PNS n NEW DELHI

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao onMonday pitched for extensionof the nationwide lockdownbeyond May 3.

The Chief Minister madethis suggestion to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi dur-ing the PM’s video conferencewith Chief Ministers onMonday. KCR has alreadyextended the lockdown inTelangana till May 7.

Five of the nine ChiefMinisters who conferredreportedly favoured extensionof the lockdown, includingKCR. The Telangana ChiefMinister did not specify anytime frame for extension of thelockdown. However, he sug-gested that it would be betterif lockdown is extended by twoor three weeks after May 3.

However, the neighbour-ing Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy is learnt to have neitherfavoured nor opposed exten-sion of the lockdown. He stat-ed that AP would follow what-ever the Centre decides onlockdown after May 3.

Interestingly, Odisha ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik

sought extension of the lock-down till June.

In addition, KCR raised theissue of financial package forstates reeling under severefinancial crisis on account ofcorona outbreak and subse-quent lockdown since March24. He drew the PrimeMinister’s attention to howstates have been struggling topay even half salaries to govern-ment employees with no rev-enue earnings since March 24.

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Most CMs wantlockdown to continue:Narayanasamy

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Jagan’s focus ison politics, noton fight againstCoronavirus

LOCKDOWN 3.0

PNS n MUMBAI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi onMonday asked states to try to convertthe COVID-19 challenge intoopportunities through administrativereforms, and form their own policieson relaxing the lockdown based onground reality, the Maharashtra ChiefMinister's Office here said. In a video

conference with chief ministers, Modiindicated that the coronavirusinfection would remain for a longertime, beyond May 3, and people need

to continue the use of masks andsanitisers for longer period, CMThackeray's office said in a statement.

Convert COVID-19 challenge intoopportunity: Modi tells CMs

Rs 600 cr budget Telugu films stalled LOCKDOWN EFFECT

PNS n HYDERABAD

About 50 Telugu movies in var-ious stages of making with aninvestment of approximately Rs600 crore have been stalled dueto the ongoing lockdown tocontain coronavirus spread,according to C Kalyan,President of Telugu FilmProducers Council.

Chiranjeevi starrer'Aacharya' and 'Baahubali'maker SS Rajamoulis 'RRR' areamong the movies whose pro-duction has been suspended invarious stages.

Describing it as a big blow tothe industry, senior producerand Ramanaidu Studios ownerD Suresh said though all his

films are insured to cover delayin production, he is not surewhether this pandemic would

be accepted by the insurancecompanies for staking anyclaim.

"We are not in a position toestimate the losses to theTelugu film industry due tolockdown. Because we have noclear picture as to when theproductions will be resumed,when the movies will be takento masses.

No CBSE examstill lockdown endPNS n NEW DELHI

Pending CBSE board examswill only be held when thesituation is back to normaland the government decidesto completely lift the lock-down, HRD MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal Nishanktold students and parentsduring a Twitter interactiontoday.

JEE, NEET and othercompetitive exams will alsobe held when the situation isnormal, he said.

The HRD Minister willhold video conference meet-ing with all State educationministers on April 28 to dis-cuss problems arising due toCOVID-19 and the lock-down.

Vaccine by Sept?UK TRIAL RAISES HOPES

PNS n LONDON

Experts across the world,including those with theWorld Health Organization,have suggested that the earli-est vaccine to combat Covid-19 is at least a year or moreaway. This is despite the glar-ing fact that pharma majors,researchers and medicalexperts across the globe areracing against time and evenconsidering options for com-pressing phases of clinical tri-als so as to come up with avaccine against the virus thatis dangerously dynamic andmutating with alarmingalacrity.

A Covid-19 vaccine is con-sidered the ultimate exit strat-egy from lockdown by manyexperts. Developing a vaccinethat can be produced at scaleis the need of the hour.

In a development thatwarms the cockles of the med-ical fraternity's heart, one ofthe first people to be injectedas part of UK human trials fora coronavirus vaccine has saidshe is "doing fine". This hasraised hopes of an early break-through in developing cure fordeadly Covid-19 virus.

Elisa Granato was one of thefirst two volunteers to be inject-ed in a trial of a potentialCovid-19 vaccine at OxfordUniversity on April 23, 2020.

The University of OxfordNews Office confirmed thatshe was "alive and well", trash-ing fake reports in socialmedia. Granato and cancerresearcher Edward O'Neillwere the first two volunteersto have received an injectionof a vaccine called ChAdOx1nCoV-19.

First volunteer says she is ‘doing fine'

KCR to PM: Extend nationwide lockdown beyond May 3

PNS n HYDERABAD

Monday was not like any otherday since the enforcement oflockdown began, immediate-ly after Janata Curfew. Nor didit reflect ‘strict enforcement’like what the DGP warned afew days back, while askingpeople to carry their residenceproof for essential travel with-in 3-km radius. The only dif-ference was that the rulingTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) party celebrated onMonday its 20th FormationDay in what was billed as alow-key affair, but neverthelessenjoyed with gusto by activists

of the pink party. Party work-ers and activists had gatheredin sizeable numbers in variousparts of the city, in brazen defi-ance of lockdown orders, withcops predictably looking the

other way. A video shared onsocial networking site Twittershows a huge crowd of morethan 100 members gathered ata convention hall.

Only 2 fresh cases in TS,12 districts Covid-free PNS n HYDERABAD

Almost after 40 days,Telangana reported only 2fresh positive cases ofCoronavirus on Monday.Since March 18, the numberof cases reported has alwaysbeen far more.

The two patients who test-ed positive on Monday arefrom Hyderabad. There are646 active cases in the state,while the total cases havemounted to 1,003.

With 16 patients being dis-charged on Monday, 332patients have been cured so farin the state.

In all, 12 districts in the statehave no cases. They are

Sangareddy, Bhadradri,Nagarkurnool, Mulugu,Peddapalle, Siddipet, Mahabu-babad, Mancherial, Narayanpet,Wanaparthy, Yadadri andWarangal Rural.

Chief Minister KChandrashekar Raoannounced that byTuesday 21 districtsof the state wouldnot have a singlecorona active case.For, the remaining districts

have 1 or 2 cases which arelikely to be discharged onTuesday. Hyderabad with400 active cases, Suryapet

with 77, Niz-amabad with25, Vikarabad with 27,

Gadwal with 35 andRangareddy with 16

cases and Adilabadwith 13 cases are

among the top sevendistricts with active number ofcorona cases.

Corona can’t be eliminated,we have to live with it: Jagan PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Coronavirus could not beeliminated and "we have to livewith it" by taking adequate pre-cautions to prevent infection,Chief Minister Y SJaganmohan Reddy said onMonday.

In a televised address to thepeople of the state, he said avaccine for the virus might bedeveloped only after a year orso and till then, developing

"herd immunity" was the onlyoption to check the spread ofthe virus.

The Chief Minister appealedto people to follow social dis-tancing norms as it was theonly way to prevent the conta-gion, which has so far affect-ed 1,177 people in the state andclaimed 31 lives.

Jagan said the infection ratein the state was just 1.6 per centas against the national averageof 4 per cent. "By God's gracewe should feel proud about it,"Jagan remarked.

ICMR to returnrapid test kits PNS n NEW DELHI

The country's apex healthresearch body ICMR onMonday asked states tostop using the COVID-19rapid antibody test kitsprocured from two Chinesecompanies and return themto be sent back to the sup-pliers.

In an advisory sent tochief secretaries of all statesand Union Territories onMonday, the Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR)said it "evaluated the kits ofGuangzhou Wondfo Biotechand Zhuhai LivsonDiagnostics in field condi-tions. The results haveshown wide variation intheir sensitivity, despite earlypromise of good perfor-mance for surveillance pur-pose".

"In view of this, states areadvised to stop using thesekits, procured from theabove mentioned compa-nies and return them to besent back to the suppliers," itsaid.

The health ministry on itspart issued a statement say-ing that after receipt of somesupplies, ICMR has con-ducted quality checks onthese kits in field condi-tions.

CM did not specifyany time frame forextension of thelockdown. However,he suggested that itwould be better iflockdown is extendedby two or three weeksafter May 3.

It is not a crime that the number of COVID-19 cases are increasingin some states. Do not take the pressure of the rising numbers,

because the entire country is facing the challenge posed by coronavirus— NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister

The two patients who tested positive onMonday are from Hyderabad. There are 646active cases in the state, while the totalcases have mounted to 1,003.

Chiranjeevi starrer‘Aacharya’ and ‘Baahubali’ maker SSRajamoulis ‘RRR’ areamong the movieswhose production hasbeen suspended invarious stages.

Cops go easy on crowding by pink party activists

Thunderstorm alert for TS PNS n HYDERABAD

Thunderstorm with lightning,hailstorm and gusty windsare very likely to occur at iso-lated places over 13 districts ofthe State over the nextfive days.

According to IMD,Kom a r a mb h e e m ,Mancherial, Peddapalli,K a r i m n a g a r ,JayaShankar Bhupal-palle, Mulugu,Janagaon, Warangal,Mahabubabad, BadradriKothagudem, Khammam,Yadradri Bhuvangiri,

Nalgonda and Suryapet dis-tricts are likely to witnessthunderstorm with lightningand light to moderate rainfallfrom Monday to Friday.

This is due to thetrough/wind discon-

tinuity at 0.9 kmabove meansea level fromVidarbha to

south TamilNadu, which now

runs from southChhattisgarh to south

Tamil Nadu across Telanganaand Rayalaseema.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Terming the decrease in coro-navirus positive cases in thestate as an auspicioussign,Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has saidthere are indications thatTelangana would becomeCorona-free in a few days. ByApril 28, there would beasmany as 21 districts in theState without even one coro-na positive case. It was goodaugury that 97 per cent of thecorona patients are going to bedischarged upon recovery.

The Chief Ministerdeclared that since there hasbeen a decrease in coron-

avirus spread and its impact,there would begraduallyreduction of the ContainmentCentres in the State. He also-said that the link betweenthose who went to Markazand those came incontactwith them was establishedand tests are being conduct-ed onthem.

There was no need for peo-ple to worry about anything.The spread of the virus hasbeen on the decline. TheMedical and HealthDepartment was ready toidentify positive cases shouldthey surface inthe days tocome and take necessary fol-low-up action.

TS will be corona-free state soon: KCR

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HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020 hyderabad 02

Last Sunday, West BengalHealth ServicesAssistant director and

central medical stores in-charge Dr Biplab Das KantiDas Gupta died due toCoronavirus. He had con-tracted the virus nine daysearlier and his health deteri-orated progressively and ulti-mately he succumbed to it.His wife, the doctor whotreated Biplab and 17 othersin health department whocame into contact with himhave been quarantined.

According to the WestBengal Doctors Association,many frontline doctors andmedical workers have beeninfected, a testimony to theextent of the spread of thevirus in West Bengal.

The Mamata Banerjee gov-ernment did not make publicdetails of Coronavirus till itkilled Biplab. It was also notknown that the governmentfailed to provide PPE kits.

The Centre deputed Inter-Ministerial Teams to stateswhere the number of cases isvery high. But MamataBannerjee tried to politicise it.Instead of waging joint battleswith the Centre against theCorona virus, she is not hesi-tating to risk the lives of thepeople of West Bengal for herselfish politics.

The situation is more or lessthe same in Andhra Pradesh,according to informationreaching the Centre.

In AP, the virus has reachedthe community transmissionstage. At least four employeesof the Raj Bhavan contractedthe virus through medicalpersonnel. Over 1,000 testedpositive for the virus in APwith Vijayawada city, Kurnooland Guntur districts bearingthe brunt.

At many places, medicalstaff members are battlingwith the infection.Coronavirus becoming viru-

lent in AP is attributed tohuman failure.

Mainly, Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy isresponsible for failing to reinin the virus. The CM took thevirus casually and advocatedparacetamol to treat thesymptoms.

While the virus travelled toIndia from China, the CM wasso ignorant to say that itsbirthplace is Korea.

Factionists are botheredabout their region, their inter-ests and nothing else.

That is why Jagan focusedon how to crush the rivals andbring various regions under hisgrip if the government opting

for local body elections at atime virus is spreading vigor-ously is any indication.

Instead of welcoming theSEC decision to postpone localbody elections by two weeks,the government brought out aGO in the dead of the nightand replaced him.

People with dictatorial styleof functioning have no respectfor courts, as indicated byJagan’s style of functioning.

The AP High Court fault-ed the State government’sdecision to replace Teluguwith English as medium ofinstruction and felt that theoption should be left to thepeople.

But, Jagan government dis-torted the judgment andembarked on a misinforma-tion campaign stating that theHC wanted the government togather public opinion onmedium of instruction.

Where did the court indi-cate that the governmentshould gather affidavits fromthe people? It is anybody’s

guess how the volun-teers appointedb yJaganmohanReddy wouldgather publicopinion.

The Jagan govern-ment is not in a posi-tion to understand the inter-national opinion on the needto pursue primary educationin mother tongue at least up toprimary level, UNESCO rec-ommendations in this regardand the spirit of the Indianconstitution.

Surprisingly, the state gov-ernment, instead of removingthe YSRCP colours on govern-ment buildings as per the HCand SC orders, is adding newcolours making a mockery ofthe rulings.

Though the High Courtfound fault with the govern-ment steps to rein in Covid-19and putting the public health inperil, the YSRCP government

seems to be unaffected. Because of such an

approach, all sectionsof society, includingvolunteers appointed

by government, arefacing the risk of contract-

ing the virus. Had the government not

keen on using religion to suitits political purposes it wouldnot have kept virus cases infor-mation under wraps.

Going by the example of theUSA, the Narendra Modi gov-ernment has been warning thestate time and again againsttaking the virus lightly, but itis evident that Jagan, as headof the government did not actresponsibly.

How far is it justified to playwith the public health to meetpolitical gains?

Without taking note of thedevelopments taking placeacross the globe due to thevirus, thinking like the prover-bial Roman emperor and like

a frog in the well Jaganbehaved with short-sighted-ness. When will he come outof the short-sightedness?

The Modi government iswell aware of developmentstaking places in states. TheCentre deputed a CabinetSubcommittee to the state.The Centre also received moreor less the similar reports asthat of West Bengal. Moreover,AP BJP leaders also com-plained of state governmentwithholding facts onCoronavirus.

The Prime Minister, HomeMinister Amit Shah, BJPnational president JP Naddaknow how to deal with the sit-uation at government leveland also as that of a politicalparty.

Jagan, in spite of the YSRCPwinning the highest number ofseats, is committing one mis-take after the other and hasproved that he is not capableof ruling the state properly.

Y SATYA KUMAR BJP National Secretary

TRULY SPEAKING

Jagan’s focus is on politics, not on fight against CoronavirusThat is why Jagan focused on how tocrush the rivals and bring various regionsunder his grip if the government opting forlocal body elections at a time virus isspreading vigorously is any indication

Low-key fete across districts PNS n MAHBUBNAGAR

Ministers, MPs, MLAs andMLCs competed with eachother and participated exten-sively in the charity pro-grammes on the occasion ofTRS 20th Formation Day cel-ebrations. In Mahbubnagar,Minister Srinivas Goud paidhomage to the Telangana mar-tyrs at the Telangana memor-ial statue and later proceededtowards the camp where themigrant labours were staying.The Minister arranged lunchfor them.

He was accompanied by thelocal leaders in the pro-grammes. In Nagarkurnool,the local legislator took up hisown way of charity by distrib-uting groceries to the frontlinewarriors who are workinground the clock to tackle thespread of the deadly virus.

Legislators --- GuvvalaBalaraju, Venkateshwar Reddy,Harshavardhan Reddy, KrishnaMohan Reddy and others tookpart in the charity-cum-serviceprogrammes after unfurlingthe TRS flag in their respective

places. Quite interestingly, nosingle leader has unfurled theflag at their residences as the

lockdown was clamped inten-sively.

In Khammam, Minister

Puvvada Ajay took part incharity-cum-service pro-grammes on the eve of theparty formation day. Illandulegislator Haripriya Naik tookpart in a charity programmefor the working class by offer-ing lunch to the needy.

In Suryapet, MinisterJagadish Reddy took necessaryprecautions while participatingin the TRS Formation Day cel-ebrations. In Medak , Siddipetand Sangareddy districts, theTRS Formation Day wasorganised as per the normsstipulated during the lock-down period by the adminis-tration. There was some sort ofnegligence in erstwhileAdilabad and Karimnagar dis-tricts as leaders and cadre took

part in the celebrations withoutfollowing social distancingrules.

In Warangal, MinistersErrabelli Dayakar Rao,Satyavathi Rathod and otherstook part in the formation daycelebrations and later theyoffered lunch to migrantlabours and workers. MLCKadiam SrIhari and MLANannapuneni Narender tookpart in a programme organisedby a charitable organisation forthe migrant labour. MinisterSatyavathi Rathod served lunchfor the migrant labours alongwith MP Kavitha inMahbubabad. Similarly,Minister Dayakar Rao provid-ed groceries to the sanitationworkers in Palakurthi.

TRS FORMATION DAY

In Warangal, Ministers ErrabelliDayakar Rao, Satyavathi Rathod andothers took part in the formation daycelebrations and later they offeredlunch to migrant labours and workers

Summers may slow downCovid spread: Ravi GodseSunshine and summer may ebb the spread of the Coronavirus, and BCG vaccine (alreadygiven to all Indians) also may offer partial immunity, says Ravi Godse, Director of DischargePlanning, UPMC Shadyside Pennsylvania, the US. Godse recommended the use of plasmatherapy for serious patients in an interview. Here are the excerpts from the interview:

Q:Recently, the WhiteHouse said the spread

of coronavirus may ebbduring summer months.May and June will havepeak summers in mostparts of the country, do youthink high temperatureswill help in containing theoutbreak?

A: Viral illnesses tend to goaway in the summer months.This trend is more distinct incountries like America wherethere are distinct weather pat-terns with brutally cold winters(in most states) and warmsummers. While social activi-ty in the summer ofteninvolves outdoor spaces, win-ter activities tend to be morecongested and indoors. In thesummer, the humidity can goup as well, meaning morewater drops in the air. If the airis saturated with water andsomebody sneezes virusdroplets into such air, it is like-ly that the droplets will fall tothe ground quicker, makingthem less infectious. So theshort answer is yes,summer/sunshine could bebetter. We know what weknow, but we don't know whatwe don't know.

Q:Recently, the healthminister said the

efforts to contain the out-break, has saved India fromgoing into Stage 3 or com-munity transmission stage,and many senior officialssaid the COVID 19 diseaseis under control. With20,177, active cases in thecountry, do you thinkthings are under control?

A: India is a big and pop-ulous country and will likelybehave similar to America(though India has fewer for-eign travelers). In America,San Francisco is very differ-ent from Indianapolis; NewYork is different from LasVegas. Similarly, Agartala isdifferent from Mumbai andChennai is different fromShimla. So India will behaveas if individual states are dif-ferent nations.

Some people think thatIndia is 4 weeks behindAmerica in the peak. ButIndia's lockdown (March 24)started eight days after that ofAmerica (March 16), so Indiamight have had a 3-week head-

start on social distancing, andthat will help.

It is possible that the BCGvaccine (already given to allIndians) may offer partialimmunity. Weather might help.Many people think that thesturdy genes of our population,hardened through experiencewith infectious illnesses, mayafford a more robust crossimmunity. This might be morewishful thinking, however, itdoes seem like India will avertthe disastrous peak that othercountries experienced. If thecases pick up, then the rest ofthe world (especially America,which would be far beyond itsown peak) would rush toIndia's help. I don't think thatthe people of America willsoon forget India's selfless andhelpful actions regardinghydroxychloroquine.

Q:What is your reactionon plasma therapy?

A: Use plasma for seriouspatients. Start collecting theplasma today, if we need it in3 weeks. Rather than troublingthe recovered patients for theplasma, we can try and see ifthe antibody titer of the healthyasymptotic patients is better(They did better than thepatients who ended up in thehospital).

Q:If no relapses occurand there is no drastic

increase in the number ofcases in July, would it begood enough to declare amajor success againstCOVID-19?

A: Relapse can be talked inthe context of happening in arecovered patient or in thecommunity. When a patientgets infected, he or she firstdevelops IgM, then IgG anti-bodies. In some viral illnesses(say chicken pox) the protec-tion could be lifelong. Wedon't know how long the IgGprotection for COVID willlast in recovered patients. If it

is durable, then relapses shouldnot occur. Even if there is anoverall increase in the numberof cases of really sick people,the increase would happengradually over a longer dura-tion, ensuring that the healthsystems are not overwhelmedand the demand for heathcare is spread out. If that hap-pens, we can declare a majorsuccess.

Q:We have limited expe-rience on this viral

infection. Under these cir-cumstances, Acan we saypeople will develop lastingantibodies to protect themfrom this infection?

A: We will only know bytesting. The antibody testingwill be a tool, and it needs tobe employed regardless of thecost. If people who have IgGagainst the virus are shown tobe immune from future/recur-rent disease, then those peoplecan be used to open the nationand restart the economy.Remember, the vaccine is alsocoming, which will try andartificially induce lasting anti-bodies. The challenge could bethe fact that COVID is an RNAvirus and can mutate, butremember, not all change isbad: it could become milder orless infectious.

