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HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY MARCH 25, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

www.dailypioneer.comPage 11

HYDERABADWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated March 24, 2020 5:00 PM

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Month & Paksham:Phalguna & Krishna PakshaPanchangamTithi : Pratipada: 05:26 pmNakshatram: Revati: Full NightTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:22 pm - 01:52 pmYamagandam: 07:50 am – 09:20 am

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Don’t take itlightly, warns CM L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

Peeved at the widespread vio-lations of lockdown orders,with people spilling on tostreets in large numbers, ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao on Tuesday threatened toimpose 24-hour curfew, issueshoot-at-sight orders, anddeploy the Army across thestate to arrest the spread ofcoronovirus.

Addressing a presser atPragathi Bhavan, after areview of the Covid-19 situ-ation in the state withCollectors and SPs of all dis-tricts as well as senior officialsof all the departments, KCRtalked tough against the vio-lators. "We have made repeat-ed requests to people toremain confined to theirhomes during lockdown peri-od.

Villagers start living in tents on outskirts TACKLING ‘COVIDIOTS'

PNS n INDRAVELLI

Noticing that home quarantineof all those who are returninghome from abroad is not beingeffectively implemented due tovarious intractable reasons,people of at least two villagesin Adilabad district have hitupon a novel idea. They havestarted living in tents pitchedon the outskirts, far away fromlocations harbouring foreignreturnees who have given thego-by to rules.

Although the authorities inthe state have directed all thosewho have returned from for-eign countries to stay put in

their homes for 14 days even ifthey show no symptoms ofCovid-19, not every suchreturnee is serious about doinghis or her bit to check thespread of the disease. Whilesome people are observinghome quarantine, be it self-imposed or medically mandat-ed, there are others who delib-erately give it a slip, if the caseregistered against MancherialDSP is any indication.

At a time when city folks arewittingly violating rules and donot mind being labelled as'Covidiots'(signifying thosewho feel themselves as heroesand heroines by violating State-

mandated orders and proto-col), people of Yemaikuntaand Andu thandas here haveexhibited remarkable aware-ness on maintaining social dis-tance.

It all began when two per-sons hailing from the hamletreturned from Uganda, wherethey had gone for work. Theylanded in the state on Sunday.The medical officers testedtheir samples and prescribedthem home quarantine for 14days. One of them, belongingto Yemaikunta, did not care tohave a special room to observehome quarantine.

People placing boulders and debris across the road leading to the thanda

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao addressing media persons at PragathiBhavan in Hyderabad on Tuesday

The Pioneer wishes itsreaders, advertisers,suppliers and agents ahappy Ugadi. As ouroffices will remain closedtoday (25-03-2020), therewill be no issue of thenewspaper tomorrow (26-03-2020).

— RESIDENT EDITOR

Postponementof pollssaved manylives in AP

2

Pune-based firmdevelops testingkit for fasterresults

8

PINPOINT

Anxious patients approachKTR on Twitter for help

When doctors keep family at arm’s length...PNS n HYDERABAD

Confining people to home maybe fine medically for arrestingthe spread of Covid-19 as longas you are not a medical profes-sional. What if you are one? It'sanother nightmare. For, thefamily life of the very doctorswho are advising you to stay at

home has been disrupted amidthe coronavirus scare.

Doctors treating Covid-19patients are extremely anxiousthese days, with their emotionsclashing with the core of theirprofessional ethics.Consequently, there are a lot of'what ifs?' Although they arestaying away from kids, many ofthem still have apprehensionsabout infecting the near and

dear ones with the virus unwit-tingly. So, for them, right orwrong, it is nothing short ofhome isolation everyday at theirresidence. The Pioneer spoke tosome doctors who shared howtheir lives have changed afterthey started visiting Covid-19wards.

NAVEENA KAVI n HYDERABAD

With the lockdown announcedby the Telangana government,anxious patients seeking dial-ysis, chemotherapy etc. as wellas pregnant women reachedout to Minister K T Rama Raofor help.

Two pregnant womenreached out to KTR seekinghelp. While one of themrequested to be transported toHyderabad, another wantedher mother, a resident ofBorabanda, to be sent toKurnool.

Minister KTR assured assis-

tance to both the pregnantwomen. One Prudhvidhar, apatient requiring dialysis,tweeted, "I am a peritonealdialysis and I am fromWarangal. Due to lockdown,the transport of the dialysisbags to Warangal from

Hyderabad has been totallystopped. The government isasking us not to leave ourhouses and travel to far-offplaces. But how can I get thesebags from Hyderabad?"

KTR then assured the per-son that he would have regu-lar dialysis and asked his officeto co-ordinate.

Another patient, Goutham,undergoing chemotherapyregime every week, asked KTRif he will be allowed to go tohospital. The Ministerresponded: "We will take careof all medical emergencies &ensure you receive medicalattention."

Savings A/c: Minimumbalance charges waivedPNS n NEW DELHI

Giving relief to citizens amidthe coronavirus outbreak, thegovernment on Tuesdayremoved charges on with-drawal of funds from otherbank ATMs and also exempt-ed account holders frommaintaining minimum bal-ance.

Announcing the initiatives,Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman said these conces-sions will continue for threemonths till June 30.

All banks, including privatesector ones, will waive offminimum balance and ATMfees for the next three months.

"At the moment, theserelaxations are for threemonths. As we go along, wewill consider the situation andtake decision accordingly," shesaid.

Tokyo Olympicspostponedto 2021PNS n TOKYO

The IOC announced a first-of-its-kind postponement ofthe Summer Olympics onTuesday, bowing to the real-ities of a coronavirus pan-demic that is shutting downdaily life around the globeand making planning for amassive worldwide gatheringin July a virtual impossibili-ty.

The International OlympicCommittee said the TokyoGames must be rescheduledto a date beyond 2020, butnot later than summer 2021,to safeguard the health of theathletes, everybody involvedin the Olympic Games andthe international communi-ty.

It was an announcementseen as all but a certainty aspressure mounted from ner-vous athletes, sports organi-zations and national Olympiccommittees all confrontingthe reality that training andqualifying schedules, to saynothing of international anti-doping protocols, had beenruptured beyond repair.

n They wash hands 9 times just toremove the personal protectiveequipment gear

n Doctors started having dermatitisdryness and scaling of skinbecause of repeated sterilium use

TS Covid-19 casesrise to 39, 6 moretest positivePNS n HYDERABAD

Six new cases of Covid-19were reported on Tuesday,taking the total cases to 39 inTelangana. Patients are resi-dents of Kokapet,Chandanagar, Begumpet whohave a travel history. A 64-year-old housewife fromManikonda with no travelhistory contracted coronafrom Patient 25. Patient 25 isa 34-year-old male whoreturned from Sweden on14March. 61-year-old house-wife from Begumpet testedpositive. She recently visitedSaudi Arabia.

GOVT BANS EXPORT OF SANITISERS,ALL TYPES OF VENTILATORS

The Election Commission has deferred the Rajya Sabha pollsscheduled for March 26 in view of the coronavirus outbreak, an

official statement said on Tuesday. Election to fill up 55 seats in theUpper House of Parliament was to be held on March 26, but 37candidates from 10 states have already beenelected without a contest. The decision onholding the election for the remaining 18seats from AP, Gujarat, Jharkhand, MP,Manipur, Meghalaya and Rajasthan will betaken based on the prevailing situation, thestatement said.

DELHI GOVT TO GIVE RS 5,000 TOCONSTRUCTION WORKERS: KEJRI The Delhi government will give Rs 5,000 to construction workers as

their livelihood has been affected due to coronavirus outbreak, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Tuesday.Addressing a press conference in the evening, he saidno new case of coronavirus has been reported in Delhiin the past 40 hours, and the earlier number of virus-infected patients has also gone down from 30 to 23.He said that he has constituted a five-member doctors'panel to suggest a plan to deal with the situationif Delhi enters stage 3 of the coronaviruspandemic.

As Maharashtra is in lockdown for tackling the coronavirus epidemic,Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal assured on

Tuesday that the state has enough foodgrain stock to last forsix months. Despite restrictions on movement of vehicles,the supply of essential commodities will be unaffected, hesaid, asking people not to do panic-buying. "We haveenough stocks to last for six months," he told reporters.Shops and outlets selling food grains, vegetables, meat,fish and medical shops have been excluded from thelockdown, the minister said, appealing people tocooperate with the government.

HAVE GRAIN STOCK TO LAST FOR 6MONTHS, DON'T PANIC: BHUJBAL

EC DEFERS RAJYA SABHA POLLSSCHEDULED FOR MARCH 26

The government on Tuesday banned export of all sanitisers andventilators with immediate effect in wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

"Export of all sanitisers...is prohibited, with immediateeffect," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)said in a notification. It also banned exports of all typesof ventilators, including any artificial respiratoryapparatus or oxygen therapy apparatus or any otherbreathing appliance or device. Last week, it had bannedexport of certain ventilators, surgical and disposablemasks and textile raw material used for makingmasks.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modihas announced a complete lock-down across the country for 21days from Tuesday midnight,asserting that social distancing isthe only way out for the countryin its decisive battle against thecoronavirus. In his second addressto the nation on the pandemic rag-ing across much of the world withthe number of infections rising inIndia, Modi made a fervent appealto the countrymen not to cross the'lakshman rekha' of their homes inthe next three weeks.

Any negligence in these 21days will "push the country andyour families by 21 years", he saidunderlining the massive dangerthe coronavirus poses.

The experience of countries,which have been able to containthe virus to some extent andexperts' views have made it clearthat social distancing caused by alockdown is the only way to breakthe cycle of the infection, he said.

21-day nationwide lockdown‘ONLY WAY TO FIGHT CORONAVIRUS', SAYS PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI

‘No need for panic buying; essentialitems, medicines will be available’PNS n NEW DELHI

Allaying apprehensions, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onTuesday said people need notpanic about availability ofessential commodities andmedicines during the 21-daynationwide lockdown as theCentre and various state gov-ernments will work together toensure this.

Amid reports of panic buy-ing at various places followinghis announcement of the 21-day complete lockdown acrossthe country, Modi requestedpeople to refrain from "panicbuying."

"My fellow citizens, there isabsolutely no need to panic,"Modi tweeted soon after hisaddress to the nation in whichhe announced the lockdown.

He said by converging

around shops, people are risk-ing the spread of COVID-19,while asserting that Centreand state governments willensure all essentials are avail-able.

"Essential commodities,medicines etc. would be avail-able. Centre and various stategovernments will work in closecoordination to ensure this," hesaid.

"Together, we will fightCOVID-19 and create a health-ier India," he said.

PM'S KEY MESSAGES IN BRIEFn India under complete lockdown

from 12.00 AM from 25/03/2020for 3 weeks

n Pls stay where you are

n Pls consider these weeksseriously, else we will go back 21 years in terms ofeconomic growth

n Current advice is based onexperience gathered fromcountries which were alreadyseverely affected by coronavirus

n Social distancing is applicablefrom PM to every other citizen of India

n Stay @ home & try to adoptinnovative way to work fromhome or keep yourself engaged

n Lockdown will be more seriousthan Janata curfew

n All plans will be in place toensure essential supplies are notimpacted

n Rs.15,000 crores is earmarked toensure medical/healthinfrastructure is improved toensure coronavirus-infectedcitizens are treated well

n Health Infrastructureimprovement should be priorityfor all state governments

n Don't fall for rumours and false news

n Pls take medicine as advised bytreating doctor and do not trymedicines or other processes on your own

n Have patience and followinstructions provided bygovernment

COVID-19: Suspension of Railwayservices to be extended till April 14NEW DELHI: After PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sannouncement of a 21 daylockdown across the country,the Indian Railways onWednesday announced thatits suspension of all passenger

services will continue tillApril 14 in the wake of coro-navirus outbreak.

However, freight move-ment will continue to carryessential commodities acrossthe country, officials said.3

Details on Page 12

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HYDERABAD | WEDENSDAY | MARCH 25, 2020 hyderabad 02

No onecouldhave

possibly imag-ined the extend

of damagethat would havecaused to Andhra

Pradesh and its peo-ple had elections to the localbodies gone ahead as per theschedule announced earlier.

Initially, the ruling party,especially its supremo YSJaganmohan Reddy, beratedthe State ElectionCommissioner N. RameshKumar, even going to theextent of accusing him offavouring Telugu DesamParty president NChandrababu Naidubecause of the ‘caste’ factor.However, the Chief Ministerhas adopted a softer toneafter the Coronavirus beganmaking its presence felt inthe state.

If indeed the electionshad gone ahead as sched-uled, the number of infec-tions could possibly havegone upto lakhs, not thou-sands, since people would

have been crammed togeth-er in polling booths, andexposed to the deadly virus.

Naturally, the voterswould have turned up intheir thousands at thepolling booths across thestate, after being ‘treatedproperly’ by the two princi-pal players on the politicalscene in AP, who are bentupon proving they are thedominant force.

The political situation inthe state is such that boththese parties are willing todo whatever it takes to provethat the people are withthem.

In the end, the SEC’s stat-ed reason behind his deci-sion to postpone the pollinghas turned out to be the cor-rect one, as not only the peo-ple of AP, but also of thecountry, in fact the entireworld, remain at great perildue to the outbreak of thisdeadly pandemic.

The SEC’s decision alsoproved that however purehis intentions may havebeen, the Chief Minister, orany government func-tionary across the country,cannot always be right in hisor her decisions.

The Jaganmohan Reddygovernment initially didnot quite grasp the dangerthe virus posed, if one takesinto account its insistencethat the polls go ahead asscheduled. To buttress hisargument, Jagan pointedout that the state stood tolose the nearly Rs 5,000

crore funds assured by the14th FinanceCommissioner in the eventof elections for the localbodies not being held by theend of March, 2020.

Now with people gradu-ally realising the dangerposed by Covid-19, even thestaunchest supporter ofJagan is thanking theAlmighty for the postpone-ment of the elections.

Even the tone and tenor ofthe YSRCP leaders on theissue of local bodies pollsappears to have changed.

Initially, the governments

of the two Telugu statesvirtually ignored the dangersposed by Covid-19. Both theheads of governments of thetwo states said that the viruscan be easily tackled bytaking Paracetamol tablets.

They soon realised theseriousness of the issue andtook corrective measuresby extending support to theJanata curfew followed by

total lockdown. However,had the two CMs been seri-ous about the looming dan-ger from the beginning, theattitude of the people toowouldn’t have been as casu-al as it was.

It was extremely worryingto see numerous peoplecome out onto the streets at5.00 pm on the day of Janatacurfew to “express solidari-ty” with doctors, nurses andother health workers treat-ing those affected byCoronavirus.

This defeated the verypurpose of the Janata curfewand the concept of socialdistancing that needs bestrictly followed to flattenthe rapidly rising curve ofCoronavirus infections. Thepeople should realise thatlockdowns are for their ownsafety and well being and thegovernment gains nothingfrom such drastic actions.

The government also

gains nothing from the clo-sure of places of worship.

Whichever faith one maybe, it is time to pray for thewell being of the nationand the world. Being forcednot to go to a temple,mosque or any place ofworship is heart-wrench-ing for many, but unavoid-able.

Controlling public actionstrictly is quite possible inthe absence of Democraticrule in countries like Chinawhere it took nearly fourmonths to arrest the spreadof the deadly virus. But isthis possible for a countrylike India where politicsrules everything?Government here has totake the opposition intoconfidence on mattersinvolving such a major issuelike Coronavirus. It’s hard ingeneral for ruling parties inIndia to get the backing ofthe Opposition on key

issues. The situation is suchthat the Government ofIndia has to take very toughmeasures to arrest thespread of the virus, includ-ing strict enforcement of the law.

People naturally resiststrict measures, but thistime, it would be for theirown well-being. It can besafely assumed that boththe Central and state gov-ernments will have a toughtime ensuring social dis-tancing.

Citizens, irrespective ofcaste and creed, had beenengaged in praying to theAlmighty to keep the lethalCoronavirus away fromtheir Motherland! Let usadd one more small prayerto this. Let us pray that theprayers of everyone are accepted and theBlessings of the Almightyshower upon this greatnation soon.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

The SEC’s decision also proved thathowever pure his intentions mayhave been, the Chief Minister, orany government functionary acrossthe country, cannot always be rightin his or her decisions

Postponement of polls saved many lives in APPIN

POINT

EC defers TS MLC by-pollPNS n NEW DELHI

Amid the coronavirus out-break, the ElectionCommission, here on Tuesday,extended the schedule for by-election to the TelanganaLegislative Council fromNizamabad under local author-ities constituency by 60 days.The poll body took into agathering of people in connec-tion with the election is adversedue to fear of transmission ofthe coronavirus.

"Fresh dates shall be notifiedin due course after reviewingthe situation," said the pollpanel. According to the earli-er schedule, the notificationwas to be issued on March 12,last date for filing nominationson March 19, and last date forwithdrawal of nominations onMarch 23. The vote was sched-uled on April 7, counting onApril 9, and the process was tocomplete by April 13. Thevacancy arose due to disqual-

ification of R Bhoopathi Reddyon 16 January 2019. "The pollprocess would necessarilyinclude gathering of pollingofficial, support officials andmembers of the respectivelocal bodies on the poll day,which may not be suitable inview of the prevailing unfore-seen situation and related advi-sories in the country," the ECsaid in a notification.

The EC also cited the March22 communication from the

Centre to state governments,asking them to take all mea-sures to break the Covid-19chain of transmission, whichincluded suspension of trainservices and closure of allactivities except for essentialservices. The EC also tookinto account the lockdowndeclared by the Telangana gov-ernment to contain coron-avirus transmission.

"The prevailing unforeseensituation of public health emer-gency indicates the need foravoidance of possibilities ofgatherings of any nature, whichexposes all concerned to pos-

sible health hazard," it said.On January 16, 2019 three

MLCs — Bhoopathi Reddy,Yadav Reddy (under the MLAquota) and Ramulu Naik(under the Governor quota) -- had defected from theTelangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) to the Congress beforethe December 7 Assemblyelections.

They didn't resign theircouncil posts and were disqual-ified. Bhoopathi Reddy chal-lenged this in the high court.In July 2019, the court upheldthe disqualification of threeMLCs by the House.

According to the earlier schedule, the notification was to be issued onMarch 12, last date for filingnominations on March 19, and lastdate for withdrawal of nominations on March 23

l Fresh dates will be notified in due course, says poll panel

Convert Secretariat intoisolation centre, says BJPPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP president andMP Bandi Sanjay Kumar onTuesday appreciated the stepsinitiated by the Chief MinisterK Chandrashekhar Rao tocontrol the spread of Covid-19 virus and suggested thatold Secretariat buildingscould be used as an Isolationcentre to accommodateCovid-19 patients, in casethe numbers go high.

Meanwhile, Bandi Sanjayannounced a donation of Rs50 lakh for the efforts to stopthe spread of Coronavirus

The MP stressed the needfor a nationwide concertedeffort to fight the Coronavirusby rising above political dif-ferences. Bandi Sanjay alsoaddressed a letter to ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao stating that TelanganaBJP is ready to extend its co-operation voluntarily. He alsoasked the Chief Minister to

use the services of their work-ers in waging a war againstthe spread of Coronavirus."As the president of theTelangana BJP, I assure theChief Minister of all possiblehelp from the party and alsomyself," he said.

However, he mentionedthat few selfish traders weretaking the advantage of lock-down and have increased theprices exorbitantly. This is

taking a toll on the poor andmiddle class families, he said.

He urged the ChiefMinister to curb such inci-dents by taking stern actionagainst those responsible. Healso wanted the ChiefMinister to implementAyushman Bharat healthscheme in the state to help thepeople. He also offered ser-vices of lakhs of BJP cadre inthe state if the state govern-ment requires their help inany manner.

As the presidentof the Telangana

BJP, I assure theChief Minister of allpossible help from theparty and also myself

— BANDI SANJAY KUMARKarimnagar MP

‘Takeresponsibilityto implementlockdown'

Savings A/c:Minimumbalance...Continued from Page 1

She also announcedreduced bank charges for digital trade transactionsfor all trade finance con-sumers to promote digitalpayment.

With regard to the com-merce ministry, the financeminister said extension oftimelines for various compli-ance and procedures will begiven. Besides, she said allsanitary import permits(SIPs) for SPF ShrimpBroodstock and other agri-culture inputs expiringbetween March 1 and April14 has been extended by 3months.

She said the delay up to 1month in arrival of con-signments will be condoned.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) officialspokesperson G Niranjanrequested the Basthi and res-ident welfare associations tocome forward and takeresponsibility of strict imple-mentation of lockdownimposed by the State govern-ment to tackle the spread ofCaronavirus. The associationsshould see that no resident oftheir locality moves out of theirresidences unless and until ifthere is any necessity.

