09 11 02 12

Boris ADB hikes CM I won’t

Johnson Covid-19
financial aid to
enquires create false
hopes: De
recuperates about ASI’s
USD 20 bn for Villiers on
at Chequers health;
member nations playing for
with pregnant accused get 11- South Africa
fiancee day remand again

4.00
chandigarh
tuesday
14 APR 2020
volume 5
issue 103

Powerplay www.dailyworld.in

Any repeat of Patiala incident is unacceptable!

A
handful of goons are
now trying to terror-
ise the 90,000-strong
Punjab police that is
credited with wiping
out terrorism from the
State. This is the same police force
that upheld the law and put the fear
of God in the minds of anti-national
elements, under the leadership of
Super Cop KPS Gill, Julio Francis
Ribeiro, etc. and also tamed unruly
manish elements in other states, including
Bihar, where it played a major role
tiwari in the conduct of free elections in
the 1990s when TN Seshan was
editor-in-chief the Chief Election Commissioner
of India.
With this attack, The entire nation, however, was
the police image in a state of shock and disbelief
has taken a on Sunday to see the video clips
on television channels and social
beating once media that some nihangs, members
again and of a Sikh sect who carry traditional
everyone is arms and wear blue robes, chopped
asking — why is off the hand of ASI Harjeet Singh
and injured some others when they
this force, known were stopped for violating the lock-
for its valour down in Patiala.
and sacrifice and Only six months ago, another
credited with disgraceful incident took place
when Sub-Inspector Baldev Singh
upholding the with a police team was raiding the
law with good house of an alleged drug peddler
judgment for so in Amritsar. The Sub-Inspector was
long, unable to beaten by the goons even as his col-
leagues in uniform and with guns
respond to such had remained a mute spectator.
situations. The State Police, headed by DGP
Dinkar Gupta, took swift action
and arrested 11 nihangs and their
associates from a Gurudwara hours
after the brutal attack on police-
men in Patiala. The DGP vowed
to bring the miscreants to justice
in the “quickest possible manner”
and personally called the PGI direc-
tor as well as other doctors and
saw it through that the ASI’s hand
was successfully re-attached after
a 7-hour operation.
With this attack, however, the
police image has once again taken
a beating and everyone is asking
why is this force — known for its
valour and sacrifice and credited
with upholding the law with good
judgment for so long — unable to
respond to such situations.
While the morale of the force is
down due to various developments
involving their actions in the recent
past, there is no doubt that the situ-
ation has changed drastically in the
past 20-30 years and a rot has set in
due to various socio-economic fac-
tors. The respect for law has gone
down. People often have the ten-
dency not to obey instructions from
law enforcing agencies, more so in
a crisis situation, like what we are
experiencing post Coronavirus and
lockdown. The Patiala incident is
also an exception as nihangs have
generally been known for their
support to the Punjab police during
the dark days of terrorism.
Over the years, there is a lot of
IG Jatinder Singh Aulakh and SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu along with other police of-
ficers show sharp-edged weapons recovered from the arrested Nihangs at Balbera
village in Patiala, Sunday, April 12, 2020. / PTI FILE photo
change in the way police handle a
situation. The force is now com-
paratively more educated at all
ranks, from officers to a constable
and the generation of policemen
that believed in the philosophy of
‘might is right’ is no longer there.
In this information age, the per-
ception against the police that is
sought to be created by certain
sections, especially through the
social media, is also acting as some
sort of a dampener.
As a result, the rank and file is not
willing to react to such attacks by
resorting to extra force. In recent
years, the importance of human
rights engrained in the minds of
officers is also playing a role in their
not acting strongly and decisively
against the attackers. On Sunday,
almost all political parties issued
statements, condemning the at-
tack by the nihangs. But had the
police fired upon them to protect
their lives and discharge their du-
ties, many of these parties could
have been singing a different tune
altogether. The use of excessive
force may well have boomeranged,
giving a reason to different groups
and parties to launch a campaign
against the Police.
At the same time, there is no
denying the fact that the police and
political class are also responsible
for undermining the force and its
valour. In the past 20 years, I have
closely analysed the functioning of
Punjab police headquarters and
thus would know — who brought
laurels and who brought disgrace
to this great institution.
Today, the State police are not
just fighting a war against anti-na-
tional elements and criminals, but
also a “war within”. While bureau-
crats don’t like to indulge in “ugly
fights” with their brethren, the
perception is the reverse in the case
of Punjab police top brass. They
are a divided lot and do not like
to miss any opportunity to take on
their adversaries — in and outside
the system. A majority of officers
sitting in the Police Headquarters
are competent and have sufficient
experience to deliver good results,
but do not have much work. Worse,
instead of focusing on basics of po-
licing and maintaining law and or-
der, their fight is about ‘controlling
power’. As one officer put it; “Dur-
ing our training itself, we are made
to believe that we are born leaders.
Who can provide us the leader-
ship?” If that is so, it should be
considered a great achievement
for any DGP to provide leadership
to so many “leaders”.
During his previous stint as the
Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt Ama-
rinder Singh had proved to be a
good ‘General’ and earned respect
both from civil and police officers.
He needs to have a serious look at
the functioning of the officers in
this tenure too, and give adequate
responsibility, even if it is on the
civil side, to those who can deliver
results. On the other hand, the CM
must firmly deal with those who
are bent upon causing irreparable
damage to the institution.
Times are changing and unrest
is growing fast in the society due to
various factors. Despite stringent
laws being enacted by the Central
and state governments, people
don’t hesitate today to take the
law into their hands. The situation
is likely to further deteriorate, for,
there may be less job opportunities
and more lawlessness in times to
come.
In the past two weeks, the Pun-
jab police have really done a yeo-
man’s job, putting even their lives
at stake to effectively enforce the
lockdown in State. But the Patiala
incident has somewhat shaken pub-
lic’s confidence and is completely
unacceptable.
It’s high time the Punjab police
gave an exemplary punishment to
those involved in the attack and
made it clear to rouge elements
that enough is enough.
   manish@dailyworld.in

