http :www.hindustantimes.

com/

New Delhi/METRO n Vol. XCVI No. 120 WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020

BRAZIL NOW THIRD MOST-AFFECTED COUNTRY >p8

CAPITAL REOPENING

JAMS, LONG WAIT

FOR BUSES
Delhi’s public transport system came
back to life on Tuesday with jams
reported even as commuters com-
plained of long wait for buses and
overcharging autos

MARKETS THROWN OPEN

Markets reopened on the odd-even
formula. Traders said many markets
were deserted as some shopkeepers
returned only to clean their premises
while most customers stayed away,
unsure of whether businesses opened

LIQUOR SHOPS
TO REOPEN
The government allowed the opening
of all liquor shops, except for those
inside malls. The shops will open from
9.30am till 6.30pm, and will continue to
sell alcohol products with the “special
n (Top) A traffic jam at Vikas Marg on Tuesday morning.
corona fee” of 70% on the MRP (Above) People at the Nehru Place market in Delhi. PTI/ANI

HIGHEST SINGLE-DAY SPIKE IN DELHI

500 10,554
A day after crossing 10,000 cases,
Delhi reported 500 new infections
on Tuesday, the highest single-day
spike so far, taking the city’s tally to
new cases in Covid-19 cases reported 10,554 cases. Six new deaths were
Delhi on Tuesday in Delhi as of Tuesday reported, taking the toll to 166. ››P2

Fiscal impact of Is worst yet to

stimulus about
1% of GDP: Fitch come for Maha?
Experts weigh in
NEW DELHI: The government’s
~20.97 lakh crore Covid-19 pack-
age lacks in addressing immedi-
ate concerns of the economy as
the actual fiscal impact of the
additional stimulus is only about Sachin Kalbag and
1% of GDP, Fitch Solutions said Snehal Fernandes
on Tuesday. PM Modi on May 12 n letters@hindustantimes.com IS MUMBAI
announced a stimulus package
of ~20 lakh crore, or nearly 10% of MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief min-
TRACKING
the GDP. ››P11 ister Uddhav Thackeray on Mon-
day announced that the state will
NYC PATH?
continue with red zone restric- NEW DELHI: With cases ris-

Top Hizb terrorist tions in the state and will not

ease the lockdown until at least
May 31.
ing at an alarming rate in
Mumbai, questions
emerge if it is headed on a
among 2 killed in India’s worst-affected state
accounts for 39.41% of all Cov-
trajectory that is not too
different to what New

J&K encounter id-19 fatalities in India. Maha-

SRINAGAR: A top Hizbul Mujahid-
een commander was among two
terrorists killed in a gunbattle
with security forces in Srinagar
on Tuesday, Jammu & Kashmir
Police chief Dilbag Singh said.
This was the first such firefight in
Srinagar since 2018. Singh identi-
fied the terrorists as HM’s divi-
sional commander Junaid Ash-
raf Khan and Tariq Ashraf.››P13
rashtra also recorded 20,607 cor-
onavirus cases in the last 14 days
(May 5-18), averaging 1,471 new
cases per day.
State health minister Rajesh
Tope indicated earlier this week
that the worst is yet to come. But
some experts differ, saying that
the number of new cases may
come down after May 31.
Dr Tatyarao Lahane, director,
Directorate of Medical Educa-
tion and Research (DMER), said
York City followed.
Mumbai has a more even
trajectory of cases than
New York City’s, but the
former is more densely
populated, smaller. ››P5
on Tuesday, “After this, the rise
is likely to come under control,
and we may witness a gradual
decline. If it does not reduce
then, we may be in the commu-
nity transmission stage.” ››P4

mustread
SONIA TO LEAD OPPN MEETING BUS POLITICS IN UP
Congress president Sonia Gandhi will on Friday chair an opposi- The Uttar Pradesh government and
tion leaders’ meeting to discuss the impact of the Covid-19 Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi
lockdown, the Centre’s ~20 lakh crore package, the plight of Vadra’s office continued to ex-
migrants, farmers and the suspension of labour laws in BJP- change letters and charges related
ruled states, in an attempt to put pressure on the Centre to the latter’s plan to send 1,000
for “adequate relief measures”, sources said. ››P12 buses to ferry migrants . ››P11

Special chance at JEE for those

junking plans to study abroad
Amandeep Shukla
n amandeep.shukla@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: The Union human
resource development (HRD)
ministry is looking to provide a
window to Class 12 students who
were aiming to enrol in an under-
graduate programme overseas,
but have seen their plans
scotched by the Covid-19 pan-
demic — by allowing them to
appear in admission tests they
hadn’t originally applied for.
As a first step, HRD minister
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
announced that students who did
not apply for the Joint Entrance
Exam (Main) for admission to the
prestigious Indian Institutes of
Technology (IITs) will now get a
special opportunity to do so.
“Students who have dropped
the idea to study abroad, here is
your chance to pursue your stud-
ies in India. I have advised the
National Testing Agency (NTA)
to give one more opportunity to
students to submit new online
application form for JEE (Main)
2020. Hurry! Forms available till
24th May,” said Nishank in a
tweet.
Soon, the National Testing
Agency (NTA) chief Vineet Joshi
released a note saying that fol-
lowing representations from stu-
dents and in view of the changed
circumstances because of COV-
ID-19, the NTA had decided to
give one more opportunity to stu-
dents to submit the forms.
“The aim is to help students
who have had to change their
plans. It is also an opportunity to
attract the best talent to the coun-
try’s institutions,” said a senior
CONTINUED ON P 14

DISPATCH
Covid-19: What
you need to
know today
I
IS MUMBAI
INDIA’S NYC?
New York City accounts
for 13.1% and 22.4% of
the cases and deaths in
the US, and Mumbai
makes up 21.2% and 25%
of the infections and
fatalities in India. That
one in four deaths in
India from Covid-19 has
taken place in its
commercial capital is
staggering
THE PATHS
DIFFER
The trajectory of
Covid-19 cases in India’s
financial capital has
followed a more even
curve than New York
City’s, which is more
steep. But Mumbai is
also more densely
populated than NYC, and
smaller. Mumbai also
differs from NYC in
terms of death rate –
around 3.5% as opposed
to the 10.2% in NYC
WHY MUMBAI
HAS A HIGH
CASELOAD
Higher testing capacity
alone doesn’t explain
why Mumbai has a large
chunk of Covid-19 cases
in the country. High
population density may
be a factor, and so could
the presence of large
slums such as Dharavi
htweather
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
Strong surface Partly cloudy sky
winds during day with possibility of
time development of
thunder lightning
40°c I 21°c 41°c I 22°c
• •
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020
59
KUNAL PATIL/HT PHOTO
R Sukumar
s Mumbai India’s New York? And is Maharashtra,
India’s New York State?
The questions are in the context of the coronavi-
rus disease. New York State accounts for 356,278 (as
of Tuesday morning) of the total of around 1.51 mil-
lion cases in the country – around 23.5%. And 28,302
deaths – 31.3% of the 90,293 deaths in the country.
New York City accounted for 198,114 of these
cases and 20,298 deaths – 13.1% and 22.4% of the
cases and the deaths in the country, respectively.
On Tuesday morning, Maharashtra accounted
for 35,058 of India’s 100,311 cases and 1,249 of 3,081
deaths – 35% and 41% respectively.
Of these, Mumbai’s share was 21,335 and 757 –
21.2% and 25% of the cases and deaths in the coun-
try respectively. That one in four deaths in India
from Covid-19 has taken place in its commercial
capital and one of its two most important cities is
staggering.
The comparative figures for Delhi were 10,054
and 160 – 10% and 5.2% of the India total, respec-
tively.
The number of cases in Mumbai and Delhi have
accelerated in the past two weeks – but so have
cases across India.
In the two weeks between May 4 and May 18, the
number of cases in Mumbai rose by 12,025 (56% of
the total cases in Mumbai were recorded since May
4). In the same period, the number of cases in Delhi
increased by 5,156 (or 51.28% of the total cases in
Delhi were recorded since May 4). At the national
level, India has recorded 54% of its cases in the past
two weeks.
To answer the original question, Mumbai’s tra-
jectory of cases has followed a more even curve
than New York City’s, which was steep. But Mum-
bai is also more densely populated than NY, and
smaller (see page 5).
As for why, there are no easy answers.
Higher testing alone doesn’t explain this,
although it may be one reason why both Delhi and
Mumbai are showing as many cases as they are.
Delhi tests around 7,354 people for every million
of its population (according to data available till
Monday night). Mumbai was testing 7,040 per mil-
lion, according to data available till May 14. That
number is likely to have increased.
Density may be a factor, as could the presence of
large slums. Mumbai has Asia’s largest, Dharavi,
and it has seen 1,327 cases and 56 deaths thus far.
For some time, it looked as if Mumbai was going
the New York City way even in terms of the death
rate – it was higher than 7% for some weeks in
April. It is now 3.5% (number of deaths as a per-
centage of number of cases). The corresponding
proportion for NYC is 10.2%.
That’s a huge difference – but it is also in keep-
ing with the trend that the fatality rate of Covid-19
infections in India has remained lower than that in
other countries.
It’s probably the reason why India shouldn’t
worry too much about the spike in cases. Its focus
should be on minimising deaths. Tamil Nadu is a
good role model (so far). With 11,760 cases till Tues-
day, it has seen only 81 deaths, a fatality rate of
0.69%. Almost 70% of the cases in the southern state
have been added in the past two weeks.
As India opens up even as it sees a spike in
cases, comes the good news that Moderna’s mRNA
vaccine seeing great results in a limited study of
eight people.
The vaccine will now have to go through a much
larger human trial. Interestingly, if approved, it
will become the world’s first mRNA vaccine. In
contrast to normal vaccines that use inactive forms
of the virus or bacteria causing the disease, mRNA
vaccines use messenger RNA from the virus to
instruct the body’s own cells to produce the viral
protein. The body’s immune system registers and
reacts to them, producing what is called an
immune reaction. Moderna’s vaccine against Cov-
id-19 did just this.
There’s even better news – there’s work hap-
pening on similar vaccines in India (see page 5).
ALMANAC TEMPERATURE
Today is
20th May 2020 IN FOUR METROS
l 26 Ramadan 1441 Delhi
FRIDAY l Jyeshtha,
Generally cloudy Krishna Paksha, 13 40°c I 21°c
sky with Light l Samvat 2077 Mumbai
Rain or Drizzle Sunset: Wednesday
at 07:08 p.m.
34°c I 28°c
Sunrise: Thursday
Kolkata
at 05:27 a.m.
42°c I 24°c Moonrise: Thursday 33°c I 28°c
at 04:37 a.m. Chennai
Moonset: Thursday 39°c I 26°c
at 05:55 p.m.
 www.facebook.com/hindustantimes
New Delhi/METRO n Vol. XCVI No. 120 n Price ₹5.00/with Hindustan ₹ 9.00 (₹ 7.50 in Faridabad)/with Mint ₹ 9.50 n 16 Pages + 2 Pages of HT City. Area specific pages extra.
VENTILATORS DONATED BY U.S. EXPECTED SOON
Bengal, Odisha brace
for barrelling cyclone
AMPHAN Officials say it will reduce in intensity but may still cause heavy damage
Jayashree Nandi
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Cyclone Amphan is
poised to slam into West Bengal
and Odisha on Wednesday after-
noon, packing winds gusting to a
speed of 185 kmph, bringing with
it torrential rainfall, threatening
to inundate low-lying areas of
human habitation and cause
extensive damage to crops and
public property at a time when
the nation has its hands full with
the coronavirus disease (Cov-
id-19) pandemic.
According to the India Meteor-
ological Department (IMD),
Amphan is expected to make
landfall between Digha in West
Bengal and Hatiya Island in
Bangladesh, close to the Sundar-
bans and around Sagar Island, as
a very severe cyclonic storm, bor-
dering on an extremely severe
cyclonic storm.
On Tuesday afternoon, the
storm was packing wind speeds of
200 to 210 kmph, gusting to 240
kmph. Its intensity had reduced
marginally, bordering a super
cyclone and an extremely severe
cyclonic storm. According to
IMD’s glossary, an extremely
severe cyclonic storm carries
wind speed of between 167 kmph
and 221 kmph; a storm is classi-
fied as a super cyclone when wind
speeds exceed 222 kmph.
National Disaster Response
Force (NDRF) director general
SN Pradhan said people from
low-lying areas were being evac-
uated.
“The biggest challenge is that
we are facing two disasters
CONTINUED ON P 14
Virus is ‘uniquely
adapted’ to infect
humans: Study
Sutirtho Patranobis
n letters@hindustantimes.com
BEIJING: The new coronavirus is
ideally suited to infecting human
cells rather than animal ones, a
new study by researchers in
Australia claims, raising ques-
tions about the origin of the
virus, which has killed over
318,000 people and sickened over
4.9 million globally.
Samajwadi Party
››P5
worker, son shot
dead in Sambhal
BAREILLY: Samajwadi Party leader
Chote Lal Diwakar and his son
Sunil were shot dead at Shamsoi
in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal dis-
trict on Monday apparently over
a dispute regarding laying of a
road under the MGNREGS,
police said. The murders were
caught on camera. ››P14
Moderna’s mRNA tech a new era in vaccinology
Sanchita Sharma
letters@hindustantimes.com
n
NEW DELHI: Moderna’s experi-
mental vaccine against Cov-
id-19 has emerged the front-
runner in the global effort to
stop the pandemic after an
early trial showed it produced
virus-neutralising antibodies
similar to those found in
recovered patients.
It is one of at least 20 experi-
mental nucleic acid vaccines
against Covid-19 in various
stages of clinical development
that use the messenger RNA
(mRNA) platform to elicit an
immune response against
www.twitter.com/htTweets
RAJIV GANDHI
KISAN NYAY YOJNA
5700 crore for the benet of 19 lakh farmers
TRACKING THE STORM
Hundreds have been evacuated as the cyclonic storm is headed towards India’s eastern coast
n High waves due to cyclone Amphan are seen along
the Chennai coast on Tuesday, a day before its
expected landfall in West Bengal and Odisha. PTI
Looming climate disasters in ’20
will deepen Covid crisis: Experts
NEW DELHI: Climate disasters this
year, including cyclone
Amphan expected to hit India’s
eastern coast on Wednesday,
are likely to compound the prob-
lems related to the ongoing Cov-
id-19 pandemic since 2020 is also
likely to be the warmest on
record, a paper published on
May 15 in British Nature jour-
VIRUS PROBE
Trump threatens to
break off from WHO
WASHINGTON/ BEIJING: President
Donald Trump on Monday
threatened to pull America out of
the World Health Organization
(WHO) and permanently stop US
funding for the world health body
if it did not “commit to major sub-
stantive improvements” in the
next 30 days. Underlining Wash-
ington’s escalating fight with Bei-
jing, Trump said the WHO needs
to show “independence from
China”.
In a four-page letter to WHO
director general Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus, which
› for the organisation
he posted on Twitter on Monday,
Trump accused him personally
and the organisation of “repeated
missteps” in responding to the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump made the letter public
hours after Chinese President Xi
Jinping addressed the Geneva-
based group’s governing body,
the World Health Assembly, in
which he promised to devote $2
billion towards fighting the pan-
demic over the next two years.
Chinese foreign ministry
FIGHTING VIRUSES
IF SUCCESSFUL, THIS
WILL BE THE FIRST
MESSENGER RNA
VACCINE AGAINST ANY
DISEASE IN THE WORLD
Sars-CoV-2, the virus that
causes Covid-19.
Most of these vaccines
encode the spike protein of
Sars-CoV-2. “If it is approved,
it will be the first messenger
RNA (mRNA) vaccine against
any disease in the world. We
don’t fully know the effective-
ness of mRNA vaccines as yet.
>p5
INDIA
ODISHA
Bay of
Bengal
nal has warned.
The paper by MIT research-
ers has listed heat waves in
north India, floods in the delta
regions of West Bengal and
Bangladesh, wildfires in Sibe-
ria, bushfires in Australia,
floods in Africa and hurricanes
in the US among possible disas-
ters that are climate-attributa-
The only way forward
(WHO) is if it can actually
demonstrate
independence from China
DONALD TRUMP, US President
spokesman Zhao Lijian said
Trump’s letter was “full of insinu-
ations” and aimed “to mislead the
public and achieve the purpose of
stigmatising China’s epidemic
control efforts while shirking its
own responsibility”. ››P8
TAKING HCQ AS PREVENTIVE
MEDICATION: TRUMP ››P8
However, there is high quality
science and pre-clinical evi-
dence for this fast and flexible
platform for vaccine develop-
ment. We will have to wait and
see,” said Dr Anurag
Agrawal, Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research-In-
stitute of Genomics & Integra-
tive Biology, New Delhi. The
new vaccine, called mRNA-
1273, encodes for a pre-fusion
stabilised form of the spike (S)
protein. mRNA vaccines are
promising alternatives to con-
ventional vaccines because of
their high potency, capacity
for rapid development and
low-cost manufacture. ››P5
n DOWNLOAD OUR iPAD APP
CHINA OFFERS FARMERS CASH TO GIVE UP WILDLIFE TRADE
Forecast
track
WEST
BENGAL
May 20
May 19
12:00pm
ble risks. The risks are likely to
overlap with the Covid 19 crisis
over the next 12 to 18 months.
“These compound risks will
exacerbate and be exacerbated
by the unfolding economic crisis
and long-standing socioeco-
nomic and racial disparities...,”
said the paper.
FULL REPORT
Virus has shown
3 major strains, no
mutation specific
to India: Minister
Sanchita Sharma
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Sars-CoV-2 virus
causing the coronavirus disease
(Covid-19) has three major
strains, but no key mutation spe-
cific to India has been found that
affects infectiveness or disease
severity, Union minister of
health Harsh Vardhan said on
Tuesday. “...despite the fact that
no key mutation specific to India
has been found in the virus and it
still continues to be an imported
virus strain, we cannot afford to
be complacent,” he said in an
interview to HT.
The minister added that
although the peaking of
the curve in India
has been delayed,
it now depends on
how closely people
follow the restric-
tions and
norms.
››P7
NEW DRUG MAY
BOOST COVID
IMMUNITY
BEIJING: A research team at a
Beijing university has
claimed to have successfully
tested an experimental drug
on animals that could shorten
the recovery time for Covid-19
patients and offer short-term
immunity to the pathogen. A
statement said the team has
“successfully identified mul-
tiple highly potent neutralis-
ing antibodies” against Sars-
CoV-2. ››P5
www.hindustantimes.com/iPad
Paddy, Maize and Sugarcane farmers to receive the
funds directly into their accounts in four installments
Scheme to commence from 21st May,
to commemorate Rajiv Gandhi's Martyrdom
With Farmers in their Every Step, Every Journey
22 DEAD IN ROAD
ACCIDENTS AS
MIGRANTS HEAD
FOR THEIR HOMES
HT Correspondents
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Twenty-two people
were killed in separate road acci-
dents in five states on Tuesday,
taking the death toll in such inci-
dents involving migrant labou-
rers to at least 162 during the lock-
down imposed to stop the spread
of the coronavirus disease (Cov-
id-19).
Nine people died in Bihar, four
in Maharashtra, six in two sepa-
rate accidents in Uttar Pradesh,
one in Jharkhand, and two in as
many incidents in Odisha.
According to data collected by
HT reporters, at least 162
migrants have died in such acci-
dents since the beginning of the
lockdown on March 25. In the past
fortnight alone, 42 migrant labou-
rers have died in two major acci-
dents. On May 8, a goods train ran
over 16 people who were sleeping
on the tracks in Maharashtra’s
Aurangabad on their way back to
their village in Madhya Pradesh.
Then on May 16, 26 workers died
after the truck they were travel-
ling in rammed another vehicle
in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya dis-
trict.
The nationwide lockdown
imposed on March 25 left migrant
workers without jobs and a way
to get back home. It was only on
May 1 that the government
started running trains. ››P4
››P13
For all information related to corona virus,
log on to delhi ghtscorona.in
n OUR EDITION ON KINDLE http://read.ht/JS4
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020
>p8
From June 1, govt to restart
200 trains but without ACs
Anisha Dutta
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Indian Railways will
run 200 special passenger trains a
day from June 1 and online ticket
STATES’ CONSENT NOT NEEDED
NEW DELHI: Consent of states
where trains ferrying
migrants terminate is not
against the backdrop of dif-
ferences between the Centre
and some states over the
booking will begin soon, railway needed to run the special running of these trains.
minister Piyush Goyal said on Shramik trains, the govern- It also came on a day
Tuesday, in a fresh step aimed at ment said on Tuesday, when the Centre issued a
gradually resuming normalcy in
the services of the national car-
rier.
reversing an earlier order
that called for mutual agree-
ment of both sending and
fresh set of guidelines for
operating the services, and
said the trains will be per-
These trains will run with non- receiving states to transport mitted by the railway minis-
air conditioned coaches and are labourers to their home- try in consultation with the
expected to cater to small towns, towns. The move came home ministry. ››P11
according to officials aware of the
developments. The schedule will
be announced soon, the railway trains a day according to the time not want to be named, these pas-
ministry said. table…online bookings will begin senger trains will run long dis-
The 200 trains announced on soon,” Goyal tweeted. tance and are likely to connect
Tuesday will run in addition to In a statement announcing the smaller cities. They could also
the premium passenger trains new trains, the railway ministry help expedite the transport of
connecting New Delhi with 15 cit- said: “No tickets will be sold at migrants stuck in different parts
ies across India, and the ones fer- any railway station and prospec- of the country due to the lock-
rying stranded migrant labou- tive travellers should not come to down imposed to stop the spread
rers to their hometowns. the railway station to buy tick- of the coronavirus disease (Cov-
“Apart from this, from June 1, ets.” id-19).
railways will run 200 non-AC According to officials who did CONTINUED ON P 14
TRACKING THE VIRUS
WORLD INDIA DELHI
DEATHS DEATHS DEATHS
CASES 4,943,152 322,003 CASES 10,5625 (+5,314) 3,227 (+146) CASES 10,554 (+500) 166 (+6)
United States Rest of the world WORST-HIT STATES CASES LAST 5 DAYS 10,554
1,557,846 3,385,306 Maharashtra 37,136
9,755 10,054
Tamil Nadu
Gujarat
Delhi
Rajasthan
12,448
12,141
10,554
5,845
8,895
9,333
India data compiled by covid19india.org and cross-checked from inputs by HT’s correspondents and news agencies May 15 16 17 18 May 19
Dip/Shabdarth/D/0007/20-21
02 hindustantimes
p g
htspotlight
Delhi’s transport network sputters
back to life after reopening hiccups
DAY ONE Passengers complain of long waiting time for buses, and auto-rickshaws fleecing them; fewer cabs seen on roads
Sweta Goswami, Vatsala Shrangi
and Anvit Srivastava
htreporters@hindustantimes.com
n
NEW DELHI: After nearly two
months of being off the roads,
Delhi’s public transport system
sputtered back to life on Tuesday.
The empty roads got busier as the
day progressed though many
complained of long waits for
buses and autos fleecing them.
On Tuesday, the first day after
the state government relaxed
lockdown norms (following the
Centre doing so on Sunday even-
ing), a few cabs were on the roads,
most bus stops didn’t have the
promised marshals, and not
everyone who wanted to travel by
bus was screened with an infra-
red thermometer.
According to reports from the
Delhi government, the state
transport utilities pressed more
than 2,000 Delhi Transport Cor-
poration (DTC) buses and cluster
buses into service on Tuesday
from its fleet of 6,487 buses.
Transport minister Kailash
Gahlot said the number of buses
was low because around 1,400
buses are at the disposal of reve-
nue and police departments for
movement of migrants to railway
stations and for law and order
duties.
“We are also facing an issue
with the availability of bus driv-
ers due to the curbs in neighbour-
ing states. We hope to have more
buses on the road in the coming
days,” he said.
Transport officials said the
total number of passengers who
travelled on state-run buses on
Tuesday was only about 3.12%
(over 1 lakh passengers) of the
usual daily bus ridership of 3.2
million.
Many even questioned the gov-
ernment’s move to open all offi-
ces, industries and allow con-
struction and other economic
activities to resume citing that
the public transport system was
“grossly inadequate” to handle
the load, which is going to
increase with each passing day.
The Metro service is still not
allowed in the national capital.
Only 1,650 marshals were
deployed at bus stops on Tuesday,
with the result that people queue-
ing up at bus stops were seen vol-
untarily following the social dis-
tancing protocol. On Monday, the
Delhi government had said it
would deploy 4,000 marshals at
740 busy bus queue shelters to
ensure social distancing.
After visiting several bus stops
and terminals in Delhi, HT found
that the fewer number of buses,
coupled with the rule that allow-
ing only 20 passengers per bus,
resulted in longer waiting peri-
IGL gives ₹1.3cr to repair All liquor shops, except in malls, airport, to open
Nigambodh Ghat furnaces
HT Correspondent
htreporters@hindustantimes.com
n
NEW DELHI: The North Delhi
Municipal Corporation has
received a fund of ₹1.3 crore from
Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL)
to repair its damaged CNG-based
cremation furnaces at Nigam-
bodh Ghat.
The Delhi government has
authorised only three crematori-
ums in the capital to dispose of
bodies of Covid-19 patients or
those who had symptoms of the
infection.
Two of them are CNG-based:
Nigambodh Ghat in Jamuna
Bazaar, under the north corpora-
tion, and one in Punjabi Bagh,
under the South Delhi Municipal
Corporation (SDMC). The third is
the electric crematorium on
Lodhi Road under the New Delhi
Municipal Council (NDMC).
Besides these, five burial
grounds for Muslims and Chris-
tians, who die of Covid, have been
approved at ITO, Mangolpuri,
Madanpur Khadar and Shastri
Park. While each CNG furnace is
capable of processing only four
bodies a day, they have been
receiving up to 18 bodies for cre-
mation as per Covid protocol
daily. The Covid dead body dis-
posal standard operating proce-
dures are followed for those who
have died of the disease and sus-
pected cases as well.
“We are under a lot of pres-
sure. We have six CNG furnaces
in Nigambodh Ghat, of which
three were damaged and the rest
functional. Till April, we were
getting only four or five bodies for
cremation under Covid protocol.
The number has now gone up,”
n Social distancing on DTC buses could be seen on Tuesday, with them only allowing 20 passengers to board at a time.
ods for people at bus stops.
Subhash Chand (62) waited for
more than two hours at the Shiv-
aji Park bus stand to board a bus
to his home in Dwarka. He had an
eye treatment at the Guru Nanak
Eye Centre at Maharaja Ranjeet
Singh Marg, after which around
1pm, he walked for about 35 min-
utes to reach the terminal.
“There was no auto or e-rick-
shaw available to drop me at the
bus terminal. It is so hot, and even
at the terminal there was no res-
pite. I have been waiting for two
hours for the bus. In the morning,
I reached the bus stop in Dwarka
at 8am and was able to hop on one
after an hour,” Chand said.
On buses, stickers saying ‘do
not sit’ have been pasted on every
alternate seat.
Tinku Mondal, who had
arrived by a special passenger
train from Howrah, West Bengal,
said he waited for two hours
before he could board a bus from
Kapashera bus depot to go to the
Delhi-Gurugram border.
“I travelled from Sultanpuri to
Punjabi Bagh by bus, then took
an auto to AIIMS. At AIIMS, I
waited for 1.5 hours for bus num-
ber 433 to Okhla to join work at
my factory,” he said.
The bus queue shelters at
Apollo Hospital, Okhla Tank, Ras
Vihar, Sarita Vihar, Harkesh
Nagar and Saraswati Kunj had
marshals managing the people.
Thermal screening of passengers
was absent at a majority of the
bus shelters across the city.
Bootleggers use the
n Only three of the six CNG furnaces at Nigambodh Ghat crematorium
are currently functioning.
said Suman Gupta of the Nigam-
bodh Ghat Sanchalan Samiti.
For instance, on May 12, the
crematorium got 16 such bodies,
and on May 13 and 14, they got 18
bodies each day, Gupta said.
From May 15-17, it has been get-
ting 13 bodies each day, he said.
An IGL spokesperson, who
didn’t wish to be named, said,
“We have provided about ₹1.3
crore under our corporate social
responsibility (CSR) initiative
and are glad to have done our bit
in times of a pandemic.”
The Punjabi Bagh cremation
facility has four CNG furnaces of
which two were defunct till a few
days ago. The load of cremating
bodies was being shouldered by
two furnaces, resulting in delays.
“The two machines, which
were under maintenance, have
been repaired now, so all four fur-
naces are working. Now there is
no pendency of bodies at the facil-
ity,” a senior SDMC official said.
The official said in the last
three days, 40 bodies of confirmed
“Today we have initiated the
process to procure 1,000 contact-
less temperature checking devi-
ces. We did start thermal screen-
ing at a few select bus stops on
Tuesday. But, the problem is that
we have only a few devices at our
disposal,” Gahlot said.
Those who opted to travel by
auto-rickshaws said they were
overcharged by drivers or had to
hire multiple autos to adhere to
the Delhi government’s norm of
one passenger per auto. Some
autos, however, were seen carry-
ing two passengers as well.
Rajesh Gupta, a retired gov-
ernment employee, who had to go
to Okhla from AIIMS, said the
auto driver asked him for ₹350 for
the ride. “It usually costs me
about ₹150. I asked him to settle
for ₹200-250, but he refused. So I
had to wait for a bus for more than
an hour to get home,” Gupta said.
Cabs also resumed services on
Tuesday, but very few were spot-
ted on the roads. An official of cab
aggregator Ola, who did not want
to be identified, said the number
of bookings received from Delhi
was lower when compared to a
normal day.
“I tried booking a cab and the
app gave me a waiting time of 15
minutes. But due to dynamic
pricing mechanism , I had to pay
about ₹40 more for my ride to
Laxmi Nagar from South Exten-
sion,” Ruchira Tyagi, an
employee at a designer apparel
store in South Extension Part 2,
said.
SONU MEHTA/HT PHOTO
Covid and suspected patients
were cremated here. According
to central government guide-
lines, bodies of Covid-19 patients
can be cremated in CNG furnaces
alone as it ensures “closed and
complete burning.”
Wood-based burning releases
particulate matter in the air and
is not recommended for patients
with infectious diseases such as
Covid or even tuberculosis.
The Delhi government on
Monday asked SDMC and the
North corporation to share the
“details of cremation and burial
at Nigambodh Ghat, Punjabi
Bagh and at ITO graveyard of
Covid-19 related deaths (positive
and suspect)”.
“All require details have been
shared with the government ,” a
senior SDMC official said.
According to civic officials, 177
corpses were cremated at Punjabi
Bagh crematorium between
April 12 and May 16. The official
said that 170 such funerals were
conducted at Nigambodh Ghat.
On Day 1, few shopkeepers,
customers back to markets
Vatsala Shrangi
n vatsala.shrangi@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: Markets reopened in
Delhi on Tuesday, after more
than 50 days of remaining shut
owing to the lockdown imposed
on March 25, to contain the
spread of the Covid-19.
As per the rules laid out by the
Delhi government, markets
opened on the odd-even foumula
-- even-numbered shops open on
even numbered days and odd-
numbered shops on odd dates,
much like the odd-even road
rationing scheme.
However, most markets
remained deserted on Tuesday
with only 30%-35% of odd-num-
bered shops open for business.
Brajesh Goyal, national con-
vener, Chamber of Trade and
Industry (CTI), said, “Only
around 30%-35% of odd-num-
bered shops opened today. It was
the first day and owners were
busy cleaning and disinfecting
shops. Also, customers are not
confident about venturing out.”
Many shopkeepers were also
seen painting circles before their
shops to ensure social distancing
among customers. Some of them
were also marking numbers on
Abhishek Dey
n abhishek.dey@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI: The Delhi government
Tuesday allowed the opening of
all liquor shops, except for those
that are located in shopping
malls and the airport. This came
a day after the Delhi government
scaled down restrictions in the
fourth phase of the nationwide
lockdown that kicked in on May
18 and will continue till May 31.
The shops shall remain open
from 9.30am to 6.30pm, read the
order.
There are 864 liquor shops in
Delhi, of which around 600 will
reopen now. This is apart from
the 100 that had opened for busi-
ness on May 4. The rest are
located in containment zones,
which include the airport and
shopping malls, and cannot
reopen under the guidelines
issued by the Union home minis-
try, a senior official in the excise
department said.
The 850-odd restaurants in the
city, which have a bar, have also
not been allowed to sell liquor
yet, though, under the new
guidelines, their kitchen is now
open for takeaway and the home
delivery of food, the official said.
Of the 700 liquor shops that
can reopen, around 400 are
under government departments,
such as tourism and industrial
and infrastructure development
while the remaining 300 are pri-
vate enterprises.
“With the reopening of private
vends, people will once again be
able to avail of a much wider
variety of Indian-manufactured
foreign liquor, beer, wine, as well
as imported liquor, after around
two months of dry days,” a gov-
ernment official said.
While the government-run
shops can start functioning from
Wednesday after thorough sani-
AJAY AGGARWAL /HT PHOTO
their shops since they will now
have to follow the odd-even for-
mula.
While Chandni Chowk main
road market had decided to
remain shut till May 31, other Old
Delhi markets such as Chawri
Bazar, shops in lanes (katras)
such as Khari Baoli and cloth
market opened Tuesday.
At Lajpat Nagar central mar-
ket, where at least 40% of odd-
numbered shops opened, the teh-
bazari stalls did slightly better
than the showrooms with a few
customers walking in.
Sanjay Tripathi, who runs one
such stall of women’s clothing,
said, “We were just setting up the
display when the first customer
came in around 12.30pm. People
are just buying one or two utility
items and nothing more. But at
least we are open and sales may
pick up later,” said Tripathi.
With Eid-ul Fitr to be cele-
brated on May 25, shopkeepers
hoped to get more customers the
coming week. Ashwani Marwah,
general secretary, traders associ-
ation Lajpat Nagar, said, “Most
shops at the market opened only
post-lunch for cleaning and set-
ting up displays and closed by
6pm. It will take at least a week for
n People purchase liquor from a shop in Kalyanpuri, which was one of
the 100 outlets that opened on May 4.
tisation, the private ones have
been given time till Friday to
complete stock management for-
malities, sanitisation, arranging
staff and social distancing meas-
ures, excise officials said.
The private enterprises that
can operate now also include
general stores and department
stores that have alcohol coun-
ters. But they will have to adhere
to the timings and the odd-even
rule for shops in case they are
located in markets or commer-
cial spaces, the senior excise offi-
cial said.
Of the 700 liquor shops that
can reopen, around 200 are
stand-alone shops (those not
located in market clusters),
which can open all days of the
week. The remaining 500 are
located in markets and, hence,
they will have to follow the odd-
even rule, which allows shops
allocated odd and even numbers
to open on alternate dates.
In the last two weeks, there
were huge crowds and rampant
violation of social distancing
norms around the 100 liquor
shops in Delhi that were open for
business, often leading to a
TRAFFIC
SWELLS IN
CAPITAL
NEW DELHI: Scores of
migrants gathered at
Ghazipur border on
Tuesday causing jams on
several stretches of east
Delhi. ”At least 1,500
people had gathered at
the border and they
could be dispersed only
with the help of the
administration. Many
were attempting to cross
over into UP,” said a
police officer.
Jams were seen on
ITO-Sarai Kale Khan
Road, Yamuna bridge
near Geeta Colony and
from Sarai Kale Khan to
Akshardham. Taj Has-
san, special CP (traffic),
said there was no incr-
ease in traffic and jams
were the result of check-
ing at barricades. HTC
the footfall to increase.”
Abha Gupta, who had stepped
out to buy clothes for her new-
born, had to wait outside a shop in
Lajpat Nagar, as not more than
2-3 customers were being allowed
inside shops. “We would have
avoided coming out at all, but we
needed some stuff for our two-
month-old. With even e-com-
merce sites being closed, we had
to come. Nobody is stepping out
unless there is an urgent require-
ment,” said Gupta.
Till 3pm, Rakesh Gupta, a
sports store owner at Sarojini
Nagar had not had a single cus-
tomer. “We have been sitting idle.
The customers were fewer and
there is little transport availa-
ble,” he said.
Traders also said that the gov-
ernment should no longer call
this phase as lockdown, as it cre-
ates a doubt in the mind of the
customers and prevents them
from stepping out. Besides, shop-
owners in Connaught Place said
that even as they maintain social
distancing and sanitisation
norms inside the shops, the police
and local authorities must ensure
the same in the corridors where a
lot of hawkers set up kiosks and
are expected to return soon.
AMAL KS/HT PHOTO
crackdown by the police.
Vinod Giri, director-general
of the Confederation of Indian
Alcoholic Beverage Companies,
welcomed the move calling it a
“win-win situation” for stake-
holders. He said, “It will help sta-
bilise the industry. It will help
the government earn revenue. It
will help customers buy liquor of
their choice, which several of
them have not been able to do in
the past several days either due
to the massive rush or inade-
quate stocks. Having more shops
open would also help ensure bet-
ter social distancing.”
The e-coupon system that was
introduced by the Delhi govern-
ment last week would continue.
Under this system, individuals
can apply online and avail of
time slots to visit a designated
liquor shop and purchase liquor
without having to join a queue.
The government, however,
has done away with the proposal
of the home delivery of liquor,
for now, a senior government
official said.
Also, the “special corona fee”
of 70% on the MRP of liquor
would continue to apply.
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, N EW D E LHI
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0
CORONAVIRUS: METRO
n Customers at a wholesale market in Bhagirath Palace on Tuesday,
the first day of lockdown relaxations in Delhi. SONU MEHTA/HT PHOTO
Covid count up
by 500 in a day,
toll rises by six
Anonna Dutt
n anonna.dutt@htlive.com
NEW DELHI : A day after crossing
10,000 cases, Delhi reported 500
new coronavirus disease (Cov-
id-19) infections on Tuesday,
according to the daily health bul-
letin released by the Delhi gov-
ernment. The new cases, the
highest single-day spike so far,
took the city’s tally to 10,554.
Delhi has mirrored the
national trend of an acceleration
in number of cases over the past
two weeks, although the number
of deaths remains low, especially
when seen in the context of the
number of cases.
Six deaths of Covid-19 patients
were reported in the capital on
Tuesday, taking the toll of the
viral infection in the city to 166,
putting Delhi’s mortality rate
(the number of deaths expressed
as a percentage of cases) at
around 1.6%, much lower than
the national average of 3.07%.
Delhi has reported an increase
in the number of deaths since
May 12, when the three-member
death audit committee started
sifting through a backlog of
reported fatalities to confirm
whether they had been caused by
Covid-19. After a discrepancy
was noticed between the number
of fatalities reported by hospitals
and the number of deaths in the
health bulletin, the chief secre-
tary directed all designated Cov-
id-19 hospitals to send in their
death reports each day by 5pm to
ensure accurate reporting .
“It has been observed that in
spite of the order, health care
facilities in Delhi are not timely
reporting death of Covid positive
persons as per the SOPs circu-
lated,” said a new order from
health secretary Padmini Singla.
Of the 166 deaths that have
been recorded so far, at least 52%
are patients who are aged 60 years
or older. Almost 85% of those who
died had some co-morbidity such
aged, the disabled to
evade police checks
HT Correspondent
n htreporters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI : With 90% of all liquor
vends across Delhi closed since
March 25, bootleggers have been
coming up with innovative ways
to smuggle the spirits into the
capital city.
Experts say the huge profit
margins and the wide demand-
supply gap has bootleggers mov-
ing in to fill the void. From hiring
the elderly or disabled people as
carriers to transporting liquor
hidden in vegetable carts, the
bootleggers over the last two
months used every trick in their
book to milk the dry days while
avoiding arrest.
The Narela police on April 26
arrested a 75-year-old woman for
smuggling liquor from Sonepat,
Haryana. The woman told police
she was paid ₹2,000 to sit as a pil-
lion rider on a scooter to avoid
suspicion. While the man, who
hired her, abandoned the scooter
on seeing the police and fled, the
woman was caught. Police found
100 bottles of liquor with her, each
containing about 330ml.
Hoping that police would not
stop disabled persons for check-
ing, a bootlegger roped in a physi-
cally disabled person. When
police stopped the two at Nangloi
on April 28, they found 90 bottles
of liquor, smuggled from Bahad-
urgarh, Haryana. The 40-year-old
disabled person told police that a
friend had promised him ₹500 for
each trip he made.
as diabetes, hypertension, heart
or kidney disease.
With 500 cases a day, Delhi is
now living out the second sce-
nario taken into account by a five-
member committee of doctors
formed in March for advising the
chief minister on Covid-19.
The committee suggested
measures such as making space
for Covid-19 patients in govern-
ment and private hospitals and
taking over hotels and shelter
homes to isolate patients; it also
suggested how many ventilators
the city would need when the
tally reaches 100 cases a day, 500
cases a day and 1,000 cases a day.
“Delhi is reasonably well pre-
pared for around 1,000 cases a day
for about 15 days at a stretch. If we
assume, that for every 500 cases,
10 to 12 will need ventilators we
have enough in the city and the
actual numbers are lower,” said
Dr SK Sarin, head of the five-
member committee.
Of the 5,638 people still living
with the infection in Delhi, 1,779
with severe symptoms are admit-
ted to Covid-19 hospitals. Of them,
158 people are in intensive care
units with 16 on ventilators.
Currently, Delhi has 306 venti-
lators in the government sector
and another 800 in the private sec-
tor. The government is planning
to buy another 500 ventilators.
“Lower number of people on
ventilators shows that the sever-
ity of the infection is less. There
could be two possible reasons --
the age of patients and virus
strain. If mostly young people
have been infected, the disease is
likely to be less severe. Also, the
virus strain could be such that it
does not cause severe infection.
In Maharashtra and Gujarat,
where the severity of infection
seems to be higher, both states
might have the same strain of
virus as they are geographically
closer,” said Dr Shobha Broor,
former head of the department of
microbiology at AIIMS.
Last month, police registered
at least 300 cases under the Excise
Act and seized around 30,000 bot-
tles of liquor. Police found boot-
leggers smuggling liquor in vehi-
cles carrying loads of vegetables.
On May 2, when police stopped an
e-rickshaw loaded with cucum-
bers, the driver’s behaviour
aroused suspicion, prompting the
police to sift through the produce.
They found 580 bottles hidden
inside the cucumbers.
It isn’t just vehicles or unusual
carriers. Until last week, when
movement of all persons except
those involved in essential servi-
ces, restricted across the city, a
36-year-old man came up with the
idea of getting alcohol to his buy-
ers in south Delhi while posing as
a Good Samaritan out to distrib-
ute food to the poor. He was
arrested from Jaitpur on May 10.
Retired IPS officer Vikram
Singh said when there is a prohi-
bition, criminals come up with
innovative ways to beat it.
“Liquor was unavailable until
recently. The profit margins for a
smuggled bottle is very high so
they find innovative means to
smuggle them,” he said.
Delhi Police spokesperson
Mandeep Randhawa said even so,
police are one step ahead of them.
“Our personnel keep an eye on
every vehicle passing through
the border. Apart from acting on
tipoffs we also conduct random
checks on vehicles. We rely on
intelligence from our sources to
catch smugglers,” he said.
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, N EW D E LH I
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0 hindustantimes 03

