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M adhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker NP Prajapati on Thursday asked the 22 rebel Congress MLAs to appear before him by Friday and clar- ify whether their resignations that pushed the 15-month-old Kamal Nath Government to the brink of collapse was vol- untary or under pressure. The development took place on a day when Nath’s fire- fighter Minister Jitu Patwari was detained and stopped by the police from entering a resort near Bengaluru where 19 of the 22 MLAs are believed to be holed up. The 22 MLAs who were issued notices are stated to be supporters of Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP on Wednesday. Police sources said the Minister was briefly detained along with his supporters as he tried to enter the resort. A video purportedly showing the Minister picking up heated arguments with the police has gone viral. According to sources, Patwari had come with an apparent intention to convince the rebel MLAs who included six ministers to return to the party fold. The Congress, however, alleged two Ministers from MP were arrested by police in Bengaluru. Talking to reporters at the State Congress office in Bhopal, party MP Vivek Tankha said the two Ministers, Jitu Patwari and Lakhan Singh, had gone to Bengaluru along with the father of party MLA Manoj Choudhary, who he claimed, had been held “captive” by the BJP at the resort. On Thursday, Scindia arrived at the party’s MP head- quarters to a grand welcome by saffron party leaders, including former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and amid bursting of crackers. Continued on Page 4 T he Centre-owned Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML), formerly Willingdon Hospital which was established by the British for their staff, is all set to become the first Central Government-run medical facility in the country to have a helipad on its rooftop. Being adjacent to Parliament and offices of vari- ous Ministries and situated in the Lutyen’s Zone, the one of the premier hospitals in the country caters to many VIPs, besides general public. The Expert Appraisal Committee under the Union Environment Ministry last month in a meet- ing recommended a term of reference (ToR) for the 463 crore project which envisages construction of a high-rise new super speciality-cum-paid ward block with 509 beds and a helipad at the terrace floor. The 11-floor high-rise block will have general beds (392 numbers), ICU beds (51 numbers), private beds (66 numbers), Cath Lab (3 numbers), operation the- aters (17 numbers), OPD Rooms (96 numbers), PG Seats (60 numbers) and 20 departments of various streams. The expansion will result into around 2000 beds at the hospital which has a college named as Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences. Continued on Page 4 G oods and Services Tax (GST) rates on mobile phones, fertilisers, man-made fabrics and garments are like- ly to be hiked to 18 per cent in the next GST Council meeting on March 14. Experts said the rate hike would improve working capi- tal position of the manufactures as it would correct the invert- ed duty structure but may lead to increase in price of the fin- ished goods. Currently, under the GST, certain manufactured goods attract a tax rate of 5 per cent or 12 per cent while their inputs, input services and capital goods attract GST at the higher rate of 18 per cent or 28 per cent. Continued on Page 4 C hina on Thursday said the peak of the novel coron- avirus outbreak in the country was over, hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the epidemic out- break as a pandemic. However, countries out- side China will likely see a peak in coronavirus infections in the May-June period before recov- ering towards normal by the end of third quarter and begin- ning of fourth quarter (October), a new report warned on Thursday. New cases keep declining and the overall epidemic situ- ation remains at a low level in China, said Mi Feng, a spokesperson for the National Health Commission, at a Press conference here. “This is good news and should allow most factories outside the Hubei province to move back toward normal, seasonal activity levels by the beginning of the second quar- ter,” said Peter Richardson, Research Director, Counterpoint Research. Mi said the number of new confirmed cases Hubei province’s capital city of Wuhan, also the epicentre of the outbreak, has dropped to a single digit, with only eight cases reported on Wednesday. No new cases had been reported in other cities of Hubei for a week in a row, Mi said. Only seven new cases were reported on the Chinese mainland outside Hubei, but six were imported from over- seas, he added. A board meeting in Greater Noida called by a director of a private firm on Thursday took a nasty turn when the director gunned down a senior official of the firm and injured another employee before shooting himself dead, police said. Pradeep, the director of UP Telelinks Limited, shot himself dead after firing at his colleagues Naresh and Rakesh, they said, adding that the incident was report- ed around 3 pm from Badalpur police sta- tion area here. Pradeep and Naresh died while Rakesh is undergoing treatment at a private hospital, a police spokesperson said, identifying them only by their first names. Bodies have been sent for post- mortem. Police, which started its probe into the incident, said there were disputes among the three men. I n a move to curb spread of Chinese virus, the Delhi Government on Thursday declared coronavirus an epi- demic and ordered closure of schools, colleges and cinema halls until March 31, but the ongoing school examinations will be held on schedule. Also, people have been advised to stay away from pub- lic gatherings. In a high-level meeting with Health Minister Satyendra Jain and health officials, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reviewed the preparedness to contain the spread of coronavirus. Soon after the meeting, Kejriwal said, “All schools and colleges shall also remain closed till March 31, except for the ones where the exams have been going on. We have suffi- cient beds in case people are to be quarantined. We are arrang- ing Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Boards flats which have remained unoccu- pied for long, and rooms in under-construction hospitals of the Delhi Government. More than 500 beds are ready to be installed in the Delhi Government hospitals.” As the Government declared COVID-19 as an epi- demic, all the public spaces, Government, and private office premises, malls, and shops, have been notified to disinfect their premises. The Delhi CM said, “Whatever we are doing is to contain the outbreak of the corona. I hope that all the people will support us. We are noticing how rapid the out- break has been, but in India, we have successfully been able to contain the outbreak with the support of the public. We shall remain alert to stop this disease from spreading.” Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also issued an order, saying, “All educational institutions — schools, colleges, ITIs, poly- technics, universities and pri- vate coaching and tuition cen- tres — will remain closed till March 31, except for holding examinations.” He said the Delhi Government schools will resort to “zero paper attendance” from April 1. “The process of digitis- ing exam result tabulation and attendance records is underway. Tablets will soon be provided to all remaining Government school teachers,” he said. Continued on Page 4 A 76-year-old man who died two days ago in Karnataka while being treated for sus- pected coronavirus has become India’s first COVID-19 fatality with his samples taken earlier confirming the infection, the Karnataka Government said on Thursday. The deceased had gone to Saudi Arabia in January end and came back on February 29. Officials said the patient had severe co-morbidities such as history of hypertension, dia- betes and asthma and appen- dicitis. Coronavirus has continued to spread its tentacles in the country taking into its grip 74 persons with 14 fresh cases, including 10 from Maharashtra and one each from Delhi, Ladakh, and Uttar Pradesh besides one foreign national. Meanwhile, urging people not to panic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday advised them to avoid non- essential travel and large gath- erings to ensure safety. In a series of tweets, Modi also said that no Minister of the Central Government will trav- el abroad in the upcoming days. “Say no to panic, say yes to precautions. No Minister of the Central Government will travel abroad in the upcoming days. I urge our countrymen to also avoid non-essential travel,” Modi said adding that we can break the chain of spread and ensure safety of all by avoiding large gatherings. Taking a cue, the Rashtrapati Bhavan closed all public tour visits from Friday as a precautionary measure against the spread of deadly pathogens. While Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asked MPs to educate people about the dis- ease in their respective con- stituencies, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the virus is difficult to iso- late but the scientists have been successful in isolating it. However, developing a vaccine will take at least one-and-a-half to two years. The Ministry of Defence, on its part, announced it has set up seven more quarantine facil- ities for COVID-19 patients, especially for Indian citizens being brought back from coro- navirus-hit countries. The facilities have been set up at Jaisalmer, Suratgadh, Jhansi, Jodhpur, Deolali, Kolkata and Chennai. “We are expecting more civilians to be brought back to India. We are ready with our facilities,” Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand said. The Army is operating a quarantine facility in Manesar while the one in Hindon, near Ghaziabad, is being operated by the Air Force. Continued on Page 4 T he Indian stock markets plunged into bear territory, suffering their biggest ever one-day plunge on Thursday as the coronavirus pandemic left a trail of red across global financial markets. The carnage on Dalal Street eroded investor wealth worth 11,27,160.65 crore, tak- ing the total market capitalisa- tion (m-cap) to 1,25,86,398.07 crore on the BSE. Stock markets tumbled across the globe and oil prices slumped on Thursday after President Donald Trump banned all travel from main- land Europe to the US for a month to fight the coronavirus pandemic, ramping up fears of worldwide recession. After nosediving over 3,204.30 points on across-the- board selling, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 2,919.26 points or 8.18 per cent lower at 32,778.14. Likewise, the broad- er NSE Nifty gave up the 9,600 level, slumping 868.25 points or 8.30 per cent to close at 9,590.15. This was the biggest drop for the benchmarks in absolute terms, eclipsing their previous record one-day fall on Monday (March 9). The markets have now entered bear territory — that is more than 20 per cent down from a recent high. The Sensex and Nifty, which had hit their lifetime closing highs on January 14 this year, closed at more than 2-1/2-year lows on Thursday. The rupee sank by 60 paise to close at a fresh 17-month low of 74.28 against the US cur- rency on Thursday due to heavy dollar demand as investors rushed to prune riski- er bets amid coronavirus pan- demic fanning recession fears. Global markets reeled after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coron- avirus outbreak as a pandem- ic, and expressed deep concern over the “alarming levels of inaction”. US President Donald Trump suspended all travel from Europe, excluding the UK, to the US for the next 30 days. Countries across the world are imposing travel restrictions, fuelling fears of a global recession, analysts said. All Sensex components ended in the red. SBI was the top loser, crashing 13.23 per cent, followed by ONGC, Axis Bank, ITC, TCS and Titan. “Global stocks including India plunged into a bear mar- ket and oil slumped on Thursday, threatening more disruption to the world econ- omy. Recession risk is rising and the markets do not seem to be pricing that in fully,” said Deepak Jasani, Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities. Continued on Page 4 New Delhi: The External Affairs Ministry on Thursday advised against holding this year’s IPL edition in wake of the coronavirus scare, but left it to the organisers to take a final call on it. This was stated by MEA Additional Secretary Dammu Ravi who has been appointed as the nodal officer to coordinate efforts to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. Responding to questions about IPL and other sporting events, Ravi said the Government’s advice would be “not do it at this time but if the organisers want to go ahead, it is their decision”. “We are assessing a lot of requests of this nature of sports events that have been held in India and some thing related to mega event already being planned. It is for the organis- ers to decide if they want to go ahead with it or not,” Ravi said during a press briefing. “Our advice would be not do it at this time but if they still want to go ahead it is their deci- sion,” said Ravi. A gainst the backdrop of coronavirus becoming pandemic, the External Affairs Ministry on Thursday advised Indians to stay put wherever they are and travel only under compelling reasons. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Lok Sabha that coronavirus outbreak was a matter of “great concern” and the Government’s initial focus is to bring back Indian pilgrims stranded in Iran. The Minister said there are over 6,000 Indian nationals in various provinces of Iran. Elaborating upon the efforts undertaken by the Government to meet the crisis, the External Affairs Ministry said the focus is on containing and stressed the point that there is no need to panic. Indians were also advised to stay put wherever they are, Dammu Ravi, Additional Secretary and Co-ordinator (COVID-19) said. MEA Raveesh Kumar said the Government has received requests from four countries for assistance in arranging pro- tective gears like masks. They include Bhutan, Iran, the Maldives and Italy and India is processing it. Earlier, such request was received from China, and a package was sent, he said. Continued on Page 4

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Page 1: ˆ( , 2,*5˝˚2˛ˆ678& # ˜ E ˙ &63ˆ8 3.,? 57 4ˆ5 3 4ˆ.4 6˛7 ...€¦ · The expansion will result into around 2000 ... essential travel and large gath-erings to ensure safety

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Madhya Pradesh AssemblySpeaker NP Prajapati on

Thursday asked the 22 rebelCongress MLAs to appearbefore him by Friday and clar-ify whether their resignationsthat pushed the 15-month-oldKamal Nath Government tothe brink of collapse was vol-untary or under pressure.

The development tookplace on a day when Nath’s fire-fighter Minister Jitu Patwariwas detained and stopped bythe police from entering aresort near Bengaluru where 19of the 22 MLAs are believed tobe holed up.

The 22 MLAs who were

issued notices are stated to besupporters of JyotiradityaScindia, who quit the Congressand joined the BJP onWednesday.

Police sources said theMinister was briefly detainedalong with his supporters as hetried to enter the resort. Avideo purportedly showing theMinister picking up heatedarguments with the police hasgone viral.

According to sources,Patwari had come with anapparent intention to convincethe rebel MLAs who includedsix ministers to return to theparty fold.

The Congress, however,alleged two Ministers fromMP were arrested by police inBengaluru.

Talking to reporters at theState Congress office in Bhopal,party MP Vivek Tankha saidthe two Ministers, Jitu Patwariand Lakhan Singh, had gone toBengaluru along with the fatherof party MLA ManojChoudhary, who he claimed,had been held “captive” by theBJP at the resort.

On Thursday, Scindiaarrived at the party’s MP head-quarters to a grand welcome bysaffron party leaders, includingformer Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan, and amidbursting of crackers.

Continued on Page 4

��������! ���� �67&63�8

The Centre-owned Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital(RML), formerly Willingdon Hospital which was

established by the British for their staff, is all set tobecome the first Central Government-run medicalfacility in the country to have a helipad on its rooftop.

Being adjacent to Parliament and offices of vari-ous Ministries and situated in the Lutyen’s Zone, theone of the premier hospitals in the country caters tomany VIPs, besides general public.

The Expert Appraisal Committee under theUnion Environment Ministry last month in a meet-ing recommended a term of reference (ToR) for the�463 crore project which envisages construction of ahigh-rise new super speciality-cum-paid ward blockwith 509 beds and a helipad at the terrace floor.

The 11-floor high-rise block will have general beds(392 numbers), ICU beds (51 numbers), private beds(66 numbers), Cath Lab (3 numbers), operation the-aters (17 numbers), OPD Rooms (96 numbers), PGSeats (60 numbers) and 20 departments of variousstreams. The expansion will result into around 2000beds at the hospital which has a college named as AtalBihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences.

Continued on Page 4

�� � �67&63�8

Goods and Services Tax(GST) rates on mobile

phones, fertilisers, man-madefabrics and garments are like-ly to be hiked to 18 per cent inthe next GST Council meetingon March 14.

Experts said the rate hikewould improve working capi-tal position of the manufacturesas it would correct the invert-ed duty structure but may leadto increase in price of the fin-ished goods.

Currently, under the GST,certain manufactured goodsattract a tax rate of 5 per centor 12 per cent while theirinputs, input services and capital goods attract GST at thehigher rate of 18 per cent or 28 per cent.

Continued on Page 4

� �����"�� 46898�*:�67&63�8

China on Thursday said thepeak of the novel coron-

avirus outbreak in the countrywas over, hours after the WorldHealth Organization (WHO)declared the epidemic out-break as a pandemic.

However, countries out-side China will likely see a peakin coronavirus infections in theMay-June period before recov-ering towards normal by theend of third quarter and begin-ning of fourth quarter(October), a new reportwarned on Thursday.

New cases keep decliningand the overall epidemic situ-ation remains at a low level inChina, said Mi Feng, aspokesperson for the NationalHealth Commission, at a Pressconference here.

“This is good news andshould allow most factoriesoutside the Hubei province tomove back toward normal,seasonal activity levels by the

beginning of the second quar-ter,” said Peter Richardson,Research Director,Counterpoint Research.

Mi said the number ofnew confirmed cases Hubeiprovince’s capital city ofWuhan, also the epicentre ofthe outbreak, has dropped to asingle digit, with only eightcases reported on Wednesday.

No new cases had been reported in other cities ofHubei for a week in a row, Misaid. Only seven new caseswere reported on the Chinesemainland outside Hubei, butsix were imported from over-seas, he added.

"������������� �58&�

Aboard meeting in Greater Noidacalled by a director of a private firm

on Thursday took a nasty turn when thedirector gunned down a senior official of the firm and injured anotheremployee before shooting himself dead,police said.

Pradeep, the director of UP TelelinksLimited, shot himself dead after firing athis colleagues Naresh and Rakesh, theysaid, adding that the incident was report-ed around 3 pm from Badalpur police sta-tion area here.

Pradeep and Naresh died whileRakesh is undergoing treatment at a private hospital, a police spokespersonsaid, identifying them only by their first names.

Bodies have been sent for post-mortem. Police, which started its probeinto the incident, said there were disputesamong the three men.

"�����"�� ��� �67&63�8

In a move to curb spread ofChinese virus, the Delhi

Government on Thursdaydeclared coronavirus an epi-demic and ordered closure ofschools, colleges and cinemahalls until March 31, but theongoing school examinationswill be held on schedule.

Also, people have beenadvised to stay away from pub-lic gatherings.

In a high-level meetingwith Health Minister SatyendraJain and health officials,Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal and Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal reviewed thepreparedness to contain thespread of coronavirus.

Soon after the meeting,Kejriwal said, “All schools andcolleges shall also remainclosed till March 31, except forthe ones where the exams havebeen going on. We have suffi-cient beds in case people are tobe quarantined. We are arrang-ing Delhi Urban ShelterImprovement Boards flatswhich have remained unoccu-pied for long, and rooms inunder-construction hospitalsof the Delhi Government. Morethan 500 beds are ready to beinstalled in the DelhiGovernment hospitals.”

As the Governmentdeclared COVID-19 as an epi-demic, all the public spaces,Government, and private officepremises, malls, and shops,have been notified to disinfecttheir premises. The Delhi CMsaid, “Whatever we are doing isto contain the outbreak of thecorona. I hope that all thepeople will support us. We arenoticing how rapid the out-break has been, but in India, wehave successfully been able tocontain the outbreak with thesupport of the public. We shallremain alert to stop this diseasefrom spreading.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief

Minister Manish Sisodia alsoissued an order, saying, “Alleducational institutions —schools, colleges, ITIs, poly-technics, universities and pri-vate coaching and tuition cen-tres — will remain closed tillMarch 31, except for holdingexaminations.”

He said the DelhiGovernment schools will resortto “zero paper attendance” fromApril 1. “The process of digitis-ing exam result tabulation andattendance records is underway.Tablets will soon be provided toall remaining Governmentschool teachers,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

��"�� �67&63�8

A76-year-old man who diedtwo days ago in Karnataka

while being treated for sus-pected coronavirus has becomeIndia’s first COVID-19 fatalitywith his samples taken earlierconfirming the infection, theKarnataka Government saidon Thursday. The deceasedhad gone to Saudi Arabia inJanuary end and came back onFebruary 29.

Officials said the patienthad severe co-morbidities suchas history of hypertension, dia-betes and asthma and appen-dicitis.

Coronavirus has continuedto spread its tentacles in thecountry taking into its grip 74persons with 14 fresh cases,including 10 from Maharashtraand one each from Delhi,Ladakh, and Uttar Pradeshbesides one foreign national.

Meanwhile, urging peoplenot to panic, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Thursdayadvised them to avoid non-essential travel and large gath-erings to ensure safety.

In a series of tweets, Modialso said that no Minister of theCentral Government will trav-el abroad in the upcomingdays. “Say no to panic, say yesto precautions. No Minister ofthe Central Government willtravel abroad in the upcomingdays. I urge our countrymen toalso avoid non-essential travel,”Modi said adding that we canbreak the chain of spread andensure safety of all by avoidinglarge gatherings.

Taking a cue, theRashtrapati Bhavan closed allpublic tour visits from Fridayas a precautionary measureagainst the spread of deadlypathogens.

While Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan asked MPs toeducate people about the dis-ease in their respective con-stituencies, the Indian Council

of Medical Research (ICMR)said the virus is difficult to iso-late but the scientists havebeen successful in isolating it.However, developing a vaccinewill take at least one-and-a-halfto two years.

The Ministry of Defence,on its part, announced it has setup seven more quarantine facil-ities for COVID-19 patients,especially for Indian citizensbeing brought back from coro-navirus-hit countries.

The facilities have beenset up at Jaisalmer, Suratgadh,Jhansi, Jodhpur, Deolali,Kolkata and Chennai. “We areexpecting more civilians to bebrought back to India. We areready with our facilities,” Armyspokesperson Colonel AmanAnand said.

The Army is operating aquarantine facility in Manesarwhile the one in Hindon, nearGhaziabad, is being operatedby the Air Force.

Continued on Page 4

��"�� �.�4�8:�67&63�8

The Indian stock marketsplunged into bear territory,

suffering their biggest everone-day plunge on Thursday asthe coronavirus pandemic lefta trail of red across globalfinancial markets.

The carnage on DalalStreet eroded investor wealthworth �11,27,160.65 crore, tak-ing the total market capitalisa-tion (m-cap) to �1,25,86,398.07crore on the BSE.

Stock markets tumbledacross the globe and oil pricesslumped on Thursday afterPresident Donald Trumpbanned all travel from main-land Europe to the US for amonth to fight the coronaviruspandemic, ramping up fears ofworldwide recession.

After nosediving over3,204.30 points on across-the-board selling, the 30-share BSESensex closed 2,919.26 pointsor 8.18 per cent lower at32,778.14. Likewise, the broad-

er NSE Nifty gave up the 9,600level, slumping 868.25 points or8.30 per cent to close at9,590.15.

This was the biggest dropfor the benchmarks in absoluteterms, eclipsing their previousrecord one-day fall on Monday(March 9). The markets havenow entered bear territory —that is more than 20 per centdown from a recent high. TheSensex and Nifty, which had hittheir lifetime closing highs onJanuary 14 this year, closed atmore than 2-1/2-year lows onThursday.

