DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES
8TH RELEASE OF PM-KISAN
PM flags rapid
rural spread,
says India will
fight and win
‘India doesn’t lose courage... I feel
your pain, as PM, I share every feeling’
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
SOUNDINGANOTEof cautionto
farmers and rural areas, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi Friday
said Covid-19 was spreading to
villagesata“rapid”pace,butsaid
India will not lose courage and
will fight the pandemic and win.
“Iwant to alertall farmers, all
brothers and sisters living in vil-
lages, about Corona again. The
infectionisnowreachingthevil-
lage at a rapid pace,” he said ad-
dressing several Chief Ministers
of states over a video conference
after releasing the eighth instal-
ment of the Pradhan Mantri
Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-
KISAN) scheme.
Expressing hope the country
will win the fight against Covid-
19, the Prime Minister said,
“Bharat himmat haarne vaala
desh nahin hai. Na Bharat him-
mat haarega aur na koi
Bharatvaasi himmat haarega.
Ham ladenge aur jeetenge (India
is not a country that loses
courage. Neither India nor any
Indian will lose courage. We will
fight and win).”
Modi also said he felt the
same pain which people have
suffered for some time now and
said the government was doing
everything to fight the second
wave. “As the Prime Minister of
Delhi Police arrests 9 Riding on direct payment, Punjab
over posters against wheat procurement hits new high
PM, vaccine exports
Crime Branch questions Youth
Congress leader, face of Covid relief
MAHENDER SINGH
MANRAL
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
DELHIPOLICEThursdayarrested
nine persons for allegedly past-
ing posters with comments crit-
ical of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi regarding the Covid vacci-
nation drive and lodged 10 FIRs
across several districts in con-
nection with the matter.
OnFriday,inaseparatemove,
the Delhi Police Crime Branch
visited the Indian Youth
Congress (IYC) office to question
its chief Srinivas B V, who has
been at the forefront of Covid re-
lief efforts,inconnectionwithal-
leged “illegal distribution of
Covid medicines, etc”.
Police said four of the arrests
made on Thursday were from
East Delhi’s Kalyanpuri, and that
themenwerepastingposterson
behalf of AAP councillor
Dhirender Kumar. While police
said Kumar's alleged role would
be probed, the councillor said he
was not aware of any such alle-
INSIDE
12 KILLED IN ATTACK
ON KABUL MOSQUE
DURING PRAYERS
PAGE 12
REBEL YSRCP MP
ARRESTED ON
SEDITION CHARGE
PAGE 6
Modi at a virtual PM-Kisan
event on Friday. PTI
the country, I share every feel-
ing of yours... Whatever bottle-
necks were there with regard to
resources to fight the second
wave of corona, are being re-
moved rapidly. There is an at-
tempt to work on a war foot-
ing...,” he said.
The political leadership has
explicitly acknowledged the ru-
ralspreadof Covid-19forthefirst
time now. Just three weeks ago,
on April 24, Modi had told gram
panchayats that the challenge
was to not allow this infection to
enter villages under any circum-
stances. “I am confident all peo-
ple and villages will be able to
prevent corona from entering
villages,” he had said.
OnTuesday,theUnionHealth
Ministryhadsaidthatasmanyas
533ofthecountry’s700-plusdis-
tricts were reporting a test posi-
tivity rate of more than
10 per cent, underlining
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
One FIR, two arrests over
this poster put up at
Dwarka, since removed
gations against him.
A senior officer said they re-
ceived information that posters
that read “Modi ji humare bachon
ki vaccine videsh kyon bhej diya
(Whydidyousendourchildren’s
vaccines abroad?)” had been
pasted in several areas of Delhi.
“Acting on this input, all dis-
trict police officers were
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
PAGE 1
ANCHOR
Sleepless in Israel, Indian nurses hang on for families
SHAJU PHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY
14
ON TUESDAY evening, K
Santhosh, a farmer in Kerala's
Idukki district, heard the sound
of anairraidsirenfromtheother
end of a video call with his wife
who was in the Israeli city of
Ashkelon. Seconds later,
Santhoshwatchedindisbelief as
his wife’s face disappeared from
the screen, and was replaced by
thick smoke.
Today, the echoes of that
From inside a Covid ward at GMCH, Goa’s largest facility for coronavirus. Express
13 more die, Goa hospital says
it has ‘fixed’ its oxygen issues
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PANAJI, MAY 14
GOA MEDICAL College and
Hospital (GMCH) that has seen
deaths on successive days due
to oxygen issues saw 13 more
casualties during the early hours
of Friday. While the opposition
Goa Forward Party blamed
these too on inadequate oxygen
ANJU AGNIHOTRI CHABA
JALANDHAR, MAY 14
INTHEmidstof thesecondcoro-
navirussurgeandtheagitationby
farmersagainstagriculturallaws
that has been now on for five
months,Punjabhassurpassedall
previous records in wheat pro-
curement for the rabi season.
Government agencies have
procured 132.08 lakh metric
tonnes of wheat, 2 lakh metric
tonnes more than the target set
by the state, with more than 9
lakh farmers receiving over
Rs23,000croredirectlyintotheir
bank accounts. It was the first
Behind bodies found on river banks, a Covid shadow
At the Baksar Ghat in Unnao, where an estimated 200 bodies
were laid bare this week. Express
rocket attack from Gaza, which
killed 32-year-old Soumya
Santhosh, continue to reverber-
ate in the homes of several nurs-
ingprofessionalsfromIndia,who
are employed as caregivers for
the elderly in Israel. With Israel
conducting massive retaliatory
air strikes and massing tanks
along the Gaza border, they find
themselves in the middle of an
escalatingconflictthatthreatens
their lives — and livelihood.
“I haven’t slept for the last
four days,” says Mariya Joseph,
33, speaking to The Indian
Express over the phone Friday
SINCE 1932
supply, the hospital said the rea-
sons for the deaths were yet to
be ascertained.
Claiming to have details re-
THE EDITORIAL PAGE
INTHEDARK
Fix accountability in Goa
PAGE 8
timeinPunjabthatfarmerswere
paid directly instead of through
arhtiyas or middlemen.
At 34 days, this rabi market-
ing season, that began on April
10 and ended Thursday, was 12
days shorter than last year.
Food Corporation of India
records show that this is the
highest wheat procurement in
Punjab’s history. The number
was under 100 lakh metrict
tonnes till 2009-10. At over 9
lakh,thenumberof farmerswho
came with their grain to mandis
this year is also higher than the
figure of 8.8 lakh last year.
While the procurement was
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
evening from the Israeli city of
Ashdod, 38 km from Gaza.
“Yesterday night, rockets
were raining in the region. Our
buildingswereshaking.Wekeep
posting messages in our groups
askingwhetherallweresafe.We
are trying to find comfort this
way. A lot of caregivers from
India, particularly from Kerala,
are working in areas close to
Gaza,’’ says Joseph.
She has been in Ashdod for
the past two-and-a-half years,
and is taking care of an 88-year-
old woman who is bedridden.
“We are getting street-specific
garding the latest deaths, Goa
Forward Party resident Vijai
Sardesaisaid,“Seventy-fivepeo-
ple have died on four consecu-
tive days. On the night of May 11,
21 people died, on the night of
May 12, 15 people died, and last
night, 13 people died." He said
the deaths had again happened
during “the dark hours” at
GMCH—2amto6am,whenthe
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Goodnews for
Centre,state
FACING THE brunt of
anger over farm laws,
Punjab had resisted the
direct payment scheme,
fearing a backlash. The
procurement then is
good news for the
Centre, and the state.
AVANEESH MISHRA
& DIPANKAR GHOSE
UNNAO, GHAZIPUR, MAY 14
DAYS AGO, the bodies were in
scores, unclaimed, uncounted
and unidentified. On Friday, at
the Gahmar Ghat in Ghazipur,
there were five. Two face down
in the sand on the Ganga river-
bank; one part submerged, the
remainingtwoinfragments.Not
far from here, in Unnao, again on
the banks of the Ganga, an esti-
A Palestinian family fleeing Gaza City on Friday crosses one
of the high-rises hit by Israeli strikes. Reuters Report PAGE12
`6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
8,506 CASES; 14,000 RECOVERIES
New cases fall below 10,000 in
Delhi, first time since April 10
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
WITHTHElockdowninplacefor
close to four weeks, Covid cases
in Delhi have finally started to
dip, with 8,506 cases being
recorded on Friday. This is the
firsttimesinceApril10thatcases
droppedbelow10,000inthecity.
A total of 68,575peoplewere
tested and 12.40% of them were
found to be positive — which is
the lowest positivity rate in a
month. Over 50,000 of these
were RT-PCR tests.
Over 14,000 people were re-
ported recovered on Friday.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal said this was “good
news” and was possible because
of the cooperation from people,
but cautioned against any laxity.
“If webecomecarelessagainand
stop following social distancing
norms and guidelines, cases can
increase again. We are making
arrangements for more oxygen
Sputnik unveiled:
Rs 1,000 a shot, in
cities by mid-June
The first foreign-made Covid vaccine for India, Sputnik saw a
‘soft launch’ on Friday, with an executive given a dose. Reuters
PRABHA RAGHAVAN
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
A BATCH of 150,000 doses of
Sputnik V has been cleared after
quality and stability tests for dis-
tribution in select cities and tier
1 metros, Dr Reddy’s
Laboratories(DRL),whichhasan
agreement with the Russian
manufacturer of the Covid-19
vaccine, said on Friday.
At a little over Rs 995 per
dose — not just for private hos-
pitals but also for central and
state governments — this will be
the most expensive vaccine so
far in the country’s mass immu-
nisation programme. In private
hospitalsthough, aSputnikVjab
is likely to cost less than Bharat
Biotech’s Covaxin.
The vaccine received a soft
COVID IN THE
COUNTRYSIDE
UTTAR
PRADESH
AN EXPRESS SERIES
PART-7
mated200bodieswerelaidbare
thisweekbytheshiftingsandaf-
ter a heavy downpour.
New Delhi
68 out of 100 beds were vacant at the Shehnai banquet hall
Covid facility in Delhi on Friday. Abhinav Saha
beds, are buying oxygen cylin-
ders and are setting up new ICU
beds. If cases increase again, we
should be prepared. But please
continue to observe Covid-ap-
propriate behaviour. We have
seenverytoughtimesinthepast
month,” he said.
Delhi was among the worst-
hit in the country in April, seeing
launch in Hyderabad on Friday.
The Sputnik V Twitter handle
posted a photo of DRL’s CEO for
its API and Services Business,
Deepak Sapra, being adminis-
tered the first dose.
Thevaccinewillbeavailablefor
customers by mid-June, when
commercial shipments are ex-
pected to begin, DRL said. The
company, which has an agree-
ment with its Russian partner to
acquire 250 million doses of
SputnikV,expectstobeabletovac-
cinate at least 125 million Indians
overthenext8-12months.
Around 15-20 per cent — or
up to 50 millionof thesedoses —
areexpectedtobesuppliedfrom
Russia,whilethecompanywaits
for local production of the vac-
cine to pick up.
DRL is also in discussions
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
These bodies, juxtaposed
with images of overflowing cre-
mation and burial grounds,
frame a tragic rural postcard
from UP and downstream Bihar
touched by Covid.
Interviews with next of kin,
officials, eyewitnesses and local
residentsinUnnaoandGhazipur
reveal that behind the bodies lie
long-held traditions, deep eco-
nomic distress and the sudden
rush to lay the dead to rest — all
of this under the shadow of a
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
alerts. But this is an old building,
and it does not have an in-house
bomb shelter. As a nurse, I can’t
rush to the common shelter
leavingmypatientinthehouse,”
says Joseph, who worked in
Delhiforeightyearsbeforemov-
ing to Israel.
“I am flooded with calls
from panic-stricken family
members. We are hoping peace
will prevail in a few days,'' says
Shinto Kuriakose, 33, who has
been a caregiver in Israel for the
past six years.
According to data available
till 2019 with the Indian
the highest daily cases and
deaths of all cities. On April 20, it
saw over 28,000 Covid cases,
while daily death toll crossed
450 at one point.
A definite downward trend
in cases started a week ago,
when the positivity rate started
declining. While the number of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Standoff in
Chitrakoot
jail: Inmate
kills 2, takes 5
hostage; shot
MANISH SAHU
LUCKNOW, MAY 14
INAmajorsecuritybreachinside
the high-security barracks of
Chitrakoot jail in Uttar Pradesh
onFriday,twoinmateswereshot
dead by another inmate who
went on to hold five others at
gunpoint as hostages before be-
ing gunned down by police.
Police said that all the three
who died had several criminal
cases against them, including on
chargesofmurder.ChiefMinister
Yogi Adityanath has sought a re-
port on the incident from
Director-General (Prison), Anand
Kumar. The state government,
meanwhile, suspended
ChitrakootJailSuperintendentSP
Tripathi and jailor Mahendra Pal.
Accordingtopolice,Mukeem
Kala,whohailsfromwesternUP,
and Mirajudeen alias Miraj, an
associate of jailed MLA Mukhtar
Ansari,wereshotdeadbyAnshu
Dixit, a known gangster who
waslodgedinadifferentbarrack.
The motive is yet to be ascer-
tained, police said.
Kala was at the centre of al-
legations levelled by the BJP in
2016 of a mass exodus from
Kairana town because of threats
from his gang. He was shifted to
Chitrakoot jail from Saharanpur
just five days ago. Miraj was
shifted to Chitrakoot on March
20 from a Varanasi jail.
Detailing the sequence of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
BUSINESS AS USUAL
BY UNNY
Embassy in Israel, there are
about 14,000 Indian nationals in
the country, including 13,200
employed as caregivers. What
makes the job of a caregiver in
Israel attractive for nurses in
India is the easy migration
processandattractive salary,say
officials. Soumya was employed
with an 80-year-old woman
who was injured in the attack.
“We know that thousands
from Keralaare working in Israel
as caregivers and domestic
helpers. There is a huge demand
for Israel visas in Kerala. Israel is
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
FROM PAGE ONE
Goa
hospital has been seeing oxygen
supply fluctuations.GMCH PRO
DrMaheshKamblisaidthatwhile
13 people had died at the hospi-
tal early Friday, it was not known
yetifthedeathswerecausedbya
drop in oxygen supply. He said
that nine deaths had taken place
between2amand6am,andfour
between 6 am and 8 am.
Dr Pratik Savant, president of
the Goa Association of Resident
Doctors,whohasbeenpostedon
Covid duty at GMCH since last
year, said he had received infor-
mationfromcolleaguesthatthere
wasadropinpressureinthecen-
tral oxygen supply for about 20
minutes Friday morning, but
there was no drop in saturation
levels of patients at the time.
Inastatusreportsubmittedto
theHighCourtof BombayatGoa
on Friday evening, Health
Secretary Ravi Dhawan stated
that he and Urban Development
Secretary Dr Tariq Thomas were
personallypresentfrom10pmon
Thursdayto5:45amonFridayat
thehospitaltomonitorthesitua-
tion at the site of the manifold (a
group of large cylinders). “No
complaints were received by us
duringthisperiodaboutadropin
pressure," he stated in his report.
The BJP government also in-
formedtheHighCourtthatithad
arranged for eight “trained and
experiencedtractordrivers”from
Kolhapur in Maharashtra, plus
two high-powered tractors, to
ferrytheoxygentrolleysbetween
the oxygen supplier, Scoop
Industries,andGMCH,separated
by15km.Eachtrolley,carrying48
oxygen cylinders, is towed by an
agricultural tractor.
The Health Secretary reiter-
atedthattheCentrehad,inanor-
der issued Thursday, enhanced
Goa’s daily allocation of Liquid
Medical Oxygen (LMO) from 26
MT to 46 MT.
An LMO storage tank had
been transported to the GMCH
manifold site and is expected to
be operational by May 17,
Dhawan said. Chief Minister
Pramod Sawant tweeted about
work on installation of a 20,000-
litres medical oxygen tank at
GMCH.
Besides, the Health Secretary
stated in his report, two Dura
cylinders(akindof low-pressure
cylinder)ofoxygenwereinstalled
atthehospital,andtheirperform-
ance had been observed over 12
hoursofhighdemandatnight.“It
may be concluded that while
Dura cylinders were useful in
helping prolong the duration of
the oxygen supply from a given
trolley,theydonotactasanalter-
native," the Secretary submitted.
They, however, help reduce the
changeover time, he said.
The Health Secretary said the
state had received 323 oxygen
concentrators,ofwhich263were
deployed at GMCH.
Oppositionpartiesdemanded
that the BJP government pay
compensation to families of the
Covid-19 patients who died at
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GMCH due to oxygen issues.
“Chamrajnagar (in Karnataka)
saw one incident (of oxygen
shortage),buthereit’shappening
with striking regularity,” said
Sardesai, with his party filing a
criminal complaint against the
CM, Chief Secretary Parimal Rai
and Swetika Sanchan, the nodal
officer for management of oxy-
gen, alleging culpable homicide
not amounting to murder and
criminal conspiracy.
Former Goa CM and senior
CongressleaderDigambarKamat
said,“WiththeBJPgovernmentin
Goaclearlyadmittingtodeathsat
GMCH due to gross negligence,
the CM must own responsibility
andimmediatelyannouncesub-
stantialcompensationtothefam-
ilies of those murdered by gov-
ernment apathy and blunder."
Goa's largest Covid facility,
GMCH accounted for 39 of its 61
Covid deaths Friday, with 14 re-
ported from South Goa District
Hospital.Thestatesaw2,455new
cases and 2,960 recoveries, put-
ting its count of active cases at
32,387.Thepositivityratecontin-
ues to be worrying, at 36%.
Delhi new cases
testsdoneonThursday(reported
onFriday)werelowerthantheav-
erage 75,000 tests being done
daily, the positivity rate also re-
mained low.
“The dip in the positivity rate,
and hence the number of cases,
seemstosuggestthatDelhiispast
itspeak.ThehighinDelhistarted
closetoamonthafteritwasseen
in Mumbai, and now the decline
isfollowingasimilarpattern.The
next two weeks are crucial but
looking at the data now, it cer-
tainlyseemsthattheworstisbe-
hind us, for now,” said an epi-
demiologist at a Central
governmenthospitalwhodidnot
want to be named.
TheCapitalhasseen13.8lakh
casesand20,907deathssincethe
beginningof thepandemic.Over
9,800 of these deaths have been
since April 1.
While the oxygen shortage
has been resolved for now -- the
Delhi government wrote to the
CentreThursdayaskingthatitnot
be given more than 590 metric
tonnes of oxygen a day and that
the extra supplies be diverted to
statesthatneeditmore--thecri-
sis of beds is not over yet. While
there are over 6,000 vacant oxy-
genbedsindifferenthospitals,the
numberofvacantICUbedsis277.
A large majority of these are in
government hospitals as private
hospitals are still running full.
Kejriwalalsospokeaboutthe
lessernumberof freeICUbedsin
a webcast on Friday. “Around
3,000hospitalbedshavebeenva-
cated in the past few days. But a
majority of ICU beds are still oc-
cupied.Thismeansthatthenum-
ber of patients who are critical is
still high. We are readying 1,200
newICUbedsandtheywillbeop-
erationalinadayortwo,”hesaid.
Punjab
lesser in the Malwa region, the
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
VIDEO OF THE DAY
PM flags rapid rural spread
the massive spread of the in-
fection in rural India in the sec-
ond wave.
A week ago on May 8, The
IndianExpresshadreportedthat
compared with the first week
in September last year, the
number of cases and of those
deadduetoCovidinthehinter-
land or backward regions had
quadrupledinthesecondwave.
The districts covered by the
Backward Region Grant Fund
Behind bodies found on river banks, a Covid shadow
devastating pandemic that has
ledtoseveraldeathsoutsideof-
ficial records.
At the Gahmar Ghat, 7 km
from the Bihar border, the dis-
trict administration, police and
local residents have been busy
overthelastthreedays,tryingto
dispose of the bodies, either by
cremating them, or by burying
them deep in the sand.
“It was a sight that I have
never seen before. We used
boats to pull the bodies to the
shore. The whole air was filled
with the stench of death. The
GangajiturnshereatGahmar,so
thebodiesflowingdownstream
accumulate here. There could
not have been fewer than 80
bodies,” says Kamla Devi Dom,
whohasworkedattheGahmar
Ghat for many years.
Pradeep Kumar, a barber at
Baksar Ghat, says that with the
second Covid wave, the cost of
conductingcremationshasshot
up. “A pyre that earlier used to
cost around Rs 500 now costs
around Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000, and
the entire process of cremation
costsaroundRs10,000,”hesays.
“Around15daysago,alocal
residentwasburiedinthesand.
He was an alcoholic. After the
recentrain,thesandgotwashed
awayanddogsduguphisbody.
I see a lot of people are burying
bodies here as they cannot af-
ford to cremate them,” he says.
epicentreofthefarmers’agitation,
the jump in Doaba and Majha
madeupforit.Infact,thedistricts
that saw lesser procurement
comparedtolastyearslightlyout-
numberedthosethatsawhigher.
Incidentally, the higher pro-
curement was despite a slightly
lesser yield. While the weather
waslargelyfavourable,anunusu-
allywarmMarchmeanttheaver-
age was 49 quintals per hectare
compared to 50.04 per hectare
last year.
RaviBhagat,Director,Depart-
ment of Punjab Food Supply and
ConsumerAffairs,saiddirectpay-
ment into the accounts was one
of the main reasons for this. "The
governmenthasregisteredfarm-
ers onthe Anaj Kharid portaland
themoneywascreditedintotheir
accounts, not those of arhtiyas...
Punjab has also become the first
statewheretheJformthatcarries
thedetailsaboutthecropafarmer
sells to the government is in-
cludedintheDigilocker.Heisnot
dependent on a middleman for
getting the J form.”
Bharatiya Kisan Union
(Dakaunda) leader Jagmohan
Singhalsosaidthatoneoftheim-
portant reasons more wheat
came to mandis was direct pay-
mentofMSPintoaccounts,which
meant farmers went there in-
stead of to flour millers.
APunjabMandiBoardofficial
said the other reason was that
farmers sitting on dharna also
wanted to take advantage of the
MSP(Rs1,975perquintal),believ-
ing it may not last. According to
him, more wheat also landed in
governmentmandisduetolesser
privateplayersinthemarketdue
to Covid.
UP prison
events, a jail official said that
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
EXPLAINED: WHY CHINA’S POPULATION WILL SOON START FALLING
Lastyear,1.2crorebabieswereborninChina,downfrom1.465crorein2019—afallof18percentinone
year,aspercensusdatareleasedbyitsNationalBureauofStatistics.Thecountry’sfertilityratehasdropped
to1.3,farbelowthereplacementlevelof2.1requiredforagenerationtohaveenoughchildrentoreplaceit.
BEHIND THE DHARAVI
MODEL
BMC has so far
contained Covid-19
spread in Dharavi
(BRGF) — 243 of the 272 for
which data are available — had
morethan39.16lakhpeoplein-
fected with the disease as on
May5,morethanfourtimesthe
9.5 lakh infections at the peak
of the first wave on September
16, 2020. Similarly, by May 5,
these districts had reported
36,523 deaths, almost four
timesthenumberofdeadatthe
peak of the first wave last year.
In his address on Friday,
Motu Kashyap, who buried
his father Pyare Lal Friday, said
cremationwasnotanoptionfor
him. “After I reached the ghat, I
arguedwithauthoritiestoallow
a burial. My father was 87, and
died of old age. I am an agricul-
tural worker with five daugh-
ters. How will I have money to
buy wood, pay the priest and
cremate the body?” he says.
Near the river bank on the
ghat, The Indian Express found
hundreds of burial spots lying
exposed after the rains. Karan
Singh, a fisherman, said that till
a week ago, around 100 bodies
used to be carried to the ghat,
and more than half of them
would be buried. “But now, the
district administration has is-
sued clear instructions to stop
burials,” he says.
On Friday, the UP govern-
ment said that the Home
Department will deploy the
State Disaster Response Force
(SDRF) and the Jal Police of PAC
forpatrollingalltheriversinthe
state to ensure that bodies are
not dumped in rivers.
“Two days ago, we came to
know that several bodies have
been buried under the sand in
Baksar. Burial is a matter of tra-
ditionandwearetryingourbest
toconvincepeopletogoforcre-
mation,” says Unnao District
Magistrate Ravindra Kumar.
“These things have been
around 9 am, Dixit reached the
barrack of Kala and Miraj and
opened fire with a .9 mm pistol.
He returned to his barrack, held
five other inmates captive and
threatened to kill them.
Senior officials tried to con-
vince Dixit to surrender, and an
hourlater,heallowedthreeofthe
hostages to move out, the official
said.“Butherefusedtoletoutthe
othertwo,andthepoliceshothim
deadtorescuetheprisoners,”the
official said.
“When police were trying to
convince Dixit to surrender, he
firedonthem.Policefiredinretal-
iation, and Dixit suffered injuries
leading to his death,” Chitrakoot
SP Ankit Mittal said.
A three-member team of
Chitrakoot Dham Commissioner
DKSingh,IG(ChitrakootRange)K
Satya Narayan and DIG (Jail)
Sanjeev Tripathi has been di-
rected to conduct an inquiry and
submit a report.
HailingfromShamli,Mukeem
Kalahad61criminalcasesagainst
him,includingonchargesofmur-
der, attempt to murder and da-
coity. Miraj, who hailed from
Ghazipur,had14casesagainston
charges of murder, attempt to
murder and forgery, and others
under the Arms Act.
Dixit was a native of Sitapur,
and had eight cases against him
includingattempttomurderand
extortion. Among the cases he
was linked to was the murder of
Lucknow University students'
unionleadersVinodTripathiand
Gaurav Singh.
Sputnik V
with the partner, the Russian
DirectInvestmentFund(RDIF),on
receiving approvals for “Sputnik
Light”,asingle-doseversionofthe
vaccine.
ENTERTAINMENT
Modi urged states to take
“strongestaction”againstthose
involvedinhoardingandblack
marketingofmedicinesandes-
sentialcommodities.“Itisanact
against humanity,” he said.
Observing that such a mas-
sive pandemic is testing the
world, Modi said, “We have an
invisible enemy in front of us
andthisenemyisalsoanimpos-
tor(behroopiya).Duetothisen-
emy, the coronavirus, we have
happening for a long time.
BaksarGhatisatthedistrictbor-
der and hasthe ChandrikaDevi
temple. People from Unnao,
Fatehpur, Rae Bareli and even
Kanpurcomehereforfinalrites.
Thereisalsoapossibilitythatthe
numberofbodiescomingtothe
ghat has increased. As far as I
have been informed, around
150-200 bodies were found
buriedattheghat,”saystheDM.
In Ghazipur,during the four
hours that The Indian Express
spent at Gahmar Ghat, there
was a constant stream of offi-
cials — Circle Officer, Block
Development Officer, SDM
Sevrai — each issuing the same
instructions.“Makesurenobody
puts unburnt bodies in the
ghats. They should burn them
completely.Thereisnoshortage
of wood now,” says Ramesh
Maurya, the SDM.
OnMay1,Ghazipurhad421
new cases, and an active case-
loadof5,439with122deathsin
all. By May 13, records showed
a dip to 249 new cases, and
2,804 active cases with 199
deaths. “Right now, we are do-
ing regular monitoring of the
ghats,andmakingsurethatpeo-
ple do not throw bodies in the
river directly,” says Maurya.
Police Inspector Hari
Narayan Shukla says his teams
are patrolling a 25-km stretch,
uptotheChausaborderinBihar,
“We have received the first
150,000 doses (of Sputnik
V)...whichistheinitiallotforusto
test the supply chain across both
the private as well as the govern-
mentchannel,”MVRamana,CEO
of the Hyderabad company’s
Branded Markets (India and
EmergingMarkets)business,said
at a press briefing on the com-
pany’s financial results for the
fourth quarter of 2020-21.
“Wehaveacommitmentover
the next couple of months of
about36milliondosesthatweare
expecting to get from RDIF,” he
said.
“Currently,weareworking,as
far as logistics is concerned, in
about 35 cities. I think, in about a
week’stime,wewillhaveamuch
better hold on the exact city and,
within the city, how we will be
abletofindtherightpartnerswho
have the cold chain (capabilities
and)wouldbeabletovaccinate,”
he told The Indian Express in re-
sponse to a query about which
cities the vaccine is expected to
becomeavailableintostartwith.
Six Indian contract manufac-
turers,includingHeteroBiophar-
ma, Gland Pharma, and Stelis
Biopharma,areexpectedtobegin
supplying doses from July on-
ward, the company said.
Untilthen,thepriceofthevac-
cine has been set at Rs 948 per
dose,plus5percentGST.“This(is)
consideringtheimport,thelogis-
tics and the distribution cost.
However,pricesmaycomedown
oncewestartlocallymanufactur-
ing the product,” Ramana said.
“The Rs 948 plus 5 per cent
(tax) is the price for both the pri-
vate (players) as well as the gov-
ernment. We are in discussions
withacoupleofstatesandwewill
seehowthatwillpanout,”hetold
The Indian Express.
REVIEW: ‘RADHE YOUR
MOST WANTED BHAI’
Salman Khan serves up
a mindless, moronic
mess of a film
lost many of our close ones.”
Earlier, the Prime Minister
released the eighth instalment
under the PM-Kisan scheme.
In this tranche, Rs 20,667.75
crore were transferred to over
9.50 crore PM-Kisan benefici-
aries, including over 7 lakh
farmersfromWestBengal.The
farmers in West Bengal have
been paid two instalments —
for December-March 2020-21
and April-July 2021-22.
to ensure that no bodies are
thrown in. “People are afraid of
Covid, and don’t want to touch
thebodies.Thereisashortageof
wood, too. There are ghats like
this, but villagers also perform
thelastritesanywherealongthe
banks. This morning, I saw a
familytryingtosneakoff toone
side to perform last rites with-
out burning the body. I brought
them here,” says Shukla.
About 200m away, a family
of eight stood hunched next to
a burning pyre, the fourth to
burnattheghatonFriday.They
werefromthevillageof Gohda,
and mourning the death of the
family matriarch, in her sixties.
Inthemorning,thesonsand
nephews,afamilyofdailywage
labourers, took a round of the
ghats nearby. “We asked how
much it would cost. Normally
woodattheghatsisforRs600a
quintal, and three quintals are
neededtoburnabody.Now,we
were quoted Rs 1,000 a quintal.
Ontopofthat,themoneyforthe
Dom,andtheghee,andtherites
wouldhavemeantRs4,500.Itis
moneywedidnothave.Wecan
onlydothisbecausetheadmin-
istrationarrangedforthewood,”
says one of the nephews.
Asked if she died of Covid,
her son said: “She was old, so
maybe it was her time. But she
hadfallenill,likemanyothersin
the village.”
Compared with this, the
CentrehasbeenprocuringSerum
InstituteofIndia’sCovishieldand
BharatBiotech’sCovaxinatRs150
per dose to immunise those
above the age of 45 years.
Covishield’spriceforstatestovac-
cinate 18-44-year-olds is Rs 300
per dose; Covaxin is offered to
states at Rs 400 per dose.
Delhi Police
informed and they alerted beat
staff. Ten FIRs have been
registered and police are
registering more after
receiving complaints,” the
officer said.
The officer said that one FIR
had been lodged and four
arrested in East district. There
were also three FIRs and two
arrests in the Northeast district,
one FIR and one arrest in North,
one FIR and two arrests in
Dwarka, two FIRs in Rohini,
and one FIR each in Central and
West districts.
Additional DCP (East
district) Sanjay Sehrawat said
patrolling staff apprehended
four persons -- Dalip Lal (35),
Shivam Dubey (27), Rahul
Tyagi (24) and Rajeev Kumar
(19) -- from Kalyanpuri.
“An FIR under sections 3 of
the Prevention of Defacement
of Property Act, 3 Press and
Registration of Books Act,
51(1)(b) and 54 DDMA, 188,
269, and 34 of the IPC has been
registered against them.
Around 860 posters and 20
banners have been recovered
from their possession. During
questioning, they claimed an
AAP councillor asked them to
paste all these posters. We are
verifying the claims and
further investigations are on,”
the DCP said.
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
People left to fend for
themselves: Inside UP's
Covid-19 nightmare
NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY
How Uttar Pradesh is crumbling under the
second wave of the coronavirus, and how
people in the state have been left to fend for
themselves.
Beginning January 20 and
until the end of March, India
exported over 6.6 crore vaccine
doses to 93 countries, most of
which had a pandemic less
severe than India, as measured
by caseload and death per lakh
population. This, even as the
second Covid wave had hit,
amid a looming shortage of
vaccine doses.
Meanwhile, the police’s
questioning of Shrinivas drew
a sharp reaction from the
Congress, which accused the
Centre of humiliating those
who were helping people in
the time of crisis. The police
said they were acting on
directions of the Delhi High
Court, and that they had earlier
approached AAP MLA Dilip
Pandey in connection with the
same matter.
The petitioner in the matter
being heard by the Delhi High
Court had also named BJP MPs
Gautam Gambhir and Sujay
Vikhe, and Congress leader
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and
Congress MLA Mukesh
Sharma.
In his petition, Deepak
Singh, chairman of the non-
profit Hrudaya Foundation,
sought a CBI probe into an
alleged “medical mafia-
politicians nexus” and illegal
distribution of Covid
medicines by politicians.
However, the court on May
4 declined the prayer and
asked Singh to approach the
Delhi Police Commissioner.
The court also asked the state
to file a status report within a
week and listed the case for
hearing on May 17.
“In case the alleged
incidents are found to have
taken place in Delhi, Delhi
Police should take appropriate
steps by registration of FIR,”
said the division bench of
Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice
Rekha Palli in an order.
Following the court order, a
team of Crime Branch was
asked by Police Commissioner
S N Shrivastava to conduct an
enquiry. At the time, Delhi
Police spokesperson Chinmoy
Biswal had said that “in
compliance with directions of
Hon’ble High Court, an enquiry
is being conducted from
several concerned persons”.
Over the last month,
Srinivas has become the face of
Covid relief efforts, especially
in the national capital, with his
team of volunteers responding
to several SOS messages from
individuals, hospitals and even
embassies mainly seeking
oxygen cylinders and beds.
One such appeal on Twitter
by the New Zealand High
Commission had led to an
unusually terse message from
the Centre to “all high
commissions and embassies”
warning against hoarding
oxygen.
Speaking to The Indian
Express, Srinivas said: “They
(police) told us that somebody
had filed a petition in the High
Court. They wanted to know
we are arranging oxygen,
medicines... we explained
everything to them. We are not
doing anything wrong, we
have nothing to hide. We also
have the party's support.”
Taking to Twitter, Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra said: “If helping
someone in need is now a
crime, I will commit it again
and again. To my mind it’s a far
greater crime to silently watch
and do nothing while people
die desperately searching for
medicine and gasping for air.”
Congress communication
department head Randeep
Surjewala accused the Centre
of following “raid dharma and
not raj dharma”. “Is providing
oxygen in times of difficulty a
crime? Is helping a dying
patient with Remdesivir drug
a crime? Is arranging beds and
ventilators in hospitals a
crime? Is providing food to the
needy a crime?” he asked.
Meanwhile, former MP
Shahid Siddiqui tweeted: “On
the day of Eid an inspector
from Crime branch came to
inquire how I got 2 injections
of Remsidivir from
@priyankagandhi &
@MukeshSharmaMLA for my
wife. They are wasting
taxpayers money inquiring
how someone helped not why
people are dying because of
dearth of medicines & O2.”
BJP MP Gambhir, who had
distributed Fabiflu tablets for
free from his office last month,
hit back at the Opposition.
“Opposition should not indulge
in needless politicisation of
due process. Delhi Police has
asked for a reply from us &
we’ve provided all details. I will
keep serving Delhi & its people
to the best of my abilities
always,” Gambhir, a former
India cricketer, tweeted.
Hearing a separate appli-
cation against AAP MLA Imran
Hussain alleging “arbitrary
distribution” and “hoarding” of
oxygen cylinders, the court had
clarified that there is no
prohibition on distribution of
cylinders. However, the court
said, it will not be permitted if
medical oxygen is being
procured from re-fillers
otherwise allotted to hospitals,
nursing homes and individuals
by the Delhi government.
(WITHMANOJCG)
Israel
an ECNR (emigration clearance
notrequired)countryandanyone
can recruit,” says Ajith Kolassery,
recruitment manager at the
Keralagovernment'sDepartment
of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs
(NORKA).
Listing the other perks, care-
givers say applicants need not
clearIELTS(InternationalEnglish
LanguageTestingSystem)orOET
(Occupational English Test) —
they only need to attend a short-
term course in Hebrew.
“InKerala,nursesarenotpaid
well. If we take a short break, we
have to join again as a fresher or
trainee. In such a situation, Israel
offers a lifeline. We can earn a
take-home salary of Rs 1 lakh-Rs
1.30lakhamonthifwearewilling
to work overtime,’’ says Dani
Manual, 34, who hails from
Mathilakam in Thrissur.
Manual has been a caregiver
in the neighbourhood of Kiryat
Malakhi, 16 km from Ashkelon
city, for the past two-and-a-half
years. She completed her course
in nursing from Bhubaneswar in
2011andworkedinOdishabefore
movingtoKeralaandlatertaking
up a job in Israel.
“Normally, a nurse stays in
Israel for about 10 years. Most of
us have huge financial liabilities.
Wehavetoclearthatburdenand
ensure savings for the future. It's
not just Indians, there are people
from the Philippines and Sri
Lanka, too. Our job is tough and
we have long hours of duty.
However,no one wants toreturn
empty-handed,’’ says Sajeesh
Lawrence, 37, who is from
Nedumkandam in Idukki.
OnFriday,MinisterofStatefor
ExternalAffairsVMuraleedharan
tweetedthatthe“mortalremains
ofMsSoumyaSanthosh,whowas
killedinrocketattacksfromGaza,
are being repatriated today from
Israel to Kerala through Delhi.
They will reach her native place
tomorrow”.
“Soumya would have tried to
save the life of the Israeli woman
whom she was taking care of.
That'sprobablywhyshecouldnot
escape,” says Manual, the care-
giver near Ashkelon.
“What can we do,” she asks.
“Allof us,thecaregivers,haveleft
our families back in Kerala as
Israel does not usually give fam-
ilyvisasforus.Now,mythreechil-
dren, twins aged seven and six,
are calling me back. But I have to
stay back to run the family.’’
FULLREPORTSON
www.indianexpress.com
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

