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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

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

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

ADITIRAJAVADODARA,MAY4

AMONGTHOSEstrandedduetothe nationwide coronaviruslockdownareseveralnewborns.More than a dozen such babieshave been waiting, some formore than a month, at theAnandsurrogacyhubinGujarat,waiting for their biological par-ents to take themhome.Dr Nayna Patel of the

Akanksha InfertilityCentre,oneofthebiggestsurrogacyfacilities

inthecountry,saidthatof the27surrogate babies born at theirhospital during the lockdown,only10hadbeenhandedovertoparents.“Itisaverydifficulttime.OurstaffandtheNICUdoctoraretaking care of the babies. Thedoctor is spending hours to-getheransweringqueriesofpar-entsoverthephone.Wealsoun-derstand the emotional toll onthe parents,” said Dr Patel,adding that the administrationwasdoing itsbest tohelp.Other centres in Anand also

have babies and parents simi-

larly stuck.Amongtheluckyparentsare

aBengalurucouple,aged43and39, whowere able to reach theAkankshacentre just in time forthebirthof theirsononApril16,after spending three days and1,600kmontheroad.Theyspentanother14daysinquarantinebe-forebeingallowedtoholdhim.The couple say they were

stopped atmultiple checkpostsacross Karnataka, MaharashtraandGujarat, andspent11hoursintheircaratValsadalone,wait-ing for police to okay the “per-

mission” they had got from theauthorities in Bengaluru. Themother said the note theywerecarrying said “travelling for thebirthof theirbaby”,dueonApril16, and police repeatedly saidshedidn’t lookpregnant.It was difficult to explain

themabout surrogacy, she said.Herhusband,asoftwareprofes-sional, said, “Mostof thepolice-men thoughtwewere lying. AtValsad,theGujaratPolicetoldustoapplyforpermissionfromthestate administration.We did sodigitallybutthefirstrequestwas

rejected in three hours. I had tomakeasecondrequest.”Akankshahasmadearrange-

ments for the parents to stay ata residential society nearby.However, Dr Patel said, theyfacedmuchoppositionfromthelocals. “They created a humanchaintoprotest...Later,withhelpfrom the administration, thingswere resolved. However, we dounderstand the concern every-one has about the pandemic. Itis a helpless situation andmostpeople are being guarded and

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PAGE1ANCHOR

AttheNICUinAkanksha InfertilityCentre,Anand. Express

Babies stuck in surrogacy hub, parents wait for travel nod

AmanisstoppedbypoliceinEastDelhiforbuying“overthelimit”asliquorshopsopenedtolongqueuesandchaosacrossthecountryonMonday.PraveenKhanna REPORTSPAGE3

EUROPE’S LONGESTLOCKDOWNEASES:WORKRESUMESIN ITALYPAGE 12

15-yr-old heldin South Delhi,police probeonline chats

Corona cess:Liquor pricesup 70% fromtoday in DelhiSOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI,MAY4

THEPRICEof liquor,acrosscate-gories,will goupby70per centin the national capital fromTuesday,withtheDelhigovern-mentimposinga“specialcoronafee”onalcohol.Alate-nightnotificationstates

the excisewill be “70per cent ofthemaximumretail price on allcategories of liquor sold throughretail licensees”.On Monday, government-

run alcohol shops in Delhiopened for the first time sinceMarch23.Butdespiteappealsbyauthorities forsocialdistancing,there was crowding outsidemany of the 150-odd outlets. Insome areas, police used lath-icharge to forceshops toshut.Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwalwarned that violationsmay lead to complete sealingofareas. Union Health MinisterHarshVardhanalsosaidDelhi,a‘redzone’,mayhaverushedintoopening liquor shops.The government amended

theDelhiExciseAct,2009,forthespecialfees.AspokespersonsaidthenewrateswillstartTuesday.Delhi earns around Rs 500

crore per month from the saleof liquor.

MAHENDERSINGHMANRAL&SOMYALAKHANINEWDELHI,MAY4

THEDELHIPoliceCyberCellhaslodged an FIR following a com-plaintaboutaprivateInstagramgroup,whereteenageboysfromprominent South Delhi schoolsdiscussed girls’ body parts andshared theirphotos. Policehavealsoapprehendeda15-year-oldboyandareprobing thematter.Purported screenshots from

the group, called ‘Bois LockerRoom’, had been sharedwidelyon Twitter and Instagram onSunday.TheCyberCellthentooksuomotucognizanceofthemat-ter and filedanFIR.A seniorpo-liceofficersaid,“OnMonday,wefound out that the administra-tion of a prominent privateschool had filed a complaint atSaketpolice station.”The officer said, “In their

complaint,schoolauthoritiesre-questedpolicetoinvestigatetheincident. Police, using technicalsurveillance, got the registerednumberof the15-year-old,whohad allegedly shared a photo-graph on the group. His phonewas switched off. After findinghis address, he was appre-hendedonMondayevening.”Police have so far found that

some students of leading SouthCONTINUEDONPAGE2

From capital to labour to credit, small firmson the brink, have emergency wishlist for govtPRANAVMUKUL,AANCHALMAGAZINE,PRABHARAGHAVAN&AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,MAY4

REVENUE, LABOUR, capital, ac-cesstorawmaterials,overheads,anddemand—thequestionmarkovereachisgettingbiggerbytheday as the lockdown and itsgraded easing affect firms in theMicro,SmallandMediumenter-prises sector (MSME), in bothmanufacturingandservices.Whileeachcaseisunique,all

are united over the basics theywantthegovernmenttoensure:cheaperbankloanstohelpthem

tide over the working capitalproblem, permission for longerdaily working hours in majorbusiness districts during initialweeks, and easing of supply-chainconstraintstoensureavail-ability of inputs and outflow offinishedgoodsandservices.Given that this sector is re-

sponsible for an estimated 11crore jobs and accounts for 30per cent of the GDP, and a pro-

longedcrisiscouldinfecttheen-tireeconomy.Zeroproductionincompanies

higher up the supply chain hashad a crippling effect onmanyMSME firms, which are almostfullydependentonthemfortheirbusiness. One of the hardest hithasbeentheautoancillarysector,giventhat inApril,passengercarandtwo-wheelermanufacturersclocked“zero”domesticsales.SaidMilindKamble, founder

of the Dalit Indian Chamber ofCommerce and Industry: “Theautomobilesectoriscompletelyshut andmost of the SME andMSMEinIndiaareintheautoan-cillarybusiness.Sincethereisnodemandfromthebiggerplayers,

it has trickled down and de-prived theMSMEs of any busi-ness,”Kamblesaid.Moreover, as consumers

across the country cut downondiscretionary spending, sale ofcarsorelectronicitems,evenaf-ter the lockdown is lifted, is un-likely topickupsoon.According to Aakanksha

Bhargava, CEO and President ofPM Relocations, a Gurugram-based logistics company, sincecashflowisthebiggestissue,thegovernmentcouldconsiderpro-viding some sort of refund ormoney transfer linked to pay-ment history of income tax orGST by the company. The SME

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MSMESOS

AN EXPRESS SERIES

PART3

Migrant trains: Paying85%, says Centre as Soniatells Cong to pick up tab

Curve flattened, but no dipis a concern: AIIMS chiefKARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI,MAY4

WHILE THE lockdown has“helpedinflatteningthe(COVID-19) curve”andprovidedabufferfor the country to upgrade itsmedical infrastructure,DrRandeepGuleria,Director,AllIndiaInstituteofMedicalSciences(AIIMS), expressedconcernoverthe fact that “the curve has notshownadownwardtrend”.

Dr Guleria, a renowned pul-monologist, is part of the coreteam of top officials reviewingandmonitoringthepandemicinthe country. He is involved inbuilding strategies for preven-tion, containmentandmanage-mentof COVID-19.Speaking at the online

Express Adda, hosted by TheIndian Express on Monday, hesaid: “While the lockdown hashelped in flattening the curve,

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BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR,MAY4

INOCTOBERlastyear,agrenadethrown at a street market inSrinagar city explodedwound-ingafewvendors.Anunknownmilitant outfit, The ResistanceFront (TRF), claimed responsi-bility, but the security agenciestrashed it as an “act ofmiscreants” to force ashutdown in theValley.Six months later, the little-

knownoutfitistakingtothecen-trestageofmilitancyinKashmir

with its involvement in the re-centencountersthatresultedin

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AVISHEKGDASTIDAR,ABANTIKAGHOSH&MANOJCGNEWDELHI,MAY4

AS A political storm raged onMonday over strandedmigrantworkers beingmade to pay fortheir journeyhome, theCentralgovernment stood firm on thefarepolicyforitsShramikSpecialtrains,andsaiditwasbearingthebulkof thecost.Sources intheRailwayssaid

that there was no move to re-vise the guidelines or StandardOperating Procedure issued onSaturday vis-à-vis fares, andthat the Railways would con-

tinuetochargestates, atwhoserequest thesetrainswerebeingrun, for tickets.Fifty-eight Shramik Special

trains have been run so far, in-cluding 13 on Monday fromcities like Bengaluru, Surat,Sabarmati,Akola, andKota.In the face of criticism, the

government said that throughthe fares, it was asking states topayonly15percentof theover-allcostincurredbytheRailwaysto runthese trains.“Government of India or

Railways never said anythingaboutchargingthemigrants.Wesaidwewill bear 85 per cent ofthe cost and states will bear 15

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DEEPESTCUT INEXPENDITURESINCESTATEWASFORMED

67%cut inschemesexpenditureasstate fears revenue lossof `50,000cr

ADILAKHZERHANDWARA,MAY4

ADAYafterfivesecurityperson-nel, including two senior Armyofficers,diedinagunbattlewithmilitants, threeCRPFpersonnelwerekilled inanattackbymili-tants in North Kashmir’sHandwaraMondayevening,of-ficials said. Security forces alsorecoveredthebodyofa14-year-old boy, who was “killed incrossfire”.“Three personnel of 92 Bn

CRPF attained martyrdom,” aCRPF spokesperson said. Thethree,allofthemconstables,havebeen identified as AshwaniKumar from UP, and

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SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI,MAY4

MAHARASHTRA, the stateworst-hit by the Covid-19 pan-demic in the country, Mondaydeclaredafreezeonnewcapitalworks tillMarchnextyear.Thestate,whoseBudgetsize

is the secondbiggest afterUttarPradesh, imposed a 67 per centcut in development (scheme)spend for 2020-21. “This is thedeepest ever cut inexpendituresince the state was formed in1960,” anofficial said.As on date, the state had

12,974confirmedCovidcases,ac-counting for 30 per cent of allcasesinthecountry,andhadreg-istered548deaths,almost40percentof all deaths in the country,according to the Ministry ofHealthandFamilyWelfare.Less than twomonths back,

the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congressgovernment had presented aRs 4.34 lakh crore budget for2020-21, an increase of 4.1 percent over the revised estimatefor2019-20.Theonlyotherstatewith a bigger budget thanMaharashtra isUttarPradeshThecapitaloutlay (spending

which leads to asset creation)wasestimatedatRs45,124crorefor this year, 2.6 per cent lowerthan in2019-20.Barring procurements of in-

frastructure and items requiredforcombatingthepandemic,the

state has ordered departmentstowithholdtendersfornewpur-chases and approvals for newdevelopmentworks. To ensurecontinuity in administrationduring the outbreak, it has alsoput a stop on all departmentaltransfers.As the country entered its

third phase of the nationwidelockdown, Maharasthra’sFinance Department estimatedits own loss in tax revenues ofabout Rs 50,000 crore. For thecurrentfinancialyear,thestate’sown tax revenues were bud-getedatRs2,25,071crore.Seniorofficialssaidthelosseswereonlylikely to increase further.

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DEEPTIMANTIWARY&ATRIMITRANEWDELHI, KOLKATA,MAY4

THEINTER-MINISTERIALCentralTeam that visited Kolkata,Howrah and certain other dis-trictsinWestBengal,tocheckitscoronaviruspreparation,hassaidthatat12.8percent,thestatehasthehighestmortalityrateamongCovid-19patientsinthecountry,and accused it of low testing,weak surveillance and discrep-ancies inreportingcases.Headed by Ministry of

Defence Additional SecretaryApurvaChandra, theteamcom-pleted its two-week tour ofWest Bengal onMonday, send-ing the above as “FinalObservations of the IMCT” in aletter addressed to state ChiefSecretaryRajivaSinha.WithWest Bengal changing

protocol sinceApril30 toreflectallCovid-19patientsindailysta-tisticsanddeathcertificates,theIMCT praised this aswell as theincrease in the daily testing inthe state from400 to 2,410, butflagged the non-cooperation ofthestatebureaucracy.Yettosub-mit its final report totheCentre,iturged thestate to take its sug-gestions “in the right spirit”.Reacting to the letter, Chief

Secretary Sinha said,“Unfortunately, every time, twohours before I get the letter, it is

distributed among themedia.Weareworkingonitandwillan-swerapproprately.”In his letter, Chandra said,

“The IMCT notes that the stategovernment has on 30.04.2020made a pronouncement thathenceforth all death of COVIDpatients would be indicated inthedailystatisticsandthedeathcertificate would be issued byhospitalswiththeCommitteeofDoctors examining randomsamples. This is a big step to-wardstransparency.Atthesametime, it raises the total deathcount of COVID patients in thestateto105on30.04.2020.Foratotal reported number of 816Covidpatients,themortalityrateof12.8percentisbyfarthehigh-est in the country. This ex-tremely highmortality rate is a

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CoronavirusepicentreMaharashtra freezesalldevelopment spend for a year, nonewhiring

After nudge, how Bengaltightened the lockdown,finetuned its fightbackRAVIKBHATTACHARYA&ATRIMITRAKOLKATA,MAY4

WHEN TWO Inter-MinisterialCentralTeams(IMCTs)landedinKolkataonApril21toassess thesituation insevenCovid-hitdis-tricts ofWest Bengal, the rulingTMC reacted angrily, saying theCentrewasfightingstateswhenstates were fighting the coron-avirus.But thatwas then.Ever since the arrival of the

IMCTs,therehasbeenanunmis-takablechange inthestate’sap-proach to thepandemic.Ithastightenedmeasureson

thegroundtocontainthespreadof thevirus, enforced lockdownrules strictly in containment

zones, increasedtestingof sam-ples, givenhospitals a freehandin treatment of patients,changed the format of itsmed-icalbulletinstoreflectreal-timecasedata,andorderedalldistrictmagistrates to submit daily re-portsoncontainmentzones.Consider the following:■ In two red zones that ac-

counted for more than 50 percent of the positive cases in thestate, guard rails cameup in ar-eas likeBelgachia,Narkeldanga,Rajabazar, Park Circus,Metiabruz,Tangra,Beltala,partsofPatuli inKolkata;andHowrahMaidan, Kazipara, Shibpur,Tikiapara,Salkia,NetajiSubhashRoad inHowrah.

■Severalcongestedmarketswere shifted to open fields in

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DrGuleriaate-AddaMonday

AtaKolkatahospital.Betransparent,don’tdownplayvirus, says IMCTletter.Express

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

EXPLAINED

SIMPLYPUTWHYLIQUORMATTERSTOSTATESPAGE11

1,389DEATHS

11,762RECOVERED

11,07,233sampleshavebeentestedasonMay4

42,836CASES

STALLINGALLdevelop-mentworks for the fullyear showsthemassiveimpactof the lockdownonstate finances.Withalmostzero revenues inApril, thestateexpects itstax revenues toshrinkbyat least25percent, giv-ing it very little fiscalspace toundertakeanynewcapitalworks, bar-ring thosecritical in itsfightagainstCovid.

Brakes onspendingE●EX

PLAINED

In freshviolenceinSurat,workersclashedwithpoliceMonday,leavingtwopersonnelinjured.HanifMalek REPORTSP5

Lashkar regroups in Valleyas The Resistance Front

Fresh encounter in Handwara, threeCRPF men killed in militant firing

ThebodyofColAshutoshSharma,killedonSaturday,in Jaipur.Rohit JainParas

THEWORLD

CORONACOUNT

INSIDE

BIGGESTSURGEINCASES,DEATHSPAGE5

Highest death rate,low testing, numbermismatch: Centralteam red-flags Bengal

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

MaharashtraStateFinanceMinisterAjitPawarhad earlier approached theCentreseekingaRs50,000crorepackage for the state economy.The Centre has not committedanythingsofar.Projectingtheeconomicsitu-

ationtoremaingloomythisyear,andasharperosioninitsownrev-enues, thestategovernmenthasstayedallnewworksexcept“op-erationalexpenses”forCOVID-19controlmeasures. Till the timethat thecurbsare lifted,only fivedepartments - public health,medicaleducation,foodanddrugadministration,foodandcivilsup-plies,andreliefandrehabilitation-havebeenauthorisedtocommitto newspending. But even theywillberequiredtorestrict them-selvesonlytopurchasesforcom-batingtheoutbreak.Besidesthe67percentcut in

schemeexpenditure,thestatehasalso frozen fresh recruitment tillfurtherorders.“Departmentsec-retaries have been asked to re-viewall ongoing schemes. Onlythosethatareunavoidablewillbetakenuponpriority.Someotherswillbestayed.Othersthatcanbeavoidedwillbecancelled,”saidaseniorofficial.For Centrally-sponsored

schemes(CSS),departmentshavebeen asked to sit for a collectivereviewwith the financedepart-ment.“CutsinexpenditureonCSSwoulddependontheamountofthe state’s share and also thescheme’soverallimportance,”theorder stated.Departments havealso beenbarred fromreleasingfunds to loss-making corpora-tionsfornow.Objecting to development

fundslyingunspentwithdepart-ments or such corporations,Mehtaaskedthefinancedepart-mentnottoreleasenewgrantstillthese are either surrendered orutilised. Further, departmentshavebeenaskedtocapadminis-trativeexpensesat75percentofthe budgeted amount,with re-strictions announced for expen-diture onoffice renovation, sta-tionery, consultancies, and rentsamongothers.Departmentshavebeenaskedtoprioritisespendingoncommittednon-developmen-tal liabilities, including salaries,pensions,andservicingofdebt.

Online chatsDelhi schools created theInstagramgroupinthelastweekofMarchandstartedaddingtheirfriends. “A fewmembers are incollege. Some of the teens al-legedly started sharing photosposted by schoolgirls on theirInstagramaccounts, andpassingsexually explicit comments,” anofficer said, adding that thepur-portedchatsalsoincludedthreatsofsexualviolence.DCP (CyberCell) AnyeshRoy

toldTheIndianExpress,“Afterwecame to know,we registered anFIRunderSections465(forgery),471 (using as genuine a forgeddocument or electronic record),469(forgeryforpurposeofharm-ing reputation), 509 (word, ges-tureor act intended to insult themodesty of a woman) andSections67(publishingor trans-mittingobscenematerialinelec-tronicform)and67A(publishingor transmitting ofmaterial con-taining sexually explicit act inelectronicform)of theITAct.Weare probing thematter and col-lectingalltechnicalevidence.”So far, names of four private

schoolsfromSouthDelhiandonefromNoidahave been linked tothe group. The Indian Expressreached out to the principals offour schools.While one said she“didn’twant to comment”, twodid not take calls or respond tomessages.TheprincipalofoneoftheDelhischoolssaid:“Itappearsthat some of the studentswhowerepartofthegroupwerefromourschool.Bythetimewegottoknow, a complaint had alreadyreachedpolice. Itdoescomeasashocktousaswehaveanatmos-phere in school that encourages

discussionaround issuesof gen-der and respect, aswell as cybercrime.Wehavehadseveralwork-shops. Schools try to build a se-curebut open space for childrenwherediscussionisencouraged.Ialsobelievethattheinvolvementofparentsintheirchildren’slivesisvery importantwhenitcomestothingslikethese.Parentsneedtotakeontheseroles,andnotjustthatofdiscipliningorleavingthechild alone altogether. They arereadytogivechildrenunfetteredaccess to smartphones but, inmany cases, the discussionsaroundresponsibilityandrespectaremissing.”In a statement, a Facebook

spokesperson said, “We ab-solutely donot allowbehaviourthatpromotessexualviolenceorexploits anyone, especiallywomen and young people, andhave actioned content violatingourCommunityStandardsasweweremadeawareof it.Wehavepoliciesthatdisallowthesharingof non-consensual intimate im-agery, aswell as threats to sharesuchimageryandwetakethisis-sue very seriously. Ensuring ourcommunity can express them-selvesinasafeandrespectfulwayisourtoppriority.”A source at Instagram con-

firmedpolicehavegotintouch.Mumbai-based Shubham

Singh, founder of CyberWorldAcademy,who routinely assistsMumbai Police in cases,mean-while said he has been ap-proached by a few Instagramusers,whowereoutragedbythescreenshots. “We are trying totrack downdetails of themem-bers,”hesaid.

WITHINPUTSFROMSUKRITABARUAH

Small firmsChamber of Commerce haswritten to the Prime Ministerseekingexemption frominter-est payment till June end,besidesamoratoriumonloanstill December.There’s a growing worry

amongemployers about the re-luctance of workers to return.Bhargavasaidlabourlawsshouldbe tweaked to support busi-nessestoallowmeasuressuchasovertime to be permitted fornext fewmonths.MSMEexporters across sec-

tors face a “huge” liquidity issuethat has contributed to their in-ability to restart operations. Thisisduetoordersgettingcancelledorheldup,whichhavealsoham-peredtheirabilitytobuyrawma-terialsformanufacturing.“Most of their orders have

been cancelled. Some of themhave been delayed because thebuyer is asking to hold back theorders. They are saddled withfixedcharges,includingwagestotheirworkers.Thatisthebiggestchallenge they are facing at thistime,” said Federation of IndianExport Organisations directorgeneralAjaySahai.ForMSMEs suffering due to

dwindling export numbers, thegovernmentisworkingonaplanto extend the interest equalisa-tion scheme, under which ex-porters get 3-5per cent subsidyon loans for specified items. Theindustrybelievesmoremeasuresmay be required to bail theMSMEsoutof thissituation.SahaisaidmanyMSMEspaid

theirworkers duringMarchandAprildespitenoworkinthehopetheywouldstayonwhenopera-tions restarted.What is disap-pointing for the industry is that,nowwhentheyareclosetoopen-ing again, theworkers are goingback,”hesaid.“Whenproductionstarts, theywill be searching forworkers,”hesaid.Barely 25 percent of FIEO’s

MSMEmembers across sectorslike apparel, leather, gems andjewellery,handicraftandcarpetsare operational in green andor-angezonesatthemoment.A report released by Crisil

points out how SMEs are hitwhentheeconomymovesintoalow-growthtrajectory.Thereport

says that when the economymoves from normal to lowgrowth rate, current asset days(howquicklyacompanyisabletoconvert its current assets intocash) for large companies risesfrom139daysto143days,formi-croandsmallcompaniesitjumpsfrom189daysto220days.With the economy on slow

laneformorethantwoyearsnow,credit information firmTransUnionCibilsaidloansworthRs232,000croreofMSMEsareata higher risk of becoming non-performingassets.InLudhiana’sindustrialbelt,a

hubofMSMEsmanufacturingcy-cleparts,autoparts,textilesprod-ucts,factoriesoperatewithinmu-nicipal limits andhave to followstringentguidelines.“The lockdown uncertainty

has led to export orders beingputonhold.Wearealsonotget-tingpaymentseasily, leadingtoexhaustionofourbanklimits. Insuchcircumstances,paymentofwagesisverydifficultespeciallysince the government has or-dered to pay full salaries.Withresources being depleted, howwillwepaysalaries?”said JatinChadha, Director at Ludhiana-based Shiv Forgings, anMSMEmanufacturer and exporter ofhand tools.Given the relatively smaller

sizeofoperations,MSMEsaretra-ditionally known tomanage ex-pensesandturnoversonashort-term basis. Therefore, thelockdownhurtsthemharder.One estimate of the relief

package comes from K ERaghunathan, Chennai-basedSMEownerandformerNationalPresident, All IndiaManufacturers’Organisation.TheaveragedailyturnoverofMSMEsis Rs 30,000 crore, saidRaghunathan.A lockdownof 40days implies a loss of Rs 12 lakhcroreturnover.“Assuming10percent profit margins, MSMEswouldhavegotRs1.2 lakh crorein their hands. The governmentshouldconsidergivingthis10percentorRs1.2lakhcroretoMSMEsto use it for payment of salariesandloans,”hesaid.If not upfront funding sup-

port, the government can con-sidersplittingthepackageindif-

ferentways: interestwaiver onworkingcapitalloansatleastforaquarter,moratoriumonrepay-ment for three quarters, sometaxreliefsuchasacutinGSTrateto5percent,safetynettowork-ers such as part-payment ofwages, PF contributions formi-cro andmini enterprises, andeasing labour laws allowingthemto letstaffworkovertime.

Bengal fightbackdifferent parts of the state andthose near containment areaswereshutdown.

■ From April 21, ChiefMinisterMamata Banerjee hitthe streets of Kolkata, speakingdirectly to the people, urgingthemtostay indoors.

■OnApril24,ChiefSecretaryRajiva Sinha disclosed the find-ingof thespecialauditcommit-teeonCovid-relateddeaths.Hesaid there had been 57 deathsbutonly18weredue toCOVID-19and the restwere thosewithcomorbidity.

■The state stepped up test-ingefforts.From400-450testsaday,thedailyaverageclimbedto800April 21 onward. It reached2201onMay4.

■ On April 29, the ChiefMinister formeda cabinet com-mittee todealwithCOVID-19 inthe state. Top stateofficialswereinductedintothepanel.Thecom-mitteewasformedafterdoctors,at ameetingwith the CM, red-flaggedthesituationinthestate.

■On April 30, an advisorywas issued to all hospitals, pri-vateandstate-run,clarifyingthat“no government approval is re-quired for admitting and treat-inganypatientinanyhealthcarefacilityorfortestinganindividualfor COVID as per ICMR testingprotocols”. Hospitals were alsotoldnot toturnawaypatients.

■ On April 30, the ChiefSecretarytoldapressconferencethat there had been 105 deathsbutonly33couldbedirectlyat-tributed toCOVID-19.

■Thedeathauditcommittee,Sinhasaid,wouldnolongereval-uateall deathsanddoctorswerebeingadvisedtofollowprotocols.“TheDeathAuditCommitteehasrecommended that HealthDepartmentofficialsshouldkeep

morerecordsofpatientsandad-visedthemtoimprovetheproce-dureofkeepingrecords.Thecom-mittee also advised that thereshouldbeauniformformattois-suedeath certificates. The com-mitteeadvisedthatthedeathcer-tificate should have immediatecauseofdeath,antecedentcauseofdeathandunderlyingcauseofdeath,”Sinhasaid.

■ChiefMinisterBanerjeetoldreportersonApril29: “Peopleareraisingahueandcryoverwhoisissuingwhat kind of order.Wehavetocorrectourselvesbecausewemakemistakes.”

■On April 30, theMedicalSuperintendentofMurshidabadMedicalCollegeandHospital,wastransferred, fivedaysafteradutyroster he signed said “in case ofCovid positive, no mention ofcovidD/C(deathcertificate)”.

■OnMay 4, Chief SecretarySinha,whileannouncingthatthestate government will hence-forthreleaseinformationonthetotal number of Covid-infectedpatients instead of active cases,said hospitals will now handdeath certificates. But he saidhospitals have been told not toreportco-morbiditydeaths.

■“Wefoundthatthereport-ing structure of our state washighly complicated. All caseswere not being recorded prop-erly. We thought the processwasdynamic,butitprovedoth-erwise. So, we changed thestructureandmadeasystemonreal-timedata,” Sinhasaid.

■Inthelast24hours,thestatetested 2201 samples. Till date,25,116sampleshavebeentested,4,860people are in governmentquarantine centres and another5,755inhomequarantine.

Migrant trainspercent,andtheprocesswassetin place based on the states’ re-quest to send limitedmigrantlabourersforsomeveryparticularreasons, back to their states. Allstates are coordinating thisprocess accordingly, except oneortwo,”LavAgarwal, jointsecre-taryintheMinistryofHealth,toldreportersattheofficialbriefingonCOVID-19measures.Sources said the calculation

offeredbytheRailwayswasbased

on the fact that the trainswererunningatonlytwo-thirdscapac-ity, and returningempty to theirbasesaftereachrun.Eachrake isbeingsanitiseduponreturn.Also,passengerswerebeing

providedfoodandwaterforfreeevery12hours during the jour-ney. Each train was being es-cortedbytheRailwayProtectionForce (RPF), whichwas addingto thecost, officials said.The non-AC Sleeper Class

fareforallpassengersaddsuptoonly 15 per cent of the runningcost of the train, which theRailways is seeking from thestates, theseofficials said.Early in the day, Congress

president Sonia Gandhi an-nounced that state units of herpartywouldpayforthemigrants’fare.Thegovernmenthaddeniedworkers andmigrant labourerstheopportunitytoreturntotheirhomesby announcing the lock-downwithout notice, she said,andhadthenforcedthemtowalkseveralhundredkilometreswith-outfood,medicines,ormoney.“Whatisparticularlydisturb-

ingisthatthecentralgovernmentandtheRailMinistryarechargingthemfortrainticketsinthishourof crisis,” she said. Earlier, RJDleader Tejashwi Yadav an-nouncedonsocialmediathathispartywouldpayfor50suchtrainstogetworkersfromBiharhome.Officials said that in thenor-

malcourse,theRailwaysearns44paise per passenger kilometre(pkm)onaveragewhileincurringa cost of 90 paise per pkm. Theearning in the non-AC SleeperClassisabout45paise/pkm,whileintheGeneral(unreserved)classit is31paise/pkm.Freight earnings subsidise

passenger operations. On everyticket that it issues, theRailwaysdeclares that it recovers only 57percentofthecostoftravelonav-eragefromfares.While the total fare amount

payable by states for eachShramikSpecialtrainisdifferentbased on distance and occu-pancy,aseniorRailwayMinistryofficial said that the receivablesfromthefirst34ShramikSpecialtrainshadbeencalculated tobearoundRs3.5crore.A Railway Ministry

spokesperson told The IndianExpress:“Wearenotchargingpas-sengers.We are charging stategovernments. Officials said theguidelinesonlyspecifythatstateswould “collect the total fare andhand over the total amount toRailways”; itwasuptothestatestoraisethemoney.Railway sources saidmore

“destinationstates”suchasBiharandChhattisgarhhadexpressedwillingness topayforthetickets,andtalkswereonwithothers.The senior Railway official

said that the Shramik Specialswere running “at Rajdhani(Express) speeds”, coveringdis-tances such as the nearly 3,000kmfromKozhikodetoKatihar,inmuchlesstimethanusual.“Andwe are bringing back emptyrakes.What the Railways is re-covering is nowhere close to itscost,” theofficial said.BJP Rajya Sabha MP

Subramanian Swamywas thefirsttomentionthe“85-15”figureonMondaymorning before BJPfunctionaries too started tweet-ingaboutit.“Talked to (Railway

Minister) Piyush Goyal office.Government will pay 85 percentandstategovernmentwillpay15percent.Migrant labourwillgofree.Ministrywillclarifywith an official statement,”SwamypostedonTwitter soonafterslammingthegovernmentin a tweet for “charging... halfstarvedmigrant labourers”.

HandwaraC Chandrasekar and SantoshKumarfromAurangabadinBihar.CRPF Special DG (J&K Zone)

ZulfiquarHasan told The IndianExpressthatmilitantsfiredatper-sonnel deployedon lawandor-der duty at a joint checkpoint atWangamintheQaziabadareaofHandwarainKupwaradistrict.“TheCRPFretaliatedpromptly

but three of ourmen lost theirlives.Theboywaskilledincross-fire. Furtherdetails arebeing as-certained,”hesaid.The boy’s familymembers

said hehad gone to graze cattlealongwithothersfromthevillagewhen the shootout took place.“Hehaddifficultywalking.Whenthefiringstarted,theothersman-agedtoescapebuthecouldn’t,”arelative told The Indian Expressoverphone.TheCRPFspokesper-son said the “areahas been cor-donedoffandasearchoperationis on”. A senior official inBaramulla said that one of theCRPFmenwasbroughttothedis-trict hospitalwhere hewas de-claredbroughtdead.This is the second attack on

theCRPFinNorthKashmirwithinamonth.OnApril 18, threeper-sonnelwere killed and twooth-ers injured after militants at-tackedajointcheckpointofCRPFandJ&KPoliceinSopore.OnSunday,theCommanding

Officer of a counter-insurgencybattalion,aMajorandaJ-KPoliceOfficer were among the fivepersonnel killed in Handwara.Two militants, including aPakistan national, were alsokilled in thegunbattle.