The rupee sank by 60 paiseto close at a fresh 17-month lowof 74.28 against the US cur-rency on Thursday due toheavy dollar demand asinvestors rushed to prune riski-er bets amid coronavirus pan-demic fanning recession fears.

Global markets reeled afterthe World Health Organization(WHO) declared the coron-

avirus outbreak as a pandem-ic, and expressed deep concernover the “alarming levels ofinaction”.

US President DonaldTrump suspended all travelfrom Europe, excluding theUK, to the US for the next 30days. Countries across theworld are imposing travelrestrictions, fuelling fears of aglobal recession, analysts said.

All Sensex componentsended in the red. SBI was thetop loser, crashing 13.23 percent, followed by ONGC, AxisBank, ITC, TCS and Titan.

“Global stocks includingIndia plunged into a bear mar-ket and oil slumped onThursday, threatening moredisruption to the world econ-omy. Recession risk is risingand the markets do not seem tobe pricing that in fully,” saidDeepak Jasani, Head RetailResearch, HDFC Securities.

Continued on Page 4

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New Delhi: The ExternalAffairs Ministry on Thursdayadvised against holding thisyear’s IPL edition in wake of thecoronavirus scare, but left it tothe organisers to take a finalcall on it. This was stated byMEA Additional SecretaryDammu Ravi who has beenappointed as the nodal officerto coordinate efforts to dealwith the coronavirus outbreak.

Responding to questionsabout IPL and other sportingevents, Ravi said theGovernment’s advice would be“not do it at this time but if theorganisers want to go ahead, itis their decision”.

“We are assessing a lot ofrequests of this nature of sportsevents that have been held inIndia and some thing related tomega event already beingplanned. It is for the organis-ers to decide if they want to goahead with it or not,” Ravi saidduring a press briefing.

“Our advice would be notdo it at this time but if they stillwant to go ahead it is their deci-sion,” said Ravi.

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Against the backdrop ofcoronavirus becoming

pandemic, the External AffairsMinistry on Thursday advisedIndians to stay put whereverthey are and travel only undercompelling reasons.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar told the Lok Sabhathat coronavirus outbreak wasa matter of “great concern” andthe Government’s initial focusis to bring back Indian pilgrimsstranded in Iran. The Ministersaid there are over 6,000 Indian

nationals in various provincesof Iran.

Elaborating upon theefforts undertaken by theGovernment to meet the crisis,the External Affairs Ministrysaid the focus is on containingand stressed the point thatthere is no need to panic.Indians were also advised tostay put wherever they are,Dammu Ravi, AdditionalSecretary and Co-ordinator(COVID-19) said.

MEA Raveesh Kumar saidthe Government has receivedrequests from four countriesfor assistance in arranging pro-tective gears like masks. Theyinclude Bhutan, Iran, theMaldives and Italy and India isprocessing it. Earlier, suchrequest was received fromChina, and a package was sent,he said.

Continued on Page 4

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"�������������� �67&63�8

Asserting that the law andorder situation in Delhi's

riot-hit areas is normal, theDelhi Police said they have reg-istered 712 First InformationReports (FIRs) and arrestedover 200 accused in connectionwith last month's violence inNorth-east Delhi. Police onThursday also said they havearrested seven people in con-nection with the murder of aDelhi Police head constable andone more arrest has been madein connection with the murderof Ankit Sharma.

Addressing the media,Mandeep Singh Randhawa,Public Relations Officer (PRO),Delhi police said that law andorder situation is normal inDelhi and police is closely mon-itoring all Police Control Room(PCR) calls from North-eastDelhi.

"Further, face-recognitionsoftware is being used to iden-tify those involved in the riotsand the incident is being probedfrom all angles. A total of 712FIRs have been registered so farin connection with violence inNorth-east Delhi and over 200accused arrested," saidRandhawa.

Meanwhile, on Thursdaythe Special Cell apprehended aman in connection with thekilling of IB staffer AnkitSharma during the riots lastmonth in the national Capital'sNorth-east district.

The accused has been iden-tified as Salman alias Nanhe.Sharma's body was found in adrain near his home in northeastDelhi's Chand Bagh area on

February 27, a day after hewent missing. Earlier, policehad arrested suspended AamAadmi Party (AAP) councillorTahir Hussain in the case.

Delhi Police on Thursdayalso said that they have arrest-ed seven people have beenarrested in connection withthe death of a Delhi Policehead constable during clashesover the new Citizenship lawin North-east district lastmonth. Head constable RatanLal died of bullet injuries inthe clashes in Gokalpuri onFebruary 24.

"Seven people have beenarrested in Ratan Lal's case. Itemerged during investigationthat the spot where the incidenttook place was the venue for an

anti-CAA protest. In the fatefulday, a conspiracy was hatched toattack police," a senior policeofficial said.

"The evidence in thisregard has been collected andthe arrested persons are bothconspirators as well as rioters.The accused have been identi-fied as Saleem Malik (38),Mohd Jalaluddin (33), MohdAyub (35), Mohd Yunus (32),Arif (27), Mohd Saleem (46),all residents of Chand Bagh,and Mohd Danish (23) fromLoni, Ghaziabad," said thesenior police official.Investigation in other cases isgoing on and people are beingdetained and arrested on thebasis of scientific evidence,the official added.

"������������� �67&63�8

The Special Cell of DelhiPolice has arrested two key

office bearers of Popular Frontof India for their alleged involve-ment in anti-CitizenAmendment Act (CAA)protests at Shaheen Bagh andNorth-east Delhi riots.

The accused have beenidentified as PFI Delhi presidentParvez and secretary Illiyas.Sources said probe has revealedthat they were involved in fund-ing during the violence andanti-CAA protest in city.

According to sources, thesemembers were actively involvedin providing funds to the pro-testors at Shaheen Bagh. "PFI isalso being investigated for its rolein the northeast Delhi riots andproviding logistics. Further,probe against PFI had led it to

a whopping transaction of �126crore that it had receivedthrough dubious channels andthe ill-gotten money waspumped to foment ShaheenBagh protest as well as across thecountry," said the sources.

Earlier, the police had arrest-ed Danish, a resident ofTrilokpuri. "During initial inter-rogation, Danish had told thepolice that he is PFI' Delhi unitpropaganda secretary. He alsotold police that he has links withKhalid, the former JNU schol-ar. Further, he has given someclues regarding receiving fund-ing from several channels dur-ing the violence," sources said.

A court on Monday hadsent Danish to four days policecustody. Police told the courtthat the accused was confront-ed with incriminating materialsand other people in the case.

���� �67&63�8

The father of one of the fourdeath row convicts in the

2012 Nirbhaya gangrape andmurder case moved the DelhiHigh Court on Thursday chal-lenging a trial court orderrejecting his plea to lodge anFIR against the sole witness inthe matter for allegedly charg-ing money to give interviews tonews channels.

The petition by Heera LalGupta, father of Pawan Kumar

Gupta, is an appeal against thesessions court's January 27decision dismissing his pleachallenging a magisterialcourt's January 6 order reject-ing his complaint to lodge anFIR against the sole eye-witnessin the case.

The sole eyewitness, afriend of the 23-year-old vic-tim, was accompanying her inthe bus when the gruesomeincident took place and he toowas physically assaulted by theculprits.

Gupta, in his plea, hasclaimed that actions of thewitness resulted in a media trialof the case and his son was,therefore, not provided a prop-er hearing.

The petition refers totweets by a journalist of amedia house who had claimedthat the witness had chargedmoney to give interviews tovarious news channels. Theplea claims "it is clear from thetweets that his (witness) testi-mony was false and fabricated"

and therefore, it calls for anindependent investigation intothe alleged perjury committedby him.

Nirbhaya is the name givento the December 2012 victim,a physiotherapy intern, whowas raped and brutally assault-ed in a moving bus in SouthDelhi by six people.

She had boarded the near-ly vacant bus in Munirka inSouth Delhi along with hermale friend on her wayback home on December 16

that year. After raping andbrutalising the woman andbeating her fr iend, theassailants had thrown themout of the bus.

After receiving initial treat-ment in New Delhi for a fewdays, she was shifted to theMount Elizabeth Hospital inSingapore, where she suc-cumbed to injuries onDecember 29, 2012.

"������������� �67&63�8

The Delhi Traffic Police hasissued instructions regard-

ing coronavirus for the safetyof its personnel and motorists.Police said they have been pro-vided extra straws to be usedwith breath analysers duringthe alcohol test.

According to NS Bundela,the Joint Commissioner ofPolice, Traffic, the Delhi TrafficPolice personnel have beenprovided extra masks, strawsand hand gloves.

"They have been asked towash their hands if possible oruse gloves. They have beeninstructed not to interact with-out mask especially duringalcometer test. Every individ-ual gets separate straw, whichis disposable, for alcometer,"said the Joint CP.

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�67&63�8

In the wake of COVID -19,Delhi's Lieutenant Governor

Anil Biajal on Thursday metofficials of Delhi administra-tion and officials of counciland corporations to deal withdeadly coronavirus which hasalready killed a thousand peo-ple around the globe andraised positive cases in Indiato 73.

Baijal on Thursday held ameeting with Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, HealthMinister Satyandra Jain andother senior officials in whichhe directed the administrationto continue massive awarenessand public sensitisation cam-paigns for prevention ofCOVID-19.

Immediate steps to aug-ment sample testing, quaran-tine and tertiary facilities, allpublic office, public places andpublic transport to be cleansedand disinfected ondaily basis andpractice social distancing ,avoid unnecessary travel, donot panic, prepare and preventare few measures discussedand instructed further.

Informing about the pre-paredness, health secretariessaid that 24 X 7 control roomshave been set up at state anddistrict level where people

may contact for anyquery related to

COVID-19. It was informedthat intensive public awarenesscampaigns and sensitisationdrives are being continued.

Delhi Government offi-

cials also said a special massawareness campaign has alsolaunched in the crowded placeto make people aware aboutthe corona and messages arebeing delivered in Hindi, Urduand Punjabi to reach out tolarge number of Delhiites.

The L-G has directedmunicipal bodies, DUSIB,DC's of 11 districts to set upquarantine facilities.

"��������������67&63�8

Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia

announced on Thursday thatDelhi Government schoolswill resort to "zero paper atten-dance" from April 1.

"Zero paper attendanceto be implemented in DelhiGovernment schools fromApril 1. The process of digi-tising exam result tabulationand attendance records isunderway. Tablets will soon beprovided to all remainingGovernment school teachers,"he said at a meeting of officialsof the Directorate ofEducation to outline furtherplan of action.

"I would request everyoneto not have arrogance. For therecognition that we are receiv-ing today for our dedicatedefforts in changing the educa-tion model of Delhi, peoplefrom other States and coun-

tries have been reaching out tous to learn from us.

"So we should not beswelled up with arrogancewhile sharing our education-al practices and model withthem. It should be a learningexperience for us as well, topick ideas from other statesand countries for strengthen-ing our education mode,"Sisodia added.

The AAP leader also askedthe officials to keep a track onthe installation of CCTV cam-eras at schools and classrooms.

"Each deputy directorshould keep a track of thenumber of CCTV camerasinstalled in the schools with-in their zone, whether they arefunctional or not, and if pass-words have been provided tothe parents or not. Passwordshave to be provided to parentsfor those classrooms whereCCTVs have been installed sothat they can access the class-es of their wards," he said.

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New Delhi: The DelhiGovernment on Thursdayrequested the Centre toincrease the number of testinglaboratories for COVID-19 inthe national Capital as the cityreported its sixth case of coro-navirus.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendra Jain wrote to UnionHealth Minister Harsh Vardhanrequesting him to increase thenumber of testing labs forCOVID-19 in the city.

In Delhi, the facility ofcoronavirus sample testing hasbeen made available at the AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) and theNational Centre for DiseaseControl.

"Written a letter to@drharshvardhan requestingto increase lab testing facilities

for covid19 in Delhi," Jaintweeted.

Talking to reporters after ahigh-level meeting attendedby Lt Governor Anil Baijal,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwaland top officials, Jain said pri-vate hospitals should also bepermitted to conduct COVID-19 tests because it is importantfor every hospital to have a test-ing lab.

He also called for openingtesting laboratories in fourDelhi Government hospitalsalong with the Lady HardingeHospital, where the testing lab-oratory was to become opera-tional.The Health Minister saidDelhi has six confirmed casesof coronavirus as of now.

"The Delhi Government isfully prepared to handle the cri-sis," Jain asserted. PTI

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Despite various incentivesoffered by the

Government to stimulate theeconomy, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s ambitious�5.35-lakh-crore BharatmalaPariyojana Phase-I has beendelayed and running at a snail’space.

Due to slow down in roadsector and shortages of fund-ing, only 12,178 kms workshave been awarded instead oftotal target of 34,800 kms (worth �5,35,000 crore) tillJanuary 2020. The completionof first phase is scheduled by2021-22. Besides, out of thetotal 2,000 kms, the works foronly 168 kms (77 km of coastalroads and 91 km of port con-nectivity roads) have beenawarded so far.

According to Ministry ofRoad, Transport and Highways,out of the 34,800 km approvedunder Bharatmala projectPhase-I, total of 172 projects oflength 6,782 km have beenawarded till January 31 2020.“Out of the approved financialoutlay of �3,85,000 Crore forprojects to be awarded underthe project, projects of 8,276km length have been appraisedand approved up to January 31,2020, with estimated capitalcost of �2,25,358 Crore,” the

Ministry informed the parlia-mentary standing committeeon transport, tourism and cul-ture.

Similarly, against theapproved outlay of �1,50,000Crore for residual NationalHighways DevelopmentProjects, 3,902 km has beenappraised and approved up toso far with total estimated cap-ital cost of �78,486 Crore.However, based on per kmTotal Capital Cost of theappraised & approved projects,the Estimated Total CapitalCost for the Bharatmala Phase-I projects (including residualNHDP) would be �8,58,570crore. against �5,35,000 croreapproved by CabinetCommittee on EconomicAffairs.

Of the 168 kms of coastalroad projects includes includesDwarka-Khambhaliya coastalcorrider (72 kms); airstrip nearDatrana village in Gujarat (5

kms); Belakeri Port to Kumta- Sirsi road in Karnataka (59kms); six Laning of dedicatedPort road to KrishnapatnamPort (Package-I) in AndhraPradesh (18 kms);Visakhapatnam Port Road (13kms) and construction of gradeseparator from H-7 area to Portconnectivity Road by passingConvent Junction inVisakhapatnam (one kms).

The parliamentary panel,headed by TG Venkatesh,expressed concern over theslow pace of PM’s flagship pro-ject and noted that BharatmalaPhase-I is allocated a noticeableportion of the Ministry’s fundsevery year and this being theflagship project of the Ministryat present, any delays wouldhave significant bearing on thefinancial health of the Ministrysince there is a direct relationbetween delays and expendi-ture incurred on a project.

��"�� �67&63�8

Setting aside speculationabout Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra’s entry into theParliament from MadhyaPradesh, the Congress onThursday announced its elevencandidates for the Upper Houseand included Digvijay Singhfrom the State. A section of MPCongress and even CM KamalNath had pitched for Priyanka’s

nomination from the State tothe Rajya Sabha.

There were speculationthat the party may fieldPriyanka from MadhyaPradesh in place of JyotiradityaScindia, which led the latter toquit the party and join the BJPwhich nominated him to Rajya Sabha.

The last date for filingnominations for the 55 vacantseats in April is March 13.

Senior leader MallikarjunKharge’s name was also not inthe list of nine candidatesannounced by the party for

Rajya Sabha. The Congress’ names

include KTS Tulsi fromChhattisgarh, Phool SinghBaraiya from Madhya Pradesh,

AICC general secretary KCVenugopal and Neeraj Dangifrom Rajasthan, KennedyCornelius Khyiem from

Meghalaya, Rajiv Satav fromMaharashtra, Shahzada Anwarfrom Jharkhand and PhuloDevi Netam fromChhattisgarh.

The party also nominatedDeepender Singh Hooda as itscandidate from Haryana andShaktisinh Govil andBharatsinh Solanki fromGujarat. Former Haryana ChiefMinister Bhupinder SinghHooda was successful in gettinghis two time Lok Sabha MPson, Depender’s candidaturefrom Haryana. Senior Hoodahad catapulted the party into astrong position in the Assembly

elections last. Three Rajya Sabha seats

from MP, currently held byDigvijaya Singh, and BJP lead-ers Prabhat Jha andSatyanarayan Jatiya, are fallingvacant next month. Digvijayahas been re-nominated. Hereached the State Assemblysecretariat around 12.30 pmand submitted his papers to thereturning officer and VidhanSabha principal secretary AP

Singh. MP will see a keen contest

in one out of three seats as theBJP has also announced twocandidates — JyotiradityaScindia and Sumer SinghSolanki.

Congress and the BJP,given their respective strengthin the Assembly, can ensureeasy win for one candidate,while a contest is on cards onthe third seat.

��"�� �67&63�8

Showcasing BJP’s prized catchJyoitraditya Scindia, Home

Minister Amit Shah and

Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Thursday put uptheir pictures with the formerCongress MP on social mediamaintaining his induction into

the party will further strength-en BJP’s resolve to serve thepeople of Madhya Pradesh.

Scindia , who had joinedBJP on Wednesday in the pres-

ence of party president JPNadda, paid “courtesy” visits tothe two senior BJP leadersand Union Ministers at theirrespective residences here inthe morning.

After meeting the partyleaders, Scindia reached Bhopalalong with Union Minister ofAgriculture & Farmers Welfareand Minister of RuralDevelopment, Narendra SinghTomar, to file his nominationpapers for the Rajya Sabhaseat on the BJP ticket. He isexpected to file his papers forRajya Sabha on Friday.

After meeting Scindia,Shah said in a tweet, “I am surehis induction into the party willfurther strengthen BJP’s resolveto serve the people of MadhyaPradesh.”

And Singh tweeted: “I wel-come him to the BJP. His join-ing will help in furtherstrengthening the party. Iextend my best wishes to himin all his endeavours.”

While joining BJP, Scindiahad said he quit his erstwhileparty as it was not open to“fresh ideas” and remainedstruck in “inertia”, cut-offfrom the “reality”.

JP Nadda assured him thathe would find his feet in theBJP as it was a “very democra-tic party”.

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Aday after JyotiradityaScindia joined the BJP,

former Congress chief RahulGandhi on Thursday termedthe former Union Minister an“old friend” but hit out at himsaying he forgot his ideologyas he was apprehensive abouthis political future.

“ Scindia will neither getrespect in BJP, nor will he feelsatisfied there,” Rahul assert-ed a day after he revealed hisemotions for the Scindia scionsaying that he was the personwho could visit his houseanytime.

Speaking on Scindia’sshock move to the BJP afterbeing in the Congress foryears, Rahul recalled his longassociation with the Gwaliorstrongman and said there is a

difference between what is inhis heart and what he is say-ing. While some senior lead-ers like Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot havebeen scathing in their criti-cism of Scindia, Rahul’sresponse to his quitting theCongress has been tempered.

“I know the ideology ofJyotiraditya Scindia ji, he waswith me in college. I wouldkeep talking to him, I knowhim well. Jyotiraditya Scindiafeared for his political future

and therefore kept his ideol-ogy in his pocket and wentwith the RSS. But the reality isthat neither will he get respectthere, nor will the truth andemotion in his heart be satis-fied. He will come to realise it,”Rahul talking to media outsidethe Parliament.

“This is a clear cut fight ofideologies. On one side is theCongress party’s ideology, onthe other hand is the RSS-BJPideology,” Rahul Gandhiadded.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a tele-phonic conversation with his Israeli coun-

terpart Benjamin Netanyahu and the two lead-ers exchanged views on the global situation inthe wake of the coronavirus pandemic, theMinistry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

Modi received a telephone call onWednesday evening from Netanyahu and theleaders reviewed the “excellent progress” inbilateral relations, the MEA said in a statement.

“They also exchanged views on the glob-al situation in the context of COVID-19 pan-demic,” it said.

Netanyahu said at a press conference inIsrael that his country is dependent on “sup-ply lines” from various countries and he hasspoken to his Indian counterpart.

“I also spoke to the prime minister ofIndia, my friend Narendra Modi. We aredependent on supply lines from variouscountries. We are looking into it all the time,”Netanyahu said Wednesday.

New Delhi: The Government hasreceived requests from Bhutan,Iran, Maldives and Italy for assis-tance with masks and protectivegears in the wake of coronavirusoutbreak. Addressing apress briefing, MEA spokespersonRaveesh Kumar said the requestsfrom these countries are beingprocessed.

“We are processing suchrequests. We are processing requestfrom Bhutan, Maldives, Iran andItaly. They are under differentstages of processing,” he said.

He further said that inFebruary, a consignment was sentto China with the protective gear.

The coronavirus outbreak,declared a pandemic by the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) onWednesday, has led to more than4,000 deaths globally.

The government onWednesday suspended all visas,barring a few categories like diplo-matic and employment, in an

attempt to prevent the spread ofcoronavirus as cases across Indiarose to more than 70. PTI

From Page 1The 49-year-old former

Union Minister arrived at thejam-packed BJP office amidbursting of crackers and loudbeating of drums. BJP workersrepeatedly raised the slogan‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

Both the CongressMinisters were also assaultedby policemen in Bengaluru,alleged Tankha, who is also asenior Supreme Court lawyer.

