IndIa’s hIghest sIngle-day spIke wIth 6,767 corona casesWith the highest ever single-day spike of 6,767 cases, India’s Covid-19 zoomed to 1,31,868 on Sunday, as per the details shared by the Union Health Ministry. There were 54,440 re-coveries today as against 51,783 from Saturday taking the recov-ery rate to 41.28 per cent. The country recorded 147 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 3,867. Out of the total number of cases, 73,560 are active cases. Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected State with 50,231 Covid-19 cases, with 3,041 new cases in the last 24 hours. With 58 deaths on Sunday, the state’s total corona toll now stands at 1,635.

‘need tIme to resume flIght servIces In maharashtra’Maharashtra Chief Minister Ud-dhav Thackeray on Sunday said he has sought more time from the Civil Aviation Ministry to re-sume domestic air travel in the state and added that he cannot ensure if lockdown will be over by May 31 as “multiplication of virus” is picking up. “We cannot say that lockdown will be over by May 31. We will have to see how we will go forward. The coming time is crucial as the multiplica-tion of the virus is picking up. I want to assure the medical fraternity that we are with them in all ways,” Thackeray said.

“Today morning, I spoke to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and requested him to give us some time to do preparations (to resume domestic air travel),” he said.

no detentIon of IndIan soldIers by chInese forces: armyIndian Army on Sunday strongly rejected media reports which claimed that its soldiers were briefly detained by the Chinese forces in Ladakh. The army also said that such “unsubstantiated reports” hurt India’s national interests. “There has been no detention of Indian soldiers at the borders. We categorically deny this. It only hurts national interests when media outlets publish unsubstantiated news,” the Army said in its official statement.

no relaxatIon In contaInment zones In delhI: mInIsterDelhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said that the Delhi government has bar-ricaded the containment zones and no relaxation has been given in these areas. “Whatever con-tainment zones are there, we are barricading it and no relaxation from the government has been given in these zones,” the Minis-ter said. “All people must follow three rules. First, put a face mask when getting out in public. Second, keep social distancing. The third is to sanitise hands again and again. If people follow these three things, coronavirus can be avoided. If rules are not followed in any containment zone, then action will be taken against them,” the Minister added. On the issue of increase in the number of containment zones in the national capital, he said, “Now more than 500 cases are coming, because of that the containment zones have increased. The doubling rate in Delhi is 13 days.”

25 may 2020 | Issue 27 | new delhi

Domestic flight op-erations are set to resume from Mon-

day, 25 May, with special arrangements for passen-ger safety and security. The Delhi International Airport is fully geared up to resume operations after almost two months of complete shut-down due to the coronavi-

rus outbreak. However, all flights will operate from Ter-minal 3. A senior official said that some 380 flights, both arrivals and departures, are expected to operate on Mon-day.

With the Central govern-ment deciding to resume domestic flights, airport authorities across the coun-try are taking several pre-cautionary measures. The Daily Guardian visited the

terminal to observe how the airport experience is set to change.

It will be mandatory for a passenger to either down-load Aarogya Setu appli-cation or fill up a self-dec-laration form that will be available at the airport. Only those who are marked “safe” on the app will be allowed to travel.

Passengers can either download and print baggage

tags at home to attach them to their luggage, or can col-lect them from a kiosk at the airport; only one handbag and one check-in bag will be allowed per passenger.

Passengers should reach the airport two hours before scheduled departure.

Thermal screening of pas-sengers before entering the airport has been made man-datory to check the spread of the virus and to avoid close

contact. Passengers will be encouraged to do web check-in or use self-check-in at the airport.

Social distance markings have been made in differ-ent areas of the airport for passengers to follow. Also, touch-less hand-sanitisers have been placed with bag-gage disinfection by ultravi-olet light disinfection tunnel.

Washrooms will be closed

delhI aIrport to operate 380 flIghts on day 1arun DhantaNeW DeLHI

The deserted ghat of Varanasi

A view of the famous Assi Ghat amid the Covid-19 lockdown, in Varanasi on Sunday. ANI

tIme to fly

guIdelInes

pandemIc probe controversy

MHA’s new SOP on Indians stranded abroad gives priority to ‘compelling’ cases

beIjIng ‘open’ to InternatIonal efforts to fInd covId-19 orIgIn: chInese fm

Tirupati temple trust to auction 50 properties in Andhra, TN

Delhi International Airport is ready to resume its operations after almost two months of complete shutdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak; all flights will operate from Terminal 3.

Six days after the beginning of Lockdown 4.0, the Un-ion government on Sunday came with a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to bring Indians stranded abroad, giving priority to compelling cases in distress, short-term visa-holders and persons with medical emer-gencies.

The compelling cases will include migrant workers or labourers who have been laid off, short-term visa-holders faced with expiry of visas, and students. Persons with medical emergencies comprises pregnant wom-en, and elderly and those

required to return to India due to the death of a family member.

However, the cost of travel as specified by the carrier, will be borne by such travel-lers, says the 10-point SOP issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

All travellers will also be required to give an under-taking that they are making the journey at their own risk, it said.

Such persons will have to register themselves with the Indian missions in the country where they are stranded, along with neces-sary details as prescribed by the Ministry of External Af-fairs (MEA). They will travel to India by non-scheduled

commercial flights as al-lowed by Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), and ships as allowed by the Depart-ment of Military Affairs and Ministry of Shipping.

Based on the registration received, the MEA will pre-pare a flight or ship wise da-tabase of all such travellers, including details such as name, age, gender, mobile phone number, place of resi-dence, place of final destina-tion; and information or RT-PCR test taken and its result.

This database will be shared by MEA with the re-spective state/Union Terri-tories (UTs) in advance. The MEA will designate state or UT wise nodal officers, who

CorresponDentNeW DeLHI

CorresponDentNeW DeLHI

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thIs Is the InItIal step In the path towards the country's fInest daIly newspaper.

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4cong: raman sIngh among nyay yojana benefIcIarIes

7salIva ban Is only an InterIm measure: kumble

6mIlItary leadershIp In the tIme of socIal medIa

Facing worldwide criticism, China is finally ready to join efforts with the internation-al community in finding the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, but this process should not be politicised, said Chinese Foreign Min-ister Wang Yi on Sunday.“China is open to joint ef-forts by the international science community to iden-tify the source of the virus. Importantly, it must be a professional, impartial, and constructive process. Let science professional and medical experts research the issue worldwide,” Wang said during a press briefing. “Regarding the source of the virus, the difference between China and some

US politicians is as wide as between facts and lies, be-tween science and prejudice. Source tracing is a serious and complex issue of sci-ence. It should be studied by scientists and medical experts. Some politicians have attached a geopolitical label to the virus, politicize its source, and stigmatised China,” he added.

Defending the World Health Organization’s Cov-id-19 response, the Chinese Foreign Minister said that the WHO has made “timely” recommendations on the issue since the beginning of the pandemic. “Since the very beginning, the WHO led by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus followed sci-ence and provided timely and professional recom-mendations on all aspects. It

did a great job and fulfilled its mandate,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the global blame on Bei-jing for Covid-19, the min-ister said that self-conceit and blame-shifting would not help any country solve this problem but will only hurt other country’s legiti-mate rights and interests.

“The disaster wreaks havoc watching from an apparent-ly safe distance and sitting idle will eventually backfire. Pointing fingers at others will only damage one’s own reputation,” he said.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, many countries including the United States have blamed China for the origin of the virus, which has infected more than five million people worldwide. wiTh agency inpuTs

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Board, which manages one of the world’s richest Hindu temples — Tiru-mala Balaji Temple — has decided to auction 50 of its immovable properties in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, including house sites and agricultural lands. Sources say the shrine, which is closed for over two months due to the nationwide lockdown, is reeling under acute money shortage and is unable to pay its employees properly.

Defending the decision, TTD chair-man Subba Reddy said, “It is not a new decision. It was taken by the previous Board of Trustees and we only reiter-ated it. Small-land holdings or house sites of 50 cents to 1 acre, donated to the temple, mostly in Tamil Nadu and a few places in Rishikesh are being en-croached upon. Hence, the TTD Board

decided to liquidate them through auc-tion. It is not a new thing; it has been happening since 1974.”

While Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have 26 and 23 such properties respectively, one land is in Rishikesh. A total income of about Rs 24 crore is expected to earned from the auctions, Reddy said.

Meanwhile, the decision has caused a huge uproar in the Hindu commu-nity and many Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh have objected to it, say-ing the decision hurts the sentiments of devotees. The state unit of the BJP has also started a campaign against the decision and alleged that the political appointees in the board are dancing to the tunes of the Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment.

BJP leader Dinakar Lanka said, “Polit-ical intervention in the TTD is spoiling the holiness and spirituality in the deci-sions of the board. It had made its mind

to auction the valuable lands across Ta-mil Nadu in the name of maintenance problems. My question is why the TTD Board and political appointees are re-quired if they are incapable of maintain-ing properties of Lord Venkateswara? We are strongly condemning the deci-sions of the TTD Board with the influ-ence of political interventions.”

