JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES
Nisarga strikes Maharashtra coast
Cyclone Nisarga made landfall south of the beach town of Alibag on Wednesday afternoon, leaving uprooted trees and power lines in its wake. Narendra Vaskar
Four killed across state; trees, power poles uprooted in Raigad district
SANJANA BHALERAO,
MAYURA JANWALKAR,
SRINATH RAO
MUMBAI, ALIBAG, JUNE 3
CYCLONE NISARGA made land-
fall at Shrivardhan in
Maharashtra’s Raigad district
around 12.30 pm Wednesday,
raging through the coastal dis-
trict for three hours, killing at
leastfourpeople,uprootingtrees
and electricity poles, and caus-
` 125 per kilo
` 153 per kilo
` 191 per kilo
` 50 per Dozen
Blast in chemical
factory in
Gujarat: 8 killed
KAMAAL SAIYED
SURAT, JUNE 3
AN EXPLOSION, followed by a
fire, in the storage tank of a
chemical factory in Dahej, in
Gujarat's Bharuch district, killed
at least eight workers and in-
jured at least 50 of them around
noon Wednesday.
According to the Bharuch
District Disaster Management
Department, over 200 workers,
mostofthemmigrantsfromUttar
PradeshandBihar,wereatthesite
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
BUSINESS AS USUAL
BY UNNY
PAGE 1
ANCHOR MP border: No room for severe cases, 70% shortfall in doctors
HAMZA KHAN
NEEMUCH (MP), JUNE 3
ON MAY 8, a 75-year-old man
with “severe” symptoms in
Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch
was referred to a Level-3
Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH)
in Indore, 250 km away. Four
days later, the case was officially
marked as the first Covid death
in the district.
“Takinghimthere,findingout
where beds were available, get-
ting him admitted even though
the test report was awaited... it
wastraumatic,”saysthepatient’s
son, who is a doctor.
DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
ing power outages in many ar-
eas, including in the resort town
of Alibag, but it left Mumbai
mostly unscathed.
A 17-year-old boy died in a
wall collapse in Shrivardhan,
while a 58-year-old man died in
Alibag after an electricity pole
fell on him. Ten people received
injuries.
“Vehicular traffic has been
stopped on the Mumbai-Goa
highway due to fallen trees. Five
teams of the National Disaster
Key agri reforms cleared,
farmers freed from mandis
Essentials Act to be amended; historic day, says Tomar
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
CLEARING THE way for signifi-
cant reforms in the agriculture
sector, the Union Cabinet on
Wednesday cleared three ordi-
nances aimed at lifting restric-
tions on key commodities such
as cereals, pulses, onion and po-
tato, and giving farmers the free-
dom to sell their produce di-
rectly or through e-trading
platforms to entities of their
WHO restarts HCQ trial
after Lancet concern
over paper that trashed it
ABANTIKA GHOSH
& ANURADHA
MASCARENHAS
NEW DELHI, PUNE, JUNE 3
THE WORLD Health
Organisation (WHO) has de-
cided to resume the hydroxy-
chloroquine (HCQ) part of its
Solidarity Trial, a global effort to
findatreatmentforCovid-19,af-
ter The Lancet issued an “expres-
sion of concern” over a study it
had published that had ques-
tioned the effectiveness of HCQ.
TheWHOhadsuspendedthe
HCQsegmentof itstrialbasedon
this study published on May 22.
This study, ostensibly, used
data from hospitals obtained by
Chicago-based company Surgi-
spherefoundedbyDrSapanDesai
who is one of the co-authors.
Nearlyamonthlater,littlehas
changed in Neemuch, near the
border with Rajasthan. There is
stillno DCH,and critical patients
continue to be referred to hospi-
talshundredsofkilometresaway.
The district of 8.26 lakh peo-
ple, according to the 2011
Census, is tackling the outbreak
— 208 cases and five deaths —
with eight Level-1 Covid Care
Centres (CCCs) for “pre-mild”
and“mild”cases,onlyoneLevel-
2DedicatedCovidHealthCentre
(DCHC) for “moderate” cases.
And a 70 per cent shortfall in the
mandated number of govern-
ment doctors.
The Indian Express visited
Response Force (NDRF) have
been sent to help the district ad-
ministration in Raigad to restore
traffic and other things affected
by the cyclone,” said Kishorraje
Nimbalkar,PrincipalSecretaryof
Relief and Rehabilitation
Department in Maharashtra.
This is the second cyclone to
strike the Indian coast in two
weeks, but unlike Amphan,
which wreaked havoc on the
eastern coast 10 days ago,
Nisarga was relatively milder.
choice instead of being confined
to state mandis.
They also offer a legal
framework that will enable
farmers to enter into an “agree-
ment” with private sector play-
ers on pricing and purchase —
a step that can provide for con-
tract farming.
The decision of the Cabinet,
which will lead to the Essential
Commodities Act of 1955 being
amended, comes more than a
fortnight after the reforms
were first announced by
The study said it had failed to
find any benefit of HCQ or CQ
(chloroquine, which too is anti-
malarial) in Covid treatment.
And that these were associ-
ated with “decreased in-hospital
survival and an increased fre-
quency of ventricular arrhyth-
mias”whenusedfor Covidtreat-
ment.
After The Lancet red-flagged
that study, on Wednesday, WHO
quoteditsdirectorgeneralTedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a
tweet: “On the basis of the avail-
ablemortalitydata,themembers
of the committee recommended
thattherearenoreasonstomod-
ifythetrialprotocol.TheExecutive
Groupwillcommunicatewiththe
principal investigators in the trial
about resuming the hydroxy-
chloroquine arm of the trial.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
TEST
REP RTS
FROM THE
FIELD
TRACKINGTHEVIRUS,
LOCKDOWN
three CCCs where patients or
suspected cases were accom-
modated, including a con-
verted hotel, and came across
dissatisfied staff and com-
plaints about facilities.
Localofficialspointtoasevere
staffcrunch:Ofthe54ClassIposts
for doctors (seniors/specialists),
JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
SINCE 1932
Thisisonlythesecondtimesince
1902 that a cyclone has devel-
oped over the Arabian Sea.
In Gujarat, to where the cy-
clonewas expected to cross over
from Maharashtra, the only sign
of phenomenon were strong
winds in the Saurashtra region
anda dip in temperatures across
the state.
“There will be no impact of
Cyclone Nisarga on Gujarat, not
even high-velocity winds. Only
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman in the third tranche
of the Centre’s Covid economic
package.
Calling it a “historic day for
agriculture”, Union Agriculture
Minister Narendra Singh Tomar
said the reforms will largely free
the sector from a system of in-
spectors and permits.
“All the three decisions are
important,” he said.
Pointing to the overhauling
of the Act, he said: “When this
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE
LOCKDOWN
DAY CASES:
71 2,07,615 TESTS:41,03,233 | DOUBLINGRATE:15.73
KEYSTATES TOTAL
TOWATCH CASES
■ Maharashtra 72,300
■ Gujarat 17,632
■ Kerala
■ Tamil Nadu
1,412
24,586
■ Bihar
■ West Bengal
4,096
6,168
* Compounded Daily Growth Rate over last 7 days
CONCERN CAUTION
DELHI: Big surge KARNATAKA:
in cases, deaths. Over 1,500 cases
Fastest growing in the past week.
among states with Growth higher
top 5 case loads. than national rate.
Based on daily data by Centre, ICMR, state governments
Patients are moved to home quarantine from a Covid Care
Centre in Neemuch. Hamza Khan
● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57
DE-ESCALATION PROCESS UNDERWAY
2 LAC flashpoints are
not in list of identified
areas still contested
Incursions in Galwan Valley, Hot Spring
came as a surprise; were thought settled
SUSHANT SINGH
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
CHINESE TRANSGRESSIONS
across the Line of Actual Control
in Galwan and Hot Spring in
eastern Ladakh surprised India
because these areas, unlike
Pangong Tso, did not figure
among the 23 contested areas
identified by the government
through various mechanisms
since India first accepted the
concept of LAC in 1993.
Elevenof the23contestedar-
eas on the LACwere identifiedin
INSIDE Ladakh under the western sec-
tor, four in the middle sector and
eight in the eastern sector.
GROUND ZERO: A majority of these areas
DAMAGED HOUSES, were identified during interac-
tionsbetweenthetwosidesover
UPROOTED TREES, multiplemeetingsof India-China
NO POWER & 1 DEATH joint working groups (JWG) in
SHORT CIRCUITS, the 1990s, during exchange of
maps for the middle sector in
9 WALL COLLAPSE 2000, and comparison of maps
CASES BUT for the western sector in 2002.
MUMBAI ESCAPES Sixareaswereidentifiedover
NISARGA FURY a period by actions of the
PAGES 4, 5 Chinese army on the ground,
their transgressions recorded by
the Indian side.
The areas of Galwan and Hot
Spring, sites for the current ten-
sions between the two armies,
do not figure in this list of 23.
“Both sides have taken
Galwan and Hot Spring to be
‘settled areas’ and, therefore,
Over to the there was a bit of a surprise ele-
privatesector ment in the Chinese action,” an
official said.
“Had our exercise schedule
THE KEY changes seek to notbeendisruptedbytheCovid-
free agricultural markets 19 pandemic, we would have
from the limitations im- been better prepared to respond
posed by permits and in the initial stages.”
mandis that were origi- The official also said that be-
nally designed for an era cause it was never identified as a
of scarcity. The move contested area, the “Hot Spring
provides more choices
for farmers to trade their
sector has been an ITBP sector”.
In 2015, when “a couple of
produce, but its success Chinesedozerswereseenonour
will depend on how the side making a track near PP14,
private sector leverages weconfiscatedthemanddugthe
the opportunity.
After 10 months, Shah Faesal, two PDP
RECOVERED:1,00,302 | DEATHS: 5,815 leaders released; PSA charges revoked
**
NAVEED IQBAL
SRINAGAR, JUNE 3
BUREAUCRAT-TURNED-politi-
cian Shah Faesal and two senior
members of the People’s
Democratic Party, Peer Mansoor
SURGEIN 7-DAYAVG. DOUBLING HussainandSartajMadani,were
24HRS GROWTH* RATE ** releasedonWednesdayafterthe
2,287 4.05% 17.78 Jammu & Kashmir administra-
415 2.50% 28.75
86
1,091
5.62%
4.78%
12.81
15.05
In UP, just 3% of returning
151
396
4.71%
6.35%
15.29
11.34
migrants tested are positive
** Calculated over 7-day growth
A GLIMMER KAUNAIN SHERIFF M
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
PUNJAB: Very few
new cases being
detected now. ALMOSTTWOmonthssincemi-
Infection growth grants started returning to their
rate under 2%. homes, data from Uttar Pradesh,
their top destination state, has
seenonly3 percentof thetested
RAJASTHAN
Neemuch
MADHYA PRADESH
only 10 are occupied; of the 73
Class II posts, only 27 have been
filled.Mostoftheseriouscasesare
taken to the Sri Aurobindo
Institute of Medical Sciences in
Indore or the R D Gardi Medical
`5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
23 CONTESTED
LAC AREAS
IDENTIFIED IN JWG
(1990S)
WESTERN: Trig Heights,
Demchok
MIDDLE: Barahoti
EASTERN: Namkha
Chu, Sumdorong Chu,
Yangtse, Asaphila,
Longju-Bisa
EXCHANGE OF MAPS
(2000)
MIDDLE: Kaurik, Mormi
Dogri, Shipki La
COMPARISON OF
MAPS (2002)
WESTERN: North
Samar Lungpa, east of
Point 6556, north of
Kugrang river, area of
Kongka La, Spanggur
Gap, east of Mt Sajum
opposite Dumchele
BY ACTION OF
CHINESE TROOPS
WESTERN: North bank
of Pangong Tso, its
south bank, Chumar
EASTERN: Dichu area,
Dibang Valley (Fish
Tails I & II), Lamang
track using a JCB. The Chinese
cametous,agreedthattheywere
onoursideandwethenreturned
their equipment,” he said.
The 11 areas on the LAC in
Ladakh include Trig Heights
(Points 5459 and 5495) and
Demchok,whichwereidentified
during the JWG meetings held
between the two sides between
July 1991 and October 1995. In
Trig Heights, documents state
that the Chinese claim is over
972 sq km of area while the con-
tested area in Demchok is an-
other 180 sq km.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Shah Faesal
detained
since August
last year
tion revoked their detention un-
der the Public Safety Act (PSA).
Faesal, who started a politi-
samples of migrants testing
Covid positive.
This trend has largely re-
mained the same for the last 10
days.AccordingtotheIntegrated
DiseaseSurveillanceProgramme
data, currently, as many 11.68
lakh migrants who have
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
College in Ujjain, about 200 km
away — both private hospitals.
“One MD (Medicine), seven
Medical Officers, and 49 staff
nurses were hired for a three-
month period from April to
June,”saysSangitaBharti,thein-
terim Chief Medical and Health
Officer (CMHO), Neemuch.
According to District
Collector JitendraSingh Raje, the
district reported its first case on
May 2 and most of the early in-
fections can be traced to a “huge
influx” of migrants from
Rajasthan. “By May 10, over
25,000 people had entered the
districtandmovedtootherparts
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
On table for
June 6 talks:
status quo
ante, armour
pullback
SUSHANT SINGH &
KRISHN KAUSHIK
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
AS DELHI and Beijing move to
de-escalate the situation along
the Line of Actual Control in
Ladakh by scaling up military
talks to the level of Lt Generals,
TheIndian Express haslearntthat
an Indian proposal for restora-
tion of status quo ante in the con-
tested areas and simultaneous
de-induction of artillery and
tanksfromtherearareasbyboth
armies is likely to be on the table
at the June 6 meeting.
XIVCorpsCommanderLtGen
Harinder Singh will lead the
Indian delegation. The meeting
willbeheldattheChineseBorder
Personnel Meeting hut in
Chushul-Moldo.LtGenSinghwill
make the opening statement.
A meeting at the level of Lt
Generals to resolve a border dis-
pute on the LAC is rare — all such
earlier meetings have taken
place at the level of Major
Generals and Brigadiers.
Sourcessaidthatbasedonde-
liberations during the prepara-
tory meeting Tuesday between
MajorGeneral-levelofficersofthe
two sides, military commanders
drafted a proposal which was
sent to Army HQ for vetting.
It is unlikely, sources said,
/’that any major change will be
made to the proposal which is
meant to reduce tensions on the
LAC.
“The essential idea is to re-
store status quo ante in the dis-
putedareas,bothinPangongTso
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
cal outfit, the Jammu and
Kashmir People’s Movement, in
March last year, had been in de-
tention since the scrapping of
Jammu & Kashmir's special sta-
tus inAugust2019.OnAugust14
last year, he was prevented from
boardingaflightfromNewDelhi
to Istanbul. He was then flown
back to Srinagar and placed
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
INSIDE
DENIAL OF INNER
LINE PERMIT TO
ASSAM: SC SEEKS
GOVT’S RESPONSE
‘KERALA ELEPHANT
COULD HAVE EATEN
EXPLOSIVES MEANT
FOR BOARS’
PAGE 6
STATUS REPORT
IN PLACE: One DCHC;
8 CCCs; 800 quarantine,
428 isolation & 17 ICU
beds; 4 ventilators.
WISHLIST: Dedicated
Covid Hospital,
90 doctors, more
health staff.
CASES: 208 cases, 130
active; 5 deaths.
DISTRICT: 11
containment areas.
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
FROM PAGE ONE
June 6 talks
and in Hot Spring sector. Both
sides must go back to their de-
ployment before the current sit-
uationarose,andnoconstruction
made during this period in the
‘grey areas’ (area lying between
the Indian and Chinese percep-
tionsoftheLAC)willbeallowed,”
sources said.
The process of “reversion to
statusquoante,”sourcessaid,will
be progressive in nature where
actions will be undertaken to
build mutual trust and reduce
tensions between the two sides.
In the initial phase, the proposal
envisages a withdrawal of ar-
tillery guns and tanks from the
rear areas by both sides.
Sources said China has less
than 1000 troops in the disputed
areas while in the general area,
there are more than 5000 troops
cumulatively on both sides.
Lt General Harinder Singh,
sourcessaid,islikelytobeaccom-
panied by the chief of the 3rd
Infantry Division, a brigade com-
mander, the commanding offi-
cersof alocalbattalion,atransla-
tor and two other officers.
Underlining that much of the
tension has been on north bank
of PangongTsoandtheareatoits
north till Galwan valley, sources
said this could figure in the talks.
Two divisions of the PLA,
sources said, are responsible for
theregion–onefortheLACtillthe
north bank of Pangong Tso, and
another which looks after the
stretchfromthesouthbankofthe
lake.
Oneofthemainpointsofcon-
tentionbetweenthetwoarmiesis
the infrastructure developed by
China till Finger 4 on the north
bank of Pangong Tso. There are
different perceptions on where
the LAC lies in some parts. India
has a post between Finger 3 and
Finger 4, but used to patrol till
Finger 8 which it says marks the
LAC. China, on the other hand,
says the LAC lies at Finger 4, and
has developed recent infrastruc-
ture till there, blocking Indian
troops from moving beyond that
point.<
Agri reforms
was announced, some experts
had said that the country got
Independence in 1947 but farm-
ersaregoingtogetfreedomafter
the promulgation of this ordi-
nance”. Tomar said “this will en-
sure One India, One Agriculture
Market”.
“Theamendmentannounced
will help both farmers and con-
sumers while bringing in price
stability,” said an official state-
ment issued after the Cabinet
meeting, which was chaired by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the amendment
of the Act, which was suggested
byNITIAayog,thestatementsaid:
“This will remove fears of private
investors of excessive regulatory
interference.”Theordinancewill
also remove commodities like
oilseedsandedibleoilsfromvar-
ious restrictions under the Act.
The other two are new legis-
lationsenactedbytheCentre.The
Farming Produce Trade and
Commerce (Promotion and
Facilitation)Ordinance,2020and
TheFarmers(Empowermentand
Protection) Agreement on Price
Assurance and Farm Services
Ordinance,2020areaimedatpro-
viding “barrier-free inter-state
and intra-state trade” in agricul-
tureproduceand“eliminatingin-
termediaries”.
The Essential Commodities
Act was enacted at a time of food
scarcity in the country, and al-
IB staffer killed
as he pacified
both sides
in riot, say
Delhi cops
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lowedthegovernmenttonotifya
commodity as “essential” under
section 2(A), take control of its
production, supply and distribu-
tion, and impose a stock limit.
Under the amended Act, “the
installedcapacityofavaluechain
participant and the export de-
mand of an exporter will remain
exempted from such stock limit
impositionsoastoensurethatin-
vestments in agriculture are not
discouraged”.
However,thegovernmentcan
still impose regulations on agri-
culturecommoditiesinsituations
such as “war, famine, extraordi-
nary price rise and natural
calamity”. Any action on impos-
ing a stock limit under the
amended Act will be based on
price triggers, such as a 100 per
centincreaseinretailpriceofhor-
ticultureproduceand50percent
in non-perishable agricultural
foodstuff over 12 months.
The Farming Produce Trade
and Commerce (Promotion and
Facilitation)Ordinancepromotes
“trade and commerce” outside
thephysicalpremisesof markets
covered by State Agricultural
ProduceMarketinglegislation.So
far, farmers had to sell their pro-
duce only at Agriculture Produce
MarketCommittee(APMC)man-
dis. The ordinance also provides
for an “electronic trading” trans-
action platform for agricultural
commodities.
This move comes at a time
whenseveralstateshavealready
promulgatedordinancestoallow
farmerstoselltheirproduceout-
side APMC market yards, apart
fromgrantingtradersaunifiedli-
cence to purchase from any
mandi across the state.
TheFarmers(Empowerment
and Protection) Agreement on
Price Assurance and Farm
Services Ordinance, 2020 will al-
low farmers to engage directly
with processors, aggregators,
wholesalers, large retailers and
exporters.Itwillessentiallyallow
farmers and buyers to enter into
contracts in which the former is
assured of a certain price at the
time of sowing while the latter
getstoprocuretheharvestedpro-
duceatthepre-decidedratesub-
ject to quality norms.
Both parties will be insulated
from excessive market risk, and
the model agreements for differ-
entcommoditieswillbeprepared
by the Agriculture Ministry.
“Farmers will engage in direct
marketing, thereby eliminating
intermediaries,resultinginfullre-
alisation of price,” said the state-
ment. “No State Act will apply on
the sale and purchase of agricul-
tural products produced on the
basis of such agreements. No
mandi tax will be imposed, and
no inspector will interfere...
Farmerswillgetguaranteedprice
thatwillbedeterminedontheba-
sisofconditionsmentionedinthe
agreement,” Tomar said.
The two new ordinances also
provide for a “separate dispute
resolution mechanism” under
which farmers can approach the
designated district authority for
grievance redressal in a time-
bound fashion.
MP border
of MP. We set up camps for their
screening, organised their stay,
arrangedmealsandlogistics...alot
of people came in touch with lo-
cal residents,” he says.
Currently,169peopleareinin-
stitutionalquarantine,98inCCCs,
and 29 in isolation. Officials say
there are about 800 quarantine
beds and 428 isolation beds, in-
cluding 373 in government facil-
ities of which 102 have oxygen
ANANDMOHANJ&PRITAM
PALSINGH
NEWDELHI,JUNE3
INTELLIGENCE Bureau staffer
AnkitSharmawastryingtopacify
“people from both sides” when
armedrioterscaughtanddragged
him on the “instigation” of sus-
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
VIDEO OF THE DAY
LAC tension sites were not on contested areas list of 23
During the meeting of the
Expert Group in October 2002,
when maps for the LAC on the
western sector pertaining to
eastern Ladakh were to be ex-
changed, six more areas of dif-
ference–NorthSamarLungpa,
east of Point 6556, north of
Kugrang river, area of Kongka
La, Spanggur Gap and east of
Mount Sajum opposite
Dumchele – were identified
support.
The CMHO says the District
Hospital, where the Trauma
Centre is the lone DCHC, has 90
isolation beds, 17 ICU beds with
oxygensupport,andfourventila-
tors. Collector Raje says the eight
CCCs together have about 250
beds -- some of the CCCs are still
vacant.
Thenumberslookimpressive,
but the situation on the ground
does not:
■ The Vatsalya Bhawan CCC,
near the Nagar Palika office, has
16beds,andcurrentlyhousesten
people, including nine positive
andonesuspectcase.However,in
violationofHealthdirectives,sus-
pected and confirmed cases are
housedinthesamebuilding,with
no separate entry or exit.
Among the staffers here is
Dharmendra Parihar, who is
among those hired for three
months. “We are getting Rs 650
per day or a maximum of about
Rs 20,000 for a month. This
amountshouldbeincreased,con-
sidering the risks we are taking,
and the tenure should be ex-
tended,” he says.
Pukhraj Bairagi, another
staffer who is also the district
president of the Multipurpose
Health Workers Association,
complainsthat“therehasbeenno
action” on an announcement in
April by Chief Minister Shivraj
SinghChouhanthathealthwork-
ers involved in Covid treatment
wouldgetanadditionalhonorar-
ium of Rs 10,000 per month.
■Thefour-storeyedHotelDev
Residency, which was converted
into a CCC with a capacity of 60
beds,currentlyhouses48suspect
cases.“Wekeepsymptomaticpa-
tients or those with contact his-
tory with positive patients. If a
person is positive, we send them
tothedistricthospital,otherwise
we discharge them by the next
morning,” says a health person-
nel.
Officials say this is “the best
CCC in Neemuch” and “people
fromwell-to-dofamiliesarekept
here”. However, a video shot by a
local resident, who was in quar-
antinehererecently,showsadirty
washroomandusedbedsheets.S
L Patidar, nodal officer for Dev
Residency, says the hotel is pro-
viding“100percentfacility”.“The
dayafterthevideowascirculated,
the SDM, CMHO, and other offi-
cialsvisitedthehoteltoseethefa-
cilities for themselves,” he says.
■ At the Radhakrishnan
Samudayik Bhawan, which
housespositivepatientsfromthe
DCHC, there is no separate entry
or exit.
Shah Faesal
under detention at the Sher-e-
Kashmir International
Conference Centre along with
other political leaders.
Subsequently, he was shifted to
theMLAHostel,wherehewasbe-
ing held until Wednesday. In
Februarythisyear,theJ&Kadmin-
istrationslappedprovisionsofthe
pended AAP councillor Tahir
Hussain,beforekillinganddump-
inghisbodyinadrain,DelhiPolice
said in a chargesheet filed in a
Delhi court on Wednesday.
Sharma, a resident of
Northeast Delhi’s Khajuri Khas,
wentmissingonFebruary25,and
his body was recovered from a
drain in Chand Bagh a day later.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
NOIDA’S SECTOR 18 MARKET BATTLES LOW FOOTFALL
Mostshopsthatopenedfollowedsocialdistancingnormsaswellastheuseofsanitizersatthedoor.Tina
Kharbanda,whomanagesaclothingstore,saidthefearofsteppingoutcontinuesbutourbehaviourhasto
change.
CYCLONE NISARGA:
SCENES OF DAMAGE
Cyclonic winds in
Mumbai destroyed
property
when the Indian side com-
pared its maps with those of
the Chinese.
The Chinese side refused to
formally exchange the maps,
effectively stalling the process
of clarifying the LAC men-
tioned in the 1993 agreement
forpeaceandtranquilityonthe
border that was signed be-
tween Prime Minister P V
Narasimha Rao and Chinese
PSA against Faesal. His detention
was last extended on May 13 for
three months.
The police dossier against
Faesal had accused him of advo-
cating “soft separatism” through
hisarticles,tweetsandsocialme-
dia posts.
Sartaj Madani, uncle of PDP
chief Mehbooba Mufti, and Peer
Mansoor, her political advisor
duringhertenureasCM,toowere
among the several political lead-
erswhowereinitiallykeptinpre-
ventive custody and later under
the PSA in the aftermath of the
August 5 scrapping of J&K's spe-
cial status.
PeerMansoor’sdetentionwas
last extended on May 15 while
Madni’sdetentionwasextended
for three months on May 5.
However, Mufti, also held under
provisions of PSA, is serving her
detentionatherGupkarRoadres-
idence.
Besides Mufti, National
Conference leaders Ali
MohammedSagarandHilalLone,
and senior PDP leader Naeem
Akhtharcontinuetoremaininde-
tention, while People's
ConferencechairmanSajadLone
remains under house arrest.
Reacting to Wednesday's or-
der, former J&K chief minister
Omar Abdullah tweeted: “Good
to hear @shahfaesal, Peer
Mansoor & Sartaj Madani have
been released from their unjust
PSAdetention.Disappointedthat
@MehboobaMufti, Sagar Sb &
Hilal Lone continue to be de-
tained. It’s high time they are set
free as well.”
TweetingfromMufti’shandle,
her daughter Iltija Javed said,
“Relieved that arbitrary & illegal
detention of Shah Faesal, Sartaj
Madni&PeerzadaManzurunder
PSA has finally been revoked.”
Callingforthereleaseofother
political detainees and civil soci-
ety members, she said, “They
must be released immediately.
Pertinenttomentionthatbarring
a few, most political leaders cut-
ting across party lines continue
being under house arrest. Their
unlawful detention is an aberra-
tion of the law.”
HCQ trial
When contacted, Soumya
Swaminathan, chief scientist at
WHO, told The Indian Express:
“Our data safety monitoring
board reviewed the mortality
data in Solidarity... They did not
have concerns related to mortal-
itybetweenHCQandstandardof
care. Hence, we have decided to
resume the trial.”
Indiaquestionedtheintegrity
ofthestudyandremainedstead-
fastinitsdirectionstouseHCQfor
prevention of Covid, and a com-
bination of the drug and antibi-
otic azithromycin for treatment.
In fact, a day after WHO had
suspended the HCQ segment,
Indiahadreiterateditsfaithinthe
continued prophylactic use of
HCQ for Covid saying there was
enoughexperienceandsufficient
ThepoliceregisteredanFIRbased
on his father’s complaint on
February 26. “The 51 sharp in-
juries on the body of Sharma
causedbysharpedgedweaponas
well as blunt object clearly indi-
cate how cold-blooded rioters
brutallykilledhiminfurtherance
ofawellhatchedconspiracy,”the
chargesheet stated. Naming
EXCLUSIVE
Premier Li Peng.
Before 1993, India had re-
fusedtoformallyacceptthecon-
cept of LAC, and even then, left
it unqualified to make it clear
that it was not referring to the
LACproposedbytheChinesein
either 1959 or 1962 but to the
LACatthetimewhentheagree-
ment was signed.
Based on the record of
transgressionsbyChinesemil-
datafromobservationalandcase
controlstudiestowarrantitsuse.
Inastatement,TheLancetsaid
that “important scientific ques-
tions” were raised about data in
the paper authored by cardiolo-
gist Mandeep Mehra, Desai and
Zurich cardiologist Frank
Ruschitzka. It said an independ-
ent audit has been commis-
sioned.
Questions were raised about
theintegrityof data—theregistry
claims to have data from several
hundred hospitals worldwide —
and its security and privacy as-
pects.
Forinstance,therewereques-
tionsaboutthedatabaseshowing
morecasesinAustraliathanwere
officially there at the time of the
study.Surgisphererespondedby
reassigning the hospital to Asia.
Initsresponsetocriticism,the
company said it had stated that
the“resultsofouranalysesshould
not be over-interpreted to those
thathaveyettodevelopsuchdis-
ease or those that have not been
hospitalized."
Mehra is with Brigham and
Women's Hospital Center for
Advanced Heart Disease in
Boston. In an email response to
The Indian Express, he said: “I
have routinely underscored the
importanceandvalueofrandom-
ized,clinicaltrialsandarticulated
that such trials will be necessary
before any conclusions can be
reached.Untilfindingsfromsuch
studiesareavailable,giventheur-
gency of the situation, using the
availabledatasetwasaninterme-
diary step. I eagerly await word
fromtheindependentaudits,the
results of which will inform any
further action.”
TheLancetisnottheonlyjour-
nal which is having second
thoughtsaboutthequalityofdata
suppliedbySurgisphere.TheNew
England Journal of Medicine pub-
lishedasimilarexpressionofcon-
cernaboutastudyitpublishedon
theeffectof somecardiovascular
drugs on Covid-19. Mehra and
Desai were part of the team be-
hind this study as well.
Factory blast
of Yashashvi Rasayan Private Ltd
at the time of the incident.
Apreliminaryinvestigationreport
by Vijaysinh Parmar, Sub-
DivisionalMagistrate,Vagra,said,
“Thefirebrokeoutduetoablastin
the storage tank... 11 fire fighters
were rushed in and six ambu-
lances were used to shift the in-
jured ones to the hospital.”
Parmar report, submitted to
Bharuch District Collector M D
Modia, indicated negligence.
“Therewasnoresponsibleperson
presentinthefactory...theatten-
danceregisterattheentrygateof
thefactoryhadentriesof231per-
sons... Five bodies were found
from near the storage tank," the
report said.
Officialssaidtheblast–reason
forwhichisnotyetknown–trig-
gered a fire that soon spread to
othersectionsofthefactory.They
Hussain and nine other persons,
thechargesheetsaidhe“gathered
a mob on the basis of religious
sentiments”, knew several ac-
cused persons beforehand, pro-
videdthemlogisticalsupport,and
“involved” them to commit the
murder.The10havebeenaccused
under sections of murder, crimi-
nalconspiracyandothersections
OMI VAIDYA ON 3
IDIOTS
‘Chaturwassoimpactful
that people struggleto
seemeinotheravatars’
itary patrols and their actions
ontheground,thegovernment
identified another three addi-
tionalareasofdifference:North
bank of Pangong Tso, southern
bank of Pangong Tso and
Chumar.Oneof thesitesforthe
current tensions is in Pangong
Tso, including the northern
bankof thelakewhereChinese
soldiers have moved to their
perception of the LAC.
said “highly concentrated chem-
icals” fell on the labourers work-
ing in nearby chambers, with a
few of them dying on the spot.
At least 32 injured workers
were admitted to Bharuch Civil
Hospitalandtheotherstoprivate
hospitals,withsomeof themina
criticalcondition.Thedistrictad-
ministration also evacuated
around 4,800 people from two
neighbouringvillagesasaprecau-
tionary measure.
Soon after the blast, there
were reports of a stampede-like
situationasworkerstriedtorush
out.
Inoneofthevideosshotbyan
eyewitness, a worker covered in
soot is seen running out, seeking
helpforotherstrappedinside.The
worker, who has not yet been
identified, was taken to hospital.
Parmar said, "The fire that
startedaroundnoonwasbrought
undercontrolat5.30pmwiththe
combinedeffortoffirepersonnel
and disaster management offi-
cials..."Rescueoperationsarestill
on to find if any labourers are
trapped inside, he added.
Bharuch District Collector
Modiasaid,"Wehavesentsenior
officials to investigate the inci-
dent.Around50workerswerein-
jured and are in hospitals. There
were Methanol and Xylene
chemical tanks near the storage
tank that exploded. Both these
chemicals are highly poisonous
andflammable...asaprecaution-
ary measure, we have evacuated
3,000villagersfromLakhivillage
and 1,800 from Luvara village to
safer places. The condition of
some of the injured workers un-
dergoingtreatmentinhospitalsis
critical."
Migrants
returned to the state are under
surveillance.Ofthem,74,237mi-
grantshavebeentestedforthein-
fection and 2,404 have turned
positive — a positivity rate of 3.2
percent.Overthelast10days,the
average is 3 per cent of the total
migrant samples tested.
This suggests that a heavy in-
flux of migration isn’t setting off
anexponentialgrowthincasesin
Uttar Pradesh and the positivity
rate in migrant samples remains
close to the state’s overall figure,
2.85 per cent.
Indeed, the positivity rate of
migrants being tested in Uttar
Pradesh is almost 2 percentage
points lower than the country’s
positivity rate; and in stark con-
trast to the positivity rate in
Maharashtra (15 per cent),
Gujarat (8 per cent) and Delhi (9
percent),statesfromwheremost
of the migrants have returned.
So while the return of mi-
grantshasspreadtheinfectionin
asmanyas75districtsinthestate,
the low positivity rate means
therehasbeennosurgeinhospi-
talisationand,therefore,noadded
burden to health resources – yet.
At present, Uttar Pradesh has
tested3,07,621samplesforthein-
fection; 24 per cent of the total
of the IPC. Metropolitan
MagistrateRichaPariharhasfixed
the matter for consideration on
June 16. Police said they relied on
statements of public witnesses
whotoldthemHussainwaspres-
entatthespotonFebruary25and
led a mob at Chand Bagh Pulia to
his house. “Witnesses have also
statedthatHussainwasalsopres-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
The debate around the
homeopathic drug
Arcenicum Album 30?
NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY
In today’s episode of the 3 Things podcast,
we talk about why even homeopaths are
wary of promoting the drug as a
preventative against Covid-19.
testing in the state has been con-
ductedonthemigrantswhohave
returnedtothestate.Of the8729
total samples that have been
foundtobepositive,27.5percent
are of migrants.
K Srinath Reddy, president of
PublicHealthFoundationofIndia
and a member of the high-level
committee of public experts for
Covid, told The Indian Express
that the data confirms that mi-
grants had very low exposure
ratestothevirusduetothenature
of their occupation and the loca-
tion of their dwellings.
"I have been saying from the
beginning that the migrants did
not pose a threat. They should
have been assisted in being sent
backrightatthebeginningof the
lockdown. The reasons are that,
basically, people who brought in
the virus are foreign travellers.
They spread the virus and their
primary contacts were the peo-
ple who secondarily spread the
virus," Reddy said.
“Migrantsarenotthepopula-
tion, in sense of their occupation
and place of residence, who
wouldhavecomeincontactwith
these people. The nature of their
occupation was very different
like construction sites or in very
low-incomedwellings.Theirlike-
lihood of having the virus by
March 25 was very remote. If
they had been assisted with be-
ingsentback,wewouldnothave
seen this problem. But having
kepttheminurbanhotspots,kept
foralmosteightweeks,therewas
a danger they might have actu-
ally carried the virus. However,
compared to others, their expo-
surerateswouldhavebeenmuch
less.Thedatanowconfirmsthat,"
he said.
Reddy, however, pointed out
that as "a matter of abundant of
caution" the migrants need to be
quarantined. More so, because
many may be asymptomatic. "I
don't anticipate a major rapid
spread. For a period of time, the
virus may enter the general pop-
ulation. We must keep slowing
that...Itwasamis-impressionthat
migrants pose a threat," he said.
Nisarga strikes
light rainfall is expected in a few
districts of South Gujarat and
Saurashtra for two-three days,”
said India Meteorological
Department’s(IMD)Ahmedabad
Regional Additional Director
Manorama Mohanty.
After landfall with wind-
speeds of 100-110 kmph at Dive
Agar in Shrivardhan, Nisarga,
which had been categorised as a
'severecyclonicstorm',lostsome
momentum and weakened into
a 'cyclonic storm' by Wednesday
evening, moving northeast at a
speed of 24 kmph, the IMD said.
“Itisverylikelytomovenorth-
eastwards and weaken into a
deep depression” late on
Wednesday,saidtheIMDbulletin
at 7.30 pm.
Revenue Minister Balasaheb
Thorat announced that the dis-
trict administrations in Pune,
Nashik and Ahmednagar had
been put on alert.
RaigadGuardianMinisterand
MinisterofStateforTourismAditi
Tatkare said the damage assess-
ment would have to wait as the
districtwasstillbeingbatteredby
heavy rains and strong winds.
Efforts were on to restore road
connectivity by clearing at least
one main road connecting each
taluka.
Pune district reported two
deathsandinjuriestoseveralpeo-
ple. Nearly 140 households were
damaged across the district.
While a 65-year-old woman
ent at his house from where the
mob was pelting stones, bricks
and petrol bombs on the Hindus
preventing them to move for-
ward. The witnesses have stated
that Hussain was provoking and
instigating the mob against the
Hindus/ kafirs to kill them,” the
chargesheet read.
The police have listed 81 per-
in Khed tehsil of the district died
after a wall and a portion of the
roof of theirhousecavedin,a52-
year-oldinHavelitehsildiedafter
hewascriticallyinjuredwhiletry-
ing to hold on to the tin sheets of
hisroofastheywerebeingblown
away due to strong winds.
For Mumbaikars, Nisarga
turned out to be the storm that
wasn't. Strong and gusty winds
led to trees being uprooted in
some parts of the city, but there
wasnolarge-scaledamageaswas
expected,andmoreimportantly,
no loss of life.
Some 40,000 people living in
shantiesandfishingvillagesnear
theMumbaicoastwereshiftedto
safer places after warnings of a
tidal surge. However, the surge
too was not as high as was ex-
pected.
According to the IMD, the
maximum wind speed recorded
during the time of landfall at
Colaba observatory in South
Mumbai was 50 kmph and 58
kmphatSantacruzobservatory.It
rained intermittently, but by
evening, the skies over the city
had cleared.
Flight operations at Mumbai
airport, suspended at 2.30 pm,
were resumedby evening. MIAL,
the private airport operator, had
earlierannouncedthatallopera-
tions at Mumbai International
Airportwouldremainsuspended
between 2.30 pm and 7 pm as a
precautionary measure.
North of Mumbai, in Palghar
district, which was bracing for
Nisargatocross over iton itsway
toGujaratfromMaharashtra,felt
no effects of the cyclone, except
forsomerainfalltowardsevening.
Nearly 40,000 people had been
evacuated from coastal villages
into shelters, or had gone to stay
with relatives inland, but started
returning home in the morning.
In Raigad, Guardian minister
Tatkare said the damage caused
by the cyclone was not limited to
Murud and Shrivardhan talukas
but was felt even 50 km inland.
About 15,000 people had
beenevacuatedfromtheirhomes
neartheseainRaigadonTuesday
andwereaskedtoeithermovein
withrelativesorprovidedshelter
at Zilla Parishad schools, Tatkare
said.
In Sindhudurg, which has
three coastal districts, collector K
Manjulekshmisaid82evacuation
centres had been arranged after
the warning on Cyclone Nisarga
butlessthan100peoplewerere-
quired to be evacuated.
In Ratnagiri district, nearly
5,000 people were evacuated on
Tuesdayfromcoastalandlow-ly-
ing areas. "Electricity poles were
uprootedinsomeareas,affecting
supply. Efforts are on to restore
that," said District Collector
Laxminarayan Mishra.
Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray thanked the adminis-
tration for managing to keep the
damage at a minimum.
“Maharashtrawashitbyacyclone
whenwearedealingwithCovid-
19. While it was a big crisis, we
have managed to reduce the
damagecausedbyit.Instructions
have been given to the adminis-
trationtostartimmediateinspec-
tion of the damages,” he said in a
statement.
Officials said 44,430 people
from low-lying areas in Mumbai
and33,761fromotherdistrictsin
Konkan were evacuated to safer
locations. In all, 7,003 boats were
in the sea and all were brought
back by Tuesday night.
WITH INPUTS FROM
SADAF MODAK,
ENS AHMEDABAD AND PUNE
sons as witnesses in the case.
Police claimed that at about 5
pm, Sharma had moved ahead
from the crowd of Hindu people
standing some distance away
fromHussain’shousetopacifythe
peopleof bothsideswhenrioters
caught hold of Ankit on the insti-
gation of Tahir Hussain from the
front of Hussain’s house.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