LeT regroupsheavy damage to army andparamilitaryforces.Thesecurityofficials, however, say themili-tant outfit is a front of Lashkar-e-Toiba, working togetherwithothermilitantoutfitsandisnewonly in itsname.“After the abrogation of

JammuKashmir’s special status,Pakistanwasunderpressuretodosomethingfromitsconstituencyin Kashmir. So it decided to in-crease the pitch ofmilitancy inKashmir,” a senior police officialand an expert in counter insur-gencyoperations toldThe IndianExpress.“ButwithFATF(FinancialAction Task Force) timelines onthebackofitsmind,ithasdecidedto cast anewmilitant outfit thatissecularinitsname,”hesaid.ThepoliceofficerclaimsTRF

isanewnamegivenbyPakistantoLashkar-e-Toiba.“Lashkarand

Jaish-e-Mohammad had reli-gious connotation and Pakistandidn’twant that,”hesaid. “Theywanted to secularise theKashmirmilitancy andmake itappear indigenous. Hence theyoptedfor ‘Resistance’—thathassomecurrencyintheglobalpol-itics—in itsname.”The first signs of TRF emerg-

ing as a strongmilitant groupwerevisiblewhen the J-KPolicebustedamoduleof over-groundworkers (OGWs) in Sopore - thetownwas a strong Lashkar basein theValleybefore it yielded itsposition to Hizb and Jaish-e-Mohammad, andKupwara. Thepolice recoveredacacheof armsand ammunition, dumped bymilitantsneartheLineofControl(LoC) at Keran. The arrestedOGWs revealed theywere “re-cruitingyouthforthenewoutfit”.Barely two weeks later,

Keranwitnessed the firstmajorgunfight in several years. In afiercehand-to-handgun-battle,fiveTRFmilitantswerekilledbutnotbeforetheywipedoutanen-tire team of the army’s SpecialForces-fivecommandoesof theeliteParaunit.A week later, the TRFmili-

tantstargetedaparamilitaryve-hicle in Sopore killing threeCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF)Personnelandwoundingtwo. The TRF, in its telegramchannels, also claimed that thetwomilitantskilledinHandwarawere affiliated to it. Four armypersonnel, including a coloneland amajor and a police officerwerekilled inthegunfight.Police sources saywhile the

heavy damage to the army andparamilitary forces in the pastonemonth couldbe coinciden-tal, the recruits of themilitantoutfitarehighlytrainedandbat-tlehardened.“Asfarasweknow,they are trained for at least sixmonthsbeforebeinginducted,”anotherpoliceofficersaid. “Theoutfithasamixofbothlocalandforeignmilitantssothat it looksindigenous. The surprising partisthatthelocalmilitantsarealsovery well trained in Pakistan,”the officer said. Sources saidmost localmilitants associatedwith TRF have crossed over toPakistan throughWagah on avalidvisa for training.PolicesourcessaidwhileTRF

is a front of Lashkar-e-Toiba, it isalsoworking jointlywith othermilitantoutfitsintheValley.

Surrogacy hubhelpingaswell.”The Bengaluru couple said

they had been approached byotherparentsinthecity,seekingto know if itwas okay to travel.“Therearesomanycouples likeus... The lack of awarenessamong the administration andlaw enforcers ismaking it diffi-cult for surrogate parents totravel,”hesaid.Another couple, 40 and 37,

have been stranded in Pune, aCovid-19 hotspot, unable tomeet their daughter, born inMarch end. The father said hehadmadethreerequestsforper-mission to travel to Anand butthe Maharashtra governmentwasyet toapproveany.“My wife and I have been

waitingforababyfor12years.WeunderwentseveralIVFcyclesun-successfully,whichtookatollonmywifephysicallyandmentally.She is extremely disturbed andfrustrated about this situation.Thehospitalsendsuspicturesandvideoseveryday,butit isnocon-solation,”saidtheITprofessional.He added that the charge

they are running up due to theextrastayof thebabyatthehos-pital is also weighing on theirminds. Couples payupwards ofRs 8 lakh for surrogacy treat-ment.Parentsseekingthetreat-ment may face a longer wait,with thegovernment introduc-ing a Bill in July last year to bancommercial surrogacy and al-lowingonlyaltruisticsurrogacy.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

No downward trend still: AIIMS director

Highest mortality: Central team’s note to Bengal

the curve has not shown adownwardtrend.Thatisacauseforconcern.That’swhythenextfour to sixweekswill be very,very important because thelockdowncannot be there for-ever.Theideal,thedreamwouldbetohavezerocases.ButIdon’tsee that happening. Thenum-ber of cases is still increasingeveryday. But the rise in thecurve is not so sharp that wecan’thandleit.”He was responding to a

questiononwhat further stepsneed to be taken, given thatIndiahasnotbeenable topushthe curve down even after 40daysof lockdown.With the lockdown being

extended by another twoweeks,with easing of restric-tions, DrGuleria said themostimportant data point towatch

out for, aheadofMay17, is thecases reported in thehotspotsandreclassificationofzones.“The solution is to identify

theareaswherethemaximumnumber of cases are coming,andfocuscontainmenttobringdownthenumberofcases,andconvertthemtoorangeorgreenzones. At the same time, con-tinue surveillance in greenzones. You have tomake surethereisrestrictedmovementornomovementfromredzonestogreen zones. What the lock-downhas done is prepare ourhealth facilities. It gaveus timebecausethenumberofcasesdidnotrisesharply.Becauseofthat...wearebetterpreparedthanwewerebefore,”hesaid.Thistypeofvigilancewillre-

quire individual-level engage-ment, he said, underlining that

thepandemic“hastobefoughtatthecommunitylevel,notthehospital level”.Emphasising that this isnot

thetimeto“relaxourguard”,herecalledIndia’sexperiencewiththeSpanishFlu,sayingthatmostofthe7milliondeathshappenedin the secondwave. “Whatwearedoing todaywaswhatwasdone at that point in time.Schoolswere closedandstadi-umswere converted intohalls.Therewasa lockdownandthatlockdownwas followed verywell.Butafterthelockdownwaslifted,theystartedgoingbacktonormal...Wehavetolearnfromhistory,”hesaid.Tomitigate the economic

impact of the lockdown, theclassificationstrategyshouldbemoregranular,withfocusonlo-calhotspotareasratherthanan

entire district labelled as a redzone,hesaid.DrGuleria underlined that

while India’s case count andmortalityrateremainrelativelylow,“wewillhavetolearntolivewithCOVID-19 for quite sometime. We will have to havestrategieswhichwillworkwithCOVIDbeing around.Whetherit’stravelorwork,itwillhavetobe with COVID-19 beingaround,”hesaid.Whileplasmatherapyiscon-

sideredapotentialtreatment, itcannotbethe“magicbullet”,hesaid.AsfordrugslikeRemdesivir,he said “it’s still early days buttrying something isbetter thannothavinganythingavailable.”Thee-AddawasmoderatedbyRavish Tiwari, Political Editor,andKaunainSheriffM,PrincipalCorrespondent.

clear indication of low testingand weak surveillance andtracking.”The letter also alleged dis-

crepancy in various Covid-re-lateddata releasedby thestategovernment. It said that inoneinstancethestate’smedicalbul-letinputthetotalpatientsat744,butonthesamedaygavethefig-ureof 931 ina communicationtotheUnionMinistryofHealth.“Thestateneedstobetrans-

parentandconsistentinreport-ingCovidfiguresandnotdown-playthespreadofthevirus.The

bulletinsof1stand2ndMaydonot even mention the totalnumber of cases anddeaths inthestate,”thelettersaid.It added that while the

state has claimed very highlevel of daily surveillance, nodatabasewas sharedwith theIMCT. During the stay of theteam, for example, 50 lakhpeoplewould have been sur-veyed in the four districtswhichitvisited.Whilethecol-lation of such data would re-quire a robust system, the let-tersaid,“nosuchevidencewas

available during our stay orfieldvisits”.It also accused the state of

non-cooperation, saying itwasnotgivenaccesstoofficials,bar-ring the Principal Secretary,Health. “In short, the state hastakenanantagonisticview,andhasnot supported the IMCT inperformingitsduties.Thiscon-tradicctswiththeexperienceoftheIMCTsinotherstates.”TheCentrehad constituted

10IMCTstotourcertaindistrictsin states such asWest Bengal,Rajasthan, Maharashtra,

Telangana,TamilNadu,GujaratandMadhyaPradesh.The teams — which the

Centre said had to be consti-tutedbecausetherewere“rou-tine violation of lockdownguidelines” in these states —weresupposedtomakeon-the-spotassessmentofthesituation,suggest redress and send a re-porttotheCentre.West Bengal had called the

move“againstthespiritoffeder-alism”,withmultiple instancesof exchangeofwordsbetweentheCentreandstateoverit.

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In today’sepisodeof the3Thingspodcast,we lookatwhatwentbehindgettingthesetrains torunandwhoispayingfor them

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New Delhi

MAHENDERSINGHMANRAL&ABHINAVRAJPUTNEWDELHI,MAY4

CHAOS PREVAILED outsidesome liquor vends onMondayafter 158 outlets opened upacross the city for the first timesince the lockdown was an-nounced by the Delhi govern-ment onMarch23.On Monday evening, the

Delhi government decided tolevy a special Corona fee—70%of themaximum retail price —onalcohol across all outlets.Policesourcessaidthechaos

was due to a communicationgap between the Delhi ExciseDepartment and the force re-garding the decision to open a

fewshops.Information regarding the

state government’s decision toopen the shopswas communi-cated to the police onMondayby Excise Commissioner RaviDhawan. “Government corpo-rations (the four that are al-lowed to open shops, providedthey are not located in mallsandmarketcomplexes)havein-formedthat the localpolicearenotallowingshopstoopen... It isrequested that directions maybe conveyed to the field func-tionaries that liquor vends ofthe four government corpora-tions… should be allowed tofunctionfrom9amto6.30pm,”Dhawan wrote to theCommissioner of Delhi Police.Several liquor vends had to

be shut down hours after they

reopened as scores of peoplehuddledoutside. Insomeareas,police resorted to lathi chargetodisperse crowds.DelhiPolice'sSpecialBranch

laterpreparedareportandsug-gested that the timing for sale

of alcohol be extended. “Thetiming for sale of winemay beextended to avoid the crowdand sufficient stock of liquorshould be available in shops aspeoplewillpurchasemorethantheir requirement,” the reportsaid.On Sunday, CM Arvind

Kejriwal had said Delhi wasreadytoreopenbusinessesanditwasbleedingfinanciallywith-out any income. Delhi earns anaverageofRs500crorefromex-cise collections eachmonth.Sources told The Indian

Express that several district po-lice forces had a meeting lastevening where they discussedopeningessentialsservices,buttherewasconsensusthat liquorshops shouldnot be opened.InareassuchasMayurVihar,

Vasant Vihar, Dwarka, JyotiNagar, Dayalpur, Karol Bagh,DaryaGanjandDBGuptaRoad,shops were shut as peoplefailed to maintain social dis-tancingnorms.Someshopswereallowedto

reopen on the condition thatstaff would make sure normswere followed.Many areas, in-cluding Rohini, Krishna Nagarand Karol Bagh saw peoplequeuingup since 7 am.At Trilokpuri and Vishwas

Nagar, police had to resort tomild lathi charge. Most liquorshops capped sales to sevenbottles per person to preventhoarding.A staff member at a store in

MayurVihar said, “If the idea isto ensure social distancing, allshops shouldbeopened.”

JIGNASASINHANEWDELHI,MAY4

EVENASreopeningofsomefac-tories,shopsandcompaniesbe-comespossiblewithpartial lift-ingof thelockdown,contractualworkers and labourers inDelhi,who spent over amonthwith-out job, pay and inmany casesfood,saytheywouldratherheadhomethanrejoinwork.Complaining about how the

lockdown period had turnedthem into “beggars”, manylabourers The Indian ExpressspoketosaidtheyarewaitingfortrainstostartleavingfromDelhi.Mohammed Jamal (30), whoworked at a pressure cookermanufacturingunit, iscurrentlyputting up at a school in SaraiKale Khan along with otherworkers fromUP and Bihar. Heearned around Rs 8,000 permonthbeforethe lockdown.Hesaid his employer, the govern-mentandthesocietyatlargehadlethimdown.“Icalledthemaalikhundreds

of times. He didn’t takemy call.The government gives foodpacketsbutthesearesmallpoly-bags, filled with stale rice anddal. I have lived inDelhi forover10 years but not a single neigh-bour or friend came tohelpme.I don’t even have themoney tobuywheatandrice. Iwant togoback tomy family in Bihar. Mywifescoldsme;shedoesn’twant

metosufferanymore.”Witheasingofrestrictionsin

the capital, manymigrants gotcalls from employers offeringthem their old jobs back — butnot everyonewas keen to takeup the offer. Jamal was one ofthem.At Yamuna Sports Complex,

too, most migrant workers arewaiting for the much talkedabout trains.SatishKumar,aconstruction

worker, said, “ My uncle and Ihave worked in Delhi for fiveyears;wecamehereaftermyfa-ther fell sick. Now, we have noplace to live and nomoney forfood.Theemployersnowexpect

us towork for amonth and getwageslater.Ithinkfarminginmyvillageisn’tabadoption;it’sbet-ter to struggle with your fam-ily… I don’t trust the govern-ment and its lockdown. Theymightextendit till July. I triedtogo back to UP but the policecaught us and sent us here.Wewillwaitbutwon’twork.”KumarhailsfromBahraichin

UP,andwouldearnRs5,000be-fore the lockdown.Over the past month, more

than 400 daily wage migrantworkers have been caught bypolicewhile trying to leave thecapital. A Delhi Policespokesperson said they are fi-

nalising themodalities of howthemencanbesentbackhome,andalsohelpingthemwithfoodand ration.Apart from anger with em-

ployers,manyworkersalsocitedcoronavirus beingmorewide-spreadinDelhithanbackhome.At Radha Soami Satsang, AjitMishra,asecurityguard, said, “ Iworkedforasmall restaurant inConnaught Place and earnedaroundRs7,000permonth,butIhavenojobnow.Isawthenewsaweekback;securityguardsaregetting infected and dying be-cause of reckless people. Mydaughter and wife have beencallingeveryday fromHaryana.I have also been getting callsfrommy company; they evenpaidme for March. But I don’twant towork. I want to be safeand perhaps I will open a smallshopbackhome.”Patwari(37),afatherofthree,

is among those who has beentryingto leaveDelhi for thepastmonth. He had moved to thecapital inFebruary.“Igotajobata packaging company andwasearningonlyRs1,000when thelockdownwas announced.Wewere happy in Sitapur, UP.Weearned smaller wages but myfamily was satisfied. Here foodshopswereclosedandwhatwasservedattheshelterhomeswasbad.My children are depressedand they don’t talk tome. Do Ihaveanyoptionbuttogoback?”hesaid.

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheCity

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Aqueueoutsidea liquorshopinVasantVihar’sC-BlockMarketonMonday,whenthecapitalpartially re-openedaftera40-day lockdown. TashiTobgyal

SHIVAMPATEL&SOMYALAKHANINEWDELHI,MAY4

INSTALLING THE Aarogya Setuapp, tracingwhethertheycomefrom containment zones or acompletebanaltogether—resi-dents' welfare associations(RWAs) across the cityhave im-posedvariousrestrictionsfordo-mestichelpswhostartedreturn-ing toworkMonday.AcircularissuedbytheDelhi

government said that servicesprovidedbyself-employedper-sons, including domestic helps,arepermittedMondayonwards.ForRWAs,thedirectiveledto

queriesfromsocietyresidentsonwhether they can call their do-mestichelpsback towork."Domestic helps here donot

come fromone particular area,but fromplaces that are aroundcontainment zones," said DrNareshChandra, thesecretaryofan RWA in East Delhi'sVasundhara Enclave. "Wedon'tknowwho is the carrier and theinfectioncanalsospreadthroughasymptomatic persons. So... wedecided not to allowhelps intothe society for at least anotherweek."Dr Chandra is also the joint

secretaryofaforumcomprisingaround47residentialsocietiesinVasundhara Enclave, out ofwhich only one or two have al-lowed the entry of domestichelps,hesaid.

At South Delhi's GeetanjaliEnclave cooperative residentialsociety,theAarogyaSetumobileappisamustfordomestichelpsanddrivers.GirirajKhanna,vice-president of the society, saidsomeof theworkers don’t havesmartphones."Wehaveallowedtheentryofdriversandhelpsasrequired...Therewillbethermalscansandhandsanitisers at thegate.We have also asked themto install the Aarogya Setu app,sowewillknowif theyarecom-ing from near a containmentzone,"Khannasaid.In Vasant Kunj, an affluent

South Delhi neighbourhood,some RWAs have opened gatesto house helps, while othershave decided to hold back and"test thewaters" fora fewdays.VernonD'Souza,presidentof

anRWAinVasantKunj,said,"Weare screening domestic helpsand have told residents that it'stheir responsibility to find outthe areas they are coming fromand that they are providedmasks.We are providing themmasksatthegatesif residentsdo

not have them... We have alsoaskedresidentswhohavethree-fourhelps tokeep justone."In Defence Colony, Major

(retd) Ranjit Singh, the RWApresident, said, "TheRWAscan'tdictate anything... I have sent acircular to residents asking fordetails of the house helps, howtheemployerplanstochecktheirtemperaturedailyandiftheywillgivemasksandglovestohelps.”Singhsaidhewillgothrough

each address, and, if the helpcomes from an area close to acontainmentzone,orareassuchas Nizamuddin and SangamVihar,wherecaseshavebeenre-ported from, they won't be al-lowedtoenter forawhile.RajivKakria,RWAmemberof

GreaterKailash-I, said residentshavebeentold“bettertowait10days before staff (cooks, helps)are allowed inside home”. Hesaid the RWA is not stoppingpeople from asking their helpsto return, but "we have askedthemtoavoid it".TheSarvodayaEnclaveRWA

hassentanadvisorysaying"en-try/exit of nursing staff, privatesecurity guards, helps, drivers,plumbers, electricians, carpen-ters shall only be allowed fromMay5fromgatenumber3only".InEastDelhi'sKrishnaNagar,

BSVohra,presidentofEastDelhiJoint RWA Front, said, "We areentirelyagainstthisandhavead-vised residents to refrain fromasking helps to return for a fewmoredays."

Employers in a fix:How to open withno workforce

DISAPPOINTED,SAYSKEJRIWAL

On domestic helps, RWAsoverrule Delhi govt order

WorkersatEastDelhi’sPatparganj IndustrialArea,Monday.AmitMehra

Betrayed in lockdown, migrantssay will head home, not to work

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY4

THEDELHI governmentwill beforced to seal areaswhere peo-ple violate social distancingnorms, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal saidMonday, express-ing concern over reports ofcrowding acrossmany parts ofthe capital, especially in front ofliquor shops, on the first day oflockdownrelaxations.Addressing a webcast,

Kejriwalsaidpeopleshouldkeepinmindthatbyindulginginsuchviolations, theywere endanger-ing their own lives and that oftheir familymembers. The onusofensuringsocialdistancingalsolieswithshopkeepers,hesaid.Governments alone cannot

defeatcoronavirus,hesaid,seek-ingcooperationfrompeople.Kejriwal'sremarkscameona

dayDelhipartiallyre-openedaf-ter a complete lockdown thatlastedover40days.Withtheen-tire city classified as a red zone,public transport, market com-plexesandmalls remainedshut,but private offices openedwithcurtailedstaffandself-employedindividuals like domestic helpsandelectriciansreturnedtowork.“Iwasalittledisappointedto-

day.Crowdsassembledinfrontofsome shops. People violated so-cial distancing.Whowill sufferdue to this? You will suffer.Imagine if two-threepeoplehadcoronainthatcrowd,youwillalsocontract the virus and endangernot justyourlife,butthatofyourfamilyaswell,”saidKejriwal.The CM said such violations

were unacceptable. He urgedpeopletostrictlyfollowhandhy-giene,wearmasksandmaintainsocialdistancingatall costs: “Noshopisgoingtoshutdown.Theywillopeneventomorrowandtheday after. But if we come acrossviolations of social distancinganywhere, wewill have to sealthatareaandwithdrawtherelax-ations.Wewillbeleftwithnoop-tionbuttotakestrongmeasures."The relaxations, Kejriwal

said, are aimed at gradually re-opening the city and restartingeconomic activities. “For howlongwillwebeunderlockdown?It'sbeenone-and-a-halfmonthsalready.Wemustactresponsibly.And if there are reports of viola-tionsinaparticularshop,wewillseal that shop. Shopkeeperswillhave to take responsibility,” headded.Meanwhile, Union Health

MinisterHarshVardhanMondaysaid the Delhi governmentrushedintoopeningliquorshopsand added that it should reviewits decision in view of hugecrowds outside these outletswhichincreasestheriskofspreadofCOVID-19.

CMwarning:Will seal areas over crowding

ANANDMOHANJNEWDELHI, MAY4

FOR THE past 20 years, C PSharma (45) has been turningpaperreelsintosyringedisposalboxes. He owns a printing andpackaging unit at NarelaIndustrial Area, and is now try-ing to figure out how to reopenhisunitwith just threeworkers.Hehadprocured20,000kgof

paper reels from a buyer inHaryana’s Rai Industrial Area,apart fromother rawmaterialsthat cost Rs 5 lakh before lock-down.Thecostofproductionwasanother Rs 2 lakh. "But now, theHaryanaborderhasbeensealed,cuttingoffmyrawmaterial sup-ply.AndIhad15workers,mostofwhomleftfortheirvillages.Onlythreeremain,"Sharmasaid.The reopening of the indus-

trial areas inDelhi is likely to bean unprecedented challenge,with a sizeable chunk of theworkforcehavingleft,disruptioninsupplyof rawmaterials, andacredit-based system inwhich fi-nal payment usually comes twomonthsafterdispatch.Akshit Bansal (30),who runs

an import-export unit inMayapuriIndustrialArea,arrivedoutside his unit onMonday tofind not a single one of his 10workerstomovehisstock.Bansaldeals inmetals procured fromDubai, US, Canada, and severalothercountries.Twelvecontain-erswith goodsworthRs 12 lakhare stuck with a shipping linecompany,andhewillincuracostof Rs 1.2 lakh per day unless hetakes delivery. "Iwon’t take therawmaterial if the charges ex-ceeds its cost. But if I don’t takerawmaterials, Iwon’t be able tosellanything,"Bansalsaid.YogeshGoyalownsaunitpro-

ducingcorrugatedboxes,printedmaterial, catalogues andbrochures.HebuyspaperandinkfromChawriBazaar inOldDelhi,andalsodependsonsupplyfrom

paper mills based in UP andGujarat.Hehademployedaround30 workers, most of them areskilled,drawingasalarybetweenRs15,000-20,000."Itwill take12months for us to normalise ouroutput to pre-lockdown levels. IhavetopayanEMIofRs1lakhpermonth,which is difficult consid-ering the operating cost is Rs 6lakhamonth,”hesaid.SanjeevMadan, owner of an

industrialwax-makingunit,saidhewaslookingforwardtosellinghis stock in textile industriesbased in Rajasthan. Heprocuresdifferent types of waxes fromBawana andMundka, spendingRs1lakhpermonth."Beforelock-down, it would take me twomonths to get payment. Now Ican’tcalculatewhenthatwillbe.I still have to pay the salaries offourworkers,"Madansaid.At Jhilmil Industrial area, the

FlatedFactoryAssociationmem-bershavenotallowedanyunittoopen until they get permissionfromlocalauthorities.The hub ofmicro industries

located inmulti-storey flats, fac-toryownershaveappealedtoau-thorities towaive electricity bill,property tax, andmaintenancechargesforat leastsixmonths.Gurmeet Singh (48), who

runs aunit that repairs injectionmouldingmachines,usuallygetsordersfromHimachalPradesh."Ihave threeworkerswho left forhome.Andif therelaxationkicksin, unless there is a robust trans-portsystem,myorderswillneverreachthebuyer,"Singhsaid.Manish Kapoor (49), who

makesinvertersystemsdeliveredtomarkets inSurat, JodhpurandKanyakumari, said he has amonth'sworth of rawmaterialspurchasedfromBhagirathPalace,but noworkers. "It had becomedifficulttofindworkersevenbe-forethelockdown.Mostworkershere are fromNortheast Delhi,where the riots tookplace.Now,with the virus,many small scaleunitswilldie,"Kapoorsaid.

Delhi’s dry spell ends in chaos, lathis

AttheYamunaSportsComplex,Monday.Mostmigrantsarestillwaiting for trains togohome.PraveenKhanna

Atthe liquorshopinVasantVihar,Monday. TashiTobgyal

Acircular issuedbytheDelhigovtsaidthatservicesprovidedbyself-employedpersons,includingdomestichelps,arepermittedfromMonday

New Delhi

SUKRITABARUAH&SAKSHIDAYALNEWDELHI,MAY4

JITENDERSALUJAsupervisedashis assistant carefully painted awhite circle outside his coolershop in Kotla Mubarakpur onMondaymorning.Hewasopen-inghisbusinessafter43days.After the Delhi government

announced different categoriesof shops which can be openedduring the third phase of thelockdown, shops in neighbour-hoods across the city openedtheir shutters onMonday, amidsomedoubtsandhesitation.While Saluja busied himself

with getting his wares in placeforcustomers,VedPrakash,whorunsahardwarestoreacrossthenarrow lane, brought down hisshuttersshortlyafterhehadun-lockedthem.“Sirfpankhe,cooleraur stationery ke dukaan khu-lenge,” blared a loudspeakerfromapolicevandrivingpast.“Thereisalotofconfusion.As

per the government's orders,hardware shopscanopenstart-ing today. Thereareother shop-

keepers like me who came toopen today but now police aretelling us to close. We’ve beenclosed for over a month andthoughtwewould get some re-lief now,” saidPrakash.Policemanned the cramped

lanesof theurbanvillage, askingshopkeeperstoremovewaresondisplayoutsidestores,andpeopletomaintainsocialdistancing.Onlystationery, electric appliances,groceryandmedical storeswereopen in the long line of houseswithstoresatthebottomfloor.Across different localities of

South Delhi, The Indian Expressfound stationery and electricalstores to be the most readilyopenonthefirstdayofamilder

lockdown. “I don’t knowwhythis is the case.Other shops canalso open. This is just a residen-tialcolonywithsomeshops,nota market,” said Shakti Singh,who had opened his electricalstore inMalviyaNagar’s F blockMonday afternoon. As of 1.30pm,hewasyettoseecustomers.Another small business to

openup in residential areaswasneighbourhood press-walas.Deepak,whoreceivedtwosetsofclothesathisstandinHauzKhasEnclave, said: “I saw in thenewsthatsmallenterprisesincoloniescanopenagainsoIcamefrommyhouseinChattarpur.I’llheadbackhomeaftercompletingthesetwosetsanddeliveringthem.”In neighbouring Gurgaon,

where similar orders for shopswerepassed,GauravBansal,whoowns ‘TheGift Shop’ inSector14market,spentthedaycleaning.Hishelperhadgonetohisvillagepriortothelockdown.“Hardlyanybodycametopurchaseitemstoday...butIwill cleanup theshop forwhencustomersarrive,”hesaid.At a salon on New Railway

Road, the owner said: “All eightstafferswent to their villages inUPduringthelockdown.Wecan’tresumeworktill theyreturn.”

THEOUTBREAK TheCity4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENTrd3 EXTENSION NOTIFICATION DATE: 04.05.2020

Tamil Nadu Urban Health Care Project (Supported by JICA)

http://www.tenders.tn.gov.in, and www.tntenders.gov.in.,

Name of work: Construction of New Secondary Care Hospital Block and additional facilitiesincluding furniture and furnishing excluding medical equipments at Proposed Avadi SecondaryCareHospital, Thiruvallur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.Last date for submission of Pre-QualificationApplication mentioned in the Notice NIT No. 45/2019-2020/BCMC/MW/CHENNAIDated: 16.03.2020.Extendedas follows:Pre-ApplicationMeeting - 20.05.2020 at 11.00A.MLast date of submission of Pre-QualificationApplication - 10.06.2020upto 3.00PM.Pre-QualificationApplication opening date -10.06.2020 at 3.30PM.Further detailsmay be downloaded from the followingwebsites.

Superintending Engineer, PWD., (i/c)Buildings (C&M) Circle, M.W.,Chepauk, Chennai-5.DIPR / 1714 / TENDER / 2020

GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADUPUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

Buildings (C&M) Circle,(Medical Works),Madurai– 625 002.EXTENTION NOTIFICATION NO.:01SE/BCMC (MW) /MDU/2020-2021,DATE: 04.05.2020

Last date for submission of Pre-Qualification application mentioned in theEXTENTION NOTIFICATION NO : 19SE/BCMC (MW) /MDU/2019-2020/Dt: 01.04.2020 & 20SE/BCMC

(MW) /MDU/2019-2020/Dt: 15.04.2020Extended as follows:

Pre-Application Meeting - 20.05.2020 at 11.00 am in The Superintending Engineer, The Tamil Nadu PublicWorks Department, Buildings (Construction & Maintenance) Circle, Medical Works, PWD Compound,Thallakulam,Madurai - 625 002.Last date for submission of pre-qualification application - 10.06.2020, 3.00 pm.Pre-qualification opening date - 10.06.2020, 3.30 pm.

Further details may be downloaded from the following websiteswww.dgmarket.com, www.tenders.tn.gov.in, www.tntenders.gov.in

Superintending Engineer, PWDBuildings (C&M) Circle, M.W,MaduraiDIPR / 1713 / TENDER / 2020

GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESHREVENUE (DM) DEPARTMENT

INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)IFB No.: 03 to 4/APDRP/APSDMA/2020 Dated 01.05.2020

The Government of India has received credit from the InternationalDevelopment Association (IDA) for an amount equivalent to US$ 201.38million towards the cost of Andhra Pradesh Disaster Recovery Project(APDRP) and intends to apply a part of the proceeds of the credit to covereligible payments under the contract for which this Invitation to bid has beenissued. The bidders from India as defined in the IDA and IBRD Guidelinesare eligible to bid for the project. Bidders are advised to note the eligibilityand qualification criteria specified in the Bidding Document to qualify for theaward of the contract. The Project Director, PMU, APDRP invites "on line e-bids" from eligible bidders for the Activities shown below, through website ofCentral Public Procurement Portal http://eprocure.gov.in from 06/05/2020.The IFBs are also available at the website www.apdrp.ap.gov.in and UNDBweb site www.devbusiness.com

ANDHRA PRADESH DISASTER RECOVERY PROJECTWORLD BANK CREDIT NO: 5694-IN

IFB No. ActivityNo. inSTEP

Activity Name BidSecurity

Period ofcontract in

months1 2 3 5 6

03/ICB/APDRP/APSDMA

/2020

79865 Procurement of Services forSupply, Installation andCommissioning of IntegratedPublic Alert and WarningSystem for Andhra PradeshState with Wireless EmergencyAlert Platform and AlertAggregation Tool [AP-ALERT]

INR102.00 Lakhs

OrUS $

146,000.00

46

04/NCB/APDRP/APSDMA

/2020

171401 Supply, Installation,Commissioning and Operationof Multi-Touch Video Wall for theState Emergency OperationCentre of Andhra Pradesh StateDisaster Management Authority

3.72 Lakhs 39

Sd/-R.O. No.: 31PP/CL/ADVT/I/I/2020-21 Dt. 04.05.2020 Project Director, APDRP

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT:www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in80776/HRY.