3 THE CITY
Total Vacant
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021 VACCINATIONS TOTAL CASES HOSPITAL BEDS 25,452 7,829
IN LAST 24 HRS 13,80,981 ICU BEDS 6,326 526
1,23,517

*Total active cases

Daily cases Recoveries Deaths Tests

CORONAVIRUS May 13
May 14
10,489
8,506
15,189
14,140
308
289
73,675
68,575
IN THE CAPITAL Total 71,794* 12,88,280 20,907 1,81,69,856

AROUND 170 CENTRES OPEN FOR MIGRANT WORKERS, DAILY WAGERS

In food lines at Delhi govt schools, a 2020 redux

ASHNA BUTANI
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
SCENES FROM the 2020 nation-
wide shutdown are replaying
outside government schools
across Delhi as daily wagers
stand in line to pick up their
meals. With the lockdown ex-
tended for the fourth time since
April 19 amid the Covid surge in
the capital, several workers say
they are left with no job and no
money.
InanorderdatedApril20,the
Delhi government said a com-
mittee of officers is to be consti-
tuted to ensure welfare of daily
wagers and migrant workers.
The committee is tasked with
ensuring that food, water, shel-
ter, clothing and medication are
made available to workers.
Those at construction sites
are to be provided with food,
shelter and other medications,
too. “For the purpose of provid-
ing food, contractors providing
mid-day meals to school chil-
dren in government and MCD
schools should be utilised,”
stated the order.
The Supreme Court too on
Thursday ordered a series of
steps for workers’ welfare —
from transport to home districts
and food to dry ration without
insisting on identity cards.
AtSarvodayaBalVidyalayain
Rajgarh Colony on Friday, 50
people lined up at 12.30 pm to
pick up their lunch comprising
rice and curry.Among them was
Vijay Kumar (20), who reaches
the school every day with two
containers and collects a meal
for one — even though there are
three to feed at home.
Kumar, who used to work at
a cloth factory in Gandhinagar
before the lockdown, said, “My
parents are dependent on me fi-
nancially. I used to earn Rs 6,000
before the factory shut. We still
have to pay Rs 4,000 as rent.
Sometimes, school authorities
give extra food and I take it.
Otherwise, we manage some-
how by borrowing from others.”
Two classroom desks had
been set up inside the school,
one for the rice and the other for
curry. School staff served the
foodwhileguardsensuredsocial
distancing was maintained. Civil
defence volunteers, who have
been assigned vaccination duty,
lent a hand as there was no vac-
cination on Friday. Staff said the
exacerbated his problems. He
said, “It takes two-three months
to find a new job. In the lock-
down, it is even more difficult.”
His wife goes to Gurdwara Sis
Ganj for ‘sangat’ in the mornings
and gets langar food from there,
while he comes to the school to
pick up meals.
After serving food to around
300 people, school staffer
Bijender broke for lunch. He said
he would go to his home in
Seelampur, eat, and come back
for the evening session when
dinnerisservedat5.30pm.There
isnofixedtimingbutschoolstaff
pack up after all the food is over.
People do not need to show any
ID proof to collect food.
School staff said fewer
schools are giving out food as
most schools — 186 at the mo-
ment — are functioning as vacci-
nation centres.
AtSarvodayaBalVidyalayain
EastDelhi’sGandhiNagar,which
Outside a school in East Delhi on Friday. Amit Mehra is undergoing construction
work, Kalawati and her husband
said they get their meals every
food is the same as mid-day arrived, the rice was over and he sons who live separately now. meals. day from here. The couple and
meals that used to be served to only got curry. He used to drive They have families to take care Ranjeet Singh (56) used to their four children stay in a tem-
students, and that it comes from an e-rickshaw in the area before of so they do not help me finan- work at a government office as poraryshedintheschool.Unlike
the district magistrate’s office. the lockdown. “I lost my wife cially,” he said, adding that he a driver but lost his job in last year, when they had at-
By the time Rajkumar (60) many years ago... I have three visits the school twice a day for January, and the lockdown only tempted to head to their home-
town in Madhya Pradesh, they
decided to stay in the construc-
tion site as they had all the
amenities they needed.
Kalawatisaid,“Assoonasthe
lockdown was announced last
year, and we heard that work
will stop, we left for home on
foot. Police stopped us near
Ghaziabad and took us to a shel-
ter home in a school, where we
were stuck for two months.”
This lockdown, however,
construction work is permitted
if workers are living on the site.
The family gets both their meals
from the school. Out of 30 work-
ers at the site, around 25 went
home this year. Workers get a
daily wage of Rs 350 each.
School staff said a truck car-
rying cooked food comes from
theShahdaradistrictofficetwice
a day and is enough to feed 300
people.
A Delhi government official
said, “A few schools had been
identified across the city. Since
the crisis is not as severe as last
year, the schools identified were
inpocketswheretherearemany
migrant workers and a few in-
situ construction sites. There
would be approximately 170
such sites.”

Ex-MLA Jarnail Drugs to oxygen, as Covid

Singh, voice of
1984 victims,
dies of Covid
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
FORMERAAMAadmiPartyMLA
Jarnail Singh (47), who had con-
tracted CovidinApril,diedin the
capital on Friday.
The former Rajouri Garden
MLA was in the ICU, after having
been admitted to Rajiv Gandhi
Super Speciality Hospital for the
past 12-13 days, his brother
Karnail told PTI.
Hisconditiondeterioratedon
Thursdaynight,followingwhich
doctors discussed the option of
shifting him on ECMO support.
However, he passed away on
Friday morning.
“His high-resolution CT
(HRCT) of the chest score was
14/25 which was a little above
moderate in terms of infection.
But then his condition deterio-
rated,” Karnail said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal condoled his death.
“Deeply saddened by the un-
timely demise of former Delhi
MLA Sh Jarnail Singh ji. May God
bless his soul. He will always be
fondly remembered for his
contributions to society,” he
tweeted.
Singhcontested andwonthe
2015 Assembly elections from
Rajouri Garden. He, however, re-
signed in 2017 and contested
from the Lambi seat in Punjab
against now Punjab Chief
Minister Amarinder Singh and
former Chief Minister Prakash
Singh Badal. Badal won the seat.
He had also contested the
2014 Lok Sabha polls from West
Delhi, but lost.
Singhfelloutof favourinAAP
by 2019 and did not get a ticket
from the party in the 2020 elec-
tions. He was suspended from
the party after an objectionable
Singh was the former
Rajouri Garden MLA
post was made on his Facebook
profile in August last year.
Before his foray into politics,
Singhworkedasajournalistcov-
ering defence for a Hindi news-
paper. He also wrote a book,
called I Accuse... : The Anti-Sikh
Violence of 1984.
Even after his association
withAAPended,hecontinuedto
work with those who suffered
violence during the 1984 riots.
In 2009, he threw a shoe at
former Home Minister
P Chidambaram during a press
conference over Congress lead-
ersbeinggivenacleanchitinthe
’84 riots.
Deputy Chief Minister
Manish Sisodia tweeted on
Friday: “The death of our former
colleague at the Delhi Assembly,
Jarnail Singh, is saddening for us
all. We have lost a strong voice
that fought for justice for the
familiesof thosewhowerekilled
in the 1984 massacre.”
SAD’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa
tweeted: “Another good human
being lost to Covid... We stand
with his family in this hour
of grief.”
Singh, a soft spoken man,
alsoraisedtheissuesof legaland
financial compensation as well
asjusticefromcourts.Helivedin
Lajpat Nagar. (With PTI inputs)
A QUIET EID
The Jama Masjid wore a deserted look on the occasion of Eid as families stayed home on
Friday due to Covid-19 restrictions and lockdown in the capital. Abhinav Saha
HC refuses to grant interim
protection from arrest to Kalra
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
THE DELHI High Court Friday de-
clinedtograntinterimprotection
from arrest to businessman
NavneetKalra,whosoughtantic-
ipatorybailinconnectionwithal-
leged black marketing of oxygen
concentrators, and agreed with
thereasonsgivenbythetrialcourt
while denying him the relief.
A sessions court had on
Thursday dismissed Kalra’s an-
ticipatorybailplea,sayingtheal-
legations against him were seri-
ous and his custodial
interrogation was required to
“unearth the entire conspiracy”.
“I am persuaded by the rea-
sons given by the trial court
which is a valid ground for me
not to grant any interim protec-
tionnow,”JusticeSubramonium
Prasad said, while listing the
matter for hearing on May 18.
The observation came after
Kalra’slawyers—senioradvocates
Abhishek M Singhvi and Vikas
Pahwa—urgedthecourttogrant
interim protection if the matter
wasgoingtobeadjournedtillMay
18 on the request of Additional
Solicitor General S V Raju.
Singhvi told the court that
police were actively searching
for Kalra was visiting homes of
his relatives and close friends
anditoughtnottobedonewhen
the High Court was hearing his
plea for anticipatory bail.
He said he was not in a “beg-
ging game” with the authorities
and was relying on the High
Courttoprotecthisclient’srights
asthepolicewereoutlookingfor
him with a “fanaticism” as if he
were a “trophy”.
When the hearing com-
menced Friday afternoon, ASG
RajuurgedtheHighCourttohear
itonTuesday,May18,ashehada
lot of material, like information
with regard to shell companies,
which he needed to place before
it and would require some time.
Heavenswouldnotfallifthemat-
ter is taken up on May 18, Raju
said, adding that there was no
needforgivingsuchapreference,
likehearingthecaseonaholiday,
to Kalra as his plea for anticipa-
torybailisjustlikethatof anyone
else seeking the same relief.
Singhvi opposed the con-
tention saying it was an attempt
to embarrass the court. He said
one of the charges against his
client was that he had over-
charged for the concentrators
andtoinvestigateit,Kalra’sarrest
was not required. He said that
under the Drug Price Control
Order (DPCO) 2013, there is a
provision for adjusting the over-
charged amount or refunding it.
The court said a number of
concentrators were seized from
his properties and price stickers,
including blank ones, were
found at the site. “Therefore, the
question is would it be a viola-
tion of the DPCO 2013,” it said.
surged across capital,
black market flourished
KRISHN KAUSHIK
& MAHENDER SINGH
MANRAL
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
RS50,000foravialof remdesivir,
Rs 40,000 for a large oxygen
cylinder: This is what some peo-
ple paid in Delhi over the last
three weeks trying to save lives
of loved ones as the Covid surge
leftthehealthcareinfrastructure
overwhelmed, and created fer-
tile grounds for black marketers.
Members of the healthcare
industry, hospital owners and
government officials The Indian
Express spoke to flagged key fac-
tors that led to this — from a lull
incasesafterthefirstwavewhich
led to scaling back of production
tonotenoughbeingdonetobol-
ster healthcare infrastructure.
Take the example of remde-
sivir,typicallyadministeredtopa-
tients in the ICU. A Delhi govern-
ment official said the problem of
black marketing began as hospi-
tals started prescribing it for pa-
tients who may nothave needed
it.Itssupplyiscentralised,andthe
government allocates it to the
states, which then provide it to
hospitals based on requirement.
It is not available with chemists.
As hospitals started asking
family members of patients to
procure the drug, many had no
option but to look to the black
market. In one case, in the last
week of April, a lawyer with a
Delhi-based law firm set out to
procure it for two of his friends,
admittedinaprivatehospital.The
doctor had told him remdesivir
was not available at the hospital.
After a few desperate calls,
the lawyer was informed a per-
son based in Uttar Pradesh can
procure 12 vials for Rs 6 lakh —
Rs 50,000 per dose. On April 17,
theCentreannouncedthatprices
of remdesivir had been brought
down by manufacturers — be-
tween Rs 899 to Rs 3,490. After
moneywaspaidincash,aperson
Several families had to run
around for cylinders.
providing Covid medicines or
oxygen, etc, while 78 are related
with black-marketing, hoarding
or overcharging. We have ar-
rested 153,” said Delhi Police
spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal.
Theofficialstressedthathos-
pitals should not only ensure ju-
dicious use — noting down and
sharing details of each batch ad-
ministeredtopatients—butalso
notprescribethedrugunlessab-
solutelyrequired.“Unnecessarily
prescribing six injections, creat-
ing panic, led to an increase in
demand,” the official said.
“Thehospitalhastoreachout
to the Delhi government” to get
theinjections, the officialsaid,as
“there is no other way”. He as-
serted that Delhi has “enough
supply if medical practitioners
judicially use it”. On May 8,
around 55,000 injections of the
drug were available in Delhi,
when active cases were nearly
88,000, the official said.
TheCentrewasawarethatby
thefirstweekofAprilthatascases
shot up, such a situation could
arise.TheCentralDrugsStandard
ControlOrganisationwrotetothe
drugs controllers of all states on
April7thatsomestateswere“re-
porting shortage of remdesivir”
and that “this may lead to its
hoarding and black marketing”.
The seven manufacturers of
thedrughadcutdownitsproduc-
has, over the past month, played
out across the capital as well as
itscourts,withthestateandcen-
tre blaming each other even as
patients’ kin pay as much as ten-
fold for a cylinder.
“In Delhi, we had a very good
system going, each hospital was
connected to a supplier and they
hadpromisedenoughoxygenfor
threetofourweeks.Thenthegov-
ernmentsteppedinandchanged
everythingandappointedofficers
and said Hospital A has to get
from this vendor and Hospital B
fromthatvendor,andeverything
went haywire. In many cases,
hospitalswerenotabletogetoxy-
gen, while private parties were.
Some of them opened up cen-
tres,” said Thomas.
With oxygen beds running
out,manyoptedtokeeppatients
at home on oxygen support,
leading to a cylinder shortage.
TheEmpoweredGroup2,cre-
atedbytheCentreduringthefirst
wavelastyear,tolookafterlogis-
tics, including oxygen, came up
with a supply plan for medical
oxygen to states if cases surged
again. On April 15, Union Health
SecretaryRajeshBhushanshared
thisplanwiththestates.Thomas
said that in Delhi, this adversely
impacted the system in place.
On May 3, AHPI, along with
Consortium of Accredited
Healthcare Organisations, IMA
Hospital Board, and Delhi
Nursing Home Forum, formed a
Covid Coordination Committee
“to mitigate the traumatic situa-
tionduetothesecondwave”and
urgedthegovernment“toputold
rostersysteminplaceforoxygen
supply directly from vendors to
hospitals and desist individuals
hoarding cylinders at home,
which are lifeline for hospitals”.
Among those directly
touched by the crisis was 42-
year-old Jasbir Singh, who lives
in Ghaziabad. He recalled that as
hismother’soxygenlevelstarted
dipping, he tried finding her a
hospital bed in Delhi and Noida,

IGNCA building to take cues from neighbour

ANANYA TIWARI
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
THENEWIndiraGandhiNational
CentrefortheArts(IGNCA)com-
plex will have a facade reflecting
and integrating “the strong
geometryandiconiccharacterof
the Hyderabad House”, verdant
gardens, conservations labs, and
other updated features, officials
from HCP Design, Planning
and Management told The
Indian Express.
The old building located at
Janpath road is set to be demol-
ished as part of the Central Vista
Redevelopment project. It has
temporarily been shifted to the
Janpath hotel, which has been
renovated for the purpose. “The
new IGNCA building will be lo-
cated near India Gate, right op-
positeHyderabadHouse.Hence,
its design will reflect and inte-
grate the strong geometry and
iconic character of the
Hyderabad House,” an official
said.
Officials said the new Centre
will have “state of the art, pur-
pose-designed facility, modern
and upgradeable infrastructure.
It will have an auditorium, con-
servationlabs,andenvironmen-
tally-controlled archival spaces.
Comfortablefacilitiesforadmin-
istration,research,andeducation
will be provided. There will also
beflexiblemulti-purposespaces
for performances and exhibi-
tions.Itwillalsohavenewpublic
facilitiessuchasverdantgardens,
a spectacular rooftop café with
vast views across the lush gar-
dens of ‘Hexagon C’ to India
Gate”.
TheIGNCAhasaround3lakh
printed books, more than 1 lakh
slides on various cultural tradi-
tions,around3lakhmanuscripts,
over 60,000 microfilm rolls, be-
sidesthousandsof paintings,tex-
tiles, and other archival material
such as sculptures; and boasts
personalcollectionsof 45artists,
asreportedbyTheIndianExpress.
In early April, The Indian
Express visited the five-floor
Janpath hotel. It has four wings
that will include a library block,
various cultural archive storage
centres,meetingrooms,andcor-
porate-style cubicles for offices
that will accommodate some of
the over 250 staff members of
the Centre. A new auditorium
witha capacity to seat160, and a
media centre above it with over
twostudioroomsandfourclass-
rooms, is currently under con-
struction.Anamphitheatre,over-
looked by the library, was also
constructed for the IGNCA.
DuetothesecondCovidwave
and the lockdown, the transfer
processisatastandstill,IGNCALt
Col (Retd) R A Rangnekar, direc-
tor (administration) told The
Indian Express. “By late April, we
stopped the transfer, and we do
not know how long the lock-
downs will continue, and how
longitwilltaketore-mobilisethe
teams. We will have to start
everythingafreshoncethingsre-
open,” he added.
National Archives to
get additional building
Officials added that a new
buildingwillalsobeconstructed
for the National Archives.
“The notified heritage build-
ing in the National Archives
complex will be refurbished. An
additional building, within the
campus, is also proposed to ac-
commodate the needs of the
National Archives of India. We
will know more details about
the refurbishment once
the building has been studied
and surveyed carefully.
Refurbishment and extension of
the National Archives have been
planned in the subsequent
phases of the Central Vista proj-
ect,” said the official.
left with the vials from Gujarat
anddeliveredthemtoattendants
at the hospital the next day.
Desperate family members
of patients had also started
thronging to distribution cen-
tres,promptingDelhi’sdrugcon-
trollertoaskpolicetoprovidese-
curity to 30 sites engaged in
distribution of remdesivir in the
city. A letter in this regard was
sent on April 22.
The Delhi government offi-
cial said “pilferage happened
from hospitals” as there was no
way to guarantee that injections
meant for a patient was given to
her, especially if she had died.
Those vials, the official said,
reached the black market.
TillMay4,DelhiPolicehadar-
restedfivenursingstaff frompri-
vate hospitals for allegedly steal-
ingvialsandsellingthemillegally.
“We have registered 303 FIRs till
May 7 of which 225 cases are re-
lated with fraud in the name of
tion, an industry insider said, as
the number of active cases had
droppedneartheendof lastyear.
Afterapeakof10lakhactivecases
in September, it had come down
to just over 1.3 lakh in February.
But as cases again started
growing in March-April, the
surge caught drug manufactur-
ers off guard. They ramped up
production, but the industry in-
sider said there is more demand
than they can meet even today.
Dr Alex Thomas, president of
the Association of Healthcare
Providers (India), said doctors
“should not be allowed to pre-
scribewhatisnotavailableinthe
pharmacy”. “If it is not available
inthehospital,youcan’texpectit
tobeavailableinotherplaces,and
thisencouragesblackmarketing.”
The oxygen crisis
Thomas alsospoke about the
other key crisis — of oxygen
cylinders. The paucity of oxygen
“but all of them said no”.
“We eventually got an 11 kg
oxygen cylinder for Rs 6,000 but
that finished in an hour as there
was less gas. We then bought a
30 kg cylinder for Rs 40,000 and
when her condition deterio-
rated, we admitted her to a hos-
pital in Meerut where we are
providingoxygencylindersfrom
Delhi,” he said.
Dr C M Bhagat, who has a
hospital in Delhi and is the con-
venor of the oxygen committee
for AHPI, said that in this wave,
patients needing oxygen for
domiciliarycarehasalsogoneup.
“Cylinders that would cost Rs
10,000 earlier went up to Rs
50,000toevenRs1lakh,”hesaid.
He mentioned that as well-
intentioned NGOs also started
taking oxygen, though from
nearby states, it created a dearth
of items such as flowmeters and
oxygenconcentrators,leadingto
their prices shooting up.

New Delhi
 4 THE CITY WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

BRIEFLY ‘WILL BEAR COST OF EDUCATION, UPBRINGING ’

Death of 5-month-old shatters family:
HeadofDU’s
Political Delhi govt will raise kids ‘I thought children didn’t get Covid’
Sciencedept
diesofCovid
New Delhi: Head of Delhi
orphaned by Covid: CM ANANDMOHANJ
NEW DELHI, MAY 14

PRAHALAD'S HEART sinks every

Bhagat Singh Sewa Dal, headed
byformerBJPMLAJitenderSingh
Shunty,waited.Whenhesawthe
child's body wrapped in a small
whitedisposablebag,Shuntyran
lockdown too.
PrahaladsaidPari'sfeversud-
denlyshotuparound15daysago.
Then his 52-year-old father de-
veloped a persistent cough.
Recalling her last days, he
said: “We knew she wanted to
play.Mydaughterheldmyfinger
in her tiny hands and looked at
me. She could not understand
University's Political EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE time his two-year-old son asks towards the man holding her in Prahalad first took his daughter what was happening to her.” A
Science Department NEW DELHI, MAY 14 him, “Mera babu kahan hai his hands and asked him what totwoprivatehospitalswhere,af- fewdayslater,herfeversubsided
Veena Kukreja, who was (Where is my babu)?” The 32- her name was. “Pari,” her father terconductingseveraltests,they and an exhausted Prahalad de-
undergoing treatment THE DELHI government will year-old has no answer. He can't replied.“ShedefinitelyisPari.She asked him to take her to St cided to return home for a short
for Covid-19 at Rohini’s bear the cost of educating and possibly explain to his son how islikeanangel,adoll,”Shuntysaid Stephens's Hospital. “We did not while.Theminutehesteppedin-
Saroj Hospital here, died bringing up children who have his five-month-old sister, Pari, as he carried her in his arms and havemuchmoney.Onebloodtest sidehishouse,thehospitalcalled
in the early hours of lost both their parents to Covid- suddenlycamedownwithCovid, buried her. was costing us Rs 1,200. I could him.“Doctorstoldmemydaugh-
Friday after suffering a 19, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind anddiedatGTBhospitalofrelated At his home in Nand Nagari, not afford to take her to St ter didn't have long and I should
cardiac arrest. She was Kejriwal said Friday. complications. He breaks down Prahalad still had no answers. “I Stephen’s,soItookhertoChacha comeback.Icouldnotbelieveit,”
64. Colleagues said Over the past month, child over the phone: “Paisa bhi gaya, was told little children don't get NehruHospitalwheretheydiag- said Prahalad. Pari died within
Kukreja had tested posi- welfare bodies and helplines bachi bhi gayi, humara sab kuch thedisease.Therewasstrictquar- nosed her with Covid,” he said. two hours of the phone call.
tive on April 24. PTI have come across several cases chala gaya (I lost my money, antine at my home. We never The family finally took her to “Every time I speak with
wherein children have been left daughter and everything).” took my daughter outside,” he GTB hospital on May 6. Her someoneoverthephone,myson
4heldfor orphaned. In many other cases,
the earning member of the fam- Kejriwal visits the makeshift ICU facility attached to Lok
Pari died at 11.57 am on May
12;herdeathcertificatementions
said, adding that he and his fam-
ily of five barely stepped out.
grandfatherwasalsoadmittedto
theemergencyward.Thencame
thinks it is a video call with Pari.
We never registered her official
attempted ily has died.
Addressing a webcast on
Nayak Hospital at Ramlila Maidan on Friday she had pneumonitis, sepsis and
cardiopulmonary arrest. Her
Prahaladworkedatalocalfac-
tory for Rs 9,000 per month. As
thewholefamily'stestresult.“We
were all negative. How could my
name because of the pandemic.
But since my son called her Pari,
extortion Friday, Kejriwal said, “We have
seen very painful days recently. (DCPCR) had raised an alarm Another 500 ICU beds have
body was dispatched in an am-
bulancealongwiththebodyofan
thelockdownwasannounced,he
andhisyoungerbrotherlosttheir
daughter get Covid?” Prahalad
said. While Prahlad's father got
wethoughtthatwouldbeherof-
ficial name. That is the name we
New Delhi: Four persons, Many families saw more than over social media posts asking already become operational at a adulttoSeemapuricrematorium, jobs. They had spent months discharged, Pari remained at the used in her death certificate,"
including two women, one death. Many children lost for intervention in the form of Covidcarefacilityattachedtothe where volunteers from Shaheed without a job during last year's hospital, hooked to a ventilator. Prahalad said.
have been arrested for both parents. I want to tell them adoption of children who have Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital. A
impersonating staffers that I understand their pain and lost their parents in the current total of 200 ICU beds are being
attached with the office
of a sub-divisional mag-
istrate and trying to ex-
am standing in support. Every
child who has lost their parents
will be educated. The cost of
Covid surge.

