPresidentNicolasMadurototheUnited States.Venezuelan authorities on

Mondayarrestedtheman,LukeDenman, alongwith fellowUScitizen Airan Berry and 11 oth-ers, inwhatMadurohascalledafailed plot coordinated with

Washington toousthim.Duringquestioningbroadcast

onstate television,Denmansaidthe firm, Silvercorp USA, hadsigned a contract withVenezuelan opposition leader

JuanGuaidotoseekMaduro’sre-moval.AGuaidoadvisortoldCNNonWednesdayhehadsignedanexploratoryagreement,butithadneverbeen finalisedand theop-position did not support the at-temptedincursion.US President Donald Trump

has denied involvement. A sen-iorTrumpadministrationofficialsaidMaduro’s accusations of aUSrole “arenotcredible”.“I was helping Venezuelans

take back control of their coun-try,” Denman, a former specialoperations forcesmember, saidin the video.He did not give de-tailsonhowhisgroupplannedtogetMaduroonaplane.REUTERS

REUTERS&PTIISLAMABAD,MAY7

PAKISTAN’S CORONAVIRUSlockdown will be lifted onSaturday,PrimeMinister ImranKhan said, despite the fact thatthenumberofcasesinthecoun-try is still accelerating.The decision is being taken

because the country’s largenumber of poor people andlabourers cannot not afford tolive under lockdown anymore,hesaidonThursday.“We’re deciding thatwe are

ending this lockdown now,”Khansaidinatelevisedaddress.“Weknowthatwe’redoing it ata timewhen our curve is going

up....butit isnotedgingupaswewereexpecting.”Pakistan, which has under-

gone a five-week lockdown, hasreported 24,073 coronaviruscases with 564 deaths, andrecordeditshighestsingle-dayin-

creaseof1,523casesonThursday.Debt-ridden Pakistan is also

goingaheadwithitsstrategic$60billionChina-PakistanEconomicCorridorproject,despitethecoun-try'sfurthereconomicdownturn."Thereisnopoliticalhindranceinitsway. Theproject is Pakistan'sfutureaswellasatangiblerealityandnocompromisewillbemadeon it," CPECAuthorityChairmanLt-Gen(retd)AsimSaleemBajwasaidWednesday.Pakistan takes decisions in

its interest and thereshouldbenodoubt that theCPECproject"is in the best interest of thecountry"and"noexternalpres-sure will be accepted", theExpressTribunequotedBajwaassaying.

Many casesamong medicsspark alarmin Afghanistan

Pakistan to lift measures fromMay 9 despite rising curve

VillagersharvestcropsamidlockdowninPeshawar. AP

Venezuela: Detained Americanclaims he plotted Maduro’s capture

NicolasMaduroBenjaminNetanyahu

Israeli High Court lets Netanyahuform govt, despite indictments

Former Iraqi intel chiefapproved as new premier

MARIAABI-HABIBNEWYORK,MAY7

THE LITTLE girl, her black curlstumbling over her eyes and herslight frame uncomfortablysplayedoutontheairplaneseat,hid crayons in her armpits theentire flight. She was puzzledhow they, like the new peoplecalledMomandDadsittingnexttoher,nowbelongedtoher.Her new parents, Seth and

MegMosier,lookedtoeachother.Were theydoing things right? Itwas not their first emergencyevacuation— they had escapedwarandviolencebefore—but itwastheirfirstonaone-wayflightfrom India sponsored by theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And certainly theirfirstwithalittlegirltheyhadjustadopted as a deadly pandemicswirledaroundtheworld.In 2008, Seth, an American

diplomat,wasordered toevacu-ate from the embassy in Tbilisi,Georgia,when theRussianmili-taryinvaded.MegdroveacarfilledwithdiplomatsacrosstheborderandintothesafetyofArmenia. In2011, the Arab Spring protestsforcedthemtoleaveEgypt.Seth, 41, with a dirty blond

crew cut and a perpetuallyearnestlookonhisface,andMeg,42,withfreckles,ashortbrunettebob and a determination to al-waysstaypositive,decidedtoset-tledownaftertheyleftCairo.Afterweeksof fillingoutmo-

notonouspaperwork,theyweredirected to an orphanage inMadurai,acityinsouthernIndia.The orphanage gave them aname:a littlegirlnamedSelvi.Last December, when they

hadtheirfirstvideochatwithher,theystruggledtoholdheratten-tion.Lessthanthreemonthslater,thefirstcoronaviruscaseinDelhiwasannouncedonMarch2,aday

before the adoption was ap-proved. They booked tickets toMadurai forMarch12, four daysbeforetheirmeetingwithSelvi.Just 20 hours after the

Mosiers arrived, India sealed itsborders.Nowall theyneededtodowasmeettheirdaughterandget out in time. The bondingprocess was never going to beeasy,butnowtheyhadtospeeditup. “Itwassoscary.Therewassomuchweight behind this, somany moments dedicated tothinking about this moment,”Megsaid.The next day, the Mosiers

could finally take Selvi home.TheyflewseveralhourstoDelhionMarch18.Thenextday, Indiaannouncedall flights inandoutof the country would be can-celled in three days. They hadtwo days to finalise an interna-tional adoption.The final paperwork usually

take a week. But bureaucratsfrom both countries rushed tofinish it in two days. Just hoursbefore the airport closed, theMosierscheckedin.Buttheyhadforgottenonecrucialpieceofpa-per:anexitstampallowingSelvito leave thecountry.

TheywerestuckinIndiawithfewhotelsstillopen.TheMosierscheckedthemselvesintoafancyhotelnowemptyofguests.Theyspentthenextninedaysplayinghideandgoseekwithboredbell-hopsandthehotelmanager.“Somany people told uswe

were the bright spot in theirday,”Megsaid.Finally,theygotanemailsay-

ing the Latter-day Saints hadcharteredaflighttoevacuatemis-sionaries. They offered unoccu-piedseatstotheembassy,whichofferedthemtotheMosiers.TheMosiersarenowback in

Bethesda, where the governorhas ordered an extended lock-down. They haven’t introducedSelvi to friends or family yet,which they saidwas a blessingthatallowedthemtobondwiththeirnewdaughter.Meals have been difficult.

