FIR against the head of Tablighi Jamaat; hundreds suspected to have been infected

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi

WITH the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in Delhi becom-ing the biggest hotspot for coro-navirus in India, the police on Tuesday registered an FIR against its head Maulana Saad, and other management staff for flouting orders against gatherings.

At least 10 people who par-ticipated in the congregation in mid-March died after contracting the virus. Many others have test-ed positive and are un-der quarantine.

Registering a case under various sec-tions of the Epidemic Diseases Act that would entail a maxi-mum punishment of two years, the police s a i d t h e C r i m e Branch will handle the case. The police a l s o s e a l e d t h e markaz and shifted around 1,100 people in buses to various quar-antine centres in the city.

In a strongly word-ed communication to police and other law enforcement agencies of all states, the Un-ion home ministry said that af-ter the 14-day quarantine, all foreign preachers who tested negative should be deported. Those testing positve will be hospitalised.

According to rules, foreign-ers need to get missionary vi-sas for preaching activities. However, many foreign preach-ers were found to have come to India on tourist visas. MHA of-ficials said violation of visa norms will not be tolerated.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal blamed the markaz

management for the mess, “This was an absolutely irre-sponsible thing to do. Everyone is hearing about coronavirus and its impact. Gurdwaras, mosques, temples and church-es all are vacant... At this time, having such a gathering was absolutely wrong,” he said.

The markaz management, however, claimed it had in-formed the authorities about the presence of more than 3,000 (including foreigners) and

sought help in moving them out in time got no response. But the Delhi government pointed out that on March 16, it had capped the size of

public gatherings at 50. Three days later, it reduced the figure to 20 and later brought it down to five.

According to po-lice, between March 10-15, around 4,000 people including for-eign nationals from Indonesia, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, China, Ukraine, Ma-laysia, Sri Lanka, Af-ghanistan, Bangla-desh participated in the event. Despite all these prohibitory or-ders, the jamaat man-agement had about

3,000-4,000 people at the markaz.Of the over 300 from the

markaz being tested on Tues-day, least 24 were found infect-ed in one hospital. The results of about 200 others are still awaited. Also, at least 50 people from Tamil Nadu and 11 from Andhra Pradesh with travel history of Delhi tested positive.

In all, about 2,100 foreigners came to India for Tablighi activ-ity since January. P5, 7,8,9,10

GLOBAL RECESSION MAY NOT AFFECT INDIA, SAYS UNCTAD

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi

WHILE the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic will most certainly pull down the rest of the world into an era of recession, India and China may escape unscathed, according to a report by UNCTAD.

Major G20 countries have committed massive stimulus packages to the tune of $5 trillion to salvage their econ-omies but a possible reces-sion stares them in the face.

“World economy will go into recession this year with a predicted loss of global in-come in the trillions of dol-lars… with the likely excep-tion of China and the possible exception of India,” said the report titled The Covid-19 S h o c k t o D e v e l o p i n g

Countries.While UNCTAD chose not

to elucidate why China and India would escape the recession, analysts said it was partly be-cause of the large in-ternal markets that these countries have and the benefit of low-er energy prices.

Said Prof N R Bhanumur-thy of the National Institute of Public Finance & Policy “Our growth rate will slow down in the next two quar-

ters, but we are unlikely to slip into a recession given our internal economy and

other factors.”Calling for a $2.5-tril-

lion package for de-veloping countries, UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa

Kituyi said, “The eco-nomic fallout from the

shock is ongoing and increas-ingly difficult to predict, but there are clear indications that things will get much worse for developing econo-mies before they get better.”

UNCTAD believes that given the global conditions, fiscal and foreign exchange constraints would tighten over the course of the year and developing nations would face a $2-3 trillion fi-nancing gap over the next two years.

Small savings rate cutThe govt on Tuesday revised

interest rates on small savings scheme for April-June by 70-140

bps. PPF will now fetch 7.1% returns, against 7.9% earlier. National Savings Certificate

interest cut to 6.8%

CHENNAI l WEDNESDAY l APRIL 01, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION

CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI

DELHI ADDRESS FOR MOTHER OF ALL INFECTIONS

Y O U R N E W S P A P E R I S T O T A L L Y S A F E

MARCH 26 1,203 Tablighi Jamaat workers screened, tested

MARCH 29 162 others screened and shifted to quarantine facilities

Tablighi Jamaat workers shifted to Narela, Sultanpuri and Bakkarwala quarantine facilities as well as to Delhi govt hospitals and AllMS, JhajjarRest of them are being screened

1,339MARCH 31

ACTIVE CASES

1,238CURED/

DISCHARGED

124TOTAL

DEATHS

35

DAY’S CASES

NEW CASES ON TUESDAY

145

NEW DEATHS REPORTED FROMl Kerala l Punjab l West Bengal

Cumulative confirmed

cases

1,396292

Maharashtra has the largest

number of cases

Kerala at 2nd spot with

245 cases in all

Source: National Disaster Management Authority, Union health ministry

Days after RBI allowed banks to offer a 3-month freeze on all EMIs, PSU banks announced their intent to do so on Tuesday

MOST PSU BANK CUSTOMERS TO BENEFIT■ EMI deductions are system-generated at a prefixed date. For next

three months, banks will deactivate the automatic deduction of EMIs, though the process differs from bank to bank

■ SBI, PNB, IDBI Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank, Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank and many others will freeze EMIs | P10

DUES FALLING BETWEEN MARCH 1 AND MAY 31 ARE EXEMPT, ACCORDING TO RBI

EMICUSTOMERS CAN OPT OUT, IF THEY WISHThe relief will be on EMIs of all term loans and deferral of interest payments on working capital loans. It means EMIs on home or auto loans due on April 1 can be deferred for three months and the instalment can be paid in June. However, the repayment schedule will get extended by three months. Customers willing to pay can opt out of the moratorium

PSU BANKS KICKSTART LOAN MORATORIUM MEASURES

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad

EVEN as the Centre is dispel-ling notions that the coronavi-rus lockdown will not extend beyond mid-April, acclaimed cardiologist Dr Rahul Potluri says the lockdown can be lifted if “the number of deaths are not vastly increasing and if the system can cope with the num-ber of new cases coming”, but

not a day before that.In a chat with TNIE Editor

G S Vasu, Dr Potluri, who works with the NHS in the UK and at KIMS, Hyderabad, and is a pio-neer in using big data in health-care research, hotly con-tests the findings of an MIT paper on the ef-fect of heat on Cov-id-19. “The MIT paper looking at tempera-ture and the coronavi-

rus is only an abstract, there is no full paper. They only looked at the cases that presented in early mid-March and they cor-related this to temperatures. It

is a purely computational model with correlation,” he explains.

Also reacting to the study that the virus has different virulent strains in different countries, Dr Potluri says, “this study just looked at genomic patterns of a few of the early cases.”

A huge advocate of social dis-tancing, he describes Covid-19 as a problem we have not seen the likes of for over 100 years since, probably, the Spanish Flu.

It’s once-in-a-century health crisis: UK specialistE X P E R T ’ S T A K E

Scan the QR code to watch the whole interview at youtu.be/PON9bxevzog

TOTAL FOREIGNERS

824An

dhra

Pra

desh

Telangana

Odisha

Jharkhand

HaryanaKa

rnat

aka

Maha

rash

tra

Tam

il Na

du

Madhya Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

West Bengal

DELHI

TABLIGHI JAMAAT’S FOOTPRINTMARCH 21Action begins to isolate and quarantine Tablighi Jamaat activists after positive cases found in

TelanganaBy then,

824foreign Tablighi Jamaat workers were in different parts of the country for missionary work

Around

2,100Indian Tablighi Jamaat members, too, were touring different parts of the country

MARCH 24 Lockdown brings Tablighi work to a halt

1,530 Indian Tablighi Jamaat workers, too, were housed at the Markaz

People with symptoms of coronavirus boarding a bus in Nizamuddin area to a hospital for screening on Tuesday | ANIL SHAKYA

Rajasthan

foreign nationals were staying on that day

At the Delhi Markaz at Nizamuddin,

216

49

82

24

115

125

50

11

13

115

38 70

132

Odisha19 attended Delhi meet,

four returned; 15 in Delhi quarantine

KarnatakaAt least 79 returned from

the meet, quarantined. One of them died

Tamil Nadu1,500 went to Delhi,

1 ,131 returned; 800 located and quarantined

Kerala54 attended the meet, most of them returned, now on home quarantineTelangana1,030 went to Delhi, most returned; 348 in Hyderabad home quarantineAndhra PradeshAround 700 went to Delhi, most returned; 85 yet to be traced

THE INDIAN ANGLE

Dr Rahul Potluri

l Shahdara, Delhi l Noida, Uttar Pradesh l Meerut, Uttar Pradesh l Bhilwara, Rajasthan l Ahmedabad, Gujarat l Kasaragod, Kerala

l Pathanamthitta, Kerala l Mumbai, Maharashtra l Pune, Maharashtra

O T H E R H O T S P O T S

SC’s directive to media

Responding to the Centre’s request

for an order to curb fake news,

the Supreme Court said: “We do not

intend to interfere with the free

discussion about the pandemic, but

direct the media refer to and

publish the official version about the developments.”P8

KNOW YOUR TEST CENTRES: P12

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai

A whopping 57 persons tested positive for COVID-19 on Tues-day, taking the tally up from 67 to 124 in a single day. Among those 57 affected, 50 are con-nected to the three-day reli-gious conference held at the Nizammudin Mosque in Delhi earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary K Shanmugam said the State gover nment had already traced and isolated 800 people who took part in the Delhi event.

The remaining — around 300 people — would be tracked down in another day or two. A total of 1,131 from the State re-turned from Delhi, estimates the government. Identifying this group and cordoning them off is crucial to fighting this virus in the State, said the Chief Secretary. Health Secre-tary Beela Rajesh said, “Some of them returned by train, some by domestic flights. Some others went from Delhi to oth-er States and returned to Ta-mil Nadu by road.”

She appealed to those who attended the event to come forward and report themselves, ‘for the benefit of their own family, community and others’. B e e l a R a j e s h s a i d t h e government has been tracking these clusters through door-to-door surveys, analysis of immigrants’ list, and through p o l i c e i n t e l l i g e n c e infor mation. The police department, meanwhile, is trying to trace the address of the 300-odd people by using their phone numbers.

Beela Rajesh said all mass

gatherings that took place in the State after February 15 are being analysed to see if there is any other source of infec-tion, including the Maha Shiv-aratri celebrations held at the Isha Foundation in Coim-batore, in which hundreds of foreigners participated. “All patients are currently stable and none of them is in the ICU at the moment,” she said. “The government has begun testing all those with severe respira-tory issues.”

The 57 cases reported on Tuesday are spread across dis-tricts, with Tirunelveli and Namakkal recording the high-est numbers — 22 and 18 respectively.

In Chennai, five cases were confirmed. This includes a man who visited a visa appli-cation centre at the Good Shep-herd Building on Kodambak-kam High Road on March 15. The Chennai Corporation has asked all those who visited the centre on or after that date to home quarantine themselves, and report to the civic body im-mediately. P3

57 cases in a single day; TN tally at 124

Homeless, but ‘home quarantined’ in BroadwayN I R U P A M A V I S W A N A T H A N @Chennai

IN an often seen internet image that surfaces whenever there’s an economic crisis anywhere in the world, ‘I do not need coins, I need change’, reads a placard propped against the wall next to a homeless person who lives on a pavement.

It was a hard-hitting scenario in Broadway, where the Chen-nai Corporation staff on Tues-day prescribed ‘home quaran-tine’ for a group of homeless families. We can gauge the de-gree of that change achieved and the question of efforts made in assuring quality life to the last equal citizen flies across our faces.

After a 50-year-old woman

tested positive in Chennai on Monday, it was found that there was a group of around 30 home-less individuals staying in the same street as hers in Broad-way (the name of the street is not published to protect the woman’s privacy). Having ruled out the idea of shifting them, Corporation staff have asked for both ends of the street to be closed with barricades, thus placing them under ‘street quarantine’. Entry and exit of vehicles have been stopped in the stretch. Since Tuesday was their first day of ‘quarantine’, the families said they had ac-cess to food. Corporation offi-cials told Express that they would be provided with food for their quarantine period even if they run out of stock. P4

The homeless families near Broadway are ‘quarantined’ in their street after a 50-year-old woman from the street tested positive for COVID-19 | ASHWIN PRASATH

CM spreads safety net

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday

announced a list of concessions for various stakeholders in the

society who are feeling the pinch due to the COVID-19 pandemic and

the 21-day nationwide lockdown

House owners have been requested to get the rent

for March and April from the tenants after two months

COVID Relief and Development Scheme

devised to benefit around

2,000MSME units which have

taken loans from Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment

Corporation

A three-month moratorium

(till June 30) for repayment of instalments of crop loans,

house loans, etc.,

THE MORATORIUM ALSO COVERS

Payment of wealth tax, water tax to local bodies

Repayment of instalments for fishermen cooperative

societies and handloom cooperative societies | P3

Repayment of instalments for cooperative housing societies and Tamil Nadu Housing Board

District wise break up of the 57 cases

Chennai 5

Tiruvannamalai 1

Villupuram 3

Madurai 2

Kanniyakumari 5

Tirunelveli 22

Thoothukudi 1

Namakkal 18

RENEWAL OF LICENCE AND FC FOR VEHICLES

02 CHENNAI WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

Sunrise 06.13 am

Sunset 06.23 pm

Moonrise 06.52 pm

Moonset 07.14 am

MAX

330CMIN

260CFORECAST

SunnyCHENNAI

WEATHER

ALMANAC TODAY Wednesday: 01/04/2020 Year: Shaarvari Panguni: Valar Pirai Chaitra: Shukla Paksha

Tithi: S. Ashtami till 27- 41hrs Nakshatra (Star): rdra till 19-29 hrs. Moon in Mithun. Today is All Fools’ Day. Rahukaalam: 12:00-13:30

Yamagantam: 07:30-09:00 Gulikakalam: 10:30-12:00

P E T E R V I DA L

01 st April : I’m watching Jupiter as it sweeps through the sky. We’re in a volatile period in international affairs, so I’m hoping that

our leaders get a bit of common sense and sit down and talk, sorting out their problems instead of squaring up for a fight.

If peace prevails, then the world will definitely be a better place.

ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr. 20)Among the many helpful planetary aspects today are two which are strongly

suggestive of welcome financial rewards as a result of a change of direction or moderately unusual achievement at work. In other words, a well-deserved increase in income!TAURUS (Apr. 21 - May 21)

Today’s celestial schedule is crammed with planetary alignments that are bound

to keep the emotional situation moving along at a cracking pace. You may expect, indeed welcome, changes in mood. Also don’t hide from feelings you cannot face. Meet them head-on and they might just disappear.GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)

Not until after another few days have passed will you be entirely clear about what

should, or must, be done. If you wish, you may prevaricate until next week, hopeful that other people will share the prevailing sense of indecision and uncertainty.CANCER (June 22 - July 23)

Concentrate on activities which can be accomplished in harmony

with other people, and realise that it may not be wise to fight crusades at work. The moment you start speaking your mind, it may become clear that you have forgotten what you were talking about!LEO (July 24 - Aug. 23)

In spite of a wave of optimism, which is inclined to appear without warning

and sweep all before it, this is a very dodgy moment to take risks. Your planets are casual and reckless, which means that you must therefore take very great pains to make sure that everything works out as planned.VIRGO (Aug. 24 - Sept. 23)

Powerful, challenging circumstances are urging you to become very much

more outspoken, outgoing and self-confident. Proceed with optimism, but at the first hint of complacency or carelessness, everything will unravel. That’s why you’ve got to keep awake and stay alert.

LIBRA (Sept. 24 - Oct. 23)Sometimes, you do one thing and the universe does another. As fast as

you try and keep things as you want them, others will undo your handiwork. A helpful perspective on the mid-week’s mixture of good and bad humour, is that everyone will get what they want at least some of the time!SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 22)

It’s partly because some stunning planetary aspects now relate to financial

matters that you should take such care. It’s exactly at times like these that carelessness with resources and personal possessions can be expensive. After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23 - Dec. 22)

Try to remember that with Mars now exerting its powerful presence, you may

be exhibiting an irrepressible urge to become number one. There are indeed amazing chances of success, but, if at any time it seems that the tide is going against you, don’t force the pace. CAPRICORN (Dec. 23 - Jan. 20)

For all your confidence, self-determination and fighting spirit, it is clear that you

cannot fight battles on your own behalf. There is an almost compulsory idealism around at the moment which means that you have no choice but to put others first.AQUARIUS (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19)

You’ll find opportunities in the midst of adversity. The principle group of planets

now affords you a marvellous opportunity to have your cake and eat it, probably several times over! Just make sure that everyone else is too preoccupied with their own little affairs to notice.PISCES (Feb. 20 - Mar 20)

An intriguing but challenging relationship between Jupiter, your planetary ruler, and

Mars, is one to celebrate. While it can be good to let off steam, you need to do so in a manner which is not going to cause accidents or regrets. Your diplomatic skills are in demand!

LOCKHORNS DENNIS THE MENACE

THE PHANTOM

HI AND LOIS

BEETLE BAILEY

BLONDIE

SU DO KU

■ Fill in the grid with digits in such a manner that every row, every column and every 3X3 box accommodates the digits 1 to 9, without repeating any. ■ Each sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

Test your number crunching skill with our unique puzzle

EASY Solutions to Yesterday’s puzzle

Yesterday’s

ACROSS DOWN

Across: 1 Orate, 8 Category, 9 Viola, 10 Skeleton, 11 Edits, 12 Arc, 16 Goblin, 17 Adrian, 18 Tat, 23 Osaka, 24 Alliance, 25 Envoy, 26 Platypus, 27 Order.

Down: 2 Raindrop, 3 Tall tale, 4 Backer, 5 Realm, 6 Route, 7 Hyena, 12 Ant, 13 Cat, 14 Prisoner, 15 Banknote, 19 Accrue, 20 Harpo, 21 Allay, 22 Satyr.

1 Slow shy essayist gets a plant (7) 5 Joined in a Chinese wedding ceremony (5) 8 Advantageously placed for a glamour photograph? (7,6) 9 Loves an anagram to work out (5) 10 A number possibly ignore a form of restraint (3,4) 11 A division of the church (6) 12 More’s ideal land in which to live (6) 15 A mild epithet (7) 17 Wants to sound negligent (5) 19 Surprised having forty winks (6,7) 20 Raw material of sails? (5) 21 Apparently boards another’s child (7)

1 Many items entered by jousting knights (5) 2 Distinctions that may be

standardised (6,7) 3 Doesn’t hurry from Estoril (7) 4 High spirits? (6) 5 Shoot for almost the whole season (5) 6 Dual purpose stores for lifeboats?(5,8) 7 Deny one is about to become a senior member (7) 11 Makes ends meet sailor fashion? (7) 13 About fifty odd pieces cause light

interference (7) 14 Attacks one in the streets (6) 16 In time the lady reveals her name (5) 18 Legend has point for French writer (5)

CROSS WORD

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

TO SAVE US, THEY HAVE TO RISK THEIR FAMILIES’ SAFETY

When the dust settles, we should not forget sacrifices of the personnel in khaki

J A Y A N T H I P A W A R @ Chennai

PRIYA* (9) wonders why every-body stays at home to stay safe from COVID-19 while her mom has to turn up for work. Not just that, she’s no more allowed to hug her mother when she gets back from work, until she has had a bath. Priya’s mother is a policewoman. With COV-ID-19 spreading rapidly, there’s fear among family members of police personnel about their safety.

While rest of the city is work-ing from home, policemen are working overtime on the field -- running to markets to clear crowds, checking vehicles on roads, spreading awareness in public places -- to contain the spread of the virus. While they have been preaching social dis-tancing to everyone else, their job doesn’t allow them to prac-tice it for themselves.

“We need to go into crowds to clear it out. We have to interact with community members. So distancing is impossible,” says the 32-year-old constable moth-er of Priya. “For instance, I went to market yesterday. A des-

titute woman had fainted there, and I had to help her out. I couldn’t go searching for gloves or masks at that moment.”

The policewoman says she depends on a regimen of sani-tising her hands and not touch-ing her face unnecessarily after such episodes. However, it’s easier said than done. Her hus-band Raja* says he is con-cerned about his wife’s safety. “She calls us half hour before getting home, and I ensure the kids do not go near her as soon

as she enters the house,” says Raja.

“Everything she brings on her way back from office, in-cluding her phone and bag are sanitised before being brought inside the home. Our elder daughter is 15, and under-stands the process but Priya gets confused.” Ambika, sister of a police inspector in the city echoes the same feelings. “We are proud of the service she does, but it’s also worrisome.”

“The little we can do for her

is wake up early and lunch for her. With all hotels and restau-rants closed, lunch is a strug-gle. She does not find the time to come home for lunch,” says Ambika. Sekar*, brother of a police constable at the commis-sioner’s office gets worried eve-ry time he sees the news.

“My sister’s work is to issue travel passes to public. I see on TV how many people are crowding to avail passes and that scares me. None of them follow social distancing. A few of them do not even wear masks. I am worried for all po-lice personnel on duty there,” says Sekar. Traffic policemen, who have masks and gloves, are struggling to use them stand-ing under the scorching sun.

The struggles they undergo to put veggies on your table go unseenC S H I V A K U M A R @ Chennai

IF you are cribbing about not getting supplies, groceries, and vegetables as easily as be-fore, think about the number of persons working to put them on your table. Truck drivers, load-men, and farm-ers have been working tire-lessly to make sure people don’t struggle for supplies. And, they are doing so with-out any protective gear. Final-ly on Tuesday, masks and sanitisers were made available for them.

S Chandran, Mar-ket management Committee Licensed Merchants Association President told Express that traders have ensured the load-men and workers who help in loading and offloading of veg-etables in the Koyambedu market don’t go hungry by or-dering lunch from Aruljothi Anna Aalayam in Perambur.

“We have ordered 1,000 food packets by paying them and also delivering vegeta-

bles. This would ensure the workers don’t go hungry.” In the evenings, they cook food, eat, and sleep in the shops it-self as all hotels are closed. “Getting food is difficult here but we are managing by our-selves,” says a labourer from Tirunelveli who now lives in a shop. Some of the labourers say their owners provide them with food.

While the market usually gets about 500 truckloads of

vegetables a day, it has now come down to 100-150. Prices are still the same but once the market opens after the lockdown, the veg-

etables won’t be enough and prices are likely to go

up,” says Chandran. CMDA has deputed persons to moni-tor the availability of disin-fectants and masks in the market.

Officials said 15,000 masks have been distributed to trad-ers so far. But traders say it’s not enough, keeping in mind the congestion in the market.

Unable to transport produce, farmers let locals enjoy fruits of their labourE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Coimbatore

DUE to the nation-wide lock-down to control the spread of COVID-19, farmers from Kara-madai block were unable to bring their produce to mar-kets. Because of the non-avail-ability of vehicles to transport their produce, many farmers allowed residents to pluck the produce from their farm free of cost.

Rangaraj, a farmer from Tholampalayam, who had cul-tivated watermelon at his one acre land, is among many farmers who allowed residents to take his produce for free. He said that he was unable to transport the watermelon to a market at Karamadai about 15 km from his farmland.

Similarly another farmer,

Sampathkumar from Neelam-pathi near Karamadai who cultivated tomato at his 1.5 acres did not harvest it citing that wage he has to pay labour-ers and the transportation costs, which he deems high. He pointed that traders offered only `6-7 per kg of tomato, while retailers sell it over `45.

Durai, a farmer who has a banana plantation at Velli-ankadu, cited the same rea-sons when asked why he did not head to the market to sell his produce. He said he sells the bananas to petty shops in his village at `50 a bunch.

“Most farmers in Tholampa-

layam have small farmlands. On a normal day, a group of farmers rent a mini tempo to take their produce to Karama-dai town. Now, due to imple-mentation of Section 144 of CrPC, far mers have not teamed together to take their produce to market,” said V R a j e n d r a n f r o m Tholampalayam.

He claimed that farmers are presently offered `7-9 per for a kg of brinjal by traders (while the retail price for the same is `90). Rajendran added that with very few traders present at markets, auctions are not taking place.

