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KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR

VIJAYAN LEADS LDF AS RUSSIA LOOKS EAST US TO SHARE 20 MN SAHA COMES HOME,
FOR SECOND TERM MORE COVID VACCINE AVAILABLE FOR
DOSES WITH WORLD TOUR OF ENGLAND

P5 P6 P10 P12

WEATHER
1.8 pc affected, rest Narada: HC to decide on
Generally cloudy sky with moderate rain.
The maximum and minimum
temperatures would be around 30 and 23
degrees Celsius respectively.
leaders’ bail, CBI plea
vulnerable: Centre move trial out of Bengal to
RAINFALL: 0.1 MM
RELATIVE HUMIDITY Continuous decline noted in active cases in past 15 days, says govt
SNS & PTI
Record 4,329 deaths
Max: 71% Min: 41%
TEMPERATURE NEW DELHI, 18 MAY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 18 MAY

L
Max: 30.8°C (-9) Min: 26.8°C (0)
SUN RISES
05:28 hrs
SUN SETS
19:07 hrs
ess than 2 per cent
of the total pop- in 24 hrs, new cases 2,52,28,996
A Division Bench of acting
MOON RISES
10:34 hrs
MOON SETS
01:21 hrs
ulation in India
has been affected
by Covid-19 so far and 98
lowest in 28 days Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and
Justice Arijit Banerjee of Cal-
cutta High Court will hear the
per cent of the popula-
tion is still susceptible or
SNS & PTI
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
ated in a span of 24
hours, taking cumula- 33,53,765 CBI’s petition of transferring
the Narada trial against TMC
THUMBNAILS vulnerable to the infec- tive recoveries to ministers, MLA and Sovan
tion, the government India’s Covid-19 death 2,15,96,512. Chatterjee to another state
said on Tuesday.
“Despite the high
toll climbed to 2,78,719
with a record 4,329 fresh
The number of peo-
ple who have recuper-
2,63,533 tomorrow.
The court will also hear a
number of cases report- fatalities, while the sin- ated from the disease petition of the four leaders

ed so far, we have been
able to contain the spread
to under 2 pc of popu-
lation,” said health min-
4,22,436
gle day rise in cases surged to 2,15,96,512, the seeking recall of the stay order
stood at 2.63 lakh, the data stated. on a CBI court’s bail order and said. Hakim was shifted to a Family members of the
lowest in 28 days, A total of 2,78,719 granting judicial custody till health facility at Presidency three arrested political lead-
according to the Union deaths have been report- Wednesday. Correctional Home after he ers went to the hospital to meet

istry joint secretary Lav
Agarwal.
The government said
that of the total popula-
tion in India, 1.8 per cent
has been affected by
Covid-19 so far and 98 per
cent of the population is
still susceptible or vul-
A man being inoculated at Sarvodaya Vid- nerable to the infection.
hyalaya, West Vinod Nagar in the Capital on The government said
Tuesday. SNS
a continued decline has
been noted in active
Wrestler Sushil Kumar denied anticipatory bail: cases in the last 15 days.
A Delhi Court on Tuesday refused to grant Eight states have more
anticipatory bail to absconding Olympic medal- than 1 lakh active Covid-
ist Sushil Kumar in the murder case of a 19 cases, it said.
wrestler, saying that he is prima facie the
main conspirator and allegations against him Continuous efforts made
are serious in nature. Additional Sessions to ramp up vaccine sup-
Judge Jadgish Kumar denied the relief to ply, says Modi
Sushil Kumar against whom a case of murder, Describing state and dis-
abduction and criminal conspiracy has been trict officials as “field
registered. P4 commanders” in the fight
against Covid-19, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
Ex-IMA president succumbs to Covid-19: As on Tuesday said localised
many as 269 doctors have died during the sec- containment zones,
ond wave of the pandemic, risking their lives aggressive testing and
while treating Covid patients. Dr KK Aggarwal, sharing correct and com-
a Padma Shri awardee and former National plete information with
President of the Indian Medical Association people are weapons to
(IMA), died of Covid-19 at the All India Institute defeat the pandemic.
of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. According to Interacting with them
the IMA, a total of 269 doctors have lost their at a meeting, which was
lives during the second wave of Covid-19. P4 attended by district mag-
2,78,719
health ministry data ed so far in the country. Cabinet ministers Firhad developed fever in the morn- them.
updated on Tuesday. Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, ing, they said. Meanwhile, the leaders'
The country report- New cases, positivity TMC MLA Madan Mitra and Mitra and Chatterjee were counsel, Avishek Manu
ed a total of 2,63,533 new rate drop in Delhi: Delhi UNION HEALTH MINISTRY Sovan Chatterjee were arrest- admitted to the state-run Singhvi, Siddharth Luthra
cases in a span of 24 today logged 4,482 coro- FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. ed by CBI on Monday in con- SSKM Hospital early on Tues- and Kalyan Bandopadhayay
TUESDAY 18 MAY 2021
hours, taking the total navirus cases ~ its low- nection with the Narada sting day as both complained of prayed the court to hear a peti-
tally of Covid-19 cases est since April 5 ~ and but they gave duty fore- operation case. A CBI special breathlessness. tion to recall an order tomor-
to 2,52,28,996, the data 265 Covid-linked fatal- most priority. court had granted them bail Mukherjee was initially row which was upheld.
at 8 am showed. ities while the positiv- He said a lot of atten- but within hours the Calcut- taken to the hospital early this Meanwhile, a petitioner of
The active cases fur- ity rate dropped to 6.89 tion has to be paid to rural ta HC granted CBI jail custody morning and brought back to a PIL asked the court during
ther reduced to per cent, according to and remote areas during of the leaders. the correctional home after the day why action has not been
33,53,765. the Delhi government’s the second wave of the The CBI counsel had sub- completion of check-up as he taken against BJP leaders Mukul
India has recorded latest health bulletin. pandemic. mitted yesterday that chief did not wish to get admitted Roy and Suvendu Adhikari,
more than 4 lakh daily This is the second minister, Mamata Banerjee there, an official of the med- both of whom feature in the
Covid-19 recoveries in consecutive day that Plasma therapy drop- had walked into the CBI office ical facility said. sting operation video.
a single day for the first the number of Covid ped from guidelines and stayed there for hours The 76-year-old minister A report on the latest sit-
time, Union health min- cases has remained So far being used as the while TMC activists went on was again taken to the hos- uation in the Kolkata Munic-
istry said on Tuesday. below 5,000 in the most effective therapy to a rampage outside CBI’s office pital later in the day and ipal Corporation’s effort to
A total of 4,22,436 national capital. treat Covid patients in at Nizam Palace. admitted to the facility as he combat Covid-19 spread was
patients have recuper- SEE P 2 India, the government The leaders’ counsel, Kalyan felt uneasiness. given to Hakim who is chair-
has removed convales- Bandopadhayay said that the “Chatterjee and Mitra man of the KMC board of
istrates from 46 districts He added that con- cent plasma therapy from court passed the order of sus- complained of breathless- administrators.
across nine states, tinuous efforts are being the country’s clinical pension of bail without hear- ness at around 3 am, follow- Political wrangling con-
through video-confer- made to ramp up Covid management guidelines ing the submission of the ing which they were brought tinued after Trinamul leader,
encing, Modi said they vaccine supply in a big on Covid-19. petitioners’ counsel. to the hospital. Both have Tapas Roy alleged a deep-
were free to innovate to way, asserting that atte- The move comes fol- The CBI is investigating the been kept on oxygen sup- seated political conspiracy
suit their local require- mpts are on to provide lowing experts’ sugges- Narada sting operation case port at the Woodburn Ward in the matter.
ments and asked them to states 15-day advance tion that the therapy, on direction from Calcutta HC of the SSKM Hospital. They Denying it, BJP spokesman,
share their feedback schedule of the pro- apparently was ineffec- which had transferred the are stable now,” the official of Shamik Bhattacharya said
about any change in pol- gramme, allowing them tive in reducing severe case to the central probe the state-run facility said. expediting the probe is labelled
icy without any inhibition. to prepare accordingly. Covid disease or death. agency in 2017. Mukherjee is also in the as political vendetta and lack
Asserting that vacci- Hailing officials, the Taking cognisance, Mukherjee, Mitra and Chat- same ward, he added. of progress is ascribed as an
nation is a strong way to PM said many of them Indian Council of Med- terjee were admitted to a hos- Following their admission “understanding” between
fight Covid, Modi said worked despite being ical Research has revised pital on Tuesday after they to the hospital, a posse of Prime Minister Narendra
myths about it have to be Covid positive while some the clinical guidance and complained of uneasiness in Kolkata Police personnel has Modi and chief minister
collectively rooted out. lost their family members dropped plasma therapy. a correctional home, officials been deployed there. Mamata Banerjee.

Poll violence: SC
to hear plea by
Row over BJP’s ‘Congress toolkit’ charge DESERTED LOOK

kin of two killed
BJP workers
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
The Supreme Court on Tues-
day agreed to hear a plea field
by kin of two BJP workers, who
were killed in poll related vio-
lence on 2 May in West Ben-
gal, seeking court monitored
probe and transfer of cases
to CBI or Special Investiga-
tion Team (SIT).
A bench of Justices Vineet
Saran and B R Gavai issued
notice to West Bengal
government and the Centre
on the plea filed by Biswajit
Sarkar, whose elder brother
was killed and co-petition-
er Swaranalata Adhikari,
whose husband was
killed in poll related vio-
lence.
The bench said that it
would hear the matter on 25
May and asked senior advo-
cate Mahesh Jethmalani to
serve the copy of the petition
to standing counsel of the state
government.
At the outset, Jethmalani
said that this is a very seri-
ous case and state has not
been taking any action into
the brutal killing of two BJP
workers, which happened
on the day of counting of votes
for assembly elections in the
state.
He said that this is a mat-
ter which requires probe by
a agency like CBI or a SIT
under court supervision, as
the state police has not been
taking any action despite a
complaint being made.
The murders took place
when election results were
declared in West Bengal.
One of the petitioners is
the younger brother of a
BJP worker, who was mur-
dered and the other peti-
tioner is the wife of the
deceased, he said.
DETAILS ON PAGE 5
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
The Congress on Tuesday
accused the BJP of propagating
a “fake toolkit” to defame it
and said it would lodge a
police complaint against the
ruling party chief JP Nadda and
its spokesperson Sambit Patra.
The opposition party
alleged on its Twitter handle
that instead of helping peo-
ple during the Covid-19 pan-
demic, the BJP is stooping to
low-level politics.
“BJP is propagating a fake
‘toolkit’ on ‘COVID-19 mis-
management’ and attributing
it to AICC Research Depart-
ment. We are filing an FIR for
forgery against JP Nadda and
Sambit Patra,” Congress'
Tauktae: Navy, Coast Guard rescue 314 people from two barges
SNS & PTI
MUMBAI, 18 MAY
Battling extreme weather, the
Indian Navy and Coast Guard
have so far rescued 314 peo-
ple on board two barges that
went adrift in the Arabian
Sea near Mumbai hours before
Cyclone Tauktae made land-
fall on the Gujarat coast, an
official said on Tuesday.
Three barges and an oil rig
with 611 personnel on board
had gone adrift on Monday.
These included accommo-
dation barge P305 with 273 per-
sons, cargo barge GAL Con-
structor with 137 personnel on
board, accommodation barge
SS-3 with 196 personnel on
board and the Sagar Bhushan
oil rig with 101 personnel on
board, a Navy official said.
While all the 137 people on
board the cargo barge GAL
Constructor have been res-
cued, 177 of the 273 onboard
P305 have been rescued so far,
research cell head Rajeev
Gowda said on Twitter.
“When our country is dev-
astated by Covid, instead of
providing relief, BJP shame-
lessly concocts forgeries,” he
also alleged.
The opposition party was
reacting after the BJP alleged
that the Congress wants to tar-
nish the image of the coun-
try and Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi by calling the new
strain of the coronavirus the
“India strain” or the “Modi
strain”.
Citing a purported Con-
gress toolkit, Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party (BJP) spokesperson
Sambit Patra said according
to the document, it is clear that
the Congress extending help
to the needy during the pan-
the official said.
“Two Coast Guard Chetak
helicopters operating from
the Coast Guard Air station in
Daman rescued personnel
on board the GAL Construc-
tor. One more Chetak heli-
copter was also pressed into
service for the SAR opera-
tions,” he said.
There is no word yet on the
progress of rescue operations
for barge SS-3 and the Sagar
Bhushan oil rig.
Images circulated by the
Navy showed destroyer INS
Kolkata picking up two sur-
vivors overnight from the
barge P305. The Navy on Tues-
day said the barge has sunk.
Navy ships were deployed
on Monday after receipt of a
request for assistance for
barge ‘P305’ adrift off Heera
oil fields in Bombay high area
with 273 personnel on board.
The oil fields are around 70 km
southwest of Mumbai.
Sixty persons on board the
demic is “more of a public rela-
tions exercise with the help
of friendly journalists and
influencers than a soulful
endeavour”.
However, Congress spokes-
person Supriya Shrinate at a
virtual press conference
claimed that there is no such
document as shown by the BJP
spokesperson and the party
was initiating legal action.
The party’s chief spokes-
person Randeep Surjewala
said, “Soon after BJP forged
the ‘fake toolkit’, all its ‘fake
devotees’ and ‘friends in the
media’ came out to set the
agenda.”
“We are going to file a case
against BJP President JP Nadda
and his spokespersons, but the
truth about their misdeeds will
P305 barge were rescued till
11 pm and the remaining till
Tuesday afternoon, the offi-
cial said, adding a Navy heli-
copter brought three rescuees
to INS Shikra this morning.
State-run Oil and Natural
Gas Corporation (ONGC) had
on Monday said barge P305
with 261 personnel deployed
for offshore drilling got de-
anchored and began drifting
because of the cyclonic storm
Tauktae.
A barge is a long flat-bot-
tomed boat either under its
power or towed by another. An
accommodation barge is of
shallow draft (vessel whose keel
is not far below the waterline)
and is used to accommodate
personnel on projects where
shore accommodation is not
available.
Offshore accommodation
barges are fully autonomous
and used mainly in the oil and
gas industries.
The ONGC had said the
not be left hidden,” he said.
Shrinate alleged that the
government's priorities are
misplaced as it was resorting
to such “tactics” instead of
helping the Covid affected.
“We never expected that the
national spokesperson of the
BJP would resort to such bla-
tant lies,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nadda hit out
the Congress, alleging that the
opposition party is a “master”
at “dividing society and
spewing venom against oth-
ers”.
“India is seeing the Con-
gress’ antics, while the nation
is fighting Covid-19. I would
urge Congress to go beyond
‘Toolkit Models’ and do some-
thing constructive,” the BJP
chief tweeted. An empty Prashant Vihar DDA Market during lockdown, in the Capital on Tuesday. SNS
barges P305 and GAL Con-
tractor were hired by them and
personnel are of the contrac-
spokesman had said on Mon-
day.
The Navy on Tuesday
Cyclone weakens,
tor Afcons, owned by the
Shapporji Pallonji Group of
Cyrus Mistry.
morning deployed the P-8I
long- range, multimission
maritime patrol aircraft to
7 dead in Guj so far
The barges were deployed join the search and rescue SNS & PTI ation.
at the Heera platform, the operations, the Navy official AHMEDABAD, 18 MAY Out of the 1,400 hospitals
largest of the ONGC rigs on the said. treating Covid-19 patients,
Bombay High, the largest oil GAL Constructor with 137 Dreaded cyclone Tauktae hit power supply was disrupted
and gas assets of the nation- persons on board ran aground the Gujarat coast on Monday only in 16, said the CM adding
al energy major, and were about 48 nautical miles north night but weakened in inten- that power has been restored
anchored to safety ahead of the of Colaba Point, he said. An sity as it moved to the hin- in 12 of them by this morning.
cyclone but got drifted and de- Emergency Towing Vessel terland thereafter. Nearly two lakh people liv-
anchored due to the gusty 'Water Lily', two support ves- At least seven people were ing in the vulnerable coastal
winds that have made the sels and CGS Samrat were killed following the cyclone areas were already evacuat-
Arabian Sea violent. involved in rendering assis- and in rain-related incidents. ed by the administration.
“We have two barges tance and evacuation of crew, Almost the entire Gujarat Banana plantations over
deployed at the ONGC rigs. he added. received incessant rainfall several acres in south and
Barge No. P305 has personnel “Navy ship INS Talwar has since last night causing dam- coastal Gujarat were flat-
onboard and 137 people on proceeded to assist oil rig age to houses, uprooting tre- tened due to the gusty winds
the other. Unfortunately, both Sagar Bhushan and accom- es and loss to standing crops. that swept through the state
were de-anchored by the pow- modation barge SS-3. Both are More than 16,500 houses coupled with rains. Thousands
erful cyclonic winds. Howev- adrift about 50 nautical miles have been damaged due to of nearly ripened Kesar man-
er, with the help of the Navy, south-east of Pipavav port, an Tauktae, chief minister Vijay goes have fallen off the trees
both the barges have been all- weather port located 152 Rupani told journalists on in Talala of Gir Somnath dis-
steadied and all the 410 per- nautical miles from Nhava Tuesday after chairing a trict.
sonnel are reported safe as of Sheva port near Mumbai,” review meeting on the situ- DETAILS ON PAGE 4
1530 hours,” an Afcons the official said.
02
The numbers may be high, but they are gradually declining
and through united efforts, we shall overcome this 2nd Wave

RAJU BISTA, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, DARJEELING

NEW DELHI WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021 ON THE PRESENT COVID-19 SITUATION IN THE COUNTRY

` 2.5K per mth, free edu for

Kejriwal appeals to Centre to cancel flights from
Singapore over virus strain 'very dangerous' for kids
PTI

kids orphaned by Covid: Kejri

NEW DELHI, 18 MAY immediate effect 2. Work on vaccine
alternatives for children on a priori-
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ty basis,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.
on Tuesday appealed to the Central While there is no know Singapore
government to immediately cancel all strain of the coronavirus or any known
air services with Singapore, saying a to have originated in the city State, Kejri-
Rs 50K aid, ` 2.5K pension for virus-hit families; free ration for 72L card-holders: Delhi CM new strain of coronavirus there is wal appeared to be referring to a
said to be “very dangerous” for chil- media report on Monday.
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE in the midst of a devastating ber of people have been pass- All those families whose dren. The report had mentioned the
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY Covid storm raging in the nation- ing through a very difficult sit- earning members died as a This new strain of virus could threat posed to Singapore's children
al capital. uation because of the coron- result of the coronavirus infec- invade India in the form of a third wave, by the variant first detected in India.

T
he Delhi government
will give Rs 50,000 ex gra-
tia to each family that has
lost a member to Covid-
19. It will also give a Covid-affect-
ed family a monthly assistance
of Rs 2,500 if the deceased is an
earning member, Delhi chief
mi n i s t e r A r v i n d Ke j r i w a l
announced today.
He also said that the children
who have lost both parents, or
single parent, due to Covid will
be provided a monthly assistance
of Rs 2,500 up to the age of 25
years. The Delhi government will
also take care of their education,
the CM said.
All these announcements
will be implemented after they
are approved by the Delhi Cab-
inet, he reportedly said.
Kejriwal also said that all 72
lakh ration card holders in the
city will be provided free 10 kg
ration this month. The poor
and needy will be provided free
ration even without ration card,
he said.
The decision has been taken
to help them cope with the
hardships being faced by them
"Every ration card holder in
Delhi gets 5 kg of food grains (4
kg of wheat and 1 kg of rice) as
monthly ration. But the Delhi
government will arrange the
distribution of 10 kg of ration
to these needy people this time
as given last year also during the
first wave of the
pandemic. The additional 5
kg ration will be given under a
Central government scheme
for poor people. The scheme will
be implemented in three-four
days,” Kejriwal said during an
online press briefing.
"The Delhi government has
come out with four such steps,
including free ration to the
needy, to help the people affect-
ed by the pandemic. A large num-
avirus pandemic. We gave a
serious thought to their prob-
lems and then decided to take
these four steps for their wel-
fare,” he said.
The CM asserted that edu-
cation of the children who got
orphaned during these pan-
demic times or lost even one of
their parents due to Covid or any
other reason would not be
allowed to suffer. All such chil-
dren will get Rs 2,500 per month
till 25 years of age and free
education.
He said there were many
families which have lost their
loved ones due to Covid. All such
families would be given Rs
50,000 each as ex-gratia payment
by the Delhi government.
tion will get Rs 2,500 as month- he said in a tweet. Reacting to the media report, Dr
ly pension plus the one-time ex- “The new form of coronavirus in V K Paul, member (health), NITI
gratia payment of Rs 50,000 to Singapore is said to be very danger- Aayog, on Tuesday said, “We are exam-
help them during these tough ous for children. It could reach Delhi ining it”.
times. in the form of a third wave. My appeal Earlier this month, the chief min-
"If a family had a male earn- to the Central government: 1. Cancel ister had said Delhi should prepare for
ing member who died during this all air services with Singapore with a third wave of Covid-19.
period, his wife will get the
amount and vice versa. If the
deceased was unmarried, his or
her parents will get this finan-
cial help," Kejriwal said.
"Now the question arises
where these funds will come MY DAUGHTER’s birth cer-
from? We have already given tificate shown as Purbasa ALL
thought to this question. We will Basu, D/o. Pravat Basu in
CLASSIFIED
avoid making extravagant expen- place of D/o. Prabhat Kumar
BY VIRTUE of an affidavit
diture. We have put curbs on cor- before Notary Public Basu as per affidavit by ARE CARRIED
ruption in various departments Bhubaneswar, I have Chief Metropolitan
which will also help save funds," changed my name from FREE OF COST
Magistrate Kolkata. Prabhat
Monalisa Behera to
the CM added. Monalisa Mohanty. Kumar Basu, Pravat Basu ON
Henceforth, I shall be
known as Monalisa
and Pravat Kumar Basu OUR WEBSITE
belong to same person.

Black fungus cases rising in Delhi;

Mohanty for all purposes.

Fresh Covid cases drop

doctors flag 'irrational' use of steroids
PTI
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
Hospitals in Delhi have reported a rise
in the number of back fungus cases
or mucormycosis among people
recovering from COVID-19 during the
second wave and it could be ascribed
to “irrational” use of steroids at
home without consulting a doctor,
medical experts said on Tuesday.
The fungal infection, which affects
the brain, lungs, and sinuses, can be
lethal to those suffering from diabetes
and having compromised immune
systems.
According to Dr Suresh Singh
Naruka, Senior Consultant, ENT,
Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals,
mucormycosis is more prevalent
among people with low immunity due
to diabetes, kidney disease, liver dis-
order, old age, cardiac issues, or
those on medication for auto-immune
disease like rheumatoid arthritis. “If
such patients are administered
steroids, their immunity reduces
further, allowing the fungus to thrive,”
he said.
Dr Naruka said he has been deal-
ing with three to four patients with
severe mucormycosis every day as
compared to one or two cases a
month before COVID-19 began.
COVID-19 kills one or two per cent
of the people infected, while black
fungus has a mortality rate of 75 per
cent, he said.
Drugs used in the treatment of
mucormycosis have severe side-
effects, and can lead to kidney issues,
neurological dysfunction and stroke,
the doctor said.
Dr Ajay Swaroop, Chairman,
Department of ENT at Sir Ganga
Ram Hospital, termed the mucormy-
cosis situation “terrible”. “We have
more than 35 cases, of which around
10 are Covid positive. The rest devel-
oped the fungal infection post Covid,”
he said.
Mucormycosis is a serious disease
and requires hospital admission.
Maybe, if diagnosed early, it might
not require surgical intervention,
Dr Swaroop said.
Amphotericin B Liposomal, used
for the treatment of the fungal infec-
tion, is unavailable at most of the phar-
macies, he said.
Dr Sumit Mrig, Head ENT, Max Hos-
pital, Saket, said 15 to 20 cases have
been reported at their facility in the
last three to four days.
“We have operated on 14-15
patients so far and four to five surg-
eries are planned for Tuesday. The fac-
tors responsible are extensive use of
steroids to an extent that people
have taken them without doctor's
advice at home,” he said. Patients from
rural areas are also coming in with
mucormycosis, Dr Mrig added.
Sugar monitoring is important. The
fasting sugar should be around 100-
110 and thereafter, the level should
not rise above 140, he said, adding
one should seek medical advice if expe-
riencing symptoms such as unilat-
eral headache, facial pain, pain in the
eye, decreased sensation on one
side of the face, bloody nasal discharge.
Dr Abhinit Kumar, Head of ENT,
Aakash Healthcare, said he has been
coming across one or two such cases
a day for the last 10 days.
Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Direc-
tor of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan
Hospital, the Delhi government's
largest healthcare facility, said steroids
should be used under medical super-
vision when oxygen saturation is
below 93 per cent.
The hospital said it has four cases
of mucormycosis currently.
“All these patients have been
referred here from private hospitals
and nursing homes, which did not
have Amphotericin B for their treat-
ment,” he said, adding LNJP has
stock of three months.
Before COVID, the drug was not
being used much. Now, the demand
has risen, leading to a shortage of it,
Dr Kumar said.
Dr Yudhyavir, Assistant Professor
(Anaesthesiology and Critical Care),
AIIMS, said the drug is not commonly
available and is manufactured in
lesser quantities.
He said steroids reduce inflam-
mation in the lungs, but also reduce
immunity and increase blood sugar
levels in both diabetics and non-dia-
betic Covid patients.
This is leading to an explosion in
the number of black fungus cases.
“This time people are aware of a
lot of steroids being used in treatment
of COVID and are using them with-
out medical supervision. Even some
administration officials are pro-
moting use of steroids, which is dan-
gerous, and leading to cases of
mucormycosis,” the doctor said.
Another official from the central
government-run hospital said the
healthcare facility has around 30
mucormycosis patients at present.
Dr Mohit Agarwal, Additional
Director and Head of Medical Oncol-
ogy Department, Fortis Hospital,
Shalimar Bagh, said people have
been self-medicating without con-
sulting a doctor.
“Some patients have been taking
medicines that doctors had pre-
scribed to their friends or family
members earlier. This is leading to
inadvertent use of steroids.”
The increase in the number of
“black fungus” cases this year can be
attributed to the high COVID case-
load and more severe cases during
the second wave. “The use of steroids
has increased because of limitations
of resources,” Dr Agarwal said.
to 4,482 in Capital; 265
deaths recorded
SNS & PTI
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
Delhi today logged 4,482
coronavirus cases ~ its
lowest since April 5 ~ and
265 Covid-linked fatalities
while the positivity rate
dropped to 6.89 per cent,
according to the Delhi
government’s latest health
bulletin.
This is the second con-
secutive day that the num-
ber of Covid cases has
remained below 5,000 in
the national capital.
The Covid situation
has been improving in
Delhi with the number of
cases and positivity rate
going down steadily over
the past few days. Medical
experts have held the
lockdown as the main
factor behind this dip
amid the raging second
wave of the Covid pan-
demic.
Delhi chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal had last
Sunday announced the
extension of the month-
long lockdown in the city
till May 24, saying the
gains made so far in com-
bating the coronavirus
cannot be allowed to be
lost now.
At 6.89 percent, today’s
Covid positivity rate in
the city is the lowest since
April 7 when it had stood
at 6.1 percent. The num-
ber of new infections is the
lowest since April 5 when
3,548 people were diag-
nosed with the disease,
according to government
data. However, the lower
number of fresh cases
was detected from rela-
tively lesser number of tests
~ 65,004.
Delhi had reported
4,524 cases yesterday,
6,456 on Sunday, and
6,430 last Saturday.
The positivity rate was
8.42 percent yesterday,
10.40 percent on Sunday,
and 11.32 per cent last Sat-
urday. On April 22, a pos-
itivity rate of 36.2 per cent,
the highest so far, was
recorded.
The national capital
had reported 340 Covid
deaths yesterday, 262 on
Sunday, and 337 last Sat-
urday. It had logged 448
Covid deaths ~ the high-
est so far ~ on May 3.
According to today’s
health bulletin, as many
as 9,403 people recov-
ered from the infection
during the last 24 hours.
There are 50,863 active
cases and 31,197 of these
patients are in home iso-
lation, it said.
The number of Delhi’s
Covid caseload mounted
to 14,02,873 and its death
toll rose to 22,111, the bul-
letin said. Over 13.29 lakh
people have recovered
from the infection in the
city so far, it stated. Of the
24,305 hospital beds meant
for coronavirus patients
in the city, 9,906 were
vacant, it claimed.
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HC declines Kalra’s plea for speedy