As the fate of the CongressGovernment hung in balance,the BJP said it will seek a floortest in the Assembly on March16 to test the majority of theruling party.

The Congress, however,said it will face the floor testonly after the Speaker decideson the resignations of the 22MLAs.

Senior Congress leaderDigvijaya Singh wondered whythe rebel MLAs were not meet-ing the Speaker to submit theirresignations.

BJP’s chief whip in theAssembly Narottam Mishrasaid since the Government hasbeen reduced to a minority theopposition party is going torequest the Governor and the

Speaker for a floor test onMarch 16 when the StateBudget session begins.

“This Government has lostmajority,” said senior BJP leaderand Chouhan. Whenasked about the BJP’s demand,Digvijaya said the ChiefMinister is ready for a floor test.

“As Nath has already saidwe are ready for the floor test.But, there should be a decisionon the resignation of MLAsbefore the floor test,” Digvijayasaid, while blaming the BJP forthe constitutional crisis in theState.

“The resignations will beaccepted when the MLAs meetthe Speaker one-on-one andverify their signatures withoutany pressure. Then the resig-nations will be accepted and thefloor test can be conducted,” hesaid.

Digvijaya said the rebelMLAs should now go to theSpeaker and clear the air.“Nineteen Congress MLAs arein their (BJP’s) captivity. Thefamily members (of MLAs)are unable to talk to them.Their phones were taken

away,” Digvijaya alleged,adding it is also strange that the

resignations of the CongressMLAs were submitted to theSpeaker by BJP leaderBhupendra Singh.

The BJP claimed this is an“internal matter” of theCongress, but at the same timeleaders of the saffron party sub-mitted the resignations of theruling party (Congress) MLAsto the Speaker, Digvijaya point-ed out. On Tuesday, 22Congress MLAs resigned in acoordinated revolt soon afterScindia quit the party. Three ofthem are still in MP, sourcessaid.

The Congress has a waferthin majority in the 228- mem-ber Assembly. Before the rebel-lion, its tally was 114.It also has the support of fourIndependents, two BSP MLAsand one from the SP, but somemay now switch sides to theBJP. If the resignations ofthe 22 MLAs are accepted, thestrength of the Assembly willfall to 206.

The Congress, on its own,will then be left with 92 seats,while the BJP has 107 with themagic number for a majoritybeing 104.

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From Page 1After the meeting, Baijal tweeted, “Reviewed

preparedness to contain the COVID - 19 in Delhiwith Hon’ble CM @ArvindKejriwal, HealthMinister @SatyendarJain, CS, Delhi & other offi-cers. Decision taken to close schools, colleges, cin-ema halls, etc. For sometime to minimise the pos-sibility of spread.”

In another tweet, the L-G advised Delhiites toavoid unnecessary travel to crowded areas in thecity.

“My advice to all to avoid unnecessary travelto crowded areas. Let’s take all possible preventivemeasures as far as possible,” he tweeted.

Jain also wrote a letter to Union HealthMinister Dr Harsh Vardhan requesting to strength-en the number of testing laboratories in Delhi. “Wehave taken several measures in this regard, but wealso need to assess future preparations. I have writ-ten a letter to Vardhan to increase and strengthenthe testing facilities.”

“We have also requested to open testing labo-ratories in four Delhi Government hospitals andother private hospitals, along with Lady HardingeHospital, where the testing laboratory was tobecome operational. Private hospitals should alsobe permitted to conduct tests because it is impor-tant for every hospital to have a testing lab. We needmore testing laboratories to conduct quick tests andto also contain the panic around the whole situa-tion,” Jain said.

The number of coronavirus patients in thecountry has risen to 74 with 14 fresh cases, includ-ing a foreign national. The national Capital has sofar recorded six cases of coronavirus.

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From Page 1“January was the third month in

a row that the three-month measureof UK GDP showed zero growth, theweakest such run since the middle of2009. In Q1 CY20, on an annualisedbasis, global growth could be deeplynegative — more like (minus) 1 percent,” he said.

All sectoral indices ended in thered, with BSE oil and gas cracking 9.82per cent, followed by realty, metal,bankex, finance, energy and IT.Broader BSE midcap and smallcapindices followed the benchmarks,losing up to 8.72 per cent. A massiveplunge in international oil pricesand depreciating rupee added to thevolatility, traders said.

The rupee depreciated 49 paise to

74.17 per US dollar (intra-day). Brentcrude oil futures dropped 5.50 percent to USD 33.82 per barrel.Elsewhere in Asia, bourses inShanghai dropped 1.52 per cent,Hong Kong 3.66 per cent, Seoul 3.87per cent and Tokyo cracked 4.41 percent.

Markets in Europe crashed up to6 per cent in early trade. In overnighttrade, the Dow fell into a bear mar-ket and futures pointed Thursday toanother rout in New York and Europe.The number of coronavirus patientsin India has risen to 73 with 13 freshcases, including nine fromMaharashtra and one each fromDelhi, Ladakh, and Uttar Pradesh aswell as one foreign national, theunion Health Ministry said.

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From Page 1A senior official from the RML

Hospital said that with helipad on top,critical patients as well organs fortransplantation can be lifted orbrought at the hospital saving timeand ultimately life.

He asserted that emergencies canhappen anytime without warningand it is important that facilities areaccessible to save the lives. Currently

some private hospitals includingMedanta and Apollo have airliftingfacilities at a hefty flying cost. TheEAC after intense deliberation of theproject, has asked the project propo-nent and consultant Grass RootsResearch & Creation India to submitdetails of helipad proposed and itsuses as well as water and waste man-agement plan to carry out environ-ment impact assessment and plan.

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From Page 1The manufacturers have to claim a

refund of accumulated input tax credit(ITC) where the tax rate on input is high-er than the finished goods.

According to sources, the refundclaimed on account of inverted ratestructure is about �20,000 crore per yearand there is a need to correct this anom-aly.

Significant items in inverted ratestructure are fertilisers, mobiles,footwears, man-made yarns and fabrics,renewable energy devices, and tractors.A number of other smaller items likeutensils also attract inverted duty struc-ture. “The GST Council will take up inphases the correction of inverted duty onitems as per the recommendation of theofficers’ committee. On Saturday, 4 items— mobiles, fertiliser, footwear and man-made fibre, fabric and garments —would come up for correction,” the offi-cial said.

Currently, cellphones attract a GSTrate of 12 per cent, while its inputs aretaxed at 18 per cent. “There is hardly anyjustification for retaining mobile at theslab rate of 12 per cent, while many itemslike TV, torches, geyser, iron, heaters,mixer, juicers, etc, attract GST at a high-er rate,” the official added.

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From Page 1Talking to reporters here, Luv Aggarwal, Joint

Secretary (Health), said that there was no needto panic in the wake of increasing number ofcoronavirus cases in the country and the focusis on preventive approach and there are adequatefacilities available for testing. “We have around1 lakh testing kits and additional kits have beenordered,” the Joint Secretary said.

As the number of coronavirus cases in thecountry rise, the Health Ministry has prepareda draft set of guidelines stating do’s and don’ts tobe followed by those quarantined at home. Theguidelines also include tips for the use of masks.

The 17 affected foreign nationals include 16Italians and a Canadian patient. According to theWHO, globally there currently more than1,24,000 cases of coronavirus across 118 coun-tries. More than 4,600 people have lost their livesdue the virus.

A day after India suspended all visas till April15 following WHO’s classification of the coron-avirus outbreak as a pandemic, the Union CivilAviation Ministry has asked airlines to waive offrescheduling charges, and all airlines haveagreed.

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Anil Malik, the Additional Secretary fromMinistry of Home Affairs, informed reporters thatthere has been a decline of 40 per cent in num-ber of people travelling to India in the last 20 days.

Given the scale of COVID-19 infection andits pressure on Iran’s own resources, a team of sixIndian health officials has been deputed to Iranto set up testing and sampling facilities there.

The first batch of 108 samples was receivedin India on March 7. These were tested and 58Indian pilgrims (25 men, 31 women and 2 chil-dren), who tested negative, were brought back bya IAF flight on 10 March.

“We have also received samples of 529 moreIndians on this flight which are being tested inthe National Institute of Virology, Pune. So far,299 of them have tested negative. Some moreresults are awaited. We continue to collect moresamples in Tehran and our endeavour is to ensurethe earliest possible return of our nationals afterappropriate testing and screening,” he said.

Talking about Italy, Jaishankar said the situ-ation in the European country is a matter of greatconcern. Those tested negative will be allowed toreturn.

About 90 countries have reported coronaviruscases and the Government has to focus and to pri-oritise, he said regarding the efforts to reach outto Indian nationals there.

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The Centre on Thursdaydecided to fast-track envi-

ronmental clearance processfor projects entailing produc-tion of bulk drugs and bulkdrug intermediaries in thecountry to ensure that it doesnot have to depend on othernations like China for manu-facturing the drugs.

India imports large quan-tities of bulk drug for its phar-maceutical industry with Chinaalone accounting for over 68per cent of India''s totalimports. Coronavirus has com-pletely disrupted this supply.

The bulk drug is activepharmaceutical ingredient(API) that goes into manufac-turing of formulation andbranded drugs. However, in amove to ensure that it sufficientbulk drugs is manufacturedlocally, the Union EnvironmentMinistry on Thursday issuedan office memorandum statingthat the decision to clear the

projects on priority basis will beimplemented with immediateeffect.

In a notification, theEnvironment Ministry said theexpeditious environmentalclearances given to unitsinvolving active pharmaceuti-cal ingredients (API) and bulkdrug intermediates will ensureoverall preparedness and avail-ability of drugs to reduce theimpact of the outbreak.

“In order to ensure drugavailability/production toreduce the impact of the out-break of Novel Corona virus(COVID-19) and to improveoverall preparedness of drugs,the ministry hereby directsprojects or activities in respectof Bulk drugs (API and bulkdrug intermediates) shall be

considered out of turn andclearances shall be issued expe-ditiously,” the notificationissued by Sharath Kumar, sci-entist at the ministry’s ImpactAssessment division, said.

The notification has beensent to the Central PollutionControl Board, ExpertAppraisal Committee and pol-lution control boards in allstates and Union Territories.

The Government has setup a committee to look into theissue of drug shortages comingfrom trade restrictions in thewake of coronavirus spread.The committee, in its report,has said that the present stock-in-hand of the APIs may besufficient for 2 to 3 months tomanufacture formulations.

India has already restrict-ed export of about 26 APIs andformulations including antibi-otics, vitamins and hormones,as the Government exploresmeasures to ensure there is noshortage of drugs in India dueto lock-down in China.

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US Defence Secretary MarkEsper's forthcoming visit

to New Delhi next week hasbeen postponed in the view ofcoronavirus. He was scheduledto hold bilateral talks withDefence Minister RajnathSingh on March 16. The post-ponement comes days afterthe Navy called off the multi-lateral naval exercise Milan inVisakhapatnam.

More than 40 countrieswere to participate in the exer-cise held every two years. Thisyear the exercise was to com-mence from March 18 and endon March 28.

Some other big events werealso postponed in view of coro-navirus threat. They include atwo-day conference organisedby the Manohar ParrikarInstitute of Defence Studies andAnalysis (IDSA), which was tostart from Thursday.

The Defence Minister andHome Minister Amit Shahwere scheduled to attend theconference, which includedseminars on a range of securi-

ty issues in Asia.“Due to the prevailing

global situation with regard toCOVID-19, it has been decid-ed to postpone the 21st AsianSecurity Conference (ASC) toa later date. Fresh dates for theConference will be conveyed indue course,” the Ministry ofDefence think tank said in anemail to the participants.

The conference organisedby IDSA, now rechristenedManohar Parrikar Institute ofDefence Studies and Analysis,was to be attended by partici-pants from countries such asthe US, Russia, Australia,Vietnam, Sweden, Belgium,Japan and the UK.

Besides this, Milan-2020,the largest multilateral exercisehosted by the Navy to be heldfrom March 18 to 28 inVisakhapatnam, was indefi-nitely postponed as a precau-tion.

Another military drill —India Egypt Joint Special Forcesexercise 2020 — which wasscheduled to be held at Jodhpurfrom March 11 to 13, has beenpostponed as well.

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The Congress on Thursdayaccused the Government of

“completely failing” in tacklingcoronavirus and destroying theeconomy. The party alsoaccused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of being “neg-ligent” towards the health of thepeople.

Congress said the Indianeconomy was suffering from“coronavirus” and demanded adetailed statement inParliament from PrimeMinister on the economicdecline of the country.

The party alleged the stepstaken by the Government indealing with coronavirus were“inadequate”. Former Congresschief Rahul Gandhi said thePM is not speaking a word oneconomy while FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamandoes not understand economy.

In a blistering attack on theGovernment over the economyand the coronavirus fear, Rahul

accused Modi of “sleeping atthe wheel” and “absolutelyclueless” on how to tackle whathe called an oncoming “tsuna-mi”.

“PM Modi and his ideolo-gy have destroyed the economy.(Finance Minister) NirmalaSitharaman is saying nothing.I can understand that sheunderstands nothing so shecan't say anything. But PMmust explain to the nation,”said Rahul.

On the coronavirus pan-demic, Rahul said: “There isabsolutely no preparation. TheGovernment doesn't realisethat the coronavirus is spread-ing in this country.”

“The prime minister is

being casual, actually negligenttowards the health of the peo-ple of India,” he charged. Thegovernment has completelyfailed in tackling coronavirus,in preventing it, in identifyingpeople (affected by the virus),in quarantining them, and intaking important steps,”Congress' chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala alleged.

“This Government runson knee-jerk reactions, whetherit comes to taking economicsteps to revive or stabilising theeconomy and to prevent eco-nomic corona from affectingthe investors' lifetime savings,or preventing coronavirus fromspreading in this country,” saidthe Congress.

“I dont think a pandemiclike coronavirus can be dealtwith in this casual fashion. It isreally sad the Union healthminister is himself a doctor.The Prime Minister is also adoctor of entire political sci-ence,” he said.

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Ahmedabad: Even as theCentre has imposed Visa curbsto stop the spread of coron-avirus in the country, no posi-tive case of the deadly diseasehas been so far found inGujarat, where more than 2,600travellers have been screened atairports till now, said officialson Thursday.

Out of the 65 samples ofsuspected cases collected sofar in Gujarat, 63 came negativefor the novel coronavirus(COVID-19), while two resultsare awaited, said a release by thestate health department.

The '104' fever helpline isgetting over 200 calls seekinginformation about the deadlyvirus, it said. A total of 2,611travellers have been screened atAhmedabad and Surat inter-national airports so far, therelease said.

Moreover, 1,217 travellers,who were kept under observa-tion upon their return, havecompleted their 28-day obser-vation period, the healthdepartment said.

On Wednesday, DeputyChief Minister Nitin Patel hadinformed the Assembly thatover 2,300 people, mostly crewmembers, on-board 55 shipswere also screened at majorports in Gujarat.

As a precautionary mea-sure, as many as 576 isolationbeds and 204 ventilators havebeen kept reserved at differentgovernment hospitals in thestate, the officials added.

On Wednesday, India sus-pended all visas, except a fewcategories such as diplomaticand employment, till April 15in a bid to contain the spreadof novel coronavirus. PTI

Aizawl: A conglomerate of 15 major Churches ofMizoram has asked its constituents to seek divineintervention to contain the coronavirus pandemic, achurch leader said on Thursday.

Member churches of the Mizoram KohhranHruaitute Committee were asked to seek God's inter-vention so that the state remains safe from novel coro-navirus attack and the global pandemic is contained,MKHC general secretary Rev Lalrinsangasaid.

The World Health Organization on Wednesdaydeclared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, sayingit has affected more than 1,18,000 people andclaimed 4,290 lives worldwide.

“All the member churches across the state willhold congregational prayer during church serviceseither on Saturday or Sunday night as per their con-venience,” Lalrinsanga told PTI.

“We have appealed to the people to follow andobey the dos and don'ts set by the government inorder to prevent the spread of coronavirus,” the churchleader said.

The church leader also said that the committeeheld a meeting in Aizawl on Wednesday during whichit expressed concern about alleged hoarding of essen-tial commodities.

“The church committee appeals to the people notto hoard commodities and hike prices at the time ofglobal crisis,” he said.

To allay fears of people, officials of state food, civilsupplies and consumer affairs department said therewas enough stock of rice, cooking gas and oil to lastfor three months.

The state government has formally sealed stateborders with neighbouring countries and states onWednesday. PTI

Pune: Passengers arrriving hereby Dubai -Pune flights wouldbe placed under quarantine athospital if they have visited,after February 15, any of theseven “high- risk” countrieswhich have seen major coron-avirus outbreaks.

Eight Pune residents,including a couple whoreturned from Dubai, havetested positive for the coron-avirus.

Passengers from sevenhigh-risk countries will bestraightway sent to quarantineirrespective of whether theyhave any symptoms, said divi-sional commissioner DeepakMhaisekar.

A Spice Jet flight fromDubai is scheduled to land at

the Pune airport on Friday andanother on Saturday.

“As per the Union govern-ment's guidelines, if passengerson these flights have travelhistory to China, Italy, Iran,Republic of Korea, France,Spain and Germany afterFebruary 15, they will be keptunder institutional quarantine(in hospital) in the city,” saidMhaisekar.

“We are trying to obtaintravel history post-February15 of the passengers on thesetwo flights,” he added.

A “containment program”has been launched in three-kmradius in four areas of the citywhere the patients who havetested positive for the viruslive. PTI

Chennai: The Madras High Court hasDisposed of a petition seeking a directionto the State Government to shutdownschools from kindergarten upto highschool till the coronavirus is contained.

When the plea came up, the court tooknote of two letters issued by the state gov-ernment mentioning precautionary mea-sures against the disease and instructionsgiven to airports for screening all passen-gers. It directed the state government to takeappropriate steps for issuing instructionsthat may be necessary in relation to all edu-cational institutions in the state.

Disposing of the plea filed by advocateVK Rajavelu, the court said the petitionerhas nowhere disclosed in the entire affidaviteven a single incident pertaining to anoccurrence of a coronavirus case in anyeducational institution.

“In the absence of any such material,such cavalier petition does not deserve tobe entertained as a knee jerk reaction to shutdown the schools,” the First Bench, com-prising Chief Justice AP Sahi and JusticeSenthil Kumar Ramamoorthy, said.

The petitioner said coronavirus caseswere increasing the world over and accord-ing to doctors, children and elderly peopleare less immune and likely to get infectedsoon. PTI

Mangaluru: The man whoarrived here from Dubai withsuspected symptoms of coron-avirus has shown no signs ofthe disease following tests, dis-trict officials said here onThursday.

The man, who was diag-nosed with a high fever after hearrived at the MangaluruInternational Airport (MIA) onMarch 8, had left the govern-ment Wenlock Hospital duringthe early hours of March 9refusing to undergo tests.

He was later traced andadmitted to the governmenthospital at Bantwal on March9.

He has since then been dis-charged from the hospital andasked to stay at home quaran-tined for the next 14 days,Dakshina Kannada Deputy

Commissioner Sindhu BRupesh told reporters here.

A total of 49 people areunder quarantine in the districtof which five have completedthe 28-day cycle.

All passengers arrivingby international flights andthose in contact with themshould voluntarily report to thedistrict health team and under-go self-quarantine for 14 days,she said. Screening facility atthe MIA has been strengthenedby posting doctors from sevenprivate medical colleges onrotation basis.

These doctors have beenposted in addition to the med-ical officer at the airport.

An ambulance has beenplaced at the airport exclusivelyto shift people to the hospitals,she said. PTI

Pune: Authorities in Pune havewarned of penal action againstthose who reveal the identity ofpatients testing positive forcoronavirus on social mediaplatforms.

Taking cognisance of acomplaint from a relative of aPune-based patient, who test-ed positive for COVID-19,divisional commissionerDeepak Mhaisekar said policehave been asked to monitorsocial media posts and takeappropriate action in such mat-ters.

“The police have beenasked to monitorsocial mediaplatforms through their cybercell to make sure that norumours are spread and theidentity of patients should notbe revealed,” Mhaisekar said. Ifthe identity of a patient isrevealed, the person and hisfamily could face social hard-ships, he noted. PTI

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The MaharashtraGovernment on Thursday

ordered cancellation of all pub-lic events, official functions,campaigns and tours to preventspread of the Coronavirus,even as the Covid-19 positivecases rose to 14 in the State.

As the MVA Governmentput the State on a high alert, thenumber of positive Covid-19cases climbed to 14, with onemore patient testing positive forCoronavirus in Pune’s NaiduHospital. While there are ninepositive Covid-19 cases inPune, there are two such casesin Mumbai and one inNagpur.

Reviewing the situationarising out of the detection ofCoronavirus, Maharashtrachief minister UddhavThackeray told the divisionalcommissioners, district collec-tors and heads of municipalcorporations and ZillaParishads through video-con-ferncing in the state: “You maycancel all public events, officialfunctions, campaigns and tours

and advise the tourist firms incities to suspend bookings forsome days”

Uddhav also advised thebureaucrats stationed in vari-ous parts of the State to under-take public awareness pro-grammes about Coronavirus.“Please identify suspectedCoronavirus patients, isolateand quarantine them.

