˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown...

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W ith chorus growing from States to extend the ongoing lockdown to effec- tively fight the outbreak of coronavirus, the Centre may also move in the same direction and keep the country in a state of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown that the 21-day lockdown model is not a foolproof way to contain the coronavirus out- break and the disease could return when the lockdown ends. However, the Government has to also make sure that tens of thousands of daily-wage earners are fed and sheltered during the extension of lockdown. It has to also take into account the terrible state of economy due to shutdown of production across every section of industries, except pharma sector. Several States such as Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are reported to be in favour of extending the current phase of lockdown after it ends on April 14. These States have con- tributed more than a third of the positive cases in India. “A lot of State Governments as well as experts are requesting the Central Government to extend the lockdown. The Union Government is thinking in this direction,” Tweeted Prasar Bharati News Services citing “Government sources” after a crucial GoM meeting. The development comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked coun- trymen to be ready for a long battle against the coronavirus pandemic, and exhorted peo- ple not to feel tired or defeat- ed while expressing confidence the country will emerge victo- rious in its fight. During the day, the Group of Ministers headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is learnt to have also discussed the States’ suggestion for extension of the lockdown. Modi is expected to take a call on this regard based on the GoM’s sug- gestions. The GoM meeting was attended by Union Ministers Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan, Piyush Goyal and Prakash Javadekar also analysed the ways to open the lockdown from April 15. The meeting is reported to have discussed suggestion of opening up the lockdown in staggered or phased manner with stringent rules to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The Karnataka Government said it will take a decision on the continuation of the 21 days lockdown that ends on April 14, after exam- ining the report by a panel of health experts who have been tasked with devising an exit strategy, which is likely to be submitted in couple of days. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said a decision on the coron- avirus-enforced lockdown will be taken at an appropriate time after a review amid hints it may continue in the State beyond April 14. Thackeray chaired a meet- ing of the Cabinet, the first through video conferencing due to the outbreak, in which the situation prevailing in the State, which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and available med- ical infrastructure were dis- cussed, officials said. The ongoing lockdown, which is in place in view of coronavirus outbreak, might be extended in Madhya Pradesh if needed, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. “We will take a decision after analysing the situation. Lives of people are more important. We can resurrect the economy later on but can’t be able to bring back lives of people,” Chouhan said in a video statement. I ndia on Tuesday partially lifted the ban on export of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to the US after President Donald Trump hinted at “retal- iation” if India does not remove restrictions on the anti-malar- ia drug, which he has often claimed is the “game changer” in fighting coronavirus pan- demic there. The Congress, the TMC and the Left parties have slammed both Trump and the Modi Government over the issue. The US President’s threat led to an upheaval in the social media here with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying life-saving medicines should be first made available to Indians and remarked “friendship is not about retaliation.” He also said India must help all nations in their hour of need. Announcing the decision on Tuesday to partially lift curbs on export enforced on March 25, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the anti-malar- ia drug would be supplied to “some countries” which are “badly affected” by COVID-19. Former Congress presi- dent Rahul Gandhi expressed his objection to the Government U-turn on the issue, saying, “life saving” drug should be made available to the country first. He tweeted, “Friendship isn’t about retaliation. India must help all nations in their hour of need but lifesaving medicines should be made available to Indians in ample quantities first.” Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor also criticised Trump saying, “Never in my decades of experience in world affairs have I heard a Head of State or Government openly threatening another like this. What makes Indian Hydroxychloroquine “our sup- ply”, Mr President? It only becomes your supply when India decides to sell it to you.” (sic) Continued on Page 4 I ndia crossed the 5,000 mark of positive coronavirus cases on Tuesday with Maharashtra becoming the first State in the country to go near 1,000 count. As per tallies from States, the total count of positive cases stood at 5,200 at 9 pm with 150 casualties. The country added more than 400 new cases dur- ing the day and the States were still reporting. Mahasrashtra, which has emerged as the biggest hotspot in the country, added 150 new cases on Tuesday and reported as many as 60 deaths. Tamil Nadu registered 67 new cases, which took its count to 690, fol- lowed by Delhi, Telangana, Kerala Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. A day after tea vendor operating near Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence “Matoshri” at Kalanagar, Bandra (east) in north-west Mumbai, tested positive for Covid-19, as many as 170 secu- rity personnel, including State reserve personnel, were on Tuesday quarantined at a build- ing in the neighbourhood, as a precautionary measure. The tea vendor, who had tested positive, is currently being treated at the HBT Medical College and Dr RN Cooper Hospital at Juhu in north-west Mumbai. What caused anxiety was the fact that the security per- sonnel attached to the CM used to frequent the affected vendor’s stall to have tea. Not wanting to take any chances, the Brihanmumbnai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided to shift 170 security personnel to the nearby the Uttar Bhartiya Sangh building in Mumbai’s Bandra (East), where they have been quaran- tined. Meanwhile, the Government has put in place three-layered mechanism for identification of the appropri- ate Covid-19 dedicated facili- ty depending on the severity of the virus infected patient. The available data in India suggests that nearly 70 per cent of the Covid-19 cases either exhibit mild or very mild symptoms. Continued on Page 4 A 73-year-old coronavirus patient, who was admitted at Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Hospital (LNJP) after being diag- nosed positive with the life- threatening disease, was dis- charged on Tuesday after his two tests for COVID-19 came nega- tive. According to hospital administration, patient Manmohan Singh has been fur- ther advised to quarantine him- self for next 14 days as precau- tionary measure. Singh, who recovered fully despite being suffering from multiple health related problems, was taken out by hospital with staff clapping for him. Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain, a team of doctors, nurses and other health officials from LNJP, were also present when Singh was being discharged from the hospital. “Singh was diagnosed posi- tive with COVID-19 and was being treated at the LNJP Hospital. I am relieved to announce that he is now in full spirit and has been discharged recently,” Jain tweeted. C ongress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cut down media advertise- ments, among other measures, to meet the financial demands to fight corona pandemic. The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) deplored the suggestion, which it said came at a time when journalists risked their lives to cover the pandemic. In a letter to the PM, Sonia urged the PM to impose a com- plete ban on media advertise- ments by the Government and PSUs for a period of two years, with advisories for issues relat- ing to public health being the sole exception. Continued on Page 4 Noida: No fresh COVID-19 case was detected in Noida and Greater Noida for a third day in a row, even as two more coronavirus patients were cured and discharged from the hospital, officials said on Tuesday. Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoinining Delhi, in UP has so far recorded 58 pos- itive cases for COVID-19. Beijing: China on Tuesday reported no new deaths from the deadly coronavirus for the first time since it started pub- lishing figures in January but the number of imported infec- tions increased to 983 with 32 new confirmed cases, health officials said. See P9 New Delhi: A case has been registered against two members of Tablighi Jamaat for alleged- ly defecating in front of a room at a quarantine centre in Narela here. The case was registered on Saturday, after police received information from the sanitation staff. U nion Health Ministry on Tuesday cited a study by ICMR to claim that one COVID-19 patient can infect 406 people in 30 days if s/he does not follow lockdown mea- sures, implying that spread of the infection in the country cannot be curbed without strictly adhering to social dis- tancing recommendations. “The affected person can infect more than 400 people in 30 days. The analysis is based on a mathematical model of coronavirus transmission done by the ICMR. In medical terms this phenomenon is known as R-naught or R0, a virus’s basic reproductive number — an epidemiologic metric used to describe the contagiousness of infectious agents,” Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, said at a rou- tine Press briefing here. “If we follow the proper measures and social distancing, the infection rate can be cut down to just 2.5 people per patient in 30 days,” Agarwal said. Continued on Page 4 W ith a view to limit the cir- culation of fake news and misinformation through its platform amid the spread of coronavirus, WhatsApp is reducing its limits on message forwarding even further. It will now allow users to share fre- quently forwarded messages to only one chat at a time. Increased forwards of fake information on symptoms, cures, Government advisories and lockdown extension on WhatsApp have added to panic among people. The existing limit allowing users to forward a message for up to five times will continue as the new restric- tion is only for the frequently forwarded messages. Continued on Page 4 B oris Johnson who was hos- pitalised with persistent coronavirus symptoms is stable in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a London hospital and has not required ventilator support for breathing, Downing Street said in a health update on the British Prime Minister on Tuesday. “The PM has been stable overnight and remains in good spirits. He is receiving standard oxygen treatment and is breath- ing without any other assis- tance. He has not required mechanical ventilation or non- invasive respiratory support,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. Continued on Page 4 A iming to intensify COVID- 19 testing, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that the Uttar Pradesh govern- ment would increase testing facilities by adding 14 more labs and setting up sample collection centres in all 75 dis- trict hospitals of the state. He also said that the gov- ernment would decide on lift- ing lockdown only after eval- uating the ground situation on April 10 or 11. Addressing media persons through video conferencing in Lucknow on Tuesday, Yogi said that the government had initi- ated all steps to secure the life of 23 crore people of the state and had launched the biggest campaign to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus in UP. Expressing concern over the rising number of coron- avirus positive cases in the state in the last five days, Yogi said that among these cases, more than 60 per cent were members of Tablighi Jamaat. “It is a matter of concern and we are going through the tedious task of identifying all infected persons in the state and isolating them. Unfortunately, many of them are avoiding health officials. They should understand it is a disease and they should get treatment at the earliest. They are not only risking their lives but also those of others in soci- ety,” he said. The chief minister said that when the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the country, there was no test- ing lab in the state, but now 10 labs were fully functional. “These labs will be upgrad- ed to Level 3 to ensure research facilities there and it will help the state in the long term,” he said. “We will set up Level 2 labs in 14 medical colleges of the state that are not operational till date. For this, a committee under principal secretary (medical and health) has been set up to expedite purchase of equipment and complete other formalities at the earliest,” the chief minister said. Besides, Yogi said, COVID-19 sample collection centres would be set up at all district hospitals so that any sick person needing help could go there and get tested. He said officials had been authorised to start working on this line. The chief minister said that the recently formed Covid Care Fund was getting funds from legislators, common man and even corporate houses. “The money collected in the Covid Care Fund will be used on improving infrastruc- ture of testing labs and COVID hospitals. We will also use this for manufacture of personal protection equipment (PPE), N95 masks, ventilators, infra and thermal anlysers,” he said. Yogi also elaborated on the work of the 11 committees set up to deal with the coron- avirus crisis and said that the officers had been asked to ensure that there was no short- age of food in the state. “Principal secretary (hor- ticulture) has been asked to ensure food and shelter facili- ties for animals. Dairy indus- try has also been asked to ensure supply of milk to the common man. Besides, officials have been asked to take care of stray animals like monkeys and dogs,” Yogi said.

Transcript of ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown...

Page 1: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

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With chorus growing fromStates to extend the

ongoing lockdown to effec-tively fight the outbreak ofcoronavirus, the Centre mayalso move in the same directionand keep the country in a stateof lockdown beyond April 14.

Various studies have shownthat the 21-day lockdownmodel is not a foolproof way tocontain the coronavirus out-break and the disease couldreturn when the lockdownends. However, theGovernment has to also makesure that tens of thousands ofdaily-wage earners are fed andsheltered during the extensionof lockdown. It has to also takeinto account the terrible stateof economy due to shutdown ofproduction across every sectionof industries, except pharmasector.

Several States such asTelangana, Maharashtra,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh Assam,Chhattisgarh and Jharkhandare reported to be in favour ofextending the current phase oflockdown after it ends on April14. These States have con-tributed more than a third ofthe positive cases in India.

“A lot of StateGovernments as well as expertsare requesting the CentralGovernment to extend thelockdown. The UnionGovernment is thinking in thisdirection,” Tweeted Prasar

Bharati News Services citing“Government sources” after acrucial GoM meeting.

The development comes aday after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi asked coun-trymen to be ready for a longbattle against the coronavirus

pandemic, and exhorted peo-ple not to feel tired or defeat-ed while expressing confidencethe country will emerge victo-rious in its fight.

During the day, the Groupof Ministers headed by DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh is learnt

to have also discussed theStates’ suggestion for extensionof the lockdown. Modi isexpected to take a call on thisregard based on the GoM’s sug-gestions.

The GoM meeting wasattended by Union Ministers

Amit Shah, NirmalaSitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,Piyush Goyal and PrakashJavadekar also analysed theways to open the lockdownfrom April 15.

The meeting is reported tohave discussed suggestion of

opening up the lockdown instaggered or phased mannerwith stringent rules to preventthe spread of the pandemic.

The KarnatakaGovernment said it will take adecision on the continuation ofthe 21 days lockdown thatends on April 14, after exam-ining the report by a panel ofhealth experts who have beentasked with devising an exitstrategy, which is likely to besubmitted in couple of days.

Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeraysaid a decision on the coron-avirus-enforced lockdown willbe taken at an appropriatetime after a review amid hintsit may continue in the Statebeyond April 14.

Thackeray chaired a meet-ing of the Cabinet, the firstthrough video conferencingdue to the outbreak, in whichthe situation prevailing in theState, which has the highestnumber of COVID-19 cases inthe country, and available med-ical infrastructure were dis-cussed, officials said.

The ongoing lockdown,which is in place in view ofcoronavirus outbreak, might beextended in Madhya Pradesh ifneeded, Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan said. “We willtake a decision after analysingthe situation. Lives of peopleare more important. We canresurrect the economy later onbut can’t be able to bring backlives of people,” Chouhan saidin a video statement.

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India on Tuesday partiallylifted the ban on export of

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)to the US after PresidentDonald Trump hinted at “retal-iation” if India does not removerestrictions on the anti-malar-ia drug, which he has oftenclaimed is the “game changer”in fighting coronavirus pan-demic there. The Congress,the TMC and the Left partieshave slammed both Trumpand the Modi Governmentover the issue.

The US President’s threatled to an upheaval in the socialmedia here with Congressleader Rahul Gandhi sayinglife-saving medicines should befirst made available to Indiansand remarked “friendship isnot about retaliation.” He alsosaid India must help all nationsin their hour of need.

Announcing the decisionon Tuesday to partially liftcurbs on export enforced onMarch 25, Ministry of ExternalAffairs Spokesperson AnuragSrivastava said the anti-malar-ia drug would be supplied to“some countries” which are“badly affected” by COVID-19.

Former Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi expressedhis objection to theGovernment U-turn on theissue, saying, “life saving” drugshould be made available to thecountry first.

He tweeted, “Friendshipisn’t about retaliation. Indiamust help all nations in theirhour of need but lifesavingmedicines should be madeavailable to Indians in amplequantities first.”

Senior Congress leaderShashi Tharoor also criticisedTrump saying, “Never in mydecades of experience in worldaffairs have I heard a Head ofState or Government openlythreatening another like this.What makes IndianHydroxychloroquine “our sup-ply”, Mr President? It onlybecomes your supply whenIndia decides to sell it to you.” (sic)

Continued on Page 4

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India crossed the 5,000 markof positive coronavirus cases

on Tuesday with Maharashtrabecoming the first State in thecountry to go near 1,000 count.As per tallies from States, thetotal count of positive casesstood at 5,200 at 9 pm with 150casualties. The country addedmore than 400 new cases dur-ing the day and the States werestill reporting.

Mahasrashtra, which hasemerged as the biggest hotspotin the country, added 150 newcases on Tuesday and reportedas many as 60 deaths. TamilNadu registered 67 new cases,which took its count to 690, fol-lowed by Delhi, Telangana,Kerala Rajasthan and UttarPradesh.

A day after tea vendoroperating near MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray’s private residence“Matoshri” at Kalanagar,Bandra (east) in north-westMumbai, tested positive forCovid-19, as many as 170 secu-rity personnel, including Statereserve personnel, were onTuesday quarantined at a build-

ing in the neighbourhood, as aprecautionary measure.

The tea vendor, who hadtested positive, is currentlybeing treated at the HBTMedical College and Dr RNCooper Hospital at Juhu innorth-west Mumbai.

What caused anxiety wasthe fact that the security per-sonnel attached to the CMused to frequent the affectedvendor’s stall to have tea.

Not wanting to take anychances, the BrihanmumbnaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)decided to shift 170 securitypersonnel to the nearby theUttar Bhartiya Sangh buildingin Mumbai’s Bandra (East),where they have been quaran-tined.

Meanwhile, theGovernment has put in placethree-layered mechanism foridentification of the appropri-ate Covid-19 dedicated facili-ty depending on the severity ofthe virus infected patient.

The available data in Indiasuggests that nearly 70 percent of the Covid-19 caseseither exhibit mild or verymild symptoms.

Continued on Page 4

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A73-year-old coronaviruspatient, who was admitted at

Delhi’s Lok Nayak JayaprakashHospital (LNJP) after being diag-nosed positive with the life-threatening disease, was dis-charged on Tuesday after his twotests for COVID-19 came nega-tive. According to hospitaladministration, patient

Manmohan Singh has been fur-ther advised to quarantine him-self for next 14 days as precau-tionary measure. Singh, whorecovered fully despite beingsuffering from multiple healthrelated problems, was taken outby hospital with staff clapping forhim. Delhi’s Health MinisterSatyendar Jain, a team of doctors,nurses and other health officialsfrom LNJP, were also presentwhen Singh was being dischargedfrom the hospital.

“Singh was diagnosed posi-tive with COVID-19 and wasbeing treated at the LNJPHospital. I am relieved toannounce that he is now in fullspirit and has been dischargedrecently,” Jain tweeted.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Tuesday asked

Prime Minister Narendra Modito cut down media advertise-ments, among other measures,to meet the financial demandsto fight corona pandemic. TheNews Broadcasters Association(NBA) deplored the suggestion,which it said came at a timewhen journalists risked theirlives to cover the pandemic.

In a letter to the PM, Soniaurged the PM to impose a com-plete ban on media advertise-ments by the Government andPSUs for a period of two years,with advisories for issues relat-ing to public health being thesole exception.

Continued on Page 4

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Noida: No fresh COVID-19case was detected in Noidaand Greater Noida for a thirdday in a row, even as two morecoronavirus patients werecured and discharged fromthe hospital, officials said onTuesday. Gautam BuddhNagar, adjoinining Delhi, inUP has so far recorded 58 pos-itive cases for COVID-19.

Beijing: China on Tuesdayreported no new deaths fromthe deadly coronavirus for thefirst time since it started pub-lishing figures in January butthe number of imported infec-tions increased to 983 with 32new confirmed cases, healthofficials said. See P9

New Delhi: A case has beenregistered against two membersof Tablighi Jamaat for alleged-ly defecating in front of a roomat a quarantine centre in Narelahere. The case was registeredon Saturday, after policereceived information from thesanitation staff.

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Union Health Ministry onTuesday cited a study by

ICMR to claim that oneCOVID-19 patient can infect406 people in 30 days if s/hedoes not follow lockdown mea-sures, implying that spread ofthe infection in the countrycannot be curbed withoutstrictly adhering to social dis-tancing recommendations.

“The affected person caninfect more than 400 people in30 days. The analysis is basedon a mathematical model of

coronavirus transmission doneby the ICMR. In medical terms— this phenomenon is knownas R-naught or R0, a virus’sbasic reproductive number —an epidemiologic metric usedto describe the contagiousnessof infectious agents,” LavAgarwal, Joint Secretary, Union

Health Ministry, said at a rou-tine Press briefing here.

“If we follow the propermeasures and social distancing,the infection rate can be cutdown to just 2.5 people perpatient in 30 days,” Agarwalsaid.

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With a view to limit the cir-culation of fake news

and misinformation through itsplatform amid the spread ofcoronavirus, WhatsApp isreducing its limits on messageforwarding even further. It willnow allow users to share fre-quently forwarded messagesto only one chat at a time.

Increased forwards of fakeinformation on symptoms,cures, Government advisoriesand lockdown extension onWhatsApp have added to panicamong people. The existinglimit allowing users to forwarda message for up to five timeswill continue as the new restric-tion is only for the frequentlyforwarded messages.

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Boris Johnson who was hos-pitalised with persistent

coronavirus symptoms is stablein the intensive care unit (ICU)of a London hospital and hasnot required ventilator supportfor breathing, Downing Streetsaid in a health update on theBritish Prime Minister onTuesday.

“The PM has been stableovernight and remains in goodspirits. He is receiving standardoxygen treatment and is breath-ing without any other assis-tance. He has not requiredmechanical ventilation or non-invasive respiratory support,” aDowning Street spokespersonsaid.

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Aiming to intensify COVID-19 testing, Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath announcedthat the Uttar Pradesh govern-ment would increase testingfacilities by adding 14 morelabs and setting up samplecollection centres in all 75 dis-trict hospitals of the state.

He also said that the gov-ernment would decide on lift-ing lockdown only after eval-uating the ground situationon April 10 or 11.

Addressing media personsthrough video conferencing inLucknow on Tuesday, Yogi saidthat the government had initi-ated all steps to secure the lifeof 23 crore people of the stateand had launched the biggestcampaign to prevent the spreadof the deadly coronavirus inUP. Expressing concern overthe rising number of coron-avirus positive cases in thestate in the last five days, Yogisaid that among these cases,more than 60 per cent weremembers of Tablighi Jamaat.

“It is a matter of concernand we are going through thetedious task of identifying all

infected persons in the stateand isolating them.Unfortunately, many of themare avoiding health officials.They should understand it is adisease and they should gettreatment at the earliest. Theyare not only risking their livesbut also those of others in soci-ety,” he said.

The chief minister saidthat when the first case ofCOVID-19 was detected inthe country, there was no test-ing lab in the state, but now 10labs were fully functional.

“These labs will be upgrad-ed to Level 3 to ensure researchfacilities there and it will helpthe state in the long term,” hesaid.

“We will set up Level 2 labsin 14 medical colleges of thestate that are not operational tilldate. For this, a committeeunder principal secretary(medical and health) has beenset up to expedite purchase ofequipment and complete otherformalities at the earliest,” thechief minister said.

Besides, Yogi said,COVID-19 sample collectioncentres would be set up at alldistrict hospitals so that any

sick person needing help couldgo there and get tested. He saidofficials had been authorised tostart working on this line.

The chief minister saidthat the recently formed CovidCare Fund was getting fundsfrom legislators, common manand even corporate houses.

“The money collected inthe Covid Care Fund will beused on improving infrastruc-ture of testing labs and COVIDhospitals. We will also use thisfor manufacture of personalprotection equipment (PPE),N95 masks, ventilators, infraand thermal anlysers,” he said.

Yogi also elaborated onthe work of the 11 committeesset up to deal with the coron-avirus crisis and said that theofficers had been asked toensure that there was no short-age of food in the state.

“Principal secretary (hor-ticulture) has been asked toensure food and shelter facili-ties for animals. Dairy indus-try has also been asked toensure supply of milk to thecommon man. Besides, officialshave been asked to take care ofstray animals like monkeysand dogs,” Yogi said.

Page 2: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

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�-��'��� �����������In continuation of its relief efforts, the manage-

ment of City Montessori School donated a cheque of��crore to the Chief Minister for corona relief workon Tuesday. CMS founder Jagdish Gandhi present-ed the cheque to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath athis official residence. Chief PRO Hari Om Sharmasaid CMS had already donated �50 lakh for the ‘jana-ta kitchen’ run by LMC and �20 lakh to Indian RedCross Society through DM for Corona relief work and�20 lakh to the Vice-Chairman of LDA for the fivecommunity kitchens run by it.

.�� ����������������%��'Shubhini Saraf from Babasaheb Bhimrao

Ambedkar University’s department of PharmaceuticalScience and her group consisting of PoonamParashar, Monika Dwivedi and Meena Rathore, havebeen selected for the ‘Best Research Paper Award’ for2019 by international journal ‘Pharmaceutics’.Media spokesperson Rachna Gangawar said aroundone in 10 of all cancers diagnosed in men, lung can-cer contributes to a total fraction of 20% cancerdeaths. “Naringenin is an agent which is common-ly found in citrus fruits and tomatoes, and is well-known for its chemopreventive properties sinceancient times. Recently, it has been reported to be animmunity increasing agent as well. The problem isthat it lacks an appropriate delivery carrier. The objec-tive of this research was to expand the functionali-ty of naringenin-loaded polycaprolactone nanopar-ticles in terms of release, chemoprevention and ther-apeutics. Surface modification was attempted using

layer-by-layer technique to achieve improved anddesired delivery as well as target specificity. Thedesigning of hyaluronic acid-decorated nanoparticleswere prepared by utilising self-assembling techniqueand an attempt was made to strengthen the thera-peutic efficacy of nanocarriers by active targeting andovercoming the extracellular matrix associated bar-riers of tumours,” she said.

�+��#���������# � ��"����������"���The regional centre of Indira Gandhi National

Open University is working to reach out to its learn-ers by using technology. Regional director ManoramaSingh said they are providing efficient student sup-port service through e-mail, SMSs and WhatsAppgroups. Many learner support centres are organisingvirtual counselling sessions through ZOOM CloudMeeting app. “We are providing detailed guidelinesissued from the headquarters to coordinators throughe-mail and WhatsApp with a request to reach out tothe learners and solve their problems during this lock-down period,” she said. She added that learners shouldprepare their assignments well in time and submitscanned copies by e-mail. The dedicated e-mail IDfor submission of assignments has been communi-cated to learners by SMS. The soft copy of study mate-rial is available on e-gyankosh. Learners of BCA andMCA programme are advised to prepare their pro-ject as per the guidelines available on IGNOU web-site. Many academic videos have been prepared anduploaded on the Facebook page of the regional cen-tre to support the learners. The regional centre isreaching out to its learner through educational FM

channel ‘Gyanvani’. IGNOU headquarters is support-ing the learners through ‘Gyan Darshan’ channel bytelecasting lectures for various courses. Singhappealed to the learners to make the best use of onlinelearning and stay at home.

%�.������ ��'��The Research Design and Standard Organization

(RDSO) organised a webinar on ‘Installation andmaintenance practices in signalling installations ofIndian Railways’ on Tuesday. The programme to con-clude on April 10 is being organised by the SignalDirectorate to best utilise this time with constructiveactivities. The programme was organised under theguidance of member of Signal & Telecom (RailwayBoard) Pradeep Kumar and director-general ofRDSO (Lucknow) Virendra Kumar. A spokesmansaid that 10 sessions of 75-minute duration each areplanned to be covered with a practical perspectiveto further improve the reliability of signalling systemsat site. He said signal engineers from all zonal rail-ways directly involved in maintenance activities havebeen invited to attend the webinar so that the realbenefit can be extended to the ground level. On thefirst day, the programme started with sessions oninstallation and maintenance practices of axle coun-ters and earthing and lightning protection of sig-nalling installations.

/���#��������'����'#� �0Chairman of CII (UP) Ankit Gupta said that after

lockdown, the essential services industries is likelyto be benefited as against the discretionary services.People would be very cautious while spending theirmoney, he said. “Even though focus is on food prod-ucts in the lockdown period, this sector has beenimpacted because of the decrease in demand withrestaurants and hotels closed,” he pointed out.

On how they are planning to recoup and miti-gate the problem, he said they have submitted a rec-ommendations list, both at central and state level.“The major problems are that the whole supply chainhas broken. The trucks are not there to make the sup-plies and even if the trucks are there, most of the dri-vers are not available. The shops are also closed down.Post lockdown, it will be the first priority that thewhole supply chain is restored. The operations arehit because of the labour issue and the whole focuswill be on how to get them back,” he added.

Gupta said they were working on three fronts.“We are engaging with the government in terms oftaking feedback from our members and giving themto both Central and state governments. We are alsoengaged in relief and rehabilitation activities. Themembers are doing it at their levels and we are alsoplanning to give sanitisers and food packets. We arealso holding webinars on how to improve efficien-cy in operations, cut costs and manage,” he added.

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Lucknow (PNS): Toeing the Central government line, theUttar Pradesh government is likely to slash the salaries of legis-lators and minister by 30 per cent and scrap the legislature localarea development fund for the next two fiscals.A senior govern-ment official said that the state government was mulling to adoptthe Union government’s formula and slash the salary of legisla-tors and ministers by 30 per cent and suspend the legislator localarea development fund for the next two years.

Legislators in the state get �3 crore as Vidhayak Nidhi peryear. The government is expected to bring an ordinance in thisregard for which a cabinet proposal will be approved throughcirculation soon and the money will be transferred to the CovidCare Fund set up by the chief minister Opposition parties havesupported the state government move but said that the processshould be transparent and the government should make publicthe expenditure for prevention of COVID-19 virus in the statethrough this fund.

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Acclaimed shooter VartikaSingh had a brush with

controversy when sheannounced a reward of�51,000 for anyone helping inthe arrest of abscondingTablighi Jamaat chief MaulanaMohammad Saad Kandhalvi.

In a video message postedon the social media, Singhasked the government to bookthe cleric for sedition as he hadendangered the lives of mil-lions by hosting a congregationat Tablighi Jamaat’sNizamuddin markaz in Delhiin the midst of coronavirusspread. “The Tablighi Jamaatchief has thrown the nationinto a crisis. Number of coro-navirus positive cases havespiked in the country after theJamaat meet. This man shouldbe arrested without delay. I

have announced the reward sothat people come forward withinputs on his whereabouts,” shesaid

Controversy is not new toVartika Singh. In Decemberlast year, she wrote a letter inblood to Union Home MinisterAmit Shah, demanding thatthe four convicts in Nirbhayagang-rape case be executed bya woman.

