Bengaluru Thursday, July 23, 2020 Pages 14 Vol 73 No 204 6 deccanherald.

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India’s largest
Tweet trouble for N-reactor operational
Kak
akrapar
ar plan
antachieves
Prashant Bhushan critical
ality
ty Page8
SCissuescontempt
noticeforposts
againstjudiciary
Page5

The Power of Good

Record Covid models are plenty. How right are they?

recoveries
much worse the pandemic is persons, R0 is 5, and (5-1)/5 or and humidityty. It could also vary
Wrongassumptions going to get, or perhaps when
the pandemic will end. Nobody
80% of the population must
become immune for the pan-
depending on whether or not
people wear masks and prac-
leadtowrong can see into the future. So why demic to end. tise social distancing, and on

amid spike
should we believe these mod- R0 is not easily estimated.
mathematical els any more than we believe Some persons infect many
how well partial or complete
lockdown is enforced.
models astrological forecasts? others because they are aero-
sol superspreaders; or merely
Mathematical models on
how and when the pandemic
▼ Herd immunity because they live in crowded will peak or end therefore need
Immunity results from vacci- areas and can therefore infect to take all these factors into
nation or from getting infect- many people. Disease spread is consideration.
28,472curedinasingleday;
BY INVITATION
ed and surviving. The Covid-19 A medic collects a sample from a woman for Covid test in therefore very variable. Unfortunately, we have poor
CHITTARANJAN ANDRADE pandemic will end when herd Amritsar on Wednesday. PTI It could vary because of data on all these factors. So

Covidcountcrosses12lakh
immunityty is achieved; that is, differences in individual im- models need to make assump-

E
very other day, some-
body, somewhere in the
▼ world, presents a new
mathematical model of how
when so many people have body else. age number of persons a new- mune response, the presence tions about these factors. If the
become immune to the dis- The herd immunity ty thresh- ly infected patient transmits of medical comorbidities, var- assumptions are wrong, the
ease that it’s hard for a newly old is estimated as (R0-1)/R0. the disease to; so, on average,
infected person to infect any- In this formula, R0 is the aver- if each person infects 5 other
iations in population density,
and variations in temperature
model will be wrong.
► Models, Page 4

NEW DELHI, DHNS

I
ndia on Wednesday regis-
tered the highest-ever re-
coveries from Covid-19 in
a single day, even as the total
infections surged past the 12-
lakh mark.
According to the Health
Ministry, 28,472 people re-
covered in 24 hours, taking the
total recoveries to 7,53,050 or
63.13% of the total number of
people infected by the SARS-
Cov-2 virus.
The contagious disease has
so far claimed 28,732 lives
across the country, pegging
the case fatality
ty rate at 2.41%,
a consistent decline from the
3.36% recorded on June 17.
Amid the surge, the Nation-
al Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC) is planning to under-
take sero-surveys in many cit-
ies, said Sujeet Kumar Singh,
the director of the institute.
According to Rajesh Bhushan,
UnionHealthSecretary-desig-
nate, the test positivity
ty rate for
India was 8.07% and declining
gradually.
Bhushan said there were
Traff
fficki
Statesas
king:
asked to
Children travel in a bus in
Kolkata on Wednesday. PTI
HAPPY STATS
„ Covid fatality rate de-
clines from 3.36% on June
17 to 2.41%
„ ICMR to step up testing
to five lakh samples per
day in a month
„ National average of
tests per million popula-
tion is 180, which is high-
er than WHO guidance
30 states and union territo-
ries that had test positivity
rate lower than the national
average.
US-China ties at new low
K’taka report
rts 4,764 cas
ases; 10 d
diists see sur
BENGALURU, DHNS
K
arnatakaonWednesday
recorded 4,764 fresh
cases, with 10 districts
for the first time reporting
more than 100 cases on a sin-
gle day, a sign that the virus
is tightening its grip in other
parts of the state, even though
Bengaluru remained the hard-
est-hit district.
OnWednesday,48,140sam-
ples were tested in the state.
For the first time, more anti-
gen tests (24,319) were done
than RT-PCR tests (23,256).
The state capital again
topped the list with 2,050 cas-
es, but, worryingly, districts
such as Udupi and Belagavi
reported more than 200 cases.
Similarly, Kalaburagi, Dak-
shina Kannada, Dharwad,
Mysuru, Bengaluru Rural,
Raichur, Ballari and Chikka-
urge
People enter Bengaluru
from Tamil Nadu after the
lockdown at Attibele.
DH PHOTO/S K DINESH
ballapura also reported more
than 100 cases in a single day.
As cases spiked suddenly,
officials from the government
attributed the rise in numbers
to increased testing.
Omprakash Patil, Director
of Health and Family Welfare,
told DH that the rise in num-
Rajas
Speak
asthan
aker moves
INDIA
45,121
CASES ON
WEDNESDAY
1,111 DEATHS
Tuesday’s cases: 37,724
Deaths: 648
TILL 11.45 PM, SOURCE: DHNS/PTI
bers was due to more tests
and inter-district movement
of people.
“Increased testing and in-
ter-district movement of peo-
ple are the only two factors
that trigger the cases. If we
miss out tracing even a single
case, the region may have the
KARNATAKA
4,764
CASES ON
WEDNESDAY
55 DEATHS
Tuesday’s cases: 3,649
Deaths: 61
potential to become a cluster.
We expected this surge in June
itself. But we have peaked
much before other states,”
Omprakash explained.
Rising cases have also
prompted the health depart-
ment to limit patient informa-
tion it used to provide earlier
COVID IRE
in the daily media bulletin.
From around 200 pages, the
bulletin is now down to just 10
pages, with information on pa-
tient age, ID, contact history/
travel history, and whether he
is admitted to a private hospi-
tal or a government hospital
withheld.
On the bright side, with
1,780 discharges on Wednes-
day, total recoveries reached
27,239 in the state. Now, active
cases in the state are at 47,069,
while there are 75,833 total
cases. With 55 new fatalities,
the death toll currently stands
at 1,519.
With 15 new deaths, the
death toll in Bengaluru
reached 735.
Among the 55 casualties,
seven were brought dead and
four died in their homes. At
least 10 fatalities had no co-
morbidities.
NEWS DIGEST
PM invites US
businesses to
invest in India
Amid the worsening
US-China relations,
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on
Wednesday invited US
businesses to invest in
India, as the country
was on the largest-ever
infrastructure creation
drive and urged Wash-
ington to see India as an
alternative destination
for trade and a nation
it can trust. Modi was
addressing a virtual
summit by the US-India
Business Council.
Details on Page 5
Assam oil well
fire: 3 foreign
experts hurt
Three foreign experts
who were hired
by Oil India Limited
(OIL) to plug the fire at
a gas well at Baghjan in

step up vi
viggiil
NEW DELHI, DHNS: In an effort
to prevent human traffick-
ing in the time of Covid-19,
the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) has asked states to
operationalise specialised
units in all districts, provide
extensive training for police
personnel at border outposts
to spot victims and involve
panchayats in identify fying vvu
ul-
nerable children.
Fearing that the economic
strain unleashed by the pan-
demic could lead to increased
trafficking, the government
asked the states to evolve a
coordination mechanism
involving various arms of ad-
ministration like the police,
labour department, women
and child development de-
partment, railways and bor-
der guarding forces like BSF
and SSB.
It also asked the states to
set up Anti-Human Traffick-
ing Units (ATHUs) in all dis-
tricts. In a letter, MHA deputy ty
secretary A Arrun Sobti said traf-
fickers exploit the vuvulnerable
by making false promises of
jobs, better income, living
conditions etc.
after consulate move SC over order
NEW DELHI, DHNS: Rajast-
BEIJING/HOUSTON, PTI recently. han Assembly Speaker C P
Earlier, the US State De- Joshi on Wednesday moved
China and the US were head- partment in a brief state- the Supreme Court against
ed for a major diplomatic con- ment said “we have directed the high court’s direction to
frontation as Washington on the closure of PRC [People’s stay the disqualification pro-
Wednesday ordered the clo- Republic of China] Consulate ceedings initiated against
sure of the Chinese consulate General Houston, in order to sacked deputy chief minis-
in Houston, a move it said was protect American intellectual ter Sachin Pilot and 18 other
aimed “to protect American property ty and American’s pri- Congress MLAs. The explosion at the
intellectual property and vate information.” The Speaker’s petition gas well of Oil India
private informa- State Depart- said the judiciary was not Limited in Assam. PTI
tion,” hinting at ment spokes- expected to intervene in
cyber espionage. woman Morgan such matters and that the Assam’s Tinsukia dis-
Reacting Ortagus said the Supreme Court has to en- trict were injured in an
stronglytotheUS US “will not tol- sure that constitutional An ambulance was set on fire by the relatives of a suspected Covid-19 patient who died explosion on Wednes-
move, Chinese erate the PRC’s authorities don’t cross the while undergoing treatment at the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences District Hospital day. The three belong
Foreign Minis- violations of our ‘Lakshman Rekha’. on Wednesday night. The kin alleged medical negligence. DH PHOTO PAGE 4 to a Singapore firm.
try spokesman sovereignty and The SC will take up the Details on Page 8
Wang Wenbin intimidation of petition by advocates Kapil
termed it as an The Chinese our people, just Sibal and Vivek Tankha that Gold prices
“unprecedented consulate in Houston, as we have not the HC’s July 21 order was a
breach
escalation” and
warned retalia-
tory measures.
Texas. REUTERS tolerated the
PRC’s unfair
trade practices,
direct affront on the power
of legislature.
“Judiciary was never giv-
Form SOP to curb child porn: HC to govt Rs 50k-mark
“China demands the US re- theft of American jobs, and en a role by the Constitution AMBARISH B pornography and missing on two PILs, including a suo The prices
vokethewrong decision. If the other egregious behaviour”. under the Tenth Schedule BENGALURU, DHNS children. motu litigation registered in of gold scaled fresh
US went ahead, China would Ortagus also pointed to the to interfere in the manner it A division bench com- 2018. The PILs were regis- highs for the second
take necessary countermeas- Vienna Convention, under has done in the instant case, The Karnataka High Court on prising Chief Justice Abhay tered to ensure effective im- consecutive day on
ures,” he warned. which states “have a duty
ty not resulting in this impasse,” Wednesday directed the state Shreeniwas Oka and Justice plementation of the directions Wednesday breaching
Wang also said the Chi- to interfere in the internal af- Speaker Joshi contended in government to formulate M Nagaprasanna asked the of the SC on the Juvenile Jus- the Rs 50,000-mark
nese embassy and consulates fairs” of a host country. the petition. a Standard Operating Pro- government to submit com- tice (Care and Protection of for 10 gram.
in the US had received both The consulate in Houston, Gehlot: BJP trying to cedure for child protection, pliance within three months. Children) Act, 2015. Details on Page 10
explosives and death threats Texas, is one of five in the US. unseat me, Page 5 particularly for cases of child The bench passed the order Details on Page 4

MOVING UP

SiddiprideShantaramisnowanMLC Left or right? Jumbo calves make trunk choice early

ANITHA PAILOOR KALYAN RAY calves from 11 distinct clans (fe-
BENGALURU, DHNS Others nomi
minated NEW DELHI, DHNS male social groups) in Kabini
Former ministers A H Vishwanath Elephant Project in Nagara-

O
n Wednesday, Shantaram Siddi
received a ffllurry of calls, which
forced him to stop in his tracks
and attend to them instead of return-
ing home.
“There is no proper connectivity ty at
home. So I am trying to attend all the
calls and then go home,” he told DH
from Hitlalli in Yellapura taluk.
And it will be a while before the
phone stops ringing for the 55-year-
old, who on Wednesday was nomi-
nated to the Legislative Council by
Governor Vajubhai R Vala, becoming
the first from the Siddi tribe, who trace
Shantaram Siddi
their origins to Africa, to have that
recognition.
Siddi will bring to the Upper House
three decades of work done in tribal
welfare through the NGO Vanavasi
Kalyana Ashram. Now that he is in the
and C P Yogeeshwar; BJP’s Mahila
Morcha president Bharathi
Shetty, academician Talwar
Sabanna
council, the top priority
ty for him is to
create sustainable livelihoods for the
indigenous communities.
From awareness to the proper
implementation of Forest Rights Act,
Shantaram talks eloquently about the
concerns that need to be addressed to
empower indigenous communities.
► Siddi, Page 4
Similar to human kids, who
exhibit their dextral or sinis-
tral behaviour in the first few
months after the birth, ele-
phant calves, too, show their
unique preference to use their
trunks in the right or left-hand-
ed way within the first three
months of their birth.
Baby pachyderms can walk
soon after their birth, but they
are incapable of using their
trunks to pick up objects or
pull grass. It takes about six
months before they can start
using their trunks like an adult
elephant.
But even young calves —
those below three months of
age — showed handedness
(right or left-side bias) in trunk
usage, says a new study carried
out by researchers at Jawahar-
lal Nehru Centre for Advanced
Scientific Research (JNCASR),
Bengaluru.
It suggests that such hand-
edness analogous to human
infants soon after birth might
be innate in Asian elephants.
A team of JNCASR re-
searchers observed 30 unique
hole and Bandipur National
Parks from December 2015 to
December 2017.
The researchers looked at
the development of trunk mo-
tor control and lateralityty — or
side preference (handedness)
— in trunk usage besides other
social and non-social behav-
iours.
They found that calves took
about 6 months to achieve fine
motor control of the trunk to
pluck grass in an adult-like
manner but the handedness
came early.
2 DECCAN HERALD ADVERTISEMENT Thursday, July 23, 2020
 METRO 3
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020

BBMP task force targets 20,000 No home isolation for

vid detection East zone patients
tests for better Covi
BENGALURU, DHNS
home isolation for patients
UMESH R YADAV
BENGALURU, DHNS
care centres.
Besides, all the 400 plus
Many asymptomatic pa-
tientswanttostayathomebut
with fever till they get tested Incenti
t vi
v sin
i g asymptomatic patients who followingthemupeverydayis

T medi
d cal
a workers
T
heBBMPtaskforceteam and receive the report. The here will be no more had tested positive on July 20 not easy, Pallavi said. “Their
has decided to conduct meeting also agreed to offer home isolation and 21 and were under home family members also need to
10,000 RT-PCR and medical training, determine The taskforce said for asymptomatic Cov- isolation will also be sent to be checked as they may have
10,000RapidAntigenTeststo if the house is suitable for insentivising manpower id-19 patients from the East these centres. got the infection. This is also
fy Covid-19 patients.
identify isolation, and have a web is important to effectively zone. They will be moved to trueoftheneighbours.Thisis
The task force held its first portalfortelemedicineconsul- manage Covid Care Cen- Covid care centres, the Bru- Population density why we have decided to shift
meeting on Tuesday under tation. tres. It decided to provide hat Bengaluru Mahanagara BBMP Joint Commissioner all asymptomatic cases to
the chairmanship of Mayor The task forcemembersfelt incentives to nursing Palike (BBMP) decided on (East), Pallavi K R, said the Covidcarecentres,”theofficer
Goutham Kumar and BBMP the community knew little or staff, medical interns, Wednesday, following a big decision was taken keeping in explained.
Commissioner N Manjunatha nothingaboutCovidCareCen- medical postgraduates, spike in coronavirus cases. mind the high density of the
Prasad. tresandhasnoinformationon and housekeeping staff. Starting Wednesday (July population in the zone, which New cases only
Among the series of deci- the availability of beds at the The BBMP has decided to establish five swab collection The task force also decid- 22), all asymptomatic pa- coverslargepartsoftheCBD. Clearing the confusion, Pal-
sions taken at the meeting was hospitals.It,therefore,decided centers in each ward. DH FILE/PUSHKAR V ed to insentivise volun- tients from the 25 wards of “East zone is dotted with lavi said only asymptomatic
early identification and detec- todemystifyfy andde-stigmatise teers, to attract more of thezone,whichisspreadover large slums which have re- cases reported on July 20
tion of Covid cases, increase in CCCswiththehelpofmassme- UPHC and to ensure technical pitals, the task force has decid- them and to boost their sixassemblyconstituencies— portedahighnumberofCovid and 21 would be shifted to
the number of tests at the Ur- dia.Itwillalsousetelemedicine workforce and field staff, the ed strict medical triaging and morale. CV Raman Nagar, Pulakeshi cases. It takes a lot of time for the Covic care centres and
ban Primary Health Centres andtele-doctorfacility
ty toman- task force has decided to cre- topromoteCCCandhomeiso- Nagar, Sarvagnanagar, Shiv- healthcare workers to verify that those tested earlier and
(UPHC)andcommunity ty levels,age patients in CCCs. ate one three-member team lationoptionsamongnon-crit- ajinagar,HebbalandShanthi- each case and follow them up recoveringathomewouldnot
increased mobile van testing, The task force will also perboothandatleast25teams ical patients. It also decided to ties for quarantine in crowded nagar — will be sent to Covid daily,”Pallavi said. be disturbed.
increase in the Reverse Tran- create hospital-linked CCCs per ward. upgrade oxy xygen beds to high locations such as slums. It also
scription Polymerase Chain to quickly reach critical care It will recruit healthcare ffllow oxy
xygen beds. agreed to train newly joined
Reaction (RT-PCR) by 10,000 patients, while also reserving staff, medical and paramed- BBMP Commissioner Man- volunteers and health profes-
daily and a similar number of ICUbedsatthelinkedhospitals ical graduates, interns, and junathaPrasadsaidrepresent- sionals.
Rapid Antigen Tests, besides
establishing five swab collec-
exclusively for CCC. postgraduates. It will provide
PPEs at the grassroot level to
atives from the Azim Premji
Foundation have assured that
The BBMP brought in
Sandalwood actor Ramesh Onlinefraudstersluredoctor BBMP issues
tion centers in each ward. Manpower at CCCs
As part of the exercise, the Toovercomemanpowershort-
combat the fear of exposure to
Coronavirus.
they will help strengthen UP-
HCs with testing infrastruc-
Aravind, loved by family
audience, as its awareness with‘reward’forhisCovidwork notice to 291
task force decided to advise age at the booth level and at For the ICU beds at the hos- ture, besides creating facili- ambassador.
BENGALURU, DHNS: Claiming him. Dr Jayanth sent her his
private hospitals
torepresentaforeigncharity ty, details. BENGALURU, DHNS: The civ-
a group of fraudsters offered On July 14, Dr Jayanth re- ic body has directed private
a city-based doctor masks, ceivedanemailthataskedfor hospitals in the city
ty to notify
fy

Hospital refu
fuses to hand over 41kgofrottenmutton,sentby sanitisers,andimmunity ty cap-
sules, and forced him to pay
Rs25,000ascustomcharges
togetthematerialsdelivered.
it about the availability of
beds at the earliest, failing

Delhitrain,seizedatcitystation
Rs 25,000 as customs charg- Dr Jayanth transferred the which they will be booked

body, family creates rucku

kus BENGALURU, DHNS: Over 41 A railway official said the
es for delivering the items.
Dr Jayanth G S (40) grew
suspicious and filed a com-
money to the bank account
mentioned in the e-mail. A
whilelater,someoneclaiming
under the National Disaster
Management Act.
BBMP Commissioner N
BENGALURU, DHNS Kumar said the woman, a tried to attack the doctor and kilograms of mutton, trans- transporter doesn’t check plaint with the Whitefield to be a courier called him up Manjunatha Prasad said
43-year-oldresidentofSriram- other healthcare workers. ported by train from New the quality of the material CEN police when the gang and told him there was cash show-cause notices have

R
elatives of a woman who
posthumously tested
positive for Covid-19
tried to assault a doctor and
other healthcare staff at the
government-run KC General
HospitalonTuesdayafterthey
refused to hand over the body,
police said.
Doctors, however, declined
to file a complaint when Dep-
uty Commissioner of Police
(North) N Shashi Kumar visit-
ed the hospital on Wednesday.
pura, was admitted to the
hospital on July 19 over some
healthissuesandhaddiedsub-
sequently. Her posthumous
Covid test came back positive
on Tuesday evening.
When her family asked for
thebody,aduty ty doctorrefused
to hand it over to them, citing
the positive result.
Meanwhile, 10 to 15 people
gathered at the hospital after
learningaboutthedeath.They
allegedly caused a ruckus and
Security guards reined in the
groupandsentthemoutofthe
hospital.
When the DCP visited the
hospital and urged the doc-
tors to file a complaint, they
refused. “The doctors said the
woman’s relatives were angry
and had misbehaved because
they had lost a family mem-
ber. The doctors didn’t want
to hurt them more by filing a
complaint. So, an FIR was not
registered,”Kumar said.
Delhi in 41 boxes, became
rotten by the time it reached
the KSR Bengaluru railway
station on Wednesday.
BBMP officials rushed to
the station after learning
about the boxes lying on the
platform. A foul smell ema-
natedfromsomeof theboxes.
While the sender had
markedthemeatas‘chicken’,
officials found it was actually
mutton, cut more than four
days ago.
as long as it’s not hazardous.
“The material appeared to
have been properly packed
but we don’t know how it be-
came rotten,”he said.
A GRP official said a case
underIPC273(saleofnoxi xious
foodordrink)wasregistered.
“The meat was apparently
meantforrestaurants.There
are many players involved.
We believe this is not the first
time they are bringing stale
meat,” the official said.
demanded more money.
It all began when a woman
named Natalin Polska con-
tacted him on LinkedIn and
praised his medical work, es-
pecially during the Covid-19
pandemic.
She took his number and
later told him over the phone
that she runs a charitable
trust abroad and wanted to
send N-95 masks, 200 kilo-
gramsofsanitisers,immunity
capsules,andpersonalgiftsto
in the parcel and he needed a
money-launderingcertificate
to receive the parcel.
Whenthecourierdemand-
ed Rs 98,000, Dr Jayanth
grew suspicious and lodged
the complaint. An investigat-
ingofficersaid thefraudsters
concocted the story about
running a charitable organi-
sation.WhenDrJayanthcon-
tactedNatalin,sheinsistedhe
ty should pay the money, which
he refused to do.
been issued to all 291 pri-
vate hospitals on Monday,
instructing the hospitals to
provide details about the
availability
ty ofventilatorsand
beds in the general wards
and ICU.
The hospitals have to in-
form the Palike about the
numberofbedsreservedfor
the government, the num-
ber of Covid patients admit-
ted, and the beds left under
the government quota.

