JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

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

MONDAY, JULY 13, 2020, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 10 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DIPANKARGHOSEGOVINDPUR, JULY12

THEFLOODWATERSofriverKosiswirlaroundhim,hishouseapileofrubble,withredbricksstackedonone side. Just a dayback, thiswas a home Rohit Kumar hadbuiltwithhisownhands.Today,hepulled itdowntoprevent theriver fromwashing itaway.

In times like these, with alockdownoutsideandfearsthatCovidmay strikehome, Rohit iskeen to at least save the brickswhen he gets down to rebuild-ingthehouseoncethefloodwa-ters recede Govindpur, a dariyaorahamlet inBhagalpur.It has now turned into an is-

land with the river changingcourse over the years. Thesedays, it is accessible only by arickety boat that transports hu-mans, livestock, and tractors.A microcosm of Bihar,

Bhagalpuristhefocusofamonth-long series by The Indian Express

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Withtheriverchangingcourseover theyears,Govindpur isahamlet thathasbecomeanisland.DipankarGhose

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

WORLD

CHINA, IRANNEARTRADEANDMILITARYPARTNERSHIPHONGKONG:500,000CAST 'PROTEST'VOTEAGAINSTNEWSECURITYLAWSPAGE8

EXPLAINED

SIMPLYPUTUNDERSTANDINGPILOTVSGEHLOTPAGE5

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

AMERICA’SCAMPUSFIGHTBYBHASKARCHAKRAVORTIPAGE6

‘PULMONARY... BUTCANALSOBECALLEDSYSTEMDISEASE’DRRANDEEPGULERIADIRECTOR, AIIMS

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

P5

Bangladeshpersonnel atborder backsmuggling ofcattle: BSF

Why this timebattle-lines aredrawn harderthan everMANOJCGNEWDELHI, JULY12

THE ASHOK Gehlot vs SachinPilot tussle in Rajasthanhas be-come some sort of a cliche inCongress infighting. But the lat-est showdown between theChief Minister and his Numbertwo isqualitativelydifferent.

Both thetimingandtheframing aresignificant. Itcomes whenthe pandemicand the lock-

downhave forcedparties toputmostpoliticalactivityontempo-rarysnooze.And,unlikeprevioustimes,itdoesn’thaveanexternaltrigger.Indeed,ithasmoretodowith

the Congress’s internal dynam-ics.That explainswhy this timemany Congress leaders feel it istime the leadership– readSoniaGandhi andRahul Gandhi – notkick this can down the road asthey have been doing since thepartywon Jaipur in December2018.AtleasttwoMPsevenartic-ulatedtheirconcernsinpublic.Thisisalsodifferentfromthe

tumult which the party wentCONTINUEDONPAGE2

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, JULY12

INWHATmay be the first suchofficial articulation on cattlesmuggling, the Border SecurityForce (BSF) has said the BorderGuard Bangladesh (BGB) sup-ports the “inhuman, mercilessandseditious”activity.In a press statement dated

July 6, on its preparations tocheckcattlesmugglingaheadofEid ul-Adha or Eid Qurban laterthismonth,theBSFhascitedre-ligious andmedical reasons tounderline that themeat of thesmuggledcattleisnotfitforcon-sumption.Thestatement,inHindi,gives

details of how the animals aresmuggled across the border.“The inhuman, merciless andseditiousactionsofcattlesmug-glersareverydisgusting,”itsays.It says the cattle are blind-

folded, and banana stems aretied to them to help them floatontheGanga,sothattheycanbesweptacross toBangladesh.“When they arrive in

Bangladesh, therearehundredsofBangladeshicattlesmugglerswho capture these animals, us-ingtheirspeedboats.Thistaskissometimesdonewiththeagree-ment of the Border GuardBangladeshpersonnel,”saysthestatement, signed by DIG S SGuleriaofSouthBengalFrontier.It says that on Eid Qurban,

personally reared animals aresupposed to be sacrificed, notthose that have been smuggledand“tortured”.Citing medical reasons, it

says: “When the cattle under-goesmental and physical painbefore being slaughtered, itsmeat is not fit for consumption.Becausethelacticacidinitsbodyis completely depleted... due tothe absence of lactic acid in its

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

CRISIS INRAJASTHAN:CONGSAYSPARTY INTACT

Sayswon’t join BJP as his office claims30MLAsbackhim,won’t attendCLP today

HAMZAKHAN,DEEPMUKHERJEE&MANOJCGJAIPUR,NEWDELHI, JULY12

INWHATappears tobeashow-downbyRajasthanDeputyChiefMinister Sachin Pilot almost 18monthsafterCongressreturnedto power in the state, his officeon Sunday claimed that theAshok Gehlot-led governmentwas reduced to aminority afterover 30 Congress and some in-dependent legislators pledgedsupport toPilot.The statement issued by

Lokendra Singh, whomanagesmediarelationsforPilot,alsosaid,“Rajasthan Deputy CM &Congress leader Sachin Pilot notto attend Congress LegislativePartymeeting scheduled to beheldtomorrow.”Pilot has remained incom-

municadoforthepast twodays,and some legislators backinghim also stayed put in theNationalCapitalRegion.Hewasinactiveonsocialmediatoo,anddid not respond to calls or textmessages by Congress leaders.His silence, however, fueled

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Evidence of immunity isa glimmer, but data showlasting Covid-19 damageKAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, JULY12

EMERGINGDATA on the body'simmune response suggest that“we may be protected” morethan we currently believe, DrRandeep Guleria, director ofAIIMS and one of the expertsleadingthecountry'snovelcoro-navirus disease response, toldThe IndianExpress.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

OutsideRajasthanDeputyCMSachinPilot’s residence inNewDelhionSunday.AbhinavSaha

NIRUPAMASUBRAMANIANMUMBAI, JULY12

INDIA IS considering establish-ing an air bubble or air travelbridgetotheMaldives,whichre-opens for tourists on July 15 af-tera four-monthshutdowndueto theCovid-19pandemic.The Maldives government

hasmadeaformalrequestinthisregard to New Delhi, and anagreement may be reached in

the next two or three days, TheIndianExpresshas learnt.President Ibrahim Solih an-

nouncedonJune23thattheatollnationwouldreopenresortsonitsislandsonJuly15,andhotelsinthepopulated centres, including inthecapitalMalé,onAugust1.Visaswill be free, on arrival, and therewillbenocompulsoryquarantine.Asof July11,Maldives,which

has a population of a little over500,000, had 2,681 confirmedCovid-19 cases, of which 2,238had recovered, and 13 patients

died. Since June 2, the countryhashadfewerthan50dailypos-itive cases – and even thoughthis number rose to 64 onSaturday, it is considered a lowcorona-riskcountry.Establishing the air corridor

will send out a strong signal ofsolidaritywiththeSolihgovern-mentandtheMaldives,govern-mentofficials said.The economy of the

Maldives, located to the south-westof IndiaintheIndianOcean,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ASADISTRICTUNLOCKS

ANEXPRESS SERIES

MANOJCGNEWDELHI, JULY12

THE CRISIS threatening theCongress government inRajasthan, justfourmonthsafterthepartyletMadhyaPradeshslipfromitsgrasp,hasonceagainun-derlined the leadership vacuumin thepartyandhowits senseofdrift is deepening faultlineswithin:oldversusyoung,second-generation leaders versus thosewhorosethroughtheranks.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

132DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■TamilNadu■Delhi■Karnataka■Telangana

7 DAYS EARLIER:

2.86NOW:

2.67

7 DAYS EARLIER:

6.88NOW:

7.33

DETECTED TODAY

28,637RECOVERED TODAY:

19,235

TOTALCASES2,46,6001,34,2261,10,92136,21633,402

DOUBLINGRATE**23.7421.8837.819.3512.13

SURGEIN24HOURS8,1393,9651,7812,7981,178

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*3.03%3.29%1.90%7.70%5.93%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:8,49,552TESTS: 1,15,87,153| DOUBLING RATE: 21.30**

RECOVERED:5,34,620DEATHS:22,674

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

DataasonJuly11, releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITY RATIO

Deaths as a ratio ofpositive cases (in %);indicator of progressin averting deaths

Positives againstnumber tested

(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease

Becoming sick vsrecovering; more

recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak

POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT

As Maldives reopens for tourists,India may create special air bubble

As river rises, villagers pull down theirhomes to save bricks for rebuilding

E●EXPLAINED

AshokGehlot;SachinPilot

Pilot digs in, claims he has thenumbers to cut Gehlot to size

Tharoor to Sibal, Congleaders hear wake-up call,hope leadership listens

■RashtriyaLoktantrikParty 3

■BharatiyaTribalParty 2

■CommunistPartyof India

(Marxist) 2

■RashtriyaLokDal 1

■ Independents 13

200Assemblystrength

INCALLIES: BTP ,CPI(M),RLDBJPALLY: RLP■3of13 independents removedasCongressassociatemembers

Congress107

BJP72

STATEOFPLAY

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JULY12

A DAY after a SpecialInvestigationTeam(SIT)wassetuptoinvestigatetheriseofgang-sterVikasDubeyandhisallegednexuswithpolice,theUPgovern-mentonSundayformedasinglememberinquirycommitteeun-deraretiredHighCourt judgetoprobeintoalltheincidentslinkedto Dubey beginning from thebotchedraidathisvillageonJuly3 that left eightpolicemendead

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

8COPSKILLED INKANPURAMBUSH

Inquiry panel to probe all incidentsbetween raid and Dubey encounter

Membersof theSIT, ledbySanjayBhoosreddy,atBikruvillage,Kanpur,on Sunday.PTI REPORT,PAGE3

Lucknow

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JULY13,2020

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Thefuroreoveragoldsmugglingcase inKeralaNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

Alookatwhyagoldsmugglingcase inKeralahasmadeheadlines inthestateandnationally

DOWNLOADAPP

HERE’SWHYTHEREHASBEENASURGE INUSCASELOADANDDEATHS

OnSaturday,theUSreported66,627cases,thehighestdailyspurt in infectionssincethepandemicbegan,raisingthecountry'stotaltonearly3.185million,accordingtodatacompiledbyJohnsHopkinsUniversity

VIDEOOF THEDAY FULL COVERAGEYAMRAJ,CHITRAGUPTARAISECOVID AWARENESS

Artistesdressuptocreateawareness inChhattisgarh’sRaipur

WEB

EXCLUSIVE

SCANTHISQRCODETODOWNLOADTHEAPP

SREBRENICAMASSACRE

TheIndianExpress looksat ethniccleansingofBosnianMuslims

■VISUAL STORIES

■ DAILY BRIEFING

■ PODCASTS

■ CUSTOMIZABLENEWS EXPERIENCE

IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

Inquiry paneland his arrest and subsequentdeathinanencounteronJuly10.“Theincidentof (thenightof)

July 2-3 and July 10 linked toVikas Dubey and his associates,and all the encounters betweenthe given dates are an issue ofpublic importance. Thus, thereshould be an inquiry into thesame,”astatementissuedbytheInformationDepartment said.The commission, led by re-

tired High Court judge ShashiKant Agarwal, has been formedunder Section 3 of theCommissions of Inquiry Act,1952,andwillhaveitsheadquar-terinKanpur. Ithasbeendirectedto wrap up its inquiry in twomonths.“On thenight of July 2 and3,

Vikas Dubey and his associatesconducted an incident inwhicheight police personnel werekilled and others were injured.There would be a detailed in-quiryintotheincident.Thecom-mission will also do an inquiryinto the July 10 encounter be-tween police and Vikas Dubey.Alongwiththat, thecommissionwill investigate every single en-counter between police andthose connected with the case,between July 3 and July 10,” itadded.Other thanDubey, five of his

associates – Prem PrakashPandey, Atul Dubey, AmarDubey, Ranveer alias BauvaDubey, Prabhat Mishra aliasKartikey---havebeenshotdeadin police encounters. All werenamed in the FIR related to thekilling of eight policemen atBikru village in Kanpur. WillPrem Prakash Pandey and AtulDubeywere killed in Kanpur onJuly3,hoursafter the raid,AmarDubey was killed by STF inHamirpur on July 8. A day later,Ranveer was killed in Etawah,while Prabhat, who was beingbroughtfromFaridabadontran-sit remand, was killed nearKanpur the sameday.The commissionwill also be

inquiringintolinksofDubeyandhisassociateswiththepoliceandother government officials andindividuals.Among other mandates of

the inquiry, the commissionhasbeenaskedto lookintootheras-pects of the case. It will also in-quire into issued raised by thestategovernment fromtime-to-time, and recommend sugges-tionstostopsuchincidentsfromhappening again, the orderstated.The three-member SIT,

headed by Additional ChiefSecretarySanjayBhoosreddy,onthe other hand, will be probingthe riseof gangsterVikasDubey

and his alleged nexus with thepolice. It has been directed tosubmit its reportby July31.While theSITwill probe into

theincidentslinkedtoDubeybe-fore the July 3 raid at his resi-denceatBikruvillage,theinquirycommissionwill lookintothein-cidents between July 3 andDubey's encounteron July10.

Pilot digs inspeculationinNewDelhioverhisnext course of action. Whenasked if he was joining the BJP,Pilot told The Indian Express, “Iamnot joining theBJP.”Withthepoliticalcrisisesca-

lating,theCongresspartyrushedAjay Maken and RandeepSurjewala to Jaipur along withGeneralSecretaryandRajasthanin-chargeAvinashPande. Pandehad submitted a report toCongressPresidentSoniaGandhion the situation in the state,which is still unraveling.The Gehlot camp, however,

dismissed the claims made byPilot’s office as “fake” and “ru-mours”. “His office can run any-thing.Wewill consider itofficialwhenhehimself comesforwardandmakestheclaim.Tomorrowhecandistancehimself fromtheclaimsmadebyhisoffice,”saidaCongress leader close toGehlot.To display his government

was on a sure footing, Gehlot

calledCongressMLAsandotherssupporting him at his residenceonSunday;around90MLAsmethim,sourcesclosetoGehlotsaid.Later in the evening, CongressMLA Rajendra Gudha said,“Gehlot ji has majority. We arealsomakingeffortsandsomeBJPMLAs are in contact. We willbringmoreMLAs fromBJP thanwewould lose.”The statement on behalf of

Pilot was posted by LokendraSingh, admin of theWhatsappgroup ‘Sachin Pilot: Update’ ataround9pmSunday.A close aide of Pilot said, he

was cut upwith the notice sentto him by the Rajasthan PoliceSOG.“Anoticewasissuedtohimunder 124 B, which is sedition,and120A.Haveyouheardofanychiefminister of anelectedgov-ernment issuingsuchanoticetothe party President and DeputyCM…What if Pilot had been theHomeMinister of the state andhad issued such a notice to theChief Minister? The ChiefMinister would have dismissedhim straight away,” a Congressstate leader close toPilot said.“Thisnoticeisbasicallyissued

just to show the world that theChief Minister can dowhateverhe wants and that he can dis-credit,humiliate,allegeandtreatthe party president and DeputyCM as a non-entity. It is being

doneprimarilytoputhimundersurveillance legally and causestress,” the leader said.ThesourcesclosetoPilotsaid

the notice was “unwarranted”and “no self-respecting personwouldtolerateit.”Withdrawalofthe notice too may not resolvethecrisis, theysaid.SOGofficialssaidnoticeshadbeensenttooveradozenMLAs,mainlyindepend-entMLAs,apartfromtheCMandDeputyCMtorecordtheirstate-ments.Avinash Pande, Congress

GeneralSecretaryandRajasthanin-charge, however, told TheIndian Express that the party“doesn’t see a reason for hisnarazgi(dissatisfaction)becausehe has the responsibility of PCCchief as well as Deputy CM –whicharebigresponsibilities. Insuch a situation, he will act re-sponsibly.”JustadaybeforeonSaturday,

GehlothadclaimedthatBJPwasengineeringtotopplehisgovern-ment, even as the SOG arrestedtwo BJP members and quotedthem in the FIR discussing theDeputy CM and his plans tobreak away from Congress andthegovernment.Congress MLA from

Kishanpole Amin Kagzi, said, “Iwant to assure you that at themoment,there’snocrisis.Butweare hearing about horse tradingand some people are also inDelhi... We are hoping that theyalso return to Jaipur. We don’thave a fixed estimate but as perguess, there are around 15-18people who want to meet andtalkwith thehighcommand.”Congress MLA from

Deedwana in Nagaur, ChetanDudi, who was among thosewhowere inDelhi, said that, “Tomy knowledge there was noherdingofMLAsandIdidnotgeta call regarding this. I have saidthis timeandagain that Iwill betherewheneverCongressneedsme. Second, I returned fromDelhiSundaymorningandamatmy private residence I work ac-cording to thewishes of my an-cestors andworkers - they haveplacedtheir trust inCongress…Iwill support Congress govern-ment 100 per cent for its entiretenure.”ThreeIndependentMLAs,be-

inginvestigatedbytheRajasthanAnti-Corruption Bureau in con-nection with the SOG probe,have also been out of Rajasthanand claimed disillusionmentwith Gehlot for being named inthe investigation.While SureshTakandOmPrakashHudlawereinDelhi,KhushveerSinghwasinGujarat.AsperACBofficials, thethree

had met another IndependentMLA Ramila Khadiya, who isnamedinanFIRcomplaintregis-tered by the SOG in Jaipur.Khadiya was alleged to havebeen offeredmoney by the twoBJP menwhowere arrested bytheSOG.Tak told The Indian Express

that he was unhappy with CMGehlot as he had met him onFriday but later in the day, helearnthewasbeinginvestigatedby the ACB. Formerly in the BJP,hesaidhewas“wholeheartedly”with Gehlot and the betrayal“immenselysaddened”him.“On10th, the CM called me withinhalf-an-hour notice and Ireached. I toldhimmanydetailsone to one but same day a casewas registered against me; weweremadesacrificial lambs.”“Ismeeting a fellow IndependentMLAcrime?”He,however, claimedhehad

nothingtodowiththePilotcampeither, saying that when bullsfight, thegrassgetstrampled.Allthree independent MLAs wereremoved as associatemembersof the Congress. Om PrakashHudla was at his residence inDelhi, and said hewill return in2-4days,whileKhushveerSinghwas inGujaratwithhis in-laws.Rajasthan Sports Minister

Ashok Chandna said, “We don'thaveanythreat.Thementalityof

BJP is wrong and they will gettheiranswer.Theattemptsof theBJP for toppling governmentsand horse trading have failed inRajasthan. To those who havebeeninCongressforgenerations,Iwanttotellthemthattheylearnfrom Madhya Pradesh. Thosewho left (the party) at MadhyaPradesh, they had to sit at theirhomesfor fourmonthsandtheyhavebeenmadeministersoutofcompulsion just ahead of elec-tions.Theywillalsolosetheelec-tionsandtheirministerialposts,"he said.In Rajasthan, Congress has

thesupportof122MLAs–107ofits own, 10 independents, twoeachof BTP andCPMandoneofRLD.BJPhas72MLAsanditsallyRLTP three. With the majoritymark being 101 in an Assemblyof 200, BJP needs the support ofat least 26 additional MLAs tostake claim to form a govern-ment.

Cong leadersOn Sunday, the party’s top

leaders appeared divided onwhat led to the latest clash be-tween Chief Minister AshokGehlot and his Deputy SachinPilot,buttheywereunitedinask-ing thehighcommand to “wakeup”and“savethegovernment”-- a recurring theme ever sinceRahulGandhiwalkedawayfromthe top post last year, leavingSonia Gandhi holding interimcharge.The disquiet within can be

gauged from an unusual tweetby party loyalist, senior leaderandformerUnionMinisterKapilSibal.“Worriedforourparty.Willwewakeuponlyafterthehorseshave bolted from our stables?”hewrote.Thiruvananthapuram MP

Shashi Tharoor was more cir-cumspect.“Ipassionatelybelievethat our country needs a gen-uinely liberal party headed bycentristprofessionalscommittedto inclusivepoliticsandrespect-ful of India’s pluralism. All whobelieve inthefoundingvaluesofthe Republic must work tostrengthen@INCIndianotunder-mine it,” he tweeted.Without referring to the cri-

sis, Karthi P Chidambaram,SivagangaMPandsonof formerUnionMinister andRajya SabhaMP P Chidambaram, tweeted:“Why is @Google a successfulcompany? Because it lets talentto become entrepreneurialwithintheorganisation.Lessonstobe learnthere.”And yet, what summed up

the party's predicament was atweet from the man who hadpulled the plug on its govern-mentinMadhyaPradesh.“Sadtosee my erstwhile colleague,@SachinPilottoo,beingsidelinedand persecuted by RajasthanCM...Showsthattalentandcapa-bility find little credence in the@INCIndia,” posted JyotiradityaScindia,whoisnowaprominentBJP face.On Saturday, Gehlot had

raisedthepitchbytakingaswipeat Pilot after police arrested twoBJPmembersforallegedlytryingto lure away Congress andIndependentMLAswithoffersofRs 20-25 crore each. Gehlot saidthat “only one can be CM” al-though his party “may have 5-7people whomay be contendersforCMandmayalsohavetheca-pability and talent”.“AlthoughSachin is the state

Congress president and DeputyCM, Gehlot has virtually de-privedhimof all powers. Sachinsayshecannotevenrecommenda transfer,” a senior leader said.Another leader disagreed:

“Those whowere paradroppedbecause they were sons ofCongress leaders, like Scindiaand Pilot, those who have notcome through theNSUI and theYouth Congress, those who areRahul Gandhi’s preferred peo-ple...theyaretheonesnotshow-ing any loyalty to the party...thisshowshowbadyour judgementof people is.”

Several leaders agreed thattheleadershipvacuumisaddingto problems. Former LawMinisterMVeerappaMoily andRajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankhasaid the high command shouldstep in immediately.“Everybody cannot occupy

the same post. Even leadersshouldhaveflexibility.Butif theycannot resolve this themselves,the high command should re-solveit immediately...Soniajihasto act now and inject disciplinein theparty,”Moily said.Tankha said “millions of

Congressworkers are looking atthe high command for solu-tions”. “As a person wedded tothe Congress ideology, it is verydishearteningandsadtowitnessthisweakening of the party,” hesaid.“It isdeeplyunfortunatethat

weseemtohavelearntlittlefromtheMadhyaPradeshcatastrophe.Since the Lok Sabha defeat in2019, we have meekly surren-dered Karnataka and MadhyaPradesh, and allowed our stateunits inGujarat, etc., toweaken.It is imperativethattheRajasthancrisis is resolved at the earliest,”saidSanjayJha,whowasremovedaspartyspokespersonlastmonthafterwarninginanarticlethatthepartywasfacing“politicalobsoles-cence”.However, party spokesperson

Abhishek Singhvi struck a re-strainednote. “This is thetimeforbalance, restraint and sobriety.Differencesinevitablyexistbutthecauseof thepartyisalwayslarger.I have no doubt that this turbu-lencewillnotlast,”hesaid.