Q:What are your sugges-tions on tackling

COVID-19?A: Isolate and quarantine

mildly symptomatic patients.Try and use experimentaldrugs to keep moderatelysymptomatic patients fromgetting serious. Keep waitingfor the vaccine, hoping for it isearly and effective, and prepar-ing for it being neither. Findthe most accurate antibody testand use it by the thousands.Confirm by genetic testing onrandom samples to see if thesepeople are getting reinfected. Ifthey are not, release theseantibody positive patients intothe work force and open theeconomy and life itself. Finally,the discussion regarding open-ing up needs to start now. Itneeds to effectively communi-cate the goals, how they will beachieved, with firm dates, withthe capacity to adjust withoutpanicking, if the cases pick upafter the lockdown is lifted.

Cops go easy on crowding by pink party...Continued from Page 1

A trolley rolls in, flinging bagsof essential commodities at peo-ple milling around the vehicle.“Essential commodities distrib-ution by #TRS Chevlla MPRanjith Reddy and MadhapurConvention Hall today. Part oftheir #TRSFormationDay cele-brations! Physical distancingisn’t the only issue here; essen-tial were thrown on to peoplefrom the vehicles by the organiz-ers! #Covid_19” (sic) read the

tweet. Apart from criticising thelack of social distancing clearlyseen in the video, netizens alsoquestioned the inhuman man-ner in which the bags of com-modities were thrown at theneedy. In another video sharedon Twitter, close to 100 peoplehad gathered for hoisting theparty flag at Ameerpet. In thevideo, a Telangana police car isseen, albeit, taking no actionwas taken against the hugegathering there. Towards theend of the video, the man who

shot the video can be heard say-ing “So, this is the situation.Doesn’t the lockdown apply toMLAs and MPs? Or, is it onlyfor the common man?”. He goeson to add that the video wasshot as the crowd had gatherednear his residence and that hetook precautions to shoot thevideo while maintaining a dis-tance and zooming in. Similarincidents were reported onsocial media highlighting howparty workers and overenthusi-astic activists of the pink party

had gathered to hoist the partyflag and celebrate the formationday in various parts of the city,throwing all caution to thewind.

“Shocked to see the TRSleaders turning out to bepotential “Super Spreaders” ofthe #CoronaVirus. BreakingLockdown regulations, hun-dreds of TRS party leaders &cadre came out and celebratetheir party formation day.”(sic) tweeted out a user withthe handle @vdreems.

Convert COVID-19 challenge...Continued from Page 1

"Though the extendedlockdown period ends onMay 3, every state will haveto decide its policy of intro-ducing relaxation in the exist-ing stringent guidelines. Thiswould include how to permitroad traffic, whether seniorcitizens should come out ofhomes, how to allow shops tooperate, among others, itsaid.

The prime minister alsoadvised the states to exploreall possibilities of convertingthe existing challenge intoopportunities by bringingreforms in the administrationand policies.

"It is not a crime that thenumber of COVID-19 casesare increasing in somestates. Do not take the pres-sure of the rising numbers,because the entire countryis facing the challengeposed by coronavirus," theprime minister told thestates.

Rs 600 Cr...Continued from Page 1

Currently, guessing the futureof the film industry is milliondollar questions," Kalyan toldPTI. According to him, theTelugu film industry, knownas "Tollywood", makes near-ly 200 movies every year andout of which about seven percent movies make good prof-it. Kalyan said out of the 200films, about 60 are budgetedat Rs 3 crore and below andmovies like Baahubali andRRR have changed the land-scape of the industry.

"About 50 movies includ-ing 15 to 20 big ticket onesare currently under variousstages of production.

These movies have alreadyseen investments to the tuneof Rs 600 to Rs 700 crore.Wedo not know when the pro-duction would resume," hesaid. Suresh anticipates theuncertainty would continuefor some more time even ifthe lockdown is lifted as it isnot clear when the moviescreens will be thrown openfor the public.

"So it could be as good asthe complete financial yearbeing washed off for the filmcalendar.The loss would bequite substantial," Suresh said.

Vaccine by Sept?Continued from Page 1

The vaccine is made from avirus (ChAdOx1), which is aweakened version of a commoncold virus (adenovirus) thatcauses infections in chim-panzees, that has been genetical-ly changed so that it is impos-sible for it to grow in humans.This is the sixth coronavirusvaccine to enter the first phaseof clinical trials, raising hopes ofan antidote against the virus thatcontinues to ravage the world.

If the trials are a success, sci-

entists hope to have one mil-lion doses ready by September,and to dramatically scale upmanufacturing thereafter.

A fake article was circulat-ed on social media claimingthat microbiologist Dr ElisaGranato, who took part in thetrial in Oxford on Thursday,had died following complica-tions after taking the vaccine.The government later said thearticle was "completelyuntrue", and warned peopleabout sharing unsubstantiatedclaims online.

KCR to PM: Extend nationwide...Continued from Page 1

KCR also sought earlyrelease of GST arrears to statesand deferment of repayment ofloans taken by the state gov-ernment by six months. Heurged Modi to declare 10 percent of national GDP, amount-

ing to nearly Rs 10 lakh crore,as special financial package forstates to overcome the presentcrisis. AP CM Jagan too raisedthe issue of financial crisis,along with five other CMs.

However, it is learnt that thePrime Minister, while lendinghis ear to the suggestions made

by Chief Ministers on financialpackage to states, remainednon-committal throughout.

The CMs opined that partialrelaxations from lockdown inCovid-free districts and indistricts which witness fewercorona cases could be consid-ered after May 3.

Thunderstormalert for TS Continued from Page 1

Highest rainfall of 63.8 mmrecorded at Burgampadu(Bhadradri-Kothagudem),highest maximum tempera-ture of 42.8 o C at Soan IB(Nirmal) and lowest mini-mum temperature of 19.8oC recorded at Maqdumpur(Kamareddy). Maximumtemperatures are expectedto be in the range of 39o to42oC, while the Minimumtemperatures are expectedto be in the range of 26 o to28 o C. In Hyderabad, high-est maximum temperatureof 41.3 oC was recorded atSeethapalmandi Kindi Basthi(Circle No. 29.

Only 2 freshcases in TS,Continued from Page 1

Meanwhile, the ControlRoom in Hyderabadreceived 568 calls onMonday, out of which sevenpertained to suspectedCorona cases. In all, 503calls were received for foodfrom 25 containment zonesand other areas.Accordingly, 22,095 foodpackets were delivered byAnnapurna Mobile vehicles.

Corona can’t beeliminated, wehave to live...Continued from Page 1

"Coronavirus need not beseen as an untouchable orpeople need not feel every-thing is ruined with it. It's justlike an ordinary fever," headded.

The Chief Ministeremphasised that special careshould be taken of the elder-ly and those with comorbidi-ties.

He complimented andthanked all the healthcareworkers, village volunteers,police, sanitation and revenuestaff for their exemplary ser-vices in fighting the crisis.

TS will be corona- free...Continued from Page 1

The CM held a high-levelreview at Pragathi Bhavanhere on Monday, after thePrime Minister's videocon-ference with CMs, includingKCR. The CM held an in-depth review on the spread ofCoronavirus in the State, treat-ment given to patients, ser-

vices,implementation of lock-down and other issues.Medical officials toldthe ChiefMinister that there was a steepdecline in the people affectedwith theCorona virus in theState over the past few days.

On Monday, when thetestswere conducted on 159 people,only two turned out to bepos-itive.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020 hyderabad 03

A five member Inter Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) which is on three-day visit to the state to assess the Covid-19 situationvisits a containment zone in Khairatabad on Monday

TAKING SSTOCK

RIMEORNERC

Major fire breaksout in pharmacompany

Man booked forposting fake newson social media

Police book 17 offamily enroute MH

Amajor fire broke out in apharma company at the

industrial area in Jeedimetla onSunday evening. No casualtieswere reported in the fire mishap,which police suspect might havebeen caused by a short circuit.According to the police, the firewas reported at the SuvenPharmaceutical Ltd, apharmaceutical research anddevelopment unit, at Jeedimetla.Ten employees were inside thepharmaceutical company whenthe fire broke out. All of themescaped from the premisesunhurt, said the police. Locals inthe nearby residential area, wherethe pharma company waslocated, noticed the fire and thicksmoke emanating from the unitand alerted the fire departmentand the police personnel. Four firetenders were pressed to controlthe massive flames. The fire wasdue to a chemical reaction insidethe plant. The reactors explodedwhich led to the fire spreading. Allthe stocks in the pharma unitwere highly inflammable, said fireofficials. The Jeedimetla policealong with the fire departmentdoused the fire within an hour.The total worth of the damagedproperty is yet to be estimated.Police registered a case and areinvestigating.

The Cyber Crime Police ofCyberabad registered a

criminal case on Monday againsta person who had posted fakenews on twitter. The accusedperson has been identified as aMajor Neelam Singh (Retd). ATwitter account with the handle,@theskindoctor13, created a fakenews article by editing an oldarticle of a newspaper as'Cyberabad Police Bans the Saleof Oranges in the City' andattached a morphed photo withthe Senior police officers ofCyberabad Commissionerate. Inthe news article he mentionedthat to boost secularism to thehilt, Cyberabad police banned thedisplay, sale and consumption oforanges in the city as the saffroncolour of oranges is hurting thesentiments of the Muslims. Asthe post is likely to promoteenmity between differentreligions and prejudicial to themaintenance of communalharmony, a criminal case hasbeen registered on Major NeelamSingh (Retd) who posted theabove fake news in twitter and isbeing investigated into.

Mir Chowk Police booked 17members of a family who

were heading to Maharashtra ina car by violating lockdownorders on Sunday. According tothe police, the whole family wason their way to Maharashtra topay their final respects to arelative who had passed away.They were stopped by police inthe Mir Chowk area by officialswho had noticed the largenumber of persons in the carand booked them for violatingsocial distancing norms. Uponenquiring, they said that theystayed in the Nimboliadda areaand were heading toMaharashtra to visit a relativewho had passed away. Thepolice sent them back to theirresidence after registration of acase for not maintaining socialdistance and violating lockdown.The police registered case undersection 188 (disobedience toorder duly promulgated by apublic servant) of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) against all 17members of the family.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

IT Minister KT Rama Raomight be justifying Telanganagovernment’s decision to con-duct fewer Covid-19 tests bystating that “we don't viewCovid tests as a race amongstates and states which conducthigher tests would not get anyprizes” but the data released byICMR on Monday shows howTelangana's Covid-19 testing isabysmally low when comparedwith other southern states inthe country.

In fact, TS stands nowherenear to any other southernstate in Covid-19 testing.According to the IndianCouncil of Medical Research,a total of 6,65,819 sampleshave been tested till April 27,9 am across the country. Ofthis, Telangana accounts forjust 18,687 samples. Of this, thestate has reported 1,001 posi-tive cases, with 316 recoveriesand 25 deaths.

When compared with othersouthern states the figures ofTelangana are dismal. Amongsouthern states, TN tops the list

with tests done for 87,605samples so far. Of this 1,885people tested positive. 77,133samples were tested negativeand results of 568 samples areawaited. Nearly 1,020 peoplehave recovered and 24 peoplehave died due to the disease.

Neighbouring AndhraPradesh too fared well by con-ducting tests for 68,034 sam-ples out of which 66,937 werenegative. As on April 27, thestate has a total of 1,097 cases,with 231 recoveries and 31deaths.

Karnataka stood third,which tested 42,964 samples,with 38,207 samples returningnegative and 503 people test-ing positive. The state hasrecorded 19 Covid-19 deaths,while 182 persons have recov-

ered. Kerala remained at fourthplace having tested 22,954samples so far and of these,21,997 have returned negative.

The state has a total of 468cases, with 342 recoveries and4 deaths. The state whichtopped the entire country withhigher tests is Maharashtra. Ithas tested 1,16,345 samples, outof which 1,07,519 were nega-tive and 8,068 have been test-ed positive. While public healthexperts are pitching for widertesting to check for communi-ty transmission of Covid-19,the view of government seemsto be in complete contrast.

The state government,which vies for top slot in thecountry in all sectors andproudly publicises Telangana asNo. 1 state in EoDB, GSDP

growth rate, tax collectiongrowth rate, Mission Bhagira-tha, Mission Kakatiya, 24x7free supply to agriculture,Rythu Bandhu etc, is surpris-ingly lagging at the bottom inthe country on its own in con-ducting the covid tests, wherethe risk of public health andlives are involved.

The ICMR testing strategyhas now been expanded and allsymptomatic patients withinfluenza-like illness - thosewith fever, cough, sore throat,runny nose - need to be test-ed in hotspots (identified bythe Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare) and in largemigration gatherings. Symp-tomatic ILI patients will haveto be tested within seven daysof presenting with the illness.

State governmentwhich vies for topslot in all sectorsis lagging at the bottom inconducting theCoronavirus tests

1 dead, 3 injured asheavy winds wreakhavoc in HyderabadPNS n HYDERABAD

A 22-year-old man was killedand his mother sustainedinjuries after a wall surround-ing a shed collapsed on themat Manchipura of Mangalhaton Sunday. The wall collapseddue to heavy gusts of winds inthe city, said the police.

The victim was identified asIndar Singh. His mother, DayaBai, 50, who sustained leginjuries was shifted to theOsmania Hospital where sheis being treated.

According to the police,Indar and his mother weresleeping in the shed when acement structure from aneighbouring multi-storiedbuilding fell on their houseand the wall collapsed onthem due to heavy winds.Singh along with his motherand four siblings lived in thehouse.

Due to the sudden rain, thefamily rushed inside and werewaiting for the rain to stop. Aone-foot high cement struc-ture which was built on theasbestos roof of the pent-house to retain it during strongwind and rains got detachedand fell from the third floor of

their house. The debris fell onSingh's head, killing himinstantly and on Daya Bai's leg,fracturing it.

The police shifted his bodyto mortuary for post-mortem.Based on a complaint, theMangalhat Police have regis-tered a case.

Mayor B Rammohan anno-unced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh tothe family of Inder Singh andinstructed the health officialsto ensure proper treatmentfor Daya Bai who was injuredin the mishap. In another inci-dent, two persons were injuredwhen an asbestos sheet roof fellon them due to rains onSunday. The injured personswere identified as Gulnaz, 22and Mohd Sadiq 45. In the city,people reported vehicles beingdamaged due to the suddengusts of heavy winds.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onMonday issued notices to thestate government and sought itsresponse over the issue ofmigrant workers stuck in thestate.

The HC asked the state gov-ernment if it was ready to sendthese migrant workers to theirnative places includingChattisgarh by arranging neces-sary transportation facilities dur-ing the ongoing lockdown peri-od. A division bench of the HCcomprising of the Chief Justiceof the state Justice RaghavendraSingh Chauhan and Justice AAbhishek Reddy wondered as towhy can't the state governmentcoordinate with its neighbouringstates for permitting them to

leave. The division bench passed

these orders while dealing witha taken up Public InterestLitigation (PIL). The HC con-verted a letter addressed to it bya city advocate PV Krishnaiah,a native of bank street in Koti in

the city. In his petition, he madeUnion Government, IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR), the Chief Secretary ofthe state, the principal secretariesof Medical, Health and familywelfare department and Homedepartment and DGP of the state

as respondents. The petitioner advocate told

the HC that the families ofmigrant workers including theirsmall children families alongwith their luggage were leavingfor their native states on foot bywalking hundreds of kilometersduring the ongoing summerseason.

The petitoner told the HC thatthere was a chance that themigrant workers and their fam-ily members nigh lose their life.

During the course of argu-ments, he told the HC thatallowing the migrant workers to

undertake such risky acts wouldbe nothing but depriving themof their fundamental right guar-anteed under Article 21 of theIndian Constitution.

He urged the HC to direct thestate government and otherauthorities to prevent andrestrain the migrant workers toleave the Hyderabad City andTelangana state for their nativestates by walk and provide nec-essary arrangements for theirstay in Hyderabad and parts ofthe state where they are current-ly residing prior to imposition oflock down.

The HC asked TS if it was ready to sendmigrant workers to their native placesby arranging transportation facilities

15 walkersbooked forviolating norms PNS n HYDERABAD

The Keesara Police arrested15 people for stepping out oftheir homes for an eveningwalk at Keesara after thenightly curfew on Sunday.

According to the police, thepatrol teams came across sev-eral people moving on theroads on Sunday evening.When they were questioned,they told police that theywere out for an evening walk.The Police immediatelydetained them for violatinglockdown orders and bookedcases against them.

After registering theirdetails and booking casesagainst them, they were let off,said J Narender Goud,Inspector of Police, Keesara.

On Sunday, the Keesarapolice arrested a couple oncharges of selling meat at aCovid-19 containment zonein Cheryal village on Sunday.

The arrested persons havebeen identified as KNarsimha, 45, a meat sellerand his wife K Vijaya, 35, res-idents of Cheryal in Keesaramandal. According to theinspector, as the village was ahigh risk zone, extreme pre-caution was being taken andofficials were ensuring that noone steps out of their homes.

UoH to offer2-year MCAprogrammePNS n HYDERABAD

The University of Hyderabad(UoH) will offer MCA as atwo-year programme from theacademic year 2020-21. Thevarsity was hitherto offeringMCA as a three-year pro-gramme. Recently, the AllIndia Council for TechnicalEducation (AICTE) revisedthe duration of the MCA pro-gramme to two years. In a pressrelease on Monday, the UoHsaid "

Accordingly, the UoH hasresolved to follow the AICTEguidelines and duration ofthe MCA programme fromthe academic year 2020-21shall be for two years." It saidadmission to the MCA pro-gramme will be based on theNIMCET scores conductedby NIT Entrance Test.

State to delivermangoes atdoorstep fromMay first weekPNS n HYDERABAD

The HorticultureDepartment will deliver 5kg Banginapalli variety ofmangoes at the doorsteps ofthe customer within four orfive days. A box of mangoesweighing 5 kg has beenpriced at Rs 350. The book-ing of orders will commencefrom May 1. The orders canbe booked between 9 amand 5 pm on any day. Thefacility is limited to peopleliving in Hyderabad andSecunderabad alone.

The amount can be paidthrough Google Pay, PhonePay or through net bankingto credit money into theAndhra Bank Gangan Mahalbank account No:013910100083888. the IFSCcode is ANDB0000139.

Those who want to placethe order can book it by call-ing mobile phones 7997724925 or 79977 24944 andfurnishing payment detailsthrough WhatsApp.

The Google Pay accountnumber is 7997724925.

The consumers should fur-nish their full postal addressalong with PIN Code numberthrough SMS.

TSRJC-CETpostponedPNS n HYDERABAD

The proposed TSRJC-CET-2020 slated to be held on May10 for admission into MPC,BPC and MEC courses of 35residential junior colleges of theTelangana Residential Edu-cational Institutions Societyhas been postponed. Therevised date would be notifiedlater, according to an officialrelease. The last date for apply-ing online has been extendedfrom May 1 to June 1. Detailscan be had from "http://-tsr-jdc.cgg.gov.in/" http://tsrjdc.-cgg.gov.in/ For further detailscontact the residential educa-tional society on 040-24734899or 9490967222.

Maintain social distancing atAnnapurna Centres: MinisterPNS n HYDERABAD

Animal Husbandry MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadav onMonday said that with a viewto ensure that no person starvesin the state, the governmentwas providing all necessaryhelp to the poor and the needy.A dedicated call centre hasbeen set up to address thegrievances of the public, headded.

The Minister held a highlevel meeting with theTelangana State Civil SuppliesCorporation chairmanMareddy Srinivas Reddy,Principal Secretary ofMunicipal AdministrationArvind Kumar, HyderabadMayor Bonthu Rammohan,GHMC Commissioner Lokesh

Kumar, Hyderabad CollectorSweta Mohanty and RationOfficer, Maya Devi.

The Collectors of Ranga

Reddy and Medchal participat-ed from their respective head-quarters through teleconfer-ence.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Gandhi Hospital PulmonologyDepartment associate professorDr Promod Kumar hasobserved that 85 per cent of peo-ple with Coronavirus symp-toms are getting cured and sug-gested that those who are morethan 60 years to take precau-tions.

Addressing media at I and PRDepartment on Monday, DrPramod felt that lockdown alonewould be able to break theCoronavirus chain link.

He laid emphasis on observ-ing social distance. In case ofcold, cough and breathing prob-

lems the people should confinethemselves to quarantine facil-ity. They should use masks andwash their hands for over 20 sec-onds with soaps. Dischargedpatients should also remainunder home quarantine forsome days.

Apollo hospital critical care

head of the department Dr KSubba Reddy suggested thatelderly people should ensurethere is enough mobility, takebalanced diet and have sufficientsleep. Doctors treating theCoronavirus patients need towear N 95 masks. Dr SubbaReddy suggested expectantmothers to get checked up fromtime to time. Parents should takeprecautions while sending theirwards out for playing. Childrenwhile remaining asymptomaticcan spread the virus to elders, hesaid. The virus can be arrestedprovided people give their fullsupport to implementation ofthe lockdown.

Director Sekhar Kammula pledges to distribute milk and buttermilk to 1,000GHMC sanitation workers till one month as a token of gratitude for their work inCoronavirus crisis. Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav launches the programme inSecunderabad.

Arvind distributes virussafety kits to journalistsPNS n HYDERABAD

Information and PublicRelations Commissioner andPrincipal Secretary of MunicipalAdministration Arvind Kumardistributed safety kits to journal-ists at Samachar Bhavan onMonday.

Arvind Kumar reiterated thatthe safety of the journalistsboth print and electronic whoare in the frontline in the fightagainst Covid is of paramountconcern of the government.

