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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

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DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

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MUSTSTRICTLYRESPECTANDOBSERVELAC: INDIA

Diplomats build onmilitary talks: Both need toimplement plan on disengagement of troops

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LOCKDOWNDAY

92

CONCERNDELHI:With testingup, cases to rise too.4,000 on Tuesday— single-daymaxfor any state

CAUTIONPUNJAB: Statewitnessing a

resurgence. Morethan 1,000 cases

last week

A GLIMMERUP: Slight

slowdown in lastone week, but stillgrowing faster thannational average

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Telangana■Delhi■TamilNadu■Haryana■WestBengal

TOTALCASES1,39,0109,55366,60264,60311,52014,728

DOUBLINGRATE**

24.448.5012.2716.6314.8623.36

SURGEIN24HRS3,2148793,9472,516495370

7-DAYAVG.GROWTH*

2.95%8.47%5.87%4.33%4.85%3.08%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:4,56,183

RECOVERED:2,58,684 |DEATHS: 14,476TESTS:73,52,911 |DOUBLINGRATE: 19.53**

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

BasedondailydatabyCentre, ICMR, stategovernments

Now past Mumbai too atCovid top, Delhi to surveyall houses, ramp up testing

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, JUNE24

WITH3,788newCovid-19casesbeingreportedonTuesday,Delhihas overtakenMumbai as thecitywith thehighest case count— 70,390 cases so far. The totalcasecountinMumbai,whichre-ported1,118newcasesinthelast24hours, is69,528.While Delhi has done 4.2

lakhtestssofar(about22,142permillion),Mumbai2.94lakhtests(22,668 permillion). Mumbai’spositivity rate (23.2%) remainshigher thanDelhi (16.7%);Delhialso has fewer deaths (2,365)thanMumbai (3,964).Withthenumberofcasesstill

rising, theDelhigovernmenthasprepared an ambitious plan—house-to-housescreeningincon-tainment zones by June 30, andintherestof thecitybyJuly6.The revised Covid response

plan,whichplacesemphasisonactive surveillance followed byrigoroustesting,wasformulatedafter a high-level panel, led byNITIAayogmemberDrVKPaul,suggested a series of measuresto tackle thevirus spread.In ameeting with the chief

secretary, district magistrateswere asked to form teams by

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JUNE24

INDIANANDChinesediplomatsagreedWednesdayto“sincerelyimplement the understandingondisengagementandde-esca-lation” along the Line of ActualControl in Ladakh where bothsides have massed troops in afaceoff sinceMay.AtthemeetingoftheWorking

Mechanism for Consultation &Coordination on India-ChinaBorderAffairs(WMCC),heldtwodaysafterCorpsCommandersofthe two armies reached a “mu-tual consensus to disengage”troops,theIndianside“conveyedits concerns” on the develop-mentsineasternLadakh,includ-ing the June 15 showdown inGalwanValleyinwhich20IndianArmypersonnelwerekilled.The Ministry of External

Affairs said it was emphasisedthat both sides should “strictlyrespectandobserve” theLineofActualControl.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

BorderAffairsgroupmeetsasChineseDefenceMinistryassertsGalwanclaim

Satellite catches Chinesestructures back at GalwanKRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, JUNE24

AS INDIA andChina hold diplo-matic andmilitary talks to dis-engage troops along the Line ofActualControlineasternLadakh,new satellite images show thatthe Chinese have built a defen-sive position at the GalwanValleysiteof the June15clashesinwhich20IndianArmyperson-

nelwerekilled.Top sources in the Army

confirmedthat “the tentwhichwas removed on June 15 hasbeen reported back by ourground troops at PP-14(Patrolling Point 14)”. Reachedfor comment, theArmydidnotconfirm or deny the existenceof Chinese structures visible inthe satellite images.The images fromMaxar, a

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

KAUNAINSHERIFFM&DEEPMUKHERJEENEWDELHI, JAIPUR, JUNE24

ADAYAFTERRamdev launchedanayurvedic ‘CoronaKit’ claim-ing it cured Covid-19, seriousquestions have emerged overthe business practices ofPatanjaliAyurvedLtd,theFMCGcompanythatmarketsPatanjalibrand products and DivyaPharmacy, the unit producingthemedicines.OnWednesday, a day after

theMinistry of Ayush orderedPatanjali to stop publicisingclaims of Covid-19 cure, theUttarakhandgovernmentsaiditslicencingauthoritydidnotgrantany approval to the Corona Kit,and the Rajasthan governmenttoldTheIndianExpressithadnoknowledge of clinical trials atNational Institute of MedicalSciencesandResearch(NIMS), aprivate hospital in JaipurwhereCovid-19patientsareadmitted.Most significantly, when

mildly symptomatic patientsCONTINUEDONPAGE2

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

Ramdev Ayurvedic ‘corona kit’: no govtnod, trials that used allopathic drugs

“GALWANWASNEVERDISPUTED..CHINABETRAYED...”AKANTONYSENIORCONGGRESSLEADER&FORMERDEFENCEMINISTER

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

P5

PRABHARAGHAVAN&PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI, JUNE24

THE DEPARTMENT forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT)Wednesday directed e-com-mercefirmstoworkoutamech-anism that will enable cus-tomerstoidentifythecountryoforigin forall productsdisplayedon their platforms, The IndianExpresshas learnt.The directionwas conveyed

duringameetingwithrepresen-tatives of 20 firms, includingAmazon, Flipkart, Paytm andPepperfry, followingwhich theplatformssoughtaround10daystoworkouta system,according

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

E-comm firmstold: Let buyersknow country oforigin of goods

THEmovecouldposecomplications incaseofproductswith inputsfromseveral countries.Also, e-commerce firmsdonotownthe inventorysoldontheirplatforms,andwouldneedtoworkout theway forwardwitha largenumberof sellers.

AbigchallengeE●EX

PLAINED

SUSHANTSINGHNEWDELHI, JUNE24

ASINDIAandChinagrapplewithrising tensions in the GalwanValley,HotSpringsandPangongTsoontheLineofActualControl(LAC), the Chinese army hascrossed the border in anotherstrategic area to the north, theDepsangplains.Thisintrusionisseen as another attempt by theChinese to shift the LAC furtherweston thedisputedboundary.Around 30 km south-east

from the important airstrip ofDaulat Beg Oldie (DBO), theChinese army has moved anddeployedinlargenumbersuptoa place called Y-junction orBottleneck on the Depsangplains. Sources said theChinesedeployments include troops,heavy vehicles, specialist mili-taryequipment.Bottleneck,whichderivesits

namefromarockyoutcrop thatprevents vehicular movementacrosstheDepsangplains, istheplace atwhich the Chinese hadpitched tents after an ingress inApril 2013. The standoff be-tweenthesoldiersonbothsideshadthenlastedthreeweeksandthestatusquoantewasrestoredafterdiplomatic talks.Bottleneckisaround18kmon

the Indian side of the LAC, eventhoughtheChineseclaimlinelies

another five kilometres furtherwest. This location is sevenkilo-metres to the north-east ofBurtse,aLadakhitownwhichfallson the 255-kmDarbuk-Shyok-Daulat BegOldie (DSDBO) roadandhasanIndianArmypost.Whencontacted, theArmy’s

media wing declined to com-ment on thematter,with anof-ficer telling The Indian Expressthat “the report can neither beconfirmednordenied”.Bottleneck is known as Y-

junctionbecausethetrackcom-ing from Burtse forks into twotracks, one going northwardalongtheRakiNalatoPatrollingPoint-10 (PP-10) and the other

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Closer to strategicDBO, China opens anew front at Depsang

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

JUSTICEINTHETIMESOFPANDEMICBY COOMIKAPOORPAGE12

Darbuk

ShyokGalwan

DDeeppssaannggPPllaaiinnss

Leh

Srinagar

CHIN

A

PAKIS

TAN

Ladakh

J&K

DaulatBegOldie

THEWORLD

PAKFAILSTERRORTEST,SETTOSTAYINFATFGREYLISTPAGE16

FULL COVERAGEPAGE4

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DecodingCongress’targetingofPMModi,Covid testingtoriseNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

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Satellitespace technology company, arefromJune22andshowthat theChinese have built a defensiveposition “astride” the LAC nearPP-14. The position has beenbuilt between June 16 and June22because Planet Labs satelliteimages of the location on June16,adayaftertheclashes,donotshowanysuch infrastructure.On June 20, the Prime

Minister’sOffice, inastatement,had said that “as regards trans-gression of LAC, it was clearlystated that the violence inGalwan on 15 June arose be-causeChinese sidewas seekingtoerectstructuresjustacrosstheLAC and refused to desist fromsuchactions”.After analysing the new

satelliteimages,LtGeneral(retd)AL Chavan, who also served asDivisionCommanderof the3rdInfantryDivision,responsibleforeastern Ladakh, told The IndianExpress “it appears to be aproperdefensivepositionwhichhas been developed by theChinese”.Hesaiditappearsthat“the hillside, which is to thesouthernside,hasalsogotsomedefensivepositions”“Between June 15 and June

22, it is clear that the Chinesehave developed that position,”hesaid.Chavan said “about 20-30

soldiers can occupy the posi-tion” which appears to be anequilateral triangle “with ap-proximately 65 metresfrontage”.Hesaidhewasnotsureif the

positionwasbuiltonthe Indianor the Chinese side of LAC “be-causewithout an accurate sur-vey and enlargedmaps, ascer-taining the exact alignment ofthe LAC as claimed by the twosides isnotpossible”.But “definitely one thing is

clearthatitappearstobeastridetheLAC,”hesaid.“If it isonoursideof theLAC,

it changes the status quo, be-causedefenceshavebeendevel-oped,”hesaid.But even if it is not, Chavan

said, “as per the agreements,which we have in force since1996, they are not supposed tobe developing these defenceswhere there is a difference inperception.Suchaconstructionclearlyviolatestheagreements”.He said PP-14 should be

around the junction of theGalwanNalaandtheNalacom-ing from thenorth and that “allthe patrolling points have beenso developed that our percep-tion of the LAC lies ahead ofthat”.AformerArmyCommander,

who has also served in the re-gion, said the structures appeartobe“stonewallswithsheetsontop for protection against theweather,” which can be used“just tohouse troops”.In the meetings between

Corps Commanders of theIndian and Chinese armies onJune 6 and June 22, it was de-cided that as part of stage-wisedisengagement, a de facto‘buffer zone’ will separate thetroops—the clashes on June 15had taken place over vacatingthisbuffer zone.

Depsangsouth-eastward towards PP-13.ThesetwotracksarefollowedbyIndian patrols on foot up to PP-10,PP-11,PP-11A,PP-12andPP-13.Thosedealingwith the situ-

ation contend that if China isabletolinkupfromPP-10toPP-13viaBottleneck, itcouldeasilyshift theLACfurtherwestof thepresentIndianLimitofPatrolling(LoP).ThiswoulddenyIndiaac-cess to a significant part of theLACclosetotheDBOairfieldandbring the Chinese closer to thestrategicDSDBOroad.All the patrolling points in

this area–PP-10, PP-11, PP-11A,PP-12andPP-13–fallontheLoP,which ismarked a few kilome-

tres to the west of the LAC onIndian maps. This 20-kmfrontage is the only portion onthe border where the LoP fallsshort of LAC. It has been doneduetohistoricalreasons,andtheLoP has been approved by theChinaStudyGroup.After the 2013 standoff was

resolved, India had created anew patrol base at Bottleneck,withakindofpermanentpatroldeployed there, to observe andstop any Chinese patrols frommoving any further. But aChinesepatrolhadstillmanagedtogetthroughtoaplacearound1.5 km short of Burtse inSeptember2015.As reported earlier, there

have been a large number oftransgressions by Chinese pa-trolsintheareawhichhavebeenrecorded by the Indian side.Therewere 157 transgressionsin2019, up from83 in2018and75 in2017.

Patanjali trialsdeveloped fever during the tri-als, theywere administered al-lopathicmedicines. As it is, thetrials were conducted only onasymptomatic and mildlysymptomaticpatients.Severelysymptomaticpatientsandthosewith acute respiratory distresssyndromewereexcludedforen-rolment.Moreover, the study based

on these trials at NIMS, are notpeer-reviewed, admitted DrGanpat Devpura, PrincipalInvestigator,NIMS, Jaipur.When contacted, Devpura

toldThe IndianExpress, “This isjust an interim report with asamplesizeof100Covid-19pa-tients. The final report and thefindingswill be published after15-25 days and then it will besent forpeer review.”When questioned if allo-

pathicmedicineswere admin-istered tomildly symptomaticpatients during the trial whenthey developed symptoms,Devpura said, “Yes, if patientshad developed symptoms likefever, symptomatic treatmentwasgiven.”Elaborating on the interim

findings of the trial, Devpurasaid, “It is a double-blind ran-domised trial. 50 patientswereon placebo and the remaining50 were on active drugs (theAyurvedic therapy).Wedid theRTPCRtestonDay1,Day3, andDay7.OnDay3, 69per cent ac-tive patients testednegative; inthe placebo group, only 50 percentwere testednegative.”“On Day 7, in the active

group,alltheremainingpatients

tested negative; in the placebogroup, 65 per cent were nega-tive, and remaining 35 per centcontinued to test positive forCovid-19,” Devpura said. In theactive group, patients receivedSwasari Ras (500 mg), pureAshwagandhaextract(500mg),pure Giloy extract (500 mg),pureTulsi extract (500mg)andAnutailanasaldrops.In Covid treatment, doctors

continuouslymeasure inflam-matorymarkers tomonitor theseverityof the infection.Aspartof assessing “secondary out-comes”,thisstudytooexaminedan important inflammationmarker – Interleukin 6 (IL-6), acytokine,whichshowsexcessiveresponseontheimmunesystemin severe patients. Devpura ad-mittedthatthereductioninIL-6was“notstatisticallysignificant”inactivepatientsduringthetrial.Balkrishna, Managing

Director, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd,however, claimed the contro-versy was “finally” resolved.AttachinganotebytheMinistryof Ayushwhich acknowledgedthe receipt of documents of theclinical trial including site of aclinical study andmedical re-search, Institutional EthicsCommittee clearance, registra-tiondetailsofCTRI,studyproto-col, sample size and study re-sults data, he said, “Theresolution of AYUSH contro-versy finally.”“Ministrywillhavethestudy

documents verified for valida-tion of the data of the researchoutcome,” the Drug PolicySection,MinistryofAyushsaid.However, the Uttarakhand

government’s notice to DivyaPharmacy and the Rajasthangovernment’s denial that anyapprovalwas accorded for con-ducting the clinical trials, raiseserious questions aboutPatanjali Ayurved’s businesspractices.InalettertoDivyaPharmacy,

theUttarakhandDrugLicensingAuthority categorically statedthatnopermissionwasgrantedto the firm tomanufacture the“coronakit”. Itsaidapprovalwasgiven to swasari for treatingcough and breathlessness, andto the coronil tablet as an “im-munitybooster,speciallyagainstrespiratorytractinfectionandallfevers”.Pointing out that the firm

had displayed an image ofCoronavirusonthetablet,theli-cencing authority said thiswasin violation of relevant sectionsunder the provisions of Drugsand Magic Remedies(ObjectionableAdvertisements)

Act,1954,andaskedwhyactionshouldnotbetakentocancelthelicenceformanufacturingthesemedicines.InJaipur,RohitKumarSingh,

Additional Chief Secretary(Health), told The IndianExpress, that the governmentdid not have any knowledgeaboutthesetrialsanddidnotre-ceiveany request for authorisa-tion. “As per due process, thestate government is informedbefore sucha trial, andwe refertherequesttothestate'sclinicaltrialcommitteeandethicscom-mittee.Aftergettingpermissionfromthesecommittees,wefor-ward the request to the DrugController General of India(DCGI)andtheIndianCouncilofMedical Research (ICMR) whogive the final approval,”hesaid.“NIMS had only asympto-

matic patients. It can't be saidthat this particular medicinetreated them successfullywithin a few days,” said DrNarottamSharma,ChiefMedicalHealth Officer, RajasthanUniversityofHealthSciences.Rajasthan Health Minister

Raghu Sharma said the clinicaltrial processwas donewithoutfollowing the due process andwithout informing the govern-ment.“Thereareclearguidelinesfor clinical trials whichweren'tfollowed. During a pandemicthreatening theworld, this sortofactionisabsolutelyunaccept-able.Weweren't informed be-fore these clinical trials tookplace despite the fact that pa-tients admittedatNIMSarebe-ingmonitoredby the state gov-ernment. I have instructedofficials to take action if any at-temptismadetosellthisdrugasapotentialmedicineofCovid-19inRajasthan,”hesaid.

(WITHINPUTSFROMLALMANIVERMA,

LUCKNOW)

Delhi surveyFriday, which must have ahealthcare worker to assess aperson’smedical condition.“Now, all households in the

city will be surveyed by fieldworkers. Till now,wewere car-rying out surveillance in con-tainmentzonesandareaswherepositivity ratewas high. Underthe revised plan, anyone foundwith symptomswill be tested,”saidaseniordistrictofficial.A task forcecomprisingrep-

resentatives of Delhi Police,MCD, district surveillance offi-cials,ITprofessionalsforAarogyaSetu, members frommedicalcolleges and the department ofeducation and youth has to be

set up by each district surveil-lance unit. The revised strategyalso suggests redefining con-tainmentzones,whichcurrentlystandat266.“A 100% household survey

has to be carried out by July 6and all districts have been toldto ramp up work accordingly.Theteamhastovisiteachhomeand note down the health pro-file of residents. Data has to beuploadedonaportalandif any-oneisfoundtobesymptomatic,he or she needs to be testedthrough antigen testing,” saidanotherdistrictofficial.The city has been following

two strategies for testing -- RT-PCR, considered the gold stan-dard for testing, and rapid anti-gen testing, which is faster. Athird strategy, of antibody test-ing, issoongoingtobefollowedthrough ‘sero-surveillance’ of20,000people.Tophealth department offi-

cials,alongwithateamofNCDC,are preparing a roadmap forDelhi to carry out sero-surveil-lance in all 11 districts. This in-volvescollectingbloodsamplestodetermineifapersonisorwasinfectedwithcoronavirus.Sources said a certain share

of thepopulationfromeachdis-trictwillberandomlytested. “Itwill be amix of all age groups,even those below 18. This willhelp identify the spread of thevirusandthenumberof peoplewho have developed immu-nity,”saidaseniorhealthofficial.NCDCwill provide training

to district officials on Thursdayonhowtoidentifyareasforsero-surveillance.

E-comm firmstoseniorofficialsandexecutives.Another meeting with the

firms is expected to take placesoon, possiblywithinaweekor10 days, to take stock of themeasures, executives close tothedevelopmentsaid.Experts say such a require-

mentdoesnothaveaprecedent,may not be easy to roll out andmay requiremore brainstorm-ing,especiallyforproducts,suchas cellphones and laptops, thatmay have inputs from severalcountries.The development comes

againstthebackdropof thebor-der face-off with China and thecentralgovernmentpushingforself-reliance through itsAtmanirbhar Bharat campaign.It also follows the CommerceMinistry’s announcementTuesdaythat sellersonthegov-ernment’se-marketplace(GeMPortal)will have to disclose the

countryof origin forproducts.Wednesday's meeting also

involvedfirmslike1mg,Myntra,JioMart, Bigbasket andShopclues, said sources. “It willbe difficult to get it rollingwiththe urgency that the govern-ment seemed to be pushing itwith because there are thou-sands of products on our plat-form,” said an e-commerce ex-ecutive.Another executive said the

responsibilityofprovidingaccu-rate informationwas with thesellersandnotthemarketplace,which can only educate themaboutcomplyingwiththelawofthe land.“Thiswasthefirstmeetingto

understandwhat exactly they(e-commerce firms) would re-quire. This is very preliminary,because this is the first timewehave taken this up with themand they needed some time toassess,” said a senior govern-mentofficial.“Moremeetingswillbeheld

withtheplatforms,butnodateshave been fixed. Normally, themost important aspect of anyfree market is the customer’schoice when decidingwhat tobuy.Here,informationbecomesacrucialaspect,”saidtheofficial.TheDPIIThadcalledtheplat-

formssincetheyneededtoworkout themodalities throughdis-cussions with sellers, said an-otherseniorofficial.“Thereisnoprohibitionorrestriction.Thisisbasically to help the customerknowwhether they are buyinga productmade in India, if theywantto,andthefocusof thedis-cussion was on how it can bedone,” said theofficial.According to e-commerce

executives, the proposal hadbeendiscussed in earliermeet-ings but the government“seemed insistent” on having itdone this time.Variousonlineretailershave

alreadyrepresentedtotheDPIITthattheywouldneedtimetofi-nalisetechnicalmodalities.Andsomeexpertsanticipatethattheimplementation may be“tricky”.“Itwill be tricky to calculate

the value added of a productsoldonsuchamedium.Nopro-tocolshavebeendevelopedyetfor this in the e-commercespace in any country so far, soI’m not sure how it will bedone,” said Rajat Kathuria,Director and Chief Executive,Indian Council for Research onInternational EconomicRelations (ICRIER).“Even in existing free trade

agreements, the rules of originare agreed upon over manyyearsof toughandextensivene-gotiations.Eventhen, it’sbeenacontroversial issue,”hesaid.“Nowadays, one product is

usually produced through thevalue addition of multiple dif-ferent countries. Even thoseproducts assembled in Indiahave components from severalcountries,sohowthecountryoforigin will be worked out willhave to be seen,” said BiswajitDhar, professor at JNU’s Centrefor Economic Studies andPlanning. “Perhaps, an addi-tional labelling requirementwould have to be imposed inthis situation.”The DPIIT’s meeting comes

nearly 10 days after theConfederation of All IndianTraders (CAIT) approachedCommerce Minister PiyushGoyal to make the origin tagmandatory for private e-com-merce firms.Thedecisionwouldbe “cru-

cial” in CAIT’s “Boycott ChineseGoods” campaign, said thegroup’s secretary general,PraveenKhandelwal.Around70percentofgoodssoldonvariouse-commerce portals areChinese, according to him.“Whenthegovernmentcanim-plementthedecisiononitsGeMportal, why can't the e-com-merce companies do it?” saidKhandelwal.

FROMPAGEONE

Diplomats build on military talks: Needto implement plan on disengagementThe Chinese statement

mentioned the exchange of“candid and in-depth” viewson the border situation andhow both sides said theywill“earnestly implement the im-portantconsensus”reachedbythe ForeignMinisters duringtheir June17phoneconversa-tion, and “actively accommo-date with the two militaryforces to implement the out-come reached” at the June 6and June22military talks.The Chinese Defence

Ministry,however,struckajar-ring note, echoing Beijing’sclaim to the Galwan Valley.“China has sovereignty overthe Galwan Valley region andtheChinesebordertroopshavebeenpatrollingandonduty inthis region formany years,” itsaid. This is the first time thattheChinesearmedforceshavestaked claim to an area that iswellwithin Indian territory.Naveen Srivastava, Joint

Secretary (East Asia) in theMinistry of External Affairs,

and Hong Liang, DirectorGeneral in Department ofBoundaryandOceanicAffairs,Chinese Ministry of ForeignAffairs, ledtheirdelegationsatthemeetingof theWMCC.Thetwodiplomats,assisted

byofficials, held talks for two-and-half hours via videocon-ference. It was their first en-gagement since the talksMonday between XIV CorpsCommander Lt GeneralHarinder Singh and SouthXinjiang Military RegionCommanderMajorGeneralLiuLinatMoldo, theChinesebor-derpointoppositeChushul.The Corps Commanders

reached“mutualconsensustodisengage”with detailed dis-cussionsonthemodalitiesofasector-wise,stage-wisedisen-gagement on the LAC. But notimeline for the disengage-mentprocesswas finalised.Movingonthis,theWMCC,

sources said, decided to “reaf-firm” and “build forward” onthe agreements reached at

Moldo meeting. The idea,sources said, is togiveapoliti-cal framework to the under-standingat themilitary level.In its statement, theMEA

said: “The two delegationsagreedthatimplementationofthis understanding expedi-tiously, inaccordancewiththebilateral agreements andpro-tocols, would help ensurepeaceandtranquilityinborderareas and the development ofbroader relationshipbetweenthe twocountries. In this con-text, theyalso tooknoteof thediscussions in the secondmeeting of the SeniorCommandersheldon22June.”The two sides also agreed

to maintain communicationbothatdiplomaticandmilitarylevel including under theframework of WMCC to “re-solve the existing situationpeacefully", it said.This was reiterated by the

Chinese sidewhich said they“agreedtostrictlyabidebytheimportant consensus reached

bytheleadersof thetwocoun-triesandaseriesofagreementsand protocols signed by thetwo sides, further strengthentheconfidencebuildingmeas-ures in themilitary field so asto jointlymaintain peace andtranquilityoftheborderareas”.Themeeting between the

diplomats came on the dayChinese Defence Ministryspokesperson Senior ColonelWuQianrepeatedBeijing’sde-mandthatIndiaholditsmenac-countable for the June15clash,andworkwithChina tomain-tainpeaceintheborderregion.HeclaimedthatsinceApril,

Indianborder troops began to“unilaterally” build facilitiesalong the LAC in the GalwanValley region, and that Chinahad lodged “representationsandoppositionsmanytimes”.“TheChineseborder troops

havebeenforcedtotakeneces-sary respondingmeasures andstrengthenmanagement andcontrol in these areas,” theChineseDefenceMinistrystated.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE24

INDIAONWednesday said the“continuingconflictandinstabil-ity inLibya isamatterof interna-tional concern”, and that it sup-ports“effortstowardsimmediatecessationofallhostilitiesinLibya”.Ministry of External Affairs

spokespersonAnurag Srivastavasaid:“Thecontinuingconflictandinstability in Libya is amatter ofinternational concern.We sup-port efforts towards immediatecessationofallhostilitiesinLibya.”“Weacknowledgetherecent

international efforts in this di-

rection, including the BerlinInternational Conference heldon 19 January 2020 and theCairoDeclarationof6June2020,and hope that these initiativeswillpromote thepeaceful reso-lutionof theconflict throughanintra-Libyan dialogue takinginto account the legitimate as-pirations of the Libyan people,while preserving Libya’s sover-eignty, unity and territorial in-tegrity,” he said.Libyaiswitnessingtensionbe-

tweenwarringparties and theirforeignbackers,andregionalten-sionsthreatenanewescalationintheoil-rich country’s years-longconflict.

India voices support forhalt to hostilities in Libya


AMIDSLIDINGpricesofmaize inthewake of the Covid-19 lock-down, the Centre has notifiednormsforimportof5lakhtonnesofmaizeunder Tariff RateQuotaSchemeduringthecurrentfinan-cialyearataconcessionalcustomsdutyof15percent.At present,maize attracts 50

percentimportduty.The move may further

dampenthehopesofmaizefarm-ers,whowereexpectingpricestorisewithpickupindemandafterun-lockdown.Maize farmers in Bihar,who

account for over 80 per cent ofIndia’s6-7milliontonnes(mt)ofannualproductionof rabimaize,are facing difficulties in sellingtheirproduceaspriceshavegonedowntoRs1,100-1,250perquin-tal,much lower than Rs 2,000-2,400perquintallastyearandthegovernment’sminimumsupportprice(MSP)ofRs1,760perquintalfor 2019-20. The state is headedforAssemblyelectionsinOctober-November.A notification issued by the

Department of Revenue showsthatthegovernmenthasalsono-tifiednormsforimportof10,000tonnes of “milk and cream in

powder,granules”forthisyearataconcessionaldutyof15percentunderTariffRateQuotascheme.The move comes at a time

whencooperativedairiesaresad-dledwithskimmedmilkpowderstocks of about 1.25 lakh tonnes.With the leanseason formilkal-most endingandmonsoon rainssetting in, itmayworsentheglutsituation. Milk procurementprices, too,havecomedowndueto collapse of demand duringlockdown.The latest decision is a rever-

sal of thebudget decision. In theUnionBudget 2020-21, the gov-ernmenthadwithdrawnthecon-cessional dutyof 15per cent ap-plicable on imports of up to10,000 tonnes of skimmedmilkpowderduringa fiscalunder theTariffRateQuotaScheme.Under the scheme, the gov-

ernment allows import of fourproducts—maize (corn), “milkandcream inpowder, granules”,crudesunflowerseedorsaffloweroil and fractions thereof; and re-fined rape, colza ormustard oilandfractionsthereof—atconces-sionalratesofcustomsduty.The Centre has also allowed

import of 1.5 lakh tonne each ofrefinedrape,colzaormustardoilandcrudesunflowerseedor saf-floweroilat45percentand50percentduty,respectively.

Centre notifies normsfor import of maize atconcessional duty

TARIFFRATEQUOTASCHEME

New Delhi

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,JUNE24

A 57-YEAR-OLD man was al-legedlykilledbyhisneighbouraf-ter a fight broke out betweenthemover feeding streetdogs inCentralDelhi’sPaharganjSunday.DCP (Central) Sanjay Bhatia

said Ajay (22), a DJwho playedmostlyatweddingfunctions,wasarrested from Paharganj’sKrishna Market area onWednesday. Police said the vic-tim, BrijMohan, loved dogs andfed the street dogs outside hishouseregularly.Around 10 pm Sunday,

Mohanwas feeding five-sevendogs at a park. A few dogs sur-roundedAjay,whowaswalkingnearby, and tried to attack him.“Ajay angrily toldMohan to notfeedthedogsastheymightattackresidents. Mohan, however,mockedhimand said ‘The dogs

arecomplainingaboutyou’,”saidaseniorpoliceofficer.A scuffle broke out between

them,afterwhichAjaywentintohis house allegedly to get akitchen knife. DCP Bhatia said,“Ajay returned, stabbedMohanandfled.Mohanmanagedtocon-tact his family,who rushedhimtohospital.Werecordedhisstate-ment.”MohansuccumbedtohisinjuriesTuesday.


PINJRA TODmember NatashaNarwal, arrested in connectionwiththeanti-CAAJafrabadsit-inprotest,Wednesday alleged be-fore the Delhi High Court thattherewas “large-scale violence”insideTiharJailandinmateswereprohibited fromgetting in touchwith familymembers via videoconferencing. The informationwas presented before Justice CHari Shankar, whowas hearingNarwal’spleaseekingdailyaccesstoherlawyerviavideoconferenc-ingandtocarrybooksandread-ingmaterial inprison.Narwal’s counsel contended

that as per information receivedby him, there was a completelockdown following the allegedviolence lastweek. The counselsubmittedthatinmateswerenotbeing allowed to speak to theirfamily because of the violenceand that some inmates’ limbswereallegedlybrokenbyjailstaff.Delhigovernment’sstanding

counsel (criminal) RahulMehradenied theallegationof inmatesnotbeingallowedtogetintouch

withpersonsoutsidejailviavideoconferencing. Mehra furtherstated that he had “instructionsto the contrary” from the TiharDG(Prisons). He also contendedthat the inmateswerenot beingable to contact their families astherewasaconnectivity issue.ThecourtaskedMehratofile

hisstatusreportonNarwal’spleaforaccesstoherlawyer,andlistedthematterforfurtherhearingonJune 29. It also askedMehra tolookintothewoman'sgrievancethat the daily five-minute call tofamilymemberswas not beingmadeavailabletoher.InviewoftheCovid-19,meet-

ings with lawyers, friends andfamiliesweresuspendedinDelhiprisonssinceMarch.

AMILBHATNAGARNEWDELHI,JUNE24

AROUND2.30 PMWednesday,more than 30 people stood in aqueue outside a CRPF bus atSarvodayaEnclave'sgatenumber2,somevisiblyanxiousasthelineslowlymovedforward.Thebusisamakeshift laboratory aimed atprovidingfreeandfastCovidtestresultstoarearesidents,withof-ficialssayingsuchmobiletestinglabs have become crucial in as-sessingthespreadof thevirus."Forthepastseveraldays,we

have been carrying outmobiletestsinmanypartsofSouthDelhi.Testing trucks are stationed atvantage points aswell as in andaround containment zones.Wehaveobservedthatinmanyareas,several domestic helps, shop-keepers and peoplewhose jobsinvolve visitingmultiple placesreside. In suchacase, testingbe-

comescrucialsincethedatagivesan idea ofwhere the infection isspreading.Wealsocarryoutsur-veys to ensure testing vans areplaced in such amanner to pro-videmaximumcoverage," saidKapil Chaudhary, South Delhisub-divisionalmagistrate.Themakeshift testing centre

involves a buswhere the testingkit is placed and a registrationcounteroutside.Alabtechnicianhandles the testingparapherna-lia,whileanothermakesreports.AdriverandtwoCRPFguardsarealsopresent.Agovernmentdoc-tor oversees the operations. Theresidentwelfare associations oftheseareashelptheSDMarrangethemobiletestingfacility.Accordingtoofficials,patients

undergo the faster rapid antigentest instead of the conventionalRT-PCRtest.Anofficialpresentatthe testing van in SarvodayaEnclave told The Indian Expressthat the test results takeapprox-

imately 15minutes andhave anaccuracyofmorethan90%.Persons whose tests have

been conducted are asked tostandawayfromthosewaitinginline.Incaseapersontestspositiveandissymptomatic,heistakeninan ambulance to a designatedgovernment isolation facility

fromthespot itself. If thepersontestingpositiveisasymptomatic,he is asked to sign anundertak-ing that his home is equippedwithampleroomsandaseparatebathroom, as per ICMR's homequarantine guidelines. The un-dertakingisforwardedtotheareahealth unit and an inspection is

carriedoutinthenext24hours.Ifthepersondoesnothave the re-quired facilities at home, he istakentoanisolationfacility,anof-ficialsaid.Most people in thequeueon

Wednesday said they had beenaskedbytheiremployerstogetatest done “as a precaution". "Iworkinthreehousesbuthadnotbeen going anywhere for twomonths. Fifteen days ago I re-sumedwork, but in one of thehouses I returned to, aCovidpa-tient was found.My employerdidn't pay me for those twomonths and I cannotmissmoredays of work. So I'm gettingmytestdonetoshowemployers I'mCovid-free,"saidRinku(39),ado-mestichelpinSarvodayaEnclave.For someothers, the test is a

waytoputapprehensionstorest."Wewere told by our office thatafreetestwillbecarriedout. Idonot have any symptoms butwewould not know if we are carri-

ers.IfIturnouttobepositivelater,theentireofficewillhavetoshutdown. Hence, it is better to gettestedat theearliestandnot riskotherpeople's lives," saidAnoop(24),accompaniedbythreeotheremployeesofaprivatefirm.MeenaKhatri(39),adomestic

helpworking in the SarvodayaEnclave, said: "I stay in a smallhousewithmyhusbandandchil-drenandIvisitmultiplehousesforwork.Ifthereisaslightestchancethatmy family is at risk, it is bet-ter to knowat the earliest... Thatway,mychildrenwillbesafe."Eachmobile van is provided

witharound200testingkitsandthekitsareusuallyusedinaroundeighthours,officialssaid."Wealsoprovide extra kits in casemorepeopleturnup...Thefactremainsthat this data collectionwill giveusabetterpictureofgroundreal-ityandwewillnothavetorelyongrosstesting figures toassess thesituation,"saidChaudhary.

Manovikasnagar, Secunderabad - 500 009, Telangana.Tel:040-27751741- 745 Fax: 040-27750198. Website: www.niepid.nic.in

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With a bus, a counter andminimal staff,South Delhi begins aggressive testing

TOGETASENSEOFCOVIDSPREAD

AtestingcentreatSarvodayaEnclaveWednesday. TashiTobgyal


THE DELHI High CourtWednesdayrefusedtograntbailto an accused who allegedlypointed a pistol at a police headconstable during the communalviolence in Northeast Delhi inFebruary,sayinghisintentionwastobecomeaheroandnowhewillhave to face the law. JusticeSuresh Kumar Kait said hewas

not inclined to grant relief toShahrukhPathan,afterwhichhiscounselwithdrew the plea. Thecourt thendismissed thepleaaswithdrawn. Pathan sought bail

onthegroundthathehastotakecareofhis76-year-oldfatherwhois unwell andhasnoone to lookafter him. Pathan’s counselAsgharKhanalso referred to theorder granting bail to Jamia stu-dent Safoora Zargar onhumani-tariangrounds,andsaidPathan'spleaalsobeconsideredsimilarly.JusticeKaitthenobserved,“Whilecommitting offence, you forgeteveryone.Nowyou are thinkingabout your aged and ailing par-ents.”


