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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

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

MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ON THE HILLAsDelhicontinues toreport lowdailycasecountsofCovid-19,a largenumberof cyclistsandwalkersreturnedtoVijayChowkonSunday.AbhinavSaha

JAYMAZOOMDAARNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

CAMERA-TRAPSused inthe lat-est all-India tiger survey cap-turedmorefree-rangingdomes-tic dogs than tigers in 17 tigerreserves. Presence of both dogsandlivestockinsignificantnum-berswas recorded in at least 30tiger reserves.Expertssaytheproliferation

of dogs and livestock, mostlyferal and abandoned, insideforests carries the risk of trans-mission of various diseases towildlife. They also compete

withwildanimalsforresources.While Environment

Ministry officials claimed that“these domestic animals were

spottedmostlyintheperipheralforests away from the core” ar-eas, thequadrennialtigerreportdoes not provide any spatial

data onhow far inside the tigerreserves the dogs and livestockwerephotographed.“We are aware of this prob-

lem. Livestock and dogs arefoundincertainfringeareasclosetovillages.Inviewofthreatssuchas canine distemper virus, etc.,wearetryingtominimisethein-teractionbetweenthesedomes-tic species andwildlife,” said SPYadav, member secretary,National Tiger ConservationAuthority, which conducts thequadrennialall-Indiasurvey.The 2018 tiger survey data

showthatmoredogswerecam-era-trappedthantigersin17tigerreserves.Thisincludessevenma-jor reserves — Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh),Sariska(Rajasthan),Pench,Pannaand Bandhavgarh (MadhyaPradesh), Bhadra (Karnataka),Sathyamangalam (Tamil Nadu)

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

Dogschasingasambar.Free-rangingpackshuntbothlivestockandwildlife. Source:NTCA/WII

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

THEWORLD

SPACEXCREWDRAGONASTRONAUTSRETURNTOEARTHPAGE12

THEEDITORIALPAGE

COLLABORATIONSKEYINCOVIDTIMEVIKRAMSMEHTAPAGE8

Amit Shah positive forCovid-19, TN Gov andBSY too have the virusDEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

UNION HOME Minister AmitShah announced on Sundayevening thathehas testedposi-tive for thenovel coronavirus.“Followingtheappearanceof

initial symptoms of Covid-19, Igotmyself testedandthereportis positive.Myhealth is fine butontheadviceofdoctorsIamget-ting admitted to hospital. I re-questallthosewhocameincon-tactwithmeinthepastfewdaysto isolate themselves and gettested,” Shah posted on Twitteraround5.30pm.Besides Shah, Karnataka

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappaand Tamil Nadu GovernorBanwarilal Purohit also testedpositive for thevirusonSunday.“Ihavetestedpositiveforcoron-avirus.Whilst Iamfine, Iambe-inghospitalised as a precaution

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI, AUGUST2

ACTOR SUSHANT Singh Rajputhad searched on Google threeitems repeatedly in the weekpreceding his suicide: his ownnameinnewsreports,thenameof his former manager DishaSalianwhohad committed sui-cide the previousweek, and in-formationaboutamentalillness,a top police officer overseeingtheprobetoldTheIndianExpress.The officer said that on June

14,evenafewhoursbeforecom-mittingsuicide,hehadGoogledhisownname.These details have emerged

fromforensic reportsof hismo-bile phone and laptop received

from the Kalina ForensicLaboratory, theofficer said.Investigators have also ob-

tained bank account details oftheactor.“Alltheaccountswheremoney had been transferredwereknown.ThelargesttransferwasRs2.8 crore last year,whichwas forGST,” theofficersaid.Mumbai Police has recorded

over40statementsinthecase,sofar.“WefoundthatSushantknewthere was talk linking him toSalian’sdeathandhewasworried

this speculationmight reach themedia. That iswhyhemayhavebeen searching online. These is-sues seem to have exacerbatedhiscondition.HehadGoogledhisownnameafewhoursbeforethesuicide,” theofficersaid.The police also recorded the

statementof threepsychiatristsand one psychotherapist lastmonth. “They confirmed thatRajput had consulted them fortreatment. Theyalso toldus themedication they had pre-scribed,” theofficer said.Further,fromthestatementof

SiddharthPithani,Rajput’sfriendwhohadbeenliving inthesamehouse, the police came to knowthat the actor had been pre-scribedmedicinesbyhisdoctors.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Before suicide, Rajput’s Googlesearch: his name, manager, illness

153DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Delhi■TamilNadu■Karnataka■AndhraPradesh

7 DAYS EARLIER:

2.31NOW:

2.13

7 DAYS EARLIER:

8.50NOW:

8.83

DETECTED TODAY

54,735RECOVERED TODAY:

51,255

TOTALCASES4,31,7191,36,7162,51,7381,29,2871,50,209

DOUBLINGRATE**30.359325.2313.979.21

SURGEIN24HOURS9,6011,1185,8795,1729,276

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*2.37%0.77%2.85%5.15%7.82%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:17,50,723TESTS: 1,98,21,831 | DOUBLING RATE: 21.18**

RECOVERED: 11,45,629DEATHS:37,364

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

DataasonAugust1, releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITYRATIO

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

Positives againstnumber tested

(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease

Becoming sick vsrecovering; more

recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak

POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT

INDIA-CHINASTANDOFF

Fifth round oftalks held amidstalemate inPangong TsoFocuson intrusiononnorthbankoflake,access toDepsangpatrolpoints

KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

THE FIFTH round of talks be-tween the Commander of XIVCorpsLtGeneralHarinderSinghand his Chinese counterpartMajor General Liu Lin, Comm-ander of the South XinjiangMilitaryRegion,beganonSundaytotryandfindaresolutiontothestalemate at the Line of ActualControl (LAC) ineasternLadakh.The meeting — continuing

untillateevening—tookplaceontheChinesesideof theChushul-MoldoBorderPersonnelMeeting(BPM), which is south of thePangong Tso lake that has be-comeamajorpointofcontentionbetweentheforces.Themilitary standoff began

early May after Chinese andIndian troops came to blowsonthenorthbankof the lake.

Since their last roundof dis-cussions,lasting15hoursonJuly14,therehasnotbeenmuchofabreakthrough on the ground asdisengagement has not beencompletedattwoofthefourfric-tionpoints.Thetwosidesbeganamutual

pullback at all these points afterthe third roundofmilitary talksonJune30butthestalemateper-sists intheGograPostsectorandonthenorthbankofPangongTso.Topsources intheArmysaid

thataround50soldierscontinueto remain within a 1-km dis-tanceofeachotheroneithersideat PatrollingPoints 17A (PP17A)in theGograPost sector.In Pangong Tso, Chinese

troops had come up to Finger 4on thenorthbank,8kmwestofFinger8whichIndiasaysmarksthe LAC. As part of the disen-gagement process, the Chinese

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

TheactordiedonJune14

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYKOLKATA,AUGUST2

THE INDIAN Premier League(IPL)willbeheld intheUAEthistime from September 19 toNovember10,andwillcontinuewith sponsors linked to China,accordingtoadecisiontakenbythe tournament’s governingcouncil during a video-confer-ence Sunday. The decision issubject to approval from thegovernment.The BCCI had said that it

would reconsider the sponsor-ships in thewakeof border ten-sionswithChina,whichledto20Indian soldiers being killed in a

clashon June15.“We don’t have the time to

make any changes at this mo-ment,” a governing councilmember told The IndianExpress.The IPL’s Chinese links in-

clude smartphonemaker Vivoas title sponsor and Paytm,with investments fromAlibaba,asumpirepartner.Theyalso in-clude Dream 11, as online fan-tasy league partner, andSwiggy, as associate sponsor—both have links to ChineseInternet giant Tencent.

AmitShahatMedantaHospitalonSunday. PTI

As cases surge, Covidhealth claims jump240 pc over a monthGEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI, AUGUST2

AS COVID-19 cases climbsteadily across the country,touching17.50lakhonAugust1,general insurance companies,including standalone health in-surers, have reported an over240 per cent jump in claims fortreatment for the disease overthepreviousmonth.As of July last week, 71,423

people had claimed Rs 1,145.87crore frominsurancecompaniestowardsCovidtreatment,accord-ing to figures compiled by theGeneral Insurance Council, theapexbodyofallgeneral insurers.On June 22, only 20,965 peoplehadmadeclaimsforRs323crore.Despite this jump in insur-

ance claims, in a signof the lowinsurance penetration in thecountry, the health insuranceclaimsreceivedsofaramounttojust 4.08 per cent of the total

numberofpeopleinfectedwiththe virus so far (17.5 lakh casesas on August 1). The averageclaim per person works out toRs1.60 lakh.While there have been over

37,000 Covid deaths so far, LifeInsuranceCorporation(LIC), thenation's largest life insurer, has

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

U.P.MINISTERDIESOFCOVID; ANOTHERCABINETMINISTER,STATEBJPCHIEFTESTPOSITIVEAMITABHBACHCHANDISCHARGEDPAGE6

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

Theincreasedpresenceofdogsandlivestockpres-entstheriskofpredationanddiseasetransmissiontowildlife.Butthesilverliningistheirpresencehasnowbeenofficiallyrecorded,andmeasurescanbedevisedtocurbthespatialoverlap.

Newthreat intheforestE●EX

PLAINED

What camera traps saw during survey: Moredomestic dogs than tigers in major reserves

IPL dates are in, so areChina-linked sponsors:first game September 19

FULL REPORTPAGE14

‘Don’t thinkCovidwillend soon, but trying to

build confidence’MLKHATTAR

HARYANACHIEFMINISTER

PAGE11

INSIDE

New Delhi

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IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

Amit Shahpositive forCovid-19, TNGov and BSY toohave the virusontherecommendationofdoc-tors. I request those who havecome in contact with me re-centlytobeobservantandexer-cise self quarantine,”Yediyurappa tweeted late onSundayevening.Sources said the homeministerhas been admitted toMedantaHospital inGurgaon.Shahhasbeenvisitinghospi-

tals and Covid-19 centres inDelhi. He is the firstmember oftheUnionCabinettotestpositivefor thedisease.Thehomeministerattended

an important meeting of theCabinet last Wednesday atwhichPrimeMinisterNarendraModi, HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal, and several other topministers were present.Followingthemeeting, thegov-ernment announced the newNationalEducationPolicy.A source who confirmed

Shah's presence at themeetingsaid: “Social distancing wasstrictly followed along withwearingofmasks.Astrictproto-colhasbeenfollowedatthePM'sresidence over the last fewmonths. Temperature checks,Aarogya Setu checks, no use ofinternal cars to ferrypeople, aresome of themeasures adopted.Most physical meetings areavoided and video conferencesarepreferred instead.”Shahwasalsoreportedtobe

aninviteetotheAugust5BhumiPujan ceremony for the RamTemple in Ayodhya. Sourcesclose to him, however, said thattheeventwasnotyet inhis itin-erary.Shah has had a busy week,

with meetings at North Blockandathis residence.Hehasalsoattendedfunctionselsewhere.At least twoBJP leaderswho

met him during this week saidonSundaythattheywereisolat-ingthemselves.MinisterofStatefor Environment, Forest andClimate Change Babul Supriyoposted on Twitter: “I hadmetHon'ble HMShri @AmitShah jiday before in the evening. I amadvised by doctors to confinemyself, away frommy familymembers, for thenext fewdayswithatesttobedonesoon.Shallabide with all precautionarymeasures as per Rules andProtocol.”Rajya SabhaMP and presi-

dent of the Indian Council forCultural Relations (ICCR) VinaySahasrabuddhe, who had at-tended an ICCR fuction withShah on Saturday, said he hadquarantinedhimself athome. “Iam consulting the doctor andwill goaccording to thedoctor'sadvice. If I am asked to do thetest, I will go for it. Right now Iwill be in home quarantine,”Sahasrabuddhe told The IndianExpress.Among others whom Shah

hasmet over the past few days

are Coal and Mines MinisterPrahlad Joshi,West Bengal BJPin-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya,Haryana BJP chief O PDhankar,andGujaratBJPchiefCRPatil.On Saturday, Shah attended

awebinaronthe100thdeathan-niversaryofBalGangadharTilak,where he shared the dais withSahasrabuddhe, Dileep Tilak ofTilakMaharashtra Vidyapeeth,MaharashtraMLAMukta Tilak,and the chairman of DeccanEducationSociety,Pune,SharadKunte.SourcessaidVijayvargiyahad

metwithShahonTuesdaytodis-cuss issues related to WestBengal.Thehomeministerisalsolearnt to havemet officials in-cluding Home Secretary AjayBhallaatNorthblockduringtheweek.On July 23, Shah launched a

treeplantation campaignof theMinistryof Coal in thepresenceofUnionMinisterofCoal,Minesand Parliamentary AffairsPrahladJoshiathisresidence.Onthesameday,hemettheparty'snewGujarat chief Patil. Hemetthe Haryana chief Dhankar thefollowingday.AlsoonJuly24,Shahvirtually

distributed100spinningwheelsamong potters in his con-stituencyGandhinagar.ThiswasdoneinthephysicalpresenceofKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission chairman VKSaxena.Politicians across party lines

wishedShahaspeedyrecovery.Congress leader Rahul Gandhitweeted: “Wishing Mr AmitShahaspeedyrecovery.”In a statement issued to the

media, former financeministerP Chidambaram said, “It is dis-tressingthattheHomeMinisterhas testedpositive forCovid-19.Iwishhimaspeedyrecoveryandgoodhealth.”West Bengal Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee said onTwitter: “Heard about UnionHomeMinisterShri@AmitShahji being tested positive for#Covid-19. Wishing him aspeedyrecovery.Myprayersarewithhimandhis family.”Odisha Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik andDelhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejrial alsowishedShahaspeedyrecovery.Shahhasbeenleadingtheef-

fort to contain the outbreak inDelhi. He has held a series ofmeetings todrawupaCovid-19containment plan for the city,and on June 15made a surprisevisit to LNJP Hospital to takestock of facilities in the Covidward.Healsovisitedthe10,000-bed Covid care centre atChhattarpur on June27 and theDRDOfacilitywith250ICUbedsnear IGIAirportonJuly5.

Before suicide,Rajput’s Googlesearch: Ownname, managersuicide, illness“Fromtheprescriptions,and

thestatementofhisfriend,cookandcaretaker,wefoundnothing

amiss. After he started feelingbetter,hehadstoppedtakingthemedication,” theofficersaid.ApartfromPithani,thepolice

also took statements fromRheaChakraborty, Sushant’s father KK Singh, and sisters Neetu andMeetuSingh,amongothers.“Inthestatementgivenbyhis

father,hesaidhedidnotsuspectthat anyone drove his son tocommitsuicide,”anofficer said,adding that even his sister anduncledidnotlevelanyallegationwhen theymet a senior officersoonafter thesuicide.The police also explored the

angle of “professional rivarly”,theofficersaid.WhileRajputhadentered into a three-film con-tractwithYashRajFilms(YRF)in2012,heleftaftertwo—‘ShuddhDesi Romance’ and ‘DetectiveByomkesh Bakshy!’. The thirdmovie ‘Paani’, to be directed byShekhar Kapur, did not take offandRajput leftYRF in2015.Inthisregard,policerecorded

the statements of two YRF em-ployees that ‘Paani’wasshelveddue to alleged creative differ-ences between Kapur and YRFchairmanAdityaChopra.Kapur,too, told police in an emailed

statement that the project hadbeenshelvedduetocreativedif-ferences. Kapur was out ofMumbai, with police likely torecordadetailedstatementlater.Soon after Rajput’s death,

Kapurhad tweeted, “I knewthepain youwere going through.The story of the people that letyoudownsobadthatyouwouldweep onmy shoulder. I wish Iwas around the last 6months. Iwishyouhadreachedouttome.Whathappenedtoyouwastheirkarmanotyours.”The officer said that though

many in Bollywood claimed on

social media that Rajput wasforced to take the extreme stepdue to a group in the industry,“they do not say so in their offi-cial statementswithus”.The officer further said that

policefound“contradictions”be-tween the statements of SanjayLeelaBhansaliandAdityaChopraon the question of how RajputwasallegedlynotallowedbyYRFtoworkon filmsby thedirectorwhile Ranveer Singh, whowasalso under contract with thefirm,was.“Bhansalistatedthat‘Goliyon

Ki Ram-Leela’, ‘BajiraoMastani’

and ‘Padmaavat’ had been of-fered toRajput. But Chopra saidthat Ranveer had already beencast in ‘GoliyonKiRam-Leela’ inApril2012,whileSushantjoinedYRFonlyinNovemberthatyear.ChopraalsosaidthatnoonehadcontactedYRF’s talentmanage-ment company for ‘BajiraoMastani’. But Bhansali said hehad contacted them.” In hisstatement, Chopra saidYRFhadnever stopped Rajput fromworking in anymovie andwas,infact,allowedtodo'MSDhoni:TheUntold Story' with anotherdirector.“Theseissuestookplaceafewyearsback.Itwouldbedif-ficult toprove that theyhadanybearingonthesuicide,” theoffi-cersaid.YRF,ShekharKapur,Sidharth

Pithani and RaindropsMedia,which represents Bhansali, didnot respondtoqueries fromTheIndianExpressseekingcomment.Mumbai Police is nowawaitingthe SupremeCourt order in thepetition filed by RheaChakraborthy’slawyerfortrans-ferringtheFIRregisteredagainsther and her familymembers inBihar toMumbai. The ED, too,has registered an offence basedontheFIRtoinvestigatepossiblemoneylaundering.

As cases grow,Covid healthclaims jump 240pc over a monthonly seen 561 Covid deathclaims, amounting to Rs 26.74crore. “LIC has always beenproactive in settling deathclaims... Death claims arisingduetoCovid-19aretreatedonapar with other causes of deathand payments are beingmadeonanurgentbasis,” LICsaid inastatement last Friday.The average size of health

cover across the industry isaround Rs 2 lakh. Since in thecase of Covid, the entire familyis at risk, in a lot of cases, thehealthinsurancecoverisusuallyinadequate to cover the cost oftreatment.“Insurersaretrackingthefre-

quencyandseverityofCovid-19.Overtime,theseverityhascomedownbutthefrequencyisontherise. Fatality isanotherparame-ter towatch for… If there is novaccine or if it takes long to bedeveloped, therewouldbeare-quirement to increase the pre-mium,'' said Gopal V Kumar,consulting actuary, Radgo &Company.While the 71,423 claims re-

late tohealth insurancepoliciessold by general insurance orhealth insurance companies,sources say they also includeclaims relating to AyushmanBharat, especially in states thathaveropedingeneral insurancecompanies for thescheme.Under the Ayushman

scheme, the beneficiary familyisentitledtoacoverofuptoRs5lakhper familyperyear for sec-ondary and tertiary care hospi-talisation.EvenCovid-19testingand treatment are to be free forbeneficiaries.

FROMPAGEONE

5th round of talks held amid stalematevacatedtheFinger4baseareaand headed towards Finger 5.But they still occupypositionsontheridgelineatFinger4.Complete disengagement

was achieved at PP15 in HotSprings area and PP14 inGalwanValley,whichwas thesite of the violent clashes onJune15, inwhich India lost 20soldiers, and China, too, suf-feredanundeclarednumberofcasualties. There has been asignificant trust deficit be-tweenbothsides since.While the focus in themil-

itary talks is on Pangong TsoandPP17A,wheretheChinesehavedug theirheels in, Indian

troopsarealsounabletoaccesstheir patrolling points inDepsangPlains.Chinese troops have

blockedIndiaatthebottleneckor Y-Junction in the DepsangPlainsarea,whichisaround30km from the strategically im-portant Daulat Beg Oldie postof India,closetotheKarakorampass in the north. The seniormilitarycommandershadmeton the Chinese side atMoldoonJune6and22.Thethirdandfourth round of talks on June30andJuly14respectivelyhadtakenplaceatChushul, on theIndianside.On Friday, China’s

Ambassador to India SunWeidonghadsaidthat“China’straditional customary bound-ary line is in accordancewiththe LAC” on the north bank ofthe lake and had denied thatChina had expanded its terri-torial claims there.Responding to this,

spokesperson forMinistry ofExternal Affairs AnuragSrivastavahadsaidthat“therehasbeensomeprogressmadetowardsthisobjective,but thedisengagementprocesshasasyetnotbeencompleted”.Significantly,reactingtothe

Chinese envoy’s comments,formerArmyChiefGeneralVP

Malik on Friday tweeted: “Byhis statement yesterday,Ambassador SunWeidong ofChina has virtually ended anypossible progress in LAC talksbetweenmilitary command-ers”.Both sides have also in-

creasedtheirmilitarypresencein the depth areas. China hasbrought in artillery guns, airdefence radars alongwith ad-ditional troops. India hasmovedinadditionaldivisions,air forceassetsandairdefenceassets. And has begun prepa-rationsforwinterdeploymentof anadditional35,000troopsgiventhe longhaulahead.

andMelghat(Maharashtra)—that together house almost400tigers.The remaining 10 —

Udanti-Sitanadi andAchanakmar (Chhattisgarh),Kawal and Amrabad (bothTelangana), Anshi-Dandeli(Karnataka), Sanjay-Dubri(MP),Mukundra (Rajasthan),Bor (Maharashtra), Palamu(Jharkhand) and Buxa (WestBengal)—recorded fewornotigers. “ It is encouraging thatdomestic species are also be-ingmonitored in the tiger es-timation.Oneneedstolookatthe spatial overlaps betweendomestic dogs and livestock,andwild species. Dogs com-petewithwild canidswhichare even more endangeredthanthetiger,”saidwildlifebi-ologist Milind Pariwakam ofWildlife Conservation Trust,which studies disease preva-lenceinlivestockaroundtigerreserves.Abandonedanimalsconsti-

tuteasignificantpartof India’s200-millioncattlepopulation.Themostabundant terrestrialcarnivore, domestic dogs infree-rangingpacks,areknowntohunt livestockandwildlife.A study in 2017 found that

domesticdogskilledmorelive-stock than those hunted bysnow leopards and wolves

combined in the upper Spitilandscape of HimachalPradesh. Elsewhere, too, theycompete with smaller carni-vores. “I have seen domesticdogs kill leopard cubs, snatchkills fromwolves and chaseaway hyenas right inside thetiger reserve. Their presencecauses stressed behaviour inprey species such as nilgai, af-

fectingforagingpatterns,”saidwildlifebiologistDharmendraKhandal,whohasbeenstudy-ingRajasthan’sRanthambhorelandscape foroveradecade.In 2018, a sub-continent

scale assessment of the im-pacts of domestic dogs notedattacks on 80 species, includ-ing 31 on the IUCN Red List.Published in the Zoological

Society of London’s journal'Animal Conservation', thestudy found thatdogsunac-companiedbyhumanswerebehind two-thirds of the at-tacks.Underliningthatmostat-

tackswere by packs of dogsand nearly half of those ledto the death of the prey, thestudy recommended amulti-pronged approach ofresponsible dog ownership,restriction in free-rangingbehaviour,andstrongpopu-lation controlmeasures, es-pecially around sensitiveconservationareas.“It is ironic that the so-

called ‘inviolate’ areas liketiger reserves were createdfor wildlife by shifting peo-pleout,butpolicymakersarewaryof removingdogsfromthere. Even critical land-scapes such as the breedingareas of Great IndianBustardsarenotsafe,”saidDrAT Vanak, Senior Fellow atCentre for Biodiversity andConservation, ATREE,Bangalore.In2017,aglobalstudypub-

lishedinthejournal 'BiologicalConservation' said domesticdogs contributed to 11 verte-brate extinctions and pose arisk to at least 188 threatenedspeciesworldwide.

TIGERRESERVESBYDOMESTICDOGPRESENCE2018 TIGER NUMBEROFPHOTOSPER100REPORT CAMERATRAPNIGHTSTigerReserve Domestic Tiger Livestock State

Dog

NSTR 8.25 3.11 5.49 Andhra

Sariska 7.02 2.39 37.5 Rajasthan

PenchMP 6.25 5.65 9.36 MP

Bhadra 5.19 4.45 5.1 Karnataka

Panna 4.92 2.25 46.61 MP

Bandhavgarh 4.2 5.84 28.72 MP

Sathyamangalam 3.67 1.63 18.77 TN

Kanha 3.23 9.23 8.42 MP

Pilibhit 3.22 4.73 13.48 UP

Tadoba 2.86 9.75 5.28 Maha

Melghat 2.56 2.5 18.65 Maha

FIGURESINRED:MoredogsthantigersNote:Figuresforonlythetop11tiger reserves.Another10TRswithhighdogdensitynot includeddueto lowornotigerpresence.

What cameras saw: More domesticdogs than tigers in major reserves

Pilot must have conversation first: Cong on whether he can returnPRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, AUGUST2

A DAY after Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot said hewould embrace rebelCongressmeniftheyapologisetothe “high command”, theCongressonSundaymadeitclearthat Sachin Pilotmust first spellouthispositionunequivocally.The Congress also claimed

thatitsgovernmentinRajasthanwas safe and would prove itsmajority on the floor of thehouse when the AssemblymeetsonAugust14.“SachinPilotmustcomeand

hold a conversation first. Hemustcomeoutandstatehispo-sitionclearlyandunequivocallyfirst and only then can any talkof his returnhappen,” Congresschief spokesperson RandeepSurjewalasaidatapressconfer-ence.Asked about Gehlot’s com-

mentsonPilotandhisstandthathewould embrace the rebels ifthe party forgave them,Surjewala said the samewerestated out of “hurt feelings andsentiments”due to theconspir-acy to topplehisgovernment.“AshokGehlotjihasactedre-

sponsibly and in amature fash-ion in what he has stated. It

shouldalsosettorestallcriticismof someremarks inawayoutofhishurtfeelingsandsentiments,onaccountof a clear conspiracyin collusionwith the BJP to top-plehisgovernmentinthestate,”theCongress leadersaid.AskedhowmanyMLAssup-

ported the Congress inRajasthan, Surjewala said, “Wehaveover102MLAs”.Hehasear-lier claimed the support of 109MLAsinthestate,whichhasato-talof 200MLAs.Gehlot had said on Saturday

in Jaisalmer, where the partyMLAs have been shifted fromJaipur, ahead of the Assemblysession, that he has no issues

with any of the rebels if theyapologisetothepartyhighcom-mandandwouldabidebywhat-ever the leadership decidedabout them.NineteenCongressrebels, in-

cluding former Deputy ChiefMinister Sachin Pilot, revoltedagainstGehlot,posingathreattothe Congress government inRajasthan.Congresshassentmanyfeel-

ers to Pilot, but the rebel leaderhas not opened his cards yeteven though he has said hewouldnot join theBJP.Gehlot has convened a ses-

sionofthestateassemblywherehewillprovehismajority.

RajasthanChiefMinisterAshokGehlotaddresses themediaoutsideahotel inJaisalmeronSunday.PTI

REPORTSOFFIRE INNEIGHBOURINGFARMS

MAHARASHTRA

Temporaryprisons doubleup as Covid,isolation facilities

SUSHANTKULKARNIPUNE,AUGUST2

WITHMOREprisoners and staffin jails acrossMaharashtra test-ing positive for coronavirus dis-ease(Covid-19),thestategovern-ment has recently directeddistrict collectors to use tempo-rary prisons set up across thestate as isolation andCovid carefacilities for inmates.As of Saturday, 19prisons in

statehavereported1,029Covid-19 cases, which include 769 in-matesand260jailstaff.Of these,624 inmates and 219 staff haverecovered. Inthelasttwoweeks,threeprisonshavereportedfirstcasesofCovid-19andduringthesameperiod, total cases inpris-ons across the state have risenby180.Aroundmid-May, the state

Homedepartmenthadempow-ered district collectors to takeprovisional possession of gov-ernment or privately ownedbuildingsanddesignatethemastemporaryprisons,whichcouldbe used to isolate sections ofprisoners to avert spread of in-fections. Till now, 37 temporaryprisons have been designatedacross the state, most of whichareoncampusesof schools, col-legesorhostels,whichhavemul-tiplebuildings.Thesetemporaryprisoners currently house closeto2,800 inmates.Aseniorofficialfromthestate

Prison department said that inJuly, theHomedepartment haddirecteddistrictcollectorstousethe temporary prisons as isola-tion facilities for high-risk con-tactsandasCovidcarecentresforasymptomaticpositiveprisoners.Accordingly, every temporaryprisonhas designated buildingsonthesamecampus,or, insomecases,nearbyseparatecampusesas the isolationor Covid care fa-cility. The local district adminis-trationisresponsibleforprovid-ing all amenities to thesefacilities,aspertheguidelinesoftheHealthdepartment.Inmateswith symptoms of infection areto be transferred to dedicatedCovid hospitals run by govern-mentor localcivicbodies.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIACHENNAI, AUGUST2

MOUNTINGYET another attackon the Centre’s new NationalEducation Policy 2020, DMKpresidentMK Stalin on Sundayalleged if it was implemented,education in a decade will beconfinedamonga few.He also questioned PM

NarendraModi’sassertiononNEPensuring all-roundcoveragevis-a-vis providing education, andwantedtheAIADMKtoopposeit.“The PMhas said this (NEP)

ensures job creators than jobseekers.Itisnot.Isaythegovern-ment has shied away from itsdutyofcreatingjobsforpeople,”he said at a virtual interactionwith some educationists. OnSaturday,Modihadsaidtheneweducationpolicy announcedbyhis government emphasisedonmaking ‘job creators’ instead of‘job seekers’. Stalin said “If thiseducation policy is imple-mented, in 10 years, educationwillbeconfinedtoaselect few.”Assuring his party’s opposi-

tion to the reforms, Stalinwanted the AIADMK govern-mentalsotofollowsuit.“TheTNgovernment should deny theNEP; reject it.”

Baghjan oilfield fire notspreading: District adminTinsukia(Assam): Thedistrictad-ministration of Tinsukia inAssamonSundaydeniedreportsthattheblazeinBaghjanoilfieldhas spread to other areas, andsaid that a fire in a farmland,about two km away from OilIndia Limited (OIL)’s site, wascausedbyburningof bushes.A section of themedia had

reportedthatthefireatBaghjanhas spread to neighbouringfarmlandswhich created panicamongthepeople.A well at Baghjan has been

spewinggasuncontrollably fol-lowingablowoutonMay27andit caught fireon June9,which isyet tobedoused. Anattempt tocap the damagedwell failed onFriday.“Thepurportednewsiscom-

pletelyfalseandthesaidfirehasoccurred in a farmlandnear theMaguriMatapungBeel,approx-imately 1.5 to 2 kms away fromthesaidBagjanOilWell,andwaslit to clear the farmland frombushes”, a release issued by thedistrict administrationsaid. PTI

Stalin targetsNEP: TN govtshould reject it

New Delhi

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST 2

THE CAPITAL’S Covid-19 deathtoll touched 4,004 on Sunday.The city’s fatality rate had re-mained around the 2.9% markformost part of July.Over the last 24 hours, 15

peopledied in thecity, the leastin several weeks. The percent-age of active cases to overallcases in the city dipped to 7.5%as961newcaseswerereportedonSunday.The city has so far seen

1,37,677casesoverall, ofwhich1,23,317peoplehaverecoveredalready.While2,902peopleareadmitted inhospitals,5,663areunderhome isolation.Of thoseadmitted in hospitals, 373 areon ventilator support.Delhi,whichwasstruggling

withahighfatalityratetill June,hasmanagedtobringdownthenumber of deaths from an av-erageof73perday inearly Junetoaround25perdaythisweek.According tohealthdepart-

ment officials, better under-standingof thediseaseandbet-ter protocols are behind thereduction in deaths.“Things like recognising the

right time to introduce the trialplasmatherapy,oxygenavailabil-ity onmost beds and oximetersbeing given to people underhomeisolationhavehelpedalot.Because thediseasewas sonewtoeveryone,wewerestillevolv-

ing amechanism thatwould bemost effective in saving criticalpatients and stopping the ad-vancement of symptoms in pa-tientswithmoderate or severesymptoms.Wehaverealisedthat

providing oxygen to patientsearlyon if their statistics start todip helps. People are alsomoreaware now and bring patientsunderhomeisolationtothehos-pitals timely,” saidtheofficial.