TENDER NOTICESr. No. : 01NAME OF BOARD/CORP./AUTH: PT. B. D. SHARMA UHS, ROHTAKNAME OF WORK NOTICE TENDER: DEPLOYMENT OF AGENCY FOR PROVIDING BEARER SERVICES FORONE YEAR WHICH IS EXTENDABLE ON QUARTERLY BASIS TO A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER ONE YEAR SUB-JECT TO THE SATISFACTORY SERVICES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES (UHS) ROHTAK.OPENING DATE CLOSING DATE (TIME): CLOSING DATE 28.05.2020AMOUNT / EMD (APPROX.) IN RUPEES: 31 LACSWEBSITE OF THE BOARD CORP./AUTH: a) www.uhsr.ac.in b) www.etenders.hry.nic.inNODAL OFFICER/CONTACT DETAILS/EMAIL: 01262-281311 mspgimshry@gmail.comSr. No. : 02NAME OF BOARD/CORP./AUTH: PT. B. D. SHARMA UHS, ROHTAKNAME OF WORK NOTICE TENDER: (A) DEPLOYMENT OF ANY AGENCY OR (B) COOP. LABOUR ANDCONSTRUCTION SOCIETIES CONSISTING OF ALL SCHEDULED CASTE MEMBERS FOR PROVIDINGMECHANIZED SANITATION SERVICES FOR ONE YEAR WHICH IS EXTENDABLE ON QUARTERLY BASISTO A MAXIMUM OF ANOTHER ONE YEAR SUBJECT TO SATISFACTORY SERVICES AT UNIVERSITY OFHEALTH SCIENCES (UHS), ROHTAK.OPENING DATE CLOSING DATE (TIME): CLOSING DATE 28.05.2020AMOUNT / EMD (APPROX.) IN RUPEES: 24.12 LACSWEBSITE OF THE BOARD CORP./AUTH: a) www.uhsr.ac.in b) www.etenders.hry.nic.inNODAL OFFICER/CONTACT DETAILS/EMAIL: 01262-281311 mspgimshry@gmail.com

Delhi govtseals twobranches ofpvt schoolfor hiking fee

HCDIRECTSGOVTTOENSURESWIFTTESTING, FASTERRESULTS

PRITAMPALSINGH,MALLICAJOSHI&ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI,MAY4

INCREASED TESTING, morehotspots, anddelay in receivingreports — these are among thefactors that the Delhi govern-mentisattributingtothesuddenjump in COVID-19 cases in thecity,withoverathirdof thetotal4,898casesbeingseeninaweek.TillMonday,Delhihadtested

over64,108people.Pendencyoftestshasbeenapersistentprob-lem over the past two weeks,withmanypeoplehavingtowaitaround10daysfortheirreports.Delhi is testingclose to2,800

people permillion population,higher than other states likeMaharashtra,where the testingrate per million is 1,237. In

Mumbai,itisaround890permil-lion. “The number of cases hasjumped suddenly as severalpending reports have come inoverthepastweek.Pendencyhadreached over 9,000 but camedowntoaround3,700in3-4days.Moreover, testing rate inDelhi isthehighest.Ourstrategyistotestasmanypeopleaswecanto iso-latethosewhohavetheinfectionandreturntonormalcy.Thenum-berofcasesincontainmentzonesisrising,butsincetheyaresealed,chances of an uncontrolledspread are not very high,” said aDelhigovernmentofficial.OnMonday, the Delhi High

CourtdirectedtheDelhigovern-ment to ensure swift testing ofsamples and declare results be-tween24-48hoursof collectingthem. “It is further directed thattheDelhi government continueupdatingitswebsiteonaregular

basistoreflectcorrectnumberoftestsbeingconductedforCOVID-19,mentionnumberofcasesthatarepositiveornegativeandstatenumberof pending results aftertests are conducted,” a bench ofJustice Hima Kohli and JusticeSubramoniumPrasadordered.Over the past few days, the

government had stoppedmak-ingpublictheinformationonthenumberof pending tests.Delhi government’s

Additional Standing CounselSatyakamtold thecourt that tillSunday evening, 3,790 testswere still pendingwith privateandgovernmentlaboratoriesau-thorisedtoanalysesamples.Themaximum pendency is atNational Institute of Biologicals(NIB), Noida, he said. The Delhigovernment has sent close to11,000samples to thebody.Thelab,meanwhile,stopped

accepting new samples tillMay6.Ithastested15,000samplessofar.Seniorofficialsfromtheinsti-tute said thedecisionwas takentomake sure bio-safety compli-ance for theequipment ismain-tained.“Themachineshavetobemaintained.Serviceswillresumeaftertwodaysbutwewillrestrictthenumberofsamplesasperca-pacity,” saidanofficial.Theinstitutehasacapacityto

test around 800 samples a dayandgetssamplesfromfourstates—Delhi,UP,MadhyaPradeshandRajasthan. “As the pendency in-creased,somesamplesweresentbacktolabsinDelhiwhileotherswere tested at the institute,”addedtheofficial.Delhi stopped sending sam-

ples to the overworked lab aweekago.Theunionhealthmin-istryhasalsopulledupstategov-ernmentsoverpendency,which,

it said, increases the chance ofpeopleawaitingresultsinfectingothers.The court, meanwhile, was

hearing a plea by advocateRakeshMalhotra, who said theDelhi governmentwas not tak-ing expeditious steps to furnishreports after conducting tests.CounselSatyakamsaidthereare23 accredited labs that under-takeCOVID-19 testing inDelhi.“Of these,10areinthepublic

sector and 13 in private sector.Thecollectivecapacityofthelabsare 3,000-3,500 tests per day,”he said, adding that reportswillbe receivedwithin 1-2 days ofsamplesbeing receivedby labs.The court disposed the plea,

sayingitwas“satisfiedthatade-quate remedial measures havebeentakenbytheDelhigovern-ment to expedite receipt of re-ports for testingpatients”.

349 fresh cases asDelhi’s corona tallyinches to 5,000

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI,MAY4

DELHI REPORTED 349 freshCOVID-19casesMonday, takingthe total number of cases to4,898.Nodeathwasreportedforthesecondconsecutiveday,withthe toll remainingat64.After guidelines for home

isolation of patients were re-leased, 438 people have beenisolated at homes. In its firstCabinetmeetingafterofficesre-opened Monday, the govern-ment decided to hire homehealthcare providers to care forthesepatients.A trainingmanual has been

designed,whichwillbegiventoallpatientsandtheircaregivers.According to sources, the gov-ernment will hire healthcareproviders through a privatecompany.“A team of health workers

will call each patient and edu-cate them on best practices forhome isolation. Thiswill be fol-lowedbyadailycall totrackim-portantvitals of thepatient andanswerall theirqueries.Thepa-tientswould also get automaticSMSalertsfortestingtobedoneafter14daysof isolation,”astate-mentbythegovernmentstated.Forhome isolation, aperson

should be clinically assigned aspre-symptomaticoraverymildcasebythetreatingmedicaloffi-cer. As per guidelines issued bythe Delhi government, thereshould be regular communica-tion between the caregiver andhospital.“The hospital administra-

tion is already overburdenedwith cases, so the role of thehealthcare provider will be tocoordinate with both of them.A regular callwill bemadeandif required, a teamof healthof-ficers will visit the patient athome,” saidaseniorhealthde-partment official.Ascurbswererelaxedinthe

capitalonMonday—thebegin-ning of the third lockdown —OPDsat several hospitals sawasurgeinthenumberofpatients.“OurOPDserviceshavebeen

functional for patients but thenumberwascomparativelyhightoday.Patientsinneedof imme-diatemedical help arebeingat-tendedbythestaff,"saidDrAnilAgarwal,directorofGBPanthos-pital.Undertherelaxationsoffered

by theDelhi government, OPDsandclinicshavebeenallowedtoopen.AIIMS is also chalking out a

plan to restart theOPDservices.“All departments arework-

ing on it and a decisionwill betakensoon.Everystepwillhaveto be taken carefully tomaintain social distancing.Once OPD services start, wewill alsohavepatientswhowillneed to be admitted. So, it willhappen in phases,” said Dr DKSharma, medical superinten-dent of AIIMS.Meanwhile,11morehealth-

care workers at Dr Baba SahebAmbedkarHospital have testedpositive.InDelhi,over320healthcare

workersworking in COVID andnon-COVIDhospitalshavetestedpositiveso far.

Paramilitary forces incity record 200 cases

Behind city’s Covid spike, govt pointsto increased testing, delayed reports

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,MAY4

THESPREADofCOVID-19amongparamilitaryforcesisfastbecom-ingacause forconcern,withthetotal cases among personnel inDelhialonetouching200.After CRPF and BSF, a high

number of cases have been de-tected in the Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP) andSashastra Seema Bal (SSB).While 21 ITBP personnel havetestedpositiveinDelhi,13testedpositiveatSSB’sGhitorni camp.OnMonday, twomore CRPF

personnel testedpositive, takingthetotalcasesattheforce'sMayurVihar camp to 137.OneBSFper-sonnel, posted at its CGOComplex headquarters and at-tached to the office of anAdditionalDG,testedpositivelateonSundaynight, takingthetotalnumberofcasesintheforceto54.FourteenofthesecasesintheBSFhavebeenreportedfromTripura.Sourcessaidamajorityof the

infections in the ITBPhave beenreported from its Tigri camp inSouthDelhi,where19havetestedpositive. The infection is sus-pected to have spread from thein-housegrocerystore.“Peopleat

thestorewereamongthefirst totestpositive.Theyappeartohavecontracted the virus from veg-etablesuppliers.Theyaretheonlyoutsiders who come to thecamp,”saidanITBPofficer,addingthat over 50 people from thecamphavebeen quarantined.Two more tested positive

from Battalion 50, which hadbeen put on law and order du-ties at Shastri Park. An entirecompanyofaround100person-nelhasbeenquarantined.At theBSF, theheadquarters

has been sealed and sanitised.The CRPF headquarters at theCGO complex is out of boundsandwas sanitised onMonday.Theywill remainshutTuesday.Sources said theBSFADG, in

whose office a constable testedpositive,hasbeenaskedtogofortestingandwill likelybequaran-tined.Tracingof theircontactsison, sources said. “Identificationof secondary and tertiary con-tactsasperprotocolisbeingcar-riedout,”saidBSFspokespersonShubhenduBharadwaj.All 13 personnel of the SSB,

whichguardstheIndo-NepalandIndo-Bhutan border, belong to25thbattalionwhichhasitscampatGhitorni.Itisnotclearhowtheinfectionreachedthecamp.

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI,MAY4

THE DELHI governmentMonday passed orders to sealtwo branches of the ApeejaySchools franchise for hikingtheir fees in an unauthorisedmanner.The order for sealing the

SheikhSaraiandSaketbranchesof Apeejay Schools was issuedMonday evening, invoking thedirectives on fee collection thathad been issued by the Delhigovernment in the light of thenational lockdown.The government had

issuedordersthatallcityprivateschools can only collect fees onamonthlybasisduringthelock-down, and that there can be noincrease in feesduring the lock-down.Even before these orders

were issued, they had been is-suedspecificallytothemanage-ment of Apeejay Schools aftercomplaints from parents thatstudentswerebeingbarredfromonline classes over non-pay-mentof fees.The principals of both

branches said they had allrequisite approvals from theDirectorate of Education for thefeestheycharged,andthatama-jority of parents have paid thepresentmonthly fee."Almost all parents arewith

usandunderstandthesituation.Only a handful of parents havebeencomplaining,motivatedbyvested interests. Unfortunately,the current ForceMajeure situ-ationhas againpromoted themto agitate on the fee issue," saidApeejay Sheikh Sarai principalRituMehta.“Access to online classes is

being given to all students.There could have been sometechnicalglitchescausingsomedisruptions.Presently,all issuesrelated to ithavebeenresolvedandall our studentsare receiv-ing online education withoutany interruption. We startedonline classes immediatelyonce the lockdown had beenannouncedwithour long-termuseof technology.Our teachersand support staff have beenworking24/7 to ensure all stu-dents have access and are sup-ported,” said Apeejay Saketprincipal Smita Amit.

Delhigovernmentemployees,whoreturnedtoworkonMonday,undergotesting. PremNathPandey

ShopsopeninLaxmiNagar,Monday.AmitMehra

As shops in Delhi-NCR open,some confusion remains

New Delhi

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5THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

THEOUTBREAK Nation

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DEEPMUKHERJEEJAIPUR,MAY4

WHILETHEYare finallybeingal-lowed to return to their homestates, migrant workers inRajasthanhave alleged that pri-vate bus operators are chargingmore than three times the farefixedbythegovernment.Mehboob, 35, a resident of

Supaul district inBiharwhowasworking in a garment factory inJaipur, saidhehad tosellhis cell-phonetoarrangeforthebusfare.“TheprivatebuschargedusRs

4,500perperson. Before leavingJaipur, government officials toldusnottopaymorethanRs2,400.But as soon as we entered thehighway, thedriver stopped thebus at the first petrol pumpandsaidthatunlesswepaidRs4,000-4,500,thebuswouldn’tleave,”hesaid.Thebus,whichhadabout30

passengers, left Rajasthan onSaturdaynightandreachedBiharonMondaymorning.“AfterbeingstuckinJaipurfor

over one-and-a-half months, Ididn’thaveenoughmoneyforthebusfare.IhadtosellmycellphoneforRs5,000;IhadboughtitforRs12,000,”saidMehboob.“Wehave fixedRs32per km

fornon-ACandRs40per km forACbuses,asthecollectivefarefortheentirebus.Only30peoplearebeing allowed in buses whichhaveacapacityofabout50seats,in order to ensure social distanc-ing.Weare also in theprocess offixingindividualfareforeachpas-senger,” saidRavi Jain, RajasthanTransport DepartmentCommissionerandSecretary.According to this rate, a jour-

ney to Supaul, about 1,275 kmsfromJaipur,shouldcostRs40,800fortheentirebus.Ifthebushas30passengers, eachperson should

havetopayaboutRs1,360.While the Rajasthan State

Road Transport Corporation(RSRTC) is ferrying labourers forfree, its services are restricted towithinthestate.“Our buses went to

Uttarakhand once — theUttarakhandgovernmentwillpayusthefare.Apartfromthat,forfer-rying those strandedwithin thestateanduptothestateborder,nofareisbeingcharged,”saidNaveenJain, Chairman and ManagingDirector,RSRTC.So,workers fromoutside the

state have no option but to taketheprivatebuses.MohammedYousuf,32,alsoa

residentofBihar’sSupauldistrictwhoworksasatailorinanexporthouseinJaipur,saidhehadtobor-rowRs 3,000 froman acquain-tancetopayRs4,000asbusfare.“Ihadregisteredonthegovernmentportal formigrants,butdidn’t re-

ceive anymessage. There are alimitednumberoftrains,wemayhave towait15-20days.Wedid-n’t have anymoney.We had toleave,”hesaid.HetooleftJaipuronSaturday,

andreachedBiharonMonday.Someworkerswho reached

Biharsaidtheywerealsochargedtoll tax. Mohammed Hasim, aresidentofBihar’sArariadistrictwhoworksinasewingfactoryinJaipur, is yet to leave for home.“The bus operators told us thatwe have to pay for the returnjourney as well. I am the solebreadwinnerinmyfamily.Sincewe don’t have anywork, I don’thaveanymoney,”hesaid.Buttransportdepartmentof-

ficials said private buses arenotsupposed to charge for the re-turn trip. “The rate of Rs 32 perkmisonlyforthejourney,notforthe return trip... This is a bal-anced fareasevery sector isun-

der economic distress at pres-ent,” said R C Yadav, AdditionalTransport Commissioner (Tax,HSRPandRules).TransportCommissionerand

SecretaryRavi Jain said action isbeing taken on individual com-plaints, andtheywill takeadeci-siononfixingindividualfares.Meanwhile, activists said

manymigrantscouldnotevenaf-fordRs32perkm.“Atthismoment,whenthou-

sandsofmigrantsarereturningtotheir homes after spending alltheirmoneyon sustenancedur-ing the lockdown, the govern-ment should ensure that theyhave to pay as little as possible...Therehastobeanofficialmecha-nismoranodalofficertopreventsuch exploitation,” saidMukeshGoswami of theMazdoor KisanShaktiSangathan.Inanofficial release, thestate

government said about 15 lakh

migrants had registered tillSunday. According to the state-ment, about 60,000 migrantworkers from other states hadbeensenthome,whileanother1lakh had returned home toRajasthansofar.ChiefMinister AshokGehlot

saidthatfollowingCongresschiefSoniaGandhi’s instructions, thestategovernmenthaddecidedtopaytheirtrainfare.“Thosewhohave registered

online, itwill take some time toarrangetrainsandbusesforthem.Atpresent,themigrantlabourersleavingbytrainsaremostlythosewhoare from institutional facili-ties and were living at shelterhomes...Thosewhoareleavingbyprivate vehicleshavemade theirownarrangements...Wehaven’treceived any complaints of peo-ple charging excess fare so far,”said Ashok Kumar, AdditionalDistrictMagistrate, Jaipur.

In Rajasthan, pvt buses ferrying migrantworkers charge 3 times fare fixed by govt

BJP calls it politics asCong triggers debateon migrants’ train fareEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY4

INAsurprisemovewhichseemedtohavepushed the governmenton thebackfoot, Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi onMondayslammedtheRailwaysforcharg-ingfares fromstrandedmigrantsreturninghome in special trainsandannouncedthattheCongresswillpayfortheirtravel.Former Congress president

RahulGandhi also slammed thegovernment, sayinghe is unabletounderstandwhy theRailwaysdonatedRs151croretoPMCARESand thencharged fares frommi-grantworkers.Sonia’smove andRahul’s at-

tack triggered a sharp responsefrom theBJP,which accused theoppositionparty of indulging inpolitics.BJPspokespersonSambitPatratweeted, “RahulGandhi ji, IhaveattachedguidelinesofMHAwhichclearlystatesthat ‘Notick-ets to be sold at any station’.Railways has subsidised 85%&State govt to pay 15%. The Stategovt can pay for the tickets(MadhyaPradesh’sBJPgovtispay-ing). AskCong state govts to fol-lowsuit.”Targeting Sonia, BJP

spokesperson ShahnawazHussain said, “Insteadof spread-ingincorrectinformation,itwouldhave made more sense if theCongresshad instructed its stategovernments to foot the bill.Governments of Punjab,Rajasthanpoliticisingtheissue.”Earlier,Soniasaidthegovern-

ment deniedmigrant labourersthe opportunity to returnhomeby announcing the lockdown

without notice, forcing them towalkseveralhundredkilometreswithout food. “Even today, lakhsofworkersandmigrantlabourersare languishing indifferentpartsof the country... but there is nei-ther adequatemoneynorprovi-sion for free transport.What isparticularlydisturbingis thattheCentralGovernmentandtheRailMinistry are charging them fortraintickets...”shesaid.Arguing that workers and

labourersaretheambassadorsofIndia’s growth, she said “Whenourgovernmentcanrecogniseitsresponsibilitybyarrangingfreeairtravel for our citizens strandedabroad, when the governmentcanspendnearlyRs100croreontransportandfoodetc.forjustonepublic programme in Gujarat,when the RailMinistry has thelargessetodonateRs151croretothePM’s Corona fund, thenwhycan’t theseessentialmembersofournation’sfabricbegivenafrac-tion of the same courtesy, espe-ciallyfreerailtravel,atthishourofacutedistress?”She said the Congress has

“taken a decision that everyPradesh Congress Committeeshallbearthecostforrailtravelofeveryneedyworkerandmigrantlabourer...” Sources said theAICChasalreadytransferredmoneytothe state units. Calling thepartypresident’s decisionhistoric, for-mer Finance Minister PChidambaram said it “puts theGovernmentof Indiatoshame”.

SoniaGandhi

Govt:Natureof infectiousdiseases toincreasewithgeometricprogression

Newsingle-daycoronahigh:2,573casesand83deaths

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI,MAY4

ASTHEdailycountofnovelcoro-navirus(COVID-19)casescrossed2,000 for the third day in a rowand the deaths touched a newhighat83, theMinistryofHealthand Family Welfare said onMondaythatitisinthe“natureofinfectious diseases to increasewithgeometricprogression”.While 2,573newcaseswere

reportedinthelast24hours—thehighestsofar—therewere2,487newcases on Sunday, and2,411onSaturday. The total COVID-19count is now 42,836, of which1,389havedied and11,761haverecovered.Responding to a question on

whythedailycountwasincreas-ing, LavAgarwal, Joint Secretary,HealthMinistry,said:“Itiscriticaltounderstandthatinfectiousdis-eases spread in geometric pro-gression.Lockdown,physicaldis-tancing, containment— througha combination of all these, wehaveincreasedthedoublingtimefrom 3.4 days to 12 days.Lockdownand containment areyielding results, the challengenowistobetter itaswecontinueto easeout,with continued sup-portfromthecommunity.”This is the first admissionby

the government that “breakingthe chain of transmission” —whichwas said to be the goal ofthe lockdown— is unlikely tohappensoon.On April 24, the Press

Information Bureau (PIB) hadtweeted a graph that showedcases coming down to zero byMay16. “Decision of lockdownwas timely, curve has begun toflatten.Thenationhasshownthatlockdown has been effective,#SavingLives, containing#COVID19infectionandslowingdowndoubling rate.Weneed tobuild on these gains - Chairman,Empowered Group 1#IndiaFightsCOVID19,”ittweeted.ThereferenceistoDrVKPaul,

member (health), NITI Aayog,who chairs the empoweredgroup onmedical emergencymanagementplan.Askedabouttheprojectionof

a second wave in May-end orJune, Agarwal said: “Talkingaboutapeakisnottherightwayof lookingat things.Weneed tosee how to prevent the disease,saveourselvesandworktowardsit.Ifwesucceed,theremayneverbeapeak.”Top government sources,

however,saidthegovernmentislookingatapeakinthenextcou-pleofmonths. Inapresentationsharedwith states in ameetingchairedbytheCabinetSecretarylast week, the Centre had pre-dictedthatthetotalcaseswouldtouch 65,000 on May 15;1,65,122onMay31;3,95,727onJune 15; 11,22,839 on June 30;31,85,952 on July 15; 96,90,715on July 31; and 2,74,96,513 onAugust15.Agarwal also said that in-

steadof calling the extensionoflockdown,witheasingofrestric-tions, ‘Lockdown 3.0’, “weshouldcall it easingout2.0”.“As the PrimeMinister has

said, jaanbhi, jahanbhi.Wehaveto lookathowtorevivesystemswithcommunityownershipandbehaviour change so that thenormof social andphysical dis-tancing becomes a part of ourlife,”hesaid.He said the outcome ratio

(recoveries versus deaths) hasimprovedsinceApril17.Itisnow90:10, as compared to 80:20earlier.Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh

Kant, who heads the empow-ered group on civil society or-ganisations,NGOsanddevelop-ment partners, industrypartners, and international or-ganisations, gave details of theprivate sector’sparticipation.“The private healthcare sec-

tor has been deeply committedinpartneringthegovernmenttofight the crisis, offering capabil-ities even amid the compellingsituation. Manufacturing com-panies are coming forward andutilising their plant, machineryand skilledmanpower tomassmanufactureequipment.Forex-ample, CII has launched a coali-tionofhigh-endmanufacturingcompanies in automobile, ma-chine tools and defence sectorsto mass-manufacture ventila-tors,”hesaid.“The Aspirational Districts

Programme piloted by NITIAayog has been a phenomenalsuccess in uplifting the lives ofmillions in 112most backward(aspirational)districts.Asofnow,there are about 610 cases in112aspirational districts, which isconsideredfairlylowatlessthan2percentof thenationallevelofinfections. Of these, six districtshavereportedtheir first caseaf-ter April 21. Themajor hotspotsare Baramulla (62), Nuh (57),Ranchi (55), YSR (Kadapa) (55),Kupwara (47) and Jaisalmer(34),” saidKant.

IPS officer, 17 more copstest positive in MumbaiMumbai: A DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP) inMumbaiandatleast17otherpo-licementestedpositiveforCOVID-19onMonday. TheDCP, the firstIPSofficer inthestatetotestpos-itive,isasymptomaticandunder-went tests after his driver testedpositivetwodaysago.TheDCPiscurrentlyinhomeisolation.A former deputymayor and

ShivSenacorporatorfromWorliand her husband have also

tested positive. The corporatorwasactivelyinvolvedinfooddis-tribution.Thosewhotestedpositiveon

Mondayinclude12policeperson-nelfromJJpolicestation,anassis-tant police inspector from theEconomicOffencesWing(EOW)andfourotherpolicemenpostedatTilakNagarpolicestation.Sofar,211MumbaiPoliceper-

sonnel have tested positive, ofwhom,threehavedied. ENS

KAMAALSAIYED,VAIBHAVJHA&SHAJUPHILIPSURAT,AHMEDABAD,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAY4

THEFIRSTdayof thethirdphaseof the national lockdown sawmigrantworkers inGujarat andKerala come out on the streetsMonday, demanding that theybe sent backhomeandprotest-ing against landlords demand-ing rents.In Gujarat, hundreds of mi-

grantsgatheredtoprotestat twolocations in Surat, and inAhmedabad. In Surat’sVareli vil-lage,theworkersclashedwithpo-lice, leaving two policemen in-jured and several vehiclesdamaged.In Kerala, a group of at least

200workers fromWest Bengalstaged a protest on theKozhikode-Mangalore highwayafterbeing“misledbyfalseinfor-mation”thattrainticketswerebe-ingdistributed,policesaid.BothGujarat andKerala had

startedsendingmigrants,mostlyfromUP, Bihar, Jharkhand andOdisha, back home on specialtrains last week. Gujarat hasemerged as aCOVID-19hotspotwith over 5,500 cases so far.Kerala, on theotherhand, iswaydownthechartwith500cases.Thestartof the secondphase

of the lockdown lastmonthhadwitnessed similar protests inSurat, and also inMaharashtrawherenearly2,000peoplegath-eredoutsidetheBandraWestrail-waystationinMumbai.InVareli, a senior officer said

migrants from UP and Bihar,workinginthetextiledyeingandprintingunits of KadodaraGIDC

and powerloom units, peltedstonesatagroupoffivepolicemenwhotriedtodispersethem.Policeresortedtoalathichargeandusedteargasshellstodispersethemob.Atleast100personshavebeende-tained,theofficersaid.“There is nowork here, and

we are struggling to get food.Now,houseownersaredemand-ing rent.We came to know thattrainandbusserviceshavebeenstarted from Surat to Odisha,Bihar,JharkhandandUP.Wewanttoreturnandworkinthefieldstillthe situation becomes normal,”said Dhaniram Dubey, fromBandainUP,whowasworkingina dyeing and printing mill inKadodaraGIDC.DySPBhargavPandyasaidthe

situationhasbeenbroughtundercontrol. “Wetriedtopacify themandtriedtogettheirlocalleadersto persuade them to return totheir accommodation. But themobpelted stones at police. The

condition of the injured police-menisstable,”hesaid.Anothergroupofaround500

migrant workers protestedagainst their landlordsdemand-ing rent in the Palanpur area ofSurat city. Reinforcementsweresent to pacify themob, saidDCPPrashantSumbe.“Theywantedtogo back.We assured them thatcomplaints will be registeredagainst houseownerswho de-mand rent at this time,” Sumbesaid.Atleast20weredetainedandFIRsregisteredagainst100others.InAhmedabad, over 150mi-

grantworkers protestedoutsidealocal revenue office near LalDarwaza,claimingthattheywereunable to register on a govern-mentportalforthespecialtrains.“Wewent to theMamlatdar

officetoaskforhardcopiesoftheformbutwewerenotallowedin-side.Wehavetogohome,thereisnomoneyleft,”saidMohammadSaddam (25), who hails from

Kolkata and was working in aplasticfactoryinAhmedabad.InKozhikode’sKoyilandi,po-

lice said they had to resort to a“mildlathicharge”todispersetheprotesting workers. StationHouse Officer K Unnikrishnansaid the workers from UttarDinajpurdistricthadbeencamp-ingatMoodadivillage.“Lists of migrant workers

wantingtoreturnarebeingpre-paredbyrevenueauthorities.Butwehaven’t officially given themanyinformationabouttrains.Wechased them awaywhen theytriedtopeltstonesfromarailwaytracknearby,’’hesaid.Moodadi panchayat presi-

dent Sheeja Patteri said the vil-lagehas870migrants, including500fromWestBengal.“Wehavebeen supplying themwith foodkits. Someonemisguided them.Evenduringthelockdown,manyof themaregettingworkatcon-structionsites,’’ shesaid.

Lockdown 3.0 begins, migrants protestin Gujarat and Kerala: ‘Take us home’

Migrant labourersclashwithpolice inVarelivillage,Surat,onMonday.HanifMalek

GUJARATSo far, 21,500 passengers have been sent

fromthestateby18 trains, and it is thepassen-gerswho are paying for the journey, accordingtotheGujaratgovernment.Thestateisnotyetindiscussionwith the receiving states about thepayment toRailways.Thepassengerswereinitiallyidentifiedwith

the help of NGOs or village sarpanches. FromMonday night, two call centreswere activatedfor people seeking to register to take the trainhome.

MAHARASHTRATheticketfareisbeingpaidbymigrantwork-

ers.Agroup leader forabatchof 25peoplecol-lects the fare and is allowed to buy tickets ontheirbehalf a fewhoursbefore the train leaves.So far, 35,000migrantworkers have been sent— 10,000 on trains and others on buses andothermodesof transportation.Thestatehas requested theCentre towaive

the fares.MadhyaPradeshgovernment,mean-while, has conveyed itwill bear the cost ofmi-grantworkers travelling there fromMaharash-tra. Maharashtra on Monday received acommunication from the Centre saying it willbear 85% of the travel cost. Now the state is intheprocessof issuinganotificationannouncingfree travel formigrants.

JHARKHANDCMHemantSorensaidhis governmenthas

decided against charging students and labour-ers coming to their home state. The state gov-ernmentispayingforthejourney.IthascleareditsduesfortrainscomingtoJharkhand.Around3,600peoplehavecomefromotherstatessincethe lockdownextensionwasannounced.

KERALASince Friday, 13,818 migrant workers

boarded special trains from six destinations inKerala to Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. TheywereaskedtopaythefareofRs850-950.Manywhofounditdifficult topaywerehelpedby lo-cal employersorvillage representatives.TheKeralalabourdepartmenthadarranged

for registration of workers intending to returnto their home states.Most of the train servicesweretoBihar,butsomewerepostponedfollow-inga request fromtheBihargovernment.

BIHARMigrantsarepayingthetrainfareasofnow.

ButCMNtishKumarhasannouncedthatallmi-grantswouldbereimbursedfortheirtraintravelexpenses,andeachwouldbegivenRs500extraafterthe21-dayquarantine. Incaseofstudents,Biharwill payback the fare to theCentre.Bihar has received about 5,000migrants

fromRajasthanandKerala.The state government has data on 25 lakh

peoplewhoarestuckoutsideandwhohavereg-isteredforassistanceofRs1,000.Theothersarebeing registeredatoriginatingstates.

MADHYAPRADESHSofar,onetraincarrying319migrantwork-

ers fromNashik reached Bhopal on Saturday.Theywerechargedforthetrip.Now,MPhasan-nounced that workers will not be charged.Collectors will coordinatewith their counter-partsinotherstatesandRailwaystoensurethis.MPhasdrawnupaplan to receive31 trains

fromMaharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Goa andDelhi.Workerswill be screened before board-ingandafter reachingMP.

WESTBENGALThestategovernmentisyettodecideonpay-

ing formigrant labourers entering and leavingthe state. The government is in talks with the

sendingandreceivingstates.Thestateisbringingbackover1,000migrant

labourers fromRajasthanbyaspecial trainthatwas to leaveAjmeronMonday. Stepshavealsobeentakentobringbackworkers fromKerala.Tosendlabourers,thestategovernmenthas

anonlineregistrationsystem.Forinterstateres-identsstuckinWestBengalandforWestBengalresidentsstuck inotherstates, thegovernmenthashelplinenumbers.Theyalsohavetoregisteron thestategovernmentwebsite.