Battle-linesthrough inMadhya Pradesh justfourmonthsagothat sawJyotira-dityaScindiaexitandbringtheBJPbacktopowerinBhopal.Onenightisalsoalongtimein

politicsbutPilotmaynotbeinanyrushto jointheBJP.His firstprior-ity, a close aide said, is to get theleadership to listen and take astand rather than allow this feudtofester.For, Pilot, like Scindia, is a sec-

ond-generation leader butdiffersin bothpolitical style and capital.Hehas thebackingof an influen-tial caste (Gujjar)which Scindialacked.Pilothasalsoshownawill-ingness to endure the rough andtumble of politics. He did notshyaway fromtakingup the re-sponsibility of helming thestate unit when it was offered.Scindia, on theother hand,wasnever keen to get his feetwet.Unlike Scindia who turned

down Deputy Chief Minister-ship, Pilot has fought hard forthe post he secured, displayingpolitical hunger and ambitionalongwith an awareness of theneed to pay his dues.This time, therefore, the

lines are drawn harder thanever. Pilot, sources close to himsaid, is clearhewill not take theSOG notice lying down. He be-lieves it cannot be “business asusual,” and theparty leadershipneeds to listen to him.“Gehlot tried to kill two to

three birds with one stone. Inthat, hewent a little too far. Hecornered theBJP sayingyouareparty breakers…but he put afishing inquiry too…invokingsedition, hewent too farnot re-alising that Pilot will respond.Pilot has reactedmore stronglythan what Gehlot had antici-pated," a senior leadersaid.In the past, both have traded

words.FromportfolioallocationtoGehlot’s desire to field his sonVaibhavintheLokSabhaelectionssome months later, they havecrossedswordsoverarangeof is-sues. Pilot opposed theCM’s con-troversialdecisiontoallowindivid-uals who had not been directlyelected by the people to contestmayoral polls and said theGovernment did not showcaseachievementsunderhisMinistryduring the one-year celebration.Thedeathof infantsataKotahos-pitaltooturnedintoaflashpoint.This time, there is noobvious

issue–otherthantherootone:thefight betweenGehlot and Pilot.Thoseclose toPilot thinkthat thiscouldbealso framedasa fight forsomethinglarger–theveryfutureof theparty.

BSFmeat,manytypesofharmfulbac-teriaflourishinit.Thosewhoeatitareatriskof fallingsick."Thecattlearepackedintrucks

fromacrossNorthIndiaandtrans-ported to the border.When theyareneartheborder,thesmugglerstry tomake themrun fast so thatthey can't be caught. For this, theanimalsareinjectedwithdrugsortheir tails are cut andpressure isappliedonthewounds, itsays.

Covid damageHowever,thegrimnewsisthat

Covid-19 is nowa “systemic dis-ease” that can affect not just thelungs,butthebrainandkidneysaswell, DrGuleria said in adetailedinterview.DrGuleria,whoheadstheclin-

icalresearchgroupofthenationalCovid-19taskforce,saidthatmed-ical examinationof patientswithsevere illness showed that evenmonthsafterrecovery,theirlungscontinuedtobein“badshape”,andtheyrequiredoxygenathome.Covid-19 patientswere now

sufferingfromstrokesandneuro-logical disorders,making thedis-easeworsethanjustarespiratoryinfection,DrGuleria,thecountry'stoppulmonologist,said.

Maldivesis almost entirely driven bytourism,whichmakes up70percentof itsGDP.Theairbubble, of-ficialssaid,wouldbea“specialges-ture”toacountrywithwhichIndiahashadtraditionallywarmties,butwhereinrecentyears,ithashadtocontendwith growing Chineseinfluence.

As river risesto understand the pandemic’seffects in small-town India. Ithas a city that is aspirational,but its villages continue to suf-fer damage inflicted by floodsthat are an annual feature.The Bhagalpur town itself

lies on the banks of Ganga,whichcuts through thedistrict.To its north is river Kosi thateventually merges with theGanga in Khagaria. It is thesetwo rivers and their distribu-taries that make Bhagalpur’ssoil fertile and provide suste-nance. Yet, for threemonths ina year, these rivers also ravagethedistrict, causingwidespreaddevastation.“You see all thiswater? This

was once land and the riverfloweddifferently. The govern-ment tried to control the rivers,and now it has enveloped us,”saidRohit, pointing in thedirec-tionwhereonecan just seewa-ter all over. And yet, even till2019, theresidentsof thevillagecould still deal with the prob-lem.WhenKosi roseeveryyearfor a few months, Govindpurwould be enveloped with wa-ter. People would shift to anembankment on the other sideof the river, but their homes re-mained safe. “Earlier, only ourfieldswouldget submergedun-der floodwaters. But these days,the water has begun looseningtheearthunderourhomes. Thisstarted in 2019, when somehouses collapsed into the river.So, this year, we are taking thebricks along as we shift,” RohitKumar said.It is not just him, but every

residentof thevillageisbreakingdown their home, loading thebricks into tractors, and takingthemacross the riverbyboat.The embankment already

hasbags of sandandearth linedupasawallofdefencebythedis-trict administration. The brickswill be kept near the shantiestheyputupbytheroadside,nextto their livestock during themonsoonmonths.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

Lucknow

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JULY12

CONGRESSGENERAL secretaryPriyankaGandhi haswritten toChief Minister Yogi AdityanathanddemandedathoroughprobeintotheallegedsuicideofPCSof-ficerManiManjariRaiinBallia.Rai(27), of Ghazipur district, wasfounddeadonJuly6.ShewastheExecutive Officer in Maniyartown’s Nagar PanchayatDepartmentinBallia.Thefamilymembersoftheof-

ficerhaveallegedfoulplay.Priyanka wrote, “Mr Chief

Minister,thesadincidentinBalliamust have come to your notice.We lost a young PCS officer.According to reports,

ManimanjariRai had raisedsome seriousquestionsonthedepartment’sworking. Thefacts that havecometolighttillnow make itseemlikethatthecorruptionnexusis deep. A thor-

oughprobe is required in the is-suesothatherfamilygets justicewhich is necessary. Nomatterhow influential the people are,those responsiblemust be pun-ished.”Priyanka also tweeted about

theletterandexpressedgriefoverthe incident and said shehopedthat the family of theofficer getsjustice.Vipin Singh, SHO, Kotwali,

where the case has been regis-teredunderIPCsection306(abet-ment to suicide). “The familymembers of the officer havenamed five people from thede-partmentwhotheyallegearere-sponsibleforthesuicide,”hesaid.After the officer’s death, her

brotherVijayanandRai had said“Wehavenamedsomepeopleinthe complaint. They were in-volved in illegalwork and theywere putting pressure onher togetinvolvedandwouldaskhertogivetenderinawrongfulmanner.Shehad complained and toldusthattheissuewasbeingprobed.”

Priyankawrites to CMfor probe intowoman PCSofficer’s death

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JULY13,2020

UTTARPRADESHWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, LUCKNOW,JULY12

ADAYafterUttarPradeshpolicesaid the twomen arrested byMaharashtra Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS) in connectionwiththekillingof eightpolicemen inKanpur were not named aswanted accused in the case, ateam from Kanpur policereachedMumbai on Sunday toquestion them.The ATS, meanwhile, pro-

duced Arvind alias GuddanRamvilas Trivedi and his driverSushil Kumar alias Sonu SureshTiwaribeforealocalcourtwhichremanded them in judicial cus-tody.TheATSproduced the twoin court under Section 41(1)CrPC(policemayarrestanyper-sonwithout warrant on suspi-cion of being involved in a cog-nizableoffence).AnATSofficersaidtheyhave

confessed to being part of theshootout inwhich eight police-men were killed when theywent to arrest gangster VikasDubey.Dubey was killed in an al-

legedencounterFridaywhilehewas being brought fromUjjaintoKanpur.Earlier in the day, UP

Additional DG (Law & Order)Prashant Kumar said that a po-lice team fromKanpur is goingtoMaharashtra to question theduo. The police team,which in-cludes the investigating officerin the Kanpur shooting case,woulddecideonthenextcourseofactionafterquestioningthem,headded.Requestinganonymity,apo-

lice officer from Kanpur said,“We are aware that Trivedi isDubey’s accomplice butwe arestillverifyingwhethertheywereinvolved in the shooting. So far,they are notwanted butwe areconductinganinvestigationandif their names appear, we shallarrest them.”Another senior officer said if

the team finds that a detailedquestioningoftheduoisneeded,theywouldbebroughtbacktoUP.Thetwoarecurrentlylodged

atTaloja jail inMumbai.According to Maharashtra

ATS sources, Trivedi told themthat after the attack on the po-

licemen, he and his driver trav-elled to Madhya Pradesh on atruck.“One of the Dubey’s relative

stays inMP, sowe believe theywent to him for help butwhenthey were turned away, theycame to Pune and eventuallyreachedThane,” saidanofficer.The two were staying at a

friend’s place in Thane. “Wehave detained the two friendsfor giving them shelter. Theywork in a transport companyand are from Trivedi’s nativeplace because of which theyagreed to help him. We willrecord their statements and letthemgo,” saidan investigator.Meanwhile, UP Additional

Chief Secretary SanjayBhoosreddy,whoisheadingtheSITprobingthe localpolice’sal-leged connivance with VikasDubey, on Sunday visited BikruvillagenearKanpurwhereeightpolicemenwere ambushed bythehenchmenof thegangster.Bhoosreddy was accompa-

nied by additional DGHariramSharma and DIG J RavindraGaudwhoarepart of theSIT.According to an official, the

SITinspectedthesiteof theam-bush to get an idea about howthe policemen including aDeputy SPwalked into the trapsetbyDubeyfallingtoashowerof bullets fired from rooftops,theofficial added.Theyalso asked theDMand

SSP to explain why no processwasinitiatedtocancelthegang-ster’sbail incaseslodgedagainsthim and the arms licences is-sued tohishenchmen.“The SITwill probe howde-

spite being involved in severalcriminal cases, the gangmem-bers couldmanage to get armslicences,” another official saidwasquotedbyPTI as saying.The SIT took a round of the

village and interactedwith thelocalswhomtheypersuadedtocome forward and share infor-mationaboutDubey.

—WITHPTIINPUTS

1. STFprobingthebotchedKanpurraidofJuly3that ledtosubsequentarrestsandencounters

2. IG (LucknowRange)LaxmiSinghprobingtheallegedletterwrittenbyDeputySPDevendraMishratothethenKanpurSSPAnantDeoaboutVikayDubey'sclose linkswith localStationOfficerVinayTiwari.Theprobereport

hasbeensubmitted

3.Three-memberSITprobingDubey's riseandhisallegednexuswithpolice

4. InquiryCommission, ledbyaretired judge, toprobeall the incidents linkedtoDubeybetweentheraidandhisdeath inanencounternearKanpur

PROBESSINCEBOTCHEDRAID

VikasDubeywasshotdead inanencounteronJuly10

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,JULY12

FOLLOWINGTHEdeathof gang-sterVikasDubey at thehandsofthe police in Kanpur district onFriday, claims have beenmadeabouttheallegedtargetingoftheBrahmincommunity.Dubey,whokilledeightpolicemenalongwithhisassociatesinthedistrict’sBikruvillageonJuly3,wasaBrahmin.On Sunday, BSP chief

Mayawati asked the YogiAdityanathgovernmentnottodoanything that would makeBrahmins feel scared, terrorisedorinsecure.Maintaining that it was the

BSP’sbeliefthatanentirecommu-nity should not be punished forthe crime of one person,Mayawatitweeted,“Itisthebeliefof BSP thatanentire communityshouldbeharassedorputunderquestion for the crime of onewrong person. Thus, in Kanpurpolicekillingcase,whilefearinthecommunityover crimesof VikasDubeyandhismenshouldbere-moved, but at the same timeUPGovernment shouldnotdopoli-ticsinthenameofVikasDubeyin-cident and instead takeactionasperstrongfactsandestablishpub-lictrust.”Sheadded, “Thegovernment

shouldnot do anything thatwillmake the ‘Brahmin Samaj’ herefeel scared, terrorised and inse-cure.”Mayawati claimed that inthenameoftakingactionagainstcriminals, Dalits,Muslims, andpeople frombackward commu-nitiesaretargetedbecauseofpol-itics.Shesaidthestatewouldbe-comefreeofcrimeonlywhenthe

government conducts fair andhonest investigations in suchcases.Meanwhile, Congress leader

and formerUnionMinister JitinPrasada offered his help to the“community”intimeofneed.Prasada,who is undertaking

the “Brahm Chetna Samwad”campaign across the state,claimed in a videomessage thatmembers of his community,Brahmins, were beingmade toroam fromoneplace to anotherforjustice.Heallegedthattheen-vironment being created indi-catedthattheintentionoftheBJPgovernmenttowardshiscommu-nity was not right. AskingBrahminstouniteandfacethesit-uation,hesaidhewouldservethecommunitywhereverrequired.In response, the BJP claimed

parties suchas theCongress andtheBSPwere trying todivide thesociety followingDubey’s killingfortheirgreedforpower.“Partiesthathavejustworked

to divide the society to attainpower aredoing the same thing.While Congress has done suchpolitics in thepast, the BSP lateradopted similar politics in its at-tempt toplay the so-calledDalit,BrahminandMuslimcard.Itisthelowestformofpoliticstodosuchpolitics over a criminal, andshouldbecondemned,”saidstateBJP spokesperson HarishSrivastava.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMEERUT, JULY12

TWO MEMBERS of a SpecialOperation Group (SOG) of theBulandshahrpolicesufferedmi-nor injurieswhentheywereat-tacked, allegedly by local resi-dents and aides of ahistory-sheeterwhoseresidencethey tried to raid, inMirchi TolalocalityonSaturday.Thecriminal,Shahid,against

whom over three dozen cases,includingmurder, loot and ex-tortion, are registered in several

police stations across the state,managedtofleetakingthe“riverroute”,police sources said.“We have registered an FIR

against four named and over500unidentifiedlocalresidents

who attacked the SOG team,comprising eight cops, withlathis and stones. No arrestshavebeenmadeyet.Asearch ison for the history-sheeter,”Aruna Rai, in charge of Kotwalipolice station, told The IndianExpressonphone.She said the injured police-

menweretakentohospitalandwere discharged on Sunday.“The SOG teammemberswereinplainclothesandalsodidnotinform the local police beforecarrying out the raid. Some lo-calresidents,whoperhapswereinvolvedintheattackonthepo-

lice team, claimed to us thatthey thought that armed crim-inals had entered their localityandtheyrespondedcollectivelytooverpowerthem,”sheadded.Thepolicewill also investigateif anylocal residentassistedthehistory-sheeter Shahid in es-caping.“The SOG team had gone to

nab Shahid, amurder accused.They were initially not recog-nised by local residents.Confusion prevailed and somepeople pelted stones at them.The local police sent reinforce-ments and the situation was

soon brought under control,”said RaghvendraMishra, CircleOfficer, Bulandhshar (City).“The trapped police team

members saved themselves byfiring in the air. Later, the localpolice also intervened for theirrescuewhen theywired SOS tothe police wireless network,”saidanofficer.SSPSantoshKumarSinghhas

orderedaninquiry intohowtheSOGteamraidedtheplacewith-out informing the local police.Police force has been deployedin thearea, sources said.

—WITH ENS,NOIDA

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JULY12

WITHCOVID-19 cases continu-ing to surge in Uttar Pradesh –Sundaysawtheadditionof1,388newcases,takingthetotalcountto36,476 in the state -- thegov-ernment has decided to con-tinue with the weekend lock-downinthecomingweeksinitsattempt toslowthe infection.The government had im-

posed a 55-hour lockdown thisweekend,beginningFridaynight.“As you all know that from

Friday 10 pm toMonday 5 am,someactivitieswererestrictedinthe state under which officeswere shut,marketswere closedand the general movement ofpeoplewasrestrictedtoo.There-strictionshadagreatresponseonSaturday. Therefore, ChiefMinisterYogiAdityanathhasde-cided that on five days (fromMonday to Friday), themarketswillstayopenfrom9amto9pm.For the rest of the twodays, themarkets will be shut, but eco-nomic activities like industrieswill remain operational. BankswillalsobeopenedonSaturdays.However,wehavetoensurethatthesocial activitiesonSaturdaysand Sundays are very limited,”said Additional Chief Secretary(Home)AwanishKumarAwasthi.“Duringtheweekendrestric-

tions, there will be cleanlinessand sanitisation drives in themarkets just like the last twodays. In urban areas, garbagewould be disposed of properly,there will be anti-larval treat-mentand fogging,”headded.During the lockdown this

weekend, only emergency and

essential serviceswere allowedtobeopen.Reactingtothegovernment's

plan to impose weekend lock-down, Samajwadi Party presi-dent Akhilesh Yadav suggestedafour-dayworkweektocontaincoronavirus instead. “Instead ofimposing a lockdownonweek-ends, the government shouldimplement a four-day work-week system in view of theCOVID-19 spread and it shouldbeforalongperiod,"Yadavsaid."The government should con-centrate on increasing the effi-

ciencyof theworkforceandde-velopanewworkculturesothatnothing isaffected,”headded.Meanwhile, Lucknow

recorded another day of a spikein the number of coronaviruscases.TheCapitaladded165newcases,thehighestinthestate,fol-lowedbyGhaziabadwith142.This week, Lucknow added

957 cases and Ghaziabad 951 –the two districts are the onlyones in the state to have over1,000 active cases. WhileGhaziabad reported no newdeaths in the last seven days,

Lucknowreportedsix, takingitstotal fatalities to30.While Kanpur Nagar re-

ported 389 cases, fewer com-pared to other hotspot districtslike Noida and Meerut, it re-portedhighestnumberofdeaths–28inlast7days–takingitsto-tal Covid toll to 86.While Agrastill has the highest number ofdeaths, 94, the district reportedonly one death this week andadded102newcases.Jhansi has emergedas anew

concernforthestatewiththedis-trictreporting319casesthisweek,takingitstotalcountfrom246lastSunday to 565 this Sunday.Moreover, 10 deaths were re-portedinthedistrictthisweek.Amongtheothers,Gorakhpur

onSundayadded73morecases,followedGautamBuddhNagar(64), Kanpur Nagar (60) andMeerut(59).Thefreshdeaths in-cludethreeinKanpurNagar, twoeach inPrayagraj,Muzaffarnagarand Bareilly, and one each inKushinagar, Chandauli, Jhansi,Balrampur, Sultanpur, Sambhal,Aligarh, Basti, Moradabad,Lucknow,MeerutandAgra.Thesurgeinthecaseshasled

toanincreaseintheweeklycasegrowth rate by 1 percentagepoint to4.5%.Consequently, thecase doubling rate has droppedto16days.“As per the latest data from

the door-to-door that has con-cludedinMeerutbutwillendinother districts on July 15, morethan 2.51 crore houses having12.94 crore people have beensurveyed. Those with comor-bidities have been asked by ourteams to stay extra cautious,”Principal Secretary (Health)AmitMohanPrasadsaid.

LOCUSTS REACH LUCKNOW

Aboytries tochaseawayaswarmof locusts fromafarmontheoutskirtsof LucknowonSunday.Vishal Srivastav

■Swarmsof locusts reachedLucknowSunday.Theywerealsospotted inSitapur,GondaandAgra,butnocrop losswasreportedfromanyof thedistricts.

■AdditionalChief Secretary(Agriculture)DeveshChaturvedisaid, “TheswarmreachedLucknowfromUnnaothroughKakori, andthenfromLucknowtoBarabankiandtoGonda.Wearepreparedtokill the locustsonSundaynight.”

■ AdditionalChief Secretary(Home)AwanishKumarAwasthi said, “Theagriculturedepartmentwiththehelpoflocaladministrationandfirecontroldepartmenthasworkedtoendthis.”

■ThegovernmentsaidthatonSaturdayahugeswarmoflocustshadenteredSafipurandFatehpurblocksofUnnaodistrict,where10tractormountedsprayers, three firebrigadesandthreesprayingdeviceskilledthem. ENS

BSPchiefMayawati

Brahmins shouldnot be made to feelterrorised: Mayato Adityanath govt EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE

NEWDELHI, JULY12

A UP policemanwhowas sus-pendedandarrested forallegedlinks to slain gangster VikasDubey has approached theSupremeCourt,seekingaSpecialInvestigationTeam(SIT)intothekilling of eight policepersonnelby Dubey and his gang after afailedpolice raidon July3.Sub-Inspector K K Sharma

andhiswife,whomovedthetopcourtonSunday,saidthat“afterseeing the incidents of encoun-ters of the alleged accused per-sons in the present FIR”, theywere “of the confirmedopinionandhas full apprehension that”Sharmatoo“maybeeliminatedbyadoptingillegalandunconsti-tutionalmeans”.“Theincidentsofencounters

oftheallegedaccusedpersonsinthe present FIR fully proves thefacts that theRespondentshaveno faith in the courts of lawandthe law of the land and are giv-ing final verdict of punishmentbyadoptingillegalandunconsti-tutionalmanners,”thepleasaid.AUPPoliceSpecialTaskForce

hadarrestedSharmaonJuly8onchargesthathetippedoffDubeyand gang about an impendingpolice raid in Kanpur on July 2and fled from scene as soon astheshootout started.Onthepolicecharge, thepe-

tition said he “was directed byhis in-charge namely VinayTiwari to remain at the policestationandtoldhiminthenightthathe isgoing ina teamfor thearrest of some criminal as pertheinstructionstohimonphonewithfurtherinstructionstocon-ductacrosscheckingatGTcross-ing road”.