There have been recentreports of cases in some stateswhere journalists were infectedwith the virus. He said that it isthe duty of every citizen to takeprecautionary measures againstthe Covid-19 virus, otherwise incase of negligence the epidem-ic may spread to entire region.Arvind Kumar urged journal-ists to protect themselves from

Coronavirus. He thanked theIxoraFM organisation for part-nering with the state govern-ment in providing the kits to thejournalists.

He informed that 150 safe-ty kits have been provided to themedia persons on Monday andanother 500 will be provided ina couple of days. He asked theofficials of the informationdepartment to coordinate withthe agencies and ensure supplyof safety kits to all the membersof print and electronic media.

The safety kit contains oneface shield, mask, ply masks, twosanitiser bottles and one pair ofgloves. Additional DirectorNagiah Kamble, ExecutiveDirector Film DevelopmentCorporation Kishore babu Jointdirectors Jagan and VenkateswarRao and other officials of theinformation department partic-ipated.

Officials told to utilise lockdownperiod to expedite flyover worksPNSn HYDERABAD

Principal SecretaryMunicipal AdministrationArvind Kumar along with theMayor B Rammohan onMonday visited Kukatpally andinspected the Balanagar flyoverworks. MLA M Krishna Raoand local corporators werealso present.

Arvind Kumar asked theengineers to utilise the lock-down period to expedite thefoundation works and alsotake up construction of theretaining wall.

As the land acquisitionprocess is complete, he asked

the officials to speed up thecivil works by instructing thecontractors to bring in moremanpower and material.

HMDA Chief Engineer BLNReddy informed that as thereis very less traffic owing to thelockdown, seven foundationswhich could not be completedearlier due to road width con-straints and properties acqui-

sition have now been complet-ed. Another two foundationswill also be completed by theend of this month, he added.

Construction of flyoverbetween Balanagar crossroadsto Narsapur cross roads wastaken by the HMDA. A 6 lanetwo way flyover in the directionof Kukatpally Y junction toBowenpally junction crossingNarsapur cross roads andFatehnagar junction was envis-aged. The total cost of the pro-ject is Rs 387 crores of whichRs 265 crores is towards landacquisition while the remain-ing 122 crores is towards civilconstruction work.

Edu officials review online classes to Degree students PNS n HYDERABAD

Special Chief Secretary toDepartment of EducationChitra Ramachandran IAS andCommissioner of CollegiateEducation Navin Mittal IASreviewed the status of theongoing online classes inGovernment Degree Collegesat Vidya Bhavan in Nampally

on Monday. Academic guidance officer

Dr P Bala Bhaskar, joint direc-tor Dr G Yadagiri, academicofficer Dr J Neeraja were alsopresent.

Online teaching classesstarted on April 15 in allGovernment Degree Collegesin the state where nearly 125colleges started the classes.

As many as 2,645 membersare involved in online teachingclasses and are taking 3 onlineclasses every day.

Covering uncovered syl-labus as per university exami-nation structure and preparingthe students for coming exam-inations, every teacher isrecording their lecture andsharing it on WhatsApp and

other modes to cover the stu-dents who were not able toconnect to online classes dueto internet connectivity andother issues.

During these online classes,few of the faculty have initiat-ed some best practices likeinviting subject experts fromvarious universities to interactwith the students.

TS lags behind in Covid testingTesting is abysmally low in state compared to other southern states

Lockdown alone can breakCoronavirus chain: Doctors

HC seeks TS response over issues of migrants

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020 hyderabad 04

TRS has strong ideological base: Vinod PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State Planning BoardVice-Chairman B Vinod Kumaron Monday said that severalhave founded political partiesfor statehood to Telangana butcould not sustain for manydays unlike the TRS, which hasstrong foundation. The TRS isthe only party that has beenfounded with the objective ofstatehood to Telangana and isable to sustain for 20 years, hesaid.

Addressing media at theTelangana Bhavan here onMonday, he said that manyparties, including the TPS, werefloated even after the TRS wasfounded. Leaders like MarriChanna Reddy, Ale Narendra,Indra Reddy, Vijayasanti found-ed parties but they did not lastlong. He attributed the sustain-ing of TRS for long to its ideo-logical base.

Prior to founding the party,

K Chandrasekhar Rao held dis-cussions with many for aboutone year. That is why the partygained roots and would lastlonger, he said. Prior to floatingthe TRS, KCR brought peoplewith leftist ideology and right-ists onto a single platform.

The schemes which are beingimplemented in the state nowwere designed during the state-hood movement. The names

were also coined then, he said.The Mission Kakatiya namewas conceived in 2002. TheKakatiya were renowned fortheir tank-fed irrigation. Thatwas why KCR suggested thename Mission Kakatiya fortank restoration programme, hesaid.

In the early stages of found-ing the TRS, KCR predictedwho would become MLAs,

Ministers, MPs and his wordsbecame true. One thing thatKCR predicted went wrongwas TRS leader becomingGovernor. Had a coalition gov-ernment was formed at theCentre, TRS leader would havebecome Governor of one stateor the other, he said.

The TRS would explore theproblems and study in-depthbefore suggestion solution. The

Kaleswaram project and RangaNayaka Sagar projects wereconceived much early, he said.When KCR was MLA, he con-ceived Mission Bhagiratha andsupplied drinking water at peo-ple's door step by bringingwater from Lower ManeruDam. As an MP he conceivedthe project with Rs 800 croreand took it to the notice of thethen Prime MinisterManmohan Singh, but the thenChief Minister YS RajasekharReddy caused hurdles to theproject at the nascent stage, headded.

The schemeswhich are beingimplemented in thestate now weredesigned duringthe statehoodmovement, he said

Government lootingfarmers, alleges BJPPNS n HYDERABAD

Instead of solving the prob-lems of the farmers in the state,the Ministers are busy and arecompeting with each other incritisising BJP, said TelanganaBJP president Bandi SanjyaKumar on Monday. "Millers,Rythu Samanvaya Samithimembers turned as brokersand are deceiving the farmersin the name of wastage. On theother hand, the Chief Ministeris making his ministers criti-cise the BJP," he alleged.

The BJP leaders met theGovernor Tamilisai onMonday at Raj Bhavan andsubmitted a memorandumurging her to solve the prob-lems of the farmers. Laterspeaking to the media, BandiSanjay alleged that the TRS isplaying political mind gameon farmers' problems. Hedemanded the state govern-ment to conduct an all-partymeeting to discuss on farmersproblems and ongoing lock-down. He said that theMinisters and TRS MLAs haveno guts to visit the procure-ment centres. He alleged thatthey were looting the farmers

by colluding with the ricemillers.

Alleging that the state gov-ernment failed to assist themigrant laborer, Sanjay sug-gested the Ministers to learnthe problems of the farmers byvisiting them. Stating that thefarmers were coming on to theroads in none other than ChiefMinister's in-laws district,Sanjay said the BJP is con-demning the attitude of thepolice towards farmers.Expressing anger at the ChiefMinister, Sanjay said that theChief Minister is ridiculing hiscritics when they tried to raisethe problems of the farmers atprocurement centres.

He said that the officialswere following different rulesat different procurement cen-tres. It is painful that thefarmers themselves burningtheir crop produced by them-selves, he lamented allegingthat the police are troublingthe BJP activists though theBJP is extending its full sup-port to the lockdown.Goshamahal MLA T RajaSingh and MLC NRamchander Rao were alsopresent.

Expedite land acquisition forKaleshwaram canals: Harish PNS n MEDAK

Finance Minister T HarishRao on Monday asked Medakdistrict Collector DharmaReddy and other officials tostep up the pace of acquisitionof lands to build irrigationcanals to irrigate Kaleswaramproject ayacut lands.

In a meeting to review theKaleswaram project ayacutcanal lands with officials, hesaid that there was no shortageof funds for execution of thecanals and hence asked themto accelerate the pace of landacquisition.

He asked them to bringtheir problem to his notice anddirected that pending works

should be completed as early aspossible. He wanted the offi-cials to forge ahead with coor-dination The KondaPochamma reservoir works should be ready by May 15. Thestate will turn rice bowl withthe execution of Kaleswaram

project. MP K Prabhakar Reddy,

MLAs Padma DevenderReddy, Madan Reddy, addi-tional collector Nagesh, IFFCOdirector Devender Reddy, ZPvice-chairman Lavanya Reddyand others spoke.

Conduct mass testing: CongressPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Congress onMonday alleged that the stategovernment is intentionallyshowing less number ofCoronavirus positive cases inthe state. The Congress onceagain questioned the state gov-ernment to reveal as to why itis not allowing the ICMR-approved hospitals for con-ducting tests. The party saidthat the Chief Minister is evad-ing questions on it. The partysuggested the state governmentto do tests in a big way takingSouth Korea as an example. Theparty alleged that the govern-ment did tests only to 37 per-sons out of 1 lakh.

Telangana CongressLegislature Party (TCLP) hasconducted video conference

on Monday. The party MLAsand TPCC president N UttamKumar Reddy participated inthe conference. Speaking on theoccasion, Uttam said that manywhite ration card holders did-n't received Rs 1,500. He saidthat the Congress cadre isworking round the clock inextending help to the needy.Uttam also demanded the gov-ernment to assist the farmersaffected with untimely rains

immediately.Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka

alleged that the state and cen-tral governments failed to con-sider Rahul Gandhi's alert onCoronavirus. The video confer-ence decided to meet DGP tosubmit a memorandumdemanding him to lift the casesfiled against party MLA PodemVeeraiah and party activists.

The CLP conference alsodecided to seek the Assemblydevelopment funds of Rs 3crore each for the developmentof constituencies. The party alsodemanded the government tolift the GST on masks, sanitis-ers and soaps. The partydemanded the government torelease white paper on details ofdepositing Rs 1,500 in theaccounts of white ration cardholders.

MUCH-NEEDED RELIEF

PNS n HYDERABAD

In a much-needed relief totransgenders living in the state,the Telangana High Court onMonday directed the state gov-ernment to take steps forensuring free supply of allessential goods like 12-kg freerice and other nutritious foodincluding vegetables withoutinsisting on them to produceration cards, medicines tothose suffering from HIV dur-ing the ongoing lockdownperiod.

A division bench of theHigh Court comprising of theChief Justice of the state JusticeRS Chauhan and Justice AAbhishek Reddy also directedthe state government to file adetailed report revealing thedetails steps taken in respect ofTransgenders during the lock-down period. The petitionwas filed by city-based trans-gender and social activistsVyjayanti Vasanta Mogili, anative of Attapur from the city.

In his petition, Vyjayantiurged the HC to also allowthem to apply for social secu-rity pensions under Aasarapension scheme, free gas cylin-ders, waive off electricity billsfor six months, provide ade-quate amount of security to allthe transgenders in publicplaces. He also urged the HCto issue directions to the state

government to take actionagainst those who are targetingthe transgender by falselylabelling them as the potentialCarriers of HIV and Covid 19virus.

Responding to the issue,The division bench also askedthe state government to submitthe details like total number oftransgenders and the details ofthose benefitted by the stategovernment from among themduring the period of lock-down in different ways. Thedivision bench later adjournedthe matter till May 8,2020.

Meanwhile, Dealing with apetition filed by the projectaffected families underKondapochamma Sagar reser-voir, the Telangana High Courtdirected the Siddipet districtcollector to take steps ensuringthat the alternative house sitesor accommodation provided tothem in the resettlement colonydo not fall under FTL area.

I am supreme in my segment,claims Station Ghanpur MLAPNS n WARANGAL

Terming himself as the 'fatherof the Station Ghanpur seg-ment', MLA Dr T Rajaiah onMonday clamped lockdownon the entry of all other lead-ers into his constituencypremises. Speaking afterunfurling the party flag on theoccasion of TRS' 20thFormation Day celebrations,the legislator warned his oppo-nents in the in the party to facethe wrath of the high com-mand if they fail to mend theirways.

He said that all the leaders,including MPs, Ministers,MLCs or any other has to takehis permission to enter the seg-ment premises. He further

said the MLA is supreme in thesegment from according con-tracts to securing nominatedposts at the high command.

It may be mentioned herethat T Rajaiah is known for hiscontroversial remarks and was

allegedly involved in dubiouspractices for according con-tracts and securing nominat-ed posts. Sending serious sig-nals to his political opponentswithin the party at the meet-ing, he said the high commandof the party was observingeach and every developmentthat is being taken up at theconstituency level.

He announced asylum tocertain anti-party activists byinviting them into the partybut warned of facing the wrathif they continue to violate the'lockdown' of the MLA. Thesepersons would be isolatedfrom the party and hence theyshould utilise the present quar-antine period to mend theirways, the MLA warned.

Seethakka calls for‘Go Hunger Go'challengePNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MLA fromMulugu DanasiriAnasuya aliasSeethakka onMonday hasstarted 'GoHunger Go'challenge. TheMLA asked hersocial media fol-lowers to accepther challenge andcomplete the task by feed-ing the needy. Describing herchallenge as a war on hunger,Seethakka urged all to take

part in the challenge by accept-ing it and fulfilling the task.

However, Seethakka hasthrown her challenge

to GovernorT a m i l i s a iSounderarajan,Malkajgiri MPA RevanthR e d d y ,Congress lead-

ers MohammedAli Shabbir and

Konda VishweshwarReddy. She said "I believe

they will accept my challengeand fulfil the task and subse-quently will nominate others."

Minister rejectsMP’s claims onprocurementPNS n HYDERABAD

Roads and Buildings MinisterVemula Prashanth Reddy onMonday took potshots at BJPMP from NizamabadDharmapuri Arvind over pro-curement process. TheMinister dared the MP topurchase the farm produce ifhe had love towards farmers.

He asked Arvind todemand the Centre to enhancethe quota of purchasing whitejowar and sunflower grainsbesides increasing transportand milling charges. It is notcorrect on part of Arvind tospeak lies without havingknowledge on the subject.

After visiting the procure-ment centre at Mothe villagein Nizamabad district,Prashant Reddy suggestedArvind to bring turmericboard if the latter had lovetowards farmers and it is notcorrect on the part of Arvindto speak lies every day bystanding on balcony.

“It is not correct for Arvindto state that the Centre is pur-chasing all crops and state gov-ernment is only bearing trans-port charges. The StateGovernment had took Rs25,000 crore as loan to pur-chase the farmers’ produce toensure that they do not faceany trouble due to lockdown,”he said.

The Minister said that thegovernment is purchasing theproduce of the farmers unlikeany state across the nation. Itmay be recalled that Arvindcriticised the governmentalleging that it failed to solvethe problems of the farmers.

Purchasesoaked paddy:KomatireddyPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MP from BhongirKomatireddy Venkat Reddy onMonday demanded the stategovernment to extend help tothe farmers suffered lossesdue to untimely rains immedi-ately. It is shameful on the partof TRS as it is celebrated itsfoundation day when the farm-ers are facing troubles withuntimely rains, he alleged.Farmers hard work went invain as the government delayedpurchasing the crop from thefarmers, the MP alleged. Hedemanded the government torespond in this regard imme-diately. "The government iskeeping quiet when the farm-ers are facing troubles at pro-curement centres.

The scenes at procurementcentres are heart-rending as theproduce of the farmers soakedin rains," he remarked. The rul-ing party MLAs has no inten-tion to help the farmers exceptgetting publicity with theirconvoys.

The MP alleged that thefarmers are facing problemsdue to the inefficiency of thegovernment. "There is nobodyto look into the problems of thefarmers as the latter are wait-ing for their turn for the last 15days at IKP and PACS centresto sell their produce," he point-ed out. The MP demanded thegovernment to own theresponsibility and purchasethe soaked paddy.

Implementloan waiver:RevanthPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MP from MalakjgiriA Revanth Reddy on Mondayslammed the TRS governmentover the procurement processin the state. "It is shocking thatthe TRS leaders are puttingtheir efforts for political gainsfrom the hard work of farmers.The farmers got good producedue to their hard work andnature's support, however, thefarmers are feeling unhappywith the negligent attitude ofthe government," he pointedout. The MP alleged that theTRS leaders were not in a posi-tion to see the farmers' hardwork and the losses they fac-ing.

He demanded the state gov-ernment to assess the crop losedue to untimely rains by send-ing the official teams to thefield to extend ex-gratia toaffected farmers. The MPdemanded the government toimplement the loan waiverscheme immediately."Government has to file crim-inal cases against the business-men who are allegedly lootingthe farmers at procurementcenters in the name of moistureand wastage," Revanth said.

"The government has toextend Rs 10 lakh to familiesof farmers who died due tothunderstorms. And it shouldannounce its action plan onpurchase of chilli, cotton,turmeric and other commer-cial crops.

‘People in Old Cityflouting lockdown’PNSn HYDERABAD

BJP MLA from Telangana TRaja Singh Loath on Mondayalleged that the people in OldCity are not following lock-down. He said that the peoplewere coming out in hundredsto the markets in the name ofRamzan and not followingsocial distancing. He allegedthat nobody is following thelockdown rules in MJ Marketand Osman Gunj areas."Hindus celebrated Ugadi,Srirama Navami andHanuman Jayanthi festivals intheir respective houses only.How the police are giving per-mission to Muslims to comeout from their residences," hequestioned urging the DGP toimplement lockdown rulesstrictly in Old City.

Dedicated web portal to dispel fake newsPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana ITE&CDepartment has come up witha dedicated web portalhttps://factcheck.telangana.gov.in with an aim to dispel fakenews and misinformation cam-paigns on the social media plat-forms and to provide factsand context wherever applica-ble. The ITE&C Departmenthas been periodically releasinga media bulletin on widely cir-culated posts on Coronaviruson the social media platformsverifying the claims madetherein. Here are the seven fakenews that are going viral onsocial media this week.

-- A private Telugu TV chan-nel has scrolled a news itemthat 32 year-old Ms.ElisaGranato, the first person to takepart in Oxford's coronavirustrial is dead. The same is being

shared widely on the socialmedia platforms. She is verymuch alive" after anti-vaxxersspread fake news that she haddied. The BBC's medical cor-respondent Fergus Walsh wroteon Twitter that he had spokento Dr Granato over Skype andeven shared a video of DrGranato saying that she was

"very much alive" and "havinga cup of tea". The UK'sDepartment of Health andSocial Care has also said thatthe story is "completelyuntrue".

-- A post is being widelyshared on social media plat-forms stating that Japan's NobelPrize winning Professor of

Medicine, Professor Dr. TasukuHonjo has claimed that theCoronavirus is not natural andthat China manufactured it.However, the fact checking ofthe post revealed that Dr.Tasuku Honjo had not madeany such claims. Ever since theoutbreak of COVID-19, mul-tiple claims were made linkingthe origin of the virus to aresearch lab in Wuhan. Theseclaims were debunked by mul-tiple fact-checkers across theworld, including WHO.

-- An audio clip purportedto be of former CBI JointDirector VV Laxminarayana isbeing circulated widely onsocial media. The person in the

audio clip claims that India willextend the Lockdown for fur-ther two months based on theadvisory from World HealthOrganisation and exhorts peo-ple to keep sufficient food,medicines and money at hand.Factcheck has found the audioclip to be fake.

-- A video of dead bodieswashed ashore on an unidentifiedbeach is being shared on socialmedia with the claim that somecountries are throwing away deadpersons infected with COVID-19into the sea. Factcheck has foundout that a boat carrying theAfrican immigrants to Europecapsized en route near a beach inBolivia in 2014.

Corona curve startedflattening in TS: GuvPNS n HYDERABAD

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan onMonday said thatthe Telangana gov-ernment is doingits best to containthe spread of then o v e lCoronavirus andthe situation isunder control. Shealso said that the 'positivecases curve has almost start-ed flattening in the last fewdays' in the state.

The past three days haveseen a dip in the number ofcases being reported everyday in the state. While onThursday, 56 new cases were

reported, on Friday, the statesaw 15 new cases. Saturdaysaw seven cases being report-

ed while on Sunday, thestate reported 11 cases.

Telangana hasreported 1,002Covid-19 cases sofar, with 280 per-sons recovered and

discharged. Thedeath toll in the state

is 26, according toUnion Health Ministry data.In three of the 33 districts in

the state, there have been nonew cases in the last few days,the Governor, who is a doctor,said. "Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's govern-ment is doing its best to con-tain the disease.

Supply essentials goods totransgenders, HC tells govt

‘Constitutehigh-level panel’ PNS n HYDERABAD

Dealing with a PublicInterest Litigation (PIL) onthe issue of police brutali-ty on general public, jour-nalists and social workersduring the lockdown period,the Telangana High Courton Monday directed theauthorities concerned torespond to the plea seekingto quash all cases registeredagainst the general public,journalists and social work-ers and release of the allvehicles seized by the policeduring the lockdown and toconstitute a high-level com-mittee under legal servicesauthority to look into theallegations within twoweeks.

ITE&C Dept is releasing a bulletin onwidely circulated posts on Corona onsocial media platforms verifying claims

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

When will foodgrainsstored in govtwarehouses be used?LUCKNOW: BSP presidentMayawati on Monday asked thecentral and state governmentsto make proper arrangementsfor food for thousands of poormigrant labourers and alsoprovide financial assistance tothem. Mayawati said it wouldhave been better if thegovernments made properarrangements for the millionsof people, who are sufferingdue to the lockdown over thenovel coronavirus pandemic,and send them safely to theirhouses. "The central and all thestate governments, besidesincreasing the testing ofcoronavirus, should also makeavailable proper food,especially to the helplessmillions of poor migrantlabourers," Mayawati tweeted."Otherwise how will thesepeople, suffering from hunger,be able to increase thereimmunity and save themselvesfrom the deadly coronavirus?When will the foodgrainsstored in governmentwarehouses be used?" sheasked. The BSP leader alsodemanded immediate financialhelp to the migrants.