3 THE OUTBREAK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020

The City

At least 500 doctors ICMR WITHDRAWS Rs 4,500-PRICE CAP 49-yr-old cop

infected in state, Statesetsuppanel,begins dies of Covid,

toll in city

over 140 in Mumbai negotiationswithprivatelabs climbs to 19

TABASSUM
BARNAGARWALA
MUMBAI, JUNE 3
AT LEAST 500 doctors have
been infected with Covid-19
across Maharashtra, data gath-
ered by the Indian Medical
Association (IMA) has revealed.
Officials said the actual count
may be higher, since they only
managed to keep a tab on cases
reported by IMA members in
Maharashtra.
The most infected are the
resident doctors working in
government hospitals. In
Mumbai, while Sion hospital
has 70 infected resident doctors,
KEM hospital has 40 and Nair
hospital has 35, according to the
Maharashtra Association of
Resident Doctors.
A senior ENT doctor, aged 61,
succumbed to Covid-19 in SL
Raheja hospital on Monday
morning after battling the infec-
tion for a fortnight.
The surgeon had last oper-
ated upon a patient at Maru
hospital in Parel in May. He fell
ill in mid-May and tested posi-
tive for Covid-19 on May 19. The
same day, he was admitted to SL
Raheja hospital. Till then, he
only had fever and cold. But he
suffered from uncontrolled di-
abetes and had two cardiac
stents. By May 23, he started
feeling breathless.
“A scan showed he had de-
veloped acute respiratory dis-
tress syndrome. We put him on
a ventilator, administered
Tocilizumab. But by May 28, he
suffered a renal shutdown and
required dialysis,” said Dr Hiren
Ambegaonkar, medical director
in SL Raheja hospital and the
surgeon’s batchmate.
The surgeon, a member of
IMA, was put on ventilator and
required intubation. On
Monday morning, he passed
away due to respiratory failure.
In another case, a general
physician in Goregaon faced a
12-hour delay in getting admit-
ted to a hospital. He died at SRV
hospital in Chembur last week.
With Mumbai hospitals al-
ready running to their full ca-
pacity, in other districts, private
hospitals have started reserving
beds for doctors to provide
them exclusive treatment facil-
ity if they contract Covid-19.
IMA, a doctor’s association
with 75,000 members across
the state, has started drawing up
a memorandum of understand-
ing (MoU) with hospitals to treat
doctors infected with Covid-19.
In Ahmednagar, several
Christian missionary hospitals
have reserved beds for doctors
following an MoU with the IMA.
In Shrirampur taluka, Saint
Luke’s hospital has reserved 20
beds for doctors, staffers and
their family members.
“In the early days of the pan-
demic, a hospital superinten-
dent in Ahmednagar was ex-
posed to a Covid-19 patient and
put under 14-day quarantine.
He was in quarantine in a
madrasa with no doctor. The
district collector asked him to
look after all other people in the
madrasa even though he him-
self was under quarantine. We
realised that there is lack of fa-
cilities for doctors suffering
from Covid-19,” said Dr
Ravindra Kute, National coordi-
nator, IMA.
In Mumbai, IMA president
Dr Avinash Bhonde said that
at least three practicing allo-
pathic doctors have died in
the city and one in Pune due
to Covid-19. “The count is much
higher, but we have not got
names from the government,”
he added.
Bhonde said that while a few
private hospitals have agreed to
reserve beds for doctors, in a
few districts, collectors have re-
fused to allow such a set-up.
In Nanded, over eight hospi-
tals are in dialogue with IMA to
reserve two beds each in inten-
sive care units for doctors. “All
private hospitals have given 80
percentbedstothegovernment.
In the remaining beds that are
under hospital control, we are
trying to reserve a few beds for
doctors,” said Dr Suresh Kadam,
IMA member in Nanded.
In Nagpur and Nashik, too,
private hospitals have reserved
beds for medical practitioners.
Ashoka hospital in Nashik has
assured doctors that they will
be given preference if they get
infected, although it can't re-
serve beds.
Dr Sameer Chandrate, based
in Nashik, said just like govern-
ment doctors are given health
insurance by the state, private
doctors must also be insured.
“Even private doctors are get-
ting infected,” he added.
toreducecostofCovidtests
SANDEEP ASHAR
MUMBAI, JUNE 3
THE MAHARASHTRA govern-
ment has set up a four-member
panel to negotiate with private
testing laboratories in the
state to reduce the cost of Covid-
19 tests.
The panel, headed by Dr
SudhakarShinde, thechief exec-
utive officer of State Health
Assurance Society, has been
asked to ensure a substantial re-
duction in the cost of Reverse
Transcription Polymerase Chain
Reaction (RT-PCR) test, which is
the most commonly used diag-
nostic test for detecting coron-
avirus in a person.
A June 2 order of the Public
Health Department, issued for
the panel’s appointment, states
that “the state government
wants to bring down the (Covid-
19) testing costs as much as pos-
sible for utilising the facilities to
the optimum and conducting
many more tests.”
The panel, also comprising
Ajay Chandanwale, the deputy
director of Medical Education
and Research, professor Amita
Joshi of Grant Medical College,
and Dr Sadhana Tayade, director
of Health Services, will have
eight days to complete the dis-
cussions with the private labo-
ratories and report back to the
government.
Maharashtra has 44 public
Maharashtra has 44 public and 36 private approved testing
laboratories for Covid-19. File
and 36 private approved testing
laboratories for Covid-19. While
the government laboratories
have been conducting the tests
free-of-charge, the private ones
areknowntochargeRs4,500per
test — the ceiling price fixed in
March by the Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) for
these tests.
Actingoncomplaintsof over-
charging by private facilities,
Maharashtrahadlastmonthalso
capped treatment costs for 80
percentof allprivateoperational
hospital beds.
Thestate’slatestmovecomes
a week after the ICMR withdrew
the Rs 4,500 price cap, granting
states a free hand to negotiate
with approved laboratories and
fix the cost of Covid-19 tests. In a
letter to the states on May 25,
ICMR’s director general Dr
Balram Bhargava had justified
the withdrawal of the cap on
grounds that the testing capac-
ity and infrastructure have now
seen a marked improvement
and the country’s dependence
on imported testing kits had re-
duced a great deal.
“At the beginning of the
Covid pandemic, there was a
global crisis of testing kits and
reagents as India was heavily re-
liant on imported products for
molecular detection of viruses.
As such in mid-March, no rates
for RT-PCR tests for coronavirus
were available for reference in
the country. Keeping in view the
cost of imported kits and efforts
involved in carrying out the test,
ICMR had suggested the upper
limitof asingletestasINR4500,”
theadvisorysenttoallstatechief
secretaries stated.
It added, “The government
hasbeenworkingwithdomestic
manufacturers by hand-holding
and promoting them to locally
manufacture swabs, viral trans-
port medium, and RNA extrac-
tion kits. Due to varied options
of testing materials/ kits, includ-
ing indigenous ones, the prices
are becoming competitive and
are undergoing reduction.
Keeping in view the evolving
prices of the testing commodi-
ties, the earlier suggested upper
ceiling of INR 4500 may not be
applicable now and therefore all
state governments/UT adminis-
trations are advised to negotiate
with private labs and fix mutu-
ally agreeable prices for samples
being sent by the government
and also private individuals de-
sirous of testing by these labs.”
Neighbouring Karnataka has
already capped the Covid-19
testing price for samples sent by
the government at Rs 2,250 for
private labs within the state.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JUNE 3
A 49-YEAR-OLD constable of
Mumbai Police succumbed to
Covid-19, taking the death toll of
policepersonnelinthecityto19.
So far, more than 1,500 police
personnel have tested positive -
of which 533 have recovered -
and1,758havebeenaskedtoob-
serve home quarantine.
Officials said that the consta-
ble, identified as Pramod Shelar,
died on Tuesday. They added
that he was diagnosed with can-
cer in July last year, and since
then,hadbeenadmittedinapri-
vate hospital in south Mumbai.
“As the hospital is also treat-
ingCovid-19patients,webelieve
that he might have got the infec-
tion from someone there.
Because he was already vulner-
able, he succumbed to the dis-
ease,” an officer said. Sources in
the state DG office said that cur-
rently,1,526policepersonnelare
Covid-19 patients, and are being
treatedatdifferenthospitalsand
Covid care centres across
Maharashtra.
On Monday, Assistant Sub-
Inspector (ASI) Gajanan Koli, 53,
posted at Santacruz station, and
49-year-old police constable,
Vikram Jadhav, posted at Malad
traffic division, had succumbed
to the infection.
Sources in the state DG
office said that
currently, 1,526 police
personnel are
Covid-19 patients

Lower patient turnout as heavy
rainfall, gusty winds pound city
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JUNE 3
CYCLONIC CONDITIONS on
Wednesday prevented several
people, even suspected coron-
avirus patients, to delay hospi-
tal visits. Already down on its
knees from the raging Covid-19
pandemic — Mumbai on
Wednesday reported 1276 new
cases taking its total count to
43,492 — the city was wit-
nessed heavy rainfall and gusty
winds as Cyclone Nisarga
made landfall at Alibag in
Raigad district.
Khalid Ansari, a social
worker at Nagpada, said several
people, even those ill, avoided
venturing out to see a doctor
due to the rain. “Those who
could wait for a day before seek-
ing medical help decided to stay
at home,” he said.
In Govandi, health worker
Shoab Hashmi said they had
Usually we get around
330 calls every day.
There is a slight
reduction in calls. We
had prepared drivers to
keep additional fuel, park
it safely, and adopt all
safety measures due to
the cyclone in Mumbai,
Raigad and Ratnagiri.”
DR DYANESHWAR SHELKE
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF
BVG-MEMS SERVICE
asked locals to avoid travelling
unless there was a medical
emergency. “In the morning, a
patient had to be admitted to
Masina hospital. We called 108,
and the ambulance came on
time,” he said.
According to Maharashtra
Emergency Medical Services
(MEMS), which runs an ambu-
lance service, 228 calls were re-
ceived from across Mumbai on
Wednesday from both Covid-19
and other patients.
“Usually we get around 330
calls every day. There is a slight
reduction in calls. We had pre-
pared drivers to keep additional
fuel, park it safely, and adopt all
safety measures due to the cy-
clone in Mumbai, Raigad and
Ratnagiri,” said Dr Dyaneshwar
Shelke, chief operating officer
of BVG-MEMS service.
Hospitals, too, saw a lower
patient turnout on the day. Dr
Hemant Deshmukh, dean of
KEM hospital, said patient
count has been lower for the
last four days. “On Wednesday,
we saw drop by 15 per cent in
out-patient department. We
had only 80-90 patients today,”
Deshmukh said. The hospital
has 480 patients, of them 272
are Covid-19 positive.
The civic body, meanwhile,
said it will screen 19,000 slum
dwellers settled near the city’s
shoreline for Covid-19, after
they were moved to temporary
shelters as a precautionary
measure against Cyclone
Nisarga.
On Wednesday, the BMC
also issued a post-cyclone
health advisory urging people
to ensure they sought doctor’s
advice for fever and not self-
medicate. “Watch for any
symptoms for the next seven
to 10 days. If any symptoms
appear, like fever with
chills, joint pain, rashes, cough,
breathlessness, diarrhoea,
vomiting, sore throat, or jaun-
dice, then immediately visit a
nearby dispensary or inform a
community health volunteer,”
the advisory stated.
The civic body has also
asked senior citizens to remain
at home and advised people
to consume home-cooked
food for a few days to avoid
contamination.
HC seeks state, BMC reply on plea seeking
nod for all liquor shops to conduct online sale
OMKAR GOKHALE
Kathawalla and S P Tavade
Tuesday heard a plea by Ojus
that their shop, though situated
insidethemall,hadaseparateac-
home delivery in Mumbai from
May 23. The service was to be al-
MUMBAI, JUNE 3 Marketing Management Pvt Ltd, cess, but was refused permission lowed from 10 am to 6 pm.
which owns a shop ‘World of for home delivery by authorities. Afterhearingsubmissions,the
THEBOMBAYHighCourtdirected wines’insideCR2MallatNariman Municipal Commissioner bench directed authorities to file
thestategovernmentandBMCto Point,seekingpermissionforsale Iqbal Singh Chahal had allowed a reply and posted further hear-
respond to a plea filed by a south of liquor as a standalone retail the online sale of liquor through ing on June 5.
Mumbaishopownerseekingper- shop and issuance of clarifica-
missionfortheonlinesaleofalco- tion that all liquor shops be al-
hol through home delivery to all lowed to commence home de-
such shops, including those situ- livery. The petitioner, through
ated inside malls. advocates Hiren Kamod and
Adivisionbenchof JusticesSJ Abhishek Adke, maintained
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IZY³Qie¹f d½fV½fd½fôf»f¹f
d½fôf d½fWXfSX, SXf¹f¶fSmX»fe SXûOX, »f£f³fDY- 226025
BABASAHEB BHIMRAO AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY
(A Central University)
Vidya Vihar, Rae Bareli Road, Lucknow- 226025
Admission Notice (2020-21)
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow,
invites Online application for admission to various
courses at its Main and Satellite Campus Tikarmafi,
Amethi. Online Registration has been started from
27.05.2020 and the last date is 10.07.2020. For
more details please visit to our University Website
www.bbau.ac.in.

HC issues SOP for BJP MLAclaims

damagetoBKC
Registrar

subordinate courts facility,MMRDA

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JUNE 3
WITHTHEeasingoflockdownre-
strictions,theBombayHighCourt
onWednesdayissuedastandard
operatingproceduretofollowfor
subordinate courts in
Maharashtra, Goa and the Union
territories of Daman, Diu and
Dadra Nagar Haveli, for their
functioning from Monday.
Currently,subordinatecourts
are only hearing urgent matters.
FromMonday,courtsinMumbai
Metropolitan Region, Pune,
Solapur, Aurangabad, Nashik,
Malegaon, Dhule, Jalgaon, Akola,
Amravati and Nagpur – all in the
red zone – will function with 15
per cent staff while others will
have the presence of 50 per cent
of their employees.
Mumbaiandtheothersinthe
redzonehavebeenurgedtowork
for four hours a day in two shifts
to hear bail applications other
caseswherethepresenceof wit-
nesses are not required. This
would mean that cases kept for
finalordersorjudgmentsaswell
asrevisionappealswillbeheard.
Incaseswheresubstantialev-
idence has been recorded, the
courtcanalsorecordthewitness’
depositionthroughvideoconfer-
ence if both parties agree.
Thejudgeshavebeendirected
to make utmost use of the video
conference facility and hear lim-
ited number of cases daily to
avoid overcrowding.
In rest of the state, if there is
a spike in Covid-19 cases or a
particular taluka is declared a
containment zone, further
course of action will be decided
by the administration. Other
changes in these districts in-
clude a token system for filing
cases, checking of temperature
at the entry gates and bar on vis-
its, including by lawyers and
those appearing in person.
Meanwhile, while continu-
ing its current video conference
arrangement in view of Covid-
19 outbreak, the HC also noti-
fied an increase in the number
of benches from June 5. It has
doubled the number of
benches and will sit in two
batches – from 10.45 am to 1.45
pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm.
To reduce physical presence
of lawyers and litigants, the HC
will continue the use of video
conferencehearingsonTuesdays
and Fridays till June 16.
saysitisintact
Mumbai: BJP MLA Nitesh Rane
on Wednesday tweeted videos
purportedly showing damage
caused to a makeshift Covid-
19 hospital in BKC area due
to cyclone Nisarga. However,
authorities said the structure
was intact.
Built by MMRDA, the 1,000-
bed hospital in Bandra-
Kurla Complex (BKC) is run by
the BMC.
Around 250 Covid-19
patients undergoing treatment
there were temporarily
shifted to other facilities as pre-
caution in view of the cyclone
threat on Tuesday.
Tweeting three videos al-
legedly showing water inside
the makeshift facility, as well as
damaged sidewalls and a col-
lapsed tin compound wall, Rane
said, “Jumbo isolation centre at
BKC goes down the drain in just
a few hours.” He also demanded
a probe into the same.
The MMRDA, however,
claimed there was no damage
to the hospital, and that it has
resumed the construction work
of a second facility as well. PTI