decision on bail by trial court;says
let law take its own course
PTI
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
The Delhi High Court on Tues-
day declined to direct an expe-
ditious decision on the bail
plea of businessman Navneet
Kalra, arrested in connection
with alleged black marketing
of oxygen concentrators, say-
ing “let the law take its own
course”.
Justice Subramonium Prasad
also declined to interfere with
the observations made by a ses-
sions court while dismissing
Kalra's anticipatory bail plea,
saying the Supreme Court has
already laid down the law with
regard to observations made by
courts and their reporting by
media organisations.
The high court declined to
grant the reliefs sought on
behalf of Kalra, represented
by senior advocateVikas Pahwa,
saying that he had moved an
anticipatory bail plea which has
become infructuous due to
his arrest and therefore, noth-
ing remains in the matter.
Pahwa had made two oral
prayers, at the start of hearing
on Tuesday, that directions be
issued to the trial court con-
cerned to decide his client's bail
plea expeditiously and sec-
ondly, to expunge the obser-
vations made against Kalra by
the sessions court as due to his
arrest he can no longer chal-
lenge the order denying him
anticipatory bail.
A Delhi court on Monday
remanded Kalra to three days
of police custody, saying his cus-
todial interrogation is required
in connection with alleged
black marketing and hoarding
of oxygen concentrators amid
the coronavirus pandemic.
He was apprehended from
Gurugram on Sunday night
and was formally arrested on
Monday. He was on the run for
over a week since the seizure
of 524 oxygen concentrators
from Khan Chacha, Town Hall,
and Nege & Ju restaurants
owned by him.
He was apprehended two
days after the high court on May
14 declined to grant him any
interim protection from arrest
while his plea for anticipatory
bail was pending before it.
While the sessions court
denied him anticipatory bail on
May 13, a magisterial court on
the same day granted bail to an
arrested employee of upscale
restaurant Town Hall, owned by
Kalra, in connection with the
case.
Four employees of Matrix
Cellular company, including its
CEO and vice president, who
were also arrested in the case
are also out on bail.
Kalra had bought the con-
centrators from Matrix Cellu-
lar which had imported them.
On May 5, a case was reg-
istered against Kalra under
Section 420 (cheating), 188
(disobedience to order duly
promulgated by public ser-
vant), 120-B (criminal con-
spiracy) and 34 (common inten-
tion) of the Indian Penal Code.
 03
Cries for beds, ventilators, oxygen and
drugs are echoing in wilderness.
SENIOR CONGRESS LEADER M VEERAPPA MOILY
SLAMMING THE CENTRE OVER ITS HANDLING OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021

115 cases of black fungus Govt officers living in ivory towers,not alive to Covid situation: HC
PTI Navin Chawla which castigated ment to get millions of vac- It added, Does your offi-

reported in Haryana
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
COVID-19 has not spared
even a single family and still
central government's officers
State govt sets up 20-bed wards in all medical colleges in a bid to control are living in “ivory towers”
oblivious of ground realities,
this fungal infection observed the Delhi High Court
which on Tuesday was of the
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE health, Rajeev Arora, said a view that manufacturing of
CHANDIGARH, 18 MAY committee to review any dis- Sputnik V vaccine in India is
obeying by any person, insti- giving an opportunity to the
the Centre for not being alive
to the pandemic situation
that is taking so many lives.
The bench said the col-
laboration of Panacea Biotec
with Russian Direct Investment
Fund (RDIF) for manufac-
turing of Sputnik V vaccine
should be seen as an oppor-
tunity to ensure its usage here
and in such matters instruc-
tions are to be taken from the
cines and it should use this as
a window.
Otherwise, deaths will con-
tinue to happen. Every day
you are castigated by each and
every court and still you are
not awake.
Which bureaucrat is giv-
ing you instructions. Is he not
alive to the situation? God
bless this country. That is why
we are facing this situation.
cer not see so many deaths
are taking place in the coun-
try and we are short of vac-
cines. Your client is not alive
to the situation.
The bench, which was
critical of the Centre's stand
on the issue, said You (gov-
ernment) are so short of vac-
cines and you are not taking
it through. May be it is an
opportunity for you. Don't be

W
ith 115 cases of tution or organisation of the nation staring at shortage of highest authorities that too In such matters instructions so negative. It is like a rag-
black fungus get- notification or any order issued vaccines. within 30 minutes. are to be taken from the ing fire and nobody is both-
ting reported in under these regulations will God bless this country, It said “no one is applying highest authorities that too ered. You people don't under-
the state, Haryana be constituted under chair- was another remark of a bench its mind” when there is an within 30 minutes, the bench stand the larger picture or
health minister, Anil Vij, on manship of the civil surgeon of Justices Manmohan and opportunity for the govern- said. what.
Tuesday said the state gov- in each district.
ernment has prepared 20- Speaking on the matter, he

bed wards in all the medical
colleges in the state to control
black fungus, also known as
mucormycosis, where spe-
cialists will treat patients suf-
fering from the disease.
Vij said all the district med-
ical officers of the state have
been directed to refer black fun-
gus patients to the nearby
medical college immediate-
ly for treatment.
Medical colleges have all
facilities and specialist doc-
tors for treating black fungus.
So far 115 cases of black fun-
gus have been reported in
the state.
The Haryana government
has adequate medicines for the
treatment of black fungus.
The Central government is also
importing injections against
this infection from abroad, out
of which Haryana will also get
some doses, Vij said.
Mucormycosis, also known
as black fungus, is not a new
infection but the number of
its cases has increased due to
the Covid-19 surge. The pos-
sibility of fungal infection
increases in patients who are
diabetic, Covid positive and
are taking steroids.
Several states have flagged
cases of Covid-triggered
mucormycosis, especially
among patients who are dia-
betic.The Haryana health
minister said the Covid-
induced lockdown has led to
a decrease in coronavirus
cases in the state. On the day
the lockdown was announced
in Haryana, 16000 cases were
reported in the state but today
the number has come down
to 7500.Meanwhile, taking
note of the suspected outbreak
of the dangerous epidemic dis-
ease, black fungus, among
immune-compromised
patients, especially Covid
patients, the Haryana gov-
ernment has made certain
regulations, which if not
adhered to, necessary action
will be taken against the delin-
quent person or institution as
per Section 3 of the Epidem-
ic Diseases Act, 1897.
The state government’s
additional chief secretary,
said that these regulations
may be called ‘The Haryana
Epidemic Diseases (mucormy-
cosis) Regulations, 2021’ and
shall remain valid for one
year from the date of publi-
cation.He said mucormyco-
sis (black fungus) is a serious
but rare fungal infection
caused by a group of molds
called mucormycetes. These
molds live throughout the
environment. It mainly affects
people who have health prob-
lems or take immunosup-
pressive drugs (medicines
that lower the body's ability
to fight germs and sickness).
Patients are advised to seek
early treatment, control dia-
betes, take steroids only if
these are essential, and that
there is no need for anti-fun-
gal prophylaxis, Arora said.
TENDER
HIMACHAL PRADESH
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
*NOTICE INVITING TENDER*
Sealed item rate/percentage rate tender on Form No. 6&8 are hereby invited by the Executive Engineer, Arki Division, HP, PWD. Arki on behalf of
the Governor of Himachal Pradesh for the following works from the competent (In this regard the decision of the Executive Engineer shall be final) contrac-
tors enlisted with HP, PWD in appropriate class whose registration stood renewed as per revised instruction and also registered dealers under the Himachal
Pradesh sales Tax Act, 1968. The application for tender form will be received on 18.06.2021 upto 4.00 P.M. The tender form will be issued on 19.06.2021.
upto 4.00 P.M. The tender form will be received on 21.06.2021. up to 10.30 A.M. and will be opened on the same day at 11.00 A.M. in the presence of the
contractors or their authorized representative who may like to be present. The form can be had from this office against cash payment as shown below (Non
refundable) during the working hours on 18.06.2021 The earnest money should be deposited in the shape of National Saving certificate, Time deposit/Post
Office saving bank account in any of the Post Office in H.P. duly pledged in the name of the Executive Engineer, Arki Division, HP, PWD. Arki and tender
form will be issued only those contractors who will deposit the Earnest Money at the time of sale of tender. The conditional tenders shall not be entertained.
If holiday is declared suddenly by the govt. on the above date due to some reason the tender shall be received and opened on the next working day. The
intending contractors/firms will have to produce all required documents at the time of making application such as Income Tax clearance certificate for the
proceeding year, registration/renewal of registration and sales tax number (Under H.P.G.S.T.) Act. Special care should be taken to write the rates both in fig-
ures and in words, failing which their tender will be rejected. No tender form shall be issued to the contractors/firms who have already two works in HP.PWD.
The offer of the tender shall remain open for 120 days from the date of opening of the tender. The Executive Engineer reserves the right to accept or reject
the tender without assigning any reason.
S.No. Name of work Estimated Earnest Form Cost of Time
cost. money form
1. C/o Banlighatti to Kalimata Mandir Pajina Kuffer Km. 0/0 to 5/0(SH:-P/L bitumenious concrete 30mm 4,20,412/- 8500/- 6&8 350/- 1Months
thick in Km. 3/500 to 3/900

H’yana govt gears up to curb HP Cong protests Thakur 2. C/o Banlighatti to Kalimata Mandir Pajina Kuffer Km. 0/0 to 5/0(SH:-P/L bitumenious concrete 30mm 4,20,412/- 8500/- 6&8
thick in Km. 3/900 to 4/300
350/- 1Months

Covid spread in rural areas govt’s Covid ‘mishandling’

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 18 MAY
The Haryana government has
launched a campaign to con-
tain any spike in Covid-19
cases in villages.
Haryana Chief Minister,
Manohar Lal Khattar, after
taking stock of the situation,
on Tuesday directed all deputy
commissioners to undertake
the campaign on a war foot-
ing.While directing the admin-
istration to mop up all resources
to take the challenge head-on,
the CM said in no case the pan-
demic would be allowed to
spread its wings in villages.
He said that an atmos-
phere of positivity needs to be
fostered in villages and the state
government in any case must
not fall short of contributing
to it.
While directing that there
should be absolutely no slack-
ness in the door-to-door
screening of Covid patients,
the CM directed that ade-
quate infrastructure must be
in place well in time not only
to treat the patients but to pre-
vent further spreading of the
virus.Khattar, who has been
monitoring the day-to-day
situation, has also directed
strict adherence to the "test,
track and treat" strategy to com-
bat the threat under which
patients with mild to moder-
ate symptoms are put under
home isolation for which the
state government would pro-
vide "home isolation kit" con-
taining oximeters and essen-
tial medicines.
This apart, multi-discipli-
nary teams comprising trainee
doctors, Asha and Anganwa-
di workers have been rushed
to the ground to make sure that
every villager is taken care of.
The CM has also directed
that every village should have
an isolation centre for which
the dharmashalas, govern-
ment schools or Ayush cen-
tres could be used and
equipped with all essential
infrastructure.
Every gram panchayat with
a population of up to 10,000
would be given Rs 30,000 each
whereas those above 10,000
population would receive Rs
50,000 each for making basic
arrangements.
While more than 1.5 lakh
Rapid Antigen Test kits have
been distributed the CM has
directed that the supply of kits
must continue uninterrupt-
ed so that the medical teams
could go cracking with the
remedial steps.
Under the Haryana Vill-
lagers General Health Check-
up scheme, yesterday 2095 vil-
lages across the state were cov-
ered under the Rapid Antigen
Test and 2958 persons were
found positive. Up till now 10
lakh people have been checked
in the state.
Meanwhile, an official
spokesperson said that while
taking stringent measures to
curb overcharging done by pri-
vate hospitals and ambulance
operators during this hour of
crisis has not only capped
the hospitals and ambulance
rates. The government has
also appealed to the general
public that if a private hospi-
tal or ambulance operator
charges more than the capped
rates, then they should imme-
diately lodge a complaint so
that legal action can be taken
against such violators.
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 18 MAY
Himachal Pradesh Congress
on Tuesday staged a protest
against the BJP government
for failing to handle Covid
situation in the state effectively
and urged the government to
make the registration process
for Covid vaccination easier.
After staging a protest at the
historic Ridge ground, state
Congress chief Kuldeep Singh
Rathore said the BJP govern-
ment failed to take pre-emp-
tive measures to check the
spread of Coronavirus in the
state, resulting in the present
situation.
“And now the vaccination
process is moving at slow
pace as Himachal is not get-
ting adequate supply of Covid
jabs.
Besides, the registration
process for getting Covid jabs
is quite difficult due to which
youths in rural areas, being less
tech savvy, are facing many
issues and they aren’t able to
register themselves,” he added.
He called on the state gov-
ernment to make the regis-
tration process an easier one
and said the government
should go for global tender-
ing to acquire vaccines to
ensure speedy vaccination of
vulnerable population in the
state.
He blamed the Union gov-
ernment for failing to take
adequate steps to counter the
second wave after Covid’s first
wave and stated that it was the
reason that while foreign
countries had been able to curb
the spread of virus, India was
still battling to bring the sit-
uation under control.
He expressed concern over
the sudden spike in Covid
cases in Himachal and said if
the infection reaches our vil-
lages, then the situation will
become quite grim in the
state.
“The state government
should increase testing for
Covid and efforts should be
made for door-to-door test-
ing in rural areas of the state
as these areas already face the
problem of poor healthcare
facilities,” he stated.
Rathore further stated that
the government should also
focus on reducing test reports
time and the reports, ideally
should not be delayed by
more than 24 hours.
He accused the state gov-
ernment of hiding the num-
ber of deceased due to Covid
and added that many hospi-
tals in the state were facing
acute shortage of oxygen, ven-
tilators and other medical
equipment.
3. C/o Banlighatti to Kalimata Mandir Pajina Kuffer Km. 0/0 to 5/0(SH:-C/o R.C.C. hume pipe culvert with 1,47,429/- 3000/- 6&8 350/- 1Months
wing wall at RD 4/560
4. C/o link road to village Giana Km. 0/0 to 0/675(SH:-C/o V shape drain in Km. 0/0 to 0/620 1,35,192/- 2800/- 6&8 350/- 1Months
5. C/o link road from Kanswala to Changer Km. 0/0 to 2/0(SH:- P/L Kharanja stone soling in Km. 0/0 to 1,44,277 3000/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
0/500
6. C/o link road from Giana to Barog via Ghumari Km. 0/0 to 2/0(SH:-P/L soling G-I in Km. 0/600 to 1/000 1,33,331/- 2700/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
7. C/o link road from Syarli to Bambali Km. 0/0 to 2/0(SH:-C/o RCC hume pipe with wing wall at Rd 1,47,429/- 3000/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
0/080)MMGSY
8. C/o link road from Syarli to Bambali Km. 0/0 to 2/0(SH:-C/o RCC hume pipe with wing wall at Rd 1,47,429/- 3000/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
0/480)MMGSY
9. C/o Thanger Harthu road Km. 0/0 to 3/0(SH:-C/o RCC hume pipe culvert with wing wall at RD 0/650 1,98,502/- 4000/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
& 1/350
10. C/o link road to village Duh in G.P.Mamligh Km. 0/0 to 1/500(SH:-C/o essential parapets in Km. 0/0 to 1,53,474/- 3100/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
0/750
11. C/o link road to village Duh in G.P.Mamligh Km. 0/0 to 1/500(SH:-C/o essential parapets in Km. 0/0 to 1,53,474/- 3100/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
0/750
12. A/R & M/o to J.E office HP,PWD,Shalaghat, Division, Arki, Solan(SH:-Jeffry and Gate at 3,18,966/- 6400/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
HP,PWD,office at Shalaghat
13. C/o Shalaghat Dadhogi road Km.0/0 to 5/0(SH:-C/o R/wall at RD 9/440 to 9/450 2,32,501/- 4700/- 6&8 350/- 2Months
TERMS & CONDITIONS:- The tender documents shall be issued only to those contractors/firms who fulfill the following criteria:-
1. The latest renewal of enlistment/proof of valid registration and income tax clearance certificate/Permanent Account Number (PAN) must accompany the
request for obtaining the tender documents.
2. The contractor should be registered under H.P. General Sale Tax Act.1968 and a proof there.of.must.accompany the request for obtaining the tender
documents.
3. The applications for obtaining tender documents must be accompanied with earnest money in the shape of National Saving certificate/Time deposit
account in any of the Post Office in H.P./F.D.R. from any Nationalized Bank duly pledged in favour of the Executive Engineer. Tender applications
received without Earnest Money shall not be entertained and out rightly rejected and no tender form will be issued.
4. Ambiguous/telegraphic/Conditional tenders or tender by fax/E-mail shall not be entertained/considered and will summarily be rejected.
5. The Assistant Engineer, reserve the right to reject/cancel any or all the tenders without assigning any reasons.
6. The offer of the tender shall remain valid upto 120 days after the opening of tender.
0827/2021-2022 HIM SUCHNA AVAM JAN SAMPARK
Himachal Pradesh,
Jal Shakti Vibhag
E-Procurement Notice
* SHORT TERM NOTICE FOR Bids (IFB)*
The Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Division Dharamshala District Kangra (HP) on behalf of Governor of Himachal Pradesh invite the item rate/lump sum contract
bids from the eligible contractors/Firms. Bidders should be registered with Central Govt. or State Govt. or Central Govt. or State Government under takings. The
Contractor/Firm who have experience in construction of similar work and have established organization for taking up such work and who satisfy the qualification criteria
of bid document need only apply. The scope of the work will be as under:-
Sr. Name of work Estimated EMD Cost of Time
No. cost tender limit
form
1 A/R & M/O Decentralized Sewerage System based on Root Zone Treatment Technology to Dharamshala Town Rs. 1952124/- Rs. 36780/- Rs. 400/- One
in Tehsil D/Shala Distt. Kangra (H.P).(SH:- Operation, repair & maintenance of complete sewer Network, year
Manholes, Flushing tanks and STP old Charri road 200KLD & Ramnagar 30KLD capacity for one year.
1. The offer should be for the complete job.
2. Availability of bid document and mode of submission:- The bid documents is available online and bid should be submitted in online mode on website https://hpten-
ders.gov.in. For submission of bids, the bidder is required to have Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) from one of the authorized certifying Authorities (CA). "Aspiring bid-
ders who have not obtained the user ID and password for participating in e-tendering in HPIPH may obtain the same from the website https://hptenders.gov.in. Digital sig-
nature is mandatory to participate in the e-tendering. Bidders already possessing the digital signature issued from authorized CAs can use the same in this tender.
3. Schedule of tendering
1 Key dates:-
a) Date of online publication 13.05.2021 at 11.00 A.M
b) Period of availability of bidding documents on website https://hptenders.gov.in. 13.05.2021 at 11.00 A.M Up to 28.05.2021at 11:00 A.M

HP govt requisitions pvt hosps for Covid patients

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 18 MAY
Himachal Pradesh chief min-
ister Jai Ram Thakur on Tues-
day said the government has
decided to requisition pri-
vate hospitals both within
and outside the state for
ensuring that the patients do
not face any inconvenience in
getting treatment.
Thakur said for this, the
state government had
approved charges for private
hospitals as per facilities being
provided to the patients.
Rs 800 per bed per day will
be provided for ordinary beds
whereas Rs 4000 would be
given for oxygenated bed per
day in these hospitals.
The state government has
also decided that the private
hospitals within and outside
the state will be provided Rs
9000 per ICU bed per day for
the Covid-19 patients, he said,
adding the decision will facil-
itate Covid patients in getting
better treatment and they
will not have to suffer for the
want of beds.
He stated that besides, the
state government will pro-
vide dead body vans to carry
the deceased to their native
places so that people do not
face any inconvenience.
Thakur also dedicated
Makeshift Dedicated Covid
Health Centre (DCHC) Radha
Swami Satsang Byas at Khali-
yar in Mandi district today and
the facility has 200 oxygenated
beds, 20 bedded critical
patients ward and central
oxygen supply.
The DCHC also has an on
the spot lab facility which
would be manned by 140
health personnel.
Thakur stated that the 200
bedded makeshift hospital
will go a long way in provid-
ing better health care facili-
ties to the Covid-19 patients
and another prefabricated
hospital with 100 beds capac-
ity was coming up at Bhangro-
tu.“The sharp increase in
number of Covid-19 patients
is a matter of serious concern
and to cope up with the ever
increasing demand of beds for
Covid patients, the government
has constructed pre-fabri-
cated Covid hospitals at Shim-
la, Kangra and Nalagarh,” the
CM said.
He further stated that the
health workers should remain
in constant touch with the
patients in home isolation so
that their conditions could be
monitored regularly.
The health workers must
ensure that in case the con-
dition of patients in home iso-
lation deteriorates they should
be immediately shifted to
hospitals.He asked the MLAs
and other elected represen-
tatives to work proactively in
providing assistance and help
to the patients in home iso-
lation.The MLAs should also
personally provide the health
kits being provided to the
Corona patients under home
isolation and motivate the
general public to strictly
adhere to the SoPs and guide-
lines.
c) Date of submission of e-tender 17.05.2021 at 10.00 AM. Up to 28.05.2021 at 11:00 A.M
2 Opening of bids: The bids will be opened online by the authorized officer at the
appointed time.
a) Time and date for opening of bid 28.05.2021 At 11.30 A.M
b) Officer inviting bids. Designation: The Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Division Dharamshala
4. Terms and conditions:- The offer should be for complete job of construction of scheme.
(A) The e-tender documents shall be uploaded online in 2 covers:-
Cover-I shall contain scanned copies of "eligibility information".
Cover-2 shall contain "Financial Bid" on the prescribed form.
(B) Cover-I shall contain scanned copies of following "eligibility information" (scanned copies to be uploaded) on the website https://hptenders.gov.in at the appropriate
place.
(i) Bid security/Earnest money amounting to Rs. 36780/- (Rs. Thirty six thousand Seven hundred eighty )only deposited through e-payment mode in ICICI bank
authorized by the Govt. Of HP as well as cost of tender form. Bank guarantee submitted as bid security shall be valid for 45 days beyond the validity of the bid. Bid
security of unsuccessful bidders shall be refunded as promptly as possible within 45 days after the expiry of the validity of bid..
Eligibility Criteria:-
1. The bidder/contractor/firm should be registered with central Govt. or State Government department or Central/State Government under Taking.
2. The contractor/firm must have registered under GST/EPF/ESIC/Income Tax and latest clearance certificate thereof.
3. The lowest bidder must got himself registered with HPIPH Department before the acceptance of tender.
(A) The contractor/firm must have successful experience of construction or maintenance of STP base on constructed wet land Sewage Treatment Technology
(B) Name of firm, addresses, telephone number, mobile No., Fax No., E-main ID.
(C) Labour license issued from the competent authority.
(D) An affidavit that the Firm have not ever been black listed by any government/semi-government/board/Corporation/Private organization.
(E) Cover-2 shall contain BOQ where contractor will quote his offer for each item.
(F) The tender of the contractor/firm who fail to fulfill the eligibility information will be summarily rejected.
5. Bid Opening Details:
The bid shall be opened on 28.05.2021 at 11.30 AM in the office of Executive Engineer JSD Division, Dharamshala by the authorized officers. If the office happens
to be closed on the date of opening of the bid as specified, the bid will be opened on the next working day at the same time and vanue.
6. The bids for the work shall remain valid for acceptance for a period not less than 120 days after the dead line date for bids submission.
7. Other details can be seen in the bidding documents. The officer inviting tender shall not be held liable for any delays due to system failure beyond its control. Even
though the system will attempt to notify the bidders of any bid updates, the employers shall not liable for any information not received by the bidders. It is the bidder's
responsibility to verify the website for the latest information related to the tender.
8. The tenders of the contractor/firms who fail to fulfill the eligibility information will be summarily rejected.
9. No subletting of works by the contractor/firm is permissible.
10. The representative of the firm/contractor shall inspect the site himself and make conversant with the site conditions.
11. Instruction for e-tendering:
i) The contractor should register himself on website https://hptenders.gov.in. and obtain used ID, password before bidding.
ii) Entire tender process will be carried out on line through above mentioned website. Contractors/Firms are advised to procure e-token/digital signing certificate from
suitable venders or from authorized agency.
iii) Before submission of online bids, bidder must ensure that scanned copy of all necessary documents have been uploaded with the bid.
The tenderer should quote their firm price subject to no escalation what so ever till successful fulfillment of contract. The financial bid should be inclusive of all taxes
and no extra claim will be entertained. Central/State/Local taxes vat and any levy charges, including cess as per provision of building and other construction workers
welfare cess Act. 1996 and Himachal Pradesh Building and other construction workers Rules, 2008. The Department will deduct labour cess @ 1% from each
running bill from the gross amount of work done by the contractor.
The tenderer shall have to maintain EPF accounts and bear EPF contribution of its workers/employees.
Executive Engineer,
Jal Shakti Division,
0844/2021-2022 HIM SUCHNA AVAM JAN SAMPARK Dharamshala
04
India’s future needs for the present Modi ‘system’ to be
shaken out of sleep
CONGRESS LEADER RAHUL GANDHI
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
IN THE BACKDROP OF ARREST OF PEOPLE FOR QUESTIONING PM FOR VACCINE EXPORT