Suspendedcop movesSC seekingprotection

Ballia:Uttar PradeshMinisterof State (IndependentCharge)for Sports and YouthWelfareUpendraTiwarihastestedpos-itiveforCovid-19,hisrepresen-tative said.RakeshChaubeyBhola,the

representative of theminister

said, “Tiwari felt feverish al-most two days back and hisCovid test was done onSaturday.The report on Sunday

morningstatedthatTiwarihastested positive for COVID-19,"hesaid.PTI

Kanpur: A police constable,who was in the vehicle thatwas transporting dreadedgangster Vikas Dubey fromUjjain, has tested positive forCovid-19, an official said onSunday.“The report came in lateon

Saturday.Thecophasnowbeenadmittedtoanisolationward,”Ganesh Shankar VidhyarthiMedical College principal Dr RBKamal said, adding that fourother police personnel whowere also in the vehicle havetestednegative.PTI

WEEK 19SINCE FIRSTCASEWASREPORTED

CONCERNJHANSI:

319 cases in last 7days, it has highestcases growth ratein state at 130%

RECOVERYRATE:64%

RECOVERED:23,334

CAUTIONAGRA:

With 1 death and102 new cases, thecase growth ratehas gone below 1%

A GLIMMERCHITRAKOOT:

The 4 new cases in7 days are the onlyactive cases in thedistrict till date

KEYDISTRICTSTOWATCH■Noida■Ghaziabad■Meerut■KanpurNagar■Lucknow

TOTALCASES34103156151717342381

LASTWEEKDEATHS503286

SURGEINAWEEK645951346389957

TOTALDEATHS3362908630

TRACKINGUP’SCOVIDCURVETOTAL COUNT36,476

WEEKLYGROWTHRATE:4.5%DOUBLINGRATE: 16DAYSACTIVECASES: 12,208

Source:BasedonHealthDeptbulletin,UPGovernment

FATALITYRATE:2.56%

DEATHS:934

TESTS/MILLION:5,136

TESTS:11,55,623

15001000500

0DailyCases 1,253

7-dayrollingaverage

Dailycase jump1,388

March12 July12

KANPURAMBUSH

NowUPPolice team toquestion twoaides ofDubeyheld inMumbaiThree-memberSIT teamvisitsBikru, inspectscrimespot

Police team attacked during raid to arrestcriminal, two cops injured, over 500 booked

Screengrabfromavideooftheattack inBulandshahr

LUCKNOW,GHAZIABADADDMOSTTOCASELOAD

Weekend lockdown to stay asCovid infection rate shoots up

MINISTERUPENDRATIWARI TESTSPOSITIVE COPWHOACCOMPANIEDDUBEYTESTSPOSITIVE

PriyankaGandhi

Lucknow

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JULY13,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDDIt is notified for the informationthat my Original QualifyingExaminationCertificateofmainAll India Secondary schoolExamination of Year 2006, RollNo.1102856 issued by CBSE hasbeen lost. Vikas Kumar, B12,Rabindrapalli,Lucknow226016.

0060075158-1

LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI, JULY12

WITH THE infighting inRajasthan Congress out in theopen, the BJP that leveraged asimilar situation in Bhopal iswatching closely to see if it canfindanopportunitytoputupanalternatearrangementinJaipur.But the party is not yet ready totakeanystep, said sources.“Wearejustwatchingthesit-

uation. The game still does notappeartobesetfortheBJP,”saida senior party leader. Anothersenior leader from Rajasthansaid, “As of today, the BJP hastakenaconsciousdecisionnottodoanything,butiswatchingthedevelopments. Let the crack inthe Congresswiden enough forthegovernmenttofallthrough.”Late on Sunday night, there

were hecticmeetings in theBJPoverRajasthan’spolitical devel-opments. Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan held dis-cussions with HomeMinisterAmit Shah in the evening.Incidentally,Pradhanwasinstru-mental in Jyotiraditya Scindiajoining the BJP.While BJP lead-ersarenotaversetoSachinPilot,now Deputy CM of Rajasthan,joining the party, the Congressleaderhasbeenmaintainingthat

it’snotanoption forhim.The BJP leaders denied that

Pilot, whose frictionwith ChiefMinisterAshokGehlothasinten-sified,metparty leaders.“These are rumours spread

by the Gehlot camp to malignPilot and cement his positionwith the Congress leadership,”said a BJP MP from Rajasthan.Another partyMP added, “Thisis Gehlot launching a pre-emp-tive strike against Pilot. As it is,Gehlot hasmade him a figure-head Deputy CM and now hewantstoweakenhimfurtherbe-fore theCongress leadership.”“There are no negotiations

even. It is too early for the BJPleadership to get involved.Becausewe know that Pilot, asof today, is not capable of mus-tering the number (of MLAs) topull down the Gehlot govern-ment,” saida leader.However, party sources ad-

mittedthattheBJPhasnotruledouta“Bhopal-likedevelopment”in Jaipur.In the 200-member

Assembly, theCongresshas107MLAsandit issupportedbytwomembers each from BharatiyaTribal Party and CPM, oneMLAfromRLD,and12Independents.TheBJPhas72MLAS, itsallyRLP

has three and is supported byone IndependentMLA.InMadhya Pradesh, the dif-

ference in the number of MLAsof theCongress that formed thegovernmentin2018,andtheBJPwasverynarrow--theCongresshad114, theBJP109.Itwillnotbewise for theBJP

tomakeamoveunlessitcanen-gineer a bigger split in theCongress, sources said.One leader also pointed out

that theBJPalsohason itsmindthe issues it is facing inMadhyaPradesh, where the nationalleadership is still struggling toreach a consensus on portfoliodistribution among the newministers. Even the cabinet for-mationgotdelayedduetodiffer-ences between the party's sen-ior leaders, including ChiefMinisterShivraj SinghChouhanand Jyotiraditya Scindia, whocrossed over from the Congressto the BJP with MLAs loyal tohim, leading to the fall of theKamalNathgovernment.Keeping inmind judicial in-

terventions that foiled theparty’s attempts to form alter-nategovernments in thepast inUttarakhand, Karnataka andMaharashtra,theBJPwantsPilotto act andpull down theGehlotgovernment, like what Scindiadid inMadhyaPradesh.

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JULY12

FOUR MONTHS after 22Congress legislators defected tothe BJP and brought down theKamal Nath government inMadhya Pradesh, one moreCongressMLAjoinedthesaffronpartyonSunday,dealinganotherblow to the Opposition partyaheadofthecrucialby-elections.Bada Malhara MLA

PradyumnaSinghLodhihandedhis resignation to pro temspeakerRameshwarSharmaonSaturday, accusing thepreviousCongress government of ne-glectingtheBundelkhandregionand diverting schemes toChhindwara — Kamal Nath’sstronghold. Sharma acceptedthe resignation on Sunday, say-ing Lodhi had stuck to his deci-sion thoughhehad givenhimaday’s timeto think.The resignation reduces the

Congress’s strength in the 230-memberhouse to91.Before joining the BJP at the

party headquarters, LodhimetCMShivrajSinghChouhan.Withinhoursofhisjoiningthe

BJP,Lodhiwasmadechairmanofthecivilsuppliescorporationandwasgivencabinetministerstatus.Welcominghimtotheparty,

Chouhan said Lodhi met himseveral times for sanctioning

welfare works in his con-stituency. Lodhi said, “For mepost is not important, service is.Shivraj Singh Chouhan has be-comeanalternative todevelop-ment. Inanadversesituationhesanctionedanirrigationproject.”The state Congress unit’s

Twitter handle posted in Hindi,“All thosewhowere up for salearegathering inoneplace...”

ADILAKHZERSRINAGAR, JULY12

BJP GENERAL secretary RamMadhav on Sunday said theJammuandKashmirlegislativeAssemblywill be formed onlyonce thedelimitation exerciseis complete in the UnionTerritory.

Madhavwas inKashmir tomeet the family of BJP leaderSheikhWaseemBari,whoalongwithhisfatherSheikhBashirandyounger brother SheikhUmarSultanwaskilledinamilitantat-tackatBandiporalastweek.Speaking to the media in

Srinagar afterwards, Madhavsaid, “…this time priority is tofirst fight COVID-19, then the

delimitation exercisewill takeplace and then for UT,Legislative Assembly will beformed.Atanappropriatetime,the government of India willdecide about othermatters aswell.”Whenaskedaboutsecurity

for political workers, Madhavsaidtheadministrationismak-ingall efforts.

SAKSHIDAYALGURGAON,JULY12

HOMEMINISTERAmit Shah onSundaysaidthatIndiaisina“goodposition”inthebattleagainstthecoronavirus,hailingtheroleofthesecurity forces in handling thepandemic.Shah was speaking at the

Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) Academy in Gurgaon’sKadarpurvillageaheadof theAllIndiaTreePlantationCampaign.Terming the fight against the

coronavirus abattle for the “sur-vival ofmankind”, Shah said, “Inthehistoryofmankind...nootherepidemichashadthecapacity tospreadasmuchasthiscoronaepi-demic... thewholeworld is fight-ingthisbattle... Indiaisalsofight-ingthisbattleverywell...Everyonethought howwill a country like

India fight the battle against co-rona, apopulationof 130crore, afederal structure, in the absenceofasinglechainofcommand.

“But, today, everyone is see-ing that, if a successful battleagainst corona has been foughtanywhere in the world, it is inIndia...Everywhereintheworld,only the governments havefought this battle but, in ourcountry, alongwith the govern-ment, a populationof 130crore,all the state governments, andevery single person has fought.With the policy of one people,onemind, onenation, today,weareinagoodpositioninthisbat-tle,thereisnoatmosphereoffearanywhere, there is a passion tofight against it, a determinationtoovercomeit,”Shahsaid.Acknowledging the role that

security forces have played, theminister vowed that their sacri-ficeswillnotgoinvain.“Thesecu-rityforcesalsohaveaverybigcon-tributioninthisbattle,nobodycanignorethis...”

CONG INFIGHTING INRAJASTHAN

BJPwatches keenly,wantsSachin Pilot tomake firstmove

Bhopal: BJP leaderJyotiradiya Scindia onSunday took a swipe athisformerpartyamidthedevelopmentswithintheCongress in Rajasthan.“Sad to seemy erstwhilecolleague, @SachinPilottoo, being sidelined andpersecuted by RajasthanCM, @ashokgehlot51.Showsthattalentandca-pability find little cre-dence in the@INCIndia,”he tweeted. Scindia leftthe Congress in March,with22partyMLAsleav-ing the party and joiningtheBJP, leadingtothecol-lapse of the Kamal Nathgovernment. ENS

Sad to see Pilotsidelined,says Scindia

Another MP CongMLA joins BJP, getsminister status

Patna:WithCovid-19casessurg-ingandtheBiharAssemblypollsdue later thisyear, the statepollpanel has said it is going aheadwiththepreparationsassumingthat theelectionwill beheldasperscheduleandanydecisiononthetimeofholdingthepollswillbe taken by the ElectionCommissionof India (EC). StateChiefElectoralOfficer(CEO)HRSrinivastoldTheIndianExpress,

“Our job is to prepare for elec-tions assuming theywould beheld in time. The final decisionrests with the ElectionCommissionof India... As a firstbigstep,wehavecreated33,797auxiliarypollingboothsbesidesthe existing 72,723 pollingbooths tomaintain social dis-tancing. The auxiliary boothshavebeencreatedwhere thereareover1,000voters.”ENS

India in good position in battleagainst coronavirus, says Shah

Surat: Son of a Gujaratministerand two of his friendswere ar-restedinSuratonSundayforvi-olating lockdown norms andcurfewrulesimposedinthecitydue to the surge of Covid-19cases. The three were later re-leasedonbail.Minister of State forHealth

Kishore Kanani’s son, Prakash,and his friends DushyantGodhani and Sanjay Kakadiaallegedly had an altercationwith Constable Sunita Yadavon the road during curfewhours on July 9 night.A purported video and au-

dio clips of the altercationwentviral on socialmedia, fol-lowing which Surat policetransferred Yadav to policeheadquarters, while orderingan inquiry into the episode.Sources saidYadav stopped

five youths who were travel-ling in a car without wearingmasks and being out on thestreets during curfew hours.She purportedly snatched thekeys of the car and one of theyouths calledup theminister’sson who reached the spot. Inthe video,when askedwhy hesteppedoutduringcurfew, theman claiming to be Kanani’sson, is heard telling Yadav hecame “to help his friend”.Yadav joined the Lok

Rakshak Dal constabularythree years ago. She is from afamilyofmigrants fromUPandgrew up in Surat. On Sunday,she is learnt to have reportedtohernewpostingat thehead-quarter.

ENS

Son of Gujaratminister, twoof his friendsheld for floutinglockdown rules

‘Preparing on assumption that Biharpolls will be held as per schedule’

ShahatCRPFAcademyinGurgaon. Express

OutsideCMAshokGehlot’shouse in Jaipur.Rohit JainParas

RamMadhavandUnionminister JitendraSinghat thehouseofBJP leaderSheikhWaseemBari,whowaskilled inamilitantattack lastweek, inBandipora. ShuaibMasoodi

J&K Assembly will be formedafter delimitation: Madhav

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,JULY12

ADAY after Amitabh BachchanandhissonAbhishekrevealedthatthey had tested positive for thecoronavirus, hisdaughter-in-lawAishwarya(46)andgranddaugh-terAaradhya (8) also testedposi-tiveforthevirus.HiswifeJayahastestednegative.Whilethefather-sonduowere

admitted toNanavatihospital onSaturday after showing mildsymptoms, Aishwarya andAaradhyaareasymptomatic andaresettoremaininhomeisolation.A Nanavati hospital official

said, “Both (Amitabh andAbhishek)arestableandhavemildsymptoms. AbhishekBachchanmaysoonbeadvisedhomeisola-tionanddischarged.”OnSaturday,Aishwarya, Jaya

andother familymembersweretested using rapid antigen kits.While they testednegative, theirswabsamplesweretakenforRT-PCR tests. Aishwarya andAaradhya tested positive onSundaybutJaya,daughterShwetaNanda and her two children,testednegative.TheBMConSundaysanitised

andsealedall fourbungalowsof

theBachchanfamily–Jalsa,Janak,PratikshaandVatsa–anddeclaredthemas containment zones. Allstaffersinthefourbungalowsun-derwentthermalscreening.Thirtywere identifiedashigh-risk con-tacts and their samples collectedfortests.“Thereissufficientspaceavail-

able at Jalsa for the staff to be inquarantine for14days.However,aquarantinefacilitycanbesetupfor the family and the staff, if theneed arises or if the same is re-quested,”saidanBMCofficial.On Sunday, actor Anupam

Kher took toTwitter stating thathis mother has tested positivewhilehis report has comenega-tive. Kher tweeted, “Mybrother,bhabhi(sister-in-law)andnieceinspite of being careful have alsotestedmildlypositive.Igotmyselftestedaswell&Ihavetestedneg-ative.BMCisinformed.”

Aishwarya, daughter testpositive, to quarantine at home

MunicipalworkerssanitisetheareasurroundingAmitabhBachchan'sbungalowinMumbai.

NewDelhi:TheCovid-19 crisis haspointed to the need for some as-sured social security formargin-alisedsectionsandeffectivedisbur-salofpublicentitlements,JusticeDYChandrachudsaidSunday.TheSupremeCourt judgealsoun-derlinedtheimportanceofreassess-ing Constitutional commitmentslesttheyarelosttomarketforcesin

thenewglobalorderand theneedforthestatetorecalibrateitsregula-toryrole inapost-liberalisedecon-omywhere“uncheckedprivateac-tioncan...breedseveral inequities”.Hewasdelivering a lectureon theoccasionof thebirthcentenarycel-ebrationofhislatefatherandformerChief Justice of India Ju stice Y VChandrachud.ENS

‘Covid crisis points to need forsocial security for marginalised’

SHYAMLALYADAVNEWDELHI, JULY12

THESURGE in Covid cases hasboosted demand for pulseoximetersbut Indianmanufac-turers complain that zero cus-toms duty onmedical devicesto tackle the infection has ledto the market being floodedwith imports, cutting into theirmarket share.Theyhavealso raisedques-

tionsabout thedependenceonChina when it comes to com-ponents. And highlighted thelackof effective regulationandcertification for thedevice thatmeasures oxygen levels inblood--akeyparameter to flagthe onset of Covid.In Delhi, where cases are

nearing the 1.1 lakh mark, thegovernment has ordered65,000piecesofwhich59,000have been delivered, saidSanjayGoel, in-chargeof Covidpurchases and MD of DelhiTourism and TransportDevelopment Corporation.Tamil Nadu, Principal

Secretary (Health) JRadhakrishnan said, “Wehavearranged nearly 30,000 units.Some local bodies have alsobought their own.”Industry sources said bulk

orders have also been placedby Karnataka, Maharashtra,Kerala andGujarat. Thecentralgovernment, meanwhile, hasdecided to reimburse thepriceof pulse oximeters (up to Rs1,200) purchased by CGHSbeneficiarieswhotestpositive.“Over the past few years,

wehavebeenmakingandsell-ingnearly70,000pieces everyyear, but in the last threemonths we have sold morethan that number. Due togrowing demand, we arethinking of manufacturingpulse oximeters, full-fledged,at thecomponent level.Butde-spite the growth in sales, ourmarket share in India has re-duced to less than 50 per centof what it was earlier. That isbecause cheaper products areavailable,” said PraveenNagpal, Senior Vice President,BPLMedical Technologies.The rise in demand is also

at the individual level, saidNKAgrawal, a shop owner atSouthDelhi’s Yusuf Saraimar-ket. “Till February, hardly anycustomer asked for pulseoximeters. But since June, theaverage daily sale in this mar-ket is more than 100 pieces,”he said.Jaipur-based Yash Modi,

proprietor of Micro and NanoTechnologies, imports compo-nents from China and manu-factures nearly 1 lakh piecesannually under the brandnameMeditive. “Weare facingover25percent increase inde-mand,” he said. FromApril, allmedical devices have beenclassified as drugs, andmanu-facturersand importersaread-vised to declare details of the

deviceswithin18months. Lastmonth, the NationalPharmaceutical PricingAuthority directed all manu-facturers and importers to de-tail the quantity and maxi-mum retail price of thesedevices. “We have gathereddetails. We are examining thematter,” says N I Choudhury,Advisor, NPPA.Some of the established

brands, suchasNovin,DrTrustand Masimo, are from the US.Many of themodelsmanufac-tured in India, including BPL,ChoiceMMed, Newnik, Nidek,Medtek,Accusureand Infinity,use components from abroad,mostly fromChina.Others im-port “readymade items” fromChina to be repackaged andsoldhere, say industryexperts.“The dependence of Indian

manufacturersonChina ishighas components, like the chip,are made only in a few coun-tries like China, Taiwan andMexico,” said amanufacturer.Industry sources said these

devices were available forabout Rs 500 each earlier butare now sold for not less thanRs1,000. “Qualityproducts areavailable for Rs 2,000-5,000.Some are costlier. But un-known brands are being soldthrough online platforms andby non-medical traders,” theysaid.Establishedmanufacturers

and importers have alsopointed to lack of adequatequality checks. They point outthatwhile ISO-13485 is aqual-ity management system formedical devices, the CE mark(EuropeanUnion) andFDA tag(US) are for safetyandefficacy.Very few products in theIndianmarket have these cer-tifications, they say.“Until it is regulated, the

certificationof imported itemsmust be checked,” said TarunArora, director of InfinityMediquip, aDelhi-basedman-ufacturer.“Pseudomanufacturers im-

port items from countries likeChina and apply stickers oftheir own brand and claim asMade in India. The zero cus-toms duty on many Covidmedical devices is adding tothis flood of import of poorquality items,” saidRajivNath,forum coordinator, IndianMedical Device Industry(AIMED).

THECOVID

BUSINESSVENTILATORS TO TESTING

KITS,OXYGENSUPPLIES TOPPEANEXPRESSSERIESPART 6

PULSEOXIMETERS

Sales surge, butimports hurt marketshare: Indian firms

Lucknow

MANOJCGNEWDELHI, JULY12

ATUSSLEbetweenRajasthanChiefMinisterAshokGehlotandDeputyCM SachinPilothaspushedthegovernmenttothebrink.Alookatthe similarities and differences with theMadhyaPradeshsituationwheretheresigna-tion of CongressMLAs loyal to JyotiradityaScindia had toppled the government fourmonthsago,andthereasonswhytheCongressstrugglestoresolvesuchflare-ups:

If Pilotwereto leavetheCongress,howwouldthenumbersstackup?The difference between the combined

strengthof theCongressandthatof theBJP-ledoppositionisnotrazor-thininRajasthan,unlike in Madhya Pradesh where theCongress government fell when 22MLAspulled out. In a House of 230, the Congressstrengthfell from114to92(nowdownto91after onemore resignation)which is belowtheBJPstrengthof 107.The numbers in Rajasthan, on the other

hand, were tested just amonth ago in theRajyaSabhaelections.ThetwoCongresscan-didatespolled123ofthe200votes—itsown107, all 13 independentMLAs, 2 two fromBharatiya Tribal Party and one fromRLD. Italso banks on the support of the two CPMMLAsinacrunch,whichtakesthetallyto125.Itgot123votesbecauseaministerandaCPMMLAcouldnotvoteonaccountoftheirhealth.

The BJP got 74 votes— its own72 and 3from theHanuman Beniwal-led RashtriyaLoktantrikParty,lessonevotedisqualified.Andunlike inMP,most of the independents inRajasthan are close toChiefMinisterGehlot.Despite Pilot being the PCCpresident since2014,Gehlothadtheupperhandinticketdis-tribution for theAssembly elections in 2018andabout75%CongressMLAsareclaimedtobeloyaltohim.ThePilotcampclaimsthesup-portofatleasthalf theMLAs.

AndtheBJP isadividedhouse inRajasthan, is itnot?Yes it is, and that is perhaps the key dif-

ference with MP. Also, the post of ChiefMinisterisattheheartof thetusslebetweenPilot andGehlot,whileScindiawasnotask-ingforchiefministership,whichmadethingseasy for the BJP. If Pilotwere to join the BJP,the questionwould bewhether hewouldsettle for anything less than chief minister-ship, given that he is already Deputy CM.Former BJP ChiefMinister Vasundhara Rajeandalargesectionof theBJP leadershipwillnotacceptPilot asChiefMinister.

CanPilotnotbreaktheCongressandwalkoutalongwithMLAs loyal tohim?To escape the anti-defection law, two-

thirds of CongressMLAswill have to leavetheparty.Thatisaverybignumber—72outof theCongress’s107MLAs.The other option is the ‘MadhyaPradesh

model’—whichmeansMLAsloyaltoPilotre-

sign so that the strengthof theHouse comesdown. Theywould thenhave to join theBJP,andcontestby-electionstofill thevacancies.But since thedifference in thecombined

strengthisaslargeas50,thatmanyMLAswillhave to resign to bring the halfwaymarkdowntoa levelwhereeachsidehas75.Thisis assuming that the independents andsmallerpartieswillalignasbefore. If there isa switchof sidesbysomeof thosewhosup-portedtheCongressintheRajyaSabhapolls,thebreakawaycampwillneedfewerthan50.

Whataretherootsof thepowertussle?Pilotwas given charge of the Rajasthan

CongressinJanuary2014after itsufferedoneof itsworst defeatsunderGehlot. Pilot, thoseclose to him say, believed his appointmentmarkedagenerational shift in theparty, andthathewouldbeCMif thepartywonagain.Gehlot has been around for a long time.

HebecameChiefMinisterforthefirsttimein1998,whenhewas47.HehadbeenthePCCpresident, and had spearheaded theCongress campaign that defeated BhaironSingh Shekhawat’s BJP (which had been inpowersince1990,barringayear’sPresident’sRule), and brought the Congress back topower. Gehlot has since alternated as ChiefMinisterwithVasundharaRajeof theBJP.

ThefeudbetweenGehlotandPilotesca-latedaftertheCongresshighcommandgaveGehlotathirdshotatchiefministership,withaneyeontheLokSabhaelections thatwerethenroundthecorner.Thetwoleadershavebeen at loggerheads since, and each hasmade comments against the otherwithouttakinghisnameonseveraloccasions.