4 CYCLONE NISARGA
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
Ground zero: Damaged
houses, uprooted trees,
no power & one death
SRINATH RAO
ALIBAG, JUNE 3
THE BEACHTOWN was pre-
pared for the worst on
Wednesday morning – doors
were shut, windows bolted,
shops shuttered, roads empty
and vehicles parked safely.
As cyclone Nisarga, cate-
gorisedasaseverecyclonicstorm,
madelandfalljustsouthofAlibag
in Raigad at 12.30 pm, the winds
in excess of 100 kmph uprooted
trees, bent power lines, rattled
roofs, sent debris flying and
showered the streets with co-
conuts and mangoes.
A 58-year-old man, Dashrath
Babu Waghmare, was killed at
UmatevillageinAlibagtalukaaf-
ter an electricity pole fell on him
when he stepped out to have a
look at his shop. An accidental
death report has been filed at
Revdanda police station.
Beginning Tuesday morning,
local authorities had evacuated
more than 6,000 people living in
theKoliwadaatAlibagbeachand
the beachfront pockets of
Mithpada, Shastri Nagar and
Siddharth Nagar, to temporary
shelters at government and pri-
vate schools.
Suresh Dhole and Santosh
Rathod, lifeguards at Alibag
beach,saidthatittookthepolice,
the Alibag Municipal Council
(AMC) and the National Disaster
Response Force hours to com-
plete the evacuation exercise.
At one such shelter – KES
GeneralArunkumarVaidyaHigh
School – 467 evacuees were
served dinner, breakfast and
lunchandprovidedmattressesto
sleep, before being allowed to
leave at 5 pm, once the rain and
windshadsubsided,saidMahesh
Dafal, city engineer of AMC.
However,evacuatedresidents
found lanes leading to their
Power lines, cellular network disrupted in parts of Raigad
MAYURA JANWALKAR
MUMBAI, JUNE 3
PARTS OF the Raigad district, in
the path of the severe cyclonic
storm Nisarga that made land-
fall near Shrivardhan on
Wednesday, remained without
cellular connectivity and power
even after the cyclone moved
northeast.
‘Nisarga’, categorised a se-
vere cyclonic storm by the India
Meteorological Department,
made landfall in the Raigad dis-
trict around 12.30 pm, with
talukas of Murud and
Shrivardhan – both popular
tourist destinations – being
worst hit, among others.
With wind speeds of 100-
110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph,
the severe cyclonic storm,
which had been forming over
the Arabian Sea for 124 hours,
caused large-scale destruction
in parts of Raigad, uprooting
trees, blowing off rooftops and
yanking electric poles.
However, early warnings
helped the district administra-
homes blocked by large trees. At
the fishing village, 20 members
of Milind Bhagat's joint family,
whohadsoughtshelterwithrel-
ativesinthetown,returnedinthe
evening only to find the roof of
theirhouseblownawayanddeep
cracks in the brick columns.
“If our house was made of re-
inforced cement concrete, it
wouldhavewithstoodthewinds.
But now the walls shake even
when we touch them,” said
Milind, whose father and uncles
had built the house 15 years ago.
Havingsurveyedthedamage
andfoundalltheirpossessionsei-
ther smashed to bits or wet be-
yond repair, the family has de-
cided it is not safe to live there
anymore. “There is no telling
when the whole thing will come
crashing down,” Milind said.
Lessthanhalfthevillage’sres-
idents have returned, with some
still choosing to remain in safer
locations.“Thosewhocameback
earlier said that roofs from other
homesinourlaneflewalltheway
to the neighbouring fishing vil-
lage,” Milind added.
Afewhomesdownhishouse,
30-year-old Sona Chavan has re-
turnedtoherdarkhomewithher
five children. Her husband, a
driver, is stuck in Panvel due to a
blocked road. “The metal sheets
ontheroof arelooseandflapping
in the wind. The noise is scaring
the children,” she said.
Sonawasabletofeedherchil-
dren at the temporary cyclone
shelteronTuesdaybutisnowout
of ration for dinner.
Pravin Bhagat, whose one-
storey home is surrounded by
toweringcoconuttreesandliesat
themouthofalaneleadingtothe
Koliwada, said that he had never
experienced such winds before.
"Watching those coconut trees
swaying dangerously made me
really nervous.
Across town, the
A man runs for cover as tropical cyclone Nisarga sweeps Fishermen Colony at Alibag village
on Wednesday. Narendra Vaskar
tions move nearly 15,000 peo-
ple across the coastal district to
safety, a day ahead of its
landfall.
Maharashtra State Electricity
Board disconnected the town's
power supply at 10 am. With
fallingtreesalsotakingelectricity
cableswiththem,residentshave
beentoldnottoexpectsupplyto
resume until Thursday. The po-
lice and municipal council had
also warned residents to stay in-
doors, a call, said Dhole, that the
people heeded.
At the beach, visibility grad-
ually reduced as the cyclone
made landfall in the afternoon.
The famous Kolaba Fort, which
local residents and visitors can
walk to when the tide is low, dis-
appeared from view. Food stalls
and a giant wheel that had been
lying empty since the lockdown
began, were also badly damaged
by the winds. The owner of the
stalls and amusements, who
stay in the Koliwada and are
watched the profitable summer
tourist season from their home,
were safe.
It was also a day of close
shaves. Electrician Deepak Raut
andhisfamily were saved after a
tree behind their home missed
them by inches. “The tree was
huge. It would have been
crushed flat,” he said, crediting
the Jama Masjid across the road
from his home, in Alibag's
Bazarpeth area, for the escape.
Once the cyclone blew over
though, residents poured out on
foot and bikes to take pictures
and videos of their damaged
townandpickupfallencoconuts
and mangoes by the dozen.
The town emerged un-
scathed, said Pravin, because
peoplehadnotignoredwarnings
from the police and municipal
council. Gesturing at a large
banyan tree lying uprooted out-
sidehisporch,headded,"Thecy-
clone caused so much damage
while passing by. Imagine what
would have happened if we had
felt its full force."
District Collector Nidhi
Chaudhari confirmed the cy-
clone claimed two lives in
Raigad. Dashrath Waghmare
Several short circuits, nine wall collapse
cases but Mumbai escapes Nisarga fury
Department (IMD) had Tuesday
SANJANA BHALERAO sounded a red alert in Mumbai,
MUMBAI, JUNE 3 Thane, and Palghar as the cy-
clonic storm, the first to hit the
SEVERE CYCLONIC storm west coast in June in over 70
Nisarga spared the country's fi- years, was set to make landfall
nancial capital Mumbai, already in Raigad district with wind
grappling with the coronavirus speeds of 120 kmph
crisis, as it skirted further north- Wednesday. The IMD had pre-
east of Alibag after the landfall dicted extremely heavy rain at
on Wednesday afternoon. isolated places.
While there were no major On Wednesday, the maxi-
loss to life and property, strong mum wind speed recorded at
and gusty winds uprooted sev- landfall -- around 12.30 pm -- by
eral trees across the city, mostly the Colaba observatory was
in D N Road Fort, Colaba, King 49.95 kmph and the Santacruz
Circle, and Mulund, civic offi- observatory at 22.2 kmph.
cials said. The Brihanmumbai Between 8.30 am and 5.30 pm,
Municipal Corporation (BMC) the Colaba observatory
received 39 tree-fall complaints recorded 46.7 mm rainfall,
from the city, 40 from its east- while its Santacruz counterpart
ern suburbs, and 38 from the recorded 22.8 mm rain. While
western. At least nine com- de-watering pumps were also
plaints of wall collapse and 20 arranged at more than 300 po-
short-circuit incidents were tential waterlogging sites, but no
also reported. such complaints were reported
The India Meteorological during the day.
A rain-soaked CSMT in Mumbai on Wednesday. Nirmal Harindran
shop, while Amar Javlekar (17)
died in a wall collapse in
Shrivardhan.
Raigad Guardian Minister
and Minister of State for
Tourism Aditi Tatkare said that
efforts were on to restore road
connectivity in the district after
the cyclone had led to obstruc-
tions owing to tree falls.
On Wednesday evening,
Tatkare said, about 70 per cent
of the work of clearing the roads
had been completed and the
rest would be done later at
night. “We are trying to get at
least one main road connecting
each taluka cleared tonight to
restore road connectivity.”
Tatkare added, “The main
power grid in Alibag has en-
countered some problems and
that should be resolved by to-
morrow morning. In some ar-
eas, power has been discon-
nected as a precautionary
measure.”
The NCP MLA from
(68) of Umate village in Alibag Shrivardhan, Tatkare, said
died after an electric pole col- Shrivardhan and Murud re-
lapsed on him when he had mained without cellular con-
stepped out to check on his nectivity through the evening
Maharashtra
People being evacuated from Darukhana in Mumbai as Cyclone Nisarga sets in on
Wednesday; (left) trees uprooted at Alibag. Nirmal Harindran & Narendra Vaskar
The civic corporation, which
had set up temporary shelters at
35 schools, shifted over 40,000
people living near the coast
were shifted to safer places be-
fore the cyclone hit. A statement
issued by the BMC said, "The
BMC shifted 10,840 people from
near the sea coast and landslide-
prone locations to 35 municipal
schools where temporary ac-
commodation facilities have
been set up. They were provided
with food and water." Following
an appeal by the BMC, around
30,000 people had also moved
to these temporary accommo-
dations on their own, it added.
The evacuees were also
checked for fever and oxygen
levels, and those found with sus-
pected Covid-19-like symptoms
were later shifted to Covid Care
Centre, the statement said.
Eight units of National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF)
and five units of Navy were de-
making communication further
difficult. “There are network is-
sues that may take another day
to be resolved. Since the rain has
not abated, it is difficult to find
out where the fibre cables have
been hit.”
While the extent of damage
the cyclone left behind was yet
to be measured, early estimates
suggested that over 1,800 struc-
tures may have been damaged
in Raigad. A detailed assess-
ment of destroyed hutments,
pucca structures, and agricul-
tural crops will be carried out
over the next few days.
Damodar Tandel, president
of the Akhil Maharashtra
Machchimar Kriti Samiti, said,
“We are grateful to the district
administration for relocating
families of fishermen living near
the coast in time to avoid any
untoward incident. Many fish-
erman families have, however,
lost their dry fish stock because
of the cyclone. Such families and
those whose homes may have
been destroyed should be ex-
tended financial assistance by
the government.”
ployed at various locations in
the city in the wake of the cy-
clone. One NDRF team each was
stationed at Colaba (Ward A),
Worli (G-South), Bandra (H-
East), Malad (P-South) & Borivali
(R-North) and three teams at
Andheri (K-West).
Ninety-three lifeguards (in
two shifts) also guarded the six
city beaches - Girgaum, Dadar,
Juhu, Aksa, Versova, and Gorai.
Around 150 flood-rescue mem-
bers of the Mumbai fire brigade
were stationed across 10 fire sta-
tions. No drowning incidents
were reported from the city.
Earlier, Municipal
Commissioner Iqbal Singh
Chahal also visited shelter
homes at Worli and Juhu,
pumping station at Irla and
Versova, and the Juhu beach to
take stock of the preparations.
At Byculla zoo, animals had
been shifted into their holding
areas. A 20-strong zoo emer-
2 dead, three injured in
Pune district; 140 houses
partially damaged
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PUNE, JUNE 3
WHILE THE impact of Cyclone
Nisarga was lesser than antici-
pated,withPunecityandruralar-
eas experiencing moderate rain-
fallandstrongwinds,twodeaths,
several injuries and partial dam-
age to nearly 140 households
acrossPunedistrictwerereported
on Wednesday.
A65-year-oldwoman,identi-
fiedasManjabaiNavale,diedand
threemembersofherfamilywere
injured in Vahagaon village in
Khedtehsil,afterawallandapor-
tion of the roof of their house
caved in. In another incident,
Prakash Mokar (52), of
Mokarwadi in Haveli tehsil, died
after he was critically injured
while trying to hold on to tin
sheetsonhisroof,whichwerebe-
ing blown away due to strong
winds. Three cattle deaths were
Close to 500 boats were docked along the coast at a village in
Dahanu in Palghar district. Deepak Joshi
HCallowsMVKarnikatomovetosafewaters
Mumbai: The Bombay High
Court permitted Tuesday cruise
ship MV Karnika, currently an-
chored at the Mumbai Port after
it was placed under arrest on
March 17, to move to safer wa-
ters beyond the Port Authority’s
territory in the wake of Cyclone
Nisarga. The 14-deck passenger
cruise ship was placed under ar-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
gency response team were also
deputed to tackle any unto-
ward incidences.
The IMD, meanwhile, has
predicted a clearer sky and with
a possibility of light to moderate
raininMumbaionThursdayand
lowered the alert to 'green' level.
Mumbai police spokesper-
son DCP Pranaya Ashok said the
ongoing lockdown had ensured
people stayed indoors and did
not put themselves at risk dur-
ing the cyclone. "We had also is-
sued a prohibitory order under
section 144 of the Criminal
Procedure Code. The order was
followed and our staff hardly
found anyone near the sea," he
said. The city police control
room that normally receives
around 5,000 calls daily, had re-
ceived around 2,500 calls till 6
pm on Wednesday. "Of these
merely 200 were enquiries re-
garding the cyclone," Ashok
added.
alsoreportedinruralareas.Gusty
winds, which were not as devas-
tatingly strong as anticipated, led
touprootingofmanytreesinrural
areas.Asmanyas105housesand
36shantiesinvariouspartsofthe
district,mainlyMavalandMulshi,
were damaged partially.
AyushPrasad,chief executive
officerof PuneZillaParishad,said
authorities had started prepara-
tions soon after the IMD an-
nouncedthatalow-pressurearea
had formed in the Arabian Sea
and it may lead to a cyclone in
westernpartsofMaharashtraand
Gujarat. “We identified all the
risky zones. These were areas
neartheKonkanbeltandinBhor,
Mulshi,MavalandMalshejghats.
Another concern was landslide-
prone villages, which were
alerted and residents were
moved to safer structures. The
third concern was weaker struc-
tures. They were identified in
each area," said Prasad.
restfollowinga financial dispute
between its owners with the
claims to the tune of Rs 30 crore.
A single-judge bench of Justice
Anil K Menon heard the urgent
plea by the ship owners which
was supported by the Mumbai
Port Trust as the vessel posed a
serious threat to several others
in the port. ENS
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

5 MAHARASHTRA
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020

State records MUMBAI AIRPORT

CYCLONE NISARGA
Chaos as authorities attempt
122 deaths, toll after FedEx flight veers off runway
Operations suspended for four hrs last minute evacuation

climbs to 2,587
whatever valuables we owned
IRAM SIDDIQUE and will park the tempo under
MUMBAI, JUNE 3 the eastern freeway,” said
Kirkere.
the airport website as well as flights operating out of Mumbai readastatementfromtheairport. THE LAST minute evacuation of Even as strong winds blew
ABHA GORADIA on airlines’ websites caused airportonWednesday.Returning families residing in shanties the fickle tin roofs of their
Five special trains

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI JUNE 3
WITH 122 deaths due to Covid-
19 on Wednesday, highest
recorded in the state so far, the
tollnowstandsat2,587.Anaddi-
tion of 2,560 new cases took the
total number of positive cases to
74,860. Mumbai, with 1,276
fresh cases, touched a total of
43,492 positive cases. There are
39,935 active Covid-19 cases in
the state, of which 24,597 are
from Mumbai alone.
Out of the 122 deaths re-
ported on the day, 49 took place
in Mumbai, 19 in Pune, 16 in
Aurangabad MC, 10 in Solapur,
four in Dhule, three each
in Ulhasnagar and Navi
Mumbai, two each in Thane,
Jalgaon, Kolhapur and Akola,
one each in Ahmednagar,
Nandurbar, Mira-Bhayandar,
Vasai-Virar, Bhivandi, Jalna and
Osmanabad. Three patients
who died were from outside
the state, including one each
from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
West Bengal.
Of the total deaths reported
on Wednesday, 57 took place in
thelasttwodaysandtherestbe-
tween April 30 and May 31. Of
the 65 deaths in this period, 30
were recorded in Mumbai, 10
in Solapur, six in Aurangabad,
three each in Navi Mumbai and
Dhule, two each in Jalgaon,
KolhapurandThane,oneeachin
Ahmednagar, Akola, Nandurbar,
Pune, Ulhasnagar and Vasai-
Virar, and one of a resident of
Uttar Pradesh.
Stepped forward to bury
74,860
TOTALPOSITIVECASES
INMAHARASHTRA
Number of deaths 2,587
Total number of people
discharged 32,329
Number of people tested
4.92 lakh
Total number quarantined
33,674
Number of new cases 2,560
Out of the 122 patients who
died, 71 were men and 51
women. As many as 69 of them
were aged above 60, 46 were
from the age group 40 to 59
years and seven were aged be-
low 40. Of them,88 (72 percent)
had high-risk co-morbidities
such as diabetes, hypertension
and heart disease.
There are a total of 82 labo-
ratories functional in the state
for Covid-19 diagnosis — 46 are
government-run while 36 are
private. Out of 4,97,276 lab
samples, 74,860 have tested
positive to date.
The rate of increase in the
number of positive cases in the
state has reduced in the period
between May 1 and June 1. On
June 1, the rate of increase stood
at 4.15 per cent as compared to
7.76 per cent on May 1. The dou-
bling rate has also increased
from 9.27 days to 17.35 days.
MUMBAI, JUNE 3
OPERATIONS AT Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj International
Airport(CSMIA)weresuspended
for nearly four hours Wednesday
afteracargoaircraftveeredoffthe
runwayinthewakeof heavyrain
triggered by Cyclone Nisarga.
FedEx flight 5033, arriving
from Bengaluru, landed on run-
way14/32.Theaircraftwastowed
away from the runway and there
wasnodisruptioninflightopera-
tions,saidairportofficials.“Incon-
sultation with AAI (Airports
Authority of India), considering
strongcrosswinds,ithasbeende-
cided that no arrivals and depar-
tures will take place between
1430 and 1900 hours,” read a
statement from the airport.
Officialssaidoperationsresumed
around 6.30 pm.
GVK MIAL managing CSMIA
saw20scheduledflights—12de-
partures and eight arrivals on
Wednesday. Flights were sched-
uledtobeoperatedbyfiveairlines,
including Air Asia India, Air India,
IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet.
Lack of real-time updates on
confusion among passengers.
Commute to the airport be-
came difficult due to shortage
of public transport and poor
weather conditions.
Air India flight for
Ahmedabad,scheduledtodepart
at6am,wasdelayedtill7pm.On
Tuesday, IndiGo announced can-
cellation of 17 flights to and from
Mumbai, which were to fly on
Wednesday.Onlythreedeparting
flights were operated: 6E 495
Mumbai-Chandigarh, 6E 6179
Mumbai-Ranchi and 6E 5373
Mumbai-Patna. All these flights
flew in the morning and reached
their destinations.
Accordingtoflightstatusonits
websites,AirAsiaflewpassengers
to Kochi through its only sched-
uledflight.SpiceJetwasoriginally
scheduled to operate six arriving
and six departing flights on
Wednesday as per the schedule,
butthreedeparturesandfourar-
rivals were carried out. While all
three GoAir flights departed as
perschedule,flightsarrivingfrom
Lucknow and Varanasi had to be
delayed due to airport closure.
Vistara had cancelled all
flightsBombay-Kolkata-Bombay abuttingtheEasternWaterFront shanties, no aid had reached the
and Delhi-Bombay-Delhi were rescheduled atDarukhanaonWednesdayled residentsof Lakdabunder.Aruna
also cancelled. to chaos, as authorities antici- Yadav, a resident, alleged that
Inastatement,CSMIAhadan- Apart from five special trains pated that the cyclone will hit they were assured that a bus is
nounced that food and beverage on Central Railway (CR), which Mumbai’s coastline.Three Sewri beingsenttotakethemtoashel-
counterswillbeoperational24x7. were rescheduled, rail and road police teams were deployed to ter butnothingwasin sighteven
These counters will continue to
operate under safety measures
transport remained unaffected
duetothecyclone.Thefivetrains
evacuate 150 families staying in
Powder bunder, Kolsa bunder
as thewaves from the sealashed
their huts. A few families left
adopted against Covid-19. scheduled during the day were and Darga lane. A few of the res- their homes to move to nearby
Special precautions were rescheduled at 8 pm but finally idents got into the single BEST godowns.In the adjacent lanes
taken for smaller and lighter air- departed at 8.30 pm after tracks busthatwaspushedtoferryres- that lay between Lakda bunder
crafts, typically used for general were declared fit for movement. idents from Powder bunder to a and Powder bunder, it was
aviation (GA), as they are vulner- Thereweresomeinstancesof school at Dockyard Road while hunger that made several stand
abletostrongwinds.SomeGAair- damagetooverheadwiresdueto othersstrappedtheirbelongings in long queues amid heavy rain.
crafts have been flown out of high winds, but the rain did not on cycles and bikes as they were “We have been waiting since 12
Mumbai until the cyclone passes have a major impact on the ghat rushed out. Rohit Ashok Kirkere pm here but the food truck his
while others have been asked to section of the CR. “Despite no put his family along with his late,” said Shafeek Ahmed, who
parkinsidethehangar;theairport major damage, trains will re- neighboursinatempo,whichhe put his footwear to mark his
has ensured that minimum air- sumeafterthoroughinspection,” drives while working for a laun- placeinthequeueandtookshel-
crafts are parked on the apron,” said an official from the CR. dry service. “We have taken ter under a shop nearby.
WESTERN RAILWAY TO RUN 82 MORE TRIPS OF 5 TIME TABLED PARCEL SPECIAL
TRAINS TO ENSURE ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES BETWEEN BANDRA TERMINUS
– OKHA, BANDRA TERMINUS – LUDHIANA, OKHA – GUWAHATI, PORBANDAR –
SHALIMAR & DEWAS – JAMMU TAWI DURING CORONA LOCKDOWN
To fulfill the commitment towards the nation and PORBANDAR - SHALIMAR - 16
Trips
the people, Western Railway is leaving no stone PORBANDAR
unturned to ensure that essential commodities (A) TRAIN NO. 00913 (PORBANDAR-SHALIMAR) Days
are made available across the nation during the of operation: From PORBANDAR:- 04-06-20, 07-06-20,
10-06-20, 13-06-20, 16-06-20, 19-06-20, 22-06-20, 25-06-20 &
lockdown. In continuation to this, the details 28-06-20. (B) TRAIN NO.00914 (SHALIMAR-PORBANDAR)
of 82 more trips of 5 time tabled parcel special From SHALIMAR:- 06-06-20, 10-06-20, 14-06-20, 18-06-20,
trains are as under:- 22-06-20, 26-06-20 & 30-06-20.
Train No 00913 Train No 00914
BANDRA TERMINUS - OKHA - 26 STATIONS
Arrival Departure
Trips Arrival Departure
BANDRA TERMINUS
----- 08.00 PORBANDAR 18.25 -----
(A) TRAIN NO. 00921 (BANDRA TERMINUS-OKHA) 10.25 10.35 JAMNAGAR 15.30 15.40
Days of operation from BANDRA TERMINUS:- 04-06-20, 12.10 12.20 RAJKOT 13.30 13.40
06-06-20, 08-06-20, 10-06-20, 12-06-20, 14-06-20, SURENDRA
16-06-20, 18-06-20, 20-06-20, 22-06-20, 24-06-20, 26-06-20 & 14.10 14.20
NAGAR
11.25 11.35
28-06-20. (B) TRAIN NO. 00922 (OKHA-BANDRA
16.30 16.50 AHMEDABAD 09.00 09.20
TERMINUS) Days of operation from OKHA:- 04-06-20,
18.10 18.25 ANAND 07.30 07.40
06-06-20, 08-06-20, 10-06-20, 12-06-20, 14-06-20, 16-06-20,
18-06-20, 20 06-20, 22-06-20, 24-06-20,26-06-20 & 28-06-20.
Train No 00921 Train No 00922
19.10
21.20
19.20
21.30
VADODARA
SURAT
06.35
04.25
06.45
04.35

Covid patients to help STATIONS 23.30 23.35 NANDURBAR 01.50 01.55

Arrival Departure Arrival Departure 2.40 02.50 BHUSAVAL 22.30 22.40
BANDRA 4.50 05.00 AKOLA 20.15 20.25
govt, say PFI volunteers
----- 21.30 05.55 -----
TERMINUS 6.40 06.50 BADNERA 19.00 19.10
0.05 00.15 VAPI 03.15 03.25 9.50 10.00 NAGPUR 16.00 16.10
0.35 00.40 VALSAD 02.50 02.55 13.40 13.50 DURG 12.00 12.10
had trained 50 PFI volunteers — 14.20 14.30 RAIPUR 11.00 11.10
1.25 01.35 SURAT 01.55 02.05
TABASSUM managers, businessmen and
16.10 16.20 BILASPUR 09.20 09.30
BARNAGARWALA somefromtheITsector—inbur- 2.15 02.20 ANKLESHWAR 01.10 01.15
JHARSUGUDA
MUMBAI, JUNE 3 ial and cremation protocol, pro- 2.30 02.35 BHARUCH 00.55 01.00 19.20 19.30 06.20 06.30
JN
vided them personal protective 3.25 03.35 VADODARA 23.55 00.05
WHEN RAZI Khan, who runs a equipment and an ambulance. 20.45 20.55 ROURKELA 04.50 05.00
4.10 04.20 ANAND 23.10 23.20
construction business in Pune, Volunteers in Parbhani and 22.20 22.30 CHAKARADHARPUR 03.20 03.30
5.10 05.30 AHMEDABAD 22.00 22.20 23.20 23.30
TATA NAGAR 02.20 02.30
decided to bury an elderly Nanded also began aiding in cre-
woman who succumbed to mation and burials. Across the 6.20 06.25 VIRAMGAM 21.05 21.10 KHARAGPUR
1.20 01.30 00.30 00.40
Covid-19inApril,hedidnotknow state, 200 bodies have been 9.30 09.50 RAJKOT 17.40 18.00 JN
he would be burying four to five buried by them, officials said. 11.20 11.30 JAMNAGAR 16.00 16.10 3.30 ----- SHALIMAR ----- 22.50
bodies a day. Kashif Shaikh (35), a data ar- 14.00 ----- OKHA ----- 13.30 MINIMUM LOAD OF RAKE WOULD BE 5 VPs + 1 SLR.
The two family members of chitect in a IT company, said his
the woman were under home parents were sceptical when he MINIMUM LOAD OF RAKE WOULD BE 2 VPs + 1 SLR. 12
OKHA - GUWAHATI - OKHA Trips
quarantineandtherewasnoone once announced he intended to BANDRA TERMINUS - LUDHIANA - 26
to perform her final rites — a facilitate in the final rites of a (A) TRAIN NO. 00949 (OKHA-GUWAHATI) Days of
Trips
problem that most relatives of Covid-19 deceased. “We used to
BANDRA TERMINUS
operation: From OKHA:- 04-06-20, 09-06-20, 14-06-20,
thosewhodieduetoCovid-19are perform final rites while fasting, (A) Train No: 00901 (BANDRA TERMINUS-LUDHIANA) 19-06-20, 24-06-20 & 29-06-20. (B) TRAIN NO. 00950
encountering. itwasRamzan.Onsomedays,we Days of operation From BANDRA TERMINUS:- 04-06-20, (GUWAHATI-OKHA) From GUWAHATI:- 07-06-20, 12-06-20,
Khan and a few volunteers of ate a date in the crematorium to 06-06-20, 08-06-20, 10-06-20, 12-06-20, 14-06-20, 16-06-20, 17-06-20, 22-06-20, 27-06-20 & 02-07-20.
PopularFrontofIndia(PFI)buried break our fast,” he added. 18-06-20, 20-06-20, 22-06-20, 24-06-20, 26-06-20 & 28-06-
20; (B) Train No: 00902 (LUDHIANA-BANDRA TERMINUS) Train No 00949 Train No 00950
herinagraveyardatShivajiNagar. Hehasburiedpeoplefromall STATIONS
Within a few days, Pune religions.“Thefamilieswouldfeel Days of operation From LUDHIANA:- 06-06-20, 08-06-20, Arrival Departure Arrival Departure
Municipal Corporation (PMC), in indebted for what we did. Most 10-06-20, 12-06-20, 14-06-20, 16-06-20, 18-06-20, 20-06-20, ----- 07.15 OKHA 01.10 -----
which the BJP is in a majority, is- were helpless sitting at home or 22-06-20, 24-06-20, 26-06-20, 28-06-20 & 30-06-20 09.50 10.00 JAMNAGAR 22.25 22.35
sued a letter to PFI to help bury in an institution. Our work is not Train No 00901 Train No 00902 11.30 11.40 RAJKOT 20.45 20.55
bodies.ItcostthePMCnomoney, foronecommunity,”Shaikhsaid. STATIONS SURENDRA
Arrival Departure Arrival Departure 13.40 13.50 18.35 18.45
asPFIvolunteersweredoingitas On one occasion, he spent six NAGAR
a free service. hours in a cemetery waiting to BANDRA
----- 20.00 06.30 ----- 16.00 16.20 AHMEDABAD 16.05 16.25
Two months on, on Tuesday, bury a body, as he wore an un- TERMINUS
17.10 17.20 ANAND 15.05 15.15
the PMC cancelled its arrange- comfortable PPE. 22.30 22.45 VAPI 03.45 04.00 17.55 18.05 CHHAYAPURI 14.20 14.30
ment with PFI — hours after BJP While they follow all precau- 23.50 00.05 SURAT 02.25 02.40 22.20 22.30 RATLAM 10.20 10.30
leader and former chief minister tions, their only apprehension is 00.50 00.55 ANKLESHWAR 01.35 01.40 02.50 03.10 KOTA 05.40 6.00
Devendra Fadnavis questioned the risk they might be exposing
01.05 01.10 BHARUCH 01.20 01.25 SAWAI
the tie-up between the their families to. 04.30 04.40 04.10 4.20
02.05 02.20 VADODARA 00.10 00.25 MADHOPUR
Brihanmumbai Municipal In May, PFI volunteers in
Corporation (BMC) and PFI for Mumbai decided to approach 03.00 03.15 ANAND 23.15 23.30 06.50 07.00 BAYANA 01.50 2.00
burials. He said the PFI was an BMC to offer help after realising 04.10 04.40 AHMEDABAD 21.50 22.20 08.30 08.50 AGRA FORT 23.50 0.20
“anti-national”groupandalleged that several bodies were being 09.30 09.40 TUNDLA 23.00 23.10
05.50 06.00 MAHESANA 20.30 20.40
that it had played a role in crematedinsteadofbeingburied. 12.40 12.55 KANPUR 19.45 20.00
09.40 09.50 FALNA 16.40 16.50
the Delhi riots earlier this year. Bodies were also piling up in 14.05 14.20 LUCKNOW 18.20 18.35
AsFadnavis’tweetwentviral, morgues due to shortage of civic 12.10 12.20 BEAWAR (BER) 13.55 14.10 19.20 19.50 VARANASI 12.50 13.20
PMC officials informed PFI that stafftodisposethem.Mumbaihas 13.15 13.30 AJMER 13.00 13.15 PT DEEN DAYAL
they had been asked to cancel recorded1,368deathstillTuesday. 20.10 20.20 12.20 12.30
15.40 15.55 JAIPUR 10.35 10.50 UPADHYAYA JN
their agreement. However, PFI BMC Additional Municipal 20.50 21.20 DELHI 05.10 05.40 23.20 00.10 PATNA JN 08.50 9.20
volunteers went on to bury two Commissioner Suresh Kakani MUZAFFARPUR
more bodies on Tuesday, as BJP saidadecisiontoallowPFIvolun- 00.50 01.20 AMBALA 01.10 01.40 01.40 02.10 06.50 7.20
JN
corporatorsinPunesuddenlyre- teerstoburyCovid-19bodieswas 03.00 ----- LUDHIANA ----- 23.30
6.40
KATIHAR 06.5002.10 2.20
alised that they were not in step takenonMay18,asthegroupvol- MINIMUM LOAD OF RAKE WOULD BE 5 VPs + 1 SLR.
NEW
with what Fadnavis was saying. unteered and civic staff needed 13.50 14.00 19.00 19.10
BONGAIGAON
PFI volunteers in Pune have more hands on the job. “They 2
DEWAS – JAMMU TAWI – DEWAS Trips 16.00 16.30 CHANGSARI 16.30 17.00
buried a total of 107 bodies till wanted to do a good deed, and
now. The last body they lowered our staff is overburdened. They 17.00 ----- GUWAHATI ----- 16.00
(A) Train No: 00931 (DEWAS-JAMMU TAWI) Days of MINIMUM LOAD OF RAKE WOULD BE 5 VPs + 1 SLR.
into a grave was that of Jameel had helped in other cities, so we
operation From DEWAS:- 03-06-20; (B) Train No: 00932
Asif in Rehmat Baug cemetery at decided to take them on board,”
(JAMMU TAWI-DEWAS) Days of operation From JAMMU Note:
1.30 am on Wednesday. he added. 1) Parcel has to be Loaded / Unloaded within allowed
TAWI:- 05-06-20;
“It is sad that a pandemic has Choudhary said they are yet halt.
become a political issue. We saw tobeapproachedbyanyMumbai Train No 00931 Train No 00932
STATIONS 2) No passenger is permitted to travel by these trains.
that people were scared to touch hospital to conduct final rites. Arrival Departure Arrival Departure 3) The Trains will be escorted by security officials.
bodies, so we wrote to PMC in “Withthisbecomingapoliticalis- ----- 20.00 DEWAS 21.30 -----
April to offer help. We only did suenow,wearenotsureifwewill For any assistance in booking parcel on
22.00 22.25 NAGDA 19.05 19.25
this to help in a pandemic... Too be allowed to help,” he added. Western Railway please contact on 24x7
many people were dying and we In Nanded, Aamer Khan has SAWAI
03.00 03.20 14.20 14.40
just wanted to help,” Khan said. helped bury one Covid-19 de- MADHOPUR Helpline Mobile No:. +91 9004490982
In Mumbai, civic officials are ceased. There are 25 volunteers 05.30 07.30 JAIPUR 12.00 12.10 Email: cmicccg@gmail.com
yet to take a call on whether to in the district. “Here, the rela- 12.30 14.30 NEW DELHI 07.40 08.00
backdowninthefaceofFadnavis’ tives are not stepping forward 18.00 20.00 CHANDIGARH 02.00 02.10
attack or continue with the for burial. Even the civic staff is
arrangement. PFI, in fact, had scared. We took up this job be- 02.00 ----- JAMMU TAWI ----- 20.00
agreed to perform final rites of cause these people deserve a MAXIMUM LOAD OF RAKE WOULD BE 5 TVs + 2 SLR.
people of all faiths. PMC in April farewell,” he said.