Adoptgovtschools:
DoreswamyappealstoMLAs
BENGALURU, DHNS: MLAs, Doreswamy
Prof M R Doreswamy, said: “If this school
adviser to the state adoption programme
government on edu- is taken up by the
cation reforms, has MLAs, it will be an
requested all MLAs inspiration to every
toadoptthreegovern- Prof M R capable individual in
ment schools in their Doreswamy the state.”
respectiveconstituen- He also made a
cies and develop them into mention about the schools
modelschoolsinthenextfive adoptedbySandalwoodactor
years. Sudeep,RevaUniversity ty,PES
In an appeal to the 224 Universityty, and a few MLAs.

BBMPtotest
14,000civi
vic
workers
BENGALURU, DHNS: To pre-
vent sanitation workers
from contracting the Cov-
id-19 infection, the civic
body has decided to provide
them with safety kits and
will carry out rapid testing
on 14,000 pourakarmikas.
A few days ago, several
civic workers, while paying
tributes to their colleagues
who died of Covid-19, had
demanded safety ty kits.
Attendingotheremergen-
cies, the BBMP had almost
forgotten to provide safety
kits to the civic workers.
However, in order to ensure
thatthefast-spreadinginfec-
tionamongthecivicworkers
doesnotcripplethegarbage
collection system in the city
ty,
thecivicbodyhasdecidedto
address their woes.
“Nobody should fear
about their safety and
health. We will equip every
civic worker with a safety
kit. Swab samples of every
worker will be collected. If
anyone tests positive, they
will receive immediate
medical attention,” BBMP
CommissionerManjunatha
Prasad said.
The workers will be pro-
vided with PPE kits daily,
besides masks and gloves.
TherisingCovidcasesand
deaths among the workers
have caused anxiety ty, there-
by, forcing them to refuse to
turn up for work.
3A
Aftertwosuicides,KCGeneralHospitalgivesdresseswithoutdupattatopatients
BENGALURU, DHNS: After two
women hanged themselves by
their saris on the windowsills
at the restroom of KC General
Hospital, authorities are now
providing dresses without du-
pattas to the patients.
They are being shown com-
edy and spiritual channels to
keep their minds off anxieties
relatedtotherapidlyspreading
Covid-19 infection.
Two patients showed suicid-
al tendencies during Sunday’s
counselling and were imme-
diately put on suicide watch.
“Patients on the neighbouring
beds will keep a watch on them
and nurses will monitor their
bathroombreaks.Doctorshave
giventhemmildsedativesasop-
posedto anti-psychoticdrugs,”
said Dr B R Venkateshaiah, su-
perintendent, KC General.
“Boththewomenwhoended
their lives at our hospital previ-
ously did it using their sarees.
We don’t want a repeat of this.
We are not even giving them
big towels. We give the women
dresses without a dupatta,” he
added. Nimhans professor of
psychiatryDrPrabhaChandra
said anti-depressants can help
onlyifthepatientshaveclinical
signsofdepression.“Iftheyare
agitated or on the edge, tablets
canhelp.Wealsoseearelation-
shipbetw
tweensleeplessnessand
METRO
suicidal tendencies.
If the person sleeps well, he/
shecanavoidnegativethoughts
at night. So, as long as they are
given rationally and with fore-
thought, there’s no problem,”
Dr Chandra said.
Many sedatives are also an-
ti-anxiety
ty medicinesandhence
helps patients calm down pro-
vided it is not given in a higher
dose. “A small dose of an an-
ti-anxiety
ty agent helps.”
Dr Chandra said patients
with suicidal tendencies are
not left alone.
“An eye-to-eye contact is im-
portant. Often this phase pass-
es.Itcomeslikeawaveandgoes
away. If a caretaker can help
them tide over the 24 hours,
then the patient can be saved.
Since there are no relatives or
familyinCovidwards,itisupto
thehealthcarestafftosupervise
patients 24/.”
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020
Ubertoinstallsafetyscreensinpremiersedans
B E N G A L U R U, D H N S : other product categories
Uber said on Wednes- immediately,thecompany
day that it is installing saidinarelease.Thesafety ty
safety
ty screensin20,000 cockpit is a protective ceil-
premier sedans to make ing-to-flfloor transparent
theridessafeforpassen- plastic screen installed be-
gers and drivers in the tween the passenger and
“new normal”. the driver.
The aggregator had Uberhasalsoupdatedits
earlier installed ‘safety cancellation policy, where
cockpits’ in 8,000 Uber- Uber will bear the cost of boththeridersandthedriver
Mediccarstotransportfront- installation and the safety can cancel trips if they don’t
line healthcare workers. cockpits will be extended to feel safe.
 STATE 3B
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020

‘Backw
kward’ Yadgir dist leads FreshblamegameoverCong-JD(S)breakup
BENGALURU, DHNS minister HD Kumaras- Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah in

the way in Covi

vid recovery rate
A year after the JD(S)-Con-
gress coalition government
crumbled in the state, it ap-
pearsthat thehatchethasnot
yet been buried.
number of those testing pos- Recently, Leader of the
wamy of the JD(S), who
headed the coalition govern-
ment, blamed Congress for
its many “conspiracies.”
In a series of tweets on
Wednesday, Kumaraswamy
said hewas promptedby Sid-
his reaction, told reporters that
It has been a year since the BJP
government took over reins. “We
should be discussing that and not
about Kumaraswamy.”

Stapledietrichinnutrition itive are migrants, they were

given nutritious food to boost
their immunity ty, dry fruits and
forpatientsdoesthetrick food containing Vitamin C.
Their vital parameters are be-
ing monitored constantly.
▼ “Ifanypatientdevelopsseri-
ouscomplications,theywillbe
GURURAJA B R eryrateoftheinfectedpatients shiftedtothehospitalimmedi-
KALABURAGI, DHNS in Yadgir is 87.8 % till July 19. ately,”the DC said.
Neighbouring Kalaburagi “Instead of depending
Opposition Siddaramai-
ah claimed that the Con-
gress would have won at
least 10 seats in the Lok
Sabha elections had it not
been for the alliance with
JD(S).
In response, former chief
darmaiah’s claims to recall
what transpired during the
coalition government.
“There will never be a fu-
turealliancewithCongress,”
Kumaraswamydeclared,ina
letter to his party
ty colleagues
on Wednesday.

A
fter its good showing
in prevention of Covid
deaths, Yadgir seems to
havetakenamarchoverother
districts with regard to recov-
eryratealso.Incidentally,Yad-
gir (then undivided Kalabura-
gi) is identified as a backw
kward
districtintheDMNajundappa
Committeereportonregional
imbalance.
According to the State Cov-
id-19WarRoomreport,recov-
district has also seen a good
recovery rate of 64%.
Out of 1,553 positive cas-
es, 1,363 patients (87.8%)
recovered in Yadgir district.
There are only 189 active
cases. District Health Officer
M S Patil attributed this to
early tracking, detection and
treatment.
“We carried out survey
throughout the district be-
fore the arrival of migrant
A file picture of Yadgir town more on ventilators, we are
during the Sunday lockdown. using high ffllow nasal oxyxygen,
whichhelpedustreatpatients
labourers, vvu
ulnerable groups able locally and sometimes incriticalcondition.Asympto-
like ILI and SARI patients whateverthe patientslike,”he matic patients are also being
and pregnant women were explained. Out of 2,743 posi- monitored properly by con-
subjected to Covid-19 test and tive patients, 1,771 (64%) have ducting basic line tests,” he
givenpropertreatment,ifthey recovered in Kalaburagi dis- explained.
were found positive for the vi- trict till July 19. Recovery rate of Covid
rus,”Patil said. patients in other districts of
“We have no special menu High-flow nasal oxygen KalyanaKarnatakaregion:Ra-
for the patients’ food. We are Kalaburagi Deputy Commis- ichur61.4%,Koppal54.8%, Bi-
providing whatever is avail- sioner B Sharat said as a good dar 53.2% and Ballari 53%.

Tiger Mayar Ki
King, a new Inafirst,massageparlourowner
ttracti
att tion at Bandi
dipur
ur bookedunderGoondaAct
BENGALURU, DHNS: A her for not attending court ing sexual services to custom-
womanaccusedofrunning hearings. ers. “She is a repeat offender,”
sextradethroughmassage Sandeep Patil, Joint Com- he added. After each police
parlours has been taken missioner of Police (Crime), raid on her massage parlour,
into preventive custody said Swathi opened her first shemanagedtogetbailand re-
forayearunderastringent massage parlour in the city
ty in sumedbusinessafewdayslat-
law, the Central Crime 2007butquicklystartedoffer- er, Patil added.
Branch (CCB) said.
This is the first time that
the police have invoked
the Karnataka Preven-
tion of Dangerous Activi-
ties of Bootleggers, Drug
Thanksgiving
Offenders, Gamblers,
Goondas, (Immoral Traf-
A video grab of Mayar King at Bandipur Tiger Reserve fic Offenders, Slum-Grab-
in Chamarajanagar district. bers and Video or Audio
Pirates) Act — popularly
CHAMARAJANAGAR, DHNS firmed that the video was of known as Goonda Act —
Bandipurforest.Thetigermay against a facilitator of sex

A
video clip of a male tiger,
walking majestically at
BandipurTigerReserve,
hasgoneviralonthesocialme-
dia.
Bandipur Tiger Project di-
rector T Balachandra has con-
bearoundsix ix toeightyears,itis
said. The tiger is being spotted
frequentlyforthelastfewdays,
but was not disturbed by the
humanpresence,itissaid.The
Forest department personnel
havenameditas‘MayarKing’.
trade.
Swathi alias Saraswathi
aliasAsha,37,aresidentof
SKMRLayout,Horamavu vu,
faces10casespertainingto
sex trade. A few warrants
are also pending against

Nohospital
shoulddeny
admission
toCovid-19
patients:CM
BENGALURU, DHNS: Chief
Minister B S Yediyu yurappa on
Wednesday said no hospital
should deny admission to
Covid-19 patients regardless
of whether or not they have
symptoms.
He said this during a meet-
ing with ministers and offi-
cials in charge
ofBengaluru’s
Rajarajesh-
wari Nagar,
Dasarahalli,
Bommana-
halli and Ma-
hadevapura
Yediyurappa m u n i c i p a l
zones to take
stock of the Covid-19 situa-
tion. The meeting coincided
withthefirstdayofBengaluru
coming out of the 7-day lock-
down.
“It has been directed that
hospitals should first admit
Covid-19patientsandadmin-
isterprimaryhealthcare.Lat-
eron,dependingonthestatus
oftheinfection,adecisioncan
be made,” Yediyu yurappa said,
according to a statement
from the Chief Minister’s
Office.
Asymptomatic patients
without other ailments
should be admitted to hospi-
tals lest it leads to crowding.
“The beds available in hospi-
talsmustbemadeavailableto
those who need treatment,”
he said.
The priority should be to
save lives by ensuring treat-
ment to patients whose in-
fection is serious in nature.
“It must be ensured that only
traineddoctorsprovidetreat-
ment to serious Covid-19 pa-
tients. This way, the number
of deaths can be reduced,”
Yediyuyurappa said.
TheCMalsoaskedthemin-
istersandofficialstoprioritise
testing. “Do more tests and
give results within 24 hours,”
he said. The CMO said Yedi-
yyu
urappahadfix ixedtargetsand
officialsfaceactioniftheyare
not met.
4 STATE
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020

Rumours on deaths due to MLC nominations pile

ventilator fault grip K’buragi
KALABURAGI, DHNS
R
umours that a few patients
diedduetoventilatorbreak-
down at ESIC hospital here
led to some tension in the city
on Wednesday. But the district
administration was quick to
clarify
fy that no death due to ven-
tilator breakdown occurred in
the hospital.
Deputy Commissioner B
Sharat said a five-member
committee consisting of doc-
tors from Gulbarga Institute
of Medical Sciences, Basave-
shwara Hospital and KBN
Hospital has been constituted
to know the circumstances
that led to deaths at the ESIC
hospital. The committee will
give a report in three days,
ESIC, Kalaburagi, because
there was oxygen supply
pressure for Cabinet expansion
breakdown in the ICU.
“ESIC has not been admit-
tingpatientsastheissuehas
not been resolved. Nobody
ExerciselikelyinAug;
is confirming it or deny-
ing it. Is the government
deliberately hiding it?,”
sixberthsvacant
he said. ▼
‘Report not received’ BENGALURU, DHNS theJD(S)toBJPin2019along
“Though the woman un- with 16 other legislators. Bharathi Shetty A H Vishwanath Talwar Sabanna C P Yogeeshwar

he said.
Taking to ttw
witter, MLA Pri-
yank Kharge said he had re-
ceived complaints that eight
people on ventilators died in
G
derwent Covid test on
July 11, her report has not
arrived even after 11 days.
Deceased’s son alleged that
Covid and non-covid pa-
tientswereshiftedinanam-
bulance. Why the district
administration remained
silent over the deaths?”
he said. The DC clarified
that no death occurred due
to ventilator failure in ESIC
hospital. “I have spoken to
the dean of the hospital,”he
said.
overnorVajubhaiRVala
onWednesdaynominat-
edformerministersAH
Vishwanath, C P Yogeeshwar
and three others to the Legis-
lative Council.
BJP’s Mahila Morcha presi-
dentBharathiShettyty,academi-
cianTalwarSabannaandsocial
activist Shantharama Budna
Siddi are the other nomina-
tionstotheUpperHouse.
The move came as a relief
to party
ty-hopper Vishwanath,
who switched loyalties from
Vishwanathlostthebypolls as
aBJP candidate fromHunsur
constituencyinDecemberlast
year.
He and M T B Nagaraj
were the only tw
two among the
14 defectors from the Con-
gress-JD(S) coalition to lose
the bypolls. Nagaraj was ac-
commodated in the Legisla-
tive Council in June.
Yogeeshwar,who reported-
lyplayed aroleinengineering
the defections from the H D
Kumaraswamy-led coalition,
had lost from Channapatna
constituency in the 2018 elec-
tions against Kumaraswamy.
Whilethemovewillplacate
Vishwanath and Yogeeshwar,
it is expected to mount pres-
sure on Yediyu
yurappa to go in
for a Cabinet expansion.
While defectors
Vishwanath, Nagaraj and R
Shankar(alsorecentlyelected
asMLC)areassuredaCabinet
berth by virtue of Yediyu
yurap-
pa’s‘promise,’Yogeeshwarwill
be among the ministerial as-
pirants.Speculationisrifethat
Yediyu
yurappa may expand his
Cabinet in August, where six
moreministerscanbeaccom-
modated.
Both Sabanna - chairman,
EconomicsDepartment,Rani
Channamma University, Be-
lagaviandsocialactivistShan-
tharamahailfromSTcommu-
nity
ty.Their nomination,unlike
the first three, according to
sources, were recommended
by the party high command
and is in line with its recent in-
itiative to reward low-profile
workers of the party ty.
Recently, the central lead-
ership had nominated ‘party
workers’ Ashok Gasti and
Eranna Kadadi to the Rajya
Sabha. While the selections
had provided a boost to the
party cadre, it had also re-
vealed the differences be-
tween state and central BJP
units.

Former VCs urge govt to cancel CET

B E N G A L U RU D H N S : The
Forum of Former Vice
Chancellors of Karnata-
ka has urged the govern-
ment to cancel CET 2020
scheduled for July 30
and 31.
In a official communica-
tion, the forum said, “con-
sidering the non-availabil-
ity of infrastructure, the
appropriate technology and
non-completionofsyllabi,un-
certainty of the preparation
of students we unanimously
feel that under this most dif-
ficult circumstances created
by Covid 19 pandemic, CET/
COMEDK/ other equivalent
examination and all the All
Indian central entrance ex-
aminations could be aban-
doned for this academic
year.Admissionsmaybedone
based on the merit in II PU
exams.”
Formulate SOP to curb
child porn, HC tells govt
carried out in such cases. As
Courtunhappyover we are directing the forma-
tion of SOP for dealing with
‘insensitive’enquiry child pornography cases, the
state is also directed to for-
bythepolice mulate guidelines on child
missing cases,” the bench
▼ said.
The bench had been issu-
AMBARISH B IN THE ing several directions since
BENGALURU, DHNS HIGH COURT 2018 and has also been mon-
itoring police investigations.
Covid-19and
thelimitation...
MODELS, FROM PAGE 1
Because most assumptions
are based on educated
guesses or on approxima-
tions from inaccurate data,
models are inevitably ap-
proximations. This is why

T
he Karnataka High
Court on Wednesday di-
rected the state govern-
ment to formulate Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP)
for child protection, particu-
larly for cases of child pornog-
raphy and child missing.
Adivisionbenchcomprising
Chief Justice Abhay Shreeni-
was Oka and Justice M Na-
gaprasanna passed a detailed
order and asked the state gov-
ernmenttosubmitcompliance
withinthreemonths.
The division bench passed
the order on tw
two PILs, includ-
ing a suo motu litigation reg-
isteredin2018.ThePILswere
registered to ensure effective
implementation of the direc-
tions of the Supreme Court
on the Juvenile Justice (Care
and Protection of Children)
Act, 2015 (JJ Act).
The bench observed that
in normal courses, courts do
notissuewritofmandamusto
thelegislatureonrule-making
aspects. However, when the
failure of the state is demon-
strated under exceptional cir-
cumstances, courts can issue
directions.Thebenchdirected
the state government to expe-
dite the rule-making process
to ensure proper implemen-
tation of the JJ Act.
The bench expressed dis-
pleasure on the insensitive
police investigation in cases
of child pornography. “The
policemachinerydidnotshow
the sensitivity
ty expected from
it while dealing with cases of
alleged child pornography.
Therefore, it will be appro-
priate if the state issues SOP
or guidelines for dealing with
cases of child pornography so
that proper investigation is
Thecourtobservedthatwhile
the state government has in-
corporatedseveraldirections,
someissuesstillremainunad-
dressed.
The bench directed the
government to have dedi-
cated staff for Directorate of
Integrated Child Protection
Scheme considering the sen-
sitive nature of work.
OnworkingofJuvenileJus-
tice Boards (JJB), the court
askedtheRegistrarGeneralof
the Karnataka High Court to
issue directions to the princi-
pal magistrates of all the JJBs
in the state to sit on all work-
ing days for a minimum of six
hours a day.
The high court directed the
statetoexercisetherule-mak-
ing powers for obtaining an
annual report from the State
Commission for Protection of
Child Rights.
some models sensibly offer
best and worst case scenar-
ios.
Forecasting
A child weighs 3 kg at birth,
6 kg at 6 months, and 9 kg
at 1 year, but not 63 kg at 10
years because weight gain is
notuniformacrosstime.Be-
sides the nonlinear growth
effect, gender, genes, nutri-
tion,pregnancy,disease,and
other factors can also affect
weight.
How would a mathemat-
ical model know all this in
the case of something new,
such as Covid-19? There are
not only known unknowns,
butunknownunknownsthat
canaffecttheCovid-19math-
ematical model
A twist in the tail
Herd immunity and the
models depend on whether
the vaccine or infection by
the disease truly results in
persistent immunity. If the

Am
Ambulance set on ffiire immunity wears off early,
then models that assume
immunity ty will no longer be

over patient’s death

BELAGAVI, DHNS Galli in the city died at the
hospital. The relatives on get-
the hospital were blocked by
the police. The APMC po-
valid.
So whenever a new math-
ematicalmodelispublished,
the reader must be told
about what the assump-
tions were and what the

T
he relatives of a pa-
tient who passed away
during treatment at
Belagavi Institute of Medical
Sciences went on a rampage
setting the ambulance on fire
alleging medical negligence
here on Wednesday night.
They also threw stones on the
hospital.
According to sources, a
55-year-old man from Ghee
ting information of the pass-
ing away of the person, tried
to question the authorities,
but could not get satisfactory
reply.
The enraged relatives set
an ambulance parked on
hospital premises on fire.
A policeman suffered in-
juries while attempting to
bring the situation under
control. All roads leading to
lice rushed to the spot and
brought the situation under
control.
The police said that the
patient was admitted in the
hospital on July 19 for Severe
Acute Respiratory Infection.
His samples tested positive
for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
He passed away while he was
being shifted to intensive care
unit.
error margin is. But, why
have models at all? Models
are necessary to educate
people about what might
lie ahead, and to guide of-
ficial policy-making. We
must, however, be aware
of the limitations of the
models.
(The writer is Professor,
Psychopharmacology at
NIMHANS, Bengaluru)

SiddiprideShantaramisnow...  WEATHER 
SIDDI, FROM PAGE 1 munities. People who know Ov
O verv
rview:Rain/thunder- INTERIOR SOUTH
himsaythatintheprocess,he showerslikelytooccuratmost Stations Max Min Rain
A keen learner from his child- has inspired people to learn placesoverSouthInteri
riorKar- Agumbe NA NA NA
hood, he topped the class in and progress while retaining natakaandCoasastalKarn
rnataka Bengaluru 30.4 22 00
7th standard in Hitlalli school, their identity. And people andatafewplacesoverNort rth Ballari NA NA NA
and that changed his life. “My evenstartedfondlycallinghim Interi
riorKarn
rnataka. Chamarajanagar NA NA NA
teachers identified my hunger Anna, or brother. uly23:Rainfall
ForecastJul Chikkamagaluru 26 20 00
forkn
knowledgeandadmitt ttedme “Our culture is our pride. occuredatisolatedplacesover Chitradurga 31.3 21.2 0.4
toaschoolinAnAnkola,awayfr from But that shouldn’t be a hurdle theState. Davangere 28 20.3 00
myhomeinHitlalli,”hesaid. in achieving a better life. My Hassan 33.4 18 00
INTERIOR NORTH
Shantaramwentontostudy goal is to enable indigenous Stations Max Min Rain Mysuru 31.5 20.8 00
at the Arts and Science Col- communities to strike a con- Belagavi 27 NA 00 Madikeri 26.5 17.3 00
lege, Karwar, becoming the nection with the mainstream Bidar 30.4 20.4 00 Kolar 31.7 21.1 00
firstgraduate(BAEconomics) society while keeping our Vijayapura 32 22.5 08
from his tribe. identity
ty,”he said. Dharwad 29.1 21.5 00 OTHER STATIONS
“When I graduated, I had But Shantaram said he is Haveri 30.4 22 00 Stations Max Min Rain
simple dreams of settling in not in favour of “moving trib- Kalaburagi 34.3 25 00 New Delhi 33.2 24 30.2
life after earning a govern- al people away from forests”. Raichur 30.8 25.2 00 Kolkata 31.7 25 30.2
mentjob,”hesaidandrecalled “They should be provided COASTAL Mumbai 32.7 26.2 00
hisinitialinteractionswithso- with whatever facilities possi- Honnavar 30.6 25 15.2 Chennai 34 26.8 00
cial workers Prakash Kamath ble there itself, including the Karwar 30.2 25.9 03 Pune 32.6 23.3 00
and Nirmala Gaonkar, who land that is rightfully theirs. If Shirali 30.4 24.3 4.6 Hyderabad 33.8 24.7 00
changedhisviewstowardslife. youngsters wish to move out, Mangaluru 30.7 24.1 00 Trivandrum 31.5 24.8 02
During his college days, let them be,”he said.
ShantaramwaswiththeRash-
triya Swayamsevak Sangh
Shantaramwasalsoactivein
conservation movements and
 RESERVOIR LEVELS 
Name of the Full Present KRS 124.80 107.70
(RSS).Hisassociationcontin- servedasamemberofthePas- Reservoir level* level* Kabini 2284.00 2276.44
ues even today. chima Ghatta Karyapade. On Linganamakki 1819.00 1771.00
He started working with Tungabhadra 1633.00 1609.53
thewayforward,hesaid:“Iam Supa 1849.92 1753.00
the Siddi community in 1988 naivewhenitcomestopolitics, Malaprabha 2079.50 2060.00
Harangi 2859.00 2855.21 Almatti 1704.81 1697.16
and now works across Kar- butmyyearsinsocialworkwill Hemavathi 2922.00 2895.01 *In feet Source: KSNDMC
nataka with all tribal com- definitelycometouse.”

DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020
Covid vaccine to cost under
Rs 1,000: Adar Poonawala
ANUPAMA RAMAKRISHNAN
BENGALURU, DHNS
The Serum Institute of In-
dia is looking at keeping the
price of Oxford-AstraZeneca
vaccine affordable for peo-
ple. Though it was too early
to comment on the pricing of
the vaccine, Adar Poonawalla,
chiefexecutiveofficerofSerum
InstituteofIndia,said,“Initially
we would like to keep it under
Rs 1,000”.
“We are certain that it will
be affordable and hopefully
will be procured and distrib-
uted by governments without
charge,”said AdarPoonawalla
in an interview with DH.
He pointed out that the vac-
cine branded as Covishield is
one of the vaccines that have
TN adds 444
‘unaccounted’
deaths to
Covid-19 tally
CHENNAI, DHNS: As many as
444 deaths that occurred
in Chennai from March 1 to
mid-July, which were not
unaccounted for earlier,
were on Wednesday added
to Tamil Nadu’s Covid-19
tally, pushing the death toll
from the novel Coronavirus
to 3,144.
The move comes fol-
lowing the completion of
reconciliation of deaths by
the Health Department
and the Greater Chennai
Corporation (GCC), which
maintains the city’s death
registry. Chennai has so far
seen 1,939 deaths.
The reconciliation pro-
cess was initiated after
media reports, NGOs and
Opposition parties flflagged
“huge gap” in numbers
mentioned in the daily Cov-
id-19bulletinreleasedbythe
Health Department and the
“deaths due to Coronavirus
infection” registered by the
GCC at its crematoriums.
“We have added 444
deaths which were earlier
unaccounted for to our offi-
cial Covid-19 death toll. This
hasbeenaddedfollowingthe
conclusion of the process by
a committee headed by a
senior official. The deaths
that have been added now
occurred between March 1
and mid-July,” Health Sec-
retary Dr. J. Radhakrishnan
said.
J&K
reorganisation
makes it to
Class 12 textbook
NEW DELHI, DHNS: The ab-
rogation of Article 370 and
re-organisation of Jammu
and Kashmir have made it
to the political science text-
book for Class 12 recently
revised by the National
Council of Educational
Research and Training
(NCERT).
The new textbook also
dropped the topic ‘Sepa-
ratism and Beyond’ and
instead makes a reference
to it by way of violence wit-
nessedintheerstw twhilestate
of Jammu and Kashmir in
spite of the special status it
enjoyed under Article 370.
The chapter on ‘Regional
Aspirations’in the textbook
“Politics in India since Inde-
pendence” for the academ-
ic session 2020-21, finds a
mention to the scrapping
of Article 370, which gave
the erstwhile state of J&K
special status.
The revised portion,
where the chapter talks
about J&K, says, “Jammu
and Kashmir had a special
status under Article 370
of the Indian Constitution.
However, in spite of it, the
region witnessed violence,
cross-border terrorism and
political instability with in-
ternal and external ramifi-
cations”.
“The Article resulted
in the loss of many lives,
including that of innocent
civilians, security person-
nel and militants. Besides,
there was also a large scale
displacement of Kashmiri
Pandits from the Kashmir
valley,”it read.
The revised textbook
takes into account the de-
velopments that took place
in J&K from 2002 onward.
yielded pos-
itive results
in the trials
and has been
clearedforthe
final phase.
“ T h e
Phase-I trials Adar
have been Poonawalla
conducted
in almost 1,000 patients, but
in other countries, it is usually
doneon40-60patients.Forthe
Phase-IIItrials,weplantohave
around 4,000-5,000 people
from India.”
“There are several trial sites
across both Mumbai and Pune
since these cities have several
hotspots,whichwillhelpusun-
derstandtheefficacyofthevac-
cine. The biggest risk involved
wouldbethevaccinenotclear-
ICMR sits on sero-survey
report disregarding experts
KALYAN RAY
NEW DELHI, DHNS
F d es
or nearly two months In-
dian Council of Medical
Research(ICMR)hasnot
disclosed the detailed results
of a national-level survey that
would showcase the extent of
the people’s exposure to novel
coronavirus in India.
Following the release of a
similar survey carried out by
the Delhi government, health
specialists and medical re-
searchers asked the ICMR
once again to come out in the
open with the results of the
first national-level serological
survey. None, however, is will-
ing to be quoted.
23% exposed to virus
The Delhi survey found that
23% of the population was
exposed to the virus. Consid-
eringDelhihasa population of
nearly 20 million, it means the
viruswaspresentin4.5million
Delhites.
Actual case detection
according to the Delhi gov-
ernment figures is just over
1,25,000.
The results also demon-
Newly elected Rajya Sabha MP and BJP member Jyotiraditya Scindia (L) greets Congress
leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad (C) and Digvijaya Singh before taking oath, at the Parliament
House in New Delhi, on Wednesday. PTI
45newlyelected
RajyaSabhaMPstakeoath
NEW DELHI, DHNS: Forty ty-five
of the 61 newly-elected Rajya
Sabha MPs, including Sharad
Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge
and Jyotiradity
tya Scindia, took
oath on Wednesday as Chair-
manMVenkaiahNaiduurged
them to upholdrules and pro-
cedures while discharging
theirdutiesasalawmakerand
notfallpreytodisruptions.
Among the 16 MPs who did
not make it to the oath-taking
ceremony included former
Prime Minister Deve Gowda,
DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, TRS’ Dr
K Keshava Rao and four Tri-
namoolCongressMPsamong
others. Those members who
ski
kippedtheceremonywilltake
the oath during the Monsoon
Session.
Outgoing Rajya Sabha
Deputyty ChairmanHarivansh,
UnionMinisterRamdasAtha-
wale, former Lok Sabha Dep-
uty
ty SpeakerMThambiDurai,
senior Congress leaders Dig-
vijay Singh, K C Venugopal
and Shaktisinh Gohil, BJP’s
Bhubaneswar Kalita, RJD’s
Prem Chand Gupta, Shiv Se-
na’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and
CPI(M)’s Vikas Ranjan Bhat-
ing the trials, however, we are
optimistic that it will yield pos-
itive results,”Adar informed.
He added that they were
also working on two of their
own vaccines, which they seek
to release by the end of 2021.
“WearealsoconductingPhase-
III trials of the recombinant
BCG vaccine shots to improve
the innate ability to fight the
virus and reduce the severity
of Covid-19 in India. This is an
extremely safe vaccine since it
is given to new-born babies.”
TheLancetMedicalJournal
on Monday had published the
findings from the early trials
which showed the Covid-19
vaccine,beingdevelopedbythe
Oxford University and Astra-
Zeneca,tobesafeandinducing
an immune response.
strate how the existing testing
strategy has probably missed
millions of patients in the na-
tional capital who got infected
by the novel coronavirus and
gotcuredinthenaturalcourse
of time.
Even after considering the
fact that blood sample-based
antibody surveys always give
highernumbersthananyvirus
detection methods, the gap is
too huge.
Last month in a press con-
ference ICMR director-gen-
eral Dr Balram Bhargava
said only 0.73% population
in the districts surveyed had
evidence of past exposure to
SARS-CoV-2.
This claim, however, was
not accepted by medical re-
searchers and doctors who
noted many signs of commu-
nity transmission across the
country.
There is a suspicion that big
cities like Delhi, Mumbai and
Chennai were left out from
that calculation.
ICMR scientists in April
were one of the first to pick up
the evidence of community
transmission from an early
surveillance exercise carried
tacharya were among the
newMPswhotookoathinthe
ceremonyheldinRajyaSabha
Chamber.
Except for Gowda, all the
three MPs from Karnataka
-- Kharge (Congress), Ashok
GastiandIrannaKadadi(both
BJP)--tooktheoath.Al Allthree,
who took oath in Kannada,
are first-timers in Rajya Sab-
ha though Kharge had been a
memberofLokSabhaseveral
times.
Ofthe45MPswhotookthe
oath,36arefirst-timersinRa-
jya Sabha. All the three wom-
en who took oath are women.
Thememberstookoathinten
languages--Kannada,Telugu,
Bodo,Manipuri,Marathi,Ori-
ya, Tamil, Bengali, Hindi and
English.
Scindia, who left Congress
to join the BJP along with
his supporters in Madhya
Pradesh leading to the fall of
Congress government there,
greeted his former leaders
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kharge
and Digvijay Singh before
his oath-taking. Scindia and
Singh were at loggerheads in
MadhyaPradesh.
NATION
65%ofkidsinworldgetSerumInstitutevaccine
Sixty
MRITYUNJAY BOSE
MUMBAI, DHNS
ty-five per cent of the kids
across the globe receive one
or the other vaccine manufac-
turedbytheSerumInstituteof
India Pvtvt Ltd (SII).
Founded by Cyrus
Poonawalla in 1966, the SII,
popularly known as Serum
Institute, has emerged as the
world leader in vaccines. The
company is now steered by
Adar Poonawala, who is the
CEO.
Today it is in the news for
partnering with biophar-
maceutical company Astra-
Zeneca to manufacture the
experimental Covid-19 vac-
cine candidate developed by
the Universityty of Oxford.
TheSII,India’sNo1biotech-
nologycompany,makesmore
than1.5billiondosesincluding
vaccines for Polio, Diphthe-
COVID-19 Tracker
States/UT Infected Active
Maharashtra 3,37,607 1,36,980
Tamil Nadu 1,86,492 51,765
Delhi 1,26,323 14,954
Karnataka 75,833 47,069
Andhra Pradesh 64,713 31,763
Uttar Pradesh 55,588 20,825
Gujarat 51,485 12,016
Telangana 49,259 11,155
West Bengal 49,321 18,450
Rajasthan 32,334 8,862
Bihar 30,066 9,982
Others 1,78,789 60,517
4,24,338 7,83,282 12,37,810
TOTAL ACTIVE TOTAL
CASES DISCHARGED
339
29,851
TOTAL COVID DEATH NON-COVID DEATHS*
out on 5,911 patients from 51
districts having SARI (severe
acute respiratory illness)
and ILI (infl
fluenza-like illness)
between February 15 and
April 2.
The researchers had found
104 Covid-19 positive cases in
S
Trinamool
against virtual
Parl session
NEW DELHI, DHNS: Tri-
namool Congress on
Wednesday batted for vir-
tual meetings of Parliamen-
tary committees during the
Covid-19pandemic,arguing
thatapanelhasalreadyheld
deliberations on the digital
mode in April and there was
no reason why it should not
be allowed for others.
However, the party was
T unseatme,but
notinfavourofholdingavir-
tual session of Parliament.
The party’s position was
articulated in a letter to Lok
Sabha Speaker Om Birla
and Rajya Sabha Chairman
M Venkaiah Naidu by Tri-
namool Congress RS leader
Derek O’Brien.
“We do not subscribe to
the idea of conducting a
Parliament session virtu-
ally. We have thoroughly
examined the issue and
feel that a 100% virtual ses-
sion of Parliament would be
impractical. However, we
would humbly urge your
good offices to conduct vir-
tual meetings of Parliamen-
tary committees,” O’Brien
wrote.
ria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib,
BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles,
MumpsandRubellavaccines.
Vaccines manufactured
by the Serum Institute are
accredited by the WHO and
are being used in around 170
countries across the globe in
their national immunization
programmes, saving millions
of lives throughout the world.
SetupinPunewithanaimto
providevaccinesataffordable
prices, several life-saving bio-
logicalsweremanufacturedat
prices with the result that the
country was made self-suffi-
cient for Tetanus Anti-toxin
andAnti-snakeVenomserum,
followed by DTP (Diphtheria,
Tetanus and Pertussis) group
of vaccines and then later on
MMR (Measles, Mumps and
Rubella) group of vaccines.
“Withastrongcommitment
toglobalhealth,theinstitute’s
objective has been proliferat-
Deaths Daily Daily
cases Deaths
12,556 10,576 280
3,144 5,849 518*
3,719 1,227 29
1,519 4,764 55
823 6,045 65
1,263 2,300 34
2,229 1,020 28
438 1,554 9 ment eventhoughtheywere
1,221 2,291 39
583 961 6 tionnorms.“Ourneighbours
208 1,502 0 assaulted me, my pregnant
2,148 7,032 48
TOTAL
INFECTED
DHNS/PTI (10 PM,
July 22)
*Including pending
444 cases
the survey. Out of those 104
cases, there were 40 positive
individuals from 36 districts
with no travel and contact his-
tory—a sure shot signature of
community ty transmission.The
namesofthedistrictswerenot
disclosed.
SC issues contempt notice to
Prashant Bhushan for his tweets
NEW DELHI, DHNS
C issues contempt notice
to Prashant Bhushan
on tweets against judi-
ciaryThe Supreme Court on
Wednesdayissuedacontempt
notice to activist-advocate
Prashant Bhushan for his
tweets, bringing “administra-
tion of justice in disrepute”
and “undermining the dignity ty
and authorityty of the Supreme
Court in general and the office
of the Chief Justice of India in
particular”.
A bench of Justices Arun
Mishra,BRGavaiandKrishna
Murariaskedthecounseltoex-
plain why criminal contempt
proceedings should not be in-
itiated against him.
ED raids premises of
Gehlot’s brother
NEW DELHI, DHNS
heEnforcementDirecto-
rate (ED) on Wednesday
conducted raids at the
premises of Rajasthan Chief
MinisterAshokGehlot’sbroth-
er in connection with a money
laundering case linked to an
allegedfertiliserscam.
The searches are being held
in other cities, on the premises
of Gehlot’s elder brother Agra-
sain Gehlot in connection with
theEDregisteringanFIRbased
on a Customs case in which the
latter’s company was slapped
with a penaltyty of around Rs 7
crore.Thisisthethirdactionby
acentralagencyafterCongress
leader Sachin Pilot rose in re-
volt against Gehlot, leading to
hissubsequentsackingasDep-
uty Chief Minister. Congress
Serum Institute of India.
ed by bringing down the pric-
esofnewervaccines.Thereby,
strengtheningthecapabilities
of families and communities
toimprovechildhealthinlow-
and middle-income families,”
an SII spokesperson said.
The philanthropic philos-
ghbours
Neigh
‘assault’ Covi
vid-19
patient in Kolkata
KOLKATA, DHNS
A bycopsfornot
Covid-19 patient, his
wife and child were
allegedly assaulted by
theirneighbours inKolkata.
The man who tested posi-
tivefortheinfectionlastweek
alleged that his neighbours
beat him up with shoes and
shovedhispregnantwife.
The man alleged that his
neighbours were opposed
to their staying at the apart-
strictlyfollowinghomeisola-
wife and three-year-old son
on Tuesday evening. They
beat me with shoes and
pushed my pregnant wife,”
hesaid.
Denyingtheallegationone
of their neighbours said that
the couple were violating all
normsofhomeisolationand
repeatedly stepped outside
their ffllat. He said that on
Tuesdaytheywenttotheroof
to dry clothes despite being
repeatedly told by other res-
idents of the building not to
doso.
Police asked the patient’s
wife to lodge a complaint
throughemail.
The court
noted the
June 27 ttwweet
by Bhushan
wherein he
accused four
CJIs of “play- Prashant
ing a role in Bhushan
the destruc-
tion of democracy” was also
reported in the print media.
In another tweet on June 29,
he accused the current CJI of
“riding a Rs 50 lakh bike of a
BJP leader” and keeping “the
SC in lockdown denying citi-
zenstheirfundamentalrightto
justice”. “We are, prima facie,
oftheviewthatthestatements
on Twitter have brought the
administration of justice in
disrepute and are capable of
chief spokesperson Randeep
Surjewala said they were not
going to be scared by the ‘raid
raj’ created by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi after the Cen-
tre’s“gimmicks”failedtotopple
theRajasthangovernment.
Days ago, Gehlot govern-
ment had also named senior
BJP leader and Union Minister
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat of
conspiring to topple the gov-
ernment by offering money to
asectionofCongressMLAsbe-
longing to Pilot camp, besides
arresting a couple of saffron
party
ty-linkedpersons.
Officials said the ED team
wasassistedbypersonnelofthe
Central Reserve Police Force,
whowasseenstandingguardat
thefarmhouseandresidenceof
AgrasainGehlotinMandoreof
Jodhpurdistrict.
ophy of the company still not
only exists but has been pro-
liferated to bring down the
prices of newer vaccines such
as Hepatitis-B vaccine, Com-
bination vaccine etc., so that
notonlyIndian’s,buttheentire
underprivileged children of
Man
a ‘beaten’
wear
aringmasa k,
k Kerala Chief Minister Pi-
di
A 26-year-old man
died three days after
he jumped off a police
jeep allegedly because
he was manhandled
by the cops for not
wearing a mask as
Covid-19 precaution,
reports DHNS. The
incident occurred on
July 18 in Chirala town
of Andhra Pradesh.
Y Kiran Kumar
succumbed to his head
injuries on Tuesday
night. The state gov-
ernment has ordered a
police enquiry into the
case while announcing
a Rs 10 lakh compen-
sation to the family of
the man belonging to
the Scheduled Caste
community t . Kumar
was first taken to a
local government hos-
pital and then to the
Government General
Hospital in Guntur.
undermining the dignity and
authorityty of the Institution of
Supreme Court in general and
the office of the Chief Justice
of India in particular, in the
eyes of the public at large,”the
bench said.
The Suo Motu criminal con-
tempt case was registered by
the court on July 9, after a de-
cision was taken up on the ad-
ministrativesideinthisregard
as a petition filed by advocate
Mehak Maheshwari for initi-
ating contempt proceedings
against Bhushan did not carry
mandatory permission from
the Attorney General.
On Wednesday, the bench
also issued notice to Attorney
General K K Venugopal seek-
ing his assistance.
‘BJPtr tryingto
un
wi
will las
ast fu
full term
r ’
Rajasthan Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot has written
a letter to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi regard-
ing the “despicable
attempts”made by the
BJP and Union Minister
Gajendra Singh Shekha-
wat to destablise his gov-
ernment at a time when
the nation was battling
a public health crisis.
In a letter dated July 19,
Gehlot referred to “some
very ambitious leaders”
of the Congress were also
involved in the act of dest-
abilising government.
5
the world are protected from
birth onwards.
In September 2019, the SII
inaugurated its new multi-
functional production facility
ty
for vaccines. With an invest-
ment of over Rs 3,000 crores
so far, the plant operates with
state-of-the-art equipment
and facilities for an enhanced
production quantity ty.
Lending support to Maha-
rashtra Government it has
partnered with Zipline to use
a logistics netw
twork of autono-
mous delivery drones to help
transform emergency medi-
cine and critical care.
In a bid to strengthen rou-
tine immunization and tackle
the menace of Diarrhoea, it
launched a new variant of its
WHO prequalified rotavirus
vaccine Rotasiil called Ro-
tasiil–Liquid,theonlyreadyto
use Pentavalent vaccine with
G9 strain.
Kerala to consider
total lockdown
again
THIRU VANANTHAPU-
RAM, DHNS: Daily fresh Cov-
id-19 cases in Kerala crossed
1,000 for the first time on
Wednesday as 1,038 persons
weretestedpositive.
narayi Vijayan said that as the
cases were going up, the state
might be considering a total
lockdown.
The total cases in Kerala
crossed the 15,000-mark to
reach 15,032. Of this, 8,821 are
now under treatment. While
6,162 recovered, 45 persons
died so far, including a 75-year-
old woman in Idukki district
whose death was reported on
Wednesday. As many as 785
of the 1,038 fresh cases on
Wednesday were due to local
contacts.
Meanwhile, two more stu-
dents who appeared for Kerala
EngineeringAr Architectu
tureMed-
icalentranceexaminationwere
testedpositiveforCovid-19.
So far, four students who
appeared for the entrance and
father of a student have been
tested positive. The picture of
the parents gathering in front
of a school during the exam
on July 16 had gone viral on
social media A police case was
registered against hundreds of
parents who gathered in front
of a school in ffllouting physical
distancingnorms.
PM Modi invites
US for increased
trade with India
NEW DELHI, DHNS: Amid
worsening US-China rela-
tions, Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi on Wednesday
invited US businesses to in-
vest in India as the country
was on the largest ever in-
frastructure creation drive
and urged Washington to
see New Delhi’s as an alter-
native destination for trade
and a nation it can trust.
Theinvitationwasext xtend-
edinanumberofsectorslike
civilaviation,defence,space,
finance and insurance, with
Modi saying there were few
better partners than the US
andIndia,whocouldplayan
importantroleinhelpingthe
worldbouncebackfromthe
pandemic.
“The rise of India means:
a rise in trade opportuni-
ties with a nation that you
can trust, a rise in global
integration with increasing
openness,ariseinyourcom-
petitiveness with access to a
market which offers scale.
Andariseinreturnswiththe
availability of skilled work-
ers,”Modi said addressing a
virtual summit by US-India
Business Council in a subtle
attack on China.
Indiaisemergingasaland
of opportunities, the prime
minister said citing the rise
of internet users in rural
India in recent times than in
urban India.
Experts, however, say
that internet use in rural In-
dia has increased ever since
the migrant labourers went
back to villages from urban
centres.Theprimeminister
said there were about half a
billion active internet users
in India now and an equal
number were being con-
nected.
Modisaidglobaleconom-
icresiliencecanbeachieved
by stronger domestic eco-
nomic capacities.
6 COMMENT
ESTABLISHED 1948
CM’s addrdress
raises hope
K
arnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa must
be complimented for his statesman-like address
throughsocialmediaplatformsinwhichheassured
the people about the preparedness to tackle Covid-19,
extended an olive branch to the Opposition, addressed
the issue of corruption, issued a warning to those not
following precautions and, above all, lift fted the week-long
lockdown. Now that the lockdown is gone, the remaining
restrictions, like night curfew and Sunday shutdown, too,
shouldbewithdrawnsoon.Thechiefminister’scategori rical
assurancethatalockdownwillnotbeimposedagaineither
in Bengaluru or in the rest of the state and that work on
combati tingthepandemicandrevivingtheeconomyshould
gohand-in-handcomesasareliefbothtothegeneralpublic
andthebusinesscommunity ty.Wh
WhileYediyu yurappaappears
to have been ill-advised on impos-
ing the just-concluded lockdown,
despite many experts saying that
it would not servrve any purpose, he
seems to have emerged wiser now,
having declared that lockdowns are
not the solution to controlling the
spread of the virurus, while stressing
thatresourcemobilisationisequally
Managing Cov- import rtant for the government.