THUMBNAILS
Booster dose effective even after 6 AT A GLANCE

months: Experts on Covishield gap

7 children orphaned, placed in foster care in HP: As the
death toll due to Coronavirus continues to rise in Himachal
Pradesh, seven children have lost both their parents to the
viral disease and have now been placed in foster care, chief
minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Tuesday. The state govern-
Say jabs will not provide any great ‘boosting’ if given within less than a month or so of previous dose ment will provide Rs 2,500 per child per month as financial
assistance for maintenance of such children living with the
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA extended families till they attain the age of 18 years. SNS
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY

Homeless and migrant
labourerers being served
cooked food by Sikh volun-
teers, amid Covid-19 lock-
down, in New Delhi on
Tuesday. � AGENCIES
Pakistani Hindu refugees:
It has nearly been five
years since they were
given asylum and settled
here at Majnu Ka Tilla, and
nearly year-and-a-half
since the passage of the
Citizenship Amendment
Act, but a group of Hindu
families from Pakistan still
await basic amenities such
as electricity for the lack
of an Indian identity. PTI
Elgar case: Bombay HC is
likely to hear the medical
bail plea of Jesuit priest
and tribal rights activist
Stan Swamy, an accused in
the Elgar Parishad Maoists
Links case, on Wednesday.
The activist, arrested in
October 2020, is lodged in
Taloja prison and is bat-
tling ill health. PTI
Farmers block Union minis-
ter's convoy: A group of
farmers blocked the con-
voy of Union Agriculture
Minister Narendra Singh
Tomar in Sheopur in Mad-
hya Pradesh on Tuesday
demanding that the Cen-
tre scrap three new agri
marketing laws. He was on
his way to the district hos-
pital when a dozen farm-
ers blocked his vehicle. PTI
F
our to six weeks, six to
eight or eight to 12? The
increasing gap
between two Cov-
ishield doses in India while
the UK reduces its window has
laypersons confused, but sev-
eral experts say there is little
reason to worry and second
jabs anytime before six months
can still be effective boosters.
The government last week
extended the gap between two
doses of the Covishield Covid-
19 vaccine to 12-16 weeks, up
from the previous maximum
of eight weeks, on the rec-
ommendation of the Nation-
al Technical Advisory Group
on Immunisation (NTAGI).
A day later, UK cut the gap
from 12 weeks to eight weeks
in view of the spread of the
B.1.617 variant that origi-
nated in India.
Responding to concerns
that India increased the gap
primarily because vaccines
were in short supply and
many states had complained
of acute shortage in supplies,
immunologist Satyajit Rath
said vaccine dosing is quite
flexible and forgiving.
Once four weeks have
passed, the next dose can be
taken whenever practicable,
until six months.
According to the scien-
tist, vaccine doses will be
safe no matter when they are
taken but will not provide any
great “boosting” if given with-
in less than a month or so of
the previous dose.
So vaccine doses can be
taken any time after at least
four weeks have passed from
either the first dose or after
an actual episode of Covid-
19, Rath, from New Delhi’s
National Institute of Immunol-
ogy (NII), told reporters.
Secondly, vaccine doses will
give perfectly good boosting
if given any time up to as much
Medics check on a patient at
a Covid-19 Care Centre, estab-
lished by the Indian Army, in
Baramulla district, on Tues-
day. � AGENCY
as six months or so after a pre-
vious dose. So a second dose,
or the first dose after a Covid-
19 episode, does not have to
be taken after four weeks.
The NTAGI, Rath added, is
making these new recom-
mendations based on evi-
dence, and trying to provide
support for practical steps.
Referring to the UK reduc-
ing its Covishield doses gap
just as India increased its,
immunologist Vineeta Bal
said these decisions are taken
based on ground realities
and there is no yes or no
answer to whether they will
have any consequence on
tackling the variant better.
In one country, the
increased window will enable
more people to be vaccinat-
ed, in the other, a decreased
gap will accelerate the pace
of inoculation.
If there are enough doses
available, the second shot
should be given at the optim-
al time as it will provide the
best possible immunity in
the present circumstances, Bal,
guest faculty at Pune’s Indi-
an Institute of Science Edu-
cation and Research, said.
A vaccine-triggered im-
mune response, she admit-
ted, will start declining with
time. However, at the end of
12-16 weeks it is unlikely to
come to complete baseline
level.
A municipal employee cleans the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar during a lockdown on Tuesday.
Ex-IMA prez
Aggarwal
among 269 docs
die of Covid-19
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
As many as 269 doctors have
died during the second wave
of the pandemic, risking
their lives while treating
patients suffering from Coro-
navirus infection.
Dr KK Aggarwal, a Padma
Shri awardee and former
national president of the
Indian Medical Association
(IMA), died of Covid-19 at
the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences here.
According to the IMA, a
total of 269 doctors have lost
their lives during the second
wave of the Covid-19 infec-
tion. Among these doctors,
the majority were aged
between 30 and 55 years.
According to IMA data,
Bihar recorded the maximum
number of doctors who died
of the infection. A total of 78
doctors have died in Bihar
till now. SNS
Senior doctors skipping
Covid patients in JGMC
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, 18 MAY
Irked over the senior doctors
skipping the Covid-19 wards
in Jammu’s Government Med-
ical College (GMC), the top
boss of the health services Atal
Dulloo, financial commis-
sioner, has written a letter to
the principal asking her to
direct the senior faculty mem-
bers to make frequent visits
to the patients suffering from
the pandemic.
The GMC has daily been
reporting the highest num-
ber of Covid-19 related deaths
in J&K as senior doctors have
reportedly left the patients at
the mercy of paramedics and
junior doctors.
It is worth mentioning
that during a surprise visit last
week to the GMC, Lieutenant-
Governor Manoj Sinha had
asked the senior doctors to
take care of the infected pa-
tients. However, pleadings of
� SNS
the Lt-Governor and top IAS
boss of health services seem
to have fallen on deaf ears.
Dulloo has in the letter said
that immediate corrective
measures were required for
reducing the mortality rate
in Covid positive patients.
Such patients need to be
properly looked after and
treated which will help us in
reducing the mortality.
Union minister Jitendra
Singh also held a meeting with
top brass of the health depart-
ment on the issue of GMC.
Attendants of patients al-
lege that senior doctors were
more interested in their pri-
vate practice than attending
patients in the hospital. Gov-
ernment medical colleges in
J&K allow their doctors to
undertake private practice.
The high court had recent-
ly directed the government
to look into the system that
was badly affecting the med-
ical services.
Veteran BJP leader Chaman Lal Gupta passes away: Veteran
BJP leader and former minister of state for defence,
Chaman Lal Gupta died in Jammu after a prolonged illness
on Tuesday, days after undergoing successful treatment
for Covid-19 at a hospital, his family said. Gupta (87) had
tested positive for Covid-19 on 5 May and returned from
Narayana Hospital on Sunday after successful treatment.
His condition suddenly deteriorated in the wee hours and
he breathed his last around 5.10 am, his elder son Anil
Gupta said. SNS
Over 1,600 BSA teachers, workers died in UP since April:
Over 1,600 teachers and workers of the Basic Education
Department have died in Uttar Pradesh since the first
week of April due to Covid-19, a teachers' body said on
Tuesday, claiming that 90 per cent of them were on pan-
chayat polls duty. Dr Dinesh Chandra Sharma, president of
the UP Praathmik Shikshak Sangh, claimed while 8-10 peo-
ple died due to heart attack, the majority of deaths were
due to Covid-19. PTI
Abducted Ritul Saikia
in custody of Ulfa (I)
SNS Saikia at Titabor in central
GUWAHATI, 18 MAY Assam and consoled his par-
ents and wife that the gov-
Assam CM Himanta Biswa ernment was trying its level
Sarma on Tuesday said the uni- best to bring back him safe-
lateral ceasefire decision by the ly.
ULFA(I) will not result in Sarma informed that as
immediate halt of operations per the government sources
by security forces, but viewed Saikia is somewhere India-
the move as a “ray of hope”. Myanmar border areas and he
“In this case, we can at max is keeping well. He also
say that there is a ray of hope. expressed happiness that
I am thinking positively. But, Ulfa(I) had recently declared

Cyclone Tauktaehits Gujarat STRICT VIGIL

based on this statement, the
government will keep silent
in future or instruct police not
uniliteral ceasefire because of
the Covid-19 pandemic which
would brighten the hope of dia-

coast, weakens as it moves in to continue operations it will

SNS & PTI
AHMEDABAD, 18 MAY
Dreaded cyclone Tauktae hit
the Gujarat coast on Monday
night but weakened in inten-
sity as it moved to the hin-
terland thereafter.
At least seven people were
killed due to the cyclone and
rain-related incidents.
Almost entire Gujarat re-
ceived incessant rainfall since
last night causing damage to
houses, uprooting of tress
and loss to standing crops.
More than 16,500 houses
have been damaged due to the
impact of Tauktae cyclone,
chief ministerVijay Rupani told
journalists on Tuesday after
chairing a review meeting on
the situation.
Of the 1,400 hospitals treat-
ing Covid-19 patients, power
supply was disrupted only
in 16, said the chief minister
adding that power has been
restored in 12 of them by this
morning.
Nearly two lakh people
living in the vulnerable coastal
areas were already evacuat-
ed by the administration
before the cyclone had hit the
coastline.
Banana plantations over
several acres in south and
coastal Gujarat have been
flattened due to the impact of
the gusty winds that swept
through the state along with
rains.
Thousands of nearly
ripened Kesar mangoes have
fallen off the trees in Talala of
Gir Somnath district, a region
famous for the sweet and
juicy variety of the fruit.
After hitting the coast-
line on Monday night with a
speed of nearly 160 kilome-
tres per hour, the cyclonic
storm moved towards central
Gujarat on Tuesday morning
causing heavy rains in the
entire state.
By late Tuesday, the cyclone
crossed Ahmedabad region
causing more rains but weak-
ened further as it moved
northwards. Its wind speed also
slowed down to about 110 kms
per hour.
Porbandar, Gir Somnath,
Amreli, Rajkot, Bhavnagar
and Botad are the most affect-
ed districts due to the cyclone
while all other places have
received heavy rainfall.
Restoration works underway at the Gateway of India in the
aftermath of Tauktae, in Mumbai, on Tuesday. ��AGENCIES
A waterlogged road after heavy rain due to cyclone Tauktae in
Surat, on Tuesday. ��AGENCIES
In Mumbai, Tauktae
claimed three lives and left 10
others injured over the past
24 hours when it passed close
to the city coast, civic officials
said on Tuesday.
The sea here has been very
rough due to the impact of the
cyclone and the huge tidal
waves on Monday dumped
tonnes of garbage at chow-
patties, Marine Drive and the
iconic Gateway of India in
Mumbai, they said.
Videos of huge tidal waves
lashing the Gateway of Mum-
bai area went viral on social
media platforms where peo-
ple also shared images of the
trail of destruction left by the
cyclonic storm at some of
the prominent monuments
here.
Mumbai Mayor Kishori
Pednekar said due to the pre-
cautions taken by the city
civic body, the jumbo Covid-
19 facility set up at the
Bandra-Kurla Complex
did not suffer many major
damage, except that its cover
was torn at some places and
some iron sheets were blown
away.
The cyclonic storm claimed
two lives in separate boat
accidents at Mahim and Madh
jetties here, as per an update
issued by the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC).
In another incident, a tree
collapsed on a 45-year-old
woman at a chawl in Worli area
on Monday. She succumbed
to her injuries while under-
going treatment at the KEM
Hospital, the BMC said.
Besides, nine people were
injured in incidents of house
and wall collapse, while one
person got hurt in a tree fall,
it said.
According to BMC, it
received 2,364 complaints of
tree fall, 56 related to water-
logging, 43 of house or wall
collapse, 39 of short-circuit and
two of boat accidents over the
last 24 hours.
It said that the India Mete-
orological Department's (IMD)
Mumbai centre recorded 207.6
mm rainfall at Colaba in south
Mumbai and 230.3 mm at
Santacruz in suburbs in the
24- hour period ending at
8.30 am on Tuesday.
The highest wind speed of
114 kmph was recorded at the
Colaba pumping station.
Police personnel fine people for loitering without reason, at Connaught Place, in the Capital on
Tuesday.
Telangana runs out of
vaccine, halts
vaccination drive
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
HYDERABAD, 18 MAY
For the past four days the vac-
cination drive in Telangana
has come to a stop due to low
stocks of vaccines even as the
pandemic continues to rage
on in the state.
According to health dep-
artment officials the state
has run out of Covishield
and has only few doses of Cov-
axin left which are inadequate
to meet the vast demand for
second doses. The state is cur-
rently vaccinating only those
above the age of 45 as it is yet
to roll out the drive for those
between 18 and 44 due to lack
of vaccines.
The state government had
halted vaccination drive on
16 and 17 May citing low avail-
ability of vaccines and has
failed to resume since than.
According to director of
health Dr GS Rao there are
nearly three lakh people
waiting for the second dose
of Covaxin but currently only
5,000 doses are available
with the state government.
State government offi-
cials are unable to say when
the drive will resume.
According to Dr Rao the
Centre gave indications that
some more doses will be
sent in the next 15 days only
then people who are due
will get their second dose.
In case of Covishield, there
are no second doses after the
Centre increased the inter-
val between the two doses to
12 weeks. The allocation of
doses are being done by the
Centre. The state govern-
ment will also float global ten-
der today to procure vaccines
for the age group of 18-44.
Since the target popula-
tion of 18-44 is 1.9 crore the
chief minister will decide
who among those age group
will be given priority.
The state has reported
3,982 fresh cases of Covid 19
today along with 27 deaths.
There are around 50 mu-
cormycosis patients at Gov-
ernment ENT Hospital and
Gandhi Hospital while anoth-
er 40 are being treated in pri-
vate hospitals.
A committee has been
formed to examine require-
ment of antifungal medicin-
es and examining the sever-
ity of each case it will give per-
mission to procure the drugs.
Meanwhile, the Telanga-
na government on Tuesday
extended the lockdown till 30
May. As the ministers are
busy monitoring pandemic
curtailment measures and
medical services at the field
level, KCR cancelled the-
Cabinet meeting, which was
scheduled on 20 May.
take time to reach such a
stage,” he told reporters here.
logues with the separatist
armed outfit. He comment-
ed that the people of Assam
CM Dr Himanta Biswa are fed up of disturbances
Sarma’s repeated claim that and expect peace & progress.
abducted ONGC employee Urging Ulfa(I) leaders to
Ritul Saikia is still in the cus- shun the path of violence
tody of United Liberation Sarma asserted that nobody
Front of Assam (Indepen- in the State today expects
dent) has been vindicated as grenade blasts or abductions,
the Ulfa(I) top leader Paresh but peace and tranquillity.
Barua admits it. He categorically stated that the
Meanwhile, Sarma visited door for talks is always open
the residence of abducted to the militants.
TENDER
SNS
Court denies
bail to Sushil
Kumar
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
A Delhi Court on Tuesday
refused to grant anticipa-
tory bail to absconding
Olympic medalist Sushil
Kumar in the murder case
of a wrestler, saying that he
is prima facie the main
conspirator and allega-
tions against him are seri-
ous in nature.
Additional Sessions
Ju d g e Ja d g i s h Ku m a r
denied the relief to Sushil
Kumar against whom a
case of murder, abduction
and criminal conspiracy
has been registered.
Wrestler Sagar Rana
died, while two of his
friends Sonu and Amit
Kumar got injured, after
they were allegedly assault-
ed by Sushil Kumar and
other wrestlers on 4 May
night, at the stadium
premises in the national
capital.
The judge noted that the
allegations against the
accused are serious in
nature.
From the perusal of
record of investigation so
far, it reveals that prima
facie the accused is the
main conspirator of the
murder.