Butwhyhasn’t itbeensortedout?Manyleadersarguethattheparty’scentral

leadershiphasweakenedinthelastsixyears.Regionalleaderswieldconsiderableinfluence.The AICC in-charge of Rajasthan, AvinashPande, is seenasa lightweight,whodoesnothave the stature tomakeGehlot andPilot sitacrossthetableandsortouttheirdifferences.RahulGandhi’sdecisiontostepbackfrom

activeorganisationalactivitiestoo,haslefttheyounger leaderspondering their future. Theold-versus-youngtussle—andtheircompet-ingambitions—hassplitthepartyinMP,andisnowthemostvisible inRajasthan.It is also difficult for the Congress to ig-

nore caste equations. Pilot comes from theGujjarcommunity,andoneofthefactorsthatwent against his elevationwas that it maynot have gone downwell with theMeenacommunity. Gehlot, on the other hand, be-longs to thebackwardMali caste, and isnotseen as a threat to any caste group — thedominant Jats,Gujjars,Meenas, orRajputs.Thatsaid,theCongresscannotignorethe

Gujjars either—and that iswhere it soughttostrikeabalance.As it is, the Jatshave long

beenunhappywiththeCongressastheybe-lieve it has not given them their due. TheCongresshashistoricallyhad tall Jat leadersin Rajasthan, such as ParasramMaderna,RamniwasMirdha, andSisramOla.Interestingly,GehlothadpippedMaderna

tothepostforthefirsttimein1998.Madernawas then the Leader of Opposition in theAssembly. The Jatshad thendemandedthattheChiefMinisterbefromamongtheirranks– either Maderna or K Natwar Singh. ButSingh, like Sachin’s father Rajesh Pilot, pre-ferredtostay innationalpolitics.

Evenif thegovernmentdoesnot fall,whatwillbethe impactof thiscrisis?Thecrisiswill certainlyunderminePilot’s

position.Sourcesclosetohimaskhowhecanremain in thegovernment, that too asnum-bertwo,whenanFIRsaysthatthe“DeputyCMsays that hewill be theCM. Themutual dis-trustbetweenGehlotandPilotwilldeepen. Itisterribleopticsfortheparty,too.

Cananyotherstatetooseesuchacrisis?AllisnotwellinPunjabandChhattisgarh.

AlthoughPunjabCMAmarinderSinghdoesnotfaceanychallengetohisleadership,thereis rumbling — and the likes of former PCCchiefPartapSinghBajwaandformerMinisterNavjotSinghSidhukeepstirring thepot.InChhattisgarh, ChiefMinisterBhupesh

Baghel and HealthMinister T S Singh Deo,whowasacontenderforthepost,aresaidtobeno longeron talking terms.

Inthebeginning,wethoughttheviruswasonlycausingrespiratoryinfection,pneumonia.Nowtherearepatientswithbloodclots;thevirusistargetingthetransportofoxygen,chokingoff itssupplytootherorgans.DoesthismeanCovid-19isnowmoreavasculardisease?Youareright.Whenitstarted, itwasfelt it

waslikeanyotherviralpneumonia:asweseewithinfluenza,itcausespredominantlyupperrespiratory problems and in somepeople itgoestothelowerrespiratorytractandleadstofall in oxygen saturation. Butweare learningmore andmore about how this coronavirusbehaves.Werealiseditcausesalotofsystemiceffects.Itcausesinflammationoftheinnerlin-ingof bloodvesselsandthis leads tonarrow-ingof their area. Also,we see a lot of inflam-matorymarkersentertheblood.It caused ahypercoagulable state,which

promotesclotting;andpeopleweresuddenlydyingbecauseofclotsblockingtheirbloodves-sels in the lungandheart.Wehavestarted tosee thathappening in thebrain, peoplewithstrokeandotherneurologicalproblems.Inthebeginning,wethoughtall thiswasn’tamajorissuebutasweseemorecases, ithasbecomeanissue.Sothetreatmenthastobeholistic.Theinfectionstartsoffwiththelungs.Soit

is still apulmonarydisease. But it has signifi-cantvascularproblems. It canbe termedasavasculardisease,tosomeextent.Itcanalsobetermed as a systemic disease because it in-volvestheentirebody.

SomeautopsiesofCovidpatientsrevealpeoplearedyingfrombloodclotsinthebrainwhichiscausingthestroke.Isthevirustravellingtothebrain?There is notmuch data on this. Doctors

have tried to culture thevirus fromthebrainitself.Whether it causes encephalitis,wheredoesthevirusenterthebrainanddoesitcauseinflammationinthebrainorwhetheritcausesinflammationofvesselssupplyingbloodtothebrain–allthesearebeinglookedat.Probably,it isalittlebitofboth.There couldbeviremia,

thevirus traveling fromthebloodtothebrain,andcaus-ing some changes; but alarge amount of effect thathappensisbecauseofvesselinvolvement. You can seethatinourpatients,theyarenot only presenting strokeevenwhile in the ICU andbeing treated for Covid-19;butithappensevenlateron,over the course of the dis-ease when the viral loadmay have comedownbuttheinflammationpersists.

Adecreaseinkidneyfunctionhasbeenreportedinsomepatients.Isthekidneyalsoadirecttarget?Thekidney can fail undermultipleways;

one,whenwehavevessel involvement, andofteninadvance-stagepatients,(thereis)sep-tic shockwhich leads to a decrease in bloodsupply tokidneycausingkidney failure.Also,whatwefound,inaroundone-thirdofpatientswhoarecriticallyill—theydohaveacutekid-neyinjuryandrequiredialysis.Wehadantic-ipatedthistosomeextent.

Athospitallevel,doesthismeanweneedmoreCTscansanddialysismachines?

Fromadiagnosis point of view, yes, youneed tohaveaCT scan if youare lookingat astroke.Dialysisisanotherimportantaspect;allCovid-19 critical hospitals havedialysisma-chinesintheirICUs.AIIMShasfourinthehos-pitalandoneisintheCovidsuspectarea.

Whatdofollow-upsshowinrecoveredpatientswhose lungs,kidney,brainwereinfected?Therearepeoplewhohaveresidualdam-

age. People who have had a stroke haveneuro-deficit in terms of paralysis or somepart of the body not functioning.We havealsoseenanumberofpatientswhohavese-vere pneumonia, were lungs get totallyscarred. Although they come out, some ofthemrequireoxygenathomeafterrecovery.Threemonths down, CT scans have shownlungs are in bad shape. There is a debateaboutwhetherwehavetogivethemsteroidsor other drugs to be able to decrease the fi-brosisorputthemunderarehabilitationpro-

gramso that their lung ca-pacity can improve. Somepatientskeepcomplainingof dry cough,which is dueto scars in the lung. Somepatients, overweeks, havecomplained of weaknessand of not having the en-ergy to go back towork. Insome case, there are seri-ousneurologicalproblems.

Isittimetoexpandthesymptoms?With time, the symp-

tomshavereallyexpanded.Whenwestartedoff, itwasjust cold, fever, and cough.

Nowwehavebodyache,lossofsenseofsmelland taste and itwill gradually expand. ItwillbecomemorechallengingforthephysiciantosuspectanddiagnoseCovid19.Ithinkwewillhavetobemoreliberalinour

testing,especiallyinahospitalsetting.Wehadthisproblemtwomonthsago…patientswithstrokedidn’t get tested,went into thegeneralward,andunderwentCT,MRI.Andlater,whentheX-ray lookedabnormal, theywere testedandcamepositiveforCovid.Thiscreatedpanic.Weare learning thatweneed tohave a lowthresholdfordiagnosingandweshouldtestallpatientswithanatypicalpresentation.

Thereisrecentevidencethattherecouldbeapost-Covidsyndromeinchildren.Howseriousisthis?Thatisstillbeingevaluated.Ithasbeenre-

ported frommultiple places in theUSand isseeninindividuals,whosortofrecoveredandthen they have a fever, hyperinflammatorysyndromewhichaffectstheskin,intestine,andhascardiacdysfunction.ManyofthesepatientsrequireICUcaretosupportbloodpressure.Thisisasyndromethatisstillevolvingandmimicsanothersimilardisease,Kawasakidisease.

Therehasbeennosurge incities (inEurope)whereschoolshaveopened.Does itmeanthatschoolscanbereopenedinaplannedway?Itdoesseemthatchildrenmightnotbebig

transmitters.However,untilnowmostschoolsareclosed.Sothereisnorealharddatatosug-gest if there is anoutbreak, have thechildrencarriedthevirustothehome?Thefear is thatif a fewchildrenget infected, theymightde-veloptheinflammatorysyn-drome,whichusuallyoccurstwo-threeweeks after theinfection. But they canalsogive it to the elderly in thehousewith comorbiditiescausingseriousillness.

UKtrialsshowhydroxychloroquinehasnoclinicalbenefits,WHOhasdiscontinuedtheHCQarmoftheSolidaritytrial.However,India’sprotocolcontinuestorecommenditformildandmoderatecases...Theevidencewehaveis

predominantlyforprophylaxis.Whenwetalkin terms of treatment, the data is not thatstrong. The current recommendation is formild cases. But we also know that inmildcases, there is spontaneous recovery;whether they are recovering because of hy-droxychloroquineorontheirownisnotclear.It is recommended because it is a safe drug,easilyavailable,andevidenceisasstrongandpoorasotherdrugsthathavebeenpromoted.

WhatisthepreliminaryevidenceemerginginIndianpatientswithrespecttoremdesivir,convalescentplasma

therapy,andtocilizumab?Bothremdesivirandtocilizumabhaveonly

emergency-use authorisation. If you look atdataforremdesivir,initialstudiesdidnotshowmuch benefit. Subsequent studies said itshowedsomebenefits indecreasinghospitalstaybyfourdays.Thereweresuggestionsthatinmoreseverepatientsitmayhaveamildben-efitbut itwassignificanttosaythattherewasmortality benefit. But I don't thinkwehavestrongevidenceonewayortheother.Currently,it isonlyapromisingrepurposingdrugratherthanareallyeffectivedrugforCovid-19.There are twoor three thingsweneed to

keepinmindaboutplasmatherapy.EveryonedoesnothaveagoodamountofantibodiesasshownbyvariousstudiesfromNewYorkandEurope. These studies have shown that in acommunityonly10-15percenthaveantibod-ies andevenpeoplewho recoverdon't showthat robust antibody production.What itmeans is that everybody is not fit for plasmadonationandyouhave to check theblood toseewhetherithassufficientantibodiessothatit canbegiven. Second is that thedata is notstrong. There is a large studyof 100patients(with)randomisedcontroltrials,whichlookedatplasmatherapyanddidnotshowanystrongmortalitybenefit.ItwasalsousedforEbolaandtheevidenceisnotthatstrong.

Inpatientswhoarerecovering,areweseeingpeopledevelopingimmunityforthevirus?Areweseeingpatientsbeingre-infected?Wearenotseeingpatients,whichwecan

classically(categorise)underre-infectionasofnow.However,thereisawholedebateonim-munityandhowlongdoesit last.Classically,we relied onantibody forma-

tionof immunoglobulinE in theblood to saythatwehaveprotection.Whatwereallyneedtolookatis,andwhichisdifficulttodoinalargepopulation, isneutralisingantibodies.It ispossiblethattheremightbeneutralis-

ingantibodiesinsufficientamountbutarenotbeing picked. Second,we are also learning

about the body’s immuneresponse;wehave realisedthat cell-mediated immu-nityisalsoactivatedandgiv-ing protection through T-cellsintheblood.Wemaybeprotected to some extent,more than what we arethinking rightnow.Thebigquestion is how long doesthis protection last. That isdifficulttopredict.

WhatisthebiggestCovidmysterytoday?First, whenwe look at

transmission, thechallengeishowmuchofitisairborne

compared to droplet infection and sowhatmeasuredoweneedtotake.Thesecondissueiswhatweshouldwedo

withregardtotheinflammationandsystemiceffectonorgans.Weknowthatsteroidsmakeabigdifference.Arethereanyotherdrugs,im-munomodulators,oranti-inflammatorydrugs,whichalongwithsteroids,mayactuallyhelpdecreasethesystemiceffectsofvirus?Notonlysave livesbut reduce themulti-organeffect?Finally,weneedtoreallyseehowfastwecangetaneffectiveandsafevaccine.

(Editedexcerpts)

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

849,553India

257,303Iran

295,268Mexico

291,154United Kingdom

312,029Chile

264,184South Africa

3,269,531US

1,839,850Brazil

322,710Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 12,772,755 DEATHCOUNT:566,036Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJuly10. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealth

Ministry’stally(below)maynotmatchiftheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD726,036Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 8,49,553 (22,674 DEATHS)

2,46,600Maharashtra

1,34,226Tamil Nadu

23,748Rajasthan

35,092 UP

1,10.921 Delhi

40,941Gujarat

28,453West Bengal

27,235Andhra Pradesh

33,402Telangana

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

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

36,216Karnataka

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,July10.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.5,34,621PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN35STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 163ArunachalPradesh 341Assam 15536Bihar 15373Chandigarh 555Chhattisgarh 3897DadraandNagarHaveli 471Goa 2368Haryana 20582HimachalPradesh 1182JammuandKashmir 10156Jharkhand 3613Kerala 7438Ladakh 1077MadhyaPradesh 17201Manipur 1593Meghalaya 207Mizoram 227Nagaland 748Odisha 12526Puducherry 1337Punjab 7587Sikkim 151Tripura 1949Uttarakhand 3417

5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

What Pilot vs Gehlot means for both — and partySIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

Monthsafter itsMPgovernmentfell,Congress facesanothercrisis inRajasthan.What issimilar,andwhat isnot,betweentherebellions ofPilotandScindia?

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

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,JULY13,2020

SachinPilotwithChiefMinisterAshokGehlot in Jodhpur, Filephoto/PTI

ANEXPERTEXPLAINS

15June 10July

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

DailyIncrease

DAILYNEWCASESUNTIL JULY 12

AstheCovid-19pandemicenters itssixthmonthinIndia,DRRANDEEPGULERIA,DirectorofAIIMS, tellsKAUNAINSHERIFFMaboutkeylearningsfrommanagingit,andnewaspectsthathaveemerged

New insights on Covid

It is still a pulmonarydisease.But it hassignificant vascularproblems. It canbetermedas a vasculardisease, to someextent. It can alsobetermedas a systemicdiseasebecause itinvolves the entirebody”

The recommendation(hydroxychloroquine)is formild cases...Hydroxychloroquine isrecommendedbecause it is a safedrug, easily availableandevidence is asstrongandpoor asother drugs that havebeenpromoted”

Lucknow

6WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MALABAR MOMENTInvitingAustralia intoMalabarexercisecanbepartof largerstrategytoaddressstrategicconsequencesofChina’s rise

DELHI’SREPORTEDOPENNESStoAustralia’sparticipation in India’san-nualnavalexerciseswiththeUSandJapanhopefullymarkstheendofitsincrediblyslowadaptationtoarapidlychangingmaritimeenviron-mentintheIndo-Pacificlittoral. IninvitingAustralia,Delhiisalsohope-fullyputtingaway itsneedlessdefensivenessonchoosing itspartners

for security cooperation.Wayback in2007, the IndianNavy invited themaritime forcesof Japan,AustraliaandSingaporetojoinitsannualbilateralMalabarnavalexerciseswiththeUnitedStates.Onthefaceof it,havingafive-nationnavalexerciseintheBayofBengalseemedsensible,tooptimisethecostsofconductingsomanyseparatebilateralexerciseswith India’spartners. It turnedout tobeanythingbut.InDelhiallhellbroke looseasChinaobjected to theexercisesand itsmediabeganto

describethemasthefirststeptowardsthecreationofan“AsianNATO”.Thedefencemin-isterof theUPAgovernment,AKAntony,gothotunderthecollaratthepoliticalstormtheBay of Bengal exercises had triggered. The Left parties, whichwere amajor part of theCongress-ledUPAcoalition,whoweregenerallyopposedtoengagementwiththeWest,announcedstreetprotests.AnangryAntonypulledtheplugonanymultilateralnavalex-ercises, but alsoapplied political andbureaucraticbrakeson theambitiousdefenceco-operationagenda that PrimeMinisterManmohanSinghandhispredecessor in thede-fenceministry,PranabMukherjee,hadagreedtoin2005.ItwasonlytheadventoftheNDAgovernmentin2014thatsawrenewedmomentumtoIndia-USdefencecooperationandmore broadly India’s naval andmilitary diplomacy. It green lighted the participation ofJapan in theMalabarexercises in2015andwillnowwelcomeAustralia.India, however, has lostmuch valuable time in the 13 years since the Bay of Bengal

exercises.TodayChinaisfarmorepowerfulanditsnavynowmaintainsapermanentfea-ture of the IndianOcean. It has acquired its firstmilitary base inDjibouti in theHorn ofAfrica.KarachiandGwadararealreadyde-factonaval facilities forthePLANavy.Thereismountingspeculation that Iran is about to letChinadevelopport facilities at themouthof thestrategicHormuzStrait intheGulf.Meanwhile,China’spoliticalandmilitaryinflu-ence is growing in the island states of the Indian Ocean and the PLA has emerged as amajor strategic actor in the east coast of Africa. Delhi hadbet that deference to Chinesesensitivitieswould limitBeijing’spotential threats to India. Theoppositehashappened.AsChina turnsmoreassertive in theGreatHimalayasaswell as the IndianOcean,Delhiis nowscrambling to findanswers. Thedecision to inviteAustralia into theMalabar ex-ercise canonlybe a small part of amuch larger strategy thatDelhi needs to address thelong termstrategic consequencesof China’s riseand its impacton India’s security.

THE GOOD NEWSWith Indiaheadedforabumperkharif harvest, agriculture

continues toholdouthopeamidcrisis

FARMERSHAVECOMPLETEDsowingofkharifcropsinnearly55percentoftheseason’snormalareabythefirstweekof July.Lastyearat this time, theyhadachievedhardly38percentcoverage,whileundertakingthebulkofplantingsaftermid-JulyandallthroughAugust.Theprimaryreasonhasbeenthesouth-westmonsoon’stimelyonsetandthecountryreceiving14percentabove-nor-

mal rains so far.Withwater levels inmajor reservoirsat146percentof the last10-years’averageforthistimeandgroundwatertablesrechargedfromthegoodpre-monsoonshow-ersaswell,farmershavesoughttocapitaliseontheexcellentsoilmoistureconditions.Notsurprisingly,everycrop—frompaddyandpulsestomaize,bajra,jowar,smallmillets,soy-abean,sesamum,groundnutandcotton—haspostedasignificantacreagejumpoverlastkharif. Fertilisersalesregisteringhighdouble-digitgrowtheverymonthfromNovemberis furtherproofof farmers’ inclinationtoplantandalso invest in theircrop.Simplyput, Indiaisheadedforabumperkharifharvestontopof therecentrabiorwin-

ter-springcrop.Thisis,ofcourse,subjecttothemonsoonnotplayingtruantinthesecondhalf(August-September)andalsonolocustattacks.Lastyear,therewasverylittlerainfalltillthelastweekof July,afterwhichitpouredsomuchthat2019endedupasthewettestyear inaquarterofacentury.Theoppositehappening—goodrainsnowgivingwaytoextendeddryspells—cannotberuledoutthisyear.Oneneedstoequallywatchoutforlocustswarms:TheFoodandAgriculturalOrganisationhaswarnedaboutbreedingalreadyoccurringalongtheIndo-Pakistanborder. These could lead to “substantial hatching andband formation” thismonthandcausethefirst-generationofinbredswarmstoformbymid-August.Thatiswhenthekharif crop,too,wouldbeinthevegetativegrowthstage.Governmentagenciesneedtobeonhighalertduring thenext4-5weeksandtakepreemptivecontrolmeasures, includ-ingaerialsprayingoperationsinthemainscheduleddesertbreedingareas.As thingsstand,agriculture isonesector thatseemstoholdouthope,evenasmanu-

facturing,retailandotherservicescontinuetograpplewithuncertaintyfromrisingCOVIDcasesandlocalisedlockdowns.TheNarendraModigovernmentdidwelltoensuresmoothharvesting of the rabi crop and alsominimumsupport price-basedprocurement in re-spectofwheat,paddy,chana, rapeseed-mustardand tur.Nomajorreportshavecomeofshortageof fertiliser,seedandotherinputsforthecurrentkharif seasoneither.Therecentreformsinvolvingremovalofstockholdinglimitsonfoodstuffsandallowingfarmproducetobe tradedoutside regulatedmandismaynothaveanysubstantial immediate impact.Buttheysendouttherightsignalsaboutasectorwhosegrowth,employmentandvaluecreationpotential, bothon-andoff-farm,hasn’t reallybeenrealised.

America’s campus fight

Bhaskar Chakravorti

USpresident’santi-studentsalvohas todowithwhatheconsidersenemywithin—liberalism

YOUMAYBEamongthe2,00,000plusIndianstudents studyingorplanning to study inanAmericanuniversity.Youmaybeaparentorwell-wisher standing behind a student. Youmaybewonderingwhy is America hasslinginternationalstudents.Now,let’snotkidour-selves.GoingtotheUStostudyhasneverbeeneasy.Back inmyday,RonaldReaganwas theUSpresident. I visited theUS embassy threetimes,wasmadetowaitoutsidethebuildingforhoursinheatandduststorms,onlypartlymitigatedby the greenery of theDiplomaticEnclave anddreamsof an adventure ahead.Thevisainterviewwaslikeapoliceinterroga-tion and it got evenworsewhen I landed atthe JohnFKennedyairport inNewYork.Myexperienceis far fromunique.IsuspectthingsimprovedsincetheReagan

yearsbeforetheygotworse.Trumpseemstohaveproblemswith“aliens”ofmanystripes.Thelatestanti-studentsalvobeganwithaJuneWhite House proclamation to stop “alienswhopresenta risk to theUS labourmarket”.Now we have guidance from the USImmigrationandCustomsEnforcement(ICE)thatwill prevent all international studentsfromgettingorkeepingastudentvisaif theirclassesaretobetaughtexclusivelyonline.Being togetheronacampus isoneof the

hallmarksofAmericanhighereducation,buttogethernessiscurrentlyapublichealthrisk.Someuniversitiesplantocautiouslyre-opentheir campuses with face-to-face classes.Others have gone all online. And yet othershaveahybridmodelplanned.Onebenefitofonline instruction is that it gives every stu-dent the same experience, as long as theyhave reliable internet service and are in acompatible timezone.The ICE announcement risks making

noncitizensoftheUSsecond-classcitizensindigitalclassrooms. Iteliminatestheoptionoftraveling togainbetter digital access or timezonesynchronisation.Thosewhoareforcedtoreturn,mustuproot themselves, facerestric-tionsintravel,returntopotentiallyunsafecon-ditionsorcarryunsafeconditionswiththem—theUShasthehighestvolumeofCOVID-19casesintheworld.