id-19, reviving Addressingtheissueofsuspected
corruption, the chief minister ex-
economy are plained how he had interv rvened and
both key struck down a deal in which beds
and peripherals were rented at an
exorbitant cost, even as he assured the Opposition that
the government would clarify fy their queries or allegations
within 24 hours. An An assertive, combative and confident
Yediyu yurappa gave the impression that he may have man-
agedtounshackl klehimselffromsomeofhiscolleagueswho
were pulling him in different directions, leading to a lack
of consistency in the government’s actions. The absence
of strong leadership had, of late, dented the state’s fight
against Covid-19. Now that Yediyu yurappa has leftft no one in
doubtwhothebossis,itishopedthatthelooseendswillbe
tied.Acommoncomplaintisthatthechiefminister,whois
otherwrwisesensitivetopublicissues,isbeingpulleddownby
the coterie around him. It is thus imperative that he takes
urgent steps to surround himself with the right people.
Yediyu
yurappashouldalsogiveatt ttentiontotheabsenceof
astrongchainofcommand,whichhasledtoalackofunity
of purpose in the war on Covid-19. At least 60 IIA AS, IPS and
IFSofficers,nottomentionsome10ministers,areswarm-
ing Bengaluru ru, leaving not only the rank-and-file in chaos
butcreatingamulti-layereddecision-maki kingprocesslead-
ingtoall-roundconfu fusion.Unlessthisisaddressedfi first,the
government’s effort rts may come to naught and end up as a
ttyypical case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.
Chi
hina pressur
ures
Bhuta
tan, eye on Dokl
klam
C
hina is piling up pressure on Bhutan over its territo-
rial dispute with that country. In early June, Beijing
had raised claims over the Sakteng Wildlife Sanc-
tuary in eastern Bhutan, an area that has never figured
in the territorial dispute and in the 24 rounds of negotia-
tions betw
tween the ttw
wo countries since the early 1980s. On
Tuesday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) not
only reiterated claims over Sakteng but it also revived a
territorial swap plan it had offered Bhutan in 1996. The
message it has sent to Thimphu is pretty ty apparent: Ac-
cept the territorial exchange offer and settle the border
dispute with China or face mounting Chinese demands
on Bhutanese territory. Under the 1996 proposal, China
offered to recognise Bhutan’s sovereignty over 495 sq
km of territory in the Jakurlung and Pasamlung Valleys
in north-central Bhutan in return for Thimphu ceding
control over 269 sq km, including the Doklam Plateau,
in western Bhutan. Bhutan did not accept that deal but
continued engaging in talks with China, even as Beijing
has continued to put pressure on
Bhutan, whether through building
roads into Bhutanese territory or
sendingTibetanherdersthere.The
PLA troop-building near Doklam
in2017anditssteadyandsystemat-
icadvanceintoBhutaneseterritory
in the western sector in the years
since is aimed at gaining control
India, Bhutan over the strategic Doklam Plateau.
must hold It is to get Bhutan to cede control
over Doklam that China has now
together revived the package offer. Beijing’s
against Beijing recent assertion of claim over Sak-
teng is yet another manoeuvre to
pressure Bhutan to hand over Doklam to China.
Ensuring that Bhutan continues to exercise sovereign-
ty over the Doklam Plateau is vital for India’s national
security
ty. India must reassure Bhutan of its full support
for its territorial sovereignty. For decades, India and
Bhutanhaveremainedsensitivetoeachother’spriorities;
Thimphu to India’s security ty concerns and New Delhi to
Bhutan’sgrowingaspirationsasayoungdemocracy.That
sensitive engagement must continue.
A section of Bhutanese, especially the youth, believe
that their government should settle the border with
China even if it is on the latter’s terms. This would be a
disastrous course. Bhutan is a small state and cannot
afford to lose territory. A border settlement on Chinese
terms will only make Beijing hungry for more Bhutanese
territory. By raising claim over Sakteng, Beijing has
clearly indicated that its appetite for territory will keep
growing. The Bhutanese government must move cau-
tiously. Beijing will take advantage of any weakening on
the part of Bhutan.
YOU GLIB CHARMER, ME RUSTIC DESI
Gehl
hlot’s false binary
ry
Gehlot, Pilot must see
their own
wn follies and kiss
and mak
ake up. Else, the
throne will soon be out of
reach for both
CAPT. G R GOPINATH
A
shok Gehlot, the embattled Chief
Minister of Rajasthan, speaking
of his young, urbane and hand-
some Deputy Chief Minister Sachin
Pilot, whom he dismissed for rebellion,
said, “speaking good English, giving
good byt
everyt
ytes and being handsome isn’t
ything.Wh hatisinsideyourheart rt for
the country, your ideology, policies, and
commitment, everyt ything is considered.
By that did he mean, that he, Gehlot,
was himself not handsome, articulate
or media savvvvy and that it’s not a hand-
icap in Indian politics if you have other
attributes? Did he mean he is against
boardingschooleducation,thatheisnot
enamoured of foreign degrees from Ivy vy
League universities (remember Modi’s
jibe against P Chidambaram – “I’m not
Harvrvard(educated).I’mhardworki king”)?
Or that he can’t be fooled by glib English
because he himself lacks it? Was it just a
sneeringoff-the-cuffremarkbecausehe
feltinsultedbyPilot,whomheconsiders
a shallow upstart? Or was he trying to
convey that the young, foreign-educat-
ed and suave, who enter politics cannot
lay claim to people’s mandate by those
attributes alone and they are divorced
from the harsh realities of India?
Maybe he meant all of those. Gehlot
may not be wrong, but the presump-
tuous ‘young brigade’, even if incapa-
ble of winning or weaning away the
required number of legislators to form
a government on their own and make
the old guard irrelevant, are eminently
capable of toppling a government and
wrecking the partyty that nurtured them.
Jyotiradity
tya Scindia demonstrated that
in Madhya Pradesh. Not smart and as-
tute enough to manoeuvre themselves
to the throne by winning over enough
legislators, but reckless enough to pre-
cipitateacrisisthatmaycapsizetheboat.
Evenifitmeansswimmingashoretothe
enemy’s den.
Whilethereismuchtobesaidforboth
Wh
ty sides – the urbane and debonair versus
the rustic and homespun politician, one
excellinginEnglishwithconventeduca-
tion, and the other with command over
How I came to love hockey
The open space in front of
a hockey stalwart’s house
was our ground
N J RAVI CHANDER
O
ne part of the house where Mu-
niswamy Rajgopal, a hockey stal-
wart of repute lived, was a trove
of trophies and medals of all shapes and
sizes, and the sheer number of awards
and plaques displayed on a shelf made
us wonder whether it was a souvenir
store. Curious kids like us who had be-
friended his son, R Sridhar, would steal
a glance at the memorabilia while keep-
ing our distance.
Rajgopal, a diminutive individual in
his 50s with salt and pepper strands of
hair, rarely spoke to us, though his son
and nephews were our playmates. The
walls of the home also had photo frames
depicting him as a hockey player, but we
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
It is reported that the US President Trump is to resume
his weekly briefings on Covid-19. His famous suggestions
regarding injecting sanitisers into the bloodstream,
wearing masks and the “Chinese made virus” are still
fresh in our minds. Jair Bolsonaro, the President of Brazil
rubbished ‘hysteria’ created by the media about Covid
and participated in a protest in this regard. He later
became a victim of the virus and an object of ridicule.
In India, the ICMR chief, called for a “vaccine rush”,
Shamefu
ful death
A 50-year-old Anganwadi worker
is alleged to have been turned away
by Gulbarga institute of medical
sciences, ESIC hospital, two private
hospitals and finally died on way to
Hyderabad. This makes for a painful
reading. Whatever the reasons for
refusal of admission maybe, a special
provision deserves to be made by
every hospital for critical patients
preferably to ensure emergency
care. These patients can be shifted
to a suitable accommodation later.
Implementation of this kind of policy
may save the lives of a number of
patients, especially in the present
times.
A K Shariff, Mysuru
fy defectors
Disqualify
The author of, “Resignation dramas
the native language, they are not virtues
in themselves andarenot enough to win
over the inscrutable Indian voter. There
are other attributes and accomplish-
ments -- tangible and intangible -- that
maketh a man.
This ‘desi’ versus ‘phoren’ goes back
to the days of our freedom struggle. Ma-
hatma Gandhi returned from London
a refined and suited barrister. When
he returned to India from South Africa
after 20 years of struggle there against
racial injustice and plunged head-long
into the freedom struggle, he ffllung his
attire and metamorphosed into a native
Indian. Not even one in elegant Indian
clothing but a traditional dhoti worn in
a sty
tyle that made him indistinguishable
from the masses and which prompt-
ed Churchill’s description of him as a
Andmanysophisticat-
‘half-nakedfakir’.An
ed foreign-educated Indians who joined
him in the freedom struggle abandoned
their European-sty tyle clothes and West-
ern habits -- Sardar Patel, Abbas Tyabji,
Jawaharlal Nehru, to name a few.
Nehru, the preeminent among them,
even in his Indian clothing stood out
among them for his elegance, elan and
dapperlooks.Hewaserudite,knownfor
his oratory in English, smoked, drank
wine, and women found him charming
-- attributes anathema to ‘desi’ politi-
cians. But he and all of the others in the
freedom struggle were of towering stat-
ure. They commanded huge following
among the masses during the freedom
movement and enjoyed the trust and
mandate of the people after Independ-
ence,winningthemovernotjustbytheir
language,looksorcivilisedmannersbut
by their ideals, work, integrity
ty and char-
acter.
Indira Gandhi -- demure, elegant,
charming, graceful, sophisticated when
she wanted to be, yet ‘iron lady’ when
she had to be – educated and groomed
RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE
never saw the bigger picture. The open
space in front of the house, paved with
granite, was our hunting ground, and
it was here that we put the stick to the
ball in a ttw
wo-a-side game and honed our
hockey skills.
The few times that Rajgopal decided
to lock horns with us, it would turn out
to be a terribly one-sided contest. His
dribbling skills were par excellence
as he weaved mesmerising patterns
around us. It was at an exhibition game
betw
tween ttw wo veteran sides at the Ben-
galuruEastGroundinFraserTownthat
we got a real taste of his mind-boggling
artistry. He effortlessly sneaked past the
defence, dodged the rival goalkeeper
and banged in the winner, sending the
crowd into raptures.
The hard yards that we put in dur-
ing those formative years would prove
productive in later years. My brother
and Sridhar went on to don the state
colours in the Junior Nationals Hockey
in later years. Murali, Sridhar’s oldest
Don’t politicise science
with August 15th a the deadline. Researchers must feel
fettered by such utterances and the pressure must hinder
their free functioning. The moves of the scientists must
be measured and careful so that they proceed in the right
direction and prove successful. I hope that politicians
keep their hands away from matters that are not their
cup of tea.
S V Venkatakrishnan, Bengaluru
to pull down govts must stop”, (DH,
July 22) has chronicled several
instances of the state governments
falling or changing guard due to
defections of elected MLAs, and how
these make the election process in
the country a farce. If one resigns
after getting elected, they should be
deemed to have forfeited their right
to represent the people for five years.
Therefore, it is reasonable enough
to disqualify them from contesting
in re-election prematurely caused
by their resignation at least until
that Assembly lasts. Why should the
tax-payers’ money be used for such
superimposed elections?
K K Cherian, Bengaluru
ax recovery
Fix tax ry
A cash strapped BBMP has now
realized that there is a dire need to
raise property taxes and is set to
by her father, in European schools and
at Tagore’s Shantiniketan, who spoke
fflluent French and English, was yet
steeped in Indian culture and the arts
and crafts. And she outsmarted and
ruthlessly ousted the rustic ‘old guard’
who made the mistake of taking her to
bea“goongiGudiya”thattheycouldcon-
trol. Does she not give the lie to Gehlot’s
binaryviewof ‘young, English-speaking
and handsome’ vs ‘desi, ideological and
committed’in politics? Indira was to the
manor born but had her finger on the
pulse of the people and the masses wor-
shipped her. Gehlot cannot dismiss off-
hand the ‘young, English-speaking and
handsome’; even worse to use his rustic
tongue to call Pilot “nikamma aur naka-
ra” (idle and worthless), having come to
power at least partly due to the younger
man’s hard work.
The ‘old guard’ versus the ‘young’,
the villager versus the city ty slick, the ill-
bred juxtaposed against the well-bred
has continued into recent times. We
have had the hilarious, inimitable Lalu
Yadav with his irresistible rustic charm,
Mayawati, the Yadavs -- father and son
(one old-school, the other smart and ed-
ucated),thePaswans,NitishKumarand
Sharad Yadav, and our own starkly con-
trasting politicians in Karnataka – Deve
Gowda, the late Ramakrishna Hegde,
andSMKr Krishna.Theyallruledtheroost
for a while, rose high and fell hard.
Here are some hard truths. The Indi-
an people have voted in both the old and
the young, the educated and the unedu-
cated, theruralandrustic and theurban
andurbane,the handsomeandtheugly,
and the clown and the criminal to pow-
er. And they have also seen through the
youngandtheold,andtheurbanecrook
and the village hoodlum, and ruthlessly
booted out all of them.
Better that Gehlot and Pilot see their
ownfollies andkiss andmakeup. Other-
wise, the throne will be out of reach for
bothofthem,likeinthePanchatantrafa-
blewherethedogbarksatitsownrefl flec-
tion and loses the bone to the wolf! The
buck, in the end, of course, stops with
Rahul Gandhi, or may be Sonia Gandhi,
and the ominous hands of the coterie
behind her, not to discount Priyanka
Gandhi-Vadra. No one has a clue, and
that’s the bane of Congress today. But
this is the time for all of them to stick to-
gether and not fall prey to the lurking
lions outside the Congress menagerie,
who may make a good meal of them all.
(The writer is a farmer, soldier and
aviation pioneer)
cousin, and I enjoyed a long stint with
the game in our organisations, BEML
and SBI respectively. Hockey gave us a
sense of identity ty, enabled us to go places
and bump into people from all walks
of life. It also implanted in us a spirit of
sportsmanship and discipline.
But who was Muniswamy Rajgopal?
He was none other than Karnataka’s
first Olympic gold medal winner (1952
Helsinki Games). Renowned for his
prodigious stickwork, he earned the
sobriquet of the ‘Artful Dodger’. He
made his mark under the iconic Dhyan
Chand when an unpartitioned Indian
team toured East Africa in 1945. He
was also instrumental in the Bengalu-
ru based Hindustan Aircraft (now H
AL) emerging triumphant in the 1951
Beighton Cup--deemed to be the old-
est hockey tournament in the world--
in Kolkata. He passed on in 2004, but
his name would remain etched in the
annals of Karnataka’s glorious sports
history!
introduce a new model of calculation
of tax which is certain to pinch the
taxpayers hard. It is not a secret that
the BBMP’s tax collection machinery
has always been lax and the level
of default is quite high. Most of the
defaulters are not from the middle
or upper-middle class but from the
high-income groups. The BBMP’s
efforts to name and shame such de-
faulters has yielded no result. Rather
than increase the taxes and raise
the hackles of the honest tax-payer,
the BBMP should fix up its recovery
mechanism and collect all the over-
due at the earliest.
C V Aravind, Bengaluru
Our readers are welcome to email letters to:
letters@deccanherald.co.in (only letters
emailed — not handwritten — will be accepted).
All letters must carry the sender’s postal
address and phone number.
TO BE PRECISE
IN PERSPECTIVE
Empowering
parents
ts to demand
quality
ty education
A
Arre private,
English-medium
schools necessarily
better? What defifines
quality
ty education
and what should
parents look for?
ROOPA KUDVA &
NAMITA DALMIA
I
n just 20 years, the share
of India’s children going to
government schools has
dropped from 71% to the cur-
rent 52%. Nearly half of India’s
school students attend private
schools, with 70% of them pay-
ing monthly fees of less than Rs
1,000. Fuelling this dramatic
growt
wth of India’s private school
sectoraretheaspirationsofmil-
lions of middle and low-income
families – India’s “next half bil-
lion” -- who believe that private
schools will provide their chil-
drensuperiorquality ty education
and a passport to a better life.
Nearly40%ofthechildrenstu tud-
ying in private unaided schools
come from the “aspiring” or
“deprived”segments.
However,learningoutcomes
in private schools are not mate-
rially different from those in
government schools. While
India has secured near-univer-
sal access to schooling, it has
faltered at the next step. In-
dia’s children are not learning.
Alarming trends such as only
half of Class V students being
able to read Class II level text
(ASER 2018) point to an urgent
needtofocusonquality ty learn
xts
rning
outcomes as the primary goal
of education policies. Given the
scale of the sector, improving
learning outcomes in private
schools needs to become an es-
sentialpartrt ofthehumancapital
development agenda for India.
The dramatic shift towards
private schools represents the
conscious exercise of choice
by parents. The time has
therefore come for India to be
more purposeful in empow-
ering parents with the means
to make informed decisions
about their school choices. We
must make it easier for parents
to judge the quality ty of schools
and strengthen their voice in
demanding quality ty education
for their children.
Why do parents choose to
send their children to private
schools instead of government
schools, which are less of a
financial burden? Their pref-
erence is partly infl fluenced by
the perceived failure of gov-
ernment schools; parents will
likely choose private schools
when the government school
has teacher absenteeism and
high pupil-teacher ratio. More
importantly though, three key
perceptions drive the demand
for private schools: access to
“English-medium” education,
“better”teaching and learning,
and a set of aspirational factors
notlinkedtolearn rningoutcomes.
And across these areas, there is
a gap betwtween perception and
the reality
ty.
English is at least one me-
dium of instruction in 42% of
private schools, compared to
10.4% of government schools.
However, it is quite common to
see schools that profess to be
“English-medium” and with
English textbooks using the
regional language as the dom-
inant mode of communication
in the classroom: both betw tween
teachers and the students and
amongst the students them-
selves. “Knowledge”of English
is demonstrated by rote learn-
ing of some limited content.
A 2019 survey by the Azim
Premji Foundation in four In-
dianstatesreport rtedthat nearly
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020
60% of the children supposed
to be going to English-medium
schools are actually studying in
Hindi or Kannada. About 18%
ofthechildrenatt ttendedschools
that had textbooks in English
but with teachers translating
themintotheregionallanguage
while teaching.
Parents also perceive that
private schools have “better
teaching and learning”. The
Azim Premji Foundation study
found that of the government
school teachers, over 90% were
graduates, 98% professionally
qualified and on average, had
160 months’ experience. In the
caseof privateschools, just76%
of teachers were graduates and
64% professionally qualified.
In these schools, the average
experience of teachers was 74
months.
Aspirational factors not
related to learning -- such as
computers, uniforms, CCTV
cameras and school transport
-- also infl
fluence parents’ choic-
es. These aspects are usually
emphasised in private schools’
marketingcampaigns.Thelack
of consistent ways of reporting
board examination results also
makes it difficult for parents to
get a complete and fair picture.
Philanthropic funding and
eventually impact investing
capital can play a vital role in
supporting initiatives to build
parent demand for quality
learning.
Empowering parents to de-
mand quality education has
three dimensions: building
greater awareness, increased
transparency from the schools
themselves, and improving the
quality
ty ofengagementbetw tween
parentsandschools.Inallthese,
the governmentand regulators
must also meaningfully step in
by making regulation more
outcome-oriented instead of
inputs-based.AnAndphilanthrop-
ic capital can play a vital role
in laying the ground. Efforts
by philanthropic funders can
make the “invisible” factors of
quality
ty more visible – they can
support awareness-building
campaigns on what a “quality
education means and deploy-
ty”
ment of frameworks for great-
er transparency by schools. For
example, publishing compari-
sons of school results in simple
consistent formats and stand-
ardised ways of disseminating
information on teacher com-
petencies. They can also fund
pilots of innovative constructs
of engagement between the
parents and schools that can
serve to demonstrate “what
good looks like.” Another area
that philanthropic capital can
exploresupport rtingisindepend-
ent third-party
ty assessments of
learning interventions.
The policy efforts, discus-
sions and debates around im-
proving education quality ty have
so far mainly (and perhaps
rightly) focussed on the supply
side. The demand side – build-
ingthecapacityty ofparentsfrom
the “next half billion” to under-
stand and demand a quality
education – is a tough problem.
It’salongjourney,andcriticalto
embark upon at the earliest, for
our children’s future.
(Roopa Kudva is Managing
Director and Namita Dalmia is
Director, Investments, at Omid-
yar Network India)
 PANORAMA 7
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020