dailypick PM to address nation as last day of World’s biggest

lockdown may have
Firoz Bakht Ahmed
When I feel
3-week lockdown ends today cost Rs 7-8 lakh cr to
Indian economy
ashamed to be a
be enabled for coronavirus testing,
a senior official said. New Delhi The world’s biggest lockdown that

Muslim! 06
Pak SC questions
top health advisor’s
integrity, asks govt to
remove him
Islamabad Expressing dissatisfaction over the
performance of Special Assistant to the Prime
Minister on Health in tackling the coronavi-
rus crisis in Pakistan, the Supreme Court on
Monday directed the government to remove
him from his post. During a hearing on a suo
motu case on the coronavirus crisis in Paki-
stan, a five-member bench of the apex court
led by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed
that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Cabinet
had become ineffective in the fight against
the pandemic. The bench questioned the
integrity of Zafar Mirza, Special Assistant
to the Prime Minister on Health, in tackling
the COVID-19 crisis and the transparency
of his work done. / PTI /
Few devotees are seen inside Golden Temple on the occasion of Vaisakhi festival during a government-imposed nationwide lock-
down as a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic, in Amritsar, Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI
New Delhi The Centre faced grow-
ing calls for a less sweeping curbs
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi
will address the nation at 10am on
infections earlier have contained
the spread and reported no new
According to an ICMR official,
2,06,212 tests for COVID-19 have
been conducted so far.
“Of these 14,855 tests took place
at 156 government labs and 1,913
tests happened at 69 private labs on
Sunday. There is no need to worry.
We have enough stocks to conduct
tests for six weeks,”the official said.
A broad consensus has emerged
that the national lockdown should
be extended by at least two weeks
after a meeting between the prime
minister and state chief ministers
on Saturday. Several chief minis-
ters at the same time have pushed
for resumption of some economic
activities like in the farming sector
in regions with no COVID-19 cases.
With most states favouring the
lockdown to be extended at least
by two weeks beyond April 14, the
government is broadly focusing on a
two-pronged action plan--containing
the spread of COVID-19 in the coun-
try and staggered resumption of
economic activities, according to an
official. The Centre’s plan is seen as
shut a majority of the factories and businesses,
suspended flights, stopped trains and restricted
movement of vehicles and people, may have cost
the Indian economy Rs 7-8 lakh crore during
the 21-day period, analysts and industry bodies
said. With the intent to contain the spread of
COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi with
effect from March 25 announced a nationwide
complete lockdown that brought as much as
70 per cent of economic activity, investment,
exports and discretionary consumption to a
standstill. Only essential goods and services
such as agriculture, mining, utility services,
some financial and IT services and public ser-
vices were allowed to operate. tating that the
pandemic came at the most inopportune time
for India whose economy was showing signs
of recovery after bold fiscal/monetary mea-
sures, Centrum Institutional Research said
the country again stares at the possibility of
low single-digit growth for FY2021 (April 2020
to March 2021). / PTI /
RBI to use any means
to revive growth
Mumbai All-out efforts are needed to mitigate