TWOANDahalfmonthsafterherarrest, JamiaMillia Islamia stu-dentSafooraZargarwalkedoutofTiharJailonWednesdayeveningafter being granted bail by theDelhiHighCourt onhumanitar-ian grounds. The pregnant 27-year-oldstudentandmediacoor-dinator of Jamia CoordinationCommitteehadbeenarrestedbytheDelhi Police’s Special Cell onApril10andisfacingaUAPAcase

inconnectionwiththeNortheastDelhi riots. Her imprisonmentand the previous denials of her

bail applications had createdwidespreadoutrage.Inherbailplea,shehadraised

pregnancyasoneof thegroundsforrelief.ShewasgrantedbailbyDelhi HCTuesday after SolicitorGeneralTusharMehta,appearingfor Delhi Police, submitted thattheprosecutionwouldnotobjectherreleaseonregularbailon“hu-manitariangrounds”.The conditions imposed on

Zargar include directions to notleave the national capital, andseekingpermissionifsherequirestoleavetheNCTofDelhi.

Jamia student Safoora out of jail

Man killed after argumentover feeding stray dogs

ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI,JUNE24

PLAGIARISMCHARGEShavebeenlevelledagainstprincipalsof twoDU colleges and a probe de-manded in thematter. Separatecomplaints have been lodgedagainst Zakir Hussain CollegePrincipalMasroorAhmadBegandDyal Singh College (Evening)Principal Pawan Sharma.WhileBeg did not respond to queries,Sharmadeniedthecharges.TheIndianNationalTeachers’

CongresswrotetoUGCChairmanandDUV-CYogeshTyagiallegingthat Beg had completely plagia-rised a paper by former UGCchairmanSukhdeoThorat.Begisalsoallegedtohaveplagiarisedapaper of Dr Rakhi Gupta andDivyaGuptaChoudhary.Similarly, Academic Council

(AC)member NaveenGaur hasalso sent repeated complaints

against Sharma. “...the book au-thored by Dr Pawan KumarSharma, titled “Training andDevelopment", has been highlyplagiarised…AspertheTurnitinreport,...itcomesunderLevel3ofplagiarism,”hewroteonMay23.Responding to the claims,

Sharma said: “I have the trueTurnitin reportwhich shows0%plagiarism.Thisisbeingdonebe-causemyextension(ofprincipal’sterm) is due and the accuserdoesn’twantmetocontinue.”When asked if a probewas

being set up, Dean of CollegesBalaram Pani said, “Right now,everybodyisbusywithexamina-tions.Lateron,universityauthor-itieswillseewhattodo.”DyalSinghCollegegoverning

body chairmanRajivNayan saida three-member committeehasbeenconstitutedto lookintothematter. DUV-C did not respondto calls andmessages seekingcomment.

Delhi Univ principalsaccused of plagiarism

Your intention was to be a hero, nowface the law: Court to riots accused

Pinjra Tod memberalleges jail violence

SafooraoutsideTihar Jail,Wednesday

NatashaNarwal

ShahrukhPathanwasarrestedfromUP’sShamlionMarch3

THECITY3 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

New Delhi

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, JUNE24

ISOLATIONCOACHESsetupbytheRailwaysin the capital rolled into operationWednesday, with the first few patients be-ing admitted to the isolation facility atShakurbasti railwaystation.Thefirstpatienttobeadmittedtothefa-

cilityisa31-year-oldresidentofWestDelhi’sJainNagar.Accordingtoofficials,heshiftedtothe train isolation facility after testing posi-tiveashewaslivinginapayingguestfacilityandnot at home. A secondpatientwas alsoadmitted later in theday.The Railways has placed 503 isolation

coaches across nine railway stations in thecity. The Shakurbasti facility is the first

amongthesetobecomefunctional.Thehigh-est number of such coaches have been putin place at Anand Vihar railway station,whichareyet tobecomeoperational.According to a Delhi state government

official coordinating the facility, the opera-tion isa jointeffortbetweenthreeagencies—theRailways, theArmyandtheDelhigov-ernment. “The basic infrastructure andmaintenance are being looked after by theRailways. The doctors, nurses and ambu-lancesarebeingprovidedby theArmy.Thelogistics are being provided by BhagwanMahavirHospital,Pitampura,andall theco-ordination is being done by the Delhi gov-ernment,” said theofficial.BhagwanMahavirHospitalwill provide

medicineandmedicalequipment,and lookafter coachsanitisationandwastedisposal.

Theseisolationcoachesaremeantforpa-tientswithverymildormildsymptoms,andtheywillbeshiftedtoaCovidhealthcarecen-tre if theirhealthconditiondeteriorates.According to a railways spokesperson,

apart from platform cleaning and sanitisa-tion,electricity,water,catering,andsecurityin thepremises, theRailways isalsoprovid-ingoxygencylindersinthecoachesandhavesetupanemergencycontrolroomatthesite.Therehavebeenconcernsaboutthenon-

AC isolation coaches getting too hot for pa-tients in the summer. “The coaches atShakurbastihavebeenplacedunderashed,sotheyareshadedfromdirectsunlight,andfans have been provided in each coupe foroptimumaircirculationandbetter temper-aturecontrol,”saidNorthernRailwaysCPRODeepakKumar.

503 COACHES BEING READIED ACROSS 9 RAILWAY STATIONS

Shakurbasti’s railway coaches finally get first set of patients

THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

THEOUTBREAK THECITY

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

4

TheShenaibanquethalloppositeLokNayakhospitalhasbeenconverted intoa100-bedCovid facility. TashiTobgyal

Thecoachesaremeantforpatientswithverymildormildsymptoms.GajendraYadav

MALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI, JUNE24

AT FIRST GLANCE, the numbers tell a scarystory— of Delhi surpassingMumbai to be-come the city with the highest Covid-19casesinthecountry.Andthefactthatathirdof the capital’s 70,390 cases have beenrecorded in thepastweek.A closer look at the capital’s evolving

Covid response, though, suggests that thesurge in cases is closely tied to significantlyincreasedtesting—1.08lakhtests,morethanafourthof thetotal,havebeenconductedinthecorrespondingperiod.Sofar,thecityhastestedover4.2lakhpeopleusingtheRT-PCRaswell as rapidantigen testingkits.Thenumberofhospitalbedshasalso in-

creasedinthepasttwoweeks—from8,800on June10to13,400onTuesday.The biggest push on this front has come

intheformofprivatehospitalsbeingorderedto set aside at least 20% beds for Covid pa-tients.Thegovernment’sfive-membercom-mittee to look into preparedness had saidthat the citywill need 15,000 beds by June15tocatertopatientswithinthecity.Atpres-ent,ofthe13,400bedsacrosshospitals,6,203areoccupied.ChiefMinisterArvindKejriwal,whilevis-

iting a banquet hall which has been turnedinto a100-bed facilitywithoxygen supportformoderately-ill patients, said that whiletherewasnoclearpictureonwhatwillhap-peninthedaystocome,Delhiwasinacom-

fortable situation in termsof hospitalbeds.“On Tuesday, therewere 6,200 patients

inhospitals.OnWednesday,thenumberre-mained similar. At present, we don’t knowwhat the future holds; we have sufficientbeds tocater topatients,”hesaid.AccordingtoDelhigovernmentofficials,

the city’s focus is not on cumulative cases.“Wehave, forat leastamonthnow,beenfo-cusedoncare for seriouspatientsandmak-ingsurehelp reacheswhoever is inneedontime.We always knew that as soon as thetestingfiguresgoup,sowilloverallcases.Butifyouarequarantinedinyourhomeandhavenoormildsymptoms,youwillbe fine,” saidaseniordistrict administrationofficial.Thecityisexpectedtoaddanother2,000

beds in a care facility at the Radha Soamigrounds inChattarpurbyFriday—arare in-stanceof theCentreandstatecollaborating.Once fully operational, the facilitywill have10,000beds.The biggest challenge for the govern-

ment, though, is to get doctors and nurses,andstaff tohelpwithcontact tracing.“We need to getmore personnel or im-

portant jobs such as contact tracing andscreeningwillsuffer,potentiallyleadingtoaclusterof cases,” saidadistrictmagistrate.


TENDAYSago,whenthenationalrecoveryratewasover50%,Delhiwasstruggling—onJune11,thecity’srecoveryratedroppedto37%fromclose to 50%a fewdays ago. OnWednesdaythough, thecapital’s recoveryratewas58.8%,marginallyabovethenationalrateof56.7%.Delhi first hit the 2,000-plus daily case

mark on July 12. Since then, except on twodays,thenumberhasremainedabove2,000,andhasbeenconsistentlyhittingthe3,000-plus figure for thepast fivedays.

But thenumberof patients thathavere-covered has also climbed steadily. Of the41,437 patients who have recovered so far,48%didsointhepastweek.Thebiggestjumpin this numberwas seen on June 20, whenDelhi governmentdata shows7,725peoplerecovered inasingleday.Amongthereasonsforthisincreaseisthe

change in theMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare guidelines formild or pre-sympto-maticcases.Theministrysaidthatsuchpeo-ple,whoare admitted inCovid care centres,canbedischargedafter“10daysofsymptomonsetandnofeverforthreedays”.Thepatientis thenadvisedto isolateathomefor7days.

OnWednesday, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwalsaidthatwhilethenumberofcasesin Delhi has risen over the past fewweeks,thenumberofpeoplerequiringhospitalisa-tionhasnotgoneupbyasmuch.“OnTuesday, therewere6,200people in

hospitals. The number is more or less thesametoday.Delhihasseen4,000newcasesin24hoursbutthenumberofbedsoccupiedis about the same.Thismeans twothings—one that corona in Delhi is not very severe.Peoplearebeinginfectedandarerecoveringathome.Italsosaysthatthenumberofpeo-ple going back from hospitals is about thesameas thosebeingadmitted,”hesaid.

Experts believe that one of the factorsthatmight be leading to the high recoveryand lowhospitalisation rates is the amountof testingunderway in thecapital.“AsDelhidetectsmorecases,thenumber

thatismildorasymptomaticalsoseemstobegoingup.Sincethetestingpooliswidernow,therewillbemorepeoplewhoareasympto-maticandrecoveringquickly.Also,manypeo-plewhotestedpositiveearlierhavecompleted14daysinisolationandrecovered.Wearestillnot testinga lotof asymptomaticpeoplebutthe numbers are higher in Delhi,” said DrShobhaBroor, formerheadof themicrobiol-ogydepartmentatAIIMS.

MALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI, JUNE24

AMIDRISINGcasesinDelhi,aneworderbyL-GAnilBaijal,makingitmandatoryforallpos-itive patients to visit a Covid care centre foran assessment of their condition, has led tonewproblems.Asperofficialdata,6,856peo-pletestedpositiveonJune21-22,butonly438turnedupatcarecentres thenext twodays.In his order, Baijal, who also heads the

Delhi DisasterManagement Authority, saidall thosewho test positive have to report toCovidcarecentresforassessment,afterwhichtheywill either be asked to isolate at homeorassignedtoahospitalorcarecentre.The Delhi government has opposed

Baijal’s order, with Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal andDeputyChiefMinisterManishSisodia raising itwith theCentreandL-G.OnWednesdayevening,Kejriwalsaidthe

Centre’s orderwas like “detention” forCovidpatients:“ManyCovidpatients,whohavemildornosymptoms,havereachedouttome.Ifpo-liceoradministrationtakessuchpeopleaway,itislikedetentionfor15days.Ifanelderlypar-entisathomeandhastestedpositivebutdoes-n’thaveanysymptoms,theycanbetakencare

ofproperlyathome.Thisorder isnotcorrect.If peoplecanbecuredathome,weshouldletthemstay...Earlier,governmentdoctorswouldgototheirhomesandassessiftheyneedtobeinhospital,carecentresorathome...TheCentrehasordered that thosewho test positivewillhavetogotoCovidcentres.Whyshouldaper-sonwith fever stand in line? I request theCentre,whichhasbeenoffering support andworkingwithus,thatthisorderbetakenback.”SisodiaalsowrotetoUnionHomeMinister

Amit Shah, saying thenewprotocolwas notbeneficial to patients or the administration:

“Ever since a visit to a Covid care centre hasbeenmademandatory,patientsaresuffering.Their first concern is how theywill reach aCovid care centre for assessment and if theyareassignedhomeisolation,howtheywillgoback...Delhiisseeing3,000-4,000casesaday.Fromwherewillwe get ambulances to takeall thesepeopletoCovidcentres?”“Forthedistrictadministrationandhealth

departmentteams...thisjobisnearlyimpos-sible... IrequestthatyoudirecttheL-Ganddoawaywiththisprotocol...otherwisethisrulewill leadtochaos inthecity,”hewrote.Inhis order, the L-Galso said the services

ofacallcentrehiredbytheDelhigovernmentwouldbediscontinuedandanewmechanismputinplace.Butanewcallcentrehasnotbeenappointedsofar,anddistrict-levelofficialsaremakingcallsandensuringcontacttracingandtesting.“Becausepeoplehavenowbeenaskedtoreportto Covidcarecentres,andthecallcen-tre is not reaching out to them in 24 hours,manyhavenoideawhattheyaresupposedtodoaftertestingpositive.District-levelofficialsaretryingtocontactasmanypeopleaspossi-ble, but shortage ofmanpower and ambu-lancesisreal...Anewprotocolatatimelikethishascreatedutterchaos,”saidaseniorgovern-mentofficial,whodidnotwanttobenamed.

Key to Covid fight: Recovery rate almost 60%

On ground, L-G order yet to take off 100 days on, Lok Nayak saysdocs have same enthusiasmASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, JUNE24

ANTICIPATINGAsurge in admissions,Delhigovernment’s Lok Nayak Hospital will add500 ICUbeds to its existing strengthby July10. The 2,000-bedhospital has 80 ICUbedsatpresent,whichwillbeexpandedto150byJune30.ThecentralDelhihospitalcompleted100

days as a Covid facility Wednesday. OnMarch 17, when it saw its first suspectedCovid case, only 20 beds were earmarkedforpatients.Sincethen,ithasprovidedtreat-mentto5,777patients,ofwhich2,700haverecovered.“Ourdoctorsareworkingwiththesame

enthusiasm and are trying to provide thebest treatment to all. I even tested positivefor Covid myself but never felt demoti-vated,” said LokNayakmedical directorDrSureshKumar.Lok Nayak has also started procuring

antiviral drugsRemdesivir andFavipiravir.“We have also administered tocilizumabto 20 patients and results have been suc-

cessful,” saida seniordoctorabout the im-munosuppressant, commonly used totreat rheumatoid arthritis. He said ap-proval for using the drug was receivedfromDGCI.Ithasalsoconductedplasmatherapyon

20patients.Attached with Maulana Azad Medical

College, the hospital had faced initial hic-cupswhile converting into a Covid-only—from shortage of PPEs to accommodationfor staff.“The initial dayswere tough,but things

improved. None of us had ever worn aPPE... Training was arranged to makehealthcareworkersunderstand itsuse,”DrParvMittal, president of resident doctors’association, said.On the occasional videos of patients

complaining about admissionwoes or im-proper care, Dr Ritu Saxena, head of theemergencyward,said:“Ibrokedowninmyoffice three times as the pressure was get-tingtome.Butthenextmoment, Iwasguid-ing patients standing outside the emer-gency.Myhusbandhasbeencoming to thehospitalwithme formoral support.”

As Centretakes charge,key officersin Covid fightkeep changingMALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI, JUNE24

AS THE Centre starts towieldmore powerin thecapitalduring theCovidpandemic, aside-effect, officials say, has been shufflingofofficers fromonedepartmenttoanother,“without keeping the state government inthe loop”.Since the first week of June, Delhi has

seenthreenodalofficersforCovidresponse.AdditionalChiefSecretary(Home,Services)SatyaGopalwasthecoordinatingofficer tillJune 7, when Vikram Dutt Dev was ap-pointed Principal Secretary (Health) andwasalsomadethenodalofficer.OnJune20,however,Devwasreplacedasthenodalof-ficer byBSBhalla,whoholds the chargeofPrincipal Secretary (Home).InDelhi,which isnota full stateandhas

a special status while being a UnionTerritory, the services department comesunder the Centre, through the LieutenantGovernor.Thismeansthepowertoappointor transfer officers falls with the L-G. Overthe past few years, the Delhi governmenthas sparredwith the Centre over the issueseveral times.Seniorofficialssaidthefrequentchanges

had affected the working of different de-partments.“Inthelast threemonths,keyofficers in-

volvedinmanagingthecrisishavebeenfre-quentlychangedwithout takingtheseniorelectedmembers into confidence. The re-moval of officerswithout any evident rea-sonisaffectingthefunctioningandmorale.It is also disturbing the chain of commandaseverynewofficerhastofirstgetahangofall theongoingefforts,” saidaseniorofficer,whodidnotwish tobenamed.Officials also claimed that not only are

the elected representatives not consultedat the time of transferring or appointinganewofficer, theyarealsonot informedofmeetings being held by senior bureau-crats.

Behindtrend, change inHealthMinistryguidelines formildandpre-symptomaticcases,more testing

Noclearpictureonwhatwillhappen inthedaystocome,butDelhi inacomfortablesituation intermsofhospitalbeds, saysChiefMinister

Cases surge but testing, beds up tooDELHINOWCITYWITHMOSTCOVIDCASES

80,000

70,000

60,000

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

70,390

26,588

41,437

■Cumulativecases

■Activecases

■Recovered

May18

May21

May24

May27

May30

June2

June5

June8

June11

June14

June17

June20

June23

THREEMONTHSON, HOWCITY IS PLACED

Govtpointedtoshortageofambulancestoferrypatientstocarecentres

1.08 lakhtestswereconductedinthepastweek—morethanafourthof thetotal4.2 lakhtests

New Delhi

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

CLAMOUR GROWSTHECHORUShasbegun.TakingacuefromseniorleaderslikeRajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who urged RahulGandhi to return as Congress president at the CWCmeetingTuesday, some Congress functionariesWednesdaywrote toCongress president Sonia Gandhi with the same demand.While former Rajya SabhaMPHussain Dalwai argued thatRahul is themost acceptable face as a leader, AICC secretaryChallaVamshiChandReddysaidRahul is that onevoice andtherightpersontorepresentandaddressnationalchallenges.Dalwai haswritten that Rahul has dared to raisemany cru-cial issueswhilenoleaderfromanyotherpartydaredtoraiseissues thataffect thewholecountry.

CLEAR MESSAGEWITHTHEoppositionCongresstargetingthegovernmentovertheLACissue, theBJPseemstohavedecidedtocommunicateitspositiontoitssupporters.Ithasaskeditsleaderstofindwaystoconvincethecadrethatthegovernmentisdoingeverythingto protect the nationwhereas itwas themismanagement ofpastCongressgovernments that led to thecurrentproblems.On Wednesday, party MP and former Union ministerRajyavardhan Rathore, also a retired Army officer, did aFacebookLivewithpeople inRajasthan toexplain thebordersituation.Hesaid itwas important toknowthehistory,geog-raphy, Chinese intentions,why such transgressions are hap-peningandChinesestrategiestounderstandthesituation.HetooblamedJawaharlalNehrufor thetroublesat theborder.

POLL SEASONGEARINGUP for the Bihar elections, the BJP has taken extracareovercasteequationswhilepickingitsnomineesforMLCpolls.Thepartyhasnameditsmediaco-headSanjayMayukh,whobelongs toanuppercaste, akeysupportbaseof theBJP,forthesecondtime.IthasalsonominatedSamratChoudhary,aformerministerintheRabriDevigovernment.AKushwahaby caste, Choudhary is expected to keep the backward castesupport base consolidated for the BJP-JD(U) alliance in thestate. Kushwaha is an influential OBC community in Bihar.BeforejoiningtheBJPin2017,ChoudharyhadstintsintheRJD,JD(U)andHAM(S).


A DAY after the CongressWorkingCommitteesoughtde-tails about the situation alongthe Line of Actual Control, BJPpresident JPNaddaWednesdaytargetedtheoppositionparty,al-leging that India has lost thou-sands of kilometres of land duetothemisadventuresofonedy-nasty, referring to the Nehru-Gandhi family.Inaseriesof tweetstargeting

theCongress,Naddasaiditistheopposition’s right to ask ques-tions and the all-partymeetingwith the Prime Minister lastweeksawhealthydeliberationswith several opposition leadersgiving their valuable inputs.“One family was an exception.Any guesseswho?” he tweetedwithoutnaminganyone.TheBJPpresident said other partiesbackedthegovernment.A day after the CWC sought

detailsaboutthesituationalongthe LAC and the India-Chinaface-off,Naddatweeted,“Duetothe misadventures of one dy-nasty: we lost thousands ofsquare kilometres of land. TheSiachenglacierwasalmostgone.And much more. No wonderIndiahas rejected them.”TherulingBJPandtheopposi-

tionCongresshavebeenengagedin a public spat over the violentface-off — between the Indianand Chinese side in Ladakh’s

Galwan Valley on June 15— inwhich 20 Indian soldiers werekilled. The BJP government hadmaintainedthattherehavebeenno incursions but attemptedtransgressionsacrosstheLACandthey were cleared. But theCongresswanted to knowwhatledtothedeathof soldiers.The BJP president further

saidthata“rejectedandejecteddynasty is NOT equal to the en-tireopposition.Onedynasty’sin-terests are not India’s interests.Today, the nation is united andsupportiveofarmedforces.Thisisthetimeforunityandsolidar-ity.Relaunchof thescionandforthenth timecanwait”.Inanothertweet,Naddasaid,

“One ‘royal’ dynasty and the‘loyal’ courtiers have a granddelusionoftheoppositionbeingabout one dynasty. A dynastthrows tantrums and hiscourtierspeddlethatfakenarra-tive.Latestonerelatestotheop-positionaskingquestions to thegovernment.”

India lost thousandsof kms due tomisadventures ofone family: Nadda

‘Adynast throwstantrumsandhiscourtierspeddlethat fakenarrative’


IN THE wake of the standoffbetweenIndianandChineseforcesin eastern Ladakh, the CongressWednesdaysought to corner thegovernment over claims aboutChinese incursions inArunachalPradesh by a BJPMP from thatstate. Theoppositionpartyaskedthegovernmenttocomecleanontheissueanddemandedthecon-vening of a special session ofParliament todiscuss issues suchasnationalsecurity.FacingcriticismfromtheBJPfor

itsattackonthegovernment, theCongresshasalsodecided toob-serve‘ShaheedonKoSalaamDivas’(martyrs’ day) on June 26. Thepartywill holdcandlelightvigilsand launch anonline campaigncalled‘SpeakUpForOurJawans’.Addressingapressconference,

seniorpartyleaderManishTewarisaid that TapirGao, BJPMP fromArunachalEast,hassaidinatele-visioninterviewthatthe“People'sLiberationArmy,onbothsidesoftheSubansiri river inAsapilaandLongju sectors in the upperSubansiri district of ArunachalPradesh, haveoccupied territoryon the Indian side of theMcMahonLine”.Tewari said that according to

Gao, theChineseArmyhad con-structed bridges, roads, housesandhelipadsatAsapilaandMajhaareasinthedistrict.“Gao further goes on to say

thatthePLAhasoccupiedabaseoftheIndianArmy...RememberthePrimeMinisterof Indiaattheall-partymeeting had said that no

posts of the Indian Army havebeen occupied by the People’sLiberation Army. Gao seems tocontradictthePrimeMinister...“This is thenot the first time

thatGaohasmade these revela-tions…Theseareextremely seri-ousclaims,”Tewarisaid.Congress LokSabhaMPfrom

AssamGauravGogoi asked thegovernmenttobemorevigilantintheNortheastandborders.“Wede-mand that the Government ofIndiadoesnotlookatwhatishap-pening inArunachal PradeshorLadakhas isolated incidents. Thisisagranddesignandthisneedstoberesponded...”hesaid.Healsode-mandedconveningofaspecialses-sionofParliament,keepinginmindbothsocialdistancingandtheim-portanceofnationalsecurity.Tewari slammed thegovern-

ment for not allowingParliamentary StandingCommitteestomeetvirtually.“ItisextremelyunfortunatewhileyoucanhaveRussia, India, China tri-lateral summits virtually,whiletheG-20canbeheldvirtuallyandall-partymeetings onChina canbeheldvirtually,thisGovernmenthaswalkedtheextramileinordertohidebehindrules,inordertoes-capeParliamentaryoversight...”

ManishTewari, TapirGao

SENIOR CONGRESS leader andformer defence minister A KANTONY speaks toMANOJ C Gabout the situation in Ladakhand his assessment of the wayforward.

Asformerdefenceminister,what isyourassessmentofthesituationinLadakh?TheChinesearmyisstillthere

in theGalwanValley area. Theirconstructions are there. Eventhough they are not doing any-thingmore, their constructionsare still there. They are yet to bedismantled.Chinesearmyistherein the Pangong Tso lake area tooandeverydaytheyarefortifying.TheyarethereinHotSpringsalso.GalwanValleywasneverapointof dispute. Over the years, theIndian Army and Chinese armyhave identified more than adozendisputedareas.ButGalwanValleywasneveradisputedarea.It is Indian territory. Our sover-eigntywas undisputed. DuringUPA II, we started constructingtheroadtoGalwanValley.Atthattime,therewasnoobjectionfromtheChinese side. Suddenly, theyhavecomeinlargenumbersandpushed into the Indian area,whichendedinthetragicmartyr-domof20bravesoldiers.

China,yousaid,didnotobject toconstructionoftheroad.So,what inyourviewisthereasonforthepresentstandoff?Even though from 1962 on-

wards, all along there had beenincursions along themore than4000-km-longIndia-Chinabor-der.Incursionshappenedduringthe period of all governments.But 1975 onwards, we alsostartedstrengtheninginfrastruc-ture on the Chinese border.Successive governmentsstrengthenedtheinfrastructure.InfrastructurewasstrengthenedthemostduringUPAIandII.UPAI and II spent the maximumamount ondefence. From2006onwards,wemorethandoubledthe defence expenditure. Weconstructedmore roads, morebridges, purchasedhundredsofSukhoi aircraft, MiG 29, we de-cidedtoformstrikecorpsbasedin Panagarh in Kolkata, raisedtwomoremountaindivisionsinTezpur and Rangapahar. Webought transport aircraft likeC-17 andC-130…Now the Indianarmed forces arewell equippedandcan faceanychallenge.

Therewere incursionsduringtheUPAperiodtoo.I told you… incursions had

beentakingplacesince1962be-cause the border is unsettled. Aseriousincursiontookplacedur-ingtheUPAperiodinDepsangin2013 and then in Chumar in2014. It took 21 days in 2013…they had come in large num-bers... put tents and every-thing… there was face to facescuffle…but after 21days…af-termilitaryanddiplomatic-leveldiscussions they went back.

Statusquoantewas restored. In2014... Chumaralso…aftermil-itary and diplomatic-level dis-cussions… theywent back. Thestatusquoantewas restored.

Whatwentwrongthis time?First of all, nobody imagined

therewould be a betrayal fromChina in theGalwanValley area.Thewholecountrywasundertheeuphoria of theMahabalipuramdiscussions with the ChinesePresident. Galwan Valley wasneverapointofdispute.Itisabe-trayal by China. It is for the gov-ernmenttoseetoit thatoursov-ereigntyisprotected.

Whatcouldthegovernmenthavedonetoavoidthebloodshed?Whenboth the armieswere

discussingdisengagement,theyattacked us. It is betrayal. Nowwe have to think about the fu-ture. Strengthen the armedforces. Theultimate aimshouldbethatstatusquoanteshouldberestored.

BJPpresident JPNaddahassaidthatduringUPAtime,43,000kmof IndianterritorywassurrenderedtotheChineseandbetween2010and2013thereweresome600incursions?Totally false. Incursionswere

there all along since 1962. Evenbefore 1962, therewere incur-sions.Butthiskindofmajorincur-siondidnottakeplaceduringourtime.InDepsangandChumar,sta-tusquoantewasrestored.

HowdoyoudealwithChina?India of today is not India of

1962...Nowthearmedforcesare

wellequippedtomeetanychal-lenge. In UPA II, I found somechange inChinesepriority. ThatiswhyinDepsangandChumar...theycameintoourterritoryandafterpersuasiontheywentback.At that time, their priority wastheir conflict in theSouthChinaSea. They were trying to com-pletely bring it under their con-trol.Theyweremoreconcernedabout Taiwan, Hong Kong,Xinjiang. But again, suddenlytheyhavechangedtheirpriority.That way this is unprece-dented… attack on a territorywhich is undisputed. DuringUPAII,whenevertherewasadis-putetheyusedtogobacktotheiroriginalposition…werewillingtohaveapeaceful settlement…butnowtheyhavechangedtheirprioritysuddenly.Thereissome-thingdeepwhichwehavetoas-sess. The government needs tostudy thisdeeply.

TheBJPsaystheCongress isagainstNarendraModiandnotChina...howdidtheCongresssignanMoUwithChineseCommunistParty?Earlier,onlytheCongresswas

going for the ChineseCommunist Party meetings.After the Modi governmentcame,they(theBJP)alsostartedsending their representatives.Both the BJP and the Congressare friendly with ChineseCommunistParty.Everyonefor-gets that theonly chiefministerin India who was invited to

China four timeswas NarendraModi. He met the ChinesePresident 18 or 19 times. TheCongress has categorically saidthatweareonewiththegovern-ment and the armed forceswhenitcomestoprotectingthesovereignty and territorial in-tegrityofthecountry.Wewilldoeverythingtosupportthearmedforces. That has been theCongress tradition.

Whatnext for thegovernment?The country is watching...

whether at the end of the con-flict, the government is able torestore status quo ante. And itwasthePrimeMinisterwhosaidthere are no outsiders in Indianterritory. It was a shock to meand to the whole country. TheChinese army is still in theGalwan Valley and their con-structionisthere.TheyarethereinHot Springs…They are thereuptoFinger4.Everydaytheyarefortifying. Even now themili-tary-level talks are only onGalwanValley.Theyarenotsay-inganythingaboutPangongTso.The Indian Army has told themthat the Chinese must vacatefromall the occupied areas andthe PM hasmade such a state-ment. It is the duty of the PMtocomeoutwithacategoricalpub-lic statement that the govern-ment will do everything to re-store status quo ante. Let himpublicly and categorically saythat.

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

AKANTONYCONGLEADER, FORMERDEFENCEMINISTER

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,JUNE24

DEMOCRATICUS CongressmanBrad Sherman, who is a seniormemberof thepowerfulHouseForeign Affairs Committee, onWednesday described as “pre-meditated” theChinese aggres-sion inwhich 20 Indian troopsdied in the Galwan Valley onJune15.Thisisthestrongeststatement

sofarfromtheUS.TheUSadmin-istrationhadso far just condoledthedeaths. US Secretary of StateMichael R Pompeo, the senior-most Cabinetminister from theTrump administration, hadtweeted“condolences”.Sherman, who represents

California’s San FernandoValley,onWednesday tweeted, “Goodspeaking with India'sAmbassador@SandhuTaranjitStoday.IofferedmycondolencestotheAmbassador for the approx.20 troopswhodiedas a result ofpremeditatedChineseaggressionat the actual line of control inLadakhlastweek.”

“Wealso spoke in general restrengtheningtheU.S.-Indiarela-tionship,”hesaid.Sherman is currently serving

his twelfth terminCongress andhas served in the House ofRepresentatives since1997.Overthe last fewmonths,hehasbeenvery active commenting onKashmir, theNRC, and hadmetExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar inDecember lastyearalongwithotherCongressmen.InOctober lastyear,Sherman

chairedatwo-and-a-half-hourUSCongressionalhearing,sinceheischairman of the HouseSubcommittee on Asia, on thetopic “Human Rights in SouthAsia: Views from the State

DepartmentandtheRegion”.SeveralCongressmembersin-

cluding Indian-AmericanPramilaJayapal,SheilaJacksonLee(whoisamemberofthePakistancaucus)and IlhanOmarquestionedAliceWells, thenAssistantSecretaryofState forSouthandCentralAsianAffairs,andRobertDestro,AssistantSecretaryof State forDemocracy,HumanRightsandLabour.Sherman, who began the

hearingbydescribingKashmirasthe“mostdangerousflashpointintheworld”,hadsaidthathehasforyearscondemnedtheterroristat-tacks in Kashmir and spokenabout the Kashmiri pandits. HehadsaidthatIndia’sdecisionwithrespect to scrappingArticle 370wasnotindirectresponsetotheseterroristattacks.BesidesKashmir, theNRC is-

suehadalso comeup fordiscus-sion, and as Shermanhad askedwhether it is a serious legislativeproposal or a “crackpot idea”,Destroresponded:“It isaseriouslegislative proposal.” WhenSherman asked “havewe con-demnedit?”,Destroreplied,“Wearedoingitrighthere.”


FIVE INDIAN soldiers were onWednesday awarded‘CommendationCards’byArmyChiefGeneralMMNaravanefordemonstrating exemplary gritand courage in dealing withChinese troops in two separateclashes in Pangong Tso andGalwanValleyineasternLadakh,sources said.The Army Chief visited for-

wardareas in eastern Ladakh tomeet the troops and held a de-tailed briefing in Leh about thesituationonground.General M M Naravane

reachedLadakhonTuesday, ac-companied by Northern ArmyCommanderLtGenYK Joshi.TheArmychief is scheduled

to visit other forward areas ineastern Ladakh on Thursday aspartofhistourtoreviewtheon-groundmilitary preparedness.This is his first trip to the regionafterIndianArmylost20soldiersinGalwanValleyon June15.TheArmyChiefreviewedthe

overall security situation in theregion with Northern ArmyCommander Lt Gen YK Joshi,commander of the 14 Corps LtGen Harinder Singh and othersenior Army officials on bothTuesday and Wednesday,sources said.“General M M Naravane

#COAS visited forward areas inEastern #Ladakh and reviewedoperational situation on theground.#COAScommendedthetroopsfortheirhighmoraleandexhorted them to continueworkingwith zeal and enthusi-asm,” theArmysaid ina tweet.GeneralMMNaravane’svisit

to the region came in themidstofChinarapidlyincreasingnum-ber of troops and weaponryalong the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in the eastern Ladakh re-gion, including in Pangong Tso,Galwan Valley and Gogra HotSpring.


A LAWYER and a journalist onWednesday approached theSupremeCourt seeking aprobeinto an “agreement” signed be-tween the Indian NationalCongressandCommunistPartyOfChinainBeijingonAugust7,2008.In their petition, advocate

ShashankShekhar Jhaandjour-

nalist Savio Rodrigues claimedthat despite hostile relationswithChina,theCongresssignedtheagreementwhen itwas rul-ingthecountryaspartofacoali-tion,andhidthefactsanddetailsof theagreement.Rodrigues alleged that he

urged theCongress tomakede-tailsof theagreementpublicbut“no heedwas shown in that re-spectwhichshowsthemalafideintentionof theRespondents”.

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,JUNE24

INDIAWILL assert itself on thegroundover itsperceptionof theLine of Actual Control (LAC) andcontinuetoclaimAksaiChinevenas it engageswith China diplo-matically, BJP general secretaryRamMadhavsaidonWednesday.Madhav also took on the

Opposition,particularlytargetingthe Congress for not addressingthe issue under earlier govern-mentsledbytheparty.

Speakingatawebinarorgan-ised by RSS mouthpiecePanchjanya on the LAC issue,Madhavsaid:“Indiawillcontinueto stand firmon the ground.Wewantpeace,butnotof thegrave-yard.Wehave close to 60 roadsunderconstruction(intheregion),and that work will go on. Ourclaim is not just the LAC— ourclaimgoesbeyondthat.AfterJ&KandLadakhweredeclaredUnionTerritories, theirmaps includePoK, Gilgit Baltistan andAksaiChin.“We continue to claimAksai

Chin, andwehave to be firmonourperceptionofLAC.”Madhav argued that India is

facing such a situation becausepeople had not tried to under-stand China from “tactical and

strategic point of view”.He said,“China thinks differently com-pared to other countries. It hasborder issueswith 13-14 coun-tries. It believes in continuing togain territorywithout engaginginwar.”Hesaid:“Today,theOpposition

asksusaboutborderviolations,butithasnotstartedin2020. In2013,whentheChineseentered19-20kminsideandtherewasstandoff,nothingwasbeingdoneandques-tionswere raised inParliament.(Then PM) Manmohan Singhmerelysaidtherearedifferingper-

ceptionsof theLACbetween thetwocountries.Nowweareinsist-ingonourownershipofLAC,asweperceiveit.”He said, “We are engaging

withChinadiplomaticallybutongroundweareassertive.Wearenot letting China get awaywithsemi-permanent structures onour territory. Unlike in the past,we are not turning our jeeparoundandcomingback.Weareconfrontingandpushing(them)back.”RSS leader and former BJP

general secretary RamLal,who

made the introductory remarks,said: “There somehandmaidensof China who keep justifyingChineseactionshere....Theytrytobringmoraleoftheforcesdown.”“WTOagreementsarenotap-

plicable onpeople. Today evenasmall childknowsChineseprod-ucts are not to be purchased.China has been forced to thinkthat if itdoesanythingmoreandIndia’speoplegoagainstit,theen-tiremarketwillgooutof itshandand itwill be in economic trou-ble,”hesaid. FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

“It is theduty of thePMtocomeoutwith acategorical publicstatement that thegovernmentwill doeverything to restorestatusquoante”

‘India of today is not India of 1962’

Chinese aggression at LACpremeditated: US Congressman

ArmyChiefGeneralManojMukundNaravane interactswithtroopswhilereviewingoperational situationontheground, ineasternLadakhonWednesday. PTI

BradSherman

CALLSFORHOUSESPECIALSESSION

Cong questions govtover BJP MP’s claimsof Chinese incursionin Arunachal Pradesh

Army Chiefawards fivesoldiers forPangong Tso,Galwan grit

Probe agreement betweenCong and CPC: plea in SC

RamMadhav,RamLal

‘Our claim is not just LAC — our claim goes beyond that’

New Delhi

GOVT&POLITICS6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

TThhiiss is for the informationofgeneral public at large thatmynameasAsmat Iqbal Jan, hasbeenchangedaftermymarriageasAsmatAjazBandayW/oAjazAhmadBanday. Anybodyhavinganyobjection to this effect shallinform the concernedwithinsevendaysof publication,afterwhichnoobjectionwill beentertained. 0020407449-1

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0040540174-8

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0040540179-1

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0040540179-3

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II,,Md Imran s/o-MdNasteemAnsari R/o-B-55, Sarai-KaleKhan,Near-IshaqMasjid,Delhi-110013,have changedmyname toMohammad ImranAnsari, permanently.