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

15 deaths reported in cityon Sunday, least in weeks

MALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI, AUGUST2

THEDELHIgovernment’spushtounlockthecity,aspartofwhichithas even locked hornswith theCentre, has its basis in the ailingservice sector, which providesover60%jobs inthecapital.Hotels,restaurants,entertain-

ment and events, among otherfields,keepthecapital’seconomygoing, and are responsible forcreating over 60% of all jobs,Deputy Chief MinisterManishSisodia toldThe IndianExpress.Lastweek, theDelhi govern-

menthadannouncedthathotelsandweeklymarkets, shut sinceMarch,willbeallowedtoresumefunctioning.Within24hours,thedecisionwas overturned by theL-G, saying thatwhile therewasimprovement, the “pandemicsituationinthecapitalcontinuestobefragileandthethreat isstillfar fromover”.Sisodia wrote to the Home

MinisterAmitShahonSaturday,askinghimtodirecttheL-Gtoac-cept the government’s decisiontoreopenthesetwosectors.Thefilewill be sent to the L-G againonTuesdayforreconsideration.After a sharp dip during the

beginning of the outbreak, thecity’smonthlyGST andVAT col-lections have risen consistently

over the past four months. InApril,thegovernmentgotRs240crore,followedbyRs494croreinMay, Rs762 crore in JuneandRs1,300croreinJuly.However,thesearewellbelowwhatthecitywasbringinginlastyear. In July2019,thecitygotRs3,500crore incol-lections.Theyearbeforethat,col-lectionwasRs4,078crore.But direct tax collections

aren’tthegovernment’sprimaryworry.With the service sectortaking a substantial hit becauseof the pandemic and the lock-downs, employers have had todrastically cut jobs.“InDelhi,theservicesectoris

amongthebiggestjobprovidersand it has been hit very hard.They providemore than 60% ofall jobs. This is followed by thetradingsector.Governmentrev-enue is just one aspect but the

bigger problem is jobs. If thesesectors are allowed to open up,jobscanbesaved.Thisiswhyweareinsistentthattheybeallowedtofunction,”Sisodia,whoisalsotheFinanceMinister, said.Whilerestaurantshavebeen

open for almost a month now,earlierrestrictionsofclosingby9pm,nopermissiontoservealco-hol andsocial distancingnormshavemeantfarfewercustomers.Illustratinghowthepandemic

andrestrictionshavehitbusiness,

Sisodiasaidthefestivalseasonhadbeenlacklustre.“Ifwetakeaper-son running a tents business, hehas suffered losses throughout.The Kavad Yatra, where tentswould beput up across the city,was cancelled, Navratri celebra-tions did not happen, Eid al-Fitrand Eid al-Adha andnowRakhihaveallbeensubdued.Whilefes-tivalsareaboutemotionsandcul-ture,theyarealsopartoftheecon-omy.Theservicesectorwouldbethrivingatthistime.Marketasso-

ciationshavetoldustheirbusinessisdown15-20%,”Sisodiasaid.Last month, the Delhi gov-

ernment set up a committee topave theway for economic re-vival and growth in the city.Headed by Dialogue andDevelopment Committee vice-chairpersonJasmineShah,italsocomprises representatives ofseveralbusinessesand industryandisfocusingonleasinglicens-ingnormsandsimplifiedCovid-19regulations.

‘Slum residents would have got twicethe benefits if they had all documents’

CrowdatLajpatNagar’sCentralMarketonSunday.AmilBhatnagar

Ahealthworker inamobileCovid-19testingvantakesswabsamples inAshokNagaronSunday.GajendraYadav

FOR RAKSHA BANDHANAwomanshoppingforrakhisatSector27 inNoida.GajendraYadav

GAURAVBHATT&MAHENDERSINGHMANRALNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

AFTERANhour-longwait in theparking lot atDelhi’s IGI airport,VikasSinghBishtwalkeduptoaCISFofficeronpatrolandasked:“Doyouknowanofficer namedSanjayKumar?Iamsupposedtobuy a second-hand scooty fromhimhere. Itwas listedonOLX.”Theofficer’s response?“Aap

bhi bevakoof ban gaye? Ye roz kikahaani hai, yahan roz 100 logaate hain. (You got fooled too?It’saneverydaystory;hundredscome looking).”“That was his first reaction,

and I realised itmust bea regu-lar scam here,” says Bisht, whohad travelled 40 km from hisresidence in Vasundhara toTerminal 1. “We had agreed oneverything the day before, andwhen I reached theairport, thisSanjay Kumar kept stalling andaskingme for Rs 2,100.When Itried making a video call, hesaid, ‘it’snotallowedhereintheoffice. Just payme themoney’.”Bisht, himself a trader with

e-portals like Amazon andFlipkart, wisened up in time—unlike many who fall daily forthe TVS Jupiter that pops upendlessly on online market-places.Type in ‘OLX’ in search en-

gines and autofill algorithmsthrowup ‘army fraud’ as a sug-

gestion. Consumer complaintforums and social media web-sites are filledwith testimoniesof victims. Indiansbeingdupedby fakeArmymenisquicklybe-coming the new ‘Nigerianprince’ scam.Theconissimple.Avehicleis

listed at a ludicrously low priceby a defence person, who isquick to share in-uniform pho-tosandIDs(voter,PAN,Aadhaaror canteen smart cards) withanybodywhocalls.Negotiationsare swift and online paymentthrough e-wallet is insistedupon. The seller then proposestwo options: Get the vehiclehome delivered or come andmeet at the airport. Eitherway,he asks for an advance amountupfront fordeliveryorgatepassfees, and vanishes once thetransaction is complete.Theprofilephotos are taken

fromArmy fan pages orGooglesearch results. The IDs aremostly forged. The TVS Jupiter,withthesamelicenceplate,hasbeen listedonOLXhundredsoftimes even as ‘Sanjay Kumar’s’address changes from DelhiCantt, Adarsh Nagar, Rohtak,Panipat, Noida, Greater Noida,Bulandshahr, etc.OnThursday, thesamevehi-

cle was listed on OLX simulta-neously by three separate ac-counts.“Since that day, I have been

looking up the guy and hisscooty on Facebook and OLXand trying to savepeopleby re-

porting theads,” saysBisht.It isanobleattemptattaking

down a pan-India scam that’sbeen running for close to twoyears.Replace TVS Jupiter with a

KTM 390, Royal Enfield Electraor Mahindra Bolero.Rendezvous points are mostlyairports so the CISF duty storychecks out. The scam has beenrunning for more than a yearand cases have been reportedacross India — in Mumbai,Mysuru,Sambalpur,Hyderabad,Kalimpong, Jamnagar, etc.ThesellermaybeVikasPatel

fromPune or Lakha Singh fromLudhiana, but theywill alwaysbedressedinauniform.“Posingas a defence person meansthere’salwaysanexcuseforany-thing,”saysaseniorofficerwiththe Delhi Police cyber cell. “‘I

can't pick up calls, I can’t carrymyphonehere. I can’t speakonthe phone now’. The locationsaremostly remote.”In February, CISF posted an

advisory on Twitter raisingawareness about “frauds pre-tending to be force personnelprojecting from CISF or otherDefence Forces... These fraudpersons are cheating/dupingothers inpretextof selling/buy-ing throughOLX.”CISFhashadtotweetthat21

times in July alone.Gopal Gaur, a Mayur Vihar

resident, lost his job inMarch.Afterlandingapostatahotellastmonth, he raised funds to pur-chaseausedvehicletocommute.EnterSanjayKumar’sTVSJupiter.Gaur even looked up the

number plate on ‘Vahan’ — thevehicle registration website —and found that the vehicle wasindeed registered to a ‘SanjayKumar’ inEastDelhi.“He had all the documents.

He was so persuasive, sent somanyphotosandspokewithmeonthephoneregularly.Midwaytotheairport,heevencalledmeon video, wearing his uniform.Oncethere,heaskedforRs3,100advancepaymenttogetthegatepass done and to convinceme,hesentaphotoofhissenioroffi-cer sitting in theoffice.”Gaur paid the advance, and

the scammer went a step fur-ther.“Hethensenta ‘colleague’to

meetme,whoasked for the re-

mainingRs14,000. I saidpleaseshow me the scooter and hereplied: ‘Itna sab aapko dikhadiya. Ab faujiyon pe yakeen nahihai?’”After the transaction, he

went to get the vehicle and thedocuments. Gaurwaited for anhour before returning home tofile a complaint at the MayurViharpolice station.DCP (Crime Branch)

Bhisham Singh says the “vol-ume of cases is high as peoplehavebeensittingathome”.“Thescammerstooaresitting

at home, trying to find victimsevery day. Say, for example, wecatchagang.Theenergy it takestosolvesuchacase,utnaamountnahi gaya hota. The cost-benefitratio of nabbing a gang fromJharkhandwhich has scammedRs5,000,”saysBhisham.“Investigating thesecases is

a challenging thing for variousreasons,” says the cyber cell of-ficer. “MostcasesoriginatefromMewat, which forms the tri-junction of Haryana, Rajasthanand Uttar Pradesh. Then themoney is rooted from one ac-count to another, to third andfourth. Determining the finalbeneficiary, the kind of docu-ment collecting that is neededis challenging. We crack cases,nabpeople but they are imme-diately replaced by new ones.The only strategy here is pre-vention. People need to beaware of who they are dealingwith online.”

The new ‘Nigerian prince’: Second-handvehicles listed online by fake Armymen

Consumercomplaintforumsandsocialmediawebsitesare filledwithtestimoniesof victimsofsuchfakeOLXlistings

*Total active cases

CORONAVIRUS IN THECAPITAL

TOTAL CASES

1,37,677Total Vacant

HOSPITAL BEDS 13,608 10,707VENTILATORS 1,218 841

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsAug 1 1,118 1,201 26 18,154Aug 2 961 1,186 15 12,730Total 10,356* 1,23,317 4,004 10,63,669

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

HADALLhouseholdspossessedthe various social security doc-uments required for differentwelfare schemes theyareeligi-blefor, theywouldhave—onanaverage — received 2.3 timesmore monetary benefits fromthegovernmentat theheightoflockdown, found a study of al-most 200 households in twoNorthwestDelhi slumareas.The survey, conducted by

SaudaminiDas andAjitMishraof the Institute of EconomicGrowth between April 22 andMay 8, studied the efficacy ofvarious welfare schemes, ex-tendedbytheCentralandDelhigovernments, during this pe-riod among 195 households inslum areas of Zakhira and KirtiNagar. The study’s authors saidthe findings suggest a stream-

liningof themultiplicityofwel-fareschemescouldhavehelpedpeople gain more benefits. Ofthese, most household headswerewage labourers; self-em-ployedastailors,carpentersandelectricians; commercial driv-ersofautorickshawsande-rick-shaws; and working small pri-vate jobs such as security andhousekeeping with an averagefamilysizeof5.8persons.Theiraverage pre-lockdown daily

wagehadbeenRs 426 and98%of themwere not earning any-thing at that stage of the lock-down.During the lockdown, nine

welfare schemes were an-nounced for different targetgroupsandwithdifferenteligi-bility documents to claimben-efits. Four of these were fromthe Delhi government — sepa-rate free food supply distribu-tionschemesforthosewithandwithout ration cards, and twoschemesforone-timepaymentto transport service providersand construction workers.There were five differentschemes from the Centre forbeneficiaries of AAY, UjjwalaYojana, PMJDY, National SocialAssistanceProgrammeandPMKisanYojana. Thesurvey foundthat 76% of these poor house-holds had benefited from atleast one of the nine schemes,but the average gain across

households had been justworth Rs 984 — including themonetised values of grains, dalandLPGcylinders—perhouse-hold for amonth.Thesurveyalso foundthat if

all eligible households had ac-tually received their due bene-fits— and if all households hadpossessed ration cards — thisaverageof benefitswouldhavebeenworthRs 2,251.3.“The gaps in distribution

suggest a few things lookingforward. Insteadof targetingsomanydifferent smaller groupsthrough multiple schemes, itmight be more effective tohave fewer schemeswhichcanreach more people and whichare implemented more effec-tively. Among the extremelypoor migrants, there weremany who didn’t have rationcards, pointing to the urgencyof the unified ration cardscheme,” Das said.

0-50 Good

ANANDVIHARSatisfactory

0 500

86AQI

Pollutant:CO

SIRIFORTSatisfactory

0 500

SHADIPURSatisfactory

0 500 500

51-100 Satisfactory 101-200 Moderate 201-300 Poor 301-400 VeryPoor 401-500 Severe

DWARKA- SECTOR8Satisfactory

0

54AQI

Pollutant:OZONE

69AQIPM:10

49AQI

Pollutant:OZONE

Festiveseason lacklustre, saysSisodia, crucial toopensector toaddressunemployment

Behind govt push to open city, ailingservice sector that gives 60% jobs

Thesurveystudiedtheefficacyof variouswelfareschemesextendedbytheCentralandDelhigovernmentsbetweenApril22andMay8,at theheightofthe lockdown

GST&VATCOLLECTION

240cr 494cr

762cr

1,300cr

April May June July

ProducerheldfordupinginvestorsNew Delhi: Delhi Policehas arrested Bollywoodproducer ChanderkantSharma for allegedlydupingover88people ina Rs 6 crore ponzischeme. Police saidSharma posted photoswith Bollywood celebri-ties to lure his investorsand later fled with alltheir money. Sharma,who owns a productioncompany calledCineMirchi Productionswith his wife, had fledfrom his home inNajafgarh six monthsago. He was initiallytraced to Jaipur, but hewas eventually nabbedby the EconomicOffences Wing fromChandigarhonSaturday.Sharmahasbeenbookedunder sections of cheat-ing, criminal intimida-tion and Prize Chit andMoney CirculationSchemeAct.Hewaspro-duced in court Sundayandhasbeen sent topo-lice custody.ENS

WomankilledbyhusbandNewDelhi:A25-year-oldwoman was allegedlystrangledtodeathbyherhusband inNorthDelhi’sNarela area on Sunday,police said, adding thatefforts are on to nab theaccused.

Manposesasdoctor,heldNoida: A man who al-legedly forged docu-ments to practice as adoctorwasarrestedfroma private hospital inGreater Noida Sunday,police said.

Revisit1994Yamunapact:NGTpanelNew Delhi: The NGT-ap-pointed Yamuna moni-toring committee hasrecommendedrevisitingthe 1994 water sharingagreement betweenUttarakhand, HimachalPradesh, UP, HaryanaandDelhi toensureenvi-ronmental flow in theriver throughout theyear.PTI

BRIEFLY

New Delhi

NewDelhi:ABVP’s JNUunitwillobservea‘SwarajPakhwara’fromAugust 1-15 to “celebrate thecountry’suncelebratedheroes”.ABVP-JNU unit president

ShivamChaurasiasaid,“Freedomstruggle was like a ‘yagya’ inwhich people contributed inwhicheverway theycould.... It isunfortunate thatwepay tributetoonlyfewof them. Inacademicdiscourses...eveninpowerhousesof political system, only somechosen and politically painted‘few’getthespaceofdiscussion.”“Tobreakthisunfortunateig-

norance thathas leftmany free-

domfighterheroes ‘unsung’,wedecidedthatinsteadforcelebrat-ing one day as ‘independenceday’, we shall celebrate the firsthalf of August (fortnight) as‘SwarajPakhwara’...,”hesaid.Among those being cele-

bratedareKanaklataBarua,whowaskilledduring theQuit IndiaMovement for raising the na-tional flagatthelocalpolicesta-tion. Shewasamemberof CPI’sstudentwing, AISF. The organi-sation also plans to celebrateKeralaVarmaakaPazhassiRaja,aprincefromtheKottayamroyaldynasty known for fighting theBritish Empire, and freedomfighterTaraRaniSrivastava.ENS

‘Board exams notneeded amid newmodels of learningassessment’SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

SHAILENDRASHARMA,PrincipalAdvisor to Delhi government’sDirector of Education, onwhatthe New Education Policy getsright—andwhat itdoesn’t.

Certainfocusareasof theNEPsuchasearlyeducationandfoundational literacyandnumeracyhavebeenafocusof theDelhigovernmentforawhile.Doyouthinkit is inlinewiththedirectiontheDelhigovernmenthasbeentaking intheseareas?Both have been very signifi-

cantcomponentsofDelhi’sedu-cationmodel. We believe thatwhilegoodearlychildhoodedu-cation (ECE) is the foundationofschooling,learningtoread,writeand do basicmaths is the foun-dationof lifelong learning.WithNEP 2020 stating that the high-estprioritywillbetoachieveuni-versal foundational literacy andnumeracy by 2025, I thinkwithprogrammes like MissionBuniyaad right at the centre ofourteaching-learningapproach,thisgoalwillbeattainedinDelhimuchbefore2025.Inthe last threeyears,angan-

wadisinDelhiwereremodeledtotakeECEmoreseriously;withKGandnurseryclasses inSarvodayaschools of Delhi government,therehasbeenanexpansioninac-cesswithquality.InNEP2020,theexistenceoffourdifferentinstitu-tions intheearlyyears is likely tocreate transitional issues andqualitative gaps among childrenby the time they reach the nextphaseof schooling,whichmightrecreate the same issueswe arecurrentlygrapplingwith.NEP also talks about ade-

quateandsafeinfrastructure,in-cluding working toilets, cleandrinkingwater and other facili-ties for teachers and children.Delhigovernment’s investmentin school infrastructure goesmuch beyond that, andwe seeits impact on teachers and stu-dents’ self esteemandpride.

Whiletherearea lotof ideasandrecommendations intheNEP,doyouthinkenoughhasbeenlaiddowntoactuallyrealisethese?NEP 2020 is a collection of

progressive and forward-look-ingideas.Havingsaidthat,letmeadd that any New EducationPolicy in India which seeks tomake education creative, inclu-sive and universal will have tobattle old mindset built overMacaulay’sminutes.With some omissions... this

policyrendersitselfmorevulner-

able than it deserves. It is aboutcurrent teachers andexams, thetwomost significant pillars ofschool education. In thepast,wehaveseenthatnon-investmentincapacitybuildingof teachershascostusdearly.Asaresult,wonder-fulideaslikecontinuousandcom-prehensive evaluation (CCE) andno-detentionpolicywere aban-doned andNational CurriculumFramework 2005 not even no-ticed. Therefore, an annual 50hoursofcontinuousprofessionaldevelopment (CPD)will not beenoughtotransformtheteachers.Similarly,bysayingthatBoard

examsforgradesXandXIIwillbecontinued though it would be“easier”,thepolicytiesitselfintheoldknot.Thetraditionalboardex-ams are not neededwhen newparadigms of learning assess-ment are sought to be estab-lished. For instance,whywouldboard exams be requiredwhentheNational TestingAgencywillconduct assessment for admis-sionsinhighereducation?Lastly,butmost importantly, commit-menttofundsisgoingtobecriti-cal.DelhiEducationmodelwouldnot have beenwhat it is todaywithout25%oftheState’sbudgetbeingallocatedtoeducation.

Theregional languagemediumpointof theNEPhasstirredupdebate.Howfardoyouthinkitcanbeapplied inDelhiandhoweffectively?Practicallyspeaking,thispol-

icymerelymaintains the statusquobyaddingthephrase“wher-ever possible” and leaving it forstates todetermine themediumofinstructionandtheirthreelan-guages. It iswellestablishedthatthemediumof instructionintheinitial years being the languagethat the child first utterswhenshestartsspeakingisbestforthechild.Despitethat,ifthereisade-bate it is clearly not about peda-gogy but about Sociology. I feelthat strengthening the languagelearningapproachandinfrastruc-tureinschoolsandengagingwithparents ona continuousbasis todemonstratethatbybeingtaughtinthehomelanguage,theirchildisnotlosingoutonlearningotherlanguagesandnewopportunitiesforabetterlifeisawaytoaddressthis issue.

‘Unsung heroes’ will becelebrated at JNU: ABVP

ShailendraSharma

THECITY4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

MAIR NN NAY II G

K AJ MAR LT.P D. .U

U.P. Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd.( ISO 9001 : 2008 Certified Company)

Visheshwaraiya Bhawan, Gomtinagar, Lucknow

NOTICE INVITING e-TENDER

The Project Manager, Elect Unit-2, GKP invites for and on behalf ofManaging Director U.P. Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd, online percentagerate bids in two bid system for the following works:NIT NO: 147/UI/Elect Unit-2/Audi/Stack Parking/gkp/RNN, Dt.-30/07/2020, Name of work: Design and SITC of Outdoor TypeAutomated Twin Car Parking (Stack Parking) for AuditoriumBuilding at Gorakhpur at BRD MEDICAL COLLEGE,GORAKHPUR, Estimated Bid value: Rs. 143.89 Lakhs+GST,Earnest Money: Rs. 2.88 Lakhs, Period of Completion: 2.5 monts,Last time and date of submission of bid: 1500 hrs on Dt. 20/08/2020.The bid forms and other details can be obtained / downloaded from thewebsite: https://etender.up.nic.in. The NIT is also available onhttp://www.uprnn.co.in.

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SOUTHDELHI

MAHENDERSINGHMANRALNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

THREE ARMED assailantsSaturday entered a used luxurycar showroom at MG Road inSultanpurandfiredfourgunshots,hittingtwoAudicars.Beforeleav-ing,theydroppedanotedemand-ing Rs 1.5 crore as “protectionmoney”, allegedly on behest ofgangster Kaushal, whowas ar-restedlastyearbyHaryanapolice.AnFIRhasbeenregisteredat

Vasant Kunj police station inconnectionwiththebrazenday-lightthreat.“Wehaveregisteredthe FIR under IPC sections 386

(extortionbyputtingapersoninfear of death or grievous hurt),336(actendangeringlifeorper-sonal safety of others), 120(criminalconspiracy),andunderthe Arms Act after receiving acomplaint. We are working onsome strong leads,” said DCP(Southwest)DevenderArya.The incident took place

around3pm,with thecaller in-forming police that armed as-sailantswearingscarveshaden-tered the showroom nearSultanpur Metro station. Thecaller also claimed “18-20rounds”were fired.“We rushed to the spot and

found the complainant, ManojSingh, a resident of Vasant Kunj,

whorunstheshowroom.Hetoldpolicethatthemenstartedfiringright fromthemoment theyen-teredthestore.Employeesattheshowroom hidwherever theycould,”saidaseniorpoliceofficer.Police saidoneof themthen

left a note demanding the

money. “Singh informed policethat theyhadparkedtheirvehi-cle a fewmetres away from theshowroom, andwalked up to itaftertheincident.Noonewasin-jured,” anofficer said.Thecrimeforensicteamofthe

Southwestdistrictwascalledintoliftfingerprints.“Afterinspection,they found live cartridges at thespot.ThebulletshadhittwoAudicars. Police have found CCTVfootage which shows the as-sailants arriving in their car, butthenumberplate couldbe fake,”theofficersaid,addingthatateamisgoingtoquestionKaushaltoaskabouthisassociates.Police have so far found that

some of his associates recently

gotoutof jail, andare collectingdetails about them.Police are also looking into

similar incidents of men firingand demanding protectionmoney, inotherpartsof thecity.Last year, Haryana police in

coordination with their Delhicounterparts, Interpol,RAWandDubaipolicehadarrestedgang-ster Kaushal in a covert opera-tion.Hehadbeenevadingarrestsince December 2016 andwasoperating an extortion racketfrom Dubai after procuring awork visa through a fake pass-port. He is currently lodged inHisar jail andallegedly involvedin over 200 cases of extortion,murderandattempt tomurder.

Ayodhya echo inDelhi as BJP plansevents, screening

July air cleanest since 2017,experts credit rain, lockdown

ABHINAVRAJPUTNEWDELHI, AUGUST2

WITHTHEbhoomipujanat thesite for theproposedRamtem-ple in Ayodhya scheduled forAugust5, theBJPandVHPhaveplanned a series of events inDelhi aswell.These include kavi samme-

lansat itsPantMargoffice,dec-oratingtemples inmarketsandresidential areas, holding com-munity kitchens and installingLED screens in all 70 Assemblyconstituencies to live-streamtheprogramme.BJP Delhi president Adesh

Gupta said the kavi sammelanwill be organised at the party'sstate office on the evening ofAugust 4.Called 'Kaviyonki ek sham—

Ayodhyakenaam', theeventwillsee Union ministers, MPs anddignitaries in attendance."Poets such as Gajendra

Solanki and Hari Om Pawarhavebeeninvitedfortheevent,"said BJP leaderMahesh Verma,adding that social distancingnormswill be followed.Gupta said all MPs, MLAs,

councillors and office bearershave been asked to light diyasin their houses and "celebrate

theday likeDiwali".Ashok Goel, media head of

the Delhi BJP, said councillors,MLAs and party workers havebeenasked toensure that tem-plesaredecoratedandcleaned,andRWAs andmarket associa-tionsarebeingcontactedtoputupsimilardecorationswithor-ange flags and set up commu-nity kitchens.BJP MP from Northeast

Manoj Tiwari will also be in-stalling an LED screen at his of-ficial residence andwill organ-ise apuja there."Soil fromAyodhyahasbeen

broughtwhichwillbeuseddur-ing the puja," said NeelkantBakshi, co-incharge of socialmedia of Delhi BJP.Kapil Khanna, VHP's Delhi

state president, said: "The daywill start with prabhat pheri,followed by kirtan and prasadatseveral temples inthecity.Attwo temples, the event will beon a grand scale. Volunteershavebeenaskedtoholdsimilaractivities in other temples, es-pecially in seva bastis, acrossDelhi."Volunteers have also been

askedtoplaybhajansanddevo-tional songs in their areas butensure itdoesn'tdisturbothers,he said.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,AUGUST2

OVERAweekaftera16-year-oldboy was mowed down by aspeedingAudiinRohini,policear-restedthecardriverSaturday.The incident took place on

July23whenthevictimwasdrag-ginghiscousin’sscooteralongthesideof theroad.AccordingtotheFIR, the accused, SandeepSingh,wasallegedlyspeedingwhenhehit theboy.Hegotout, lookedattheboybutthenspedaway.Thevictim,AjarMehra, lived

with his cousinHarshit and hisfamily in Begumpur. A casewasfiled on a complaint byHarshit,whowaswithhimatthetimeoftheaccident.Accordingtopolice,the scooter toppled and crashedintotheroaddivider,withthevic-tim, AjarMehra, suffering head

injuries.Hewasdeclareddeadonarrivalatthehospital.DCP(Rohini)PKMishrasaid,

“We identified the car from thelogo and number plate, whichhadfallenoffduringtheaccident.The car was recovered fromRohini a few days later. But theowner couldn’t be identified asthe carwas registered to a con-structioncompanyinTelangana.”

DelhiPolicesoughthelpfromTelangana police to identify thecar owner,who saidhehad soldtheAudilastAugust.DCPMishrasaid his team then spoke to theauctioncompanythat facilitatedthe sale. “Our teamwas in touchwithTelanganaauthorities;theysaidthecarwassoldtotwomen,who took it to Delhi.We foundone of the buyers, who told usthathisfriend,Singh,hasthecar,"saidtheDCP.Police found that Singh lives

in Bahadurgarh and asked hisfriendtocallhimtoDelhi.Whentheaccusedcametothecity,po-lice arrestedhim. Singh told po-licethatheownsfarmsandafewother properties inHaryana andNCR.Hesaidhelostcontrolofthevehiclewhile speeding and hittheboy.Hewasscaredandlefthiscarnearthespotbeforefleeingtohishometown.

SHIVAMPATELNEWDELHI,AUGUST2

POLLUTIONLEVELSinDelhiusu-ally remain lowduring the timeofmonsoon, however, this pastJuly has set a new record for thecleanest air quality index (AQI)recorded in the same monthsince2017.DatafromtheCentralPollution Control Board (CPCB)showsthatthisJuly,Delhisaw25'satisfactory' air quality days inwhich theAQI remainsbetween51 to 100. This is the secondAQIcategoryafter 'good'whichhasarangeof0to50.Since 2017, no July has seen

more than 16 'satisfactory' AQIdays.Moreover, the averageAQIthisJulywas83,muchlowerthanthepreviousyear's figureof 134,andalsolowerthanthelastclean-est AQI record of 98 in July 2017—theyearsincewhichcompletedataisavailablewiththeCPCBaf-terrecordsbeganin2015.An official from the Central

environmentministry said thereason behind cleaner air is acombinedresultofmeteorology,mainly better rainfall, and alsofewerpeopleontheroads."Amoderatelockdownisstill

inplaceevenasweareunlockingrestrictions. TheMetro has notstarted yet... and all the peoplewholeft thecitybefore the lock-downmaynothavecomeback,"theofficialsaid.

"There's also less traffic con-gestionontheroadsaspeoplearestillcautiousaboutsteppingout...Moreover,there'sweekendlock-downinneighbouringcitiesofUPwhichalsohasanimpact."The official also said that air

qualityofDelhihasbeenimprov-

ingeveryyearasaresultof long-termpollutioncontrolmeasures.In termsofmeteorology, the

city and its suburbswitnessedrainfallfornearly25daysthisJuly,totalling 236.9 mm, with twospellsofheavyshowers inwhichover65mmrainwasrecordedina day. The rainfall recorded thisJulywas12%abovethenormalav-erageof210.6mmforthemonth.TheoverallrainfallinJulywas

higher than199.2mmrecordedin July last year, but lower than286.2mmrecordedinJuly2018.Kuldeep Srivastava, head of

IMD’sregionalweatherforecast-ing centre in Delhi, said, "For atleast 22 days this July, oneweather station or the other inDelhi recorded rainfall.We alsohad strongwinds on somedaysof30to40kmph."

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGURGAON,AUGUST2

POLICESUNDAYmadeasecondarrestinconnectionwiththeas-sault on the driver of a pick-uptruck, whowas beaten up by agroup of menwhile transport-ing buffalomeat toGurgaononFriday. Police have also addedIPC Section 307 (attempt tomurder) to theFIR.Police said the accused has

beenidentifiedasMahesh(30),a resident of Rithoj village inGurgaon. "The accused will beproduced in court tomorrow.Elevenothers involvedinthein-cidenthavealsobeenidentified,and investigation is on to trackand arrest them. Section 307hasbeenaddedtotheFIR," saidSubhash Boken, PRO ofGurgaonPolice."Given the seriousness of

this matter, the case has beentransferredtotheCrimeUnitofGurgaon Police fromBadshahpur police station;raidsareontonabtheotherac-cused. Three police officialswho failed to take action in thematter on the spot, includingthe SHO, have also been sus-pended," he said.Policehadarrestedamanon

Friday evening, who claimedduring questioning that thegroup tried to stop thedriverasthey suspected he was trans-portingbeef.