SelvidoesnotlikeAmericanfoodand so Seth has been research-ing Indian curry recipes online.“I’ve spent a lot of timeperfect-ingapotatomasala,” Sethsaid.And the crayons? Selvi now

leaves them lying around thehouse. “She knows,” Meg said,“what’sours ishers.”NYT

SethandMegMosierposewiththeirdaughterSelvi

Amid pandemic, lockdown,an adoption and evacuation

TRAVEL FROMNEWYORKSEEDEDWAVEOFOUTBREAKS

NEWYORKCity’soutbreakgrewsolargebyearlyMarchthat itbecametheprimarysourceofnewinfectionsintheUnitedStates,newresearchreveals.

THISSHOWShowdecisions includingwaitingto imposedistancingmeasuresandto limit internationalflightshelpedshapetheoutbreak’s trajectory

ALACKof testingobscuredthetrueextentof theoutbreakformonths,andofficialsactedonincompleteandsometimesconflictinginformation

White House rejects key guidelinesas they could ‘slowdown’ reopening

WITHTHEeconomicde-clineoccurringsoquicklyandcomprehensively,ex-perts have said that a re-turn to the economicstateof2019wouldlikelytakealongtime.Thispre-diction, which contra-dictsTrump’sassurancesof a quick rebound, liespartly in the fact that it isimpossible to ascertainhowquickly jobswill re-turnascurbsare lifted.

Thelongroadbackto2019

3.2 mn more filefor jobless aid, UStotal over 33 mn

13SENSEX: 31,443.38 ▼ 242.37 NIFTY: 9,199.05 ▼ 71.85 NIKKEI: 19,674.77 ▲ 55.42 HANG SENG: 23,980.63 ▼ 156.85 FTSE: 5,917.10▲ 63.34 DAX: 10,726.85 ▲ 120.65

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY7

AMIDDELAYS in the announce-mentofaneconomicpackagebe-ingreadiedbytheCentre,FinanceMinister Nirmala SitharamanThursday said the “economy ispoisedtorecover”aspublicsectorbanks (PSBs) have stepped uploansanctionsinMarchandApril,andthesefundswillbedisbursedsoonafter the lockdown is lifted.She said PSBs have proactivelyprovided three-month loanmoratorium facility to over 3.2crore accounts after the schemewasannouncedbytheRBI.AtotalofRs5.66lakhcroreof

loans were sanctioned duringMarch-April 2020 toMSMEs, re-tail,corporateandagriculturesec-tors,whileanotheroverRs1lakhcrore of funds have been sanc-tioned to non-banking financialcompanies (NBFCs) andhousingfinance companies (HFCs).“DuringMarch-April 2020, PSBssanctioned loansworth Rs 5.66lakhcroreformorethan41.81lakhaccounts. These borrowers arefromMSME,Retail,Agriculture&Corporatesectors,waitingfordis-

bursalsoonafter#lockdownlifts.Economypoised to recover,” theFMsaidinaseriesof tweets.PSBsareattendingtothefund-

ing needs of micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSMEs),she added. The economic shut-downhashitMSMEsparticularlyhardastheydonothavelargere-serves that bluechip companieshave.“ForMSMEsandothers,pre-approvedemergencycredit lines

&workingcapitalenhancementsbeing prioritised by PSBs.Morethan27lakhcustomerscontactedfromMarch20and2.37lakhcasessanctionedloansworthRs.26,500cr. A work in progress,”Sitharaman said on her officialTwitterhandle.ArecentreportbyCrisilpoints

out howSMEs are hitwhen theeconomy moves into a low-growthphase. It says thatwhentheeconomymovesfromnormalto lowgrowth rate, current assetdays (howquickly a company isable to convert its current assetsinto cash) for large companiesrisesfrom139daysto143days,formicro and small companies itjumpsfrom189daysto220days.This affects their funding ability,pushing them to seek higherworkingcapitalloansfrombanks.Credit information firm

TransUnionCIBILsaidloansworthRs2,32,000croreofMSMEsareata higher risk of becoming non-performingassets.MSMEsoper-atingacrossthevaluechain—in-cluding cycle parts, auto parts,textilesproducts,toys,handtools—are facingstressduetodeplet-inginternalreservesandlowvis-ibility of demand for next six

months at least, according to in-dustrysources.ApartfromMSMEs,NBFCsare

othercompaniesfacingthestress,as their cost of fundinghas goneup sharply especially for lowerratedcompanies.Sitharamansaidthat state-owned banks havesanctioned funds to NBFCs.“Sustainedcreditflowto#NBFCs&HFCsin#COVID-19.PSBssanc-tionedloansworthRs77,383crorebetweenMar1-May4. InclusiveofTLTROfunds,extendedtotalfi-nancingofRs1.08 lakhcrore,en-suringbusiness stability&conti-nuitygoingforward,”shesaid.The RBI last month an-

nouncedtargetedlongtermrepooperations (TLTRO) schemethroughwhichbankscanborrow-ingfundsfromRBIforonlending.TheschememandatesthatwithinthetotalsizeofRs50,000crore,10per cent should be allocated toMFIs, 15 per cent toNBFCswithassetsizeofRs500croreandbe-low,and25percenttoNBFCswithasset size betweenRs 500 croreandRs5,000croreratedininvest-ment grade. NBFCs have alsosoughtamoratoriumonloanre-payments,andbanksareconsid-eringthisonacase-to-casebasis.