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PPEERRSSOONNAALL LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDD

Classifieds

PUBLIC NOTICEMy client SHEELA W/O HIRA LAL& HIRA LAL S/O SHRI RAMRESIDENT OF 147, HARIJANBASTI, NEAR CHOUPAL,BIJWASAN, DELHI-110061 havesevered off all their relations withtheir son PAWAN KUMAR, aged 28years. My client have debarred himfrom all their movable/ immovableproperties. Anybody dealing withhim or dealt with him regarding anymatter shall have his/ her/ their ownresponsibility.

Sd/- AJAY KUMARADVOCATE

Enrl. No. D/2032/06RU-367, Pitam Pura, Delhi-110034

PUBLIC NOTICEThis is to inform to the General Public thatmy client Smt. Kanta Devi W/o Late AshokKumar R/o WZ-32/6 gali No. 3 To 4, SantGarh, Tilak Nagar, Delhi- 110018 havesevered all her relation with her adopteddaughter, namely Manju W/o DineshKumar, R/o 7/301, Jwala Nagar, MainPandav Road, Subhash Gali, VishwasNagar, Shahdara, Delhi. She furtherdisowned, disinherited and debarred herfrom all her movable and immovableproperties. Anybody dealing with her, shalldo so at his/her own cost, risk andconsequences. My client is not responsiblefor their any act or conduct in any mannerwhatsoever.

Sd/-AJEET KUMAR (Advocate)

Ch. No. K-120, Tis Hazari Courts,Delhi-54

j hRLY(5)PUBLIC NOTICE

This is to inform to public at large that myclients Sh. Dashrath Giri S/o Sh. UdayRam Giri and his wife Smt. Chanderwatiboth R/o A-312/10, Gali No. 5, SouthGamri Extension, Near Chautha Pusta,Delhi-110053 have severed allrelationship from their son Sumit Giri andhis wife Pooja Goswami @ Bunty anddisowned and debarred them from alltheir movable and immovable propertiesas they have become disobedient andthey are out of control of my above clientsand my clients have nothing to do withthem. My clients shall not be responsiblefor their acts, deeds. If any person dealswith them then he/she will be doing that athis/her own risk, cost and consequences.

Sd/- Amit Kumaar SharmaAdvocate

Ch. No. B-136, B.G.S. Block,Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi-54

PUBLIC NOTICEInformed to General Public, that myclient Sh. Satya Parkash S/O Sh.Veerpal Singh and Smt. Mithlesh W/OSh. Satya Parkash Both R/o H.No. F-7,Ph-I, Vijay Vihar, Delhi-110086, hassevered all the relations from his sonShri Rahul And his wife Smt. PoojaSingh as they are disobedient, rudeand not under the control of my clientaforesaid. From hereon my client hasdebarred his son and his wife from allhis movable and immovable properties.If any person, organization, institutiondoes any transaction with them doesso at their own risk, for that my clientshall not be responsible in any mannerwhatsoever.

SACHIN KUMAR (Advocate)Enrl. No. D-2092/08

PUBLIC NOTICEMy client Jamaluddin S/o AbdulHamid R/O F-284, Block-F, AbulFazal Enclave, Part-II, ShaheenBagh, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025 have disowned his sonAdil from his all movable andimmovable Properties andsevered all relation with him dueto his disobedience. My clientshall not be responsible for hisany acts.

Sd/-VENKETESH KUMAR JHA

(Advocate)Ch. No. 302 Saket Court,

New Delhi

PUBLIC NOTICEBe it known to general public at large thatmy client Mr. Sanjesh Kumar Sharma S/oLate. Sh. Babu Ram & Smt. Kavita SharmaW/o Sanjesh Kumar Sharma both R/o H.No.G-1/156-157, 2nd Floor, Sector-16, Rohini,Delhi-89 has severed her all relations anddisowned her son Rydham Sharma fromall her movable & immovable properties dueto their misconduct and bad activities. Myclient and her other family members shallnot be responsible for any wrongful andillegal act in future. Any person(s) dealwith them shal l be sel f responsible.

S.K. Gupta (Advocate)Ch. No. D-209, Karkardooma Court, Delhi

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in

TENDER NOTICE

81431/HRY

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in

CORRIGENDUM NOTICE

81434/HRY

II,, AshmeetKaurD/oAjit SinghR/o. B-5/191-192, 1st floor,Sector-7, Rohini, Delhi, havelostmyMarksheet&PassingCertificate of Class 10th (RollNo. 8194318, Year-2017)& 12th(Roll No. 9211585, Year-2019).FinderMayContact:9999265690. 0040540149-1

IItt is notified for the informationthatmyOriginal QualifyingExaminationCertificate ofMain Secondary Examinationof Year 2018 andRollNo.8257476 issuedbyCBSEhasbeenactually lost. NameofCandidate: SuvratMall,Address: 5,MahadevRoad,NearGol DakKhana,NewDelhi110001 0040540146-1

WWeewould like to informGeneral Public that I,RajendraKumar SharmaS/o-Sh.DwarkaNathSharmahad lostmyALLOTMENTLETTER-No.-Noida/DGM(H)/1999-2000(H)/01/99/77dated-10.09.99&POSSESSIONDATEDLETTERNO.-NOIDA/PF-/2217dated-28.12.2001 againstFlat.No.C-12/1, Sector-71,Noida.PleaseContact:-RajendraKumarSharma,B-157, Sector-71, Noida.

0040540179-4

''IMPORTANT''Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it isnotpossible toverifyits contents. The IndianExpress (P) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamage incurredasaresultoftransactions with companies,associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapersor Publications. We thereforerecommend that readersmake necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies orentering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwiseacting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

Jaipur:AminorboytriedtokillaCongressMLA in Karauli district onWednesdaywhenthelegislatorwasmeetingpeople

at his residence, police said. Theminorattempted to fire at Hinduan MLABharosi Lalwith a country-madepistol

buttheweapondidn’tgooff,policesaid,adding the accused has been detainedandisbeingquestioned. PTI


FOURNPPMLAs,includingManipurDeputyCMYJoykumar,were brought back to the fold after ameetingwithUnionHomeMinisterAmitShahandBJP chief J PNaddaonWednesday,Assamminis-terHimantaBiswaSarmasaid.TheNPPMLAshadwithdrawntheirsupportto

theNBirenSingh-ledgovernmentonJune17.Inhistweet,Sarmasaid,“NPPdelegationledby

ConradSangmaandDyChiefMinisterofManipurYJoykumarSinghmetHonblePresidentofBJPShriJPNaddatodayinNewDelhi.NPPwillcontinuetosupport theBJPgovt inManipur for thedevelop-mentofManipur.”Theexactconditionsofthereconciliationwere

unclear as theNPP leaders, includingMeghalayaCMandNPPpresidentConradSangma,wereun-availableforcomment.TheManipur government, theBJP’s first gov-

ernment in theNortheastwhichwas formed in2017 after a closely contested electionwith theCongress,wasinturmoilwhentheNPPMLAswith-drewtheirsupport.Thesameday,threeBJPMLAs

resignedtojointheCongresswhileaTMCMLAandanindependentMLAwithdrewtheirsupportfromthegovernmentinor-dertosupporttheCongressinitsclaimtomoveano-confidencemotion.On June 18, former Congress CM

Okram Ibobi Singhwrote to GovernorNajmaHeptullah demanding a specialAssembly session tomove theno-confi-dencemotion.The BJP flew in its troubleshooter

Sarma and Sangma to assuage the dis-gruntled MLAs. After being taken toGuwahationTuesday,theNPPMLAsweretaken to NewDelhi onWednesday to

meet the HomeMinister.In2017,theCongress

hademergedasthesin-glelargestpartywith28MLAs, and the BJP had21MLAs.Thesupportofits allies, theNPF (withfour MLAs) and theNPP’s four legislatorswere therefore crucialfor the BJP to form thegovernment.Thechasmbetween

Chief Minister N BirenSinghandhisministersand own party mem-bers has been growingoverthepasttwoyears.

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, KANPURINSTITUTE WORKS DEPARTMENT

CENTRAL OFFICENotice Inviting e-Tender - 05/C/D1/2020-21/01

The Superintending Engineer, IWD, IIT Kanpur invites on behalf of Board of Governors ofIIT Kanpur invites online percentage rate open bids on Engineering, Procurement andConstruction (EPC) Contract basis from eligible/ contractors of repute in two bid system(Eligibility cumTechnical bid&Financial Bid) for the followingwork:-

SL.No. Name of Work Estimated

CostEarnestMoney

Period ofCompletion

C/o of Hall of Residencefor BoysNo. 15, consisting3 Blocks of (Stilt + Five)storied & 4 Blocks of (Stilt+ Six) storied includingInternal &ExternalElectri cationWorks,Plumbing, Fire Fighting,FireAlarmSystem, Lifts,Water tanks, Landscape,Roads, etc.at IITKanpur (U.P.)

1. Rs. 57,22,76,030/- i/cCivil works :Rs. 46,23,12,903/-Electrical & Liftworks:10,99,63,12

Rs. 67,22,760/- 20 Months

Last date & time of submission of bid on 21.07.2020 up to 5.00 PM. All details are available onwebsite,http://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app, www.tenderhome.com & www.iitk.ac.in/iwd/tenderhall.htm.The bids can only be submitted online at https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app. Any corrigendumregarding this tender will be published only on above mentioned websites.No. 1112 IWD/CO/2020-21/ Dated: 23.06.2020

Superintending EngineerPhone No. 0512-259-7725

Purvanchal VidyutVitran Nigam Limited(PuVVNL) (A subsidiary

of UP Power CorporationLimited) Purvanchal VidyutBhavan, Vidyut Nagar, P.O.-D.L.W., Varanasi- 221004Website: http:// www.etender.up.nic.in Tender DateExtension The date ofsubmission & opening of e-tender no., EAV-06/2020-21 &EAV-07/2020-21 is here byextended up to 09.07.2020(15:00 PM) & 10.07.2020 (15:00PM) respectively. Further detailscan be seen at websitewww.etender.up.nic.in. Otherterms and conditions shallremain same. Sd/- (RajeshKumar) SuperintendingEngineer (MM-I) “SAVEELECTRICITY IN THEINTEREST OF THE NATION”´fÂffaI : 1684/ ´fc.d½f.d½f.d³f.d»f.(½ff.)/Àff.´fi.-I/AA-I/ d½fÄff´f³f dQ³ffaI : 23.06.2020

General Public is hereby informed that oneman namely Shiv Prakash, S/o Babu Lal,R/o Footpath, Bangla Sahib Road, nearKalawati Hospital, NewDelhi,Age:About 48years, Complexion: Wheatish, Height:5' 6", Face:Oval,Built:Medium,Hair: Bald,Wearing: Blue colour T-shirt, dark browncolour pant, has been missing since

05.06.2020 at 3:00 pm. from the area of P.S. Mandir Marg, NewDelhi. In this regards a case DD No. 40A Dated 07.06.2020 hasbeen registered at P.S. Mandir Marg, New Delhi. Sincere effortshave been made by local police to trace out the man but no cluehas come to light so far. If any one having any information aboutthismanplease informundersigned.

SEARCH FORMISSING

Website: http//cbi.nic.inE-mail Id - [email protected].: 011-24368638, 24368641Fax No. 011-24368639DP/63/NDD/2020

Shiv Prakash

SHOPSMandir Marg, New Delhi

Ph. No. 011-23366730, 8750870522

4 NPP MLAs tocontinue tosupport BJP govtin Manipur: Sarma

Rajasthan minor tries to kill Congress MLA, detained

New Delhi

GOVT&POLITICS 7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

MANOJCG&RAVISHTIWARINEWDELHI, JUNE24

THEDEFECTIONoffiveRJDMLCstotheJD(U)andtheresignationofRJD co-founder RaghuvanshPrasad Singh as national vice-president has put a spotlight ontheanti-NDAcampinBiharaheadof Assembly elections. Amid therumblingsintheRJD,seniorlead-ersof thealliance, includingsen-ior Congress functionaries,metformally for the first time onWednesday.

With just months to go forAssembly polls, all is notwell intheRJD-ledOpposition alliance.Thesmallerparties—formerChiefMinister Jitan Ram Manjhi’sHAM(S), Upendra Kushwaha’sRLSP, andMukeshSahni’sVikas-sheel InsaanParty (VIP)—arenotagreeabletotheideaofprojectingLeader of Opposition and LaluPrasad’ssonTejashwiYadavasthechiefministerial candidate. TheRJD,ontheotherhand,maintainstheissueis“non-negotiable”.“Nitish Kumar’s governance

has been very poor this term.People aredissatisfiedwithhim.

It is an opportunity to dislodgehim. But, the impression thatLalu’s son (Tejashwi) is the alter-nativegivesNitish anadvantage.Thereisalotofbaggagewithanymember of Lalu’s family leadingthe fight,” saidatop leader intheanti-NDAallianceinBihar.TheRJDsaiditwasopentodis-

cussionbuthopedtheotherpar-tieswouldunderstanditsview.“Wewilldiscussit.Butthefact

is we are numerically thestrongestparty inBihar, in termsof seat share or vote share. If theparty has decided something,thenhowcanwegoback?What

willwetellourrankandfile?So,itis a question that others willsoonerorlaterunderstandthatis-sues are farmore important. ForRJD, it is non-negotiable,” RJDleaderManojKumar Jha toldThe

IndianExpress.Though they are not sure

whethertheRJDwillconcedethisargument, the smaller players intheOppositionalliance are keento impress “this ground reality”upontheCongressandareaskingit topersuadeLalutochangetac-tics. Sources said theyhave con-veyedthisviewtoseniorCongressleader Ahmed Patel. It is learntthatKushwahaandManjhihadameetingwithPatelonTuesday.Patel attendedWednesday’s

virtual meeting with ManojKumar Jha,Manjhi, KushwahaandSahni.AICCgeneralsecretary

in charge of Bihar ShaktisinhGohil,AICCgeneral secretaryKCVenugopal, Bihar Congress chiefMadanMohan JhaandCongresslegislaturepartyleaderSadanandSingh also joined. Patel andVenugopalattendingthemeetingsignifies the importance theCongressattachestosmoothsail-ingof thealliance.Sources said the issueof seat

sharing or Tejashwi’s projectiondidnot comeuponWednesdayas itwas apreliminarymeeting.Sources saidCongress presidentSoniaGandhiandTejashwiwouldsoonmeet. “Everything shall be

settled,”aseniorCongress leadersaid. But the smaller parties arestillnotconvinced,andthis issueisfastemergingasastickingpointinthealliance.“Thishandicap(impressionof

Tejashwileading)canonlybead-dressedwiththeconsentof Lalu.WehopetheCongressrealisesthisandpersuades Lalu about an al-ternativemechanismwhere theRJDleadsthealliancebutdoesn’tgivetheimpressionthatitisNitishvs Tejashwi battle,” said theOppositionleader,pinninghopesontheCongresstolenditsweight.The Congress, which has a

closeworking relationshipwiththeRJDandbenefitedfromtheal-liancein2015Assemblyelectionsisyettomakeupitsmind.Withpolls justafewmonths

away, the Covid pandemic hasdisrupted political activities inBihar.ButactionhasbegunafterseniorBJPleaderAmitShahhelda virtual rally of party workersearly thismonth.ChiefMinisterNitishKumartoohasbegunpo-litical stocktaking within hisparty.ThedefectionofRJDMLCs,in fact, has virtually kickstartedthe political action of leadersshiftingcamps.

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA, JUNE24

THE RJD’S three candidates forBihar Legislative Council pollsfiled their nominations onWednesday,adayaftertheJD(U)announced its threenominees.The RJD has picked Sunil

Singh, Farooq Shekh andRambaliSingh.TherewasabuzzaboutformerhealthministerTejPratap Yadav—MLA fromMahua—getting anMLC berth,butthepartyreportedlydecidedagainst it.SanjayMayukh and Samrat

Choudhary filed their nomina-tions fromtheBJP.The last date of filing nomi-

nation isThursday.With five of the RJD's eight

MLCs having defected, formerCMRabri Devi is set to lose theLeaderofOppositionpositionintheLegislativeCouncil.Herpartyis expected to have only sixMLAs, two short of the 10 percentrequiredintheHouseof75.TheRJD’sMLCnomineesare

acombinationofanuppercaste(Sunil Singh, head ofBiscomaun),aminoritycommu-nity member (Farooq Sheikh)andanEBC(Rambali Singh).Although Tej Pratap has not

publicly expressed displeasureat not being nominated, an RJDsource said there have beenheated arguments between TejPratap and two top party lead-ers. "The differences betweenthetwobrothersmaysharpenasAssemblypolldrawsclose,”saidanRJDsource.

RJD’sManoj Jha(left); andCongleaderAhmedPatel

Bihar Oppn leaders meet amid rumblings in RJD, unease among partners

RJD’s 3 MLCcandidates filenomination

SUSHANTKULKARNIPUNE, JUNE24

VOICINGCONCERN that supplychain of various crucial items tothe Army has already been af-fectedduetoclosureofordnancefactories during the lockdown,three key federations havewrit-ten to PrimeMinister NarendraModiandurgedhimtowithdrawtheproposedmovetocorporatiseordnancefactories to“avoid(an)indefinitestrike”inthemiddleoftheLACtension.The strike ballot called by

threeworkers' federations from41ordnancefactoriesagainstthedecision to corporatise theOrdnance Factories Board (OFB)concluded on June 17. In it, theworkersvoted infavourof an in-definitestrike.Butconsideringthesituation

along theLACwithChina, adateof the strikewill be announcednextmonth.In the fourth tranche of the

Armanirbhar Bharat initiative,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman had onMay 16 an-nouncedthedecisiontocorpora-tise theOFB for “improving au-tonomy, accountability andefficiencyinordnancesuppliers”.The three main federations,whichrepresentover85percentofordnanceworkforceof82,000,have unanimously opposed thedecision.A joint press statement by

Bhartiya PratirakshaMazdoorSangh, an arm of RSS-affiliatedBharatiyaMazdoor Sangh; AllIndia Defence Employees'Federation, a federation of Leftunions; and the IndianNationalDefenceWorkers’ Federation, oftheCongress'sINTUC,stated,“Thefederations,afterconsideringtheprevailingcriticalsituationinthecountryand the tensionprevail-ing on the border [LAC] havemade an appeal to PMModi towithdrawthe...decisiontocorpo-ratiseOrdnanceFactories,sothattheemployeescancontributeinamotivatedmannerbyincreasingtheproduction...”

Withdrawcorporatisationplan to avoidstrike: ordnanceworkers to PM

New Delhi

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,JUNE25,2020

THEOUTBREAKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

IRAMSIDDIQUEMUMBAI, JUNE24

REELING FROM financial losses,the Maharashtra State RoadTransport Corporation (MSRTC)onWednesday announced a 50percentcutinthesalariesofoverone lakh employees for themonth ofMay. In a circular, thetransportundertakingstatedthefinancial burden on it has in-creased owing to the lockdown,duringwhichmovementofbuseswascompletelysuspended.ThisisthefirsttimetheMSRTC

hasfailedtopayitsemployees.The circular further elabo-

rated that stepswill be taken toensurethatemployeesgetmin-imum25percentsalaryinhand.Thishasbeendoneasmanyem-ployeeshave taken loans forco-

operatives, which get deductedfrom salaries. In certain cases,theapplicationofthe50percentcutwouldhaveledtoemployeesnot getting anymoney at all af-

ter their loandeductions.MSRTC employees are yet to

receive theirMay salary, even asthetransportundertakingfacesacumulativelossofRs6,000crore.

Unionshaveopposedthede-cision to deduct salaries, accus-ingthemanagementofnotfore-seeing the crises and notplanning for it.ShrirangBarge,generalsecre-

tary of Maharashtra STKarmachariCongress,said,“ThoseinthelowerrungwithsalaryofRs20,000permonthwillbeseverelyaffected.Themanagementshouldhaveforeseenthecrisesandheldaconsultationwithrelevantgov-ernment authorities.Over a lakhemployeesalongwiththeir fam-ilies depend on theMSRTC fortheir livelihood.”Bargeallegedthatdespitein-

curring a loss of about Rs 22crore per day, the MSRTC de-pended entirely on Rs 1,600crore that the corporation re-ceived annually from the gov-ernment as part of the reim-

bursement for paying employ-ees theirdues.With its passenger services

completely shut sinceMarch23,it was only onMay 21 that theMSRTC entered the freight seg-ment and began transportinggoods in its trucks. In the threeweeks since, theMSRTCmadeaboutRs21 lakhby transporting3,000 tonnes of goods. It trans-ported grains, fertilisers, vegeta-bles alongwith iron pipes andpaintsfromacross33divisionsinthestate.Thecorporationishope-ful of increasing its earningsthroughthetransportationsector.Soon after the pandemic

struck,thestategovernmenthaddecidedtopaysalariesof itsem-ployees in two tranches for themonth of March. Subsequently,salaries have beenpaid on timewithoutanycuts.

Amunicipalcorporationworkerspraysdisinfectantatagovernmentschool inBengaluruonWednesday.TheKarnatakaSecondaryEducationExaminationBoard isset toholdthe10thstandardexamfromThursdaywithprecautionarymeasures inplace. PTI

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JUNE24

THEMADHYA Pradesh govern-mentonWednesdayannouncedthat it will launch a fortnight-long ‘Kill Corona’ campaignstarting July 1 to screen allhouseholds in thestate.Ten thousand teamswill be

formed, and eachwill cover 100households every day, said stateHealth Minister NarottamMishra. He said Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan had de-cided to screen the entire popu-lationafterbeingencouragedbythe state's efforts to contain thespreadofthepandemic.Thecam-paignwillbeginfromBhopal.The MP government an-

nouncedthecampaignthedayitsactivecasescamedownto2,441.With 187 new cases, the totalcount climbed to 12,448. Thedeath tollmounted to 534withninedeathsinthelast24hours.Chouhan said the state has

performed better in containingthe pandemic than others. Hesaid that at 1.43 per cent, thegrowthratewasthelowestinthecountry.Hesaidtherewasatimewhen the state’s share of Covidcaseswassixpercent,whichhasnowcomedownto1.3percent.Principal Secretary (Health)

Fair Ahmed Kidwai told TheIndianExpressthatsurveyteamswill also ask information aboutmalaria, dengue and diarrhoeaanduploaditontheSarthakapp.Meanwhile,Mishra said the

state has reworked its contain-ment policy of 21 days. Earlier,thousandswouldbeaffectedfor21days as entire areas inwhicha casewas detectedwould be-comecontainment zones.Now,if a case is reported, only thehousesflankingtheaffectedonewill be placed in containment.Another screeningwill be car-ried out five days later and if nocase is found, the other houseswillnolongerbepartofthe con-tainmentzone.

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI, JUNE24

INDIAISgearinguptoinstallAI-based ‘Covid surveillance’ cam-eras that detect body tempera-turesof individualsandwhetheraperson iswearingamask.First off the block is Indian

Railways, which has called fortenderstopurchasethesystemsfor railway stations and otherplacesexpectedtoseesignificantfootfall,withafewrailwayzoneshaving already concluded thepurchase, suchas inMumbai.Officials said the cameras

weremeant for the next phaseof containment strategy to gohand in handwith India’s grad-ual return tonormalcy.However, Railways has ex-

cluded a crucial specification

called“blackbody”temperaturein the cameras in many cases.While the cameras with blackbodysensingcapabilitycostup-wardsofRs4lakhapiece,indus-try sources said the oneswith-out this feature would becheaper by around half of thatpercamera.Railways’telecomarmRailtel

floated a tender to purchasearound 800 such camera sys-tems. It initially did not includeblackbodydetection as a speci-fication but has now issued acorrigendumto include it.Tenders called by Central

Railwayoverthepastonemonth--forinstallationatlargestationsinMumbai and North FrontierRailway in Guwahati -- soughtthecamerastohavetheabilitytodetect black body temperature,but the latest crop of tenders

calledbyzonessuchasNorthern,Southern and South WesternRailway, have not included thisin their specifications, givingmixedsignals to the industry.

“In the post-Covid scenario,nothavingthisabilityincamerasmeanttodetectfeverinapersonmayhaveimplicationsthatpeo-ple with symptoms like fever

might not get detected and en-terpublicplaces,”claimedanin-dustry insider.In its enforcementpolicy for

telethermographic systems aspart of Covid-19 public healthemergency recommendations,the US Food and DrugAdministration(FDA)lists“accu-rateblackbodytemperatureref-erence source” as one of thespecifications for accuracy oftemperature fromaCovidpointof view in such devices. Thesethermalcamerascancoverlargeareas, detecting and recordingtemperaturesofmultiplepeopleatonce.However, an Indian Railway

spokesman said both types ofcamerasareacceptable,depend-ing on the purpose. “Wheremass transit is there, scannerswith black body are preferable.

For normal/controlled move-ment, scanners without blackbodyareacceptable,”hesaid.The spokesman said the

SouthWesternRailwaywantedAI-based systemswith face de-tectiontechnology.“Besidestheadvantageofneedingnocalibra-tion, this specificationwill havehigheraccuracy,”hesaid,adding,“the issue of specification ofblackbodyisinfructuous.Allde-cisionsweretakenatzonallevelskeeping in view the best needsand solutions in the given cir-cumstances. Both types of de-vicesareefficientandgood.”Around35companiespartic-

ipated in the tender for NorthFrontier Railwaywhile 15 com-peted for the one floated byCentral Railway, signifying agrowingpieforthesebusinessesinpost-Covid India.

RITIKACHOPRANEWDELHI, JUNE24

THE MINISTRY of HumanResourceDevelopment(HRD)islikely to grant centrally-runhighereducationinstitutionsanextra year to implement the 10percentquota foreconomicallyweaker sections (EWS), giventhatmany institutions have notbeenabletocreateadditionalin-frastructurebecauseofthecoro-navirus lockdown.A proposal to this effectwas

recentlymoved in theMinistryafter the IITs and NITs sought ayear's extension to the 2021deadline to add seats to accom-modate thenewquota.Adecisiononthesuggestion,

whichhasbeenmadeby seniorofficers in the Ministry, is ex-pectedsoon.Severaluniversitiesand institutes have already be-gun, or are about to begin, theprocessof admission.The Indian Express had re-

ported on June 3 that IITs andNITshadrequestedanextensionof the deadline citing the chal-lenge of ensuring distancing inhostels,andthedelayinthecon-struction of new hostels due tothe lockdown. The IITs had, infact, submitted a request for anextension as early as in

September last year, but it wasnotaccepted.TheHRDMinistryhadsetthe

2021deadlinetoimplementthereservation forEWSbyanexec-utive order on January 17, 2019.Allcentrally-fundededucationalinstitutions, including IITs,NITs,IIMs, central universities, IISERsandIIITs,wereaskedtoincreasetheiroverallstudentstrengthby25%overtwoyearstoaccommo-datethequota.Thiswasdonetoensure there is no reduction intheexistingseatsforSC,ST,OBC,andgeneral categorystudents.TheIITshavetocollectivelyin-

creasetheirintakeofstudentsfortheundergraduate,masters andresearchprogrammesbyaround6,700seats.Approximately2,300seats—about500of themintheB.Techprogramme—wereaddedin2019-20; theremaining4,400seats, includingaround1,300forB.Tech, were expected to beaddedthisyear.“Inordertoaccommodatethe

increased student population,hostel facilities for the studentswereintheprocessofbeingaug-mentedbyconstructingnewhos-tels... However, due to the recentlockdownimposedbyCOVID-19outbreak leading to the subse-quentstopofalltheconstruction-relatedwork,theprocesstocom-plete the above task toaccommodatethisincreaseinstu-dentenrolmenthasencounteredamajor obstacle. It is imminentthat the constructionworkwillnot be completed in time,” theJointAdmissionBoardof the IITswrotetotheMinistrylastmonth.Sourcessaidthe IITs' request

wasdiscussedatameetingofallbureauheadsintheMinistryre-cently, afterwhich theproposalto allow the extension wasmoved. “TheMinistry doesn'tneedtogoto theCabinet for thedeadlineextensionasitdoesnotinvolve a cost overrun,” an offi-cial said.


THE RISE in Covid-19 casesacrossthecountryhaspromptedtheHRDMinistry to reconsiderits alternative calendar for uni-versitiesandcollegesthatsched-uledexaminations for July.Thiscomesevenasapleaon

scrappingtheremainingClass12CBSEexamsisbeingheardintheSupreme Court, a decision onwhich isexpectedThursday.HRD Minister Ramesh

Pokhriyal has asked the UGC torevisititsalternativecalendar,re-leased onApril 29, according towhichthefinalsemesteroryear-endexaminationsforgraduatingstudentsweretobeheld in July.

“Ihaveadvisedthe@ugc_in-dia to revisit the guidelines is-suedearlierforintermediateandTerminalSemesterexaminationsand academic calendar. Thefoundation for revisited guide-lines shall be health and safetystudents, teachers and staff,”Pokhriyal tweetedWednesday.The “UGC Guidelines on

Examinations and AcademicCalendar for theUniversities inViewofCOVID-19PandemicandSubsequent Lockdown” wasdrafted on the basis of recom-mendations by a committeeheaded by Haryana CentralUniversity vice-chancellor RCKuhad.Thehighereducationreg-ulatorhasreferredtheguidelinesbacktothiscommitteeforreview,saidsources.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, JUNE24

THE GUJARAT High Court onTuesday granted bail to 33mi-grant labourers, mainly fromJharkhand,whowere in jail foroveramonthforclashingwithpo-liceinVastrapur,withthecourtofJusticePareshUpadhyayobserv-ing that the accusedwere “vic-tims,andcertainlynotcriminals.”The migrants were in jail

sinceMay 18when the FIRwasregisteredagainst them.NiravMishra, the advocate

representing the accused, sub-mitted before the court that themigrantswerewithoutanywork,moneyandevenfoodduringthelockdown.“...underthesecircum-stances, theywanted to go backhome,which led to the allegeduntowardincidentofMay18,andregistration of the offence inquestion,whereinasmanyas35peoplearenamedasaccused.”Largely unopposed by the

statethroughitspublicprosecu-tor, thecourtdeemedit fit toex-erciseitsdiscretiontoreleasetheapplicantsonbail.Thecourtalsoobservedthatinsteadofarrang-ing for their travel back home,theyweresent to jail.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JUNE24

TO CONTAIN the spread of thenovel coronavirus, the WestBengal government onWednesday extended the lock-down with the current relax-ations till July31 in thestate.Thecurrentspellof thelock-

downwas toendon June30.Announcing thedecisionaf-

ter presiding an all-partymeet-ing, Chief Minister MamataBanerjeesaid,“Manypartiesex-pressed different opinions ontackling the coronavirus pan-demic... But we decided to ex-tendthelockdown...Wearesay-ingthatsincetheCovid-19casesareincreasingintheentirecoun-try, it isourresponsibilitytohelpimprove thesituation...”Schools,collegesandallother

education institutes will stayclosed till July31, sheadded.While the government of-

fices will function in a “segre-gatedmanner”with70percentattendance and employees fol-lowing social distancingnorms,the Metro and suburban trainserviceswillcontinuetoremainsuspended.Shoppingmalls, restaurants

andothersimilarestablishmentshad resumed services inBengalon June8afteragapofover twomonths, with the state govern-ment allowing relaxations aspartofUnlock-1.

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JUNE24

SEVENTEENMIGRANTworkersfromWest Bengal, who arrivedin Kerala last week for a powerproject, have tested positive forCovid-19.This is the first time thatmi-

grants from other states testedpositive for the virus in Kerala,where90per centof caseshavebeen attributed to Keralites re-turning from other parts of thecountryor fromabroad.Health Department officials

said the 17 were among 35workers who were ferried toKerala by a special bus fromWestBengal.With over 3 lakh migrant

workers in Kerala returning totheir home states, the PinarayiVijayan government is desper-ately looking for migrants tokeepmoving its construction,service and agriculture sectors,which have almost come to astandstill.After a reviewmeeting on

Wednesday,Vijayantoldtheme-diathatasmigrantworkershavebegunreturningtoKerala,thein-spectionoftheirdocumentsandother details would be held atrailwaystationsclosetothestateborders.“All thosemigrant workers

would be sent into quarantine,whichwouldbetheresponsibil-ityof the contractorswhobringtheworkers.Thoseworkerswhodonothavecontractorsasspon-sors should be sent for institu-tional quarantine. That facilitywould be organised at the dis-trict levels,” theCMsaid.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JUNE24

TRINAMOOL CONGRESS MLATamonash Ghosh, who testedpositive for Covid-19 in May,died at a hospital in WestBengal’sSouth-24Parganasdis-trictonWednesday.Hewas60.Ghosh is the firstMLA in the

tohavediedof thecoronavirus.The three-time MLA from

FaltaAssemblyconstituencywasadmitted to a hospital after hetested positive. Sources said hehad several complications re-lated to the heart and kidney,and that hediedofmulti-organfailure.Ghoshwasakeysupporterof

ChiefMinisterMamataBanerjee,

and wasmade the TMC treas-urer in 1998when she foundedtheparty.Banerjee offered her condo-

lences, sayinghehas“left avoidwhich isdifficult to fill”.Earlier, TMCMLA and state

FireServicesMinisterSujitBosetestedpositive forCovid-19andwas admitted to a hospital. Hiswife and domestic help alsotestedpositive.Bose was discharged after-

wardsandispresentlyunderob-servationathis residence.

MAHARASHTRA

MSRTC announces 50%cut inMaysalary for over 1 lakh employees

Healthworkersscreenresidentsof aMumbaihousingsocietyonWednesday.AmitChakravarty

People lineupoutsidetheLudhianastation.GurmeetSingh

17 migrants fromBengal whocame to Keralalast week testpositive for virus

Bengal extendslockdown withcurrentrelaxationstill July 31

Rlys floats tenders for ‘Covid surveillance’ cameras

HRD Ministry asks UGCto revisit exam calendar


CLIMBINGDOWN from its ear-lier stand that a Covid-19 nega-tive certificate ismandatory forflyingtoKeralabyspecial flightsfrom theMiddle East, the stategovernmentonWednesdaysaid“all returnees should sincerelytry to take the test” in countrieswhichoffer that facility.Themovetomakethecertifi-

cate mandatory had triggeredprotestsbyNRIsandOppositionparties,whichhadallegeditwasabid to reduce the returnof ex-patriates to Kerala, where re-turnees account for a majorchunkof Covid-19cases.

Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan said, “All thosewho re-turn fromcountrieswhichhaveCovid-19testfacilityshouldsin-cerely try to take the test 72hours within the journey.Passengerswhohavenotunder-gone tests abroad should un-dergo rapid antibody test ontheir arrival inKerala airports. Ifrequired, they would have totakeRT-PCRtestalso.”The government has, how-

ever, put various conditions forpassengers depending upontheircountryoforigin,testingfa-cility and status of Covid out-break. Forexample, the testwillbe mandatory for passengersfrom the UAE as that countrysubjects all outbound passen-gers toantibody test.