Earlier in September 2019,Babri case plaintiff, IqbalAnsari had alleged that hewas attacked by Singh in hishouse. “She came to my housewith a male companion, intro-duced herself and said that shewanted to speak to me. As I letthem in, she started discussingissues like triple talaq andRam temple. But suddenly,she started hurling charges atme and blamed me for thedelay in temple construction.

She became aggressive andgot into a scuffle with me. Mysecurity personnel helped meget away and inform thepolice,” Ansari had toldreporters in Ayodhya and laterlodged an FIR at RamJanmabhoomi police station.

Singh was subsequentlytaken to Mahila police stationin Ayodhya and questionedabout the incident.

Meanwhile, HinduMahasabha general secretaryPuja Shakun Pandey wasbooked by Aligarh police onMonday for allegedly makinginflammatory comments tar-geting Tablighi Jamaat markazin Delhi. An FIR was regis-tered against Pandey on thebasis of a complaint filed byformer Samajwadi Party MLAfrom Aligarh, Haji ZameerUllah Khan.

She was charged with sec-

tions 153 A (promoting enmi-ty between different groups ongrounds of religion, race, placeof birth, residence, language,etc), and 505 (2) (statementscreating or promoting enmityhatred or ill-will among class-es) of the Indian Penal Code.

Elsewhere in Auraiya, aperson claiming to be a jour-nalist was arrested and sent tojail for spreading rumours onsocial media and obstructingofficial work on Tuesday.

Shailendra Singh ofAnantram Sarai area posted onsocial media that 4-5 Jamaatmembers had come fromDelhi, were holed up in hisneighbourhood but later disap-peared on April 5. The postsent shock waves and soonwent viral. A complaint aboutthe post was made by AshfaqKhan of Anantram area afterwhich the police probed the

claim but found it to be untrue.Later, the police reachedShailendra’s place only to findhim running his tailoring andcosmetic shop despite the lock-down. On being questioned onthis score and also the post, hetried to bully the cops, claim-ing himself to be a journalist.

The police said that theman carried a card of a newschannel which expired onNovember 22, 2019. On cross-checking with informationofficer, it surfaced that nojournalist by that name wasregistered.

The accused was arrestedand sent to jail on charges ofspreading rumours on socialmedia, obstructing officialwork, violating prohibitoryorders, negligence andstrengthening the possibility ofspread of coronavirus by open-ing shop illegally.

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Uttar Pradesh Health Minister JaiPratap Singh is the most sought

after man with the dreaded coron-avirus trying to spread its tentacles inUttar Pradesh but he does not reallyknow where the next challenge wouldcome from. When everyone thoughtthat the situation was under controlin UP, the spurt in cases amongTablighi Jamaat members turned thesituation upside down. Then there wasdemand of personal protection andtests kits which made the situation dif-ficult for the government.

In a freewheeling interview, thehealth minister answered questions ofThe Pioneer and spoke at length onto how the Jamaat members changedthe scenario and made the fightagainst coronavirus tougher.

Excerpts of the interview. The Pioneer: Uttar Pradesh

seems to be grappling to contain thecoronavirus which has now spreadto many parts of the state. Do youbelieve that the government wascaught napping?

Health Minister: This is a newvirus which has afflicted the entireworld. No country got enough time todefend itself from the pandemic.India and Uttar Pradesh were no dif-ferent. Yet, from January 27, we start-ed making arrangements. Gradually,isolation wards were set up in eachdistrict and people were quarantined.We identified two COVID hospitalsin each district and 10,000 to 12,000beds were made available in medicalcolleges.

Pioneer: Experts say that the bestweapon is testing and this is very lowcompared to our population, be it inIndia or in Uttar Pradesh.

Minister: People do not know butit is a fact that initially all cases usedto go to NIV (National Institute ofVirology) in Pune for testing. Initiallyour medical universities were notauthorised to make confirmatorytests. In the first phase, that rightwas given to our medical universities.Then, testing labs came up inMeerut, Gorakhpur, Agra,SGPGI, Lucknow andAligarh. Initially testing waslimited but with opening of newcentres, the facility was expanded.Each testing lab has its own capacityand suspects are being tested as perthe capacity.

Pioneer: But there are com-plaints of delay in reports.

Minister: There is no delay. Allsampling is done as per chronologi-cal order. Generally it takes more than24 hours as it is a routine. Positivecases are sent for isolation or quaran-tine as required and effective treat-ment is started immediately.

Pioneer: Do we have enoughprotective kits like masks, PPE (per-sonal protection equipment)?

Minister: Initially there wasscarcity of PPE and other equipmentbut the scarcity is not limited to UPalone, it is national and even global.Now, we are preparing PPEs andmasks at our own levels. Productionhas started in India. When epidemicof such a magnitude hits the country,

the whole nation gears up to fightagainst it. We did not depend on oth-ers but have started mobilising ourresources. So, the paucity of kits is nolonger an issue and kits are now beingsent to all district hospitals.

Pioneer: Have you identifiedthe hotspots where these kits aremost required?

Minister: Yes, we have done that.There are four districts which are hotspots and we are sending equipmentthere on a priority. There are areaswhich are less endemic and equipmentare on a standby. Besides, we are train-ing doctors and paramedics. This waywe have succeeded in controlling thepandemic.

Pioneer: The number of positivecases has all of a sudden gone up,Were you ready for that.

Minister: Recently, the number ofcases spiked due to members ofTablighi Jamaat. Before that the situ-ation was under control. Over 50 percent of positive cases are because ofthese Jamaat people. Once we identi-fy them, things will start levelling out.Today (Tuesday morning) out of 314cases, 164 are Jamaat members.

Pioneer: Has this spurt put addi-tional pressure on hospitals anddoctors. Experts do not know howhigh this number can go.

Minister: Yes, it has. We areready for any eventuality. We haveresearch labs ready. COVID hospitalsare ready in each districts. We aregoing for additional protection equip-ment. The government has identified

many positive cases among Jamaatmembers and is mapping them. Weare trying to identify those whomthese people have met. We are puttingextra vigil on Jamaat because the spurtis not that high in other cases. Wehope it will settle down with time.

Pioneer: As health minister doyou foresee that the lockdown can beextended after April 14.

Minister: See, this decision has tobe taken by the prime minister. Ifexperts in Delhi feel that the graph islevelling out, then lockdown can belifted in a phased manner. Districtswhich have turned into hotspotscould be put under lockdown forsome more time and it (lockdown)could be lifted from the rest of thestate. The call has to be taken by theprime minister, and the Governmentof India and Government of UP willdecide accordingly.

Pioneer: Complaints are pour-ing in from paramedics and ambu-lance drivers about non-payment.Has it…

Minister: Look, the strike by asection of ambulance staff has noth-ing to do with the government. Theoperation of ambulances is main-tained by a private company and theirsalary is released well in time. The ser-vice provider is supposed to paysalary to ambulance staff. Aboutnurses, in some cases like Agra,where the number of COVID-19positive cases went up, we are givingprotection equipment to them. We areredressing problems as soon as wecome to know of them.

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Three coronavirus patientsadmitted in King George’s

Medical University were dis-charged after they tested neg-ative on Tuesday. They includ-ed a 22-year-old youth, thecontact of the first coronaviruspatient (Canadian doctor), a19-year-old boy who hadreturned from UnitedKingdom, and a KGMU resi-dent doctor.

Dr D Himanshu, inchargeof the Infectious DiseaseCentre of KGMU, said thesamples of the trio tested neg-ative within 24 hours. “Theywill now be home-quaran-tined,” he said. He added thatmost of these patients hadremained asymptomatic.

“The resident doctor ofKGMU and the 19-year-oldboy from Gomti Nagar had aslight cough and cold in thebeginning but later on, theyhad no symptoms,” he said.

The recovery rate atKGMU is 50 per cent, which,he said, is very good as com-pared to international standard.

The 22-year-old youthfrom Indira Nagar had testedpositive on March 12, and theKGMU resident doctor twodays later.

Meanwhile, 16 samplestested positive for coronavirusat KGMU, including those of a36-year-old woman admitted atChandan Hospital and 2.5-year-old-boy at KGMU.

Meanwhile, sharing factsregarding COVID-19, expertssaid neither cold weather nordryers were effective in killingcoronavirus. “There is no evi-dence that regularly rinsing thenose with saline protects peo-ple from infection. Coronaviruscan also be transmitted inareas with hot and humid cli-mate,” he said.

He also pointed out thatcoronavirus cannot be trans-mitted through mosquitoeswhile thermal scanners candetect if people have a fever butnot whether or not someonehas coronavirus. “Antibiotics donot work against viruses; theyonly work against bacteria,and there is no evidence that

companion animals, pets suchas dogs or cats can transmit thecoronavirus. Spraying alcoholor chlorine all over your bodywill not kill viruses that havealready entered your body. To

date, there is no specific med-icine recommended to pre-vent or treat the coronavirusand taking a hot bath does notprevent it either,” they said.

“Vaccines against pneu-

monia, such as pneumococcalvaccine and haemophilusinfluenzae type b (Hib) vaccinedo not provide protectionagainst coronavirus,” theyadded.

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Neighbours have always been thebest providers of information

in the past and they continue to doso even now when informationabout travel history is essential forany suspected case of coronavirus.Medical officer Dr AbhiskekParihar, who has been carrying outsurveillance work for COVID-19,told this reporter that they get hun-dreds of calls from neighbourswho give details of suspects notkeen on sharing informationregarding their travel history.

“People hide their travel histo-ry when they are tracked. We arefollowing every international trav-eller. Sometimes, it becomes verychallenging when people or theirfamilies hide travel details andthen they turn out to be positive forcoronavirus. As a result, our effortstake a beating despite the fact thatwe are trying our best to preventthe spread of coronavirus. I don’tknow what is the reason but somepeople hide their travel history. Atthis time, neighbours are playingtheir part in providing correctinformation,” he said.

He admitted that their investi-gation and counselling skills haveincreased while carrying out thesurveillance work. “We not onlyhave to handle information com-ing to us and investigate but alsohave to counsel people because theyare panic-stricken,” he said.

He added that his request toevery Indian is to cooperate withthe officials and not hesitate insharing travel history to make thefight effective.

He said they have been work-ing in shifts and are also self-iso-lating so that their families remainsafe. “I miss my family but do knowthat this is important. As far asinfection is concerned, this issomething which can happen in aregular OPD as well,” he added.

UNICEF communicationexpert Geetali Trivedi said: “As acommunity, we need to understandthat it is important to give correctinformation to authorities withoutbeing concerned about any so-called stigma. Providing informa-tion as far as travel history is con-cerned is critical and communitiesmust come together to help us fightthe battle against COVID-19.”

������������ �����3�� �����4������������� ���<�,�Lucknow (PNS): The Ashiyana policeregistered a case against social activistand journalist Prashant Kanojia formaking ‘objectionable’ remarks onPrime Minister Narendra Modi follow-ing his appeal to light candles and diyason April 5, and Chief Minister YogiAdityanath. The case was registered onthe complaint of Shashank ShekharSingh, a resident of Marutipuram inAshiyana. Singh said Kanojia madeindecent remarks on social media andtried to divide the society on commu-nal lines by his comments. He furtherstated that Kanojia made a similarremark for Yogi on March 25.

The police said a case was regis-tered under sections 500, 501, 505(1)(b) of IPC. He was also bookedunder 67 IT Act for defamation withintent to cause, or which is likely tocause, fear or alarm to the public, orto any section of the public and for mis-use of social media. Meanwhile, theMadiaon police on Monday nightarrested a youth, identified as Saif AliKhan of Triveni Nagar, for making anindecent post on the Prime Minister’sappeal on lighting candles and diyas onApril 5.

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Astaff nurse at SanjayGandhi Post-Graduate

Institute of Medical Sciences(SGPGIMS) was found hang-ing at her house in VrindavanColony under PGI police sta-tion area on Tuesday. Hermobile phone was found on atable and it was suspected thatshe took the step while talkingto someone over phone.

As per reports, PushplataVerma (29) of Fatehpur wasstaying in a rented accommo-dation in Sapna Enclave ofVrindavan Colony under PGIpolice station area. OnTuesday, Pushplata did notwake up for her daily routine,which made the neighboursapprehensive. They calledpolice and a team reached thescene. The police broke open

the doors to enter the flat andfound her hanging from theceiling with a dupatta tiedaround her neck. The policesearched the entire flat but didnot get any suicide note.

“Her mobile phone wasfound placed on the table inthe room. The mobile phonewas found switched off. Thepolice will retrieve the infor-mation and call detail recordsfrom the phone,” the PGIpolice said. The police saidthey informed the family of thenurse and also the PGI admin-istration about the incident.“As of now, it is difficult to tellthe reason,” the police said.Sources said colleagues of thenurse told the police that shehad been under mental pres-sure for the last few days. “Butthey did not explain why shewas stressed,” the sources said.

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Divisional CommissionerMukesh Meshram said

that partial lockdown inLucknow is likely after April14. However, he added that thestate government would takethe call. “It all depends on thenumber of positive cases in thecoming days. We have somemore days to watch the trendand it is only after that thedecision can be taken. Even ifthere is no complete lock-down, it may continue in areaswhich are highly prone,” hesaid. He added that possibili-ty of the extension of completelockdown cannot be ruledout,” he said.

He added that 36 personshave tested positive, if 12 fromSaharanpur were also included.“There was one person whotested positive on April 7 and

she may be the first or the sec-ond contact of those who havetested positive earlier,” he said.The Commissioner said that onTuesday, contact-tracing andmore samples remained thethrust of the administration. Hesaid they are likely to get morethan 150 persons positive forcoronavirus in contact-tracing.He pointed out that on Tuesday,santisation began in a big wayin the hotspots and slum areasfor which they have procuredfive vehicles. “Each vehicle hasa capacity of 5,000 litres.Santisation was being carriedout earlier too but with the helpof these vehicles, it will be con-ducted on a bigger scale,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration distributed1,47,474 food packets amongthe poor through communitykitchens and ration was given

away to 2,51,479 people inrural areas and 3,03,870 inurban areas. The officials helda meeting which was presidedover by ADM (Trans-Gomti)Vishwa Bhushan Mishra onpublic security and supplychain management. The ADMsaid they are getting regularcomplaints about increasedamount charged by privatecompanies. He said cases willbe registered against blackmar-keteers. The ADM also tookout a march in Mahanagar areato sensitise locals.

Meanwhile, mayorSanyukta Bhatia distributedsanitisers among LMCemployees. The sanitiser hasbeen prepared by CSIR labsand Babasaheb BhimraoAmbedkar University. NIPERprepared ten litres of sanitiserwhile BBAU gave 25 litres ofsanitiser to LMC.

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After a two-month silence, UP Congresschief Ajay Kumar ‘Lallu’ reacted to his

opponents by serving notices on two dis-sidents and asking them to reply within 24hours or face action.

The two leaders were running aWhatsApp group by the name of ‘ShoshitCongress Savarn’ to attack the UPCC chiefover his reported sidelining of upper casteleaders, especially Brahmins.

Interestingly, many senior Congressleaders were in the group, while some quitfearing action from the UPCC chief.

The UPCC chief got the notices servedon Konark Diskhit and Gaurav Dikshitthrough UPCC disciplinary committeemember Shyam Kishore Shukla on Monday night.

Shukla said that at a time when thecountry was facing the coronavirus threatand each Congressman was out to serve theneedy, they (Konark, Gaurav) were stillengaged in uploading incorrect and nega-tive facts about the party and using deroga-tory and objectionable content against theUPCC chief.

“Their conduct amounts to indisciplineand hence they were served notices andgiven 24 hours’ time to reply to the chargesfailing which they will face disciplinaryaction and could be expelled from the

Congress, “ Shukla said.Reacting to the notice on Tuesday

afternoon, Dikshit said that he received thenotice through mail on Monday night butpointed out that he was given just 24 hoursto reply instead of seven days as per theparty’s constitution.

“It seems that the UP Congress chief hasmade up his mind to further harass uppercaste leaders by removing them. Before thenotice was served, I received calls from sev-eral leaders who told me that Rahul Gandhiwas no more the Congress chief and thatthey could not meet Priyanka GandhiVadra and hence it was better that we meetAjay Kumar ‘Lallu’ and sink differences. ButI decided against bowing to Lallu and willtake the fight further in order to save theCongress,” Dikshit said.

Earlier, Lallu shot into controversy bygiving 24 hours’ times to senior Congressleaders, some of them former ministers,before expelling them from the party. Thefault of these leaders was that they conveneda meeting in the house of a former CongressMP in Gomti Nagar to discuss how theparty could be revived by balancing the par-ticipation of youngsters and veterans.

In another goof up, Lallu revoked theexpulsion of former minister RamkrishnaDwivedi, who was hospitalised in a criticalstate, saying that he was withdrawing theexpulsion on “humanitarian grounds”.

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Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav said that

the farmers of the state werethe worst victims of lock-down clamped to prevent thespread of coronavirus.

“First the farmers suf-fered huge losses due tounseasonal rains and hail-storm and now they areunable to harvest Rabi crop.Even if they manage to harvestthe crop, there are no buyersas wheat procurement centresto be set up by the govern-ment are yet to start opera-tion. This will force them tomake distress sale to middle-man and wholesale traders.The UP government must actas per its promise and ensurethat the farmers are able to selltheir produce at minimumsupport price announced bythe government,” Akhileshsaid in a statement issued in

Lucknow on Tuesday. Theformer chief minister of UPsaid that government pur-chase centres were not oper-ational and roads for transportof harvested crop were closed.“Farmers with over 50,000quintals of wheat have some-how reached the mandis andthey have been running frompillar to post to sell their pro-duce,” he said.

The SP chief alleged thatseveral farmers committedsuicide in the past three yearsdue to anti-farmer policies ofthe Bharatiya Janata Partygovernment. “On one hand,the BJP governmentannounced that it would dou-ble farmers’ income by 2022and provide one-and-halftimes the cost of produce, buton the ground the situation isin stark contrast to theannouncement as farmers arenot even getting minimumsupport price,” he alleged.

.����/���� ����������� ����� ����0����,#Lucknow (PNS): Uttar PradeshRegistrar of Firms, Societies andChits has stayed the elections ofgoverning bodies of firms regis-tered with it. These polls will nowbe held after June 30. An orderissued by the registrar onTuesday, said that the UP andCentral governments had issuedcategorical directions for main-taining social distancing for pre-venting the spread of coron-avirus. It further said that itwould be difficult to practicesocial distancing if elections offirms and societies were held asper the provision in their by-lawsand the Societies RegistrationAct, 1860. Deputy registrars offirms and societies have beendirected to comply with theorder across the state. All privateschools, colleges, non-govern-mental organisations and firmsare registered under SocietiesRegistrations Act and regularelections of these bodies are heldas per provisions of the Act.

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Uttar Pradesh Sunni CentralWaqf Board and UP Shia

Central Waqf Board in separatestatements, directed trustees andmanaging committees of grave-yards registered with them to notallow those seeking to offer prayersfor Shab-e-Bara'at on April 9 andinstead ask them to pray at theirhomes.

Shab-e-Bara'at in Islamic faithmeans ‘Night of Forgiveness’ or‘Day of Atonement’ and is consid-ered that the Almighty forgives sin-ners if they pray on the day.

Muslim clerics also appealed toMuslims to not visit graveyards onShab-e-Bara'at in view of the lock-down to prevent spread of coron-avirus and advised people to remainhome and pray for their lovedones. “In view of the lockdown, theWaqf Board had earlier closeddown its mosques for namaz. Wehave now directed all concerned toensure that graveyards are notopen for common people on Shab-e-Bara'at on April 9. Employees

residing inside graveyard premiseshave been asked to clean graves andlight a lamp at every grave on theparticular day,” UP Shia CentralWaqf Board chairman SyedWaseem Rizvi said on Tuesday.

UP Sunni Central Waqf Boardalso urged people not to walk outon the occasion.

“We have directed all employ-ees to prevent people from comingto graveyards due to the lock-down. People should be asked topray from their homes so that thelockdown is not violated,” saidChief Executive Officer of SunniCentral Waqf Board, SM Shoeb.

Meanwhile, Minority WelfareMinister Mohsin Raza alsoappealed to Muslims to avoid goingto graveyards and shrines for offer-ing tributes to their forefathers onShab-e-Bara'at on April 8-9. Razasaid that social distancing should bemaintained at any cost to preventthe spread of coronavirus. “Pray atyour house with your family understrict social distancing during Shab-e-Bara’at, rather than going tocemetery or shrines,” he said.

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With six more persons testing positive forcoronavirus, the number of cases in

Uttar Pradesh climbed to 314 on Tuesday. Thenumber of infections in the state on Mondaystood at 308.

Principal Secretary (Health) Amit MohanPrasad said the number of coronavirus casesin the state had risen to 314, of which 22 hadrecovered. Of the total cases, 166, which is morethan 50 per cent, are linked to the TablighiJamaat, he said. Coronavirus cases have beenreported from 37 districts. As many as 6,073samples have been tested, of which 5,595 havetested negative and results for the others areawaited, he added.

The Uttar Pradesh government has iden-tified 1,551 Tablighi Jamaat people in the stateout of which 1,257 are in quarantine.

Giving this information to the media hereon Tuesday, Additional Chief Secretary (Home)Awanish Awasthi said that among these were323 foreigners. He said police had seized 259passports while remaining 64 were Nepal cit-

izens.Awasthi said that a COVID-19 positive

patient of the Jamaat who escaped from the iso-lation ward of the hospital in Baghpat had beencaught and was admitted to the hospital.

“The FIR for violation of lockdown in thestate has gone up to 10,803 under Section 188of the Indian Penal Code. In all 34,650 havebeen booked in the state. Besides 26 lakh vehi-cles have been penalised and over 17,000 havebeen seized by the police,” he said, adding that230 FIRs were also registered under EssentialCommodities Act for black marketing.

The government has released 11,780 pris-oners on parole as per the directive of thesupreme Court besides releasing 33 juveniles.

Awasthi said that the government hadserved notice to TikTok, FB and Twitter overposting of indecent material and till date 54cases had been reported of fake news andderogatory posts in the social media.

Meanwhile in Basti, 58 people, who wereproceeding towards Bihar from Agra hiding ina truck, were caught and sent to a quarantinecentre in Haraiyya area of the district.

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Page 4: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

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Considering the hardshipfaced by the flower and

betel-leaf cultivators duringthe lockdown period theBengal Government has decid-ed to lift curbs on these busi-nesses from Wednesday.

Briefing the media onTuesday Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said that the“flower and paan cultivatorshave been facing tremendoushardship during the lockdown.So the Government has decid-ed to open flower markets andpaan shops from Wednesday.”

The police will not stop thevehicles bringing flowers andbetel leaf, she maintained.Apart from this theGovernment has also decidedto afford partial relief to the bidiindustry specifying only thosedomestic units will run wherenot more than seven people areinvolved in making bidis.Thebidi workers have been askedto make their products at homewhile agents have been allowedto collect the bundles main-taining social distance.

The “kishan Mandis” or

the farmers’ markets will con-tinue to function helping thefarmers to deal in their prod-ucts, she said reminding“extreme caution will have to bemaintained while you are in themandis.”

Banerjee’s decision cameamid reports of the StateGovernment identifying sevencorona hotspots where “intenseprogramme is being taken tocurb the spread of the disease.”The Chief Minister said “wehave identified seven areas ofcorona infections and we areworking intensely to keepthings under control.”

Amid mutual mud-sling-ing between the BJP and theTrinamool Congress over theway the crisis is being handledby the State Government withthe saffron outfit accusing theChief Minister of suppressingfacts regarding the number ofdeaths, Banerjee on Tuesdaysaid that “thus far there hasbeen 5 Corona-related deathsand 69 cases of infections.”

She said while 13 peoplehave been cured and that out ofthe 69 infected people 60 camefrom 9 families.

Expressing fear thatthere could be massiveinflux of migrant workers

stuck up in different statesshould the lockdown was lift-ed suddenly the Chief Ministersaid that such workers will bequarantined in “safe houses” forthe period when mandatoryisolation is required.

“In case the lockdown islifted suddenly there will bemassive influx of workers whoare stuck up in other States.Naturally social distancing willbe violated and causing healthhazards. Keeping this in viewthe State Government will keepthem at quarantine centres,”Banerjee said adding howeverthat she would “call these places‘safe houses’ instead of quar-antine centres.”

Meanwhile, responding toa call from the Left leadershipthe Chief Minister on Tuesdayheld a meeting with seniorMarxist leaders like LF chair-man Biman Bose and CPI(M)State secretary SuryakantoMishra both of who are polit-buro members of their party.The Left leaders appealed to theChief Minister to ensure safereturn of the migrant workersstuck up in the distant states,sources said.

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The Azad Maidan Police onTuesday registered an FIR

against 150 attendees ofTablighi Markaz atNizamuddin in New Delhi lastmonth for their alleged negli-gent act that allegedly con-tributed to the spread of thecoronavirus in the metropolis.

A day after they asked themto furnish their travel details or

face strict action, the police reg-istered an FIR against 150returnees from Nizammuddinunder sections 269 (whoeverwillfully or negligently doesany act which is likely to spreadthe infection of any diseasedangerous to life) and 271 (dis-obedience to quarantine rule)and other relevant provisions ofIndian Penal Code.

The police registered anoffence against 150 persons

based on a complaint lodgedby the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)at the Azad Maidan PoliceStation in south Mumbai.

“We request all attendees ofTablighi Markaz at Nizamuddin,New Delhi to report their trav-el details on @mybmc helpline1916 & help us in our fightagainst this pandemic. Thosefailing to cooperate will facestrict action under IPC, DM Act

& Epidemic Act,” the Mumbaipolice had tweeted on Monday.

The police said that despiteadvisories by the BMC, severalof those who had returned fromTablighi Markaz at Nizamuddin,had refused to quarantain them-selves.

The registration of casesagainst the 150 attendees of thereligious congregation atNizamuddin came on a daywhen the total number Covid-

19 deaths mounted to 40 andinfected cases to 590 inMumbai.

The state health authoritieshad said on Saturday that near-ly 1400 people fromMaharashtra had attended theNizamuddin event. “Of them,1033 have so far been identified.As many as 738 people havebeen quarantined. Nine havetested positive for Coronavirus,”an official had said.

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The number of persons test-ed positive for coronavirus

in Tamil Nadu shot up to 690by Tuesday evening, accordingto Beela Rajesh, secretary,Health and Family Welfare.“On Tuesday 69 patients weretested positive out of which 63persons were from a singlesource (Tablighi Jamaat meet atNizamuddeen). Out of the 63patients, three are from thesame family,” she said in herdaily media briefing.

Tuesday saw a 64-year-oldlady succumbing to the dread-ed virus which took the toll toseven due to the dreaded dis-ease. Rajesh said 34 districts inTamil Nadu have been afflict-

ed with Corona Virus.“Chennai and Coimbatoretopped the league with maxi-mum number of positive cases,”she said.

The testing of 1,630 per-sons who attended the TablighiJamaat meet showed that 636individuals were afflicted withcorona virus. This means thatonly 54 persons in the State

who had not attended theDelhi congregation had devel-oped the corona virus. “If youremove the number of personswho had travelled to Delhi forthe religious meet, Tamil Naduis safe and secure fromCOVID-19 disease,” said asenior health official.

Tamil Nadu governmenthas taken a decision not to usethe word Tabliqi Jamaat todiscriminate the persons affect-ed with corona virus. TheTamil Nadu Police filed a FIRagainst Maridhas, a popularvlogger (video blogger) forusing the term Tablighi Jamaatin his latest vlog and this hasevoked sharp reaction from hisfollowers. The FIR is based ona complaint filed by TamilNadu Muslim Munnetra

Kazhakam, a religious outfit inthe State.

In the neighbouring Stateof Kerala, number of coronavirus patients shot up to 336by Tuesday, said PinarayiVijayan, Chief Minister. Hesaid nine persons tested posi-tive for corona virus onTuesday. “Four of those whotested positive were returneesfrom the Tablighi jamaatConference and all of them arefrom Kasaragod district,” saidthe chief minister.

Vijayan pleaded to the per-sons who returned fromTablighi Jamaat congregationand who have gone missing tocome forward and subjectthemselves to corona virustests to help the people fromthis pandemic.

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Atotal number of 15 sus-pected cases tested positive

for coronavirus in the UnionTerritory of Jammu&Kashmiron Tuesday, taking the totaltally of positive cases to 125.

Meanwhile, one more sus-pected patient, a resident ofHajin area in Bandipora, diedlate Monday night in SMHShospital. His test reports,received Tuesday morning,confirmed he had contractedcoronavirus. At the time ofadmission in the hospital thepatient had exhibited symp-toms of dry cough, high feverand breathlessness, officialsources revealed.

After Srinagar, Bandiporais emerging as another 'hotspot' with a total number of 16positive cases reported so far inthe district.

According to the dailymedia bulletin on coronavirus,nine fresh cases tested positivein Kashmir valley and six inJammu region.

The Bulletin said that tilldate 1900 samples have beensent for testing of which 1763have tested as negative, 125tested positive ( 118 Activecases) four recovered and threedeaths were reported so far. A

total number of 12 reportswere awaited.

In a related development,the District Magistrate,SrinagarDr Shahid Iqbal ChoudharyTuesday issued an order pro-hibiting all sorts of religiouscongregations and publicmovement on the occasion ofShab-e-Barat in Srinagar.