In a statement, Niranjansaid that the police and admin-istration alone cannot imple-ment this, it is for the police,revenue and Municipaladministration to move in toaction to make use of welfareassociations in this direction.

Another senior leader VHanumantha Rao has urgedthe state government to extendhelp to the unorganised work-ers. Congress MLC T JeevanReddy, in a statement, urgedthe government to shift NRIsto the quarantine instead oftheir own residences. He alsourged the state government toextend help to autorickshaw drivers, daily wage labourers and others.

‘Stay united in fightagainst Covid-19'PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for AgricultureSingireddy Niranjan Reddy onTuesday called upon the peopleof the State to stay united in thefight against Covid-19. In astatement, the Minister, urgingthe people to behave responsi-bly during such testing times,wanted those who had returnedfrom foreign travel to disclosetheir details to the authoritiesvoluntarily.

"I request them not to pushothers into danger by keepingthe travel history undisclosed.Please follow the directionsgiven by the State governmentand venture out only if there isan emergency," he said. Hesaid that there are enoughstocks of daily needs and not topanic and come out in largenumbers to the grocery stores."Display the same type of spir-it that people have showed atthe time of Telangana agitation,while dealing with the dreadedvirus," Niranjan Reddy said.

He said that the govern-ment has taken steps to curbblack marketing and hoardingby setting up a Task Force andcommittee with higher officials.He warned stern action againstanyone who tries to break thelaw. Calling upon farmers tobring their produce to the pro-curement centres without anyhesitation and the ChiefMinister has directed theauthorities to open up procure-ment centres close to farmers.

He appreciated farmers inseveral villages where they have

declared isolation on their ownand said that Chief Ministeranticipating the impact of lock-down has announced supply of12 kilos of rice and Rs 1500 cashfor the white card holdersthrough ration shops.

Continued from Page 1

A doctor said, on conditionof anonymity, "I have pur-chased two pairs clothes towear at hospital. When Ienter the hospital, I quicklychange into my clothes, go tothe ward, wear the PPE gear,and check on patients. Wehave to wash our hands 9times before removing thePPE. When we remove onepart - gown, we have to usehand rub; we then removemask, again wash hands,remove boots, and again washhands. Once I am back to my

general ward, we get into nor-mal clothes."

Keeping extra pair of clotheshas become a norm for all thedoctors treating Covid-19patients. Another senior doc-tor said, "I am decreasing theinstances of touching my kidand wife even though we arestill in the same house. OnceI enter home, I just go to a sep-arate room, bathe, and washthe clothes separately. I amsleeping in a separate room.We don't know how manydays this will last and I don'twant to send them to in-lawsas thought of separation in dif-

ficult times is harder. I am wor-ried, because of me, they mightget infected."

Most of the doctors say thatif they could distance theirfamilies, people could main-tain social distance, stop com-ing out, and follow the precau-tions. Washing hands repeat-edly has become a problem fordoctors as it is leading to dry-ness. Another doctor said, "Ihave sent my son to my moth-er's place. I clean the maindoor knob before going tohospital. I open the door, firstwash hands, and go to thebathroom take a bath, clean up

clothes and again clean thedoor knob and handle and myphone with sterillium. Ofcourse, again wash hands. Infact, everyone started havingdermatitis, dryness and scalingof skin because of repeatedsterillium use".

Apprehensions over beingevicted from rented homescontinue for doctors, eventhough they are following pre-cautions. Confirming this, adoctor shared: "There is alwaysa concern that these (IPC)Infection prevention and con-trol won't give us full protec-tion and may infect family. I

have high-risk patients athome who are elderly andkids as well. My parents aremanaging my kids, but I ammore concerned about gettingevicted out of my rental house.May be if government couldprovide doctors, sisters andclass 4 employees with somehand sanitizer for home, itwould be helpful".

In-laws and outlawsThe woes of female doctors

are much more when it comesto travelling and staying athome. A doctor said, "Once Ireach home, I go to the wash-

room in the terrace, take hotwater bath, wash off all theclothes and then enter thehome. Our apartment folkshave issues with me using thewash room on terrace. I havepeople at risk at my home, myson, my grandmother and myfather and cannot enter homedirectly. After doing Covid-19duties, it's really not easy to gonear my son as I feel may be Iam asymptomatic carrier. Oneof my friend is not allowed tocome home (in-laws place)and is being asked to stay at herparents' home if she has to doCovid-19 duties."

When doctors keep family at arm’s length...

Villagers startliving in tents...Continued from Page 1

On top of that, his familymembers started minglingfreely with reluctant villagers.

This soon prompted thediscerning ones among thefamilies in the thanda to takesteps to keep themselves alooffrom the foreign returneeand his family members.

There are 120 families inYemaikunta. Of them, 25families literally joined hands,pitched tents on the out-skirts, and started living therewith their kith and kin.

Good things also spread.In no time, the people of theAndu thanda followed suit,just to be on the safe side.

According to vil lagesarpanch Jadav Lakhan, thisis a precautionary measuretaken by some families in thevillage. MPTC member fromthe region Vijay Singh saidthat the path had been cho-sen to keep coronavirus atbay.

Elsewhere in Adilabad dis-trict, several villages haveadopted resolutions implor-ing others not to visit their

villages for a period of about70 days. They have also putup 'No entry' boards at thevil lage entrance. Someresourceful ones have even put up thorny fencesand stacked up bouldersacross the roads to preventunauthorised entry. Shouldthere be need, these villagersare ready to leave their homesfor good.

According tovillage sarpanchJadav Lakhan,this is aprecautionarymeasure taken bysome families inthe village. MPTCmember from theregion Vijay Singhsaid that the pathhad been chosento keepcoronavirus atbay

I request themnot to pushothers intodanger bykeeping the travelhistoryundisclosed.Please follow thedirections givenby the Stategovernment andventure out only ifthere is anemergency

Don’t take it lightly, warns CM Continued from Page 1

Despite this, people areflouting norms and coming onto the roads in large numbers,which will give scope forspread of coronavirus. If thissituation continues, we will beforced to impose 24-hour cur-few, issue shoot-at-sight ordersand deploy the Army to bringthe situation under control. Irequest people to not force thegovernment to go to thatextreme. They must show self-restraint, KCR remarked.

KCR said the governmenthad now decided to impose the'real curfew' from 7 pm onTuesday and curfew will be inforce from 7 pm to 6 am everyday. "What you have seen sinceSunday was only lockdown. Itwas not curfew. We are nowannouncing imposition of cur-few officially from 7 pm onTuesday. The curfew will be inforce from 7 pm to 6 am everyday. All shops, businesses andother establishments shoulddown shutter by 6 pm itself. Ifwe notice even one establish-ment remain open at 6.01 pm,we will book cases, seal them,and cancel their licences.Similarly, all people shouldreach their homes before 7 pm,

else have to face the conse-quences. If need be, we willalso order closure of petrolpumps to stop people fromusing vehicles," KCR warned.

KCR reiterated that Covid-19 could be contained in thestate only if people cooperat-ed cent percent with the gov-ernment and remained con-fined to their homes. He camedown heavily on vested inter-ests who were jacking up pricesof vegetables and other essen-tial commodities and trying toexploit the situation to theiradvantage in these difficulttimes. "We received complaintsof how a few traders jacked upprices of vegetables and essen-tials indiscriminately underthe guise of lockdown. This isnot tolerated. The governmentwill invoke PD Act againstthem and send them to jaildirectly. Their trade licenceswill also be cancelled and willbe kept under blacklist perma-nently. They will never get theopportunity to do tradingagain," KCR stated.

KCR also issued a sternwarning to foreign-returnedpeople in the state who wereplaying mischief by violatinghome quarantine rules. "Wehave identified 19,313 for-

eign-returned people in thestate who are under tight sur-veillance. They have to remainin isolation either in theirhomes or at quarantine centres.But some of them are playingmischief and avoiding quaran-tine and roaming freely. In onecase, a foreign-returnedescaped quarantine thrice. Wehave taken this issue very seri-ously. We have asked officialsto seize and suspend theirpassports," KCR said.

The Chief Minister alsoexpressed anger at elected pub-lic representatives for not beingpart of the implementation ofshutdown orders. He asked allthe 150 GHMC corporators,ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPsand other representatives oflocal bodies from state to vil-lage level to ensure imple-mentation of shutdown ordersin their respective areas incoordination with the policeand other departments.

KCR asked people to dial100 across the state and seekhelp for any emergency likehealth issue or death of theirnear and dear so that thepolice would arrange trans-portation for them since noother vehicular movement willbe permitted on roads.

HYDERABAD | WEDENSDAY | MARCH 25, 2020 hyderabad 03

WORK FROM HOME TAKES ATOLL ON INTERNET TRAFFIC NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

The call for 'work from home'has spiked the data consump-tion, posing unique challengesfor internet service providersand telecom operators as manyseem to rely on mobile net-works than broadband. Indiahas over 630 million mobileusers compared with around19 million fixed broadbandusers, indicating that a largepart of the work from homepressure will be on mobilenetworks, as per reports.

The businesses whoseemployees are forced to workfrom home are in discussionswith internet service providers(ISPs) to check if some inter-net capacity can be reallocat-ed from business centres to res-idential areas, an employeefrom an IT firm in Hitec Cityshared on the basis ofanonymity.

"This is why his companycould not send its entire work-force home, as they handle crit-ical services like banking andhealthcare, which cannot berun on residential internetconnections," he said.

Many users who so far usedtheir basic phone internet con-nection for content streaminghave begun using it for work aswell. In fact, many companiesare incentivizing their employ-ees, who would normally nothave work from home autho-rization, to arrange for fixedline residential internet con-nections.

"My company provided mewith an option to work fromhome and has agreed to pro-vide for PC or laptop withfunds to pay for a broadband

connection if there is a require-ment. Not everyone has a con-nection subscribed to thesedays as mobile serviceproviders hand out upto 3GBof 4G data per day," saidAbhishekBharti, a techie work-ing for Cognizant Hyderabad.

Telecom body CellularOperators Association of India(COAI) has reached out toOTT (over-the-top) contentproviders, including YouTube,Hotstar, among others, tocooperate with telecom firmsto manage traffic distributionpatterns in a way that does not

strain network infrastructure."We have already written to thestreaming platforms to under-take technical measures toease the pressure on infrastruc-ture. We believe this will bemore effective if a similar com-munication is sent from DoTto these firms offering stream-ing video services," COAI saidin a note on 21 March.

Meanwhile, video streamingmajor Netflix on Tuesday saidit will reduce traffic ontelecommunications networksby 25 per cent while maintain-ing the quality of service for

users in India, as part of itsefforts to help mitigate networkcongestion amid the coron-avirus pandemic. Companieslike Amazon Prime Video arealso temporarily lowering bitrates - a measure of how muchdata is being transferred - toease pressure on telecom net-work infrastructure.

Consumption of digital con-tent has gone up manifold aspeople are forced to stayindoors as almost the entirecountry is under lockdown tocontain the spread of the dead-ly Covid-19.

Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali on Tuesday reviews the bandobast arrangements by Rachakonda Police in LBNagar and preventive measures taken in view of the coronavirus pandemic

Home Minister reviews lockdown PNS n HYDERABAD

Home Minister MohammedMahmood Ali said stringentaction would be taken againsttraders and shopkeepers sell-ing essential commodities athigher rates. The police werevigilant and would crack thewhip on black marketeers, he said.

The Home Minister wasaddressing the media here onTuesday after reviewing the

bandobast arrangements byRachakonda Police in LBNagar and preventive mea-sures taken in view of thecoronavirus pandemic

"The cooperation of citi-zens is utmost important atthis juncture. Free ration andan amount of Rs 1,500 isbeing distributed to all whiteration card holders," he said.

The Rachakonda PoliceCommissionerate is among the largest across the

country with a population of42 lakh.

"Grocery stores and veg-etable vendors should not bestopped. We have alreadypermitted trucks carryingessentials to move in the city.Those buying groceries tooshould follow social distanc-ing," he added.

Rachakonda PoliceCommissioner Mahesh MBhagwat and other seniorofficials were present.

Police keep curfew alive in cityPNS n HYDERABAD

City Police has gone all out tokeep the curfew alive in the cityby using force and even lathisto make sure the public stayshome during the announcedlockdown period.

As many as 73 check postsare stationed across the city bythe police here for bandobastand vigilance. Rachakondapolice alone has seized 247vehicles on Tuesday.

Hyderabad traffic policehave requested the citizens tostay home and not venture outunless there is an emergency.

Emergency services andessential services will only beallowed during the morninghours.

Those who do not adhere tothe lockdown rules will be

booked under Section 188(Disobedience to order dulypromulgated by public ser-vant) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and their vehicles will be

seized, authorities said."During the checking, offi-

cers caught hold of motoristsmoving on the roads in spite ofthe lockdown declaration.

Citizens are requested torestrain themselves in theirhomes and not come out unlessthere is an emergency," thepolice said.

Additional Commissionerof Police, Traffic Anil Kumarrequested the citizens to followthe guidelines issued by theTelangana government andcooperate with authorities inorder to prevent the spread ofthe deadly virus. "No move-ment of the vehicle will beallowed from 7 pm up to 6 am",

he said. Meanwhile,Cybderabad police commis-sioner VC Sajjanar hadannounced earlier that employ-ees of banks and software com-panies will be allowed to moveabout, adding that 3,671 peo-ple travelled to Hyderabadfrom overseas destinations.Hyderabad Traffic ControlRoom (040-27852482) andHelpline number (9010203626)will be available 24*7 for thepeople who need help duringexigencies.

Doctors treating Covid-19 patients are filledwith anxiety, and a lot of what ifs? While someare staying away from families, a lot of themhave apprehensions of one of them beinginfected by the coronavirus

CAPSULE

Medical professionalsto get special passesHYDERABAD: With instances ofseveral medical professionalsbeing heckled surfacing a dayafter the government announcedlock-down, government decidedto issue special passes formedical professionals. Whiledriving to duty several medicalpersonnel were stopped, so thegovernment instructed superin-tendents of hospitals to issuepasses. The pass reads,"Emergency staff during Covid-19" and has details like name,designation and department. Thepass has name of the hospital towhich the doctor belongs to.However, medical professionalshave raised concern about theirtransportation facility. A doctorsaid, "Doctors and sisters onduty without vehicle take thehelp of family member to dropthem. On their way back home,they are beaten up by police."There is no public transport andpeople who came from otherstates and don't have publictransport are facing problem.People don't want to drop asthey are being beaten up, allegeda doctor. A medico said, "One ofour senior is dropping 4 of ushome, as we don't have trans-port facility. More than a pass weneed a bus facility. It is minim-um that we are asking, when ITcompanies are able to co-ordi-nate cabs, why not for us?”

Telangana mulls tocompensate studentsover mid-day meals HYDERABAD: On the orders ofthe Centre to deliver mid-daymeals to students at their hom-es, education department hassent proposals to the stategovernment on supply of essen-tial commodities to the studentsat their door-step or in cash inlieu of providing commodities tothem. The state government islikely to take a decision on theproposals in a day or two. Thedecision will benefit over11,37,547 primary schoolstudents, 6,58,409 students ofClass VI to VIII and 4,77,087students of Class IX and X.According to the proposals, thegovernment is keen to supplyessential commodities like rice,vegetables, edible oils and eggsto students through grampanchayats. If that is notfeasible, it is toying with the ideaof paying money towards thecost of mid-day meals for thenumber of days the school hasremained closed. The daily riceallotment for primary schoolstudents is 100 grams of rice,while high school students get150 grams. The wages beingpaid to the mid-day mealsworkers at the rate of Rs 4.48per head for primary schoolstudents and Rs 6.71 per headfor high schools students wouldbe returned to the students.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Understanding the impor-tance of personal hygiene,hand-washing programme istaken up in PragathiBhavan.

Water is kept in two hugevessels for the Ministers andofficials to wash their hands.Strict instructions were giventhat all those entering thepremises should wash their

hands and clean them with asanitizer.

The Ministers, officials andothers who are attendingTuesday's emergency andhigh-level meeting havewashed their hands and sani-tized them before attendingthe meeting. Chief Minister KChandrashekharRao urgedpeople to follow individualhygiene in their homes.

Hygiene starts at the doorsteps of Pragathi Bhavan

Internet providers told to increase network capacityWith increasing number of IT professionals working from home, the Telangana ITE&C department

asked ISPs to raise network capacity to meet surge in demand. Minister K T Rama Rao on Tuesday ina tweet said that IT department, "Increased sanitation effort in Industrial & IT Parks, Ensure that contractlabor& daily wage workers are paid , Asked ISPs to raise network capacity to meet surge in demand withWFH and Utilise CSR for anti-Corona efforts". Likewise, he tweeted that MA&UD department were givendirections to handle this crisis including, "Increased sanitation efforts in all towns, Expeditious roadrepairs/maintenance, Instructed to ensure all ?5 meal centres are kept open, Picking up homeless &shifting to Night shelters, Tracking all home quarantined folks". He also urged Home Minister, MahmoodAli and Telangana DGP, M Mahender Reddy to allow personnel involved in providing essential services,during the lockdown. 'Have received several complaints about police not allowing personnel involved inessential services to move about. I have requested both, Home Minister, Mahamood Ali and TelanganaDGP to issue clear instructions in this regard. These are testing times guys, please cooperate', he tweeted.

Many companies areincentivizing theiremployees, whowould normally nothave work from homeauthorization, toarrange internetconnection. Manyusers who so far usedtheir phone internetfor streaming havebegun using it forwork as well

21-day nationwidelockdownContinued from Page 1

This is the only ray of light,he asserted. "To save India, tosave every Indian, there will bea complete ban on peo-ple from steppingoutside theirhouses from 12m i d n i g h ttoday," he said.

"Lockdownis beingimposed onevery state,union territory,district, village,mohalla and street," headded.

The lockdown will be like"curfew" and more stringentthan the 'janata curfew', whichthe country had observed onSunday, he said, adding it willhave an economic cost but sav-ing people's lives is of the para-mount interest to his govern-ment.

A lockdown in most of the

country was already in placetill March 31, and Modi'sannouncement extended iteverywhere and for two moreweeks after this month.

Modi folded his hands afew times to emphasise

his request to citizensto adhere to his call,saying it is applic-able to everyonefrom the primeminister to a citi-zen in a village.

Even countrieslike Italy, France and

the US with world classinfrastructure have been lefthelpless due to the spread ofthe disease despite their relent-less efforts, he said, emphasis-ing the gravity of the situation.

Some people suffer fromthis wrong mindset that onlyinfected persons need to fol-low social distancing, he said,warning that such a view canendanger lives of others andtheir families.

Lock downaffectshomelessin cityPNS n HYDERABAD

The total lock down on thestate has affected the home-less and also those whoarrived to the city on somebusiness from other statesand got stranded her forwant of food and shelter.

With state governmentcompletely suspending thepublic transport fromSunday, the normal life hasbeen paralysed and the trav-ellers have to confine them-selves to railway stations.

The state governmentimplemented Janata Curfewfor one day on Sunday, butlater extended it to March 31.People, unmindful of thecurfew, undertook travel butstranded in railway stationswith family and children.

Those who run theAnnapurna Canteens say thatthey have no orders fromMCH authorities to run thecanteens. They point out thathome orders and take awayparcels are being allowed tocontinue. The canteens caterto the food needs of at leastfour lakh in the city.

With the help of the civilsociety organisations, youthdistributed food packetsamong the homeless onSunday night.

The homeless have to gowithout food on Mondaynight since there was no fooddistribution undertaken byyouth or civil society organ-isations.

Gandhi closesOP services PNS n HYDERABAD

The out-patient depart-ment in Gandhi Hospitalwas closed from Tuesday toprevent other patients fromcontracting the coronavirusand the hospital became anodal center for the coron-avirus patients.

The hospital is taking careof only emergency surgeriesand put off all ordinarysurgeries. The hospitalauthorities will take a call onMarch 31 and take a deci-sion on whether to reopenthe OP department or not.

However, the out-patientdepartment in Osmania,Fever Hospitals will contin-ue as usual.

The suspects of coron-avirus patients will be sendto Gandhi Hospital wherediagnostic tests will be runon them.

According to OsmaniaHospital superintendent DrNagendra, the attendanceof patients at out-patientdepartment of all hospitalshas come down drasticallyas people are not botheringto visit hospitals unless it isextremely necessary.

Gandhi Hospital provides richmenu for coronavirus patients PNS n HYDERABAD

Rich nutritious menu forbreakfast, lunch and dinner areamong steps taken to providethe comfort factor to coron-avirus patients, isolated at theGandhi Hospital in the city.

In addition to medicine andIV fluids, the hospital hasbeen serving nutritious food topatients with the help of themenu carefully prepared by adietician.

The menu is different fromthe food being served to otherpatients undergoing treatmentin the hospital.