Kerala softens NRI rule ofCovid-negative certificate

HRD may allow institutes extrayear to bring in EWS quota

THECONSTITUTION(124thAmendment)Billtogrant10percentreser-vationforEWSwaspassedbyParliamentandbecamelawinJanuary2019.This isthefirst timethatreservationhasbeenallowedoneconomicgrounds.AnEWSbenefi-ciaryisapersonwhosefamilyhasagrossannualincomebelowRs8lakh.

FirstquotaoneconomicdeprivationE●EX

PLAINED

JOHNSONTABENGALURU, JUNE24

THEKARNATAKAgovernmentiscontemplating a partial lock-downof Bengaluru in thewakeof risingCovid-19cases, evenasthecivicbodyonWednesdayor-dered sealing of the old CityMarket area after 20 fresh caseswere reported there.Forty-oneoutofBengaluru's

198 wards may have to besealed,whichwouldamount toapartial lockdown,sourcessaid.With Class 10 Board exams

scheduledfromJune25toJuly8,afull lockdownisnotbeingcon-sidered, cityofficials said.Thedoublingrateoftheinfec-

tioninBengaluruiseightdays,asagainst18daysforKarnatakaand19for thecountry.Compared to 358 confirmed

cases reported in Bengaluru be-tweenMarch 8 andMay 31, asmanyas1,320positivecaseshavebeen reported since June 1. Thepresence of 1,124 active cases inthecityhasputhealthcareserv-iceson theedge, especially afterseveral healthcare and policepersonnel were reported in-fectedbythevirusacrossthecity.Infectionsamongstaffattwo

key testing laboratories inBengaluruhasalsoputthemout

of action, thereby increasingpressureonothercity labs.Bengaluru had reported 10

deathsduetoCovid-19uptoMay31; there have been 68 deathssince June1. Case fatality rate forthe city is currently 6.9 per centamongCovid-19patients, com-paredto1.6percentforKarnataka,which has reported 164 coron-avirusdeathsin10,118casessofar.With all government hospi-

talsinBengalurufull,theauthor-ities are scrambling to createseparate facilities for nearly 60per cent patients who areasymptomaticbuthospitalised.The government has nowopened up Covid-19 treatmentatprivatehospitals.Visits tobiggovernmenthos-

pitals in Bengaluru --- VictoriaHospital, BowringHospital, RajivGandhiInstituteofChestDIseases,C V Raman Nagar GeneralHospital, K C General Hospital,Jayanagar General Hospital ---whichhavearound1,000Covid-19bedsbetween them, revealedthat all beds are full.With onlyaround100 ICUbedsavailable inthese hospitals for coronavirus,and 63 of them in use as ofWednesday, there is concern intheeventofaspikeinICUcases.“Therearenobeds inour fa-

cility.The100isolationbedsandfour ICU beds kept aside for

Covid-19patientsarefull,”asen-ior doctor at Rajiv GandhiInstituteof ChestDiseases said.The government on

Wednesday designated an ESIHospital in east Bengaluru as adedicated Covid-19 hospital forpolicemen and stated thatasymptomaticpolicepersonnelwill beadmittedonadedicatedfloorataCovidcarecentrebeingpreparedatArtofLivingashram.“We have 121 policemen in

quarantineinourdivisionalone.Marathahalli police station isshut. Resources are gettingstretched,'' DCP,Whitefield re-gion,MNAnucheth,whoispartof a task force tomoveCovid-19patients tocare facilities, said.Health Secretary Jawaid

Akhtar held a meeting onWednesday for partnershipswithprivatehospitalsandhotelstoaccommodateasymptomaticpatients. “This PPPmodel willfreeupmorebedsinmedicalfa-cilitiesforsymptomaticandcrit-icalpatients,whileensuringthat80% asymptomatic patients arekept isolated, reducing the riskof transmission,” the HealthDepartmentsaid.Former CM H D

Kumaraswamy onWednesdayrequesteda20-daylockdowninthe city to control the spread ofcoronavirus.

FORTNIGHT-LONGCAMPAIGNTOSTARTJULY1

MP: ‘Kill corona’ driveto screen all households

West Bengal: TrinamoolMLA dies of coronavirus

TamonashGhosh

Gujarat: 33migrants heldfor clashing withpolice get bail

Partial lockdown of Bengaluruon cards as Covid cases rise

New Delhi


EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI/PUNE, JUNE24

THE GOVERNMENT onWednesday approved the cre-ationofanewbodythatwillworktowardsagreaterinvolvementofprivate industry, academic insti-tutions and research organisa-tions in India’s space sector. Theproposed IndianNational SpacePromotion and AuthorisationCentre, or IN-SPACe,will act as asingle-point interface betweenIndian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO), and every-onewhowants to participate inspace-related activities, or useIndia’sspaceresources.Briefing reporters after a

meeting of the Union Cabinet,Minister of State for the PrimeMinister's Office andDepartment of Space JitendraSingh said that the proposedbody would attempt to “en-hancethesocio-economicuseofspace assets and activities, in-cluding access to space assetsdataandactivities”.“It will provide a level play-

ing field for private participantsto use Indian space infrastruc-ture.Itwillalsoguidetheprivateindustries in space activitiesthrough encouraging policiesandfriendlyregulatoryenviron-ments,”headded.

An official source said theoverall ideawas to let ISRO con-centrateonessentialactivitieslikeresearchanddevelopment,plan-etary exploration, and strategicuse of space,while freeing itselffrom ancillary or routineworkwhichcouldeasilybedonebypri-vate industry. At the same time,allowing industries and otherslikestudents, researchersoraca-demic bodies greater access tospaceassetswouldleadtoamuchbetterutilisationofIndiaspacere-sources, andmore fruitful dis-seminationofspacetechnologies.Describing the decision as

“historic” and “pathbreaking”,

Singhsaid,“Thisdecisionoftodaywill allowISROto focusmoreonresearchanddevelopmentactiv-ities,whilethisIN-SPACewillaug-menttheSpaceCommission…”Theminister also announced

a new Indian National SpacePromotionboardwoldalsobesetup.“TherewillbestrengtheningoftheDepartment of Space. Somenewpostswill be created, somestructureswillbecreatedbut,inanutshell, wewill have this newboardcalledIndianNationalSpacePromotionanditwill takecareofwhatisknownasprivatespaceen-trepreneurs ornon-governmentspaceentrepreneurs,”Singhsaid.

HeaddedtheactivitiesofNewSpaceIndialimited(NSIL),apub-lic enterprise created last year,willalsobeextendedfroma‘sup-ply driven’model to a ‘demanddriven’model.NSILwassetupforcommercial exploitation of theresearch and development ofISRO and its several centres andlaboratories.Much of theworkNSIL does will also need to beroutedthroughIN-SPACenow.“Some of the planetary ex-

plorationmissions will also beopened up to the private sectorthrough an ‘announcement ofopportunity’mechanism,” readanofficial statement.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHENNAI, JUNE24

THE MADRAS High Court onWednesday sought a reportfrom the police on the allegedcustodialkillingofamanandhisson near Thoothukudi districtthat has sparkedoutrage acrossTamilNadu.P Jeyaraj (63) and his son J

Fennix (31), both traders, weretaken into custodyonFriday forallegedly violating lockdownrules. They were later shiftedfrom a sub-jail to a hospital,where theydied. Their relativeshave alleged that both werethrashedand torturedbypolicepersonnel incustody.The incident, which

prompted a strike by tradersandshopowners inTamilNaduon Wednesday, was beingheard inthehighcourtafter thefamilyof thevictims sought itsintervention. On Tuesday, too,severalpeoplehadhitthestreetsin Sathankulam, a town nearThoothukudi, to protest the al-leged tortureandkilling.The Madurai bench of the

Madras High Court asked thepolice to submit its report onFriday.Thegovernmenthasalsoorderedajudicialprobeintothematter. JusticesPNPrakashandBPugalendiofthedivisionbenchwanted the state police chief J KTripathy to appear before thecourt on Wednesday, despiteTuticorinSPArunBalagopalandIG South zone K P ShanmugaRajeswaran, being present. DGPTripathywasnotabletocomeashe had an urgent meeting inChennai, thecourtwastold.The victims’ family sought

murderchargesagainsttwopo-lice sub-inspectors, whowere

placed under suspension onTuesday.Thekinsaidtheywouldnot accept the bodies till theirdemandwasheeded.The post-mortemexamina-

tion was carried out at theTirunelveliGovernmentHospitalinthepresenceofamagistrate.Accordingtoseniorpoliceof-

ficer,thepreliminaryinquiryhasfound“seriouslapses”bythelo-cal officers. “On Friday, a policeteam visited the victims’ shopandwarnedthemaboutfollow-ing lockdown timings. Theyobeyed, but allegedly madesome critical remarks. An autodriver overheard their com-mentsandinformedapoliceof-ficer,which led to their custodyand severe torture,” this officersaidonTuesday.An officer under the district

administrationhadsaidbothfa-therandsonwere tortured.The local officer said an in-

quiry by the SP office revealedthat there were 13-15 officersat the station when the inci-dent happened.“When the inspector and

otherofficersstartedbeatingthefather, his son questioned this.Therearetwoversions—onethatthe son was beaten when hequestioned the attack onhis fa-ther,andanotherversionsayingthe son tried to stop the inspec-tor from using force to preventthe torture on his father.However,thisledtoabrutaltor-turesessiononfatherandsonatthe station. They were re-manded in Kovilpatti sub-jailunderSections188,383and506(II). Then they were shifted toKovilpatti government hospitalastheirconditionworsened.Theson died onMonday night andfather died early Tuesday,” theofficer saidonTuesday.

Shops shut in TNto protest custodydeath of trader, son;HC seeks report

ADILAKHZERSRINAGAR, JUNE24

THE SHRI Amarnathji ShrineBoard (SASB), which conductsthe annualAmarnathYatra, hasapproachedDoordarshanforlivetelecastofmorningandeveningpoojaonDDNationalduringthepilgrimage, which is likely tostartnextmonth.As per the proposal, there

would be live telecast of thepooja for half-an-hour each inmornings and evenings on DDNational, and itmay be telecastonDDKashmirduringtheYatraperiod,GDTahir,headprogram-ming, Doordarshan Kendra,Srinagar, toldTheIndianExpress.“If it (telecast) takes place, it

willbeafirst ,”hesaid.“Thefinaldecision has to be taken by theheadquarters.”Tahirsaid,“They[SASB]have

approachedDoordarshantoex-plorethepossibilityof conduct-ing the live telecast.... It is at theplanning stage. Earlier we ranrecorded programmes duringthe Yatra. This time they areplanning live telecast becauseyatris(pilgrims)arenotallowedin bulk (numbers) due to thecoronaviruspandemic.”Theproposalcomesata time

when discussions are on for ashorter version of the Yatra this

year in view of the pandemic.Whileofficialsareyettoannouncethedates, sources said it hasun-officially been informed that it islikelytostartonJuly21andendinthefirstweekofAugust.Theannualpilgrimagemaybe

cutdownto15days,andtakeonlythe shorter Baltal route, sourcessaid.TheBaltaltrekis14kmfromthe base camp at Baltal, inGanderbaldistrict,althoughmostpilgrims choose the Pahalgamroute,whichisapproximately30km from Chandanwari inAnantnagdistrict.Inastatement,theadministra-

tioninformedthat“allritualswithmorning andeveningpooja/artishall takeplacewith effect fromJuly5 (VyasPoornima) toAugust3 (Raksha Bandhan), notwith-standingthedelayinaformalan-nouncementofthedates.Ganderbal's Deputy

CommissionerShafqatIqbaltoldThe Indian Express onWednesday that work to pre-pare the trek has been com-pleted. “We have made thepreparations from our side andwe are waiting for further in-structions,” he said. HealthDepartment officials inGanderbal said the departmenthas suggested that pilgrims be-low15yearsandabove60yearsshouldn’tbeallowedthis time.

WITHENS,JAMMU

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI, JUNE24

THE ASSAM government hasstartedamentalhealth supportprogramme for Covid patientsand quarantined persons in thestate to provide emotional sup-port,counsellingandtreatment.The programme, called

‘Monon’,wasstartedonJune17.The team behind it comprises220 psychiatrists, clinical psy-chologists, psychiatric socialworkers, and trained voluntarycounsellors.ItisledbyDrMythiliHazarika,anAssociateProfessorofClinicalPsychologyatGauhatiMedicalCollegeandHospital.

In the first six days, the‘Monon’ teammade a total of2,543 calls to under-treatmentCovid patients or those whohaverecovered.Outofthis,1,212personsneededcounselling.According to official figures,

outofthe1,200-oddpeoplewhoneeded counselling, 94 werefoundtobedepressed,139withsymptomsofclinicalanxietyandatleastninepeoplesufferedsui-cidaltendencies.Butof thediag-nosedpeople,43hadpsychiatricsymptoms before the outbreakof the Covid pandemic. Healthofficials say that further treat-ment and rehabilitation pro-grammes will be worked outbasedontheassessmentsbythe

‘Monon' team.“Thisisauniquekindofapro-

gramme, where the mentalhealth professionals are callingthosewhomightneedhelpratherthan justwaiting for themtocallus,” Hazarika told The IndianExpress.Sheaddedthateachper-sonontheteamisallottedtocallat least15Covidpatientsperday.When asked about the pri-

mary reasons behind mentalhealth issues that have beenfound through the programme,Hazarika told The IndianExpress, “Stress over jobprospectsandfinancial issuesofthe family; anxiety caused by asense of uncertainty about thenearfutureduetoCovid;andfor

migrantworkers,whether theycan go back towhere they havecomeback from.”Samir Sinha, Principal

Secretary, Health and FamilyWelfare Department, told TheIndian Express, “These are criti-caltimes.Alargenumberofpeo-ple, fromdifferentwalks of life,are seeking emotional supportand counselling. This pro-gramme is our endeavour to-wardsprovidingpeople that.”Headdedthatrightfromthe

time the programmewas con-ceptualised, itwas stressed thattheteamshouldbereachingouttopeople. “Unlesswereachout,wewillneverbeable toprovidethe necessary mental health

supporttoavastmajority,whichwill otherwise remain silentabouttheirsuffering,”Sinhasaid.Apart from the calls being

madebyteam‘Monon’,therearescores of people calling the gov-ernmentofAssam’s104helplinefromquarantine centres seekinghelp through thenew initiative.Officialsplanmorepromotionofthehelplineinquarantinecentres.AsofWednesday,Assamhas

reported over 6,000 Covid pa-tients, of which over 2,200 areactive cases. The numbers haveincreased sharply in recentweeks, and there are fears ofcommunity-level transmissioninGuwahati,with largeparts ofthecityunder lockdown.

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JUNE24

THEPOLICEinMadhyaPradesh'sKhandwa have decided tolaunchacounsellinghelplineaf-teranumberofsuicidesandsui-cideattemptsinthedistrictinre-centweeks.From June 1 to June 19 as

manyas26personsdiedbysui-cide. The number in the corre-spondingperiodin2019was18.“Wearetryingtoropeinpsy-

chiatristsandpsychologistswhowill providecounselling topeo-ple,’’ Khandwa Superintendentof Police Vivek Singh told TheIndianExpress.Psychiatrist at the Khandwa

districthospital,DrSanjayIngle,claimed the number of peopletryingtoattemptsuicidehas“al-mostdoubled”.Hesaidmanyofthesepeople

arebread-winners.Otherswerestudents preparing for compet-itiveexaminations.SPSinghsaidthetrendwasa

cause for concern. He said thenumberofsuicidesinthedistrictfromMay 17 toMay 31was 11,marginallymoreduringthecor-responding period last year

when it was nine. The SP, how-ever, added that the number ofsuicideshasactuallycomedownfrom January1 to June19, com-pared with the correspondingperiod in2019.Chief Medical and Health

Officer Dr D S Chouhan said itwas true that the number ofsuicides was more in the lastfewweeks,butsaid itcannotbeattributed to the coronaviruspandemic and subsequentlockdown. “We can’t say theywere fuelledbythecoronaviruspandemicandthatsuicidal ten-dencies have increased. Thereare some months when thenumber goes up and down. Itcorresponds with the usualpattern,’’ he said.

DD approachedfor live telecast ofAmarnath poojaduring Yatra

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESURAT, JUNE24

A CONSTABLE attached to theSuratPolicehasbeensuspendedand arrested for allegedly as-saulting a woman clerk andpushinganassistantmanagerofa bank, reportedly after the lat-terrefusedtoprintthepassbookof theconstable's relative.Constable GhanshyamAhir

facedactionafteracall fromtheofficeofUnionFinanceMinisterNirmala Sitharaman to SuratPolice Commissioner RBBrahmbhatt, followingvideosoftheincidentcapturedonaCCTVcamera, taggingher,wentviral.The NCW also wrote to the

DGP, seekingstrict action.Police sources said the inci-

denttookplaceonJune22,whenonly twoemployeeswerepres-

entat thebankbranch inSaroli.Two persons, including the

constable, entered thepremisesandhadaheatedexchangewithassistant manager HarshadTiwari. “Clerk Suman Kumariand I were present in the bankonMondayafternoonwhentheman,whoshowedmehispoliceidentity card, used abusive lan-guage. He was not wearing amask and continued to abusewhen we told him to behaveproperly. He slapped Sumanwhenshestarted takingavideoof the incident on her mobilephone.Sumanfelldownandshesufferedafractureonherbackintheassault...” saidTiwari.Punagam police inspector,

VUGadariasaid, “Weregistereda non-cognisable offence onMondayanddetainedAhir.Later,we added IPC sections... and ar-restedhimonTuesdayevening.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU, JUNE24

ACHARTERED accountantwhoallegedly murdered his es-tranged wife at a flat inBengaluru on Sunday evening,before returning to Kolkata andkilling his mother-in-law andhimself thefollowingday,lefthis10-year-old son in a car in theapartmentblockwhileallegedlyexecutingthemurderofhiswife,Bengalurupolicehave found.Analysis of CCTV footage at

BrigadeMetropolis apartmentcomplex, inWhitefield area ofBengaluru, has led the police tobelieve that Shilpi Agarwal, 35,who was also a chartered ac-countant,wasmurderedbyhus-band Amit Agarwal, 36, around8.30pmonSunday.According toapolicesource,

the CCTV footage reveals thatAmitsathis10-year-oldsoninacar and returned to the 15th-floor flat where his estrangedwife lived. “He returned to theflatforaround20-30minutesaf-ter leaving his son in a car. Andthis waswhen themurderwascommitted,'' the sourcesaid.Shilpiwasfoundstrangledto

death outside the kitchen on

Monday eveningwhen the po-lice and the estate manager oftheapartmentcomplexopenedthe flat after being alerted byKolkata Police following the al-legedmurderofShilpi'smother,andAmit's suicide there.Shilpi lived in theBengaluru

flatwith their son.From the flat, Bengalurupo-

lice said they found a note, al-legedly left by Amit, claimingthat his wife and in-laws hadcausedhimmisery for15years.Mahadevapura police in

Bengaluruhaveregisteredacaseof murder against Amit on thebasis of a complaint filedby theestatemanager,MRajanna.Amit and Shilpi were sepa-

rated for nearly two years andwereintheprocessofobtainingadivorce, thepolice said.“A note was found in the

housewhere the body of ShilpiAgarwalwas found. Itwaswrit-tenbyShilpiAgarwal'shusbandAmit Agarwal and it states thathehaskilledShilpiAgarwal,'' aspertheFIRregisteredinthecase.Afterthemurder,thepolicebe-

lieve, Amit returned to Kolkatawithhissonand,thefollowingday,allegedly shothismother-in-lawandattemptedtokillhisfather-in-lawbeforecommittingsuicide.

CRIME INBENGALURU,KOLKATA

Man sat his son in car,went to estranged wife’sflat, killed her: Police


POLICEHAVE bookedwomen’srightsactivistRehanaFathimaaf-tersheuploadedonsocialmediaavideoofhertwochildrenpaint-ingonhersemi-nakedbody.Uploading the visuals,

Fathima, 33, stated on herFacebook page that womenwearing a mere dress are notsafeinasexuallyfrustratedsoci-ety. Thewoman’s body shouldbe shownandwhat is sexualityshould be openly stated. That

shouldbeginathometobringinchanges insociety, shewrote.FollowingacomplaintbyBJP

leader A V Arun Prakash ofKerala’sPathanamthittadistrict,police registered anon-bailablecaseagainst Fathima.Thestatecommissionforpro-

tectionofchildrightsalsosoughtcriminalactionagainsther.StateCommission for Protection ofChildRightsmemberKNazirsaidshouldbebookedunderrelevantsectionsof POCSOAct. Since thevideohasbeenwidelycirculatedin social media, police shouldalsotakeactiontoremovethevi-suals,hesaid.

Policehavebeenaskedtofileareportwithintendays,Nazirsaid.This is not the first time

Fathima has run into contro-versy. In 2018, she was in thenewsafterattemptingtovisittheSabarimala hill shrine after theSupremeCourtliftedtheagebaron the entry of women.Following uproar over her at-tempt,shewassuspendedfromher job at BSNL on charges ofhurtingreligioussentimentsandwas recently terminated fromemployment over the same. In2014, Fathima had participatedin the Kiss of Love campaign inKeralaagainstmoralpolicing.

SMITANAIRPANAJI, JUNE24

A PROMINENT school based inPanaji approached thepolice onWednesdaywithacomplaintthatsome students allegedly put up“demeaning”morphedimagesofteachers, clicked during onlineclasses,onsocialmediasites.Theschoolhassuspendedall

liverecordingsandrecordedses-sionsforThursdayandwillnowadmitstudentsintoZoomstudysessions only after they givewrittenapplications.Theschoolmanagementhasalsoaskedpar-

entstomonitorchildren’sonlineactivitiesandstudysessions.In a statement issued to par-

ents and teachers, the schoolmanagement wrote, “…a fewstudents have showndisrespectby using socialmedia platformlike Instagram in a demeaningmanner. Teachers’ faces havebeenclickedduringZoomclassesaswellasfromrecordedsessionsandmorphed intounacceptableanddemeaning images andup-loadedonInstagram.”Confirming that the school

had contacted them, SP, CrimeBranch,PankajKumarSinghsaidonWednesday, “For now, we

have been intimated and willmeet the school authorities to-morrowtotakethedetails.Theyhavewritten to us through ouronline complaints portal. Wewillprobe theallegations.”Oneof thecomplaints states

thatstudentswerefoundtohavemutilated“powerpointpresen-tations and passing disrespect-ful comments”. Teachers arevery demoralised anddisheart-enedatthisbehaviourofthestu-dents, thestatement reads.InMay,teachers inGoawere

given tutorials on using onlineportals to reach students in thewakeof theCovid-19pandemic.

Students posted ‘morphed images’ ofteachers online: Goa school files complaint

Assam begins mental health programme tohelp Covid-19 patients, those in quarantine

Activist booked for posting video of herchildren painting on her semi-nude body

Madhya Pradesh: After rise insuicides, police to launch helpline

FromJune1toJune19asmanyas26personsdiedbysuicide

GUJARAT

Constable suspended, heldfor ‘assaulting bank clerk’

MARCHING IN MOSCOWIndianservicemenmarch intheVictoryDayParadeat theRedSquare inMoscowonWednesday.UnionMinisterRajnathSingh,whois inthecity toattendthecelebration, tweeted, ‘Impressiveturnoutof theTri-Servicecontingentof the IndianArmedForcesat theVictoryDayParade inMoscowis indeedanextremelyproudandhappymoment forme’. Reuters

NODFORRS 15,000-CRFUND,UPAIRPORTGETS INTERNATIONALSTATUS

THE CABINET Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA),chairedbythePrimeMinister,approved a proposal ofMinistry of Fisheries, AnimalHusbandry&Dairyingforset-ting up of Animal HusbandryInfrastructure DevelopmentFund (AHIDF) worth Rs15,000 crore.Itwasannouncedaspartof

the Rs 20 lakh crore AtmaNirbhar Bharat package in re-sponse to COVID-19outbreak.Underthisnewscheme,eligible

beneficiaries such as FarmerProducerOrganizations(FPOs),MSMEs, Section 8Companies,PrivateCompaniesandindivid-ualentrepreneurswillgetincen-tiveinformof3percentinterestsubventiononloanstocreatein-frastructureunderthisfund.“Therewillbe2yearsmora-

toriumperiodforprincipalloanamountand6yearsrepaymentperiod thereafter,” said anoffi-cialstatement.MinisterofInformationand

BroadcastingPrakashJavadekar

said,“Themovewillhelpincre-ationfor35lakhnewjobs.”TheUnionCabinet also ap-

proved the extension of theterm of the Commission,headed by Justice (Retd) GRohini to examine the issue ofSub-categorisation of OtherBackward Classes, by sixmonthstill January31,2021.The Cabinet also gave its

approval for declaration ofKushinagar Airport in UttarPradesh as an InternationalAirport.

Cabinet gives nod to privateparticipation in space sector

New Delhi

e-NIT No.: SIMS-324-NIT 08 (IMPORTS) OF 2020DATED: 23.06.2020

Subject: Abbreviated NIT for Supply/ Installation/ Commissioning of AutomatedCoagulation Analyzer on reagent rental basis in the Department of CI.Hematology, SKIMS.

On behalf of the Lt. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir union territory,through Director, Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, e-tenders areinvited from the original manufacturers/their Indian subsidiaries/Indian Agentson the authorization of principal manufacturers/Indian Subsidiary if 100% sub-sidiary of foreign principals (for Imported equipment) and manufacturers/theirauthorized dealers for the J&K (for indigenous equipment) for AutomatedCoagulation Analyzer on reagent rental basis in the Department of CI.Hematology, SKIMS as per following details:-

GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

SHER-I-KASHMIR INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCESSOURA SRINAGAR, J&K-190011

Department of Materials Management (Imports Section)E-mail: [email protected], Fax No: 0194-2403404

Last Date for Submission of Online Bids 27.07.2020 upto 4.00 P.M.

Opening of Technical Bids 29.07.2020 at 12.30 P.M.

Complete bidding process will be done online on e-tender portal ErrorlHyperlink reference not valid. The tenders should be submitted strictly in accor-dance with the provisions of the detailed NIT. No Proposal will be accepted inphysical form.

Sd/-Asstt. Materials Management Officer (Imports)For & on behalf of Chief of

Materials ManagementNo. SIMS-324-eNIT 08 (Imports) 2020-2018-24Dated: 23.06.2020

The detailed tender document is available on www.jktenders.gov.in & on SKIMSwebsite www.skims.ac.in. The NIT schedule is as per following:

Name of the equipment Qty Tender fee EMD

Automated Coagulation Analyzer 02 Rs. 2,000 Rs. 3,00,000

INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)1. The Executive Engineer , Shimla Division No-III, HPPWD , Shimla-3 on behalf of Governor of H.P

invites the online bids on item rate, in electronic tendering system, in 2 Cover System for the undermentioned work from the eligible and approved contractors/firms registered with HP.PWD.Department.

2. Availability of Bid Documents and Mode of Submission: The Bid document is available onlineand bid should be submitted in online mode on website: https://hptenders.gov.in. Bidder would berequired to register in the website which is free of cost. For submission of bids, the bidder isrequired to have Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) from one of the authorized Certifying Authorities(CA). “Aspiring bidders who have not obtained the user ID and password for participating in e-ten-dering in HPPWD may obtain the same from the website: https://hptenders.gov.in. Digital signatureis mandatory to participate in the e-tendering. Bidders already possessing the digital signatureissued from authorized CAs can use the same in this tender.

3. Key Dates:

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENTE-PROCUREMENT NOTICE

1. Date of Online Publication 09.07.2020 17.00 hrs.

2. Document Download Start and End Date 09.07.2020 17.00 hrs. upto 23.07.2020 17.00 hrs.

3. Bid Submission Start and End Date 09.07.2020 17.00 hrs. upto 23.07.2020 17.00 hrs.

4. Physical Submission of EMD and Cost of 24.07.2020 upto 11.00 hrs.Tender Document

5. Date of Technical Bid opening, Evaluation of Technical 24.07.2020 11.00 hrs.Bid followed by Opening of Financial Bid.

4. TENDER DETAILS:The Tender Documents shall be uploaded online in 2 Cover:

i). Cover 1: shall contain scanned copies of all “Technical Documents/ Eligibility Information”.ii). Cover2: shall contain “BOQ/Financial Bid”, where contractor will quote his offer for each item.

5. SUBMISSION OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS: The bidders are required to submit (a) original demand drafttowards the cost of bid document and (b) FDR in original towards bid security/Earnest Money Deposit(EMD) and other Technical Documents in O/O Executive Engineer, Shimla Division NO-III, HPPWDShimla-3, H.P. as specified in Key dates Sr. No. 4 on Tender Opening Date, failing which the bids will bedeclared non-responsive.

6. BID OPENING DETAILS: The bids shall be opened on 24.07.2020 at 11.00 hrs. in the office of ExecutiveEngineer, Shimla Division No. III HPPWD Shimla-3 H.P.by the authorised officer. In their interest the ten-derer are advised to be present along with original documents at the time of opening of tenders. If the officehappens to be closed on the date of opening of the bids as specified, the bids will be opened on the nextworking day at the same time and venue.

7. The bids for the work shall remain valid for acceptance for a period not less than 120 days after the dead-line date for bid submission.

8. Other details can be seen in the bidding documents. The officer inviting tender shall not be held liable forany delays due to system failure beyond its control. Even though the system will attempt to notify the bid-ders of any bid updates, the Employer shall not be liable for any information not received by the bidder. Itis the bidders’ responsibility to verify the website for the latest information related to the tender.

“HIM SUCHANA AWAN JAN SAMPARK”

Sr. Name of Work Estimated EMD Cost of EligibleNo. Cost Tender Class of

Contractor1. Rs. Rs. Rs. Class-A

1,02,42,805/- 1,35,000/- 5,000/-S/R to Armsdale Building at HP Sectt. ChottaShimla(SH:-P/F hogh pressure laminate and GRCwall Cladding in outer side and P/F UPVC win-dows,ESS-ESS railing from ground floor to 6thfloor in Phase-I front side of Armsdale Building).

1165/H.P.

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTORDIRECTORATE OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION, VOCATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

HIMACHAL PRADESH, SUNDER NAGARInvitation for Bids No.: 001/2020 Date: 22.06.2020LOAN/GRANT NO. AND TITLE: LOAN NO.: 3573-IND/ HIMACHAL PRADESH SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BIDS: 24.07.2020 UPTO 12.30 P.M.Contract Package (NCB) No. and Title: Supply of the Machinery & Equipment’s for Industrial Training Institutes toenhance Technical and Vocational Skills among the youth of Himachal Pradeshunder following packages/lots:

1. India has receiveda loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) towards the cost of “Himachal Pradesh SkillDevelopment Project” and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of this financingto the payment under theContractPackage named above. Bidding is open to Bidders from eligible source countries of ADB.

2. The“Directorate of Technical Education, Vocational and Industrial Training, Himachal Pradesh”, represented by the Director (“ThePurchaser”) invites sealed bids from eligible Bidders for thesupply of various equipment’sfor Industrial Training Institutes.

3. National Competitive Bidding will be conducted in accordance with ADB’s Single-stage: Two-envelope biddingprocedure and is open to all Bidders from eligible countries as described in the Bidding Document.

4. Only eligible Bidders with the following key qualifications should participate in this bidding:

However, for complete eligibility and qualification requirements, respective bid document should be referred.5. To obtain further information and inspect the bidding documents, Bidders should contact:

Attention: The Director, Directorate of Technical Education,Vocationaland Industrial Training, Circular Road,Lalit Chowk, Sunder Nagar, District: Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, ZIP Code: 175018; Country: India.Telephone & Fax: 01907-266120; 266722, E-mail address: [email protected]

6. To purchase the bidding documents in English language, eligible Bidders should write or visit at the office of thePurchaser at address stated above and pay a non-refundable fee of INR 10,000for each bidding documentin theform of Bank Demand Draft.In case of written request, the document will be sent by post and no liability will be accepted, for loss or late delivery.The bidders who wish to receive the bidding document by post/courier shall have to pay for each bidding documentan additional amount of INR 3,000/- for delivery within India or USD 250 for delivery outside India. The method ofpayment will be through bank demand draft payable at Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh, India.The eligible bidders may otherwise download the bidding document for English language from the website:http://techedu.hp.gov.in/,such bidders shall be required to submitI NR 10,000 with their bidfor each bidding docu-mentin the form of Bank demand draft in the name of the Director Technical Education, HP, Sundernagar towardscost of bidding document.

7. Deliver your bidto the address above, On or before the deadline: 24.07.2020 at 12.30 P.M.together with a Bid Security as described in the Bidding Document.

8. Bids will be opened on 24.07.2020 at 12.30. P.M. in the presence of Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend.9. The Purchaser will not be responsible for any cost or expenses incurred by the bidder in connection with the prepa-

ration or delivery of bids. Sd/-Director

Package No. Title

HPSDP-DOTE/01 Automobile and related equipment’s:Lot-2.1: Engine & engine partsLot-2.2: Chassis

HPSDP-DOTE/02-R2 Information Technology and related equipment’s:Lot-4.1: CAD softwareLot-4.2: MS office & Antivirus SoftwareLot-4.3: Designing software

HPSDP-DOTE/03 Electrical andElectronics related equipment’s:Lot-2.1: AC & refrigeration itemsLot-2.2: Audio-visual & communication devicesLot-2.3: Electronics itemsLot-3.1: Metering & Measuring DevicesLot-3.2: Electrical Lab equipments

HPSDP-DOTE/04 Mechanical and related equipment’s:Lot-2.1: Test equipment & hand operated moulding machinesLot-2.2: Microprocessor/ PLC controller based machinesLot-2.3: Extruding MachinesLot-2.4: Automatic forming & moulding machinesLot-2.5: Stretch Blow moulding machine

Package Lot No.No.

HPSDP-DOTE/01 Lot-2.1 INR 470.00 Lakhs INR 1174.00 Lakhs

Lot-2.2 INR 350.00 Lakhs INR 874.00 Lakhs

HPSDP-DOTE/02-R2 Lot-4.1 INR 27.00 Lakhs INR 68.00 Lakhs













Contractual Experience: Successful comple-tion as main supplier within the last three (3)years, of at least One (1) contract with nature,and complexity similar to the scope of supplydescribed in Section 6 (Schedule of Supply).The contract value of Lot is indicated below:

Average Annual Turnover: Minimum averageannual turnover as indicated below calculatedas total payments received by the Bidder forcontracts completed or under execution overthe last three (3) years.The Average AnnualTurnover of the Lot is indicated below:

1170/HP

CHIEF ENGINEER (SHIMLA ZONE ) HPPWD NIRMAN BHAWANNIGAM VIHAR SHIMLA HP BHARAT NIRMAN

UNDER PRADHAN MANTRI GRAM SADAK YOJNA (PMGSY)E-PROCUREMENT NOTICE

The Superintending Engineer HPPWD 14th Circle HPPWD Rohru on behalf of Governor ofH.P. invites the percentage /item rate bids . In electronic tendering system for construction ofroads under PMGSY for each of the following works including their maintenance for five yearfrom the eligible and approved contractors registered with HPPWD /CPWD/P&T /Railways/Other state Govt. Central Govt. Agencies , non registered may submit the bid ,. However suc-cessful bidder has to register in appropriate class with appropriate authority in HPPWD

1. Date of release of invitation for bids through e-procurement 06.7.20202. Cost of bid from as per package above (non-refundable) only in form of Demand draft in favour of

Executive Engineer HPPWD Division Dodra Kawar .3. Documentary of bid document and mode of submission :- The bid document is available online

and bid should be submitted online on website: www.pmgsytenders.gov.in. The bidder would berequired to registered in the website which is free of cost. For submission the bids ,the bidder isrequired to have valid digital signature certificate (DSC) from one the authorised certifying author-ities (CA) Aspiring bidder who have not obtained the user ID and password fro participating ine-tendering in PMGSY may obtain the same from the website pmgsytenders.gov.in.Digital signature is mandatory to participate in the e-tendering bidders already processing thevalid digital signature issued from authorised CAs can use the same in this tender .Non registered bidders may submit bids: the successful bidders must get registered in appropriateclass with appropriate authorities before signing the contract.

4. Submission of original documents : the bidders are required to submit (a) original demand drafttowards the cost of bid document and (b) original bid security in approved from and (c) originalaffidavit regarding correctness of information furnished with bid document as per provision ofclause 4.4B(a) (ii) ITB with Superintending Engineer 14th circle HPPWD Rohru address and detailof office where to be submitted on a date not later than three working days after the opening oftechnical qualification part of the bid either by registered post by hand .