FINANCEMINISTERSAYSECONOMY ISPOISEDTORECOVER

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,MAY7

AMID THE coronavirus-in-duced lockdown, an increas-ingnumber of states that in-cludeUttar Pradesh,MadhyaPradesh,RajasthanandGujar-athavepushedthroughchan-gestotheirlabourlawsbywayofamendments—ordinancesorexecutiveorders—someofwhichwouldrequireapprovalfromthecentral governmenttocomeintoeffect.Reactingtothe move by states, tradeunionshave condemned theblanketexemptiontoemploy-ers from labour lawsand ter-medthemoveasregressive.TheUttarPradeshgovern-

ment had, on Wednesday,clearedanordinanceexempt-ing businesses from thepurviewofmost labour lawprovisions for the next threeyears. However, labour lawsrelated tobonded labour, de-ploymentofwomenandchil-dren and timely payment ofsalarieswillnotberelaxedun-dertheordinance.“The industrial and eco-

nomical activities in UttarPradeshhavebeenseverelyaf-fectedand sloweddowndueto theoutbreakof COVID-19.Businessesandeconomicac-tivitieshavesloweddownduetowhich labourwelfare hasalsobeenaffected. This is be-cause businesses and eco-nomicactivitiescametoahaltmore or less due to the na-tionallockdown.Tobringeco-nomic activity back on track,new investment opportuni-tieswouldneedtobecreatedalongwithfasteningthebusi-nessesprocessesandproduc-tivity,” a statement issuedbythestategovernmentsaid.CPI(M)-linked Centre of

Indian Trade Unions (CITU)condemned the blanket ex-emption to employers fromlabour laws, terming it as a“barbarousmove to imposeconditions of slavery on theworkingpeoplewhoareactu-ally creatingwealth for thecountry, simultaneously suf-feringfrombrutalexploitationandlootbythecapitalistsandbig-business”.The latest is themore ag-

gressivemoveto liberatecor-porateemployersfromobliga-tionsunder almost all labourlawsinUttarPradeshandMa-dhyaPradesh,CITUsaid.Mostother state governmentswillfollow the same pathwhilecompetingwithothersin“thenameofdevelopmentandat-tracting investment in thestateonthedubiouspleaofre-vivaloftheireconomy”,itsaid.Alongwithanextensionof

daily working hours to 12,MadhyaPradeshhasexempt-edemployers fromsomeob-ligationsundervariouslabourlaws, like Madhya PradeshIndustrial Relations Act andIndustrialDisputesAct,aswellas Contract Labour Act for1,000days,allowingemploy-erstohireandfireworkers“attheir convenience”. The statehas also allowed exemptedfirmsflexibilityofextensionofworkinghours.Further, ithasexemptednewfactoriesund-ertheFactoriesAct,1948frominspection from the LabourDepartment and permittedtheflexibilitytoconductthirdpartyinspectionsatwill.Thestatehasalsoissuedan

ordinance to the MadhyaPradeshLabourWelfareFundAct,1982,exemptingallnewlyestablished factories fromfil-ingannualreturnsandpayingRs80per labourerperyeartotheMadhya Pradesh LabourWelfareBoard for next 1,000days. Changes to theMadhyaPradesh Industrial Employ-ment (StandingOrders) Act,1961will exempt industriesemployingupto100workersfromthelaw’sprovisions.Experts have termed the

amending of labour laws bystatetobeincontraventiontotheglobally acceptednorms.States including Rajasthan,Haryana, Himachal Pradeshand Punjab have extendedworkinghoursinmanufactur-ingunitsto12hoursfrom8.Reacting to the develop-

ment, CPI(M) leader SitaramYechuryonThursdaytweeted,“Wealth is nothing but themonetisation of value.Destroying labourmeansde-stroying economic growth.BJP’s diabolical agendamustbe resisted and defeated tosave“India,thatisBharat”.”

COVID-19 EFFECTNEWAMENDMENTS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY7

BOEINGWONAneconomicreliefpackagetofighttheCOVID-19cri-siswillcomeanytimesoon,ChiefEconomic Adviser (CEA)KrishnamurthyV Subramaniansaid on Thursday and indicatedthatborrowingofaround$60bil-liontofundtherisingfiscaldeficit

can theoretically be through list-ing government bonds on theglobalbondindices.Inaninterviewto IndiaToday,

he said: “About $4 trillion ofmoneytracksthese(global)bondindices. India is expected toget aweight of around1.5-3per cent.Even if youtake1.5percent, thattranslatesinto$60billion.”“I recognise that thismoney

can’tcomeimmediatelybutmay

comelaterhalfoftheyearornextyear.But thatgivesus theoppor-tunitytostructuretheborrowingplanintermsofmaturityetctobeabletofinancethedeficitandalsodoit inawaythatthecostofbor-rowing doesn’t become verylarge,”headded.InMarch, theRBI announced

the opening up of key govern-ment securities to full foreign in-vestmentinabidtofindaplacein

global bond indices. The Centrehadbudgetedgrossmarket bor-rowing of Rs 7.8 lakh crore forFY21andhadrecentlyannouncedplantoborrow62.6percentof itinthefirsthalf itself.However, itsplanshavegonehaywiresdue tothe virus crisis. The economycould grow at 1.5-2 per cent inFY21,withacontractioninthefirsthalf. Thiswillbe followedbyaV-shapedrecovery,hesaid FE

Relaxation in labourlaws, exemptions tocos in various statesdraw trade union ire

‘Possible to raise $60 bn by listing govt bonds overseas’

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY7

THE SECURITIES and ExchangeBoardofIndia(Sebi)onThursdayaskedFranklinTempletonMutualFund(FT),whichcloseddownsixofitsdebtschemes,tofocusonre-turningmoney to investors “assoonaspossible”.Sebi’s advisory to FT follows

thecompany’sCEOJenniferJohn-son’sstatementshiftingtheblamefortherecentwindingdownofsixschemes—with a corpus of Rs28,000crore —ontothemarketsregulator’sOctober2019decisiontonot let funds investmore than10 per cent in unlisted instru-ments. “Despite the regulationsbeing clear, somemutual fundschemesseemtohavechosen tohavehighconcentrationsofhighrisk, unlisted, opaque, bespoke,structured debt securitieswith

low credit ratings and seem tohavechosennottorebalancetheirportfoliosevenduringthealmost12months available to themsofar,”Sebisaidinastatement.“In lightof crediteventssince