The diet for coronaviruspatients is full of minerals andvitamins and is designed toincrease the immunity of thepatients.

In fact, over 20 coronavirus

positive patients have beenundergoing treatment in thehospital. The doctors termtheir condition as improving.Some of them are likely to bedischarged after a week.

The breakfast comprises idli,dosa made of either urad dalor green gram, urad dal vada,wheat ravaupma, coffee and ahalf liter mineral water bottle.

The lunch consists of egg,three curries prepared out ofgreen and leafy vegetables,sambar and curd.

Afternoon or eveningsnacks comprise 100 grams ofdry fruits, sweet lemon,bananas, apple and coffee. Thedinner comprises egg, threevarieties of vegetarian curries,dal, rasam and curd.

Nizamia advises Muslims to offer prayers at homePNS n HYDERABAD

Jamia Nizamia, the largestIslamic seminary in SouthIndia, on Tuesday said thatwhile it does not recommendlocking up of masjids, itstrongly advises Muslims tooffer prayers at home, in viewof the deadly coronavirus pan-demic.

Addressing reporters after ahigh-level meeting at the sem-inary that was attended byscholars of various schools ofthought, the rector of theIslamic University, MuftiKhaleel Ahmed, said that allmanagement committees ofmasjids were advised toremove all prayer mats and

carpets so that the worshippersoffer prayers on the floor.

They were also told to sani-tise the floor after every

prayers and lock the mosquesas soon as the farz (obligatory)prayers end.

The Imams (persons leadingthe prayers) were advised toshorten the prayers while themussallis (worshippers) wereasked to offer all supplemen-tary prayers at home, if indeedthey ignore the advice andreach the masjids.

The Jamia Nizamia also"strongly advised" all the elder-ly and children to offer prayersat home.

Making it clear that precau-tions were necessary, MuftiKhaleel Ahmed said that allworshippers should also per-form the ablution at home andmaintain social distancing.

SCR KEEPS THE WHEELS MOVING

Railways to transport essential commoditiesPNS n HYDERABAD

Express, passenger and subur-ban train services all overIndia have been stopped tillMarch 31, 2020.

While the fact is, all passen-ger carrying trains have beenbrought to a halt in the wakeof the fight against spread ofCovid-19 Corona Virus,

Freight train services are beingrun to transport essential com-modities for meeting the needsof the Nation, 24 X 7 by IndianRailways.

SCRhas been in the forefrontof this endeavor and in the last3-day period of stoppage ofpassenger carrying train ser-vices, the zone has run over200 freight carrying trains

everydaybetween 22nd to 24thMarch, 2020 and the opera-tions will continue. Commod-ities principally being trans-ported by the Zone includecoal to various thermal plantsto ensure uninterrupted powersupply in the region;petroleumproducts to meet the needs ofthe industry and other users;food grains, milk to meet the

basic needs of the people dur-ing this emergent period.

This has been possible onaccount of the commitmentand duty mindedness of theworkforce of the SCR deployedat various goods sheds, stationsand control offices besides onfield duties. The staff arein-volved in planning and han-dling rail operations.

Addressing reportersafter a high-level meetingat the seminary that wasattended by scholars ofvarious schools ofthought, the rector of theIslamic University, MuftiKhaleel Ahmed, said thatall managementcommittees of masjidswere advised to removeall prayer mats andcarpets so that theworshippers offer prayerson the floor

TS Covid-19cases rise to39, 6 moretest positiveContinued from Page 1

Another patient is a 39-year-old female, with travel histo-ry and belonging toChandanagar reported posi-tive. A 49- year-old malewith travel history to Londonalso tested positive. Of the 37confirmed cases in the state,two persons were discharged.According to Health bul-letin, one patient was dis-charged on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, CCMB istraining personnel to be ableto collect samples and test forCovid-19. Director Rakesh KMishra said, "Second batch oftrainees are finishing theirhands on training program ofCovid-19 testing at CSIR-CCMB On Tuesday. Withthis 25 medical staff from fivemedical institutions ofTelangana State are ready totake up testing activity"

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 25, 2020 nation 04

SHORT READS

Entire West Bengalbrought underlockdown till Mar 31KOLKATA: Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Tuesdayextended the ongoing lockdownin force in Kolkata and otherurban areas of West Bengal tothe entire state till March 31 tocontain the coronavirusoutbreak. "After assessing thesituation, it has been decidedthat the ongoing lockdown willbe extended to the entire statefrom 5 pm today," Banerjee tolda press conference. Thelockdown in Kolkata andseveral urban agglomerationshad begun on Monday and wasscheduled to continue tillMarch 27 midnight.

‘Explore feasibility ofmaking essentialitems in COVID fight’

Govt cautions peopleabout fraudsters inname of COVID-19NEW DELHI: The governmenton Tuesday cautioned peopleabout attempts being made byfraudsters to steal confidentialdata of phones and computersby circulating malware in thename of coronavirus. A homeministry spokesperson advisedpeople not to fall in the trap ofsuch fraudsters. "Beware offraudsters circulating malwaresin the name of coronavirus.Such apps/links, if opened,may steal confidential datafrom your phone/computer,"the spokesperson tweeted. Thecyber fraudsters are circulatingthe malware link about a so-called coronavirus app likeSpymax, Corona Live 1.1.Sometimes cyber criminals arealso taking advantage of risingcoronavirus concern forcollecting charity, thespokesperson said.

NEW DELHI: The RailwayBoard has issued instructionsto all its production units toaccess feasibility ofmanufacturing items likesimple hospital beds, medicaltrolleys for hospitals andquarantine facilities, and IVstands to contribute to the fightagainst the coronaviruspandemic. The order has beenissued to all general managersof production units to use themanufacturing facilities atChittaranjan Loco Works,Chittaranjan; Integral CoachFactory, Chennai; Rail CoachFactory, Kaapurthala; DieselLoco Works, Varanasi and RailWheel Factory, Yelehanka tomanufacture essential itemswhich can be utilised for thetreatment of affected people bythis pandemic. "Railway Boardhas issued necessaryinstructions to the generalmanagers of these productionunits to explore the feasibility ofmanufacture of items likesimple hospital beds (withoutmattress), medical trolleys forhospitals and quarantinefacilities, IV stands, stretchers,hospital footsteps, hospitalbedside lockers, washbasinswith stands, ventilators, PPEslike masks, sanitisers, watertanks etc.

COVID-19 OUTBRAK

Need to tackle spread of pessimismand negativity, PM tells journalistsPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modion Tuesday said it is imperativeto keep the fighting spirit of thepeople up as the country tack-les the spread of coronavirus,and emphasised the need totackle the spread of pessimism,negativity and rumour-mon-gering.

Interacting with senior jour-nalists from the print media viavideo links, he also said the cit-izens need to be assured thatthe government is committedto countering the impact ofCOVID-19.

He said it is critical toimprove social cohesion tosafeguard national security.

During the interaction,Modi asked the media to act asa link between the governmentand people and provide contin-uous feedback at both nation-al and regional levels.

"He underlined the impor-tance of social distancing, ask-ing media to generate aware-ness about its importance,inform people about the lock-down decision by states, andalso highlight the impact ofspread of the virus throughinclusion of international data

and case studies about othercountries in the papers," astatement issued by the PrimeMinister's Office said.

According to the statement,Modi underlined that "it isimperative to keep the fightingspirit of the people up".

The prime minister also"emphasised that it was impor-tant to tackle the spread of pes-simism, negativity and rumourmongering. Citizens need to beassured that the government iscommitted to countering the

impact of COVID-19," thestatement said. The prime min-ister thanked the participantsfor the feedback and remind-ed them of the social respon-sibility towards the less privi-leged. Modi said the media hasplayed a praise-worthy role indisseminating information toevery nook and corner of thecountry. He said that the net-work of media is pan-India andspread across cities and villages.

This makes the media all themore significant in fighting this

challenge and spreading cor-rect information about it atmicro level, he said.

He said that newspaperscarry tremendous credibilityand the local page of a regionis widely read by people.

It is, therefore, imperativethat awareness about coron-avirus is spread through articlespublished on this page. It isessential to inform peopleabout where the testing centresare, who should get tested,whom to contact to get tested

and follow home isolation pro-tocols. This information shouldbe shared in newspapers andweb portals of the paper, theprime minister said. He alsosuggested that information likelocation of availability of essen-tial items during lockdown canalso be shared in regional pages.

The journalists and stake-holders from print mediaappreciated the role played bythe prime minister in commu-nicating effectively and leadingthe country from the front.

PNS n MUMBAI

A 42-year-old Bangladeshinational wanted in connectionwith three blasts at a mosquein Bangladesh in 2002 hasbeen arrested from NaviMumbai in Maharashtra,police said on Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off, thecrime branch of neighbouringThane Police arrestedMophajjal Hussain aliasMopha Ali Gazi aliasMaphizul Mandal, hailingfrom Satkhira in Khulna stateof Bangladesh, from Cidco busstop on Thursday while he wastrying to go to Turbhe in NaviMumbai, an official said.

He was staying in Turbhesince the last few months andwas doing odd jobs there.

He was involved in thecrude bomb blasts, one insideand two outside the mosque in

Bangladesh, Thane crimebranch police inspector NitinThakre said.

One person was killed andmany others injured in thetriple blast, which took placeat Ilispur in the jurisdiction ofColarua police station, he said.

Hussain had lost his righthand when the crude bombexploded while he was placingit outside the mosque, he said.

He was subsequently arrest-ed and awarded life imprison-ment by a court. However, hewas later granted bail on med-ical grounds and released in2004 following which heabsconded and sneaked intoIndia from the border alongWest Bengal where he didsome petty jobs. He later cameto Mumbai and was workingat some construction sites inthe metropolis and NaviMumbai, he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

With the number of coron-avirus cases rising in the coun-try, several parents wantschools to not reopen soon andhave suggested that academicloss if any can be reduced bycurtailing the summer vaca-tion. Several schools, which arealready offering classes throughdigital modes of learning, saya decision in this regard will betaken only after March 31 oncea review of the situation is doneand also if the lockdown is cur-tailed. According to a survey byonline platformLocalcircles.com, 81 per centparents are in favour of schoolsbeing shut through May andreopening on June 1. Over10,000 parents were inter-viewed for the survey.

"The way cases are rising, Ibelieve even if the lockdowns

are eased, schools should notreopen for at least a month.Kids are very sensitive andtheir safety should be of utmostconcern," Ritvik Ahuja, anarchitect by profession said.

Another parent PK Shukla,said, "Schools are already con-

ducting online sessions, assign-ments are being done online. Iam sure with technology athand, lot can be managed sothere is not going to be muchacademic loss".

Echoing similar concern,Shweta Babber, an IT profes-

sional said, "The loss of thenumber of days in the acade-mic calendar can be made upby not giving any summervacation this year". The class-es and examination have beensuspended in all schools tillMarch 31. Jawa harNavodya Vidyalayas across thecountry have already announcedadvanced summer break and willreopen on May 22.

Parents want schools to remainclosed, curtail summer vacation

2002 B'DESH MOSQUE BLASTS

Bangladesh nationalheld in Maharashtra

Newspaperscarry tremendouscredibility and thelocal page of a regionis widely read bypeople. It is,therefore, imperativethat awarenessabout coronavirus isspread througharticles published onthis page, said PrimeMinister Modi

Centre should have taken coronavirusthreat more seriously, says CongressPNS n NEW DELHI

The Congress on Tuesdayalleged that the government iscriminally culpable of notdefining specifications of per-sonal protection equipmentfor doctors and health workerstill March 2, with party leaderRahul Gandhi saying the coun-try should have taken the coro-navirus threat more seriously.

Gandhi had said onFebruary 12 that the govern-ment should take the coron-avirus threat seriously andmust address the issue imme-diately, failing which the coun-try and its people may suffer.

"I am feeling sad, becausethis was completely avoidable.We had time to prepare. We

should have taken this threatmuch more seriously and havebeen much better prepared," hesaid on Twitter.

Gandhi also retweeted apost of a doctor Kamna

Kakkar, who said she is frus-trated in view of shortage ofN95 masks and took a swipeat the beating of 'thalis' andapplause on the call given byPrime Minister Narendra

Modi. Congress chiefspokesperson RandeepSurjewala alleged that thegovernment is criminally cul-pable of not defining specifi-cations of personal protectionequipment for doctors andhealth workers till March 2and demanded answers fromthe prime minister.

"Dear PM,the governmentis criminally culpable of notdefining 'Specifications' ofPersonal ProtectionEquipment for Doctors-Health Workers between 1stFeb-2nd March, 2020;Permitting export of PPEmaterial, Masks, Ventilatosupto 19th March. Nationneeds to know," he said onTwitter.

PNS n NOIDA (UP)

A 47-year-old woman with norecent history of foreign trav-el has tested positive forCOVID-19 here, taking thenumber of coronavirus casesin Gautam Buddh Nagar dis-trict to nine, officials said onTuesday.

The husband and thedaughter of the woman havebeen quarantined, while theirhousing society has been com-pletely sealed -- no entry orexit allowed except in emer-gency cases, the administra-tion said.

"A new positive case forcoronavirus has been detect-ed.... The society has beentemporarily sealed from 2 pmof March 24 till 10 am of

March 26. Entry into or exitfrom the society will not beallowed during the period,"District Magistrate B N Singhsaid.

According to officials, thewoman has no history of for-eign travel but her husband isan auditor and one of hisLondon-based clients hadrecently visited him.

Woman tests positivefor Covid-19 in Noida

PNS n NEW DELHI

As coronavirus cases surge,the Centre on Tuesday askedall state governments torelease funds for setting up ofadditional medical facilitieslike hospitals, clinical labora-tories and isolation wards tocombat the pandemic. Themove came as the number ofcoronavirus cases in thecountry crossed 500."Thecentre has asked all the stategovernments to deploy fiscalresources for establishingadditional medical facilitiessuch as hospitals, clinicallabs, isolation wards, expand-ing and upgrading existingfacilities to combat the chal-lenge posed by COVID-19,"an official statement said.

Centre asksstates torelease funds

PNS n CHENNAI

Doctors, nurses, paramedicsand sanitary workers involvedin treating COVID-19patients in isolation at gov-ernment hospitals in TamilNadu will get a special payoutof a month's salary to honourthem, Chief Minister KPalaniswami told theAssembly on Tuesday.

Lauding their work whilelegislators stood up andapplauded after his appeal,the Chief Minister said doc-tors, nurses, paramedics andcleanliness workers are work-ing with a sense of dedication,even risking their lives.

"We are duty bound toappreciate them," he saidadding they would get a spe-cial payout of one monthsalary.

Days ago, Palaniswami had

rechristened Tamil Nadu'ssanitary workers as 'cleanli-ness workers.' The ChiefMinister said air ambulanceservice would be started at acost of Rs 10 crore to trans-port critical patients to hospi-tals. To further develop fourState-run hospitals, includ-ing the Government Hospitalfor Thoracic Medicine atTambaram Sanatorium here

and upgrade King's Instituteof Preventive Medicine andResearch's lab to Bio safetyLevel-III, a total amount of Rs110 crore will be spent in thecurrent fiscal, he said.

Palaniswami said a robot-ic surgery centre will be set upat a cost of Rs 34.60 crore atthe state run multispecialityhospital here at the govern-ment estate.

Covid-19: TN CM announcesspecial payout for govt doctors

Twenty-five years ago, late PKamala Manohar Rao, inhis report to the govern-

ment of undivided AP onstreamlining Tribal Develop-ment, strongly recommended fora "Single-Line Administration".Though a number of schemes forthe welfare of tribals has beendrawn up and scores imple-mented, most of the key sugges-tions made by Rao are as perti-nent today.

Telangana-born Manohar Raowas the first Director of TribalWelfare when it was created in1966 and continued in the posttill he retired in 1975. He wasentrusted with the task of TribalDevelopment as part of Admini-strative Reforms Committee ofRusthomjee and Associates in1985.

In his report titled"Streamlining of TribalDevelopment Administration"Rao recommended a single-window approach and a decen-tralised multi-functional organ-

isation for tribal development.His report was a comprehensivedocument and for all those whowish to look at problems ofTribals in perspective, it is veryinteresting reading.

The Telangana governmentgives priority to the welfare ofTribals by implementing numberof schemes. These includeamong others; Micro Irrigation,residential schools and colleges,study circles, overseas scholar-ships, Kalyana Lakshmi, subsi-dies under Economic support,Aasara pensions, ST specialdevelopment fund through STSub Plan, making Thandas asGram Panchayats etc.

ASCI former principalDharani P Sinha, commendingthe report wrote: "If one wants toget results in tribal areas there isno alternative other than creat-

ing a decentralised administra-tion with integrated multi-func-tional approach." Late Prof C VonFuel Haimendorf, in hisDecember 1985 letter to Rao,praised his efforts. Congratulat-ing Rao for his brilliant analysis,Haimendorf agreed that therewas an urgent need for a thor-ough revision of the administra-tive machinery in the tribalareas. Prof. Haimendorfexpressed the hope that Rao's

realistic proposals would beaccepted by the StateGovernment, the implementa-tion of which would greatlybenefit the tribal population ofthe State.

Rao recommended that theGirijan Cooperative Corporationto be combined in itself credit,commercial and welfare func-tions as a central bank as well asto function as a marketing organ-isation. He wanted it to have a

project review and control mech-anism and an independent sta-tus as Tribal Cultural Researchand Training Institute. Anothersuggestion refers to changes inthe administrative structure atthe secretariat level which includ-

ed constitution of a State levelhigh power committee to advisethe Chief Minister on tribalaffairs. At the directorate leveland district level also, Rao mademany outstanding suggestions.

Rao, born on December 20,1919 as a postgraduate studentin 1947 was identified byHaimendorf to work among theTribals. He joined service in theSocial Welfare Department ofNizam's Government. Raoevolved an integrated pro-gramme of development forweaning away Tribals from theextremist movement launchedby the Communists in theTelangana tribal belt, in collab-oration with Haimendorf, whowas then adviser to the govern-ment to Hyderabad on Tribals in1949. They were successful inrestoring peace in that area.

Haimendorf was responsiblefor starting the social servicedepartment for the welfare ofScheduled Tribes, BackwardClasses and at that time Rao wasappointed as trainee organiser.Rao was instrumental in imple-menting the Hyderabad TribalAreas Regulation Act, 1949 inWarangal district. It was Rao, whoworked out a strategy for bifu-rcation of the tribal welfare andsocial welfare departments. Theoriginal tribals used to live on hill-tops, forests, caves and undertrees. They were scared on see-ing the civilized people and usedto literally run to their hideouts.

The report by Rao, whose longassociation with tribes and trib-al development administrationfor about four decades couldhave been an answer to severalproblems. Rao was motivated by

Haimendorf in the tradition ofapplying anthropological knowl-edge to field situations. Asobserved by Rao in his report, itrequires a constant effort for cre-ation of delivery system attunedto the ideals and objectives setforth in the constitution and theplans. Traditional administrativesystems cannot adequately han-dle the new development tasks.It requires application of skillsand technology in various fieldsand calls for rigorous coordina-tion and integration of skills andtechnologies in various sectors.The report, which contains sev-eral proposals based on thestudy of various commissionreports, is as pertinent today if thegovernment designs a policy toenable Tribals reap benefits. Raoremains to this day what VerrierElwyn called one of the greatestfield-oriented philanthropists ofthis century, the "rara avis"(Exceptional Person) of sociolo-gist-administrators, who are,indeed a vanishing tribe.

Multi-functional approach to tribal welfare

VANAM JWALA NARASIMHA RAOCPRO to Chief Minister

Jawahar NavodayaVidyalayas acrossthe country havealready announcedadvanced summerbreak and willreopen on May 22

The TS govt gives priority to the welfare oftribals by implementing number of schemes. These include among others; Micro Irrigation,residential schools and colleges, studycircles, overseas scholarships, KalyanaLakshmi, subsidies under Economic support,Aasara pensions and others

Lauding their workwhile legislators stoodup and applaudedafter his appeal, CMsaid doctors, nurses,paramedics andcleanliness workersare working with asense of dedication,even risking their lives

nation 05HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 25, 2020 COVID-19 OUTBREAK

Mumbai: A 65-year-old manwho arrived here from UAE viaAhmedabad passed away dueto COVID-19 late on Mondaynight, while the number of pos-itive cases shot up to 107 in theState with 10 new cases, offi-cials said here on Tuesday. Thelatest coronavirus casualty takesthe death toll due to the diseasein Mumbai to four in the pastone week and the national tollto 10.

Another 94 suspected casesare admitted to various cityhospitals, according toMunicipal Corporation ofGreater Mumbai (MCGM).