5. Last date for receipt of bid through procurement on dated 20.07.20206. The site for the work is available.7. Only online submission of bids is permitted therefore bids must be submitted online on website:

www.pmgsttenders.gov.in. The technical qualification part of the bids will be opened at 11.00 ondated 21.07.2020 in the office of Superintending Engineer 14th Circle HPPWD Rohru by theauthorised officers. If the office happen to be closed of the date of opening of the bids as specified.The bids will be opened online on the next working day at same time.

8. The bidder is not required to quote his rate for routine maintenance .The rates to be paid for rou-tine maintenance are indicated in the bill of quantities .Further the payment for routine mainte-nance to the contractor shall be regulated based on the performance of maintenance activity.

9. The bid for the work shall remain valid for acceptance for a period not less than ninety days afterthe deadline date for the bid submission.

10. Bidders may bid for any one more of the work mentioned in the table above to qualify for packageof contracts made up of this and other contracts for which bids are invited in the same NIT .Thebidder must demonstrate having experience and resource sufficient to meet the aggregate of thequalifying criteria for the individual contracts.

11. Other detail can be seen in the bidding documents .The Employer shall not be held able for anydelay due to system failure beyond its control. Even though the system will attempt to notify thebidders of any bid updates. The Employer shall not be liable for any information not received by thebidder it is the bidder’sresponsibility to verify the website for the latest information related to thetender.For further detail please log on to http//pmgsytenders.gov.in

Superintending Engineer,14th circle HPPWD Rohru.1137/H.P.

Sr. Name of Pkg. Name of Work Period of Cost Maint. Bid Cost ofNo. Distt. No. Completion Part Part Security Bid Form1. Shimla HP-09-116 365 days 7026273 0 141000 2000C/O balance work

of link road toVillJisloon Km. 0/0to 8/0 underPMGSY (SH:- F/Cand kharanjasoling in variousreached Km. 4/300to 8/00)

Gujarat Rural Industries Marketing Corporation Ltd.(A Government of Gujarat undertaking)

Block No.17, 5th Floor,Udyog Bhavan,Sector -11,Gandhinagar - 382011, Tele No.079-232-27243,232 23763

E-mail :[email protected]

Gujarat Rural Industries Marketing Corporation Ltd. Invites the OnlineE-Tender for Semi Automatic Solar Loom (without Read and Heald) withPadle and Solar Kit (Approx. Qty. 120 Nos.) Corporation/ Company/Firm/NGO/Proprietor and Solar Charkha (Approx. Qty. 440 Nos.) OnlyKVICapprovalmanufacturer/NGO/firm/Proprietorasper theDemandgivenby Gujarat Khadi Gramodhyog Board under Annual Rate Contract.

AllPhysical tenderdocumentscanbedownloadedfree fromwebsitewww.nprocure.com & www.grimco.nprocure.com. All Onlinesubmitted documents must be submitted physically also.

Managing Director

Description Tender Duration

Online Submission of Financial bidand allTechnical documents.

On 24.06.2020 to 14.07.2020up to 18:00hrs.

Pre – Bid Meeting On 06-07-2020,12:00 hrs.

ONLINETENDER NOTICE : Project/SolarLoom/01/2020-21and Project/SolarCharkha/02/2020-21

Government of Jammu and KashmirJ&K E-GOVERNANCE AGENCY, IT DEPARTMENT

CIVIL SECRETARIAT, JAMMUSubject: Notice inviting Tender for “Empanelment and

Rate Contract for Scanning and Digitization ofFiles” of Government of Jammu and Kashmir”NOTIFICATION NO.: 03- JaKeGA of 2020

DATED: 23-06-2020

Jammu & Kashmir e-Governance Agency (JaKeGA),Information Technology Department, J&K invites bids forselection of agencies for “Empanelment and RateContract for Scanning and Digitization of Files ofGovernment of Jammu and Kashmir” as per the detailedscope of work provided in the RFP document.Important dates for key activities are as under:

Sd/- Chief Executive OfficerJ&K e-Governance Agency

Information Technology DepartmentNo: JaKeGA/Gen/04/2019 Dated: 23.06.2020DIPJ-1645

S. Key Activities Date and Time/RemarksNo.1. Date of Publication of RFP Start Date: From 2.00

P.M. of 23.06.2020 onwww.jktenders.gov.in

2. RFP Document Download Date 03.00 P.M. of 23.06.2020onwards

3. 07.07.2020 at 4.00 P.M.Queries to be emailed [email protected]

Last Date/ Time forSubmission of written queriesas per Annexure B by intend-ing bidders through email at:[email protected]

CORRIGENDUM/ADDENDUMRefer to notice no . CCI/CTU/2020/5341,Dated

08.06.2020 invited e-tender (Tender ID2020_CHD_55495_1) to Supply, installation of AutomaticVehicle Location System (AVLS) of AIS: 140 standardalong with Panic Button and Supply , installation, of 06new 50” PIS and Design, Development, Implementationand Operation & Maintenance 08 (06 New +02 Old )Passenger Information System (PIS) Design,Development, Implementation and Operation &Maintenance of 213 Buses ( 173 +40), Supply, Installation,Design, Development, Implementation and Operation &Maintenance for Ultrasonic fuel sensor for 213 Buses onmonthly basis appeared in the leading newspaper andalso displayed on the website of the undertaking as well aswebsite of the Chandigarh Administration i.e.chdctu.gov.in and http://etenders.chd.nic.in/ and withrespect to pre-bid meeting held on 16-06-2020 certainamendments/modifications are hereby made in the e-ten-der document /RFP dated 08-06-2020.The addendum aswell as replies to the Pre-bid queries are uploaded onwebsite: http://etenders.chd.nic.in/ and chdctu.gov.which may be referred to by all prospective bidders.

Sd./- General Manager,For Divisional Manager ,CTU &

Director Transport,U.T., Chandigarh.

OFFICE OF THE DIVISIONAL MANAGER , CTU, DIRECTORTRANSPORT UNION TERRITORY, CHANDGIARH

Delhi Transport InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation Ltd.

An Enterprises of Govt. of NCT of Delhi.ISBT Kashmere Gate Delhi-110006

NOTICE INVITING TENDERThe Executive Engineer, DTIDC invite tenders on behalf of MD, DTIDC Ltdfor the following works through e procurement solution only.

The Tender forms and other detail can be obtained from the website :https://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in/

Sd/-Executive Engineer

DTIDC Ltd. ISBTDIP/Shabdarth/0107/20-21 Kashmere Gate, Delhi

1 NIT No. : 04/DTIDC/2020-21

Tender ID No. : 2020_DTIDC _191938_1Name of work : M/o ISBT at Kashmere Gate

SH : Painting of Exterior Building of ISBTKashmere Gate

Estimated Cost : Rs. 36,73,731/-

Earnest Money : Rs. 73,475/-

Time Allowed : Two Months

Last date of receipt of Tenders : 07/07/2020

10 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK 11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPATNA, JUNE24

ARETIRED deputy superinten-dent of police (DSP), whowasknownasanencounterspecialistduringhis timeinMokama,nearPatna,diedinhisresidenceinthecity's Mitramandal Colony onTuesday. Thepolice said he shothimselfonthetemplewithhisli-censedpistol.Heretiredin2012.Thevictim,KChandra,68,was

under treatment for depressionforthelast16years,andtookanti-depressants, his family has toldthepolice.ThepolicesaidChandra, lefta

note inwhichheexpressed frus-trationwith the civic system, es-peciallywaterloggingandcollec-tionofgarbageoutsidehishouse.Thenote accuses aneighbour ofallegedly causing thiswaterlog-ging by dumping garbage andconstructionmaterialontheroadoutside.DSP, Phulwarisharif, Sanjay

Kumar Pandey said, “We havefounda three-page suicidenote.Itlooksacaseofsuicideasofnow.”Chandra's son Nischay

Shrestha,anadvocate,saidhisfa-therwas hugely upset and frus-tratedwithcontinuouswaterlog-gingoutsidetheirhome–aresultof blockeddrains and the area'slow-lyinglocation.“Hehadcalledaneighbour todiscuss theprob-lemofwaterlogging.Hehadbeenvery frustratedwithour inabilitytodoanything to address this is-sue,”Shresthasaid.Shrestha has told the police

that onTuesdayhehad seenhisfather go to the verandah andwrite something in a notebook.“Beforewe could comprehendanything, hewent to his room,tookouthispistol and shothim-self on the right temple,” the sonsaid.Chandradiedonwaytohos-pital, thepolicesaid.

Retired DSPshoots himselfin Patna,suicide notefound: cops

ARUNSHARMAJAMMU,JUNE24

THE JAMMU and Kashmir ad-ministration Wednesday ap-pointed Jammu DivisionalCommissionerSanjeevVermaasinquiry officer to look into thecircumstances leading to thedeath of two people during thecremationof thebodyofaCovidpatient in Jammu,aswell as thedeath of a person lodged at anadministrativequarantine facil-ity inKathua.The inquiry officer is to sub-

mit the reportwithin10days.The order came a day after

JammuDeputy CommissionerSushma Chauhan submitted tothe government the report of amagisterial inquiry into thedeathsat thecremation.Allthreedeceasedhadtested

negative for Covid-19, raising acontroversy over the protocolbeing followed in handling thebodies of Covid-19patients andalso those returning fromotherpartsof thecountry.The Indian Express had on

June23reportedaboutthedeathof twocousinsatthecremation.Onthewaytocrematetheirun-cle, who had tested positive forCovid-19, the two cousins suf-fered scorching heat inside PPEkits, pushed an ambulanceacross a river bank and fell un-consciouswhileofficialsrefusedto help, their relatives have al-leged. Familymembers andpo-liticalpartiesaccusedtheUTad-ministration of not followingHealth Ministry guidelines onhandling the body of a coron-aviruspatient.Meanwhile,a47-year-oldres-

identofHiranagartehsil’sChapakiKalanvillage,whowasinadmin-istrative quarantine at a privateETTcollegesinceJune15whenhereachedLakhanpurfromMumbaibyroad,diedonSunday.

Covid protocolrow: J&K adminappoints inquiryofficer to lookinto three deaths


THE ENFORCEMENTDirectorateonWednesdaysearchedninelocationsas-sociated with formerEmaar MGF directorShravan Gupta acrossDelhi-NCR in connectionwith the Rs 3,600-croreAgustaWestlandscam.Sources said searches

were carried out inDelhi,GurgaonandNoida.Gupta and Emaar

MGF—a joint venture be-tween Emaar and MGFthat has nowseparated—havebeenunderthelensofcentral agencies over itsconnectionwith allegedVVIPchopperdealmiddle-manGuidoHaschke. Thedefencebrokerhadbeenanon executive director inthecompany.Sources said ED

searches were based onquestioning of accusedwhoprovidednew infor-mationon Gupta’srole.In 2016, ED had ques-

tioned Gupta in connec-tionwith thecase. EmaarIndia stated: “Emaar andMGFhadpartedwaysfewyears back and MrShravanGuptahasnoroleinEmaar Indiaand isalsonolongeron theBoard ...”

Zonal Office, Budh Marg, Patna-800001

Whereas:The undersined being the authorised officer of the Indian Bank (Erstwhile Allahabad Bank) under theSecuritisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 and inexercise of powers conferred under section 13(12) read with Rules 3 of the Security Interest (Enforcement)Rules, 2002, issued a Demand Notice u/s 13(2) on the date noted against the Account as mentionedhereinafter, calling upon the borrower to repay the amount mentioned in the notice within 60 days from thedate of receipt of the said notice.The Borrower having failed to repay the amount, notice is hereby given to the borrower and the public ingeneral that the undersigned has taken possession of the property described herein below in exercise ofpowers conferred on him/her under Section 13(4) of the said Act read with rule 8 of the said rules.The borrower in particular and the public in general is hereby cautioned not to deal with the property and anydealings with the property will be subject to the charge of the Indian Bank (Erstwhile Allahabad Bank) for anamount and interest thereon.The borrower's attention is invited to the provisions of sub-section (8) of section 13 of the Act, in respect oftime available, to redeem the secured asset.

Possession notice For (immovable ProPerty)

Date : 24.06.2020Place : Patna

Authorised OfficerIndian Bank (Erstwhile Allahabad Bank)

Sl.No.

Nameof the

Account&

Branch

Name of theBorrower/Guarantor

(Ownerof the

property)

Description of the charged/mortgaged property(all the part & parcel of the property consisting

of)

Date ofDemandNoticeDate of

PossessionNotice

Amountoutstanding

as on thedate of

demandnotice

1. Md FirozKhanB/o: RPSResidentialPublicSchool

Mortgagor:Md. FirozKhan S/o Mr.ShamshulHaque

All that part and parcel of alongwith present futureconstruction thereon in the name of Md. Firoz KhanS/o Mr. Shamshul Haque area measuring 07 Dhuror 476 Sq.ft. Sale Deed No.7718 dated 13.03.2009bearing Book No.01, Zild No.13, Page No.214to 223, Khata No.835, Khesra No.2124(P), PlotNo.1802, Tauzi No.303, Thana No.11, situated atMohalla-Khajurbanna, Ward No.51, Holding No.138/101(O)/143(New), Mauza-Mahal Sandalpur, PS-Sultanganj, Dist.-Patna, Bihar. Bounded: On theNorth by-12 feet wide Road, On the South by-KhesraNo.2124(P), On the East by-Khesra No.2124(P), Onthe West by-Khesra No.2124(P).

Letter dt:05.12.2018

&Paper

publicationdt:

17.02.2019Letter dt:20.06.2020

&possessiontaken on23.06.2020

`17,97,864/-

(Rs.seventeenlac ninetyseventhousandeight

hundredsixty fouronly)

2. Smt. PinkiKumariW/o ShriNaveenKumarB/o: RPSResidentialPublicSchool

Mortgagor:Smt. PinkiKumari(Pinki Devi)W/o ShriNaveenKumar

All that part and parcel of the residential landedproperty along with present future constructionthereon in the name of Smt. Pinki Kumari (PinkiDevi) W/o Shri Naveen Kumar measuring 01 Katha01 Dhur 10 Dhurki situated at Mouza-Saichak, PS-Phulwari Sharif, under Tauzi No.5119, PS No.32,Khata No.96, Plot No.466, bearing Sale DeedNo.3816 dated 09.03.2017 recorded at SRO Patnain Book No.01, Zild No.46, CD No.12, Pages 330to 338. Bounded: On the North: 5 feet wide roadafter then Late Jawahar Rai & others, On theSouth-Kishun Rai Hal Jayvansh Prasad Singh,On the East-Road after then Ramsewak Rai HalRaghuvansh Prasad Singh, On the West-Smt.Pinki Kumari W/o Sri Ajeet Kumar.

05.09.201920.06.2020

`21,61,438/-(Rs. Twentyone lacsixty onethousand

four hundredthirty eightonly)

Institute of Infrastructure TechnologyResearch And Management (IITRAM)(An Autonomous University established by Government of Gujarat)

Applications are invited for (1) Regular and (2) Part-Time Ph.D. Programme from eligiblecandidates in disciplines of (i) Civil Engineering, (ii) Electrical Engineering, (iii) MechanicalEngineering, (iv) Computer Science & Engineering, (v) Humanities and Social Sciences(English, Sociology, Economics) (vi) Basic Sciences (Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics)for the academic year 2020-2021 (Autumn Semester) online through webslte:www.iitram.ac.in as per the following schedule:

Contact Details: Near Khokhra Circle, Maninagar (East), Ahmedabad-380026, Gujarat.Phone: 079 6777 5488 / 6777 5499 I Fax: 079 6777 5475Website: www.iitram.ac.in I E-mail: [email protected]

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ED searches premises linked toformer Emaar MGF director

VVIPCHOPPERCASE

New Delhi

12WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DISENGAGE, BUT VERIFYThat talksare takingplace isagoodsign.China’snewclaimto

entireGalwanValleyhighlightschallengeahead

NEITHERDELHINORBeijinghavegiventoomanydetailsonthe“mutualconsensus”onmilitarydisengagementarrivedat inMonday’smeetingof seniormilitarycommanders ineasternLadakh.Thetalksat themili-tarylevelarebeingreinforcedbydiplomaticconsultationsbetweenthetwogovernments.HavingseenthepreviousagreementonJune6break

down,Delhiwouldbewisetobeextracautiousthistime.Evenwiththebestofgoodwillandpolitical trust, demobilisingmilitaries froma line of confrontation is inherently difficult.Questionsontheinterpretationoftheagreement,thesequenceofwithdrawal,timelinesforimplementationandtheprotocolsforverificationof thestepstakencanallbedeeplycon-tentious.AfterthebloodyencounteratGalwanonthenightof June15,mutualgoodwillatthemilitarylevelandtrustatthepolitical levelareunsurprisingly inshortsupply.Tomakemattersworse,therehasbeenfurthermobilisationofmilitaryforcesonboth

sidessincetheGalwanclash.Itisalsonotclearif thetwosidesfullyagreeonwhattheend-stateof thedisengagementprocess is.Delhihasrepeatedlyaffirmedthat itwouldliketoseecompleteandunambiguousrestorationof thesituationineasternLadakhbeforethemassiveChinesemilitarymobilisation all across the frontier in earlyMay.While Indiansources seem to suggest China is ready to roll back, Beijing has not publicly confirmedthatasasharedgoal.Nor is itclear if BeijingagreeswithDelhionwhat“statusquoante”meansontheground.Thestoryof theChinafrontierinthelastfewdecadeshasbeenthePLA'ssmallbutfrequentlandgrabsacrosstheLineofActualControl.Delhihasnowtakenapublicposition that itwill no longeracceptanoutcomewhere thePLAwalksonestepbackaftertakingtwostepsacrosstheLAC.ThatChinacontinuestoputacrossanewclaimfor theentireGalwanValleyhighlights thepolitical challengesahead.Notwithstandingthisstructuralpoliticaltensionandtheessentialcomplexityofmil-

itarydisengagement, the fact that talksare takingplace isagoodsign.EquallywelcomeisthefactthattheIndianandChinesetroopsmarchedinMoscowataninternationalmil-itaryeventtomarkthe75thanniversaryofRussianvictoryintheSecondWorldWar.TheIndian and Chinese foreignministers also joined the Russian foreignminister in aprescheduled video conference. This is part of the regular trilateral political interactionbetweenIndia,RussiaandChina.ButDelhiappearstohavedeclinedtheopportunityforameetinginMoscowbetweenthevisitingdefenceministerRajnathSinghandhisChinesecounterpart GeneralWei Fenghe. On balance, then, it is too early to celebrate the pre-sumedagreementonmilitarydisengagement intheLadakhfrontier. Indiamustremainvigilant, it’s a longroadahead.

SAFOORA’S TRIALHer legalordeal, statedreasonforgrantof bail, raisequestions.Bail isnotcharity, it flows fromconstitutionalprinciples

APPEARINGFORTHEDELHI Police, on Tuesday, Solicitor General TusharMehtasaidhehadnoobjectiontothereleaseofJamiaMilliaIslamiastude-ntSafooraZargaron“humanitariangrounds”.The27-yearoldwasarrest-edbytheDelhiPolice’sSpecialCell inAprilandchargedunderthedraco-nianUAPA for her alleged role in the communal violence inNortheast

Delhi in February. In her bail plea, Zargar had listed pregnancy as one of the grounds forseekingrelief.FollowingtheSG’ssubmission,theDelhiHighCourtgrantedherbail.Butthe27-year old’smore than two-month old ordeal— shewas denied bail twice by sessionscourtsinDelhi—raisesfundamentaljurisprudentialquestions.Whywasthecardinalprinci-pleofcriminaljustice,“presumptionofinnocenceuntilprovenguilty”—enshrinedinArticle11(1)of theUniversalDeclarationofHumanRightsandinvokedbythe Indianjudiciary inanumberofcases—notappliedinthiscase?Whyshouldanaccusedbecompelledtoseekbailonhumanitariangrounds?Doesn’ttherighttolifeandliberty,guaranteedbyArticle21of theConstitution,offerprotectionagainstprolongedimprisonmenttoanundertrial?TheCodeof Criminal Proceduredoesnot definebail. But inGurbaksh Singh Sibbia vs

theStateofPunjab(1980),theSupremeCourtunderlined,“Theactofarrestdirectlyaffectsfreedomofmovementof thepersonarrestedbythepolice,andspeakinggenerally,anor-derofbailgivesbacktotheaccusedthatfreedomonconditionthathewillappeartotakehistrial”.TheCourttalkedaboutArticle21andaddedthat“personallibertyofanaccusedor convict is fundamental, suffering eclipse only in terms of procedure established bylaw”.More recently, in 2018, inDataram Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh, the apex courtheldthat“thegrantofbail isthegeneralruleandputtingapersoninjail isanexception”.Deliveringtheverdict, JusticeMadanLokurlamented:“Unfortunately,someof theseba-sic principles appear tohavebeen lost sight ofwith the result thatmore andmoreper-sonsarebeing incarceratedand for longerperiods.”He, too, invokedArticle21andsaidthatovercrowdingof prisonsaffects the“dignity”of convicts.The SChas repeatedly emphasised the “humane” treatment of the accused, includ-

ing in theDataramSingh case.As theCourtpointedout, “conditions for thegrantof bailoughtnot tobe so strict as tobe incapableof compliance”. It flows fromthe spirit of theapex court’s rulings, therefore, that bail shouldnotbemade toappear as anact of char-ity, as in theZargarcase—because it emanates fromconstitutionalprinciples.

ROOTS MUSICBarcelonareopens theoperawithplants foranaudience.Their

critical reviewof theperformance isawaited

MUSIC, THE PYTHAGOREAN school felt, has universal resonance. Ithasbeenclaimedthatit improvestheyieldofmilchcows,andthatsinging to indoorplants is therapeutic, both for the singer and thelistener. And Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird’s controversialbook, The Secret Life of Plants, became a publishing phenomenon

because it suggestedthathumansandplantscouldcommunicate.Now, inSpain,oneofthe nations hit hard by the pandemic, Barcelona’s Liceu opera has reopened after thelockdownwith a botanical performance. Therewas a potted plant in every seat in theotherwise emptyhall. Theywerenodoubt enrichedby themusic,which reachedpartsthat impersonal industrial fertilisers cannot.Theperformanceacknowledgedarealitythatwasvisibleduringthelockdown—thera-

piditywithwhichnaturereclaimeditsownwhenhumanfootfallsbecamesparse.Thehu-mandomainwhichcivilisationpolicessoself-importantly is fragile,andisbreachedbythewildthemomentthehumanracefalters.Inthecollectiveunconscious,wehavealwaysbeenawareofthis,fromtheerawhensacredgrovesdottedtheworld,anditisfrequentlyreferencedinpopularculture,whetherinthechapterofTheJungleBooktitled“LettingintheJungle”,orinJethroTull’sJackintheGreen.ButitiscarefullyignoredineverydaylifeintheAnthropocene,inwhichthemythof theworld-shaping,omnipotentandsapientspeciesisgivenfreerein.It isnotimmediatelyknownif thepottedplantsinBarcelonaappreciatedtherender-

ingofPuccini’s“Chrysanthemum”,whichwaschosentogowiththethemeof theshow.But really, would it not have beenmore impressive if the concert had been played in asacredgrovedeepinaforest?Becausethepottedplantspellscontainmentandbreeding,and is theveryantithesisof thewild.

Coomi Kapoor

Ruleralone isnotaccountable, everyonewhosuccumbstoauthority isno lessguilty

ing the Emergency, “When asked to bend itchosetocrawl’’wasnotuntrue.True,censor-ship lawswere in force,butwheretherewasawilltherewasaway.TheIndianExpresswasone of the rare exceptionswhich defied thecensorsfrequently, especiallyafterelectionswere called in January 1977. The Expressfounder, Ramnath Goenka, knew that hewouldhave to forfeithisnewspaperchain incaseMrsGandhireturnedtopower,buthere-fusedtobend.MrsGandhiimposedtheEmergencywith

a sledgehammer. But dictatorships can alsocreepinslowly,silentlyandinsidiously,with-outanyformalannouncement.Historyshowsus that the ruler alone is not accountable.Everyonewhosuccumbstoauthorityisnolessguilty.TheoftrepeatedquestionastowhetheranEmergencycouldoccurinIndiaagainispar-ticularly relevant in 2020. Adangerous pan-demichasweakened the institutions taskedwithupholding theConstitution. TheCOVIDcrisiscanalsoprovideascreentokeeprealityfromthepublicgazeandassistrulers inarm-ingthemselveswithmorepowers.Because of the pandemic, justice has

been delayed or diverted in some com-pellinghuman rights matters. A telling ex-ample is thehabeascorpuspetitionfiledbythe wife of the 82-year-old leader inKashmir,SaifuddinSoz.TheSupremeCourthas put off thehearing till July. Sozwasde-tained inAugust last year alongwithmanyothersinKashmirwhenArticle370wasnul-lified. He has yet to be informedof the rea-sons forhis imprisonment.While the courts are constrained from

taking prompt action because of the pan-demic, the Delhi Police, on the other hand,was hyper active during the lockdown, ar-resting protesters against the Citizenship(Amendment)Act(CAA).Mostof theallegedtrouble-makers are students andMuslims.Theywerechargedwith“unlawfulactivities’’during the riots in North East Delhi in lateFebruary.Thearrestsareveryobviouslyen-tirely one-sided. Even thosewhose inflam-matoryspeechesandactionsareamatterofrecord,suchaslocalBJPleaderKapilMishra,werenotbooked.WhenanarrestedstudentrecentlyapproachedaDelhilowercourt,thecourtstatedthatbecauseof thepandemicit

was not in a position to ascertainwhetherdue process of lawwas being followed. InMarch,theSupremeCourtrejectedtheantic-ipatory bail pleas of journalist GautamNavlakha and professor Anand Teltumbde,bothrespectedcivil rightsactivists, accusedof involvement in the BhimaKoregaon vio-lence of 2018. The two have been detainedunder the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)ActasamendedinJuly2019.Itisalawmeantfor terroristswhichmakessecuringbaildif-ficult.Itisthegovernment’sdiscretionwhomto designate a terrorist, a throwback to theEmergency-eraMISA.The pandemic has delayed the next ses-

sionofParliamentandthereisnoindicationastowhen the Lok Sabhawill convene and inwhatform.Willmeaningfuldebatesonissues,such as handling of the pandemic or theChinese intrusions, be possible?Orwill theHousemeetmerelytorubberstamp govern-ment decisions, the social distancing normsprovidingahandypretexttokeepthesessionbriefandbusiness-like?AnotherCOVIDvictimisthefourthestate.

Anunfoundedapprehensionthatnewspaperscansomehowbecarriersofthevirushasledtoasteepfall inprintcirculations.Severalgatedcommunities andapartment buildingshavefuelled ill-informedparanoia. The economicconsequencesaredevastatingfortheprintme-dia,oneofthefewcrediblesourcesofnewsinanagewheresocialmediaisfloodedwithfakenews andpropaganda. Venerable languagepublicationshave shut shop,manynewspa-persgroupshaveruthlesslycutdownonout-stationeditionsandstaff.Afinanciallydebilitatedmediawillstrug-

gle for survival after the pandemic. Anotherdisturbing trend of late is for FIRs to be filedon frivolous charges against journalistswhoask inconvenientquestions to stateandcen-tral governments. Over-zealous BJP bhakts,who instigate the police to slap such cases,seemtobefollowinginthefootstepsofSanjayGandhi’s storm troopers during theEmergency.Afreemedia,oneshouldremem-ber, is thetouchstoneofademocracy.

Thewriter isconsultingeditor,TheIndianExpressandauthorofTheEmergency:A

PersonalHistory

A dangerous pandemic hasweakened the institutionstasked with upholding theConstitution. The COVIDcrisis can also provide ascreen to keep reality fromthe public gaze and assistrulers in arming themselveswith more powers. Becauseof the pandemic, justice hasbeen delayed or diverted insome compelling humanrights matters. A tellingexample is the habeas corpuspetition filed by the wife ofthe 82-year-old leader inKashmir, Saifuddin Soz. TheSupreme Court has put offthe hearing till July. Soz wasdetained in August last yearalong with many others inKashmir when Article 370was nullified. He has yet tobe informed of the reasonsfor his imprisonment.

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

§ §


WORDLYWISEWithoutmusic, lifewouldbeamistake.

— FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHETHEEDITORIALPAGE

Rajni Bakshi

THE RIGHT TO DIFFERArewewilling toplacebasicmoralnormsaboveourpoliticalpreferences?

ON JUNE 3, therewas a nationwide protestagainst thearrestof thosewhoparticipatedin theanti-CAAagitationorhaveotherwiseraised their voice in dissent. While theCitizenship Amendment Act and NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) are vital issuesthere is adeeperquestionat stakehere.Areenough Indianswilling toplacebasicmoralnormsabovetheirpoliticalpreferences?Forexample, it shouldbepossible for someonewhoisinfavourofCAAtoalsoopposethear-restof protesters.In a healthy polity, there would be no

needtostatethis—itwouldbeatruism.Buttoday, almost the entire political spectrumjudgesapersonnotbytheiradherencetoba-sic norms but by the “side” onwhich theystandregardinganyspecificissue.Therefore,arrestsofanti-CAAprotestersareamomentof reckoning forall of us.Makingexcusesforthosewhoareon“our

side”ofapoliticalpositionisanoldproblem.Itafflictspeopleacrossthespectrum—from“left” to “right”, thoughtheremaybediffer-ences in tonality. This partly explains whythere is no public clamour for the criminalprosecutionof thosewhoopenlyadvocatedviolence against those opposing the CAA.Manywhowant the CAA, but not violence,may have kept quiet lest they help the“other”side.Similarly,therewasatimewhenmany who were appalled by murders of“class enemies” made excuses for theNaxalitemovementbecausetheysupported

its struggle for justice.Howcanthisperennialstrugglebetween

meansandendsshapeourresponsestoday?Thosewho are opposed to the CAA face arather complicated challenge. Opponents oftheCAAcorrectlysaythattheletterandspiritofIndia’sConstitutionareendangeredbythislaw.ButthisdoesnotmeanthatallthosewhowanttheCAAarenecessarilyindifferenttothecivil libertiesguaranteedbytheConstitution.Yes,amongthosewhosoughttosuppresstheanti-CAAprotests,many openly donot careforhumanrights.Butcouldtheybeinspiredtocare for human rights?Might this becomepossible if their social andpolitical insecuri-tiesweretobeempathicallyaddressed?Ihaveseenthishappeninbilateralconver-

sations. For it to bedoneat a larger level, thehuman rights and civil libertiesmovementwouldhavetomakeroomforpeoplewho,inmany respects,might be deemed to be “po-liticallyincorrect”.Peoplewithwhomwedis-agreeonaspecificissuemightwellbecapableof speaking truth to power and standingshoulder-to-shouldertoasserttherighttodis-sent.Butthisispossibleifwedon’ttreateachotheras“politicaluntouchables”.Themoment of reckoning for thosewho

are pro-CAA is relatively straight forward.SupposeyouareconvincedthattheCAAisim-portanttosecurethefuturestabilityandsafetyofHindusinIndia.Youmayevenhavecheeredthe arrest of anti-CAAprotesters. But surely,at the back of yourmind, there is a niggling

doubt.Oncesuppressionofprotestisvalidatedtomorrow, on some other issue, it could beyouoryourlovedoneswhoarearrestedsim-plyforupholdingtheConstitution.Equallycrucial is thewayinwhichfami-

lieshavebeensharplydivided—withsomemembers, mainly young people, passion-atelycreatingposterstoholdupatanti-CAArallies,whiletheirsiblingsorparentsorotherrelatives condemn and lambast them. Aslong as all sides of the dispute are free andstill together as a family, an ongoing ex-change, a shifting of perspectives, is possi-ble.Whenthoseyoungenthusiasticprotest-ers are behind bars, uncountable creativepossibilitiesareeliminated.Youmaysaythatallof theaboveisapipe

dream,thatpoliticallifeiscontrolledbypow-erfulforceswhoneverputmeansaboveendsandthusindividuals,familiesandgroupsareboundtobesweptaway.Thiswouldbetan-tamount to saying that theparents, siblingsandfriendsofanyof theprotestersnowlan-guishing in prison, should just sit back andaccept their fate.Howmanypeople find this unthinkable

andunacceptable because it is anti-life, notjustanti-democratic?Thiswilldecidethefu-tureofoursocialfabric—thatwhichisdeeperand longer lasting thananypartisanpoliticalagendaoranyparticular law.

RajniBakshi isauthorofBapuKuti: JourneysinRediscoveryofGandhi

People with whom wedisagree on a specific issuemight well be capable ofspeaking truth to power andstanding shoulder-to-shoulder to assert the rightto dissent. But this can onlybe possible if we don’t treateach other as ‘politicaluntouchables’.

V V GIRI DEADFORMER PRESIDENT V V Giri died at hishouse in T Nagar inMadras. His eldest sonShankarGiriandhisgrandsonsGirinathandAmarnathwere at the bedside. The formerpresident is survived by his four sons andsevendaughters.Hewillbegivenastate fu-neral with full military honours. ChiefMinisterMGRamachandranandhis seniorcabinet colleagues, in Delhi for SanjayGandhi’sfuneral,areexpectedtobebackforthe former president’s last rites. PresidentSanjeeva Reddywill be represented by hismilitary secretary. The Union cabinet willmeet tomorrowtocondole thedeathof theformerpresident.

ASSAM CLASHESSECURITY ARRANGEMENTS HAVE beentightened and troops have been asked tostage flagmarches in the trouble prone ar-eas of Assamwhere the overall situationcontinues to be tense, according to KRamamurthy, advisor to the governor. Hesaidthatfivepersonswereseriously injuredinclashesbetweentwogroupsatRaidangavillage in the Nowgong district. The causeof the clash could not be ascertained. In arelated development the All AssamStudentsUnionreiterateditswillingnesstoresumedialogueontheforeigners issuebutsaid itwastheresponsibilityof thegovern-ment, andnot the studentbody, to createa

congenial atmosphere.

PEACE WITH CHINAA TOP CHINESE Communist Party func-tionaryisconfidentthattheborderissuebe-tween India and China could be solved in aspirit “of give and take”.Wang Ping Nan, acabinetminister,toldUNI“thereisnoobsta-cle between us in developing friendly rela-tions”.Wang,whoisalsothepresidentoftheAssociation of Chinese Peoples’ FriendshipWithOther Countries, congratulated IndiraGandhionherreturntopower.HesaidsinceMrsGandhi had returned to power, “we at-tachthegreatestimportancetoherspeecheson foreignrelations”.

JUNE 25, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

MOSTCOMMEMORATETHEEmergency onJune26asareminderof thebleak21monthswhendemocracywasderailed. Actually, theEmergency came into effect on June 25 at11.45pmwhenthenPresident,FakhruddinAliAhmed,signedtheproclamation,eventhoughhewas alertedbyhis secretary that itwouldbe constitutionally untenable. Thepresidentis expected to act only on the advice of thecouncil ofministers. IndiraGandhi’s cabinetmetthenextdayat6amasaformality.President Ahmedwas the first in a chain

ofconstitutionalauthoritiesandautonomousinstitutions in our democracy that caved in,betrayingtheiroathofofficeandabandoningprofessional integrity.While holdingMrsGandhi, Sanjay andhis henchmenguilty fortheEmergency,wegenerallyforgettoappor-tion blame to the others who succumbedwhenpushcametoshove.MrsGandhi’scab-inet fell in line without a murmur. InParliament,theentireCongressparty,barringtwoexpelleddissidents,meeklyraisedhandstoapprove,notjusttheEmergencyproclama-tion, but several illegal laws. Mrs Gandhidemonstrated her contempt for ParliamentbydoingawaywithQuestionHourandCallingAttentionMotions,declaringthathenceforthonly importantgovernmentbusinesswouldbetransacted.The recordof the courts, amajor pillar of

anydemocracy,wasnotquiteasdismal.Ninehigh courts had the courage to strike downthe draconian Maintenance of InternalSecurity Act (MISA), as being ultra vires theConstitution. (Thousandsweredetainedun-derMISA during the Emergency). Most ofthese brave judgeswere later penalised. Butwhenthehabeascorpuswritcameinappealto the Supreme Court (ADM Jabalpur vs SShukla) thesenior-mostjudgesofthelandletdown the country. Of the five-judge bench,fourupheldtheAttorneyGeneral’sargumentthatapersonhasnolegalrights,noteventobeproducedbefore thecourtorbe informedofthe reasons for his detention, as long as anEmergencyisinforce.Theblemishedfourin-cluded twowho projected themselves aschampionsofhumanrightsandcivilliberties.Thesoledissenter, JusticeHRKhanna, threwawayhischancetobethenextchief justice.LKAdvani’sfamousjibeatthemediadur-

1975 lesson for 2020

New Delhi


WHATTHEOTHERSSAY"The consequence is that the country’s exit from lockdown in July will be abigger gamble than it may have been at a later stage."

— THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

It would seem that fromJawaharlal Nehru’s naïvehopes, encapsulated in the‘Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai’mantra, to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s prolongedcourtship of Xi Jinping,India has been groping in thedark, while grosslymisreading China’s realintent. As we watch Beijing’ssinister border strategyunfold, the absence of amatching counter on India’spart becomes painfullyobvious.

How to play against China When democracywas shackled

AMERICANNOVELISTDavidFosterWallacebegan his commencement speech at theKenyon College of liberal arts in Gambier,Ohio,with an instructive story. Twoyoungfishwereswimmingalongandbumpedintoan older fish swimming the other way.“Morning,boys!How’sthewater?”,askstheolder fish. The two young fish continue toswimon,andeventually,oneof themasks,“Whatthehell iswater?”Reality, formany, becomes so obvious

sometimes that they fail to appreciate itsvalue.Peopleinmanydemocraciesbehavelike thoseyoung fish today. Theydon’t re-alise thatwithall itsdefects, democracy isthebestavailable formof government.Democracy,aHerodotus-erainstitution

ofthe“ruleofthepeople”,tookwingonlyinthe last sevendecades. Therewere137au-tocracies and just 12democracies in 1945.Bolstered by the victory of the democraticAllied forces, more andmore countriesturned democratic. By 2001, this numbergrewto88andequalledautocracies.Today,theworldhasmorethanahundreddemo-craticcountrieswhile80areautocracies.Butdemocraciesareindecline.Inthelast

twodecades,moreandmorecountrieshavebecome less and less democratic. TheEconomist recently reported that only 22countries can be called true democracies,while another 53 countries can, at best, bedescribedasflaweddemocracies.Morethanhalf of the countries in theworldareeithersemi-autocraciesordownrightdictatorships.Liberaldemocraciesare facingmultiple

challenges. This pandemic has become anexcuseforsomeleaderstousurpmorepow-ersandbecomemoreauthoritarian.Theriseofthefarleftandleft-liberalanarchistforces,wantingtodestroymankind’svaluablepos-sessionof democracy, is alsodiscernible inmany countries. Post-modernist scholarsare trying to dubdemocracies pejorativelyaspopulist.Theyarguethatdemocraciesareposing a “danger” to “our freedom”. Theyseektopitpeopleagainstdemocracy.It isnobody’scasethatdemocraciesare

perfect. There is no single definition ofdemocracy that is universally acceptable.There are “illiberal democracies” as FareedZakariapointedoutand“liberalun-democ-racies”asYaschaMounkwrote.Butthealter-native to democracy, historically, has onlybeenauthoritariandictatorships.Whenso-cieties fail toappreciatethevalueofdemo-craticprinciples,eitherdictatorsarecreatedor anarchy reigns. It also happened, albeitjust for lessthantwoyears, in India.Forty-fiveyearsago,onthisday,June25,

1975, India’s democracywas shackled byPrimeMinisterIndiraGandhi.Citing“inter-nal disturbance” and “imminentdanger tothesecurityof India”asthereasons,shein-vokedArticle 352 of the Constitution anddeclaredastateof internalemergency.The

countrywaspushedintoadictatorshipthatlasted for 21months. Fundamental rightsweresuspended.Over1.4lakhpeopleweredetained, including opposition party lead-ers. Themediawas gagged, and even thehigher judiciary became a pliant hand-maidenof IndiraGandhi. The entire coun-trywasconvertedintoaprisonoffear.IndiraGandhi’sloyalistattorneygeneral,NirenDe,hadominouslytoldtheSupremeCourtthattheEmergencygavepowerstothegovern-menteventotakeawaythelifeofacitizen—and yet not be answerable to anybody.Citizens’ livesandlimbswereunderthreat.Asmonths passed by, the Stockholm

Syndromeset it.Manyeminent journalistsandwritersweresingingpaeanstothegov-ernment. “When asked to bend, theycrawled,” LKAdvani,who spent the entiredurationoftheEmergencyinjailalongwithcolleaguessuchasAtalBihariVajpayee,com-mentedwryly:Hitlerian fascismwas rein-carnatedinIndira’sEmergency.Hitler, after getting elected to the

Reichstag — the Lower House of theWeimarRepublic—in1933,hadmadehisNational Socialist Party redundant. Seniorparty leadersweremade inconsequentialin Hitler’s Third Reich. Sycophants andcourtiersreplacedthem.JosephGoebbels,the propaganda chief, became themostpowerfulleaderduetohisproximitytotheFuhrer.AsystematiccampaignagainstJewswasunleashed,culminatingintheirgeno-cide towards theendof theReich.SomethingsimilarhadhappenedinIndia

during those years. Vidya Charan Shukla,minister for informationandbroadcasting,became thenewGoebbels. SanjayGandhiemergedasthesuperprimeministerwithacoterie of officials running the show.A sys-tematic Islamophobic campaignwas un-leashedbythiscoterie.Sanjayandhiscoteriebecame infamous for their forced sterilisa-tion programmes. Corruption and syco-phancyhadreachedunforeseenheights.DevKantBarooah,presidentoftheCongressdur-ing those years, had acquired sycophanticnotoriety by coining the slogan “Indira isIndiaand India is Indira”, somethingonthelinesof themandatory“HeilHitler”salute.If India’smillennials take to the streets

todaywithanarchistslogans,thatisbecausethey are like those young fish in thewater,whohaveneverseenthedarksideof adic-tatorship.ThankstothevaliantfightagainstthedraconianEmergencybytheforcesthatareinpowertoday,thecountryhasenjoyedliberal democracy for four-and-a-halfdecades.Wedid not have autocrats partlybecauseoftheGulliverisationofourpoliticsformanyyears,wheresmallerpartieswouldpullthestringsofpower.Whenastablema-jorityreturnedafterthreedecades,thecoun-trywasinthehandsofthosewhowerevic-tims of the Emergency regime’s excessesandfoughtfordemocracy.The “freedom” that the anarchists and

theirleft-liberalcohortsenjoyinthecoun-try’smediaandpubliclifetodayisbecausewe have leaders in the governmentwhofoughtforthatveryfreedomandarecom-mittedtoliberaldemocraticvalues,notjustasamatterof compulsionbutasanarticleof faith.

Thewriter isnationalgeneral secretary,BJP,anddirector, IndiaFoundation

Indiawillneedtobringorderandalacrity tocrisismanagement.Andflexibilityandpragmatismto its strategic response

THE SUDDEN AND tragic loss of 20 Indianarmypersonnelinatreacherousambushbythe People’s Liberation Army (PLA) inLadakh’s Galwan Valley has caused deeppublicanguishandanger,mollified,onlypar-tially, by the swift retributionvisitedon theassailantsbyourgallant jawans.Equallyex-asperating for thepublichasbeen thecava-lier inconsistency of statements emanatingfromgovernmentsourcesinNewDelhionamatter of grave national importance; espe-cially, since the contradictions have givencomfort to theadversaryandcausedconfu-sionathome.GiventhattheSino-Indianterritorialdis-

putehasbeenfesteringsincethe late1950s,it isdifficult toavoidtheconclusionthat thecurrentlackofclarityamongstourdecision-makers is rootedin incomprehensionof thelong-termstrategicaimsandobjectivesthatunderpinChina’sbelligerentconduct.Thisishardly a surprise, considering thatwe havefailed to devote adequate intellectual capi-tal, intelligenceresourcesandpoliticalatten-tiontoacquisitionofaclearinsightintoChinaanditsmotivations.Evenwhenintelligenceisavailable,analysisanddisseminationhavefallenshort.Consequently, it would seem that from

Jawaharlal Nehru’s naïve hopes, encapsu-latedinthe“Hindi-Chinibhai-bhai”mantra,to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-longedcourtshipofXiJinping,Indiahasbeengropinginthedark,whilegrosslymisreadingChina’srealintent.AswewatchBeijing’ssin-ister border strategy unfold, the absence ofamatchingcounteronIndia’spartbecomespainfullyobvious.Indians,asdevoteesofchessor“shatranj”,

have been thinking in terms of strikingblows, fighting pitched battles and finally,checkmating the opponent. A similarChineseboardgame,“weiqui”, isdescribed,thus, by Henry Kissinger: “If chess is aboutdecisivebattle,weiqui isaboutaprotractedcampaignand‘strategicencirclement’whereopponentsseektooccupyemptyspacesandthensurroundandcaptureopposingpieces.Whilechessencouragessingle-mindedness,wei-qui generates guile and strategic flexi-bility.”Since1995,Chinahasbeen issuingade-

fencewhitepaper(DWP)everytwoyearsorso. These thematic public documents artic-ulate China’s national security aims, objec-tivesandvital interestsandalsoaddress the“ends-ways-means” issues related to itsarmedforces.The11DWPs issuedso farareamodel of clarity and vision, and providemany clues to current developments. It is ameasure of our complacency and indiffer-encetowardsnationalsecuritythatnoIndiangovernment since Independence hasdeemeditnecessarytoissueadefencewhitepaper, order a defence review or publish anational security strategy. Hadwe done so,itmayhavepreparedus for theunexpectedandbroughtorderandalacrity toourcrisis-response.

Historically, China is heir to an ancientsystem, based not on sovereign equality ofstates,butonthedivineandboundlessreachandauthorityof theChineseEmperor.Evenin the current discourse there are enoughpointers to show that an ascendant Chinaseesitselfontracktorealisingits“strongna-tion dream”, of becoming theworld’s No 1powerbysurpassingandthenreplacingtheUS.Apartof the“Chinadream”is theestab-lishmentofa“unifiedglobalsystem”,orem-pire, termed tianxia (“all under heaven” inMandarin). Translating its enormous eco-nomic gains into coercivemilitary power,Chinaexpectsneighbouringnations tosub-mit to itshegemony.InordertoshowIndiaitsplace,Chinahad

administered ita “lesson” in1962,andmay,perhaps, be contemplating another one in2020, with the objective of preventing theriseof apeer competitor. ForChina, the lineofactualcontrolorLAC,representinganun-settledborder,providesstrategicleveragetokeep India on tenterhooks about its nextmovewhilerepeatedlyexposingthelatter’svulnerabilities.There is probably no other instance

world-widewhere twoantagonistic neigh-bourshave left sucha longborder, undeter-mined, unmarked and unresolved for solong.Ourdiplomatsderiveconsiderablesat-isfaction from the 1993 Border Peace &TranquilityAgreement,which, according toformer foreign secretary, ShivshankarMenon, “…effectively delinked settlementoftheboundaryfromtherestof therelation-ship”.Buttoalayman,itappearsthatbyfail-ingtouseavailableleveragefor27years,andnot insisting on bilateral exchange of LACmaps,wehavecreatedatickingtime-bomb,withthetriggerinChina’shands.While“dis-engagement”maysoontakeplacebetweentroops incontact, it ismostunlikelythat thePLAwillpullbackorvacateanyoccupiedpo-sitioninLadakhorelsewhere;inwhichcase,

India needs to consider a three-prongedstrategy.At the ground-level, we need to visibly

reinforceourpositions,andmoveforwardtotheLACallalong,enhancingtheoperational-tempoof the three services as ameasure ofdeterrence. Indian warships should showheightened presence at the Indian Oceanchoke-points. Cyber emergency responseteamscountry-wideshouldremainonhighalert.Whilebuilding-upstocksofweapons,ammunition and spares, the Ministry ofDefenceshouldseizethisopportunitytour-gently launch some long-term “atma-nirb-harta” schemes indefence-production.At the strategic level, the government

mustmoot a sustained process of engage-ment with China at the highest politico-diplomatic echelons. The negotiationsshouldseekmulti-dimensionalSino-Indianmodus-vivendi; encompassing the fullgamut of bilateral issues like trade, territo-rialdisputes,border-managementandsecu-rity. Simultaneously, at the grand-strategiclevel, India should initiateadialogue for theformation of an “Indo-Pacific Concord forPeace and Tranquility”, inviting fourmem-bers of the Quad as well as Vietnam,Indonesia, PhilippinesandMalaysia.Finally, in1962,India’sParliamenthadex-

pressed,“thefirmresolveoftheIndianpeopletodriveouttheaggressorfromthesacredsoilof India”, a resolution interpretedasapledgefor the restorationof Aksai Chin. As anation,weneedtobepragmaticenoughtorealisethatneitherconquestnorre-conquestof territoryis possible in the 21st century. Parliamentshould, now, resolve to ask the government,“to establishwithutmosturgency, stable, vi-able and peaceful national boundaries, allaround,sothatIndiacanproceed,unhindered,withthevitaltasksofnation-buildingandso-cio-economicdevelopment”.

Thewriter isa retiredchiefofnaval staff

Arun Prakash

DRAGON'S BREACH

THIS REFERS TO the article, 'India,China, the red lines ‘, (IE, June 24).China'smove is deplorable as they arebreaching every bilateral treaty. Weshouldaimatresolving,notmanaging,thedispute.Unfortunately, ourpolicy-makersdonotappeartohavedrawnupa long-termplan to fix thematter.

NehaKhatri,Sonipat

WRONG CURETHISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘Thiscrisisisdifferent’(IE,June24).In2008,thefinan-cialcrisisinducedaneconomiccrisis,andthemethodstothefightthatcrisismightnotbehelpfultoday,whenwehavebeenfacinganeconomiccrisisforsometime,nowamplified by theCOVID-19 shock.Weneedtopushconsumption.Our fis-calandmonetarymeasuresareonlyin-flating asset prices and not addressingthe situation on the ground. Inequalityofwealth is alsoplaying amajor role inaggravatingthesituation.

PradeepKumar,Chandigarh

MUMBAI LESSONSTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Mumbaislowdown’ (IE, June 24). Kudos toMumbai’s local administration for ag-gressively tracing and testing the pri-mary contacts of COVID-infected per-sons. There isnosure-shot formula forsuccessinfightingthepandemic.So,all

the states need to work closely witheach other by putting political differ-encesasideandlearnfromeachother'sbest practices. Delhi needs to learn athingor twofromMumbai.

BalGovind,Noida

CHEAP WORDSTHISREFERSTOthereport,‘TotargetPMornot:CWCmeetshowsstrainswithin’(IE,June24).RahulGandhiwilldowelltolisten to someof his party leaderswhoadvisedhimnottouseabusivelanguageagainst the primeminister. Criticismshoulddifferentiatedifferencebetween“PM” as an institution and the incum-bentasanindividual.

YGChouksey,Pune

LETTER TO THEEDITOR

THEVIRUSHASbeenkeepinghumanity onitstoesforthelastfewmonths.Giventhesit-uation inmany other developed countries,wehaveshownmuchsuccess incontainingthewrathofthisdeadlysub-microscopicbe-ing.Evenso,theworldaroundusisnotwhatitusedtobe.Theuncertaintyduetothedis-ease constantly lurking aroundmay lead tofear, anxiety and emotional distress. One ofthemostvulnerablepopulationgroupsisourstudents, especially school students.Children today are quite vulnerable to

mental and emotional stress. This may bedue tomany factors such as small nuclearfamilies, lack of siblings inmany cases, re-stricted community space, sedentarylifestyle, unhealthydietaryhabits, thepres-suretobecomeaggressivelycompetitiveandexhibitprecocity,parentalattentiondeficits,bullying, exposure to violent images and soforth.We need to organise our school spaces

in such a way that these issues are under-stoodwithdeepempathyandeverychild’scapacity to learn is appreciated and nur-tured. It is important thateverychild isen-abled togrow intoa self-reliant individual.Yet, mutual interdependence toomust beemphatically nurtured. School spaces areto be all-inclusive. Each pupil should feelequally includedirrespectiveof gender, so-cio-economic class, ethnicity, home-lan-guage, disability, parental education, etc.Diversitymust be celebratedandusedas a

site for children’s engagement with thewiderworld.Collaborative learningandex-plorationaretobeencouragedandtheideaofmutuallyexclusivecompetitionmustbeactively discarded. Excellence need not besynonymouswithbeing thebest, as “best”connotes the exclusion of others. Ourschools, and parents too, must work to-wards achieving a fine balance betweenself-reliance and interdependence for thechildren.As a part of the curriculum, children

shouldbesensitivelyexposedtoavarietyofaesthetic experiences — listening tomusicand appreciating other art forms. Theyshouldbehelpedtodevelopanaffinitywithnatureandtoappreciate itsmyriadandlay-eredmanifestations.Reading is another in-dispensableactivity.Therelativesolitudeofreading enables children to traversemulti-pleworldsandgainaccesstoavarietyofhu-man experiences across time and space.Without a doubt, it nurtures imaginationandcreativity.Yogaandsportsareanessen-tial part of the school curriculum. Theseshouldbegivenarenewedfocusastheyplaya crucial role in physical, mental and emo-tional well-being. Yoga plays a distinctiverole in spiritual rejuvenation, the unleash-ing of latent energies and their positivechannelisation. All the above-mentionedpursuitsnurtureessential traits—persever-ance, resilience, equanimity ofmind, quickdecision-making, team spirit, ability to ac-

cept failures.Tosupplementthesecurricularactivities,

wemust have remedialmeasures in place.Counselling,foremostamongthese,mustbetreated as an important part of school life.Counselling is essential to discern signs ofdepression and isolation at an early stage.Remedialmeasurescanthenbetakentore-store the child’smental health. Counsellingforadolescenceissuesandforcareers isalsonecessary.Weall realise that theuseof technology

ineducationhasgainedmore tractionandsalience during the pandemic. There is nodoubt that education technology and dig-ital resourceshavebeenput tovigoroususeto keep the teaching-learning process on.Somemay be led to believe that technol-ogy can even replace brick-and-mortarclassrooms. But that does not seem to bethecase. Thestressamongstudents learn-ing in virtual mode during the pandemichas been a matter of concern. Such stressmay also partly be due to the overallchanged circumstances causedby thedis-ease.But shiftingcompletely to thevirtuallearninghas also curtailed someof the es-sential featuresof awholesomepedagogy,andseemstohavecontributedtothestressamongchildren.Sooneror later, thecollec-tivehumanwill tosurviveshallprevail andthe pestilence will be defeated. Then, wewill shift to ablendedmodeof learning, inwhich actual classroom and technology

willwork in tandem.Wemust take this opportunity to un-

derstand that technology isagreatenablerbut it is not an alternative for the whole-some ecosystem called school. During thepandemic, theuse of technology in educa-tion has been put to test on an unprece-dentedscale.Weneedtodrawlessonsfromthisperiodandshapetheevolutionof edu-cational technology in a manner that it isorganicallyadaptivetooureducationalphi-losophyof collaborative and child-centredlearning.Ourpolicydocumentsarequiteeloquent

onalltheissuesdiscussedabove.Yet,groundrealitiesarefar less inspiring. Ifwewantho-listic development of our children, ifweas-pire tohavea capable and robust future cit-izenry, then all stakeholders will have toworkwithrenewedvigourandinunisonto-wardsthesegoals.Wemustalsounderstandthat thepandemic or other such crisesmaynot follow a fixed pattern.We can’t fathomthe uncertainties of the future. Hence, ourchildrenshouldbepsycho-emotionallynur-turedtoshowresilienceandadaptability.Wecanachieveatrulysustainableandcohesivesocietyonlyifourchildrencangrowintofra-ternalcommunitiesofself-reliantandhappyindividuals.

Thewriter isMinisterof State forHumanResourceDevelopment,CommunicationsandElectronics& IT,Governmentof India

Theschoolmustenablechildrentoberesilientandadaptableinuncertaintimes

A nurturing placeSanjayDhotre

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●THEEMERGENCYANDTHESANGH:

RAJKUMARBHATIA

●●TAXINGTHEDIGITALECONOMY:SHILPAGOEL

ANDASHISHGOEL

www.indianexpress.com

RamMadhav

CR Sasikumar

Thosewhohavenotseenthedarksideofdictatorship,or foughtagainst it, don't trulyappreciate thevalueof freedomstoday

New Delhi

E-Tender Notice No. CORE-SNS-SEA-01 Date:23.06.2020

On behalf of the President of India, Principal Chief Material Manager, Central Organization Railway

Electrification, Prayagraj, invites following E-TENDER:-

E-Tender Notice

Name of work:- Engagement of freight forwarder cum clearing agent for lifting the imported materials fromdefferent Europian Ports (Hamburg & Marseille) to Kolkata Port through sea, their clearances and transportationfrom Kolkata Port to Consignee at Rampurhat (West Bangal)

CENTRAL ORGANISATION FOR

RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION

1, NAWAB YUSUF ROAD, CIVIL LINES/PRAYAGRAJ-211001 FAX No.: 0532-2407797

Bidding Type Normal Tender

Tender Type Open Bidding System SinglePacketSystem

Tender Closing Date Time 21.07.2020 15:00 Date Time of Uploading Tender 22.06.2020, 12:04

Pre-BidRequired No Pre-Bid Query Date Time Not Applicable

Advertised Value (`) 1019096.00 Tendering Section ELECT MISC

Bidding Style SingleRateforEachScheduleItem

Earnest Money (`) 20400.00 Validity of Offer (Days) 90

Tender Doc. Cost (`) 2000.00 Period of Completion 12 Months

Contract Type Service Contract Category Expenditure

Bidding Start Date 07.07.2020 Are Joint Venture (JV) No

firms allowed to bid

Ranking Order For Bids Lowest to Highest

"Serving Customers with a Smile”PR/421/2020 Adk www.ireps.gov.in

Bidding Unit

Expenditure Type Revenue

Note: 1) The Complete information of above E-Tender and Tender document are available on IREPS

website i.e.http://ireps.gov.in. Only E-Bids shall be accepted against above Tender. The e-bids may be

submitted before 15.00 hrs on tender opening date.

2) In case of any technical difficulty, helpdesk of CRIS/New Delhi may be approached. The Telephone numbers

are: 011-24105180, 24102855, 24100746, 24671469.

KASHMIR POWER DISTRIBUTION CORPORATION LIMITED (KPDCL)(Fully Owned Government of J&K Undertaking)

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER (Planning)PLANNING & PROCUREMENT WING, KASHMIR

Email: [email protected]

e-TENDER ABBREVIATED NOTICEe- NIT NO: SE/EPL/e-NIT-06 of 2020-21 Dated: 20.06.2020For and on behalf of the Managing Director, KPDCL, Superintending Engineer, Planning Circle, P&P Wing, KPDCL invites onlinee-bids from Govt. registered original equipment manufacturers for supply of 33KV Outdoor Vacuum Circuit Breakersfor the require-ment of KPDCL as under:

The complete tender document is available at website http://jktenders.gov.in. Interested bidder/tenderers may view, download the e-Bid document, seek clarification and submit their e-Bid online up to the date and time mentioned in the table below. Bidding Documentscontain Qualifying Criteria for Bidders, Specifications, Bill of Quantities, Terms and Conditions of Contract and other details.

Superintending EngineerPlanning (KPDCL)

Sr. Material Description For ECSD PamporeNo. (Qty. in No.’s)

1. 33KV OUTDOOR VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKERS FOR USE AT 33/11KV SUBSTATION 25

i) Date and Time of downloading/Sale (Start) of Tender Document 22.06.2020; 14:00 Hrs

ii) Date & Time of Download/Sale (End) of Tender Document 13.07.2020; 15:00 Hrs

iii) Date & Time of Bidding Queries/Clarifications 25.06.2020; 10:00 Hrs to 27.06.2020; 16:00 Hrs

iv) Date & Time of Bid Uploading (Start/End) 29.06.2020; 10:00 Hrs to 13.07.2020; 15:00 Hrs

v) Submission of Hard Copy (end) Date & Time 15.07.2020; 16:00 Hrs in the office of CE P&P wing,PDD Complex, Bemina, Srinagar

vi) Commercial/Technical Bid Opening Date & Time 17.07.2020 at 14:00 Hrs

vii) Financial Bid Opening Shall be declared later on for the technically qualifiedbidders

viii) Venue of Commercial/ Technical Bid Opening Soft Copy Electronically and Hard Copy in the office ofCE P&P wing, KPDCL

ix) Cost of e-Bid document Rs.500.00 (Rupees Five Hundred only) for local firmsof J&K (UT) Rs.5000.00 (Rupees Five thousand Only)for firms outside the J&K. (Non-refundable)

x) Amount of Earnest Money Deposit Rs.5000.00 (Rupees Five thousand only) for localfirms of J&K and Rs.188000.00 (Rupees One LacEighty Eight Thousand only) for firms outside the J&K.

DIPK-867

UTKALMANI GOPABANDHU INSTITUTE OFENGINEERING, ROURKELA -769004

Tele FAX: +91661- 2401130, Website:www.ugierkl.ac.in,Email: [email protected]

TENDER CALL NOTICEBIDReferenceNo. 626 / UGIERKL, Dt. 22.06.2020Sealed Tenders are invited from reputed Manufacturers/Authorised Dealers/Distributors/Suppliers forsupply and installation of Machines/Equipments fordifferent Departments and Software to UtkalmaniGopabandhu Institute of Engineering, At:- Jail Road,Rourkela, Odisha. Complete BID document c ontainingthe details of items with specification, terms & condition,cost of tender paper (Rs 500/-) & EMD details can bedownloaded from the Institute’s website-www.ugierkl.ac.in with effect from 24.06.2020. Thecomplete BID can be submitted at the office during theoffice hours in person or by speed post/Regd. Post. Thelast date of receipt of sealed BID at this office is09.07.2020 up to 5PM & the same will be opened on10.07.2020 at 11AM. The Authority reserves the right toaccept or reject any or all the BIDS without assigningany reason thereof. Sd/- Principal,

Utkalmani Gopabandhu Institute ofEngineering,Rourkela - 769004

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR SUPPLYOF BAMBOO VACUUM PRESSURE

IMPREGNATION TREATMENT PLANTAND BAMBOO ELECTRICAL HOT

AIR KILN DRYER MACHINETripura Rehabilitation Plantation Corporation Limited(TRPC) invites Expression of Interest for Supply of BambooVacuum Pressure impregnation Treatment Plant and BambooElectrical Hot Air Kiln Dryer Machine, 1 (one) no each, to besupplied at Surendranagar, Sub-Div: Mohanpur, Dist. WestTripura, State: Tripura. Expression will be received in theoffice of the TRPC Ltd. P.N. Complex, Gurkhabasti, Agartala,Tripura, till 3.00 PM on 29th June 2020.Full text of the notice inviting expression of interest may be seenin the corporate office of TRPC at Agartala and in its ZonalOffices at Udaipur, Agartala, Kumarghat and Jawharnagar on allworking days and also at www.triurainfo.com along with thestate and National leading news papers.

Sd/-(Abhijit Ray)

Asstt. Manager (Marketing)TRPC Ltd. H.Q.

CORRIGENDUMSubject:- Strengthening of service Road on both sides

of NH-44 from Km. 0.000 to Km. 0.600 andKm. 4.500 to Km.11.500 in the UT of Jammuand Kashmir on EPC mode. Job No.NH-501-J&K-2019-2020/81. “RegardingMaintenances Period/ Defective LiabilityPeriod Thereof”

Reference:- This office NIT No NIT No PCD-RnB-18 of2020-21 Dated: 08/06/2020 issued Videendorsement No. PCD- 1st/ NIT/824-40Dtd: 08-06-2020

For the above mentioned NIT pertaining o the abovementioned NIT pertaining to the above work, followingcorrigendum is issued which is as under:-

“The Defect Liability Period of the work Shall be three (3)Years without maintenance Charges instead of DefectLiability Period of Five (5) Years from the actual date ofcompletion and the same shall be deemed to the modi-fied at all places in the NIT, RFP, Agreement andSchedules including in Article 14, 17 etc accordingly”.

Executive EngineerR&B Project Circle Division 1st.

Srinagar.

Government of Jammu & Kashmir (UT)OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (R&B)PROJECT CIRCLE DIVISION 1ST, SRINAGAR

Opposite Masjid Ibrahim, Hyderpora Srinagar PIN No.190014E-mail:- [email protected] Phone-FAX:-0194-2435218

No:- NIT/Corr/Dated: 06.2020DIPK-893

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Bid Ref. No.: e-tender/PHSC/Proc/RC/Computers andperipherals/2020/13

NOTICE INVITING E-TENDERS FORALL IN ONE COMPUTERS, UPS, LASER PRINTERS,

BAR CODE READERS, BAR CODE PRINTERS,LAPTOPS & MULTI FUNCTIONAL PRINTERS.The Punjab Health Systems Corporation, Mohali

(Department of Health & Family Welfare, Punjab) invitesonline bids through https://eproc.punjab.gov.in for All inOne Computers, Laser Printers, UPS, Bar Code Printers,Bar Code Scanners, Laser Printers and Multi FunctionalPrinters as per details enumerated in the tender documentavailable on the Website https://eproc.punjab.gov.in.

Schedule of important activities/Key Data in this regardis as under:-1. Date, Time and Venue of Pre-bid Conference:

02.07.2020 at 11.00 A.M. in the O/o PHSC at above men-tioned address.

2. Closing Date and Time: 20.07.2020 upto 3.00 P.M.3. For details log on https://eproc.punjab.gov.in.4. Corrigendum/Amendment if any will only be published on

website: https://eproc.punjab.gov.in.MANAGING DIRECTOR

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

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

Phone: 0172-2232243 & 2232247Visit us at: punjabhealth.co.in

Email: [email protected], [email protected]@gmail.com

40016/Pb.

E-tenders are invited from reputed vendors/firms/entities forProcurement and Installation of Public Address Systemintegrated with Video Conferencing system for ConferenceHall APHQ J&K Srinagar as per specifications detailed outin Annexure- “A” of e-NIT. The e-NIT consisting of qualifyinginformation, eligibility criteria, Bill of quantities, (B.O.Q), Set ofterms and conditions of contract and other details can beseen/downloaded from the J&K e-Procurement Portalwww.jktenders.gov.in from 19.06.2020 (1400 hours) to11.07.2020 upto 1800 hours. Bidders submitting their bids on-line shall only be accepted and no document other than thosementioned in the e-NIT shall be accepted manually.

The tenders (technical bids only) will be opened online on13.07.2020 at 1100 hours at Police Headquarters J&K,Gulshan Ground Jammu/ Srinagar. In case of unforeseen cir-cumstances, the date of opening will be next working day oras notified separately.

The intending bidders shall email their queries pertaining tothis e-NIT for clarification at [email protected]. The sameshall be mailed within 10 days from the date of floating this e-NITbeyond which no query shall be entertained.

Detailed tender documents (SBD) with terms and conditionsare available on J&K e-Procurement Portalwww.jktenders.gov.in.

Sd/-Rayees Mohammad Bhat (IPS)

AIG (Provision & Transport),For Director General of Police,

J&K Jammu.

POLICE HEADQUARTERS JAMMU & KASHMIR JAMMUPhone/Fax No: 0194-2443031/ 2443032(Sgr) Website: www.jkpolice.gov.in0191-2459029/2459255(Jmu) [Provision Section] Email: [email protected]

Gist of e-NIT NO. 25 of 2020Dated 19.06.2020

No. Prov-II/Elect-05/2020-21/27741-55Dated: 19.06.2020DIPK-NB-911

IYf¹ffÊ»f¹f ³f¦fSX d½fIYfÀf ´fi³¹ffÀf, CXQ¹f´fbSX (SXfªf.)No.:F-2(01)Acct/Contract/2020/71-73 Date: 24-06-2020

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25.06.2020 I û ´fif°f: 10.00 ¶fªfZ ÀfZ 15.07.2020 I û Àffa¹f: 6.30 ¶fªfZ °fI Download/Upload I S ÀfI °fZ W`Ü d³f²ffÊdS°f EMD, Tender Fee & Processing Fee dQ³ffaI :25.06.2020 I û ´fif°f: 10.00 ¶fªfZ ÀfZ dQ³ffaI : 15.07.2020 I û Àffa¹f 6.30 ¶fªfZ ³¹ffÀf ½fZ¶f ÀffBÊMurban.rajasthan.gov.in/uitudaipur ´fS Online We ªf¸ff I Sf ÀfIZ ¦fZÔÜ ´fif~

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d½fÀ°fÈ°f d½f½fS¯f ½fZ¶fÀffBÊM urban.rajasthan.gov.in/uitudaipur,www.eproc.rajasthan.gov.in ½f www.sppp.rajasthan.gov.in ´fS QZ£ff ªff ÀfI °ff W`ÜUBN : ITU2021WLOB00079 (Àfaªfe½f Vf¸ffÊ)

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771.71 II

N M D C Limited(A Government of India Enterprise)

BAILADILLA IRON ORE MINE, KIRANDUL COMPLEXDist - Dantewada , State - Chattisgarh, Pin- 494 556BIOM/KDL/PER/ADMN/NIT-HI TECH AMBULANCE/2020/Date: 23.06.2020

Sealed tenders are invited in two part bid system for hiring of Two (02) nos. ofAdvanced Cardiac Life Support Ambulance with drivers on 24 hours duty forperforming out-station and local duty for Project Hospital at Bailadilla Iron OreMine, Kirandul Complex, Dist - South Bastar Dantewada, State- Chhattisgarh.Initially for a period of two years. The Management of BIOM reserve the rightto extend the contract for further one more year based on satisfactory perform-ance and same terms and conditions thereafter.

Tender documents can be obtained from Dy. General Manager (Per) onpayment of Rs.5900/- (Rupees Five thousand and nine hundred only) by DD(Non refundable) drawn in favour of Dy. General. Manager (Fin), NMDC Ltd,BIOM, Kirandul Complex, payable at SBI, Kirandul on any working dayduring office hours from 25.06.2020 to 21.07.2020. The tender documents canalso be downloaded from NMDC website ie. www.nmdc.co.in.The last date oftender acceptance is 03.00 PM on 23.07.2020. Corrigendum and Addenda ifany will be posted on our NMDC website only. The prospective bidder shouldvisit our NMDC website from time to time note the Corrigendum and Addendaif any. Dy. General Manager (Per)

Name of thework

Hiring of two(C2)nos. of AdvancedCardiac LifeSupportAmbu1ance withdrivers on 24hours duty

Estimated cost( Two years)

Rs.61.00 Lakhs( Inclusive of

GST)

EMD

Rs.30,500/-per vehicle

Period

2 years(extendablefor further

period of onemore yearbased on

satisfactoryperformance)

Cost of TenderDocument

Rs.5,900/-( including

GST@ 18% )

(Non-refundable)

NOTICE INVITING TENDER

14 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JUNE25,2020

New Delhi

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 4,56,183 (14,476 DEATHS)

1,39,010Maharashtra

64,603Tamil Nadu

15,627Rajasthan

12,261MP

18,893 UP

66,602 Delhi

28,371Gujarat

14,728West Bengal

11,520Haryana

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

Write to [email protected]

10,002Andhra Pradesh

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,June24.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.2,58,685PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN34STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 50ArunachalPradesh 148Assam 5831Bihar 8153Chandigarh 418Chhattisgarh 2362DadraandNagarHaveli 120Goa 909HimachalPradesh 775JammuandKashmir 6236Jharkhand 2185Karnataka 9721Kerala 3451Ladakh 932Manipur 921Meghalaya 46Mizoram 142Nagaland 330Odisha 5470Puducherry 402Punjab 4397Sikkim 79Telangana 9553Tripura 1259Uttarakhand 2535

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

456,183India

238,833Italy

212,501Iran

307,682United Kingdom

250,767Chile

246,752Spain

2,348,956US

1,145,906Brazil

260,810Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED:9,295,365 DEATHCOUNT:478,289Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJune24. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealth

Ministry’stally(below)maynotmatchiftheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD606,043Russia

ANEWmodellingstudyhasestimatedthattheCovid-19pandemiccouldsig-nificantly increase the global burdenof tuberculosis due to disruptions tohealthservices,anddelaystodiagno-sisandtreatment.InIndia,itestimatesTB will cause an additional 95,000deaths in the next fiveyears.Thestudyispub-lished in the EuropeanRespiratory Journal.Researchers esti-

mated additional TBdeaths and cases inChina, India andSouthAfricaoverthenextfiveyears. They hypothe-sised that social dis-tancingmight reduceTB incidence as thebacteriabehindthedis-ease is transmitted via droplets —similar to thecoronavirus. Evenaftertakingthisreducedtransmissionintoaccount,themostlikelyscenariowasestimated to result in more than110,000additionalTBdeaths(95,000in India, 13,000 in South Africa and

6,000inChina). Intheworstcasesce-nario, thisnumbercouldrise toupto200,000 additional deaths, the re-searchersestimated.Theresearchersreferredtoearlyan-

ecdotal information fromChina, IndiaandSouthAfricathatsuggeststhatthe

numberofpeoplebeingdiagnosed and treatedforTBhas fallen signifi-cantly. These threecountriesmakeup ap-proximately 40%of theglobal TB cases. The re-searchersmodelleddif-ferent scenarios withvarious implementa-tionsofsocialdistancingmeasures and healthservice disruption last-ing for six months, to

comeupwiththeirestimates.The studywas conducted by re-

searchers fromthe LondonSchool ofHygiene & Tropical Medicine andLancasterUniversity.