QuestionsthatGSTNleft
ft u
un
nanswered,andGitacoul
uldnotanswer
MOHAN LAVI across the country were only 45. Interest- lesser revenue from 90% of the taxpayer smalldropinrevenuescouldbeattributed of GST Interactive Technical Assistant
ingly,therewerealsoagrandtotalofthree populationwhocontributearound24%to to many normal taxpayers opting for the (whichcanbesmart rtlycondensedtoGITA),

C
ourtesyCovid-19,therewerenoma-
jor celebrations or announcement
by the government on the comple-
tion of three years of GST. Instead, the
GST Netw twork issued a 40-page statistical
report on an assortment of areas under
GST.Beingonlyastatisticalreportandnot
a ‘notification’ issued under GST laws, it
canbereadandunderstoodwithoutshed-
ding any sweat.
Statistical Report
The report states that the total number
of active taxpayers as of June 2020 was
1.23 crore -- an increase since April 2018
of around 14%. April 2018 was the first
month when GST revenues crossed the
magical Rs 1 lakh crore mark -- a figure
that had held more or less before the pan-
demic struck. Somebody in GSTN should
enquire as to why despite that 14% rise in
the number of active taxpayers, GST rev-
enues remained fl flat.
Itisalsoclearthattheconceptof‘casual
taxable person’has not found favour with
the taxpayers -- total registrations from
non-resident taxpayers. Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka lead the list of active taxpay-
ers. To add a bit of fizz to the data, GSTN
should compare this with the list of active
taxpayers in the pre-GST regime. It could
be argued that the data is not comparable
sincethethresholdlimitsweredifferentin
the tw
two regimes. Yet, we should remem-
ber that these are statistics -- any number
can be interpreted in any manner. As the
author Ron Delegge II put it, 99% of all
statistics only tell 49% of the story.
Data, data
TheCBICshouldbepleasedthatthegraph
of the total number of returns filed looks
like the path to climbing a mountain –
rising, with some troughs. If not for the
setback of the last few months, the cumu-
lative number of returns could well have
touched 50 crore. Not all registered tax-
payers have filed their monthly GSTR 3B
returns -- on average, around 75-80% do
so on time. The statistics on the contribu-
tion from different ttyypes of businesses re-
vealsastartlingfact--80.18%oftaxpayers
are proprietors and not listed or limited
companies. Partnership firms contribute
around10.78%ofthetax axpayerpopulation.
However, maximum GST revenues come
from public limited companies (35.29%),
private limited companies (27.51%) and
proprietors (13.35%). The above statistic
shouldbeacauseofgraveconcerntoCBIC
-- the pandemic is going to impact the
proprietors/partnership firms the most
and this will add to the woes of the gov-
ernment on GST revenues since it will get
total GST revenues.
If there is any area where GST has de-
livered, after the usual hiccup, it is in the
systemofe-waybills.OnFebruary29,are-
cord25.19lakhe-waybillsweregenerated.
More than 70 crore e-way bills have been
generated till now. It is also interesting
to note that more than 99% of transport
happens by road and not by air or ship.
Only 27.58% of the total active taxpayers
have registered on the e-way bill portal --
thiscouldbeanindicatorthattheservices
sector is dominating GST revenues.
Missing in the report
GSTNcouldhavewonlaurelsiftheyhadre-
portedasastatisticthetotalcompensation
thatwaspayabletothestategovernments
and what was actually paid. Putting this
numberdownonapieceofpapermayalso
enable the government to think of ways of
funding the gap. On refunds, they could
have reported the improvement in the
turnaroundtimetoissuetherefundorders
(therehasactuallybeenanimprovement).
At one point in time, the reason for a
compositionscheme--thesedetailscould
also have been given in the statistical re-
port.Eversincethesystemofcheck-posts
wereremoved(theyhavebeenreplacedby
mobilesquadswhoarestrategicallyplaced
neartollgateswhereallapproachingvehi-
cles slow down), quite a few vehicles have
been intercepted and questions asked on
the transport documents, including the
e-way bill. This could have also been a sta-
tistic – the total number of vehicles inter-
ceptedandtotaltaxandpenalty ty collected.
Another piece of useful information
would have been the total contribution to
GST revenues from the manufacturing
and services sectors. Also, which were
the most frequently used HSN codes and
which the least? Any information can be
turned into a statistic. GSTN could keep
these points in mind for the next edition.
The statistical report also included
non-statistical information in the form of
outreachinitiatives bytheCBIC – training
andotherprogrammesconductedandthe
like. To prove that they are technological-
ly advanced, they announced the launch
a chatbot. The chatbot works on Artificial
Intelligenceandisloadedwith pre-drafted
responses to taxpayers’ queries on com-
mon topics, such as payment, e-way bill,
registration, refunds and returns, etc.
Chatbots, in general, suffer from the
drawback of not being able to answer too
many questions. Gita suffers from even
more drawbacks because the GST law
that we have today raises more questions
than answers. Probably the only advan-
tagethatGitahasoveranyGSTconsultant
is that ‘she’ will not tire and give in to the
eccentricities of the law so easily as many
consultants and taxpayers do.
Gita answers only what she has been
programmedtoanswer.So,shecannotan-
swerquestionssuchas“WhenwillGSTAT
be established?” or “Do you feel GST law
has been successful in India?”Maybe, like
Alexa,Gitawouldsay,“Sorry,Idon’tknow
that one”to such questions. This could be
yetanotherstatistic--howmanyquestions
could Gita not answer so far?
(The writer is a Bengaluru-based tax
expert)

Indi
dia’swatercrisisis Canwelearntofigh
TBfr
fromCovi
ght
vid-19?
becomi
mingaproblemforModi di
DR. VEDAM RAMPRASAD Covid-19 through large mass
communication channels can

I
ndians have not been un-
touched by the epidemics
and pandemics the world
hasseenoverthepast30years.
India is better placed today to
Water shortages are already acute: nearly half the country
ry’s population faces high-to-ext
xtreme tackle and counter pandemics
such as Covid-19. We had our
water stress and about 200,000 die each year due to inadequate access to safe water share of failures and learning
over decades while manag-
ing pandemics like cholera,
plague,inflfluenza,polio,SARS,
BIBHUDATTA PRADHAN & PRATIK PARIJA Japanese Encephalitis, Chi-
kungunya, H1N1 and Nipah.
be replicated to apply for TB.
The public health ecosystem
has taken into account infra-
structural, economical and
socio-political approaches de-
veloped by the world’s leading
forcesassignedtoovercomethe
challenge.OnemodelthatIndia
canusefr fromCovid-19pandemic
istotackl
kletheeminentproblem
of deploying a fine TB testing
mechanism and infrastructure
toprogressandaddressTBtest-

O
n a scorching summer day in northern In all these decades, more ingroadblocksinIndia.Despite
India, Ajay Singh sat next to his water than 30 new infectious agents hurdles, key pieces of the nec-
pump and scanned his 10 acres of farm- orpathogenshavebeendetect- essary data infrastructure for
land. He once used to grow rice each seasonto ed worldwide. Around 60% of mass TB surv rveillance and man-
bringinabout150,000rupees($2,000)ayear, these were found to have zo- agementcanbeext xtractedfrom
well above the average income in the world’s onotic origin. Covid-19 has Covid-19 model and utilised for
second-most populous country. resulted in an unimaginable collecting data at scale, albeit
Now on six acres he’s cultivating pearl mil- situation with lockdowns and with gaps, through labs, public
let, cow peas, bottle gourd and corn — crops movement restrictions being andlocalhealthagencies.
that consume about 80% less water than rice, imposed in many countries. Oncethisisdeployed,theoth-
andalsouselesslabor,fertilizerandelectricity ty. Apart from this threat at er giant problem is better and
Whileawaterconservationprogrampayshim hand, there are many other effective drugs that can help
7,000 ($93) rupees per acre to plant them, it’s infectious diseases that contin- people living with MDR and
still a gamble: Unlike rice, which the govern- ue to claim lives in India, such XDR TB. In all these years, US-
ment always buys at a set price, these crops as malaria and tuberculosis, FDA has approved only three
have no guaranteed market. whichhaveahighmort rtality
ty rate dru
rugsthatcanhelpinmanaging
“IamtakingthisriskbecauseIhaveapassion associated with them. As per TB well including Bedaquiline,
toleaveenoughwaterforfuturegenerations,” WHO,in2018Indiaaccounted LinezolidandnowPretomanid
Singh said from his farm in Karnal, an area a for27%ofTBpopulationacross which is yet to be launched in
fewhoursdrivenorthofthecapital,NewDelhi. the world. A majority ty amongst the country. Genomics has
India’s 1.3 billion people have access to only this number is the adult popu- emerged as a next-gen diag-
about 4% of the world’s water resources, and lation but a significant portion nosticsarenawhichisboosting
farmersconsumealmost90%ofthegroundwa- of children also suffer from drug and vaccine development
ter wateravailable.Asglobaltemperaturesrise pulmonary TB. Tuberculosis is basis a relatively new-found
andoveruseofwaterdepletesexistingresourc- a multi-faceted challenge. scientific basis. In TB specifi-
es, the threat to lives and businesses in Asia’s The current government cally, the country saw ttw wo big
third-largest economy is projected to grow. has set a deadline of 2025 to advances last year that could
Water shortages are already acute: nearly eradicate TB from India. Far- augment the way drugs are
half the country’s population faces high-to- Farmer Mahavir Sharma inspects his corn crop. PRASHANTH VISHWANATHAN/BLOOMBERG fetched but this deadline has developed for the Indian popu-
extreme water stress and about 200,000 die led to multiple innovations lation. One was SPIT-SEQ that
each year due to inadequate access to safe wa- ttw
weenshiftingtolesswater-intensivecropsand and2017 its groundwaterdepletion increased was paved by federal and state subsidies for thatcanhelpusovercomechal- sequences the entire genomic
ter. Stoked by climate change, the water crisis ensuring his government produces enough by as much as 23%. fertilizer,powerandwater.Thecropsarethen lengesassociatedwithTB.Not make-upoftheMycobacterium
has forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s food to feed the poor. That makes incentives But the change needs to be carefully man- purchased by governments — even in times of onlyisthecountryhometothe Tuberculosis (Mtb) which pro-
governmenttotryandturnarounddecadesof like those given to farmers like Singh an im- aged, said Aditytya Pratap Dabas, deputy
ty direc- glut— ataminimumsupportprice.ForIndia’s largest TB population and as- vides intelligence as to which
establishedfarmingpracticesandconvincethe portant test for whether India can reverse its tor agriculture and the officer managing the farmers these are hard habits to break. sociated deaths, but also faces drug will work on the bacteria
country’smostpowerfulvotingbloctochange chronic water problems. Karnal project. “Changing the farmers’mind- “Diversification incentives are not a bad significantchallengespanning and the second is Genexpert
the crops they plant. Water-guzzlers like rice IftheprograminKarnalisanyindicator,the set is the main challenge in implementing the idea,” said Ila Patnaik, former principal eco- from developing an accurate machine that establishes in a
and wheat are out, corn and pulses are in. task isn’t going to be easy. program.” nomic adviser to the federal government and base of TB patients, keeping couple of hours whether the
“This is just the beginning,” Siraj Hussain, Few farmers in the rice-growing district, Heavier tactics backfire. Protests erupted a professor at the National Institute of Public the affected population on the patient has resistance to a se-
former secretary of agriculture and a visiting where the water table has been declining by earlier this year when the provincial govern- FinanceandPolicy.“Manyofthesereformswill medicationregime,affordabil- lect list of drugs. When SPIT
seniorfellowattheIndianCouncilforResearch 0.7 meter every year, are keen to experiment ment tried to restrict rice cultivation to just havetobedemonstratedtofarmersbeforethey ity
ty, as well as accessibility
ty. SEQwasoriginallylaunchedin
on International Economic Relations in New with new crops. In its first year in Haryana the halfthefarmedareainsomepartsofHaryana. gainfaithinthegovernment.Wemustalsogive Atargetedapproachtoiden- Aug-2019,itwasaresearchuse
Delhi, said of the program farmers like Sin- project anticipates around 100,000 hectares The farmers, some backed by the opposition time for reforms to play out.” tify the population affected only(RUO)testwithvalidation
gh have joined. “Sooner or later, it will have to(247,105acres)wouldswitchtoalternatecrops Congress party ty, said the government couldn’t BesidesHaryana,someotherstateshavein- from TB remains the biggest studies underway. As a result
be replicated across the country. Ideally, the — but that’s only about 7% of the land used for deprivefarmersoftherighttogrowcropsthat directprogramstomotivatefarmerstomoveto hurdle.Theaspectdemandsto ofsuccessfulvalidationresults,
central government should finance part of rice cultivation in the northern state. fetched the best price. lesswater-intensivecrops.NorthernPunjab,a methodically identify individ- the study was published in the
the expenditure in providing incentives to the Farmers love rice and wheat primarily be- It will take time to change the mindset of major producer of wheat and rice, is offering uals who are at risk for new in- InternationalJournalofTuber-
farmers for making the shift from paddy and cause of stable prices and assured state pur- farmers, said Rajinder Singh, 61, an activist cash incentives to farmers who use less elec- fection as well as individuals at culosisandhencethetestisnow
sugarcane.Statesalonecannotaffordsuchan chases. These ttwwo staples, along with another with four decades of farming experience who tricity
ty toextractgroundwater.InMaharashtra, increased risk for reactivation available to be used in a clinical
ambitious plan.” thirsty
ty crop, sugar cane, are grown in 40% of is now urging others to join the program. “The hometothefinancialhubMumbai,farmersare duetoassociatedhigh-riskcon- set-up.
the country’s gross farmed area but consume government should give assurance to procure encouragedtousedripirrigationforsugarcane ditions.TheIndianpopulation The Covid-19 environ-
Powerful Bloc about80% ofitsirrigationwater.Corn andmil- thesecrops,moreaccesstomarketandsetupin- cultivation. is not proactively surfacing for ment saw multiple schools of
For Modi, pushing farmers to change is riskyky lets mayuselesswater, buttheir pricestability ty frastructuralfacilitieslikecoldstorage,”hesaid. ButforMahavirSharma,a63-year-oldfarm- a check-up due to resources, thoughts-- one spoke of advan-
business because of their sheer numbers and is unproven. er in Karnal, it was water scarcity
ty in his part of stigma, consequential treat- tages of BCG vaccine, the other
politicalpower.Farmincomeisuntaxedinthe Green Revolution Haryanathatpushedhimtostartexperiment- ment cost et al which needs a of using anti-malaria drug or
South Asian nation, and water and electricityty Farming Gamble India’s food policy has remained focused on ing with corn on four of his 19 acres. comprehensiveapproachalto- evenanti-artrthri
ritisdru
rug.Itwillbe
areheavilysubsidized.Loweringtheminimum Inthelongrun,expertssaywatershortageswill wheatandricesincethe1960s,whentheGreen “I have seen in my own experience how rap- gether.Identify fyingthismissing smart to leveragethe scaled-up
priceatwhichthegovernmentbuysfoodgrains makecropdiversificationaninevitability ty.Cur- Revolutionchangedthefarminglandscapeand idly the water level has fallen — it’s now our TB population through a well- learnings from this outbreak to
from farmers could also backfire at the polls. rently India is the world’s biggest extractor of made the country food self-sufficient for the biggestproblem,”Sharmasaid.“Ourworkwill framed testing infrastructure manage other public health is-
Although s Bharatiya Janata Party domi- groundwater — more than China and the U.S. first time. motivateothers.Peoplewillrealizeeverydrop is half battle won! The steps suesthecountry ry needstodefeat.
nates parliament after a big win in last year’s combined — accounting for almost a quarter The road to becoming the world’s second matters.” taken to overcome initial (The writer is the CEO,
election, he needs to tread a fine balance be- of the total extracted globally. Betw tween 2000 largest producer of those two staple grains Bloomberg stigma and inertia in case of MedGenome Labs)

OUR PAGES OF HISTORY OASIS S RADHA PRATHI

50 YEARS AGO: JULY 23, 1970

HundredsofBadripilgrims
25 YEARS AGO: JULY 23, 1995

washedawaybyfloods
DEHRADUN, July 22.
At least 200 pilgrims returning from
the 13,000-foot-high Badrinath in the
Himalayas were feared to have been
drowned in the ffllooded Alaknanda
near Belakuchi, 65 kms from the holy
shrine. Thirtyty-one vehicles are believed
to have been swept away. Some 400
pilgrims were able to save themselves
from the fflloods by rushing to higher
points near Belakuchi. Some 60 bodies
were reported to have been counted
fl
floating down the Ganges, of which
Alaknanda is a tributary, at Khadri
village, downstream from Rishikesh.
JapaneseOECFofferRs984cr
aidforCauvery
ry StageIV
BANGALORE, July 22
The Japanese Overseas Economic
Co-operation Fund has offered a loan
cum grant of Rs 984 crore to The
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewer-
age Board (BWSSB) for executing the
Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage
IV to augment water supply to Banga-
lore city
ty. Of the amount, 30 per cent
would be grant and the rest loan with
an interest rate of 2.3 per cent. While
50 per cent of the loan would have a
five-year moratorium and repayment
spread out over 15 years, the rest of
loan would be repayable over 20 years.
T
his day, last year, we lived in a dif-
ferent world. And nobody gave it
a second thought.
We lived in times when we were en
masse very smug about our progress
in the fields of science, medicine and
technology. People who could afford
invested in interstellar properties or
oil wells, the less fortunate lot invested
on what they thought was valuable
while the unfortunate eked out a living
and went on dole. None of us had any
qualms about polluting our earth in
every possible manner, ripping it off
its abundant resources till it became
scant or endangering lives of other
species till they are rendered extinct. It
Beingcru
rueltobeki
kind
was most important for us
to be winners, never mind
the definition of success.
We did not hesitate to en-
ter the mindless rat race
to gain the winners post
in areas like materialism,
terrorism, bureaucracy,
nepotism among other
things.
Exhibitionism had/has become the
order of the day. Virtual reality
ty gained
the most prominent place in our lives.
Never mind if we have not eaten the
food that has been photographed
or had never visited the place which
forms our virtual background. Even
our age, looks, relation-
ship status, friends are
subjected to filters to
lend them a fairy tale
aura.
Mother Nature was
and has been patiently
watching us hoping
that we might realize
our lapses and correct
ourselves. We remained incorrigi-
ble. She nudged us gently with a few
natural calamities. We refused to take
the hint. We merrily wronged her.
Eventually, she decided to shake us out
of our complacence. Just like a mother
bird pushes her young ones off the
nest in order to help them fflly and fend
for themselves, we have been riddled
by an invisible yet potent microbe that
has been let loose amidst us.
Gradually people are realizing the
futility
ty of superficiality
ty. Cleanliness,
self-reliance, mutual respect and in-
trinsic goodness are slowly but surely
making a resurgence. The best of ex-
perts are applying their minds to find a
vaccine to make life safe for everybody
on earth irrespective of borders. All
these changes are pointers to the fact
that Mother Nature is being cruel to
us in order to be kind to us so that we
work together to make the world a
better place.
8 NATION
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020

3 foreign experts
injured in India’s largest Shot for lodgi
ging harassment SCrefusesinterimorderon
promotionofSC/STemployees
Assam’s Baghjan
oil well explosion nuclear power complaint, UP journo dies SANJAY PANDEY triggeredwidespreadoutrage thelocalpolice,despitesever-
NEW DELHI, DHNS: The Su-
preme Court on Wednesday
anyinterimorderinthematter.
They said the matter should

reactor becomes
LUCKNOW, DHNS and the Opposition parties al complaints, did not take refused to consider a plea be heard in physical courts in-
GUWAHATI, DHNS: Three launched a scathing attack any action against the youths, by the Union government stead of the virtual one.

T
foreign experts, who were he UP journalist, who on the BJP government in the who had been harassing the for clarification on an order, On this, the bench said a
hired by Oil India Limited was shot at and critical- state over what they alleged scribe’s niece for the past one passed on April 15, 2019, to seven-judge panel was consid-
(OIL) to plug the burn-
ing gas well at Baghjan in
eastern Assam’s Tinsukia
district were injured in an
operational lywoundedallegedlyfor
lodgingacomplaintofharass-
mentofhisniecebysomeuni-
dentifiedpeopleinGhaziabad
worsening law and order sit-
uation.
“Jungle raj prevails in the
state... no one safe here,”BSP
year.
Nine people have been ar-
rested in this connection. A
sub-inspector of the local po-
maintainstatusquoon theres-
ervation in promotion to the
SC/ST employees.
“Wearenotgoingtodisturb
ering the issue of resumption
of physical courts which is
likely to determine the issue
within four weeks. So all these
explosion that took place town, near Delhi, succumbed supremo Mayawati said in a liceoutpostwasalsosuspend- the order of status quo as of instantmatterswouldbetaken
during their operation on NEW DELHI, DHNS and procedures were carried to his injuries at the hospital ttw
weetdemandingthatthecul- ed for laxity
ty. now. In the interest of justice, up after four weeks, the bench
Wednesday afternoon. out during the lockdown pe- on Wednesday. pritsbebroughttothebookat Joshiwasinterceptedbythe we will hear the matter finally added.

Three experts belonging
totheSingapore-basedcom-
panyM/SAl Alert
rt weretry
ryingto
removeaspoolfromthewell-
head as part of their efforts
toplugtheblowoutwhenthe
explosiontookplace.
The three injured experts
—AnAnthonyStevenReynolds,
Doug Dallas and Craig Neil
Duncan—wereimmediately
provided treatment by OIL’s
medical team at the mishap
site and were later rushed to
a private hospital in Dibru-
garh,about70-kmaway.
“Theinjurywasminorand
they have been discharged
from the hospital. The oper-
ation was halted for the day
due to the explosion and we
hopetheworkwouldresume
tomorrow, “ OIL spokesper-
son,TridivHazarikasaid.
A
AnnthonyandDougisfrom
theUSwhileCrailhailsfrom
Australia.
I
ndia’s biggest indigenous
nuclear power reactor
on Wednesday became
operational as criticality
ty was
achieved at the country’s
first 700-MW power plant at
Kakrapar atomic power sta-
tion in Gujarat.
With the criticality—ini-
tiation of the self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction inside
the reactor’s core—achieved
successfully, the N-power
company will conduct few
other tests and progressively
increase the plant’s output,
before it is connected to the
grid within a week.
It took 10 long years for the
Nuclear Power Corporation
of India Ltd to complete the
project whose construction
began in November 2010.
The fuel loading of the
reactor was completed by
the middle of March 2020
following which several tests
riod following all Covid-19
guidelines, NPCIL said in a
statement.
Barringtwtwo540MWunits
atTarapur,majority ty oftheIn-
dian nuclear power reactors
are pressurised heavy vy water
reactors of 220 MW capaci-
ttyy. In addition, there are tw
two
1000MWRussianlight-water
unitsatKudankulam,tw twoold
160 MW boiling water reac-
tors at Tarapur and a 200-
MW unit at Rawtbhatta.
NPCILofficialsblamedthe
delay in the supply of critical
equipment as the main rea-
son for the third unit at the
Kakrapar Atomic Power Pro-
ject to take such a long time.
Theinnercontainmentdome
of K KAAPP-3 was installed only
in June 2016.
Construction of a second
700-MW unit at Kakrapar
began in 2011 and is likely to
be finished next year.
According to the doctors,
the scribe, Vikram Joshi,
had been shot in the head
from close range and died on
Wednesday morning.
The killing of the journo
Lifetermfor11ex-copsinBharatpurroyal’smurder
MATHURA, PTI: All 11 former
policemen from Rajasthan,
convictedforkillingRajaMan
SinghoftheerstwtwhileBharat-
pur royal family and his two
colleagues over 35 years ago
inDeegareaofthestate,were
awarded life sentence by a
court here on Wednesday.
The convicts, who were
sentenced to life term by the
Mathura district judge, in-
cludeformerDeegDySPKan
Singh(82)andlocalpolicesta-
tion in-charge, sub-inspector
theearliest.FormerCongress
president Rahul Gandhi said
that BJP had promised ‘Ram
Raj’ but the people got ‘goon-
da raj’.
Joshi’sfamilymemberssaid
Virendra Singh (78) who had
led a police team in killing the
Bharatpur royal scion and his
two colleagues Sumer Singh
and Hari Singh on February
21, 1985.
The encounter had taken
place in Deeg grain market
a day after Raja Man Singh,
then contesting the state
Vidhan Sabha election as an
Independent candidate, had
allegedly banged his jeep into
former Rajasthan’s CM Shiv
Charan Mathur’s helicopter.
assailants while he was on his
way home on his motorbike
with his ttw
wo minor daughters
late on Monday night near
Mata Colony and was shot at
after being thrashed.
According to the prose-
cution, he was also accused
of damaging some publicity
materialandastagesetupfor
Mathurtoaddressanelection
rallyinfavouroftheCongress
candidate Brajendra Singh, a
retired IAS officer, the prose-
cution had told the court.
Days after the killings of
the royal family chief and his
two colleagues, the case was
transferred by the then cen-
tralgovernmenttotheCBIon
February 27, 1985.
after four weeks,”a bench told
Attorney General K K Venu-
gopal.
SenioradvocateRajeevDha-
van, along with advocate Ku-
marParimal,appearingforthe
generalcategoryofemployees,
opposed the plea for passing
Rajnath asks IAF to be ready
to handle any eventuality
NEW DELHI, P TI: Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh on
Wednesday complimented
the Indian Air Force for its
rapid deployment of assets at
forward locations in response
to the border row with China
in eastern Ladakh, saying its
Balakot strike and the current
combat readiness have sent
a strong message to “adver-
saries”.
Singh also mentioned the
ongoing efforts to de-escalate
The Centre was concerned
particularly with the fact that
as on January 31, 2020, more
than 1.3 lakh promotions were
heldupin23outofatotalof78
departments, causing resent-
ment and financial loss to the
employee.
tension along the Line of Ac-
tualControlandurgedtheIAF
to stand ready to handle any
eventuality
ty.
In an address to the top
commanders of the IAF on
the opening day of a three-day
conference,thedefenceminis-
ter said the nation’s resolve to
defend its sovereignty stands
firm and that the people of the
country have full confidence
in the capability of its armed
forces.