The civic body said that thedeceased was admitted to theKasturba Hospital in a criticalcondition on Monday withfever, cough and breathlessness.He had a history of foreign

travel, arriving from UAE toAhmedabad on March 15 andthen to Mumbai on March 20. The victim also hadcomplaints of high blood pres-sure coupled with uncontrolleddiabetes and passed away lateon Monday after a few hours oftreatment. The new coron-avirus positive cases inMaharashtra detected sincelast night include three fromPune and one from Satara.

The suspected casesinclude people with a history ofrecent foreign travel history toPeru, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

A total of 418 people withhistory of foreign travel are inquarantine in Mumbai.

The three earlier victimsincluded a 68-year-old Fillipinoand two other men, both aged63. IANS

IANS n PANAJI

The Congress in Goa on Tuesday raiseddoubts about repeated claims made by the

State Government of zero COVID-19 positivecases, in absence of a single testing laborato-ry, in the coastal State.

A statement issued by the State Congresspresident Girish Chodankar also said, that noeffort was made by the BJP-led coalitionGovernment in Goa to start a virology labo-ratory, since the time the viral outbreak wasdeclared a global pandemic by the WorldHealth Organisation.

"The COVID-19 alarm has not yet wokenup this government. It is the people of Goathat needs to be appreciated for taking all nec-essary precautions. That is why the situation

seems under control, even though the gov-ernment failed to establish a basic virology lab-oratory to test COVID-19 in Goa,a Chodankarsaid in his statement.

"We wish and desire that no positive casesare traced in Goa, but we do not agree withgovernment figures of ZERO positive cases inthe state without virology laboratory or col-lection centre in the state," Chodankar alsosaid the state government was in "denial mode"on the issue.

"Why is the Health Minister taking somuch time to give permission to start testinglabs facilities in Goa, when his own party atthe Centre has permitted them," Chodankarsaid, referring to the central government'srecent decision to approve six private labo-ratories for COVID-19 testing.

Gandhinagar: With four morenew coronavirus positive casesreported in Gujarat, the totalsuch cases in the western Stateclimbed to 33 on Tuesday, asthe authorities decided to putthe entire State under lock-down.

Out of the four new casessince Monday, three got theinfection locally while one gotinfected abroad, including aman, 32, from Surat had trav-elled to Saudi Arabia. Anotherman, 66, got infected locally.One man aged 53 and onewoman aged 54 in Gandhinagar got infected

locally.Gujarat is the only state in

the country which has a list of27,000 passengers, the resi-dents who returned fromabroad since March 1.

"We have screened 10 lakhpersons under the IntegratedDisease SurveillanceProgramme (IDSP) till date,including patients complainingof Severe Acute RespiratoryInfection (SARI), 108 servicescomplaints about breathless-ness and 104 complaint calls,"said Jayanti Ravi, PrincipalSecretary Health.

"Out of total 33 positive

cases in Gujarat, we have re-sent blood samples of sixpatients after a week's treat-ment for testing and they havebeen found stable," added Ravi.

The Secretary said that11,108 people in the state wereunder home quarantine. "Wehave received 2,424 callsregarding COVID-19 on the104 services. We have a total of1,583 isolation beds in thestate in government hospitalsand 609 ventilators. In the pri-vate hospitals those which arelinked with the government, wehave total 15,00 ventilators,"added Ravi.

Fourth death inMaharashtra,107 +ve cases

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n CHENNAI

Though medical scientistsare yet to come out with

answers to doubts about coro-navirus which has claimed mil-lions of lives across the globe,astrology has the answer forwhat caused the pandemic.

Modern science and liber-als may look down on thisancient system of Indianknowledge with contempt anddisgust and they portray asreactionary and regressive anyefforts to describe this branchof knowledge as a science.

Whether one agrees or dis-agrees with the observations bypersons who have mastered thescience of astrology, it is inter-esting to note their conclusionsabout coronavirus.

P a r a p p a n a n g a d iUnnikrishna Panickar andPandhappalli Gopala Menon ,two leading Thantrik scholarswho learnt astrology as part oftheir training in Sanskrit liter-ature pointed out to ThePioneer that the present pan-demic is the result of the hap-hazard movement of planetsfrom one position to anotherduring a single calendar year.

“There is a law which governsthe movement of planets fromone Raassi to another. Theestablished pattern stands dis-turbed and this is the reasonbehind the pandemic,” saidPanickar who usually shuns themedia. Panickar is known forhis closeness to former TamilNadu Chief Minister JJayalalithaa.

An authority on Sanskritlanguage and literature,Panickar says the pandemic isthe effect of the asymmetricalmovement of Jupiter. “The cal-endar year is experiencing thisdisordered movement ofJupiter and that too three timesduring 2019 to 2020. It vaultsfrom Scorpio to Sagittariusand then to Capricon.Moreover the coming togeth-er of Mars, Saturn and Jupiteris a dangerous sign, the resultof which could be death anddestruction,” he told ThePioneer.

Interestingly, The Pioneerwas privy to a closed doormeeting held by Panickar for atop government official inNovember 2019 when he toldthe latter that the country andthe world was in for major dis-aster in months to come eitherdue to war or epidemic. “This

phase is known as VasundharaYogam , as per the Vedas.What is worrying is the factthat this phase has been aggra-vated by Kala Sarppa Yogamwhich also is an indicator ofbad times,” he had said.

“Loke BahuVinasahakrith,”(World is in fordestruction) Panickar had toldthe official who was facing anumber of hardships.

Pandhappilli GopalaMenon, thanthrik scholarbased in Kerala’s Kayamkulam,agreed with what Panickar toldabout the movement of Jupiter.“Jupiter is the divine planetwhich plays major role in ourfortunes and misfortunes. It’sdisorderly movement and thattoo three times in a single yearhas resulted in natural disasters , earthquakes and pandemics. Kings (rulers)are forced to face crisis after crisis because of this planetary movements,” saidMenon.

He pointed out that the sit-uation has arisen out of themisdeeds by people in higherplaces as well as their associateswho engage in activities whichdo not synch well with Dharmamentioned in Vedas andUpanishads.

Astrologers say corona result ofJupiter's asymmetric movement

New Delhi: To meetthe growing require-ment of essentialmedical items in thewake of coronavirusepidemic, the IndianRailways has decidedto manufacture at itsproduction unitshospital beds,stretchers, IV stands,ventilators, etc.

"In the wake ofpandemic Covid-19,the railway, in con-sultation with pro-duction units andzonal railway work-shops, has decided to use its facilities, likeChittaranjan Loco Works, Integral CoachFactory, Chennai, Rail Coach Factory,Kapurthala, Diesel Loco Works, Varanasi,and Rail Wheel Factory, Yelehanka, tomanufacture these essential items" tohelp combat the pandemic, the IndianRailways said in a statement, here onTuesday.

The Railway Board has issued nec-essary instructions to the GeneralManagers of these production units toexplore the feasibility to manufactureitems, like simple hospital beds (withoutmattress), medical trolleys for hospitals

and quarantine facilities, IV stands,stretchers, hospital footsteps, hospitalbedside lockers, washbasins with stands,ventilators, PPEs like masks, sanitizers,and water tanks.

The Ministry said the Railway Boardhad asked the General Managers toexplore the feasibility in consultationwith the Chief Medical Officers (CMO)and manufacture these items in largequantities.

On Tuesday, the Covid-19 toll inIndia rose to 10, and the number ofaffected persons was 500.

IANS

Railways to producehospital beds,stretchers, IV stands

Mumbai: In a major swoop, MumbaiPolice have seized three truckloads of 2.50million masks worth `15 crore hoardedillegally and busted a four-member gang,Home Minister Anil Deshmukh saidhere on Tuesday.

"The masks were being hoarded by thegang and were intended for sale in theblack market. The seizure includes over325,000 N-49 masks, plus others of dif-ferent varieties," Deshmukh told media-persons.

He said that at the height of the ongo-ing COVID-19 crisis, Maharashtra is fac-ing a massive shortage of all types of masksand this seizure is expected to ease theproblems somewhat.

The seizure came after a tip-offreceived by Mumbai Police CommissionerParam Bir Singh last week on a ganghoarding the heavy-demand masks forexorbitant prices.

Accordingly, a trap was set up bySenior Inspector of Police (Crime)Mahesh Desai who posed as a customerand finally managed to bust the gang byraiding locations in Mumbai and Thane.

While four persons have been arrest-ed, the police are on the lookout for twoabsconders, said Deshmukh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police

(Crime) Akbar Pathan said the fouraccused were produced before a magis-trate and remanded to police custody tillMarch 27. Since one consignment wasfound near the Mumbai Airport CargoComplex and another in a warehouse inBhiwandi, Pathan said the investigationswill focus on whether attempts wereunderway to export the masks to otherseriously affected countries where they arein huge demand. It may be recalled thatrecently the Maharashtra Food & DrugsAdministration had banned the sale of theN-49 masks without medical prescriptionafter people resorted to panic buying lead-ing to an artificial shortage.

So far, Maharashtra has recorded 107COVID-19 positive cases besides fourdeaths including a 68-year-old Fillipino. IANS

Imphal/Agartala: Manipur reported its first caseof coronavirus as a 23-year-old woman whoreturned from the United Kingdom tested pos-itive, making it the first case in the North-Eastregion of India, an official said on Tuesday.

According to a statement issued by K. RajoSingh, the Director of Manipur's Health andFamily Welfare Department, the woman is nowundergoing treatment at the Jawaharlal NehruInstitute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal.

"The woman was found infected duringexamination at the JNIMS. She is a resident ofThangmeiband Lourung Purely Leikai in Imphalwest district. She had fallen sick on Monday,"another official of Health and Family WelfareDepartment said on condition of anonymity.

The Manipur government has a list of 99 peo-ple who arrived in the state in recent times fromcoronavirus-affected countries and are now inhouse quarantine.

Two doctors of JNIMS, L. Shivadutta Singh,Research Scientist and Rajkumar ManojkumarSingh, Associate Professor and PrincipalInvestigator, both of Department of Microbiology,issued the positive nCoV confirmation certificateat 6.40 a.m. on Tuesday.

Soon after the medical test report, RangitabaliWaikhom, District Magistrate, issued an order onTuesday prohibiting movement of people in theentire Imphal west district. IANS

IANS n BENGALURU

Bengaluru civic body hasdeployed drones for spraying

disinfectants over all the areas ofthe city to combat coronavirus,a top official said on Tuesday.

"Disinfectants will besprayed using drones to sanitisepublic spaces. Mechanicalsweepers to be deployed forintensive cleaning. Jettingmachines from BBMP will beemployed in this exercise," tweet-ed Bruhat Bengaluru

Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar.

Powered by six propellers,the drones have a capacity to lift15 litre disinfectants provided bythe civic body to spray in placeswhen there is more human den-sity.

Six nozzles under the pro-pellers spray the disinfectantfrom the drone with a flight timeof 20 minutes. A single batterycan power the drone to spray theliquid in an area of three acres.

Mumbai Police confiscates2.5 mn masks worth `15 cr

The seizure came after atip-off received by

Mumbai PoliceCommissioner Param Bir

Singh last week on agang hoarding the

heavy-demand masks forexorbitant prices

Four more positive casesin Gujarat, total now 33

Goa Opp raises doubtsabout zero virus case

B'luru civic bodydeploys dronesto fight COVID-19

MOHIT KANDHARI n JAMMU

Atleast three new positive cases ofcoronavirus were reported from

Srinagar and Bandipore districts ofKashmir valley while one patientfrom Srinagar fully recovered,bring-ing the total tally of active cases inJammu & Kashmir to six on Tuesday.

Both Jammu and Srinagar dis-tricts witnessed complete lock downalong with other districts asGovernment authorities enforced itstrictly after initial hiccups and vio-lations by ignorant people.

"So far, 279 samples have beensent for testing of which 253 testedas negative. Only seven personshave tested positive and of them onlysix are active positive and onepatient has recovered. Test reports of20 patients were awaited", reporteddaily media bulletin released by theHealth and Medical educationdepartment.

Sharing details of the freshcases, Spokesman of Jammu andKashmir government, Rohit Kansal

Tuesday tweeted, two more casesreported positive in Srinagar. Onehas confirmed travel history outsideIndia. Full details regarding thesecond being ascertained".

In the evening, Kansal shareddetails of another positive case in aseparate tweet. "Another positivecase in Kashmir division. Patient,from Bandipora, with history of trav-el outside J&K but no history of trav-el abroad. Contact tracing on".

To further beef up capacity ofthe health care delivery system inthese difficult times, theGovernment has decided to hireretired doctors (on contract) for aperiod of one year.

"Retired doctors to be hiredagainst vacancies on contract for oneyear for FightagainstCorona inunderserved areas. Decision inemergency meeting of AdvisoryCouncil", tweeted Kansal.

In Jammu, GMC Jammu wasdeclared as dedicated COVID hos-pital for Jammu province. The hos-pital authorities were directed to

ready it by Wednesday evening.The OPD services at GMC and

its associated hospitals shall remainsuspended w.e.f 25.03.2020 till fur-ther orders.

GMC administration has alsoappealed to the general public ofJammu division to stop the routinewalk in OPD services at GMC andits associated hospital and request-ed to consult telephonically for theirdisease aliment from the list ofdoctors provided separately andavailable on the website www.gmc-jammu.nic.in of GMC Jammu. Thetelephone consultation time shallremain within 10:30 am to 04:30 pm.

Deputy Commissioner, SrinagarDr Shahid Choudhary sharingdetails of a patient who recoveredafter receiving treatment tweeted,"Srinagar's first COVID-19 Positivecase successfully treated".

According to official sources "atotal number of 2928 persons havebeen kept under home quarantinewhile as 71 are in hospital quaran-tine.

With 3 more testing +ve,J&K cases mount to six

Manipur woman testspositive, first in N-E

Passengers stranded at the airport take rest after no local transport was available following Government’s imposition of lockdown in the Stateamid coronavirus pandemic, in Chennai on Tuesday PTI

A deserted Hawa Mahal area during the lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic in Jaipur on Tuesday PTI

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

The Bengal Government on Tuesdayextended the ongoing Corona-

induced lockdown to the entire Stateand till March 31. Earlier the measureas taken for only urban municipal areasand till the midnight of March 27.

Announcing the situation to begrave Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeefollowing a review meeting said “wehave assessed the situation and it hasbeen decided that the ongoing lock-down will be extended to the entirestate from 5 pm today,” adding the“lockdown which was earlier scheduledtill March 27 will now extend to March31.” The Chief Minister said “these areextraordinary and grave situation. Sothe entire State will now come underthe lockdown. Earlier it was confinedto the urban municipal areas only …I will ask the people not to panic butremain alert and cooperate with theGovernment.”

Providing reasons behind theTuesday’s decision the Chief Ministerreferred to a case study saying “we havegone through a case study where wefound that the first one lakh infectionstook 67 days whereas the next one lakhinfections took 11 days only” andmore alarmingly “it took just four daysfor the third one lakh infections.Hence the gravity of the situation ishuge and we have to take some harddecisions to save the lives of the com-

mon people.”Banerjee who on Monday held an

all-party meeting inviting suggestionsfrom the political parties on Tuesdayannounced a one-time help of `1,000for the workers in unorganized sec-tor.“We are bringing a scheme throughthe "Prachesta" scheme whereby Rs1,000 each will be given to the work-ers of the unorganized sector,” consid-ering the loss of income they would suf-fer during the lockdown period, shesaid. The Chief Minister earlier took anextraordinary decision to convert the3,000 bed Calcutta Medical College andHospital --- the oldest such facility inAsia --- into a fully dedicated medicalcare centre for Corona patients and per-sonally paid surprise visits to all themedical colleges and other hospitalsincluding the Beleghata ID Hospitaland Rajarhat quarantine centre.

Meanwhile Bengal saw two moreCorona cases taking the number up tonine in the past one week. While thefirst patient recently visited London thesecond patient made a trip to Egyptwith whole of his family. While thepatients have been admitted toBeleghata ID Hospital their familieshave been sent on quarantine, sourcessaid.The Health Department sourceswere awaiting the pathological reportsof a third patient who on Tuesday wasadmitted to the NRS Medical CollegeHospital with fever and acute respira-tory problem.

WB extends lockdown towhole State till March 31

Igo to Nepal twice a year. Once dur-ing Holi and the other on Tihar(Nepali bhai dooj) that comes afterDussehra. The normal format is:Fly to Kathmandu, spend two to

three days there, then fly to Pokhara fora two-week trek and then revival. Thepre-Holi Kathmandu weather this yearwas a spoilsport — cold, bleak and rainy— amid the Corona scare, though Nepalhad registered just one case and that fig-ure remains intact even today. Just thisweek, Nepal went into total lockdown tillMarch 31. One-third of its population of30 million people works abroad, main-ly in the Middle East, South-east Asia andIndia. Their earnings account for near-ly one-third of its gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) of $35 million.

Many Nepalese wear face masksthroughout the year in Kathmandu andelsewhere due to garbage and pollution.Everything appeared normal at theTribhuvan International Airport, includ-ing the temperature gun aimed at peo-ple. The country has for the moment can-celled its inaugural Sagarmatha Sambad,a three-day conference on climate change,which Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawalisaid would be postponed to October. Healso said he was pleased with India-Nepalrelations now that the Foreign Secretary-level Kalapani dialogue is about to startshortly and the Eminent Persons Group(EPG) report appeared on the horizon.

My lecture at Nepal’s Institute forInternational Cooperation andEngagement on a holiday (Saturday,March 6) was well-received. It was pre-ceded by a presentation on theCoronavirus and the world economy. Thetheme of my presentation was: “India-Nepal Relations: Mind the Gap — WhereChina Fits in.” The Kathmandu Post, thecapital’s leading English newspaper, wasrecently stung by a stern rebuke by theChinese Embassy for reproducing asyndicated column on Coronavirus by aformer US Ambassador, who was criti-cal of China. While this intrusion wascondemned by the Nepalese media, nota word was said by the Prime MinisterKP Oli-led Government.

During the royal rule, the Chineseused to say that they do not interfere inthe internal affairs of the hostGovernment. This is now a thing of thepast. That the Chinese assault on free-doms guaranteed by the NepaleseConstitution went officially unrespond-ed was not surprising. Any similaraffront by India would have attracted loudand collective protests by the media andthe ruling Nepal Communist Party(NCP), which is inarguably pro-China.Clive Hamilton’s Silent Invasion: China’sInfluence in Australia and JonathanManthorpe’s Claws of the Panda: Beijing’sCampaign of Influence and Intimidation

in Canada are books reflectingon China’s global outreach andblatant intrusions.

Like in the rest of the world,politics is on long pause inNepal. Reason: Oli’s health andthe spread of Coronavirus. Themain topic of discussion after Olireceived his second kidneyreplacement is his political reju-venation. Unless his health dete-riorates, rendering him dys-functional, he will continue tolead the country by remote con-trol. Fortunately, theCoronavirus epidemic appearscontrolled for now and life goeson happily without fear or scarethroughout Nepal.

I arrived in Pokhara a daybefore Holi on an Air Buddhaflight, which took all of 25 min-utes. The only BMW in Pokhara,belonging to Nepali Congress’Buddhiman Gurung, drove meto Lameahal, 15 km east ofPokhara. Holi is celebrated onthe 6,000 ft high newly-builtManithan temple at An Phu vil-lage, where the bhale (malechicken) or boka (male goat) aresacrificed till the brown hilltopturns red. The pujari (priest) hasto first persuade bhale and bokato accept becoming the sacrifi-cial offering before their behead-ing by the khukuri-wieldingpriest. Side by side, dry coloursmix freely with local dance and

drinks as tribal Gurungs bringout their best. From Lameahal,one has to cross the Seti river ona swing bridge, climbing abouttwo hours to reach An Phu top,which makes for a healthy daily trek.

Meanwhile, with regimechange in the Oli-led NCPunlikely till next elections in2023, it is the latent powerstruggle between Oli and partypresident Pushpa Kamal DahalPrachanda that is making thegossip. Given Oli’s uncertainhealth, Prachanda has played hiscards cleverly to ensure thatsooner than later, the powerhierarchy in Kathmandu couldlook like this: Madhav KumarNepal, former Nepal PrimeMinister, Jhalanath Khanal, thePresident of Nepal, andPrachanda, the undisputed pres-ident of the party. The opposi-tion Nepali Congress in Nepal,like Indian National Congress,is on a decline. Nepali Congress(NC), which was split into threefactions — SB Deuba, RCPoudyal and KP Sitaulla — hastwo additional wings: TheKoirala legacy and Ganesh ManSingh groups. Both NCP andNC will have their first and 14thgeneral conventions in 2021.