Please ensure that stepsare taken to keep public toiletsand public places. Initiate sternaction against those who fail tofollow the directives issued byyou, the Chief Minister told thesenior State Government offi-cials heading various govern-ment bodies and departmentsin the state.

Uddhav also asked theadministrators at the districtand divisional levels to setupcontrol rooms to monitor anddeal with the Coronaviruscases.

"The source of Coronavirusin the state is not local. It camefrom the tourists who gotinfected during their visitabroad. Since yesterday, wehave intensified screening ofour people who have returned

from tours abroad. We are alsoconfabulating with the officialsof the embassies of the variouscountries,” the Chief Ministersaid.

The Chief Minister alsosaid that the State Governmenthad made it mandatory for touroperators in the State to providedetails of people who havegone on international toursthrough their firms. “It is alsonecessary for tourists whoreturn from their tours abroadshould not mix with their rel-atives but live separately for 15days,” Uddhav said, exhortingthe people not to panic andmake beeline and stand inqueues in front of hospitals inlarge numbers for testing of thevirus.

"The health departments inMumbai, Pune and Nagpurhave already created such quar-antine facilities and all othercivic bodies must provide thestatus of similar facility byFriday,” Uddhav said.

The chief minister saidthat it was essential for all peo-ple who have returned fromabroad to go into ‘self-quaran-tine’ at their respective homes

for two weeks to avoid any pub-lic contact.

In accordance with thecentre's directives, the stategovernment has ordered com-pulsory ‘home quarantine’ forall people arriving after Feb. 15from the seven worst-hit coun-tries: China, Iran, Italy, SouthKorea, France, Spain andGermany.

State Principal HealthSecretary Dr Pradeep Vyassaid that all travellers from theseven countries shall be quar-antined by the state govern-ment, arrangements for whichshall be made by the respectivedistrict collectors. “In addition,all those people who come incontact with such persons shallbe quarantined at their homesas an added precaution,” hesaid.

Having ruled out anyimmediate requirements toscreen or check all citizens forCoronaVirus, the StateGovernment has made it clearthat all those who test positiveand don’t exhibit symptoms besent into isolation, preferably ata location away from the treat-ment centres or hospitals.

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Lucknow: A 35-year-oldIndian-origin doctor fromCanada, who came to visit herrelatives here, has been testedpositive for novel coronavirus(COVID-19) at the KGMUand her samples have been sentto Pune’s National Institute ofVirology for reconfirmation, asenior doctor said on Thursday.

She has been kept in an iso-lation ward while her hus-band, who had accompaniedher, has also been tested but hasbeen found to be negative inthe two tests conducted onhim, Professor D Himanshu of

King George’s MedicalUniversity’s MedicineDepartment said.

The 35-year-old doctor ofIndian origin is based inToronto, Canada and hadarrived here on March 8. Shewas tested positive onWednesday night and her sam-ples have been sent for recon-firmation to NIV, DrHimanshu said.

Though she did not showany symptoms during screen-ing at the Lucknow airport, shedeveloped fever and coughlater and contacted the doctorsat KGMU, he said.

The doctors are also iden-tifying those who had inter-acted with her between March8 and 11 and they will all betested, he added.

“Her husband is alsounder observation in the hos-pital but he will be dischargedby evening today,” DrHimanshu said. KGMUspokesman Dr Sandip Tiwarisaid a total of 300 samples fromacross the state have been test-ed in the lab in KGMU hospi-tal and besides the seven casesof Agra, the latest case of theCanadian doctor has beenfound to be positive. PTI

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Activists belonging to Leftwing and Dravidian

Forum will stage a night longsit-in at the Himalaya Lawns ofthe IIT-Madras on Friday toexpress their solidarity withShaheen Bagh kind of protestsacross the country.

This was stated by one ofthe student leaders on condi-tion of anonymity. “we have putup many hoardings across theIIT campus and are circulatingposters to be displayed duringthe 12 hour sit-in,” said the stu-dent leader. He claimed that theteaching community and thestudents were in unison withthe sit-in.

Tamil Nadu is still wit-nessing protest marches andrallies across the Statae againstthe CAA and related laws. TheMuslim organisations in theState want the Tamil NaduLegislative Assembly to pass aresolution condemning theCAA. But the chief ministerand his cabinet colleagueshave rejected thedemand.

Situation in Coimbatore, acommunally sensitive city con-tinues to be tense followingattacks on Hindu Front leadersand counter-attacks on leadersof Islamic organizations. Morethan 2,000 policemen havebeen deployed in the sensitiveareas of the city in the back-ground of attacks using petrolbombs and other deadly weapons.

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Bengal BJP is planning toproject former State Minister

and Trinamool Congress discardSovan Chatterjee as its Mayoralcandidate in the coming KolkataMunicipal Corporation elec-tions.

A senior State BJP leadersaid “Sovan da is a seasonedcampaigner and can be an assetfor the BJP if he chooses to leadthe party from the front in theKMC elections… already ourall-India president JP Naddajihas been informed about theState party’s views and he is notopposed to the idea of ropinghim in.”

Chatterjee once a blue-eyedboy of Chief Minister MamataBanerjee quit the party after itapparently backed his wife Ratnain her legal matrimonial battlewith Chatterjee.

Subsequently Chatterjee aformer Mayor of Kolkata joinedthe BJP along with his closewoman aide Baisakhi Banerjee.However, he distanced himselffrom his new outfit withinmonths of his joining it follow-ing differences with BJP’sobserver for Bengal KailashVijabargiya.

At present Chatterjee findshimself parked on a “no man’sland” maintaining equidistance

from both the outfits though theBJP sources say that he is still aprimary member of the partyregardless of the distance he ismaintaining.

The BJP renewed its effortto project Chatterjee as itsMayoral candidate after theTMC entrusted his estrangedwife Ratna Chatterjee with thepre-poll organsational functionsfrom Behala East Assembly con-stituency from where SovanChatterjee is still a sitting MLA.

Though neither Sovan norBaisakhi would mince words ontheir future course of actionsources close to them they havenot as yet made up their mindson whether to take up theresponsibility that the BJP is will-ing to entrust on him.

“There is no formal com-munication from any side…No decision has yet been taken.Let an opportune moment comethen only a decision will betaken,” Banerjee said whileSovan maintained a studiedsilence. When contacted seniorState BJP leader Pratap Banerjeesaid his party was indeed will-ing to field Chatterjee as its facein the KMC elections. “Sovan dais a big leader and as far as Iknow he is stilla BJP member. Inthat case the only question iswhether he will take active partin the elections.

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Tamil film’s super starRajinikanth, who was

expected to make an importantdeclaration on Thursdayregarding the launch of his pro-posed political party made itknown that he was not in ahurry and also he would neverbe the Chief Minister of theState.

“Had I wanted, I wouldhave become the ChiefMinister in 1996 at the age of45. Why should I aspire for apost which I had declined 24years ago?” he asked whilespeaking to journalists atChennai on Thursday. Thereigning star of South Indianfilms asked the people of theState to create an environmentwhereby his idea of gover-nance and Government couldbe implemented. “If only thepeople accept the kind of pol-

itics which I want, we will beable to make any change.Otherwise it will be like cook-ing Chakkarai Pongal (a sweetTamil delicacy) in the same potwhere Meen Kuzhambu (fishcurry) had been cooked,” saidRajinikanth.

Explaining the rationalebehind his decision not toaccept the post of ChiefMinister, Rajinikanth said pre-ferred Tamil Nadu to be therole model for other States inthe country.

“The Chief Minister shouldbe one who is fully devoted tothe matters affecting the Stateand he/she should not be bur-dened with other tasks. It wasin Tamil Nadu we brought aregional party (DMK) to powerdefeating the Congress for thefirst time in the country’s his-tory. My idea of a chief minis-ter’s job is different from thatof a conventional political boss.My idea of politics is that the

party president and ChiefMinister should be differentpersons.,” explainedRajinikanth.

He also disclosed that morethan 50 per cent of the posts inhis party as well as the cabinetwould be reserved for peoplebelow the age of 50 and whohas professional qualifications.“We will rope in retiredbureaucrats and professionalsfor advisory jobs. Ours will notbe a political party of profes-sional politicians,” he said.

The actor set precondi-tions for his entry into theunknown terrain of politics.“As on today, Tamil Nadu isdominated by two Jambavans,two entities with all resourcesavailable in the world. TheAIADMK and the DMK.While the DMK has been outof power for the last ten years,it is bestowed with men andinfrastructure. The AIADMK is

in charge of public treasury andis in a position to manipulatethe way people think,” he said.

According to Rajinikanth,there are 50,000 office bearersworking all over Tamil Nadu inboth the DMK as well as theAIADMK. “This is the rootcause of corruption and I wantthat system to go. Politicsshould not be for makingmoney but it should be for pub-lic welfare,” he said.

He asked the people ofTamil Nadu to set the agendaand prepare the ground for therevolutionary change envis-aged by him. “Then we willthink about the politics andgovernance,” he said.

Maalan Narayanan, TamilNadu’s leading author andpolitical commentator who hasbeen tracking the course ofRajinikanth’s political journey,described the actor’s Thursdayannouncement as a tacit with-

drawal from the battle field. “Itis like one step forward and twosteps backward.

Rajinikanth’s concept ofpolitics is the same that waspreached by Mahatma Gandhibut I doubt whether it wouldmaterialise in the near future.There is lot of differencebetween practical politics andpragmatics. I feel chances arethat he may end up like hisadvisor Tamilaruvi Manian,who too harps on value basedpolitics,” Maalan told ThePioneer.

Kolahala Srenivaas, politi-cal observer, was blunt in hisobservation that Rajinikanthwould not take any hasty deci-sion. “He has set the ground forhis withdrawal from politics. Idon’t think people in TamilNadu would be able to providehim what he has asked for inreturn for his entry into poli-tics; revolution, upsurge andwave.

Chennai: Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister K Palaniswami onThursday sought to allay fearsover coronavirus, saying thestate was home to the bestmedical practitioners in thecountry and people need notpanic. Making his first com-ment on the coronavirus in thestate Assembly on Thursday,Palaniswami said the diseasespread only through those peo-ple coming from foreign desti-nations and those living in thestate were not affected.

The state reported its firstcoronavirus case on March 7 inwhich a 45-year-old engineerhailing from Kancheepuramhad tested positive after return-ing from Oman.

The Chief Minister saidthe government was screeningthose who come to the state

from various foreign destina-tions and those showing symp-toms were isolated and givenproper treatment at the RajivGandhi Government GeneralHospital (RGGH).

Reiterating the earlier com-ments made by Health andFamily Welfare Minister CVijayabhaskar that the diseasewas spreading through thoseindividuals who had returnedfrom overseas, Palaniswamisaid facilities are available to giveproper treatment to those peo-ple if they show symptoms ofthe virus. “There is no need toworry. Around 1.50 lakh peoplewho had arrived from foreigncountries were screened andonly those with symptoms of thevirus are given treatment by iso-lating them,” Palaniswami said. PTI

Jammu: The Jammu &Kashmir administration onThursday said 1,433 travellersand persons in contact withsuspected coronavirus caseshave been put under surveil-lance in the Union Territory,which has reported one posi-tive case so far.

With the cases of coron-avirus on the rise in the coun-try, Financial Commissioner ofthe Jammu & Kashmir Healthand Medical EducationDepartment Atal Dulloo tookstock of measures put in placeto prevent the spread of the dis-ease in the Union Territory(UT). He also inspected thefacilities for suspected patientsin two hospitals in Jammu.

“In UT of J&K till date,1,433 travellers and persons incontact with suspected cases

have been put under surveil-lance, of whom 1,178 are underhome quarantine,” a Healthbulletin issued by the UTadministration said.

Of them, 17 are under hos-pital quarantine, 80 in homesurveillance and 158 have com-pleted their 28-day surveil-lance period, it said.

As many as 74 sampleshave been sent for testing andout of which, 29 are negativeand only one have tested pos-itive, while reports of 44 sam-ples are awaited, it said.

The administrationappealed to the people to vol-untarily declare their foreigntravel history.

Officials said coronavirustesting labs have been started inSher-i-Kashmir Institute ofMedical Sciences in Srinagar

and Government MedicalCollege in Jammu.

Another facility atGovernment Medical Collegein Srinagar was operationalisedon Thursday.

Control rooms and sur-veillance teams have been con-stituted in all districts, theysaid. The government hasstrongly urged all social, reli-gious and political organisa-tions to avoid large gatherings.

There is no need to panic,the public is advised to main-tain social distancing; avoid un-necessary travel and use of pub-lic transport; and also takebasic precautions, includingpersonal hygiene, frequenthand washing with soap andobserving coughing and sneez-ing etiquettes,” the govern-ment advisory said. PTI

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Allaying apprehensions onlaws like CAA, NPR and

NRC across the country thatled to protests, including vio-lence in the national Capital,Union Home Minister AmitShah on Thursday assertedthat “no document is requiredfor the National PopulationRegister (NPR)” and that theCAA (Citizenship AmendmentAct) is not against taking citi-zenships from any communi-ty but it’s about granting citi-zenship.”

During a reply to the shortduration discussion on Delhiviolence, Shah said that no doc-ument will be required duringNPR and suggested that anOpposition delegation led byLeader of Opposition in RajyaSabha Ghulam Nabi Azad mayvisit him and sort out all theconfusions pertaining to CAA,NPR and NRC. “I am alwaysready for a discussion,” Shahsaid.

“I will discuss all these atpriority and urged the opposi-tion members to stop spread-ing false information on thesesubjects as so many havealready lost lives which isregrettable,” Shah said in theRajya Sabha amidst severalinterruptions from theOpposition benches and simul-taneously treasury benchesdemanding from the ViceChairman Satyanarayan Jatiyathat the Home Minister may be

allowed to complete his speech. On a query from Congress

member Kapil Sibal aboutmandatory documents, Shahsaid: “If one doesn’t want togive certain information, noquestions will be asked regard-ing that. There will be nodoubtful citizen marking”.

Shah said that under theNPR, it is being said that doc-uments will be asked for, “butlet me tell all, no documentswill be asked for under theNPR”. “Earlier also under theNPR no document was askedfor and so will be the case thistime as well,” said the HomeMinister prompting GhulamNabi Azad to reiterate theCentre’s stand and make itclear.

“Those who don’t haveinformation to produce, forthat we have clarified througha press release. Whatever infor-mation people want to give,they are free to submit,” AmitShah said.

“I clearly once again say,under the NPR, no documentwill be asked for. You don’t haveto provide any informationyou don’t possess. Lastly,nobody will be marked ‘doubt-ful’. Nobody needs to be scaredof the process of the NPR inthis country,” Amit Shah saidwhen Sibal questioned aboutthe ‘D’ (Doubtful) category.

The Home Minister alsoreferred to the hate speeches inthe country after the citizenship

bill was made an Act. “Theminorities, especially Muslims,were fed with fear that the CAAwill revoke their citizenship,”Shah said without naming theCongress and its leaders’speech. The first seeds of hatespeech were sown onDecember 14, 2019 at a rally inRam Lila maidan when aCongress leader gave the callfor a do or die situation.“December 16th the ShaheenBagh started,” said the homeminister.

The Home Minister assert-ed that those responsible for therecent riots in Delhi will bebrought to book irrespective oftheir caste, religion and polit-ical affiliations. He said that1922 faces have been identifiedusing facial identification soft-ware.

On the transfer of Justice SMuralidhar a day after hisorders on Delhi violence, Shahsaid that the order is issued bythe government on the recom-mendation of the SupremeCourt collegiums and it is notrelated to the Delhi violencecase. “What sort of mindset isthat an individual judge canonly do justice and otherscan’t? Shah asked the membersof Rajya Sabha.

Earlier in the day, theOpposition panned the gov-ernment as well as the policeover the riots and warned thatthe spread of the “communalvirus” would eventually pose toa threat to democracy.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday told theUttar Pradesh Governmentthat there is no law as of nowto back its action of puttingroadside posters of thoseaccused of vandalism duringthe anti-CAA protests inLucknow.

A vacation Bench ofJustices UU Lalit andAniruddha Bose told SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta, appear-ing for Uttar Pradesh, that it isa matter of “great importance”.

The bench also asked

Mehta whether the state gov-ernment has the power to putsuch posters.

The apex court, however,said there is no doubt thataction should be taken againstthe rioters and they should bepunished.

Mehta told the court thatposters were put up as a “deter-rent” and the hoardings onlysays the persons are liable topay for their alleged acts dur-ing the violence.

The hearing in the matteris underway. PTI

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The Opposition on Thursdaycautioned the Government

against any move to privatise theRailways and called for bringingback the practice of a separateBudget for the public transporterso that it could get adequateattention. Debating on thedemands for Grants in LokSabha on Railways, the membersappreciated the modernisationand cleanliness of railway sta-tions while raising doubts ofentry of private players in mainsectors of railways.

MK Raghavan (Congress)said the BJP Government hasshown consistent apathy towardsrailways in the last five years andthe dismal performance is visi-ble in the high operating ratio,which is the worst in last 10years. “Railways is a services sec-tor. BJP is unaware of reasons forestablishment of Railways.Railways is not an engine to beauctioned off to the highest

bidder, it is for poor man’s ser-vice,” he said.

“This Budget is a call for pri-vatisation and eventual sellingoff of railways which is the life-line of Indian people,” he said.Opposition members, includingSupriya Sule of the NCP andArvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena,acknowledged that railway sta-tions have become cleaner.

SS Palanimanickam(DMK) accused the BJP gov-ernment of moving towardsprivatisation of railways. “AirIndia is on verge of privatisation,land and sea transports havealready been privatised. I suggestjust give up the idea of privati-sation of railways,” he said.

Palanimanickam said thereshould be separate Budget whichwill encourage the Rail Ministryto discuss demands of variousrailway zones. “Earlier therewas separate budget for allzones. The Rail Minister used tohold meeting with MPs to knowdemands of zones, but now no

such meetings take place,” hesaid. The Government hadmerged Railway Budget withGeneral Budget from 2017-18onwards, ending a 92-year-oldpractice of a separate Budget forthe country’s largest transporter.

Tapir Gao (BJP) said theIndian Railways has developedso many facilities that its servicesare now comparable to thoseoffered by airlines. “Even 60years after Independence,Arunachal Pradesh andMizoram did not have rail con-nectivity. It is only under ModiGovernment that railwayextended connectivity to everycorner of the country,” he said.

Before the House took updiscussion of the Demand forGrants of Railways, SpeakerOm Birla said the House has todiscuss Demands for Grants ofsix ministries and sought toknow from members if they areokay if Lok Sabha proceedingsare held on Saturday andSunday.

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It’s obvious to anyone, who has seen thevideos and read the first-hand accountsof residents in the troubled north-eastarea of Delhi, that what happened therewas a bloody Hindu-Muslim commu-

nal riot. Tensions were building up ever sincesome citizens launched a nationwide protestagainst the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA), which often turned violent and dis-rupted normal life in many Indian cities forover two months. Videos shot in the affect-ed areas of Delhi show huge pile of petrolbombs, acid, bricks and stones on the terracesof Muslim residents, including that of a Delhilegislator, burqa-clad women thrashing hap-less policemen and joining the lynch mob.Such was the ferocity of the attacks that sev-eral senior officers suffered grievous injuriesand a Hindu Intelligence Bureau (IB) officialwas hacked to death by his Muslim neigh-bours. He is said to have been stabbed sev-eral hundred times. One had heard of suchbarbarity during the Moplah uprising in 1921and the Kolkata riots after MA Jinnah’s callfor “direct action” on August 16, 1946, tosecure an Islamic nation. It was a blood bath.

This is not to say that the Hindus innorth-east Delhi were silent and innocentspectators. They were not and as much guilty.Seeing the build-up in the Muslim mohallas,they stocked up, too and, therefore, when theriots broke out, the streets resembled a bat-tle field. One had not seen such hatred andviolence between the two communities in along time. So, what triggered this timearound?

One, having got used to a standard dietof appeasement for seven decades, theMuslims find the “no-appeasement” policyof Prime Minister Narendra Modi unaccept-able and, therefore, there has been simmer-ing discontent in the community, which onlyneeded a trigger to explode. Some leaders ofthe community added fuel to the fire by cit-ing the abrogation of the special status ofJammu & Kashmir last August and theSupreme Court’s judgment in the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case as develop-ments that hurt the Muslims. The commu-nity was, therefore, looking for a cause andthe CAA came along. Then, the riots hap-pened and it found a chance to play the vic-tim card again.

It must also be said that this timearound, there is gross miscalculation amongthe Muslims about the response of Hindus totheir assertiveness and violence. Havingwatched the sociological transformation of theHindus over many decades, it must be saidthat the Hindu of the 1950s or 1960s, whowould stoically bear with the demands of thisaggressive minority in the hope that eventu-ally things would settle down, no longer exists.The attitude of the Western media and itsIndian cohorts, who are busy spreading Hinduphobia, has proved to be highly provocative.They are actually promoting hatred and vio-lence among these communities. The role ofsocial media and the videos in circulation is

the new-age fuel for communalconflagration. Both communitieshave to factor in the new attitudesthat govern them. The Muslimshave to realise this and arrive ata new equation for peaceful co-existence. The Hindus have tounderstand the anxieties plagu-ing this religious minority andfind ways to restore harmony.Both communities must nowaccept that the old equation hascollapsed.