MISCELLANY
 COMICS  THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME
By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
Unscramble these Jumbles,
Blondie Hagar The Horrible one letter to each square,

Get the free JUST JUMBLE app • Follow us on Twitter @PlayJumble

to form four ordinary words.

MCAPH

NERDT

LOOIER
Beetle Bailey Peanuts
SNSITI
Now arrange the circled letters
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC to form the surprise answer, as
All Rights Reserved. suggested by the above cartoon.

“ - ”
(Answers tomorrow)
Jumbles: JUMBO DOUSE PRETTY PENCIL
Yesterday’s
Answer: The guy who wasn’t tech-savvy got so frustrated
with his computer that he — BOOTED IT UP

Marvin

 SU-DO-KU-5108  HITORI-1561 SOLUTION TO 1560

8 1
6 9 2
4 9 7 3
 CROSSWORD CHALLENGE 10919  6 1 5
CRYPTIC 9 3 1 2 6 8 To solve the puzzle: Eliminate
ACROSS
4 Immobilised outright when hit (6) 3 2 1 numbers by filling in squares so that
remaining cells in that row or column
7 Acts not allowed, as it happens (5,3) do not repeat that number more
8 At the end of months, they may still be hot (6)
10 Quick but soft-hearted attack! (5)
9 5 4 3 than once. Filled-in cells cannot be
horizontally or vertically adjacent.
The un-filled cells must form a single
13 Looks back again (4)
14 Well balanced woman with a motherless man (4)
1 6 3 component connected horizontally and
vertically.
15 Natural depression (4)
16 He’s plumb suspended! (3) 2 5
17 The benefit from a gin? (4)
19 Slight, subtle hint (4) 8 4 2 1 5 3 6 7 9
21 Happen to emerge embracing a sailor (4,5) 5 7 1 6 8 9 4 3 2
SOLUTION
TO 5107
easy
KAKURO- 1561 SOLUTION TO 1560
23 Is it just too too short for off-stage wear? (4) 9 3 6 7 2 4 8 1 5
24 Large containers of nuts (4) 6 5 4 2 7 1 3 9 8 To solve the puzzle:
26 Silly fellow climbing a tree? (3) 3 1 7 8 9 5 2 6 4 To solve a su-do-ku puzzle,
27 With which to open hostilities? (4) every digit from 1 to 9 must
2 8 9 3 4 6 7 5 1 appear in each of the nine
29 Here’s a horse, your majesty (4)
1 9 3 4 6 8 5 2 7 vertical columns, in each of the
32 A person of vision (4) nine horizontal rows, and in
7 6 8 5 1 2 9 4 3
33 Hardy monster, being difficult to decapitate? (5) each of the nine boxes.
34 Ruddy wild cries at the end of the race! (6) 4 2 5 9 3 7 1 8 6
ACROSS DOWN
35 It’s an inspector’s characteristic to be absent-
4 Country (6) 1 Opposite of last (5)
minded! (8)
7 Insinuation (8) 2 Unfasten (5)
36 Differing in tastes, they may still be united (6)
8 Picture house (6) 3 Red meat (4)
DOWN
10 Rigid (5) 4 Bedtime drink (5)
1 Keep to the right in the Kentish area (5)
13 Traffic marker (4) 5 Not any (4) 2 Rubbish unacceptable to vegetarians (5)
14 Row, rank (4) 6 Expanding bullet (6) To solve the puzzle:
3 Ushered her out? That’s not new! (4) Put a number from 1 through 9 in
15 Burden (4) 9 Spectral colour (6) 4 There’s plenty of iron in it (5) a cell. No zeros. A number in a cell
16 Groove (3) 11 Gratuity (3) 5 Cage makers? (4) separated by diagonal line tells the
17 Paradise (4) 12 Worries (5) 6 Box with skill in trickery (6) sum of numbers in consecutive cells
19 Mosque prayer leader 13 Regulate (7) 9 Cloth woven in parts of Burslem, notably? (6) at its right or downward. No number
(4) 15 Meadow (3) 11 A short thoroughfare in Leavenworth (3) may appear more than once in
21 Ruse (9) 16 Tup (3) 12 Form taken by some gold alloyed with tin? (5) consecutive cells.
23 Travel permit (4) 18 Dealer in fabrics (6) 13 There may be no tears for this politician (7)
24 Tumult (4) 20 French underground (5) 15 Dye said to fade (3)
26 Was victorious (3) 21 Transgression (3) 16 The penetrative part? (3)
27 Poke (4)
29 Housetop (4)
22 Help, assist (3)
23 Loudness (6)
18 Entertains Seamus somehow (6) SU DO KU X - 1819 SOLUTION TO 1818
20 Can her brazenness make us shy? (5)
32 Cure (4) 25 Lettuce (3) 21 What Charlie raised when it was won? (3)
33 Equine mammal (5) 28 Scope (5) 22 Not the only word of exception (3)
34 Hair colour (6) 30 Keyboard instrument 23 Gift of a drink in an explosive case (6)
35 Criminal underworld (8) (5) 25 Stray from the proper road (3)
36 Expunge (6) 31 Gives food to (5) 28 Doesn’t ignore a bit of help in building a shed (5)
32 Gargantuan (4) 30 Suggestions for sorting out Sadie? (5)
33 Not low (4) 31 Dirty electrical connection? (5)
32 Deposit the revised list (4)
33 With respect, they’re off (4)
SOLUTIONS TO CROSSWORD 10918
CRYPTPTIC EA
EASY YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION To solve the puzzle:
ACROSS: 1, Forge-t 7, Indirect 8, Lion 10, Ac-I-D-ly 11, Resu- ACROSS: 1, Arabic 7, Oriental 8, Topi 10, Beaten 11, The objective is to place the numbers
Lt. 14, Red 16, Rosie 17, Ewer 19, D-I-nah 21, Basal 22, Gully Morose 14, Rep 16, Valet 17, Gene 19, Bogey 21, Tutor 22, 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that
23, Mesh 26, Strut 28, Fix 29, Chan-ce 30, Banana 31, Atom Fated 23, Pest 26, Sneer 28, Tad 29, Advent 30, Karate 31, each row, each column, each 3x3
32, Bitterly 33, Siskin. Exam 32, Buckshee 33, Needle. box and each shaded diagonal line
DOWN: 1, Finale 2, Glider 3, (Des)Tiny 4, Liberal 5, Ve-nus 6, DOWN: 1, Air bag 2, Bootee 3, Coin 4, Recover 5, Stool 6, contains the same number only once.
State 8, Lire 9, Old 12, Soh 13, LIV-ES 15, Aisle 18, Worth 19, Sleet 8, Tarn 9, Pep 12, Ray 13, Sends 15, Totem 18, Eland
Dal 20, Nay 21, Butcher(‘s) 22, Gun 23, Minors 24, Exam 25, 19, But 20, God 21, Tarnish 22, Fee 23, Parade 24, Edam
H-E-aven 26, S-Cuba 27, Ra-TT TT-y 28, Fat 30, Bays. 25, Thence 26, Samba 27, Evict 28, Tax 30, Keen.

DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020
COVID-19 PANDEMIC: WHO chief is influenced by deal with China, says Pompeo
Airborne coronavi
Ai virus
is probably infecti
tious,
says new stu
tudy
It backs hypothesis
that normal speaking
and breathing can
spread the disease
▼ scattershot response from
WASHINGTON, AFP
S
cientists have known for
several months the new
coronavirus can become
suspended in microdroplets
expelled by patients when they
speakandbreathe,butunti tilnow
there was no proof that these
tiny part
rticles are infectious.
A new study by scientists
at the University of Nebraska
that was uploaded to a medi-
cal preprint site this week has
shown for the first time that
SARS-CoV-2 taken from mi-
crodroplets, defined as under
five microns, can replicate in
lab conditions. This boosts
the hypothesis that normal
speaking and breathing, not
just coughing and sneezing,
are responsible for spreading
Covid-19 — and that infectious
doses of the virus can travel
distances far greater than the
six feet (tw
two metres) urged by
social distancing guidelines.
The results are still consid-
ered preliminary and have
not yet appeared in a peer-re-
viewed journal, which would
lend more credibility to the
methods devised by the sci-
entists. The paper was posted
to the medrxiv.org website,
where most cutting-edge re-
search during the pandemic
has first been made public.
The same team wrote a pa-
per in March showing that the
virus remains airborne in the
rooms of hospitalised Covid-19
India, China to discuss
roadblocks in troop pullout
ANIRBAN BHAUMIK
NEW DELHI, DHNS
T
he Special Representa-
tives of India and China
are likely to hold yet
another round of talks soon
to discuss the roadblocks in
the process of withdrawal of
troops from the scenes of the
face-off along the disputed
boundary between the two
nations.
Telescope snaps family
port
rtrait of 2 planets
around baby sun
CAPE CANAVERAL (US), AP/
PTI: For the first time, a tele-
scope has captured a family
portrait of another solar sys-
tem with not just one, but ttwwo
planets posing directly for the
cameras while orbiting a star
like our sun.
This baby sun and its ttw
wo gi-
ant gas planets are fairly close
by galactic standards at 300
light-years away. The snap-
shot — released Wednesday
— was taken by the European
Southern Observatory’s Very
Large Telescope in Chile’s At-
acama Desert.
What makes this group
shot so appealing is it’s a “very
young version of our own
sun,” said Alexander Bohn
of the Netherlands’ Leiden
Universityty, who led the study.
Bohn said he was “extremely
excited” about the discovery.
The star TYC 8998-760-1 is
accompanied by two giant
exoplanets. AFP
Restaurant workers protest against Covid-19 restrictions in
Cape Town, South Africa, on Wednesday. REUTERS
COVID-19 Tracker
COUNTRIES
United States
Brazil
India
Russia
South Africa
Peru
Mexico
Chile
United Kingdom
Iran
*Top 10 countries ranked in terms of infections
Active cases: 53,92,457 (36%)
TOTAL CASES: 1,51,89,920
patients, and this study will
soon be published in a journal,
according to the lead author.
“It is actually fairly difficult”
to collect the samples, Joshua
Santarpia, an associate profes-
sor at the Universityty of Nebras-
ka Medical Center told AFP.
The team used a device the
size of a cell phone for the pur-
pose, but “the concentrations
are typically very low, your
New Delhi is worried after
the Indian Army noticed that
the Chinese People’s Liber-
ation Army had not yet with-
drawn troops from the north-
ern bank of the Pangong Tso
lake as well as several other
face-off scenes along the Line
of Actual Control (LAC) – the
tween the
de facto boundary betw
ttw
wo nations.
The PLA also maintained
additional deployment of near-
ly40,000-45,000troopsinthe
“This is the first time astron-
omers were able to capture
such a shot,” he said in an
email. The observations can
help scientists better under-
stand the evolution of our own
solar system.
Astronomers typically
confirm worlds around other
stars by observing brief but
periodic dimming of the star-
light, indicating an orbiting
planet. Such indirect obser-
vations have identified thou-
sands planets in our Milky
Way galaxyxy.
It’s much harder and less
common for a telescope to di-
rectly observe these so-called
exoplanets. To directly spot
ttw
wo of them around the same
star is even rarer. Only two
multi-planet solar systems
have been spotted using the
direct method, both with stars
quite different than our sun,
according to the observatory.
Of the 4,183 exoplanets
confirmed to date, only 48 of
them have been directly im-
aged — just 1%, according to
Nasa statistics.
Direct imaging provides
humanity’s best chance to
detect life outside our solar
system, if it exists, Bohn said.
By observing light from the
planets themselves, the at-
mospheres can be analysed
for molecules and elements
that might suggest life.
INFECTED ACTIVE DEATH
39,15,780 18,90,008 1,42,312
21,59,654 14,65,970 81,487
12,37,810 4,24,338 29,851
7,87,846 5,72,053 12,722
3,81,798 2,08,144 5,368
3,62,087 2,48,746 13,579
3,56,255 2,27,165 40,400
3,34,683 3,09,241 8,677
2,97,951 2,50,468 45,586
2,81,413 2,44,840 14,853
Deaths: 6,21,986 (4%)
Recovered: 91,75,477 (60%)
ST
Source:JohnsHopkins/DHasof9:45pmIST
chances of recovering material
are small.” The scientists took
air samples from five rooms of
bedridden patients, at a height
of about 30 cm over the foot of
their beds. The patients were
talking, which produces mi-
crodroplets that become sus-
pended in the air for several
hours in what is referred to as
an “aerosol,” and some were
coughing.
“depth” areas on China’s side
of the LAC. National Securityty
Adviser Ajit Doval and Chi-
nese Foreign Minister Wang
Yi — the Special Representa-
tives of the two governments
for boundary negotiation and
strategic consultations — will
review the progress in the
process of “disengagement”
the ttw
wo sides had agreed upon
earlier this month to resolve
the stand-off along the LAC in
eastern Ladakh.
WORLD
Trump concedes coronavi
situ
tuation ‘wi
virus
will get worse’
WASHINGTON, AFP: The coro-
navirus death toll in the Unit-
ed States has spiked again
with Donald Trump conced-
ing the pandemic crisis will
get worse, as record infections
in Australia underscored sec-
ond-wave dilemmas globally.
Nearly 15 million cases have
been confirmed and 6,15,000
lives lost since the virus was
first detected in China late
last year.
Almost a quarter of those
deaths have been in the US,
the worst-hit nation after a
Trump that has been dom-
inated by him repeatedly
downplaying the severity of
the crisis.
With authorities reporting
Tuesday the highest daily na-
tionwide death toll in weeks of
nearly 1,000, Trump adopted
a newly serious tone. “It will
AROUNDTHEGLOBE
„ Taiwan is planning to
rebrand China Airlines
to avoid confusion with
China’s Air China as it
has created confusion in
some countries. China
Airlines is actively en-
gaged in Covid-19 relief
operations
„ The World Health Or-
ganisation and the Africa
Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention have
launched an effort to
explore the role of tra-
ditional medicine in the
coronavirus pandemic
„ US will pay Pfizer
nearly $2 billion for a
December delivery of
100 million doses of a
Covid-19 vaccine the
pharmaceutical compa-
ny is developing
„ Brazil’s president Jair
Bolsonaro is still Cov-
id-19 positive after lat-
est test on Wednesday
Ukraine’s hostage drama ends with Hollywood flick
KIEV, AFP: Ukrainian Pres-
ident Volodymyr Zelensky
on Wednesday defended his
decision to agree to a hos-
tage-taker’s bizarre demand
that he post a movie recom-
mendation to end a 12-hour
stand-off.
Zelensky described how
he negotiated personally
on Tuesday evening with a
gunman who was holding 13
hostages on a bus in Lutsk,
around 400 kilometres west
of capital Kiev.
The tense stand-off ended
after the president agreed
to post a video of himself
recommending a 2005 US
documentary narrated by
DONALD TRUMP
US President
“
It will
prob-
ably, unfor-
tunately get
worse before
it gets better.
probably, unfortunately get
worse before it gets better,”
the president told reporters
during his first formal pan-
demic briefing for nearly
three months. Other nations,
which had eased crippling
lockdowns after the virus had
appeared to fade, are strug-
gling to combat second waves.
Australia on Wednesday
reported more than 500 in-
fections in a day, posting a re-
cord high nearly four months
after cases appeared to have
peaked. In Melbourne, Aus-
WHO handling of pandemic led
to dead Britons: Pompeo
LONDON, AFP: The World
Health Organisation’s ac-
tions during the coronavirus
pandemic led to “dead Brit-
ons”, US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo told lawmak-
ers during a trip to London,
British media reported on
Wednesday.
Pompeo told a private
meeting of MPs on Tuesday
that the WHO had become
a “political” body, alleging
that its decisions were in-
fluenced by a deal struck
between chief Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus
and China that helped him
become its head, according
to quotes in The Times and
Daily Telegraph.
“When push came to
shove, when it really mat-
tered most”, people died
“because of the deal that was
made”, he said.
Pompeo was in Britain
for meetings with Prime
Minister Boris Johnson and
Weapons that belonged to an
assailant. AP/PTI
actor Joaquin Phoenix called
Earthlings, which condemns
humans’ mistreatment of an-
imals.
“We have a result — every-
oneisalive.Wearenotfighting
for(approval)ratings—weare
fighting for life,”Zelensky
ky said
inastatement, aftersomecrit-
9
WORLD AT A GLANCE
tralia’s second-biggest city
where most of the new infec-
tions have occurred, wearing
face masks will be mandatory
from Thursday.
Second wave fears were
also growing in Japan’s cap-
ital, with hundreds of new
cases reported each day over Actor Johnny Depp leaves after a hearing at the High
the past week, promoting au-
thorities to urge people to stay
Court in London on Wednesday. The actor’s ex-wife
and co-actor Amber Heard denied before the court
home during an upcoming na- that she severed the tip of Depp’s finger during a
tional holiday. “The infections violent argument, saying that the Hollywood star had
are spreading not only among been throwing bottles at her “like grenades”. REUTERS
young people but also among
middle-aged and older peo-
ple,” Tokyo governor Yuriko South African anti-apartheid
Koike said, after new clusters
ty restaurants
were found in city icon Andrew Mlangeni dies
and theatres. ► South African an- “Presi-
France also said transmis- ti-apartheid figure An- dent Cyril
sions were increasing again drew Mlangeni, who stood Ramaphosa
over the summer holiday trial alongside Nelson has learnt
season, after the country suf- Mandela in the 1963-64 with deep
fered one of Europe’s worst Rivonia Trial, has died at sadness of
outbreaks during the spring. the age of 95, AFP reports the passing
from Johannesburg. Mlangeni. away over-
Mlangeni was the last night of the
surviving Rivonia trialist,
spending more than
last remaining Rivonia
Trialist,” the presidency
quarter of a century im- said in a tw
tweet. Mlangeni
prisoned on Cape Town’s was admitted to a military
notorious Robben island hospital in the capital
Foreign Secretary Dominic before his release in 1989. Pretoria on Tuesday.
Raab focused on China, and
met some Conserv rvative part
rty
MPsduringaprivatemorning Humans in America 30,000 yrs ago
event.TheWH WHOsaiditreject-
ed “ad hominem attacks and ► Tools excavated from ite Cave over a roughly
unfounded allegations”. a cave in central Mexixico 20,000 year period, they
“WHO urges countries to are strong evidence that report
rted in ttw
wo studies,
remain focused on tackling humans were living in published in Nature.
the pandemic that is causing Nort
rth AAmmerica at least “Our results provide
tragic loss of life and suffer- 30,000 years ago, some new evidence for the
ing,” a spokesperson for the 15,000 years earlier than antiquity
ty of humans in the
organisation said Tuesday, previously thought, A AFFP Am
A mericas,” Ciprian AArrdel-
according to The Telegraph. reportrts from Paris. ean, an archeologist at the
The US announced earli- Arrtefacts, including
A Universidad Autonoma de
er this month that it would 1,900 stone tools, showed Zacatecas and lead author
be withdrawing from the human occupation of the of one of the studies, told
WHO, accusing it of being high-altitude Chiquihu- AF
A FP.
controlled by China.
US President Donald
Trump warned Tuesday that
the coronavirus crisis in the
US is likely to “get worse be-
fore it gets better”.
“Some areas of our coun-
try are doing very well,”
Trump said at his first formal
White House virus briefing
since the end of April.
icised him for giving in to the
gunman’s demands. The SBU
security service said all the
bus passengers were released
unharmed. The hostage-tak-
er had earlier fired shots and
thrown an explosive package.
Zelenskyky said he agreed in
a phone-call with the man,
identified as 44-year-old Mak-
sym Kryvyvosh, that “he would
release three people, and af-
ter that I would record a vid-
eo.”The armed man complied
and freed three hostages: a
man, a pregnant woman and
a child. In response, the pres-
ident posted a video message
on Facebook urging people to
watch the documentary.
10 BUSINESS
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020

Covivid spreadiding Gold prices breach Rs 50k-mark

to rur
ural belt may T
FURQUAN MOHARKAN
BENGALURU, DHNS

he prices of gold scaled

along with surging coronavi-
ruscasesacrosstheworldand
expectation of more stimulus
measures lifted prices of pre-
be a cause for concern as the
festive season approaches in
India, he added.
World Gold Council data

stall ggrrowt
wth
the next few months, the un-
Economistsacross certainty will go down.
“Then the time would be
thespectrumhave very right for a fiscal push,
which will generate the de-
demandedmore mand even for discretionary
stimulus items.”
The rural economy con-
▼ stitutes over 45% of India’s
gross domestic product and
it is not only the agriculture
ANNAPURNA SINGH sector but the whole host of
NEW DELHI, DHNS other activities such as man-
ufacturing, construction,
fresh highs for the sec-
ond consecutive day on
Wednesday breaching the Rs
50,000-mark for 10 grams.
At Multi Commodity Ex-
change (MCX), the prices of
10 grams of gold (referred
to as tola in local dialect) for
August futures surged by Rs
980 (2%) to touch Rs 50,085,
tracking the global rally as in-
vestorscontinuedtobetonthe
safer assets.
However, later in the day,
the gold prices closed at Rs
49,527per10gram,up0.85%
or Rs 423.
Inglobalmarkets,spotgold
pricesrose1.3%to$1,865.81an
ounce, the highest in almost
nine years. A softer US dollar
cious metals, including gold
and silver. Spot silver prices
soared as much as 7.2% to
$22.8366 an ounce, the high-
est since 2013.
“Gold has rallied to re-
cord high levels above Rs
50,000/10 gram reflecting
firmness in the international
market. International gold
prices have been on a rise
for the last few months but
have picked up pace amid
sharp losses in the US dollar,
additional stimulus meas-
ures and robust investor
inflows. Rising virus cases
and US-China tensions have
also underpinned gold pric-
es,” Ravindra Rao, VP and
Head Commodity Research
at Kotak Securities said.
Septembersilverfutureson
MCX jumped 6.6% to 61,130
perkg--arecordhigh. The ral-
ly is likely to hit the demand of
physical gold further.
“The price rise has been
dampening retail demand in
the form of jewellery in India,
although lately investment
demand is improving. How-
ever, the share of investment
demand is small compared
to retail demand. Jewellery
demand accounts for more
than50%,”SriramIyer,Senior
Research Analyst at Reliance
Securities said.
Unless prices fall, Covid-19
infectionsslowdownandeco-
nomicconditionsimprove,we
don’t see any real improve-
ment in the physical demand
fortheyellowmetalwhichwill
shows that total global jewel-
lery demand slumped by al-
most 40% to 325 tonnes dur-
ing the Q1 of 2020 and 45%
fall from the Q4 of 2019. At
the same time, global invest-
ment demand saw a jump of
80% to 539 tonnes from Q1
2019 and almost 100% from
Q4 2019.
Back home, jewellery de-
mand slumped by 41% to 74
tonnesduringthefirstquarter
of 2020 at 125 tonnes from Q1
of2019anda50%fallfromthe
Q4 of 2019.
India’s gold imports in the
June quarter plunged 96%
fromayearearlierto13tonnes
aftershipmentsvirtuallyhalt-
ed in April and May.