RAJASTHANCMAshok Gehlot announced onMonday

that the state governmentwill bear the cost oftransportingmigrants via trains. The amount,Gehlot said, will be paid to Railways. This willbe applicable tomigrant labourers, pilgrims,tourists, studentsetc.AsofMondayafternoon,10trainshadbeen

sentfromRajasthanwith10,591passengers.Pa-ssengerswereidentifiedbasedonclusters.ENS

Fare play: who pays forthe migrants’ trip home

MigrantworkerswhowerestrandedinMaharashtrareachCharbaghrailwaystationinLucknowonMonday.Vishal Srivastava

Amidapoliticalrowoverfaresforspecialtrainscarryingmigrantshome,alookathowthestatesarepitchingin

New Delhi

THEOUTBREAK6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

1. Sh. Ajai Prakash Gupta S/o Sh. Gyan Swaroop Gupta, R/o H. No. 31, Ground Floor,Sushant Lok-3, Block-H,Ansal Flexi Homes, Sector-57, Gurgaon-122011Also At: Natra Management Consultant (P) Ltd. B-466, LGF, Sushant Lok, Phase-I,Gurgaon, Haryana.2. Smt. Ratna Gupta W/o Sh. Ajai Prakash Gupta, R/o H. No. 31, Ground Floor, SushantLok -3, Block-H,Ansal Flexi Homes Sector-57, Gurgaon-122011Also At: Natra Management Consultant (P) Ltd. B-466, LGF, Sushant Lok, Phase-I,Gurgaon, Haryana.3. Smt. Anu Gupta, D/o Sh. Ajai Prakash Gupta R/o H. No. 31, Ground Floor, Sushant,Lok-3, Block-H,Ansal Flexi Homes, Sector-57, Gurgaon-122011.Also At: Natra Management Consultant (P) Ltd. B-466, LGF, Sushant Lok, Phase-I,Gurgaon, Haryana.4. Sunehra Apna Ghar Co-operative Group Housing Society Ltd.Plot No. GH-63, Sector-55, Gurgaon Haryana (Through Its Authorised Officer)

Whereas the above named applicant has instituted a case for recovery of Rs. 31,37,975.39

(Rupees Thirty One Lacs Thirty Seven Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy five And Pasia Thirty

Nine Only) against you and whereas it has been shown to the satisfaction of the Tribunal that it is

not possible to serve you in ordinary way. Therefore, this notice is given by advertisement

directing you to make appearance before Ld. Registrar on 01.06.2020 at 10.30A.M.

Take notice that in case of your failure to appear on the above mentioned day before this Tribunal,

the case will be heard and decided in your absence.

Given under may hand and seal of the Tribunal on this 6th Feb. of 2020By order of this Tribunal

For Registrar

DEBTS RECOVERY TRIBUNAL-I, DELHI4TH FLOOR, JEEVAN TARA BUILDING, PARLIAMENT STREET, NEW DELHI-110001

PUNJAB AND SIND BANK ApplicantVERSUS

Sh. Ajai Prakash Gupta & Others Defendants.

OA NO. 1093/2018

PPUUBBLLIICCNNOOTTIICCEE

PUBLIC NOTICEMY CLIENTS SH. SAHAB SINGH &SMT. RATNI DEVI BOTH R/O H. NO:189, HOLAMBI KALAN, NEARPRAJAPAT CHOPAL, HOLAMBIKALAN, DELHI-110082 SEVERE ALLRELATIONS, DEBAR THEIR SONLALIT KUMAR FROM ALL MOVABLE-IMMOVABLE PROPERTY(S) DUE TOHIS MISCONDUCT, MISBEHAVIOURAND BEING OUT OF CONTROL. MYCLIENTS WILL NOT BERESPONSIBLE FOR HIS ANY ACTSIN FUTURE.

Sd/-VIKASH BHARDWAJ

ADVOCATECH.NO: 722, ROHINI COURT, DELHI

I, Jagdish Lal S/oShri Rupu LalR/o 00, Bawai Post-Bawai,RudraprayagBawai,Uttarakhand-246442, informthat Jagdish Lal& Jai Singhbothareone& the sameperson.

0040537285-2

ClassifiedsPPEERRSSOONNAALL

JALSHAKTIMinisterGAJENDRASINGH SHEKHAWAT speaks toLIZ MATHEW on the wateravailability in the country amidthe lockdown and how theCOVID-19 outbreakwill hitwa-ter-relatedprojects

Howdoyouseethewatersituationinthecountrynow?Althoughwaterisastatesub-

ject and the statesaremanagingit primarily, outof the5500plusreservoirs, 138 are beingmoni-tored by the Centre. Those havethecapacityof66percentof thetotal capacity... Fortunately, thisyear, as onApril 30,wehave thecapacityof56percentmorewa-terandif I compare last10years’average,water availability is 46per centmore... This gives us anidea that in the reservoirs acrossthe country, we would have agoodamountofwatertocatertoourdomesticanddrinkingneedsand agricultural demands.Secondly, in theHimalayan sys-tem, snow on the peaks is un-precedentedlyhigh.Neverinthelast 50 years, peaks had thisamount of snowat this time. Sothewaterfromthemeltingofthesnow will also come in highquantities, especially in Bhakra,NangaletcaswellasinGangaandYamuna...weare inabetterposi-tion this year and hopefullywe

won’t face a situation likewhatwefacedinChennaithisyear.

TheNational InfrastructurePipelinetaskforce’s reportput freshwaterasoneof thevitalchallengesfor the2025infrastructurevision.Howdoyouseethesituationnow?Nowwaterhasbecomemore

significant. In any case, it is thelifeline of all development andthe centre of policy planning inagrarian countries like ours. Inthepost-COVID19era,thesitua-tion in the world is going tochange...Indiawillhavemoreop-portunities.Ourwaterresourcesanditssustainability isverycrit-ical.Wehavethat inmind.

YouareheadingtheJal JeevanMissiontoprovidefunctionaltapwaterconnectiontoeveryhousehold inthecountryby2024whichisclosely linkedtothehousingforallprogramme.Doyouseesuchmissionsgettingaffectedbythecoronavirussituation?Thereisnoideaof reviewing

targetsnow.Thetargetswehavefixed for this financial year, wewill see that we are on our tar-gets.NodoubttheCOVID-19sit-uation has had an impact oneverything. Todealwith thesit-uation,duringthislockdown,we

have requested all the states... Ihavespokentoallthestatemin-isters and we have had videoconferenceswith thewater re-sourcesministers, drinkingwa-terministers,officials,engineersetctocompleteDPRandprojectplanningwiththeavailabledataso that we can begin work im-mediately after the lockdown.Thegovernmenthasalreadyre-laxed the restrictions on con-structions onwater-related ac-

tivities.We have spoken to thestatestoinitiatework...andworkonlow-hangingfruitstoseethatwater is storedandreserved.

Areyouconcernedabouttheexpenditurecuts inthewakeof thecurrentcrisis?Certainly. I am not so con-

cernedaboutthegovernmentofIndiaeventhoughthecrisiswillaffectitsresourcesandexpendi-ture.Iammoreconcernedaboutthestates.Thestatesaregoingtoface a difficult situation. In JalJeevan mission, barring theHimalayan states and theNortheastern states or the UTs,all states. are working on proj-ects on a 50:50 quotient. Forstates to spare such budgetaryallocationinthenextthreeyearsin this condition looks very dif-ficult tome... I think the statesshould fix their priorities andwater shouldbeat the top.

Onepositive impacthighlightedbymostenvironmentalists ishowtheCOVID-19crisishelpedtheearthcleanitself.Howfarwould ithelpyourmissiononcleanwater?Undoubtedly it has helped.

Pollutionlevelshavedippedasin-dustrial effluents have comedown... I have already askedmy

departmentstostudythechangein the quality of the water inGangaandYamunafromthefirstdayoflockdown.Wearecompil-ingallthestudiesandanalysing...it’s not just because of the lock-down. It’s also because of theNamamiGangeProject.Also,therainfallduringthe lockdownhasincreased the water flow inYamuna.Withlessfarmingactiv-ities,waterquantityhasincreasedfroman average 300 cusecs thistime to 3000 cusec. This is hownature heals itself. It’s a point ofintrospectionforallofus.

TherehasbeenmuchdiscussionontheBhilwaramodel inRajasthan’s fightagainstCOVID-19?What’syourviewonit?In Bhilwara, it was all initi-

ated by a doctor’s family.Whenthey started having symptoms,they reported it to district ad-ministration and they workedwell. If somebody has been ap-plauded,it’sthepublic.Theybe-havedresponsiblyandfollowedall instructions... But the stategovernment became compla-cent. They could not addresssimilar situations in Jaipur andJodhpur.Whyhavetheyfailedintheseplaces?

FULLINTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

SURPRISE MOVECONGRESS PRESIDENT Sonia Gandhi’s announcement thatthe party’s state units will bear travel expenses of migrantworkers surprisedmany senior party leaders.Whilemanyleaders described it as a deft politicalmove, some arewon-deringwhethershewasinspiredbyDKShivakumar,presidentof the Karnataka unit of the Congress. On Sunday, he an-nounced that thepartyhas givenRs1 crore to the state roadtransportcorporationforensuringfreetransportforworkers.

OFFICE TRIPWITHLOCKDOWNrestrictions eased, BJPpresident J PNaddavisitedthepartyheadquarters,whichwasclosedallthiswhile.Nadda,whohasbeenintouchwithorganisationofficebearersovervideoconference,reachedthepartyofficeatnoonandspenttwo hours there. BJP general secretary (organisation) B LSanthoshandgeneral secretaries BhupenderYadav andArunSinghalsocametotheofficeandNaddahadsomediscussionswiththemwhilemaintainingsocialdistancing,sourcessaid.

PLANNING NEXT STEPWITHTHElockdowneasedabit,Oppositionleaderswhohavebeencritical of thegovernment’s response to the coronavirusoutbreakareexploring thepossibilityof ameeting. CPMgen-eral secretary SitaramYechury has spoken to leaders of theCongress andothers like Sharad Pawar and SharadYadav.HehasalsosharedwithOppositionleadersaneconomicroadmappreparedbytheCPM.ThedocumenthasbeensenttoCongresspresident Sonia Gandhi, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s TejashwiYadavandDelhiChiefMinisterArvindKejriwal,amongothers.

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

GAJENDRA SINGHSHEKHAWAT

JALSHAKTIMINISTER

‘Water availability goodbut stateswillnow find it difficult to spendonprojects’

LALMANIVERMADEHRADUN,MAY4

UTTARPRADESHPolicehavear-rested independent legislatorAmanManiTripathiforallegedlyviolatinglockdownrulesandforobtainingpermissiontotraveltoBadrinath in Uttarakhand onfalsegrounds.Tripathi, the MLA from

Nautanwa inMaharajganj dis-trict, had sought permission fortravellingtoBadrinathandlatertoKedarnathtoattendthepost-deathritualsofUPChiefMinisterYogi Adityanath’s father AnandSingh Bisht, who had died lastmonth.Thepermissiongrantedwas valid fromMay 2 toMay 7,withtheconditionthatnotmorethan three personwill travel inanyvehicle,andmasksandsan-itizers would be available in allthreevehicles.WhenTripathi andhis com-

panions were stopped at theVyasi check-post late Sundaynightwhiletheywerereturningto UP, “12 persons were foundtravellinginthreecars.Theyhadnomasks and permission wasalso obtained on wronggrounds”,UttarkhandPolicesaidinastatement.They were released after

threehours after anoticeunderCrPCSection41was issued.OnMondayevening,Tripathi

andsixofhisassociateswerear-rested fromNazibabad area ofUP’s Bijnor district. Police havealso seized two SUVs in whichtheywere travelling.Nazibabad Circle Officer

Praveen Kumar Singh said,“When police asked from themvalid documents from them fortravellingduringlockdowntheyfailed to produce any.” The offi-cer added that Tripathi and hisassociates would be producedbefore a local court of BijnorTuesday.Tripathi was unavailable for

comment.Meanwhile, the UP govern-

ment in a statement said,“Neither CMnor the state gov-ernment has authorized MLAAman Mani Tripathi to goUttarakhand.Tripathihimself isresponsible for his act.”-INPUTSFROMENSLUCKNOW

AmanManiTripathi

UP legislatorarrested forviolatinglockdown curbs

WAITING FOR THEIR TURNPeoplesit inqueuesas theywait foramedicalcheck-upatNaviMumbaiMunicipalHospitalonMonday.NarendraVaskar

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,MAY4

IN HIS first address to theNon-AlignedMovement(NAM)sum-mitsinceassumingofficein2014,PrimeMinister NarendraModionMonday flaggedthe issuesof“terrorism”and“fakenews”,call-ing them “deadly viruses” at atimewhen theworld fights thenovelcoronavirus.Modisaidtheyshoulddevelop

aplatform forNAMcountries topooltheir“experiences,bestprac-tices, crisis-management proto-cols,research,andresources”.“NAM should call upon the

international community andtheWHO to focus on buildinghealth-capacity in developingcountries.Weshouldensureeq-uitable , affordable and timelyaccess to health products andtechnologies forall,”hesaid.“Even as the world fights

COVID-19,somepeoplearebusyspreading other deadly viruses.Such as terrorism. Such as fakenews,anddoctoredvideostodi-vide communities and coun-tries,”hesaid.Thiswas the first timeModi

participatedinaNAMsummit—he had become the first IndianPrimeMinister to skip theNAMsummit in2016andin2019too.TheNAMleadersannounced

creationofataskforcetoidentifyrequirements ofmember coun-triesthroughacommondatabasereflectingtheirbasicmedical,so-cial and humanitarian needs in

thefightagainstCOVID-19.Calling it the “most serious

crisis” humanity has faced indecades, Modi underlined thatat this time, NAMcan help pro-moteglobalsolidarity.“NAMhasoften been the world’s moralvoice. To retain this role, NAMmust remain inclusive.”He added that COVID-19has

shownlimitationsoftheexistinginternationalsystem.Inthepost-COVIDworld, a new template ofglobalisation, based on fairness,equality,andhumanityisneeded,he said. “Weneed internationalinstitutions that aremore repre-sentativeof today’sworld.”The online NAM Contact

GroupSummiton“UnitedagainstCOVID-19”washostedbycurrentNAMChairman andAzerbaijanPresidentIlhamAliyev.Over 30 Heads of State and

otherleadersjoinedthesummit.TheSummitwas also addressedbyUNGeneral Assembly presi-dent Prof Tijjani MuhammedBande, UN Secretary GeneralAntonioGuterres, AfricanUnionchairpersonMusaFakiMahamat,EU High Representative JosepBorrell, as well as WHO chiefTedrosGhebreyesus.“FollowingtheSummit, lead-

ersadoptedaDeclarationunder-liningtheimportanceof interna-tionalsolidarityinthefightagainstCOVID-19. Leaders also an-nounced the creation of a ‘TaskForce’ to identify needs and re-quirementsofmemberStates...,”astatement by the Ministry ofExternalAffairssaid.

VARINDERBHATIACHANDIGARH,MAY4

ONAday the third phase of na-tionwide lockdown beganwitheasing of certain restrictions,Haryana minister Anil Vij ex-pressed strong reservationsagainst the relaxations sayingthat he fears, its “consequenceswill bedevastating”.“People are not yet used to

maintainingsocialdistancing,orwearing a mask. Others talkfrom theirmind, I talk frommyheart. Dar lagta hai,” Vij, whoholdsboththehomeandhealthportfolios in state cabinet, toldThe IndianExpress.“Theprimeministersaidthat

peoplehaveto followsocialdis-tancingnorms.HealsosaidthatJaanbhi, jahaanbhi.Botharenec-essary.Wehavetoensurehealthand safety of our people, but si-multaneouslyitisalsoimportantto run the economic activities.Thatiswhyifwebreaktherules,if we do not follow the instruc-tions, the consequenceswill bedevastating. There will be toomuchdamage,”Vij added.Askedifhewasconsultedbe-

forerelaxationsinthelockdownwere announced, Vij said, “No, Iwasnotconsulted.“But, had I been consulted, I

wouldhavedefinitelyraisedmyconcerns. Even if my concernswere turned down, yet I wouldhavestrongly raisedmypoint.”Commenting on the state

government’sdecisionofeasingrestrictions inthethirdphaseoflockdown,Vijsaid,“Thedecisionwas takenby the chiefminister.Hemustbehavingabroadervi-sionthanme.Imaynotbeabletomatch his thought process, butas far as my thoughts go, I feelscared.”Hintingatapossibilityofa“re-

view” on relaxations, he said,“Peoplewill have to follow thenorms of social distancing andother instructions. There is nootheroption.”On sealing the borderswith

neighbouring states, Vij said, “Iwascompelledtotakesuchade-cision.Yesterday,66peopleweretested positive, a majority ofthemhad come fromDelhi. It isright thatallof ushaveto fightaunited battle against this pan-demic, but I am responsible forpeopleofmystatealso”.About the spread of COVID-

19 in Haryana, Vij said,“Coronavirushasgoneasympto-matic. It has becomedifficult tofindoutwhoisinfectedandwhois not. There is a possibility thatthepersonsittingnexttousisin-fected and the virus may betransmittedtous.Thatistherea-son, socialdistancing isamust”.Haryanahaswitnessedama-

jorspikeinthenumberofCOVIDcases in the last fourdays. In thelast24hours,Haryanarecorded75newcases.Till three days ago, the state

had a recovery rate of 72.72 percent,which dipped to 49.13 percentonMonday.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPATNA,MAY4

A BARBER at Mainva village inBihar’s Banka district was shotdeadafterherefusedtoofferhisservices tohis fellowvillagers.According to the FIR filed by

DineshThakur’swifeMusoDevi,the villagers had been pressur-ing him to cut their hair andshaveevenduringthelockdown.She said on Saturday, Thakurwas summoned by one BipinDas. The next day, his bodywasfound in the village pondwithtwobulletmarks.Amarpur police station in-

charge Kumar Sunny told TheIndian Express: “Themain ac-cused Bipin Das is absconding.Wehavearrested threepersonsso far...We have been talking tovillagerstoknowmoreabouttheincident.”

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,MAY4

NEARLY50personnelfromtheBSF’s Kolkata headquartershave been quarantined afterthedriverofaBSFescortvehi-cleaccompanyingtheCentre’sInter-MinisterialCentralTeam(IMCT) inWest Bengal testedpositive forCOVID-19.Two IMCTs had been sent

to West Bengal to monitorhealth systems and COVIDcontainmentmeasures in thestate. The teams were sup-posed to identify gaps in care

systemsandlockdownimple-mentationandsendareporttotheCentre.SincetheIMCTsinitiallydid

not get adequate cooperationfrom the state, they stayed attheBSFguesthouseandmovedaroundinBSFvehicles.Sourcessaidtheinfecteddriverwasac-companying the IMCT sent totake stock of the situation inKolkata.ThisIMCTisheadedbyAdditionalSecretary(Defence)ApurvaChandra.It is not clear yet whether

theMHA has asked theWestBengal IMCTmembers to gofor testing.

A BSF officer from Bengalsaid,“Althoughthisdriverwasnot in direct contact with theIMCTmembersandalldrivershad been directed to stay putin their vehicles when theIMCTwas out doing its work,wearetracingallcontactsandtakingnecessaryprecautions.”TheIMCTshavegivenanun-

flatteringreportofthesituationin the state and even said themortality rate (12.8%) is thehighest inWestBengal. Incon-trast, the homeministry hasclaimed the IMCTs sent toGujaratpraisedtheeffortsofthestateinfightingCOVID-19.

Bihar barbershot dead forrefusing services

BSF driver with Central teamin Kolkata tests positive

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY4

THECIVILServices(Preliminary)Examination,2020,scheduledtobeheldonMay31hasbeende-ferred after the Union PublicService Commission took stockof thesituationafter thesecondphase of the nationwide lock-downMonday.Takingnoteof theextension

of restrictions, the commissiondecidedthat itwillnotbepossi-bletoresumeexaminationsandinterviewsat themoment.This examination also serves

asthescreeningtestfortheIndianForestServiceExamination,sotheschedule for the IFS exam is also

deferred,agovernmentstatementsaid.TheUPSCwillreviewthesit-uationagainonMay20.As and when dates are de-

cided for all the tests deferreddue to the lockdown, the UPSCwill notify them on its websiteandgivecandidatesa30-dayno-tice, ithasbeendecided.TheUPSChasalreadydeferred

thepersonalitytestforremainingcandidates for Civil ServicesExamination,2019;notificationforIndianEconomic Service/ IndianStatistical Service Examination,2020;notification forCombinedMedical Services Examination,2020; notification for CentralArmedPoliceForcesExamination,2020, and NDA and NavalAcademyExamination,2020.

Thiruvananthapuram:Kerala onMondayrecordednofreshcoro-naviruscases—thesecondcon-secutive day that the state hasrecordednonewCOVID-19case.A record 61 people were de-clared recovered from the dis-easeonMonday.Of the 499 confirmed cases

inthestatesofar,only34arecur-rentlyunder treatment.Afterattendingareviewmeet-

ing, Chief Minister PinarayiVijayantoldthemediathatsofar,Keralahastested33,010samples,of which 32,315 testednegativefor the virus. OnMonday alone,1,249 sampleswere tested, hesaid. Besides, as part of sentinelsurveillance,2,431sampleswereseparately collected frompeopleinthehigh-riskgroup-healthcareworkers,migrant labourers andthosewithhigherpubliccontacts-ofwhom1,846havetestedneg-ative,hesaid. SHAJUPHILIP

HaryanaHealthandHomeMinisterAnilVij

As Haryana relaxes curbs,minister says: ‘Dar lagta hai’

UPSC defers civil servicesexam as lockdown extended

No new case inKerala for 2ndconsecutive day

PMNarendraModiattendstheNon-AlignedMovementSummitviavideoconferencing inNewDelhi.ANI

PM at NAM summit:terrorism, fake news‘deadly viruses’

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK 7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

(a) IC-71172Y Maj Ankit Budhraja

(b) JC-388132M Nb Sub Shri Man Dubey

(c) 15396437N Hav Balbir Singh

(d) 15688176P Hav Ranajeet Singh

(e) 15712438F NK Dhayanidhi K

(f) 15719552F LNk Rajesh M

(g) 15705277F LNk Jai Prakash Singh

(h) 15723272L Sigmn Ravi Yadav

(i) 15746639M Sigmn Chavhan Gautam Rangrao

(j) 15733049P Sigmn Patil Sandep Prakash

(k) 15385963M Hav Patil Gama Dagadu

(l) 15693059N LNk Sageer Ahmad

(m) 15718017 LNk Mithun Kumar

(n) 15721297Y Sigmn Vivek Kumar

OBITUARY

On behalf of the Corps, we sincerely pray to Almighty forpeace to departed souls & strength to the bereaved familiesto bear this irreparable loss.

Corps of Signals salutes its following Signallers who left usfor their heavenly abode during the month of Mar & Apr 2020

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY4

THESUPREMECourtonMondayreserved its order on petitionsdemandingthatmobileInternetspeeds be upgraded from2G to4G in J&Kwith the Centre andtheUnionTerritory administra-tion opposing the demand, cit-ingnational securityconcerns.Responding to arguments

that2Gspeedwasmakingitdif-ficult for people to access infor-mation on the Internet or con-sult doctors online in thewakeof the COVID-19 and lockdown,AttorneyGeneralKKVenugopaltold a bench of Justices N VRamana,RSubhasReddyandBRGavai that “it’s aboutprotectionof the livesof theentiretyof the

population of J&K and not justthepatients”.“Wecankeepacheckonwho

is giving information and dis-seminating terrorist propa-ganda,”Venugopal said, addingthat thepetitionshave tobeex-aminedagainst largerpublic in-terestof national security.When the court asked how

thegovernmentwas taking careoftheCOVID-19situationwithre-gard to the restrictions, SolicitorGeneral TusharMehta repliedthathealthservicesareworking.The SG replied there are

other areas too in the countrywherethereiseithernoInternetoronlytheavailabilityof2G,andthatthereisnoinformationthatsomeonehasdiedof COVIDbe-cause they didn't have Internetaccess.

Chandigarh:A2014-batchIASof-ficer of the Haryana cadre re-signedMonday,citing“personalsafety on government duty” asthe reason. Rani Nagar an-nounced her resignation in apost on her Facebook page. Shealso posted her resignation let-teronsocialmedia.ShelaterleftChandigarh for her hometownGhaziabad.Nagar(38)waspostedasaddi-

tional director of Haryana socialjusticeandempowermentdepart-ment, apart fromtheadditionalchargeof directorof archivesde-partment. Neither Nagar norHaryanaChief SecretaryKeshniAnandArorawere available forcomment. ENS

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY4

THEMAHARASHTRA govern-ment has approached theSupreme Court, accusingRepublicTVeditor-in-chiefArnabGoswami of “browbeating” in-vestigators by “creating fearpsychosis”.An FIR was filed against

Goswami in connectionwith anews showonApril 21 inwhichhe posed questions to CongresspresidentSoniaGandhiregardingthelynchingofsadhusinPalghar.The petition, filed onMay 2,

has sought a direction “to insu-late the investigating agencyfromanypressure,threatandco-ercion” and to enable it to carryout its obligations in a “fair andtransparentmanner” and to re-strain Goswami from “abusingthe interimprotection” grantedby thecourt.

The plea has referred to ashow on Republic TV’s Hindichannel and said “statementonhisdebate…areaimedatbrow-beating, terrorizing and intimi-datingtheinvestigatingofficer”.Accusing Goswami of abus-

inghispositionasa journalist, itsaid, “...he has repeatedly usedhis position aswell as his chan-nel tomakeunjustified andun-warranted disparaging, ridicul-ing, false (as per record) andderogatory statements againstthepoliceincludingthecommis-sionerof police," thepleasaid.“This appears to be aimed

solelyatbrowbeatingtheinves-tigatingofficersbycreatingafearpsychosis that theywould alsoface dire consequences andwouldbepublicly ridiculed...”On April 24, the apex court

granted protection to Goswamiagainst any coercive action forthreeweeks inconnectionwiththeFIRs lodgedagainsthim.

Maharashtra govt movesapex court, says Arnabbrowbeating investigators

Evacuationof Indiansstuck abroadfrom May 7SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,MAY4

THEGOVERNMENTwillbeevac-uatingIndiannationalsstrandedoverseas fromMay 7 onwards.Making the announcementMonday, the Union HomeMinistry said the Indians whohave“compelling”reasonstore-turnwouldbebroughtbackina“phasedmanner”.Sources said the process is

expectedtobeginfromtheGulf,wheretherearenearlyeightmil-lion Indians livingandworking.The returnof those stranded

will be faciliated on “payment”basis, thegovernmentsaid,withonly those who are asympto-maticandclearamedicalscreen-ingtobeallowedonboard.Theywouldbetransportedonaircraftandnavalships.As reported by The Indian

ExpressonApril26,thiscomesaf-ter weeks of petitions by thestranded Indians,with the sup-portofseveralstategovernments.ItcouldbeIndia’slargestevac-

uation ever,with up to two lakhexpected to seek return. Sourcessaidtheywouldprioritisepassen-gers on the basis of factors suchastheirneed,medicalcondition,urgencyandastategovernment’scapacity to handle those return-ingintermsofCOVIDprotocols.A Standard Operating

Protocol has been prepared fortheevacuation,theministrysaid.“Indian Embassies and HighCommissionsarepreparingalistofdistressedIndiancitizens.Thisfacilitywouldbemadeavailableon payment-basis. Non-sched-uled commercial flights wouldbe arranged for air travel,” thestatement said.During the journey, the pas-

sengerswouldberequiredtofol-low protocols issued by theMinistry of Health andMinistryof Civil Aviation. “On reaching,everyonewouldhave to registerontheArogyaSetuapp.Everyonewould bemedically screened.After scrutiny, they would bequarantinedfor14days,eitherina hospital or in an institutionalquarantineonpayment-basis,bytheconcernedStategovernment.COVID testwould be done after14daysandfurtheractionwouldbetakenaccordingtohealthpro-tocols,” the government said,adding detailed informationwouldbesharedbytheMinistriesof External Affairs and CivilAviationontheirwebsites.The HomeMinistry said it

was also in touch with statesoverarrangementsfortheirtest-ing, quarantine and onwardmovementhome.

Chandigarh:PunjabPoliceMondaybookedcontro-versial Punjabi singer SidhuMoosewala and eightothers,includingfivepolicemen,afteravideoshow-inghimfiringshots fromtheAK-47of apoliceper-sonnelata shooting rangewentviral.Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta also placed on sus-

pension Sangrur DSP (Headquarters) Daljit SinghVirk,whofacilitatedtheshootingafewdaysago,ata timewhen the entire state is under curfew overcoronavirusoutbreak.Thosebookedincludeatleastthree“professionalshooters”,oneofthenbeingna-tional level skeet shooterKaramSinghLehal.A senior Punjab police officer told The Indian

ExpressthattheshootingrangewhereMoosewalafired shots from official AK-47, theweapon of oneofthegunmen,belongedtoLehalinBarnaladistrictwhere thecasewas registered.

NAVJEEVANGOPAL

SC reserves order on pleason mobile Internet in J&K

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI,MAY4

HAVING REGISTERED a sharpspikeinCOVID-19casesoverthepast 48 hours, the Koyambeduwholesale market complex —one of the largest perishablegoods markets in the country,spread across over 250 acres inChennai — has authoritiesscramblingforcorrectiveaction.Themarket was shut down onMonday for amassive disinfec-tiondrive.Authoritiespointtotheden-

sityofpeopleandvehiclesinthemarketanda lackof basic facili-ties.Eventhoughmeasureswereimplemented since the lastweekof April, they fear that theactionmaynot suffice.Themarket area has around

500 shops — each with 3-10workersandhandlingupto300-400 vehicles each day. It is thelargestsourceofperishableprod-ucts for Chennai, districts innorthernTamilNaduandTirupatiandNellore in Andhra Pradesh.On an average day, themarketgets 50 per cent of its productsfromKarnataka,AndhraPradesh,Kerala,GujaratandMaharashtra,amongotherstates.As thenumberof cases from

the market rose over the pastweek, the Greater ChennaiCorporationandthestateHealthDepartment have been puttinginplacecontrolmeasures inthearea. OnMonday, an IPS officerwhowashandlingoperationsatKoyambedualsotestedpositive.While92caseswerereported

from themarket on Sunday, the

totalnumberofcasesonMondayshotupto300.Thetotalnumberof cases in Tamil Nadu touched3,550with527casesreportedonMonday, the highest single-dayfigure inthestate.A senior functionary in the

government said a survey ofpeoplewhoworkedat themar-ketisstill inprogress.“BySundayevening, we identified some7,500peoplewhoworkedthereand leftChennai for theirnativevillages.Wehavealertedalldis-trictadministrations,sharedde-tails to trace and quarantinethem...,”hesaid.S Chandran of the Periyar

Market ManagementCommittee, a licensed mer-chants association atKoyambedu, said restrictionshadbeenputinplaceinthemar-ket after the authorities held ameeting on April 27-28. “Theyhad evicted hundreds of retailvendors. Fruits and vegetables

shopswereshiftedtoanotherlo-cation, Madhavaram. Onlywholesaleshopsarefunctioningnow. But ever since the lock-down started, the number ofworkers has been steadily de-clining...Massive job lossdue tothebanof retailvendorsalsoaf-fectedmany. Fresh cases beingreportedfromdistrictsaretheseworkers who left for theirhomes,”hesaid.Evenasbasicmeasureswere

implemented taken to disinfectthemarket area, a senior policeofficerwhohadbeenmonitoringsituationforoveramonthsaidariseincaseswasinevitable.“TheCMDAshouldhaveactedearlier,the market should have beenshut partially. But nobody actedtill thethirdweekofApril.Whattheyhaddecidedtodointhelastweek of April should have beendoneinMarch itself,"hesaid.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Punjabi singer practisesshooting with cop’s AK-47;9 booked, DSP suspended

IAS officer quits,cites ‘personalsafety on govtduty’ as reason

Koyambedumarketareahasaround500shops. Express

CHENNAI

Vegetable market reports 300cases; shut for disinfection

New Delhi

8WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

TICKET TO RIDEStatesmustpayformigrants’return.It’sonestrandinsafetynetforurbanpoor—tohelpthemtideovercrisis, comebacktowork

MORETHANAmonthafterthenationallockdownwasimposed,migrantlabourersacrossthecountryarebeginningtoboardtheShramikSpecialtrainstoreturntotheirhomes.Whilethedecisiontoallowspecialtrainsto ensure their safe passage home is indeedwelcome, asking themi-

grants—manyhave lost their jobsanddon’thave thecushion tostayon in thecity— tobear thecostof theirevacuationduringthisperiodof acute financialdistress isbothun-fair andshort-sighted.Both theCentreandstategovernmentshave repeatedly stressedontheneedtoalleviatethedistressof thelabourers.Yettheyalsovacillateoverwhowillbear thecost. This indecisioncould—andshould—havebeenavoided. Fears that “free”ridesmight be taken advantage of aremisplaced as only thosewho are desperate aretravellinginthesetimesandthereisstrictscreeningandvettingofpassengerlists.Aticketshouldneitherbeseenasacharitynorfreebie,thestategovernmentsmustbearthecosts.Themigrant labourers’ decision to gobackhomewas, in crucial senses, imposedon

them by factors beyond their control.With revenue plummeting during the nationallockdown,cash-strappedbusinesses,especiallythesmallandmediumenterprisesintheinformalsector,areunabletopaywages.Fordailywageearnerswithnon-existentsafetynets, a suddendrop in incomescanpushthemback intopoverty.Andthis furtherprodsthem to seek the security of their homes. There is also the pull factor.With India’s vil-lagesrelativelysparedthedebilitatingeffectsof thecoronavirus—thevirushotspotsarelargely concentrated inurban centres— there is an added safety in villages for this sec-tionof thelabourforcewithlimitedaccesstohealthservices.Thus, intheabsenceofaso-cial security architecture that provides relief for loss of incomes, and ensures access tohealthservices, the lureof home isentirelyunderstandableandpredictable.Atthesametime,itisalsotruethattheunplannedandforcedexitofthemigrantwork-

forceputsaquestionmarkoveritsre-entry,sonecessaryforthewheelsoftheurban,indus-trialeconomytokeepturning.Migrantsare likely tore-enter thecityonly if their safeexitfromit isassured,and intheabsenceof suchguarantees, theymayevenfalloff the labourmap—theymaybeconstrainedtooptoutof theurbanlabourforce.Howthisreversemi-grationplaysoutwillbevisibleonlywheneconomicactivitygathersmomentum.Fornow,there isastrongeconomicargument, therefore, forstategovernments tobear thecostsoftheirexit—inordertofacilitatetheirre-entryandhelpthemreachasaferplace.Thecostsincurrednowarenotonlyforalleviatingthehumanitariandistressof thosemostvulnera-bleinapublichealthemergency,theyareacrucialinvestmentinasharedeconomicfuture.