Following Partition, theMuslims of India on this side ofthe border had the option toeither cross over and become partof an Islamic State or stay put andbecome citizens of a secular,democratic India. Around 35million of them chose to stayback and live in a democraticnation. They constituted about 10per cent of the 350 million peo-ple in India after Partition. Latestestimates indicate that theMuslim population has swelledto 175 million over the last sevendecades and this community iswell spread out across the lengthand breadth of this country.

The integration of theMuslims into a secular, democ-ratic nation that emerged in1947 would have been easy if onlythe then Government, headed byPrime Minister JawaharlalNehru, had given them theoption of either living in an Indiawith a common civil code thatwould be uniformly applicable toall citizens across communities or

to cross the border and live in anIslamic State. Nehru’s Muslimappeasement policy encouragedthe hotheads among the Muslimsto such an extent that even afterPartition and the creation ofPakistan, some Muslim membersof the Constituent Assemblydemanded separate electoratefor the Muslims in democraticIndia. Sardar Patel and otherleaders felt that this demand waspreposterous.

The concession Nehru madeto the Muslim clergy after inde-pendence is indeed the timebomb that is ticking away andthreatens to destroy India’s unityand integrity. After Nehru, hisdaughter Indira Gandhi, in orderto muster the Muslim vote aftershe split the Congress in 1969,continued to molly-coddle theulemas. The Congress got thebest opportunity to wash away itssins vis-à-vis Muslim appease-ment when the Supreme Courtdelivered the historic judgmentin the Shah Bano case anddeclared that divorced Muslimwomen were entitled to mainte-nance like other divorcees, as pro-vided for in Section 125 of theCode of Criminal Procedure. Thecourt took the opportunity todraw the country’s attention toArticle 44 of the Constitution,which committed the State tobring in a Uniform Civil Code.It said such a code would help thecause of national integration.

While this judgment was

hailed across the country, theMuslim clergy was up in armsagainst the apex court’s decision.Even though Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi had won the biggestmandate ever in the country’sparliamentary elections — over410 seats — he was unable orunwilling to stand up to the mul-lahs and brought in a law to undothe top court’s verdict. This law,the Muslim Women (Protectionof Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986,declared that Muslim men hadno obligation to pay maintenanceto their divorced wives like othermen.

Given this history, the viciouspropaganda unleashed byMuslim communalists in theinternational media against Indiais bunkum. India was and is theworld’s biggest secular, democra-tic nation and its Hindu major-ity is very proud of it. TheMuslims must acknowledge thisand be wary of the false narrativebeing spread my mischief-mak-ers. For once, the UnionGovernment has begun to assertitself to correct the follies ofNehru and his progeny. This isthe only way by which we canpreserve the core values of ourConstitution and protect India’sunity and integrity. The majori-ty cannot allow some malcon-tents among a minority to wreckthis.

(The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.))��������� ����������������

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Just another Scindia” (March12). It was more than clear thatJyotiraditya Scindia was at oddswith his party ever since he wasdenied the rightful place he wasaspiring for. Both in Rajasthanand Madhya Pradesh, theCongress high command reliedheavily on the old guard and didnot pay heed to the leadershipcapability of the young Turks.

The Congress was able toform a Government in MadhyaPradesh with support from lead-ers like Kamal Nath, DigvijayaSingh and Scindia. Yet therewards weren’t apportioned fair-ly. Scindia was naturally infuriat-ed for being ignored. Politicalanalysts have expressed theiropinion that such a crisis, thoughnot entirely unexpected, couldhave been averted had the grandold party addressed mountingdiscontent among its leaders. Butis Scindia a mass leader as is madeout to be? Is it so easy to changeparty ideology? Having politicalambitions is one thing but com-prising on ideology another.

Vinod C DixitAhmedabad

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Uddhav doing a tightrope walk”(March 12) by Kalyani Shankar. Ifthe past is any indication, coali-

tion Governments have had ashort shelf-life. Notwithstandingthis, political parties are compelledto fall back on regional parties,which time and again keepreminding the Central leadershipof their compulsions and vulner-

abilities. A tripartite alliancepremised starkly on different ide-ologies, like the one inMaharashtra of the Shiv Sena, theNationalist Congress Party (NCP)and the Congress, is yet anotherexperiment in this series. Verily

speaking, keeping its partners ingood humour while adhering tothe Hindutva plank is an uphilltask for Sena supremo UddhavThackeray.

The writer’s observation thatthe Sena, NCP and Congressshould keep their respective pub-lic images intact in order toretain their electorate holds goodeven as Uddhav has admitted thathe doesn’t want a Hindu Rashtra.As long as utopia prevails, nobodyminds — happiness flowing frompeace, communal harmony, tol-erance and respect for one and all,irrespective of faith, religion,region, language caste and creed.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — The State Bank of India (SBI)is perhaps the best shock absorberin the banking sector. But with sev-eral enterprises experiencing stressand surge in bad loans, how longcan it retain its elasticity is a mat-ter of grave concern.

ShantanuVia email

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Page 9: ˆ( , 2,*5˝˚2˛ˆ678& # ˜ E ˙ &63ˆ8 3.,? 57 4ˆ5 3 4ˆ.4 6˛7 ...€¦ · The expansion will result into around 2000 ... essential travel and large gath-erings to ensure safety

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If one were to look at the headlines dominat-ing our news channels and the print mediathese days, the COVID 19 pandemic would

be a distant third, behind the political upheavalin Madhya Pradesh following JyotiradityaScindia’s departure from the Congress Party andthe collapse of Yes Bank amid allegations of fraudand deceit by its former chairman and founder,Rana Kapoor and his family. We would do wellto remember that the former two issues, whileimportant, are certainly not life-threatening. Theglaring fact is that till about the third week ofFebruary, Italy had just about the number of casesthat we have today. These crossed the 12,000mark, with over 600 fatalities, in just a matter ofa fortnight. There is of course the possibility thatthe Coronavirus may not impact us as badly forany number of reasons, ranging from high tem-peratures that are usually prevalent at this timeof the year to the fact that we may be God’s cho-sen people. It may even be that because gener-al hygiene is not exactly our strong suite and wehave a better immunity because of it, we mightbeat any impact the Coronavirus might other-wise have on us. However, if these are the ratio-nales that we prefer to exercise to ignore theimminent danger that the Coronavirus poses,then we may well be in for a rude shock.

Megan McArdle, The Washington Postcolumnist and author, uses this old brain teaserto explain the spread of the Coronavirus pandem-ic. “You have a pond of a certain size and uponthat pond, a single lily pad. This particular speciesof lily pad reproduces once a day, so that on daytwo, you have two lily pads. On day three, youhave four and so on. If it takes the lily pads 48days to cover the pond completely, how long willit take for the pond to be covered halfway?” Theanswer is of course 47 days and not 24 as someof us may well conclude but more importantlyeven as late as day 40, one will barely know thelily pads are there as the numbers will still be quitesmall.

Now here’s the catch. Events in both Wuhan,where the virus is said to have originated, andItaly suggest that the number of people infect-ed by the virus doubles every four-five days,which means a ten-fold increase every fortnight.But since there is no preventive anti-virus drugavailable yet, leaving aside some rather fancifulsuggestions, our complete population is clearlyat risk. This obviously implies that if appropri-ate preventive measures are not adopted, ourhealthcare system, which has inherent flawsalready, is at great risk and is bound to be over-whelmed in a relatively short period of time, oncethe threshold is crossed. The threshold is thepoint at which we would just not have therequired infrastructure, i.e. the doctors, nurses,beds or even the ventilators essential for treat-ing those affected.

That in turn would have its own repercus-sions because once that occurs, the doctors wouldhave to play God and select and treat only thosepatients who have the best chance of survival.Triage, as it is known in military circles, is alleged-ly already happening in Italy and may well havebeen resorted to in China. Without doubt, thiswould be the rational choice as one would rather

provide the necessary medical facilitiesto a 20-year-old with better chances ofsurvival and a brighter future ahead ofhim, than to a 65-year-old whosechances of making it are infinitely less.However, make no mistake, that if andwhen such a situation occurs, themedical fraternity will find itself underthe spotlight, facing a great deal ofscrutiny and controversy for the choic-es that they will make, given thatthese will greatly impact social cohesionfor reasons not too difficult to visualise.

Therefore, when the PrimeMinister and the Health Minister, him-self a doctor, tell us not to panic, theyundoubtedly make eminent sense, butfor the fact that we do not really see thekind of drastic measures being initiat-ed here as we have seen in China, Italy,Hong Kong or even Singapore. This isnot a political issue and just talk of“being prepared” or “screening” cannotbecome the buzzword to suggest thatthe Government is in control. The sadfact is that in this specific case, for nofault of the Government, it is theCoronavirus that is in the driver’s seatand we, the people, are on the back foot.Fortunately, the Government has takenthe important step of cancelling all visasissued for entry into the country for onemonth. While this will certainly help,whether it goes far enough in prevent-ing infections remains to be seen.Because more than worrying about thevirus being transmitted by those com-ing from the affected regions, we alsohave to take into account its transmis-sion from within our own communi-ties. The Government thus has littlechoice but to be ahead of the curve and

cannot wait to be overwhelmed beforeit initiates the necessary curbs onmovement and other such drastic mea-sures to firewall the spread of theCoronavirus. Undoubtedly, this will addto our economic burdens, along witha host of other issues. But, that will befar lesser than if we wait till some pre-determined numbers are affected, bywhich time it will be too late to halt thespread of the Coronavirus exponential-ly. As some experts have suggested, thetime for mere containment is gone andwe need to look at measures that willhelp in mitigation.

In this context, the Governments atthe State and Centre would do well toremember that we have problems thatare peculiar to us, which will greatlyimpact our ability to effectively imple-ment the measures that they may putin place. For one, we have an extreme-ly large part of our population that isignorant about matters such as person-al hygiene and what is worse, lackingthe necessary infrastructure requiredlike toilets and piped water. Issueswhich are of critical importance here.Moreover, many among us are whollylacking in the understanding of theirown civic responsibilities and tend tobe even less inclined to fulfil themunless forced.

That apart, hyperbole, superstitionand plain idiocy have run amok andthere are those, including prominentpolitical and religious leaders, who havemade bizarre and scientifically-unproven claims about how to counterthe Coronavirus. Unfortunately, theirviews receive uncalled for publicitythanks to social media and add to the

confusion. Second, unlike China, we neither

have the ability nor the self-disciplineto ensure that measures such as lock-downs can be effectively implementedby our police force. If we are to controlaccess and prevent gatherings ofcrowds, especially for religious events,then there is an urgent need for theGovernment to mobilise the CentralArmed Police Forces and the militarywith the necessary protective clothingand the requisite training. Mobilisationand training take time, as does deploy-ment, something we are very short of.Therefore, it is absolutely essential thatthe Government acts now and movesthe required forces so that they can beeffective as early as possible. There isin fact no time for a separate Plan B, itneeds to be implemented concurrent-ly.

Finally, there is no space for poli-tics here because the Coronavirus killswithout bias and does not respectboundaries, caste or creed. If we are tohalt its spread, we will have to worktogether and hard decisions will haveto be taken now, regardless of theirrepercussions. Just as the Reserve Bankof India was forced to declare a mora-torium on Yes Bank to prevent a run onthe bank, the Government must takedrastic action now if we are to controlthis pandemic. It would do well toremember that it is always better to besafe than sorry.

(The writer, a military veteran, is aconsultant with the Observer ResearchFoundation and a Senior Visiting Fellowwith The Peninsula Foundation,Chennai)

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While presenting the UnionBudget 2020-21, FinanceMinister (FM) Nirmala

Sitharaman proposed setting up fivenew smart cities to attract investmentand drive economic growth. Unlikethe metropolises under the SmartCities Mission (SCM) modelled aslight house with area-based and pancity development, the new smartcities will embrace full-fledged newdevelopment like GIFT city, SpecialEconomic Zones and so on.

However, a closer look at theprogress of the SCM reveals some dis-appointing trends. As of July 25, 2019,of the total approved projects ofunder �3 lakh crore, only 18 per centhave been completed; work ordershave been issued for 37 per cent pro-

jects; tenders have been issued for 16per cent and 29 per cent of proposedprojects are still at the “detailed pro-ject report” stage. Moreover, theSCM’s progress has been lopsided as54 per cent of the completed projectshave come from just four States —Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujaratand Uttar Pradesh. At the city level,10 cities (New Delhi, Belagavi, Surat,Indore, Varanasi, Raipur, Tumakuru,Vadodara, Ajmer and Ahmedabad)account for 48 per cent of the com-pleted projects. And 34 smart cities donot have evidence of even a singlecompleted project.

Even the holistic improvement ofthe cities seems to be unrealistic as,on average, the Area BasedDevelopment projects account for upto 80 per cent of the funds but don’tbenefit even five to 10 per cent of thecity’s population. However, theMinistry of Housing and UrbanAffairs (MoHUA) and the SCMnever leave any stone unturned tohighlight cosmetic achievements andannounce new measures like pairingsister towns on the basis of best andworst 20 performing cities or estab-lishing a Smart City Observatory. Tomany observers, the SCM’s initiatives

have become futile. For instance, theEase of Living Index report thatMoHUA started for all smart cities in2018 could not be furnished in 2019despite floating tenders for the sameover six times. Moreover, it was alsoreported that a SCM 2.0 will belaunched in 2020 that would cover allthe 4,302 cities in India. Hence, giventhe Centre’s continued and renewedfocus on smart cities, it is imperativeto understand the constraints plagu-ing the SCM since its inception.

Given the capacity problem at thecity level, leading private firms arebeing engaged as consultants and asProject Monitoring Units (PMUs) bythe Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs)for the preparation of the concept planand execution of the smart city pro-jects. Further, their aim is to create asustainable revenue model to attractprivate investment, but, this turns outto be abysmally low.

The SCM guidelines state that the“rights and obligations” of the city willbe transferred to the SPVs withoutspecifying the exact terms of the rela-tionship and hierarchy between them.The SPVs, headed by a CEO and reg-ulated by the Companies Act 2013,consist largely of bureaucrats with

only a small representation of elect-ed representatives or any experts. Themajor decision-making powers restswith the SPV and its board of direc-tors. Hence, many of their policychoices are guided by centrally-for-mulated guidelines. Quite contrary tothe ethos of decentralisation andempowerment of city Governments,the SPV-led process of implementingthe SCM becomes more bureaucrat-ic and technocratic. Even though it ispragmatic to allow the SPVs to workon smart proposals, that should be inconsonance with and not to theexclusion of elected representatives ofcity Governments.

Public participation has beenvirtually limited to consultationsonline on social media or websiteswith public responses in the form ofmultiple choice answers. This, inturn, increases the risk of makingthese proposals more elitist, leavingbehind the voices and needs of poorand marginalised citizens. In fact,there is evidence showing preferencefor costlier infrastructure over thebasic needs of majority urban resi-dents. Nearly 40 per cent of trans-portation projects are focussed onroads and parking lots, while only 20

per cent of the budget is focussed onpublic transportation and only twoper cent on buses.

Regarding the financing of SCM,studies have indicated a clear patternof not only heavy dependence on pub-lic funds for financing the mission, butthere has been a movement awayfrom market-oriented sources offunding like public-private partner-ships (PPPs) and loans, especially insmaller cities.

The FM’s proposal to develop fivenew smart cities highlights collabo-ration with States in a PPP mode.However, the contribution of suchPPP projects in value terms as well asthe sourcing of revenue from munic-ipal bonds continues to be ambigu-ous. In the absence of robust econom-ic, legal, financial and project viabil-ity, the municipal projects are rarelyperceived to be commercially viable.For this, funds can be arrangedthrough PPPs or by accessing the cap-ital market. With the banking systemcurrently under stress with bad debts,the SCM might not receive the nec-essary investments from the privatesector, at least, in the short term.

Nonetheless, some cities havemade significant progress in terms of

implementation of PPP (Nagpur,Vadodara) while some other citieshave taken specific measures (e.g.appointment of transactional advi-sors) for generating revenue frommunicipal bonds. Pune, Hyderabad,Indore, Bhopal and Amaravati havesuccessfully launched municipalbonds to finance some of their urbandevelopment projects. Emphasis hasalso been placed on land monetisa-tion as another important source forfinancing the SCM.

However, since land is a State sub-ject, city Governments cannot exer-cise their control over it and thus lackthe autonomy to use land indepen-dently to increase their revenues.Further, the use of land especially inthe SCM era has prompted concernsabout forced evictions in many citiesand raised concerns on the inclusiveideals of the SCM. Solutions to theabove problems are well-known andhave been recommended by expertsmany times. The real issues constrain-ing the functioning of cities are age-old in which the SCM has been stuck.City Governments will have to acquiregreater capability in raising resourcesfrom conventional sources (e.g., prop-erty tax, user fee and so on). This

would make them attractive forpotential private investors.

With the global urban populationpoised to grow in the coming decades,Indian cities will be enormouslyresponsible for “global growth andwell-being.”

Simply trusting specific sectorslike manufacturing or services forgrowth seems outdated for the 21stcentury, unless the governance ofcities is fixed.

In essence, into its fifth year ofimplementation, the SCM has turnedout to be inherently unsmart. Itneeds to change its course of actionif it aims to achieve inclusive growthand sustainable development. Forthis we need to draw lessons from fail-ures and build upon the SCM’s suc-cesses.

The Government must demon-strate its commitment towards localeconomic development, sustainabledevelopment and ease of living byinviting experienced countries topartner in the execution of the SCMand tackle the persisting challengesassociated with it in India.

(Soumyadip is Visiting SeniorFellow at IMPRI and Kumar isDirector, IMPRI)

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Given the coronavirus pan-demic and the resultant

bloodbath in global markets,including in the country, andplunging asset prices, the RBIwill begin to look beyond infla-tion and start easing rates to thetune of 65 basis points (bps) byJune, and the first rate cut couldcome even before the Aprilreview, according to Britishlender Barclays.

The domestic marketsrecorded its worst fall in historyon Thursday plunging as much8.2 per cent, while the rupeeplunged 56 paise to a 17-month-low of 74.24 to a dollar.

After nosediving over3,204.30 points on across-the-board selling, the Sensex closed2,919.26 points or 8.18 per centlower to 32,778.14, and theNifty gave up the 9,600-level,slumping 868.25 points or 8.30per cent to close at 9,590.15.

The rout followed the mar-kets bloodbath across the worldafter the World HealthOrganization (WHO) onWednesday termed the coron-avirus outbreak as a pandem-ic. “Growth risks have risendramatically, while CPI(Consumer Price Index) infla-

tion remains outside its targetband (at 6.58 per cent inFebruary down from 7.59 percent in January and 2.57 percent in February 2019).

“But, given the evolvingmacroeconomic situation anddeteriorating global backdrop,we believe risks of an inter-meeting cut of 25-40 bps haveincreased materially. Even ifRBI doesn’t make an inter-meeting move, we see themcutting by at least 65 bps byJune, with risks biased towardsmore easing than this,” Barclayssaid in a note on Thursday.

On the timing and thequantum of rates cuts, thereport says, “As a pre-emptivestep, the RBI could consider atleast 65 bps cuts over the nextthree months, which would pegreal rates close to 0, as CPIinflation appears set to declineclose to 4.5 per cent by June ifcrude stays close to current lev-els.” But, analysts at Barclays arequick to underline that “ratecuts will have little impact onnear-term growth withoutaccompanying steps to keepliquidity conditions ample”which it could ensure throughincreased long-term repo oper-ations (LTROs) or even out-right open market operations.

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India’s travel and hospitalityindustry is headed for its

worst crisis with an at least�8,500-crore hit in revenuesdue to suspension of mostvisas over fears of spread ofcoronavirus that would resultin lower footfalls and drop inbusiness for tour operators,hotels and aviation industry.

Hotels and tour operatorshave seen a spurt in cancella-tions particularly after theWHO declared the outbreak apandemic. Tourists cancelledtravel, hitting hotels, airlinesand tax collections after thegovernment suspended mostvisas in a bid to halt the spreadof coronavirus.

At least 40 per cent ofrooms across big chains ofhotels are going empty whilebanquet bookings have beencancelled, industry officialsand associations said.

Tour operators estimate

January-March quarter earn-ings could fall by more than 60per cent.

India, which annuallyearns �2,200 crore from foreigntourists arrivals, attracts near-ly one million overseas visitorsa month, a number whichcould see a drastic fall nextmonth due to travel restric-tions.

Indian Association of TourOperators (IATO), andAssocham saw job losses in thesectors as companies try to tideover the situation by cuttingnon-essential workforces andstopping recruitment. Theywanted the Government toreview the decision to sus-pend visas for a month andallow inbound travel throughlimited gateway cities.

“The ban on travel to Indiafor a period of one month willhave a cascading economicimpact and will lead to job loss-es in the entire hotel, aviationand travel sector. We estimate

that it will lead to direct loss ofnot less than �8,500 crore,”IATO Secretary Rajesh Mudgilltold PTI.

Assocham Tourism andHospitality Council ChairmanSubhash Goyal said since theoutbreak of coronavirus, theaviation and tourism industriesin India have been adverselyaffected.

“However, we were able tomanage our expenses and keepthe staff because some amountof essential travel was going on.The suspension of visas lastnight has come as an immedi-ate blow to the entire tourism,aviation and hospitality indus-try,” he said.