7-YEAR-OLD DONATES ALL HIS SAVINGSChennai: As celebrities around the world are pledging donations towards COVID-19 relief measures, seven-year-old Syed Anis residing at Old Washermenpet in the city came forward to donate all of his savings amounting to `845. In his letter addressed to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, he wrote: “I have saved `845. I want to donate to you, uncle, for fighting Corona disease in our Tamil Nadu.” When asked why he donated the money, Anis was quick to reply saying he wants to help thousands of migrant workers walking to their homes without food and those who are starving on roads. “I am also talking to my friends about the donation. Two of my classmates said they are interested too,” Anis gleefully said. ENS

NGO ASKED TO GIVE FOOD TO NEEDY Chennai: With temples shut and streets desolate, around 15 beggars and their families have been starving without any donations. Now, the Chennai District Differently-Abled Commissionerate has instructed the NGO Udavum Karangal to distribute food to all of them. Most of them are blind, living in Thiruninravur and Thiruverkadu near temples. ENS

LOADING...

Most farmers in Tholampalayam have small farmlands. Usually, a group of farmers rent a mini tempo to take their produce to Karamadai town. Now, due to implementation of Section 144, farmers have not teamed together to take their produce to market

V Rajendran from Tholampalayam

SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS

(Clockwise from top) Police personnel and Chennai Corporation staff providing

food to around 800 migrant labourers, who were stranded on Ambattur

Industrial Estate streets on Tuesday; firefighters on a sky lift crane spraying

disinfectant over a residential complex at Thadandar Nagar in Chennai; and officials

of Pollachi Municipality in Coimbatore testing a paraglider, which would be

used to spray disinfectant over densely populated areas to combat COVID-19

| D SAMPATH KUMAR, R SATISH BABU, EXPRESS

Overtime and all over the cityWhile rest of the city is working from home, policemen are working overtime on the field -- running to markets to clear crowds, checking vehicles on roads, spreading awareness in public places -- to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

PIC: R SATISH BABU

newindianexpress com03 CHENNAI WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

Metro water to increase supply to 830 MLD soonM A D H U M I T H A V I S W A N A T H @ Chennai

WITH peak summer around the corner, Metro Water is likely to increase water supply to the usual 830 MLD within a month, said highly placed sources.

Officials said, with maintaining hygiene be-ing the key to ward off Coronavirus and water being the indispensable weapon in that battle, the government is considering to up supply from the current 650 MLD once Nemmeli desal plant starts functioning post maintenance.

Though a spike in demand is not felt as of now, officials assure that there is enough stor-

age to maintain increased supply.

As of last weekend, four reservoirs together hold 6.36 tmcft apart from 74 cusecs received from Veer-anam lake. Officials said this supply will comfortably last till June as all water-intensive enterprises such as malls, hotels, pools, thea-tres, industries and offices are closed for now.

New connections under the board’s purview in areas like Ullagaram, Avadi and Shollinganallur is another reason why the government will crank up the supply soon. “After pre-commis-sioning tests are done, we

will start supplying water to these areas. We will be sourcing water to Pammal, Pallavaram and Ankaputhur municipalities too, which will in turn distribute it to households,” added the official. The supply from Krishna has also been steady since September. For the second time in 25 years, Chennai has received more than seven tmcft. This is the major source that is keeping the reservoirs half full and hence increased supply is very much possible.

Decoding North Chennai’s first caseO M J A S V I N M D @ Chennai

ON Monday, a 50-year-old wom-an resident of Broadway test-ed positive for the virus. After tracing her contacts, Corpora-tion officials suspect she could have caught the infection from her son who recently returned from Kerala. The son, who re-turned on March 21, and her husband, who is the Imam of a local mosque, are now under observation at the RGGGH.

“The woman did not step out of her house much, while her son has a travel history. We are checking if she caught the vi-rus from her son,” said an of-ficial. The patient has a total of three sons. It was the eldest who travelled to Kerala. “The youngest son has no contacts with the family. The middle son is an IT employee, and re-sides near Thousand Lights. He is also now under ob-servation.” Their test results are awaited.

The family lives in a three-storey building, and officials have put oth-er residents in the there un-der observation. “The Imam has not participated in any prayers recently, but we would still be conducting inquiries with local mosques to avoid

any later issues,” added the of-ficials. The entire street where the woman was residing, near the Beach Station, has been

locked down. “We inspected 500

houses so far. We plan to cover 2,500 by evening,” said an official at 11.45 am. The situation here

is delicate because her house is located on a packed,

narrow street, increasing dan-ger of transmission. “This is the first case in north Chennai area. We have named this place ‘Central Sector’ and

houses up to Mint will be screened thoroughly,’’ they said.

Apart from the containment plan, the civic body is disin-fecting the area and have strongly advised people to stay indoors. Fumigation activities are conducted in Royapuram, Old Washermenpet and Ton-diarpet areas, which are in seven km-radius from Broad-way. All the homeless people in surrounding areas including those on the whole stretch of Rajaj i Salai have been quarantined.

Special cargo trains to operate to Delhi, HowrahE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai

TO ensure seamless move-ment of essential commodi-ties, the railways will oper-ate special cargo trains to New Delhi and Howrah. “Un-like regular goods train, these special trains will reach destinations in sched-uled time with limited stop-pages en-route” said a senior railway official. He added that parcel booking will be allowed at stations wherever trains are given stoppage.

The Central - New Delhi Parcel Express Special will comprise of five high capac-ity parcel vans and one guard coach. It will leave at 6 pm on April 1 and 8 and reach New Delhi at 9.30 am on April 3 and 10 respectively. On the

return journey, it will leave at 6 pm on April 4 and 11 and reach Chennai at 8:30 am on April 6 and 13.

The train will stop at Gu-dur, Vijayawada, Balhar-shah, Nagpur, Jujharpur, Itarsi, Bhopal, Bina, Jhansi, Gwalior, Agra Cantt and Pal-wal. The South Western Rail-way has proposed to run a bi-weekly parcel cargo express between Yeswantpur and Howrah via Chennai. It will leave Yeswantpur at 11 am on April 1, 4, 8 and 11 and reach Howrah at 9 pm the next day. On the return journey, it will leave Howrah at 6 am on April 3, 7, 10 and 13 and reach Yeswantpur at 4.30 pm the next day. The train will stop at Jolarpettai, Chennai Cen-tral, Gudur, Duvvada and Bhadrak.

DMK launches tele-consultation

service for clarifications

S K U M A R E S A N @ Chennai

THE DMK on Monday launched a 24-hour tele-consultation ser-vice to provide clarifications regarding COVID-19 and other ailments. For availing the ser-v i c e c a l l o r W h a s t a p p 7373738516 and 7373738526.

DMK has also offered to con-vert Kalaingar Arangam, a marriage hall located at DMK headquarters Anna Arivalay-am, as an isolation ward for in-fected patients. Party chief MK Stalin has written a letter to Corporation Commissioner G Prakash in this regard.

Guru Nanak College administration has opened their doors to migrant workers who are stuck in Chennai due to the lockdown. They are provided accommodation, food and sanitation facilities at college campus in Velachery | DEBADATTA MALLICK

All contacts of 65-yr-old patient test negativeAfter almost a week of keeping the contacts of the 65-year-old COVID19 patient from Santhome under observation, the civic body officials confirmed that none of them showed any symptoms during the period. The patient was tested positive on March 24 and since then the civic body had kept his wife, nine servants, a driver and a security guard under observation. However, all of them have tested negative and showed no symptoms.

Water is now mainly used for

domestic needs. Especially during a

health crisis, water supply is of

paramount importance and

that is why the government is considering to increase it. By

next week there will be more

clarity on this issue

A Metro Water official

E X P R E S S R E A D

Collectors, Tahsildars to issue travel passesChennai: District Collectors and Tahsildars have been empowered to issue passes to those who are in need of going to places away from where they are staying for emergency needs. Revenue Secretary Atulya Misra has issued orders in this regard on Monday following a decision taken at the high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister. “To ensure smooth issue of passes for emergency needs, powers are delegated to the Tahsildars in all the districts of State and to the Zonal Officers in respect of Chennai Corporation limits under intimation to the Collector in respect of districts and Commissioner in respect of Chennai,” G.O said. ENS

Expired transport documents valid till June 30Chennai: The Centre has extended the validity of all transport documents till June 30. This applies for transport vehicles, cabs, trucks, buses, and autos. Validity of registration certificate, fitness certificate, licence, pollution certificate and other documents which expired on February 1, will now be valid till June end. ENS

42 of 57 positive cases are in Tirunelveli and Namakkal Streets where patients live are being sealed off by police; essential goods to be door-delivered; efforts on to trace 300-odd others who returned from Delhi

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai

IN the single-largest increase yet, 57 people in Tamil Nadu tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. Leading the list was Tirunelveli with a whopping 24 positive cases. According to of-ficials, all of these people had attended the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi. Four more persons from the district, who attended the event, are stuck in Delhi and have not returned yet due to the lockdown.

“We received a list with names of people who attended the Delhi event. Their blood samples were taken for tests and results on Tuesday con-firmed they were positive. Twenty of them are within the city limits including from Mel-apalayam, three are from Kal-akkad and one from Valliyur,” said District Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish.

“We are trying to inspect if

there are any more people who visited Delhi, whose names are not in the list.” The Collector announced Melapalayam as an isolated zone.

People here have been asked to stay put at their home; essen-tial goods will be delivered to them by the Corporation offi-cials. The police here have been asked to patrol the streets regularly.

18 positive in NamakkalA total of 18 people from Nam-akkal tested positive on Tues-day -- 12 in Namakkal, one in Paramathi Velur and five in Ra-sipuram. “A total of 20 persons from here went for the Delhi event. We tracked them down, quarantined them and per-formed tests. Of them, 18 have tested positive for the virus,” said District Collector K Me-

graj. All 18 have been shifted to isolation wards.

Following this, the district administration has banned the entry of people into seven streets in Namakkal, where these 14 people were residing. “About 10,000 people are stay-ing in these streets. Instruc-tions have been given to them not to step out unless neces-sary,” Namakkal SP Ara Aru-larasu said.

Apart from this, six more persons who participated in the conference at New Delhi were also admitted in govern-ment Rasipuram hospital. Six streets where they were living are also cordoned off. Their test results will arrive in the next few days.

Two in MaduraiTwo men from Narimedu in Madurai, who attended the event, have tested positive, tak-ing the total number of cases in the district to six. Officials esti-

mate that a total of 28 persons from Madurai could have at-tended the event. The Centre had sent a list of 28 names, con-firmed District Collector TG Vinay.

“By Sunday, 10 of them were traced and isolated. Two of those 10 have tested positive,” said Vinay. However, the duo is asymptomatic as of now. “Of the balance 18, a few have not returned from Delhi. Others are untraceable as their mobile phones have been switched off. We are making efforts to estab-lish contact,” he said.

Three in VillupuramThree new cases have been re-ported here, all of them who at-tended the Delhi event. The area around their residences has been sealed by the police, and public entry restricted. Test results of 13 more persons in isolation wards are awaited. “Health department has taken control of wards 6,7, and 8 in

the municipality, from where the three persons hail,” said Minister C Ve Shanmugam.

One person has tested posi-tive in Tiruvannamalai, the first case in the district. He was working in a textile showroom at the Phoenix Mall in Chennai. A 25-year-old woman from Ari-yalur, who also works at the mall, tested positive a few days back and it’s suspected that this man could have contracted the disease from his colleague.

A native of Vellandhal in Tiruvannamalai, the 28-year-old man returned to his village on March 16 (Monday). He later developed fever, and for three days had a sore throat. Follow-ing the symptoms, he was ad-mitted to the isolation treat-ment ward at Tiruvannamalai Government Medical College Hospital here on March 28 (Sat-urday), Collector said.

(With inputs from Tirunelve-li, Namakkal, Madurai, Villu-puram, Tiruvannamalai)

MADURAI: Attended: 28 Quarantined : 10COIMBATORE: Attended: 82 from Coimbatore, including Pollachi, Mettupalayam, and Anamalai.METTUPALAYAM: Attended and home quarantined: 28 TIRUPUR: Home quarantine: 39 KARUR: Quarantined: 30NAGERCOIL: Attended: 7PUDUCHERRY : Attended and home quarantined: 17THANJAVUR: Attended: still not known Quarantined: 13 TIRUVARUR: Quarantined: 16 DINDIGUL: Attended: 90Quarantined: 25

NAGERCOIL: Attended: 7 TENKASI: Quarantined: 37

TENKASI: 8, CHENNAI: 10SIVAGANG: Quarantined: 25TIRUCHY: Attended: 37VILLUPURAM: Quarantined: 3

31.03.2020 TN CHENNAI Admist corona outbreak, the people standing in the queue at Anna Government Siddha Hospital at Anna Nagar for getting a herbal syrup which is said to be fighting coronavirus EXPESS / D SAM-

People waiting outside Anna Government Siddha Hospital for a herbal syrup, which they believe can fight the virus | D SAMPATH KUMAR

Repayment of loans1. Repayment of loans availed by MSME units from Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation

2. Repayment of soft loans availed by industrial units from SIPCOT

3. Payment of Maintenance Charge by industrial units which function in SIPCOT Industrial Parks

4. Renewal of licences under Weights and Measures Act, TN Shops and Establishment Act and Dangerous and Offence Act

TOGETHER WE FIGHT (Top) CM Edappadi K Palaniswami met Banwarilal Purohit in Raj Bhavan on Tuesday and appraised him of the measures taken to contain spread of COVID-19; and Indian’s Bank mobile ATM service was launched by TN Finance Department Additional General secretary S Krishnan in the Secretariat on Tuesday

The PM 2.5 level recorded at Velachery, Chennai, on Tuesday. Nitrogen dioxide level was 5 µg/m3 against the prescribed standard of 80 µg/m3

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Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has extended `5 crore to the PM’S Relief Fund (PM-CARES) towards COVID-19 mitigation measures. TMB MD & CEO K V Rama Moorthy, in a statement, said TMB is donating the money as a responsible corporate citizen

TMB DONATES `5 CRORE

WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020CHENNAI

COIMBATORE

3 teams for counselling to COVID-19 patientsE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Coimbatore

TO manage anxiety and iso-lation during quarantine, mental health professionals in Coimbatore have formed three teams to provide counselling to people affected with COV-ID-19 and to those who have symptoms of the virus.

“The teams consist of psychiatrists, psychol-ogists, social workers, physi-otherapists and occupation-al therapists. They will be providing information on COVID-19 and psychological interventions from 9am-

12pm, 3pm-6pm and 6pm-9pm. They will provide coun-selling in Tamil, English and Malayalam,” said a member of the team.

Interested persons can contact Thangam, a psychi-

atrist at 83444-92826 be-tween 9am to 12pm. Likewise, Senthil (psychologist) will be available at 94420

19086 between 3pm and 6pm. Moreover,

Mahesh, a psychiatric so-cial worker can be contacted at 97870 02687 between 6pm and 9pm. For child-related information, reach Mohan Prasath (a psychiatric social worker) at 98948 44541.

Rise in coconut price as curfew causes shortageA A D H I T H Y A M S @ Pudukkottai / Tiruchy

UNAVAILABILITY of workers and transportation difficulties due to lockdown has led to a significant increase in coco-nut prices in the retail markets.

Ganesh, a Pudukot-tai farmer who owns four acres of coconut plantation, said, “Due to fear of coro-na, many workers have not turned up to collect coconuts from the trees. Many have ripened and fallen. But there are no la-bourers to pick them. Around 2,000 coco-nuts are harvested every 45 days. As it is harvest time, finding labourers is a great challenge. Due to this, loading coconuts has also reduced.”

Double load chargeTraders, on the other hand, complained they had to pay double the transportation charge. SP Babu, District Sec-

retary of Gadhi Market Vya-barigal Sangam said, “The load vehicles usually carry other goods such as textile or iron after loading coconuts in markets. But now, they carry only coconut one way and re-turn empty-handed. This has had us paying double the price,

anywhere between `10,000 and `18,000 extra for a load.”

Drop in load arrivalBabu further said that with the Gandhi market shut down, the incoming load has reduced. “We have no place to store the coconuts and veg-etable as the market

is closed. Due to this, the in-coming load had decreased. Instead of the usual 20 loads, only four or so is arriving eve-ry day.” He also said that the decentralization of the market to distribute the crowd has also had its effect on the price. Coconut sold for `25 in retail was being sold for `40, he added.

Empty streets make life difficult for transpersonsLockdown makes it harder to earn money, HIV patients worst-hit

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai

SEVERAL transpersons in the State are struggling to make ends meet since the lockdown began. Many of them who seek alms or engage in sex work to make a living, have been run-ning short of resources in the last few days. Even though pro-vision stores have opened, it has been difficult to gather es-sentials, say activists. “It is not a matter of finding provision, it is a matter of money,” says Jaya of the NGO Sahodaran.

She said that several trusts and celebrities in Chennai have come forward to provide sup-port and aid for people from the community, however, fears that it may not be enough to get through the lock down. “Many members of the community continue to depend on the soci-ety and people for money,” she said.

The problems are worse for transpersons who are HIV posi-tive, says Grace Banu, a transgender rights activist. “Those with HIV can only get their medicines in certain gov-ernment hospitals. In cities, people somehow find transport to get to these hospitals. But HIV patients in rural areas are

finding it impossible to get their medicines,” she said.

She said that the government should redistribute the medi-cines among the sub-centres as well, making it easier for pa-tients to access it.

“Those with HIV, already have a compromised immunity. It is also not safe for them to visit the main government hos-pital with ARP centres as COV-ID-19 patients are also being treated there,” says Grace.

The National Institute of So-cial Defence (NISD), for exam-ple, has promised to provide immediate relief funds for trans and intersex persons. However, in order to avail the benefits, one may need Aad-haar, ration card and other doc-uments. This might be prob-lematic as many transpersons have their birth name and gen-der in some documents and their new identity in recent ID proofs.

‘Corona vaccine’: Quack arrestedE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Ranipet

A 33-YEAR-OLD man who tricked people into believing that he had vaccine for corona-virus has been nabbed in Rani-pet on Tuesday.

An official team led by Dr Prakash Ayyappan, Liaison Officer, Medical Services, raid-ed the clinic – Sakthi Health Care – located at Ammur. They found the quack R Madhavan treating patients in the clinic, sources said. The certificates of qualification that he fur-

nished turned out to be fake. He had been treating patients for fever, cold and cough, and even administered drips to them. Believing his words that he had vaccine for COVID-19, people in large numbers gath-ered at his clinic everyday.

Medicines, syringes and nee-

dles were seized from the clin-ic. Police registered a case against him under sections 419, 420 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 15 (3) (b) of Indian Medical Council (IMC) Act, 1956, said Ranipet Police In-spector Thirunavukkarasar.

Madhavan was produced be-fore the Judicial Magistrate Court and subsequently re-manded to judicial custody, he added. Investigations revealed that the quack had completed only school education and had been running the clinic for four years.

Twitterati hails Palaniswami for quick actionE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai

COVID-19 has made a lot of people active on social media, including political leaders. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami who was tweet-ing about various measures being initiated by his govern-ment became very active fol-lowing the lockdown.

He has been getting appre-ciation in the past few days from Twitterati for his quick

responses and action taken on people’s issues.

On Monday, Palaniswami in-formed Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thack-eray through a tweet that 300 Tamils were stranded in two loca-tions in his State and requested assistance for them.

Responding to his tweet, Ratnagiri police in Maharash-tra tweeted that their patrol-ling vehicle has been sent to

the locations. Uddhav Thack-eray also tweeted that his gov-ernment would ensure the

safety of the stranded Tamils.

Palaniswami also monitors the work of his Cabinet colleagues and District Collec-

tors. He tweeted his ap-preciation for Municipal

Administration Minister SP Velumani who had come to the rescue of 175 workers in Coim-batore district. Similarly,

Palaniswami also appreciated the work of Tiruppur Collec-tor K Vijay Karthikeyan.

When Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan made a request to save the fishermen from Andhra Pradesh who were stranded at the Chennai Port, Palaniswa-mi took immediate action to extend necessary assistance to the fishermen and tweeted Kalyan that they were safe. Kalyan and his fans thanked the Tamil Nadu Chief Minis-ter for the timely help.

Homeless allowed to use public

toilets

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1

WHAT seems to have crossed their mind, however, was their need to access a toilet. This does not give them a chance to use the toilet whenever they need to, let alone washing their hands from time to time.

While there is a public toilet nearby, it has been defunct and the families had been using the one at Stringer’s street and

other nearby toilets. With their street closed off now, no ar-rangements have been for toi-lets so far.

For now, they are being al-lowed out of the streets to use the public toilet in other streets. “If we tell the police, they let us go through the bar-ricade to use the toilet in near-by streets,” said a resident of the street for 32 years who did not want to be named.

HELPLINE FOR HOMELESS IN TIRUVANNAMALAITiruvannamalai: A control room has been set up to address the issue

of homeless, elderly, or anyone stranded and left without food during the lockdown. People can reach 93454 87377 for food packets, a press release noted. Besides, workers have been engaged at 723 Anganwadi

centres in the district to prepare and distribute food.

Visually impaired get much-needed rationsE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Tiruchy/Tirupathur

VISUALLY impaired persons settled in Nagamangalam in Tiruchy received rations, in-cluding rice, pulses and gro-ceries, from the district ad-ministration on Monday.

TNIE had highlighted their plight in its March 30 edi-tion. Many residents in the colony for the vis-ually impaired were dependent on selling incense sticks, soap and singing at public places for their liveli-hoods. With the lockdown, they had complained of being unable to feed their families.

The distribution of rations, including 5-kg rice, by the dis-trict administration comes as a great relief, said residents. Speaking to TNIE, Sub-Col-lector, Srirangam, Sibi Adhithya Senthil Kumar said, “Once we heard about

the issue, we coordinated with the district disabled wel-fare office and the relief was distributed. Throughout the State, differently abled, men-tally challenged, elderly and destitute persons affected due to the lockdown have been identified and relief is being distributed through an exclu-

sive control room.”

Food for helplessAmbur municipal c o m m i s s i o n e r T Soundarrajan has an-nounced that the civic

body is ready to provide food free of cost to helpless,

elderly, disabled, destitute and abandoned persons. They can approach Amma canteen in the town for food. The needy people can also contact him on 73973 92691 for food.

On Tuesday, the commis-sioner distributed rice and g rocery i tems for the helpless.

Running short of resources of livelihood, transpersons receiving food grains donated by actor Raghava Lawrence in Chennai on Tuesday | P JAWAHAR

Picked coconut collected at a field in Pudukkottai | M MUTHUKANNAN

Investigations revealed that the quack had completed only school education and had been running the clinic for four years

Ranipet Police Inspector

As it is harvest time, finding labourers is a

great challenge. Due to this,

loading coconuts has also reduced

Ganesh,a farmer

Thanks to COVID-19, woman accused of murdering hubby gets interim bailH A R I S H M U R A L I @ Chennai

THE Madras High Court on Monday granted interim bail to a 40-year-old woman of New Washermanpet who was ar-rested for murdering her hus-band and staging a suicide drama.

Though the suspect was ar-rested on February 28, Justice P Rajamanickam, after hear-ing submissions made through video conferencing by the prosecution, granted her in-terim bail till April 27 on exe-cuting own bond for `10,000, citing current situation owing to COVID-19 outbreak.

According to sources, the woman was married to one Thanigaivelan for 22 years. They have a 19-year-old daugh-

ter and a 14-year-old son. The deceased was an alcoholic and used to assault his family.

The woman in her petition said that on February 26, Thanigaivelan allegedly came home drunk, quarreled with her and assaulted the children. Later he hanged himself. How-ever, on February 28, the police altered the case to murder and arrested the woman. During probe, it was found that she strangulated her husband and

staged a suicide drama.

Special reasons for bailAfter several online bail appli-cations were kept pending at the session courts, Principal District Sessions judge R Sel-vakumar issued a circular stat-ing that there are no staff to process the applications and can be entertained only on spe-cial reasons.

The circular said that send-ing reply to each mail is not possible. Urgent bail applica-tions are entertained only on special reasons. Remand cases have been extended till April 30. The office is also working out the possibilities of releas-ing remand prisoners in con-sultation with police, said the circular.

Bail on own bondMadras High Court judge P Rajamanickam granted the

woman interim bail till April 27 on executing own bond for

`10,000, citing current situation owing to COVID-19 outbreak

A man feeding crows at Kamarajar Promenade in Chennai on Tuesday | DEBADATTA MALLICK

The city Corporation has accommodated a total of 4,240 migrant labourers, including one person from Iraq, in its night shelters and community halls. They are being provided with meals and all necessary medical help

Meanwhile, over 500 labourers are stranded in Avadi. They claim they are being paid only `40-50 for their daily needs. Unable to move out, they hope for a better tomorrow | ASHWIN PRASATH

Avadi and Villivakkam bus termini will serve as vegetable markets during the lockdown period. (Above) preparation on at Villivakkam | P JAWAHAR

LOCKDOWN BLUES FOR SOME, BIZ AS USUAL FOR OTHERSLiquor worth `26K stolen from Tasmac outlet

Tiruchy, Thanjavur: A second Tasmac outlet was looted by an unidentified gang on Monday night, with liquor valued at

`26,000 stolen from the shop. Police sources said the shutters of the Tasmac shop in Varaganeri was forced open. The gang stole

123 180 ml bottles and 11 of 375 ml ones. Police have filed a case and are investigating. Police sources stated that the stolen liquor would mostly be sold in black market, with the demand for liquor spiralling among tipplers following the lockdown. Meanwhile, the

Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) police on Tuesday seized IMFL bottles worth `1.08 lakh hoarded at a bar in Thanjavur.