GRIM REMINDERHandwaraencounterisawake-upcall—thereisnoroomforcomplacency,orlet-upinaddressingunresolvedcrisis inJ&K

THE ENCOUNTER IN Kashmir inwhich five security personnel, including acolonel, amajor, a J&K police officer, and two soldiers, were killed bymili-tants, isadisturbingreminderinthemidstofthecoronaviruspandemicoftheValley’sunresolvedcrisis.LastAugust,whenthegovernmentstrippedJ&Kof

its special statusandbifurcated it into twoUnionTerritories, an impressionwascreatedthatallproblemsofKashmirhadbeenresolved,andthewayclearedfor J&K’smarchto-wardspeaceandprosperity. In fact, in theninemonths sinceAugust2019,Kashmirhasbeenundertwokindsof lockdown.Thefirstone, imposedonAugust3, inthewakeof theabrogationofArticle370,hasseguedintothesecond,imposedtopreventthecoronavirusfromspreading.ButmilitantgroupsintheValleyhavenotvanished.Securityforceskilled45militants fromAugust 2019 toMarch 2020.More than 200 others remain active. Inrecentmonths, someof the spike in shelling across the Line of Control has been attrib-uted to attempts at cross-border infiltration. As the snowmelts, there are likely to bemoresuchattempts.Anewgroup—TheResistantFront—hasbeguntakingresponsibilityforattacksinthe

Valley.TheincidentinKeran, inwhichfiveelitecommandosofPara4werekilledinhandto hand combat, and Saturday’s incident in Handwara, have been claimed by this newgroup.Securityagenciesbelieve it tobea frontof theLashkar-e-Toiba,whichhasgainednotoriety internationallyandhasalsobeenunder somepressuredue to themonitoringof Pakistan-based terrorgroupsby theFinancialActionTaskForce.Twothingsshouldworrysecurityagenciesandthegovernment.One,therearenori-

val claimants for such attacks as therewould be in the pastwhen a newgroupmade aclaim— itmay indicate that groups are now co-operatingwith each other. Even thoseeager to announce themselves at everyopportunity, alQaeda-linkedAnsarGhazwatulHind,andtheIS,aresilent.Two,inHandwaraasinKeran,localyouthwereamongthemil-itants. The double lockdown, and the complete absence of a political process, and thenewdefinitionsforwhoiseligiblefordomicileinJ&K—seenasanattempttochangethedemographyof theValley—havenotwon thegovernmentany friendsamong thepeo-ple.EventhenewJ&KApniPartyhasretreatedintosilence.Handwarashouldbeawake-upcall tothegovernmentthat itcannotcontinuetomuddlethroughtheValleywiththebureaucracyproppinguptheAugust5,2019decisionsononesideandthesecurityforceson theother.

THE INSEPARABLESTheauthorof ‘Nausea’heldhisnosewhenshownamanuscriptbySimonedeBeauvoir. Inhindsight, itwasprettydumb

JJEAN-PAULSARTREANDSimonedeBeauvoir rest side by side in theMontmartrecemeteryinParis,withacommonheadstone.Pilgrimsfromallovertheworldvisitthe existentialist couple every day, and leave behind votive offerings of flowers,MetroticketsandrudenotesurgingdeBeauvoir totellSartretostuff it intheafter-

life, if such a thing exists. Themessage sought to be conveyedby theMetro tickets is aneternal enigma—perhaps it is amodern tribal practice— but one does take flowers tocemeteries. And the feelings expressed in the notes is understandable. Sartrewas lessthankind tohis lifelongcompanion.Now,anunpublishedworkbydeBeauvoir is toap-pear. Sartre had “held his nose”when she showed it to him, according toher autobiog-raphy,ForceofCircumstance.TheavalancheofrudenessinMontmartrewillacquirefreshvigour.It isgenerallyacceptedthatSimonedeBeauvoirlaidthefoundationsofmodernfem-

inisminTheSecondSex, the1,000-pagebroadsideagainstthepatriarchywhichappearedin1949.Manyarbitersof literary tastesuspected it tobepornographic, andtheCatholicchurchpromptly put it on its list of bannedbooks. Five years after that, she finished LesInséparables,ashortcomingofagenovelaboutthepassionaterelationshipbetweentwoyoungwomen, based on her own friendshipwith Elisabeth ‘Zaza’ Lacoin, who died ofencephalitisattheageof21.Sartre,withwhomdeBeauvoirbeganapersonalandphilo-sophical relationshipwhenshewas21, sniffedat it.Themoralof thestoryisthatevenifyouhavewrittenNauseaandareregardedasthe

authorityonestrangementandthesicknessofthehumancondition,itisneveragoodideatoholdyournosewhenyouarepresentedwithabookbySimonedeBeauvoir.

The moral contagion

Nirupama Subramanian

DishaNawani

Whytheworkofawriter inFranceofanothererastrikesachordwithourpresentpredicament

LET’S LIGHTEN THE BURDENImpassecausedbypandemicoffers roomtorethinkboardexams, findalternatives

ASWE STUMBLE through a pandemic forwhich there is yet no cure, telling ourselvesthistooshallpass,andwewillresumelifeasitusedtobe,whileknowinginsideall thatislost andcanneverbe regained, it is scarcelybelievabletherewassomeonemorethan70yearsagowhowroteabout thehumancon-dition as it is today—soexactly and in suchdetail that it seems he is right here now,watching, seeing, andspeaking tous.ThePlaguebyAlbertCamus,publishedin

1947,isaboutanoutbreakofbubonicplaguein a small town in French Algeria. But thestory is also read as an allegory of NaziGermany’s occupation of Franceduring thesecondWorldWar, and the Vichy regime’scollaborationwith it.Readingittodayislikedrivingdownboth

sidesofatwo-waystreetatonce.Theallegoryhastobereadliterallyfortheamazingexact-nesswithwhichitdescribestheworldatthistime,thoughthecoronavirusisfarlessdeadlythan the plague,while the underlying storyabout human conduct inwar-time Franceholds up to us amirror about themoral dis-easesofourowntimes—therelentless“oth-ering”, the search for someone to blame, forenemieswithinandoutside, communaldis-tancing, false equivalences, and the abysmalshortageofahumanqualitycalledempathy.Oran is the Algerian seaside town in

whichCamusset this story.Whendeadratsstart showing up in the town, there is, inOran, at first bewilderment, then denial,bravado and finally, themoment of comingface to facewith the truth. Hospitals over-flow, schools and the stadium have beentakenover.Peopleprotestatbeingtakenintoquarantine, and the police have to accom-panydoctors as they searchhouse tohousefor the infected. No ships are stopping atOran, and none sailing out to France. Thereisthewaitforavaccine,andalockdownthathangs heavily over the town as it sucks thelife out of the townspeople. Some foragefromofficetoofficeforararepermittoleavethe town, though thewelcome at the otherend is uncertain. Others are shot down asthey try toscale thegatesand flee.There is hunger. “Poor families. found

themselvesinaverydifficultsituation,whiletherichlackedforpracticallynothing... infactit heightened the sense of injustice in thehearts of men. They had the not unreason-able feeling that they should have been al-lowedto leave”.There are bodies and rules for their dis-

posal — after no land is left to bury people,they have to be cremated. “Victims died farfromtheirfamilies,andtheritualwatchoverthe deadwas banned”. There are doctors atthefrontline,andotherswhoplungeintothework of fighting the disease because beingan onlooker is not an option; there are un-likelyheroes andunlikelier profiteers. Eventhetimingiseerilysimilar.Winterturnsintospring,springgiveswaytosummer,summerto autumn. There is even adoctorwhopinshishopesonthecoldweatherbringingbet-ternews.Inreallife,Oran,todaythesecondbiggest

city in Algeria, never saw an epidemic.During the war, it was a Vichy France-German outpost that the Allies captured in1942.When Penguin Books published a new

translation of The Plague in 2001, the histo-rianTony Judt,whowrote the introduction,said in a November 2001 essay in The NewYork Review of Books that The Plague “takesonfreshsignificanceandamovingimmedi-acy”. Hewas referring to the 9/11 bombingof theTwinTowers. JudtwrotethatCamus’s“unwaveringgraspofthedifferencebetweengoodandevil,despitehiscompassionforthedoubtersandthecompromised,forthemo-tives andmistakes of imperfect humanity”,showed up “in unflattering light... the rela-tivisersandtrimmersof ourownday”.ThePlagueisadeeplyreflectiveworkabout

thehumancondition. Itwas criticised at thetimeof its publication for not beingpoliticalenough, or forthright aboutwhat had to becondemned.ThereisnomentioninThePlagueabout theNazis,or theVichyregime,oreventheyear inwhich it is set, though it iswidelyunderstood to be in the early 1940s and thefictionalshuttingdownofOranastheprisonFrance had becomeunderNazi occupation.Hadhebeenmoreexplicit, Judtwonders if it

would have had the same resonance acrosstheworld, read at different timesduring thelast 70 years to drawparallelswith severalmoralcontagionsthathaveplaguedus.In2020India,whereanalreadyresurgent

communalvirushaslockedontothecoron-avirus in the way a heat-seeking missilelatchesonto its target,whenblameforabi-ologicalcontagionthathasnotdifferentiatedbetweenreligion,race,orcasteissoughttobepinned on one religious community, whensocialdistancingbecomesthenewuntouch-abilityagainstMuslimsoragainstthepoor-at such a time,what canwe learn from thiswork by a Frenchwriter from another erawhosework strikes a chord at somany lev-elswithourpresent situation?Asidefromtheremarkablesimilaritiesbe-

tweencolonialFranceandpresent-dayIndia,downtothedepartmentofInfodocthatdailyputs out the numbers of infected people,whatcomesthroughisthefirmconviction—themoralof thestory—that it isvital to first“callthediseasebyitspropername”inordertobeabletodealwith it intherightmanner,and then do everything to resist it eventhoughsucheffortsmayprovefutile;thatvic-tory,ifachieved,maybringnosatisfactoryso-lutions.“AllIsayisthatonthisearththerearepestilencesandtherearevictims—andasfaraspossible,onemustrefusetobeonthesideofthepestilence,”saysTarrou,oneofthemaincharacters inthebook.As the plague recedes a year after it be-

gan, as “unaccountably” as it hadappeared,andOranlimpsbacktonormalcyanditspeo-ple start smiling and laughing again, thenovel leavesuswitha finalominousproph-esy,literallyorotherwise.“[T]heplaguebacil-lusneverdiesorvanishesentirely. it can re-main dormant for dozens of years infurniture or clothing... it waits patiently inbedrooms,cellars,trunks,handkerchiefsandold papers, and perhaps the daywill comewhen, for the instruction ormisfortune ofmankind, the plaguewill rouse its rats andsend them to die in somewell-contentedcity”.

nirupama.subramanian@expressindia.com

ITREQUIREDtheCOVID-19pandemictodis-rupt the smooth rhythmof Class 10 and 12board examinations—an indispensable an-nualritualoftheIndianschoolsystem.Underthe present circumstances, since the choicewas between conducting them as per thescheduleorriskingone’slife,thedecisionwasnot that difficult. However,what remains tobe seen is whether the various Boards ofSecondaryEducation(BSE)willbecourageousenough to scrap these examscompletely forthis year or rush to “somehow” conduct theremainingonesoncethelockdownis lifted.Board exams are part of the painful col-

lectivememoryofnotjustschool-goingchil-dren but their parents and teachers aswell.Theyareassociatedwithfearandanxietyforthefollowingreasons:Performanceinthemis linkedtorewardsandpenalty; theburdenof memorising a vast body of knowledge(read information)within limited time andexpressing itunderstressful conditions.Thestakesarehighandthereisnosecondchance.The board or public examswere intro-

duced by the colonial government in its at-tempttostandardiseIndianschooleducation.Allimportantmattersrelatingtoschoolsuchasprescribingthecurriculum,fixingtheaca-demic calendar, use of textbooks andmostimportantly,conductingexaminationstoas-sessstudents’ learningwentoutof thehum-ble localschoolmaster’scontrol toanelabo-rate bureaucratic apparatus. Such examsachieved several purposes — they imbuedschoolsandtheirsystemsofassessmentwithadegreeof objectivity, fairness andneutral-ity (bymaking the examiner and examineeanonymoustoeachother),madedistribution

ofrewardsandpenalties(promotion,deten-tionof students, financialaid toschool)con-tingentonstudents’performances,andmostimportantly, justifiedsuccessandfailure.Almosteverycommitteesetuptoevalu-

atetheIndianeducationsystem,particularlyexaminations, commentedon the futility ofsuchasystemwhichputenormouspressureonchildren,wasskewedinitsemphasis,andultimatelyreducedthemeaningofeducationtomemorisationandregurgitationof sterileinformation in textbooks. Suggestionswereofferedbutnothingwasdone to implementthem.Morerecently,theNationalCurriculumFramework,2005reiteratedtheneedtolinkassessmentwithlearningratherthanhaveitas a stand-aloneevent. TheCentral BoardofSecondary Education (CBSE)made Class 10board exams optional for some time. TheRighttoEducationAct,(RtE)2009mandatednoboardexaminations,nodetentiononfail-ure,andcontinuousandcomprehensiveeval-uation of students till Class 8. These werelandmarkdecisions,butsuchwastheauthor-ity enjoyedbyboard exams, that eventuallytheRtEActwasamendedtore-establishtheirsupremacyandre-introducedetention.One,therefore,needstoexamineandun-

derstand the resilience of the board exams.In a grossly unequal society like India, theyserve a very important social function ofmaintaining cohesiveness among peoplewhoarehierarchicallypositionedandthere-fore,differentiallyrewarded.Sincethenum-berofaspirants faroutweightheopportuni-ties available, exam results prevent a largenumberofstudentsfromfulfillingtheiraspi-rationsofmovingupthesocialladder.Failure

pusheschildrenoutatdifferentschoollevels.Therecouldbeinnumerablereasonsforfail-ures, but exams singularly fix the responsi-bility on the child alone, linking it to the ab-sence of merit and effort in the child.Examinationresultsofdifferentboardsshowthesystematiceliminationofstudentseveryyear,butnosocialunrestiseverreportedfol-lowing theirdeclaration. Studentsdeniedofawards because of their performance in theboardexaminationsrarelyquestionorresentthe fact that it is the limitednumberof seatswhich is the real problem—not their per-formance.Themessagewhichgoesacrossis,“yougetwhatyoudeserve”.Theboards/examiningbodiesneedtore-

flectonwaystoaddressthisimpasseandal-laythefearsandanxietiesofstudents.Whileitmaybemorechallengingtofindaquickal-ternativeforClass12,sinceitmarksthetran-sitionfromschooltocollege, thereisnorea-sonwhyatleastforthisyear,Class10boardscannot be suspended. Students seeking ad-mission to the same school should be ac-cepted unconditionally and those desirousof changingschoolsmaybeaskedtoappearfor an entrance test/interview. News abouthowthedifferentboardsareconsumedwithsomehowconductingtheremainingexams,gettingtheanswerscriptsevaluatedquicklyand sending powerpoint presentations tochildren urging them tomeditate/exercisewill not help— adoption of student-sensi-tivedecisionswill.

Thewriter isprofessoranddean,SchoolofEducation,Tata Instituteof Social

Sciences,Mumbai

Oran is the Algerian seasidetown in which Camus setthis story. When dead ratsstart showing up in thetown, there is, in Oran, atfirst bewilderment, thendenial, bravado and finally,the moment of coming faceto face with the truth.Hospitals overflow, schoolsand the stadium have beentaken over. People protest atbeing taken into quarantine,and the police have toaccompany doctors as theysearch house to house for theinfected. No ships arestopping at Oran, and nonesailing out to France. Thereis the wait for a vaccine, anda lockdown that hangsheavily over the town as itsucks the life out of thetownspeople.

One needs to examine andunderstand the resilience ofthe board exams. In a grosslyunequal society like India,they serve a very importantsocial function ofmaintaining cohesivenessamong people who arehierarchically positioned andtherefore, differentiallyrewarded. Since the numberof aspirants far outweigh theopportunities available,exam results prevent a largenumber of students fromfulfilling their aspirations ofmoving up the social ladder.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

WORDLYWISE“All oppression creates a state ofwar.”

— SIMONE DE BEAUVOIRTHEEDITORIALPAGE

MARSHALTITO DEADTHE YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT,Marshal JosipBroz Tito, died at the age of 87, theYugoslavnews agency Tanjug announced. The tragicannouncementreadasfollows:“Thecentralcommittee of the League of Communists ofYugoslaviaandthepresidencyoftheSocialistFederativeRepublicofYugoslaviaannouncedtonight the following declaration: To theworkerclass/ to theworkingpeopleandcit-izens/tothepeoplesandnationalities/oftheSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/ComradeTitohasdied.”Titohadbeenhospi-talised in the Slovenian capital of LjubljanasinceJanuary12whenhewasadmittedwithabloodcirculationblockage inhis left leg.

IRAN UNFAZEDIT NOWAPPEARS that the Khuzistan gun-men who seized the Iranian embassy inLondon lastWednesdaywith some20per-sons as hostages are in amood for compro-mise, provided the Khomeini-Bani-Sadrregimeagreestonegotiatetheirdemandsinoneformoranother.Oneofthekeydemandsofthegunmenisfullautonomyforthesouth-westernregionof Iran,Khuzistan,whichhasIran’s richest oil fields. The Iranian leadershave categorically said that theywould notevenacknowledgetheexistenceof theirde-mands and that theywere free to blow upnot only their Londonembassybut also thehostages (“whowill gostraight toheaven”).

AASU WARNINGTHEALL-ASSAMSTUDENTS’ Union (AASU)warnedthecentralgovernmentthatthecur-rent agitationwouldbe intensified if no so-lutionwas found to the foreign nationalistissue on the basis of 1951 as the base year.Thewarningwas contained in a statementby the AASU president, Prafulla KumarMahanta, and its acting general secretary,BharatNarah,rejectingPrimeMinisterIndiraGandhi’s charge that theirmovementwasmarkedbyviolence.StronglyreactingtoMrsGandhi’sremarksyesterdayatBhubaneswar,he alleged that shewas “trying to crush thepresentpopularandpeacefulmovementbygivingadistortedpicture”.

MAY 5, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“Life is far easier for those with quiet space at home for everyone to work,laptops or tablets for each family member, and generous broadband packages.”

— THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

IN THEDAYS prior to the “lockdown”, driv-ingpast theBandra-WorliSeaLink,givingatbestahastyglance,onescannedtheprome-nade, the haze blocking a clear view. There,forlorn,againstthebackdropof thegreysea,stands thestatueofRKLaxman’s “commonman”,symbolisingthesilentmultitudeofourcountry.Are thosewhomherepresents stillas silent?Or isanothernarrativeemerging?Joining the advertising industry in the

post-liberalisation1990s,onewitnessedthemarkets expanding and new segments ris-ing. One also realised— somethingwhich Iwashesitanttovocaliseevenhumblyatthatpoint — that the profession truly requiredpeoplelikemewhowerefrugallybroughtupin theheartof Indiaandcarried the smell ofthe earth— “those” from differentmilieus.For, a large segment of the industrywhoseprimaryreasonforexistenceshould’vebeentheir grasp of, and the ability to communi-catewith,thetargetaudiencewasnotinsyncwith the ground reality.Words like “they”,“them”,“thosepeople”pepperedthediscus-sions. Itwasevenstrangelycooltobenotas-sociatedwiththelargermasses,withtheun-dertonesofthelatterbeing“downmarket”.Itstruckadiscordantnotewithsomeofusbe-causethereisadifferencebetweenahealthydistance thathelps objectivity andaworry-ingdisconnect.Whilst things changed, thankfully, to a

verylargeextentinourindustry, inabroadercontextperhaps,theyambledon.Infact,overthe years, I have felt the distance, betweenthe onewho is defined as “commonman”and thosewho use this definition, only in-creasewhen it comes to relatability.Let’s take a look at theportrait of the so-

called commonman from some vantagepoints. For thosewho live in themetrosandlargercities, thecommonmanis,willy-nilly,theonewhoprovidestheservices:Themilk-man,thewatchman,thegrocery-storedeliv-ery boy, “the bhaiyas”. He lives in somemakeshift tenement or a “jhuggi” or “godknowswhere”, arrivesmiraculously everymorning to provide the services and disap-pears into oblivion until the next day. Ofcourse,sometimesthenamesofthebaisandmaids who work part-time are known,sometimesaphotocopyof theAadhaarcardkeptfoldedinsomedrawerasidentityproof,avaguereferencenestled in themindabouthim /her livingnear “that bridge” or behind“that mandi”. Other personal details arescanty,notsomuchbecausetheyareunavail-able but because the desire to know simplydoesnotexist.Inthesmallercitiesandtowns,whereour

parentsorolderrelativesreside,thecommonmanisoftendeemedasthevillagerwhohascome to their comparatively large city towork.Hiswife and children rarely havedis-tinct names and are heard of either in thecontext of falling ill or gettingmarried. It’s agiven that his only dream is to come to thecityandfindemployment.This is thearche-type surviving fromthePremchandclassicsor remnantsof our feudalpast.Anotherpopular referenceof acommon

maniscreatedbycinemaandthemedia.Forthem,thereisasenseofamusementregard-ing this commonman.We often see him inthe so-called real cinema in a caricaturedform—hell-bentonusingonlyhisdialectorregional tongue, spouting juicy abuses orrisquéwitticisms, possibly paan-chewing,andhypothetically protected fromall refer-ences tothecontemporary intermsofdressorbehaviour.He’s a suspended islandand should stay

“authentically regional” — amisfit who en-tertains and amuses. After all, he is “them”and themore one spices up this characterwithclichés,themorethesatisfactionofget-ting to “figurewhothesepeopleare”.Voluntarily cut off fromground reality, a

large section of the society’s interaction iswith the reel-life version of the commonman.Andrarelyare thereanyqualms inad-mittingthatthereisnottheslightestofdesirein them to know or engage with the real.Alteredreality is awonderful cocoon.Apart from those who have constantly

engagedmeaningfully, this wonderful butartificial cocoon has been cracked in thetimesof COVID.Apart from the heroes of healthcare, we

started hearingwords like “frontline war-riors”,essentialservicesstaff, theselfless“ef-ficientsanitaryworkersof themunicipality”andsoon.Memesandvideosarepouringoutonsocialmediaaboutthedesperatewaitandvalueof themissingmaidsandbais.Yes, theplight of migrant workers and their heart-wrenching, desperate quest to reach homeshookeventhosewhotillthenhadmanagedto remainsomewhat removed.The state of the real commonman, sans

urban India’s privileged indulgent lifestylenoise, is clearer than today’s sky.Thankfully,manyhavesteppedforwardin

this crisiswithmoney, time, resources andservices.Thekeyispledgingthatwewillgobe-yondtheservingofmealsformigrantsandpro-viding for somemonthsof ration to a clusteror locality or contribution to reliefmethods.Morethanever,weneedtomakealong-term,sustainableimpact.Amorehumaneimpact.Perhapswe can start at home.With our

household help. All those people withoutwhosehelpurban India can’tmove an inch.Somethingsignificantneedstohappenhere.Whileweweretalkingaboutalockdown

inthecountryandtheaffluentwerebusyor-ganising the safety and travel of their lovedones returnhome,wealmost forgot the ex-istenceof a sectionof peoplewhoalsohavefamilies and who also feel equally for thesafetyof theirown.

There isway toomuchof adifference inthelivesof thesepeopleandtheaverageur-ban household. Urban India’s lifestyle hasgrownin leapsandboundsandthis successhasnotequallybeenshared.Theharshtruthoflifeisthattherehaveal-

waysbeenclassdifferences.Butthedifferencehas become staggering.While theWest hasgraduallymoved towards a professional ap-proach,wearestucksomewhereinthemid-dle.Neitherdoweshare thedeepemotionaland generational bondwith the householdhelp thatwas there in the joint families norhaveweprofessionalisedtheseservicesfully.The pretence around the proverbial

“DeenuKaka”,whowasatleastgivenanim-pression of being a familymember, is over.Youdon’tsee“DeenuKakas”anymore.Whatwe have in return is a lopsided, insensitiveandtransactionalrelationship,whichissur-viving instrangeways.Sure, generosity is shown at times dur-

ing an illness, accident, marriage or payingfor education for children or a loan givenwith the scant expectation of being paidback.Butatbest,thesearesporadicanddonemoreasa“retention”strategy, laterbandiedas “lookhowmuch Ihavedone foryou”.But inmyhumbleopinion, this shallnot

last andshouldnot.Many,perhapsmorepalpablyinMumbai

wheretherealityandthebubble—thehigh-rise and the slum—rest cheek to jowl, havebeengettingincreasinglyuneasy.Oscillatingbetween concern about inequality and theguilt of overconsumption.The gross inequality across Indiameans

that going ahead, the needywill still be theones with servile and underpaid jobs.However, let’s recognise that todaymorethanever,weliveinamuchmoreconnectedworldwherehidingtruthsandrampantun-fairnessintermsofexpectationsandreturnsdoesnot seemfeasible.Weneedtoworkoutasystemthat is fair

and respectable. Starting with amonthlysalarythatismorethanthehousehold’sdin-ingoutexpenses,helpingoutandpayingpre-miums for accident insurance, a medicalcheck-up,aloanextendedwithunderstand-ing, theannualholidayextendedwithgrati-tudewithgrace.Itwouldbenicetoknowthenamesoftheirchildrenandspousealongtheway. Also, perhaps next time themunicipalworkerscordonoff thelanenearyourhomeinstead of honking impatiently, send downsometea.Not just for thesakeof thedignityof labourbutalsodignity inourowneyes.

Joshi isawriter, poetandchairman,CBFC

NOTMANY in Delhi’s political, bureau-cratic,andchatteringclasseswillbeabletofind a nation called Saint Vincent andGrenadines on a large world map. ButExternal AffairsMinister SubrahmanyamJaishankarwasonacall lastweekwiththeforeignministerofthissmallnationformedbymany islands.Die-hard cricket fanswill object tomy

proposition on Saint Vincent andGrenadines. They will say it is part of agroup called theWindward Islands andthat its cricketers play for theWest Indiesteam. Some of themmight tell you a for-merwicket-keeper, Mike Findlay, hailedfromSaintVincent.Beyond cricket, island nations like

Dominica, St Lucia, and Saint Vincent andGrenadinesrarelyfeatureonIndia’sdiplo-matic radar. Theyare sovereign states andmembersof theUN.Someofthemarepartof institutionsliketheCommonwealth.Allof themareinimportantregionalorganisa-tions in the Caribbean and Latin America.Jaishankar was on linewith all three lastweek, as part of a comprehensive globaloutreach.When travel across borders came to a

grinding halt a fewweeks ago, it seemedtheforeignofficeswouldbeoutofbusiness.Formuch of their work is about engagingother governments. Being in the sameroomwith counterparts in different cor-nersof theworldwasessential.Atleastun-tilnow.The South Block is turning this adver-

sity intoanopportunity—toconducta lotof routinediplomatic engagementonline.TheForeignOfficeismerelyfollowingotherprofessionsthatareadaptingtorestrictionson travel across borders andwithin thembythecoronacrisis.Workthatwasconsid-ered deeply inter-personal, like teaching,hasnowgonevirtualasuniversitiesmovedtocopewiththemassivedisruptionintheiracademicschedules.Diplomacyisanotherprofession that requires facetime for bothformalandseemingly informalwork.Negotiations or consultations of any

kind required sitting across a table in achancellery. Diplomats also work in lessformal settings — say signalling a nuanceinaquiet corridor conversation. Theyalsoassess thepoliticalmood in thehost capi-tal overdrinksanddinnerwith local lead-ers. Remember the old quip about diplo-macybeing amixof protocol andalcohol.Official meetings involve a lot of detailedagreementsonformandstructure.Anditiseasier to discuss complicated issues in apleasant setting.DelhitooktheleadingettingtheSouth

Asianleaderstomeetthroughvideotoex-

plorecooperationincombatingthecoronacrisis. Delhi also pressed for a G-20 videomeeting. Since then the UNSC, EU andNATO have all conferred through video.AndtheNAMsummitbeganonMonday.Besidestheconversationswithforeign

leaders, senior officials of the South Blockare engaging foreign embassies in Delhithrough video. Diplomatic missions inDelhi have long complained that theybarelygetaccess to theMEA.The Indianmissions abroad have the

sameproblem—of theGoI’s radio silenceonrespondingtoqueriesfromforeigngov-ernments.Delhi is trying tomakeamendswith the newmedium. The EAMhas be-gun regular engagement with ambassa-dors invarious regionsandsub-regions inrecentdays.PMModi had set the tone by reaching

out to the heads of missions on the ques-tions of safety and security of Indiansabroad. UnionMinister Piyush Goyal hasfollowedthroughbyinteractingwithcom-mercial officers at the Indian embassies.Hopefully, otherministersandsenioroffi-cials will make interactionwith the em-bassiesa regularaffair.To be sure, there is some resistance

across theworld’s foreign offices againstvirtualdiplomacy.Therearesomerealdif-ficulties,technicalandsubstantive,thatwillhave tobeovercome.Whenthe first cablereached London in themid 19th century,theforeignsecretary,LordPalmerston,wassupposed to havemoaned that telegramswill kill diplomacy.Foreignoffices,however,havelearntto

workwith new technologies, whether itwasthetrans-oceaniccableortheinternet.As COVID-19 changes theworld of diplo-macy, South Block is getting ahead of thecurve. What about bilateral summits?Could theybedoneonline?ThereisspeculationthatPMModicould

conduct a virtual summit with PrimeMinister Scott Morrison. The Australianleaderhad cancelledhis visit toDelhi ear-lierthisyearbecauseofforestfiresathome.It should not be impossible forModi andMorrisontosignajointstatement,finalisedby officials, at the end of video conversa-tion.Wecouldhavethetwoleaders takeafew questions from the press. Morrisoncould address business leaders in Delhi,Mumbai and Chennai via Zoom. Whatabout the Australian first lady, JenniferMorrison? It will be good to have MrsMorrison, a former nurse, interact withIndian healthworkers on the frontline ofthecoronacrisis.MuchofMEA’senergygoesintoorgan-

ising visits, but the follow-up has alwaysbeenhard.Virtualdiplomacymakeshigh-level engagement less burdensome.Involving thewhole government shouldmaketheimplementationofsummit-leveldecisionsabiteasier.AnIndiathatrebootsafter the lockdown could dowith all thediplomaticefficiencies it cangenerate.