He also added that a series of inci-dents such as allowing new churches across the Seven Hills of Tirumala and decision to supply “Swamivaari Prasa-adam”, a famous laddu (sweet), in the markets also hurt the sentiments of Hindus. Lanka termed these decisions

“a conspiracy to suppress” Hindus.Many devotees are now getting ready

to approach the High Court to stop the auction of the temple lands. A former TTD Board member of who belongs to the BJP told The Daily Guardian that they are ready to approach the court to

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IntervIew

We discussed with govt and stakeholders to prepare for safe journey: DIAL CEO arun DhantaNeW DeLHI

Domestic flights will begin from today and the major re-sponsibility to ensure a safe and hassle-free flight will lie on the shoulders of airports. So how much Delhi Inter-national Airport is geared up for the safe operations in the time of Covid-19? The Daily Guardian speaks to Vi-deh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO of Delhi International Airport Limited, about the prepara-tions for smooth domestic operations. Excerpts:Q. Since domestic operations are commencing, what are the preparations at one of the two biggest and busiest airports un-der your supervision?A. Around 190 flights will

depart from Delhi Airport today. In the last two months, we had discussions with the government and all other stakeholders to prepare detailed SOPs. So that all those passengers who enter Delhi have a safe journey. We will suggest travellers to carry their boarding passes from home and if someone doesn’t, they can still take it from the “scan and fly” ma-chine by scanning the bar-code on their ticket through the phone. We have added three new processes at the airport: testing of tempera-ture, baggage sensitisation and the Aarogya Setu app or self-declaration certificate.

It will be ensured that P2

delhI aIrport all set to take off 380 flIghts on day 1tIme to fly

guIdelInes

dIscrImInatIon petItIons

guIdelInes

travel charges

allegatIon seekIng dIrectIon

blame game

MHA’s new SOP on Indians stranded abroad gives priority to ‘compelling’ cases

tIrupatI temple trust to auctIon 50 propertIes In andhra, tn

2 news t h e da i ly gua r d i a n2 5 m ay 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

A division bench of the Guja-rat High Court consisting of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and

Justice Ilesh J. Vora confronted the Indian Railways for charging trans-portation fare from the migrant workers travelling to their home states. The bench asked the Railways to either waive off one-way amount for the labourers or retrieve the same from individual state governments. The High Court sought a detailed

report from the Gujarat government on the matter of migrant labourers and Covid-19.

“The report reflects that the travel charges levied for the transportation of the migrant workers by Railways authorities are borne by a few host states, NGOs, employers and volun-tary associations. This is not done. We direct the Railway authorities to waive off one-way charges of these migrant labourers or in the alterna-tive, for the State government to bear such charges,” the court ordered.

The court further said, “The State

Government shall ensure that the migrant workers do not have to face further difficulties to travel to their native. The work in this regard shall continue in the right direction.”

However, the Gujarat government also brought to notice that since sev-eral migrant workers had come to the state on their own, provisions of the Inter-State Migrant Work-men (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act 1979 that covered displacement al-lowance and journey charges did not apply on them. There are 7,512

workers registered under the Act but most of the migrant workers in the state arrived on their own and can’t be covered. It also added that Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have agreed on pay-ing travel fares.

Recently, the Karnataka High Court had pulled up the state gov-ernment for taking the stand that it couldn’t bear the travel cost of the migrants from other states. Follow-ing the rap from the HC, the Yeddy-urappa government decided to bear the rail fare of migrants.

HC asks Railways to waive off one-way fares for migrants or levy it from states

congress accuses gujarat govt of sellIng masks for profIt

BJP leader files petition against fake social media accounts

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ashish sinhaNeW DeLHI

ashish sinhaNeW DeLHI

ajeet srivastavaNeW DeLHI

BJP MP Parvesh Verma on Sunday called Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra “vi-ruses” in an attack after the former Congress president questioned the success of the Covid-19 lockdown. He said they should be sent to quar-antine themselves as they couldn’t see the effect of the lockdown, while the whole world was praising India’s bold steps.

He added that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi never sees any good done by the government. “If you want to help, then come forward and if you can’t, just keep quiet and do not make unnecessary statements. If they can help, then they do not want to come forward, then keep quiet but do not give statements like this.”

Verma told The Daily Guard-ian, “Rahul Gandhi, Priyan-ka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are a virus themselves. They should be sent to quarantine centre until this coronavirus is over.”

Verma’s statement saw the Congress lodge a strong protest. Senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told The Daily Guardian, “If gutter-level abuse and personal in-sults could cure India of the coronavirus or eliminate

innumerable examples of governmental mishandling, I would, on behalf of the Congress party, welcome such abuse from BJP and its tall leaders. Unfortunately, such uncivilised comments do not deserve to be digni-fied with a reply. They only underline the admission of guilt by those in power and reflect their frustration, as if abusing and insulting the opposition will solve their own lack of competence and courage. I both pity them and wish them luck.”

All-India Mahila Congress President and former MP Sushmita Dev said, “People like Parvesh Verma are sit-ting in their houses, the Congress is working in the

field, they don’t understand it. They talk a lot, ate nuts for years and are missing at the time of service.”

During the all-party meet-ing on 22 May, Rahul Gandhi had questioned the success of the lockdown and said the lockdown in India failed and the disease will spread rapidly in the coming days. In the same meeting, Sonia Gandhi, while referring to the breakdown of the economy due to the lockdown and the problems faced by the work-ers, said the government an-nounced the lockdown with-out any preparation. This, in turn, led to migrant workers being forced to flee home leaving an unemployment crisis in its wake, she said.

bjp mp calls gandhIs ‘vIruses’, congress calls It ‘gutter abuse’ to deflect govt faIlure

BJp leader parvesh Verma.

after every hour to sanitise surfaces through both UV tower

and regular cleaning. Sys-tems have also been placed to replace the air inside the terminal every 10 minutes.

Physical security checks and stamping of boarding pass have been done away with to minimise contact.

“Delhi Airport is all set to open for commercial flight operations after two-month shutdown. We would like

to assure passengers that at Delhi Airport, they would be in a safe and healthy environment. We have im-plemented several unique initiatives to ensure passen-gers’ safety without com-promising their comfort

and experience. Our teams have worked round-the-clock to sanitise the vast terminal to provide hygienic conditions. DIAL will con-tinue its awareness drive by educating and encouraging passengers to maintain so-

cial distancing while at the airport,” said Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO, DIAL.

The decision on allowing international flights will be taken once the authorities observe the resumption of domestic operations.

baggage drop is touchless, however, we ad-vise travellers to

paste paper on their baggage with their PNR and name so that they can straight away drop it at baggage counter and will get the receipt via text message. Also, in secu-rity clearance, we have done away with pat-down and stamping by CISF. Social dis-tancing will be the mantra at the airport.Q. Airports have centralised air conditioning which could be a cause of concern during Covid-19. What are the ar-rangements on that part?A. Air circulation has been changed at the airport. We will ensure no risk for any-one inside the airport and

have taken three steps: all the air-handling units have UV lights to disinfect the air, Hepta filter will further purify the air, and fresh air injections will purify the air every 10 minutes.Q. Is there a dedicated place at the airport where in case of any emergency one can be taken if they show certain symptoms of coronavirus?A. We have made arrange-ments outside the terminal for such situations where medical facilities will be available for any sympto-matic passenger or staff. They will be referred to that facility and government doctors will take a further call.Q. There will not be any physi-cal checking of the boarding pass

and ID card. Also, stamping the boarding pass after thorough scanning has been done away with. Are you confident about security at the airport?

A. There will not be any compromise on the security aspect. All these new pro-cesses that we have added at the Delhi airport will en-hance the security and noth-ing will be risked to maintain social distancing. Q. Has anything been done about food facility at the air-port? Will it be safe to eat there?

A. To ensure that it is a com-pletely touchless process at the food court or in retail, we have a food app called HOI. One can place the order and it will be served most safely and hygienically, so there is no need to worry.

IntervIew

We discussed with govt and stakeholders to prepare for safe journey: DIAL CEO

stop implementation of this decision. Meanwhile, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) too has taken a strong stand

against the move. Its national spokesper-son K. Pattabhi accused that not TTD but the government itself is selling the lands.

will coordinate with the nodal officers designated for this pur-pose by the respective

states and UTs. The ministry will display with at least two days’ no-tice, the schedule (day, place and time of arrival) of the incoming flights, ships, on their online digi-tal platform.

Passengers arriving through the land borders will have to undergo the same protocol and only those who are asymptomatic will be ena-bled to cross the border into India.

The guidelines for international arrivals, including for quarantine arrangements issued by the Health Ministry on Sunday will be fol-lowed.

The government earlier this month facilitated the return of In-dians on compelling grounds in a phased manner from 7 May and brought back over 35,000 people.

In order to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, international air travel was prohibited when na-tional lockdown was imposed on 24 March.

BJP leader Vinit Goenka has moved to the Supreme Court and filed a petition seeking its direction to the Union Government, Ministry of Information & Broadcast-ing, Union Law Ministry and Twitter India to formulate a mechanism against fake so-cial media accounts to stop hate posts, fake news, inves-tigative and other news sto-ries, which are against the law of the country. Advocate Ashiwini Kumar Dubey rep-resented the petitioner in the apex court.

The fake Twitter handles and Facebook accounts use real photos of constitutional

authorities and eminent citi-zens; therefore, the common man relies on the messages published from these ac-counts, the plea said. It also stated that the logic and al-gorithms of Twitter usage should be shared and vetted by the Indian government authorities for screening of anti-India tweets. The plea demanded KYC screening (Know Your Customer) of all

social media handles in India to make them safe, account-able and traceable.