The order issued underSection 144 of CrPC statesthat the decision to prohibitreligious gatherings during theoccasion has been taken basedon recommendations of con-cerned authorities and reportsfrom the field besides taking

into account the current pre-carious health situation due toCOVID-19 pandemic..

It states that these restric-tions will remain enforcedthrough the intervening nightof April 8 and 9 adding thatviolations will attract strictaction under Section 188 of theIPC and Section 51 of the dis-aster management act.

The district authorities alsosealed all entries and exitsleading into and out of Eidgahand Lal Bazar areas of Srinagarafter several cases of COVID-19 affected persons werereported therefrom.

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Aday after tea vendoroperating near Chief

Minister Uddhav Thackeray’sprivate residence “Matoshri”at Kalanagar, Bandra (east) innorth-west Mumbai testedpositive for Covid-19, asmany as 170 security per-sonnel , including Statereserve personnel, were onTuesday quarantined at abuilding in the neighbour-hood, as a precautionarymeasure.

The tea vendor, who hadtested positive pandemic, iscurrently treatment at theHBT Medical College andDr R N Cooper Hospital atJuhu in north-west Mumbai.

What caused anxiety wasthe fact that the security per-sonnel attached to the chiefminister used to frequent theaffected vendor’s stall to havetea. Not wanting to take anychances, the BrihanmumbnaiMunicipal Corporat ion(BMC) decided to shift 170security personnel to thenearby the Uttar BhartiyaSangh building in Mumbai'sBandra (East), where theyhave been quarantined.

“The swab samples ofthese quarantined securitypersonnel have been takenand sent for clinical exami-nation,” a senior BMC officialsaid.

Meanwhile, the Mumbaiand state police have sta-tioned new set of police per-sonnel to take care of thesecurity needs of the chiefminister.

On their part, chief min-ister Uddhav Thackeray, hiscabinet members and staffhave been practising socialdistancing ever since the out-break of the pandemic in thestate. The chief ministerheld his Cabinet meeting onTuesday through video con-ferencing.

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From Page 1Rubbing into the Modi

Government, Congressspokesperson Shaktisinh Gohilsaid, “It is embarrassing for theentire country that DonaldTrump threatens retaliation if theIndian Government did notallow the supply of medicines.PM Narendra Modi who wast-ed one full month and Rs 100crore for ‘’Namaste Trump’’, hasnow meekly surrendered and hasrevoked the ban on exports ofmedicines.”

Trinamool Congress MPMahua Moitra was not so sub-tle in her criticism of Modi. “56inches used to bully Oppositionat home. Use it to stand up tothose who bully India. We andwe alone decide when and howmuch to sell - please make thisclear #Modiji . We’re with you onthis,” Moitra tweeted.

On his part the MEAspokesperson said that like anyresponsible Government, India’sfirst obligation is to ensure thatthere are adequate stocks ofmedicines for the requirement ofits own people. “In order toensure this, some temporarysteps were taken to restrictexports of a number of phar-maceutical products. In themeanwhile, a comprehensiveassessment was made of possi-ble requirements under differentscenarios,” Srivastava said,adding “we would therefore dis-courage any speculation in thisregard or any attempts to politi-cise the matter.”

Srivastava said the restric-

tions have been largely lifted afterconfirming the availability ofmedicines for all possible con-tingencies. “The DGFT(Directorate General ForeignTrade) has notified lifting restric-tions on 14 drugs yesterday(Monday). With regard to parac-etamol andHydroxychloroquine, they willbe kept in a licensed category andtheir demand position would becontinuously monitored.However, stock position couldallow our companies to meet theexport commitments they hadcontracted,” he said.

India is one of the biggestproduces of these generic med-icines.

On Monday, during a mediabriefing at the White House,Trump said he would be “sur-prised” if New Delhi does notsend Hydroxychloroquine afterhis phone call with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi lastweek. Reiterating that India hasbeen taking advantage of the USfor many years in connectionwith trade, Trump said, “I did-n’t hear that was his (Modi) deci-sion. I know that he stopped itfor other countries I spoke tohim yesterday, very very goodtalk, and we’ll see whether or notthat stays I wouldn’t be surprisedif he would you know becauseIndia’s does very well with theUnited States.”

“So, I would be surprised ifthat were his decision. He’d haveto tell me that. I spoke to himSunday morning, called him, andI said we’d appreciate your allow-ing our supply to come out. If hedoesn’t allow it to come out, thatwould be okay, but of course,

there may be retaliation. Whywouldn’t there be?”

Meanwhile, accusing USPresident of arm-twisting India,CPI(M) Politburo on Tuesdayurged the Modi Government toconsider only the safety and wel-fare of the people of India.“Trump’s threat to India is intune with the obnoxiousattempts to secure drugs andother pandemic related materi-al and in diverting suppliesmeant for other countries in pureself interest,” said Politburo.

The US President has overthe last few days describedHydroxychloroquine as a “game-changer” though it is yet to beestablished as an effective curefor COVID-19.

Last month, the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) had recommended theuse of Hydroxychloroquine fortreating healthcare workers serv-ing coronavirus patients.

In a notification on March25, the Government announceda hold on the medicine’s export,adding that it would be allowedonly on “case-to case basis” onhumanitarian grounds.

Hydroxychloroquine tabletsare recognised as a prophylacticfor those on the front lines of thefight against COVID-19 - doc-tors, nurses, paramedics, and firstresponders - and can be used totreat patients. With more than 3lakh confirmed cases of coron-avirus and nearly 10,000 fatali-ties, the US has emerged as theworst-hit countries of the pan-demic. And based on some ini-tial results, the Trump adminis-tration is banking heavily onhydroxychloroquine.

From Page 1Lockdown is a very impor-

tant intervention in terms ofmanagement of COVID19, hesaid on the day India enteredthe third week of the lockdown.

The official, however,refused to comment on a querythat whether the Governmentplans to extend or end the lock-down.

Agarwal said theGovernment’s cluster contain-ment strategy to tackle Covid-19 has yielded good results.“The strategy for cluster con-tainment which are amenableto management and adopted bythe Government are showingpositive results, especially inAgra, Gautam Buddh Nagar(Uttar Pradesh),Pathanamthitta (Kerala),Bhilwara (Rajasthan) and EastDelhi. The same strategy hasbeen adopted in Mumbai andother districts also,” he said.

He also said the SmartCities are ensuring collaborat-ed efforts to monitor the sus-pected cases of COVID-19.

Dr Raman Gangakhedkar,Chief Scientist of ICMR, said107,006 tests have been con-ducted so far. “As many as11,795 tests have been con-ducted in 24 hours, of which2,530 have been done in privatelabs. As many as 136Government labs are workingand 59 private labs have beengiven permission,”Gangakhedkar said.

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From Page 1Johnson spent the Monday

night in the ICU at a Londonhospital in a move DowningStreet said was a “precaution”should the British prime min-ister require ventilation to aidhis recovery from COVID-19.

Johnson, 55, was taken to

St Thomas’ Hospital inLondon, a specialist infectiousdiseases National HealthService (NHS) facility, onSunday night for “routine tests”after persistent coronavirussymptoms including a hightemperature and a cough. Hiscondition “worsened” duringthe course of Monday when hisdoctors decided to shift him toICU.

“The Prime Minister isnot on a ventilator. He hasreceived oxygen support andone of the reasons of being inintensive care is to ensure thatwhatever support the medicalteam consider to be appropri-ate can be provided,” said UKCabinet Office ministerMichael Gove on Tuesdaymorning.

Johnson had tested positive

for coronavirus 12 days ago andhad continued to lead the gov-ernment’s response to the coro-navirus pandemic via videoconferencing from hisDowning Street home.

On Monday night, heasked his First Secretary ofState, UK Foreign SecretaryDominic Raab, to step in forhim and the minister will bechairing his second daily

COVID-19 meeting in place ofthe UK PM on Tuesday.

“The government’s busi-ness will continue. The PrimeMinister is in safe hands withthat brilliant team at StThomas’ hospital, and the focusof the government will contin-ue to be on making sure thatthe Prime Minister’s direction,all the plans for making surethat we can defeat coronavirus

and can pull the countrythrough this challenge, will betaken forward,” said Raab, whowould be deputising forJohnson “where necessary”while he is in hospital.

“There’s an incrediblystrong team spirit behind thePrime Minister, and makingsure that we get all of the plansthe Prime Minister’s instruct-ed us to deliver, to get them

implemented as soon as possi-ble. And that’s the way it willbring the whole countrythrough the coronavirus chal-lenge that we face right now,”said the senior Cabinet minis-ter.

The team spirit was on dis-play as ministers of Johnson’stop team took to social mediato wish him a speedy recoveryand support to his pregnant

fiancee Carrie Symonds.“My love and thoughts are

with Boris Johnson and CarrieSymonds and the PrimeMinisters family. Praying foryou and thinking of you,” saidUK Home Secretary Priti Patelin her Twitter message, along-side an image of her alongsideJohnson at a temple in Londonon the campaign trail from thepast year.

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From Page 1“At a time when media per-

sonnel, without fearing fortheir lives, are doing theirnational duty, by disseminatingnews on the pandemic, a state-ment like this from theCongress president is highlydemoralising, ‘the NBA said ina statement.

“On one hand there hasbeen a slump in advertise-ment revenues of electronicmedia due to recession, on theother hand it is suffering fromfinancial blows due to nation-wide lockdown of all industriesand businesses. Moreover, newschannels are spending heavilyon providing safety to theirreporters and production staff.To suggest a “complete ban” onGovernment and PSU adver-tisements is not only ill-timed,but highly arbitrary,” it added.

The NVA called uponSonia Gandhi to withdraw hersuggestion in the interest of ahealthy and free media.

From Page 1“In effect, these messages

are less personal compared totypical messages sent onWhatsApp. We are now intro-ducing a limit so that thesemessages can only be forward-ed to one chat at a time. “Weknow many users forwardhelpful information, as well asfunny videos, memes, andreflections or prayers they findmeaningful,” said WhatsApp ina blog on Tuesday.

“In recent weeks, peoplehave also used WhatsApp toorganise public moments ofsupport for frontline healthworkers. However, we’ve seena significant increase in theamount of forwarding whichusers have told us can feel over-whelming and can contributeto the spread of misinforma-tion. We believe it’s importantto slow the spread of these mes-sages down to keep WhatsAppa place for personal conversa-tion,” it said.

“The limits on forwardedmessages led to a 25 per centdecrease in message forwardsglobally at the time,” it said.

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From Page 1Such cases may not require

admission to Covid-19blocks/dedicated Covid-19 hos-pitals.

The guidance document onappropriate management of sus-pect/confirmed cases of Covid-19 released by the Union HealthMinistry on Tuesday focused onthree types of Covid-19 dedi-cated facilities --- dedicatedCOVID Care Centre, dedicatedCOVID Health Centre and ded-icated COVID hospitals.

Patients will also be cate-gorised into three groups andmanaged in the respective Covidhospitals. Under the first layer,critical care under which allCovid patients would be sent toHDU (High Dependence Units)and ICU at Government med-ical colleges while at level 2health centres will cater topatients with “mild symptoms”admitted in isolation facilities.

“Level 3 care centres willcover patients with ‘very mildsymptoms’,” said Union HealthMinistry Joint Secretary LavAgarwal at a Press briefing here.

The standard operating pro-cedures (SOPs) set by theGovernment aims to provide

care to all Covid-19 patients.Cases continue to surge acrossthe States with Maharashtrareporting to be the worst-hit at868 total confirmed cases and 52deaths so far, followed by TamilNadu at 621 and Delhi at 523.

The SOP will ensure that theavailable hospital beds are usedonly for moderate to severecases of Covid-19 and also spec-ify the different types of facili-ties to be set up for various cat-egories of Covid-19 cases, as perthe document posted on theMinistry’s website.

All the three types will haveseparate earmarked areas forsuspect and confirmed cases.Suspect and confirmed casesshould not be allowed to mixunder any circumstances.

All suspect cases (irrespec-tive of severity of their disease)will be tested for Covid-19.Further management of thesecases will depend on their clin-ical status and result of Covid-19 testing, as per theGovernment guidelines.

The Covid Care Centres(CCC) which will be makeshiftfacilities will offer care only forcases that have been clinicallyassigned as mild or very mild

cases or Covid-19 suspect cases.These may be set up in hos-

tels, hotels, schools, stadiums,lodges etc, both public and pri-vate. If need be, existing quar-antine facilities could also beconverted into Covid CareCentres. Functional hospitalslike CHCs, etc, which may behandling regular, non-Covidcases, should be designated asCovid Care Centres as a lastresort. Wherever a Covid CareCentre is designated for admit-ting both the confirmed and thesuspected cases, these facilitiesmust have separate areas for sus-pected and confirmed caseswith preferably separate entryand exit. Suspect and confirmedcases must not be allowed to mixunder any circumstances, asper the document.

As far as possible, wherev-er suspect cases are admitted tothe Covid Care Centre, prefer-ably individual rooms should beassigned for such cases.

The next in line is theDedicated Covid Health Centres(DCHC), which are hospitalsthat shall offer care for all casesthat have been clinically assignedas moderate. These should eitherbe a full hospital or a separate

block in a hospital with prefer-ably separate entry/exit/zoning.

Private hospitals may also bedesignated as Covid DedicatedHealth Centres, according to thedocument. These hospitalswould have beds with assuredoxygen support.

The Dedicated COVIDhospitals are hospitals that shalloffer comprehensive care pri-marily for those who have beenclinically assigned as severe.

The States/UTs may identi-fy hospitals with dedicated andseparate space and set up feverclinics in such hospitals. Thefever clinics may also be set upin CHCs, in rural areas subjectto availability of sufficient spaceto minimise the risk of crossinfections.

In urban areas, the civilgeneral hospitals, urban CHCsand municipal hospitals mayalso be designated as fever clin-ics. These could be set uppreferably near the mainentrance for triage and refer-ral to appropriate Covid-19dedicated facility. Whereverspace allows, a temporarymake shift arrangement out-side the facility may bearranged for this triaging.

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The Coronavirus continuedto wreak havoc in

Maharashtra on Tuesday, as itclaimed 12 more lives takingthe pandemic toll to 64 and thetotal number of infected casesin various parts of the statefrom 838 to 1018.

In a clear sign of the factthat the state is passing througha critical period, 12 more per-sons succumbed to the pan-demic and 150 others testedpositive for Covid-19 causingconsiderable anxiety the statehealth department and variousmunicipal corporations com-bating the pandemic.

Of the fresh deaths,Mumbai accounted for a max-imum of six, while there werethree deaths in Pune and onedeath each in Nagpur, Sataraand Mira-Bhayandar.

With the fresh deaths, thetotal number of Covid-19deaths has mounted to 64 eversince the pandemic claimedfirst life on March 17.

The total number of infect-ed cases has climbed to 1018 inthe state. One can deduce fromthe fact that a majority of per-sons who have tested positivefor p*andemic during the lastfew days had no history ofinternational travel that thepandemic has begun to spreadthrough contacts in a big way.

In its daily bulletin, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) said: “Therise in the cases is seen becauseof 55 patients are diagnosedamongst contacts in high riskcontainment area as a result ofscreening clinics and vigorouscontact tracing efforts by thehealth teams of BMC and allhigh risks contact are giventimely attention and tested.Also all the contacts who aretested positive are already beingisolated, treated and followedup”. Mumbai, which has bornethe maximum brunt of thepandemic both in terms ofdeaths and infection, recordeda maximum of 116 cases onTuesday.

Page 5: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

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To mark the FoundationDay celebrations of

Bharatiya Janata Party, mem-bers of its women’s wing havedecided to prepare 5,100 masksat their houses in the city. Thedrive is being led by theExecutive Committee mem-ber of the Uttar Pradesh BJPMahila Morcha NamrataAwasthi. After preparing themasks, they have decided tohandover the same to the ChiefMedical Officer Dr AshokShukla for onward distributionto fight for COVID-19. Bydoing so, they pledged to con-tribute for their country andsociety. Bend over sewingmachines, they were workingto finish a batch of 5,100 masks.‘Once they are ready we putthem in pressure cookers andsterilise them,’ says a Morchaactivist Neelu Sharma. ActivistsAnjali, Neelam and Kuttu havealso decided to lend their sup-port for the drive. Besides,entrepreneurs, self-help groups,small businesses and somewell-meaning individuals werealso trying their hand at thesewing machine to create whathas become the accessory ofpresent time : the mask.

For many, it is a desire tomake a difference, howeversmall. In Kalyanpur, socialworker Nitika Singh has beendiligently stitching masks on

her sewing machine to distrib-ute them to people who can’tafford them. ‘I noticed howvegetable vendors, milk deliv-ery people, and others were notwearing masks. So, I made 70in two days and distributedthem,’ says Singh, who pickedup the skill from You-Tubetutorials. Several designers arealso pitching in by using theirsurplus waste fabric and kari-gars to make reusable andwashable cloth masks in thecity.

DONATED: The globalpandemic of COVID-19 hasmade an unprecedented impactworldwide. It has been posingserious challenges for thehealth and economic securityof millions of people world-wide. Frontier Alloy Steel, aKanpur-based steel companyhas come up as a goodSamritan by contributing � 85lakh to COVID-19 fund. Thecompany has contributed �

550000 to PM CARES, �100000 to Chief MinisterDistress Relief Fund, � 400000to Sadbhavana Sahyog Samiti,Kanpur Dehat, �500000 toSadbhavana Sahog Samiti,Kanpur, �700000 to HPCOVID-19 Solidarity ResponseFund.Guided by its family val-ues and the spirit of giving, thecompany has made contribu-tions to support the well-beingof the country. Charan DasBhatia, Chairman, Kundan LalBhatia, Founder-Promoter,Subhash Chandra Bhatia,Director, Chetan Bhatia,Managing Director, ChandanBhatia, Director, Manu Bhatia,Director, Kapil Bhatia,Director-Frontiers SpringsLimited, Neeraj Bhatia,Director-Frontiers SpringsLimited announced their soli-darity with the nation. Thecompany also donated mask,sanitiser and food to the poorchildren.

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Engineering department’scontribution towards safe

operation of good trains dur-ing lockdown is also beingpraised by the Allahabad divi-sion of North Central Railway(NCR).

In order to keep the trainsrunning at high speed, thework of maintaining the trackfrom Chipiana Bujurg to PanditDeen Dayal Upadhyay Jn andNaini to Manikpur Jn is contin-uously being done so that safeoperation of goods trains canbe done to supply the requiredmaterial.

In this hour of crisis, somepeople will definitely have towork by coming forward andtaking some risks. In such a sit-uation, the employees of theEngineering department areworking with full diligence.Masks, hand wash soaps, handsanitisers and water bottlesetc. have been provided to theemployees during work and

they are being used essentiallyand directed to work a certaindistance at the workplace keep-ing in mind the social distanc-ing which is being ensured withcompliance.

During the lockdown,goods, such as food items,petroleum, coal for productionof electricity and medical sup-plies are being continuouslysupplied by goods trains. TheEngineering department ofRailways is playing a veryimportant role in ensuring safeoperation of the goods trains.In the event of this pandemicwhere fear and apprehension isprevailing everywhere, in theKanpur area, the Engineeringdepartment staff workingunder Sr DEN /III/PRYJ PKMishra, while performing fullduty with responsibility anddischarged unprecedentedcourage and duties. The workof track maintenance is beingdone showing commitmenttowards work.

The shortcomings of the

track are being removed by reg-ularly inspecting the entiresection, including the yard.Work related to track repairsuch as completion of track fit-tings, ballast shortage, USFDtesting of tracks, summer sea-son patrolling, yard mainte-nance, maintenance of cutcrossings, maintenance of fish-plate joints, etc. is being securedby performing important tasksregularly to ensure safe trainoperation.Track inspection byspecial train on March 31 bythe officers of the Engineeringdepartment of Kanpur Areawas conducted and creatingsocial distancing by distribut-ing masks, soaps and sanitisersto all the employees engaged intrack maintenance, giving nec-essary instructions to themcoronavirus. Counselling wasdone regarding the work andall the staff were encouraged bythe officers praising their veryimportant contribution whichthey were making in the eventof this epidemic.

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In view of the national lock-down, the Allahabad High

Court temporarily waivedproduction of sureties by per-sons who were granted bail onor after March 15, 2020 anddirected that such prisoners bereleased on furnishing of per-sonal bonds.

The court further extend-ed by two months, ie upto May25, the 12 months period forpassing of final award by theArbitral Tribunal in matterspending before the Tribunal.

The bench comprisingChief Justice Govind Mathurand Justice Siddhartha Varmapassed the order in a case reg-istered suo moto to meet theeventualities occurred as a con-sequence to lockdown due tothe threat of novel coronavirus(COVID-19).

The Bench noted thatmany bail orders had not beenexecuted due to non-availabil-ity of sureties because of lock-down. Hence, it invoked it’spowers under Article 226 and227 of the Constitution ofIndia and temporarily waivedproduction of sureties by per-sons who were granted bail onor after March 15.

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Tight security arrangementsand close vigil continued

being made in some red zoneareas of four places whererecently positive COVID-19cases came into the light in thecity which remained peacefulas no new positive case hasbeen reported on Tuesday onthe eve of entry of 21 daysnationwide lockdown into thethird and last week in view toprevent spreading of worldwidecoronavirus pandemic. Duringthe last few days, fast develop-ments were seen not only in thecity but also in adjoining dis-tricts of this belt of Purvanchal(eastern UP) since the episodeof Tablight Jamaat Markaz(Delhi) shocked the nation.However, with the coming of anew positive COVID-19 caseinto the light, the number ofsuch patients in adjoiningAzamgarh district hasincreased to four.

All the four areas includingMadanpura, Bajardiha, Lohtaand Gangapur continued toremain sealed. So far, sevenpositive COVID patients wereadmitted to the hospitals in thecity here and out of them, twowere recovered , while onedied. The rest of four are stillbeing treated. Meanwhile, inview of international norms toprevent coronavirus spread,District Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma hasreserved two local hotels for thequarantine of doctors and para-

medical staff engaged in treat-ment of COVID-19 patients.After sanitising these hotels,Chief Medical Officer (CMO)Dr VB Singh has been made itsincharge, while SP(City) DCSingh will look after securityarrangements there.

Besides, four new suspect-ed persons were brought intothe light and two each of themwere admitted to quarantinewards in Sir Sundarlal Hospital,Banaras Hindu University (SSHBHU) and Pt Deen DayalUpadhyay (DDU) GovernmentHospital, Pandeypur. So far, 250

suspected persons werebrought to these hospitals andafter getting their reports neg-ative 199 were discharged andrest of 51 are still beingobserved.

At Microbiology depart-ment in Institute of MedicalSciences (IMS), BHU byMonday, 301 COVID-19 sam-ples were sent for testing andout of them, 189 were foundnegative, while the reports of105 are awaited. Besides, 1,488people were sent for homequarantine apart from 1862thermal scanning. So far,

17,099 persons have been homequarantined and thermal scan-ning of 52,672 persons weredone.

Meanwhile, UP Minister ofState (independent charge)Neelkanth Tiwari hasinformed the Chief Minister ofgiving �1 crore from his MLAFund to UP COVID CareFund and his one month salaryto CM’s DistressRelief Fund. Earlier, similarstep was also taken by yetanother local minister of state(independent charge) RavindraJaiswal.

ALLAHABAD (PNS):District Magistrate BhanuChandra Goswami inaugurat-ed the Corona test lab estab-lished in the Moti Lal NehruMedical Medical College(MLNMC) in Prayagraj hereon Tuesday.

It may be pointed out herethat permission had alreadybeen received from the IndianCouncil of Medical Research,New Delhi, for corona test atthe Medical College.Preparations for testing coro-na have also started fromTuesday itself. The number ofcoronavirus patients continuesto grow. Due to this, the loadwas increased at both the labcentres of Lucknow andVaranasi. Upon which, thegovernment had ordered toopen a lab for corona test at theGovernment Medical Collegehere in Prayagraj.

Here, a lab has been set upin the Department ofMicrobiology of the Moti LalNehru Medical College to testfor corona. Equipment hasalready been purchased andthe concerned staff also arrivedon Monday. Dr SP Singh,Principal of the MLNMC saidthat complete preparation hasbeen done and the corona testhas been started on the suspect-ed patients on Tuesday, DrSingh added.

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Continuing its drive to checkthe black marketing by

some persons taking the advan-tages of crisis being faced by thepeople during ongoing lock-down in view to preventspreading of coronavirus pan-demic, Choubeypur policeunder the joint leadership ofSP(RA) and CO (Pindra) raid-ed in Phoolpur area and seizedhuge quantity of LPG gas cylin-ders from the house of onedelivery man. During interro-gation, the arrested deliveryman Mahendra Pal, who workswith Suman Bharat GasAgency, Gaurakala Bazar, saidthat he had brought the bookedgas cylinders from agency tohis house and then fills othersmall and big cylinders with the

help of some tools.The police seized as many

as 36 filled LPG cylinders, oneempty cylinder, one commer-cial filled cylinder, tools to fillvacant cylinders, two loadervehicles, two cylinder weighingmachines and � 2750 cash.Meanwhile, in view of misus-ing of two and four wheelers inthe name of distribution offood packets and other articlesas many persons are violatingthe norms of lockdown, thedistrict police have banneddistribution of articles in suchway. It is said that the articleswould be distributed amongthe people through concernedpolice stations and policeoutposts, otherwise, actionwould be taken against suchpersons.

Meanwhile, in view to

make its action more stringent,the district police lodged 11FIRs against 14 persons for vio-lating the lockdown onMonday. As many as 16 per-sons were arrested underSection 151 CrPC. Duringchecking at 14 border pointsand 49 police barriers, 874vehicles were challaned apartfrom seizing of 15 vehicles.Since the imposing of lock-down, 127 FIRs have beenlodged against 223 personsand 218 were arrested underSection 151 of CrPC. Besides,so far 1,284 vehicles were chal-laned and 490 were seized.

Earlier, a youth, who camehere after attending TablighiJamaat Markaz (Delhi) eventand is being quarantined at PtDeen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU)Hospital, Pandeypur, has been

sent to the jail where he wouldbe kept in separate barrack.After receiving reports aboutthe misbehaviour of the per-sons associated to Markazevent with the hospital staff, theDistrict Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma visitedthere and found that a youthwas offering namaz after goingto other ward and the para-medical staff working thereinformed that despite repeatedwarnings, some persons werenot obeying the instructions.Receiving the complaints fromhospital staff, the DM orderedthe Cantonment police stationto lodge case against the youth.Later, the police lodged anFIR under section 151 Cr.PCand sent him to the jailwhere he was kept in separatebarrack.

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Internationally famousSankatmochan Sangeet

Mahotsav will be held as per itsschedule but the music loverscan only watch the show fromApril 12 to 17 digitally, saidSakatmochan temple MahantProf Vishambhar Nath Mishra.According to him, as there islockdown in view to preventcoronavirus pandemic, thetemple will remain closed andthe artistes would present theirprogrammes live which can bewatched by the fans digitallystaying at home and the link forthe same would be given by theorganisers to the music loverssoon.

As per schedule, the digi-tally show of music festival willbe held from 7.30 pm daily and20 leading artistes have con-firmed sending their pro-grammes digitally. Leadingvocalist Padma Vibhushan Pt.Jasraj, who almost every yearpresented his programmes inthis festival in recent decadesand at present staying in theUS, accepted to present hisSangeetanjali in the feet ofLord Hanuman from theredigitally.

Prof Mishra said that theprogammes of Lord Hanumanwould continue and on the aus-picious occasion of ShreeHanuman Jayanti onWednesday, the prayer will beheld between 6 am and 8 am

apart from display of tableauxManas Path, Ramacarya Pujanand other religious rituals willbe held inside the templepremises. In view of lockdown,no outsiders would be allowed.During the prayers, the priestswill also seek the blessings ofAlmighty to help the worldovercome from coronaviruspandemic. The temple was setup by Goswami Tulsidas cen-turies ago. He said that theSarvbhaum RamayanSammelan will be held fromApril 9 to 11 and during theperiod, Katha of RamcharitManas will be held inside thetemple.

According to him, the lead-ing artistes who have agreed tosent their programmes digital-

ly during music festival are PtJasraj, Pt. Rajan-Sajan Mishra,Pt. Ajay Pohankar, Pt. AjayChakravorti, Ustad RashidKhan, Arman Khan, KaushikiChakavorti, Pt. Ullas Kasalkar(all vocalists), U RajeshShivmani, Pt VishwajeetRaichaudhary, Pt NilandriKumar, Shakir Khan, UstadMoinuddin Khan-MominKhan, Pt Bhajan Sopari-AbhaySopari (all on instruments), PtRammohan Maharaj, PtKrishna Mohan Maharaj (bothdances), Pt Kumar Bose, PtSuresh Talvarkar, Pt AnindoChatterjee-Anubrat Chatterjee,Pt Samay Saha, UstadAkram Khan-Jargam Khanand Pt Sanju Sahai (all ontabla).

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VARANASI (PNS):District Magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma on Tuesdayinspected the Marwadi YuvakSangh’s kitchen in Luxa wherefood is cooked for distributionamong at least 500 poor andneedy persons both in themorning and at night every dayduring the lockdown.