16-year-old mowed down byspeeding car: Accused held

1 more heldfor beatingup Gurgaontruck driver

AIRDATAAVERAGEAQI IN JULY2020 832019 1342018 1032017 98

‘SATISFACTORY’AQIDAYS(51-100RANGE) INJULY

2020 2019 2018 2017

25 12 16 16

Delhi saw25 ‘satisfactory’airdays in July.AbhinavSaha

ThevehiclewasrecoveredfromRohini

Before leaving, theattackersdroppedanotedemandingRs1.5cras ‘protectionmoney’, allegedlyonbehestofgangsterKaushal

Armedmen fire inside used luxury carshowroom, seek ‘protectionmoney’

New Delhi

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

PAYING LAST RESPECTTHEMORTAL remains of Rajya SabhaMPAmar Singhwerebrought toDelhi fromSingapore onSunday andmany lead-ers reachedhis residence topay their respects.Amongthemwas Shivpal Singh Yadav. Singh and Shivpal have a history.WhenafeudbrokeoutintheMulayamSinghYadavfamilyin2017, Singh had backed Shivpal, much to the chagrin of for-mer UP chief minister andMulayam's son Akhilesh Yadav.Singhwas not in the Samajwadi Party then but he chose tothrow his weight behind Shivpal, Akhilesh's uncle. ShivpalpartedwayswiththeSPandhispresenceatSingh'sresidenceshows howmuch he valued the late leader, whose politicalmovesandmaneuverswerealwaysenigmatic.

NO INVITE STILLTHESTONE-LAYINGceremonyfortheRamtempleinAyodhyaseems to be becoming an instance of BJP veterans feelingslighted.While L K Advani, who led the Ram Janmabhoomimovement in the 1990s, is still waiting for an invitation forthebhoomi-pujanceremony,whichPrimeMinisterNarendraModi and party chief J P Nadda are expected to attend, vet-eranBJP leaderMMJoshihas alsonot receivedan inviteyet.To believe sources inVHP, ChampatRai, general secretary ofShriRamJanmabhoomiTeerthaKshetraTrust, isexpectedtogive the invitation toAdvani.Meanwhile, senior leaderUmaBhartisaidshehasbeenaskedtobepresentinAyodhyafromAugust4to6bytheRamJanmabhoomiNyas.ShesaiditwouldbeembarrassingforhertoboastaboutherroleintheAyodhyacampaign, as itwas thecombinedeffortsofmillions that ledto fulfillment of their dream. "Like riversmerge in the sea,@narendramodi's presence is adequate at the foundationstone layingceremony forall of us,” she tweeted inHindi.

WEEKEND TRIPUSAMBASSADORKennethJusterwenttemple-hoppingovertheweekend, visiting twoHanuman temples in ConnaughtPlaceandJhandewalan.TheUSEmbassyalsopostedapictureof PMNarendraModi and US President Donald Trump andcaptioned it “Happy friendshipday”.

IRAMSIDDIQUEMUMBAI, AUGUST2

THE MADHYA Pradesh HighCourthasaskedRailwaystocon-sidertweakingtheallotmentcri-teria for lower berths to givepreference to pregnantwomenand senior citizens over VVIPslike ministers, judges of HighCourt and Supreme Court orgovernmentofficials.Adivisionbenchcomprising

Justices Sanjay Yadav and AtulSreedharanwere hearing a suomotu PIL after a fellow judgefaced inconvenience on an offi-cialtripfromGwaliortoJabalpuronboard Hazrat NizamuddinJabalpurSuperfastExpress.The court’s order of July 27

stated, “The respondent (rail-ways)whileansweringtheissueofgrantinglowerberthstoseniorcitizenshasstatedthatinthepri-

ority list of the railways, theVVIPs likeministers, SupremeCourt/HighCourt judgesetc, fallveryhighandtheyhavetobefirstallotted the lower berths. Afterthe VVIPs are accommodated,

priorities are given to pregnantwomenandseniorcitizens.”“However,asregardstoberth

allotment is considered, the re-spondent Indian Railway is re-quested to re-prioritising the

berth allotment by giving thehighest priority to pregnantwomen, then to senior citizensand thereafterVVIPs,” thecourthas said.While giving priority to

VVIPs for reservation is under-stoodastheytravelatashortno-tice,but forallotmentof a lowerberth, priority for VVIP is un-pragmatic, thecourt said.The court also noted that

Railway authorities had thecoaches are being designed in amannerthat“infutureitshallbeconvenient for every person toclimb to the upper berth also,however, some inconveniencewhiletravellingisinevitableandtherefore regretted”.The court suggested that to

avoidaccidents,Railwaysshouldputsomelightorsoundoneachcoach to signal passengersstandingontheplatform. It alsosaid the apps or website of

Railways should show seats orberths allotted to passengerswhenreservationsaredone,likeairlines. The court further saidhalttimingsoftrainsatinterme-diate stations should be in-creasedfromtwotofiveminutesor the numbers of doors in acoach should be increased orwidened to facilitate smoothmovementof passengers.Responding to the sugges-

tions, theRailwayssaiditwouldnot be possible to implementthem as they would require achange inpolicy forcoachmod-ification.Tothesuggestionofup-dating seats allotted in the Apporwebsite, it saidthat toowon’tbe possible as over 12,000 pas-sengertrainsareoperatedevery-day,ferryinglakhsofpassengers.It statedthatacomparisonwiththeairlines isnoteffective.Thebenchwassatisfiedwith

the response.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAJAMMU,AUGUST2

FORMER JAMMUandKashmirChiefMinisterFarooqAbdullahonSundaydemandedaprobebyre-tired SupremeCourt judges intothe exodus of Kashmiri PanditsfromtheValleyinearly1990s.Replyingtoquestionsduring

awebinar,Abdullahsaidhewasof thefirmbelief thatKashmirisincomplete without KashmiriPandits and that hewould sup-port any mechanism to bringthembackhonourably.Nearly 60,000 Kashmiri

Pandit families are registered as

migrants after the onset ofmili-tancyintheValleyinearly1990s.Abdullah, amember of Lok

Sabha and president of theNational Conference, chose toblame then former GovernorJagmohan for the exodus andsaidthathe“tookthemaway”onthe false promise of ensuringtheirreturnwithinthreemonths.Abdullah, a three-time CM,

said,“Asincereandhonestjudge

of SupremeCourt, retired judgeof Supreme Court, a team ofjudges...lettheminvestigateandcome out with their report. Itwill clear manyminds aroundthe globe, among the youngerKashmiriPandits,thatitwasnotKashmiri Muslims who threwthem out. There are still manyKashmiriPanditswhoneverleftandtheyare livinghere."Henarratedmany instances

whereMuslimshadstoodbythePandit community since 1947andsaid“wealwaysbelievethatKashmir is never going to becomplete unless the Hindubrethren come back and live inpeacewithall of us”.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA,AUGUST2

TheBJPonSunday slammed theWest Bengal government for itsdecision to announce completelockdown onAugust 5, the dayPrimeMinisterNarendraModi issettoattendthe‘bhumipujan’fortheRamtempleinAyodhya.West Bengal BJP president

Dilip Ghosh said the state gov-ernmentwillfaceconsequencesif itdidnotwithdrawitsdecisiontoclampalockdownonthesaiddate.“Announcingcompletelock-

downonthatdayamountstoin-sultingthesentimentsofa largenumber of people. If the stategovernment doesn’t withdrawits decision, it will face conse-quences,”Ghoshsaid.The state had initially listed

nine days in August for enforc-ing a complete lockdown in thestate.Later,itwithdrewtwodaysfrom the list as they coincidedwith religiousoccasions.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPATNA,AUGUST2

LJP NATIONAL president ChiragPaswanSundayclaimedheisde-scended from Shabari, themythological figure from theRamayana, days ahead of theRam temple groundbreakingceremony.“Itwastheeffectof loveand

devotionofmotherShabarithatLord Ram ate half-eaten ‘ber’(jujube) offered by her. Eventhough she belonged to a de-privedclass,hehadnofeelingofany discrimination againsther,” the Jamui MP said in astatement.“Iamadescendantofmother

Shabari.TheRamtemplegettingconstructed duringmy lifetimeisamatterof pride,”hesaid.Paswanaddedalongwiththe

construction for the temple,there should be an attemptto imbibe Lord Rama's idealsto create a society with nodiscrimination.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST2

AMID THE tussle between theyoung and senior leaders of theparty, the Congress Sunday toldveterans it is their responsibilityto guide youngsters, promotethemand chart a path for them.Thepartyalsoaskeditsleaderstodesist frommaking remarks onsocialmedia and present theirviewsatinternalpartyfora.“Iwillrequestallthosefriends

whoareplayingTwitter-Twitterandwhoaremakingcommentson Twitter… you can presentyourviewsoninternalpartyplat-forms.Becauseinourpartythereis internal democracy.Wedon’tretire people forcefully,”Congress communication de-partment head RandeepSurjewalatoldreporters.This came a day after senior

Congress leaders took toTwittertoair theirviewsandhoursaftersenior leader Digvijaya Singhtweeted an advice to RahulGandhi,whichirkedayoungMPconsidered close toRahul. SinghsaidRahulwantstodopoliticsdif-ferently.“Weshouldallowhimtodosobutthenwealsowouldlikehim to be more active in

Parliament andmore accessibleto people. As advised by SharadPawarheshouldgoaroundIndia.‘Yatras’areimportanttoconnect.”Lok Sabha MP Manickam

Tagore reminded Singh thatRahulhasparticipatedinseveralpadyatras and taken on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andHomeMinisterAmitShahinLokSabha.“Ithinkif (those)whooc-cupyhighpositions in thepartytruly stand with him and notcriticise (him) behind his backwe won’t be in opposition forlong,” Tagore tweeted. Thetweetsweredeleted later.Surjewalasaidthecountryis

passing through difficult timesand the government ismissingin action amid the Covid surge.“Ithas left thepeople to fendforthemselves. And on the other

hand, the economic crisis isdeepeningandbusiness, indus-tries and factories are beingcloseddownandpeoplearelos-ing their livelihoods and jobs.People are facing pay cuts up to40to50percent,”hesaid.On the other hand, China,

Surjewala said, is occupyingIndian territory and thosewhohad vowed to look China in theeyeareafraidof takingitsname.“...they should stand with

Sonia-ji, Rahul-ji and DrManmohan Singh-ji andworkshoulder to shoulderwith theminfacingthechallengesposedbyCorona,Chinaandtheeconomiccrisis and show the mirror oftruthtothegovernment,”hesaid.“Andtheseniorleadershiphas

onemoreresponsibility,thattheyguide young leaders, promotethemand chart a path for them.Somyrequest toall colleagues—elderly, middle-aged and theyoung—isweshouldatthisjunc-turebetogetherinfightingModi’soppressivepolicies and its indif-ference towards theCoronaout-breakandforcetheModigovern-menttocomeoutwithpoliciestotackletheeconomiccrisisandjoblossesandgiveaconcretereplytotheChinesemisadventure…thatistruepatriotism,”hesaid.

JOHNSONTABENGALURU,AUGUST2

THE OPPOSITION in Karnatakahas warned the BJP-led stategovernmentofagitationsandle-gal action against the amend-ments it hasmade to laws gov-erninglandholdingsandlabourin a bid to attract investmentsandfacilitateeaseofdoingbusi-nessamid thepandemic.CongressleaderSiddaramaiah

saidhispartyisconsideringgoingtocourtoveramendmentstothelandreformsAct.“TheBJPgovern-menthasmadeamendments tolandreformsActandhasbroughtanordinance. I thought the gov-ernmentwon’tcomeoutwiththeordinancewhenthereisaCovid-19crisis inthestate,”hesaid.Former PrimeMinister and

JD(S)presidentHDDeveGowdatoo has opposed the amend-ments to the land reforms Actand labour laws andwritten toChiefMinister B S Yediyurappa,seeking theirwithdrawal.“Theseamendmentsareret-

rograde and anti-farmer andanti-labour. In the best interestof farmers and the labour force,they should bewithdrawn im-mediately,”DeveGowdasaid.Hehas called a meeting of pro-farmer and labour groups onAugust 4 to chalk out a plan tooppose theamended laws.Major amendments have

beenmadetotheKarnatakaLandReformsAct 1961 through aBillpassedinMarchandanordinanceinJuly.Thestatecabinethasnowcleared the path for changes tolaws governing factories, indus-trialdisputesandcontractlabourthroughtheordinanceroute.An ordinance promulgated

on July13with theassentof theGovernor has repealed four keysectionsof the landholding law,which restricted sale of agricul-tural land.Section 63 A of the land re-

formsAct,whichimposedaceil-

ingofownershipof10unitsforafive-member family, and sec-tions79A,BandC,whichlimitedfarmlandrightstoagriculturistsand to thoseearningbelowRs2lakh per annum,were repealedthroughtheordinance.On July 23, the cabinet

clearedproposals for reformstothree labour laws through theordinance route. The govern-ment has proposed to promul-gate the IndustrialDisputesandCertain Other Laws (KarnatakaAmendment)Ordinance2020toallow industrieswith up to 300employeestoshutwithoutgov-ernment approval, raising thecap from100workers.Another proposed change is

amodification of clauses in theContractLabour(RegulationandAbolition) Act, 1970, as perwhichfactoriesemployingmorethan20contractworkershavetobe inspectedandclearedby the

stateforcarryingoutoperations.Thiscapisproposedtoberaisedto50workers,stateLawMinisterJCMadhuswamysaid.Thethirdproposedchangeis

to the Factories Act 1948 to in-crease the overtime limit forworkersfrom75hoursperquar-ter to125hoursperquarter.“Manysmallandmediumin-

dustries are on the brink of clo-sure and big industries are introuble. Industry groups havebeen talking to us and severallawshavetobeamendedforeaseofdoingbusiness.Wehavetakenstepsinthisdirection,”IndustriesMinister JagadishShettarsaid.“LandcostishighinKarnataka.

Investorswere going toAndhraPradeshandTamilNaduasacon-sequence. The land reformswillchange this,” said president,Federation of KarnatakaChambers of Commerce andIndustry,CRJanardhana.

Bengal BJP slamsMamata govt forAug 5 lockdown

Farooq Abdullah calls for probeinto exodus of Kashmiri Pandits

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,AUGUST2

IN JANUARY this year, at theheight of the controversy overtheCitizenshipAmendmentAct(CAA), as the BJP attempted tohold meetings to explain thenew law, several districts inKerala, especially the Muslimdominated northern ones, wit-nessed a unique pushback:traders downed their shutters,and townsand junctionswheretheBJPplanned thesemeetingsworeadeserted look.Stung by that tactic, the

Sangh Parivar has now re-spondedbyscalingupitssuper-marketsunder theAkshayasreeMission, a network of self-helpgroupsestablishedbytheSanghParivar’s co-operative move-ment, SahakarBharati.Started six years ago, the

AkshyasreeMissionhadonly24outlets,brandedSamrudhi,untilthe CAA protests. But in the

seven months since then, 10more supermarkets have beenopened and registration for an-other 40 stores has been com-pleted.Admitting that more

Samrudhisupermarketsarebe-inglaunchedasareactiontotheboycott in January, R V Babu,state general secretary of theHindu Aikya Vedi, a SanghParivar outfit in the state, said,"TherewerealreadyafewstoresundertheAkshayasreeMission;thenewoneshavebeenopenedas a response to the boycott ofthe BJP’s pro-CAA campaign.These outlets have beenlaunched spontaneously byworkers wherever they wereboycotted."Recallingtheallegedboycott,

an RSS source said, "Because oftheir boycott, in certain towns,wehadtoplanthemeetingovermorethanoneday.Thefringeel-ements that forced the shops toshut didn'twant people to hearthe BJP. Therewere campaigns,instigating people not to buy

from shops owned by Hindus.The new supermarkets aremeant to counter these boy-cotts.’’SahakarBharatistategeneral

secretary Aji Kumar said thatwhile the stores now primarilysellgroceriesandvegetables,theRSS is keen to scale up opera-tions. "Several self-help-groupunits under theMission are en-gaged in food processing, andthose itemswill be sold in ourstores. Our units have alsostartedmaking incense sticks,’’he said, adding that theMissionplanstoventureintotextilesandrestaurantsnext.P KMadhusudhanan, chair-

man of the Grameen SamrudhiSociety under the AkshayasreeMission,said,"WeventuredintoestablishingAkshayasree shopssix years ago to promoteswadeshiproducts.Buttheboy-cott of the CAA campaign hasgiven us a fresh momentum.Had it not been for Covid, wewouldhavelaunched100super-marketsby theendof theyear.’’

Kerala: To counter CAAboycott, Sangh to openits own supermarkets

Cong asks leaders not to play‘Twitter-Twitter’, be restrained

RandeepSurjewala

Lower berths: MP HC asks Rlys to give preferenceto senior citizens, pregnant women over VVIPs

AdivisionbenchwashearingasuomotuPILaftera fellowjudgefaced inconvenienceonanofficial trip. File

‘KashmirnotcompleteunlessHinduscomeback’

WorkerscleanRamKiPaidi, inAyodhyaonSunday.PTI

PREPARATIONS ON

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST2

DAYSAFTERtheBJPgovernmentunveiled the New EducationPolicy (NEP), the Congress onSunday picked several holes inthe policy, saying it is “high oncatchwords, gloss, appearanceand verbosity” but lacks sub-stanceandclarity in termsof itsroadmap for implementation,strategy, clearly-definedmile-stones and the critical financesnecessary toexecute thevision.TheCongressquestionedthe

timing of the decision consider-ingthatthecountryisstillreelingunder the impact of the coron-avirusoutbreak.Arguingthatthe“entireacademiahascomplainedofnoconsultation,nodiscussionandnodeliberations,exceptwithBJP-RSS affiliates”, the party de-mandedthatthepolicyshouldbedebatedinParliamentandscruti-nisedbyaHousecommittee.Addressingapressconference,

formerHRDministerPallamRaju,the party’s communication de-partment head RandeepSurjewalaandheadoftheparty’sresearch department RajeevGowda said the NEP promotesprivatisationofpubliceducation,whichwill lead to fund cuts, feehikesandexpensiveeducationinabsenceofgovernmentgrants .“Privatisation of education

alongwithmultiple exit pointswouldleadtomoredropouts,theoppositeofthestatedclaimofthegovernment. Shrinkingof publicinstitutions andover-relianceonunregulatedprivatisationwillleadtoputtinghighereducationoutofthereachof themiddleclassandthedisadvantaged,”theysaid.

‘SENIORSMUSTGUIDE,CHARTPATHFORYOUNGLEADERSHIP’

I am descendantof Shabari, saysChirag Paswan

Cong picksholes in NEP,demandsscrutiny byHouse panel

Oppn warns Karnatakagovt of agitation overchanges to land, labour laws

Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister B S Yediyurappa onSundayannouncedthathehadtested positive for the coron-avirusandwasasymptomatic.He tweeted, “I have tested

positiveforcoronavirus.WhilstIamfine,Iambeinghospitalisedas aprecautionon the recom-mendationofdoctors. I requestthosewhohavecomeincontactwithmerecentlytobeobservantandexerciseselfquarantine."The 77-year-old had self-

isolated himself a couple ofweeks ago after several staffmembers at his home officetested Covid positive. He had,however, returned to officialdutiesafterbarely threedays.Several of Yediyurappa's

cabinetcolleagueshavetested

positive forthe virus,with stateAgricultureMinister BCPatiltest-ingpositiveon Satu-rday andTourism

Minister C T Ravi recoveringfrom the disease a fewweeksago.YediyurappametGovernor

Vajubhai Vala over theweek-end, triggering speculation ofa pending cabinet expansion.However, as he is expected tobeinquarantineforat least10days,adecisiononcabinetex-pansion is likely to be furtherdelayed. ENS

CMBSYediyurappa

BSY tests positive forvirus, is asymptomatic

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST2

BEFORETHERamtemplecomesupinAyodhya, thecitywillgetanewtemple-likerailwaystationinabout twoyears.The Railways has increased

the budget of the redevelop-mentofAyodhyastationfromRs80croretooverRs104crorethisyear, it saidonSunday.Officials said the project has

beenexpedited.Railway minister Piyush

Goyal tweetedSunday: “For thecrores of devotees visiting theRamtemple,Railwaysisredevel-opingtheAyodhyastationundertheleadershipofPrimeMinisterNarendraModi.”ThecurrentAyodhyastation,

which also looks like a temple,was earmarked for redevelop-ment a few years ago. The newdesign retains the temple-likelook and adds a host of ameni-

ties besides increasing capacitytohandlemorecrowd.The redevelopment is being

done in two phases.While thefirstphasewill see thedevelop-ment of the platform areas, thesecondwill see the erection ofthe new station building withamenities likemoretoilets,dor-mitories, ticketing and circulat-ingareasetc.

Anartist’s impressionof thetemple-likerailwaystation,set tocomeupinAyodhya.

Ayodhya rly station to beredeveloped on templemodel; budget raised

New Delhi

6THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

THEOUTBREAKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,AUGUST2

UTTAR PRADESH’S TechnicalEducationMinister Kamal RaniVarun, who had underlyingmedical conditions, died of thenovel coronavirus at SanjayGandhi Post Graduate InstituteofMedicalSciences(SGPGI-MC)inLucknowonSunday.The 62-year-old, the only

woman in the Yogi AdityanathCabinet,isthefirstministerinUttarPradesh to succumbtoCovid.AnMLAfromGhatampur inKanpurNagar, shewasalsoamemberofthe11thand12thLokSabha.Varun,survivedbyherdaugh-

ter, was cremated at the BhairoGhatcrematoriumherewithpo-lice honours. The state govern-mentannouncedstatemourning.According to officials at

SGPGIwhereVarundiedat9.30am, theminister testedpositiveon July 18 after she complainedof fever, cough and breathless-ness. “She also had comorbidi-ties in the formofdiabetesmel-

litus,hypertensionandhypothy-roidism.Shehadbilateralpneu-monia during admission andwas shifted to the ICU the samedaybecauseofahighoxygenre-quirement,”saidSGPGIDirectorDrRKDhiman.“Shelaterrequirednon-inva-

siveventilationwithahighoxy-genrequirement.Onevaluation,she had all the features of a se-veredisease,andshewasgivenaRemdesivirinjectionfollowedbyTocilizumabafterwhichshehadtransientimprovementforafewdays. But her condition starteddeterioratingagain.Shewasim-mediately transfusedwith con-valescent plasma, and steroiddoseswerehiked.Expertadvicefrom Prof Randeep Guleria,Director AIIMS, and Prof RiteshAgarwal, PGIMER, Chandigarh,wasalso taken,”headded.Dr Dhiman said Varun had

progressive severe disease “un-responsive tomaximalmedicaltherapy” andwas put on ame-chanical ventilator on Saturday,but her condition continued todeteriorate “with hypotension

(lowbloodpressure)andmulti-organdysfunction”.Condoling the death of the

minister, President Ram NathKovind said she was well re-spectedforservingpeopleatthegrassroots.“Very sad over the death of

Uttar Pradeshminister KamalRani Varun. Herwhole life wasdedicated to social service. Sheplayedanimportantinstrength-ening the BJP in the state. Mycondolenceswithherfamilyandsupporters in thishourof grief,”PrimeMinister NarendraModi

tweeted inHindi.Yogi Adityanath, who was

Sunday scheduled to reviewpreparationsfortheRamtemplebhoomi pujan ceremony, can-

celledhisAyodhyavisitafter theminister’sdeath.Earlier in the day, a condo-

lencemotionwas passed in thestateCabinet.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST2

THE CENTRE on Sunday issuedrevised guidelines for interna-tionaltravelers,exemptingthemfromtheseven-daypaidinstitu-tionalquarantine if theysubmita negative report of an RT-PCRtestconductedhourspriortoun-dertaking the journey.“Travelersmay also seek ex-

emptionfrominstitutionalquar-antineby submittinganegativeRT-PCR test report on arrival.This test should have been con-ductedwithin96hours prior toundertaking the journey. Thetest report should be uploadedon the portal for consideration.Eachpassengershallalsosubmitadeclarationwithrespecttotheauthenticity of the report andwillbe liable forcriminalprose-cution if found otherwise. Thetest report could also be pro-

duced upon arrival at the pointof entryairport in India,” there-visedguidelines state.If the travelers, on arrival, do

notsubmitanegativetestreport,the guidelinesmandate 14-dayquarantine:sevendayspaidquar-antine,followedbysevendaysofisolationathomewithself-mon-itoring of health. “Only for com-pelling reasons/cases of humandistresssuchaspregnancy,deathin the family, serious illness andparent(s)withchildrenoftheageof10yearsorbelow,homequar-antinemay be permitted for 14days,” theguidelinesstate.Meanwhile, the revised

guidelines also state that on ar-rival and after thermal screen-ing, the passengers who havebeen exempted from institu-tional quarantine will have toshowthesametothe“respectiveState Counters” on their cellphones, before being allowedhomequarantine for14days.

WITH BIHAR seeing amassivesurge in coronavirus cases overthe past one month, the newPrincipal Secretary (Health),PRATYAYA AMRIT, spoke toSANTOSHSINGHaboutincreas-ing the number of testing andbedswith oxygen cylinders, aswell as appointing doctors andwinning back the confidence ofthepeople. Excerpts:

Whatareyourfirst fewchallenges?I have visited two leading

hospitals of the state—NalandaMedical College and Hospital(NMCH) and Patna MedicalCollege andHospital (PMCH)—togetafirst-handunderstandingof the situation. Iwas dismayedatfindingtherelativesofpatients

insidetheward....Undersuchcir-cumstances,relativesareturningout tobesuper-spreaders.We have now appointed an

IPSandanIASofficerasnodalof-ficers of the NMCH and PMCH,respectively, to ensure the stan-dardoperatingprocedureisfullyfollowed. Ihavealsotakenstockof Bhagalpur Covid hospital asthedistrict registered a surge ofpatients over the last threeweeks.

TherehavebeenallegationsofnegligencebytheNMCHadministration,withsomeCovidpatientsmissing.WeareinstallingCCTVsatall

keypoints.Themaingatesof thehospitalwouldnotgiveaccesstoanyoneexceptpatients.Relatives

can consult the reception andcontrol room.Patientsandtheirrelativesareassuredofavailabil-ity of oxygen cylinders andoxymeters inside thewards.

What is thestategovernmentdoingabout increasingthenumberofdaily testing?We have already taken the

number of tests from 7,291 onJuly1 to35,619onAugust1.Weaim at taking it to 50,000 testsper day.... It is very important toscreenCovidsuspectsacrossthestate togoabout treatment.

Whatabout increasingthenumberofbedswithoxygencylinders?We have so far 12,000 plus

bedswithavailabilityof oxygen.

WehaveopenedCovidcarecen-tresforthefirstleveloftreatmentofmildsymptoms,butthesecen-tres too have oxygen cylinders.Ourobjective is to increasebedswith oxygen availability to48,000 in the coming days asmore testingwouldmeanmorepatients.We are looking at ourprimary healthcare centres atblock levels to deal withmaxi-mumcases.Weare alsoprovid-ing four ventilators to each dis-trict hospital so that seriouspatientscouldbehandledbeforethey need to be shifted to dedi-catedCovidhospitals.

There ishardlyanymonitoringofpatients inhomeisolation.What is thegovernmentdoingabout it?

We are engaging an agencyalong the pattern of Delhi tomonitorpatients inhomeisola-tion. The agency would call aCovid patient three times a dayto take his/her temperaturereading and ask about anybreathingdistress. Incaseofanyproblem, itwillbe the jobof theagency to coordinatewith am-bulance services and hospitals.Wearemakingeveryattempttoensure thatpeopledonotpanicandhave trust in thesystem.

Whatabouttheacuteshortageofdoctors—apointhighlightedbythePatnaHighCourt?Wehave started appointing

1,000 specialist doctors.We arenowalso takinghelpofmedical

students with primary level ofhospitalisation of patients.Whilewewill have to take duecareof thehealthof ourdoctorsand nurses, we are looking foreverypossibleway to cut downchancesof infection.

Mostpeopledon’tknowwhattodowhenapersoncontractsCovid-19.While there will be a fully-

operationcontrolroomineverydistricttotellpeoplewhichhos-pitalstogoto,wehavelaunchedanapp,Sanjivan,thatwouldgiveall kinds of information— fromthenearesthospital,nearesttest-ing centres to ambulance avail-ability.

Recently,videoshademerged

ofbodies lying inhospitals.Wecannot comment on the

authenticity of suchvideos...Wehave fixeda time limit towrapabodytoprevent infection.Evenifrelativesofpatientsdonotturnupto receivebodies, thedistrict ad-ministrationwouldprovide vol-unteerswhowouldburythebod-iestakingduecareofsanitisation.

Therehavebeencomplaintsregardingsomeprivatehospitals fleecingCovid-19patients.Ideally, thereshouldbeacap

(on the charges). Private hospi-tals have their own rates de-pending on the quality of serv-icetheyoffer.Butwecandiscussthe capwithin agivenadminis-trativeand legal framework.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, AUGUST2

ACTORAMITABHBachchanwasdischarged fromNanavati hos-pitalonSundayaftertestingneg-ative for Covid-19. The 77-year-old will remain under homequarantine. His son and actorAbhishek Bachchan, however,continues to remain in hospitalafter testingpositiveon July11.“I have tested CoVid- (covid

negative)havebeendischarged.Iambackhomeinsolitaryquar-antine,” Bachchan tweeted onSundayevening.Abhishekalsotweetedsaying

his father has been dischargedandwillrestathome.Inanothertweet, he said, “I, Unfortunatelydue to some comorbidities re-main Covid-19 positive and re-main in hospital. Again, thankyouallforyourcontinuedwishesand prayers formy family. Veryhumbledandindebted.”Amitabh and Abhishek had

tested positive for Covid-19 onJuly11withmildsymptomsandwere hospitalised the samenight. The next day, actor andAbhishek’s wife Aishwarya RaiBachchan and daughterAaradhya had tested positive,while four others in the familytestednegative.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHENNAI, AUGUST2

TAMIL NADU GovernorBanwarilal Purohit tested posi-tiveforCovidonSunday.Eighty-seven employees, including se-curitypersonnelandafewofficestaff whoworked closely withtheGovernor'soffice,havebeenfound infected of the total 147whoweretestedforCovidattheRajBhavan in the last10days.“Heisasymptomaticandclin-

ically stable. He underwent fur-ther tests and assessment” onSunday, stated the bulletin,addingthathisinfectionwasmildand he has been advised homeisolation andwill bemonitoredby themedical teamof Kauveryhospital.Hewastakentothehos-pital in Alwarpet in his officialconvoyonSundaymorning.An official statement from

Raj Bhavan had earlier con-firmed that the Governor hadgoneintoself-isolationtwodaysago after three staff memberstestedpositive forCovid-19.