Covid ICU facility

prepared at the Radha Soami
Covid facility in Chhatarpur, ac-
cording to a statement.
Court grants riot accused bail to celebrate
tort Rs 1 lakh from a fac-
tory owner, on the
pretext of the fact that
their education and upbringing
will be borne by the govern-
ment. I ask neighbours and fam-
attached to Lok Nayak
to start ops today
This means that a total of
1,200 ICU beds will become op-
erational in Delhi in the next one
Eid with kin: ‘Time of joy for community’
the factory owner’s em- ilies to take care of them too. Meanwhile, Kejriwal said a or two days, he said. 2020. He is an accused in eight everyday blessings.” had argued that he was falsely
ployees were allegedly There are parents who have lost makeshiftCovidfacilityattached The chief minister said the ANANDMOHANJ riot cases and has been granted The court said the accused implicatedintheriotcasesbypo-
caught not wearing face- children, and families who have to the Lok Nayak Hospital will Covid situation in Delhi is im- NEW DELHI, MAY 14 bail in seven of them so far. would be released from jail only lice. In the present case, one Ajay
masks in violation of lost their earning member. We startoperationsonSaturdaywith proving, and as a result lesser The court, in its order, said, “I after getting an RT-PCR test done Goswami sustained gunshot in-
Covid norms. Police said will take care of them. Main 250ICUbeds.Kejriwalinspected bedsaregettingoccupiedinhos- OBSERVING THAT “Eid is meant amoftheconsideredopinionthat by authorities. He was granted juries during the violence.
the accused have been hoon na.” the facility at Ramlila ground on pitals. “However, ICU beds are tobeatimeofjoyandblessingfor applicant deserves interim relief bail subject to furnishing Rs Thecourtsaidatthisstage,"it
identified as Anil Verma, Earlier this month, the Fridayandthankeddoctors,engi- still full. This means that the sys- the entire Muslim community”, inthematter.Hehasbeeninjudi- 20,000 in personal bond and ishighlyrelevanttonoteherethe
Govind Kumar, Suman National Commission for neers, and workers who set up tem still has serious patients. So, a Delhi court Friday granted in- cial custody for more than a year surety of the same amount. The case in hand and other two con-
and Priti Bhardwaj. ENS Protection of Child Rights 500 ICU beds in just 15 days. we need more ICU beds. I am terim bail of 15 days to a now. It is further worthwhile to court ordered he shall not “mis- nected cases pertain to the inci-
(NCPCR) and Delhi Commission He said 250 ICU beds will sure that these 1,200 ICU beds Northeast Delhi riots accused so note here that Eid is meant to be usethelibertyinanymanner;he dent(s) of same date, same time,
for Protection of Child Rights start on Saturday, and the re- will provide relief to the people thathemaycelebratethefestival a time of joy and blessing for the willnotseekextensionofinterim of same area/locality, the mate-
maining will become opera- of Delhi,” he said. with his wife and children. entire Muslim community. Eid bail on any ground whatsoever; rialrelieduponbytheinvestigat-
tional by Monday. With PTI inputs Additional Sessions Judge festival is very important time in hewillnotleavethetown/station ingagencyinthesaidthreecases
VinodYadavgrantedinterimbail Islam and allows families, loved (Delhi)withoutpriorpermission is also same; even the eyewit-
Government of Maharashtra toaccusedGulfam,whohasbeen ones and communities to come of the court...” nessescitedinthesaidthreecon-
injudicialcustodysinceMarch16, together and celebrate/enjoy Gulfam's lawyer Salim Malik nected matters are also same."
PUBLIC WORK DIVISION, JALNA
e-Tender Notice No. 04, 2021-2022
Online tender (e-Tender) for following works are invited by the
Executive Engineer, Public Work Divison, Jalna (Ph. 02482-
SALUTE THE SOLDIER
230143) in B-1 Tender (online) for (05) works in Jalna District. 9421568N RFN SUNIL JUNG MAHAT
The contractor Registered with the Public work department/ 15 MAY
Company/ Firm/ in appropriate class shall be issued by the On this day 9421568N Rfn Sunil Jung Mahat of
Executive Engineer, Public Works Division, Jalna. 1/11 Gorkha Rifles (BATALIK) made the
1. All the details regarding e-Tenders procedure and tender supreme sacrifice during ‘OP VIJAY’ on 15 May
documents are available on e-Tenders portal of PWD 1999 in a true act of valour. He was the second
department of Government of Maharashtra of many that the Paltan lost on the Path of Glory that summer.
https://mahatenders.gov.in and http://mahapwd.com The brave soldier will always be remembered for his raw
2. In case any changes in the "Tender/ Tenders Notice, the courage and indomitable team spirit. To this braveheart we
same shall be informed through the above mentioned web pledge that we shall always be guided by immortal spirit and
portal. make his name proud.
3. All the right accept or reject the tenders are reserved with
Executive Engineer, Public Works Division, Jalna. CO AND ALL RANKS, 1/11 GORKHA RIFLES
Conditional tenders shall be summarily rejected.
Sd/-
Executive Engineer,
(dgipr/2021-2022/478) Public work Division, Jalna

ceneje°^ çeemeve
meeJe&peefvekeâ yeebOekeâece efJeYeeie Gòej jlveeefiejer 415612
Web site- www.mahapwd.com / e-mail- northratnagiri.ee@mahapwd.com
efveefJeoe metÛevee ›eâ. 10 meve 2021-22 F&-efveefJeoe (Dee@ve}eFve)
keâeÙe&keâejer DeefYeÙeblee, meeJe&peefvekeâ yeebOekeâece (Gòej) jlveeefiejer (otjOJeveer ›eâ. 223505)
ceneje°^ çeemeveeÛÙee mee.yeeb. KeelÙeekeâ[s ÙeesiÙe lÙee kebâ$eešoejebkeâ[tve Kee}er} keâeceebkeâefjlee ye-1
vecegvÙeeleer} efveefJeoe F&-efveefJeoe ØeCee}erÉejs Dee@ve}eFve ceeieJeerle Deensle.
De. keâeceeÛes veeJe Deboeefpele
›eâ. efkebâcele ®.
1 jsJeme jsñer jmlÙeeJej (veešs les Deebyesjer) efkeâ.ceer. 595/270 ceOÙes 64,68,064/-
DeefmlelJeeleer} heg}eSsJepeer veJeerve heg}eÛes yeebOekeâece keâjCes. lee. jepeehetj,
efpe.jlveeefiejer.
2 jsJeme jsñer jmlÙeeJej (veešs les Deebyesjer) efkeâ.ceer. 596/810 ceOÙes 65,80,848/- E-mail ID: - dpcsndgssa.opepa@nic.in
DeefmlelJeeleer} heg}eSsJepeer veJeerve heg}eÛes yeebOekeâece keâjCes. lee. jepeehetj,
efpe.jlveeefiejer. GOVERNMENT OF ODISHA
3 jlveeefiejer ÙesLeer} DeejšerDees keâeÙee&}ÙeeÛÙee FceejleerÛeer og®mleer keâjCes. 31,13,630/- DISTRICT PROJECT OFFICE,
lee. DeeefCe efpe. jlveeefiejer. SAMAGRA SIKSHYA, SUNDARGARH
4 hejšJeCes ÙesLeer} celmÙe meeneÙÙekeâ DeeÙegkeäle keâeÙee&}ÙeeÛeer og®mleer keâjCes. 19,76,694/- “e”-Procurement Notice
lee.efpe. jlveeefiejer. Bid Identification No- DPC/SS/SNG/04 of 2020-21.
šerhe :- Ùee efveefJeosceOÙes SketâCe 04 keâeceebÛee meceeJesçe Demetve efveefJeoe Dee@ve}eFve IesCÙeeÛee Letter No: -1400/Civil/ Date: -12/May/ 2021
([eTve}es[) Je meeoj keâjCÙeeÛee (Dehe}es[) keâe}eJeOeer efoveebkeâ 17.05.2021 les 1. District Project Co-ordinator, Samagra Sikshya, Sundargarh on behalf of Governor of Odisha
31.05.2021 heÙeËle Demetve Ùee efveefJeoe GIe[CÙeeÛee efoveebkeâ 02.06.2021 Demee Deens. Ùee inviting percentage rate bid in Double cover system on ON-LINE mode from eligible contractors
efveefJeosceOeer} mebhetCe& ceeefnleer Kee}er} mebkesâlemLeUeJej Ghe}yOe keâ¤ve osCÙeele Dee}s}er Deens. with valid licenses for “Improvement of Infrastructure (Civil +Electrical +PH +Renovation) in the
www.mahatender.gov.in. Schools” as detailed in DTCN.
2. Nature of Work :- Improvement of Infrastructure (Civil + Electrical + PH + Repair &
pee.›eâ. SveDeej[er/Syeer/šermeer/10/3513 mener/- Renovation) in the Schools.
keâeÙe&keâejer DeefYeÙeblee ÙeebÛes keâeÙee&}Ùe keâeÙe&keâejer DeefYeÙeblee, 3. No. of works. :- 109 (One hundred Nine nos).
Gòej jlveeefiejer (mee.yeeb.) efJeYeeie Gòej jlveeefiejer (mee.yeeb.) efJeYeeie 4. Cost of Tender Paper :- Rs. 10,000/- In 102 Projects & Rs. 6,000/- In 7 Projects
jlveeefiejer efoveebkeâ 11.05.2021 jlveeefiejer 5. Class of Contractor :- “B” & “A” In 101 Projects / “C” & “B” In 6 Projects / “D” & “C” In 1
[erpeerDeeÙeheerDeej-2021-22/482 Project / “A” & “Special” In 1 project
6. Availability of bid :- From 10.00 Hours of date - 17.05.2021 to 17.00 Hours of date- 01.06.2021
document in the website
7. Date of opening of Bid :- 11:00 A.M. On Dt. 02.06.2021

Classifieds
8. The bidders have to participate in ON-LINE bidding only. Further details can be seen from the website
(https://tendersodisha.gov.in). Any addendum /corrigendum / cancellation of tender can also be
seen in the said website only. Sd/- Pramod Kumar Sarangi
District Project Co-ordinator,
Samagra Sikshya, Sundargarh
PERSONAL
I, RAMANPREET SINGH ARORA
S/O BHUPINDER SINGH R/O B-
35, EAST UTTAM NAGAR,DELHI-
110059, HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO RAMANPREET SINGH.
0040571158-1
I,Simranjeet Kaur,D/o-JC-
670760x Rank-Sub/SKT Angrej
Singh,R/o.Vill-Khanpur
P.O.Patel-Nagar Teh.Distt-
Ferozepur,Pin-152001,State
Punjab is my Daughter service-
record wrongly-mentioned as
Simarjeet Kaur instead of my
correct-name is Simranjeet
Kaur. 0040571158-2

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TECHNICAL
Fresh polyhouse interns with
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New Delhi

5 THE SECOND SURGE
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
IN
BRIEF
TelanganaHC
staysgovtcurb
onambulances
Hyderabad: The Telangana
High Court Friday issued in-
terim orders staying a gov-
ernment memo restricting
ambulances carrying Covid-
19 patients without con-
firmed beds, at the state’s
borders. Hearing a PIL seek-
ingadirectiontothegovern-
ment not to stop ambu-
lances at the borders, a
division bench of Chief
Justice Hima Kohli and
Justice B Vijaysen Reddy is-
suednoticestothestategov-
ernment to respond in two
weeks. On May 11,
Telangana chief secretary
Somesh Kumar issued a
memo directing that Covid-
19patientsfromotherstates
coming to the city should
havea prior tie-upwithhos-
pitals for bed and they need
approval from a control
roomsothatpoliceallowthe
ambulances. PTI
Bengalputscurbs
onremdesivirsale
Kolkata: Facing a shortage of
remdesivir, West Bengal
Friday told pharma firms to
sell it to only Covid hospitals
in proportion to their critical
care unit beds. “...the
companies shall allocate this
drug on the basis of CCU bed
strength and rate of
occupancy of CCU beds of that
hospital. This drug will be sold
by the companies only to the
Covid hospitals/nursing
homes and will not be sold to
the individual patient against
any doctor/hospital
prescription,” according a
government statement. The
notice said the guideline
would also apply to
tocilizumab and other
medicines used “for the
treatment of Covid”. ENS
BSY’sformer
mediaadvisordies
Bengaluru: Senior journalist
and political analyst
Mahadeva Prakash, who had
served as Karnataka Chief
Minister B S Yediyurappa's
media advisor, died on Friday
due to COVID-related
ailments. He was 65, and died
at a private hospital, sources
close to him said. Prakash was
editor of "Ee Bhanuvaara", and
had earlier served with the
Department of Information
and Publicity. Prakash was
picked as the Chief Minister’s
media adviser in August 2019
after the BJP government
came to power. He resigned in
November 2020,
personal reasons. PTI
citing
Suratmanheldfor
FBpostonPM
Ahmedabad: A 40-year-old
man from Puna village in
Surat was arrested for
allegedly posting a cial said on Friday.
“misleading” Facebook post
on Prime Minister Narendra
Modi in the context of the
West Bengal polls and the
Covid situation. According to
police, Sanjay Dangar, who is
in the construction business,
was held by a team of Surat
city Cyber Crime Cell on
Thursday after an FIR was
lodged against him at the
Cyber Crime PS. YA Gohil,
assistant commissioner of
police, Cyber Crime Cell Surat
city, said, “The accused was
arrested yesterday and was
given bail today.” ENS
Totallockdownin
Sikkimforaweek
Gangtok: The Sikkim
government on Friday
decided to clamp a complete
lockdown across the state
from May 17 to 24 keeping in
mind the surge in cases even
during the ongoing partial
lockdown. A Home
Department notification said
that ration shops,private
commercial eatabliahments,
state government offices,
institutions, gymnasiums,
markets and factories will be
closed during these seven
days. PTI
Covid reaches the interiors: secluded tribe in
Odisha’s Niyamgiri hills affected; survey on
AISHWARYA MOHANTY
BHUBANESWAR, MAY 14
THE FIRST cases of coronavirous
infection have been reported
among the Dongria Kondh
tribe, settled in the Niyamgiri
hills of Rayagada district in
Odisha, sparking concern
among officials.
One of the particularly vul-
nerabletribalgroupsinIndia,the
Dongria Kondhs had remained
untouchedduringthefirstwave.
Given their poor immunity due
to lack of nourishment and a se-
cluded way of life, officials are
worried about the impact of the
current virulent Covid-19 wave
on them.
The administration had initi-
atedadoor-to-doorsurveyinvil-
lages specifically falling under
the Kalyansinghpur block fol-
lowingreportsof tribemembers
showing members. District
Collector Saroj Kumar Mishra
said, “They showed mild symp-
toms during the weekend door-
to-door surveys being con-
ducted by our field staff. Their
reports came positive on
Thursday.” The four are stable
and are under isolation, officials
said.
People who have been in
close contact with the four per-
HELPING HANDS
The Marwari Seva Sangh, dharamshala in Varanasi, distributes food to the needy on Friday. Anand Singh
Black fungus has
claimed 52 lives
in Maharashtra
so far: Official
Mumbai: As many as 52 people
have died due to mucormycosis,
a rare but dangerous fungal in-
fection,inMaharashtrasince the
Covid-19 outbreak last year, a
senior health department offi-
All of them were Covid-19
survivors, but succumbed to the
black fungus infection, the offi-
cial told PTI.
OnWednesday,Maharashtra
health minister Rajesh Tope had
said there were 1,500 cases of
blackfungusinthestate.Thestate
will float a tender to procure one
lakh amphotericin-B anti-fungal
injectionstotreatmucormycosis
patients, Tope had said.
Mucormycosishasaveryhigh
fatality rate, increasing the woes
of the health department. PTI
Govt nod to oxygen concentrators from IIT-Kanpur startup
ESHA ROY
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
THE DEPARTMENT of Science
and Technology (DST), with the
backing of the Prime Minister’s
Office(PMO),hassanctionedthe
productionof oxygenconcentra-
tors from one of its science incu-
bators at IIT-Kanpur. The startup
IndeemaFibresPvtLtdinKanpur,
along with its sister concern
ChemDist Membrane Systems
Pvt Ltd based out of Pune, will
roll out its first batch of 5,500
oxygenconcentratorsbyMay25.
sons have been quarantined and
areunderobservation.Thenear-
est Covid hospital to Niyamgiri
is 45 km away.
With members of the tribe
largely confined to their villages,
officials are trying to track the
sourceof theinfection.Rayagada
shares a border with Andhra
Pradesh,andtheOdishagovern-
menthadearliersealedittocon-
tain the virus spread.
A total of 2,461 Dongria
Kondh families, comprising
9,597 people, are estimated to
livein102villagessituatedinthe
Niyamgiri hills, spread across
Bissamkatak, Kalyansinghpur
and Muniguda blocks of
Rayagada district.
“Most likely the tribe mem-
bers were infected due to visit-
ing markets in nearby villages.
We are trying to ensure that the
disease does not spread to other
villages of the community,” the
District Collector said.
The administration has also
stepped up awareness pro-
grammes.“We have been telling
villagerstoreachouttousincase
of any symptoms. We are con-
ducting meetings in Kui lan-
guage, which the tribals speak,”
said Sudarshan Padhi, project
manager, Dongria Kondh
Development Agency,
Chatikona.
Mumbai Covid caseload drops
as recovery rate improves
LAXMAN SINGH
MUMBAI, MAY 14
MUMBAI’SACTIVECovid-19case-
load dropped to 37,656 as on
Friday. A month ago, on April 14,
the city had 87,443 active cases
witharecoveryrateof81percent.
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) data shows
the recovery rate has also im-
proved over the last four weeks.
The recovery rate now, accord-
ing to the BMC dashboard, is 92
per cent. Officials said that the
numbers are an indicator of sig-
nificant improvement in Covid-
19 situation in Mumbai after last
month's peak.
On Friday, Mumbai recorded
1,657 cases and 62 deaths. At the
same time, 2,572 patientsrecov-
ered and were discharged from
Over the past year, the
startup has been working on
light-weight oxygen concentra-
tors for Indian Army soldiers
posted at high altitudes. “While
we have been working on these
concentrators for a year now, it
reallyreceivedmomentumwith
escalating tensions with China.
But when the oxygen shortage
started escalating across the
country, we decided to divertat-
tention to making concentrators
for Covid which requires 90 per-
cent concentration – we had the
technology and know-how, so
we managed to do this in ten
In Jharkhand, panchayat heads flag lack
of medicines and oximeters to hesitancy
ABHISHEK ANGAD
RANCHI, MAY 13
APAUCITYofessentialmedicines
likeparacetamol;alimitednum-
ber of pulse oximeters; “wide-
spread”fever;vaccinehesitancy;
vague guidelines on utilising the
15th Finance Commission pay-
ment for Covid-19 work; and
even a scarcity of something as
basic as drinking water.
As the pandemic’s second
wave knocks on the door of ru-
ral India, Jharkhand's villages
have found themselves scram-
blingforthesekeyrequirements.
The heads of panchayats
from the state’s 24 districts
raised these red flags in a series
of virtualmeetingswiththegov-
ernment and among them-
selves. The Indian Express was a
part of some of these meetings
where these mukhiyas sent out
a grim warning: “Covid has
reached the villages.”
Jharkhand has been hit hard
by the pandemic. The state has a
weekly positivity rate of around
12 per cent and an active case-
various hospitals. The civic body
conducted 25,205 tests.
“Mumbai'spositivityratehas
gone down to 6.5%. Last month
by mid-April it was 19%. Case
doubling rate has also reached
199 days. However, some parts
of western suburbs are still a
cause of concern as they con-
tinuetoseeCovid-19caseswith-
out much improvement,” said
an official from the health
department.
According to BMC data, five
administrativewardsinAndheri,
Jogeshwari, Borivali, Kandivali
and Maladare now contributing
40 per cent of the total active
cases. There are 24 administra-
tive wards. The highest number
of 3493activecovid-19casesare
in R-central (Borivali) following
3270 in K-west ward (Andheri,
Jogeshwari).
Partners Sunil Dhole, Sandip
Patil and Tushar Wagh in
front of the manufacturing
plant in Pune.
In 13 days, 11 people have died in Khutra village — two
confirmed, the rest suspected Covid-19 deaths. Express
loadof 48,468.Inthelast44days,
it has seena four-foldincrease in
Covid-19 deaths—around from
1,113 on March 31 this year to
4,290 deaths on May 14.
But in several meetings, the
mukhiyashavesaidthestatemay
beundercountingthenumberof
Covid deaths in many villages.
At a virtual meeting with the
Panchayati Raj Department and
NGOs on May 12, Patel Kumar
Mahato of Bokaro’s Murhulsudi
“Since the situation is im-
proving,thedemandforICUand
oxygen beds is decreasing.
During the peak of Covid cases
we were getting a lot of distress
calls for beds but that has
stopped. We are now getting
calls for vaccination-related
queries,” said a health staff
member from K-west ward
(Andheri).
BMCdatashowsthat285ICU
and 6,156 oxygen beds are va-
cant as on May 13.
The corporation has already
started preparation for the third
wave of Covid-19, which is ex-
pected to hit the city by July and
August.
The civic body has also
planned to set up four more
jumbo Covid care centres which
will add 6000 regular and 1500
ICU beds.
days,” Dr Sunil Dhole, one of the
founders of the startup, said.
The company has been cred-
ited with making international
standard N-95 masks last year,
when the pandemic began.
Partner Sandip Patil’s personal
struggletriggeredthechangeto-
wards oxygen concentrators --
hismotherwashospitalisedwith
Covid-19 in March and spent
weeks in the ICU at a hospital in
Maharashtra’s Dhule district.
“This was at a time when the
rush of Covid patients from the
(second wave) had not yet be-
gun, and the oxygen shortage
Panchayat said there were no
medicines in the Community
HealthCentre.Mahato,whowas
himself ill, said: “There is no
paracetamol in our CHC. Every
household has fever.”
Lack of doctors is a major
concern for the state, with some
districtsengagingquackstofight
vaccine hesitancy and adminis-
ter basic medicines.
But compounding this are is-
sues in the last-mile delivery of
TRACKING THE SECOND SURGE
439 NEW CASES: 3,20,867
DAYS SINCE
PANDEMIC
ACTIVE CASES: 36,68,804
BEGAN TOTAL VACCINATION: 17,92,98,584
DAILY DEATHS TOTAL DEATHS
3,901 2,66,218
TESTS TODAY: 19,13,986 | TOTAL TESTS: 31,32,38,086
WEEKLY POSITIVITY: 19.29% | OVERALL POSITIVITY: 7.78%
STATES REPORTING MOST CASES
STATE NEW
CASES
■ Karnataka 41,779
■ Maharashtra 39,923
■ Kerala 34,694
■ Tamil Nadu 31,892
■ Andhra 22,018
STATES REPORTING MOST DEATHS
STATE TODAY’S
DEATHS
■ Maharashtra 714
■ Karnataka 373
■ Uttar Pradesh 311
■ Delhi 289
■ Tamil Nadu 288
Note:DataasonMay14;vaccinationnumbersasofMay13.Deathsincludethosefrompreviousdays.
Fire Services, Civil Defence
and Home Guards chief dies
ENS & PTI
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
SENIOR IPS officer Mohammed
Jawed Akhtar, the Director
General of Fire Services, Civil
DefenceandHomeGuardsunder
theMinistryofHomeAffairs,died
of Covid complications in a Delhi
hospital on Friday. He was 59.
The 1986-batch IPS officer of
UPcadreisthefirstservingpolice
chief to die of the virus.
“Wearedeeplygrievedbythe
untimely demise of Mohd Jawed
Akhtar IPS (UP 1986), DG Fire
Services, Civil Defence & Home
hadn’t hit. Even then we knew,
from my experience with my
mother, that this will be an is-
sue,” said Patil.
On May 4, the start up re-
ceivedagoahead fromthe office
of thePrincipalScientificAdvisor
to begin production. On the di-
rections of the PMO, they re-
ceived their first order of 4,500
oxygen concentrators from
ONGC’s CSR fund.
“But we will be sending out
5,500 concentrators in all since
wehavereceivedsomedirector-
ders as well – 500 from the
Telangana government, from
New Delhi
medicines and pulse oximeters.
ThestateHealthDepartment
has written several letters to
Deputy Commissioners on the
distribution of home isolation
kits comprising masks, essential
medicines and oximeters. This
has remained only on paper,
with only a handful of panchay-
ats receiving them.
In Koderma district's
Pipradih panchayat, meanwhile,
mukhiya Dheeraj Kumar’s main
worry is vaccine hesitancy. His
45-year-oldcousindiedafterthe
firstdose.Sincethen,hesaid,res-
idents have turned on him.
Additional Chief Secretary
(Health) Arun Singh said: “We
will get the first tranche of pulse
oximetersshortlyandwewillde-
liverittothem.Onmedicines,we
havegivenmoneytothedistricts
whichneedtosupplyittothem.”
But issues remain.
Manypeoplehavebeendiag-
nosed with typhoid in absence
of test reports. As of May 14, the
state had more than 13,000
Covid-19 test backlogs.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
WEEKLY CFR OVERALL CFR
1.09% 1.39%
ACTIVE
CASES
WEEKLY TOTAL
POSITIVITY VACCINATION
5,98,624 31.22% 1,09,94,304
5,19,254 18.69% 1,93,12,943
4,42,503 28.07% 81,81,551
1,95,339 19.09% 68,22,834
2,03,787 22.75% 74,13,446
TOTAL WEEKLY OVERALL
DEATHS CFR CFR
81,981 1.21% 1.78%
21,086 1.32% 1.38%
16,957 0.87% 1.35%
20,907 1.29% 1.82%
17,056 1.64% 1.46%
IPS officer
Md Jawed
Akhtar
Guards,” the IPS Association said
in a tweet. Appointed Director
General of fire services, civil de-
fence and home guard in August
last year, Akhtar was set to retire
in July. Before being appointed to
the post, Akhtar served as the
Special DG of CRPF here.
Last month, former CBI direc-
torRanjitSinhaandformerDGof
Sashastra Seema Bal Arun
Chowdhury died of Covid.
Madhya Pradesh government,
and several hospitals and corpo-
rates have also been in touch
with us,” said Dhole.
Dhole and Patil said their
concentrators are meant for
Covid-19patientswhoseoxygen
saturation levels have dipped to
between 80 and 90 per cent.
The 5 LPM concentrators
have been priced at Rs 55,000
while the 10 LPM ones at Rs
65,000.
Currently the startup is im-
porting several parts – for in-
stance the oxygen molecular
sieve from Germany and the
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Kerala govt
extends
lockdown
till May 23
SHAJU PHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
MAY 14
THE KERALA government on
Friday decided to extend the
lockdown till May23 astest pos-
itivity rate remained high across
the state. More stringent con-
tainment measures would be
implemented in four districts –
Thiruvananthapuram, Ernaku-
lam, Thrissur and Malappuram
– where Covid-19 cases have
continued to rise.
The state on Friday reported
34,694 new Covid-19 cases, tak-
ing the active caseload to 4.42
lakh and the test positivity rate
hovered at 26.41 per cent.
After the review meeting,
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
told reporters that the distribu-
tion of free food provisions kits,
whichhasbeenahighlightof the
state during the last lockdown,
would continue in the next
month as well. About 85 lakh
families have benefited fromthe
food kit every month.
“The distribution of monthly
social security pension will be
completed soon. An amount of
Rs823.23crorewillbedisbursed
as pension. Rs 1,000 will be pro-
vided to members of various
welfare fund boards. BPL fami-
lies, who do not come under the
ambit of the assistance from
welfare boards, would be given
one-time relief of Rs 1000,’’ the
chief minister said.
Kerala will start vaccination
of those in the age group of 18-
44 next Monday. Registration
would begin on Saturday on pri-
ority basis.
Andhra Pradesh
scales up efforts
to procure
medical oxygen
SREENIVAS JANYALA
HYDERABAD, MAY 14
DAYS AFTER 11 Covid-19 pa-
tients died at a Tirupati hospital
due to a shortage of oxygen, the
AndhraPradeshgovernmenthas
scaled up its efforts to procure
sufficient medical oxygen.
Two cryogenic containers
eachcarrying20MTofliquidoxy-
gen have started from Durgapur
Steel Plant in West Bengal, and
thetraincarryingthetankerswill
reach Krishnapatnam in Nellore
district on Saturday.
Inaddition,onChief Minister
YSJaganMohanReddy’srequest,
the Centre has allocated 3 ISO
(International Organization for
Standardization) containers for
oxygen transport for the state,
which will be handed over at
DurgapuronSaturdayafternoon,
and two of the three containers
with medical oxygen will start
their journey from West Bengal
overtheweekend. Anothertrain
with 60 MT will start from
Durgapur on Saturday evening
and arrive at Nellore on Sunday.
Health Minister A K Krishna
Srinivas also announced that a
train carrying six ISO containers
with110MTofliquidoxygenfrom
Reliance Industries in Jamnagar,
Gujaratisduetoarriveinthestate
onSaturday.Hesaid,“Thistrainis
starting Friday evening and will
reach AP Concor Railway Station
at Guntur on Saturday night.”
To avoid oxygen shortages in
future, Jagan has asked officials
to come up with a plan to set up
an oxygen plant with a produc-
tion capacity of 300 tonnes.
“With the current medical oxy-
genconsumptionexceeding600
tonnes per day, a long-term plan
isneededforthefuture,”he said.
pneumatic walls from the US.
Butboth Dhole and Patil say that
theycansoonstartmakingthese
in India as well.
“Once we can start manu-
facturing the raw materials in
the country itself, the price will
also become more affordable.
The need of the hour is to evolve
the technology indigenously
and take care of people at home.
Presently, 90 per cent of the
concentrators are imported –
and this poses a problem,” said
DST Secretary Ashutosh
Sharma, who helped expedite
the project.
 6 GOVT & POLITICS WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