September2018 that led tochal-lengesinthecorporatebondmar-ket, aneedwas felt to reviewtheregulatoryframeworkformutualfundsandtakenecessarystepstosafeguardtheinterestofinvestorsandmaintaintheorderlinessandrobustnessoftheirinvestments,”Sebi said. The Indian Expresshadearlier reported that FT’s creditriskschemeshadinvestedinsev-eral lowlyrated instrumentsandlesserknowncompanies.In a circular datedOctober 1,

2019,Sebiprovideda timeline tocomplywiththeinvestmentlim-itsforunlistedNCDsas15percentand10percentofthedebtportfo-lioof theschemeasonMarch31,2020and June30, 2020, respec-

tively. These dateswere subse-quently extended to September30,2020andDecember31,2020,respectively,inviewofCOVID-re-lateddisruptions,Sebiclarified.Inaninvestorconferencecall,

Johnsonhad said thehigh-yieldmarket is still very immature inIndia. “Sowe’vehada large fund– it’s actually six funds thatwereinvestedwitha lotof thiskindofprivate debt. And inOctober of2019, unfortunately, Sebi cameoutwith newguidelines sayingthat any investments inunlistedinstruments,youcan’thavemorethan10percentinafund,andyoucan’t trade them. So that or-phaned about one-third of ourfundthere,”theFTCEOsaid.However,NSVenkatesh,Chief

Executive, AssociationofMutualFundsinIndia,saidthatmeasurestakenby the Sebi over the years,includingoneonOctober19,havedeepenedthedebtmarkets.

Sebi refutes Templeton CEO charge,asks MF to return investors’ money

PANPYLASLONDON,MAY7

THE BANK of England (BoE)warnedThursdaythattheBritisheconomycouldsuffer itsdeepestannual contraction inmore thanthree centuries as a result of thecoronavirus pandemic, beforeroaringbacknextyear.ThebanksaidtheBritishecon-

omywillbe30percentsmallerattheendofthefirsthalfoftheyearthan itwas at the start of it,withthesecondquarterseeinga25percentslumpalonefollowinga3percentdeclineinthefirst. AP

KARISHMAMEHROTRA&APURVAVISHWANATHNEWDELHI,MAY7

FACEBOOK’S NEW oversightboard—similar to an independ-ent, internal court—has chosenNational Law School of IndiaUniversity (NLSIU) Vice-ChancellorSudhirKrishnaswamyasoneof itsfirst20members.Prof Krishnaswamy, founder

of the advocacy organisationCentre for Law and PolicyResearch, told The IndianExpressthat thenewmodel could set anexampleforinternetregulationinIndiaandaroundtheworld.“For the problemof content

moderationontheinternet,eitherwetakethemarketoption(wheretheaudiencedecideswhichcom-

panytouse),orwehaveastateop-tion (where the state regulates).Neitherof thesework,”hesaid.Theboardisathirdalternative,

said the former Azim PremjiUniversity director and aColumbiaUniversityvisitingpro-

fessor. “In (press andbroadcast)mediaregulation,therehavebeenself-regulationoptions,butnonehasemergedasstrongly,”hesaid.Krishnaswamyhasbeencho-

sen among the former PrimeMinister of Denmark, a NobelLaureate,non-profitorganisationleaders, and journalists fromallover theworld. “Facebook as acompany is to be bound by theboard,”Krishnaswamysaid,whenaskedabout themostpromisingpolicies of the structure. “Butwedon’t have a direct relationshipwithFacebook.Wedoourjobandtheydotheirs.”Hesaidtheboardwillfocuson

“edge” cases that aremost “con-sequential”. He said importantcasesofpornographyandabusiveonline behavior would likelyreach theboard. Thepolicies for

the board have been outlinedsince 2018. If a user’s post getstakendownonFacebookorInsta-gram,thisoversightboardwillactas anappeals process. Theboardwillprimarilyjudgecontentmod-erationcases inconsistencywiththecompany’spolicies,aswellasformulatepolicysuggestions.At least for the beginning, it

willnotdealwithpoststhatuserswanttakendown.“The Oversight Board will

havepowertooverturndecisionswe’vemadeoncontentaslongasthey comply with local laws,”FacebookCEOMarkZuckerbergwroteinaMay7post.Whiletheprintandbroadcast

mediahaveattemptedself-regu-lationmodels,Krishnaswamysaidthis is anentirelydifferent struc-tureadaptedtotheInternetage.

■ Inaseriesof tweetsonThursday,FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamansaidPSBshaveproactivelyprovidedthree-monthloanmoratoriumfacility toover3.2croreaccountsafter theschemewasannouncedbytheRBI

■PSBsareattendingtothefundingneedsofMSMEs, sheadded

MORATORIUMTOOVER3.2CRA/Cs

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY7

GLAXOSMITHKLINEPLC(GSK)onThursday sold its 5.7 per centstake in FMCGmajorHindustanUnilever Ltd (HUL) forRs25,480crore.TheGSKsale,atanaveragepriceof Rs1,905per share, is thelargestsecondarymarkettradeonIndianstockexchanges.“GSK has, through its sub-

sidiariesGlaxoSmithKlinePteLtdandHorlicksLtd, todayagreedtothe sale of 133,772,044ordinaryshares in HUL at a volume-weightedaveragepriceofapprox-imatelyRs1,905pershare,raisinggrossproceedsof approximatelyRs25,480crore,”GSKsaid.Afterthetransaction,GSKwill

not hold any HUL shares. Thenamesofthebuyerswerenotim-mediatelyknown.Glaxoacquiredthestake inHULafter the formersold itsconsumernutritionbusi-ness, including brands likeHorlicksandBoost,toHUL.InDecember2018,Hindustan