Workers of RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh and otherorganisations as well as individ-uals are also helping the under-privileged and weaker sectionsof society by making food andessential commodities avail-able to them.

The district administra-tion is providing flour, food-grains and other food articlesto various organisations to pre-pare food packets for theunderprivileged, poor and

weaker sections of society. Theadministration had providedflour and potato to MarwadiYuvak Sangh also to preparefood packets.

Sharma inspected the qual-ity of the food being cooked bythe Marwadi Yuvak Sangh andtheir distribution.

The other organisationstoo are distributing food pack-ets to hungry people who callthe control room opened bydistrict administration to helpto needy persons.

The Police-PublicAnnpurna Bank opened bydistrict police on the directiveADG Braj Bhushan distributedfoodgrains and food articlesamong poor. Social organisa-tions and individuals providefoodgrains and other food arti-cles to the Annpurna Bank.

The police distributed foodpackets and other essentialcommodities among the needyin Sigra, Ramnagar, Sarnath,Shivpur and other areas ofdistrict while maintainingsocial distancing.

Under the guidance ofCommandant of 95th Battalionof CRPF, Narendra PalSingh, the personnel of the cen-tral force distributed food-grain, food packets, soap,toothpaste, etc to the needypersons in Ashapur, Sarnath,Chowk, Pt Deen DayalUpadhyaya Hospital,Cantonment railway stationand Cantonment area.

The RSS workers are alsoextending their help in thishour of crisis by providingvegetables, foodgrains, cookingoil, sugar, spices, tea and other

articles of daily use among theslums dwellers.

Incharge of VishwaSamvaad Kendra, AmbrishKumar, said about 5,000 RSSworkers were providing foodand other articles of daily useamong the poor and needy per-sons in 25 districts of KashiPrant during the lockdown.The Vishwa Samvaad Kendrahas released helpline number-8707632622 on which theneedy persons can call forhelp.

Other social organisationslike Mahaveer Greens andDhanwantri Yoga Trust, arealso extending help to theneedy persons during the lock-down.

SYS leader SandeepSwarnkar distributed milkamong children.

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District Magistrate BRTiwari on Tuesday said

that keeping in mind the prob-lems faced by people in obtain-ing milk supplies, the admin-istration had decided to allowpeople to walk up to the near-est milk both.

However, he said use offour-wheelers and two-wheel-ers would not be allowed.

The district magistrate alsodenied that there was anydirective to impose a fine of �5lakh on those found on road.

He said only those peoplewho had been issued passes fordistribution of food to thepoor and the needy could usetheir vehicles but they wouldhave to show their pass anidentity cards when checked.

The district magistrate saidthe new lockdown rules thatcame into effect from Tuesdaywould stay till further order.

He said those supplyingessential commodities at theirdoorsteps were being strictlymonitored by drones.

Tiwari said the policemenwere being sensitised on han-dling the situation and the redzones identified by the admin-istration were being strictlymonitored by medical teamsand the law enforcing agenciesto prevent the spread of thedeadly coronavirus which waswreaking a havoc across theworld.

The district magistrate saidthat medical counselling wasalso being offered and medi-cine shops were allowed toopen and ensure delivery ofmedicines at doorsteps.

Meanwhile, people inmajority of the city areas didnot come out on the road evento purchase milk, vegetablesand medicines, in fear of beingslapped a hefty fine.

Though the administra-tion said there was no restric-tions on the movement of veg-etable and milk supplies, hard-ly any milk booth or vegetablestall opened on Tuesday morn-ing, causing much hardship tothe people.

Tiwari said people whodid not have face masks shouldcover their face, especially noseand mouth, with clean cloth tokeep infection away. He alsostressed on washing hands sev-eral times a day with soaps anduse of sanitisers.

He asked the officials toensure that the community

kitchens cooked food for freedistribution, keeping quality inmind. He said the food shouldbe distributed for two times aday.

The district magistrate alsowarned the medical staff thataction would be taken in caseof dereliction of duties. He saidPPE kits had been given as perneed and demand to the chiefmedical officer and there wasno crisis of it.

The district administra-tion has released a list of gen-eral stores which will supplyessential goods at the doorstepsduring the lockdown.

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Meanwhile, Nodal OfficerDr RN Maurya said the deathof a youth at LLR hospital wasnot due to coronavirus. Hestrongly denied the allegationof the relatives of the youth thathe died on account of apathyand insensitivity as the

COVID-19 ward staff thatrefused stretcher and did notput the youth on ventilator.

The LLR hospital authori-ties said the youth was wrong-ly brought to the COVID-19hospital and the fact was thatthe doctors carried out anexamination and found that hedid not have any COVID-19symptoms.

The resident doctors men-tioned in the report that itappeared to be a case of poison-ing or overdose of some med-icine and the patient wasreferred to the emergency ofLLR Hospital, Dr Maurya said,adding that the LLR doctorswere working round-the-clockand taking care of COVID-19patients and their testswere being carried out imme-diately.

He said all those who hadtested positive for coronavirushad been quarantine whilethose who tested negative afterthe quarantine period wereallowed to go home.

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Co m m i s s i o n e rChitrakootdham division

Gaurav Dayal directed DistrictMagistrate Banda Amit Bansalto make arrangements forlunch packets for 17 families oflabourers in Sarvodaya Nagarand Shukul Kuwan here.Following DM’s instructionsthe tehsildar of Banda distrib-uted as many as 70 lunch pack-ets there on Monday.

Reports said that on beinginformed by a social worker ofSarvodaya Nagar that 17 fam-ilies of labourers needed lunchpackets, the Commissionerdirected DM Amit SinghBansal to send the lunch pack-ets to them immediately. DMdirected the tehsildarAwadhesh Kumar Nigam tomake arrangements for lunchpackets soon. Tehsildar BandaAwadhesh Kunar Nigam told‘The Pioneer’ that he alongwith his staff reached theseplaces and distributed 70 lunchpackets among the labourers’

families at Sarvodaya Nagarand Shukul Kuwan. TehsidarNigam said that DistrictMagistrate had instructed himto supply lunch and dinnerpackets among the poor andneedy people of the city.

Giving details tehsildarAwadhesh Kumar Nigam saidthat four community kitchenswere being run in Banda cityarea in order to meet thedemands of the poor. Headded that 1,000 lunch/dinnerpackets were being distributedamong the poor people daily.Tehsildar said that two shelterhomes were also established atTindwari and Mahokhar townswhere 236 people had beenquarantined. Tehsildar saidthat as per the directives of thegovernment, administrationwas making arrangements forration kits for the labourers’families. Tehsildar said thatsuch poor persons were beingidentified in Banda tehsil areaso that they could be distrib-uted lunch packets and rationkits.

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In order to make createawareness among people liv-

ing in the rural areas awareabout coronavirus (covid-19)District Magistrate AwadheshKumar Tiwari, along withSuperintendent of PoliceManilal Patidar inspected therain basera being operated byNagar Palika in the city.

Thereafter they created aware-ness among the people with thehelp of loudspeakers in BilbaiBarat Pahari, Raipura Khurdand Jujhhar villages. Duringthe visit the DM sought infor-mation about the distributionof food grains/ration etc andasked people to follow therules of lockdown. He toldthem in view of the novelcoronavirus outrbreak one

should not step out of thehouse unnecessarily. He saidthat money had been given bythe government to the needy.He said that one should notcome out of the house unnec-essarily on the pretext of with-drawing money from the bank.He said that cooked food wasbeing provided to the needypeople through communitykitchen and the assistance of the

public. He said that peopleshould not congregate in thepublic places of the village andor not even visit each other’shouse. They should offer prayersat home only. He said that wecould all be safe only by stayingat our respective houses. If peo-ple had any problem theyshould call the corona controlroom of the district adminis-tration i.e. 05281-254901.

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Wheat crop was reduced to ashes in sep-arate fire incident in the district on

Monday. According to a report receivedhere, crops were destroyed in areas underthe Chauri Chaura police station, Pipiganjpolice station and in Bargahi area under theGulariya police station. It is learnt that 50acres of crop was burnt in Kushra villageunder the Chiluatal police station when afire broke out there due to unknown reasons.According to information standing wheatcrop caught fire due to unknown reasons inKadjahwa gram sabha and Kushra villageunder the Chiluatal police station. About 50acres of wheat crop was burnt in the fire inci-dent. Meanwhile the standing crop ofdozens of farmers of Saathri, Bhagwanpur,Bharatpur and Tulsipur villages under theChauri Chaura police station were burnt.

The fire broke out due to an electric shortcircuit. The standing wheat crop ofDharampal and Paras, caught fire inBharatpur village due to a spark of high-ten-sion electric wire passing over the field. Theflames assumed an alarming proportion dueto the strong wind. it took a gigantic formin the fire. In the Tulsipur area an wheat cropof Kishori Bharti caught fire due to a shortcircuit. It spread to the fields of others anddestroyed crops of Chandra Shekhar Yadav,Pappu Mishra, Virendra Singh and Dubai.Around three acres of wheat crop was burntdue to a spark caused by a short circuit ina high-tension wire in Bargahi under theGularia police station. The flames weresomehow doused by villagers. Meanwhileresidentials huts of 42 people were burnt inChhatkahwa and Bagiyahwa Tole inRapatpur gram panchayat under the Belghatpolice station on Monday afternoon.

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Banda MLA PrakashDwivedi said that he had

donated �1 crore to Covid-19Care Fund from his VidhanMandal Vikas Nidhi 2020-21.

While talking to ThePioneer said MLA said thatwhole world was facing a cru-cial time due to outbreak ofnovel coronavirus.

MLA Prakash Dwivedisaid that his aim was to makeavailable all essential health ser-vices to the residents of Bandacity and extend them all a help-ing hand at this critical stage.MLA said that it was the moralresponsibility of prosperous

people to donate maximummoney to Covid-19 Care Fundfor the welfare of the suffering

people. MLA Dwivedi saidthat three-week-long lockdownhad been announced in theentire country in view of coro-navirus pandemic. MLADwivedi said that more than2,000 lunch packets were beingdistributed among the poorand needy people of the city.Dwivedi said that he haddirected the party workers todistribute lunch packets inCivil Lines area, Chhoti Bazar,Khutla, Kyotara, Rahuniya,Khaipar, Gayatri Nagar, SwarajColony, Aliganj, Katra, railwaystation, Roadways bus stand,Kalimata Temple, Kali Matatemple, Sarvodaya Nagar andShukul Kuwan areas of the city

regularly during the ongoinglockdown period. MLADwivedi said that ration kitswere also being distributedamong the needy in the city.Dwivedi said that he hadresolved that not a single per-son of the city would remainhungry. MLA said that he haddirected his party workers tovisit door to door and ensuredistribution of lunch packetsamong the poor. On the occa-sion MLA Prakash Dwivedilauded the sincere efforts of hisparty workers, AnurudhaTripathi, Rajat Seth, SwadeshShivhare Golu, Rohit Tiwari,Amanmani Tripathi, SudhirMishra, Manmohan, Arun etc.

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District Magistrate MannanAkhtar and

Superintendent of Police (SP)Satish Kumar issued necessaryguidelines to prevent thespread of novel coronavirus.They inspected banks andATM and instructed the bankstaff to maintain social dis-tancing between the cus-

tomers there. They laterinspected the shelter homesset up at Barsar primaryschool in Dakor block,Kurkuru primary schoolunder the Kotra police stationand Bundelkhand Inter College inKotra town. On the occasionthey issued necessary guidelinesto the adminstrative staff tomaintain social distancing andother necessary directives.

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Principal Rajkiya MedicalCollege Dr Dwijendra Nath

inaugurated the nasal swabcollection cabin on Tuesday. Healso inspected the isolationward and met the nine patientswho had been quarantinedthere. He said that the ninecoronavirus suspects testednegative.

He said that a woman whohad arrived from Saudi Arabiaand was in quarantine for thepast 14 days had been dis-charged as she was fit and didnot show any symptoms of theinfection. He also instructed allthe staff members to take nec-essary precautions to checkthe spread of coronavirus.Chief Medical Superintendent(CMS) Dr Sanjeev Gupta, DrRavindra Rajpoot, DrVeerendra Gupta, Dr PCPurohit, Dr Manoj Verma, Dr

Jeetan Mishra, Dr Gopal, DrSushil Kumar, Dr GhanshyamChoudhary, Dr VidyaChoudhary, Dr PrashantNirajan, Dr Pradeep KumarGupta and two pharmacistsRakesh Kushwaha and DineshKumar were also present on the

occasion.

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Jalaun police collected�50,200 after imposing challanson 146 vehicles for violatinglockdown rules during the past

one week. Inspector LakhanSingh said that on the directiveof Superintendent of Police(SP) Satish Kumar they hadalready sealed the border of thedistrict. He said that they hadchallaned the owners of onlythose vehicles who had violat-ed the lockdown rules andwere moving without any pur-pose. He also said that theadministration had issueddirectives that movement ofvehicles engaged in essentialservices was allowed and of thepeople going to purchase itemsof daily need from 8 am to 12noon. Meanwhile police appre-hended five residents of Jalauntown for violating lockdownrules. They were arrested themwhile gambling. Police confis-cated �2,160 and 52 playingcards from the spot. An FIRwas lodged against the accusedunder Section 188 of the IndianPenal Code (IPC).

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In order to prevent the spreadof novel coronavirus District

Magistrate S Rajalingam andSuperintendent of PoliceAshish Srivastava launched amega campaign to sanitise allgram panchayats of the districtfrom Salkhan on Monday.District Panchayat Raj OfficerRK Bharti has been instructedto sanitise all gram panchayats.DM said that cooperation of allgram pradhans of the districtshould be taken in this work.In order to sanitise the streets,roads and all places of grampanchayats 10 tonnes of bleach-ing powder had reached thegram panchayats. The districtpanchayat raj officer said thatthe assistant development offi-cer, panchayat, had been direct-ed to ensure that the duties ofsanitation personnel in alldevelopment blocks were fixedroster-wise and ensure that allthe gram panchayats were sani-tised. Some of the main pointsto prevent coronavirus infec-

tion include living inside thehouse, washing hands withsoap thoroughly at regularintervals, cleaning hands withsanitiser, maintaining social

distancing and sanitising allpublic places, DRPO said.Reports said that in view ofreports of coronavirus positivecases in the adjacent districts

District Magistrate S Rajalingamimmediately directed the districtpanchayat raj officer to get thegram panchayats and ruralareas sanitised.

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Railway coaches are beingconverted into wards on a

largescale by the North EasternRailway (NER) administrationto reduce the outbreak ofCovid-19 and keep its potentialpatients in isolation and quar-antine. As many as 94 coacheshave been converted into iso-lation wards so far.

A total of nine cabins havebeen made in each coach.Indian style toilets have beenconverted into bathrooms inthe isolation ward. The doctorsand other paramedical staffposted in these isolation wardswill be in direct contact withthe experts present in the rail-way hospital and local hospi-tals.

Reports received here saidthat so far as many as 18coaches had been convertedinto wards in Lucknow divi-sion, 13 in Varanasi and six inIzzatnagar division. Similarly41 coaches in Gorakhpurmechanical workshop and 16coaches in Izzatnagar work-shop have been converted intowards. Thus, till date, the NorthEastern Railway has succeededin converting total of 94 coach-es into isolation wards.

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The North Eastern Railway

(NER) administration was tak-ing measures to prevent thespread of Covid-19 pandemicbesides declaring one railway-man each from its three divi-sions as ‘Corona Warrior of theday’ for doing excellent work inorder to encourage them.

Report said that in thissequence on April 5 one rail-wayman each who did com-mendable work during thiscrisis in Varanasi, Lucknow andIzzatnagar divisions wasdeclared as ‘Corona Warrior ofthe day.’

Ganesh Kumar, working asgoods supervisor at ChhapraGramin station in Varanasidivision, while discharging hisduties during this ongoingthree-week-long nationwidelockdown period ensured thatthe persons who were working

did not contract novel coron-avirus infection. He got goodsof four freight trains rakesunloaded. However beforeunloading he provided masksand sanitisers to the peoplewho were involved in the workand ensured that social dis-

tancing was maintained to pre-vent novel coronavirus.Ganesh Kumar was declared‘Corona Warrior of the Day’ onApril 5. Vikas Verma, a helper,working in Gorakhpur lobby ofLucknow division, has madecommendable contribution inthe making of 500 Covid-19protection kits which wereprovided to the running staff.When this protection kit wasmade from the material avail-able by Lobby, Gorakhpur, itscost came to about �60 costwhich was about one- third less

than the market price. It alsosaved railway revenue forwhich Vikas Verma wasdeclared as Corona Warrior ofthe Day on Sunday.

Similarly Mukesh Kumarwho was working as ChiefCommercial Inspector at

Kathgodam station inIzzatnagar division, got goodstrain unloaded at RudrapurCity railway station on Sunday.Mukesh Kumar with the helpof commercial staff distrib-uted food items like pulses, rice,flour and soap for cleaning etc.among the daily wagersengaged in unloading work.For this commendable work ofMukesh Kumar was declared‘Corona Warrior of the Day’ onApril 5. The North EasternRailway was proud of itsemployees.

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Commissioner Gaurav Dayaland Deputy Inspector

General (DIG)Chitrakootdham DeepakKumar inspected the controlroom of Covid-19 in Mahobaon Monday. Commissionerissued instructions to DMMahoba Awadhesh KumarTiwari to conduct intensivesearch for Markaz returneesand send them to isolationward of District HospitalMahoba. Later Commissionerand DIG along with DMMahoba Awadhesh Kumar and

SP Mahoba Mani Lal Patidarvisited Kulpahar and checkedcommunity kitchen and issuednecessary directions to officialsto ensure hygiene while foodwas being cooking for thepoor. Later they reachedJantantra Inter CollegeKulpahar and spoke to theyouths who had been quaran-tined. Commissioner Dayaladvised the youths to maintainsocial distancing.Commissioner Dayal and DIGKumar visited Jaitpur and dis-tributed symbolic ration kitsamong some people here.

Commissioner Dayal told ‘ThePioneer’ that he had directedDM Mahoba to identify thepoor and needy people of dis-trict and provide them lunchpackets and ration kits as perrequirement. TheCommissioner said that total1,273 lunch packets were beingdistributed among the poorand needy people by theMahoba district administrationon a daily basis. CommissionerDayal said that NGOs andothers were distributing 757lunch packets among the needyon a daily basis there.

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District Magistrate AmitSingh Bansal and district

police chief Siddharth ShankarMeena inspected the DistrictJail here. DM Bansal issuedinstructions to jail superin-tendent to make masks andsanitisers available to prisoners.

DM directed him to take allprecautions to protect the pris-oners from coronavirus infec-tion. DM said that no laxity inthis work would be tolerated.DM asked jail superintendentto maintain social distancing inbarracks. DM said that jailsuperintendent had beendirected to ensure cleanliness.

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Household articles weredestroyed when a fire

broke out in a house in Ratwavillage under the MaudahaKotwali at night recently. Theflames soon spread to the adja-cent house due to which valu-ables worth thousands ofrupees were destroyed. Reportssaid that Matadin Verma, sonof Mangu said that his sonswere in the field at night. Hehad lit a lamp in his house fol-lowing a solidarity call given bythe Prime Minister NarendraModi and had gone to sleep. Inthe meantime fire broke outthere and it soon assumed analarming proportion. On see-ing the leaping tongues offlame the people living in thenearby areas became panicky,woke up Matadin and rescuedhim. Within no time the entirehouse was reduced to ashes.His brother, Ramamurat, toosuffered losses in this fire inci-

dent. The entire householdarticles of Matadin were burntin the incident. The flameswere extinguished with thehelp of villagers.

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A woman who was upsetdue to stomach ache commit-ted suicide by hanging herselfin the Jaria area on Monday.According to the police, thevictim identified as Rani (39),wife of Rampal, a resident ofChandwari village in the area,was suffering from stomachpain after she was operatedupon six months ago. OnMonday on finding themoment opportune she com-mitted suicide by hanging her-self when everyone had gone towork in the fields. On gettinginformation, the police reachedthe spot and took the body ofthe victim into their custodyand sent it for the post-mortemexamination.

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Ayouth who had gone to his field onhis bicycle was injured when he

was knocked down by a tractor trol-ley here recently. According to a reportreceived here, the victim, Chhotualias Lucky (21), a resident of Bojhiyavillage in Sansarpur gram panchayatunder the Mailaini police station, wasknocked down by the tractor trolleywhile he was returning from the field.As a result he was seriously injured. Ongetting information Sansarpur policeoutpost inchage Satish Chand Yadavsent him to the CHC in Gola fromwhere the doctors on duty referred himto the District Hospital. However, hesuccumbed to his injuries duringtreatment. The police had impound-ed the tractor trolley and launched ahunt for the errant driver.

Page 7: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

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The Government has goneall out to tap the potential

of vast pool of ex-servicemenby deploying several thousandsof them all over the country invarious roles in the fight againstthe coronavirus pandemic.This measure comes in tandemwith mobilisation of more than500 National CadetCorps(NCC)cadets nowdeployed on duties like ensur-ing supply chain management,law and order, and sensitisinglocal people about the pan-demic.

With more than 5,000 ex-servicemen already deployed inthe fight against the disease,defence ministry officials saidhere on Tuesday the veteransbelonging to Army, Navy andAir Force are assisting the civiladministration and providingtheir services voluntarily andselflessly.

It is being coordinated byDepartment of Ex-ServicemenWelfare (DESW), Ministry ofDefence. The veterans are beingcontacted through the

Kendriya Sainik Board and anetwork of 32 Rajya SainikBoards at State-level and 403Zila Sainik Board all over thecountry.

Giving state-wise figures,they said in Karnataka,Brigadier Ravi Munniswamy(retired), who is coordinatingthe effort across the State, isspearheading a team of 45 vet-eran bicycle riders inBengaluru, who through aWhatsApp group are providingmedicine and essential suppliesto old and infirm in the city.

In Andhra Pradesh,around 300 ex-Servicemen vol-unteers are assisting the statepolice while in Uttar Pradesh,the Zila Sainik Boards in 75districts of Uttar Pradesh areassisting with a team of veter-ans. They have already identi-fied and contacted 6,592 for-mer military personnel fromArmy Medical Corps in thestate and put them on standbyfor any contingency.

As regards Punjab, BrigSatinder Singh (retired),Director Rajya Sainik Board,Punjab, informed that they

have employed 4,200 Ex-Servicemen as Guardians ofGovernance who are present inevery village of Punjab fordata collection and communi-ty surveillance.

Similarly in Chhattisgarh,Air Commodoree A NKulkarni(retired), who is coor-dinating the response in thestate, informed that so far onlya handful of veterans havebeen employed to provideassistance to the police in

Bilaspur, Janjgir and Korba.In the North-East,

Brigadier Narain DuttJoshi(retired) is ready with 300volunteers to assist in 19Districts of Assam. WhereasColonel Gautam Kumar Rai(retired) at Shillong has 79volunteers ready to assist thecivil administration. Brig JPTiwari (retired) from Tripurahas reported that the list of vol-unteers has been shared withthe State and district adminis-

tration and they are on stand-by for any task assigned tothem.

Similar efforts are order ofthe day in the states ofJharkhand, Haryana andUttarakhand. Brigadier Pathak(retired) from Jharkhand,Colonel Rahul Yadav (retired)from Haryana and BrigadierKB Chand (retired) fromUttarakhand are taking neces-sary steps to mobilise veteransthere.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Tuesday once

again wrote a letter to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, thistime suggesting the adoption offive austerity measures to gen-erate financial resources as thenation fights the Covid-19pandemic.

From suspending theambitious �20,000 croreCentral Vista project to com-pletely banning Governmentand PSUs’ print and electron-ic media advertisements; fromscaling down the Government’sexpenditure budget by 30 per-cent to withholding all foreigntrips of the PM, Ministers,CMs and government officialsand lastly, transferring themoney under the ‘PM-Cares’fund to the Prime MinistersNational Relief Fund, for rea-sons of transparency amongothers.

Suggesting that theGovernment immediately sus-pend the �20,000-crore ‘CentralVista’ beautification and con-struction project, Sonia said: “Ata time like this, such an outlayseems self-indulgent to say theleast. This sum could instead beallocated towards construct-ing new hospital infrastructureand diagnosis along with equip-ping our frontline workers withPPEs and better facilities.”

“I am certain thatParliament can function com-

fortably within the existing his-torical buildings. There is nourgent or pressing requirementthat cannot be postponed untilthis crisis is contained,” she said.

She also asked the PrimeMinister to impose a completeban on media advertisementsby the government and PSUsfor a period of two years, withadvisories for issues relating topublic health being the soleexception.

Sonia’s letter comes a dayafter the Modi governmentpromulgated an ordinance tocut salaries of the MPs, Unionministers and the PM by 30%for a year. The governmentalso announced to suspend theMP-LAD fund scheme for thenext two years.

Welcoming the govern-ment’s decisions, Soniademanded that the govern-ment scale down its ownexpenditure too. “It makessense to order a proportionatereduction of 30 per cent in theexpenditure budget (otherthan salaries, pensions and central government schemes)for the Government of India aswell. This 30 per cent (i.e. � 2.5lakh crores per year approxi-mately) can then be allocatedtowards establishing an eco-nomic safety net for migrant workers, labourers, farmers,MSMSe and those in the unor-ganised sector,” she men-tioned.

Sonia further demanded

that all foreign visits includingthose of the Prime Minister,Union ministers, ChiefMinisters, state ministers and bureaucrats be put onhold and the amount beutilised in measures to combatthe crisis.

In her third letter to Modisince the nationwide lock-down was announced, theCongress chief referred to aconversation the PM had withher and sought suggestionsfrom the party to tide over thecoronavirus crisis. She hadearlier written to the PM onthe issues of helping themigrant workers and dailywage earners.

She also suggested trans-ferring all money collectedunder the ‘PM CARES’ fundto the ‘Prime Minister’sNational Relief Fund’ toensure efficiency, transparen-cy and accountability.

"It seems like a waste ofeffort and resources to haveand create two separate enti-ties for the distribution offunds. I understand that �3,800 crores approximatelyare lying unutilised in thePMNRF (at the end of FY-2019).

These funds, plus theamount in the PM CARESfund, can be utilised to ensurean immediate food securitynet for those at the very mar-gins of society,” Sonia said inher letter to the PM.

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At a time when there havebeen concerns regard-

ing health care professionalsgetting infected while inter-act ing with C ovid-19patients, scientists from SreeChitra Tirunal Institute forMedical S c iences andTechnology (SCTIMST), anautonomous institute of theDepartment of Science andTechnology (DST), havedesigned and developed adisinfected barrier-examina-tion booth for examiningsuch patients.

The innovative disinfect-ed examination booth isclosed like a telephone boothfor examining the patientwithout direct contact withthe doctor to prevent trans-mission of infection. It isequipped with a lamp, tablefan, rack, and Ultraviolet(UV) light and has enoughspace for the patient.

The installed UV light inthe booth disinfects thechamber after each patientleaves. The UV light installedhas a wavelength of 254 nmwith a 15 watts rating, whicheffectively removes most ofthe viral load within 3 min-utes of exposure, saidMuraleedharan CV, one of thebrains behind the innova-tion.

A pair of gloves providedin the examination boothallows the patient’s physical

examination. Additionally, anentry tunnel on the side frameis provided to pass aStethoscope within the cham-ber. This feature would helpthe doctor to place stetho-scope on the patient and lis-ten to heart and breathsounds.

After the examination,the patient is requested tovacate the chamber, and UVlight will be turned on for 3minutes. When UV exposurein the chamber is completed,

the next patient is examined,and the sequence is repeated.

"Providing the higheststandards of safety to thedoctors and the front-linemedical workers while inter-acting with the carriers of ahighly contagious virus isclearly a critical priority. Athoughtfully designed pro-tective booth with clinicianinputs is a good step in thatdirection”, explained ProfessorAshutosh Sharma, Secretary,DST.

The other innovatorsinclude Ramesh Babu V, D S.Nagesh, Saurabh S. Nair,Arvind Kumar Prajapati, Dr.Sivakumar KGV and the teamof Artificial Internal Organ(AIO) and Division Of ExtraCorporeal Devices (ECD),SCTIMST.

The technical know-howof the Examination Boothhas already been transferredto Fly Tech Industr ies ,Trivandrum, said Sharma.

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As a preventive measureamid the COVID-19 out-

break, the Border SecurityForce (BSF) has issued a direc-tive to all the formationsextending the leave of per-sonnel already on leave and aredue to join this month tillApril 21.

Earlier, the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)CRPF had issued similarinstructions extending theleave till April 15. The CRPFhad also limited grant of leaveto its personnel and in cases ofemergency, the duration ofleave was fixed at a minimumof 30 days.

"Instructions have beenissued to all formations of BSFthat leave of personnel to beextended up to 21st April whoare already on leave and aredue to join in the month ofApril 2020. To avoid any com-munication gap, they havebeen telephonically informednot to rejoin work before April21," a senior BSF official said..

Similar instructions havebeen issued for the trainingcenters where training pro-grams are underway barringthem from any movement inthe interim period.

After a Second-in-Command officer was testedto be positive for COVID

recently at BSF's academy atTekanpur, as many as 50 per-sonnel were sent on quaran-tine.