RS Secretariat to
Kharge: No virtual
‘Hatespeech’:RebelYSRCP
meets of standing MParrestedonseditioncharge DELHI CONFIDENTIAL

committees
MANOJ C G
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
DAYS AFTER Leader of
Opposition in Rajya Sabha
Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu
urging him to allow virtual
meetings of parliamentary
standing committees, the Rajya
Sabha Secretariat is learnt to
have replied to him turning
down his plea.
Requests to allow virtual
meetings of the standing com-
mittees were turned down last
year as well by Rajya Sabha
Chairman Naidu and Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla on grounds
that virtual meetings would vi-
olate the confidential nature of
such meetings and that any
change to the norms require ap-
proval by Parliament.
Sources said a joint secretary
level officer has replied to
Kharge, referring to the decision
taken by the presiding officers
last year.
NaiduandBirladiscussedthe
issue following Kharge’s letter
and demands by many opposi-
tion leaders for allowing virtual
meetings of standing commit-
tees, the sources said. On
Thursday, Adhir Ranjan
Leader of
Oppn in
Rajya Sabha
Mallikarjun
Kharge
same demand.
According to sources, the let-
terbytheRajyaSabhaSecretariat
points out that the Chairman
and Speaker had decided last
year, during the first wave of the
pandemic,torefertheissueof al-
lowing virtual meetings of par-
liamentary panels to the
Committee on Rules in both
Houses.
The Committee on Rules,
however, did not take up the
matter for discussion since
Committees started physical
meetings as the lockdown re-
strictions gradually eased in the
second half of last year.
Sources said the Rajya
Sabha Secretariat has told
Kharge that meetings of the
committees can be considered
“shortly” once the situation im-
proves.
As for the confidentiality is-
sue, it is learnt to have said that
the matter can be resolved dur-
ing the session as any amend-
ment to the Rules can be ap-
Had moved plea in CBI court against Jagan bail, action comes days before next hearing
SREENIVAS JANYALA
HYDERABAD, MAY 14
RULING YSRCP MP Raghu Rama
Krishna Raju, who has been crit-
ical of party president and Chief
MinisterYSJaganMohanReddy,
was on Friday arrested by
Andhra Pradesh Police CID,
whichinvokedvariousIPCprovi-
sions, including sedition,against
him for allegedly making hate
speeches against a particular
community.
Lastmonth,therebelMPhad
filed a petition in a Special CBI
Court in Hyderabad, which is
hearing a quid pro quo case
against Jagan Mohan, seeking
cancellation of the bail granted
tothechief ministerforallegedly
violating bail conditions.
Jagan Mohan, who was ar-
restedin2012inconnectionwith
the case, was granted bail by the
specialCBIcourtin2013,afterhe
spent 16 months in jail.
In his petition, Raju also al-
leged that as the chief minister,
Israel-Palestine conflict: Cong asks
Centre to seek UNSC intervention
New Delhi: The Congress on
Friday asked the Central govern-
Raghu Rama Krishna Raju
JaganMohanwilltrytoinfluence
witnesses in the case. Recently,
theCBIcourtissuednoticestothe
chief ministerandtheCBI,asking
them to file replies on his peti-
tion. The next hearing is on May
17.
On Friday, the CID said Raju,
who is the MP from Narsapur,
was arrested after “high drama”
at his residence in Hyderabad.
“Raju was at his house at a
gatedcommunityinGachibowli
whenateamof CIDpoliceissued
anoticeundersection50(2),sec-
tions 124 (A), 153 and 505 IPC
and later arrested him,” the CID
said in a statement, adding that
The orchestrated incidents in
Jerusalem were outrageous and
the charges against the MP were
non-bailable.
A video clipping aired by tel-
evision channels showed CRPF
men – deployed as part of the
MP'sYCategorysecurity–form-
ing a ring around Raju as the CID
team after serving the notice in-
formedthathisarrest.Whenthe
family members protested, the
CIDaskedthemtocooperateand
seek bail in court.
Raju's son Bharat said his fa-
ther had suffered a cardiac sur-
gery only four months ago. Even
as the MP protested against the
move, shouting at the police, he
was taken away by the CID in a
vehicle to its Guntur office.
Later, the CID said in a state-
ment: “There was information
against Raju, stating that he has
been indulging in hate speeches
againstcertaincommunitiesand
promoting disaffection against
the government.” A preliminary
inquiry ordered by ADG CID P V
Sunil Kumar found that through
hisspeechesRajuwas“indulging
insystematic,schematiceffortto
GOVERNOR VISITS DHUBRI CAMP
CM silent on post-poll
violence: Dhankhar
cause tensions among the com-
munities and by attacking vari-
ous government dignitaries in a
waywhichwillcauselossof faith
in the government which they
represent”, the CID statement
said.
“His speeches and actions to
bring hatred and contempt
against the government of the
state... Series of attempts have
been made to this affect,” it said.
“There is hate speech against
communities and social groups
also which was used to foment
social and public order distur-
bances in conspiracy with a few
media channels.”
Raju fell out with his party
soon after the 2019 elections,
Recently, he launched a series of
vitriolicattacksonthechief min-
ister and the party over recent
decisions. In his latest post
launched on YouTube, he tar-
geted Adviser, Public Affairs,
Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, ac-
cusing him of instigating a social
media cell to upload posts
against him.
FOCUS ON RELIEF
THE CONGRESS has asked all its MLAs and MLCs to provide at
leasttwoambulanceseachintheirdistrictsandneighbouring
ones for ferrying Covid-19 patients. The direction is part of an
internal circular issued on Friday by party general secretary
(organisation)KCVenugopal.Thecircularaskedthepartyunits
to mark the 30th death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi in a low-
key manner. The direction asked the state units to avoid mass
gatherings and instead focus on relief activities by providing
foodandarrangingmedicinekitstopeople.TheAICCalsoasked
stateunitstoholdmassmaskdistributionprogrammesatstate,
district and block levels and help people register for getting
their vaccine shots.
VIRTUALLY PACKED
CROWDEDCOURTROOMSduringhigh-profilehearings,espe-
ciallyinthenationalcapital,weresupposedtobeathingof the
past as courtrooms turned virtual due to the pandemic.
However, even in virtual courtrooms, journalists, lawyers and
even judges struggle for space as hearings can accommodate
only limited logins on first-come-first-serve basis. In the Delhi
High Court hearing, seeking anticipatory bail for businessman
Navneet Kalra for allegedly hoarding oxygen concentrators,
Justice Subramoniam Prasad, one of the judges on the bench,
joinedafewminuteslatersincethevirtualcourtroomwasfilled
tocapacity.Lawyersinthecasewereseenaskingthosenotcon-
nected with the case to leave so that judge could join.

MESSAGE FROM DHAKA

Chowdhury, chairman of the
PublicAccountsCommittee,also
wrote to the Speaker with the
proved by the Houses “only
after the matter is considered
by the Rules Committees”.
ment to “proactively work” to triggeredtensionsandviolence,”
seek urgent intervention of the senior Congress leader Anand
UN Security Council in the fresh Sharma said in a statement. He EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
Israel-Palestine conflict to re- is the head of the Congress’s for- KOLKATA, MAY 14 ASSAM CHIEF Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has been
store peace in the region and the eign department. extremelyvocalabout thedemandforNRC,has receivedalet-
immediate cessation of hostili- “The Congress party urges WESTBENGALGovernorJagdeep ter from Dhaka. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
ties by both Israel and Hamas. for immediate cessation of hos- Dhankhar on Friday said Chief has invited Assam to reap benefits from Bangladesh's growth
“People of Palestine have a tilities by both Israel and Hamas Minister Mamata Banerjee is trajectory in view of warmth, depth and diversity of India-
right to live with dignity in a se- and calls for urgent intervention maintaining silence over the vio- Bangladesh relationships. This was part of her letter congrat-
cure environment. That equally of the UN Security council to re- lence in the state following the ulating Sarma for his new role as chief minister and wishing
is the right of all the people of store peace. The issue is both Assembly poll results on May 2. West Bengal Governor him success in leading his pluralistic state.
Israel. Palestinian people’s right moral and humanitarian. India Dhankhar’s comments came Jagdeep Dhankhar
to pray at Al Aqsa mosque with- asamemberof theUNSCshould afterhisvisittoacampinAssam's
out any restriction must always proactively work to achieve this Dhubri, where several families
be respected and not violated. objective,” he said. ENS from West Bengal’s Cooch Behar Dhubri district, bordering neigh- Mamata to PM: Be Uddhav pays
district have taken shelter to es- bouring Assam. The Governor
HIMACHAL PRADESH STATE ELECTRONICS cape post-poll violence. thanked the Assam government fair, quick in PSA ‘courtesy visit’ to
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LIMITED “There was bloodshed and
genocideinthestate.Ishouldnot
for helping them.
“I do not want to say much as plant allotment Bombay HC CJ
Ist & Ground Floor, I.T. Bhawan, Mehli, Shimla-171013
Tel. No. 0177-2623259, 2623513, 2626320, 2623513 say much as the cases are under IamnotinWestBengal.However,
2623043, FAX: 0177-2626320 Website: www.hpsedc.in investigationbutthechief minis- I would like to express my grati-
No. SEDC/HPPERC/2K21-527 Date: 12/05/2021 ter'ssilenceisamatterofconcern tudetotheAssamgovernmentfor EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
e-TENDER NOTICE for me,” he told reporters here. takingcareofourpeoplewhofled KOLKATA, MAY 14 MUMBAI, MAY 14
e-Tenders are invited from the eligible bidders, for Sources said over 175 people their homes under unfortunate
Implementation of fully automated Information Management System from West Bengal have taken circumstances,” Dhankhar said. CHIEF MINISTER Mamata CHIEF MINISTER Uddhav
for HP Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission. shelter at a Ranpagli school in Later, after returning from BanerjeeonFridaywrotetoPrime Thackeraypaidanunusual“cour-
Pre-bid meeting will be held on 19.05.2021 at 11.30 AM through Assam, the Governor visited MinisterNarendraModirequest- tesy visit” to Chief Justice
video conference. Last date for online e-bid submission is
03/06/2021 (upto 02:30 PM) and shall be opened on 04/06/2021at
Siliguri, where he said: ing him to be fair and quick in al- Dipankar Datta at the Bombay
2.30 PM. Detailed Tender Document containing Technical “People in the state are afraid lotment of pressure swing ad- High Court on Friday afternoon.
Specifications and Terms &Conditions are available on of goingtopolicestations.The sorption(PSA)plantsforthestate. Itisrareforachief ministerto
HPSEDCwebsite www.hpsedc.in and https://hptenders.gov.in. police are afraid of workers of Shewrote:“...Prioritiesarebe- formally call on the Chief Justice.
0066/HP
General Manager (Technical) therulingparty.Ihaveencour- ing fixed and re-fixed... quota for Officials from the Chief
aged them to come back... I'll West Bengal is being down- Minister’s Office and at the High
talk to CM with a positive ap- wardlyrevisedandfurtherdown- Courtweretight-lippedaboutthe
proach...” wardly revised every day. We details of the meeting.
The TMC slammed were told we shall get 70 PSA According to HC officials,
Dhankhar for making such plants, now we are told that we therewasnothingunusualabout
comments. “He is trying to in- shall get 4 in the first phase with the “courtesy visit”. The meeting
stigateunrest...Hedidnotvisit no clarity on the remaining PSA went on for 20 minutes, an
the houses of those who were plants!” official said.
killedinCISFfiringinSitalkuchi Sheadded,“Kindlygetthepri- ShreehariAney,formeradvo-
orofTMCworkerswhodiedin orities, implementing agencies cate general of Maharashtra and
violence in Cooch Behar dis- andquotafixed,fairlyandquickly. senior counsel, also said there
trict. We want him to be re- Our own supplementary PSA in- wasnothingunusualaboutaCM
moved from his post,” said stallation plans... are getting dis- callingontheChief Justice.“They
TMC Rajya Sabha MP turbedbecauseof indecisiveness (the holders of the two offices)
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said. at Delhi.” meetregularlyforvariousreasons
and such meetings happen peri-
odically...” said Aney.
Separately, BMC
CommissionerISChahalwasalso
in the court premises. He was
scheduled to meet Chief Justice
Datta to discuss vaccination for
lawyers. That meeting was also
held as per the schedule, said an
official.

Punjab gets its

23rd district —
Malerkotla
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, MAY 14

FULFILLING A pre-poll promise

of the Congress, Punjab Chief
MinisterAmarinderSinghFriday
declared Malerkotla as the 23rd
district of the state on the occa-
sion of Eid.
Amarinder was addressing
the people of the state virtually
on the occasion. Getting
Malerkotla declared as an inde-
pendent district was a long
pending demand of the Muslim
community and the residents of
the town.
The government had prom-
ised that Malerkotla will be de-
clared a district soon in 2017.
Recalling the rich and glori-
ous history of Malerkotla, the
Chief Ministersaiditsconversion
into a district, which was a long-
standing demand of the local
people, would ease the hard-
ships of such people and enable
them to resolve their adminis-
trative problems more seam-
lessly.

New Delhi

7 IE-FT SERIES
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
Attheinauguraleventof theseries‘India’sPlaceinthePost-PandemicWorld’,acollaborationbetweenThe Indian Express andFinancial Times,senior leaders
inpolicyandbusinessdiscussedIndia’sgrowthprospects,thegovernment’sagendatorevivetheeconomyandstrategiestoattractforeigninvestments
(Clockwise fromtopleft)AmyKazmin,SouthAsiaBureauChief, FinancialTimes;
PAnbalagan,CEO,MaharashtraIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation;
KVSubramanian,Chief EconomicAdvisor,Governmentof India;RohiniMalkani,
SeniorVicePresident,Credit Ratings,GlobalSovereignRatings,DBRSMorningstar;
Jahangir Aziz,HeadEconomist,EmergingMarkets,JP Morgan
Made seminal changes how
we think of economy: CEA
THE PANDEMIC hit last March and all high
frequencyindicators(nearly60ofthem)were
peaking before that, till February. If the pan-
demic had, counterfactually, hit in April, our
growthwouldhavereached6percent...India
istheonlycountrytohavechangeditsnarra-
tive and brought in seminal changes to the
way we think about the economy,” said
KV Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor,
Government of India.
He was on a panel that discussed ‘India’s
economy: How it can regain sustained
growth’. Amy Kazmin, South Asia Bureau
Chief, Financial Times, who moderated the
conversation,alsohadonboardPAnbalagan,
CEO, Maharashtra Industrial Development
Corporation;JahangirAziz,HeadEconomist,
Emerging Markets, JP Morgan; Rohini
Malkani,SeniorVicePresident,CreditRatings,
GlobalSovereignRatings,DBRSMorningstar.
The panelists discussed the role of the
state and investment climate for businesses,
‘India needs policy-change reforms’ ‘If we give responsibility to govt,
GDP PER HEAD RELATIVE TO THE US
(at puchasing power parity) (IMF)
GROWTH OF GDP
(5-year centred moving average) (IMF)
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2000
2005
1990
1995
2010
2015
2020
Martin Wolf (below), Chief EconomicsCommentator,FinancialTimes,sharedseveralgraphs,including onetracingIndia’s
GDPperheadrelativetotheUS(left)and(right)India’sGDPgrowthcomparedtoChina, Indonesia,Bangladesh Courtesy: Wolf
THE INDIAN economy has
been slowing, now at 5-6
percent range, and will need
quiteabitof policy-changere-
forms, in a difficult world en-
vironment, to be successful in
the decade ahead,” said
Martin Wolf, Chief Economics
Commentator,FinancialTimes.
He was in conversation with
Anil Sasi, National Business
Editor, The Indian Express.
Observing the country since his early
days as a World Bank economist in the ’70s,
hecalledIndia’seconomicreformpolicy“in-
consistent, not sufficiently positive”, and its
three engines — trade, credit and govern-
ment-spending — “pretty weak”. He said,
“We’re going back to what my friend (econ-
omist) Raj Krishna called the Hindu rate of
growth, which is 3-4 per cent. That will be a
what an Atmanirbhar Bharat meant, what
factors contributed to the slowing down of
the economy, where the fault lines are and
how the second wave of Covid-19 will
impact growth.
Speaking about investment opportuni-
ties in Maharashtra, Anbalagan highlighted
the efficient way the state had maintained
supply chains, so that industries and busi-
nesses were not disrupted.
Aziz spoke of India’s dependence on
globalisation and how a decline in global
trade affected the country’s GDP. “India lost
that driver of its growth. It hasn’t recovered
over the last 10 years through reforms or
policy changes...Together with demonetisa-
tion, GST and liquidity shocks, the situation
has worsened,” said Aziz.
Malkaniacknowledgedthemeasuresan-
nouncedbythegovernmenttoboostgrowth,
thoughitwouldultimatelydependonimple-
mentation and execution, she said.
accountability also lies with them’
Turkey 14
Russia 12
China
10
Mexico
8 India
Brazil
6 China
Indonesia
India 4
Bangladesh 2
Pakistan 0
2025
1984
1989
1994
1999
catastrophe because that’s a
per-capitagrowthof 2percent
andthenIndia’scatch-upstory
would end.”
He cautioned, “India is
de-globalising, not back to
what it was before but more
thantheworldis;owingtopol-
icy choices: increased
protectionanddecreasedatten-
tiontoexportcompetitiveness.”
Callingattentiontothreein-
dicators for future planning: “Long-term per-
formance, the Covid-19 impact, and the chal-
lenges ahead”, he said, in the long run “credit,
trade, fiscal policy, will all be constrained”.
Credit-to-GDP ratio has been slowing (after
2010)despitenofinancialcrisis,thereare“bad
loans” in the banking sector, demonetisation
(in2016)wasa“crazy”stepinsteadof“radical
financialrestructuring”,traderatioshavebeen
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, UNION FINANCE MINISTER
‘Covid will not affect reform roadmap’
On the Indian economy
losing momentum
Prior to the pandemic, between June
2019 and till the budget was presented in
February 2021, there was certainly a slow-
down, a shortage of liquidity, and therefore,
when people needed money, they couldn’t
get it; we undertook a lot of measures to
ensure that liquidity reaches people. In fact,
much before the festive season in India,
between September and October, we had
ensured that banks, NBFCs and others
reached out with liquidity. So that year we
did have a specific problem of banks not
beingabletoextendcredit,whichwassorted
out and in early 2021, we saw clear signs of
recovery. With that, we presented a budget
in February 2021. But, of course, within
weeksafterpresentingthebudget,therewas
Covid-19.
While the second wave is challenging us
on several grounds — supply of critical med-
icines, supply of required quantities of oxy-
gen — the government has been rapidly tak-
ing a lot of measures, inclusive of where
necessary to importmedical quality oxygen.
As regards critical medicines, we have taken
many steps to make sure that the issues re-
latedtosupplyareaddressed.I’mveryhappy
that the Prime Minister had mentioned it in
so many words that there shall not be a
countrywide lockdown comparable to the
one which we had in 2020. The reason for
thatisin2020,wedidnothaveadequatePPE
kits, and we ramped up the production of
PPEs and ventilators, and testing labs have
been set up all over the country. The
situationtodayisverydifferent.Wehavetwo
vaccines already. So we don’t think there is a
need for across-the-board lockdown.
‘Possibility of India-UK FTA higher now than ever’
On doubling India-UK trade
Despite the huge amount we do with
India, there has been a bit of unfulfilled
promise. We’ve got 850 Indian companies
in the UK and these employ over 116,000
employees, so there’s a huge amount of
activity that goes on between India and the
UK. Having said that, there are barriers in
our trade, but I’m sure that with goodwill
on both sides, if we move down the path of
a free trade agreement, the mere act of
removing some of those barriers will no
doubt impact trade.
A modern comprehensive free trade
agreementinvolvesmuchmorethanmove-
ment of goods — they cover services, they
cover digital business, they cover SMEs. So
there’s a huge amount of content in a free
trade agreement. EU has tried unsuccess-
fullytonegotiateafreetradeagreementwith
Indiaoverthelast10-15years.I’mveryhope-
ful now that we’re an independent trading
nation, we could do things ourselves, we’ll
be able to move on with this when the time
is right. The possibility of a UK-India
Free Trade Agreement is higher now than it
ever has been.
On sectors with scope for trade
We know India is interested in expand-
Bangladesh
Indonesia
2019
2004
2009
2014
2024
“fallingrapidly”since2013-14.
Wolf added that India’s GDP growth at
purchasing power parity from 5 per cent (in
1990) to about 15 per cent (by 2025, IMF
forecast) has been “pretty well” but incom-
parable to “China’s spectacular 5 per cent
(1990) to 35 per cent (2025) growth story”.
India’s “steady growth” (6 per cent a year)
peaked at “close to 9 per cent in the early
2000s” but saw “a real collapse” last year.
“Amongthedevelopingcountries,Indiahad
a really, really bad negative hit (Bangladesh
did astonishingly well),” he stated.
With the US-China relationship deteri-
orating, India should “seize opportunity”
and“reopentheeconomy”,becomeatrade-
growthhub,raiseinternationalcompetitive-
ness, start green revolution, reform educa-
tion, labour markets and financial sector to
be the “fastest-growing economy, at
8-plus per cent, in 20 years”.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was in conversation with
P Vaidyanathan Iyer, Executive Editor (National Affairs), The Indian Express,
and Joseph Leahy, Asia News Editor, Financial Times
The way we have planned for disinvestment, setting up the DFI
(Development Finance Institution), looking at
asset-reconstruction companies, everything is on course
On staying the course
on reforms
My day starts with a meeting with the
secretariesof myministryandthesecretaries
of Corporate Affairs, which is also something
I look after. The way we have planned for dis-
UK Minister for Investment Lord Gerry Grimstone (left) was in conversation with
Chris Giles, Economics Editor, Financial Times
ing its access to the UK market in a number
of sectors, including agri food, pharmaceu-
ticals; we can see great opportunities for
services in India, for some of our profes-
sional qualifications to be valid in India,
a number of other matters. I think it will
progress when the time is right. Liberalising
trade will benefit both our economies and
how we go about these things, as you know,
we do a deep consultation with UK busi-
ness before we look to negotiations; once
we get insights from UK businesses,
that’s when we’ll put together our negoti-
ating strategy.
(From left to right) P Vaidyanathan Iyer, Executive Editor (National Affairs), The Indian Express; Uttar Pradesh MSME
Minister Sidharth Nath Singh; Naushad Forbes, Co-chairman, Forbes Marshall; Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice
Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals; Manish Sabharwal, Chairman and Co-founder, Teamlease Services
SPEAKING ABOUT the tariffs that have been
imposed by the Government of India in an
ongoingeconomicreformeffortandtheirim-
pact on export competitiveness, Naushad
Forbes, Co-chairman, Forbes Marshall,
said that the increase in protection over the
last four years is a step in reverse. “It ends up
protecting the Indian industry, which means
we end up actually being less competitive,”
said Forbes. He added that the production-
linked incentive scheme announced by the
governmentisintendedtodeepenthesupply
chain but it needs to be combined with a
sell-by date clause.
He was on a panel that discussed ‘India’s
Business Growth: Can Indian Companies
Compete Globally’. Moderated by
P Vaidyanathan Iyer, Executive Editor
(National Affairs), The Indian Express, it
included Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice
Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals; Manish
investment,settinguptheDFI(Development
Finance Institution), looking at asset-recon-
structioncompanies,everythingisoncourse.
Infact,themessagefromthesecretariesisthat
wearegoingassmoothlyasbefore.Therefore,
we don’t suspect that will be affected.
On impediments to trade
Indiaisacomplicatedcountry.It’sacoun-
trywhere you need to understand it to make
an impression on it. I think the growth of
e-commerce in India has played to certain
methods; SMEs in England, branded goods,
brands that might have found it much eas-
ier to access the Indian market. I’ve always
felt with India, the British companies who
know it and operate there do well out of it.
Companies who don’t know it, don’t do
business there. Part of the advantage of
moving down the track we are, it’s opening
Sabharwal, Chairman and Co-founder,
TeamleaseServices,andSidharthNathSingh,
CabinetMinisterofMicro,SmallandMedium
Enterprises (MSME), export promotion, tex-
tile, Khadi, village industries, sericulture,
Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Thepanelistsdiscussedtheideaof Indian
industry integrating with and competing in
the rest of the world, the reforms, and the
impact of the pandemic.
Sabharwal felt that India had seized the
policywindowandpushedsomeambitious
reforms in the last 14 months. Forbes
agreed but added that he was concerned
about the implementation, in particular the
privatisationprogramme,protectionistecon-
omy and “how the union government can
reachouttothestatetomakethefederalsys-
tem more effective” in terms of farm and
labour reforms.
Speakingabouttheeffectofthepandemic
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
On foreign investment
Ihavespentquitesometimelookingatthe
recent tariff issues. The items on which the
hikeshavehappenedareveryconsistentwith
what we have laid before ourselves in the
name of Atmanirbhar Bharat. If they are end-
consumerproductswhichwemanufacturein
thiscountry,wewouldratherhaveourcapac-
itiesstrengthened.Butwehavenotraisedany
tariffs on inputs of raw materials or interme-
diary goods. So we don’t intend at being
regressive.Secondly,ontheissueof (disputes
with) Vodafone and Cairn, I’ve recently had a
meeting with a representative of Cairn, and
wearetalking.ThePrimeMinisterclearlysaid
we don’t believe in retrospective taxation.
However,theinternationalarbitrationsques-
tioning India’s sovereign right to tax is a mat-
ter of concern, and to that limited extent, we
are worried that it sets a wrong precedent.
On self-reliance vs global
integration
Ifyoutellmethattheycouldbecontradic-
tory,maybetoanextenttheyare.Indianman-
ufacturing has been hurt on many grounds,
particularly on matters which have bulk us-
age in this country, not those specified things
whichwedon’thavethewherewithaltopro-
duce,likehigh-endtechnology,butevenbasic
goods. We’ve been flooded by unjustified
dumping. As a result, many of our small and
medium manufacturing units are not able to
survive and the Indian economy depends
largely on our MSMEs. As a government, we
havetakenacallthatMSMEsneedsomesup-
port, particularly if they are producing
consumer items. When we say atmanirbhar,
we’renotshuttingtheIndianeconomy,weare
saying that we have to play on our strengths.
people’s eyes to what the possibilities are in
India. I always say that free trade agree-
ments in themselves are fine but what
you really have to do is to operationalise
them, to bring home to British businesses,
large, medium and small, how can they use
these agreements to export more to India.
On inviting India for the
G7 summit
We thought it would give rise to some
very interesting discussions, having India
present. I see it as something in a way that
is no more no less than a manifestation of a
very strong partnership that we have with
India, they are a natural country for us to in-
vite. I think the Indo-Pacific region is becom-
ing increasingly important. India is exerting
itself more on the international stage. We
welcome that.
For the first time at the G7 we are going
to have a trade pact associated with the G7.
Trade Secretary Elizabeth Truss will be
holding meetings with the G7 trade
ministers. Trade policy and attracting in-
vestors have become two very important
things in the UK, it is part of what we see as
the economic bounce back after Covid. I
want us to be much more muscular
and entrepreneurial.
on the healthcare sector and infrastructure,
KamineniappreciatedtheIndianindustryfor
itsresourcefulness in these difficult times. As
for50percentof thevaccinesavailabletothe
private sector for a price, she lauded the gov-
ernment and said it’s a step in the positive
directionbecausethevaccinemakerswould-
n’twanttoexportif theygotadecentpricein
their own country. Her only worry, however,
wascompetitionwiththegovernmenttopro-
cure the vaccines.
Kamineni also spoke about the need for
goodexperts.“Advisorsworkbetterandthen
the government can formulate laws,
reforms. If we are giving the responsibility to
the government, the accountability also lies
with them,” she said.
The next event in the series will be held on
May 20, where the conversation will focus
on ‘India, China and the US: A New
Geopolitical Landscape’
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

8
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

WORDLY WISE
You can’t have occupation and
human rights.
— Christopher Hitchens

FOUNDED BY
Left out of CoWin
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
Technocratic approach prioritises data collection
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
over vaccine equity. There are privacy concerns too

IN THE DARK Apar Gupta and Anushka Jain

A state government is at war within, patients die night after INDIA IS CURRENTLY in the throes of a cata- vaccination:Fewsmartphones,English-only system could soon replace biometric finger-
night. Accountability needs to be fixed in Goa — and elsewhere strophic second wave of the Covid-19 pan- website”. print or iris scan machines at Covid-19 vac-