KAMAALSAIYEDSURAT,AUGUST2

SURAT’S SECOND Covid-19 pa-tient and the only person in thestate to have donated plasmathrice,FaisalChunara,wasfelic-itatedbyGujarat ChiefMinisterVijay Rupani at the New CivilHospital (NCH)hereonSunday.Rupani was in Surat on

Sunday, his birthday, accompa-niedbyDeputyCMNitinPatel,totake stockof thepandemic situ-ation. Theywere accompaniedby newly-appointed state BJPpresidentCRPaatil.While Surat reported 237

cases and 12 deaths on Sunday,theChiefMinistersaidthatthere-coveryrateinthedistricthasgoneupinonemonthfrom60percentto 70per cent,while the growthrateofpositivecaseshasreducedfrom4percentto2percent.Meanwhile,Gujaratreported

1,101 new Covid-19 cases onSunday, taking the tally to63,852,while22deathswerere-ported from the state, with thetoll rising to2,507.However,Rupanipointedout

that thedeathratehasdecreasedin the state. “EarlierGujaratwasjustbehindMaharashtraintermsof positive cases, but now it has

dropped to12thposition. Earlierthedeathratewas7percentandtodayitis3.5percent.Thisshowsthatour statehasdoneexcellentwork in controlling the spread.WHOandtheSupremeCourthavealsoappreciatedourinitiativeslikeDhanvantriRath. Indian instituteof Management Ahmedabad’ssurveyreportalsolaudedthestate.Gujaratworkedon twopoints—to create awareness to followCovidguidelinesand immediateand timely treatmentandrecov-erysegment,”Rupanisaid.“In Gujarat, we are doing

26,000 tests a day as comparedto around 5,000 earlier.We aregoing ahead by increasing thenumberoftests.RecoveryrateinSuratrosefrom60percentto70percent,”hetoldreportershere.During his official visit to

Surat,CMRupanifelicitatedsev-eral coronawarriors, includingmedical staff of NCH HospitalandSMIMERHospital,aswellasmunicipal officials who are inthe front-line corona duty; andamongthemwasChunara,whoalsodonatedRs2.21 lakh to theCM’sCovidCareRelief Fund.CM Rupani also felicitated

Prashant Chauhan (32) and DrSweta Rajkumar from NCH.While Chauhan is the firstplasmadonorfromSurat,Sweta

is a residentdoctorofNCHwhotestedpositiveandcontinuedtowork in the Covid ward of thehospital after recovering. Shealsodonatedplasmaonce.FaisalChunarasaid,“Iwasthe

secondperson tobe testedposi-tive in Surat, onMarch 19. I gottreatmentatNCHandrecovered.Had I gone to a private hospital,mymedicalbillwouldhavebeenanythingaroundRs10lakh.WhatI donated (Rs 2.21 lakh) is noth-ing against it. Iwould like to ap-peal to those patientswhohaverecovered to come forward anddonate plasma to save lives ofothersundergoingtreatment.”Chunara,whoworksintheIT

sector, returned to India fromDubai, when he tested positive.Hewasdischargedfromthehos-pitalonApril2andwasinhomeisolation for 20 days. Chunarafirst donated plasma onMay 6,thenonMay23andonJuly23.DrMayurJarag,headofNCH,

said, “Today, at the CM’s pro-gramme,wecametoknowthatSurat has topped in the state intermsof plasmadonation.A to-talof290fullyrecoveredcoronapatientshavedonatedplasmainSurat. Faisal Chunara donatedthrice, becoming the only per-son in the state tohavedonatedplasmasomanytimes.”

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI, AUGUST2

THE ASSAM government onSunday announced the latestunlock measures, with anevening curfew in place and acomplete lockdown to be im-posedonweekends.Accordingtoanorderpassed

byAssamchiefsecretaryKumarSanjay Krishna, all malls, gym-nasiums and restaurants in thestate will be allowed to openfrom Monday to Friday tillAugust15,withmovementof in-dividualstobestrictlyprohibitedbetween 6pm and 6am on allweekdays.TheordersaidinGuwahati—

which was under a complete,andthenapartiallockdownoverthe last fiveweeks—malls andgymnasiumswould be allowedtoopenonone sideof a roadononedayandontheothersidethenextday. Inallothercities,mallsand gymnasiumswould be al-lowed to open on both sides ofroadsacrossthestate.Hotelsarealsoallowedtoopen.“Inter-districtmovement of

people is allowed onMondayand Tuesday only. No separatepermission/approval/e-permit

willberequiredforinter-districtmovement,” theorder said.Itaddedthatallgovernment

officeswould operatewith 100per cent attendance fromMonday. The order continued,“Cinemahalls,swimmingpools,entertainment parks, theatres,bars, auditoriums, assemblyhalls and similar places of pub-lic gathering shall remainclosed.”On July 18, the Assam gov-

ernment had ordered a partialunlock of Guwahati after threeweeks of a complete lockdown.This order had allowed cab ag-gregators, auto-rickshaws andrickshawsfollowingsanitisationnorms,whileprivatevehicles—excepttravellingto-and-frofromwork or those on governmentduty—wereprohibited.Sunday’sorderdidnotmen-

tion anything on vehicles andsaid that all permittedactivitiesintheearlierorderwillcontinuebetween7amto5pmMondaytoFriday, “subject to opening ofonlyonesideof thestreet”.AsofAugust1,Assamhadre-

ported a total of 41,726 Covidcaseswith101deaths.Thestate’spositivity rate as on Saturdaywas5.36percentagainst27,161tests in theday.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,AUGUST2

A52-YEAR-OLDBlockEducationOfficer (BEO) died by suicide inUnnaoonSundayafterhetestedpositive for Covid-19 late onSaturdayevening.Suresh Chandra Verma (52)

was posted as BEO in KanpurNagar district, but often visitedhis home at Kalyani colony inUnnao district. Officials said hisbodywas found hanging fromthefanonSundaymorningathisresidence.Sufferingfromhighfeverand

breathlessness, Verma onSaturday underwent the test at

Ursala Hospital in Kanpur andhis report came late thatevening.Unnao’s Deputy Chief

Medical Officer R K Gautamsaid, “He was the BlockEducation Officer posted inKanpur Nagar. We received acall from his son on Saturdaythat he has tested positive forCovid-19.Wesuggestedthatheisolatehimself. Todaymorning,news came that he has com-mittedsuicide.Wegothispost-mortem done as per protocoland his last rites were con-ducted. Samples of his son,daughter and wife have beencollected and they have beenadvisedtotakeallprecautions.”

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIABHOPAL,AUGUST2

MADHYA PRADESH on Sundayrecorded thehighestsingle-dayspike of 921 fresh coronaviruscases, including 158 fromBhopal, taking the infectioncount in the state to 33,535,healthofficials said.With 10 more people suc-

cumbing to the viral infection,thetollwentupto886,theysaid.Of them, threepatients died

eachinBhopalandIndorewhileadeatheachwas reported fromBurhanpur, Ratlam, Sehore andHoshangabad,officials said.Amongnewcases, thehigh-

est158caseswerereportedfromBhopal, followed by 129 inGwaliorand107 in Indore.A total of 581 personswere

dischargedintheday,raisingthenumber of the recovered casesto23,550.The number of cases in

Indoredistrictreached7,555,thehighest in the state, and thedeath toll to 315, a state healthbulletin said.Bhopal nowhas 6,627 cases

while 184 patients have died of

the infection.At2,264,Bhopalnowhasthe

highest number of active casesin the state while Indore has2,093suchcases.The total case count in

Gwaliorwentupto2,431, itsaid.Nonewcoronaviruscasewas

reportedfromninedistrictsinthestatesinceSaturdayeveningeventhoughall52districtshaveactivecases. Thenumberof active con-tainment zones in the statenowstandsat3,246,thebulletinsaid.A total number of 7,99,500

peoplehavebeentestedsofarinthestate.

Covid-negative,distressed internationalpassengers exempt frominstitutional quarantine

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

PRATYAYAAMRITBIHARPRINCIPAL

SECRETARY (HEALTH)

‘Taken daily testing to 35,000... aim to increase it to 50,000 per day’

TN Governortests positive

Education officer testspositive, hangs selfat Unnao residence

Bachchandischarged,in quarantine

Assam unlocks withevening curfew andweekend lockdown

BanwarilalPurohit

AmitabhBachchan

AsofAugust1,Assamhadreportedatotalof 41,726Covidcaseswith101deaths. PTI

KamalRaniVarunwas62

With record 921 casesin day, MP tally now33,535, toll rises to 886

FaisalChunara,whodonatedplasmathrice,handsoverachequeofRs2.21 lakhtoGujaratChiefMinisterVijayRupani inSurat. Express

Lucknow:Uttar Pradesh JalShakti Minister MahendraSingh and state BJP chiefSwatantraDev Singh testedpositiveforCovidonSundaywhileminister Kamal RaniVermasuccumbedtothein-fection, sources said.Jal Shakti Minister

MahendraSinghwastestedforCovidafterhedevelopedsymptoms, sources said.HewasadmittedtoSGPGIafterthetestreportconfirmedhisinfection.Singhcouldnotbecontacted as his phonewasswitchedoff.SwatantraDevSingh re-

quested those whomighthave come in his contact toquarantine themselves asper protocol and get them-selves tested if needed. Hetweeted that he is underhomeisolationontheadviceof doctors. ENS

Rupani felicitates 3-time plasmadonor, other corona warriorsCM:Recoveryrateup, casegrowthratedowninSurat

Fortnight after testing positive,UP minister dies of coronavirus

Duringthe10-day lockdowninBhopalonSunday. PTI

MahendraSingh,SwatantraDevSingh

Another minister, UPBJP chief test positive

New Delhi

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI, AUGUST2

WITHAdecrease in its revenue,the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation(BMC)issettoslashbyRs300crore the financial aidit isprovidingto itsundertakingBrihanmumbai Electric SupplyandTransport (BEST).In the 2020-21 budget, then

municipal commissionerPraveenPardeshi hadproposedin February togrant anaidof Rs1,500 crore toBEST todealwithrepayment of loans, procure-ment of new buses under wetlease, fulfil financial obligationsarising from the wage agree-ment, day-to-day expendituresand implementation of theIntegrated TransportManagementSystemproject.Of the Rs 1,500 crore, BMC

hassofarpaidRs500crore, saidBESTofficials.However,amidtheCovid-19 pandemic, the civicbody has incurred lossesworthRs 4,000 crore this year.According to its projection, thelosses could go up to Rs 14,000crore this financial year.“WehaveproposedaRs300-

crorecutinthetotalfinancialaidproposedforBESTinthebudget.Now,onlyRs1,200crorewill begiven to BEST. The decisionwastaken following a dip in BMC'srevenue,” said an official fromthe finance department.Additional MunicipalCommissioner (Projects) P

Velrasuconfirmedthedevelop-ment.Sofar,over300busesonwet

leasehavebeenhiredbyBEST.Inall, itwas supposed to get 1,240busesonwet lease.Civic officials said that last

year, BMChad given a grant-in-aid of Rs 1,941.30 crore to theBEST. The financial help wasgivenwithstrictconditions–re-duce the fare up to Rs 5 for dis-tance up to 5 km and decreasethe cost per km of operatingbuses by 10 per cent to 15 percent, among others. Also, BMChad asked BEST to submit a fi-nancial management plan onmaking it sustainable.In2019,theBESTadministra-

tionhaddemandedthattheun-dertakingbegivenaseparate fi-nancial aid to repay loans sinceit was paying Rs 25 crore as in-teresteverymonth.Thiswasac-cepted by BMC and by August30,2019,thecivicbodyhadpaidRs1,136crore toBEST.

Drop in revenue,BMC slashes aid toBEST by Rs 300 cr

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA,AUGUST2

BIHARDGPGupteshwarPandeyon Sunday said the state policehadsentanIPSofficertoMumbaitomonitorthePatnaPoliceinves-tigation intoactor SushantSinghRajput’ssuicidecase.TheDGPsaidMumbai Police has not handedoverpostmortemandforensicre-portstoPatnaPolice.DGPGupteshwarPandeytold

TheIndianExpress:“WehavesentPatna City SP, Central, VinayTiwari,tomonitorourinvestigat-ingteam,whichisinMumbai.TheIPS officerwill coordinatewithseniorofficersofMumbaiPolice.We are looking to gathermaxi-mumevidenceandmeetpeopleconnectedwiththeactor.”Askedwhat evidence Patna

Police have gathered so far, theDGP said, “Our teamhas takenstatements of somepeople. ButweareyettogetpostmortemandFSL reports, photographs andvideographsofthesceneofthein-cident.Mumbai Police have notgivenittous,citingtheirreasons.”He said the four-member

Patna Police team, now super-visedbyIPSofficerTiwari,wouldstayinMumbaitillfurtherorders.Asked if Sushant’s fatherKK

Singh has handed over any evi-denceinsupportofhisallegationsagainst actor Rhea Chakrabortyand others, the DGP said PatnaPolicehadalreadyvisitedabankto get transaction details from

Sushant’saccount.“Itisourjobtolookforevidencewithhelp fromSushant’sfamily,”saidtheDGP.MaharashtraHomeMinister

AnilDeshmukh,meanwhile,con-demnedcallsmadebysomeseek-ingaCBIprobeintothecase.Deshmukh tweeted on

SundaythattheMumbaiPolice’sinvestigationintoRajput’sallegedsuicideon June14 is alreadyun-derway and that though an of-fencehadbeen registeredby thepoliceinPatna,“ithastobeinves-tigated,inquired&triedbypolice& courtswithinwhose jurisdic-tiontheoffenceiscommitted”.He added: “The case is now

beingpolitcisedforpoliticalgains.Maharashtra Police is inquiringintothecaseprofessionally&arecompetent in digging out thetruth,leavingnostoneunturned!”Several politicians, including

former Maharashtra CMDevendra Fadnavis and NCP’sParth Pawar have sought a CBIprobeintoRajput’sdeath

INPUTSFROMENSMUMBAI

SUSHANTSUICIDECASE

Bihar IPS officer inMumbai to monitorPatna Police probe

IPSofficerVinayTiwariafterarriving inMumbai. PTI

BESTwillnowreceiveRs1,200croreasaid. PTI/File

TMC man killedin ‘infighting’,five detained

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA,AUGUST2

FIVE PEOPLEwere detained onSunday after a panchayat-levelTrinamool Congress leaderwaskilled allegedly over “infighting”inWestBengal’sBankuradistrict.Ex-panchayatheadBabarAliwashackedtodeathafterhesufferingbombinjuriesonSaturday,policesaid.WhileTMCaccusedtheCPMofAli’smurder, thelatterblamedtherulingparty’s infighting.Local TMC leaders accused

RahimMondal, the husband ofthelocalpanchayatheadwhohadswitchedover totherulingpartyfromCPM, of being themaster-mindbehindtheattack.A seniordistrict policeofficer

said:“Wehavedetainedfivepeo-ple. Investigationison.”

RHINO CALF RESCUEDAnewbornrhinocalf, separatedfromitsmotheramidthefloods inAssam’sKazirangaNationalPark,wasrescuedbyforestguardsSunday. Officials saytheywill try toreunitethethree- to four-day-oldmalecalfwiththemother.PTI

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,AUGUST2

PROBING A purported “terrorangle” in the Kerala gold smug-gling case, the NIA has arrestedsix people, including one whowas earlier an accused in thestate’sinfamoushand-choppingepisodeof 2010.PopularFrontof Indiamem-

berMuhammadAli,oneofthosechargedwith chopping off thehandofaprofessorinErnakulamdistrict,wasacquittedbyaKochicourt in2015.NIAsaidits investigationhas

revealed thatAliwaspartof theconspiracy behind the smug-gling.The Ernakulam resident al-

legedly assisted the other ar-rested persons in collecting thesmuggled gold anddistributingit amongtheconspirators.BesidesAli,theothersheldin

thelastfourdaysareJalalAM,ofErnakulam district, and SyedAlavi EMohammed Shafi P andAbduP, all fromMalappuram.In its investigation of gold

smuggling through diplomatic

cargo to theUAEConsulate,NIAhad earlier arrested formerConsulate executive secretarySwapnaSuresh,itsformerPROPS Sarith, their common friendSandeepNairanda“kingpin” inthe racket,KTRameez.Thepalm-choppingincident

of2010,whichhadbeenprobedby NIA, has been reckoned as aterror act in Kerala by securityagencies. Ali had been 24th inthe listof accused.Meanwhile, UnionMinister

VMuraleedharanonSundayob-servedaday-longfastathis res-

idencedemanding Vijayan’sres-ignation over the case. The fastcame as BJP intensified itsprotests against the Kerala gov-ernment. TheMoS for ExternalAffairsandParliamentaryAffairsallegedthechiefministerhadal-lowed his office to be used bythosewhoindulgedin"anti-na-tionalactivitiesandbetrayedthenation".On July 5, Customs officials

seized around 30 kg of goldworth Rs 15 crore at theThiruvananthapuramAirport.

(WITHPTIINPUTS)

UnionMinisterVMuraleedharan(right)beginsafastdemandingtheresignationof theKeralaCMoverthecase.PTI

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAPATNA,AUGUST2

THE FLOOD situation in Biharworsened on Sunday as waterfrom overflowing rivers inun-datedmoreareas, leavingatotalof 53.67 lakh people across 14districts affected, the DisasterManagementDepartment said.The 14 flood-affected dis-

tricts are Sitamarhi, Sheohar,Supaul,Kishanganj,Darbhanga,Muzaffarpur, Gopalganj, WestChamparan, East Champaran,Khagaria, Saran, Samastipur,SiwanandMadhubani.The number of people af-

fectedbythedelugehasgoneupby 4.62 lakh since Saturday, thedepartment said in a bulletin.Thenumberofpeoplewhodiedin flood-related incidents how-ever stood at 13, with no fresh

casualty reported.The number of panchayats

hit by the calamity, however,rose to 1,059 from 1,043 onSAturday.The department said in the

bulletinthatanembankmentoftheTirhutcanalwasbreachedintheearlyhoursof Sunday, inun-datingatleastadozenvillagesinMuraul block of Muzaffarpurdistrict. Two National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) teamshavebeendeployedat thesite.With 16.89 lakh flood-af-

fectedpeople,Muzaffarpuristheworst-hit district, followed by12.40 lakhpeople inDarbhangaand 8.09 lakh in EastChamparan. Of the 13deaths inflood-related incidents,Darbhanga registered sevenca-sualties,followedbyfourinWestChamparan and two inMuzaffarpur.

Over 53 lakh people affectedas floods in Bihar intensify

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST2

THENIA on Sunday searched thehouseofDelhiUniversityprofes-sorHanyBabuMT,whowas re-centlyarrestedforhisallegedlinksto theBhimaKoregaoncase, andseized several documents andelectronicitems.MirandaHouse English pro-

fessor and Babu’s wife JennyRowenawasinthehouseinNoidawith the couple’s 17-year-olddaughter duringthesearch.“Duringthesearchofaccused

Hany Babu’s house, NIA seizedone account ledger, one receiptbook of the Committee for theDefence and Release of Dr GNSaibaba, several documents aswellaselectronic items... Furtherinvestigationinthecaseiscontin-ued,”NIA said. Saibabahasbeen

sentenced to life imprisonmentforhavingMaoistlinks.“They came with a search

warrant at around 7.30 amandwere at home for around twohours. They told me they hadcome to collect evidence,”Rowenasaid.“Iaskedthemforthehashval-

ues of the electronic items buttheyrefusedsayingtheydon’tdoso... they also took a book pub-lishedbythedefencecommitteecalled ‘PrisonsWeMake’. A copyof thesamebookwasalsoseizedfromourplacebythePunePolicelastyear,”shesaid.DU Teachers’ Association

(DUTA) PresidentRajibRay con-demned the search. “I stronglyprotestandurgethegovernmenttodesistfromtheseillegal,strong-arm tactics and stop thiswitch-hunt against academics andscholars,”hesaid.

NIA searches Prof HanyBabu’s Noida residence

NOT OUR INTENTION TO HURT ANYONE, SAYS ONE OF THE COMPANIES

SURBHIGUPTANEWDELHI, AUGUST2

CUPS, CUSHIONS, t-shirts andrakhis designed for RakshaBandhan with prints such as“You’readopted,butwestill loveyou”,“Tutohadoptedhai”,“Tujhetoh dustbin se uthaya hai” and“Real one & adopted one” haveoutraged the community ofadoptive parents and adoptionagencies.Manyofthemhavesharedon

socialmediascreenshotsoftheseproducts availableonamajor e-commerce platform and saidsuch products perpetrate thestigmaaboutadoption.“‘Youareadopted’isawidely

used lineamongsiblingsworld-

wide!It isafadtoteaseyoursib-ling and enjoy the irritation onhis or her face! This mug cele-brated the tease bond betweenthem!Gift it to your brother orsisteras itmakesaperfectRakhigift which is something differ-ent,” read amug’s product de-scriptionontheplatform.Demanding an immediate

withdrawal and boycott of suchproducts,thecommunityhasputout a statementwith over 200signatories. “We strongly con-demn the rakhi products beingmarketedwhich treat adoptionas a joke. Such products arehighly offensive and have out-raged the adoptive communitybecauseof the insensitivity theydisplay and the potential theyhave to damage and hurt

adoptedchildren,”thestatementsays.Objecting to the sale of such

items,activistShabnamHashmitold The Indian Express, “Anadopted child goes through avery difficult journey and theabandonmentatbirthorwithinthe first year leaves a very deepscar.Theyare, as it is, constantlylooking for their roots anddeal-ingwith that question of 'why Iwas abandoned’ and this is likerubbingit in.Evenif theseprod-uctsaremeantforbiologicalsib-lings, making fun of adoptionandbeingsoinsensitivetowardsit, it issomethingtobereallyap-palledat.”Her daughter Seher Hashmi

Raza,24-year-oldartistandstyl-ist, tooktoFacebooktoshareher

thoughts and journey on beingadopted.“There is actually amug that

saysyou'readopted,butweloveyou—that’sextremelyoffensive,because are you saying thatadoptive children are not lovedor should not be loved?” saidMumbai-based textile designerShiraliRadhakrishnaTyabji,33.Avinash Kumar, director of

Familiesof Joy,aNGOthatworksinthespaceofadoption,toldTheIndian Express that e-commerceplatforms have huge visibilityand therefore, they need to behighly sensitive onwhat prod-ucts theymarket. “Apart fromhurtingsentimentsof theadop-tionfraternity,theproductsrein-forcethestereotypesandstigmasamong non-adoptive families,”

hesaid.He said he has written an

open letter to the e-commerceplatform,expressingshockatthesaleofproducts“mockingadop-tion”.“Accepting,endorsingandselling suchproducts isnotonlydiscriminatoryandinpoortaste,it also sets a grossly inappropri-ate introduction to adoption forthe uninitiated ones,” hewrote.Hehasraisedsimilarissuesinanopen letter to Central AdoptionResource Authority, an au-tonomous body underMinistryof Women and ChildDevelopment.“Even if children tease each

other,nobodyshoulduseittosellaproduct.Youdon'ttellsomeonethatyou'refatorphysicallychal-lenged,peopletakeoffenceatit,”

said Vinita Bhargava, AssociateProfessoratLadyIrwinCollege’sHuman Development andChildhood Studies department.Anadoptiveparent,sherunsthesupport group AlternativeParentingNetworkAssociation.Sakshee Bindal of The Gift

Maker, one of the companieswhose products are underscrutiny, toldThe IndianExpress,“We justwanted to play on thejoke, the intentionwasnever tohurt anyone. If people havefoundithurtful, Iwill takethemdown from the website rightnow.”Bhargava saidwhile raising

awarenessandboycottingarethefirst steps, parents and activistsalsowant government agenciestotakenoticeandintervene.

‘Insensitive’: Rakhi gifts with adoption jokes trigger protests

Man acquitted in hand-choppingcase among six arrested by NIA

KERALAGOLDSMUGGLINGCASE

KAMALDEEPSINGHBRARAMRITSAR,AUGUST2

AS THE toll in Punjab hoochtragedyreached104onSunday,it has emerged that the policewereunabletoconnectthelinksinsupplyof illicit liquor that ledtothedeaths,althoughakeyac-cused in the case was in theircustodysinceJuly9--at least21daysbefore the firstdeath.Officials said16deathswere

reported on Sunday from TarnTaran, Amritsar and Gurdaspurdistricts due to consumption ofthe illicit liquor that was al-legedly supplied by a networkrun by two brothers: RachpalSingh,aself-styledgodman,andGurpal Singh, fromDhotian vil-lageof TarnTaran.According topolice, Rachpal

is on the runbutGurpalwasar-rested in Phillaur on July 9with

nearly 4,000 litres of“chemical/spirit”. “He was es-corting a tanker carrying 19drums, each with 200 litres ofspirit. We also recovered fromGurpal'scartwocans,eachwith50litresofspirit,”apoliceofficersaid.The police acknowledged

that the first arrest in this chain

was recorded even earlier—ofJaswant Singh, an alleged asso-ciate of the brothers, onMay21--afterChiefMinisterAmarinderSingh ordered a crackdown ontheillegalliquortrade.Singhob-tainedbail later,andwasamong10 people who died after con-suming the illicit liquor inMuchhalvillage.

“The nexus could have beendetected with the arrest ofJaswantSingh.Butwecaninves-tigateonlyaccordingtolaw,"I-G(Border Range) Surinder PalSinghParmarsaid.Rachpal,accordingtothepo-

lice, runsaderaonthetombofaMuslimman.Hisfollowershaveposted a video on YouTube,claimingthatheis innocentandhasnothingtodowiththehoochdeaths.The brothers are said to be

well-connected,andusedtoor-ganiseabigculturaleventannu-ally in which a known Punjabisingerswouldperform,drawinga largecrowd.TheSHOofSarhalipolicesta-

tion said 17 cases are registeredagainstRachpal andGurpal, thefirst dating back to 2002. TheFIRshavebeenregisteredunderdifferent crimes, including at-tempt tomurder, dealing with

fakecurrencyandexciseAct.Gurpal has now been

brought onproductionwarrantbyTarnTaranpolice for identifi-cation of people involved in theillegal country liquor racket.TheFIRregisteredatPhillaur

policestationonJuly9readsthatthepolicehadinformationaboutGurpal and his two men whowere bringing chemical fromRajpuratomakespuriousliquor.Describing the modus

operandi,theI-Gsaidtruckscar-ryingdenaturedspiritwouldbestoppedatsixorsevenidentifieddhabas,whoseownerscollectedhoochfromthetruckdriversandsold it to one Bhinda, a residentof Rajpura, and one Bittu, whocomesfromavillagenearBanur.The duo further supplied thespirit inAmritsarandsurround-ingareas,accordingtothepolice.Shiv Kumar, Inspector (CIA),

Phillaur, said, "They brought

spirit liquorfromRajpura.Truckdrivers transported it from dis-tilleries to bottling plants. Thisspirit was being stolen on theway and smuggled to differentparts of Punjab. Gurpal Singhwaspartof thisnexusforthelastone-and-a-half years. We ar-rested Gurpal and recoveredspiritliquor,whichcouldturnfa-tal if people consumed it. Wementioned that in FIR andbookedGurpalunderIPCSection328and420andExciseAct.”Section328involves10-year

jail termandbail is difficult un-der this, headded.Butthepolicedidnot invoke

Section328onJaswantSinghaf-ter arresting him on May 21,leading tohisbail."If thepolicehadproperlyin-

vestigated Jaswant Singh afterhis onMay 20 arrest the racketcouldhavebeenbusted then it-self," apoliceofficer said.

AAP’sBhagwantMannwithavictim’skin inTarnTaran. PTI

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,AUGUST2

A JOINT team of the UP SpecialTask Force (STF) and KanpurNagar police Sunday arrestedRam Singh alias Chhote LalYadav, an aide of slain gangsterVikasDubey, inconnectionwiththe deadly ambush on a policeteaminBikruvillage.According to police officers,

Yadav(35)wasnamedintheFIRregistered formurder, attemptto murder, rioting, voluntarilycausinghurtincommittingrob-beryandundertheCriminalLawAmendment Act in connectionwiththe incidentandtherewasabountyof Rs50,000onhim.Eightpolicemen, includinga

DSP,werekilled in theattack.“The accusedwas named in

the FIR and was directly in-volved in the attack on the po-lice team.HehadarewardofRs50,000 on him. With him, wehavearrested20people in con-nectionwith the case so far. Sixothers have been killed in en-counters since July 3 this year,”said Kanpur Nagar SP Rural,BrijeshKumarSrivastava.“Yadavhasalicenseddouble-

barreled gunwhichwe are try-ing to find,” said Srivastava,addingthatYadavwasacloseas-sociate of Dubey, themain ac-cused in the case pertaining totheattackonthepolice team.Dubeywas killed in a police

encounteron July11, adayafterhe was arrested in Ujjain,MadhyaPradesh.Police have saidDubey fired

at them from a weapon hesnatched from an officer afterthe vehicle inwhichhewasbe-ing taken toKanpuroverturnedonthehighway.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,AUGUST2

THE UTTAR Pradesh govern-mentonSundayrecommendedCBI investigation in the Kanpurabduction-murdercaseinwhichthe victim’s family had accusedthepoliceof facilitatingthepay-ment of ransom to the abduc-tors.“The state government has

decided to recommend CBI en-quiry for the incident in BarraKanpur on the request of thefamily,” a governmentspokespersonsaid.The police on Sunday said

SanjitYadav’sbodyhadnotbeenfound yet. The victim’smother,KusumaDevi,50,saidtheCBIin-quiry would notmeanmuch ifher son’sbodywasnot found.

Yadav,a27-year-oldpatholo-gistworkingas a lab technician,went missing on June 22. Thesame evening, his fatherChamanSinghlodgedamissingperson complaint at the Barrapolice station. The policechanged it to a case of kidnap-ping fourdays later.On July 24, the police ar-

rested five people, who had al-legedly killed Yadav on June 27,adayafterhe tried to flee.The body was allegedly

thrown in the Pandu river. Twodays later, the ransom call wasmade.

SanjitYadav’sbody isyet tobefound.

UP moots CBI probe intoKanpur kidnap-murder

Vikas Dubeyaide arrestedover policeambush case

VikasDubey

PUNJABHOOCHTOLLTOUCHES104

Copsdidn’t connect supply links despite key arrest

New Delhi

8WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

STRESS AND STRAINGradualpick-upandsignsofplateauingofeconomicactivityunderscoredifficultyof fiscalmanagement.It’salonghaulahead

THEFIRST-QUARTERDATAoncentralgovernmentaccounts,releasedbytheControllerGeneralofAccounts,underlinesthestressingovernmentfinancesstemming from the curtailment of economic activities during this period.Fourbroadtrendsemerge.First,attheaggregatelevel,theCentre’sgrosstaxrevenueshavecontractedbyalmostathirdascomparedtothesameperiod

lastyear,highlightingtheextentoftheeconomicshock.However,asthelockdownrestricti-onswereeased,andeconomicactivitypickedup,thepaceofcontractioningovernmentrev-enuesdidease.Second,withconsumptionpickingup,therecoveryinindirecttaxesduringthefirstquarterhasbeenfarswifterascomparedtothat indirect taxes.Third,despitethisshortfallintaxrevenues,centralgovernmentexpenditurehasgrowninlinewithwhatwasprojectedintheUnionbudget2020-21.Fourth,andmorecrucially, thegovernment’scap-italexpenditurehasgrownatamuchfasterpaceascomparedtoitsrevenueexpenditure.Attheaggregatelevel, theCentre’sgrosstaxrevenuescontractedbyastaggering32.6

percent intheApril-Junequarterof thecurrentfinancialyear.However,acloser lookre-veals that the pace of contraction easedwith each passingmonth. Tax revenues con-tractedby44. 3per cent inApril— the first fullmonthof the lockdown—easing there-afterto22.7percentinJune.Thedisaggregateddatashowsthatwhiledirectandindirecttaxes contractedby30.6per centand34.1per cent respectively, thepaceof contractionin indirect taxeshaseasedconsiderably. In fact, indirect taxes in Junewerealmostat thesame level as lastyear, driven inpartby risingexcise collectionsowing to thesteephikeindutiesonfuelproducts.Onthedirecttaxside,thecontractioninincometaxesbymorethan a third in the April-June quarter underlines the extent towhich the slowdown inactivitieshas impacted individual incomes.Similarly, the46percentcontraction incor-poratetaxrevenuesinJune—themonthofadvancetaxcollections—highlightsthegrimsituation for India Inc.On theotherhand,despite the subduedrevenues, theCentrehasmaintained itsexpenditure, especiallycapitalexpenditure,whichwasup40percent inthe first quarter, over the same period last year. In large part, this spurt was driven byhigherspendingbythedepartmentof foodandpublicdistributionandroadtransportandhighways.Governmentspendingonruraldevelopmentalsosawasurge,muchofwhichis likely tobeonaccountof the reliefmeasures toaddress the falloutof thecrisis.Thefirst-quarterdataongovernment financesbroadlyaffirmsthetrendof agradual

pickupintheeconomyfromthe lowsobservedinApril.However,witheconomicactiv-ity nowbeginning to showsome signs of plateauing, at lower levels, it underscores thedifficultyof fiscalmanagement. Reachingback topre-COVID levelswill depend in largepartonthesuccess incontainingthevirus,andonhoweconomicactivityshapesup,es-peciallywith the reimpositionof the lockdowninseveralpartsof thecountry.