Unilever approved a scheme ofamalgamationbetweenthecom-

pany and GlaxoSmithKlineConsumerHealthcare Ltd (GSKCHIndia).Thetransactionwasanallequitymergerwith4.39sharesof HUL being allotted for everyshareinGSKCHIndia.Thistrans-actionvaluedthetotalbusinessatRs31,700crore.“WhenGSKoriginally anno-

uncedthedivestmentofHorlicksinDecember2018, the companyexpectedgrossproceedsfromtheoveralltransactiontobeapproxi-mately3.1billionpoundsandnetproceedstobeapproximately2.4billionpoundafterhedgingcosts,taxes and other expenses hadbeen settled,”GSK said in anex-changefilinginLondon.“With the appreciation of

HUL’ssharepricesincethen,GSKnowexpectsgrossproceedsfromthe divestment to be 3.4 billionpoundsandnetproceedsfromthedivestment to be 2.9 billionpound,” it said. This includes theproceeds received on closing ofthe transaction onApril 1, 2020and theexpectedproceeds fromthe sale of our Bangladeshbusi-ness,which is expected to closelaterthisyear,GSKadded.

GSK offloads stake inHindustan Unileverfor over `25,000 cr

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY7

STATE BANK of India (SBI), thecountry’s largest lender, onThursday slashed its marginalcost of funds based lending rate(MCLR) by 15 bps across alltenors.Theone-yearMCLRhascome

down to 7.25per cent from7.40percent,witheffectfromMay10.This is the 12th consecutive re-duction in the bank’s MCLR.Consequently, EMIs on eligiblehome loan accounts (linked toMCLR) will get cheaper byaroundRs255fora30-yearloanofRs25lakh.Further, in viewof adequate

liquidity inthesystemaswellaswiththestate-runlender,SBIhascutitsinterestratesonretailtermdepositsby20basispoints(bps)for ‘up to 3 years’ tenorwith ef-fect fromMay12.Meanwhile, to safeguard the

interestsof seniorcitizens inthecurrent falling rate regime, thebankhasintroducedanewprod-uct ‘SBIWecareDeposit’ forsen-ior citizens in the retail termde-posit segment.In another development, ac-

cording toaPTI report quotinga

senior official, SBI on Thursdayincreaseditshomeloanratesthatarelinkedtoreporatebyupto30bps.Thestate-ownedlenderhasalso hiked interest rates on per-sonal loans against property by30bps,accordingtothereport.The new rates came into ef-

fect fromMay1, asper informa-tionavailableon itswebsite, thePTI reportstated. WITHPTI

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,MAY7

EXPANSIONOF coverage of theapplicability of PradhanMantriGaribKalyanYojana (PMGKY) tomoreworkers, addressing theshortage of workers for com-mencementofbusinesses,usageofunclaimedfundsforwagepay-ments and increase inworkinghoursbyfourhoursacrosssectorsare someof the key recommen-dationstobemadebytheindus-trytothegovernment.InameetingwithLabourand

EmploymentMinister SantoshKumarGangwar,whichwill be

heldwith employers on Friday,theConfederationofIndianIndu-stry (CII) is also going toproposemappingofmigrantworkers re-siding inshelterhomesor locallynear industrial belts for employ-mentinthenearestfactories.“All the stakeholders, includ-

ingbothcentralandstategovern-ments and tradeunions, need toworktogethertogettheworkersback to industry. State govern-ments and district administra-tionsneedtoworkcloselytofacil-itate themovement ofmigrantsand ensure accommodation,mealsandotherbasicamenities,”thelistofrecommendationspre-paredbyCIIstated.

CII offers suggestions to bringworkers back to industry

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY7

THEAUTO industry,which is al-readyreelingundertheburdenoflowdemandandhigh inventory,bothofwhichhave got accentu-atedwiththelockdown,isstaringat another big problem:How tomeet the regulatory changeswhichhavecomeintoeffectfromApril. Not getting any relief fromtheSupremeCourt, the industryonThursdaysoughttheinterven-tion of Road Transport andHighwaysMinisterNitinGadkari.Inavideoconferencewiththe

minister over the impact of

COVID-19ontheautomobilesec-tor, members of the Society ofIndian AutomobileManufact-urers(SIAM)Institutesoughtthatswitchover to certain safetynorms,whichhavekickedinfromApril,shouldbedeferredbyayear.Industrymembersalsourged

thatthesectorbegivenmoretimefor registrationof BS-IV vehiclessoldtillMarch31aslockdownhasdelayedmatters. PawanGoenka,MDandCEO,Mahindra&Mahin-dra, said that around20per centof theBS-IVvehicles soldwithintheMarch 31 deadline are stillstuckwiththeconcernedregionaltransport authorities (RTOs) forvariousreasons. FE

With no relief in sight, autoindustry petitions govt

THESTATE-OWNEDbankhasalsocut inter-est rateson its retailtermdepositsby20bpsfor ‘up to3years tenor’.Thecut indeposit ratesis aimedatmaintainingadequate liquidity in thelarger systemaswell asthebank.

Deposit ratescuttokeepadequateliquidity

BRIEFLYRatanTatainvestsinpharmastartupMumbai:RatanTatahas in-vestedanundisclosedamo-unt in a 17-year-old kid’spharma start-up GenericAadhaar, inhispersonalca-pacity. The startupsuppliesquality generic drugs fromreputedmanufacturers atupto80percent lessercostandothermedicines20-30percentcheaper.