spotlight
htspotlight CORONAVIRUS: METRO

For Delhi’s doctors, the battle is also personal

ON THE FRONTLINE Facing hostility in their neighbourhoods, the risk of infection at work, the fear of potentially exposing family to the disease, and staying
quarantined after working — these are just a few of the challenges health care workers contend with. Anonna Dutt speaks to some of Delhi’s Covid warriors
SHASHI GANDHI DR ADITI PUNIYA DR SRISHTI PRAKASH DR GOPAL JHA

A Covid +ve doctor 2 recovered mohalla

n Shashi Gandhi worked in the Covid ward at Lok Nayak hospital for
14 days, followed by 14 days in quarantine.
found support from clinic docs returned
an unlikely source to a caring response
NEW DELHI: Dr Aditi Puniya found NEW DELHI: Patients at the Mauj-
out she was Covid-positive at pur and Baburpur mohalla clin-
2pm on April 24. By 4pm, people ics in northeast Delhi welcomed
in her colony and all her friends their doctors back last week after
knew about the diagnosis. a two-month hiatus. The doctor
The resident welfare associa- couple working in the clinics had
tion (RWA) of the colony in been diagnosed with Covid-19 in
Ghaziabad where she lived had n Dr Srishti Prakash (bottom left) lives in a family of 13, including two March.
RAJ K RAJ/HT PHOTO put up a notice everywhere let- grandparents with co-morbidities. SOURCED Dr Gopal Jha (51) was the first
ting people know she had tested health care worker in the city to

After a month away positive, and an NGO had

tweeted about it.
“I was surprised. I was get-
The worry of coming test positive for the viral infec-
tion, on March 21. His wife, Dr
Alpana Jha (49), tested positive a

from home, a return

NEWDELHI: It’s only been five days
since Shashi Gandhi returned to
his second-floor flat in northeast
Delhi’s Jhilmil after a month. He
worked in the Covid-19 ward at
Lok Nayak hospital for 14 days,
which was followed by 14 days in
quarantine. He lives with his wife
and two sons.
By the time he was posted in
the ward in mid-April, his family
was already prepared; the 2,000-
bed hospital had been turned into
a dedicated treatment facility for
the viral infection.
“We all knew we will have to
work in the Covid ward, so we
were prepared, as were our fami-
lies. They asked me to stay safe
and come back soon. When I
reached the room the hospital
had allotted to me, I found a nice
surprise. My children had made a
gift pack for me with biscuits and
chocolates. I don’t know when
they slipped it in my bag,” he said.
After work, he would video call
his family every day. But a video
call was not enough on April 27,
which marked the 12th anniver-
sary of his marriage with Man-
deep. “I did not know what to do,
so after work ended, I decided to
go home. But I did not go up to my
flat. I just sat in my car down-
stairs and spoke to my family
from afar. I kept some chocolates
for them and left,” he said.
When in the hospital, he said
working in personal protective
equipment (PPE) was one of the
foremost challenges. “It just gets
so hot inside the coverall. We
would be drenched in sweat after
taking the PPE off after our
shifts,” he said.
He is likely to be posted for the
next round of Covid-19 duty in the
last week of this month.
Shashi’s wife admitted that
they were scared. “This is a new
infection and we hear about what
is happening in the city. But I also
feel proud that my family is con-
tributing in the fight against this
disease.”
ting calls from everywhere
about the diagnosis. I don’t
think there was any malice
behind what the RWA did, they
probably just wanted to inform
people and did not know what to
do,” said Dr Puniya. She is a
postgraduate student working
in the department of paediatrics
in Jag Parvesh Chandra hospi-
tal.
Her sister tested negative and
was put up in a quarantine cen-
tre in Ghaziabad, while Dr Pun-
iya was admitted to a Covid-des-
ignated hospital.
But it was not all bad. When
her sister returned from quar-
antine, a neighbour started giv-
ing them food thrice a week.
“We were not very close earlier;
we would just greet each other
when we met in the lift or lobby.
But we have become very close
now. My sister got back home
before me. The neighbour called
my sister to the balcony and
gave her food. She still contin-
ues to share food with us,” Dr
Puniya said.
Many of her colleagues
weren’t as lucky. She first
started feeling ill, with a fever
n Dr Aditi Puniya
and shortness of breath — on
April 19, and the head of her
department asked her to go back
home and get tested as a precau-
tion. When she tested positive,
the hospital started contact
tracing.
Several members of staff
were asked to go into quaran-
tine. “Some of them had very
bad experiences, with people
not coming close to their house.
Our area was declared a con-
tainment zone after I tested pos-
itive, and groceries were deliv-
ered to our houses. But for many
others in non-containment
areas, getting groceries became
difficult during home quaran-
tine, and their neighbours did
not help,” she said. Her col-
leagues stepped up and started
bringing groceries to all those
who had been quarantined.
home to a joint family
NEW DELHI: Dr Srishti Prakash
worries constantly about return-
ing home after work. She is a post-
graduate student in the gynaecol-
ogy department of Safdarjung
hospital, one of the busiest
departments across hospitals in
Delhi. Around 50 of her col-
leagues have so far tested positive
for Covid-19.
She lives in a joint family with
12 others in a three-storey Ghazi-
abad house. The family includes
her elderly grandmother, who
has diabetes, and grandfather,
who had prostate cancer. The eld-
erly, and those with co-morbid
conditions like diabetes, hyper-
tension, kidney and heart disease
are at an increased risk of devel-
oping severe Covid-19 symptoms.
“When I am at work, it is like
any other day. We have to main-
tain social distance, wear masks,
gloves and gowns properly. My
only fear is carrying the infection
home with me,” Dr Prakash said.
Her last round of Covid-19 duty in
the super-speciality block —
where Covid-positive women
deliver — was in March, and her
next is likely to come soon.
“The hospital arranges accom-
modation for those on Covid-19
duty, so I do not have to go home
till I am sure I do not have the
infection. But when I work in the
other wards, there is a persistent
worry, because most Covid-19
patients generally are now
asymptomatic,” she said.
Every day, before leaving hos-
pital, she cleans her cellphone,
pens, and anything in her bag
that might have been exposed,
with cotton and sanitiser. When
she gets home, she first takes a
bath and washes the clothes she
wore to work.
“Everyone is staying home
right now, and it scares me that I
might be the one to bring the
infection home. So, whenever I
feel like I might have been
exposed to someone with the
infection, I stay back in the hostel
along with some of my friends,”
Dr Prakash said.
few days later, along with their
daughter.
He was also part of the first
cluster of cases that were
reported from Delhi. His colony
in Dilshad Garden was one of the
city’s first containment zones.
“I was a little apprehensive on
my first day back. I kept wonder-
ing whether patients would be
scared to come to my clinic.
Everybody in the area knew my
wife and I had the infection. But
the reception we received was
quite the opposite. My regular
patients actually came just to ask
about my health and well-being.
It was nice to talk to them again,”
Dr Gopal Jha said.
The clinic was sanitised and
kept ready while he recovered
from severe symptoms of the dis-
ease at Safdarjung hospital.
He was discharged in the first
week of April.
He started developing symp-
toms the day after he got a call
from the district authorities ask-
ing him to get tested at Guru Teg
Bahadur hospital near his house,
after one of the patients he had
referred there tested positive. He
was moved to Safdarjung hospi-
n Dr Gopal Jha SANCHIT KHANNA/HT
tal when he got high fever, cough,
loose motion, and had to be put on
oxygen therapy for breathing dif-
ficulties. His wife and daughter
had mild symptoms.
“At first I developed a mild
fever, which I thought could be
because of all the stress... Then,
the fever shot up a day later and I
started coughing two days after
that. I had loose motion and high
fever for all 14 fourteen days. The
worst was the feeling that I could
not breathe. The doctors had to
put me on oxygen, after I told
them I was feeling a little breath-
less,” he said.
“I did not expect I would have
the infection. I maintained social
distance when the patient came
in. She would have been in my
clinic for no longer than five min-
utes, and I cleaned all the surfaces
after she left,” said Dr Jha.

All of Mandoli jail’s

high-risk inmates
Kejriwal asks Centre for 100 special (Class 9 to 12)
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will be moved to
Tihar jail complex
Richa Banka
n richa.banka@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: A high-powered com-
mittee, constituted to decongest
prisons in the national capital,
has resolved that all 160 high-risk
prisoners lodged in jail number
15 in Mandoli prison be shifted to
trains to send migrant workers back For each subject,
P 200+ Video Lectures
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
which shows their apathy
towards solving this issue. The
BJP sent luxury flights for those
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NEWDELHI: Chief minister Arvind stuck in other countries, but they P 1000+ Practice Questions
Kejriwal has urged the central do not care for the poor people
government to provide 100 who are walking hundreds and P 10+ Cumulative Tests
shramik special trains to the thousands of kilometres bare-
Delhi government for sending foot. This shows the BJP is an P Books & Work Books
back thousands of stranded anti-poor political party,” Singh
migrant workers to their home said. P Doubt Clearing
states, senior officials in the chief Leader of opposition in the
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the Tihar jail complex, to allow The chief minister’s demand Bidhuri said the Central govern-
new entrants to the former to be came amid the ongoing blame ment had given 8kg wheat, 2kg
lodged in separate cells in isola- game on the matter between the rice and one kg pulses free to 72
tion. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Workers gathered to register for special trains. lakh people of Delhi, but the AAP

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n SONU MEHTA/HT PHOTO
The move comes after 15 pris- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). government failed to distribute
oners and one jail staffer in the Deputy CM Manish Sisodia Senior officials in the chief trains on an hourly basis one the ration to all of the poor people.

96001 00090, 96001 00020

Rohini prison complex tested
positive for Covid-19 last week.
In a meeting on May 18, San-
deep Goel, director general (pris-
ons), told the committee precau-
tions are being taken and all con-
tacts of the infected persons are
being traced.
Justice Hima Kohli, chairman
of the committee, had asked the
DG (prisons) whether individual
cells, which could be converted
into isolation cells, were availa-
ble in any prison, to allow new
entrants at least 14 days of isola-
tion, so as to keep others at bay
from the potential threat of con-
tracting Covid-19.
Goel said jail 15 at Mandoli
prison, which has an overall
capacity of 280 prisoners, has 248
individual cells (with attached
toilets). He also told the commit-
tee that Mandoli currently has
178 inmates, of whom 139 are
under trial, 38 are convicts, and
one is a detenue.
“After transferring the exist-
ing inmates of Jail No 15, the same
shall be available for keeping the
new entrants in isolation cells/
rooms. This shall take care of all
the new male entrants who are
above 21 years of age. It is made
clear that fresh male inmates
who are between 18 to 21 years of
age and fresh women inmates
shall continue to be kept in ‘ sepa-
rate isolation wards at jail no 5
and 6 respectively at Tihar, in
terms of the earlier resolution,”
the minutes of the meeting read.
“It is resolved that these new
inmates shall be permitted to
intermingle with other inmates
only after keeping them in isola-
tion wards for 14 days...”
Goel also told the committee
that steps are being taken to
maintain social distancing and
regular medical checkup of jail
staff and inmates is being done
through jail doctors.
said, “Around 65,000 migrants
from Delhi have been sent to their
home states by trains. We are
seeking permission from differ-
ent states to send back their citi-
zens stranded in Delhi.”
However, the consent of desti-
nation states is not required for
running Shramik special trains
to ferry migrant workers, the
ministry of railways said on
Tuesday.
As city returns to work, RWAs
set guidelines for domestic help
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: While several resi-
dents’ welfare associations
(RWAs) in the city have allowed
domestic help to return to work,
there are some which have or are
in the process of putting in place
rules for their movement within
colonies. The Delhi government,
in its order on Tuesday, had
clearly stated that RWAs can’t
‘prevent persons from perform-
ing their services’.
In some residential areas,
RWAs have asked domestic help
to show their Aadhaar Card to
ascertain whether they are com-
ing from containment zones and
have requested an undertaking
from residents as well. Some
RWAs are also contemplating fix-
ing timings for the entry of
domestic help.
In Vasant Kunj’s Sector A
Pocket C, the RWA has allowed
domestic help, but with a rider.
“We have asked residents to place
a request with the RWA to allow
domestic help. We are not stop-
ping anyone; we just want to
minister’s office said the govern-
ment had received online appli-
cations from around 400,000
migrant workers in the city want-
ing to go back home. The highest
number of them belong to Bihar
and Uttar Pradesh.
They said that so far, 59 special
trains and over 200 buses had left
Delhi in the past week.
“The government plans to
scale up the process and schedule
know who is entering our soci-
ety,” Vinay Kumar Gupta, the
RWA president, said.
In Alaknanda, which has over
10 residential societies, most resi-
dents have decided to wait for
some time before allowing
domestic help to start work again.
But some rules have been put in
place for those who want to call
domestic help at home.
“We are asking the help to
show their Aadhaar cards at the
gate so that we can ensure they
are not coming from containment
zones. Some societies are issuing
new ID cards while others are fix-
ing timings for their entry. We are
not stopping anyone, but are tak-
ing these measures for every-
one’s safety,” Poonam Arora,
general secretary, Federation of
Alaknanda RWAs, said.
The joint forum of 45 residen-
tial apartments in Vasundhara
Enclave issued guidelines on
Monday, allowing domestic help
between 7 am and 11am only for
those in “dire need”, such as eld-
erly people and working couples.
“Residents in their own safety
interest might like to ensure that
after another if more trains are
granted. We are talking to more
states,” an official said.
AAP spokesperson and Rajya
Sabha MP Sanjay Singh criticised
the BJP-ruled Centre for its
“deliberate reluctance” to send
the poor back homes.
“To send these four lakh
migrants, we need 350 trains, but
the BJP government is running
100 trains across the country,
their domestic help works exclu-
sively in their house,” the guide-
lines stated.
Shantanu Monga, who works
in an IT firm and lives in Vasund-
hara Enclave, said, “Now, it’s
become very difficult for us to
manage on our own since we have
to report back to work. Despite
the government allowing domes-
tic help, how can residential soci-
eties bar them? This is absolutely
unacceptable.”
But JP Sharma, the president
of the forum, said, “ We have
asked all apartment buildings not
to stop residents from calling
domestic help. We just want them
to ensure they wear masks all the
time, don’t roam around the
premises after work and in no cir-
cumstances be allowed to visit in
the evening,” he said.
In Indraprastha Extension,
Dwarka and Patparganj, RWAs
have allowed domestic help to
resume work. “We have just
advised RWAs to ensure the
domestic help follow all hygiene
measures and cover their faces,”
Rejimon CK, a member of
Dwarka Forum, said.
“Only ₹6.5 crore was spent by
the Delhi government on ration
distribution. Union food minister
Ram Vilas Paswan has already
said only 1% of the ration issued
by the Centre for the month of
April was given by the Delhi gov-
ernment to the poor people,” he
said.
AAP did not respond to BJP’s
allegations on the distribution of
ration.
Don’t use saliva to
fix stamps, Delhi
court orders staff
HT Correspondent
n htreporters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court asked
lawyers, court staff and litigants
to not use their saliva for affix-
ing court fee stamps on applica-
tions, petitions, and envelopes
containing notices and sum-
mons in order to prevent the
spread of the coronavirus dis-
ease (Covid-19).
In a circular issued on Mon-
day by the district and sessions
judge of Tis Hazari court, Girish
Kathpalia, all court officials
have been asked not to use
saliva while paginating files.
“Officials are directed to not
use saliva while doing the pagi-
nation of files etc,” the circular
read. The circular further
advised the official to use plastic
sponge damper pads while going
through the judicial files.
The Delhi high court had, on
March 25, had curtailed its func-
tioning as well as that of district
courts till April 14. It was then
extended to May 3 and later to
May 17.
04 hindustantimes HIN DUSTA N TIMES, N EW D E LHI
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0

p g
htspotlight CORONAVIRUS: NATION

n Migrants from Bihar wait to board a Shramik Special train in Bhopal on Tuesday. PTI n A policeman disperses migrant workers outside a railway station in Mumbai on Tuesday. AFP n Migrants undergo thermal screening before they board buses in Surat on Tuesday. PTI

In five states, accidents kill Cases still rising, Maha

braces for Covid peak
22 as migrants return home
CRISIS About 162 labourers killed in such accidents since the imposition of curbs as they head back after losing jobs
Sachin Kalbag and
Snehal Fernandes
n letters@hindustantimes.com

MUMBAI: On Monday night, Maha-

› We will have to wait
for another 14-day
incubation cycle to
ity rate of the pandemic – 7.52%
and 7.09% respectively. On May
18, this dropped to 3.56% and
3.55%. India’s overall mortality
rate is 3.1%.

HT Correspondents
rashtra chief minister Uddhav complete (by May 31). The Maharashtra’s testing rate has
Thackeray addressed the state on also risen dramatically in a
n letters@hindustantimes.com social media – a much-antici- rise is likely to come under month. On April 14, the state was

NEW DELHI: Twenty-two people

were killed in separate road acci-
dents in five states on Tuesday,
taking the death toll in such inci-
dents involving migrant labou-
rers to at least 162 during the lock-
down imposed to stop the spread
of the coronavirus disease (Cov-
id-19).
Nine people died in Bihar, four
in Maharashtra, six in two sepa-
rate accidents in Uttar Pradesh,
one in Jharkhand, and two in as
many incidents in Odisha,
according to state officials.
The accident in Bihar’s Bha-
galpur took place when a truck
with the migrants rammed a bus,
which too was carrying labourers
who returned on a Shramik Spe-
cial train on Monday night. Four
passengers in the bus, which was
on the way to Banka district from
Darbhanga, suffered injuries.
The truck, which was carrying
iron poles, skidded off the road
and fell into a ditch after the colli-
sion on NH-31 around 4am. The
nine victims sitting atop were
buried under the poles, Bhagal-
pur district magistrate Pranav
Kumar said. According to the
documents found in their posses-
sion, they were residents of east
and west Champaran districts.
Bihar chief minister Nitish
Kumar expressed grief over the
accident and announced a com-
pensation of ~4 lakh to family
members of each victim.
In Maharashtra’s Yavatmal
district, three migrant labourers
and a bus driver were killed and
22 others injured after their vehi-
cle hit a stationary truck early on
Tuesday, the police said. Among
those injured, 17 were reported to
be in a serious condition.
The accident took place at Kol-
wan village around 3.30am, when
the bus was on its way from Sola-
pur to the Nagpur railway sta-
tion. The labourers were going
there to board a Shramik Special
train to reach their home towns
in Jharkhand, additional super-
intendent of police Noorul Hasan
said. The bus driver lost control
and the vehicle hit a stationary
truck carrying road construction
material, he said.
In UP, two separate accidents
involving migrant workers were
reported. In the first incident, a
truck carrying labourers over-
turned on the Jhansi-Mirzapur
highway, killing three women —
between 30 and 38 years — and
leaving 17 others injured, the
police said.
The accident took place at
Mahuva crossing in Mahoba dis-
trict. The labourers had returned
from Delhi and boarded the truck
near Harpalpur along the Mad-
hya Pradesh border. The truck
fell into a roadside ditch after a
tyre burst.
3 9 5 N E W C A S E S I N A D AY
States should be ready before
THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 pated speech on the possible eas-
ing of lockdown restrictions in
the state.
control, and we may
witness a gradual decline.
testing at an average of 290 per
million population. However, on
May 19, according to Maharash-
Total confirmed cases including new cases added on May 19 New cases Recovered cases That wasn’t to be. tra Medical Education and Drugs
DR TATYARAO LAHANE, DMER dir
Instead, he said, his govern- Department data, the testing rate
UT J&K UT Ladakh Arunachal ment will continue with red zone
restrictions in the state and will To be sure, a similar trend was
had risen to 2409 per million.
Tamil Nadu is testing at 4463 per
1317 28 647 43 0 43 Pradesh not ease the lockdown until at observed throughout India dur- million, according to the state’s
1 least May 31. The reason? The ris- ing this period; 54% of the coun- health department.
1 0
Punjab Himachal Pradesh ing number of Covid-19 cases in
Maharashtra, and feedback that
try’s 102,287 cases (6 pm, May 19)
have been recorded in the last two
Dr Satyajit Rath, retired scien-
tist from the Delhi-based
2002 22 1642 90 5 45 Assam told him things would have been weeks. National Institute of Immunol-
even worse, possibly “alarming” State health minister Rajesh ogy and adjunct faculty at the
Haryana Chandigarh 155 48 42 without the lockdown. Tope indicated earlier this week Indian Institute of Science Educa-
Soon after his speech, the state that the worst is yet to come. “We tion and Research, Pune, said, “It
964 36 627 199 3 57 health department released the expect the cases to peak by the is always good to test more. But
Uttarakhand Meghalaya daily Covid-19 numbers for end of June,” he said. But some the fact remains that the crucial
DELHI Maharashtra. In the previous 24 experts differ, saying that it may time to be testing extensively was
111 15 52 13 0 12 hours as of Monday night, the come down after 14 days (May 31) in the early stages of the epidemic
10554 500 4750 state had added 2033 new cases, when the fifth incubation period when outbreak control was much
taking the total positives to 35,058. of the virus will be over. Dr Tat- more feasible. Now, we have
Uttar Pradesh
4926 321 2918 Manipur In the same time, authorities yarao Lahane, director, Director- established local transmission.
Rajasthan recorded 51 deaths. Maharashtra ate of Medical Education and While it remains very important
9 2 2 now has 1,249 deaths. This meant Research (DMER) said on Tues- to test a lot, increasing overall
5845 338 3337 that Maharashtra has more than day, “We will have to wait for testing numbers by itself may not
three times the number of cases another 14-day incubation cycle have a big effect on slowing down
Mizoram recorded by Tamil Nadu (11,760), to complete (by May 31). After transmission rates in local
Gujarat 1 0 1 Gujarat (11,746) and Delhi (10,554) this, the rise is likely to come events.”
I N D I A – the three states immediately under control, and we may wit- The state government said last
12141 395 5043 below it in the Covid-19 affected ness a gradual decline. If it does week that it has resolved to make
list. Simultaneously, Maharash- not reduce then, we may be in the the entire state a green zone by
Tripura tra accounts for 39.41% of all Cov- community transmission stage.” the end of the month(currently
Madhya Pradesh 167 2 116 id-19 fatalities in India (Mumbai’s He added that state has not there are 18 red zone districts).
share in this grim statistic is reached community transmis- This seems unlikely as, according
5465 229 2630 West Bengal
23.89%). sion stage as there is no exponen- to the health minister Rajesh
Bihar There are more sobering num- tial growth in the number of fresh Tope, “all the predictions about
2961 136 bers from Maharashtra: It cases. For comparison, Maha- Mumbai and Maharashtra have
Chhattisgarh 1495 72 517 recorded 20,607 coronavirus rashtra recorded 24,588 cases in not come true. The numbers are
100 7 59 1074 cases in the last 14 days (May the first 18 days of May, whereas rising and we feel that the peak is
Jharkhand 5-18), averaging 1471 new cases it recorded 10,201 cases in April. It yet to come...”.
248 20 127 Andaman
per day. Mumbai recorded 12,025 took the state 30 days to reach Dr Rath says one of the hurdles
Maharashtra cases in the same time, averaging 1000 cases, but only 23 more for to get more testing is the paucity
Odisha and Nicobar 859 per day. Earlier this week, 10,000. The numbers, while on a of labs. “We have underfunded
37136 2078 9639 both Maharashtra and Mumbai rising trajectory, have not our public health system and
978 102 307 33 0 33 reported record one-day spikes resulted in a high death rate. On starved it of resources for a long
Telangana (2347 and 1595 cases respectively April 12, Maharashtra and Mum- time...,” he said.
Andhra Pradesh on May 17). bai recorded the highest mortal- (With inputs from Faisal Malik)
1634 42 1011
2489 57 1596 105,625
Goa
46 7 7
Puducherry
17 0 10
Total number of
cases across India* 3 returnees booked for In Bengal, increase
Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu 3,227 hiding health status in testing but rise
1395 149 543 642 12 497 12448 688 4895 Deaths due to
Covid-19 across India Ramesh Babu undergo PCR tests immediately.
in cases the same
*Data compiled by covid19india.org and cross-checked from inputs by HT’s correspondents and news agencies n letters@hindustanimes.com Many complaints have sur- Snigdhendu Bhattacharya
faced that people often suppress n letters@hindustantimes.com
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Police their fever by taking paraceta-
In the second accident, three 12 migrants sustained injuries. on the tracks in Maharashtra’s ritories to operate more Shramik have booked three persons in mol tablets before taking flights KOLKATA: West Bengal’s average
workers travelling in a car were A migrant worker of Balasore Aurangabad on their way back to Special trains in coordination Kollam on Tuesday for alleg- to escape thermal scanners, said daily increase in the number of
killed when their vehicle sitting atop a iron sheet-laden their village in MP on foot. Then with Indian Railways to ferry the edly hiding their health status a senior health official. There Covid-19 patients has remained
rammed a stationary mini-truck truck was killed when the vehicle on May 16, 26 workers died after migrants. “I appeal state govern- and travelling from the Gulf. are also unconfirmed reports almost the same over the past
in Azamgarh district. Superin- hit another truck parked in front the truck they were travelling in ments to help the migrants, regis- They tested positive on their that these three had tested posi- fortnight even though the testing
tendent of police Trivedi Singh of a marine products export com- rammed another vehicle in Uttar ter their names and provide the arrival in Kollam medical col- tive during antibody tests in rate has increased by over three
said: “The accident took place in pany. Another migrant worker Pradesh’s Auraiya district. list to the railways. I also appeal lege hospital and later they Abu Dhabi and they were folds, according to an analysis of
Jameendashav village under killed as the trolley he was travel- The nationwide lockdown left the migrants to stay where they reportedly told the police that allowed to board the flight in available data. This has resulted
Atraulia police station when the ling in was hit by truck. migrant workers without jobs are, and the Indian Railways will they had symptoms before their last moment, the three told the in a sharp decline in the percent-
driver of the car dozed off. As a According to data collected by and a way to get back home. It was soon help them reach their home- travel. police during questioning. age of Covid positive people
result, he lost control over the car HT reporters, at least 162 only in late April that some states towns,” said railway minister “We have registered cases Chief minister Pinarayi among those tested .
and rammed it into a stationary migrants have died in such acci- started transporting their work- Piyush Goyal. against them under the Disaster Vijayan had termed their Between May 5 and 7, the state
mini-truck.” dents since the beginning of the ers back from other states using The home secretary also asked Management Act,” said Kollam behaviour “most irresponsi- tested 7,637 samples, averaging
In Odisha’s Angul district, the lockdown on March 25. In the past buses and only on May 1 that the states and UTs to ensure that no rural police superintendent S ble.” “It is a serious issue. We 2,545 daily. In those three days,
driver of an LPG tanker was fortnight alone, 42 migrant labou- government started running spe- migrant worker has to resort to Harishankar. will take it up with the Union 289 more people tested positive,
charred to death when a bus car- rers have died in two major acci- cial trains for them. walking on roads or railway Now health authorities have Government and embassies with an average of 96.3 people
rying 26 migrants on its way to dents. In a communication to states tracks to reach their destination. asked all travellers who arrived concerned...The affected will daily. But between May 17 and 19,
West Bengal from Mumbai On May 8, a goods train ran on Tuesday, the Union home min- (with inputs from HTC by the Abu Dhabi-Thiruvan- endanger others also,” the CM the state tested 24,994 samples,
rammed into the tanker . At least over 16 people who were sleeping istry asked states and Union Ter- and agencies) anhtpuram flight on Sunday to had said on Monday. with 8,331 tests daily on an aver-
age. During these days, 385 people
tested positive, with an average of
128 persons daily. With this, the
state has recorded a significant