T
demic, which has exposed the severe lack of
HE TRAGEDY PLAYING out in the Covid ward of the Goa Medical College and our health infrastructure. Since March 2021,
Hospital illustrates the larger crisis. More than 70 patients have choked to we have seen the situation spiral out of con-
death in the past four days because oxygen supplies at the healthcare facility trol to the extent that people are now left
dipped between 2 am and 6 am. It began on Tuesday when 26 people lost with no choice but to crowdsource life-sav-
their lives. A day later, the High Court of Bombay at Goa directed the state government to ingdrugs,oxygencylindersandhospitalbeds
ontheinternet.Technologyisservingusdur-
ensure that there are no deaths due to oxygen-related issues. But the horror story contin-
ing this crisis and it is natural for it to be
ued in spite of the court’s intervention — 20 people died on Wednesday, 15 on Thursday viewed as a measure for vaccination. Here,
and 13 on Friday. The grave acts of omission that have jeopardised the access of critically the principal response has been through the
ill patients to the live-saving gas point to much that is terribly wrong with Covid manage- CoWin portal that has been launched by the
ment in the state — and in varying degrees, the country. Government of India to digitise the vaccina-
Look at the reasons trotted out. On Thursday, the state government informed the high tion drive. It is, however, resulting in vaccine
exclusion and a lack of privacy.
court that “logistical issues were involved in manoeuvring the tractor which carries trol-
The most obvious criticism of the portal
leys of oxygen and in connecting the cylinders to the manifold (a cohort of cylinders)”. isitsmandatorynatureforvaccinationinthe
Snagsalongthesupplychain,asmuchasindifferentplanningbytheCentreandstategov- 18-44 age group. CoWin, which on May 1
ernments, have played a major role in the current oxygen crisis. The inadequacy of cryo- opened for registration of individuals rang-
genic tankers, crucial to transporting oxygen through the length and breadth of the coun- ing from 18-44 years of age, has come under
try,hasbeenexposed.Buttheonusisalsoonhospitalauthoritiestoensurelastmiledelivery. criticism for its propensity to exclude people
whoarestillontheothersideof thedigitaldi-
There needs to be an investigation into why Goa’s largest Covid care facility so compre-
vide as well as for its inherent design issues.
hensively and repeatedly failed its critically ill patients. The significance of such an inves- According to the Indian Telecom Services
tigation extends beyond fixing accountability — though that is paramount. It could also Performance Indicator Report for October-
throwlightonthedeficienciesof healthcareagencies,aswellastheirfailings.Dealingwith December, 2020, released on April 27, 2021,
the virus will require such micro-level probes. A beginning should be made in Goa. the percentage of the rural population that
subscribes to the internet is 34.60 per cent. It
Butthatwouldrequirethoseatthehelmof thebattleagainstthevirusinthestatetorise
beyondpettypoliticking.Goa’sHealthMinisterVishwajitRanehasascribedthetragedytoa even conflicts with the early-stage learnings
shortfallinoxygensupplieswhileChief MinisterPramodSawanthasblamed“mismanage-
from CoWin’s own dashboard. On April 28,
the dashboard showed that for the 45-plus
mentingettingoxygentothehospital”.ThehealthministerhasdescribedtheCMasmisin- agegroup,outof atotal14,42,10,652vaccina-
formed over the issue. Rane has also said that Goa was late by more than 15 days in impos- tion registrations, only 2,52,96,511 were
ingthelockdownandallowingfull-fledgedtourismwasamajorreasonbehindthesurgeof through CoWin.
cases. Rane and Sawant are known to be political rivals and the imperative of fighting the In the absence of the internet and with-
out knowledge of how the portal functions,
virus evidently hasn’t made them put their differences on hold. Their squabbling has cast a
themajorityof India’srural population is be-
shadowovertheframingofanti-Covidstrategiesinthestate.ThattheHealthMinisterwants
ing discriminatedagainstand aformof tech-
theHighCourttoprobethedeathsunderhiswatchisadisturbingcommentaryontheHealth nical rationing is being implemented by
Minister himself. It is high time that those leading the fight against Covid in Goa, and in the CoWinbasedonbroadbandconnectivityand
country, focused not on themselves, but on the challenge before them. digital literacy. This is anecdotally reinforced
even in high connectivity areas. A report in
thispaper (IE,May12)carriesaself-explana-
tory headline, “In Delhi’s slums, barriers to
In the absence of the internet
and without knowledge of
how the portal functions, the
majority of India’s rural
population is being
discriminated against and a
form of technical rationing is
being implemented by
CoWin based on broadband
connectivity and digital
literacy. This is anecdotally
reinforced even in high
connectivity areas. A report
in this paper (IE, May 12)
carries a self-explanatory
headline, ‘In Delhi’s slums,
barriers to vaccination:
Few smartphones, English-
only website’.
The second area of concern is that of data
protection and cyber security. At present,
vaccination slots on the portal are being re-
leased without any notice or schedule, and
are being snatched up within seconds of be-
ing released by whoever is lucky enough to
be checking the portal at the time, turning
the vaccination drive into a game of “fastest
finger first”. Even this metaphor is inaccu-
rate as either through its official API or auto-
mated scripts, a range of functionality is
available for people to automate functions
ranging from notification to even slot reser-
vation.Theseexistinmultiplevariationsand
risk exposure of medical healthcare data
through third-party providers. It would be
appropriate for the National Health
Authority to issue an advisory or change the
technical flow of CoWin to prevent such au-
tomation, which compounds exclusion and
also risks the privacy of Indians.
However, CoWin's own record speaks
poorly on privacy. The CoWin website has
no privacy policy even while India lacks a
data protection law. While the Union
Minister of State for Health, Ashwini
Choubey, has provided, in a response to
Parliament, an undertaking that the Data
Privacy Policy of the National Health Mission
would cover CoWin, on a finer reading of the
policy, its applicability is not specifically de-
fined. This is contrary to the Supreme Court’s
right to privacy judgment but also to the de-
partmental guidelines of the Government
of India for official websites. The departmen-
tal guidelines clearly state that government
websites when collecting personal data,
“must incorporate a prominently displayed
privacy statement...”.
In an interview on April 6, 2021, R S
Sharma, the current CEO of the National
Health Authority, revealed a pilot study stat-
ing that “Aadhaar-based facial recognition
cination centres across the country in order
toavoidinfections.”Followingcriticismfrom
publichealthanddigitalrightsorganisations,
Sharma claimed that, “the process involves
face authentication and not facial recogni-
tion”. This change in nomenclature means
little. Facial recognition bundles within it the
process of authentication and can match
against a person's own biometrics (as has
been claimed) for identity authentication, or
against the general population, which is a
wider body of data, for surveillance and se-
curity. While the privacy risk in the latter is
more significant, the former continues to
erode rights.
Use of Aadhaar-based facial authentica-
tion for access to vaccines creates further
technicalbarriersfor universalisationof vac-
cination with a worrying prospect of false
negativeresults.Theavailabletechnicalstud-
iesconsistentlydemonstratehigherrorrates
in facial authentication. Environmental fac-
tors as opposed to ideal laboratory condi-
tions will further contribute to operational
complexity. The technology is not mature
enough for deployment and a pandemic is
an inappropriate time for experimentation.
Again, facial authentication is being piloted
in a legal vacuum of a data protection law,
where thefacial recognition datathat will be
layered with medical healthcare data can be
stored, captured and shared without any le-
gal limits or practical safeguards.
The technocratic approach in using digi-
tal systems has prioritised data collection
and efficiency over vaccine equity. It disre-
gardstheexperienceof publichealthcareand
digital rights experts. The present deploy-
ment of CoWin, rather than augmenting the
right to health, is undermining it.
Gupta is executive director and Jain is policy
counsel, Internet Freedom Foundation

A GRAVE SETBACK
Flaring of violence between Israel and Palestine may undo
hard-won gains made in the region towards easing conflict

PLAYING WITH THE FORCE

T
HE ONGOING VIOLENCE between Israeli forces and Hamas — the worst fight-
ing since 2014 — comes at a time when there seemed to be hope for a genuine
easing of tensions in West Asia. This was thanks in no small part to the soft-
ening of the hard stance vis a vis diplomatic ties with Israel by several Islamic Central security for Bengal BJP MLAs is poor politics, bad policy
regimes in the region. The violence is a grave setback. Within Israel and Palestine, it could
embolden the maximalist, anti-peace voices. In the region, it is likely to make it harder for
those trying to normalise ties with Israel. Julio Ribeiro
The immediate provocation for the current conflict appears to have been the action
taken by Israeli police and security forces to prevent Palestinians from gathering at the
Damascus gate in Jerusalem after Ramzan prayers — a long-standing tradition — in which IN MARCH 1986, when Rajiv Gandhi asked may revel in the importance such a massive built since Independence.
me to lead the Punjab Police in the fight contingent of men is bound to attract, but to When central paramilitary units are de-
hundreds of civilians were injured. The action allowed Hamas to don the mantle of “pro-
againsttheKhalistaniterrorists,hesuggested a retired policeman, it is bound to affect the ployed in a state, they work under the com-
tector” and the bombs they launched initially killed three Israeli citizens. The Benjamin I take with me “Black Cat” from the NSG to rhythm of existence. So, I protested in the mand and control of the local police hierar-
Netanyahu government’s response was disproportionate: It has carried out hundreds of protect my life. That would have put paid to beginning without effect. Consistent chy. The latter know the local populace, its
airstrikes in Gaza and reportedly deployed artillery and troops as well. Over 100 any hope I could have mustered to motivate pestering succeeded in getting the pilot car culture and language. The visitors perforce
Palestinians have been killed, at least 27 of them children. Both Hamas and Israel are at- Punjab’s policemen to join the battle. To me, and the uniformed escorts eliminated from rely on the local police for help,guidance, ac-
tempting to use airstrikes and bombs against each other. Residential areas are bearing it was never an option. If a leader is unable the contingent. commodationandcountlessotherneeds.All
to command the respect and loyalty of his Afewplain-clothesmen,alertandtrained, thiswillbedeniedtotheCRPF/CISFmensent
the brunt of Israeli attacks and there are reports of rioting.
ownmenthenheisdoomedtofailinachiev- are far more effective. In Bucharest, where to guard thelives of theBJP legislatorsfor the
While there are no winners in war, there are certainly some who benefit from it. ing his goal. In an armed force with a hierar- Khalistaniterroristsmadeabotchedattempt simple reason that they have come to teach
NetanyahucontinuestoexpandtheoffensiveagainstHamas,whichonthegroundmeans chicalchainof command,theruleIhavepro- on my life, the four personnel from the local policemen how to do their job. By in-
more Palestinian civilian deaths. He does so at a time when his government — which has pounded above is inscribed in stone. Romanian“Securitate”tookonthewould-be troducing a new concept of Centre-state re-
been in a minority in the legislature — is teetering on the brink of collapse. Hamas, too, In the West Bengal elections, the BJP se- The Union home minister is assassinsandbroughtdowntwoof themand lations based on distrust and mistaken su-
findsrelevanceinconflict,instokingtheflamesof resentmentthatareboundtobejustun- cured a tidy 38 per cent of the total votes captured a third. It is this small but superbly periority, Home Minister Amit Shah is
polled, 10 percentage points lower than
spawning some very trained commando unit that is required and literally “cutting his nose to spite his face”.
der the surface in places like Gaza, where an entire generation has lived through block- dangerous new doctrines in
TrinamoolCongress’s48percent.If withsuch notawholelotof uniformedmenwhoseonly The CRPF and CISF have been formed as
ades and occupation. The fundamental question of semi-legal settlements, of the differ- amassivefollowingtheBJPfearsallitselected Centre-state relations, in job it seems is to make a show that titillates armed forces of the Union with their sepa-
ential rights enjoyed by Palestinians and Israelis, and violence as a means of political representativeswillbephysicallyvulnerable, the ego of the guarded man. rate mandates. This job of VIP security was
security management by
expression,remainunaddressed.Theinternationalcommunitycannotaffordtotakeitseyes then I can think of two alternate reasons for In West Bengal, the motive may not be to not envisaged for them. The men are trained
off thetinderboxthatisWestAsia.Howthecurrentconflictaffectsthepromiseof theover- the central armed force protection now be- elected governments, in boost the egos of the new MLAs. It is more of to operate as a section (minimum seven to
turesby BahrainandtheUAEtowards Israelremainstobe seen. India,for its part, hasthus ing provided to them from public funds. inter-personal relations and a provocation to Mamata Banerjee to tell her eight men in action), a platoon (three sec-
far managed to balance its historical commitment to the rights of Palestinians with its Either the Centre distrusts the state gov- trust between state police that she and her force cannot be trusted. But tions) or a company (three platoons). In this
ernment’s desire or its ability, probably the personnel and central in the process, the Union home minister is new role, they will be often called upon to
growing closeness to Israel. Delhi must continue to tread a fine line, without compromis-
former,to protect its political opponents or it spawning some very dangerous new doc- thinkasindividuals.Thiswillrequirereorien-
ing either on its national and strategic interests, or its core humanitarian values. has decided to keep the pot of electoral ani- paramilitary personnel. To trines in Centre-state relations, in security tation in their training.
mosity boiling in preparation for a takeover. teach Banerjee a lesson for management by elected governments, in in- It is true that of late, many paramilitary
Bothpropositionsaredangerouslyadversar- daring to halt the BJP’s ter-personal relations and trust between units have been used for VIP security duties.

2021: SPACE ODYSSEY

ial,thelikesof whichhadnotcometomyno-
tice ever before.
The 77 BJP legislators will now sally forth
from their respective residences with armed
Sci-fi films shot in space risk elbowing out escorts ready to take on potential assassins.
I have been escorted in this manner ever
the magic of imagination since I returned from Romania in December
planned juggernaut, the
Ministry of Home Affairs is
prepared to forfeit the
unspoken camaraderie and
brotherhood between
state police personnel and central paramili-
tarypersonnel.ToteachBanerjeealesson for
daring to halt the BJP’s planned juggernaut,
the Ministry of Home Affairs is prepared to
forfeittheunspokencamaraderieandbroth-
erhood between different police formations
in the country. And along with the loss of
It has disturbed their routine and affected
their performance. But sending them into
battle with a political purpose is the last
straw. I hope and pray it does not break the
camel’s back.
The writer, a retired IPS officer, was Mumbai

S
1993. It is far from amusing to have your different police formations brotherhood will go the edifice of a “modus police commissioner, DGP Gujarat
PACE RACE 2 is here and like so many sequels in the past, it’s a snooze. What, movements monitored 24x7. A politician in the country. vivendi” that successive governments have and DGP Punjab
really, is the big deal about sending actors to shoot on the International Space
Station, as Hollywood and Russia are now competing to do? Granted, these
filmswill makemoney.PerhapsTomCruiseyearnstoexecuteazero-gravity ac-
tion sequence and Russian actor Yulia Peresild wants to take a perilous spacewalk. But it’s
not necessary for them to actually be in space to do these things on screen, and for the au-
dience to believe it. MAY 15, 1981, FORTY YEARS AGO
Perhaps it’s the obscene amount of money that goes into making movies these days
that is to blame for this rather unnecessary competition. Or maybe the pandemic has ex- CHAVAN IN CONG (I) Singh government took over. But that was tion will stick to the demands for foreigners
hausted the two film teams to the point where, to quote a character from the sci-fi series Y B CHAVAN IS set to join the Congress (I) in short lived as the Congress (I) swept back to be identified on the basis of the 1951 NRC
Futurama, they don’t want to be on this planet anymore. The real problem may be that the next few days. He is understood to have to power throwing out the Lok Dal- and 1952 electoral rolls.
held several meetings with Prime Minister Congress government.
those at the helm are out of touch with the one ingredient that matters most in filmmak-
Indira Gandhi in the past few months. The CHO’S GIFT
ing: Imagination. first meeting, which was exploratory, took ASSAM TALKS CHO RAMASWANY HAS sent a gift to Home
Imagination, along with its sibling magic, lives in the gaps between what the eyes see place on January 27. Recently, the PM THE DECK IS cleared for the talks in Delhi Minister Giani Zail Singh. It’s a rubber stamp
and what the mind knows. These filmmakers may need to be reminded that their art and conveyed a message to Chavan that the time between the Union government and the withtheinscription,“Youaredismissed”.The
that of the magician were once closely linked. It was this bond that helped French film- has come for he and his friends to join the Assam agitators with both the All Assam inscription is not meant for the home minis-
maker George Méliès launch a rocket into the moon’s sneering face, in the 1902 film Le Congress (I). Chavan who held important Students’ Union and the All Assam Gana ter. It will help him dismiss any number of
Voyage Dans La Lune, just as, decades later, it helped George Lucas transform California’s portfolios — Home, Defence, Finance, Sangram Parishad announcing the decision government officers, especially in the wake
Foreign Affairs — in Indira Gandhi’s pre- to send a 25-member delegation to the de- of the Makalu sabotage, explained Cho. He
Death Valley into the desert landscape of the planet Tatooine in Star Wars: Episode IV — A
1977 governments parted ways with her liberations on May 16. The delegation will hasagrievancetoo:Thefactthatthecollapse
New Hope. And, recall the special effects in using slit-scan photography to create 2001: A during the post-Emergency split in the comprise six members of the AASU and 19 of the bridge in Gujarat’s Broach district was
Space Odyssey’s groundbreaking Stargate sequence. So, the question is, again: What use Congress. Subsequently, he found himself members of the AAGSP. Bhrigu Kumar not construed as an attempt on the Prime
is it for actors to fly off into space if the imagination remains earthbound? in the treasury benches when the Charan Phukan of the AASU said that his organisa- Minister’s life.

New Delhi

9
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
THE IDEAS PAGE
When doctors fall short
Identify areas in clinical care that can be delegated to health workers, guide them
to triage the sick, train doctors in other specialities in critical care
Suravi Sharma
Kumar
INHEALTHCARE,THEREisnoequivalencebe-
tween a doctor and someone who is not.
Patient safety requires doctors to step in
whenacomplexproblemoruncertaintyover
treatment arises.But consideringthe current
shortage of doctors (and nurses, paramedics,
assistants and so on) in the midst of a pan-
demicthathasspreadintothehinterland,the
optimum usage of doctors and medical staff
is the immediate prudent option. Setting up
units that approximate primary health care
centres in every unit of a district to triage
cases and provide preliminary care is now a
must.Thiscareneedstobeprovidedbysmall
teamsof healthcareworkers,withonesuper-
vising physician or even without one where
there’s none.
The pandemic demands acceleration of
this restructuring of primary care. We must
quickly identify areas in clinical care that can
be delegated to health workers with varied
qualifications and experience, since we can’t
create enough doctors in a span of a couple
of weeks, months or even years. Nurse prac-
titioners(andphysicianassistants)whograd-
uate after four-six years of education can be
permitted to or be trained/guided to triage
thesickasCovid/non-Covidcases,orasmild,
moderate or severely sick Covid cases. They
can give initial care or advice, anticipate oxy-
gen requirements or arrange doctor consul-
tationsortransporttohospitals.Thiswillsave
a lot of time of the golden hour of treatment
for the patient as well as reduce a lot of con-
fusion and crowding in hospitals.
Hospitals in America are triaging Covid-
19patientsbecauseof shortageof profession-
als, especially doctors trained in emergency-
care and anesthesiology. Another way to
make available a good number of doctors for
Covid care is by training doctors of other spe-
cialties (like dermatology, ophthalmology,
plastic surgery, general surgeons, laparo-
scopicsurgeonsetc.)incriticalcareof theres-
piratory system. Final-year undergraduate
and postgraduate students, who are yet to
complete degrees and acquire experience,
should be left untouched in their academic
pursuits to acquire theirskills. Itis likely to be
detrimentaltohealthcareinthecomingyears
if thecurrentbatchesof doctors-in-the-mak-
ing are disturbed. Authorities can, on the
other hand, help organise examinations at
the right time so that they can complete the
degrees in the stipulated time without delay.
Another solution that I believe is worth
consideringisdevelopingatelemedicineweb
model closely linked to primary care centres
under a public health system. Such units can
be manned by nurse practitioners or physi-
cian assistants with or without a supervising
doctor present physically. The telemedicine
room can be installed in pharmacies in vil-
lages or small towns equipped with the right
telemedicine kits (like digital stethoscope,
thermometer, BP machines, oximeter, glu-
cometer, audiometer etc.) in addition to a
Ram Madhav
IN THE NEGATIVE narrative over the Indian
government’s handling during the second
Covid wave, we are forgetting its sincere en-
deavoursandtherealchallenges.Agreaterpart
ofthenarrativeisfocussedonderidingandde-
meaning the prime minister with the singu-
lar objective of projecting him as insensitive
andincompetent.Thoseindulginginthiskind
of propaganda may have their political agen-
das but in the process, they are ending up de-
meaningIndiaintheeyesoftheworld.Itisnot
my intention to indulge in whataboutery. But
thefactremainsthatcomparedtomanycoun-
tries in the developed world, India has been
able to secure its populations from the Covid
catastrophe better.
Nodoubtoursystemswereoverwhelmed
by the virulence of the second wave that has
rapidly spread like a wildfire across the coun-
try. This kind of virulence was not seen any-
where during the first wave. We could tackle
thefirstwavemoreefficientlythanmanyother
countries with much better facilities and in-
frastructure. There was a time last year when
someEuropeancountrieswereinsuchahelp-
lessconditionthattheylefttheirelderly—peo-
ple above 60 years of age — to die in their
homes, refusing hospital facilities to them. In
the US, the first wave of the pandemic had
causedsomuchpanicanddestructionthatthe
Trump administration was forced to bring in
the National Guard.
India was able to contain the pandemic
more efficiently until March this year. With a
1.43 per cent mortality rate, India registered
quality video screen and audio system with
good internet connectivity. Telemedicine is
mostly ideal for follow-up patients or man-
agement of chronically ill patients a doctor
hasexaminedphysicallyonce.Butwe’veseen
that telemedicine consultations/ supervi-
sions work in emergency care, if a specialist
doctor can guide and direct the nurse practi-
tioner or evena general practitioner/medical
officer. For instance, a critical care unit in a
smaller centre can be managed with guid-
ance from a bigger, distant centre.
For first-time consultations, besides
workingdoctors,it’spossibletohirefrom the
pool of retired doctors with their wealth of
experience, or even the newly licensed doc-
tors after some training in Covid care. New
doctors can even avail support from technol-
ogy-enabledclinicalsupportsystemsthatare
nowavailableinthehealthcaredigitalsphere.
Authorities should implement telemedicine
solutions through a viable PPP model, reach-
ing to the nooks and corners of the country,
enabling the right network connectivity,
availability of medicines and patient transfer
facilities whenever need be.
Other smaller wellness models may also
work around tele-health units, where a pa-
tient can himself or with aid from a trained
health worker, upload data from his home
blood pressure monitor, oximeter, glucome-
ter and electronic scale. He can then get a
visit/call from the local health worker or
schedule a tele-consultation with a medical
officer or a specialist when necessary.
It’s common knowledge that public
health in India has been a completely neg-
Unfair criticism, undue opacity
Modi-baitersmustnotdistortfacts,Centreneedstobemoretransparent
the world’s lowest mortality from Covid until
the second wave broke out. The worst hit in
the first wave were Europe and America.
When we had just 1.3 lakh cases, the US had
1.6 million cases. New York became a ghost
citywithhighmortalityandwidespreadpanic
amongitsresidents.FromItalytotheUK,many
Europeancountrieshadseriouslyfloundered
despite the best healthcare infrastructure.
India not only brought the first wave under
control with a smaller mortality rate but also
became the vaccine hub for the world. The
World Health Organisation has praised India
forits“timely,comprehensiveandrobust”re-
sponse.PMModispokeaboutitinhisJanuary
addresstotheWorldEconomicForum.Those
criticising his speech as a premature celebra-
tionofvictorymustreaditfully.Modionlysaid
that despite relatively inferior health infra-
structure, India did not get demoralised and
went ahead with “a proactive approach with
public participation”.
Expertsinthegovernmentwereprobably
hoping that the second wave would also be
like the first one. But it turned out to be a
tsunami. The sudden spike has caused a seri-
ous shortage of beds, ventilation equipment
andtestingfacilities.Itbroughttolightthepoor
state of affairs in India’s public health infra-
structure. Health is a state subject under the
Constitution. Over the years, the sector faced
major neglect in the states leading to a dis-
hearteningscenario.WhiletheUKhasonebed
for every 385 people and the US has one for
every 416 people, we have just one bed for
Another way to make
available a good number of
doctors for Covid care is by
training doctors of other
specialties (like dermatology,
ophthalmology, plastic
surgery, general surgeons,
laparoscopic surgeons etc.)
in critical care of the
respiratory system. Final-
year UG and PG students,
who are yet to complete
degrees and acquire
experience, should be left
untouched in their academic
pursuits to acquire their
skills. It is likely to be
detrimental to healthcare in
the coming years if the
current batches of doctors-
in-the-making are disturbed.
every 1,818 people. The US has one doctor for
every 345 people and the UK has a doctor for
357people,wehaveonedoctorfor746people.
Nursingstaffisthemostimportantsegmentof
theCovidrelief infrastructure.IntheUK,there
is one nurse for every 113 people, and in the
US the number is one nurse for every 85 peo-
ple. But in India, we have just one nurse for
every 588 people.
If we are overwhelmed by the Covid
tsunami today, one reason is this continuous
neglectof thepublichealthinfrastructure.For
the first time in seven decades, the Modi gov-
ernmenthas,initsnewNationalHealthPolicy,
announced spending 2.5 per cent of the GDP
on healthcare infrastructure. States too have
torampupeffortstostrengthenit.Thesecond
wave came too soon for the government to
copewithitsvirulence.Whilesomeofthecrit-
icism, like holding public rallies or organising
religious festivals, can be described as legiti-
mate, most others are hyperbolic ravings of
politically-motivated commentators. These
criticisms ranged from insensitivity to delib-
erate inflicting of suffering on the masses.
Modi did not act like Bolsonaro of Brazil or
Trump of America. He did not demonstrate
unscientific grandstanding or utter disregard
forhealthprotocolslikethoseleaders.Instead,
he is busy enhancing India’s capacity to face
this new challenge.
There is an effort by the Centre to involve
differentstakeholders,includingstategovern-
ments and the UT administrators in the fight
against this tsunami — a “Whole of
C R Sasikumar
lectedarea.Poorhealthinfrastructureandin-
centives for professional/ financial growth
are bottlenecks in our health system. I have
knowndoctorsleavinggovernmentforissues
like lack of toilets, insecurity and disgraceful
behaviour from attendants. It goes without
saying that these affect female doctors more
than men. Every year, girls outnumber boys
in securing medical seats and graduating
from college, only to disappear from the
world of medicine or practice in a few years.
Girls make up more than 55 per cent of
students joining medical colleges (according
to NEET UG 2020, women got 4,27,943 seats
compared to 3,43,556 for men). However,
there is a serious shortage of female doctors
in India. According to a paper by Mohan Rao
in Lancet, only 17 per cent of all allopathic
doctors and 6 per cent of those in rural areas
are women. This is less than one female allo-
pathic doctor per 10,000 population in rural
areas (0.5), whereas the ratio is 6.5 in urban
areas. According to a paper on women in
medicine (Bhadra M) published in the jour-
nalIndian Anthropologist, thegendergap in-
creases at post-graduation and doctoral lev-
els: The percentage of female doctors is
around one-third of male doctors.
It’s time the government finds a way to
bringbackthemissingwomendoctors;itwill
uncover a huge pool of qualified medical
graduates ready to be trained for Covid care
and critical care services in a short span of
time.
The writer is doctor at Moolchand
Medcity, New Delhi
Government”approachasdescribedbyModi.
The government has also invited NGOs to co-
operate with its agencies in Covid relief.
Although they came late, these decisions of
burden-sharingandstakeholderinvolvement
willhelpthegovernmentintacklingthechal-
lenge more efficiently.
Surprisingly,somecommentatorsareridi-
culing the government for receiving support
from other countries. Covid is not a national
issue. It is like a forest fire, as described by the
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.
Ifyoudouseitinoneplaceitcanflareupinan-
other. It calls for the combined efforts of all
countries. That was why we came forward to
supply vaccines to over 70 countries through
the “Vaccine Maitri” programme. Just as con-
tainingthevirusinothercountrieswasseenas
our responsibility, containing it in India is in
the interest of all other countries. There is no
reason to create a controversy over it.
Initially, the government looked like “a
deer in the headlights”, as one commentator
put it. But it has come out of that and is en-
gaged full throttle in handling the challenge.
A little more transparency, a little more en-
gagementwiththepublicbythepoliticallead-
ershipandalittlemoreopennesstoconstruc-
tive criticism and enlightened expert opinion
from outside the government would further
help the government’s efforts. After all, the
lives of millions of people are at stake.
The writer is member, board of governors,
India Foundation
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“It is no secret that the coronavirus has infiltrated every district, even possibly
every local unit, of the country. While cases of infection and death in urban
areas have received considerable attention, the same cannot be said of rural
areas.”
Justice as
a fine balance
SC judgment in EC case strikes right note. Judiciary
must hold executive to account, not try to replace it
R C Lahoti
THE RECENT JUDGMENT of the Supreme
Court in the Election Commission of India
case is an example of judicial statesman-
ship. During the hearing of a matter, the
MadrasHighCourtfeltthatinthestateelec-
tions, the EC had failed to enforce Covid
safety guidelines, resulting in the spread of
the pandemic. Oral observations from the
bench stated that the “EC is the institution
thatissingularlyresponsibleforthesecond
waveof Covid-19”and“ECshouldbeputup
for murder charges”. This was widely re-
portedinthemedia.TheECapproachedthe
SC.TheSChasbeautifullydissolvedthecon-
flictbetweenECandtheHC,avoidingapos-
itivepronouncementeitherway.However,
the SC has done what it wanted to do.
Thejudgmentprotectsthemedia'sright
to report accurately the court’s proceedings
even if not made a part of the record; it has
alsorecordedanappreciationoftheperform-
ance of the EC and nullified the effect of oral
observationsstatingthat“observationsdur-
ing the course of hearing do not constitute a
judgment or binding decision”.
TheSCmincednowordsinexpressingits
displeasure:“...theremarksoftheHighCourt
wereharsh.Themetaphor[is]inappropriate.
We must emphasise the need for judges to
exercise caution in off-the-cuff remarks in
opencourt,whichmaybesusceptibletomis-
interpretation. Language, both on the Bench
andinJudgments,mustconfirmwith‘Judicial
Propriety’.Thedegreeofcautionandcircum-
spection by a high court has direct co-rela-
tionship with the nature and dimensions of
the power of judicial review entrusted to it
under the Constitution, which is on a high
pedestal.”Thismessageistoalltheoccupants
of judicial seats who, momentarily, reacting
to action or inaction of the government, a
party before them, have failed to restrain
themselves.TheSCwarnsthat“thejudges…
cannot misuse their authority by intemper-
ate comments, undignified banter, or
scathing criticism.”
The Court quoted Justice K Jagannath
Shetty, as having said “the Judge’s Bench is a
seatofpower.JudicialRestraintandDiscipline
are as necessary to the ordinary administra-
tionof justiceastheyaretotheeffectiveness
ofthearmy.Restraintandhumilityareacon-
stant theme of judges’ power by which they
commandrespectandprotectIndependence
of Judiciary.”
Suchoralobservations,astellingthestate
throughitscounselthat“youcanbeblind,we
arenot”and“beg,borrow,steal,butbringoxy-
gen”,areearningpopularity,hittingthehead-
lines.Undoubtedly,thestateisobligedtopro-
tect the life of its citizens and provide men,
materials and means to strengthen health
services. Yet, the courts cannot be oblivious
of the fact that this isanextraordinarysitua-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A MAN OF WILLPOWER
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Player
and Fighter’ (IE, May 14). It was heart-
warming to read a sports edit not deal-
ing with cricket, rare indeed for a main-
streamdaily.Asayoungsportsreporter
in then-Madras, I was the first to break
the story of V Chandrasekar’s botched
knee surgery in 1984. Over the years, I
followed with awe and admiration his
fight to regain his health though he
could never again play active table ten-
nis. As a three-time national champion
and captain of the Indian team at vari-
ous international championships,
Chandra’s playing career was cut down
in his prime. It was then that he took to
coaching, which he again excelled in.
Chandra’s indomitable willpower also
saw him put up a struggle against the
deadly virus which he fought literally
till his last breath. A player and a fighter
till the very end.
Gulu Ezekiel, New Delhi
VACCINE CHAOS
THIS REFERS TO the editorial,
‘Injecting a crisis’ (IE, May 14). The
mess over procuring vaccines, with
some states now deciding to float
global tenders, shows the central gov-
ernment’s vaccine policy is falling
apart with chaos evident in supply
and pricing. The villainous role some
politicians played in closing vaccine
production units in the public sector,
including the universally-known
Pasteur Institute, is to blame.
S S Paul, Nadia
THIS REFERS TO THE editorial, ‘Injecting
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— THE KATHMANDU POST
tion.Thefundamentalprinciplesofthepower
of judicial reviewoveradministrativeaction
arethatthecourtsreviewthedecision-mak-
ingprocessandnotthedecisionitself unless
thedecisionisunconstitutional,illegalorper-
verse. The court cannot impose its decision
on the executive simply on being convinced
that“ifIwereyou,thiswouldhavebeenabet-
ter decision”. The courts have to ask them-
selves:Aretheyinformedofthesituationbet-
ter than the government? Do they have the
sources to collect better the requisite facts?
Would they be able to issue directions and
continue making orders sitting in courts or
chambers (11 to 5), when the situation de-
mands, working 24x7 and taking overnight,
minute-to-minutedecisions,diplomacyand
strategy apart?
Judicialactivism,howsoeverliberallyin-
terpreted,wouldbecounter-productiveand
wouldfailinachievingitslaudablepurposeif
it assumes the role of judicial governance. It
isonethingtodirecttheexecutivetoperform,
itisanothertosay“ifyoudonotdo,wewilldo
it ourselves”.
The three wings of governance — the
legislature, executive and judiciary — must
have faith in each other. One wing scrutin-
isingtheactionorinactionof theothercan-
not begin by attributing lack of bona-fides
in the other. The judiciary has the power to
correct the erring executive and direct it to
actif itisfailingtoactwhenitshould.Atthe
same time, the courts have to be cautious
thattheydonotwittinglyorunwittinglybe-
comeasourceofobstructionintheperform-
ance of states’ obligations. Scathing obser-
vations act as disincentives to honest and
dutifulofficialswhotoohavebeenworking
day and night fighting with a demon that is
unpredictableandwhosecharacteristicsare
notyetfullyknowntoscience.Oursisafed-
eralstructurewhereintheCentrehastorise
and fulfil the requirements of the states as
pertheConstitution.Atthesametime,ithas
to delicately balance and equanimitise the
conflicting demands of states inter se if the
resources are limited.
Firmlyupholdingtheconstitutionalrights
of the people without sacrificing sobriety
would sustain public confidence in the im-
partialadministrationofjustice.Inademoc-
racy,sometensiondoesprevailbetweenthe
three organs but in critical times, the three
areexpectedtosmiteinunisontodefeatthe
demon. Judges too should display the quali-
tiesofsocialleadershipfortheyarethekeep-
ers of the rule of law. They need the quality
of enthusiasm but, to borrow the words of
Patrick Devlin, misdirected enthusiasm is
rarelyconsistentwithimpartialityandnever
with the appearance of it.
Aharon Barak writes in The Judge in a
Democracy that judicial policy and judicial
philosophyarefundamentaltothejudiciary
sincetheyguideitinthemostdifficulthours.
The strength of the judges is in understand-
ingtheirlimitations.Morethantheyhavean-
swers to difficult legal problems, they have
questions regarding the path they should
take. All human beings err; for the judges,
there is nothing more proper and practical
than good judicial philosophy.
The writer is a formerChiefJusticeof India
IDEAS
ONLINE
ONLY IN THE EXPRESS
● ISRAEL’SHISTORYOF
DE-ARABISATION:
M HILIAS
● SCHOOLING DURING THE
PANDEMIC:
RADHAKANTA KONER
www.indianexpress.com
acrisis’(IE,May14).WhentheCentrede-
cided to decentralise the procurement
and distribution of Covid vaccines, none
of the chief ministers objected. Mamata
Banerjee,oneofthesignatoriestotheop-
position’slettertothePM(citedintheed-
itorial)hadwrittentohiminFebruaryto
decentralisethesystem.Thedecisionwas
not entirely irrational. Now the need is
that The PM should hold deliberations
with all the CMs to find the unity of pur-
pose and arrive at an optimising action
plan through a consensus.
Y G Chouksey, Pune
LAW AND ORDER
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Inaction is
expensive’ (IE, May 13). If there is rule of
law,thenacountrycantackleeveryprob-
lem efficiently. There are so many Acts
passedbylegislaturesbutontheground,
“nothing is implemented”.
Anurag Kashyap, via email