6 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
ELECTRICITY (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2020
Raut urges Centre
to roll back proposed
Bill, says it undermines
federal structure
with the provisions in the EA Act.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE Through the reforms, Raut
MUMBAI,JUNE3 claimed, the Centre was trying to
take control of the state energy
MAHARASHTRA ENERGY sector and open doors for private
Minister Nitin Raut on players, which was detrimental
Wednesday asked the Centre to forthepeople.“…thecentralgov-
withdrawitsproposedElectricity ernment, with an intention to
(Amendment)Bill,2020,sayingit centralise the power in its hand,
“clearly violates” the constitu- proposedtheamendmentwhich
tional mandate and undermines makes states weaker in the mat-
its federal structure. tersrelatedtothepowersectoras
Expressing his reservations the subject is now in the concur-
over the proposed amendments rentlistandprovidesequaloppor-
in the EA Act 2003, the Congress tunitiestobothCentreandstate,”
leadersaid,“TheCentreintendsto Raut said.
override and dominate the state The Seventh Schedule of the
government’sresponsibilityinthe ConstitutionofIndiaprovidesthe
administration of power genera- powers to both central and state
tion, transmission and distribu- governments to make appropri-
tion of electricity." atelawsonthemattersrelatedto
On April 17, the Centre had electricity.
proposed a draft Electricity Raut said the Centre was try-
(Amendment)Bill,2020thatrec- ingtoprivatisedistribution,trans-
ommended establishment of an mission and generation.
Electricity Contract Enforcement Maintaining that the intent
Authority,adequatesecuritypay- should be towards decentraliza-
ment mechanism, doing away tion of power for transparency
with multiple selection commit- andefficiency,hesaidtheexisting
tees for selection of commission provisionsempoweringstategov-
chairman and members, making ernmentsaswellasstatecommis-
amandatoryminimumpurchase siontotakeappropriatedecisions/
ofpowerfromrenewablesources make rules and regulations after
of energy. It also made penalty considering the state-specific is-
stringent for non-compliance sues need to be continued.
CBI court set to record
statements of accused in
Babri Masjid demolition case
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
Sakshi Maharaj.
After completion of exami-
LUCKNOW, JUNE 3
THE SPECIAL CBI court hearing
nation of prosecution wit-
nesses, the court has fixed
Thursday to record the state-
the Babri Masjid demolition
case is likely to start recording
ments of all the accused under
Section 313 of CrPC.
statements of the accused on Under Section 313, a judge
Thursday. The accused include questionstheaccusedontheba-
senior BJP leaders L K Advani, sis of evidence put before the
Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Brij court during trial and the ac-
Bhushan Saran Singh and cused is given an opportunity to
explain the circumstances
and the allegations levelled
against him.
“Thecourtexaminedato-
tal of 354 prosecution wit-
nesses. The examination of
prosecution witnesses was
closedlastweekandasanext
procedure, the court ordered
for recording statements of
all 32 accused under section
313 CrPC,” said Special
Counsel, CBI, Lalit Kumar
Singh. Of the 49 accused
booked in the case, 17 have
died. Singh saidthat if theac-
cused denies the evidence
against them, the defence
would seek permission from
the court to call their wit-
nesses to depose.
E-TENDERING NOTICE
TENDER ID :403947
Director Civil Aviation, Government of Gujarat,
C/o Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Co. Ltd.
(GUJSAIL), A Government of Gujarat Undertaking,
GUJSAIL Complex, Nr. Torrent Sub-station,
SVPI Airport, Ahmedabad-380004, Ph.-079-2288 2000/ 2054
INVITES TENDER FOR THE MAINTENANCE
SERVICES OF SKA B200 AIRCRAFT, VT-GUJ, MSN:- BB1687.
Pre Bid Meeting Date:- 15/06/2020 Last Date of Submission:-
24/06/2020 Bid Opening Date:- 01/07/2020
Interested bidders/agencies can download the tender document and relevant
details from the website www.nprocure.com Director of Aviation
Central Coalfields Limited
A Miniratna Company
(A Subsidiary of Coal India Limited)
NOTICE
“All the tenders issued by CIL and its Subsidiaries for
procurement of Goods, Works and Services are available
on websites of Coal India Ltd. www.coalindia.in/respective
Subsidiary Company (CCL, www.centralcoalfields.in), CIL
e-procurement portal https://coalindiatenders.nic.in and
Central Public Procurement Portal https://eprocure.gov.in
in addition, procurement is also done through GeM portal
https://gem.gov.in’’
PROTECTIONISM FEARS
Costlier, India-made ACs: experts
red-flag a return to the 1970s
PVAIDYANATHANIYER
NEWDELHI,JUNE3
THAT THE BJP government may
turn increasingly protectionist
while invoking ‘Make in India’ is
besttoldthroughanexample,ap-
propriateforthesetimes,aircon-
ditioners (ACs).
Indeed,addressingtheCIIan-
nual session Tuesday, Prime
MinisterNarendraModicitedACs
as a priority sector, besides furni-
ture,leatherandfootwear,forthe
government’sMakeinIndiapush
to generate jobs.
India imports more than 30
percentof thedomesticdemand
for ACs. “We need to rapidly re-
duce this (imports),” he said.
The proposed route to this,
however, is unusual: an inverted
duty structure under which du-
ties on constituent components
are higher than that on the fin-
ished product and may end up
raising its cost.A draft plan on the
table of the Light Engineering
Industries Section in the
Department for Promotion of
Industry and Internal Trade
(DPIIT) proposes to increase the
basic Customs duty on nine key
ACcomponentsbyasmuchas50-
165 per cent.
Thiswhenlessthantwoyears
ago, on September 26, 2018, the
FinanceMinistryhadalreadydou-
bled the basic Customs duty on
ACsto20percent,givingintode-
mands of domestic AC manufac-
turers.Thishasraisedredflagsfor
a section in India Inc. “The new
proposal is a throwback to the
SC seeks Govt response on pleas
over denial of ILP to Assam
ANANTHAKRISHNAN G
& ABHISHEK SAHA
NEW DELHI, GUWAHATI, JUNE 3
DECLINING TO stay the opera-
tionof aPresidentialorderwhich
petitioners claimed deprived
Assam the powers to notify its
districts as“innerlineareas”and
limit the applicability of the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act,
the Supreme Court Wednesday
issued notice to the Centre and
said it will hear the matter again
after two weeks.
Representing petitioners All
Tai Ahom Students Union and
its assistant secretary Gojen
Gogoi, senior advocate Vikas
Singh told the bench of Chief
Justice of India S A Bobde and
Justices A S Bopanna and
Hrishikesh Roy that the
Adaptation of Laws
(Amendment) Order, 2019, is-
sued by the President to amend
the Bengal Eastern Frontier
Regulation, 1873, deserved
to be stayed.
The bench, however, said
it will also have to hear what
the other side (government)
has to say on the matter.
The petitioner said BEFR
empowered the state to bring
most districts in Assamunder
the inner line area – ILP is a
must if outsiders, including
people of other states, wish to
visit a state which has inner
line rules in place. It also pro-
vides protection to local resi-
dents when it comes to land,
jobs and other facilities.
The Indian EXPRESS
BUSINESS
POULTRY
VENCOBB Ex-Farm
Yesterday’s price in
Pune Rs. 125/-.
Suggested Retail Price
is Rs. 143/-
70701559
''IMPORTANT''
Whilst care is taken prior to
acceptance of advertising
copy, it is not possible to
verify its contents. The Indian
Express (P.) Limited cannot be
held responsible for such
contents, nor for any loss or
damage incurred as a result
of transactions
companies, associations or
with
individuals advertising in its
newspapers or Publications.
We therefore recommend
that readers make necessary
inquiries before sending any
monies or entering into any
agreements with advertisers
or otherwise acting on an
advertisement in any manner
whatsoever.
1970s… the dangerous protec-
tionist times,” said a well-re-
gardedCEOofanIndianmanufac-
turing company, who has three
bigfactoriesinwesternIndia,and
has seen the draft DPIIT notifica-
tion. “This is not promoting local
industry, it is promoting uncom-
petitiveness and may inflate the
cost as well,” the CEO said.
At the CII session urging India
Inctoproducegoodslocally,Modi
laudedIndiaIncformakinganin-
dustryoutofPPEs,withacapacity
of 3 lakh kits a day, in less than
three months.
This may be justified, said a
veteran industrialist who did not
wishtobenamed,butaddedthat
the government may be drawing
wrongtradelessonsfromthepan-
demic.
“Self-reliance or atma nirb-
hartaformedicalsuppliesisgood,
especiallyduringtimesofaCovid-
like pandemic when global sup-
ply chains are completely dis-
rupted. But this should not be
confused with Make in India for
ACs or refrigerators or furniture,”
said the industrialist.
According to the Department
of Commerce’s Export Import
Data Bank, India imported ACs
worth $1.2 billion in 2018-19,
whichislessthan0.25percentof
India’stotalimports.Inthefirst10
months 2019-20, value of AC im-
portsstoodat$789million.If im-
portsmeet30percentof domes-
tic demand, the total market size
is about $4 billion.
Thedraftplanproposesanin-
crease in basic Customs duty for
ninecomponentsthatgointothe
The petitioner said
BEFR empowered the
state to bring most
districts in Assam under
the inner line area
“Once these districts had
come under ‘the inner line’ area,
the Citizenship (Amendment)
Act, 2019 could not be imple-
mented to the extentof granting
citizenship to illegal immigrants
in Assam in view of Section 6B
(4) of the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 2019”, the
petition stated.
It contended that “the State
of Assam after declaring the in-
ner line could have restricted a
class of citizens from entering
into ‘the inner line’ areas of
Assam”.
It said that after notifying the
inner line area, anyone who is
notanativeof thatareacouldnot
have purchased any property
there without permission of the
authorities concerned.
The Bengal Eastern Frontier
Regulation, 1873, the petition
stated, could have been the an-
swertotackletheproblemsof il-
legal immigrants which Assam
and its citizens are facing today.
“First of all, none of the ille-
gal immigrants of Assam would
have got Citizenship under the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act,
2019.Further,evenif thoseillegal
immigrants would have moved
to other states to claim their cit-
INJURED ANIMAL FIRST SPOTTED 2 DAYS BEFORE SHE WAS FOUND STANDING IN RIVER
Kerala pregnant elephant could have eaten
explosives meant to kill boars, say officials
ANANTHAKRISHNAN G
AND VISHNU VARMA
NEW DELHI, KOCHI, JUNE 3
AS THE investigation into the
tragic death of a pregnant ele-
phant in Kerala continues, The
IndianExpresshaslearntthatfor-
est officials had first spotted the
injured animal on May 23 at a
forest border.
AcaseunderTheWildlifeAct
has been registered, and an in-
quiry is on, sources said.
The sources said that the ex-
act spot where the elephant was
injured, and who was responsi-
blefortheexplosionthatinjured
her mouth and led to her death,
are yet to be ascertained.
It has been alleged that the
making of air conditioners:
doubling the basic Customs
dutyonsixkeycomponents–PCB
controller, motor of the outdoor
or indoor unit, cross flow fan,
evaporator, metal parts used as
body of outdoor unit and plastic
partof indoor unitto20percent;
on the outdoor unit and indoor
unit of the AC to 30 per cent from
20percent;onservicevalvesfrom
7.5percentto20percent;andon
compressorfrom12.5percentto
20 per cent. This increase is to be
spread over five years.
What the proposal ignores is
the fact that over the last two
decades, consumers have bene-
fitedthemostfromliberalisation.
Today, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities
accountforaround50-55percent
of the AC market. A study by
Motilal Oswal said household
penetrationlevelsforACsinIndia,
seenasanaspirationalratherthan
aluxuryproduct,arestillunder10
percent,and,therefore,holdhuge
potential.
Over the last two years, entry
of foreign brands such as
Samsung, Daikin and Hitachi are
chipping away at the sales of do-
mestic producers such as Voltas,
which is the market leader with
an almost 25 per cent share.
Godrejisanotherdomesticplayer,
whichwantstoincreaseitsbrand
presence in this segment of
household appliances.
A section in Corporate India,
that benefits from protection
through import duties, however,
makes a strong case for govern-
ment intervention that will gen-
erate jobs in India.
izenship, they could have been
restrictedorcrosscheckedtoen-
ter into Assam and these class of
citizens could have been re-
stricted to own land in the state
of Assam. However, instead of
putting an end to the years of
problems which the state of
Assam is facing due to the huge
influx of illegal immigrants, the
central government and state
government, for their own
vested political interests, put the
state into a bigger problem in
most unconstitutional and ille-
gal manner,” it stated, calling the
2019 Presidential order violative
of the Constitution.
The Adaptation of Laws
(Amendment) Order, 2019 ex-
tended the ILP regime to
Manipur – it is the fourth state
after Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland and Mizoram where
the ILP regime is applicable.
The petitioners have pointed
out that Kamrup, Darrang,
Nowgong, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur
and Cachar in Assam were
moved from the purview of
BEFR just before the grant of as-
sent to CAA.
Palash Changmai, general
secretary of the Asom
Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra
Parishad (AJYCP) which is one of
the petitioners, said: “We had
petitioned the Supreme Court
againstthechangeintheBritish-
era law and the way it was done.
If we had the ILP, we would have
been exempted from CAA. But
they removed the districts of
Assam from the law through
their notification.”
It has been alleged that the
elephant was injured after it
was fed a pineapple stuffed
with explosives.
elephantwasinjuredafteritwas
fed a pineapple stuffed with
But many call for caution.
“Take the RCEP, for example.
The government finally suc-
cumbed to domestic industry
lobby,andbackedoutof thedeal.
Itiseasytofallintotheprotection-
ism trap while trying to be suc-
cessful with Make in India. You
enduplisteningtopeoplewhotell
youwhatyouwouldliketohear…
that India can become like
China…,”said a former
CommerceSecretary,whodidnot
wish to be named.
“It is easier politically to gain
approvalof peopleatlarge,when
it is about China… Domestic lob-
bies too always complain about
dumpingofcheapgoodsbyChina,
which is also not completely un-
true. But it is for a forward-look-
inggovernmentnottotakeknee-
jerk action. Increasing duties on
ACs and furniture do not suggest
any strategic thinking,” said a
tradeeconomist,whohasadvised
the government in the past.
“Theproblemisyoucannotbe
selectively protectionist… you
endupbeingprotectionist,ingen-
eral,” the economist said.
“The problem is you cannot
beselectivelyprotectionist…you
end up being protectionist, in
general,”theeconomistsaid.For
instance,about45percentof AC
importsareprobablyfromChina,
but then ACs are imported from
Thailand, Korea, Japan,
Singapore, UK, Germany and US
too, which together make up
about 50 per cent of AC imports.
So, India is erecting barriers to
trade not just with China, but
other countries as well.
Railways freight
earnings dip by
Rs Rs 8,283 crore
during lockdown
AVISHEK G DASTIDAR
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
HIT WITH the coronavirus out-
break and over two months of
lockdown, the Indian Railways
has so far suffered a freight earn-
ings shortfall of Rs 8,283 crore
when compared to this period
last year.
Barringfoodgrain,thenational
transportercarriedallcommodi-
tiesinitsfreightbasketmuchless
than it did during the correspon-
ding period last year.
Sources said passenger earn-
ingsshortfallsofar---ofApriland
May --- could hover around Rs
9,000 crore by May-end, with all
passengertrainssuspendedsince
late-March and with only some
truncated services running since
May 12, over and above the
Shramik Special trains.
ForrunningShramikSpecials,
the Railways has earned more
than Rs 300 crore so far, officials
said. But, they added, it has to be
squared up with expenses in-
curredonfoodandotherconsum-
ables provided in those trains.
For coronavirus-related ex-
penses, the Health Ministry has
given the Railways an allocation
of Rs 350 crore. However, the
transporterisgiventounderstand
from discussion with top offices
of the government that how
much the Railways spent, and is
continuingtospendonaccountof
the outbreak, will be calculated
separately.
explosives. On May 23, sources
said, forest officials had received
information about the presence
of an elephant near
Ambalappara at the border of
PottiyaraforestinMannarkaddi-
vision in the Western Ghats.
Upon reaching the spot, the
officials had seen the elephant
withthe injuredmouth. Theele-
phant had subsequently walked
off into the woods.
Two days later, on May 25,
the elephant was seen standing
in a river in the Theyyamkund
area, apparently to cool the
wound. A veterinary surgeon
who examined her, told officials
that she could not be tranquil-
lised and treated, as the injury
was serious.
The forest department had
Cops: Jaish IED
expert among 3
militants killed
in Pulwama
ADIL AKHZER
SRINAGAR, JUNE 3
ATOPJaish-e-Mohammed(JeM)
commanderandIEDexpert,who
had participated in the Afghan
war, was among three militants
killed in a gunfight with security
forces in South Kashmir’s
PulwamadistrictonWednesday,
police said.
Abdul Rehman alias “Fouji
Bhai” was behind the car bomb-
ing that was foiled in Pulwama
last week, the police said.
“Today's operation is the sec-
ond biggest success after the
killing of Riyaz Naikoo in May.
Fouji Bhai was an IED expert and
hiskillingisahugesetbacktoJeM.
This year we have targeted com-
mandersof terroroutfits.Wewill
continue the operations in the
same manner,” Vijay Kumar, IGP
Kashmir, told The Indian Express.
Police sources said that after
receiving inputs about the pres-
ence of militants in Kangan area
of Pulwama, security forces
planned the operation and a cor-
don and search operation was
launched in the area. The en-
counter began around 9.30 am.
Addressingapressconference
in Srinagar later, Kumar con-
firmed that three militants were
killed. “One of them is an active
terrorist from Pakistan whose
nameisAbdulRehmanaliasFouji
Baba or Bhai, who is a resident of
Multan Pakistan and had partici-
In a first, bid to reunite
strayed cub with
tigress through DNA
VIVEK DESHPANDE
NAGPUR, JUNE 3
IN A first-of-its-kind experiment
in the country, the Maharashtra
Forest Department is attempting
toreuniteastrayedtigercubwith
its mother by matching the DNA
of the tigress’sscatwith the cub’s
blood.
“Wereceivedthereportofthe
DNAmatchingfromtheCentrefor
Cellular and Molecular Biology
(CCMB), Hyderabad, recently. It
hasconfirmedthemother’siden-
tify as T2. We will be attempting
toreunitethecubwiththemother
after fine-tuning the final proce-
dure,” said Principal Chief
Conservator of Forest (Wildlife),
Nitin Kakodkar.
Thefemalecub,agedabout3-
4 months, was found hiding in a
ditchbyafarmerinChichpallifor-
estofChandrapurdistrictonApril
24. It was rescued by the Forest
Department team. An initial at-
tempt to reunite it with the
mother didn't succeed. Since
there was a presence of at least
two tigresses moving with their
cubsinthearea,itposedaserious
challengebeforetheauthoritiesto
reunite the cub with the mother.
So, it was decided to carry out
DNAmatchingusingscatsamples
concluded at the time that the
injury was at least a week old. It
subsequently decided to try to
move it out with the help of
‘kumki’ (trained) elephants, but
the injured elephantdied before
it could be pulled out.
The elephant’s tragic death
became more distressing after a
post mortem examination re-
vealed she was pregnant. And a
raging public debate ensued af-
ter Mohana Krishnan, a forest
department section officer who
was part of the Rapid Response
Team that attempted the rescue,
posted about the incident on
Facebook.
Officials maintained that
Krishnan had not said in his post
that the elephant had been de-
liberatelyfedapineapplestuffed
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
patedintheAfghanistanwar…he
isanIEDexpert,”saidKumar,who
was joined by senior CRPF and
Army officers.
The two other militants have
not been identified and the
process is on, Kumar said. “They
all will be buried in Baramulla
district.”
According to police, Fouji be-
came active in 2017 in Pulwama
andSouthKashmir.“In2019,there
was an encounter in which
Kamran was killed and he (Fouji)
managed to escape. On May 28,
the IED that we recovered and
neutralised had been made by
Fouji,andhehadplansforabigin-
cident,” said Kumar.
Asked how many IED experts
there are at present, Kumar said,
“Waleed Bhai from JEM is an IED
expert, another is Lambu Bhai,
who is 6 feet plus. Today the joint
forces recovered 35 kg of explo-
sives in Anantnag and a man has
been arrested there. There are
possibilitiesofsuchincidentshap-
pening.Butweareonit,informa-
tion is being generated and we
will continue to neutralise.” He
added that police are also after
JeMchief Abdullah RashidGhazi,
whoisprobablyhidingintheup-
per reaches of Khrew area.
AskedifFoujiBhaiwasbehind
the2019Lethporasuicidebomb-
ing case, in which 40 CRPF men
werekilled,Kumarsaid,“Icannot
sayifheparticipatedinthatattack.
But he was in JeM and active in
Pulwama at that time.”
from the area.
Extensivecameratappingwas
conducted to identify the two ti-
gresses–T1andT2–movingwith
three cubs each. As it now ap-
pears, T2 had four cubs, with the
separated one being the fourth.
Scat of both tigresses was col-
lected and sent to CCMB along
withthecub’sbloodsamples.The
report was sought on an urgent
basis. “I have directed the addi-
tional PCCF (Wildlife) B S Hooda
and field director of Pench Tiger
ReserveRavikiranGovekartode-
termine the exact modalities of
going ahead with the fresh re-
unionattemptsinceitisabitcom-
plicated process,” Kakodkar said.
Headdedthatthelongsepara-
tionperiodwouldbecrucialinthe
motheracceptingthecub.“Mother
leopards do accept the cubs after
such a gap but we are not sure
about tigresses. We are going to
giveitatry,”Kakodkarsaid.
What lends strength to the
Forest Department’s conviction
behind the experiment is also
the strong possibility of the
mother not abandoning the cub
due to some weakness or defor-
mity. “It most likely strayed out
of the family since it looked in
good shape when rescued. But
that’s just the assumption as of
now,” Kakodkar said.
with explosives; he had, rather
highlighted the dangers of peo-
ple using explosives to ward off
wild animals. Forest officials are
now combing agricultural fields
bordering the Mannarkad and
Silent Valley forest ranges to fix
responsibility for the elephant's
death.
“Theinjurywasalreadyafew
days old when we saw the ele-
phant for the first time. So we
have not been able to exactly
pin-pointtheplacewherethein-
jury happened. That’s the limi-
tation we are facing,” K K Sunil
Kumar, divisional forest officer,
Mannarkad, said.
Officials said there was a
strong possibility that the ele-
phant fell victim to a snare laid
to kill wild boars and pigs.

7 THE OUTBREAK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
AHMEDABAD:2:00PM
Even as Gujarat has stopped the Shramik Special service,
migrants from Jharkhand wait at Kalupur station. Javed Raja
CHANDIGARH:1:05PM
Passengers line up as they wait for a bus to go to the railway
station in Chandigarh. Jasbir Malhi
GOVT ASKED TO FILE STATUS REPORT
HC: State can’t
be ungrateful to
migrant workers
number and status of migrant
ARUNJANARDHANAN workers, the division bench of
CHENNAI,JUNE3 Justices N Kirubakaran and R
Hemalatha had said, “One can-
REMINDING THE government not control his/her tears after
that it is the State’s duty to en- seeing the pathetic condition of
sure every migrant worker is migrant labourers shown in the
provided with adequate food, media for the past one month.”
drinkingwater,shelterandmed- The court had also observed,
ical facilities, the Madras High “...Though belated, this court
Court on Wednesday directed would like to know whether co-
the government to identify mi- ordinated efforts have been
grantlabourerswithoutthesefa- taken by all state governments
cilities on “war-footing” and file in consultation with the central
a report by June 8. government to address suffer-
The court said, “Having ex- ings of migrant labourers…”
tracted work from migrant Thepetitionersaidthousands
labourers, our State cannot be of workers are without food and
ungrateful.” The court was hear- shelterandarewanderingatrail-
ing a habeas corpus plea moved waystations.Statecounselssub-
by advocate A P Suryaprakasam, mitted that the government is
who sought a direction to Tamil takingallstepstoprovideneces-
Nadu and Maharashtra police to sary facilities, and that compre-
locate and produce more than hensive directions given by
400 workers from Tamil Nadu Supreme Court are being fol-
allegedly under illegal detention lowed.Theysaidmigrantlabour-
in Maharashtra.
Hearing the case on May 16,
ersarenotcharged“evenfortrain
travel”, as per the Supreme
when both the state and Centre Court'sorder,andsoughttimeto
were told to file a report on the file a detailed report.
CASE COUNT: THE CHANGING PICTURE
A look at how Covid-19 case counts in states
are changing as migrants return home
UTTAR PRADESH ANDHRA PRADESH
10,108 141 62 8,066 180 94
Foreignentrants:None Foreignentrants:7
TAMIL NADU KARNATAKA
14,101 1,286 27 15,197 267 250
Foreignentrants:15 Foreignentrants:None
RAJASTHAN PUNJAB
13,999 279 86 4,217 34 7 examsamidsuchdemandsfrom
Foreignentrants:NA Foreignentrants: 6
KERALA ■ Samplestested
2,644 82 19 ■ Positivecases
Foreignentrants:53 ■ Migrants
States’ data for last 24 hours, updated up to 9 pm on June 3
‘Hundreds of trees felled’ amid
lockdown, MP govt to probe
lockdown due to Covid-19 was
MILINDGHATWAI imposed on March 24.
BHOPAL,JUNE3 "Many trees have been sys-
tematically felled in the last few
FOREST AND revenue authori- weeks to reduce tree density, to
ties in Madhya Pradesh have ini- ensure the area is not classified
tiated a probe after it emerged as a deemed forest as and when
that hundreds of trees were al- the mapping begins,'' said ac-
legedly felled in a forest area be- tivistRashidKhan,thepetitioner
tween Kaliasot and Kerwa dam in the case before the NGT.
during the lockdown. A Ministry of Environment,
It's not clear whether the Forest and Climate Change
patch spread over hundreds of (MoEFCC) report, submitted in
hectares is a notified forest, a March 2019, had noted that a
deemed forest or private land. To vast track of deemed forest area
end the confusion, the National lying between Kerwa and
GreenTribunal(NGT),whilehear- Kaliasot was being used for var-
ing a petition seeking a ban on all ious non-forestry activities
illegal activities in the area, had without permission.
askedthestateforestdepartment Bhopal DFO H S Mishra told
to map it and take over deemed The Indian Express he has written
forest areas for administration. torevenueofficialstotakeaction.
The tribunal wanted the ex- "I have promised cooperation
ercise to be completed by April from forest department but they
30,buttheforestdepartmentand haven't gotten back. I don't know
therevenuedepartmentwereyet what action they have taken,'' he
to take the first step when the said. Mishra said that because
Thefirstlegof thejourneyover,thenextlegbegins.CharanSinghandhisfamilymadeittoDelhifromGujarat’sPalampur
village,wheretheyworkedas constructionlabourers,bytrain.Theygetsetfortherestof thejourney—toKalyanpurvillage
inUP’sKasganj.
Scientists at Genome India propose Govt facilitated return
study of Covid’s genetic dimension of 8.5 lakh people to
SEEMA CHISHTI
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
THE BENGALURU-BASED team
of scientists at the heart of the
new Genome India Project,
which aims to create a database
of the diverse genes of Indians,
has submitted a fresh proposal
to Delhi to examine samples of
a thousand Covid-19-infected
Indians. The team wants to
study and develop more in-
sights into how this new viral
disease, resistance to it and sus-
ceptibility might have a genetic
component.
SaysProfessorVijayalakshmi
Ravindranath, neurologist and
Professor of the Centre for
Neuroscience at the Indian
Institute of Science (IISc),
Bengaluru, who is the key per-
son in this multi-institute proj-
ect, “The debate is no longer if it
is genetics or the environment.
A person’s immune system is
h/er response to the environ-
TAMIL NADU
Class 10 exams to start from June 15,
9.7 lakh students to get 3 masks each
ARUN JANARDHANAN
CHENNAI, JUNE 3
EVEN AS the total number of
Covid-19 cases climbed to over
24,500 in the state, the Tamil
Nadu government is ready to
conduct Class 10 exams from
June 15 to 26, with officials say-
ing that all arrangements have
beenmadetoconducttheexam-
ination amid the pandemic.
Ministerof SchoolEducation,
K A Sengottaiyan, ruled out any
chances of further postponing
manyparents,studentsandedu-
cationists—theexamswereear-
lierscheduledtobeginonJune1.
S Kannappan, Director of
SchoolEducation,saidall9.7lakh
students are ready to appear for
the exams. “To ensure social dis-
the classification — whether no-
tified or reserved forest — of the
area is not clear, there is no clar-
ity on who is in charge.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate (T
TNagar)RajeshShuklasaidmap-
pingtheareaistheforestdepart-
ment's responsibility, and that
most of the area belonged to the
CapitalProjectAdministrationor
the forest department.
In the last few years, the area
has also seen regular movement
of tigers from Ratapani Wildlife
Sanctuary. A forest corridor ex-
ists between Ratapani and
Bhopal via Kerwa.
"...itisavitaltigerhabitatofthe
state, still forming the territory of
some active tigers," the report
noted,adding,"tosavethefurther
destructionofthisimportanttiger
habitatalltheremainingdeemed
forest areas maybe quickly
mapped, notified and handed
over to the state forest depart-
ment for administration.''
MILES TO GO
DELHI:1:35PM
INTERVIEWWITH
PROFVIJAYALAKSHMI
RAVINDRANATHON
www.indianexpress.com
ment, but immunity has aspects
thatrelatetothegeneticcompo-
nent too. We have a small con-
sortium of institutes which do
serological tests, so if we can get
all the ethical clearances and get
access to the blood samples of
infectedindividuals,wecanlook
at the genetic determination of
infectability.”
The ambitious Genome
tancing,therewillbeonly10stu-
dents in a classroom against the
usual strength of 20. With the
helpof TamilNadusocialwelfare
department and hundreds of
women-runself-helpgroupsand
NGOs, we are arranging 46.37
lakhreusableclothmasks...every
student will get three reusable
cloth masks each to use during
theexamdays.Teachersalsowill
getmasks.Thesocialwelfarede-
partment will hand over these
maskstorespectivedistrictedu-
cationofficialsbyJune6,”hesaid.
There will be around 12,690
exam centres — including 750
special centres in containment
zones — across the stateand stu-
dents can start downloading
their hall tickets from the Tamil
NaduDirectorateof Government
Examinations’ website
Thursday. “We will be opening
NO EVIDENCE OF STOCKPILING FOR FUTURE TRADE, SAYS WWF-INDIA REPORT
Poaching for meat up during lockdown: report
ESHAROY
NEWDELHI,JUNE3
THEREHASbeena“significantin-
crease” in reported poaching of
wild animals during the lock-
down, which is not restricted to
any geographical region or state,
ortoanyspecificwildlifearea,ac-
cording to a report released by
WWF-India Wednesday.
The study was carried out by
WWF-India's programme divi-
sion Traffic, a wildlife trafficking
monitoring network.
While reports of poaching in-
cidencesforconsumptionandlo-
caltrademorethandoubleddur-
ing the lockdown period under
study, the report states there was
no evidence of stockpiling of
wildlifeproductsforfuturetrade.
“We feel this (increased
poaching)isbecausemorepeople
Gajendra Yadav
India Project, the government
of India-project tasked with
mapping India’s genetic diver-
sity, had just got off the ground
this year when the pandemic
shut the country down.
The Genome India Project is
supposed to collect and work
with 10,000 samples of healthy
individuals,butstagetwowasal-
ways meant to be about another
batch of 10,000 of Indian sam-
pleswithdiseases,of threebroad
categories — non-communica-
ble diseases like cardio-vascular
and diabetes, mental illnesses
and cancer.
Ravindranath says, “We are
awareof the problems there and
are prepared about building it
slowly, we need proper pheno-
typic and mapping of different
facts of the diseases.”
A sum of Rs 238 crore was al-
lotted by the Department of
Biotechnology for the Genome
IndiaProjectinJanuary.Withthe
lockdown coming into force
shortly afterwards, the project
four helpline numbers besides
providing contacts of at least
three teachers, including head-
masters,forstudentstoconsultif
they face any trouble in exam
procedures...” Kannappan said.
A rescheduled final exam for
Class 11, and a Class 12 exam for
about 1,000 absentee students
will be held on June 16 and June
18, respectively.
Nearly 2,200 students of
Chennai’s government corpora-
tion schools were missing and a
survey found several were from
families that had returned to
theirhomestates.“Only206stu-
dentsaremissingnow,allothers
are back in Chennai... school
managementsaretrackingthese
cases.Weareintouchwithmany
parents individually to ensure
thattheywillbebackinChennai
before exams,” Kannappan said.
ventured into forests to hunt for
localconsumption—notbecause
oflackoffood,asgovernmenthas
taken care of that, but may be to
supplement meals with meat,”
Saket Badola, lead author of the
report and head of 'Traffic', said.
The analysis was carried out
bycomparingmedia-reportedin-
stances of poaching during a six-
week pre-lockdown period
(February 10 to March 22) with
those from six weeks during the
lockdown (March 23 to May 3).
Reported poaching instances
rose from 35 to 88, although it is
unknown how reporting rates
havechangedbecauseofthelock-
down.“Somespecieswhichneed
transportationoftraffickedparts,
liketortoiseandbigcats,havenot
been poached during this period
becausetherewasnotransporta-
tion available,” Badola said. But
poaching increased for smaller
just about managed to organise
workshops of scientists from
MIT and Harvard in Gujarat be-
tween March 3 and 6.
Ravindranath says, “IISc has
now partially opened and we
have started sequencing. During
the two-month shutdown, we
havebeenworkingwithindivid-
uals identified for the samples
on the phone, talking to them
and laying the basis for all the
computational work and analy-
sis we would need to do when
the samples come in and we re-
sume collections. We will re-
sume collections only after
Primary Health Care workers
theregiveusthego-ahead.There
is no rush.”
The Genome India Project
involves 20 public institutions
all over India and as reported by
The Indian Express on February
7, the central government is
keen to get this nationwide
project going to sequence the
Indian gene and push research
in medicine.
Haryana to
reopen schools
in July, colleges
from August
Chandigarh: After lifting most
of the lockdown restrictions,
Haryana has now decided to re-
open in phases the schools in
July and the colleges and uni-
versities in August, state
Education Minister Kanwar Pal
Wednesday said.
It has been proposed to call
thestudentsof classes10, 11 and
12 in shifts to the schools in the
first phase. A mandatory Covid-
19 testing of all the students and
teachers, as the schools open, is
also being contemplated. The
minister, however, didn't an-
nounce any dateline.
For colleges and universities,
he said all classes, except those
of the first year graduation stu-
dents, will resume from August.
Theclassesforfirstyearstudents
will resume in September. ENS
Poaching of hares, among
other small mammals, has
shown an increase. WWF-India
species,especiallydeer,wildboar
and fowls, he said.
The report — 'Indian wildlife
amidstCOVID-19crisis:Ananaly-
sisofpoachingandillegalwildlife
trade trends' — notes that poach-
ing of ungulates (a group of large
Migrants from Bengal paid Rs 5,500 each to get on a private
bus home, but only half of them could board it.
A protest outside the deputy commissioner’s office, seeking
arrangements for transport to home states. Rana Simranjeet Singh
Bengal, says Mamata
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, JUNE 3
DENYINGTHEallegationthather
government was not willing to
bringbacklabourers,WestBengal
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
on Wednesday said the state has
facilitated the return of 8.5 lakh
people at a cost of Rs 40 crore.
Earlier in the day, she ap-
pealed to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to provide Rs
10,000 to every migrant worker
displaced by the lockdown.
“I appeal to Central Govt to
transfer Rs 10,000 each as one-
time assistance to migrant
labourers, including people in
unorganised sector. A portion of
PM-CARES could be used for
this," Banerjee tweeted.
The BJP hit out at her, saying
the state government should
provide financial aid to migrant
workers from its own coffers.
TalkingtoreportersinIndore,BJP
national general secretary
Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is the
party’s in-charge for West
Bengal, asked, “Why is the
Banerjee government not giving
financialhelpto migrantlabour-
ers of West Bengal? She is in
power in that state and not sit-
Those back in Bihar don’t need
to leave out of helplessness: CM
SANTOSH SINGH
PATNA, JUNE 3
CHIEF MINISTER Nitish Kumar
on Wednesday said people who
have returned to Bihar do not
need to leave the state and
addedthatthestategovernment
is working towards generating
more employment.
Healsosaidthestate govern-
ment may revise its employ-
ment policy if the need arises.
In a video statement, he said,
"People who have returned do
not need to leave for other states
becauseofhelplessness.Theycan
mammals with hooves), hunted
mainly for their meat, saw the
highest increase during the lock-
downperiod:upfromeightoutof
35poachingincidentsinpre-lock-
down period (22 per cent) to 39
out of 88 (44 per cent) in the six
weeksimmediatelysucceedingit.
Poaching of “small mammals”
such as hares, porcupines, pan-
golins,giantsquirrels,civets,mon-
keys and smaller wild cats also
showed a marked increase,
WWF-India reported.
Amongbigcats,nineleopards
werereportedtohavebeenkilled,
against four in the pre-lockdown
period.Inall,222peoplewerear-
rested in poaching-related cases,
higherthan85arrestsbeforelock-
down was implemented.
Seizures of wild pet-birds
came down from 14 per cent to 7
per cent during lockdown, pre-
sumably due to lack of transport
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
PUNE:10:45PM
Arul Horizon
AMRITSAR:1:30PM
2CMODRIVERSTEST
POSITIVEFORCOVID
Kolkata: Two drivers of the
Chief Minister Office (CMO)
in West Bengal tested posi-
tive for Covid-19, secretariat
sources said Wednesday.
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee decided that the
secretariat would be sani-
tised, for which it would re-
main close for the next two
daysfromThursday.TheCM
said, “Two of our drivers
tested positive for coron-
avirus.So,wehavetosanitise
the whole building...” ENS
ting in the opposition. Why isn't
her government providing help
from its coffers?"
Laterintheevening,inapress
conference, Banerjee said of the
8.5lakhmigrantworkers,6.5lakh
returned by road and 1.5 lakh by
train. “Some people are spread-
ingrumoursthatmygovernment
was not willing to bring back mi-
grantlabourers.Thisisfalse.Sofar,
we have brought back 8.5 lakh
migrantsandbyJune10,atotalof
10.5 lakh of them will have re-
turned,” she said.
move out for better facilities and
opportunities. We have spent
over Rs 8,500 crore on a host of
measures taken for them.”
The CM accused other states
ofnottakingpropercareofwork-
ersfromBihar.“Afterall,theyhad
been working for those states.
Theyshouldhavebeentakencare
of...Itisalsonotpropertocallthem
“pravasi” (migrant) because one
cannotbecalledamigrantinone's
country," he said.
Hesaidthatthestategovern-
ment has been trying to create
additional job opportunities to
ensure that those who have re-
turned get jobs.
and closed markets.
“If poaching of ungulates and
small animals remains
unchecked, it will lead to deple-
tion of prey base for big cats such
astigersandleopardsandadeple-
tion of the ecosystems. This, in
turn,willleadtohigherincidences
of human-wildlife conflicts,”
WWF-India CEO Ravi Singh said.
Several endangered Indian
gazelles (Chinkaras Gazella ben-
nei),aprotectedspeciesunderthe
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,
were reported to have been
poachedin Rajasthan.A chinkara
poaching racket was busted in
Jaisalmer, the report pointed out.
Pangolins, despite being
linkedtotheCovid-19crisis,were
targeted by poachers in various
partsofthecountry,asperthere-
port. Live pangolins and their
scaleswereseizedinUttarakhand,
Karnataka and Odisha.
 8 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAYJUNE 4, 2020