Gujarat Covid tally crosses 12k-mark domestic flights restart: Puri
Jaykishan Sharma
n letters@hindustantimes.com
SURAT: Gujarat, the third worst-
hit state by Covid-19, trailing
only Maharashtra and Tamil
Nadu, crossed 12,000 positive
cases on Tuesday. Maharashtra
has 35,058 confirmed cases of the
viral disease and Tamil Nadu
12,448 .
Gujarat recorded 395 more
positive cases on Tuesday and 25
deaths in the past 24 hours. “Till
Tuesday evening 12,141 cases
and 719 deaths have been
reported,” said Jayanti Ravi,
principal secretary (health).
“Out of these 25 deaths, 16
deceased had comorbid condi-
tions. Also, 239 people were dis-
charged in the same period. As
of now condition of 6,330
Kumar said. Similarly, in non-
containment areas, shops and
offices will be open from 7 am to
6 pm on the basis of the odd-even
formula. Drug stores, health
care and medical facilities will
be open 24 hours.
Kumar added that a night
curfew will be imposed from 6
pm to 8 am across the state
which will be implemented very
strictly.
“All the shifts of employees in
all the industries will have to be
completed by 06:00 in the even-
n People stand outside an electronics shop in Surat on Tuesday. ANI ing as per the concession given
to start phased industry busi-
patients is stable and 49 are on place after recent lockdown ness in the state. All industrial
ventilators,“ she said. relaxations. houses should be vigilant so that
Ashwini Kumar, secretary to Shops only related to essen- employees can reach their
the chief minister, urged the tial services would remain open homes by 6.00 pm so that there
people of Gujarat to adhere to in containment zones and that are no cases of curfew viola-
restrictions that still remain in too only between 9 am and 3 pm, tions.”
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Civil aviation minis-
ter Hardeep Singh Puri on Tues-
day said that states should be
ready to allow the resumption of
regular domestic flight opera-
tions as the Centre alone cannot
make a decision in this regard.
“ In the spirit of cooperative
federalism, the govt of states
where these flights will take off
& land should be ready to allow
civil aviation operations,” Puri
tweeted.
Flight operations have
remained suspended since
March 25 when the lockdown to
check the Covid-19 pandemic
was imposed.
n Hardeep Singh Puri
The government on Sunday
lifted several stringent curbs
and allowed interstate travel
and local transport like buses as
it extended the lockdown until
May 31. Regular flights will con-
tinue to be prohibited across the
country. Cargo, medical evacu-
ation, and special flights have
operated during the lockdown.
The Airports Authority of
India has issued guidelines for
the resumption of flights in a
“graded manner”. It has asked
passengers to wear masks,
other protective gear and main-
tain at least four-feet distance
from co-passengers whenever
the operations resume.
Puri has said airport opera-
tions are likely to open only in a
graded manner with nearly
25-30% of capacity initially.
They will be scaled up to their
original level in a gradual man-
ner, according to the govern-
ment’s plan.
improvement in the percentage
of people tested positive for the
disease among those tested for it.
The percentage stood at 4.87% on
May 5. It has since come down to
3.11% on May 17.
“The data reflects the state’s
success in containing the dis-
eases by enforcing a successful
lockdown...,” said Santanu Sen,
TMC Rajya Sabha MP.
West Bengal Doctors’ Forum
secretary Koushik Chaki said the
data could be misleading. “This
mismatch in the rate of testing
and the percentage of people test-
ing positive could have happened
due to more testing in the areas
lesser affected by the disease...”.
A health department official,
who did not want to be identified,
said that the high rate of negative
results is also because of pool test-
ing. “Nearly 11,000 tests were con-
ducted in Malda and Murshida-
bad districts but only 43 cases
were reported.”
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, N EW D E LH I
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0
spotlig t
htspotlight
IS MUMBAI TRACKING NYC’S TRAJECTORY?
With cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) rising at an alarming rate in Mumbai in the past few weeks, questions emerge if it is headed on a trajectory not too different to what New York City followed
as it became the pandemic hotbed in the United States. With both being the worst-hit cities in their country, we look at numbers to see if the spread of the virus in Mumbai can flare like it has in NYC
By Jamie Mullick
1 DIFFERENCE OF
DEMOGRAPHY
MUMBAI
POPULATION
NEW YORK
12.5 MN 8.2 MN
POPULATION DENSITY
(RESIDENTS PER SQ KILOMETRE)
20,694
Mumbai is roughly half the size of New York
City and has more than 1.5 times the
population, according to numbers by the 2011
census in India and 2010 census in the US.
This means that on average, India’s financial
capital has more than three times as many
people living in every square kilometre
compared to the Big Apple. Also crucial is the
presence of ultra high population areas in
Mumbai like Asia’s largest urban slum,
Dharavi, which has seen 1327 cases and 56
deaths. All of this places Mumbai at a
massive disadvantage as the congestion
makes it far easier for the virus to spread.
Faster vaccines likely if 50 ventilators donated by US expected soon
Moderna effort succeeds
NEW ERA New mRNA technology not fully understood but science points to speed, flexibility
Sanchita Sharma
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Moderna’s experi-
mental vaccine against the coro-
navirus disease (Covid-19) has
emerged the front-runner in the
global effort to stop the pandemic
after an early trial showed it pro-
duced virus-neutralising anti-
bodies similar to those found in
recovered patients.
It is one of at least 20 experi-
mental nucleic acid vaccines
against Covoid-19 in various sta-
ges of clinical development that
use the messenger RNA (mRNA)
platform to elicit an immune
response against SARS-CoV-2,
the virus that causes Covid-19,
according to the World Health
Organization (WHO)’s draft
landscape of Covid-19 candidate
vaccines. Most of these vaccines
encode the spike protein of Sars-
CoV2.
“If it is approved, it will be the
first messenger RNA (mRNA)
vaccine against any disease in
the world. We don’t fully know
the effectiveness of mRNA vacci-
nes as yet. However, there is high
quality science and pre-clinical
evidence for this fast and flexible
platform for vaccine develop-
ment. We will have to wait and
see,” said Dr Anurag Agrawal,
Council of Scientific and Indus-
trial Research-Institute of
Genomics & Integrative Biology,
New Delhi.
The new vaccine, called
mRNA-1273, encodes for a pre-
fusion stabilised form of the
spike (S) protein selected by
Moderna in collaboration with
the US Vaccine Research Center
at the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
coronanotes
NEW APP FOR MOCK ASSAM SEES ITS
JEE, NEET TESTS HIGHEST SPIKE: 39
NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry on
Tuesday launched a new mobile
app called the ‘National Test
Abhyas’. The app has been devel-
oped by National Tesgting Agency
(NTA) to enable candidates to take
mock tests for upcoming exams
such as JEE Main and NEET. The app
has been launched to facilitate
candidates’ access to high quality
mock tests in the safety and
comfort of their homes since there
was a demand for making up the
loss to students due to closure of
educational institutions and NTA’s
Test-Practice Centers due to the
continuing lockdown. With this
facility for the students, India has
taken the lead in restoring a
semblance of normalcy in one more
crucial area –test preparations, an
official statement said. HTC
2 TRAJECTORIES: SPIKE vs GRADUAL RISE
When we look at the two cities in absolute numbers, we see that New York City has reported more than 9 times the cases and over 270 times
the number of deaths than Mumbai. In order to keep comparisons between the two megacities uniform, we have taken Day 1 as the first day
each reported over 50 cases. New York saw a very steep rise right off the start and only 15 days in, it had a gap of nearly 15,000 cases over
Mumbai. However, a drop in new cases towards the middle of March brought the NYC curve down. The trajectory followed by Mumbai is
more even with a gradual increase of cases. However, unlike the drop seen in NYC’s curve, Mumbai’s remains rising at a steady rate.
Total number of Covid-19 cases
500,000
50,000
6,734
5,000
500
50
Days since 50 cases
MRNA-1273: RACE
AGAINST TIME
The vaccine could be ready by January 2021, within a
year of China sharing the genomic sequence of the virus
that has infected nearly 5 million across the world
Vaccine development, trials and approvals have moved at a rapid pace to
ready one as soon as possible. On average, development takes at
least one decade.
mRNA-1273 is an mRNA
vaccine against SARS-CoV-2
encoding for a pre-fusion
stabilised form of the spike (S)
protein, which the virus uses to
enter and infect human cells.
SHUTTERSTOCK
March 16: The first
participant in the Phase 1 study
of mRNA-1273 is dosed, 63 days from
sequence selection to Phase 1 study
dosing. Trial enrolled 45 healthy adult
volunteers, ages 18 to 55 years, in three
dose cohorts (25 µg,
100 µg and 250 µg).
May 19: Eight participants who
received two doses (25 and 100
mcg) of the vaccine produced
virus-neutralising antibodies
similar to those found in
recovered patients.
mRNA vaccines are promising
alternatives to conventional vac-
cine approaches because of their
high potency, capacity for rapid
development and potential for
low-cost manufacture and safe
administration.
“This is great news as RNA-
and DNA-based vaccines are
faster and cheaper to produce
GUWAHATI : Assam witnessed the
highest single-day spike in Covid-19
cases with 39 people, including a
two-month-old baby, testing
positive for the disease on Tuesday,
taking the tally to 154, Health
Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
said. Of them, at least 34 were in
different quarantine centres across
the state, he said. “Alert-13 new
#COVID + cases detected from
Sarusajai Quarantine Centre. Now
the total patient count goes to 154,”
Sarma tweeted. The minister, in
another tweet, said, “Alert- 6 new
#COVID + cases confirmed. Out of
the 3 from Guwahati, 2 are related
to a cancer patient who lost his life
at GMCH (wife and daughter). 2
patients are from Karimganj and
one from Sarusajai quarantine
centre (sic).” PTI
Why a logarithmic scale?
In order to understand the
rate of change in exponential
terms, which is crucial for
viral outbreaks where cases
multiply overnight, it is better
to see the data plotted on a
logarithmic scale to enable us
to chart out drops in infection
rates more accurately.
February 7:
First clinical
batch completed
and underwent
analytical testing
February 24:
Vaccine Candidate
shipped to US National
Institutes of
Health,42 days
from sequence
selection.
The study will add six
more cohorts: three
cohorts of older adults
(ages 56-70) and three
cohorts of elderly adults
(ages 71 and above).
than synthetic vaccines as it
involves synthetic production of
the genetic material, and not the
virus. The production is lab-
based, so it can be quickly stan-
dardised and scaled up,” said Dr
N K Ganguly, former director
general, Indian Council of Medi-
cal Research.
Vaccines work by training the
HC TO WB: REPLY
ON FOOD SUPPLY
KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court
on Tuesday directed the West
Bengal Food and Supplies secretary
to file an affidavit by Friday on
allegations of inadequate distribu-
tion of foodgrains leading to
difficulty to a large number of
people of the state. The petitioner
prayed for an interim order before a
division bench comprising Chief
Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and
Justice Arijit Banerjee to ensure
that all the people in the state get
foodgrains amid the lockdown. The
petitioner’s lawyer Uday Shankar
Chattopadhyay claimed that
because of the inadequate distri-
bution a large number of people
are in great difficulty. The division
bench said that it will consider
passing appropriate orders upon
receiving the affidavit. HTC
Mumbai New York City
21,335
CASES
21.2%
of all cases in
the country
body to recognise and respond to
the proteins produced by dis-
ease-causing organisms, such as
a virus or bacteria.
Traditional vaccines use
small or inactivated doses of the
pathogen (virus or bacterium),
or the proteins it produces, to
provoke an immune response
after vaccination without caus-
ing disease.
mRNA vaccines use a syn-
thetic version of the genetic blue-
print the virus uses to build its
infectious proteins.
The synthetic nucleic acid is
inserted into human cells, the
humans cells read it as instruc-
tions to build fragments of the
viral protein, which the immune
system attacks by building anti-
bodies against them.
The US pharma company
Pfizer, is working on four nucleic
acid vaccines, of which three are
mRNA; the other one contains
self- amplifying mRNA.
There is no approved vaccine
for Sars-CoV2, although around
120 vaccine candidates are in
various stages of clinical trial.
“If mRNA-1273 is successful, it
should be ready for commeriail
use by January next year,” said
Ganguly.
Moderna’s vaccine will be
produced by the US government
and Swiss contract drugmaker,
Lonza Group, which has said it
will produce one billion doses a
year.
“We are investing to scale up
manufacturing so we can maxi-
mize the number of doses we can
produce to help protect as many
people as we can from Sars-
CoV-2,” Moderna Chief Execu-
tive Officer, Stéphane Bancel
said in a statement.
Virus ideally suited to infect humans: Study
Sutirtho Patranobis
letters@hindustantimes.com
n
BEIJING: The novel coronavirus is
ideally suited to infecting human
cells rather than animal ones, a
new study by researchers in Aus-
tralia claims, raising questions
about the origin of the virus,
which has, until Tuesday, killed
over 318,000 people and sickened
more than 4.8 million globally.
Using an “in silico” or com-
puter simulation method, the
researchers found that the data
generated indicated “…SAR-
SCoV2 [the virus that causes Cov-
id-19] is uniquely adapted to
infect humans, raising questions
as to whether it arose in nature by
a rare chance event or whether its
origins lie elsewhere”.
The four researchers, includ-
ing two trained in India, tested
21,355
Day 53
MUMBAI
757
DEATHS
25%
of all deaths
in the country
FIRST TRANCHE OUT OF 200
Rezaul H Laskar
letters@hindustantimes.com
n
NEW DELHI: The first tranche of 50
ventilators out of 200 ventilators
being donated by the US adminis-
tration to India is expected to
arrive soon to bolster the coun-
try’s response to the Covid-19
pandemic, American officials
said on Tuesday. “This is a dona-
tion. The US government plans to
donate 200 ventilators to India,
and we expect the first tranche of
50 to arrive soon,” Ramona El
Hamzaoui, acting director of the
US Agency for International
Development (USAID), said in a
teleconference.
US health and human services
(HHS) attache Preetha Rajara-
man underlined the importance
of countries such as India and the
US working together to ensure
Temperature, humidity may do
little to halt the spread of Covid
Dhrubo Jyoti and Jayashree Nandi
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Higher temperature
and humidity may do little to
arrest the spread of the coronavi-
rus pandemic, a new study has
found, adding to a growing body
of literature that indicate that the
correlation between local climate
conditions and virus transmis-
sion is weak.
The study -- conducted by sci-
entists at Princeton University
and the US National Institutes of
Health and published in the jour-
nal Science on Monday -- also sug-
gested the lack of sizeable immu-
nity to the Sars-Cov-2 virus and
the speed of the pathogen ensured
that climate and humidity had
limited impact on transmission.
“It doesn’t seem that climate is
regulating spread right now,”
said Rachel Baker, a postdoctoral
THE RESEARCHERS
FOUND THAT THE VIRUS
BOUND TIGHTEST TO
HUMAN CELLS THAN ANY
OTHER SPECIES THEY
TESTED, INDICATING IT IS
HIGHLY ADAPTED FOR
HUMAN CELLS
the binding affinity of Covid-19
virus’s “spike protein” to
humans and several animals
including pangolins.
“Notably, SARSCoV2 spike
protein had the highest overall
binding energy for human ACE2
(a receptor on cells), greater than
all the other tested species includ-
ing bat, the postulated source of
the virus. This indicates that
hindustantimes
198,114
Day 70
NEW YORK
198,114 20,298
CASES DEATHS
13.1% 22.1%
of all cases in of all deaths
the country in the country
Day 70
GRAPHIC: MUKESH SHARMA; SOURCE: HT’S COVID-19 DASHBOARD, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
100 VENTILATORS ARE
LIKELY TO BE DELIVERED
IN MAY AND THE REST IN
JUNE. AUTHORITIES ARE
LIKELY TO SHARE FINAL
SCHEDULE NEXT WEEK,
SAID AN OFFICIAL
widespread access to medical
solutions for Covid-19. “We have
to access solutions from different
parts of the world. It is important
to work together for access [to
vaccines and solutions] and to
supply chains.”
“USAID, on behalf of the US
and through the generosity of the
American people…is providing
access to medical supplies and
ventilators to India and other
scholar in the Princeton Environ-
mental Institute and first author
of the paper. “We project that
warmer or more humid climates
will not slow the virus at the early
stage of the pandemic.”
A batch of studies during the
initial surge of the pandemic had
held out hope that drier and
colder climates are more suited to
the virus, and that the weather in
tropical countries may hobble the
spread to the disease.
But this paper joins previous
research from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and the
US National Academies of Scien-
ces (NAS) that say while there is
some evidence that Sars-CoV-2
transmits less efficiently in
higher ambient temperature and
humidity, this does not lead to a
significant decrease in disease
spread without major interven-
tions, such as personal protection
SARSCoV2 is a highly adapted
human pathogen,” the study
found.
The study is yet to be peer-re-
viewed and now available on the
prestigious US-based Cornell
University’s pre-print server.
The research is plausible but
the evidence put out to support it
was thin,Richard H Ebright, from
the department of chemistry and
chemical biology at the US’s Rut-
gers University, told HT.
The four researchers of the
paper, however, were surprised
at the rapid rate at which the
virus adapted to humans.
“Normally a virus will bind
tightly to the cells of its normal
host species and less tightly to
cells of species it has not infected
before. The surprise with COVID
is we found that it bound tightest
to human cells than any other
CORONAVIRUS: NATION
3 ‘FLAT’ vs ‘RISING’
For our analysis, we have plotted a five-day average line
over the daily new cases to show a clear trend. We see
that while the trend-line is rising rapidly in Mumbai in the
lat 60 days, in NYC, it appears to have weathered the
worst of the storm. New cases in NYC now are consist-
ently getting lower than the peak seen at the start of
April. To be sure, the charts shown here are at different
scales due to the vast difference in the number of cases.
Daily cases
2000
MUMBAI
1500
1000
500
2
0
March 20
8000
NEW YORK CITY
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000 1,197
0
March 20
countries,” El Hamzaoui said.
She said USAID is working
with India’s health ministry, the
Indian Red Cross Society, and
other stakeholders in both coun-
tries to assist in the delivery,
transportation, and placement of
the ventilators.
The equipment will comple-
ment India’s efforts to “make the
best of care urgently available to
those most in need without
impacting the availability of
these supplies to the American
people”, she added.
The American officials were
unable to state what authorities
in the US had meant when they
said the ventilators are “repur-
posed”.
El Hamzaoui said the US gov-
ernment, private companies, and
non-profit and academic organi-
sations have shared their expert-
and social distancing.
The scientists ran three sce-
narios. The first assumed that
coronavirus has the same climate
sensitivity as influenza. The sec-
ond and third scenarios assumed
the virus had the same climate
dependence as OC43 and HKU1,
which cause common cold and
are of the same betacoronavirus
genus as Sars-CoV-2.
In all three scenarios, climate
became a significant factor when
large portions of the population
were immune or resistant to the
virus. “The more that immunity
builds up in the population, the
more we expect the sensitivity to
climate to increase,” Baker said.
The scientists emphasised the
need for more research in diverse
locations and said the results
didn’t account for potential cross-
immunity from other coronavi-
rus infections .
species we tested. This is either a
massive coincidence or Covid-19
has somehow in the past been
adapted for human cells. One way
in which this can happen is via
culture with human cells in a
lab,” lead researcher Nikolai Pet-
rovsky a clinician and vaccinolo-
gist, told HT over email.
Not everyone, like Ebright,is
fully convinced.
The need for further investiga-
tion is also emphasised in the
research paper. “It is imperative
that all efforts be made to identify
the original source.”
The researchers added: “In
particular, it will be important to
establish whether Covid-19 is due
to a completely natural chance
occurrence... or whether COV-
ID-19 has alternative origins.
This information will be of para-
mount importance”
05
Five-day average
1121.6
May 18
1908.6
May 18
ise with partner countries such as
India on the production of venti-
lators and other equipment.
People familiar with develop-
ments in New Delhi said Trump
had made it clear that the ventila-
tors are a donation. The firms
providing the equipment will be
paid by USAID, they said on con-
dition of anonymity.
“As of now, the plan is to
deliver 100 ventilators in May and
the remainder in June. USAID
will give us the final schedule
next week,” said one of the people
cited above,
El Hamzaoui, Rajaraman and
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) mission
director Meghna Desai under-
lined the long-standing health-
care cooperation between India
and the US that is driving current
joint efforts against Covid-19.
Drug being tested
could help in Covid
recovery, say
Chinese scientists
Sutirtho Patranobis
n spatranobis@htlive.com
BEIJING: A research team at a Bei-
jing university has claimed to
have successfully tested an
experimental drug on animals
that could shorten the recovery
time for Covid-19 patients and
offer short-term immunity to the
pathogen, which has infected 4.8
million people globally and
killed over 315,000 since originat-
ing in China late last year.
A Peking University state-
ment said on Monday that the
team led by Sunney Xie, the
director of its Beijing Advanced
Innovation Centre for Genomics,
has “successfully identified mul-
tiple highly potent neutralising
antibodies against the novel cor-
onavirus SARS-CoV-2, the caus-
ative virus of the respiratory dis-
ease COVID-19, from convales-
cent plasma [a blood fluid] by
high-throughput single-cell
sequencing”.
According to a study on the
team’s research published on
Sunday in the online medical
journal Cell, the “potent neutral-
ising antibody could be used to
develop drugs for both therapeu-
tic intervention and prophylac-
tic [preventive] protection
against SARS-CoV-2”.
“If the Covid-19 epidemic
reappears in the winter, our neu-
tralising antibody might be
available by that time,” Xie said
in the statement.
The drug uses neutralising
antibodies -- produced by the
human immune system to pre-
vent the virus infecting cells --
which Xie’s team isolated from
the blood of 60 recovered
patients.
Over 100 vaccines for Covid-19
are in the works globally.
06 hindustantimes
Whole new ball game in art of swing
COVID-19 Cricketers won’t be able to use saliva to polish the ball, but sweat is equally potent. But why does the ball need to be shined at all?
n SHINE ON: Mitchell Johnson takes the direct route. GETTY IMAGES
Abhishek Paul point, direction and speed of
n abhishek.paul@htlive.com release, the length…everything
matters.”
NEW DELHI: Saliva is out. The As a match progresses, and the
International Cricket Council’s ball starts to go through wear and
(ICC) Cricket Committee, led by tear, the symmetry of the ball is
Anil Kumble, recommended a further compromised. This is
ban on using saliva and allowed where sweat and saliva begin to
only sweat to shine the ball, as play a critical role.
part of its guidelines to resume The ball begins to roughen up
the game in the time of Covid-19. and lose its shine, which means
The logic is understandable—the there is a greater amount of fric-
use of spit can turn the cricket tion working on it as it travels
ball into a ‘fomite’, an object or through the air. It also gets
material which may carry infec- softer—both these things make
tion, since the virus spreads the ball move slower through the
through saliva, and the ball air.
changes hands between players
all the time.
But why are these two bodily
The bowling team picks one
side of the ball to “nurture”. They
apply sweat and saliva on this
fluids so important to keep the
art of swing bowling alive? What
exactly do sweat and saliva do to
side and polish it. The leather on
the ball is porous and is dyed with
a grease-based paint. As the
the ball? sweat/saliva is rubbed in, it dis-
There is no scientific consen- places the deep lying grease,
sus on this, but based on experi- bringing it to the surface, and
ential evidence as old as the game maintaining the shine. This is
itself, here are some answers. why it’s important to rub that
A plain sphere hurled through side of the ball till it’s dry—it
the air will have a pretty predict- means that the sweat/saliva has
able trajectory. But the cricket permeated fully, and the grease
ball is not a plain sphere; it has that has risen has been distrib-
the seam protruding from the uted evenly. You also don’t want
surface. How the bowler posi- the ball to be wet, because that
tions the seam during a delivery will only make it softer.
determines how the ball will “Having the ball dry is a pri-
move through the air. mary condition in any kind of
“When the ball is new and swing,” Madan Lal, World Cup-
shining, the seam causes turbu- winning pacer and currently
lence and it aids in conventional head of BCCI’s Cricket Advisory
swing,” TA Sekhar, the former Committee, said.
India pacer and who mentored Now what happens to the ball
several international bowlers at is this: it has a rough side, and a
the MRF Pace Foundation, said. shiny side. Air moves differently
“It’s only one of the factors. The along the two different surfa-
wrist and finger position, the ces—for one, there is less drag on
the shiny side. The end result?
Sweat has salt and
› when applied on a
particular side, it becomes
heavier in that half and the
The ball swings towards the
rough side.
“It’s not as easy as it sounds,”
Sekhar said. “It’s simply not spit-
ting on a ball to shine. There are
patches where the saliva is
applied. There are designated
ball tilts that way players to maintain the ball.”
MADAN LAL, Former India pacer It needs plenty of experience to
get good at ‘nurturing’ or ‘main-
In Loving Memory of
SMT. SWARN MALIK
15.10.1938 to 20.05.2017
Those we love don't go
away, they walk beside
us every day. May God
bless your soul with peace
and happiness. Raj Kumar,
Rajeev, Ashish, Rashmi,
Tanvir, Tusshar, Raunak & Kanishk.
Late Hem Chand Rai
Jain Advocate
02.03.1892 - 20.05.1982
Your inspiration and guidance
will remain our source of life
forever. We fondly remember
your caring and loving nature.
Remember by Jain family
Lotus Espacia Boulevard
Tower 37 /1303, Sector-100, Noida. # 9810840100
& 9313625754, Email: ravi_jain56@rediffmail.com
HOW SWEAT AND
SALIVA AID SWING
As ICC’s Cricket Committee led by Anil Kumble recommended
a ban on using saliva but allowed only sweat to shine
the ball, here’s a look at why these two body fluids are so
important to keep the art of swing bowling alive.
HOW TO NURTURE A TEST BALL?
Overs 1-5:
A brand new ball swings towards the
direction at which the seam is pointed
during the time of release. A ball released
with the seam pointing towards the first slip,
will take it away from a right-handed
batsman. This happens because the seam
creates an asymmetric flow of air on the
ball’s surfaces on either side of the seam.
After every delivery the ball is passed from
fielder to fielder as it makes its way back
from the keeper to the bowler. Fielders keep
rubbing one predetermined side of the ball
on their trousers to maintain its polish.
Overs 5-10:
As the ball starts to get roughed up,
fielders start using saliva and sweat on the
shiny side and continue polishing it. If a
fielder is chewing gum or candy, his
saliva will be thick and sugary. The thick
saliva doesn’t penetrate the leather easily,
but it stays on the surface longer and helps
break through the fine layer of lacquer on
the ball.
The ball now has a shiny side and a rough
side. The ball swings towards the rough
side. If a right-handed batsman sees the
shiny side of the ball on his right, the ball
will swing into him.
Over 25 onwards:
The first signs of reverse swing are
seen. This is entirely because the
shiny side has become heavier.
The ball begins to swing towards
the rough side because of the
difference in friction, but then
gravity takes over, and the ball
"reverses" towards the shiny side
which is now heavier.
taining’ the ball. “You shine a
new ball differently. When the
ball is old and it is reversing.
sometimes you put more sweat,”
former India bowler Ashish
Nehra told espncricinfo.in.
It (also) depends on the condi-
tion of the ball (how hard/soft/
dry/wet/damaged it is), the
make of the ball (SG, used in
India, behaves differently to the
English Dukes, which behaves
differently to the Australian
Kookaburra), and even the skill
levels of the bowlers who will use
the ball (do you have someone on
your team who can reverse like
EDUCATION/
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IT IS notified for the information
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found please contact Vinita Agarwal
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TENDER NOTICE
Seam pointed
at 1st slip
Air
turbulance
created by
seam
Swing direction
New ball has both sides shiny, ball
swings towards direction of seam
Shiny side
Rough side
Air turbulance
created by
rough surface
Ball direction
Ball swings towards the rough side
Shiny side
Rough side
Heavier side
Ball swings towards
the side made heavier
with spit and sweat direction
Waqar Younis?).
“There are several different
ways of shining the ball. Let’s say
a Test match is on and the ball,
SG Test, is semi-new, about 25
overs old. But it is not reversing
and the ball has become a bit soft.
Umpire is refusing to replace the
ball. Now if you put too much spit
on SG Test the ball gets more and
more softer. Then you don’t get
the zip as a fast bowler or even as
a spinner.”
We’ve already jumped the gun
and mentioned reverse swing,
but that’s the next stage. When
the ball is even older, and it has
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, N EW D E LHI
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0
IF I WASN’T THE UNCLE NOR THE COACH OF RAFAEL, I WOULD WANT
FEDERER TO WIN ALL THE MATCHES...BECAUSE HE’S VERY ELEGANT
> TONI NADAL, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach
US Open, now not
‘open’ anymore
Associated Press & HTC the USGA did not mention the
n sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com field size.
“This was a difficult decision,
NEWYORK/NEWDELHI: The US Open as qualifying is a cornerstone of
Maintenance key
might feel more like a closed shop USGA championships,” said
Red ball leather is coloured with soluble dyes, unlike the this year. The pandemic, which John Bodenhamer, senior man-
pink ball, which has a top coat of insoluble polymer has already postponed the US aging director of championships.
pigment. In other words, in a red ball, the dye, mixed with
grease, seeps deep into the leather, and the ball itself is
porous. This is what allows the "nurturing of the ball".
If players rub in saliva or sweat, the porous leather
Open at Winged Foot in New York
from June to September, has
forced the USGA to do away with
qualifying for the first time since
India’s top golfers, though dis-
appointed that they would miss a
chance to qualify for the US Open,
were at least happy that the tour-
absorbs it. As the saliva/sweat works its way inwards, 1924. Open qualifying is the hall- nament was taking place. Two-
it displaces the deep-lying grease, which comes up mark of golf’s second-oldest time European Tour winner
to the surface. This is how the shine is maintained. championship. The USGA often Shubhankar Sharma said, “Play-
points out that typically half of ing a US Open qualifier was defi-
Goes with the rough the 156-man field has to go nitely on the schedule, having
Polishing one side of the ball while allowing through either 36-hole qualifying done so the past few years. I
Air flow
the other side to deteriorate and roughen or 18-hole and 36-hole qualifying. wasn’t anticipating such a move
causes the ball to lose It even invested in a marketing but can’t do much. Given the
symmetry. With more friction campaign that was rolled out in extraordinary circumstances, it
on one side (rough) than the February titled, “From Many, is great that at least the tourna-
other (smooth), as it moves
One,” to illustrate that more than ment is happening.”
through the air, the ball
9,000 people apply to play in the Three-time Asian Tour winner
begins to swing.
US Open, eventually yielding to and Asian Games gold medallist,
one winner. The USGA did not Shiv Kapur, said, “I was (plan-
announce Monday how other ning), and it’s a shame that it has
players would become exempt. been scrapped. The tradition of
Among those who have yet to the US Open has been centred
Ball
direction qualify is Phil Mickelson, a run- around stories of anyone in the
ner-up six times in the only major world having a chance to con-
he hasn’t won. Mickelson said in tend. Michael Campbell (New
February he would not ask the Zealand) was the most recent
USGA for an exemption, and that winner (in 2005) to come through
Air flow
if he didn’t qualify or become qualifying. It takes away a lot
exempt, he wouldn’t play. from the championship and hav-
Winged Foot is where Mickelson ing qualified a couple of times, I’m
Overs 10-15: The polishing and made double bogey on the final a bit disappointed. But if it’s
moisturising go on. In the subcontinent, hole in 2006 to lose by one. The between having the tournament
where the grounds are harder and outfields field presumably will be smaller and scrapping it altogether, the
coarser, the unkempt side of the ball
because of the later date, though right decision has been made.”
deteriorates quicker. The salt in sweat too
helps penetrate the lacquer. The idea is to
get moisture inside the ball but not make it
soggy. The moisture and the salts and
sugar with it, slowly make the shiny side
of the ball heavier.
EPL could face a year
Swing
direction
of virus restrictions
Associated Press
ick?
ne do the trish
n sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com
Air flow
n’t Vaseli
Why ca er India pace
form
r Ash
MANCHESTER: The Premier League
lly
According to e or any petroleum je has been told by government
Neh ra , Vase lin
help sw in g the ball.
cannot re experts that coronavirus restric-
or paraffin t even ensu
and doesn' tions could endure for at least a
"It is lighter swing. It can keep the year across English football, with
al y,”
convention e ball heav
e but do es n't make th lps the ball players allowed to resume only
shin only he
. “Vaseline e. You apply non-contact training from Tues-
Nehra says thing mor day. England’s top division has
d no
to skid an will just go
ly, the ball been studying how the Bundes-
Vaseline on liga was able to resume competi-
Swing Ball direction straight.” tion at the weekend while being n Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson
realistic about missing its aspira- arrives at the club's Melwood
tion of getting back underway by ground for training. AP
June 12.
absorbed plenty of sweat and roughen one side secretly, and “We have to be flexible about playing, we are then in a position
saliva on the shiny side, the shiny maintain shine on the other side. it,” Premier League chief execu- to be able to confirm when the
side gets heavier. Now the ball Generally the focus is more on tive Richard Masters said Mon- season start is,” Masters said.
can get reverse swing. Which the bowlers for ball tampering, day. “The Germans are a couple The 20 clubs on Monday agreed
means, instead of moving not so much on others. Hence the of steps ahead of us and we can to protocols for small groups of
towards the rough side, the ball ball changes so many hands.” learn from them.” Team execu- players to train while maintain-
will move towards the shiny side. The favourite, because it is so tives will hold talks next Tuesday ing social distancing that exists in
Bowlers now have a wonderfully
deceptive weapon.
A lot of effort goes into this,
most of it illegal—cricket’s most
intractable issue—ball tamper-
ing.
hard to catch, is using saliva
mixed with sugar from the gum
or candy a player is chewing or
sucking on. The sweetened saliva
acts like a glaze.
The legal way out of it? Sweat.
to discuss protocols for allowing
players to take part in contact
training, but it is dependent on
government approval and there
being no new spike in cases after
easing of lockdown restrictions.
wider society.
On Tuesday, six people from
three clubs tested positive for
COVID-19 out of a total of 748
players and staff who were tested
for the disease, the Premier
“Sometimes if a team is not “Sweat has salt and when “(Once) we have had a proper League said. “Players or club
getting wickets, it may want the applied on a particular side, it discussion with clubs about how staff who have tested positive will
reverse swing to start earlier,” becomes heavier in that half and much is required to create the fit- now self-isolate for a period of
Sekhar said. “So they would the ball tilts that way,” Lal said. ness levels before they can start seven days,” the league said.
Office of Superintending Engineer, 1st Circle, P.W.D., Almora
National Competitive Bidding (E-Tender)
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on website http://www.uktenders.gov.in
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Construction of 70m Span Bridle Rs. 4000.00
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Jammu and Kashmir
Office of the Executive Engineer PHE (M&P) Division, HMT, Srinagar
N.I.T. No.:- PHE/M&P/01 of 2020-21/E-TENDER/
Dated: 18.05.2020
For and on behalf of Lt. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir UT, e-tenders are invited in (02) Two Cover System for Supply of Alumina
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12 Tender Inviting Office Executive Engineer PHE(M&P) Division, Srinagar
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HIN DUSTA N T IMES, N EW D E LH I
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0 hindustantimes 07
HTSPOTLIGHT CORONAVIRUS