NCW asks Rajasthanto conduct probe ingang rape of woman

One arrested in UP forderogatory commentsagainst deitiesBALLIA (UP): One person wasarrested on Monday forallegedly making derogatorycomments against Hindudeities on his Facebook page, apolice official said. The personhad made the derogatorycomments about 10 days agoand a complaint was lodgedagainst him in this regard byone Rakesh Singh, said SHO,Ubhav police station, YogendraBahadur Singh. The arrestedperson hails from Kundelvillage, Singh said.

NEW DELHI: The NationalCommission for Women onMonday asked the Rajasthanpolice to conduct an immediateinvestigation in the alleged gangrape of a woman in that stateand sought strict action againstthe culprits and the erringpolice officials. A 40-year-oldwoman, who was unable tomake her way back to her homein Jaipur due to travel restric-tions amid the countrywidelockdown, was allegedly rapedon the night of April 23-24 bythree men at a school in SawaiMadhopur district where shewas put up by the local authori-ties. The Commission haswritten to Bhupendra SinghYadav, Director General ofPolice, Rajasthan, for immediateinvestigation and strict actionagainst the culprits and erringpolice officials as per the law,the NCW said in a statement.The Commission is concernedabout the safety and security ofwomen despite the enactmentof the Criminal Law AmendmentAct, 2013, that made laws agai-nst sexual crimes stricter, it said.

PNS n RAIPUR

All police personnel on dutyduring the lockdown for thecoronavirus outbreak inChhattisgarh will be tested ina phased manner as per direc-tions of the state DirectorGeneral of Police DM Awasthi,a senior official said onMonday. In a letter to seniorsuperintendents of police andSPs, Awasthi said police havebeen in the frontline enforcingthe lockdown and, therefore, itwas appropriate that they betested as a precautionary mea-sure after consulting the respec-tive district health officer, theofficial informed.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A majority of chief ministerswho interacted with the primeminister on Monday wantedthe lockdown to continue afterMay 3 with little economicactivity, according toPuducherry Chief Minister VNarayanasamy.

The chief ministers wereunanimous in telling the primeminister that the way the viruswas spreading, there needs tobe a cautious approach in lift-ing the lockdown,Narayanasamy, who participat-ed in the meeting throughvideo conference, said

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday held a videoconference with chief ministers

to discuss the situation arisingdue to COVID-19 in the coun-try

The chief ministers also saidthat the government shouldevolve a policy for sendinghome migrant workers strand-ed in different states.

"But, the prime minister

did not give any solution toresolve the migrants problemissue," he said at a press con-ference through video confer-ence.

The Puducherry CM said heand Bihar chief minister NitishKumar raised the issue ofmigrants. Narayanasamy saidthe CMs demanded that thegovernment should announcea stimulus package on lines ofthe UPA's 2008 package forrevival of the economy.

He also said the prime min-ister lauded Rajasthan chiefminister Ashok Gehlot fortaking steps to contain thevirus in his state. He alsomentioned about the workdone by chief ministers ofOdisha and Bihar.

369 stranded studentsreach J-K from KotaPNS n KATHUA

A group of 369 students, hail-ing from different districts ofJammu and Kashmir andLadakh, reached here onMonday from Kota inRajasthan onboard 15 SRTCbuses, officials said.

Soon after their arrival, theywere screened for COVID-19and later allowed to proceed totheir home districts in the twoUnion Territories where theywould undergo administrativequarantine before joining theirfamilies, the officials said.

They said six students fromKargil, who also completedtheir quarantine period of 14days in Kathua, also joined thegroup from Ladakh.

"The Jammu and Kashmir

government had dispatched 15SRTC buses three days back tobring back 369 students whowere left stranded in Kotadue to the lockdown. Thestudents entered Jammu andKashmir this (Monday) morn-ing,” District DevelopmentCommissioner, Kathua, O PBhagat, who himself receivedthe students, said.

He said all the studentswere screened by the specialteam of doctors and laterallowed to move towards theirrespective districts.

"Eight buses with studentsof Kashmir and Ladakh left forSrinagar. Six students of Kargil,who had completed adminis-trative quarantine in Kathua,also boarded the Ladakh-bound bus," he said.

Respond on Journalists’ joband wage cut, SC to CentrePNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Mondaysought the Centre's reply on aplea alleging that employeesincluding journalists have beenmeted out “inhuman and ille-gal treatment” by some mediaorganizations which have beenissuing termination notices,effecting wage cuts and askingthem to proceed on unpaidleaves during the coronaviruslockdown.

A bench comprising JusticesN V Ramana, Sanjay KishanKaul and B R Gavai, in a pro-ceedings held through videoconferencing, issued notices tothe Centre, the IndianNewspapers Society and theNews Broadcasters Associationon the plea filed by three jour-nalists' bodies and listed theplea for further hearing aftertwo weeks.

“These are the matter whichrequired an hearing and someserious issues have beenraised,” the bench said whenSolicitor General TusharMehta, appearing for theCentre, submitted that nonotice be issued to the govern-ment at this stage.

Senior advocate ColinGonsalves represented the peti-tioners, National Alliance of

Journalists, Delhi Union ofJournalists and BrihanmumbaiUnion of Journalists andalleged that the employeesincluding journalists are beingterminated and steps like uni-lateral steep wage cuts andsending workers on indefiniteunpaid leave are being takenciting the nationwide lock-down to contain the Covid-19or coronavirus pandemic.

The PIL has sought a direc-tion to “all persons publishingnewspapers or engaged withmedia work including digitalmedia and employing journal-ists and non-journalists forthis purpose to treat all termi-nation of service notices issued,resignation from servicesreceived from employees pur-

suant to a request from theemployers whether oral or inwriting, all wage reductions, alldirections to go on leave with-out pay, taking place after theannouncement of the 25 lock-down as suspended withimmediate effect until furtherorders”.

The PIL has been filedregarding the “inhuman andillegal treatment being metedout by employers to theiremployees and workers in thenewspaper and media sector”,it said.

“Several newspapers, maga-zines, online media outlets, andother employers in the mediasector have reportedly takensteps after the announcementof the nation-wide lockdown in

March 2020 to retrench work-ers and employees, imposewage cuts, etc. in spite of advi-sories issued by the Ministry ofLabour & Employment,Government of India and evenappeals by the Prime Ministerof India to not terminate theservices or reduce the wages oftheir employees,” it said.

The plea referred to some ofthe steps taken by few mediahouses against some employ-ees due to the lockdown.

Feeding stray dogs and other animals duringCOVID-19 lockdown: HC seeks govt standPNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court onMonday sought response of theCentre and AAP governmenton a plea seeking directions tothem to provide food andwater to stray animals duringthe coronavirus lockdown.

A bench of JusticesSiddharth Mridul and TalwantSingh issued notices to theMinistry of Fisheries andAnimal Husbandry, Delhi gov-ernment, the Animal WelfareBoard of India (AWBI) and themunicipal bodies here.

The bench sought their replyon the petition by June 10, thenext date of hearing.

Advocate Gauri Puri, whoappeared for the petitioner,said the high court also askedthe Delhi government to issuetravel passes on sympatheticgrounds to animal welfare vol-unteers during the lockdown.

The Central governmentstanding counsel, Anurag

Ahluwalia, accepted notice forthe ministry. The order cameon the plea by Arti Puri whohas been working for welfare ofanimal for the last 15 years.

She contended that straydogs and other animals arelargely dependent on garbageand left over food from restau-rants, canteens and market-places, all of which have beenshut down in the wake of

COVID-19 pandemic.Even those private persons

who were feeding them are notventuring out of their homesdue to the lockdown, andtherefore, the strays are suffer-ing from starvation, the pleasaid.

It was further contendedthat while the governmentswere taking adequate mea-sures to ensure the poor and

needy get food, no such stepsare being taken for stray ani-mals.

The petitioner submittedthat the failure to take anyaction could result in deaths ofcountless stray animals due tostarvation and it could lead toanother epidemic as the limit-ed municipal staff engaged insanitization of colonies andgarbage collection, would beunable to dispose of the dead

animal bodies."Apart from loss of animal

life, a situation will also arisewhere the stray dogs in partic-ular, enter into other territoriessearching for food and displayaggressive behaviour towardshumans in search of food," thepetition said.

It also said that presentlyonly a handful of NGOs andvolunteers are ensuring thatstray animals are fed in verylimited areas of Delhi.

Further, due to lack of ade-quate fund and support, asalso penal consequences thatmay entail for violation of thelockdown order, the volun-teers are unable to take care ofthe several starving stray ani-mals in the national capital, thepetition said.

The plea has also soughtdirections to the AnimalWelfare Board of India to estab-lish a committee to ensure ade-quate food and water is beingprovided to stray animals.

PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Over 1.5 lakh Non-ResidentKeralites (NRK)s, stranded invarious countries, have regis-tered online for returningto thestate, once the Centre gives thenod and air services resume

The Norka (Non ResidentKeralites Affairs) departmenthad commenced the registrationprocess at around 6pm onSunday and within an hour25,000 had registered, govern-ment sources said.

Till Monday morning, over1.5 lakh NRKs have registered,the maximum is from UAE--over 60,000.

The aged, pregnant women,children, critically ill patients,those with expired visas and

those who had gone abroad onvisiting visa are among thelargenumbers of people who arewaiting to return.

Those wanting to return,have to get themselves tested forCOVID-19 in the respectivecountries, where they are andregister after getting a negativecertificate for the infection.

PNS n BENGALURU

Former Karnataka ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamyon Monday suggested impos-ing "COVID cess" on the ultrarich to offset the loss of rev-enue, as he called for citizen-centric measures and lower thecost of living, to help thoseaffected by the lockdown.

Cautioning the state andCentral governments aboutthe impact of COVID-19 lock-down on economy and peoplein turn, the JD(S) leaderadvised for measures like par-tial waivers of EMIs, rents,school fees, cut in petrol anddiesel prices.

"According to RBI and inter-national economic assessment

agencies, the GDP growth rateof the country is expected tofall to a historic low. Such adire situation calls for citizencentric measures like full orpartial waivers of EMIs, rents,school fees and other levies,"Kumaraswamy tweeted.

Stating that the economywon't bounce back within avery short period, he said, it isimportant to lower the cost ofliving as spending power of theconsumer has depleted.

"The govt must cut thepetrol and diesel prices. Theloss of revenue may be offsetpartially by imposing COVIDcess on the ultra rich," headded.

Further, Kumaraswamy said,it is high time the governmentannounced schemes to savelivelihoods of people, espe-cially those in the unorganisedsector. The government mustprovide immediate relief tofarmers, construction workers,cab and auto drivers, garmentworkers, etc, he added.

‘No mask - no fuel' ruleimplemented in ArunchalPNS n ITANAGAR

The Arunachal Pradesh gov-ernment has asked all petroldepots and gas agencies here torefuse service to customerswho visit their outlets withoutwearing mask, an official saidon Monday.

District Food and CivilSupplies Officer (DFCSO)Amit Bengia, in a notice issuedto the fuel stations, said thegovernment's move was aimedat ensuring safety of people liv-ing in the state capital, amidthe spurt in COVID-19 casesacross the country.

"No consumer will beallowed to purchase fuel orLPG cylinders in the capitalregion without a mask," Bengiaadded.

Taking to Twitter, ChiefMinister Pema Khandu alsostated that 'no mask, no fuel'rule has been implemented inItanagar.

Capital Complex PetroleumDepot Association presidentArun Kipa Loram said neces-sary instructions have beenforwarded to petrol pumpowners and managers in thisregard.

"We have specifically askedthem to ensure that there is nonegligence during workinghours and appealed to thepeople to follow the govern-

ment order and wear maskswhen they step out to buy fuel,"Loram said.

Meanwhile, the administra-tion in the state capital has des-ignated the Police TrainingCentre (PTC) at Banderdewanear here as the "official quar-antine centre" for people arriv-ing from outside.

Doctors along with healthworkers, magistrate and policepersonnel have been stationedat the centre for screening thereturnees.

"People coming from otherstates to Itanagar will be quar-antined at the PTC for 14 daysor more to avoid chances ofvirus transmission. The entirePTC area has been disinfectedon Sunday under the supervi-sion of Naharlagun SDPO RKamsi and Deputy

Superintendent of Police(Headquarters) Gari Tai,"Capital SP Tumme Amo said.

PNS n KOLKATA

Two bus operators' associationsin WB said on Monday thatthey have written to UnionMinister Nitin Gadkari seekinga financial package for the pas-senger transport industry, whichhas taken a severe hit amid thecoronavirus-triggered lock-down. Drawing attention ofthe Road Transport and High-ways minister to the plight ofthousands of bus owners andtheir employees, the Joint Coun-cil of Bus Syndicates and Interand Intra Region Bus Associa-tion said the industry would suf-fer an irreparable loss withoutany aid from the government.

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Haryana Congress presidentKumari Selja said on Mondaythat small and medium enter-prises would need a helpinghand from the government asthese were among the sectorsthat had been adversely hit dueto the lockdown over thenovel coronavirus pandemic.

Selja said these industrieswere the backbone of theeconomy and generated hugeemployment.

"These industries have beenadversely hit. They don't havethat kind of buffer that theycan go on for long in this sit-uation without governmenthelp," Selja told PTI overphone. "To get back into busi-ness, they will surely need a

helping hand from the govern-ment."

According to the Congressleader, the governmentshould talk to various stake-holders to chalk out a planand help the sectors thatneeded immediate attentionin the COVID-19 crisis.

MSMEs will need helpinghand from govt: Selja

PNS n AGARTALA

Tripura Chief Minister BiplabKumar Deb on Monday said hisgovernment has started work toincrease production in primarysectors like agriculture, horticul-ture, poultry and dairy farmingto deal with losses suffered dueto the lockdown.

He said Tripura usually earnsaround Rs 1,500 crore perannum from the rubber produc-tions, which suffered losses of Rs250 crore due to the lockdownimposed to control the spread ofCOVID-19 pandemic.

Deb said poultry, fisheries,animal husbandry, dairy, agricul-ture, horticulture and floriculturecould generate early incomewith less investment and may befocused to increase primary sec-tor productivity

" ... considering the present sit-uation, the deadline set by ourgovernment for achieving self-sufficiency in primary sectors hasbeen reduced by 1-2 years so that

the economy which suffered a lotdue to COVID-19 pandemic canbe balanced if production couldbe increased in primary sectors,"a government press statementquoting the chief minister saidon Monday.

Deb said his government isconsidering providing subsidizedloans under various governmentschemes in primary sectors."Closure of rubber industries insome states due to lockdownmight be the reason for Rs 250crore losses. So the government

has decided to boost the prima-ry sectors as an alternative toincrease the revenue," he added.

"A good number of people,especially from indigenous com-munities, are involved in fisheriessector for livelihood. Fish seedsare produced in Tripura. AndhraPradesh procures fish seeds of Rs150 crore from West Bengal. IfTripura can meet the demandthen the state will earn the sameamount and the income of fishcultivators will increase sub-stantially." Deb said.

Tripura working to increaseproduction in primary sector

Kumaraswamy suggests COVID cesson ultra rich to offset revenue loss

All cops onlockdown dutyto be tested:C'garh DGP

Bus operatorsin Bengal seekfinancial helpfrom Gadkari

Over 1.5 lakh NRKsregister to return to Kerala

Most CMs want lockdownto continue: Narayanasamy

"We have specifi-cally asked themto ensure thatthere is nonegligence duringworking hoursand appealed tothe people tofollow thegovernment orderand wear maskswhen they stepout to buy fuel,"Loram said

“These are thematter whichrequired anhearing andsome seriousissues have beenraised,” thebench said whenSolicitor GeneralTushar Mehta,appearing for theCentre,submitted thatno notice beissued to thegovernment atthis stage

The Central govern-ment standingcounsel, AnuragAhluwalia, acceptednotice for theministry. The ordercame on the plea byArti Puri who hasbeen working forwelfare of animalfor the last 15 years

In an interview to German televisionDeutsche Welle (DW) on April 17,writer-activist Arundhati Roy accusedthe Government of India “of exploit-ing the Coronavirus outbreak to

inflame tensions between the Hindus andthe Muslims”, adding dramatically, “the sit-uation is approaching genocidal.” Given theirexperience with a democratically-electedleader in 1933, one expected the Germansto show better sense in their reportage andchoice of guests. Still, we remain grateful forthe submarine ride that helped Netaji get toJapan.

Roy’s nauseating statements may pleasea certain audience but with no evidence toeven tangentially support her wild allega-tions, DW has tarnished its journalistic stan-dards by inviting her bilge against India atsuch a sensitive time. In reality, several SouthAsian nations hold the Tablighi Jamaatresponsible for the rise of Coronavirushotspots within their borders. SensibleMuslims are embarrassed by theNizamuddin event, which led to the exten-sion of the national lockdown; hopefully, itwill end on May 3.

Recent weeks have also seen reports ofa temple yatra and one high-profile weddingwhere none of the guests wore masks. InSouth Korea, a little known church emergedas a hotspot linked to nearly 5,200 confirmedcases in February. Singapore banned thelocal activities of this sect. Further, a high-profile election guru was recently smuggledfrom Delhi to an Opposition-ruled State ina transport plane. As he was visiting a Stateregarded as a Coronavirus hotspot, oneexpected the authorities to enforce the 14-day quarantine at the airport, on his return.Hopefully, he will not be allowed to smug-gle himself back.

To return to the Tablighi Jamaat,around 250,000 people attended a five-dayIjtema in Raiwind, Lahore, Pakistan, onMarch 10. Authorities say over 2,258 peo-ple, who attended the event, were found pos-itive for Coronavirus. On April 16, MaulanaSuhaib Rumi, 69, head of the sect’s Faisalabadbranch, who attended the Raiwind Ijtema,died of Coronavirus; five members of hisfamily were also infected. Pakistan’s Scienceand Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhryheld the “stubbornness of the clergy”responsible for the spread of the contagion.Pakistan’s first set of cases came with Shiapilgrims returning from Iran, one of theworst-affected nations, but the problem wasthen less known.

In Malaysia, nearly 16,000 Tablighisattended a meeting at Jamek Mosque, SriPetaling, Kuala Lumpur (February 27-March 1) and spread the disease in SoutheastAsia. Only half the Malaysian participantsreported for testing, despite requests fromthe authorities. The guests included 1,500foreigners from Brunei, Thailand, Canada,Nigeria, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, thePhilippines, Indonesia, Australia, China and

South Korea. The authorities inBrunei (50 cases), Singapore (5),Cambodia (13) and Thailand (2)have confirmed the link betweenthe meeting and the disease. OneFilipino man, who attended theevent and was being probed forsuspected Coronavirus infec-tion, died in the city of Marawi.

The India-baiting New YorkTimes published an article, InIndia, Coronavirus Fans ReligiousHatred, on April 12 and said thatthe Delhi Government hadbanned meetings of more than 50people on March 16, but onMarch 19, Maulana SaadKhandalvi, the head of theTablighi Jamaat, announced thatCoronavirus was “god’s punish-ment” and not to fear it. Daysafter the nationwide lockdownbegan on March 24, after twodeaths at the Markaz, doctorsfound nearly 1,300 people at thecentre without masks or protec-tive gear. By then, hundreds hadmoved and spread the virus tomany States, including theAndaman Islands. Quick actionby the authorities intercepted theMalaysian guests at the airportbefore they could leave the coun-try.

The Ijtema undeniably led toa spurt in India’s Coronaviruscases. Medical staff dealing withpatients and quarantine cases alsosuffered very difficult situations,even as they risked their lives tosave lives. In a related develop-ment, the Union Home Ministryhas asked State Governments tohelp trace Rohingya migrants

from different States, who attend-ed the Ijtema in Delhi (March 25)as they might have contracted theCoronavirus. It appears that theincubation period of the virusvaries and sometimes takeslonger than the projected twoweeks to manifest. The DelhiPolice has reportedly chargedSaad with culpable homicide, buthe is untraceable. Worse, itappears that a meeting was alsoheld in Mewat (Haryana).

For foreigners, to find amote in the Indian eye and notlook at the beam in their own,has given pain to a nation that hasalways prided itself for adheringto the most exacting and chal-lenging civilisational values.Bigotry does not come natural-ly to Indians; Western journalistsshould look closer home.

If I may show the mirror,George Packer writes, “When thevirus came here, it found a coun-try with serious underlying con-ditions and it exploited themruthlessly. Chronic ills — a cor-rupt political class, a scleroticbureaucracy, a heartless economyand a divided and distracted pub-lic — had gone untreated foryears…. It took the scale and inti-macy of a pandemic to exposetheir severity — to shockAmericans with the recognitionthat we are in the high-risk cat-egory.” (We Are Living In AFailed State, The Atlantic, June2020 issue)

The analysis of Americanpreparedness to cope with thecrisis is crisp: “When test kits,

masks, gowns and ventilatorswere found to be in desperate-ly short supply, Governorspleaded for them from theWhite House, which stalled,then called on private enter-prise, which couldn’t deliver.States and cities were forcedinto bidding wars that left themprey to price gouging and cor-porate profiteering. Civilianstook out their sewing machinesto try to keep ill-equipped hos-pital workers healthy and theirpatients alive. Russia, Taiwan,and the United Nations senthumanitarian aid to the world’srichest power — a beggarnation in utter chaos.”