While in NC, Deubaremains the top leader, otherparties have opted for joint or

collective leadership to avoidinfighting. For example, theroyalist Rashtriya PrajatantraParty, which merged recently,has three presidents. TheRashtriya Janata Party (RJP) hasa six-member presidium led byMahanta Thakur. TheSamajwadi Party (SP) has a tri-umvirate leadership — formerPrime Minister BaburamBhattarai, Upendra Yadav andAshok Rai. The RJP and SP, whotogether rule number twoprovince, are considering merg-er after unification talks. Theyhave been pressing the OliGovernment to amend theConstitution, incorporatingpending issues of the Madhesis,janjatis and marginalised com-munities.

Two years on, theOpposition parties are com-plaining that the ruling NCP isbesieged by scandals — gold,wide-bodied aircraft, NCell anda close aide of Oli, Banskota —and misgovernance but have noalternate vision plan to offer.While China will ensure theNCP stays united and theGovernment does not fall, Indiais loath to being seen as havingfavourites or indulging inregime change. TheGovernment is seized with mat-ters like the US-sponsoredMillennium Challenge

Corporation (MCC) and theIndo-Pacific, which are seen asmeans of challenging China’sBelt and Road Initiative (BRI)and containing it. Die-hardcommunist members of NCPare unwilling to countenancethis. For Nepal, balancing Indiaand China is challengingenough; expecting it to also bal-ance the US and China wouldbe walking a tightrope.

For India, regaining spacelost to China will be a long haul.In the meantime, it can investin improving its declined image,damaged by the blockade of2015, which gave rise to anti-Indianism and fillip to China.It has chosen a competent andpromising Ambassador, VinayKwatra, for the job. On March18, when I was at Pokhara air-port bound for New Delhi,one of my Nepalese friendsmade this irresistible offer:“Mehtaji, why don’t you stay inLameahal till the Coronavirusdries up?” Back in Noida, I amconfined to Ram Vihar insteadof climbing to An Phu top andbreathing a daily dose of crispHimalayan air.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

Yes, former Jammu and Kashmir ChiefMinister and National Conference (NC)leader Omar Abdullah has been released

from detention. But the circumstances surround-ing his release are just as hazy as his arrest. Inthe dark shadow of COVID-19, Omar decided thatthough it was a different Kashmir he was return-ing to, there was a bigger question of life and deathat the moment and so spread the Government’smessage of social distancing and quarantine. Ifthe Government’s charges for booking him after

the abrogation of Article 370 — that his messages were divisive and could incitepeople and youngsters — are an estimate of his appeal, then Omar certainly provedhow the Government bungled in underestimating his positive net worth. For he usedthe same appeal to ask his people to be calm in the time of a horrid pandemic andfollow protocol, politics could come later. Clearly, NC chief Farooq Abdullah, whowas released earlier and Omar, both of whom had been allies of the BJP Government,and not too troublesome ones at that, could have been used to normalise the bridgewith civil society in Kashmir despite its changed status as a Union Territory. Andby equating the old political leadership with terrorists, when in fact the Abdullahswere much of a filter, the Modi Government cannot walk the talk of ushering indevelopment in Kashmir. It still needs the mediatory presence of local parties buthas blunderously pushed them away. In their absence, the ruling BJP could notconduct the panchayat and local-level polls successfully, although it has been hop-ing to build a new narrative ground up with candidates friendly to it. Such was theboycott then that over 12,000 panchayat seats continue to be vacant. Panchayatshave made it clear that any electoral process would have to be preceded by therelease of jailed NC and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leaders. Clearly, with-out traditional politicians, the BJP is finding it extremely difficult to re-engage withpeople. Already payments are pending for work done under MGNREGA schemeover the last several years. And in the trough of COVID-19, the Government mightface more ire locally. Neither has the BJP been able to raise an alternative front ora political climate. It may have encouraged the formation of the Jammu and KashmirApni Party (JKAP) drawing rejects from PDP and NC, but it cannot generate reas-surance, least of all credibility.

Besides, the Modi Government has failed to justify why it used the Public SafetyAct (PSA) to book Omar. The law was passed in 1978 by Sheikh Abdullah, whofounded the NC. Over the years, it has been used indiscriminately to curb dissent,invoked most frequently against separatist leaders and protesting teenagers. Onecan understand the dynastic hatred involved in arresting Omar under a law passedby his grandfather. But beyond the theatrics of a “great fall,” it is the dossier of chargesagainst him that defied reason and bordered on the ridiculous. Omar’s ostensiblecrime was the capacity to influence people and his ability “to convince his electorateto come out and vote in huge numbers even during the peak of militancy and pollboycotts.” If this swaying ability, something that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime usedto build a bridge over the conflict, is not an asset, then one wonders what is. If hispersistent calls to resolve the conflict through democratic processes are not Centrist,then one wonders what separatism is. For these abilities, which the current regimecould have used to transition to a new narrative, have been wasted away. Omar, thegenial, quiet and engaging fighter, once seen as a puppet prince, will now be Kashmir’sface of quiet resistance. The captivity has given him the halo he needed.

Truly speaking, the press conference held byFinance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman offeredno relief package when much was desired

considering the stressed times due to the spreadof the COVID-19 pandemic. All that it offered wereannouncements of deferments for tax complianceissues. Undoubtedly, this was much-needed.Such concessions, coupled with reductions ininterest penalties and extension of some schemesand the fact that there will be no minimum bal-ance or debit card charges over the next threemonths in banks, is welcome. However, the coun-

try and its citizens were expecting something more: They wanted a relief package.From large corporations to daily-wage labourers, everyone was expecting somemeasures on the part of the Government to mitigate the economic impact of COVID,some sort of a relief package, some numbers or a liquidity measure. This was afine-print press conference, an obvious one after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)extended the financial year to June 30. Sure, there were some positives pertainingto the bankruptcy and insolvency code as account departments across firms arenot functional. While the Government managed to pat itself on the back for the UnifiedPayment Interface (UPI), it was necessary to implore the public to not go to thebanks. It is becoming increasingly clear that March 31 is not an expiry date to theWuhan contagion’s spread in India. This will only show just how successful thelockdown, the biggest across the world, has been in controlling the spread of thedisease. Fighting the outbreak is crucial but the economic policies of the Governmenthave received much criticism, too. As it is even before the pandemic struck, theIndian economy was already in the grip of a slowdown. Post the spread of the dis-ease, forecasts have reached a new low. Oxford Economics slashed the country’sJanuary-April growth forecast to three per cent, a number not seen even duringthe worst of the global financial crisis. The main equity gauge slumped by a record13.2 per cent and the rupee weakened past 76 a dollar for the first time ever. Foreigninvestors have already started selling Indian assets at an unprecedented pace. Itis also very likely that the lockdown, at least in some form or the other, will carryon till mid-April. And even when India reopens for business, trains and planes willtake weeks to get back to their normal schedules. As far as foreign travel is con-cerned, it appears that a few commercial flights will operate to international desti-nations till the middle of the year until the disease subsides in Western Europe andthe US. This will hurt both Indian immigrants abroad and their families back home.Meanwhile, there will be a lot of tragic stories, of children being unable to attendtheir parents’ funeral, for example.

What is clear, however, is that an extended lockdown will lead to a lot of shockfor the economy, and not in a good way. While some State Governments are pro-viding free rations, limited financial help for daily-wage labourers and the home-less as India’s migration to urban centres reverses, it may be impossible to reachthe countless millions who have gone back to Bihar and Jharkhand. How muchmoney can Governments provide? Where will the money be spent? Can India evenafford to give money out like that when the very survival of certain sectors of theIndian economy — aviation and travel being top of the radar — are at stake? Thiswill not be an easy task for the Narendra Modi Government. It is fate that has deter-mined that he is our Prime Minister during this crisis. How he handles this furtherwill not just determine the course for the next few years but for the next three decades.

Justice prevails

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Finally, a closure” (March 21).Over the last couple of monthsthe four men convicted in theDelhi gang rape case had filednumerous curative and mercypetitions in a final effort to com-mute the death sentence; three ofthem had even approached theInternational Court of Justice inhopes of relief.

However, all of them werefinally hanged to death last Friday,thus bringing to an end one of thedarkest chapters in the history ofIndia. It is impossible to imaginehow much the woman’s familymust have suffered for the lastseven years awaiting the deliveryof justice. One hopes that thisserves as a warning to those whoview women as a commodity andconsider them to be less thanhuman.

Shahin AhmedMumbai

Grease the wheels

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Finally, a closure” (March 21). Atlong last, justice has been delivered

in the 2012 Delhi gang rape case.All four men, who were convict-ed of the gruesome crime that ledto the death of a 23-year-old para-medic student, were hanged onMarch 20 in Tihar jail. It tookseven long years to provide a sense

of closure to the family of thewoman.

However, in cases which are asgrisly as this, it is important forstrict punishment to be meted outat the earliest. This might lead toa decline in the number of crimes

committed against women. Onehopes that the justice system in ourcountry picks up its pace to dealwith such cases efficiently in thefuture.

NR RamachandranChennai

No more umpire abuse

Sir — The spread of theCoronavirus pandemic haswreaked havoc. All major sport-ing events are either being post-poned or cancelled. It doesn’tmake any sense to play profes-sional sports without spectators.More than anything else, therewill be no one to doubt theumpire’s eyesight or abuse them.It only took a worldwide crisis toachieve this.

Dennis FitzgeraldMelbourne

Break the chain

Sir — It’s praiseworthy that theGovernment has been doing its bitto combat COVID-19 but peopleshould not be misled by any kindof superstition. The beating of thaliwill not stop this virus. Instead,every citizen must be made tounderstand that the only way totackle this deadly disease is bystaying indoors to break the chain.

Shaily ChakrabortyVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 25, 2020

06

Foreign policy put to test

ASHOK K MEHTA

For Nepal, balancing India and China is challenging; expecting it to also balance America andBeijing would be walking a tightrope. For India, regaining space lost to China will be a long haul

The Government must takelessons from Italy. There will bemassive economic pain. But it ispossible to handle the economicconsequences than the loss of numerous lives.

Congress leader—P Chidambaram

Basically, bhagwaan ne laathmaari hai and bola hai ki behave like humans,don’t become god. One smallvirus called Corona has puteveryone in their places.

Actor—Anupam Kher

China and India are the onlytwo countries with that largea population. We would liketo share our experience and provide necessary assistanceto the Indian side.

Chinese spokesperson—Geng Shuang

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

As a responsible citizen, stay at home

For a country accustomed to decrying every legisla-tion enacted by the ruling Government, it was, per-haps, for the first time that the entire nation was on

the same wavelength as that of the Prime Minister.Following his call to observe janta curfew, people stoodby him and stayed indoors in order to stall the commu-nity spread of Coronavirus. Terming the voluntary exhi-bition of solidarity “successful” would, however, amountto a sacrilege of sorts. A sense of achievement can saidto have been attained only when the scourge of the con-tagion is totally wiped off. Until then, quantifying suchefforts to restrict the spread of the virus is uncalled for.

Of course, the nation would have derived some sat-isfaction from the fact that most citizens voluntarilycame forward to be a part of the mission to try andbreak the transmission chain of Coronavirus. Howeverit remains to be seen whether the public is willing toaccept the janta curfew as something more than a tokenacceptance of the extensive and exhaustive campaignagainst the virus undertaken by the Government. TheCoronavirus threat is as good as a “national emergency”and not a “forced national holiday.” A day after the PrimeMinister’s call, people flocked the streets the very nextday. With newer strains of virus putting the world in

jeopardy every other day, it has virtually become a fightfor survival for human beings. Hence, every individ-ual must learn the nuances of preventing and safeguard-ing oneself against the risks of the lethal disease. It hasbeen said that social distancing is the best precaution-ary measure. Hence, public participation by way of phys-ical distancing and adoption of the prescribed measuresgain all the more significance. Staying at home is, thus,imperative.

Pachu MenonMargao

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Back to the people

So happy that Omar Abdullah'sunconstitutional detention hasbeen revoked. It is about timethe Government restores thedemocratic rights of people in the region.

Congress leader—Priyanka Gandhi

Very few Indians can sustain a prolonged shutdown but can theGovernment jumpstart the economy once India reopens?

Omar Abdullah is free and used his appeal, that at one timewas considered incendiary, to calm his people amid virus fears

Economic pandemic

Much ado about Gogoi

THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME (IOC PRESIDENT) BACHHAS PUT HIS OWN MOTIVES ABOVE THE ATHLETES’

WELFARE AND THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT. —BRITISH CYCLIST

CALLUM SKINNER

IT IS MIND-BOGGLINGLY COMPLEX TO MAKE A CHANGE(CANCELLATION) AFTER SEVEN YEARS OF PREPARATIONFOR THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT.—MICHAEL PAYNE IOC'S FORMER HEAD OF MARKETING

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Ranjan Gogoi, the newly sworn-in memberof the Rajya Sabha, is the cynosure of alleyes as well as the favourite whipping boy,

at the moment, depending on which side of thefence people are on.

His critics say that the decision of the formerChief Justice of India (CJI) to accept the nomi-nation to the House of Elders by the Presidentof India is an act against all ethics mentioned inthe Constitution of India. Since this writer is noauthority on the Constitution, let the experts dis-cuss the issue and quote the relevant portionsfrom the Indian Constitution which show beyonddoubt that Gogoi has cocked a snook at the found-ing fathers’ vision.

Those who support Gogoi point out that therewere instances of retired judges of the SupremeCourt getting nominated to the Rajya Sabha inthe past and there is nothing “official” about theformer’s decision to take up the offer of theGovernment of India.

Given Gogoi’s extensive knowledge andexperience of the law, he does qualify to be anotable who can contribute valuably to the UpperHouse. Also, he is not the first retired Chief Justiceto have benefitted from the executive’s generos-ity. There have been others like him who havepropped up by several regimes as a reward for ser-vices that were “friendly” to them. There’senough counter-logic going around as to howJustice S Fazl Ali was the first Supreme Courtjudge to be made Orissa Governor in 1952 andwas the beginning of the Congress’ endorsementsof judicial luminaries that continued till the partywas in power.

From Assam itself, there’s the example ofJustice Baharul Islam, who began as an advocatein the Assam High Court in the early 1950s andwent on to serve a decade-long term as RajyaSabha member.

As far as controversial rulings go, then theCongress suitably accommodated former ChiefJustice Ranganath Misra, who gave a clean chitto the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. After his retirement, he was madethe first chairman of the National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) and was even elected to theUpper House on a Congress ticket in 1998. Theexamples are so many that at one time, there wasmuch debate over how judges should not beencouraged to take up the offer of theGovernment’s post-retirement benefits, likeheading commissions of inquiry, simply becausethat could cloud their impartial judgments andcolour their opinions in sensitive cases.

One wonders, why then is there such discom-fort over Gogoi’s induction in the Rajya Sabha?Is it that there’s much criticism of Gogoi becausehe was at one time considered a “rebel” judge and,therefore, now looks like a test case of how theinstitution of the executive superseded that of thejudiciary and a one-time warrior appeared to havefallen in line? For the uninitiated, Justice Gogoiand three of his brother judges shot into nation-al prominence on January 18, 2018, when theystaged a press conference in the national Capital,which was described as extraordinary by the“pundits” in the media. The judges cautioned thenation by giving “advance information” about thethreat faced by the nation and the judiciary. Gogoihad specifically made a reference to the selectiveallocation of sensitive files. Therefore, there wasa sense of expectation built around him, one ofthem being that he would ensure the indepen-

dence of the judiciary. The four senior-most judges of the apex court led byGogoi warned that democracy was inperil. “Unless this institution of theSupreme Court is preserved, democra-cy will not survive in this country,”warned J Chelameswar, a colleague ofGogoi, during the press meet, who, too,has retired.

I remember many Opposition lead-ers waxing eloquent on the four judgeswho held the extraordinary press con-ference. Immediately after the meet, aLeft leader went to the residence ofChelameswar (through the backentrance).

Nothing discernible happened afterthis extraordinary washing of dirty linenin public. The then Chief Justice of IndiaDipak Misra retired on October 2, 2018,and Ranjan Gogoi was sworn in as thenew Chief Justice. The rebel judges orthe “young Turks” of the SupremeCourt retired one by one and all are liv-ing happily ever since.

People living in South India are notfortunate enough to get the latest newson the “palace intrigues” taking place inthe power corridors in New Delhi.Gogoi retired on November 17, 2019and Sharad Bobde was sworn in as thenew Chief Justice of the country. Thisis an ongoing process as the judiciary,too, works on the principle “me today,you tomorrow.” Justice Bobde, too,would be retiring once he reaches themagical figure of 65, the age for super-annuation.

The issue is whether the formerChief Justice of India was right inaccepting the Rajya Sabha nominationoffered by the President of India so soonafter his retirement. Well, there are norecords to show that Gogoi was evenremotely connected with any politicalparty till the day he retired from service.He is the son of KC Gogoi, former ChiefMinister of Assam who was a Congress

leader. Ranjan Gogoi’s career at theBench began in 2001 when he wasappointed as a judge of the GuwahatiHigh Court in 2001 and culminatedwith his appointment as the country’s46th Chief Justice in 2018. But therewere many legal wizards in the SupremeCourt who had stints in politics beforetheir elevation to the Bench and till thisday one is yet to hear about the ethicspracticed by these gentlemen.

VR Krishna Iyer, a noted judgewho became a pioneer of judicialactivism in India and has ever sincebeen eulogised for his concerns forhuman rights and the poor, wasappointed as a judge of the Kerala HighCourt in 1968. Before entering theprecincts of the judiciary, Iyer was afull-fledged politician, a Communist tobe precise. He was the Home Ministerin the EMS Namboodiripad-ledCommunist Government of 1957,which was dismissed by JawaharlalNehru following the liberation strug-gle waged by the Congress in associa-tion with the powerful Church and theMuslim community. It was during thetenure of Iyer as Home Minister thatKerala saw the first-ever police firingon cashew company workers agitatingfor their rights.

Iyer, who was defeated in the nextAssembly election, was elevated to theBench in 1968 at the instance ofNamboodiripad. This has been men-tioned by Iyer himself in his autobiog-raphy Wandering in Many Worlds(Longman Pearson 2009). “EMSNamboodiripad sent his Cabinet col-league, Gouriamma, to persuade me toaccept the offer. She pleaded that Statepower was a necessary tool for transfor-mation of India into a socialist repub-lic. She pressed home this point and left,”writes Iyer on page 159. The book hitthe shelves across the nation in 2009 andGauriamma is yet to react to what Iyer

has written.The Communists and the Congress

were hands in glove, though it was invis-ible to most. Iyer’s was not a one-offinclusion of a professional politician intothe Bench. We have the case of KurianJoseph, who as a student of the SreeSankara College, Kalady was the leaderof the student wing of the KeralaCongress (Mani), and had the backingof the party all through his career. Hewas one of the judges who took part inthe “extraordinary press meet” alongwith Gogoi to warn the nation thatdemocracy was in danger.

Joseph has reportedly said thatGogoi compromised the noble princi-ples of the independence and impartial-ity of the judiciary by accepting thenomination to be a MP. “According tome, the acceptance of nomination asmember of Rajya Sabha by a former CJIhas certainly shaken the confidence ofthe common man on the independenceof the judiciary, which is also one of thebasic structures of the Constitution ofIndia,” Joseph has been quoted as saying.

Let’s accept what Joseph has saidabout Gogoi, but we have had manyjudges and Chief Justices in the past,who, had no hesitation in accepting thecrumbs thrown at them post-retirement.Joseph’s predecessor from Kerala, KGBalakrishnan, had no qualms in accept-ing the post of the Chairman of theNHRC. There are many judges whoretired from the Bench who later tookup political postings offered by the par-ties in power. HR Gokhale, BaharulIslam are just some of the names thatcome to the mind. We cannot expectevery judge to be like MNVenkatachaliah and SH Kapadia, syn-onyms for justice and propriety.

(The writer is Special Correspondent,The Pioneer)

There are many other judges who retired from the Bench and who later took uppolitical postings offered by the parties in power

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

India’s lostopportunity

CB SHARMA

It is possible to convert all homes into learningcentres through the use of communication

technology. But we were not ready for it

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN

THE EXAMPLESARE SO MANY

THAT AT ONE TIME,THERE WAS MUCH

DEBATE OVERHOW JUDGES

SHOULDNOT BE

ENCOURAGEDTO TAKE UP THE

OFFER OF THEGOVERNMENT'S

POST-RETIREMENTBENEFITS, LIKE

HEADINGCOMMISSIONS OFINQUIRY, SIMPLY

BECAUSE THATCOULD CLOUD

THEIR IMPARTIALJUDGMENTS AND

COLOUR THEIROPINIONS IN

SENSITIVE CASES.ONE WONDERS,

WHY THEN ISTHERE SUCHDISCOMFORT

OVER GOGOI'SINDUCTION IN THE

RAJYA SABHA?