SOUTHERN RAILWAY
TENDER NOTICE No. SA/A/RS/ED/OT/20-21/3
Dated: 02.06.2020
The Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer, Rolling Stock, Southern Railway, Electric
Loco Shed, Erode acting for and on behalf of the President of India invites online
E-tender for the under mentioned work.
CLASSIFIED CENTRES IN MUMBAI
NAC
Bandra (W),
Name of the Work: Works contract for Upgradation of Smoothing Reactor Mobile : 9664132358
type SL-30 of Electric Locomotives available at Electric Loco Shed, Southern Reckon
Bandra (W.),
Railway, Salem Division, Erode. Mobile : 9867445557

Tender Value ` 88,38,011/- Space Age Advertising,

Bandra (E)
Phone : 26552207
Earnest Money Deposit ` 1,76,800/- Mobile : 9869666222/ 9869998877

Cost of tender document ` 5,600/- Kirti Agencies,

Khar (W),
Phone : 26047542.
Completion Period 18 Months Hindustan Advertising
Vile Parle (W),
Tender closing date & time 30.06.2020 at 11.00 Hrs. Phone : 26146229

Promserve
For further details interested persons may kindly log on to https://www.ireps.gov.in. Vile Parle (W),
Mobile : 9167778766
Railway reserves the right to issue any corrigendum to the tender till ten days
Venture
prior to the opening of the tender. Tenderers are advised to check the web site Andheri (E)
Phone : 61226000
before submitting their offer whether any such corrigendum to the tender has been
Anuja Media
issued or not.
Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer, Andheri (W),
Mobile : 9152895703
Rolling Stock, Electric Loco Shed, Erode Bombay Publicity
Andheri (W)
Mobile : 9870703542

Carl Advertising,
Andheri (W),

GOVERNMENT OF ODISHA, Phone : 6696 3441 / 42.

Gauri Press Communication,

Andheri (E),

“e”-PROCUREMENT NOTICE Mobile: 9820069565/ 9820069568

Keyon Publicity
Andheri (E.)
B-55 WORKS DEPARTMENT Phone : 28253077
Mobile : 9920992393

E-mail: ceworldbankprojects@gmail.com Lokhandwala Advertising,

Andheri (W),
Bid Identification No. CE-W.B.P.(O)-03/2020-21 Phone : 26364274 / 26316960.

1. The Chief Engineer (World Bank Project), Odisha on behalf Multimedia Informatics
Andheri (W),
of Governor of Odisha invites percentage rate bids in 8286013339

double cover system in ONLINE MODE from eligible Prime Publicity Services,
Andheri (E),
contractors for construction of Road & Bridge works as Phone : 26839686 / 26830304.

detailed below: Zoyz Creations

Andheri (W),
Phone: 022-26288794
2. Nature of work : Road works Mobile: 9833364551/ 9820199918

P. V. Advertisers,
3. No. of work : 11 Nos. Jogeshwari (W)
Phone: 26768888
Mobile: 9820123000
4. Tender Cost : Rs. 10,000.00 (on-line) Neha Agency,
Goregaon (E),
Phone : 2927 5033.
5. Class of Contractor : Super/ Special Class Mobile : 9819099563.

Contractor CSP
Goregaon (E)
Mobile : 8652400931
6. Available of bid : From 10.00 AM of 08.06.2020 Shark Enterprises,
document in the to 5.00 PM of 29.06.2020 Goregaon (E),
Phone: 022-26863587
Website Adresult Services,
Goregaon (W)
7. Date of opening of Bid : Dt. 30.06.2020 at 11.30 AM Phone : 28762157 / 28726291.

Samartha Advertiser Pvt. Ltd.,

8. The Bidders have to participate in ONLINE bidding only. Goregaon (E),
Phone: 26852294
Further details can be seen from the website: Mobile: 9594969627

https://tenderodisha.gov.in. Any addendum / Target Media,

Goregaon (E),
Mobile: 8692959648/ 9702307711
corrigendum / cancellation of tender can also be seen in the
AD Support Advertising,
said website. Malad (W),
Mobile: 9869463650
Chief Engineer Bijal Visual Ads.,
World Bank Project, Odisha Malad (W),
Phone: 28835457/ 28805487
Mobile: 9322265715
OIPR-34003/11/0003/2021

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA ADMINISTRATION OF U. T. OF DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI, DAMAN & DIU
Public Works Department OFFICE OF THE DIRECTORATE,
MEDICAL & PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
Executive Engineer, Public Works Divison, File No. DMHS/P&T/2020-21/109 Silvassa
Date: 02/06/2020
Jalgaon Dist. Jalgaon e-TENDER NOTICE
The Director of Medical & Health Services, U.T. of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu on behalf of
email- jalgaon.ee@mahapwd.com President of India, invites online tenders on https://dnhtenders.gov.in/nicgep/app from the reputed
E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 08 FOR 2020-2021 Manufactures/ Authorized Dealers/ Suppliers for supply of below mentioned items.
1) e-Tenders ID No. 2020_UTDNH_4651_1) :- Bio Medical Waste Management Services for SVBCH,
ONLINE Tenders (e-tender) in "B-1" form are invited by the Silvassa, SDH, Khanvel, All CHCs & PHCs and CHC Moti Daman, Govt. Hospital, Marwad, Daman, All
Executive Engineer, P.W. Division, Jalgaon (Phone No. 0257- PHC's. Estimated Cost: Rs. 62.10 Lacs. Last date of submission of Bid: 05.06.2020
2227343) for and behalf of Government of Maharashtra, Electonic 2) e-Tenders ID No. 2020_UTDNH_4647_1) :- Computer Based Online Entrance Exam for Shri Vinoba
Bhave College of Nursing, D&NH and Government College of Nursing, Daman, for the Year 2020-21.
Tender Management System. http://mahaetenders.gov. from Estimated Cost: Rs. 2.88 Lacs. Last date of submission of Bid: 08.06.2020
Eligible Contractor who fulfill the Terms and Conditions of 3) e-Tenders ID No. 2020_UTDNH_4671_1) :- Purchase of Reagents & Consumables for COVID-19 PCR
Tender. The rights are reserve to reject all or any tender by Laboratory in the U.T. of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu. Estimated Cost: Rs. 18.92 Lacs. Last date
Superitending Engineer/ Executive Engineer. Conditional of submission of Bid: 08.06.2020
Tenders are not acceptable. 4) e-Tenders ID No. 2020_UTDNH_4668_1) :- Purchase of RT-PCR Machine for COVID-19 PCR
Laboratory in the U.T. of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu. Estimated Cost: Rs. 15.00 Lacs. Last date
The details can be viewed and downloaded online of submission of Bid: 08.06.2020
from dated 06.06.2020 to 22.06.2020 at 1700 Hrs. directly 5) e-Tenders ID No. 2020_UTDNH_4655_1) :- Purchase of D10 Kit for HPLC Machine for Sickle Cell
from the Government of Maharashtra e-tendering Portal Anemia Control Programme under Medical and Public Health Department, D&NH for the Year 2020.
http://mahatenders.gov.in. Pre-Tender conference for work will Estimated Cost: Rs. 16.50 Lacs. Last date of submission of Bid: 22.06.2020.
be held on dated 12.06.2020 at 1200 Hours in the Office of 6) e-Tenders ID No. 2020_UTDNH_4652_1) :- Purchase of Insecticides and Larvicides for Vector Control
Superintending Engineer, P.W.Circle, Jalgaon. Activities under Medical and Public Health Department, D&NH for the Year 2020-21. Estimated Cost: Rs.
26.96 Lacs. Last date of submission of Bid: 22.06.2020. Tender can be downloaded from www.dnh.nic.in
This detailed tender notice for 01 (One) work is also available and www.vbch.dnh.nic.in.
on portal www.mahapwd.com and on Notice Board in the Office Sd/-
of Executive Engineer, Public Works Division, Jalgaon Dist. Director
Jalgaon. Medical & Health Services,
Sd/- U.T. of DNH & DD
No. IP/DNM/160/2020 ''Tel. No. 0260-2642940, 2640615''
Executive Engineer,
Silvassa Dt:- 02/06/2020 e-mail Id : svbch.sil@gmail.com
Public Works Division,
Jalgaon Dist. Jalgaon
DGIPR 2020-2021/159
Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation
Engineering Department
Tender Notice No. NMMC/EE(Digha)/03/2020-21
Sr. Estimated
Name of Work
No. Cost (Rs.)
Painting of Inspirational Meassages at Bindumadhavnagar Under Swach 3,91,822/-
1
sarvekshan 2020 in Digha Ward.
Levelling of open space at OS-1 plot Under Swacha Bharat Mission 2020 in 3,91,886/-
2
Digha Ward.
Painting of Residential area of bindumadhavnagar Under Swach sarvekshan 2020 4,24,517/-
3
in Digha Ward.
Painting of Inspirational Meassages at Sane guruji udyan Under Swach 3,92,926/-
4
sarvekshan 2020 in Digha Ward.
Providing and erecting chainlink fencing at open plot near TTC Road & TBR road 4,09,453/-
5
junction under swach sarvekshan 2020 in digha ward.
Painting of Ramnagar Near Borla talav area Under Swach Sarvekshan 2020 ward 4,00,146/-
6
no. 2 in Digha Ward.
Repairing SS old litter bins, Fixing SS Cover and providing and fixing new litter 4,08,407/-
7
bins near toilet in Digha ward.
Repairing old Llitter bins and new SS Cover Fixing, Providing & fixing new 3,45,838/-
8 Litter bins Near TTC road & patni road Under swach sarvekshan 2020, in Digha
ward.
Repairing near Public Toilets in Ward No 5 Digha under Swachha Bharat Mission 3,83,179/-
9
2020
Painting & Writing slogans in Digha ward no 3,4 Under swachaa bharat mission 4,05,013/-
10
2020.
Painting of Inspirational Meassages at OS-1 Plot NMMC Digha ward office & 4,16,548/-
11
NMMC School Under Swach sarvekshan 2020 in Digha Ward.
Repairing old Llitter bins and new SS Cover Fixing, Providing & fixing new 3,54,570/-
12
Litter bins from Mukund Co. to Ishwar nagar near Road in Digha ward.
Repairing near Public Toilets in Ward No 4 & 9 Digha under Swachha Bharat 3,75,347/-
13
Mission 2020
Providing and fixing Sculpture near Mahatma phule road and TBR junction Under 4,21,265/-
14
Swacha Bharat Mission 2020 in Digha Ward.
Painting of Inspirational Meassages From TTC Road ramnagar to sulzer company 4,24,732/-
15
Under Swach sarvekshan 2020 in Digha Ward.
Painting of Mahatma phule nagar Area Under Swacha Bharat Mission 2020 ward 4,25,271/-
16
no. 2 in Digha Ward.
Painting of Ramnagar Near Ajanta mitra mandal Area Under Swacha Bharat 4,08,376/-
17
Mission 2020 ward no. 2 in Digha Ward.
Repairing of Road By Asphalting From UHP/Hindmata school to STP Under 4,22,341/-
18
swach Sarvekshan 2020 in digha ward.
Repairing of Road From Ganpatipada Dhobighat toilet to Savitrinagar Railway 4,11,183/-
19
line Under swach Sarvekshan 2020 in digha ward.
Repairing of Road By Asphalting upto morya Talav to UHP Under swach 4,23,620/-
20
Sarvekshan 2020 in digha ward.
For further details and information required in respect of above Tender, please visit to website
www.maharashtra.etenders.in
Date of Publication :- 04 /06 /2020 Sign/-
Executive Engineer (Digha)
NMMC/PR Adv no.1806/2020 Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation
 E EXPLAINED
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

9
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com

CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD EXPERTS EXPLAIN

281,264
United Kingdom
THE WORLD
184,121
Germany
233,836
Italy
431,715
Russia
How many deaths prevented?
The government has provided a wide range of estimates for Covid-19 deaths prevented by the lockdown.
188,450 Here is a more conservative estimate, by the Indian Scientists Response to COVID-19 collective
France
1,839,167
US
covered by now. Whether someone was in-
170,039 fected in the past will turn up in antibody
Peru 216,314 testing. The limited, but well-planned, sero-
India
555,383 logical surveys to be initiated by the ICMR
Brazil 240,326 shortly should help settle this issue.
Spain
The implications
TOTAL CONFIRMED: 6,435,453 DEATH COUNT: 382,093 What are the implications of this analysis

Source: Johns Hopkins University, updated at 11 pm on June 3 . JHU’s India tally and Health
Pinaki Chaudhuri for the efficacy of the lockdown? This is cer-
tainlyevidencethatthelockdowncanbesaid
Ministry’s tally (below) may not match as these are accounted at different times. & Gautam I Menon tohaveworked,atleast inthelimited senseof
avertingCovid-19deathsthatwouldhaveoth-
IN A media briefing held on May 22, Dr V K erwise happened if the epidemic spread had
Paul of the NITI Aayog provided the govern- notbeenrestricted.However,ournumbersfor
If otherwise fit, blood cancer ment’s viewof thesuccess of thenationwide
lockdownimposedonMarch25.Inthatcon-
averted deaths are smaller than those quoted
by the government. Thus, the gains from the

patients ‘usually survive Covid’ text, he presented numbers for Covid-19

cases and deaths averted by the lockdown.
These numbers came from several model-
lockdown,unlesssustained,couldbecancelled
by losses elsewhere. These could come from
increased difficulties for those with chronic
PEOPLE WITH blood cancer are ex- themostsignificantlyassociatedfactor ling groups. disease in accessing health care and the long-
pected to be at higher risk of Covid-19 withCovid-19infectionoutcome,with One estimate came from the Boston term impacts of not following up on regular
infection due to a weakened immune almost all of the patients who died be- Consulting Group, who found that 36-70 immunisation programmes. Deaths in the
system from the cancer and the treat- ingaged70yearsorolderatthetimeof lakh cases and 1.2-2.1 lakh deaths had been wake of the movement of migrant workers,
menttheyreceive.Clinicalresearchers Covid-19diagnosis.Patientswhodied averted until May 15. An estimate from the Cyber Hub, Gurgaon, during the lockdown. Abhinav Saha and the increased risk of infection spread due
from Queen Mary also had significantly Public Health Foundation of India only pro- totheirreturntorelativelylessaffectedregions
University of London more coexisting health vided a number for deaths averted, which of the country, are also corollaries.
(QMUL) and Barts conditions, such as hy- was 78,000. A third estimate came from Alternative estimates Toestimatethenumberof deathsorcases There are uncertainties in the recorded
Health NHS Trust have pertension,chronickid- economists who found that 23 lakh cases We provide alternative estimates from averted,weensuredthatwecouldadequately numbers of deaths. These wouldchangeour
now studied the out- ney disease or diabetes, and 68,000 deaths had been averted. A the Indian Scientists Response to COVID19 describethepublicly-availableaggregatedna- results,especiallyif thenumber of deathsat-
come of Covid-19 infec- than those who recov- fourth estimate was from a group of retired (ISRC) collective. The ISRC is an initiative tional data on the cumulative number of tributed to Covid-19 was larger by a factor of
tion in patients with eredfromthevirus. scientistsfromNIMSwhosecalculationssug- which combines about 600 scientists from deaths. (Data for fatalities are more likely to 2 or 3 over what is recorded. But they do not
bloodcancer. PAPER The data showed no gestedthat15.9lakhcasesand51,000deaths both India and abroad, together with artists, beaccurateasameasureofthescaleofthein- change them significantly and our estimate

CLIP
Thestudyfoundthat correlation between have been averted. The fifth estimate came science communicators, doctors and other fectionthannumbersforthosepositivewhen that the number of true infections must out-
evenifpatientswereac- blood cancer treatment from a collaboration between the Ministry membersof thecivilsociety.Itwasformedto tested.) We use reasonable estimates of the number figures quoted for reported cases by
tively having intensive and outcome following of StatisticsandProgrammeImplementation ensure that accurate, evidence-based infor- numbers of exposed and infected persons at aboutafactorof 20-30remainsrobust.While
treatmentforbloodcan- NEW RESEARCH COVID-19infection,and and the Indian Statistical Institute, which mation about Covid-19 reaches the public. thetimeoflockdown.Wecanthenobtainpre- such national aggregation provides an over-
certhatweakenedtheir suggest that while pa- found that 14-29 lakh cases and 37,000- The ISRC has developed a detailed India- dictionsfromourmodel,bothwithandwith- all picture, estimates of the gains from miti-
immune system, they tients with blood can- 78,000 deaths had been averted. specific epidemiological model, called IND- out mitigation strategies in place. gation mustbe madeat locallevels,sincethe
usually recovered from Covid-19 as lo- cers have poorer outcomes than the These estimates cover a wide range. SCI-SIM. This model is well suited to address Following the lockdown, the model pre- epidemic is spreading at different rates in
ngastheywereotherwisefitandwell. general population after Covid-19, the However, we know next to nothing about questions such as those of deaths or cases dicts arange of 8,000-32,000for the number different parts of the country. The INDSCI-
ThestudyispublishedintheBritish majoritystillsurvive. how they were obtained. averted.Themodelcontainsup-to-date clin- ofdeathsavertedbyMay15.Comparedtothe SIM model can be used to make such predic-
Journal of Haematology. It looked at 35 Inastatement,QMULsaidthisisthe Unfortunately,suchalackof transparency ical information specific to Covid-19, as well government’snumbers,thisisamoreconser- tions, both at the state and district level.
adult patients with blood cancer who largest study to date to examine the and unwillingness to communicate mean- asdemographicdetails,includingage-specific vativebutlikelymorerobustestimate,sinceit Actually,itisnotevenaquestionof whose
had tested positive for Covid-19 and clinical outcome of Covid-19 infection ingfully is pervasive. Most data collected by probabilitiesof mortalityandthedistribution isobtainedfromwhatisthemostdetailedepi- estimatesarebetter.Thepointisthatthegov-
monitored them for a minimum of 14 in patients with blood cancer, but the government, such as the numbers of pa- of ages within the population in each state. demiological model available currently for ernment is choosing to not make precisely
days. At the end of the observation addedthatthefindingswillneedtobe tients reporting with influenza-like symp- Themodelalsodescribestheeffectsof in- India. Importantly, all information regarding those details public that could help us un-
period,60%hadrecoveredfromCovid- confirmed in large national and inter- toms across the first few months of the year, terventions such as the lockdown and asso- whatwedoispubliclyavailableandtherefore derstand how the estimates were made.
19 infection. national registry studies. is simply unavailable to those outside it. The ciatedmeasures.Thesemeasuresincludethe open to general scrutiny and criticism. That,eveninthesesimplematters,openness
The observations showed age was Source:QueenMaryUniversityofLondon Indian Council of Medical Research has cho- increased ability to test those with symp- We find that a substantial number of should be a casualty, is unacceptable.
sen to ignore questions about the quality of toms and their contacts in a lockdown situ- cases must have gone undetected. Our best
the data it provides. The Ministry of Health ation. In effect, testing some proportion of estimates suggest that between about 0.2- Pinaki Chaudhuri and Gautam I Menon are
and Family Welfare has shifted to reporting those infected and quarantining them effec- 1% of the Indian populationhasby now been at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences,
INDIA COUNT: 207,615 (5,815 DEATHS) dataonceadayfromtwiceintheinitialstages
while also sometimes cancelling its sched-
tivelyreducescontactsbetweeninfectedand
susceptible people. Thisreducedcontactim-
infected, with a likely ratio of 20-30 unde-
tectedforeverydetectedinfection.Of course,
Chennai and Ashoka University, Sonepat
respectively. The views expressed here are

TOP 10 STATES REST OF INDIA

AndamanandNicobarIslands 33
ArunachalPradesh 22
uled briefings with little notice. plies that the disease spreads more slowly. a good fraction of these cases would have re- their own.

Inner Line Permit: what is its CAA context?

Assam 1513
Chandigarh 301
Chhattisgarh 564
9,373 22,132 Delhi DadarNagarHaveli 4
Rajasthan Goa 79
8,361 UP Haryana
HimachalPradesh
2652
345
JammuandKashmir 2718 Eastern FrontierRegulationAct(BEFR),1873. indigenous/tribal population.” thethenAssamdistrictsof Kamrup,Darrang,
Jharkhand 712 ABHISHEK SAHA “The policy of exclusion first came about Nowgong (now Nagaon), Sibsagar,
Karnataka 3796
8,420 Kerala 1412 GUWAHATI, JUNE 3 as a response to the reckless expansion of How is it connected to the Citizenship Lakhimpur, and Cachar, the petition said the
17,617 MP Ladakh 81 British entrepreneurs into new lands which Amendment Act? order took away the Assam government’s
Gujarat
6,168 Manipur 89 ON WEDNESDAY, the Supreme Court de- threatenedBritishpoliticalrelationswiththe The CAA, which relaxes eligibility crite- permissive power to implement the ILP. This
West Bengal Meghalaya 27
Mizoram 13 clined to stay the operation of a Presidential hilltribes,”wrotethepoliticalscientistSanjib ria for certain categories of migrants from could have made the CAA inapplicable in
72,300 4,155 Nagaland 49 order which petitioners claimed deprived Baruah in his book India Against Itself: Assam three countries seeking Indian citizenship, these areas, the petition said.
Maharashtra Bihar Odisha 2245
Puducherry 82 Assamof thepowerstoimplementtheInner and the Politics of Nationality. The BEFR pro- exempts certain categories of areas, includ- Groups such as the AJYCP have long been
Punjab 2342 Linesysteminitsdistrictsandlimittheappli- hibits an outsider’s — “British subject or for- ingthoseprotectedbytheInner Linesystem. campaigning for long for implementation of
3,898 Sikkim 1
24,586 Andhra Pradesh Telangana 2891 cabilityof theCitizenship (Amendment) Act. eign citizen” — entry into the are beyond the AmidprotestsagainsttheAct,theAdaptation theILPinAssam.TheCAAhasgivenfreshlegs
Tamil Nadu Tripura 468 Inner Line without a pass and his purchase of Laws(Amendment)Order,2019,issuedby tothedemand.LurinjyotiGogoi,generalsecre-
Uttarakhand 1043 What is Inner Line? of land there. On the other hand, the Inner the President, amended the BEFR, 1873, ex- taryof theAllAssamStudents’Union,sayspr-
UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof 11pm,June3.Somestatesmayhave A concept drawn by colonial rulers, the Line also protects the commercial interests tending it to Manipur and parts of Nagaland otestsagainsttheCAAinAssamwillcontinue.
reportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove. InnerLineseparatedthetribal-populatedhill of the British from the tribal communities. that were not earlier protected by ILP.
areas intheNortheast fromthe plains.Toen- After Independence, the Indian govern- What does the SC order imply?
100,303 PATIENTS DISCHARGED IN 33 STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES ter and stay for any period in these areas, ment replaced “British subjects” with What is the petition? The petition had sought a stay on the
Indian citizens from other areas need an “Citizen of India”. In 2013, the Home The influential Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Presidentialorder,whichtheSupreme Court
Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak and what you should/should not do? Inner Line Permit (ILP). Arunachal Pradesh, Ministry told Rajya Saha, “The main aim of Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) and All Tai Ahom did not grant. The court said it will have to
Write to explained@indianexpress.com Nagaland and Mizoram are protected by the ILP system is to prevent settlement of other Students’ Union (ATASU) petitioned the hearwhattheotherside(government)hasto
Inner Line, and lately Manipur was added. Indian nationals in the States where ILP Supreme Court against the Presidential or- say on the matter. It will hear the matter
The concept originates from the Bengal regime is prevalent, in order to protect the der. Noting that the original BEFR included again in two weeks.