ONE COUNTRY, ONE SYSTEMAssaultonHongKong'sautonomyisof apiecewithXi'sassertivenessathomeandexpansionismabroad

INTHEMONTH since China imposed the controversial national security law inHongKong—itclaimedthelegislationwasnecessarytoendthemonthsofdis-ruption caused by protests — the faultlines between the city and Beijing haveonly deepened. The elections to the city's government due in September havebeen postponed, ostensibly due to the COVID pandemic. However, given that

severalpro-democracycandidateswerebarredfromcontestingandotheractivistshavebeen arrested for online posts, the justificationwears thin. International opprobriumagainstthedecision,too,hasintensified.TheUShasimposedsanctionsonChinaandtheUK,Australia,CanadaandGermanyhavesuspendedextraditiontreatieswithHongKong.On the faceof it, itmayappear thatChinahasmore to losebyending the “onecoun-

try twosystems”, underwhichHongKongwasgoverned. It is this status thathasmadeitahubforfinancecapital, internationaltechnologygiantsandtheserviceindustry.TechgiantslikeFacebookandGoogle, forexample,canoperateinHongKong,whichhasbeenoutside the “Great Firewall”.Under thenewlaw, authorities canarrest andextradite fortrialandimprisonmenttomainlandChinacitizensofHongKongundervaguechargesin-cluding “secession, subversion, organisationandperpetrationof terrorist activities, andcollusionwith a foreign country orwith external elements to endanger national secu-rity”.However, theendof“onecountrytwosystems”isofapiecewithXiJinping'svisionfor China, and the ideological shift his tenure as head of the party-state hasmarked.China's aggression in the Indo-Pacific vis a vis India aswell as the ambitious strategic-economicexpansionismof theBelt andRoad Initiative, arepartof thesamepattern.Delhihas,asinthepast,beenreticentaboutcommentingonthespecialstatusofHong

Konganditsabrogation.RajivKumarChander,permanentrepresentativetotheUN,toldtheUNHRCthatDelhihasbeen“keepingaclosewatchondevelopments”.Giventhehis-toricalrolethattheIndiancommunityhasplayedinHongKong'smodernisation,aswellthesignificant Indian-originpopulationandworkers intheservicesectorthere, itmightbetimetoconsideracarefullycalibratedengagementwiththecity'snewandunfoldingreality.With the heavyhandof the Chinese state looming, both finance capital and tal-ent intheservicesectorarebeginningtomoveoutofHongKong.Delhihaslargelyfailedtotakeadvantageoftheshift inglobalmanufacturingoutofChina, losingouttocountrieslikeVietnam.ItcouldpartiallymakeupforthatbytryingtoattractthosefromHongKonglooking fora freesocietyandeconomy.

Doing it together

Vikram SMehta

Pandemichasdrivenhomeneedforcollaborations inpublicpolicybetweenexpertsandadministrators

THIS ISNOTan article onCOVID. But it doesdraw onmy impressions of themanner inwhichCOVIDhasbeenhandledoverthelastsixmonthstoreflectontheformulationandimplementationofpublicpolicy.COVID caught every public authority by

surprise.Noonewasprepared for thespeedofitsdiffusion,thevirulenceofitsimpact,the“knownunknowns” of its duration and theethicalconundrumsraisedbythedebateover“lives”and“livelihoods”.TheinitialresponseoftheIndianauthoritieswasswiftandsurgi-cal— a national lockdown following a four-hournotice—butthereafter,thepoliciesweremadeon thehoof, understandableperhaps,given the nature of the raging virus, thespreadofpoor,at timesmisleadingdataanddeepeningpublicanxiety.The results have beenmixed. Some au-

thorities were relatively successful, othersclearly lostcontrol.Thisraisesthequestion:Aretherefactors

beyond the state of the public health infra-structure and themedical advice to “test,trace and isolate” that explain these differ-ences in results? What lessons does theCOVID experience offer the practitioners ofpublicpolicy?Withthebenefitofsixmonths’hindsight,

I discern twopublic policy related learningsandofferonesuggestion.One,governmentscannotmanagesucha

crisisontheirown.Theydonothavethetools—technical,scientific,eveninstitutional—totacklesuchinvisibleblackswanoccurrences.Theyneedthesupportofoutsiders.Thepar-adox is that at a timewhenpopulist leadersare hunkering down behind protectionistwalls,corporatesaredecouplingtheirsupplychains andnationalismhas become the by-wordofglobalgeopolitics,COVIDhasbroughtinto sharp focus the importance of collabo-ration and partnerships. It has compelledeventhemostnativistofpoliticianstoacceptthat the fightagainst thisviruscanonlysuc-ceed if talent and intellectual property arefree-flowing and fungible, the distributionchainislinkedandseamless(imaginethelo-gisticalhurdlesof tryingtovaccinatebillions

in theabsenceof sucha link)andthewedgedividingtheworld is loosened.Two,successinmanagingsuchacrisisde-

pends on disentangling policy formulationfrompolicyimplementation.Thetwoare,nodoubt,connectedbuttheymustbelookedatthroughdifferent lenses. Policy formulationrequiresanunderstandingofthenatureoftheproblem, the development of options, therisks associatedwitheachoptionand thenadecisiononthepreferredpathway.Policyim-plementation,ontheotherhand,mustgetintotheweeds.Itrequiresacomprehensionofthelocalcontext,theevaluationofthecapacitytodeliver,theidentificationoftheobstaclesandthe steps needed to remove them. GivenIndia’s diversity, a policy framed inDelhi bytheCentrewillseldombefitforimplementa-tionacrossthecountry.Atmost,itcanprovideaframeworkforlocalleaderstouseincraftinga contextualised implementation plan. Thepastfewmonthshaveshownthattheleadersempoweredtoimplementpolicywithouthin-drancewere relativelymore successful thanthoseshackledbythedistractionof intrusivebureaucratic oversight, political pressures tomeettargetswithregardtotesting,availabil-ity of beds anddispensationof PPEs and theoneswhowereinsensitivetolocal factors.Iwas,foraverybriefperiod,intheIAS.But

itwas longenoughtogivemeaninsight intotheroleofthe“giftedgeneralist”andtheenor-mous value they bring to public policy. I usetheword “generalist” judiciously. It is not tosuggestthatcivilservantsdonothaveprofes-sional qualifications. In fact, an increasingnumber are doctors, lawyers, scientists, ac-countantsandengineers.Itismerelytomakethe point that during the course of their ca-reer,civilservantsareseldomrequiredtodrawontheirprofessionalexpertiseandsotothatextent, theycanberegardedas“generalists”.Iwasalso,foralongerperiod,withamulti-

national energy companywhere themajor-ity ofmy colleagues could be categorised as“talented specialists” — peoplewho spentmostoftheirworkinglifefocusedontheirpar-ticulardomainof expertise.What struckmewasthetransformationalpublicpolicyimpact

oftheirwork.Thereductioninthecostofbat-teries and solar panels that have today en-hanced the likelihoodof adecarbonisedandcleanenergyfuture,whichowesmuchtotheworkof thesespecialists, isacaseinpoint.Isharethesepersonalreflectionsbecause

Ibelievepublicpolicyplatformsshouldnowbebuiltonthepillarsof institutionalisedcol-laborationbetween the “generalist” and the“talentedspecialist”.The notion of lateral entrants into the

realmofpublicpolicyisnotoriginal. It ispartofthefabricofgovernanceinmanycountries.InIndia,however,whilsttherearesomehigh-profilecasesof lateralentrantswhohavelefttheirimprintonpublicpolicy,theprocesshasfounderedontherockofvestedinterestsandbureaucratic inertia. Most lateral entrantshaveoperatedonthesidelinesofpolicy.Thesesystemic blockers are known, and they arenot easy to overcome. A suggestion aroundthissubject,therefore,willonlyacquiretrac-tion if it is incremental and falls within theexisting frameworkofpolicy formulation.Withthiscaveatinmindbutwiththecon-

viction that governments—buffeted by theinvisibleramificationsofthedisruptionstrig-gered by technology,materialism and envi-ronmental imbalanceandfacing limitationsof capacity and skill — need a collaborativepublic policymodel of governance, I wouldsuggest that our PM contemplate creatingpolicycouncilsforsubjectsthatrequireamixof administrativeandpoliticalguidanceandmultidisciplinarytechnicalandspecialistin-puts. I have inmind specifically, energy, en-vironment, water, food and health. Eachcouncil shouldbe chairedbya cabinet-levelauthority. Membership should comprise amixofcivilservantsandfull-timedomainex-perts. Thepurposeshouldbeto frameapol-icyandtomonitoritsimplementationbylineministries.Aparallelcouncilwithasimilarlyblendedmix should be set upwith individ-ual states to take into account local factors,and inthespiritof cooperative federalism.

Thewriter isChairmanandSeniorFellow,Brookings India

I would suggest that our PMcontemplate creating policycouncils for subjects thatrequire a mix ofadministrative and politicalguidance andmultidisciplinary technicaland specialist inputs. I havein mind specifically, energy,environment, water, foodand health. Each councilshould be chaired by acabinet-level authority.Membership shouldcomprise a mix of civilservants and full-timedomain experts. Thepurpose should be to frame apolicy and to monitor itsimplementation by the lineministries.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

WORDLYWISENever spendyourmoneybeforeyouhave it.

— THOMAS JEFFERSONTHEEDITORIALPAGE

Freeze Frame E P Unny

Bornali Bhandari, Santanu Pramanik and SonaldeDesai

MISSING THE TARGETPM-KISANisnot reachingall farmerhouseholdsas intended

THE PRADHAN MANTRI Kisan SammanNidhi(PM-KISAN)isthefirstuniversalbasicincome-type of scheme targeted towardslanded farmers. It was introduced inDecember 2018 to manage agriculturalstress. Initially, the schemewas targeted atsmallandmediumlandedfarmers,butwiththedeclininggrowthingrossvalueaddedoftheagriculturalsector, itwasextendedtoallfarmers inMay2019.TheUnionbudgethadallocated Rs 75,000 crore to this scheme in2020-21.PM-KISAN is a useful vehicle to provide

supporttofarmersduringthelockdownanditwas includedinthePradhanMantriGaribKalyan Package andonMarch28 itwas an-nouncedRs2,000(outofRs6,000)wouldbefront-loaded to 8.7 crore farmers betweenApril-June. But, was this a usefulway of re-lieving distress during the lockdown?DatafromtheDelhi-NCRCoronavirusTelephoneSurveyRound3(DCVTS-3)conductedbytheNCAERNational Data Innovation Centre inmid-Juneprovides someuseful insights.The target geographical area for DCVTS

is theDelhi-NCR. TheDCVTS-3 included52percent rural and48percenturbanhouse-holds fromHaryana, Delhi, Rajasthan andUttar Pradesh. The survey offers a holisticperspective to understand the extent of in-come lossof farmhouseholds, their experi-enceofhardshipandtheroleofPM-KISANinalleviatingtheirsufferingduringApril-June.Outofthe3,466householdsinthesample,18percentreportedcultivationastheprimarysourceof household income.The survey records a somewhat lower

level of economic distress among farmersthan among other groups. While farmersfacedsomelogisticalchallengesintransport-ing and selling their produce, 97per cent ofthem continued to harvest rabi crops andpreparedforthekharifseason.Nearly75percent of the cultivators who usually hirelabourers for agricultural activities contin-uedtodoso.As a result, farmerswere relatively im-

mune to the economic impact of the lock-down.About32percentofthemexperiencedlarge income losses in themonth of May,which ismuch lower compared to the pro-portionamongcasualwageworkers (73percent)andbusinesshouseholds(70percent).About 20 per cent of farm households re-portednoreduction intheir incomeinMay.Theproportionofhouseholdsthathadto

borrowtomeet their day-to-dayconsump-tion needs during the lockdownwas rela-tivelylowforthefarmers(34percent)com-pared to casualwageworkers andbusinesshouseholds.While7percentof farmhouse-holdssufferedfromoccasionalunavailabilityof foodduringthelockdown,thisfigurewasmuchhigherforcasualworkers(24percent)andbusinesshouseholds (14percent).In themonths of April andMay, 21 per

cent of 632 farmhouseholds received cashtransfersthroughPM-KISAN.Amongthere-cipients,aroundtwo-thirdsreportedreceiv-ingRs 2,000 and about a fourth receivedRs4,000 in April andMay combined, possiblybecause familymembers engaged in agri-culturalactivitiesmaybeco-residingwithinahousehold.

On thewhole, when compared to non-recipientsofPM-KISAN(includingbothfarmand non-farm households), these house-holdsexhibitedlowersignsofeconomicdis-tress. About 35 per cent of rural PM-KISANrecipients suffered income losses to a largeextent in comparison tomore than half ofthenon-recipients.Alittlemorethanathirdof PM-KISAN recipients borrowedmoneyduring this period as against 48 per cent ofnon-recipients.However, thesehouseholdswere somewhat better off than the generalrural population evenbefore receiving PM-KISAN benefits. Thus, their relative immu-nity to the income shockmay not be solelydue toPM-KISAN.Twoaspectsof this schemepresentpar-

ticular challenges. First, PM-KISAN is notreachingall farmerhouseholdsas intended.Most of the farmers in UP, Haryana andRajasthanownlandandshouldbereceivingbenefits. Butonly21per centof the cultiva-torsinterviewedreportedreceivingtheben-efit. The exclusion is greater in UP than inHaryanaandRajasthan.Second,thisschemeisnotpro-poorsincerecipientsofPM-KISANseemedtobebetteroff than thegeneral ru-ral population even before the lockdown.GiventhisuncertaintyoverthereachofPM-KISANandits targeting, therelevanceof theschemeneedstobecarefullyevaluateddur-ing thisperiod.

BhandariandPramanikare senior fellowsatNCAER,Desai isa jointprofessoratNCAER

andUniversityofMaryland.Viewsarepersonal

On the whole, whencompared to non-recipientsof PM-KISAN (includingboth farm and non-farmhouseholds), thesehouseholds exhibited lowersigns of economic distress.About 35 per cent of ruralPM-KISAN recipientssuffered income losses to alarge extent in comparison tomore than half of the non-recipients.

ASSAM ACCORDTHEASSAMAGITATIONISTSandthegovern-ment at midnight simultaneously imple-mented the termsof the July25accordwithminormodifications and decided to hold apreliminarynegotiationonthe“foreigners’is-sue” at Imphal onAugust 11. The accord en-visagedwithdrawal of the 10-month-oldmovement lifting of all kinds of economicblockades except that on crude. Thegovern-ment, on its part, revoked the twonotifica-tions under theAssamDisturbedAreas Act,1955 and the Armed Forces Special PowersAct,1958.Italsoorderedthereleaseof77pre-ventivedetenues,re-instated20governmentemployees and revoked the collective fines

imposedonvillagesandsuburbs.

REDDY’S SUCCESSORCONGRESS-I LEADERS INDelhi are holdingcrucialbutinformaldiscussionswithAndhraministersandMPsabout findingasuccessorfor Andhra CMMChenna Reddy. t is learntthattwoorthreenameshavebeensuggestedtoMrsIndiraGandhibyAndhraministersandothers. But she ismaintaining complete si-lence, pending the resolution of the crisis inthe Andhra party unit.While giving a freshleaseofofficetoReddy,thehighcommandisunderstood to havemade it clear that this isonlya"temporaryaccommodation".Thoughstrivingtomaintainpartyunity,thehighcom-

mandcannotignorethestrongfeelingamongstateCongressmenregardingReddy'sstyleoffunctioning.

SOVIETS INTERFERETHERULING PEOPLE'S Democratic Party ofAfghanistan has become so deeply dividedthatthetopSovietleadershiphasintervenedtotryandstopthefactionfighting,accordingto reports reachingNewDelhi. Afghanistanhas two communist parties -- ParchamandKhalq.Botharepro-Soviet.Parchamisurban-based and elitist, Khalq is rural oriented andfavoursclassstruggleandahardline.DespitetheSoviets'bestefforts,thetwohavenotbeenabletoputtheirdifferencesaside.

AUGUST 3, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

New Delhi

9THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“Make adjustment earlier, join hands with China, and the global fight againstthe COVID-19 will take a new look immediately. This will be good for everyone,and a plus to the Trump administration.” —GLOBALTIMES,CHINATHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

The bottom line is that theeconomic reforms launchedin the country in 1991, withchanges in trade andindustrial policies, had onlylimited success in thesestates of Eastern India. Thishad to do with large familysizes in these states while theagricultural holdings wereextremely small. India, beinga vibrant democracy, cannotenforce a one-child policy toovercome its populationproblem. We mustremember that SanjayGandhi’s forced sterilisationdrive was a major reason forher mother losing politicalpower. The only way out forIndia, therefore, is a massiveeducation drive, especiallydirected towardsthe girl child

Poll amid pandemicSriLanka’sparliamentaryelectionswillholdlessonsforIndia's

ElectionCommissionaheadofBiharpolls

AFTER SUCCESSFULLY CONTAINING thespreadofCOVI-19,SriLankaissettoholdpar-liamentaryelectionsonAugust5. Theelec-tionswill be held for 196 legislative seats,alongwith 29 seats that are proportionallydistributed between the political partiesbasedontheirnationalvoteshare.In linewiththe19thamendmentof the

country's constitution, whichmandatedcompletion of aminimumperiod of four-and-a-half yearsof theparliamentary termtoavoidarbitrarydissolutionsby thepresi-dent, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dis-solvedparliamentandcalledforgeneralelec-tions as soon as this time period wascompleted.Oppositionpartiesandcivilsoci-ety filed several petitions in the supremecourtagainsthisdecision.TheCourtrejectedthepetitionsandtheelectionsweresched-uledtoforApril25.ButthepandemicforcedSriLanka’sElectionCommissiontopostponethe elections to June 20— twoweeks pastthecompletionof threemonths,adeadlineprovidedintheArticle70(5)oftheconstitu-tion,whichmandatesthatthenewlyelectedparliamentmustmeetwithinthreemonthsof the proclamation of dissolution by thepresident.Despiteanuproaragainstthesus-pected constitutional crisis, the EC, consid-ering the entailing health risks due to thepandemic,postponedtheelectionstoAugust5.To prevent the upcoming elections be-

coming a public health hazard, the EC hasbeenholdingmock elections. Additionally,theSriLankangovernmenthasissuedhealthguidelinesthatincludelimitingthenumberof people engaged in door-to-door cam-paigningtofivepeople.Only300participantsareallowedtoattendmeetings—whichcanbeincreasedto500ifapartyleaderisattend-ing it. All the participants are tomaintainone-metredistanceandjudiciouslyusehandsanitisers,masks and gloves. This is, how-ever, awatered-downversionof theguide-lines suggested by theMinistry of Health.TheMoHguidelines also called for amini-mumnumber of people in polling boothswithseparateentryandexitpoints,provid-ing PPE kits to election officers in pollingbooths in quarantine centres, and allowingvoterswithfevertovisitthepollingstationstowardstheendof thevotingprocess.Though the EC has been increasingly

waryofthepandemicsituationunfoldinginthecountry, ithaschosennot toextendtheprovisionofpostalvotingtosectionsvulner-abletoCOVID-19.Likeearlierelections,postalvotinghasbeenlimitedtopublicofficialsas-signed to electoral duty. This is contrary tothepracticeamongstseveralcountries thatareholdingelectionsduring thepandemic.EvenIndia,whichofferedtheprovisiononlytoarmedforcesandseniorcitizensabovetheageof80years,hasallowedpeopleinfectedwith COVID-19 or in home quarantine toavail thisoptionintheBiharelections.The provision of an absentee ballot en-

sureslesscrowdingatpollingcentres,whichin turn, reduces the risk of voters and elec-tion staff contracting the virus. In addition,itwouldensuremaximumparticipation inpolling. For instance, SouthKorea,with thehelpofpostalvotingandscatteredvotertim-ings, recorded its highest voter turnout of66.2percentin28yearsinitsrecentnationalelections.Similarly,Polandprovidedtheop-tionof in-personvotingandpostalvotinginthe presidential elections andwitnessed arecord voter turnout (64.5 per cent) in thefirstroundsince1995.Besidescrowdcontrolatvotingcentres,

Sri Lanka’s EC is facedwith several imple-mentation problems.With the pandemic,thecampaigninghas shifted toonlineplat-forms. Though it is a safer option, electionmanagementbodiesacross theworldhaveconsistently struggled in reining in fakenews,hatespeechandtargetedpoliticalad-vertisements on online platforms. For SriLanka,inparticular,theabsenceofcampaignfinance lawswould further exacerbate theproblem.Moreover, due to the restrictedcontactwithvoters,politicalpartiesarelikelyto use their affiliations to privatemedia tofloatbiasednewswithoutanyinhibitionbe-causeoftheEC’sinabilitytomonitortheon-linespace.TheECwouldalsohavetokeepincheck

itsexpenses.Itisnotasecretthateveryelec-toralmanagement body is financially chal-lenged, which would be further com-poundedwithadditionalresponsibilitiesofstocking safety equipment and increasedpollingstaffandcentres.SriLankaawaitsanimpendingrecession.Withlimitedfundsatitsdisposal,theEChastoconductafool-proofelection.ForsuccessfullymanagingtheCOVID-19

pandemic, the incumbent primeminister,MahindaRajapaksa, has a better chance inthe parliamentary elections. Amajority inparliamentwill help President Gotabayapush througha constitutional amendmentto strengthen his powers. The brothers’“commitment”topublichealthwasevidentwhen their party, the Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna,cancelledtheircampaigns,citingthe sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 patients. The decision has earned themsomebrowniepointswiththevoters.Thepoll outcome, coming in theback-

dropof India-Chinatensions,willbecloselywatched in NewDelhi. During the presi-dential term of Mahinda Rajapaksa, SriLankahadgrownclosertoChina.Now,un-der President Gotabaya Rajapaksa,Colombo is rethinking the East ContainerTerminal project since India has kept SriLanka’s request on debt freeze hanging.With China increasing its presence in theneighbourhood, Indiawouldwanttoforgoitsunpopularmasculine“bigbrother”atti-tudeandfosteritspositionasagentlehelp-inghandtoSri Lanka.In the end, the elections in Sri Lanka

would be of particular interest to ElectionCommissionof India,which ispreparing it-self forBiharAssemblypollsandisdrawinglessonsfromcountriesthathaveconductedelectionsduringthepandemic.Sofar,SouthKoreahasbeenthetemplate.SriLankamayprovidesomemoreinsights.

Quraishi isaformerchiefelectioncommissionerofIndiaandtheauthorofAnUndocumentedWonder—TheMakingof

theGreatIndianElection

THEWAY THE disengagement of Chinesetroops is taking place at the Ladakh border,one thing is clear: India is in for a long haul.The bonhomie between Prime MinisterNarendraModi and Chinese President XiJinping seems to be over.While addressingsoldiersattheGalwanValley,PMModiclearlysaidthatIndiaknowstolookintheeyesoftheenemy and stand up to safeguard its sover-eignty.Buthowdowedothat?Substantialin-creaseindefenceexpenditureforthenextfiveto 10 years seems inevitable, if India is tomatchChina’smilitarymight.Withour lim-itedresourcesthatcouldbeadauntingtask.TostanduptoChina, Indianeedsto learn

howourneighbourbecameasuperpower. Itiswell-knownthatChina’spercapitaincomein1978wasevenlowerthanthatofIndia,buttoday it is almost five times higher. It is thistransformation that has made China theworld’s second superpower. Althougheverycountry has to find its ownways to achieveeconomicgrowth, it is alwaysuseful to learnathingortwofromtheexperiencesofothers.China ushered in economic reforms in

1978,startingwithmajorchanges inagricul-ture. It dismantled the commune system inlandholdingsandestablishedahouseholdre-sponsibility system, and, by and large, freedagricultural prices fromcontrols. This led toan agri-GDPgrowthof 7.1 per cent between1978 and 1984. The real income of farmersgrewataboutdoublethisrate.Thiscreatedahugedemand for industrial products, creat-ingademandbasefora long-termmanufac-turing revolution that beganwith townandvillage enterprises. Chinese agriculture has

grown at 4.5 per cent per annumbetween1978and2018.Focus on agriculture during the initial

yearsof China’s economic reformshas tobeviewed against the backdrop of what hap-pened during the “Great Leap Forward”(1958-62)ofMaoZedong.Itcoincidedwithafaminethatclaimedabout30millionlives—perhaps, thegreatest human tragedy inhis-tory. A somewhat less known fact is thatwhen China initiated reforms, it also intro-ducedaonechildpolicy.Thepolicythatwasintroduced in 1979 continued till 2015. As aresult, China’s average family size, 4.84 in1971, dropped to3.96 in1990, to 3.1 in2010andstoodat3.03 in2017.Incontrast, lookat thesizeof theaverage

Indianhousehold. Itwas 4.8 as per the 2011Census, almost the same as that of China in1971. Uttar Pradesh had the largest averagefamily size of sixmembers. The figures forBihar(5.5)andJharkhand(5.3)werealsowellabovetheAllIndiafigureandofcourse,muchhigherthanthatofChinain2017.Nowonder,Bihar, UP and Jharkhandhad the lowest percapita incomesamongstthecountry’smajorstates in the trienniumending (TE) 2017-18(at constant 2011-12 prices). Their growthrates during TE 2002-03 to TE 2017-18 re-mained below the all India annual average(see graph). The largestmigration of rurallabour toMaharashtra, Gujarat and Delhitakesplacefromthesestates—thepandemichasexposedthemiserablestateof thecoun-try’smigrant labour.The bottom line is that the economic re-

forms launched in the country in 1991,withchanges in trade and industrial policies, hadonlylimitedsuccessinthesestatesofEasternIndia.Thishadtodowithlargefamilysizesinthese stateswhile the agricultural holdingswere extremely small. India, being a vibrantdemocracy,cannotenforceaone-childpolicytoovercomeitspopulationproblem.WemustrememberthatSanjayGandhi’sforcedsteril-isationdrivewasamajorreasonforhismotherlosing political power. The onlyway out forIndia, therefore, isamassiveeducationdrive,

especiallydirectedtowardsthegirlchild—lib-eral scholarships shouldbeakeypart of thisproject.That bringsme back to the question of

overall resources. TheNewEducationPolicy,announcedlastweek,talksofincreasingover-allexpenditureoneducationasapercentageofGDP,butit’salmostsilentoneducatingpeo-pleaboutpopulationcontrol. Italsodoesnotmentionhow the government plans tomo-biliseresources.ThePrimeMinister’sGaribKalyanRojgar

Yojana focusing on providing 125 days em-ploymenttomigrantworkersin116districtsis commendable as a short-term relief pro-gramme. It has allocated Rs 50,000 crore,spreadover25activitiesdrawnfromvariousongoingschemes.Butthereisnomediumtolong-term plan formassive infusion of de-velopment funds for the laggard states ofBihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, MadhyaPradesh,Chhattisgarh,Odisha,WestBengal,Assam and the other north-eastern states.Thesestates lagbehindtheall Indiaaverageon developmental indicators. India needs apackagefor theeasternbelt to thetuneof atleastRs15lakhcroreforthenextthreetofiveyears to improve basic infrastructure ofhealth,education(includingpopulationcon-trol), housing, roads, power andwater. Thissustained investment planwill create jobsand development. It has to be steered bypublic expenditure. The private sector canalsoberopedintochanneltheirCSRfundsinwell-designedschemes.Financing such amega investment plan

requireschangingthecultureofdoles.Therearemassive subsidies on food, fertilisers,powersector,andinfundingrecurrentlossesofseveralpublicenterprises,bothattheCentreandthestates.Majorrationalisationandprun-ingof thesesubsidiescangoa longwayin fi-nancingadevelopmentplanforeasternIndiaaswell as the newdemands for reinforcingdefence in thewake of Chinese aggression.CanIndiadothat?Onlytimewill tell.

Gulati is InfosysChairProfessor forAgricultureat ICRIER

POLICY AND MORETHISREFERSTOthearticle, 'EducatingIndia', (IE, July31).Theneweducationpolicy has led to discussions over itsevery clause and section throughoutthe country. The responsibility ofproper execution lies in the hands ofevery citizenwhobelieves in shapingthe future. Setting up foreign univer-sities requires infrastructure and anenvironmentwhere suchuniversitiescaninvest timeandenergy.Vocationaltraininghastobegivenfromthegrass-root level so that it addresses the un-employment challenge. A four yearundergraduate programme can onlywork only when students are givenample employment options.

Chandravir Singh,Agra

WHERE IS THE MONEY?THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Newpolicy, old test’ (IE, July 31). The NEPdocumentproposes6percentofGDPfor education. This has been a prom-isefor40years.Thispolicyalsorepeatsthat target. But the key question is:Where will the money come from?The government should provide aroadmap of how it plans to go aboutgetting funds for education.

SuchakDPatel,Ahmedabad

MOTHER TONGUESTHIS REFERS TO the report, "Forschools, 'low stake' boards, cut in syl-labus" (IE, July 30). By envisaging pri-mary education in mother tongue,

NewEducationPolicy recognises thatchildren have the cognitive ability tograsplanguagesmostquicklybetweentwo to eight years of age. Preservinglocal languages will help safeguardIndia’sculturalandlinguisticdiversity.

DimpyBhatia,Delhi

DOGS AND PEOPLETHISREFERSTOthearticle, 'Somedogfacts' (IE, July31).TheABCprogrammeis themost potent way to control thespreadof rabies.Onemajor reasonforits failure is lack of support frompeo-ple. Some people hide stray dogs intheir homeswhenmunicipal officerscome to take them for sterilisation.ABCwon’tbesuccessful tillpeoplearesensitised about the issue.