Likewise, a Chief MedicalOfficer of the CRPF was test-ed positive for COVID-19.Following this eights per-sons in contact with theCMO who had stayed at aTransit Officers Mess in Saketwere quarantined.Subsequently, 200 other offi-cials including the DirectorGeneral of CRPF and SeniorSecurity Advisor of the UnionHome Ministry K VijayKumar, three InspectorsGeneral and others werequarantined as a precaution-ary measure.

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Accusing US PresidentDonald Trump of arm-

twisting, CPI(M) politburoon Tuesday urged theGovernment to consider onlythe safety and welfare of thepeople of India. “Trump’sthreat to India is in tune withthe obnoxious attempts tosecure drugs and other pan-demic related material and indiverting supplies meant forother countries in pure selfinterest,” said the party's politbureau.

CPI (M) general secretarySitaram Yechury wrote toPresident Ramnath Kovind toimmediately look into theplight of migrant labourers,economic consequences,shortage in medical supplieseven as he accused the Centreof failing to deal the Covidcrisis.

He also accused the BJPof communal polarisationduring the pandemic crisis.

“As the custodian of theConstitution, I hope that youwill not allow communalpolarisation to grow in thesetr ying t imes when the country needs to be united inits fight against an enemy that does not distinguish onthe basis of identities of reli-gion, caste, class etc. Pleaseimpress upon “yourGovernment” that what is

needed is human empathy not crimi-nalisation,” said Yechury inhis letter to the President.

CPI(M) leader BrindaKarat, in her letter to HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan.demandedwithdrawal of sus-pension of certain rules inrelation to pre-natal genderscreening rules of the PCP-NDT Act.

“This is with reference tothe Gazette notification datedApril 4 by the Department ofHealth and Family Welfaresuspending certain Rules ofthe PCPNDT Act. This isdone in the name of the “unprecedented situation cre-ated by Covid-19” and isvalid till June 30. I am notsure whether this is donewith your approval. I amwriting to request you to have a relook at this notification, consider itsimplications and to withdrawit,” she said, demanding thewithdrawal of the notification.

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Besides the Coronavirusscare, the Government is

also worried about theapproaching summers that maycause fires in the tiger reservesacross the country.

It is against this backdropthat the National TigerConser vat ion Authority(NTCA), an autonomousbody under the UnionEnvironment Ministry tomonitor the big cats in thecountry, has now issued a cir-cular, asking the States to bevigilant and to strengthenthe patrolling services in thetiger habitats to keep a tab onany fire incident and take pre-ventive steps accordingly.

There are around 4,000big cats in the 50 tigerreserves across the States.

In an advisory issued tothe States , NTCA DIG(Forest) Nishant Verma saidthat a few cases of forest fires

in some tiger reserves havebeen reported on variousforums during the ongoinglockdown period which is amatter of concern.

Since the forest staff andpatrolling services have beenincluded in the exempted list,it is important that they aredeployed effectively to mon-

itor the activities in theforests.

“It is kindly Informed thata considerable financial assis-tance under the ongoingCentrally Sponsored Schemeof Project Tiger has been pro-vided for preventive controlfor forest fire protection in thetiger reserves based on

reser ve specif icAnnual Plans ofOperations.

“I am directed torequest that the fireprotection measuresare implemented onwar footing in view ofthe sensitivity or vul-nerability of thereserves, particularlykeeping in mind theskeletal presence offield personnel inthese times (lock-down period),” saidVerma.

The country’s for-est policy encourages

a zero forest fire approach forits protected landscapes.

The countr y’s t igerreserves are already on highalert after a tigress in a Zoo inNew York was found to besuffering with the deadlyCoronavirus which hasclaimed thousands of livesacross the countries.

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Appealing to the people tostrictly and honestly follow

the guidelines of lockdownand social distancing on theoccasion of Shab-e-Barat,Union Minority AffairsMinister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvion Tuesday urged the people tooffer prayers and perform otherreligious rituals staying insidetheir homes.

In the backdrop of theNizamudden East event wherea gathering of the communityhas unwittingly caused a spikein coronavirus cases inNational Capital and otherstates, Naqvi said almost allreligious and social organisa-tions have appealed to theMuslims to honestly followthe guidelines of lockdownand social distancing on Shab-e-Barat.

“All the State Waqf Boards,through the Central WaqfCouncil, have been directed toassist the local administrationin implementation of lock-

down completely” on the occa-sion. The minister said reli-gious leaders have appealed tothe community “to offerprayers and perform other reli-gious rituals staying insidetheir homes”.

“We should also pray at ourhomes to give strength to India

and the entire world to elimi-nate challenges of Corona,”said Naqvi.

The Minister said theentire country is following theguidelines of lockdown andsocial distancing on the appealof Prime Minister NarendraModi. “Any type of carelessnesscan be harmful for us, our fam-ily, the society and the entirecountry”, Naqvi said and askedall to follow guidelines pre-scribed by the administration.

Social distancing hasbecome the only and the mosteffective weapon against coro-navirus. The three-week lock-down effected by theGovernment from the mid-night of March 25 has precise-ly been designed to check thecommunity spread of the virusacross the country.

But members of theTablighi Jamaat congregation,many of them being foreigners,have left their ‘contact trail’across many states andincreased corona cases by morethan 30 per cent in India.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Tuesday issuednotice to the AssamGovernment on a plea seekingthe release of people fromdetention centres in the statewho have completed morethan two years to avoidspreading of COVID-19, stat-ing that the centres are "over-crowded".

Earlier, the Minister ofState for Home Affairs,Nityanand Rai, informed theRajya Sabha that as many as802 people were in detentioncentres in Assam as on March6 this year.

The Union Health andFamily Welfare Ministry todaysaid that the total number ofcoronavirus positive cases inthe country has gone up to4,421. Agencies

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The Supreme Court onTuesday sought response from the Centre on a plea

for immediate evacuation of allIndian students who arestranded in the UnitedKingdom (UK) amid the lock-down due to COVID-19 pan-demic.

The plea has said that gov-ernments of the UK andGermany have approached theCentre to facilitate return oftheir nationals stranded inIndia due to lockdown hereand, as per media reports,flights would be operated in thenear future from Mumbai andNew Delhi for this purpose.

The petition, filed byDelhi-based advocateMadhurima Mridul, said thatthe Government should bedirected to ensure that flightsferrying British nationals fromIndia to the UK be used toevacuate Indian students whoare stranded there and arewilling to come back.

A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justice LNageswara Rao asked SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta to takeinstructions on the issue andposted the matter for hearingon April 13.

Advocate Sunil Fernandesappeared for the petitionerduring the hearing which wasconducted through video-con-ferencing.

The plea has also soughta direction to the governmentto ensure that till requisitearrangements are made forevacuation, the studentsstranded in the UK are pro-

vided accommodation, ade-quate health and medical sup-port, if needed, by the IndianHigh Commission in London.

It said that many of thesestudents are exposed to greaterrisk of contracting COVID-19as they are living in packedhostels with shared kitchenand bathroom facilities duringthe lockdown imposed in theUK, which has so far record-ed over 2,300 deaths due tocoronavirus.

The plea, filed by advocateAstha Sharma, said that thegovernment should ensurethat these students are quar-antined and provided with allmedical and health facilities asprescribed by the WorldHealth Organisation.

It said that due to travelban amid coronavirus pan-demic, many Indian students,who had earlier booked tick-ets and reached various air-ports in the UK, were strand-ed and unable to take theirjourney to India.

"Surprisingly, India isprobably the only country that

has imposed an embargo onthe return of its own citizens,and where other countries aremaking all possible efforts torepatriate their citizens strand-ed in various countries, Indiawith its travel bans has madeit impossible for its own citi-zens to come back home," itsaid.

The plea claimed thatcountries having moreCOVID-19 cases like China,Spain, Italy, Iran and the UShave not imposed any embar-go on the return of theirnationals from foreign coun-tries.

It said that Indian gov-ernment could quarantinethose who return from abroadand impose reasonable restric-tions on their movement butto "pass a blanket order of pre-venting an Indian citizen fromreturning back to his home-land is violative of theConstitutional rights" guaran-teed under Articles 14 (equal-ity before law) and 21 (pro-tection of life and personal lib-erty).

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BJP president J P Nadda onTuesday paid tributes to

soldiers who were killed in anencounter with terrorists inJammu and Kashmir'sKupwara district.

The soldiers were killedin a fierce exchange of firewith a group of terroristswhich had infiltrated fromacross the Line of Control inKeran sector of northKashmir, officials had saidon Sunday.

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Page 8: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

For Prime Minister NarendraModi, the use of surgical strikeshas become the new-normal inresolving intractable problemslike cross-border terrorism, black

money and Jammu & Kashmir. AfterBalakot, the airstrikes appear to haveturned the page in terrorism but in realterms, little has changed. Black money hasaltered the “colour” and “terrorism” is juston “pause.” The new invisible enemy isCOVID-19. Not even a nuclear strike willconquer this pandemic, which only time,more human lives and a vaccine can cure.Preliminary studies are showing howCoronavirus will change the way we liveand cohabit. One can only hope that ourexistential difficulties with Pakistan willease and end.

The Government and the Indian AirForce (IAF) celebrated February 26 as thefirst anniversary of Balakot. Exaggeratedclaims were made to perpetuate the onesmade last year without new evidence andfactoring the Pakistani perspective. It is tooearly to begin rewriting the doctrine andcall the airstrikes as “game-changer.”Claims on behalf of the IAF have beenmade mainly by former Chief of Air Staff,Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, throughinterviews and parts of an internal IAFreport that were leaked to the media. Hissuccessor, Air Chief Marshal RKSBhadauria, simply reinforced Dhanoa’sclaims through the same medium at a pub-lic event titled, ‘Air Power in No War NoPeace Scenario,’ organised by the Centrefor Air Power Studies, which was presidedby Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF)’s per-spective came from a conference held atthe University of Lahore, which wasjointly organised by the Centre forSecurity Strategy and Policy Research andthe Centre for Aerospace and SecurityStudies (CASS). The event was attendedby former PAF Chief of Air Staff, Air ChiefMarshal Kaleem Saadat. A report was pub-lished in the British Air Force magazineby Alan Warnes through his interviewswith retired PAF officers. The PAF’sresponse to the IAF air strikes was called“Operation Swift Retort.”

On the most provocative, emotionaland in India even anti-national questionof hitting the target, the IAF has stuck toits claim that it hit the target, though theCrystal Maze 142M missile, which was toproduce battle damage assessment, couldnot be fired. Last year, among others whoexpressed doubts whether the IAF missileswere on target, was Ashley Tellis of the US’sCarnegie Endowment and Christine Fairof Johns Hopkins University. The Air Forcemagazine was more direct: Bombs aimedat a religious boarding school atBalakot…hit wooded area a few hundredmetres away…all bombs overshot their tar-gets. The CASS report refers to the mishit

as “tactical error and technicalinadequacy.” Even so, this wasthe first time after the 1971 warthat the IAF bombed Pakistanat Balakot. Perhaps carriedaway, Bhadauria described thebombings as “the most signif-icant air action of the IAF inover four decades.” That was abit unkind to the IAF veterans,who took part supporting theIndian Peace Keeping Force(IPKF) in Sri Lanka for 22months, and the sterling pre-cision IAF bombings at Kargilfor over three months.

Bhadauria further said thatBalakot has shown that youcan use the IAF and still have“escalation control.” He wasbacked by Army Chief, GenMM Naravane, who said: “Foryears we were told that if andwhen air (force) crosses theInternational Border (IB), itwould escalate to a full-fledgedwar. Balakot demonstrated thatif you play the escalatory gamewith skill, military ascendan-cy can be established in shortcycles of conflict that do notnecessarily lead to war.”Elementary, my dear Watson?

In his paper on air escala-tion control circulated by theUS’ Stimson Centre in 2003after Operation Parakram,IAF’s Air Commode, Ramesh

Phadke, argued that limited airoperations against Pakistan inPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) were possible with min-imal escalation. Reason: IAF toPAF air balance ratio at thattime was nearly 2.5 to 1. Today,that ratio has declined to lessthan 1.3 to 1 (IAF 28squadrons versus PAF 21squadrons). The CASS reportfurther says that the probabil-ity of crisis recurrencebetween India and Pakistan ishigh and during a crisis, nei-ther side will be able to guar-antee controlling or domi-nating the escalation ladder.

PAF Air Chief MarshalMujahid Anwar Khan told theAir Force magazine that one les-son for India is not to use airpower “flippantly.” He saidOperation Swift Retort wasinevitable to demonstrate boththe resolve and restraint and wasdesigned to de-escalate. Pakistanhas found wriggle room inexplaining its nuclear bluff beingcalled. The CASS report titled,“Deconstructing Balakot” reads:“Pakistan’s carefully calibratedresponse strategy served well indampening the fears in policyanalysis that portray that anyattack inside Pakistan’s territo-ry would invoke Pakistan’snuclear threshold. However,

Pakistan, through its retaliation,Operation Swift Retort afterIndian strikes in Balakot,demonstrated that it has validconventional means of deter-rence to raise the cost of aggres-sion.”

As someone who has stud-ied Pakistan’s military andstrategic thought, I do notrecall Pakistan seriously threat-ening the use of nuclearweapons against an enemyairstrike. The four conditionsfor that were clearly codified byLt Gen Khalid Kidwai, theintellectual custodian ofPakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Hehad said — and that has notchanged till date — thatPakistan would use its nuclearweapons as weapons of ulti-mate resort in four eventuali-ties: Loss of large territory,especially in Punjab; cripplingmilitary attrition; economicblockade; and largescale polit-ical destabilisation. None ofthese conditions was violatedby the Balakot airstrikes.

One year on, AFM has saidthat PAF will be outnumberedbut will innovate to outma-noeuvre the IAF. It does notmatter what technology theIAF gets, the PAF will have thecapacity to defeat it. CASShas said that for the foreseeable

future, it will be in retaliatorymode but the threat of the useof force is essential whenPakistan’s support for Kashmirwill go beyond political, diplo-matic and moral paradigm.Kashmir has been made cen-tral to crisis and conflict.

Balakot airstrikes had thepotential to escalate and spinout of control. One single fac-tor that enabled the daring andrisky operation was a strategicsurprise. This is not likely to bereplicated. Airstrikes are notthe new-normal but a one-offlike the ground surgical strikes.Surgical strikes after Uri and atBalakot have not ended terror-ism. Infiltration has increaseddespite lockdown and unprece-dented troop density in Jammu& Kashmir.

Pakistan’s support forKashmir will not cease anddespite the internal constitu-tional changes in Jammu &Kashmir, the dispute will ulti-mately have to be resolvedpolitically. The post-COVID-19 environment may provide awindow to restart the process.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the DefencePlanning Staff, currently theIntegrated Defence Staff.)����������������������3,41)!

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Sir — The spread of Coronaviruspandemic has brought to thefore the intricate interdependen-cies that exist within the interna-tional pharmaceutical market. Itis known that China is the largestsupplier of active pharmaceuticalingredients all over the world.India, the leading exporter ofgeneric drugs across the world, isdependent on China for morethan two-thirds of its bulk drugneeds. The spread of Coronavirushas stressed on the need to homeproduce such drugs. We must,therefore, embrace economies ofscale and increase their produc-tion to be self-sufficient.

Rati AgrawalVia email

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Sir — The Prime Minister’s appealto the people to switch off lightson April 5 was criticised by sever-al Opposition leaders. They right-ly urged the Government to focuson helping the poor amid theCoronavirus pandemic, many ofwhom do not have a roof abovetheir heads nor the money to feed

themselves and their families.Prime Minister Modi had askedpeople to stay inside their homesduring this exercise. But did hethink about those who have been

rendered homeless by this crisisand those who can no longer sparethe money to buy a candle?

Asim SuhailWest Mumbai

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Sir — Some people are eagerlywaiting for April 14 to come, hop-

ing that the lockdown would bephased out. But the present situ-ation has seen an increasingnumber of infected cases anddeaths. The lockdown has notbeen a total success. Cooperationon the part of the people has beenfound wanting to combat theCoronavirus effectively. The com-pletion of 21 days is no case towithdraw the lockdown.

Despite the lockdown, thenumber of cases and deaths is onthe rise. Phasing out the curfewwould give a fillip to the virus toplay a more destructive role thannow. More infected cases anddeaths can be expected. India maysoon join the likes of the US,Spain, Italy, Iran and Germany,which have seen a large numberof deaths and infected cases. It isnot wise to end the lockdown tilldetections pace down.

Stricter steps are needed tocombat the spread of the virusnot only at the national level butglobally where it has made hugeinroads. Zero number of cases allover the world only matters.Nothing else.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Arather disconcerting communal atmosphereseems to have enveloped the entire countryat a critical juncture when we all should be

displaying common sense, unity and the resolve tocontain the spread of the deadly COVID-19. We wereon top of things till a week or two ago but now thevirus seems to be spreading at a faster pace. Till nowwe have 4,858 confirmed cases and the deaths havespiked to 136. However, we still seem to be doingbetter than the developed nations with betterhealthcare infrastructure than us. For instance, theUS has 3,67,650 cases and nearly 10,000 fatalitieswhile Spain has 1,36,675 cases and 13,341 deaths andItaly is battling with 1,32,547 cases and has seen16,523 deaths so far.

If we were to compare ourselves to all thesenations, their population density to ours and thenumber of cases they have, we would realise that tillnow we have not done so badly.

Yet, switch on the television and all you will hearare alarming reports about the exponential rise inthe number of positive cases in the last two weeks.Worryingly, these are being linked to the congrega-tion at the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat at HazratNizamuddin.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, too, is cer-tain that criminal proceedings must be initiatedagainst the maulana of the Markaz. The discoursehas become so distorted and warped that it has nowassumed a communal hue. The hawkish rhetoricdirected against the minority community continuesunabated. Compounding this trend are newsreports that there have been instances of stone pelt-ing by the community in question against the health-care professionals and the law enforcement author-ities who were urging citizens to get tested. Manyvideos of these alleged incidents are also doing therounds on social media. This only galvanises the sit-uation and the social context.

A closer look at the chronology of events por-trays a different picture. Were events of this kind heldacross the country in the days that followed the fate-ful gathering? The answer is an unequivocal “yes.”On March 16, the Hindu Mahasabha conducted agau mutra (cow urine) party to “cure” Coronavirusin which thousands of people assembled. The reveredtown of Tirupati hosted close to 40,000 people onMarch 18. It closed only the following day. Whenthe “Janta (people’s) curfew” was announced onMarch 22, we all saw the throng of humanity erupt-ing in ebullient cheers minutes after it ended andthronging the streets. The instructions were clear-ly articulated earlier. Stand on your respective bal-conies and praise the diligence of healthcare profes-sionals, the media, the armed forces, police force,essential commodity providers, the sanitation work-ers and so on, who are on the frontline battling theCoronavirus by going above and beyond their callof duty in these trying times. What did people doinstead? They gathered in disturbing numbers,banged plates and distributed sweets. They prancedaround the streets in different parts of India. Whenthe people were given a four-hour notice by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi before the country wentinto a 21-day lockdown, millions desperately tookto the streets to procure vital rations and groceries.The norms of social distancing were convenientlyforgotten.

The following day, amid the nationwide lock-down, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathconducted the Ram Lalla movement event. It didreceive a lot of flak by the Opposition, the media and

on social media and other platforms butthe story slowly fell into oblivion and isnow far removed from public conscious-ness.

Migrants who are scattered across thecountry embarked on an arduous journeyhome; in large numbers. Could the lock-down have been better planned? Perhapsyes. Was there an acute failure in imple-menting public policy? Most certainly.Why could not the Centre have foreseenthe situation arising and the States not havebeen cautioned that such a mass migra-tion would take place. The UnionGovernment and the States should haveworked together to prevent the humani-tarian crisis that eventually unfolded andalso increased the risk of a spike inCoronavirus cases across the country. TheCentre and States should have planned tohave the necessary infrastructure, trans-port and medical equipment in place tofacilitate a smooth transition instead of thechaos which ensued? We are a nationwhere rural-urban migration is a realityand has been the subject of numerousstudies. So could this not have been fore-seen?

So is Arvind Kejriwal correct in hisassessment in implementing criminalproceedings against the maulana of thecentre? After all, the assembly was a fla-grant violation of the norms. Should thedebate assume a communal context? No.This debate is not about which commu-nity conducted a gathering and which con-formed to the norms of “social distancing”which mind you was emphasised onlyrecently after the Prime Ministerannounced the first nationwide lockdownon March 22. The gathering had a num-ber of international visitors which can par-tially explain the spread of the virus.

But what is disquieting is the lopsidednature of the debate. It is immoral andunfair to attribute the exponential rise inthe number of detected cases to one com-munity. This is because there were otherleakages in the system and with time wewill begin to understand and identify thecausations and patterns. We all need totake collective responsibility because thevirus, as stated innumerable times, doesnot discriminate. You could be PrinceCharles or Boris Johnson. It will not seeyour lineage or blue blood before strikingyou. The Nizamuddin event was a mat-ter of chance with things taking a deadlyturn. The debate needs to be more real-istic and balanced. However, that said, itis also incumbent upon the communityin question to ask its people to behave ina more respectful and cooperative man-ner with those who are looking after themin quarantine. Reports of roaming aroundin the nude to harass the women health-care workers and spitting on people willembarrass and silence even the most neu-tral of observers.

As it is, there have been so many mis-conceptions about the virus that even theso-called “educated” people in society havebecome susceptible to rumours. When mysister-in-law returned from the UnitedKingdom (UK) on March 9, the ResidentWelfare Association (RWA) membersdemanded to see her travel documents.They did not heed the fact that testing wasbeing conducted at airports and she wasanyways adhering to self-quarantinenorms. Much to her consternation, the sit-uation was only defused after the interven-tion of relevant authorities.

There is another unnerving trendwhich seems to be gripping India. TheNizamuddin episode seems to have

polarised the country. At home we havea large live-in staff. At night, post dinner,they all sit upstairs in their bedroom andwatch television. Every day the conversa-tions are invariably about how India willdescend into chaos and anarchy andMuslims are the ones to be blamed for thismayhem. I try to reason with them andapprise them about similar developmentsaround the country but they appearobstinate and are determined to pursue achain of thought. I wonder what thebroader ramifications of such a thoughtprocess will be for the entire nation. Whatif we have more illiterate people who arebeing brainwashed and subscribe to thissame propaganda? It could have a cascad-ing effect, which could arrest the harmo-nious progress of a pluralistic nation likeours. After all, this is a once in a lifetimeoccurrence for many of us and if a certaincommunity is portrayed in poor light thenit will take a lot to erase the scars and thepervasive prejudice.

In such uncertain times, when a lotof negative publicity is being hurled at us,it is vitally important that we are circum-spect and unbiased in our appraisal of thesituation on the ground. Let’s not make thisglobal calamity about a community andisolate them. This is a time to shed grudgesand imagine a new world; a world wherewe all can take a common stand and treada path together. And hopefully we will beable to surmount this malaise which affect-ed one and all, so that we can once againsee each other as human beings who sharethe same needs and have the same vulner-abilities. The boundaries of caste and creedare only imagined because when tragedystrikes it knows no distinctions.

(The writer is a socio-economic commentator)

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What is the impact ofCoronavirus on religion?As the well-known German

philosopher and economist KarlMarx said, “Religion is the opium ofthe people.” For believers, worldover it provides psychological, emo-tional as well as moral support.However, the Novel Coronavirus is apandemic, which threatens believersand atheists alike. And it respects noreligion.

But the fact remains thatCoronavirus or no Coronavirus,worldwide religious leaders have amajor moral hold over millions ofbelievers. And irrespective of the faith

they belong to, almost all of themhave risen to the occasion to containthe Coronavirus pandemic. FromMecca to the Vatican, the doors areshut to the public.

This is quite a commendableachievement for the Church in par-ticular, as Christians are observing theHoly month of Lent that ends on theeve of Good Friday. The number ofChristians attending services aroundthe world swells exponentially dur-ing this time. But now all services andprayer meetings during the Lentenseason are being held online, livestreamed or pre-recorded to keep thefaithful confined to their homes andhelp stop the spread of the contagion.Even the Church of Nativity inBethlehem was closed after aCoronavirus case was confirmed inthe area.

However, Pope Francis has urgedthe priests to “have the courage to getout. Going to the sick to bring themthe comfort of God,” after taking dueprecautions and support the health-care workers, too. Many countries like

Japan, Israel, South Korea and Iranhave also shut their religious institu-tions. In an unprecedented move,Saudi Arabia has temporarily sus-pended Umrah (the non-mandatorylesser pilgrimage made by Muslimsto Mecca). Riyadh also briefly shut theGreat Mosque in Mecca and theProphet’s Mosque in Medina.

India, which believes in reli-gion, spirituality, gurus and godmen,has also followed suit. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi called upon the reli-gious leaders in the country to takethe lead and ask their communitiesto adhere to the Government’s guide-lines to contain the pandemic. Ropingin Chief Ministers, too, Modi askedthem to convene a meeting of reli-gious leaders across all faiths and urgethem to convince their people toadhere to social distancing guidelines.

Significantly, Modi’s appeal camein the wake of the recent religiousgathering in Nizamuddin in violationof Government guidelines, which hadturned into a major hotspot forspreading the Coronavirus. Nearly

2,100 people were evacuated fromMarkaz Nizamuddin, the Delhi head-quarters of the Tablighi Jamaat groupand over 1,100 are now quarantinedin different parts of the city near thereligious centre.

Prior to that, at least 15,000people might have caught the virusfrom a Sikh spiritual guru who hadreturned from Europe and wentabout preaching in more than a dozenvillages in Punjab. He later died of theCOVID-19. All the 15,000 attendeesare now under quarantine. It wasindeed fortunate that communalclashes did not follow this event.

So, how have the religious lead-ers and institutions responded toModi’s appeal? For many religiousleaders, the decision to shut thedoors of their institutions was diffi-cult but they had realised the sever-ity of the pandemic had respondedpositively. The Christian communi-ty in India closed all churches andeven held its services on Palm Sunday,which herald the beginning of theHoly Week leading up to Good

Friday, services online in keeping withthe Prime Minister’s plea for socialdistancing.

This was a significant move, aswith Good Friday, Easter, Ramzanand other festivals approaching it isimperative that communities recog-nise the need for preventing largegatherings, even after the lockdownis lifted. Thus, despite the beliefacross all faiths in the country thatpeople need God more in times oftrouble, the religious leaders haveheeded Modi’s call.

In an unprecedented manner,several temples in India have alsoclosed darshan (viewing) for thedevotees. These include the SiddiVinayakswamy temple, Kamakhyatemple, Tirupathi Balaji temple andPuri Jagannath temple among others.Even the Ganga aarti (worship) at theghats of Varanasi and theGarbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) ofKashi Vishwanath temple have been made off-limits to the pub-lic.

Setting aside their differences and

responding to the Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan’s appeal, thereligious leaders in the State, includ-ing Cardinals, Bishops, Muslim reli-gious leaders and leaders of Hinducommunities issued a joint statementon March 20, asking the people to“stand together with determinationand to overcome the trauma causedby the outbreak of the NovelCoronavirus.”

Hundreds of people from variousreligions came together in Patna tooffer an all-religion prayer, to stop theoutbreak of COVID-19. They offeredprayers in their own ways on March17 to seek divine intervention.

Spiritual gurus and godmen,who depend on huge political sup-port, are also not lagging behind intheir efforts to do the Government’sbidding. Spiritual leaders includingAmritanandamayi, Jaggi Vasudevand Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have shuttheir ashrams and asked their follow-ers not to congregate until the pan-demic is over.

“The virus knows no caste, creed

or religion. Let us beat the virus,” istheir dictum to their followers.

They also offer remedies likeyoga and meditation to their follow-ers. They are gurus of the rich and thepoor, alike. Many of them commandhuge following at home and abroad.Their followers include politicians,actors, sportsmen and bureaucrats.Many like the Baba Ramdev are alsosuccessful entrepreneurs and runmassive business empires.

Hence, the role that spiritual lead-ers can play in getting the word outabout public health measures is con-siderable.

In India, where religion plays amajor role, even in politics, the wordof a religious leader will go a long wayto help contain the pandemic. It is awelcome measure that they havejoined the fight against the virus alongwith their followers.

After all India is home to innu-merable gurus and god-men — bothgenuine and fake.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist)

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Page 10: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

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Indian market gauges Sensexand Nifty logged their biggest

one-day gains ever in absoluteterms on Tuesday, trackingglobal peers amid signs that theCovid-19 pandemic may bepeaking in some of the hard-hitcountries.

Beginning the holiday-truncated week on a high note,the BSE benchmark Sensexsurged 2,476.26 points or 8.97per cent to settle the day at30,067.21; while the NSEbarometer Nifty zoomed 708.40points or 8.76 per cent to closeat 8,792.20 — the best sessionever for both indices in absoluteterms and the biggest since May2009 in percentage wise.

In the Sensex pack, all 30shares ended in the greenwith 14 of them gaining over10 per cent. IndusInd Bankwas the top gainer surgingover 22 per cent, followed byAxis Bank, Mahindra andMahindra, ICICI Bank, HUL,Maruti, HCL Tech and NestleIndia.

All sectoral indices endedhigher, with BSE bankex, ener-gy, auto, telecom, teck, FMCGand metal indices rallying up to10.70 per cent. Broader BSEmidcap and smallcap indicesrallied up to 5.40 per cent.