Swiggyco-founderJaiminiquitsNewDelhi:SwiggyThursdaysaiditsco-founderandCTORahul Jaimini will moveawayfromactiveroleinthecompany topursueanotherentrepreneurial venture.JaiminiwillbejoiningPestoTech, a career acceleratorstart-up,astheirco-founder,Swiggysaid. PTI

‘Reopeningofredzonesvitalforeconomy’Mumbai:McKinsey Thurs-day said that findingmeth-odsofkeepingredzonedis-tricts,whichaccount for 41per cent of national eco-nomic activity, operationalandsafewouldbecriticalinkeepingtheeconomicactiv-itysustainable. ENS

GOLD`41,705

RUPEE`75.72*

OIL$26.15

SILVER`38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsshutdueto lockdowninmajorstates. IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

*ForexmarketclosedonThursdayonaccountofBuddhaPurnima; Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

‘PSBloansof`5.66Lcrwaitingfordisbursalsoonafter lockdown’

TheBritishcentralbanksaidthecountry’seconomywillbe30percentsmallerat theendof the firsthalf of theyearthanitwasat thestartof it AP file

A member of Facebook’s key oversight board,NLSIU V-C sees a new internet regulation model

NLSIUVice-ChancellorSudhirKrishnaswamy. Express

SBI slashes MCLR by15 bps across all tenors

‘Micro enterprises bestplaced to help economy’Micro enterprises are best placed to help the economycomeout of the COVID-19 crisis, Small IndustriesDevelopmentBankof India (Sidbi) and TransUnionCIBIL said in a report

Whataremicroenterprises?:Microenterpriseshavebeenclassifiedasthosewithborrowingsof lessthan`1crore

NPAsinvarioussegments,asofDecember2019:■ 11.3%:Verysmall segment(underRs10 lakhexposure)

■ 17.3%:Overall commerciallendingsegment

■ 18.7%:Mediumcorporatesegment

■ 19.1%:Largecorporatesegment

Liquidityandleveragepositions:ofactiveMSMEs(micro,smallandmediumenterprises)asofJanuary2020:

■63% instructurallystrongrisksegmenthavingaCIBILMSMERank(CMR)between1and5

■37% inweaker risksegmenthavingCMRbetween6and10

`92,000crore:Totalcreditsupport receivedbymicrosegment in2019frombanksandother lenders

Source: Sidbi&TransUnionCibil/PTI

‘UK economy to shrink by most since 1706’

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYKOLKATA,MAY7

THEUNITEDKingdomismullingamid-Junerestart of the Premier League after the sus-pensioncausedbythecoronaviruspandemicand cricket is also exploring a return to ac-tionwithout fans inattendance.The England andWales Cricket Board is

considering options to host home seriesagainst West Indies and Pakistan in July-August.AccordingtoareportinTheGuardian,England playerswould be asked to assem-ble at the Ageas Bowl on June 23 and theymighthave to stay away fromtheir familiesfornineweeksuntil theendof thethirdTestagainstPakistan,scheduledfromAugust20.ThefirstTestagainstWestIndiesmightcom-menceon July8.Asper thereport, theECBcouldhost the

sixTestsattwovenues–AgeasBowlandOldTrafford–andduringtheentireperiod,play-erswouldbesubjectedtodailytemperaturechecks, regular Covid swabs and other bio-securitymeasures.Also,anexpandedsquadcomprising30playerscouldbechosenwithaneye to rotation.ApartfromsixTests,sixODIsandasmany

T20Internationalsarealsoontheroster.Thelimited-overs itinerary includes three ODIsagainstIrelandattheendof JulyfollowedbythreeT20IsagainstPakistanaftertheTestse-ries and then three ODIs and three T20IsagainstAustralia inSeptember.In India however, the BCCI is willing to

wait. Given that the domestic season startsin August-September, the board still has afewmonths tomake a decision. It doesn’twanttoputitscricketersintoanyhealthrisk,regardlessof bio-securearrangements.“We aren’t considering anything (like

that),asofnow.Wewillwaitforthegovern-ment guidelines.Wewon’t put our playersin a health hazard.Wewould be very cau-tious,”BCCItreasurerArunDhumaltoldTheIndianExpress.There’s an overwhelming agreement in

the BCCI that evenwith all the precautionsand ‘bio-security’, playingcricket,while theCovid-19 curve is still steep, is fraughtwithrisk. Going back to England, The Times re-ported that a group of playerswere briefed

by theECBabout itsplansonTuesday. Theywere told tominimise physical contact in-cludinghandshakesonandoff thefield,alsoin the team bus, when cricket returns. Itneeds tobe seen if, like thePremier League,the ECBmakes any move to have privatecompaniesonboard toprovide testkits.Sports bodies in England have swung

into action after the UK government gavetheir ‘project restart’ a positive considera-tion.Also,asForeignSecretaryDominicRaabmentioned, return of sport would lift themoraleofabeleaguerednationthathassuf-fered the highest number of coronavirusdeaths (over 30,000) in Europe. “I think itwould lift spirits of the nation and peoplewould like to see us get back to work andchildrencangotoschoolsafelybutalsopas-timeslikesport,”Raabsaidduringagovern-mentpress conference.

Loss of revenue is a major reason whysports authorities are keen tohave a restartat the earliest. The Premier League stares ata£1billionblackholeif theseasonisvoided.Similarly, ECBchief executiveTomHarrisonhastoldMPsthatthisisthe“mostsignificantfinancialchallengewehaveeverfaced”,withpotential losses of £380million for a ‘zero’cricket season.

Australia’s single-venue planCricketAustralia(CA),meanwhile,hasal-

readystartedplanningaboutcricketinisola-tion for their homeTest series against Indiain December-January. CA chief executiveKevin Roberts has spoken about the possi-bility of hosting the series, which is worth$300million, at a single venue – AdelaideOval – and behind closed doors. “Whetheror not there are people at the venue or not;

we will explore all viable options.Fortunately, we have a little bit of time towork through the different scenarios withtheIndiaseries.Butwearenotrulingoutanypossibility for that at this point in time,”Robertshadsaidduringan interactionwiththemediaviavideoconference lastmonth.A 138-roompremiumboutique hotel at

Adelaide Oval, which is scheduled for aSeptemberopening,reportedlycouldoffertheIndian team a potential quarantine centre.Whether the BCCIwould agree to play Testcricketinsuchadeadpanatmosphereremainsaquestion.“To startwith, it depends onour govern-

ment’spolicies. To travelabroadandcomingback,youneedthegovernment’spermission.Then, office-bearerswill sit with the teammanagementandplayerstodiscusstheissue,”aBCCIfunctionarysaid.