THUMBNAILS
VIP road during a near
complete lockdown in
Kolkata on Tuesday. SNS
Mahesh Jaganath tem-
ple closed: The six-cen-
tury-old Mahesh Jaga-
nath temple at Seram-
pore closed its doors for
the devotees on Tues-
day. The head priest,
Soumen Adhikhari said,
with the severity of the
pandemic and the impo-
sition of the lockdown,
the temple authority
took the decision until
further notification. SNS
Covid patient commits
suicide: A Covid patient
committed suicide with-
in the dedicated Covid
hospital at Onda in
Bankura on Tuesday
afternoon. The patient
was found hanging
from the ceiling fan
with the help of a gam-
chha at an abandoned
room close to his ward.
He was a resident of
Gogra village in the
same Onda PS area. SNS
City hospital commissio-
ns PSA O2 plant: Naraya-
n Memorial Hospital has
installed a 600 litre per
minute capacity Pres-
sure Swing Adsorption
medical oxygen genera-
tion plant in just seven
days, an official of the
health facility said. The
plant built at Rs 2.1 cro-
re is equivalent to 126
bulk 47 litres cylinders
of oxygen per day. PTI
Man protests
outside Raj
Bhawan with
flock of sheep
A man protests with a herd
of sheep outside Raj
Bhawan on Tuesday.
KOLKATA, 18 MAY
Believing that governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar ought to
feel “sheepish” after sanc-
tioning the CBI arrest of state
government ministers in
such a pandemic time, a
man literally took a flock of
sheep to the gates of Raj
Bhawan to register his
protest. It was identified that
he represents a forum
named ‘Citizens against
dirty politics and corrup-
tion'.
A spokesperson of the
Kolkata Nagarik Mancha
accompanied shepherds
who took the animals near
the North Gate of the Gov-
ernor House.
They remained there for
around 5-7 minutes before
policemen, who were ini-
tially bewildered, drove the
agitators and the sheep
away from the high-secu-
rity area.
Incidentally, Tuesday is
the birthday of governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar.
The Mancha spokesper-
son said that the organisa-
tion resorted to such a
mode of protest as gather-
ing of people is not allowed
during the pandemic and
prohibitory orders are in
force in the area.
The Kolkata Nagarik
Mancha has no link with any
political party, the
spokesperson said. React-
ing to the incident, senior
BJP leader Anupam Hazra
said, “Such distasteful con-
duct against the first citi-
zen of the state outside Raj
Bhavan only showed Ben-
gal in poor light.” SNS
SC to hear plea by kin of 2 BJP
workers killed in poll violence
Jethmalani says there is total inaction by state government and police has tried to subvert probe
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
T
he Supreme Court on
Tuesday agreed to
hear a plea field by kin
of two BJP workers,
who were killed in poll relat-
ed violence on May 2 in Ben-
gal, seeking court monitored
probe and transfer of cases to
CBI or Special Investigation
Team (SIT).
A bench of Justices Vineet
Saran and B R Gavai issued
notice to West Bengal gov-
ernment and the Centre on the
plea filed by Biswajit Sarkar,
whose elder brother was killed
and co-petitioner Swaranala-
ta Adhikari, whose husband
was killed in poll related vio-
lence.
The bench said that it
would hear the matter on 25
May and asked senior advo-
cate Mahesh Jethmalani to
serve the copy of the petition
to standing counsel of the
state government.
At the outset, Jethmalani
said that this is a very serious
case and state has not been
taking any action into the
brutal killing of two BJP work-
ers, which happened on the
day of counting of votes for
assembly elections in the
state. He said that this is a mat-
ter which requires probe by
a agency like CBI or a SIT under
court supervision, as the state
police has not been taking any
action despite a complaint
being made.
The murders took place
when election results were
declared in West Bengal. One
of the petitioners is the younger
brother of a BJP worker, who
was murdered and the other
petitioner is the wife of the
deceased, he said. Jethmalani
said that there is total inac-
tion by the state and police
have tried to subvert the inves-
Narada row: CBI writes to
Speaker on arrest of leaders
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 18 MAY
After a day-long ruckus over
the CBI's alleged act of ille-
gality over bypassing the
Assembly Speaker while arrest-
ing two cabinet ministers
and one TMC MLA in con-
nection with Narada scandal,
CBI today wrote to Speaker
Biman Banerjee entailing
details leading up to the
arrests of the leaders.
A CBI source said that the
letter contained all details
regarding the cases and under
which sections the quartet
(including TMC turncoat
Sovan Chatterjee) had been
arrested. The source also clar-
ified that the CBI is under no
obligation to seek sanction
from the Assembly Speaker
while trying the legislators and
ministers in a cognizable
offence. If arrests of ministers
and lawmakers would have
been made in the Assembly
itself it would require the
sanction of the Speaker, it
argued.
Echoing the same refrain,
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya,
the lawyer and CPI-M Rajya
Sabha MP while speaking to
The Statesman, said, the CBI
is under no obligation to seek
Bengal: Govt to set up safe homes in schools to isolate Covid-19 patients
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 18 MAY
Bengal government has decid-
ed to use schools for the pur-
pose of safe homes for acco-
modating Covid patients to
reduce the load of hospitals
amid the surge in fresh cases
and death rates.
A directive in this regard was
sent to the district adminis-
tration today. “In view of cur-
rent Covid situation and the
schools being closed, state
government is considering
use of schools for Safe Home
purposes for Covid affected
people. I am directed to request
you to take immediate mea-
sures to see that the school
buildings are vacated (if occu-
pied) and sanitised,” read the
notification issued by the
commissioner of school edu-
cation to the district magis-
trates. The school buildings
have to be thoroughly sanitised
before using them as safe
Baba is not sad because he is away from us. What concerns him is the work
that he was supposed to undertake to alleviate people's pain amid crisis
� A bench of Justices
Vineet Saran and B R Gavai
issued notice to Bengal govt
and the Centre on the
plea filed by Biswajit Sarkar,
whose elder brother was
killed and co-petitioner
Swaranalata Adhikari,
whose husband was killed
� The bench said that it
would hear the matter
on 25 May and asked
senior advocate Mahesh
Jethmalani to serve the
copy of the petition to
standing counsel of the
state government.
tigation. This was even encour-
aged by the state adminis-
tration, he alleged.
The bench asked senior
advocate Siddharth Luthra,
appearing for West Bengal,
whether a copy of the petition
has been served upon the
state, to which he replied
that, he has not been served
till now. It asked Jethmalani
to serve the copy and listed the
matter for further hearing on
25 May. Jethmalani said that
the body of Abhijit Sarkar has
not been cremated and court
may direct that post mortem
of the body be conducted
and it should be videographed.
He said that the body
should not be allowed to be
cremated by the state gov-
ernment authorities till the next
date of hearing and this is what
the family wants.
the assent of the Assembly
Speaker in making arrests of
the ministers and MLAs in a
crime like the Narada scan-
dal.
“Since the crime is like
any other ordinary crime, the
CBI has exclusive power to
make arrests and under no
obligation to seek the sanc-
tion of the Speaker. Only
offences related to the Assem-
bly would require seeking
sanction of the Speaker arise",
said Bhattacharya.
The Central agency was
learnt to have moved the
apex court to file a caveat in
not allowing the ruling TMC
to have a unilateral hearing
on the Narada case should the
party move the Supreme
Court on the scandal. Inter-
estingly, the Narada pay-off
scandal is being probed under
the direction of the Calcutta
High Court.
Meanwhile, the CBI is wait-
ing for the speaker's nod to
prosecute four political lead-
ers in the Narada sting case,
including BJP's Suvendu
Adhikari ~ who was a TMC MP
when the tapes surfaced -- one
of its senior officials said here
on Tuesday, scotching alle-
gations of biasness levelled
against the agency by sever-
Para Teachers' Unity
Manch urged the gov-
ernment to engage
its members to run
the upcoming “safe
homes” in schools.
homes as many were used as
polling booths or for accom-
modating Central forces in the
recently concluded polls.
“The DMs have been asked
to identify the school build-
ings that have adequate infra-
structure facilities for being
used as safe homes. They
have been asked to mail the
list of selected schools to the
school education department
as soon as possible,” said an
official.
Last year, a few schools were
converted into safe homes
but no such notification had
been issued. The safe homes
with an adequate number of
beds and requisite supply of
SHABBA HAKIM, DAUGHTER OF MINISTER FIRHAD HAKIM
AS HAKIM IS NOT BEING ABLE TO MONITOR THE CIVIC BODY WORKS IN THIS PANDEMIC TIME
Post-poll violence sufferer can file complaint to
NHRC, NCW and other rights bodies: Calcutta HC
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
KOLKATA, 18 MAY
Calcutta High Court on Tues-
day directed that any person
who has suffered on account
of post- poll violence in West
Bengal can file complaint to
the National Human Rights
Commission, WBHRC, NCW
and NCSCST.
Hearing PILs over post-
post violence in the state, a
five- judge bench directed that
the commissions in turn will
forward those complaints
to the director general of
police (DGP) immediately.
“We direct that if any per-
son has suffered on account
of post-poll violence, he shall
be at liberty to file com-
plaint along with the sup-
porting documents to the
The bench, however, did
not pass any such directions
instantly. The plea filed by
advocate Sarad Kumar Sing-
hania alleged that Abhijit
Sarkar, was killed on 2May, by
a mob comprising 20 sup-
porters of the All India Tri-
namool Congress party.
It said that the mob entered
the house of Biswajit Sarkar,
dragged his elder brother
(Abhijit) and killed him in
front of his mother and other
family members.
Petitioner No.1 (Biswajit
Sarkar), his mother who was
also molested are the eye wit-
nesses of this gruesome mur-
der, while Petitioner No.2
(Swaranalata Adhikari) is the
widow of Haran Adhikari,
who was a local booth work-
er at Booth No.199A at
Sonarpur Dakshin Vidhan
al quarters.
Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar had recently grant-
ed sanction to prosecute the
four leaders, following which
the agency finalised its charge
sheet and moved to arrest
them.
The CBI has “sought per-
mission from the Lok Sabha
Speaker to prosecute Suven-
du Adhikari, Saugata Roy,
Prasun Banerjee and Kakali
Ghosh Dastidar”, who were all
TMC MPs when the operation
was allegedly conducted, the
official explained.
“We are yet to get a sanc-
tion in the matter,” he said,
further clarifying that anoth-
er political heavyweight Mukul
Roy, who had also quit the
TMC and joined the BJP in
2017, does not feature in the
list.
TMC spokesperson Kunal
Ghosh, following Monday's
arrest, had claimed that
Adhikari and Roy were spared
by the CBI as they have joined
the BJP.
“It's clear that Suvendu
and Mukul were kept out of
this... as they now happen to
be BJP members. We, however,
have faith in the judiciary
and the truth will come out
soon,” Ghosh had asserted.
30-bed safe home, with ambulance
facility open at Tarakeswar
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
HOOGHLY,18 MAY
A safe-home for Covid
patients, at Bhimpur,
Tarakeswar, was set up at a
government guest home
‘Pather Sathi’ but could not
be made operational due to
staff shortages, has been
finally made operational.
With the intervention of
the health department the
‘safe home’ was inaugurat-
ed jointly by the Tarakeswar
MLA Ramendu Singha Roy,
state and district health
department senior officials.
The district health
department’s senior offi-
cial said, “At present the
safe home has 30 beds ,
arrangements have also
been made to provide instant
National Human Rights Com-
mission, West Bengal Human
Rights Commission, Nation-
al Commission for Women
and National Commission for
Scheduled Castes and Sched-
uled Tribes,” the bench
ordered. It directed that com-
plaint can be filed either by
way of hard copy or online.
The matters will be heard
again on 25 May, the court
directed. The five-judge
bench comprises Acting
Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal
and justices I P Mukerji, Har-
ish Tandon, Soumen Sen
and Subrata Talukdar. The
state government sought
time to comply with the
court's earlier order to fur-
nish information on the
number of complaints
received by the DGP from the
Sabha. He was attacked with
bricks, sticks, spade, shovel at
his home and brutally killed
in the presence of his 80 year
old father, who was also kicked,
the plea said.
It said that the Petitioners,
who are both victims and eye
witnesses have been con-
strained to invoke the extra-
ordinary writ jurisdiction of this
Court seeking fair investigation
by a Court appointed SIT into
the murders and large scale inci-
dents of violence unleashed at
the behest of a particular polit-
ical party.
The plea said that the court
should also examine the fail-
ure of the state administration
which while identifying itself
with this vengeful cause of the
ruling political party in the
State has chosen to turn a
blind eye leaving victims of these
LOCKDOWN
TOP: Deserted New Market during lockdown in Kolkata on Tuesday.
BOTTOM: Migrant labourers return from Delhi owing to Covid-induced lockdown, at Gazole of
Malda district on Tuesday.
oxygen to patients in emer-
gency.
However if a patient turns
critical with the rapid fall of
oxygen concentration in
blood, they will be prompt-
ly shifted to a Covid hospi-
tal while ambulance services
will be also available.”
The Tarakeswar MLA
Ramendu Singha Roy took
innovative steps to provide
ambulance services in
remote villages. He said,
“In the remote areas of vil-
lages, a normal ambulance
cannot reach at the doorstep
of an ailing patient due to
kaccha road.
Hence, five totos were
modified with attached oxy-
gen gas cylinder to carry the
patients from remote village
areas to the safe home.”
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
commissions.
On the last date of hear-
ing, the bench had also
requested the Advocate Gen-
eral representing the state to
apprise the court about any
designated e-mail id to enable
the aggrieved persons to
lodge their complaints online.
Petitioners had alleged
that they were not permit-
ted to lodge complaints in the
police station and in some
cases they were unable to do
so as they had to run away
from their places of resi-
dence owing to the post-
poll violence.
The state government
sought more time to furnish
such information. The court
directed that the information
be furnished on the next
date of hearing.
crimes remediless as the entire
genocidal attacks are part of a
well thought of political design
of the party in power to take
political revenge after decla-
ration of results of assembly elec-
tions on 2 May, 2021. It also
sought transfer of two murder
cases registered in police sta-
tion Narkeldanga and Sonarpur
to be transferred to CBI or
such another SIT as may be
appointed by this court.
SC to hear plea of Bharati
Ghosh on 28 May:The Supreme
Court Tuesday agreed to hear
on 28 May the plea of former
IPS officer and BJP leader
Bharati Ghosh who was earli-
er granted protection from
arrest in connection with the
2019 Lok Sabha polls violence
case till the conclusion of the
Assembly polls inWest Bengal.
oxygen will accommodate
mostly asymptomatic patients.
The move is aimed at shifting
patients to safe homes so that
more critical patients can be
accommodated at the hospi-
tals. The state government
came up with the concept of
“safe homes” to isolate most-
ly asymptomatic patients to
free up hospital beds.
Apart from Kolkata, a few
districts such as North and
South 24 Parganas, Hooghly
and Howrah will get these
facilities in schools on a pri-
ority basis as the spurt in
coronavirus cases has been
noticed in these areas, he
said. Paschim Bardhaman,
Nadia, Purbo Medinipur and
Birbhum are also among the
districts where “safe homes”
will be set up in the govern-
ment-aided schools.
Amid a raging second wave
of Covid, schools have been
remained closed in the state.
The state reported 19,003
Vijayan leads LDF
for 2nd term as CM
SNS & PTI
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
18 MAY
Days after leading the ruling LDF
to a stupendous electoral vic-
tory, CPI (M) veteran Pinarayi
Vijayan was on Tuesday elect-
ed its Parliamentary Party
Leader for a second term as chief
minister but the omission of
'rockstar' health minister KK
Shailaja from the new cabinet
sparked a debate.
The CPI-M sprang a surprise
in the formation of the cabinet
with all the ministers in the out-
going Pinarayi Vijayan gov-
ernment have been dropped.
Only Vijayan has retained his
spot. Shailaja, who was almost
sure to make it to the cabinet,
is the most prominent exclu-
sion. The CPI-M state com-
mittee, which met here on
Tuesday, has gone for a gen-
erational shift in the case of min-
isters and decided not to exempt
Shailaja from this decision.
“There is no need to be
emotional.. I became the min-
ister earlier because of the
party's decision. I have absolute
satisfaction in what I have
done. I am confident that the
new team can perform better
than me.”,Shailaja said.
She was, however, entrust-
ed with the position of party
whip, a CPI(M) statement said
here, even as the party took the
position that all members
except the CM should be fresh
faces in the new cabinet.
Among the fresh faces is
Vijayan's son-in-law P A
Mohammed Riyas.
The state committee of the
Marxist party nominated 11
freshers including two women
as its ministers in the new gov-
ernment which would be
sworn-in on 20 May at the
Central Stadium here in adher-
ence to Covid-19 protocol.
Democratic Party state pres-
ident George Sebastian sent a
letter to High Court Chief Jus-
tice seeking its direction to
the authorities concerned to shift
the venue from the central
BHASKAR MALLICK
IANS
fresh coronavirus infections,
which took the tally to
11,52,433, it added.
05
Shailaja not In
Kerala Cabinet,
CM’s son-in-law
gets berth
stadium here to Raj Bhavan, offi-
cial residence of the Governor,
and limit the number of par-
ticipants to just 50.
The state committee, which
met at its headquarters AKG
Centre, electedVijayan to lead
the party, the statement said.
Sources said the party want-
ed to evolve a second genera-
tion of leaders in parliamen-
tary politics and give them
more serious opportunities.
Party central committee mem-
ber M V Govindan, former
Rajya Sabha MPs P Rajeev and
K N Balagopal, senior leaders
K Radhakrishnan,V NVasavan,
Saji Cheriyan and V Sivankut-
ty are among those inducted
in Vijayan's second cabinet.
Veena George and R Bindhu,
wife of CPI(M) acting secretary
AVijayaraghavan, would be the
women members in the new
ministry.
Riyas,Vijayan's son-in-law
and national president of the
Democratic Youth Federation
of India (DYFI), also managed
to find a cabinet berth.The state
committee meeting, chaired by
senior leader Elamaram
Kareem, picked M B Rajesh.The
meeting, attended by polit
bureau members S Ramachan-
dran Pillai, Kodiyeri Balakr-
ishnan, M A Baby besides
Vijayan, also elected senior
leader and former minister T
P Ramakrishnan as the par-
liamentary party secretary.
Meanwhile, taking a cue
from the CPI(M), ally CPI also
nominated fresh faces to the
cabinet. Newly elected MLAs
K Rajan, P Prasad, J Chinchu
Rani and G R Anil were its pick
in the coalition government.
Senior party leader and
Adoor MLA Chittayam Gopaku-
mar has been nominated to the
post of deputy speaker, the
party said.
Kolkata airport
efficiently
handling
Covid crisis
KOLKATA, 18 MAY
The Kolkata airport author-
ities today announced that
despite the prevailing Covid
situation, passenger count
has remained steady while
the airport has been effi-
ciently handling consign-
ments of vaccines, oxygen,
and Covid testing kits which
are reaching the airport
almost on a daily basis.
The airport authorities
today shared that the air-
port has handled about
5.7K flyers that travelled
through 84 flights yester-
day. A total of 3254 pas-
sengers arrived in 44 flights
while 2479 departed in 40
flights.
The Airports Authority
of India (AAI) has already
announced guidelines for
both domestic and inter-
national passengers who are
visiting Bengal or intend-
ing to catch a connecting
flight from here. The rules
required that internation-
al passengers coming in
flights originating in UK,
Brazil and South Africa
must undergo a mandato-
ry RT-PCR test on reaching
here, at the airport. A 14 day
home quarantine has been
advised while those that test
positive have to remain in
institutional quarantine.
Thermal screening and
health profiling are being
carried out at the airport.
06 NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021 Vol. CXXXXX 116

Incorporating and directly descended

from THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818
As Russia looks east A MEMBER
OF THE

Limits of incrementalism
T
he rocky relationship between the world’s
only superpower and its main challenger has,
President Putin subscribes to a pragmatic Eurasianism, and the Eurasian Economic Union ASIAN VOICES
that came into effect in 2015 now consists of five countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Awareness of
Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Simultaneously, the Russians pursue closer cooperation with
China. However, it is possible to see neo-Eurasianism as a counter but not repudiation
Covid

after four decades of engagement, once again
collapsed into mutual distrust, suspicion, and dan-
gerous one-upmanship. There is consensus among
experts that the USA and China now appear to be
locked on a collision course that has already
fomented a trade war, seems likely to produce a
new cold war, and could even result in dangerous
military conflicts. Yet, despite Washington’s largely
legitimate concerns about Beijing’s excessive
domestic political control and aggressive foreign
policy stances, the case for an incremental improve-
ment in ties with China within the US policy estab-
lishment still has strong traction. A host of ‘soft’
issues are being highlighted as potential facilitators
in reshaping the trajectory of Sino-American rela-
tions including higher education, avant-garde art,
architecture, and law. The argument is that a focus
on and promotion of these and other such would
have an incrementally constructive impact on bilat-
eral exchanges. As if on cue, a new book ~ Middle
Class Shanghai: Reshaping US-China Engagement
~ by Cheng Li makes the case for American policy-
makers not to lose sight of the “expansive
dynamism and diversity in present-day China”.
T
he effects of large gatherings
of the West over Eid as well as multiple
home visits will be apparent in
the days to come and will largely
depend on how far people complied
with the SOPs. Only recently, as the
virus ravaged India, and even now
continues to bring unimaginable suf-
fering there, officials in Islamabad
warned we could be in a similar situa-
tion if precautions were not taken. The
variant across the border, B.1.617.2.,
spread rapidly just as India was pro-
claiming it had beaten Covid-19 ~ a
terrible fallacy that had lulled many
into a false sense of security.
This misguided belief, propagated
by India’s top officials, was a major fac-
tor behind the mass gatherings and
indifference to precautions ~ a trend
that was witnessed in Pakistan some
months ago when compliance fatigue
and huge political and private gather-
ings were in full swing.
Pakistan cannot afford to be com-
placent. Our healthcare infrastructure

There is, indeed, a long list of those who have
made similar arguments over the past few decades;
these bank on the emergence of an increasingly
cosmopolitan, presumably outward-looking, and
compatible-to-Western-values middle class prov-
ing to be a critical agent of change. These hopes
have, however, remained largely unrealised and
there is nothing to indicate that things will be any
different this time around. The reason lies not so
much in the various analyses of a changing China,
which empirical evidence certainly backs, but in
many strategic thinkers eliding the central theme of
societal-cultural values in these parts wherein har-
mony and social cohesion trump individual free-
doms and personal goals. If this sounds familiar,
it’s because it is ~ the ‘Asian Values’ debate of the
1990s which emanated from a sense of exception-
alism is arguably the most strongly embedded in
the Chinese mass psyche. With a totalitarian state
apparatus in place, upholding this principle is rela-
tively easier than in democracies, hyphenated or
otherwise. So, while reams are written premised on
the hope that deepening cooperation between the
USA and China in less contentious areas of engage-
ment would lead to a progressive softening of Bei-
jing’s stand and what Samuel P. Huntington termed
the ‘Demonstration Effect’ would do the rest thanks
to an aspirational middle class, all indications are
that such an approach would be a misreading of
China. For one, everything is strategic in the Chi-
nese worldview. Secondly, the assumption by the
CPC leadership that the USA still has albeit futile
designs on blocking the country’s inevitable rise to
great-power status is a longstanding one and it
remains unchanged. The rest is, in a sense, all
smoke and mirrors unless proof to the contrary
emerges.
Subalterns & the Virus
R
ussia’s alignment and approach to
regional integration has transitioned
from focus on the West and neglect
of regional integration in the 1990s,
to efforts to reintegrate the post-Soviet space
under Russian leadership and form a ‘Greater
Eurasia’ transcending the post-Soviet space
to include China. Key to understanding this
approach is a declining Russia that struggles
to maintain great power status. Initially, Rus-
sia neglected the post-Soviet states to favour
integration with Europe and the West but
when Moscow failed to find a place commen-
surate with its aspirations in the Western lib-
eral order, it shifted to regional integration of
the post-Soviet space in the hope of creating a
future multi-polar world.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov
last March said that if the European Union
“broke off relations, simply destroying all the
mechanisms built over many years, we have
only individual European countries that want
to be guided by their national interests. Our
relations with China are developing faster
than what is left of relations with European
countries ... in the East, there is an intensive
agenda that grows richer every year.” Lavrov
was suggesting that Russia exercised a delib-
erate choice, but in reality Russia sees future
challenges as originating from the West, and
the concept of neo-Eurasianism as the ideal
rubric driving closer relations with China.
The Russian tilt eastwards is a replay of
the dispute between Slavophiles and west-
ernisers, and the recognition that Russia
needed to modernise, whether by adopting
an European or indigenous model. This
debate was the leitmotif of Russian intellec-
tual thought throughout the nineteenth cen-
tury, though the discussion had already been
joined during the rule of Peter the Great
(1672-1725) and Catherine the Great (1762-
1796) who both had to enforce western norms
capital Sarai (1242-1466) as responsible for
Russia’s autocratic nature, due to which Rus-
sia became forcibly separated from Europe.
While geographically the vast Russian space
spanning Asia placed Russia on the very
periphery of Europe, this perception of dis-
advantage had to change and Russia had to
embrace the West. Such views were contested
by the Slavophile movement, which argued
that Russian traditions of the Orthodox
Church, mysticism, the Tsar and the peasant
community were the foundations on which
JULIUS KRISHNAN
FEIN SRINIVASAN
The writers are, respectively, a scholar of Russian
archives and a former Indian foreign secretary
to rebuild society with the slogan ‘Autocracy,
Orthodoxy, Nationalism’and intellectuals like
Aleksey Khomyakov, Ivan Kireyevskii and
Konstantin Aksakov extolled the superiority
of the Russian way of life.
In implementation of this, Slavophiles
yearned to free fellow Slavs from Ottoman
and Austrian rule, but the Poles, then ruled
by Russia, presented a stumbling block, being
Slav but Catholic. In the 1920s, Russian émi-
grés from the Civil War reconstituted the
Slavophile movement by replacing it with
Eurasianism. Led from Sofia and Prague by
Orthodox Church. Although there was a fun-
damental incompatibility with Communism,
especially regarding the role of religion and
the internationalism of Communism,
Eurasianism agreed with Communists that
justice should be dependent on the state, and
the state was responsible for a solid working-
class and autarkic planned economy. This
movement was terminated by the Soviets,
ostensibly for being bourgeois, but due to
repression of all opposition. When the Soviet
Union ended in 1990, Eurasianism revived to
restore Russian morale over the loss of Empire
and the concept now appeals to nationalist
Russian academics and politicians as rejec-
tion of the West and Atlantic domination.
Neo-Eurasianism encompasses a broad
spectrum of supportive academics and their
interpretations. It includes the theories of Lev
Gumilov (whose Tatar grandmother claimed
descent from the Mongols) who argued that
Mongol occupation shielded an emergent
Russian ethos from the West and allowed it
time to achieve its unique maturity, and those
of Alexandr Dugin, who wanted a totalitarian
Russian-dominated Eurasian Empire to chal-
lenge the Atlanticist allies. For Russia to be
respected, Eurasianism argues that it must
recreate the golden age of the Soviet Com-
munist era, evoke the patriotism of World War
II and rehabilitate the Russian Empire as a
natural historic process to present an alter-
native to United States-led globalisation.
President Putin subscribes to a pragmat-
ic Eurasianism, and the Eurasian Economic
Union that came into effect in 2015 now con-
sists of five countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kaza-
khstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Simultane-
ously, the Russians pursue closer cooperation
with China. However, it is possible to see neo-
Eurasianism as a counter but not repudiation
of the West. Despite Putin condemning
Europe’s liberal values as ‘sexless and barren’
and medical manpower do not have
the resources to cater to a high volume
of critically ill Covid-19 patients.
We have already lost over 200
doctors and at least 30 paramedics ~
an alarming figure given that Pak-
istan’s overall recorded infections
at each peak were far lower than
badly hit countries like the UK, where
nearly as many healthcare workers
have died.
The high number of medical per-
sonnel deaths in Pakistan reveal the
gaps in our healthcare system. With a
new study showing multiple virus
strains in Punjab, there is even more
reason for concern. Given our lack of
healthcare resources, the govern-
ment’s focus must be on ramping up
testing, SOP compliance and vaccine
coverage.
Mask-wearing, social distancing
and limited gatherings, too, are key
to keeping infections low. Super-
spreaders like the Kumbh Mela in
India have been linked to the crippling
third wave of infections. Even when
Pakistan emerges from the third wave,
it should ensure that gatherings are
restricted and mask-wearing is com-
pulsory.
Above all, the government must
make all-out efforts to encourage peo-
ple to get vaccinated. As vaccine sup-
plies come in, a mass awareness cam-
paign should begin. This is essential,
as the return to any kind of ‘normalcy’
is underpinned by mass immunisa-
tion.
While the government is doing a
good job of managing vaccination

T he news-break from Odisha is much too on a large segment of reluctant Russian nobil- Nikolai Trubestskoii and Pyotr Savitskii, this and ‘dark chaos’, the West continues the main centres, the real challenge lies in per-
frightful even at the mildest estimation. If ity. After defeat in the Crimean War, the aris- was presented as geographical and cultural focus of Russian foreign policy. Notwith- suading reluctant members of the
Ganjam district in the southern part of the tocracy concurred that Russia was backward nationalism. standing the growing economic, military and public to get the jab.
state was the epicentre of the coronavirus pandem- and in need of change. One justification for Eurasianism was diplomatic strength of Russo-Chinese rela- An awareness campaign that edu-
Both westernisers and Slavophiles suf- that the vast Russian landmass of continental tions, the Orthodox Church and the inherent cates people on the dangers of con-
ic last year, it is the western swathe of the state that fered from an inferiority complex with regard size enabled its economy to be autarkic. The xenophobia throughout Russian society tracting the virus and the protection
has this year been mortally afflicted. It thus comes to the West. The westernisers juxtaposed their concept accepted that Mongol rule over Rus- about Caucasians, Central Asians and Chi- the vaccine offers will encourage
about that there were 11,000 fresh cases, including ideas against 200 years of Mongol conquest, sia had forged a unique historical and cultur- nese are too strong for Russia to turn its back reluctant citizens to get themselves
21 deaths, in these districts, bordering Chhattis- regarding the iron-fisted rule from Mongol al Russian identity, further enhanced by the on the West. inoculated.
garh, on Saturday. Though the spurt has been
attributed to the spike in the neighbouring state,
there is little or no reason to be overly confident LETTERS TO THE EDITOR editor@thestatesman.com
over the fact that the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) has
declined in the predominantly tribal western dis-
tricts. It is imperative for the so-called “flattening of
the curve” to be enduring, most particularly in
Conflict in Israel Israel to escalate violence,
and that will help neither
Chapell has gone on to
remark that he has picked
rise in Covid cases in Bengal
which surpassed the 21000
outbreak of Covid disease
and suspect a ploy to mis-
SIR, Israel is preparing for a recent Israeli air strikes but the cause of peace in the on the best Aussie brains mark on Saturday. Given the lead people in order to ben-
regions that are by and large perdurably poor and ground invasion of the Gaza its support among Palestini- region nor America’s slip- and created a team hard to deteriorating condition of efit pharma companies.
its people are strangers to medical science. Pre- strip. With its troops and ans is soaring. ping global image. beat. our state, our CM Mamata To harbour such beliefs
dictably, the current second wave has been more tanks close to its border with The US has issued a Yours, etc., Shovanlal Hopefully the cricket Banerjee has taken the right even after witnessing deaths
dangerous than the first last year when 8,000 cases Gaza, it has pounded the statement supporting Chakraborty, authorities will acknowledge decision in announcing and devastation around the
were recorded each day. This year, the daily afflic- territory with artillery and Israel’s right to defend itself Kolkata, 16 May. his contribution to the game complete lockdown for a world on a daily basis, shows
tions have soared to 12,000. The worst affected dis- airstrikes, while Hamas has against Hamas’ rockets. in his second innings and period of two weeks starting the lack of ignorance of our
responded with rocket fire. Noam Chomsky has come DRAVID’S WAY reward him accordingly. from May 16. brothers and sisters whose
tricts are Khorda, Angul, Puri, Kalahandi, Kendra-
para, Rayagada and Sundergarh. Khorda district With the two sides in the done heavily on the state- SIR, This refers to your edi- Yours, etc., Anthony Although imposing a irresponsible behaviour in
mood for all-out war, nei- ment as it has made no torial ‘Tutor extraordinaire’ Henriques, lockdown is not the ideal this critical time is aggravat-
reported the highest 1414 fresh cases, with the ther has shown any concern mention of the Palestinians’ (16 May). Unlike many of his Mumbai, 16 May. way for any government to ing the situation.
majority from Bhubaneswar. Odisha now has about civilian casualties. right to defend themselves contemporaries who have contain the spread of this Our state government
106,471 active cases, representing 17.73 per cent of Israel, in particular, has tar- and is thus not even-handed preferred the cool comfort RAISE AWARENESS virus, governments of most needs to raise awareness
the total number of positive cases. geted several apartment in dealing with the actors. of the commentary box, SIR, The sad demise of states are compelled to take among the people regarding
Not wholly unrelated to the dreadful scourge buildings in Gaza in the The US has also blocked a Rahul Dravid has been busy Mamata Banerjee’s brother this decision to somehow the lethal threat of this viru-
is the plight of the tribal settlers who belong to the name of eliminating Hamas call for an open meeting of on the field spotting and Aseem Banerjee who suc- break the chain of transmis- lent virus.
Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) in dif- commanders. This included the UN security council to nurturing raw talent. He has cumbed to Covid-19 after sion. Yours, etc., Iftekhar Ahmed,
ferent parts of the state. At least two Bonda tribals, the Associated Press build- discuss the situation. Wash- managed to surprise us all battling for a month indeed It is quite annoying to Kolkata, 16 May.
one of India’s most primitive tribal groups, in ing. It has killed over a hun- ington’s obstructionist by showing us his wild side creates a very gloomy see that some people of our
dred civilians so far, includ- approach will encourage in a recent commercial. Greg atmosphere amid the rapid state are still disbelieving the
Malkangiri district have contracted the infection, ing 27 children.
according to a report in this newspaper. This subal- Human Rights groups
tern segment direly deserves special care in a state are pointing out that both
that has been plagued by the virus for more than a RESTRAINT NEEDED
sides are engaging in vio-
year. It is all very well to mobilise self-help groups lence that merits description SIR, This refers to the report, ‘Governor visits Nandigram,
and civil society in the wider canvas to sensitise the as war crimes. Mixed com- hits out at CM’ (16 May). A habitual critic of the Mamata
tribals. Vaccination is on the list of priorities, but munities of Jews and Arabs Banerjee-led Trinamul government, West Bengal Gover-
Odisha struggles with a shortage of vaccines as do in Israel are engulfed in vio- nor Jagdeep Dhankhar has been given to ignoring the
large parts of India. Another group that has been lence too. The present situa- principle that constitutional heads should not air their
tion could draw neighbour- differences with the elected regime in public. It is unfor-
affected are the children of seasonal labourers or
ing countries into the con- tunate that in West Bengal, the Governor and Chief Min-
migrant workers who had recently begun to resume flict. A geographic expan- ister have been at loggerheads even in the middle of a
their duties. In rural Odisha, school children sion of hostilities looms in a raging pandemic. Governor Dhankhar’s visit to Nandi-
accompany their parents to the worksites ~ mainly highly volatile region. gram followed by Assam, in the aftermath of post-poll
brick kilns ~ and in the process make themselves Just before the Israeli violence, was avoidable. Raj Bhavan needs to show
vulnerable. A recent survey revealed that 82 per bombardment of Gaza, a restraint and not resort to actions which may give rise to
cent of migrant children who attended school dur- disparate collection of par- the perception that Mr. Dhankhar is acting at the behest
ing the first wave of Covid-19 are out school in the ties was on the verge of of the BJP high command. A cordial relationship is imper-
second wave. The pandemic has affected children, forming a coalition to oust ative for a healthy democracy and peaceful political
and fears that the third wave will hit kids are espe- Prime Minister Benjamin atmosphere. However, the objection of the Chief Minister
Netanyahu. The possibility ~ who once supported then Governor Gopal Krishna
cially worrisome. Child labour supplements the that Netanyahu ordered the Gandhi’s criticism of the Buddhadev Bhattacharya-led
family’s income and this has been an adverse fallout airstrikes to put off the coali- Left Front government over firing at Nandigram ~ to Mr.
of the potentially deadly second wave of the coron- tion’s effort at government Dhankhar’s stinging observations gives rise to the suspi-
avirus. Thus children scarcely have an option other formation cannot be ruled cion that she has something to hide.
than to accompany their parents to worksites. The out. Hamas may have lost Yours, etc., S.S.Paul, Nadia, 16 May.
source of livelihood is also a source of the virus. several commanders in the