The petition states that the total number of Twitter handles and Facebook ac-counts in India are current-ly around 35 million each. It also says that according to experts, around 10% of Facebook and Twitter ac-counts (around 3.5 million and 35 million respectively) are fake. There are hundreds of fake accounts in the names of eminent personalities and dignitaries including the President of India, Vice President, Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, Cabinet Ministers, Chief Justice of India and Supreme Court’s and High Courts’ judges.

Congress spokesperson Ab-hishek Manu Singhvi has accused the BJP-led Guja-rat government of allegedly making profits in the selling of N95 masks in the state. Singhvi said that in Gujarat, the masks are procured at Rs 49 and later sold by the gov-ernment at Rs 65. The attack has come after the Gujarat High Court order which was critical of Ahmedabad City Hospital and called it a dungeon. The Congress slammed the BJP and said that the “movers and shak-ers” of the government are unaware of the ground situ-ation.Calling the handling of the coronavirus situation

by the Gujarat government “pathetic”, Singhvi elabo-rated that the Ahmedabad City Hospital has the count of 62% of the total deaths in Ahmedabad. He also added that apart from this, there are no ventilators, PPE kits, and alleged that the government has allowed private players to conduct tests easily. He reminded that Ahmedabad is the par-liamentary constituency of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and despite that, the conditions are so bad.

Singhvi also criticised the role of Governors in the non-BJP-ruled states. He reminded how in Bengal, the Governor is very vocal about the state policies, but in Gujarat there’s silence.

Like many other things, po-litical influence seems to have the upper hand against the strict lockdown rules which have been imposed to contain the surge of Covid-19 cases in India. While politicians get away easily with lockdown violations, common people are getting booked for simi-lar mistake, committed de-liberately or otherwise. In Uttarakhand alone, more than 5,000 people have been arrested till 30 April for vio-lating the norms of curfew.

The situation is no differ-ent in Telangana. Despite the nationwide lockdown, state MLA Bhupal Reddy recently celebrated his birthday with a massive gathering and dis-tributed groceries to poor people in his Narayankhed

constituency. With filing a PIL on the

birthday celebs, M. Vittal, a social worker, told the Telangana High Court that birthday party had been organised violating the not-more-than-20-persons rule during the pandemic. The court has sent a notice to the MLA, asking him to file an affidavit within a week.

Senior analyst Ankababu told The Daily Guardian, “If any leader violates the rules, the police should file crimi-nal cases on them before the court’s interference as they filed cases on Opposi-tion leaders like Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani and TDP leader Bonda.”

The Andhra Pradesh High court had issued notices to five YSRCP MLAs for violation of lockdown rules. Srikalahasti MLA Madhu-

sudan Reddy, Nagari MLA Roja, Palamaneru MLA Venkata Gowda, Sullurpet MLA Sanjeevaiah, and Chi-lakaluripeta MLA Vidudala Rajini received notices from the court for violation of lockdown rules.

In the last month, a BJP MLA from Turuvekere con-stituency, M. Jayaram, was seen celebrating his birthday with several villagers and supporters in Gubbi taluk in Tumkur, violating the lock-down rules.

Congress senior leader Marri Sesidhar Reddy said, “There is a rule that if any-body does not wear mask, that person should be fined. The CM himself does not wear mask, who is going to fine him? The leaders are flouting the norms of lock-down. The police should take suo moto of such incidents.”

The Supreme Court has issued notic-es to the Uttar Pradesh government and Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board on a batch of petitions against an Allahabad High Court ruling which upheld the state government’s decision to keep higher cut-off marks for recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers for state primary schools. The Uttar Pradesh government will have to respond by means of a chart showing vacancies of Shiksha Mi-tras. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on 14 July.

Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that rules and laws could be fixed before the examination, not after it. He con-tended that the eligibility criteria should remain the same, referring to a High Court order by a single-judge bench that one cannot set a minimum

bar of marks for an examination, which was later reversed by a divi-sion bench. The Supreme Court told the petitioner: “Your clients didn’t even score the required marks.”

Senior Advocate Paramjit Patwa-lia, also appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the assistant teacher exam was conducted after the SC judgement in the Shiksha Mitras case, but even B.Ed qualified candi-

dates took the examination to conve-niently hitch-hike at the expense of Shiksha Mitras.

The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by Ram Sharan Maurya and others, con-testing the High Court order which cleared the path of recruitment of as-sistant teachers in Uttar Basic Educa-tion Council schools.

Petitions before the top court con-

tend that fixing of high-qualifying marks is arbitrary as opposed to the earlier benchmark of 45 marks and 40%, which were fixed for Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination, 2018. Petitioners claim objective of low teacher-student ratio will be de-feated due to huge vacancies arising out of high cut-offs to the tune of 65 marks and 60% marks.

The Supreme Court’s 25 July 2017 order in the Anand Kumar Yadav case had accorded the benefit of age relaxation and weightage to be given to Shikha Mitras. The same has been cited by petitioners, claiming that qualifying marks once fixed as 40 and 45 in ATRE 2018 can’t be arbi-trarily increased to 60 and 65. Peti-tioners fear immense hardship if the apex court doesn’t intervene, since the present examination is their last attempt as per earlier court orders, and they will be rendered jobless if they fail to qualify this time.

Politicians flout lockdown rules but police book commoners SC notice to UP govt on plea to reduce

cut-off marks for primary teachers

BJp leader Vinit goenka

This year too, as every year, across the world, the Chris-tian practice of “Lent” was observed before Easter,

which fell on 14 April. By ob-serving the 40 days of Lent with fasting and prayer, Christians replicate Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and with-drawal into the desert for 40 days. Few people make the connection with Lent and quarantine, which trac-es its origin to the old Italian ‘quarantino’, referring to the 40 days of isolation imposed on ships from plague-infest-ed ports before their crew, passengers, and cargo were given permission to land in Mediterranean ports during

the 14th Century. This 40-day quarantine — or ‘quar-antino’ — was imposed be-cause of the “black death”, a devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s.

We in India have crossed 50 days of lockdown and the principal question in everyone’s mind is whether this lockdown was the best strategy. Initially it was easy to justify. Most countries chose lives over livelihoods and imposed a lockdown. India had the world’s largest lockdown. Europe and even the US did this too. So, did those in our neighbourhood. The argument was simple -- lives were more important than livelihoods, said the leaders. Till the ‘always-of-a-different-view’ President Donald Trump asked the inevitable question: Are we

talking about a cure worse than the disease?

Many economist and oth-ers picked up on this conten-tion, arguing that it’s not just about life but the quality of life! That after some time life with no livelihoods may be the only result. Ultimately, it’s about incomes — for individuals and for govern-ment — in order to restore the demand in the economy. Several learned economists have argued for thinking the whole strategy through and not locking ourselves into a corner from where there is no getting out. But then the options are very limited, a large and poor country like India cannot do mass testing of the whole population, nei-ther can it afford the ‘herd immunity’ option of getting some 75% of the population infected (to contain further spread) as that itself would

translate to some 800 mil-lion people with possibly 3% or over 25 million mor-tality! Totally unacceptable. With no other option, lock-down was the only weapon available to most countries and the world chose it. The idea was to break the chain of infection. And as recently stated in an article on Linke-dIn: “We are all human be-ings not human doings.” The obvious choice was life! Maybe an easier option in rich countries where they can sustain lockdown much longer simply because of better resources. For de-veloping countries like In-dia, perhaps the 40 days of quartino are themselves too long for large swathes of society. Historically this is an unprecedented time and there appear to be no final answers.

Was this then society’s

“Sophie’s Choice” moment? (Reference the movie about Nazi Germany and Sophie having to give up one of her two children). Well not re-ally, since it’s not just about choosing between the two worst options but actually running with both. It’s not about either-or but actually both. The timing however of this balance is crucial. It’s a very tough decision and there will be consequences either side.

The next step prescribed in this strategy is a calibrated or graded opening up. That is the tough part. Such “cali-brated” opening up has a problem, especially for busi-ness and particularly for manufacturing. In this high-ly-integrated economy, there are no different parts of the whole. Leaving even one small part of the value chain out means not being able to

manufacture the whole. All business activity is linked to the other. Here it’s not about big or small businesses, it’s about the whole chain which cannot bear up to a shutdown beyond say the 40-day lockdown.

The future is both uncer-tain and dodgy. The econ-omy is tanking but the real issue for us as a society is the “Gini Coefficient”. This is the commonly used measure of income inequality that con-denses the entire income distribution for a country into a single number be-tween 0 and 1: the higher the number, the greater the degree of income inequal-ity. For India will it go up or down post-Covid? That is the ethical question and will determine for each country how the strategy rolled out. That is what all religions teach us -- compassion and

caring for our fellowmen and women, and therefore to start praying and work-ing towards this aim.