10 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
Two killed
in grenade
attack in
Assam
ABHISHEK SAHA
GUWAHATI, MAY 14
TWO PERSONS were killed in a
grenade blast in Digboi in
Assam’s Tinsukia district on
Friday, the police said.
“Two persons have died and
two others are injured. It is sus-
pected to be the handiwork of
ULFA,” Assam’s Special DGP
(Law and Order), G P Singh, told
The Indian Express.
Thedeceasedwereidentified
as Sanjit Sing and Surajit
Talukdar. The police said two
others — Monjit Das and
Ghanasyam Agarwala — were
injured.
The banned militant outfit
has denied any association with
the blast through a statement.
“This act of violence is a sign
of desperation and cowardice.
The state governmentwill never
tolerate such kind of highhand-
edness leading to loss of human
lives,” Chief Minister Himanta
BiswaSarmasaidinastatement.
Sarma tweeted that Union
HomeMinisterAmitShahcalled
him and asked about the blast.
The incident comes on the
heels of two kidnappings by the
United Liberation Front of Asom
(Independent) group in recent
past.
In April, three employees of
ONGCwerekidnappedbyULFA-
Ifrom Assam’s Sivasagar district.
Two of the three men have since
been rescued by security forces,
and search is on for the third ab-
ductedvictim,identifiedasRetul
Saikia.
In December last year, two
employeesof QuippoOilandGas
Infrastructure Limited were kid-
napped, allegedly by ULFA-I and
NSCN, from a drilling site in
Arunachal Pradesh's Changlang
district. Both were subsequently
rescued.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi
tweeted, “The incidents involv-
ing ULFA seem to occur with a
greater frequency and impu-
dence in the last few years. The
trend of kidnappings and
grenade blasts most recently at
Tingrai Market in Tinsukia
District is worrying. There can-
not be any lapse in intelligence
or investigation now.”
Price hike in
medical supplies
to India due to
import of raw
materials: China
K J M VARMA
BEIJING, MAY 14
CHINA FRIDAY said the prices of
some of the Covid-19 medical
supplies like oxygen concentra-
tors being procured by Indian
companies from Chinese manu-
facturers have gone up as they
had to import raw materials
from Europe to meet the excess
demand from India.
Responding to a question
from the official media here on
India’s Consul General in Hong
Kong Priyanka Chauhan's recent
remarks calling on China to stop
surging prices of medical sup-
plies to India, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesperson Hua
Chunying told a media briefing
that China has been encourag-
ingitscompaniestomeetIndia's
procurement to meet the coun-
try’s surge in coronavirus cases.
Soaring prices of medical
supplies like oxygen concentra-
tors and disruption of cargo
flights to India are slowing ar-
rivalsof medicalgoods,Chauhan
said this week.
Onpriceincreases,especially
of the oxygen concentrators, the
Chinese foreign ministry
spokespersonsaidthat thefeed-
backfrom the Chinesemanufac-
turers suggests that they had to
import raw materials to meet
the excess demand from India.
“As for the price issue you
mentioned,itisamarketfactorde-
terminedbysupplyanddemand.
Takingoxygenconcentratorsasan
example,onereasonisthatthein-
crease in demand affected global
supply chains. Besides, due to
shortage of raw materials which
needtobeimportedfromEurope,
production capacity is affected,”
Huasaidinupdatedcommentson
the Chinese Foreign Ministry
website. PTI
Ernakulam district Friday, ahead of Cyclone Tauktae, now designated a severe storm. Even though Kerala is not in the predicted path of the cyclone, heavy
rains, strong winds and strong sea gusts are expected till Sunday. Nitin R K
Cyclone Tauktae to form today,
strengthen to very severe on May 17 on May 31, says IMD
ANJALI MARAR
PUNE, MAY 14
THE MET department has
warned against a cyclone, which
willformoverSoutheastArabian
Sea on Saturday, strengthening
and intensifying into a 'very se-
vere'cyclonicstorm(windswith
speed of up to 150 to 160 kmph)
on May 17.
Prevailing well-marked low
pressure system over
Lakshadweep developed into a
depression on Friday. The India
Meteorological Department
(IMD) launched a cyclone watch
and released the possible track
that the cyclone, which is to ac-
quire its name Tauktae, will take
in due course. It is headed to-
wards Gujarat and adjoining
Why wasn’t Centre’s In Gujarat, communities lend
jab advisory followed, hand with Covid care centres
HC asks BSY govt
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, MAY 14
THE KARNATAKA government
launched the vaccination pro-
gramme for 18-44 age group on
May 10 despite advisories from
the Centre that administering
second doses to those in the 45
plus age category must get first
preference, the Union govern-
ment has informed the
Karnataka High Court.
Thebenchhasaskedthestate
government to answer why the
guidelineswerenotfollowedbe-
fore launching inoculation drive
forthe18-44agegroup.Thestate
government has sought time to
respond to the court.
On Friday, the Karnataka
government stopped vaccina-
tion for the 18 to 44 age seg-
ment, as it had only 11.24 lakh
doses of vaccines available for
nearly 19.97 lakh people above
the age of 45 who are due for
their second doses.
Inall,therearenearly65lakh
people awaiting second doses in
the state.
“Once, as per existing time-
lines, the second dose is due, it is
an obligation of governments to
ensure the second dose is pro-
vided. If the second dose is not
THERE IS SHORTCOMING IN SYSTEM, BUT THE SYSTEM IS SO HUGE, WHO DO YOU HOLD ACCOUNTABLE, ASKS RAJNISH MISHRA
If someone gets help from Rajan Mishra hospital, it’s good for us: son
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
PANDIT RAJAN Mishra Covid
Hospital opened in Varanasi this
weekinmemoryoftherenowned
vocalistwhodiedinDelhirecently
for want of a ventilator bed. The
newfacilitywon'tfillthevoidbut
might heal the pain if people in
needgettimelymedicalhelp,son
Rajnish said.
Theironyof the750-bedhos-
pitalsetupinhisfather'snameby
the Defence Research and
Monsoon to hit Kerala
Pakistan coast.
The rapidly intensifying sys-
tem shall cause extremely heavy
rainfall (more than 204 mm)
over Lakshadweep, Kerala, ghats
of Tamil Nadu, coastal
Karnataka, while Goa and South
Konkan regions will receive
moderate intensity rain, partic-
ularly up to May 17, the IMD has
stated.
Officials from the IMD stated
that the warm sea surface tem-
peratures over Arabian Sea was
aidingrapidintensificationof the
system while at sea. Wind
speeds ranging from 50 to 60
kmph gusting to 70 kmph has
been forecast all along the West
coast till May 18.
The north Indian Ocean re-
gioncomprisingArabianSeaand
Bay of Bengal are prone to cy-
KARNATAKA’S
DOSE STORY
■ 3.26 crore- The state’s
estimated 18-44 years
population
■ 6.52 crore- The doses
estimated for this age
group
■ 8.94 lakh- Vaccines
received so far for 18-44
group (this is also
accounted for in total
11.24 doses available in
the state till Thursday)
provided, it will be a violation of
fundamentalrightsunderArticle
21of theConstitution,”adivision
bench headed by Chief Justice
Abhay Sreenivas Oka stated on
Thursday.
“While we grant time to the
state to respond...it is absolutely
necessary for the state govern-
ment to abide by the said guide-
lines considering the desperate
and critical situation created to-
day due to failure to administer
the second dose to about
20,00,000 citizens,'' the court
said in its order.
Development Organisation
(DRDO) for Covid-19 patients at
Banaras Hindu University’s cam-
pusinthefamily'shomeVaranasi
is not lost on Rajnish.
The hope is that his father's
soulfindspeace,saidRajnish,also
aHindustaniclassicalsinger."The
fact that the government should
have set up a hospital before, or
that theyhave doneitnow,does-
n'tchangeanythingforus.Butwe
hope this helps other people. We
hope no other home is ruined.
Amidallthisuncertainty,ifsome-
one receives any help thanks to
clones, mainly in May and
November. In a year, this region
normally experiences four cy-
clones, of which three originate
in Bay of Bengal.
DatamaintainedbyRegional
Specialized Meteorological
CentreforTropicalCyclonesover
northIndianOceansuggeststhat
between 1891 and 2021, a cy-
clone developed over Arabian
Sea in May on 33 occasions. Of
these, two developed in May in
1932, 1975 and 2018.
In recent years, however, a
warmingArabianSea,too,iswit-
nessing an increase in cyclogen-
esis. Last June, severe cyclonic
storm Nisarga formed here and
hitclosetoAlibauginRaigaddis-
trict of Maharashtra, causing
widespread damage to the
coastal town.
GOPAL KATESHIYA
RAJKOT, MAY 14
WHEN A surge in Covid-19 cases
in Morbi left the healthcare sys-
tem overwhelmed in early April,
communities responded by set-
tingupdedicatedCovidcarecen-
tres(CCCs)of andlaterconverted
themintodedicatedCovidhealth
centres (DCHCs) with around
1,000 beds, some of them exclu-
sively for members of certain
communities.
Morbidoesnothaveamedical
college or any large public or pri-
vate hospital. Within days after
cases started surging in the last
week of March, 100 beds in the
district General Hospital were
fully occupied. So were around
200 beds in private Covid hospi-
tals as number of active cases in
the district jumped from 189 on
April 2 to 507 on April 16.
Government converted its
sub-district hospitals in Halvad
and Wankaner and community
health centres in Tankara, Jetpar
andMaliyaintoDCHCsbyadding
oxygen (O2) beds. It also con-
verted Adarsh Nivasi Shala in
MorbiintoDCHCandpolytechnic
college in Ghuntu village into a
CCC, adding 288 beds.
Yet,assevereshortageofbeds
continued,communitygroupsre-
sponded,firstbeingthePatidar.It
Pt Rajan
Mishra died
after battling
Covid
the hospital in my father's name,
it'sgoodforus.AndIhopehissoul
finds peace," Rajnish told PTI.
Rajan Mishra, one of the fore-
most exponents of khayal gayaki
along with his brother Sajan
Mishra, died of Covid-related
complications at a Delhi hospital
on April 25, shortly after friends
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PUNE, MAY 14
THE INDIA Meteorological
Department (IMD) Friday an-
nounced that the onset of the
southwest monsoon overKerala
is expected on May 31. The fore-
cast comes with a model error
deviation of four days.
Thenormaldateforthemon-
soon onset over the southern
state is June 1, which marks the
commencement of the four-
month-long southwest mon-
soon season over the country.
The IMD will be issuing the
second stage long range forecast
(LRF) towards the end of this
month that will specify the rain-
fall distribution over the homo-
geneous regions of the country.
Inside the DCHC set up by Patidar community in Halvad. Express
converted Jaylakshman
Vidyadham, a boarding school in
Jodhpar village, into a 300-bed
Patidar Covid Centre, on April 8.
As all the beds were occupied
inaday,the51-membercommit-
tee of the community converted
PatidarKanyaChhatralaya,agirls’
hostelinMorbi town,intoasimi-
larfacilityonApril13.Lateron,80
of the total 600 beds in the two
premiseswereconvertedintoO2
beds and the CCCs were con-
verted into DCHCs. But these
DCHCs admitted only those who
belonged to Patidar community.
Lohana community also
opened a 50-bed DCHC called
Raghuvanshi Covid Isolation
CentreforitsmembersonApril9
inMorbitown.Sathvaracommu-
nityfollowedtheleadbyopening
a50-bedDCHConApril14.Ismaili
Khojacommunity,too,openedits
and well-wishers put out SOS
messagesonsocialmedialooking
foraventilatorforhim.Hewas70.
"Wewere trying foraventila-
tor but nobody supported
us...(there was) nothing in any
hospital. Later, the PMO reached
out to help but he had left us by
then,"Rajnishsaidafterthedeath
of his father following multiple
heart attacks.
Almost three weeks later,
Rajnish said the lack of adequate
facilities, including a ventilator
bed, contributed to his father's
death,andtheonlywaytoprotect
In its first stage LRF, the Met
department had forecast a nor-
mal monsoon over the country
as a whole, with the season's
rainfall pitched at 98 percent of
the long period average, which
is 88cm. The La Nina conditions
have ended and the El Nino
Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
neutral phase commenced in
April, said the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) in its
ENSO alert report, issued on
Thursday.
The ENSO is one of the many
large-scale features that influ-
ence the monsoon. El Nino is the
abnormal warming along the
equatorialPacificOceanwhereas
below normal sea surface tem-
peratures over this region is
termed La Nina.
DCHCs on April 24. These exclu-
sive facilities added 700 beds,
around 140 of them having oxy-
gen supply.
Meanwhile, Simpolo
FoundationrunbySimpoloGroup,
aceramictileproducer,openedan
80-bed DCHC in Bharatnagar vil-
lage, while Jaydeep & Company, a
firmassociatedwithsaltindustry,
set up a 100-bed DCHC in a com-
munityhallofferedtothemfreeof
cost by the Jain community in
Morbi town. Muslim and Patidar
communities in Halvad taluka of
Morbi district set up DCHCs in
Halvad town. These four facilities
with 250 beds, including 170 O2
beds were open to all. Later on,
JankiKaila,vice-presidentofMorbi
district panchayat, also opened a
DCHCinBelavillagewithsixoxy-
genbeds. FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
suchtragediesinfutureisto"bol-
ster" the healthcare system. “No
one can be held responsible for
this.TheonlythingIwillsayisthat
all hospitals in the country must
bebolsteredwithallsuchfacilities
instead of making Parliament,
mandiroranyhigh-budgetbuild-
ing under construction," he said.
Thegovernmenthasfacedflak
from several quarters, including
opposition parties, for going
aheadwiththeCentralVistaproj-
ect, which includes a new
Parliamentbuildingandnewres-
idencesforthePrimeMinisterand
New Delhi
Maharashtra
wants 50%
doses of Bharat
Bio’s Pune plant
ATIKH RASHID
PUNE, MAY 14
THESTATEgovernmentwillurge
Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-
based firm that is manufactur-
ing the Covid-19 vaccine, to re-
serve 50 per cent doses
manufactured at its proposed
Pune plant for supply within
Maharashtra, said deputy chief
minister Ajit Pawar on Friday.
Pawar chaired the weekly
Covid-19 review meeting at
Pune's Council Hall. The admin-
istration discussed plans to deal
with mucormycosis infections
beingdetectedinsomeCovid-19
patients.
Pawar said Bharat Biotech
had asked for 11.58 hectares in
Pune district to set up a vaccine
manufacturing plant, and that
the government was actively
providing assistance.
"Pune divisional commis-
sioner and district collector are
going to process the request for
thelandatthesoonest.Theywill
alsoworkonspeedyapprovalfor
the provision of water, electric-
ity and other essentials for the
plant. It may take up to three
months until the vaccine pro-
ductioncommencesattheplant.
The company will have to pro-
vide 50 per cent of the produced
vaccine to the central govern-
ment. However, we will request
BharatBiotechtoreservetherest
(of the vaccine) for use within
the state," he said.
Pawar also said the central
government should regularly
provide details about foreign aid
received and its distribution
among states. He also slammed
criticism by Pune BJP leaders
THE WAIT: A Covid patient on oxygen support waits to be
admitted at Patna Medical College and Hospital. On Friday.
the Bihar health department said 7,494 fresh cases and 77
deaths were reported from across the state. PTI
J&K: Centre to send team to examine
rise in Covid-19 cases, help admin
ARUN SHARMA
JAMMU, MAY 14
TAKING NOTE of the continued
spike in number of Covid-19
casesacrossJammuandKashmir
(J&K), the Central Government
on Friday deputed a team of ex-
perts to examine the reasons for
the surge and also to assist UT
Government in pandemic con-
trol and containment measures.
Union Minister of State in the
PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh, took to
TwitteronFridaysaying:“Central
team of experts deputed to visit
GMC and other health institu-
tions in #Jammu in view of
theVicePresident,asthecountry
fights the second, deadlier wave
of Covid-19.
Rajnish said the pandemic
shouldn't be a point for politics
as India is in "desperate" need of
well-equipped hospitals. "Ram
Mandir can wait, as Ram-ji is not
goingtoseeif thetempleisready
or not. There is already a huge
Parliament in Delhi. There is no
need for another one. There is a
PM House as well. Another one
is not required,” he said. "It kind
of sounds petty that around Rs
20,000 crore is being spent, but
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
BHARAT BIOTECH
PLANT IN KARNATAKA
Bengaluru: Karnataka will
soon have a Covaxin-man-
ufacturing plant of Bharat
Biotech in Kolar district,
Deputy Chief Minister of the
State Dr C N Ashwath
Narayan said on Friday. The
construction has begun and
the government has invited
investors to make the vac-
cine in the state, he said. PTI
that the state government had
deliberately delayed permission
to the PMC to float a global ten-
der to procure 25 lakh vaccines
for Pune city.
"I have received a letter from
BJP'sGaneshBidkaronthisissue.
ImustmakeitclearthatthePMC
does not need permission from
the state government to float a
global tender for vaccine pro-
curement. I checked this infor-
mation from the secretary of the
urbandevelopmentdepartment
(BhushanGagrani)andprincipal
secretary Mahesh Pathak. The
BMC took a decision in this re-
gard on its own. Hence,what BJP
leaders are saying has no mean-
ing," he said.
The deputy chief minister
said mucormycosis infections
was an area of concern and the
administration had stepped up
effortstoensurethatpatientsgot
timely treatment.
"The treatment involves ex-
pensive injections, which may
costuptoRs15lakh.Wehavein-
cluded the ailment under the
flagship Mahatma Phule Jan
Arogya Yojana (MPJAY)...”
#COVID surge, Local authorities
are advised to frankly point con-
straints faced by them without
mincingwords,sothatCentrecan
optimally step in to assist them.”
The three member team will
comprise members from
Chandigarh’s Post Graduate
Instituteof MedicalSciencesand
Research and Delhi’s National
Centre of Disease Control.
The team comprises Dr
Pranay Verma, Joint Director
Epidemiology Division NCDC,
Delhi; Dr Mahesh Waghmare,
Microbiology, NCDC Delhi; and
Dr Navneet Sharma, Professor
Department of Internal
Medicine, PGIMER Chandigarh.
if thisamountisinjectedintoour
healthcare system today...I be-
lieve the future already looks
quitegrim,butwecantrytopre-
pare ourselves for it.”
Hesaid:"We have losta lotof
other legendary artists like
Pandit Devbrata Chaudhuri, his
son Prateek Chaudhuri, my fa-
ther... They could not get those
facilities. That is a shortcoming
in the system. But the system is
so huge, who do you hold ac-
countable for the lapses? There
is no particular face whom we
can question.”
 E EXPLAINED
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

11
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com

SIMPLY PUT
CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD

INDIA ACTIVE CASES

4000,000
3,704,893
Punjab’s Covax hope
3,704,893 Thus far, Covax has operated only at the level of nations — procuring vaccines for, and supplying to, national
3,487,229
governments. Punjab’s plan to join the facility to procure doses appears to have little chance of succeeding
3500,000 AMITABH SINHA
PUNE, MAY 14
ON FRIDAY, the Punjab government an-
nounced that, since it was facing a shortage
of Covid-19 vaccines, it had decided to join
3000,000 the global Covax facility to procure supplies.
May 4
LAST 10 DAYS May 13
Several other states, and the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation, have over the past
Note: The May 13 figure in this graph is based on the government update on May 14 few days expressed theirintentionto import
vaccines from abroad.
As the situation currently stands, neither
INDIA TOTAL CASES WORLD TOTAL CASES the attempt by states in buying vaccines di-
24,046,809 161,323,688 rectlyfromglobalmanufacturers,norPunjab’s
Source: Ministry of Health & Family Source: Johns Hopkins University, decision to join Covax is likely to bear fruit. In
Welfare, updated at 11 pm on May 14 updated at 11 pm on May 14 Punjab’scase,it is not evenclear whetheritis
eligible to join Covax, a World Health
Organisation-ledplatformworkingtoensure
equitable and affordable access to Covid-19
Thissituationwouldhaveleftmostof the
developingandleast-developedworldwith-
outanyaccesstovaccinesforseveralmonths.
It is here that the Covax facility was to be of
help — not only to countries that do not have
the resources to buy in the open market, but
also to those who would have to wait indef-
initely because they did not pre-book.
Covax does collective buying of available
vaccines for all countries that are its mem-
bers, and then allocates them in a manner
that is intended to help each of these coun-
triestovaccinateatleastthemostvulnerable
sections of their populations.
Covax has so far provided 59 million vac-
cine doses to 122 countries. No sub-national
entity has so far benefited from these sup-
plies. And even this supply chain is strained,
Workers carry Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines made available through Covax and both because of lack of funds, and unavail-
redeployed from the DR Congo, at Accra, Ghana, last week. Reuters ability of vaccines.

Mixing Covid-19 vaccines vaccines to countries around the world. Thus

far,Covaxhasbeenoperatingonlyatthelevel
of nations — procuring vaccines for, and sup- What Punjab seeks
Asked how Punjab hoped to get vaccines
from Covax when only national govern-
ments were eligible to access it, the state

increases reactogenicity; plying to, national governments.

The shortage
DAILY VACCINE DOSES While Punjab has announced that it
would join Covax to access vaccines, it is
chief secretary said the government was ex-
ploring all possibilities, and the suggestion

no other safety concerns

Thedeclaredattemptsbystatestoprocure
vaccines on their own is a direct result of the
current shortage of doses in India, which is
RESEARCHERS RUNNING the slowing down vaccination efforts. About 22
University of Oxford-led Com-COV lakh doses on average are being currently ad-
study — which was launched earlier ministered every day; this is much less than
this year to investigate alternating what India was able to do for some time last
doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca and month — about 35 lakh doses on average —
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines — have re- andfarlessthanthedemand.(Seegraphright)
probably not even eligible to get supplies
4,000,000
throughthefacility.Also,Covaxitself isstrug-
glingtogetvaccinesfrommanufacturersand
3,000,000 donor countries.
The WHO-led Covax initiative was set up
2,000,000 last yearinpartnership with GAVI (originally
Global Alliance for Vaccines and
1,000,000 Immunisation), and the Coalition for
Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)
0 with the specific purpose of expediting the
Feb1
to approach Covax had come up at a meet-
ing of the state Cabinet on Thursday.
“Weareexploringpossibilitiestogetaccess
to vaccines for our population. It was a good
suggestion that was accepted by the Cabinet.
Weareexploringallpossibilities,”ChiefSecre-
tary Vini Mahajan told The Indian Express.
The road ahead
As of now, the roadmap unveiled by the

Mar1

Apr1

May1
ported preliminary data that show Experts have been sayingthat India must development and production of vaccines, centralgovernmentseemstobethebestcase
more frequent mild-to-moderate re- administer at least 10 million (1 crore) doses and then making them available for all, es- scenario for India. Several vaccines, both in-
actionsinmixedschedulescompared a day in order to immunise the entire adult pecially to people in the poorer countries. digenouslydevelopedaswellasfromforeign
to standard schedules. population by the end of the year. A handful of rich countries, the United companies, are expected to become avail-
Writing in a peer-reviewed Indiahasdeployedonlytwovaccinesun- shouldbeenoughtovaccinateeveryadultin States, United Kingdom, and those in the able in the next few months. Some on the
Research Letter published in The Study sought to investigate til now, the ones being produced by Serum thecountry.Butintheshort-termatleast,the EuropeanUnionhadmadebookingswithvac- government’s list, like Sputnik V and
Lancet,theresearcherssaidthatwhen alternating doses of Oxford- Institute of India and Bharat Biotech. Several shortage of vaccines is likely to persist. cine developers last year, long before any of Novavax, are certain to arrive, while others
given at a four-week interval, both of AstraZeneca and Pfizer- more are in the pipeline, including the Unfortunately for the state governments, their vaccines had even been approved. The likethosebeingdevelopedbyZydusCadilaor
the ‘mixed’ schedules (Pfizer- BioNTech vaccines. Reuters/File RussianSputnikVthatwassoft-launchedon dosesarenotavailableintheglobalmarketei- USspentover$10billioninadvancepayments Gennovaare subjecttoregulatoryapprovals.
BioNTech followed by Oxford- Friday.OnThursday,thegovernmentclaimed ther. Fourteen vaccines are currently in use tosixmanufacturers,bookingmorethantwo In the meanwhile, Serum Institute of
AstraZeneca,andOxford-AstraZeneca that if everything went as per plan, 216 crore globally, and none of them are available im- doses for each of its citizens. Servicing these India and Bharat Biotech are expected to
followedbyPfizer-BioNTech)induced “Importantly”, Dr Snape said, — more than 2 billion — doses of vaccines mediately.Mostmanufacturersarestruggling advancebookingswouldlikelykeeptheman- ramp up production capacities. Together,
morefrequentreactionsfollowingthe “there are no safety concerns or sig- would become available in India between tofulfilltheirpriorcommitmentstocountries ufacturersbusyforseveralmonthsevenitthey they are expected to start producing at least
second,‘boost’dosethanthestandard, nals,andthisdoesnottellusif theim- August and December. If that happens, it thathadbookedmillionsof doses inadvance. produce at peak capacity. 150 million doses every month by August.
‘non-mixed’ schedules. mune response will be affected. We

Sputnik V: Rollout plan, cost of a jab

The researchers added that any
adverse reactions were
short lived, and there
were no other safety
concerns,accordingtoa
news update published
by Oxford University on
Thursday.
Matthew Snape,
hope to report these data in the com-
ing months. In the
meantime, we have
adapted the ongoing
study to assess whether
early and regular use of
paracetamolreducesthe DRLhassofarreceivedonly150,000doses What factors will decide how much you isRs300perdose,whileCovaxinisofferedto
frequency of these reac- PRABHA RAGHAVAN of the vaccine from Russia, but the company will pay at a private hospital? States at Rs 400 per dose.
PAPER tions.” NEW DELHI, MAY 14 expects more doses soon. According to its The imported vaccine has been priced at However, in the private market, Sputnik

CLIP
chief investigatoronthe The researchers also
trial,said:“Whilstthisis noted that as the study DR REDDY’S Laboratories on Friday said it
a secondary part of data was recorded in had soft-launched the Sputnik V Covid-19
what we are trying to NEW RESEARCH participantsaged50and vaccine in India.
explore through these above,thereisapossibil-
studies, it is important ity such reactions may What kind of vaccine is Sputnik V?
that we inform people about these be more prevalent in younger age MadebytheGamaleyaResearchInstitute
data, especially as these mixed-doses groups. (‘Heterologous prime-boost of Epidemiology and Microbiology in
schedules are being considered in COVID-19 vaccination: initial reacto- Moscow,Russia,SputnikVisatwo-dosevac-
several countries. genicitydata’: Snape et al.,The Lancet) cine that uses a platform similar to that of
“The results from this study sug- Reactogenicity is the physical re- Covishield, the most widely used Covid-19
gest that mixed dose schedules could sponse to vaccination, and typically vaccine in India.
resultinanincreaseinworkabsences includes pain, soreness, redness or However, unlike Covishield, which uses
thedayafterimmunisation,andthisis swelling at the site of the jab, as well a weakened common cold adenovirus that
importanttoconsiderwhenplanning as fever or headache. infects chimpanzees, Sputnik V makes use
immunisationof healthcareworkers.” University of Oxford of two different human adenoviruses.
The vaccine has an efficacy of 91.6 per
cent, according to trial data published in the
scientific journal The Lancet. This means it
has the ability to bring down symptomatic
Covid-19 cases by nearly 92 per cent in those
vaccinated compared with those who have
not received a vaccine.
In India, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) is
the local distribution partner for Sputnik V.
Following clearance from the Central Drugs
Laboratory in Kasauli, which performed var-
ious tests for the vaccine’s quality and stabil-
ity, the first dose of Sputnik V was adminis-
tered in Hyderabad on Friday.
How many doses will Sputnik V add to
India’s vaccination effort?
agreement with the Russian Direct
Investment Fund (RDIF), which has been
signing agreements to supply the vaccine
across the world, India is expected to get at
least 250 million doses, which will be suffi-
cienttoinoculate125millionpeople.Around
36 million of these doses are expected to be
sent from Russia “over the next couple of
months”, according to the company.
Capacity to make around 850 million
doses is being set up in India through pacts
that have been signed with various biotech-
nology companies. DRL expects additional
capacity to be supplied by these manufac-
turers starting July.
So, how soon can you expect to get a
Sputnik V shot if you want one?
Rightnow,thenumberof doseswithDRL
is only enough for a “test” rollout, which the
company has decided to do across major
cities and tier 1 metros. Around 35 cities are
being considered at the moment, but the
companysaysithasnotfinalizedwhichones.
More clarity is expected to emerge in a
week’s time.
According to DRL, it will take 8-12
months tovaccinate125million people with
Sputnik V. The company is still in the process
of negotiating procurements with the cen-
tral and state governments.
How much will a Sputnik V jab cost you?
Rs 948 per dose. However, including 5 per
cent GST, the price goes up to Rs 995.40 per
dose. According to DRL, this is the price at
which the vaccine is being offered to both
the government and in the private market.
Itisunclearrightnowhowmuchthevac-
cine, once procured by private hospitals, will
be priced for the end consumer. So far, pri-
vatehospitalshave addedupto Rs300 to the
price at which they have procured other
Covid-19 vaccines. It is important to note,
however, that Covishield and Covaxin do not
have the niche cold chain requirements of
Sputnik V.
In its liquid form, the Russian vaccine is
required to be stored at minus 18°C, which
means that hospitals with such cold storage
facilitieswouldbebetterplacedtohandleand
administer it. The cold chain requirements
could add to the price that hospitals set.
DRL has said that the price might go
down once local supplies begin.
How does this cost compare with that of
other Covid-19 vaccines?
At its current price, Sputnik V is the most
expensivevaccineofferedtothegovernment
for procurement so far. The Centre has been
procuring Serum Institute of India’s
Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin at
Rs 150 per dose for use in its programme to
immunise the 45-plus group. Covishield’s
price for states to vaccinate 18-44-year-olds
V is the second most expensive vaccine.
CovishieldispricedatRs600perdoseforpri-
vate hospitals; Covaxin is sold for Rs 1,200
per dose.
Given the vaccine shortage, if you can’t
get Covishield or Covaxin for your second
dose, can you take Sputnik V instead?
Mixing vaccines is not a good idea. This is
because Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik V
all havedifferentcompositions.Eventhough
CovishieldandSputnik Vare bothnon-repli-
catingviralvectorvaccines,theadenoviruses
used in these vaccines are different.
A study done on those who received, in
any order, one shot of the AstraZeneca vac-
cine (on which Covishield is based) and one
shot of the mRNA vaccine developed by
Pfizer and BioNTech, showed that mixing
thesevaccinesshowedanincreaseinreports
of mild-to-moderate side effects. However,
thesewereshortlived.(Fordetailsofthestudy,
Paper Clip left)
However, no trials or studies have been
conducted to test safety and efficacy in the
event that Sputnik V is mixed with
Covishield or Covaxin.
In any case, given the way the govern-
ment’svaccinationprogrammeisstructured,
it will not be possible to mix shots. Your first
shot is registered in your certificate, and you
will not be allowed to receive a second shot
of a different vaccine.