Health and education are the main concerns of all families andGovernments during calamities. Governments which can think,plan and lead their country during difficult times are sure to sur-

vive any disaster. The world is passing through a great crisis right nowdue to the Coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals are being flooded withpatients and schools have been closed. This is no time to find faultbut it is definitely an opportune time to assess how prepared Indiawas for this situation. And what we should do now, so that once thiscrisis is over the country is ready for a similar situation, if and when,it arrives.

What is in short supply during a crisis is professionals and experts.For now, healthcare professionals are in short supply and also teach-ers, because children can’t reach school and teachers can’t reach homesof the learners. In terms of medical facilities, we can convert schoolbuildings into hospital wards but how can we turn every householdinto a classroom? By no means can we multiply the number of teach-ers and arrange doorstep educational facilities. But it is possible toconvert all households into learning centres through the use of mod-ern communication technologies. Thankfully we are able to maintainelectronic communication right now and this can be used to beamacademic lessons to all households. This is the time to review someof the initiatives we took in this direction.

In 2002, during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, it was decid-ed that we needed to launch a satellite for education as schools, teach-ers and related facilities were in short supply. As a consequence inSeptember 2004, we launched a satellite exclusively for education knownas Educational Satellite (EduSat). The cost of a satellite is massiveand it is not an easy decision to dedicate one solely to education. ButIndia definitely needed to do this because of the large number of learn-ers, who could make use of it in the absence of good teachers in insti-tutions established in different parts of the country. The satellite hada life of seven years but it died in 2010 and we could not even useten per cent of its capacity.

In 2015, once again, the then Human Resource Development(HRD) Minister Smriti Irani took two initiatives. One was starting aMassive Open Online Course (MOOC) platform known as SWAYAMand the second was a bouquet of Direct To Home (DTH) education-al channels known as Swayam Prabha. Both the platforms cover con-tent from pre-school to doctoral studies. Both have a larger partici-pation than any other platform of any other country but still it is notable to fill the gap it was expected to, in the present crisis. A largenumber of Secondary school students are watching channel num-ber 27, Panini and Senior Secondary students are watching channelnumber 28, Sharda of the Swayam Prabha DTH channels. However,compared to the number of learners, who are confined to homes, theviewership is minuscule. The broadcast is backed by a live question-answer session where the teacher answers queries of the studentswhen they call on the toll-free numbers that have been provided tofacilitate this.

This was the foresight of the leader and had we pursued withour efforts and hooked up all Secondary and Senior Secondary learn-ers to these platforms at that time, we would not have had to worryabout closing down our schools, at least for academic transaction.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted India to reach out to learn-ers in all the States and also our neighbouring countries through satel-lite and he had mentioned this in his speech in Parliament. In keep-ing with the PM’s wish Irani also initiated the Bharat Vani project where-in textbooks were developed in 100 mother tongues of India. And inkeeping with Modi’s wish to provide content to the learners in SouthAsian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries in theirown language, Irani responded by forming a task force to developlearning material in text and media formats and many more. Our satel-lite broadcast reached 95 per cent of our landmass and also our neigh-bours. If we develop material in languages like Nepali, Bengali, Tamil,Urdu and so on, we would be beaming good content to not only ourcitizens but also to learners in SAARC nations. This was the best timeto not only help our own schoolchildren but also children in the SouthAsian countries, stay back home and continue their studies. By notpursuing the Bharat Vani project, we have lost the opportunity to beof help to our students, neighbours and failed our PM’s mission. TheNational Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), the largest open schoolin the world, has in the last five years developed e-content which isavailable on the SWAYAM and has four 24X7 DTH channels. We couldhave filled the gap, which has been created by the closure of the schoolsacross country due to Covid-19. Language and location would havebeen no barrier. The NIOS broadcast and live classes are becomingpopular by the day. But it had massive potential and it could have playeda larger role if we had prepared distance/open schooling through dualmode schooling. It is a missed opportunity and it is too late to do any-thing now. However, we must learn from our mistakes and take theseinitiatives to their logical conclusion once the Coronavirus threat is over.

(The writer is Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling)

Most of India is in a lockdownas the country collectivelytries to prevent the deadly

Coronavirus from spreading into thecommunity. We began the exerciseto beat the virus on March 22 withthe unprecedented voluntary 7 AMto 9 PM “Janta (public) Curfew” inresponse to Prime Minister NarendraModi’s televised appeal to people tostay indoors.

Given our numbers, a whopping1.3 billion people, it was by far thebiggest social-distancing exercise in

the world against the Coronavirusoutbreak.

The country has been in a lock-down ever since and the PrimeMinister gave a hint of what was tocome when he said that India shouldbe prepared for a long haul. Moditweeted on Sunday night, “Today’s#JantaCurfew may get over at 9 PMbut that doesn’t mean we should startcelebrating. Do not consider it a suc-cess. Today the countrymen havedeclared we are capable, if we decidewe can beat the biggest challengetogether.”

India stands at the tipping point,having reached Stage-III of the pan-demic as confirmed by Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal on March22. From here it could take a flatcurve like Korea or an upward curvelike Europe. The “Janta Curfew” wasModi’s idea of mobilising publicsupport to fight the Coronavirusthrough extended lockdowns soonafterwards. It was a bid to create

greater awareness in the countryabout the danger of the pandemicand remind everyone of their dutytowards the nation.

All epidemics evoke fear andpanic since they result in fatalities andthe Coronavirus is no exception.However, in its management, fourelements are important: Science; thepublic healthcare system; politicalwill and public support. Where sci-ence is concerned, human trials ofthe Coronavirus vaccine have alreadybegun and doctors are experiment-ing with the use of various drugs thatalready exist to fight the pandemic.However, in India, much more needsto be done on the public healthcarefront, which is not equipped to han-dle a medical emergency of this scale.As far as political will and support isconcerned, Modi’s appeal and thesubsequent lockdowns by variousState Governments across the nationshow that we are doing well on thisfront. And the fact that the Prime

Minister’s appeal for the “Janta cur-few” and the subsequent lockdownsreceived overwhelming supportacross the spectrum shows that peo-ple are behind the Government,too.

India was never as united as it istoday. Several Chief Ministers,Members of Parliament, politicalparties, sports personalities, filmstars and TV celebrities came onboard to make the “Janta Curfew”and the lockdowns that have followedit, a success. The support for theUnion Government also came fromunexpected quarters, including theCongress and other Opposition par-ties.

Even religious institutions don’tseem averse to the Government’smeasures, as temple authoritiesacross the country have come onboard and closed temples in anunprecedented move. Priests in atemple in Varanasi decided to putmasks on the idols and posters have

been put up urging devotees torefrain from touching the idols.Even most churches across India areshut and most Sunday services wereeither suspended or held online. Thisis quite a feat given that this is theHoly Lenten month for Christiansacross the globe and churches areusually full at this time of the year.

Now that the country is in alockdown, the question is what liesahead? The challenge before theModi Government is formidable.Many nations have announced sup-port for their economies and busi-nesses and people who are losing outon their livelihoods. The UK propos-es to spend 330 million pounds andthe US close to a trillion dollars. EvenEuropean countries like France,Spain and Italy are getting ready tospend billions of euros. The ModiGovernment, too, will have tomobilise all the resources at its dis-posal to keep the country pandem-ic-free and also ensure that the

livelihoods of people are safeguard-ed. The Centre and the States willhave to focus on how to deal withlakhs of people who will be in direstraits due to the lockdown. This isparticularly so in the case of con-struction workers, taxi and auto-rick-shaw drivers, daily-wage earners,domestic help, small business enter-prises and so on. The Governmenthas to think of a huge economicpackage to tide over the present cri-sis. The more drastic the precaution-ary health measures, the greater willbe the fallout on the economy. Modihas announced an economic taskforce under the Finance Minister butthey are yet to come up with welfareschemes, though NirmalaSitharaman did extend the last dateof filing income tax returns onTuesday. However, some States likeUP, Telangana and Delhi have comeout with relief packages.

Also, at a time like this, the peo-ple have to realise that pursuing one’s

own self-interest is not done and eachcitizen also has to think of publicinterest. While we all have the legalright to buy as much hand sanitiserand face wipes we can find, whatabout the welfare of the society inwhich we live? India believes inVasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the wholeworld is one family) so now is thetime to prove this with our behaviour.

Experts say that quarantine isone of the most effective ways of con-taining an epidemic. Therefore, it isimperative that more than the stepstaken by the Government we imposeself-restrictions at an early stage tolimit the Coronavirus spread andhelp each other in this trying time.As Dr Paul, head of the medical taskforce at the Centre, commented in aTV show, “The Coronavirus is aonce-in-a century epidemic and hasto be fought as such.” Indeed desper-ate times need desperate measures.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Together we can beat the CoronavirusExperts say that quarantine is one of the most effective ways of containing an epidemic. Therefore, it is imperative that more than the stepstaken by the Government, we impose self-restrictions at an early stage to limit the COVID-19 spread and help each other in this trying time

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 25, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 25, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

P-notes investmentrises to Rs 68,862cr till Feb-end

Finance Ministryand regulatorsmonitoringdevelopments

RLDA invites bids tolease out 2 plots inJammuNEW DELHI: The RailwayLand Development Authority(RLDA) has invited bids forleasing out its two plots atKatra in Jammu and Kashmirwith reserve price of over Rs14 crore each.RLDA has invited RFP (Request for Proposal) tolease two plots at Katra forcommercial development.The combined plot is spreadacross 15,352 sq metre and islocated near Shri MataVaishno Devi Katra railwaystation. The plot is proposedto be leased out in two partswith a reserve price of Rs14.18 crore and Rs 14.97crore, RLDA said in astatement.“Nestled in the hills, thisscenic property can bedeveloped as a destinationwedding farmhouse or a 3 or5 star hotel. The region is aprominent tourist destination.Hence it will offer a goodreturn on investment to realestate developers," said VedPrakash Dudeja, Vice-Chairman, RLDA.

New Delhi: Investmentsthrough participatory notes(P-notes) in the domesticcapital market rose to Rs68,862 crore at the end ofFebruary, making it the secondconsecutive monthly increase.The investment comes at atime when broader marketwitnessed significantdowntrend amid fears ofrecession due to thecoronavirus outbreak. P-notesare issued by registeredforeign portfolio investors(FPIs) to overseas investorswho wish to be part of theIndian stock market withoutregistering themselves directly.They, however, need to gothrough a due diligenceprocess. According to thelatest data from Sebi, the valueof P-note investments inIndian markets -- equity, debt,hybrid securities andderivatives -- stood at Rs68,862 crore until February,while the same was at Rs67,281 crore at the end ofJanuary. Of the total Rs68,862 crore invested throughthe route, Rs 53,902 crorewas invested in equities, Rs14,739 crore in debt, Rs 144crore in the derivativessegment and Rs 77 crore inhybrid securities.

New Delhi: Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onTuesday said regulators andher ministry are monitoringdevelopments and volatility instock markets. She said thedevelopments on stockmarkets are monitored thrice aday. The government isworking on an economicpackage to deal with thehardships caused by thelockdown to control thecoronavirus crisis and thesame will be announced soon,she said adding different sub-groups have held sectoraldiscussions.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Big retailers, which are present-ly dispensing only essentialitems amid the lockdown, aretaking precautionary measureslike restricted entry andmarked lines to maintain socialdistancing to avoid coron-avirus infection at their stores.

Some stores as RelianceFresh, More, Walmart andMetro Cash & Carry are evenscreening body temperature oftheir customers before allow-ing them entry into the store.

Metro Cash & Carry Indiasaid it is pre-packing loosecommodities to avoid infectionat its stores and is ensuringplenty of cash tills and mobilecheckouts to reduce the billingtime. It has also introduced atoken system to avoid largegathering at stores.

Several retailers like Future,DMart, and Walmart havemarked special lines on theirshop floors to maintain socialdistancing. They are also reg-ularly sanitising the stores anddisinfecting all touchpointswhich include trolly and bas-

ket handles.“We are managing the queue

in such a way that people arestanding away from eachother,” Avenue SupermartsCEO and Managing DirectorNeville Noronha told PTI.

venue Supermarts that

runs D-Mart stores, is handingout coloured coupons to itscustomers waiting outside inthe open area and then allow-ing entry of a particular colourat a time as part of its crowdmanagement plan.

“We are calling out the

colour as yellow, green andthen 20 to 30 people are walk-ing inside the store. Whenthese people out from thestore, then we call the nextcolour,” said Noronha.

Metro Cash & Carry MD &CEO Arvind Mediratta said:”We have initiated a token sys-tem to manage the customersand avoid a large gatheringinside the store. The tokensare properly sanitized withdisinfectants and then hand-ed over to customers.”

Walmart India, whichoperates in cash & carry for-mat, has also marked linesand is only permitting oneperson per membership card.

“We have marked the floorsof our Best Price stores withyellow stripes and boxes todesignate enough space foreach member to maintain safedistance from each other,”said a Walmart Indiaspokesperson.

He further said: ”The storesare also equipped with con-tactless thermometers forconducting temperaturechecks.

PNSnMUMBAI

A day after the historic rout,equity benchmark Sensexbounced back to close 693 pointshigher on Tuesday as investorsnoted governments across theworld taking prompt economicmeasures to offset the financialdamage from the Covid-19 pan-demic.

Indian equities followed animproved investor sentiment inAsia after the Federal Reserveannounced limitless bond-buy-ing programme to support theUS economy.

Meanwhile, Indian FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamansaid an economic package tohelp through the coronaviruslockdown was inworks even asfresh cases ofvirus spreadreported

from various parts of the coun-try.

After gyrating 1,823.97 points,the BSE barometer gave upsome gains to end 692.79 pointsor 2.67 per cent higher at26,674.03. It hit an intra-day highof 27,462.87 and a low of25,638.90.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty set-tled 190.80 points, or 2.51 percent, down at 7,801.05.

Top gainers in the Sensex packincluded Infosys, Bajaj Finance,Maruti, HUL, HCL Tech andReliance Industries, whileM&M, IndusInd Bank, ITC,PowerGrid and L&T wereamong the losers. According toexperts, a major package fromthe government of India and theReserve Bank is expected short-ly, and the market is likely to

remain hugely volatilewith rising possibility of

V shaped recovery occasionally.

The US Fed is now leadingfrom the front with its historicpackage which includes open-ended purchase of securities,direct loans to companies, pur-chase of corporate bonds, lend-ing against student loans andcredit card loans, they said.

The Federal Reserve onMonday announced it will buyunlimited amounts of USTreasury debt -- essentially print-ing money for the economy -- aswell as new steps to lend direct-ly to small- and medium-sizedcompanies that have beenamong the hardest-hit as eco-nomic activity dries up.

PNS nMUMBAI

In what may go down as animportant solution in India'sfight against coronavirus, Pune-based Mylabs DiscoverySolutions has created an indige-nous solution to test patients forCOVID-19 that can halve thetime taken for results.

The molecular diagnosticcompany, which received statu-tory approvals late on Mondayfrom authorities, can manufac-ture over 15,000 testing kits perday from its facility at Lonavalain Pune district and the samewill be ramped up to 25,000 kitsper day, its co-founder ShrikantPatole told PTI.

Citing the experience inSouth Korea, the World HealthOrganisation has been stressingon the importance of tests tofight the pandemic, which has

so far claimed nine lives in India.Though around 500 people

have been tested positive for thevirus in India so far, experts arebracing for a sharp increase fear-ing it may have spread acrossand also point out to a low levelof testing in the country.

Patole explained that thecompany is able to shorten the

test time to 2.5 hours with the'Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19Qualitative PCR kit' as againstthe prevalent 6-8 hours becauseits team has created a solutionthat does both the screening andconfirmation jobs simultaneous-ly.

Its team of 25 scientists start-ed working on the solution six

weeks ago, fearing that the cri-sis may eventually hit India, hesaid, adding that the companyhad started as a trading firm in2012 and diversified intoresearch in 2016.

The test for COVID-19 willalso pick up positive casesamong asymptomatic patients,Patole said, adding that theapprovals from the NationalInstitute of Virology, IndianCouncil of Medical Researchand Central Drugs Standard

Control Organization (CDSCO)were received after a test sam-pling on patients at Mumbai'sKasturba Hospital which is thenodal location for treatingCoronavirus cases.

He did, however, specify thesample size where the kit wasused to confirm results.

The Mylab kit was selectedalong with a solution offered bya German company for thetests.

Patole explained that till

now, India has been using kitsprepared by the state-runNational Institute of Virology(NIV), also based in Pune, butit was the fears over theincrease in numbers whichmade private sector interven-tions in manufacturing neces-sary. The testing kits done byNIV are costing up to Rs 4,500per sample if we include bothscreening and confirmation,Patole said, claiming thatMylabs is confident of sellingthe kits at a fourth of that cost.

He said allowing privatelabs to conduct tests is essen-tial given the potential threats.

Patole also said that its kitcan work within the infrastruc-ture for testing available withIndian diagnostic labs, anddoes not require any newmachinery, which the mostimported.

COVID-19

Retailers roll out steps toensure social distancing

Several retailers like Future, DMart, andWalmart have marked special lines on theirshop floors to maintain social distancing.They are also regularly sanitising thestores and disinfecting all touchpointswhich include trolly and basket handles

Finance MinisterNirmalaSitharaman said aneconomic packageto help through thecoronaviruslockdown was inworks even asfresh cases of virusspread reportedfrom various partsof the country

CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES

PNS n MUMBAI

A nationwide lockdown tocontain the COVID-19 pan-demic will adversely impactconstruction companies and amonth's lockdown can erode8-10 per cent of their fourthquarter revenue, a report says.

According to ratings agencyIndia Ratings, fourth quarter ofevery fiscal typically accountsfor 30-35 per cent of the annu-al revenue of constructioncompanies, of which a month'slockdown can erode 8-10 percent.

The agency believes thatconstruction activities acrosscities like MumbaiMetropolitan Region, Delhi,Pune, and Bengaluru are like-ly to be stalled or progress ata significantly slower-than-anticipated pace for a majorportion of March 2020 whichmay continue in April as well.

Companies with ongoingsignificant construction worksin such cities are the ones like-ly to be the most affected, asthey are turning out to be theepicentre of the outbreak, theagency said.

In addition, "continued

expenditure in the form ofoverheads and finance chargesis also likely to affect the prof-itability of construction com-panies, owing to a lower basefor absorption of these over-heads," the agency added.

"Many large and establishedconstruction companies arefacing corporate insolvencyresolution process. The corona-crisis will seriously impact therevenues of the construction

companies and almost all ofthem will face huge financiallosses in the months to come,"an authorised representative ofShapoorji Pallonji Group toldPTI. He further noted that allsite activities in Mumbai andthe rest of Maharashtra havecome to a grinding halt asmaterial supplies have stopped,and key subcontractors wereunable to arrange resources forthe construction activities.

Companies with ongoing significantconstruction works in such cities are theones likely to be the most affected, asthey are turning out to be the epicentre ofthe outbreak, the agency said.

Coronavirus: TVSElectronics haltsmanufacturingPNS n NEW DELHI

TVS Electronics on Tuesdaysaid it has suspended opera-tions at all its manufacturingplants and offices with imme-diate effect until March 31 inthe wake of the coronaviruspandemic and in compliancewith advisories by variousauthorities.

The company said the out-break has affected supplies ofsome components to its man-ufacturing facilities and vol-ume of business in service seg-ment. "...in view of the wide-spread COVID-19 pandemicand to ensure health and safe-

ty of the company's employeesand their families, customersand various stakeholders, thecompany has decided to haltoperations at all its manufac-turing plants and its officeswith immediate effect untilMarch 31, 2020, in line withthe instructions of the centralor state governments or localauthorities," TVS Electronicssaid in a regulatory filing.

On the impact of the out-break, the company said:"COVID-19 has affected thesupply of some components toour manufacturing facilitiesand volume of business in'Servicetec' segment.

Minister Pradhan asks PSUs to ensureuninterrupted supply of essential goods PNS n NEW DELHI

Petroleum and Natural Gasand Steel MinisterDharmendra Pradhan onTuesday held a review meetingwith the top management ofPSUs under the administrativecontrol of his ministries to takestock of the situation amid thecoronavirus outbreak, sourcessaid.

The minister chaired themeeting via video-conferenc-ing in which the heads ofONGC, GAIL, SAIL, RINL,NMDC, MOIL and KIOCL,among others, participated,

sources said.In the meeting, he reviewed

the status of supplies of petro-leum products in the country,operations of refineries, andfunctioning of important sitesat steel plants, a sourcesaid.

One of thesources said theminister wasworking fromhome onTuesday.

Pradhan alsoenquired aboutm e a s u re sb e i n g

taken by the management forthe employees and their fam-ilies to protect them from thespread of coronavirus.

The minister also directedthe chiefs to take necessary

steps to make sure that sup-plies of essential goods for

the employees and theirfamilies are not affect-ed during the lock-down.

The CMDs have alsobeen asked to ensuresupply of essential

goods at plants and sitesare also not affected.