HarshilMehta,Ahmedabad

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

ANASTOUNDING34yearssinceitseducationpolicywas last revised, India is again at thecuspofagloriousandhistoricreformwiththeannouncement of the National EducationPolicy (NEP) 2020. Timely and progressive,NEPmarks amonumental development inthe country’s education system. In fact, thedocument, iteratedover the last fewyears, isanodetotheidealsofpublicpolicy, factoringinvoicesofeverystakeholder—fromexpertsto teachers and the commonman. It is in-formedby insights from2.5 lakh grampan-chayatsacrossthecountry.Whiletheagendaforsystemicreformhas

gainedgroundinrecentyears throughinitia-tivessuchastheNITIAayog'sSchoolEducationQuality Index (SEQI), the SustainableActionforTransformingHumanCapitalinEducation(SATH-E) andeven theAspirationalDistrictsprogramme,NEPwill drive transformationalchange in alignmentwith the system’sneedtofocusholisticallyonthecriticaltenetsofac-cess, equity, infrastructure, governance andlearning.Advocatingforward-thinkingandco-gentreform,NEP2020isanamalgamationofneed-basedpolicy,cutting-edgeresearchandbestpractices,pavingthewayforNewIndiaFirst,with an extensive focus on univer-

salisingaccessfromearlychildhoodtohighereducation,integratingovertwocroreout-of-schoolchildren,andconcertedeffortsdirectedatsocio-economicallydisadvantagedgroups,thepolicyensureslast-miledelivery,embody-ing “antyodaya”. Second, through a conver-gence of efforts and erasing traditional silos

inworkflows,earlychildhoodcareandeduca-tionwillbedeliveredthroughanewcurricu-lumaswellasaplay-andactivity-basedped-agogy. Along with a dedicated nationalmissionforfoundationalliteracyandnumer-acy, NEP2020will be significant for bolster-ingthemostcriticalphasesoflearning,build-ingastrongfoundationforeducation.Third,NEPmarksadeparturefromarchaic

practices andpedagogy. The dismantling ofthe rigid distinction between curricular, ex-tra-curricular and co-curricular subjects inschool, and the provision ofmultiple entryand exit options in higher education givesmuch-needed flexibility to students tohonetheir skills and interests. Revamped curricu-lum,adulteducation,lifelonglearningandthevisiontoensurethathalfourlearnershaveex-posure to at least one vocational skill in thenextfiveyearsischaracteristicoftheshiftfromrote to applied learning. Through a skill gapanalysis, practise-based curriculumand in-ternshipswith local vocational experts, NEP2020’s “Lok Vidya”, echoes the PrimeMinister’sclarioncallofbeing“VocalforLocal”.Fourth,withtheNITIAayog’smandateto

facilitate evidence-based policy, there is astrong belief in the fact that what can’t bemeasured can’t be improved. Till date, Indialacks a comprehensive system for regular,credible and comparable assessments oflearningoutcomes.Itishearteningtoseetheestablishment of a National AssessmentCentre called PARAKH (National Centre forPerformance Assessment, Review and

Analysis of Knowledge forHolistic develop-ment)comingto fruition.Continuoustrack-ingoflearning,flexibleboardexams,concep-tual assessments and AI-enabled datasystemswillbecriticaltoorientingtheentireorganisation around outcomes (as opposedto the traditional excessive focuson inputs),providingasystems-healthcheck,aswellassteering the right reform and requisitecourse-corrections.Fifth,teachereducationisreimaginedwith

acomprehensivecurricularframework,mul-tidisciplinaryprogrammes and stringent ac-tionagainst substandard institutions.Drivenby SEQI’s vision for teacher adequacy andtransparentsystemsformerit-basedselectionanddeployment, online systems for teachertransfers and planningwill ensure that therightteachersareintherightinstitutes.Sixth, the creation of an academic credit

bank,theimpetustoresearch,gradedauton-omy, internationalisation and the develop-ment of special economic zones are vital torebrandingIndiaasthehighereducationdes-tination.Further,multilingualeducationandefforts to enhance the knowledge of Indiacould restore the country’s educational her-itage from the glory days of Takshashila andNalanda— creating a system that’smodernyetrooted.Seventh, NEPmarks an overhaul of the

governance architecture fromonebased onoverregulation and complex and disparatenorms to a simplified and cogent structure.School complexes and clusters will bring

about efficient resourcing of delivery struc-tures, common standards and normswillboostthequalityofinstitutesacrossalllevels,asingleregulatorybodyforhighereducationwillserveasatemplateforminimal,essentialregulation andmaximum, effective gover-nance.Outcomes-focused accreditationwillbe critical to leapfrogging India’s journey to-wardsqualityeducation—the fourthgoalofsustainabledevelopment.NEP 2020 is a step in the right direction,

signallingthe“newnormal”ineducationwithits focus on critical thinking, experientiallearning, interactive classrooms, integratedpedagogyandcompetency-basededucation.Inclusivedigitaleducationfeaturesasacross-cuttingcomponentthroughoutallreformar-eas, powering India’s journey towards thefourthindustrialrevolution.It’strulyamulti-facetedpolicymadeinIndia,byIndiaandforIndia—therightbalanceofautonomyanddi-rection. Contextualising its reformelementswillbekey.Aswith every policy, the real test of NEP

willbetranslatingittoaction.Backedbyexpe-ditiousandeffectiveimplementationinsyncwithitsspirit,NEPcouldshapethelivesofourfuturegenerations. Througha robust educa-tionsystem,leveragingthefullpotentialofitsdemographic dividend, India has taken a gi-antleaptowardsestablishingitselfasaknowl-edgesuperpower.

Thewriter isCEO,NITIAayog.Viewsarepersonal

EducationpolicyreformwillhelpIndialeverageitsdemographicdividend

Apedagogy for New India

AmitabhKant

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●● WHYSHASHITHAROORISWRONG:NSAIBALAJI

●●STRAYSDESERVEOURKINDNESS:GAURIPURI

www.indianexpress.com

S YQuraishi

Itwill requirenotonlymatching itsmilitarymightbutalso itseconomicprowess.For that Indianeeds to invest inhumanresources, changesubsidyculture

Standing up to China

byAshokGulatiFROM PLATE TO PLOUGH

CR Sasikumar

PerCaoutaN

SDP(in000`)

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

GRAPH 1: PERCAPITA INCOME (PCNSDP) ANDANNUAL AVERAGEGROWTHOFPCNSDPAT2011-12 CONSTANTPRICES (2000-01 TO2017-18)

Annualaveragegrowthrate(%)9.0

8.07.0

6.0

5.0

4.03.0

2.0

1.00.0

148

137

132

132

130

129

122

121

106

98

83

71 65 65

62

61 54 52 49 39

26

All-Indiaaverageannualgrowthrate5.3%

■TE2002-03 ■TE2017-18 ■ Averaggrowthrate Source:CentralStatisticalOrganisation

Haryana

Uttarakhand

Maharashtra

Gujarat

Karnataka

Kerala

TamilNadu

Himachal

Pradesh

Punjab

Andhra

Pradesh

All-India

Rajasthan

Chhattisgarh

Odisha

J&K

WestBengal

Assam

Madhya

Pradesh

Jharkhand

UttarPradesh

Bihar

New Delhi

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

1,750,723India

309,437Iran

434,193Mexico

306,315United Kingdom

357,658Chile

503,290South Africa

4,635,279US

2,707,877Brazil

342,077Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 17,833,658 DEATHCOUNT:679,435

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonAugust2. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealthMinistry’stally(below)maynotmatchiftheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD849,277Russia

HARISHDAMODARANNEWDELHI,AUGUST2

TOSAYagricultureisroaringmaybeanexag-geration, but it is definitely one sectorwherethings are closest to business-as-usual in to-day’sCovid-ravagedIndianeconomy.One indicator of that is sowings. Farmers

have in the current kharif (monsoon) seasonso far planted13.9%more area compared tolast year’s coverage at this time.Moreover,acreagesarehigherinallmajorcrops,barringjute(Table1).Theincreasedplantingshavebeenlargely

duetoanormalsouthwestmonsoon,withtheall-India area-weighted rainfall during June-July,at453.3mm,marginallyabovethelong-period average of 452.2mm for these twomonths.Thesameperiodlastyear,bycontrast,recorded412.3mmrain—an8.8%shortfall.A second indicator of agricultural opera-

tionsgoingonunhinderedissaleof fertiliserstofarmers.Julymarkedtheninthconsecutivemonth of it registering double-digit growth(Table2).That, again, has a strong correlationwith

themonsoon. Last year, rainfallwas 32%be-lownormal in Juneand the cumulativedefi-ciency remainedat 18.6% till July 24. A spec-tacular recovery followed thereafter and themonsoonseasonasawhole(June-September)endedupwith10.4%surplusprecipitation.Butthemainkharif sowingwindowwasalreadyoverbythen.Thebenefitsfromthemonsoon’ssecond-half turnaround, leading to a signifi-cantrechargingofgroundwatertablesandfill-ingofdamreservoirs,werereapedonlyintherabi (winter-spring) cropping season. Rabiplantingswentup9.5%overthepreviousyearanditwasalsoreflectedinfertilisersalesfromNovember.

Trends carried forwardTheongoingkharif isbasicallyacontinua-

tionofthetrendfromthe2019-20rabiseason,which produced a bumper crop. Farmerscould, moreover, harvest this crop, as themovement of labour andmachines for agri-

cultural operationswere exempted fromthecoronavirus-induced lockdown restrictions.TheFoodCorporationofIndiaandstateagen-ciesalsoprocuredanall-time-high389.75lakhtonnes(lt)ofwheatand504.86ltofrice(111.18ltafterlockdown)fromthe2019-20crop.That,alongwiththeminimumsupportprice-basedpurchasesofrapeseed-mustard,chana(chick-pea)andarhar(pigeon-pea)plusdirectbene-fit transfers under thePradhanMantri KisanSammanNidhi scheme, injected roughlyRs1,38,000croreofgovernmentliquidityintothe

farmeconomybetweenAprilandJuly.Theaboveliquidityisbeingredeployedinto

productionduringthiskharif.Farmershavesi-multaneously sought to takemaximumad-vantageof the improvedsoilmoisturecondi-tions—thankstothesurplusrainsright fromthe secondhalf of 2019andextending to thewinterandpre-monsoonseasons—bysowingaggressively and investing in fertilisers andhigh-yieldingseeds.

Sourcesof uncertaintyThere are, however, at least three sources

ofuncertaintyforagriculturerightnowThefirstoneisfromthemonsoonitself.The

countryreceived17.6%above-normalrainsinJune.ButJulyreporteda9.9%deficit,withthiswidening to 19.2% in the secondhalf of themonth.TheIndiaMeteorologicalDepartmenthasforecastrainfallduringAugust-Septembertobe104%oflong-periodaveragewithamodelerrorof±8%.Thepredictionassumes“neutral”ENSO(ElNino)andIndianOceanDipolecon-ditionscontinuingduringtheremainingpartof the monsoon season. As things stand,

though,MadhyaPradesh,Rajasthan,mainlandGujarat, Vidarbha, Jammu&Kashmir andHimachalPradeshareamongtheregionsbe-ginning to experience somemoisture stress.That could have a bearing on the already-planted crop in vegetative growth stage. Thenextfewdays,therefore,matter.The second threat is fromdesert locusts.

TheUNFoodandAgricultureOrganizationhaswarned that the breeding of these insects isunder way along both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border. “In India, numerous adultgroupsandswarmsarelayingeggsoverawideareaofRajasthanbetweenJodhpurandChuru,whilehatchingandbandformationfromear-lier layinghaveoccurred further south fromPhaloditoGujarat,” itslatestreportdatedJuly29has said. The problemwould arisewhenthe immaturewinged adults resulting fromthis breeding formswarms that can feedonthe growing kharif crop. Government agen-cies, on theirpart, haveundertakenpesticidesprayingandcontroloperationsinalmost4.57lakhhectaresareaacross10states till July30.Earlier swarm invasions inMay-June, itmaybenoted,causednodamagebecausetherabicrophadalreadybeenharvested.Thefinalpressurepointisfrommilk,India’s

largest“crop”bothbyvolumeandvalue.Asacropthatisharvestedandsolddaily,itissourceof supplementary incomeaswellas liquidityformost farmers. The crash inmilkpricesbyRs10perlitreormoresincetheMarch25lock-downwillcertainlyimpactruralincomes.Outof the country’s estimated 50 crore litres ofdaily production, 12-12.5 crore litres is han-dledbyorganisedcooperativeandprivatesec-tordairies.ARs10/litreprice fall evenon thismeansanincomelossofRs120-125croreperday. The losses couldmountwith the start ofbuffalocalvingsandmilkproductionrisinginthenatural courseas temperaturesdipalongwith improved fodder availability. A lacklus-terfestivalseasonandpoordemandformilk-basedsweetsisn’tgoingtohelpmatterseither.Agriculture until nowhas been a bright

sparkamidtheeconomicgloomunleashedbyCovid. But the comingdaysmayalso exposeweakspots.

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

AFEWweeksback,onarainySaturdayafter-noon, on the Space Coast in Florida,morethanamillionpoundsofthrustsenttwoUSastronautstotheInternationalSpaceStation.WithsplashdownintheGulfofMexicoalit-tle aftermidnight on Sunday in India, thecurtainshavecomedownonwhat ismuchmore than justanother successful technol-ogydemonstrationexperimentinNASAandSpaceX’shistory.Thiswas the first launchand landingof

AmericanastronautsfromAmericansoilaf-ter nine years. The destruction of spaceshuttle Columbia in 2003 causedNASA toretire the space shuttle in2011. Since then,NASA did not have its own ride to theInternational Space Station for nine longyears—andwerewhollydependentontheRussians togetUSastronauts there.As the legend goes, Dmitry Rogozin,

whowasRussia’sDeputyPrimeMinisteratthetime,hadoncemockinglysuggestedonTwitter that the United States should trysending astronauts on a trampoline— im-

plying the pathetic state of NASA’s infra-structure in human spaceflight then.RogozinisnowtheheadofRoscosmos, theRussianspaceagency.Inthemeanwhile,NASAtriedoutaninter-

estingstrategy:insteadofgivingacontracttoonecompanytodevelopareplacementtotheshuttle,NASAfundedfourprivatecompaniesto develop the capability. Unlike the spaceshuttle of thepast, the four private compa-nieswouldownallthehardware(andtheIP),andNASAwouldbuyservicesfromthem.Outofthefourcompaniesthatwereselectedini-tially,two—SpaceXandBoeing—eventuallyreceived the full funding for developing anAmericanridetospace.

■ ■ ■

This successful technology demonstra-tion has long term ramifications andwilllikelychangethecourseofspaceexploration.

■First, NASAwill nowhave two—andnot just one— choices to ferry astronautsand supplies to the Space Station. This isgreat fromariskmitigationperspective,aswell asotherconsiderations likecost.SpaceXhasclearedDEMO-2fornominal

flights back and forth to the Space Station.ThenextflightfortheCrewDragonwilllikelybe in Spring 2021. Boeing’s Starliner unfor-tunatelycouldnotclearDEMO-1,ordemon-strating the spacecraftwithout astronauts,in December 2019. Boeingwill likely tryDEMO-1againinthecomingmonthsand,ifsuccessful,willtryDEMO-2nextyear.Itwillhopefullybeavailable fornominal flights to

theSpaceStationafterwards.■Second,thedevelopmenthasresulted

in a better, and state-of-the-art product, inpartduetocompetitionbetweenthetwopri-vateplayers.TheCrewDragon,forexample,hastouchscreencontrolsfortheastronauts,andautonomousdockingcapability. Just asElonMuskhasreimaginedthedrivingexpe-riencewithTesla,hehasoutfitted theCrewDragonwiththelatest intechnology.

■Third,unliketheshuttle,theastronautscould safely eject and land, if somethingwentwrong. During the Challenger disas-ter, amalfunction in the fuel tanks causedthedeathof all astronautsonboard. If such

amalfunction happened during the CrewDragon’s launch, theDragonCapsulecouldsafelydetachitself fromtheFalcon-9vehicleandlandbackonEarthwiththeastronauts.

■Fourth,andmostsignificantly,thecostisprobablysignificantlylower:therecanbesomedebateabouthowmuch,butperhapsthesavingsmaybeasmuchas1/10thofthecost.Humankind’saspirationsinspace,par-ticularly in exploring the Solar System, arerestrictedbycost,notby technology.

■Fifth, this sets up the architecture forspace agencies to viably travel to Mars.Hence, out of the technology heritage ofFalcon-9,SpaceXisbuildingthenextgener-

ationlaunchvehicle,Starship.Starshipwilllikely transport humans to theMoon andMars in thenext5-10years.

■Sixth, this is perhaps a step in the di-rectionofcommercialspacetravel,thehar-bingerofanageinwhichthecommonmancan aspire to travel in space. In order tomake a specific technology ready for themassmarket,costsneedtocomedownandreliability needs to go up. Falcon-9 has re-ducedthecostof launchperhapsasmuchas80%.StarshipmightreducethecostofgoingtoMarsbyperhaps99%.

■Seventh,thiswillperhapschangehowNASAmightdosomeofitsbusinessinfuture.Whatwas so interesting aboutNASA’s ap-proach (called theCommercial CrewProgr-am),wasthatitwasnotperseatechnicalin-novationofthekindthatNASAisfamousfor;ratheritwasabusinessmodelinnovationoraninnovationingovernmentcontracting.In the past, theUS government did not

develop its own hardware in-house, butpaid a private entity to develop its launchvehicle.Theprivateentitychargedthegov-ernmentfordevelopmentalcostsandthencharged a percentage profit. Therewas noincentiveforthecompanytoreinincosts.Inthe Commercial Crew Program, NASAhelped pay a fixed price for the develop-ment of multiple hardware solutions, andthen decided to buy services from them.The success of the Commercial CrewProgramhasushered in a similar programcalledCommercial Lunar PayloadServicesorCLPS.CLPSwillprovidefundstocompa-nies to develop a ride to the Moon, and

NASA is just going to buy scientific datafromthem.WasthereeverareparteetotheRussian

Deputy PrimeMinister’s comment aboutsending US astronauts to space using atrampoline?Indeed, how could there not be one, in

the age of Twitter? After the successfullaunch of the CrewDragon, ElonMusk onMay 30 famously tweeted: “TheTrampoline isworking!”

■ ■ ■

But can this acquisitionmodelwork inIndia? Can India perhaps fund twoprivatecompanies to develop the technology andbuildfighter jetsorpassengerplanesorandgivethemafewbilliondollarsoveradecade?I thinkitwouldbeaworthwhileexper-

iment. India’sstartupecosystemisstarvedfor funds; Indian companies have the ca-pability to generate world class technol-ogy.Thekeyistomakethefinancial incen-tive worthwhile and transparent, so thatlargebusinessgroups feel that thetechni-cal risk/rewards profile is worthwhile.Also, thekey is to allocatemore thanade-quatecapital for technologydevelopmentto ensure that the cutting edge can beachieved.

DrAmitabhaGhoshisaNASAPlanetaryScientistbased inWashingtonDC.Hehasworked formulti-pleNASAMarsMissions, and servedasChair of theScience OperationsWorking Group for the MarsExplorationRoverMission.

In farm promise, some concernsSIMPLYPUT

Robustkharifplantingsandfertilisersalesareagoodsign,bothwithastrongcorrelationwiththemonsoon.Butthereareareasofuncertainty—themonsoonitself,desert locusts,andmilk

KABIRFIRAQUENEWDELHI, AUGUST2

HOW EFFECTIVELY can children spreadCovid-19? Until recently, it waswidely be-lieved that they are not strong spreaders.Recentstudies,however,havesuggestedthatchildrenmayspreadthenovelcoronavirusatleastasmuchasadults.Welookatthreesuchstudies—andafourthwithcontraryfinings:

1A study in theUS, published lastweek inJAMAPediatrics,assessedlevelsofvirusge-neticmaterial in thenose, among145casesofmildtomoderateCovid-19withinthefirstweekof symptomonset. The viral loadwascomparedinthreeagegroups–childrenun-der5, childrenaged5-17, andadults.Viruslevelsweremuchhigherinchildren

under 5 compared to the othertwo groups. The findings pointto the possibility that theyoungestchildren transmit thevirus as much as other agegroups, the Ann & Robert HLurie Children’s Hospital ofChicagosaid inastatement.While this study looked at

viral load, the following twowerebasedoncontact tracing.

2Also last week, an Italianstudy put up on a preprintserversuggestedthatalthoughchildcontactsof positive caseswere less likely to becomecasesthemselves,childrenweremorelikelyto infecthouseholdmembers.ThiswasbasedoncontacttracinginItaly’s

Trento province inMarch-April. From2,812Covid-9 cases, researchers identified 6,690

community contacts, of whom890(13%)developedsymptoms.Ananalysisfoundthatthegreat-est risk of transmission to con-tactswere14casesunderage15.Eight of the 14 (age 1-11) in-fected11of49contacts (22%).

3This was a study of 59,073contactsof5,706Covidcasesin South Korea. Of 10,592household contacts, 11.8% hadCovid-19;of48,481non-house-hold contacts, 1.9% had Covid-

19,accordingtothestudyuploadedbySouthKorea’sCentre forDiseaseControl.Inhouseholdswithanindexpatientaged

10-19,itwasfoundthat18.6%ofthecontactsgot infected, compared to 11.8% amonghouseholdcontactsof indexcasesacrossallagegroups.Ineffect,olderchildrenandteens

maybestrongspreaders.

Contrary findings

4The American Academy of Pediatrics'journalPediatricspublishedastudyfrom

SwitzerlandinitsAugust issue,alongwithacommentary declaring: ‘COVID-19TransmissionandChildren:TheChildIsNottoBlame’. The commentary also referred tosimilar findings inanearlier, Chinesestudy.The Swiss study traced the household

contacts of all children under age 16 diag-nosed at Geneva General Hospital duringMarch10-April10.Of40households,onlyinthreewasthechildfoundtobetheindexcase.In all otherhouseholds, the childdevelopedsymptomsafterortogetherwithadults.Thissuggested, the researcherswrote, that chil-drenmost frequentlyacquireCovid-19fromadults, rather thantransmitting it to them.

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

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

ANEXPERTEXPLAINS

AstronautsRobertBehnkenandDouglasHurleyaboardSpaceX’sCrewDragonEndeavour. Screengrab/NASAviaReuters

DrAmitabhaGhosh

As CrewDragon splashes down, here are the keyMission takeaways

TABLE 2: ALL-INDIA RETAILFERTILISER SALES(LAKHTONNES)

2018-19 2019-20 %GROWTH

Oct 48.37 45.17 -6.62Nov 63.26 73.84 16.72Dec 70.86 87.08 22.89Jan 58.04 64.50 11.13Feb 30.39 46.61 53.37Mar 24.60 28.96 17.72Apr 14.17 20.56 45.10May 20.24 40.02 97.73Jun 38.35 68.74 79.24Jul 68.69 92.31 34.39Source:Departmentof Fertilisers.

TABLE1:AREASOWNUNDERKHARIFCROPS*(LAKHHECTARES)

2020 20191.Rice 266.60 223.962.Pulses 111.91 93.84■Arhar 40.05 37.09■Urad 33.38 27.64■Moong 29.57 21.523.Coarse 148.34 139.26cereals■Maize 74.30 72.58■Bajra 54.74 48.75■ Jowar 12.39 12.11■Ragi 3.60 3.314.Oilseeds 175.34 150.12■ Soyabean 116.62 107.64■Groundnut 45.45 30.53■ Sesamum 10.51 9.655.Cotton 121.25 108.956.Sugarcane 51.78 51.207.Jute&Mesta 6.95 7.05TOTAL 882.18 774.38*Progressive as on July 31.Source:Ministry of Agriculture&Farmers’Welfare.

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 17,50,723 (37,364 DEATHS)

4,31,719Maharashtra

2,51,738Tamil Nadu

54,240Bihar

89,048 UP1,36,716Delhi

62,463Gujarat

72,777West Bengal

1,50,209Andhra Pradesh

64,786Telangana

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

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

1,29,287Karnataka

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,August2.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.11,45,629PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN35STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands636ArunachalPradesh 1673Assam 41726Chandigarh 1079Chhattisgarh 9385DadraandNagarHaveli 1145Goa 6193Haryana 35758HimachalPradesh 2634JammuandKashmir 20972Jharkhand 11686Kerala 24742Ladakh 1462MadhyaPradesh 32614Manipur 2756Meghalaya 856Mizoram 468Nagaland 1831Odisha 33479Puducherry 3606Punjab 17063Rajasthan 42646Sikkim 650Tripura 5233Uttarakhand 7447

D A I L Y N E W C A S E S U N T I L A U G U S T 160,000

16-July 1-August

40,000

20,000

0

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

Are children strong spreaders of Covid-19?

New Delhi

LIZMATHEW:WhathasbeenthebiggestchallengeinhandlingtheCovid-19situationinHaryana?The early days of the pandemic, in

MarchandApril,wereabigchallenge.Butsoonwerampeduptesting.Atpresent,wehavea recovery rateof 77per cent, andat1.32percent,ourmortalityrateislow.Weare trying to further speedup theprocesswith rapid testing. Currently, 12,000 to13,000testsareconductedeveryday.Ifwetestmostof thepeople,wewill beable todetect the positive cases early,whichwillimprovetheirchancesof recovery.Wehave also started plasma therapy

andfourplasmabankshavebeensetupatPanchkula, Rohtak, Faridabad andGurugram.Wedon’t think thispandemicwillendimmediately,butwearetryingtobuildpeople’sconfidence.IbelievethereisnoCovid-19panicamongthepeopleofthestate.Also,ourpeoplehavehighimmunity,perhapsbecauseoftheirdiet,lifestyle,bodystructureandanenvironmentthatencour-agesphysicalactivityandsports.

SAKSHIDAYAL:WilltherebeanotherlockdowninGurugram?No,wedon’t haveany suchplans.Our

government has carved out containmentzonesandwehaveimposedlockdownsinneighbourhoodswithheavycaseload.Weensuresmoothsupplyofessentialstosuchareasbesidesprovidingimmunityboostermedicinestoeveryhomeinthat locality.

LIZMATHEW:IntheHaryanaAssembly,theBJPhas40MLAs,fivelessthanthemajoritymark.InManipur,KarnatakaandMadhyaPradeshwehaveseentheBJPtakeCongressMLAsintoitsfoldtostabiliseitsnumbers. IsthatapossibilityinHaryanatoo?There isa lotof stability inourgovern-

ment.Wehavetherequirednumberswith10 Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) MLAs andseven IndependentMLAs. There is no in-security andwe face no threat.Whoeverhasmorethan45seats formsthegovern-ment,andwehavetherequirednumbers.As for the Congress,we all know its char-acter. TheCongress is no longer apartyofideology,therearemanygroupswithintheCongress. It is adividedhouseandeven ifCongressMLAsoffer to join ourparty,wewill have nothing to dowith that.Whyshouldwe accept their offer?Wehave amajority(intheAssembly).

MANRAJGREWALSHARMA:YouhaveintroducedpooltestingofvulnerablegroupsinPanchkulaforCovid-19.Willyouextendittootherareastoo?We have done this everywhere be-

cause if the disease is controlled in vul-nerablegroups,itdoesn’tspread.Wesam-pled traders, small shopkeepers invegetablemarkets and farmerswho fre-quent Delhi’s AzadpurMandi. Likewise,policemen commuting between DelhiandHaryanawerealso tested.

MANRAJGREWALSHARMA:YouhavesaidthatHaryanaissufferingmonthlylossesofRs4,600crore.Howmanyindustriesarefunctionalnow?TherewasarevenuedeficitofRs5,000

crore in three months (April, May andJune)atatimewhenwehadanadditionalexpenditure of Rs 4,000 crore. So, therewas a gap of Rs 9,000 crore in threemonths.ButinJulythesituationreturnedtonormal,bothrevenueandexpenditure.ThepowerconsumptioninJulyisonaparwith theconsumption lastyear.Asmanyas40lakhpeoplehavestartedworkinginabout50,000enterprises.

AANCHALMAGAZINE:Doyouthink75%reservationfor locals intheprivatesector isappropriate forafreelabourmarket?That ordinance has not been imple-

mentedyet.Wewillimplementitafterdis-cussingwith the industries. Industriesraised the issue of untrained labourwithus.Wehavepromisedtotakeresponsibil-ity for trainingthe labour.Evenif thispro-posalof75%isimplemented,itwillbeim-plementedforonlynewindustries,notforexisting ones. Theymay ormay not hiremorethan10percentofthelabourfromaparticular district. If they don’t get skilledlabour, then theymay hire from otherstatestoo.Theindustrieswon’tgetaffectedbecauseofthisprovision.(Lastmonth,theHaryanaCabinetclearedaproposaltodraftanordinanceforreserving75percentpri-vatesector jobsforresidentsof thestate.)

RAVISHTIWARI:The75percentquotawasnotmentionedinyourmanifesto.AreyoutryingtoimplementitunderpressurefromyourdeputyCM(DushyantChautala)?It’snotthat(the75percentquota)was

notmentionedinourmanifesto.Ifyouseeourmanifesto,itsaysthatindustrieswhichgive 90 per cent of their jobs toHaryanaresidentswill receive special incentives.Theywere for 75per cent (quota) butwefavoured90percent.

SUKHBIRSIWACH:Inrecentweeks,MLAsfromRajasthanhavetakenupaccommodationinHaryanahotels. Is itjustcoincidence?Hotels inHaryana are open for every-

body.Anybodycangoandstay inanyho-tel, it is up to the hotel to accept themornot. This is aCongressdrama,andwewillnotparticipateinit.

NITINSHARMA:WhatwillbethechallengesinhostingthefourtheditionoftheKheloIndiaYouthGamesinHaryana?Wehaveacceptedtheproposaltohost

the programme inNovember-December2021,approximately16monthsfromnow.Inthis time, the(Covid-19)circumstanceswill improve. But if Covid carries on, thegameswill not take place. Nearly 10,000people (players and officials) will be in-volved,itisabigevent.TheCentralgovern-mentalsohelpsoutwiththeprogramme.Last time,wehadsecuredsecondplace inthe Games by winning 200 medals inGuwahati.Wewilltrytoimproveourtally.

ANILSASI:WhatisthescaleofmanufacturinginhubssuchasGurugram,Manesar,SonepatandPanipatatpresent?AmidtheCovidcurbs,manystates, includingHaryana,amendedthelabourandfactorylaws.UttarPradeshrolledbacktheseamendments.WhataboutHaryana?Industrieswerehithardinthemonths

ofAprilandMay. In June,manyindustriesopened and in July, the percentage of in-

dustriesopeninguphasfurtherincreased.Around10-20percentoftheindustriesarenot running to full capacity as the labourhas not returned. As for revenue receipt,nowitdoesnotcomemajorly(tothestate)fromindustries,duetotheGST.Therearemore than50,000entrepre-

neurs and factories inHaryana andmorethan38 lakhworkers are employedhere.Wewanttoworkondataregardingwork-forceinsmallandmediumenterprises.Wehavestartedanewsystemwhereineveryentrepreneurhastoregisterhis/herwork-forcewiththestategovernment.Wehavealso started a new portal — HaryanaUdhyamMemorandum (HUM)—whereentrepreuners can register details abouttheirworkforce. Itwill help us determinetheexactnumberofworkers.Somefacto-riesdon’tshowtheirfullworkforcebecauseof taxissues.Regarding the changes in the labour

laws,wehavesenttheamendmentstotheGovernorandhehassignedthem.ThefilewillnowbesenttothePresidentandonceheapproves,theywillbeimplemented.Wesimplymade sure that industries do not

stop due to labour unions and theseamendmentsarenotanti-labour.

VARINDERBHATIA:YoualsoholdtheFinanceportfolio.Canyoutellusaboutthestepsbeingtakentorecoverfromthelossesof thepastfourmonths?ThemonthofApril sawarevenue loss

of Rs 1,200 crore andwe recovered someof the losses inMay and June,which alsosawlossesofRs9,000croreeach.ButnowIamsurewewillgeneratemorerevenue...When the lockdown started, everythingwasclosedandpeoplestoppedspending.But the government had to spend onsalariesandcropprocurement.Wedidpro-curementworthRs16,000crore.Nowthesituationhasstabilised.

VARINDERBHATIA:Lastyear,theHaryanagovernmenthadorganisedaninternationalinvestors’summittoattractforeigninvestment.Howsuccessfulwasitandwhatisthesituationnow?Wehavebeenengagingwithinvestors

throughwebinars and three-four big for-

eigninvestorshavecomeforward.Flipkarthasapproachedusfor150acresoflandandplans to investmore thanRs 5,000 crore.ATLhasalsoapproachedusforinvestmentofmorethanRs3,000crore.Wearegoingto develop amedical device park in thestate. RegardingKMP (Kundli–Manesar–PalwalorWesternPeripheralExpressway),wearealsomakingasocial-economiccor-ridor,andinPanipat,wehaveoffered1,000acres to theCentral government to set uponeofthethreepharmaceuticalparkstheyareplanning.Itwillcreateemploymentforthousands.We also plan to give land onleasetoinvestors.