Business will revive as it must, but all of manage-ment must recognise the importance on the one hand of new technologies and automation and simultane-ously on the other of man-aging with the heart and not just the mind. History also teaches us that all pan-demics typically have two sorts of endings. The health or medical outcome which we are all trying to contain. And the second or social result when the epidemic of fear about the disease re-duces. We need to prepare for that The writer is former Secretary to Government of India and ex-Secretary General, FICCI (Fed-eration of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)

News is the first draft of history. With the outbreak of Co-

vid-19, almost every major nation is in lockdown and practising social distanc-ing. In this emptiness of social interaction, the only source of news is television, newspapers or digital media, besides the overwhelming social media messages.

Bolted inside my home almost every day I have opened myself to the very popular BBC World, CNN, The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, The LA Times, The Atlan-tic, Time and New Yorker for news about the world and the nation I was born in. The news editors, news-casters and news reporters have been relentlessly pro-viding the minute-by-minute and hour-by-hour updates about the number of inflict-ed and the rising number of dead. The world is in un-chartered territory. And in this challenging period, the Western media’s reporting about India remains plagued with a thoroughly negative bias. The focus is more on the misplaced efforts and fail-ures of the national and state governments of India rather than a more balanced cover-

age of how the single largest democracy in the history of the world is confronting possibly the greatest crisis of their lives. Not surprisingly the Western media ignored the stories of compassion of the 1.3 billion Indians at this juncture of history. The millions of stories of Indians who are going out every day at the risk of contracting the virus are not the concern of the Western media.

It is habitual for the West-ern media and their fellow travellers to discount any-thing positive about India. For anyone familiar with news coverage of India would recognise that this is not new. The editors of West-ern media publications have been at it for the past two cen-turies. Their inheritors -- the modern-day news networks that dominate the global air-waves -- have followed suit.

The first war of India’s independence in 1857 was misreported as a mutiny and continues to be referred to as “The Great Indian Mutiny”. On 20 September 1857, the Union Jack was unfurled on the Lal Qila (Red Fort) in Delhi and it was replaced by the tricolour 90 years later on 16 August 1947 (not 15th). After the political and economic conquest by Hu-kumat-i-Britannia effort was made for the social conquest of India in those ninety years. The hearts and minds of In-dians were subjected to a Se-nior Cambridge educational policy with its roots in the infamous Thomas Macaulay doctrine -- to create a class of Hukumat-i-Britannia’s sub-jects that were thoroughly Anglicised Indians and bla-

tantly favoured a Western viewpoint that sustained the British Empire and the India Office in London.

To protect the benevolent image of British Empire (though it was a military-backed dreadful dictator-ship), the news about India’s second war of independence -- the Ghadr Party -- and the third and final war of inde-pendence, the Subhas Chan-dra Bose’s Indian National Army, were totally erased from news media of the time.

The multifaceted Indian independence struggle was reduced to the image of a one man-led non-violent move-ment. For those brave Indi-ans who followed the ancient military doctrine of India to wage a war against the Brit-ish Empire were rubbished and forgotten as quickly as possible. Subsequently, their arduous struggles were sim-ply painted out first from the newspapers and then our nation’s history books. Not only were their contribu-tions erased, but extraordi-nary efforts were also made to distort their characters in the media with both editorial material and stupid cartoons.

Today almost no one in the present generation has heard about the amazing triumphs of Indian revolu-tionaries such as Ajit Singh, Bhikaji Cama, Chidam-baram Pillai, Gulab Kaur, Gurdit Singh, Har Dayal, M.N. Roy, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Maulvi Barkatullah, Pandurang Khankhoje, Rash Behari Bose, Shyamji Krishna Varma, S.R. Rana, or the revolutionary life of one of the most brilliant students of England’s school and uni-versity system -- Aurobindo Ghosh.

Journalists and historians of that period wiped out thousands of such names as if they never existed. The fact is that they were con-sidered the most dangerous radicals by the Hukumat-i-Britannia during India’s free-dom struggle. Much ahead of their time, some of these re-

markable Indians were lead-ers of the forward-looking, non-sectarian movements that stood for national unity, economic equity and gender parity in an India free of Brit-ish control. All kinds of dra-conian laws were enforced to arrest these movements.

In the post-independence era, India bashing by West-ern media continued unabat-ed. The five Prime Ministers of India who were elected more than once by the people of the nation or even served multiple times — Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and now Narendra Modi — have had their share of prejudiced reporting by Western journalists.

Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister (1947-1964) and one of the finest leaders of the world in the last cen-tury, was castigated by the Western media for his Non-Aligned Movement, the Panchsheel Doctrine, socialist economics and for liberating Goa from the Por-tuguese. His daughter Indira Gandhi endlessly faced the Western media’s ire during the two decades of her pub-lic life from 1964-1984. The exceptional orator and poet, Vajpayee was condemned for conducting the nuclear tests in 1998 by the US and British media who somehow forgot that their own na-tions developed the atomic bomb, tested it hundreds of times and also engineered the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even the mild-mannered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (2004-2014) who ably managed the 2008 economic

crisis was not spared and a prominent American maga-zine dubbed him as the “un-derachiever”. Since 2014 the Western media and their acolytes’ heavy-duty effort to discredit Narendra Modi and his elected government is a work in progress.

Beyond politics, the impe-rialistic-minded editors in Britain scoffed at Kapil Dev for lifting the Cricket World Cup at Lords in London in June 1983 and quickly termed it a fluke. A prominent Brit-ish magazine, which has been repeatedly asking its readers not to vote for Modi and his party, on that occa-sion reported that though the Indian cricket team had won the cup there was not a single good cricket field in Delhi’s schools.

Even now the Western me-dia habitually distorts the In-dian tricolour and map and disputes every achievement relating to Indians. It’s been pointed out and rightly so that there is an incestuous self-referential conversa-tion among the like-minded editorial staffers, historians and their followers that leads to an analogous perspective on most issues “Indian”. This causes them to easily misinterpret India, fanati-cally oppose the alternative view and stick to a somewhat racist narrative. In print and broadcast their continuous negative reporting about our open democracy is in direct contrast to the balanced and positive news stories about totalitarian and despotic governments.

The Western media’s unfair reporting undermines the global standing and diplo-

matic efforts of our nation. On the world stage, for ex-ample, it is unwarranted if not outright ridiculous that a small nation like Britain retains a permanent seat in the UN Security Council and India with its physical size, multicultural population of 1.3 billion, the land of Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavira and Mahatma Gandhi and thousands of years of peace-ful history has, been denied that privilege. Consequently, the UNSC has lost its mean-ing and mission.

For most of the past two thousand years, India has been the largest economy of the world and even now it is among the top economies on Earth besides having favourable demographics and world-class intellect. We, as a nation, have been free since 1947 and have a free press. Why do Indians need appreciation and ap-plause from the Western media? Why do the views of an ill-informed journalist or a Western government-backed news broadcaster matter to Indians? Perhaps with the coronavirus pan-demic, human civilisation has just turned a corner. And with this crisis, the Western domination of world media and news re-porting for the last two cen-turies is drifting towards its logical end. The good news is that in the coming years, the world will be increas-ingly reading and listening to the non-Western media perspective, especially from India where one-seventh of humanity lives and breathes in democratic space.

The Indian versions of international news, global events, and world history are now waiting at the door and on digital devices for the residents of the planet. The voice of India on world stage is here to stay.Bhuvan Lall is the author of ‘The Man India Missed The Most: Subhas Chandra Bose’ and ‘The Great Indian Genius: Har Dayal’

The voice of India on world stage is here to stayThe Indian versions of international news, global events and world history are now waiting at the door and on digital devices for the residents of the planet.

We in India have crossed 50 days of lockdown and the principal question in everyone’s mind is whether this was the best strategy

Lockdown diLemma

misreporting

A Stanford University professor, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2013, has stated that the humani-tarian crisis confronting India is much greater than the threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, in his estimation, more people may succumb to the migrant exodus from the large cities than the total number of people who may die from coronavirus. While his assessment would have to pass the test of time, there is no doubt that the migrant issue is immensely unfortunate and shall haunt the govern-ment and the citizens of the country in the future as well. This is one area where both the Centre and states could have done much better but chose to look the other way when this displacement of the poor could have been addressed and contained. The consequence is that in this blistering heat, the workers continue to face hardships and even after special trains have been started, relief has not come their way. Many of them have been victims of the cruel weather and the hazards of walking hundreds of miles without any food and assistance from the authori-ties. Trains have been running late, and in some states, locals have targeted the migrants whose departure shall put a question mark on the functioning of industries. In a few places, the Poorvanchalis have retaliated and there have been ugly scenes that have also been featured on the social media.

Since Independence, this is the fourth man-made tragedy that has changed the life of millions of people. India’s Partition exposed the huge Pun-jabi and Bengali population to communal frenzy besides rendering lakhs of people homeless. There were massacres on the way and the Hindu-Muslim conflict reached its zenith. It is another story that the refugees who came from what is now Pakistan, through sheer grit and hard work, re-stablished themselves and their success stories have inspired their future generations as well. The second in-stance was when a large section of Bengalis, mostly Hindus, fled from what was East Pakistan when the West Pakistani soldiers unleashed atrocities on them prior to the creation of Bangladesh. India was itself struggling to feed its people at that time but its leadership accepted this influx and helped in the rehabilitation of these displaced persons on humanitarian grounds. In the 1990s, the Kashmiri Pandits were pushed out from their homes in the Valley and other parts to be gypsies in their own country. This too was something which could have been prevented had the authorities at that juncture been more pro-active and vigilant. The Pandits con-tinue to suffer even today.