In India, First Lady SavitaKovind and thousands of womenacross the country are stitchingmasks to ensure that every citi-zen has at least one. In America:“A few Senators and corporateexecutives acted quickly — not toprevent the coming disaster butto profit from it.”

Above all, the virus, GeorgePacker laments, exposed theinequality rampant in America:The wealthy and connected man-aged to get tested, though mosthad no symptoms, while “ordi-nary people with fevers andchills had to wait in long and pos-sibly infectious lines, only to beturned away because they weren’tactually suffocating.”Unsurprisingly, most victimswere poor, Black and Brown.

(The author is a senior journalist. Views expressed are personal)

With non-essential goods being bannedfor delivery by e-commerce companies,thanks to a Government order, people

are wondering what constitutes to be essential.While working from home (WFH) seems to bea good idea during the lockdown period, noteveryone, who has been asked to work withinthis structure, has the requisite set-up to be ableto do so. Maybe someone needs a better lap-top or a work table or other electronic equipmentlike a microphone/earphone or even a dongle fordata connectivity. What about a chair? Or glass-

es? Possibly even air conditioners and washing machines? While certain com-modities like clothes have rightly been banned for delivery, it is plainly ridiculousthat a bureaucrat sits in an office and determines what is essential and what is not.While the Government might think it is protecting physical stores, the inability toget certain goods delivered is actually harming the economy rather than helpingit. This is not just because people need those items urgently to work, online deliv-ery services are the best way to ensure physical distancing. The fact is that welive in times when reduced human interaction is a positive thing. Thus, having goodsdelivered with minimal interaction is welcome. Surely, no State Government wantsthousands of delivery boys to run up and down the city. But if we are to get theconsumer economy going once again, with factories open and employees insideproducing things, we need to get demand going. And for that, the Government mustrestart the delivery of all such services forthwith. The number of delivery person-nel can be limited and this has already been done. This can encourage or evenmandate that e-commerce companies work with some physical retail stores forproducts. Most sites have a vibrant seller community, this should not be a prob-lem. Moreover, this would be a lot better than thousands of people crowding mar-kets the day the lockdown lifts.

There is no doubt now that the lockdown will not end very soon. While somecities and districts might open up sooner than others, even the most optimistic ofpeople know that a full “return to normalcy” might not happen before the end ofthe year. But if we are to return to normal, the work towards that has to start now.To make sure this happens, the Government has to start allowing more productsto be delivered and not look at e-commerce as a bad thing. This needless debateabout what constitutes “essential” and what doesn’t has to end.

There seems to be no unanimity over liftingthe national lockdown and we may not begetting a single date applicable for the whole

nation. With hotspots and red zones emergingon the virus map, containment still a massivechallenge with unanticipated spikes and testingnot enough with asymptomatic carriers movingaround, it is difficult for affected StateGovernments and the Centre to reach a com-mon meeting ground. Truth be told, this, in theend, cannot be a one-size-fits-all formula till avaccine is found and the Centre has no option

but to go by the State Governments’ recommendations and concerns, particular-ly those badly affected. So no big announcement came out after the Prime Minister’steleconference with Chief Ministers on COVID-19 management except that the colour-coded zoning would continue and green dots would be opened up in a staggeredmanner so that economic activity could resume. While most Chief Ministers want-ed resumption of economic activity to avoid a livelihood crisis, some Chief Ministers,like those of Odisha, Meghalaya and Goa, wanted an extended lockdown till Mayend and would like State borders sealed than risk a cross-flow of labour and importthe virus. To sum it up, green zones would be allowed to open up economic activ-ities with caveats and compliances while the risky zones would automatically gointo the third phase of the lockdown. No inter-State travel, be it by air, train or road,of any kind except those specified already. Of course, one expected Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to declare some sort of stimulus package, something that the entirenation demands, but nothing specific came out. Again. Except, of course, the ReserveBank of India (RBI) did announce a `50,000 crore bailout for mutual funds. Butapart from assuring broadly that the economy would do fine, Chief Ministers gotno concrete guarantee. Most of them have been demanding that at least the GSTdues be released to them. Perhaps, Modi doesn’t want to sound grandiloquent orbe held to his statements in these fluid and fickle times and promise somethingthat may be unattainable. Perhaps, his economic advisers are against the give-aways leading to runaway expectations of handouts. But businesses are expect-ing some strong signal, for example higher working capital limits while small andmedium scale enterprises are looking for some enablers to ride out the crisis andmeet statutory dues.

There may be piecemeal efforts, yes, but the nation expects the Prime Ministerto reassure people that their savings are not at risk or that there were ways of clam-bering out of the trough. They know about social distancing and don’t need thePrime Minister to tell them about that in his speeches. He needs to share revivalefforts instead with his people so that there is no uncertainty on the ground. Evennow, despite easing of lockdown, only 16 to 17 per cent of the truck business isoperational, plagued as it is by desertions of migrants and procedural hurdles ingetting clearances in different States. Besides, every industry and sector has itsown specific problem and demand that need to be at least listened to or acknowl-edged. Except Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises (MSMEs) Nitin Gadkari, who has been talking to Chief Ministersregarding infrastructure projects in their States, there has been no discernible out-reach by any other Minister. Of course, there has been a bureaucratic reshuffle overthe weekend, one that’s clearly geared towards economic recovery. The appoint-ments of Tarun Bajaj and AK Sharma, both Modi aides who have been with thePMO, mean business. The former has been made the Department of EconomicAffairs (DEA) Secretary in the Finance Ministry while the latter will take charge asSecretary, MSMEs. While we reorient ourselves towards building self-sufficienciesin manufacturing and import substitution in the long run, at this stage the smalland medium industries can keep the wheels going at the level of local economiesand collectively grease the bigger wheels of producers. Already, experts have pre-dicted that 25-30 per cent MSME units many not survive the pandemic. Gadkarihas said that the Government will set up a `1 lakh crore fund to repay outstand-ing dues owed by the Central and State Government undertakings to them. Buteven the big industries need some encouragement. And that better come fast andsoon. All major leaders of the world have done so and on a day we were declaredthe third highest military spender, after the US and China, we wished there wassome news to alleviate the pains of what looks like a prolonged lockdown.

No stimulus yet

Protecting the protectors

Sir — That an amendment to theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897, viaan Ordinance was needed toguard the protectors from theprotectees in this time of thepandemic was no great tribute toour country and our collectiveconsciousness.

It was proof that we are stillmired in ignorance and prejudiceto be anywhere near attaining thestatus of a society capable of sci-entific thinking and rationalbehaviour. Even a primitive soci-ety would not have shown hos-tility towards its healers.

It is inexplicable that even theterrible cost being exacted by thepandemic in death and sufferingdoes not seem to have had anyperceptible impact on aggressivehuman behaviour. Adversityshould bring out the best in usand not the worst. It was incon-ceivable that local residents inMeghalaya’s Jhalupara andChennai obstructed the intern-ment of dedicated and renowneddoctors who succumbed toCOVID-19 in the line of duty anddenied them dignity in death.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Adapting to changes

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Comeback story” (April 27). It isindeed heartwarming that formerwomen employees are joiningback their parent companies withwork from home (WFH) becom-ing a new reality in COVID

times. For all the talk about gen-der equality and women empow-erment, it took the outbreak of thedisease for us to revise our outdat-ed beliefs about working women,who were forced to hold them-selves back due to domestic com-pulsions.

One can just hope that thismoment pushes us towards

developing a new understandingof professionalism that’s fair formothers and removes all thebarriers that professional womenface. Post-motherhood, if womenget back to their jobs, it is wel-come but for that to happen, fam-ily support will be critical.

Bal GovindNoida

Plan the ecology map

Sir — This refers to the reportthat says over 10 pollutionhotspots in Delhi and Mumbaihave turned into green zones dur-ing the lockdown period. A sig-nificant reduction in air pollutionlevels has been a bright spot in ascenario otherwise dominated bya virus that is taking its own timeto go away.

Nonetheless, Delhi, Mumbai,London and Los Angeles areamong those cities that haverecorded improvement in airquality levels since vehicular traf-fic has been largely off the roads.Environmental experts feel thatthis is a time which India must useto achieve a 10 per cent target ofblending ethanol in vehicle fuel.Ethanol is a green fuel, whichwhen blended with petrol, resultsin a cleaner environment as itreduces carbon emissions.Besides, it can reduce the net oilimport bill. One hopes that Indiawill achieve the desired result ofbringing out a cleaner fuel.

Devendra KhuranaBhopal

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020

06

A dubious propaganda

SANDHYA JAIN

In times when the world is facing an existential crisis, the Western media must look closerhome than build false narratives about India and its handling of the Corona pandemic

India should look at convert-ing the world’s hatred forChina amid the pandemicinto an economic opportu-nity for itself by attracting foreign investments.

Union Minister—Nitin Gadkari

When you don’t come from afilm family, you don’t get yoursecond film before your firstfilm releases. Which happenswhen you come from a filmfamily, many times.

Actor—Kriti Sanon

If we have money andaccess, we can avert famineand we can truly avert catastrophic humanitariandeath from starvation.

Head of the World FoodProgramme—David Beasley

S O U N D B I T E

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

Rash decisions will do more harm

It’s true that ultraviolet or UV rays can decrease theviability of viruses, including the new Coronavirus,on surfaces but that doesn’t mean people infected

with COVID-19, who expose themselves to UV light orsunlight that contains UV radiation, will get rid of theinfection. Looks like US President Donald Trump is sodesperate to reopen the American economy that he hasnow suggested that sunlight and ingesting disinfectantslike Lysol could help cure Coronavirus. In fact, hehypothesised about the possibility of using a “tremendous ultraviolet” or “just very powerful light”on or even inside the body as a potential treatment.This is indeed hilarious.

True, sunlight has been the most discussed topicin the Coronavirus battle. It is an excellent natural sourceof Vitamin D, which has many health benefits, includ-ing increased resistance to infectious diseases. Therehave been clinical trials to see if Vitamin D improvesthe outcomes among COVID-19 patients. However, sofar there’s no evidence to suggest that it reduces therisk of contracting the Coronavirus. Chlorine bleach is

toxic. It can and does kill people who drink it. Bleachshould not be injected or ingested. Bleach and sunlightmight kill the Coronavirus on a park bench but they areharmful to the body. This pandemic is an emergingstudy and we should not take rash decisions based onpreliminary findings.

Ravi Teja KathuripalliHyderabad

FOR FOREIGNERS,TO FIND A MOTE IN

THE INDIAN EYEAND NOT LOOK AT

THE BEAM IN THEIROWN, HAS GIVENPAIN TO A NATIONTHAT HAS ALWAYS

PRIDED ITSELF FORADHERING TO THE

MOST EXACTINGAND CHALLENGING

CIVILISATIONALVALUES. BIGOTRYDOES NOT COME

NATURALLY TOINDIANS; WESTERN

JOURNALISTSSHOULD LOOK

WITHIN

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Defining essentialWhen the entire country isfighting against the Covid-19 disaster, somepeople are still profiteering.Shame and disgust at thiscorrupt mentality.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

As the nation stares at a prolonged lockdown given the fluidpandemic, economic revival specifics must be spelt out

A huge debate has erupted over what constitutes essentials.Is it even worth a discussion? Focus must be on the economy

Don’t expect the moon

WOMEN WHO DRESS SCANTILY ARE RESPONSIBLE FORTHE CORONAVIRUS. THEIR BEHAVIOUR IS BRINGING THE

WRATH OF GOD UPON THE COUNTRY. —CLERIC AND PUBLIC SPEAKER

MAULANA TARIQ JAMEEL

WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THE TARGETTING OFWOMEN. THIS SIMPLY REFLECTS IGNORANCEABOUT PANDEMICS OR A MISOGYNIST MINDSET. —FEDERAL MINISTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS SHIREEN MAZARI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

On March 27, in a bid to resuscitate the econ-omy devastated by the Coronavirus, theReserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor,

Shaktikanta Das, announced a host of measures toinject liquidity into the country’s financial system;reduce the cost of capital and ease the stress of loanrepayments. These included reduction in policy rateby 75 basis points to 4.4 per cent; a three-monthmoratorium on payment of installments in respectof all term loans outstanding on March 31; relax-ation in the norms for cash credit and working cap-ital limits; reduction in cash reserve ratio (CRR) by100 basis points to three per cent; auction of target-ted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) of three-year tenor for ̀ 1,00,000 crore at floating rate; accom-modation under Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)to be increased from two per cent of the statutoryliquidity ratio (SLR) to three per cent, with imme-diate effect till June 30.

On April 17, Das announced more measures.These included reduction in reverse repo rate (inter-est rate at which banks lend money to the RBI) by25 basis points from the existing four per cent to 3.75per cent and availability of `50,000 crore directlyunder the TLTRO 2.0 window. Under it, banks canaccess three-year funding from the RBI to invest ininvestment grade papers of Non-Banking FinancialCompanies (NBFCs), with at least 50 per cent invest-ed in small and mid-sized NBFCs and micro-financeinstitutions (MFIs). Banks have a month to investthis amount and more is promised, depending onthe requirement. The RBI also gave a ̀ 50,000 crorespecial refinance facility for financial institutions(FIs). Of the ̀ 50,000 crore, ̀ 25,000 crore will go tothe National Bank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment for refinancing regional rural banks,cooperative banks and MFIs; `15,000 crore to theSmall Industries Development Bank of India for on-lending or refinancing and `10,000 crore to theNational Housing Bank for supporting mortgagelenders.

The RBI has also eased asset classification normsfor all accounts where moratorium or deferment hasbeen applied. This means that all accounts coveredunder the moratorium from March 1 to May 31 willbe treated as Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) from180 days overdue instead of 90 days overdue as perextant rule. The banks will have to maintain addi-tional 10 per cent provisioning on these standstillaccounts over the two quarters ending March andJune.

Furthermore, the banking regulator has extend-ed the 210-day resolution period for all large stressedaccounts identified under its June 7, 2019 circular(on its expiration, if banks are not ready with a res-olution plan, insolvency proceedings are initiatedunder the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) by afurther 90 days. How do these measures help? Tocomprehend this, we need to look at the dynamicsof how Corona is impacting businesses. In a bid tostop the spread of the virus, the Government hasimposed a nationwide lockdown that ends on May3. As a result all economic activities, except for essen-tials, have come to a grinding halt. When business-es don’t run, they don’t generate revenue, hamper-ing their ability to pay wages, make payments to ven-dors/suppliers and so on. This leads to a spiralling

“disruptive” effect on the entire demand-supply chain. Tens of millions of workersnot getting wages and salaries causes wide-spread destruction of demand; millions ofvendors not getting payments meansthey are unable to honour their liabilitiesincluding payment of salaries to their ownworkers.

With cash flows of various entities viz.corporates, suppliers/vendors,workers/employees under stress, servic-ing of loans taken from banks and otherFIs viz. NBFCs, MFIs suffers. This affectsthe ability of the latter to lend, creating afresh wave of compression in demand.

The RBI’s package seeks to help busi-nesses in two ways. First, by granting amoratorium, it exempts them from hav-ing to service their loans during March 1to May 31 (though the lockdown periodis 40 days, the balance 50 days — in thebuild-up to its commencement and theperiod after it ends — have been rightlyincluded) besides ignoring these threemonths for determining if the loan hasgone bad. In other words, it completelyimmunises the firm from the impact ofthe lockdown on its ability to service theloan.

Second, firms can get more moneyfrom banks at lower interest rate (cour-tesy, relaxed norms for cash credit andworking capital) which they can use to payto vendors/suppliers and workers/employ-ees (including for the period they don’twork, as wished by Modi) as also to fundnew projects or expansion as and whenthere is exit from the lockdown and con-ditions are apt for resumption of econom-ic activities. The measures announced byRBI on March 27 and April 17 have madeavailable plenty of liquidity close to`5,00,000 crore which can be utilised for

financing business needs.This comes along with a cut in repo

rate by 0.75 per cent (this is on top of thecumulative reduction of 1.35 per cent dur-ing 2019) which will ensure that addition-al funds are available at lower costs.Further, by reducing the reverse repo ratefrom the existing four per cent to 3.75 percent, the RBI has goaded banks to lend tobusinesses or buy Government securitiesinstead of parking excess funds with itself(as on April 13, this amount was a gargan-tuan ̀ 6,90,000 crore which the Governorwants to be released for spurring econom-ic activity). The RBI has done all that wasneeded to give a boost to the economy inthese testing times. But the industries andbusinesses argue that this won’t be of muchhelp in the absence of demand. They arguewhat will they do with higher productionwhen there are no buyers. They want theGovernment to come up with a “fiscalstimulus” package to put cash in the handsof the people. The demand ranges fromtwo per cent of the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) to as high as 10 per centor `4,00,000 crore to `20,00,000 crore.This is flawed thinking.

Undoubtedly, lack of demand is aproblem; it existed even before the pan-demic. Now it has got aggravated. But whyshould businesses depend entirely on theGovernment for boosting demand? Whycan’t there be sharing of the responsibil-ity? While, the latter can take care of themost vulnerable, particularly those in theinformal sector such as daily wage earn-ers, vendors, migrant labour and so on(already, it is doing this under the PMGarib Kalyan Yojna and more assistancecan be given by extending the coverage),the former should provide continued sup-port to all of their workers for the whole

of three months. From where will thefunds come? While companies, who havebuilt enough cash reserves from theiroperations in the past, can use a portionof that to support their staff in this crisissituation, others not so blessed can takeloans from banks and other FIs who haveplenty of liquidity, courtesy massive injec-tion by the apex bank. This should betaken as investment in the future.

As and when there is exit from thelockdown and economic activity resumes,the revenue stream from operations canhelp in servicing the loans. The banks needto ensure that money gets distributed ina “fair” and “equitable” manner. UnderTLTRO 1.0, almost all of the fundsreleased by the RBI or ̀ 75,000 crore weregiven to big corporates. This should beavoided even as a major portion of thepackage is given to small businesses. Theapex bank has tried to rectify this anom-aly under the TLTRO 2.0 by reserving 50per cent of liquidity injection for small andmid-sized NBFCs and MFIs. However,greater care is needed at the implemen-tation level.

The above approach, even while pro-viding the much-needed fillip to the econ-omy, will also have the added advantageof avoiding big slippage in fiscal deficit(inevitable if the Government is made tobear the entire burden of propping updemand) and disastrous implications interms of spurring inflation, high interestrate, unsustainable debt and so on.

Meanwhile, all-out efforts should bemade to defeat the pandemic expeditious-ly as that will help early resumption of eco-nomic activity and reduce the cost ofrevival.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst)

The RBI has given a boost to the economy in these testing times. But India Inc. argues thatthis won't be of help in the absence of demand. This is flawed thinking

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

A helping hand inthe Covid war

OMKAR RAI

The Indian IT industry is warrantingbusiness continuity to global clients and

meeting demands of the nation

UTTAM GUPTA

WHILE COMPANIES,WHO HAVE BUILT

ENOUGH CASHRESERVES FROM

THEIR OPERATIONSIN THE PAST, CAN

USE A PORTION OFTHAT TO SUPPORT

THEIR STAFF IN THISCRISIS SITUATION,

OTHERS NOT SOBLESSED CAN TAKE

LOANS FROM BANKSAND OTHER FIS WHO

HAVE PLENTY OFLIQUIDITY,

COURTESY MASSIVEINJECTION BY THEAPEX BANK. THIS

SHOULD BE TAKENAS INVESTMENT IN

THE FUTURE. ASAND WHEN THERE IS

EXIT FROM THELOCKDOWN AND

ECONOMIC ACTIVITYRESUMES, THE

REVENUE STREAMFROM OPERATIONS

CAN HELP INSERVICING THE

LOANS

The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the world is unprece-dented and so humongous that the UN Department of Economicand Social Affairs has projected that the global economy could

shrink by up to one per cent in 2020. Even the International MonetaryFund (IMF) has warned that the recession triggered by the Coronaviruscould be worse than the one caused by the global financial crisis in2008. However, certain industries will bloom due to the crisis like health-care, pharmaceuticals, health devices, insurance and so on, while somewill withstand it better, like the $191 billion Indian IT Industry. In com-parison to other industry verticals, the IT industry is in a better posi-tion in terms of communication infrastructure, geographic distribution,business segmentation, global delivery model and virtual work culture,which ensure that companies deliver services to their global clientseven during the nationwide lockdown. Most of the IT organisations areleveraging the cloud to deliver business-critical solutions to their clients.Plus, with the majority of the employee strength adopting the workfrom home (WFH) model, it was business as usual and there were noproductivity disruptions. Barring data centres and other mission-crit-ical projects that needed minimal deployment of employees onsite, mostIT functions are cloud-integrated, which supported the remote oper-ations.

Timely Government interventions like relaxations of norms and var-ious policy amendments helped IT companies display alacrity in ramp-ing up the WFH employee strength to comply with business exigen-cies of clients amid the shutdown. With right enablement like provi-sioning laptops, communication facilities, secured network like VPN,tools and software, IT companies have shown the maturity in address-ing the immediate challenges of the lockdown.

In collaboration with relevant stakeholders, the industry is devis-ing a strategy through which the minimum requirements of the coun-try in this challenging time can be served efficaciously so that the man-date of the lockdown can be met successfully without much interrup-tion. For example, e-commerce companies are ensuring home deliv-ery of essential materials and empowering people to shop from homeand reduce the chances of catching/spreading the infection.