According to sources, police found 708 bottles of 180 ml each of IMFL and 150 beer bottles. They arrested Abdul Khader (70) and

Sundar, the owner of the bar. ENS

EXPRESS READNo booze: Man kills selfChennai: Allegedly upset over not being able to buy liquor during the lockdown, a 37-year-old committed suicide on Tuesday. The man identified as Veerabhathran was a welder and was allegedly an addict. Police quoted his family as saying that he became depressed since Tasmac shops downed shutter. Around 8.30 am, he reached flyover on Tiruvottiyur Basin Road and slit his throat before jumping from a height of over 30 feet. ENS

05 WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

CM Palaniswami on Tuesday announced that all doctors, nurses and medical technicians who are to retire on March 31 would be engaged on contract basis for two more months

RETD STAFF TO BE BACK

CHENNAI

19 Keralites stranded in Nizamuddin Mosque42 under quarantine in Warangal The religious congregation held at Banglewali Masjid on March 18 has now turned to be COVID-19 hotspot, many under quarantine

A M I Y A M E E T H A L @ Kozhikode

MANY Keralites have taken part at the religious congrega-tion at Banglewali Masjid in West Nizamuddin this month, which has now turned to be the COVID-19 hot spot in the country. As per reports, 10 deaths and 300 hospitaliza-tions were reported from the Mosque, which is the global headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat (TJ).

It is learned that most of the casualty and positive cases were reported among those participated in the congregation held on March 18. But a TJ member, Muthu Kottakkal told TNIE that the session on March 18 were for Tamil , Andhra speaking people from across the world and no Ma-layali participated in it.

45 Keralites participated on 3-day session“As many as 45 Keralites had partic-ipated in the 3-day session which commenced on March 8. There were persons from all over Kerala. It was a Mashoo-ra (Review meeting) and most of us have reached back home by March 11,” elaborated Muthu. The health department is tracking these people and urging them to stay on quarantine.

19 people stranded at Nizamuddin

However, as many as 19 Keralites are stuck at the Mosque for now after the lockdown came into force. “Of the 19 Malayalees, 8 are from Palakkad, 5 from Malap-puram, two each from Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram and one each from Ernaku-lam and Pathanamthitta,”

said Muthu, who is also a business man in New

Delhi. Those from state capital is a cou-ple. “The two from Kollam, who are

above 60, have been now shifted to hospi-tal in New Delhi as per government in-struction. They are healthy but shifted due to their age,” he told. These 19 people are among the group who went for reli-gious preaching for 40 days at various parts of the country and gathered at the Mosque.

3 from Kozhikode stayed on March 18

According to district admin-istration, three people from the district had stayed at Ni-zamuddin Mosque from March 18 to 20. “They set off four months ago from here and reached by train on March 23. All of them are un-der quarantine,” said a source. TJ has more followers in Thiruvananthapuram and Central Kerala, said sources.

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Warangal

AS many as 42 persons from erstwhile Warangal district who attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting at Nizamud-din Markaz in Delhi were quar-antined on Tuesday. District administration officials, with the help of police personnel, traced the persons and shifted them to quarantine wards in their respective district gov-ernment hospitals.

Warangal Urban District Collector Rajiv Gandhi Hanu-manthu stated that a total of 32 persons from the district at-tended the religious conference from March 13 to 15. Of the 32, 19 were identified and shifted to MGM Hospital for treat-ment. The Collector made a fer-vent appeal to the others to self-report. Officials also held talks with Muslim community lead-ers to trace out those who were not willing to come out.

In Mahbubabad, three per-sons with suspected symptoms were quarantined two days ago. District Collector VP Gautham stated that seven to eight families with whom they came in contact with were put on home quarantine. “A total of three people have been admit-ted to the hospital. So far, no positive case has been reported in the district till date,” he explained.

In Mulugu, two persons were put under observation at MGM Hospital on Tuesday. In Jan-gaon, three persons with cold and fever symptoms were iden-tified and put under observa-tion. All three have been shift-ed to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad.

74 TS attendees show symptomsS B A C H A N J E E T S I N G H @ Hyderabad

AFTER five deaths due to Covid-19 in a single day on Monday of those who attend-ed a religious congregation in Delhi, the State govern-ment officials went on a hunt for others who attended the convention in mid-March, even as the samples of 15 of those who took part in the prayers and who had already been quarantined tested posi-tive on Tuesday.

The spike in the number of positive cases, all of them be-ing those who attended the Markaz, came as a chilling development as the total posi-tive cases in the State went up to 97. Of them, six have died and 14 have been discharged so far.

The officials and the police fanned out to different parts of the State identifying those who attended the congrega-tion at Markaz in Nizamud-din in Delhi and ended up shifting 96 of them to quaran-tine centres. They included 74 from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area. The authorities have also identified 1,030 people as hav-ing attended Markaz meet from the State.

The patients who were picked up in Hyderabad have been admitted to Gandhi and Chest Hospitals by the Sur-veillance Teams formed by the Greater Hyderabad Mu-

nicipal Corporation (GHMC).The Hyderabad residents,

who were about 603 in num-ber, returned home after the congregation and of whom, the officials on Tuesday found 74 having Covid-19 symptoms. Of the remaining people, 348 were sent for home quarantine.

These 74 persons were among the 603 persons who returned to Hyderabad. They include one section officer in Animal Husbandry Depart-ment from the Secretariat.

After he was picked up, the GHMC officials disinfected the entire BRK Bhavan, w h i c h h o u s e s t h e Secretariat.

As many as 200 Surveil-lance Teams have traced 463 houses. But they could not find others as addresses were incomplete, but the search

w o u l d c o n t i n u e o n Wednesday.

Charminar zone topped the list with 170 persons who at-tended the meet in Delhi, fol-lowed by Khairatabad - 119, Secunderabad - 60, Kukatpal-ly - 40, Serilingampally - 22 and LB Nagar - 16.

Meanwhile, Municipal Ad-ministration Minister KT Rama Rao said the State gov-ernment was identifying and quarantining all those who attended the Nizamuddin meeting. “We are also identi-fying those who came in con-tact with them,” he said.

The Minister said though things have changed after the Nizamuddin flare-up, the State would soon come out of crisis. “I am quite hopeful that Telangana would be free of Covid-19,” he said, speak-ing media persons.

HC asks Kerala to explain steps taken to provide food, shelter to migrantsE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Kochi

THE Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the state gov-ernment to inform it the steps taken to provide food and shel-ter to migrant workers across the state during the lockdown period.

A Division Bench of Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Shaji P Chaly is-sued the order on an applica-tion filed by amicus curiae Par-vathi Sanjay citing the pathetic condition of migrant workers of Ernakulam and Kottayam districts.

The court directed the state to file a statement with respect to the districts also.

Additional Advocate Gener-al (AAG) Ranjith Thampan submitted that the state has al-ready taken steps in this re-gard. The AAG submitted that he will file a comprehensive statement on the issue on or before April 3.

Citing media reports, the amicus curiae stated certain landlords had asked migrant labourers to vacate their rooms. Some even refused to

provide food or were charging Rs 50 for food despite knowing that these casual workers have been out of jobs since the lock-down started.

Reports have also emerged of labourers crossing the bor-der in Palakkad and Kollam over to Tamil Nadu on foot. “The issue (migrant labour un-rest) in Payippad was scary. Re-ports of inhuman treatment meted out to migrant labour-

ers following the lockdown have also emerged from Thiru-vananthapuram,” the amicus curiae said.

Following the lockdown, mi-grant labourers have been left stranded without food or shel-ter. Hence the amicus curiae sought a directive to provide food, safe and temporary shel-ter as well as medical assis-t a n c e t o t h e m i g r a n t labourers.

12 kg rice, `500 distributed to migrants

Hyderabad: Migrant labourers in Rangareddy district were given 12-kg PDS rice and `500 each on Tuesday. The workers were rendered jobless after the imposition of the lockdown aimed at containing the Covid-19 outbreak. The State government officials said that essential commodities, including rice and pulses, were distributed to food security cardholders and migrant labourers on Tuesday. As many as 4.9 lakh cardholders and 16.5 lakh citizens would benefit from the distribution of essential goods. Later, Rangareddy District Collector Amoy Kumar and Cyberabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar inspected the houses of people with recent travel history to check if they were complying with the mandated home quarantine. The officials said that none of the individuals, who were quarantined at Rajendranagar by the State government, has developed Coronavirus symptoms.

18 members from Nalgonda & Miryalaguda who attended religious congregation brought for COVID-19 tests on Tuesday in Hyderabad | VINAY MADAPU

Migrant labourers scramble for the last water bottle which was being distributed by a man on Tuesday in Kaloor | A SANESH

Of the 19 Malayalees, 8 are from Palakkad, 5

from Malappuram, two each from

Kollam and T’puram and one

each from Ernakulam and

Pathanamthitta

Muthu, Bizman in New Delhi

CORONA HELMETS In an attempt to create public awareness, Bengaluru traffic police wearing Corona helmet and urging people not to step out of

their house unnecessarily on Tuesday near Trinity circle | SHRIRAM BN

F A R M E R S S U F F E R

Naidu says govt failed to control corona, seeks online meetE X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Vijayawada

LEADER of the Opposition and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu has said that the general public, including farmers and poor, are suffering a lot due to the failure of the government to take concrete measures to contain COVID-19 even two months af ter the vir us outbreak.

In a letter sent to CM YS Jag-an Mohan Reddy on Tuesday, Naidu demanded that the gov-ernment take immediate meas-ures to control COVID-19 and door deliver essential commod-ities and provide minimum support price for horticulture, aquaculture, sericulture, poul-try produce and Rabi crops like paddy, pulses. He also urged the government to provide person-al protection equipment to

frontline warriors of the virus and `5,000 assistance to each household. Naidu also demand-ed that the government con-vene an all-party meeting on-line so that representatives of each party can make sugges-tions to help the government tide over the crisis.

Expressing concern over the fate of those who attended Tab-lighi Jamaat’s ill-fated convoca-tion in Delhi and the likely spread of the infection to oth-ers during their way back home and after they reach the State, he urged the government to track and test all those from AP returned home after attending the three-day religious event held at Hazrat Nizamuddin.

“It is reported that more than 700 people from AP attended Convocation (Mashoora) of Tablighi Jamaat at Hazrat Ni-zamuddin in Delhi from 15th to

17th March 2020. The govern-ment should take steps to trace the participants and conduct COVID tests on them.”

“If the government does not respond at the appropriate time, the number of Covid cas-es will increase manifold. Peo-ple, who came in physical con-tact with participants of the said convocation, need to be

identified and tests should be conducted on them. The gov-ernment should realise that any complacency on its part in this regard will lead to a cata-strophic effect,” Naidu said.

Citing the death of an old woman, Naidu alleged that the distribution of ration has gone woefully wrong and demanded door delivery of ration. Many poor people are standing in long queues for hours all over the State. It will increase the chances of the virus spread.” he said. He also stressed on the need of providing body masks, face masks and all proper per-sonal protective equipment to doctors, nurses, ward boys, para medical staff, safai karam-charis, police and other staff. In China, 63 per cent of frontline warriors were infected while dealing with COVID patients, he reminded.

CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy conducting review meeting on COVID-19 at CM’s camp office on Tuesday in Tadepalli | EXPRESS

‘Test for COVID-19’CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy appealed those who visited

New Delhi to attend the Tablighi Jamath Conference and returned and those who got in contact with them to voluntarily come forward to

have themselves tested

EXPRESS READ

PWD govt staff exempt from reporting to workChennai: In a review meeting recently, the State government has

decided to exempt all different-abled government staff from reporting for work during the lockdown period. Assistance will be

available at 18004250111, 9700799993 and 9940859017. ENS

Ashok Leyland to provide safety gear

Chennai: Ashok Leyland will provide protective gears

besides 10 vehicles with drivers for emergency logistics. TVS

Motor Company announced a contribution of `5 crore

towards Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund. ENS

IOB reduces interest rate on loansChennai: The Indian Overseas Bank has reduced the repo linked lending rate (RLLR) by 75 bps. It will come down from the existing 8 per cent to 7.25 per cent per annum with effect from Wednesday. Bank has reduced the 1 year MCLR. ENS

200 personal bank transaction per day

Chennai: Indian Banks’ Association has instructed

banks to introduce token systems where in around 200

personal transactions are mandated per day. The

decision was taken in view of lockdown, sources said. ENS

Reporter attacked over news pieceDindigul: A reporter working for Tamil daily Dinamani was attacked in Oddanchatram for a report and three persons including a reporter of another daily were booked over the issue. Oddanchatram police are investigating the matter. ENS

FRESH CASES IN STATES

Kerala reported second COVID-19 death on Tuesday. Number of cases

still on the rise in States

Case against those who set off

sans passesKozhikode District Collector S Sambasiva Rao had asked the District Police Chief to file case

against those who step out without proper authentic

passes and violate lockdown rules according to IPC section 269. The new order has been

issued noticing people travelling across the districts unnecessarily violating rules.

The Collector also added that the goods vehicles should have

special passes issued by respective local self

government authorities permitting movements inside the district. If anyone violates

this will be charged IPC section 269,188. Kozhikode City police

registered 168 new cases on Tuesday with regard to

lockdown rule violation, while Rural Police filed five cases.

Five more people were added to hospital isolation

With 7 news cases being reported as on Tuesday, tally 98

17 tested positive since Monday night taking total to 40

Karnataka

Andhra Pradesh

9840

06 THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

Pema Chodron

MAILBAG Write to: letters@newindianexpress.com

INDIAN EXPRESS IS NOT AN INDUSTRY. IT IS A MISSION.

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A

HOW SHALL WE RESPOND TO

THE PANDEMIC?s the killer virus tightens its grip on humankind worldwide, the question presses itself upon us: What shall we do? How shall we respond to this peril? Re-spond, we have to. Even refus-ing to respond is also a re-sponse, the response of denial. On occasions like this, it could help to recall how such calami-ties were faced in the past.

The Plague—or the Black Death—that ravaged the world in the 14th century offers an in-structive case study. Giovani Boccaccio’s Decameron serves our purpose best. It was writ-ten a century after the Plague ended its death dance in Eu-rope. Boccaccio outlines four different responses that the Plague —‘the late pestiferous mortality’—evoked from the people of Florence in 1348.

When faced with terrors of the magnitude of the corona pandemic, we face a compel-ling need to ‘interpret’, or to understand, them; for what is not understood cannot be man-aged. The people of Florence were divided in how they inter-preted the ‘wandering disease’. One group saw it as resulting from the ‘operations of heav-enly bodies’, a sort of bolt from the blue. The rest read its sig-nificance morally. It portended the wrath of God at human in-iquity. The Plague was, thus, a scourge meant for their correc-

shut themselves in homes that remained uninfected. Tried to divert their attention from the grimness of the situation with ‘music and such other diver-sions as they had’. Significant-ly, they quarantined them-selves not only from the infected but also from ‘any news from without of the death of sick folks’. As we would say, ‘they quarantined themselves from the media!’

In the second type of re-sponse, Florentines took the op-posite path. They believed that ‘carousing, making merry and going about singing and frolick-ing’ was the best remedy. They ‘satisfied the appetite in every possible way’ and ‘scoffed at whatsoever was proposed as the remedy’. They sought to drown their fears in drunken debauchery, mostly, at the ex-pense of others, who became suddenly generous as they were ‘to live no longer’. (Awareness of impending mortality deliv-ers us from acquisitiveness. Ir-respective of religion, we begin to believe in the doctrine of maya). Like those of the previ-ous type, Florentines of this kind also ‘shunned the sick to the best of their power’.

The third type adopted a middle path between austerity and debauchery. They used ‘things in sufficiency’. They did not quarantine themselves,

but went about, ‘flowers and herbs in hand’, inhaling their fragrance ‘to fortify the brain with such odours’. This made sense, given that the air was thick with the stench of the epidemic and the miasma of death. Nearly half the popula-tion of Florence—and a third of Europe—perished. Boccac-cio does not raise this question, but today we can’t help asking: what is the connection between pollution and pandemic?

Florentines who adopted the fourth strategy resorted to ‘fleeing from the pestilence’ as if they could outstrip its reach! Like the rest, they too thought only of themselves; except that they manifested it in a more dramatic fashion. They aban-doned their kinsfolk, dear ones, and possessions. Retreat-ed to the countryside as if there they could hide them-selves from the wrath of God. What guided them was the as-sumption, prevalent even to-day, that cities are marked out for destruction because of their degradation and depravi-ty—a notion rooted in the Bi-ble, in particular, in the tragic fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

With a touch of wry humour, Boccaccio notes that no strate-gy helped. The Plague spared none. He emphasises the out-break of loneliness in the wake of the epidemic. People per-

ished alone, abandoned. Boc-caccio connects this large-scale human wretchedness to the culture that prevailed in the city prior to the outbreak. They died abandoned, he writes, “. . . having themselves, while they were when whole, set the exam-ple to those who abode in health.” That is to say, Floren-tines, while hale and hearty, lived only for themselves; so in peril they died by themselves, each individual abandoned to his plight. His words ring omi-nously relevant, “…No neigh-bour took thought unto other; no kinsfolk visited one another. Brother forsook brother; uncle, nephew; wife, husband; and, even, parents, their children.”

It is pertinent to note here that Pope Clement VI fled Avi-gnon, which was the seat of the medieval Church, in order to save himself. In contrast, his physician, Gui de Chauliac—like thousands of our heroic men and women in the medical fraternity battling the epidemic today—stayed back and served the city in affliction until he perished. It is in testing times that we know who is genuine and who is fake. Tragedies, not enclosures of priest-craft, nur-ture the sublimity of the spirit that expresses itself as heroism in duty. The dark nights of our existence can be illumined only by the splendour of the spirit.

On occasions like this, it could help to recall how such

calamities were faced in the past

tion. Boccaccio does not bother to adjudicate between these views. He goes on to record what, to him, was more impor-tant: the fact that neither civic authorities nor priests were of any help to the afflicted. Boc-caccio notes that grand sys-tems of support, to which we attach our pride and hope, prove brittle and irrelevant in the face of calamities. What caused the mainstays of sup-port to collapse was the hyper-contagiousness of the infec-tion. Not only did talking or coming into contact with the sick give the infection to the healthy, “. . . the mere touching of the clothes or of whatsoever other thing that had been touched or used by the sick ap-peared of itself to communi-cate the malady to the touch-er”. To illustrate the point he cites an instance. “The rags of a poor man, who had died of the plague, being cast out into the public way, two hogs came up to them and having….took them in their mouths and tossed them about their jaws…. they both fell down dead upon the rags. ...”

How did the people of Flor-ence respond to a calamity as dreadful as this? Boccaccio lists four response strategies: Some sought safety in living moderately, abstaining from excesses of every kind. They

It is in testing times that we know who is

genuine and who is fake. Tragedies,

not enclosures of priest-craft,

nurture the sublimity of

the spirit that expresses itself as

heroism in duty. The dark nights of our existence can be illumined only by the splendour

of the spirit

OPINIONVALSON THAMPUFormer principal of St Stephen’s College, New DelhiEmail: vthampu@gmail.com

AMIT BANDRE

As long as we believe that there is something that will permanently satisfy our hunger for security, suffering is inevitable

CORONA SPREAD: JAMAAT, DELHI GOVT ARE BOTH CULPABLE

The Delhi-based headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin, south Delhi, has suddenly become the latest Covid-19 hotspot in the country. The alarm bells started ringing when

a 65-year-old man from Kashmir died on March 26. He had attended a religious gath-ering at Nizamuddin sometime in mid-March, which saw a congregation of over 1,800 people, including many from foreign nations. Officially, 1,033 people have been evacuated from the seminary, 334 hospital-ised and 700 quarantined; 24 who attended the meeting have tested positive for the vi-rus and at least 10 have died. The authori-ties have sealed the seminary’s premises and contact tracing efforts are underway.

Many are questioning why so many peo-ple were allowed to gather at one place even after the PM ordered a nationwide lock-down from the midnight of March 24 and banned mass gatherings. The Jamaat has issued a detailed statement where it has un-derlined that it had got in touch with the authorities and sought their help in evacu-ating the stranded followers. It has said the country observed the janata curfew on March 22. The same day, the Centre sus-pended all passenger and suburban trains. This was followed by Delhi CM Arvind Ke-jriwal ordering a citywide lockdown from March 23. Then on March 24, the PM an-nounced a total lockdown. All these meas-ures, the Jamaat has claimed, impeded at-tempts to clear out the seminary, prompting them to seek help. If this is true, then the Delhi government needs to answer many questions. Why did it not take immediate steps to address the situation? The Kejriwal government has written to the police, seek-ing an FIR against the religious outfit, but it needs to explain its own lapses.

The Jamaat is also equally culpable. From early March itself, the MEA had start-ed issuing guidelines and advisories, among them the mandatory home quarantine for those coming from abroad. Then on March 16, the Delhi government banned all congre-gations, religious or otherwise, of over 50 people. Why didn’t the Jamaat heed these orders? It certainly can’t escape blame.

A SILENT CRISIS LURKS BENEATH

The coronavirus pandemic has strained healthcare systems across the world, exposing their inadequacies and flaws. Another silent pandemic lurks be-neath the current crisis, pushed to the

backburner once again. If at one level, front-line workers are exposed to the stress of long hours, death and their own mortality, those under isolation or home quarantine silently struggle with loneliness, depression and paranoia at another. Worse off are those who fear the economic uncertainty that the lockdowns across the world have created.

Days into the 21-day lockdown in India, several state and central resources have opened up to offer psychological support to those in need. Most states are also provid-ing patients with psychiatric support as they are treated. However, doctors, nurses, sanitary workers and police officers—eve-ryone at the highest risk of contracting the virus while working under severe stress—appear to be left out of the loop. Similarly, the economic and physical uncertainty of migrant workers, daily labourers and farm-ers have been overlooked. The WHO in its guidelines on mental health during the pandemic has said that such crises leave people vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Tamil Nadu has some experience of deal-ing with PTSD in the context of disasters—both the 2004 tsunami and the 2018 Gaja cyclone took a psychological toll. But to ad-dress the effects of a global crisis, India needs adequate resources. Unfortunately, if our healthcare remains underfunded, men-tal health receives a mere fraction. There simply aren’t enough psychiatrists, psy-chologists, community workers, etc., for those already living with mental health is-sues. It is unlikely that everyone will be able to receive the support required at this time. Hopefully, this crisis will force the Centre to allocate sufficient resources both to public healthcare as well as mental healthcare. In the short-term, state and Central govern-ments can mitigate large-scale distress through economic support extended uncon-ditionally in a humane and timely manner to those most vulnerable.

Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that an invisible and deadly virus would confine us to our homes and slow down our busy lives. Blaise Pascal, the famous French math-ematician and physicist, once said, “All of humanity’s prob-lems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

Indeed, time was lying heavy on our hands. As we were coming to terms with the changing trajectory of our hum-drum lives, Doordarshan decided to invade our homes again with an authority it once had three decades ago. The channel was relegated to the dustbin of irrelevance in the 90s as it failed to compete with private channels in the entertain-ment sweepstakes.

Life has now come full circle again. Doordarshan is now re-telecasting two Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, which gained huge popularity in the 80s. It is taking us back in time as a wave of nostalgia washes over us. Forget the languid pace, shoddy editing and gross overacting, the visual

re-telling of these epics continue to keep us glued to our sofas as drawing rooms get colonised again with people cutting across generations. From the grandfa-ther and grandmother to their children and grandchildren, the hold of these timeless epics over

our lives is palpable. The belief that today’s youngsters may not take a shine to these epics has been considerably proved wrong. The sight of arrows and sharp weapons clashing against each other in the sky; kings killing the evil demons—it is being excitedly lapped up by the kids. With both these serials telecast twice a day, even those working from home catch up on the episodes at their convenience.

Apart from these two serials, there are a couple of popular DD serials that are being re-telecast. One of these is the 90s serial Circus starring Shah Rukh Khan. A struggling actor at that time, it was Shah Rukh’s spontaneous energy and gripping presence in the serial that made him a lovable char-acter. The simple art of storytelling and impressive acting in these serials made them unforgettable.