The market rally addedadded Rs 7.9 lakh crore to the

capitalisation of BSE-listedcompanies.

“Indian markets openedon a positive note followingupbeat global cues in Asian

markets as there was somedecline witnessed in newCOVID-19 cases globally andhopes of the pandemic peakingout gathered pace,” said

Narendra Solanki, Head-Equity Research(Fundamental), Anand Rathi.

The Indian market got fur-ther boost from reports that theFinance Ministry is working ona second relief package for theIndian economy to mitigatenegative impact due toCOVID-19, he said.

Buyoed by positive senti-ment, brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, rose 2.48per cent to USD 33.87 per bar-rel on fresh hopes an OPEC-ledmeeting this week will reach anagreement to reduce oversup-ply and shore up the market.

The Indian rupee alsosurged by 49 paise to close at75.64 against the US dollar.

On the global market front,bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Tokyo and Seoul ralliedup to 2 per cent and bench-mark exchanges in Europewere trading up to 4 per centhigher. Global stocks followedup on Wall Street’s Mondayrally amid continued signs thatthe coronavirus outbreak maybe peaking in a number ofhard-hit places. Many otheranalysts said the Indian bours-es surged in sync with globalmarkets led by positive news offlattening of curve of new casesreported in Italy, France,Germany and death tolls eas-ing in world’s hotspots likeSpain and Italy.

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The rupee on Tuesday surgedby 49 paise to close at 75.64

against the US dollar, followinga rally in stock markets. At theinterbank foreign exchange,the rupee opened at 75.92 andgained further ground to touchthe day’s high of 75.60. TheIndian unit finally settled at75.64, registering a rise of 49paise over its previous close.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has reduced the timingof market hours for call moneymarket, government securitiesmarket, currency market fromApril 7 to April 17 (from 10am to 2 pm) following theunprecedented situation thathas emerged due to the spreadof coronavirus.

The forex market wasclosed on Monday on accountof Mahavir Jayanti. Traderssaid investor sentimentsremain fragile amid concernsover the impact of coron-avirus outbreak on the domes-tic as well as global economy.

The number of deathsaround the world linked to thenew coronavirus has crossedover 74,000. In India, over4,400 coronavirus cases havebeen reported so far.

Meanwhile, domesticstocks rallied on Tuesday withbenchmark index Sensexgoing past the key 30,000-level.The 30-share index surgedover 2,476 points, the biggestsingle-day gains in absoluteterms, amid a broad-basedrally in global equities.

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The Government has takenseveral measures to safe-

guard farmers from anyadverse impact of the ongoinglockdown, and the farm sectoris expected to report a growthof little more than 3 per cent inthe just-ended financial year,Niti Aayog member RameshChand said on Tuesday.

In an interview with PTI,Chand said the Governmenthas taken measures so thatmarkets work normally during

the lockdown period.“The Government has

responded to the situation. Norestriction is put on farmers ingoing to field and undertakingagriculture operations. So, allthose states which are followingthese guidelines, I do not thinkthere will be any adverse impacton the farmers,” he said.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown as part of effortsto curb spreading of coron-avirus infections. On the firstday of the countrywide lock-down, Chand said some

reports came that farmers hadto throw their perishable pro-duce on the road. “After statesissuing order and the districtadministration allowingmovement of machinery trans-port, etc, I see that after firstday, we will not have anyadverse impact on agricultureor farmers,” the Niti Aayogmember said. Replying to aquestion, Chand said that inthe financial year 2019-20, thefarm sector growth is likely tobe reported at little more than3 per cent. “I do not think there

will be any impact (of lock-down) on this (farm sector)growth. We are expecting thatgrowth rate of agriculture sec-tor will be little more than 3 percent. I can say if no shock hap-pens, the long-term growthrate of Indian agriculture willbe 3 per cent,” he said. On fearsthat farmers may resort to dis-tress sale due to lockdown,Chand said, “You see measureshave been taken that marketsworks normally. Even in case ofAPMC Act, lots of relaxationhas been commended”.

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Indian pharma industry onTuesday said there is enough

stock of hydroxychloroquine inthe country, and drug firms areready to ramp up the produc-tion to meet domestic as wellas export requirements.

India has decided to par-tially lift the ban on the exportof anti-malarial drug hydrox-ychloroquine in sync with itsglobal commitment to dealwith coronavirus pandemic.

On March 25, India hadbanned the export of hydrox-ychloroquine in the midst ofconcerns that the drug could beused to fight COVID-19.

India is the largest exporterof the drug. Officials said Indiawould export the drug on acase-by-case basis after meet-ing all the domestic require-ments. “India manufactures 70per cent of the world’s supplyof hydroxychloroquine.Companies like Zydus Cadilaand IPCA are the major man-ufacturers of hydroxychloro-quine in the country,” IndianPharmaceutical Alliance (IPA)Secretary General SudarshanJain told PTI. The productioncapacity is sufficient to meetthe current demand. If theneed arises, the companies arecommitted to ramp up pro-duction, he added. “The

Government has withdrawnthe restrictions on 12 productsand its formulations. Variousscenarios are being assessedand it will be the endeavour tomeet both the domesticdemand and export obligationfor Paracetamol and hydroxy-chloroquine,” Jain said.

The objective is to min-imise speculative buying andhoarding in these trying timesand ensure balance in distrib-ution for patients and segmentwho need them, he added.

India currently has an annu-al installed capacity of around 40metric tonne of active pharma-ceutical ingredients (APIs) ofhydroxychloroquine.

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Investor wealth on Tuesdayjumped Rs 7,71,377 crore as

markets bounced back aftertwo days of fall, tracking abroad-based rally in globalequities.

Following rise in equities,the market capitalisation ofthe BSE-listed firms zoomed Rs7,71,377.02 crore to Rs1,16,38,099.98 crore.

Equity markets were closedon Monday for ‘MahavirJayanti’. “The bears loosenedtheir grip on the Indian mar-kets on Tuesday as the indicesclocked their biggest single-daygain in over a decade.

Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 1106.00 1213.70 1101.00 1206.40HDFCBANK 876.00 906.05 846.00 896.35BAJFINANCE 2232.00 2285.00 2083.00 2253.15INDUSINDBK 344.55 391.55 344.55 384.05ICICIBANK 306.30 329.45 296.95 326.10SBIN 184.80 187.20 177.65 186.35AXISBANK 348.10 397.80 343.05 388.80HDFC 1575.00 1577.70 1518.70 1555.20ICICIGI 1056.00 1193.00 1056.00 1157.70JUBLFOOD 1325.00 1427.95 1312.00 1396.00HINDUNILVR 2325.00 2462.90 2220.00 2444.60MARUTI 4120.55 4610.00 4100.80 4549.60CIPLA 470.00 509.35 452.25 491.95ITC 184.00 185.65 173.60 181.50SUNPHARMA* 392.55 419.60 388.60 417.10TCS 1703.30 1785.00 1703.30 1775.05BAJAJFINSV 4600.00 4800.00 4330.00 4770.00DRREDDY 3200.00 3612.20 3200.00 3603.95BHARTIARTL 432.00 473.40 432.00 470.05BANDHANBNK 198.00 198.80 164.00 167.30KOTAKBANK 1223.90 1229.95 1170.45 1196.95INFY 611.90 643.95 611.90 641.10DMART 2179.00 2191.45 2100.25 2191.45RBLBANK 120.00 120.00 105.60 116.20TATASTEEL 264.80 277.35 261.20 276.15LUPIN 698.75 731.00 670.00 700.05CADILAHC 302.55 318.60 290.10 312.50JINDALSTEL 66.00 82.15 66.00 81.35SRTRANSFIN 540.00 562.50 500.00 536.85CRISIL 1280.00 1280.00 1190.15 1215.10DIVISLAB 2030.00 2110.35 1924.00 2054.00DELTACORP 75.75 75.75 75.60 75.70LT 814.95 814.95 791.00 801.65BIOCON 300.10 319.95 298.05 318.10IPCALAB 1649.00 1649.00 1443.70 1524.15JSWSTEEL 146.55 159.90 146.00 158.25M&MFIN 145.00 149.15 128.45 141.90BPCL 321.15 354.15 319.50 351.50AUROPHARMA 404.00 455.50 393.75 445.50NESTLEIND 15500.00 17177.75 15480.35 16990.35M&M 291.05 323.10 291.05 321.45ONGC 71.15 74.35 70.25 73.05ASIANPAINT 1549.00 1634.15 1537.80 1624.05BRITANNIA 2661.00 2870.00 2640.00 2821.40TATAMOTORS 68.95 69.00 66.95 67.35HINDPETRO 191.50 205.80 185.40 200.20ESCORTS 611.00 668.15 600.00 663.85HINDALCO 92.50 106.65 90.00 104.65APOLLOHOSP 1240.00 1278.00 1212.90 1225.25IBULHSGFIN 101.00 102.30 96.80 98.05PEL 949.00 982.55 881.00 911.90HDFCLIFE 439.00 475.50 434.20 470.35TITAN 900.00 951.80 893.50 946.65HEROMOTOCO 1602.25 1789.95 1602.25 1771.00TORNTPHARM 2214.00 2388.65 2143.55 2361.35SRF 2722.55 2923.60 2710.40 2857.30VEDL 66.00 67.60 65.10 66.70DABUR 440.00 482.10 435.60 478.40INDIGO 970.10 988.55 929.05 983.40BANKBARODA 50.75 50.75 47.70 48.10EICHERMOT 12893.00 13210.00 12460.00 12965.30LICHSGFIN 223.00 228.75 214.25 215.90PVR 1050.00 1056.95 932.20 997.00NAVINFLUOR 1318.00 1389.90 1291.15 1352.00SAIL 22.55 24.80 22.40 24.45BAJAJ-AUTO 2080.00 2300.20 2073.95 2278.25HDFCAMC 2230.00 2251.80 2185.00 2241.65L&TFH 51.05 54.60 49.75 53.85GAIL 85.00 86.45 82.55 84.50IOC 80.10 83.65 80.00 83.00ICICIPRULI 344.90 360.00 337.60 357.25DEEPAKNI 395.00 440.00 385.00 433.10IGL 419.00 441.10 413.55 435.45ASHOKLEY 40.00 41.00 37.35 39.85HCLTECH 428.00 458.50 425.65 455.25MUTHOOTFIN 650.00 682.80 623.35 677.15SBILIFE 660.05 749.45 653.60 735.80DLF 136.70 142.90 135.15 141.45ULTRACEMCO 3148.00 3344.75 3081.70 3273.15SOBHA 162.40 176.20 162.40 176.10IDEA 3.30 3.33 3.16 3.22TVSMOTOR 259.85 278.10 240.10 265.65MANAPPURAM 100.00 103.80 94.25 101.35TECHM 535.00 556.60 535.00 546.50TATACONSUM 274.95 286.75 271.30 284.35ADANIPORTS 257.00 257.00 245.80 248.60GLENMARK 220.50 234.00 217.50 227.95COALINDIA 138.55 142.40 137.25 139.75GRASIM 463.00 523.50 463.00 517.00FEDERALBNK 41.00 43.10 40.40 42.75PIDILITIND 1240.00 1305.00 1220.00 1300.00ZEEL 126.00 142.80 126.00 141.15STAR 318.00 325.45 313.20 317.55SANOFI 6847.00 7100.00 6756.05 7000.00SHREECEM 16335.00 16780.00 15900.00 16632.15ABBOTINDIA 16100.00 16863.30 15897.95 16722.05CANBK 87.00 87.85 83.30 86.75WIPRO 184.10 192.60 183.20 191.90GRANULES 148.00 158.45 145.75 155.95AMBUJACEM 153.00 160.55 153.00 159.60BATAINDIA 1271.90 1282.00 1203.40 1252.75NCC 17.50 17.85 16.25 17.20CHOLAFIN 134.35 135.00 117.40 129.35JUSTDIAL 310.00 322.00 306.20 317.95SUNTV 267.50 301.35 267.50 296.90MOTHERSUMI 58.75 58.75 55.75 56.40BHARATFORG 221.20 224.45 207.85 218.65MARICO 266.50 285.75 266.50 285.00

BEL 72.15 73.25 68.55 69.00ACC 974.60 1018.00 974.45 1007.80RECLTD 89.80 89.80 84.60 87.25NAM-INDIA 256.90 275.00 254.15 268.75UPL 306.00 325.55 306.00 323.75VOLTAS 480.00 501.80 478.30 482.65PAGEIND 16800.00 17091.60 16300.45 16789.55MRF 56935.15 58040.00 56154.10 57901.00MIDHANI 180.00 202.45 176.00 189.35SUNDRMFAST 261.50 261.50 250.00 251.40PNB 30.05 30.40 29.40 29.95MGL 893.00 893.00 833.15 859.95NTPC 81.00 82.00 80.15 81.25MFSL 345.00 368.60 328.50 366.15INFRATEL 171.90 171.90 157.40 160.50TATAPOWER 31.10 34.35 30.80 33.65COLPAL 1282.00 1324.95 1266.20 1318.30GODREJPROP 625.15 714.10 625.15 699.95UJJIVAN 146.90 147.50 135.90 143.50RADICO 281.10 296.65 273.65 289.00BHEL 21.00 21.45 20.90 21.30MCX 990.00 1039.10 990.00 1009.90CANFINHOME 268.70 278.00 258.50 275.00APOLLOTYRE 82.00 84.00 79.75 83.45WOCKPHARMA 185.20 203.70 185.20 200.00ADANIENT 132.00 141.45 131.65 137.45HAVELLS 487.30 508.65 481.50 500.65TATAELXSI 606.85 652.95 605.55 639.15GUJGAS 228.20 239.40 226.55 230.95MINDTREE 740.00 755.50 701.00 733.35GODREJCP 555.00 570.00 543.85 558.80SPARC 107.00 117.40 106.00 115.70CUMMINSIND 308.00 312.00 283.50 288.00IDFCFIRSTB 20.50 20.85 19.65 20.45NIITTECH 1050.00 1116.30 1044.20 1100.95POWERGRID 160.00 161.85 156.55 157.75GUJALKALI 270.00 303.60 262.05 303.60CONCOR 316.00 334.80 312.20 329.95GSKCONS 9769.00 10666.15 9769.00 10666.15BERGEPAINT 462.10 481.85 443.05 478.60RVNL 16.69 16.88 15.85 16.88ADANIPOWER 27.25 29.05 27.00 28.80JKPAPER 80.00 85.80 76.50 84.35PFIZER 4100.80 4339.75 4033.00 4259.80STRTECH* 65.20 69.70 64.55 67.25CGCL 144.30 144.90 132.05 132.75IBREALEST 41.55 42.75 41.40 42.70GLAXO 1260.80 1275.00 1177.25 1245.85INOXLEISUR 259.15 269.50 234.40 238.00

ALKEM 2333.00 2369.45 2295.65 2329.50CESC 432.90 472.60 432.80 450.05NHPC 19.80 21.50 19.80 21.20EQUITAS 39.55 40.35 36.90 37.60BOSCHLTD 9300.00 9392.15 8871.40 9197.90NMDC 80.00 81.45 77.85 78.90NATCOPHARM 568.00 573.95 534.50 565.40NATIONALUM 29.00 29.70 28.50 29.30PFC 89.25 90.30 86.50 89.30OIL 88.50 90.80 85.10 88.75PETRONET 199.00 203.25 196.20 199.00NOCIL 64.00 72.00 64.00 71.30HINDZINC 167.00 169.05 160.00 164.45BALKRISIND 792.00 828.95 792.00 823.30DIXON 3591.60 3789.70 3500.00 3758.55BEML 450.00 479.90 441.00 475.75EXIDEIND 130.05 141.65 130.05 139.45AVANTI 295.50 312.25 286.85 310.90NAUKRI 2049.00 2400.00 2049.00 2324.20EMAMILTD* 184.40 209.50 184.00 207.50PIIND 1185.20 1346.75 1185.20 1316.60INDIACEM 102.00 104.50 102.00 103.15TATAMTRDVR 30.50 31.25 29.95 30.50SIEMENS 1089.00 1121.00 1072.00 1102.75PGHH 10481.00 10650.00 10025.05 10350.00HAWKINCOOK 4139.85 4139.85 3895.00 3960.00CREDITACC 315.25 337.00 305.75 314.85OBEROIRLTY 326.45 332.40 316.70 318.60PGHL 3890.00 4340.00 3830.00 4324.60AUBANK 488.25 490.35 444.10 479.25GMRINFRA 16.15 16.90 16.00 16.65GNFC 116.60 118.50 112.05 117.80BOMDYEING 47.85 51.25 47.10 50.25UBL 900.00 936.05 893.05 921.35LALPATHLAB 1375.00 1400.00 1353.25 1394.00

VINATIORGA 790.85 798.75 751.00 786.05ITI 61.85 66.50 60.25 63.85UNIONBANK 29.00 29.80 28.35 28.95EDELWEISS 42.40 44.15 39.95 39.95TRENT 494.40 494.40 451.50 456.95PHILIPCARB 76.15 76.15 72.05 74.70POLYCAB 750.10 773.40 746.00 763.50APLLTD 560.00 624.00 550.35 613.80HEG 499.00 518.55 499.00 508.25INDHOTEL 75.00 78.95 69.80 73.90PNBHOUSING 169.65 169.65 161.00 168.30ADANIGAS 94.45 95.70 91.80 94.00AMARAJABAT 474.00 505.65 468.90 500.60IRCON 95.00 95.00 87.55 88.60DALBHARAT* 429.55 465.30 429.55 463.50CHAMBLFERT 105.00 117.70 105.00 112.00LAURUSLABS 400.00 410.55 356.90 394.30TNPL 89.95 99.50 88.70 95.00OMAXE 155.95 158.00 152.25 154.50RALLIS 174.00 193.00 171.15 186.25RAMCOCEM 485.30 493.45 471.00 481.00CASTROLIND 105.05 107.95 103.40 106.50GILLETTE 5030.00 5200.00 5030.00 5127.15GMM 2671.00 2839.85 2572.00 2706.90GODREJIND 295.10 299.85 279.30 281.30WELCORP 67.70 67.70 62.40 65.15FORCEMOT 719.50 854.90 715.30 764.45ASTRAZEN 2550.00 2740.35 2455.00 2715.003MINDIA 17800.00 18939.80 17800.00 18880.30TORNTPOWER 284.70 295.55 280.70 294.45DCBBANK 88.00 89.75 77.65 82.45FCONSUMER 6.02 6.02 6.02 6.02ZYDUSWELL 1269.00 1387.90 1269.00 1326.00ADANIGREEN 155.00 159.80 149.00 159.00ABFRL 147.20 152.60 146.50 147.70JUBILANT 275.00 294.85 273.35 294.85BLISSGVS 104.50 111.45 99.00 99.00ATUL 4100.00 4100.00 3881.70 3938.45MEGH 40.90 43.80 40.60 42.75FORTIS 124.80 125.25 120.50 123.65CROMPTON 209.10 213.00 202.50 208.70LTI 1389.00 1389.10 1356.60 1357.00AIAENG 1285.00 1317.00 1219.00 1260.00RELAXO 629.95 631.10 602.00 621.75ISEC 284.55 288.20 272.15 276.10RITES 246.50 247.85 234.00 234.55HONAUT 25358.95 26400.00 25000.00 26226.20KRBL 165.20 165.20 161.50 165.20GODFRYPHLP 967.75 997.50 954.85 985.50METROPOLIS 1271.15 1300.15 1244.60 1256.65KEC 173.70 173.70 155.10 158.30RCF 28.00 29.45 27.80 28.60RAJESHEXPO 640.00 655.15 612.00 618.00RAYMOND 230.00 230.50 221.35 230.50HEXAWARE 216.35 238.15 216.35 235.55JSWENERGY 42.55 43.35 41.95 42.65CUB 124.90 124.90 110.10 115.55SUNTECK 210.40 210.40 193.10 201.70VIPIND 229.50 241.75 228.00 240.00BBTC 734.40 786.70 734.40 786.70LEMONTREE 21.00 21.10 18.10 18.10SYNGENE 267.45 278.00 262.35 270.80LTTS 1150.00 1150.00 1100.00 1105.35SPICEJET 42.60 42.60 42.35 42.60SCI 37.00 38.15 36.85 37.75ABCAPITAL 45.50 45.60 44.05 45.05BASF 1126.85 1144.60 1089.70 1143.00SOUTHBANK 5.90 5.98 5.80 5.89DEEPAKFERT 74.70 79.25 74.70 77.45VENKYS 850.40 852.45 835.00 852.45AJANTPHARM 1367.90 1380.00 1298.00 1339.85BAJAJCON 137.00 140.00 135.10 138.25MPHASIS 698.00 698.00 665.00 669.10RESPONIND 84.55 85.00 81.25 82.00NBCC 16.50 16.90 16.40 16.50JAICORPLTD 48.90 51.00 48.35 50.05IDFC 14.22 14.85 13.92 14.16BANKINDIA 33.60 33.60 32.55 32.60SWANENERGY 100.30 101.00 100.00 100.00TATACOFFEE 56.05 59.10 55.50 58.55JBCHEPHARM 481.00 487.80 462.30 470.75WHIRLPOOL 1831.15 1835.40 1805.35 1824.00BAJAJHLDNG 1926.50 2095.35 1926.50 1990.60ORIENTELEC 184.00 190.00 172.00 177.60WABAG 78.90 78.90 73.00 78.00KAJARIACER 366.25 367.05 351.00 357.35BALRAMCHIN 119.10 120.25 119.00 120.25CEATLTD 720.00 737.00 720.00 722.50INDIANB 46.00 46.40 45.15 45.80TV18BRDCST 15.00 15.55 14.80 15.35VBL 544.70 550.40 526.40 529.50GICRE 112.00 114.85 111.10 112.00JINDALSAW 48.60 50.15 47.50 49.20THYROCARE 519.00 546.00 519.00 525.00KNRCON 186.00 194.05 178.00 183.20PARAGMILK 66.95 72.90 66.00 70.00JCHAC 2282.05 2282.05 2200.00 2211.35HUDCO 19.30 21.50 19.30 21.15SUDARSCHEM 369.95 376.40 362.20 367.10ENGINERSIN 63.45 63.45 59.40 61.10KTKBANK 47.95 47.95 42.60 43.15ALKYLAMINE 1187.00 1241.40 1180.00 1220.45INFIBEAM 42.25 42.25 39.30 39.80FRETAIL 67.60 67.60 67.60 67.60IDBI 19.90 20.80 19.55 19.85FDC 209.00 214.45 204.00 207.50SUZLON 2.31 2.31 2.31 2.31MOIL 103.65 106.80 100.00 104.75AMBER 1211.00 1252.00 1185.10 1190.65

HSCL 46.20 46.20 46.00 46.20QUESS 222.00 222.00 212.00 214.90KEI 309.90 309.90 302.00 309.90GSPL 177.50 184.90 177.50 184.90CARERATING 345.00 365.85 345.00 362.00SJVN 22.10 22.10 20.80 21.05GHCL 95.50 100.05 95.50 100.05GODREJAGRO 366.95 366.95 349.00 360.25JKLAKSHMI 190.30 192.45 179.80 181.65J&KBANK 12.00 12.45 11.20 12.21PERSISTENT 517.55 522.50 499.30 512.90NIACL 112.00 112.00 107.00 108.35COROMANDEL 513.00 521.40 500.80 505.00TRIDENT 4.25 4.30 4.14 4.27CYIENT 231.80 232.95 217.00 222.60CHENNPETRO 61.40 62.70 60.30 60.60PTC 39.90 40.10 39.30 39.75

VGUARD 156.00 159.15 155.50 157.00IBULISL 38.65 40.05 36.75 38.45DBL 206.70 209.25 202.00 205.35ADANITRANS 200.00 200.00 194.50 198.25VARROC 128.00 130.80 127.00 128.35RAIN 58.00 58.15 55.90 57.15OFSS 2115.60 2119.15 2037.50 2065.00SUPREMEIND 825.00 828.00 796.80 822.00LINDEINDIA 477.00 480.25 458.70 466.50IRB 53.05 53.95 52.60 53.00GREAVESCOT 69.50 69.80 66.80 66.95GRSE 148.35 157.05 145.25 154.90ASTRAL 984.55 992.70 961.25 973.00UFLEX 142.05 160.40 142.05 152.70VSTIND 2745.75 2868.25 2745.00 2762.15HINDCOPPER 22.50 23.50 22.10 23.50NH 272.00 282.10 268.25 275.35SONATSOFTW 164.00 173.00 164.00 171.85SYMPHONY 800.00 880.00 796.50 846.00CCL 182.20 182.20 176.75 178.35BAYERCROP 3326.60 3563.95 3241.05 3563.95HEIDELBERG 145.70 145.70 134.60 141.80JKCEMENT 937.90 968.55 923.90 968.00BIRLACORPN 426.50 430.60 413.00 417.85DISHTV 4.17 4.37 4.17 4.37AAVAS 1142.35 1168.40 1078.10 1127.20RELCAPITAL 4.55 4.69 4.41 4.49GRINDWELL 469.00 477.65 456.50 456.50MINDAIND 250.00 250.00 221.60 227.85SKFINDIA 1434.95 1450.65 1411.50 1435.90FINOLEXIND 388.80 388.80 367.00 369.00DHANUKA 344.80 402.00 339.05 402.00HAL 529.25 542.35 527.00 536.60JKTYRE 39.00 41.00 39.00 40.65GSFC 40.90 42.50 39.65 40.80ASHOKA 41.15 41.15 37.75 38.85JAMNAAUTO 25.90 25.90 23.00 23.50JMFINANCIL 63.90 66.00 62.70 63.30SUPRAJIT 127.40 130.15 123.00 124.10KALPATPOWR 189.00 189.00 177.00 177.50CAPPL 290.00 290.00 274.05 277.50FSL 28.50 29.25 28.40 28.50CHOLAHLDNG 277.45 279.05 250.00 277.75DCMSHRIRAM 219.00 220.00 205.00 208.30COCHINSHIP 241.40 250.15 241.40 246.10THERMAX 717.10 739.75 717.10 726.10RPOWER 1.40 1.40 1.40 1.40BALMLAWRIE 83.15 86.65 83.00 85.00MRPL 24.80 24.90 23.65 24.35ESSELPRO 150.00 166.85 150.00 166.85ITDC 131.20 137.70 127.05 130.00IEX 139.10 148.50 138.65 144.75KANSAINER 384.35 384.35 376.00 378.00VMART 1583.70 1682.45 1546.60 1676.30GARFIBRES 1149.40 1156.25 1099.75 1145.00AEGISLOG 137.95 143.90 132.25 143.90GMDCLTD 32.20 36.45 32.00 34.45GPPL 58.50 65.50 54.25 55.65WESTLIFE 338.15 340.10 328.00 332.65EIHOTEL 67.10 72.30 67.10 70.95EIDPARRY 137.45 140.20 136.45 138.95NESCO 455.00 483.55 455.00 474.60JYOTHYLAB 97.00 98.35 93.55 96.65GALAXYSURF 1130.00 1190.00 1130.00 1158.55IFCI 4.00 4.16 3.98 4.00WABCOINDIA 6200.00 6323.00 6197.25 6200.35BDL 190.00 200.00 186.55 191.70WELSPUNIND 21.95 22.40 21.20 22.05MAHSCOOTER 2100.00 2277.00 2080.00 2202.00FINEORG 1919.85 1948.65 1885.00 1893.00TTKPRESTIG 4600.15 4915.00 4600.15 4800.00TIMKEN 812.00 812.50 790.25 798.15LUXIND 956.40 956.40 920.30 930.15