TOTAL RECALL

Jessica Lall murder case: takeaways from acquittal, conviction and release
ANAND MOHAN J
& PRITAM PAL SINGH
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
ON MONDAY, Manu Sharma, now 43, who
was serving a life sentence for the 1999
murder of model Jessica Lall, walked out of
jail following the Delhi Lieutenant
Governor’s approval for his premature re-
lease, as per recommendations by the
Sentence Review Board. A look back at the
murder, and the twists and turns during a
trial that caught the public imagination:
Murder & arrests
Jessica Lall was murdered on April 29,
1999, at a party at Once Upon a Time
Restaurant,ownedbysocialiteBinaRamani,
inDelhi’sQutubColonnade.LallandShayan
Munshi, an actor, were serving liquor.
Manu Sharma, son of former Union
Minister and Haryana Congress leader
Venod Sharma, who was attending the
party with friends, asked for two drinks at
2 am. As theparty wasover, he wasrefused.
Following an argument, he took out his pis-
tol and fired one shot at the roof and an-
other at Lall, which hit her near the left eye,
and fled. Lall was declared dead in hospital
in the early hours of April 30.
Mehrauli police station had registered
an FIR at 4 am, after recording Munshi's
statement.Thepoliceseizedtwoemptycar-
tridgesandfoundthatablackTataSafariwas
missing from the party. The Tata Safari was
seized from UP police on May 2. Three days
later, the police arrested Amardeep Singh
aka Tony Gill and Alok Khanna. Following
their statements, police reached out to
Sharma'slawyer;onJune6,Sharmasurren-
dered. The police arrested 10 others includ-
ing a UP politician’s son, Vikas Yadav.
Trial & acquittal
The chargesheet was filed August 3. On
November23,theadditionalsessionsjudge
framed charges against Sharma under IPC
sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disap-
pearance of evidence of offence, or giving
false information to screen offender) and
120-B (punishment for criminal conspir-
acy), and Arms Act section 27.
ThetrialbeganinMay2001,againstnine
accused. The prosecution examined 101
witnesses and two court witnesses.
During the trial, Sharma was enlarged
onbailonseveraloccasionsuntilNovember
11, 2003, when the Delhi High Court dis-
missedhisbailapplication,followingwhich
theSupremeCourttoodismissedhisspecial
leave petition.
On February 21, 2006, Sharma and the
other accused were acquitted by the trial
court. The trial court concluded that links
inthechainof evidencewereeithermissing
or broken. The court held that the prosecu-
tion had miserably failed to bring home the
guilt of the accused.
Thedefencehadbroughtatwo-weapon
theory, arguing that Munshi had said two
peoplefiredwithtwodifferentweaponsand
hisstatementwasneverreadtohimasitwas
in Hindi, a language he did not know. The
court held that three prosecution witnesses
including Munshi were not eyewitnesses.
The trial court agreed the prosecution
was able to prove that Sharma was holding
a.22boreBerrettapistolandhadbought25
rounds of cartridges from Haryana Gun
House, but observed that the pistol was not
recovered from him.
The Tata Safari was registered in the
name of M/s Piccadilly Agro Industries
Private Limited and Sharma was one of its
directors. The court did not agree that the
accused used it to travel to Qutub
Colonnade; it observed that its mere pres-
ence at the party was of no consequence.
The court also held that use of tele-
Manu Sharma, who was serving a life
term for Jessica Lall murder, now freed
phones by the accused to contact one an-
other before and after the incident was of
no consequence as the conversation was
not placed on record.
The court also disagreed with the pub-
lic prosecutor that Sharma had absconded
immediately after the crime.
Outrage & conviction
The acquittal led to widespread public
outrage, following which police submitted
a status report to the Delhi High Court,
which accepted it and took up a fast-track
case. Sharma was represented by Ram
Jethmalani (now deceased) in the Delhi
High Court and later in the Supreme Court.
On December 18, 2006, the High Court
convicted Sharma observing that the trial
court judgment was “an immature assess-
ment of material on record which is self-
contradictory, based on misreading of ma-
terial and unsustainable”. The court
sentenced Sharma to life, awarded lesser
sentences to Vikas Yadav and Amardeep
Gill, and acquitted six others.
The High Court rejected the two-
weapon theory as a “concoction to the de-
fence and a manipulation of evidence par-
ticularly thatof Shyam Munshi who, for the
first time in court, introduced such a story”.
Sharma appealed twice to the Supreme
Court. In April 2010, the Supreme Court up-
held his conviction and life term.
The Supreme Court held that the evi-
dence regarding the incident, the testi-
monies of witnesses, evidence connecting
the vehicles and cartridges to Sharma, as
well as his conduct after the incident,
proved his guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
On Munshi's statement about “another
gentleman” who fired the shot, the
Supreme Court said that although he
turned hostile, his evidence showed that
Sharma was at the scene and this was
rightly accepted by the High Court. Munshi
stands accused of lying under oath before
the sessions court.
Takeaways from the case
The case brought into focus the influ-
ence of media coverage. This was high-
lighted by the Delhi High Court as well as
theSupremeCourt. TheSupremeCourt ob-
served that various articles in the print me-
dia gave rise to unnecessary controversy
and “apparently, had an effect of interfer-
ing with the administration of criminal jus-
tice”. The Supreme Court held that “pre-
sumption of innocence of an accused is a
legal presumption and should not be de-
stroyed at the very threshold through the
processof mediatrialandthattoowhenthe
investigation is pending”.
While overturning the acquittal of
Sharma,theDelhiHighcourtmadeobserva-
tionsaboutthefunctioningofcourtsandap-
preciationofevidence.Thisledtopubliccrit-
icismofbiasinprosecutingpowerfulpeople.
TheSupremeCourtsaideverypossibleeffort
shouldbemadeandprecautionstakenwhich
will help in preservation of public faith.
Following the conviction by the High
Court,adifferentBenchdirectedthegovern-
ment to create a witness-protection policy.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

10
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
WORDLY WISE

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

The thing about football — the important
thing about football — is that it is not
just about football. — TERRY PRATCHETT

FOUNDED BY
A middle power moment
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
India has missed chances to build partnerships.
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
Modi-Morrison summit can help plug a gap

MGNREGA IN NEED C Raja Mohan

In times of wide and deep economic distress, a rethink on its IN ITS PREOCCUPATION with the perennial underlineshowshort-sightedIndia’sneglect the shores of peninsular India and the west
challenges in the neighbourhood and its en- of Australia has been. It was exactly in these coast of Australia ought to be the top priority.
design might be called for, without compromising its purpose

A
duringaspirationtodancewiththegreatpow-
ers,Indiahasinthepastmissedoutontheop-
RECORD4.89CROREpersonsbelongingto3.44crorehouseholdssought portunities for productive partnerships with
work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment the middle powers. Thursday’s virtual sum-
Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in May. This is against 3.18 crore persons mit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi
from 2.26 crore households for the same month last year, when large andtheAustralianpremier,ScottMorrison,is
parts of India were experiencing drought-like conditions. The current an important part of Delhi’s current diplo-
matic effort to plug that big gap in India's
surge in MGNREGA work demand reflects a drought, not of water, but of jobs and in-
diplomatic tradition.
comes.Anditseemstobecomingmainlyfrommigrantworkersreturningtotheirvillages Few countries have been as underesti-
from cities and industrial centres post the COVID lockdown. Proof of it is the states where mated in India as Australia. Take the simplest
the number of households registering demand has shown the highest increase: Uttar metric,forexample—economicweight.With
Pradesh(299.3percentinMay2020overMay2019),WestBengal(214.5percent),Odisha aGDPofmorethanUS$1.4trillion,Australiais
(113.5 per cent), Chhattisgarh (68.9 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (65.1 per cent) and Bihar the13thlargesteconomyintheworld,follow-
ingcloselybehindRussiawhichstandsat$1.6
(62.1 per cent).These are all labourexporting states. What’snow being seen is an extraor-
trillion. Australia is rich in natural resources
dinary phenomenon of distress reverse migration from city to village. The lockdown has- that India’s growing economy needs. It also
n’t hit the rural economy, more so agriculture, that badly. has huge reservoirs of strength in higher ed-
The MGNREGA has been generally viewed as a scheme that provides employment
ucation,scientificandtechnologicalresearch.
during the lean period for agriculture, thereby reducing seasonal labour migration from In the global diplomatic arena, Australia
rural to urban areas. The demand for work, too, typically peaks in May-June before falling punches way above its weight. Its armed
in the subsequent months coinciding with the main kharif cropping season. But this con- forces,hardenedbyinternationalcombat,are
widely respected. Canberra’s intelligence es-
ventionalpatternmaynotholdinthepresentscenario, wheretheprimarydemanddriver
tablishment is valued in many parts of the
will not be the landless agricultural labourer who would have little work after the kharif world. Australia has deep economic, political
or rabi crop has been harvested. If the laid-off auto worker from Gurgaon-Manesar or andsecurityconnectionswiththeASEANand
erstwhile hotel employee in Mumbai is the one seeking employment under MGNREGA a strategic partnership with one of the lead-
— and there is no way to gainfully engage them in agriculture — the scheme’s scope will ingnon-alignednations,Indonesia.Canberra
has a little “sphere of influence” of its own —
have to be widened. To start with, the number of days of guaranteed employment to
in the South Pacific (now under threat from
adult members of any rural household needs to be expanded beyond the existing 100
Chinese penetration). All these Australian
days. The returning migrant workers may, at some point, want to go back to jobs that strengths should be of interest and value to
paid better. But those jobs aren’t going to come back soon either.
India. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal
This is where a rethink on the MGNREGA’s basic design might be called for without Nehru, believed Australia is a natural part of
compromising its objective. If the idea is to provide work to anybody demanding it, there Asia and invited it to participate in the Asian
should, in principle, be no restrictions on the kind of activities allowed under the scheme. Relations Conference in Delhi in 1947, a few
months before independence. But the rest of
The stipulation of a 60:40 wage-to-material cost ratio can also be relaxed. If higher ma-
the 20th century was one of drift and alien-
terial component helps in building more assets with durable quality, why cannot these ation.
projects qualify under the MGNREGA? Why tie it down to particular “permitted works”? A political dust-up between Delhi and
What stops MGNREGA labour from being used even to undertake railway or national CanberrainthewakeofIndia’snucleartestsin
highway work? Any public work ultimately requires labour and so long as it is given on 1998 complicated the possibilities that the
demand, the MGNREGA has fulfilled its purpose. end of the Cold War opened up. But since
2000,Canberrahastakenconsistentpolitical
initiativetoadvancetieswithIndiabyresolv-
ing the nuclear difference and expanding the
Common membership of
many groupings like the G-
20, East Asia Summit, IORA,
and the Quad has increased
the possibilities for
diplomatic cooperation on
regional and global issues.
The current downturn in the
global economy certainly
limits the immediate
possibilities for realising the
full potential of commercial
relations between India and
Australia. But there are a host
of emerging issues — from
reforming the World Health
Organisation to 5G
technology and from
strengthening the
international solar alliance to
building resilience against
climate change and disasters
— that lend themselves to
years that China transformed its relationship
withAustralia.Delhi’stemptationtojudgena-
tions on the basis of their alignments with
otherpowersstandsincontrasttoBeijingthat
putsinterestsaboveideology,promotesinter-
dependence with a targeted middle power,
turns it into political influence and tries to
weaken its alignment with the rival powers.
ThankstothenewpoliticalwillinDelhito
liberate its relations from ideological preju-
dice,India’sAustralianmomentappearstobe
athand.TheIndiandiaspora—nowestimated
at nearly 7,00,000— is the fastest growing in
Australiaandhasbecomeanunexpectedpos-
itive factor in bilateral relations.
Commonmembershipofmanygroupings
liketheG-20,EastAsiaSummit,IORA,andthe
Quadhasincreasedthepossibilitiesfordiplo-
matic cooperation on regional and global is-
sues.Thecurrentdownturnintheglobalecon-
omy certainly limits the immediate
possibilities for realising the full potential of
commercial relations between India and
Australia. But there are a host of emerging is-
sues — from reforming the World Health
Organisation to 5G technology and from
strengtheningtheinternationalsolaralliance
to building resilience against climate change
anddisasters—thatlendthemselvestointen-
sivebilateralpoliticalandinstitutionalengage-
ment. It is the geopolitical churn in the Indo-
Pacificthathasopenedupamassivespacefor
consequentialsecuritycooperationbetween
IndiaandAustralia.DelhiandCanberraknow
that neither of them can rely on the old for-
mulae for securing their interests, thanks to
thegrowingChineseassertivenessandtheun-
certain US political trajectory.
Over the last few years, defence engage-
ment between the two countries has grown
and is likely to be capped by a military logis-
tics support agreement to be unveiled at the
summit. Modi and Morrison, however, must
raise the level of ambition, for the scale of the
security challenge in the Indo-Pacific de-
mandsmorethanincrementalsteps.Thetwo
EasternIndianOcean,connectingthetwo
oceans,isattheheartof theIndo-Pacific.This
iswhereDelhiandCanberracaninitiateafull
rangeofjointactivities,includingonmaritime
domainawareness,developmentof strategi-
cally located islands and marine scientific re-
search. The sea lines of communication be-
tween the Indian and Pacific oceans run
throughtheIndonesianarchipelago.Giventhe
shared political commitment to the Indo-
Pacific idea between Delhi, Jakarta and
Canberraandthegrowingpressuresonthem
to secure their shared waters, Modi and
Morrison must seek trilateral maritime and
naval cooperation with Indonesia.
Besides Indonesia, three other powers
present themselves as natural partners for
IndiaandAustralia—Japan,FranceandBritain.
Tokyo has close ties with both Delhi and
Canberra.Theircurrenttrilateraldialoguecan
be expanded from the diplomatic level to
practicalmaritimecooperationontheground.
France is a resident power with territories in
the Western Indian Ocean and the South
Pacific.ParisandCanberraareeagertodevelop
a trilateral arrangement with Delhi that will
supplementthebilateralcooperationamong
thethreenations.Modimustendorsetheini-
tiative.
Finally, there is the less discussed role of
Britain, which wants to return to the oriental
seas. In the east, Britain continues to lead the
so-called Five Power Defence Arrangement
set up back in 1971, after Britain pulled back
most of its forces from the East of Suez. The
FPDA brings together the armed forces of the
UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New
Zealand.ModiandMorrisonmustexplorethe
possibilities for engagement between India
and the FPDA. It is only by building a series of
overlapping bilateral and minilateral plat-
forms for regional security cooperation that
Delhi and Canberra can limit the dangers of
the growing geopolitical imbalance in the
Indo-Pacific.

A BACKWARD TURN template of engagement.

That there was a gap of nearly three
decades between Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to
Quest for ‘self-reliance’ must not lead to failed policy of import Australiain1986andModi’stripin2014only
intensive bilateral political
and institutional
leaders must order their security establish-
mentstodevelopstrategiccoordinationinthe
varioussub-regionsoftheIndo-Pacificlittoral.
The writer is director, Institute of South Asian
Studies, National University of Singapore and
a contributing editor on international affairs
engagement. The eastern Indian Ocean that lies between for The Indian Express

substitution. It did not work in the past, won’t work even now

E
VER SINCE THE prime minister’s speech exhorting the country to march to-
wards an Atmanirbhar Bharat, there has been an unease: That lurking be-

MAKING RESEARCH ATMANIRBHAR

hind the rhetoric of “self-reliance” was an attempt to reorient the economic
structuretowardsensuring“self-sufficiency”byfallingbackonthedecades-
oldfailedpolicyof importsubstitution.Subsequentcallsbythegovernment
to citizens to buy Indian, and the setting up of “targets” towards building self-reliance in
certain sectors so that “unnecessary” imports can be reduced, indicate that the shift to- We need an enabling ecosystem for development of vaccines, studies on new diseases
wardsprotectionism,thatbeganoverthepastfewyearswiththeNDAgovernmentraising
tariffs — threatening to undo decades of trade liberalisation — may be underway.
Protectionism ends up creating an inefficient and high-cost domestic manufacturing Balram Bhargava
sector,whileleadingtopoorallocationofresources.TheIndianexperienceofthesecondhalf
of thelastcenturyshouldhaveprovidedenoughproof todrivethispointhome.Suchapol- BEFORE THE COVID-19 pandemic hit the This has beenmade possiblethrough regular Thesetrialsarestepsintherightdirection.
icy stance helps neither consumers nor producers. Yet, it is almost as if policy-makers are world,wewouldoftenrefertoscience-fiction investments in ramping up our manufactur- ButtomakeIndiaagloballeader,thereshould
for cutting edge research such as brain trans- ing capacity through programmes like Make be concerted efforts to activate the triple-he-
choosingtoforgetthelessonslearnt,andaredeterminedtoignoretheimmenseeconomic
plants or bioengineering. But in my three InIndia.However,innovationandresearchin lix model of innovation that involves intensi-
benefits to the country and citizens post 1991. In all likelihood, tariff hikes will be the first decadesofworkinclinicalmedicineandmed- vaccineshavenotbeenadequatelyprioritised. fying collaboration between research insti-
lineof defenceagainst“unnecessary”imports.Oncethisdoorisopened,itcreatesspacefor icalresearch,neverhaveIcomeacrosssome- Indianeedsearly-stagefinancialinvestmentto tutes,industry,andthegovernment.Weneed
lobbyingbydomesticplayerstokeepinplacetheprotections,which,onceimposed,willnot thing that has transformed the global health propel a research and innovation ecosystem toapproachresearchandinnovationfromthe
be removed easily. landscape as much as the humble vaccine. for the development of new vaccines. bottom-up — this means increasing research
Amoreappropriatepolicyresponseistofocusonboostingcompetitiveness—building Whilethepandemichashighlightedtheir The Indian Council of Medical Research in biotechnology, medical innovation, and
importance, vaccines have always been the (ICMR)hasmadegreatstridesinthatdirection publichealthattheuniversitylevel.TheICMR
infrastructure,ensuringcheappower,reforminglandandlabourmarkets,andcreatingcon-
frontrunners in saving lives: With their help, — it has developed effective vaccines against is in the process of setting up the National
ditions for companies to compete in global markets. India should be striving to embed it- we are able to prevent the death of two to Japaneseencephalitis(JENVAC),shigella(tech- Institute of One Health to study zoonotic dis-
self in global value chains, not becoming more inward-looking. Companies, especially in threemillionchildrengloballyeveryyear.Itis nology transfer to Hillman Labs) and the eases, enabled by the Rs 20-lakh-crore pack-
the post COVID world, looking to shift away from China, will look for policy stability. They becauseofvaccinesthatwemanagedtoerad- Kyasanur forest disease. ICMR has also pro- age recently announced by the government.
areunlikelytorelocatetocountriesthataresusceptibletosuddentariffimpositions.Further, icatehighlycontagiousdiseasessuchassmall- To make India a global vided research funding for initial and valida- But more work needs to be done. One lesson
asresearchhasshown,India’stradebalancehaswidenedinpartduetoimportsof rawma- pox, which used to kill millions only a few leader, there should be tionstudiesfortherotavirusandpoliovaccines. fromtheCOVID-19pandemicisthatweneed
terials,intermediateproducts,andcapitalgoods,implyingthattheimpositionof tariffswill decadesago.InIndia,vaccineshavehelpedus ICMRiscollaboratingwithBharatBiotech more than one research institute to study
defeat polio — the country was certified po- concerted efforts to activate InternationalLimited(BBIL)todevelopafully zoonotic diseases.
alsohurtexportcompetitiveness.Indianeedstoraise itsshareinworldtradebeyond2 per the triple-helix model of
lio-free by the World Health Organisation indigenous vaccine for COVID-19 using the The government and academia must
cent. Doing so requires greater trade liberalisation. The country needs to reduce tariffs, be (WHO)in2014.In2015,thecountryalsoelim- innovation that involves virus strain isolated at the National Institute come together to prioritise the development
part of trade agreements, not head down a slippery slope in the opposite direction. inatedmaternalandneonataltetanus. While of Virology in Pune. The strain has been suc- of cost-effectivetoolsof publichealthimpor-
intensifying collaboration
wemightnotbecertainaboutthetimelinefor cessfully transferred from ICMR to BBIL. We tancelikevaccines.Thecountryneedsacom-
theeliminationof COVID-19,aneffectivevac- between research institutes, willnowseekfast-trackedapprovalstoexpe- prehensiveapproachtomobiliseresourcesfor
industry and the
TAKING A KNEE
cine is the world’s best shot at reducing the ditevaccinedevelopment,subsequentanimal this purpose. Indian researchers, and the
transmissionofthishighlycontagiousdisease. government. We need to studies, and clinical evaluation of the candi- country’s public health community at large,
While developing a vaccine for COVID-19 date vaccine. have stood up to the various public health
is a global health priority, a comprehensive
approach research and ICMR has also collaborated with the challenges faced by the country. It is time the
In times of social distancing, sportspersons are making a approach is also required towards fast-track- innovation from the bottom- SerumInstituteofIndiaandOxfordUniversity government, technical experts and private
ing the development of vaccines to tackle up — this means increasing to fast-track clinical trials of the live attenu- companiesensurethattheseresearchershave
statement — up close and political

F
emerging diseases. India is one of the largest research in biotechnology, ated recombinant vaccine for COVID-19 de- access to the resources and tools that can
producers and exporters of vaccines in the velopedbytheOxfordGroup.Thesetrialsand make India truly atmanirbhar.
OURSYEARSAFTERformerSanFrancisco49ersquarterbackColinKaepernick
world. In fact, many vaccines in the national
medical innovation, and developments will pave the way for a future
knelt during the national anthem to draw attention to police brutality and immunisation programme are produced in public health at the where we could live without the fear of the The writer is Director General of ICMR and
racial injustice in the Donald Trump regime, his “taking a knee” gesture has IndiaandmanufacturedbyIndiancompanies. university level. contagionthatiscurrentlyragingintheworld. Secretary, Department of Health Research
remerged as a powerful symbol of protest. In the aftermath of the death of
GeorgeFloyd,anAfrican-American,wholosthislifewhenawhitepoliceoffi-
cer knelt on his neck, thousands in the US and the rest of the world have knelt down in

JUNE 4, 1980, FORTY YEARS AGO

protest during demonstrations. The symbol has rippled into the world of sport too. Last
week,BorussiaDortmundwingerJadonSanchoremovedhisyellowjerseytoreveal“Justice
forGeorgeFloyd”writtenonhisundershirtafterscoringagoal.Threeotherplayers“tooka
knee”, and all of them are under investigation for making political statements on the field. CONG (I) LEADERS MGR LEADS AIADMK in three days.
Thishastriggered,yetagain,debatesonwhethersportsmenshouldopenlyexpresspo- THE CONGRESS (I) legislature parties will M G RAMACHANDRAN, the newly elected
litical dissent or support. History, though, is replete with instances of sportsmen emerging elect their leaders on June 5. This decision leader of the All India Anna DMK Legislature ASSAM DIALOGUE
was taken at the meeting of the Congress (I) Party, was formally invited by the Tamil THE EFFORTS BY a group of mediators to
as icons of political protests. As far back as 1906, Irish long jumper Peter O’Connor shim-
Parliamentary Board in Delhi today. AICC (I) Nadu governor, Prabhudas Patwari, to form bring the leaders of the Assam movement to
miedupa20-feethighflagpoleandhoistedalargegreenflagwiththewords“ErinGoBragh observers will be sent to theCLP (I) meetings a new government. Earlier, Ramachandran, the negotiations table with the government,
(Ireland forever)” during that year’s Olympics. Other instances include the legendary Jesse to see that the elections are held smoothly. accompanied by the party’s general secre- may well materialise within a week or so.
Owens in the 1936 Berlin Games, or the famous black-power salute of athletes Tommie A R Antulay, Congress (I) general secretary tary, V R Naduschezhian, and leaders S The governor, L P Singh, who has been kept
SmithandJohnCarlosontheOlympicpodiumin1968,orwhenMuhammadAlirefusedto who briefed the press on the CPB (I) Ramachandran and S D Somasundaran, posted on the informal discussions for the
enlist in the US Army during the Vietnam war. meeting, said in answer to a question that called on the governor at Raj Bhavan and resumption of the dialogue is scheduled to
Sport has spoken up and said that it cannot seal itself off from the outside world. Such the CPB (I) had not prohibited MPs and other handed over a letter to him informing him fly in here from Shillong tomorrow. He is ex-
non-CLP (I) members from contesting for of his election as the leader of the AIADMK pected to pursue the matter further with the
outspokenness, however, might be alien to Indian sportspersons. Here, image-conscious
leadership. The CPB(I) generally discussed legislature party. The governor later mediators, according to informed sources. It
sportspersons consciously practise political and social distancing. They choose to live in the question of leadership of the legislature told newsmen that the new ministry would is understood that the governor is keen on
their own sanitised bubbles. Maybe, they fear the fate of Kaepernick, who was released at parties but took no decision on the leaders be sworn in on June 9. Ramachandran said having the dialogue resumed and the medi-
the end of the season. No owner has hired him, fearing a commercial backlash. to be chosen. he would submit his list of ministers ation efforts have received his blessings.

11
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
THE IDEAS PAGE
Wolf Warrior Diplomacy
Besieged with multiple problems — Hong Kong, Taiwan and US externally, economic and pandemic
challenge internally — Xi seems to be returning to Mao’s Red Book
Ram Madhav
“YI PAI HU yan,” sneered the Chinese foreign
minister when US Secretary of State Mike
PompeosaidtheregimeinChinawascompa-
rabletothatof theSovietUnion—“acommu-
nist,tyrannicalregime”,buttheChinesepeo-
ple “are a great people”. The Chinese phrase
isgenerallyderogatoryandcanbeinterpreted
mildly to mean “a bunch of nonsense”.
Making a distinction between the people
andtheregimeinChinaisafavouritepastime
for many in the US. Mike Pottinger, the US
Deputy National Security Advisor, addressed
the Miller Centre of the University of Virginia
recently. Speaking in fluent Mandarin,
Pottinger recalled the student protests at the
Tiananmen Square a hundred years ago on
May 4, 1919, that had led to the Chinese lead-
ershiprefusingtosigntheTreatyof Versailles.
“Weren’t they a broadside against the
Confucianpowerstructurethatenforcedcon-
formity over free thought? Wasn’t the goal to
achieve citizen-centric government in China,
and not replace one regime-centric model
withanotherone?Theworldwillwaitforthe
Chinesepeopletofurnishtheanswers,”hetold
the students, ostensibly suggesting that the
spiritof theMayFourthMovementwouldre-
turn in China.
One should not be surprised when
Chinese leaders sneer at such suggestions.
Thosesuggestionsbetrayagenerallackof un-
derstandingaboutChina.FrancisFukuyama,
in an article in Foreign Policy, traces the au-
thoritarian history of China in the last two
millennia and aptly concludes that the so-
called revolution, if any, will come not from
thebottom,meaningthepeople,butfromthe
top — the ruling oligarchy.
Chinaisagreatcivilisation.Yet,underthe
ChineseCommunistParty(CPC),itisanation
driven more by history. China could be un-
derstood only by understanding Mao
Zedong’sLongRevolutionfrom1911to1949.
British historian Eric Hobsbawm had de-
scribed 20th century as a “short century”
spanningfromthestartof theWorldWarIin
1914 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991. The Chinese scholars further shorten it
by describing it as the “Short century of the
Long Revolution”. And the message of that
revolution is the domination of the state.
Revolutions came to China, but from the
top. The Cultural Revolution was imposed
on hapless Chinese people by Mao and his
Gang of Four. Top leaders including Deng
Xiaoping were sent away to the countryside,
so was a young Xi Jinping. Later revolutions
were led by these two Cultural Revolution
veterans. However, the two drew opposite
inspirations from it.
Deng came to power in 1979 and be-
came a major reformer. His “four moderni-
sations” led China to become a “socialist
state with market economy”. He laid the
foundations for the modern-day economic
power of China. It may be worthwhile to re-
call that when Deng began his reforms,
Aspi Chinoy
ON MARCH 24, when Prime Minister
Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lock-
downonIndia,therewere,reportedly,amere
500 COVID-19 cases in India. The situation
couldhavebeendealtwithbyimposinglim-
ited restrictions on socio-economic activity
and delineating local containment areas/
zones—thestrategyadoptedsuccessfullyby
almost all Asian countries. Such a targeted
andcalibratedapproachwouldhavekeptthe
economy alive and avoided the devastation
that has been inflicted on the livelihoods of
millions of Indians. The impetuous decision
onthelockdownneedlesslyplungedmillions
of Indians into enormous loss and suffering.
PM Modi’s “bold” decisions and his
brand of divisive politics had already pushed
the Indian economy into crisis: GDP growth
of only 3.1 per cent for January- March 2020
and an unemployment figure of 8.7 per cent.
His overnight imposition of the lockdown
was yet another “bold” decision, with disas-
trous consequences. It has depressed eco-
nomic growth to nil — perhaps even nega-
tive — and sent unemployment
skyrocketing to about 27 per cent for the
week that ended on May 3.
Given the disastrous impact that the na-
tionwide lockdown has had on the liveli-
hoods of millions of poor Indians, it is neces-
sary to look through the smokescreen of the
PM’s messaging skills and consider whether
the stringent restrictions were justified.
OnMarch24,therewere,reportedly,only
nine COVID-19-related deaths in the coun-
try. Ten states had no COVID-19 cases at all
China’s GDP was at $191 billion while
India’s was $186 billion. Four decades later,
China is five times bigger. It was a revolu-
tion engineered at the top.
But the same Deng showed utmost cru-
elty towards the student protesters at the
Tiananmen Square in 1989. June 4 was the
day when the PLA, under Deng’s orders, had
ruthlessly crushed the student protests for a
moreopenpoliticalsystem.Alessknownfact
is that behind this brutal repression was a
brewing leadership struggle within the CPC.
Deng had called for political reforms for the
effectiveimplementationof hiseconomicre-
forms. Two central committee leaders, Hu
Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, who were made
the general secretaries of the CPC succes-
sively,wereattheforefrontof draftingthepo-
liticalreformprogramme.Butwhenstudent
protests broke out first in 1987 and then the
famous Tiananmen Square protests in 1989,
the two leaders were purged by Deng. Hu
died in 1989 and Zhao was put under house
arrestafterbeingremovedasthegeneralsec-
retary in 1989.
Popular revolutions are not tolerated in
CPC-led China. But top-down revolutions do
happen. The latest revolution to export
Chinese influence far into the world began
with the rise of Xi Jinping in 2013. His rise as
the supreme leader was followed by the in-
sertion of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism
with Chinese Characteristics in a New Era”
into the CPC constitution. Its main thrust is
twofold: Making China a nation with pio-
neering global influence and building a
world-class military force.
The greatest challenge to Xi’s thought
came in 2020 in the form of the pandemic.
Internal discord seems to have been sup-
pressed. But external pressures, especially
from the US, continue. Faced with such situ-
A question about the lockdown
ContainmentzoneswouldhavecheckedCOVIDwithlessharmtoeconomy
and eight states had less than 10 cases each.
OnlyMaharashtraand Keralahadmorethan
50 COVID-19 cases. Considering these cir-
cumstances, the situation could and should
havebeencontainedbyimposinglimitedre-
strictions on social gatherings, a few curbs
oneconomicactivities,andtargetedcontain-
ment of towns and localities which had
COVID-19 cases, as was being done by the
state governments.
It is not fully realised by most that since
March 14, most states with COVID-19 cases
had, at the instance of the Centre, already is-
suedordersundertheEpidemicDiseasesAct,
empowering them to restrict social gather-
ings and commercial activities — and to des-
ignatedefinedareasas“containmentzones”
which could be sealed. This would have en-
abled targeted containment without shut-
ting down the economy. The Modi govern-
menthasnotexplainedwhyitwasnecessary
to immediately impose such a nationwide
lockdown when the states had already im-
posed socio-economic restrictions, and had
alsopreparedtodesignateinfectedareas/lo-
calities as containment zones.
If theadministrationhadbeenfocusedon
such specific COVID-19 containment areas,
instead of trying to rush into enforcing a
country-wide lockdown, the disease could
have been better contained, without any
grave damage to the economy or the lives of
millions of Indians. In fact, it is ironic that on
May 30 — after 70 days of lockdown and
when there were about 86,422 active cases
in 22 states and UTs — the Modi government
The greatest challenge to
Xi’s thought came in 2020 in
the form of the pandemic.
Internal discord seems to
have been suppressed. But
external pressures, especially
from the US, continue.
Faced with such situations in
the past, China had reacted
in a way that Sun Tzu would
describe as ‘the highest form
of warfare is to attack the
strategy itself; the next, to
attack the alliances’. When
the Sino-Soviet relations
deteriorated after 1956,
leading to Mao calling Nikita
Khrushchev a revisionist,
China had used war with
India, a perceived Soviet ally,
in 1962 to convey to the
Soviets its military
superiority.
finallydecidedtoliftthelockdownand,belat-
edly, adopted the policy of having only local
containment zones.
In his lockdown announcement, Modi
sought to justify his decision by referring to
the experience of Western countries like
“USA, France, Germany, Spain and Italy”
whichhadbeencompelledtoimposenation-
wide lockdowns too. However, this was an
inapposite reference. Instead, there were
Asian countries (Japan and South Korea)
which had showed a much lower mortality
rate, and which have successfully contained
the virus by imposing limited restrictions —
whilst keeping their economies intact.
The government’s subsequent attempts
to justify the imposition of the lockdown by
contending that in the absence of such lock-
down,theCOVID-19caseswouldhavegrown
exponentially,isbothmisleadingandposesa
false binary. It incorrectly presents the op-
tions as “lockdown” or “nothing”, instead of
an option between a nationwide lockdown
andtargeted,localisedcontainmentof social
gatherings and economic activity.
ThePM’sannouncementof thelockdown
was set in terms that gave a misplaced sense
thatallIndiansliveinproperresidentialbuild-
ings(withbalconiesperhaps)andworkinof-
fices and large factories. His speech failed to
refer to the vast majority of India’s popula-
tion that works in the non-formal sector in-
cluding the millions of daily wage workers
and migrant workers, who live in slums. For
this vast majority, the lockdown resulted in
an immediatedeprivationof theirlivelihood.
C R Sasikumar
ationsinthepast,Chinahadreactedinaway
that Sun Tzu would describe as “the highest
formof warfareistoattackthestrategyitself;
the next, to attack the alliances”. When the
Sino-Sovietrelationsdeterioratedafter1956,
leading to Mao calling Nikita Khrushchev a
revisionist, China had used war with India, a
perceivedSovietally,in1962toconveytothe
Soviets its military superiority.
Besieged with multiple problems —
Hong Kong, Taiwan and the US externally
and economic and pandemic challenge in-
ternally — Xi seems to be returning to Mao’s
Red Book. In the famous Chinese movie Wolf
Warrior II, the protagonist, Leng Feng, a re-
tired Chinese army commando, is seen res-
cuing people from a civil-war torn African
country under the heel of an American mer-
cenary. In the final scene, the fictional hero
holds the Chinese flag aloft, while the
awestruck enemy backs off seeing the flag.
Wolf Warrior diplomacy is a phrase popu-
lar in China nowadays. Aggression is the
panacea for both domestic and international
challenges, Xi appears to think.
This historical China is what we confront
onthebordersandindiplomaticcircles.India
has matured its border management and
diplomatic manoeuvres over the last few
years. “Proactive diplomacy together with
strong ground posturing” is its new mantra.
From Doklam in 2017 to Galwan Valley and
Pangong Tso in 2020, India has been consis-
tent. A mature China, that does not resort to
1962 tactics, this time replacing Khrushchev
with Trump, nor is bent upon provoking na-
tionalist sentiments back home to ward off
leadership challenges, would help roll back
the situation.
The writer is national general secretary, BJP,
and director, India Foundation
As no provision was made for their trans-
portation home, millions of poor migrant
workers were forced to remain in their
cramped huts for almost two months, with-
out employment or wages, and often, even
without adequate food.
The rationale for the nationwide lock-
downrequirescarefulscrutinyasithashada
devastatingeffectontheeconomyandlifeof
millions. Reportedly, the lockdown has seen
122 million Indians lose their jobs in April
alone. Of these, 91.3 million were small
tradersandlabourers.TheCMIEhasreported
that India’s unemployment rate is now at a
record high of 27.1 per cent, up from 8.7 per
centinMarch.Barclayshasreportedthatthe
economic growth will be zero for calendar
year 2020, and the three-week lockdown
would likely have an economic cost of $120
billion, which is now estimated to balloon
upto $234.4 billion.
ThisisthepricethatweIndianshavepaid
andwillcontinuetopayforyetanother“bold”
Modidecision.Istronglybelievethatthemil-
lionsof Indianswhohaveneedlesslysuffered
thelossof livelihoodandwages,andthevast
multitudeswhoaretrudgingalongthehigh-
ways, will soon realise the truth — the na-
tionwidelockdownwasunnecessary.Thatit
wasanexpressionof Modi’shubris, agrand-
standinggesturemadewithcallousdisregard
of itsconsequencesforIndia—especiallyher
most poor and vulnerable.
The writer is a senior advocate who focuses
on matters of public interest
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
Yet as they turned out to exercise their most basic rights as citizens, these
Americans have often encountered only more contempt for those rights from
the people who are supposed to protect them.
Crisis and a tight-
fisted response
It is not too late for governments to ensure that
vulnerable get cash in hand for next few months
Najeeb Jung and
Sudipto Mundle
SCENES OF MIGRANT labour returning
home,thirsty,hungryandhelplessshallbe
a scar on India forever. Images of men,
womenandchildrenwalkingin44degrees
Celsiusheat,ondustyroadsandfields,often
subject to police lathis, at times densely
packed into trucks and tempos, a young
mancradlingadyingfriend,amotherdeliv-
eringherbabybytheroadside,dryrotisand
stale eatables splattered on railway tracks
as bodies crushed under a train are taken
for cremation unknown and unsung, the
mad rush at disorganised bus and railway
stations, are now firmly embedded within
our minds.
India has disappointed itself hugely in
the way it handled the migrant labour is-
sue.Weforgotthattheyarenotbeggars.We
forgot that they are men and women who
come to cities with a dream of improving
theirlivesandthatof thefamiliestheyleave
behind at home. Urban India has broken
their trust. They are now the “other” we
have cast aside even as we strive to bring
back“peoplelikeus”fromacrosstheworld.
Is it not astonishing how millions were
left to their own devices to reach home
among panicking state governments and
districtadministrations?Thereisnosimilar
precedent of collective and administrative
failureanywhereintheworld.First,thegov-
ernmentstoppedthem,subjectingthemto
intense physical hardship and mental
trauma. Then they were allowed to leave
amidstgreatconfusionabouttheavailabil-
ity of trains and buses.
How could governments expect them
tostaybackinsuchhardshipwithminimal
arrangements? Why did so many weeks
passbeforethegovernmentdeployedtrains
and buses to help the migrants reach their
home states? Why could district collectors
not arrange water tankers every few miles
whenacaravanof hungry,tiredhumanbe-
ings was walking through their districts?
Whycouldfoodpacketsnotbedistributed?
Whycouldbandagesandmedicinesnotbe
providedforthosewithinjuredfeetorother
ailments?Whycouldschoolbuildings,tem-
ple and mosque premises not be used to
housethematnight?Whowilltakerespon-
sibility for this human tragedy of biblical
proportions?
Though robust statistics are not avail-
able,RaviSrivastava,aleadingauthorityon
labour markets, assesses that some 10-12
million persons may be desperately trying
to get home by whatever means possible.
While the plight of the migrant work-
ers and, in some cases, their families, is the
most wretched of all, they are by no means
theonlyoneshardhitbythesuddenimpo-
sition of the stringent, country-wide lock-
downwithoutanypriorintimationorade-
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
NOT ANGER
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘I can't
breathe’ (IE, June 3). We are caught be-
tween mass protests and global amne-
sia. In between, there are episodes like
the Delhi 2012 rape and murder or
George Floyd’s death, which shake up
our collective consciousness. India too
has many Floyds bearing the brunt of
caste, gender, religion or language. The
problem is deep-rooted and systemic.
Terming the response as “black anger”
is wrong. It is a humanitarian crisis.
Abhishek Kumar Anshu, Patna
BRIDGES, NOT WALLS
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Getting
away with murder’ (IE, June 3). The
merciless killing of George Floyd by a
white policeman has brought blacks
and whites together on the streets in a
show of solidarity. Unfortunately, in-
stead of reaching out, Donald Trump is
trying to deepen the racial divide. The
US needs bridges, not walls.
Vijai Pant, Hempur
RATING WOES
THISREFERSTOtheeditorial,‘Theslow-
down’ (IE, June 3). India’s downgrading
by Moody’s clearly illustrates that it is
pessimistic about India’s ability to im-
plementfinancialandstructuralreforms.
The agenda set by PM Modi seems pru-
dentforfiscalgrowth,butonlyonpaper.
The path is thorny, with challenges of
lowgrowth,increaseinthedebtburden
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— THE NEW YORK TIMES
quate preparation. Based on Census pro-
jections, there are at present about 450
millionpersonsintheworkforce.Of these,
there would be around 200 million infor-
malworkersoutsideagriculturewhohave
been left with no work, no income and,
hence, no food following the lockdown.
This would include casual daily wage
earners as well as self-employed workers
suchasvendors,carpenters,plumbers,etc.
Theseinformalworkers(includingthemi-
grants)andtheirfamiliesprobablyaddup
to some 600 million persons.
Given the unprecedented scale of the
humanitarian disaster facing this entire
class of informal workers and their de-
pendents, prominent intellectuals, includ-
ing three Nobel laureates, have been urg-
ing the government to launch liberal
schemes of free food and income support
for the population at large during these
critical days. One of us had earlier esti-
mated the cost of such additional food and
income support to add up to about 3 per
cent of GDP.
Against this background, the Rs 20 tril-
lion package has turned out to be a public
relations disaster. Soon after its much-
hypedlaunchasa10percentof GDPrecov-
ery package, the actual fiscal stimulus
amounted to a mere 1 per cent to 1.5 per
cent of GDP. The rest amounted to prom-
ises of enhanced credit to various target
groupssuchasMSMEs,NBFCs,farmers,etc.
Thesearepromisesonwhichthebanksand
otherfinancialinstitutionsmayormaynot
follow through. None of this is direct extra
money-in-hand for these groups which is
immediately needed. Particularly disap-
pointing is the measly allocation of Rs
40,000 crore or 0.2 per cent of GDP for
MGNREGA and only Rs 3,500 crore (0.02
percentof GDP)forfreerationstomigrants
for two months.
It is also baffling why the government
did not focus its messaging on the large,
genuine fiscal stimulus it had already pro-
vided before the latest package. The addi-
tional government borrowing announced
prior to the package, together with the fis-
cal deficits built into the central and state
budgets, the 2 per cent of GDP additional
borrowing headroom now provided for
states and the 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent of
GDP actual fiscal stimulus in the package
add up to a large stimulus of well over 10
per cent of GDP. But unfortunately here,
again, only a very small component has
been set aside for humanitarian relief
through the PM-Kisan Yojana, MGNREGA
and subsidised food rations.
Why is the government being so tight-
fisted in its support for the poor?
EvennowitisnotlatefortheUnionand
stategovernmentstoensurethatthe“outof
work”peoplegetsomecashinhandforthe
nextfewmonths.Thesupplyof foodgrains
isnotenough.Thereisneedforotheritems
of useindailylife.Besides,thiswillpushup
demand and stimulate the economy.
Jung is the former Lieutenant Governor of
Delhi and Mundle is a former member of
the 14th Finance Commission and
Distinguished Fellow, National Council of
Applied Economic Research.
Views expressed are personal
IDEAS
ONLINE
ONLY IN THE EXPRESS
● A CASE FOR BETTER
DATA:SUNIL
MITRA KUMAR
● HEALTHBEYONDCOVID-
19: VRISHALISHEKHAR &
POOJAHALDEA
www.indianexpress.com
upto 90 per cent of GDP, as also the fall-
out of the prolonged lockdown.
Rajiv Boolchand Jain, Zirakpur
IOR MODEL
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Shoring up
Indo-Pacific’(IE,June3).TheIndo-Pacific
isemergingasastrategicallysignificant
theatreof globalgeopolitics.Withinthe
larger Indo-Pacific theatre, the power
equationintheSouthChinaSea(SCS)is
asymmetrically favouring just one
country. But the Indian Ocean Region
(IOR)ismorecosmopolitanincharacter
with multiple actors closely cooperat-
ing in a collective effort to ensure free-
domof navigationandoverflightforall.
The IOR model can provide a template
for the parties to the SCS dispute.
Sudip Kumar Dey, Kolkata