LIZMATHEW:BetiBachao,BetiPadhaohasbeenoneofthemaincampaignsoftheBJPgovernmentinthestate.Haryanahasaskewedsexratio.Howfarhasthegovernmentsucceededinimprovingthesituation?Aneutralgenderratioisveryimportant

for society, andwhenwe came topower,thiswasoneofourmainconcerns.Haryanawas among stateswith verypoor genderratio and I remembera conversationwithPM Narendra Modi in October 2014 inwhichhe emphasised that this shouldbeourmainconcern. So, in January2015,welaunchedBeti Bachao, Beti Padhao.At thetime, thegenderratio in thestatewas871.Wemade a separate cell under the CM’sOffice andworked in tandemwithNGOs,theeducationsector,panchayats,homeandlegaldepartmentstostopfemalefoeticide.Weidentifiedandtookactionagainstdoc-tors and organizations indulging in suchpractices.Asaresult,thegenderratiointhestatehas improved. It is930now. It isare-markableachievement.Wearealsothink-ing of giving 50 per cent reservation towomeninpanchayats.

HINAROHTAKI:Howpreparedisthestatetodealwiththepandemicinthecomingmonthsandwhataretheprojections?We revise our projections every fort-

night.Thenumberof casesprojectedear-lierwasmuchhigher.Thesituationhasim-proved. Of the 30,000 cases, over 23,000haverecoveredinthestate.Wehave1,500isolationbedsand1,000ventilators.Wein-crease our hospital inventory as per theprojections.Thatiswhyevennowthebedsinmanyhospitals inthestatearevacant.

RAVISHTIWARI:Intheearlymonthsof

thepandemic,alargenumberofcaseswerelinkedtotheTablighiJamaat.Haryanatoosawsuchcases.Many,includingsomeBJPspokespersons,blamedaparticularcommunityforit.Afterthreemonths,doyouthinkthatapproachwasright?Thatwasonlyoneincident.Theoriginal

sourceofCovid-19wasinChina.It’snotthatit originated from the Jamaatis. In earlyMarch, the Tablighi Jamaat congregationtookplaceandthevirusspread.Peoplefromall over the countrywere present in thecongregation,includingHaryanaresidents.Therewas a protest, some rumourswerespread.Weconvenedameetingof250lo-calheadsofallreligionsandurgedthemtoputanendtotherumours.Mostofthepeo-plewho attended the congregation havebeencuredanddischarged.Recently,therewasamarriageinHisarwhere50-60peo-ple got infected. It is not appropriate toblameonegroupofpeoplefortheincident.Itwas just one incidentwhich is over andnowwemustendtheissuetoo.

HARIKISHANSHARMA:Duringthe2014and2019elections,RobertVadraanddealsbyDLFweremajorissues.Butnotmuchprogresshasbeenmadeinthecases.Wehave alwaysmaintained thatwe

will not tolerate corruption at any level...Wehavestartedtheproceedingsinpend-ing cases. Some cases have gone to thecourts,otherstotheCBI.Atleastfour-fiveis-suesareatanadvancedstage.Thefinalde-cisioncancomeanytime.Ourtaskistoini-tiate the process, the courts will givepunishment.Wedon’twant innocents tobe punished,wedon’t believe in politicalvendetta…Corruptionhasbeenhappen-ing due to policies of last 25-30 years, ittakestimetorectifyarottensystem.

SAURABHPRASHAR:DoestheRSSinfluenceBJP-ledstategovernments?Thereisasysteminplaceineverystate

andpeople follow it. Despite all the free-dom, noone canworkwithout guidance.It’s true in every field.We take guidancefromourteachers,theCentralgovernmentandevenotherstategovernments.AskingforguidancefromtheRSSisnotacrime.

JAGPREETSINGHSANDHU:Recently,theChandigarhadministrationproposedaweekendcurfewbutHaryanarefused.Alockdownwillnotserveanypurpose

unless it is imposed for a 14-day period.Imposing a lockdownover theweekendmerely gives the impression that some-thing is being done. Unlesswe isolate aninfectedperson for 14days theywill con-tinue to infect others. It is a chain and tobreakitweneed14days.Aweekendlock-downservesnopurpose.

‘We don’t think this pandemic will endsoon, but we’re trying to build confidence’Inanonline interactionwithThe IndianExpressnewsroom,HaryanaCMManoharLalKhattar sayseconomyispickingupafter the initialpandemicsetbacks,assertsamendments to factory lawsarenot“anti-labour”, saysCongproblemsareof itsownmaking,andfeels it is timetoputTablighi controversybehind

Associate EditorLiz Mathew, moderatedthe exchange with CMManohar Lal Khattar

WHY MANOHAR LAL KHATTAR

Led by CM Manohar LalKhattar, the BJP won asecond term in Haryanain October 2019,increasing its vote shareby 3 per cent. In the pastfour months, Khattarhas been proactive inHaryana’s fight againstCovid-19, with the statebeing one of the first toseal its borders toneighbours and ramp uptesting. Haryana was alsoamong the first to restartits industry as un-lockdown started. Thegovt recently drafted theHaryana State

Employment of LocalCandidates Ordinance,2020, for providing 75%quota to locals in privatejobs and is also mulling50% reservation forwomen in panchayats

Even if 75% quota (forHaryana residents inprivate jobs) isimplemented, it willonly be for newindustries, not forexisting ones. Theymay ormay not hiremore than 10% of theirlabour from a district.If they don’t get skilledlabour, theymay hirefrom other states. Theprovisionwon’t impactindustries

A lockdown will not serve any purpose unless it is imposed for a 14-day period.Unless we isolate an infected person they will continue to infect others. It is a chain and to break

it we need 14 days. A weekend lockdown serves no purpose

11THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

IDEAEXCHANGE Newsmakers in theNewsroom

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

HaryanaChiefMinisterManoharLalKhattarat the IdeaExchangesession.

New Delhi

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CALIFORNIA

WILDFIRE FORCESTHOUSANDS TO FLEEAround 8,000 residents of Riverside County in Southern California were forced toevacuate their homes on Saturday as a wildfire spread uncontained across more than4,000 acres, the County fire department said. The fire has been dubbed the AppleFire by local firefighters who routinely give blazes identifying names.

USA

StormIsaiasnearsFlorida’seastcoastISAIAS, DOWNGRADEDfromahurricane but stillapowerfultropicalstorm,churned close to Floridaon Sunday, set to brushthestate’seastcoastwithstrongwinds, drenchingrainandpotential coastalflooding.By8am,TropicalStormIsaiaswasabout70km east-southeast ofWest Palm Beach, head-ing northwest with topsustained winds of 100kph, the NationalHurricane Center (NHC)said. On its current path,Isaias will move near orover Florida’s east coastduring Sunday, theMiami-based NHC said.OnMondayandTuesday,its center would movefromoffshoreofthecoastofGeorgiaintothesouth-ernmid-Atlanticstates.

Hurricane IsaiashittheBahamasFriday

TOPOFTHEWORLD

MEXICO

Cartelboss‘ElMarro’capturedTHEMEXICANArmyandstate security forces havecaptured Jose AntonioYepez, a prominent druggang leader blamed forhelping to fuel a majorsurge in violence in thecountryinrecentyears,au-thorities said on Sunday.Widely known as “ElMarro”(TheMallet),Yepezwascapturedinanopera-tion carried out early onSundaymorning, accord-ing to the federal govern-ment and authorities inthe central state ofGuanajuato, a principalflashpoint of gang vio-lence. Yepez, boss of theSantaRosadeLimacartel,aGuanajuato-basedgang,has been engaged in abloodystruggleforcontrolof thestate.REUTERS

HIT-AND-RUNCASE

ThaiPMordersdeeperlookintodeathofwitnessTHAILAND’S PRIMEMinisterhasorderedasec-ondautopsybeconductedafterthedeathofakeywit-ness in a deadly hit-and-runcaselinkedtotheheirto the Red Bull energydrinkfortune,amidpublicanger that the chargeswere dropped. JaruchartMardthong, 40, died inwhat police said lookedlikeamotorcycleaccidentonThursday, amidpublicsuspicionabout the exactcauseofhisdeath.Resultsof an initial autopsyhavenot yet been released.Local media said hisfamilyhadplannedtocre-mate the body onSunday.REUTERS

LAURANNEERGAARDAUGUST2

Who gets to be first in line for aCovid-19vaccine?UShealthau-thorities hope by late nextmonth tohavesomedraftguid-ance on how to ration initialdoses, but it’s avexingdecision.“Not everybody’s going to

like the answer,” Dr. FrancisCollins, director of the NationalInstitutesofHealth,recentlytoldone of the advisory groups thegovernment asked to help de-cide.“Therewillbemanypeople

who feel that they should havebeenat the topof the list.”Traditionally, first in line for

ascarcevaccinearehealthwork-ersandthepeoplemostvulner-able to the targeted infection.But Collins tossed new ideas

intothemix:Considergeographyandgiveprioritytopeoplewhereanoutbreakishittinghardest.And don’t forget volunteers

in the final stageof vaccinetest-ing who get dummy shots, thecomparisongroupneededtotellif the real shots trulywork.“We owe them ... some spe-

cialpriority,”Collins said.

Huge studies this summeraimtoprovewhichofseveralex-perimentalCovid-19vaccinesaresafe and effective.Moderna Inc.and Pfizer Inc. began tests lastweekthateventuallywillinclude30,000 volunteers each; in thenext fewmonths, equally largecalls forvolunteerswill goout totest shotsmade byAstraZeneca,Johnson&JohnsonandNovavax.And some vaccines made inChina are in smaller late-stagestudies inothercountries.ForallthepromisesoftheU.S.

stockpilingmillionsofdoses, thehardtruth:Evenifavaccineisde-

claredsafeandeffectivebyyear’send, therewon’t be enough foreveryonewhowantsitrightaway-- especially asmost potentialvaccinesrequiretwodoses.It’s a global dilemma. The

WHOisgrapplingwiththesamewho-goes-first question as ittriestoensurevaccinesarefairlydistributed to poor countries —decisionsmade even harder aswealthynationscornerthemar-ket for the firstdoses.In the US, the Advisory

Committee on ImmunizationPractices,agroupestablishedbythe Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, is supposed torecommendwho to vaccinateandwhen--advicethatthegov-ernmentalmostalwaysfollows.But a Covid-19 vaccine deci-

sion is so tricky that this timearound, experts from theNational Academy ofMedicine,chartered by Congress to advisethegovernment,arebeingaskedtoweighin, too.Settingprioritieswill require

“creative,moralcommonsense,”said Bill Foege,whodevised thevaccination strategy that led toglobal eradication of smallpox.Foegeisco-leadingtheacademy’s

deliberations,calling it“boththisopportunityandthisburden.”Withvaccinemisinformation

aboundingandfearsthatpoliticsmight intrude, CDC DirectorRobert Redfield said the publicmust see vaccine allocation as“equitable, fairandtransparent.”Whoevergetstogofirst,amass

vaccinationcampaignwhilepeo-ple are supposed to be keepingtheirdistanceisatallorder.Duringthe 2009 swine flu pandemic,familieswaitedinlonglineswhentheirturncame,crowdingthatau-thorities know theymust avoidthistimearound.AP

EVEN IF A VACCINE IS DECLARED SAFE AND EFFECTIVE BY YEAR’S END, THERE WON’T BE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE RIGHT AWAY

Debate begins in US over who is first in line for Covid-19 vaccine

REUTERS&APLIMA,MELBOURNE,AUGUST2

THEDEATHtoll inLatinAmericafrom the novel coronaviruspassed 200,000 on Saturdaynight, a Reuters tally showed,underlining the region’s statusasoneoftheglobalepicentersofthepandemicthatistestinggov-ernments to the limit.Apart fromtheUnitedStates,

BrazilandMexicohaverackedupmorefatalitiesfromthevirusthanany other country, and togetherthey account for around 70 percentof theregionaldeathtoll.In other parts of the world,

countries were struggling tocope with a resurgence of thecoronavirus, leading to authori-ties implementing stricter newmeasures.Australia’s second-mostpop-

ulous stateof VictoriadeclaredastateofdisasteronSundayandim-posedanightlycurfewforthecap-italMelbourneaspartofitsharsh-estmovementrestrictionstodatetocontainaresurgentCovid-19.Melbourne, Australia’s sec-

ond-largestcityalreadyunderareimposedsix-weekstay-homeorder,hasstruggledtoreininthedisease,withrecordnumbersofinfections of the new coron-avirus reported lastweek.The Philippines reported a

record 5,032 new cases, raisingits total to 103,185, with 2,059deaths. Leaders of PhilippinemedicalorganisationsappealedtoPresidentRodrigoDutertetoreim-pose a lockdownon the capital,Manila. They said thehealth sys-temwasindangeraspersonnelfallillorquitduetofearorfatigue.InJapan,thegovernmentre-

ported1,540newcases, close toFriday’s recordof 1,579.

The spike in infections,mostof them in their 20s and 30s,promptedwarnings youngpeo-plewerelettingtheirguarddown.Governor YurikoKoike of Tokyosaid shemight declare anemer-gencytocontaintheoutbreak.SevenChinesehealthofficials

wereduetoarriveinHongKongonSunday, the firstmembersofa60-personteamthatwillcarryout widespread testing forCovid-19 in the territory as the

globalfinancialhubracestohalta thirdwaveof illness.China’s National Health

Commission on Saturday an-nouncedtheirscheduledarrival.Hong Kong has reported

around3,400coronavirus casesand33deaths since January, farlower than other major citiesaround theworld. But the dailynumber of new infections hasbeen in the triple-digits for thepast11days.

Countries reel fromvirus resurgence;LatinAmerica toll crosses2LPhilippinesreportsanotherdailycasesrecord;Melbourneimposescurfew;Chinatobeginwidespreadtesting inHK

KEVINFREKINGWASHINGTON,AUGUST2

THE VOTE to renominate USPresident Donald Trump is setto be conducted in private laterthis month, without membersof the press present, a spokes-woman for the RepublicanNationalConventionsaid,citingthe coronavirus.While Trump called off the

public components of the con-vention in Florida last month,citingspikingcasesof thevirusacross the country, 336 dele-gatesarescheduledtogather inCharlotte, North Carolina, onAug. 24 to formally vote tomake Trump the GOP stan-dard-bearer oncemore.Nominating conventions

are traditionally meant to bemedia bonanzas, as politicalparties seek to leverage the at-tention the events draw tospread their message to asmany voters as possible. If theGOP decision stands, it will bethe firstpartynominatingcon-vention inmodernhistorytobeclosed to reporters.“Given the health restric-

tions and limitations in place

within the state of NorthCarolina,weareplanningfortheCharlotte activities to be closedpress Friday, August 21 –

Monday, August 24,” a conven-tion spokeswoman said. “Wearehappytoletyouknowif thischanges, but we are workingwithin the parameters set be-foreusbystateand local guide-lines regarding the number ofpeoplewhocanattendevents.”Privately someGOP delega-

tionshaveraisedlogisticalissueswith traveling toeither city, cit-ingtheincreasingnumberof ju-risdictionsimposingmandatoryquarantine orders on travelersreturningfromstatesexperienc-ing surges in thevirus.AP

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAKABUL, ISLAMABAD,AUGUST2

PAKISTAN-ORIGIN INTELLI-GENCE head of terror groupIslamic State's Khorasan unit(ISIL-K) has been killed by spe-cialforcesneartheeasterntownof Jalalabad, according to theAfghansecurityagency.Zia-ur-Rehman, known as

Assadullah Orakzai, was killedduring an operation nearJalalabad, close to the Pakistanborder, theNationalDirectorateofSecurityorNDSsaidinastate-mentonSaturday.Orakzai was the head of in-

telligence for Islamic State’sKhorasanbranch,whichisactiveinSouthAsiaandCentralAsia.“The Special Units of the

NationalDirectorateofSecurityNDS have eliminatedAssadullah Orakzai, a native ofAkhel Orakzai agency ofPakistan, during a targeted op-eration,” the TOLOnews re-ported, citing the statement.He was involved in several

deadlyattacksagainstbothmil-itary and civilian targets inAfghanistan, it said.

MassattheOurLadyofConsolationParishinQuezoncity,Philippines,Sunday.CoronavirusinfectionsinthePhilippinescontinuedtosurgeasmedicalgroupsdeclaredthecountrywaswaging“alosingbattle”againsttheoutbreak.AP

Renomination of Trump will beheld in private: Republican party

336delegatesarescheduledtogather inCharlotte,NorthCarolina,onAugust24to formallyvote tomakeTrumptheGOPstandard-beareroncemore.Reuters file

RACE FORTHEWHITE

HOUSE

ASSOCIATEDPRESSBRASILIA,AUGUST2

FACEBOOK ANNOUNCEDSaturday it has obeyed aBrazilian judge’s order for aworldwide block on the ac-counts of 12 of President JairBolsonaro's supporterswhoareunderinvestigationforallegedlyrunninga fakenewsnetwork.Supreme Court Justice

AlexandredeMoraessaidFridaynightthatthecompanyhadfailedto fully complywith a previousrulingorderingtheaccountstobeshutdown,sayingtheywerestillonlineandpublishingbychang-ingtheirregistrationtolocations

outsideBrazil.Facebookissuedastatement

saying it complied due to thethreatof criminal liability foranemployee inBrazil.Butitcalledtheneworder“ex-

treme”,sayingitposesa“threattofreedomofexpressionoutsideof

Brazil’s jurisdiction and conflict-ingwith laws and jurisdictionsworldwide”.Thecompanysaiditwouldappealtothefullcourt.Facebook also argued it had

compliedwiththepreviousorderby “restricting the ability for thetarget Pages and Profiles to beseenfromIPlocationsinBrazil”.Moraes said that Facebook

oughttopay$367,000inpenal-ties for not complyingwith hispreviousdecision.Moraesisoverseeingacontro-

versialinvestigationtodeterminewhether some of Bolsonaro’smost ardent allies are running asocialmedia network aimed atspreading threats and fakenewsagainstSupremeCourtjustices.

Facebook puts worldwide block onaccounts of Bolsonaro supporters

JairBolsonaro

Afghan forceskill intelligencechief of IS’sKhorasan unit

REUTERSAUGUST2

BRITAINISconsideringmintingacointocommemorateMahatmaGandhi,amidgrowinginterestinrecognising the contributions ofpeople fromtheBlack,Asianandotherminoritycommunities.BritishFinanceMinisterRishi

Sunak asked the Royal MintAdvisoryCommittee(RMAC)inalettertopursuerecognitionofin-dividuals from those communi-ties, the UK Treasury said in anemailedstatement.“RMACiscurrentlyconsider-

ing a coin to commemorateGandhi”, theTreasurysaid.

UK considerscoin to honourMahatma Gandhi

British lawmakerarrested after rapeallegation: reportADITIKHANNALONDON,AUGUST2

AFORMERUKminister and sit-ting Conservative Party law-maker,whohasnotbeennamedas he is yet to be charged, is outon bail after being arrested onsuspicionof rape.According to The Sunday

Times, the allegations of rapeagainsttheparliamentarianweremadebyaformeremployeewhoalleges that the lawmaker as-saultedher,forcedhertohavesexand left her so traumatised thatshehadtogotohospital.“On Friday, July 31, the

Metropolitan Police Service re-ceivedallegationsrelatingtofourseparate incidents involving al-legationsof sexualoffencesandassault,”theMetropolitanPolicesaid inastatement.“Theseoffencesareallegedto

have occurred at addresses inWestminster, Lambeth andHackneybetweenJuly2019andJanuary 2020. Aman in his 50swas arrested on Saturday,August1onsuspicionofrape.He

has been released on bail to re-turn on a date inmid-August,”thestatement said.TherulingConservativeParty

saidittakessuchallegations“ex-tremelyseriously”.“We take all allegations of

this nature extremely seriously.As this matter is now in thehands of the police it would beinappropriate to comment fur-ther,”apartyspokespersonsaid.The reports, which first ap-

peared in the newspaper, claimthatsomeallegationswereraisedwiththeparty’schiefwhipMarkSpencer and with Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leaderof theHouseofCommonssomeweeksago.It isunderstoodthatSpencer

told thewoman tomake a for-malcomplainttoparliamentaryauthorities,whowould investi-gate.Shelaterwenttothepolice.“The chief whip takes all al-

legations of harassment andabuse extremely seriously andhas strongly encouraged any-bodywho has approached himto contact the appropriate au-thorities...,” a statement fromSpencer’soffice said.PTI

Suspected BokoHaram militantskill at least 13in Cameroon

REUTERSDOUALA,AUGUST2

SUSPECTED MILITANTS fromIslamistgroupBokoHaramkilledat least 13 people andwoundedeightothersinagrenadeattackinnorthernCameroononSunday,asecuritysourceandalocalofficialtoldReuters.The unidentified assailants

threwa grenade into a group ofpeople inside a camp for dis-placed people in the communeof Mozogo near the Nigerianborder in the Far North region,saidmayorMedjewehBoukar.Boukarwas informed by lo-

cals that 13haddied. A securityofficial who confirmed the at-tack said that 2 wounded alsodied,bringing the toll to15.BokoHaramhasbeenfighting

foradecadetocarveoutanIslamiccaliphatebasedinNigeria.The violence has frequently

spilledoverintoCameroon,NigerandChad.InJunelastyear,around300suspectedBokoHarammil-itantsswarmedontoanislandonLake Chad in Cameroon’s farnorthandkilled24people.

AvaccinebeingdevelopedbytheUSgovernmentandModerna hasentered its finalphaseof trials.AP

Whyscientistsarenowobservingminks

ATFARMSinSpainandtheNetherlands,overamillionminkshavebeenkilledasthecoron-avirusspreadsamongtheanimals.Scientistsarenowtryingtoestablishtowhatex-tenthumanscanpassonthevirustominksandotherani-mals.Somepetdogsandcatshavealreadytestedpositiveforthecoronavirus,buttheques-

tionofwhetherhuman-to-animaltransmissionrepresentsaseriousthreatisbeingstudiedbyresearchersinEurope

andUS.Theworrythatthesestudiesaretryingtoaddressiswhetherevenafterthespreadofthevirusamonghumansiscontained,itcouldbekeptaliveinanimalsandfinallyfinditswaybacktohumans.

KENNETHCHANGAUGUST2

THEFIRSTastronauttriptoorbitby a private company hassplasheddownsafelyintheGulfof Mexico. Two astronautsdroppedoutoforbitinwhatwasthe firstwater landing byNASAsince 1975, when the agency’screws were still flying in theApollomodulesusedforthehis-toricAmericanmoonmissions.Suspendedunder four giant

billowingorange-and-whitepara-chutes, theCrewDragon settledinto calmwatersnearPensacola,Florida,atagentlepaceof15milesperhour.TwosmallSpaceXboatsarrivedquicklytobegintheoper-ationtopreparethecapsuletobepulledout by themain recoveryship,wherecrewswilltendtothespacecraft’spassengers.They are two NASA astro-

nauts — Robert L. Behnken andDouglasG.Hurley—butthecon-clusionof their first63-dayvoy-age couldbea first step tomorepeoplegoing to space for avari-ety of new activities like sight-seeing, corporate research andsatellite repair.

ThisflightoftheCrewDragoncapsulewasoperatedbySpaceX,the rocket company started byElonMusk, as part of NASA’s ef-fortstoturnovertoprivateenter-

prisesomethingsitusedtodo.NASAhashired two compa-

nies — SpaceX and Boeing— toprovide transportationof astro-nauts to and from the

InternationalSpaceStation,andSpaceXwas the first tobe readyto take astronauts to orbit,launching Behnken andHurleyinMay.NYT

NASA astronauts in SpaceX capsulemake first water landing since 1975

AcapsulewithNASAastronautsRobertBehnkenandDouglasHurleysplashesdownintheGulf ofMexicoonSunday.Reuters

New Delhi

13THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Market WatchFPIS NET BUYERS IN JULYNew Delhi: Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) remained net buyersfor the second consecutive month in July by pumping in Rs 3,301crore in Indian markets amid hopes of a coronavirus vaccine,according to depositories data. PTI

MONETARYPOLICYCOMMITTEESETTOMEETAUGUST4-6

GEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI,AUGUST2

WITHREAL interest rates (inter-estrateminusinflationrate)turni-ngnegative,anderosionintheret-urns of savers, a large section ofbankers say theMonetaryPolicyCommittee (MPC) of the RBI—scheduled tomeetAugust 4-6—mayadoptastatusquoonpolicyratesinthenearfuture.Technically,bankdepositsare

fetchingnegative real returns ofnearly one per cent (-0.99 percent) as one-year fixed depositrate has comedown to 5.10 percent (State Bank of India rate)whereasinflationinJunewas6.09percent.“Thepositiverealinterestrate logicweighs against an im-mediatefurtherratecutbasedonthe current inflation trajectory.ThereisasignificantlikelihoodofMPCmembersvotingforapauseduring the forthcoming review,”said Mandar Pitale, Head ofTreasury,SBMBankIndia.However,despitethefallinde-

posit rates, therehasbeena10.8percentriseinbankdeposits.SBI’s2.70per cent rate on savingsde-posit accounts effectivelymeansanegativerealreturnof-3.39percentafteradjustingforinflation.The Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) decision to frontload repo

rate cuts (115 basis points sinceFebruary)to4percenthaspartlyledtonegativereturnsfordepos-itors.Theuncertaintyaboutinfla-tion trajectory for next couple ofmonthsmayweightheratedeci-sion.Theupsideinflationsurprisesuggeststhatheadlineinflationislikely to remain near the upperendoftheRBI’sinflationmandateof4percentplusorminustwotillSeptember,Pitalesaid.Withinflationstillabovethe6

per centmark, theMPCmayde-cidetowaitandwatchandtakeapauseinAugusttomonitorIndia’sprogress in its fight against thevirus-bothfromahealthandeco-nomicpoint of view, said ShantiEkambaram, Group President-Consumer Banking, KotakMahindraBank. “TheMPCcouldthenpossibly cut thepolicy rateby a further 25bps in thepolicymeetingattheendofSeptember,whichistraditionallyIndia’sbusyseason,”shesaid.

“WebelieveanAugustratecutis unlikely.With the 115 bps re-duction in repo beginningFebruary, banks have alreadytransmitted 72 bps to the cus-tomersonfreshloansintheinter-regnumwhichisperhapsamile-stoneintermsofthefastestpolicyratetransmissioninIndia,”saysanSBIResearch report. Largebankshave transmitted asmuch as 85basispoints.TheRBIhasbeenef-fectivelyusinghugeliquidityandreporatecutstobringdownrates.Banksparkedaroundonanaver-ageofRs4.30lakhcroreinMarch,Rs7.12 lakhcrore inApril, Rs7.71lakhcroreinMayandRs6.35lakhcrore in July 2020with the RBI.Theperpetuallymutedcreditde-mandhaspushedthebankstore-duce their deposit rates andtherebylendingratestoadjusttothe new interest rate scenario,saystheSBIResearchreport.According to Radhika Rao,

Economist,DBSBank,theRBIpol-

icy committeewill be in a toughspotduetooverarchingweaknessingrowth,nonethelessapauseonratesisalsobackedbycumulative115bpscutsince January,above-target inflation, high-frequencyindicators improvingat themar-gin and concerns over inflation-ary expectations. “Weexpect 50bps of cuts in the secondhalf asdownside risks to growth con-tinuetomount,”Raosaid.Therealreturnsforsavershave

turnednegativeforsomemonthsnow. The CPI inflation-adjusteddepositrate(realinterestrate)hadturnednegative -0.8 per cent inDecember 2019,when inflationtouched7.4percentanddepositsrate 6.6 per cent. It continued inthe negative zone due to theuptickininflationanddownwardinterestratescenario.“Weexpectthat inflationwill remain at ele-vated levels for the next fewmonths so the real interest ratewillcontinuetobeinthenegativezone,”SBIreportsays.“If we take a look at the in-

comeeffect, it isapossibilitythatpeoplemight increase their sav-ings ina lowinterest rate regimeto compensate for the loss in in-comeand especially if there is aexcessive economic uncertaintyregarding the future and there isabsence of social security nets,”SBIsays.

BRIEFLYHealthinfrascheme:AIIBintalkswithIndiaNewDelhi:TheAsianInfras-tructure Investment Bank(AIIB) is in discussionwiththegovernment for financ-ingan$8-billionschemeforimprovinghealthinfrastruc-ture at the district level tomake the country betterprepared for futurehealth-carechallenges,intheback-dropof thepandemic.

‘Needtogrowmuchfasterovernextdecade’NewDelhi: India needs togrowmuch faster over thenext10yearswiththeuseoftechnology and reforms inorder tobecomean impor-tant global player, addingthat only technology solu-tions can enable the reali-sation of ‘AatmanirbharBharat’, 15thFinanceCom-missionChairmanNKSinghsaidSunday,atanIITJodhpurFoundationDayevent. PTI

DomesticsalerecordforSonalikaTractorNewDelhi:SonalikaTractor,inJuly,recordedthehighestever domestic growth of71.7percentandoverall(do-mestic+exports)10,223trac-torssale.Domestic sales forthe tractormanufacturerstoodat8,219tractorscom-pared to 4,788 sales sameperiodlastyear. ENS

KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI,AUGUST2

MAJORPLAYERSinthenaturalgassector have raised objections tothegovernment’sproposaltoim-plement a unified gas transporttariffforintegratedgastransporta-tion networks, including a net-workofsevenGAILpipelinesanda network of twoGujarat StatePetronetLtdpipelines.TheproposalbythePetroleum

andNaturalGasRegulatoryBoard(PNGRB) is aimed at boostingoverallgasconsumptionbyratio-nalising gas transportation costsfor consumers located furtheraway fromLNGterminalswhicharepredominantlylocatedonthewestcoastof thecountry.Industry players have raised

objections, citinghighercosts forconsumers near gas sources, aswellasadverseimpactontheuseof domestically produced gas iftheproposalisaccepted.Currently,tariffsfortransport-

ationofgasaresetbythePNGRBseparatelyforeachpipelinebasedontheassumptionsofvolumeofgas transported on the pipelineand its operating life, aimed atprovidingtheoperatorapost-taxreturn of 12 per cent. Tariffs forpipeline usage are divided intozonesof300kmwiththetariffin-creasing for zones further awayfromthepointwheregasisinject-ed.Further,ifabuyerneedstousemultiplepipelinesevenfromthesameoperator,histransporttariffwould increase. These tariffs in-crease the cost for buyers of gasfurtherawayfromthepointofin-jectionofnaturalgas.The PNGRB has proposed a

unifiedpricesystemwithonepri-ceforthosetransportinggasnear-by,within300km,andonepriceforthosetransportinggasbeyond300km.Thiswouldfixtariffpriceswithin the integrated pipelinenetworksofGAILandGSPL.