LAXMIMACH 2395.95 2454.70 2359.95 2380.00PNCINFRA 95.30 99.00 94.00 94.00ADVENZYMES 135.00 140.00 135.00 136.00PRESTIGE 187.60 195.00 186.20 193.40HFCL 9.10 9.57 8.95 9.44REDINGTON 69.00 72.00 68.70 70.90TATAMETALI 348.30 352.90 344.35 351.20TIINDIA 272.40 288.00 272.40 286.70BLUESTARCO 460.00 470.35 455.50 460.00SADBHAV 26.20 26.30 24.35 24.55NLCINDIA 43.50 45.00 43.50 44.10SIS 433.50 433.50 397.70 399.75BAJAJELEC 275.00 279.70 272.40 278.95NILKAMAL 940.00 1014.85 940.00 978.60TATAINVEST 647.55 663.00 633.00 648.00ITDCEM 31.00 33.30 30.15 33.10JSL 28.90 28.90 24.95 27.30REPCOHOME 114.50 114.50 109.20 110.50PHOENIXLTD 521.80 536.35 501.05 513.95PCJEWELLER 13.35 13.35 13.35 13.35AKZOINDIA 2108.70 2147.55 2050.00 2060.45UCOBANK 9.11 9.25 9.06 9.11ALLCARGO 60.60 61.50 58.60 59.90ASTERDM 99.00 100.00 93.00 94.75ERIS 385.00 386.20 377.60 382.35FINCABLES 225.30 227.45 219.00 225.65MMTC 12.54 12.75 12.05 12.64MINDACORP 56.90 57.55 53.85 53.85BLUEDART 2041.10 2060.00 1974.70 1998.70MAHSEAMLES 190.00 193.75 190.00 190.00TVTODAY 163.00 171.75 159.00 171.75GRAPHITE 147.10 147.10 147.10 147.10MOTILALOFS* 499.80 500.00 476.00 484.85MAHINDCIE 75.65 76.10 72.55 75.60CENTURYPLY 107.95 108.10 104.10 105.15PRSMJOHNSN 31.40 32.90 30.40 32.40SCHAEFFLER 3550.00 3550.00 3470.40 3500.00MAHABANK 9.01 9.12 8.85 9.02MAHLIFE 205.00 205.00 188.50 190.35TIMETECHNO 25.90 26.15 24.60 25.75ESABINDIA 1031.15 1037.00 990.60 1027.90DCAL* 62.00 62.00 62.00 62.00CERA 2216.00 2260.00 2197.50 2260.00TVSSRICHAK 1014.85 1014.85 900.00 939.65LAKSHVILAS 11.39 11.70 11.21 11.55IOB 7.34 7.34 6.85 7.00NAVNETEDUL 61.00 64.75 60.00 62.90APLAPOLLO 1220.00 1250.00 1220.00 1230.55HIMATSEIDE 60.65 62.00 60.20 61.20ORIENTREF 120.00 122.15 118.80 118.80JSLHISAR 39.60 42.95 39.60 42.95LAOPALA 154.95 157.00 142.75 150.80CENTRALBK 13.35 13.35 12.10 12.25TCIEXP 510.05 530.60 495.00 524.55DBCORP 81.10 88.00 81.10 85.40ORIENTCEM 47.00 47.60 44.20 45.00ENDURANCE 592.20 599.25 585.00 599.25IFBIND 277.45 284.25 277.00 284.25GICHSGFIN 57.30 61.85 57.30 61.70IIFL 85.00 86.00 85.00 86.00SCHNEIDER 71.95 72.95 67.50 71.75SOMANYCERA 93.00 100.00 92.10 96.45ECLERX 373.75 380.00 369.00 369.80ZENSARTECH 92.50 92.90 89.50 90.95SHILPAMED 282.95 282.95 282.95 282.95VRLLOG 147.45 151.05 146.15 149.65JTEKTINDIA 38.15 39.40 36.95 37.55VTL 636.60 649.60 620.95 633.05BRIGADE 131.00 137.95 126.10 136.10GET&D 67.85 70.70 67.40 69.75CENTRUM 10.44 10.44 10.40 10.44TEAMLEASE 1565.10 1565.10 1520.00 1520.00TAKE 40.20 41.75 40.20 41.75ARVINDFASN 139.00 148.95 135.05 138.50CARBORUNIV 230.00 232.00 218.20 221.85DHFL 9.50 9.50 9.50 9.50TEJASNET 31.60 33.15 31.00 33.15HERITGFOOD 235.05 237.30 234.00 237.30FLFL 101.25 101.25 101.25 101.25INOXWIND 20.80 20.80 18.75 19.05JAGRAN 46.00 46.75 44.95 45.90KPITTECH 39.40 39.40 38.00 39.40RATNAMANI 909.00 928.20 909.00 917.00HATHWAY 12.45 13.67 12.45 13.45GESHIP 201.30 205.00 198.05 203.80MAHLOG 221.00 232.15 221.00 230.00SHANKARA 230.00 231.75 223.65 231.75CHALET 185.00 211.25 165.00 180.35SHRIRAMCIT 749.00 770.00 730.10 744.10STARCEMENT 70.75 70.75 69.00 70.50SHK 75.20 76.45 74.00 76.45INDOSTAR 250.00 256.05 245.85 252.65MHRIL 139.80 139.80 137.00 139.05INTELLECT 63.25 63.25 63.25 63.25SHOPERSTOP 209.90 209.90 192.00 192.00GDL 90.65 92.40 88.50 92.40JISLJALEQS 3.68 3.68 3.68 3.68SOLARINDS 887.00 931.00 887.00 928.90NBVENTURES 36.90 38.20 36.30 36.30GEPIL 485.55 485.55 457.30 457.30MASFIN 518.70 530.90 518.05 526.75VAIBHAVGBL 835.90 849.90 805.10 825.00NETWORK18 17.85 17.90 17.50 17.90TCNSBRANDS 370.00 370.00 312.00 339.35MAXINDIA 59.65 60.10 58.95 59.35KPRMILL 333.75 343.10 333.75 339.60RELINFRA 11.68 11.68 11.68 11.68SFL 1255.00 1255.00 1250.00 1250.00GAYAPROJ 9.54 9.54 9.54 9.54

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 8446.30 8819.40 8360.95 8792.20 708.40INDUSINDBK 344.50 391.50 344.50 391.50 78.30AXISBANK 347.40 405.75 342.35 391.00 65.55GRASIM 478.00 522.90 463.00 522.90 68.20DRREDDY 3250.00 3615.60 3210.00 3599.95 453.15HINDUNILVR 2220.00 2460.00 2220.00 2449.00 294.90M&M 295.50 323.80 292.75 319.00 38.30ICICIBANK 308.30 329.60 296.85 324.80 38.15HINDALCO 92.15 106.55 90.00 100.50 11.70MARUTI 4150.00 4612.90 4120.00 4525.95 514.45ZEEL 129.00 143.00 126.65 139.80 15.45RELIANCE 1102.10 1214.00 1100.00 1211.00 133.55HCLTECH 425.00 457.95 425.00 456.00 50.20HEROMOTOCO1630.00 1789.00 1623.65 1775.25 193.20JSWSTEEL 148.05 159.85 145.45 157.70 17.00BAJAJ-AUTO 2065.00 2303.55 2065.00 2270.00 236.25NESTLEIND 15575.00 17200.00 15426.05 16850.00 1745.35BHARTIARTL 433.15 485.75 433.15 470.00 46.05BRITANNIA 2640.15 2878.70 2640.15 2835.00 271.75SUNPHARMA 398.00 422.85 388.30 415.55 39.60BPCL 327.00 359.30 319.50 350.00 32.85HDFCBANK 874.00 907.30 845.35 895.80 81.95CIPLA 479.00 513.40 452.00 492.00 42.80TITAN 900.10 954.95 892.30 940.00 77.20TATASTEEL 266.05 277.70 261.20 275.50 21.75UPL 311.00 326.00 307.15 322.80 24.70INFY 615.00 644.25 612.90 633.80 48.10ULTRACEMCO 3184.95 3345.75 3080.25 3274.00 232.40ASIANPAINT 1540.00 1635.00 1538.00 1625.20 104.30TCS 1710.00 1785.85 1705.00 1765.85 111.65WIPRO 188.25 192.70 183.05 191.95 11.95SBIN 184.40 187.30 177.60 185.75 10.25VEDL 66.30 67.70 65.10 66.45 3.65BAJAJFINSV 4620.00 4818.80 4329.05 4771.95 261.20TECHM 536.50 557.65 535.75 547.00 26.10HDFC 1574.70 1577.50 1517.60 1570.00 70.45GAIL 84.00 86.45 82.55 84.70 3.80IOC 82.00 83.70 80.00 82.85 3.35KOTAKBANK 1221.00 1229.05 1171.00 1188.00 47.15ONGC 71.20 74.40 70.20 72.65 2.80SHREECEM 16090.00 16850.00 15882.15 16351.15 567.35LT 805.00 813.00 791.00 802.20 27.55INFRATEL 164.20 164.50 157.10 161.10 4.70TATAMOTORS 68.55 69.30 66.90 67.20 1.90EICHERMOT 13070.80 13212.00 12450.10 13040.00 359.95NTPC 81.60 82.05 80.10 81.40 1.85ITC 185.70 185.70 173.65 181.40 3.50BAJFINANCE 2245.00 2286.00 2081.50 2249.00 41.50ADANIPORTS 254.20 255.85 245.60 248.80 4.00COALINDIA 140.30 142.40 137.15 139.65 1.90POWERGRID 161.00 161.90 156.40 157.55 1.35

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 21068.50 21766.40 20841.10 21682.45 1282.75AUROPHARMA 400.00 455.35 393.45 448.00 65.60CADILAHC 302.05 318.90 290.00 314.05 39.45SBILIFE 665.00 748.30 653.00 739.00 88.85HDFCLIFE 436.90 476.00 433.25 470.50 48.20DABUR 446.85 489.00 434.40 474.50 46.70ICICIGI 1072.00 1195.00 1072.00 1153.80 108.75L&TFH 51.95 55.55 49.75 53.90 5.00BIOCON 300.00 320.00 297.30 318.95 28.00MARICO 272.80 284.95 265.60 284.60 23.45DIVISLAB 1960.00 2150.00 1921.25 2067.95 166.90MCDOWELL-N 483.80 534.00 477.55 504.90 39.10HINDPETRO 193.00 205.90 185.25 199.15 14.95CONCOR 315.00 334.95 312.40 328.10 23.60NHPC 20.55 21.55 20.00 21.25 1.45PIDILITIND 1248.00 1305.00 1219.20 1301.00 85.10LUPIN 690.00 738.65 670.25 699.00 43.15BERGEPAINT 465.65 482.00 442.35 478.05 29.40DLF 137.70 142.90 135.10 140.30 8.20HAVELLS 485.50 508.90 481.25 499.85 28.35COLPAL 1290.00 1324.90 1264.00 1323.00 73.10GODREJCP 549.00 570.00 541.05 559.00 27.55ICICIPRULI 346.85 360.35 337.40 356.40 17.50ASHOKLEY 40.00 40.75 37.30 40.10 1.95DMART 2090.10 2170.25 2090.10 2170.25 103.30MOTHERSUMI 57.10 58.05 55.65 57.40 2.70ACC 976.00 1018.80 973.10 1009.95 47.35SIEMENS 1092.00 1121.70 1070.60 1098.60 47.35BOSCHLTD 9020.50 9365.10 8900.00 9160.00 343.35PFC 89.00 90.40 86.50 89.60 3.35AMBUJACEM 154.00 160.50 153.50 158.90 5.90HDFCAMC 2250.00 2255.00 2181.65 2243.10 65.95BAJAJHLDNG 1980.00 2020.70 1932.15 1979.95 55.35SRTRANSFIN 535.60 564.40 500.10 535.50 14.85INDIGO 987.00 994.30 928.05 980.30 27.05UBL 910.00 937.20 890.70 911.05 24.10GICRE 114.60 114.60 110.55 111.80 2.65HINDZINC 169.45 169.45 159.65 165.00 3.45OFSS 2065.25 2143.55 2021.75 2073.85 39.70PETRONET 200.65 203.45 196.00 199.00 3.20IDEA 3.25 3.30 3.15 3.20 0.05ADANITRANS 191.00 201.20 191.00 196.75 2.80NIACL 110.00 112.80 106.00 108.60 1.50PAGEIND 16749.00 17094.00 16602.95 16724.50 221.50IBULHSGFIN 101.80 102.35 96.70 97.90 1.25PNB 30.50 30.50 29.65 29.90 0.25PGHH 10420.00 10699.95 10210.10 10440.00 76.95PEL 970.00 982.70 880.30 912.00 -0.10NMDC 80.00 81.50 77.70 78.60 -0.65BANKBARODA 50.25 50.90 47.70 48.00 -0.70BANDHANBNK 198.00 199.25 164.30 170.15 -11.40

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New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo said on

Tuesday that the COVID-19deaths in the state hit a newone-day peak, with 731 peopledead in the largest single-dayincrease in fatalities since thecoronavirus crisis engulfed thestate, the epicentre of the pan-demic in the US.

‘The bad news is 5,489New Yorkers have lost theirlives to this virus. That is upfrom 4,758, the largest singleday increase. That’s 731 peoplewho we lost. Behind every oneof those numbers is an indi-vidual, is a family, is a mother,is a father…,” Cuomo said.

The state has a total of1,38,836 coronavirus cases andas of Tuesday 5,489 peoplehave died, up by 731 fromMonday morning. Cuomo saidthe number of newly hospi-talised patients is also up fromMonday. In what he describedas “good news”, Cuomo saiddaily ICU admissions and dailyintubations numbers are down.

“And right now we’re pro-jecting that we are reaching aplateau in the total number of

hospitalizations and you cansee the growth… is starting toflatten. Again this is a projec-tion. It still depends on what wedo and what we do will affectthose numbers. This is not anact of God that we’re looking at.It’s an act of what society actu-ally does,” he said in his dailymedia briefing.

The Governor said he iscoordinating with Governors ofNew Jersey and Connecticut onplans to restart the economyand daily life. “We’re not there

yet. But this is not a lightswitch that we can just flick oneday, and everything goes backto normal. We’re going to haveto restart that economy, we’regoing to have to restart a lot ofsystems that we shut downabruptly. And we need to startto plan for that,” he said.

He said he has spoken toNew Jersey Governor PhilMurphy and ConnecticutGovernor Ned Lamont about“coming up with a regionalmetropolitan tri-state

approach” to restart the econ-omy and get everything up andrunning as quickly as possible.

Cuomo’s grim announce-ment on the increase inCOVID-19 deaths came afterthe state witnessed an “effec-tively flat” death toll for twodays and saw drop in numberof hospitalisations and ICUadmissions, which theGovernor has said could be“good signs” of a “possibleflattening” of the coronaviruscurve in the state.

On Monday, Cuomo hadoffered a slight glimmer of hopewhen he said the death toll in thestate has been “effectively flat fortwo days.” In the 24 hours sinceApril 4, the death toll grew to “all-time increase” of 630. But onboth Sunday and Monday, fewerthan 600 deaths from the viruswere reported in New York - 594on Sunday, 599 on Monday. InNew York City, the number ofcases had reached 68,766 and thedeath toll was 2,738.

Cuomo has said while thedeath toll is not good news,“the possible flattening of thecurve is better than the increas-es that we have seen.”

His aide Jim Malatras hadsaid based on the earliest pro-jections, it was estimated thatthe pandemic peak in the statewould come at the end of Apriland would require around1,10,000 beds just forCOVID19 patients.

Cuomo earlier announcedthe state is increasing the max-imum fine for violations of thestate’s social distancing proto-col from USD 500 to USD1,000 to help address the lackof adherence to social distanc-ing protocols.

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Japanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe declared a month-

long state of emergency forTokyo and six other prefectureson Tuesday to ramp up defens-es against the spread of the coro-navirus as the number of infec-tions surges. But the move camein the form of a stay-at-homerequest — not an order — andviolators will not be penalised.

The COVID-19 outbreak isnow rampant and rapidlyspreading, threatening people’shealth, their daily lives and theeconomy, Abe said.

The state of emergency,which is until May 6, will onlypermit Tokyo Gov. YurikoKoike and heads of the sixother prefectures to do more toreinforce calls for social dis-tancing. “The most importantthing is for each one of us tochange our activity,” Abe told agovernment task force. He urgedeveryone to cut contacts with oth-ers by 70-80% for one month,calling the coronavirus pandem-ic “the biggest postwar crisis.”

The announcement fol-lows surges in new cases inTokyo, including consecutiverises exceeding 100 over theweekend. By Tuesday therewere 1,196 confirmed cases inthe metropolitan region of 14million people. Nationwide,Japan has reported 91 deathsfrom COVID-19 and 3,906confirmed cases, plus another712 cases and 11 fatalities froma cruise ship that was quaran-tined earlier at Yokohama portnear Tokyo.

Abe has been under pres-sure to declare a state of emer-gency to get better compliancewith calls for social distancingamid rising alarm over thenumber of cases without anyknown contact with otherpatients. Tokyo Gov. YurikoKoike welcomed the emergencymeasures, saying she expectsthey “will prevail widely anddeeply among the people.” Shesaid her immediate requestunder the state of emergency is“stay home.”

Japan’s limits on officialaction during a state of emer-

gency stem from its experiencewith repression and disastersstemming from fascist govern-ments before and during WorldWar II. The public is doubly warydue to the push by Abe’s ultra-conservative ruling party and itssupporters for a constitutionalamendment to include a state ofemergency clause for disasterand wartime contingencies. Abe’sGovernment is thought to havedelayed declaring a state ofemergency out of fear of how itmight hurt the economy. But asfear of the pandemic has grown,the public and medical expertshave increasingly supported tak-ing more drastic action.

The state of emergencyincludes a stay-at-homerequest; guidance to schools ontemporary closures andrequests to close nonessentialbusinesses and stores and tocancel or postpone events andexhibits. Violators cannot bepenalized unless they fail tocomply with orders on provid-ing or storing emergency reliefgoods, such as surgical masksand medical equipment.

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Britain could see asmany as 66,000

COVID-19 deaths dur-ing the first wave of thecurrent pandemic, newresearch showedTuesday, making theoutbreak there by farthe deadliest in Europe.

Modelling conduct-ed by the Institute forHealth Metrics andEvaluation (IHME) at theUniversity of Washington’sSchool of Medicine showedthat approximately 151,680people were likely to die fromthe virus across the continent.

While the novel coron-avirus emerged in China andwas initially focussed in eastAsia, the World HealthOrganization now says thepandemic is centred in west-ern Europe, with Spain, Italyand France experiencing dev-astating death tolls.

Most European nationshave introduced strict social

distancing measures to try tostem the virus spread.

More than 5,000 peoplehave died from COVID-19 inBritain, fewer than in Spain,Italy and France. But Britain’sepidemic lags behind the restof the continent by severaldays, and its death toll trajec-tory is already steeper thanother nations. Using local andinternational data on casenumbers, as well as age mor-tality breakdowns from Italy,China and the US, the team atIHME modelled the expecteddeath toll on a country-by-

country basis. A keyconsideration was anindividual nation’sintensive care bedcapacity.

It found thatBritain could experi-ence 66,000 COVID-19deaths by July, far morethan Italy, the next mostseverely impacted, witharound 20,000. Spainand France were next,with 19,000 and 15,000

predicted deaths, respectively.“We are expecting a forebodingfew weeks for people in manyparts of Europe,” said IHMEDirector Christopher Murray.“It seems likely the number ofdeaths will exceed our projec-tions for the United States.” OnSunday the institute predictedjust over 80,000 US COVID-19deaths during the pandemic’sfirst wave. The modelling sug-gests that outbreaks in Italyand Spain, where hundreds ofdeaths have been reporteddaily for weeks, may be pasttheir peak.

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Italian Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte consulted

top scientists on Tuesday aboutways to safely end a month-long lockdown aimed at stem-ming a pandemic that haskilled thousands and left mil-lions unemployed.

Conte’s videoconferencewith the Government’s scien-tific committee came one weekbefore Italy’s economically-crippling closure of most busi-nesses and factories is set toexpire. Few expect it will.

The shutdown and anaccompanying ban on almostall outdoor activity have helpedslow the spread of a novelcoronavirus that has officially

claimed a world-topping 17,127lives.

The daily reported tollreached 969 on March 27 andhas since levelled off. Therewere 604 new fatalities onTuesday and the rise in infec-tions fell to a new low of just 2.3per cent.

But health officials warnthat the outbreak appears tohave peaked only because ofthe various closures and bans.They insist on keeping thecontainment rules in place aslong as possible — perhapsuntil a vaccine is developed orsome reliable tests can showwho has immunity against thenew disease.

“We are far from the end,”the scientific committee’s head

Domenico Arcuri toldreporters before entering thetalks with Conte. “The numberof men and women who willdie from the virus will contin-ue to rise.”

Italian businesses counterthat they cannot afford to standidle much longer. A studyreleased on Tuesday by theConfcooperative small busi-ness lobby said the economywas being subjected to an “epochal shock” thatwould take at least two years toovercome.

It estimated that more thanhalf of Italy’s 1.3 million con-struction workers and over athird of the 11.4 million ser-vices sector employees werenow furloughed.

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Spain’s daily coronavirusdeath toll shot up to 743 on

Tuesday after falling for fourstraight days, bringing the total to 13,798, the HealthMinistry said.

However, it emphasisedthat the rise was due to week-end deaths being tallied andthat the overall “downwardtrend” is continuing.

The new figure representsa 5.7 per cent increase over the637 deaths recorded onMonday, the lowest number offatalities since March 24 in theworld’s second hardest-hitcountry after Italy in terms offatal outcomes. The number ofnew infections also grew at afaster pace, rising 4.1 per centto 140,510, the health ministrysaid. The number of new casesrose 3.3 per cent on Monday.

The “slight” rise was duelargely to the fact that manydeaths and new infectionswhich occur over the weekendare only now being recorded,said Maria Jose Sierra of thehealth ministry’s emergenciescoordination unit.

“In reality the downwardtrend is what we continue toobserve in the reports we havereceived in recent days,” shetold a daily news conference onthe figures. Spain had seen thenumber of new infections anddeaths drop each day since itrecorded a record 950 fatalitieson Thursday.

The percentage increasein the number of deaths is farlower than the 32.63 per centleap recorded as recently asMarch 21. The number of peo-ple in hospital intensive careunits also continues to fall,Maria Jose Sierra added.

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China will open-up the epi-centre of its coronavirus

pandemic Wuhan onWednesday for outbound trav-el for the first time since theJanuary 23 lockdown, as thecountry reported no newdeaths from COVID-19, attain-ing a new milestone in the bat-tle against the disease.

Just as China started open-ing-up the epicentre, concernsof rebound of COVID-19 wason the rise in the country asimported infections increasedto 983 with 32 new confirmedcases, the National HealthCommission said.

Also, 30 new asympto-matic COVID-19 cases werereported on the mainland onMonday. The NHC said 1,033asymptomatic cases were stillunder medical observation.

Asymptomatic coronaviruscases are those who test posi-tive for the virus but do notshow any symptoms and havethe potential to cause sporadicclusters of infections. Lastweek, China began disclosingthe number of asymptomaticcases for the first time, after

growing public concerns overthe potential of “silent” carriersto spread the disease.

Wuhan, where coronaviruswas first reported in Decemberlast year and then spread likewildfire to other parts of theworld, would start flights andrailway services on Wednesday,restoring a semblance of nor-malcy for its 11 million peoplewho bore the brunt of thevirus outbreak.

Hubei province for whichWuhan is the capital hasalready started outbound trav-el services. For local residents,April 8 will see the resumptionof normal life after more thantwo months of isolation, evenas epidemiologists warned thatit is not the time to complete-ly lower the guard and ease onfull-scale restrictions, espe-cially for community-basedepidemic control work, con-sidering the looming asymp-tomatic patients and possiblerebound in infections, officialmedia reported.

While lifting harsh restric-tions after the 76-day lock-down, officials asked local peo-ple to continue carrying outstrict community-based mon-itoring and management, mak-ing sure that a rebound in newinfections won’t occur follow-ing the traffic resumption.

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Anovel vaccine fully protectsmice against a lethal dose of

MERS, a close cousin of thenovel coronavirus that causesCOVID-19, scientists said onTuesday. The vaccine uses aharmless virus to deliver aMERS coronavirus protein intocells to generate an immuneresponse, said the researchersfrom researchers at theUniversity of Iowa and theUniversity of Georgia in the US.

It may hold promise fordeveloping vaccines againstother coronaviruses diseases,including COVID-19, theysaid. The team tested the MERSvaccine candidate in mice engi-neered to be susceptible to theMERS coronavirus.

The vaccine is an innocu-ous parainfluenza virus (PIV5)carrying the “spike” proteinthat MERS uses to infect cells.

All the vaccinated mice sur-vived a lethal dose of the MERScoronavirus, according to theresults published in the journalmBio.

“Our new study indicatesthat PIV5 may be a useful vac-cine platform for emergingcoronavirus diseases, includingSARS-CoV-2, the virus causingthe ongoing COVID-19 pan-demic,” said Paul McCray, aprofessor the University ofIowa. “Using the same strate-gy, vaccine candidates based onPIV5 expressing the spike pro-tein of SARS-CoV-2 have beengenerated,” McCray said.

The researchers are plan-ning more studies in animals totest the ability of PIV5-basedvaccines in preventing diseasecaused by SARS-CoV-2.

MERS (Middle EastRespiratory Syndrome) andCOVID-19 are both caused bycoronaviruses.

MERS is deadlier and isfatal in about one third ofknown cases, but there havebeen only 2,494 cases since2012, when the virus firstemerged, the researchers said.

In contrast, there have beenover 1.25 million confirmedcases of COVID-19 worldwidesince it first emerged in late2019 in Wuhan, China, andalmost 70,000 people have diedfrom the disease, they said.

The study found that justone, relatively low dose of thevaccine given to the miceintranasally — inhaled throughthe nose — was sufficient tofully protect all the treatedmice from a lethal dose ofMERS coronavirus.

When the researchersanalysed the immune respons-es generated by the vaccine,they found that both antibod-ies and protective T cells wereproduced.

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)���� "����� ��*���C�����""���������*�7��#4�������������������� ���Rome: Italy’s number of newcoronavirus cases has contin-ued to drop.

Civil Protection authoritiessaid Tuesday there were 3,039new cases in a 24-hour period.Italy hasn’t seen such a lowdaily number since the earlyweeks of the outbreak.

Giovanni Rezza, director ofthe infectious disease divisionof the national health institute,said, “Finally it seems we arebeginning to see a lessening ofnew cases” after a plateauphase. AP

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Page 12: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forcedus all to modify our lifestyle — from

the way we live, to the way we learn, tothe way we conduct our business.SpeakIn, AI-enabled network of speak-ers and thought leaders, identified thepotential danger the global crisis maypose to the businesses, the students andthe mental well-being of individuals. Itlaunched a series of online video inter-views and webinars to ensure that bestof thought leaders are sharing verifiedand credible information.

“Online learning and webinars willbecome the new norm in the post-COVID era. Our first priority right now

is that all health restores soon. ThoughCxO’s are well aware that they are star-ing into a fragmented workforce and arestriving hard to keep employees engagedand motivated as they battle personal aswell professional challenges. Similarly,individuals are overwhelmed with infor-mation and are realising that this can beone of the most critical pauses they willtake in their lives where they can learnand re-skill. And we are seeing a mas-sive uptake in both these cases.Organisations are reaching out to usschedule their customised learning ses-sions, at the same time individuals want-ing to learn through various webinars,”said Deepshikha Kumar, FounderSpeakIn.

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In these tough times for stu-dents all over the country,

Testbook, an EdTech start-upfor Government exams prepa-ration has launched the all-in-one Testbook Pass to supportmillions of students studyingfrom home during the lock-down to prepare for more than100 government job exams sit-ting at home.

It provides complete accessto 100+ online courses, 3500+mock test, 1000+ practicequizzes, 500+ video tricks and2000+ study notes at just �149

per month. All the students and

Government job aspirants caneasily study from home, asTestbook has reduced the priceof its online courses by over 95per cent.

All the online courses pro-vided by Testbook are very aptto study on mobile with itsunique features like watchingvideo lectures even withoutthe internet which is beneficialfor helping out smaller townstudents. EdTech today is rev-olutionising in every aspect andhelping students in tackling thecrisis.

The sudden lockdown can be atesting time for the students but

due to the various exams being post-poned what it offers is time. The iso-lation can be a gift for all students ifthey use it to their advantage byworking towards their goal withutmost dedication. Online learningis a saviour in these testing times andby choosing to learn from the mostqualified teachers at the cheapest ofprices students can make the mostof the time that they have in theirhand.

Having said that, there are cer-tain perennial issues that stillplague e-learning. First & foremostis the digital divide in the countryand there are still many efforts fromthe Government’s end that need tobe taken to bridge this gap. Andwhile there have been inevitableteething problems, one can simplynot deny that online courses rep-resent the future. The recent out-break has left many experts won-dering the course of events infuture and online learning is theonly thing right now which can saveour life from coming to a completestandstill.

In these testing circumstancesdue to impromptu closure, thebiggest benefactors and the bless-ings in disguise are the onlinelearning platforms. Also known ase-learning this online learningmethod can cater to the growingdemands of the students in themost efficient manner. The onlinelearning platforms have seen aspike in the number of studentswho are enrolling in the plethora ofcourses they offer. From courses onvarious Government sector exams,technical courses to activities likepainting and even dancing there isa never-ending list that is availableto you at the most affordable price.The preparation for Governmentjobs, in particular, has put manystudents in a quandary as stilleven in these modern times theyprefer a traditional brick and mor-tar kind of setting. The reason forthat is the physical presence of theeducators and the learning atmos-phere with the students of similarinterests in these offline courses.However, the recent advancementsin technologies have taken theeducation industry by storm.

India is not new to eLearning,for instance, Coursera, anAmerican learning platform found-ed in 2012 has over 35 million usersand India is second only to Americawhen it comes to a number of peo-ple who are taking the courses. Themajor advantage that online learn-ing has over offline is its flexibili-ty. Student can learn from any-where in the world at his conve-nience. Furthermore, students inour country are generally more cau-tious when it comes to spendingand the traveling time, cost of

traveling and exorbitant offlinecourse fees only add to the woes intheir otherwise busy schedule. Themore technological advancementwill only lead to more attraction forstudents and it is expected that by2021 our e-learning will be wortha staggering $2 billion.

Online learning has covered alot of ground in the recent timesand the interface is more userfriendly and on top of that a studentgets a classroom experience by sit-ting in the corners of their rooms.There are facilities for communi-

cating with your educators and thestudents of the same course. Thebiggest trump card is its flexibletimescale. Students can get a reso-lution to their problems not onlyduring the mundane hours of theclass but also during the timewhile they are studying themselvesvia email or through an online chatsystem. The exams are mostly con-ducted online today due to its effi-cient mechanism and due to thetests, which are designed in theonline format, e-learning makesstudents accustomed to an almostexact exam atmosphere and thusincreases their chances of success.