There is good news for kids as a popular kids’ TV serial of the 90s, Shaktimaan, will soon be aired on Doordarshan. In-deed, they have plenty to look forward to in these uncertain times when news of deaths and devastation being wrought by an invisible enemy keeps us on tenterhooks.

Return of the good old Doordarshan days

ADITYA MUKHERJEEEmail: mukherjee.dashing@gmail.com

FULL CIRCLE

Telangana salary cuts welcome, but pensioners might find it toughNature reclaims its spacesIt is great to see nature reclaiming its spaces in some parts of India after the lockdown. Sightings of peacocks in Bengaluru’s residen-tial areas and tuskers on the Kar-nataka-Kerala highway have de-lighted nature lovers. While the virus scare has forced people in-doors, it has proved to be a bless-ing for nature’s wild residents who are using the opportunity to explore our towns and cities.

N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru

Delightful to readThis is with reference to Social distancing of another kind (Mar 31). The piece was delightful to read. I, too, have had such experi-ences often while on train jour-neys. The part about the marriage function was amusing, as I have faced the same. Except for the weddings of close relatives, I just send a gift with my wishes.

M Sampath Kumar, Erode

The coronavirus pandemic has brought about a financial crisis not only at the Centre but at state levels as well. The decision of the Telangana CM to reduce the sala-ries of all ministers, including himself, is definitely a step in the right direction. But to reduce pen-sion payments is unfair, as many pensioners already live a hand-to-mouth life, with rising living and medical costs. Pensions are the only means of survival for many of them. Instead, the government should appeal to people of the state earning above a certain level to contribute to the chief minis-ter’s relief fund. K Durga Prasad Rao, Hyderabad

K’taka, Kerala must talk it outThe roadblocks at several points on the Karnataka-Kerala border road created by the former are causing immense difficulties to the people living on the border. People needing urgent medical care for cardiac and other ail-ments are denied timely medical care. Vegetable trucks are having to take longer routes, thus raising the cost of everyday essentials. The two states must talk it out and come to a decision that is benefi-cial for everyone.

K V Raghuram, Wayanad

Pass on benefits of oil price drop The price of crude in the interna-tional markets has gone down al-most 60% since the start of the year to about $22.5 per barrel. But the benefit of this drop is not reaching the public yet due to the `3 hike in excise duties per litre in the open market. Let us hope that this hike is revised once the war against the coronavirus pan-demic ends.

P P Sahadevan, Nileshwar

Monitor credentials of borrowersThis is with reference to Tackling the ever-greening problem in banks (Mar 31). The bank crisis can be tackled by ensuring transparency in lending. By monitoring the cre-dentials of borrowers, we can get rid of the problem of ever-green-ing from banks.

Ajay Rajeev, Cherthala

Spraying shouldn’t have been done This is with reference to Why do we treat fellow humans like this? (Mar 31). Instead of spraying the migrant workers with chemicals, the authorities could have given them demonstrations on how to wash hands properly. Social dis-tancing could have been ex-plained to them. The officials who made them sit together them-selves ignored the principles of social distancing.

S Elangovan, Kanchipuram

Rework 1897 epidemic ActThis is with reference to The dark past of the Epidemic Act (Mar 31). It is distressing to learn that India is still dependent upon the draco-nian Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 to deal with the current pan-demic situation. Reworking the Act is the need of the hour. Fixing responsibility for each agency via the law is imperative. S Madhavan Thampi, Haripad

Railway isolation wards laudableThe decision of the Indian Rail-ways to convert train carriages into Covid isolation wards is re-markable. With this decision, In-dia will be able to increase the number of beds for Covid-19 pa-tients in very little time. Kudos to the people behind this idea and its immediate implementation.

Suresh Babu N C, Aluva

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

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CHENNAI WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

“Seals and cormorants, they’re the biggest problem,” fisherman Margus Laarents tells AFP. The two species were given protected status by the European Union after almost dying out during the middle of the last century due to overhunting. As a result, their numbers have skyrocketed in Estonian waters since the mid-1980s, depleting local fish stocks. Margus and his wife Marge say they can no longer live off their earnings from the sea

One of the last matriarchal societies in EuropeThe men of Kihnu island, 10 km off the coast of Estonia, are away at sea fishing for weeks or months at a time, leaving the women to run what is often dubbed one of the last matriarchal societies in Europe. Steeped in folk traditions, Kihnu’s historic way of life however is now threatened as economic hardship drives more and more islanders away in search of work

“Around every kitchen table, every day, we discuss how to survive,” Mare Matas, official guide and ardent defender of Kihnu’s heritage, tells AFP. Although 686 people are registered as living on the island, only 300 now do so year-round, says Matas, a 45-year-old mother of four who was instrumental in securing UNESCO recognition of Kihnu’s intangible cultural heritage in 2008

For centuries on a small, forested island

in the Baltic Sea, women in headscarves

and striped red skirts have done most of the work: from farming to

lighthouse keeping, leading church

services and even dressing up as Santa

at Christmas

ESTONIA’S ANCIENT ISLE OF WOMEN

Sea invaders

07 WEDNESDAY 01042020CHENNAI

M Venkaiah Naidu said there is no place for “quibbling” over the lockdown and

urged “intellectuals and others” to hold back issues till India overcomes the crisis.

‘ N O Q U I B B L I N G ’

QUARANTINED IN RAJASTHANPeople

22People from all walks of life have contributed to PM-CARES. They have given their hard-earned money to sharpen the fight against COVID-19. — PM Narendra Modi

TABLIGHI JAMAAT HELD GATHERING DESPITE BANWhile the seminary flouted guidelines, authorities also woke up only after death of 2 preachers in J&K who attended the event

G AYAT H R I M A N I @ New Delhi

WITH the headquarters of Tab-lighi Jamaat, an Islamic mission-ary society, in Nizamuddin in south Delhi emerging as biggest hotspot of coronavirus spread in the country, all agencies includ-ing the administration of the re-ligious body claimed to have alerted the authorities concerned well in time about the presence of more than 2,000 people includ-ing international travellers in the premises.

However, the fact remained that large gathering beyond ‘per-missible’ numbers stayed put on Jamaat’s campus for about two weeks despite Delhi government orders and Delhi Police notice for prevention and control of the outbreak.

The authorities, too, woke up late and turned their focus to the site only after the death of two preachers from J&K and Tamil Nadu and several individuals from other states who attended gatherings at Markaz, as the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat is called, tested positive.

However, a senior Delhi Police officer said notices had been is-sued twice to the Markaz commit-tee to vacate the building. “A no-tice was issued on March 24 by the SHO and again on March 28 by the ACP concerned,” he said.

Responding to this, Maulana Yousuf of the Jamaat said the or-ganisation duly informed the SHO regarding closure of the Markaz and arrangements being made to remove around 1,000 visi-tors belonging to different states and countries.

A statement issued by Jamaat also said that it had requested for vehicle passes to ferry devout present at Markaz. However, it didn’t explain why large attend-ance of about 3,000-4,000 was al-lowed despite two prohibitory orders of Delhi government put-ting restrictions on the size of public, religious, and other social gatherings.

The first order issued on March 16 prohibited any gathering of more than 50 people while the second order reduced the limit to 20 people and further to 5 persons on March 21. A Delhi Police no-tice dated March 18 also banned gathering of over five persons.

In its statement, the Markaz ad-ministration said after PM Nar-endra Modi’s call to observe ‘Ja-nata Curfew’ on March 22, the ongoing programme at the centre was discontinued and on “the evening of March 23, a nation-wide lockdown was announced by the PM...Markaz Nizamuddin was left with no option but to ac-commodate the stranded visitors with prescribed medical precau-tions.” The lockdown was, how-ever, announced on March 24.

Tablighi has roots in revivalist movementPA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi

IN mid-19th century, India was on the cusp of a major political transformation with the rise of British Raj in India. Muslim scholars believed ending of the Mughal empire, perceived as Is-lamic state, was caused by de-viation from the ‘faith’ and de-terioration of re l igious practices during later Mughal rule.

This thought gave birth to Is-lamic revivalist movement in the country, which aimed to re-orient people practising Islam. Tablighi Jamaat, which literal-ly means ‘preaching group’, set up by noted scholar Muham-mad Ilyas Kandhlawi in 1926, was one attempt to bring the faithful close to the correct way of practicing the religion.

Zacharias P Pieri, assistant professor of International Rela-tions and Security Studies at the University of South Florida, has recorded in his book Tab-lighi Jamaat and the Quest for the London Mega Mosque: Con-tinuity and Change how politi-cal circumstances led to the movement in the subcontinent.

“For Muslims in India, the collapse of the Mughal empire carried with its connotations of waning of Islam. Hinduism, long present in the region, was in ascendance, not to mention the emerging influences of

Christianity and later secular-ism. It was this threat, per-ceived or real, to the Islamic way of life – the shifting of bal-ance of power—that inspired Islamic reformists in the region and the founding of movements for the reinvigoration of the faith,” he wrote.

Niaz Ahmed Farooqui of Ja-miat-Ulema-e-Hind, one of the leading organisations of Islam-ic scholars in India, however, said Jaamat was formed in re-sponse to ‘Shuddhi (reconver-sion) Movement’ launched by Arya Samaj around 1920s.

“Because of the movement, some Muslims started shun-ning Islam as they lacked basic knowledge of fundamental of the religion. So, Maulana Ilyas started Tablighi Jamaat. He

would go to the villages and edu-cate Muslims,” said Farooqui.

Ilyas, a native of village Kandhla in Muzaffarnagar dis-trict of Uttar Pardesh, was ap-pointed Imam of Banglewali Mosque in Nizamuddin Basti in 1918 so when he formed the or-ganisation, it became headquar-ters of the Jamaat.

Within two decades of its for-mation, the influence of Tab-lighi Jamaat spread across the globe and its roots now exist in more than 160 countries, with millions of followers.

Every year, the organisation holds three-day congregations in different cities in India in-cluding Delhi which lakhs of devout including international guests attend. Every day, hun-dreds of devouts from others

states and abroad reach Niza-muddin to attend the religious gatherings. They are sent to dif-ferent cities in batches for reli-gious service, where they spend from seven days to 40 days or sometimes even four months and travel to multiple towns.

A religious gathering takes place every Thursday at Markaz in which thousands of Delhi residents also participate.

The organisation split around five years ago over lead-ership issue. One breakaway fraction with its headquarters in Nizamuddin is headed by Maulana Muhammad Saad Kandhlawi, great grandson of its founder Maulana Ilyas. The other group is based out of Dar-gah Faiz Ilahi Masjid at Turk-man Gate.

Evacuees from Markaz Nizamuddin being taken to LNJP hospital in New Delhi for COVID-19 test on Tuesday; doctors and cops outside the Tablighi Jamaat HQ | ANIL SHAKYA

ASSAM DOC’S DEATH WHO TOOK MALARIA DRUG CREATES PANIC

23 lakh people being provided food in 21K relief camps: GovtNEW DELHI: OVER 23 lakh people are being provided food at over 21,000 relief camps in various parts of the country to help stranded and destitute people, the home ministry said on Tuesday. The gov-ernment also said that over 6.6 lakh people are being sheltered at the relief camps. Punya Salila Srivastava, a joint secretary in the ministry, said the ministry was continuously monitoring the ongo-ing lockdown situation in coordination with the states and Union territories. The essential supplies system is running satisfactorily and interstate cargo movement is also going on smoothly, she said.

The Centre has asked all states and Union Territories to ensure normal functioning of banks and ATMs during the 21-day shut-down, also telling them that `27,500 crores from the Prime Minis-ter’s special package has to be disbursed this week for tackling the pandemic. In a communication to chief secretaries of all states/UTs, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said smooth banking operations and related activities across the country are essential. ENS

S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi

THE sudden death of a doctor due to a massive cardiac arrest in Assam who had taken two dos-es of hydroxychloroquine, a ma-laria drug, to prevent contract-ing coronavirus, has caused alarm in the medical fraternity in India.

The drug, originally used for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis apart from malaria, was recom-mended by the Indian Council of Medical Research a few days back as a prophylactic medicine for healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients and close con-tacts of those who have tested positive.

There are, however, several re-ports that many doctors, includ-ing those who are not involved in managing coronavirus patients, h ave s t a r t e d t a k i n g t h e medicine.

A close friend of Dr Utpal Bar-man, 43, who worked as an anes-thetist in Pratiksha Hospital in Guwahati, said he had taken two doses of the drug within a gap of

a few days. On Sunday, he com-plained of sharp chest pain.

Along with hydroxycholoro-quine, he had reportedly also taken arizthromycin, an antibi-otic used in treatment of COV-ID-19, but not recommended by ICMR for prophylactic use.

“We received a painc call from Dr Barman’s wife and many of us reached his home to find him writhing in pain. At first it looked like an acute myocar-dial infaraction or heart attack. He was rushed to Guwahati Neurology Re-search Centre where he died shortly,” said the doctor friend of Dr Barman.

Dr N K Hazarika, the medical superintenetent of the hospital where Dr Barman worked, said, “It can not be conclusively said whehether or not the preventive medicines he took for COVID-19 caused the heart attack but the incident has left many shaken. In this case, Dr Barman did do some self-medication without proper consulation and we have

lost a dear friend and collegue.”Dr R R Gangakhedkar, in a

press briefing on Monday, on be-ing asked about the incident had said that “it is a difficult proposi-tion that someone will have such severe side-effect of the drug un-less they had cardiac disease or QT interval issue from before”.

Some doctors said while hy-droxycholoquine is largely a safe medicine, it does have cardio-

toxicity effect in 1-3% peo-ple, particularly those who

have QT interval issues. “Everyone, including

doctors treating COV-ID-19 patients, should use

hydroxycholoroquine only after getting thouroughly ex-

amined for any underlying car-diac issues as there are 13-14 con-ditions in which this drug is not recommended,” said Dr Smit Srivastava, a cardiologist in Raipur.

The day the government had notified the prophylactic use of the drug, public health experts had raised concerns about its possible misuse.

T R A C K I N GT R A C K I N GC O V I D - 1 9

Validity of driving licences extended till June 30

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has extended the validity of vehicle related documents that expired on or after February 1 to June 30. “The

validity of all permits, driving licences and registrations or other documents which have

expired since February 1 or will expire by June 30, will be treated valid until June 30,” the ministry

said in an advisory to all states and Union Territories. According to the advisory, the step was

taken to ensure people can be hassle-free while renewing the validity of their documents amid the

lockdown enforced till April 14 due to the coronavirus pandemic resulting in closure of

transport department offices.

Man killed in Bihar for info to cops on return of migrants

Villagers in Bihar beat a man to death on suspicion that he informed the police about two people who returned home recently from Maharashtra, which

has reported the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the country. The police have asked people to report to them about those who

have returned to their native places recently to ensure they remain in quarantine. But the family

members of the 36-year-old man said residents of Madhaul village in Sitamarhi district were angry that he informed police about two people who

returned from Mumbai recently and beat him to death on Monday. The two returnees have been arrested and efforts are on to nab the accused.

60 passengersof Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani Express under lens Around 60 passengers who travelled on the New

Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani Express, in the same coach as a Malaysian woman who tested positive for

coronavirus, are under the scanner with the authorities scrambling to find their whereabouts,

sources said Tuesday. The 22-year-old woman, who travelled on the train with 23 others on March 16, tested positive and is Jharkhand’s first confirmed

case of COVID-19. She was traced to a city mosque along with the others on Monday and lodged at a quarantine centre. Sources say the South Eastern

Railway has handed over the list of passengers travelling in the air conditioned coach (train no 20840, coach no-B1) to the district authorities.

Centre announces package under PM Garib Kalyan

The central government has announced a financial package under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan

Yojana under which approximately `27,500 crore are going to be disbursed during this week and in the coming weeks to the targeted public through

bank branches, ATMs and business correspondents, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said. In view of these facts, the home secretary urged the states

and UTS to issue instructions to their field functionaries to ensure that bank branches remain

functional. In the letter, Bhalla said that banks should be allowed to work beyond working hours

for financial closure.

NORMAL BEHAVIOUR

50% LESS CONTACT

75% LESS CONTACT

2.5 People

1.25 People

0.625 People

406 People

15 People

2.5 People

THE VITAL IMPORTANCE

OF SOCIAL DISTANCINGHow a reduction in

social contact can reduce the spread of the coronavirus

In 5 Days In 30 Days

PUBLIC HEALTH INFRA IN MIGRANT STATESNumber of people being served by one doctor (2019)

Uttar Pradesh

Bihar

Odisha

West Bengal

Rajasthan

3,6923,536

2,4951,705

2,224Source: National Health Profile, 2019 Rajya Sabha

Crackingdown

What is the Epidemic Diseases

Act, 1897 and what are the provisions

SECTION 3What it says: Any person

disobeying the order is punishable under Section

188

Punishment: Imprisonment for up to six months or fine

Rs 1,000 or both

SECTIONS 269 AND270 IPC

What it says: Negligent act likely to spread infection of

disease dangerous to life

Punishment: Jail term of six months up to two years

and/or fine

SECTION 271 IPCWhat it says: Whoever

knowingly disobeys any rule where an infectious disease

prevails

Punishment: Imprisonment up to six

months or with fine, or both

SECTION 120-B IPCWhat it says: Criminal

conspiracy

Punishment: Shall be punished with

imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or with fine or with both

Volunteer offers food and water to children of migrants in Palghar, Maharashtra | PTI

Source: Statista

08 WEDNESDAY 01042020CHENNAI

Jain couple in mask marry amid social distancing A Jain family in Indore cancelled all functions planned for their daughter’s marriage in Indore. They however went ahead with the marriage with a simple ceremony taking all preventive measures, including use of sanitiser and masks. With Indore is becoming one of the coronavirus hotspots in the country, city-based Akshay Jain cancelled all big functions planned for daughter’s Kinjal’s marriage with the groom from Mumbai. The invites to the office bearers of around 40 trusts and other guests were cancelled. The bride and groom wore masks after properly sanitising their hands and also used pearl garlands instead of floral garlands during the marriage which took place in the presence of a handful of family members following social distancing. Indore, the industrial hub, has reported the highest number of 44 COVID-19 cases in the state so far.

82-year-old gives `1 lakh from pension An octogenarian pensioner in Vidisha has become perhaps the oldest contributor in the battle against the coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh by donating Rs 1 lakh from her pension to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. A retired education department employee, 82-year-old Sulbha Uskar refused to be clicked while donating the amount. The number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh has jumped to 65, with 18 more patients being reported in the state on Tuesday. This is highest number of coronavirus cases found in a day in the state.

Lady cop attached to lines for shaming labourerA female sub inspector from Madhya Pradesh police was attached to Chhatarpur District Police Lines recently for writing ‘I’m a lockdown violator, just stay away from me’ on a migrant labourer’s forehead. The incident took place in Gaurihar police station area of Chhatarpur district, when the female sub inspector Amita Agnihotri wrote the line in Hindi on the forehead of a labourer found violating the lockdown. The visuals of the shocking incident went viral on social media. Taking prompt cognizance of the matter, Inspector General of Sagar Police Range Anil Sharma immediately attached the police officer to Chhatarpur district police lines.

‘Mama hai na’, assures Shivraj Amid rising cases of coronavirus in the state, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan visited the BHEL township and Old Bhopal to review facilities being provided during the lockdown. Chouhan visited the Triveni Women Hostel, where he urged the inmates to follow social distancing and wearing masks and also assured them that they would get all essential supplies. He also visited a Girl’s Hostel in the MP Nagar Zone-2 and interacted with students who are stuck their due to the lockdown. Fondly called mama (maternal uncle) by children, the CM told the girls not worry. “Mama hai na,” he added.

India and China will kick off the celebrations to commemorate the

70th anniversary of the diplomatic relations on Wednesday

D I P L O M A T I C T I E S

PASSENGERS UNDER SCANNER RAILWAY

60Ahmedabad 38 21Bhopal 35 18Jaipur 30 17Amritsar 22 15New Delhi 32 17Kolkata 36 24Srinagar 12 4

Mumbai 34 24 Panaji 34 25Patna 34 21Lucknow 37 18Port Blair 32 24Imphal 31 18Chandigarh 27 16

INDIA Max MaxMin Min

T R A C K I N GT R A C K I N GC O V I D - 1 9

Cargo flights ferry over 15 tons of medical supplies

New Delhi: Amid the lockdown, domestic airlines and cargo operators, along with the Indian Air

Force, have transported 15.4 tons of medical supplies in 62 flights between March 26 and March

30. Both, Air India and private carriers have been pressed into service to facilitate movements of

medical supplies across the country. Air India flight A320 on its route Mumbai-New Delhi-Bengaluru-

Mumbai, carried HLL consignment of 6,593 kg and Nagaland ventilator masks, consignments of

Kerala and Karnataka, consignment for Meghalaya and consignment of Ministry of Textiles for

Coimbatore. Similarly, IAF flight from Hindon- Dimapur- Imphal-Guwahati carried consignments of HLL and ICMR kits for Shillong. Besides, private airlines such as Indigo, Spicejet and Blue Dart are

also operating flights on commercial basis, said the civil aviation ministry officials.

Foreign tourists can now seek help through portal

New Delhi: In order to reach out to foreign tourists, the Ministry of Tourism has launched a portal

which will disseminate information on a range of services that they can avail during the lockdown.

Titled ‘Stranded in India’, the portal aims to act as a support network for foreign tourists who are

stuck in various parts of the country. The tourism ministry came up with this in order to help tourists in the ‘unprecedented situation’, the government

said. The portal strandedinindia.com consists information on COVID-19 helplines and call centres that the foreign tourists can reach out to for help.

It has also given information on the Ministry of External Affairs control centres along with a list of

officers and their contact information spread across different regions. The portal will also give

tourists information around state-based or regional tourism support infrastructure. There is an integrated support section to extend help to those who need further information and connect them to

the authorities concerned.

E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @New Delhi

THE Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the media — print, elec-tronic or social — to maintain a strong sense of responsibility and publish Covid-19 related news based on information disseminat-ed by the government.

The directive came after the Cen-tre, in its affidavit filed in the top court, sought a direction that no media outlet should print, publish or telecast news on coronavirus without first ascertaining facts from the information provided by the government.

A bench comprising CJI S A Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao observed, “The migration of large number of labourers work-ing in the cities was triggered by panic created by fake news that the lockdown would continue for more than three months. Such panic-driven migration has caused un-told suffering to those who be-lieved and acted on such news. In fact, some have lost their lives in the process…It is therefore not pos-sible for us to overlook this menace of fake news either by electronic, print or social media.”

The court asked the media to “en-sure that unverified news capable of

causing panic is not disseminated”. “We do not intend to interfere with the free discussion about the pan-demic, but direct the media refer to and publish the official version about the developments,” it said. The bench also called for humane approach by police and authorities towards migrant workers.

In its affidavit filed earlier in the day, the MHA said that in “an un-precedented scenario” of this na-ture, any deliberate or unintended inaccurate reporting can have a “severe and inevitable potential of

inflicting panic” among large sec-tions of society. “…Any panic reac-tion by any section of society based upon such reporting” would cause grave harm, it added while urging the court to issue a direc-tion that no media shall print/pub-lish/telecast anything “without first ascertaining the true factual position from the separate mecha-nism provided by the central gov-ernment”. The SC also directed the government to ensure supply of food, water, beds and medicines to the migrants workers.

R I C H A S H A R M A @New Delhi

FROM remotely monitoring and managing Covid 19 patients to digitalized detection of infection chains to improve population ad-herence to government social dis-tancing guidelines — India has reached out to Israel for such medical tech solutions by compa-nies working to improve the pre-vention, detection and treatment of coronavirus.

The Department of Science

and Technology has come up with a suggestive list of nearly 30 innovative technologies on Covid 19 from Israeli companies and has sought interest from Indian researchers and companies in this regards. The move comes at a time when Israeli media reports said that country’s defence minis-try plans to use software that analyses data gathered from mo-bile phones by the spyware firm NSO to help locate likely carriers of the coronavirus to test them.

Both India and Israel have a joint USD 40mn Research and De-velopment (R&D) fund managed by DST in India. The two coun-tries have been collaborating on R&D in various sectors.

The list of Covid 19 technology

put out by DST include Contact-free Monitoring Solutions by EarlySense which provides con-tinuous touch-free monitoring of a patient’s heart rate, respiratory rate, and movement, enabling clinical teams to detect and ad-

dress early signs of deteriora-tion, including falls and pressure ulcers. Keeping in mind social and many worried for their elder parents staying alone in other cit-ies, Smart Remote Caregiver for Aging at Home by Kytera is a smart remote caregiver solution that provides insight into sen-iors’ activity at home. The solu-tion includes a home system that collects data, a mobile app for family members and a dashboard for professional caregivers.