As Bengal farmers get PM-Kisan cash, recalling tussle over scheme

HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
WHEN PRIME Minister Narendra Modi re-
leased Rs 20,667 crore as the eighth install-
ment of payouts under PM-Kisan on Friday,
among the over 9.5 crore beneficiaries
across the country were more than 7 lakh
farmers in West Bengal. This was the first
time that Bengal farmers received this ben-
efit; the state had thus far stayed away from
the central scheme.
A total Rs 281.58 crore was transferred to
the bank accounts of 7,03,955 Bengal farm-
ersonFridayastwoinstallmentsforDecem-
ber-March 2020-21 and April-July 2021-22.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Ban-
erjeehaddemandedRs18,000foreachfarm-
er,inkeepingwiththepromisemadebyModi
during the Assembly election campaign.
PM-Kisan scheme
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman
Nidhi (PM-Kisan) is a 100 per cent centrally
funded scheme under which Rs 6,000 is
transferredinthreeequalinstallmentstoel-
igible farmer families in a year. Though the
scheme was announced in the General
Budget (Interim) for 2019-20 ahead of Lok
Sabha elections, it was implemented from
December1,2018,whenthefirstinstallment
forDecember-March,2018-19wasreleased.
How the scheme works
The money is transferred to bank ac-
counts of beneficiaries through the Direct
Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode. According to
scheme guidelines, state governments are
requiredtosend“correctandverifieddataof
farmers”,whichStateNodalOfficers(SNOs)
authenticateanduploadtotheschemepor-
tal in batches. Based on the verified data,
SNOs sign the Request For Transfer (RFT),
with the total number of beneficiaries.
ThePublicFinanceManagementSystem
(PFMS) then issues a Fund Transfer Order
(FTO), based on which the Department of
On May 6, Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee said the state had completed
its work, and asked the Centre to
release the funds. West Bengal CM’s Office
Agriculture,Cooperation&Farmers’Welfare
in the central Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers’ Welfare issues the transaction or-
der for the mentioned amount.
The money goes to the State Nodal
Account maintained at a sponsor bank (in
the case of Bengal, it is the State Bank of
India), and the SNO gives a letter of author-
ity to the bank manager to auto debit the
PM-Kisan amount and credit it to the ac-
counts of eligible farmers.
Centre vs West Bengal
The West Bengal government had de-
manded that the money be given to the
state to distribute to farmers. It went slow
on providing the list of beneficiaries, and
did not designate an SNO until a few days
before the Model Code of Conduct came
into force (on February 26).
As the high-stakes Assembly election
approached, this became a political issue.
The Chief Minister and Union Agriculture
Minister Narendra Singh Tomar wrote to
each other on more than one occasion. BJP
leaders, including the Prime Minister, ac-
cused the Trinamool Congress of depriving
farmers of benefits offered by the Centre,
while the TMC said the state government
had already done the needful, and accused
the Centre of delaying the funds.
Meanwhile, of the 69 lakh farmers esti-
mated to be eligible for PM-Kisan benefits
by the Agriculture Ministry, some 41 lakh
had registered themselves on the scheme
portal.About14lakhamongthemhadbeen
verifiedbythestategovernment,andabout
half that number were cleared by the PFMS
to receive the benefit.
On the day after the TMC’s thumping
election victory, Tomar again wrote to
Banerjee, complaining that “the state gov-
ernment is yet to approve the auto debit fa-
cility to transfer the money directly into the
accounts of beneficiaries”.
A day later, on May 4, the West Bengal
governmentauthorisedSBItomaketheau-
tomatic debits. Banerjee then wrote to
Modi, requesting him to advise the
Agriculture Ministry to release funds under
the scheme to the eligible beneficiaries.
AtapressconferenceonMay6,theChief
Minister said: “I hope the funds...will be re-
leased soon. They said Rs 18,000 will be
given to each farmer. Five months ago we
uploaded the names of recipients on the
central government’s portal and made all
arrangements.”
On Friday, an Agriculture Ministry offi-
cialsaidfarmersof Bengalhadreceivedtwo
installments because the state government
had sent the data of farmers during
December-March, 2020-21. Once the state
sends the list of remaining eligible farmers,
they would get their money in the next cy-
cle of payment, the official said.
The sum involved
FromthebeginningofPM-Kisanin2018-
19 to the seventh installment released in
December2020,Rs1.16lakhcrorehadbeen
transferred into the accounts of 10.82 crore
eligible farmers under the scheme. On
Bengal,AgricultureMinisterTomarhadsaid:
“Had the state government decided to join
the scheme from the beginning, about Rs
9,660 crore would have been transferred to
the accounts of farmer families until now.”

New Delhi

12 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
Jimmy Lai
HONG KONG
Govtfreezesmedia
tycoon’sassets
HONG KONG’S Security
Bureau said on Friday it has
frozen assets belonging to
jailed media tycoon Jimmy
LaiChee-ying,inthefirstuse
ofseizurepowersgrantedto
authorities under the na-
tional security law. The as-
sets included all the shares
of NextDigitalLimitedheld
by Lai. He was sentenced to
14monthsinprisonfortak-
ingpartinunauthorisedas-
sembliesin2019. REUTERS
GERMANY
Missingbillionaire
declareddead
A GERMAN court officially
declared billionaire Karl-
Erivan Haub dead, more
than three years after the
head of retail group
Tengelmann went missing
in the Swiss Alps. Haub,
who was 58, was training
for a ski mountaineering
race when he disappeared
underMatterhornpeak. AP
CHINA
Marsrovertoland
withindays
CHINA SAYS its Mars
probe and accompanying
rover are expected to land
on the red planet some-
time between Saturday
and Wednesday Beijing
time. The mission is the
first attempt at a soft land-
ing on Mars by a Chinese
spacecraft. AP
CROSSWORD 4430
ACROSS
1 Of all the trees, only the ashes
will be left after this (6,4)
6 Posh sort of business (4)
10 Going with some hesitation to
tender (5)
11 Early leaf of nominal
importance (5,4)
12 Keep making jam (8)
13 Decrease in newspapers
(5)
15 They may be responsible for
reports from the front (7)
17 Receives and deceives (5,2)
19 Mountain woman who was
tempted to take things easy
(7)
21 A fabulous horseman (7)
22 Come together in an
emergency (5)
24 Take care if it changes - it’s a
trick (8)
27 Cash a cheque and I get a note
in exchange (9)
28 Vital statistical centre
(5)
29 Season or sea son? (4)
30 Drama put right after direction
from the author? (10)
SolutionsCrossword4429:Across: 1Potshot,5Ticks,8Catamaran,9Nor,10Sack,12
Identity,14Ignore,15Behead,17Squirrel,18Item,21Art,22Meditated,24Terms,25
Parades.Down:1Paces,2Tit,3Hump,4Tirade,5Tenanted,6Continent,7Strayed,11
Conductor,13Triremes,14Instant,16Heldup,19Modes,20Star,23Ted.
JUMBLED WORDS
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget
theanswerforthegivenquip.
Timeistheimageof___.-DiogenesLaërtius(8)
IRTEE
CELIR
Answer: Time is the image of eternity. - Diogenes Laërtius
SOLUTION: RETIE, RELIC, PATTER, SHEENY
2 INDIANS HELD BY UK IMMIGRATION FORCES FREED
ScottishpoliceorderedthereleaseonThursdayof twoIndianmen whohadbeendetainedby
Britishimmigrationofficials,afterhundredsof protestersinGlasgowblockedthepathof avan
carryingthedetainees.Afterastand-off lastingseveralhours, thetwomenemergedfromthe
backof avanbelongingtoBritain’s interiorministry,whichsetsimmigrationrulesforthewhole
UnitedKingdom.Acrowdof onlookers clappedandcheeredasoneof themenwavedandpolice
officersmadespaceforthemtowalkfree,pendingfurtherinvestigation.
Palestinians flee as Israeli
artillery pounds northern Gaza
Death toll in Gaza rises to 122, including 31 children
FARES AKRAM &
JOSEPH KRAUSS
GAZA CITY, MAY 14
THOUSANDS OF Palestinians
grabbedchildrenandbelongings
and fled their homes Friday as
Israel barraged the northern
Gaza Strip with tank fire and
airstrikes, killing a family of six
in their house and heavily dam-
aging other neighbourhoods in
what it said was an operation to
clear militant tunnels.
As international efforts at a
ceasefire stepped up, Israel ap-
peared to be looking to inflict in-
tensified damage on the Islamic
militantgroupHamas,whichcon-
trols the Gaza Strip and has fired
hundreds of rockets into Israel.
The Gaza violence increas-
ingly spilled over into turmoil
elsewhere. Across the West
DOWN
1 Infantry base (4)
2 Respect shown in a testimonial
(9)
3 In the streets see alternative
groups (5)
4 They’re bought and sold but
not as presents (7)
5 Go back to the nunnery (7)
7 A swell in the avenue (5)
8 Requests put with an attempt
at jocularity (10)
9 Is said to be ordered in advance
(8)
14 Mere agents might make them
(10)
16 Weather men caught in a flurry
of sleet (8)
18 Looking for loose change sir?
(9)
20 A number walk wearily around
- it’s hard work (7)
21 It has its place in the canteen
(7)
23 King-size is unusually large (5)
25 We infer a reduction in
numbers (5)
26 Let it be one sort of square in
another (4)
AEPRTT
EEHSNY
AP
Gaza healthcarestretched to limits
UNDERANindefinite
blockadebyIsraeland
Egypt,Gazaislargelyre-
liantonfuelandother
suppliescomingacross
theIsraeliborder.Thescarcityof
medicalsuppliesandotherre-
sources,aswellastheCovid-19
pandemic,hadalready
Bank, Palestinians held their
most widespread protests since
2017, with hundreds in at least
nine towns burning tires and
throwingstonesatIsraelitroops.
Soldiers opening fire killed six,
according to Palestinian health
officials, while a seventh
Palestinian was killed as he tried
to stab an Israeli soldier.
OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong
DifficultyLevel2s
Instructions
TosolveaSudokupuzzle,
everydigitfrom1to9
SUDOKU 4472
mustappearineachofthe
nineverticalcolumns,in
eachoftheninehorizontal
rowsandineachofthe
nineboxes.
DifficultyLevel
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;
3s=Medium;4s=Hard;
5s=VeryHard;6s=
Genius
stretchedGaza’shealth-
carefacilities.TheIsraeli
airstrikesof thepastfew
dayshaveleftthesefacil-
itiesstrugglingeven
more.Atfullcapacity,thehospi-
talsnowalsohavetodealwith
longerpoweroutagesandthe
availabilityof fewersupplies.
InGaza,thetollfromthefight-
ingroseto122killed,including31
children, with 900 wounded, ac-
cording to the Health Ministry.
TheHamasandIslamicJihadmil-
itant groups have confirmed 20
deaths in their ranks, though
Israel says that number is much
higher. Seven people have been
killed in Israel. AP
Covid lab leak
theory cannot be
ruled out, leading
scientists say
London: The origin of the novel
coronavirus is still unclear and
the theory that it was caused by
a laboratory leak needs to be
taken seriously until there is a
rigorous data-led investigation
that proves it wrong, a group of
leading scientists said.
“More investigation is still
neededtodeterminetheoriginof
the pandemic,” said the 18 scien-
tists, including Ravindra Gupta, a
clinical microbiologist at
UniversityofCambridge,andJesse
Bloom, who studies evolution of
virusesatFredHutchinsonCancer
ResearchCenter.“Theoriesofacci-
dental release from a lab and
zoonoticspilloverbothremainvi-
able,”thescientistssaidinaletter
to the journal Science. REUTERS
POSITIVETESTSKEEP
MANYAUSTRALIANSOFF
FLIGHTHOMEFROMINDIA
Melbourne: Several Australians
in India who were scheduled to
return home by a repatriation
flight initiated by the Australian
government were unable to do
so on Friday because they tested
positive for Covid-19 or were
considered a close contact of
someone who was positive,
Australian High Commissioner
to India Barry O'Farrell said.
Around half of the 150 peo-
ple set to leave New Delhi for
AustraliaonFridaywill notbeal-
lowed to board the flight. PTI
Variant first found in India forces UK to rethink plans
ELIAN PELTIER &
MARC SANTORA
MAY 14
THE BRITISH authorities said on
Friday that they are considering
changing vaccination protocols
and reintroducing local lock-
downs to stem the spread of a
coronavirusvariantfirstdetected
in India, a warning sign for coun-
tries that are easing restrictions
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4471
MEANWHLE
CYBER ATTACK TARGETS IRISH HEALTH SYSTEM
Ireland’s health service shut down its IT systems on Friday after being targeted in a ransomware
attack by what it called “international criminals”. Appointments and elective surgeries were
cancelled at several hospitals. Ransomware attacks are typically carried out by criminal hackers
who scramble data, paralysing victims’ networks, and demand a large payment to decrypt it.
Kabul mosque
bombing kills
12 worshippers
REUTERS
KABUL, MAY 14
AN EXPLOSION inside a mosque
on the outskirts of the Afghan
capital Kabul killed at least 12
people during Friday prayers as
worshippersgatheredfortheEid
al-Fitrholidayduringaceasefire.
The Taliban insurgent group,
which declared the three-day
truce for the holiday, con-
demned the attack in a state-
ment, and there was no imme-
diate claim of responsibility.
Ferdous Faramarz,
spokesman for the Kabul police,
said the mosque's Imam was
among the 12 dead and that at
least 15 people were wounded
in the blast at a mosque in the
capital's Shakar Dara district.
The blast came less than a
weekafteranexplosionataschool
killed 80 people, most of them
schoolgirlsfromtheethnicHazara
Shi'ite Muslim minority. The
Talibanalsodenouncedthatattack
andnooneclaimedresponsibility.
US officials believe the attack
onthe schoolmayhave beenthe
work of a rival militant group
such as Islamic State. Such
groups have not signed on to the
holiday ceasefire.
At a testing
centre in
London.
Reuters
even though their own vaccina-
tion campaigns are incomplete.
Thenumbersof casesinvolv-
ing thevariant, knownasB.1.617,
rose from 520 last week to 1,313
cases this week in Britain, ac-
New Delhi
Violence, including attacks
on civilians, has increased in
Afghanistan, even as the United
States has begun an operation to
withdraw all its remaining
troops over the next four
months.
Therehavebeennomajorre-
ports so far of direct fighting be-
tweengovernmentforcesandthe
Talibanduringtheholidaycease-
fire, which began on Thursday at
the end of the Ramadan fasting
month. However, roadside
bombings have continued, with
atleast11civiliansreportedkilled
and 13 wounded in four bomb-
ings on Thursday.
The government and the
Taliban have been holding polit-
ical talks to try to end their con-
flict as Washington pulls its
troops out 20 years after US
bombingforcedtheTalibanfrom
power. Both sides at the talks
have accused the other of pro-
voking and failing to halt attacks
against civilians.
“Today’s attack on a mosque
in Shakar Dara district of Kabul
during Friday prayer is com-
pletely opposing the idea of Eid
al-Fitr as a family holiday cele-
brated in peace,” the European
Union’s mission in Afghanistan
said on Twitter.
cording to official statistics.
The extent to which the vari-
anthasspreadgloballyisunclear,
because most countries lack the
genomicsurveillancecapabilities
employed in England.
Most cases detected in Britain
areinnorthwesternEngland.The
focus has been on Bolton, a town
of nearly 200,000 that has one of
the country’s highest rates of in-
fection and where health officials
havewarnedofwidespreadcom-
DAY TODAY
ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)
Although the
weekendlooks
relatively relaxed,you
canneverforgetthat
you'reanAries.Thelong-term
outlookisstormy,andrecent
disputescouldsooncometoa
pointof noreturn.Itistimeto
faceuptothetruthonanumber
of personalissues,anddowhat
youcantorecreateamore
harmonioussituation.
TAURUS(Apr21-May21)
Thecurrentenergetic
planetaryconditions
maybetoyourliking,
butinrealityyou're
readytoenteralessstressful
phaseof existence.Whetherthis
will cometopassornotis
anothermatterand,astheweeks
pass,therangeof optionsopento
youwillincrease.
GEMINI(May22-June21)
Asthere'san
emotionalMoon
shiningtoday, it's
unlikelyyou'llhave
anyrealchancetorelax.It's much
bettertokeeponthego,buttryto
maintainyoursenseof self-
preservationandavoidneedless
risks.Watchoutif you're
handlingcash—youcouldbe
dreamingof greatrichesbut
aboutto makeablunder.
CANCER(June 22-July23)
Tenseplanetary
alignmentscould
worktoyour
advantageif onlyyou
areable toconcentrateyour
efforts.If youignoreroutine
interestsnow,youmayfindthat
nextweek'splansunravel.The
bestadvice,therefore, istodothe
minimumnecessary tokeep
yourlifetickingover—andspare
timeforalittle fun.
LEO(July24-Aug23)
WhentheMoon
supportsyoursign,as
happenstoday,you
tendtofeelthatthe
worldisonyourside.You'llfind
thatamoreopenandflexible
approachwilldealwith most
routineproblems.Evenif you
travel for pleasure,theresults
couldbeashiftof directionina
majorlong-termambition.
VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)
Today'sstarswill
bringaboosttoyour
energy,butonlyif
you'reinareceptive
mood.Personalrelationships
requirecarefulhandlingandyou
might haveto putsomeoneelse's
interestsfirst,atleastfortoday.
Yourfinancialsenseismore
shrewdthan ever,soyouarein
anexcellentpositiontopickup
abargain.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
K P Sharma Oli
Oli sworn in as
Nepal PM for 3rd
time, retains
previous Cabinet
YUBARAJ GHIMIRE
KATHMANDU, MAY 14
NEPAL PRESIDENT Bidhya Devi
Bhandari on Friday adminis-
tered the oath of office and se-
crecy to K P Sharma Oli, who
was sworn in as Prime Minister
for the third time.
Oli’s Cabinet ministers were
also sworn in. The Prime
Minister retained all the mem-
bers of his previous Cabinet.
Theprocesstoformanewgov-
ernment had kicked off after Oli
lost a vote of confidence that he
tabledintheHouseonMay10.
However,Bhandariappointed
Oli — who is the leader of the
largest party in the House — as
PrimeMinisteronThursdaynight,
after no other party was able to
stakeclaimtoformagovernment
in the allotted time.
Oli will have to prove major-
ity in the House within a
month, failing which mid-term
elections appear to be the only
possibility.
munity transmission of the vari-
ant.Somecaseshavealsobeenre-
portedinLondon.Therapidspread
ofthevarianthasledofficialstode-
batespeedingupdosingschedules
and opening up access to shots in
hotspotstoyoungeragegroups.
National restrictions in
Englandarescheduledtobeeased
on Monday, with indoor dining
andentertainmentreturning,but
officialshavecautionedthatthose
plans might be in danger. NYT
BY PETER VIDAL
LIBRA(Sep 24-Oct23)
It's been a week of
uncertainty at work
in spite of your
undoubted
achievements, and you're in
need of a rest. However,
domestic chores require
attention and partners will
keep you on the go. Yet, for
once, you know best. If partners
don't realise this, that's
their problem.
SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)
Today'sstars
continueunsettling
trends,butonly ina
mildsense.Actually,
youcanenjoythefactthatthe
futureisupfor grabs.Yetyou
mustnevergivewayto
complacency,otherwiseyou'll
losecontrol.Themomentyou
relax,there'llbeaminorcrisisto
copewith.
SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)
Domestically,you
mayget thefeeling
that everythingis
workingagainstyou.
However,you'llbesurprisedhow
soonpartnerscomeroundto
yourwayof thinking,withalittle
tactandsweettalk.Childrenand
youngerrelationsneeda
steadyinghand, andyou'rejust
thepersontoprovideit.
CAPRICORN(Dec23-Jan20)
Restless conditions
are bound to affect
every area of your
life, and you're not in
an ideal position to withstand
disturbances to your
routine. Make the most of every
positive opportunity and try to
see the present time as an
excellent opportunity
to deal with long-
standing irritations.
AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)
Moneymatters
shouldbetreated
delicately,as
mistakescouldbe
costly.If you'reconcernedabout
aparticulartransaction,there's
muchtobegainedfromseeking
asecond,moreexperienced,
opinion.Anemotional
relationshipcouldbehardwork
buteveryextraeffortwillbe
worthit.
PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)
Youmaybegearing
upforbigchanges,
butatallcostsdon't
allowyourself tobe
drawnintoargumentsthat
areof otherpeople'smaking.
Sticktoyourowncourseanddo
whatyouknowisright.If yousee
the chancetomakeaprofit,
go allout-there'snopointin
beingsentimental.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

13 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

GOLD RUPEE OIL SILVER

`47,110 `73.29 $67.45 `70,191
Note: Gold, silver rates at Delhi spot market; gold per 10 g, silver per 1 kg; Crude oil (Indian basket) as on May 12, 2021

SENSEX: 48,732.55 ▲ 41.75 (0.09%) NIFTY: 14,677.80 ▼ 18.70 (-0.13%) NIKKEI: 28,084.47 ▲ 636.46 HANG SENG: 28,027.57 ▲ 308.90 FTSE: 7,012.76 ▲ 49.43 DAX: 15,301.15 ▲ 101.47
International market data till 1900 IST

SECTOR WATCH FINANCEMINISTRYASKSSTATESTOENSUREBANKERS’SAFETY

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Amid cyber risks, no

Aslockdownsdisruptbanking
data storage on cloud services,statestoldtostepin CommerceMinisterPiyushGoyalonFridayhelddiscussions

E
withUSTradeRepresentativeKatherineTaionincreasing

services; action if
vaccineavailabilityinanequitablemanner. via@PiyushGoyalTwitter
result in the exact opposite and branchesandthesaidofficersand

E X P L A I NE D
GEORGEMATHEW end up demoralizing them and brands have to function and re-
The
leakage: DoT to staff
MUMBAI,MAY14 theirfamilies,whichleadstodis- main physically open, may I re-
PROPOSALATWTO
● issues
ruptioninservices,”Department quest your personal attention in

AASHISH ARYAN
NEW DELHI, MAY 14
WITH INCIDENTS of cyber
attacks on government’s of-
ficial email ids and websites
on the rise, the Department
of Telecommunications
(DoT) has issued fresh in-
structions to its employees
asking them not to store any
official and classified infor-
mation on private cloud
services such as Google
Drive, Dropbox, iCloud,
and others.
If any such information is
stored on these private
cloud services, the employee
storing such data may be li-
able for penal action in case
of a data breach, the DoT said
in a communication to all
its staff.
Further, any kind of clas-
sified work must be “strictly
be carried out only in a
standalone computer which
is not connected to inter-
net”, the DoT said.
Employees have also
❸ KEY POINTS
1 If any such
information is stored
on these private cloud
services, the employee
storing such data may be
liable for penal action in
case of a data breach, the
Department of Teleco-
mmunications said.
2 Further, any kind of
classified work must
be “strictly be carried
out only in a standalone
computer which is not
connected to internet”,
the DoT added.
3 Employees have also
been asked to avoid,
when on officials tours,
any mobile or internet-
based service that
requires their location,
“unless it is necessary for
discharge of office
duties”.
WITH BANK branches and em-
ployees across the country facing
the issue of local authorities ea-
gerly enforcing Covid lockdowns,
theFinanceMinistryhasaskedthe
state governments to ensure the
safetyof thebankemployeesand
enable them to commute to their
branchesforthesmoothfunction-
ingof thefinancialsystem.
Bankshavebeencomplaining
thatlocalgovernmentauthorities
havebeenforciblyshuttingdown
branches, manhandling and pre-
venting the employees from
reaching their offices in many
states.Thishasdisruptedbanking
servicesinseveralplaces,leading
to hardships for customers.
In a letter to the Chief
Secretaries of states, the Finance
Ministry said, “In addition to the
requestforthevaccinationonpri-
ority,Iwouldalsoliketodrawyour
attentiontosomeunfortunatein-
stances which have taken place
recently in different states and
unionterritorieswherebankem-
ployees have been manhandled
‘FPI investment in domestic
BANKSHAVEbeencom-
plainingthatlocalgovern-
mentauthoritieshave
beenforciblyshutting
downbranches,manhan-
dlingandpreventingthe
employeesfromreaching
theirofficesinmany
states.Thishasdisrupted
bankingservices.
bystatelawenforcementauthor-
ities.Likewise,officesofbanksand
branches have occasionally been
ordered to shut down even dur-
ing permitted banking hours, ac-
companiedbythreats.”TheIndian
Banks’Association(IBA),theapex
bodyofbanksinIndia,hasalready
asked banks to curtain business
operations to between 10:00 am
and 2:00 pm.
“While bank employees are
already braving risk to their
health and need to be assured
abouttheirsafety,theseincidents
of Financial Services Secretary
Debasish Panda said in the letter.
This becomes an impediment to
account holders’ access to funds
in their hours of need, disburse-
ment of DBT payments, and ex-
tension of credit to mitigate dis-
ruptiontobusiness,whichshould
otherwise be uninterrupted and
seamless, the letter said.
“While you must be having a
necessity to put in place restric-
tionsonthemovementof people
and functioning of offices in your
state, I drawyour attention to the
Union Ministry of Home Affairs
orderwhereinthebankingindus-
try has been categorised as
providers of essential services,”
thelettersaid.Severalstateshave
orderedbankstofunctiononlyon
alternate days and cut down the
banking hours. Banks have also
cutdownthenumberofemploy-
ees present in branches and re-
gional offices.
“Since bank staff have to nec-
essarily commute from their
homes to their offices and
19.9% Overseas
investors’
contribution to domestic
Vaccine IP waiver:
kindlyinstructingallDMs(District
Magistrates) and SPs
(SuperintendentofPolice)andthe
Rules for everyone,
otherlocalauthoritiestoco-oper-
ate with bank and financial serv-
icesemployees,provideadequate
safety and security to them, and
not hinder or impede their func-
tioning or movement,” Panda’s Commerce Secy on
letter said.
The IBA has advised its mem-
ber banks to restrict business
hoursandsticktobasicservicesin
easing Covaxin rights
the wake of the rising cases of “Thoserules(onwaiverof
Covid-19 in the country. ENSECONOMICBUREAU IPprotection),whenever
Meanwhile, state govern- NEWDELHI,MAY14
theycomeintoplacewill
ments are yet to announce any
step to vaccinate the bank em-
ployees despite two letters from
THE GOVERNMENT is hopeful of
a quick decision on the waiver of
applytoeveryone”
ANUPWADHAWAN
the Finance Ministry. “I once Intellectual Property (IP) protec-
COMMERCESECRETARY
again request you to kindly con- tion for Covid-19 vaccines and
siderputtinginplaceaspecialdis- treatment, Commerce Secretary
pensationforvaccinationofthese Anup Wadhawan said on Friday. rights waiver with US Trade
employees on priority. This TheUShasrecentlyannouncedits RepresentativeKatherineTai.
would go a long way in boosting
theirmoraleandenhancingtheir
enthusiasm for seamless provi-
support for waiving IP rights for
Covid-19vaccines,anissueraised
in a proposal by India and South
On trade
Wadhawansaidthatmajorlo-
sionoffinancialservices,”Panda’s Africa, which also called for a gistical issues faced by exporters
letter said. waiverofIPrightsonCovid-related due to Covid-19 had largely been
interventions, including diagnos- resolved and that exports were
ticsandtreatments. witnessing a broad-based recov-
April exports “TheUShasrecentlyjoinedthe ery. “(There were) problems in
at $30.6 billion
groupofcountrieswhicharesup-
portingthewaiver.Wearehopeful
termsofcontainersandproblems
intermsofadequateavailabilityof

equities rises 7% in Mar qtr’

been asked to avoid, when
on officials tours, any mobile
or internet-based service
that requires their location,
“unless it is necessary for
discharge of office duties”.
These instructions are a
part of the DoT’s instructions
on best information security
practices. Last year in July,
the telecom department
had written to all web por-
tals and websites within its
ambit to conduct a security
audit and submit a compli-
ance certificate as soon as
possible.
The Telecom Ministry
had then also written to all
other ministries and depart-
ments requesting them to
migrate their websites and
web-portals to the ‘gov.in’
domain by August 31, 2020
if they had not done so
already.
A similar letter was sent
by DoTto all web portals and
websites yielded no results.
In that letter, dated October
7, the DoT had said that a se-
curity audit was necessary
for the “robustness of infor-
mation systems and associ-
ated networks”.
The letter was sent after
the DoT was alerted that
“data exfiltration” was tak-
ing place from one of the
web portals of the ministry
that did not have a valid cy-
ber-security audit. Data ex-
filtration occurs when a
malware or a virus gains
unauthorised access to any
computer connected to a
network.
equity market capitalisation in
March quarter, from 20.1% in
The value of foreign portfolio investors’ (FPI) holdings in December quarter
domestic equities reached $552 billion in the quarter March,
7% above the preceding quarter, a Morningstar report said $7.64 billion: Amount
invested by FPIs during
January-March, as against
$19.21 billion in previous
VALUE OF FPI INVESTMENT IN quarter
INDIAN EQUITIES DURING:
Factors that helped raise FPI
Quarter ended Quarter ended equity investment:
December 2020: March 2020 ■ Robust net inflows from
$518 billion $281 billion FPIs
■ Strong performance of
Indian equity markets
■ Government’s pro-growth
Budget
Components of FPI investment: Offshore mutual funds form an important
component of total foreign portfolio investment, apart from other large FPIs, Morningstar/PTI
such as offshore insurance companies, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds
that in an early timeframe some shippingservicesbutthroughcon-
decision will be reached in the certed efforts we have resolved
196% rise on low base WTO,” said Wadhawan, adding a thoseissues,“saidWadhawan.
decisiononawaiverofIPrightson “Theperformance,sofar,indi-
ENSECONOMICBUREAU vaccines would also apply to catesverygoodprospectsandwe
NEWDELHI,MAY14 Bharat Biotech’s Covid vaccine — feel that we can reach $400 bil-
Covaxin. Experts have called on lion,”Wadhawansaid.Overallex-
MERCHANDISE EXPORTS surged Indiatoleadbyexamplebyrelax- ports (merchandise and services)
arecord196percentyear-on-year ingIPrightsonCovaxin,whichhas inAprilroseto $51.8billion,up93
in April, driven mainly by a been jointly developed by Bharat per cent from April 2020, accord-
favourablebase,asthecountryhad Biotech and the Indian Council of ingtogovernmentdata.
witnessed a Covid-induced lock- MedicalResearch. A rise in imports to $58.7 bil-
downthroughoutAprillastyear. “Those rules (on waiver of IP lion, up 122 per cent from April
ExportsinAprilstoodat$30.6 protection),whenevertheycome 2020,alsopushedupIndia’strade
billion,upalmost18percentfrom intoplacewillapplytoeveryone,” deficitto$6.9billion,comparedto
thesamemonthin2019. said Wadhawan on the potential $380 million in the year-ago pe-
Accordingtothelatestofficial waiverof IPrightsforCovaxin. riodwhenlargepartsofthecoun-
data released on Friday, imports, Commerce Minister Piyush trywereunderastrictlockdown.
too, grew 167 per cent to $45.7 Goyal tweeted on Friday that he Thelatestdataforservicessec-
billion in April, indicating im- had discussed India and the US torreleasedbytheRBIisforMarch
provementindomesticdemand. workingtogetherontrade-related 2021.Aprildataisestimates,which
Source: Interestingly, gold imports aspects of Intellectual Property mayundergorevision.
surged to as much as $6.2 billion
in April from a mere $2.8 million
a year earlier.