Warning of the conse-quences of the step, Goyalsaid, “If no visas are valid, with-in next ten days this travel andtourism industry will come toa virtual stop. It would meanthat everyone will cut downcosts and terminate non-essen-tial staff and stop recruiting

additional staff.”Expressing similar views,

Mudgill said, “In view of thestaggering loss that the entireindustry stares at, we requestthe Government to consider areview of the situation after 10days and also consider givingrelief in taxation to the sectoras it will help in mitigating thelosses suffered.”

Federation of Hotel &Restaurant Associations ofIndia (FHRAI) Vice PresidentGurbaxish Singh Kohlisaid,”Since November, whencoronavirus made news, hotelroom cancellations began andcrossed the 80 per cent mark.New bookings are almost com-pletely on hold, including theNRI segment which accountsfor 60 per cent of the tourismrevenues mostly in the monthsfrom April to September.”

Yatra.Com Co-Founderand COO, Corporate Travel &Head Industry Relations,Sabina Chopra said the latest

suspension of visas from allcountries to India is expectedto have a substantial impact onthe foreign tourist arrival in thecountry which was alreadywitnessing a drop due to theprevailing situation.

“We have received close to35 per cent cancellation queriesfrom travellers planning theirtrip to foreign destinations,” shesaid, adding airfares to affect-ed destinations have droppedby 40 per cent.

Chopra added, “There hasbeen about 18 per cent drop inhotel rates and we are receivingcancellation requests from var-ious travellers who are wary of

taking up trips domestically aswell.” According CII, this is oneof the worst crises ever to hitthe Indian tourism industryimpacting all its geographicalsegments — inbound, out-bound and domestic, almost alltourism verticals — leisure,adventure, heritage, MICE,cruise, corporate and nichesegments.

CII Tourism Committeesaid to save on variable costsand minimise fixed costs manysmall and mid-sized hotels,resorts and car rental compa-nies are shutting down opera-tions and asking staff to go onleave without pay.

Moreover, the workingcapital of many corporates inthe tourism sector is seriouslyhit by almost 60 per cent andfor micro, small and mediumtourism enterprises by almost80 per cent, it added.

“Most of the Indiantourism travel and hospitalitycompanies are facing demandsfor full refunds and they aredoing so out of their cashreserves even for which theyhave paid advance tax andGST,” the CII assessment reportadded.

The report further saidcancellations are “reaching apeak of almost 80 per cent nowin March in many Indian loca-tions. The value at risk fromthis segment will be in multi-ples of tens of thousands ofcrores.” With India cancellingall visas, the chamber said theimpact “will be worse”.

ANAROCK PropertyConsultants Chairman AnujPuri said, “The cancellation ofvisas for foreigners as well asthe strong advice issued toIndians to refrain from unnec-essary travel will have a marked

effect. This is the most unset-tling healthcare crisis in recenttimes and hotel bookings willgo south.”

On Indians being advisedto refrain from unnecessarytravel, the CII report said,“The December holiday seasonof 2019 took an estimated hitof almost 40-50 per cent, theholiday season of April to July2020 is likely to take a humon-gous hit which could be as highas 80-100 per cent, unless thereis positive news of the pro-gression of virus decreasing.

VFS Global Regional GroupCOO — South Asia, MiddleEast and North Africa, AmericasVinay Malhotra said,”While it istoo early to comment on theimpact of coronavirus on visaapplication trends, so far, ourvisa application processes inIndia continue on schedule asper the mandates of our clientGovernments.”

MakeMyTrip Group CEORajesh Magow said, “The deci-sion by the Government willhave an impact on inboundand outbound internationaltravel.”

New Delhi: India’s factory out-put showed a marginal rise inJanuary, while retail inflationeased to a two-month low inFebruary, paving the way forRBI to cut interest rate toboost the economy that may belosing steam due to the coro-navirus outbreak.

The Index of IndustrialProduction (IIP) grew by 2 percent in January against 1.6 percent a year back, displayingmoderate green shoots, officialdata released on Thursdayshowed. According to the datafrom the National StatisticalOffice (NSO), the manufac-turing sector output grew by1.5 per cent as compared witha rise of 1.3 per cent in the cor-responding month a year ago.

However, going forward,the February factory outputmay be impacted as severalindustries such as automo-biles, technology, pharma andfashion have some exposure toimports of raw and intermedi-ate materials from China.

Retail inflation eased to6.58 per cent in February, from7.59 per cent in the previousmonth, but remained above theReserve Bank of India’s targetband of 4 per cent, plus orminus 2 per cent.

Manufacturing, which isthe largest component of IIPhaving 77.6 per cent weight,continues to be down. It grewat 1.5 per cent in January 2020and just 0.3 per cent for the first10 months of current fiscal.

As per use-based classifi-cation, out of six sectors four —namely capital goods, infra-structure/construction goods,consumer durables and con-sumer non-durables — record-ed negative growth in January2020. CPI inflation in Februaryreversed six months of increas-ing trend mainly due to baseeffect and sequential decline infood price inflation as well asa dip in transport and com-munication inflation.

Core inflation, a measure ofdemand conditions in the econ-omy, also reversed after increas-ing for three months and camein at 4.08 per cent in February.Between Q1 FY19 and Q3FY20, core inflation declined to3.6 per cent from 6.2 per centand GDP growth declined to 4.7per cent from 7.1 per cent.

With the epidemic spread-ing fast in Europe and the US,a slowdown in these economieswill impact the global demandfor industrial and manufac-tured goods. PTI

����� 35�&5�

Stock markets tumbled acrossthe globe and oil prices

slumped Thursday afterPresident Donald Trumpbanned all travel from main-land Europe to the United States for a month tofight the coronavirus pandem-ic, ramping up fears of world-wide recession.

With the market panichaving already wiped awaymore than USD 11 trillion inglobal value, the head of theWorld Health Organisationsaid the COVID-19 outbreak“is a controllable pandemic” ifcountries stepped up measuresto tackle it.

“We are deeply concernedthat some countries are notapproaching this threat withthe level of political commit-ment needed to control it,”WHO director-general TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus tolddiplomats in Geneva, accord-ing to a statement.

Following an overnightslump, Sydney tumbled 7.4per cent on Thursday to sufferits worst session since the 2008global financial crisis.

Tokyo closed down 4.4 percent, putting it in a bear mar-ket after slumping more than20 per cent from a recent high.

Hong Kong shed 3.7 per

cent, though Shanghai was off1.5 per cent as China continuesto see infection rates slow.Manila crashed nearly 10 percent — sparking a brief tradinghalt — after it emergedPhilippines President RodrigoDuterte would undergo a pre-cautionary test for the virus.

In the Gulf, Saudi dumped3.0 per cent in value, Dubaitumbled 8.0 per cent and Qatarshed 4.5 per cent.

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The largest lender State Bankof India on Thursday

announced a �7,250-crore fundinfusion into the crippled YesBank under which it will pickup to 49 per cent equity in thefourth largest private sectorlender.

The fund infusion is part ofthe Reserve Bank-mandatedrescue plan.

SBI said its shareholding inYes Bank will remain within 49per cent of the paid up capitalof the private lender and fol-lowing the fund infusion, it willpick up 725 crore shares.

“The executive committeeof the central board at its meet-ing held on March 11 accord-ed approval for purchase of 725crore shares of Yes Bank at aprice of �10 a share, subject toregulatory approvals,” SBI said

in an exchange filing onThursday.

The bank, however, didnot mention the exact quantumof stake it will be buying in YesBank. Under the reconstruc-tion scheme, SBI will have tobuy 49 per cent of Yes Bank andcannot reduce its holdingbelow 26 per cent before for thenext three years.

The SBI investment of�7,250 crore is much higherthan �2,450 crore it had plannedinitially for 49 per cent stake inthe private sector lender thatbegan operations in 2004.

Last week, SBI chairmanRajnish Kumar had toldreporters that the bank wouldinvest �2,450 crore to buy 245crore shares of Yes Bank. Hehad also spoken about ropingin other investors and SBIinvestment would not exceed�10,000 crore.

On March 5, the RBIimposed a moratorium on YesBank, restricting withdrawalsto �50,000 per depositor tillApril 3. The RBI also super-seded the board and placed itunder an administrator,Prashant Kumar who is a for-mer deputy managing directorand CFO of SBI.

Since the RBI action, thecentral agencies ED and CBIhave arrested Yes Bank’s co-founder and former CEO RanaKapoor for alleged moneylaundering and corruption,while his wife Bindu and threedaughters are also beingquizzed by these agencies fortheir role in siphoning of pub-lic funds.

One of the biggest chargesagainst Kapoor is that he ille-gally benefitted to the tune of�3,000 crore by lending to cer-tain troubled companies like

DHFL, Anil Ambani group andEssel group — all the loansworth around �20,000 crorethat have turned into bad debt.

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Former Union MinisterSuresh Prabhu on Thursday

said it is essential that globalcommunity must join hands,develop new vaccines, helpvulnerable communities, poorcountries, restore public con-fidence and strengthen publichealth systems.

The former RailwayMinister left for Saudi Arabiaon Wednesday even as most ofdelegates cancelled their visit tothe country in the wake ofWHO declared pandemic

corona. “Must develop early warn-

ing system, work on preventivemeasures and avoid futurescare,” Prabhu said at the G20meeting of Sherpa at Khobar inSaudi Arabia.

Prabhu as an Indian rep-resentative who has been nom-inated as Sherpa by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isattending the two day confer-ence on world economy. ASherpa is a personal represen-tative of a head of state whoprepares ground for him or herat international summits.

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Burlington (US): BernieSanders is vowing to pressahead with his presidentialcampaign at least long enoughto debate Joe Biden this week-end, even while acknowledginghis deficit in the Democraticrace may be insurmountable.

The Vermont senator onWednesday offered no furtherdetails on what his campaignmay look like before or after heand Biden — the last twomajor candidates vying for theDemocratic presidential nom-ination — spar Sunday nighton stage in Arizona.

The only thing on Sanders’public schedule was taping anappearance on Wednesday’s“Tonight Show Starring JimmyFallon.”

And that will continue toraise questions — as unlikely asit may seem less than twoweeks after losing his once-commanding front-runner sta-tus — about how long Sanders

will persist against increasing-ly daunting odds, especially asthe pressure within his ownparty increases exponentially.

Sanders addressed reportersin Burlington after offering nopublic statements Tuesday night,when he suffered a devastatingdefeat in Michigan and losses inMissouri, Idaho and Mississippi.

Sanders noted that he wonNorth Dakota and that the con-tinuing count in Washingtonstate remained close — butadmitted he was trailing badlyin the race to secure enoughdelegates to clinch the nomi-nation before the DemocraticNational Convention inMilwaukee.

“While our campaign haswon the ideological debate,we are losing the debate overelectability,” Sanders said,meaning Democrats thinkBiden has a better chance ofbeating President DonaldTrump in the fall.

“That is what millions ofDemocrats and independentstoday believe.” He was quick toadd that he thinks he’s thestronger choice, and that hecould show that duringSunday’s debate. Sanderspromised to press Biden foranswers about millions ofAmericans who don’t havehealth insurance, a criminaljustice system he said unfairlytargets and punishes minoritiesand raising the federal mini-mum wage.

After that, though,Democrats’ desperate desireto defeat Trump could affect hiscalculus. Should Sanders getout soon, he could saveDemocrats months of a messyand expensive primary fight.But an early departure wouldalso deprive the party’s mostpassionate supporters, includ-ing many young people, of theone man who embodies thedramatic change they crave.

Sanders also noted that hewas winning a greater per-centage of young voters whileBiden continues to run up thescore with older ones. AP

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Washington: Podiums get sani-tised before the candidate stepsup to speak. Fist or elbowbumps take the place of hand-shakes, and kissing babies is outof the question.

Rallies are cancelled, leav-ing candidates speaking to ahandful of journalists andstaffers instead of cheeringcrowds of thousands.

This is campaigning in theage of the coronavirus, whenfears of the new pandemic’srapid spread are upending JoeBiden’s and Bernie Sanders’campaigns.

The urgency of the issuecomes at a pivotal time in theDemocratic presidential pri-mary, as Biden is beginning topull ahead as a front-runner forthe nomination and as Sandersis scrambling to catch up.

“If coronavirus has the last-ing impact that we all fear it will,it will also dramatically reshapethe way a presidential campaignunfolds,” said Jesse Ferguson, aveteran Democratic strategistand former spokesman forHillary Clinton’s campaign.

“Politics is fundamentallyabout leaders interacting withthe people who they represent,and if a pandemic foreclosesthat ability, it changes every-thing — how you campaign,how you knock doors, how youdo events and how you do theretail part of politics.” Tuesdaymarked the first moment theissue affected the campaigns ina substantive way. Both Bidenand Sanders decided to cancelplanned election-night rallies inOhio at the advice of localhealth officials. AP

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Geneva: The new coronavirusoutbreak “is a controllable pan-demic” if countries step upmeasures to tackle it, the headof the World HealthOrganisation said on Thursday.

WHO director-generalTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesusacknowledged on Wednesdaythat the global outbreak of thenew coronavirus could now beconsidered a pandemic — a dis-ease actively spreading globally.

But he told diplomats inGeneva that describing the out-break as a pandemic should notmean that countries give up thefight to stop it spreading further.

“This is a controllable pan-demic,” he said, according to astatement of his remarks.

“We are deeply concernedthat some countries are notapproaching this threat withthe level of political commit-ment needed to control it. Theidea that countries should shiftfrom containment to mitigationis wrong and dangerous,” hestressed.

More than 4,500 peoplehave died, according to an AFPtally, while the WHO said some125,000 cases had been report-ed from 118 countries and ter-ritories.

“To save lives we must

reduce transmission,” Tedrosinsisted.

“That means finding andisolating as many cases as pos-sible and quarantining theirclosest contacts,” he said, urgingstates to test every suspected caseof COVID-19 in a bid to slowtransmission.

“Even if you cannot stoptransmission, you can slow itdown and protect health facili-ties, old age homes and othervital areas — but only if you testall suspected cases.” AFP

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Kuala Lumpur: DisgracedMalaysian ex-leader NajibRazak’s corruption trial washalted Thursday after hisdefence team were reportedlyordered to self-quarantine overfears about the coronavirus.

Najib and his cronies areaccused of looting billions ofdollars from sovereign wealthfund 1MDB and using it tofinance a global spendingspree.

The allegations played amajor part in Najib losingpower in 2018, and he has since been arrested and is facing multiple trials over the scandal. He denies wrong-doing. AFP

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Sri Lanka on Thursdayannounced the closure of all

schools across the country tocombat the spread of the coro-navirus.

The Education Ministryannounced that all schools willremain shut down till April 20,as second person in Sri Lankatested positive for the virus.

The second patient, iden-tified as a 44 year-old man, issaid to have had close contactwith the first patient detectedwith the virus in the country,Director-General of HealthServices Anil Jasinghe said.

Tehran: Iran’s Health Ministryon Thursday said the new coro-navirus has killed 75 more peo-ple, raising the death toll to 429amid over 10,000 cases as theIslamic Republic revealed it hadasked for a multibillion-dollarloan from the InternationalMonetary fund to fight thevirus.

Health Ministry spokesmanKianoush Jahanpour announcedthe latest virus figures in a tele-vised news conference.

Iran has asked for an emer-

gency $5 billion loan from theInternational Monetary Fund tocombat the outbreak there,which has killed more than 360people and infected some 9,000people in the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s Central Bank chiefAbdolnasser Hemmati onThursday said he made therequest last week in a letter toIMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

The international lenderhas said it stands ready to sup-port countries through a RapidFinancial Instrument. AP

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Perth: Australia on Thursdayput forward a $11.4 billionstimulus package meant to staveoff a recession due to the impactof the virus outbreak on itseconomy.

The package includes cashpayments for small businessesand welfare recipients to counterthe impact of the disease, whichhas infected more than 126,000people worldwide. Australiahas recorded 127 cases of thevirus and three deaths. AP

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���������� �"�� ��������Warsaw: Poland has record-ed its first death from thenovel coronavirus outbreak inthe western city of Poznan, itsdeputy mayor said onThursday.

The 57-year-old femaleteacher, who had recentlybeen hospitalised in criticalcondition with pneumonia,was put into an artificialcoma and on a ventilator but“unfortunately she died notlong ago,” Poznan deputymayor Jedrzej Solarski toldreporters. AFP

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Washington: Three servicemembers were killed, includingtwo Americans, and a dozenmore were injured when a bar-rage of rockets were fired at amilitary base in Iraq, US offi-cials said Wednesday.

One of the officials said fiveservice members were serious-ly wounded and evacuatedfrom the Camp Taji base andseven others were still beingevaluated. Buildingson the base were in flames. Theofficials spoke on condition ofanonymity to give details of theattack ahead of a publicannouncement.

Army Col. Myles Caggins,a US military spokesman inIraq, confirmed that three per-sonnel from the US-led coali-tion were killed and about 12were wounded, but did not pro-vide details about what countrythey were from.

The US military said thatthe names of those killed wouldbe released after family notifi-cations.

Caggins, in a statement,said that about 18 107mmKatyusha rockets struck the

base and that Iraqi SecurityForces found a rocket-riggedtruck a few miles from CampTaji. Such Russian rockets havebeen used in the past byIranian-backed militia groupsin Iraq. AP

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Rome: Italy's death toll passed1,000 on Thursday, with 189new fatalities taking its toll injust over two weeks to 1,016,second behind China, officialdata showed.

The number of deaths wasjust below Italy's single-dayrecord of 196 reported onWednesday.

The number of daily infec-tions rose to 2,651 from 2,313on Wednesday, reaching 15,113overall. AFP

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Washington: Defying a vetothreat, Congress has approveda bipartisan measure to limitPresident Donald Trump’sauthority to launch militaryoperations against Iran.

The House gave final leg-islative approval to the measureWednesday, 227-186, sendingit to Trump. The president haspromised to veto the war pow-ers resolution, warning that ifhis “hands were tied, Iran

would have a field day.”The resolution, sponsored

by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.,declares that Trump must winapproval from Congress beforeengaging in further militaryaction against Iran. Kaine andother supporters say the mea-sure is not about Trump oreven the presidency, butinstead is an importantreassertion of congressionalpower to declare war. AP

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Beirut: An air strike killed 26fighters of Iraqi paramilitarygroup Hashed al-Shaabi in east-ern Syria after a deadly attack onUS-led coalition troops in Iraq,a war monitor said Thursday.

Updating its toll for theWednesday strike, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights said it was prob-ably carried out by the coalition.The coalition did not immedi-ately provide comment.

Before the strike near theborder town of Albu Kamal,rockets were fired at a militarybase north of Baghdad hostingcoalition troops, killing twoAmericans and one Briton.

It was the deadliest suchattack in years on an Iraqi mil-itary base hosting foreign troops.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility, but theUnited States has blamed Iran-backed factions from theHashed al-Shaabi for similarviolence in recent months.

Within hours, the airstrikes were launched againstHashed forces just across theborder in Syria.

Hardline Hashed factionshave fought alongside Syriangovernment forces for severalyears and have been targetedby both coalition and Israeli airstrikes. AFP

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Lawmakers in Washingtonhave proposed a ban on

most imports from China’sXinjiang region, charging thatgoods produced by Uighurforced labourers were easilymaking their way into theUnited States.

The US already bans prod-ucts made through slavery,but with rights groups sayingas many as one millionUighurs and other minoritiesare held in camps in Xinjiang,lawmakers said forced laborwas interwoven into theregion’s economy.

“These practices inXinjiang are one of the world’slargest human tragedies. Itremains unimaginable, frankly,that this is happening in 2020,”Senator Marco Rubio, aRepublican sponsor of thebipartisan measure, toldreporters on Wednesday.

Representative JimMcGovern, a Democrat wholeads the Congressional-Executive Commission onChina — which looks athuman rights — said that wit-nesses, surveillance photos andleaked documents all showedthe existence of forced labor.

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s NationalElection Commission hasinvited foreign observers tomonitor the upcoming par-liamentary polls in the islandnation.

President GotabayaRajapaksa on March 2 dis-solved Parliament six monthsahead of its schedule andcalled a snap election on April25. The earlier Parliament wasappointed on Sept 1, 2015.

Rajapaksa sacked theHouse after the minimumterm of four-and-a-half yearsnecessary to dissolve it.

Rajapaksa, who was elect-ed to office in November lastyear, had said he cannot workfreely because his powers hadbeen reduced. He also facedrestrictions as the oppositioncommanded a majority in the225-member House.

According to NationalElection Commission mem-ber S Ratnajeevan H Hoole,the organisation has invitedobservers from the EuropeanUnion (EU), Commonwealthcountries and the NGO, AsianNetwork for Free Elections(ANFREL), to monitor theupcoming parliamentary elec-tion, the Daily Mirror report-ed on Thursday. PTI

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Extra-small crossover SUVs make upthe fastest-growing class in the auto-

motive industry over the past five years,according to Edmunds data. The seg-ment surpassed the one million mark innumber of vehicles sold for the first timein 2019.

Consumers are increasingly attract-ed to these models because they’re lessexpensive than popular small crossoverSUVs such as the Honda CR-V andToyota RAV4 but still offer driversmore cargo storage space and a higherseating height than a typical sedan.

Buying an extra-small crossoverSUV is not without drawbacks. Theytypically cost a few thousand dollarsmore than similarly sized sedans and getlower fuel economy on average. Theyalso sometimes lack features found onbigger crossover SUVs, such as all-wheeldrive or power rear liftgates. Still, ifyou’re going the SUV route, these small-er models can be an appealing choice.