S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @New Delhi

SHOULD everyone wear a mask as the threat of con-tracting Covid-19 looms large? Even the Centre does not seem to have a clear an-swer to the question. While the Health Ministry has maintained that masks do not help those who are not ill, the advi-sory from the Prin-cipal Scientific Ad-visor (PSA) to the Centre on Tuesday urged every citizen should use masks.

I n c i d e n t a l l y, PSA K VijayRa-ghavan, along with Dr V K Paul, mem-ber (health), Niti Aayog — who also heads a 21-member national task force on the outbreak — have been made part of an empowered group on science and technology to tackle the crisis. The picture book, de-signed by the Union health ministry and issued by the PSA’s office, cited an influ-enza modelling study from the US that noted the elimi-nation of infection with 80

per cent use of masks. “Masks protect people from droplets from those in prox-imity and reduce droplets leaving people and potential-ly infecting others,” Ra-ghavan said.

In contrast, Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry on Tuesday said the

government stands by its earlier stance and only those who have the infection, their close contacts with symptoms or suspected patients n e e d t o w e a r masks.

Public health specialists believe that the PSA manu-al aims to ensure appropriate use of reusable masks. “A recent article in the Lancet Respiratory

Medicine has suggested that governments should make ra-tional recommendations on appropriate face mask use to compliment recommended preventive interventions,” said Dr Oommen John, sen-ior researcher, George Insti-tute of Global Health in New Delhi.

Centre had sought the direction saying fake news could cause damage

SC directs media to publish ‘official’ coronavirus news

India reaches out to Israel for medical tech solutions for treatment

Govt agencies differ on mask use

There needs to be a clear understanding that masks used as

part of PPE by those treating COVID 19

patients are different from the

masks suggested in the manual from

PSA

Dr Oommen John

DIGITAL HELP TO CONTROL PANDEMICNeura, a human behaviour platform enabling governments and health organizations to monitor and control the spread of Covid 19 by applying digitalized detection of infection chains

Stranded migrant workers sleep under a flyover next to the railway tracks near the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai on Tuesday | PTI

The worst hit in the

world

USA

ITALY

SPAIN

CHINA

GERMANY

FRANCE

IRAN

UK

More than 75%of reported #COVID19

cases are currently in eight countries.

21

13

11

11

9

6

53

21

13

11

11

9

6

53

Source: Global health strategies

HUNGER PANGSBeneficiaries lined up outside a ration shop to collect

foodgrains in Kanpur on Tuesday | PTI

BHOPAL DIARY

A N U R A A G S I N G HOur correspondent in

Madhya Pradeshsinghanuraag.jaurno@gmail.com

KASARAGOD (Kerala): TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES 106

Total cases in state: 202Cases from abroad: 77 (75 Dubai, one Sharjah, one UK); local transmission: 29

TIMELINE: February 3: First wave, first case from Wuhan (recovered); March 16: Second case (from Dubai)

Government reaction: Kasaragod district quickly responded to the second wave of Covid-19 cases by setting up isolation wards and testing; the administration erred in strictly quarantining those who returned from abroad

PATHANAMTHITTA (Kerala): TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES 12

Total cases in state: 202Cases from abroad: 6 (3 Italy; 1 Qatar, 1 UK; 1 UAE); local transmission: 6

TIMELINE: First case in the second wave commenced in March with the arrival a family from Italy

Government response: After the initial lapse in identifying the family with travel history to Italy, authorities acted swiftly to contain the spread of the disease. The first identified case was that of the family’s two relatives. The authorities immediately quarantined all and their primary contacts

BHILWARA (Rajasthan) : TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES: 26

Total cases in state: 93 Local transmission: A doctor from Bangar Hospital of Bhilwara was infected. It is suspected that he contracted it from a guest from Saudi Arabia

remain in home quarantine for 14 days. Most of these patients were those who visited the mohalla clinic between March 12 and 18

NIZAMUDDIN (New Delhi): TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES: 24

Total cases in Delhi: 97OUTBREAK: A congregation of 1,800 people was held this month. At least 24 in Delhi have tested positive and reportedly 10 have died, six in Telangana, one each in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and J&K died

Government response: The Delhi Police and paramilitary forces have cordoned off a major area in Nizamuddin West, people are being screened and contact traced

MUMBAI (Maharashtra) TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES 151

Total cases in state: 302Government response: In Mumbai, as containment measures, areas surrounding the positive cases, including one lakh houses and 3,87,000 people are surveyed

PUNE (Maharashtra) TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES 48

Total cases in state: 302Cases from abroad: Government has not clear data over this, but majority of cases are imported from UAE, America, UK, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Australia, etc

Government response: Pune municipal health officer Ramchandra Hunkare said that they are taking measures to contain the out spread. “We are conducting a door-to-door survey. We are contact tracing and asking people for either home quarantine. Besides, fumigation and cleaning all high density locations work was on,” he said

Nizamuddin (Delhi)

Noida

Shahdara (Delhi)

Meerut

Pune

Mumbai

Kasargod (Kerala)

Pathanamthitta (Kerala)

Bhilwara (Rajasthan)

Ahmedabad

At least nine cities or towns in the country have reported unusually high number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Here is why and what the authorities are doing

I N D I A

INDIA’S COVID-19 HOTSPOTS

March 28, four of his contacts tested positive

Government response: Meerut district magistrate Anil Dhingra ordered sealing of the areas where the confirmed case lived and ordered for disinfectant spraying in the areas

SHAHDARA (New Delhi) : TOTAL CONFIRMED CASES: 11

Total cases in Delhi: 97Cases from abroad: 1

TIMELINE: A 38-year-old woman returned from Saudi Arabia on March 10, she was diagnosed on March 18 and passed on the infection to her 65-year-old mother and 35-year-old brother in Jahangirpuri, and her sisters, 24 and 26 in Dilshad Garden

Government response: Delhi government asked at least 1,200 people, who had come in contact with the clinic to

sources of 31 positive cases. Also, several people who returned from Italy, Switzerland, Indonesia and France tested positive

Government response: While Noida DM BN Singh has been removed for dereliction and failing to get Cease Fire Company office sealed after so many cases were reported. Department of Health has registered an FIR against the administration of the company

MEERUT (Uttar Pradesh): TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES 19

Total cases in state: 103Local transmission: 16 (one family) + 2

TIMELINE: The first case was reported on March 27. A 50-year-old man with travel history to Amrawati in Maharashtra tested positive for Covid-19. In Meerut, he stayed at three locations for two days each. No foreign travel history or contact could be traced. On

TIMELINE: A doctor first caught the virus and continued to visit the hospital and treating patients. All 26 infections are connected with the hospital. Around 5,580 patients who came to the OPD were examined between February 22 and March 18. Two people died on March 26

Government response: Rajasthan’s Health Minister Raghu Sharma said: “This is due to the negligence of the private hospital. The district health department is tracing the people who have moved out of the district”

NOIDA (Uttar Pradesh): TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES 38

Total cases in state: 103Cases from abroad: 6 ; local transmission: 32

HUB: A fire extinguisher factory, Cease Fire Company, in Sector 135 of Noida is the

4

5

6

8

7

1

2

3

9

NUMBERS IN %

09 CHENNAI WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

LONDON

STRICT containment meas-ures might have already saved up to 59,000 lives across 11 Eu-ropean countries battling the spread of the new coronavirus, experts in Britain say.

Basing their modelling on the numbers of recorded deaths from Covid-19, research-ers from Imperial College Lon-don said most countries it looked at had likely dramati-cally reduced the rate at which the virus spreads.

Using the experiences of countries with the most ad-vanced epidemics like Italy and Spain, the study compared ac-tual fatality rates with an esti-mate of what would have hap-pened with no measures such as school closures, event can-cellations and lockdowns.

“With current interventions remaining in place to at least the end of March, we estimate that interventions across all 11 countries will have averted 59,000 deaths up to 31 March,” said the report, which was re-leased on Monday.

“Many more deaths will be averted through ensuring that interventions remain in place until transmission drops to low levels,” the report noted.

Billions of people around the world have been ordered to stay home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which

has killed more than 38,000 peo-ple since it emerged in China late last year.

The Imperial College study said despite the grave strain on the medical system in Italy, lock-down measures had “averted a health care catastrophe”, estimat-ing that the contain-ment efforts had saved 38,000 lives.

In Spain, researchers esti-mate 16,000 lives had been saved, while in France the

number was 2,500, in Belgium 560, Germany 550, the United Kingdom 370, Switzerland 340, Austria 140, Sweden 82, Den-

mark 69 and Norway 10.Epidemiologists from

Imperial College are part of the group ad-vising the British gov-ernment on its out-

break response.The study, which used

assumptions about the propor-tion of infected people not re-corded in official figures, esti-mated that some 5.9 million

people could have been infect-ed in Italy up to March 28 — al-most 10 per cent of the population.

In Spain, researchers noted a recent “large increase” in deaths and estimated that some seven million people — or 15 per cent of the population — have been infected.

It said it was too early to say whether countries with lower death tolls would see a compa-rable impact of their interven-tion measures as those battling a more severe epidemic. AFP

BEIJING

IN a highly-anticipated an-nouncement, China on Tuesday said that it’s put 1,541 people in-fected with the novel coronavi-rus but who don’t have symp-toms under observation as of March 30.

Those infected, but without any symptoms, have so far not been classified as confirmed cases in China. The publication of the number of asymptomatic infections comes as China’s Pre-mier Li Keqiang directed offi-cials on Monday to focus on t r a c k i n g s y m p t o m - f r e e carriers.

China has reported 48 new confirmed imported cases of the novel coronavirus while the death toll reached 3,305 with one more fatality from the virus-hit Hubei province, health officials said on Tuesday.

China’s National Health Com-mission (NHC) said on Tuesday that no new domestically trans-mitted cases of the COVID-19 were reported on the Chinese mainland on Monday.

Meanwhile, China said it will step up support for smaller en-terprises in a bid to shore up support for sectors hit by the novel coronavirus, increasing financing quotas of small- and medium-sized banks by one tril-lion yuan state media reported.

A State Council meeting pre-sided over by Premier Li Ke-qiang said authorities would guide smaller banks to lend all the funds they receive to small- and medium-sized enterprises at preferential rates.

The politburo had called last Friday for stronger counter-cy-clical policy measures and a step-up in stimulus, as the pan-demic ravages the global econo-my. Agencies

LAGOS

ROADS in Africa’s largest city Lagos were deserted Tuesday after Nigeria locked down its economic hub and shuttered its capital, in the continent’s latest effort to brake the juggernaut of coronavirus.

Businesses were closed, markets abandoned and streets empty as the usually chaotic megacity of 20 mil-lion, along with the capital Abuja, shuddered to a halt on the first full day of a two-week shutdown.

Nigeria embarked late Monday on one of Africa’s most ambitious efforts at so-cial distancing after record-ing 135 confirmed cases and two deaths.

Across all of Africa, coun-tries have recorded more than 5,300 cases and 170 deaths, according to a tally compiled by AFP. Tanzania and Mauritania on became the latest nations to register fatalities from the novel coro-navirus as Sierra Leone con-firmed its first infection.

Dozens of countries across

the continent have imposed restrictions from night-time curfews to total shutdowns to try to halt the disease.

Uganda on Tuesday woke up to lockdown after Presi-dent Yoweri Museveni or-dered his east African nation to shut up shop immediately.

The Republic of Congo was gearing up to follow suit later in the day and Botswana’s president ordered a state of emergency from midnight on Thursday. AFP

China didn’t report 1,541 cases with no symptoms

NEW YORK

NEW York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday said up to 1 million more healthcare workers were needed to bring the coronavirus outbreak in his state under control.

“Please come help us,” he urged health workers.

The number of deaths in the United States from coro-navirus has surpassed those reported by China, where the pandemic began in Decem-ber, according to a toll pub-lished on Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University. There have been 3,415 deaths in the US from the virus,

“To me, we’re beyond stag-gering already,” Cuomo said.

Even before the governor’s appeal, close to 80,000 former nurses, doctors and other pro-fessionals were stepping up to volunteer, and a Navy hos-pital ship had arrived with 1,000 beds to relieve pressure on overwhelmed hospitals.

News also came of the first US service member to die from the disease. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said the death of the New Jersey Army National Guardsman strengthened their resolve to work more closely with part-ners to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“This is a stinging loss for our military community,” Es-per said in a release.

More than 235 million peo-ple — about two of every three Americans — live in the 33 states where governors have declared statewide or-ders or recommendations to stay home. PTI

BRUSSELS

A 12-year-old girl confirmed in-fected with COVID-19 has died in Belgium, health officials said on Tuesday.

Fatality at such a young age “is a very rare occurrence,” said government spokesman Dr Em-manuel Andre, adding that her death “shook us”.

The girl had had a fever for three days before her death, and tested positive for COVID-19, said another spokesman, Steven Van Gucht.

It was the first death of a child in the coronavirus crisis in Belgium, which has now re-corded a total 705 deaths from the disease it causes, according to the latest official toll.

Last week, France reported the death of a 16-year-old girl from coronavirus in the greater Paris region.

Although serious COVID-19 infections are uncommon among the young, some excep-tional cases have been taken to hospital intensive-care wards, as US health authorities have pointed out. Hospitals in Brus-sels and in two provinces, in the north and the west, are now con-fronted with “a more complicat-ed situation” as beds fill up, An-dre said. AFP

Struggling New York seeks 1 million more health workers

More African countries impose lockdowns as Covid-19 cases soar

12-year-old girl dies in Belgium

Lockdowns may have saved 59,000 lives in EuropeRestrictions on the movement of people likely ‘dramatically reduced’ the rate at which the virus spreads, finds a major study by British researchers

GLOBALWEATHER

LR: Light Rain HR: Heavy Rain TDS: Thundershower LC: Light Cloud SNY: Sunny

GLOBALWEATHER

Beijing 16 2 SNYColombo 31 21 LCDoha 33 20 SNYDubai 32 24 LCHouston 25 17 SNY Istanbul 11 9 HRLondon 8 3 LC

Los Angeles 24 14 LCMelbourne 23 11 LRMoscow 15 1 LCNew York 13 3 LCSingapore 34 24 LCToronto 8 2 LCWashington DC 15 4 LC

849 peopledied due to novel coronavirus in Spain on Tuesday

13-yr-old shot dead amid curfew in KenyaA 13-year-old boy in Kenya’s

Nairobi was hit by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of his

family’s home with other children. Below, police moved

through the crowded neighbourhood, enforcing

Kenya’s coronavirus curfew. “Police shot him,” a neighbour

in the adjacent apartment block said. “I could see police

aiming at the building”.

France reports record 499 deaths in 24 hrs France on Tuesday reported 499 Covid-19 fatalities, its highest daily number since the coronavirus epidemic began. This brings the total toll to 3,523. There are now 22,757 people hospitalised in France with the virus. The French death toll includes only those who died in hospitals and not those who died at home.

WB warns China’s growth could screech to haltEconomic fallout from the pandemic could bring China’s growth to a standstill, the World Bank said, warning of “an unprecedented shock” that could also increase poverty across the region. Chinese factory activity saw surprise growth in March as businesses grind back to work following a lengthy shutdown, but analysts said the economy faces a challenging recovery as external demand remains low.

A group of youngsters wearing face masks cross a road in Taiwan’s capital Taipei on Tuesday | AP

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (first from left) has said the state is ‘beyond staggering’ as he sought additional one million health care workers | AP

A policeman sets up a road block in Nigeria’s Lagos, where a lockdown is in effect for two weeks starting from Tuesday | AP

People applaud health workers during a partial lockdown in Brussels on Monday | AP

Avoid nagging your husbands during lockdown, Malaysian govt tells womenKUALA LUMPUR

MALAYSIAN authorities have advised women to wear make-up, not to nag their husbands and speak with a cartoon char-acter’s soothing voice during the virus lockdown, sparking a flood of mockery online.

Like many countries, the Southeast Asian nation has or-

dered all citizens to stay at home to stem the spread of the coro-navirus, which has killed more than 30,000 people globally.

In a series of Facebook posts, the Malaysian women’s minis-try offered tips for how wives should behave during the lockdown.

One showed a picture of a couple hanging up clothes to-

gether next to a caption that ad-vised women to “avoid nagging” their husbands, and to imitate the squeaky voice of Doraemon, a cartoon robot cat from Japan that is popular across Asia.

The post was removed Tues-day afternoon following a flood of criticism, with many accus-ing the government of sexism.

Other posts advised women

working at home to wear make-up and dress neatly, rather than in casual clothes.

“This must be a pressing is-sue,” said one Facebook post. “How will dressing up and put-ting on make-up at home (pre-vent) COVID-19? Pray, tell?” “It’s already 2020, please progress. Focus on more important mat-ters for women,” read another.

P R O V O C A T I V E A D V I C E

Police stop a woman

during the Movement

Control Order, l imiting the activities of

people in Malaysia, last

week| AFP

CASES IN PROPORTIONWhile the US and Italy leads the

world in total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases, here are countries/

territories that have highest number of cases per 1 million residents

Country/region Cases per 1M

Vatican City 7,491

San Marino 6,778

Andorra 4,789

Faroe Islands 3,459

Iceland 3,182

Luxembourg 3,176

WASHINGTON

US tells Guaido, Maduro to step aside for new pollsUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that Juan Guaido, recognised by Washington as Venezuela’s leader, should step aside along with President Nicolas Maduro for new elections. In a shift after more than a year of US-led efforts to topple the leftist Maduro, Pompeo told reporters that the two men should set up a transitional government to arrange elections.

WASHINGTON

Marriott says new data breach affects 5.2 million Marriott says guests’ names, loyalty account information and other personal details may have been accessed in the second major data breach to hit the company in less than two years. Marriott said on Tuesday about 5.2 million guests worldwide may have been affected. The information taken may have included names, addresses and phone numbers

BRUSSELS

EU launches mission to police Libya arms embargo The European Union announced on Tuesday the launch of a new naval mission in the Mediterranean Sea aimed at enforcing the U.N. arms embargo on Libya, after Italy blocked a previous operation claiming that the warships attracted migrants. The new operation, dubbed Irini, the Greek word for ‘peace,’ will start work for a year from Wednesday.

BEIJING

19 firefighters die trying to quell forest blaze in ChinaChina’s state media say 19 people died while fighting a raging forest fire in the southwestern province of Sichuan. The Xinhua News Agency reported the deaths on Tuesday but did not say when they occurred. A city information office says the fire started on a farm Monday afternoon and quickly spread to nearby mountains due to strong winds.

LONDON

UK’s Harry and Meghan formally quit royal life Prince Harry and his wife Meghan formally step down as senior members of the British royal family on Tuesday, as they start a controversial new life in the US.The couple have already relocated to California, according to reports, after announcing in January that they intended to quit royal life and “work to become financially independent”.

BAGHDAD

US deploys Patriot air defence system to Iraq The US has deployed Patriot air defence batteries to Iraqi bases to protect US troops recently targeted by Iranian missiles, US and Iraqi military sources told AFP. Washington and Baghdad had been negotiating the placement of the defence system since January, when Tehran fired ballistic missiles at the western Iraqi base of Ain al-Asad, which hosts US troops.

LONDON

Officer who probed Skripal poisoning is new MI5 chief The head of the investigation into the poisoning of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal has been appointed as the next head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency. The British government announced the appointment of Ken McCallum on Monday. He will take over from the current head of MI5, Andrew Parker, when he retires at the end of April.

10 CHENNAI

Market Watch

FOREXDollar 75.67

Euro 82.78

GOLD24 carat (1 gm) H4,316

22 carat (1 gm) H3,951

H1

H1

MARKETSensex 29,468.49

Nifty 8,597. 75

1,028.17

316.65

SILVERPer kg H39,480

Per gm H39.48

H0

H0

WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

E N S E C O N O M I C B U R E A U @ Hyderabad

INDIAN banks on Tuesday rolled out the 3-month mora-torium on all term loans and deferral of interest payments on working capital loans.

This means, EMIs on home or auto loans due on and from Wednesday or April 1, can be deferred for three months and the next installment can be paid only in June if the bor-rowers so desire. It means, the repayment schedule gets extended ac-cordingly and inter-est will be charged extra for three months on the total outstanding loan amount.

Almost all banks are extending the moratorium to all outstanding ac -counts by default. For most banks, EMI deductions are system-generated at a prefixed date and time, usually the first week of the month and the deduction will be time in the first bank-ing hour of the day. But for next three months, banks will deactivate the automatic switch calling in payments. However, customers willing to pay as per schedule can opt-out of the moratorium, though the process differs from bank to bank.

While some like IDBI Bank have offered an opt-out option

on their website (includes writing an email to the bank), others like Canara Bank have requested customers to get in touch with their respective branches. “To avoid unneces-sary paperwork the facility has been extended across the board to all the borrowers by extending the facility of Term Loan instalments (includes interest) by 90 days. The origi-nal repayment period for Term Loans will get extended

by 90 days e.g. a loan repayable in 60 in-stalments maturing on March 1, 2025 will mature on June 1, 2025,” Central Bank of India clari-fied on its website.

Chennai-based In-dian Overseas Bank not only deferred EMI payments for term loans but has also slashed its repo-linked lending rate from 8 per cent to 7.25 per cent with ef-

fect from April 1, thereby ben-efitting MSMEs and retail loans. Similarly, Punjab Na-tional Bank, State Bank of India, Syndicate Bank have also deferred interest on term loans. As per the RBI direc-tion, moratorium is applica-ble on all term loans includ-ing principal and/or interest components, bullet repay-ments, EMIs, credit card dues falling due between March 1 and May 31.

Banks pass on EMI relief for next 3 monthsCanara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and SBI deferred payments, others to follow

As per COVID 19 regulatory package of RBI, Indian Bank

allows a moratorium by deferring EMI

payment/ term loan instalments &

interest/interest on working capital for 3

months w.e.f 1st March 2020

Indian Bank

LAST week, the Reserve Bank of India had announced a 3-month moratorium on all term loans outstanding as on March 1, 2020, as well as relief on working capital facilities to ease the burden caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. Here, the Indian Banks Association clarifies a few frequently asked questions on the matter:

Which are the benefits and are they available to all? All term loans and cash credit/overdraft are eligible for the moratorium. Further, to avoid unnecessary paperwork the fa-

cility has been extended across the board to all borrowers by extending repayment of term loan instalments (includes in-terest) by 90 days. For e.g. a loan repayable in 60 instalments maturing on March 1, 2025 will mature on June 1, 2025.

Is rescheduling only for the principal amount?Rescheduling of principal can be done for a period of three months between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. For example, where the last instalment falls

due for payment on March 1, it will become payable on June 1. For EMI-based term loans, there will be three EMIs falling due during the period and the

tenor will be extended by three months. These will have to be repaid during the extended period, as per the example above.For other term loans, all

the instalments and inter-est will fall due during the

same period, irrespective of the tenor of payment i.e. monthly, annually, bullet pay-ment etc. Where the repayment has not commenced, the inter-

est portion for three months alone needs to be reckoned.

What if the extended tenor goes beyond the maximum period in the loan policy? This can be extended without seeking approvals.

What will be the impact on defaulting borrowers?Overdue payments post March 1 will not be reported to Credit Bureaus for three months. No penal interest or charges will be payable to the banks. It will not be considered a default by rating agencies.

Should you necessarily take the benefit?You may take the benefits if there is a disruption in your cash flows or there is loss of income. However, you must take into account that the interest on loans continues to accrue and will result in higher cost.

What about my credit card dues?The relief is available for credit card payments too. Interest will be charged by the issuer on the unpaid amount. However, no penal interest will be charged.

IBA answers your questions on EMI moratorium

Validity of nil, lower TDS certificate extended

TAX EASE

ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU @ New Delhi

THE Centre on Tuesday ex-tended the validity of nil or lower tax deducted at source (TDS) certificates for finan-cial year ending March 31, till June 2020, including overseas lenders.

According to the Income Tax Act, recipients of cer-tain income can request tax official for a certificate to be issued saying there was no need to deduct tax at source or it could be done at a con-cessional lower rate, based on the recipient’s income. However, due to the lock-down imposed to stop the Coronavirus spread, many businesses and individuals could not fill the request and in many cases, the assessing officers could not process the requests in a timely manner. Consequently, CBDT decided to relax the dates till June 30, considering the hardships of tax payers making the payments.