BHARAT DOGRA
T must be pursued
he debate on the origin of
Covid-19, intense at one time,
tapered off eventually as there
was understandably more con-
cern about treatment and preventive
aspects. In addition, some analysts
seemed to suggest this can be a divi-
sive debate, involving allegations and
counter-allegations, so it is better to avoid
or postpone it as the world grapples with
a serious challenge that needs us to work
together.
There is sense in this view, of
course, but despite this the debate on
Covid-19 origins refuses to go away,
and in fact there are reasons why it is
acquiring a new momentum.
Firstly, the WHO team organized
for this purpose submitted a report in
March and this itself became an issue
of much discussion. However, this
report is along such predictable lines
and the terms of reference, member-
ship, pre-submission statements etc.
were also such that the entire exercise
looked more like a guided tour of
China than a real and thorough inves-
tigation examining all possibilities.
In fact, even a highly placed sci-
entist known earlier for his involve-
ment in the cover-up of several
aspects of the pandemic’s origin was
included as an influential member of
the ‘investigation’ team. Understand-
ably several scientists have called for
additional investigation and even the
topmost official of the WHO was com-
pelled to admit that more work on
this is needed and will be taken up.
Secondly, there is the question
that the important work of treatment
and prevention of Covid-19 as well as
of avoiding a recurrence of pandemic
is itself related to proper identifica-
tion of the source of the virus. It is this
factor which is indeed the most
important reason why the debate on
the origin of Covid-19 cannot really
be avoided and in fact any attempt to
neglect this or to cover-up important
facts relating to this will result in high
costs for humanity.
Thirdly, an additional reason for
revival of interest is the realisation
that the earlier phase of the debate
had involved significant cover-up
efforts and so there is need for
renewed unbiased efforts to unearth
the reality.
To summarize the earlier debate,
two main explanations for the origin
of Covid-19 had been discussed. The
first was based on animal to human
natural spread, the most likely being
bat to human via an intermediary
(likely to be an animal sold for meat in
the Wuhan wet market). The second
was the possibility of an accidental
escape of an engineered virus or a
genetically engineered virus from the
Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Israel’s ‘Black Lives Matter’ moment
JAMES L GELVIN
T
he images and reports coming
from Israel, Jerusalem and Gaza
in recent days are shocking. They
are also surprising to those
who thought the 2020 Abraham Accords
and subsequent agreements to normalize
relations between Israel and the Unit-
ed Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco,
and Sudan would place the conflict
between Israelis and Palestinians per-
manently on the backburner.
As someone who has been writ-
ing and teaching about the Middle
East for more than 30 years, I had no
such illusions. The reason for this is
that at its heart, the so-called “Arab-
Israeli conflict” has always been about
Israelis and Palestinians. And no mat-
ter how many treaties Israel signs with
Arab states, it will remain so.
In a phone call on May 12, Presi-
dent Joe Biden assured Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his
“unwavering support for Israel’s secu-
rity and for Israel’s legitimate right to
defend itself and its people.” Biden
was referencing the rocket attacks on
Israel launched by Hamas, the
Islamist group that governs Gaza. By
targeting civilians, Hamas is commit-
ting a war crime. In all probability, so
is Israel, by bombing and shelling
Gaza.
Despite the carnage the Hamas
rocket attacks and Israeli retaliation
inflicts on Israelis and Gazans, the
Biden administration is focusing on a
CROSSWORD
Covid investigation
Initially both aspects received
almost equal attention, but when a
number of scientists and subject-spe-
cialists intervened to issue statements
which sought to demolish the second
possibility, interest in this declined.
However, it eventually emerged that
a senior scientist-official who had
played a key role in preparing and dis-
seminating these statements was
himself involved closely in the fund-
ing of this research and some other
scientists who had been discounting
the accidents were pursuing some-
what similar research relating to novel
potential pandemic pathogens in
their own labs.
This discovery led to renewed
interest in what exactly was going on
in the Wuhan lab and it was found
that this work related to enhancing
the ability of corona viruses by alter-
ing them to increase their ability to
infect and harm human cells in
humanized mice. What is more, while
the Wuhan institute had a new lab in
sideshow, not the main event.
That main event is an unprece-
dented conflict taking place on the
streets of Jerusalem, Haifa, Lod and
elsewhere. It’s what scholars call an
“intercommunal conflict,” pitting ele-
ments of Israel’s Jewish population
against elements of Israel’s Palestin-
ian population who have had enough
and have taken to the streets.
Hamas could not maintain its
credibility as a movement if it sat by
while Palestinians in Israel battled
Jewish Israelis there. The reality is that
Israel is having its Black Lives Matter
moment.
As in the United States, a brutal-
ized minority group, facing systemic
racism and discriminatory acts, has
taken to the streets. And, as in the
United States, the only way out starts
with serious soul-searching on the
part of the majority.
But after the spate of Palestinian
suicide bombings in the early 2000s
that horrified Israelis and hardened
their attitudes toward Palestinians,
this is unlikely to occur.
Palestinian anger can be attrib-
uted to multiple issues. In April, Israel
attempted to impede access to Al-
Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for Pales-
tinians living in the West Bank. Israeli
police then raided the Muslim holy
site, reportedly after Palestinians
threw stones at them, injuring 330. At
the beginning of May, Mahmoud
Abbas, the current president of the
Palestinian Authority, which governs
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. (By arrangement with The Independent, London)
the stated highest security category,
this had been found to be wanting in
inspections and anyway some of the
coronavirus work had been conduct-
ed in the lower security labs.
This much could be confirmed,
even though the Wuhan records had
been sealed, as this research had been
financed by a USA based government
institute, through a New York based
sub-contractor, and so some of the
records of the research are available
with the funders too - the main con-
tractor a well as the sub-contractor.
Further it was revealed that these
institutes had gone ahead with this
funding to the Wuhan Institute
despite there being a moratorium
being in place for some time (2015-
17) on such funding.
Again, to place facts in perspec-
tive, such research relating to poten-
tial pandemic pathogens, in a broader
way also referred to as gain-of-func-
tion studies, had been criticized sev-
eral times by senior scientists for its
the West Bank, cancelled the first
Palestinian legislative elections in 15
years. Finally, when the current con-
flict spilled over into the West Bank,
the Israeli occupation and continued
colonization of Palestinian territory
were thrown into the mix.
These significant issues explain
Palestinian anger. However, the inter-
communal nature of the ongoing con-
flagration is due to two other issues.
First, Jewish settlers attempted to
evict eight Palestinian families from
their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah
neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The
United Nations Relief and Works
Agency had settled the families in the
neighbourhood during the 1950s.
Jewish settlers filed suit in 1972
claiming their right to the homes
where those families lived. They
argued that Jews had owned the
Palestinians’ homes before the divi-
sion of the city in the aftermath of the
1948 Arab-Israeli War. By right, they
argue, the homes belong to their
community.
Jewish neighbourhoods housing
more than 215,000 encircle the pre-
dominantly Palestinian eastern part
of Jerusalem, where Sheikh Jarrah is
located. For Palestinians, the attempt
to evict the families is representative
of Israel’s overall policy of pushing
them out of the city. It is not only a
reminder that in a Jewish state Pales-
tinians are second-class citizens, but a
re-enactment of the central tragedy
in Palestinian national memory: the
ACROSS
1 Level area with cluster of woods?
(7,5)
9 Charlie feels bitter taking in
another's curvy shapes (9)
10 Young creature mostly on back
gets weaker (5)
11 Noted rescue ship in sea ... (6)
12 ... is Scotsman on vessel from
Africa? (8)
13 Got to know King Cnut: sea, you
heard, must withdraw (6)
14 Some brothels in kingdom's capital
city (8)
17 Full development of fancy atrium
they gutted (8)
19 Mathematician somewhere in Italy
heading for Genoa (6)
high risks but at the same time others
had justified it on the rather suspect
argument that this would contribute
to preparing in advance for fighting
future possible pandemics. As this
research generally involves the lab-
level creation of viruses that are more
dangerous than those found in
nature, many scientists and bio-ethi-
cists had been warning against the
great potential of harm should a dan-
gerous virus escape. Such accidents
had taken place in the past.
Despite this, enormous funds
had been released for such research,
all in the name of fighting possible
future pandemics, and so many virol-
ogists and subject-specialists had also
acquired a stake in their continuation.
This includes not just civilian scien-
tists, but also defense scientists and
their institutions, because such
research also has implications for bio-
logical warfare in terms of aggression
as well as defense, a fact well known
but not discussed generally.
Nakba of 1948, when 720,000 Pales-
tinians fled their homes in what
would become the state of Israel,
becoming refugees.
The second reason for the inter-
communal nature of the current con-
flict is the emboldening of Israel’s
extreme right-wing politicians and
their followers. Among them are lat-
ter-day Kahanists, the followers of the
late Meir Kahane. Kahane was an
American rabbi who moved to Israel.
Kahane’s anti-Arab racism was so
extreme that the United States listed
the party he founded as a terrorist
group. Kahane proposed paying
Israel’s Palestinian population
$40,000 each to leave Israel. If they
refused, Israel should expel them, he
argued.
Kahanism and like-minded
movements are on the rise in Israel.
A Kahanist was recently elected to the
Israeli Knesset, or parliament, and
Netanyahu courted his support when
the prime minister was attempting to
form a government in February, 2019.
Kahanists and other ultranationalist
thugs — the “Proud Boys” of Israel —
march through Palestinian-Israeli
neighborhoods chanting “Death to
Arabs” and assault them.
The current crisis began on 6
May 2021. Pro-Palestinian protesters
in Sheikh Jarrah had been breaking
the Ramadan fast together each night
of the holiday, a custom called iftar.
On this particular night, Israeli set-
tlers set up a table opposite them. In
21 Going west, protest about French
road's condition (8)
23 Comparatively shrewd one that
might have quarrel (6)
25 Cross being put in same complex
tests (5)
26 Declining and becoming sad (5,4)
27 Controlling my tarpaulin all over
the place covering nothing (12)
DOWN
2 Crate rerouted after deliveries go
too far (9)
3 Vote to have leader dropped
sailors support (7)
4 Heard German's negative figure (4)
5 Indicated novel gets rude (8)
6 Regularly excel with displays for
cakes (7)
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
If a serious mistake is made by
the USA, then China rises fast to
expose it. If a serious mistake is made
by China when USA is very active to
expose it. But here is a curious case
of potentially lethal research con-
ducted in China using American
funds. Hence very powerful persons
on the US funding side and very pow-
erful persons on the Chinese side,
helped by subject-specialists of other
countries getting big funds for similar
research, were all interested for their
own reasons to cover up the possibili-
ty (no one can yet say with certainty)
of an accident in the Wuhan institute.
But in the interests of finding a
better cure and avoiding recurrence, it
is important to know the truth. Hence
the matter should be pursued very
carefully to consider, among other
possibilities, a serious lab accident
and virus leak in the Wuhan lab.
The writer is a journalist and author. His
recent books include Planet In Peril and Man
Over Machine (Gandhian Ideas for Our Times).
the settlers’ group was Itamar Ben-
Gvir, the Kahanist deputy. Rocks and
other objects began to fly. Then the
violence spread.
In the coastal city of Bat Yam, a
Jewish mob marched down the street
busting up Palestinian businesses,
while another mob attempted to
lynch a Palestinian driver. The same
scene was replayed in Acre, only this
time it was a Palestinian mob that
assaulted a Jewish man. Another
Palestinian mob burned a police sta-
tion to the ground in the same city.
And in a Tel Aviv suburb, a man pre-
sumed to be a Palestinian was pulled
from his car and beaten.
Lod is a city south of Tel Aviv with
a mixed Palestinian and Jewish popu-
lation. Not only was it the site of a
Hamas missile strike that killed two
Palestinians, it was where heavy fight-
ing took place between Palestinian
and Jewish mobs.
The fighting began after a funeral
of a Palestinian man who was killed
by an assailant presumed to be Jew-
ish. It was so heavy at times that the
Israeli government brought in border
guards from the West Bank to quell
the unrest. The mayor characterized
what was happening in his town as a
“civil war.”
The mayor also reminded the
residents of Lod, “The day after, we
still have to live here together.”
He did not explain how this was
to happen.
The writer is Professor of Modern Middle
Eastern History, University of California, Los
Angeles. This article was published on
www.theconversation.com
NO 28916
7 They're in the sky some time rising
over British isle (5)
8 Type in good club that will supply
ID (8,4)
9 Gave opinion about place and one
is praised (12)
15 Awfully huge robin, one close to
you (9)
16 Punish group breaking into places
to the north (6,2)
18 Controls and rules not good I start
to notice (5,2)
20 Reputable type of milk opened by
puritan (7)
22 Remove weapon from some lunar
module (5)
24 Notice something protruding from
bird (4)
07
100 YEARS AGO
OCCASIONAL NOTE
The account given in our special cable
service of the way in which Londoners
spent or prepared to spend the Whitsun
holidays shows that life in Great Britain
is not entirely overclouded by the coal
strike, trade depression, and the Irish
troubles. The difficulties confronting the
public, as we are told, did not quench
the holiday spirit. If railways failed for
want of coal, old-fashioned coaches and
new fashioned char-a-bancs were ready
to take their places as far as possible;
and, if there were no other resource, the
sturdy Briton strapped his knapsack to
his shoulders and made for the open
road. Railway-stations were besieged,
and there were enormous queues wait-
ing for seats in the few trains available.
Many thousands must have been oblig-
ed to spend their holiday at home, but,
it being an ill wind that blows nobody
good. The big arteries of London, like
the Euston and Old Kent Roads, "pre-
sented quite a picturesque and cheer-
ful aspect." These details are worth not-
ing. It would be quite easy to imagine a
very different kind of picture, in view of
the trials which the public has had to
bear during the last few weeks. The
whole account gives the general impres-
sion of invincible good temper together
with a healthy optimism refusing to
regard the troubles of the day as more
than transitory misfortunes which, like
everything else, will pass in their turn.
NEWS ITEMS
SUSPENSION OF
PAYMENT BY
DACCA BANK
Dacca, May 18
In connection with the suspension of
payment by the Dacca Bank, a meeting
of the creditors was held on Sunday
evening at which it was decided to reor-
ganise the bank and put it on a sound
basis. Rai Bahadur Pyarilal Das has con-
sented to take up the managing agency
and some of the directors have agreed to
deposit a sum of Rs 70,000 for one year
to enable the bank to be refloated. Upon
an investigation of the financial posi-
tion by the directors and a few other
gentlemen, it has been found that the
bank can carry on business provided it
has a deposit to the extent of the afore-
said amount to start with. A scale has
been fixed upon which creditors will
receive payment.
ACCIDENT AT
RANGOON
DOCKYARD
Rangoon, May 18
A serious accident occurred in one of the
slips of Dalla Dockyard this morning,
resulting in twenty-three men being
injured, two seriously. All were taken to
the General Hospital in municipal
ambulances. It appears that flat No. 91 of
the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, which is
undergoing overhauling, was in the slip
and workmen were dismantling the roof
when the iron framework collapsed and
buried the workmen underneath it. Aid
was quickly forthcoming and the injured
men speedily rescued from the ruins.
Thirteen of the men returned to the
dockyard later, after their injuries had
been attended to.
ASSAM TEACHERS'
CONFERENCE
The first Conference of Teachers and
Educational Officers of Assam was held
at Sylhet, Rai Sahib Aghore Nath
Adhikari, superintendent of Silchar Nor-
mal School, being elected chairman.
This conference declares that the teach-
ers as a body will stand by the authori-
ties in all their attempts for steady and
continued educational progress. That
the curriculum now in force is already
out of date and out of touch with the
realities of life, and the altered econom-
ic and political conditions of the coun-
try. This conference, therefore, recom-
mends that the Government do appoint
a committee to revise the whole cur-
riculum and that at least half the num-
ber of members on the committee do
consist of elected representatives of
Teachers and Inspecting Officers.
ELECTIONS IN
ITALY
The General elections, based upon pro-
portional representation, are proceed-
ing amidst great excitement, especially
in the provinces, where there have been
conflicts between Communists and Fas-
cismi. The conflicts however, have not
been of a serious nature. The Fascismi
organisation was originally started by
ex-service men, and is determined to
crush the Communist excesses which
came to a climax in the autumn of 1920.
Their policy of direct action developed
practically into replacing the red terror
by white, and they, with the National-
ists, agreed on the eve of the elections to
co-operate with the Coalition Conserv-
atives, Liberals, and Democrats, and to
support Giolitti against the popular or
Catholic party, the Socialists and Com-
munists. Though results will not be
known definitely till the week-end, the
Coalitionists are already claiming a tri-
umph.
08
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
THUMBNAILS
Suraksha objection: Mum-
bai-based realty firm
Suraksha group, which is
in the race to acquire
debt-laden Jaypee Infrate-
ch Ltd (JIL), has written to
financial creditors and
objected to extension of
deadline for submissions
of bids, sources said.
Suraksha group and state-
owned NBCC are in fray to
acquire JIL through insol-
vency process and com-
plete around 20,000 pend-
ing flats. In a letter to JIL's
Interim Resolution Profes-
sional (IRP) Anuj Jain and
the members of Commit-
tee of Creditors (CoC),
Suraksha said that exten-
sion is against the spirit of
the Supreme Court order
in March this year on the
pending insolvency matter
of Jaypee group firm. PTI
CCI nod to Yes Bank: Fair
trade regulator Competi-
tion Commission of India
(CCI) on Tuesday approved
the acquisition of Yes
Asset Management (India)
Ltd and Yes Trustee Limit-
ed by GPL Finance and
Investments Ltd. The pro-
posed combination envis-
ages the acquisition of
100 per cent equity
shares of the two entities
by GPL, as per a release.
“By way of these acquisi-
tions, GPL will acquire Yes
Mutual Fund and become
its sole sponsor,” the
release added. PTI
SBI allocation: State Bank
of India has allocated Rs
71 crore to undertake var-
ious support initiatives to
help the country combat
the second wave of Covid-
19. The bank has dedicat-
ed Rs 30 crore to set up
1,000-bed makeshift hos-
pitals, 250-bed ICU facili-
ties and 1,000-bed isola-
tion facilities across some
of the worst-hit states.
These facilities would be
set up in collaboration
with government hospi-
tals and municipal corpo-
rations of the respective
cities, said a release. SNS
Kimberly-Clark contribu-
tion: Kimberly-Clark Corpo-
ration has contributed
$2.5 million (Rs 18 crore)
to help the ongoing
national efforts to com-
bat the current Covid-19
surge. These emergency
relief funds, channelled
through its partner
Unicef, will be immediately
deployed for procurement
of life-saving supplies and
healthcare essentials,
especially oxygen concen-
trators, setting up of oxy-
gen plants and other
requirements, the compa-
ny said. SNS
Nucleus Software: Nucleus
Software, provider of
lending and transaction
banking products to the
global financial services
industry, on Tuesday
announced that Bank of
Sydney has chosen Nucle-
us Software’s flagship
lending solution ~ FinnOne
Neo ~ to accelerate its
digital lending transforma-
tion strategy. SNS
Federal Bank rights: Feder-
al Bank on Tuesday said its
board has cleared Rs 148-
crore capital investment
into subsidiary Fedbank
Financial Services through
a rights issue. PTI
Google rolls out News Showcase in India
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
Google today said it is rolling
out its News Showcase in
India with 30 news organisa-
tions, a move aimed at incen-
tivising and supporting pub-
lishers in the country to curate
high-quality content on
Google's News and Discover
platforms.
The tech giant is also step-
ping up its efforts to strength-
en digital skills in newsrooms
and journalism schools across
India and will train 50,000 jour-
nalists and journalism students
over the next three years.
“We are launching News
Showcase now to help pub-
lishers reach people with
trustworthy news, especial-
ly in this critical time with the
Stocks soar on decline
in fresh Covid-19 cases
Rupee rises by 17 paise to close at a seven-week high of 73.05 against US dollar
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 18 MAY
Equity benchmarks the Sen-
sex and the Nifty today settled
above the levels not seen in
over two months as economic
recovery hopes amid contin-
uous decline in fresh Covid-
19 cases further perked up
investor sentiment.
Recapturing the 50,000-
level milestone, the BSE Sen-
sex soared 612.60 points or 1.24
per cent to settle at 50,193.33
points. This was the highest
closing for the index since 16
March.
Likewise, the NSE Nifty
went past the psychological
15,000-mark. At the closing bell,
the NSE gauge quoted high-
er by 184.95 points or 1.24
points at 15,108.10 points,
the best closing since 10
March.
On the Sensex chart, Mahin-
dra & Mahindra was the top
gainer, rallying nearly 6 per
cent, followed by Bajaj Auto,
Titan, Bajaj Finance, HDFC
Bank and Larsen & Toubro.
On the other hand, Bhar-
ti Airtel, ITC, Dr Reddy's, State
Bank of India and HUL suf-
Coal mines auction
gets good response
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
The Centre today said the
second tranche of commer-
cial coal mines' auction has
received tremendous response
which is reflected in around
50 mine specific tender doc-
uments being purchased by
bidders till date. Moreover,
many other prospective bid-
ders are in the process of reg-
istration and purchase of ten-
der documents from the auc-
tion portal, the coal ministry
said in a statement.
“The response to this auc-
tion tranche, till now, has
been tremendous,” it said.
The bid submission date
has been extended to enable
interested parties travel to
mine locations for inspec-
tion once the lockdown curbs
are removed in states, it added.
In March, India launched
Rates hiked again, Petrol
crosses `99 in Mumbai
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
Petrol price today crossed Rs
99 a litre mark in Mumbai after
oil companies raised petrol and
diesel rates on surge in inter-
national oil prices.
Petrol price was increased
by 27 paise per litre and diesel
by 29 paise, according to a price
notification of state-owned fuel
retailers. The hike ~ tenth this
month ~ pushed petrol and
diesel prices to an all-time high
across the country.
In Delhi, petrol rates
climbed to Rs 92.85 a litre
and diesel rose to Rs 83.51.
Rates had already crossed
the Rs 100-mark in several cities
in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh
and Maharashtra and with
the latest increase, the price
in Mumbai too was inching
towards that level.
A litre of petrol in Mumbai
Covid crisis continuing. News
Showcase panels highlight
the articles publishers want,
allow them to give addition-
al context about a story, so
audiences can better under-
stand what's going on around
them,” Google vice-president
(product management) Brad
Bender said.
He added that these news
panels ensure branding, and
drive all traffic back to the web-
site of the publishers that
helps deepen the relation-
ship with readers.
“We are also paying pub-
lishers for access to paywalled
content to provide users free
access to select content,
enabling people to try content
that they may not have oth-
erwise seen on their journey
to becoming a subscriber,” he
fered losses. Sectorally, BSE
auto, industrials, consumer
durables, capital goods, power
and utilities indices rallied
up to 3.19 per cent. Telecom
and FMCG indices fell up to
1.66 per cent.
In the broader market,
mid-cap and small-cap indices
outperformed the benchmark
by rallying as much as 1.87 per
cent. Large-cap index rose
1.22 per cent. "Domestic equi-
ties extended gains as early sign
of decline in Covid-19 daily
caseload and improving
the second tranche of auction
for commercial coal mining,
offering 67 mines for sale.
Coal minister Pralhad Joshi
launched the auction process
in a programme held in New
Delhi. This is the highest num-
ber of mines on offer in a
particular tranche after com-
mencement of the auction
regime in 2014.
“This is the second tranche
of auction of coal mines for sale
of coal which paves way for lib-
eralisation of Indian coal sec-
tor enhancing efficiency, com-
petition and private sector
participation leading to devel-
opment of a vibrant coal mar-
ket, boosting economic growth
and employment generation,”
the statement said. Out of
the total 67 mines offered, 23
are under Coal Mines (Special
Provisions) Act and 44 under
Mines and Minerals (Devel-
opment and Regulation) Act.
10TH INCREASE THIS MONTH
� Petrol price was
increased by 27 paise per
litre and diesel by 29 paise,
according to a price noti-
fication of state-owned
fuel retailers.
� The hike ~ tenth
this month ~
pushed petrol
now comes for Rs 99.14 and
diesel is priced at Rs 90.71 per
litre.
Fuel prices differ from state
to state depending on the
incidence of local taxes such
as VAT and freight charges.
Rajasthan levies the highest
value-added tax (VAT) on
petrol in the country, followed
by Madhya Pradesh and Maha-
rashtra.
The hike comes as Brent
crude oil price rose above
added. Google News Showcase
is rolling out in India with 30
news publishers, including
national, regional and local
news organisations. Discus-
India’s economy will do well once
vaccination reaches a critical mass.
RBI'S MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE MEMBER
prospects of faster econom-
ic recovery emboldened
investors,” said Binod Modi,
head strategy at Reliance Secu-
rities. Additionally, strong
cues from Asian markets also
supported the rally in domes-
tic market, he added.
Elsewhere in Asia, bours-
es in Shanghai, Hong Kong,
Tokyo and Seoul ended on a
positive note.
Stock exchanges in Europe
were also trading with gains
in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, international
Tata Motors'
loss narrows
to `7,585 cr
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
Home-grown auto major Tata
Motors today reported a nar-
rowing of consolidated net
loss to Rs 7,585 crore for the
fourth quarter ended 31 March
2021, aided by improved sales.
The company had posted a con-
solidated net loss of Rs 9,864
crore in the January-March
period of 2019-20, Tata Motors
said in a BSE filing.
The auto major's total income
in the fourth quarter stood at
Rs 89,319 crore. It was at Rs 63,057
crore in the year-ago quarter.
The company's British arm,
Jaguar Land Rover reported a
pre-tax loss of £952 million for
the quarter owing to the £1.5 bil-
lion of exceptional charges,
including £952 million of non-
cash write-downs of prior invest-
ments and £534 million of
restructuring charges expect-
ed to be paid in FY'22.
and diesel prices to an
all-time high across the
country.
$70 per barrel for the first
time since 15 March.
This is the tenth increase
in prices since 4 May, when the
state-owned oil firms ended
an 18-day hiatus in rate revi-
sion they observed during
assembly elections in states
like West Bengal.
Sri Ganganagar district of
Rajasthan had the costliest
petrol and diesel in the coun-
try at Rs 103.80 per litre and
Rs 96.30 a litre, respectively.
sions are underway with more
news partners to further
expand the offering.
This builds on News Show-
case deals signed by 700 news
ASHIMA GOYAL
oil benchmark Brent crude was
trading 0.82 per cent higher
at $70.03 per barrel.
In the forex market, the
rupee rose by 17 paise to close
at a seven-week high of 73.05
against the US dollar today,
extending its gaining streak to
the third straight session on
positive domestic equities
and weakening of the Amer-
ican currency in the overseas
markets.
At the interbank forex mar-
ket, the rupee opened at 73.18
and hit an intra-day high of
72.95 and a low of 73.18 dur-
ing the session.
“Rupee gained for the third
day in row to the highest in
almost seven weeks as dollar
drifted lower while equities
roared after daily virus cases
started declining,” said Dilip
Parmar, research analyst,
HDFC Securities.
However, sharp gains were
prevented on surge in crude
oil prices, continued FII out-
flows, traders said.
The local unit settled at
73.05, the highest closing level
since 26 March. On Monday,
the rupee had closed at 73.22
against the US dollar.
COAI urges govt to remove fake msgs
on social media linking Covid-19 to 5G
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
Telecom industry body COAI
has approached the infor-
mation technology ministry
for removal of fake and mis-
leading messages from social
media platforms like Face-
book, Whatsapp and Twitter
linking spread of Covid-19 to
5G technology.
The Cellular Operators
Association of India (COAI),
whose members include
Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel
and Vodafone Idea, said the
claims linking 5G with coro-
navirus are baseless as 5G net-
works have not yet been
installed in the country and
even 5G trials are yet to be
started by the telecom oper-
ators.
In a letter dated 15 May
PTI to MeitY additional secretary
Mphasis to
create 800
jobs overseas
BENGALURU, 18 MAY
Information technology
solutions provider Mphasis
announced today the set-
ting up of new centres in
Mexico, Costa Rica and Tai-
wan, where it would create
about 800 jobs in six
months.
As part of a “large global
deal” in the hi-tech industry,
the new centres will accom-
modate over 800 people that
will serve existing clients,
the Bengaluru-headquar-
tered company specialising
in cloud and cognitive ser-
vices said in a statement
issued here.
The services offered out of
these centres would be large-
scale operations in the areas
of application development,
support, testing, operations,
and financial analysis, the
company said in the state-
ment. PTI
publications in more than a
dozen countries, including
Germany, Brazil, Canada,
France, Japan, the UK, Aus-
tralia, Czechia, Italy and
Argentina.
Bender said Google sends
24 billion visits to news web-
sites globally every month,
helping people discover con-
tent via Google Search and also
helps publishers monetise
their platforms through a
suite of products.
News has been a deep
focus and commitment for
Google and the company has
been helping a large number
of journalists and media play-
ers to reach out to customers,
Google country head and
vice-president, India, Sanjay
Gupta, said.
Gupta noted that while
Morgan Stanley sees Sensex at
61,000 by Dec in ‘bull’ scenario
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 18 MAY
The ongoing consolidation in
equities would improve return
prospects during the second
half of 2021, an American
brokerage said today.
Leading indicators relat-
ing to fundamentals, includ-
ing growth, stability, govern-
ment policy and RBI policy,
and corporate earnings are
generally positive about equi-
ty returns, analysts at Morgan
Stanley said.
It can be noted that since
the start of the second wave
of Covid-19 infections, which
also coincided with inflation
worries in the US, there has
been an uneasiness within
investors. From its levels on
10 March, the markets are
down by nearly 3 per cent
despite the late surge over the
last two trading sessions.
The BSE's 30-share bench-
mark was trading 1.30 per cent
up at 50,224 points as of 1235
hrs on Tuesday.
We expect the churn below
the index to continue even as
the index outlook appears
improved going into 2H21, the
analysts wrote, adding that
cross-asset and sentiment
indicators are neutral on
equities.
Rajendra Kumar, COAI direc-
tor-general S P Kochhar said:
“To safeguard the national
interest, we request your
good office to kindly instruct
all the social media plat-
forms such as Facebook,
Whatsapp, Twitter, etc, to
remove all such posts and mis-
leading campaigns from their
platforms on an urgent
basis.”
People have been sharing
audio and video messages on
social media platforms in
which 5G towers are being
blamed for rise in casualties
across the country even
though none of the compa-
nies have installed 5G tech-
nology anywhere in India.
Video messages show that
people convinced with the
claim want to bring down
mobile towers.
“We would hereby like to
Coal India lines up `35 crore
for setting up 25 O2 plants
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 18 MAY
State-run Coal India Limit-
ed today announced that it
will invest Rs 35 crore for
installation of 25 oxygen gen-
eration plants across 22 hos-
pitals to boost supply of the
life-saving gas
These O2 generations
plants will be set up in CIL’s
own hospitals and in dis-
trict hospitals where four of
CIL’s subsidiaries operate to
support 3,328 beds, the com-
pany said in a statement
issued here today.
As regards capacity of the
plans, CIL said: "While the
combined O2 generation
capacity of 20 plants is a lit-
tle above 12,700 litres per
minute, four of the plants
together generate 750 cubic
metres per hour. One is a refill
plant."
consumption of news across
print, television and digital is
growing, there are changing
consumer habits wherein
more young consumers are
leveraging reach of digital to
access news and that this
poses two significant chal-
lenges ~ branding and mon-
etisation.
“We were very keen to get
Showcase to India... When
you solve for India, you need
to solve for languages in a very
significant way and that's
one capability that the prod-
uct team was developing to
help launch... Over the last 8-
9 months, we spent a lot of
time talking to each one of
the publisher partners to see
how we can both enable
them and work with them,”
he said.
The challenge for equities
comes from waning liquidi-
ty and valuation support,
they said.
The brokerage maintained
its 55,000 points target for end-
2021 for the benchmark, giv-
ing it a 50 per cent probabil-
ity of coming true. In the
"bull" scenario, the Sensex can
rise to 61,000 points by Decem-
ber 2021, while in the "bear"
scenario it can crash to 41,000
points.
There is a 30 per cent like-
lihood for the "bull" sce-
nario, which can get trig-
gered by factors like the virus
ebbing completely, recovery
in growth being sustained, and
global stimulus supporting
asset prices.
The brokerage gave a lower,
20 per cent probability for the
"bear" scenario to play out,
and pointed out that factors
highlight that these types of
rumours have spread over the
past two weeks, mainly in
semi-urban and rural areas.
“There has been a rise in
such misinformation main-
ly in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and Punjab. We are
concerned that this mis-
leading and false claim /
information might spread
to other parts of the country
as well,” Kochhar said.
The department of
telecommunications has also
denied the claim of linking
the Covid-19 pandemic to the
5G technology as false, and
said it has no scientific
basis.
“Moreover, it is informed
that the testing of the 5G net-
work has not yet started any-
where in India. Hence, the
claim that 5G trials or net-
works are causing coron-
Of the 25 plants, five are
being installed at CIL’s own
hospitals at an investment of
Rs 4.25 crore covering 332
beds. Northern Coalfields
Limited and Central Coalfields
Limited will be putting up two
plants each and Bharat Cok-
ing Coal Limited will set up
one plant. The remaining 20
plants, which will entail an
investment of Rs 30.75 crore,
will be installed in district hos-
pitals under CIL’s corporate
social responsibility pro-
Canara Bank registers
`1,011 cr profit in Q4
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 18 MAY
State-owned Canara Bank
today reported a standalone
profit of Rs 1,010.87 for the
fourth quarter ended March
2021 as provision for bad
loans declined. The bank had
posted a net loss of Rs 3,259.33
crore during the corresponding
January-March 2020 quarter.
Total income on a stand-
alone basis during January-
March rose to Rs 21,522.60
crore as against Rs 14,222.39
crore in the year-ago period,
Canara Bank said in a regu-
latory filing.
The lender's provision for
non-performing assets (NPAs)
declined to Rs 4,427.53 crore
for the March 2021 quarter
like the higher infections
continuing in second half, lack
of adequate policy response
from India and faltering
growth can trigger such an
eventuality.
Calling it a stock picker's
market, the note advised
investors to prefer domestic
cyclicals the most in their
portfolio strategy.
Listing out the positive
factors, they said factory out-
put is set to grow in double
digits, the gap between real
GDP growth and the 10-year
bond yield suggests more
upside to stock returns, pol-
icy certainty index is close to
all-time highs and India's
macro stability, which makes
the brokerage believe that it
will outperform other emerg-
ing markets.
The brokerage said its pro-
prietary earnings index is
suggesting a sharp uptick in
earnings, which will be the best
since the global financial cri-
sis of 2008.
It said a proprietary sen-
timent indicator combines
flows, volatility, implied volatil-
ity, trading volumes, breadth
and price momentum to
judge sentiment. It is a con-
tra indicator right now, just
below the neutral zone, it
said.
avirus in India is baseless and
false,” the DoT had said.
International bodies like
the World Health Organiza-
tion and International Com-
mission on Non-Ionizing
Radiation Protection have
also rejected claims of 5G hav-
ing any ill effect on the health
of people.
COAI said spreading myth
around telecom services is
against the national interest
and may significantly impact
the telecom operations.
The impact on the con-
nectivity will deprive the
public or government author-
ities from getting uninter-
rupted telecom services at this
crucial juncture when tele-
com and Internet is essen-
tial for enabling work from
home and various initiatives
of the government including
the vaccination, it said.
gramme, the company said.
“Responding to the oxy-
gen need and to scale up its
availability, we are installing
O2 plants on a war footing.
All CIL-owned five plants
will be installed before July,
in phase-wise manner, begin-
ning from the first week of
June. Plants supported by
CIL at district hospitals are
expected to be completed by
August," said a senior exec-
utive of the company.
CIL spent Rs 264 crore
exclusively on Covid relief
measures during financial
year 2020-21, which is 50
per cent of its total CSR spend
of Rs 523 crore during that fis-
cal.
“With the government
declaring Covid measures
as common CSR theme for
CPSEs in FY’22, we shall fur-
ther augment our Covid relief
measures,” said the executive.
compared to Rs 4,875.28 crore
parked aside in the corre-
sponding period of 2019-20.
For the full fiscal 2020-21,
there was a profit of Rs 2,557.58
as against the loss of Rs 2,235.72
crore during 2019-20.
On the asset quality, gross
NPAs continued to remain at
an elevated level of 8.93 per
cent at the end of March 2021,
slightly higher than 8.21 per
cent by the end of March
2020. In value terms, the gross
NPAs or bad loans of the bank
surged to Rs 60,287.84 crore
as of 31 March 2020, vis-a-vis
Rs 37,041.15 crore in the year-
ago period. Net NPAs were,
however, trimmed substan-
tially to 3.82 per cent (Rs
24,442.07 crore) from 4.22
per cent (Rs 18,250.95 crore).
 09
The country’s economy is (going) in the right direction. The econo-
my is improving due to the actions taken by the government
PAKISTAN PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
COMMENTING ON THE COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Ten wounded, 4 critical in strike from Gaza