Source: LondonSchoolofHygiene&TropicalMedicine

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

Study projects 95k additionalTB deaths in India due to Covid

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, JUNE24

ONTUESDAY, the IndianCouncil ofMedicalResearch (ICMR)madea largeshift inCovid-19testingstrategy,callingfor“allsymptomaticindividualsineverypartofthecountry”tobetested. It alsourgedprivatehospitals, offices,and public sector units to conduct antibodytestingasasurveillancemeasure.A look at how ICMR’s testing protocols

haveevolvedsince theoutbreakbegan:

March: Reserved testingOnMarch17,thestrategywasfarmorehes-

itant thannow.“Toavoid indiscriminatetest-ing and reducingpanic andoptimally utilisethe resources of the country and scaleup fa-cilities for testing,” it said,under“Objectives”.The strategy focused only on three sympto-maticpeople:internationaltravellers,contactsofacase,andhealthcareworkers.“Why should we go on telling people

whohavenohistoryof traveloranycontactwith an actual case?” ICMR Senior scientistNiveditaGuptahadsaidtotheIndianExpressat the time. “In thisprocess, in ahugecoun-trylikeIndia, I’mnotabletotestpeoplewhogenuinely may need testing because I’mwasting it on futile testing. Thoughwe aremaintaining a stringent inventory, we alsoneed tomake sure thatwearenot in a situ-ationwhere I exhaust all my testing capac-ity in futile testingand tomorrow, if there isan upsurge in cases, I say that I have ex-haustedallmytests.”Atthetime,privateplayershadnotyetbeen

ropedintoconducttesting,andtheICMRwasjustinstitutingprocessestoexpandlabcapac-ity.AttheendofMarch,itgraduallyexpandedtesting to includehospitalisedpatientswithsevereacuterespiratoryillness(SARI)aswellasasymptomaticcontactsofcases.Thenewfocusran alongside the agency’s first surveillancemethod— testing SARI patients to see if anywerepositiveforCovid-19.

April: New techniquesICMR advised rapid antibody tests in

hotspotsandmigrantcentresonApril4,leav-ing thedecision to stategovernments. Thesetestsarenotdiagnostic,butcandetermineifapatienthaspreviouslyhadcoronavirus.StateslikeKerala,TamilNadu,andChhattisgarhwereeagertoundertakethistypeof surveillance.Later,theICMRreverseditsdecision,given

a batch of faulty kits fromChina. There alsowas divergence between theWorldHealthOrganization and ICMR in the beginning ofApril,withtheformersayingantibodytestingshouldbeusedforresearch.Subsequentad-visoriesfromICMRdetailedantibodytestingas“supplementary” toRT-PCRtesting.The ICMRalsoadvisedenhancedtesting

in 20 hotspots, including Nizamuddin andDilshadGarden inDelhi, Pathanamthitta inKerala, andMumbaiandPune.OnApril9, itaddedsymptomaticpatients

in hotspots, largemigration gatherings andevacuee centres to the testing strategy.NewICMRresearchatthetimealsofoundtheper-centageofrandompositivesamplesofCovid-19amongSARIpatientsacrossthecountryhasincreasedincrementallyoverthepastmonth.On April 13, the ICMR detailed pooled

samplinginareaswithfewcasesorlowpos-itivityrates. If anypositivesamplecomesforapoolofsamples,thenindividualtestingfol-

lows.StateslikeUPjumpedontothestrategy.TheICMRstill facedabacklashforlackof

testing.Respondingtoaquestionatthedailybriefing, Dr RRGangakhedkar, head of epi-demiology and infectious diseases at ICMR,said:“Asfortestingstrategy,yourchancesoftestingpositivebecomelessasyounear theinfectiontimepoint. Itcomespositivewhentherearesymptoms,sokeepinginmindthecost effectiveness and risk-based approach,your yieldwill become less the sooner youtest.Eventothinkaboutchangingthetestingstrategynow…Icannot say.”

May: Expanded protocolsOnMay18,ICMRaddedsymptomaticmi-

grants,hospitalisedpatients,frontlinework-erstothetestingstrategy.Theinclusionofall“hospitalisedpatientswhodevelopILIsymp-toms” indicated the concern over patientscontracting the disease in hospital. And theinclusion of “returnees/migrants”, irrespec-tive of contact history orwhether they aretravellingfromahotspot,signalledconcernsaboutpossiblecommunitytransmission.Also inMay, theHealthMinistrydecided

nottotestmildandmoderatecasesbeforetheirdischargeorafterahomeisolationperiod.The government also initiated a nation-

wide sero-survey to assess the spread. Thiswas also spurredby ICMR’s validationof itsown“indigenous”antibody testkit.OnMay30, ICMRreintroducedadviceto

states to use antibody tests, focusing onworkers who have returned from otherstates, those who live in dense settings orpoorly ventilated buildings; people whowork in certain sectors; people in contain-mentzones;policeandparamilitaryperson-nel, andprisonofficials, amongothers.ByMay-end, the positivity rate in India

hadbeguntosteepenjustasthecountrybe-gantestingover1 lakhsamplesaday.Alongwith the expanding testing strategy, facili-tiesandtypesofkitsalsograduallyincreased.

June: rapid antigen testsTheICMRapprovedonJune15anewon-

sitediagnostickitforcontainmentzonesandhealthcaresettings,whichcangiverapid,low-costresultswithoutneedingalaboratory.In containment zones, the rapid antigen

testwasencouragedforallpeoplewithfeverandcoughandall contactsof acasewhoaredirect,asymptomatic,andhavehighco-mor-bidities.Inhealthcaresettings,thetestwillbeusedforallpatientsofinfluenza-likeillnessessuspectedofhavingcontractedCovid-19andasymptomatic patientswho are immuno-suppressedorhaveotherco-morbidities.Thetestwill also be available for asymptomaticpatientsundergoingcertainproceduressuchasneurosurgeries,dentalwork,anddialysis.Whilepositiveresultswillbeconsideredcon-firmed,incaseofnegativeresults,anRT-PCRwouldbedoneforreconfirmation.Maharashtra,Delhi,Gujarat,Haryana,and

UPhaveprocured rapid antigen testing kits.“Allthestatesaregearingupnowtostartthetestingwith this and almost all states willeventuallybuyit.Manyhospitalsarealsoin-quiringandplacingtheorderforanysympto-matic individuals in their hospital with aheavy viral load,” said an official from SDBiosensor,which issupplyingthetestkit.The advisory on June 23 said: “Despite

newtypesof testingkitsbeingadded,accessto testing still remainsahugechallenge inalargecountry like India.”

15WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

HARISHDAMODARANNEWDELHI, JUNE24

THERE AREmany parallels one can drawbetween the novel coronavirus-inducedlockdown(gharbandi)anddemonetisation(notebandi), in terms of their impact onIndia’s farmeconomy.Both resulted in thesame thing – demand destruction – albeitthroughdifferent routes.Notebandicausedahaemorrhagingofliq-

uidity from thepredominantly cash-basedfarmproducemarkets.Inthepre-demoneti-sationera, itwasn’tuncommonfor individ-ualtraderstopurchaseproduceworthRs50lakhorevenRs1croredailyduringthepeakarrivalseasonandmakepaymentstofarm-ers entirely in cash.With demonetisation,andalsorestrictionsoncashtransactionsin-troduced in the 2017-18 Union Budget,wholesalemandiswere suddenly denudedof liquidityand, thereby,demand.In gharbandi, demand destructionwas

wroughtnotbyalackof cash,butofbuyersthemselves. And thesewere institutionalbuyers, asopposed tohouseholds. Theclo-sure of hotels, restaurants, tea stalls, streetfood joints, sweetmeat shops, hostels andcanteens—inadditiontonoweddingrecep-tions and other public functions— led to acollapseofout-of-homefoodconsumption.Even household-level food consumptionwasaffectedbyfallingincomes(inrespectofpoor and lowermiddle class families sud-

denlyfindingthemselveswithoutwork)andreducedrequirementduetoforcedinactiv-ity (aswiththerichandbetteroff).Eitherway, theoutcomewas thesame.

Notebandi and gharbandi both basically“flattened”farmproduceprices,byshiftingthedemandcurvestotheleft.Thedemanddropwasn’tdue topricesgoingup.Rather,withconsumptionbeing limited tohomes—manpower shortages forcedmany foodcompaniestoalsocurtailproductioninfac-tories and, hence, cut rawmaterial pur-chases — therewas less demand now formilk,potatoesortomatoesevenatthesameprice. Thiswasn’t, inotherwords, simplya“movementalong thedemandcurve”, buta “leftwardshift in thedemandcurve”.The other similarity between demon-

etisation and lockdown is that both struckjust after farmers hadproduced a bumperrabi crop— the former in April-June 2017andthe latterbarely threeyears later.

■ ■ ■

Notwithstandingtheseandothersimi-larities—bothfollowedovernight8pman-nouncementsbyPrimeMinisterNarendraModi— there are differences between thesituationsbroughtaboutbygharbandiandnotebandi.To start with, when demonetisation

happened,thefarmsectorhadalreadygonethrough tough times, with back-to-backdroughtsin2014and2015ontopofaglobal

agri-commoditypricecrashin2014-15and2015-16.Also,notebandiprimarilyhitagri-cultureandinformalenterprises,whileor-ganisedmanufacturingandservicessectorfirmshadactually benefited fromdemon-etisation and the GST regime. The lock-

down,bycontrast,hasaffectedtheseindus-tries farmore thanagriculture.Thetableshowsthatagriculturalgrowth

had surpassed overall economic growthduring the last twoquarters of 2019-20, inreal aswell as nominal terms after factor-ing in inflation. Evenafter lockdowncameintoeffectfromMarch25,farm-relatedop-erations—fromharvestingandsaleofpro-duceinmandis,totheirintra-andinter-statemovement —were exempted from ghar-bandi restrictions.The secondmajor difference has been

government response. India’s imports ofpulsesandedibleoilspeakedduring2015-16to2017-18.Thisperiod,beforeandafterdemonetisation, saw the government for-mally embracing “inflation targeting” andalso giving the Essential Commodities Actanewleaseof life.Stockholdinglimitswereclampedfromtimetotimeononion,pota-toes, pulses and sugar, alongside allowingduty-free imports and placing of exportcurbs.Thesemeasureswerepersistedwithdespiteconsumerfoodpriceinflationrulingbelow general retail inflation sinceSeptember 2016. Import controls came inonlytowardslate2017,partlyinreactiontogrowingagrarianunrest.The government’s approach during

lockdown has, in comparison, beenmoreproactive.Onereasonforitmightbethere-alisation that agriculture—apart frombe-ing“essential” for supplying food inapub-lichealthemergency—offereditself asthe

only feasible economic activity under theexisting circumstances. All administrativesteps were, therefore, taken to permitmovement of labourers andmachines forfarmers toharvest their rabi crop.Itistruethatfarmersthistimeround,too,

haveincurredlossesonsalesofmilkandper-ishableproduce,fromtomatoes,carrots,cap-sicumandgourdstograpes,bananas,water-melonsand totapurimangoes. Thecollapseof institutional demand and out-of-homeconsumptionhasfurtherhurtpoultry,maizeand sugarcane growers, whether throughslideinpricesornon-paymentbymills.Butit’salsoafactthatgovernmentagen-

cies have undertaken record procurementof wheat (38.6million tonnes of the 2019-20crop,withminimumsupportpricevalueofoverRs74,200crore)andpaddy(74.3mt,including15.7mtafterMarch31andworthRs28,500crore).Besides, theyhaveboughtabout 1.8mt of chana (valued at Rs 8,750crore),0.8mtofrapeseed-mustard(Rs3,300crore) and 0.3 mt of tur/arhar (Rs 1,750crore).AddtheRs16,750croredirecttrans-fersto8.37crorefarmeraccountsasfirst-in-stallmentpayment of Rs 2,000 eachunderthe PM-Kisan SammanNidhi scheme, thetotal liquidity pumped into the farmecon-omy, post-lockdown, by the governmentworksout tomorethanRs133,000crore.That isn’t smallmoney, given the short

timespan (less than threemonths)withinwhichthisliquidityinfusionhastakenplaceandthesheer logistics involved inphysical

purchasinggrain fromfarmerswithoutvi-olationof socialdistancingnorms.

■ ■ ■

Agriculture’s newfound importance isalso reflected in the twomajor reforms thatmightnothavecomeaboutinnormaltimes.The first one permits sale and purchase offarmproduce outside the physical bound-ariesofstate-regulatedmandis.That, inthe-ory, gives farmers freedomtoselldirectly toprocessors,exporters,wholesalersandretail-ers bothwithin andoutside their states, in-cludingthroughelectronictradingplatforms.The second reformdoes awaywith the im-positionofECAstockholdinglimitsonfood-stuffs, saveunder extraordinary conditions.Thesewerepowersthatthisverygovernmenthad, ironically,beeninvokinguntilrecently.Ittookanall-roundeconomiccrisis,which

Covid-19brutally lay bare, to recognise thevalue andpotential of Indian agriculture. IftheRs17,622croreofwagepaymentsmadeunder MGNREG from April 1 is also ac-countedfor,thegovernment’stotalspendonfarmers and ruralworkers in thepast threemonthswill bewell in excess of Rs150,000crore.WiththeCovidsituationincitiesshow-ing little improvement, it is clearly layingallhopesofaneconomicrecoveryonBharat.

(Adifferentversionof this articleappearedthisweek in India inTransition, publishedby the

Center for theAdvancedStudyof India,Universityof Pennsylvania)

Evolving strategy on testingSIMPLYPUT

In ICMR’supdatedstrategy,all symptomatic individualsanywherein IndiaaretobetestedforCovid-19.Atonestage, ICMRwascautiousabouttesting indiscriminately.A lookathowtheprotocolshaveevolved

KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI, JUNE24

FORTHEfirsttime,thepriceofdieselinDelhihassurpassedthatofpetrol:Dieselisupby48paise per litre to Rs 79.88, compared to Rs79.76 for petrol. Diesel prices remain lowerthanthoseofpetrolelsewhereinthecountry.The price of petrol has risen by Rs

8.50/litreandthatofdieselbyRs10.50sinceJune 7, when oil marketing companies(OMCs)beganrevisingpricesafteran82-dayhiatusduringwhichtheinternationalcrudeprice fell below$20/barrel.

WhyhasthishappenedinDelhi?Theprice gapbetweenpetrol anddiesel

was Rs 7.30 onMay 5when the Delhi gov-ernmentincreasedVATondieselto30%from16.75%andonpetrolto30%from27%.Dieselalsoattractsanadditionalairambiencelevyof Rs 250/kilolitre. This brought the diesel

pricewithinRs2of thepriceofpetrolat thetime; the gap has closed sincewith OMCshikingdieselpricesmorethanpetrolprices.According to experts, there is very little dif-ference between international prices ofpetrol and diesel currently, leading to taxesbecoming the key component in the price

difference.Thepricesofdieselandpetrolarealmost equal in Ahmedabad as the VAT onbothpetrol anddiesel is comparable.Whileotherstateshavealsohikedlevies

on both fuels, most havemaintained lowertax rates on diesel than on petrol, so thatdieselhasremainedcheaperthanpetrolde-

spitegreaterhikesindieselpricesthanpetrolpricesover the last18days.

Whywereprices frozen,andwhyaretheyrisingnow?OMCs stopped revising prices from

March16toJune7wheninternationalpricesofcrudeoilhithistoriclows.Duringthistime,theonly revisions in thepricesof diesel andpetrolwerearesultofchangesinstatetaxes.Representativesof IndianOilCorporation,

India’slargestOMC,saidtheyhaddecidedtostoprevisingpricesinlinewithinternationalpricesofpetrolanddiesel.Hadtheydonesoduring the fall in the prices of crude in lateMarchandApril, itwouldhaveledto“nega-tivemargins” for theOMCs.Now, theOMCsare revising domestic prices of petrol anddiesel are rising in line with internationalpricesofpetrolanddiesel.Andinternationalpricesofbothdieselandpetrolarerisingdueto increasing demand as countries easeCovid-inducedrestrictions.

Howdiesel got costlier than petrol in Delhi

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to [email protected] EXPLAINED


Farm* General Farm* General

Apr-Jun 3.84 6.95 6.69 11.922018

Jul-Sep 2.54 6.06 2.88 11.062018

Oct-Dec 1.98 5.62 2.30 9.662018

Jan-Mar 1.62 5.55 6.58 9.452019

Apr-Jun 2.96 4.76 8.60 8.002019

Jul-Sep 3.51 4.33 8.53 6.232019

Oct-Dec 3.60 3.47 13.93 7.022019

Jan-Mar 5.87 3.04 12.99 6.852020

Constant CurrentPrices Prices

*Agriculture,forestry&fishing.Source:NationalStatisticalOffice.

GROWTH IN GROSSVALUE ADDED(%YEAR-ON-YEAR)

` 150,000cr plus: the govt stimulus for rural areas post lockdown

Salestax Price (`/lt) Salestax Price(`/lt)Delhi 30%VAT 79.76 `250/klairambience 79.88

charges+30%VAT

Gujarat 17%VAT+4%cess 77.26 17%VAT+ 4%cess 77.18ontownrate&VAT ontownrate&VAT

Karnataka 35%salestax 82.35 24%salestax 75.51

Mumbai, 26%VAT+ Rs.10.12/litre 86.54 24%VAT+Rs.3.00/l 78.22NaviMumbai additionaltax additionaltax

TamilNadu 15%+Rs.13.02per litre 83.04 11%+Rs.9.62/litre 77.17Source:PPAC

STATE/REGION PETROL DIESEL

DIESEL PRICE HIGHER ONLY IN DELHI

Asamplecollectedforrapidantigentest inNewDelhi. PTI

New Delhi


THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

UNITED NATIONS

UNURGES ISRAELAGAINSTANNEXATIONUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Israel on Wednesdayto abandon plans to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank, warning thisthreatened prospects for peace with the Palestinians.

ASIA

SingaporePM’sbrother joinsoppositionpartyaheadofpollsSingapore: SingaporePrimeMinisterLeeHsienLoong’s family feud hasspilled intopolitics,withhis estranged youngerbrother joininganoppo-sitionpartyaheadofgen-eral elections nextmonth. Lee Hsien YangsaidWednesday he hasjoined the ProgressSingapore Party becauseheisconcernedabout is-sues such as governanceandtransparency,butde-clined to saywhether hewill run in the July 10polls. The party waslaunched a year ago byformer ruling party law-makerTanChengBock.

LeeHsienYang,brotherof SingaporePMLeeHsienLoong

TOPOFTHEWORLD

USA

IndianeateryvandalisedinNewMexicoWashington: An Indianrestaurant owned by aSikh man in the city ofSanteFeintheUSstateofNewMexicowasbrokenintoandvandalisedwithhatemessages scrawledon itswalls, according toamediareport.Thedam-age caused to IndiaPalace restaurant is esti-mated to be worth$100,000, the Santa FeReporter newspaper re-ported on Tuesday. Thevandalisationisbeingin-vestigatedbylocalpoliceand the FBI, it said. TheSikh American LegalDefence and EducationFund (SALDEF), a non-profit civil rights organi-sation, has condemnedthe incident.

PAKISTAN

FoundationstonelaidforIslamabad’s1stHindutempleIslamabad: Pakistan hasstarted the constructionprocess of a Rs 10 croreHindu temple— the firstinIslamabad.TheKrishnatemplewill comeup in a20,000 sq ft plot at thecapital’s H-9 area. Thegroundbreaking cere-monyfor thetemplewasperformed byParliamentary Secretaryon Human Rights LalChandMalhionTuesday.TheHindu population inIslamabad has increasedsignificantly in the lasttwo decades and, there-fore, thetemplewasnec-essary, the Dawn NewsquotedMalhi as saying.

THENEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK, JUNE24

MORE THAN 35,000 new coro-navirus cases were identifiedacross the United States onTuesday,accordingtoaNewYorkTimesdatabase, thehighest sin-gle-daytotalsincelateAprilandthethird-highesttotalofanydayof thepandemic.AstheUnitedStatescontinues

toreopenitseconomy,casenum-bers are rising inmore than 20states,mostly in the South andWest. Florida onWednesday re-portedanewdailyhighof 5,508cases. Texas reportedmore than5,000casesonTuesday,itslargestsingle-day total yet. Arizonaaddedmorethan3,600cases,alsoarecord.AndinWashingtonState,where case numbers are againtrending upward, the governorsaidresidentswouldhavetostartwearingmasksinpublic.“This is about saving lives,”

saidGov. Jay Inslee, aDemocrat.“It’s about reopening our busi-nesses.Andit’saboutshowingre-spectandcareforoneanother.”The elevated case numbers

are a result of worsening con-ditions across much of thecountry as well as increasedtesting, but testing alone doesnot explain the surge. The per-centage of people in Floridatesting positive has risensharply. Increases in hospitali-sations also signal the virus’sspread. Arizona reported itshighestnumberof virushospi-talizations on Monday. InTexas,more than4,000peoplewith thevirusarehospitalized,more than double the numberat the beginning of June.“I strongly feel we aremov-

ing in thewrong direction andwe are moving fast,” MayorSylvesterTurnerofHoustonsaid.Gov. AndrewM. Cuomo an-

nounced on Wednesday thatNewYork and two neighboringstates will begin requiring cer-tainout-of-statetravellersenter-ingtheirstatestoquarantinefortwoweeksuponarrival.The restrictions, which also

cover New Jersey andConnecticut, will be based onspecifichealthmetricsrelatedtothevirus,Cuomosaid.

DONALDGMCNEILJRJUNE24

AS THE coronavirus pandemichits more impoverished coun-trieswithfragilehealthcaresys-tems, global health authoritiesare scrambling for supplies of asimple treatment that saveslives: oxygen.Many patients severely ill

with Covid-19, the illnesscaused by the coronavirus, re-quire help with breathing atsome point. But now the epi-demic is spreading rapidly inSouth Asia, Latin America andparts of Africa, regions wheremany hospitals are poorlyequipped and lack the ventila-tors, tanks and other equip-ment necessary to save pa-tientswhose lungs are failing.Although the machinery

needed to generate oxygen isrelatively simple, it must besturdyenoughtowithstandthedust, humidity and other haz-ardscommoninruralhospitalsin poor countries. The ma-chines cannot come too soon,doctors said.In May, the Alliance for

International Medical Actiontreated123Covid-19patients inCongo, saidDrBaweyeMayoumBarka,thecharity’srepresentative.Fifty-sixof themneededoxygen,

but not enough equipmentwasavailable.“So,unfortunately,therewere26deaths,70%oftheminlessthan24hours,”Barkasaid.NYT

ASIFSHAHZADISLAMABAD, JUNE24

THEPILOTSofaPakistanairlinerthat crashed lastmonth, killing97 people, were distracted asthey talked about the coron-aviruspandemicthroughouttheflightbeforeanabortivelandingbid, an initial inquiry reportshowedonWednesday.Presentingthereport inpar-

liament, Aviation MinisterGhulam Sarwar Khan said boththepilotsandofficialsatairtraf-ficcontroldidnotfollowsetpro-cedures, leading to thecrash.Thepilotswerenot“focused”

becauseof thecoronaviruspan-demic,headded,thoughtheair-crafthadnotechnical fault.“Unfortunately...the discus-

sion throughoutwas about co-rona,” Khan said, referring to ex-changes between the pilot and

co-pilot on the cockpit voicerecorderthathesaidshowedtheywerenotfocusedontheirtasks.“Coronawasdominantover

theirmind.Their familywasaf-fected, and they were dis-cussing corona.”Theaircraftsufferednotech-

nicalflaw,Khansaid.“Theunfor-tunateplanewas100%fit tofly,”headded.REUTERS

Transportingoxygencylinders inConakry,Guinea.AP

PUTIN HOLDS PARADE ON EVE OF KEY VOTERussianPresidentVladimirPutinwithBelarusianPresidentAlexanderLukashenko,leaderofGeorgianbreakawayregionofAbkhaziaAslanBzhania,MoldovanPresidentIgorDodonandTajikPresidentEmomaliRahmonattheTomboftheUnknownSoldieraftertheVictoryDayParadeinMoscow.TheparadewaspostponedfromMay9duetotheCovid-19pandemic.Reuters

■PresidentVladimirPutinreviewedtheRedSquaremilitaryparade,whichcriticssaidwasdesignedto lifthis lower-than-usual ratingsontheeveof anationwidevotethatcouldextendhisruleuntil2036.

■Putinwatchedas intercontinentalballisticmissile launchers trundledpast,nuclear-capablebombers flewoverhead,andcolumnsof tanksandover14,000troopsmarchedpastunderhotsunshine.

■Theparadewasheldontheeveof anationwidevote, fromJune25to July1,onconstitutionalchanges, includingonethatwouldallowPutintwomoresix-yeartermsasPresident if re-elected.

Crashed Pak airlinerpilots were distractedby virus worry: minister

Theplanecrashed inaresidentialarea inKarachilastmonth,killing97people.Reuters

THEY OFTEN DEFEND CHINA AGAINST CRITICS. BUT WHEN THEY TRIED TO RETURN DURING PANDEMIC, THEY BECAME TARGETS

Trapped abroad, overseas Chinese students rethink their countryLIYUANJUNE24

JAMES LIU has always consid-eredhimself apatriot.With a lump inhis throat, he

watched a military parade onNational Day, China’s birthday,thatshowedaoncebackwardna-tion thathadbecomestrongandpowerful. He got goose bumpswatching Wolf Warrior 2, aRambo-likeChinese blockbusterfeaturing a superhero veteranwhosingle-handedlyrescueshis

countrymentrappedabroad.WhenChina cameunder at-

tackonline,Liuwasoneof thele-gionsof Chinese students study-ing abroad who posted in itsdefense.Hecondemnedthepro-democracyprotestsinHongKong,whichhesawasanefforttosplitaunitingChina.AfterTrumpcalledthe coronavirus the “Chinesevirus,”LiuturnedtoTwittertocor-rectthosewhousedtheterm.“I was a real little pink,” he

said, usinga somewhatderoga-tory term for the young,Communist-redChinesenation-

alists who use the internet as apatriotic battleground to fightthosewhodisparageChina.ThenLiu, 21, discovered that

the country he had long de-fendeddidn’twanthimback.The fresh graduate from a

Midwestern university had be-comeoneofanuntoldnumberofChinesepeople strandedabroadby the coronavirus pandemic.Flights had vanished. Ticketshomewereoutrageouslyexpen-sive. The Chinese government,fearfulthatpeoplelikehimwouldbring the virus with them, re-

stricted international flights andtolditsexpatriatestostayput.Whenoverseasstudentswent

online to question why theycouldn’tflyhome,peopleinChinatold them to stay away. The stu-dents, they said, were spoiledbrats who could jeopardizeChina’s success incontaining theepidemic. Liu andmany othercountless Chinese peoplestrandedoverseasare,forthefirsttime,runningafoulofoneoftheircountry’s bedrockpolitical prin-ciples:Nationalinterestscomebe-foreanindividual’sneeds.

In this case, the strandedstu-dentsandworkershavebecomeaminoritygroupthatisexpectedtosacrificeforthebenefitofthema-jority.Thatputsthemamongtheranks of government critics andtheHongKong pro-democracyprotesters — people they havelongbattledonline.Someofthelittlepinksarere-

thinking their relationshipwiththe country — which, in theChinesecontext,isthenation,thegovernmentandtheCommunistPartyall inone.“My feelings are increasingly

complicated,”Liuwroteontheso-cial media platform Weibo inmid-May. “The country I loveddoesn’twantmeback.” Readingthemany critical social mediaposts against overseas studentslikehim,he felt as if hehadbeen“beatenupbadly,”hesaid.Their views could someday

help shape China’s relationshipwith theworld. Somewill growuptobe leaders inbusiness, aca-demiaorother institutions.Theywillmost likely remainpatriots,buttheywillhaveamorenuancedviewoftheircountry.NYT

ManyChinesestudentsabroadweretoldtostayput.Reuters

OVER35,000NEWU.S. CASESONTUESDAY

Viruscases inUSrise tohighest level sinceApril

Scarce medical oxygenleaves many gaspingfor life worldwide

THEECONOMICdivideex-posedbyCovid-19,bothbe-tweencountriesandwithinthem,ishighlightedbythescrambleformedicaloxygen.Administeringoxygenisoneofthemostcrucialinterven-tionsinCovid-19treatment,butit’sbecomeararecom-modityinpoornationsfromAfricatoAsia.IntheWest,oxygensupplytohospitalsisseenasessentialaswaterandelectricitysupplyandiswidelyavailable.Butinpoorercountries,medicaloxygenissomethingthatcanbeboughtathomeforaprice,oravail-ableinVIPhospitalsonly.AccordingtotheAssociatedPress,half theworld’spopula-tiondoesnothaveaccesstomedicaloxygen.

Economicdivideinoxygensupply

AGENCIESWASHINGTON, JUNE24

JAMAAL BOWMAN, a liberalBlackmiddle-school principal,was ahead in early DemocraticprimaryelectionresultsTuesdayin his bid to oust long-time USRepresentative Eliot Engel froma congressional seat represent-ingpartofNewYork.If Engel, who has served in

Congressformorethan30years,weretolose,itwouldechoasim-ilar upset in 2018, whenAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez de-feated JosephCrowley, then theNo.4HouseDemocrat.Ocasio-Cortez was also on

course forvictory inhercontestagainst a challenger in a neigh-boring New York district, inraces that testedthestrengthoftheDemocraticParty’s leftwingafter moderate Joe Biden be-

came the presumptive presi-dential nominee.Bowman, 44, was leading

Engel, the chairman of theHouse Foreign AffairsCommittee,by59.48%to35.31%,the New York state electionsboardsaid,with627of732elec-tionprecincts reporting.“EliotEngelusedtosayhewas

athorninthesideof(RepublicanPresident) Donald Trump,”Bowman told supporters. “ButyouknowwhatDonaldTrumpis

more afraid of than anythingelse? A Blackmanwith power.That is what Donald Trump isafraidof,”Bowmansaid.OnTwitter, Bowmanwrote:

“I’maBlackmanraisedbyasin-glemother inahousingproject.Thatstorydoesn’tusuallyendinCongress.Buttoday,that11-yearoldboybeatenbypoliceisabouttobeyourRepresentative. Ican'twaittogettoDCandcauseprob-lems for thosemaintaining thestatusquo.”

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JUNE24

PAKISTAN IS likely to remain onthegreylistoftheFinancialActionTask Force (FATF) for failing tocomplywith the global terroristfinancingwatchdog’sdeadlinetoprosecute andpenalise terroristfinancinginthecountry.Sourcesaidthedecision,taken

at the third and final plenarymeetingonWednesdayundertheChinesePresidencyof XiangminLiu,willbeannouncedsoon.At the FATFmeeting chaired

byChinainParisinFebruarythisyear, Islamabad had been toldthat “all deadlines” had expiredand if theydidn’tprosecuteandpenalise terrorist financing byJune2020, thewatchdogwouldtakeactionwithfinancialconse-quences.AttheParisplenary,theFATF

hadexpressedseriousconcernsover Pakistan’s failure to com-plete its 27-point action plan inlinewith theagreedtimelines–

whichendedinSeptember2019.Wednesday’s development

cameonadaywhenPakistanex-presseditsdisappointmentoverthe US blocking a proposal todesignate an Indian national inAfghanistanasaglobalterrorist.“We are disappointed that

Pakistan’sproposaltodesignateVenumadhav Dongara as a ter-rorist has been objected to,”Pakistan’s Foreignministry saidonWednesday.ButPakistanexpressedhope

that the listingrequestsof other

threeIndiannationalswouldbegiven due consideration by theUNSC 1267 SanctionsCommittee in an objective andtransparent manner. Sourcessaid theywouldmount a diplo-matic campaign, with China’shelp, to convince members oftheUNSC.In Islamabad, the foreign

ministrysaidPakistanhadpro-posed the designation of fourIndian nationals in 2019 underthe United Nations 1267Sanctions List — namelyVenumadhav Dongara, AjoyMistry, Gobinda Patnaik, andAngara Appaji. It alleged thatthese individuals were financ-ing, sponsoring and organisingterrorism inside Pakistan byproviding financial, technicalandmaterial support to terror-ist groups including TTP,Jamaat-ul-Ahrar andothers.As a result of travel restric-

tions caused by Covid-19, theFATF is meeting virtually.Germany takesoverpresidencyof theFATF in July forayear.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIADUBAI, JUNE24

ANINDIANbusinessmanandhiswifewereallegedlymurderedbyaPakistaniman inside their villain Dubai during a break-in androbberybid,accordingtoareport.Hiren Adhiya and Vidhi

Adhiya, both in their 40s, werekilled inside their villa at theArabianRanches.DubaiPolicear-rested the Pakistaniman in lessthan24hours,GulfNewsreported.Brigadier Jamal Al Jallaf,

DirectorofCriminalInvestigationDepartmentatDubaiPolice, saidthedaughterof thecouplecalledpolicetoreporttheincident.The police said the suspect

broke into the villa on June 18whilethefamilywassleeping.Hewentintothebedroomsearchingformore valuables. “When theman woke up, the attackerstabbedhim.Thewifealsowokeupand the suspect stabbedher,”AlJallafadded.

Pak to remain on FATF grey list Dubai: Indiancouple murdered

JamaalBowmanspeakstosupporters inNewYork.

Reuters

AtanFATFmeeting inFebruary, Islamabadhadbeentoldthat ‘alldeadlines’hadexpiredandif theydidn’tprosecuteandpenaliseterrorist financingbyJune, thewatchdogwouldtakeaction

Court orders dismissalof case against formerTrump aide FlynnREUTERS&NYTWASHINGTON, JUNE24

AUSappealscourtonWednesdaydirectedafederal judgetodropacriminal case against PresidentDonaldTrump’s formernationalsecurityadviserMichaelFlynnforlyingtotheFBI,handingavictoryto the JusticeDepartment in an-other twist to the politicallychargedcase.In a 2-1 decision, a panel of

the US Court of Appeals for theDistrictofColumbiaCircuitruledin favor of Flynnand theTrumpadministrationinpreventingU.S.District Judge Emmet Sullivanfromexercisinghisdiscretiononwhether to grant the depart-ment’s motion to clear Flynn,whotwicepleadedguilty.The ruling prevents Sullivan

fromhearingargumentsata July16hearingfromretiredjudgeJohn

Gleeson,whomheappointed asa “friend of the court” to argueagainstdroppingthecase.Flynn, a retired Army lieu-

tenantgeneral,wasoneofseveralformerTrumpaideschargedun-derformerSpecialCounselRobertMueller’s investigation that de-tailedMoscow’s interference inthe2016USpresidentialelection.

‘Stone case politicised’Meanwhile, senior law en-

forcementofficials intervened toseek amore lenient prison sen-tence for Trump’s friendandallyRoger Stone forpolitical reasons,aformerprosecutoronthecaseisexpected to testify beforeCongressonWednesday.“WhatIheard—repeatedly—

was that Roger Stonewas beingtreateddifferentlyfromanyotherdefendantbecauseofhisrelation-ship to thePresident,” theprose-cutor,AaronS.J.Zelinsky,said.

Black school principal set to defeatlong-time Congressman in USprimary upset reminiscent of AOC

New Delhi

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OFFICE OF THE ADDITIONAL CHIEF ENGINEER

Public Health Engineering DepartmentRegion Office Pratap Nagar, Dadabari, Kota (Rajasthan)

Telephone No. 0744-2503651 Fax Number 0744-2501551Email: [email protected]

NOTICE INVITING TENDERUBN No. PHE 2021 WSOB 02584

1. Online tenders are invited on behalf of the Governor of Rajasthan forthe following works from contractors registered/ enlisted in Class“AA” or above with the PHED Rajasthan in appropriate Class as perPWF&AR Part II Appendix 16 dated 01.07.1999 and amendmentissued by concerned department up to date. Contractors enlisted withother Departments of Government of Rajasthan and enlisted withCPWD/Postal, Telecom, Railway, MES, other State Govt./ CentralGovt. undertaking organizations equivalent to appropriate Class ofRajasthan shall also be eligible. The duly notarized copy ofRegistration Certificate is to be enclosed. Unregistered contractorsshall not be allowed. The tenderers meeting eligibility criteria mayapply after giving prescribed Earnest Money. The tender documentscan be downloaded from the website http://www.eproc.rajasthan.gov.in and the interested bidders will have to submit their tender inelectronic format on this website with their digital signatures. Detailsof this tender notification can also be seen in NIT exhibited onwebsite www.dipronline.org.