CBDT said the covid-19 pandemic has led to much disruption, including the normal functioning of In-come Tax department and hence a relaxation was being offered. Taxpayers who had filed for lower TDS/TCS (tax deduction at source/tax col-lected at source) for FY21 and whose applications were pending for disposal of their FY20 order on lower TDS, has been extended till June 30. However, in the latter case, income recipients have to make an application as soon as normalcy is restored or before end of June, CBDT explained. The extension will also be given if taxpay-ers have the lower TDS order for FY20 but have so far not applied similar order for FY21. The order has also pre-scribed a 10 per cent with-holding tax on payments to non-residents (including for-eign companies) having per-manent establishment in In-dia and not covered by the above scenarios) till June 30 or disposal of application, whichever is earlier. Over-seas companies and lenders are given concessional rate of TDS under bilateral tax treaty provisions. Domestic firms pay interest, royalty and fee for technical services to their overseas associates and they are expected to benefit from the decision.

SpiceJet to cut March salary by up to 30%

TOUGH TIMES

A R S H A D K H A N @ New Delhi

HIT hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, budget carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday an-nounced a pay cut of up to 30 per cent for all employees in March. The airline, however, said it won’t be cutting jobs even as all its flights remain suspended till April 14.

“The bold measures are in the best interest for every-one at SpiceJet as it aims to sail through the crisis with zero retrenchment,” Spice-Jet said in a statement.

Assuring its employees in the lowest pay grades that they will remain unaffected by the decision, Ajay Singh, chairman and managing di-rector, SpiceJet, said: “What we are facing is a global phe-nomenon and no airline in the world is immune to the impact. Tough times don’t last, tough people do.” Singh has also opted to take the highest 30 per cent pay cut.

Other airlines such as GoAir, IndiGo and Air India have also enforced salary cuts earlier to minimise the financial burden. Experts believe if the Covid-19 crisis deepens, the aviation sector will be left with no choice but to cut their employee base. The Centre for Asia Pa-cific Aviation estimates In-diGo and SpiceJet losses at up to $1.5 billion across the fourth quarter of FY20 and the first quarter of FY21.

Govt to borrow `4.88 lakh cr in first half of FY21E N S E C O N O M I C B U R E A U @ Hyderabad

THE government on Tuesday stuck to the script to not revise its FY21 gross borrowings upwards notwithstanding the recent `1.7 lakh crore Covid-19 stimulus package and the likely need for further fiscal measures.

In line with tradition, the Ministry of Finance decided to frontload its borrowings by raising `4.88 lakh crore or 62.5 per cent of the FY21 gross bor-rowings in the first six months of the fiscal. This includes rais-ing `25,000 crore every week via T-Bils from April through September. For now, the Minis-try has ruled out the possibility of the RBI buying bonds direct-

ly as the government believes there’s substantial demand for securities in the market.

“Government has sufficient amounts to meet its cash re-quirements. We have suffi-cient capacity for a stimu-l u s o r a n y o t h e r requirement arising due to Covid-19,” said Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.

He added that the Ministry will do all it can to meet the ‘health commitments for resur-gence and recovery of industry,

for the poor and vulnerable sec-tions. “Our fund raising resources are geared towards that end,” he said adding the government has taken into

account the higher spending due to the coronavirus

pandemic. Finance Minister Si-

tharaman pegged FY21 gross borrowings at

`7.8 lakh crore, includ-ing repayments and past

loans of `2.35 lakh crore. It means, FY21 net borrowings will be at `5.36 lakh crore, up fom ̀ 4.99 lakh crore. As part of

the fund raising plan, the Min-istry proposed to roll out G-sec issuances through debt ETFs besides inceasing the ways and means advances, a mechanism using which temporary mis-matches in cash flows are man-aged, limit to `1.2 lakh crore

Meanwhile, Chakraborty said the government’s fiscal deficit aim was ‘very realistic’ and that meeting the FY20 fis-cal deficit was not in question.

ICRA estimates that the Cen-tre’s capital expenditure and net lending would need to rise by 29.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis in March 2020 to meet the revised estimate of `23.5 lakh crore for FY20. Ac-cordingly, further saving in ex-penditure relative to FY20 re-vised estimate appears likely.

Government has sufficient amounts to meet its cash requirements. We have sufficient capacity for a stimulus or any other requirement arising due to Covid-19.

Atanu Chakraborty, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs

ICICIBC is well placed in a challenging environment with its limited exposure to the newly surfaced stressed names and one of the highest provisioning coverage in the banking sector. ICICI has one of the lowest exposure to SME segment which forms <4% of total loans. We estimate RoA/RoE to improve to 1.7%/16.8% in FY22.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are that of the individual analyst or broking company, and not that of The New Indian Express

—Motilal Oswal Financial Services

ICICI BANK

Current Price

A324.5Target Price

A650

TODAY’S STOCK PICK

S E S A S E N @ New Delhi

ADDING to the woes of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, who are grap-pling with panic buying and dwindling supplies of fresh stocks, the exodus of migrant labourers across various states has led to a tardy production of essentials. Companies said they are working at a critical 20-25 per cent workforce with their third-party manufactur-ing units taking the worst hit.

“Even as the movement of trucks has improved, the short-age of manpower is making it difficult to run operations. The shortage in our 125 third-party

plants is even more severe since they are mostly located in smaller towns and labourers have migrated from there first. Unless there is clear statement from the government that the disease is under control, la-bourers are unlikely to come back,” said Mayank Shah, cat-egory head at Parle Products.

Britannia Industries is also facing a similar labour crisis. “We are evaluating how we can operate with fewer number of people as most of our workmen have got back to their villages. We are operating at only about 25 per cent of strength,” said Britannia managing director Varun Berry. The company has

set a target of 50 per cent for this week although it might be a “lofty target” given the work-ers are not willing to return for

the fear of the virus spread.Shahrukh Khan, executive

director, operations at Dabur India said availability of raw

material and packing material continues to be a challenge with the restricted movement of trucks and this is hampering quick start-up of production of essential products. “The key issue, however, is the availabil-ity of workers to run these operations,” he added.

R S Sodhi, managing director and chairman, Amul con-curred. “While our products are getting delivered to distrib-utors, the latter are unable to deliver due to an acute man-power shortage. Labour is a huge problem. Due to the COV-ID-19 scare, a lot of them have gone home. This problem will persist for a few more days.”

Meanwhile, distributors are now telling retailers, including kirana stores to arrange their own logistics as they are either running on skeleton staff or are still awaiting clarity on dis-tribution operations from local administration. “We were not prepared for a 21-day lockdown. Currently, I have stocks of cooking oil, atta, Maggi, pulses and besan in my go-down but no labourers to load products or any people to deliver them. If they (retailers) have their own transport and delivery personnel, they can come down and pick up the goods,” said a D e l h i - b a s e d d i s t r i bu t o r requesting anonymity.

Exodus of migrant labourers throws FMCG supply chain into disarrayM A N P O W E R C R I S I S

E X P R E S S R E A D

NMDC pays G150 cr to PM-Cares fund

New Delhi: State-run NMDC Ltd will contribute `150 crore to the

Prime Minister Cares Fund to help the fight against COVID -19.

This is the single-largest contribution made by any PSE in

the country till date to help the fight the pandemic. Besides,

the company said it has rolled out various preventive measures

to protect the employees.

ITC to produce 1.25 lakh Savlon hand sanitisers New Delhi: ITC on Tuesday said it has started production of Savlon hand sanitisers from its Manpura facility in Himachal Pradesh, which has been designed to produce premium fine fragrances to meet soaring demand due to coronavirus pandemic. It expects this facility to help produce an additional 1.25 lakh litres of sanitisers.

Covid-19 outbreak: Isuzu delays BS6 launches Chennai: Japanese utility vehicle manufacturer, Isuzu Motors India, has rescheduled its plans to introduce its BS VI models to the later part of the second quarter of 2020-21 due to Covid-19. The company has also

extended the warranty of its vehicles and informed that all vehicles whose warranty expires during the period from March 15 to April 15 will

now have their warranty extended until end-May 2020.

Govt extends deadline for BPCL bids to June 13 due to Covid-19 outbreakE N S E C O N O M I C B U R E A U @ New Delhi

THE Centre has extended the date of bidding for divesting its 52.98 per cent share in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) by over a month to June 13, keep-ing in view the lockdown imposed due to the Covid-19. It has announced the strategic disinvestment of its entire shareholding in BPCL compris-ing of 114.91 crore equity shares, along with transfer of management control to a stra-tegic buyer.

Earlier this month, the gov-ernment had invited expres-sion of interest (EoI), in buying its stake, by May 2. This now

has been extended to 5 pm on June 13 in “view of the re-quests received from the inter-ested bidders and the prevail-ing situation arising out of COVID-19”, a notification said.

The last date for submission of written queries has also been pushed to May 16 from the

earlier deadline of April 4. The divestment had exempted Nu-maligarh Refinery Limited.

BPCL has a market capitali-sation of about `68,223 crore and the government stake at current prices is worth about `36,159 crore. The successful bidder will also have to make an open offer to other share-holders for acquiring another 26 per cent at the same price.

India’s fiscal deficit for the April 2019 to February 2020 pe-riod touched 135.2 per cent of the revised target of 3.8 per cent of GDP and government had so far been able to meet only 74 per cent of both tax and none tax revenue.

CHECK NEW DATES Bidders can now submit information memorandum by May 16 instead of April 4

Only Private companies with a net worth of more than $10 billion are eligible

Restaurant body, food tech firms raise money to feed millions of daily wagersB I S M A H M A L I K @ Bengaluru

RESTAURANTS and food de-livery companies have an-nounced separate crowd fund-ing campaigns to feed millions of daily wagers and gig work-ers.Even as the food services sector is expecting at least 50-60 perc ent drop in revenues due to the Covid-19, major stakeholders in the industry have stepped up efforts to feed their employees , delivery partners and the migrant workers who are stuck.

National Restaurant Asso-ciation of India (NRAI) , a rep-resentative body of five lakh

restaurants in India, has an-nounced to supply free 10 mil-lion meals to the daily wage earners/ construction work-ers throughout the lockdown period in partnership with various NGOs and state authorities. NRAI said that the campaign will be partially funded and each meal will cost between `20-25 The restaurants will use their kitchen infrastructure to prepare meals and supply the same to the needy every day. NRAI said that the initia-tive will be implemented across Delhi NCR, Kolkata

and Bengaluru cities.Online delivery start-ups

such as Swiggy and Zomato have also announced separate crowd funding campaigns to

feed the daily wagers. Zoma-to CEO, Deepinder Goyal

earlier said that his company is planning to raise `50 crore through “Feed the Dai-

ly wager” project and so far they have collected

`17 crore. Swiggy has also contributed ̀ 4 crore to its Cov-id19 relief fund with its CEO Sriharsha Majetywill letting go 50 per cent of his annual salary as a contribution.

newindianexpress com11 CHENNAI WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

MENTAL HEALTH RISKS HIGHA F P @ Hong Kong

FEAR, stress and money wor-ries: coronavirus lockdown is hard for anyone, but athletes are facing extra mental health risks as they go from highly ac-tive lifestyles to isolation and boredom, experts warn.

While some housebound ath-letes have posted upbeat videos of themselves training or at-tempting internet challenges such as juggling toilet rolls, the stress caused by the extreme adjustment and uncertain fu-ture looks likely to take its toll.

Long-term effects on athletes after the SARS and swine flu outbreaks included anxiety, ob-sessive hand-washing and fear of getting too close to people, Carolyn Broderick, Tennis Australia’s chief medical of-ficer, said.

But the impact of the cur-rent pandemic is unprecedent-ed, with athletes sidelined worldwide after COVID-19 forced most sports into hiber-nation and put billions of peo-ple in lockdown.

Those affected range from well-paid superstars such as

Serena Williams, who has suf-fered from depression in the past, to journeyman pros and Olympic hopefuls whose lives h ave b e e n t h row n i n t o turmoil.

Williams, 38, who only needs one more Grand Slam title to equal the all-time record of 24, admitted that social distancing because of coronavirus had left her feeling “a ton of stress”.

“Every little thing makes me crazy. And by anxiety I mean I’m just on edge. Any time any-one sneezes around me or coughs I get crazy,” she said on TikTok, a social media app.

Even before the virus, a steady stream of people in-volved in sports — often an in-secure and high-stress profes-sion — have wrestled with depression, from Williams to Olympic swimming great Mi-chael Phelps, MMA fighter Ronda Rousey, boxer Mike Ty-son and All Blacks rugby play-er John Kirwan.

The athletes currently out of action include thousands of would-be Olympians, many of whom have put careers on hold

to chase medal dreams but now face extra disruption after the Tokyo 2020 Games were post-poned for a year.

“I would be lying if I said I was all right. Just like most people I’m struggling in my own ways,” Olympics-bound American weightlifter Kate Nye, who has been diagnosed

with bipolar disorder, told America’s WOODTV.com.

Concerns have also been raised about Australia’s swim-mers and cricketers, after ath-letes in both sports suffered well-documented psychologi-cal problems in the past.

“The mental health thing, we talked about it in a conference call this week,” said Australian men’s cricket coach Justin Langer.

“Particularly for any of our staff or players who are home alone basically. We have to keep an eye on those guys and girls to make sure they’re OK.”

Broderick, who was deputy medical director for Austral-ia’s 2016 Olympics team, and sits on an advisory panel for the National Rugby League, said the effects of isolation can be felt more acutely by ath-letes. “They have all the same psychological issues that eve-ryone does but also the stress and anxiety about their futures that they cannot easily con-trol,” she said. “They don’t know what the next stage is go-ing to be or how long they’re going to have to quarantine or

isolate for.”Many sports bodies have re-

acted by offering support to athletes. However, some sports are making cuts to avoid going bust, reducing their ability to help. Substance abuse, such as drinking or using drugs, is one tell-tale sign of problems, Broderick said.

“Stress and anxiety can man-ifest in substance abuse. That’s what I’d look out for, if they’re using alcohol as a support,” she said. “There has certainly been some anxiety,” added Broderick, who said Austral-ia’s tennis players receive reg-ular communications and can call on medical support.

“The high-level, high-profile professional athletes can han-dle this loss of income but there are a lot of athletes on the fringe,” she said.

“If you have a few months of loss of activity there’s a signifi-cant loss of income as well.”

She recommended athletes stick to routines, focus on what can be controlled and use their extra time for a hobby or on-line training to maintain their mental health.

No lockdown in AICF battle, prez

suspends secretary

Olympics in 2021 a boon as Dipa targets comeback

A T R E Y O M U K H O P A D H Y A Y @ Chennai

THE COVID-19 lockdown has done little to douse the unrest in All India Chess Federation (AICF). In the latest episode of the battle, the president has suspended the secretary, who shot back saying that he doesn’t have the power to take such a step. Since the matter may require judicial inter-vention, no immediate head-way seems visible under the circumstances.

The development is a con-tinuation of the fight between the sides led by AICF presi-dent PR Venketrama Raja and secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan. Elections could have offered a solution, but that is sub-judice and stuck in the Ma-dras High Court due to the coronavirus pandemic. That, how-ever, has not led to a ceasefire.

Levelling at least nine ch arges against Chauhan, Raja wrote he is using his “extraordinary powers” as AICF president “under Arti-cle 15 (a) of the AICF constitu-tion” to “remove” Chauhan fr om the secretary’s post. “All your actions contrary to and in violation of this notice sh-all be null and void,” read the letter accessed by this daily.

Chauhan said Raja is not the AICF president and even if he is, he doesn’t have the authority to dismiss an elect-ed official without two-third majority of the general body or central council of the fed-eration. He insisted that Ajay Patel is the AICF president.

That sounded odd, consider-ing that the Madras High Court had set aside that elec-tion process and Patel’s ap-peal challenging that order in the Supreme Court was also turned down.

However, Chauhan claimed otherwise. “While setting aside the election process (that elected Patel president), the court never said the pre-vious set of office-bearers will remain in office. So Patel stays president. I will write to the people he (Raja) has writ-ten to and explain this,” said Chauhan, who was elected secretary with Patel before the court overruled that election.

Even if there are loopholes in Chauhan’s argu-

ment, the Raja camp will find it hard to prove it right now because the courts are functioning only for emergency

cases. The AICF’s election matter has

also got held up due to this. “Chauhan knows that if elec-tions take place, he will lose. So he is trying to stall the pro-cess by hook or crook,” said RM Dongre, aspirant for the secretary’s post from the Raja faction.

Chauhan countered by say-ing that the Raja group is tak-ing action against him to di-vert attention from a letter from the Sports Commission-er of Maharashtra, which asks the AICF to direct the All Marathi Chess Associa-tion to submit the expendi-ture statement for the World Youth Championship held in Mumbai last year.

A S H I M S U N A M @ Bengaluru

TWO kilometres: That is the distance between India gym-nast Dipa Karmakar’s house and her coach Bisweswar Nan-di’s residence in Agartala. De-spite the short distance, the mo-bile phone has become an essential tool for both with their communication restrict-ed to calls, including a few via video when required, after the 26-year-old is done with train-ing. With the country in lock-down due to the COVID-19 out-break, Nandi has strictly instructed Dipa to stay home and not venture out.

In such times, the gymnast is not wasting any time. She is spending much of her time in

physical exercises in the morn-ing and evening to get back in her best shape. “Due to this cor-onavirus situation, there is a lockdown and I had to stop my practice too, which I had start-ed recently. As of now, I am working on my fitness at home. Around evening, I inform sir (Nandi) of the things (exercis-es) that I did during the day via phone,” Dipa told this daily.

Such emphasis on attaining top fitness does not come as a surprise. After an impressive fourth-position finish in Rio Olympics, she suffered anteri-or cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in 2017 and underwent surgery, which kept her out of the sport for almost a year. The 4-feet, 11-inch athlete won gold in Artis-

tic Gymnastics World Chal-lenge Cup in Turkey in 2018 and bronze in Artistic Gymnas-tics World Cup in Germany. The same year also witnessed her pull out of the Artistic team finals in the Asian Games due to injury.

Again, the knee injury came to haunt her in 2019, where she could not compete in the final of Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku. As a result, she missed out on the Doha World Cup, one of the qualifying events for Tokyo. Just when her Olympic chances looked slim, the postponement of Olympics by one year means she can fea-ture in the last two qualifying events for Tokyo in Baku and Doha. Both events have been

postponed, giving her more time to prepare.

“Out of the eight qualifying tournaments for Tokyo Olym-pics, two remain. She should feature in both, but has to be in good form and fitness also,” said Nandi. “First of all, one has to understand that she is coming out of an injury. There will be a psychological fear, but we will try to overcome that and prepare well. If she finish-es with a medal in both the events, then there are chances of her qualifying. Let’s see, but it is not going to be easy.”

Though Dipa can use this time for doing free-hand exer-cises, she cannot be involved in full-fledged training until the lockdown ends on April 14.

Elite sportspersons, because of the stress caused by sudden change in lifestyle, could develop anxiety-related issues

Every little thing makes me crazy. And by anxiety I mean I’m just on

edge. Any time anyone sneezes around me or coughs I get crazy.

Serena Williams

TIK-TOK TIK-TOK!A countdown clock displays the remaining days until the new start date for the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday | AP

S W A R O O P S W A M I N A T H A N @ Chennai

THE first three months of 2020 has not been positive for Pra-jnesh Gunneswaran. He did make it into the main draw of the Australian Open but that was the lone highlight as he lost more matches than he won. Defeat to Croatia’s Borna Gojo in the first rubber of the World Group playoffs compounded the disappointment. In a sense, it’s been a prolonged leen stretch since October.

A nagging left wrist injury in

October meant he was forced to give a walk-over to Wu Tung-lin in the third round of the Liu-zhou Challenger. Since then, he has won four main draw match-es in seven meets. However, there was a bigger blow in this time. He lost his father, SG Prabhakaran, who passed away after a period of illness last November.

“That was the biggest blow of my life,” Gunneswaran, who is quarantined at home, tells this daily. The former World No 75, who was explaining how he came within a tournament or

two of quitting for good, is still uncomfortable talking about what his father meant to him. It is only understandable because without Prabhakaran’s guid-ance and motivation, the 30-year-old would have stopped playing tennis. “It (my father’s death) impacted me a lot. But I cannot really do anything about it... it’s a part of my life.”

Here’s a little history lesson. Managing chronic tendinits in both his knees, the Chennai lad had had enough. He was just 23 but because of the state of his body, he was ready to delete his

dreams and look towards an al-ternate career. That’s when Prabhakaran intervened. His father asked him to give his body one final chance to keep his dream going. So he willed his body for one more time, a last chance saloon. “It just clicked there,” Gunneswaran remembers. “If I had aggravat-ed my injury after coming back for one last time... I would have definitely stopped then and there.”

Since giving himself ‘my last chance’, he has gone on to achieve a fair few milestones.

Understandably, “cracking the ATP 250s, winning that Anning Challenger (150 ranking points) in China as well as that do-or-die Davis Cup rubber against China in 2018” figure highly in his list.

When he is asked to look for-ward to what 2020 could yet bring, he is just interested in further polishing his big weap-ons; the serve and the forehand. “I have been making steady progress and closing the gap. But I would like to pay special focus to the things that I believe are my biggest weapons.”

For the time being though, he is one among many elite ath-letes around the world. “I can-not go out anywhere as I am under quarantine. If only I had access to gym equipment or a tennis court. So I have to make do with what I have, just doing push-ups and some body weight training.”

When the Tour returns, the World No 132 hopes he can channel his never-say-die spirit for another crack at the Top 100 and beyond. Knowing him, one wouldn’t be advised to bet against him. Prajnesh Gunneswaran

Coming to terms with personal loss, sharpening serve & forehandT O U G H T I M E S

E X P R E S S R E A D

Cancelling Wimbledon only solution: Jamie Murray LONDON: Cancelling Wimbledon is the only realistic option open to

organisers as they grapple with the chaos caused by the coronavirus, says two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Jamie Murray. “It’s

difficult to move the tournament back because you’re running into other tournaments that are still on schedule. And also things like

daylight to host the event. Each week that passes, you get less and less light to play the tournament,” said the Scotsman.

US Open site to be converted to hospitalNEW YORK: The site of the US

Open tennis tournament here will be used to build a 350-bed facility

in an effort to provide additional medical infrastructure to the city

as it battles the growing coronavirus outbreak. A report

said that New York city’s emer-gency management office plans

to build a 350-bed facility at the Billie Jean King National Tennis

Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The report said

construction could begin as early as Tuesday at an indoor training

center at the facility, which has multiple courts and wide spaces,

according to a spokesman for the US Tennis Association. The beds will likely be for patients who do

not have COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

USA Rugby forced to file for bankruptcy NEW YORK: USA Rugby has decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to financial woes exacerbated by the shutdown. In financial strife since 2018, USA Rugby’s recent attempt to restructure was set back this month when it had to suspend all activities.

BWF freezes junior and senior rankingsNEW DELHI: The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday decided to freeze the world rankings, saying standings as on March 17 will be the basis for entry and seedings when it restarts the international calender that has been thrown haywire.

Lord’s space open for health workers LONDON: The Marylebone Cricket Club has decided to provide parking

and storage spaces available at the Lord’s ground to the National Health Services staff battling the COVID-19 pandemic. “The close

proximity of a number of hospitals to Lord’s gives the club the opportunity to assist medical staff so they can concentrate on their

ongoing battle against the virus,” the MCC said in a release.

HELPING HANDS

ROHIT SHARMA The star batsman has donated `80 lakh. Of this, `45 lakh is for the PM’s fund, `25 lakh for the Maharashtra CM’s fund, `5 lakh for ‘Zomato Feeding India’ and `5 lakh for the welfare of stray dogs.

ANIL KUMBLE The former India captain and coach made donations to the central and Karnataka state relief funds. He refrained from disclosing the amount donated.

NEERAJ CHOPRA The Asian and Commonwealth Games gold-winning javelin thrower has given a total of `3 lakh to the central and Haryana state relief funds.

IOA & AFFILIATESAssociations under the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have put together `37.50 lakhs. The wrestling, golf, table tennis, basketball, tennis and cycling federations along with Kerala Olympic Association have contributed in this.

A sign in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a site for the temporary hospital

to cope with coronavirus cases | AFP

Bala Devi joins AFC campaign against virus

Indian women’s football captain Bala Devi has joined Bhaichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri in the Asian Football Confederation’s awareness campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic. She is among the latest leading players of the continent to join the AFC’s #BreakTheChain video campaign, aimed at raising awareness in the fight against coronavirus.