12 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
Joko Widodo
INDONESIA
Courtorders
Presidentto
apologisefor
Internetcurbs
Jakarta: An Indonesian
court on Wednesday or-
dered President Joko
Widodotomakeanofficial
apology after ruling that
hisgovernment’sdecision
to rein in internet speeds
to contain civil unrest in
the Papua region last year
was unlawful. Protests
broke out in cities last
August after Papuan stu-
dents in Surabaya on Java
island were allegedly
taunted with racist slurs.
Asunrestflaredacrossthe
provinces of Papua and
West Papua, the govern-
ment said it throttled in-
ternet access to “prevent
hoaxes from spreading”
because this could trigger
more violence.
USA
Lawmakerunder
fireforincendiary
remarksloses
Iowaprimary
REPUBLICANS IN north-
west Iowa ousted Rep.
Steve King in Tuesday’s
primary,decidingthey’ve
had enough of the con-
servative lightning rod
known for making incen-
diary comments about
immigrants and white
supremacy throughout
his nearly two decades in
Congress. The nine-term
congressman, shunned
by his party leadership in
Washington and many of
his longtime supporters
at home, lost to well-
funded state Sen. Randy
Feenstra in a five-way
GOP primary. The chal-
lengersarguedthatKing’s
loss of clout was reason
enough for turning
on him.
AFRICA
Lesothoformer
firstladyheldin
murdercase
LESOTHO’S FORMER first
lady, Maesaiah Thabane,
was arrested on
Wednesday over the
murder of the previous
wife of her husband and
former prime minister,
Thomas Thabane, police
said. Lesotho’s Appeal
Court revoked her bail
last week on suspicion
that procedure was not
followed correctly when
her bail was granted.
Thabane was transferred
to court, where she wore
a fur coat and black pro-
tective anti-coronavirus
mask, a Reuters witness
said. The date for a new
bailapplicationwassetas
June 6.
COMING TOGETHER WHILE REMAINING APART
Parisians savour more than coffee as the city’s famous cafes reopen
ADAM NOSSITER
PARIS, JUNE 3
NOTHING DURING the 11-week
coronavirus lockdown could re-
placetheritual:atableinthesun
with a tiny cup of blackcoffee on
it. On Tuesday, Parisians redis-
covered their favourite moment
of sociability — coming together
while remaining apart.
Cafes throughout France
were allowed to reopen, and the
relief was universal, if dispersed.
U.S. UNREST: VIOLENCE EBBS
Peaceful protesters defy curfews,
Pentagon says no need for troops
Day after Trump threatened to deploy military, Defence Secy Esper says it should be last resort
THE NEW YORK TIMES
JUNE 3
US DEFENCE Secretary Mark
Esper said Wednesday that he
does not think the current state
of unrestinAmericancitieswar-
rants the deployment of active-
duty troops to confront protest-
ers, just days after President
Donald Trump said he was con-
sidering use of the Insurrection
Act to do exactly that.
In a Pentagon press confer-
ence, Esper said ordering active-
duty troops to police American
citiesshouldbe a “last resortand
only in the most urgent and dire
of situations”. He said that, for
now, this was not warranted.
Officials said that Trump had
discussed the invoking the
Insurrection Act but had been
dissuaded by General Mark
Milley, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, and Attorney
General William Barr.
For an eighth day and night,
tensofthousandsofpeoplestaged
peaceful protests and impas-
sionedmarchesacrosstheUnited
States, while the widespread de-
structionandlootingthathadfol-
lowed demonstrations in recent
days was largely absent.
Trump called on states to
bring in the military to restore
order and combat “lowlifes and
losers”, as an infantry battalion
from Fort Bragg was dispatched
to the nation’s capital as part of a
broader show of force. But gov-
ernors resisted the President’s
entreaties,insteadbolsteringthe
policepresence,changingtactics
andimposingcurfewstoprevent
people from using the protests
as cover to wreak mayhem.
While demonstrators in
many cities defied curfews, they
did so peacefully.
They sang We Shall Overcome
attheBarclay’sCenterinBrooklyn,
New York. Outside Wrigley Field
in Chicago, crowds chanted
“Hands up” as they raised their
arms to the sky. In Los Angeles,
hundreds gathered outside the
homeofMayorEricGarcetti,who
earlier in the day had joined the
crowdsandtakenakneeashelis-
tened to pleas. On a bridge in
Portland,hundredslayfacedown
for a “die in” intended to emulate
thedeathof GeorgeFloyd.
Former President George W
Bush on Tuesday praised peace-
ful protesters and called for em-
pathy for people seeking justice
after George Floyd’s death, say-
ing“achievingjusticeforallisthe
duty of all”.
Trump administration set
to block Chinese airlines
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, JUNE 3
THE TRUMP administration
moved on Wednesday to block
Chinese airlines from flying to
the US in an escalation of trade
and travel tensions between the
two countries.
The Transportation
Department said it would sus-
pend passenger flights of four
Chinese airlines to and from the
United States starting June 16.
The decision was a response
to China’s failure to let United
Many kept tables resolutely
piled indoors. In Paris, still offi-
cially classified as a virus risk
zone, cafes were not allowed to
serve inside. No downing the
petit noir — the little cup of cof-
fee — at the bar. On the outdoor
terraces that did open, tables
had to be 3 feet apart. And they
were not overflowing with
customers. This liberation is
too new.
Still, Tuesday brought a wel-
comehintof thelifebefore.From
luxurious carriage-trade estab-
Demonstrators being taken into custody after the city’s curfew went into effect in Los Angeles on Tuesday. AP
How Trump’s idea for a photo
op led to havoc in Washington
PETER BAKER, MAGGIE
HABERMAN, KATIE
ROGERS, ZOLAN KANNO-
YOUNGS & KATIE BENNER
WASHINGTON, JUNE 3
AFTERAweekendofproteststhat
led all the way to his own front
yardandforcedhimtobrieflyre-
treat to a bunker beneath the
White House, US President
Trump arrived in the Oval Office
on Monday agitated over the tel-
evision images, annoyed that
anyone would think he was hid-
ing, and eager for action.
He wanted to send the mili-
taryintoAmericancities,anidea
that provoked a heated, voices-
raised fight among his advisers.
But by the end of the day, urged
onbyhisdaughterIvankaTrump,
hecameupwithamorepersonal
wayof demonstratingtoughness
— he would march across
Lafayette Square to a church
damagedbyfirethenightbefore.
The onlyproblem:Aplan de-
veloped earlier in the day to ex-
pand the security perimeter
aroundtheWhiteHousehadnot
beencarriedout.WhenAttorney
General William Barr strode out
of the White House gates for a
personal inspection early
Airlines and Delta Air Lines re-
sume flights this week to China,
which were suspended earlier
this year in response to the coro-
naviruspandemicthatstartedin
China’s Wuhan province.
The Transportation
Department said that China was
violatinganagreementbetween
the two countries covering
flights by each other’s airlines.
“The Department will con-
tinue to engage our Chinese
counterparts so both US and
Chinese carriers can fully exer-
cise their bilateral rights,” the
agency said in a statement.
At a cafe in Paris. AP
Trump poses with the Bible outside St. John’s Church
Monday evening, he discovered
that protesters were still on the
northern edge of the square. For
the President to make it to St.
John’s Church, they would have
to be cleared out. Barr gave the
order to disperse them.
What ensued was a burst of
violence unlike any seen in the
shadow of the White House in
generations. As he prepared for
hissurprisemarchtothechurch,
Trumpfirstwentbeforecameras
in the Rose Garden to declare
himself “your President of law
and order” but also “an ally of all
peaceful protesters”, even as
peaceful protesters just a block
away and clergy members on
Germany to lift travel ban in Europe from June 15
REUTERS
BERLIN, JUNE 3
GERMANY WILL lift a travel ban
for European Union member
states plus Britain, Iceland,
Norway, Liechtenstein and
Switzerland from 15 June as long
astherearenoentrybansorlarge-
scale lockdowns in those coun-
tries, the foreign minister said.
Speaking to reporters after a
cabinet meeting on Wednesday,
Heiko Maas said all countries
concernedmetthosecriteriaex-
cept Norwaydueto anentry ban
and Spain, where he said parlia-
ment was deciding whether to
the church patio were routed by
smoke and flash grenades and
someformof chemicalsprayde-
ployed by shield-bearing riot of-
ficers and mounted police.
The President then emerged
fromtheWhiteHouseashemade
his way to the church, where he
posed stern-faced, holding up a
Bible that his daughter pulled out
of her$1,540MaxMarabag.
Thesceneofmayhemthatpre-
ceded the walk evoked images
more commonly associated with
authoritarian countries, but that
didnotbotherthePresident,who
has long flirted with overseas
strongmenandexpressedenvyof
theirabilitytodominate. NYT
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Travel advice is not an
invitation to travel — and
we want to make clear
that the travel guidelines
may also strongly
discourage travel...”
— HEIKO MAAS
GERMANY’S FOREIGN MINISTER
extend an entry ban.
Maas said the travel warning
would be replaced with guide-
lines, adding that Germans
would be urged not to travel to
Britain when not essential while
a 14-day quarantine in place.
lishments like the mirrored Left
Bank Café de Flore to every-
body’s grimy neighbourhood
“zinc”(argotforbar),Parisrecon-
nected Tuesday with a key ele-
ment of its urban life.
Parisians couldonceagainsit
down with one another, sepa-
rately. They could be convivial
without getting too close to one
another, a French ideal. They
could be in roughly the same
space together without ever
having to talk to one another
(only tourists talk across neigh-
SWITZERLAND
PARLIAMENT TO VOTE ON GAY MARRIAGE
Debate began in Switzerland’s Parliament on a Bill to allow same-sex marriage and to
give homosexual couples full equality with heterosexuals. Switzerland lags many
countries in Western Europe on gay rights, but is catching up. In February, voters
backed a law giving lesbians, gays and bisexuals legal protection from discrimination.
US-Indian hailed
as hero after he
opens his home
for more than
70 protesters
LALIT K JHA
WASHINGTON, JUNE 3
AN INDIAN-AMERICAN busi-
nessman, who opened the
doors of his home here to over
70 people demonstrating
against the custodial killing of
George Flyod, has emerged as a
hero after he rescued the
strangers from the clutches of
the police, gave them food and
made sure they were safe in his
house, according to US media
reports.
Rahul Dubey, who has been
living in Washington DC for the
last 17 years, accommodated
the large number of people in
his house with some adjusting
on the couch, some finding
space in the bedrooms, and
some even resting on the ledges
of the bathtub.
“There’s about 75 people in
my house... They’re happy — no,
they’re not happy. They’re safe.
They’re cheering... They’re
backing each other,” Dubey, 44,
told Esquire magazine in an in-
terview on Tuesday. PTI
“Traveladviceisnotaninvita-
tion to travel — and we want to
make clear that the travel guide-
linesmayalsostronglydiscourage
travel, for example to Britain as
long as there is a 14-day quaran-
tine for all those arriving there,”
Maas said. “We will continue to
make the lifting of the travel
warning dependent on how the
situationonthegrounddevelops.”
Matthias von Randow, chief
executive of the German Air
Transport Association, wel-
comed the government’s deci-
sion to lift the blanket warning,
introduced for travel worldwide
in mid-March, as “sensible and
proportionate”.
bouring tables to strangers, a
strictParisianno-no).Theycould
linger for hours if they needed
to: the essential difference be-
tween the French cafe and its
trans-Atlantic cousin.
On a brilliant spring day, the
momentcouldbesavoured,even
ifwithreserve,restraintandlogic.
“It’s obviously the most im-
portant turning point for return-
ing to true Parisian life,” Michel
Wattebault said.
A retired employee of the
nearby Bank of France, he was
British PM pledges to
admit 3 million from
Hong Kong to UK
HK leader: Beijing won’t back down
NYT & REUTERS
LONDON, HONG KONG, JUNE 3
BRITISH PRIME Minister Boris
Johnson raised the stakes in a
confrontation with China over
Hong Kong on Wednesday,
promising to allow nearly three
million people eligible for a
British overseas passport to live
and work in Britain, if Beijing
were to impose a new security
law on the former Britishcolony.
Johnson’s promise, made in a
column in The Times of London,
would open the door to a signifi-
cantinfluxofpeoplefleeingHong
Kong, should the situation in the
city deteriorate further. But it left
unansweredquestionsabouthow
difficult it would be for those ar-
rivalstoobtainBritishcitizenship.
“Many people in Hong Kong
fear that their way of life —
which China pledged to uphold
— is under threat,” Johnson
wrote. “If China proceeds to jus-
tifytheirfears,thenBritaincould
notingoodconscienceshrugour
shoulders and walk away; in-
stead we will honor our obliga-
tionsandprovideanalternative.”
Hong Kong leader Carrie
Lam, during a trip to Beijing, said
on Wednesday that the Chinese
central government would not
With wins in 7 states
and DC, Biden closes
in on nomination
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, JUNE 3
JOE BIDEN is on the cusp of for-
mally securing the Democratic
presidential nomination after
winning hundreds more dele-
gates in primary contests that
tested the nation’s ability to run
elections while balancing a pan-
demicandsweepingsocialunrest.
Biden could lock down the
nominationwithinthenextweek
asWestVirginiaandGeorgiahold
primaries. On Tuesday, voters
across America were forced to
navigatecurfews,healthconcerns
and National Guard troops —
waiting in line hours after polls
closedinsomecases—afterelec-
tionofficialsdramaticallyreduced
the number of in-person voting
sitestominimizethespreadofthe
coronavirus outbreak.
Biden and President Donald
Trump easily swept their respec-
tiveprimaryconteststhatranged
from Maryland to Montana and
OPENING UP: COUNTRIES EASE CURBS
ITALY
Italians were allowed to
travel to other regions of
the country on Wednesday
for the first time in nearly
three months, in a further
relaxation of lockdown
restrictions imposed to
curb the spread of the virus.
BELGIUM
Belgium will reopen bars,
restaurants and other
areas of social life from
sitting at one of the handful of
outdoor tables at L’Avant-
Première, just behind the Palais
Royal. “We’ve been waiting for
this moment with impatience,”
said his friend, Amélie Juste-
Thomas, a translator.
It helped that, with the total
absence of tourists, the street
was as “quiet as a Sunday in
August,” Juste-Thomas said.
Behind them, lingering over
his coffee in the sunshine, sat a
curatorfromthegrandestablish-
ment across the Rue des Petits-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Whypeople,firms
couldleaveHK
THE FORMER British colony
was transferred to China in
1997. However, the agree-
mentwasthatthecitywould
remain semi-autonomous,
withresidentsenjoyingmore
freedoms than those in the
mainland.Asaninternational
businesshub,towhichtheUS
granted special economic
treatment, the city has been
favouredbymanycompanies
as well as individuals.
However, the US has threat-
ened to revoke the special
treatment if China goes
aheadwiththenewlaw,and
thiscouldreducethecity’sat-
tractiveness to businesses.
With the UK offering a way
out, many individuals could
also bid adieu to Hong Kong.
back down on plans for national
securitylegislationfor thefinan-
cial hub, despite criticism.
RACE FOR
THE WHITE
HOUSE
featuredthenight'sbiggestprize:
Pennsylvania. The two men are
certain to face each other on the
presidential ballot in November,
yet party rules require them first
to accumulate a majority of dele-
gatesinthemonthslongstate-by-
state primary season.
June 8, but not nightclubs.
DUBAI
Dubai opened its shopping
malls with full capacity
following weeks of
restrictions and curfews.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea reported 49
new cases of Covid-19 on
Wednesday, but is going
ahead with plans to
reopen its schools.
Champs, the National Heritage
Institute. Farhad Kazemi was
planningtofindanotheroutdoor
terrace at noon, for lunch. It was
only about an hour away.
“It is a super pleasure,” said
Kazemi,smiling.“I’vebeenwait-
ing for this moment.”
Therelief Tuesdaywasallthe
greater as Parisians, cooped up
in small apartments, are used to
treatingcafesasanextended liv-
ing space, a release they have
beendeprivedof fornearlythree
months. NYT