‘Mutations in virus not specific to India’ Infections rise in

HTINTERVIEW
HARSH VARDHAN, Union health minister
T
he Sars-CoV-2 viruses
causing coronavirus
disease (Covid-19) has
while some belong to A3 and B1
clades. It is too early to detect
major differences. We are try-
ing for a systematic study of
viral RNA sequence from differ-
encing larger outbreaks of local ent zones of India and correlate
transmission (community
transmission). How large is an
with disease severity.
underway, and once their
results are declared, we shall
four states after
have definite evidence of the
effectiveness of hydroxychloro-
quine. migrants return
Several studies are also
Ruchir Kumar and Sachin Saini
underway in India, and as the
results emerge, we shall be able letters@hindustantimes.com
THE NUMBER OF
RETURNEES HAS GONE
n

three major strains,
but no key mutation
specific to India has been found
that affects infectiveness or dis-
ease severity, said Minister of
Health and Science & Technol-
ogy Harsh Vardhan in his first
interview after Covid-19 cases
crossed 100,000 in India on Mon-
day. He told Sanchita Sharma
that calibrated lockdowns and
public health measures have
delayed the peaking of the
curve in India and prevented
the dramatically high numbers
predicted by several modelling
studies, but warned that how
the pandemic progresses now
will depend on how closely peo-
ple follow mobility restrictions,
social isolation and personal
hygiene norms. Edited
excerpts:
When is the pandemic expected to
peak in India?
We have successfully managed
to delay the peaking of the
curve by imposing lockdown
and other public health meas-
ures in a timely manner. There
are several mathematical mod-
els which are predicting the
course of the pandemic in India,
but till now, we have managed
to avoid the dramatically high
numbers that they predicted.
Right now, with the calibrated
lockdowns being implemented,
we have tried to contain the
spread of infection. It is difficult
to predict numbers as they will
depend on the adherence of
restrictions on mobility and
intermingling, observance of
personal hygiene, and preven-
tion of exposure to infection by
people in different areas. Addi-
tionally, it will also depend on
the proportion of those infected
among migrants and travellers
from outside and within.
Has community transmission
begun in India?
The World Health Organization
(WHO) has defined four stages
of Covid-19 outbreak: Countries
with no cases, countries with
sporadic cases; countries with
clusters; and countries experi-
outbreak that constitutes a
community transmission has
not been defined by WHO, so
what people refer to as commu-
nity transmission differs from
country to country.
In India, the virus has come
from foreign sources through
travellers coming from outside.
We generally consider a case to
be a ‘case of community trans-
mission’ when there is no clar-
ity on the source of origin of the
infection in a new community.
Let me explain again. Commu-
nity spread in India would
mean that cases are occurring
in people who did not have any
known contact with travellers
from overseas infected coun-
tries. However, this is not hap-
pening, implying that there is
no community transmission.
Although there are some
clusters of local spread, the
numbers being reported are not
indicative of community trans-
mission, which would have
likely resulted in a larger num-
ber of cases given the expanded
testing. Central teams have
been deployed in 10 states wit-
nessing a high burden of cases
to investigate the sites with
higher transmission. In addi-
tion, 69 districts will be brought
under surveillance to under-
stand the burden and disease
trends in greater detail.
Is India prepared for the projected
rise in cases after work and travel
restrictions end?
India has massively scaled up
all aspects of preparedness.
There are around 535 laborato-
ries across the country, more
than one lakh samples are
tested per day, and 24,04,267
people have been tested. The
testing strategies are con-
stantly being examined in light
of emerging evidence. India has
also developed ELISA-based
antibody testing kits, which
will provide testing alterna-
tives.
India now has the capacity to
produce over 250,000 PPE units
every day. This expansion of
capacity is a real success story
as we were entirely dependent
on imported PPEs in the pre-
pandemic period. We have also
scaled up the availability of hos-
pital beds, and oxygen supply
linked beds, to enable suppor-
tive treatment of Covid-19
patients. While there are suffi-
cient ventilators, our goal is to
prevent patients from going on
ventilators because the global
experience shows that once
patients go on ventilators, the
mortality rate is very high.
Overall, we are focusing on
preparedness in the commu-
nity (physical distancing,
phased relaxation of lock-
down), augmenting healthcare
facilities (more beds, oxygen
support, ICU) and public health
management measures (sur-
veillance, testing) to ensure
that a holistic plan is in place to
combat the threat of resurgent
infections once the lockdown is
lifted in a phased manner at
varying levels in different dis-
tricts.
How many genomic sequences of
SARS-CoV2 has India submitted
to the Global Initiative on Sharing
All Influenza Data (GISAID)?
India has contributed around
226 genomic sequences of
SARS-CoV-2 so far to the
around 25,000 sequences of
SARS-CoV-2 that have been
shared with unprecedented
speed via GISAID. A 1,000-ge-
nome sequencing initiative has
been launched by Department
of Biotechnology (DBT), and 500
SANJEEV VERMA/ HT PHOTO
are being sequenced by the
Council of Scientific & Indus-
trial Research (CSIR).
What are the findings? Are there
any key mutations in the SARS-
CoV2 virus causing disease in
India?
The key mutations in SARS-
Cov-2 virus have been found in
spike glycoprotein (D614G,
G1124V), nucleocapsid (R203K,
G204R), RNA dependent RNA
Polymerase (P323L) . The circu-
lating viruses in India belong to
three major strains. The major-
ity of our samples belong to A2a
and about 15% to A3 genotypes.
There are a few samples belong-
ing to genotypes B, B1, B4, and
A1a. They do not have any
mutation that has been
reported to be associated with
any disease progression or
acquisition so far. So, despite
the fact that no key mutation
specific to India has been found
in the virus and it still contin-
ues to be an imported virus
strain, we cannot afford to be
complacent. We have to remain
vigilant and continue tracking
the virus to identify emerging
quasi-species or strains.
How many states have the SARS-
CoV2 genetic samples been
sequenced from? Is there any dif-
ference in the strains causing
infections across states?
Sequences are currently mostly
from Kerala, Karnataka, West
Bengal, Gujarat and Uttar Pra-
desh -- most belong to A2a clade,
What has been the role of govern-
ment institutions in the Covid-19
response, including diagnostic,
drug and vaccine development?
The focus is on self-reliance. We
have ramped up our capacity
for developing indigenous test-
ing kits. From being completely
dependent on imports, we now
have over 20 indigenous manu-
facturers with a diagnostic kit
production capacity of nearly
50 lakh kits per month getting
ready by the end of May. This
includes indigenous compo-
nents and reagents.
The government’s role has
been very proactive in support-
ing innovation for vaccine
development, development of
cost-effective diagnostic equip-
ment , as well as drug discovery
and repurposing. The Covid
Consortium, under DBT-BI-
RAC (Biotechnology Industry
Research Assistance Council),
has supported 70 projects. Sup-
port has been also given to med-
ical devices such as ventilators
and equipment such as PPEs,
N-95 masks etc, and for drugs
and vaccine development.
Funding start-ups that offer
immediate solutions has been
fast-tracked.
Some US studies have found
hydroxychloroquine to be ineffec-
tive against Covid-19? What is
India’s experience?
The recent study from New
York which failed to find any
mortality benefits associated
with the use of hydroxychloro-
quine is a retrospective cohort
study. There are several cave-
ats in the study which need to be
accounted for. First, the design
of the study precludes attribu-
tion of the causal effect of the
use of hydroxychloroquine on
the disease outcomes. Second,
the recipients of the drug were
already suffering from severe
disease, thus making the com-
parative sample groups unfair.
Third, the best effect of
hydroxychloroquine based
strategy is seen when initiated
in the mild to moderate disease
stage. Several clinical trials are
to provide more insights into
the experiences. However,
early reports from the pharma-
covigilance programme indi-
cate that there are no unex-
pected spikes of adverse reac-
tions from the use.
What is the progress on the WHO
Solidarity Trial in India?
In India, we plan to randomise
at least 1,500 Covid-19 patients
over five to six months. The
trial has been initiated with 46
randomised Covid-19 patients,
symptomatic adults who have
been recently hospitalized and
have not yet received hydroxy-
chloroquine. The nature of care
proposed as part of the random-
ized trial include providing
only local standard of care,
administering Remdesivir,
hydroxychloroquine, Lopina-
vir / Ritonavir or Lopinavir /
Ritonavir with Interferon
Beta-1a. So far, around 2,500
people have been randomized
globally. Being a five-arm
study, large numbers (> 10,000)
are required, although there is
no cap on sample size. It’s not
possible to give timeframe for
outcomes as the analysis result-
ing from these trials is global.
Is the effect of BCG vaccination
being studied in India?
BCG vaccination has been
found to be an immunomodula-
tor in malignancies and also
protects against certain infec-
tious diseases. Several high-in-
come countries, which do not
have routine BCG vaccination
in childhood, have initiated
clinical trials of BCG in high-
risk groups, especially in health
care workers. Currently, there
are two ongoing clinical trials
in India. Serum Institute of
India (in Pune) is conducting a
trial of VPM1002 and Cadila is
conducting a trial using myco-
bacterium indicus pranii. How-
ever, we have to keep in mind
the fact that India has very high
rates of BCG vaccination at
birth, and this could be an effect
modifier or confounder in the
results.
PATNA/JAIPUR: The return of
migrants workers from Delhi and
Mumbai, the two worst-hit cities
by the Covid-19 pandemic in the
country, has led to a spike in the
infections in Rajasthan, Karna-
taka, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,
officials in these states said.
Migrant workers left jobless
by the lockdown imposed to
check the pandemic spread in late
March have been cycling and
walking back to their homes from
big cities like Mumbai and Delhi.
The number of returnees has
gone up since buses in late April
and special Shramik trains were
arranged for them beginning
May 1.
As many as 759 migrants have
tested positive for Covid-19 since
May 1 in Rajasthan. Officials said
a majority of them have returned
from Mumbai. Barring Jaipur,
Kota, Bundi and Ganganagar,
migrants have been tested posi-
tive for the disease in the rest of 29
Rajasthan districts including
Bhilwara, which had reported no
infections for almost 20 days.
Till now, 5,87,880 migrant
workers have returned to Rajast-
han and the state has 5,507 Cov-
id-19 cases.
Rajasthan’s additional chief
secretary (health) Rohit K Singh
said they have marked 11 dis-
tricts as red as they fear an escala-
tion in the number of cases as
most migrant workers are
expected to return in the coming
days.
He added they were upgrading
medical infrastructure in these
districts like Barmer, Udaipur,
Bikaner, Bhilwara, Jodhpur and
Rajsamand. Singh said a majority
of the workers found Covid-19
positive have returned from
Mumbai and Gujarat.
Bhilwara collector Rajendra
Bhatt said 42 migrants have been
diagnosed with the disease and a
majority of them-- 30--have
returned to the district from
Mumbai, followed by Gujarat (10)
and Madhya Pradesh (2).
Migrant workers account for
159 out of 164 cases in Dungarpur
and most of them have returned
UP SINCE BUSES IN LATE
APRIL AND SPECIAL
SHRAMIK TRAINS WERE
ARRANGED FOR
MIGRANTS FROM MAY 1
from Mumbai, said district collec-
tor Kana Ram. His Pali counter-
part, Ansh Deep, said a majority
of the infected people in his dis-
trict, too, have arrived from
Mumbai where they worked as
vegetable, fruit and ice-cream
vendors.
Bihar’s principal secretary
(health) Sanjay Kumar said 26%
of the migrant workers tested
Covid-19 positive have returned
from Delhi. “Of the 8,337 samples
of migrant tested so far, 651 (8%)
have been reported positive...,”
Kumar said on Monday.
About half of the cases in Bihar
(1,392) were migrants who have
returned since May 3. As many as
26% of them have come from
Delhi followed by 12% from West
Bengal, 11% from Maharashtra,
9% from Haryana and 7% from
Gujarat. “The health department
has been very attentive to the
arrival of migrants and [is] ana-
lysing data on a continuous
basis,” Kumar said.
According to the Karnataka
health department’s data,
migrants from Mumbai
accounted for 66 of the 99 new
cases reported on Monday. Kar-
nataka has reported 1,692 total
cases and half of them are those,
who have returned to the state
after May 1.
Uttar Pradesh has not pro-
vided data on how many migrant
workers have tested positive, but
health officials said a large num-
ber of them, who have returned
from Delhi and Mumbai, have
been diagnosed with the disease.
“More than half of the work-
ers, who have tested positive, are
from Delhi and about one-fourth
from Mumbai. Fortunately, all of
them are in quarantine centres
and have no symptoms,” said an
official in Saharanpur district,
who did not want to be named.

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08 hindustantimes
p g
htspotlight
COVID-19 CRISIS: PEOPLE IN CHILE CLASH WITH COPS OVER SHORTAGES CAUSED BY LOCKDOWN
Trump shoots letter to WHO,
threatens to exit world body
CHINA’S TAKE Letter to WHO is ‘full of insinuations’ and aims ‘to mislead the public’, says Beijing
Yashwant Raj & Agencies
n yashwant.raj@hindustantimes.com
WASHINGTON/BEIJING: US President
Donald Trump on Monday
threatened to pull America out of
the World Health Organization
(WHO) and permanently stop US
funding for the world body if it did
not “commit to major substantive
improvements” in the next 30
days.
Underlining Washington’s
escalating fight with Beijing,
Trump said the WHO needs to
show “independence from
China”. He earlier labelled the
WHO as a “puppet of China”.
In a letter to WHO director gen-
eral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreye-
sus, Trump accused the organisa-
tion of “repeated missteps” in
responding to the pandemic.
Trump shared the letter on
Twitter hours after Chinese Pres-
ident Xi Jinping addressed the
WHO’s governing body, the
World Health Assembly, by video
link. Xi promised to devote $2 bil-
Singapore in soup
over text message
Agence France-Presse
n letters@hindustantimes.com
SINGAPORE: Singapore has apolo-
gised to more than 350 people who
contracted Covid-19 for acciden-
tally sending them a text message
saying they had tested positive
again, the health ministry said.
A technical glitch led to the
message being sent out at the
weekend, the ministry said on
Monday, adding that no confiden-
tial information was revealed. A
follow-up message was sent to the
357 people affected pointing out
the mistake and “to apologise for
any inconvenience and anxiety
caused”, it said in a statement.
“We have since reviewed our
VIRUS TRACKER
4,943,152
GLOBAL CASES
322,003
GLOBAL DEATHS
WORST-HIT NATIONS
COUNTRY
1 US
2 RUSSIA
1,557,846
3 SPAIN
4 BRAZIL
5 UK
6 ITALY
7 FRANCE
8 GERMANY
9 TURKEY
10 IRAN
(AS OF 10:40 PM IST)
n WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
lion towards fighting the pan-
demic over the next two years.
WHO head Tedros later said
that he would keep leading the
global fight against the pandemic.
Commenting on Trump’s let-
ter, Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Zhao Lijian said it
was “full of insinuations” and
aimed “to mislead the public and
processes to ensure that a similar
error will not recur,” the minis-
try added.
Singapore initially managed to
keep its outbreak in check but has
been hit hard by a second wave of
infections, mostly among
migrant workers from crowded
dormitories.
The city-state has reported
28,794 cases, including 22 deaths.
Nearly 10,000 have recovered.
Like many other countries,
Singapore has ordered the clo-
sure of most businesses, advised
people to stay at home, and
banned large gatherings.
Officials say they may start
relaxing some of the curbs from
early June.
(BY CASES)
CASES DEATHS
299,941
92,478
2,837
278,188 27,709
261,567 17,375
246,406 34,796
226,699 32,169
179,927 28,239
177,620 8,150
151,615 4,199
124,603 7,119
SOURCE: WORLDOMETER
n People from the poor neighbourhoods of Santiago in Chile were angered by acute food supply problems
caused by Covid-19-related lockdown measures and took to the streets on Monday. They clashed
violently with riot police and many of them were detained.
AFP n US President Donald Trump
achieve the purpose of stigmatis-
ing China’s epidemic control
efforts while shirking its own
responsibility”. He said the US
has an obligation to pay the full
WHO membership fee.
“Arbitrarily cutting funding to
an international organisation is
unilateralist behaviour,” Zhao
said. “We urge the US to stop pass-
US president says he’s taking
HCQ as preventive medication
Yashwant Raj
n yashwant.raj@hindustantimes.com
WASHINGTON:US President Donald
Trump on Monday announced he
has been taking the antimalarial
drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)
along with a zinc supplement
despite warnings of side effects
from the US drug regulator.
“You’d be surprised at how
many people are taking it, espe-
cially the front-line workers
before you catch it. The front-line
workers - many, many are taking
it. I happen to be taking it. I hap-
China to pay farmers to stop wildlife trade
Frogs are displayed for sale at a wet market in Shanghai.
n AFP/FILE
Pandemic effect: Global CO2 emissions could fall by 7% this year
Reuters
n letters@hindustantimes.com
LONDON:Global carbon dioxide
emissions could fall by up to
7% this year, depending on
ongoing restrictions and social
distancing measures during
the coronavirus pandemic,
research published in the jour-
nal Nature Climate Change
showed on Tuesday.
The study, by a group of sci-
entists from institutions in
Europe, the US and Australia,
analysed daily CO2 emissions
across 69 countries, 50 US
states, 30 Chinese provinces,
BLOOMBERG
ing the buck and deepen interna-
tional cooperation.”
In the letter, Trump wrote, “It
is clear repeated missteps by you
and your organisation in
responding to the pandemic have
been extremely costly for the
world. The only way forward for
the organisation is if it can actu-
ally demonstrate independence
pen to be taking it - hydroxychlo-
roquine,” Trump told reporters
unprompted at a roundtable with
restaurant owners.
“I was just waiting to see your
eyes light up when I said this,” he
added for good measure.
Trump, who has so far tested
negative for Covid-19 repeatedly,
said he felt fine and reported no
side effects. He is using the drug
combination as a preventive
medicine after a member of his
staff tested positive for Covid-19.
Sean Conley, the American
president’s physician from US
six economic sectors, and
three levels of confinement,
using data from daily electric-
ity use and mobility tracking
services.
In 2019, the world emitted
around 100 million tonnes of
carbon dioxide per day by
burning fossil fuels and
cement production, the
research said.
In early April 2020, emis-
sions fell to 83 million tonnes
per day, a drop of 17%, and
some countries’ emissions
dropped by as much as 26% on
average during the peak of the
confinement.
AFP/REUTERS
from China.”
He also wrote that if the WHO
“does not commit to major sub-
stantive improvements within
the next 30 days, I will make my
temporary freeze on US funding
permanent and reconsider our
membership.”
Later, when Trump was asked
about the reforms he wants the
WHO to carry out, he said, “They
have to clean up their act. They
have to do a better job. They have
to be much more fair to other
countries, including the US, or we
are not going to b involved with
them any more and we will go our
separate way.”
The US president had sus-
pended US funding for the WHO -
at more than $400 million annu-
ally - in April.
The US has exited a number of
world bodies and pacts during
Trump’s tenure, starting with the
Trans-Pacific Partnership in
2017. It was followed by depar-
tures from Paris Accord, Unesco,
Iran Nuclear Deal and UNHCR.
Navy, said in a statement that he
and Trump have concluded that
the potential benefit from treat-
ment using HCQ “outweighed the
relative risks”.
Conley added that he contin-
ues to monitor studies and
reports about the use of the anti-
malarial drug and in consultation
with public health officials and
experts.
The US Food and Drug Admin-
istration has warned of side
effects of using the drug such as
“potentially life-threatening
heart rhythm problems”.
Sutirtho Patranobis
n spatranpobis@htlive.com
BEIJING: China is offering to cash to
farmers to wean them off breed-
ing exotic and wild animals as
global pressure grows on the
country to stop illegal trade in
wildlife blamed for the coronavi-
rus pandemic.
Trade in wildlife is a multi-bil-
lion dollar industry in China, but
authorities have cracked down
on it after the outbreak was con-
nected to a seafood and meat mar-
ket in the central Chinese city of
S I LV E R L I N I N G
If pre-pandemic conditions
return by mid-June, then 2020
emissions could decline by 4%
compared to 2019 but if restric-
tions remain worldwide until
the end of the year, then emis-
sions could drop by 7%, the
report added. This would be
the largest single annual
decrease in absolute emissions
since the end of World War II.
A UN report last year said
emissions needed to drop by
2.7% a year keep warming well
below 2 degrees Celsius, and
7.6% a year to keep below 1.5C.
“Population confinement
has led to drastic changes in
Brazil in 3rd spot
in cases; global
tally nears 5mn
Agencies
n letters@hindustantimes.com
SAO PAULO: Brazil has the third-
highest number of Covid-19 cases
in the world, according to figures
released by John Hopkins Uni-
versity on Monday, a troubling
surge for a country struggling to
respond to the pandemic.
The coronavirus has infected
nearly 5 million people globally,
claiming at least 322,000 lives.
With 254,220 confirmed cases,
Brazil has now surpassed Brit-
ain, Spain and Italy in the past 72
hours on the list of total infec-
tions, and is behind only the US
and Russia. Brazil has registered
16,792 Covid-19 deaths, the sixth-
highest toll in the world. But
experts say the real figures could
be 15 times higher or more.
President Jair Bolsonaro is
n A resident of Sao Paulo’s Paraisopolis slum waves a Brazil flag as
police stand by during a protest demanding the state government pay
more attention to slums amid Covid-19-related curbs.
Wuhan, which also allowed trade
in wildlife.
According to the Hong Kong-
based South China Morning Post,
the central Chinese province of
Hunan said last week the local
government would compensate
those who quit breeding wildlife
for trade and food. They would be
encouraged to raise other ani-
mals, the government said.
It was the first province to
introduce such a policy, and
under the scheme, farmers will
be paid 120 yuan (US$17) for each
kilogram of snakes or 75 yuan for
energy use and CO2 emis-
sions,” said lead author Cor-
inne Le Quéré at the Univer-
sity of East Anglia.
“These extreme decreases
are likely to be temporary,
however, as they do not reflect
structural changes in the eco-
nomic, transport, or energy
systems,” she added.
China saw the largest drop
in emissions in April. In the
countries with the strictest
lockdowns, emissions from
aviation plunged 75% in April,
while emissions from land
transport fell by 50% and from
power generation by 15%.
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, N EW D E LHI
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0
CORONAVIRUS: WORLD
urging the country to get back to
work to stop an economic crash.
State and local authorities, how-
ever, are largely calling on citi-
zens to stay home and practice
social distancing .
The virus is spreading so fast
among the indigenous people in
the furthest parts of Brazil’s
Amazon rainforest that doctors
are now evacuating critical Cov-
id-19 patients by plane to the only
intensive care units in the vast
region. “The number of Covid-19
patients has increased a lot,” said
Edson Santos Rodrigues, a pedi-
atric doctor working on medevac
planes for the state of Amazonas.
Three-quarters of the 540 con-
firmed cases among 40 tribes are
in the Amazon where the pan-
demic has hit Manaus so badly
that it was the first Brazilian city
to run out of ICU beds.
AP
bamboo rats they hand over, the
newspaper reported.
Each porcupine or civet, which
was linked to the SARS outbreak
in the early 2000s, will bring a
payout of about 600 yuan (US$84),
the report said.
Neighbouring Jiangxi prov-
ince has also released documents
on plans to help farmers dispose
of animals and financial aid.
The state-run Jiangxi Daily
newspaper reported last week
that the province has more than
2,300 licensed breeders, mostly
rearing wild animals for food.
n A man walks along Hua Hin beach in Thailand on Tuesday.
PM RETURNS TO
WORK AS RUSSIA
INFECTION RATE
SLOWS DOWN
n Russian Prime Minister Mikhail
Mishustin at a meeting. AFP
MOSCOW:Russia’s Prime Minister
Mikhail Mishustin returned to
his duties on Tuesday after recov-
ering from the coronavirus, as
total infections approached
300,000 and officials said new
cases were dropping off.
President Vladimir Putin
signed a decree reinstating
Mishustin as the head of govern-
ment, nearly three weeks after
the prime minister announced on
television he had tested positive
for coronavirus.
Mishustin checked himself
into hospital and his deputy was
named interim prime minister,
but he continued to participate in
meetings via video-link wearing
a suit and tie.
The 54-year-old former tax
chief was appointed prime minis-
ter in a surprise government
shake-up earlier this year but had
little time to make an impact
before the coronavirus pandemic
hit.
His reinstatement came after
health officials reported 9,263
new infections in Russia over the
last 24 hours, bringing the total to
299,941, the second-highest in the
world after the US.
Mishustin was just one of sev-
eral high-ranking Russian offi-
cials to have been infected,
including the ministers of cul-
ture, education and construction,
as well as Putin’s spokesman
Dmitry Peskov.
The prime minister said Mon-
day that Russia had stopped the
growth of new infections, but cau-
tioned that the situation
remained “difficult”. He credited
a nationwide lockdown and “sys-
tematic work” over the past two
months for slowing the rate of
new infections.
The Kremlin last week eased
nationwide anti-virus measures
imposed in March and Mishustin
said on Monday that dozens of
regions throughout the country
were ready to gradually lift lock-
down orders. Tuesday’s tally saw
new cases fall below 10,000 for the
fourth day in a row, after Mon-
day’s count saw new infections
under 9,000 for the first time since
the beginning of May.
A majority of infections in Rus-
sia are centralised in the capital,
which has extended its lockdown
until the end of May. AFP
AFP
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, N EW D E LH I
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0 hindustantimes 09
HTSPOTLIGHT CORONAVIRUS

TikTok faces
Govt may not heed
SANCTIONED BY PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

criticism as NCW ₹6.45 L-cr loaned to small borrowers

leads calls for ban
calls to lower GST over hate content
Amrita Madhukalya
Rajeev Jayaswal
n rajeev.jayaswal@htlive.com

NEW DELHI: Public sector banks

INDUSTRY DEMAND Exemption would block input-tax credit and
adverse impact businesses, according to finance ministry officials
Rajeev Jayaswal
n rajeev.jayaswal@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: The government may
not accept industry demands to
substantially reduce the Goods
and Services Tax (GST) for six
months to boost demand in the
aftermath of the coronavirus dis-
ease (Covid-19) pandemic. The
exemption would block input-tax
credit that would have an adverse
impact on businesses and may
not result in any significant gain
to consumers, two finance minis-
try officials said on Tuesday.
Input tax credit reduces the tax
paid on inputs from taxes to be
paid on output of finished
goods.The proposed GST exemp-
tion will make output tax zero,
blocking the input-tax credit,
which will add to the cost of the
finished goods, the officials with
direct knowledge of the matter
said, requesting anonymity.
“This will not only be injurious
to the industry but also to the con-
sumer at large and this is cer-
tainly not going to revive
demand,” one of the officials said.
GST is an integrated levy of
indirect taxes and the main
source of revenue for both the
n The government announced a ₹20 lakh crore stimulus package
over the last week.
(ITC) on exemption from GST is
an issue of concern...”
He added: “It has to be viewed
from the perspective of incentiv-
izing consumers by inducing
them to make a purchase, leading
to the consumption which is the
need of an hour. The argument is
that a cut in GST for a short term,
say next six months, will reduce
the amount paid for the good or
service, so the consumer will buy
more and thereby, revitalize the
economy. It is a simple issue of
reducing (not exempting) GST, so
that consumers go ahead and buy
– in the present, during the period
SONU MEHTA/HT PHOTO
and the reductions do not lead to
emergence of inverted duty
structure situations,” said MS
Mani, partner at Deloitte India.
Inverted duty structure is a sit-
uation in which inputs are taxed
at a higher rate than finished
goods.
Abhishek Jain, tax partner at
consulting firm EY, said a GST
exemption would entail breaking
of the credit chain, higher input
tax costs for businesses and com-
plexities in compliances with
credit transitions during taxable
and exempt-tax periods.
“A specified percentage GST
n amrita.madhukalya@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: TikTok, a video-shar-
ing social networking site
owned by Chinese firm Byte-
Dance, where millions of Indi-
ans post short videos of just
about anything is in the midst of
a storm with the National Com-
mission of Women and the Rash-
triya Swayamsevak Sangh both
turning their guns on it.
Rekha Sharma, the chairper-
son of the National Commission
for Women said that several
videos of women being abused
have been shared on the plat-
form.
She said on Twitter that she is
of the strong opinion that the
platform should be banned.
She said her attention was
drawn to a video where a person
seemed to be throwing acid on a
girl. “We wrote to TikTok to
take it down and they cooper-
ated. Soon, we were shown hun-
dreds of videos, with abusive
content; videos inferring rape,
domestic abuse and molesta-
tions. We got in touch with Tik-
Tok and showed them some
more of the videos; we are wait-
ing for their response,” said
Sharma.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh’s paper, Organiser, in an
editorial accused TikTok of ena-
have sanctioned loans worth
₹6.45 lakh crore in about two-and
–a-half months to small borrow-
ers, out of which about ₹50,000
crore was approved in just one
week ending May 15, as the gov-
ernment attempted to alleviate
the distress caused to businesses
by the coronavirus disease pan-
demic and subsequent lockdown.
The loans were sanctioned to
5.5 million micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs)
and retail, agriculture and corpo-
rate sectors between March 1 and
May 15, the finance minister’s
office (FMO) tweeted on Tuesday,
describing it a “notable increase
compared to the ₹5.95 lakh crore
sanctioned as of May 8.”
The loans included ₹1.03 lakh
crore extended as emergency
credit lines and working capital
enhancements, an increase from
₹65,879 crore that had been sanc-
tioned between March 1 and May
8, the ministry tweeted from its
handle @nsitharamanoffc.
Experts cautioned that a more
ICMR releases guidelines for
testing suspected Covid deaths
Rhythma Kaul
rhythma.kaul@htlive.com
n
n Employees wait to get screened before entering factories.
accurate measure of the revival
of industrial activity would be
the actual disbursal of loans. The
finance ministry could not imme-
diately disclose disbursal data. A
finance ministry spokesperson
declined comment on loans.
“Industrial activity is directly
proportional to the credit off take.
Companies will not draw money
from the sanctioned limit unless
they are confident about their
returns on investment. When
they don’t draw from their sanc-
tioned limits, it automatically
indicates inadequate activity,”
said an executive member of a
NASAL SWABS TO BE
TAKEN FROM BODIES,
HT PHOTO
small industries association, who
requested anonymity.
Easy credit and collateral-free
loans to the farm sector and
MSMEs were components of the
₹20.97 lakh crore Atamnirbhar
Bharat Abhiyan (Self-Reliant
India Initiative) announced by
the Narendra Modi government
to revive the economy in the wake
of the economic crisis that fol-
lowed the Covid-19 pandemic and
lockdown.
While announcing the first
tranche of the five-part package,
finance minister Sitharaman on
March 13 unveiled a ₹3 lakh crore
and secretions, even after taking
the highest precautions. Hence,
emergency working capital facil-
ity for small businesses, ₹20,000
crore subordinate debt for
stressed MSMEs and proposed to
set up a “fund of funds” with a cor-
pus of ₹10,000 crore to provide
equity support for MSMEs.
On May 7, the FMO had said in
a series of tweets that India’s
economy was “poised to recover”
as state-run banks had sanc-
tioned loans worth ₹5.66 lakh
crore over last two months to
about 4.2 million account holders
belonging to MSMEs, retail, agri-
culture and corporate sectors, HT
reported on May 8.
“The industry does need
money, particularly MSMEs. It is
good that the money has been
sanctioned, now disbursal should
happen as soon as possible,” Nir-
anjan Hiranandani, president of
the Associated Chambers of Com-
merce and Industry of India
(Assocham), had said then.
It is of paramount importance
that these loan approvals get con-
verted into disbursals as soon as
possible, said Sanjay Aggarwal,
senior vice president of the PHD
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry.