Whywould Trump’s band of geniusesbotherwith such trivialities, given somuchelse going on that could easily help occupytheirtime?TheUSholdstheworldrecordinCOVID cases and deaths. Twenty millionworkershavelosttheirjobsandonly4.8mil-lion of those lost jobswere recovered in re-openings in June.Nearlyninemillionadultsandfourmillionchildrenarelivingwithpost-pandemic food shortages. George Floyd’smurder inMinneapolis brought 26millionpeople into thestreets.And then, there is that election in

November.So, why pick this fight? It is not as if the

coal miners of West Virginia, who votedTrump in arebeingdisplacedby thesehap-less students. Someoneshouldslipamemoto theTrumpre-election teamthat interna-tional students produced 4,58,290 jobs in2018-19, almost nine times the number ofcoalmining jobs inAmerica.Manyoftheseinternationalstudentshave

survivedtherigoursof themostcompetitiveinstitutions on Earth.Manypay three timesthe tuition paid by domestic students. Formany, the airline tickets alonehave emptiedthefamily’sfinancialreserves. It’snowonderthat thosewhomake it past the hurdles dowell for America. The next student to bebootedoutcouldbethenextNoubarAfeyan,fromLebanon.AfteranMITPhD,heeventuallyco-foundedModerna, a front-runner in theraceforaCOVID-19vaccine.ThenextstudentdeniedentrycouldbethenextGitaGopinath,from India, a Princeton PhD. As chief econo-mistoftheIMF,sheisassessingtheeconomicdamageworldwidefromthegreatlockdown—andpossibleactionsforrecovery.Thatstu-dent we lock out could be the nextChimamandaNgozi Adichie, fromNigeria.After studying at Eastern Connecticut StateUniversity,JohnsHopkinsandYale,shewroteanovelwithoneofthefinestinsightsintobe-ingBlackinAmerica.Withoutanyoftheseorcountless of my own students, our under-standing of where America is andwhere itoughttogowouldbemuchpoorer.To disentangle the twisted Trumpian

logic, consider these.First, the administration’s actions arede-

signedtoinfluencetheuniversities’decision-makingprocess regarding campus re-open-ings.ThisispartofTrump’spushtogetbacktobusiness-as-usual,anarrativeessentialforre-election.He’sbeenurgingschoolstore-open.The international studentvisamove isawayto strong-arm university administrations.Losing these studentswouldmean loss ofmuch-neededrevenuesforuniversities.Second, don’t forget the long-running

China-as-enemyrhetoric.Chinaisthebiggestsourceof international students.A third rea-sonhastodowiththeenemywithin—liber-alism. The three states that overwhelminglybenefitfrominternationalstudents,California,NewYork andMassachusettswill, withoutquestion,voteforJoeBiden.Collegecampusesarealsoconsideredtobemoreleft-leaning.Finally,Trumpknowshisbasegetsweaker

the closer you get to college. Sixty-four percent of non-college-educatedWhites sup-portedDonaldTrump, as comparedwith38per cent ofWhiteswith a university degree.Punishing colleges and “elitism” is a power-fulpartofthere-electionnarrative.Ofcourse,thereactionfromUSacademiahasbeenswift.Universities, across the board, includingmyown,haveprotested—somehaveevensued.What can you— student, parent, well-

wisher — do? Google the addresses for ICEleadership. Bang out a letter onMicrosoftWord andmake a PDF to ensure it will notbetamperedwith.Tellthemhowstupidthisidea isandthat itwillonlysetAmericaevenfurther back. Get on a Zoom call with yourfriends in America and suggest they do thesamething.Alsotell ICEthat thecompaniesletting you get all this done are all run by—you guessed it — former international stu-dents. They are also America’s gifts to itselfandto theworld.

Thewriter isDeanofGlobalBusinessatTheFletcherSchoolatTuftsUniversity, foundingexecutivedirectorofFletcher’s Institute forBusiness intheGlobalContextandanon-residentsenior fellowofBrookingsIndia

What can you — student,parent, well-wisher — do?Google the addresses for ICEleadership. Bang out a letteron Microsoft Word andmake a PDF to ensure it willnot be tampered with. Tellthem how stupid this idea isand that it will only setAmerica even further back.Get on a Zoom call withyour friends in America andsuggest they do the samething. Also tell ICE that thecompanies letting you get allthis done are all run by —you guessed it — formerinternational students. Theyare also America’s gifts toitself and to the world.

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,MONDAY, JULY13,2020WORDLYWISE

If agriculturegoeswrong, nothingelsewillhaveachancetogoright in thecountry.

— M S SWAMINATHANTHEEDITORIALPAGE

Freeze Frame E P Unny

Rohini Nilekani, GauravGupta andRoopaKudva

A UNIVERSAL BENEFITS REGIMEDigitisationmakes itpossible. It canbediscontinuedwhenpandemicends

IN AWELCOMEmove, the PradhanMantriGaribKalyanYojana,which targets 800mil-lionpeopleforfreerationsthroughthePublicDistribution System, has been extendedun-til November. As the COVID-19 pandemicrageson,amassiveeffortisbeingundertakentominimisetheeconomicimpactonourmostvulnerable population. Schemes such as JanDhan,PMKisanandPMUjjwalaaimtotrans-ferRs532billonto420millionpeople.Theseeffortshaveprovedtobereasonablysuccess-ful.Withthissuccess,andwithsomanypeo-plenowindangerofslippingintopoverty,itisimperativetocreatearegime,evenwithasun-setclause,ofuniversalbenefits.We have commissioned amulti-round

survey of 47,000 households,mostly belowpovertyline,across15states.Thesurveysex-plorewhetherreliefschemeshavebeenwork-ingasintended,whoismissingoutandwhatmoreisneeded.Ourdatarevealedtheimme-diate,andlikelylong-lasting,natureoftheeco-nomicshock.Primaryincomeearnersintwo-thirds of the households have lost their jobsorwages. The average family has lostmorethan60percentofitspre-crisisincomeandisnowmaking just Rs 4,000/month. Twentyfourpercentoflow-incomehouseholdshaverunoutofmoneyandsupplies.Fortypercentfamilies are in debt. In some states, asmanyasoneinfiveprimary incomeearnersdonotexpecttofindworkinthenearfuture.Inthisdiresituation,governmentreliefhas

been an important lifeline. Ninety four percentofeligiblefamilieshadreceivedextraPDSrations by endMay and 80 per cent had re-ceived cash entitlements averaging close to

Rs2,000.Ourdataalsosuggeststhataboutfivemillionhouseholds could have both runoutof savingsandnot receivedanycashtransferfromthegovernment.Weestimatethatover55millionworkers,

whowere earning above poverty line in-comes,havelost jobs, temporarilyorperma-nently,duringthiscrisis.Manysuchworkerswouldnotshowupaseligibleunderstandardlists. The scale of current urban-ruralmigra-tionmakesthischallengeworse.Ifweshifttouniversal benefitswe canminimise a situa-tionwheremillionsmissoutoncriticalrelief.Whoever turns up to a ration shop needingfree/subsidised rations should be able to getit. People shouldbeable to signup foracashrelief transferwithminimalpaperwork. Thegoodnewsisthatnowit'smorepossiblethaneverbefore.Digitisation has created efficiencies that

can be leveraged to expand thewelfare net.Thevastamountofleakageinthewelfaresys-temwasnotdue to fraudbycitizens,butbe-causeoffraudandinefficiencybythosedeliv-ering the benefits. Successive governmentsshouldbeapplauded for thesteepreductioninsuchproblems.ImplementingtheJAMtrin-ityhashelpedlowertransactioncosts,reduceleakages and reach beneficiaries quickly.Aadhaarcanprevent identity frauds.Ourso-phisticatedpayments infrastructureenablesdirect benefit transfers. The speed atwhichMGNREGApaymentsaremadetobeneficiar-ies has improvedmore than threefold since2015. Pilots for the OneNation-One RationCard project have shown that inter-stateportability ispossible.

Severalstateshaveexperimentedwithamore universal approachwith positive re-sults. Tamil Nadu’s PDS system has strongcoverageandequitablepricing,delivering20kgof rice atRs1/kgeverymonth toall fam-ilieswhoneedit.Morerecently,ChhattisgarhuniversalisedPDStoprovidefortheirreturn-ing migrants with encouraging results.MGNREGAhasalwaysbeenopentoallruralhouseholds.Wecouldfactorinvoluntaryopt-outs.The

“GiveupLPGSubsidy”campaignoffersmanylessons.Byhighlightingtherealintendedtar-getsofthereliefeffortandtheadverseimpactonmillionsofpeople,otherscouldbeinspiredto give up their ownbenefits. This could re-ducesomeof theburdenontheexchequer.We are in amarathonwhen it comes to

thispandemic.Peoplewillneedsupport forlonger thananticipated.Duringa crisis, theemphasis needs to be on including thosewho really deserve the help rather thanmakingsurethewrongpeoplearekeptout.It’s precisely because the current systemsarelargelyworkingthatwecancontemplateauniversalbenefitsapproach.Thisapproachcan be discontinued once the pandemicends and the economic shocks abate. ThePM’srecentannouncementisastrongstart-ingpoint. Let’s extend that furtherbymak-ing it universal— freebasic rations towho-ever claims toneed it.

Nilekani isaphilanthropistandchairperson,Arghyam.GuptaispartnerandAsiadirector,DalbergAdvisors.Kudvaismangingdirector,

OmidyarNetworkIndia

We estimate that over 55million workers, who wereearning above poverty lineincomes, have lost jobstemporarily or permanentlyduring this crisis. Many suchworkers would not show upas eligible under standardlists. The scale of currenturban-rural migration makesthis challenge worse. If weshift to universal benefits wecan minimise a situationwhere millions miss out oncritical relief. Whoever turnsup to a ration shop needingfree/subsidised rationsshould be able to get it.

RALLY IN PAKISTANFIVE OUTLAWED POLITICAL parties inPakistanhavevowedto launchanationwidemovement to outlaw the government ofGeneralZiaulHaqifdemocracyisnotrestoredinthecountrywithinsixweeks.ThePakistanNationAlliance(PNA)presenteditsdemandsatanationalconventionattendedby800del-egates in Lahore. Themeeting chairedbyPirAliShahoftheMuslimLeaguewasheldinvi-olationofthemartiallaw.GeneralZiahadout-lawedpoliticalpartiesinOctoberlastyearandbannedpoliticalgatherings.ThePNAresolu-tion said thatGeneral Zia’s orderhad turnedPakistan“intoagraveyardandthecountryhasbeentotallyparalysed”.

ASSAM CONGRESS’S VIEWTHE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of the AssamCongress Party has sought PrimeMinisterIndira Gandhi’s permission to stake claimstoformagovernment inthestate.Thecom-mitteesaidmanyproblemshavecomeupintheway of finding an amicable solution tothe foreigners problem in the statebecauseit did not have a popular government. Theresolution said that the foreigners problemwasanationalproblemandshouldbesolvedat thenational level.

SANJAY PLANE CRASHUSHA SAXENA,WIFE of Captain SubhashSaxenawhowaswith SanjayGandhiwhen

the aircraft carrying the two crashed, hasdeniedthatherhusbandwasmedicallyun-fit. She also quoted Air Chief Marshal ArjanSingh as saying that there had been an ex-plosion in the aircraft and that it had try toperformacrobatics before crashing. TheAirChiefMarshall,however,deniedmakinganysuchstatement.

NO TO CONGRESSTHE JANATA PARTY President ChandraShekhardeniedreportsthathehadevertriedtojointheCongress(I).Hesaidthe“possibil-ity of my joining the Congress is like thepossibility of Mrs Gandhi trying to join theJanataParty”.

JULY 13, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

Lucknow

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JULY13,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“Without a high number of daily tests, it will be impossible to assess howquickly cases are rising and what level of risk Covid-19 carriers pose to membersof the public.” —DAWNTHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

World over there is no longertolerance for rationalisingpolice excesses in the nameof community or nationalsecurity. It is unfortunatethat in India, the criminallaw reform agenda hasclubbed the security of anindividual with the securityof the nation. This runscontrary to the experiencedreality of most marginalisedpeople across the world, whoare mostly at the receivingend of police atrocities andharassment. Their safety liesin strong procedural lawsthat ensure the presumptionof innocence and deter arrestand long incarceration onflimsy grounds.

Adangerousillegality

Weneedarootandbranchrepairofpoliceandguardianagenciestaskedwithkeepingthemlawful

AQUICKGLANCE at the daily news fromaround the country throws up story afterstory of police misbehaviour, great andsmall. Videos uploadedday after day con-firmthisisnorarity—ahorrificdoublemur-derinTamilNadu,grosslydepravedbehav-iourtowardswomenwhocametocomplaininUP, four alleged escapees gunneddownbyapoliceposse inTelangana,a father tor-turedtodeathbeforehis10-year-oldsoninHapur,UP.It is no stretch to say these depravities

areprobablythetipoftheiceberg.Statisticsreaffirmtheepidemicofbadbehaviour.TheNationalCrimeRecordsBureaurecords853custodialdeathsbetween2010to2018—70ofthemin2018alone.At1,636,theNationalHumanRightsCommissionputs thedeathfiguremuchhigher. For this, just three po-licemenhavebeenconvicted.It is commonpractice inpolice stations

to ignore the statute, laid downprocessesandSupremeCourtguidelines.Sofrequentisthebrazendisobediencetothelawthatalotof illegalityseemstohavemorphedintoacceptedpractice.Amostdangerousillegal-ityhidesinsidethe“encounter”storiesthatregularlysurface.Whetheritiswhendealingwith so-called insurgents, sandalwoodsmugglers, alleged rapists on theway tocourt,ormost recently, theUP“encounter”of gangster VikasDubey and several of hisaccomplices,thestorieshaveafamiliarring.Thewickedwere in custody. They tried toescape. A pistolwas snatched. Shotswerefired.Therunawaywaskilledinself-defence.A fewpolicemenwere injured. Fact or fic-tion,endof thestory.Socommonisthisstratagemfordealing

withinconvenientpeoplethateverymediaplatformtalkedaboutthestrongpossibilityof Dubey being “encountered”. Editorialswarnedagainstit.Tonoavail.OnceinUP,hewaskilled. TheSupremeCourt is clear thatineachsuchcase,anFIRmustberegisteredand thematter probed independently. Iffalse,an“encounter” ispremeditatedmur-der.Thatisall.Noonewillshedatearforthelikesof VikasDubey, butweshould for theruleof law.Not registering complaints is another

commonfailing.Ifregistered,itsmagnitudeisoftendiluted. It is sodifficult forwomen,inparticular,togetcrimesregisteredthatin2013,thelawitselfhadtobechanged.Nowapolicemanwhorefusestoregisteracom-plaint of a sexual assault faces a two-yearsentence.Butsincehardlyanyonehasbeenpunished,theremedialsectionliesstillborn.Some inkling of crime registration can

bediscernedfromIndia’s crimerate.In2018,itstoodat383.5per1,00,000population.Bycontrast, the crime rate in theUSwas over2,500 per 1,00,000 . This seems tomakeIndiaasaferandbetterpolicedcountry.Butactually,suchartificialsweetnessaboutlowcrimefigureshurtsthepoliceasmuchasthe

public.Theymakeafineexcuseforgovern-ments to leave vacancies unfilled, go shortonequipmentandupgrades.At158,India’spolicetopopulationratio

(police staff per1,00,000 citizens) is oneoftheworstintheworld.Itlagswellbehinditsneighbours.Manpower deficits turn intoperpetual inefficiencies, contribute to lowconvictionratesandlongincarcerationsforthehaplesspoorwhoovercrowdourjails.Anothercommonillegalityispickingup

peoplewithoutcause.Oftenitisbecausethelocalpublicwantsaquickarrestandthepo-liceapatsy.Peoplewithprior records formapoolofeasypickings,asdothepowerless— in the Ryan schoolboymurder case, thebusconductorhadtostandfortherealcul-prituntil theCBIsteppedin.The speed of arrest and strength of in-

vestigationsarenotoriouslyselective.IntheTuticorin custodialmurder, the father andsonwere arrested on the instant for a 15-minute lockdowninfraction.But it tooksixdays,theMadrasHighCourt’sdoggedinter-vention and a national hue and cry beforesix policemen could be arrested. VikasDubeywith60cases,includingthedaylightmurderofaministeragainsthim,couldnotbe touched for decades. InDelhi, the swiftcriminalisationofstudentprotestorsismov-ingapacewhilethereislittlewordabouttheallegedpolicevandalisminsideJNUhostels.Action against senior politicians alleged tohavemadeincendiaryspeechesisawaited.Fromtalukatonationallevel,checksand

balances to staunch police transgressionsabound. Internally, there are disciplinarymechanisms.Outside, thereare thecourts.Everystatehashumanrightscommissions,special interest bodies like the scheduledcastes and scheduled tribes, women, andminoritiescommissions,andsomehavethepolicecomplaintsauthorities.TheSupremeCourt’s clear directions coupledwith thecriminal code provide ample safeguardsagainstexcess.Butall this isonpaper.In real life, internal mechanisms are

overindulgentof illegalbehaviour, obscureanddilatory.Putting itkindly, toooften thefirstresponderlowercourtsareconstrainedbycapacityandcircumstancetobelessthanvigilant in theprotectionof life and liberty.The 70 per cent undertrials awaiting theirdayincourtattesttothis.Very few of the over one hundred

guardianbodiesdottedaroundthecountryworkeffectively.Manyaresimplysinecuresfortheaged.Othersaredeliberatelyleftun-derstaffedandunder-resourced.TheAndhraPradeshSHRChasnochairpersonnormem-bers.Gujarat,Bihar,Chhattisgarh,KeralaandTamil Nadu SHRCs functionwith actingchairs andHimachal Pradesh, Jharkhand,Manipur,Maharashtra andRajasthanhavenomembers.Thefewinstitutionsthathavethepowerandresourcesrestraintheirownfunctioning through terminal timidity. Allare routinely ignored or duped throughwordy vague responses or gamedvia pro-ceduralsmokescreensdesignedfordelay.Evenwithoutgoingintotheincidentsof

corruption,extortion,intimidation,justthenumber and regularity of heinous crimescallsoutforrootandbranchrepairofthepo-liceandthemanyguardianagenciestaskedwithkeepingthemlawful.

Thewriter issenioradvisor,TataTrustsandCommonwealthHumanRights Initiative

AFIVE-MEMBERCOMMITTEEforReformsinCriminal Lawhas been set up by theUnionMinistryofHomeAffairsattheNationalLawUniversity(Delhi).Thevice-chancellorofNLU(Delhi) is thechairpersonandthemembersincludeGSBajpai,registrar,NLU,Delhi,BalrajChauhan, vice-chancellor of DNLU Jabalpur,MaheshJethmalani,senioradvocateandGPThareja, former district and sessions judge,Delhi. Themandate of the committee is torecommend reforms in the criminal laws ofthecountryinaprincipled,effectiveandeffi-cientmanner,which ensures the safety andsecurityoftheindividual,thecommunityandthe nation andwhich prioritises the consti-tutionalvaluesofjustice,dignityandinherentworth of the individual. In its wisdom, thecommittee has decided to commence “on-line”consultationsatthepeakof theCOVID-19 epidemic to ensure that it has its reportready in the six-month time-frame fixedbythehomeministry.Lawreformisordinarilywithintheman-

dateoftheUnionMinistryofLawandhistor-ically,variouslawcommissionshavebeensetup to recommend law reforms. Apart fromgovernment servants, the commission con-sists of area experts, lawyers and is given aspecificmandate, such as removal of obso-letelawsoridentificationoflawthatobstructseconomicprogress.Afterholdingnationwideconsultationsoveraperiodofthreeyears,thecommissiongivesa report that is studiedbythe lawministry and then placed beforeParliament. There isno reasonable explana-tionwhy a university is being chargedwithmaking recommendations on the reformofcriminal law and that too,with an ambigu-ous objective, in a truncated time-frame ofsixmonths.Thepurposeofcriminallawisnotonlyto

deter criminal deviance and protect societyfrom crime, but also to provide proceduralsafeguards to individuals and protect inno-cents fromStatepersecution. Thepresump-tion of innocence, the principle of equalitybefore the law, non-admissibility of state-mentsmadetothepoliceandrestrictionsonadmissibility of incriminating evidence ob-tained from search and seizure are all inte-gral to the purpose of criminal law. The factthat theUnionhomeministry,underwhomthreeinvestigativeagenciesfunction,hasno-tifiedthisreformagendaisinitselfacauseofconcernandraisesquestionsastothepropri-etyof thisexercise.The composition of this committee, its

methodologyandtime-frame,havealsobeenreceived by the legal fraternity across thecountrywithdisapproval, suspicionanddis-comfort. TheBarCouncil ofDelhiwasoneofthe first to raise an objection to the almostcompleteexclusionofpractisinglawyersandthe Bar from the committee. Several retiredjudgesandsenioradvocateshavealsoraisedconcernoverthelackofdiversityinthecom-positionofthecommitteeandtheinadequacyof the time-frame and lack of clarity on theobjectives that the reforms or amendments

seek to achieve. Thewomen’s bar across thecountry has refused to accept the composi-tionof thiscommitteeandhasdemandeditsreconstitution—112womenlawyersfromtheDelhi,Bombay,Calcutta,BangloreandMadrasHighCourtshavewritten to the chairmanofthecommitteeexpressingtheirgraveconcernthat a committeewhichproposes to reformcriminallawfromapost-colonialandnon-pa-triarchal perspective excludeswomen,mi-norities and representatives of themargin-alisedsectionsof society.Causingevenfurtherambiguityontheex-

actfocusofreformandatoddswiththenoti-fiedobjectiveof thehomeministry,which is“ensuring thesafetyandsecurityof the indi-vidualandthenation”,themissionstatementofthechairmanofthecommitteeonitsweb-site states that: “The colonial foundations ofour criminal lawhave long been amatter ofconcern in legal discourse. The fundamentalprinciples of Indian Penal Code, CriminalProcedureCodeandIndianEvidenceActcon-tinuetoreflectstatepaternalismandVictorianmoralityofthecolonialstate.”Onewouldhaveimagined thatwith thismission statementand a post-colonial agenda, the committeewould seek to reform the laws that providequalified immunity forpoliceexcessesor in-viteconsultationonrationalisingthepunish-ment and definition of offences against thestate and against public tranquillity. Instead,thefocusofthiscommitteeseemstobeonin-creasing strict liability offences andmakingsexualoffencesgenderneutral.Themethodology adopted by the com-

mitteebasedonquestionnaires,alsoreflectsa predetermination on what is to beamendedandtheprocessof consultationis

morelikeareferendumontheamendmentspredeterminedbythecommitteemembers,ratherthananopen-endeddiscussiontode-termine the reform priorities ofIndependent India.The inhuman killing of George Floyd in

theUShassparkedoffaglobalintrospectioninto criminal law and an acknowledgmentthatlawenforcersarethemselvesbecominga threat to the lives and liberties of citizens,especially those fromminorities andmar-ginalised communities.World over there isno longer tolerance for rationalising policeexcesses in the name of community or na-tionalsecurity. It isunfortunatethatinIndia,thecriminal lawreformagendahasclubbedthesecurityofanindividualwiththesecurityof thenation.Thisrunscontrarytotheexpe-riencedrealityofmostmarginalisedpeopleacross theworld, who aremostly at the re-ceiving end of police atrocities and harass-ment. Their safety lies in strong procedurallaws that ensure the presumption of inno-cence and deter arrest and long incarcera-tionon flimsygrounds.Thestrongcritiquebythelegalfraternity

of the Criminal LawReformCommittee setupat theNational LawUniversity (Delhi) bytheMHA, on its composition,methodologyandtime-frameisabellofcautionagainstanyattemptbythiscommitteetodilutethepro-ceduralsafeguardsofindividualsinthenameofnationalsecurity. It isalsointheoptimismthat a committeewith a truly post-colonialvisionwill respect the democratic voices ofdissentandchangeitscompositionandclar-ify itsobjective.