PUDUCHERRY

PRIV

ATE

LABS

GOVT

LAB

SQU

ARAN

TIN

E SI

TES

Do you have symptoms of the new coronavirus? You should immediately get yourself tested. Here is a ready reckoner that will aid your decision-making. We are providing the latest list of locations of testing centres as well as quarantine facilities, based on data from ICMR and NDMA

newindianexpress com12 CHENNAI WEDNESDAY 01l04l2020

ANDHRA PRADESH

DELHI ODISHA

GOVT TESTING LABS

GOVT TESTING LABS

North

Vizianagaram

Srikakulam

Visakhapatnam

East Godavari

West Godavari

Krishna

Prakasam

Guntur

Kurnool

Anantapur Chittoor

YSR Kadapa

Nellore

North East

Central

North West

South West

New Delhi

South

South East

East

ShahdaraWest

GOVT TESTING LABS GOVT TESTING LABS

NEW DELHI National Centre for

Disease ControlDr. Lalit Dar9818137078

SOUTH EAST DELHILaboratory Services Indraprastha Apollo

Hospitals

SOUTH WEST DELHIInstitute of Liver and

Biliary Sciences

Army Hospital Research & ReferralAll India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

NEW DELHILady Hardinge Medical College

NORTH EAST DELHIRam Manohar Lohia Hospital

BHUBANESWARRegional Medical

Research Centre (RMRC)

Dr Jyoti Turuk7653915589

CUTTACKSCB Medical College

Dr Dharitri Mohapatra/ Dr Nirupauma Chayani

986133650509437310666

ANANTAPURGovernment Medical College

Dr Swarnalatha, 9849499761

KADAPARajeev Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences

Dr SasidharMajeti9247899544

TIRUPATISri Venkateswara Institute of

Medical Sciences, Dr UshaKalawat, 9493547709

GUNTURGuntur Medical College

Dr Prasanthi Kohli, 9848173034

VIJAYAWADASidhartha Medical CollegeDr R Lakshmi Kumari

KAKINADARangaraya Medical CollegeDr. D S Murthy9440341099

VISAKHAPATNAMAndhra Medical collegeDr. P Kamala9246667885 9492820244

THIRUVARURGovernment Medical CollegeDr. V Vasuki, 9442351350

THENIGovernment Theni Medical CollegeDr. S Lalitha, 9787594487

TIRUNELVELI Tirunelveli Medical CollegeDr. RevathyBalan, 4622572733

MADURAIMadurai Medical CollegeDr. C Sugumari, 9842953380

COIMBATORECoimbatore Medical CollegeDr. Mythily Nagasundaram9488990741

SALEMKumar Mangalam Government Medical CollegeDr. S Rajesh, 9443321151

VILLUPURAMGovernment Medical CollegeDr. P Shankar, 9940856010

VELLOREChristian Medical College

CHENNAIGuindy: King Institute of Preventive Medicine and ResearchPark Town: Madras Medical CollegeDr. K Kaveri, 988485519

TAMIL NADUTELANGANA

COIMBATOREMicrobiological Laboratory, Veerakeralam road, Vadavalli

VELLOREChristian Medical College

CHENNAIPorur: Sri Ramachandra Laboratory Services,

Greams Road: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise LimitedRoyapettah: Neuberg Ehrlich Laboratory Pvt Ltd Tharamani: Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education

Nalgonda

NagarkurnoolWanaparthy

Jogulamba Gadwal

Mahabubnagar

Narayanpet

Vikarabad

Sangareddy

RangareddyHyderabad

MedakKamareddy

Nizamabad

Rajanna Sircilla

Siddipet

Jagtial

Mancherial

Kumurambheem Asifabad

Peddapalli

KarimnagarJayashankar Bhupatpally

Mulugu

Warangal Urban

Warangal Rural

Mahabubabad

Bhadradri Kothagudem

Khammam

JangaonYadadri Bhuvanagiri

Nirmal

Adilabad

Medchal Malkajgiri

Suryapet

QUARANTINE SITES

MADURAIThe Institute of

Cooperative Management

Training

TIRUCHYShivani Engineering

College

CHENNAITambaram,

Poonamallee

QUARANTINE SITES

GOVT TESTING LABS

GOVT TESTING LABS

TESTING LABS

QUARANTINE SITES

HYDERABADNizam’s Institute of Medical SciencesInstitute of Preventive MedicineOsmania Medical College

SECUNDERABADGandhi Medical CollegeDr. K Nagamani9966533327

WARANGALKakatiya Medical CollegeDr. Jyothi Kundru7337070094

YADADRI BHUVANAGIRIAIIMS, Bibinagar

Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research Dr. Rahul Dhodapkar, 9791933708

MULAKULAM: Hall, opp to Rina MahalBOMMIYANPET: Jawahar Nagar LAWSPET: Ashok NagarMUTHIALPET: Ganesh NagarKURUSUKUPPAMPU

DUCH

ERRY

Dr. Raghunathan 9443090010

Chennai 2 Govt labs4 Private1 non-ICMR Lab

Chengalpet

Viluppuram

KallakurichiCuddalore

MayiladuthuraiKaraikal

NagapattinamThiruvarur

PerambalurAriyalur

ThanjavurPudukottaiSivagangai

RamanathapuramTuticorin

Kanyakumari Tirunelveli

Tenkasi

VirudhunagarTheniMadurai

DindigulTiruchyKarurCoimbatoreNilgiris

Namakkal

SalemDharmapuri

Krishnagiri

TirupatturTiruvannamalai

Vellore RanipetTiruvallur

Erode

PRIVATE LABS

PRIVATE LABS

GOVT LABS NOT BACKED BY ICMROld Washermanpet: Stanley Medical College

KERALA

QUARANTINE SITES

THRISSURCommunity health

centre, Mala

Taluk headquarters Hospital Chalakkudy

General Hospital Irinjalakuda

Taluk HQ Hospital, Kodungallur

General Hospital

Medical College Hospital

District Hospital Wadakkancherry

Taluk Hospital Kunnamkulam

Government Thaluk HQ Hospital Chavakkad

PALAKKADTaluk Head Quarters Hospital, Ottapalam

District Hospital

MALAPPURAMGovernment District

Hospital, Tirur

KOZHIKODEMedical College Hospital

KozhikodeGovernment General

Hospital

T’PURAMGeneral Hospital

Medical College

PATHANAMTHITTAGeneral HospitalDistrict Hospital,

Kozhencherry

NEW CASESKerala reported seven new cases on Tuesday, said Shailaja Teacher, the state’s minister for health, social justice and woman and child development

confirmed cases has been

detected as on Tuesday,

according to the Union

Health Ministry

KOLLAMGMCH ParipallyVictoria HospitalDistrict Hospital

ALAPPUZHATaluk Head Quarters Hospital KayamkulamMedical College HospitalGeneral HospitalTaluk Head Quarters Hospital Cherthala

KOTTAYAMGeneral Hospital KottayamMedical College Hospital

IDUKKIDistrict Hospital District Hospital ThodupuzhaAl Azhar Hospital Thodupuzha

ERNAKULAMGovernment Medical College Kalamassey

WAYANADWIMS MeppadiGeneral Hospital KalpettaDistrict Hospital Manathavady

KANNURGeneral Hospital THALASSERY

KASARGODEDistrict Hospital KanhangadGeneral Hospital KasaragodCare Well Hospital

Kasargod

Kannur

Wayanad

Malappuram

palakkad

Thrissur

Ernakulam

Idukki

Kottayam

Alappuzha

PathanamthittaKollam

Thiruvananthapuram

GOVT TESTING LABST’PURAM

Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology

9448078081

Government Medical College,

ChalakkuzhiDr. Sarada Devi

9495244081

ALLAPUZZHANational Institute of

Virology Field Unit, Vandanam, 9448078081

THRISSURGovernment Medical CollegeDr. Prithi Nair K9739152943

KOZHIKODEGovernment Medical CollegeDr. Beena Philomina J9446161949

KOTTAYAMInter University Centre, Thalappady,

KANNURMalabar Cancer Centre, Thalassery

KASARAGODCentral University of Kerala

MIMS Laboratory Services, Kozhikode

CLEANING UPA fire and rescue services truck sprays disinfectant in

Kammamth Road in Kozhikode on Tuesday | MANU R MAVELIL

PRIVATE LABS

HYDERABADVimta Labs Ltd Dr G Jyothi Lakshmi9848097635

AMERICAN Institute of Pathology and Laboratory Sciences Private LtdDr. Remedies Labs Private LimitedVijaya Diagnostic Centre Pvt. LtdMedcis Pathlabs India Pvt.Ltd. PATHCARE Labs Pvt. Ltd

SECUNDERABADThe Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yashoda HospitalApollo Health and Lifestyle Limited

Labourers form a queue to collect rice provided by the government at Nayanaguda Melkote park | VINAY MADAPU

Municipal workers demonstrate how to handle a Covid-19 positive patient in Vijayawada on Tuesday | EXPRESS

40

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49

SOUTH EAST DELHIDr Dang’s Lab

NORTH WEST DELHIDr Lal PathLabs, National Reference Laboratory

SOUTH DELHILaboratory Services Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals

WEST DELHICity X-Ray & Scan Clinic Pvt. Ltd.

SOUTH WEST DELHIPrognosis LaboratoriesOncquest Laboratories Limited

PRIVATE LABS

cases the state has in total, according

to the Union health ministry. None

have died so far of the disease

confirmed cases have been recorded, with 5 patients recovered

79

KARNATAKAQUARANTINE SITES

Bidar

Kalaburgi

Yadgir

Raichur

BallariKoppala

Chitradurga

Tumkur

Kolar

Bengaluru RuralBengaluru UrbanRamanagara

Kodagu

Hassan

Udupi

ShivamoggaChikkamagaluru

Davanagere

Haveri

Dharwad

Gadag

Belagavi

Vijapura

Uttara Kannada

Dakshina kannadaChamarajnagar

Mysuru

Chikkaballapur

KALABURAGIESI Hospital

YADGIRDistrict Hospital

YadgirTaluk Hospital

ShahapuraTaluka Hospital,

ShorapuraRAICHUR

Raichur Institute of Medical ScienceNavodaya Medical

CollegeSHIVAMOGGA

Mcgan District and Teaching

Hospital

KALABURAGIGulbarga Institute Of Medical SciencesDr Nawaz UmarBALLARIVijayanagar Institute of Medical ScienceDr Krishna S, 9448415781SHIVAMOGGAShimoga Institute of Medical SciencesHASSANHassan Institute of Medical SciencesMYSOREMysore Medical College & Research Institute, Dr AmurthaKumari B, 9900571039BENGALURUBangalore Medical College & Research Institute, Command Hospital (Air Force)National Institute of Virology

A man pushes a trolley of grocery items amid the lockdown in Yeswanthpur on Tuesday | SHRIRAM BN

Neuberg Anand Reference LaboratoryDr. Shantala G 9448078081

Cancyte Technologies Private Limited

PRIVATE LABS

42,788 4,346samples have been tested for coronavirus so far in India

samples were tested on Monday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research

private labs have been given permission for testing so far, said Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar from ICMR on Tuesday

Bagalkot

Know your test centres

● Madhumitha Viswanath

For our widely varied populace, the virus-i n f l u e n c e d q u a r a n t i n e h a s come with a lot of concerns — stocking

up on sustenance, managing work from home, keeping up the medicine schedule, finding new means of entertainment, doing everything to keep the common cold or fever at bay — routines we have never had to get accustomed to till at least half a century ago. But, there is no denying that families with children have additional concerns to address. Sure, with being locked in for nearly a month with only a handful of options for entertainment, things might get bleak. But perhaps, there is a silver lining to this social distancing.

Creative pursuitsExperts in the field of educa-tion and parental guidance do think so. Now might be the

time to let go of the enormous importance we place on aca-demics and proving it with numbers, and take the chance to focus on more essential mat-ters of life, they advise. “Par-ents do not have to worry about their ward’s academic educa-tion. Once schools are open, teachers will bring students up to speed. Now, the focus can be on creative learning and build-ing a solid relationship. A sour relationship between children and parents is one of the main reasons for mental stress dur-ing this lockdown,” says Arundhati Swamy, family counselor at ParentCircle.

Active involvementGetting children engaged in everyday household activities — be it helping in the kitchen or taking up cleaning jobs or handling the pet — is the key. This allows for organic interac-tion with the children, suggests Vidya Shankar, chief mentor at Cascade Family Learning Ser-vices at Besant Nagar. Parents seem to have picked up many

of these cues quite naturally. Kanchana Krithivasan, a work-ing mom to a seven-year-old girl, has made a detailed activ-ity schedule — complete with time for play, prayer, kitchen as-sist and even some solitude. An activity chart keeps track of their days.

An example of ingenuity, Rasi-ka Ramesh, mother of three, has managed to get her kids to play ten different games with just a bat and a ball. “We have found new ways to use watercolours. We are consciously trying to re-use things,” she says. Who would not want an entertaining sched-ule that doubles as a lesson on ‘reuse, reduce and recycle’?

Srivatsav N, a resident of Nanganallur, says that his daughter has been of great help with their nine-month-old son. “This has helped the siblings bond. She has become more careful while handling the baby and is more comfortable with him too,” he reports.

HOME (NOT)

ALONEIncluding subjects in everyday routine, making

activity charts, taking care of pets — parents have come up with interesing ways to keep

their children engaged during lockdown

TenderCuts introduces contactless retail for customers

PG 3

Play with these board game apps during lockdown

Dawn of AppleSteve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded the firm Apple Computer on this day in 1976 to sell Apple I, their personal computer kit

DAY’S DIARYVISION

Jobs and Wozniak wanted to make computers small enough for people to have them in their homes or offices — they wanted a computer that was user-friendly

THE THIRD FOUNDER

Ronald Gerald Wayne, the ‘third founder’ of Apple Computer, was with the company for only a short time. He illustrated the first Apple logo and wrote the Apple I manual

TECH BY HAND

Both of them were college dropouts. The kits were hand-built by Wozniak and first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club. They went on sale in July 1976

READSHAREFOLLOW

newindianexpress.comMail us: cityexpresschn@gmail.com

01l04l2020

WEDNESDAY

Kanchana with her daughter Avantika

A new routine● Try cooking one dish at a time from scratch.

Right from cutting vegetables to setting up the table for a meal.

● Tidy up the house with the help of your children/child, including their rooms.

● Listen to music, sing or dance together for a fixed time every day.

● Talk about stories from the past, recount his/her childhood days.

● Attempt to create something new as a family. It can be anything from making a scrapbook, baking a cake or sewing a dress.

Pawsitive vibesPet parents are getting their children’s help to keep their four-legged kids com-fortable at times like this when food is sparse and walks are not advisable. Jen-nifer Jacob — with four senior rescue dogs who require round the clock atten-tion — gets her six-year-old daughter Dia’s help to care for them. “She refills their water bowls every day, and accom-panies them to the backyard and stays with them till they finish their activities. Contrary to popular belief, it’s easier to go through this lockdown with pets at home. Kids and pets are natural buddies. Also, with Dia being constantly occupied with our pets, she hardly watches videos on the laptop,” says Jennifer, founder of Chennai Adoption Drive, a non-profit or-ganisation that is involved in rescue and rehabilitation of animals.

While each family is unique and so are their needs, not all the helpful sugges-tions on offer might work the same for everyone. Yet, experts have you covered with a few basic hints. Pick what suits your needs and stay healthy this lockdown.

Dr Shwetha Rahul with her daughter Prakriti

Engagement is the cornerstone of The New Indian Express. We believe in

putting you,the reader, first in reporting news that matters to you. And we also

want to hear from you about your problems — erratic power supply, water

shortage, clogged drains, or broken roads. We will raise these issues. Let us join hands in creating a city that sets a

benchmark for others to follow.

WRITE TO US tniereaders@gmail.com

OFF THE FIELDSOUTH AFRICA VS INDIA

2018- 3rd ODI- Highlights On SONY TEN 1 & SONY TEN 1 HD

When: 9.00 am, today

NAIL BITING FINISHESEngland vs India 2018- 3rd T20I On

SONY SIX & SONY SIX HDWhen: 9.00 am, today

INDIA’S FINEST #09 Cheteshwar Pujara On SONY SIX &

SONY SIX HDWhen: 10.00 am, today

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALS

A short history of UEFA Champions League On SONY TEN 2 & SONY TEN 2 HD

When: 10.00 am, today

MARCH OF THE CHAMPIONS SONY TEN 1 & SONY TEN 1 HD, SONY TEN 2 &

SONY TEN 2 HD When: 7.00 pm, today

BEST OF SERIE A 2019-20 ROUND 22

Juventus vs Fiorentina On SONY TEN 1 & SONY TEN 1 HD When: 7.30 pm, today

● Express Features

In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, TenderCuts, a city-based meat and seafood company, has in-troduced contactless retail. The service is part of the company’s initiative to mitigate the ongo-

ing crisis with focus on ensuring safety of its em-ployees and customers. Under contactless retail, a customer can download the TenderCuts app, place the order and the company will allot a time slot for the customer to pick up the order from the store. Once the customer arrives at the store, they can sanitise themselves and the product will be kept ready which will allow the customer to complete his retail experience in a few minutes. Customers must make payment online for their orders.

Call to contributeThe Greater Corporation of Chen-

nai has issued a strict list of guide-lines to streamline the collection and distribution of rations during

the crisis. These are few of the organisations that are approved to function during the lockdown. Call

to contribute in cash or kind.

Penguin Sportsmen Welfare Trust“Members of our trust have pooled in finances and have been reaching out to homeless families near Parry’s, Perumbur bridge and Broadway Street,” says N Raghu, treasurer, Penguin Sportsmen Welfare Trust. They have been able to provide dry rations sufficient for two days to around 120 destitute families in Chennai. For details, call: N Raghu - 9841454501

Karunai Ullangal trust: “We are a team of approximately 50 people in different areas, distributing rations like rice, pulses, face masks and hand wash, to the homeless. We have three people stationed in each area. All of us are taking all the necessary precautions while working. We wear masks and gloves at all times,” says D Arulraj, co-founder of Karunai Ullangal trust. For details, contact: Arulraj - 9841776685

The Kindness FoundationThe Kindness Foundation has been teaming up with NGOs to provide assistance to those who require it. “We are identifying groups that need our help and alerting our teams accordingly. We are catering to old age homes, families with disabled members, slum residents and homeless children, women and men,” says Mahima. They are working with Chennai Task Force for volunteers and on-ground activities. For details, call: 9344502996

COLLECTING

CAREFOR THE LOCKDOWN

● Naaz Ghani

Everything has come to a screeching halt. A large part of the population hasn’t been out-side the four walls of their

homes in over a week. It is now, when the roads are bereft of bus-tling crowds and busy negligence,

that the city’s uncomfortable reality stands out in stark relief. Our atten-tion has finally turned to the thou-sands of homeless who continue to take shelter under bridges and at bus stops. We eventually began to question their state — What would happen if one them is infected? How can I be safe from them? Do they still have no place to go to? What is the

government going to do about them? What if the curve is flattened but spikes again because of them? Do they need sanitisers and masks? Wait, do they have any food to eat? . Thankfully, not everyone stopped with just asking these questions.

Several NGOs, welfare trusts and concerned citizens have stepped forth to provide for those in need —

be they on the footpath off Anna Salai or in slums that do not get the benefit of a decently-stocked gro-cery store. Food, shelter, medicines, and any other need is being ad-dressed, thanks to donations that continue to trickle in. If you are safely at home and wanting to do your part to ease another’s life, here are your options.

Urban Shelters“We are collaborating with the GCC to provide sufficient shelter to the homeless dur-ing this lockdown,” says Asha Parikarnaidu, coordinator, Urban Shelters. Together they have set up 18 shelter homes in function halls around the city. They are also providing

dry food supplies, hand washes and face masks to the homeless. For details, call: Murugan: 9841292373

Chennai Task ForceA citizen action group, Chennai Task Force is playing a crucial role in Chennai’s crisis management. They, along with the Kindness Foundation, have collaborated with NGOs, suppliers, vendors and volunteers to provide any necessary assistance to the underprivileged. They have also been working in line with the GCC to provide required relief. “We are proactively identifying exactly what the needs of different groups and organisations are, and we think that’s a critical component of efficient resource allocation. With the help of the NGOs we’re working with, we are able to tailor what we are giving to the specific needs of who we are giving it to,” says Ishani Karthik, Chennai Task Force. For details, call: 7338812372

GOVT COLLECTION

CENTRES● Jaidev Stadium, Kilpauk

● Amma Arangam, Anna Nagar

SELF MADEAn African-American washerwoman rises

from poverty to build a beauty empire and become the first female self-made millionaire.l Cast: Octavia Spencer, Tiffany Haddish, Carmern Ejogol Watch on: Netflixl Registration: J 199 per month

DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST (French)A new priest arrives in the rural French village of Ambricourt to attend his first Parish, and is rejected immediately. Through his diary entries, he relays a crisis of faith.l Cast: Claude Laydu, Jean Riveyre, Markie-Monique Arkelll Watch on: Mubil Registration: J 199 for three months

ACCIDENT Vain and insecure Oxford don Stephen’s life is thrown into turmoil when he falls in love with one of his students, Anna, who has attracted the attention of two others.l Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Jacqueline Sassardl Watch on: Mubil Registration: J 199 for three months

REGIONAL BIG BROTHER (Malayalam)After 24 years in jail, Sachidanandan is finally set free. Despite his family’s unflinching support, he struggles to cope with the ways of the world.l Cast: Mohanlal, Arbaaz Khanl Watch on: Amazon Primel Registration: J 129 per month

KD (Tamil)As his children plot his death to claim their inheritance, an ageing patriarch leaves home, befriending a

spunky boy who adds direction to his life.l Cast: Mu Ramaswamy, Naga Vishal, Yog Japeel Watch on: Netflixl Registration: J 199 per month

KANNUM KANNUM KOLLAIYADITHAAL (Tamil)A carefree youngster’s womanising ways end when he meets the girl of his dreams. But their newfound peace is

interrupted when a cop comes into their lives.l Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Ritu

Varmal Watch on: Netflixl Registration: J 199 per

month

PANCHATANTRA (Kannada)A group of youngsters

and a band of senior citizens decide to resolve a property dispute by taking part

in a car racing competition.l Cast: Vihan Gowda, Akshara Gowdal Watch on: Zee5l Registration: J 99 per month

HINDI

THE FORGOTTEN ARMY – AZAADI KE LIYEBased on the true story of Indian soldiers who marched towards the capital, with the war cry ‘Challo Dilli’, to free their country from the reign of the British.l Cast: Sunny Kaushal, Sharvari Waghl Watch on: Amazon Primel Registration: J 129 per month

IKIGAIThe Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy LifeBy Héctor García, Francesc MirallesThe people of Japan believe that everyone has an ikigai - a reason for being; the thing that gets you out of bed each morning. And according to the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa - the world’s longest-living people - finding it is the key to a longer and more fulfilled life.Available on Audible. Pricing and benefits vary by Membership Plan. Starts at `199 per month.

NANDHINIYIN KURALOSAI by Nandhini BalaNandhini Balakrishnana loves story-telling. Her podcast offers stories from Tamil literature in simple language with explanations and reviews. Expect short stories from Purananuru and other celebrated works.Nandhiniyin Kuralosai by Nandhini Bala is available for free on Spotify

PAGUTHARIVU PODCASTThis Tamil podcast by Summa Productions covers news commentary and topics of interest for the rational minds. The objective of the show is to enable awareness among its listeners so they do not fall for fake news propagandas.Pagutharivu Podcast is available for free on Spotify

MAANUDAM SURESH This podcast by Maanudam Suresn covers an array of contents such as self-improvement, history, movie reviews, story-telling, and philosophy.Maanudam Suresh - Tamil Podcast is available for free on Google Podcast

THINKING, FAST AND SLOWBy Daniel KahnemanDrawing on a lifetime’s experimental experience, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our professional and our personal lives, and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.

Available on Audible. Pricing and

benefits vary by Membership Plan.

Starts at `199 per month.