13 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 2020
COULD POTENTIALLY AFFECT OUTCOME OF A BILATERAL TRADE DEAL
Indiaamong10nationssettofaceUSTR ‘Would
other corporates to come back to
probefortaxingdigitalservicecompanies operations as soon as possible’
PRABHARAGHAVAN&
AANCHALMAGAZINE
NEWDELHI,JUNE3
THE OFFICE of the United States
TradeRepresentative(USTR)isini-
tiating investigations into taxes
adopted or under consideration
by 10 nations, including India, on
revenuesofAmericandigitalserv-
icecompanieslikeNetflix,Airbnb,
Uber, LinkedIn and Spotify.
In India's case, it could poten-
tiallyaffecttheoutcomeofabilat-
eral trade deal that the NDA gov-
ernmenthasbeenlookingtoforge
with the US. New Delhi is ex-
pectedtorespondtothemoveby
submitting its responses to the
USTR, with the main line of argu-
mentlikelytobethatthelevyisin
compliancewithIndia'scommit-
ments under the 1995 General
Agreement on Trade in Services
and is applicable on all global co-
mpanies,notjustAmericanones.
While still in its initial stages,
experts said that in the backdrop
ofanincreasinglycrippledWorld
Trade Organization (WTO), the
move could signal the start of
moreunilateralactionbytheDon-
ald Trump administration, espe-
AP govt yet to transfer
LG Polymers’ proposal
for environmental nod,
MoEF&CC tells NGT
AASHISHARYAN
NEWDELHI,JUNE3
REAFFIRMING THAT the Vishak-
hapatnam Unit of LG Polymers
operatedwithoutclearanceseven
asthecasewaslobbedaroundby
the Centre and the state authori-
ties,theMinistryofEnvironment,
Forest and Climate Change
(MoEF&CC) has told the National
Green Tribunal (NGT) the SEIAA
ofAndhraPradeshwasyettotran-
sfer the company's proposal to it
despite it being required to do so.
"The unit falls under the EIA
(environmental impact assess-
ment) Notification, 2006. It falls
undercategoryAprojectsandthe
company has applied under 'vio-
lation category' for EC in 2018 to
the SEIAA (State Environment
Impact Assessment Authority).
TheMoEF&CCisyettoreceivethe
transferproposalfromSEIAA,"the
MoEF&CCsaidinitsreplyaffidavit
to the NGT.
In a separate Right to Inform-
ation reply obtained on May 14,
the Central Pollution Control
Board (CPCB) had said it was un-
awareofwhethertheenvironme-
ntal clearance would be granted
by the state or the Centre. "Envi-
ronmental clearance (EC) is not
dealtbyCPCB.However,depend-
ing of category with threshold
limit of industry it is either dealt
byEACbyMoEF&CCorSEAC,"the
pollution control body had said.
CategoryAprojectssuchasthe
Vishakhapatnam unit of LG
Polymers require ECs from the
MoEF&CC for any work that they
seek to undertake at their plant
sites. In 2017, the MoEF&CC had,
viaanotification,givenindustries
lacking ECs a special amnesty
scheme to get the requisite per-
missionsunderthe'projectviola-
tions' category.
In 2018, the Vishakhapatnam
unitofLGPolymersappliedforEC
Loan moratorium: RBI tells Services sector PMI up from historic low ‘More than half of casual
SC ‘not prudent to go for a ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,JUNE3
forced waiver of interest’
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,JUNE3
THE RESERVE Bank of India (RBI)
saidit“doesnotdoesnotconsider
itprudentorappropriatetogofor
aforcedwaiverofinterest”onthe
deferred loans repayments al-
lowed for the COVID-19 season
“risking the financial viability of
the banks it is mandated to regu-
late, and putting the interests of
the depositors in jeopardy”.
In an affidavit filed Wednes-
day in the Supreme Court in re-
sponsetoapleaforwaivingthein-
terest on the loans for which the
SENSEX: 34,109.54 ▲ 284.01 NIFTY: 10,061.55 ▲ 82.45 NIKKEI: 22,613.76 ▲ 288.15 HANG SENG: 24,325.62 ▲ 329.68 FTSE: 6,277.27 ▲ 57.13 DAX: 12,277.03 ▲ 255.75
urge govt to help MSMEs,
COULD SIGNAL MORE ACTION FROM US
■Whilestillinitsinitial
stages,expertssaidthatin
thebackdropof an
increasinglycrippledWTO,
themovecouldsignalthe
startof moreunilateral
actionbytheDonaldTrump
administration
ciallyonthedigitalservicesfront.
"Over the past two years, var-
ious jurisdictions have taken un-
der consideration or adopted
taxes on revenues that certain
companiesgeneratefromprovid-
ing certain digital services to, or
aimed at, users in those jurisdic-
tions. They are referred to as
Digital Services Taxes, or DSTs.
Available evidence suggests the
DSTs are expected to target large,
US-basedtechcompanies,"stated
theUSTR'sFederalRegisterNotice
datedJune2.Asperthenotice,the
US is probing the 2 per cent DST
that India adopted in March and
which went into effect on April 1.
The tax applies only to non-
resident companies with annual
revenuesover$267,000,andcov-
from the Andhra Pradesh SEIAA
underthe'projectviolation'cate-
gory. The state authorities, how-
ever,arenotempoweredtogrant
said clearances to LG Polymers,
and had to therefore transfer the
proposal to the MoEF&CC. That
proposalhasnotbeenreceivedtill
date, the central ministry said.
As reported earlier by The
Indian Express, the Vishakha-
patnam unit had in 2019, while
applyingtogetECfromSEIAA,ac-
ceptedthatitdidnothaveaclear-
ance for its petrochemical plant
for a substantial period of its op-
erationsbetween1997and2019.
The Vishakhapatnam unit —
from where a gas leak killed 12
peopleandinjuredseveralothers
— still does not have a valid EC.
After the incident on May 7, the
companyhadonMay11saidthat
the unit would be kept shut until
thenecessaryapprovalswereob-
tained,andthattherewouldbeno
productionfromthereeither.The
company,however, has not filed
its response in the NGT till date.
In its 2019 affidavit, the com-
panyhadadmittedthatasofMay
10, 2019, the unit did not have a
"valid environmental clearance
substantiatingtheproducedqua-
ntity,issuedbythecompetentau-
thorityforcontinuingoperations".
LG Polymers also acknowl-
edged that it had expanded the
production at the plant "beyond
the limit of environmental clear-
ance or changed the product mix
without obtaining prior environ-
mental clearance as mandated
undertheEIAnotification,2006".
The company had then also un-
dertakenthatitwouldnot"repeat
any such violation in future".
Meanwhile,theNGT,initslat-
est order on Wednesday, said LG
Polymerscompanymustassume
"clear and absolute liability" for
the loss of "life, public health and
theenvironmentbyitshazardous
activities in violation of law".
workers lost jobs in Bihar,
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh’
RBIhadannouncedamoratorium
on repayment, the central bank
said“therequirementthatthein-
terest should accrue during the ...
period is to ensurethat the losses
do not propagate to the financial
sectorinsuchawaythatsolvency
of the system falls into question
when the sector is required to be
inastrongandresilientstatetoaid
the eventual recovery from the
fallout of the pandemic”.
It said that interest on advan-
ces forms an important source of
incomeforbanksandaftermeet-
ing the cost of funds, banks also
need to sustain reasonable inter-
estmarginsforviableoperations.
■ The digital services tax, or
DST, applies only to
non-resident companies
with annual revenues over
$267,000, and covers online
sales of goods & services to,
or aimed at, persons in
India
ersonlinesalesof goods&servic-
esto,oraimedat,personsinIndia.
Theprobe,officialssaid,hasbeen
initiatedagainstotherkeytrading
partnersof theUSandismerelya
first step. Many other nations are
being investigated by the US.
"President Trump is concer-
nedthatmanyofourtradingpart-
nersareadoptingtaxschemesde-
signed to unfairly target our
companies," said USTR Robert
Lighthizer. "We are prepared to
take all appropriate action to de-
fend our businesses and workers
againstanysuchdiscrimination.”
"The USTR report is just a first
step. The US law mandates con-
sultations with trading partners
as and when a Section 301 inves-
tigationisinitiated.Indiawillalso
‘Realisation for financial
creditors from resolution of
stressed units may be lower’
Realisation for financial creditors from resolution of stressed
projects facing insolvency proceedings is likely to be lower
by 30-40 per cent in the current fiscal, ICRA said in a report
REASONSFORLOWER
RESOLUTION
■ Impact of COVID-19
`60,000 cr-`70,000 cr: Amount that financial creditors could realise in
2020-21 through successful resolution plans from the IBC
Cash with public up by `1.63 lakh cr in 2 mths
GEORGEMATHEW&
SANDEEPSINGH
MUMBAI/NEWDELHI,JUNE3
THEEXTENSIONofthelockdown
and the rising number of COVID-
19infectionsseemtohavepushed
thecountrytowardsamorecash-
driven economy. Even though
state governments have started
relaxing retail trade restrictions,
therelentlessriseincurrencywith
thepubliciscontinuingwithpeo-
pletakingoutcashworthanother
Rs 39,028 crore during the fort-
night ended May 22.
Currency with the public has
now risen by Rs 1,63,135 crore
from April 1 this year to Rs 25.12
lakh crore as on May 22. Accord-
ingtodatareleasedbytheReserve
BankofIndia(RBI)onWednesday,
currencywithpublichasgoneup
by 18.7 per cent, or Rs 3,95,484
crore, on a year-on-year basis as
against Rs 2.63,573 crore, or 14.2
per cent, in the previous year.
With the lockdown continu-
WITH THE Centre relaxing the
lockdown curbs considerably in
many parts of the country except
bigcities,theservicessector,ama-
jor segment of the economy,
seems to be slowly limping back.
The headline IHS Markit India
Services Business Activity Index
came in at 12.6 for May, up from
the historic low of 5.4 touched in
April.Areadingbelow50denotes
contraction,whileoneabovethat
shows expansion in activity.
Although the headline figure
rose from April's unprecedented
lowof5.4,thescoreremainedata
level which prior to the coron-
avirus pandemic was unparal-
leled in over 14 years of data col-
beaccordedanopportunitytone-
gotiate with the US and prevent
theimpositionof tariffsbyreach-
ing a comprehensive outcome,
onethelineofsimilarnegotiations
thatarecurrentlyunderwaywith
France,"aseniorgovernmentoffi-
cial told The Indian Express.
The Section 301 provision
gives the USTR "broad authority"
toinvestigateandrespondtoafor-
eign country's action which may
be"unfair"or"discriminatory"as
well as negatively affect US com-
merce. Adopted in 1974, it allows
theUSPresidenttoimposetariffs
orothercurbsonforeignnations.
India—inamendmentstothe
Finance Act, 2020 in March-end
—hadexpanded the ambit of the
equalisationlevyfornon-resident
e-commerce operators involved
insupplyofservices,includingon-
linesaleofgoodsandprovisionof
services, with the levy at the rate
of 2 per cent. Equalisation levy at
6 per cent has been in force since
2016 on payment exceeding Rs 1
lakhayeartoanon-residentserv-
ice provider for online advertise-
ments. This is applicable for e-
commerce companies that are
sourcingrevenuefromIndiancus-
tomers without having tangible
■ Suspension of fresh IBC
proceedings by government for
one year
■ Fewer corporate insolvency
resolution proceedings (CIRPs)
yielding a resolution plan
■ Increase in haircuts that
lenders would have to take
`1.74lakhcrore
Amount realised by financial
creditors till March 2020, i.e.
45 per cent of claims, from
CIRPs that had yielded a
MORERELIANCEON
CASHEXPECTED
■Currencywiththe
publichasnowrisenby
`1,63,135crorefrom
April1to`25.12lakh
croreasonMay22
■Withthelockdown
continuing,people’s
relianceoncashis
expectedtorisefurther
inthenext1-2months
ing,people’srelianceoncashisex-
pected to rise further in the next
oneortwomonths.However,the
pace of the growth has come
down from the March and April
levels. As per the RBI definition,
currencywiththepublicisarrived
atafterdeductingcashwithbanks
fromtotalcurrencyincirculation.
Ontheotherhand,currencyincir-
culationreferstocashorcurrency
lectionandpointedtoanextreme
drop in services activity across
India, the survey noted.
Theservicessectorisexpected
to pick up further as states have
further opened up trade and in-
dustrysegments.Retailshopsand
even malls have now been al-
lowed to open for business, pro-
videdtheyarenotincontainment
zones.Businessesinmostregions
areexpectedtorestartoperations
inJune,leadingtoimprovements
in the coming months as well.
Asperthesurvey,outputsank
sharply due to extended shut-
downs and very weak demand
conditions."Servicessectoractiv-
ity in India is still effectively on
hold, latest PMI data suggest, as
outputfellatanextremerateonce
again during May," Joe Hayes,
economist at IHS Markit said.
presence here in the country.
"India seems to be within
WTOrightstoimposethisDST,as
it does not violate its commit-
ments under the services agree-
ment under the organisation.
However, given the growing im-
portance of electronic services in
global trade, this investigation
could set the stage for more such
action by the US," said Jayant
Dasgupta,formerPermanentRe-
presentative of India to the WTO.
"Wecanexpectmoresuchin-
vestigations now, because it
seemstobeapartoftheAmerican
strategy to adopt the unilateral
routeaftermakingmultilateralor-
ganisations like the WTO almost
redundant," said Biswajit Dhar,
professor at JNU's Centre for
Economic Studies and Planning.
Theexpansionofequalisation
levythroughtheamendmentsin
the Finance Act, which came into
effectfromApril1,areseentohave
been implemented in a rush and
without adequate consultation,
tax experts said, adding that any
abeyance or any clarification on
this issue from the government
willhavetocomebeforethepay-
mentofthefirstinstalmentofthe
levy which is due on July 7.
resolution plan
08 :Number of large
companies, out of the
RBI's first list of 12 large non-
performing assets, whose
resolution primarily led to
realisation of Rs 1.74 lakh crore
`1.36lakhcrore:
Realisation from
aforementioned eight
companies alone
DHFLRESOLUTION
TOBEKEY:
In this financial year, a
successful resolution of housing
finance company Dewan
Housing Finance Corp Ltd
(DHFL) is going to be the key
determinant of the extent of the
amount the financial creditors
would realise during the year
Source:
ICRA/PTI
withinacountrythatisphysically
used to conduct transactions be-
tweenconsumersandbusinesses.
The rise in the currency with
public comes despite appeals by
thegovernmentandtheRBItouse
digitalpaymenttoolsamidstcoro-
navirus outbreak. In fact, the cur-
rency in circulation has been ris-
ingsharplysincethebeginningof
March when the virus started
spreading across the US and
Europe and fresh cases were also
reported in India.
RBI data shows that since
February 28, currency with the
public has showed an average
fortnightly increase of close to Rs
40,000 crore. By comparison, in
the 12-month period between
March 1, 2019 and February 28,
2020, currency with the public
hadrisenbyRs2.28lakhcrore,or
anaveragefortnightlyincreaseof
Rs 8,435 crore.
Bankers say that people have
been withdrawing more and
morecashandasthedependency
onneighbourhoodgrocerystores
Weak demand
hits jobs
DURING MAY, demand
for services, both domes-
tically and overseas, con-
tinued to fall as busi-
nesses of clients were
closed and footfall was
drastically below normal
levels. Employment con-
tinued to fall in response
to weak demand and ex-
pectations of further
challenging conditions.
GOLD
`47,884
INTERVIEW: CHAIRMAN & SENIOR MD, DCM SHRIRAM GROUP
THE GROSS domestic product
(GDP)datafortheJanuary-March
quarter, which showed that the
economic growth slowed down
to 3.1 per cent, may be an indica-
tive of the impact the COVID-19
pandemic and subsequent lock-
down has had on the economy.
With the lockdown having been
in place for more than 60 days
now, and likely to continue in
some form or the other till June
30, some businesses have suf-
fered insurmountable losses.
A large number of MSMEs
andcorporateshavehadtoeither
shut down operations for the
timebeingorletgoofemployees.
Some such as the DCM Shriram
Group, which has a diverse port-
folio of business, have seen the
impact soften due to its spread
overawiderange,thecompany’s
chairman & senior
managing director
AJAY SHRIRAM told
AASHISH ARYAN. INDIA
Edited excerpts: INC
How has the SPEAKS
COVID-19
pandemic and the subsequent
lockdown, affected the
operations of your company
and its personnel?
The COVID pandemic can
verywellbehereforthenext3-6
months, and we will have to be
cautious for a long time to come.
So that is one side of it. On the
other side, so if we take the agri-
culture businesses, they contin-
uedworking.Wehavefoursugar
factories, they have been operat-
ingthroughoutthelockdownpe-
riod. The state government was
very helpful in helping factories
get their inputs because the
biggest problem with the lock-
down from 24th of March was
thattruckswerenotabletomove.
However,if wetakeourother
businesses, let us say our Kota
complex, we have over there our
urea fertilisers, we have caustic
soda chlorine chemicals, PVC
plastics, and power generation
and cement. For the first time
ever, we had actually had a 100
per cent close down of the com-
plex after 24th of March, which
wasaverydisturbingexperience.
But considering the severity, we
had no choice. But I am happy to
say that around the first week of
April, our urea plant started
working and within a week, 10
has gone up, so has the require-
ment of cash. As states have now
relaxed curbs on the functioning
of retail and e-commerce sales,
the dependence on cash will
eventually come down, said a
banking source. In fact, the latest
data shows a decline in the pace.
During the fortnight ended May
8,currencywithpublicrosebyRs
49,410 crore.
Ontheotherhand,bankcredit
tothecommercialsectorhasbeen
declininginspiteofthereduction
ininterestratesbytheRBI.During
thefortnightendedMay22,bank
credittothecommercialsectorfell
by Rs 29,651 crore and by Rs
1,63,774duringtheperiodApril1
to May 22.
The RBI had cut the repo rate
by75basispointsonMarch27to
boost credit offtake and many
bankshadpartiallypassedonthe
benefits. Interestingly, after a
surge in the previous months,
timedeposits(FDs)haveshowed
a decline of Rs 22,053 crore dur-
ing the fortnight ended May 22.
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,JUNE3
DISRUPTIONINtheeconomyand
labour markets in the states of
Bihar,Jharkhand,MadhyaPradesh
andOdishahasbeen"enormous",
with at least half of the workers
losing employment in each of
theseregions,thestate-wisefind-
ings of a phone survey done by
Azim Premji University showed.
InOdisha,67percentrespon-
dents reported loss of employ-
ment,while58percentofrespon-
dents lost jobs in Jharkhand. The
number was 48 per cent in
RUPEE
`75.47
Note: Spot gold markets open in Delhi; gold per 10g, silver per 1 kg; Brent crude as of 1700 IST
days,itcamebacktofullcapacity.
Then in the middle of April, our
chemicals business, which had
alsocloseddowncompletely,also
started and our plastic business
alsostartedinKota.Gradually,we
startedtheoperationswithabout
30percentcapacity
inmid-April,andby
nowhaveinchedup
to over 60 per cent
capacityinouroper-
ations of chemicals,
plastics, and our
power generation
requirements for the business.
What would be the three basic
aspects on which government
can support your company
and the industry in these
times?
I think ultimately, the fear or
therealityisthattheentireecon-
omy size will come down. And
oneof theveryimportantfactors
whichwillkeepitmovingupand
giveanimpetustotheindustryto
start is going to be consumption.
So one is, we would urge the
governmentthroughtheRBIand
thebankstohelptheMSMEsand
the other corporates to come
back to business operations as
soon as possible, because that is
only way.
Fortunately, agriculture has
moved, its not got disrupted as
adversely. Yes, there are pockets
where the prices are very low,
whichishappeningbecauseoflo-
gistics, etc. But at the same time,
at least the movement is there.
We will have to be realistic to
see how we can get economy
back on track. There are
economieswherethecostsofen-
ergy and inputs are much lower
thaninIndia.Wehaverequested
the government that to give a
boosttoIndianindustry,relookat
WEF Davos
summit to
focus on ‘The
Great Reset’
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA
NEWDELHI/GENEVA,JUNE3
THE WORLD Economic Forum
(WEF) will adopt a new twin-
summitformatforitsnextannual
DavosmeetinginJanuary2021,by
bringing together leaders from
across the globe for in-person as
well as virtual dialogues with a
theme of ‘The Great Reset’.
Inastatement,Geneva-based
WEFsaidits51stAnnualMeeting
will again bring together global
leaders from government, busi-
ness and civil society, and stake-
holders from around the world,
butthistimeinauniqueconfigu-
ration of both in-person and vir-
tual dialogues.
‘The Great Reset’ will be the
theme of this unique twin sum-
mit in January 2021, it added.
Madhya Pradesh and 46 per cent
in Bihar, the survey showed.
Among those who lost em-
ployment,theworstaffectedwere
casual workers, with eight in 10
suchworkerslosingjobsin Bihar,
76 per cent in Jharkhand and 65
per cent in Madhya Pradesh.
At least half of the vulnerable
householdsdidnotgetcashtrans-
fers under Jan Dhan Yojana in
thesestates:45percentinMadh-
ya Pradesh, seven in 10 house-
holds in Odisha, six in 10 in
Jharkhand, and 56 per cent in
Bihar. Two in 10 households did
not get ration in Bihar and
Jharkhand, the survey showed.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
OIL SILVER
$39.25 `51,462
International market data till 1900 IST
“Ithink ultimately, the
fear or the reality isthat
the entire economy size
will come down. Andone
of the very important
factors which will keep
itmoving up and give an
impetus to the industry
to start isgoing to be
consumption”
AJAY SHRIRAM
the import levels and increase
them. So that domestic industry
gets support for at least the next
six months. That is one way in
which we can then increase em-
ployment, production across the
board.
The third, I would say, that
even among the issues that the
Finance Minister has talked
about,alargesectionwasonagri-
culture. We do feel agriculture is
averycrucialpartofIndia’secon-
omyconsideringthenumbersin-
volved.
What are your expectations
on the performance of your
company and the industry in
the current financial year?
Ithink,fortheeconomy,ifone
sees in totality, there are very
mixed messages coming in,
whether it is going to be a zero
percent GDP growth or -2 per
cent GDP growth.
These are all guesstimates
people are making based on var-
ious formula and experiences.
Thereisnodoubtthatduringthe
firsttwomonths,whichisalmost
over,therehasbeentremendous
stress on industry.
Weareseeingthingsaremov-
ing up more in some sectors. I
think it will take at least 6-8
monthsbeforewecancomeback
toanybalanceofeconomicactiv-
ity. The impact of that is going to
be lower turnover, profitability,
taxcollectionbythegovernment,
revenue on Goods and Services
Tax. So it will have an impact on
India’s economy.
The good thing is that India’s
economy is not that export ori-
ented as other countries like say
China.Thoughwemustimprove
exportsandthisisanopportunity
to capitalise on that. The impact
is going to be there.
BRIEFLY
RILrightsissue
subscribed
1.59times
Mumbai: Reliance
Industries (RIL) on
Wednesday announced
that its rights issue of Rs
53,124crorewassubscribed
1.59times,cumulatingtoan
overallcommitmentofover
Rs 84,000 crore.
UdayKotak
becomesCII
president
Mumbai: Uday Kotak,
managing director & CEO,
Kotak Mahindra Bank, has
assumed office as presi-
dent of the Confederation
of Indian Industry for
2020-21 ENS
HDFCoffloads
sharesof
HDFCLife
New Delhi: HDFC, pro-
moter of HDFC Life, on
Wednesday sold 2.6 crore
shares of the insurance
company worth a little
more than Rs 1,274 crore
through an open market
transaction.
Dattgivenadd’l
chargeas
NFLCMD
NewDelhi:State-ownedfer-
tiliserfirmNFLsaidVirendra
NathDatthasbeengivenad-
ditionalchargeaschairman
and managing director
(CMD) of the company. PTI
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

14 SPORT
@indianexpress.com
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JUNE 4 2020
THOSEMONTHS,THOSEMINUTES
Forced into an unprecedented lockdown, sport is staring at an
unfathomable despair. Indian athletes, though, have given the
country reasons to rejoice in the past.
ThefirstIndianboxertoscaletheAsianGamespeak,retiredArmyman
PADAMBAHADURMALL tellsN NITINSHARMA ofhissweat-soakedtrektothetop.

Three WI
players opt out
of England tour
ASSOCIATEDPRESS
PORTOFSPAIN,JUNE3
THREE WEST Indies players turned down the
opportunity to travel for a cricket tour to
Englandthatwillbeplayedinbio-secureenvi-
ronmentsamidthecoronaviruspandemic.
Darren Bravo, Shimron Hetmyer and
KeemoPaul“alldeclinedtheinvitation”tojoin
thesquad,CricketWestIndiessaidWednesday.
A touring party of 14 players and 11 reserves
will travel a month in advance of the first Test,
which starts in Southampton on July 8, in or-
dertoquarantineandbegintraining.Therewill
be strict COVID-19 testing protocols in place,
starting before the players fly out. CWI said it
“fullyrespects”theplayers’decisiontorejecta
call-up.“CWIwillnotholdthisdecisionagainst
these players when considering future selec-
tion,”thegoverningbodysaid.
Thereserveplayerswilltravelincaseof in-
juryorunavailability,withprotocolsrestricting
movementinandoutofthebio-securevenues.
“The new cricketing environment will take
some getting used to,” said Roger Harper, the
West Indies’ chief selector. “However, being in
England and working together for four weeks
before the first test will give the squad the op-
portunity to get acclimatised and, hopefully,
mentally and technically adjusted to the de-
mandsofthenewenvironment.“PlayinginJuly
couldbeablessingastheweatherislikelytobe
warmerwhichwillallowthesquadmoreofan
opportunitytoplayitsbestcricket.”Thesecond
and third Tests will be played in Manchester,
starting July 16 and July 24. The 31-year-old
Bravo,whohasmade54testappearances,isthe
mostexperiencedof thethreeplayerstoreject
thechancetotour.
Thematcheswillonlytakeplacesubjectto
approvalfromtheBritishgovernmentregarding
theprotocolsinplace.
SQUAD: Jason Holder (captain), Jermaine
Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Kraigg
Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell,
Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shane
Dowrich, Chemar Holder, Shai Hope, Alzarri
Joseph,RaymonReifer,KemarRoach.Reserves:
SunilAmbris,JoshuaDaSilva,ShannonGabriel,
KeonHarding,KyleMayers,PrestonMcSween,
Marquino Mindley, Shane Moseley, Anderson
Phillip,OshaneThomas,JomelWarrican.
Olympic bronze to silver screen in 20 yrs
AbiopiconKarnamMalleswaripromisestoearntheOlympicmedallistweightliftersome belatedadulation
SHASHANK NAIR
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3
INDIA’S FIRST-EVER female Olympic
medallist Karnam Malleswari is looking
forward to an authentic depiction of her
life as work begins on her biopic — in-
cluding the proud flaunting of bicep mus-
cles, a sight that draws awe and admira-
tion in 2020, 20 years after her Sydney
Games bronze.
“When I began weightlifting in 1987,
the pressure on girls to not play sports was
very high. Today girls go to gyms and put
up pictures of their muscles (on social me-
dia),” Malleswari chuckles about the
changing times. “In our time, we used to
try to wear loose t-shirts to hide our mus-
cles! Our muscular bodies were never con-
sidered an appropriate shape for women,”
said Malleswari, who has two gold medals
at the World Championships, two bronze
besides a pair of Asiad silver medals to go
with the Sydney podium place.
The year 1994, when she first became
world champion, coincided interestingly
with Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai re-
turning with crystal-studded tiaras and
sashes from pageants, shining on the
global stage.
Malleswari says while the beauty
queens, on their return home, had the
cameras following them everywhere, she
had to look for an autorickshaw at the air-
port to reach the capital’s Jawaharlal
Nehru Stadium.
The woman who broke a very impor-
tant barrier believes that she never got the
adulation she deserved. Finally, the
Malleswari story can change all that.
After being in talks since 2016, the
weightlifter’s biopic, chronicling her life
from early teens to Sydney, is set to be
made by Telugu director Sanjana Reddy as
a multilingual movie that has a reported
budget of Rs 70 crore. The script and cast-
ing are yet to be finalised.
Reddy spoke to The Indian Express
about her inspiration for making a biopic
on the weightlifter hailing from her own
hometown. “We are from Srikakulam dis-
trict, which is below the poverty line. At
After being in talks with Malleswari since 2016, Telugu director Sanjana Reddy is
making a multilingual movie that has a reported budget of Rs 70 crore.
that time, new syllabus books used to
come to us in December after all other dis-
tricts were given study material and that’s
when I first read about her. After the
Sydney medal, she became royalty in our
district. I saw her for the first time when I
was in Class IX. She had come to inaugu-
rate a government ladies’ hostel opposite
my school. As we were growing up, any ex-
ample of a strong woman would start with
Karnam Malleswari.”
Reddy would later watch Bhaag Milkha
Bhaag and felt that as a director, she was
ready to take on the responsibility of
retelling her favourite story.
“I realised the sportsperson who had in-
spired me from my school days had yet to
have a biopic of her own! I found her num-
berinDecember2016,calledherandtoldher
I was from the same place as her and could
takeupthisprojectafterIcompletedmyfirst
movie. She wanted it to be a big movie with
bigstarsandthereleaseof Dangalaroundthe
same time made her feel that she deserved a
movie of similar proportions.”
The feeling of the country having failed
to acknowledge Malleswari’s achieve-
ments came a lot of years after those days
in 1994 and is a primary reason for the
biopic to now go under the works.
Speaking about that time and how ath-
letes never chased money and fame as ac-
tively as now, Malleswari told The Indian
Express, “If I’m honest, it didn’t bother me
that much at the time. Our mind was
never in that direction. Athletes today
know that they want the money, the pub-
licity - we never had that knowledge at
the time. Our motivation was that there
were international competitions every
three months and losing in any of them
would be shameful. But at that time, we
never realised that money and fame is im-
portant as well. Yeh ab samajh aata hai (we
understand it now).”
The multiple-time world champion
from Voosavanipeta, Andhra Pradesh
touched more top-level medals than most
Indian athletes and yet never received the
“money, fame and publicity” — her words
— that those in the hyper-networked
world enjoy today.
Now with a biopic underway, the five-
feet-four former weightlifter’s only hope
is that the movie truly describes her life
and the struggles she went through in an
ecosystem where success came despite
the usual apathy in the country.
“My only request was that Karnam
Malleswari should be seen for what she is.
My struggles, my training, all the coaches
I went through - it must be there for all to
see,” she said.
Malleswari also throws a square chal-
lenge to any actor wanting to play her: “In
a boxing movie, you can show a dummy
fight, but in weightlifting you would at
least need to lift 20 kilos.
The movie needs to find a heroine who
can lift so that people can see the nerves,
the pressure of the body, the muscles. Any
actress who comes in will have to be
taught techniques, will need to train.
Making a boxing movie isn’t as hard as a
weightlifting movie,” she quips.
The Mary Kom biopic faced some be-
lated flak for being culturally insensitive
in its depiction when Priyanka Chopra was
cast instead of an actress from the region
of Magnificent Mary. Some would say that
preserving the integrity of the experiences
that Malleswari went through should be
paramount.
But biopics in India can either dive deep
into the social and cultural times that an
athlete like Malleswari had to fend away,
while being a dominant and multi-year
champion in her sport — or veer towards a
more formulaic and predictable ‘tribula-
tions to triumphs’ narrative.
“A biopic would mean a big budget. But
that budget is unlikely unless there are
some known faces. We need a star because
we’re investing 70 crore in the film and ul-
timately it has to be a balance between the
actor and the production,” Reddy says.
“Mary Kom had a wider range because
the casting had Priyanka Chopra in it. We
can do a biopic in 10 crore also, but then
not many people would watch the film,”
she added, confirming that a Bollywood
actress would be their preference when it
came to casting for Malleswari.
Donotpunish
BRIEFLY
Bundesligaplayersfor
Floydsupport:Infantino
FIFA PRESIDENT Gianni Infantino
stepped into the debate about
Bundesligaplayerswhoprotesteddur-
ing matches against the death of
George Floyd, saying that they should
be applauded and not punished.
Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon
Sancho was booked for taking off his
jerseyduringaBundesligamatchsohe
could display a T-shirt emblazoned
with “Justice for George Floyd.”
Dortmund teammate Achraf Hakimi
and Schalke midfielder Weston
McKennie carried the same messages
ontheirbodyattheweekendinatech-
nicalbreachofthegame'slawsthatled
to the Germany soccer federation say-
ing it was considering a disciplinary
case despite expressing pride in their
actions. “For the avoidance of doubt,"
Infantino said, “in a FIFA competition
therecentdemonstrationsofplayersin
Bundesligamatcheswoulddeservean
applause and not a punishment,” he
added. AP
BCAaxesBedadeas
women’scoach,but
withdrawssuspension
BARODACRICKETAssociation(BCA)has
sackedformerIndiaplayerAtulBedade
from the post of women’s team coach
while withdrawing his suspension on
allegations of sexual harassment lev-
elledbysomeplayers.Bedadewassus-
pendedearlierinMarchthisyear,tillfur-
ther inquiry after multiple players
accusedhimof sexualharassmentand
public shaming. “Based on the details
provided to the Apex Committee, his
suspension stands withdrawn,” BCA
said.However,theApexCommitteefelt
that considering the sensitivity of the
matter, it was advisable not to engage
his services for Women’s Cricket team.
ItisbelievedthatAnjuJainwouldbethe
newcoachofthewomen’steamandthe
processtoselectitwason. PTI

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis

CROSSWORD 4135 DAY TODAY BY PETER VIDAL
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
It’s a day to take You must be
stock, to work out prepared for your
where you are and mood to change by
where you’re going. this evening as the
You may feel you have earth spins and the Sun moves.
achieved enough for now, and If lunar alignments have their
I think you are fully justified in way, you may soon begin to feel
resting on your laurels, at least quieter and more solitary.
for a little while longer. Never Socially, you may therefore veer
slip into complete towards intimate encounters
complacency, though. away from larger gatherings.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
You may still be in There are so many
the thick of things, snares and pitfalls at
but gradually the the moment that it is
dust will begin to difficult to know
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson settle. One way or another, what to do next. However, you
home affairs must use up more may decide what is really
time. If it’s not a matter of urgent and tackle less
breakages and repairs, then it important issues when you
will be relatives’ emotional have more time available. That
demands which play on means that other people may
your nerves. have to wait for you — for
a change.
ACROSS DOWN GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)
1 Time for a pop festival? 2 Where a journey may start or a Remember that SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
(7,3) trip may be arranged magnetic Mars is If you are unable to
8 A gem of a girl? (5) (7) your firm ally, but express your
9 The French put a watch on the 3 He joins a biblical character - beware of over- feelings over the
reforming bishop an old slave (5) confidence. You must therefore next two months,
(7) 4 Outstanding work of art (6) be tremendously assertive, but the truth might still be
10 One of 12 odd tales about the 5 Takes strong objection to not at all aggressive. You should dragged out of you. You may
post office (7) marriage of Ted and Tess (7) be attentive to other people and therefore like to think now
11 Describing a boom in unusual 6 Potential enemy country listen carefully to their wishes, about how and when you
coins? (5) (5) otherwise your reputation must tell others what has been
12 Gear case? (6) 7 Reproduces new plans of will suffer. going on. You must prepare
14 New star I’d follow is a girl action (10) your story with care.
CANCER (June 22 - July 23)
(6)
17 They may be powder or cream
8 Empty box for crossword
addicts? (5,5)
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong There’s almost no CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
(5) 13 Maintains a rising pressure perceptible change You should get all
19 He chooses to do his duty in a (7) in your stars since financial affairs
democratic way 15 Sailor comes up a rope - this yesterday, which settled today,
(7) one? (7) means that money matters are regardless of
21 Manage an agency for 16 Ambled into a madhouse still way up the agenda. whether you’re shifting
mediums (7) (6) Psychologically, though, the currency around the globe or
22 Doesn’t lose in cutting the 18 Criminal may get cleared by a main issue seems to be the picking up a bargain at the
cackle? (5) rider (5) extent to which you lack self- corner shop. By the time
23 Simple way to obtain poise 20 Urge preparation for esteem. Try to believe in evening comes, you may begin
(4,6) breakfast? (3,2) yourself more than in the past. to feel more relaxed and at ease
with yourself — if all goes
LEO (July 24 - Aug 23) according to plan.
Jupiter and the
SolutionsCrossword4134:Across::1Spring,4Sports,9Rotunda,10Local,11 Moon make a pretty AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
Norse,12Litotes,13Inanutshell,18Section,20Inter,22Emend,23Initial,24 emotional pair and, The recent
Larvae,25Ogress.Down:1Strand,2Rotor,3Nankeen,5Pilot,6Recital,7Splash,8
Tabletennis,14Nuclear,15Hailing,16Aswell,17Drills,19India,21Trite. although the confrontation
general trend is towards good between the Sun and
fortune, I am concerned that the Moon
you may misjudge the represented a battle between
situation. Never mistake two sharply opposing
JUMBLED WORDS DifficultyLevel2s
license for liberty, and psychological pressures.
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4128

never imagine that you Hopefully, a few personal

Instructions can do whatever you want just illusions have now been
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, because nobody says overcome and you can get on
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 you can’t. with the future, much wiser —
SUDOKU 4129

theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe and perhaps a little

Whenyouare___youcannotbetooradical;whenyouare___,youcannotbetooconservative VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23) more mature.
nineverticalcolumns,in Secrecy may be
-MartinLutherKingJr.(5,..,5)
eachoftheninehorizontal essential, and I don’t PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
JUORR LOPUGH rowsandineachofthe think you should There’s a higher than
nineboxes. feel badly about average chance of a
keeping something to domestic tiff, but all
yourself. However, feelings that means is that
MYINT EILTGW DifficultyLevel
such as resentment, jealousy you must exert more than your
and suspicion should have no usual degree of charm to soothe
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; place in your emotional ruffled feathers and persuade
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; repertoire. After all, if you feel others that they have no need to
be too conservative - Martin Luther King Jr. 5s=VeryHard;6s= badly towards someone, they shout. It may take some time,
Answer: When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot Genius might feel the same to you. but you’ll get there.
SOLUTION: JUROR, MINTY, PLOUGH, WIGLET

Vol. LXIV No. 131 Printed for the proprietors, The Indian Express (P) Ltd by Ms Vaidehi Thakar at The Indian Express Press, Plot No. EL-208, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400710 and published from 1st floor, Express Towers, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021. Editorial & Administrative
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