Thewriter isaDelhi-basedlawyer

SUSPICIOUS DEATH

THIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'Undueprocess'(IE,July10).Assuspected,itdid-n’t take long for theUP police to stagewhat seems like a fake encounter forVikasDubey.Thedreadedgangster,withdeepconnectionsinpoliceandpoliticalcircles,couldnotspillthebeans.Thisun-holy nexus becomes difficult to breakwhenthosethatpulltheleversofpowergo to any length to remain, apparently,squeakyclean.

VijaiPant,Hempur

THIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'Undueprocess'(IE,July10).Extrajudicialkillingsonlyundermine thedueprocessof law.The case of fugitive Vikas Dubey isshroudedinmystery.Itisanyone'sguesshowhehadmanagedtotravelacrossthestates,orwhyhehadtobeshotdeadsoonafterhisarrest.Wasitreallyanactofself-defenceorapremeditatedencounter?

VarunDas,Zirakpur

IMMORAL POLICINGTHISREFERSTOthereport, ‘HCrapspo-liceonaffidavitinKalitaplea:Allegationsunwarranted,irresponsible’(IE,July10).Incompetence and callousness on thepolice’spartareerodingpublictrust.TheclaimsmadebytheDelhipoliceinsocialactivistDevagangaKalita’s case areun-substantiated.More than facts discov-eredinaprobebythepolice,theysoundliketheopinionsof itspoliticalmasters.Istryingtoconvincepeopleofone’side-

ology,forinstance,acrime?Thepolice’sassertionsofKalita’sguiltwere,at least,irrelevant, if not untrue. That the courtchosetopull thepoliceupisarelief.

MAbdullahGhazali,Patna

LONG-TERM SOLUTIONSTHIS REFERS TO the article, 'Task afterGalwan'(IE,Jul10).ThemainreasonwhyChina has taken a step back from thebrink is the realisation that it is pushingIndiafirmlyintotheUScamp—preciselywhattheauthorrecommends.However,realstrategicsolutionslieelsewhere.PMModi,usinghisstatureandpoliticalcap-ital,mustmoveforwardtosettletheLACfor once andall on thebasis of give andtake.

HNBhagwat,Chiplun

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

INDIAN JUDGESARE independentof theex-ecutiveandunlikeintheUS,donotrepresenta political ideology. Generally, the religion,caste or economic status of litigants has nobearingonjudgments.Thoughourjudgesat-tach no importance to litigants' religion orcaste, yet, a recent study by AnupSurendranathfoundthatthepoor,Dalitsandminoritiesconstitute76percentofthepeopleondeathrow.Thereisonestrangeandnotableside of the judiciary,whichhas not yet beenfully researched. It seems that at least someIndian judges are farmore sympathetic toMuslimwomen’scausescomparedtothoseofHinduwomen. For instance, a recent judg-mentoftheGuwahatiHighCourttreatedtherefusal to put on sindoor (vermillion) andconchshellbangles(shaka)asasufficientba-sistograntadivorcetothehusband.Some judgesappearnot tobelieve in the

independentagencyofwomen.Inarecentor-der granting bail to a rape accused, JusticeKrishnaDixitof theKarnatakaHChadmadesomedisturbingobservationsaboutthereac-tion of Indian women when they are as-saulted.Subsequently,hehadtoexpungehiscontroversialstatement.Afewyearsago, theMadrasHigh Court gave a strange order di-recting “divorcees too shouldmaintain sex-ualpuritytoclaimalimony”.EvenaliberaljudgelikeJusticeMarkandey

KatjuinDVelasamy(2010)hadtermedasec-ondHinduwifeas“mistress”and“keep”and

thusnotentitledtomaintenance.JusticeAnilDave andAdarshGoel inPrakash (2015)hadrefusedtogiveretrospectiveeffecttothe2005Amendment toHinduSuccessionAct underwhichadaughterwasforthefirsttimerecog-nisedascoparcenerandentitledtoancestralproperty. The pro-women judgment of theKarnatakaHCwasreversedbytheapexcourt.Strangely,inthesecondpartofthesamejudg-ment, JusticeGoelexpressedconcernsaboutMuslimwomen and the discriminatory na-ture ofMuslimPersonal Law, thoughhedidaccept thematterwas not in dispute beforethem.Whydidthecourtdidnotconsiderdis-criminatory provisions of the HinduSuccessionAct,whichwereverymuchbeforeit? That is a Hindumother, Hinduwife andHindu daughter-in-law are still not co-parcener. Similarly, if a childlessHindu cou-pledies, thepropertyof thehusbandgoes tohisparents.Butstrangely,eventhewife’sgoestothehusband’sparentsratherthanherown.Shayra Bano (2017) or the triple divorce

case basically originated from the orders ofthe apex court in the above casewhere theCourtgavejudgmentagainstaHinduwomanbut seemedmore concerned aboutMuslimwomen.Interestingly,ShayraBano’shusbandRizwanAhmadwaskeentoretainherashiswifeand itwasshewhohadasked forsepa-ratehouseandRizwanrentedoneforher.Notsatisfied,shewasaskinghimtolivewithherparents. Her father left the children at

AllahabadRailwaystation.Rizwanwasinter-estedinsustainingthemarriageandhadfiledacaseofrestitutionofconjugalrights.Whensheapplied for the transferof this case fromAllahabadtoKashipur,Rizwansentawrittendivorcedeedalongwithadraftofdowerandmaintenance. It was not the case of instanttripledivorce.ThefactsofNarender (2016)weresimilar

to Shayra Bano. In this case, too, a high courthadruled in favourof thewife.TheSCbenchofJusticeAnilDaveandLNageshwarRaoheldthat “Hinduwife is expected to bewith thefamilyofthehusbandafterthemarriage.Shebecomesintegraltoandformspartofthefam-ily…shewouldneverinsistthatherhusbandshouldgetseparatedfromthefamilyandliveonlywith her.” Thiswould amount to “cru-elty”andthehusbandwouldbeentitledtodi-vorce her. The judgment overlooks the factthatmarriage is a union of two individuals,not two families. TheCourt also used IndianandHinduethosinterchangeably.InDanielLatifi(2001)too,ignoringtheleg-

islative history of 1986 law, that isMuslimWomen’s (Right on Divorce) Act that wasbrought in to undo Shahbano (1985), the SCgaveabigrelief toMuslimwomenbysayingthat the infamous law brought in by RajivGandhi innowaydilutesShahbano.InRajeshSharma(2017),abenchofJustice

AdarshGoelandUULalit,afternotingthemis-useofSection498AoftheIPC,whichpunishes

cruelty,observedthatthereshouldbenoau-tomaticarrestsonchargesofcrueltyandeachdistrict should have a Family WelfareCommittee. The orderwas in favour of thehusbandandin-laws. Inthiscase,adowryofRs3,00,000andacarwasdemanded,whichthewife’s familywas unable tomeet. Thepregnantwifewasdroppedinapatheticcon-dition outsideher parents’ house, leading tothe termination of pregnancy. Shewas al-legedly tortured, aswas noted by the lowercourt. Unlike Prakash, the plain language ofthe statute and legislative intentwere not aprobleminthiscase.YettheCourtdidnothes-itatetodilutethestatutoryprovisionandgivea number of directions in favour of the ac-cused.Subsequently,thematterwasreferredtoathree-judgebench.Decades ago, inHarvinder Kaur (1983),

Justice AB Rohtagi of the Delhi HC had ob-servedthatthe“introductionofconstitutionallaw in the home ismost inappropriate. It islike introducing abull in a china shop. Itwillprovetobetheruthlessdestroyerofthemar-riageinstitutionandallthatitstandsfor.Intheprivacyofhomeandthemarriedlife,neitherArticle 21 nor Article 14 have any place.”Fortunately,afewmonthsago,theapexcourthad agreed to revisit the constitutionality oftherestitutionofconjugalrightsprovision.

Thewriter isconstitutional lawexpert.Viewsarepersonal

VerdictsseemmoresympathetictocausesofMuslimwomen,thanofHinduwomen

Justice with a twistFaizanMustafa

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●● DENYINGTALENT:PARTHMANIKTALAANDPRASHANTKHURANA

●●FALSECLAIMS:ANKITAAGGARWALANDANMOL

SOMANCHI

www.indianexpress.com

Nandita Rao MajaDaruwala

CR Sasikumar

Acommitteewhichproposes toreformcriminal lawfrompost-colonialandnon-patriarchalperspectivesexcludeswomen,minoritiesandrepresentativesofmarginalisedsections

Commission and omission

Lucknow

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JULY13,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VATICAN

POPE ‘DEEPLYPAINED’OVERHAGIASOPHIAMOVEPope Francis said on Sunday that he was “deeply pained” over the decision by Turkey tochange the status of Hagia Sophia — which was originally built in Istanbul as a Christiancathedral — from a museum to a mosque.

USA

TrumpappointeemaynotextendvisasforforeignjournalistsatVOAWashington:Asmany as100foreigncitizenswork-ingintheUSasjournalistsfortheVoiceofAmerica,agovernment-fundednews outlet, might nothavetheirvisasextendedonce theyexpire, accord-ingtopeoplefamiliarwiththe planning. MichaelPack, thenewchief exec-utivefortheUSAgencyforGlobal Media, has indi-catedhemaynotapproveextensions for any jour-nalist holding a J-1 visa,whichallowsforeignciti-zensto temporarilyworkintheUSinwaysthatpro-mote cultural exchanges.The decision could be ablowtothenews-gather-ingandglobal-broadcast-ing abilities of the VOA,which operates inde-pendently but is fundedbythegovernment.

MichaelPack

TOPOFTHEWORLD

MALI

OppnleadersarrestedaftermassprotestBamako:Mali’soppositioncoalition said securityforcesdetained two lead-ers of anti-governmentprotests and raided itsheadquartersonSaturdayfollowingviolentdemon-strationsagainstthepres-ident in the capital.Simmering tensions sawsmallgroupsofprotesterserect barricades out oftyres and bits of wood toblock traffic through sev-eraldistrictsinBamako,al-though numbers werewellbelowthethousandswho took to the streetsandoccupied statebuild-ingsonFriday.

CHINA

Floodalertraisedtosecondhighest levelBeijing: China on Sundayraised its flood responsealerttothesecondhighestgradeasdownpours con-tinued to batter regionsalong the Yangtze River,withtheeasternprovincesof Jiangsu and Jiangxiamongtheworsthit,statemedia reported. Regionalflooding in the Poyangcounty of Jiangxi hasmade water levels ofChina’s Lake Poyang, itsbiggest freshwater lake,surge to above22.52me-ters, a historical high. BySaturdayevening,provin-cial military authoritieshaddispatchedthousandsof soldiers to help bolsterthelake’sbankstopreventthemfrombursting.

FARNAZFASSIHI&STEVENLEEMYERSJULY12

IRAN AND China have quietlydraftedasweepingeconomicandsecurity partnership thatwouldclear theway for billions of dol-larsofChineseinvestmentsinen-ergyandothersectors,undercut-ting the Trumpadministration’sefforts to isolate the Iraniangov-ernment because of its nuclearandmilitaryambitions.The partnership, detailed in

an18-pageproposedagreementobtainedbyTheNewYorkTimes,would vastly expand Chinesepresence in banking, telecom-munications,ports,railwaysanddozens of other projects. In ex-change, China would receive aregular — and, according to anIranianofficial andanoil trader,heavily discounted— supply ofIranianoiloverthenext25years.Thedocumentalsodescribes

deepeningmilitarycooperation,

potentially giving China afoothold in a region that hasbeen a strategic preoccupationof theUnitedStates fordecades.Itcallsforjointtrainingandexer-cises, joint research andweapons development and in-telligence sharing— all to fight“thelopsidedbattlewithterror-ism,drugandhumantraffickingandcross-bordercrimes”.

The partnership— first pro-posedbyChina’sleader,XiJinping,duringavisittoIranin2016—wasapproved by President HassanRouhani’s cabinet in June, Iran’sforeign minister, MohammadJavadZarif,saidlastweek.Iranianofficialshavepublicly

stated that there is a pendingagreementwithChina, andoneIranianofficial,aswellasseveral

people who have discussed itwith the Iranian government,confirmed that it is the docu-ment obtained by The Times,which is labelled “final version”anddated June,2020.Ithasnotyetbeensubmitted

to Iran’s Parliament for approval,stoking suspicions in Iran abouthow much the government ispreparingtogiveawaytoChina.InBeijing,officialshavenotdis-

closedthetermsoftheagreement,anditisnotclearwhetherXi’sgov-ernmenthassignedoffor,ifithas,whenitmightannounceit.Ifputintoeffectasdetailed,the

partnershipwouldcreatenewandpotentiallydangerousflashpointsin thedeteriorating relationshipbetweenChinaandtheUS.It representsamajorblowto

the Trump administration’s ag-gressivepolicytowardIransinceabandoning the nuclear dealreached in 2015 by PresidentObama and the leaders of sixother nations after two years ofgruelingnegotiations.NYT

JESSIEPANG&JAMESPOMFRETHONGKONG, JULY12

HUNDREDS OF thousands ofHong Kong citizens queued tocastballotsovertheweekendinwhat the Chinese-ruled city’sopposition camp says is a sym-bolic protest vote against toughnational security laws directlyimposedbyBeijing.Theunofficialpollwilldecide

the strongest pro-democracycandidatestocontestLegislativeCouncil elections in September,whentheyaimtorideawaveofanti-China sentiment stirredbythe law to seize control for thefirsttimefrompro-Beijingrivals.While theprimaries areonly

for the opposition camp, ob-servers arewatching closely astheysaytheturnoutwillserveasatestofbroaderoppositiontothelaw,whichcriticssaywillgravelyunderminethecity’s freedoms.“A high turnoutwill send a

very strongsignal to the interna-tional community, thatweHongKongersnevergiveup,”saidSunnyCheung,24,oneofabatchofaspir-

ingyoungdemocratsoutlobbyingandgivingstumpspeeches.“And thatwe still standwith

thedemocraticcamp,westillsup-portdemocracyandfreedom.”Defyingwarningsfromasen-

ior Hong Kong official that thevotemightfallfoulofthenationalsecuritylaw,residentsyoungandold flocked to over 250 pollingstations across the city,mannedbythousandsofvolunteers.Long queues formed down

streets, in residential estatesand at businesses-turned-polling stations, with peoplecastinganonlineballotontheirmobile phones after havingtheir identities verified.Organiserssaid580,000peoplehadvotedonSunday, inthecityof 7.5million.REUTERS

TRUMP WEARS MASK IN PUBLIC FOR FIRST TIMEUSPresidentDonaldTrumpworeamaskduringavisit toamilitaryhospitalonSaturday, the first timehehasbeenseeninpublicwiththetypeof facial coveringrecommendedbyhealthofficialsasaprecautionagainstspreadingCovid-19.Trumpflewbyhelicopter toWalterReedNationalMilitaryMedicalCenter insuburbanWashingtontomeetwoundedservicemembersandhealthcareproviderscaringforCovid-19patients.Ashe left theWhiteHouse,hetoldreporters: “Whenyou’re inahospital, especially... I think it’sagreat thingtowearamask.”AP

AMIRVAHDAT&JONGAMBRELLTEHRAN,JULY12

AMISALIGNEDmissile battery,miscommunication betweentroops and their commandersandadecisiontofirewithoutau-thorisation all led to Iran’sRevolutionary Guard shootingdown a Ukrainian jetliner inJanuary,killingall176peopleonboard, anewreport says.The report released late

Saturday by Iran’s Civil AviationOrganisationcomesmonthsafterthe January8 crashnear Tehran.Authoritieshadinitiallydeniedre-sponsibility,onlychangingcoursedays later afterWesternnationspresentedextensiveevidencethatIranhadshotdowntheplane.The reportmay signal a new

phaseintheinvestigationintothecrash, as the aircraft’s black boxflightrecorderisduetobesenttoParis,where international inves-tigatorswill finallybeable toex-amine it. It also comes as publicopinion remains lowover Iran’sgovernment as it faces bothcrushingUS sanctions and vastdomesticeconomicproblems.The shootdown happened

the same night Iran launched aballisticmissile attack targetingUS soldiers in Iraq, its responsetotheAmericandronestrikethatkilled Guard General QassemSoleimani inBaghdadon Jan3.At the time, Iranian troops

were bracing for a US counter-strike and appear to havemis-takentheplaneforamissile.Thecivilaviationreportsaidachangeinthe“alertnesslevelof Iran’sairdefence” allowed previouslyscheduledair traffic to resume.The report detailed a series

of moments where the shoot-down of Ukraine InternationalAirlines Flight 752 could havebeen avoided.AP

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAPESHAWAR, JULY12

THEHISTORICancestralhomeoflate Bollywood actor RishiKapoor in Pakistan’s Peshawarcityisfacingthethreatofdemo-litionasthecurrentownerofthehousewantstobuildacommer-cial complexonthesite.In2018,thePakistangovern-

ment decided to convert the“Kapoor Haveli” in Peshawar’sQissa Khwani Bazar into amu-seum, heeding to a request byRishiKapoor.Pakistan Foreign Minister

Shah Mahmood Qureshi hadalso assured Rishi Kapoor thatthe governmentwould convertthehouse intoamuseum.However, localresidentssaid

the haveli was in a dilapidatedcondition, andcould collapse atany time.Thehaveliiscurrentlyowned

by Haji Muhammad Israr, awealthy jeweller in thecity.The provincial government

wanted tobuy thehouse, keep-ing in view its historic impor-tance and to conserve it in itsoriginal form.Israr, however, intended to

demolish the building and con-

struct a newcommercial build-ingat theprime location.He made numerous at-

tempts in the past to demolish

thebuilding,butwasstoppedbyFIRswereregisteredagainsthimby the Khyber Pakhtunkhwaheritagedepartment.Therewere reports that the

provincial government hadfailed to convert the buildinginto a museum due to differ-enceswith itsowneroverprice.But Israr has denied that he

hadany issuewith thegovern-ment over the price of theproperty, estimated to be overRs 5 crore.Hesaidhesimplywanted to

demolish the haveli and con-struct a huge commercialmar-ket at the site. “I have sufficient

money to cater to my needs. Isupply around three to fourmaund (120kg-160kg) gold aweektoPeshawar’sbiggestjew-ellerymarket,”hesaid.Localresidentsfearthebuild-

ingmaycollapseonitsownifthegovernmentdidnot take timelyaction toconserve it.“It isamatterofconcernthat

the Kapoor Haveli, which weconsideras theprideof ourcity,is in dilapidated condition be-cause of being ignored,” saidMujeeb-ur-Rehman, a residentof Dhaki Nalbandi, where thepalatialhouse is located.Mujeeb said he was a

teenagerwhenRishiKapoorvis-ited thehouse in theearly90s.Shakeel Waheedullah,

Secretary Cultural HeritageCouncil Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,alsoexpressedregretoverthedi-lapidatedconditionofthehouse.Kapoor Haveli was built by

Basheswarnath Kapoor, the fa-ther of Bollywood pioneerPrithvirajKapoor.TheKapoor familymigrated

to IndiaafterPartition in1947.In 1990, Rishi Kapoor and

brother Randhir Kapoor visitedtheir ancestral homewhere hisgrandfather,Prithvirajandhisfa-therRajKapoor,wereborn.

ERICTUCKERWASHINGTON, JULY12

FORMERSPECIALcounselRobertMuellersharplydefendedhisin-vestigation into ties betweenRussiaandDonaldTrump’s2016presidentialcampaign,writinginan opinion piece Saturday thattheprobewasof“paramountim-portance” and asserting that aTrumpally,RogerStone,“remainsaconvicted felon,andrightlyso”despite the President’s decisiontocommutehisprisonsentence.Theop-ed inTheWashington

PostmarkedMueller’s first pub-licstatementonhisinvestigationsince his congressional appear-ance last July. Hewrote that hefelt compelled to“respondbothtobroadclaimsthatour investi-

gationwas illegitimate and ourmotiveswere improper, and tospecific claims thatRoger Stonewasavictimof ouroffice”.“The Russia investigation

wasof paramount importance.Stonewasprosecutedandcon-victed because he committedfederal crimes. He remains aconvictedfelon,andrightlyso,”Muellerwrote.AP

Defying US, China and Iran neartrade andmilitary partnership

AGREEMENTOVERJOINTDRILLS,R&D,ASWELLASECONOMICACTIVITY

ThepartnershipwasfirstproposedbyPresidentXi JinpingofChinaduringavisit to Iranwherehemethis IraniancounterpartHassanRouhani in2016.AP

Peoplevotewiththeirphones intheprimaryelection.Reuters

580,000 Hong Kongerscast ‘protest’ voteagainst security laws

Ahigh turnoutwill sendavery strong signal to theinternational community,thatweHongKongersnever give up.”