Centre and state governments. It
makes up about one-third of total
tax receipts. Over 70% of the GST
revenue accrues to the states as
their own share of the receipts
and funds devolved on them by
the Centre.
Demand generation looms as a
major challenge after the Cov-
id-19 lockdown is lifted and a sub-
stantial reduction in GST rates
could stimulate demand, some
industry associations have
argued.
Niranjan Hiranandani, presi-
dent of the Associated Chambers
of Commerce and Industry of
India (Assocham), has proposed
a cut in GST rates on almost all
products by 50% for six months to
boost demand.
Responding to the finance min-
istry officials’ comments, Hira-
nandani said on Tuesday: “In the-
ory, yes – lost input tax credit
of reduced GST rather than keep
waiting for some other day to do
so.”
The logic is that demand gener-
ation needs GST cuts. he
said.“The aspect of ITC can be
dealt with so long as the sugges-
tion is taken in the proper per-
spective.”
Experts counselled the gov-
ernment to adopt a cautious
approach. “There does not
appear to be any empirical evi-
dence that any country has
exempted GST/VAT [value-
added tax] across the board in
order to drive up the pandemic-
impacted economies. There could
be specific sectors/areas where
there may be a need to rationalise
the GST rates for a temporary
period to assist the sector. This
needs be done very cautiously
ensuring that revenue losses are
minimised, leakages are avoided
rate reduction could be explored
vis-à-vis a NIL rate/exemption by
the government specifically for
the severely impacted sectors. In
a scenario, where the said rate
reduction entails accumulation
of credits, the government should
ensure full refund of the credits
so accumulated with faster proc-
essing of such refunds,” he said.
Pratik Jain, partner and leader
of the indirect tax practice at PwC
India, suggested making GST
concessions an exception for
industries such as airlines and
hospitality that have borne the
brunt of the fallout of the Covid-19
crisis.
“In addition, the government
should consider providing work-
ing capital cushion to industry by
deferring the payment of GST col-
lected by few months to industry
at large, without payment of any
interest,” Jain said.
bling Chinese propaganda, har-
bouring Islamic terrorism and
of allowing Muslim men to flout
safety measures.
A TikTok spokesperson said
that the platform clearly out-
lines in its terms of service and
community guidelines what is
not acceptable on the platform.
It’s Twitter profile described the
platform as “just an anti-fake
news account”.
“Keeping people on TikTok
safe is a top priority and as per
the policy, we do not allow con-
tent that risks safety of others,
promotes physical harm or glo-
rifies violence against women.
The behaviour in question vio-
lates our guidelines and we have
taken down content, suspended
the account, and are working
with law enforcement agencies
as appropriate,” the TikTok
spokesperson said.
NEW DELHI: The Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) has
directed all hospitals to take
nasal swab samples from dead
bodies of suspected coronavirus
disease (Covid-19) cases, to test
for the virus, in a detailed
autopsy guideline for patients.
“Collect Nasopharyngeal
swab at the emergency depart-
ment/casualty/ward/ICU and
should be sent for Covid-19
RT-PCR test in all Suspected
cases before moving the body to
mortuary for preservation if the
same was not sent in due hospital
course,” state the guidelines that
were released on Tuesday.
The research body stated that
bodies must not be released from
the mortuaries, in case Covid-19
test results are awaited.
As the disease is highly conta-
gious, and the staff conducting
SAYS ICMR. BODIES
SHOULD NOT BE
RELEASED IF TESTS
RESULTS ARE AWAITED
the autopsy run the risk of con-
tracting the infection, ICMR, in
its guidelines, has also directed
to treat death in hospital or
under medical care due to Cov-
id-19 as a NonMedicolegal case
that doesn’t require a medico-le-
gal autopsy and the required cer-
tification of death can be done by
treating doctors.
“The doctors, mortuary tech-
nicians and other mortuary
staffs in mortuary performing
autopsy are exposed to poten-
tially high and dangerous health
risks due to coming in direct con-
tact with infected organs, fluids
non-invasive autopsy technique
should be adopted for forensic
autopsy,” the directive stated.
Since asymptomatic cases and
patients in incubation period
may not meet the diagnostic cri-
teria for suspected cases, doctors
should go by the possible epide-
miological history.
“…all dead bodies without
reliable clinical/ epidemiologi-
cal history and all unidentified
dead bodies should be treated as
suspected Covid-19 deaths.
Cases with negative swab results
also should be treated as sus-
pected Covid-19 deaths as false
negative result is not uncom-
mon,” the guidelines stated.
There should either be a sepa-
rate mortuary or a place ear-
marked for preservation of bod-
ies of unconfirmed Covid-19
cases, as per the guidelines
issued by the ICMR.

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E STA B L I S H E D I N 1 9 24
The Centre’s
report card
It recognised the threat, but
slipped on migrants, economy
F
ifty-five days after India went in for arguably the
most stringent lockdown in the world, the country
opened up substantially on Tuesday, though the lock-
down has been officially extended to May 31. This is a
good moment to evaluate what the Centre did right,
and what it got wrong in this period.
Here is where the Narendra Modi
government was right. One, it under-
stood the gravity of the challenge posed by the coronavirus pan-
demic, did not underplay the threat, and emphasised the need for
precautions and social distancing. Two, despite the economic
costs, it took the right decision in imposing a lockdown on March
25 — the country needed it then to reduce the spread of the infec-
tion and prepare the health infrastructure. Three, once it recog-
nised the importance of masks and personal protective equip-
ment (PPE), it scaled up domestic production. Four, it recognised
the centrality of the states in this battle, with Mr Modi regularly
consulting chief ministers and taking into account their inputs.
Five, the prime minister’s messaging by first emphasising lives
over livelihoods, and then the need to reconcile both lives and
livelihoods — as it became clear that the pandemic was here to
stay — was important. And finally, it behaved responsibly by
helping countries in need, and not using this moment to score
geopolitical points.
Where did the government go wrong? One, it underestimated
the desire of migrant workers to return home, causing one of the
most severe humanitarian crises India has seen. It was inconsist-
ent regarding their travel policy, didn’t provide adequate safety
nets, and was insensitive when reports of them walking home
emerged. Two, it slipped on the health front — by, first, having
limited testing criteria, testing at low numbers for long, and not
providing enough PPE in the early stages. It is not clear if India
still has the infrastructure in case there is a surge in cases.
Three, it greatly delayed the economic package — and when the
package was announced, it did not have a strong enough compo-
nent to stimulate demand and provide immediate relief. Four,
the Centre did not do enough to support the states financially.
Five, it has been sporadic and often not transparent in its com-
munication, particularly on the spread of the disease. And
finally, in the enforcement of the lockdown, the security appara-
tus often used excessive force and violated guidelines of the gov-
ernment itself. As India prepares for the next phase in the battle,
it should build on the strengths and remedy the weaknesses.
§
Kathmandu should
reconcile to reality
India can offer a diplomatic sop through
dialogue. But don’t trust PM Oli
T
here has been a dip in the relationship between India
and Nepal in the past month. Two issues have con-
tributed to it. The first was an internal rift within the
Nepal Communist Party (NCP) where Prime Minis-
ter (PM) KP Sharma Oli faced a challenge from senior party
leaders and former PMs, Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda”
and Madhav Kumar Nepal. The crisis was defused after China
mediated a deal between the leaders. If there were any doubts
about the Chinese investment in the NCP and backing for Mr
Oli, it was dispelled. Delhi noted the development, quietly.
The second, more public, episode has been the controversy
over the border. India inaugurated a road that crosses through
Lipu Lekh Pass, part of an area both countries claim as their
own. There is a long history to claims and counter-claims, but
what is relevant is this. India possesses the territory; it sees it
strategically important; and it will continue to expand infra-
structure. The issue is, however, a subject of ultra-nationalist
politics in Nepal. Mr Oli’s own nationalist politics (which
seems to disappear when it comes to China), and domestic
political opinion resulted in Kathmandu taking a strong posi-
tion. While Beijing supports Mr Oli in general, domestic fac-
tors are driving Nepal’s rhetoric on this issue. In fact, India and
China, in 2015, agreed to have trade across the pass, an
acknowledgement by Beijing of India’s control over the area.
Nepal should reconcile to the status quo and stop its anti-India
rhetoric. India can offer a diplomatic sop by agreeing to start
a dialogue on border issues. But Delhi must be vigilant, and
keep a check on the Chinese-backed Oli regime.
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§
Ending Inspector Raj in agriculture
The Centre’s initiative in freeing up agri-trade
will have a huge impact on the rural economy
SANJEEV
SANYAL
O
ne of the most important reforms
announced last week by finance
minister Nirmala Sitharaman
relates to the liberalisation of the
ourtake agriculture sector. By announc-
ing that the outdated Essential
Commodities Act will be amended, she set the
ball rolling for ending both license-permit raj
and inspector raj in the agriculture sector.
This is not merely the “1991 moment” of end-
ing an inefficient relic of the socialist era, but
the unwinding of 700 years of systematic pol-
icy bias against farmers and farm produce
traders.
A combination of two sets of laws have
defined how farm produce is bought and sold
in India — the Essential Commodities Act
(ECA) and the state-level Agricultural Pro-
duce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts.
ECA was enacted in 1955 to control produc-
tion, supply, trade, and storage of certain com-
modities deemed to be essential (farm prod-
ucts in the list include onions, potatoes, edible
oils, jute, rice paddy, sugar and so on). The Act
itself does not lay out the regulations but
allows states to issue “control orders” related
to dealer licensing, stock limits, the power to
fix prices, compulsory purchases and restric-
India isn’t prepared to
meet its defence needs
Recent reforms have potential. India must decide how to
acquire effective military capabilities in a post-Covid world
C UDAY
BHASKAR
L N
ast week, finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman unveiled some major
structural reforms in India’s mori-
bund defence sector, as part of a coro-
navirus disease (Covid-19)-related macroeco-
nomic stimulus, and the increase in foreign
direct investment in defence manufacturing
to 74% is radical. However, these are all policy
changes that have “potential” and need to be
implemented effectively before their outcome
can be objectively assessed.
In the interim, India’s military security
challenges, both current and long-term, came
into unintended focus in this month even as
the nation is grappling with the pandemic and
its tragic impact on millions of citizens.
In early May, the Handwara terror attack
saw the Indian Army losing a colonel and
other personnel, pointing to the abiding tenac-
ity of the low-intensity-conflict (LIC) that has
been simmering in Kashmir. This is a complex
proxy war where the external Pakistani stim-
ulus has permeated the internal security
strand with all its corrosive communal ele-
ments. It is unlikely to end soon.
Currently, India is managing an anoma-
lous territorial challenge exigency, albeit of a
low order. The eastern Ladakh sector saw a
stand-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers
in the Pangong Tso sector. While it is well
below Doklam, media reports indicate that
stones were used and it is encouraging that no
ordnance was exchanged, as has been the pat-
tern for well over three decades. But the long-
festering territorial dispute with China,
remains alive on the national security radar.
The more intriguing element is that Nepal
summoned the Indian ambassador on May 11
to lodge a protest against the construction of
a road by India in an area (Lipu Lekh pass to
Dharchula in Uttarakhand) that Kathmandu
claims lies within its territory.
To add to the spectrum of challenges,
reports have emerged of China enhancing its
Indian Ocean (IO) footprint in an island proxi-
mate to Male in the Maldives. Thus the possi-
bility of a Hambantota kind of facility/access
for the PLA navy in the IO cannot be ignored
by Indian security planners.
And to cap this opaque security challenge,
May also symbolises India’s complex nuclear-
missile anxiety. The regional strategic envi-
ronment became rough for India when China
acquired nuclear weapons in October 1964;
the subsequent Sino-Pakistan weapons of
mass destruction (WMD) covert cooperation
presented Delhi with a sui generis security
conundrum. The Pakistani nuclear weapon
that Beijing had enabled was being used to
help terrorism stoked by religious fervour —
what one had described as the nuclear weap-
on-enabled terrorism (NWET) dilemma.
India sought to assuage its latent WMD
anxiety in May 1998 through the Shakti
nuclear tests under Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s
watch on May 11. Two decades later, the
regional WMD-terror nexus has become mud-
dier and the techno-strategic permutations
are bewildering.
Does India have the wherewithal to deal
effectively with this complex spectrum of
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Managing Editor: SOUMYA BHATTACHARYA
comment
tions on transportation. In turn, the authori-
ties are given draconian powers to raid
“hoarders”, confiscate stocks, cancel licens-
ing and even imprison offenders.
The APMC system, meanwhile, forced
farmers to sell their produce only through
designated channels and mandis. The combi-
nation led to an inefficient regime of licenses,
permits and inspectors. The drawbacks of the
system were well documented over decades
and many economists had argued for change.
Some attempts were made to reform it piece-
meal but the system had largely remained
intact till now.
In 2019 alone, an estimated 76,000 raids
were conducted in different parts of the coun-
try under ECA. The system was not only
unfair to farmers and traders, but it also was
not even very good at achieving its main goal
of price stability. As illustrated clearly in the
latest Economic Survey (Volume 1, 2019-20),
ECA actually increased the volatility of prices
for commodities such as onion, pulses and
sugar. It also did not lower the wedge between
retail and wholesale prices. Instead, the Sur-
vey found evidence that ECA raids mostly led
to the harassment of traders (merely 2-4% of
ECA related cases stand up in court).
It does not need a degree in economics but
plain common sense to understand why the
ECA-APMC system failed. Farm production
is bunched according to harvests, and price
stability depends on storage. By forcing farm-
ers to sell their produce through designated
channels, and placing arbitrary restrictions
on inventory, the system discouraged price
discovery and storage. Anyone who invested
n The Handwara terror attack points to the
abiding tenacity of the low-intensity war
that has been simmering in Kashmir PTI
national security challenges — one part of
which is further aggravated by the current
domestic political-ideological orientation?
The answer is no — and for years experts have
been pointing out that the annual defence allo-
cation cannot sustain the kind of human,
material and inventory profile that India
needs. The last defence budget (excluding pen-
sions) was ~3,37,000 crore. The amount availa-
ble for modernisation of equipment and new
acquisitions was shrinking to about 32% from
the optimum of 40% of the budget.
In the backdrop of Covid-19, India’s macro-
economic challenge will worsen. The fiscal
deficit is set to breach the recommended 3.5%
limit; the only question is how high it would
go. On May 8, the government pegged central
borrowing for 2020-21 at ~12,00,000 crore — a
significant increase from the budget estimate
of ~7,80,000 crore. This fiscal stress will have a
bearing on sectors earlier referred to as “non-
plan” in the budgetary allocation, of which
defence is a visible component. Thus, it is
unlikely that the armed forces will receive
anything close to ~3,50,000 crore (approx $46
billion). There are also unconfirmed reports
of a budget slash in defence allocation due to
Covid-19, ranging from ~40,000 to 80,000 crore.
Given that the Covid-19 challenge and its
accumulating debris of economic devastation
and human destitution will be the higher
national priority for some years, India will
have to embark on a radical review of its secu-
rity challenges and the road map to deal with
this complex spectrum. Many nations are fac-
ing a similar predicament, but some abiding
elements in the Indian context must be noted.
Strategic geography and its attendant secu-
rity exigencies will not change due to the pan-
demic. The low-intensity conflict stoked by
Pakistan and the internal security fabric will
be turbulent and the political apex will seek to
assuage national sentiment in this regard.
What kind of military capability India
needs, its technological contour, and how this
can be both nurtured and sustained in an
affordable manner in a post-Covid-19 world
needs careful and objective assessment.
Against this backdrop, some of the sweeping
remarks attributed to the Chief of Defence
Staff General Bipin Rawat, justifying lower
defence spend and suggesting that the mili-
tary may have been misrepresenting its
requirements are perplexing, to put it mildly.
One hopes this is not the distilled wisdom of
Modi 2.0 in the security domain.
C Uday Bhaskar is director, Society for
Policy Studies, New Delhi
The views expressed are personal
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, N EW D E LHI
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0
n A law will be introduced to allow farmers to
sell their produce as they wish. Barrier-free
interstate trade will be encouraged
SANCHIT KHANNA /HTPHOTO
in storage ran the risk of being called a
“hoarder” and facing prosecution.
Thus, every year, India sees prices of vege-
tables such as onions swinging wildly from
being too high to too low. Countries that do not
even grow food (like Singapore), meanwhile,
continue to enjoy stable food prices.
The systematic bias in agriculture policy
goes back to measures introduced seven cen-
turies ago by Alauddin Khilji. Having con-
quered large swaths of India, he introduced
harsh policies to artificially hold down prices
and control trade. Contemporary records sug-
gest that these measures were aimed at
cheaply supporting a large army and enrich-
ing the Turkic nobility while deliberately
impoverishing the general population. It is
quite extraordinary that Indian school text-
The government slipped
in not focusing on demand
Direct income support, monitored to prevent leakages
and misappropriation, remains the ideal way out
AVISHKAR
SINGHVI
ow that the details about the
release of the ~20 lakh crore pack-
age are complete, several ques-
tions arise. While the government
claims this is 10% of the GDP, the exact pro-
portion of the stimulus, the impact of
announcements on vulnerable sections of
the population and sectors in distress, and
whether the package is sufficient to revive
the economy, merits critical scrutiny.
Broken down, the direct, visible and
quantifiable fiscal injection may hover at ~4
lakh crore, barely 2% of GDP, if that. The
government’s figures accept that 50% of the
~20 lakh crore figure amounts to monetary
support, including loan facilitation and
enhanced incentives to lend.
How much will farmers, migrant workers
and daily wage workers get in their bank
accounts, notwithstanding the food distri-
bution and loan moratorium? What is the
nature of fiscal incentives, tax reductions
and statutory dues waiver to individuals
and enterprises? Can micro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) expect an
interest waiver to boost revenue?
These questions gain relevance because
while real fiscal incentives, when given, will
ease some burden, it is unlikely that they
will alleviate the setbacks in consumption
patterns which will take relatively longer to
recuperate. The fundamental problem in
the economy today is the lack of consump-
tion and demand. People need money to use.
The majority of the schemes must there-
fore be linked with direct consumption of
goods and services. But the inherent dan-
gers — savings and leakages — must be
avoided. All incentives must be employ-
ment- and fixed-cost-oriented. Millions of
people are expected to be jobless and putting
them back to work and supporting them in
the interim is critical.
For this, we need equitable distribution
and verification of the delivery to the
intended class . Income-based distribution
has to take place by payment of funds into
the Jan Dhan accounts. In this, paying pro-
gressively higher stimulus to lower income
groups is crucial. The Marxian creed “from
each according to his ability, to each accord-
ing to his needs” is apt at such times.
But this has not been done. Instead, the
government has come up with a set of meas-
ures. Let us examine these. The efficacy of
collateral-free loans of up to ~3 lakh crore or
government guarantees is questionable
when it comes to those units which are reel-
THE UNITED KINGDOM
ANNOUNCED THE CORONAVIRUS
JOB RETENTION SCHEME FOR
WORKERS, WHICH AMOUNTED
TO PAYING 70% OF THEIR WAGES
FOR ABOUT A FOURTH OF
WORKERS. INDIA NEEDS A
SIMILAR SCHEME URGENTLY
books today present Khilji’s systematic
exploitation as “reforms” and blame the trad-
ers who were subject to draconian punish-
ments.
This same tilted agricultural policy was
used by the East India Company in the late
18th and early 19th century to force Indian
farmers to grow indigo (for British industry)
and opium (for China), and then sell it at
depressed prices through agents. It com-
pletely impoverished rural India and caused
repeated famines. In the second half of the
19th century, the system was adapted to con-
trol raw cotton prices to favour the mills of
Manchester. The Berar Cotton and Grain
Market Act of 1887 is the forerunner of today’s
APMC acts. Importantly, the British were
very careful to keep their own hands clean so
that the blame fell on the traders. Thus, those
who provided the supply chain were accused
of “hoarding”. This is the source of the 1950s
and 60s film plots.
The FM’s announcement, therefore, prom-
ises to remove a deep-rooted bias against
farmers and the food supply chain (not to men-
tion a source of multilevel rent-seeking). A
central law will be introduced to allow farm-
ers to sell their produce as they wish. Barrier-
free interstate trade is to be encouraged. State-
level APMC laws are already being changed
one-by-one to complement this change. Of
course, the government will retain the power
to intervene in extreme situations, say a war,
when markets break down.
This ends the license permit raj for the agri-
cultural sector — three decades after this was
done for the rest of the economy. It also creates
a common national market for agricultural
products.
Sanjeev Sanyal is principal economic adviser,
Government of India
The views expressed are personal
ing under debt. They will remain liabilities
in the books, liable to be repaid, and can,
thus, hardly be termed as part of the fiscal
stimulus.
The payment of pending wages during the
lockdown period is a huge concern. The
chancellor of the exchequer in the United
Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, announced the Cor-
onavirus Job Retention Scheme for work-
ers, which amounted to paying 70% of their
wages for about a fourth of workers. Irre-
spective of the scale, the concept requires
urgent implementation in India.
Another set of announcements amounts
to tweaking old policy or to amending it for
the medium or even long-term, by when it
may well be too late. All this appears to do
nothing for sectoral victims, waiting anx-
iously for direct injections. This includes
airlines, the hospitality sector, and daily
wage earners. In contrast, the United States
announced a multi-billion dollar package
for the airline sector and Singapore did the
same for the tourism sector. No corporate
tax/income-tax (I-T) holidays or even inter-
est waiver is on the cards here. Reducing tax
deducted at source (TDS) by 25% is not even
cosmetic, without a corresponding cut in the
rates of I-T.
The government’s well-intentioned pol-
icy of procurement below ~200 crore without
global tendering, as part of a nationalist self-
reliant India, may raise legal eyebrows as
being violative of the World Trade Organiza-
tion norms and may have a deleterious effect
in attracting reciprocal foreign direct
investment.
There can no longer be an indecisiveness
regarding the fiscal deficit. The Fiscal
Responsibility and Budget Management
Act, 2003, should be amended to permit a 2%
violation and, if necessary, money should be
printed for genuine fiscal injections to tar-
geted sectoral victims. These are not normal
times and fiscal prudence is not a principle
cast in stone. Flexibility and innovation pro-
portionate to the danger are needed. War is
not won by stereotyped, textbook responses
and Covid-19 is no less than a war.
In India, there is always a huge risk of
leakages and misappropriation. Apart from
targeted mechanisms such as direct benefit
transfer and Aadhaar, special task forces
comprising private sector, lawmakers,
economists, accountants and investigators
must police disbursal through State
schemes. The courts will have to remain vig-
ilant, even though as instruments of last
resort, beset as they are with inherent
delays endemic to the system.
Cooperative federalism during pandemic
emergencies must be reconfigured. How
much support state governments receive in
the form of fiscal support, notwithstanding
their political affiliations, requires political
collaboration and maturity which seems to
be lacking at the present time. While every-
body realises that all cannot be done at once,
taking big, clear and concrete steps in the
right direction is the way forward. The gov-
ernment’s motto — sabka saath, sabka
vikas — needs to be tied to the former prime
minister of Britain, Lloyd George’s famous
admonishment: “Don’t be afraid to take a big
step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a
chasm in two small jumps.”
Avishkar Singhvi is an advocate in
the Supreme Court
The views expressed are personal
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, N EW D E LH I
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0
shortstories
FPIS WITHDRAW
$6.4 BILLION IN
JAN-MAR QTR
NEW DELHI: Foreign investors
turned net sellers in March
quarter and pulled out $6.4 billion
from the Indian equity markets
largely due to the Covid-19
outbreak and ensuing risk-averse
environment, a Morningstar
report said. In comparison,
foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)
bought net assets worth $6.3
billion in three months ended
December 2019. FPIs were net
buyers in January ($1.71 billion)
and February ($265 million). They,
however, went on a selling spree
in March as they sold net assets
worth $8.4 billion. “The uncer-
tainty over gravity of pandemic’s
impact on global economy
triggered a flight to safety,” the
report noted.
SNOWMAN’S DEAL
TO SELL STAKE TO
ADANI GETS MESSY
MUMBAI: Adani Ports and Special
Economic Zone Ltd, whose plan to
buy a controlling stake in cold
chain logistics company Snow-
man Logistics Ltd has hit a hurdle,
has refuted claims by Snowman’s
promoters on the deal. “ALL
(Adani Logistics Ltd) has received
a letter issued by Gateway
Distriparks Ltd in relation to a
purported repudiation of the
share purchase agreement and
ALL has duly responded to the
same. ALL has categorically
denied the correctness and basis
of the statements, assertions and
claims being made by Gateway
Distriparks Ltd,” Adani said.
MARKETS UP 1%
AS VACCINE HOPES
BOOST SENTIMENT
MUMBAI: The excitement over
the possibility of a covid-19
vaccine wore off at the end of the
day’s trade on Tuesday with
benchmark indices closing nearly
1% higher, after rallying 2.34%
during the day. However, the
increasing number of covid-19
cases in India kept investors wary.
The BSE Sensex ended 0.56% up
at 30,196.17, while the 50-share
index Nifty was at 8,879.10, up
0.63%. Stock markets in other
Asian regions were also up after
Moderna reported ‘positive’ early
trials for a covid-19 vaccine.
AGENCIES AND STAFF
HTSPOTLIGHT
Panic, fear grip Ganjam Consent of receiving states no longer required
as cases see steady rise
Debabrata Mohanty
n debabrata.mohanty@htlive.com
GANJAM: When Sadashiva Dakua,
36, from Odisha’s Ganjam dis-
trict, lost his job in Gujarat’s
Surat, it was not just the loss of
income that he had to deal with.
He also had to share a 100 square
feet room with five other people
left jobless because of the Cov-
id-19 pandemic and the lockdown
imposed to check its spread.
Dakua had no option but to
return home. “...what should I
have done instead of fleeing?... In
normal times, only half of us
would be at the room at any given
point in time as our working
hours varied.”
Dakua said it was just too diffi-
cult and scary to live in the
cramped room without money.
“Several migrant workers in
Surat were testing positive and I
was scared...” said Dakua, who
has been under quarantine along
with 70 since returning to Gan-
jam 10 days back.
People like Dakua are now
being blamed by locals for bring-
ing the infection to Ganjam.
“Why did they have to come at
all? They would now ruin us,”
said Meghnad Pradhan, a resi-
dent of Ganjam’s Polasara block.
Ganjam’s chief district medi-
cal officer, Umashankar Mishra,
said the administration had till
May 2, when the first case was
detected in Ganjam, managed to
keep things under control. “But
as more and more migrant work-
ers arrived from Surat on trains
and buses, the positive cases
increased fast,” he said.
Ganjam has since emerged as a
Covid-19 hotspot with 307 cases. It
accounts for over one-third of
Odisha’s 876 cases with the influx
of migrants pushing the tally. As
many as 750 migrant workers
have tested positive for the dis-
ease in the state.
As many as 55,000 migrant
workers have returned to Gan-
jam alone from states like Guj-
arat, which is among the states
worst-hit by the pandemic, offi-
cials said.
Their return has reflected in
the spike in the Covid-19 cases
over the last fortnight. An
18-year-old, who returned to the
district on a bus, was the first to
test positive in Ganjam on May 2.
I’ve done the best
for India Inc: FM
MINISTERSPEAK Nirmala Sitharaman defends stimulus
package and says will not hesitate to take more steps if needed
Anil Padmanabhan and
Gireesh Chandra Prasad
n anil.p@livemint.com
NEW DELHI: The government has
taken adequate steps to address
the problems of India Inc, Union
finance minister Nirmala Sithar-
aman said in an interview to Mint
on Tuesday, defending the stimu-
lus package announced last
week. She, however, did not rule
out the possibility of taking more
steps to support Indian busi-
nesses, if needed.
Over five days in the last week,
Sitharaman had announced the
contours of a ₹20 lakh crore pack-
age first announced by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi as a
measure to fight the economic
erosion due to the Covid-19 pan-
demic and to make the country
“self-reliant”. But experts soon
pointed out that the additional
government spending as a part of
the package is limited.
“It is worth remembering that
before Covid-19, when we all felt
the economy was slowing down
and an incentive was needed to be
given, the corporate tax rate was
cut to an unimaginable extent—it
was a drastic step,” Sitharaman
said, adding: “It is not as if I have
not responded to industry”.
“We showed that we want to
give big time help to the industry.
Possibly, some green shoots
should have been visible by Janu-
ary, by which time companies
could have saved enough for
making fresh investments; but
God willed otherwise.”
The minister also indicated
that the government is expecting
some lag in recovery due to
migrant workers who have
returned home during the lock-
down. “I am expecting (relatively
speaking) a surge in growth but it
may be gradual because the
labour component is something
on which the industry is either
remodelling themselves by
n Migrants arrive at a quarantine centre in Ganjam, Odisha.
The district has since reported
9-20 cases daily on an average.
Ganjam district collector Vijay
Amrita Kulange said there is lit-
tle to be worried about as the
cases have been reported from
quarantine centres alone.
But experts say the situation
could worsen as samples of only
5,000-odd out of the 55,000 return-
ing migrant workers have been
tested so far. Until Sunday even-
ing, 1,800-odd samples were pend-
ing with Covid-19 labs.
At several quarantine centres,
only a handful, who showed
symptoms, have been tested leav-
ing the others worried that they
may have contracted the disease
too. At a quarantine centre in
Mathura village, none of the 37
workers, who have arrived from
Surat, have been tested so far,
officials aware of the matter said.
Mishra said the administra-
tion was ramping up the testing
facilities.
“We are testing 500 samples
and would soon test 1,000 daily.
We can test almost everyone,” he
said even as another 50,000 more
migrants were expected at quar-
antine centres.
Many workers have com-
plained about the arrangements
at the quarantine centres. At the
Dhunkapada quarantine centre,
workers said four buckets had
been provided for 10 people each
n The finance minister indicated the Centre is expecting some lag in
recovery as migrant workers have returned home.
depending more on local work-
ers, skilling them, or probably
waiting for (the return of) those
people who have gone home. The
surge, from that point of view,
may be gradual given the uncer-
tainty related to labour,” she said.
The FM’s announcements last
week were part of a slew of meas-
ures taken by the government for
micro, small and medium enter-
prises (MSMEs), agriculture,
migrant workers, defence, busi-
nesses, and other segments.
The minister responded to
being categorised as a fiscal hawk
in her policy, saying: “I am hear-
ing it for the first time. I would
assume that is a virtue. I am deal-
ing with public money; I am deal-
ing with every penny for which I
am answerable to. I have to be
cautious”. She added that she is
keeping options open for how the
government will fund the stimu-
lus package. “At this stage, it is
still difficult for me to say any-
thing. As I said, I have kept all my
options open. I have to see where
it goes,” she said.
The pandemic is likely to con-
tinue to impacting the economy,
the minister said, adding that the
HT PHOTO
and just a bottle of hand wash for
the total 73 there. “The toilets are
stinking. With the gates shut, it
feels as if we are serving jail sen-
tences,” said Nakula Patra, a
worker.
“We have not been tested for so
far... officials throw medicines
from a distance,” said another
worker, who did not want to be
named. The local villagers have
also been guarding a pond, fear-
ing some of the workers may
scale the wall of the quarantine
centre and bathe there.
Residents said there is hardly
any focus on social distancing
and added that the family of the
first person to die of Covid-19 in
the district gathered at Madhu-
pali village for his post-death ritu-
als without wearing masks.
“The real test would be ensur-
ing social distancing. In Odisha
villages, people believe in social
mixing and not distancing. Once
a Covid positive case in a quaran-
tine centre infects someone out-
side, the community transmis-
sion would be a matter of time,”
said Dr Binod Patra, who heads
the community medicine depart-
ment at the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences in Bhubanes-
war. “People are now not much
worried as Odisha has not seen a
higher death toll like Gujarat and
Maharashtra. Once that hap-
pens, it may be catastrophic.”
HINDUSTAN TIMES
government will wait and watch
to see how things play out. “We
are still in lockdown mode. These
schemes are getting implemented
and people will have some money
in their hands again. This may
not be the best time to make an
assessment,” she said.
“The world is not going to be
the same way. When we lift the
lockdown, the working environ-
ment, the interpersonal contact
for business is changing, the
world over. Some companies
have said working from home
could be the norm permanently,”
the minister said, explaining why
she mentioned that India was
entering a new paradigm in a
post-Covid world.
“I would think one of the big
things that have changed, a para-
digm shift, is that administration,
urban local bodies, wards and
panchayats will now have to — I
am not speaking on behalf of the
government; I will propagate this
at any opportunity I get —
develop a credible data source of
people and their skillsets, the
industry engaging them so that if
any such situation happens, we
can handle them,” she said.
SHRAMIK SPECIAL TRAINS
Anisha Dutta
n anisha.dutta@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Consent of states
where trains ferrying migrants
terminate is not needed to run the
special Shramik trains, the gov-
ernment said on Tuesday, revers-
ing an earlier order that called for
the mutual agreement of both
sending and receiving states in
order to transport stranded
labourers to their hometowns.
The move came on the day the
government issued a fresh stan-
dard operating procedure (SOP)
for operating the services flagged
off on May 1, announcing that the
movement of these Shramik
trains will be permitted by the
railway ministry in consultation
with the ministry of home affairs
(MHA).
“Today (Tuesday), MHA has
withdrawn the May 1 circular
and issued a separate SOP for
railways. Now, the implication is
this that the consent of receiving
state is not mandatory for run-
ning Shramik Special trains,” a
Cong offer on buses for migrants sparks UP tussle
Umesh Raghuvanshi
letters@hindustantimes.com
n
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh gov-
ernment and Congress general
secretary Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra’s office continued to
exchange letter (over e-mail) and
charges related to the latter’s
plan to send 1000 buses to help
transport migrants in Uttar Pra-
desh.
The offer was made on Satur-
day, and accepted on Monday.
But by Tuesday evening, the state
government said only 879 of the
1,000 vehicles were buses, and the
rest three-wheelers and other
vehicles, triggering angry reac-
tions from the Congress.
Late in the evening, police
booked Gandhi’s private secre-
tary Sandip Singh and state Con-
gress chief Ajay Kumar ‘Lallu’ for
allegedly providing ‘misleading’
information about the buses.
On Monday, the UP govern-
ment asked for details of the
buses. Gandhi’s office did this by
around 8pm on Monday.
In response to the list, addi-
tional chief secretary, home,
Awanish Kumar Awasthi wrote
Reliance’s ₹53,125-crore
rights issue opens today
Nasrin Sultana and
Swaraj Singh Dhanjal
n nasrin.s@livemint.com
MUMBAI: Asia’s richest man
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance
Industries Ltd (RIL), which is on
a fund-raising spree amid the
covid-19 pandemic, is set to open
its massive ₹53,125-crore rights
issue on Wednesday.
The rights issue, which closes
for subscription on June 3, will
be the largest share sale India
has seen—more than double the
2019 record held by Bharti Airtel
Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd of
around ₹25,000 crore each. Reli-
ance has hired a syndicate, com-
prising 14 investment banks,
including Morgan Stanley, Citi,
Bank of America and Axis Capi-
tal, to manage it.
Ahead of the rights issue, Reli-
ance sold a 14% stake in Jio Plat-
forms to multiple investors,
including Facebook Inc., across
deals worth ₹67,194.75 crore. The
MFs use inter-scheme Package much smaller
transfers to pay investors than it seems: Fitch
Jayshree P Upadhyay and
Neil Borate
n jayshree.pyasi@livemint.com
MUMBAI:Mutual funds (MFs) sold
debt paper in credit risk funds to
their other schemes to repay
investors amid the panic with-
drawals of last month, data
showed.
Total assets under manage-
ment (AUM) of India’s credit risk
funds plunged 35% from ₹48,576
crore on 24 April to ₹31,357 crore
on 15 May—a drop of ₹17,219 crore
in just three weeks—after Frank-
lin Templeton shuttered six
credit risk funds. However, none
of the mutual funds, barring Nip-
pon India, borrowed from banks
to repay investors. Most of them
identified and transferred some
of the illiquid debt paper from
credit risk funds to other funds
within the same asset manage-
ment company (AMC).
Investors in credit risk funds
railway ministry spokesperson
said.
The move came against the
backdrop of differences between
the Centre and some states over
the running of these trains. Rail-
way minister Piyush Goyal said
states such as West Bengal and
Chhattisgarh, which have large
migrant populations, are not
approving enough trains — a
charge dismissed by them.
In guidelines issued early May,
the government said states send-
ing and receiving migrant labou-
rers “may consult each other and
mutually agree to the move-
ment”, while railways will run
the services based on the require-
ment communicated by the state
where the trains will originate.
On Tuesday, the fresh SOP by
the home ministry asked all
states and Union Territories to
“designate nodal authorities and
make necessary arrangements”.
“Movement of Shramik Spe-
cial trains shall be permitted by
ministry of railways in consulta-
tion with ministry of home
PRIYANKA GANDHI
VADRA’S PRIVATE
SECRETARY, SANDIP
SINGH, AND UP CONG
CHIEF AJAY KUMAR
LALLU BOOKED FOR
PROVIDING ‘MISLEADING’
INFO ABOUT THE BUSES
back, at 11.30 pm on Monday
night, asked that the buses be pro-
vided in Lucknow at 10am on
Tuesday. Sandip Singh wrote at
2.10 am on Tuesday: “A large
number of migrant labourers are
stuck on the Delhi-UP border and
a large crowd is seen at registra-
tion centres. Under such circum-
stances, sending 1,000 empty
buses to Lucknow is not only a
waste of time and resources, it is
also inhuman and a creation of
anti-poor mindset….”
In response, the state asked the
party to provide the buses to the
district magistrates of Noida and
Ghaziabad by 12 noon on Tues-
day. “Please refer to your letter
dated May 18, 2020. As per your
THE BIGGEST RIGHTS
ISSUE IN INDIA WILL
ALSO BE A LITMUS TEST
FOR STOCK MARKETS
initiatives are aimed at helping
RIL reach its ambitious goal of
becoming a zero net-debt com-
pany by March 2021. RIL’s net
debt stood at ₹1.53 lakh crore on
December 31.
The company has set a price of
₹1,257 per share for subscribing
to the rights offering. Investors
keen on subscribing to the share
sale can make the payments in
three instalments—25% of the
amount at the time of subscrip-
tion, another 25% in May 2021
and the remaining 50% in
November 2021.
Analysts tracking RIL said its
power to beat disruptions and its
own value-unlocking abilities
amid the pandemic make its
rights issue attractive for retail
redeemed units worth ₹19,238.98
crore in April, of which around
one-third was met by selling
bonds to other schemes of the
same fund house, according to
data from Pulse Labs. HDFC
Mutual Fund transferred securi-
ties worth ₹2,250 crore to other
schemes, ICICI Prudential AMC
₹1,600 crore, Kotak Mahindra
AMC ₹580 crore, Aditya Birla Sun
Life Mutual Fund ₹800 crore, SBI
Mutual Fund ₹195 crore and Nip-
pon Life India AMC ₹340 crore.
SBI Mutual Fund in a state-
ment to Mint said, “These trans-
actions are based on market pri-
ces provided by valuation agen-
cies and within the investment
mandates of the purchasing
schemes.” Aditya Birla Sun Life
Mutual Fund said, “Credit funds
facing redemption is an industry-
wide scenario. Majority of the
transfers were of liquid AAA
papers and the balance was of
short term AA papers.”
These are issues that
› have to be decided by
both states (receiving and
sending), and the Centre.
TAPAS ROY , West Bengal minster
affairs… “The train schedule
including stoppages and destina-
tion shall be finalized by the rail-
way ministry based on require-
ments of states/UTs and shall be
communicated by railway minis-
try to the states/UTs for making
suitable arrangements for send-
ing and receiving such stranded
workers,” the SOP said.
Describing the Centre’s new
proposal as “unfair”, West Ben-
gal minster Tapas Roy said:
“These are issues that have to be
decided by both states (receiving
and sending), and the Centre. It is
unfair if the Centre decides on its
own when and how it will send
back the stranded migrant work-
ers.” Shiv Dahariya, urban devel-
letter, you have shown your ina-
bility to provide buses at Luc-
know and want to provide buses
at the Noida and Ghaziabad bor-
ders…. Under such a situation,
please provide 500 buses to the
district magistrate, Ghaziabad, at
Kaushambi and Sahibabad bus
stops by 12pm. In addition, pro-
vide 500 buses to the district mag-
istrate, Gautam Buddha Nagar,
at Expomart,” said Awasthi in his
letter sent to Singh on Tuesday.
Singh responsed at 12.15 pm:
“Some of our buses are coming
from Rajasthan while some are
coming from Delhi. The process
of reissuing them permits is
underway. As the number of
buses is high, it may take some
hours. As asked by you, we will
make efforts to take them to the
Ghaziabad/Noida border by
5pm.” He requested the state gov-
ernment to keep the list of passen-
gers and route map ready by 5pm
to avoid any problem in their
operation, saying, “This will be a
historic step when the UP govern-
ment and the Congress party will
keep away their political reserva-
tions.” Meanwhile, at 12pm, the
Uttar Pradesh government on
hindustantimes
POWERED BY
investors.
“The pricing of the rights
issue at ₹1,257 per share is a very
confident pricing as the promot-
ers will be subscribing to almost
half of the issue and raise ₹26,000
crore for the company. While the
promoters and institution hold-
ers are long-term holders and
will subscribe to the issue as the
company’s prospects appear
brighter than ever, this is also a
critical stage for individual
investors,” said Axis Securities.
The brokerage added that as
RIL’s business-to-consumer
(B2C) businesses offer high
growth potential, the discounted
price of the rights issue provides
a good opportunity to participate
in high growth businesses.
The biggest rights issue in
India will also be a litmus test for
stock markets, which have been
grappling with liquidity con-
cerns. After a 32% rally in April,
the stock has weakened this
month.
Press Trust of India
n feedback@livemint.com
NEW DELHI: The government’s
₹20.97 lakh crore Covid-19 pack-
age lacks in addressing immedi-
ate concerns of the economy as
the actual fiscal impact of the
additional stimulus is only about
1% of GDP as opposed to the claim
of 10%, Fitch Solutions said.
“About half of the package
amount covers fiscal measures
that had previously been
announced and also include the
estimated economic impact of
monetary stimulus from the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI),”
Fitch Solutions added in a note.
The rating agency said a seem-
ing reluctance for fiscal expan-
sion by the central government
amid the Covid-19 crisis in India
also poses a significant downside
risk to its 1.8% growth forecast for
2020-21 fiscal.
“India’s economic crisis is
opment and labour minister of
Chhattisgarh, said his state never
opposed Shramik Special trains.
“The central government has
always been apathetic towards
the common man of the country,”
he alleged.
Railway minister Goyal said
that in the next two days, 400
Shramik Special trains will run
every day. “All migrants are
requested to stay where they are,
the Indian Railways will get them
back home over the next few
days,” he added.
At present, to run a Shramik
Special train after agreement by
both states, they seek clearances
from the home ministry, and then
the railways.
“Once the clearance is
received (from the home minis-
try), the ministry of railways pro-
vides the train and tickets for the
total number of passengers to the
state government,” another sen-
ior railway ministry official said
requesting anonymity.
After the necessary clearance,
the state sending the migrants
Tuesday said that the list of 1,000
buses submitted to it for trans-
porting migrant workers
included some numbers that
were of auto rickshaws.
UP government spokesman
and minister for MSMEs Sid-
harth Nath Singh accused the
Congress of providing a fake list
to the state. Singh said prelimi-
nary inquiry into the Congress
list showed that the list carried
registration numbers of three-
wheelers. “This is a three-
wheeler number… This is the
number of a goods career. This is
unfortunate. We condemn it.
The Congress denied this and
said its buses were stranded on
the UP-Rajasthan border at
Uncha Nagla in Bharatpur and
requested permission to move
ahead and ensure compliance
with the government’s directives
of providing the buses to the dis-
trict magistrates of Noida
(Gautam Buddha Nagar) and
Ghaziabad at the earliest.
“We are standing at UP border
at Uncha Nagla with the buses for
past three hours. The Agra
administration is not allowing us
to enter. This is the time to show
11
India resumes
Malaysian palm
oil purchases
MUMBAI/SINGAPORE:Indian buyers
have resumed purchases of
Malaysian palm oil after a four-
month gap following a diplo-
matic row, with buying spurred
by a fall in domestic inventories
and discounted prices, trade per-
sons aware of the matter, said.
The renewed purchases come
amid improving trade relations
between the two countries after
the formation of a new govern-
ment in Kuala Lumpur, with
Malaysia signing a deal last week
to buy a record 100,000 tonnes of
Indian rice. Leading Indian
importers last week contracted
up to 200,000 tonnes of crude
palm oil from Malaysia, to be
shipped in June and July, the
people said.
Ship-tracking data by Refini-
tiv showed that India’s palm oil
imports for the first four months
of 2020 fell by more than 50%
from the year-ago period to 1.11
million tonnes. REUTERS
growing increasingly dire due to
surging infections and weak
demand both domestically and
externally. We believe that every
delay to effective government
stimulus will only deepen the
downturn, which will eventually
require even more spending to lift
the economy out of the doldrums,
which could see the deficit come
in wider,” it said.
The new fiscal stimulus
announced between May 13 and
May 17 is “made up of the govern-
ment loan guarantees, credit
extensions to be led by banks, and
regulatory amendments,” the
rating agency said.
“We see the package as being
lacking in addressing the imme-
diate concerns of the economy
and have revised our central and
combined deficit forecasts for
FY2020/21 (April–March) to 7%
and 11% of the GDP respectively,
from 6.2% and 9% previously,”
the agency said.
CORONAVIRUS
has to arrange for buses for tak-
ing migrants to a railway station.
A similar process is followed after
the train reaches the destination
station. The local authorities
arrange for buses to take the
migrants to their villages, and
they could be put under home
quarantine in accordance with
the receiving state’s protocol, the
second official added.
In separate guidelines issued
on May 2, railways said the origi-
nating state will indicate the
number of passengers travelling
in a train, and then railways will
print tickets and hand them over
to local officials. State authorities
shall collect fares after distribut-
ing tickets among the migrants,
the guidelines said.
After Tuesday’s move by the
railways, it is not clear if the proc-
ess of paying for fares will be
revised.
At present, originating states
pay in some cases, while destina-
tion states bear the costs on occa-
sions. At times, migrants have to
pay for their tickets.
sensitivity. We request you again
to grant permission to allow
entry of all our buses immedi-
ately so that we can move for-
ward,” Singh said in a letter to
Awasthi at 3.45pm on Tuesday.
An official spokesman of the
state said out of the list of 1049
vehicles provided by the Con-
gress, 879 were found to be buses
while 31 were three-wheelers and
69 registration numbers were of
some other vehicles.
This enraged the Congress. “In
its own statement, the state gov-
ernment has admitted 879 buses
in the list have been found
alright. Administration (Agra)
has stopped our 500 buses for
hours while 300 buses are reach-
ing the Delhi border. Allow 879
buses to run,” said Gandhi in a
tweet in the evening.
“UP government has crossed
all the limits. When there is an
opportunity to do away with
political differences and serve
helpless migrant labourers it has
caused all the hindrances. @myo-
giadityanath ji you can use BJP
flags and your posters on these
buses, but don’t reject our feel-
ings of service,” she said.
12 hindustantimes HIN DUSTA N TIMES, N EW D E LHI
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0