At least 213 Palestinians have been killed in heavy airstrikes till now, including 61 children and 36 women, with more than 1,440 people wounded
ASSOCIATED PRESS leaving behind a massive
GAZA CITY,18 MAY mound of rebar and concrete
slabs.
Biden supports Israel’s �US reaches out to Arab
leaders: Secretary of State

A ‘right to self defence’

strike launched from
Gaza on Tuesday
wounded 10 people
in southern Israel,
four of them seriously, Israeli
medics reported, as Israel and
Gaza’s Hamas rulers contin-
ued to trade attacks.
The projectile attack Tues-
day afternoon hit a region in
southern Israel, according to
the Magen David Adom res-
cue service.
It came as Palestinians
across Israel and the occupied
territories went on strike in a
rare collective action against
Israel’s policies.
With the war in Gaza show-
ing no sign of abating and truce
efforts apparently stalled, the
general strike and expected
protests could again widen the
conflict after a spasm of com-
munal violence in Israel and
protests across the occupied
West Bank last week.
Israel’s airstrikes toppled a
six-story building that housed
bookstores and educational
centers used by the Islamic Uni-
versity and other colleges,
Desks, office chairs, books
and computer wires could be
seen in the debris. Residents
sifted through the rubble,
searching for their belong-
ings.
Israel warned the building’s
residents ahead of time, send-
ing them fleeing into the
predawn darkness, and there
were no reports of casualties.
Israel said it was targeting
militants, their tunnels and
rocket launchers across the ter-
ritory.
“The whole street started
running, then destruction,
an earthquake,” said Jamal
Herzallah, a resident of the area.
“This whole area was shaking.”
Heavy fighting broke out
May 10 when Gaza’s militant
Hamas rulers fired long-range
rockets toward Jerusalem in
support of Palestinian protests
against Israel’s heavy-handed
policing of the Al-Aqsa Mosque
compound, a flashpoint site
sacred to Jews and Muslims,
and the threatened eviction of
dozens of Palestinian families
by Jewish settlers.
An Israeli air strike hits a building in Gaza City, on Monday. The Israeli military unleashed a wave of
heavy airstrikes Monday on the Gaza Strip, saying it destroyed 15 kilometers (9 miles) of militant
tunnels and the homes of nine Hamas commanders.
At least 213 Palestinians
have been killed in heavy
airstrikes since, including 61
children and 36 women, with
more than 1,440 people
wounded, according to the
Gaza Health Ministry, which
does not break the numbers
down into fighters and civil-
ians.
As the fighting drags on,
medical supplies, fuel and
water are running low in Gaza.
Ten people in Israel, includ-
ing a 5-year-old boy and a sol-
dier, have been killed in the
ongoing rocket attacks
launched from civilian areas
in Gaza toward civilian areas
in Israel.
The strike was intended to
protest the Gaza war and
AP
Israeli policies that many
activists and some rights
groups say constitute an over-
arching system of apartheid
that denies Palestinians the
rights afforded to Jews.
Israel rejects that charac-
terization, saying its citizens
have equal rights.
It blames the war on Hamas,
the Islamic militant group
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA During the phone call on
WASHINGTON, 18 MAY Monday, Biden reiterated his
firm support for Israel's
The US President Joe Biden, right to defend itself against
in a telephonic call with indiscriminate rocket
Prime Minister Benjamin attacks, it said.
Netanyahu, supported He encouraged Israel to
Israel's “right to defend make every effort to ensure
itself” against indiscriminate the protection of innocent
rocket attacks and encour- civilians, it said.
aged him to make every The two leaders dis-
effort to ensure the protec- cussed progress in Israel's
tion of innocent civilians, the military operations against
White House has said. Hamas and other terrorist
Biden welcomed efforts groups in Gaza, the White
to address inter-commu- House said.
nal violence and to bring The President expressed
calm to Jerusalem, the White his support for a ceasefire
House said in a readout of and discussed the US
the call. engagement with Egypt.
that controls Gaza, and accus- Palestinian Authority in the
es it of inciting violence across occupied West Bank, where
the region. ministries and schools were
Leaders of the Palestinian closed.
community in Israel called the Most businesses appeared
strike, which was embraced by to be observing the strike,
the internationally-backed and protests were expected.
Antony Blinken and his
envoy reached out to Pales-
tinian and regional Arab
leaders on Tuesday as
attacks between Israel and
Gaza’s Hamas rulers raged
on, saying, “Our goal is to
bring the current cycle of
violence to an end”
�EU mulls ways to help
defuse fighting: European
Union foreign ministers
are meeting Tuesday to
discuss how to use the 27-
nation bloc's political clout
to help diplomatic efforts
to end the fighting between
the Israeli armed forces
and Palestinian militants.
�Indian-Americans rally
in support of Israel: A large
number of Indian-Ameri-
cans in Chicago rally in
support of Israel during
its conflict with the Hamas,
which they alleged are
indulging in terror attacks
against the Jewish.

Moon seeks
urgency on
N Korea
SEOUL, 18 MAY
South Korean President Moon
Jae-in is hoping to use his first
summit with US President Joe
Biden this week to revive
long-stalled talks with North
Korea and urge the White
House to embrace the issue
with more urgency.
South Korean officials say
they were heartened by the
new administration's recent
policy review, which called for
a focus on practical diplomatic
steps to reduce tensions while
maintaining the final goal of
removing North Korea's
nuclear weapons.
But amid the global coro-
navirus pandemic, domestic
economic and political chal-
lenges, and foreign policy
crises elsewhere, the Biden
administration has not sig-
nalled North Korea is a top
priority, potentially compli-
cating Moon's hopes of
cementing his legacy. Moon
is scheduled to arrive in
Washington on Thursday for
a four-day stay. AGENCIES
Bangladesh arrests woman
scribe under colonial-era law
PRESS TRUT OF INDIA
DHAKA, 18 MAY
A senior Bangladeshi woman
journalist, known for her
investigative reporting, was
arrested on charges of vio-
lating a colonial-era official
secrecy law, the police said
on Tuesday, triggering protests
by the rights groups and her
colleagues.
Rozina Islam, a senior
reporter of Bangla daily Pro-
thom Alo, the largest daily
newspaper based on circu-
lation, was on Monday
Over 800 killed by security forces since coup: Myanmar activists
AGENCIES
YANGON, 18 MAY
More than 800 people have
been killed by Myanmar’s
security forces since a wave
of protests broke out across
the country after the military
seized power in a coup in
February, an activist group said.
Myanmar has been in tur-
moil since the army ousted
Nobel Peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi’s elected government
and detained her and officials
of her National League for
Democracy party.
The military has respond-
ed to protests by pro-democ-
racy supporters in cities and
towns with lethal force, while
there has been an upsurge in
detained for over five hours
by the Health Ministry offi-
cials for allegedly clicking a
picture of a document with
her cell phone without per-
mission. She was later arrest-
ed by the police.
The ministry filed a case
against her at around mid-
night under the 1923 Official
Secrets Act while she spent
her night under the police cus-
tody, the police said.
The judge said he would
entertain the prosecution
charge including her bail
petition on Thursday.
fighting between the army and
ethnic rebels in border areas
and newly formed militia
forces. As of Monday, 802
people had been killed in the
junta's crackdown on its oppo-
nents, according to the activist
group the Assistance Associ-
ation for Political Prisoners.
"This is the number veri-
Indonesia: Pro-Palestinian protest at
US Embassy over Israel’s airstrikes
ASSOCIATED PRESS the compound, which is
JAKARTA, 18 MAY blocked off by concrete road
separators.
Pro-Palestinian protesters Indonesia, the world's
marched to the heavily guard- most populous Muslim major-
ed US Embassy in Indonesia's ity nation, does not have for-
capital on Tuesday to demand mal diplomatic relations with
an end to Israeli airstrikes in Israel and there is not an
the Gaza Strip. Israeli Embassy in the coun-
Waving Indonesian and try.
Palestinian flags and signs that One group of protesters,
read Free Palestine, several organized by the United
hundred demonstrators gath- Indonesian Muslim Student
ered along a major street in Action group, chanted God is
Jakarta that runs outside the Great and Freedom for Pales-
embassy. More than 1,000 tine as they marched. Their
police were deployed around banners and placards
disputed the number of civil-
ians that have died and said
dozens of members of the
security forces had also been
killed during the protests.
The activist group said 4,120
people were currently being
detained, including 20 who
had been sentenced to death.
UN vote on call to stop arms
supply postponed: A 193-
member UN General Assem-
fied by AAPP, the actual num- bly vote on Tuesday on a draft
ber of fatalities is likely much resolution calling “for an
higher," the group said in its immediate suspension of the
daily briefing. direct and indirect supply,
It detailed six additional sale or transfer of all weapons
fatalities including in towns and munitions” to Myanmar
in Chin state and in districts has been postponed, diplo-
of the main cities of Mandalay mats said.
and Yangon. A spokesman for the U.N.
The junta has previously General Assembly president
Nepal crisis: CPN-UML
forms 10-member task
slammed the airstrikes in force to resolve dispute
Gaza and denounced Amer-
ica's staunch support of Israel.
Another group, organised
by the Confederation of
Indonesian Trade Unions,
held a similar rally a few hun-
dred metres (yards) from the
embassy.They yelled Save
Palestinians as they marched
through downtown Jakarta to
the United Nations mission. PRESS TRUST OF INDIA deputy parliamentary party
Similar protests organ- KATHMANDU, 18 MAY leader Subas Chandra Nem-
ised by union workers were bang, the report said.
held at the same time on Nepal's ruling CPN-UML The other members from the
Tuesday in other Indonesian headed by Prime Minister K Nepal faction in the task-
cities. P Sharma Oli has formed a 10- force are Ghanashyam Bhusal,
member joint task force from Gokarna Bista, Raghu Panta
the two rival factions to iron and Surendra Pandey.
out intra-party differences
that threatens the stability of
the minority government,
The other members of the
Oli faction are Minister of
Finance Bishnu Prasad Paudel,
said earlier on Monday that according to media reports. Minister of Foreign Affairs
the body was due to vote on Oli, who is the chairman Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, PM's
Tuesday. of the Communist Party of Chief Adviser Bishnu Rimal
Myanmar internet a ''virtual Nepal-Unified Marxist-Lenin- and Lumbini Chief Minister
battlefield'': Myanmar's mil- ist, on Sunday last held a Shankar Pokharel.
itary rulers are seeking to one-on-one meeting with CPN-UML lawmakers of
limit access to the internet to Madhav Kumar Nepal, who the Nepal faction had ini-
an internal network of only heads the rival faction of the tially threatened to resign
whitelisted sites to quash party, and decided to form a from the House of Repre-
opposition to their seizure of taskforce with five members sentatives en masse.
power, according to a report from each group to resolve However, the lawmakers
by the International Crisis their differences, the dropped the idea after Oli
Group. Himalayan Times newspa- withdrew action taken against
It likened the internet to per reported on Monday. four dissident leaders, includ-
a virtual battlefield” where the The task force is supposed ing Nepal, for working against
military is struggling to gain to forge a consensus on res- the party following a meeting
an edge because it lacks tech- urrecting the party as it was between the two rival lead-
nological capacity,while social on 16 May, 2018, according to ers on Thursday, ahead of
media companies like Face- MyRepublica news portal. the trust vote.
book have banned military offi- While Nepal's camp will be The CPN-UML, headed
cials and many government led by Bhim Bahadur Rawal, by Oli, is the largest party with
agencies. Oli faction will be led by 121 seats in the House.