—SUNNYCHEUNGHONGKONGDEMOCRACYACTIVIST

Mueller defends his Russiaprobe, says Stone still a felon

Iran blames badcommunication,alignment fordowning ofairliner in Jan

US SUPREME COURT SAYS MUCH OF OKLAHOMA BELONGS TO THE MUSCOGEE (CREEK) PEOPLE

For a Native American tribe, court ruling provides vindication at long lastJACKHEALYJULY12

THE SORROWand death of theTrailofTearswerestillfreshwhenabandofMuscogee(Creek)peo-ple gathered by an oak tree in1836 to deposit the ashes of theceremonialfirestheyhadcarriedacrossAmerica andbeginanewhome in theWest. Itwas calledTulasi,or“OldTown.”Tulsa.What followedweredecades

of betrayals, broken treaties andattempts to legislate andassimi-late tribes out of existence. Thenthispastweek,theSupremeCourt

confirmedwhat theMuscogee(Creek)Nationhaslongasserted:Thatthislandwastheirland.“It’s somomentous and it’s

immense,”saidJoyHarjo, theUSpoet laureate and aMuscogee(Creek)NationmemberwholivesinTulsa.“Itmarksapossibleshift.NotjustforMuscogeeCreekpeo-ple, forallNativepeople.”The court’s 5-4 declaration

thatmuch of Tulsa and easternOklahomahadlongbeenareser-vation of theMuscogee (Creek)Nationwasseenasawatershedvictory for Native Americans’longcampaigntoupholdsover-eignty, tribal boundaries and

treatyobligations.ForMuscogee citizens,who

make up the country’s fourth-largestNativeAmerican tribe, itwas also somethingdeeply per-sonal,athoroughlyAmericanmo-ment that rippled across time,connecting ancestors forced toleavetheirhomesintheSoutheastwithfuturegenerations.“Theimpactisnotonlygoing

forward,” Harjo said. “It’s goingbackward, all the way throughthetrailtoGeorgiaandAlabama,where it resounds. It goesout inalldirections.”It brought feelings of relief,

joyandvindication,mixedwith

olderpains.“Itmademe cry,” said Jason

Salsman, the tribe’s press secre-tary. “Itwasapowerfulmoment,one Iwasn’t ready for. It broughtout emotions you didn’t knowwouldbethere.Itwasjustaprom-ise kept.Weknowthehistoryofpromises thathavebeenbroken.Istillgetchillsthinkingaboutit.”The Muscogee (Creek)

Nation, which has 86,100 en-rolledmembers,stretchesacross3 million acres of rolling hills,grasslands, small towns andcities across11counties ineast-ernOklahoma.“We experienced genocide,

assimilation,colonisation,conver-sionpolicy by the government,”saidAmosMcNac,77,ajusticeontheNation’s SupremeCourt andheles-hayv, a medicine man.“We’vesurvived.Westillhaveourcultureandourtradition.”The court’s decisionbrought

amix of acceptance and confu-sion from non-Natives acrossOklahoma. Themayor of Tulsahaileda longhistoryof coopera-tionbetweentribalandlocalgov-ernments, and said that thecourt’s “recognition of tribalboundarieswill not evenbeno-ticeable” tomostresidents.But Muscogee citizens said

theywerenotsurprisedbymorealarmistresponses, includingbySenator Ted Cruz, who said thecourt “just gave away half ofOklahoma, literally.Manhattanisnext.”The court’s decisionwill re-

shape how the criminal-justicesystem treatsNativeAmericansby preventing state or local au-thorities from prosecutingIndigenouspeoplewhocommitcrimesonreservationland.Tribalor federal courtswill nowdealwith their cases. The decisioncouldalsotouchoffawaveofnewappeals from Indigenouspeopleconvictedbystatecourts.NYT

‘Kapoor Haveli’ in Pak’s Peshawar faces threat of demolition

KapoorHaveli inPeshawar

TheMuscogee(Creek)Tribe hasexperiencednumerousbrokentreatiesover time.AP

TALKOFthepactwithChinahasalreadycausedsomeanxietywithinIran,withtheforeignministerfacingagrillingabouttheissueinParliamentrecently.Voicesasprominentasformerpresi-dentAhmadinejadhavecau-tionedagainstdealingwithacountrythatfacesallegationsofhavingleftanumberofAsianandAfricannationsinadebt-trap.ButwithUSsanc-tionshavingseverelyaffecteditsoilsalesandothertrade,IranmaybeforcedtodoadealwithChina,andthepactreportedlyalreadyhastheSupremeLeader’sapproval.

Worries in IranoverChinadeal

Investment,securitypacttovastlyextendBeijinginfluenceinWestAsia,giveTehraneconomiclifeline

RobertMueller

Lucknow

9THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JULY13,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Market WatchFPISPULLOUT$2,867CRIN JULSOFARNew Delhi: Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have pulled out Rs 2,867crore from Indian markets in July so far. FPIs pulled out a net Rs 2,210crore from equities and Rs 657 crore from debt segment, taking thetotal net outflow to Rs 2,867 crore between July 1-10, as per data. PTI

AASHISHARYAN&PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,JULY12

EVENAS the banning of short-video sharingplatformTikTok—aspartofthegovernment’smovetoban59appswithChineselinks—has led to a surge in numbersforitsIndianalternatives,theuse-rsdependingontheappfortheirlivelihoodhaveseenajoltastheytransitiontothesealternatives.For instance, short video app

Roposo,which is owned by theInMobiGroup, claimed tobe thetopappinthiscategorywithover75million downloadswithin aweek.Similarly,anotheralternat-iveBoxEngagesawa10-timesur-geinactiveusernumberswithin24hoursofTikTokbeingbanned.By July 1, video-streaming

platformZee5toohadannouncedthe launchof itsownshortvideoplatform, HiPi. A similar app,Chingarisaidithadrecorded148millionvideosbeingwatchedonitsplatforminasingleday,ascaleit used tomanageonly every 22daysbeforetheban.Internationalsocial media giant Facebook-owned Instagram too rolled outitsshort-videoplatformReelsforusers in India,withindaysof theChineseappsbeingbanned.The number of views and

videos on these apps notwith-standing,itislikelytobeverydif-ficult for users on these apps toconvertfanfollowingintomone-tary gains, experts said, asmostadvertisers and brands are in awaitandwatchmode.“TikTok advertising revenue

has witnessed a 50 per centgrowthinthepastyear.However,it isyet to takeasignificantshareof the country’s Rs 17,000 croredigitaladvertisingmarket,whichis still dominatedbyGoogle andFacebook,” AparnaGupta,man-aging director of digitalmediaagencyEvolveDigitas,said.AppssuchasTiktok,Heloand

other short video sharing plat-

formshadbeenamarketer’s de-lightastheyhadavastreacheveninalimitedbudget,shesaid.“Wehadvariousoptionsofcustomisedbundled offerswhich includedhomescreenad,hashtagpromo-tions aswell as influencer out-reach, costinganythingbetweenRs5-10lakh,”Guptaexplains.These appswere also favou-

ritesamongglobalbrandssuchasPepsiCo and Reckitt Benckiser,and homegrown ones such asPantaloons andOyo. Both Pepsiand Reckitt Benckiser, whichwhichmakesDettol had gainedsubstantially from theplatform,garnering views in billions fortheirvideocampaigns.Anexecutive at a cab-hailing

company told The Indian ExpressthatthefirmhadplannedTikTokcampaigns for the launch of itsservicesintier-IIandtier-IIItownsin states like Andhra Pradesh,Kerala,TamilNadu,etc.“InfluencersonTikTokhavea

significantreachinsmallertownsandtheyalsocomeatalowercostthan celebrities,” the executivesaid,addingthatthecostofhiring

anInstagraminfluencerwasover10 times higher than that of aTikTokinfluencer.Inaddition,theTikTok influencer’s reachwouldbemuchmoretargeted.OnJune29,GauravJain,a25-

year-olddigitalmediaagencyex-ecutive from Faridabad, hadachievedamajormilestoneashehitalandmark1millionfollowerson TikTok. His happiness, how-ever,wasshortlivedastheappgotbannedlaterthatnight.“Icantellyou TikTokwas going to be thenext big thing. It was bringingmanymonetisation options (forcontent creators) and for brandsaswell.AnyTikTokuserwithgoodengagementonhischannelcouldearn somewhere around Rs40,000toRs100,000”hesaid.Jain is not the only onewho

hadmanaged tomake amorethan decent living from brandpromotionsonTikTokandothersuchsocialmediaapps.OnTikTok,themost-followed Indian is 16-yearoldMumbai-basedRiyazAly,withnearly43millionfollowers.“Inalloverallmediaplanning

mix,internetadvertisingwasusu-ally catered to an urban,male,English-readingaudience. Itwasa top-down approach. TikTokbloomed from the other way.Internetconsumptionishappen-ing in all regional languages andone does necessarily have toknowhowtoreadtouseinternet.AppslikeTikTok,therefore,cameinthefocus,”aBhopal-basedad-vertisingprofessionalsaid.Other advertisers, however,

say therewill be little differenceinoverallplanningasmostbrandsin Indiawere still testingwatersonTikTokadvertisingdueto“im-age issues”. “Brands were stillwarminguptoTikTok.Therewaslittle to no adoptionpolicy-wisebecause brandswerewary,ma-jorlybecauseoftheaudiencesuchappscater to,which they tendtobelieve do not necessarily havethe spending power,” anotherMumbai-based advertiser said,askingnottobenamed.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JULY12

THE GOVERNMENT on Sundaysaid it has relaxed the deadlineforre-importofcutandpolisheddiamonds that have been sentabroadforcertificationandgrad-ingbythreemonthsinthewakeof COVID-19pandemic.The three-month extension

shallapplytoallcutandpolisheddiamondsthatshouldhavebeenre-imported between February1 to July 31 this year butwhichcouldnotbebroughtbackduetodisruptiononaccountof coron-avirus pandemic situation, theCentral Board of Indirect Taxesand Customs (CBIC) said in astatement.“In view of COVID-19 pan-

demicsituation,thegovernmenttoday extended relief to gemsandjewellerysectorbyrelaxingtherequirementof re-importofcut and polished diamonds,whichhavebeensentabroadforcertification and grading, bythreemonths,” it said.

Govt extendsdeadline forduty-free importof diamonds sentfor certification

MANYLEADINGBANKSANNOUNCEDPLANSTORAISECAPITAL INLASTFEWWEEKS

SUNNYVERMA&GEORGEMATHEWNEWDELHI/MUMBAI,JULY12

INAmegafundraisingplan,bankshave lineduptoraisea recordRs1,50,000 crore from the capitalmarketinthenext12-18months,againstthebackdropofweakcap-italcushionandtheexpectedincr-easeinstressonassetqualityandprofitabilityinthewakeoftheec-onomicimpactof thepandemic.Almostallleadingbankshave

announced their plans to raisecapital in the last fewweeks tobeef up their balance sheets andmakeprovisioning. Banks are atthe frontline of being adverselyimpactedby theCOVID-19pan-demic as economic contractionreduced corporate earnings andindividual incomes,reducingthecapacitytorepaydebts.Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

Governor Shaktikanta Das onSaturdayhad said that “buildingbuffersandraisingcapitalwillbecrucial not only to ensure creditflowbutalsotobuildresilienceinthefinancialsystem”inthewakeof thepandemic-inducedstress.Healsoindicatedthatexisting

minimumcapital requirementsforbanksmaynolongerbesuffici-entenoughtoabsorblikelylosses.“Bankshaveraisedtheircapi-

talrequirementsasbadloansareexpectedtorisesignificantlyandprofitsarelikelytobeunderpres-sureincomingmonths,especiallyafter the moratorium ends inAugust.Abigamountmaybere-quiredtomakeprovisioning,”saidanofficialofanationalisedbank.CreditSuissehadforecastthat

banksmayneed$20billioninad-ditionalcapitalinFY21.Publicsec-torbanks(PSBs),whichearlieres-timateda capital requirementofRs10,000-20,000 crore for FY21,havemore than doubled theircapital requirement. TheCentre,

on theotherhand, hadexpectedPSBstoraisecapitalfrommarketsandhencepossiblydidnotBudgetanycapital infusionfor2020-21.“With thin capital cushions

andexpectedincreaseinstressonassetqualityandprofitability,weexpectPSBstorequireRs45,000-82,500croreofcapitalevenunderascenariooflowcreditgrowthof3-4percentduringFY2021.Furt-her,theinvestorappetitetowardsthesebankswillcontinuetorem-ainweakamidprevailinguncer-tainties,” saidAnil Gupta, sectorhead—financial sector ratings,ICRARatings.Dashadnotedthatarecapital-

isationplan for PSBs andprivatebanks has becomenecessary as

theeconomic impactof thepan-demic—due to lock-down andanticipatedpostlock-downcom-pression in economic growth—may result in higher NPAs andcapitalerosionofbanks.StateBankof Indiahasplann-

ed tomobilise aroundRs20,000crore,whilePunjabNationalBankwill raise equity capital up to Rs7,000crorevia share sale to stre-ngthen itsbalancesheet.BankofBaroda’s board approved fundraising plans of up to Rs 13,500crore and Canara Bank hasplanned to raise Rs 6,000-8000crore incapital. For the fiveyearsbetween 2015-16 and 2019-20,thegovernmenthadinfusedato-tal of Rs 3.08 lakh crore capitalPSBs.However,thiswillnotbesuf-ficientgiventheexpectedspikeinnon-performingassets(NPAs).Privatebankshavealsofirmed

upplans for capital raising activ-ityof aroundRs75,000-1,00,000crore. Threeprivate banks—YesBank,AxisBankandICICIBank—havealreadyannouncedplanstoraiseRs45,000crore.WhileHDFCBank recently obtainedapprovaltoraiseRs50,000crorebywayofadditionaltier-1bonds,it’sunclearhowmuchwill itraiseinFY21.

Kotak Mahindra Bank hadraised Rs 7,442 crore through aqualifiedinstitutionalplacementissue. Besides, several small pri-vatebanksarealsogearingup toraise funds.More banks are ex-pected to announce capital rais-ingplansgoingforward.Theuncertainty on the asset

quality of banks remains highwithalmost30-40percentofloanbookacrossvariousbanksundermoratoriumannounced by theRBI.GrossNPAsarelikelytoriseto11.3-11.6percentbyMarch2021fromanestimatedlevelof8.6percentforMarch2020,withafreshgross slippageof 5.0-5.5percentof standard advances duringFY2021,ICRAhassaid.As per Basel III regulations,

bankswererequiredtomaintaina capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of11.5percentfromMarch31,2020onwards. This includedCARof 9per cent alongwith capital con-servationbuffer (CCB) of 2.5 percent.However,withtheoutbreakof COVID-19, the RBI decided todefer the implementationof thelast tranche of 0.625per cent oftheCCB fromMarch31toSepte-mber30, so thecurrent requiredCARstandsat10.875percent.

■AmongPSBs,StateBankof Indiaplanstomobilisearound`20,000crore,PunjabNationalBankwillraiseequitycapitalupto`7,000crore,BankofBarodauptoRs13,500croreandCanaraBankplanstoraise`6,000-8000crore

■Privatebankshavealsofirmedupplans forcapitalraisingactivityof around`75,000-1,00,000crore.Threeprivatebanks—YesBank,AxisBankandICICIBank—havealreadyannouncedplanstoraise`45,000crore

PSBs,PVTBANKSLOOKINGTOMOBILISEFUNDS

Assetqualityandprofitabilitystressed,banks to raise`1.5Lcr innext 12-18mths

BRIEFLY‘GaursonsRealtechguiltyofprofiteering’NewDelhi:TheNationalAntiProfiteering Authority hasfound Gaursons Realtechguiltyofnotpassingonlow-ertaxratebenefitsworthRs19.72croretohomebuyers.

FY20:USstillIndia’stoptradingpartnerNewDelhi:TheUSremainedIndia’s top trading partnerfor the second consecutivefiscal in 2019-20, showingincreasingeconomictiesbe-tweenthetwocountries.Asper data from the Comm-erceMinistry, in 2019-20,thebilateral tradebetweenthe US and India stood at$88.75 billion as against$87.96billionin2018-19.PTI

IRBpreferredbidderforNH-19projectMumbai: IRB InfrastructureDevelopers Ltd (IRB) hasemergedasapreferredbid-der for the build-operate-transfer (BOT)projectof sixlaning of the NH-19 fromDankuni to Palsit stretchof63.83 km inWest Bengal,with a project cost of Rs2,193.23cr. ENS

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,JULY12

THEFINANCEMinistryonSundaysaidfinancingrequestsofclosetoRs 10,000 crore have been re-ceivedunderthespecialliquidityschemeworthRs30,000croreforstressed non-banking financialcompanies (NBFCs) andhousingfinancecompanies(HFCs)whosefinancialsfurtherdeterioratedduetotheCOVID-19crisis.

TheschemewaslaunchedonJuly 1. TheReserveBankof India(RBI) has provided funds for theschemebysubscribingtogovern-ment-guaranteed special securi-tiesissuedbyatrustsetupbySBICapitalMarketsLimited(SBICAP).“RBIhasalso issuedacircular

toNBFCsandHFCsonJuly1,2020itself on the Scheme. SBICAPhasreceived24applicationsrequest-ingaboutRs9,875croreoffinanc-ingasonJuly7,2020whicharebe-ing processed,” the FinanceMinistry said inastatement. Thefirst application has been ap-

provedandtheremainingarealsounderconsideration, itsaid.TheInvestmentCommitteeof

Special Liquidity Scheme (SLS)TrusthasapprovedinvestmentofuptoRs200croreincommercialpaperissuedbytheapplicant.Duringthelatestreviewofthe

Atmanirbhar Bharat package byFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, progress of variousschemeswasdiscussed,includingtheRs3lakhcrorecreditguaran-teeschemefortheMSMEsector.

■Numberofviewsandvideosontheseappsnotwithstanding,itislikelytobeverydifficultforusersontheseappstoconvertfanfollowingintomonetarygains,asmostadvertisersandbrandsareinawaitandwatchmode

■SomeadvertiserssaytherewillbelittledifferenceinoverallplanningasmostbrandsinIndiawerestilltestingwatersonTikTokadvertisingdueto“imageissues”

SOMESAY ‘LITTLEDIFFERENCE’

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY12

THEINCOMETaxDepartmenthaslaunchedanewutility for banksandpostoffices tohelpascertainthe applicable TaxDeducted atSource(TDS)forcashwithdrawalsaboveRs20lakhfornon-filersandabove Rs 1 crore for filers of in-come tax returns. The CentralBoardofDirectTaxes(CBDT)saiddata on cashwithdrawal indica-ted“hugeamountofcashisbeingwithdrawnbypersonswhohaveneverfiledincome-taxreturns”.Withthisutility,thebank/post

office has to nowonly enter thepermanent account number(PAN)of thepersonwhoiswith-drawingcashforascertainingtheapplicable rate of TDS.Onenter-ing PAN, amessagewill be in-stantly displayedon thedepart-mentalutility—“TDSisdeductibleat the rate of 2 per cent if cashwithdrawalexceedsRs1crore”(ifthepersonwithdrawingcashisafilerofITR)and“TDSisdeductibleattherate2percentifcashwith-drawalexceedsRs20 lakhandattherateof 5percent if it exceeds

Rs1Crore”(incaseofnon-filers).“Sofar,morethan53,000ver-

ificationrequestshavebeenexe-cutedsuccessfullyonthisfacility,”aCBDTreleasesaid.The government had, in

Budget2019-20,introducedaTDSlevy of 2 per cent on cashwith-drawals ofmore thanRs 1 crorefromabankaccountinonefinan-cialyear todiscouragepaymentsincash.Toensurefilingofreturnsbythesepersonsandtokeeptrackon cashwithdrawals bynon-fil-ers, andtocurbblackmoney, theFinance Act, 2020 had furtheramendedIncome-taxActtolowerthreshold of cashwithdrawal toRs20 lakh for theapplicabilityofthis TDS for non-filers and alsomandatedTDSat thehigher rateof 5percentoncashwithdrawalexceedingRs1crorebynon-filers.

New utility for banks,post offices to ascertainTDS for cash withdrawals

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JULY12

ATAROUND21downgradesadaybetweenJanuaryandnow,thefi-nances of corporate India con-tinuetodeteriorate.Closeto3,936firmshavebeendowngradeddur-ingthistimewhile593havebeenupgraded.From464inJanuaryto582 in June, downgrades havebeenrisingsteadily;the firstninedaysof Julyhaveseen161down-grades. Businesses, whether inmanufacturingor thenon-bank-ing financial companies (NBFCs)space,arestressed.About35percentofcreditrat-

ingsonIndiancompanieshaveei-ther anegativeoutlookor areoncreditwatchwithnegativeimpli-cations, S&PGlobal Ratings hadobserved in a note on June 24.“Thatincreasestoone-in-tworat-ingsifweexcludedebt-freecom-paniesintheITsector,”analystsattheagencywrote,addingfurtherdowngrades were possible inspiteofseveralnegativeratingac-tionsoverthepastthreemonths.Lastweek,Moody’s Investors

Service changed the outlook for

JSWSteel to negativewhile S&PdowngradedDelhi InternationalAirport (DIAL) to ‘B+’ as it antici-patesaslowrecovery in traffic inthewakeofthetravelrestrictions.DIAL’s ratioof operating cash

flowtodebt,theagencyobserved,was expected to stay below itsdowngrade trigger of 5 per centover thenext 12months even ifthe airport operator receives itscommercial property develop-ment(CPD)depositandanupco-mingtariff revisionisfavourable.“The rating confirmation

recognisesthatwhileJSW’screditprofilewill deteriorate reflectingthe challenges brought by thepandemic, we believe that thecompany’s financialmetricswilllikely recover to levels commen-suratewiththecurrentratingsbythefiscalyearendingMarch2023(fiscal2023),”Moody’swrote.Even before COVID made

thingsworse, the economywasslowingwithGDPgrowthinFY20clocking inatananaemic4.2percent. For a sample of 1,691 firms(excludingbanksand financials),netprofitsdove38percentintheyear; excluding TCS andRIL, thefallwasasteeper45percent. FE

Amid deterioratingfinances, India Inc’s creditprofile continues to worsen

“SBICAPhas received24applications requestingaboutRs9,875crore of financing as onJuly 7, 2020which are beingprocessed”

FINANCEMINISTRY

Stressed NBFCs, HFCs seek about `10,000-crorefinancing support under special liquidity scheme

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,JULY12

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES (RIL)SundaysaidithassecuredRs730crore fromwireless technologyleader Qualcomm by selling asmallstakeinitstechnologyven-tureJioPlatforms,addingtoaslewofinvestmentssinceAprilthathascrossedRs1.18lakhcrore.“QualcommVentures’invest-

mentwill translate into 0.15percentequity stake in JioPlatformsonafullydilutedbasis,”RILsaidina statement. The investment, itadded,will deepen the tieswith

Qualcommthatwillhelp Jioroll-outofadvanced5GinfrastructureandservicesinIndia.With this deal, RIL has sold

25.24 per cent stake in JioPlatforms Ltd — the unit thathouses India’s youngest butlargesttelecomfirmJioInfocommandapps.Intotal,JiohasraisedRs1,18,318.45 crore. Qualcomm,whichisthe12thmarqueefirmtohavesetasighton India’shottestdigitalplayinasmanyweeks,val-ues Jio Platforms at Rs 4.91 lakhcrore,thestatementsaid.Mukesh Ambani, CMD, RIL,

said, “Qualcommhasbeenaval-uedpartner forseveralyearsand

wehave a shared vision of con-necting everythingbybuilding arobust and securewireless anddigitalnetworkandextendingthebenefitsof digital connectivity toeveryoneinIndia”.Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of

Qualcomm Incorporated, said,“With unmatched speeds andemerging use cases, 5G is ex-pectedtotransformeveryindus-try inthecomingyears”.MorganStanleyactedasfinancialadvisortoReliance Industries andAZB&Partners and Davis Polk &Wardwellactedaslegalcounsels.Trilegal actedas legal counsel forQualcommVentures.