Now with the Poorvanchalis going back to their villages, there is going to be an extensive impact on our economy. Many of those who have left, were trained and are unlikely to come back to their plac-es of work in the immediate future. Therefore, the government must come out with a practical plan to address their problems.Pankaj Vohra

perspectiveDealing with CoviD-19

migrant crisis haunts the government

The continuing life versus livelihood debate

3comment & analysisthe daily guardian25 may 2020

new delhi

The five Prime Ministers of India who were elected more than once by the people of the nation or even served multiple times — Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and now Narendra Modi — have had their share of prejudiced reporting by Western journalists.

Now with the Poorvanchalis going back to their villages, there is going to be an extensive impact on our economy. Many of those who have left, were trained and are unlikely to come back to their places of work in the immediate future.

opinionBhuvaN LaLL

opiniona. DiDar SiNgh

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has given a green signal to the entertainment industry to chalk out a plan on limited resumption of shooting and post production activities by following physical distancing norms.

Seeing the impending financial crisis in the entertainment sector, Ashoke Pandit, chief advisor of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) filed a petition in order to start post-production work — editing, music recording, etc, of the movies which have been shot already. Pandit said that if all permissions are granted, physical distancing and other precautionary norms would be followed.

TV producer and actor Vikaas Kalantri said the pandemic has led to a financial crisis. “Many people are associated with the en-tertainment industry and most of them are

those who are daily wage workers. Requests have been made to start the shoots and if they do, precautions will be taken.”

Shooting schedules of several big and small movies and TV shows have gone kaput. All the theatres and big multiplexes have been shut down, leading to a major financial crisis. If the work resumes with following of norms, it will provide monetary relief to the producers who have invested money in various projects as well as to the workers associated with the entertainment industry. Asit Kumar Modi, producer of Sab TV’s most-watched show Taarak Mehta ka Ulta Chasma, too, expressed his concerns on the losses during the pandemic. “People who are at home during quarantine have only one source of entertainment and thus it is an essential service,” he said.

The cameras have stopped rolling and the world that moves around the entertainment industry has packed up. It’s, however, time to let things move, even if slowly.

Uddhav seeks plan to resUme film, tv shoots with restrictionsShriShti JoShiMUMbAI

To counter BJP’s fierce criticism of the Chhat-tisgarh government’s

Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana, the ruling Congress party released a list of senior state BJP leaders, including former Chief Minister Ra-man Singh and leader of Op-position Dharamlal Kaushik, claiming that the two were among the beneficiaries of the Rs 5,700 crore scheme launched by the Bhupesh Baghel government on 21 May 21. It further asked the BJP leaders to deposit the re-ceived amount in the state’s Chief Minister Relief Fund.

According to the list, Ra-man Singh got Rs 26,612, his son and Member of Parlia-ment Abhishek Singh got Rs 24,094. Similarly, former minister Nanki Ram Kanwar and Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik received Rs 16,902 and Rs. 25,029 re-spectively. Former minister Punnu Lal Mohile received the largest sum of Rs 56,101. It is worth mentioning that in the list, the state government has given money to farmers at a rate of Rs 10,000 per acre, while money has been

transferred to the BJP lead-ers on the basis of paddy sales. Questions have been raised on different criteria set by the government for farm-ers and BJP leaders.

Interestingly, the state BJP leaders have termed this scheme “Anyaya Yojana”.

The party said that the gov-ernment had promised to give money in one go but now they are giving it in four instalments. Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik says that the gov-ernment has not given the money to any leader but to

the farmers of the state. He also said that during the 13 years of the previous Raman Singh government, current CM Bhupesh Baghel too got bonus money but they never released the list. He alleged that the farmers could have got Rs 10,275 as the out-

standing amount but the government is paying only Rs 10,000 per acre.

In its election manifesto, the Chhattisgarh Congress had promised that if voted to power, they would buy paddy at Rs 2,500 per quin-tal. However, the Central government didn’t give per-mission to purchase paddy beyond the support price fixed at Rs 1,815 and Rs 1,835 (per quintal) this year. So, the Chhattisgarh gov-ernment formed a cabinet subcommittee and based on its recommendations de-cided to give the outstand-ing amount to farmers as incentives under the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyaya Yojana which was launched on 21 May 2020. According to the plan, it was decided to give Rs 10,000 per acre to 19 lakh farmers in four instalments. The first instalment has al-ready been transferred to the accounts of the farmers.

State Agriculture Minis-ter Ravindra Chaubey says, “The list of beneficiary farm-ers is in the public domain. All people are farmers.” On questions of differences in calculation, the minister says that he will seek infor-mation about it.

raman singh among nyay yojana beneficiaries: cong

green signalblame game

Samrendra SharmaRAIPUR

news plus the daily guardian25 may 2020new delhi4

BJP calls Chhattisgarh govt’s new scheme ‘Anyay Yojana’, Congress counters it by saying senior BJP leaders are beneficiaries of the Rs 5,700 crore scheme.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. (ANI Photo)

According to the list, Raman Singh got Rs 26,612, his son and Member of Parliament Abhishek Singh got Rs 24,094. Similarly, former minister Nanki Ram Kanwar and Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik received Rs. 16,902 and Rs. 25,029 respectively.

third-party funding

One gOOd SOlutiOn

legally speakingthe daily guardian25 may 2020

new delhi 5

Third-party funding is a recent but rapidly evolving phenomenon

in international commercial arbitration, which has en-gendered intense delibera-tion amongst legal scholars and practitioners. With the changing landscape of com-mercial dispute resolution around the globe, and an-ticipated proliferation of in-ternational commercial arbi-tration, third party funding is bound to gain significant trac-tion in several jurisdictions. The legitimised adoption and regulation of third-par-ty funding in international commercial arbitrations is more relevant than ever, given the vulnerable state of businesses in the tottering global economy caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. This article explains the process of third-party funding on non-recourse basis in inter-national commercial arbitra-tion and discuss its utility for business parties in realising contractual claims effectively.

What is third-Party Funding?Third-party funding is a financing method where a third party to a dispute (the “funder”) agrees to finance the expenses arising out of a legal adjudicatory process

for one of the parties (the “cli-ent”). Normally, the remu-neration of the third-party funder for its non-recourse financing is contingent upon the client succeeding and carved out of the resulting proceeds received from the respondent. In simple terms, third-party funding (“TPF”) is defined, for the purpose of this article, as a mechanism whereby an investor will fund all or a portion of the costs of a claim (including solicitor’s fees and disburse-ments) in return for a share of the damages recovered at the end of the case. If the claim is lost, there is nothing to pay to the funder.

tPF and access to JusticeInternational commercial ar-bitration has become an in-creasingly expensive process with escalating attorney and institutional administrative costs. Unlike litigation, pro-vided as a public service by states, arbitration by its na-ture is self-funded by the par-ties. In such a scenario, TPF can provide access to justice for impecunious parties in meritorious arbitration pro-ceedings. For others, it also offers a way to externalise risk and maintain liquidity for financially stable parties.

LegaLity oF tPF Almost a decade ago, the Eng-lish and Australian courts had recognised the legitimacy of TPF agreements. Similarly, Hong Kong and Singapore have passed laws to legalise and regulate TPF. In India, it is interesting to note that the concept of TPF is statu-torily recognised in Order XXV Rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 in some state amendments. The rule provides that the courts have the power to secure costs for litigation by asking the finan-cier to become a party and depositing the costs in court. Further, this issue has, some-what, been addressed by the Supreme Court in the matter of G, A Senior Advocate [(1955) 1 SCR 490] and Bar Council of India v. A.K. Balaji [2019 SCC Online SC 214; Para 35] where the court observed that there appears to be no restriction on third-party funding of the litigation in India and the funder getting repaid depending on outcome of litigation.

internationaL disPutes, covid-19 and oPPortunities aheadDuring the Covid-induced lockdowns, courts around the world are closed or deal-ing with urgent matters only, the delay in adjudication and justice delivery is likely to be greater than ever, especially where judgements or awards need to be enforced across na-tional borders. Arbitration is proving robust and will nat-urally welcome an increase of cases given its inherent flexibility and other bene-fits. Further, the difficulties encountered in the ongoing contracts and projects dur-ing the crisis period as well as the reconsideration of the previous trade relationships will most probably trigger a slew of new international disputes. From the claimant’s point of view, TPF provides formidable advantage of mov-ing legal proceedings off its balance sheet and mitigating their impact on cash flow.

Process oF tPF:deFining the scoPe oF the activity Funders are composed of experienced litigation and finance teams and have a structured decision-making process to determine wheth-er to dedicate resources to a case or not. Naturally, ow-ing to their business model, third-party funders do not foster the filing of frivolous claims and will mostly back the strongest cases since they put their own money (or their investors’) at risk. This is the reason why TPF is also instrumental to filter out the weakest cases and a tool to ease access to justice for the most meritorious ones.