HTSPOTLIGHT CORONAVIRUS

₹20,500-cr loan support Sonia to chair Oppn leaders’ meeting

VIDEO CONFERENCE

for farmers to sow crop

CRITICAL TIME Tranche to be drawn from existing fund, to be replaced by farm-sector credit
Zia Haq
n zia.haq@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: The Union govern-
ment will issue ₹20,500 crore
worth of quick loans to farmers
who need money for the critical
summer-sowing season starting
in June, a tranche that will be
drawn from an already availa-
ble fund, but which will ulti-
mately be replenished by farm-
sector credit announced by
finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman,an official from the
National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development (NAB-
ARD) said on condition of ano-
nymity.
Farmers access agricultural
loans, critical for meeting
inputs such as fertilisers, seeds
and power, through three types
of rural banks across states.
These are 33 state co-operative
banks, 352 district central co-op-
erative Banks and 43 rural
regional banks.
During India’s summer-sown
season, known as kharif, farm-
ers plant the widest variety of
crops, such as rice, pulses,
groundnut, coarse cereals, sor-
ghum and maize, among others.
This accounts for half of India’s
annual food output.
Farm-sector credit
n Tomatoes dumped in fields by farmers protesting against a lack of
fair prices in the market at Bhiwani.
NABARD will take usual
route of reaching farmers.
“NABARD will extend ₹20,500
crore. Of this, ₹15,200 crore will
be extended through coopera-
tive banks and balance ₹5,300
crore through rural regional
banks as a special liquidity facil-
ity in various states,” the NAB-
ARD official said .
“It will augment the resour-
ces of cooperative banks and
rural regional banks to enable
them to extend credit to farmers
MANOJ DHAKA/HT
to ensure adequate liquidity
with them for financing farm-
ers, the official said. Front-load-
ing is a financial term that
means upfront injection of
liquidity.
The government subsidises
short-term crop loans to make
farming cheaper. Moreover,
banks must necessarily lend to
farmers because agriculture is a
so-called priority lending sec-
tor. All scheduled commercial
banks must direct 40% of their
For those making timely repay-
ments, the effective rate of inter-
est is even lower at 4%.
“Farmers have already
accessed over ₹4 lakh crore of
such credit this year. Agricul-
ture is the only sector appears
better equipped to absorb the
lockdown shocks because sup-
ply lines of fertilisers and seeds
etc have fared better than other
goods,” said Abhishek Agrawal,
an economist with Comtrade, a
commodities firm.
The prediction of a normal
2020 June-to-September mon-
soon by the India Meteorologi-
cal Department (IMD) has
brought relief to farmers, as it
will likely lessen the strain on
the economy from widespread
disruptions caused by the Cov-
id-19. The monsoon rains are
critical because nearly 60% of
India’s net arable land lacks
irrigation and half the popula-
tion depends on agriculture for
a livelihood.
With good rains, spending by
rural consumers on manufac-
tured items such as television
sets and gold jewellery goes up,
and boosts factory output. A
deficient monsoon cuts rural
consumption and also drives up
inflation. A normal monsoon is
key for robust agricultural out-
Aurangzeb Naqshbandi
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Congress president
Sonia Gandhi will on Friday
chair an opposition leaders’
meeting via video-conferencing
to discuss the impact of the Cov-
id-19 lockdown, the Centre’s ₹20
lakh crore package, the plight of
migrants, farmers and the sus-
pension of labour laws in Bharat-
iya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled
states.
A Congress leader said Gandhi
and her party’s key ally, Nation-
alist Congress Party chief Sharad
Pawar, were keen on holding the
meeting and chalk out a future
course of action. He said the two
spoke twice to finalise the meet-
ing. People aware of the matter
said the opposition parties want
to put pressure on the govern-
ment to accept their demands for
announcing “adequate relief
measures”, including direct cash
transfers for the poor, migrant
workers, farmers as well as a
financial package for micro,
small and medium enterprises as
part of a revised package to revive
the crisis-hit economy.
“The opposition parties want
to discuss the Covid-19 situation.
That is good. We discuss with the
government regularly. Now, the
100k samples tested for second straight day
Rhythma Kaul
rhythma.kaul@htlive.com
n
opposition parties will discuss
how we can do better and what we
are facing,” said West Bengal
chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee’s Maharashtra and
Jharkhand counterparts,
Uddhav Thackeray and Hemant
Soren, Pawar, Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam chief MK Stalin, Com-
munist Party of India (Marxist)
general secretary Sitaram
Yechury, Communist Party of
India general secretary D Raja
will attend the meeting. Rash-
triya Janata Dal, Indian Union
Muslim League, Jammu & Kash-
mir National Conference, All
India United Democratic Front,
Loktantrik Janata Dal and Revo-
lutionary Socialist Party leaders,
too, are expected to join it. The
Samajwadi Party and the Bahu-
jan Samaj Party were yet to con-
firm their participation.
This will be the first meeting of
the opposition leaders since the
lockdown was enforced across
the country on March 25 to con-
tain the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Congress and the BJP
have been involved in a war of
words on issues like the plight of
migrant workers left jobless by
the lockdown. The workers have
continued to cycle and walk back
to their homes even as buses in
late April and special trains have
ON MONDAY, A RECORD
108,233 SAMPLES WERE
n Cong chief Sonia Gandhi.
been arranged for them since
May 1. The Congress has accused
the government of being insensi-
tive towards the plight of the
workers. The BJP has hit back
and blamed the opposition party
for politicising the issue. Former
Congress president Rahul Gan-
dhi interacted with and arranged
transportation for a group of
workers from Delhi on Saturday.
The two parties have also
exchanged words over the sus-
pension of major labour laws in
BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh to help busi-
nesses recoup from the Covid-19
blow and to create more jobs.
Rahul Gandhi has accused the
government of using Covid-19 as
an excuse to exploit the workers,
In a statement on Tuesday,
Union health ministry said
suppress their voice and crush
their human rights.
The Congress has called the
Centre’s Covid-19 economic
package “hopelessly inadequate”
and said it has “left high and dry”
several sections, including 130
million families at the bottom half
of the population, migrant work-
ers and farmers. It has main-
tained the package only amounts
to ₹1,86,650 crore, which is barely
0.91% of the GDP, and includes
already budgeted expenditure,
regulatory measures, and pro-
posed reforms.
Union finance minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman has announced
details of the package, which the
Centre has said is equivalent of a
little below 10% of the GDP.
BJP refused comment on the
opposition meeting.
Hyderabad-based political
analyst C Narasimha Rao said the
entire country is pained at seeing
the plight of migrant workers,
maintaining that it is the respon-
sibility of both the ruling side and
the opposition parties to ensure
that stranded labourers return
safely to their home states. “The
opposition parties should join
hands and put pressure on the
government to ensure the suffer-
ing of the migrant workers is
ameliorated,” he said.
involved in containment and
mitigation of Covid-19, all hospi-

announced by Sitharaman is
yet to be notified by the Reserve
Bank of India, but the quick
loans will go from NABARD,
India’s main state-run financier
for rural needs.
for pre-monsoon and kharif
(summer-sown season) 2020
operations,”this person added.
The fund will be made availa-
ble as a means of “frontloading”
of resources of these banks so as
adjusted net bank credit
towards priority sector lending.
Farmers get crop loans at a
cheaper 7% as compared to con-
sumer loans, on which the inter-
est ranges from 12% and 14%.
put growth, which the govern-
ment targets at around 4%.
Agrawal said since incomes
of every class had been hurt, a
“class of farmers may still be in
need of cash”.
NEW DELHI: Over 100,000 samples
were tested for Covid-19 in India
on a second consecutive day
(101,475) on Tuesday and took
the total number of tests to more
than 2.4 million in about four
months, officials aware of the
TESTED, WHILE 101,475
SAMPLES WERE TESTED
ON TUESDAY, AS PER THE
HEALTH MINISTRY
through 14 All India Institute of
Medical Sciences-like mentor
institutions, handholding of
labs across the country has been
undertaken to ensure adequate
bio-safety standards and
accreditation of the laborato-
ries. “To maintain a steady sup-
talised patients, who develop
influenza-like illness (lLl)
symptoms, and all symptomatic
ILI among returnees from
abroad and migrants within
seven days of onset of symp-
toms.
“The more you test, the more

CBI issues alert on banking theft malware matter said. On Monday, a

NEW DELHI :The Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) has alerted
police forces and central secu-
rity agencies on an Interpol
input about a malicious soft-
ware, Cerberus, that infects
phones to steal financial data by
luring the user through SMSes,
camouflaged as Covid-19 infor-
mation, to download links con-
taining the virus, officials said
Tuesday.
Once downloaded, after open-
ing the link, the virus infects the
phone by deploying its malicious
application that is used by phish-
ing gangs to steal bank-related
financial information of the user
from the phone, they said.
After getting the global input,
the agency, which is mandated to
coordinate with the Interna-
tional Police Organisation
(Interpol) as the national central
bureau for India, alerted police
forces of all states and union ter-
ritories, besides central security
agencies, the officials said.
In its message to Interpol liai-
son officers (ILOs) of all states
and UTs, CBI said that the bank-
ing Trojan primarily focuses on
stealing financial data such as
credit card numbers, they said.
The ILOs are officers deputed
in every state police organisa-
tion to liaison with the CBI over
matters related to Interpol.
Also, it can use overlay
attacks to trick victims into pro-
viding personal information and
can capture two-factor authenti-
cation details, they said.
In an unconnected statement
on May 6, Craig Jones, director of
cybercrime, Interpol, had said
that the police and the cyberse-
curity industry had seen a con-
siderable increase in the number
of targeted cyberattacks by crim-
inals since the virus’ outbreak
began. PTI
record 108,233 samples were
tested, more than the target of
100,000 samples daily that the
Union health ministry has set.
“The testing capacity has
been strengthened significantly
in the past couple of months,
and we already hit a record in a
single day by testing more than
a lakh [100,000] samples. The
cumulative samples that have
been tested so far are also inch-
ing closer to 25 lakh [2.5 million],
which is huge. Our testing
capacity is adequate,” said an
official on condition of anonym-
ity.
The World Health Organisa-
tion (WHO) has called on all
countries to ramp up their test-
ing as the best way to slow the
advance of the pandemic. “We
have a simple message to all
countries - test, test, test,” WHO
director-general Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in
March.
The Indian Council of Medi-
cal Research (ICMR), the coun-
try’s apex biomedical research
agency, has approved 385 gov-
ernment and 158 private labora-
tories for testing.
ply of testing material to the
labs, 15 depots have been cre-
ated by roping in India Posts and
private agencies for distribu-
tion. Many Indian companies
have been supported to under-
take the production of testing
material which was earlier pri-
marily sourced from abroad.
This has helped in maintaining
steady supplies across the coun-
try,” it said.
ICMR has been periodically
revising guidelines for Covid-19
testing. On Monday, a directive
widened the testing strategy to
include frontline workers
you know about the disease pat-
tern. It never harms to test
more; it should not be less,” said
Dr T Jacob John, a senior virolo-
gist.
The country has also
reported 0.2 deaths per 100,000
population as opposed to 4.1 glo-
bally, said the ministry’s state-
ment, attributing the relatively
low fatalities to timely case
identification and clinical man-
agement.
The number of cases per
100,000 population in the coun-
try stands at about 7.1 while it is
nearly 60 globally.

Government of Maharashtra
Water Resources Department
State Project Management Unit
World Bank Assisted National Hydrology Project
Chief Engineer, Planning and Hydrology
Jalvidnyan Bhavan, Dindori Road Nashik-422004
e-Tender Notice for ICB of RTDAS No.02 of 2020-21

1) On behalf of Nodal Officer, State Project Management Unit NHP & Chief
Engineer, Planning and Hydrology, Nashik-422004 (India) Executive Engineer,
Hydrology Project Division, Nagpur now invites bid for “Supply, Installation,
Testing, Commissioning and Maintenance of Real Time Data Acquisition
System (RTDAS) for Godavari River Basin in Vidarbha Region
Maharashtra”

2) Interested venders may obtain the details of item Technical Specifications Terms
& Conditions etc at https://mahatenders.gov.in, and www.mahahp.gov.in
from date 21/05/2020 Time 10.00 hrs (IST) onwards till last date of download
of bid date 07/07/2020 till 10.00 hrs.
Sd/-
Executive Engineer
Hydrology Project Division
Wainganga Nagar, Ajni, Nagpur
DGIPR/2020-2021/ROC 109 Tele : 0712-2980146 E-mail –eehpdiv.nagpur@gmail.com

GOVERNMENT OF UTTARAKHAND
Office of Superintending Engineer, Research Circle Irrigation
Research Institute Roorkee-247667
E-mail: utlarkhandwrd@gmall.com, Website: www. Iriroorkee.res.in
e-Tender Notice No. : 01/SE(R)/NIIP/ e-Tender/ 2020-21 Dated 16.05.2020
Superintending Engineer, Research Circle, Irrigation Research Institute, Roorkee on behalf of
“Governor of Uttarakhand” invites item wise rates for the “Supply, Installation, Testing, Commissioning
and Maintenance of Digital Water Level Recorder (DWLRs) in Uttarakhand State under National
Hydrology Project (NEIP)" through e-tenders in “Two Bid System” as given below,
Sl. Name of the work Earnest Cost of Validity Period
No. Money Tender of of
( Rs) form (Rs) Tender Completion
1 2 3 4 5 6
Supply, Installation, Testin, Commissioning and Maintenance months plus 04
1. of Digital water Level Recorder (DWLRs) (Non Vented 2.50 4000.00+ 120 Days years of Qperation
Pressure sensors) with Telemetry System in Piezometers for Lac 18% GST and maintenance
Ground Water Monitoring and Integrate with State Water period and
Informatics Centre located at Roorkee under National Comprehensive
Hydrology Project (NHP) in Uttarakhand State Warranty
1. Tender form can be downloaded from government website www.uktenders.gov.in at free of cost, but
at the time of submission of bid, bidder has to deposit the tender fee in the form of Demand Draft in
favour of Executive Engineer, Design Division, IDO, Roorkee. The tender fee and GST amount will be paid
in separate bank drafts. 2. Earnest money shall be in the form of FDR/CDR of any Nationalised
Bank/Scheduled Bank/Indian Post Office Passbook or National Saving Certificate pledged in favour
Executive Engineer, Design Division, IDO, Roorkee (to be valid for 120 days). 3. Certifying the validity of
the tendered rates and acceptance of conditions of the tender shall be given by the tenderer on revenue
stamp paper of Rs.100.00 signed on Rs. 1.00 revenue ticket. 4. The department reserves the right to
reject any or all tenders without assigning any reason thereafter. 5. The bidder has to submit the bid on
Govt. website www.wktenders.gov.in upto 22.06.2020 (3:00 PM) along with a valid ID on the e-procure-
ment portal with all required documents and also submit technical bid in hard copy at the office of
undersigned as per time and date given below:
Key Dates
1. Date of calling 16.05.2020 -
2. Date of online publication 19.05.2020 03.30 PM
3. Documents downloads start date 20.05.2020 03.00 PM
4. Pre-bid meeting date 30.05.2020 02.45 PM
5. Bid submission start date 08.06.2020 03.30 PM
6. Bid submission end date 22.06.2020 03.00 PM
7. Physical Submission of bid security and cost of bidding document 22.06.2020 03.30 PM
8. Date of opening of Technincal bid 22.06.2020 03.30 PM
9. Date of opening of financial bid To be declared later
Superintending Engineer, Research Circle
´FÂFFaI - 11586 ÀFc.E½Fa »Fû.ÀFa.d½F./dQ. 19.05.2020 Irrigation Research Institute Roorkee
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, N EW D E LH I
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0 hindustantimes 13
NEWS