BYOMKESH BAKSHIThe character, Byomkesh Bakshi, initially appeared in the 1931 story Satyanweshi. It gained pan-India popularity almost six decades later with a TV series on Doordarshan with Rajit Kapur portraying Byomkesh. l Cast: Rajit Kapur and KK Rainal Watch on: DD Nationall Daily at: 11 am

RAMAYAN Directed by Ramanand Sagar, Ramayan, based on Lord Ram’s life, was first aired on Doordarshan in 1987 and had a massive following across the country. l Cast: Arun Govil, Deepika Chikhalia and Sunil Lahril Watch on: DD Nationall Daily at: 9 am-10 am, 9 pm-10 pm

CIRCUS Directed by Aziz Mirza and Kundan Shah, Circus, which introduced the world to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has made a comeback on Doordarshan.l Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Ashutosh Gowarikerl Watch on: DD National l Daily at: 8 pm

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MAHABHARAT Mahabharat, directed by BR Chopra, was first aired in October 1988 and had a total of 94 episodes. The script was written by the Urdu poet Rahi Masoom Raza, based on the original story by saint Vyasa.l Cast: Nitish Bharadwaj, Praveen Kumar, Gajendra Chauhanl Watch on: DD Bhartil Daily at: 12 pm and 7 pm

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2newindianexpress.comMail us: cityexpresschn@gmail.com

READSHAREFOLLOWwww.newindianexpress.com

WEDNESDAY

DUMBODumbo, a flying elephant, soars to new heights alongside a charming aerial artist.l Cast: Danny DeVito, Colin Farrell, Michael Keatonl Watch on: Hotstarl Registration: J 299 per month

SARILERU NEEKEVVARU(Telugu)

An Army Major, known to handle tough tasks at the border with ease, moves to

Kurnool on a secret mission and gets caught in a family tiff.

l Cast: Mahesh Babu, Vijayasanthi, Rashmika Mandanna l Watch on: Amazon Primel Registration: J 129 per

month

ENGLISH/FOREIGN

IT HAPPENED IN CALCUTTA (Hindi)The series revolves around Kusum, a young girl who aspires to become the first female doctor in the city and gets an admission in the Calcutta Medical College to fulfil her dream. She falls in love with Ronobir . But there is more to this tale than what meets the eye. l Cast: Karan Kundrra, Naghma Rizwan, Harman Singhal Watch on: ALTBalajil Registration: Free

INGREDIENTS

Black chana: 50 gm

Shallots: 5

Tomato: half

Cucumber: a small piece

Salt: a pinch

Pepper: 1 tsp

Lemon

Coriander leaves to garnish

BLACK CHANA SALAD FIT BIT

A M A Z O N K I N D L E S T O R EYou can read Kindle books on your Kindle device or your phone, tablet or computer with the free Kindle Reading apps. Kindle Unlimited is a service that allows you

to read as much as you want, choosing from over 1 million titles. The first 30 days are free, after which it’s available for `169 a month.

LEARNING HOW TO FLY

By Dr APJ Abdul KalamA compilation of nearly 2,000

lectures that were addressed to teachers and students in school and beyond. He speaks about preparing oneself best for life, to identify and

overcome challenges.

PACHINKOBy Min Jin Lee

From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan’s finest universities

to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee’s complex

characters — strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers are shaken by moral crisis.

POONACHI: OR THE

STORY OF A BLACK GOAT

By Perumal MuruganThrough a seeming act of

providence, an old couple receives a day-old female goat kid as a gift

from the cosmos.

MAUS By Art Spiegelman

Available at: Archive.orgMaus is a graphic novel by American

cartoonist Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts

Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew

and Holocaust survivor.

LEGENDS OF HALAHALA

By AppupenAvailable at: Google PlaystoreThis is a dark, comic ride through

a mythical world, and through different periods in its history —

from the long-gone Oberian Age to the dystopian era of dome-cities.

LONGFORMBy various authors

Available at: Kindle Amazon StoreThe anthology takes us through

the streets of Rome and Kolkata, modern-day Tehran and ancient

Bhutan, imaginary cities and kaleidoscopic dreamscapes.

BUGSY MALONE By Alan Parker

Available at: Juggernaut.inIn Prohibition-era New York City,

Fat Sam runs one of the most popular speakeasies in town – but

his rival Dandy Dan is trying to shut him down. It’s up to Bugsy

Malone to save the day.

G r a p h i c N o v e l s

Use your email details to create an account on the website. This will enable you to access a range of free and paid e-books.   Availability and download of the free e-book is subject to creating an account with the sites.

All the streaming apps can be accessed on smartphones and smart

TVs with Internet connection.

What’s cooking IN YOUR KITCHEN DURING THIS LOCKDOWN? We are hungry for recipes with minimum ingredients

and maximum flavours. Share your quick-fix with us, along with step-by-step photos, at cityexpresschn@gmail.com.

— By T Uma Maheswari, Chennai

Limitations

lPeople suffering from knee- or ankle-related ailments should be careful.

lMenstruating women and expectant mothers can do it at their own pace.

lPeople with vertigo and epilepsy should do this posture carefully.

Steps

lStanding upright, spread your legs. Turn the left foot 30-45 degree inwards and the right foot out 90 degrees. Gradually turn the body to the right, squaring the hips.

01l04l2020

VIRABHADRASANA (VIRA - A WARRIOR)

METHOD n Soak black chana overnight for eight hours.

n Pressure cook it for 20 minutes on low flame.

n In a bowl, add chopped onion, tomato, cucumber and coriander.

n Sprinkle pepper.

n Add the boiled black chana and squeeze lemon.

VAND

ANA A

GARW

AL, C

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ai

DAVID COPPERFIELD

By Charles DickensThis is the story of a young man’s

adventures on his journey from an unhappy & impoverished

childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful

novelist.

Benefits

lWorks on easing stiffness from hamstrings.

lStrengthens the body and mind.

lImproves lung capacity.

lWorks well on thighs and shoulder muscles.

lSlowly bend the right knee 90 degrees, keeping the knee stacked over the ankle.

lRight thigh should be parallel to the floor and left shin approximately 45 degrees from the floor.

lOpen your hands parallel to the ground.

Scan this QR code to find out how your favourite celebes are coping with the lockdown

3www.newindianexpress.com

newindianexpress.comMail us: cityexpresschn@gmail.comFEATURES

READSHAREFOLLOW

WEDNESDAY01l04l2020

W hen the 21-day lock-down was announced by PM Narendra Modi, I was devastated. But I

wanted to take this in my stride, with a positive attitude and be more productive. I started by de-leting my Net-flix and Ama-zon Prime accounts. I downloaded Skillshare to learn video ed-iting on Pre-miere Pro and learn how to make graphic art. For the past two months, I’ve been in love with a couple of art chan-nels on YouTube like Gwax Art, ZHC & Vexx Art. Quaran-tine seems to be the perfect time for me to learn new things. It’s always a little daunting to learn a new skill but I don’t want to pass up an

opportunity to explore my creativity.

On the other hand, it is genu-inely hard these days to con-centrate on a goal because of

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Usually,

I ’m so bothered about what others

are doing; now, I realise that there has been no per-sonal growth. Learning a skill has played a vital

role in my self-growth journey. I

would urge everyone to learn a new skill. I’ll

be starting an art channel on YouTube called ‘Vish Lion Arts’, so you can follow my journey there.

— Vishwanth Ramesh(Write to cityex-

presschn@gmail.com and tell us how you

are spending this quarantine)

● Express Features

A round 56 people from the Perambalur constituency, who had been on a pil-grimage to Varanasi, are

now held up there following the lockdown.

After learning about their plight, Perambalur MP TR Paarivendhar wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yo g i A d i t y a n a t h a n d Tamil Nadu chief minister, Edapaddi Palaniswami, urging

them to ensure security and safety of the 56 people stranded there.

Following the request, Paari-vendhar called them up to seek clarity on their situation. Fur-ther, he also provided `1,12,000 from his personal fund to the Kasi Sri Kumara Swamy Mutt, where they are currenly stay-ing, to take care of their expenses.

As most of the stranded peo-ple are senior citizens and are diabetic, he urged them to stay safe and assured them further help in case of emergency.

● Veena Mani

What was your favourite hobby as a kid? Do you continue to pursue it even as an adult? In

Shyamala Rama Murthy’s case, it was gardening and she continues to pursue it even now, at the age of 64. Garden-ing helped city-based Shyama-la earn a name and identity for herself in Mogappair. Ask anyone about her and they re-fer to her as the person with a variety of fruits in her house.

Shyamala nurtures an array of fruits, vegetables and flow-er-bearing plants on the ground floor, first floor and the terrace of her house. Giving us a tour of her L-shaped green area in the balcony and verandah, she says that she managed to source most of her plants without her husband’s knowledge. “He doesn’t like it when I go out to buy plants. A vendor regularly sells saplings outside our house. When my husband is not around, I buy plants from him. If he happens to be at home, I’ve instructed the person to leave some plants at the doorstep in one corner and collect money from me later,” says Shyamala.

Trial and errorWhile Shyamala’s interest in gardening has been intact from the time she ventured into it as a young girl, she rues that neither her siblings nor her children are in-clined to prac-tise as much as she is. “Be-cause of this, I currently o n l y o w n a r o u n d 5 0 plants. Though I would like to nurture more, at the moment, I can manage only these many,” she shares.

Everything she has learned so far about gardening has been through trial and error. “My sister’s daughter-in-law has a terrace garden. She loves gardening and is the only one who shares the interest with me. I talk to her about my plants and share tips and she, in turn, tells me about the new plants in her garden,” she

enthuses.

Gardening on-the-goWhen Shyamala travelled across the country for 35 years, along with her husband who is a retired Air Force officer, she had the chance to learn about different plant species. “My husband was posted in Ra-jasthan and New Delhi, among other places. His last posting

was in Chennai. Every time we’d move to a

new city, I’d pray that we get a quarter on the ground floor, so that I could set up a gar-den. I had cap-sicum, tomato,

p a p ay a a n d m a n y o t h e r

plants. I had the chance to explore

and experiment with my garden,” she recalls, adding that some of her plants have been her constant companions throughout her journey.

She recounts how she packed some of her plants and brought them to Chennai by train, taking the 2nd AC com-partment. “AC would keep the plants fresh. That’s why I did that. I could not stand the idea of leaving behind my plants.

Everyone on the train was amused by seeing my plants. But I had to do it,” she smiles.

Instead of investing in pots or bags, she uses plastic water cans, metal containers in which people had gifted her sweets, and old buckets for her plants. While she does know how to tie her climbers so that they grow in order, owing to

her age, she has appointed a worker to ensure her climbers are firmly tied, clipped and well-maintained. Apart from climbers, she also houses gua-va, chickoo and brinjal, among other plants.

She is currently waiting to harvest the brinjals in her gar-den to get seeds for the next crop.

A green exploration

Children from the locality treat themselves to guavas and chickoos

from my garden—Shyamala Rama

Murthy

A healthy harvest Shyamala Rama Murthy says she does not use any manure; her plants are healthy because the soil itself is fertile. She doesn’t mix her soil with cocopeat — an otherwise usual practice done to strengthen the soil. Her tip for home gardeners is for them to ensure that pots have a proper outlet for the water to seep out. As she waters her plants, she points to one of the pots and explains how the water stagnates there because of an improper hole at the bottom of the plastic pot.

Shyamala Rama Murthy nurtures an array of fruits, vegetables and flower-bearing plants at her house l P Jawahar

ONE DAY AT A TIME

TokaidoTimes are pretty stressful right now, which is why Tokaido might be worth a shot. A peaceful relaxing game about holiday travels in ancient Japan, this game is guaranteed to charm your socks off.

Castles of BurgundyCastles of Burgundy is one of the best board games around, but, equally, one of the most dull-looking. The app spruces things up with a fresh coat of paint but, most importantly, doesn’t mess with

that wonderful core Burgundy experience.

Ticket to RideThe king stays the king — Ticket to Ride is still one of the best mobile implementations

out there. It’s accessible, it’s fun and, should you tire of the base game, it’s got all the expansions available for purchase. It also offers a great pass-and-play multiplayer option, too.

Galaxy TruckerNow for something much less zen — Galaxy Trucker is one of the best apps I’ve ever played, despite on paper being so incompatible with a digital format. Yet, somehow, this imple-mentation of a chaotic real-time spaceship-building game is as good as the physical one.

Burgle Bros.Burgle Bros. is one of my favourite co-op games and it received an excellent digital implementation in the last year or so. If you’re look-ing for some Ocean’s Eleven-style hijinks, look no further.

Hive/OnitamaFor the two-player groups out there, there are lots of options but Onitama and Hive

are among the best ones. Onitama is certainly the simpler of the two, and offers a straightforward

experience; whereas Hive is a much deeper game that will reward repeated plays.

SplendorSplendor is excellent in tabletop form, and luckily its mobile version lives up to that. You can play the regular game in the app, or try your hand at a variety of challenges — with special

rules and/or objectives in a limited time — that really keep you coming back for more.

CarcassonneCarcassonne is one of the most beloved games out there and is extremely addictive in app form. It’s easy to lose an hour or two compet-ing with the extremely capable AIs it offers.

APPSOLUTE BOARDOM

We’ve spoken about our favourite digital implementations of board games before

but, given the current circumstances, we

figured it was worth revisiting this particular topic. If you’re

looking for ways to pass time, here are some of the best boardgame apps out there.

Lords of WaterdeepAs gateway games go, Lords of Waterdeep gets a lot of love. Luckily, everything that makes it great has been successfully ported over to the app. It’s a perfect introduction to worker-placement games, and well worth your time.

Race for the GalaxyIf you held a gun to my head and asked me what my favourite app was, I’d say Race for the Galaxy. The original card game is legendarily

obtuse but the app makes picking it up a little friendlier and that’s all it ever needed. There’s a reason this is one of the most critically-acclaimed card games of all time, and it’s amazing as an app.Suburbia

Whenever the topic of best city-building games are discussed, one name keeps coming up — Sub-urbia. If you’re looking for the finest SimCity-type experience, give this one a shot — the many chal-lenges and variants it offers are almost certainly what inspired Splendor to do the same.

Offline sites with

new skills in sight

Perambalur MP steps in to help stranded pilgrims

(Arjun is a gamer, book lover and an all-round renaissance man)

http://goo.gl/uNBWN3

PLAYONArjun Sukumaran

Sony Picture has changed the release schedule of its upcom-ing films, including Spider-Man spinoff Morbius, Ghost-

busters: Afterlife , and Tom Holland-starrer Uncharted due to the uncertainty around the reopen-ing of theatres following the coro-navirus outbreak.

Morbius, which was set to hit the screens on July 31, will now be re-leased on March 19, 2021. Ghost-busters, earlier set for July 10 re-lease, will now arrive on March 5, 2021, which was the date previously slotted for the release of Uncharted.

Tom Holland’s movie will in turn be released on October 8, 2021.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, theatres across the world have been shut, severely affecting the film in-dustry and leading to the delay of many major productions, such as Wonder Woman 1984 and Peter Rab-bit 2: The Runaway, among others.

● Shilajit Mitra

ZEE5’s State of Siege: 26/11 recreates the ten-sion and terror of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The show, streaming since March 20, follows a

team of National Security Guard (NSG) commandos as they are flown in to neutralise the attacks. The 8-ep-isode series was created by Ab-himanyu Singh and helmed by American director Matthew Leutwyler. 

State of Siege is Matthew’s first venture in India. Over email, the di-rector chatted with us about action filmmaking, working with an Indian cast and crew, the political backdrop of the ZEE5 show, and his favourite films from the country. Excerpts from the interview:

What are your memories of hearing about the 26/11 Mumbai attacks?My memories of the incident are probably not unlike that of most of the outside world. I watched much of the horror unfold on TV, but I did not have any personal connections to Mumbai. It just made me feel terrible forIndia. But then, as you absorb the enormity of it all, you begin to just feel bad for the world as a whole.

Inter national politics have also been a keen interest of mine and as my filmmaking career has progressed, I seem to be more drawn to real-life sto-ries.  Also, I spend a lot of time in East Africa with a charity that I founded there that provides edu-cation and healthcare for children who have become orphans due to various forms of terrorism and vio-lence, so I am acutely aware and interested in exploring these subjects. 

The series is based on journalist Sandeep Unnithan’s book. Did you have to do additional research? I did extensive research and was also guided by Col Sundeep Sen through-out much of the production. A part-nership that I can honestly say will have a profound effect on my life go-ing forward. Production was very smart in bringing him on board as our technical advisor. I found myself leaning on him initially to keep us all honest about how we were portray-ing the NSG tactics, but he became a necessary calming force for me in a very difficult shoot.

How was the experience of work-ing with an Indian cast and crew?I will not say it was without its chal-lenges. I was probably a bit harder on them than many expected or maybe were used to. But I take my job pretty seriously, especially when telling a story of such importance. I mean, it’s a tremendous responsibility to helm

a story about these real people who sacrificed so much and especially to honour the legacy of the people who died. I think some crew and cast were a bit jarred by the first couple of weeks when I would be pretty de-manding about being prepared and disciplined on set. 

Was it really that bad? There were others who also seemed to appreciate it. Our first ADs (Hitesh Singhal and Anuj Gera) were excel-lent — as good and as knowledgeable as any I have worked with. And this was a very complex and emotionally draining shoot. Also, due to the rush to get the show completed by an extremely ambitious deadline, there was a lot of re-writing on set, which I am not used to. But that was another area where my team came through and frankly, it would have been impossible to pull off without both Karan Mir-chandani and Manya Mirchandani (not related by the way). The hours they put in were insane. I’m sure they never want to see me again.

And obviously, having my DOP Richard Henkels was a huge asset. He understood my vision right away and was up to every challenge that I threw his way.

The show also comments on the political situation at the time. It does a fair amount, though I would have liked to explore it a bit more — but these are decisions that one can go back and forth on forever. I know when producer Abhimanyu Singh brought me in, it was very impor-tant to him to find the proper bal-

ance of political backstory and recreating the intensity of the attacks in real time. Hopefully, we did right by him.Which was the most diffi-cult sequence to shoot in the series?The battle in the industrial kitchen was a reimagining of the actual final shootout

in the Taj Hotel. We definitely took some liberties there, but with the guidance of Col Sen, I think we cap-tured the spirit of the NSG’s final as-sault. We shot it over four gruelling days — many of them over 20 hours. I think the last one was over 24 hours. The set was not completed and so we had to shoot the beats out of order which made it difficult to keep the logic straight of each ‘kill’ and where everyone was in the large space. I kept a diagram on my laptop to keep it all straight as the pieces kept get-ting moved around. 

But to be honest, there were many difficult scenes to shoot on this pro-

ject. The show was besieged by many challenges — the mon-

soon season being much long-er than usual, the script revi-sions, last minute changes of locations, oh and I caught dengue fever putting me in

the hospital for a week.

What is the biggest challenge of shooting realistic military action?Safety. And overall coordination. The designing of the sequences is the fun part. The easy part. But then manag-ing the stunts, squibs, pyrotechnics, actors, and the DOPs team in order to coordinate and capture the detail that really tells the story... well that’s the trick, isn’t it?

Your favourite Indian films of all time?I am sadly not that well versed in In-dian cinema. But don’t worry, I will not say Slumdog Millionaire. I am fa-miliar and a fan of Mira Nair’s work. But purely Indian production is probably Dangal, which I thought was very well done. Also, I recently watched the series Delhi Crime and thought it was very good. Especially the lead actress Shefali Shah — ter-rific. And now that I’m in quaran-tine, I’ve been watching Gully Boy which is wonderfully directed by Zoya Akhtar, whose previous work I will now have to catch up on.

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American director Matthew Leutwyler talks about shooting State of Siege: 26/11, action filmmaking, working with an Indian cast and crew, and the political backdrop of the series

‘IT’S A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY TO HELM A STORY ABOUT REAL PEOPLE’

Hrithik Roshan’s journey of overcoming his speech disor-der is being taught in schools in Tamil Nadu. The actor had

a stammering problem when he was young. As discovered recently, Hrithik’s story is being taught to students of class 6 under the chap-ter of self-confidence in the text-book, Life and Values imprinted by S Chand publications. The book is followed in the matriculation schools of Tamil Nadu, where the textbook is a part of value education for class 6 students.

Earlier, Hrithik’s feat of not letting his drawback pull him down had been featured in author Ben Brooks’ Sto-ries For Boys Who Dare To Be Different. 

In 2009, in the television chat show Tere Mere Beach Mein, Hrithik had opened up about his speech disor-der for the first time. “Eve-rything seems normal until you start talking. Your heart palpitates, you don’t under-stand, and you are aware of people looking at you,” he had shared. The actor has since addressed the stig-mas surrounding stammering and inspired others to overcome it.

Anne Hathaway will star in an adaptation of French Children Don’t Throw Food, based on the autobiography from

Pamela Druckerman. The project will be bank-rolled by StudioCanal, with Blueprint Picture set to produce, say reports.

The story follows an American journalist who moves to Paris for her husband’s job and raises a family there. As she tries to fig-ure out how to balance her family and career, and battle the feelings

that she is failing at both, she ob-serves her French neighbours and friends to uncover the secrets be-

hind parenting well-behaved French children. She dis-

covers that everyone, no matter how perfect they might appear, has their own problems. Jamie Minoprio and Jona-than Stern wrote the

most recent draft of the adaptation.Hathaway will next be

seen in Robert Zemeckis’ The Witches remake, playing the Grand High Witch. 

Hrithik Roshan’s triumph, a part of Tamil Nadu textbooks

Anne Hathaway to star in adaptation of French Children Don’t Throw Food

Sony delays release of Morbius and Ghostbusters: Afterlife

● Ashameera Aiyappan

Women have a unique way of forging fleeting, yet cohesive bonds with strangers... who are also women. I believe this

is a gender-specific show of solidar-ity, mostly arising from shared un-pleasant experiences, especially in public spaces. If you are the only woman in a room, no matter how con-fident and independent you are, there’s always a small sense of relief when another woman walks in. An unspoken bond is sealed with glanc-es, and you know you will look out for each other. Women will get this expe-rience. It’s a camaraderie that emerged from the mutual acknowl-edgement of the stress it takes to be a woman, in a man’s world. So in a

new episode of ‘Rarely Have We Ever’, this undiscussed, impromptu bonhomie was the most striking fac-tor of Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of  A Lady On Fire.  

At the heart of it, Portrait is a love story. And yes, it shows a lesbian re-lationship with dignified sensuality and eroticism. But the film percep-tively paints the female camaraderie in non-dramatic strokes. Marianne (Noémie Merlant) arrives at a remote mansion to paint a portrait of Héloïse (Adele Haenel), at her mother’s be-hest. Sophie (Luana Bajrami) is the young housemaid. Despite the love story between Marianne and Heloise, the film spends time building the re-lationship all these three women share, with the actors breathing life into every nuance. The minute He-loise’s mother leaves the house, the

trio settles into an equanimous har-mony. Heloise takes care of cooking, Marianne serves wine, while Sophie is left to embroider in peace. They play cards in all enthusiasm. In an-other film universe, this might seem like a bribe to Sophie, so she does not tell on the lovers. But not in this film. Sophie has her own problems. In a refreshing no-nonsense conversa-tion, Marienna learns about Sophie’s abortion plans. She offers to tag

along, taking her to the local herbal-ist with Heloise giving them compa-ny as well. No questions are asked, except for those on Sophie’s health and wellness. And likewise, Sophie doesn’t question Marianne-Heloise’s love. No eyebrows raised. And again, no questions asked. This nonchalant tone extends to the film’s politics as well, which touches upon a variety of women issues. The restraining gag on a woman’s choice about her repro-

ductive health, for starters (Sophie’s attempts at ending her pregnancy are cries of desperation, a result of the lack of accessible and non-judgemen-tal healthcare). For Heloise, it takes the shape of an uninteresting mar-riage alliance, extending to how mar-riages continue to be economic deals for women, and also how they con-vince themselves into it. For the more autonomous Marianne, it is about the restrictions placed on her art. She needs to use her father’s name to ensure her paintings get ex-hibited. The film’s most powerful mo-ment comes when Marianne paints a recreation of Sophie’s abortion, with Heloise assuming the position of the herbalist. Reports suggest that Sciamma was inspired by the line from Annie Ernaux’s L’événement: “I do not believe there exists a ‘Work-shop of the Backstreet Abortionist’ in any museum in the world.” What it means is the systematic lack of documentation of women’s perspec-tives, experiences, the female gaze. It is majestic anger at making a large portion of women mere uninterested bystanders framed on walls, robbed

of character and individuality. It isn’t surprising that Orpheus never hears Eurydice’s final words in Ovid’s ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’. But look at how Marianne reimagines it, with Heloise’s influence. What was an abrupt end, is now a farewell mo-ment with the lovers making peace w i t h t h e i r c h o i c e s . T h a t ’s representation. 

After studying in a co-ed school, one of my first and foremost emo-tions at being in a women’s college was freedom. The freedom to talk aloud of menstrual cycles, body hair... put your feet up. As Heloise puts it, “Equality is a pleasant feel-ing.” There was no need to play by the rules of men here, no inhibitions. In fact, these places of interaction for women rather turn into places where they exchange notes on how to han-dle the patriarchal world. Sciamma claims the film to be a ‘manifesto about the female gaze’, which is true, yes. But Portrait of A Lady on Fire is as much an ode to female camarade-rie as it is a tragic love story. The film is a documentation of a few creative women on fire.

A MOVING PORTRAIT OF FEMALE LOVE

This weekly column is a rumination on how women are portrayed in cinema

MS REPRESENTATION

Matthew Leutwyler