LEISURE
10 MINUTE CROSSWORD BEETLE BAILEY/Mort Walker NEED TO KNOW
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RED EYE/Bill Yates & Mel Casson SUDOKU

ACROSS DOWN
1 Widespread (6) 1 Support the cause of (8)
4 Beloved (4) 2 Drinking vessel (3)
7 Optimistic (8) 3 Hatred (5)
8 Piece of verse (4) 4 Belittle (9)
9 Proficient person (4,6) 5 Old (4)
12 Unpleasant (6) 6 Population count (6)
14 Sacred beetle (6) 10 Taxing (9)
15 Component (10)
18 Extinct bird (4) 11 Wary (8)
19 Autocratic ruler (8)
21 Planet (4)
13 Mock (6)
16 Disparage (5) DADDY DAZE/John Kovaleski
22 Mythological spirits of 17 Jot (4)
nature (6) 20 Snake (3)
SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S CROSSWORD
irections Make a 2 to
ACROSS pace, DOWN 11 Cakehole, 7 letter word from the
letters in each row.
1 Sheikhs, 12 Anaesthet 1 Sure, 13 Shore up, Add points of each
ic, 15 Tap-in, word, using scoring
5 Beer 2 Esplanade, directions at right, 7-
(Shake- 14 Helen of 3 Knock, 16 Fair, letter words get 50- Sudoku is a number-placing
Troy, 18 Err. point bonus. "Blanks"
speare), 4 Staunch, used as any letter puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with
7 Prop, 17 Home help, 5 Bad, have no point value. several given numbers. The
19 Roar, All Judd’s words are
8 On and off, 6 Efficacy, in The Official object is to place the numbers 1
9 Walking 20 Rear, 10 Potpourri, Scrabble Players to 9 in the empty squares so
21 Pannier. Dictionary(Merriam-
Webster) and OSW that no row, no column and no
Official Scrabble answer to 3x3 box contains the same
By arrangement with The Independent rabble and Scrabble Tiles are registered trademarks. All Words(Chambers).
number. The difficulty level
Figures in parentheses denote
rights in the game are owned in the U.S.A by Hasbro Inc., Judd’s solution previous
in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc., and elsewhere by J.W. increases through the week.
the number of letters in the words required Spear & Sons Limited, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc.
tomorrow.
10-25-12
puzzle
10
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
WEATHER
CITY MAX MIN
SINGAPORE 29°C 25°C H
HONG KONG 26°C 20°C H
TOKYO 18°C 12°C CL
LONDON 17°C 09°C S
DUBAI 30°C 25°C S
SAN FRANCISCO 13° C
NEW YORK 10° C
04° C
07° C
H
S
MOSCOW 16° C 09°C H will build on those efforts.
S= sunny, CL= clear,
H=hazy, R= rainy...
THUMBNAILS
French President
Emmanuel Macron, right,
welcomes President of the
Sudanese Transitional
Council General Abdel Fat-
tah al-Burhan, left, for a
dinner with leaders of
African states, at the Ely-
see Palace, in Paris. AP
Shark kills surfer in
Australia: A surfer was
killed by a shark on Tues-
day off the Australian east
coast, police said. The
man, aged in his 50s, had
been surfing off Forster,
220 kilometers (137 miles)
north of Sydney, when he
was attacked late in the
morning, a police state-
ment said. AP
23 rescued from suspected
smuggling boat: Twenty-
three people were rescued
on Monday from a suspect-
ed smuggling boat off the
San Diego coast. The small
boat was spotted shortly
before 3 a.m. by a US Bor-
der Patrol video system as
it drifted off the coast of
Point Loma. AP
Blinken brings Biden’s
anti-Trump climate
policy to Iceland
ASSOCIATED PRESS
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND, 18 MAY
On a trip overshadowed by the
crisis in the Middle East, U.S.
Secretary of State Antony
Blinken on Tuesday touted the
Biden administration’s abrupt
shift in its predecessor’s cli-
mate policies as he visited Ice-
land for talks with senior offi-
cials from the world’s Arctic
nations.
In Reykjavik for a meeting
of foreign ministers of the
eight members of the Arctic
Council, Blinken heralded
President Joe Biden’s return
to the Paris climate accord and
determination to combat cli-
mate change.
“We are very focused on
reinvigorating our closest
alliances and partnerships, and
also our engagement in mul-
tilateral institutions, and being
here really represents both
aspects of that effort,” Blinken
told the foreign minister. He
lauded Iceland for its strong
support for human rights,
climate change mitigation
and the role it plays in NATO.
The Arctic is warming faster
than the rest of the world and
has been particularly hard hit
by rising sea levels from melt-
ing sea ice and glaciers. For-
mer U.S. President Donald
Trump had alienated Arctic
countries and others with his
dismissal of the phenome-
non and his withdrawal from
the 2015 Paris agreement.
Trump’s former Secretary
Clinic helps long-haul patients in London’s “Covid triangle”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON, 18 MAY
Gary Miller drove a London taxi.
Rohit Patel worked behind the
till in a supermarket. Barry
Bwalya was in customer service.
When the coronavirus tore
through their London neigh-
borhoods in early 2020, they
all got sick. More than a year
later, they are still struggling.
“It’s like a rollercoaster,” said
Miller, a previously fit, gym-
loving 57-year-old who is cop-
ing with leg and joint pain,
headaches and breathless-
ness. “There are times that I
see light at the end of the
tunnel. I feel like I’m taking one
US to share 20m more Covid
vaccine doses with world
Biden says over the next six weeks, the United States of America will send 80 million doses overseas
Vice President Kamala Harris watches as President Joe Biden
speaks about distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, in the White
House on Monday.
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
WASHINGTON, 18 MAY
T
he United States will
share 20 million more
Covid-19 vaccine
doses with other coun-
tries, taking the total number
of such shots to 80 million,
President Joe Biden said on
Monday.
“Over the next six weeks,
the United States of America
will send 80 million doses
overseas. That represents 13
per cent of the vaccines pro-
duced by the US by the end
of June. This will be more
vaccine doses than any coun-
try has actually shared to
date, five times more than any
other country. More than Rus-
sia and China, which have
donated 15 million doses,”
Biden told.
“There's a lot of talk about
Russia and China influencing
the world with vaccines. We
want to lead the world with this
demonstration of our inno-
vation, ingenuity, and the fun-
damental decency of the Amer-
ican people. Just as in World
War II, America was the arse-
nal of democracy, in the bat-
tle against the Covid-19 pan-
of State, Mike Pompeo, also
stunned many in the envi-
ronmental community at an
Arctic Council meeting two
years ago in Finland with a call
for countries to embrace and
harness climate change, par-
ticularly the opening of new
sea lanes due to melting ice,
for commercial gain.
Blinken will tour several Ice-
landic geo-thermal energy
sites later Tuesday before
holding a series of bilateral
meetings with other Arctic
Council foreign ministers on
Wednesday. Among them will
be Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov in what will be
the highest-level face-to-face
talks between the two coun-
tries since Biden took office.
Blinken will see Lavrov
amid a sharp deterioration in
ties between Washington and
Moscow sparked by Russia’s
build-up of troops along the
border with Ukraine, cyber-
attacks and allegations that
Russia interfered in US pres-
idential elections in 2016 and
2020. The two nations are
also at odds over influence in
the Arctic, with Russia insist-
ing its large Arctic landmass
makes it the pre-eminent
power in the region.
step forward, and then all of
a sudden~ bang~ I’m ill again
and I take two steps back.”
Even as London looks to life
after lockdown, thousands of
people are still grappling with
long-term physical and men-
tal effects of the virus. Help is
coming through “long Covid”
clinics, where medics, patients
~and Britain’s overstretched
health system~are confronting
the virus’s enduring effects.
Plagues, fires, war ~London
has survived them all. But it has
never had a year like this. The
coronavirus has killed more
than 15,000 Londoners and
shaken the foundations of one
of the world’s great cities.
The problem and the issue is that we don’t have any way of knowing who is
vaccinated and who’s not vaccinated
AP
demic, our nation is going to
be the arsenal of vaccines for
the rest of the world. We'll
share these vaccines in the ser-
vice of ending the pandemic
everywhere,” he said.
“We will not use our vac-
cines to secure favours from
other countries,” Biden said
as he announced that in addi-
tion to the 60 million
AstraZeneca vaccines, the US
will give another 20 million
Covid-19 approved vaccines.
“In March, we shared over
four million doses of our
AstraZeneca vaccine with
Canada and Mexico. At the end
of April, we announced that
we would provide another
60 million doses of our
AstraZeneca vaccine over-
seas,” he said.
“And today, I’m announc-
ing that we’ll also share US-
authorized vaccines doses of
Pfizer and Moderna and John-
son & Johnson, as they become
available, with the rest of the
world as well. These are vac-
cines that are authorized to be
put in the arms of Ameri-
cans,” he said.
“And by the end of June,
when we'll have taken deliv-
ery of enough of such vaccines
Spain, Morocco
square off after
6,000 migrants
arrive by sea
MADRID, 18 MAY
Spain faced a humanitari-
an and diplomatic crisis
Tuesday after thousands
of Moroccans took advan-
tage of relaxed border con-
trols in their nation to swim
or paddle in inflatable boats
onto European soil.
By Tuesday morning,
around 6,000 people had
crossed the border into the
Spanish city of Ceuta since
the first arrivals began early
Monday, the Spanish gov-
ernment said, including
1,500 thought to be
teenagers. The city of 85,000
people lies in North Africa
on the Mediterranean Sea,
separated from Morocco
by a fence.
The sudden influx of
migrants has deepened the
diplomatic row between
Rabat and Madrid in the
wake of Spain’s decision to
allow in for medical treat-
ment the chief of a militant
group that fights for the
independence of Western
Sahara. Morocco annexed
the sprawling nation on the
west coast of Africa in 1975.
Migrants soaked with
seawater still kept reaching
Ceuta on Tuesday although
in smaller numbers than the
day before due to height-
ened vigilance on the Span-
ish side of the border. “It’s
such a strong invasion that
we are not able to calculate
the number of people that
have entered,” said the
president of Ceuta. AP
At King George Hospital in
the east London district of
Ilford, respiratory consultant
Adam Ainley began noticing
last summer that some coro-
navirus patients who had
been discharged were not
getting better. They had a
wide range of symptoms,
including fatigue, muscle pain,
breathlessness, headaches,
anxiety and depression.
The hospital serves an area
dubbed the “Covid triangle,”
three outer London boroughs
that have had some of Britain’s
highest infection rates. It’s a
multi-ethnic area, home to
many Black and South Asian
Londoners, groups that saw
STATING THAT IT’S REASONABLE, UNDERSTANDABLE THAT SOME BUSINESSES AND LOCALITIES ARE MAINTAINING MASK REQUIREMENTS
China welcomes Biden’s plan to deliver
vaccines to world, denies vaccine diplomacy
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
BEIJING, 18 MAY
China on Tuesday welcomed
US President Joe Biden's
announcement to share 80
million vaccine doses with
other countries but termed
as “despicable” his assertion
that Beijing and Moscow are
trying to influence the world
with their jabs.
“There’s a lot of talk about
Russia and China influenc-
ing the world with vaccines.
We want to lead the world with
this demonstration of our
innovation, ingenuity, and the
fundamental decency of the
American people, Biden said,
adding that “we will not use
our vaccines to secure favours
from other countries.”
Reacting to Biden’s
announcement, Chinese For-
eign Ministry spokesman
Zhao Lijian on Tuesday said,
“If the US can deliver on its
to protect everyone in the
United States. The US will
share at least 20 million doses
of those doses~that extra sup-
ply~with other countries,”
Biden said. Biden’s announce-
ment was welcomed by US
lawmakers and Indian-Amer-
ican community leaders.
“While I’m glad to see the
White House committing to
sharing an additional 20 mil-
lion Covid-19 vaccine doses
with the world by the end of
next month, this is only one
step of the many more we need
to take to reduce the threat of
new mutant strains emerging
from outbreaks abroad and
US report: Allies of El
Salvador’s President
deemed corrupt
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI (US), MAY 18
Allies of Salvadoran Presi-
dent Nayib Bukele, including
his Cabinet chief, have been
included in a list of senior offi-
cials in Central America
deemed corrupt by the US
State Department, accord-
ing to a copy of a
report obtained by The Asso-
ciated Press.
The emergence of the list
of purportedly five corrupt offi-
cials is likely to heighten ten-
sions with Bukele, who is fac-
ing intense pressure from
the Biden administration over
the removal of several Supreme
Court justices and El Sal-
vador’s attorney general.
The US has made strength-
ening democracy one of the
pillars of its policy toward Cen-
tral America, saying that
rampant corruption is one of
the root causes of illegal
immigration.
A copy of the report, which
was sent on Monday to mem-
bers of the US Congress, was
provided to The Associated
Press by a Democrat staffer
on the condition of anonymi-
Long Covid patient Rohit Patel takes a seat during a visit to the
Long Covid Clinic at King George Hospital in Ilford, London.
higher rates of serious Covid-
19 illness and death than
white Britons. High rates of
poverty, crowded housing and
residents in frontline
AMERICAN PHYSICIAN-SCIENTIST AND IMMUNOLOGIST DR. ANTHONY FAUCI
commitment of vaccine assis-
tance and concrete help to
developing countries, we
would welcome it.
“The US keeps making an
issue out of China on vaccines
that is despicable and makes
one doubt the true intention
and motivation of the US
action,” Zhao said. “Vaccines
are not about ethnicity or val-
ues and it is a tool to create
vaccination divide or polit-
ical manipulation,” he said.
Refuting allegations that
Beijing is seeking to further
its influence through vaccine
diplomacy, Zhao said, “unlike
the US, China will not use vac-
cines to influence or lead the
world nor will we shout slo-
gans. Our objective is no
other than to help as many
developing countries as pos-
sible to save lives.”He said
China provided vaccines and
medical supplies without
seeking anything in return.
causing another deadly surge
here at home,” said Indian-
American Congressman Raja
Krishnamoorthi.
WHO reminds SI of its COVAX
commitments
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus has said that
once the devastating Covid-
19 outbreak in India recedes,
the Serum Institute of India
will need to get back on track
and catch up on its delivery
commitments to COVAX, the
global initiative to supply
coronavirus vaccines to
nations around the world.
The World Health Organ-
ty because it has not been
made public.
The list was originally
included as a classified annex
of a report sent to Congress
in April in response to an
appropriations request last
year pushed by Rep. Norma
Torres, a California Democ-
rat who chairs the Central
America caucus.
That larger list contained
the names of 12 Honduran and
Guatemalan politicians
accused of corruption or
believed to have ties to drug
trafficking organisations.
The list of five Salvadoran
officials deemed to have
engaged in significant acts of
corruption during their terms
in offices was declassified 4 May,
according to the new report.
Unlike the bulk of
Guatemalans and Hondurans
on the list, none of the Sal-
vadorans have been indict-
ed or sanctioned in the US and
their inclusion on the list
would appear to have no
immediate legal conse-
quences. It nonetheless is
likely to further strain relations
between the Biden adminis-
tration and Bukele, who has
shown no willingness to back
away from his consolidation
of power that has drawn con-
demnation from senior US
officials and lawmakers of
both parties. Bukele’s fledg-
ling New Ideas party swept
February legislative elections
by a landslide, taking control
of the unicameral congress .
jobs~including medics, taxi dri-
vers and retail workers~all
helped the virus spread.
Ainley began drawing on the
expertise of colleagues from
“There are no political
strings attached and we have
no geopolitical agenda. If we
can help one more person to
breathe freely, we will do so
regardless of his or her nation-
ality or skin colour,” he said.
Zhao said China has
already announced its sup-
port by temporary waiver of
Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) for coronavirus vac-
cines by the World Trade
Organisation (WTO).
India and South Africa
have called for TRIPS waiver
of certain intellectual prop-
erty provisions of Covid-19 vac-
cines in a communication
to theWTO in October last year
so that people in developing
countries get access to life-sav-
ing vaccines and therapeutics
as soon as possible. Since
then, the proposal started
gathering support even in
the US and the EU.
isation Director-General said
that the surge in Covid-19
cases around the world has
compromised the global
vaccine supply and there is
already a shortfall of 190 mil-
lion doses to COVAX by the end
of June.
Earlier this month, SII CEO
Adar Poonawalla said it was
not possible to ramp up pro-
duction overnight since vac-
cine manufacturing is a spe-
cialised process.
The SII has received total
orders of over 26 crore doses
from the Government of India,
of which more than 15 crore
doses have been supplied.
BACK TO DISNEY
Young fans enjoy seeing Winnie The Pooh, and Tigger too, at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney
World, in Lake Buena Vista after Disney Co. eased face mask requirements over the weekend AP
Russia’s northernmost base
projects its power across Arctic
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NAGURSKOYE, RUSSIA, 18 MAY
During the Cold War, Russia’s
Nagurskoye airbase was lit-
tle more than a runway, a
weather station and a
communications outpost in
the Franz Josef Land archi-
pelago.
It was a remote and des-
olate home mostly for polar
bears, where temperatures
plunge in winter to minus-42
Celsius (43 degrees below
zero Fahrenheit) and the snow
only disappears from August
to mid-September.
Now, Russia’s northern-
most military base is bristling
multiple disciplines to treat what
has been labeled “long Covid,”
or long-haul Covid. His clinic
was one of the first of 83 set up
across England, backed by the
state-funded National Health
Service. Ainley said it aims to
offer “a one-stop approach” to
a complex problem.
“We will try and address all
the components of your ill-
ness,” he said. “When you get
to the clinic you’ll see myself,
you’ll see a physiotherapist,
the occupational therapist,
our clinical psychologist. I
have access to other special-
ty members from cardiology,
rheumatology, as I need to,
based upon your symptoms.”
Biden moving to
improve legal services
for poor, minorities
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT, 18 MAY
President Joe Biden plans to
take executive action Tues-
day to ensure minorities,
low-income Americans and
others have better access to
quality legal representation
after services dwindled dur-
ing the Trump administration.
Biden will sign a memo-
randum directing the Depart-
ment of Justice to restore
key functions of the shuttered
Access to Justice Office and
to reestablish the White
House Legal Aid Interagency
Roundtable.
The plans are laid out in
a presidential memo first
shared with The Associated
Press. The White House said
that Biden was directing the
roundtable to examine the
impact that the coronavirus
pandemic has had on access
to justice in both civil and
criminal matters.
The pandemic “has further
exposed and exacerbated
inequities in our justice sys-
tem” as legal services were cur-
tailed, Biden wrote. He added
that the problems “have
touched the lives of many per-
sons in this country, partic-
ularly low-income people
and people of color.”
Tuesday’s memo is Biden’s
latest step to work toward
reforming the criminal jus-
tice system and advancing
racial equity. It comes almost
a year after the death of
George Floyd sparked
global protests and demands
for action to address struc-
tural racism. It builds on an
executive order Biden signed
on his first day in office estab-
lishing an initiative to prioritise
equity in government oper-
ations. His proposed budget
seeks $1.5 billion to strength-
en state and local criminal jus-
tice systems, including pub-
with missiles and radar and
its extended runway can han-
dle all types of aircraft, includ-
ing nuclear-capable strategic
bombers, projecting Moscow’s
power and influence across
the Arctic amid intensifying
international competition
for the region’s vast resources.
The shamrock-shaped
facility~three large pods
extending from a central atri-
um~is called the “Arctic Tre-
foil” and is painted in the
white-red-and-blue of the
national flag, brightening the
otherwise stark vantage point
on the 5,600-kilometer (3,470-
mile) Northern Sea Route
along Russia’s Arctic coast.
Some patients have even
been given singing lessons
as therapy. There is no universal
definition of long Covid, a
term applied to a range of per-
sistent post-viral symptoms.
While most people recover
from coronavirus infections
within a few weeks, Britain’s
statistics office says almost 14
per cent still report symp-
toms 12 weeks later.
Ainley’s clinic has seen 700
patients, with another 120 on
the waiting list. Their symptoms
are often mental as well as phys-
ical. Psychologist Marc Kings-
ley said many experience mem-
ory loss and “brain fog,” as well
as loneliness and low
lic defenders. White House
officials said the latest step
Civil rights organisations
and leaders have been press-
ing the Biden administra-
tion to reestablish the Access
to Justice Office and its work.
The memo doesn’t explicit-
ly reopen the office but
requires Attorney General
Merrick Garland to submit a
plan within 120 days to expand
work on access to justice.
The Access to Justice office
was begun in 2010 by then-
Attorney General Eric Hold-
er and was formally established
in 2016 under President Barack
Obama. It worked on matters
including criminal indigent
defense, enforcement of fines,
language barriers in the courts
and civil legal aid.
The office was shut by
then-Attorney General Jeff Ses-
sions in 2018, with senior
Justice Department officials
saying that its mission was
similar to the role of public
defenders. Even before the
office was closed, its resources
dwindled.
The Legal Aid Interagency
Roundtable was first formed
in 2012 and was launched as
a White House initiative in
2015 to find ways to improve
access and help people rep-
resenting themselves, among
other things.
The announcement comes
as the Biden Justice Depart-
ment has been refocusing
the agency around civil rights,
prioritizing policing reform
measures and combating
racial discrimination.
In just the past few weeks,
the department has opened
investigations of police in
Louisville, Kentucky, and
Minneapolis. Federal prose-
cutors have charged four for-
mer Minneapolis police offi-
cers with civil rights violations
in Floyd’s death.
Other buildings on the Island,
which is called Alexandra
Land, are used for radar and
communications, a weather
station, oil storage, hangars
and construction facilities.
Russia has sought to assert
its influence over wide areas
of the Arctic in competition
with the United States, Cana-
da, Denmark and Norway as
shrinking polar ice from the
warming planet offers new
opportunities for resources
and shipping routes.
China also has shown an
increasing interest in the
region, believed to hold up to
one-fourth of the Earth’s
undiscovered oil and gas.
moods.“Some of the people I’ve
spoken to have survivor guilt,”
Kingsley said. “They actually
feel guilty about having survived
where they saw people in front
of them passing away.
“A lot of our patients say to
us they don’t feel that they can
just talk to friends and family,”
he said. “They don’t want to
upset people.” As well as home
visits from physiotherapists,
Miller gets phone calls from a
therapist where he can talk
about the frustration he feels.
“It’s nice to talk to other peo-
ple and get a load off my chest,”
he said.“And to find out through
her that there are people in the
same boat as I am.”