2. GENERAL DETAIL OF WORKS:

S.N. NIT No 02 / 2020-21

1 Work Description Operation & Maintenance of UWSS Baranincluding intake well, WTP, Pump Houses,OHSRs, Transmission/ Distribution Lines ofBaran Town for 03 years (Executed by RUIDP)

2 Estimated Cost Rs 315.13 Lacs

3 Earnest Money Rs 6.30 Lacs (@2%) for the contractor notenlisted in PHED. Rs 1.58 Lacs (@0.5%) forcontractor in enlisted in PHED “AA” Class. Tobe deposit in Budget head 8443-00-108-00-00through e-GRAS portal in favour of 5640-Ex.En P.H.E.D., Baran.

4 Cost of TenderDocuments

Rs. 5,000.00 To be deposit in Revenue head0075-00-800-52-01 through e-GRAS portal infavour of 5640-Ex.En. P.H.E.D., Baran.

5 RISL Charges Rs 1,000.00 To be deposit in Budget head8658-00-102-16-02 through e-GRAS portal infavour of 5640-Ex.En. P.H.E.D., Baran.

6 O&M Period 36 Months

7 Availability of tenderdocuments on web site

From 22.06.2020 at 10:00 Hrs to 13.07.2020(up to 18:00 Hrs)

8 Date & time for onlinesubmission of tender

From 22.06.2020 at 10:00 Hrs to 13.07.2020(up to 18:00 Hrs)

9 Date & time of openingof pre- qualification bid.

14.07.2020 at 14:00 Hrs

Sd/-( K. D. Gupta )

Additional Chief EngineerPHED, Region, Kota

“SAVE WATER – SAVE LIFE”

DIPR/C/4604/2020

NANDAGOPALRAJANNEWDELHI,JUNE24

THE PANDEMIC lockdown inIndiahasunlockednewconsum-erbehavioursthatwillimpacton-line retail andbepivotedaroundthe smartphone, Facebook Indiaand Boston ConsultingGroup’s(BCG) industry report onMobilePhones, FMCG, andApparel hasshown. In themobile segment,there is a clear trend towardslarger digitisation of purchasesandexperiences,thestudyfound.With themobile phone be-

comingmore essential in dailylivesofconsumers,38percentre-spondents suggested theywillspendmoreonthecategoryinthe

comingmonths.However,thede-creasedspendingpowerpromp-tedto29percenttosaytheywillcutspendsonphonesandmaybeoptforacheapervariant.The study also found that as

consumerswere triggered to re-place their existing phones, atleast “70 per cent of urban con-sumersformobilesexpectedtobedigitally influenced”, up froma

highof 60per centbefore. Socialdistancingwillalsomakemoreofthemopt for online researchbe-fore apurchase, evenas the “im-portance of pricing as a choicedrivertogoup”byaround25percent inwhat is already a valueconsciousmarket.Evenamong those looking to

increasespendsinthesegments,59per cent “may trade down intheir choice of purchase/look foroffersanddeals”.“Mobileasacategoryhashad

ashighonlineaffinityand38percent ofmobile phones arebeingpurchasedonline.Thiswillgoupfurther as this thing plays out,”VikashJain,wholeadsBCG’sTech-nology,Media&TelecompracticeinIndia,told indianexpress.com.

‘Concerned’ over Chinese shipments,India-based US cos seek DPIIT help

‘Passengers wanting to fly toDubai need specific clearance’ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE24

DAYSAFTER theDubai adminis-tration allowed residency visa-holdersandtouriststoarriveintothe emirate, flag carrierAir IndiasaidthattheUnitedArabEmirates(UAE) aviation regulator has notallowedpassengers to fly to thecountryonrepatriationflights.Thosewhowish to travel on

theseflights,AirIndiasaid,wouldneedaspecificapprovalfromtheEmbassyofUAEinNewDelhiandtheUAEMinistryofForeignAffairsandInternationalCooperation.“...allpassengersincludingthe

IndianNationalswhoareholdingvalid Residency Permit/WorkPermit of UnitedArab Emiratesand have procured approval oftheUAE’s Federal Authority forIdentity and Citizenship-UAE(ICA) of UnitedArabEmirates oran approval from the GeneralDirectorate of Residency andForeigners Affairs applicable toDubaiwouldneedtohavespecificapprovalfromtheEmbassyoftheUnited Arab Emirates in NewDelhi and their UAEMinistry ofForeignAffairs and InternationalCooperation to travel from IndiatoUnitedArabEmirates(UAE)onthese repatriation flights,” anAirIndiaspokespersonsaid.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE24

INDIA’S BORDER disputewithChinahasbecomeacauseforcon-cernforAmericanfirmsmanufac-turinghere,whoarefeelinganim-pactonavailabilityofcomponentsusually shipped fromtheir facili-tiesintheneighbouringcountry.In a letter toDepartment for

Promotionof IndustryandInter-nalTrade(DPIIT)secretaryGuru-prasadMohapatra,agrouprepre-senting someof these firms saidtheywere “increasingly concer-ned” that component parts andother inputs “necessary” to theirmanufacturing operations herewerebeingdetainedattheports.“Members report that DGFT

and Customs authorities haveabruptly halted the clearance ofindustryconsignmentscomingin

fromChina (and perhaps otherdestinations)atmostmajorportsandairports in India. To thebestof our knowledge, no formal or-ders issued by the governmenthavebeensharedwiththepublic,neither has any specific reasonbeen provided as towhy theseconsignments are not beingcleared,”statedUS-IndiaStrategicPartnershipForum(USISPF)pres-identandCEODrMukeshAghiintheletterdatedJune23.Thelackoftransparency in this process“threatens” business continuityandis“disruptive”tomanufactur-ingoperationshere,itfurtherread.“Whilst we support India’s

ambitiontoexpanditsmanufac-turing capability, we are con-cernedabouttherepercussionsanunanticipated embargo on theimportofgoodsfromneighbour-ingcountrieswillhaveonthesup-plychainandmanufacturing.This

will sendachillingsignal to fore-igninvestorswholookforpredic-tabilityandtransparency,”itsaid.Aghihassoughtrestorationof

port operations or, “at a mini-mum”,thatthegovernmentpub-lishanychange inportpolicy “toprovidethebusinesscommunitywith the visibility they need tofunction.” The Indian Express re-ported on June 23 that importconsignmentsfromChinaatportssuchasChennaiandMumbaiarelearnt to be facinghurdles,withclearances being held upby theIndianCustomsauthorities.Thedisruptioninclearancesis

reported to have emerged overthelastfortnight,evenastherearenowrittenor verbal instructionsfrom the customs authorities ortheCBIC.ItisunderstoodthattheCustomsauthoritieshavehintedatdelayswithout citing any spe-cificreasontoimporters.

Pandemic pushing digitisation of mobilepurchases, experiences: FB-BCG report

Thereportsaidthereisacleartrendtowardsalargerdigitisationofpurchasesandexperiences

Emirates to fly A380 fromDubai to London, Paris againNewDelhi:Withsignsofrisingairtraffic demand on its network,Dubai-basedairlineEmiratessaiditwill resumeflyingAirbusA380superjumbo aircraft on routessuchasDubai-LondonandDubai-Paris, in addition to restartingflightstoDhakaandMunich.“TheA380remainsapopular

aircraft amongst our customersand it offers many unique on-board features.Wearedelightedto bring it back into the skies to

serveourcustomerson flights toLondonandParisfrom15July,andwearelookingforwardtogradu-allyintroduceourA380intomoredestinations according to thetravel demandon specific desti-nations,” Emirates COOAdel AlRedhasaid.Themovecomescloseontheheelsof theDubaiadmin-istrationallowingresidencyvisa-holderstoarriveintotheemirateJune 22onwards and tourists tovisit July7onwards. ENS

Hindujabrothers in UKHigh Court overletter dispute

ADITIKHANNALONDON,JUNE24

UK-BASEDHINDUJAbrothersarelockedinalegaldisputeintheHighCourtinEnglandovertheirbillion-aire familyassets, it emerged inaruling in London. The case hasbeenbroughtbySrichandParma-nandHinduja,84,describedasthe“patriarch”of the family, againstbrothersGPHinduja,80,PPHind-uja,75,andAPHinduja,69,andre-volvesaroundthe“validityandef-fect”ofaletterdatedJuly2,2014.The letter includes

statements to the effect that thebrothers appoint each other astheir executors, and that assetsheld inanysinglebrother’snamebelongtoallfour. PTI

BRIEFLYPAN-AadhaarNewDelhi: The Centre ex-tendeddeadline for linkingAadhaarwithPANtillMarch31nextyear. PTI

YogaDayatNFLNewDelhi:National Fertili-zersLtd(NFL)observed6thInternationalYogaDay.

PompeoonJioNewDelhi:US Secretary ofStateMikePompeo,onTwi-tter,calledIndiantelcoRelia-nceJioa“cleantelco”forre-jecting Chinese vendors todeploy 5G, adding thatworld’s leading telcoswerebecoming“Clean”. ENS

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,JUNE24

WITHTHECentre rollingoutfreshexpenditurerationalisa-tion plans for the July-Septemberquarter,thecurtail-mentofgovernmentspendingto levels far lower thanwhatwas budgeted for this fiscalraises freshconcerns that theeconomic recovery processcould get more drawn out.While the cut in budgetedspendingispresumablybeingdone to allowenoughhead-roomtodovetail thestimuluspackageannouncedlastmon-th,economistspointtoseveralkeyelementsof the stimuluspackage suchas thedistribu-tion of funds tomicro, smallandmediumenterprisesun-der the100per centEmerge-ncy Credit Line GuaranteeSchemestruggling to takeoff,therebyworseningtheimpactof government expenditurecompressionthatisunderway.Alongsidetheredflagsover

growth,concernsbeingraisedover the likelihood of debt-GDP ratio breaching the no-tional red line of 80per centfromthecurrentlevelofabout70percentisnowbeingques-tioned by economists, whopointtotheperilsofbeingsolefocussedonthedebtnumbersratherthantheimmediatetaskofrekindlingGDPgrowth.FormerChiefStatisticianof

IndiaPronabSensaiddebtsus-tainability always remains aconcern,butholdingdownthedebtlevelsshouldnotcompro-miseonGDPgrowthforwhichgovernmentexpenditureises-sential. “Holding the debtdowninasituationwheretheGDP is low,maybecontinuesin thenegative, doesn’t helpyou.Youcanstill becomeun-sustainable.Soit’sacall. If I in-creasemydebt stock, not theratio, then if the GDP startsgrowing strongly, itwill be-come sustainable. But thewhole issue of debt sustain-abilityisalong-termprocess...Peoplearetalkingabout80percent.Thereisnosuchnumber.Thenumber really has to dowhatthenominalGDPwouldbedoingovera longperiodoftime. If byholdingdown thedebt, the GDP growth getscompromised, thenyoumaybemovinginthewrongdirec-tionaltogether,”hesaid.The government’s fiscal

stimulus in thewake of theCOVID-19pandemichasbeenrestrainedwith limited cashoutgo, a factorwhich econo-mists saidhasbeendrivenbytheconcernsofthedebtlevels,possibilityof exceeding fiscaldeficittargetbyahugemarginandtheconsequentactionsbyratingagencies.However, theeconomic costs of reining indebtarebeingseenashigh intermsof unemploymentandlossof livesandlivelihood.Schemesthatwerepartof

the stimulus package arestruggling to take off, withbanksmanagingtodisbursealittle over 7 per cent of theamountearmarkedunderthis

headoverthelastonemonth.Governmentspendinghas

to increase substantially, Sensaid,addingonceeconomyre-coversandprivateinvestmentstartspickingup,thenthegov-ernment could start the fiscalconsolidation.“Thenyoubringdown the fiscal deficit, andstart loweringyourdebt-GDPratio. But tohangaroundandhope that the economybot-tomsoutbyitself,itmayworkin the long term, but the in-terimcostsintermsofemploy-ment,people’slivelihoods,per-hapseven lives couldbeverylarge.So,whatismoreimpor-tant,debtsustainabilitywhichis somethingwhichwill hityoumuch later in timeor thetragedy that’s playingout to-day,”hesaid.Anaggressive fiscalpolicy

is the need of the hour andsincetherevenueslippagees-timatesarealreadyhigh,fiscaldeficit is anywaygoing togetpushedtosignificantlyhigherlevels, said SBI’sGroupChiefEconomic Adviser SoumyaKantiGhosh.“Itisnottherighttimetohavediscussionsaboutthe ideal debt-GDP ratio. Ofcourseitwilldeteriorate.Nowit’saround72percent,itcouldgobeyond80percent,a largepartof thatwouldbebecauseof GDP decline. We shouldnow instead think aboutgrowthnumbers,”Ghoshsaid.Ghoshaddedtherevivalof

economy is60-70per centofthe sub-optimal level that itwas alreadyoperating at be-fore thepandemic. “There istalkaboutV-shapedrecovery.Thiscouldbeastatisticalarte-fact,ifthecountryexperiencessaya5percentcontractionthisyear, next year the economycangrow6-7percentbutthatwill only take it back towhatwould have been the 2020level.Weexpecttheeconomytoundergoa swoosh-shapedrecovery,”hesaid.India’s fiscalmetricshave

worsened sharply, the gov-ernment’s expenditure re-straint notwithstanding, dueto the impact of the sharpgrowth slowdown on rev-enue, public-sector debtnumbersandthefiscaldeficit.Morethanthedeficit,though,rating agencies arewatchingthedeteriorationofIndia’sfis-calmetricsin‘thecontextofaprolongedordeepslowdowningrowth’,which “would in-vite a ratingsdowngrade”, asMoody’swarnedintheirnoteon May 8. The IMFWednesdayprojected a con-tractionof4.5percentfortheeconomyin2020.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

COVID IMPACTTHE FISC

Challenge to economicrecovery: Govt curbingexpenditure to createheadroom for dovetailingstimulus package

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE24

INORDER toprotect depositors’interests, the government ap-proved plans to bring all urbanandmulti-statecooperativebanksunderthedirectsupervisionoftheReserveBankof India (RBI), em-poweringthecentralbanktoreg-ulate these on the lines of com-mercialbanks.TheUnionCabinetWednesdayapprovedpromulga-tionofanOrdinancetothiseffect.“Inourcountrythereare1482

urbancooperativesbanksand58multi-State cooperative banks,They have been brought underRBIsupervisionprocess,whichisapplicable to scheduled banks.Depositorswillgetmoresecuritybecause of today’s decision,”Information and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekar said

while briefingmedia about theCabinetdecisions.Thesebankshaveadepositor

baseof8.6crore,whohavesaveda huge amount of Rs 4.84 lakhcrorewith these banks, and thisdecisionwill provide safety on

their deposits he said. Thedeci-sioncomesinthebackdropoftheRBI imposing restrictions onde-positwithdrawal at the PunjabandMaharashtra CooperativeBanks andmanyother coopera-tivebanksfailinginrecentperiod.Unlikeinthecaseofcommer-

cialbanks,theRBItillnowhasnopowerstodrawupanenforceableschemeofreconstructionofaco-operative bank. TheCabinet hadin February approved amend-ment to BankingRegulationActto strengthen cooperative banksandavoidPMCBanklikecrisisaf-ter anannouncementwasmadein theBudget 2020-21 to this ef-fect.Currently, these banks come

under dual regulationof theRBIandtheRegistrarofCo-operativeSocieties, resulting in regulatoryandsupervisorylapsesatmanyofthesebanks.

In another decision, theCabinet approved a scheme toprovide 2 per cent interest sub-ventiontoShishucategoryofbor-rowersunderthePradhanMantriMUDRAYojana(PMMY),onloansoutstandingasonMarch31,2020.Under Shishu category, lendersprovidecollateral-freeloansofuptoRs50,000.Theinterestsubven-tion will be for a period of 12monthstoeligibleborrowersAbout9.37croreloanaccounts

undertheShishucategorywithatotal loanamountof Rs1.62 lakhcrore were outstanding as onMarch31,aspergovernmentdata.Theinterestreliefwillbepro-

videdonlytothoseShishuloanac-countswhich are notNPA (nonperforming assets). The scheme,estimatedtocostgovernmentRs1,542crore,willbeimplementedthrough the Small IndustriesDevelopmentBankof India.

SANDEEPSINGHNEWDELHI,JUNE24

TAKINGTHEsharpfallinmarketsin the quarter endedMarch 31,2020asanopportunity to invest,retail investors rushed in hugenumberstobuypieceofbluechipcompanies.The10companiesthatwitnessedthehighestadditioninshareholdernumbersduring thequarter added an aggregate ofnearly 30 lakh investors in thecompanies.Thenamesinclude—State Bank of India, RelianceIndustries,HDFCBank,ICICIBankandITCamongothers.Data sourced from nsein-

fobase.com shows thatwhile SBIadded5.89lakhretailinvestorsinthequarter,HDFCBankadded3.78lakhinvestors.RelianceIndustriesandTataMotors added3.13 lakhand2.53 lakhrespectively.ONGC(2.13 lakh), ITC (2.11 lakh), ICICIBank(1.96lakh)tooaddedsignif-icantly.Besidesthese,YesBankandVodafone Idea thatwitnessed asharp fall in their sharepricesonaccountof business concerns re-lating to the company, alsowit-nessed huge inflowof retail in-vestors and the two companiesadded3.78lakhand2.08lakhre-tailinvestors.Retail holding in companies

listedontheNSEwentupduringthequarter from6.42per cent inDecember2019to6.55percentasonMarch31,2020.RIL,whichadded4.2 lakh in-

vestors in theyear endedMarch2020,witnessednet investor ad-ditionforthefirsttimein10years.Thecompany,whichhadsawade-clineinitsinvestorbasefrom35.62lakhintheyearendedMarch2010to 22.11 lakh in the year endedMarch2019, saw it rise to 26.32lakhattheendofMarch2020.Pranav Haldea, MD, Prime

Database,saidretailinvestorsgen-erallyarenotthemostprudentin-vestors. Stating the retail holdingin penny stocks is three timesmorethanFPIsthatretailinvestorsmostly fall for thewrong stock.Stating that the retail holding inpennystocks is three timesmorethanFPIs,Haldeasaid,“UnlikeFPIswho cut losses and exit from acompanythatisonadecline,retailinvestorstendtoholditinthehopethatsomedayitwillrise.Whenthepriceofastockstartsfalling,whileexisting retail investors try toav-erage out their holding, new in-vestorsgetintotimethestockforquick gains andmoreoften theyendupwithlosses.”ReliancePowerandReliance

Communicationsareamong thetop10companiesthathavehighestnumberofretailinvestors.ReliancePower is on topwithover 30.61lakhretailinvestorsandisfollowedbyRILthathas25.41lakhretailin-vestors.Marketplayers saywhileretail investors entered the twocompanieswhentheyweredoingfine, they failed toexitwhen thetideturned,evenasotherinvestorsincludingDIIsandFPIsexitedthem.

CABINETDECISION:2%SUBSIDYTO‘SHISHU’BORROWERSUNDERMUDRAYOJNA

Company Retailshareholders Retailshareholders IncreaseasonDec31, asonMar31, (inlakh)2019(lakh) 2020(lakh)

SBI 18.23 24.11 5.89YESBANK 16.18 19.97 3.78HDFCBANK 8.78 12.56 3.78RIL 22.29 25.42 3.13TATAMOTORS 10.56 13.09 2.53Note:Rise inMarchquarter; source:nseinfobase.com

COSWITHHIGHESTRISE INNO.OFRETAILSHAREHOLDERS

Retail investors shrugoff market volatility,invest in blue chips

Thegovt’s fiscalstimulus inthewakeofthepandemichasbeenrestrainedwithlimitedcashoutgo,a factorthateconomistssaidhasbeendrivenbytheconcernsofdebt levels

E●EXPLAINED

CURRENTLY,URBANandmulti-statecooperativebanksareregulatedbyRBIandRegistrarofCooperativeSocieties,withthecentralbanknothavingpowersthatithasforcommercialbanks.DirectRBIsupervisionandregulationwillprovidecomforttodepositors.

RBIgetsmorepowers

Govtbringsco-opbanksunderRBIsupervisionforbetter regulation

New Delhi

NIHALKOSHIENEWDELHI, JUNE24

WHENBERGAMO-BASEDAtalanta playedtheir home game against Sassuolo behindcloseddoors onSundayevening, itmarkedawinning return for the football club fromtheepicentreof Covid-19 in Italy’s Lombardy re-gion. Stefano Fusco, the founder of citizens’groupNoiDenunceremo,whichtranslatesto‘Wewill report’, for bereaved relatives, did-n’tturnonthetelevisiontowatchtheteam’sfirst game innearly fourmonths.The31-year-oldwent tohisbest friend’s

housetocatchupoverdinner.HeadmitsnotbeinganAtalanta loyalistandroots for InterMilan.Fuscodidn’ttuneintoseehisfavouriteclubbeatSampdoriaeither.Every second family in Bergamo,which

registerednearly3,000deaths,haslostsome-onetothepandemic.Fuscoprioritisingtimewith a close friend overwatching a footballgamewasunderstandable. “Ihadn’tmetmyfriendformonths, so itwasgoodtohavegotsome timewithhim,” Fusco says.Of course,heknowsInterwon2-1.Footballisn’taprior-ity for this salesconsultant involved inhelp-ingpeoplegetlegalhelptopetitionofficialstohighlightgovernmentnegligence.The spread of the virus in Bergamo is

linked toanAtalantagame.FansreturningafteraChampionsLeague

match against Valencia at the San Siro inMilan on February 19 are believed to havebeencarriers.A thirdof the townof 1.2 lakhresidentswere reported tohavegone to thegamewhere therewasnosocialdistancing.Fourdayslater,thefirstpositivecasewasre-portedinBergamo.Ittookafortnightforthelockdowntobeenforced in the town.Over13,500peopletestedpositiveandthe

match is nowcalled ‘GameZero’. Health ex-pertshavereferredtoitasa‘biologicalbomb’.Shortly after his grandfatherAntonio testedpositive for the coronavirus anddiedwithintwodays of developing a fever and cough inmid-March,FuscoandhisfamilylaunchedNoiDenunceremo.His father, sister,mother andauntwere the firstmembers. People startedjoiningindroves,withinadaythecommunitygrewto5,000andcurrentlythereare60,000.Earlierthismonth,50peoplefiledpetitionsat

theprosecutor’sofficeinBergamoandanother220 indifferentpartsof Italy. Top lawyersareworking pro bono for members of theFacebookgroupandprosecutors haveques-tionedthecountry’sprimeminister.The pandemic curve has dipped in

Bergamo,yetFuscobelievesit istooearlyforfootball to returnevenbehindcloseddoors.“Well, I disagree with restarting the

championships.FootballinItalyisnotasport,it is a mix between drugs and a religion.Peoplegetveryemotionalwhentheyspeakabout football. I am afraid people whoweren’ttouchedbytheviruscanforgetveryquickly what happened here. The club isplayingreallywellthisyear.Peoplewillstarthugging, partying together, drinking beerfromthesamebottle. I amItalianbut Idon’ttrust Italians. I know itwould be a very bigdanger for all of us,” Fusco tells The IndianExpress,worryingaboutthepossibilityofso-cial distancing going out of thewindow atbarsandrestaurantswhicharenowopen.Sunday’swin is beingprojected as a suc-

courtohelppeopleinBergamoovercomethepain causedby thepandemic. AtalantacoachGianPieroGasperini,whohadhimself testedpositive forcoronavirus, spokeabout football’sabilitytogivejoytothepeople.Entryofspecta-torsattheGewissStadium,Fuscofeels,should

notbeallowedrightaway.Ifhehadhissay,theSerieAwouldhaverestartedonlynextyear.“Therewere30,000ormorepeople from

Bergamoatthestadiumthatnight,”hesaysre-ferringbackto‘GameZero’.“Wewerealreadyin a pandemic emergency situation sinceJanuary31. Idon’tsupportAtalantasoIdidn’tgotothestadiumbutafriendwhowentthereknewtwoguyswhodiedbecauseofCovid19,”Fusco says.Hauntingmemories are too freshforpeople inBergamo tomoveonwithout ashudderwhen thinking about thehorrors ofthepast fewmonths. Fusco,who lives in thecountryside,narratesastoryaboutambulancesirenswhenthepandemicwasatitspeakandcoffinswerebeingstoredinchurchesaroundBergamobecausetheonlycemeterywasfull.

Counting sirens“I am still finding away to describe it. It

was like being in themiddle of thewar andyour enemy is bombing you and you don’tknowwherethenextbombwillfall. Inanor-mal situation, I hear the ambulance once inthree days and during the peak of the pan-demic, I counted up to 128 ambulances inone day, and every time youwent out, forfoodforexample,youdiscoveredsomebodyyouknewwasdeador inhospital,”hesays.HisoctogenariangrandfatherAntoniowas

anaccountantandwashealthyenoughtodrivetwice aweek to the firmhehad set up andpassedontohissonLuca,Fusco’sfather.Antoniowasadmittedat ahospital followinga strokewhenhewas infectedby thevirus.His bodywas taken inacarof a funeralhomeandcre-matedawayfromBergamobecauseofshortageofspace.HisashesarekeptatLuca’shome.“Wecreatedavirtualcommunitywhere

all of our family and friends and relativescould join and share stories about grandpa.Otherpeoplejoinedtooanditwaslikeavir-tual meeting roomwhere everybodywasfree tosharepainandtell thestory.”NoiDenunceremo’scoreteamconsistsof12

members, nine of whomare lawyers fromacrossItaly,includingTurin,Naples,RomeandFlorence.Complaintsandpetitionsarefirstfiledonlinebeforepeopledetailexperiencesaroundthedeathofafamilymember, inordertogiveofficialsasmuchinformationaspossible.Theobjectiveof thecitizens’groupisnot

to point fingers at doctors or hospitals, butaskauthoritiestoinvestigatewhatledtothepandemic spiralling out of hand. The nextdateforhearingpetitionersislikelytobeJuly6andoverathousandtestimonieshavebeencompiled.Fuscoexplainswhymanypeoplebelieveauthoritiesdidn’t react fastenough.“The first case in Bergamo was on

February23but the townwas lockeddownonly onMarch 8. That is twoweeks later,”Fusco says. The nearby town of Codogno inLodi province was quick to act and a lock-downwasimposedonthesamedaythefirstcasewasdetected on February 21. “There isa lotof angeraroundinBergamoandalso inItaly, and the public opinion is that our au-thorities and our government didn’t do toomuch to contain the virus, especially inplaces likeBergamo. For twoweeks, peoplewerefreetomovearoundwithoutsocialdis-tancingandwithoutmasksandthatisprob-ablythecauseofthepandemicwehadhere.”Italy has seen a steady decline in cases

and the number of deaths has fallen to twodigits daily signalling a turnaround in thebattle against Covid-19. In Bergamo, life isgetting back to normalwith shops openingand people heading back towork and so isFusco.“Basicallylifehasrestarted,butpeoplehere are still scared because lots of peoplehave lost familymembers.”


SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VolLXXXVIIINo.195 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05

R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office:The IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301. Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha ** **Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct. Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

18HowBergamo is picking up the piecesAs football returns to Italiancityworsthitbypandemic, acitizens’group ishelpingpeoplesharegrief

CROSSWORD4153

ACROSS1 Inwhich illnessesarewardedoff? (8)

5 Theymayholdone inaffection(4)

9 Frosted lookseenwhenI’mindebt? (5)

10 Showpartof theevidence incourt (7)

11 See1Down13 Roomforavarietyofprovisions (6)

14 Layouta feast(6)

17 Fightingmanaudibly theworse forshouting?(5,7)

20 Thesespectaclesgiveyoudoublevision(7)

21 Shares thesoup(5)22 Right-mindedman’sessayabout love (4)

23 Outlookshowspromise(8)

DOWN1 and11Across:Rigorousandfleetingreigns?(4,3,4,5)

2 StudentgroupofMarines(7)

3 Apathyshowninaquarrel(12)

4 Maintainsapoint, thoughopposedto it (6)

6 Arevolting individual(5)

7 Gethard ideaschangedorreject them?(3,5)

8 Qualifiedcorn-dealers?(12)

12 Every letter iswritten in it (8)15 It’snotpleasant toseeamutilatedrose (7)

16 It’snotashot in the jug(6)

18 Appealonewayor theother(5)

19 Takeoff skirt if it’snot right (4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Don'texpecteverythingtobeeasy,because itwon'tbe!Onthe

otherhand, if yougetstuckinto life's littleproblemswiththerightmixtureofcompassionanddetermination,youcouldsettleaseriesofdifficultiesatastroke. Life is likethatsometimes.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)The fact that therecouldbeagradualrelaxationof youroverallmood

doesn'tmean that you shouldlet upyour guard.Whilecertainpeoplewill be allsweetness and light, someindividualswill beout to createhavoc. Steer a careful course,andavoid thetrapssetforothers.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Everythingnowfocusesonyourpersonal life, and ifyouknowwhat's

goodforyou,youwillnipdomesticdiscontent in thebud.Don'tbehardonpeople,butdobe firm, includingwithyourself.A littlebitof disciplineanddeterminationwill enhanceyourchances.

CANCER(June22- July23)Questionsof cashdrift to the frontofyourmind. If youwishtospendthe

dayshopping,oreven justwindow-shopping, that's fairenough.Althoughit looksas ifnecessitiesmakeabetterbuythan luxuries, the importantthing is topamperyourself—andfeelgood.

LEO(July24-Aug23)If youdo feel likesounding off atother people, thenpleasemake

sure youhit the righttarget. If you are able to becompletely saintly, and are in amood topolish your halo,replace resentment andsuspicionwith compassion forthehumanpredicament.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)There's a newset oflunar alignmentsapproaching fastand,when it

does finally arrive, itwillsignify an emotional turning-point. This,more thananything, iswhyyou shouldwelcome change rather thandigging in your heels.There is nothing to fear, just aslong as youkeepyour eye ontheball.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Youshouldbe justalittlemorecautiousaboutmakingsocialcommitments

over thenext fewdays, forwhen itcomesto thecrunchyouwouldratherbebyyourself. It'sall aquestionofpickingandchoosing,andhangingoutwiththepeoplewhomakeyoufeel fine.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Don'tbebashfulaboutbeingself-centred. If youdon'tpromoteyourown

interestswhenyouhavethechance,you'llbenousetopartnersatother times.Romance is theoneareawhereyoushouldputothers' feelingsfirst, justas longasyoudon't letthemwalkalloveryou.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)It'snotwhathappenstoyouthat's importantasmuchaswhataction

youtakeonyourownbehalf.This is thereforeoneof thosetimeswhenyoucanalter theworldaroundyoubyrearrangingyouropinions,strangeas itmayseem.Animprovement inattitudenowleads toachange inactiondowntheroad.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Clear thedecksofoutstandingemotionalbusiness,ready forapositive

endtoan intimatephase.Dealwithpersonal frustrationsandfinancialpassions today,anddon't letotherpeoplepushyou intosayinganythingyou'll regret.And if you'rewaiting foranapology,don'tholdyourbreath.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Thereare timeswhentheemotionalcurrentknocksyousideways,butyou

haveyour feetplanted firmlyonthegroundat themoment.Youshouldthereforebeable topickyourself up—andevenfeelbetter for theexperience. In thebackground,by theway, familyresponsibilitiesarebuildingup.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Thisshouldbearoutinesortof aday,whichmaynotsoundterribly

exciting.Butsometimes it'snicetosurroundyourselfwiththefamiliar. If youcankeepyourattention focusedonessentialactivities,you'll createspace forfulfillingyour favouritepleasures lateron.

SUDOKU4150

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4149

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Peopleseldombecomefamousforwhatthey__untilaftertheyarefamousforwhatthey've___-CullenHightower(3,.,4)

SOLUTION:ELAND,SWOOP,HINGED,HOMILYAnswer:Peopleseldombecomefamousforwhattheysayuntilaftertheyarefamousforwhatthey'vedone-CullenHightower

LADEN EGHIDN

OPWOS HILMOY

SolutionsCrossword4152:Across: 1Headlines,8Opera,9Freeman,10Scheme,11Plight,12Improved,15Optional,18Yachts,20Acacia,21Clarets,22Radii,23Nectarine.Down:2Enrol,3Dredge,4Inaction,5Soccer,6Reserve,7Calendars,11Putonairs,13Polyglot,14Strands,16Origin,17Scorer,19Titan.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

@indianexpress.com

JWALAGUTTAandASHWINIPONNAPPA tellShivaniNaikhowtheymadebadmintondoubleshistory for India

THOSEMONTHS,THOSEMINUTESForced intoanunprecedented lockdown, sport is staringat anunfathomabledespair. Indianathletes, though,havegiven thecountry reasons to rejoice in thepast.

Noplantoreducespending: RijijuNewDelhi:SportsministerKirenRijijuassuredthenationalsportsfederationsonWednesdaythat‘thereisnoplantoreducespendsonanyof theverticals’.Rijiju’scomment,madeonhisTwitterhandle, came a day after The IndianExpressreportedabout theminister’smeetingwithfederationchiefswherethe issue of salary cuts of foreigncoachescameupfordiscussion.Aseniorfederationrepresentative

present at themeeting had told thispaper that the ideawas put on holdafter the federation representativesraised fears that a pay cutmight re-sult in a mass exodus of coaches. ASportsMinistryofficial,presentatthemeeting, toohadconfirmedthis.Reacting to the report, Rijiju

tweeted:“Thenewsisincorrect.Thereisnoplan to reduce spendsonanyoftheverticals.All futuredecisionswillbemadekeepingthebestinterestsofall stakeholders inmind& in discus-sionwithNSFs. I conveyed toNSFs inyesterday'sVC.” ENS

MohdHafeeztestsnegativeforCovid-19Karachi: Former Pakistan captainMohammedHafeezhastestednega-tive forCOVID-19,adayafter thePCBfound him positive for the deadlyvirus ahead of the team'smuch-an-ticipatedtourofEngland.HafeezandWahab Riaz were among the 10Pakistanplayers,whotestedpositiveforCOVID-19onTuesday.TheteamisduetoleaveforEnglandonSundayfora Test and T20 series in August. OnWednesday, Hafeez took to twitterand clarified that he and his familymembers have tested negative andalsopostedthemedicalreporttobackhis claim. ThePakistanCricket Boardsaiditwasverydisappointedwiththeseniorplayer."IspoketoHafeeztodayand Imade it clear to himour disap-pointmentatthewayhehadhandledthis entire affair," PCBCEOKhan toldthe Cricket Baaz YouTube channel onWednesday. PTI

BRIEFLY

(L-R)Playersobserveaminute’s silencebeforeAtalanta’s firstSerieAmatch inBergamo, theepicentreof thepandemic in Italy,after the lockdownwaseased;StefanoFuscowithhis lategrandfatherAntonio inhappier times.AP/StefanoFusco

Recognition forNSFs on holdafter HC rapssports ministryPRITAMPALSINGHNEWDELHI, JUNE24

THEPROVISIONALrecognitiongrantedto54National Sports Federations (NSFs) will be‘recalled’ after the Delhi High Court, onWednesday, expressed its displeasure overthe manner in which the sports ministrywentabout theprocess.A bench comprising Justice Hima Kohli

and Justice NajmiWaziri confronted thesportsministry’s counsel with its February7 order, inwhich it had directed the IndianOlympicFederation(IOA)aswellasthemin-istry tonot take adecision in relation to thefederationswithout informing thecourt.Observingthat‘inteethoftheorderdated

February 7, 2020,MYAS (Ministry of YouthAffairsandSport)hasonitsownproceededtoprovisionallyrenewtheannualrecognitioninrespectof54federations’,thebenchaskedthesportsministry to ‘issuea freshnoticewithintwodaysintimatingall54NSFsconcernedthatits order giving provisional renewal tillSeptember30,2020,standsrecalled.’Theannualrecognitionfromtheministry

isofhighimportanceforthefederations,es-peciallythesmallerones,astheylargelyde-pendonthegovernmentforfundingtoman-age their everyday expenses. Citing thecoronavirus outbreak and the consequentlockdownasthereason, thesportsministryhad renewed the recognition of 54 federa-tionstillSeptember30.Thecourt'sdirectionwas based on an application filed by thesportsministry, seeking certain directions.TheapplicationwasmovedinapendingPILby sports activist and lawyer RahulMehra,whosoughtproperregulationandcontrolinthe functioningof numerous federations.Central government’s standing counsel

Anil Soni, appearing for the sportsministry,conceded before the court that the said or-derhasnotbeencompliedwith.Thecounselsubmittedthattheministrymaybepermit-ted to withdraw the decision taken alongwith the present application. Allowing thesame, thebenchrecorded in itsorder that itis refrainingfromimposinganycostsontheMYAS for thepresent.

New Delhi

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