Thewriter isdirector, Instituteof SouthAsianStudies,NationalUniversityofSingaporeandcontributingeditoron

internationalaffairs forThe IndianExpress

The harsh truth of life is thatthere have always been classdifferences. But thedifference has becomestaggering. While the Westhas gradually moved towardsa professional approach, weare stuck somewhere in themiddle. Neither do we sharethe deep emotional andgenerational bond with thehousehold help that wasthere in joint families norhave we professionalisedthese services fully.

Diplomacy in avirtual world

SouthBlockisturningtheCovidcrisisintoanopportunitytoconductdiplomatic

engagementonline

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

ONLY PUBLICTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Self-Isolated’(IE,May2).Mostprivatehospi-talslackthewherewithaltohelpthegov-ernment fight COVID-19. Further, theyareprofit-drivenandexpensive.Healthemergenciescanbestbehandledunderapublichealthcaresystemwhereauni-fiedcommandarchitectureenablesaco-ordinatedresponse.Chinaisthebestex-ample, where the pandemic wasaddressed effectively due to state-con-trolledhealthcare.

SKPrabhakar,Gurugram

SORRY STATETHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘From thebellyofaconcretemixer,emerge14mi-grantsheadedfromMaharashtratoUP’(IE,May 3). Behind the jokes and viralvideos,therearesorrylockdownstoriesand one has to be sensitive enough toseethroughthedesperationofthosein-volved.Has thephrase“homeiswherethe heart is” been ofmore significancethanitisrightnow?Orisitjustforthosemoreprivileged?

AnitaSharma,viaemail

MISPLACED NOTIONSTHISREFERS TO the article, ‘A new lineofaction’(IEApril30).Thewriter’sglobalambitions are amusing at a timewhenwhat Indianeeds is immediatemould-ing of a new order domestically. ThecoronavirushasexposedIndiaasa landwhere amajority of its citizens are de-

nied basic human rights. The stories ofhowpoor patientswere unable to findhospital beds,while the affluentman-agedwith ease, point to the lop-sideddevelopmentofhealthcareinIndia.

SantoshKarmarkar,Mumbai

LEGEND LOSTTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Creatorofmagic’(IE,May2).WiththepassingawayoflegendaryfootballerChuniGoswami,wehavelostanotherformidablepillarofIndianfootball’sgoldenera.Thefamousforward line trio — Chuni Goswami,Pradip Kumar Banerjee and TulsidasBalaram—played an effective role inIndianfootball’s flourishing.

ChanchalNandy,WestBurdwan

LETTER OF THEWEEKAWARD

To encourage quality readerintervention, The IndianExpress offers the Letter oftheWeek award. The letteradjudged the best for theweek is published everySaturday. Lettersmay be

e-mailed toeditpage@expressindia.comor sent to The IndianExpress, B-1/B, Sector 10,Noida-UP 201301.

Prasoon Joshi

Covidmustnotbeusedasanexcuse to ignoreenvironmentprotection

THEDAMAGE to the global economy fromCOVID-19threatenstofarexceedthatof therecession of 2007-2009 and could, accord-ingtotheInternationalMonetaryFund,trig-ger the worst recession since the GreatDepressionof the1930s.Governmentsdes-perate to reopenmoribund economies arenowtiptoeingaroundthelockdowntoavoidthedreaded“secondwave”of thevirus.However,aslockdownexitstrategiesturn

theirattentiontosavinglivelihoods, thereispressureongovernments to lowerenviron-mental standards, suspend environmentalmonitoring requirements and reduce envi-ronmental enforcement, in the belief thatthisisnecessarytosalvageeconomicgrowth.Yet, it would be amistake to assume thatthere is a trade-off between saving liveli-hoodsandprotecting theenvironment.Thecrisis of COVID-19 has highlighted that im-provingthequalityofairinourcountryisnotamatterof choicebutanemergency.AttheendofMarch,theUSannounceda

significant reduction in fuel efficiency stan-dards fornewcars,whichcouldresult in in-creasedgasoline consumptionby80billiontonnes, pumping increased carbon emis-sions into the atmosphere. The USEnvironmental Protection Agency has an-nounced that it will not be enforcing com-pliancewithroutinemonitoringandreport-ingobligationsofenvironmentalprotection,foran indefiniteperiod.OnApril15,theUNspecialrapporteuron

human rights and the environment, DavidBoyd, condemned such steps as “irrational,irresponsible, and jeopardiz[ing] the rightsof vulnerable people”, emphasising thatCOVID-19must not be used as an excuse toweakenenvironmentalprotection.ThirteenEuropean climate and environmentminis-ters, including those of Italy and Spain, thecountries worst affected by the virus inEurope,wrote as recently as onApril 9 that“we should resist the temptations of short-termsolutionsinresponsetothepresentcri-sis” and stressed the need tomaintain andstrengthenEU’seffectiveregulatorytools tostick to its2030climategoals.Indiahasevengreaterreasontoresistthe

temptation to put clean air on the back-burner. First and foremost, people living inareaswithhigher levelsof airpollution faceincreased risk of premature death fromCOVID-19.NewDelhiwas theworld’smostpolluted capital city for the second straightyear in2019, and Indiawas alsohome to21oftheworld’s30mostpollutedcities,Swiss-based group IQ AirVisual said in a recentstudy.TheStateofGlobalAir2019Report finds

airpollutionresponsible forover1.2milliondeaths in China and India each, based on2017 data.Whereas China succeeded in re-ducingairpollutioninitscitiesby32percenton average in four years from 2014-2018,Indiahashadlittlesuccess.Again,continuedair pollutiondirectly translates tomortality

underCOVID-19.Second, there is enormous inequality in

the impact of the COVID-19 fallout. Thosewhosufferthemostfromairpollutionarethemillionswho live and toil in the open,whocannot afford air-purifiers or othermitigat-ingmeasures,asalsotheelderlyandchildren.Third, there is goodevidence that three-

quartersof theemerginginfectiousdiseasesmigrate fromwildordomesticatedanimalsinto humans. This includes Ebola, SARS,MERSandnowCOVID-19.Deforestation, in-dustrialagriculture, illegalwildlifetrade,cli-matechangeandothertypesofenvironmen-tal degradation increase the risk of futurepandemics.Fourth,fromDelhitoSaoPaulo,Bangkok

toBogota, thedramatic improvementinthequalityofairandwater inthemostpollutedcities around theworld has been transmit-tedbysocialmedia.Thismaywellresult inagroundswellofpublicsupportformeasurestoprotect theenvironment.Fifth, it is possible that the cataclysm of

corona will jolt the markets into giving aclean,healthyandsustainableenvironmentthe economic value it deserves. As MarkCarney, former governor of the Bank ofEngland,wrote in The Economist: “.the tra-ditional drivers of value have been shaken,newoneswill gainprominence, andthere’sapossibilitythatthegulfbetweenwhatmar-ketsvalue,andwhatpeoplevalue,willclose.”For all these reasons andmore, the pan-

demic isanurgentcall toactionontheenvi-ronment—airpollution inparticular—onawarfooting.Inthepast,wehavenevertreatedairpollutionasanationalemergency, failingto coordinate between the Centre and stategovernments.TheCOVIDpandemichasbeendeclared a national disaster in India, undertheNationalDisasterManagementAct,2005.Thislegislationmandatesthedisasterauthor-ities at the national, state and district levelsundertheAct,aswellastheCentralandstategovernments,coordinateamongthemselvesand takemeasures for the prevention andmitigationofthepandemic.Airpollutioncre-atesmedicalconditionsthatgravelyincreasetheriskof fatalities fromCOVID-19.Preventing andmitigating the risks of

COVID-19,therefore,meansthemandateforthe disaster authorities is also to tackle airandother formsof pollutionhead-on.TheNDMAisaplatformwhichshouldbe

used to combat air pollution as an emer-gency, with a framework for coordinationbetweendifferentlevelsof thegovernment.Similar coordinationwill be required at aninternational level to continue towork to-wards reduced emissions under the ParisAgreement. It is a great pity that it takes apandemic to bring the realisation that eco-nomic growth versus clean air is a false di-chotomy.

Thewriter isa senioradvocate,SupremeCourtof India

It’s not economy vs clean airAmit Sibal

Cocoonoftheprivilegedispuncturedbypandemic.DenialofequalityanddignitytothosewithoutwhosehelpurbanIndiacannotmove,mustbeaddressed

The real common man9

RAJA MANDALA

by CRajaMohan

CR Sasikumar

New Delhi

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IiY/ A³Fb¸FFd³F°F ÕXF¦F°Fd³Fd½FQF IiY (ÕXFJ ¸FZÔ)1 2 3NIT NO. 06 ÷Y. 62.12 ÕXFJTender No.63422

NIT NO. 07 ÷Y. 35.95 ÕXFJTender No.63423

NIT NO. 08 ÷Y. 92.74 ÕXFJTender No.63424

NIT NO. 09 ÷Y. 120.59 ÕXFJTender No.63425

NIT NO. 10 ÷Y. 142.12 ÕXFJTender No.63426

NIT NO. 11 ÷Y. 116.70 ÕXFJTender No.63427

NIT NO. 12 ÷Y. 159.68 ÕXFJTender No.63428

NIT NO. 13 ÷Y. 96.39 ÕXFJTender No.63429

NIT NO. 14 ÷Y. 127.17 ÕXFJTender No.63430

NIT NO. 15 ÷Y. 183.43 ÕXFJTender No.63431

NIT NO. 16 ÷Y. 158.53 ÕXFJTender No.63432

NIT NO. 17 ÷Y. 38.14 ÕXFJTender No.63433

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80430

F-21(13)/CD003582225/DS(Prov)/Tender for BMW/2019-20/106 Dated: 28.4.20Tender ID No.: 2020_CJT_190403_1

e-TENDER NOTICEFor and on behalf of the President of India, e-tender (onlineprocurement website https://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in) areinvited for procurement of sharp disposal destroyer system required asper guideline of bio medical waste (management and handling) rule2016 in Tihar Jail. for 02 year from the date of issue of rate contract(extendable upto 03 months). The NIT has been uploaded andavailable along with terms and conditions and detailed specifications. Allthe tenderers participating in e-tendering and should have a DigitalSignature / Smart Card and should apply online before the Last Dateand Time. In case 27.05,2020 is being declared govt. Holiday thenext working day will be treated as next tender date.

OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF PRISONPRISON HEAD QUARTER:

NEAR LAJWANTI GARDEN CHOWKJANAK PURI: NEW DELHI

PROVISION BRANCH

Estimated Cost of Work : Rs. 01 crore (Approx)

Date of release of tender through E-procurement websitehttps://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in

: 06.05.2020

Last date / Time of receipt of tendersthrough e-procurement solution

: 27.05.2020 at 12:00Noon

Date of on line opening of Pre-qualification bids

: 27.05.2020 at 12:30 PM

Sd/-Superintendent: PHQ-II

DIP/Shabdarth/0026/20-21 Tihar, New Delhi

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Government of KarnatakaPublic Works, Ports & Inland water transport Department (NATIONAL HIGHWAYS)Office of the Executive Engineer, National Highway Division,Vishweshwarnagar, Hubballi Tele/Fax : 0836-2357420 & 0836-2357577

Email : eenhd_hbl@rediffmail.com

State

No/EE/NHD/HBL/Junction Impr Hubli/NIT/2019-20/2890NOTICE INVITING TENDER (Two Cover System)

The Executive Engineer, National Highway Division, Hubballi on behalf of the Chief Engineer,N.H. Bangalore invites bids from eligible bidders for the following project on Single stage Twocover system through the website : www.eprocure.gov.in on EPC mode.

Date : 31-03-2020

Maintenanceperiod

Comple-tion

period

EstimatedCost

(Rs. in Cr.)Name of Work

1 7643Karnataka

10Years

36(Months)

206.19(Excluding

GST)

Construction of Elevated Corridor from Km135.650 to 136.450 on NH 63, from Km249.00 to 250.050 on NH4 and from km193.800 to 193.350 on NH 218 forDecongestion of traff ic at RaniChennamma Circle in Hubli City / Taluk inthe state of Karnataka on EPC mode.

Government of IndiaMinistry of Road Transport & Highways

Through

EMDDeclaration

5Bid Security

declaration hasto be submitted

as perAppendix-II of

RFP

(1) Date & Time of start of sale of Tender documents (through online) : 16.04.2020 at 11:00 Hrs(2) Date & Time of close of sale of Tender documents (through online) : 30.05.2020 upto 16:30 Hrs(3) Last Date & Time for Receipt of Pre-bid queries : 11.05.2020 upto 11:00 Hrs (4) Date of Pre-bidmeeting : 12.05.2020 at 15:30 Hrs (5) Last Date & Time of submission of bids (hard copy) :01.06.2020 upto 16:00 Hrs (6) Date & Time of opening of Technical Bids : 01.06.2020 at 16:30 Hrs

The bidders shall also submit a copy of Online Receipt of payment made through web sitewww.bharatkosh.gov.in towards payment of cost of bid document of Rs. 10,000=00 (RupeesTen Thousand only) and 18% GST Rs. 1800=00 (Rs. One Thousand and Eight Hundred only)Total Rs. 11800=00 (Rupees Eleven Thousand and Eight Hundred only) to (“Regional Pay &Accounts Officer, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Bangalore payable at Bangalore).Special attention may be paid to select PAO Code 034807-PAO(NH) Bangalore, under that selectRO civil Bangalore DDO Code 234809 – Superintending Engineer, Online Receipts of tenderdocument fee shall be uploaded compulsory in the e-portal.

Original Bid Security declaration has to be submitted as per Appendix-II of RFP along withother Annexure are to be uploaded in e-portal during uploading the tender documents and alongwith the Technical Bid uploaded documents (Except Financial Bid) has to be submitted to theOffice of Executive Engineer, National Highway Division, Hubli after the last date for submissionof tender and before opening of the Technical Bid.

The amount quoted in the Bill of Quantities should be exclusive of GST. 12% provision forGST is made in the sanctioned estimate and will be paid separately. The details of Machineryrequired, work qualification certificate and detailed notification / conditions & e-tendering processcan be obtained by logging on to website https://eprocure.gov.in. Sd/- Executive Engineer,

National Highway Division HubballiDIPR/DWD/2020-21/42/MCA

U.P. RAJYA VIDYUTUTPADAN NIGAM LTDPARICHHA THERMALPOWER PROJECTPARICHHA JHANSI 1- E-

Tender- ET-04/CMD-II/PTPP/2020-21 work of “Cleaning of jungle andgrass cutting inside power house areaof 2x210 & 2x250MW, Plant PTPP,Parichha.” Estimated Cost Rs.6,25,664.00 e-bid Submission dt.:26.05.20 up to 13:00 Hrs. 2- E-Tender- T-03/SD-B/BTPS/2020-21work of “Loading, unloading, shiftingand stacking of material of StoreDivision B & C and Lubricant/Transformer oil barrel, different typesof steel plate, structure steel etc. inyard/stores of Store Division B & Cand vice-versa AND generalhousekeeping of All stores, Cleaningof ground in stores and various sitesof stores in Store Division B & C inPTPP Parichha.” Estimated Cost Rs.3,00,298.00 e-bid Submission dt.:21.05.20 up to 16:00 Hrs. 3- E-Tender- ET-01/CMD-IV/PTPP/2020-21 work of “Cleaning of the densejungle and wild grass along path ofthe main drain and the area around itsvicinity outside colony campus uptothe turn it takes towards ParichhaVillage at PTPP, Parichha.”Estimated Cost Rs. 2,33,927.50 e-bid Submission dt.: 18.05.20 up to16:00 Hrs. 4- E-Tender- T-01/O&MC-IX/C&IMD-V/2x250MW/PTPP/2020-21 work of “Round the clockrunn ing /p reven t ive /b reakdownmaintenance of field instruments ofMain plant related to Auto controlLoops, Interlock & protection ofauxiliaries in Yokogawa DDCMISsystem, CW/ACW Pump House,Dosing system, Compressor house,Hart management system, GPSMaster Clock, Unit control panel withAnnunciation system and Vibrationsystem of 6.6 KV auxiliaries for unitNo. 5 & 6 in 2x250MW, PTPP,Parichha.” Estimated Cost Rs.22,09,990.00 e-bid Submission dt.:07.05.20 up to 12:00 Hrs. 5- E-Tender- T-02/O&MC-III/C&I-I/ 2x250

MW/ PTPP/2020-21 work of “Routinemaintenance of AC Distribution BoardPanel. Inter-panel cable loopchecking, testing & replacing fromACDB to all SG and TG Panel systemequipments in DCS Panel room &electronics test bench of Unit No. 5 &6, 2x250MW, ‘C’ PTPP, Parichha.”Estimated Cost Rs. 2,96,100.00 e-bid Submission dt.: 26.05.20 up to14:00 Hrs. 6- FollowingCorrigendum of E-Tenders:- (i) E-Tender- T-93/O&MC-VIII/AHD-III/2x250 MW/PTPP/2019-20 extendedas follows:- e-bid Submission dt.:08.06.20 at 14:00 hrs. (ii) E-Tender-T-02/BMD-II/PTPP/ O&MC-II/ OH#3/2020-21 extended as follows:- e-bid Submission dt.: 05.05.20 at13:03 hrs. (iii) E-Tender- T-01/CSD-II/PTPP/ 2020-21 extended asfollows:- e-bid Submission dt.:16.05.20 at 16:00 hrs. (iv) E-Tender-T-32/CPD-II/ PTPP/2019-20extended as follows:- e-bidSubmission dt.: 21.05.20 at 16:00hrs. (v) E-Tender- T-08/ CPD-II/PTPP/ 2020-21 extended asfollows:- e-bid Submission dt.:21.05.20 at 16:00 hrs. The otherterms and conditions and place ofhard copies submission and openingshall remain same/ unchanged.NOTE:- 1.The details of tender cost,earnest Money and submission ofbids/tender Extension are available inthe bid document uploaded on the e-procurement website http://etender.up.nic.in. 2. The bidders are requiredto be registered with U.P. ElectronicsCorporation, Ashok Marg, Lucknowby depositing requisite fees forparticipation in the e-Tendering. Thebidder must also be registered withtheir Digital Signature Certificate(DSC) in the e-bidding system. Dateof Opening of: 2nd Price Bid shall bedeclared later on. “SaveElectricity”EXECUTIVE ENGINEER TSD-I,PTPP, PARICHHA PATRANKNO.12/T.S.D.-ADMN./PTPP DATED:04.05.2020

ljdkjh foHkkxks@fuxeksa esa dk;Zjr] leku dk;Z ds vuqHkoh Bsdsnkjksa@QeksZ ls fuEufyf[kr dk;Z gsrq fnukWd03-06-2020 rd vijkUg% 3%00 cts rd osclkbZV e-tender.up.nic.in ij e-tendering ds ek/;e lsfufonk;s vkefU=r dh tkrh gSA fufonk lEcU/kh leLr vfHkys[k e-tender.up.nic.in dh osclkbV ijfnukWd 05-05-2020 vijkUg% 03%00 cts ls fnukWd 03-06-2020 rd vijkUg% 03%00 cts rd miyC/k jgsxsa]tgkW ij Bsdsnkjksa }kjk osclkbV ij vkWu ykbZu viuh fufonk njsa ¼e; VSfDudy@Qkbusaf'k;y½ Mkyhtk;sxhA fufonk gsrq fu/kkZfjr /kjksgj /kujkf'k FDR/RTGS/NEFT ds #i esa rFkk fufonk ewY;DD/RTGS/NEFT ds ek/;e ls ^^vf/k'kklh vfHk;Urk ty fo|qr mRiknu [k.M [kkjk&ckn'kkghckx]lgkjuiqj ds (Punjab National Bank ds [kkrk la[;k 1019001100000016 ,oa IFSC-

PUNB0101900) esa tek dj lk{; ds :i esa ;w0Vh0vkj0 la0 dh izfr bZ”Vs.Mj izi=ksa ds lkFk bZ”Vs.MjiksVZy ij viyksM djuk vfuok;Z gksxkA VSfDudy fcM@ izhDokyhfQds'ku ls lEcfU/kr izi= lfgr fnukWd04-06-2020 dks lka; 03%00 cts rd vf/k'kklh vfHk;Urk] ty fo|qr mRiknu [k.M ds dk;kZy; d{k esa j[ksVs.Mj ckWDl esa Mkyus gksxsaA Vs.Mj ckDl ls fufonk dh ewy dkih fnuakd 04-06-2020 dks lka; 04%00 cts ;gtkWpus gsrq [kksyh tk;sxh fd fufonk esa Hkkx ysus okys fufond us Vs.Mj ewY;] /kjksgj jkf'k tek dj lk{;ds :i esa ;w0Vh0vkj0 la0 dh izfr o vkWQj ls lEcfU/kr ukWu tqfMfl;y #0 100 ds LVSEi isij ijlgefr i= fn;k gSA vkWu ykbu VSfDudy fcM fnukWd 05-06-2020 dks vijkUg 12%00 cts dsoy mUghfufondks dh [kksyh tk;sxh] ftldh fufonk dh ewy dkih esa mIk;ZqDr of.kZr izi= ik;s tk;sxsaA VSfDudy fcMDokyhQkbZ djus okys Bsdsnkjksa dh gh Qkbusaf';y fcM [kksyh tk;sxhA fufonkvksa dks fcuk fdlh dkj.k crk;sfujLr djus dk vf/kdkj v|ksgLrk{kjdrkZ ds ikl lqjf{kr jgsxkA fufonk ls lEcfU/kr fooj.k fuEuor~ gS%&

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Hiring of 01 No. 32 Seater

Shift Bus and 01 No. Bolero

Jeep for HGD, Khara (Model

2016 or later)

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365fnu

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1180.00

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Fixing of Hose reel Discharge

pipe in Switchyard to Quench

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Switchyard in Khara Power

House

45fnu

590.009000.004.392.

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class VI to X for 11 months,

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E-TENDERINGPRESS NOTICE

The Executive Engineer, CD-XII,Irrigation & Flood Control Department,GNCTD Opp. ESI Hospital, BasaiDarapur Office Complex New Delhi-110027 invites on behalf of the Presidentof India, online Item rate tender fromapproved and eligible contractors for thefollowing works :1. NIT No. EE/CD XII/20-21/03- (ID No.2020_IFC_190398_1)-HOA-2711- A/R &M/O Drains. SW- Profile correction andremoval of obstruction of Madanpur Drainby maintenance earthen sectionincluding jungle clearance from sideslope and bank from RD. 0 m. to RD.4100 m. E.C. Rs. 22,93,281/- Earnestmoney Rs.45,866/- period ofcompletion 90 Days. (Date ofsubmission & opening of bid on11.05.2020 at 3:00 P.M. & 3:30 P.Mrespectively). AE-II.Note :-1) Details of above mentioned works &eligibility criteria can be seen anddownloaded from the web sitehttps://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in.2) Amendment(s)/ alteration(s)/corrigen-dum if any, will be available at websiteonly.3) EMD in the form of Banker's Chequeor Demand Draft or Fixed DepositReceipt (drawn in favour of EXECUTIVEENGINEER, CD XII, I&FC DEPTT.,GNCT OF DELHI) shall be scanned anduploaded to the e-tendering websitewithin the period of bid submission. Theoriginal EMD should be deposited in theoffice of EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, CDXII, I&FC DEPTT., GNCT OF DELHIwithin the period of bid submission.(TheEMD document shall only be issued fromthe place in which the office of receivingdivision office is situated).

Sd/-EXECUTIVE ENGINEER/CD-XII

DIP/SHABDARTH/0027/20-21

GURU HARGOBIND THERMAL PLANT, LEHRA MOHABBAT-151111Regd. Office: PSEB Head Office, The Mall, Patiala-147001

Corporate Identity Number: U40109PB2010SGC033813Website: www.pspcl.in

NOTICE INVITING TENDERTender Enquiry No. 514/GHTP/EMC/SGMC-W4/Vol-29 Dated: 04.05.2020SHORT DESCRIPTION: Routive, Preventive, Breakdown & shutdownMaintenance of 6.6 KV & 415V AC Switchgears, 220V & 24V DC PowerSupply System, ESP Control Panels and other local control Panels andAssociated Equipments, Battery Banks, Battery chargers, local push but-ton Stations and Power receptacles, HT & LT Power and Control Cablesinstalled at various locations under Switchgear Mtc. Cell of 2x210 MWStage-I and 2x250 MW Stage-II, Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant, LehraMohabbat, District Bathinda, Punjab as per details given in the tenderspecifications for a period of one year.EMD: Rs. 3,15,000 (Fixed Rs. Three Lakhs Fifteen Thousand only).Last date & Time for bid submission : 11.06.2020 upto 11.30 hrs.Date & Time of opening of Fee stage bid : 18.06.2020 upto 12.00 hrs.Tender Specification can only be downloaded from e-tendering website:

https://eproc.punjab.gov.in.Note: 1. The prospective bidders can obtain clarification regarding tenderspecifications from this office. For Registration of Digital Signatures anduploading of tender information may be sought from M/s. GEPNIC contactNo. 91-(120)-4001002/5.2. It is informed that in case tender process is not completed due to any rea-

son, no Corrigendum will be published in News papers. Detail regardingCorrigendum may be seen on PSPCL Official website i.e. https://pspcl.in.

Sd/- Dy. CE/EMC, GHTP,PSPCL, Lehra Mohabbat. Ph. No. 0164-2756427.GHTP-25/2020

776-C/Pb.

New Delhi

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

98,647Iran

211,938Italy

165,745Germany

191,827United Kingdom

168,962France

217,466Spain

1,166,083US

101,826Brazil

126,045Turkey

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 3,544,281 DEATHCOUNT:248,816

THEWORLD

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonMay4

145,268Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 42,836 (1,389 DEATHS)

12,974Maharashtra

3,023 Tamil Nadu

2,886Rajasthan

1,082Telangana

2,942MP

2,742 UP

4,549 Delhi

5,428Gujarat

963West Bengal

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

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

1,650Andhra Pradesh

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands33ArunachalPradesh 1Assam 43Bihar 517Chandigarh 94Chhattisgarh 57Goa 7Haryana 442HimachalPradesh 40JammuandKashmir 701Jharkhand 115Karnataka 642Kerala 500Ladakh 41Manipur 2Meghalaya 12Mizoram 1Odisha 163Puducherry 8Punjab 1102Tripura 16Uttarakhand 60

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,May4.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.11,762PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN30STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

INAllamanamedWinter, researchershavefoundanunlikelyallyinthehuntfor an effective treatment for COVID-19,theUniversityofTexasatAustinsaidinastatement.Theresearchers linkedtwocopiesofaspecialkindofantibodyproducedbyllamasandcreatedanewantibody,whichbinds tightly to akeyproteinonthenovelcoronavirusSARS-CoV2.Thisproteinisthespikeprotein,shapedlikeacorona(crown)thatgivescoronavirusestheirname.It isalsotheprotein that allows the virus to breakintohumanandanimalcells.Initial testswith thenewantibody

and cultured cells indicated the anti-bodyblocksviruseswiththisspikepro-tein from infecting cells. The re-searchers are from theUniversity ofTexas atAustin,USNational Institutesof Health and Ghent University inBelgium.Theyhavereportedtheirfind-ings in theMay5 issue of the journalCell.Thepaperisonlineasa“pre-proof”

—meaningitispeer-reviewedbutun-dergoingfinalproofreading.Theteamisnowpreparingtocon-

duct preclinical studies in animalssuch as hamsters or nonhuman pri-mates,withthehopesofnext testingin humans. The goal is to develop atreatment that would help peoplesoonafter infectionwith thevirus.Winter, thellama, is4yearsold, fe-

male,andlivingonafarmintheBelgiancountrysidealongwithapproximately130otherllamasandalpacas.SOURCE:UNIVERSITYOFTEXAS

ATAUSTIN

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

In antibodies from llamas,scientists see COVID hope

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI,MAY4

FOLLOWINGTHEeasingofrestrictionsinthethird phase of the nationwide lockdown,someofthemoststrikingimagesonMondayshowed long queues outside liquor storesaroundthecountry.Bytheevening,theDelhigovernment announced a 70% hike in theprice of liquor across categories in the capi-tal, startingTuesday.Delhi’s “special coronafee”onalcoholunderlinestheimportanceofliquor to the economy of the states.Manufacture and sale of liquor is oneof themajor sources of their revenue, and the re-opening comes at a timewhen the stateshavebeenstrugglingtofilltheircoffersamidthedisruptiononaccountof the lockdown.

Howdostatesearnfromliquor?Liquorcontributesaconsiderableamount

to the exchequers of all states and UnionTerritories exceptGujarat andBihar, both ofwhichhaveenforcedprohibition.Generally,states levy excise duty onmanufacture andsaleof liquor.Somestates,forexampleTamilNadu, also impose VAT (value added tax).States also charge special fees on importedforeign liquor; transport fee; and label &brandregistrationcharges.Afewstates,suchas Uttar Pradesh, have imposed a “specialduty on liquor” to collect funds for specialpurposes,suchasmaintenanceofstraycattle.A report published by the Reserve Bank

of India last September (‘State Finances: AStudy of Budgets of 2019-20’) shows thatstate excise duty on alcohol accounts foraround10-15per cent of OwnTaxRevenueofamajorityofstates. Infact,stateexcisedu-ties on liquor is the second or third largestcontributor to the category State’sOwnTaxrevenue; sales tax (nowGST) is the largest.Thisisthereasonstateshavealwayswantedliquorkeptoutof thepurviewofGST.

Howmuchdothestategovernmentsearnfromexciseonliquor?TheRBIreportshowsthatduring2019-20,

the 29 states and the UTs of Delhi andPuducherry had budgeted a combined Rs1,75,501.42 crore fromstate excise on liquor.Thiswas 16%higher than the Rs 1,50,657.95croretheyhadcollectedduring2018-19.Onanaverage, the states collected about

Rs 12,500 crore permonth from excise onliquor in 2018-19, which rose to about Rs15,000crorepermonthin2019-20,andwhichwasfurtherexpectedtocrossRs15,000crorepermonth in the current financial year. ThisprojectionwasbeforetheCOVID-19outbreak.“UttarPradeshcollectedamonthlyaver-

ageamountof Rs2,500crore fromliquor inthelastfinancialyearandwehopegetaboutRs3,000crore in thecurrent financialyear,”saida topofficialwith theUPgovernment.

Whichstatescollect thehighest

amounts inthis formof revenue?There is a time lag in the compilation of

revenuedatafromthestates,sofull-yearfig-uresareavailableonlyupto2018-19.Duringthat financial year, the five states that col-lectedthehighest revenuefromexcisedutyon liquor were Uttar Pradesh (Rs 25,100crore), Karnataka (Rs 19,750 crore),Maharashtra (Rs 15,343.08 crore), WestBengal (Rs 10,554.36 crore) and Telangana(Rs 10,313.68 crore). For amounts collectedasVATandspecial feesonimportforforeignliquor, state-wise figuresarenotavailable.

One reasonwhyUP collects the highestisthatit leviesonlyexcisedutyonmanufac-tureandsaleof liquor. ItdoesnotcollectVATseparately,unlikestatessuchasTamilNadu,whose VAT collections do not reflect in theexcisedutycollections.With Bihar and Gujarat having prohib-

itedliquor,Biharhad‘nil’revenuefromliquorin 2018-19 and 2019-20, while Gujarat’sliquor revenue was negligible. AndhraPradeshtooannouncedprohibitionlastyear;however,saleof theliquorhasbeenallowedwith“prohibition tax” fromMonday.

Whatexactly isstateexcise?Stateexcise is leviedmainlyonliquorand

other alcohol-based items. Revenue receiptsfromstateexcisecomemainlyfromcommodi-ties such as Country Spirits; CountryFermented Liquors; Malt Liquor; Liquor;Foreign Liquors andSpirits; Commercial andDenatured Spirits andMedicatedWines;MedicinalandToiletPreparationscontainingAlcohol,Opiumetc;Opium,HempandotherDrugs; IndianMade Foreign Liquors; Spirits,andSalestoCanteenStoresDepots.Besides,asubstantialamountcomesfromlicences,fineandconfiscationofalcoholproducts.