On Monday,

the steel ministry held a meet-ing with the management ofPSUs under its control to takestock of the situation amid thecoronavirus outbreak, and askedthem not to reduce production.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid complete lockdown inmany states to prevent thespread of coronavirus, theCentre on Tuesday directedstate governments to allownormal functioning of vet-erinary hospitals and clinics.

However, veterinariansand related officials shouldensure strict personalhygiene and avoid publicgathering, the UnionAnimal Husbandr y,Dair ying and Fisher yMinistry said in a directive.

"...it is requested thatveterinary hospitals and dis-pensaries in the state,including private veterinaryclinics, veterinary patholo-gies, animal shelters etc.function in the normalcourse and the veterinaryservices be considered in thelist of 'Essential Services',"the ministry said. It is nec-essary to ensure continuousemergency services in theanimal husbandry and vet-erinary sector, especially inemergent animal health sit-uations, it said.

Mahindra Logistics appoints V S Parthasarathy as ChairmanPNS n MUMBAI

Mahindra Logistics (MLL), apart of the USD 20.7 billionMahindra Group, on Tuesdaysaid it has appointed V SParthasarathy as its non-exec-utive director and Chairman ofthe board with effect fromMarch 25.

Parthasarathy takes overfrom Zhooben Bhiwandiwala,who stepped down as non-executive director andChairman of the board ofMahindra Logistics onTuesday, the company said ina statement.

Bhiwandiwala continues inhis role as President- MahindraPartners and Group Legal andMember of the GroupExecutive Board of Mahindra

& Mahindra.Parthasarathy is currently

the Group CFO and GroupCIO of Mahindra & Mahindraand will continue till March 31.

"From April 1, 2020 he willtake charge of the newly cre-ated Mobility Services Sectorof the Mahindra Group. He isa Member of the GroupExecutive Board of Mahindra& Mahindra, and on the Boardof several listed MahindraGroup companies, as well asother entities includingSmartshift Logistics Solutionswhere he is the Chairman," thecompany said.

Patole explained that the company is ableto shorten the test time to 2.5 hours withthe 'Mylab PathoDetect COVID-19Qualitative PCR kit' as against the prevalent6-8 hours because its team has created asolution that does both the screening andconfirmation jobs simultaneously

The CMDs havealso been asked toensure supply ofessential goods atplants and sitesare also notaffected

'Unprecedented collapse' foreurozonebusinessesPNS n BRUSSELS

Businesses in the eurozonesuffered "an unprecedentedcollapse" this monthbecause of the novel coron-avirus pandemic, accord-ing to a closely watchedindicator released Tuesdayby IHS Markit.

Provisional data showedthat the slump in activity inthe 19-nation zone in Marchwas "far exceeding that seeneven at the height of theglobal financial crisis," withthe company's PMI surveydiving to 31.4 for themonth.

A reading below 50 pointsindicates a contraction. InFebruary, the index hadstood at 51.6. The latestreading is the lowest sinceIHS Markit started its PMIsurvey in 1998.

Spot gold marketsremain shut due PNS n NEW DELHI

Spot gold markets in Indiaremained shut on Tuesdaydue to lockdown in majorstates to prevent spreading ofCovid-19, according to HDFCSecurities. The central andstate governments in the coun-try have decided to lock down

several districts from whereCovid-19 cases have beenreported in order to break thechain of transmission.Meanwhile, in the internation-al market, gold and silverboth were trading with gainsat USD 1,574 per ounce andUSD 13.70 per ounce, respec-tively.

Sensex recovers 693 ptsamid corrective measures

One month's lockdown canerode 8-10 pc of Q4 revenue

Pune-based firm develops testing kit for faster results

Centre asksstates to allowvet clinics tofunction

Ugadi,the Telugu

new yearcelebrated by

both the states ofTelangana and

Andhra Pradesh, isone festival the

Telugus lookforward to.SHIKHA

DUGGAL speaksto people across allage groups to find

how they'reringing in the

new yearthis time

day of festival in ourlives brings with it, asense of rest fromeveryday work andrush. It reminds us toput aside our workload

and daily chores for a while andcelebrate and feast as a family.Religious ethnicity associated withevery festival gives us a momentof leaning towards the spirituali-ty of Almighty. Ugadi, celebratedwidely in Telangana and AndhraPradesh with pomp and fun is onesuch festival. It’s a cultural mix ofreligion, agriculture harvesting,folklore and food.

A local from Hyderabad, VijayaLakshmi, 84, recalls the time shecelebrated the festival with herparents. During her childhood,her parents would wake her upand apply oil for a refreshing bath.Soon after, all the kids in thehousehold were served the tradi-tional Ugadi Pachadi. “My parentsenlightened me about how UgadiPachadi relates to the variousstages of our life. Life is amixture of happiness andsadness, you have toface the challenges lifethrows at you,” sheexplains.

“I would wear mynew pair of clothesmade of cotton and visitthe Hanuman templewith my family to pray for

a prosperous new year,” she recalls.A sumptuous lunch includingPohlis or sweet rotis, tamarind rice,vadas and payasam would beserved. “I still cherish those timeswith my mother,” she adds.Another important aspect ofUgadi, Lakshmi says, is the rele-vance of the Panchanga calendar

recited by the priest ofthe temple who

would list the catastrophes orwell-being prospects of the year.

“Ugadi, for many, is a festival ofauthentic food. Ugadi Pachadi asign of Shadruchulu, is the mostvital dish we look forward to. Theorigin of this dish, with a blend ofsix flavours, makes me embracethe fact that our lives are also a mixof various flavours,” saysPrashanthi Vennam, a homemak-

er who celebrates this festival withall its rituals. Rice mixed with sour,raw mango gives MamidikayaPulihora, her daughters’ favouritedish of Ugadi. “I prepare ricegrated with chana dal, choppedmangoes, peanuts and green chill-ies with a pinch of asafoetida. Bothmy daughters love the smackingflavours,” she says. The festiveoccasion ends with a sweet dishcalled Bobbatlu made of tastybread stuffed with toor dal.

For budding psychologistAishwarya, Ugadi is a time ofmaking new resolutions for thenew year. “My resolution last yearwas to do my bit to have a dust-free environment around me,”she says. Ugadi, for Aishwarya, isa time for her to look back on thepast year and make better plans forthe coming year. “I love tastingeverybody’s ‘Ugadi Pacchadi’ andjudging the best one of them all,”she laughs.

An Indian residing abroad has-n’t forgotten his roots and culture,Venkat Sai ensures that he raisesa toast to Ugadi, even when awayfrom home in the United Statesof America. “With the festivalcoinciding with Gudi Padwa, afestival celebrated by people ofPune, a bunch of south Indiansand marathis attend culturalparties in the U.S marking the cel-ebration of the onset of a newyear,” informs a Venkat Sai.

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

My parents enlightened meabout how Ugadi Pachadi

relates to the various stages of ourlife. Life is a mixture of happinessand sadness, you have to face thechallenges life throws at you. Iwould wear my new pair ofclothes made of cotton and visitthe Hanuman temple with myfamily to pray for a prosperousnew year.

84-YYEAR-OOLD VVIJAYA LLAKSHMI

WednesdayMarch 25, 2020

a

UGADI, A CULTURALEXTRAVAGANZA

My resolution lastyear was to do my

bit to have a dust-freeenvironment around me. Ilove tasting everybody’s‘Ugadi Pacchadi’ andjudging the best one ofthem all.

AISHWARYA

gadi marks the TeluguNew Year. Teluguites cel-ebrate the day by cookingtraditional dishes and thefamous Ugadi Pachhadi.

Hyderabad-based volunteersstruck upon the idea of making

the most of the festiv-ities to help pro-

m o t eTelugu cul-

ture, espe-cially amongthe young-sters. Manyrestaurants or

group of indi-viduals host var-

ious events to markthe festivities in the city.

However, this year, the fes-tivities is going to be a dry

affair due to Covid-19 pandemic.The organisers generally serve

scrumptious traditional food,encourage telugu folklore, promotecustoms and music of and byTelugus.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Sankalp of Hyderabad FoodiesClub, says “We have been conduct-ing the Telugostavam event forthe last three years inHyderabad. It is unfortunatethat we had tocall off thisyear’s eventdue to theC oron av i r u spandemic.” Theevent is anattempt to gentlyremind the for-gotten ecstasy ofTelugu tradition-al celebrationsand festivals. “It isa celebration of pure‘Teluguness’ in truespirit. It also bringsthe essence of traditionalTelugu celebrations — bestof festive food, entertainment anda memorable evening,” he tells us.

The organisers serve all authen-tic Telugu dishes right from

Vankaya Masalato Kakarakaya

curry todesserts like

Pootarekulu andSunundalu. “Every year for theTe l u g o s t a v a m

event, partici-pants turn upin traditionaldresses that

adds to the beau-tiful environ-

ment. We alsoset up pot-tery work-shop forvisitors. We

e n c o u r a g eand get people

to share storiesabout thefamous ‘ParrotProphecies’. Wealso have peo-ple narrate theactual storybehind Ugadiand more,”i n f o r m s

T u m m a l aSrinivas Sampath,

Managing Director, The SpicyVenue.

“An event of this kind was along-standing vision and we arehappy that it’s growing with eachyear. It is very important to keepour current and forthcoming gen-erations updated on our cultureand rituals. This festival providesa great opportunity to do just that.This is our humble attempt tostrengthen the Telugu bond,” headds.

Every year, the organisersencourage and promote a Teluguband, that performs at the venuefor the guests. They indulge theaudience in ancient and the latestTelugu hits. Some of the bands thattook part until now are Capricioand Merakee, among others.

The proceedings from the eventare donated to orphanages in thecity. “For the last three years, wehave been donating to orphanages.It gives us great joy to be able tohelp those in need. Thus, throughthe event, we help promote Teluguculture and get a chance to be ofsome help to the needy,” Sampath

shares.

With the festival coinciding with GudiPadwa, a festival celebrated by people of

Pune, a bunch of south Indians and marathisattend cultural parties in the U.S marking thecelebration of the onset of a new year.

VENKAT SSAI, AN INDIAN RESIDING IN THE USA

emple officials and author-ities in Kurnool, AndhraPradesh, have dissuadeddevotees from visiting tem-ples. Events like

Sparshadarshanam, Arjitha Sevas,VIP darshanams and public gather-ings like Gramotsavam (proces-sions of god and goddess),Prabhotsavam, VeeracharaVinyasam, Agnigunda-pravesamhave all been cancelled consideringthe Covid-19 scare. The Telanganastate government has decided thatUgadi and Sri Rama Navami festiv-ities would be held by the govern-ment and devotees would not beallowed inside temples.

Even the famous TirumalaTirupathi Devasthanams (TTD)has shut its doors for devotees since

Friday as a precau-tionary measure tocheck the spread ofthe virus. The famousladdus which were preparedare now being distributed free ofcost among the temple staff.

The Pioneer speaks to somepeople from different walks of lifeon what they feel about how thefestival is going to be this year.

“Ugadi is always that time of theyear, where all relatives gather andspend some quality family time byhaving lunch together, playinggames and making merry. We aredefinitely going to miss that thisyear,” laments Navaneetha, ateacher.

Satyaveni, a business develop-ment manager at Cyient, said thatthe import of some grains andpulses that are important to makemost of the Ugadi delicacies couldbe a problem due to the curfew.“Since local markets can’t stock upso much food, this year’s Ugadi willnot be the same,” she tells us.

Around the same time last year,Hyderabad was bustling with manyevents being held in Shilparamamand other venues. This year, how-ever, all events have been called off.Railways and bus services toohave been stopped so people can’teven visit their villages. Tourism asa whole, has been badly hit, sincetemples have all shut.

Gold sales too, which are usual-ly at the peak during Gudi Padwaand Ugadi, will remain muted,much to the disappointment ofjewellers.

“One of the most important ele-ments of decor are the mangoleaves, which are brought into thecity from villages. Since theTelangana state government is onlyallowing transport of essential com-modities, we won’t get mango leavesin the city, even if we get they aregoing to be very limited,” informsUdaya Sree, a homemaker.

And it’s not just here in India.Ugadi is going to be a lonely affair

for folks in the United States andother countries too. Telugu commu-nities in America come togetherevery year to ring in the new year.But this year, all events havebeen cancelled.Ramya Lingaa, anIT-professional in theUS is torn between cel-ebrating Ugadi all byherself and cominghome, but finallydecided on doing the latter.

Jeevraj Dirasam, an accoun-tant working for an automobilecompany in Muscat, misses home.“I have no choice but to stay backhere and have a lonely Ugadi,” he says.

t

Ugadi, which is theTelugu New Year, isusually marked with

great fervour bydevotees thronging

temples across mostSouth Indian states.

This year though,the mood is quite

sombre as templeswear a deserted look.In light of the Covid-

19 scare, Ugadi hasbecome a quiet affair

this year, writesRACHEL

DAMMALA

u

One of the mostimportant elements

of decor are themango leaves,which are broughtinto the city fromvillages. Since the

state government isonly allowing transport

of essential commodities,we will get only limited mango

leaves this time.UDAYA SSREE

UGADI festivitiesa sombre affairthis year

The import of somegrains and pulses that

are important to makemost of theUgadidelicaciescould be aproblemdue to thecurfew.Since localmarketscan’t stockup so muchfood, this year’s Ugadi will notbe the same

SATYAVENI

Telugostavam — anevent of and by

Teluguites in the city,is as Telugu as it can

get. Right fromdonning traditional

clothes to indulgingin arts and crafts of

our region, the eventaims to help the Gen

Z learn about andpractice, Telugu

culture and tradition,reports V SATEESH

REDDY

TELUGOSTAVAM IS AN ATTEMPTTO GENTLY REMIND THEFORGOTTEN ECSTASY OFTELUGU TRADITIONALCELEBRATIONS ANDFESTIVALS

Of Telugu cultureand TRADITIONS

PARTY

10

Hyderabad Wednesday March 25, 2020

l Harsha

l Chetan l Saloni

l Members of YEA including its new president Vikas (3rd right) and former president Sumit (second right)

what’s brewing?

Change in presidentY

EA — Young Entrepreneur Association announced its change of guard at its Annual AGMheld at Hotel ITC, Kohenur recently. The organization was formulated to provide aplatform for young entrepreneurs to network, learn and grow as business leaders. The

event started with the speech of outgoing president Sumit Agarwal sharing the list of eventson Family Business Management followed by a small presentation on the raod-map for thecoming year and activities planned by the new president Vikas Jhabakh.

uperstar Rajinikanth has donated Rs 50 lakh for the wellbeing of dailywage workers of South Indian filmindustry in the time of completeshutdown owing to the coronaviruspandemic, according to reports.

Several other top star of southern cinemaincluding Suriya, Karthi and Vijay Sethupati,besides many filmmakers have pitched in, too.

Given the recent outbreak of COVID-19, the-atres across Tamil Nadu have been closed, andshoot of films, television serials and advertise-ments are on hold as well. The Film EmployeesFederation of South India (FEFSI) president RKSelvamani earlierissued an appeal through apress release requesting the South Indian filmfraternity to provide financial help to the dailywage members of the federation who don’t havean income right now.

Within a few hours Suriya, Karthi along withtheir father Sivakumar donated Rs 10 lakh. Itwas later reported that actor Sivakarthikeyantoo donated Rs 10 lakh.

Now, it is said that superstar Rajinikanth hasdonated 50 lakhs, while Vijay Sethupathi hasdonated 10 lakhs for the welfare of FEFSI mem-bers.

Actors Parthipan and Prakash Raj have pro-vided several rice bags weighing 25 kg each.Ever since RK Selvamani had put a request,Kollywood celebrities are leaving no stoneunturned to help FEFSI members in need. Infact, it is these members who worked incredi-bly hard for the success of their films.

Due to the lockdown, the shooting ofRajinikanth’s Annaatthe, which is directed bySiruthai Siva, has been put on hold. The filmwas reportedly scheduled to release in Diwali2020, given the delay in shooting we are unsureif films will stick to their stipulated release dates.

l Abhishek and Soumya

lRa

mya S

Rajini, Suriya, Karthi,Vijay Sethupathidonate for daily wageworkers

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

lAs

hwin

i.

ith his last two films — F2-Fun & Frustration and VenkyMama — doing well at theticket counters, victoryVenkatesh has hiked his fee.He was charging somewhere

around Rs 5-6 crore earlier per film butwe now hear, he is demanding Rs 10crore.

A source says, “F2’s phenomenalsuccess is solely attributed to his perfor-mance in it, while Venky Mama, ridingon his shoulders, grossed more than Rs 50 crore. So it’s natural for him todemand a hike in view of his market

pull.”Another source states theVenky’s new pay structure

didn’t go well with leadingproducer Dil Raju, who isrepeating him for F3, to bedirected by Anil Ravipudi.“Raju wanted Venky tocome down from Rs 10crore but the actor wasn’t ina mood to budge. Therewas a point where theproducer considered

another A-lister instead ofVenky, but in the end Raju

managed to sign on theRaja star for somewhere

between Rs 8.5-9 crore.Moving forward though, Venky

will be charging Rs 10 crore perprojects except for films made

under his home bannerSuresh Productions,where he will share

profits.”

hile films like Uppena, Nishabdam andAranya, which have been scheduledfor April 2 release have been post-poned, there has been no word yet onRam-starrer Red, which is to releaseon April 9. On Tuesday though, film’s

producer and Ram’s uncle Sravanthi Ravi Kishoredropped hints at a probable postponement of theinvestigative thriller, which sees his nephew in dualroles for the first time.

The veteran producer said, “Humanity is wag-ing a war against coronavirus right now. The worldis in a danger. Our culture tells us how to valuehealth and it is important for us to maintain socialdistance and defeat the pandemic. As we enter a NewYear, we should eliminate the dark and welcome lightand feel it. Only when someone is happy, does hethink of entertainment. As we are living in fear, it’sbetter to postpone entertainment. We should discusscinema only after the situation settles down.”

Directed by Kishore Tirumala, Red features NivethaPethuraj and Malavika Sharma as leading ladies, whileMani Sharma has composed music.

Hyderabad Wednesday March 25, 2020

OF LATE, THE ACTOR HAS BEEN VERYEXPRESSIVE WITH HIS VIEWS ON VARIEDISSUES. SO HE DECIDED THAT IT’D BE BETTERIF HE COMMUNICATES USING RIGHTPLATFORMS

Humanity is waging a waragainst coronavirus right

now. The world is in a danger.Our culture tells us how to valuehealth and it is important for us tomaintain social distance and defeatthe pandemic. As we enter a NewYear, we should eliminate the darkand welcome light and feel it. Onlywhen someone is happy, does hethink of entertainment. As we areliving in fear, it’s better to postponeentertainment. We should discusscinema only after the situationsettles down.

PRODUCERRAVI KISHORE

11

tollywood

W

A love story in Kashmir

n what is a first for a Telugu filmmaker, HanuRaghavapudi will be making his next with DulquerSalmaan in both Telugu and Malayalam languages.It was on the insistence of the Malayalam heartthrob that the filmmaker agreed to make thefilm in Malayalam as well, thus marking his

Mollywood debut.A source says, “The film is a period romantic drama with

a pan-Indiaappeal andDulquer was-n’t keen onmissing hishome turf audi-ence while pleas-ing the Telugu audi-ence with it. So heasked if Hanu is com-fortable with the idea ofdirecting it in Malayalamas well. The latter had noissues as such.”

The source adds the filmwas supposed to go in frontof the cameras in May butwith Covid-19, it may bedeferred to June or July.“The film is set in 80sKashmir and majorpart of the filmingwill take placethere. If the mak-ers don’t getrequired con-sent to shootthere, they maycheat it with Himachal

Pradesh like most filmmakers do. There’s a major schedule inHyderabad as well. Like the male lead, the female lead too has alot of significance in the film. In fact, she will be the heart of thefilm and Hanu is keen on a familiar yet very young face for thepart.”

Swapna Dutt will be shepherding the venture under her SwapnaCinema in association with Vyjayanthi Movies, while VishalChandrasekhar will provide the musical accompaniment.

I

Chiru to make his social media debut

nlike his peers likeKamal Haasan,Rajinikanth andMohanlal, MegastarChiranjeevi doesn’thave a social media

account but that is going tochange from today — on theoccasion of Telugu New YearUgadi. In a video announcinghis arrival on social media onTuesday, the Megastar said hewants to use the platform as away of sharing his thoughtswith his fans and people atlarge.

A source close to the actortold us that his public relationsteam has been asking him tojoin the social media bandwag-on for the last three years but hedidn’t entertain the idea backthen. “Of late though, he hasbeen very expressive with hisviews on varied issues, rangingfrom politics to epidemic likeCovid-19. So he decided that it’dbe better if he communicatesusing right platforms. FromUgadi, fans and people will getto interact with him on hisbrand new Twitter andInstagram accounts,” added thesource.