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY,MAY8,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MAY 16 START FOR BUNDESLIGAThe Bundesliga season will restart on May 16, theGerman Football League (DFL) said on Thursday. TheDFL said the season would restart minus fans, with sixgames on Saturday, including the high-profile Ruhr valleyderby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04.

Vol. LXIVNo.108Printed 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

CROSSWORD4112

ACROSS1 Fatherhasahand ingetting

fruit (5)4 Findthesolution is to

organise intogroups (4,3)8 Disturbancecutshort in

Brazilianport (3)9 Combinationofwindand

frostcauseapile-up inwinter (9)

10 Arequirement is inside thisflavouring(7)

11 Musical journal? (5)13 Waternymphs inasad

muddle (6)15 Athleticpursuits turn into

instrumentsof sharppractice (6)

18 Thekeynoteofmedicine (5)19 Anumber in favourof good

taste? (7)21 Keep inmindwhat thehost

willdo (9)23 Coolingagentused inatomic

energy(3)24 Poweredgalleyvessel? (7)25 Studentsmaydecline to

learn it (5)

Down1 Belongtopainter,perhaps

(7)2 Making itmaybe foresight

or forsight (9)3 Wesatout in thedesert

(5)4 Throwoutunevenand

inferiormaterial (6)5 Newcadetoroldsoldier

(7)6 Sashthat’s somewhat toobig

(3)7 Incolour it isoneof the

greats (5)12 Expertontherocks? (9)14 Crudemodusoperandi

executedwithpropriety(7)

16 Desire inone’schild tobecomeadoctor (7)

17 Businessconcern(6)18 Hairusedtostuffmattresses

(5)20 Cancelanarticle fromayear

book(5)22 Sartorialobligation,perhaps

(3)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)If anything,you’llbemore inclinedto takearisk todaythanearlier in theweek. It

is impossible tosay, though,whetheryourgamblewillbefinancialoremotional. If it’s achildoryounger relativewhoisbreakingout, theydeserve trustandwordsofwiseadvice,rather thanrestraint.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Fromapurelypersonalpointofview,yourchartspeaksof theneedto

putcreativeself-fulfilment first.However,other indicationssuggest thatpartners’demandsorchildren’sneedswilloverwhelmyou.Perhapsyouneedsomehelp.You’dbetteraskquickly.

GEMINI (May22- June21)It is sometimesdifficult forastrologers tosquareyourseriousattitude

toworkwithyour light-heartedreputation.Theproblemyou’llface today is that thepastmustbeaddressedbefore the futurecanbeplanned,andthatcanbeapainfulprocess. Ihaveeveryconfidence inyou, though.

CANCER(June22- July23)TheMooniscruisingthrougharegionofyourchart rulingself-indulgence, so

youreallyshould takea littletimeoff topamperyourself.only responsibilitiesyoucan’tdodgeanymoremaycomeinthe formof children,youngpeopleandotherswithvastly lessexperiencethanyou.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Domesticaffairsshould takeprioritytoday.This isnotaforecast,butadvice

whichyouare free to ignore.Myprediction is, though, that ifyoutakenonoticeof thiswarningthenyoucouldrun intoaspotofneedlessbother tomorrow.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Seriousdiscussionswilldoubtlessperformavital roleinhelpingyou

resolve the irritationsof thepastmonthand inenablingyoutoseeyourwayforwardtoamorehassle-free future.Thetrouble is that someone justseemstotreateverythingasajokingmatter.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Theentiresituationis lookingdecidedlycomplicated,probablybecause

you’re tornbetweenkeepingyourself toyourself ontheonehand,and lettingeveryoneelseinontheactontheother.You’ve justgot toworkoutwhat’s importantandwhat’snot.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)The fact that theMoonisnowalignedwithyoursignshouldputyou ina

commandingposition.Theonlycomplicatedplanetaryaspectsoccuraroundtheearlymorningwhentheremaybea fleetingdoubtaboutaparticularplan.Thataside, theworldisyours.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Themainvariationinyoursolarchart isprovidedbythemovementof the

Moon’semotionalmovements,raisinghiddenhopes fromyourunconscious.This isall verypositive, for if suchworriesarebrought into theopenyoucandosomethingabout them.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Thereare timeswhenyoucanfindyourself paying forfriends.Social

extravagancedoesstill seemtobeverymuchavital factor. Inthe finalanalysis, theendresultdependsonhowhappyyouare tobesubsidisingotherpeople,perhapsmorethanwhetheryoucanactuallyaffordtodoso.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Emotionalopposition fromotherpeople,mainlyclosepartners,does

still seemtobeanuisance,butdoesn’thavetobeso.Yourbestchance isprobably tomakeatactical retreat, sure in theknowledgethatotherswillsoonburnthemselvesout,leavingyoutocleanup.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Therearemanylevelsof reality, asyouwellknow. If youloveanarchy,you’ll

probablybequitehappy,but ifyou’dratherhaveanorderedlifeyoumayhaveanuphillstruggle. Forget ’real-life’ andlookto thosemysticalPisceanrealmsfor theanswer.