Whataretheothersourcesof revenueforthestates?The states’ revenues comprise broadly

two categories—TaxRevenue andNon-TaxRevenue.Taxrevenueisdividedintotwofur-thercategories:State’sOwnTaxRevenue,andShare in Central Taxes. Again, Own TaxRevenue comprises threeprincipal sources:TaxesonIncome(agriculturalincometaxandtaxesonprofessions,trades,callingsandem-ployment); Taxes on Property and CapitalTransactions(landrevenue,stampsandreg-istration fees, urban immovable propertytax);andTaxesonCommoditiesandServices(salestax,statesalestax/VAT,centralsalestax,surcharge on sales tax, receipts of turnovertax, other receipts, state excise, taxes on ve-hicles, taxes ongoods andpassengers, taxesanddutiesonelectricity, entertainment tax,stateGST,and“othertaxesandduties”).According to the RBI report, in 2019-20,

stateGSThadthehighestshare,43.5%,instates’Own Tax Revenue, followed by Sale Tax at23.5% (mainlyonpetroleumproductswhichareoutofGST),stateexciseat12.5%,andtaxesonpropertyandcapitaltransactionsat11.3%.

11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

KABIRFIRAQUENEWDELHI,MAY4

SMOKINGKILLS.SodoesCOVID-19,andifasmokercontractsthedisease,conventionalwisdomshouldsuggestthatheorshefacesahigher riskof severe illnessordeath.Now,researchersinFrancehaveturned

thatconventionalwisdomonitshead.Theyhaveputforwardahypothesisthatthepres-enceofnicotineactuallyequipsthebodytofight COVID-19. And they are conductingtrials to test thehypothesis.

What is thebasisof thehypothesis?It has been postulated by researchers

from a number of leading French institu-tions—thegovernmentresearchinstitutesCNRS and Inserm, the hospital networkAssistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris,SorbonneUniversity,CollègedeFrance,andInstitut Pasteur. They have described thehypothesis in a paperwritten for the jour-nalComptesRendusdeBiologiedel’Académiedes sciences, and published a version on apre-print server.

“Theresearchers’hypothesisisbasedonthecombinationof twodifferentbutcom-plementaryscientificapproaches,” InstitutPasteur said in a statement. One of thesetwo approaches is based on a statisticalanalysisofCOVID-19deathsinaFrenchhos-pital, and theother on thebiochemistry ofthehumanbody.

What is thestatistics-basedapproach?Itdrawsfromanobservationof thepro-

portion of smokers among patients whodied of COVID-19. Thesewere patients atPitié Salpétrière University Hospital, Paris.“In the hospitalised in-patients vs less se-vereout-patients,asmokingrateof4.4%vs5.3%wasfound,bothverylowagainst25.4%in the general population. This findinghasbeenconfirmedbyanindependentstudy,”neuroscientist Jean-Pierre Changeux ofInstitut Pasteur said in an interview pub-lished by the European research initiativeHumanBrainProject.The statistical study was led by Prof

ZahirAmouraofthesamehospital,togetherwithChangeux.Thetwoareamongtheau-thors of the study that describes the nico-

tinehypothesis.Changeuxisalsoapioneerin the study of a key chemical structure inthebody,onethatformsthebasisofthesec-ondpartof thehypothesis.

What is thischemicalstructure?It isakindof“receptor”. Intheconversa-

tionaroundCOVID-19,wehavebeenhear-ing a lot about receptors. These are struc-turescomposedofprotein,andtheyreceivesignalsthatmaybeintegratedintothebody.These signals can come from various sub-stances, such as a hormone, a drug, or anantigen.Forexample,thesurfaceof thehu-man cell has receptors calledACE2,whichopen the door for the novel coronavirusSARS-CoV2toenter thebody.At thecentreof thenicotinehypothesis

isareceptorthatrespondstonicotineaswellasachemicalcalledacetylcholine.Henceitsname:“nicotinicacetylcholinereceptor”,ab-breviatedasnAChR.Itisfoundinpartsofthenervoussystem,muscleandcertaintissuesoforganismsincludinghumans.Changeuxhas researched this receptor for decades,withonepaperdatingbackto1965.

Howdoesthisreceptorfit intothehypothesisaboutnicotine?Sincenicotineisknowntobindwiththe

nAChRreceptor, thesecondpartof thehy-pothesis goes like this: If nicotine is pres-

ent on the receptor, and the novel coron-avirus arrives, then the nicotine wouldblock the interaction.Inexistingscientificknowledge,thereis

apossiblepointer.Therabiesvirusisknowntobindwiththesamereceptor,andthisin-teractionisdrivenbyasequenceofgeneticmaterialthatexistsintheenvelopearoundtherabiesvirus.“Amazinglythereisarathersimilar sequence in the envelope of SARS-CoV2. Its role is presently under investiga-tion,”Changeuxsaid in the interview.

Andhowwill theresearchers test theirhypothesis?Clinical studies are in progress, Institut

Pasteursaid.AReutersreportdescribedthenature of the trial. Itwill involve groups ofhealthcareworkers and patientswearingnicotinepatches,andothergroupswearingplacebopatches.Therewillbe1,500health-careprofessionalsinthetrial,whichwillseekto assesswhether thosewearing the nico-tinepatchesaremoreresistanttoCOVID-19thanthosewearingtheplacebopatches.

Howdoesthishypothesissitagainst

conventionalviewsaboutsmoking?Thewidelyacceptedviewisthatthelungs

ofsmokersarealreadycompromisedtovar-iousextents,hencetheyarelikelytobemorevulnerabletoadiseasethatattackstherespi-ratory system. Some researchers have sug-gested, in fact, that the lowermortality rateamongwomenpatientsofCOVID-19isafall-outofthefactthatmentendtosmokemore.Again, the nicotine hypothesis involves

the nAChR receptor, when SARS-CoV2’smaininteractionsarewithadifferentrecep-tor:ACE2.Astudylastmonth,infact,lookedat the expression of ACE2 among smokersandnon-smokers.Peoplewhohavesmokedshoweda25% increase inACE2expressionas compared to non-smokers, researchersreported in the American Journal ofRespiratory andCritical CareMedicine. Theysuggested that smoking increases entrypoints for thenovelcoronavirus.The Indian Express sent a mail to

Changeuxasking,amongvariousquestions,howfar thecohortofCOVID-19patients inthestatisticalanalysisofdeathswasrepre-sentativeof thegeneralpopulation.Hewasyet to respondat the timeof filing.

Why liquor matters to statesSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

Queuesaftereasingof restrictions,andapricehike inDelhi,arepointerstotheimportanceof liquorasasourceof revenue.Howmuchdoes liquorcontributetostates’coffers,andwhichstateearnshowmuch?

MEHRGILLNEWDELHI,MAY4

SOFAR,themostwidelyreportedsymptomsofCOVID-19havebeenthoseonewouldas-sociatewith a respiratory infection, such asfever,cough,sorenessofthethroat.Now,der-matologists havebegun to lookat skin con-ditions too. One of the conditions that haveemerged has earned itself the description“COVIDtoe”,withcasesreportedfromSpainandtheUnitedStates.

What it looks likeTheskinconditioncausespurple,blueor

red discolouration of the toes (and some-times fingers). A study in the InternationalJournalofDermatology(IJD)hasdescribedtheconditionaschilblain-likelesions.The IJDaswell as the British Journal of Dermatology(BJD)havepublishedseparatestudiesdetail-ingsuchcases inSpain.IntheUnitedStates, imagesof thecondi-

tionarepoppingupalloverthecountry,der-

matologistDrAmyPallersaidinastatementreleasedbyNorthwesternUniversity.TheseimagesarebeingcollectedaspartofaUSna-tionalpaediatricdermatology registry.TheBJDstudylookedat“unexplained”skin

manifestationsin375patients,includingcon-firmedand suspectedCOVID-19 cases. Theydescribed five patterns of skin conditions;amongthese,COVIDtoewasobservedin19%(71of375).Andamongthese71cases,29(41%)hadconfirmedinfectionwithSARS-CoV2.

Is there a COVID link?Thatisahypothesis,asofnow,butscien-

tistshavecalledformoreevidence.“Ourhy-pothesis is that these lesions couldbea latemanifestation of COVID-19. This theory isbased on the fact that the lesions appearedweeksafterreachingthepeakof infectionsinSpain but not at the beginning so far asweareaware,” researcherswrote in the IJD.In the study in the BJD, the researchers

saidthelesionscouldbeassociatedwiththedisease, butalsonoted these lesionsappearlater in the evolution of the disease and are

“less commonly associatedwith virologicconfirmation”, so it is possible that thecon-ditionmaynotberelatedtoCOVID-19atall.DrPallerofNorthwesternMedicine,anini-

tiative affiliated toNorthwesternUniversity,saidinthestatementthatshehasseenimagesof approximately 30 cases of this condition.She saidmore testing is needed todefinitelyknowwhatiscausingthecondition.

Is it in India?DoctorsThe IndianExpressspoketohave

not yet found such cases among COVID-19patients. “Wehaven’t seensuchmanifesta-tion in50caseswehavetreated.Weareob-serving blood clots and pulmonary em-bolism more often now. Some haveneurologicalmanifestations,”saidinfectiousdiseaseexpertDrTanuSinghal.Dr Pravin Amle, another infectious dis-

easeexpert,saidinMumbai,“Wehavecomeacross literature on COVID toe in theWest,butitseemstobeveryrare.Wehaven’tcomeacross suchacase inMumbai.”

(INPUTSFROMENS,MUMBAI)

Does nicotine help fight COVID-19?The science behind a novel hypothesis

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

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

Schematicdiagramshowsnicotine(oracetylcholine)bindingtoreceptorsinthecell (triangles).Thesereceptorsareatthecentreof thehyopthesisthattheprsenceofnicotinehelpsresistthecoronavirusSARS-CoV2. InstitutPasteur

WHATSTATES EARNEDAS EXCISE DUTY (IN ` CRORE)2018-19(RE) 2019-20(BE)

All states+2UTs 1,50,657.959 1,75,501.422UttarPradesh 25,100 31,517.41Karnataka 19,750 20,950Maharashtra 15,343.085 17,477.388WestBengal 10,554.36 11,873.65Telangana 10,313.685 10,901Top5earners listedabove.Source: StateFinances:AStudyofBudgetsof2019-20;RBI

QueueoutsideashopinPuneonMonday.PavanKhengre

Scientistswere inspiredbyantibodiesproducedbythisllama,namedWinter. TimCoppensviaUniversityofTexasatAustin

THIS WORD MEANS: COVID TOE

Toes show discolouration, but is COVID the cause?

Chilbalin-like lesions. Landa,Mendieta-Eckert etal, International JoournalofDermatology

New Delhi

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

THEOUTBREAK TheWorld

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

JAPAN

EmergencystateextendedtoendofMayTokyo: Japan's PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe an-nouncedMondaytheon-goingstateofemergencywill be extended forabout amonth until theend of May. Abe, citingexperts'evaluationonthecurrent situation on theinfections, said that themeasure, currentlythrough Wednesday,shouldstayinplaceastherise in thenumberof pa-tients has not decreasedsignificantly enough andhospitalsarestilloverbur-dened. He said there is apossibilityofanearlylift-ing of the measures ifdata at mid-May showimprovement. Japan hasmore than 15,000 caseswithover500deaths.

PrimeMinisterShinzoAbe. AP

PANDEMICWATCH

NEWZEALAND

Nonewcasesforfirsttimesincemid-MarchWellington:NewZealandonMonday recorded nonewcasesofcoronavirusfor the first time sinceMarch16and less thanaweek after the nationended a strict lockdownthatappearstohavecon-tained the outbreak.Director General ofHealthAshleyBloomfieldsaid the resultwas causefor celebration, notingthe death toll remainedat 20. “It is symbolic ofthe effort everyone hasput in,” Bloomfield toldreporters.“Thisisthefirstdaywehadnonewcasesand we want to keep itthatway.”

PAKISTAN

Coronaviruscasessurgepast20,000Islamabad:Pakistan'stallyof the coronavirus casescrossedthe20,000-markon Monday after 1,083newinfectionswerediag-nosed, the health min-istry said. In the last 24hours, 1,083 new caseswerereported,takingthetotal to 20,186 patients.There were 22 deathsduring this period, up-ping the fatalities to 462.A total of 5,590 patientshave recovered in thecountry, the ministrysaid.Theauthoritieshaveso far conducted 212,511tests,including9,522dur-ing theperiod. Pakistan'stotalCOVID-19tallysofarstoodat20,186.

BANGLADESH

LockdownnowtillMay16;casecount10,000Dhaka: Bangladesh onMondayextendedthena-tionwide lockdown tillMay 16 as the number ofcasescrossed the10,000-mark in the country. TheMinistry of PublicAdministration an-nounced the govern-ment's decision in agazette notification, theDhaka Tribune reported.The government initiallydeclaredageneralholidayonMarch 26 for 10 days.Later, thatwas graduallyextended till April 25 asthe country kept seeing ariseinthenumberofcasesand deaths fromCOVID-19. Bangladesh later ex-tended the nationwideshutdownuntilMay5.

AGENCIESMAY4

GRANDPARENTS hugged theirgrandchildren, toddlers rushedexcitedlythroughparksandfac-tories revived their long-stalledproduction lines as Italy startedthe slow process of unwindingEurope’s longest lockdown.Nearly twomonths after or-

deringItalianstostayhomeinaneffort to slow one of the worstoutbreaks of the new coron-avirus in theworld, the govern-ment on Monday cautiouslyeased a few restrictions, whilekeepingmanyothers inplace.Despite almost 29,000

Italiansdyingof COVID-19sincethe outbreak emerged onFebruary 21, some people havenonethelesscomplainedthattherollback is too timid,while oth-ersworrythatcomplacencywillleadtoafreshwaveof infections.Many are simply overjoyed

togetsomeof theiroldlifeback.“Iwokeupat5.30am.Iwasso

excited,” saidMaria AntoniettaGalluzzo, a grandmother takingher 3-year-old grandson for awalk in Rome’s Villa Borghesepark — the first time they hadseeneachother ineightweeks.The unkempt grass towered

abovetheboy’sheadandtheairwasfulloverthesoundof lawn-mowersasparkstaffbegantore-storesomeordertooneof Italy’smostelegantgardens.“Hehasgrownbythismuch,”

she said, holding up three hori-zontalfingerstoshowthespurt.“It iswonderful.”Underthenewrules,4.5mil-

lion Italians can clock back in,constructionwork can resumeand relatives can reunite. More

importantlyforsome,cafeswereallowedtoreopenfortakeaways,with customers sipping theircoffeeson thepavement.“This ismyfirstpropercoffee

for eightweeks,” said RiccardoMonti,theCEOofane-commercecompany.“Perhapsit isthethingImissedmost.Thebaristhefocalpoint of our social life so to seethemclosedwasatrauma.”While some old rituals re-

turned, many curbs stayed inplace to try to prevent a resur-gence of COVID-19 that haskilledalmost29,000 Italians.Friendsarestill barred from

meetingup, the cause ofmuchgrumbling on social media,

most shopsmust stay shut un-tilMay18,andschools, cinemasand theatres remain closed in-definitely.At least 12 countries began

easing restrictionsonpublic lifeonMonday,astheworldtriestofigureouthowtoplacaterestlesspopulationstiredofbeinginsideandreboot stalledeconomies.Themeasures,whichincluded

reopening schools and allowingairports to begindomestic serv-ice, offer a previewof howareasthat havemanaged to blunt thetollofthecoronavirusmightworktoward resumingpre-pandemiclife,thoughwithstrictparametersaroundwhatwillbeallowed.

REUTERSBEIJING,MAY4

AN INTERNAL Chinese reportwarns that Beijing faces a risingwave of hostility in thewake ofthe coronavirus outbreak thatcould tip relations with theUnitedStatesintoconfrontation,people familiar with the papertoldReuters.The report, presented early

last month by the Ministry ofStateSecuritytotopBeijinglead-ers including President XiJinping, concluded that globalanti-China sentiment is at itshighest since the 1989Tiananmen Square crackdown,thesources said.As a result, Beijing faces a

wave of anti-China sentimentledbytheUnitedStatesintheaf-

termath of the pandemic andneedstobepreparedinaworst-case scenario for armed con-frontation between the twoglobalpowers,accordingtopeo-ple familiar with the report’scontent, who declined to beidentifiedgiventhesensitivityofthematter.The reportwas drawnup by

ChinaInstitutesofContemporaryInternationalRelations(CICIR),athink tank affiliated with theMinistryofStateSecurity,China’stop intelligencebody.Reuters has not seen the

briefing paper, but it was de-scribed by people who had di-rectknowledgeof its findings.“I don’t have relevant infor-

mation,”theChineseforeignmin-istryspokesperson’sofficesaidinastatementrespondingtoques-tionsfromReutersonthereport.

DAMIENCAVESYDNEY,MAY4

ATNIGHT,thecricketsmakemystreetsoundlikethewilderness.In themorning, I hear the birdschirpingattopvolumefromsunupuntil deep intowhat used toberushhour.But in late afternoon, the

soundsofnature inacitywhereeightmillionpeopleareworkingfromhome,ornotworkingatall,give way to something else: aburstofwelcomehumannoise.Inneighbourhoodsoncede-

finedbycarsandbusyschedules,kids rushout of front doors andgarages, roaming free on bikes,

scooters and skateboards,screamingdownempty streets.Literallyscreaming,asif theyjustescaped fromprison.“Three, two,one,go!” Iheard

ayoungneighbouryell theotherday, goading a sibling to speedover a tree limb they’d draggedintothestreet,leadingtoacrunchofbiketiresonbranchesfollowedbyshoutsof “Whoooaaaa!”Five weeks into Australia’s

coronavirusisolation,childrenaretheopeningbeatforanafternoonsoundtrack that also includesbarking dogs, shouting parentsandbuff 20-somethings joggingwhiletalkingabout lustandloveatvolumesthatbelongonstage.The timemay shift— some-

times the noise rises at 3 pm,sometimeslater—buttheswellof sound signals the start of

Magic Hour, that ad hoc inter-ludewhenourveryhumanneedtomove and chatter, even at a

distance, breaks through theroutineof quiet isolation.And let’s be clear: It is heav-

enly. Actual voices! Kids!Couples! Arguments! What Ihear outside my home officewindow, or passing by when Irun, istheelevatormusicIneverused tonotice, andnoweagerlyanticipate forconnectionandtomark thepassageof time.The Magic Hour is by no

meansuniquetoSydney. Itcan’tbeacoincidencethatthecheersforhealthworkers inNewYork,theblockpartiesinSanFranciscoand themass singing in Italy alltendtooccurjustbeforedusk.Associologists are quick to note,manyofusfeelcompelledtoend

ourdaysofpandemiclonelinesswithsomekindof connection.“Themore formal arrange-

ments, fromsportstoevents,areoff the table, and even the infor-mal interactions in shops andbars—that’sgonetoo,”saidDavidRowe, a sociologist atWesternSydney University. “People arefindingthattheyneedtointeractwith someone even if it’s justsomeonewalkingaroundagreenspace with you. You just wantsomekindof sharedpurpose.”Afterarapidgovernmentre-

sponse,Australiahassuppressedthevirus.Testing iswidespread,communitytransmissionislow,and new cases emerge by thehandfulnot thehundred.

Prime Minister ScottMorrison said that starting thismonth, children in Sydneywillbereturningtoschoolonedayaweek, rotating groups of stu-dents to minimise the risk ofspreading thedisease.Fornow,though,ourcooped-

up lives continue to produce anafternoon collage of sound thatis a reminder of what we’remissing and used to ignore.Outsidemywindow,Ihearpup-pies,Iheartoddlers, Ihearlaugh-ter, and Ihear friends.“Gottagetoutintheday,”one

womansaidlastweekafterrun-ningintoaneighbouratasunny4:17pm.“Wecan’ttouchbutwecantalk.” NYT

CLASSROOM CHECKSAteacherchecksherstudents’ temperaturesbeforeclass inHanoi,Vietnam,onMonday.StudentsacrossVietnamreturntoschoolafter threemonthsof studyingonline. AP

CHILDREN ARE THE OPENING BEAT FOR AN AFTERNOON SOUNDTRACK

Five weeks into lockdown, ‘Magic Hour’ in Australia’s Sydney

Manybeaches inSydneyareoff limits forallbutexercise. NYT

CommuterscrowdCadornatrainstation inMilan, Italy,onMonday.AP

ADITIKHANNALONDON,MAY4

BRITISH SIKH doctors are cam-paigning for a better procure-ment strategy by the NationalHealth Service for personal pro-tective equipment required onthefrontlinesofthepandemicinhospitalsafteranumberofthemwereforcedawayfromkeyrolesduetotheirbeards.TheSikhDoctorsAssociation

had reports of at least five Sikhsbeingmoved out of their usualshiftrotaattheNHShospitalsforrefusing to shave their beardsandfailingaso-called“fittest”ofcritical facialprotectivegear.“These doctors got in touch

with us in somedistress for be-ingforcedoutoftheirusualroles,which was causing tensionamongcolleaguesastheyhadtocover their work,” said DrSukhdev Singh, chairperson oftheSikhDoctorsAssociation.“Theproblemarose due to a

shortageof specialist facial pro-tectivemasks called PowderedAir Purifying Respirators(PAPRs), which is a hood respi-rator required in critical areassuchas intensivecareunits.The‘fit tests'andequipmentneedtobegearedtowardsallstaffneeds,including orthodox Sikhs withturbansandbeards,”hesaid.

Alltheindividualcasesof thefive British Sikh doctors havesincebeenresolvedthroughac-quisition of PAPRs. The regularcloth FFP3 masks would notworkwith beards, a factor thatcouldimpactothercommunitiessuchasMuslimsaswell. PTI

REUTERSLONDON,MAY4

APPLE INC and Alphabet Inc’sGoogleMondaysaidtheywouldban the use of location trackingin apps that use a new contacttracingsystemthetwoarebuild-ing to slow the spread of thenovel coronavirus.AppleandGoogle,whoseop-

erating systems power 99% ofsmart phones, said lastmonth

theywouldworktogethertocre-ateasystemfornotifyingpeoplewhohavebeennearotherswhohavetestedpositiveforCOVID-19.Both companies said that

privacyandpreventinggovern-ments fromusingthesystemtocompile data on citizenswas aprimary goal. The systemuses bluetooth signals fromphones to detect encountersand does not use or store GPSlocation data.But thedevelopersof coron-

avirus-relatedappsinseveralUSstates told Reuters last monththat it was vital that they be al-lowed to use GPS location datain conjunction with the newcontact tracing system in orderto track how outbreaks moveand identifyhotspots.The decision will require

public health authorities whowanttouseGPSlocationdatatorelyonunstableworkaroundstodetect encounters usingBluetoothsensors.

PresidentTrumpduringavirtual townhallevent.Reuters

Europe’s longest lockdown eases asfamilies unite,work resumes in Italy

MEASURES IN SOMEOTHERCOUNTRIES

‘Tiananmen-like globalbacklash over virus’:Internal Chinese report

London:Morethanafifthof employees in Britainhave been furloughed,with 8 billion pounds($9.9 billion) claimedfrom the government tosustain their wages dur-ing the coronavirus lock-down,taxauthoritiessaidonMonday.HM Revenue and

Customs said on Twitterthat 6.3millionworkersfrom800,000employershadbeenfurloughed,cit-ingfiguresuptomidnight(2300GMT)onSunday.Thataccounts for23%

of Britain's 27.9 millionemployees, according tothe most recent labourmarketdata. REUTERS

UK: OVERA FIFTHOFWORKERSFURLOUGHED

Forced away from keyroles over beards, UKSikh doctors protest

Apple, Google ban use of locationtracking in contact tracing apps

NEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,MAY4

AS PRESIDENT Donald Trumppressesforstatestoreopentheireconomies,hisadministrationisprivatelyprojectingasteadyrisein the number of cases anddeaths from coronavirus overthenextseveralweeks,reachingabout3,000dailydeathsonJune1,accordingtoaninternaldocu-ment obtainedby TheNewYorkTimes, nearly double from thecurrent levelof about1,750.The projections, based on

modeling by the Centers forDisease Control and Preventionand pulled together in chartformby the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency, forecastabout 200,000 new cases eachdaybytheendof themonth,upfromabout25,000casesnow.The numbers underscore a

soberingreality:WhiletheUShasbeenhunkereddownforthepastseven weeks, not much haschanged.Andthereopeningtotheeconomy will make mattersworse.“Thereremainsalargenum-berofcountieswhoseburdencon-tinuestogrow,”theCDCwarned.“Whilemitigationdidn’t fail,

I thinkit’sfairtosaythatitdidn’twork as well as we expected,”Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s formercommissionerof foodanddrugs,saidSundayontheCBSprogramFace the Nation. “We expectedthatwewouldstartseeingmoresignificantdeclinesinnewcasesanddeathsaroundthenationatthis point. And we’re just notseeing that.”

SOON,ORDERTOBUYU.S.-MADEPRODUCTS■USPresidentDonaldTrumpplansanexecutiveordersoontoaddress thelackofmedicalproductmanufacturing intheUS,theWhiteHousesaid

■TrumptradeadviserPeterNavarrosaidanorderwouldsoonrequirefederalagencies topurchaseUS-mademedicalproducts, sayingtheoutbreakexposedrelianceonChina

THE PROJECTIONS comeeven as experts havevoicedfears that reopen-ing the economywouldlead to another spike incases and deaths. Theshutdown in parts of theUS has led to a stabilisa-tion of the COVID-19 fig-ures. However, this can-notnecessarilybeseenasan improvement in theoverall situation, expertssaid — one which couldrapidlydeteriorate.

Fearsoverre-opening

EVENAS ITPRESSESSTATESTORE-OPEN

In private, US govtestimates 3,000 dailydeaths by early June

SPAINonMondaykickedoff a four-stageplantoreturntoa ‘newnormalcy’by late June,withsmallstoresandbusinesses likehairdressersreopening

GERMANY,wherewidespreadtestinghelpedkeepthepandemicundercontrol,will seesomechildrenreturntoschools

AUSTRIAalsoplanstorestart its schoolsystem

LEBANONwill seebarsandrestaurantsreopen

SOUTHKOREAhasalsobegunlimitedreopenings.Restaurantsandartgalleriesarereturningtoasemblanceofnormalcy

OTHERCOUNTRIESplanningto lift restrictionsonMonday include:Belgium,Greece, Iceland,Hungary,Monaco,Nigeria,Poland,Portugal

New Delhi

13SENSEX: 31,715.35 ▼ 2002.27 NIFTY: 9,293.50 ▼ 566.40 NIKKEI: 19,619.35 ▼ 574.34 HANG SENG: 23,613.80 ▼ 1,029.79 FTSE: 5,764.00▲ 0.94 DAX: 10,510.33 ▼ 351.31

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`41,705

RUPEE`75.73

OIL$26.15

SILVER`38,100

Note:Spotgoldmarketsshutdueto lockdowninmajorstates. *IndianbasketasonMarch19,2020

*Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

BRIEFLYBHELinvitesglobalOEMstouseitsfacilitiesNewDelhi:BHEL said it hasinvitedexpressionof inter-est from global originalequipmentmanufacturingfirmstoleverageitsfacilitiesandcapabilities and to shifttheir production base toIndiaamidthepandemic.

Indiastockpilesoil;petrolsalesdown61%NewDelhi: Indiahas storedasmuchas32milliontonnesof oil in underground stor-ages, Petroleum MinisterDharmendraPradhan said.As per provisional data,petrol saleswere down64per cent in the first half ofApril but ended themonthwitha61percentfall.

‘Marketserviceproviderstobeoperational’NewDelhi:Sebihassaidenti-ties providing capital anddebtmarket serviceswillcontinue to beoperationalduringthelockdown.PTI

Worldleaderspledge$8bn,USsteersclearBrussels:World leaders andorganisations pledged $8billiontoresearch,manufac-ture anddistribute apossi-ble vaccine and treatmentsfor COVID-19 onMonday,buttheUnitedStatesrefusedtocontributetotheglobalef-fort.REUTERS

RUPEEFALLS64PAISETOSETTLEAT75.73

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY4

DOMESTICMARKETSonMondaydivedclose to6per centasweakglobalcuesafterthelatestflare-upinUS-China tension andyet an-otherextensionofthenationwidelockdownhit investorsentiment.The benchmark Sensex plum-metedby2,002pointsto31,715.35inthesellingavalanche,whiletheNSENifty Index fell566points to9,293.50,evenasthemanufactur-ingPMIIndexshowedasharpde-clineinApril.The rupee fell 64paise to set-

tle at 75.73against theUSdollar,amid theheavyselloff indomes-ticequitymarketandstrengthen-ingofthegreenbackoverseas.Autostocksplungedupto12.5

per cent after top carmakers, in-cludingMaruti Suzuki, reportedzeromonthlydomestic sales forthefirsttimeinApril,afterthena-tionwidelockdownhaltedoutputand shut salesnetwork. TheBSEAutoindexfell6.88percent.Analysts said the thirdexten-

sionof the lockdown isexpected

to furtherdamage theeconomy.“Theongoing lockdownand theslumpinconsumerspendingwillfurtherhittheeconomy.Thegov-ernment should allowtheecon-omyto function,” saidBSEdealerPawanDharnidharka.“Although themajormarkets

inJapanandChinawereclosedforholidays, stocks in other Asianmarkets fell as tensionbetweentheUSandChinaweighedon in-vestorsentiment.Thesentiments

also remained downbeat afterIndian manufacturing activitygrowth declined sharply in themonthofApril2020amidnationallockdownrestrictionstohelpstemthespreadofthecoronavirusdis-ease,”saidNarendraSolanki,head-equity research, Anand RathiShares&StockBrokers.The selling indomesticmar-

ketswas ledprimarily by finan-cials,metalsandautostockswithalmost all themajor sectoral in-

dicesendinginredexceptpharma.Ajit Mishra, VP-research,

Religare Broking: “Bears tookchargeastheIndianmarketregis-teredasharpdeclineduetofeebleglobalcuesandsubduedearningsseason.” The broader marketswerealsonot sparedasboth theindicesregisteredlossesof4.3percentand3.1percent.“Theabruptendof the recoveryhas certainlycaught the participants com-pletelyoff-guardandwemightseethe indexdrifting further lowerahead.With nomajor develop-mentonthelocalfront,wefeeltheglobalcueswouldcontinuetodic-tatethemarkettrend,”hesaid.The S&P500 andDow Jones

dropped for the third sessiononMondayfollowingaUS-Chinaspatabout the origins of the coron-avirusoutbreak.At11:21a.m. ETDow Jones was down 207.46points, or 0.87 per cent, at23,516.23.Oilpricesfellonworriesthata

globaloilglutmaypersistevenascoronaviruspandemiclockdownsstart to ease. Brent crude wasdown7 cents, or 0.3 per cent, at$26.37at1339GMT.

Globalcuestodominatemarkettrend

ALTHOUGHTHEmajormarketsinJapanandChinawereclosedforholidays,stocksinotherAsianmarketsfellastensionbetweentheUSandChinaweighedoninvestorsentiment.ThesentimentsalsoremaineddownbeatafterIndianmanufacturingactivitygrowthdeclinedsharplyinthemonthofApril2020amidnationallockdownrestrictionstohelpstemthespreadofthecoronavirusdisease.Withnomajordevelopmentonthelocalfront,globalcueswouldcontinuetodictatethemarkettrend.