Due to the private and, almost always, confidential character of international arbitration proceedings, ex-ternal capital providers do not have access to informa-tion of the cases financed. Further to signing a strict confidentiality agreement, funders assess cases on the merits, consider evidence and possible counterclaims, jurisdiction and time bar-ring, before assessing a realistic quantum, and the realistic chances of a quick recovery (via settlement, spontaneous payment of the award or enforcement plan) against the estimated required budget.

the Funder’s decision to Finance a caseFinding cases Funders accompany the funded party through all developments up to the pay-ment of the proceeds, but also to finance its own internal costs. Before putting capital at risk on a non-recourse basis, a funder seeks to be convinced that a case has excellent chances of success, that the damages sought will be sufficient to achieve the targeted remuneration, and that the award will be paid voluntarily or is recov-erable through enforcement proceedings.

Determining the terms of the budget plan Funders will define the bud-get required (i.e. their invest-ment in the case) relying on a budget plan provided by the funded party’s external legal advisors and any ex-pert assessment, and adopt a cautious and conservative approach. Funders often base the budget to allocate

on capped figures committed by the different stakeholders, particularly counsels and ex-perts, as well as costs charged by arbitral institutions in-cluding arbitrators’ fees.

Conducting the due diligence and negotiating the terms of the Fund-ing AgreementAfter a first level filtering out, the detailed and ex-tensive due diligence phase conducted, for example, by Profile Investment (PI) and performed by in-house ex-perts, in accordance with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regula-tions, usually takes under six weeks and includes:

A comprehensive counsel-driven case assessment on jurisdiction and legal merits with full disclosure of facts and behaviours including relevant documentation and how a respondent may be anticipated to behave in the proceedings;

A thorough analysis of the different heads of claim to as-sess their provable strength and substance, of the reli-ability of the documented evidence and availability of

experts and witnesses;A conservative valuation of

the damages to be compensat-ed and of the amounts likely to be recovered;

An examination of any ethi-cal considerations that may have arisen in the context of the contract origin and ex-ecution, regarding the back-ground of the dispute or the ultimate beneficiaries of any

award to be rendered.Anticipated enforcement

strategies if the debtor does not voluntarily pay the awarded amount, an assess-ment of the respondent’s mid-term solvency, its payment history and where its assets may be located at the time of the award;

An assessment of the expe-rience and qualification of the funded party’s counsels and appointed experts; and

A determination of budget heads and of a global budget plan proportionate to the realistic underlying claim amount, ideally at a 1:8 ratio.

From our experience while this process may seem tedious theoretically but if the party’s counsel is well researched and through with the docu-ments and brief, interaction with the funder’s team will be seamless and fast.

vaLue addition For cLaimants Adding a third party to the proceedings may change the dynamics of the case and how it may be conducted. Howev-er, typically a hands-off ap-proach is adopted by funders

with an overarching supervi-sion and collaboration with the approved choice of the funded party’s counsel to implement the best strategy. It is, however, reasonable for a lawyer to report to the funder on a regular basis and be open to suggestions and contribu-tions from them.

Fortunately, eminent funders pay extreme at-tention to regulation and providing state-of-the-art funding options governed by well-drafted contracts. For example, PI has chosen to be regulated under the stringent frame of the European regu-lation of the financial sector as applied in Luxembourg.

When a funder’s criteria are satisfied, it negotiates the terms of a Litigation Funding Agreement (“LFA”) laying out the conditions for funding and the terms of the collabo-ration and defining what con-stitutes a successful outcome. The LFA is generally tripar-tite and will always reflect the risks taken considering the specific characteristics of each case, the relation-ship between the funder, the funded party and its coun-sels, making clear that the funder remains a third-party to the claim and providing for all parties’ respective duties and obligations.

Notably, increasingly funders like PI are adopting “merits driven” rather than “risk driven” approach i.e they invest in cases which they consider extremely strong on the merits, quan-tum and recovery, and seek to be remunerated mostly on the basis of a multiple of their investment modulated with the time variable.

Funders’ Focus on india and asiaIn the arbitration arena, the rise of institutions like SIAC, HKIAC, CIETAC, KCAB, and many others in Asia went along with the creation by large institutions of local au-tonomous structures (ICC, PCA, LCIA have opened of-fices and administer the pro-ceedings locally). Countries

themselves are competing to be considered as dispute resolution friendly and of-fer improving comfort, in-frastructure, reliability and predictability to host such proceedings.

Focusing on India, similar structural evolution has tak-en place for the last 10 years with various amendments in the arbitration act, the shift towards a more arbitration friendly judicial system and the creation of institutions aiming at international stan-dard and visibility like MCIA and DIAC.

Singapore appears now to be the favourite arbitration seat for the Indian companies as it is close to India, with a num-ber of Indian practitioners either working or travelling there. Concentration of law-yers ensure available expertise in all legal frameworks of the region and of the main coun-tries. For this reason, TPFs like PI, with a foot in Singa-pore and in India, will be par-ticularly keen in backing up meritorious cases from Indian claimants seated in Singapore (and also in similarly reliable jurisdictions like Hong Kong, Paris and London etc) against respondents from elsewhere in the world.

As the world gears up to rise from the shackles of a standstill economy caused by the pandemic, businesses are in survival mode, eager to recalibrate business and focus on revenue building. In-house counsels should consider TPF to accelerate recovery and drive revenue through dispute resolution. We sanguinely believe that TPF may provide a potent method for parties to pur-sue meritorious claims that may otherwise be considered too costly, in a time effective manner and provide leverage to focus on their core busi-ness projects. The authors of the article are: Adv. Sameer Jain, founder & managing partner, PSL Ad-vocates & Solicitors and Alain Grec, Director & Head of Quan-tum Analysis at Profile Invest-ment, Paris

In the early 1980s, when the aspirational vehicle of the middle class new-

bies was more the scooter and even the motorbike, there was always a waiting period. The enterprising folks as always found their way around the queue, ei-ther by procuring their vehicles faster through the NRE account or cheaper via fictitious addresses in Union Territories. The latter prac-tice is assiduously followed

even today, despite the peri-odic cleansing drives by the state governments.

To this day, the One Nation, One Tax theory continues to elude enactment, despite the highly mobile workforce in the private sector, especially the once-booming software industry and the resultant IT parks thereof. Thus, with the road transport departments of various state governments ever vigilant about penalis-ing vehicles registered else-where, migration from one city to the other is largely possible for the white col-lar workers, minus their vehicles.

The mind-numbing tedium of re-registering vehicles is barely matched by the high cost, given the skewed reim-bursement of the cancelled vehicle tax. But the extent of woes being faced by the white collar would pale into absolute insignificance com-pared to what the blue collar

or working class is facing in India today.

Last year, the government wanted to enforce One Sal-ary, One Day. Result: all Indi-ans would be paid salaries on the same day every month. Now, the Finance Minister, as part of her explainer last week on the Prime Minister’s Aatma Nirbhar Bharat pro-gramme, has gone that extra mile and wants to usher in a uniform wage structure for the unorganised sector, which constitutes a bulk of the migrant labour.

It appears the minimum daily wage which was Rs 182 last year, has been raised to Rs 202. And, of course, to ensure they get the benefit of subsidised food, no matter where they are, there will also be One Nation, One Ra-tion Card by the end of this fiscal. A necessary cushion, as there is no way all the states are going to pay the same wages in the foresee-

able future. Evidently, most states that

throw up these migrants, forcing them to seek work elsewhere, thus giving rise to the now undeniable mass called migrant labour often fail to pay even this meagre wage. It is the same lot of migrant workers who

were caught unawares by the national lockdown and a good number of them are still trying to find their way home. Getting ready for the influx are West Bengal, Od-isha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Ut-tarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Raj-asthan.

The sheer volume of this labour class became clear when they were seen by the world thronging the national highways. And on they went on their dreary march home–on foot and by trucks, buses and, of late, by special trains–from metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai as also a few Tier-II cities. With this mass exodus across the country, it would serve the likes of Niti Aayog to trace the actual wages being paid to the daily wage-earners in different states.

It is no secret that the wage is in the Rs 400-500 bracket in the metros, while it slips by around Rs 100 as they move into the smaller ur-ban spreads. The lone aber-ration is Kerala, where the migrants started off many years ago earning less than the indigenous worker but has irrevocably caught up over the last couple of years.

About 12 lakh migrant workers, if one is to go by Kerala government records but easily scaled up to at least double that according to informal estimates, earn a minimum of Rs 700 a day. But that is the bare minimum and their wages go up in mul-tiples of Rs 50, all the way up to Rs 1,000 a day, depending on the supply-demand dy-namics of a particular town or suburb. And if they fall in the skilled worker category, then their wages go up by around Rs 300 a day.

It is a possibility the mi-grant labour, scarred by the raw deal they got during the lockdown days and scared by the threat of a steep rise in working hours as proposed by many states, may decide against returning at all. But if they do, the lure will no doubt be the quantum of sol-ace they are offered by way of daily wage. Surely, that may be far removed from the

minimum daily wage on offer by the Central government.

Given the wide dispar-ity in wages offered to daily workers across the states, the One Nation, One Ration Card plan makes sense, provided the government does not drag its feet, or end up with a faulty implementation as has often been the case in the past. Because One Tax, One Nation which was the overriding slogan for GST, has managed to create so many loopholes in the name of what the states demand.

Invariably, not many states will be keen to relinquish their control over issuing ration cards, the single most powerful tool at dispensing doles by way of subsidised food. The tussle over the implementation of One Na-tion, One Ration Card will be riveting. Vinod Mathew has been a busi-ness journalist for over 17 years. Views are personal.