Go Airlines files draft papers for `3,600-cr IPO

ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,MAY14
WADIA GROUP’S budget carrier
Go Airlines India Ltd has filed for
an initial public offering to raise
Rs3,600crore,andthiscomesata
timewhenairlinesinthecountry
are bleeding as a result of the
Covid19pandemic.Inthedraftof-
fer document filed with the
Securities and ExchangeBoardof
BRIEFLY
India, the airline, which recently
rebranded itself from GoAir to
GoFirst,saidthatitwouldusethe
proceedsfromtheIPOtorepayits
debts and dues.
The airline also plans to raise
uptoRs1,500crorethroughapre-
IPOplacement.Oncethesharesof
the company gets listed on the
stock exchanges, which will hap-
pen after the SEBI approves the
proposal,GoAirlineswillbecome
the third operational scheduled
Irish regulator can resume probe
The airline also plans to
raise up to Rs 1,500 cr
via a pre-IPO placement
airline to trade on Indian bourses
—afterIndiGoandSpiceJet.Other
Indian carriers to have gone pub-
licarethenowdefunctKingfisher
Airlines and Jet Airways.
Along with the rebranding of
theairline,thecompanyhadalso
announced its focus on becom-
ing an ultra low-cost carrier —
becoming India’s first carrier in
the segment.
“Weexpectcompetitivecon-
ditions in our industry to inten-
sify further as new entrants
emergeandasexistingcompeti-
tors seek to extend their opera-
tions and flight frequencies over
routes that we operate,” the
company noted in the draft red
herring prospectus.
NMDC Limited
(A Government of India Enterprise)
'Khanij Bhavan', 10-3-311/A, Castle Hills, Masab Tank, Hyderabad - 500 028.
CIN: L13100TG1958GOI001674

ADB$3.9bnloan e-Tender Notification

NewDelhi:TheAsianDevel-
opment Bank said Friday it
into Facebook data flows: Court Bid Notice No: NMDC-Kirandul/SP-III/2021/PKG-IV
MSTC Ref No. : NMDC/HO/5/21-22/ET/21
Date of Notification : 15-05-2021

hascommitted$3.92billion
in sovereign loans for 13
projects to India. PTI
NMDC Limited, invites e-tenders on Turnkey Basis from experienced, reputed and competent Contractors
/ firms as per the details :
States for commercial use.
THE CASE
(a) Package Name : Dry Circuit System on Turnkey Basis (Package-IV) at Kirandul Complex, Dist.
REUTERS Ireland’s Data Protection Dantewada, Chhattisgarh State. (b) Consultant : TATA CONSULTING ENGINEERS, KOLKATA.
(c) Completion Time : Thirty-Three (33) months (including monsoon period). (d) EMD amount : Nil (Bid
DUBLIN,MAY14 Commissioner (DPC), Facebook’s Security Declaration needs to be submitted).
■ The case stems from lead regulator in the European Last date & time of Bid submission : On or before 3.00 P.M (IST) on 15-06-2021.

BPCLefforts
NewDelhi:BPCLhassetupa
100-bedmakeshiftCovidfa-
cility in Kochi, which will
later be expanded to 1,500
beds. The PSU is set to pro-
videfreeoxygen,powerand
water to the facility. ENS
Fuelpricehike
New Delhi: Fuel prices rose
fourth time this week, with
petrol up 29 paise per litre
and diesel by 34 paise. PTI
IRELAND’SDATAregulatorcanre-
sume a probe that may trigger a
ban on Facebook’s transatlantic
datatransfers,theHighCourtruled
onFriday,raisingtheprospectofa
stoppagethatthecompanywarns
would have a devastating impact
onitsbusiness.
The case stems from EU con-
cernsthatUSgovernmentsurveil-
lancemaynotrespecttheprivacy
UK probing Sanjeev Gupta’s US judge
GFG Alliance over Greensill dismisses case
EU concerns that US
surveillance may not
respect the privacy
rights of EU citizens
when their personal
data is sent to the US
for commercial use.
rights of EU citizens when their
personaldataissenttotheUnited
Union, launched an inquiry in
Augustandissuedaprovisionalor-
der that the main mechanism
Facebook uses to transfer EU user
data to the US “cannot in practice
beused”.
Facebook had challenged the
inquiry and the Preliminary Draft
Decision, saying they threatened
“devastating” and “irreversible”
consequencesforitsbusiness.
The tender document including pre-qualification requirement can be viewed and / or downloaded from
NMDC's website https://www.nmdc.co.in ; CPP Portal : www.eprocure.gov.in ; MSTC website :
https://mstcecommerce.com from 15-05-2021 to 14-06-2021.
For accessing the Bid document from NMDC website, the bidder has to register as 'New User' in Bid section
at NMDC's website link https://www.nmdc.co.in/nmdctender/Default.aspx.
For accessing the bid document from MSTC, bidders to click website link - https://www.mstcecommerce.com/
eprochome/nmdc/buyer_login.jsp and view / download the Tender documents. MSTC Ref. No.
NMDC/HO/5/21-22/ET/21.
The Bidders on regular basis are required to visit above website for corrigendum, if any, at a future date.
For further clarifications undersigned can be contacted :
Mr. Sowmen Bisai, Project Manager, TATA CONSULTING ENGINEERS LIMITED,
Block JC-30/A, Sector-III, Salt Lake, Kolkata - 700 106, West Bengal, India.
Mob: (+91) 91636 22244, Ph : (+91-33) 66115500, Fax : (+91-33) 66115501, Email : sbisai@tce.co.in
NMDC Limited
(A Government of India Enterprise)
'Khanij Bhavan', 10-3-311/A, Castle Hills, Masab Tank, Hyderabad - 500 028.
CIN : L13100TG1958GOI001674
CONTRACTS DEPARTMENT
Tender Enquiry No: HO(Contracts)/Services/Ref-GFNW/2021/244, Dt. 15-05-2021.
MSTC Ref. No. : NMDC/HO/12/21-22/ET/68
NMDC Limited, A “NAVARATNA” Public Sector Company under Ministry of

MPEDApatent
Kochi: MPEDA-RGCA’s mud
crab hatchery technology
hasbeengivenpatentbythe
ControllerGeneralofPatent,
Design and Trade Marks.
REUTERS
LONDON,MAY14
SANJEEV GUPTA’S commodities
empire is being investigated by
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office in a
nance firm Greensill filed for in-
solvency in March.
In a statement, the anti-graft
agency said it was “investigating
suspected fraud, fraudulenttrad-
ing and money laundering in re-
lation to the financing and con-
against Google
SanFrancisco:AUSjudgeThursday
dismissedantitrustclaimsagainst
Googlebroughtbyadvertisers,but
offeredthemachancetotryagain
after addressing what she called
Steel, Govt. of India, invites online bids from prospective bidders for the work of
“Refurbishment of Ground Floor North Wing (Half Portion) at NMDC
Khanij Bhavan Building, Hyderabad”.
The detailed NIT and Bid documents can be viewed and / or downloaded from
15-05-2021 to 01-06-2021 from following website links ;
1. NMDC website - https://www.nmdc.co.in/nmdctender/default.aspx
2. Central Public Procurement portal - https://www.eprocure.gov.in/
epublish/app and search tender through tender enquiry number.
3. MSTC portal - https://www.mstcecommerce.com/eprochome/nmdc/

MDforSUDLife
New Delhi: Star Union Dai-
ichiLifeInsuranceCompany
Ltd (SUD Life) announced
the appointment of Abhay
TewariasMDandCEO,with
effect from Saturday. ENS
probethatencompassesthecon-
glomerate’s links to collapsed
lender Greensill Capital, the SFO
said on Friday.
The probe piles pressure on
Gupta, who has been scrambling
torefinancehisinternationalweb
of businessesinsteel,aluminium
and energy after supply chain fi-
ductofthebusinessofcompanies
within the Gupta Family Group
Alliance (GFG), including its fi-
nancing arrangements with
Greensill Capital UK Ltd.”
GFG said it would co-operate
fullyandwouldnotcommentfur-
therontheinvestigation.TheSFO
said it had no further comment.
“seriousconcerns.”
“TheCourtisparticularlycon-
cerned that plaintiffs’ market ex-
cludessocialmediadisplayadver-
tisinganddirectnegotiations,”US
District Judge Beth Labson
Freemanwrote. Plaintiffshaveun-
tilJune14 to amendtheir lawsuit,
asperthedecision. REUTERS
buyer_login.jsp. For further help refer to ‘vendor guide’ given in MSTC
website.
The bidders are requested to submit their bids online through MSTC Limited
website. The details of submission of bid through online are given in NIT. The
Bidders on regular basis are required to visit the NMDC’s website / CPP Portal /
MSTC website for corrigendum, if any, at a future date.
For further clarification, the following can be contacted -
General Manager (Contracts), NMDC Limited, Hyderabad, Fax No. +91-
040-23534746, Tel No. +91-040-23532800, email : contracts@nmdc.co.in
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14 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021
HARDIK OMISSION JUSTIFIED, SAYS FORMER SELECTOR
Former selector Sarandeep Singh has backed the current committee's call to ignore Hardik
Pandya for the Test squad and said the all-rounder doesn't fit into the playing XI even in the
shorter formats if he can't bowl his quota of overs. “He has not been able to bowl regularly
after his surgery. I feel he has to bowl 10 overs in ODIs and four in T20s to be part of the
playing XI even in shorter formats,” said Sarandeep on Hardik. PTI

BRIEFLY
Protestorssubmit
petitionforTokyo
Gamescancellation
Tokyo: An online petition calling for the
Tokyo Olympics to be cancelled has been
submittedtotheTokyogovernmentwith
over 350,000 signatures on Friday. The
rollout of the petition comes with Tokyo,
Osaka and several other areas under a
state of emergency with coronavirus in-
fections rising, particularly new variants.
Thestateof emergencyistoexpireonMay
31 but expected to also expand to other
prefecturesinthecountry.Thepostponed
Olympics are to open in just under three
monthsonJuly23rd.Thepetitionwillalso
be sent to IOC President Thomas Bach,
whocancelledaplannedtriptoJapanthis
month. Although 70-80% of Japanese cit-
izens in polls say they want the Olympics
cancelled or postponed, there is no indi-
cation this will happen. AP
Anandexhibitionraises
‘They could have thrown Sagar out of
Chhatrasal... taking his life unacceptable’
Deathof anaspiringwrestlerafterviolentattackatillustriousacademy;testimonyof hiscontractkillerfriendwithlinkstoadreaded
gang;anOlympianlegendontherunandthefamily'sallegationsof aguru'sbetrayal.NIHALKOSHIEtravelstoSonepattojointhedots
THE MOOD is sombre in the Dhankhar gazewasalwaysdown.Hegaveeveryonere-
household at Shiv Nagar, Sonepat. Menfolk, spect. It is hard to believe Sagar would have
lighting bidis and sipping tea, sit on chairs started a fight, that too at a stadium which
arranged in a semi-circle in a narrow lane in has given him so much,” is how Dalsher
front of the house. The women are inside Siwach, Sagar’s mama, describes the Greco-
dimly-litrooms.Theconversationamongthe Roman wrestler.
close-knit family is tinged with anger and Narendra is shocked by the alleged bru-
sadness. talityof theattack.“Hewasbeatenblackand
The last of the visitors have left after at- blue. A hit to the head resulted in his death,”
tending the tehrvi, a ritual held on the thir- Narendra concludes after reading the post-
teenth day after death. The family waited for mortem report on his phone.
onlyeightdaysafterSagarDhankhar,theeld- “DoyouknowthatSushilhimself hadvis-
estboyandawrestler,passedawayonMay5. ited Sagar’s home. They were close,” Dalsher
The grief of losing a 23-year-old was too
much to bear.
claims.

$50,000forCovidrelief After Sagar’s death in a deadly brawl,

Chennai: A series of simultaneous online
exhibition matches featuring, among
others, five-time world champion
Viswanathan Anand to support COVID
relief in India raised USD 50,000 (ap-
proximately INR 37 lakh). The event was
held on Chess.com with top Indian play-
ers and proceeds would go to Red Cross
India and the Checkmate COVID initia-
tive of the All India Chess Federation
(AICF), officials of Chess.com said. On
Thursday, Grandmaster Anand, as well
as GMs Koneru Humpy, Harika
Dronavalli, Nihal Sarin, and
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu played
simultaneous games on Chess.com
against a total of 105 players. PTI
Liverpoolpushfortop-4
withwinoverManUtd
Manchester: Jurgen Klopp won at Old
Trafford for the first time as Liverpool
breathed new life into its top-four push
with a 4-2 win in the rearranged fixture
againstManchesterUnited.Afteranti-own-
ership protesters got into the ground and
ontothepitch11daysago,furtherdemon-
strationscouldnotstopThursday'sPremier
League fixture going ahead.For Liverpool,
which was playing its first game since its
reign as champion was officially ended by
Manchester City, the win means the reset
target of just making the Champions
League is still a possibility. With three
games remaining, Liverpool is four points
behind Chelsea with a game in hand. AP
RafaNadalendslosing
streakagainstZverev
Rome:Rafael Nadal ended a run of three
straight losses to Alexander Zverev with
a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over the
German to reach the Italian Open semi-
finals on Friday. Zverev beat Nadal in
straight sets at the same stage in Madrid
a week ago and their latest meeting was
also one-sided. Nadal raced to 4-0 in the
first set and saved all eight break points
he faced in the second. Meanwhile, top-
ranked Ash Barty retired against Coco
Gauff while leading 6-4, 2-1 due to a
right arm injury. AP
Sushil Kumar, one of India’s most successful
Olympians, went into hiding.
Sushil’s alma mater, Chhatrasal Stadium
has acquired notoriety since Sagar, a former
juniornationalchampionanda97-kgGreco-
Roman wrestler, died after being attacked
within its premises.
Amongthosewhoattendedthe tehrvi on
Thursday were wrestlers who train at the fa-
mous Chhatrasal akhada in North-West
Delhi. One of the pehelwans claims to be a
witness to the alleged incident. In his words,
he is lucky to be alive.
Floral tributes and a framed and gar-
landed photograph of Sagar is placed on a
table at the entrance of the house. Emotions
arerunninghighwitheachretellingof theal-
leged brutal attack on the boy who loved his
mother’s home-made dahi.
ForAshokDhankhar,Sagar’sfather,ahead
constable with Delhi Police, the events
around the death of his son, which police
claim is captured on a mobile phone record-
ing, amounts to a betrayal by the ‘guru’.
“Sagar had been at Chhatrasal for nearly
eight years. He considered Sushil as his guru.
IhandedovermysontoMahabaliSatpal,who
runs Chhatrasal akhada. They promised to
makehimafinewrestler.Hehaswonmedals
and represented India in international com-
petitions. He was proud to be part of
Chhatrasal.Parguruhotehue…(despitebeing
the guru),” Ashok’s voice fades.
Once Sagar was inducted into Chhatrasal
at the age of 15, his bond with the wrestling
nursery became strong. Sagar would only
make flying visits home.
If he stayed the night over, he woke up
early to train at a local academy. “He never
missedadayof training.Hedidn’twanttolet
down his mentors,” Ashok says.
Why is the question
Narendra Dhankhar, Sagar’s chacha, says
thefeelingamongtheclanisthattheaccused
have gone too far.
“If Sagardidsomethingwrong,theycould
have slapped him or thrown him out of
Chhatrasal for good. They should havecalled
me up or his father and told us what he was
doing and why it could not be tolerated. We
would have advised Sagar. But taking his life
is unacceptable,” Narendra says.
DelhiPolice,afterconductingunsuccess-
ful raids to nab Sushil, have issued a lookout
noticeagainstthetwo-timeOlympicmedal-
list over his alleged role in Sagar’s death. An
FIR of murder, abduction and criminal con-
Wrestling in the blood
Ashok harks back to the day his son, then
15, got the nod from Mahabali Satpal - the
highlyrespectedcoachatChhatrasal,anAsian
Games gold medallist and Sushil’s father-in-
law. Before Sushil, Satpal’s writ ran large at
the stadium.
ThefatherandsonhadtravelledfromShiv
Nagar to North-West Delhi eight years ago
hoping to get an audience and a trial.
“One of the coaches spoke to Mahabali
and he agreed to give Sagar a trial. Sagar had
to fight for three rounds against three differ-
entwrestlers.Sagar’seyeslitupwhenhesaw
Mahabali watching him. What more can a
young wrestler ask for? He was selected,”
Ashoksays,recallingthedaySagarsetfootin
Sagar Dhankhar's father Ashok Chhatrasal.
during the tehrvi ritual at their “HewantedtobeanOlympianandspoke
home in Shiv Nagar, Sonepat. about winning a big medal for the country,
Sagar's chacha Narendra Dhankhar
(middle) at the late wrestler's home.
like Sushil. He had the potential because
kushti was in his blood.”
Sagar's medals. Nihal Koshie ThewrestlinglineagecomesfromSagar’s
grandfatherRameshwar,amud-pitwrestler
and a popular name at dangals. It was
Rameshwar who accompanied a nine-year-
spiracyhasbeenregistered who claims he was with power in your inner circle adds to your aura, old Sagar to an academy at a local school.
against him. Sagar on the fateful night. even if you are an Olympic medallist,” Rameshwarwasanarmymanwhobecamea
Sagar also seems to If Sagar did “I won’t be training at Narendra says. sarpanch.Hiswordwasfinalwhenitcameto
have been in the wrong something wrong Chhatrasal anymore. I will According to police sources investigating big decisions in the family or the village.
company. One of Sagar’s they could have cut all links with the case, the fallout happened when Sagar “Sagar loved wrestlingfrom the very first
friends, Sonu Mahal, who slapped him or thrown Chhatrasal. An akhada is wasaskedtovacateahousenearthestadium. day. I don’t remember a single occasion he
was injured in the brawl him out of Chhatrasal for like a spiritual place for a Sushildidn’tlikeitwhenSagarbad-mouthed cribbedabouttraining.Hehadabrightfuture
and is a key witness, has wrestler. With Sagar’s him after being forced to shift, is the police inthesport,atleastthatiswhatwethought,”
links with gangster Kala
good. They should have death,Chhatrasalisnotthe version. Ashok says.
Jatheri,iswhatDelhiPolice called me up or his father same hallowed place for Narendra says the house issue did blow Sagar’saccreditationcardsfromtheJunior
have ascertained. Sonu and told us what he was me. There are other over.Hepointstoanotherincidentfromafew Asian Championships and the Junior World
from Sonepat is a contract doing and why it could wrestlers who will leave monthsagowhichhadthepotentialtocause Championshipsin2017aretreasuredposses-
killer. He is also named as not be tolerated. We too,” Ravinder says. friction between the guru and shishya, but sions for the family. So are his national-level
one of the accused who would have advised was settled. medals and certificates.
waylaid a police van in Sagar. But taking his life Strong bond AcoachwhowastrainingSagardidn’tsee HismotherSavitaisheartbroken.Omvati,
Jhajjarandmurderedthree
undertrialsandinjuredtwo
is unacceptable” A news report about
Sushil seeking refuge with
eye-to-eye with Sushil. He had to leave
Chhatrasal. Sagar too had decided to follow
Sagar’sgrandmother,hasbeentryingtocon-
sole her. Savita watches Sagar’s wrestling
policemen. A 'highly des- — NARENDRA DHANKHAR
perate criminal' is how SAGAR’S UNCLE
a yoga guru in Haridwar is
thetopicof conversationin
the coach and join the academy he started in
Narela.ItwasSushil,Narendrabelieves,who
videosuploadedonYouTubewhenshecan’t
sleep at night.
Sonu is described in the Sagar’s house at the end of convinced Sagar to stay back. “Sagar’smotherisnoteatingproperly.She
criminal dossier. It was the terhvi. The family has “Sushil is the one who offered Sagar the was prescribed sleeping pills by the doctor.
Sonu who informed the lived here, close to Mission house close to the stadium. Sushil wanted We are worried about her,” Dalsher adds.
cops about Sushil’s alleged involvement in Chowk, for three decades. They have deep Sagar to be part of Chhatrasal and train with The family wants those guilty to be
the brawl. roots in the area. Everyone has a Chhatrasal- the group even if he opted to stay outside. brought to book but are running out of pa-
Sushil distanced himself from the brawl Sushil-Sagar story to narrate. So, I don’t know why Sagar was attacked. As tiencewitheachpassingday.Withtherituals
in the only comment he has made so far. Narendra talks about a bond between far as I know, he was happy to be part of the over,Ashokplanstoreturntodutynextweek.
"Theyweren'tourwrestlers,ithappenedlate Sushil and his nephew. Chhatrasal set-up. Yes, there was talk of an- Top police officials have promised Ashok
last night. We have informed police officials “Till recently, Sushil took Sagar along other wrestler being promoted over Sagar. swift action in the coming days. He is confi-
thatsomeunknownpeoplejumpedintoour when he stepped out of Chhatrasal Stadium Maybe that became an issue. We don’t dent that his seniors will keep their word.
premises and fought. No connection of our for any work. Sagar was six-foot plus, close know.” “Those involved are big names. But we want
stadium with this incident,” Sushil told ANI. to 100 kilograms. He had won medals and Goingbywhatfamilymemberssay,Sagar justice. As a member of the police force, giv-
AmongthosegivingAshokmoralsupport represented India in international compe- wasn’t a tantrum-thrower nor lost his cool. ingpeoplejusticeiswhatIhavetriedtodoall
is wrestler Ravinder, a Chhatrasal trainee, titions. Having a wrestler of that size and “He never looked his elders in the eye. His my life.”

Teen sensation Shafali in Test,
ODI teams for England tour
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MAY 14
SHAFALI VERMA, the 17-year-old batting
sensation from Rohtak, earned her maiden
call-up to India Women’s ODI and Test
squads for next month’s England tour. On
Friday, the selectors announced a 20-mem-
bercontingentfortheone-off Testandthree-
matchODIseries,tobeledbyMithaliRaj,and
a 17-member team for the T20Is, which will
have Harmanpreet Kaur as the
captain. For Shafali, World No.1
women’s T20I player, the selec-
tion comes days after she had
bagged contracts for the inau-
gural edition of The Hundred,
with Birmingham Phoenix, and
with the Sydney Sixers for the
Women’sBigBashLeaguethat’s
scheduled later in the year.
In 22 T20Is since her inter-
national debut in September 2019, Shafali
has scored 617 runs, with three half-cen-
turiesatajaw-droppingstrikerateof ashade
below 150. Without her blazing starts as an
opener in last year’s T20 World Cup in
Australia, India would not have made it to
the final. Her exploits Down Under had
everyone from Nasser Hussain to Ian Bishop
tipping her as the “next big thing” in
women’s cricket. Now, she will get her
chance to turn into an impactful all-format
player that she had always aspired to be-
come.
Apart from Shafali, senior pacer Shikha
Pandey, who was dropped from the home
series against South Africa Women earlier
this year, marks her return, while Taniya
Bhatia and uncapped Indrani Roy from
Jharkhand have been named as the two
wicketkeepers.Theserieskicksoff fromJune
16 with a one-off Test match at Bristol, fol-
lowed by 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. Incidentally,
this will be India’s first five-day match in
seven years. This tour was supposed to take
place last year, but got postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. This marquee series
also heralds Ramesh Powar's sec-
ond stint as the head coach of the
women’s team. The former India
off-spinner had replaced WV
Raman.
Squads
TEST & ODI : Mithali Raj
(Captain), Smriti Mandhana,
HarmanpreetKaur(vice-captain),
Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Deepti
Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma,
Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper),
Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Jhulan
Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar,
Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht,
Radha Yadav.
T20I : Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain) Smriti
Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma,
Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa
Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Taniya
Bhatia(wicket-keeper),Indrani Roy(wicket-
keeper), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar,
Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht,
Radha Yadav, Simaran Dil Bahadur.
Did Paine admit his team is mentally fragile?
SHAMIK CHAKRABARTY
KOLKATA, MAY 14
AUSTRALIA’S TEST captain Tim Paine was
trending on social media on Thursday on the
heels of hiscomment at a charity dinner that
India distracted the Aussies with “niggling”
and “sideshows”. Paine captained Australia
to the second successive home series loss to
India– 2018-19 and 2020-21.
What did Paine say?
Addressing the media at a Chappell
Foundation function in Sydney, Paine had
said: “Partof the challenge of playing against
India is they’re very good at niggling you and
trying to distract you with stuff that doesn’t
really matter and there were times in that
series where we fell for that.”
He added: “The classic example was
when they said they weren’t going to the
Gabbasowedidn’tknowwherewewerego-
ing. They’re very good at creating these
sideshows and we took our eye off the ball.”
What happened exactly?
Ahead of the final Test of the four-match
series, some reports suggested that the
Indian team might not be travelling to
Brisbane in view of the stricter Covid proto-
cols in Queensland. It had been alleged that
IndiawantedthefinalTesttobeplayedatthe
SydneyCricketGround(SCG),thevenuethat
hosted the third Test. The tourists eked out a
draw in the third Test and conditions at the
SCG were said to be suiting them. The Gabba
in Brisbane, on the other hand, was consid-
ered nigh-on unbreachable, a venue where
Australia hadn’t lost a Test for 32 years. But
not only did Ajinkya Rahane’s India go to the
Gabba, they also breached the fortress to
clinch the series.
According toPaine,theuncertaintyinthe
lead-up created confusion and distracted his
team, although the reality was that the BCCI
never put out any official statement as re-
gards to not going to the Gabba.
How did fans and pundits react to
Paine’s comment?
“Also pretty insulting to your own play-
ers,” Michael Appleton, a cricket fan from
Wellington, New Zealand, snapped at the
Australia captain on Twitter. Former India
opener Aakash Chopra aimed a cheeky dig,
posting: “You are entitled to form your own
opinions.” Former India stumper-turned-
commentator Deep Dasgupta, too, criticised
Paine.
Was Paine’s comment taken out of
context?
He was asked about different cricket is-
sues, including captaincy and the challenges
of playing against India. A direct
question related to distraction,
prompted Paine’s reply. The Aussie
Test skipper said as much. “I was
asked a number of things, and one
of those was talking about the chal-
lenges of playing against India. One
of them is the distraction they can create.
There was a lot of talk that they weren’t go-
ing to Brisbane.
“They’re always changing gloves and
Tim Paine has hinted at stepping down
from captaincy in the past. Reuters
bringing out physios and all that can get on
your nerves. Just said that was one of the
things that probably distracted me and took
my eye off the ball at times,” Paine told the
Gilly and Goss podcast.
What about the Aussies getting a
taste of their own medicine?
‘Mental disintegration’ of the op-
ponents had long been the leitmotif
of the Australian on-field approach.
From the infamous Dennis Lillee-
Sunil Gavaskar incident in
Melbourne in 1981 that almost forced the
latter to stage a walkout, to Michael Slater
trying to bully Rahul Dravid in Mumbai dur-
ing the 2001 series in India; there have been
instances aplenty. During the 2018-19 series
Down Under, Rishabh Pant found himself at
the receiving end of Paine’s ‘babysitter’
sledge. Paine had also tried to ‘mentally dis-
integrate’ Murali Vijay during that series. In
fact, Australia underSteve Waugh hadall but
formally adopted ‘mental disintegration’ as
a part of their on-field strategy.
FollowingSandpapergatein2018,Cricket
Australia did a culture review, such had been
the negative image of the team. Paine was
brought on as Test skipper as part of the cul-
ture reset plan.
Earlier,untilthe1990s, Indianplayers’re-
sponse to ‘mental disintegration’ attempts,
barring a few like Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri,
usedtobetame.ThingschangedafterSourav
Ganguly became captain at the turn of the
century. Ganguly deliberately made his
counterpart Steve Waugh wait for the toss
during the 2001 series, which made the lat-
ter “grumpy”. The current Indian team is
good at giving it back and as the last two Test
series showed, the Australians didn’t look
comfortablegettingatasteof theirownmed-
icine.
Will Paine quit captaincy?
Paine is 36 years old and in the autumn
of hiscareer.HiswicketkeepingagainstIndia
was below par as well. He has hinted at step-
ping down from captaincy after the Ashes
series this year and backed former skipper
Steve Smith to succeed him. Paine copped a
lot of flak after a depleted Indian team
trumped the hosts. Australia’s chief selector
Trevor Hohns, however, has backed the in-
cumbent.

Vol LXXXIX No. 159 Regd.No. DL-21046/03-05

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