Technology empowerment has enabled masses to keep abreastof relevant news and information on a real time basis. The recent launchof the Aarogya Setu app by the Government is a sui generis initiativeto help citizens protect themselves by tracking the proximity of infect-ed people, access curated information and medical advisories fromthe Government and enable them to self-assess on whether they needto go for a Coronavirus test or not.

Leading technology companies like TCS have gone further to deep-en research and innovation by leveraging their technology platformsto develop medical solutions like patient tracker and a platform for aclinical trial system. While IT giants are working towards identifyingsolutions with the help of emerging technologies, start-ups, too, arelooking for answers and working to create low-cost tools. Premier tech-nology institutions, including the IITs and IISc are collaborating withAIIMS, ICMR and leading IT companies and technology start-ups, tobuild indigenous products such as high-quality masks, personal pro-tective equipment for healthcare professionals, including hazmat suitsand affordable ventilators. Individually, some leading IT companies havestarted collaborating with pharmaceutical and medical device manu-facturing companies to speed up prototyping, getting approvals fromthe designated Government bodies for standard confirmation and massproduction of required products to tackle the challenges raised by thepandemic. IT companies have taken the battle against the Coronavirusforward by focussing on the application of emerging technologies suchas Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things(IoT) and Data Analytics to rev up deeper understanding of the virusand its impact on humans. AI is primarily playing an enormous rolein helping researchers accelerate study by analysing thousands of dig-ital research papers and delivering conclusive information faster andAI-powered robots have now become part of the healthcare workforcefighting the pandemic. Indian IT companies are also cooperating withpharma companies to expedite the drug discovery process for theCoronavirus by reducing manual work and facilitating the potential ofAI, ML and supercomputing to deliver faster results.

The Indian IT industry is in a better position to not only warrantbusiness continuity to clients across the world but also its inherentstrength in emerging technologies is complementing R&D, innovationand indigenous product development to handle the crisis triggered bythe Coronavirus. At this critical point, the IT industry is the silver lin-ing on the dark clouds looming over the country due to COVID-19.

(The writer is Director-General, Software Technology Parks of India)

As our eyes travel from Pole toPole and from our ownKashmir to Kanyakumari, the

only certainty regarding the COVID-19 is of course the palpable uncertain-ty. However, one day the Corona cloudshall clear and sunshine will not onlyreturn but also bathe the Earth witha light brighter than ever before.

It is easy to imagine that when ithappens, nothing will be the same.Life, livelihood, trade, business, knowl-edge and understanding of the envi-ronment, all will stand redefined.

For sure the changed world, whilebeing challenging enough, would notbe uninterrupted gloom and doom; itwould have several bright moments wecould possibly pick up as a nation fromthese unique days, not so affectionate-ly described as a lockdown.

As we get ready to deal with a

post-Coronavirus life, we could per-haps bank on the new behaviour, traits,culture and values that we learnt, prac-tised and which hopefully will perse-vere as we walk past the morass.

Simple calls for action: For thelast few weeks, a large majority of thepopulation — those who are notbeing uprooted, their supplies nowhereclose to drying up and who are not fac-ing the brunt of an unbearable finan-cial hardship as yet — are being askedto tweak their behaviour, make a fewchange of habits; mainly some socialdistancing and better hygiene in theabsence of any other magic bullet tofight the virus.

The drill is rather simple: don’t goout, don’t gather around, don’t touch,don’t spit, wash your hand, don’tcough or sneeze without covering yourface, wear a protective mask and thelike.

As far as social distancing is con-cerned, it is reasonable to expect thatIndians will not have to indefinitelycurb their famous spontaneity, vivac-ity and physical expressions of warmth.They will get a chance sooner or laterto give that warm jhappi (hug).Something like a mask may notbecome a permanent accessory and weall would be restored the joy of seeing

each other’s faces more often than not. Remembering the Swachh

Bharat Mission: If COVID-19 leavesbehind a tradition of sanitation andhygiene among the 1.3 billion popu-lation even after we are set free fromthe lockdown, no one should com-plain. After all, one of the reasonsattributed to the relative safe landingof the Japanese nation amid theCorona pandemic is their almostcongenital habit of observing high lev-els of personal hygiene and protectionagainst germs and infections. Thisnew-found sense of hygiene is a pos-itive heritage of the Coronavirus.

Quite recently, the Indian mass-es demonstrated their propensity toswitch to desirable behaviour whenthey became both leaders and follow-ers of the Swachh Bharat revolution.Whoever imagined that 600 millionopen defecators would follow the“darwaza bandh (behind closeddoor)” code in a matter of five years.A judicious communication actiondesign triggered the community andordinary villagers became the leadersof their own “jan andolan (revolu-tion)” for freedom from open defeca-tion. Not to mention, every child todaylooks for a bin to dispose his/her wastein and people running to the next

available wall to ease their bladder isnow a very uncommon sight indeed.

The hygiene gains: In the after-math of the Swachh Bharat Mission(SBM), the impact of sanitation andhygiene on the life, health, livelihoodand well-being of the poor and the vul-nerable in India has been well-docu-mented. A World Health Organisation(WHO) study states that three lakhdiarrhoeal deaths have been avoidedbetween 2014 and 2019. SeparateUNICEF studies point to the financialbenefits to each household in anOpen Defecation Free (ODF) villageand the deep impact it has in reduc-ing contamination of precious groundwater.

Hand-washing, which has almostbecome the global weapon of resis-tance against the COVID-19, canreduce by about 50 per cent incidenceof diarrhoea, the second leading causeof death among children under the ageof five. Studies also show that goodhand-washing practices with soapare among the most cost-effectiveinterventions to prevent diseases likepneumonia, acute respiratory infec-tions, skin and eye infections, choleraand dysentery. It is not surprising thatUNICEF and other agencies are con-tinuously engaged in promoting good

hygiene among families and commu-nities by using a number of commu-nication and mainstreaming tech-niques.

Determined communication: Inthe wake of the pandemic, there havebeen massive communication efforts,both from the Government and non-Government agencies, to ingrain theCorona-time behaviour. Just as for theSBM, Prime Minister Narendra Moditook upon himself to be the “commu-nicator in chief”, through his special-ly-planned three national addresses,his radio programme Mann Ki Baatand his tweets. It is heart-warming tosee that communicators from acrossIndia: Sarkari, private, media,Bollywood, corporate and civil soci-ety have joined to cement the newcode of behaviour for citizens. Onesees an exceptionally large amount ofmass communication and socialmedia push in the absence of the not-so-feasible touch and feel inter-person-al communication.

Unlike the SBM, despite its cele-brated sunset clause, the Coronabehaviour regime required instant andstrict compliance. Hence a watchfulenforcement has to run side by sidewith persuasion. Compared to thecomplex drill involving “knowledge,

attitude, behaviour and practices” inSBM or the earlier behaviour changecampaigns, the crisis is the logic andthe teacher this time.

A Cabinet meeting with social dis-tance maintained or Modi wrappinga gamcha (cotton muffler) around hisface, are lead by example communi-cation techniques, steps ahead ofordinary symbolism. The urgency ofthis day is much higher than when wesaw the Prime Minister lending a handin the construction of a toilet or wash-ing the feet of sanitation workers at theKumbh Mela. Triggering behaviourchange is a complex science andthere is no uniform command.

A well-behaved nation:Compliant behaviour is noticeableacross the country: Masked men andwomen waiting without a murmurwithin the social distancing circle fortheir turn to pick up essentials. Peoplewearing masks as they leave thehouse, covering their faces as theycough or sneeze are now the accept-ed social behaviour. Hand washingwith soap under the tap/washbasinmay not be for exactly 20 seconds yetbut spitting is definitely frownedupon. This patience, cleanliness andthe new-found discipline are an assetnot to be squandered away.

The fight against the “spit mon-ster” must be carried on and on till thefinish line, Corona or no Corona.

We could bury this nationalembarrassment of a habit like we didopen defecation. It is no one’s worryif the population is getting weanedaway from tobacco and maybe fromalcohol. And if the hand sanitiser, toi-let seat disinfectant and a mask aregradually finding space in the hand-bag, these are the takeaways we havegot from the present pandemic.

There is another precious inher-itance of the virus: The blue skies, thepollution-free air, a clean Earth andrivers with highly-reduced pathogens.These will have to be nurtured withcare in the future so that we don’t frit-ter the advantage away. We do not havethe right to lay to waste the few nat-ural entitlements given to our childrenin our obduracy to be non-hygienic.India and Indians must not lose thebehaviour change gains accrued in themidst of one of the toughest battles forsurvival in the world’s history.

(The writer is former Director-General , Special Projects, SBM and for-mer Director-General, ECI and is aVisiting Professor at the CentralUniversity of Odisha. Views expressedare personal)

Look at the bigger pictureIndia and Indians must not lose the behaviour change gains accrued in the midst of

one of the toughest battles for survival in the world’s history

AKSHAY ROUT

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

PNS n BENGALURU

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani'sReliance Industries has start-ed limited test use ofWhatsApp to connect cus-tomers to grocery stores, daysafter Facebook decided toinvest USD 5.7 billion in dig-ital assets controlled by thecompany.

JioMart, an e-commerceventure of Reliance Retail, "hasalready started interacting withcustomers on WhatsApp forgrocery orders" in NaviMumbai, Thane and Kalyan,Credit Suisse said in a report.

"The customer initiates theinteraction on WhatsApp,checks out the grocery orderon JioMart webpage, gets con-nected with a retail store onWhatsApp and then customerpicks up the order from Kiranaand pays in cash," it said,adding the model is likely ondelivery and com-pletion of thetransaction onone app.

The Facebookdeal will helpAmbani set up a digitalplatform to take onAmazon and Walmart'sFlipkart in an e-commercemarket that KPMG says is

likely to grow to USD 200 bil-lion by 2027.

The deal benefits Facebookvia "partnership with thelargest retail player in India,where partnership starts withgrocery, and later could beextended to medicine distrib-ution, fashion and lifestylestores, food delivery, etc,"Credit Suisse said in a report.

Also, Reliance Jio, with its388 million telecom users,could provide telecom infra-structure for variousFacebook's solutions, it said.

For RIL, the large user base

of WhatsApp (400 million)could significantly acceleratethe adoption of the JioMartapp besides it would leverageFacebook's experience to mon-etize data through advertising.

"The key advantage is notonly the large base ofWhatsApp users in India butthe amount of time spent onthe app per day by an averageuser.

"This would catapult Jiointo the attention of the largeuser base, thereby addressingthe first key barrier of aware-ness post-launch of its NewCommerce offering," CreditSuisse said adding this wasbased on assumption that atsome stage, JioMart could bea mini-app within WhatsApp(a concept similar to WeChatmini-programmes) whichwould avoid new 400 million

downloads of JioMart andgive JioMart immediate

access to 400 millionusers of WhatsAppfor grocery.

It is likely that thepartnership could beextended beyond gro-cery to other retail

productstoo.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Honda launchesonline salesplatformNew Delhi: Honda Cars Indiaon Monday said it has launchedan online sales platform to helpcustomers manage theirpurchases without visiting adealership. The company's'Honda from Home' initiativeallows customers to browsethrough the product options,select their preferred dealershipand proceed to book their caronline. The platform, which hasbeen designed to simplify thebooking process by offeringround-the-clock access fromany location, will soon beintegrated with company's pan-India dealerships, Honda CarsIndia Ltd (HCIL) said in astatement. "Customers can nowconveniently book their Hondacar from the comfort of theirhomes. This platform is part ofHonda's digitalisation efforts incar retail experience that notonly drives convenience butalso efficiency," HCIL SeniorVice President and Director(Sales and Marketing) RajeshGoel said.

New Delhi: Indigenouslydeveloped social mediaplatform ShareChat hasacquired Kae Capital backedmeme-sharing app Memerand is looking for morebuyouts, the company said onMonday. The deal size washowever not disclosed by thecompany. ShareChat claims tohave around 6 crore monthlyactive users and aims to crossthe 12-crore mark by the endof 2020. "We are on an activelookout for startups thatcomplement our productcapabilities and share thevision of serving diversecontent and social needs ofIndian masses. Memerhappens to be the first steptowards this approach,"Manohar Charan, vicepresident for corporatedevelopment and strategicfinance, ShareChat said in astatement. The integration ofMemer into ShareChat willhelp it bring more variations tocontent, a better userexperience that may lead toenhanced user engagementand retention.

PNS n MUMBAI

The lockdown to control coro-navirus infection has come asa "godsend" to the fixed linebroadband sector, which wasstruggling with stagnancy insubscribers for four years, areport said on Monday.

The ongoing lockdown,wherein many people areforced to work from home, hasresulted in a surge in sub-scribers and also data usage,the research wing of domesticrating agency Crisil said in anote.

Fixed broadband refers totaking internet connectivitytill homes or businesses usingan optical fibre or fixed line.The Crisil note said due to the

aggressive play by the telcos,which started giving the fast 4Gconnectivity at low rates, thenumber of subscribers hasstagnated at 19 million since2016.

Till now, the lower speed 4Gserved the purpose for peopledue to affordable smartphones,it noted. "But now, subscrip-tions to fixed broadband, espe-cially in the urban areas, have

surged because millions areworking from home...," it said.

Data usage has darted up 25-30 per cent since the lockdownbegan on March 25, the notesaid. "Lockdown has come as aGodsend to the fixed broad-band sector," it said, addingthat on the flip side, dataspeeds have gone down asmore subscribers are using theservices.

It said that the benefits are allset to continue in the mediumterm as well, as there is a like-

lihood of a hike in prices to bedone by telcos as well.

The telcos' price hike willhelp sustain some of the uptickin fixed broadband usagebecause its price differentialwith mobile data will reduce, itexplained.

Fixed broadband penetra-tion in India is among the low-est in the world at only 6 percent as compared with 55 percent in China, 70 per cent inEurozone and 80 per cent inJapan, the note mentioned.

PNS n MUMBAI

The Reserve Bank of India onMonday provided a Rs 50,000-crore shot in the arm tostressed mutual funds byunveiling a special liquidityfacility for the sector, days afterFranklin Templeton MutualFund decided to close six debtschemes.

In a statement, the centralbank said heightened volatil-ity in capital markets in reac-tion to Covid-19 has imposedliquidity strains on mutualfunds (MFs), which haveintensified in the wake ofredemption pressures relatedto closure of some debt MFsand potential contagiouseffects therefrom.

The stress is, however, con-fined to the high-risk debt MFsegment at this stage; the larg-er industry remains liquid, itsaid. "With a view to easingliquidity pressures on MFs, ithas been decided to open aspecial liquidity facility formutual funds of Rs 50,000crore," it said.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) also stressed it remainsvigilant and will take whatev-er steps are necessary to mit-

igate the economic impact ofCOVID-19 and preservefinancial stability.

Last time, the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) had opened aspecial borrowing window ofRs 25,000 crore for banks tohelp meet the cash require-ments of mutual funds in July2013. Following the collapse ofLehman Brothers, RBI inOctober 2008 had provided asimilar additional liquiditysupport exclusively for mutu-al fund industry.

Under the Special LiquidityFacility for Mutual Funds(SLF-MF), the RBI will con-duct repo operations of 90days tenor at the fixed reporate.

"The SLF-MF is on-tap andopen-ended, and banks cansubmit their bids to avail fund-ing on any day from Mondayto Friday, the central bank said.

The scheme will be availablefrom Monday itself till May 11,2020, or up to utilisation of theallocated amount, whichever is

earlier.The Reserve Bank also said

it will review the timelineand amount, depending uponmarket conditions.

The announcement comesdays after Franklin TempletonMutual Fund, which has beenoperating in India for 25 years,decided to shut down FranklinIndia Low Duration Fund,Franklin India DynamicAccrual Fund, Franklin IndiaCredit Risk Fund, FranklinIndia Short Term IncomePlan, Franklin India UltraShort Bond Fund andFranklin India IncomeOpportunities Fund.

The RBI further said fundsavailed under the SLF-MFshould be used by banksexclusively for meeting the liq-uidity requirements of MFs byextending loans, and under-taking outright purchase ofand/or repos against the col-lateral of investment gradecorporate bonds, commercialpapers, debentures and certifi-cates of deposit held by MFs.

In case of over-subscriptionof the notified amount on anygiven day, the central banksaid the allotment will bedone on pro-rata basis.

Data usage surge due to lockdown: ReportFixed broadband refers to takinginternet connectivity till homes orbusinesses using an optical fibre orfixed line

ShareChat acquiresMemer, looking formore buyouts

PNS n NEW DELHI

India Ratings and Research(Ind-Ra) on Monday revisedits FY21 economic growthforecast for the country fur-ther down to 1.9 per cent, low-est in the last 29 years, citingthe COVID-19 pandemic andthe subsequent lockdown.

According to Ind-Ra,Indian economy had regis-tered a GDP growth of 1.1 percent in financial year 1991-92.

In a note on Monday, Ind-Ra revised its economicgrowth estimate for the coun-try from its forecast of 3.6 percent published on March 30,2020 to to 1.9 per cent.

Ind-Ra, noted that itsgrowth projection is based onthe assumption that the par-tial lockdown will continue tillmid-May 2020.

According to Ind-Ra, "GDPmay come back to the fourthquarter of 2019-20 fiscal levelonly by the third quarter(October-December) of cur-rent 2020-21 fiscal anticipat-ing resumption of normaleconomic activities duringsecond quarter ( July-September) of 2020-21 andfestive demand during thirdquarter of current fiscal(October-December)," it said.

The rating agency, howev-er added that if the lockdowncontinues beyond mid-May2020, and a gradual recoverytakes root only from June-end,GDP growth may slip furtherto negative 2.1 per cent, low-est in the last 41 years, andonly the sixth instance ofcontraction since fiscal year1957-58.

According to Ind-Ra,India's GDP in 1957-58 wasnegative 0.4 per cent, in 1965-66 it was negative 2.6 per cent,in 1966-67 it was negative 0.1per cent, in 1972-73 it wasnegative 0.6 per cent, and in1979-80 it was negative 5.2 percent.

For 2020-21, Ind-Ra

expects retail inflation at 3.6per cent.

The rating agency said onthe fiscal front, the dip intax/non tax revenue due to thelockdown/growth slowdowncoupled with the need to pro-vide fiscal stimulus will desta-bilise the fiscal arithmetic ofboth union and state govern-ments.

"Even without any signifi-cant fiscal stimulus Ind-Raexpects the fiscal deficit of theunion government to escalateto 4.4 per cent per cent of GDPin 2020-21 fiscal (FY21 BudgetEstimate: 3.5 per cent of GDP)and a stimulus package of Rs4 trillion would push it to 6.0per cent of GDP," it said.

Banks have donenothing to helpretailers, says RAIPNS n NEW DELHI

Banks have done "sweet noth-ing" to provide financing toretailers to tide over the lock-down crisis, and the govern-ment intervention is needed toavoid mass unemployment inthe sector, according to RAI.

The retail industry bodyclaimed that despite theReserve Bank of India (RBI)circulars to banks to lend sup-port to businesses, on theground retailers are finding itdifficult to access funds frombanks for various reasons.

"The banks are not givingany kind of finance to retail-ers although RBI has steppedin. It is not happening on theground. Banks have donesweet nothing in this wholesituation to help retailers inthis country," RetailersAssociation of India (RAI)CEO Kumar Rajagopalan toldPTI.

He claimed that the RBI cir-culars have been "set aside forwant of various things, includ-ing new business plans" as aresult of that retailers areunable to get financing frombanks which would have been

otherwise used for "payingsalaries" and other fixed costsas they have zero income atpresent.

Seeking the Centre's inter-vention, Rajagopalan said, "Wewant clarifications from thegovernment on this becausethere is serious issue of shopsshutting down and a bigamount of unemploymenthappening. There is zeroincome for retailers".

Stressing that all industriesare dependent on retail forsales, he said, "If retail does notwork, production is of no use.We want that clarification tocome. We want the Centre tosupport us on that part". Whenasked about job losses in theretail sector, Rajagolapan said,"Retailers themselves havebecome unemployed, and nowthey cannot be paying anysalaries. They don't have anymoney".

PNS n BENGALURU

More than one million informa-tion technology employees areexpected to continue to workfrom home even after the coro-navirus-inflicted lockdown sit-uation returns to normalcy, saysIT industryv e t e r a nSenapathy( K r i s )

Gopalakrishnan.The former President of the

Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) said the IT ser-vices industry has actually man-aged to transition people towork from home during the'stay-at-home' period.

"And that was not a trivialtask. A large number of peoplewho have to be supported withtechnology infrastructure towork from home; businessprocesses will have to bechanged, with client permis-sion," the co-founder of IT ser-vices firm Infosys Ltd told P TI. "Now I am told that 90 to 95

per cent of people in many

of the larger (IT) organisationsare working out of home. Andthat transition has been smoothand done very, very quickly.They have figured that out andI think this will now becomepart and parcel of the businesscontinuity processing, planningin the future," Gopalakrishnansaid.

The Chairman of early stagestartup accelerator and venturefund, Axilor Ventures, also saidthat many of the smaller Indianstartups have found that they areas effective working out of homeand are now wondering whetherthey require permanent officespace at all.

Force Motors deploys80 mobile dispensariesin Maharashtra citiesPNS n MUMBAI

Pune-based automaker ForceMotors on Monday said it hasdeployed over 80 mobile dis-pensaries along with teams ofdoctors and paramedics aswell as medicines across sever-al cities of Maharashtra toconduct medical check-ups,to fight the coronavirus pan-demic.