Tottering global economy speeds up arbitration, litigation funding International commercial arbitration is expensive and, unlike litigation, its cost is borne by the parties. In the post Covid-19 scenario, third-party funding can provide access to justice.

One India, One Wage, One Ration Card and Migrant Labour

TDG ExplainsSameer Jain & alain Grec

Given the wide disparity in wages across the states, the One Nation, One Ration Card plan makes sense and the government should not repeat the GST failure.

vinod matheW

The legitimised adoption and regulation of third-party funding in international commercial arbitrations is now relevant, given the state of businesses in the tottering global economy caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. It is a mechanism whereby an investor will fund all or a portion of the costs of a claim for a share of the damages recovered at the end of the case.

Given the wide disparity in wages offered to daily workers across the states, the One Nation, One Ration Card plan makes sense, provided the government does not drag its feet, or end up with a faulty implementation as has often been the case in the past. Invariably, not many states will be keen to relinquish their control over issuing ration cards, the single most powerful tool at dispensing doles by way of subsidised food.

“Leadership is the capac-ity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character, which inspires confidence.” - FM Montgomery

The first thing we all do today, as soon as we get up, is check

our mobile phones and various “social media” sites. Every event in our lives, from what we’re wearing or feeling like, are happy or sad about, agree or disagree with, from moustaches to eye-shadow, we must post on social media. Frankly, it rules our lives. This holds true for all of us, whether we are vegetable-vendors, rickshaw-pullers, film-stars, corporate big-guns, heads of states and even soldiers. The earlier we ac-cept this fact, that much eas-ier would it be to figure out how to function effectively in the overhang of this mas-sive communication tool.

Leadership has been de-fined and redefined a million times over, but it differs in the military context to oth-ers, because in the military, it’s never about ‘self ’; it’s about ‘Naam, Namak, Nis-han’, about the Section/Pla-toon/Squadron, achieving a Section/Platoon/Squadron Objective and ultimately the higher Commanders’ intent. Additionally, there are huge issues at stake on even a nor-mal day in the service: grave bodily harm, even loss of life, harm to the nation, its sover-eignty, independence and its people. Military leaders thus have a different set of goal-posts to operate within and protect, wherein they need to think beyond themselves, for a greater task, for the greater good.

So, what’s changed? The ‘goalposts’ of the military leadership, for one. Today’s soldier, of any rank and service, is seldom from a “Traditionally Military Family”, or from rural and solid-stock, who has volun-tarily enlisted to serve King & Country with very little personal aspirations, even ambition. Leaders were blindly followed into battle, whatever be the plan and its workability, or even its outcome. The leader knew best, protecting the realm,

the country from invaders; this was a sacrosanct oath every soldier had taken on joining and accepting the leader and decisions he made, even at personal risk, was religion. Today’s enrol-ment, while still showing glimpses of rural intake, is seeing a huge urban content, of an entirely different up-bringing and mindset, than ever before, which is not to do with education alone; it’s to do with “awareness”, and hence the overarching effect on us, as humans and sol-diers, of mobile telephones and the Internet. Purely psychologically speaking, in today’s capitalist, fast-moving, lonely world, the only constant friend and support which remains with a person 24x7, like the very air he breathes in, is his mo-bile phone.

Next is the issue of visibil-ity; today’s officers and men, in units and formations, are operating with much more inter-visibility than ever be-fore. Being from similar ini-tial stock and backgrounds, speaking the same language, following the same customs and traditions, in fact being products of the same capi-talist existence, aspects of daily life in different ranks and positions are more transparent and visible to all. And thus, there are some individuals, who assume the mantle of “social watchdogs”, keeping a sharp eye on their systems, its leaders and even their colleagues!

Everything we want to know is in the palm of our hands, a mere click away. Medical diagnoses, auto-mobile and aeroplane con-struction, self-professed true version of events, pro-cedures and methodology of doing things as diverse as administering villages to corporate institutions and even the military, have become so quantified and reduced to “must-do” bul-lets, that the impression emerging is that a machine, if it ensured achievement of the laid-down bulleted re-quirements, would achieve the objective. There is hence a presumption that decision-making would and could best be done by a computer program operating on a su-per-machine, working on a precedence and data-based historical logic, forced to fit present-day circumstances and environments, of which

the maximum conceivable parameters have been pre-fed into said super-machine! With malice to no profession, I am willing to accept that such a model could possibly work elsewhere, but where it will most certainly not, is in the art and science of the leadership in the military.

Given the circumstances of what the military is expected to do and how, purely quan-tified and mathematically se-lected options are not likely to survive the first-shot! We, of the military, accept that to be true, even of the most

“ideal” plans we make. Strat-egy itself, in my opinion, can-not be created by a machine, because it works simply on the principle of predictive decision making, involving more traditional, common and thinking skills, prob-lem-solving and decision-making, the ability to recog-nise assumptions, evaluate arguments and draw con-clusions. Whereas this may have worked effectively up till now, when predictabil-ity, linear “environment-threats-effects” and linear solutions were adequate, this concept has certainly outlived its “use-by” date. Military leadership simply cannot operate on these principles, anymore.

For a military leader is dif-ferent; in addition to hard facts and data, precedence and backgrounder informa-

tion, technical parameters of weaponry and dynamic battlefield conditions, he uses his knowledge, aware-ness, training and experi-ences of various situations and most importantly of the enemy and their Command-ers, both during war and in peace-time, to develop pos-sible courses of action. This forms a picture in his mind, based on which he takes a decision and formulates a plan, which he believes would be the best course of action for success, for his men, his unit, his country. What could go wrong while executing the plan, the maxi-mum number of contingen-cies and criticalities that may thus emerge and how these must be dealt with, he always includes in his plans. Now this selected course of action may not have the ap-proval or be to the liking of each soldier or subordinate commander, who may well put forth his views and dis-cuss it at the appropriate existing available platforms the service provides. But after laborious discussion, once the leader has taken the final call, the plan is ex-ecuted to the best ability of the men and equipment em-ployed in the task. Naturally, detailed execution issues are worked out at successive lev-els, to ensure that the higher commanders’ intent must be achieved.

All well and good so far, but a few aspects need fac-toring in; the Internet pro-vides, in the palm of our hand, countless counter-arguments for every state-ment, plan, course of action, irrespective of its context, authenticity, value, factual correctness or possibility of actually achieving success, if employed. And social media ensures that a germ of an idea, in the blink of an eye, goes viral and becomes a popular opinion, whatever be its actual veracity. Rea-sons could vary from lack of trust of a leader’s capabil-ity, personal dislike, honest disagreement, attempts to undermine a leader or dis-pensation, in fact relying on the concept of “rumours, re-peatedly & forcefully propa-gated, soon become the new truth”. Mis-information campaigns are not new to the world and social media campaigns are also now be-ing regularly used by certain elements, to undermine the power of a leader over his command and sow the seed of disharmony and discon-tent among the team/troops. Tsun Tzu, in The Art of War, has suggested this as one of the surest ways to achieve victory, even over a superior enemy, without having to fire even a single shot.

Let’s face it; both are here to stay, the military as well as social media. And they need

to co-exist. It is not possible to muzzle or ban one to “pro-tect” the other, as seems to be the thought process in some circles currently. History has proved, time and again, the failure of “prohibition” to enforce a decision and in our present, aware and high-ly “gadget-based” times, it’s a sure-shot “NO-NO”! Any corrections or corrective initiatives must be balanced and sensible and must cer-tainly start from the top.

And thus, the first and fore-most step must be taken by today’s military leadership at all levels; to alter its mind-set, develop self-confidence and emotional strength, be transparent in all its deal-ings (except for purely operational issues, which must remain at suitable

“need to know levels”) while simultaneously developing broad shoulders to handle aggressive criticism, even caustic disapproval, nurture in themselves a sharp, agile mind to identify the main issues of discontent and if they display any worth-while merit, carry out suit-able mid-course correction, for the betterment of the team/organisation rather than nurse a hurt-ego. For feedback, especially from the lower levels of execu-tion, who actually make the particular plan or decision work or fail, is essential for any action to be successful.

Remember, at no stage am I suggesting that the mili-tary commander submit feebly to public dissonance and cancel a plan or option, because that would instead show him up as weak and he would forever be consigned to being a hostage of the very men he commands, which is not acceptable in the military. In addition, I believe that an idea or plan could also well be tested through social media, to solicit an opinion feedback regarding its over-all acceptability and viability. It is thus quite possible that positive strokes and inputs could well emerge over so-cial media, which could fur-ther round off and benefit a decision/plan.

Another major plus-point about social media, is its abil-ity to bridge gaps, real and imaginary, and humanise people. I believe leaders on social media platforms ac-tually become more visible to their commands, their men & subordinates, who are thus able to put a face to the name, rank and ap-pointment of their leaders. This permits the inquisitive minds of today’s soldiers to understand where their leaders are coming from, what they stand for, their way of thinking, etc, cutting through all the stiff barriers of military hierarchy. And that, I believe, is a huge plus! Bombardment of the lead-ers with huge loads of posts, messages and emails, can be dealt with by having of-ficial handles and addresses of leaders and commanders being made public, rather than personal ones. But for this, there simply has to be a change of mindset in the military.