India issues as an anxious nation awaited Prime

demarche to Pak
over killing of 3
Indians in ceasefire
violations in J-K
New Delhi India on Monday issued a strong
demarche to Pakistan over the killing of three
civilians, including a minor, by Pakistani
troops in a ceasefire violation along the Line
of Control in Keran sector of Jammu and Kash-
mir, official sources said. The three people
were killed when Pakistani forces resorted to
unprovoked ceasefire violation on Monday.
“A strong demarche was made to the Paki-
stan side on the killing of three innocent
Indian civilians,” said a source. Demarche is
a diplomatic note, generally issued to lodge
protest over any action of development.
Last Sunday, Keran sector was the scene of
a deadly operation in which five elite army
commandos laid down their lives while elimi-
nating a group of infiltrating militants.
There have been frequent incidents of
ceasefire violation by Pakistani side since
India announced its decision to withdraw
special status of Jammu and Kashmir and
bifurcate the state into two union territories
in August last year. Indian troops have also
been retaliating to Pakistani actions. / PTI /
Minister Narendra Modi’s address
on Tuesday--the last day of the 21-
day coronavirus lockdown--after a
broad consensus emerged among
states for extending the unprec-
edented measure by two weeks.
As expectations mounted that the
prime minister may dwell on plans
to restart economic activities in a
graded manner, Tamil Nadu and
Arunachal Pradesh on Monday for-
mally announced an extension of
the lockdown till April 30 taking to
eight the number of states adopt-
ing this step. The other states are
Odisha, Punjab, Maharashtra, Telan-
gana, West Bengal and Karnataka.
Wuhan’s
lessons in
containing
Covid-19:
Wear masks,
no home
quarantine
for patients
14th April 2020,” the Prime Minis-
ter’s Office tweeted. The 21-day lock-
cases in 14 days. “This is a positive
development.” Seeking to expedi-
a nuanced change in strategy from
saving lives a month ago to saving
the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,
and the RBI will use any instrument necessary
down announced by Prime Minister
Modi is in place from March 25 in a
tiously expand COVID-19 testing
facilities, the government has identi-
lives as well as livelihoods now in
the fight against the pandemic.
to revive growth and preserve financial stabil-
ity, according to the minutes of the central
bid to halt the spread of COVID-19
and is scheduled to end on Tuesday.
fied 14 Centres of Excellence such as
PGIMER in Chandigarh, AIIMS, New
States are likely to designate
districts, towns and cities as red,
bank’s policy meeting. The Monetary Policy
Committee (MPC), headed by Reserve Bank
Lav Agarwal, a joint secretary in Delhi and NIMHANS in Bangalore to orange and green zones depending of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, was
the Union Health Ministry, said 796
new COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths
mentor all government and private
medical colleges in their catchment
upon the number of COVID-19 cases
as part of efforts to allow differenti-
originally scheduled for March 31, April 1 and
3, 2020, but was advanced in view of the coro-
have been reported in the last 24 areas to create state-of-art molecular ated restoration of normalcy with navirus pandemic.
hours, taking the total number of virology setups. conditions like uses of masks and After the three-day meeting which ended on
cases to 9,152 and fatalities to 308. In the wake of spurt in cases of social distancing in public. Union March 27, the RBI reduced the key policy rate
However, according to a PTI tally coronavirus in India, the ICMR has ministers and senior officials re- by 75 basis points. To mitigate the economic
based on reports from states, there taken into account the need to expe- sumed working from offices in Delhi difficulties arising out of the virus outbreak,
were 9,594 positive cases and 335 ditiously expand COVID-19 testing fa- as the Centre scaled up its activities the government of India has announced a
deaths. In some good news, Agar- cilities in all parts of the country and to deal with the situation arising out comprehensive package of Rs 1.70 lakh crore,
wal also said 25 districts across 15 has initiated a proactive search of of the coronavirus crisis. covering cash transfers and food security, for
states which had detected COVID-19 potential laboratories which could more reports on page 2,3, 4,5 > vulnerable sections of society. page 11 >
K J M Varma / Beijing Mountain) Hospital, advocated
the use of facial masks specially
them wore masks.
“None of those who wore
were many cases in which one
patient infected a whole family
The head of a hospital involved in cities like New York which are masks while coming in contact of three, five or six people in
in handling the coronavirus crisis
in China’s epicentre Wuhan on
experience a higher rate of cases
and casualties of coronavirus.
with the patients were infect-
ed, so we’re certain about the
Wuhan. This is a heartrending
lesson,” he said.
Monday said wearing masks and
mandatory isolation of people
Citing the experience of Zhong-
nan Hospital of Wuhan Univer-
efficacy of masks,” Wang was
quoted by the sate-run Xinhua
After realising this problem,
Wuhan later converted the public
with mild symptoms in special sity, for which he is the president, news agency as saying. facilities, including gyms and
centres instead of their homes are
essential to contain the spread
Wang told the local media that
some medics in non-Covid-19
Over 30,00 Chinese medical
personnel were reported to have
exhibition centres, into 16 tempo-
rary hospitals that helped quar-
of the vicious virus. Wang Xin-
ghuan, the head of the Wuhan
treating departments contracted
the coronavirus at the early stage
contracted the deadly virus in
Wuhan.
antine patients with mild symp-
toms, which Wang described as
Leishenshan (Thunder God of the outbreak because none of “In those early days, there a success story. / PTI /
 2