R
ural India so far has
pulled the economy out
of a logjam amid Cov-
id-19, but now with infections
spreading to the hinterland,
the economists are worried
even that segment could go
sluggish, making India’s slow-
down even worse.
ing in rural India too.
However, Chief Economic
Adviser to Modi government
on Wednesday said the timing
will be right for the govern-
ment to announce more steps
or provide fiscal measures
once a vaccine to cure Cov-
id-19 is ready.
communication services and
public administration, where
income per-worker is much
higher than agriculture.
The Credit Suisse analysis
shows that since the start of
Covid-19, rural incomes were Capital conservation important Bajaj Auto shares
fall as Q1 net
as moratorium ends: SBI
boosted by government fiscal
support and a robust Rabi

The latest analysis by Cred-
it Suisse has warned the pan-
demic spreading to Tier 3 and
Tier 4 cities has the potential
to stall growth.
“The government is will-
ing to do what’s necessary
for boosting consumption,
but the timing for this is ex-
tremely important,”Krishna-
profi
fit plunges
harvest. So far the Centre has
front-loaded packages in the
form of direct cash transfers
to women Jan Dhan account MUMBAI, PTI Earlier this month, Re- RBI correctly deferred the
holders, more crop procure- serve Bank of India (RBI) implementation of the last NEW DELHI, PTI 3,079.24 crore for the April-

S
Economists across the murthy Subramanian said at ment, an increase in MGN- tate-owned banks need Governor Shaktikanta Das tranche of 0.625% of the CCB Juneperiod,fromRs7,755.82

spectrum have demanded
more stimulus as consump-
tion has showed signs of slow-
an industry event here.
He said if the vaccine to
cure the pandemic comes in
REGA wages, and support via
the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb
Kalyan Yojana.
to be recapitalised or
given the alternative
of capital conservation as a
one-year suspension under
insolvency and bankrupt-
cy code (IBC) provisions
will affect the resolution of
had said both public and
private sector banks need
to raise capital on an an-
ticipatory basis to build up
adequate capital buffers to
mitigate risks arising out of
the outbreak of coronavirus.
from March 31, 2020 to Sep-
tember 30, 2020, it said.
The report has given three
suggestions for capital con-
servation that can help the
banking system potentially
save close to Rs 3 lakh crore.
S
hares of Bajaj Auto on
Wednesdaydippednear-
ly 1% after the company
reported a 60.92% decline in
its consolidated net profit for
the first quarter ended June
30.
crore in the corresponding
periodof2019-20,BajajAuto
said in a statement.
On a standalone basis, the
companyreportedanetprof-
it of Rs 528.04 crore in the
first quarter as compared to

L&TQ1netprofitfalls68% stressed accounts, says an

NEW DELHI, PTI: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on
Wednesday posted a 68.37% decline in consol-
idated net profit to Rs 536.88 crore for the first
quarter ended June 30, mainly due to Covid-19
and resultant lockdowns.
The company had clocked a net profit of Rs
1,697.62 crore in the year-ago period, the engi-
neeringandconstructionconglomeratesaidin
a regulatory filing.
Its total income fell 27.19% to Rs 22,037.37
crore in the April-June quarter, against Rs
30,270.94 crore in the year-ago period, the fil-
ing said. Total expenses slipped to Rs 21,367.63
crore during the quarter under review, from
Rs 27,615.71 crore in the corresponding period
previous fiscal.
“The Group’s operations and financial re-
sults for the quarter have been very adversely
impacted by the lockdown imposed to contain
thespreadofCovid-19.Theoperationsgradually
resumed with requisite precautions during the
quarter with limited availability of workforce
and disrupted supply chain,”the company said
in a statement.
It bagged orders worth Rs 23,574 crore at
the group level during the quarter ended June
30, 2020 registering a decline of 39%, in a peri-
od characterised by low interest towards fresh
investment and deferment of award decisions,
the firm noted.
InternationalordersduringthequarteratRs
8,872 crore constituted 38% of the total order
infl
flow.Theconsolidatedorderbookofthegroup
stoodatRs3,05,083croreasonJune30,2020,
with an international order book constituting
24% of the total, it added.
SBI research report.
It said while raising capital
isimportantforbanks,capital
conservation will also be cru-
cial as the moratorium ends
on August 31 and banks will
start recognising stress.
“The problem is given the
one-year freeze in IBC, res-
olution cannot happen at
the same time and it is thus
imperative that public-sec-
tor banks (PSBs) are either
recapitalised or given the
alternative of capital con-
servation, as it is not certain
how much fiscal space the
government might have for
recapitalisation,” the SBI re-
port- Ecowrap said.
“In such a situation, it has
become a lot more important
thatthebankshavetoimprove
their governance, sharpen
their risk management skills
and banks have to raise capi-
talonananticipatorybasisin-
steadofwaitingforasituation
to arise,”Das had said.
The SBI report said as per
the regulatory requirement,
banks in the country need
to have a regulatory capital
of 9% of risk weighted assets
(RWA) along with additional
Capital Conservation Buffer
(CCB) of 1.875%, which was
slated to increase to 2.5% by
March 20.
Considering the potential
stress on account of Covid-19,
“Firstly, given the financial
stress of financial institutions
this year, relaxations in Basel
norms as presently adopted
by India may be done in a way
that ultimate restoration to
the currently given norms
may be achieved by the end of
the FY22. This could free up
Rs 1 lakh crore of capital,” the
report stated.
“Thirdly, the threshold
limit of Rs 5 crore for retail
exposure to one counterpart,
to qualify as Regulatory Re-
tail Portfolio (RRP), could be
increased to Rs 8.5 crore for
attracting 75% risk weight.
Banks can save the capital of
around Rs 5,000 crore,” it
said.
It dipped 0.62% to close at
Rs2,985.60ontheBSE.Dur-
ing the day, it went down by
2.58% to Rs 2,928.55.
On the National Stock Ex-
change(NSE),itfell0.62%to
close at Rs 2,985.40.
Bajaj Auto on Wednesday
reported a 60.92% decline in
consolidated net profit to Rs
395.51croreforthefirstquar-
ter ended June 30, with the
coronaviruspandemictaking
a toll on sales.
Thecompanyhadposteda
net profit of Rs 1,012.17 crore
duringthecorrespondingpe-
riod of the previous financial
year.
Its total revenue from op-
erations fell 60.29% to Rs
Rs 1,125.67 crore in the same
period in 2019-20.
Bajaj Auto said it sold
4,43,103 units during the
firstquarteragainst12,47,174
units in the year-ago period.
“Thefirstquarterhasbeen
an extremely challenging
quarter due to the unprece-
dentedCOVID-19pandemic.
Lockdownandothercontain-
ment precautionary meas-
ureshaveresultedindisrupt-
ed supply lines and a sharp
decline in overall demand,”
the company said.
Impact of the pandemic
wasexperiencedinIndiaand
in countries where the com-
pany exports its vehicles, it
added.

NFRA imposes Spikeseeninequitymarketretail Hyundai

7-year ban
on auditor in
IL&FS case
NEW DELHI, PTI: The
National Financial
Reporting Authority ty
(NFRARA) on Wednesday
imposed a seven-year
ban on Udayan Sen as
well as penalty
ty of Rs 25
lakh in connection with
alleged irregularities in
audit of IL&FS Finan-
cial Services Ltd (IFIN).
Sen was an engage-
ment partner of Deloitte
Haskins and Sells LLP,
which conducted the
statutory audit of IFIN
for 2017-18.
IFIN is part of the di-
versified IL&FS group
where a financial crisis
came to light in late
2018. In an 88-page or-
der, NFRA
RA has slapped
a monetary penalty ty of
Rs 25 lakh on Sen.
participationsincelockdown:Sebichief
NEW DELHI, PTI: Retail partici-
pationintheequity ty markethas
increased since the lockdown
to contain the coronavirus
pandemic began, Securities
and Exchange Board of India
(Sebi) Chairman Ajay Tyagi
said on Wednesday.
New demat accounts have
shot up as several participants
werefirst-timeinvestors,Tyagi
said at FICCI event on capital
markets.
“We have seen a huge surge
in participation of retail inves-
tors in the equity
ty market in the
last few months,”he stated.
Many analysts have quoted
the lack of other investment
opportunities as one of the
reasons for this phenomenon.
To facilitate smooth entry
of these newcomers to the
capital markets, Tyagi said it
would be ideal that they begin
their journey by first investing
in risk-free government secu-
rities (G-Secs).
Toachievethis,hesuggested
thatG-Secsshouldbeissuedin
Demat form. He, further, said
thatthesenewDemataccount
holders, after gaining experi-
enceinvestinginG-Secs,could
then gradually add other secu-
rities to their Demat accounts.
Tyagi noted that markets
have largely recovered from
theshockofMarch.Despitethe
pandemic, the market raised
over Rs 2 lakh crore capital in
the first quarter of 2020-21.
Tyagi also mentioned the
challengesfacedbycorporates
because of the unprecedented
pandemic, adding that the
COVIVID-19situationhaspushed
many companies into stress
and worsened it for already
stressed companies and such
firms are finding it difficult to
raise funds from the market.
launches
Venue iMT
BENGALURU, DHNS:
Hyu
yundai Motor India Ltd.
(HMIL), on Wednesday,
launched the Intelligent
Manual Transmission
(iMT) and introduced Sport
trim in the compact SUV
UV –
the Venue.
SS Kim, MD & CEO,
HMIL, said: “Venue has
now been launched with
the innovative Intelligent
Manual Transmission
(iMT) and Sport trim. With
this, we are once again
setting new standards
for the industry that will
enhance customer delight
and revolutionise the way
India drives.”
The price for the Venue
iMT begins at Rs 9.99
lakh, while the Sport trim
version begins at Rs 10.2
lakh (both ex-showroom,
pan India).

CASH CRUNCH

Plungeincapitalspendingsettoprolongslump
ANIRBAN NAG shrinking 20%-26% in the financial
BLOOMBERG year to March 2021 from a year ago.
They see no meaningful recovery

I
ndian companies are pushing
back big-ticket investment plans in
another sharp blow to an economy
that is hurtling toward its first contrac-
tion in more than four decades.
Billionaire Kumar Mangalam
Birla’s Hindalco Industries Ltd. plans
to cut capital expenditure by as much
as 40% globally as the company plans
to conserve cash, while Tata Steel
Ltd., India’s biggest steelmaker, will
see such spending drop to about half
of last year’s level.
They are joined by cement and au-
tomakers in deferring spending plans
in a sign that firms are increasingly
bearish about Asia’s third-largest
economy, which the International
Monetary Fund estimates will shrink
4.5% this year, the first contraction
since 1980.
With capital investments -- both
private and public -- making up about
a quarter of gross domestic product,
lower expenditure could weigh on the
economy in the long-term, including
denting its potential growth rate of
7%-8%. Recent earnings have shown
sluggish profitabilityt at companies, as
social distancing measures to contain
the Covid-19 pandemic hit consump-
tion, the backbone of the economy.
As a result, companies are prefer-
ring to sit on cash rather than invest-
ing and expanding capacities.
“The biggest hit to growth will
come from investments,” said
Kaushik Das, chief India economist
at Deutsche Bank AG in Mumbai.
“Many small businesses, particularly
in the informal sector, may find it
difficult to survive and those in the
organized sector will likely see a
collapse in profit due to the extended
lockdown.”
That makes Das negative about the
outlook for private sector investment,
not just for the current fiscal year, but
also the next.
Analysts at India Ratings &
Research, the local affiliate of Fitch
Ratings, see India Inc.’s capex plans
in private sector investment activ-
ity
t before 2025 in the absence of a
“broad-based pick-up in domestic and
external demand, faster resolution
of stressed assets and deep structural
reforms.”
Private sector investments
were anemic even before the virus
outbreak, as corporates stepped up
loan repayments following a debt-in-
duced expansion in the aftermath
of the global financial crisis. When
a slowdown followed, companies
sought to de-leverage and repair
their balance sheets. Several projects
turned sour in the process, forcing
banks to write-off loans and end up
with one of the highest stressed-asset
ratios in the world.
“The de-leveraging has taken
longer than anticipated,” said Arin-
dam Som, senior analyst at India
Ratings. “While capacity t utilization
will take at least another four years to
peak, broad-based de-leveraging will
take another six to seven years.”
That’s meant demand for bank
loans has slumped despite easy liquid-
ity
t conditions and low policy rates.
 EDUCATION 11
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020

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to your elder siblings, family members,
teachers, senior alumni – chances are that
they all have similar tales of roadblocks from Entrepreneurship
different chapters of their lives.
The best part is that every single one of programme

those difficult moments have passed, and
have made the individual stronger, more re-
silient, and more competent. For example,
take the case of our former President APJ
Abdul Kalam. A man of great laurels – he
was a beloved teacher, a scientist, recipient of
Bharat Ratna and father of the country’s mis-
sile programme. He was once in a fix ix because
he narrowly missed the chance of becoming
a fighter pilot by just one spot. He had come
ninth when eight positions were available at
the Indian Air Force. He went on to become
an icon for India and a role model for stu-
dents across the world. According to him,
“Through difficulties and problems, God
gives us the opportunity to grow. So when
your hopes, dreams and goals are dashed,
search among the wreckage, you may find
a golden opportunity ty hidden in the ruins.”
The most important thing one can right
now do is to stay focused on long-term goals.
Similarly, know that among other things, ex-
ams are only a stepping stone on your jour-
ney. You might not have done well due to the
current uncertain situation.
There is always a silver lining for those
who are looking for it. By cultivating a solu-
tion-oriented mindset even during difficult
times, you are setting yourself up for a fruitful
and long career ahead — and you will certain-
ly achieve all your goals.
(The author is founder, Deeksha)
Collaborations with foreign universities lead to greater opportunities for students
CHIRAAG MEHTA
H
arshita Mittal, an 18-year-old girl with
visual and hearing impairments, has
lost interest in studies ever since her
school was closed in March due to
Covid-19.
Though online sessions have begun recently, it is
difficult for Harshita to follow the instructions, as
listening with hearing aids is difficult.
“As there has been a big gap, I am finding it diffi-
cult to convince her to study or do speech therapy
exercises and she is finding it difficult to concentrate.
Also, online sessions aren’t being conducted regu-
larly which further hampers learning,” says Pooja
Mittal, Harshita’s mother.
With the switch to online learning, most parents
are finding it difficult to deliver remote instructions
to their children. However, the transition from being
a caregiver to an educator has been the toughest for
parents of children with special needs.
Rudraksh Mishra, a nine-year-old child with mul-
tiple disabilities, learns through touch. With this cru-
cial element missing in online classes, his learning
has taken a beating.
“Weekly once individual sessions are conducted
wherein first I learn something and then teach him
the same. However, in most cases it is not as effective
as in schools as children tend to listen and cooperate
more with teachers than with parents,”says Geetan-
jali, Rudraksh’s mother.
Biggest hurdle
For many parents, the biggest hurdle to teach chil-
dren with special needs is lack of access to teaching
and learning materials. Also, as such children can-
not express themselves, the stress tends to manifest
into aggression which makes it difficult for parents
to teach them.
Vijay Das, father of six-year-old Shriya, who is
visually impaired and deaf, says, “In school, such
children are mainly taught to live independently,
they are taught to eat on their own, use the wash-
room etc. Ever since her school closed, not only has
her learning been affected but her daily routine has
been disturbed too.”
make for good headlines, but sadly,
offer little else. Then there is a range
TCS iON is offering Youth Em-
ployability
ty and Entrepreneurship
Programme for students undertak-
ing vocational courses. For more
information and to register, log on to
https://iur.ls/YEEP.
Fresher jobs
For many parents, the biggest hurdle to teach children with special needs is the lack of access to Internshala is posting job opportuni-
teaching and learning material. ties for freshers. Employers can post
fresher jobs on the platform for free
According to a 2019 report by UNESCO and the tools can help bridge the learning gap. until October 31. For more informa-
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, more than one in To prevent reverse of education gains, there is tion, visit https://bit.ly/I-jobs.
four children with disabilities betw tween ages 5 and an urgent need for the government to mobilise re-
19 in India have never attended any educational in-
stitution, while three-fourths of five-year-olds with
sources to cater to therequirements of children with
special needs. The government ought to give thrust Agami prize
disabilities are not in school. and allot required funds for the development of al- Applications are invited from those
Though India has seen an improvement in enrol- ternate course materials for such children, and take in the field of law and justice for Ag-
ment rates of children with special needs in schools, into account the needs and challenges of all children ami Prize. Apply by July 31. For
the closure of schools will likely lead to an increasein its Pragyata guidelines for online education. more information, log on to w wwww.
in dropout rates in the coming days. “The first requisite is reading material in alternate agami.in/prize.
“The digital divide, lack of accessible educationalformats which must cater to different disabilities,”
materials, and necessary tools have restricted the
implementation of e-education for special children,”
Sruti says.
“We have to keep all options open for them, those MSc in advanced drug
says Arman Ali, executive director of National Cen-
tre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled Peo-
who require a scribe must have scribes available
to them, those who require assistance on braille delivery
ple (NCPEDP). learning material should have access to it and those The University ty of Strathclyde, Glas-
According to surveys conducted (from March to who require sign language interpreters should have gow is inviting applications for MSc
June) by Swabhiman and Disability ty Legislation Unit
access to them. Steps should be taken to ensure that in Advanced Drug Delivery course.
of Eastern India of NCPEDP, only 56.5% of children nobody is left behind,” says Arman. For more information, log on
with special needs were attending online classes, Along with providing hardware support like com- to https://bit.ly/2SWKM12 or write
Around 77% of students said they
though irregularly. Ar puters/tabs to disabled students and exploring other to science-masters@strath.ac.uk.
would not be able to cope and would fall behind in teaching mediums such as television and communi-
learning due to their inability to access distance
learning methods.
ty
ty radio, it is crucial to empower parents so that they
are able to learn new technology and support their Vocational programmes
“If adequate measures are not taken urgently, children, according to Sruti. Bhartiya Skill Development Univer-
students with special needs are likely to suffer irre- Additionally, parents feel, the services of more ed- sity
ty, Jaipur invites applications for
coverable losses in their quest for education and a life
ucators, therapists, trainers and counsellors needs Bachelor of Vocational Programmes
of dignity
ty,”says Sruti Mohapatra, executive director to be leveraged to assist such children. in Multiple Disciplines. The last
of Swabhiman, a community ty-based organisation. Greater awareness about the challenges faced date to apply July 31. For more
by children with special needs ought to be created information, log on to https://bit.
Bridging the gap to encourage more people to work towards making ly/2Ztfx18 or contact 9828882458 or
While there is uncertaintyty on when schools will re- education inclusive, and companies to come up with write to admissions@ruj-bsdu.in.
open, accessible, assistive and affordable learning more accessible and assistive technology.
Rural management
scholarship
IIHMR University ty is inviting appli-
cations for Late Shri PD Agarwal
this offers a truly undiluted ‘interna- Scholarship for students enrolling
tional education’, at a fraction of the for ttw
wo-year MBA in Rural Manage-

R
estrictions on international
travel has resulted in lesser
number of students opting for
studying in universities abroad despite
them conducting classes online. This is
because online classes don’t give them
the international exposure that is a
key aspect of studying abroad. How-
ever, some institutions in the country
have seen a possibilityty in this situation
and are seeking collaboration with
a reputed international partner to
enhance the desirability ty of their own
programmes.
One ttyype of collaboration exists in
the form of Memorandum of Under-
standing (MOU) betw tween institutions,
intending to collaborate on the cur-
riculum, pedagogy, research, student
exchanges and other such areas. As is
the case with MOUs everyw ywhere, they
of deeper collaborations, which I will
broadly call ‘validations’. To under-
stand this bucket better, let’s divide
college education into three compo-
nents — curriculum, assessment and
eventual degree award.
In some collaborations, the cur-
riculum may come entirely from the
foreign institution, while in others
it may be a joint effort. Similarly, in
some cases the foreign partner sets
the assessment while the domestic
institution conducts and grades
it, sending few randomly selected
scripts for ‘validation’ by the foreign
institution. Given the motivations for
international collaborations, the more
the foreign partner takes on, the more
the global standing of the programme.
Inevitably, the greater the involvement
of the former institution, the more
likely that the degree awarded reflflects
the standards of the foreign partner.
In the deepest level of collaboration,
the curriculum, as well as all aspects of
assessment, are taken on fully by the
foreign institution. Here, the role of
the domestic partner is ty
typically form-
ative, similar to that of the traditional
‘college’ in a ‘university
ty’. This enables India offer a similar rate of return on a
the international partner to lend its full much lower investment. However, en-
title and weight to the degree award,
since its reputation is insured by its
direct and complete control over the
qualityty of education. For the student,
cost of receiving the same education
abroad.
Depth of collaboration also brings
with it unique opportunities — exciting
virtual learning resources, lectures
by faculty
ty members from the foreign
institution, international Summer
School scholarships etc. The quality ty
that accompanies such depth can
also make it possible for students to
transfer into second year at foreign
institutions or endow them with a sig-
nificant edge when applying to foreign
universities for post-graduation. Such
international education options in
sure that you choose the right course
and college.
(The author is Associate Director,
Indian School of Business & Finance)
ment. For more information, log on
to https://bit.ly/30gOkhu.
Data science internship
FlexiEle is hiring an intern for
Data Science profile. Students with
knowledge of Pyt ython, Data Analyt
yt-
ics, R Programming, Data Science
and Tableau may apply by July 27.
The stipend is Rs 15,000 per month.
Apply at: https://bit.ly/DH-848.
Story telling internship
Sciensation Societyty is hiring interns
for Story Telling profile. Students
with relevant skills and interest may
apply by July 27. The stipend is Rs
2,000 to 5,000 per month. Apply at:
https://bit.ly/DH-849.