As cyclone nears, 4.2mn Double whammy of pandemic,

climate disasters likely this yr
evacuated in India, B’desh
CYCLONE AMPHAN One of the severest
Jayashree Nandi
n letters@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: Climate disasters this

cyclone in decades will make landfall today
Joydeep Thakur and
Debabrata Mohanty
n letters@hindustantimes.com
KOLKATA/BHUBANESWAR: Nearly 4.2
million people have been moved
to safety in the coastal regions of
India and Bangladesh anticipat-
ing one of the severest cyclones in
decades, Amphan, making land-
fall somewhere on the border of
the two countries on Wednesday,
officials said.
On Tuesday, Amphan was still
several hundred kilometres out
to sea in the Bay of Bengal, pack-
ing winds of up to 235 kmph and
gusts of 255 kmph. It is, however,
expected to lose some steam
before the landfall between Digha
in West Bengal and Hatiya
Islands in Bangladesh.
According to the India Meteor-
ological Department (IMD),
cyclone Amphan is expected to
cyclone.
“The silver lining is that Cov-
id-19 has not spread in the remote
villages of coastal blocks,” said
Javed Khan, disaster manage-
ment minister of Bengal.
Even though South 24 Parga-
nas has registered 97 Covid-19
cases till date, none have been
reported from its six coastal
blocks, where the evacuation is in
progress. In East Midnapore,
only one of 52 cases has been
reported from its six coastal
blocks.
“Nodal officers have been
deputed for each shelter and front
line workers, such as police, doc-
tors and civil defence personnel
are being given PPEs”, P Ulag-
anathan, district magistrate of
South 24 Parganas, said.
In Odisha’s Balasore, where
there are 121 Covid-19 cases, offi-
cials said only those quarantine
year, including Cyclone Amphan
expected to hit India’s eastern
coast on Wednesday, are likely to
compound the problems related
to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic
since 2020 is also likely to be the
warmest on record, a paper pub-
lished on May 15 in British
Nature journal has warned.
There is a 74.67% chance of
2020 being the warmest year ever
and a 99.94% chance that it will
among the top five warmest
years, the American National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration said in March.
The paper by Massachusetts
Institute of Technology scientists
and students has listed heat
waves in north India, floods in the
delta regions of West Bengal and
Bangladesh, wildfires in Siberia,
bushfires in Australia, locust cri-
ses, drought, water scarcity and
n Fishermen try to control their boat amid rough sea waters at Puri beach on Tuesday. PTI floods in Africa, a hurricane in
the US among others as climate-
attributable risks. The risks are
Govt tackles twin challenge likely to intersect with the Covid
19 crisis over the next 12 to 18
months.
mate hazards, which are increas-
ing in frequency and intensity
under climate change, are likely
to intersect with the Covid-19 out-
break and public health
response. These compound risks
will exacerbate and be exacer-
bated by the unfolding economic
crisis and long-standing socio-
economic and racial disparities,
both within countries and across
regions,” said the paper.
It warned extreme heat events
in the US and outside are likely to
lead to excess mortality and mor-
bidity, disrupt power supplies,
hospitals and emergency servi-
ces, especially in cities.
Emergency response agencies
and first responders will have to
be deployed across multiple cri-
ses at the same time. For example,
American Federal Emergency
Management Agency is coordi-
nating Covid-19 as well as ongo-
ing extreme weather responses.
India’s National Disaster
Response Force (NDRF) is faced
with similar dual responsibili-
ties. “Cyclone Amphan is intense
and has the potential of large-
scale damage. It is a big challenge
as the cyclone is striking during
the outbreak of Covid-19. We
The paper has recommended
coordination at every level of gov-
ernment to prevent potential con-
flicts of strategy across agencies
as difficult policy decisions may
lie ahead, including whether hos-
pitals, especially intensive care
units, can be evacuated safely.
Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate
scientist at the Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology, said while
they were preparing the recent
Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-
mate Change reports, they real-
ised that the worst-case scenarios
are the compound climate events,
where multiple extreme events
overlap. “For example, floods due
to extreme rains and the high tide
coming together when the sea
level is also high....,” said Koll.
Koll added even developed
nations are not well equipped to
mitigate such compound events.
“Most of the low-to-middle
income nations in the tropics do
not have early warning systems
or long-term policies to adapt and
mitigate climate change. Now, on
top of that, the Covid-19 pandemic
is presenting new hurdles.” Koll
said the paper points out that the
growing threats of climate crisis
cannot be disregarded. “We need

of cyclone, Covid outbreak

cause more damage than its pre-
decessors, cyclone Bulbul in
November 2019 and cyclone Alia,
11 years ago. “We have shared the
data with Bangladesh also as part
of regional office of World Mete-
centres, which have not been
occupied, will be used for cyclone
relief.
In the state’s Bhadrak district,
another low-lying Covid-19 hot
spot, district collector Gyana
“A concerning body of evi- [NDRF] are facing two disasters,” a framework to address both the
dence already indicates that cli- NDRF chief SN Pradhan said. disasters hand-in-hand.”
Saubhadra Chatterji the Centre’s apex machinery is in Management of Covid-19 GUNFIGHT IN SRINAGAR
letters@hindustantimes.com talks with key ministries and requires strict adherence to

Top Hizb terrorist killed in J&K

n

orological Organisation,” said
Sanjib Banerjee, deputy director
general of regional meteorologi-
cal centre in Kolkata.
The cyclone will hit while
India and Bangladesh are in vari-
ous stages lockdown and the
cyclone relief centres in both the
countries are being used as quar-
antines for migrant workers
returning home. Officials said
around 2 million have been evac-
uated in the coastal districts of
West Bengal (1.8 million) and Odi-
sha (2 lakh) and about 2.2 million
in Bangladesh.
In both Bengal and Odisha, the
government has turned school,
colleges and other government
office buildings into relief cen-
tres. At least three West Bengal
coastal districts - East Midnap-
ore, North 24 Parganas and South
24 Parganas – and four of Odisha
- Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagat-
singhpur and Kendrapara - are
likely to bear the brunt of the
Ranjan Das said arrangements
had been made to shift the evacu-
ees to cyclone shelters inside 72
panchayats and 363 schools in the
district.
Odisha’s special relief com-
missioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena
admitted that running cyclone
relief centres during the pan-
demic was a challenge and said
the situation was “under control”
and that the district collectors
had been “given a free hand”.
District administrations in the
two states have told fishermen
not to venture out to sea. NDRF
and SDRF have been deployed in
Bengal and Odisha’s coastal
areas and sandbags are in place to
strengthen embankments. Kolk-
ata can see wind speed as high as
130 km per hour, an IMD state-
ment said. The region, including
parts of north-east, will witness
heavy to very heavy rainfall
because of the cyclone till Friday.
(With AFP inputs)
NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister’s
Office (PMO), preoccupied with
the enormous challenge of tack-
ling the coronavirus disease and
containing its spread, has
another firefight on its hands:
super cyclone Amphan, which is
set to make landfall in West Ben-
gal on Wednesday.
According to functionaries
familiar with the situation, the
PMO’s focus for the past two
months has been almost exclu-
sively on Covid-19, whether giv-
ing final touches to federal guide-
lines on how to deal with the pub-
lic health crisis and coming up
with new strategies to contain its
spread, ensuring relief for
stranded migrant workers or
preparing plans for a revival of
the economy.
With Amphan set to make
landfall in West Bengal between
Digha and Hatiya Island in Bang-
ladesh on Wednesday afternoon,
states administrations to size up
their preparedness to tackle what
has been billed as the first super
cyclone in the Bay of Bengal since
1999, when over 9,000 people were
killed in Odisha.
The PMO in engaged in efforts
to ensure that plans are in place
for the relief and rehabilitation of
people at risk of facing the brunt
of the storm, officials said. It is
also keeping an eye on the supply
of food, medicines and other
essential items and coordinating
between ministries on the logis-
tics of the exercise.
“Most of the meetings in the
PMO are related to Covid. But
from Sunday onwards, there is
one daily meeting on the
cyclone,” said an official, request-
ing anonymity.
One of the major concerns that
figured during the meetings at
the PMO is how the cyclone may
impact the battle against Covid in
the affected areas.
guidelines such as social distanc-
ing, quarantines and the need to
avoid crowded spaces . The con-
cern is that the cyclone, with the
potential to throw life out of gear
in large areas that lie in its path,
may upset their implementation.
“When the PMO takes these
meetings, the plans are made also
keeping in mind that the cyclone
will come amidst an extraordi-
nary health situation,” one offi-
cial said
On Tuesday, cabinet Secretary
Rajiv Gauba chaired the third
meeting of the National Crisis
Management Committee
(NCMC) to review the prepared-
ness of states, central ministries
and other agencies to tackle the
cyclone and its aftermath.
“Chief Secretary, Odisha and
Additional Chief Secretary, West
Bengal apprised the NCMC of
preparatory measures taken by
them,” said a government com-
munique.
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
SRINAGAR: A top Hizbul Mujahid-
een (HM) commander was among
two terrorists killed in an over-
night gunbattle with security for-
ces in Srinagar’s Nawakadal area
on Tuesday, Jammu & Kashmir
police chief Dilbag Singh said.
This was the first such firefight in
Srinagar since 2018 and was trig-
gered after the forces launched an
operation in the heart of the city
following a tip-off about the mili-
tant presence there.
Singh identified the slain ter-
rorists as HM’s divisional com-
mander Junaid Ashraf Khan,
who was the son of separatist
leader and Tahreek-e-Hurriyat
chairman Mohammad Ashraf
Sehrai, and Tariq Ashraf.
The overnight gunbattle is the
latest in a series of firefights in the
Kashmir Valley over the last two
months that have coincided with
an escalation in violence in the
region. It came days after Hizbul
Mujahideen commander Riyaz
Naikoo , who carried a bounty of
~12 lakh on his head, was killed in
Pulwama district on May 6.
The fresh operation began on
Monday night when security for-
ces encircled a cluster of houses
in the densely-populated Nawak-
adal. Residents said they heard
the first exchange of fire in the
locality around midnight. The
exchange resumed on Tuesday
morning and the gunbattle ended
around 1 pm on Tuesday when
the forces recovered two bodies
from a damaged house.
Singh said Junaid Ashraf
Khan had joined militancy two
years ago and had been operating
in Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama
and Shopian districts. “His asso-
ciate [Tariq Ashraf] who was
killed in today’s encounter had
joined militancy only in March
this year,’’ he said.
Junaid, a Master of Business
Administration graduate from
the Kashmir University, joined
the militant ranks in March 2018.
He later posted a picture holding
a gun as he announced he had
joined HM, Jammu & Kashmir’s
biggest terrorist group. His father
replaced Syed Ali Shah Geelani
as the Tehreek-e-Hurriyat chief
the same year.
Singh said Junaid was
involved in over half-a-dozen
criminal cases besides attacks on
security forces and intimidation
of civilians. “He was operating as
the divisional commander of
HM of central Kashmir,” he said.

Office of The Superintending Engineer

Civil Circle, P.W.D., Devpura Haridwar
Phone/Fax: 01334-221407, E-mail: sepwdharidwar@gmail.com
Letter No.: 849/6 C- Civil Circle/20 Dated: 18.05.2020
National Competitive Bidding (E-Tendering)
The Superintending Engineer, Civil Circle, PWD, Haridwar on behalf of “Governor of
Uttarakhand” invites item rate tender through E-tendering of following work under Two
Bid system. All information will be available from dated 20.05.2020 and onwords on
website http://www.uktenders.gov.in.
Sl. Name of work Earnest Cost of Time of Comp- Validity Category of
No. Money Tender letion of work of Tender Contractor
(Rs. in Lacs) (Rs.) (in Months) (Days)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Construction of Bridge over Sukhi Nadi 4.92 Rs. 5000.00 6 Months 120 Category A/A+ for
on Old Delhi Nitipass road at km. 202 in +18 % GST Days Bridge work in any
State Govt./
Haridwar city in district Haridwar under Central Govt./any
kumbh Mela-2021.(Length-48 M) Govt. undertaking.
2. Construction and dismanting of tempo- 5.65 Rs. 5000.00 6 Months 120 Category A/A+ for
rary bridge over main stream of Ganga +18 % GST Days Bridge work in any
river to connect from Bairagi Capm to State Govt./
Gaurishankar Dweep in district Central Govt./any
Haridwar under Kumbh Mela-2021. Govt. undertaking.

Office of Superintending Engineer, 1st Circle, P.W.D., Almora

National Competitive Bidding (E-Tender) E-Tender Notice
The Superintending Engineer, 1st Circle, Public Works Department, Almora invites tender through E-Tendering CORRIGENDUM NOTICE
(Two Bid System) on behalf of Honourable “Governor of Uttarakhand” for following works. All other information
will be available from dated 21.05.2020 & onwards on website http://www.uktenders.gov.in SR. NAME OF BOARD/ OLD REFERENCE/NIT NO. NATURE OF CORRIGENDUM WEBSITE OF THE NODAL OFFICER/CONTACT
No. CORP./AUTH BOARD CORP./AUTH DETAILS/EMAIL
Sl. Name of work Cost of Ernest Validity Time of Contractor’s Category
1. DHBVN, HISAR. NIT NO. 652/DH/MM DATED 31.03.2020 Date extended upto 01.06.2020 www.dhbvn.org.in 8059888695
No. tender Money of Completion of Registration
AGAINST QD-833/2020_HBC_125397_1 semm@dhbvn.org.in
form (Rs. in Lacs) Tender for tendering
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. DHBVN, HISAR. NIT NO. 651/DH/MM DATED 30.03.2020 Date extended upto 01.06.2020 www.dhbvn.org.in 8059888695
1. Construction of Ghugti Kailani Masmoli Motor Rs. 5000.00 4.16 120 15 Month AGAINST QD-832/2020_HBC_125393_1 semm@dhbvn.org.in
Category ‘A’
Road (Hill Side Cutting & Construction of scupper +18 % GST Lakh Days & above (Road 3. DHBVN, HISAR. NIT NO. 650/DH/MM DATED 19.03.2020 Date extended upto 04.06.2020 www.dhbvn.org.in 8059888695
in Km 3 to 6, Ch, 2/20 to 5/40) Desposal of Malwa Works) AGAINST QD-831/2020_HBC_124559_1 semm@dhbvn.org.in
& Construction of Retaining will, Breast walll, 4. DHBVN, HISAR NIT NO. 02/CTO/M&P/2019-20 (ID: 2020_HBC_125793_1) Extending closing date upto 24.06.2020 & Pre-Bid meeting www.dhbvn.org.in 8059900357
Road furniture in km 1 to 6 & desposal of Malwa. re-schedule on 03.06.2020 semp@dhbvn.org.in
Under CM Ghosna No 530/2017
5. HVPNL, HISAR OUTSOURCING OF SKILED/UNSKILLED MANPOWER UNDER TS The last date of online bid submission is extended up to 03.06.2020 at 1500 hrs. www.hvpn.org.in 0172-2583789
2. Construction of Chanoli to Nagardhar Rs. 5000.00 4.70 120 12 Month Category ‘A’ ZONE , HVPN, HISAR FOR FY 2020-21. NIT-12/CETS/HSR/2020 and opening date of tender is extended up to 04.06.2020 at 1500 hrs. pro@hvpn.org.in
(Nagarkhan) Motor Road under Jageshwar +18 % GST Lakh Days & above (Road
Constituency in District Almora Under (Conversion Works) 80938 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in
of LVR to Motor Road, Hill Side Cutting C/o
Scupper & R/wall etc.) Length. 3.00 Km.
´FÂFFaI - 11587/ ÀFc.E½Fa »Fû.ÀFa.d½F./dQ. 19.05.2020 GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
Web:.pwd.mahaetenders.in & email.: tcb1kb.ee@mahapwd.com

Office of the Superintending Engineer, Bulandshahr Circle, P.W.D, Bulandshahr E -TENDER NOTICE NO. 1 FOR 2020-21
2nd call
No. 4257 /96M(IV)/E-TENDER/BSR CIRCLE/2019 Dated. 04.05.2020 Online E-Tender for the following work is invited by the Executive Engineer, Thane Creek Bridge Division No. 1, Konkan Bhavan, Navi Mumbai on behalf of
E - Procurement Inviting Tender Notice Government of Maharashtra from Companies/Agencies/Firms/Vendors/Individuals etc. having requisite experience. The tender form shall be downloaded from
On behalf of Governor of Uttar Pradesh, S.E. Bulandshahr Circle, U.P.P.W.D.,
Bulandshahr invites Following item rate bid online through http:// etender.up.nic.in from the the e-Tender web site https://mahatenders.gov.in. The right to accept or reject the tender is reserved by the Thane Creek Bridge Division No.1, Konkan
eligible and approved Contractors registered with UP PWD, from dt. 04.06.2020 to Bhavan, Navi Mumbai. Conditional tenders will not be accepted.
10.06.2020 upto 05.00 PM as per the prescribed SBD of Govt. of U.P. The technical bids will
be opened online on dated 11.06.2020 at 12:30 P.M., If the office closed on the date of E-Tender can be downloaded from Date 25.05.2020 at 10.30 hrs to 18.06.2020 at 17.30 hrs. from above mentioned site. Duly filled E-Tender will be opened
opening of the bids as specified, the bids will be opened online on the next working day on Date 23.06.2020 at 15.00 (if possible) at Office of the Superintending Engineer, Mumbai Construction Circle, Chembur, Mumbai. Dully filled E-Tender Prebid
respectively, at the same time and validity of bid will be considered from the original date. The
date and time of opening of the financial bid shall be notified on the website. Meeting on Date 10.06.2020 at 15.00 hrs. at Office of the Chief Engineer, Mumbai P.W. Region, Bandhkam Bhavan, Mumbai.
Sr. Description of the Project Annual Potential Collection (APC) Period of Collection
Sl. Name of Work Estimate Bid Time of Tender Contractors
No d cost Security Completion document fee Category No . (For first Year)
(Rs.in (Rs.in including GST 1. Collection of user fee through toll collection agency (on the Rs. 174.91 Cr.(for first Year and Contract shall be for a period of 3 (Three)Years on
Lac) Lacs) basis of competitive bidding on e-tender basis) at subsequently monthly advance upfront basis or until the fee plaza
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kamothe & Kopra toll Station on Sion – Panvel Highway Next two years APC will be increased @ is handed over to other user fee collection agency
49oha okfguh ih,lh UP, PWD, BOT Project from Kalamboli Junction Ch.115/800 to 5 percent pay year) (OMT Concessionaire/BOT Concessionaire, etc. as
xkSrecq)uxj esa 200 O;fDr;ksa 2000+300+18%
1 1055.00 21.10 12 Months GST =2714.00
Class- A, B.A.R.C. Junciton Ch.140/690 in the State of Maharashtra. per directions issued bvy PWD, whichever is earlier
dh {kerk dh eYVhLVksjh cSjdksa Building
Work All detail information is available on following websites.
dk fuekZ.k dk;ZA Visit Web site for details.
1- The Bid Security and Tender Document fee must be deposited through Internet 1. http://mahapwd.com
Banking/NEFT/RTGS Only. 2. http://mahatenders.gov.in
2- All registered contractors have to upload Turnover certified by CA of last 5 years and 3. Notice boad of Executive Engineer, Thane Creek Bridge Division No.1,Konkan Bhavan, Navi Mumbai.
details of maximum cost work satisfactorily in last 5 years on Chanakya Software before
submission tender. Details of E-Tender uploaded on http://etender.up.nic.in shall also be (Any changes /Corrigendums in the tender shall be made available on the above websites only)
uploaded on UP PWD Chanakya Software before last date and time of submission of No. EE/TCB/TC/ 863 /2020
Tender. Office of the Executive Engineer,
3- Details and conditions/rules related to bid available on Website http://etender.up.nic.in
Thane Creek Bridge Division No.1, Konkan Bhavan, Navi Mumbai. Sd/-
(Vimal Kumar) ( Ajay Shankar Singh)
Date- 11/05/2020 Executive Engineer
Executive Engineer Superintending Engineer,
UP-151478, Dt. 14.05.2020 PD PWD GB Nagar Bulandshahr Circle, P.W.D. Phone No. 022 27572473 e-mail :- tcb1kb.ee@mahapwd.com Thane Creek Bridge Division No.I
Website : www.upgov.nic.in
Bulandshahr DGIPR/2020-2021/ROC 111 Konkan Bhavan, Navi Mumbai
14 hindustantimes HIN DUSTA N TIMES, N EW D E LHI
WE D N ESDAY, MAY 2 0, 2 02 0

NEWS
G A LW A N VA L L E Y T U S S L E
Hate speech case: www.hindustantimes.com/delhi

Tensions simmer along LAC SC junks Arnab’s

as India, China step up vigil
Sutirtho Patranobis and
Rezaul H Laskar
n letters@hindustantimes.com
BEIJING/NEW DELHI: Tensions con-
tinue to simmer in Ladakh and
Sikkim sectors of the Line of
Actual Control (LAC), where
India and China have deployed
additional troops, days after
scores of Indian and Chinese sol-
diers were involved in a tense
face-off along the India-China
boundary.
People familiar with develop-
ments, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said both sides have
deployed additional troops, espe-
cially in Galwan Valley region of
the Ladakh sector. India bol-
stered troop levels after the Chi-
nese side brought in reinforce-
ments, they said. China’s Peo-
ple’s Liberation Army (PLA) has
pitched close to 100 tents and
erected temporary positions in
Galwan Valley as part of efforts to
establish a presence there, the
people said. It has also strength-
ened its presence in the area
opposite Demchok, they said.
Responding to a question from
Hindustan Times, China’s for-
eign ministry, in a statement in
Mandarin, said the Indian Army
was “obstructing normal patrols
and operations of Chinese border
with China and noted that such
incidents could have been
avoided if there was a common
perception about the boundary.
Tensions flared after scores of
soldiers from the two countries
clashed near Pangong lake in
eastern Ladakh on the night of
May 5-6, while about 150 soldiers
were involved in another standoff
in north Sikkim on May 9. Several
soldiers from both sides were
injured in these confrontations.
The people cited above said
there had been no more confron-
tations after both sides activated
border management mecha-
nisms but the situation continues
to be tense, especially in Galwan
Valley. The Indian Army
responded to the Chinese
build-up by deploying additional
troops, they added.
“In the past, the Chinese side
usually patrolled this area but
now they’re entrenched in the
region,” said one of the people
cited above. The face-off began
after the Chinese side objected to
the construction of a road, north
of Pangong lake, located well
within Indian territory, he added.
The statement from China’s
foreign ministry said: “China’s
position on the China-India bor-
der issue is consistent and clear.
The Chinese border troops are
territorial sovereignty and secu-
rity”.
The tensions with China come
against the backdrop of an esca-
lating India-Nepal border row.
Nepal has protested against
India’s construction of an 80-km
road leading to Lipulekh, which
is claimed by Kathmandu. New
Delhi has rejected the protest and
said the road, built to facilitate
pilgrims travelling to Kailash
Mansarovar in China, is “com-
pletely within the territory of
India”. Nepal was also irked
when Indian Army chief Gen
Manoj Mukund Naravane, with-
out naming China, said Kath-
mandu was protesting against
the road at someone else’s behest.
China’s state-run Global
Times daily reported that the
troop deployments in Galwan
Valley constituted the “strongest
military response to India’s ille-
gal trespassing incident along the
border since the Doklam stand-
off”. The 73-day faceoff at Doklam
in 2017 took bilateral ties to a
fresh low and relations were put
on an even keel only after the first
India-China informal summit at
Wuhan in 2018.
A second person familiar with
developments said the strategic
guidance from the top leadership
of both sides for better manage-
plea for CBI probe Mayank Austen Soofi EXPERIENCE YOUR CITY LIKE NEVER BEFORE
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI:The Supreme Court on
Tuesday dismissed journalist
Arnab Goswami’s request to
transfer the investigation into
his alleged hate speech case from
the Mumbai Police to the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI),
but extended his protection from
arrest for three more weeks.
Goswami faces two FIRs in
relation to hate speech. The
Court did not quash the main FIR
nor the fresh one filed at Pydho-
nie and asked Goswami to move
the competent court for relief.
In a 56-page order on Tuesday,
the bench of Justices DY Chan-
drachud and MR Shah said that
“India’s freedoms will rest safe
as long as journalists can speak
to power without being chilled
by a threat of reprisal.”
At the same time, it felt no
journalist was immune from
investigation. Leaving the FIR at
NM Joshi Marg P.S standing, the
court quashed multiple FIRs it
had earlier stayed.
The Court did not quash the
main FIR nor the fresh one filed
at Pydhonie.
Goswami was asked to move
the competent court for seeking
relief on this. It also clarified that
its decision should not be seen as

Sheru’s chai stall

troops”. While there was no offi-
cial word from the India side on
Tuesday, the external affairs
ministry previously said it
remained committed to main-
taining peace along the border
SP leader, son shot dead in UP
HT Correspondent
letters@htlive.com
n
committed to maintaining peace
and tranquillity in the China-In-
dia border areas and have exer-
cised great restraint.”
The troops, the statement said,
“will firmly safeguard China’s
THE DISPUTE WAS OVER
LAYING OF A ROAD
ment of the border did not appear
to have percolated to the ground
level on the Chinese side. Last
week, the Indian Army chief
Navarane described border face-
offs as “temporary and short”
mortem and an FIR [First Infor-
mation Report] is being regis-
expression of views on merits of
the case.
Arnab’s advocate on record in
SC, Pragya Baghel said, “Judg-
ment has affirmed the right of
press as guaranteed...Court has
held that India’s freedoms will
rest safe as long as journalists
can speak to power without
being chilled by a threat of repri-
sal.”
‘POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
The bond between a woman who runs a tea
stall and a stray dog living on the footpath
It’s a sweltering afternoon. The public life here
in south Delhi’s Pamposh Enclave is a tad less
dead than it has been over the previous
to be—is Mayawati herself, the gentle-man-
nered friendly woman who has been running
the chai shop for 20 years.
distance in two hours.
Earlier, back in the time when there was no
pandemic and the tea stall was running
smoothly, Mayawati would commute daily
from home to the stall in bus no. 427.
“Shera is a very seedha saadha bachha
(well-behaved child); he doesn’t bark, doesn’t
bite.” Seemingly indifferent to his praise, the
dog is sitting silently on the edge of the road,
his head plopped down on the cooling mud.
Mayawati admits she is eagerly looking
forward to reopen her chai stall “as soon as

BAREILLY: A Samajwadi Party (SP)
functionary and his son were
shot dead at Shamsoi in Uttar
Pradesh’s Sambhal district on
Monday apparently over a dis-
pute regarding laying of a road
under the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS), police superin-
tendent Yamuna Prasad said.
The double murder was
caught on camera. A video pur-
portedly showing two men aim-
UNDER MGNREGS
SCHEME, SAID POLICE
ing their rifles and shooting dead
Chote Lal Diwakar and his son
(NAME) after they objected to
the attackers’ abusive language
went viral on social media.
“Diwakar had some tussle
with former pradhan over
MGNREGS work. The father and
the son died on the spot.... Their
bodies have been sent for post
tered,” said Prasad, the Sambhal
police superintendent.
He said a team was rushed to
Shamsoi, which hit the head-
lines in 1973 when 11 murders
were reported in a day from the
village. “Three teams have been
formed [and] some people [have
been] detained and the probe is
on.” SP’s Sambhal president,
Firoz Khan, said Diwakar, was
the party’s candidate for the 2017
assembly elections but he could
not contest since his seat went to
a coalition party.
CAN’T STOP PROBE’
Handing over probe of cases to
CBI from state police based on
tweets would have far-reaching
consequences for the federal
structure of the country, the
bench said. “To accept the tweets
by the petitioner…as a justifica-
tion to displace a lawfully consti-
tuted investigation agency of its
jurisdiction and duty to investi-
gate would have far-reaching
consequences for the federal
structure. We are disinclined to
do so,”it said.
month. More cars and bikes, and even pull
carts, are plying on the road. There is a clear
sense of the easing of the prolonged
lockdown caused by the coronavirus
pandemic.
PUBLIC Even the pavement is waking up, like
INTEREST an Arctic animal from its winter
the city you hibernation. The footpath tea stall that
should see was reduced to a pile of dismantled
objects wrapped up in tarpaulin during
these long weeks of lockdown is suddenly
seeming partly alive. Indeed, the masked
woman in salwar kurta sitting on a wooden
chowki beside the pile—where the stall used
“I was coming here every other day for a short
while even during the lockdown,” says the
lady. Not to secretly run her chai shop—no!
But to check after Sheru, the black-and-white
stray dog who lives on this stretch of pave-
ment, and has been her friend for long. “I
would make sure that he was fine... and I
would give him rotis and milk.”
A number of people in the vicinity look after
the dog, the lady confirms. It is however still
extraordinary that just for Sheru’s sake,
Mayawati would walk all the way from home
in Dakshinpuri—since the public transport had
shut down for the time. She would cover the
other stalls nearby too open up... let’s wait
and see.”
The stall supports her family of four chil-
dren—her husband died some years ago.
“My eldest just gave her 12th board exams,”
she says. Following a long pause, she ex-
presses her hope that “all my children will
have a good life, but that is a matter of fate.”
Soon afterwards, Sheru climbs on the pave-
ment and walks towards Mayawati. She
quietly caresses his head. The dog looks
happy, as if reassuring his friend that it would
all turn out OK, it has to.

BOIS LOCKER ROOM CASE

frompageone thecrosswords
Response sought on Cyclone
together—Covid-19 and cyclone.
Bengal,” Koll wrote in a social
media post on Twitter, sharing
sea surface temperature data
The real battle, the official
admitted, is to retain students
who go abroad for post-graduate
CRYPTIC CLUES
ACROSS
PUZZLE 15608 © Gemini Crosswords 2012 All rights reserved

plea against groups We are also creating awareness

HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court
on Tuesday sought the Centre’s
response over a plea seeking
directions to it to ensure social
media platforms like Facebook
and Instagram remove illegal
groups such as Bois Locker
Room for the safety and security
of children.
Bois Locker Room, an online
chat group that made light of
gang-rape and trivialised sexual
assault, came to light this month
and triggered outrage.
A bench of Justices Rajiv
Sahai Endlaw and Sangita
Dhingra Sehgal issued notices
to the Union home, information
technology and finance minis-
tries while also seeking to know
the stand of Facebook, Google
and Twitter by the next date of
hearing on July 14.
The court was hearing a plea
moved by former Rashtriya
SC directs firm to Security nod to
move NGT over Zurich for Jewar
Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue
K N Govindacharya “highlight-
ing the unlawful nature of ille-
gal groups” like Bois Locker
Room. “Due to the negativity,
fake news and illegal content
many young lives are destroyed.
Such groups are criminal in
nature and do not deserve any
protection of free or creative
speech,” Govindacharya’s law-
yer Gaurav Pathak said. He
added Bois Locker Room on
Instagram shows “one of the vil-
est forms of social media”.
The Centre’s standing coun-
sel Anurag Ahluwalia accepted
the notice on behalf of the minis-
tries.
“We have zero tolerance for
any behaviour or material that
exploits young people online
and action content violating our
community guidelines and poli-
cies. We will not be able to com-
ment further, as the matter is
sub judice,” a Facebook spokes-
person said.
about Covid-19 while creating
awareness about Amphan and
evacuating people,” Pradhan
said.
He cited one example what it
means to confront two such chal-
lenges simultaneously. If a
cyclone shelter has a capacity of
1,000, because of social distancing
norms and the need to maintain
adequate sanitation to curb the
spread of Covid-19, only 400 to 500
people can be sheltered there,
said Pradhan.
Amphan had been billed as the
first super cyclone in the Bay of
Bengal since a 1999 storm devas-
tated Odisha, killing around 9,000
people.
“After the 1999 super cyclone,
this is the most intense.... Though
its wind speed will reduce to 155 to
165 kmph, gusting to 185 kmph,
we can expect extensive damage
and devastation in South and
North 24 Parganas and East Med-
inipur,” IMD director general M
Mohapatra said at a media brief-
ing on Tuesday.
The storm surge is expected to
be 4 to 6 metres above the astro-
nomical tide in parts of West Ben-
gal, flooding low lying areas in
the three districts when it makes
landfall. Wind speeds in Kolkata,
Hooghly and Howrah are likely to
range between 110 kmph and 120
kmph, gusting to 130 kmph.
from the buoys of the National
Institute of Ocean Technology.
Sunita Devi, cyclone scientist
at IMD, said the wind speed was
130 knots, or about 240 kmph.
“Yes, ocean surface tempera-
tures were high. The sea surface
temperature was in the range of
30 to 31° Celsius on Monday, as
compared to an expected temper-
ature of 28° Celsius over the
region,” Devi said.
“On Tuesday, the maximum
temperature is around 30° C. The
cyclone is still bordering a super
cyclone. Its intensity hasn’t
reduced much. We are expecting
it to make landfall as a very
severe cyclonic storm, again bor-
dering an extremely severe
cyclonic storm,” Devi added.
Amphan was a massive
cyclone 700 km in extent and 15
km in height when it was rotating
around its centre in the central
parts of Bay of Bengal on Mon-
day, Mohapatra had said, adding
that its very rapid intensification
was unusual.
The cyclone is expected to
cause heavy to extremely heavy
rainfall over Gangetic West Ben-
gal and heavy to very heavy rain-
fall over north coastal Odisha. It
will also cause heavy to very
heavy rainfall over sub-Himala-
yan West Bengal and Sikkim on
May 20 and 21 and Assam and
Meghalaya on May 21.
degrees -- MBA and MS, for
instance.
“We would definitely want our
1 and 14 Down: Notedly unsafe seats within
the party? (7,6)
5 First odd results of splits (5)
8 Finds out if beatings are regular (5,3,5)
institutions to prepare a strategy
on this count. Especially because 9 Book a strong man (5)
many IITs do struggle to fill up 10 Honour a relation (7)
seats in their post-graduate 11 Girls admired by servicemen, though
courses.” stuck-up (3-3) 9 10
Eminent educationist and 12 Get a move on, having reached double
former UGC member, Inder figures (6) 11
15 Refuse to get a new bib in a hurry (7)
Mohan Kapahy, said the amount
17 The way things go? (5)
being spent by Indian students
19 Circumvents inadequate current plans (5-8)
abroad is a substantial one and
20 Light beam that’s very strong (5)
the government should work to
21 Shot at you, as peas might be (7)
get them into the country’s lead-
ing institutions.
“Steps to persuade brilliant DOWN
Indian students to study in India 1 Those in Italian society who break the
is always welcome. Covid-19 may rules (5)
have provided an opportunity for 2 In which incantations are recorded? (8,5) QUICK CLUES
giving an additional chance to IIT 3 Reckons groups of actors are increasing (5,2)
ACROSS DOWN
but efforts must be made in all 4 Lehar composition about love, set in 1 Fabric with raised design (7) 1 First principle (5)
fields of higher PG studies and Pakistan (6) 5 Chef’s tall hat (5) 2 A marine scientist (13)
research. A rough estimate is that 5 From experience one knows them to be 8 Dexterity in conjuring (7,2,4) 3 To increase in size (7)
useful for mountaineers (5) 9 Meaning (5) 4 Secure by intimidation (6)
Indians spend about Rs 50,000
6 Provided what was necessary - as an 10 Reticence (7) 5 Small tassels (5)
crore per year to study abroad.
impresario did (6,3,4) 11 Powerful (6) 6 Four-sided figure (13)
That is about $70 billion. We have
7 Free from bitterness (7) 12 Texan city (6) 7 Infinite (7)
now so many eminent and A++
11 Reading up Lear’s ruin (7) 15 Come to grips (7) 11 Purplish red (7)
Universities and IHEs. We can 17 Furry freshwater mammal (5) 13 An irregularity (7)
13 It’s meant to be read, so make it clear (7)
attract students from abroad,” 19 Any tactics permitted (2,5,6) 14 Ship (6)
14 See 1 Across
said Kapahy. 20 Imposing arrangement (5) 16 Flourishing (5)
16 In the meantime I’m after it (5)
21 Constancy (7) 18 Healthily red (5)
18 Treated ill (5)
Trains
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS (15607)
On Twitter, Goyal also said the
railways will increase the num-
ber of Shramik Special trains to CRYPTIC QUICK
400 a day — from the current 150
— within the next two days. “All