The mobile medical carefacility, 'Doctor Aplya Daari',launched early this month inassociation with a non-govern-mental organisation (NGO),

which is also fully-equipped toidentify coronavirus symp-toms, has till Sunday checkedover 1.11 lakh persons, thecompany said in a release. Themedicines are prescribed andgiven out for free, it said addingthat these mobile units cancheck 2,500 people per day andcan examine the symptoms ofaround 500 patients in a day.

Doctors in the vans monitorpatients for cold and flu con-ditions and also inform themabout preventive measures tobe taken to prevent the coron-avirus spread.

Asian marketsgain after Japancentral bankboosts aidPNS n BEIJING

Asian stock markets gainedMonday after Japan's centralbank promised more assetpurchases to shore up finan-cial markets and more gov-ernments prepared to revivestruggling economies byreopening businesses.

Tokyo's benchmark surged2.8 per cent and Shanghai,Hong Kong and Sydney alsogained.

Investors are looking aheadto meetings of US andEuropean central bankersthis week for additional mea-sures to reverse the deepestglobal slump since the 1930s.

That comes amid mount-ing evidence the coronaviruspandemic's economic dam-age is even worse thanexpected. The Bank of Japansaid it will buy an additional15 trillion yen (USD 140 bil-lion) of commercial paperand bank loans.

That is a “significantincrease from the timid 2 tril-lion yen” in purchasesannounced in March, saidMarcel Thieliant of CapitalEconomics in a report.

Aluminiumfutures slip onmuted demandPNS n NEW DELHI

Aluminium prices onMonday softened 0.34 percent to Rs 132.75 per kg infutures trade as speculatorscut bets amid subdueddemand in spot market.

On the Multi CommodityExchange, aluminium fordelivery in May contractseased by 45 paise, or 0.34 percent, to Rs 132.75 per kg in abusiness turnover of 3,066lots. However, the metal fordelivery in June contractswas trading up by 70 paise, or0.52 per cent, at Rs 134.40 perkg in 5 lots.

Coal India topurchase dumpersfrom BEML at Rs 400 crorePNS n KOLKATA

Coal India Ltd on Mondaysaid it has signed two agree-ments with heavy engineer-ing major BEML Ltd forpurchasing dumpers at Rs400 crore.

The miner will procure 15dumpers from the manu-facturing PSU, a CIL state-ment said.

"The contract cost forseven 150-tonne dumpers isaround Rs 150 crore andthat of eight 190-tonnedumpers is Rs 250 crore.The equipment will be usedin opencast coal mines andplay a critical role in haulingcoal and the top soil," it said.

The 150-tonne dumperswill be deployed on trialbasis in the Gevra opencastproject of South EasternCoalfields Ltd, theChhattisgarh-based sub-sidiary of the miner.

Four each of 190-tonnedumpers will be put to use ontrial basis in Amlohri andNigahi opencast projects ofNorthern Coalfields Ltdwhich operates in MadhyaPradesh and parts of UttarPradesh, the miner said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)on Monday said it has intro-duced a special borrowingprogramme for self helpgroups tohelp themtide over thechallengesinflicted byCOVID-19.

The maximum loan amountis Rs 5,000 per member of aself help group (SHG) with acap of Rs 1 lakh for the group.

The bank said SHGs with agood track record and a histo-ry of minimum two loans

from IOB will be eligible forthis loan facility, which can beavailed till June 30, 2020. Asper the bank's rule, only thoseSHGs whose existing loans arestandard and performing as on

March 1, 2020are eligible toavail loan underthis specialscheme.

The state-owned lender saidinterested borrowers can applythrough branches directly orthrough business correspon-dents. IOB said the loanswould be sanctioned and dis-bursed within six workingdays.

Franklin Templeton MF committedto return investors money: SanjayPNS n NEW DELHI

Franklin Templeton MutualFund, which closed six of itsdebt funds citing redemptionpressures and lack of liquidityin the bond markets, onMonday said it is committed toreturn investor money at theearliest.

It said that winding up of theschemes does not mean thatinvestor money is lost.

“We are committed to doingall we can to return monies inthe schemes that are wound upat the earliest to investors, andto regain your trust in ourbrand,” Franklin Templeton

Asset Management (India)President Sanjay Sapre said ina note to investors.

The asset manager shutdown its six schemes —Franklin India Low DurationFund, Franklin India DynamicAccrual Fund, FranklinIndia Credit RiskFund, FranklinIndia Short TermIncome Plan,Franklin IndiaUltra Short BondFund and FranklinIndia IncomeOpportunitiesF u n d — o nThursday.

The six debt schemes hadassets under management ofover Rs 25,000 crore.

The asset manager blamedredemption pressures and lackof liquidity in the bond marketsfor the "voluntary" action.

“Franklin Templeton hasbeen an early and patientinvestor in India. We haveworked to build a long-term business in India overour 25+ year history here.

This is also reinforced by thefact that over 33 per cent

of our global work-force is based in

India,” Sapresaid.

IOB launches specialscheme for SHGs

Ind-Ra cuts India's FY21 GDPgrowth further to 1.9 pc

Reliance starts using WhatsAppfor grocery deliveries but model

Reliance Jiocould providetelecominfrastructure forvariousFacebook'ssolutions

‘Over one million IT employeeswill continue to work from home’

RBI gives Rs 50,000 croreboost to mutual funds

The Reserve Bank also said it willreview the timeline and amount,depending upon market conditions

Previously, we didn’t have much time tospend with our family members due to workand other reasons. Now, I realised that wecan give equal importance for both work andfamily with proper time management. Everyevening, I discuss with my family variousthings under the sun.

EESHWAR,A BANK EMPLOYEE

We never worried aboutmoney or savingsbecause we all had wellpaying jobs. All of asudden, due to theCoronavirus pandemic, thingshave changed unexpectedly. Weare now spending our money andresources carefully.

RAMESH, TECHIE

We always buy our vegetables and other groceriesat big supermarkets or malls. With the closure of

all these outlets, we found small vendors near ourarea. Earlier, I thought goods from the local market

weren’t of a great quality but I realised only now,how flawed my thinking was. Local products are

much better and cheaper than big malls and shops.— NAGENDRA, PRIVATE EMPLOYEE

RICHPEOPLE

ARE LESSIMMUNE TOTHIS VIRUS

THAN THEPOOR

Why doesevery-

onethink that the

poor are less like-ly to contract theCoronavirus? Forthe simple reason

that they can’ttravel a lot. Most

cases are linked tointernational trav-

el and the poornot being able to

afford interna-tional travel. The

rich, across theworld, returnedfrom vacations

and business tripscarrying the virus.

The poor arewithout insur-ance, sold into

slavery, less edu-cated, without any

extra benefits.Hence the struc-tural imbalance

between the poorand the rich,

where the latter ismost likely risking

the underprivi-leged to this pan-

demic.

GLOBAL INDUSTRIES SUPPLYING PRODUCTS ARE

WORTHLESS IF NOT CONSUMED BY SOCIETy

Any society’s wealth is worthlessif not properly harnessed. The

production of several goodsand services has been suspended andthose manufactured already and notused, are most likely to see their endin a dump yard, given that there areno consumers. All essential services

are currently dependent on trans-portation and logistics laid down bythe government. There’s been a sud-den spike in a dearth of supply and

fall of utilisation.

THE PLANET CAN REGENER-ATE QUICKLY WITHOUTHUMAN INTERVENTION

Though the pandemic turnedout to be dangerous for

humans, it saw a heedlessbenefit. Skies have turned bluer and

water is getting clearer. The planetis getting its much-deserved break!

There has also been a drastic reduc-tion in toxic gases in metropolitancities. What we had been trying todo for years, has happened in just

weeks of our absence. The demandfor fuel has gone down consider-ably. Animals are wandering, the

over-worked population is gettingsome rest as most

of them areworking fromhome without

the need tocommute

throughbusy traf-

fic.

LEARNING NEW THINGS

The lockdown helped uslearn many new thingsto survive indoors.

Married men are helpingtheir partners in cooking andother chores. Meanwhile,bachelors have begun experi-menting various cookingmethods to try new recipesevery day. Even celebrities areinspiring their fans by post-ing videos of how they arehelping their family by doingvarious chores at home.

Manohar, a techie says, “Asa bachelor, I’m trying to cookvarious special dishes. Wealways would cook regularcurries and had no time toexperiment new dishes,thanks to our work timings.Most of my friends are tryingtheir luck in sketching, paint-ing and some even journalingand sharing their lockdownstories. I believe that the lock-down period is the perfecttime to try things that wealways wanted to, inthe past butcould not.”

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

TuesdayApril 28, 2020

From saving food and money tospending time with our loved onesand experimenting new things, thelockdown has helped us learn and

unlearn various things. Assessingthe world post the advent of the

COVID-19 pandemic, ThePioneer's V SATEESH REDDY

and SHIKHA DUGGAL talksabout the various lessons the

lockdown taught us

he world has never faced a situation like today, wherewe've been asked to stay home for months together.Up until the Coronavirus took over our lives, wehave been living in a fast-paced life and haven't hadthe time to pursue other interests and chores. Withno option to go out and most of the people working

from home, life has taught us many things. Our perception onvarious things have changed in the recent times. Our staying athomes is also helping the earth heal from our mistakes.

THE PIONEER here makesa list of things that wehad taken for grant-ed earlier butnow holddear.

MORE CONVERSATIONS

Before the pandemic, mostpeople found no time totalk to their loved ones

for reasons other than necessi-ty. Many women complainedearlier that their husbands didnot spend quality time withthem, due to work pressure.

All this changed suddenly afterthe virus made people workfrom home. Men began tounderstand and realise theirspouse’s hard work — to keepthe home clean, cook and keepthings ready and on time, forthem and their children.Women are all smiles after thevirus got them some quality

family time. Eshwar, a bank employee

says, “Previously, we didn’thave much time to spend withour family members due towork and other reasons. Now,I realised that we can giveequal importance for bothwork and family with propertime management. Every

evening, I discuss with myfamily various things underthe sun. This helped us under-stand each other better. We arestill continuing our work athome while also helping withthe household chores. I hopecompanies will encourage theiremployees to work from homeeven after the lockdown.”

SAVINGS AND REDUCING WASTAGE

We were so used to spending alot of money on various thingsbefore the lockdown and with

the sudden Corona crisis, people start-ed saving money and food, becausewe’re not sure when the crisis ends andhow many can survive with what’s left.

Keeping that in mind, people begansaving money and are not wasting anyfood like they did,

before. Ramesh, a techie says, “Wenever worried about money or savings

because we all had well paying jobs.We would go out every weekendnot caring about a thing in theworld. All of a sudden, due to theCoronavirus pandemic, thingshave changed unexpectedly. Weare now spending our money andresources carefully.”

T

#LOCKDOWNWhat the

ANIMALSFEEL THE

SAME IN A CAGEAS WE DO NOW

With humans nowlocked away in

their homes,animals have been found to beexploring the empty streets of

urban cities. With many stayingindoors, almost no

commuting/transport and notmuch movement of people andsocialising, human beings have

now realised what it feels like, tobe caged. People are finding it

too frustrating and have alsobeen experiencing cognitive

behavioural traits. Looking forreintegration into society,

humans clearly aren’t happy withthe idea of solitary confinement.

IMPORTANCE OF BUYING FROM

LOCAL MARKETS

Given our fast pacedlives, we wouldprefer going to

supermarkets, and shoppingin malls since we get to buyeverything at one stop. We

never cared to buy fromlocal markets or cared to

contribute toward encourag-ing indigenous markets. Thelockdown has now forced us

to buy from local marketsand vendors. We have now

begun to recognise theimportance of local markets,

farmers etc. Nagendra, a private

employee says, “We alwaysbuy our vegetables and other

groceries at big supermar-kets or malls. With the clo-sure of all these outlets, we

found small vendors nearour area. Earlier, I thought

goods from the local marketweren’t of a great quality but

I realised only now, howflawed my thinking was.Local products are much

better and cheaper than bigmalls and shops.”

MEN TOO CAN COOK

The crisis has precipitated men to handle domestic chores. Theseturbulent times have taught the society that managing a house-hold is no more just a woman’s responsibility. Men can do it too,

by navigating through the new reality of being a cook, house help,tutor to the kids, caregiver, etc.

NOPRIEST

OR PANDIT,ONLY A HEALTH

WORKER CAN SAVEA PATIENT

This pandemic resulted in severalpeople questioning their blindfaith in babas, miracle workers

who claim to cure any disease. The conflict betweenhealth and religion has been a constant debate for ages. Many

have begun to realise that they need to consult a healthcare workerwho can assess their health and administer the right medication, ratherthan just sitting at home and waiting for a miracle to happen. There has

also been newfound respect towards the healthcare workers, scientists,and the police.

has taught us

MANY CAN WORK FROM HOME EASILY

Most private companies have asked theiremployees to work from home and peopleseemed to be more than happy and comfort-

able to oblige. Most even confessed to being more pro-ductive while working from home and that their stresslevels have come down. Companies can save money inthe long run with flexible schedules and telecommuni-cating opportunities like video chats and conferencecalls. Employees are said to be communicating moreoften with each other than on normal days.

WE CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT JUNK FOOD

Families have tended to adapt to new healthy-eat-ing routines. A healthy diet is proving to be quiteaccessible during the times of a crisis. Thousands

of people, including celebrities, have taken to theirsocial media accounts and indulged in virtuoso cook-ing. The constant feeling of boredom and the pro-longed lockdown has pushed humans to get into theirkitchens and fulfill their cravings. The unavailabilityof large chains of fast-food currently has made it pos-sible to avoid junk food.

LIFE IS FRAGILE, ENJOY IT

Indeed the news of the pandemic is causing worrybut you can still catch a breathing space. People arelearning to be happy and behave optimistically,

having a brighter outlook towards life. Several folksare working toward maintaining better social relation-ships by articulating their emotions well and bein ableto manage stress better. An optimistic mind will culti-vate desirable skills and sprinkle positivity in our lives.

LIVING A HYGIENIC LIFE ISN’T DIFFICULT AT ALL

Proper grooming and healthy personal habits arehelping keep the Coronavirus at bay. There aremental and physical benefits attached to it too.

As compared to the normal workday routine, due toexcessive pollution levels, it tends to hamper our skin.The notion of taking precautions is something thelockdown has forced us to think upon. For the forth-coming existence too, the practice of personal hygienewill turn out to be very useful.

10

Hyderabad Tuesday April 28 2020 what’s brewing

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

un chat shows toinformative sessions,actors like KartikAaryan, SunnyLeone, ShrutiHaasan and Rashami

Desai are flaunting their host-ing skills in the digital space towhile away their lockdownhours, and fans are loving it.

Kartik’s talk show onYouTube, Koki Poochega, issurely among the most popularefforts. On the show, he inter-acts with frontline warriors inthe COVID-19 battle, includ-ing doctors and health work-ers, and also with survivors ofthe novel coronavirus pandem-ic.

Kartik’s trademark humor-

ous style, at the same timeengaging and informative, hasalready won the show a hugefan base, including Bollywoodstars such as Alia Bhatt andJanhvi Kapoor, who haveheaped praises on Kartik’seffort on social media.

In his first episode of KokiPoochega Kartik interviewedIndia’s first COVID-19 sur-vivor Sumiti Singh. The inter-action gave an insight intowhat a person with symptomsof the virus should do and notdo.

Shruti, who has been sharingrecipes along with hair andskin care tips on social media,also goes live on Instagram forinteractions with select guests.

Ways to stay strong, main-tain mental balance and keep-ing patience have been some ofthe topics of discussion.

“I have a close group ofwomen who are my friends,but I also have larger circle ofwomen whom I have beeninteracting with that have beeninspiring me. They are fromdifferent walks of life,” saidShruti.

“I thought it would be lovelyto interact with them on vari-ous topics and I like that theyare from different places, dif-ferent topics and different pro-fessions,” she added.

Sunny Leone has also startedher chat show on Instagram.

Titled Lockdown with Sunny,

it sees Sunny in conversationwith several celebrities, including Daboo Ratnani andMandana Karimi.

“It was my idea to just have fun with our fans andpeople on Instagram. It is allabout light hearted conversa-tions with funny things anddetails about the guest,” Sunnysaid.

Bigg Boss 13 contestantRashami Desai has also startedher own digital show titled TheRDShhow.

“It’s not your regular chatshow. It’s being made with anintent to educate people on dif-ferent fields of career. I’ll beinviting eminent personalitiesfrom various fields as guests on

my show. We’ll be discussingeach field, with its possiblecareer opportunities and theskills required to be successfulin those particular fields,” saidRashami.

Also making good use of thedigital platform, actor KaranvirBohra has started a fun-filledand informative live seriestitled Lockdown with KV.

“The idea right now is tokeep people engaged, talkingand importantly listening andwatching good content to keeptheir minds diverted from theongoing stressful situation,” hesaid.

“So that’s what my secondlive series Lockdown with KV isaiming at. The first main idea

which is to just talk to peoplefrom different walks of life andunderstand their lives and rou-tines and importantly copingskills during these trying andtesting times,” added the actor,who had earlier brought in hiscelebrity friends for a 21-ques-tion series on Instagram.

Actress-producer Dia Mirza’sdigital session,#DownToEarthWithDee, fea-tures celebrity guests whoshare a common love fornature. The session is heldevery Wednesday.

Dia’s first conversation withfilmmaker Zoya Akhtar dwelton a number of things, fromtheir shared love for nature tohow they are both dealing with

the lockdown.“I hope these conversations

on #DownToEarthWithDeeevery Wednesday will help allthose seeking ways to live inbetter harmony with naturedespite living in cities. I hopethey find some magic, inspira-tion and solutions in our con-versations,” Dia said.

Joining the list is actressUrvashi Dholakia, who has adigital chat show calledTrending Now.

Through the course of theshow, Urvashi will be seenchatting up with personalitiesfrom diverse fields.

She has interviewed celebri-ties like Tony Kakkar, Sriti Jhaand Sumona Chakravarti.

STARS TURN HOSTSOF DIGITAL SHOWS

Lockdown

diaries:F

ctress Archana Singh Rajput, who was seen inthe TV show Bahu Humari Rajni Kant, willbe seen making her Telugu debut with thefilm Mahaprasthanam, starring Tanish.

“The film is gangster drama basedin an action backdrop. I’m playing

the lead and have done two item numbersin this film. The first song is Kummukummu nene neeku zyummu and thenext song is Billi choosa. My experi-ence was really amazing workingwith all of them,” said Archana.

The actress said it was greatsharing screen space withTanish, Kabir DuhanSingh and Muskan in thefilm directed by Jhony,who had earliercalled the shots onthe horror thrillerAnthaku Minchi.

“Altogether itwas great tuningand chemistry.Johnny sir is verycreative and supportive.It is my first Telugu filmand I really enjoyed working!”he said.

She said she had never done anitem number before.

“It was an amazing experience. I never diditem songs and worked for the Telugu industry beforeand it’s for the first time. It was a challenging rolebecause language is very different. As I’m hard-work-ing I have done lots of rehearsals before shooting.Kapil sir was my choreographer who supported me alot,” she said.

fter making animpressive debutwith Rajdoothlast year,MeghamshSrihari is

geared up for his sec-ond film. The actorhas given his consentto first-timer Muni,who in the pastassisted directorMaruthi and the filmwill be made inTelugu and Tamilsimultaneously. A newproducer will be poolingin resources for the project.

A source close to thedevelopment informs us,“The film is a romanticthriller set in a realisticspace. Meghamsh will beseen as an Anantapur ladand the first half of the filmunfolds over there. The sec-

ond halfhas been planned to be shotacross Abu Dhabi but themakers are contemplating tochange the setting in thewake of Covid-19 cases over

there. Meghamsh’s part car-ries a lot of pain and angst.

He is hoping the film willbe his first money-spin-

ner.”The source adds that

the makers have initi-ated talks with mae-stro Ilaiyaraaja todeliver the film’smusical accompani-ment. “If the talkswith him fail, the

director is planning tosign on another famous

composer. The producerhas given a complete free-

hand to the director withregards to casting and tech-nicians. A bevy of notedfaces will be a part of thesupporting cast, while aMumbai girl has been ropedin to romance Meghamsh,”the source concludes.

— NG

ne of the anticipated films of the year,Thalaivi, starring Kangana Ranaut in thetitular role, is believed to have incurred aloss of Rs 5 crore due to Covid-19 out-break. The makers have built a couple oflavish sets — Parliament House and

Mount Road — at Hyderabad and Chennairespectively for some portions of the film, abiopic on Tamil Nadu former chief ministerJ Jayalalithaa over a 45-day schedule. Closeto 90 per cent of the filming would’ve beenwrapped up with this outing. However,with lockdown restrictions in place sincethe mid of last month, the sets have lying

vacant so far, leading to losses. The makersfear that if the sets go unexploited till mid-June, they are at the risk of facing damage dueto the onset of monsoon. The release date of

the film though — June 26 — has been pushed.The makers will decide upon the date after the

shooting resumes.Beginning with her journey as an actress, Thalaivi,

being made in Tamil, Telugu andHindi simultaneously, will end

with Jayalalithaa becomingCM for the first time. The

ups and downs sheweathered until that

period will be a part ofthe film, directed by

AL Vjay. It is a jointproduction ven-

ture betweenVishnu

VardhanInduri and

ShaaileshR

Singh.