With the availability of variouscourses by an endless number ofeducators with demos and refundpolicies, the student’s satisfaction isalways given a priority. An educa-tor in online learning keeps onimprovising to impart better edu-cation in comparison to their peersin order to survive in this humon-gous platform which enhances theexperience of the users and help intheir overall development.

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The post-millennial age or Gen Zis currently the biggest portion ofthe populace. Considered digi-

tally savvy, this generation is the firstto grow up in a completely advancedenvironment, communicating fluidlyover online media and one that is total-ly reliant over the internet. Almost sev-enty five percent of them prefer phonesover watching TV.

Similarly, as with previous gener-ations, a school and post-graduatetraining are well-respected; but, be thatas it may, the education industry isinadequately equipped with regards todigitally engaging with their under-studies, and more sadly, coming upshort on the devices to set them up fortech-driven professions.

In today’s day and age, undergradadmission is expected to grow multi-fold between 2020 and 2025, yetadvanced educational institutions havesignificant making up for the losttime. The challenge confronting edu-cational set-ups are significant, however,these foundations can utilise digitalstrategies to readily engage their digi-tally savvy students. Here are three waysone can push colleges to adopt digitaltools:

Make the enrollment processcompletely digital

Keeping aside the advancementsthat are being introduced in the edu-cational space, the school enrollmentprocess is still unaltered. Students canlook at the university through its web-site, and with fellow students or alum-

ni through connections, but it is stillextremely difficult for a student to nav-igate through the administrative side ofthings. Only through digital tech-nologies in the enrollment process caninstitutions alleviate the differencesbetween the administrative side and thestudents.

Devise digital and mobile mar-keting methodologies

There is no better way to engage thepresent generation than through digi-tal tools. Whilst teaching methodolo-gies have still seen a shift, the admis-sion outreach is yet to explore suchchannels. According to a survey, morethan 80 per cent of the students visit theschool or university’s website throughtheir phones. By having effective toolsand applications that will ease-out theprocess to submit an application, uni-versities can become digitally friendlierdrawing more applications.

Another missed opportunity thatmany universities don’t tap into is SMSmarketing. More than 70 per cent of thestudents would allow for texts from col-leges if at all it offered any substantialinformation that is beneficial for them.SMS marketing can also help out as

alerts for students to know when the lastday of the admission process could be.

Embrace new marketing tech-niques

Amongst the general public withplenty of noise, present schools must dosubstantially more outbound advertis-ing than in the past decades. Collegesare making jobs for advertising andmarking specialists to investigate themarket and develop methodologies,much like customary organisations do.

According to a recent survey, moreuniversities are using social mediamarketing than ever before. All thiswhile multi-channel advertising andcommunication still hold a pivotalrole. Students are more likely to consideruniversities that use an amalgamationof digital with print and phone com-munications.

Devising personalised contentToday, practically all colleges are

ready for customised training. Virtuallearning situations can give under-studies a modified learning experience,that is versatile to their individualneeds. These projects can also assistunderstudies with keeping tabs ontheir development and focus on their

scholarly goals. Thanks to these per-sonalised programmes, students canfurnish their minds with clear infor-mation on what they need. Understudiescan without much of a stretch give feed-back on what works for them and whatdoesn’t, offering colleges an opportunityto persistently improve their peda-gogy. Whilst personalised teachingmethodologies pave way for the bet-terment of the students, colleges anduniversities can also use personaliseddigital strategies to target students withdifferent mindsets. While this allows forholistic selection, it also encourages amuch diverse classroom making thelearning richer and more versatile.

Owing to the plethora of advan-tages, universities across the countryhave numerous questions in theirminds. Is technology going to answerevery marketing question? Will digitalmarketing render lower administrativecosts? Should we encourage diversity incolleges? Whilst digital marketing in theadmission process doesn’t guarantee theanswers to these questions, it sure doeshelp them differentiate amongst a poolof infinite universities.

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Through Numerology, one canfind out which day is good for

any specific work.We have to take date and month

of birth and add them to the date,month and year number of which thewants to know.

For example, if someone’s per-sonal date number is 2. Then, we seethe relationship of number 2 with hispsychic number and name number.

If the relationship of one’s psychicnumber with personal date numberis friendly then the date will be good.

Similarly, if his name numbervibrates friendly with personal datenumber, then the date will be good.

Like personal date number is 2and vibrations emitted by number 2are favourable for:� Improvement in financial status.� Entering into new contract.� Selecting a life partner, if unmar-ried.� Trying to get co-operation fromothers.

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As part of their contin-uing efforts to support

enterprise customers andtheir workers during thecurrent crisis, Udacity hascreated and released a freecourse in collaborationwith Upwork to promotebest practices for remoteteam management asmany companies findthemselves working withdistributed teams for thefirst time. A one-hourcourse, Managing Remote

Teams will help managersand other team leaderslearn the tools and devel-op the skills and strategiesneeded to hire, manage,and optimise remoteteams.

“As businesses strive tocontinue day-to-day oper-ations during the COVID-19 pandemic, they need toadapt their processes towhat is quickly becomingthe new normal,” saidGabriel Dalporto, CEO,Udacity. “Remote workhas replaced on-site inter-

actions for countless work-ers across the globe. Whilemany tasks can be com-pleted from home, the bestpractices for doing so —and for managing thisnewly distributed work-force — are still somethingof an enigma to manyteam leads. We wanted toprovide a solution to helpour customers betterunderstand how to operatein an online workspace.Upwork proved to be theperfect partner to help usclose that knowledge gap.”

“The rapid pivot toadopting fully remoteteams can be jarring fororganisations. We areworking to provide solu-tions that can help our cus-tomers, as well as the gen-eral public, successfullyadapt to working with adistributed workforce. Bypartnering with Udacity,we’re able to have thegreatest impact for those inneed of skills develop-ment,” said HaydenBrown, President andCEO, Upwork.

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Making the educa-tional sector

touch new horizons ofsuccess, AnsalUniversity opens itsgates yet again for thebatch of 2020. Locatedin Gurugram, the uni-versity is all geared tonurture new studentsand thus has startedaccepting applicationsfor the latest term. Theregistrations are ongo-ing and the last day ofthe application is 14

August 2020.The university

understands how therecould be a millionobstacles when one triesto hunt down theirgoals and hence it helpsthe aspiring students tokick start their journeywith the leaders of theeducation industry.Providing them withample exposure andinteractive ways ofteaching.

Dr DNS Kumar,Vice-Chancellor, AnsalUniversity, says: “We, at

Ansal University, focuson working with stu-dents and mouldingthem competentenough to transformtheir dreams into real-ity, eventually translat-ing them into their suc-cess stories. We under-stand the passion theycarry for their field andwe are here to sparktheir fire and encouragethem to reach newerhorizons of successwhile exploring theirpotential and capabili-ties.”

Page 13: ˘ˇˆ ˙ ˝ ˛˚˜ ! 2ˇ , ˚’ ˝ %& !!#!$%! 5 &$ & )# 4 & 4)4 · 2020-04-07 · of lockdown beyond April 14. Various studies have shown ... Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan,

Abusiness analyst examinesthe info of internal or exter-nal clients and uses their

findings to form recommendationsabout business decisions. On thefinancial side, analysts are calledupon to assist the corporate, eitherthe analyst’s own employer or anexternal client, make investmentdecisions. The business analyststudies financial data, attemptingto identify trends and make fore-casts. Typically, the analyst preparesperiodic reports during which heor she recommends the corporatebuy or sells certain securities.High-level financial analysts areeven called upon to use financialmodels to work out if it's an aus-picious time to sell the corporate.

�����Business or financial analyst

officer are loaded with the respon-sibilities of evaluating the creditworthiness of the business anddetermine the line of credit, alsodevelop the financial profile andinvestigate the credit history.

Business analysts pour overcompany data and use their find-ings to assist management makebusiness decisions. This data,instead of being investment-relat-ed, involves the day-to-day oper-ations of the business. A businessanalyst’s professional study strate-gy, business models, processes andworkflows, and technical systems.They are called upon to identifyinefficiencies and find opportuni-ties for the company’s operationsto be streamlined and improved.

The business analyst is a job

that composed with lots of respon-sibilities and risks. Generally finan-cial analyst is accountable forassessing the application of the loanapplicant’s using a range of crite-ria including the aim of the appli-ance, credit viability, and cus-tomer payment history and cus-tomer creditworthiness. Businessanalyst plays the role of majoradministrator of customer credit.They affect heavy computer pro-grammes to take care of all the his-tory of customer credit and keepsfinancial records up to date. Theanalyst is important for a healthyeconomy. Without the recom-mendation of the credit analyst thebanks, insurers and company can-not extend loan for business, home,cars and occasionally employeespayrolls as well.

>#�"����� ����A career as a business or

financial analyst requires the bach-elor’s degree in finance, accountingor another related field like ratioanalysis, statistics, economics, cal-culus, and financial statementanalysis and risk assessment. Thesesubjects are necessary to functionas a business analyst because theyaid in risk assessment. Educationalsubjects like industry and ratioanalysis are necessary because a

part of information which shouldbe known for making in thiscareer. Candidates also do thepost graduate diploma in bankingand finance for the professionaland practical knowledge of thesesectors.

�$�""�� Financial analyst must be able tohandle the very high level ofresponsibilities in their job.� Financial analyst also conductsfinancial accounting, which is thepreparation of statements and

transactions inside a corporation.� A business analyst is liable foranalysing, then translating all of thefinances during a company for thedirector-level individuals andbeyond.� A business analyst must have thepower of multitasking he must beready to handle different projectsat an equivalent and prioritiseprojects effectively because theorganisation might be assignedhim for multiple projects at anequivalent time.� The business analyst shouldhave the basic knowledge of soft-ware usages like Microsoft Exceland other software to analyenumerical data.� He must have fluency in Englishand strong oral and written com-munication skill and must have thesharp sense of ethics and analyti-cal and organisational skills.

�.�'������ ���The business analysts start

their career on the position ofjunior analytics after occupying thedegree in accounting, finance oranother related business field withethical and quantitative focus.Mainly some of the position dealwith consumer credit evaluationand, May reserved to managementpositions overseeing analytical

departments, ethical and candi-dates who have an associate degreeand relevant experience. In somefirms, senior analysts oversee ateam handling analysis for market,region or industry. Top-perform-ing analysts can rise into financialmanagement positions oversee-ing analytical departments, mak-ing final finance decisions andmonitoring departmental perfor-mance.

��-#���� ���Business analysts can work in

a variety of fields and locales.Many works for lending institu-tions like banks or insurance com-panies. Additionally, there's greatdemand in investment, working foran asset manager or private equi-ty firm as a bond analyst or for rat-ing agencies like Moody’s orStandard & Poors, determining theriskiness of investing during acompany or country. The pletho-ra of opportunities is reflectedwithin the salary range that cred-it analysts receive. The annualsalary for financial analysts rangesbetween �5 lakh to �8 lakh and isdependent upon the level of expe-rience, type of industry, and geo-graphic location.

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The initial move towards yourgroundwork for any competitiveexam is to comprehend the pre-

requirements of the exam. You shouldalso well-rehearsed with the syllabus (youget that easily on the Internet). Other thanthe syllabus, you should make a note ofthe weightage of various subjects so thatyou can plan your preparations likewise. Looking over previous years' ques-tion papers assists in getting wellacquainted with the exam pattern. Hereare six steps that you can follow to pre-pare for any competitive exam: � Understanding the syllabus: First thingfirst, you should always put all your mindand heart in understanding the syllabusof the exam and the level of questionsasked. It is very important for you tounderstand what to prepare. � Preparing a time table: After you havedecided on what to prepare it is your turnto plan how to prepare. Prepare a timetable including your short term and longterm goals; this in turn will help you intimely preparation for the exam. A goodtime table is most likely to help you in bet-ter preparation and avoids haphazardness.� Study smartly: Working hard is alwaysimportant but smart study never goes outof fashion. Going through previous yearsquestion papers gives you an edge andalso you can analyse the kind of questionsbeing asked, including heavy weightagetopic. Your major focus should be onqualitative studying rather than quanti-tative studying. � Revise regularly: Every candidateshould have a regular revision strategy inhandy. It takes at least four times of reg-ular revision to actually remember some-thing for long-term. Whatever you studyshould be revised on the third day thenon the sixth day then on twelfth day andafter than on twenty first day. A goodrevision cycle is definitely going to helpyou ace the exam.� Take breaks: All work and no playmakes Jack a dull boy, as rightly empha-sised by the proverb, it is equally impor-tant to take breaks. Rather than studyingfor long durations divided your slots andtake a break in between, go out for a walk,take a nap or just listen you're yourfavorite track.

� Keep yourself motivated: The last andthe most important thing is to keep your-self motivated. Motivation to achieve yourgoal is the key to success. If you arepreparing for any exam and if you lackmotivation then even a single failure isgoing to affect you badly. To qualify anyexam we should have a strong desire toclear it and it should be maintained on aregular basis.

Belief ' is a very powerful tool. Youmust believe in yourself and your prepa-ration. Ensure that you study the sameway throughout the year, to avoid lastminute rush and stress. Spend 10-15 min-utes before going off to sleep to quicklyrecap all that you learnt throughout theday.

Also, a bit of physical activity andmeditation helps to improve concentra-tion. Do not take stress throughout theentire preparation time and stay awayfrom stressful people. Each and everymoment you must tell yourself: “I Can,I Will.” And you will be able to do it.

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The University ofSheffield, UK isoffering two

International LLMScholarships worth £4,000towards tuition fees fortwo outstanding students.

Eligibility: Be an over-seas student for fee pur-poses have an academicoffer from us to study thefull-time LLM (includesSheffield LLM, LLMCorporate andCommercial Law and LLMInternational Law andGlobal Justicepathways)have an applica-tion number.

Applicants from eligi-ble countries will still auto-matically be eligible for theInternational PostgraduateTaught Scholarship 2020(worth £2,000) and canapply for the InternationalMerit PostgraduateScholarship 2020 (worth25% of the tuition fee).

How to apply: Youmust complete the scholar-ship application form,including a 2,000 wordessay. Essay topic — Lawalone cannot address allsocial problems. Discuss.

Scholarship applica-tions will be consideredtogether with your applica-tion for admission.

Successful applicantswill be notified before

the end of July 2020.Application deadline:

June 12, 2020

The VolkswagenFoundation is offering fel-lowship for internationalyoung researchers in alldisciplines. Ten to 15 fel-lowships for researcherswill be awarded per year.

Eligibility: Anyonecan apply who identifieswith the goals of a FreigeistFellowship and whose pro-posed research project fitsin with the aims pursuedby the Freigeist initiative.Candidates must: Theirdoctorate must have beenobtained not longer thanfive years previously. Mustfrom the outset be inte-grated within a universityor an extra-mural researchinstitution in Germany.Must have changed theiracademic environment andmoved to a new locationat the latest when startingthe Fellowship. A return toworking context of doctor-ate will only be acceptedunder exceptional circum-stances. A previously com-pleted research sojournabroad. English languagerequirements for thosewho do not speak Englishas their first language.

How to apply: Applyonline.

Application deadline:October 15, 2020.

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UEFA president AleksanderCeferin said on Monday

that there is “no way” Liverpoolshould finish the season without thePremier League title, even if the campaignis cancelled due to the coronavirus pan-demic.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool appeared setto secure a first English top-flight title in30 years when the season was suspended,sitting 25 points clear of second-placedManchester City.

“There is no way Liverpool could endwithout the title. If the matches are played,then they will almost certainly win it — the-oretically, they still haven’t earned the titlebut they almost certainly will,” Ceferin toldSlovenian sports daily Ekipa.

“In case the matches cannot be played,we will need to find a way...

“And, once again, I see no scenarioaccording to which Liverpool would not bethe winners. I realise fans might be disap-pointed if the match is played in an emptystadium or even if it is resolved around atable, but I believe that one way or anoth-er they will win the title.”

When asked if Ceferin thought gamescould played this summer, he said he was“optimistic”.

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His unorthodox batting stance has left manybefuddled but Australian run-machine Steve

Smith says though it depends on number of fac-tors, he generally positions himself outside the off-stump to limit ways in which he can be dismissed.

Smith, the world number 1 Test batsman, hasamassed 7227 runs in 73 Tests and 4162 runs inODIs with an unconventional technique, whichmost have failed to decode.

During a podcast organised by inaugural IPLchampions Rajasthan Royals, Smith opened upabout his unusual technique to New Zealand spin-ner Ish Sodhi.

Talking about his open batting stance, Smith,the former Rajasthan Royals captain, said: “Itdepends on who’s bowling, how is the wicket play-ing, how I gonna score and stuff like that or howpeople are trying to get me out, probably that deter-mines how open I am or otherwise how closed Iam.

“But my general stance where my back foot isgoing to almost off stump, or may be even outsideat stages, I know that anything outside my eyelineisn’t hitting the stumps,” he said.

“For me, you shouldn’t get out if the ball is nothitting the stumps, so that is just a trick from mewhen I first started doing it, just limiting the waysI get out,” he explained.

The 30-year-old said his off-stump stance helpshim to leave the ball which are outside his line ofsight.

“Sometimes, I get trapped in front but I’m okaywith that at stages, knowing that if it is outside myeyeline, I don’t need to try and play the ball, I canjust leave that,” he said.

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Australian cricketers were sokeen on protecting their

lucrative IPL deals that they felt“scared” of sledging India cap-tain Virat Kohli and his team-mates during a particular peri-od and instead “sucked up” tothem, former skipper MichaelClarke has claimed.

India and Australia havehad some memorable bilateralduels but Clarke felt that when-ever the Australians would faceIndia, their eyes would betrained on the cash-rich leaguewhich is played in April-Mayevery year.

“Everybody knows howpowerful India are in regards tothe financial part of the game,internationally or domesticallywith the IPL,” Clarke told BigSports Breakfast.

“I feel that Australian crick-et, and probably every otherteam over a little period, wentthe opposite and actually suckedup to India. They were tooscared to sledge Kohli or theother Indian players becausethey had to play with them inApril,” the World Cup winning

Australian skipper said drop-ping a bombshell.

Clarke believes that some ofAustralia’s ruthless on-fieldcharacter got compromisedbecause the top-10 draws at theIPL auctions gave an impressionthat they would never sledgeKohli.

“Name a list of ten playersand they are bidding for theseAustralian players to get intotheir IPL team,” he said.

“The players were like: ‘I’mnot going to sledge Kohli, I wanthim to pick me for Bangalore soI can make my $1 million formy six weeks’.

“I feel like that’s whereAustralia went through that lit-tle phase where our cricketbecome a little bit softer or notas hard as we’re accustomed toseeing,” Clarke said about thetime after the ball-tamperingscandal when terms like Elitehonesty were propagated.

India and Australia havealways enjoyed a fiery on-fieldchemistry with the two teamsengaging in many verbal wars inthe past, which include thetours of Down Under in 2007-08 and 2018.

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IPL is “massive” in terms of stature andit is a “big shame” that it cannot be

held at the moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said star England batsmanJos Buttler, who is expecting the cash-rich event to be slotted later in the year.

Buttler, who plays for RajasthanRoyals, underlined the importance of a

tournament like IPL.“I don’t know any more than you

know about when IPL would be playedor people talking about whether it canbe pushed back. At the moment, every-thing is quite indefinite as no one knowshow long it will last. So it can’t be decid-ed at the moment when it could or couldnot happen,” Buttler was quoted as say-ing by ESPNcricinfo.

Buttler, who made massive stridesas a white ball player after a few seasonsof IPL, spoke about the impact of nothaving an IPL and the effect it couldhave on revenue.

“As for the stature of the tourna-ment, it’s a massive, massive tournament.Revenue that is involved in IPL is mas-sive. It is a very important competitionto cricket and it’s a big shame that it’s notgoing ahead or whether it does have theway to push it in the schedule and allowit,” he said.

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Veteran off-spinner HarbhajanSingh says he won’t mind an IPL

played in empty stadiums but theevent should go ahead when theCOVID-19 pandemic is broughtunder control as several liveli-hoods are dependent on the it.

“Spectators are impor-tant, but if the situationarises, I don’t mind playingwithout them. Yes, as aplayer I won’t get the vibe,but this will ensure thatevery fan will get to watch IPLon their TV,” Harbhajan, whoplays for Chennai Super Kings,told Star Sports CricketConnected.

“We will have to be cautious

about everything and should priori-tise players’ safety by ensuring that

the match venues, team hotels,flights are properly sanitized. Alot of lives are on line so weshould organise IPL when

everything is fine,” he added.“I miss matches the

most, was hoping that Iwould get to play 17matches (includingfinals) after a year’sgap,” Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan said heis keeping himself fit for

the league as and when ithappens.

“I hope that IPL happenssoon, till then I will keepmyself fit,” quipped the 39-year-old veteran of 103 Tests.

��%�'�"�A Out of the Indianteam since 2015, dashingKarnataka batsman RobinUthappa is eying a comeback inthe T20 format as a finisher andbelieves he still has another“World Cup left” in him.

Uthappa, who was a mem-ber of the 2007 ODI World Cupteam and the inaugural T20World Cup-winning squad, lastplayed for senior team in July2015 during Zimbabwe tour.

The 34-year-old batsmanhas featured in just eight ODIsand four T20 matches sinceOctober 2011.

“Right now I want to becompetitive. I still have that fireburning in me, I really want tocompete and do well. I honest-ly believe I have a World Cup leftin me, so I’m pursuing that,especially the shortest format,”

Uthappa was quoted as sayingby ESPNcricinfo.com.

He, however, understandsthat for that to happen, heneeds a bit of luck as well.

“The blessings of LadyLuck or God or whatever youcall it, plays a massive factor.Especially in India, itbecomes so much moreevident. I don’t think it isas evident when you’replaying cricket outsideof India,” Uthappa said.

“But in the subcon-tinent and India espe-cially, with the amountof talent that we dohave in our coun-try, all of thosea s p e c t sbecomeevident.”

Insisting that he has not yetgiven up hope, Uthappa said he

won’t hang up hisboots till he realis-

es his dreams.“You can

never write yourselfoff. You would beunfair to yourself if

you write yourself off.Especially if you believe

you have the ability andyou know that there is

an outside chance.So I still believe inthat outsidechance.

“I still believethat things can go

my way and I proba-bly can be a part of a

World Cup-winningteam and play anintegral role in that

as well. Those dreams are stillalive and I think I’ll keep play-ing cricket till that is alive,” hesaid.

Even though he prefers tobat up the order, Uthappa saidhe is now eyeing the role of a fin-isher in the Indian team and hasalready stated his training athome.

“What I’ve been trying to dois to make sure that I’m well pre-pared. Opening the batting issomething I can do at any pointof time. I’m trying to make sureI’m well equipped to bat in themiddle order as well,” he said.

“One of the things that weneed today in Indian cricket isa good finisher, and that’s some-thing that I’m pursuing andworking hard on. It’s somethingI’m looking forward to improv-ing on a day to day basis.” PTI

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There are not many rolemodels in the currentIndian cricket set up other

than Virat Kohli and RohitSharma and the seniors do notcommand much respect fromthe youngsters, feels formerflamboyant all-rounder YuvrajSingh.

In a live Instagram Livequestion and answer session,deputy skipper Rohit askedYuvraj about the differencebetween the current team andthe players who played along-side the left-hander.

“When I came into the teamor when you (Rohit) came intothe team, our seniors were verydisciplined. Obviously therewas no social media so therewere no distractions,” saidYuvraj.

“There was a certain behav-iour that we boys had to carry,how they talk to people, how

they talk to media. Becausethey were the ambassadors ofthe game and India.”

But it is not the same any-more, feels Yuvraj.

“So that is what I had toldyou guys. After playing forIndia, you have to be more care-ful about your image. But I feelthe third generation. There areonly you two seniors, Virat andyou, who are playing all the for-mats, rest of the guys are com-ing and going.

“I just feel there are veryfewer guys to look up to and Ifeel that a sense of respecttowards seniors, that hasbecome a thin line now. Koibhee kisiko kuch bhee keh detahain (anyone can say anythingto anyone,” said Yuvraj.

Yuvraj, one of the best crick-eters the world cricket has seen,said the players during his timewere conscious of whatever theydid.

“I think juniors, because of

social media, party scenes, thesethings, we could not even thinkabout that in our time. Becausewe had that fear that if we dosome mistake our senior will tellus that do not do this, this is notright,” he said.

Commenting the infamousincident involving HardikPandya and K L Rahul, whowere suspended for their loosetalk on women on a chat show,Yuvraj added: “That incidentcould not have happened in ourtime.”

Rohit on his part said theatmosphere in the team is “verylight” at the moment.

“When I came into theteam, there were so manyseniors. I think I was the onlyyoungster alongside PiyushChawla and Suresh Raina. Theatmosphere is light now. I keeptalking to the youngsters, thefive-six of them.

“I speak to Rishabh a lot.There was so much scrutiny on

him and he got worked up.Media should also think beforewriting about him. But scruti-ny will be there as long as youare playing for India.”

On the mindset of theyounger generation, Yuvraj saidmost of them only want to playlimited overs cricket.

“Sachin paaji told me once‘if you perform on field, every-thing else will follow’. I was atNational Cricket Acadmey(NCA) once and I interactedwith the younger lot. I felt mostof them did not want to playTest cricket which is real crick-et. They are happy playing one-day cricket.

“I feel even the players whohave already played for Indiashould play domestic cricketwhen they are not nationalduty. It would give them valu-able experience of playing ondifferent surfaces around thecountry,” the former Indian all-rounder added.

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La Liga could return to actionas early as next month, its

president Javier Tebas said onTuesday, as the league awaits achance to restart following thecoronavirus shutdown.

Tebas also warned Spanishclubs could lose as much as onebillion euros ($1.1 billion) if theseason is not completed, pushingfootball bosses in the country tosearch for a late finish to the cur-rent campaign.

“The different scenarios wehave been looking at with UEFAto go back to competing are mostprobably starting on the May 28-29, June 6-7 or June 28-29,” Tebassaid.

“We’re not just looking atwhat happens in Spain... the jobis to get all our calendars (inEurope) in line so all the compe-titions are able to finish together.”

But Tebas said no teamtraining could take placeuntil after the state ofemergency ends in Spain— currently set until April26. Should that end date bepushed back the chances ofrestarting in May wouldlikely vanish.

Tebas said “it is not anoption” to cancel the seasongiven the massive hit to revenueSpain’s top clubs would have toabsorb, with 150 million eurosgone even if La Liga finishes theseason with fans at matches.

“We are not considering atall that we will not get back to

playing matches,” he said.“It is not just league rev-

enues, it is league revenues plusall the other revenue fromthe Champions Leaguethat teams wouldn’treceive.

“We are talking aboutone billion euros if wedon’t get back to playing,

300 million euros if we playbehind closed doors and 150million euros if we do to get backto playing with fans.”

Fixtures are expected to beheld behind closed doors, at leastat first, with some Spanish clubsfacing the prospect of playingaway from their own groundsdue to scheduled building work.

-#���AThomas Mueller looksset to spend his entire career atBayern Munich, who hedescribes as his ‘passion’, after

signing a contract extensionuntil 2023, the reigningBundesliga championsannounced on Tuesday.

The 30-year-oldjoined the club as aschoolboy in 2000,making his debut forthe Bavarians eightyears later and has sinceracked up more than 500appearances.

“I am really pleased that Ihave extended with BayernMunich... and will continue togive everything for my club,” the2014 World Cup winner said onTwitter.

“Because this club is not justan employer for me — it is a pas-sion.”

Having risen up through theyouth ranks, Mueller is a

club icon who has woneight league titles, fiveGerman Cups and the 2013Champions League.

“I’m happy that we’vereached agreement withThomas. Thomas is a specialplayer for us, a figurehead for theclub and our fans, a leader whoshows the way on the pitch andhas achieved a lot with FCBayern,” sporting director HasanSalihamidzic said. AFP

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Spin legend Shane Warnefeels one day internation-

als (ODIs) are losing rele-vance far too often and thereshould be something done onthe lines of ICC TestChampionship to revive the50-over format.

In February, after Indiawere blanked by hosts NewZealand 0-3 in the ODIs,India skipper Virat Kohlihad said this format is notmuch relevant this year, refer-ring to the T20 World Cupand the engrossing fight forWorld Test Championship.

“I like the concept (TestChampionship) and I wishthere was something like thisin ODIs too,” Warne said dur-ing an Instagram Live.

“Then ODIs have contextleading up to the World Cup.Maybe points or something Idon’t know. But there are toomany meaningless ODIs,”said the legendary Australianleg-spinner, regarded as thebest the game has ever seen.

Warne also put hisweight behind three-matchODI series and not five. “Ithink three matches are justfine in 50-over contests. Fiveis too much.”

��-�A Italian top-flightfootball clubs have unan-imously reached agree-ment to cut the salaries ofplayers, coaches and staffas a result of the coronavirus crisis,the Lega Serie A announced.

Players’ salaries will be reducedby a third of their gross annual earn-ings if the season should be cancelled,and a sixth if it resumes.

The decision was unanimouslyapproved by Serie A clubs, with theexception of Juventus, which hadalready hammered out a deal with itsown players, said Lega Serie A.

Individual agreements must stillbe signed between the clubs and play-ers, who will waive between two andfour months salary. AFP

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