These are five worthy picks for anextra-small crossover SUV, as selectedby the experts at Edmunds. All pricesbelow include the destination charge.

�����(+�!���8#!�Starting manufacturer’s suggested

retail price: $21,420EPA-estimated fuel economy: 37-30

mpg combinedThe best extra-small crossover SUVs

take the sharper driving characteristicsof a sedan and add utility. Hyundai Konais a prime example of this formula doneright. Fitted with its optional tur-bocharged engine, the Kona is surpris-ingly quick to accelerate. It’s also nim-ble when going around turns.

Every Kona comes with features thataren’t always standard for this class, suchas Apple CarPlay and Android Autosmartphone integration. The Kona does-n’t have as much rear legroom or cargoroom as some of its rivals, but on thewhole it’s a great choice.

�����,���8��!�#��Starting MSRP: $24,195EPA-estimated fuel economy: 26-31

mpg combinedThe Buick Encore is a slightly

altered version of the Chevrolet Trax.The two vehicles share their engine andmost of their underpinnings. The Encorehas several key features that set it apart,though, and only commands a smallprice premium. That upscale yet afford-able feel is enough to earn a recommen-dation from our experts.

The biggest difference is theenhanced interior. The Encore useshigher-quality cabin materials and moresound-deadening techniques to blockout wind and road noise. You’ll have toaccept sluggish acceleration and limit-ed cargo space, but otherwise the Encoreis a smart small SUV choice.

�����(#!��(�DCStarting MSRP: $21,940EPA-estimated fuel economy: 28-30

mpg combinedIf you’re finding that other extra-

small crossover SUVs don’t provideenough room for passengers and cargo,the Honda HR-V could be the way to go.Its back seat is roomier than the norm,and we’ve found that adults can be fair-ly comfortable when seated there. It alsohas special folding seats that allow youto carry long or oddly shaped items thatwouldn’t fit in one of its rival crossovers.

Downsides include a somewhatloud and underpowered engine and atouchscreen infotainment system thatcan be overly distracting to use while dri-ving. But overall the HR-V is pricedright, and it’s practical andstrong in all the areas

a pint-

sized crossover should be.

�������,������#��"��8Starting MSRP: $23,155EPA-estimated fuel economy: 25-30

mpg combinedMost extra-small crossover SUVs

aren’t designed for recreational use. Onenotable exception is the SubaruCrosstrek. It has standard all-wheeldrive to provide extra traction on loosesurfaces as well as higher-than-averageground clearance to clear ruts androcks when out on a trail. The Crosstrekalso comes standard with raised roofrails that make it easy to install racks tohaul your favorite gear.

The Crosstrek is still a solid pickeven if you’re not planning on off-roadadventure. It has a smooth ride quality,a roomy back seat and easy-to-use con-trols. Nearly all Crosstreks sold alsocome standard with advanced driversafety aids such as forward collision mit-igation. Slow acceleration is the maindrawback to going with this Subaru.

���������E%Starting MSRP: $35,695EPA-estimated fuel economy: 22

mpg combinedLuxury brands are also playing the

extra-small SUV game. Audi’s entry isthe Q3. It’s Audi’s least expensive vehi-cle, yet it has many of the traits thebrand is known for, such as a high-qual-ity interior, a smooth ride and featuressuch as advanced driver safety featuresthat can help mitigate accidents andreduce driver distraction.

The Q3 isn’t the sportiest model inits class, and its fuel economy is belowpar. But on the whole, this little Audishows you don’t need to spend stacksof cash to get a stylish and practical lux-ury crossover SUV.

Edmunds says: A new breed ofcrossover SUVs is here. Extra-smallcrossovers provide close to the same

utility as small crossovers but costless and get better fuel econ-

omy.>3/

Irrfan Khan won’t be arriving at the bigscreens in the city with Angrezi

Medium, neither will Akshay Kumar’slatest biggie Sooryavanshi (which hasbeen postponed). Sandeep Aur PinkyFaraar featuring Parineeti Chopra andArjun Kapoor will be affected, too. Theimpact of restrictions to stem the spreadof the coronavirus in the Capital will befelt at the box office as Delhi cinemaswill be shut till March 31.

With the Delhi government official-ly announcing all cinema halls, schools,colleges in Delhi to be shut till March31 due to the outbreak of coronavirus,the film trade in the city is bound to feelthe impact. After the postponement ofSooryavanshi, massive shuffle of releasedates is expected.

“It is going to put a full stop to theforthcoming releases. Delhi is a hugemarket. If you look at the business oftwo releases — Shubh Mangal ZyadaSaavdhan and Thappad, they were fan-tastic in Delhi and NCR. Even other-wise, Delhi-NCR is a huge market. Thelosses will be worth crores. Why wouldyou even want to release when you knowthat the film will not be released inDelhi? Delhi is a big territory. Producerswill now pay attention and think aboutchanging release dates,” trade analystTaran Adarsh said.

The new announcement will ruinbox office takings of Irrfan’s AngreziMedium (scheduled for March 13) andParineeti Chopra-Arjun Kapoor’s

Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar (March 20).“The producers will strongly think todelay the release. I think they will haveto defer releases,” trade expert GirishJohar said.

According to Johar, shutting downof theatres in Delhi will have a “hugeimpact to potential revenue.” He said,“Delhi is a very important market. It isone of the topmost cities among revenueearners for Bollywood films across thecountry. In some cases, it is the num-ber one city among all regions andsometimes Mumbai is the number onecity. Delhi is one of the topmost crucialmarkets. If it shuts down theatres, it willhave a huge impact on Bollywood’spotential revenue,” Johar said. “We alsoneed to keep in mind that overseas, too,we are losing a major chunk right now,with the US under a lockdown, parts ofEurope and Australia also under lock-down. All these are big potential mar-kets. Now, Delhi cinemas will also beclosed. It will be a big loss,” he added.

The fate of the Ranveer Singh-star-rer 83 (April 10) is also undecided.Other big films slated in the first quar-ter include the Amitabh Bachchan andAyushmann Khurrana-starrer GulaboSitabo, Varun Dhawan-Sara Ali Khan’sCoolie No.1, Salman Khan’s actiondrama Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai,Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb, BuntyAur Babli 2 and Kangana Ranaut’sThalaivi.

Haathi Mere Saathi, Gunjan Saxena:The Kargil Girl, Ludo and Chehre arealso lined up in the first half. Accordingto Joginder Tuteja, trade analyst, “Baaghi3 came at a time when the news aboutvirus arriving in India had just broken.The makers didn’t have the time to reactand had to release it over the weekendgone by. Though the virus has impact-ed the film, we need to credit the massycontent due to which it has still donewell in its first week and is on course tobe a hit.”

Talking about the impact, RajKumar Mehrotra, general manager atDelite Cinema, said: “Around 10 to 12films are doing good business in Delhi-NCR right now. Shutting down the hallswill affect business of all these films. Bya rough estimate, if halls are asked toshut down till the end of the month, itcould even pile up a cumulative loss ofaround �100 crore in this territory.”

Sanjay Suri, who was set to bring theOscar-nominated drama Les Miserablesto India on March 13, hopes the situa-tion improves soon. “We shall wait forthe situation to improve and see if aphase-wise release is possible or notwhen shutdown is lifted. Safety is mostimportant,” Sanjay said in a statement.

>�3*�

Our design stories begin with apiece of cloth and we, thedesigners, romance it,” says

Nida Mahmood. For her, fabrics arethe most integral part of her designprocess as they have evolved to beaccepted and recognised as an artform. So it is that she resolves her cre-ative challenges through fabrics. It’s thereason that she has launched a sustain-able line through a sub-brand calledMadam Marigold. It revolves aroundIndian traditions with a contemporarytouch that aims to revive age-old artforms and techniques that do notexhaust natural resources and arelong-lasting. It comprises tunics,pants, saris, jackets, overlays anddresses.

The marigold flower has acted asNida’s muse as it stands for “everythingthat is Indian,” be it a wedding or a rit-ual or a new shop. “It epitomises Indiain several beautiful ways and cele-brates its true essence,” says she.

The collection brings Indian sim-plicity back in the limelight by reviv-ing age-old craftsmanship. In hermaiden collection, she has exploredthe ajrak printing from Gujarat andalso worked on a 160 year-old ana-logue photography technique toexpose designs on the garments andprints on textiles and paper. Ajrak, ablock-printed cloth with deep, crim-son red and indigo blue background,bears symmetrical patterns with inter-spersed unprinted sparkling-whitemotifs. The term is derived fromAzrak in Arabic which implies ‘blue’as it is one of the principal colours init. The colour is the major reason whythe designer chose the technique. It’sher “favourite” and she believes thatthere couldn’t have been a better wayto add her personal touch to the col-lection. She says, “Ajrak printing hasalways fascinated me, especially theindigo colour that it uses widely. It’san art form that needs labour of love.As a designer, my work has alwaysbeen about celebrating India and it’sbeautiful culture. Ajrak, hailing fromas old as the Indus valley civilisation,allows me to do so. I also feel that thiscraft has now been declining due tothe advent of more modern andquicker methods of printing. Brighterchemical dyes are replacing the nat-

ural, muted colours and this slow andcareful process of printing this tradi-tional textile is getting lost.”

In Ajrak, the process of dyeing andprinting the fabric is repeated again

and again with different kind of dyesto achieve the perfect design. Howchallenging is it to deal with such aslow and time-consuming processand yet balance it with the deadlines?“Yes, it is an extremely tedious tech-nique and requires a lot of attentionand care. We coat the fabric with aphotosensitive material so that thedesign and the colours are exposed.The entire process can even takearound two weeks to finally come toend. But once it takes shape, everydesign differs from each other in var-ious aspects. That is the beauty of it,”says Nida.

Eco-sensitivity forms the core ofher collection as the techniques usedfor dyeing, printing and other surfaceornamentation are sustainable. Eventhe process of Ajrak printing is long-lasting as it uses colours from natur-al elements like turmeric, pomegran-ate, onion peels, tea leaves, beetroot,hibiscus, marigold, natural indigoand many others. “It is very importantto consider the impact of the fashionindustry on the land that we are liv-ing. This is an eco-friendly brand. Wefocus on circularity in fashion whichpromotes minimum waste and anoptimum use of all resources. Wemake sure to constantly minimise thenegative impact of any resources onenvironment,” says she.

While the designer is known forintroducing new trends in fashion,what has been her creative process? “Ibelieve in following my heart as a cre-ative person and the only rule is to nothave rules. When one doesn’t box one-self in the rules set by society or anyindustry, one is able to create work thatis fresh and has an independent andfresh perspective,” says she.

As the fashion trends keep evolv-ing with every season, a designerneeds to constantly update his/herdesigns. What keeps Nida going? Shesays, “The love for what I do keeps thelight glowing. This is my bread andbutter and as an entrepreneur it isimperative for me to work towardsachieving mid-term and long termsbusiness goals. Though we nee to beon the toes all the time but there is nopressure. I guess one just slides intothe role that I need to play as it is sucha transient industry.”

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We all know by now thatwhole grains are good

for us and that we should beeating more of them. Anyonewho has dipped a toe (orspoon) into the world of farro,brown rice and quinoa alsoknows how satisfying and ver-satile the arena of whole grainscan be. But what are wholegrains exactly, and which onesshould you stock in yourpantry? The Whole GrainsCouncil, a nonprofit consumeradvocacy group, defines wholegrains as those that contain allthe essential parts and natural-ly occurring nutrients of thegrain seed. When grain isprocessed (for example, bycracking, crushing, rolling orcooking it), some of thosehealthy qualities can bestripped away.

Nutritionists have longtouted the health benefits ofwhole grains. Especially today,when many people are cuttingback on meat, whole grainscan provide texture, flavourand often protein.

Some of the whole grainsyou might experiment with areamaranth, barley, corn(including popcorn!), oats,farro, sorghum, millet, spelt,bulgur, wheatberries, crackedwheat, quinoa, rye, teff, andbrown and wild rice. Besideseating the whole grains whole,consuming things made withwhole grain flours is anotherway to get at the good stuff.

Read labels carefully :Some products might say“made with whole grains” or“made with whole grainflours” but the amount ofwhole grains in them might bevery small. “Multigrain” isanother possibly misleadingterm — multiple grains does-n’t mean that all or even anyof them are whole grains.Look for labeling that says“made with 100 per cent wholegrains”.

Whole grains can star in acasserole or grain salad, beserved up as a side dish, andbolster all kinds of recipesfrom meatloaves to fritters.The grains are often cookedbefore they’re used in a recipe,usually in water or broth.They can also be used in bak-ing, both savory and sweet.Whole grains soak up saucesbeautifully, and can be madeahead and frozen.

A handful of whole grains

to explore:Brown Rice: Switching to

more brown rice instead ofwhite is one of the simplestways to get more whole grainshappening at the table. Brownrice is rice with the inedibleouter hull removed but withthe germ and outer layer intact.It is more nutritious than whiterice, and has a denser, chewier,nuttier grain. It takes longer tocook than white rice, about 45minutes, and the ratio of waterto rice is about 2.5:1.

Quinoa (pronouncedkeen-wah) has been a star ofthe whole grain world forquite some time now.Although it might seem trendyand modern, however, it was astaple in the diet of the ancientIncas. Quinoa is actually aseed but is treated and cookedlike a whole grain. It takesbeautifully to all kinds of sea-sonings and uses. Whencooked, it has a light andfluffy texture, and a lightlynutty flavor. It’s got a high pro-tein count (8 grams in a halfcup of cooked quinoa), a nicedose of fiber and is gluten-free.

Millet (actually, a memberof the grass family) can becooked as a cereal, made intoflour, served as a side dish,made into pilafs or stuffings,you name it. It can even bepopped like corn. It’s rich inprotein, fiber, vitamins andminerals, easy to digest, andhas a slightly sweet, nutty fla-vor. Use millet in soups, saladsand stews.

Teff, a mainstay of tradi-

tional Ethiopian cooking, isbecoming popular worldwide.The grains are tiny, about thesize of poppy seeds but they arepacked with fiber, iron, calci-um and protein. You can useteff in many ways, cooked likeoatmeal or polenta or drycooked in a pan and sprinkledon salads.

Farro is often called speltin the US, where we are justdiscovering its charms, butthe Italians have been creatingfarro masterpieces for cen-turies. The grain originated inwestern Asia. It is similar tobarley, but denser and chewier.Farro is low in gluten, but notgluten-free. There is more thanone way to cook it, even on thestovetop. Some people prefercooking it like rice, with justthe right amount of liquid to befully absorbed. Others cookfarro in a lot of water, likepasta, and then drain it.

Bulgur Wheat: A staple inMiddle Eastern andMediterranean regions, bulgurwheat is whole wheat grainthat has been cracked andpartially precooked. It’s terrif-ic in side dishes, soup, pilafs,casseroles and salads (grainsalads and green salads alike).It can be added to meat dish-es like kibbeh and meatloaf toboost nutrition and bulk themup. Many people have encoun-tered bulgur as the backboneof Middle Eastern Tabboulehsalad. It is high in fiber, low infat, with a nice amount of pro-tein and a lovely nutty flavor.

>3/

There wasn’t much availablefor people to ‘waste’ theirtime on during the pre-

internet era. Of course, unliketoday, there were certainly noweb channels to watch films onat one’s own convenience. Butthere was something specialabout standing in queues of sin-gle-screen theatres to buy the‘first day, first show,’ ticketswhich adhered to strict timings.Films, with their dream-likesequences in idyllic locations,were an escape from monotonyof everyday life. The Hindi filmindustry has influenced us inmore ways than we can everrealise. And Noida Social at DLFMall of India gives us a perfectpeek into nostalgia.

As one enters the externalpremises of the cafe inside thebusy mall, tired after a day ofendless shopping, one noticesthat the table tops have faces oficonic characters fromBollywood like Mogambo andMr India. There are posters ofclassics and blockbusters fromthe 70s, 80s and 90s on a roundpillar. Moving towards the inter-nal premises, one comes acrossa poster of Dilwale Dulhaniya LeJayenge, which informs us thatit was one of the longest runningHindi films in the history ofIndian cinema. A windowtowards its left is designed likea ‘Box-Office’ panel. The hugehall inside the cafe remindsone of the vintage 80s cinemahall with old seat preferences —the stall, balcony, dress circle andbox. It has the touch of a typi-cal Broadway theatre with its redcarpet flooring. There are train-like window compartmentstowards the left, each with a redvelvet curtain on its side. I amcertainly teleported to an era Ihaven’t been a part of or haveonly seen being romanticised inBollywood films itself. Well,what an irony!

I realise I have admired mysurroundings way too much tohave ordered even a single dish,the reason why I had come herein the first place. I order EggsKejriwal mac n cheese, the firstitem that grabs my attention inthe newspaper-like menu.Meanwhile, I notice yet anoth-er addition which furtherenhances the cafe’s cinematheme — background music.English artistes from the 70s to90s like Bryan Adams, BonJovi, Celine Dion, Elvis Presleyand more feature ontheir playlist andtheir videos play ont h e

screen at the centre. Comingback to food, the Eggs Kejriwalseem like the perfect-lookingfirst dish. I wish it’s the same onthe taste front. The spicy macand cheese, topped with friedegg appears like a lasagna in abowl. Baked with cheese, I catchthe macaroni pasta as I dig myfork into the thick layer. The dishhas been cooked to perfection.The egg and cheese on top andthe pasta underneath are just theright blend.

Next up is Chaat kegubaarey. The dish is on mytable and I am wondering if Ihave got the wrong order. Itdoesn’t look like the way I hadimagined it to be nor themanner in which thewaiter had described it.

T h e

plate full of papdis looks exact-ly like a typical chaat. The onlyunusual thing being a white egg-like oval ball on each one ofthem. I wonder why there areeggs in a papdi chaat. After eat-ing one, I realise that what I havebeen thinking to bean egg is actual-ly a ball of hungcurd. Well, fullmarks to thepresentation aswell as the tasteas the curd meltsinside my mouthlike cream. It doesnot for a momentmake you feel that

you need toa d d

any-

thing more.Hummus aur tum, reminis-

cent of a typical Bollywoodfilm name, makes its way to mytable. I initially thought that thedish was a typical hummus pitaone. However, this too is a sur-prise. Two round pita breads aretopped with hummus, braisedtomatoes, feta cheese, arugulaand pomegranates. I polish offthe pair of breads with delightand realise that this is one dishthat I wanted to eat till eternity.It is certainly the best hummuspita dish I have had.

Till now, I haven’t been dis-appointed by any item. It is theturn for some drinks. A Cosmoexplosion cocktail lands on thetable. The drink is a blend ofcranberry juice, triple sec, maltaorange zest and vodka, which ispoured over a candy floss lyinginside the glass after it is broughtto the table. The floss melts soonenough and the cocktail is ready.I would describe this drink asslightly tart, a little sassy andcompletely delicious. There havebeen times when I don’t feel likehaving a cocktail because it’s notproperly mixed with alcohol.Sometimes the juice content islow and at other times, the alco-hol is not properly mixed. Thisone makes me relish a cocktail’sactual taste due to its right bal-ance.

The next is Benarasi Patiala.Social describes it as its most“dangerous combination” offreshly squeezed sugarcane juicewith homemade sweet and sourcondiments, fresh mint, ginger,organic salt and vodka. It can bedrunk as a mocktail too. But Iam already so impressed withthe place’s cocktail-making skillsthat I don’t flinch while order-ing another one. And this oneisn’t disappointing too.

I walk out with a contentheart. The place not only makesyou relive Bollywood’s goldenera but proves to be a box-office

hit when itcomes tofood. Well,you’ll cer-tainly enjoythis show!

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Paris Saint-Germainplayers celebrated

with supporters gath-ered outside the groundafter Neymar set themon their way to a 2-0win over BorussiaDortmund behindclosed doors onWednesday, takingthem through to theChampions Leaguequarter-finals 3-2 onaggregate.

PSG needed tooverturn a 2-1 defeat inthe first leg of their last-16 tie in Germany, butNeymar’s 28th-minuteheader put them aheadon the night in the sec-ond leg amid a surrealatmosphere, as bannedsupporters congregat-ed outside the Parc desPrinces instead.

Juan Bernat thendeflected in a PabloSarabia assist to make it2-0 and PSG — forwhom Kylian Mbappewas only fit enough toappear as a substitute —go through to the quar-ter-finals for the firsttime since 2016.Dortmund finished the

night with 10 men afterEmre Can was sent off.

This game wasplayed behind closeddoors after the Frenchgovernment banned allgatherings of more than1,000 people due to thecoronavirus outbreak,but many still cametogether outside.

Those supportersbrandished flares as theteam bus arrived beforethe game and sang andset off fireworksthroughout the match.

PSG players rushedto a concourse at theback of the stadium tocelebrate with them at

the end of the gameafter breaking a run ofthree straight exits inthe first knockoutround of the competi-tion.

“We played like ateam. It was a pleasureto be their coachtonight,” PSG coachThomas Tuchel toldbroadcaster RMC Sport.

“The atmospherewas great coming herein the bus, with all theultras singing. We wereall singing together andit was a special atmos-phere.

“It needed a hugeeffort from us, playing

without spectatorsmade it all the more dif-ficult.”