Sensexcrashes2,002pointsontrade tension, lockdownextension

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY4

ASTHEgovernmenthas relaxedlockdownrestrictionsandauthor-itieshavestartedgrantingpermis-sionstocompanies,theIndianau-tomobile industry — whichclockedzerosales(barringtractorsales) in April and is one of thelargestemploymentgeneratorsinthecountry— isnowgearingupto restart operations, albeitwithlimited capacity. While HeroMotoCorp—thecountry’slargesttwo-wheelermanufacturer—an-nounced it resumedoperationsacross threeof itsmanufacturingplantsbeginningMonday,severalleadingmanufacturers are nowdoingtheirplantpreparationsandgetting ready to start productionoverthenext8to10days.While a senior executive at

HyundaiMotors said itwill starttheir plant fromMay 6, ToyotaKirloskarMotorssaidtheywillbe-ginplant preparations includingtrainingofstaffbeginningTuesday.The largestpassengervehicle

manufacturer,MarutiSuzukiIndiaLimited,hasbeguntheprocessofseekingpermissionsfromauthor-itiesasitplanstostartlimitedpro-ductionoverthenextfewdays.Earlier, HeroMotoCorp said

it startedoperations at its threeplants in Gurgaon, Dharuhera(Haryana) and Haridwar(Uttarakhand). The companysaid its Global Parts Center atNeemrana in Rajasthan has re-sumedoperations.“Wearenowready tohit the

ground sprinting as we com-mencethereopeningofourfacil-ities.Thewellbeingofthecitizenscontinuestobeourfocusandtherunningofoureconomicenginesiscrucialtoensuretheirhealthandprosperity,” said PawanMunjal,chairman, HeroMotoCorp. Headded he was optimistic “thatbusinessandtheeconomywillbe-ginthetrajectoryofitsgradualre-coveryfromhere.”HeroMotoCorpsaidthecom-

panyhasobtainednecessaryper-missionstoreopenitsotherplantsand their operationswill com-menceoncesupplychainpartnersget requisite permits to restart.

BesidesHaryanaandUttarakhand,the company has plants atNeemrana (Rajasthan), Halol(Gujarat) andChittoor (AndhraPradesh).A source said while show-

rooms in some areas have re-openedwith relaxation in lock-downandauthoritieshavestartedgrantingpermissions, allmanu-facturerswill start their produc-tionoverthenext10days,“thoughinitially with only one shift orroughly25-30percentoftheirca-pacity,” said anexecutivewith aleadingmanufacturer.HyundaiMotorssaidit“plans

to restartpreparatoryoperationsintheIrungattukkottai-basedfac-toryonthe6thofMay2020whileadheringtoguidelineslaidoutbythe government authorities ...HMIL confirms complete adher-encetoallthesafetyguidelinessetout by the central, state govern-ments,andlocalauthorities.”Toyota Kirloskar Motors is

seeking special permission foremployeemovement as it pre-pares to restart operations. In astatementissuedonMonday,thecompanysaid that “TKMhasde-cided to startpreparations at theplant beginning tomorrowsoastobeabletosupportresumptionofproduction.”The TKMspokesperson fur-

thersaid:“TKMintendstorestartoperationsattheearliest.Within-putsfromvariousstakeholders,in-cludingthegovernmentagencies,we have released a detailed“RestartManual” in this regard.Thechallengethatliesaheadofusis that for the sector to start pro-duction, it isnecessaryourentirevalue chain starts operating.Ourvaluechainconsistsnotonlyofoursuppliers butourdealers aswellwhoarebasedindifferentpartsofthe country including cities thatarestillunderseverelockdown.”

GEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI,MAY4

COMPANIES THAT sufferedbusiness interruption lossesdue to the coronavirus pan-demic and lockdownareun-likelytogetanycompensationfrominsurancecompanies.Whilecorporateshadshut

theirfactoriesduetothelock-down, there’snoprovision tocoversuchlossesinthepolicy.Thenetresultisthattheymaynot get any insurance claimfromtheinsurancecompaniesunder the Standard Fire andSpecial Perils Policy, com-monlyknownaspropertypol-icy. “If the insuredplantorof-fice is shut downdue to anydamageorfire,thecompanyiseligibleforclaims.Butnow,fac-tories are shut due to lock-down.Anybusinessinterrup-tionlossoutoflockdownisnotcovered under the policyterms,”saidanofficial.However, insurers have

given relief to corporates,whichshuttheirunitsformorethan amonth. Their policieswill be allowed to be opera-tionaldespitetheclausethatifaunit is shut for30days con-tinuously,thepolicycoverwilllapse. TheGeneral InsuranceCouncil (GICouncil), theoffi-cial representative body ofgeneralinsurers,hasmanagedto get this relief for India Incfromthegeneral insurers forthe “unoccupiedproperties”formore thanonemonth tillMay3underthepropertypol-icy.Thismeanscompaniescanclaiminsuranceifthepropertyis damageddue to fireor anyotherlossevenifthefactoryorunit isnotoperationalduringtheperiodtillMay3.As per the GI Council, a

PropertyPolicyspecifiesif thebuildinginsuredorcontainingtheinsuredpropertybecomesunoccupiedandsoremainsforaperiodofmorethan30days(notapplicablefordwellings),the insuranceclaimsmaynot

beapplicableifthepropertyaf-fected—beforetheoccurrenceof any loss or damage—ob-tains the endorsement andcontinuationofcoverage.“However,weareallgoing

throughanunprecedentedsit-uationoflockdown.Weunder-standthat in thecurrentcrisisitmaynothavebeenpossibleforsomepolicyholderstosendcommunication to insurancecompaniesforcontinuationofcoverageandobtainendorse-ments. Therefore it hasbeendecidedthataone-timerelax-ationisgiventoallpolicyhold-erswhosepropertyisunoccu-piedonorafterMarch25,2020tillMay3,2020.Propertiesofsuch policyholders will bedeemedtobecoveredsubjecttothepolicybeinginforce.Allother termsandconditionsofthepolicy remainunaltered,”GICouncilsaid.“Thegeneralinsurershave

been advisedby IRDAI to in-formthepolicyholdersofhowthe relevant clause (s)wouldapplybeyondMay3, 2020 inall policies andwhataction isneededbythepolicyholderstoavail of uninterrupted cover-age,”IRDAIsaid,addingthein-surersneed to takea reason-able and suitable approachdependingon the local situa-tionindifferentgeographies.The Insurance Brokers

Associationof Indiahadwrit-tentoIRDAI,pointingoutasthecurrent lockdownperiod cu-mulativelyhasbeenextendedbeyond 30 days, insurersshouldtakecognizanceof thecurrentstateofaffairsandtreatitasan‘extraordinaryandoneoffsituation’.

COVID-19 EFFECTINSURANCE

GDP to contract up to20% in June quarter: IcraAfter thegovernmentannouncedgraded relaxations in thelockdown, Icra estimated that the country’sGDPmightcontract byasmuchas20per cent in the Junequarter

EARLIERFORECASTGDPwas expected to expandby 1 per cent or contract by1 per cent in 2020-21

GOVTMEASURESThegovernmenthasalreadyannounceda`1.7-lakhcrorepackagetofighttheCOVID-19crisis

Thestrict norms inmajor urbancentreswill result in the paceof activity remaining

constrained

OUTLOOKGDP to contract by 16-20percent inQ1FY21 (first quarterof 2020-21),which impliesthat a full-year contraction of1-2 per cent is inevitable

Likelihoodofmismatches inlabour availability and sectors,such asmanufacturing,construction, trade, hotels andtransport

Forecasts have projected a heavy impact on the already sagging growth —India was supposed to grow at a decadal low in 2019-20 as per officialestimates — because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has chilled all activity

Source:Icra/PTI

RBIMEASURES■ TheReserveBank ofIndia (RBI) has cut thekey policy rate (repo) by asteep0.75per cent andalso taken a slewofunusualmeasures tomake liquidity availablefor the needy sectors ofthe economywith a viewto push growth

Whilecorporateshadshutdowntheirfactoriesduetothelockdown,there’snoprovisiontocoversuchlossesinthepolicy.

NOSUCHPROVISION

Corporates maynot get businessinterruption claims

Double special window forfunding stalled affordablehousing projects, says EYENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY4

ASREALestateisonethemostim-pacted sectors by the lockdown,lackof availabilityof financeandslowdown ineconomy, EY Indiahascalledfordoublingofthe“spe-cialwindowforfundingstalledaf-fordable and middle-incomehousing projects” to Rs 50,000crore,andalsocalledforawaiverofinterest for 3months on homeloans taken for projects underPMAY,amongothers.Asperthereport,construction

accounts for11-per cent share inGDP and 11.8-per cent share inemployment and real estate &

ownershipof dwellings accountfor another 7-per cent share inGDPand0.2-percentshareinem-ployment.“It will also require close

monitoringofprojects, immedi-ate discussionswith lenders onpostmoratoriumoptionsandex-ploration of rescue/revival capi-talforstressedprojects.Thenewcapitalwouldbeavailabletoonlythose projects which are effi-cientlymanaged,andwhichcandemonstrate completevisibilityof cash flows,” said GauravKarnik, partner and nationalleader–real estate, EY India. Itcalled for states to waive offstampduty inmajormetropoli-tanareas for thenext9months.

Lockdown effect: ‘ManufacturingPMI shrinks at fastest pace ever’ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY4

INDIA’S MANUFACTURING ac-tivity witnessed an unprece-dented contraction in April asthe lockdown to combat therapidspreadof thecoronavirusled to a slump in demand andmassive supply chain disrup-tions, according to the IHSMarkit purchasing managersindex (PMI) survey.At 27.4 in April, the season-

ally adjusted IHS Markit IndiaManufacturing PMI fell from51.8 inMarch. “The latest read-ing pointed to the sharpest de-terioration in business condi-tions across the sector sincedata collection began over 15years ago. The decline in oper-ating conditions was partiallydriven by an unprecedentedcontraction in output,” IHSMarkit said.

Economistsandglobalratingfirms have already said eco-nomic growth is set to declinesharply below the 1 per centlevel. “Theresultcameamidna-tional lockdown restrictions tohelp stem the spread of thecoronavirus disease, which inturnledtowidespreadbusinessclosures. In an environment of

severely reduceddemand,newbusiness collapsed at a recordpaceandfirmssharplyreducedtheir staff numbers,” it said.Meanwhile,bothinputcosts

andoutputpriceswereloweredmarkedlyassuppliersandman-ufacturers themselves offereddiscounts in an attempt to se-cure orders, IHSMarkit said.Eliot Kerr, economist at IHS

Markit, said: “After making itthrough March relatively un-scathed, the Indian manufac-turingsector felt thefull forceofthe coronavirus pandemic inApril. Inthelatestsurveyperiod,record contractions in output,new orders and employmentpointed to a severe deteriora-tion indemand conditions.”There was evidence of un-

precedented supply-side dis-ruption, with input deliverytimes lengthening to thegreat-est extent since data collectionbeganinMarch2005,Kerrsaid.

MarutiSuzuki Indiahasbeguntheprocessofseekingpermissionsfromauthoritiesas itplanstostart limitedproduction

After Facebook, now Silver Laketo invest `5,656 cr in Jio PlatformsENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY4

US-BASED TECHNOLOGY in-vestorSilverLakehasproposedtoinvest Rs 5,655.75 crore in JioPlatforms, the subsidiary ofRelianceIndustriesLtd.This investment values Jio

PlatformsatanequityvalueofRs4.90lakhcroreandanenterprisevalueofRs5.15lakhcroreandrep-resents a12.5per centpremiumto the equity valuation of theFacebookinvestmentannouncedonApril22,2020,RILsaid.On April 22, Facebook had

agreedtobuya9.99percenteq-uity stake in Jio Platforms for Rs43,574 crore,with an eye on thecountry’s6croresmallbusinessesandahugedigitalcustomerbaseof1.3billionusers.Withapproximately$40bil-

lion in combined assets undermanagement and focus tech

andtech-enabledopportunities,Silver Lake is a leadingplayer inlarge-scale technology invest-ing. “Its mission is to build andgrow great companies by part-nering with world-class man-agementteams. Its investmentshave included Airbnb, Alibaba,Ant Financial, Alphabet’s Verilyand Waymo units, Dell

Technologies, Twitter and nu-merousotherglobaltechnologyleaders,”RIL said.Mukesh Ambani, chairman

andmanagingdirector, RelianceIndustries Ltd, said, “Silver Lakehasanoutstandingrecordof be-ingavaluablepartnerforleadingtechnologycompaniesglobally...We are excited to leverage in-sights from their global technol-ogy relationships for the IndianDigitalSociety’stransformation.”RelianceJioInfocomm,which

providesconnectivityplatformtoover388millionsubscribers,willcontinue to be awholly-ownedsubsidiary of Jio Platforms. EgonDurban, Silver Lake co-CEO andmanaging partner, said, “Themarket potential they are ad-dressingisenormous,andwearehonoured and pleased to havebeen invited to partner withMukeshAmbaniandtheteamatReliance and Jio to help furthertheJiomission.”

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY4

TRANSUNIONCIBILhassaidloansworthRs2,32,000croreofmicro,smallandmediumenterprisesareatahigherriskofbecomingnon-performingassets(NPAs).TheNPA rate forMSMEshas

increased continuouslyover lastfewyearstoreach12.6percentasofDecember2019,Cibil said inareport. “The number ofMSMEsfalling in thehighest riskbracketofCMR-7toCMR-10hasoutstand-ingcreditbalancesof Rs232,000crore,which is at ahigher riskofgoingintoNPA,”Cibilsaid.Ofthese,themicrovertical(ag-

gregate credit exposure of lessthanRs10lakh)inthehighestrisk

bracketofCMR-7toCMR-10com-prises credit outstanding of Rs13,600 crore. TransUnionCIBILMDandCEORajeshKumar said,“Thepandemicposesnewchal-lengestobusinesses,especiallyformicroenterprises ...Wearecom-mitted toworking closelywithbanks and credit institutions tosupport themonadjusting theirMSMElendingpolicydecisions.”

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MAY4

NON-BANKINGFINANCIALcom-panies,includingmicrofinancein-stitutions,onMondaytookuptheissueofliquidityandmoratoriumon term loans in ameetingwithReserveBankof IndiaGovernorandDeputyGovernors.NBFCs,whichwerenotgiven

themoratoriumfacilitybybanks,sought implementationof three-monthmoratoriumonrepaymentofloaninstalmentsannouncedbytheRBI.However, bankshave sofarrefusedtoprovidethemorato-riumtoNBFCsandMFIs.AccordingtotheRBI,theavail-

abilityofliquidityfrombanksandother financial institutions andpost lockdownstrategiesforsup-

ply of credit, includingworkingcapitaltoMSMEs,tradersandbot-tom of pyramid customers insemi-urban,ruralandurbanareaswere discussed in themeeting.The implementation of three-monthmoratoriumonrepaymentofloaninstalmentsannouncedbytheRBI andstrengtheninggriev-anceredressalmechanismswerealsodiscussed,itsaid.Inanothermeetingwithrep-

resentatives of themutual fundindustry,theimpactofmeasurestaken by the Reserve Bankwithregard to theprovisionof liquid-ityandreviewof thefunctioningofthebondmarketsandplansforthewayforwardwerediscussed,theRBIsaid.The RBI opened a Rs 50,000

crore liquidity window lastweek.

Hero MotoCorprestarts operations,carmakers prepareto get plants running

J. Crew files forbankruptcy asretailer succumbsto COVID-19

Vijay Mallya filesappeal againstextradition order

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIALONDON,MAY4

VIJAYMALLYAonMondayfiledanapplicationseekingleavetoappealintheUKSupremeCourt,exactlytwoweeks after the embattledliquorbaronlosthisLondonHighCourt appeal against anextradi-tionorder to India on charges offraudandmoney laundering re-lated tounrecovered loans tohisnow-defunctKingfisherAirlines.The64-year-oldbusinessman

had14daystofilethisapplication.“The leavetoappealhasbeen

filed.WehaveuntilMay14tore-spond,”saidaspokespersonforUKCrownProsecutionService,whichrepresentsIndianauthorities.

REUTERSBENGALURU,MAY4

J. CREW Group filed for bank-ruptcyprotectiononMondaywitha plan to hand over control tolenders, adding to a list of brick-and-mortarretailerspushedtothebrinkbywidespreadstoreclosuresinresponsetothepandemic.TheNewYork-based chain,

known for preppy clothing attimesworn by former first ladyMichelleObama, filed for bank-ruptcy in aVirginia federal courtwith an agreement to eliminate$1.65billionof debt in exchangeforcedingownershiptocreditors.J. Crewis the firsthigh-profile

retailertoseekbankruptcyprotec-tionsincethecoronavirusspreadacross theglobe,promptinggov-ernment officials to order busi-nesses deemednonessential totemporarilyclose.

Apple and Googleban use of locationtracking in contacttracing apps

REUTERSSANFRANCISCO,MAY4

APPLEANDGoogle onMondaysaidtheywouldbantheuseof lo-cation tracking inapps thatuseanewcontact tracing system thetwoarebuildingtoslowthespreadofthenovelcoronavirus.AppleandGoogle,whoseop-

eratingsystemspower99percentof smartphones, said lastmonththeywouldworktogethertocre-atea systemfornotifyingpeoplewhohavebeennearotherswhohavetestedpositiveforCOVID-19.Thecompaniesplantoonlyallowpublichealthauthoritiestousethetechnology.Bothsaidprivacyandpreventinggovernmentsfromus-ingthesystemtocompiledataoncitizenswasaprimarygoal.

NBFCs, MFIs take up liquidity,moratorium issue with RBI

■TheNPArateforMSMEshasincreasedcontinuouslyoverlastfewyearstoreach12.6percentasofDecember2019,Cibilsaid.

NPARATEAT12.6%

MSME loans worth `2.32L crat risk of defaulting: Cibil

Washington:NewordersforUS-made goods suffered arecorddeclineinMarchandcouldsinkfurtherasdisrup-tionsfromthenovelcoron-avirus fracture supplychainsanddepressexports,asperaCommerceMinistryreport.REUTERS

US factoryorders postrecord drop

EQUITY VALUE

■This investmentvalues JioPlatformsatanequityvalueofRs4.90lakhcroreandanenterprisevalueofRs5.15lakhcroreandrepresentsa12.5percentpremiumtotheequityvaluationof theFacebookinvestmentannouncedonApril22,2020,RILsaid.

`4.9Lcr

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,MAY5,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CROSSWORD4109

ACROSS1 Footnote to troopsused in

pincermovements (7)5 Earls involved in intense

concentration (5)8 It takesaturn for thebetter

(8,5)9 Shegoesround inaradiant

glow(5)10 Bookgetscool reception(7)11 They’reaimedat tourist

attractions (6)12 Canusenewtimeforpaying

foreignbills (6)15 Succeedwithawill in their

resolve (7)17 VesselsDrakerefusedto

abandon(5)19 Thoughyellowatheart, it

won’t run(4-6,3)20 Flappingsailsof hempfibre

(5)21 Makesahomethatgradually

sinks (7)

Down1 Getsonwith thepassengers

(5)2 Thebirdsongthatwakesyou

atdawn?(7,6)3 Always the first tosetout for

themountain (7)4 It joins inoperations

(6)5 Statutehas twopoints that

needcutting (5)6 Seenewer lightgivingdriver

guidance (8,5)7 Ease lever,perhaps, that is

put in (7)11 Insultshaving littlepoint?

(7)13 Anational topicofdiscussion

(7)14 Steps inside (6)16 Arisingmemberof society

(5)18 Stories thatmayberead

anyway(5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Therearetemptationsaplenty,butwhile thestarsareurgingyouto

takearisk,youmightbebetteradvisedtodo just theopposite.In fact, themoreregularyourroutine, thesaferyou’llbe. It’sall aquestionofbalancingyourgut instinctswithahard-headedsenseofwhat isbest.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)There’satensioninyourchartwhichisveryhardtoavoid,althoughit's

impossibletoseewhether it’syouwhowillbefeelingundertheweather,orapartner,parentorchild.Onewayoranother,youshouldfindwaystobringalittle light intoyour life.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Thecentral issuenolongerconcernsmoney. Insteadfamily relationships

willbecomemore important,evokingattitudesandopinionswhichdatebackmanyyears. Itmaythereforebeverydifficulttoestablishthereal, rootcauseof currentdiscontent.Perhapsthere isnoreason.

CANCER(June22- July23)Today’splanetarypattern isquitechallenging,butasfarasyoursolar

chart is concerned,allpressuresare indirect.Youmaythereforebe involvedonlywhenotherpeoplerequireyoursympathyandsupport.Actually, theymayhaveearneda favour fromyou.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Youmaymakemajordecisionsbyallmeans,butdotaketheminthe interests

of theworldasawhole.Youdon't requireanyassistance,butotherpeopledo,andtheycanbenefit fromyourbreadthofvision.Plus, if youplay fastandloosewith therules—youwilldosoatyourownrisk.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Manytimes in thepastyouhavebeencalledupontohelppartnersatgreatcost

toyourself.Now,withVenusandMars inyoursign, it isyourhopes,desiresandfeelingswhichare important.Others’ interestsmayhaveto takeabackseat, just forawhile.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Thefact thatyouarepreparedtotalkaboutyourplans,butnotyouractionsor

feelings,maybeasperplexingtoyouas tootherpeople. It's allaquestionofdistinguishingbetweenwhat is relevantandwhat isnot.Andthat, as ithappens, iseasiersaidthandone.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Thechancesof afutileconfrontationarereachingapeak,butdon’tbe

dismayed.Apositivereadingofyourchart reveals thatwithcool, calmsincerityandawillingness to listen,youwillsoonclearupamajormystery-orevenacauseofdeepuncertainty.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Thefact that theMoonalters itspositionbyearlyeveningmayarouse

someofyourSagittariansocialsensibilitiesbut,duringtheday,professionalandotherworldlytasksshould take firstplace.Thelast thingyoushoulddo isneglectyour friends.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Atrioofplanets,Mercury,MarsandtheMoon, isurgingyoutoconsider the

ethical considerations, andyoumaysoonbepromptedto takeamoral standonan issueyou’vealways takenforgranted.Asyou'll findout,questionsofrightandwrongare far fromcutanddried.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)If youcanmakeapartnerunderstandwhatyou’re talkingabout,you’reavery

luckyperson indeed.All theindicationssuggest thatotherpeoplewillbebasically talkingto themselves, rather thantoeachother. Somewouldsaythat’s theproblemwiththeworld today.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Difficultiesatworkdoseemto involveanexcessofambition, so it’sall a

matterof getting thebalanceright.Theremaybeanargumentovera legalormoralissue,butpleasedorememberthat the twoarenotnecessarilythesamething.Perhapsyoushould leaveothers toworkoutthe finerpoints.

SUDOKU4200

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4199

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Thesurestplanto___amanis,___himso.-JamesRussellLowell(4,..,5)

SOLUTION:MAIZE,GLINT,MOTHER,MARKKAAnswer:Thesurestplantomakeamanis,thinkhimso.-JamesRussellLowell

MZAEI EORTHM

GILNT AAMRKK

SolutionsCrossword4108:Across:1Crown,8Original,9Sleet,10Reformed,11Acute,12Alb,16Bleats,17Apache,18Her,23Sneak,24Trotters,25Abeam,26Reigning,27Plate.Down:2Rollcall,3Wheatear,4Orwell,5Aglow,6Gnome,7Slide,12Ash,13Bar,14Cannibal,15Pheasant,19Errand,20Stork,21Toxin,22Stone.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

VolLXXXVIIINo.151 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05

R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office:The IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301.Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:Unni

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INTERVIEW:SANJUSAMSON

14

NIHALKOSHIENEWDELHI,MAY4

WICKETKEEPER-BATSMAN SANJU Samsonwouldhavebeenonthenon-stopIPLtread-mill with the Rajasthan Royals if the pan-demic hadn’t brought life to a stop. The 25-year-old is innovating when it comes topracticebutisalsolearningtodonothingandenjoy the idleness. In a chatwith The IndianExpress, the talented youngster talks aboutbeingmovedbytheplightofmigrantwork-ers during the lockdown,whyhe considershimself fortunate,andthechallengesofstay-ingaway fromthegame.Excerpts:

Howhaveyoumanagedtostayactivedur-ing the lockdown?Have youbeenable toaccessagymtomaintain fitness?Iwas lucky enough to get some training

equipment just before the lockdown, like agym cycle, weights and bars. Most of theevenings, Itrainonmyterrace.Nothingnewor special. I like tokeep it simpleand followprogrammesgivenbymytrainer.

Whatabout cricket skills?Haveyoubeenable topractise in isolation?That’sthemainconcernforme.Ihavenot

beenabletobatforsomanydays.AndIcan’tstay away from somethingwhich I love somuch for so long. So, I have created a smallarea onmy brother’s terrace, fully coveredwithnets,andIplaywithtennisballsandhitmyshots.OrworkonthingswhichIwantedtoworkon.Wicket-keepingdrills is abit of funwith

tennis balls and walls, where you keepthrowing the ball at thewall and then keepcatching itwithonehand likea ’keeper.

Howdoyoustayfresh?TheIPLwouldhavebeen on during this time and youwouldhavebeenplayingnon-stop.Yes, absolutely. For the last 7-8 years, I

havebeendoingthesame,playingIPLinthisperiodof theyear.Yes, it’sadifferentfeeling.Beingathomeanddoingnothingandnoth-ingmuch to look forward to. It’s a challengeto keep yourself fresh and happy in thesekindsofsituationsbutthat’swhatwehavetodo.Thefirstcoupleofweekswereabitchal-lenging but now I have foundways to dealwith it.

Whathaveyoudonetoensureyoustay intheright frameofmind?MeditationplaysahugeroleandIensure

Ido it almosteveryalternateday. Ithashugebenefits if youdo it the rightway. And thesetimes are almost perfect for something likemeditation.IamreadingSteveWaugh’sbookandwatchingalotofRajinikanthmoviesanda lot of Malayalammovies which are myfavourites.

Howhaveyoubeendealingwith corona-relatednewsfromaroundtheworld?It’sbeensoheart-breakingwhenyoulis-

tentothenewsandunderstandwhatishap-peningaroundtheworld.Basically, IamnotabigfanofreadingnewspapersorwatchingnewsontvbutnowIdoto learnhowthingsaregoingonandhopingeverythingwillset-tle down soon. It’s so unbelievable that asmallvirushasmadethewholeworldcom-pletelystill. Itrulybelieveweallhavetolearnsomething fromthissituationweallarego-

ing through.We have to realise it’s a bless-ing to live in this wonderful world andwemustdoourpart tokeep it safe andhealthyforusand for thegenerations tocome.

What is your opinion on theway Kerala(homestate)hasmanagedthecrisis?Keralahasdoneaverygoodjob.Thegov-

ernment here took the neededprecautionsand actions at the right time and everyonein Kerala has come together as a team andareworking towards this situation.Be it thepoliticalleaders,policemen,doctors,nurses...almosteverysinglepersonandeventhepeo-ple sitting idle at home and following theguidelinesproperlyarealsocontributingto-wards the fightagainst corona.

Is there anything you have seen or readwhich has troubled you during this pan-demic?What are your thoughts on howmigrantworkersaroundthecountryhavehad tomanagewithoutwork or a steady

incomeduringAprilandhadtowalkmilesto tryandreachhome?Yes, it’s very sad tounderstand the situa-

tionofmigrantworkers.Lifeistoughforthem.It’smucheasierforpeoplelikeustositathomeandlistentoall thisnews. Itbringsupa lotofemotions and feelings to do something forthem frommy side, to help themandmaketheirsituationabitbetterthanwhatitisnow.Andatthesametime,almosteveryoneofuskeepscomplainingaboutthingsnotworkingoutinourlifeorthisandthat.Butifwelookabit intotheselives,weallhavetounderstandandrealisehowgratefulweallshouldbe.

Isthereanythingyouaredoingduringthispandemic tohelp the local community?Definitely, yes. I believewhatever noble

thingsyoudo, it has tobedoneprivately. So'yes'will beagoodanswer.

Howare you staying in touchwith othercricketers?I have had some video calls and chats

with my India teammates and RajasthanRoyals teammates and, more importantly,during this period, I went back and con-nectedwithmyKeralaU-13teammatesandreached out to everyone. Created aWhatsapp group and nowwe have a lot offunnymoments in the group and it was sonice to get back in touchwith the people Istartedplayingcricketwithatthestatelevel.

Isthereanewskillyouhavelearntduringthe lockdown?ThenewthingwhichIhavelearntistosit

idleanddonothingandbehappywiththat.Yes, it’saveryhardthingtodo, fromthedayIrememberanythinginmylife, Iamrunninghereandthere,playingmatches,practising,trainingandeverything.ButneverhaveIsatquietlyforafewdaysanddidnothing.SoI’mtrying that thesedays.

Whensportreturnsitislikelytobeplayedin frontof emptystands.Youropinion?My opinion as a sportsman is to start

sports as soon as possible. Because person-ally,that’stheonlythingwhichIdoandIlovethemostand I justwant togoout thereandplay, but also by respecting the guidelinesgiven by the responsible authorities. And Ibelieve an IPL can change themood of theentirecountry.

‘An IPL can changemood of the country’

Duringthe lockdown,SanjuSamsonhasbeentrainingontheterraceofhisbrother’shousewithmakeshiftnets inplace. Express

SWIMMINGWORLDSMOVEDTO2022The swimming world championships, scheduled for summer2021 in Japan, have been pushed back until May 2022 followingthe postponement of the Olympics. The world championshipswere due to be held in Fukuoka next year from July 16-August 1but will instead take place from May 13-29 in 2022.

PRITAMPALSINGHNEWDELHI,MAY4

SANJEEVCHAWLA,keyaccusedinthe2000cricketmatch-fixing scandal involving lateSouthAfricancaptainHansieCronje,walkedoutofTiharjailonMondayevening.DirectorGeneral (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said,“Chawlawas released from jail at 8:30 pmonMonday”.AdvocateJagjitNandal,whohasbeende-

fendingtheaccusedinthetrialcourtandtheDelhiHighCourttoldTheIndianExpressthatChawlawasreleasedsincetherewasnostayfrom thehigh court on the operation of thetrial court’sApril 30order.The trial court had ordered Chawla’s re-

leaseonfurnishingapersonalbondofRstwolakhwith twosuretiesof thesameamount.OnSaturday,theHighCourthadreserved

itsorderonDelhiPolice’sappealagainstthetrial court’s decision to grant bail on thegroundthatChawla isaBritishnationalandit took 20 years to bring him to India andtherewaslikelihoodofhimfleeingfromjus-tice.Chawla’scounsel,however,hadopposedthepolice’sclaimbeforethehighcourt,say-ing the accused is in judicial custody sinceFebruary12andhasspent76days in jail.Hearingtheargumentsofbothsides,the

courtinitsMay2orderhadsaid,“incasetheaccused(Chawla)submitshisbailbondandsurety bonds, the DutyMM (MetropolitanMagistrate)willensurethatanundertakingisalsosimultaneouslyfiledseparatelybytheaccused and sureties to the effect that theywill beboundbythedecisionof this court.”Chawla’s counsel said that they have

completed the formalities before the trialcourt, followingwhich hewas released onMondayevening.The counsel said, if the high court sets

asidethetrialcourt’sorder,Chawlawillhaveto surrender. The court is scheduled topassitsorderthisweek.Asperthepolice,Chawlaand Cronjewere named in the chargesheetfiledonJuly23,2013bytheCrimeBranchfor‘fixingmatches played between India andSouth Africa from February 16, 2000 toMarch20,2000 in India’.Thecaseispendingtrialbeforethecourt

andthenexthearing isonMay14.Thematch-fixing scandal broke in April

2000,whenDelhi Police intercepted a con-versation between Chawla and Cronje, inwhich it was learnt that the latter had ac-ceptedmoney to losematches. Chawla hasalsobeenaccusedof offeringmoney to twoEnglandplayers inAugust1999.

Chawla, key accused infixing scandal, gets bail

SanjeevChawlawasreleasedfromjailat8:30pmonMonday. File

Barcelona:Spanishsoccerbeganthepathback towards normality onMonday asorganisers said clubs would resumetrainingthisweekforthefirst timesinceactivitywashaltedduetothecoronaviruspandemic and targeted resuming theseason in June. Organising body La Ligasaidclubsinthetoptwodivisionswouldreturn to individual training following aprotocolithadagreedwithSpain'ssportsand health authorities andwhich guar-anteed thesafetyof playersandstaff.

The protocol obliges players to un-dergo testing for the novel coronavirusbefore they can return to training facili-ties. "Thesemeasures cover a period ofapproximatelyfourweekswithdifferentphasesthat, inanycase,willbesubjecttothede-escalationprocessestablishedbythe government," said the statement.“Togetherwith themedical tests carriedoutbyclubs,astaggeredreturntotraininghasbeenimplementedthatwillstartwithplayers trainingalone.”REUTERS

La Liga training to start this week

New Delhi

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