Majorcompanies,involvedintheproductionanddistributionofgashave raisedobjections to theproposal pointing out that con-sumers using pipelines outsidetheproposedintegratedpipelinenetworkwould still have to payadditivetariffsfortheuseofmul-tiplepipelinesandthattheunifiedtariff structurewould likely leadto higher tariffs for consumersnearthegassource.InitscommentstothePNGRB,

IndianOilCorporation(IOC)notedthat itcurrentlyconsumes2mil-lionmetric tonnes of regasifiednaturalgaseveryyearandthatasmostof thecompany’s refineriesare inareasclose to thesourceofgas,theproposalwouldlikelyleadto significantly higher tariffs forconsumerssuchasIOC.IndustrybodyFICCIalsonoted

that the proposal wouldworkagainst gas-producing states astheywould lose their advantageinattractinginvestmentfromgas-consumingindustries.“...thecon-sumers at source, both currentand future,will endup subsidiz-

ing consumers away from thesource.Thiswillleadtocrosssub-sidizingwhich is undesirable,” itsaid in its comments to the PN-GRB.FICCI notedthattheimpactof theproposalwouldbe similartothatofthe“freightequalisation”policy implemented around 40yearsago,underwhichthetrans-port cost of minerals was sub-sidisedbytheCentre,whichwasfoundtobenon-viableandeven-tuallydoneawaywith.FICCIalsonotedthatindustrial

unitsusinggasset-upclosetogassourceswould lose their costad-vantagetoasimilarunitwhichhasbeensetupfarawayfromtheportifthefreightforgaswasequalised.An industry expert,whodid

notwish to be quoted, said thatwhileconcernsaroundcrosssub-sidisationwere legitimate, thegovernment was focussed onboosting gas consumption andwould likelymove forwardwiththeunifiedtariff scheme.RelianceIndustries(RIL),inits

comments to the PNGRB, notedthattheproposalwoulddisincen-tivisetheconsumptionofdomes-tically-produced gas from theKrishnaGodavariBasinasitisnotconnected to theproposed inte-gratedgasnetwork. RIL said thathaving the tariff ondomesticgasonanadditivebasiswithtariffsonimported LNG being unifiedwouldrun“contrarytothevision”ofan“AtmanirbharBharat”assetoutbythegovernment.Adani Gas, the distribution

company for piped natural gasandcompressednaturalgas,alsonoted that the proposal wouldleadtoarise ingas transport tar-iffsforconsumersnearthesourceof natural gas, stating that a con-sumer inGujaratusing thepipe-lineoftwoentitieswouldstillpayadditive tariffs under thepropo-sedregime.Itcalledforasinglena-tional gridwith single entry-exittariffforlong-termsimplificationof thetransporttariff regime.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,AUGUST2

GIVENBUSINESSactivitywasal-mostatastandstillduetothelock-downinthethreemonthstoJune,expectationsfromIndiaIncweretempered.Sureenough,revenuesand profits for the quarterplunged,with several top-rungfirmspostinglosses.Maruti Suzuki, TataMotors,

BhartiAirtel,JSWSteel,InterglobeAviationwere among those thatbore the brunt of thedisruptionthoughsomebusinessesdidpro-ve theywere resilient. AsianPai-nts, for instance, turned in a rea-sonablygoodperformanceasdidHindustanUnilever,postingafallinvolumesofjust7percentyear-on-year(y-o-y)fortheJunequar-ter,againstestimatestheywouldbelowerby11-13percenty-o-y.Foraclutchofabout350com-

panies (excluding banks and fi-nancials),revenuesforQ1FY21fell32 per cent y-o-ywhile profitscrashed62percenty-o-y,despitethe presence of three IT heavy-weights corroborating econo-mists’ forecasts of a big slump inGDP anywhere between 20-40percent inthisperiod.AtMaruti,forexample,net revenuesplum-meted79percenty-o-y,ledbyan81percenty-o-y fall involumes.TVSMotorsposteda68per centy-o-ydropinrevenues,withvol-umesfalling71percenty-o-y.As Indiaushers inUnlock3.0,

mosteconomic indicatorsareei-therflatorshowingslightsignsofimprovement. Last week, in agood sign, the electricity con-sumption gapwasnegative, thefirsttimethishashappenedsincethepandemic started. Thenum-ber of e-way bills generated in-creasedweek-on-week.However,railway freight volumes weredownmarginally in July after in-creasinginMayandJune.Companies,meanwhile, are

abletomendthesupplychainandgetmoreworkers back at theirjobs.AtLarsen&Toubro(L&T)theworkforcehasincreasedtowithin20percentofthecompany’speakrequirements helping the engi-neering firm to rampup execu-tion.Maruti indicateddemandisback to 85-90 per cent of pre-COVID levels. The automaker iscurrently producing4,000vehi-clesdailyandproductioncouldberampedupto4,900vehiclesifan-othershift isaddedinGujarat.Consumption of staples and

foods has been fairly strong—Britanniaturnedinastellarsetofnumbers—andthebounce-backin purchases of big ticket items,like cars, is encouraging.Companieshavemanagedtoreinincosts,whereverpossible,topro-tect theirmargins. ACC’s resultsbeatexpectationsasthecompanywasabletobringdowncosts.BajajAuto reported better-than-ex-pectedgrossmarginsevenasrev-enuesfell60percenty-o-yduetoanexpecteddiveinvolumes. FE

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,AUGUST2

NOT SATISFIEDwith responsesfromBharti Airtel andVodafoneIdea onpriority plans, regulatorTraihasshotoffadditional“tech-nical” queries to both the telcosand asked them to explain theirstandonAugust4,asourcesaid.Traiwantsthetwocompanies

to substantiate their claims thatthecontentiouspriorityofferingshaveneitherdeterioratedexperi-enceof other networkusers norviolatedanynorms.

‘Trai poses morequestions toAirtel, Voda Ideaon priority plans’

■TheReserveBankdecisiontofrontloadreporatecuts(115basispointssinceFebruary)to4percenthaspartlyledtonegativereturnsfordepositors

■Withinflationstillabovethe6percentmark,theMPCmaydecidetowaitandwatchandtakeapauseinAugusttomonitorIndia’sfightagainstCOVID-19

MPCMAYDECIDE TOWAIT ANDWATCH

PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,AUGUST2

DESPITEAglobal backlashon itsproducts, bothbackendnetworkequipment and consumer tech-nology devices, ChinesemajorHuawei emerged as the topsmartphonemaker in terms ofglobal device shipments duringthe April-June quarter, pippingSouth Korean conglomerateSamsung, according to data re-leasedbyCounterpointResearch.

WhatwerethenumbersforApril-June?During the quarter, Huawei

shipped 54.8 million smart-phones,asagainstSamsung’s54.2million. US-basedApplewas atthe thirdpositionwith37.5mil-lion devices shippedduring thequarter, followed by ChinesesmartphonemakerXiaomiwith

26.5milliondevices.DuringtheApril-Junequarter last year,Huaweihad shipped56.6million smart-phones but repre-sented only a 16 percent market share,whichthisyearcameatparwithSamsungwith both companiesenjoying20percentshare.

HowdidHuaweimanagetograbthetopspot?According to Counterpoint

Research,Huaweiwasable toat-taintheleadershippositionduetoauniquemarketscenariocreatedby COVID-19. China, Huawei’slargestmarket,isnowrecoveringfromthepandemiccompared toothermarkets like Europe, LatinAmerica and North America.Smartphone shipments inChinafell17percentyear-on-year(y-o-y) during the quarter, a more

modest decline thanthe rest of theworldthat declined 28percentonyear.HuaweicontinueditspushinChina, benefitingfrom the recovery. Itnow holds almost

half (47 per cent) themarket inChina,andthisalonecontributesto71percentof itsshipments,asagainst62percentayearago.However, inmarkets outside

China, its shipmentsdeclined29percenty-o-y.HuaweididwellinsomeEasternEuropemarketslikeRussia and Ukraine. However,CounterpointpointedoutthatasmarketsoutsideChina recover, itwillbetoughforHuaweitomain-tainthisleadincomingquarters.

HowistheIndiasmartphonemarketshaped?The April-June quarter saw

Xiaomistrengthenitspositionas

thetopsmartphonesellerinIndiawith a 29per centmarket shareduringthisperiod,asagainsta28per cent share sameperiod lastyear. With the exception ofSamsung,whichhad the secondhighestmarketshare,all compa-nies in thetop fivewereChinese.India’s smartphone shipmentsdeclinedby51per cent y-o-y tojust over 18millionunits duringthequarter.Thenationwidelock-down imposed to contain theCOVID-19spreadhadresulted inzeroshipmentsduringApril.InJune,however,Indiansma-

rtphone shipments registered amilddeclineof0.3percenty-o-y,caused by pent-up demand aswell as a push frombrands.Dueto concernsoverpotential infec-tion,consumersprefercontactlesspurchasing andonline channels.Smartphonebrandstooarerecog-nisingthistrendbypushingmoreinventorytoonlinechannels.

■ThePNGRBproposalaimstoboostoverallgasconsumptionbyrationalisinggastransportationcostsforconsumerslocatedfurtherawayfromLNGterminals,whicharemainlyinthewestcoast

■Theregulatorhasproposedaunifiedpricesystemwithonepriceforthosetransportinggasnearby,within300km,andonepriceforthosetransportinggasbeyond300km

TOBOOSTOVERALLGASCONSUMPTION

Jun qtr: Revenues & profitsplunge, but India Inc gettingback on its feet slowly

Unified gas transport tariff: Industryplayers object to proposal, cite highercost for consumers close to source

Global smartphone shipments: How China’s COVIDrecovery helped Huawei become market leader

KHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,AUGUST2

THENCLThasdecidedtoheartheresolutionplanofRelianceCom-municationsLtd(RCom),RelianceInfratel Ltd (RITL) and RelianceTelecomLtd(RTL)onAugust5forapproval,aftertheresolutionpro-fessional (RP) asked for an earlyhearing in the case citing “huge”maintenance cost of the compa-niesatRs170crorepermonth.As per norms, the mainte-

nance cost is to be borne by thecompanyundergoing the insol-vencyprocessonceitisapprovedbythecreditorsof thecompany.RCom,oncetheflagshipcom-

pany of the Anil Ambani-ledReliancegroup,wasadmittedinto

insolvencybytheMumbaiBenchof the National Company LawTribunal(NCLT)inJune2019.Inanorderpassedon July29,

thetribunalagreedtoheartheres-olutionplan for RCom, RITL and

RTLforapproval,asapartfromtheRP,Ericsson IndiaPvtLtdandthecommittee of creditors led byStateBankofIndia(SBI)toomov-ed the court separately, request-ing anurgent listing of the case.Ericsson is seeking release of itsduesfromRCom,saidtheplea.OnMarch 6, 2020, the RP of

RComanditssubsidiariessubmit-tedaresolutionplanapprovedbythecreditorsundertheInsolvencyandBankruptcy(IBC)process.Theplanentails realisationofaroundRs23,000crorefromsaleofRComassets and clawback of moneypaid to someof the lenders. Thetotaldebtofthecompanyisarou-ndRs46,000crore.The Chinese banks which

dragged Anil Ambani to a UKcourt to recover dues—namely,

Industrial&Commercial BankofChina Ltd, China DevelopmentBankandtheExport-ImportBankof China—will receive Rs 5,500croreaspertheresolutionplan.According to the resolution

planof RCom’s subsidiaries RITLandRTL, Reliance Jiowill get thetower and fibre assets of RITL forRs 4,700 crore and UV AssetReconstructionCoLtdwillgetas-setsofRComandRTL(spectrum)forRs14,000crore.InMay,Ambaniwasordered

by a London judge to paymorethan $700 million to a trio ofChinesebanksfollowingadisputeoverdefaultedloans.InFebruary,Ambani claimed in a Londoncourt that his net worth haddroppedtozeroafterthevalueofhisinvestmentscollapsed.

REUTERSMOSCOW,AUGUST2

RUSSIA’S ENERGYMinistry saidon Sunday that the country’s oiloutput in July was unchangedfrom levels seen in June, in linewithanOPEC+agreement.Theministry added that its

levelofcompliancewiththedealin Julywasclose that recorded inJune,whenitstoodat99percent.Energy ministry data pub-

lished earlier on Sunday byInterfaxnewsagencyshowedthatRussia’s oil and gas condensateproductionhadincreasedto9.37million barrels per day (bpd) in

July, up from9.32millionbpd inJune.Oil output cuts, agreedbe-tween the Organization of thePetroleumExporting Countries(OPEC) andothermajor produc-ers including Russia, known asOPEC+, are due to be eased inAugust. Under the OPEC+ deal,Moscow pledged to reduce itsoutput toaround8.5millionbpdinMay-Julytosupportoilprices.Thedealdoesnotincludeout-

put of gas condensate, a lightoil.Thecutsundertheglobaldealshould be eased starting fromAugustbecauseofarecoveryinoilprices.Russiahassaiditwouldin-crease its oil production by400,000bpd.

Russia says July oil outputin line with OPEC+ deal

Negative returns for saversmayhold backRBI from repo rate cut

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,AUGUST2

IN 2009, when Pune-head-quartered Serum Institute ofIndia (SII) was developing avaccine against the swine flu(H1N1),itfollowedadecades-old technique using a com-monly consumedhouseholditem—eggs.Yet,today,theeggis out. Like the rest of theworld, Indianvaccinemakers—crucial inthispandemicfortheir largemanufacturingca-pacities—havehadtoskillup.Picturealaboratorywhere

afertilisedhen’seggisinjectedwithafluvirus.Theeggactsasa host, growing the virus, al-lowingittoreplicateovertimetheway itwould inahuman.Thefluidfromthiseggisthenpurified so that the vaccinemaker is left with only thereplicatedvirus.Dependingonthe type of vaccine, it is thenkilledorpassedthroughmoreeggstoweakenit.The technology is around

70years old, but hasworkedwell for vaccine firms in thelast twodecades, as themostlong-standing pandemicstheyhad to cater towere flu-related.TheH1N1vaccinewasreportedlydevelopedwithinmonthsofthepandemic.Tod-ay, the stakes are higher andnoamountofeggscanhelp.For one, thismainstay in

flu vaccines has no effectiverole inCOVID-19vaccinede-velopment. The SARS-CoV-2virus,whichcausesCOVID-19,does not replicate in embry-onated eggs, according to aJune 25 study by IanG Barr,CleveRynehart,PaulWhitneyandJulianDrucepublishedintheEuroSurveillancejournal.Secondly, theworld does

not have time for egg-basedvaccines, which take a fewmonthstomake,accordingtoexperts.Apartfromsometra-ditionalapproaches,theworldis closelywatching vaccinecandidatesmadeusingDNA,mRNAandviral vector tech-nology. If successful, theycanbe scaledupmuch faster, say

experts.Forinstance,DNAandmRNAvaccines caneasily bemanufacturedata largescaleinlargevatscalledbioreactors.Thelatestpandemic,ther-

efore, has seen several Indianvaccine producers pushingtheirownboundariestogam-blewithnewertechnology.“Ifyoulookatalltheprod-

uctsthatourcompanieshave,thelatesttechnologyforthosein the market is from the1980s,”saidavaccineexpert.Some companies unable

toworkontheirownhavein-ternational tie-ups.With tie-ups come tech transfers andmillions of dollars of invest-mentsintoupgradingandrai-singmanufacturingcapacity.The confidence of Indian

firms in exploringunchartedterritories comespartly fromtheirwillingness in last 5-10yearstoembracenewertech-nologies, said vaccine expertDrDavinderGill.AtleastfiveIndiancompa-

nieshavecollaboratedwithin-ternational firmsoruniversi-tiestodeveloptheirCOVID-19vaccines.Pune-headquarteredGennovaBiopharmaceuticalscollaborated with Seattle-basedHDT Bio to develop amessenger RNA vaccine forthe first time. Bharat Biotech,already testing inactivatedvaccineCovaxin,isalsoexplor-ingnon-replicatingandrepli-cating viral vectorswith twoAmericaninstitutes.SII,whichhas amanufacturingdeal fortheOxfordvaccinecandidatethat is currently ahead in therace,wasreportedlyinvestingover $100million in a facilityforthevaccineinJune.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

COVID-19 EFFECTPHARMACEUTICALS

Eggs to cutting-edgetech: Vaccine makersupgrade theirpandemic response

TheSARS-CoV-2virus,thatcausesCOVID-19,doesnotreplicateinembryonatedeggs,accordingtoastudypublishedintheEuroSurveillancejournal

‘Discoms’ outstanding duesto gencos up 47% in Jun’Total outstanding dues owed by discoms to power gencosrose nearly 47 per cent to Rs 1.33 lakh crore in June 2020over the year-agomonth, according to the PRAAPTI portal

`1,26,963cr:Total outstandingdues on discoms inMay2020

PRAAPTI: The Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement forbringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators — or PRAAPTI — portal waslaunched in May 2018 to bring in transparency in power purchasetransactions between generators and discoms

Source:PRAAPTI/PTI

`90,655CRORE:Amount owedby distributioncompanies, or discoms, topower generation companies,or gencos, in June2019

`1,20,041CRORE:Total overdue amount notcleared by discoms in June2020, even after 60-daygrace period offered by gencos

`72,362CRORE:Totaloverdue amount in June2019

OVERDUESOFCENTRALPUBLICSECTORGENCOSONDISCOMS:■NTPC: `19,298.77 crore

■NLC India: `6,280.76 crore

■ DamodarValleyCorporation: `5,570.99crore

■NHPC: `3,518.97 crore

■ THDC India: `2,551.32crore

34.78%Share of overdues ofindependent gencoswithin the totaloverdue amountof `1,20,041crore on discoms

NCLT to hear resolution plan of RCom, RITL, RTL on Aug 5

TheChinesebankswhichdraggedAnilAmbani toaUKcourt torecoverdueswill receive`5,500croreasper theresolutionplan. File

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST3,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VolLXXXVIIINo.228 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding,9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg,NewDelhi-110002.Editorialoffice: The IndianExpress (P)Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding,9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002.Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301.Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha** **Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct. Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,

withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

14IPL tobeplayed inDubai, SharjahandAbuDhabi fromSept19toNov10

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYKOLKATA, AUGUST 2

THE2020 IndianPremier League (IPL)willbeplayedfromSeptember19toNovember10, as confirmed by the IPL GoverningCouncil on Sunday. TheBCCI hasn’t yet re-ceived the Indian government’s approvaltohold the tournament in theUnitedArabEmirates (UAE).However,governingcoun-cil chairman Brijesh Patel hoped that thenod is forthcoming.“Should receive in a couple of days,”

Patel informedThe IndianExpressviaa textmessage.Healsomentionedthat likeeveryyear, theWomen’sT20Challengewouldbeplayedthis seasonaswell; in the firstweekof November inUAE.The IPLmediaadvisory, releasedafter the

meetingviavideoconference, stated that theupcomingeditionof the tournamentwill beplayedover53daysinDubai,SharjahandAbuDhabi “subject tonecessary clearances fromtheGovernmentof India”,andwillhave10af-ternoonmatchesstartingat3:30pmIndiatime.“VIVO IPL 2020will be played from19th

Septemberandthefinalwillbeplayedon10thNovember2020.The53-daytournamentwillwitness 10 afternoonmatches starting at15:30ISTwhiletheeveningmatcheswillstartat19:30IST,” thereleasestated.A governing council member informed

that the BCCI will issue the StandardOperating Procedure (SOP) for the tourna-mentafterreceivinggovernmentclearance.The press release stated: “The GoverningCouncil also discussed the comprehensiveStandard Operating Procedures (SOPs),whichwillbefinalisedandpublishedinduecourse,includingtheagenciestoexecuteanddeliverabio-secureenvironmentforsafeandsuccessful conductof IPL2020Season.”It added: “The Governing Council also

reviewed the Player Regulations for re-placement player for 2020 season.”TheIPL franchisesareeagerlywaitingto

hear from the BCCIwith regards to bio-se-curity measures, squad strength, replace-mentplayers, travel forfamiliesand/orpart-ners of the players etc. “So far, we haven’theardanythingfromtheBCCI.Wearewait-ing to hear from them.We are planning to

leave forUAEearly,withaneyeonhavingacampthere.Wealsohaveourmedicalpro-tocols ready. But until we hear from theBCCI,wecannot finaliseanything,”aCEOof

an IPL franchise told this paper.It is learnt that the BCCI will have a

meetingwith the franchises tentativelyonAugust 4.

Desert Odyssey dates out

Therewillbe10afternoonmatchesthisseason.Therestwillbeginat7.30pmIST.File

HorsfieldwinsHeroOpenforhismaidenEuropeanTourtitleSamHorsfieldshotafinalround4-under68towintheHeroOpenbyonestrokeSundayintheEuropeanTour'slateststopinEngland.The23-year-oldEnglishmanclinchedhisfirstEuropeanTour titlewithan18-under270 total, holdingoffsecond-placeThomasDetry,whose6-under66hadbriefly givenhima share of the lead.Detry, a27-year-oldBelgian,hadninebirdiesandthreebogeysinhisfinalroundattheForestof ArdenMarriott Hotel and Country Club.OvernightleaderHorsfieldbirdiedthe17thholetogoaheadofDetry,whowasalready in theclubhouse,andsecuredvictorywithparatthe18th.Hisvictorywaspoweredbya9-under63onFriday.SebastianGarciaRodriguezofSpain,who set a course record 10-under 62 in theopeninground,shot1-over73andfinishedtiedfor10thon11under. AP

Opener Jonny Bairstow smashed 82 off 41ballsasEnglandbeat Irelandbyfourwicketsin the second one-day international to takeanunassailable2-0serieslead.Englandover-cameamiddle-orderwobbletofinishon216-6 in 32.3 overs in reply to Ireland's 212-9 attheRoseBowl.AfterAdilRashidhadtaken3-34toreach150ODIwickets,Bairstowequaledtherecordforthefastest50inthis formatbyan Englishman off 21 balls. Bairstow, EoinMorgan andMoeen Ali were dismissed as

Englandlurchedfrom131-3to137-6,beforean unbroken 79-run stand between SamBillingsandDavidWilleyhelpedthehoststotheirtargetwithmorethan17overstospare.Thethree-matchseries,whichisbeingplayedwith no fans present,marks the start of theICCCricketWorldCupSuperLeague. APBRIEFSCORES: Ireland212/9in50overs(CCampher68;ARashid3/34) lost toEngland216/6 in32.3overs (J Bairstow82,DWilley47*; J Little 3/60) by4wickets

Bairstowblitzkrieg helpsEngland to serieswin vs Ireland

Gomathi approaches CAS,appeals against doping banIndianathleteGomathiMarimuthuhaschal-lenged the four-year ban, handed to her forfailingadopetest,attheCourtofArbitrationforSport(CAS).Gomathiwasstrippedof thegoldmedal shewonat the2019DohaAsianchampionship in the 800m event andbanned for four years by the AthleticsIntegrityUnit (AIU) after her 'B' sample alsoreturned positive for anabolic steroid nan-drolone. "Anappealhasbeen filedwithCASasperprocedures.Wehaveappealedagainstthefour-yearbanandthefineof1,000BritishPoundsimposedonme,"shetoldPTI.Theap-peal has to be filed 30days from thedate ofthe receipt of the decision. The Tamil Naduathlete had tested positive for the anabolicsteroid nandrolone at the 2019 Asian trackchampionships inQatar inApril. PTI

OpenerJonnyBairstowequalledEoinMorgan’srecordforthefastest50inODIsbyanEnglishman,scoringonein21ballsagainst IrelandonSaturday.Reuters

CHAWRASIATESTSPOSITIVEFORCOVID-19IndiangolferSSPChawrasiaonSundaysaidhehastestedpositiveforCOVID-19andisinhomequarantineinKolkata, theresultspoilinghisplanstocompeteontheEuropeanTour. "Ididnothaveanysymptomsassuch.Butforimmigra-tionrequirement,IhadtodotheCOVIDtestandthereportcamepositiveonFriday.I'vebeeninhomequarantinesincethen,"the42-year-oldsaid. PTI

CROSSWORD4186

ACROSS1 horoscope forshow’s topperformers? (3-4,4)

9 Itmaypickandholda lock(7)

10 Igetahorseout forher (5)

11 Listeningdevices for insects(4)

12 Pansdifficult towearout (8)

14 Energetic secretagent takesanap inside (6)

16 Timetosteeradifferentway(6)

18 Handyexpressionsofapproval (8)

19 Workmaninstone(4)

22 Kingdomnot fanciedbymany(5)

23 Fishevidencethat the lady ismarried(7)

24 Capital conditions forAustraliancowboys(5,6)

DOWN2 Pronetomendacity(5)

3 Drinksuponboard(4)

4 Girlhas theFrenchrisingtemper (6)

5 Causeof cracks thatcanbringdownthehouse(8)

6 Hewaits fora job(7)

7 Mostactorsprobablyhope forit (3,4,4)

8 Scienceoftenmet in itsabbreviated form(11)

13 Rashoutbreak?(8)15 Veryhardworkersupportsamother (7)

17 He’smasteredtheartof eatingout (6)

20 Previously found inorder(5)

21 Givesomeoneapointedreminder? (4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)AnupbeatMoon, fullof commonsense, isjustwhatyouneedtogetoff toagood

start.Giventhat thereare fewplanetarypressures thisweek,youcandoyourself a favouranddropanyaspectsof your lifewhichhaveoutlivedtheirusefulness.Goon—youknowyoucando it.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Yourfirstreactiontoanewpropositionwillprobablybetoacceptitwithoutquestion,

especiallyif itrelatestohomeorfamilymatters.Onlylaterwilldoubtsbegintocreepin.Knowingthis,youmaywishtotakemoretimeinthefirstplace.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Today’s dominantplanetaryalignment is nicelyhelpful, andwill

enable you to bring out yourlegendary qualities— suchas your ability to talk atgreat length about almostanything! Butwill anyoneelse understand you?Well, perhaps it reallydoesn’tmatter.

CANCER(June22- July23)Thefirst thingtobeconsiderednowisyourrole inanemotional

relationshipor jointundertaking.Theheartof themattercouldbe financial,includingthequestionofwhopays forwhat.Thatmightbeanissueyoucan’t solvenow—soput itoff till tomorrow.

LEO(July24-Aug23)A relative orcolleaguemaynowbelieve that you canbebrow-beatenor

otherwise forced to acceptsecond-best. If only they knewthat theMoonwas onyourside, they’d seehowwrongthey are! The stars’ first adviceis to stand your ground, andonly to compromisewhenyouknow the result is going tobe fair.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)It’s because youputon abrave face andconceal your truefeelings that others

oftenmisunderstand your realintentions. Now, before youcan talk about your emotionsyouneedproperly tounderstand yourmotives. Ifyou then saywhat youmean,other peoplemight actually situp andpay attention.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Lovedonesmaybeargumentative,buttheredoesn’t seemtobeanything

wrongwhichcan’tbesmoothedoverwitha littlekindnessandcompassion.Friendscanbecalled intohelpif extraassistance is required.Seeto it thatyoucontact therightpeopleat theappropriatetime, though.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Youmaybewonderinghowlongitwillbebeforeunderlyingtensions

canfinallybesatisfactorilyresolved.Theanswer isnot forsometimeyet, socontinuetotakewhateverevasiveactionyoufeel isnecessary.Yournextstepmightactuallybeto lookatthe financial implications.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Mercury, rulerofdeepthoughtandwisdom, isnowapproachinga

supportiverelationshipwithJupiter,planetof inspiration.Thepsychological impact findsyour intellectualprocessesbecomingsharper, to thepointwhereyour judgmentwillbebeyondcriticism.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Noonecanpreventyoucontinuingafeudforas longasMarsarousesyour

irritation-orevenanger.Butyoucandecide foryourselfwhether it is reallyworthwhilelettingthedistantpastcolouryourpresentactions—orallowingchanceevents todisturbyouremotionalequilibrium.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Workwiseyouhavebeenthroughaperiodof change,and it’snowtimeto

makethenecessarypersonaladjustments. If youhave inanywayneglectedyoursocial lifeorignoredold friends,nowis themomenttocorrect thebalance.Get in touch.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)All ambitious andprofessionalindividuals are nowhitting anewphase,

one full of fresh ideas. Even ifyour life is determinedlyleisured youwill soonbestruck by the realisation thatyouhaveneglected yourtalents. Itmight evenbe agood time to think aboutlearning anewskill.

SUDOKU418

9

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU418

8

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Ipreferdrawingtotalking.Drawingis___,andleaveslessroomfor___.-LeCorbusier(6,..,4)

SOLUTION:EAGLE,OSIER,LOTION,OFFSETAnswer:Ipreferdrawingtotalking.Drawingisfaster,andleaveslessroomforlies.-LeCorbusier

GLAEE INOOLT

EOIRS EFOTFS

SolutionsCrossword4185:Across:1Dallas,4Saraband,9Admits,10Minister,12Role,13Divot,14Amen,17BusterKeaton,20Beatthecount,23Oval,24Pouch,25Opal,28Keepsake,29Secret,30Payments,31Fresco.Down:1Diatribe,2Limbless,3Ante,5Abitofashock,6Arid,7Autumn,8Daring,11Ticketpocket,15Fever,16Nonce,18Supports,19Stiletto,21Lockup,22Rarely,26Isle,27Heir.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Hamilton winsBritish GP,closes in onSchumi’s recordASSOCIATEDPRESSSILVERSTONE,AUGUST2

LEWISHAMILTONheldontowintheBritishGrandPrixonSundaydespiteapunctureonthe last lap to clinch an87th careerwin andmovewithin four ofMichael Schumacher'sFormula One record. The championshipleader'srecord-extendingseventhSilverstonewinsawhimfinishsixsecondsaheadofRedBull'sMax Verstappen, who unexpectedlymovedupaplaceafterHamilton'sMercedesteammate Valtteri Bottas sustained a punc-turewiththree laps left.WithHamilton so far ahead, Verstappen

wentinforatirechangeinabidtogainanex-trapointforthefastestlapbutthatpitstopul-timatelycosthimvictorybecauseHamilton'sfront left shredded with half a lap to go.Verstappenswallowedupmostofthe25-sec-ondgapbutranoutoftime."Idefinitelyhaven'texperiencedanything like that. I thoughtmyheartwas going to stop,"Hamilton said. "Upuntil that last lap everythingwas relativelysmoothsailing.WhenIheardhis(Bottas'tire)wentI lookedatmineanditseemedfine."Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari

with Daniel Ricciardo fourth for improvingRenaultandBritishdriverLandoNorris fifthforMcLaren. "Itwasavery tricky race," saidLeclerc after his second podiumof the sea-son. "I amvery happywith how Imanagedthe tires frombeginning to theend."Whenhis tiremelted,Bottashad tocome

back for a tire changeanddroppedoutof thepointsaltogether into11thspotand30pointsbehindHamiltoninthetitleraceafterfourraces.SebastianVettel, a four-time F1 champion,placed10thandhasnowfailedtoget intothetopfiveforhisworststarttoaseasonsince2008.McLaren's Carlos Sainz Jr. also sustained

a last-gasp puncture and fell to 13th. Haasdriver KevinMagnussen and AlphaTauri'sDaniil Kvyat were both unharmed aftercrashingearlyinthe52-laprace.Thereisan-otherraceatSilverstonenextSunday,wherePirellimaymodify its tire selection.Before therace,driversagainworeblack

T-shirtswith"EndRacism"writtenonthemaspartof anongoingcampaign.

Kolkata:Likeeveryyear,theWomen’sT20Challenge will be played this seasonalongside the IPL. Three teamswill playfourmatches inUAE in the firstweek ofNovember.“Women’sT20Challengewillalso takeplace in theUAEandwill com-prise three teamswith fourmatches tobe played during the IPL Playoff week,”stated the IPLmedia release.TheWomen’sT20Challenge,however,

will clash with theWomen’s Big BashLeagueinAustralia,inOctober-November,andastheIPLgoverningcouncilchairmanBrijeshPatelinformed,“Indianplayerswillnotbeavailable for (Women’s)BigBash.”Australianwomen’steamcricketerAlyssaHealy,meanwhile,postedacryptictweet:“SoduringtheWBBL.... cool."Former Indiawomen’s team captain

Jhulan Goswami welcomed the BCCI’sdecision. “After a long time, wewill be

backonthecricketfieldandwearelook-ing forward (to it) as a team.Wewouldlike to thank all BCCI officials. It’s greatnews for Indian cricket,” Jhulan told TheIndianExpress.The Indianwomen’s team’s limited

oversseries inEnglandinJunewaspost-poneddue to thecoronaviruspandemicandtheT20Challengewillallowtheplay-ers to return to action after a long layoff.“ThiswillalsohelpourWorldCupbuild-upandalthoughwearegoingtoplaytheT20version(here),butwewillgettoplaycompetitivematches,” Jhulan said. TheICCWomen’s CricketWorld Cup – 50-over format – is scheduled to be playedinNewZealandnextyear.The BCCI, it is learnt, is also planning

a home series for the women’s teamagainstSouthAfrica inOctober.

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTY

Women’s T20 Challenge to clash with Big Bash

New Delhi