On the flip side, I believe that the heaviest users of social media, military-per-sonnel and their families, also have a huge role to play, if this is to work. It must be clear to them that it is their military, their means of ex-istence, their family. And like they seldom tweet or forward mindlessly about their individual families at the drop of a hat just be-cause they don’t want to defame or hurt them, they don’t need to defame and hurt their own military on social media either. Most of them do not even realise the huge amount of power they have at their fingertips, the huge outreach. But with

great power comes great re-sponsibility. Most issues that go viral on social media are invariably about systemic or organisational ills, or the vilification of senior officers/commanders. Frankly, very few people outside the im-mediate decision-making circle would know details of the issues and intricacies involved in any plan, move or action contemplated. However, a large number of people, nowhere near that planning or decision-mak-ing circle, take refuge of the cloak of anonymity provided by social media, to immedi-ately generate a point of view based on their perceived un-derstanding and misgivings of the issue, however detri-mental or disruptive to the organisation it may be, vili-fying the military, or com-mander or the entire system, which would quickly go vi-ral. Hence, a certain degree of understanding, balance and maturity needs to be in-culcated in all our soldiers and families, by education about the huge benefits and larger pitfalls of social media, especially with respect to the military, which is the reason de etre’ of their very existence and being.

The services banning so-cial media and banning de-fence personnel from being part it by, is not the answer. I believe we need to accept it as a given and work with it, not against it. We need to exploit the vast ocean of opportunities it offers, in-cluding consensus building, picking the minds of a huge brain-cloud of its user-base, team-building and devel-oping a sense of trust -- all of which are so essential to an organisation like the services. It’s also meant for fun, interacting across age and seniority levels, with humour, compassion and bonhomie, even developing the ability to laugh at oneself, not only at others! I think we need this, to be healthy as in-dividuals and as an organisa-tion, at peace with ourselves and each other, bonded by a deep sense of commitment, faith and understanding of the organisation, each other and ourselves.Lt Gen D.R. Soni (retd), PVSM, VSM, was the Indian Army Commander—ARTRAC (Army Training Command), and retired as the Indian Army Commander, Southern Com-mand.

Lt Gen D.R. Soni (RetD)

AnAlysis

Covid AssistAnCe

6 Defence t h e da i ly gua r d i a n2 5 m ay 2 0 2 0n ew d e l h i

MilitAry leAdership in the tiMe of soCiAl MediA explosionBanning social media is not the answer. The armed forces need to accept it as a given and work with it, not against it. We need to exploit the vast ocean of opportunities it offers, including consensus building, picking the minds of a huge brain-cloud of its user-base, team-building and developing a sense of trust.

Army jawans stand guard as terrorists attack a police party in Pulwama region of South Kashmir, in Srinagar on thursday. ANI

Under Indian Navy’s Mis-sion Sagar operation to pro-vide assistance to the friend-ly foreign countries of Indian Ocean Region (IOR) during Covid-19 pandemic, the Indi-an naval ship Kesari has en-tered Port Louis Mauritius. INS Kesari is carrying Covid-related essential medicines and a special consignment of Ayurvedic medicines for the people of Mauritius. In ad-dition to the medicines, the Indian government has also sent a 14-member specialist

medical team comprising of Indian Navy doctors and paramedics.

This special medical team is embarked onboard this ship will work alongside their Mauritian counter-parts and these teams will together render assistance for Covid-19 related emer-gencies in Mauritius. The special medical assistance team includes among oth-ers, a community medicine specialist, a pulmonologist and an anaesthesiologist. The composition of this spe-cial medical team has been done in coordination with

the Mauritius government to meet the local requirements.

Since this was a special ges-ture, an official ceremony for

handing over the medicines from the Indian govern-ment of Mauritius was con-ducted at the Port Louis.

On behalf of the Mauritius government, their minister for health Dr Kailesh Jagut-pal attended the ceremony

and received the consign-ment. The Indian side was represented by the High Commissioner of India to

Mauritius Tanmaya Lal. The minister also interacted with Commander Mukesh Tayal, Commanding Officer of Indian Naval Ship Kesari during the handing over cer-emony.

The assistance to Mauritius is a part of the Indian gov-ernment’s outreach amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pan-demic and this operation is being progressed in close coordination with the Min-istry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.

The arrival of INS Kesari at port Louis was followed by a telephonic conversation be-

tween the two Prime Minis-ters where Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth thanked PM Modi for this special gesture and PM Modi conveyed his appreciation for the effective COVID-19 response mounted by Mau-ritius under Prime Minister Jugnauth’s leadership, which has resulted in no new cases being reported in Mauritius for several weeks. He sug-gested that Mauritius could document its best practices, which would be helpful for other countries, especially island countries, in dealing with similar health crises.

INS Kesari reaches Mauritius with medicines and doctorsAshish singhNew Delhi

inS Kesari is carrying a special consignment of Ayurvedic medicines for the people of Mauritius.

Cricket Australia director and former Australia captain Mark Taylor urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take a decision on the men’s T20 World Cup. The tournament is scheduled to be held from 19 October to 15 November 15 Australia, but is under a cloud of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It would probably be good (if a deci-sion is made this week),” Taylor told the Nine Network. “Because then everyone can start planning and we can stop sitting here and saying ‘well ifs, buts or maybes’.”

The window of October to November is also a period that the Board of Con-trol of Cricket in India (BCCI) is looking at as a potential period to hold the Indian Premier League (IPL). But they have made it clear that is only if the

ICC decides to postpone the showpiece event.

The cash-rich T20 league was scheduled to start on 29 March but was postponed due to the outbreak of the pandemic in India.

“My feeling is the World T20 won’t go ahead in Australia in October as planned. Is it going to be viable to have a world tournament in October or No-

vember? The answer to that is probably no,” said Taylor.

While many of the current and former Australian players have themselves said that they don’t see the likelihood of the World T20 happening in October-November as per initial schedule due to the restrictions that have come in due to the coronavirus pandemic, for-mer Australia skipper Allan Border has made it clear that the Indian Premier League shouldn’t be given priority over the showpiece event.

“(I’m) not happy with that, the world game should take precedence over a local competition. So, the World T20, if that can’t go ahead, I don’t think the IPL can go ahead,” Border said on ABC’s Grandstand Cafe radio pro-gramme.

“I would question that decision (to replace it) – it’s just a money grab, isn’t it, that one? The World T20 should take precedence, for sure.”

The English Premier League on Saturday confirmed two more posi-tive cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of people infected with the virus to eight. “The Premier League can today confirm that on May 19, May 21 and May 22, 996 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19. Of these,

two have tested positive from two clubs,” Premier League said in a statement. The players or club staff, who have tested positive will now self-isolate for a period of seven days.

The statement further said, “For the second round of testing, the number of tests available to each club was increased from 40 to 50.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Premier League said that six people have tested posi-

tive for Covid-19 after 748 players and club staff were tested. “The six who tested positive in the first round of

testing are not included in the figures for 19-22 May, as they are still within their seven-day self-isolation period,” the statement added.

Out of the six cases, one was from Burnley and three were from Watford. Burnley had announced that their assistant manager Ian Woan was diagnosed with the virus while Watford said club’s one player and three members of staff have tested positive.

Mark Taylor feels iT’s probably noT viable To have T20 WC in oCT-nov

Coronavirus hiTs preMier league, TWo More posiTive Cases ConfirMed

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The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Cricket Commit-

tee chaired by Anil Kumble has recommended banning the usage of saliva to polish the match ball in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. While it is a topic of hot debate and some of the current players have also spoken about the need to allow use of artifi-cial substance of some form, Kumble has said the saliva ban is only an interim mea-sure.

“We did discuss that, but if you look back at the his-tory of the game, I mean we have been very critical and we have been very focused on eliminating any external substances coming into the game whether you are literal-ly legalising if you are looking to do that now which obvi-ously has had a great impact over the last couple of years. ICC took a decision, but then cricket Australia took even a more tougher stance on what happened during that series between South Africa and Australia, so we did consider that but then this is only an interim measure and as long as we have hopefully control over Covid in a few months

or a year’s time then I think things will go back to as nor-mal as it can be.”

England captain Joe Root, however, believes this could actually help bowlers im-prove their skills further. He said that bowlers would start adding different skills in their armoury to get the better of the batsmen. This will in turn help in improving the bowl-ers which will ultimately be good for the game.

“It could work in our fa-vour and up skill levels. Not

having the assistance that you might normally have means your accuracy has to improve,” Root was quoted as saying. “Guys will have to find another way to get something out of the surface, whether that’s a bit more ef-fort, changing angles on the crease, using the wobble seam they might not have in their locker. It could develop our bowlers in a four or five-week period.”

Saliva ban is only an interim measure: Kumble

unCerTainTy

infeCTion

Corona iMpaCT

Former cricketer Anil Kumble believes that things would go back to normal as soon as Covid pandemic is contained.

File photo of former cricketer Anil Kumble who had chaired the ICC committee banning saliva to polish the match ball. IANS

Cricket Australia Director and former Australia captain Mark Taylor.

England captain Joe Root, however, believes this could actually help bowlers improve their skills further.

Earlier on Tuesday, Premier League said that six people have tested positive for Covid-19 after 748 players and club staff were tested.

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7sportsthe daily guardian25 may 2020

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