Engineering the violin
Artificial intelligence and simulation may
well rival Stradivarius
S ANANTHANARAYANAN
M
usical instruments are known for
complexity and precision, and the vio-
lin ranks as one of the most complex.
The present form of the violin first
appeared in the early 16th century, and present
violins follow designs of master violin makers from
the 18th century. Extremely high quality is now
attained, but it has not been possible to match
18th century masterpieces.
Sebastian Gonzalez, Davide Salvi, Daniel
Baeza, Fabio Antonacci and Augusto Sarti, from
the Musical Acoustics Lab at the Violin Museum
of Cremona, part of the Polytechnic of Milan,
and the faculty of physical and mathematical sci-
ences, University of Chile, describe in the jour-
nal, Scientific Reports, how they have used Artifi-
cial Intelligence to peer into the internals of 18th
century violins, to understand the factors that
made for their exquisite performance.
The characteristic of musical instruments
is that each kind can produce the notes of musi-
cal scales according to its own quality of sound,
and do it consistently. This is to say that the
notes of a piano, for instance, have a similar
purity or quality, or the mix of overtones, right
through the different octaves. So also, a violin, or
trumpet, has its own quality, and a skilled player
can bring out sounds, typically of the violin or
trumpet, of different pitch and loudness, or soft-
ness, to create music.
Building instruments to do this needs accu-
rate balancing of a number of features, so that
sounds produced are consistent in quality
through the range of pitch and loudness that is
possible with the instrument. For instance, the
thickness and material of piano strings need to
be just so. And the material of the soundboard,
the materials of hammers, need to match and go
together, so that the piano is suitable for a range
of compositions. The design of the modern
piano, hence, represents elaborate and sensitive
coordination of its different parts.
The violin is much smaller than a piano and
has much fewer parts. Its design, however, is no
less complex. With just four strings, and not
longer than a child’s arm, the violin can produce
notes of great purity and power, over nearly four
octaves. To be able to do this consistently over its
range, many parts of the violin need to be accu-
rately shaped in keeping with the properties of
materials used. The design of the violin took
more than two centuries to grow to its present
state. And the growth took place with concerted
trial and error work of violin makers, violinists
and composers to make the best use of, and
exacting demands on the violin’s capability.
The first step in making a violin is shaping
the sides, or the outline of the instrument. This
is done by creating a mould, and bending select-
ed strips of wood, called the ribs, into the
desired contour. When this is made, the special-
ly carved bottom and top are attached, to create
the resonating hollow for the sound when the
strings are bowed. Next, the neck, which is
shaped out of a single piece of wood, is fixed to
the body to complete the structure.
Watson (left) and Crick with their DNA model in 1953
TAPAN KUMAR MAITRA
O
ne of the most significant features of the
double-helical model of deoxyribonu-
cleic acid is that it immediately suggests
a mechanism for replication. In fact, a
month after James Watson and Francis Crick pub-
lished their now-classic paper postulating a dou-
ble helix for DNA, they followed it with an equal-
ly important paper suggesting how such a base-
paired structure might duplicate itself.
Here, in their own words, is the basis of that
suggestion, “Now our model for deoxyribonu-
cleic acid is, in effect, a pair of templates, each of
which is complementary to the other. We imag-
ine that prior to duplication the hydrogen bonds
are broken, and the two chains unwind and sep-
arate. Each chain then acts as a template for the
formation onto itself of a new companion chain,
so that eventually we shall have two pairs of
chains, where we only had one before. More-
over, the sequence of the pairs of bases will have
As shown in the picture, the strings are
attached from the tailpiece, over the bridge and
to the pegs. The pegs enable the tension of the
strings to be adjusted and there is provision,
between the bridge and the tailpiece, for fine
adjustment. Once the tension of the four strings
are set, the note that any string sounds can be
changed by the violinist’s finger pressing the
string on to the fingerboard. And after every-
thing is in place, it takes fine correction over
months, or years, for the violin to attain full tim-
bre and volume.
The current shape, or outline of the violin has
come about after several iterations during the first
200 years of its development, the paper in Scien-
tific Reports says. However, even geometrically
exact copies cannot equal the perfection attained
by old masters. This suggests that the difference
may lie in the material, the wood sourced three
centuries ago. Current violin makers have thus
attempted “tweaking” the shape to compensate.
Without, however, any notable success, as there is
yet no science of how the contours affect and
could improve the sound of a violin.
The authors of the paper hence used a differ-
ent approach. They make use of computers and
the methods of AI to create a dynamic model of the
Stradivari violin and assess the role of the different
aspects of its structure. Based on the evolving
designs of violins down the centuries, the authors
of the paper identified a list of features that affect-
ed how the violin performs, as well as units to mea-
sure the features. These measures, and the known,
main sound frequencies that the violin supported,
were then fed into an AI computer programme, to
work out how far each of the identified features
influenced the final product.
Artificial intelligence is so called because it
is a computer procedure that mimics the way
of learning of natural systems, like the human
brain. For an infant to learn speech, for instance,
the method is not of learning vocabulary and
formal rules of grammar, as when an adult
learns a foreign language. Instead, the infant
brain collects the different sounds that it hears,
and the objects, sights or sensations that accom-
pany the sounds. Where certain sensations are
repeatedly associated with particular sounds,
the infant brain strengthens the connection and
associates the sight or sensation with the sound
alone – a first step in learning language.
When computer programmes are devel-
oped to mimic this process, we get in our hands
a powerful means of “natural” learning, for com-
puters can crunch huge data and work continu-
ously for hours. AI programmes, known as
machine learning, are hence used to analyse
huge data, make weather forecasts, even train
road vehicles to drive themselves, or learn lan-
guage and work as a translator.
The selection of factors to be considered,
the paper says, started from an original drawing
by Antonio Stradivari, preserved in the Violin
Museum of Cremona, Italy. We can make out
from the copy shown here that the outline has
been derived from nine circles of different diam-
eters. The position of the centres and angles fur-
ther specify the shape, of the “ribs” and the “top
been duplicated exactly. (Watson and Crick
1953)”
The essence of the model Watson and Crick
proposed for DNA is that one of the two strands
of every newly formed DNA molecule is derived
from the parent molecule, whereas the other
strand is newly synthesised. This is called semi-
conservative replication, because half of the
parent molecule is retained by each daughter
molecule.
Within five years of its publication, the Wat-
son-Crick model of semi-conservative DNA
replication was tested and proved correct by
Matthew Meselson and Franklin Stahl. The inge-
nuity of their contribution lay in the method
they devised, in collaboration with Jerome Vino-
grad, for distinguishing semi-conservative repli-
cation from other possibilities. Their studies
utilised two isotopic forms of nitrogen, 14N and
I5N, to distinguish newly synthesised strands of
DNA from old strands.
Bacterial cells were first grown for many
plate”. The shape is thus constrained by 20 para-
meters, the paper says, and in addition, there
are parameters of the curvature of the top plate.
The quality of a violin is determined largely
by the sound frequencies that are natural to
vibrational modes of the top plate. And these
frequencies depend largely on the shape of the
plate. The parameters that specify the shape of
the plate hence determine the frequencies the
plate would support, and hence the sound qual-
ity. The relationship, however, is complex
indeed, which is why studies so far have not
been able to say what effect a change in one of
the features would have on the sound produced.
The values of 1,750 sets of the 20 shape
parameters and 10 of the corresponding known,
main frequencies were then fed into a machine
learning programme to “train” the programme.
Next, the parameters of 250 other shapes were
IT’S ALL ABOUT
DENSITY
Here’s how DNA replicates
semi-conservatively in all organisms
generations in a medium containing 15 N-
labelled ammonium chloride to incorporate this
heavy (but nonradioactive) isotope of nitrogen
into their DNA molecules. Cells containing 15N-
labelled DNA were then transferred to a growth
medium containing the normal light isotope of
nitrogen, 14N. Any new strands of DNA synthe-
sised after this transfer would therefore incor-
porate 14N rather than 15N.
Since 15 N-labelled DNA is significantly
denser than 14N-labelled DNA, the old and new
DNA strands can be distinguished from each
other by equilibrium density centrifugation. For
DNA analysis, equilibrium density centrifuga-
tion often uses cesium chloride, a heavy metal
salt that forms solutions of very high density.
The DNA to be analysed is simply mixed with
cesium chloride and the solution is centrifuged
at high speed for a relatively long time (with a
modern centrifuge, 80,000 rpm for eight hours,
for example). As a density gradient of cesium
chloride is established by the centrifugal force,
the DNA molecules float “up” or sink “down”
within the gradient to reach their equilibrium
density positions. The difference in density
between heavy (15N-containing) DNA and light
(14N-containing) DNA causes them to come to
rest at different positions in the gradient.
Using this approach, Meselson and Stahl
analysed the DNA obtained from bacterial cells
that were first grown for many generations in
I5N and then transferred to 14N for one or more
additional cycles of replication What results
would be predicted for a semi-conservative
mechanism of DNA replication? After one repli-
cation cycle in 14N, each DNA molecule should
consist of one 15N strand (the old strand) and
one 14N strand (the new strand), and so the
overall density would be intermediate between
heavy DNA and light DNA. The experimental
re-sults clearly supported this model. After one
replication cycle in the 14N medium, centrifu-
gation in cesium chloride revealed a single band
of DNA whose density was exactly halfway
between that of 15N-DNA and 14N-DNA.
Because they saw no band at the density
expected for heavy DNA, Meselson and Stahl
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
fed in, to see if the main frequencies predicted
were close to the actual frequencies. The result
was that the programme was successful – it was
able to learn from the “training set” and make
accurate predictions!
The work is a proof in principle, that meth-
ods of AI can be used in violin design. This trial’s
description was limited to natural frequencies,
but the method can be extended to cover more
features and overall violin performance. “The
ability to predict how a violin design sounds can
truly be a game changer for violin makers, as
not only will it help them do better than the
grand masters, but it will also help them explore
the potential of new designs and materials,” the
paper says.
The writer can be contacted at
response@simplescience.in
concluded that the original, double-stranded
parental DNA was not preserved intact in the
replication process. Similarly, the absence of a
band at the density expected for light DNA indi-
cated that no daughter DNA molecules consist-
ed exclusively of newly synthesised nucleotides.
Instead, it appeared that a part of every daughter
DNA molecule was newly synthesised, while
another part was derived from the parent mole-
cule. In fact, the density halfway between that of
14N-DNA and 15N-DNA meant that the hybrid
DNA molecules were one-half parental and one-
half newly synthesised, just as pre-dicted by the
semi-conservative model of replication.
The data from cells allowed to grow in the
presence of 14N for additional generations pro-
vided further confirmation. After the second
cycle of DNA replication, for example, Meselson
and Stahl saw two equal bands, one at the
hybrid density of the previous cycle and one at
the density of purely 14N-DNA this is also con-
sistent with a semi-conservative mode of repli-
cation.
Meselson and Stahl concluded “that the
nitrogen of a DNA molecule is divided equally
between two physically continuous subunits;
that, following duplication, each daughter mol-
ecule receives one of these; and that the sub-
units are conserved through many duplications”.
Further experimentation was then required to
prove that the “physically continuous subunits”
into which DNA is partitioned are indeed sepa-
rate DNA strands. Meselson and Stahl obtained
this proof by heating the 14N/15N hybrid DNA
to separate its two strands and then showing
that one strand exhibited the density of a 15N-
containing strand and the other exhibited the
density of a 14N-containing strand.
Meanwhile, other researchers had used
radioactive labelling and autoradiography to
look at the process of DNA replication in eukary-
otic chromosomes. In the end, Watson and Crick
were proven right – DNA is replicated semi-con-
servatively in all organisms.
The writer is associate professor and head, department of
botany, Ananda Mohan College, Kolkata
11
PLUS POINTS
Lens-less camera
Indian Institute of Technology-Madras
and Rice University, United States, have
developed algorithms for lens-less,
miniature cameras. Such lens-less cam-
eras have numerous vision applications
in areas such as augmented reality/ vir-
tual reality, security, smart wearables
and robotics where cost, form-factor
and weight are major constraints.
In 2016, professor Ashok Veeraragha-
van’s lab at Rice University registered suc-
cess in making a lens-less camera. They
were able to develop a low-cost and low-
weight ultra-thin lens-less camera where a
thin optical mask was placed just in front
of the sensor at a distance of approxi-
mately one mm. However, because of the
absence of focusing elements, the lens-
less camera captured blurred images
restricting their commercial use. IIT-
Madras and Rice researchers have now
developed a computational solution to
this problem. The team developed a de-
blurring algorithm, which can correct the
images taken from a lens-less camera. The
findings were presented as a paper at the
prestigious IEEE International Conference
on Computer Vision and an extended ver-
sion appeared in IEEE Transactions on
Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.
The research was led at IIT-Madras
by Kaushik Mitra, head of the Computa-
tional Imaging Laboratory and assistant
professor, department of electrical engi-
neering. The research team included
Salman Siddique Khan, Varun Sundar
and Adarsh VR from IIT-Madras. Veer-
aghavan led the Rice University team,
which included Vivek Boominathan and
Jasper Tan.
Mitra said, “Lens-less imaging is a
new technology and its true potential in
solving imaging/vision problems has
not been exploited completely. There-
fore, we are working on designing newer
and better lens-less cameras using data-
driven techniques, devising efficient
algorithms for doing inference on lens-
less captures and looking into interest-
ing and important applications like
endoscopy and smart surveillance,
among other areas, where one can fully
realise the benefits of lens-less imaging.”
For preterm birth
A new medical device that improves the
prediction of preterm birth at a fraction
of the cost of current methods, will help
to reduce the global number of deaths
and long-term complications caused by
babies born prematurely.
Pioneering research carried out on
Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy at
the University of Sheffield, United King-
dom, has led to the creation of the
device, brought to market by EveryBa-
by, a UK-based company backed by
South Korean investment.
Current technologies for assessing
the likelihood of preterm birth, such as
trans-vaginal ultrasound, are expensive
and not always available – especially in
poorer countries. The new device uses
pioneering patented technology involv-
ing a novel method of impedance spec-
troscopy to pick up on changes to the
composition and structure of cervical
tissue as a mother nears birth. The
device provides a higher degree of accu-
racy in an affordable, hand-held and
portable device, giving huge potential
for export to low-income countries.
Dilly O’Anumba, professor of
obstetrics and gynaecology at the Uni-
versity of Sheffield and consultant at
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation
Trusts, said, “More than one in 10 babies
are born too early and data has shown
that preterm birth rates are increasing
in many parts of the world.
“This pioneering technique will
enable health care professionals to better
prevent and manage preterm birth. It is
not only more accurate than current
methods but is significantly lower in cost
making it more accessible, especially in
low income communities where preterm
birth rates are particularly high.”
The World Health Organisation esti-
mates 15 million babies are born
preterm every year, with complications
arising from premature births being the
leading cause of death in infants under
five years of age. Long term complica-
tions can be severe, and many survivors
face a lifetime of disability, including
learning disabilities as well as visual and
hearing impairments.

'NEXT GEN'
World number one Novak Djokovic (photo, left)
has taken a swipe at all the talk about the younger
generation of tennis players, saying rival Rafael Nadal
and himself made up the "Next Gen." The pair
clashed for the 57th time - in the Italian
For more updates
THUMBNAILS
Womens cricket: Indian
women's cricket team is set
to play a Test in Australia
after playing one in England
next month. India, who play
their first Test in seven years
from June 16 in England, will
play another one during the
tour of Australia. They will
also play ODI and T20I match-
es Down Under.
Hudgson retires: Roy Hodg-
son, the Premier League's old-
est manager at 73, is leaving
his role at Crystal Palace at
the end of the season after
four years at the club. “After
more than 45 years of coach-
ing, I have decided that the
time is right for me to step
away from the rigors foot-
ball,” Hodgson said Tuesday.
England tour green light for fit-again Saha
Rest understandable but let's keep talking: Broad
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
LONDON, 18 MAY
Stuart Broad (in photo) hates
missing a Test but the seasoned
England paceman does not
mind being "rested" some-
times either as long as the
channel of communication is
clear, which is something, he
believes, did not happen when
Ed Smith was national selec-
tor.
Broad is gearing himself up
for a busy schedule with Tests
against New Zealand and India
lined up for the next three
months. "Is it realistic I'm
going to play every Test? No.
But if the communication is
done well then you under-
stand the reasons for it," the
34-year-old Broad told the
British media. "You under-
stand why you might miss
certain games to be fit for
other games. That, along with
building experience into dif-
ferent players.
If I had a choice I'd want to
play all seven Tests. Part of the
reason I don't play white-ball
cricket any more is so I'm fit
USA vs Wada
WASHINGTON, 18 MAY
The US government is hold-
ing on to nearly $3 million
earmarked for the World
Anti-Doping Agency, with
plans to pay only if it sees
real progress and a path for
more substantial future
reforms out of the global
drug-fighting organisation.
The White House drug-
control office delivered an
updated report to Congress
yesterday in advance of
Wada meetings scheduled
for later this week. The
report comes some 11
months after the USA first
threatened to withhold its
2021 payment to Wada,
which normally would have
been delivered in the first
quarter of the year.
The $2.93 million
accounts for about 7.3 per
cent of Wada's $40 million
budget. AP
Printed and published by VINOD KUMAR GUPTA for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi ��Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR ��Executive Editor: ARYA RUDRA ��Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 507/57
Open final on Sunday - with Nadal winning
a 10th trophy on the Roman clay.
www.thestatesman.com
Federer gets Serena's vote in GOAT debate
AGENCIES
WASHINGTON, 18 MAY
While fans and pundits con-
tinue to debate who should
be considered the greatest
men's tennis player of all
time, 23-time Grand Slam-win-
ner SerenaWilliams says Roger
Federer (in photo)gets her vote.
Rafa Nadal picked up a
record-extending 13th French
Open title in October to join
Federer at the top of the list
of men's Grand Slam-win-
ners with 20 titles, while world
No 1 Novak Djokovic, the
youngest of the Big Three at
33, is on 18.
The 39-year-old Federer is
this week playing only his
second tournament since
returning to the Tour in March
after spending more than a year
on the sidelines due to two knee
operations. "I think two words
and available for Test cricket
and fresh when I'm needed,"
he added. The veteran pacer
referred to his strained rela-
tionship with Smith, who had
been removed last month. "A
lot of people have bosses who
don't rate them as much as
other people and I think he was
mine," Broad said, adding:
"He probably didn't rate me as
much as other players. That's
fine but I kept trying to prove
some selection decisions
wrong...from my point of view
we struggled a bit on the com-
munication side and probably
saw the game of cricket slight-
ly differently."
Last year, Broad had pub-
licly expressed his disap-
pointment after being dropped
from a Test against the West
Indies. "I was disgruntled
because the selectors had said
the first Test team of the sum-
mer will be our best team. For
someone who had been
through the Ashes successfully,
been through South Africa
successfully and stayed fit, I felt
it was my shirt," he said.
The red-ball specialist
20 of club
test positive
BUENOS AIRES, 18 MAY
Five more footballers at River
Plate have tested positive for
Covid-19, lifting the power-
ful Argentine club's total to
20 infections within the squad.
The impact is so high that
River Plate have none of their
four eligible goalkeepers fit
for Wednesday's Copa Lib-
ertadores match against
Colombia's Santa F. River
Plate issued a statement yes-
terday, saying that Lucas Bel-
trn, Flabian Londoo Bedoya,
Gonzalo Montiel, Leonardo
Ponzio and AlexVigo were the
latest to test positive for the
virus.
In Spain, Real Madrid
midfielderToni Kroos has test-
ed positive for the coronavirus
less than a week before the
team's final Spanish league
match, the club said. AFP
sum it up: Roger Federer,"
Williams, who turns 40 in
September, told reporters at
the Emilia-Romagna Open
in Parma yesterday. "He's just
a synopsis of greatness and
class and amazing and real-
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI/LONDON/
CHRISTCHURCH, 18 MAY
W
icketkeeper-
batsman Wrid-
dhiman Saha (in
photo) has recov-
ered from Covid-19 and will
be available for India's tour
of England next month. Saha
is at home in Kolkata after
completing a long quarantine
spell in a New Delhi hotel.
He is in the England-bound
squad, subject to fitness. The
36-year-old was among the
players who contracted the
coronavirus in the currently-
suspended Indian Premier
league while playing for Sun-
Risers Hyderabad.
"Wriddhiman was back
home yesterday after two
and a half weeks of hotel
quarantine in Delhi," a source
believes he and fellow-veter-
an James Anderson make the
best English bowling attack. "I
don't think many could argue
against Jimmy and I being in
the best bowling attack in Eng-
land, but if you need to get expe-
rience and overs into bowlers
that is what it is. It's when the
communication disappears;
CSA says de Villiers will not come
out of international retirement
AGENCIES
JOHANNESBURG, 18 MAY
Cricket South Africa on Tues-
day announced that AB de
Villiers won't be coming out of
international retirement ahead
of the upcomingT20World Cup
in India, saying that he has
decided “once and for all” to
not change his mind.
Putting to rest speculations
around his comeback, CSA
said that “discussions with AB
de Villiers have concluded
with the batsman deciding
once and for all, that his retire-
ment will remain final.”
The statement was report-
edly made after CSA announced
the team for upcoming tour of
the West Indies, though it
focussed largely on the squads
for the the two Test matches
and five T20Is in the Caribbean
islands rather than de Villiers'
ly changed the game. You see
players playing like him, mov-
ing like him, doing his tech-
niques. The guy is (a) genius."
Williams won the last of her
majors at the 2017 Australian
Open before becoming a
close to the player said. Saha
will have to submit another
negative test report before join-
ing the pre-departure bio-
secure bubble in Mumbai,
where the squad will under-
go a spell of hard quarantine
before boarding the flight to
England.
India are scheduled to
take on New Zealand in the
World Test Championship
final from 18 June in
Southampton. The five-Test
series against England is to
be held in August. Four days
ago, Saha received conflict-
ing results in two coronavirus
tests, which prolonged his iso-
lation.
In another development,
New Zealand captain Kane
Williamson has said that he
is excited to face India in the
WTC final as he considers
showdowns with Virat Kohli's
that's when players can't see
reasons or see through it," he
added.
He said that his career had
been more about being
"dropped" than "rested."
According to him, "there's
a difference between being
rested and dropped. I feel as
though I've had a career of being
retirement.
In May 2018, deVilliers had
announced his retirement
from international cricket. He
played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs
and 78 T20Is before announc-
ing the surprise decision.
However, last month the 37-
year-old versatile cricketer
said it would be “fantastic” to
make an international come-
back ahead of the T20 World
Cup.
TheT20World Cup is sched-
uled to be held in India in
October-November.
“If I can slot in, it will be fan-
tastic,” de Villiers had said
after he playing match-winning
innings for his franchise Royal
Challengers Bangalore in the
now-suspended IPL in April.
Speaking to the reporters in
Chennai, de Villiers had then
said he will have a chat with
South Africa head coach Mark
mother. She has since been
chasing a 24th major title to
equal Margaret Court's record.
The American won her first
match yesterday since los-
ing in the Melbourne semi-
finals in February and said she
men a "fantastic" challenge.
"When we play against India,
it has always been a fantas-
tic challenge and so it is real-
ly exciting to be playing
against them," Williamson
said in a video posted by the
International Cricket Coun-
cil on its Twitter handle.
"It's really, really exciting
to be involved in the final, obvi-
ously to win it would be that
much better," said the 30-year-
old, considered one of the best
current batsmen in the world.
Willimson said, "We saw the
contests in the WTC had
brought real excitement. The
games were really tight, such
as in the India-Australia series
and our series against Pakistan
as well where you had really
to fight hard to get the results,
which is really great."
New Zealand paceman
Neil Wagner admitted that
dropped and others have had
a career of being rested." Broad
said that it had been frustrat-
ing for Jofra Archer, ruled out
of the Test series against New
Zealand after his long-stand-
ing elbow injury resurfaced. "He
is in decent spirits. I think it's
been frustrating for him. You
know, the first time I was real-
ly aware that he had a bit of an
elbow issue was in South
Africa," he said.
Broad says that Archer can
"play a huge part" in all three
formats. "But he won't just be
able to play every game. It's
unrealistic to think that any all-
format player - Ben Stokes
included - can and that's when,
without being disrespectful
to any other type of interna-
tional cricket, you do have to
get him right for the games you
want him right for," he said,
adding:
"It's still too early for Jofra
to start having doubts of
whether he's a three-format
cricketer, but he needs to get
very clear in his mind what crick-
et he wants to be absolutely fit
and firing for."
Boucher at the end of IPL 2021
while assessing his form and
fitness after RCB's campaign
in the 14th season of the T20
tournament.
One of South Africa's great-
est cricketers, deVilliers looked
in great form in the Indian Pre-
mier League until it was indef-
initely suspended due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Talk of a comeback has
constantly surrounded deVil-
liers since his sudden retirement
three years ago, including com-
ing close to a last-minute inclu-
sion in South Africa's squad for
the 2019 World Cup before
the selectors and the team
management thought other-
wise.
West Indies will be South
Africa's first bilateral tour to the
Caribbean since 2010, fol-
lowed by a tri-series in 2016 that
also featured Australia.
was a Federer superfan.
"I just feel like he is really
the greatest player," Williams
said. "You can't not like the guy,
that's how I feel. His game is
so fantastic. If I could only play
like him."
Top-seeded Federer was to
begin his campaign in Gene-
va later today against Spaniard
Pablo Andujar, who said he had
been looking forward to a
match against the Swiss for a
long time. "It was something
that I wanted, to have a match
against Roger, just to tell my
kids and my grandkids when
I get older that I played him,"
Andujar told reporters. "I
think when you play Rafa,
Novak and Roger ... these
guys became myths, (they
are) something above the
sport. I would say that the most
important is that they grew the
sport."
India possessed fast bowlers
who could exploit the English
conditions but said that the
wickets could change any
time and become flat too.
"India have a lot of quality fast
bowlers who have done well
in different conditions, they
can swing (the ball) under
overcast conditions but when
the sun comes out the wick-
et is flat and nothing happens.
English conditions can change
and so I am not getting car-
ried away too much, trying to
control the controllables."
Hanuma Vihari, who is in
England for a county stint with
Warwickshire, said that it
would be great playing for
India in the WTC final. "I am
excited but I would want to
be in that moment and not
get carried away too much by
the importance of the situa-
tion," he said, adding: "But
Bancroft blinks, says he has shot his bolt
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
SYDNEY, 18 MAY
Cameron Bancroft (in photo)
has informed Cricket Australia
that he has no new informa-
tion to give on the 2018 ball-
tampering scandal after CA's
offer to reinvestigate the mat-
ter, going back on his earlier
claim that the team's other
bowlers could have been aware
of the plot.
It has emerged that Bancroft,
playing for Durham in the
English County Championship,
has responded to CA's integri-
ty unit. It had reached out to
him in search of new infor-
mation on the infamous inci-
dent.
"Bancroft responded
overnight on Monday in a con-
ciliatory manner and indicat-
ed that he did not have signif-
icant new information to share
with CA," the Sydney Morning
Heraldreported,quotingsources
familiar with the situation.
"Bancroft is said to have told
CA he is supportive of the
investigation and satisfied with
the outcome," it added.
The Australian bowling
attack in the Cape Town Test
had comprised pacemen
Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins,
Josh Hazlewood, all-rounder
Mitchell Marsh and spinner
Nathan Lyon.
According to the report,
Bancroft has reached out to the
bowlers to explain his recent
comments. "Bancroft had
claimed he was left flustered
by the unexpected line of ques-
tioning and that there was no
malice behind his remarks."The
28-year-old was photographed
using sandpaper on the ball in
the thirdTest against South Africa
in 2018.
In an interview last week,
Bancroft was twice asked if the
bowlers had known about his
actions and, on both occa-
sions, he said that it was"pret-
ty self- explanatory." The trio
of Bancroft, the then skipper
Steve Smith and his deputy
David Warner was banned for
its roles in the scandal which
led to a review of Australia's win-
at-all-cost team culture.
While Bancroft was hand-
ed a nine-month ban, Smith
NEW DELHI
WEDNESDAY 19 MAY 2021
Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-II/6088/2018/-19-20
as a sportsman, to play for
India in the final of inaugur-
al WTC is always a great feel-
ing."
Most of the New Zealan-
ders have reached the UK as
they play a two-match series
against England starting on
2 June before the WTC final.
The Indians are expected to
reach London in the first
week of June.
Negative test
New Zealand wicketkeeper-
batsman Tim Seifert, who
contracted Covid-19 during
the IPL, has tested negative
and is on his way back home,
his national coach Gary Stead
has revealed. Seifert repre-
sented Kolkata Knight Riders
and tested positive for the virus
on 8 May.
"I heard from Tim just a lit-
and Warner were suspended
for a year each. Head coach Dar-
ren Lehmann also resigned in
the aftermath of the scandal.
After Bancroft's recent state-
ments, CA has come under
severe criticism for how it han-
dled the investigation. For-
mer skipper Michael Clarke has
accused it of sweeping the
matter under the carpet while
ex-wicketkeeper batsman Adam
Gilchrist alleged that CA had
not carried out a thorough
investigation.
Warner's manager James
Erskine also lashed out, saying
his client, Smith and Bancroft
had been "treated despica-
bly."
In another development,
England paceman Stuart Broad
has said that Australian crick-
et would be in for an "interesting
time" ifWarner ever decides to
write a book and open up
about the 2018 ball-tampering
scandal that led to him being
barred from national captain-
cy for life.
Broad also agreed with Ban-
croft and the then Australian
bowling coach David Saker
that knowledge of the illegal ploy
had not been limited to the three
menwhowerepunished."Ihave
seen a couple of comments from
Warner's agent, too, and I think
it will be an interesting time
when he stops playing for Aus-
tralia and writes a book," Broad
was quoted as saying by a
website.
"There's no doubt the
Aussies would have been hop-
ing this episode was signed,
sealed and delivered. It was an
incredibly tough thing for those
12
tle while ago. I think the real-
ly encouraging thing is he's
tested negative and my under-
standing is he's on a flight out
of India pretty quickly as
well," Stead was quoted as say-
ing by stuff.co.nz.
"I don't know how long it's
going to take him to get back
to New Zealand or where
he's heading via, but it's great
news for Tim, that for a start
his health is on the mend, to
the point where he's not test-
ing positive anymore," added
the head coach. A New
Zealand Cricket spokesper-
son confirmed that Seifert had
left India.
Earlier, after testing pos-
itive, Seifert was awaiting his
transfer to Chennai, where he
was to be treated in the same
private hospital as former
Australia player Michael
Hussey.
three players to go through. I
can't see it still being a con-
versation (when the Ashes
start) in November, December,
but I can see it being sung in
the Barmy Army stands if
they're allowed."
Warner's manager James
Erskine has said that "eventu-
ally the whole truth, and noth-
ing but the truth, will come out."
Broad said that, in his experi-
ence, a bowler was very sensi-
tive to the condition of the ball
and everyone in the team was
required to "buy into" plans to
look after it. "I've obviously never
bowled within the Australian
bowling attack but I can talk
about how, in an England Test
team, if I miss the seam by four
millimetres, Jimmy Anderson
is on me," Broad said. "He'll be
saying, 'Why has this ball got
a mark on it here? It's because
you've missed the seam! Start
hitting the seam, will you?' So
as an England team, we are
aware if we're trying to get the
ball reversing every player has
to buy into that or it will stop
it," said the 34-year-old, who
has taken 517 wickets in 146
Tests.
Talking further about how
the whole team take care of
reverse swing, he said: "Reverse
swing with the red ball can be
affected by so many different
things. If you chase it to the
boundary and throw it into the
grass it can smooth the ball over
and stop it reversing.
If you touch the ball with wet
hands it will stop it reversing.
If you shine it in a way that
smooths over the rough side it
will stop it reversing."