Vizag plant leak airport project Gale-force winds of 75 to 85

Press Trust of India
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court
Tuesday asked LG Polymers
India to approach the National
Green Tribunal (NGT) to raise
the issue regarding setting up of
multiple committees to probe the
May 7 gas leakage from its plant
in Visakhapatnam.
The company also questioned
the NGT’s jurisdiction in initiat-
ing proceedings on its own in the
matter when the Andhra Pradesh
high court was already seized
with the incident.
“This is an environmental
issue,” the bench said. The apex
court, which said it would keep
the matter pending, asked the
firm to approach the NGT and
apprise the tribunal about the
developments in the case. The
bench posted the matter for hear-
ing on June 8. The committee has
to submit report on sequence of
events, causes of failure and per-
sons and authorities responsible,
extent of damage to life among
others.
GREATER NOIDA: The ministry of
home affairs on Tuesday gave
security clearance to Noida Inter-
national Greenfield airport
project at Jewar along 165km
Yamuna Expressway that con-
nects Greater Noida with Agra,
said UP government.
The airport concessionaire —
Zurich Airport international AG
and Special purpose vehicle —
the Yamuna International Air-
port private limited had on Janu-
ary 30, 2020 applied for clearance.
IAS officer SP Goyal principal
secretary with Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister’s Office tweeted:
“Glad to share that Zurich Air-
port Internaitonal AG has got
security clearance for the devel-
opment of the Noida Interna-
tional Greenfield airport at
Jewar.” After the clearance , the
Noida International Airport Lim-
ited will sign concessionaire
agreement with developer. “Once
the agreement will be signed, the
work at the site will be started to
develop Noida International,”
said a Noida International air-
port limited official. HTC
kmph, gusting to 95 kmph, are
likely to lash the north Odisha
coast, including Jagatsinghpur,
Bhadrak, Balasore, Kendrapara
and other areas.
Meteorologists and climate
scientists said that on Monday
evening the intensity of Amphan
was 145 knots, or 270 kmph. The
wind speed passed the 1999 super
cyclone velocity of 260 kmph,
tweeted meteorologist Eric Hol-
thous, based on data from the
US-based Joint Typhoon Warn-
ing Center.
Bay of Bengal recorded sea
surface temperature of 32 to 34
degree Celsius prior to the forma-
tion of cyclone Amphan, Roxy
Mathew Koll, climate scientist at
the Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology, said.
“We have never seen such
high values until now. Tropical
cyclones draw their energy from
the ocean surface and these tem-
peratures can supercharge a
cyclone, leading to rapid intensi-
fication. Cyclone Amphan inten-
sified from a category 1 to a cate-
gory 5 cyclone in only 18 hours, it
evolved into the strongest
cyclone ever recoded in Bay of
IMD is expecting extensive
damage to thatched houses, some
damage to old, ramshackle con-
crete structures; uprooting of
communication and power poles,
disruption of rail/road links at
several places, extensive damage
to standing crops, plantations
and orchards. Large boats may
get torn from their moorings.
NDRF has 15 teams in Odisha;
19 in West Bengal and two in
reserve for rescue and relief
efforts.
JEE
government official who asked
not to be named.
There are around 700000-
800000 Indian students abroad.
This, though includes students at
all levels. The number of under-
graduate students isn’t known;
nor is the average number of stu-
dents who apply for overseas
under-graduate courses from
India.
“We will look at the number of
students, who apply in this cate-
gory and then think about other
courses,” said the official. Signifi-
cantly, the JEE (Main) is a highly
competitive exam.
migrants are requested to stay
where they are, Indian Railways
will get them back home over the
next few days,” he said.
On May 1, the government
began operating Shramik Special
trains after demands by several
states.
And on May 12, Indian Rail-
ways resumed its passenger ser-
vices after a gap of nearly two
months with 15 pairs of trains
connecting Delhi with Dibrugarh
(Assam), Agartala (Tripura),
Howrah (West Bengal), Patna
(Bihar), Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh),
Ranchi (Jharkhand), Bhubanes-
war (Odisha), Secunderabad
htsudoku
(Telangana), Bengaluru (Karna- Fill in all the squares in the
taka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), grid so that each row,
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), column and each of the 9X9
Madgaon (Goa), Mumbai Central
squares contains all the
(Maharashtra), Ahmedabad
(Gujarat) and Jammu Tawi digits from 1 to 9.
(Jammu and Kashmir).
Railways stopped its passen-
ger services in an unprecedented
move on March 22 in the wake of
the Covid-19 outbreak.
The 167-year-old rail network
of India ran nearly 14,000 passen-
ger trains and ferried 23 million DIFFICULTY
DIFFICULTY
DIFFICULTY
DIFFICULTYDIFFICULTY
LEVELEVELEVE
LEVEL
passengers a day before the lock-
down.
 HIN DU STA N T IM ES , N EW DE LHI
WE DN ES DAY, M AY 20, 2020 TIME OUT htcity 15
‘TROLLS
SHAKE YOUR
Are couture masks the new normal? We’ll bounce back: Mohit Raina
Shreya Mukherjee “We Indians are very with the audiences’ response.

CONFIDENCE’ Prerna Gauba Sibbal should be breathable and hardworking people. Give us He says, “What I love about

A
functionality should be the mid the ongoing any kind of situation and we’ll the OTT [platform] is that it

T
he pandemic has paved prime focus while designing pandemic, actor Mohit bounce back. We take allows you to experiment
Sangeeta Yadav way for many changes in them. Printed ones, and masks Raina is maintaining a everything in our stride,” says with stories, styles and
our lifestyles. And in a made with textured fabrics PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/PAYALSINGHAL positive outlook and feels the 37-year-old actor. presentation. It also gives you

A
ctor Kavita Kaushik
was recently trolled
for taking a dig at
politicians for posting
selfies and watching
Ramayan while sitting at
home amid the lockdown,
instead of helping those in
need. “When I saw
volunteers providing food
and water to migrants on
road, I thought it is our
politicians’ work to ensure
their safety and well-being.
I care for people, so I raised
my voice, urging the
politicians to do their
duties and not deviate from
the responsibilities. But in
return, I had to face so
much of sh*t myself,” she
says, adding that she won’t
retract her words.
Kaushik, 39, who was
also attacked by a troll who
said the actor’s ‘bad acting
skills ruined his taste’,
opines that such people
target one’s self confidence
counter-intuitive move, bridal would be the way forward,” that the tenacity, love and As someone who holds a firm the opportunity to choose the
masks are now taking says designer Payal Singhal. ones,” shares Narula. respect of Indian citizens will belief in the power of karma, the kind of work you want to do.”
confident strides into the Seconding this, designer “Seeing the scenario now, help in dealing with the actor opines that though it may Given that he’s not
couture market. With many Sonaakshi Raaj says, “The face masks are the way situation at hand. take some time for the economy someone who likes to socialise
having already adapted to the masks will soon become a forward. I would want a fancy to revive, “but once we start a lot, Raina says he isn’t really
idea, brides are now looking fun accessory to match your one for my wedding as it will be working and once the vaccine is missing much while
forward to wearing them for lehenga or coordinate with an attention grabber,” says out, we’ll be ready to work quarantining at his home.
wedding festivities. But the your groom. Customised Somya Jyoti, an entrepreneur. double and triple shifts to make “My mother stays with me,
question here is, will bridal ones with initials and blingy Bhavdeep Kaur, who got things better”. and I’m getting to spend a lot
face masks find a prominent embellished ones are some that married last week, says, “I Stressing on the need to of time with her. We watch
Bride Bhavdeep space on the couture map? I would be making for my used leftover fabric from my “stay positive”, Raina calls for films and web series, and we
Kaur opts for an Here’s what designers brides in the future.” wedding dress and got minimal self-restraint to deal with the talk and play cards. I feel bad I
embroidered face have to say. “These However, on the flip side, embroidery done on it. I even crisis. “Let’s be patient, be couldn’t celebrate her 70th
mask made out of masks will be designer Rimple Narula disses made a mask for my husband grateful for what we birthday, in March, the way I
leftover fabric fashionable and yet the idea as she believes that the that matched his sherwani have, and prepare wanted to,” says the actor,
from her lehenga would let a bride trend is short-lived. “I haven’t and a few masks for my for the coming who is also utilising the break
PHOTO: PARAN SINGH express herself. thought of bridal masks yet, bridesmaids too.” times. I believe in to learn guitar and keyboard,
However, they I’m only doing basic cotton n prerna.gauba@htlive.com finding hope and and is hopeful of “sharing a
happiness in musical piece soon”.
everything that I Raina is also elated with all
do, as it can help the love he is getting from his
insensitivity.
Kaushik points
LOCKDOWN WOES RATTLE us transcend all
boundaries,” says
fans, who are enjoying the
re-run of his show, Devon Ke
out that while
many young girls
are being harassed
Kavita
Kaushik
SENIOR-YEAR STUDENTS the actor.
Raina has also
had two of his
Dev – Mahadev, on TV. “When
you get so much love for
something that you have done
on social media, she’s Mohit Raina web projects earlier, it does make you
glad that things are Kritika Sehgal streams. Sukriti Mittal, a PHOTO: PRABHAS
released during believe in yourself all the
slowly changing with students at National Institute ROY/HT
the lockdown more,” he shares.

and insecurities.
“Even if they say crap or
a lie, it hurts. But it’s
important to raise voice
against cyber bullies and
G
girls speaking up about raduating during a
such incidents. pandemic is certainly not
“Trolls think that if the a pleasant experience,
girl isn’t getting scared, her and coping with submission
family will. That’s how they deadlines and managing
of Fashion Technology and is delighted n shreya.mukherjee@htlive.com
(NIFT), rues over being
unable to complete her final
collection, and says, “By this PHOTO: ISTOCK (FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY)
time, we usually showcased

Keeping a date with God, virtually!

character assassination,”
she asserts.
Meanwhile, the
shocking Bois Locker
Room incident has once
again highlighted the
debate around gender
target and create fear. What is online presentations is only our collections. But the
the use of me wearing a uniform amplifying students’ struggle. production work has stopped,
on-screen and playing a dabangg Pranav Gupta, a Delhi and now we need to wait for
cop (in TV show FIR), if I can’t Technological University units to resume.”
even speak up for the girls of our student, says, “This year, we On how the crisis has
country?” she asks. presented final submissions extended her graduation Mallika Bhagat Hum toh yehi mangte hain ki feeling a sense of inclusion
n sangeeta.yadav@hindustantimes.com over google meets, and I will process, Suhani Bhati, ye corona khatam ho.’’ even during this time,” says

E
give the final presentation on another NIFT student, says, arlier, when people The traffic on websites Sufiyan, describing how his
a video call. It is not a nice “It is difficult to settle with the would organise prayers offering online religious father keenly watches the

Gajraj irked
experience as our teachers fact that we might never get online, they’d be services has also witnessed a Tarawih (ritual prayers in
aren’t physically available to back to college. The delay is ridiculed for being gen fast surge. A Ganesh Nagar the month of Ramzan) live
Juhi Chakraborty lockdown extensions, some guide us.” stretching our graduation. forward. But since lockdown, resident, Santosh Agarwal from Mecca.
people are not realising the And the challenges are We might be graduating praying online has gone from runs one such website. She In Mayur Vihar, Crossway

A
mid Covid-19 gravity of crisis and flouting eerily similar across different through online portal and being labelled as fashionable, says, “We take about four to Church of Delhi is organising

by Covid-19
pandemic, there is
a constant flow of
misinformation on
social media and
messaging apps,
protocols. might have to submit to becoming the need of the five days to make Sunday sermons online, for
“This is a situation that incomplete collection.” hour. While many churches arrangements and conduct its members. Pastor Stanley
nobody has faced. It’s an n kritika.sehgal@hindustantimes.com are web streaming their the rituals on video call, as Thomas Isac says, “It’s easier
unchartered territory. But mass and services online, the priest sits in the temple for people to connect online.
that doesn’t mean we’ll do as breaking Ramzan fast with on behalf of the individuals They get a good opportunity

rumour
condemning which,
actor Gajraj Rao
urges people to not
just stop the virus but
we please. That will fail the friends on video calls is also organising the pooja.’’ to learn to be with God while
efforts of so many who’re becoming increasingly For the followers of Islam, they are alone at home.”
working round-the-clock to common. Abu Sufiyan from Daryaganj n mallika.bhagat@hindustantimes.com
control the crisis,” the actor For regular visitors of is running a

mongering
also check on the
spread of
unauthenticated
information.
“Usse hum sabko
bachna chahiye. I’ve
asked my friends and family
to verify the messages they
get on messaging apps and
check authenticity. This is
not a relay race or a kho kho
match — if you get a
message, it’s no compulsion
that you’ve to forward it.
People must control their
actions,” he asserts.
Elaborating on how
the menace of rumour
mongering is
amplifying the
struggles of
administration, he
adds, “This creates
undue pressure on
the administration
— the police and
the government”.
Gajraj Rao The actor, 59, also
PHOTO: laments on how even
RAAJESSH after relentless efforts
KASHYAP/HT of authorities, and
multiple
rues, while asserting that temples, online kirtans are campaign
such concerns are global making up for the physical #IbadatGharSe,
as even in other countries visits. A Rajendra Nagar where he
people aren’t acting very resident, Asha Sukh says, encourages people
responsibly. “I have been going to the to pray at home
“I was watching an temple for decades, and to not and share
American news channel do that now was making my pictures. “We are
recently and I saw how people day feel incomplete. So we asking people to
are still thronging to a Florida started sharing kirtan links not congregate
beach (US),” he shares. online. Some days we even outside. Social
n juhi.chakraborty@htlive.com Students submit final projects online as they are unable to turn up at get on Skype to pray together. media helps us in
their college, like they used to, for their graduation project FILE PHOTO
SCRAMBLE - 3449 CALVIN AND HOBBES Bill Watterson
Solve the four anagrams and move one letter to each square to
form four ordinary words
M SYAE
AATRT
EG OY LO
NRUYG H
Now arrange the letters marked with an asterisk (*) to form the
answer to the riddle or to fill in the missing words as indicated.
_____ is, after speech,the chief thing that holds sociey
together. -Max Eastman (8)
together. -Max Eastman
ANSWER: Laughter is, after speech,the chief thing that holds sociey
SCRAMBLE SOLUTION: Seamy, attar, eulogy, hungry

Astrologer Prem Kumar Sharma can be contacted at: Delhi: 011-47033152, Cher: The American singer-actor, known for her
WEDNESDAY,
DAILY HOROSCOPE MAY 20,
2020
40532026 (Sat to Mon): Panchkula: 91-172-2562832, 2572874 (Tues to Thurs);
Mumbai: 09716145644 (Last week of every month)
songs Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves, Just Like Jesse
James, Strong Enough and If I Could Turn Back
Time, turns 74 today.

A friend or relation is likely to help you out
financially. Your greatness lies in making
things easy for others in both your
personal and professional capacities.
Your craving for rich food will remain,
ARIES but you will manage to control your
(MAR 21 - APR 20) urges and remain in shape. Peace and
quiet may elude you on the home front, but
you will manage to let your hair down.
Youngsters trying out a vehicle need to be careful.
Love Focus: You will find time to spend with lover despite a hectic
schedule.
Lucky Number: 2 Lucky Colour: Silver
You are likely to take some positive steps to
bolster your finances. You may need to
adjust to someone new at work, so get
to know him or her fast. Fatigue is likely
to become a thing of the past as you
TAURUS adopt a new fitness regime. A family
(APR 21 - MAY 20) youngster is likely to put in best efforts in
achieving something, so don’t discourage.
Property owners will be able to rent out their
premises for handsome returns.
Love Focus: Romance may beckon some, and spending time with
sweetheart will prove most fulfilling.
Lucky Number: 15 Lucky Colour: Green
Those experiencing a slump in profits will
recover and start earning well. An
opportunity to showcase your talents on
the professional front may come your
way. Peak physical fitness will make even
GEMINI strenuous activities seem like child’s play.
(MAY 21 - JUN 21) Wedding for the eligible is indicated.
Excellent showing on the academic front
will egg some to perform better. Networking
will prove of immense value on the social front.
Love Focus: An off-mood lover will need your loving care to be
brought into mood.
Lucky Number: 17 Lucky Colour: Electric Blue
This is a good time to invest in a money
making scheme. Someone will clear the
air regarding a misunderstanding that is
affecting your professional life and
make you heave a sigh of relief.
CANCER Excellent health will find you energetic
(JUNE 22 - JULY 22) and ready to take on the world! Steer
clear of a grouchy family elder. Giving
property on rent promises handsome returns.
Good tips will prove helpful for some students on the academic front.
Love Focus: Love may tug at your heart, but you may not spare time
for it.
Lucky Number: 7 Lucky Colour: Orange

Some of you may end up spending more There may be some constraints regarding Financial situation that has remained Financial front will look up as you start
than anticipated, but money will not pose money, so remain tight-fisted. stagnant or is showing a downward trend earning well. Your ideas on the
problems. Those slogging in their work Completing an assignment in the given is set to improve. You will be assertive professional front will be received
for long are likely to be rewarded time is important, so don’t take things enough to get an outsourced job favourably. You will need to overcome
handsomely. Following simple habits lightly. A better line of treatment may completed in time. Some of you are your weakness for junk food, if you want
will help make your health vibrant. You LEO be required for recovering from an VIRGO likely to develop an interest in healthy LIBRA to remain healthy. A family youngster is SCORPIO
can be counted upon to escort someone (JULY 23 - AUG 23) ailment. You may have to be at your (AUG 24 - SEPT 23) foods. Don’t let up on tact in dealing with (SEPT 24 - OCT 23) likely to add to your prestige. Preparation (OCT 24 - NOV 22)
important on a tour. Use tact in touching convincing best, as spouse may hold you an elderly person on the family front. An for an overseas business trip is likely to start
upon a sensitive issue with spouse. It pays to be accountable for neglecting something exciting event is in the offing. Property owned now. You are likely to bounce back on the
attentive in class as you manage to make the grade. important. Become a perfect yes-man today if you want to remain on by you may become a great source of pride. academic front and show your mettle to doubting Thomases.
Love Focus: Some of you face the prospect of getting silent a safe wicket. Love Focus: You may have to think up newer ways of keeping lover’s Love Focus: Newlyweds are likely to remain in total bliss as
treatment from lover. Love Focus: Those going steady for a long time can discuss marriage. interest alive in this relationship. togetherness strengthens loving bonds.
Lucky Number: 7 Lucky Colour: Pink Lucky Number: 4 Lucky Colour: Purple Lucky Number: 6 Lucky Colour: Green Lucky Number: 16 Lucky Colour: Coral

Be careful on what you spend, as you must
conserve enough for spending on other
essentials. Careless mistakes may get
you hauled up by seniors at work. Good
diet coupled with walks will keep you
physically trim and healthy. Doing
SAGITTARIUS something together with the family is
(NOV 23 - DEC 21)
indicated, and promises to be fun. Returns
from property and investments will keep your
coffers brimming. Someone’s guidance on the academic front will
help keep you abreast of others in class.
Love Focus: Arms of lover will appear most comforting today.
Lucky Number: 8 Lucky Colour: Violet
Financially, you are set to gain, mainly from
previous investments. Pace your work, if
you don’t want to reach the burnout
stage! Your new initiative will prove
beneficial in coming back in shape.
Those married for long will be able to
CAPRICORN rekindle their love life and bring joy back
(DEC 22 - JAN 21)
into their lives. Your attempt on the
academic front is likely to meet with thumping
success. Extending a helping hand to someone is likely to win you
many brownie points on the social front.
Love Focus: Don’t put off lover by being too demanding.
Lucky Number: 3 Lucky Colour: Coffee
Boost in earning will find you much more
comfortable than before. Your
performance in a creative field will leave
those who matter totally impressed.
Good times are foreseen on the health
front. Someone in the family may try to
AQUARIUS make you dance to his or her tune. Good
(JAN 22 - FEB 19)
returns from property can be expected and
will add to your wealth. Academically, some of
you are likely to perform beyond your own expectations.
Love Focus: You will come closer to spouse as differences begin to
disappear.
Lucky Number: 18 Lucky Colour: Saffron
You will need to tighten your belt on the
financial front as a major expenditure is
foreseen. A break you had been awaiting
on the work front may come within your
grasp. A health problem facing some is
likely to get cured through home remedy.
PISCES Someone’s help on the academic front will
(FEB 20 - MAR 20)
get you out of a tight corner. Your
mannerisms and the way you speak may
become a big turn on for someone from the opposite gender!
Love Focus: Cooling off with lover at your favourite joint is on the
cards.
Lucky Number: 6 Lucky Colour: Dark Yellow

NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2020 I Entertainment & Promotional Features
SIXSHOTSOFLIFE
There’s negativity all around but we will focus on the
positivity. Our editor picks shots of life that bring a smile
A PAWFECT PAINTING!
Pictures of pets are dear
to our hearts, but a
painting is even more
special! Jude Hajjaj
from Jordan shows
off a picture of her
pet painted by her
father, who motivates
others to do the same.
Painting pet portraits
during the pandemic has
been therapeutic for many. A
couple in London built an “art
museum” to entertain pet gerbils!
When are you painting your furry baby?
REAM
IS THERE A D
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is su
friends as he
He craves
dislocated. ill
eams that w
beautiful dr ke hi m
and ta
soothe him
or ld .
a happy w
COMPASSION DRIVES HIM
Akshay Kothawale , an auto-
rickshaw driver had put
together ₹2lakh for his
wedding. The 30-year-old
called off the ceremony
due to the lockdown. He
decided to use this money
to feed migrant labourers
in Pune who were going
without food. Kothawale
also offers free rides to
pregnant women and old
people.
Send your Six Shots entry to htcity@hindustantimes.com
I hope the government
takes care of our
industry, too, says
Javed Akhtar
Kavita Awaasthi
hile music has helped
W
many to deal with the
lockdown, the music
fraternity, too, has been
impacted due to the Covid-19
outbreak. But they have The
Indian Performing Right
Society Ltd (IPRS) helping
those who are in dire need.
Writer-lyricist and
chairman of the IPRS, Javed
Akhtar shares, “IPRS was
established to help the music
fraternity. Our membership is
of around 5,000, including
composers, lyricists,
musicians and post the first
lockdown, we gave ₹7,500
each to 3,500 people, and
after it was extended, we
gave more.”
IPRS has six writer-
composers and six music
companies contributing to the
fund. There are some non-
member musicians, who are
also being helped by the board
in their own individual
capacity, shares Akhtar.
He points out that
“entertainment is the first
thing” that is dropped from the
list of priorities during crisis,
but Akhtar hopes that the
government steps in to help the
entertainment industry. “If we
don’t start shooting, there
won’t be recordings and people
won’t be paid. The way the
government has announced
relief packages for other
industries, I hope they do so for
the us as well as we are a huge
revenue source,” he says.
The veteran writer admits
that while he is “comfortable”
the pandemic has made him
realise how vulnerable we are.
He says, “We are all helpless in
this crisis. Life will go on but
there should be sensitivity
towards the environment.”
n kavita.awaasthi@htlive.com
www.hindustantimes.com
erson’, but a dmits no
‘home p still’
www.facebook.com/HTcity
lls herself a e to a stand
The actor ca hat the ‘world would com
K
twitter.com/htshowbiz
UC
ed t
T
g in
S
d ima
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e ha
E
on
F E
instagram.com/htcity
www.youtube.com/user/ht
I DON’T A
SCAN THIS
CODE FOR
MORE
POSITIVE
SHOTS OF LIFE
A SWEET
AT ALL, SA YS KIA R touch with so many people. “I
always wanted to reach out to
GESTURE Prashant Singh them. Now, I have reconnected
Actor Alia with so many of my friends as
Bhatt he was shooting for well as my school teachers.
S
surprised
the Bhool Bhulaiyya 2 till And honestly, it’s such a warm
health care
of KEM workers days before lockdown 1.0 feeling,” says the actor, adding
Mumbai w Hospital in was announced. Before that not many know she also
ith snacks
goodies to and that, Kiara Advani was plays online ludo almost every
cheer them working back-to-back on her day with her friends and
Shripad Gan up. Dr
g
hospital tw apurkar from the slate of films [Good Newwz, family.
eeted a pic Laxmmi Bomb, Indoo Ki At the same time, what’s
the treats tu
and thanke re of Jawani, Shershaah and really heartening for Kiara is
Alia’s note d her.
read: “Than Guilty]. But then, everything to see the feeling of oneness in
all you are k you for
doing to ke came to a screeching halt due people. “Amidst the crisis, it’s
communit ep the
y healthy to the Covid-19 pandemic. And great to see how people are
You are th and safe.
PHOTO: e real hero the actor admits that valuing basics and finding
REUTERS es.”
PHOTO: SA
TISH BATE
sometimes, she finds it all “a happiness in them all over
/HT bit unbelievable”. again. It’s clear that we all are
Kiara Advani “Honestly, no one — in it together,” says the actor,
including me — imagined the adding that among other stuff
WINGS OF HOPE world coming to a standstill,” such as meeting friends and
says Kiara, adding that she has family, an important thing on
Our reader, Deepak
“anyway always been a home her to-do list once things go
Ghavri found this
person”. “So, there’s not a back to normal, is to enjoy a
visitor in his yard.
feeling that ‘arrey, main atak film in a theatre. “And that
“Someone said, go to
gayi hoon (oh, I am stuck)’. But too, with my bucket of
the garden when you
need to remember
having said that, I do miss popcorn, but that may take
going on the sets,” she says. some time,” she says.
that everything is
Interestingly, the actor has At the same time, Kiara is
love. This winged
been making great use of “all also aware that another thing
visitor brings a
the free time”. “I’m using this which “may take time” is a
message from the sky, a
film team “being able to go
sign of hope in these darks
vis things that I had been back to the sets and work”. “I
s times, Mother Nature’s way
mulling over. For example, I know that it will take some
to assure us that with positivity,
am trying to polish my Urdu time for film shoots to resume
happy days will revisit us soon,” he writes.
diction, and there are so many because at any given point, we
institutions/universities that have 500-600 people on a set.
to are offering free courses. So, But let’s keep our spirits intact
M SAXENA/H
T the idea is to keep myself for everyone,” she concludes.
PHOTO: SHIVA
engaged in a productive n prashant.singh@htlive.com
manner,” she says.
THE WRITTEN W Not just that, Kiara is also
Although
ORD! it’s definit
ely high on
my
kicked that she is back in
Kiara has w to-do list.
her share of atched In fact, I ha FILE PHOTO: VIDYA SUBRAMANIAN/HT
content on of books re ve a list
platforms ad
during the
OTT start [read y that I want to
lockdown ing] soon,” (Left) Shamas
period, th But in the sh
thing that ere’s meantime, e says.
the actor w one has manag the actor N Siddiqui and
do “in a m anted to ed
ore all the [film to finish reading (right) Nawazuddin
but couldn’ regular manner” ] scripts [o
ffered to Siddiqui
t — readin her]. “Tha
“I am not m g books. t way, I’m
LOOK WHO’S SPRINKLING JOY! uch of a re the most of makin PHOTO: PRODIP GUHA/HT
ader but this period g
says. ,” she
This big guy went about spraying water on
children with his trunk as he is not allowed
to give them a ride yet. In Nantes, France,
the giant mechanical elephant is back in
action! The theme park reopened with the
PHOTO: PTI
lifting of the lockdown. This elephant is of
one of the famed attractions of Machines
of the Island of Nantes.
Nia says it’s
heartbreaking
that actors aren’t
Javed Akhtar
PHOTO: AP getting paid
Nawaz wanted to fulfill
ammi’s wish: Shamas
have rents
and EMIs, but
are unable to pay
them.”
Shreya Mukherjee
Sounding disturbed, started, Nawaz took the
the actor says, “If I start permissions to go to
taking names of those ctor Nawazuddin Budhana.
struggling because of pending
dues, the list will go on. Paying
a few lakhs may take time, but I
A Siddiqui, his mother
Mehroonisa Siddiqui
and a few family members
Syama died at the age of
26 last year after a prolonged
battle with cancer.
Nia Sharma know an actor who has been went to their hometown Shamas, who’s in
struggling for months to get Budhana, Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai, adds, “Nawaz bhai
PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/
NIASHARMA90 ₹70,000 payment. Every time he last week, and all of them are wanted to fulfil ammi’s wish.
visits the producer’s office, he’s under a 14-day quarantine. They got their Covid-19 test
given another date.” While many speculated that done, and thankfully, results
Sharma has made peace Siddiqui went home for Eid, came negative. Though she’s
with not having shot for two he clarified on Twitter that it doing better now, bhai has
months, says that it feels was their mother’s wish to no plans of coming back to
“trivial and selfish” in the light go home, as she was unwell. Mumbai. He’ll be back only
of the current situation, to talk Negating Eid celebration when shootings resume.”
about resuming shoots. “There reports, his brother, director He also adds that the
are many poorly faring serials Shamas N Siddiqui, also family won’t celebrate Eid
Kavita Awaasthi and Artistes’ Association that have been shut overnight. tweeted a copy of the travel this year. “Hamaara koi
Shreya Mukherjee (CINTAA). We are nowhere close to permission they took. apna hume chhod ke chala
and got stuck there. But he is “We often work for 16 to 22 shooting but when we do, there “Ammi used to take care gaya hai, hum kaise Eid
Amit Sadh not complaining, and admits fter TV actor, Manmeet hours a day, and we deserve will be a huge struggle to get of our sister (Syama Tamshi manaa sakte hain?”
to having had a great time.
“Initially, it was
tough to make this
A Grewal committed suicide
on May 15 due to financial
stress and lack of work, Nia
better. So much is being talked
about other issues, but there’s
not a word about those
good ratings,” she says.
Sharma further talks about
threats that some of the actors
Siddiqui). She couldn’t
accept her death and has
been getting panic attacks,”
n shreya.mukherjee@htlive.com
decision (of Sharma spoke up about the struggling in the TV industry. get from production houses. “A says Shamas, 36, adding that
returning), as we were issues actors face regarding Forget the 90 day rule for lot of times, actors are told that the day communication
comfortable in the hills payments in an Instagram post. payment, I know of new actors if they talk about these things
where there were no She says that producers who haven’t been paid for their in public, or to CINTAA, they PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/NAWAZUDDIN_SIDDIQUI
Covid-19 cases. But later, have bigger risks but requests year old work. It is will not get work or paid. This
we felt it’s time to go back them to clear payments of heartbreaking,” she says, is why many keep mum and cry
home,” says the 40-year- actors who are struggling adding, “The lockdown is for silently. It would take any of
old, adding that his house including six of her friends, the safety of everyone but now, these people a few seconds to
help, and dogs are alone, and some of whose cases are the situation has taken a turn take a drastic step,” says the 29-
he “was missing them and pending with Cine and TV for worse. I know of actors who year-old.
wants to give them a big
AMIT SADH hug” once he is back.
With lockdown 4.0
RETURNS that has given
relaxation to people to travel
interstate by road, Sadh feels
Boney Kapoor’s house help tests positive NAWAZUDDIN’S
WIFE AALIYA FILES
TO MUMBAI glad that “those who’re stuck
can now return home. For FOR DIVORCE
AFTER TWO me, going back wouldn’t
have been possible without
the support of the A
fter news of Sussanne
Khan’s sister Farah Khan
Ali’s family facing
Kapoor immediately sent him
for tests and later kept him in
isolation. After receiving the
fine and none of us are showing
any symptoms. In fact, we
haven’t left our home since the
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s
wife Aaliya has filed for
MONTHS Uttarakhand Government.”
Pondering over the
coronavirus scare as her staff
member tested positive, now
test report, he informed the
society and later BMC as well,
lockdown started. We are
thankful to the government of
divorce. She sent him a
legal notice on May 7
seeking maintenance.
situation, Sadh opines that we have learnt that producer after which, BMC and the state Maharashtra and BMC for “There are several serious
Sangeeta Yadav this pandemic has brought to Boney Kapoor’s domestic help, government authorities started their swift response. We shall reasons behind my
light the good, bad and ugly too, has been tested positive. the process of getting him into a be diligently following the problems with Nawaz,”
fter spending two of our country. “We were Charan Sahu aged 23 years, quarantine centre.” instructions and advise given
A
Aaliya told ABP News. She
months in the lap of brain dead, but coronavirus lived with the Kapoors at their Talking about the same, the to us by BMC and their medical added that problems
nature, actor Amit Sadh has given us a wake-up call. residence in Andheri, Mumbai. producer says, “My children team. We are sure that Charan between them have been
is on his way to Mumbai, It has shown us the harsh A source says, “He was (Janhvi and Khushi), me, and would soon recover and be Boney Kapoor and Janhvi going on since 2010, “but
travelling 1,800 kms by road. realities of life. If people still unwell on May 16, and senior the other staff at home are all back at home with us.” HTC Kapoor PHOTO: YOGEN SHAH now things have escalated
The actor had left for don’t learn from this, they’ll beyond repair”. The couple
Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand, never change,” he shares. has been married for a
on March 16 with his friends, n sangeeta.yadav@hindustantimes.com NOTE TO READERS: Some of the coverage that appears on our pages is paid for by the concerned brands. No sponsored content does or shall appear in any decade and has two kids.
part of HT without it being declared as such to our valued readers.