SUDOKU4203

DifficultyLevel4sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4202

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Youwillnotfind___anywhereunlessyoubringsomeofitwithyou.-JosephJoubert(6)

SOLUTION:PURGE,LOFTY,SEAWAY,MADCAPAnswer:Youwillnotfindpoetryanywhereunlessyoubringsomeofitwithyou.-JosephJoubert

GPUER AAESWY

FLYOT AACDMP

SolutionsCrossword4111:Across:1Distressed,8Astir,9Granite,10Burying,11Attic,12Semite,14Flagon,17Again,19Vanilla,21Opinion,22Piece,23Ill-feeling.Down:2Interim,3Tarsi,4Engage,5Seawall,6Drift,7Percentage,8Ambassador,13Tenniel,15Galleon,16Avenge,18Alibi,20Nepal.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Cricket in bio-secure bubble14ECBmulls6Testsat2venues,playersawayfromfamilies for9weeks;BCCItowait forpandemictorecede

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYKOLKATA,MAY7

A BCCI teleconference onWednesday dis-cussedthepossibleschedulingofIPLandalsogaveathoughttoIndia’sdomesticandinter-national seasons.It islearntthattheoffice-bearersalsodis-

cussedthepossiblepostponementoftheT20World Cup in Australia, scheduled forOctober-November.While the office-bearers agreed that

therewasverylittlechanceofanycrickettak-ingplaceinIndiauntil laterthisyear,thetalkof theICCeventgettingpushedbackat leastgave the BCCI a window to slot the IPL.However,withIndia'sCovid-19curvegettingsteeper and a heavy cloud of uncertaintyhovering over the game's commencement,the Indian boardmerely saw this as a glim-merof hope for this season’s IPL.Meanwhile, inAustraliadespitethepan-

demic’snumbersshrinking,seriousquestionmarks remained over the country hostingtheT20WorldCupasper schedule.Australia has closed its borders for six

months and even Cricket Australia (CA),jointlywith the ICC, has been exploring al-ternateoptions.It is learnt that themajority of the ICC

members are in agreement that a globaleventliketheT20WorldCupcan’tbestagedbehindcloseddoors.“Aoneor two-match (T20series)before

empty standsmay happen. But a big eventlikeWorldCup, Idon’t think itwillhappen,”aBCCI functionary toldThe IndianExpress.“If there’sapossibilitytoorganisetheIPL

(inautumn),wewillgo for it, butat themo-mentwearenot inaposition to takea call,”headded.Oneofhiscolleaguessoundedmorecau-

tiousabout the future.“See, at the moment we aren’t sure

aboutanything.Onethingweareverysure,wecan’t takeanychances (about thesafetyofplayers,officialsandspectators).Wewillsee what they (CA and ICC) decide aboutthe T20 World Cup and will act accord-ingly,” he said, making it amply clear thattheBCCIwill start thinkingabout its futurecourseof actiononlyafter thegovernmentgreen light.If eventually the T20World Cup is post-

poned and the BCCI gets an opportunity toorganise the IPL inOctober-November, par-ticipationofoverseasplayersmightnotbeaproblem.“Cricket boards that are issuingNOCs to

theirplayers for the IPLget10per centeachbasedonthetotalcontractvalueof theplay-ersfromtherespectiveboards.Giventhecur-rent(economic)situation,everybodywouldlike to maintain a good rapport with theBCCI,” saidasource.India swapping theT20WorldCupwith

Australiaandhostingitthisyear, isruledout,it is learnt.

If T20 World Cup is off,IPL may find a window

E●EXPLAINED

In case the2020 IndianPremierLeague gets cancelleddue to theCOVID-19outbreak, should Star getan additional year added to theirbroadcasting contractwithBCCI?Some legal experts have said thatStar’s 2017-2022deal should getextended to2023 in case of theeventuality, arguing that the con-tract is valid for ‘five seasons’.However, BCCI so far hints thatStar’s right to broadcast IPL ends in2022as thedeal is for ‘five years’.This conflicting interpretationofthe termsof agreementmight re-sult in Star invoking the “breachofcontract” clause.Meanwhile, adelayed,oreven

shortened, IPLmightavert thispo-tential face-off. Star, atpresent, isheavily invested incricketas ithaspledgedclose toRs30,000crore inmedia rights.Besidesbeing therightsholders for Indiancricketathomeand IPL, theyhave ICC’sglobalbroadcasting rights.

BCCIvsStar:5yearsor5seasons?

SECURESTADIUMS:Asthewordimplies,it’s playing in conditions that are entirelyinfection-free, where all those involved,fromplayersandsupportstaff toofficials,are tested for Covid-19 in advance andthen kept in a “bio-secure” environment,sealed off from the outside world. Onlypeoplewhowere virus-free or have im-munityareallowedintothebubble.Mostfootball leagues in Europe and the ECBhavebeenbusy identifyingstadiumsthatcanbeconvertedintoabio-securebubble,self-sustainable venueswith onsite hoteland training facilities in those areas thathavea relatively reduced incidence rate.

ECB’SOUTLINE:TheECBbelievesthattwoof their venues, Old Trafford and AgeasBowlcould fulfil thecriteriaof bio-securevenues. The two grounds have their on-sitehotels, theBowlhasawell-beingcen-tretoo,spaciousenoughtoaccommodateboth teams, their entourage of supportstaff, match officials and broadcast crew.

TheBowl'shealthcentrecouldbeusedtoprovideplayers,backroomstaff,adminis-tratorsandmediawithskinpricktestsontheirway into theground.

MEASURES IN PLACE: Apart from thestandard practices of social distancing,England’sTestcricketershavebeentoldtoexpect daily temperature checks, regularswabs,weekly COVID-19 tests andpossi-bly nineweeks away from their families.After initial testing, theywouldspendthefirstweek training in small groupsbeforean inter-squad match that serves as awarm-up for the first Test againstWestIndies. Thematcheswill beplayedon thepracticewickets of the Bowl or onneigh-bouring club grounds. Also, the groundandhotelstaffwilloperateinsmallgroupswith another set on the standby. If one ofthestaffgetsinfected,theentireteamwillbe put under quarantine while the newgrouptakesover.

CHALLENGES:A possible hurdle for ECBistesting,asthecountryisstrugglingtogettestsforevenfrontlineNHSstaff.Sotocon-ducttestsonanestimated200-300peopleeveryweekcouldbequitedaunting.ENS

Daily temperature checks, onsite hotelsIn sport’s resumption bid to avert a financialmeltdown, bio-secure stadiumswill be the imminent future.Like the ECB, which is deliberating on getting the season underway, with Tests againstWindies and Pakistan.

If theECBplangoes through,playerslikeEnglandcaptain JoeRootwillbesealedoff fromtheoutsideworld,includingfamilyandfans forweeks.

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