Gettiing aw
Dear Sir,
I am in II PUC (Commerce). I
am a national level water
polo player cum swimmer.
I wish to pursue a career in
swimming and continue my
studies also. Please suggest
some good courses for UG.
Chaitanya Uma Shankar
Dear Chaitanya,
Swimming may not be a long-
term career because with age
you will have to stop active
participation. But if your pas-
sion for sports runs deeper,
wider exposure increases competency
STUDY IN INDIA
ALI KHWAJA
you can consider becoming
a sports psychologist, coach,
director of physical educa-
tion, sports manager, health
educator etc.
You can start off with a
three-year UGC-recognised
degree course with Sports
Authorityty of India (nsnis.
org), National College of
Physical Education (lncpe.
gov.in), Ramchandra
Universityty (sriramachandra.
edu.in) or any of the private
universities offering qualityty
education, and then special-
ise as per your interest.
Dear Sir,
I am studying in II PUC
(Science). I want to pursue
BBA but my parents want
me to pursue Engineering or
Medicine. Please advise.
Ayman Ahmed
Dear Ayman,
Studying science at PUC level
will not go a waste regardless
of the career you take up
since it sharpens your ana-
ytical and logical thinking.
lyt
As you know, after PUC in
Science, you can move into
any career that is related or
not related to science. So
you have a wide choice of
careers, and you should select
based on a combination of
your interests, aptitude and
personalityty traits.
Only when you decide what
long-term career suits you
most and you will enjoy work-
ing in, then you can decide
about the degree course that
will take you towards your
goals. The skills required, the
lifesty
tyle and the personality ty
traits for working in business
administration and working
in technology or health sec-
tors is totally different – find
out which would be ideal for
you.
Dear Sir,
I am interested in both
mass communication and
liberal studies. Which is
better? Please suggest some
good universities in Pune
and Manipal.
Khyati Nayak
Dear Khyati,
If you have explored and
understood the field of mass
communication and are con-
fident that it will suit you best
and you have the necessary
skills to do well in it, then it is
better to straight away take
up a degree course in it. On
the other hand, if you have
wider interests and would not
like to restrict yourself to a
specific field, liberal studies
gives you insights into a
wide varietyty of subjects and
fields, and you can decide on
specialisation after getting a
strong foundation through
this course. You can even go
back to mass communication
at the master’s level after
studying liberal arts.
Mass communication is
offered by numerous colleges
in Pune, Manipal and most
other cities. Some of the
reputed institutions offering
Liberal Arts degree courses
are Symbiosis, FLAME,
Amityty, Azim Premji, MIT
World Peace University ty, SRM
and Jindal.
Dear Sir,
I am in Class 10 (IGCSE) and
am studying Mathematics,
Computers, English, Busi-
ness Studies, Chemistry and
Dr Ali Khwaja is the founder
and chairman of Banjara
Academy, Bengaluru.
Send in your queries to
EDUCATION,
Physics. I wish to do hotel tent to handle independent
C/O Deccan Herald, 75, MG
management but my father, responsibilities. Find out
who is an industrialist, your strengths and consult Road, Bengaluru - 560001
wants me to do engineering experts if necessary, you or e-mail us at
so that I can continue in the have lots of time till you dheducation@deccanherald.
same line. Kindly advise. complete your +2, and then co.in with ‘Study in India’ in the
Tanishq Kiran take a calculated decision. subject line.
Dear Tanishq,
I would recommend that
you select your higher study
courses based on your skills,
aptitude, personalityty traits,
matched with your interest.
Once you have qualified your-
self in hotel management or
any field that suits you most,
there is nothing preventing
you from eventually joining
your father’s business,
because as the owner you will
need more of management
skills than specialisation in
the technical aspects of the
business.
Getting a wider exposure
beyond your father’s industry
will also widen your horizons
and make you more compe-
12
IN BRIEF
Anand goes
down to Svidler
► Former world champion
Viswanathan Anand went
down 1.5-2.5 to Russia’s
Peter Svidler in the opening
round of the USD 150,000
Legends of Chess tourna-
ment, reports PTI from
New Delhi.
The Indian ace, making
his maiden appearance on
the Magnus Carlsen Chess
Tour, drew the first three
games of the best-of-four
contest before losing the
final game on Tuesday.
Anand was tied with
Svidler at 1.5 points each
but faltered in the fourth
and final game. The ttwwo
played out three close
games before Svidler
pipped the Indian for the
important win.
WorldLeague
inducts ISL
► The Indian Super League
(ISL) has been inducted
into the prestigious World
Leagues Forum (WLF),
the association of profes-
sional football leagues
which includes the likes of
Premier League, La Liga
and Bundesliga, reports
PTI from New Delhi.
The ISL said in a release
that it has become the first
league from South Asia
and seventh in Asia to join
the WLF.
Currently, the WLF has
members from five conti-
nents representing close to
1200 clubs worldwide and
works closely with global
body FIFA on the devel-
opment of professional
football, it said.
Mbappetostay
atPSG
► Kylian Mbappe said on
Tuesday he would remain
with French champions
Paris Saint-Germain next
season “whatever happens”
despite repeated specula-
tion over his future, reports
AFP from Paris.
“I’m here. I’m part of the
project for a fourth year,”
Mbappe, 21, told BeIn
Sport during half-time of
PSG’s 4-0 win over Celtic
in a friendly at the Parc des
Princes.
“The club’s 50-year anni-
versary is an important one
in the eyes of the club, the
supporters, of everyone,
so I will be here whatever
happens.”
Dhawan signs
with IMG
► Senior India opener Shi-
khar Dhawan on Wednes-
day signed an exclusive
worldwide marketing and
management agreement
with IMG Reliance, reports
PTI from Mumbai.
IMG Reliance player
management roster
includes Rohit Sharma,
Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik
Pandya, Krunal Pandya,
Shreyas Iyer apart from
Dhawan.
Parkinson
suffers injury
► England leg-spinner Matt
Parkinson has been ruled
out of the three-match ODI
series against Ireland after
suffering an ankle injury
during training, reports
PTI from London.
The 23-year-old Lanca-
shire bowler, who made his
international debut against
South Africa in Febru-
ary, suffered the injury
during fielding practice on
Monday.
‘Crowds atWC
unnecessary’
► Former world number
one Ronnie O’Sullivan said
the decision to allow a lim-
ited number of spectators
during this year’s snooker
World Championship in
Britain is an unnecessary
risk amid the Covid-19 pan-
demic, reports Reuters.
“You aren’t really achiev-
ing anyt
ything. Having peo-
ple there but not enough
people doesn’t look good.
Either pack it out and say
we don’t actually care or go
‘we aren’t having anyone’,”
five-times world champion
O’Sullivan told the BBC.
Women’s cricket
ign
gnored aass BCCI
focuses on IPL
Noselection
committeeinplace
withWorldCupjust
sixmonthsaway
▼ indifference towards women’s
SIDNEY KIRAN
BENGALURU, DHNS
B
uriedintheBoardofCon-
trol for Cricket in India’s
(BCCI) enthusiasm to
stage the 13th edition of the lu-
crativeIndianPremierLeague
in the middle of a raging pan-
demic, there is growing sense
that women’s cricket in the
country is being neglected.
While the BCCI is pulling
out all stops to stage the IPL
in the UAE in the Septem-
ber-November window and is
alsoworkinghardonthemen’s
tourofAustralialaterthisyear,
‘LotofplanningneededforIPL’
MOUNT MAUNGANUI, PTI:
New Zealand captain Kane
Williamson on Wednes-
day said he is excited about
playing the Indian Premier
League (IPL) in the UAE
but felt a lot of planning and
organising still needs to be
done amid the raging Cov-
id-19 pandemic.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad
skipperspoketothemediaon
the sidelines of the national
team’strainingcampafterthe
ICCpostponedtheT20World
Cup due to the pandemic.
“Consideringwhatitactual-
ly looks like and all the details
that come with it, to play in
the IPL is always an amazing
thing so. It will be great to be
a part of it,” Williamson said
butalsowantedtoknowmore
aboutsecurity ty arrangements.
But there are lot of details to
comethroughbeforeanyfinal
decisions will be made. It will
benicetoknowmore.”
WAD
ADA extends NDTL
suspension by 6 months
NEW DELHI, PTI
I
n a massive jolt to India’s
Olympic preparations, the
World Anti-Doping Agen-
cy (WADA) has extended the
suspension of the country’s
National Dope Testing Labo-
ratory (NDTL) by another six
months citing non-confirma-
tiontointernationalstandards.
The WADA first suspend-
ed NDTL in August last year
for a period of six months. A
fresh round of inspection by
the world body, much to the
embarrassment of the coun-
try’s sporting establishment,
showed that non-conformities
still existed.
“The World Anti-Doping
Agency has suspended the
accreditation of the National
Dope Testing Laboratory in
New Delhi, India, for a second
period of up to six months,”
WADA said in a statement.
The suspension prohibits
the NDTL from carrying out
EnglandponderrestingStokesforthethirdTest
MANCHESTER, PTI
England will “consider ro-
tating” star all-rounder Ben
Stokes even though his pres-
ence makes it a better team,
said coach Chris Silverwood
ahead of the third and final
Test against the West Indies
beginning on Friday.
Stokesscored176and78not
out in the tw
two innings and also
took three wickets as England
beat West Indies by 113 runs in
thesecondTesttotiethethree-
match series 1-1.
it has emerged that the BCCI
had pulled out of the proposed
women’s tour of England due
to the Covid-19 crisis.
Officially there’s no word
from the Board on why they
opted out of the tour. The si-
lence being interpreted as the
cricket.
Factor this, the Women’s
ODIWorldCup,inallprobabil-
ity
ty, will be held next February
6-March 7 in New Zealand, yet
there’s no eves’ selection com-
mittee in place. The previous
panel comprising Hemala
Kala (chief selector), Anjali
Pendharker, Sudha Shah,
Lopamudra Bhattacharji and
Shashi Gupta ended their ten-
ureearlythisyearandreplace-
ments are yet to be found.
The BCCI had set January
24 as the deadline for appli-
cations and although a host
of candidates have applied,
the interviews for the post are
“By all accounts the IPL,
they’re looking to host that
tournament,whichisafantas-
tic a tournament to be a part
ofandattractssuchanincred-
ible audience,”he added.
Williamson said he fore-
sees good viewership for the
IPL when it happens as peo-
ple right now crave for Live
cricket. “...there’s been a nat-
ural lack of content so there
is a real drive to see that hap-
pen and see it happen safely,
which is first and foremost.
“It’s a shame to see the
World Cup be postponed but
I suppose it’s the nature of
what we’re faced with in the
current climate but exciting
at the potential opportunity
individuallytoseesomecrick-
etcomeontothehorizon,”he
said.
Williamsonalsowelcomed
the move to have an IPL at a
safe place like the UAE as In-
dia’scaseloadisabove11lakh.
any anti-doping activities, in-
cluding all analyses of urine
and blood samples.
The laboratory’s non-con-
formities pertain to the Inter-
national Standard for Labora-
tories (ISL) identified during
a WADA site visit, including
the laboratory’s isotope ratio
mass spectrometry -- the ana-
lyt
ytical technique of choice for
confirmation of prohibited
substances.
Sports minister Kiren Rijiju
said that technical problems
arebeingaddressedasthefirst
suspension notice was served
before he took over the NDTL
chairmanship.“WADAserved
suspensionnoticebeforeItook
over as Chairman of National
Dope Testing Laboratory. The
rulesofrevokingit’saccredita-
tionafter6monthssuspension
is avoided by extending the
suspension period because all
technical problems are being
addressed no,”Rijiju tw
tweeted.
Currently, urine samples
His perfor-
mance also
earnedStokes
the numero
uno position
in the ICC
Ben Stokes all-rounder
rankings,
displacingWestIndiesskipper
Jason Holder.
“We want him out there as
much as we can; everyone can
seehowgoodheis,”Silverwood
said. “But you know what,
we’re going to consider rotat-
ing him. He’s been at the cen-
SPORT
CRICKET
yet to be conducted. Compare
thistomen’scricket,soonafter
MSK Prasad’s term as chief of
selection committee came to
an end, Sunil Joshi was named
as his replacement. Harvin-
der Singh was named Gagan
Khoda’s replacement on the
same day.
“This double standard is
nothing new,” rued a respect-
ed former woman player who
wished to remain anonymous.
“When the BCCI took full
control of the functioning of
women’s cricket, we thought
we would be heralding a new
chapter. While advancements
have been made in terms of
central contracts and better
infrastructure, the double
standards always exist.
“Currently,despitethewom-
en doing well on the interna-
tional arena, for the BCCI we
arejustcostcentres.Themen’s
gamegetsthe revenue andthe
focus is all about maximising
SC defers case, Ganguly’s fate in balance
BCCIhasfiledplea
toamendtherule
withregardtothe
cooling-offperiod
▼ Association before assuming
BENGALURU, DHNS
B
oardofControlforCrick-
et in India (BCCI) presi-
dentSouravGangulyand
secretary Jay Shah will have to
wait for two weeks to know
theirfateastheSupremeCourt
on Wednesday deferred to
mid August the hearing of the
board’spleatoextendtheduo’s
respective tenures.
The BCCI had filed its pleas
-- first in December last and
then in April -- seeking a few
amendmentstotheboard’sre-
collected by the National An-
ti-Doping Agency (NADA) are
beingsentprimarilytotheWA-
DA-accredited lab in Doha.
The WADA conducted a
second inspection of NDTL in
February.Butcorrectivemeas-
ures weren’t found to be good
enough to revoke the suspen-
sion,whichhasbeenextended
till January 2021.
“In February 2020, when
thesixix-monthsuspensionperi-
odelapsedandsomeoutstand-
ing non-conformities had not
been addressed successfully,
WADA’s Laboratory Expert
Group(LabEG)recommended
theinitiationoffurtherdiscipli-
nary proceedings against the
laboratory based on the out-
standing non-conformities,”
the world body said.
The disciplinary committee
that was mandated to make a
recommendationtotheWAD ADA
chairthengaveitsstatusreport
asking for an extension in sus-
pension.
tre of the last couple of games
andwe’vegottomakesurehe’s
okay.Butifheisfitandhealthy,
he’ll play.”
The 29-year-old had pulled
himself out of the attack mid-
way through his 15th over in
West Indies’ second innings
but later insisted that there
was “absolutely nothing to
worry about”.
Silverwood said Stokes will
have to “rein” him in during
trainingasheisalwayslooking
push himself.
“He’llkeeppushinghimself,
Despite their recent success in reaching two World Cup finals, women cricketers continue to
get the short end of the bargain. PTI
it. The coronavirus has hit the
BCCI hard and now they are
only worried about raking
in the moolah to balance the
books. Women’s cricket is the
least of their priorities now.”
The former player said
there have been no talks about
women’s cricket in the recent
months. “All the focus is about
theIPLandthemen’sFTP(Fu-
tureToursProgramme).IPLis
oneoftherichesttournaments
in the world and it’s fair that a
lot of effort needs to go into
it. But that doesn’t mean you
ignore women’s cricket com-
Sourav Ganguly
visedconstitution in 2018.The
BCCI, in a bid to overturn the
recommendation made by the
JusticeRMLodhaCommittee,
hadrequestedtheapexcourtto
waiveoffthemandatorythree-
yearcooling-offperiodaftersixix
years(whetherinastateunitor
at BCCI or combined) at helm
as laid out in the Board’s new
constitution.
Ganguly, who assumed of-
ficeattheBCCIlastOctober,is
Lowly Villa
sink Arsenal
BIRMINGHAM, AFP: Dean
Smith urged Aston Villa
to finish the job after they
climbed out of the Premier
League relegation zone as
Trezeguet clinched a price-
less 1-0 win against Arsenal
on Tuesday.
Smith’s side have their
survival fate in their own
hands after the Egypt wing-
er’s first-half strike at Villa
Park.
Watford’s 4-0 thrashing
againstManchesterCity ty ear-
lier on Tuesday had opened
the door for Villa to escape
the bottom three. And Villa
seized their chance with a
first home Premier League
win over Arsenal in 18 at-
tempts dating back to 1998.
Villa are now fourth bot-
tom and have moved ahead
of third-bottom Watford on
goaldifference,withSmith’s
menon-26comparedtothe
Hornets’ -27. They head to
West Ham for their final
game of the season on Sun-
day, while Watford visit Ar-
senal and Bournemouth.
whichiswhyheisasgoodashe
is,”said Silverwood.
“But from a training per-
spective, we try and rein him
in where possible and keep
him as fit as a fiddle because
I know we’re a better team
with him out there... We’ve
got to look after him the best
we can.”
England had picked James
Anderson, Jofra Archer and
Mark Wood for the opening
Test, while including Stuart
Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam
Curran in the second match.
pletely. England (ECB) has
shownthewaybyhostingWest
Indies exceptionally well and
nowPakistanarealreadythere
with Australia set to travel. I
see no reason why the women
couldnothavebeenassembled
and sent on a tour to England.
Ibelievetheselectioncommit-
teewasnotpickedastherewas
no cricket scheduled and the
Board didn’t want to pay them
the salaries for just sitting at
home.”
The former player rued the
lack of vision at the top. “The
Board takes ttw
wo steps forward
set to finish his term on July 27
whileShahhasalreadyreport-
edlyslippedintothecooling-off
period. The former India skip-
per was the president of the
Cricket Association of Bengal
(CAB) while Shah was the sec-
retary at the Gujarat Cricket
their respective roles in the
BCCI nine months ago.
Theboardhadalsoaskedthe
SupremeCourttoseparatethe
tenures of officials of the State
associations and BCCI for
determining the cooling-off
period. Among their requests,
the Board wanted the court
to allow the two to remain
in their respective posts till
2025.
Following a short hearing
on Wednesday, Chief Justice
of India Sharad Bobde and
Justice L Nageshwar Rao, said
thecourtwillsitagainaftertw two
andonebackw kwardwithrespect
to women’s cricket. We need a
visionary who doesn’t just fo-
cus on the business aspect but
growt
wthaswell.Women’scrick-
et can’t compete with men’s in
terms of revenue. Having said
that, they’ve reached the fi-
nalsofthelasttw
twoWorldCups
(2020 T20 WC and 2017 ODI
WC), which means they are
ambitious as well.”
While it’s understandable
why all of BCCI’s focus is on
IPL, they should also look at
building on the gains made by
women’steaminrecenttimes.
weeks. Tentatively, the court
will hear the plea in the third
week of August.
Itremainstobeseenwheth-
er Ganguly and Shah continue
to discharge their duties at the
BCCI and if they do so, will it
be in violation of its own con-
stitution? For now, the BCCI
presidentisexpectedtobepart
of the IPL Governing Council
likely to happen next week to
decide on the schedule of the
13th edition of the cash-rich
league. Shah is also likely to be
part of the meeting.
Last Friday, Alka Bhardwaj,
the nominee of the Comptrol-
lerandAuditorGeneral(CAG)
intheApexCouncil,hadraised
objection against Shah’s pres-
enceintheboad’svirtualmeet-
ing of the council. Bhardwaj
had contended that Shah was
ineligible to attend the meet-
ing,sightinghistermwasover.
DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Thursday
July 23, 2020
Srabani Nanda
Srabani first
Indian runner to
compete amid
pandemic
KINGSTON,PTI: Acesprinter
Srabani Nanda has become
the first Indian track and
fieldathletetoparticipatein
acompetitionamidtheCov-
id-19 pandemic, running in
a meet in Jamaica alongside
some of the world’s best.
The 29-year-old com-
peted in the 100M race at
the Velocity Fest meeting
at Jamaica College on Sun-
day, representing the MVP
Trackclub.Shewonheattw two
in 11.78 seconds for a third-
place finish overall.
Apart from Srabani, the
Velocity Fest also had dou-
ble Olympic sprint champi-
on Elaine Thompson and
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
competing.
Reigning Olympic cham-
pion Thompson, also rep-
resenting MVP Track Club,
was the overall winner in
11.19 seconds.
Fraser-Pryce, represent-
ing Nike, won the women’s
200M in 22.74 seconds.
Former 100M world
champion Yohan Blake won
the men’s 200M in 20.62
seconds.
Foreign coaches
tenure extended
NEW DELHI, PTI: The Sports
Authorityty of India (SAI)
on Wednesday extended
the contract of 32 foreign
coaches in 11 disciplines till
September end next year
to ensure continuity ty in
the training of athletes till
Toky
kyo Olympics.
Top coaches among the
32 included Santiago Nieva
and Raffaele Bergamasco
in boxing, Graham Reid
(men’s hockey) and Pavel
Smirnov (shooting) among
others.
National football coach
Igor Stimac’s contract was
also extended although it
has nothing to do with the
Olympics.