Qualcomm buys 0.15% stake in Jio Platforms

REUTERSBENGALURU,JULY12

WEWORKEXECUTIVEChairmanMarcelo Claure said the office-sharingcompanywasoncoursetohavepositivecashflowin2021,a year earlier than a target thecompany set in February, theFinancialTimesreportedSunday.Claure, in an interviewwith

thenewspaper,saidWeWorkhasseenstrongdemandforitsofficespacessincethestartofthecoro-navirusoutbreak.TheSoftBank-

controlledcompanyhasalso re-duced its workforce by morethan8,000people, renegotiatedleases and sold off assets to re-duceitscashburnandshedcosts,FTsaid.NewYork-basedWeWork is

currentlyinthemiddleofexecut-ing a five-year turnaround plansetoutthisyearandisshakingupitstopmanagementranksunderClaure. The plan included a tar-get of reaching operating prof-itability by the end of next yearand Claure told the FT thatWeWork isontracktomeet it.

“Everybody thoughtWeWorkwasmission impossi-ble,” Claure, who is also aSoftBank executive,was quotedas saying by the FT. “Andnow, ayear fromnow, you are going toseeWeWork to basically be aprofitable venture with an in-crediblediversityof assets.”WeWork told Reuters it did

not have any further commentbeyond the FT interview. Thecompanyhasgonethroughatu-multuousperiodsinceabandon-ingitsinitialpublicoffering(IPO)inSeptember.

‘WeWork expects positive cash flow in 2021’

SUNNYVERMANEWDELHI,JULY12

INORDERtoboost itscapital lev-elsinlinewithregulatorynorms,Yes Bank is launching its follow-onpublic offer (FPO) to raise Rs15,000crorefromthemarket.Thepriceband for the issuehasbeenfixedatRs12toRs13pershare—substantially lower thanmarketprice of Rs 25.60 at close at theNationalStockExchangeFriday.Thediscountis likelytomake

the offer attractive for new in-vestors, making capital raisingeasierforthelenderandreducingtheburdenontheconsortiumofbanks to infuse further capital. ASBI-led consortiumof banks in-fusednearlyRs10,000croreinYesBankinMarchinareconstructionplan approved by the ReserveBankof India (RBI). LastWedne-

sday,StateBankofIndia(SBI),thelargest shareholder in Yes Bank,approved further investment ofuptoRs1,760croreinYesBank.

Whatare theissuedetails?The FPO opens

for anchor investorson July 14. For allother investors, theoffer period is July15-17. The privatesectorbankhaskeptretailportionforinvestmentataminimumof 35 per cent of theoffer size,while fornon-institu-tionalinvestorsaminimumof15per centof shareshavebeen re-served. Qualified institutionalbuyers(QIB)canbuyupto50percent of the total issue size. Amaximum of Rs 200-croreworth of shares have been re-served for Yes Bank employees,

whowillalsogetadiscountofRs1per share.Aninvestorneedstobidfora

minimumof1,000sharesandinlots of similar quan-tity for higher sub-scription. Yes Bankchose the FPO routeas it offers freedomin pricing the issue,as comparedaqual-ified institutionalplacement (QIP)route that requires

pricing around recent marketpricesasperaSebi formula.

Whatabout capitallevels andprofitability?Spurt innon-performingas-

sets(NPAs)andconsequentpro-visioning has led to Yes Bankbreaching the capital adequacyrequirements as mandated bythe RBI. At March-end 2020,

tier-1 capital ratio for Yes Bankwas 6.5 per cent, much belowtheRBIrequirementof8.875percent,necessitatingthefundrais-ingplan.YesBankreportedanetprofit of Rs 2,629 crore after itwrote down additional tier-1bonds as part of its reconstruc-tion scheme. Excluding thewrite-down, the bank haspostedalossofRs3,668croreforthefourthquarterendedMarch2020,asagainstalossofRs1,507crore in the same period of lastyear. The bank had reported arecord loss of Rs 18,560 crore inthe December quarter, as itmade provision of Rs 15,422croreduringthequarteragainstNPAs. The bank’s gross NPAswere at Rs 32,878 crore (16.80percentofadvances)thisMarch,asagainst3.20percentinMarch2019 and 18.87 per cent inDecember2019.

Indian alternatives to Chinesevideo sharing apps see surge, butbrands choose to wait and watch

COVID-19 IMPACT

‘18.6% fall in first-yearpremium of life insurers’Hit hard by the pandemic, the life insurance sectorwitnessed an 18.6 per cent drop in the first year premiumto `49,335 crore in the April-June quarter of the currentfinancial year, according to a report by CARE Ratings

Why this is important: The report attributed the decline in business in the firstquarter of the current fiscal to lockdown and business disruption. However, itsaid growth could potentially return in the second or third quarter of 2020-21

Source:CARERatings/PTI

18.5%Fall in first-yearpremium for Life

InsuranceCorporation (LIC) inQ1FY21, against an increase of81.2 per cent a year ago

19.2%Fall in first-yearpremium for

private sector companies inQ1FY21, compared to growthof 32per cent a year ago

`60,637CRORE:First-year premium recordedin the first quarter of financialyear 2019-20by lifeinsurance sector

`8.8LAKHCRORE:Overall sumassured in June2020quarter, falling 12.9 percent fromRs 10 lakh crore inthe year-ago period

Shareof first-yearpremiumduringQ1FY21:

26%:Privatecompanies

74%:LIC

Fall in first-yearpremiumof lifeinsurancesector:

32.6% inApril 2020

27.9% inMay2020

Yes Bank follow-on public offer: Breach of capitallevels prompts fundraising at steep discount

TheCBDTsaiddatashowedthat“hugeamountofcashisbeingwithdrawnbypersonswhohaveneverfiledincome-taxreturns”

Lucknow

10THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JULY13,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

HamiltonwinsStyrianGP,oneshortofSchumacher’smarkLewis Hamilton won the Styrian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to clinch an85th career win and move within six of Michael Schumacher's Formula One record.Most of Schumacher's wins were during a dominant spell with Ferrari, but his old team

is struggling badly. For the second time in the past four races, Charles Leclerc andSebastian Vettel crashed into each other and went out. AP

Windies pass opening TestBlackwood’sgritty95guidesvisitorstoathrilling4-wicketwinoverEngland;go1-0upinseries

MOHAMMADKAIF

MYFIRSTmemoryof thatchaseatLord’s ispeoplewalking outwhen Iwaswalking into bat. They felt the match was over asSachin had got out. Later, I would find outthat my family in Allahabad too had donethe same. Themovie Devdas was runningin a nearby theatre andmy father, a fan ofDilipKumar,hadtakenthefamilytoseetheShahrukh Khan starrer after Sachin fell.Don’tworry, I have forgiven them!I also rememberNasser Hussain sledg-

ing me as I walked in. “The bus driver. Hedrives Tendulkar around.” Nasser was re-building his team at that stage and hadscoredhis firstcentury.Hewasexcitedthatthey were about to win the game. I had towait for the rightmoment to reply; it cameafter wewon thematch and I told Nasser:“Not bad for a busdriver, eh?”Ithadn’tstartedsowell. I rememberthe

dressing room just before the chase. Therewas a feeling of ‘here we go again’ as weweren’t chasing well those days. JohnWright,ourcoach,stoodbyanditwasmorea players’ meeting where Sourav Gangulysaid, “Don’t panic. We will just start well,try not to lose any wicket and take it onlater.”Yuvraj and I were burning to make a

nameforourselves.Wehadplayedtogetherin youth teams andhad anunderstanding.I remembertherequiredratenevergotovereightatanystage.Heplayedhisshots; Ididwhat I do and the game started to turn.At one stage, [91needed from72balls],

I could see Ganguly waving his hands tocatchmyattention.Heputhis fingerup,sig-nalling that I should take a single and givethe strike to Yuvraj. As any captain woulddo, he wanted to guide the youngsters inthemiddle.But Iwas inmyzone.Also, Ihadwanted tomakeanameformyself.Almostimmediately,whenAlexTudorbowledone- itwasperhapsnot even the length topull- I instinctivelywent for it.

BackingmyselfAs the ball flew into the stands, I told

Yuvraj insomeanger, “Bhai, humbhikhelneaayehain!” (Ihavealsocometoplay). Iwastrying to carve an identity formyself then.Everyone’s focuswas on the bigger names

like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag,Yuvrajandasayoungster,youhavethat firewithin to prove a point. Bhai hum bhi hainyahan (I’m also here).Then, Yuvraj fell. I was in shock, now I

had to do it with the tail-enders. It wasHarbhajanwhohelpedmeatan importantmoment. I had slogged Paul Collingwoodandtheballwentoff the insideedgeto fineleg for tworuns.Bhaji toldme,“Kyakarrahahai,what are you doing? Just run-a-ballnow.” I thought, yes, he is right, I just needtowatch the ball.Ihit twofoursoffGoughandtheninone

over Flintoff got Harbhajan and AnilKumble, who fell to a wrong decision bySteveBucknor.Off the last ball of the48th,withsixrunsneededandthefield in, Iwentfor a big leg-side shot but it went off theedgetothethirdmanboundary.Eventhen,Iwasn’t sure of thewin.Youneverknow.Because if Zakgotout,

we had Nehraji. I can visualise him sittingin the dressing room, scratching his head.Zaheer played out two balls but off thethird,wewent forasinglebut therewasanoverthrowand a panic run. Thatwas it!

Crazy celebrationsI would forever remember what fol-

lowed. First Yuvraj ran out for a big hug.And then Ganguly, who had the shirt-offcelebration in thebalcony, ranand jumpedonto me and we were both down on theground. Rahul Dravid too was celebratingmore than normally. Behind them, I couldsee Sachin Tendulkar. In those times, hewouldnever comeonto thegroundafter amatch. But therehewas, runningonto thefield,high-fivingme. Itwasa really specialmoment-someof these legends,whoIhadgrown up watching, were now jumpingand celebratingwithme.Back home in Allahabad, once I re-

turned, I couldn’t handle the celebrations.Iwasa shypersonbutpeoplekept comingtomy home. Themedia attention toowasdifferent. I loved to flykitesby theYamunaand they would say, “Look, Kaif ne aajpatangudayi (Kaif flewkites today!)”.Arre!I have been flying them fromchildhood. Ittookmeawhile tounderstandall thosere-actions.

A victory like no otherThat win changed Indian cricket to an

extent. It showed us we could chase bigscores, it showeduswecouldwinbig finals– that’s one of the reasons Indian fans re-memberitasthiswasabigtournamentwinat Lord’s after the1983WorldCup final.I remember another special image.

When I returnedhome toAllahabad, Iwasput on an open-jeep procession. It took usnearly three-fourhours to travel somefive-six kms to our house.People lined up on the roads. Garlands,

chants,happyfaces.WhenIwasakid, IhadseenAmitabhBachchaninanopenjeepaf-ter he had won an election in my home-town.Thatday, I felt likeAmitabhBachchan.

ASTOLDTODEVENDRAPANDEY

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJULY12

AFASCINATINGTestmatchendedinthrillingfashion,asWestIndies,propelledbyJermaineBlackwood’s 95, inflicted a four-wicketwinoverEngland.Chasing200onalargelydocilefifth-day surface in Southampton, afterEnglandwerebowledoutfor313,thevisitorsovercame earlywobbles and late drama towrapupamemorablerunchase.Test cricket’s return in these tough times

couldn’thavebeenmoreentertaining.Thoughtherhythmswerelazyforthemostpartofthematch,thelastfoursessionsexplodedintolife.Blackwoodwasanunlikelyhero,notleast

after thehideous shotheplayed toget out inthe first innings.Hegot out in identical fash-ion in the second innings too, but after effec-tivelywinningthematchforhisteam.ItcouldwellhavebeenhislastTestinnings,

butherehewasdeliveringasplendidaccountofhisbatsmanship,revivingacareerthatwaslongwritten off. BetweenOctober 2017 andJuly2020,hisloneappearancecameasacon-cussionsubstituteinthesecondinningsoftheSabina Park Test against India last year. Hemadeastroke-laden38,playedJaspritBumrahbetterthananyoneelseonthattour,butitonlyconfirmed the selectors’worst fears that histemperamentinthisformatwasstilldodgy.Thequality of his stroke-makingwas sel-

domdisputed—hewas anointed for biggerfeats after a terrific hundredagainst EnglandinNorthSoundin2015—buthistemperamentwasoften caughtwanting for thehardgrindofTestcricket.Itrequiredastandoutdomesticseason—768runsin15inningsincludinghismaidendouble hundred (248) in this year’sdomesticseason—tocharthiswayback.Still,hadDarren Bravo or ShimronHetmyer notabortedthetour,hewouldhavebeenwarm-ingthebenches.MuchofBlackwood’stechniqueisstillthe

same,heremainsanoff-sideheavyplayer.He’sahandsomeplayerdowntheground,unafraidto loft seamers and loves to free his arms atanythingwithahintofwidth.Whathaschanged,though,ishisdiscretion.

Hedoesn’tcounterpunchasinstinctivelyasheusedtointhepast;ratherhehasaddedmoreju-diciousnessintohisbattingwithoutforsakinghisattackinginclination.Hewaitsfortherightballtoplaytherightstroke.Theendresultwas

theperfectinningsfortheoccasion.Hecould-n’t have retreated into a shell, itwouldhaveplayedintoEngland’shands.Hecouldn’tgofull-throttle, for itwouldhavehastened the end.Thathemanaged toblendpatiencewithag-gressiontestifieshisripeningasaTestcricketer.Needlesstosay,heplayedsomebreathtak-

ingstrokes,exudingaCaribbeanjoiedevivre.Mostemphaticwasastraightdrive,moreofathudrather,overJamesAnderson’shead.TheJamaicanjustclearedthefront-legand

swunghis long,muscular hands at a lengthball. Earlier, the England talismanwasdeftlyclipped behind for a boundary soon afterreachinghishalf-century.

England’s best put to restSimilarly,England’sbestbowleroftheday,

JofraArcherborethebruntofhisblade.Hewasexpertlyclumpedoffthelegs,beforeswattinghim throughbackwardpoint and creaminghim through covers to complete the 50-runpartnershipwith Shane Dowrich. Then toshowhispolish, Blackwood languidly cover-droveMarkWood, thosemalleablewristsagainguidingtheballthroughthegaps,com-pensatingforhislackofreach.Attimesherodehisluck,butEnglandhad

only themselves to blame for their shoddyfielding. Jos Buttler spilled a routine edgeoffStokes’s bowling. Rory Burns couldn’t latchontoathickedgethatflewpastgullyoffStokes,theEnglandskipperhimselfwentinthewrongdirection toanedgeat slips, andZakCrawley

couldn’taffectthesimplestofrunouts.SeveraltimesBlackwoodplayedandmissedandsur-vived lbw shouts and reviews. But unper-turbed,hecarriedon.Hewasinvolvedintwovitalpartnerships,

firstwiththechase-resurrecting73-runasso-ciationwithRostonChase,whobattedbravelybeforegettingouttoabrutethatleaptofffromagoodlength.Andthenwithamatch-swing-ing 68-run partnershipwith the doughtyShaneDowrich.Thereversalarrivedafterthevisitors had slumped to 27/3 andwith JohnCampbell retired hurt, after Archer’s yorkershatteredhistoes.Inthosefranticopeningex-changes,Archerbossedaroundthebatsmen,someof themwhowerehisschoolseniors inBarbados.Criticisedforhislistlessbowinginthefirst

innings, he cranked up serious pace, struckamenacinglength,seamedtheballfraction-ally bothways and got England off to a ter-rificstart.Atonestage,WestIndieswerereel-ing at 7/2, beforeMarkWoods consumedShai Hope and another familiar Caribbeanimplosionloomedlarge.Woodstriedtoforcealatetwist,bydismissingDowrich,andthenBlackwood too departed, but Jason Holdercalmly carried themon his large shoulderstothefinish line.Ashehasoftendoneinthelast fewyears.BRIEFSCORES:England204&313allout(ZCrawley76;SGabriel5/75)losttoWestIndies318&200/ 6 (J Blackwood95, R Chase 37; JArcher3/45,BStokes2/39)by4wickets.

‘People lined up on the roads... thatday I felt like Amitabh Bachchan’

West Indies’middle-orderbatsmanJermaineBlackwood(95)was involved inamatch-winning68-runpartnershipwiththedoughtyShaneDowrich. AP

CROSSWORD4168

ACROSS1 Hold forthgoldblendtea (5)8 Kindof greycoat (8)9 MusicalShakespeareanflowergirl (5)

10 Sortof key found inacupboard?(8)

11 Revises informationabouttides (5)

12 Partof apolarcircle (3)16 Almost losesightof thesprite(6)

17 HegetsmixedupwithDianaandaredhead(6)

18 Dosomedecorativework intwoways (3)

23 TurnsoutOKasasecondcityofJapan(5)

24 It’sall anicechange for theconfederation(8)

25Diplomat takingpart inmaidenvoyage(5)

26 Egg-producer’s supplyatcapacity (8)

27 Sequenceof command(5)

Down2 Spotofwetweather(8)

3 Highromance?(4,4)4 Betterwhenhe’sdriving inreverse? (6)

5 Acoinusedbymany inthekingdom(5)

6 It’sawaytheyhaverightoutEast (5)

7 Long in laughter,he is(5)

12 Social crawler (3)13 Unusualact foraspitefulwoman(3)

14 Insideman(8)15 Makeadepositof papermoney(8)

19 Makeprofit fromashippingcompanywehear (6)

20 Silentcomedyfilmstar(5)

21 Putdownapoundstake(5)

22Woodspirit (5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)If youmanagetosortoutall financialdutiesandcomplications today,

youwillgiveyourself amucheasier rideover therestof theweek.Romantically, thiscouldbeasignificantmoment,withsecretscoming into theopenover thenext fewdays.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)TheMoon’soccupationofimportant regionsofyourchart isa

symbolic indicationthatyouhold thecentrestage,andcanthereforeaffordtodictate thepace. It’sverymuchafavourable timefor romanticTaureans, so letyourimaginationroamfree.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Youare famous foryourrelianceonthefacts,but therearetimeswheneven

your legendaryobjectivityslips.Youmaydobetter toconcentrateoncreatingagoodimpression insubtleandintuitiveways. If there isanythingwhichyoucandotoeasea lovedone’sburdens,pleasedosoassoonasyoucan.

CANCER(June22- July23)Strongsocialstarstodayrevealthatevenifyou’reatworkyouwillhavetopaygreat

attentiontopartners’needsanddesires.Butifyou’repreoccupiedwithmattersofamorepersonalnaturethen youmayconsidercancellingoneparticularengagement.Don’tbehasty.

LEO(July24-Aug23)AnapproachingmetaphoricalcollisionbetweentheSunandthe

Moonmayleaveyoufeelingconsiderably theworse forwear.Youmay, if youwish,burnthecandleatbothendsandpushyourself to the limit,butyoumustaccept theconsequences.Myadvicewouldbeto takewhatever restandrelaxationyourequire.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)It’snot the factsandfigures thatareimportant,but themessagebehind

them.Youshouldthereforedoeverythingyoucantoavoidbeingtaken inbyappearances.Youmight takeall financialofferswithahealthypinchofsalt, if onlybecauseotherpeopledon’t seemtohaveyourgriponreality.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Crucialplanetsarenowalignedwiththevery foundationsof yoursolarchart.

Youprobablystill feel thatyou’rebeingunder-cut,almostas if everythingyouhavealwaysreliedon isbeingsteadilyeroded.Don’tworryabout it, foraveryhealthychange isunderway.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Youmayhaveeveryreasontobelievethatyouhavebeenwronged,andnow

thatmisunderstandingsseemtobepresentonapotentiallygrandscale,yoursuspicionsmaybeconfirmed.Orsoyouimagine!Alwaysbear inmindthat thetruthmaybetheveryreverseofwhatyouthink.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)If today isaboutanything, it’s abouttrust.Youmayallowlovedonesorclose

associatesall the freedomofmanoeuvre theyneedtosucceedor fail. Eventhoughtheymaybeslightlymuddled,in the finalanalysis theyhaveto takeresponsibility fortheirownideas

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)If youarenowconfrontedwithobstaclesorchallengesathome,

don’tholdbackor,worsestill,decide togiveupaltogether.Evenquitesmalldevelopmentsmayseemlikeamightystepinto theunknown,so it’simportant thatyouboostyourself-confidence.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Whatyouhaveexperiencedrecentlymaymakeyouwonder if a

completebreakor separationis necessary.On theotherhand, youmay feel that, at atimewhen there is somuch toplay for, you shouldn’t be toohasty. The sameold thoughtsare likely tobewanderingaroundyourmind for sometimeyet.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Youshouldmakeeveryeffort toexplainyourself,even if youthink

there isnomoretosay.Don’tbeafraid toasksillyquestions,orgooverplansandproposalswhichhavealreadybeenconfirmed. It’sall amatterofsortingout thepracticalquestionswhichunderpinyourpersonalhopes.

SUDOKU4168

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius

SOLU

TIONSUDOKU4167

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.’Whoareyouandhowdidyougetinhere?’’I’ma ___.And,I’ma____.’ (9,.,9)(samewordtwice)

SOLUTION:ORRIS,FILET,MUSCAT,HACKERAnswer:’Whoareyouandhowdidyougetinhere?’’I’malocksmith.And,I’malocksmith.’

RRIOS ASTUCM

EFILT ACERHK

SolutionsCrossword4167:Across:1Defeatists,6Alec, 10Straw,11Cock-a-hoop, 12Vignette, 13Exert, 15Oracles, 17Stopsup, 19 Indiana,21Lancers,22Rumba,24Reveille,27Suspender,28Drake,29Send,30Left-hander.Down:1Dash,2Ferdinand,3Aswan,4 Incites,5Tickers,7Loose,8Copytypist,9Careworn, 14Topiarists, 16Leakages, 18Steelyard,20Abridge,21Leveret,23Mason,25 India,26Gear.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

THOSEMONTHS,THOSEMINUTES

MohammadKaif recalls amagicalafternoon at Lord’s 18 years ago, whenhe played themost significant inningsof his career thatmade India believethey could chase big totals in ODIs andwin big finals.

Kaif points totheLord's finalmementoathisGurugramhome.

VOL XIX No.182 Registration No. DL-26003/2001 R.N.I No. UPENG/2001/5674. Printed and published by R.C. Malhotra on behalf of M/s The Indian Express Private Limited. Printed at The Indian Express Private Limited Press, C-26, Amousi Industrial Area, Lucknow and published at 1/8, Vivek Khand, Gomti Nagar,Lucknow- 226010. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor : Raj Kamal Jha, Editor: Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor (Lucknow) : Rakesh Sinha * (*Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act). website: www.expressindia.com. Copyright: The Indian Express Private Limited. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited.The Indian Express®

Lucknow