Covid-19 hits Thalaivi badly

11

Hyderabad Tuesday April 28 2020tollywood

has a choice to makeSHARWANAND

ovie ArtistesAssociationmembers Hema,Surekha Vani,Rajitha,Jayalakshmi,

Himaja and Sana amongothers have come forwardto help the employees of theindustry who don’t possessa valid union card. While

daily wage employees whohave cards belonging to dif-ferent unions of 24 crafts offilmmaking have alreadygot the help from CoronaCrisis Charity and continu-ing to do so, employeeswithout cards run intothousands. In this regard,MAA women artistes con-tributed food essentials and

even distributed money tosuch employees inHyderabad on Monday.“There are numerous assis-tants who work withoutcards. We’ve decided to helpthem taking into considera-tion the present situation.They are the ones who takecare of us on sets,” saidHema.

MAA women force helpemployees without cards

y now, it’sclear thatSharwanandhas agreedto do filmsfor Ajay

Bhupathi and KishoreTirumala for the restof the year. While filmwith Kishore Tirumalahas been announcedon the actor’s birthdaylast month, Bhupathi’sfilm is yet to get anofficial word. Andnow, we’ve learnt thatthe actor is also in dis-cussions with SriramAdittya for a new pro-ject. Sources say it’sthe same project thatthe director spoke toSharwa about, lastyear. It couldn’t flag-off immediatelybecause the actor wastied up with a coupleof other films. Later,the director took onthe job of introducingAshok Galla, whilesimultaneously gettinga pledge from Sharwathat he will work withthe director.

Chips in a source,“Adittya is working onan emotional roman-tic-comedy forSharwa. It was his rolein the film — some-thing he hithertoplayed — that gothooked him to thestory. A major part ofthe film is also setabroad and there’s noway this angle of thestory can be compro-mised in the wake ofcoronavirus outbreak.So, it remains to beseen whether the actorwill give precedence toAdittya’s script upnext. Also, KishoreTirumala hasn’t fullynarrated the script ofhis next with the actor.He has just shared theplotline of the familydrama. Ajay Bhupathi,however, is more orless ready with thebound script ofMahasamudram. He istweaking it to suitSharwa’s body lan-guage. The actor willtake a call on his next

after he goes throughthe final drafts of allthe three filmmakers.If there’s a chance forhim to juggle betweentwo projects, he willdo it.”

Right now though,Sharwa needs to com-plete both his pendingprojects—Sreekaramand an untitled filmwith Shree Karthik —before he moves on tohis new assignments.Directed by debutantKishore, Sreekaramneeds to be shot foranother 20 days inHyderabad andTirupati, while ShreeKarthik’s film is onlyhalf-way through.

The actor is also in discussions withSriram Adittya for a new project,which is an emotional romantic-comedy, finds NAGARAJ GOUD

B

THE ACTOR WILL TAKE A CALL ON HISNEXT AFTER HE GOES THROUGH THEFINAL DRAFTS OF ALL THE THREEFILMMAKERS. IF THERE’S A CHANCEFOR HIM TO JUGGLE BETWEEN TWOPROJECTS, HE WILL DO IT

M

A

O

A

Meghamsh nods to a

Telugu-Tamil bilingual

Bahu Humari RajniKant actressArchana Singh setfor Telugu film debut

sport 12HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | APRIL 28, 2020

IANS n NEW DELHI

The International Cricket Council(ICC) hosted a Chief Executives

Committee meeting on Thursday, butthere was no clear direction on the fateof the World T20 to be held later in theyear in Australia. The Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) feels thatwith the coronavirus outbreak and theeffect it has had, having the showpieceevent in October-November seemsimpractical.

A BCCI official said that a num-ber of factors would come into play andall that would be only after normalcyreturns. The official went on to pointat the travel restrictions to begin withand the fresh directives that mightcome in across the globe, not just inIndia.

“To be honest, the T20 World Cupin October seems to be impractical andeven thinking of a gathering of peopleof that magnitude at this time isnaive. I mean think about it. At thisstage you don’t know when interna-tional travel would be safe. Someoneis saying June, someone is sayinglonger. Once travel does open up, itwould be prudent to study the impactof travel as to whether the coronavirusremains controlled or not,” the officialpointed.

The official then brought in thehuman aspect as he spoke aboutwhether the ICC and Cricket Australiawould be willing to take the guaran-tee of the number of lives that wouldbe involved in the whole process ofhaving a showpiece event.

“The question would then bewhether the CA and the ICC are will-ing to stick their necks out and take theresponsibility for such an event wherethe number of people convergingwould be significant. Then it comesdown to the governments. Would theAustralian government want to takesuch a risk? If so, what would be thetimeline of their approval? Would thetime be sufficient for the other boards?Would the governments of othercountries permit their teams to trav-el?” the official questioned.

Finally the official pointed at thebiggest area of concer — fan safety.“Lastly, with the condition that every-one is going through at the moment,would the fans want to gather in a sta-dium at this stage? Or would the tick-ets of only one out of 10 seats be madeavailable to keep a semblance of socialdistancing norms in place?” the offi-cial asked.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Michael Holding feelslegalising ball tam-pering in the post

Covid-19 world is a bit “selfcontradictory”, while Proteasgreat Allan Donald is com-pletely on the opposite end ofthe spectrum on a subject thathas divided opinions.

The International CricketCouncil (ICC), during itsrecent CEC meeting, consid-ered the use of artificial sub-stances on the ball instead ofsaliva.

“I have read that ICC iscontemplating preventingpeople from using saliva onthe ball due to Covid-19 andallowing them to use foreignsubstances on the ball tokeep the shine on but infront of the umpire. I don’tunderstand the logic behindthat,” Holding toldESPNCricinfo.

The West Indies greatalso questioned the ICC forshifting its stand on the issueby allowing foreign substanceinstead of saliva or sweat.

“Before they got to thatpoint they said if they restartcricket it has to be played ina bio-secure environment.

“They were saying crick-eters for instance would have

to isolate themselves for twoweeks to make sure thateverything was fine for whenthey got to the venue beforethe match started. And every-one involved (with the match)will have to do the samething,” he said.

What Holding can’t fath-om is that if people quaran-tine themselves and then startplaying, why saliva can’t beused then.

“Now, if you are sayingeveryone is in the bio-secure

environment, you are stayingin the same hotel, you are notmoving for the length of timeyou are playing the matches,if that is the case why are youworried about someone’s sali-va?

“That person accordingto what you are doing shouldbe free of Covid-19. If theICC thinks that the two-week period to prove that youare free of Covid-19 is notfoolproof, then that meansyou are putting everyone in

that environment in jeop-ardy?

“Why would you want toplay cricket under those cir-cumstances? It’s either safe orit’s not. No guessing, please,”one of the most respectedvoices in world cricket said.

Pakistan legend WaqarYounis made it clear that useof saliva is a must and can’t bedone away with when com-petitive cricket resumes.

“As a fast bowler, I rejectthis because this (using sali-

va and sweat) is a naturalprocess. A ball exchangeshands all day, you run in,huffing and puffing, yousweat and using saliva is nat-ural rather than on intent. It’sa habit and you just can’t con-trol this aspect,” Waqar said.

He felt that all these kindof ideas show desperation tostart proceedings.

“I don’t know how thisdiscussion came up but I feelpeople who want the game tobe played are frustrated withthe lockdown. They are over-thinking about it. I doubt thisnew idea of using (artificial)substance instead of saliva isa solution.

“You can make a bowleruse a predefined substance onthe ball, but at the same timepractically it’s not possible toprevent a bowler using hissweat or saliva,” Pakistan’scurrent bowling coach said.

Donald, however, is opento the idea.

“I absolutely agree withlegalising ball-tampering. Isaid so in an article sometimein the 2000s. It happens any-way, we see guys throwing theball on the ground andumpires say to throw it upand it’s pretty obvious whatthey are doing. It could workif it is well-monitored.”

PTI n KARACHI

Temperamental Pakistanbatsman Umar Akmal was

on Monday banned for threeyears by the PCB for failing toreport corrupt approachesahead of the country’s premierT20 league this year.

The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) said the ban was imposedby its Disciplinary Panel chair-man Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan, who held ahearing on Monday.

“Umar Akmal handedthree-year ban from all cricketby Chairman of the DisciplinaryPanel Justice (retired) Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan,” read a tweetfrom the official handle of thePCB’s media department.

The 29-year-old appearedbefore the panel at the NationalCricket Academy in Lahoreafter not challenging a showcause notice issued to him bythe PCB Anti-Corruption fornot reporting an alleged offer tospot-fix in the 2020 PakistanSuper League.

Once Akmal didn’t chal-lenge the PCB notice, the casewas transferred tothe discipli-nary panel,

triggering speculation thatUmar would escape with a six-month to one-year ban and fineat the most.

Akmal last played a Test forPakistan in late 2009 but his lastinternational appearance was inlast October in the T20 homeseries against Sri Lanka.

He was charged with twobreaches of Article 2.4.4 of thePCB Anti-Corruption Code intwo unrelated incidents onMarch 17.

“The PCB doesn’t take anypleasure in seeing a promisinginternational cricketer beingdeclared ineligible for threeyears on corruption charges, butthis is once again a timelyreminder to all who think theycan get away by breaching theanti-corruption code,” PCBDirector (Anti-Corruption andSecurity) Asif Mahmood, said.

“...If some cricketers decideto take the Code in their hands,then this is how things will panout.

“I request all professionalcricketers to stay away from themenace of corruption andimmediately inform relevantauthorities as soon as they areapproached,” he added.

Akmal was provisionallysuspended hours before his PSLteam Quetta Gladiators was totake on Islamabad in the open-ing match of the PSL’s 2020 edi-tion.

Reacting to the ban, formerPakistan captain Ramiz Rajasaid time has come to crimi-nalise match-fixing.

“So Umar Akmal officiallymakes it to the list of idiots!Banned for 3 years. What awaste of a talent! It’s high timethat Pakistan moved towardspassing a legislative law againstmatch fixing. Behind bars iswhere such jack asses belong!Otherwise brave for more!!”Raja tweeted.

PTI n MELBOURNE

Australia Test captain Tim Painesays he and his teammates will

not be “greedy” if they are asked totake a pay cut to sustain cricket inthe country after the massive finan-cial crisis caused by the Covid-19pandemic.

With India’s tour of Australiaand the upcoming T20 WorldCup in doubt due to the fast-spreading coronavirus, CricketAustralia has already stood down80 per cent of its staff and is in talkswith the Australian CricketersAssociation (ACA) regarding apotential pay cut for players.

“Players need to know theabsolute financial positions of the

game and the players aren’t goingto be greedy,” Paine said on ABCRadio.

“Our livelihood, all the people

associated with the CA and theplayers association, their liveli-hood is dependent on the game ofcricket being healthy.

“So at the moment if a pay cutfor us is on the cards and that keepsour game thriving well into thefuture, then that’s something we’llcertainly have to look at,” he added.

Cricket Australia might lose astaggering A$ 300 million dollarsif the Indian team fails to turn upfor the bilateral series due to theglobal health crisis.

Australia’s borders are sealedtill Sept 30 but in a bid to salvagethe India tour, the Government isconsidering providing internation-al exemptions to allow the Indianteam arrive in Australia.

MUMBAI: The pressure to replace iconic MSDhoni behind the stumps was “immense” dueto high expectations from fans says K L Rahul,who has been doing the wicket-keeping duty forIndia in limited overs format for some time now.

Dhoni quit Test cricket in 2014 and has notplayed for India in the limited overs format sincelast year’s ODI World Cup in England.

Rahul kept the wickets in the limited oversseries against Australia in January this year andalso during the team’s tour to New Zealand.

“I was nervous when I was doing it for Indiabecause of the crowd pressure. If you fumble,people feel that you cannot replace MS Dhoni.The pressure of replacing a legendary wicket-keeper like MSD was immense as it involved peo-ple accepting someone else behind the stumps,”Rahul told on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

Rahul, who has played 32 ODIs and 42T20Is, said keeping the wickets is not alien to himsince he dons the gloves during the IndianPremier League (IPL) and also when he playsfor his Ranji side Karnataka.

“People who follow cricket know that Ihaven’t been away from wicket-keeping for toolong as I donned the gloves in the IPL and everytime I played for Karnataka,” the 28-year-old said.

“I am always in touch with wicket-keepingbut am also somebody who is more than will-ing to take up the role if the team needs me to,”he stressed. PNS

PTI n NEW DELHI

The BCCI has not yet made anyconcrete back-up plan for the

2020-21 domestic season, which isdue to start in August, but the manin charge, Saba Karim, says the pri-ority will be to organise as manygames as possible amid the chal-lenge posed by the Covid-19 pan-demic.

The England and WalesCricket Board has alreadyannounced suspension of all itsactivities till July, including thedomestic season, in the wake of thefast-spreading virus.

“There are no concrete back upplans as such. There is still time forAugust. We are taking month bymonth,” Karim, who is BCCI gen-eral manger — cricket operations,said.

The 2019-20 season beganwith the Duleep Trophy in August

and ended with the Ranji Trophyfinal last month.

The season-ending Irani Cup,which was to start four days afterthe Ranji Trophy final, was put on

hold indefinitely due to the coro-navirus outbreak.

The IPL has been postponedindefinitely and there is a possibil-ity that it might be held inSeptember when the domesticseason is also underway. So far, noother cricketing activity has hap-pened in India at the time of IPL.

Asked about a possible clashbetween IPL and the domestic sea-son, the former India wicket-keeper said: “It is difficult to talkabout it at this stage. It all dependson how soon we overcome this sit-uation.”

“At this stage, it is more impor-tant to be safe and secure. I am suregradually things will open up. Sowe are positive.

“We will try to make the bestout of the circumstances. Whateverwindow is available, we will try toincorporate as many matches aspossible,” said Karim.

Last season, the BCCI con-ducted as many as 2035 gamesacross age groups in men’s andwomen’s category. Out of those,470 matches were organised insenior men’s category.

With nine teams added to thedomestic circuit in 2018, the num-ber of games has increased signif-icantly.

Karim acknowledged the chal-lenge of conducting a long season.

“The thought has crossed mymind (about rejig of the season)and we are extremely flexible.Otherwise also, we need to be flex-ible due to the fickle weather con-ditions. It looks, this year is goingto be different. We need to be vig-ilant and flexible for any changesthat are required.

“Whatever changes we bringin, it will be for the benefit of ourplayers and state associations,” headded.

PARIS: Formula One boss ChaseCarey on Monday targeted thecoronavirus-hit season startingin Austria on July 5 after theFrench Grand Prix was can-celled and fans barred from theBritish race at Silverstone.

The French Grand Prix,which was to have been held onJune 28, was the 10th race of theseason to be scrapped or post-poned.

“We’re targeting a start toracing in Europe through July,August and beginning ofSeptember, with the first racetaking place in Austria on 3-5July weekend,” Carey said in astatement.

“September, October andNovember, would see us race inEurasia, Asia and the Americas,finishing the season in the Gulfin December with Bahrain

before the traditional finale inAbu Dhabi, having completedbetween 15-18 races.”

Carey’s statement followedquickfire announcements fromthe French organisers and theowners of the Silverstone trackwhere the British Grand Prix isdue to take place on July 19.

“Given the evolution of thesituation linked to the spread ofthe Covid-19 virus, the FrenchGrand Prix takes note of thedecisions announced by theFrench state, making it impos-sible to maintain our event,” therace’s managing director EricBoullier said.

France joins nine otherraces in the slashed 2020 cham-pionship to be either cancelled(Australia, Monaco) or post-poned (Bahrain, China,Vietnam, Netherlands, Spain,

Azerbaijan, Canada).The fate of the Belgian

Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on August 30remains uncertain, with massgatherings banned in the coun-try until the following day.

Organisers of the race at LeCastellet were forced to act afterPresident Emmanuel Macron’sannouncement last week that thelockdown in France will beextended until May 11 and pub-lic gatherings banned until mid-July.

Ruling out holding the racebehind closed doors, Boulliersaid: “Le Castellet are alreadyturning towards the summer of2021”.

In the next of a series ofannouncements, Silverstone’sowners declared that no specta-tors would be able to attend theBritish Grand Prix but that theyhope it will go ahead as sched-uled.

“I am extremely disappoint-ed to tell you that we are unableto stage this year’s British GrandPrix in front of the fans atSilverstone,” the circuit’s manag-ing director Stuart Pringle stat-ed on Silverstone’s Twitteraccount.

“We have left this difficultdecision for as long as possible,but it is abundantly clear giventhe current conditions... that agrand prix under normal con-ditions is just not going to bepossible.” AFP

GENEVA: With football facing acongested program of gamescaused by the coronavirus pan-demic, FIFA wants to let teamsuse five substitutes.

FIFA detailed a temporaryplan on Monday to help preventmore injuries due to “potentialplayer overload” as footballcompetitions catch up with abacklog.

The proposal gives compe-tition organizers the option ofletting teams use five substitutes

instead of three in 90 minutes,and a sixth in knockout gamesthat go to extra time.

“One concern in this regardis that the higher-than-normalfrequency of matches mayincrease the risk of potentialinjuries due to a resulting play-er overload,” FIFA said in a state-ment.

Clubs such as ManchesterCity face an intense program inthree competitions if games cansafely restart in the coming

weeks.City could have 19 more

games — 10 in the PremierLeague, up to six in theChampions League and up tothree in the FA Cup — beingscheduled in as few as 10 weeksthrough August.

Juventus could need 20more: 12 in Serie A, up to six inthe Champions League, andtwo Coppa Italia games.

The proposal must besigned off by football’s rule-mak-

ing panel, known as IFAB.Teams would still be limited tothree stoppages of play to makethe changes.

IFAB approval should be aformality on a panel whichincludes officials from FIFAand the four British national fed-erations.

FIFA suggested retainingthe five-substitute rule next sea-son, which looks likely to startlater and be condensed into lesstime. AP

PTI n LONDON

Senior India off-spinnerRavichandran Ashwin’s deal

with English county sideYorkshire Cricket Club was onMonday cancelled by mutualconsent amid the Covid-19pandemic.

England and Wales CricketBoard (ECB) recently sus-pended all forms of profession-al cricket till July 1 due to thepandemic.

Ashwin, who signed forthe club in January, was expect-ed to play in the majority of theremaining County champi-onship fixtures.

It would have been the 33-year-old’s third county stint,having representedWorcestershire andNottinghamshire in the past.

The club also announcedthe termination of con-tracts for its other twooverseas players, SouthAfrican spinnerK e s h a vMaharajand WestI n d i e sbatsman NicholasPooran.

“Firstly, I really appreciatethe players’ understanding inthis matter. We have been inregular contact with the play-ers and their agents through-out this Covid pandemic. Theyhave been extremely profes-sional and appreciate theuncertainty facing counties atpresent,” Yorkshire’s Director ofCricket, Martyn Moxon said.

“We hope that we will beable to see them at EmeraldHeadingley in the future,” headded.

Maharaj had agreed to re-join the White Rose for theiropening two SpecsaversCounty Championship fix-tures against Gloucestershire

and Essex.While Pooran had

agreed a second stint atEmerald Headingleyafter agreeing to re-

join as YorkshireVikings' Vitality

Blast overseasplayer for the2020 cam-paign.

IANS n NEW DELHI

Union Sports Minister KirenRijiju on Monday said that

kabaddi has huge potential not justin India and Asia, but globally andthe ultimate aim of the country is tohave the sport included in theOlympics.

“Kabaddi has already beenincluded in the Asian Games andnow, not just India, but all Asiancountries must come together toensure that the sport in included inthe Olympics as well. That is our ulti-mate goal,” Rijiju said.

He added, “And to achieve thatgoal we must improve the standardof the game in India and also ensurethat we propagate it across geograph-ical locations in India and the rest ofthe world.”

AP n MADRID

Rafael Nadal says it will be “very dif-ficult” for tennis to return to action

any time soon and is concerned about therisk of injuries when the sport resumes.

Nadal spoke in a joint interview withNBA player Pau Gasol that was publishedby Spanish newspapers on Monday.

“I don’t think training would be aproblem, but competing... I see it very dif-ficult,” Nadal said.

“It’s a moment to be responsible andcoherent, so I don’t see how we can trav-el every week to a different country.

“I would be OK playing without fans,even though that’s not what we want, butunfortunately, from what I’m seeing, eventhough things are improving, for oursport I don’t see it prudent to be compet-ing again any time soon.”

Nadal pointed out that even thoughthere is a smaller risk of contagion in ten-

nis compared to team sports, there aremany people involved in the organiza-tion of tennis tournaments, from hotelsto other sectors of society.

“As far as competing, maybe oursport is the most complicated one, hav-ing to move a lot of people week afterweek,” he said.

Nadal, who has had to deal with aseries of injuries throughout his career,is also worried that the risk of newinjuries will increase when playersreturn to action.

“When I hit a ball again, my arm isgoing to hurt in several places ... Mywrist, my elbow,” the 19-time GrandSlam champion said.

“When you are out of action, therisk of an injury is a lot greater thanwhen you are exercising, even if just abit.

“If I could have a tennis-relatedtraining for half an hour every day, If Icould at least exercise the specific mus-cles that are needed in tennis, I thinkthat would help get the rust off my bodywhen we get back to action.”

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Nadal doesn’t see tennis back soon Our ultimate goal is tohave kabaddi in Oly: Rijiju