Neymar was caughton camera in tears afterthe match, having shak-en off desperate disap-pointment in the com-petition in the last twoyears, with injury pre-venting him from play-ing in the second legagainst Real Madrid atthis stage in 2018 and inboth legs againstManchester United lastseason.

Dortmund weredisappointing, though,with Erling BrautHaaland never lookinglike repeating his first-leg heroics when henetted twice.

Their defenderMats Hummels admit-ted his team struggledwith the atmosphere,saying: “It was reallybizarre, but for bothteams. The start of thegame was really strange,like a friendly.”

����� 38+6��553

Atletico Madrid managerDiego Simeone defendedhis side’s approach after

dumping Liverpool out of theChampions League with a 3-2victory after extra time at Anfieldto progress to the quarter-finals,winning 4-2 on aggregate.

The holders looked to haveended Atletico’s dogged resis-tance when Roberto Firmino putthem ahead in the last-16 tie afterGeorginio Wijnaldum’s first-halfheader forced the second leg intoan extra 30 minutes.

However, Liverpool weremade to rue a host of missedchances to kill the tie off in 90minutes as Llorente twice curledhome from outside the boxbefore Alvaro Morata twisted theknife by breaking away to scorein added time of extra time.

Defeat ends Jurgen Klopp’sproud record of never losing atwo-legged European tie asLiverpool manager and he tooka swipe of Atletico’s defensive tac-tics.

“The way they play, I don’tget it,” said Klopp. “They couldplay proper football but theystand deep and have counter-attacks.”

It remains to be seen if andwhen Atletico will play in the lasteight due to the chaos causedacross the continent by the newcoronavirus.

But Simeone basked inanother famous European nightfor the side he has twice led to thefinal in his eight years in charge.

“We play to win, with thearms that we have,” said Simeone.“Respecting our identity, thecharacteristics of our playersand exploiting the defects of ourrivals.”

OBLAK ‘BEST IN WORLD’A packed Anfield played its

part in trying to roar Liverpoolonto another Champions Leagueconquest as, unlike in numerouscountries across Europe, norestrictions have so far been puton supporters attending games inthe United Kingdom.

But it was the nearly 3,000travelling fans in attendance,that celebrated a stoic rearguarddisplay from their side.

The European cham-pions did not manage asingle shot on target in a1-0 defeat in Madrid threeweeks ago, but Jan Oblakwas quickly put to work.

But Oblak was help-less as Liverpool levelledthe tie just before half-timethrough Wijnaldum’s powerfuldownward header.

The goal did not changeAtletico’s approach as they playeda risky game and relied on Oblakto keep them in the game.

The Slovenian saved fromMohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Firmino, whileAndy Robertson hit the bar asLiverpool missed a number ofchances that ultimately cameback to cost them.

“I have no doubt Oblak is thebest goalkeeper in the world,”added Simeone.

Despite Liverpool being onthe brink of a first PremierLeague title in 30 years, theirnumber nine Firmino had notscored at home all season untilfour minutes into extra-time.

The Brazilian’s header fromWijnaldum’s cross came back offthe post and perfectly back intohis path to slot home with Oblakgrounded.

“Everybody who saw thegame tonight knows it couldhave been different,” said Klopp.

“I loved our first 90 min-utes, but we scored the sec-ond goal too late.”

However, no soonerhad Liverpool gone in frontfor the first time in the tiethan Atletico hit back witha sucker-punch.

The visitors had barely test-ed stand-in Liverpool goalkeep-er Adrian, but the loss of AlissonBecker to a hip injury eventual-ly proved Liverpool’s downfall.

Adrian fired a simple clear-ance straight to Joao Felix, whofed Llorente and he found thebottom corner.

“The pass was not helpful.Adrian is a super player, I lovethe boy, but in this moment, itis the wrong decision,” addedKlopp.

Llorente had joined Atleticofrom bitter rivals Real Madrid ina controversial move in June.

But the man whose fatherand great uncle, FranciscoGento, also played for Real,made himself a Rojiblanco herowith a second that securedAtletico’s place in the last eightwith another precise low finishin added time at the end of thefirst half of extra time.

Another former Real playerMorata then broke away and fin-ished calmly to inflict Liverpool’sfirst Champions League homedefeat since 2014.

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Manchester City’sChampions League last

16, second leg with RealMadrid and Lyon’s trip toJuventus became the latesthigh-profile football matchesto be postponed due to thecoronavirus outbreak, UEFAconfirmed on Thursday.

Juventus defender DanieleRugani has tested positive forthe virus, forcing players andstaff of the Italian championsinto quarantine.

Madrid players have alsobeen put into isolation afterone of the club’s basketballplayers tested positive forCOVID-19.

Both matches were due totake place on Tuesday, March17.

As it stands, Wednesday’s

two last 16, second legsbetween Bayern Munich andChelsea and Barcelona andNapoli are still set to go aheadbehind closed doors.

However, UEFA is to havea crisis meeting on Tuesdaywith representatives from all55 national associations andclub and player bodies todecide how national leagues,European competitions andEuro 2020 should proceed.

“The decision to post-pone Tuesday’s game wasmade in conjunction withUEFA and follows confirma-tion that players from RealMadrid will self-isolate forfifteen days,” City said in astatement.

“The Club sends its bestwishes to the players and staffat Real Madrid’s football andbasketball teams.”

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Bengal’s ‘Man Friday’ AnustupMajumdar stood between

Saurashtra and Ranji Trophy witha defiant unbeaten 58 as the sum-mit clash entered a tantalisingfinal day with the visitors needing72 runs more.

Bengal ended the fourth day at354 for six as Majumdar added 91runs for the unbroken seventhwicket stand with Arnab Nandi (28batting, 82 balls), who showed a lotof courage despite getting hit onthe finger by Jaydev Unadkatdelivery.

Majumdar, who had bailedBengal out of a precarious positionin the quarter as well as semi-final,was the saviour again and gotmuch needed support from Nandias the duo batted out the entire

evening session to keep the matchevenly poised going into day five.

The home team was guilty ofpoor fielding and allowing easyruns to Bengal in the final sessionwhere 90 runs were scored.

Harvik Desai at first slipdropped a regulation catch ofMajumdar, who was on 10 at thattime, and it proved to be a costlymiss.

On an absorbing day four,Bengal won the morning andevening session while Saurashtrastayed in the game by taking threewickets in the afternoon.

By day three, it had becomeclear that final will be decided bythe first innings lead and both

teams were locked in a fierce bat-tle on day four.

Resuming the day at 134 for 3,Sudip Chatterrjee (81 off 241) andWriddhiman Saha (64 off184) kept Bengal’s fightgoing with a 101-run part-nership, consuming 49overs in the process. Theyfrustrated Saurashtra inthe wicket-less morning ses-sion, scoring 89 runs in 29overs. Saurashtra found a much-needed breakthrough in the eighth

over after lunch when against therun of play, Chatterjee was caughtat short leg off Jadeja.

That allowed Saurashtra tobuild pressure on the oppositionand soon after, Saha’s stay in themiddle finally ended after playedon to his stumps off mediumpacer Prerak Mankad. It was a

thick edge which just kissedthe off-stump to dislodgethe bails.

Towards the end of theafternoon session, left-armpacer Chetan Sakariya

crashed through ShahbazAhmed’s stumps to make it 263

for six. It was just the kind of ses-sion Saurashstra wanted as they

conceded only 46 runs in 28 oversand more importantly took threewickets.

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The first ODI between India andSouth Africa was on Thursday aban-

doned without a ball being bowled dueto incessant rain here.

It was the second match in less thansix months to be abandoned at the pic-turesque Himachal Pradesh CricketAssociation (HPCA) Stadium because ofinclement weather.

Incidentally, that match was also anIndia-South Africa clash in Septemberlast year.

The first ODI of the three-matchseries was always in doubt after theweatherman forecast widespread rainsand thundershowers over the region onThursday and Friday because of freshwestern disturbance over north Pakistanand adjoining Jammu and Kashmir.

Fans and organisers had offeredprayers at the Indrunag Temple in thehills overlooking the stadium in anattempt to appease the rain gods.

Heavy rain had also lashed the hilltown just after the two teams’ practice ses-sions on Wednesday, forcing the organ-

isers to cover the entire playing area.If that was not enough, it rained the

entire night on the eve of the match.It was overcast for major part of the

day and heavens opened up just beforethe start. It rained on and off after that,forcing the toss to be delayed and bring-ing ground staff into action.

The rain was not that heavy but wasenough for water to accumulate, forcingorganisers to press three super-soppersinto action.

But despite working tirelessly, theground staff failed to clear the ground,forcing the on-field umpires to call off thematch.

The cut-off time for a 20-over gamewas 6.30pm (IST) but the on-fieldumpires made their final inspectionand decided to abandon the matchmuch before that.

The novel coronavirus outbreak andadverse weather conditions affected tick-et sales as well.

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The remaining two one-dayersbetween India and South Africa

will be played in empty stadiums inLucknow and Kolkata due to thedreaded novel coronavirus pandem-ic, the BCCI confirmed on Thursday.

The matches are scheduled to beheld in March 15 (Lucknow) andMarch 18 (Kolkata).

The sports ministry has issued anadvisory that in case it’s unavoidableto postpone a sporting event, then itis preferable that it be conducted with-out a large public gathering.

“After holding discussions withthe Ministry of Youth Affairs andSports (MYAS) and Ministry OfHealth and Family Welfare(MOHFW), the BCCI on Thursdayannounced that the remaining twoOne-day Internationals of the three-match series of South Africa tour ofIndia, 2020, will be played without anypublic gathering, including specta-tors,” a BCCI media release stated.

“The BCCI has been workingclosely with the Government of Indiaalong with Ministry of Youth Affairsand Sports and Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare in the wake of NovelCoronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak,”it added.

“The BCCI is making every effortfor compliance with the regulatorybodies of the Government of Indiaand ensure the safety of our athletesand valued fans.”

The BCCI will continue to takeguidance from the Government ofIndia and state regulatory bodies.

The Uttar Pradesh CricketAssociation (UPCA) had confirmedin the evening itself that LucknowODI will be held behind closed doorswhile the Cricket Association ofBengal (CAB) has also put ticket saleson hold with immediate effect, anindicator of things to come.

UPCA secretary Yudhveer Singhconfirmed the development to thereporters in Lucknow on Thursday.

“After receiving the governmentadvisory, we had a discussion withBCCI officials and then decided thatspectators will be barred from enter-ing the stadium during second ODIbetween India and South Africa onMarch 15,” Yudhveer said

���� �67&63�8

The money-spinning IPLmulled a closed-door edition

in a desperate bid to avoid can-cellation as the deadly COVID-19 sent Indian sports into quar-antine after a government direc-tive asked for fans to be keptaway from all action to preventthe pandemic from spreading.

“...Ensure that no publicgathering takes place in anysporting event. In the event thesporting event cannot be avoid-ed, the same could be done with-out allowing gathering of people,including spectators,” read anorder from the Sports Ministrywhich caused quite an upheavalthrough the day.

The directive ensured thatthe remaining two ODIsbetween India and South Africain Lucknow and Kolkata, theIndian Super League footballtournament final in Goa, and thelast day of the Ranji Trophy sum-mit clash in Rajkot will beplayed in front of empty stadi-ums, an unprecedented turn ofevents in Indian sports.

On the IPL, the BCCI main-tained a stoic silence but theSports Ministry dropped enoughhints that the glitzy T20 tourna-ment could be held in empty sta-diums too due to the health cri-sis even as foreign players wereruled out till April 15 followinggovernment-imposed travelrestrictions. The event is due tostart on March 29 in Mumbai.

The Ministry of ExternalAffairs has also advised theBCCI to “not do it at this timebut if the organisers want to goahead, it is their decision”.

In another major develop-ment, the All India FootballFederation said that the remain-ing 28 matches of the I-League,

including the marquee Kolkataderby between championsMohun Bagan and East Bengal,are likely to be played in emptystadiums.

This came a day after organ-isers of badminton’s India Open,starting March 24, decided theywon’t allow spectators this year.

Besides, the national tennisfederation and the ParalympicCommittee of India decided toput on hold all national andstate-level championships tillApril 15, keeping in mind gov-ernment directions.

The Athletics Federation ofIndia, on the other hand, with-drew invitations to foreign com-petitors for the Federation Cupbut said that the event itself willgo ahead in Patiala from April10-13.

The IPL’s fate would be upfor discussion at the event’sGoverning Council meeting onSaturday and the BCCI hasdecided to adopt a wait andwatch policy till then. SportsSecretary Radhey ShyamJulaniya said that events cancontinue but without the pres-ence of crowds.

“We have asked all theNSFs, including the BCCI, tofollow the Health Ministry’slatest advisory, which says pub-lic gatherings should be avoid-ed in all events, including sport-ing activities,” Julaniya said.

“The sporting events can goon but the advisory needs to befollowed,” he added.

The government onWednesday suspended all visas,barring a few categories likediplomatic and employment, inan attempt to prevent the spreadof coronavirus as cases acrossIndia rose to more than 70.

The outbreak, declared apandemic by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) onWednesday, has led to morethan 4,000 deaths and left over100,000 infected globally.

In India, Karnataka and

Delhi have declared COVID-19epidemics. The two states arehome to IPL teams RoyalChallengers Bangalore (led byVirat Kohli) and Delhi Capitals.

The shooting World Cupand the Indian Open golf tour-nament are so far the biggestevents to have been postponedin the Indian sporting calendar.

Meanwhile, the Indian box-ing team, returning from theAsian Olympic Qualifiers inJordan, will be asked to stay“home-quarantined” eventhough all the members havegot the necessary health clear-ances.

A total of 13 boxers andalmost an equal number ofcoaching staff arrive back onThursday after clinching anunprecedented nine Olympicslots in the qualifiers whichconcluded on Wednesday inAmman.

“They will be asked to quar-antine themselves at theirhomes or hostel rooms for a fewdays. They have, however, beengiven the necessary health clear-ances by the Jordanian Olympicassociation,” Boxing Federationof India’s Executive Director RK Sacheti said.

The coronavirus outbreakhas also led to speculation overthe fate of the Tokyo Olympicsthis year. The InternationalOlympic Committee (IOC),however, has insisted that theGames will be held as scheduledin July-August.

���� 48��8�*���

Rising Indian shuttlerLakshya Sen was knocked

out of the All EnglandChampionships after losing instraight games to VictorAxelsen here on Thursday.

Lakshay went down to theworld number seven Dane 17-21, 18-21 in a hard fought sec-ond round battle which last-ed 45 minutes.

The 18-year old Indian,who won five titles last season,had defeated Hong Kong’sCheuk Yiu Lee 17-21, 21-8 21-17 in the opening round.

On Wednesday night, starIndian shuttler Saina Nehwal’s

chances of qualifying for theOlympics took a hit after shemade a first-round exit, fol-lowing a loss to Japanesenemesis Akane Yamaguchi.

Up against world numberthree Yamaguchi, it was atough opening round for

Saina, who lost 11-21, 8-21 injust 28 minutes.

Saina is placed 20th onthe BWF rankings with 46267points and the 2012 LondonOlympics Bronze-medallistneeds to enter the top-16bracket by April 28 to makethe cut for the 2020 TokyoGames.

She now needs strongperformances to pocket cru-cial ranking points.

The 29-year-old is sched-uled to compete at the SwissOpen (March 17-22), IndiaOpen (March 24-29) andMalaysia Open (March 31-April 5) in the followingweeks.

���� �.�4�8

The Road Safety World Series, featuring crick-et greats such as Sachin Tendulkar and Brian

Lara, have been cancelled for the time being in viewof the rising coronavirus threat in Maharashtra.

The organisers said the series have been calledoff for the safety of the players and the public.

“In the interest of public safety and security,and following the advisory issued by Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare, the organising bodyhas unanimously agreed to reschedule the remain-ing matches of the series to a later date,” a mediarelease said.

“The remaining seven matches in the serieswill now be played when the situation is conduciveto hold public events with large gathering and thereare no travel restrictions,” the statement added.

����������C��D� The gov-ernment has made it clearto the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI)that any sporting event thathas to be held amid theongoing coronavirus out-break will have to be behindclosed doors and the fran-chises are okay with the ideaof the IPL being held withempty stands. But they wishfor their foreign players tobe made available from thestart of the season.

Speaking to IANS, anofficial of one of the fran-chises said that with thegovernment making itsstance clear and the WorldHealth Organisation(WHO) declaring the coro-navirus outbreak a “pan-demic”, there is no otheroption than to play thematch behind closed doors.

“See, the gate money isno issue as these things areinsured. As for the fans, itis disappointing, but wedon’t really have much of anoption as we have to abideby the diktat of the centralgovernment and evenWHO has declared the out-break a “pandemic”.

“This makes it clearthat if we have to have anIPL this year, it has to bebehind closed doors. Sonow, would we rather wantan IPL where fans canwatch the games on televi-sion or we don’t want anIPL in 2020? So, we are okaywith that, but the BCCImust sit down and speak tothe central government tomake an exception andallow the foreign players tocome in before April 15 asthe IPL loses its sheen oth-erwise,” the official said.

While there have beenrumours that the league

could be started in the sec-ond week of April, anotherofficial said that was a strictno-no as that would meanmissing the foreign starsgoing into the business end.

“The internationalcommitments that the play-ers have cannot be toyedwith and the host broad-casters have already made itclear that they are not tookeen on double headers. So,keeping the interest of allparties in place, the bestoption is to have an IPLbehind closed doors. Thefranchises will have to bearthe loss that comes withmerchandise sales, but thatis a nominal amount ascompared to the losses thatwill be incurred if the IPLdoesn’t happen in 2020,” theofficial said.

An official of anotherfranchise made it clear thatthe BCCI must ensure thatthey sit down with the con-cerned governmentaldepartments and ensurethat at least the foreignplayers are handed permis-sion as they are alreadytouring around the world.

“See, the Proteas arealready in the country, so asper the directive, they caneasily stay back. Also, if yousee, the Englishmen arealready in Sri Lanka and theKiwis are playing theAussies in Australia, so theyare anyway on the road. Wejust need the BCCI to sitdown with the governmen-tal departments and get usthe clearance so that we canhave the IPL with foreignplayers. The whole tourna-ment will lose its charm ifthe foreign players are notthere. It is the biggest crick-et carnival in the world fora reason,” the official said.

���"�� �67&63�8

West Indies legend Brian Lara feelsthat India are still the best trav-

elling team in Test cricket despite theirrecent 2-0 defeat in New Zealand. Indiahad lost the first Test by 10 wickets andthe second by seven with their battinglineup looking all at sea in all fourinnings.

Lara considers what happened inNew Zealand an “aberration.”

“I think India have been travellingvery well in the last ten or so years.What happened in New Zealand, I

think it's more of an aberration, I thinkcoming off so much one-day and T20cricket, it might have been tough forthem in the Test arena outside of India.But I think India is still maybe the besttravelling team in the world,” Lara toldESPNCricinfo.

Lara said that West Indies and Indiawould be two teams that Australia willbe worried about the most at the T20World Cup later in the year. “In termsof a team, obviously I want to see theWest Indies go all the way and win,” saidLara.

“India, with the fact that they pro-

duce so much international cricketersthrough their league (Indian PremierLeague) has enhanced every single play-er who plays for India. I mean KL Rahulis my favourite player in the world, Ilove watching him and I think India isgoing to be a force to reckon with.

“Australia at home… it’s not goingto be an easy World Cup for anyone.Australia is going to be worried aboutIndia and the West Indies, West Indiesare going to be worried about every-body because of their inconsistencysometimes. So it’s going to be a greatWorld Cup to look at.”

���� &�������3�

Flamboyant India all-rounderHardik Pandya has revealed that he

felt a lot of “mental pressure” when hisefforts to recover fast from his backinjury did not fructify.

The 26-year-old had undergone asuccessful surgery in October last yearto treat an acute lower-back injury,which kept him out of action for sixmonths.

“I missed this atmosphere inthese past six months, playing for Indiaand the feeling that you get wearing the

team’s colours. That had becomemental challenge and there were a lotof setbacks,” Pandya said during hisappearance on Chahal TV ahead of theseries-opener.

“I was trying to get back to full fit-ness quickly but that did not work outand there was a lot of mental pressureat that time. But everything went fine,the rehabilitation went well and a lotof people helped me,” he added.

Last month, he was ruled out ofthe Test series against New Zealandafter failing to regain full match fitnessbut was included

He finally made comeback tocompetitive cricket by featuring in theReliance 1 team in the DY Patil T20Cup, an invitational tournament.

He scored two centuries, the sec-ond of which was an unbeaten 55-ball158 in which he smashed 20 sixes.Pandya said it was an “importantinnings” for him.

“I had not played a single game forsix and a half months. I wanted tomake an international comeback so itwas very important for my confidence.No matter how much you practice thematch situation is always different.”

“So I just kept on playing, my con-fidence kept improving and the sixeswere coming of well. I though if theyare coming off well, why should I stopand I keep going. But I never thoughtthat I will hit 20 sixes in an innings,”he added.

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,����&�� �������������������!��� The final day of theRanji Trophy summit clashbetween Bengal and Saurashtrawill be played without any spec-tators due to the COVID-19 pan-demic, the BCCI said onThursday.

“No public will be allowed onthe final day. Only the players,match officials, officials from thehost association and media areallowed,” BCCI general managerSaba Karim, who is in charge ofdomestic cricket, said. PTI

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