On the work front, Chiru willbe next seen in Koratala Siva’sAcharya. He had to stop theshooting in Hyderabad some-time back due to Covid-19.

— NG

U

T town'shelping hand

ctor Nithiin, who is basking in thesuccess of Bheeshma on Monday, hasannounced Rs 10 lakh each to govern-ments of both Telugu states, as theyfight Covid-19. He met Telangana CMK Chandrasekhar Rao at Pragathi

Bhavan on Tuesday and handed over thepromised sum.

Other industry personalities too have comeforward to help film employees who depend ondaily wages to make their ends meet. Actor SivajiRaja informed that he will be distributingmasks and vegetables that grew in his farm housein the outskirts of Hyderabad to poor coloniesthat are next to his farm. The former MAA pres-ident has also indicated that he will supply essen-tials like rice, lentils and cooking oil to MAAmembers who are in need for the next 15 days.He added members in urgent need of essentialscan contact him.

Similarly, Shankar, president of TeluguDirector's Association noted that the associationwill be distributing food essentials for the needyfilm employees from April 1. Distributor BPrashanth Goud announced donating essentialsworth Rs 1,000 for 500 families, with the distri-bution beginning already. Employees in need cancontact 9398131493 to avail the benefits. 3G Loveproducer Pratap announced Rs 1 lakh for AP CMrelief fund.

A

W

Venky hikes his fee

THE FILM IS AN INVESTIGATIVETHRILLER, WHICH SEES RAM IN DUALROLES FOR THE FIRST TIME

Ravi Kishorehints at Redpostponement!

Dulquer, who is the lead actor in thefilm asked filmmaker Hanu if he

can make the film in Malayalamas well and the latter is

comfortable with the idea, findsNAGARAJ GOUD

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 25, 2020

AFP n TOKYO

The 2020 Tokyo Olympicshave been postponed to nolater than the summer of

2021 because of the coronaviruspandemic sweeping the globe, theInternational Olympic Committeeannounced on Tuesday.

The Games were scheduled forJuly 24-August 9, but after tele-phone discussions between IOCpresident Thomas Bach andJapanese Prime Minister ShinzoAbe, a historic joint decision wastaken to delay the Olympics — thefirst time that has been done inpeacetime.

Abe said Bach was in “100 per-cent agreement” when Japan askedthe IOC to push back the Games.

In a joint statement, the pairsaid that based on current WorldHealth Organization information,the Tokyo Games “must berescheduled to a date beyond 2020but not later than summer 2021, tosafeguard the health of the athletes,everybody involved in the OlympicGames and the international com-munity”.

“The leaders agreed that theOlympic Games in Tokyo couldstand as a beacon of hope to theworld during these troubled timesand that the Olympic flame couldbecome the light at the end of thetunnel in which the world findsitself at present.

“Therefore, it was agreed thatthe Olympic flame will stay inJapan. It was also agreed that theGames will keep the nameOlympic and Paralympic GamesTokyo 2020,” the statement con-cluded.

The Olympics, which hasexperienced boycotts, terroristattacks and protests, but has beenheld every four years since 1948,is the highest-profile event affect-ed by the virus that has killed thou-sands and closed sports competi-tions worldwide.

Bach said the decision to post-pone was “about protecting humanlife”.

CROWDED CCALENDARSqueezing in the 16-day

Games into what will already be ahugely crowded 2021 calendar isanother major headache, witharguably the two biggest sports,swimming and athletics, due tohold their world championshipsthat summer.

However, World Athletics hasalready said it was prepared to shiftits world championships, sched-uled for August 6-15 next year inEugene, Oregon, to accommo-date a rescheduled Games.

“World Athletics welcomesthe decision of the IOC and theJapanese Government to post-pone the Tokyo 2020 OlympicGames to 2021,” track and field’sglobal governing body said.

“It is what athletes want andwe believe this decision will giveall athletes, technical officials andvolunteers some respite and cer-tainty in these unprecedented anduncertain times.”

British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, the world 200m champion,posted on Instagram:“#Tokyo2021, Same fire, new dates.Stay at home and stay safe every-one xxx.”

The international federation ofthe number two Olympic sport,swimming, added that it wouldalso work with local organisers “inorder to determine flexibility” fortheir scheduled July 16-August 1,2021 world championships in theJapanese city of Fukuoka.

World football’s governing

body FIFA said it “firmly believesthat the health and well-being ofall individuals involved in sport-ing activities should always be thehighest priority, and as such wewelcome today’s IOC decision”.

DEVASTATING FFOR TTOKYOThe decision to postpone will

be a devastating blow for the cityof Tokyo, which had won wide-spread praise for its organisation,with venues finished well ahead oftime and tickets massively over-subscribed.

British Olympic Associationchairman Hugh Robertson said itwas “heartbreaking news for ourmany friends in Japan who havedone superbly well to prepare forwhat I know will be an outstand-ing Games”.

“However, the IOC had nooption under the present circum-stances but to reach the decisionthey did.”

The IOC came under increas-ing pressure in recent days to post-pone the Games, with 1.7 billionpeople across the planet in lock-down to prevent the further spreadof COVID-19.

Training has become impos-sible for many athletes and expos-es them to the risk of contractingor spreading the disease.Competitions and qualifyingevents have been scrapped, whileinternational travel is severelylimited.

On Sunday, the IOC had ini-tially given itself a deadline of fourweeks to come up with a propos-al to postpone the Games, aHerculean task that touches onevery aspect of Tokyo 2020 plan-ning from venues to security toticketing.

But after Canada andAustralia withdrew their teamsand the powerful US OlympicCommittee and World Athleticsalso joined the chorus calling fora postponement, the writing wason the wall.

Tokyo was spending some$12.6 billion to host the Games,according to its latest budget, andexperts believe a postponementcould cost it some $6 billion in theshort-term before recouping itwhen they eventually go ahead.

PTI n NEW DELHI

Life comes first, sport can wait. This was the col-lective view of India’s top Olympic-bound ath-

letes, including stalwarts such as M C Mary Komand Saina Nehwal, as they lauded the TokyoGames’ postponement.

“The situation right now is not good. Lifealways comes first, everything else canwait. Players’ safety is paramount. Ithink it’s (postponement) good foreveryone. Now I get more time toprepare, our training plans can beextended. And it’s not just for me, it istrue for everyone around the world.”

“Happy that it’s postponed even thoughsome of us haven’t qualified. We areeager to know what the qualification(process) would be like going ahead.As an athlete who’s played Olympicsbefore I would say it’s good aseveryone can chill now and not worryabout preparations amid a lockdown.We all have to be safe first and then wecan think about preparations.”

“It’s a good decision because everyoneis disturbed. Athletes’ health isparamount. No one is trainingproperly. It’s not just about India, it’salso about the entire world. We first

have to save people from thisepidemic.”

“Whateverhappens, happens for a good reason.Now we have more time to prepare.It’s good for my performance. I willcontinue training.”

“...Since training had stopped, wewould have needed another three-fourmonths time to prepare. So, wewanted postponement. Now we can

refresh ourselves and restart thecompetitions (training).”

“We were prepared for this year’sOlympics. We were ready but whatdo you do when something like thishappens. It’s beyond everyone’scontrol. We will again prepare for2021. I would have fought well thisyear also, but now I have more timeto toughen up.”

“At the moment it’s the right decisionto take. It’s sad but at the moment itis a sensible decision to take...There’sdisappointment obviously but wellthings are not really in

your hand.”

“It is verydisappointing that the Olympics willnot go ahead in 2020, but given theunprecedented circumstances facingthe world at present it is totallyunderstandable and expected.”

“I just had a meeting with the team and broke this newsto the group. Though it is disappointing,

the girls told me, ‘It’s ok, Coach. Wewill continue to work the way we areand this probably gives us more timeto prepare for the Olympic Games &be our best.”

“...It was really required asno athlete is able totrain all over the

world...It’s good that the Olympic ispostponed and now we have propertime to train and prepare and plan.”

“I think that’s the best that canhappen in this

situation but as an athlete it's a bit hardas a lot of training has gone inpreparation for the 2020 Olympics.Now the preparation has to carry onfor another one more year.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly onTuesday said he “doesn’t have an

answer” on the fate of this year’s IndianPremier League (IPL) amid a nationwidelockdown to combat the COVID-19pandemic.

The BCCI suspended the IPL, orig-inally scheduled from March 29, to April15 after government suspended all visas,barring few categories like diplomaticand employment, making it impossible

for foreign players to participate.Amid the ongoing complete lock-

down, it is becoming increasingly diffi-cult for all the stakeholders to work outan alternate plan.

“I can’t say anything at the moment.We are at the same place where we wereon the day we postponed. Nothing haschanged in the last 10 days. So, I don’thave an answer to it. Status quo remains,”Ganguly said.

The former India captain also ruledout any possibility of something beingplanned three or four months down theline considering the prevailing situationworldwide.

“You can’t plan anything. The FTPis scheduled. It’s there and you can’tchange the FTP. All around the world,cricket and more so sports has stopped,”he said.

He also expressed his doubts onwhether the current situation can be cov-ered by insurance to make up for thelosses that all stakeholders will suffer.

“I am not sure whether you can getinsurance money. Because this is a gov-ernment lockdown. I am not surewhether a government lockdown iscovered by insurance or not.

“We will have to see. We have notassessed all these things. At this point oftime, it is very difficult for me to give anyconcrete answer,” the charismatic formerbatsman said.

AFP n NYON

UEFA announcedon Monday that

it has postponed theChampions League,Europa League andwomen’s ChampionsLeague finals, origi-nally scheduled forMay, due to the coro-navirus pandemic,with no new dategiven.

European football’s governing bodyhad already postponed the competitionsuntil further notice earlier this month.

UEFA said that “no decision has yetbeen made on rearranged dates”.

“The working group, established lastweek as a result of the conference call amongthe stakeholders of European football,which was chaired by UEFA president,Aleksander Ceferin, will analyse the optionsavailable,” UEFA said in a statement.

“The group has already begun its exam-ination of the calendar. Announcements willbe made in due course.”

The 2020 men’s Champions League finalhad been due to be played at Istanbul’sAtaturk Stadium on May 30, with theEuropa League final to have been staged inPolish city Gdansk three days before.

The women’s Champions League finalwas scheduled for May 24 in Vienna.

Life comes first,we can waitIndia’s Olympic-bound athletes welcomeTokyo Games postponement

2020 Tokyo Olympics postponed

The Olympic Rings are displayed at the entrance of International Olympic Committee headquarters during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Lausanne on Tuesday AP

KEY HIGHLIGHTSDELAYED OOLYMPICS WWILL BBE‘TESTAMENT TTO DDEFEAT OOFVIRUS’: JJAPAN PPMThe postponed Tokyo 2020Olympics will be held inaround a year as a “testament”to humanity’s victory over thenew coronavirus pandemic,Japan’s Prime Minister ShinzoAbe said.He said he had secured agree-ment from the head of theInternational OlympicCommittee to postpone theGames and then hold them “ina complete form as a testamentto mankind’s defeat of the newvirus”.

DELAYED OOLYMPICS WWILL SSTILLBE CCALLED ''TOKYO 22020': GGOV-ERNORThe postponed Olympics willretain the name “Tokyo 2020”despite being held next year,the city’s governor said.“The name will remain Tokyo2020,” Yuriko Koike toldreporters.“First, no cancellation has beenconfirmed. It’s clear. And agoal — by summer in 2021 —has become concrete. It’s also avery concrete guide for athletesas well. I think it’s a big thing.”Koike said.

OLYMPIC TTORCH RRELAYPOSTPONEDThe Olympic torch relay, dueto start on Thursday from theFukushima area devastated bythe 2011 earthquake, tsunamiand nuclear meltdown, will bepostponed.“The Olympic torch relay,which was scheduled to startfrom 26th (March), will notstart,” Tokyo 2020 presidentYoshiro Mori told reporters.Mori said the flame willremain in Fukushima for now,but it was not clear how long itwill stay there.

OLYMPICS PPOSTPONEMENT‘ABOUT PPROTECTING HHUMANLIFE’: BBACHInternational OlympicCommittee president ThomasBach said the decision to post-pone the 2020 Tokyo Olympicsdue to the coronavirus pan-demic was “about protectinghuman life”.Bach said the new dates for thefirst Games to be postponedduring peacetime would bedecided by an IOC panel over-seeing the Games and theTokyo organisers.

TOKYO: Japan postponed theOlympic torch relay on Tuesdayafter the Tokyo 2020 Games weredelayed for a year, extendingwhat has already been a troubledjourney for the ceremonial flame.

The torch, lit earlier thismonth in Greece, had been due tostart its nationwide tour onThursday from Fukushima, anarea devastated by the 2011 earth-quake, tsunami and nuclear melt-down.

“The Olympic torch relay,which was scheduled to startfrom 26th (March), will not start,”Tokyo 2020 president YoshiroMori told reporters.

Mori said the flame willremain in Fukushima for now, butit was not clear how long it willstay there.

COVID-19 has overshad-owed the flame’s progress after theelaborate lighting ceremony inancient Olympia proceeded with-out spectators, to avoid spreadingthe disease.

The Greek leg of the torchrelay was then scrapped whenlarge crowds mobbed Hollywood

actor Gerard Butler as he lit a caul-dron in the city of Sparta.

The flame arrived to a mutedwelcome in northern Japan infront of a few dozen officials andguests, after plans to invite 200schoolchildren were abandoned.

It has been on display in Japanand attracted large crowds, despitecalls from organisers to avoidmass gatherings because of thevirus.

Mori said he recognised thedecision to postpone the Gameswould be “very disappointing” forathletes.

“I am sorry about that,” hesaid. “I also know that athleteshave strong spirits able to over-come difficulty. I hope that they

will do their best.”He said the Games had been

postponed for a year rather thana shorter period because there wasno certainty on when the pan-demic would be over.

“There are many opinions,and there is no agreement. Will itend in three to four months?” hesaid.

“Unless the coronavirus (pan-demic) ends, we won’t be able toeven start the torch relay,” headded.

“This year is off the table.”Organised under the slogan

‘Hope Lights Our Way,’ the torchrelay was considered a key part ofthe bid to showcase recovery inparts of northeastern Japan thatwere devastated by the 2011 dis-aster.

Mori pointed to his ownhealth problems — he was diag-nosed with cancer — as proof thatdifficulties can be surmounted.

“We have no choice but tohave hope. I myself suffered can-cer... But I was saved by a newdrug. I am here, allowed to live.

“Let us hope for these things.”

IPL 13 fate: We are at same place, don’thave an answer right now: Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly in a file picture PTI

UEFA postpones CL,Europa League finals

Japan puts brakes on torch relay

Bach says new dates forOlympics not discussedAFP n LAUSANNE

IOC president Thomas Bachsays he did not discuss new

dates for the 2020 TokyoOlympics in talks withJapanese Prime MinisterShinzo Abe.

One option would be July23-August 8. That is exactlyone year from the now-post-poned July 24-August 9 dates.

Bach says the exact datesis a question for the Tokyoorganizing committee and anInternational OlympicCommittee panel overseeingthe preparations.

He said “alarming figures”

in the past few days about thecoronavirus were key to decid-ing the Tokyo Olympics mustbe postponed.

Bach cites the WorldHealth Organization “saying inthe last couple of hours thatAfrica has to prepare for theworst.”

The IOC has been advisedby the WHO, which saidMonday the pandemic isaccelerating.

Bach says the originalhealth issue for hosting theTokyo Olympics was “couldJapan offer a safe welcome”and the IOC was confident itcould.

Athletes relieved of stress, saysIOA welcoming IOC decisionNEW DELHI: The Indian OlympicAssociation (IOA) on Tuesday wel-comed the IOC’s decision to post-pone the Tokyo Olympics by oneyear in view of the worseningCOVID-19 pandemic, saying thecountry’s athletes have been relievedof having to train during a globalhealth crisis.

“IOA welcomes the decision ofIOC. Discussions were held by IOCwith organisers and all stakeholdersprior to this,” IOA Secretary GeneralRajiv Mehta said.

“Soon after the lockdown isover, IOA would be holding meetingswith athletes, federations, sponsors,etc. To revise plans.

“This decision today, relieves our

athletes of worries of having to trainnow during epidemic and performtheir best in four months fromnow,” he added.

The IOA said it will have a meet-ing with the national sports federa-tions (NSFs) soon to chalk out arevised plan.

“We have requested IOC andTokyo 2020 (organisers) for morespecifics on the revised schedule andscope of operations. All related com-munication will be shared with youas soon as we can,” Mehta wrote inan e-mail to the NSFs.

“Please excuse the delay as manyspecifics are yet to be known.Thereafter, meetings would also beheld with the federations,” he added.

—MC MARYKOM

—SAINANEHWAL

—BAJRANGPUNIA

—MIRABAI CHANU

—RAHI SARNOBAT

—RAVI DAHIYA

—CHIRAG SHETTY

—GRAHAMREID

—SJOERDMARIJNE

—ANJUM MOUDGIL

— SHARATH KAMAL

Only war has cancelled OlympicsLONDON: The Olympic Gameshas suffered political boycotts(Moscow 1980) and terrorism(Munich 1972), but has only everbeen cancelled due to outbreaksof war.

Here is a look back at Berlin1916, Tokyo 1940 and London1944 — when global conflictsforced the Games to be scrapped.

BERLIN 11916At the IOC meeting in

Stockholm in July 4, 1912, thesixth Olympic Games wereawarded to Berlin, with theGerman capital beating out com-petition from Alexandria,Amsterdam, Brussels, Budapestand the US city of Cleveland.

Germany pulled out all thestops, opening a stadium with acapacity of around 33,000 inwestern Berlin's leafy Grunewalddistrict in 1913 to celebrate 25years of Kaiser Wilhelm II'sreign as head of the GermanReich.

The stadium took only 200days to build, according to theGerman Olympic Committee(DOSB) and featured a 100-metre-long swimming pool onits northern side.

The sporting programmewas to feature athletics, wrestling,

fencing, shooting, modern pen-tathlon, cycling, gymnastics,swimming, rowing, hockey andgolf.

For the first time, womenwere invited to participate inswimming, diving, tennis andnetball, the DOSB said in its his-tory of the 1916 Games.

A two-day test event washeld on June 27 and 28, 1914 inthe Berlin stadium. On the sec-ond day, Archduke FrankFerdinand of Austria and his wifewere assassinated in Sarajevo,starting a chain of events thatwould led to the outbreak ofWorld War I.

It is not clear when theGames fell victim to the war butthe founder of the modernOlympics, Pierre de Coubertin,decreed that the Berlin 1916Games still be counted as thesixth Olympiad, even thoughthey never took place.

TOKYO 11940In the same way Tokyo 2020

officials have framed the Gamesas the "Recovery Olympics" afterthe devastating 2011 earthquake,tsunami and nuclear meltdown,Tokyo cast a bid for 1940 as achance to show it had recoveredfrom a catastrophic earthquake

in 1923.Spearheaded by legendary

Japanese figure Jigoro Kano, thefounder of judo and the coun-try's first IOC member, Tokyowas awarded the 1940 Gamesafter ferocious lobbying, includ-ing persuading Italian dictatorBenito Mussolini to pull out ofthe race.

The Games were supposedto celebrate the 2,600 years sincethe enthronement of Japan'smythical first emperor Jimmu,but they became untenablebecause of the country's militaryaggression in China.

With Japan at war withChina from 1937, diplomaticpressure grew for Japan to giveup the Games and the militarybegan to question why resourcesshould be diverted from thewar effort to fund Olympic con-struction.

The Japanese OlympicCommittee eventually bowedto the inevitable and in 1938 toldthe IOC it would not be hostingthe Games, euphemistically cit-ing the "trouble with China" asthe reason.

They also abandoned thewinter Games, planned in thenorthern city of Sapporo.

The IOC awarded the sum-

mer Games to Helsinki insteadand the winter Games to St.Moritz in Switzerland, but thesetoo fell victim to World War II.

LONDON 11944Despite what British Prime

Minister Winston Churchillcalled the "gathering storm"over Europe due to NaziGermany, the IOC met inLondon in July 1939 to decidewhich city would host the 1944Olympics.

They plumped for London,which beat bids by Rome,Detroit, Lausanne and Athens.

But only three months later,Britain had declared war onGermany and the 1944 Gameswas a non-starter.

The winter Games were dueto be held in Cortina d'Ampezzoin Italy but these were alsoscrapped. The city hosted the1956 Winter Olympics and isdue to co-host the 2026 WinterGames with Milan.

Just three years after the warended, and with the world begangradually getting back onto itsfeet, London hosted whatbecame known as the "AusterityGames" in 1948. NeitherGermany nor Japan were invit-ed to participate. AFP