Tuesday 14 april 2020

chandigarh
punjab & Haryana www.dailyworld.in

Low-key Baisakhi celebrations in Punjab amid COVID-19 lockdown Briefly

DW Buerau / Chandigarh
Baisakhi festivities in the streets
and rush of devotees in gurdwaras
were missing across Punjab on
Monday as people largely cel-
ebrated the festival indoors amid
a curfew in the wake of the coro-
navirus pandemic.
Baisakhi is one of Punjab’s big-
gest festivals and it marks the
foundation day of the ‘Khalsa
Panth’ (Sikh order) by the tenth
Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. It also
marks the start of harvest season.
The Golden Temple in Amritsar,
one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines,
Devotees with Punjab police personnel offer prayers at the entrance of saw very few devotees turn up to
Gurudwara Dukhniwaran on the occasion of Vaisakhi festival during a offer prayers.
nationwide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, in Patiala, Normally, nearly two lakh devo-
Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI
tees visit the Golden Temple on the holy city of Anandpur Sa-
the occasion of Baisakhi. hib, where the Khalsa Panth was
The Shiromani Gurdwara founded in 1699. Managements of
Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), several other gurdwaras across
which manages gurdwaras in Punjab and state capital Chandi-
Punjab, Haryana, Himachal garh politely refused to let devo-
Pradesh and Chandigarh, has also tees inside.
deployed task force staff to dis- They appealed to them to offer
courage people from assembling. prayers at homes and listen to
SGPC Chief Secretary Roop ‘Gurbani’ by tuning in to their You-
Singh said the committee has nev- Tube channels. “In the morning,
er stopped anyone from coming to ‘sangat’ (devotees) came to pay
the Golden Temple but one should obeisance but we requested them
not violate the government orders. to offer prayers at their homes
Barricades have been put up at and also asked them to listen to
all roads leading to the Golden ‘kirtan’ on our YouTube channel.
Temple to prevent overcrowding, “We have shared a link of the
a police official said. video of ‘kirtan’ with devotees
A similar scene was witnessed on our WhatsApp group,” said
at the Takht Kesgarh Sahib in an official of Gurdwara Sri Guru
Punjab ministers seek FIR
against Ludhiana MLA Bains
Tegh Bahadur Sahib in Chandi-
garh’s Sector 34. He said normally,
60,000 to 70,000 devotees visit
the shrine on Baisakhi every year.
“It is for the first time that we
could not enter the gurdwara,” a
disappointed devotee said.
The management of a gurdwara
in Ludhiana said it will reach out
to those on the frontlines of the
fight against coronavirus on the
occasion of Baisakhi.
“We will distribute ‘langar’
among frontline workers, in-
cluding policemen and medical
staff,” a gurdwara official said.
Earlier, the Akal Takht had asked
members of the Sikh commu-
nity to offer prayers at home on
Baisakhi.
Police officer
among 6 new
COVID-19 patients in
Punjab, total cases
now 176
Chandigarh Six more people, includ-
ing a police officer, tested positive for
coronavirus in Punjab on Monday,
taking the total count in the state to
176, official said. Of the fresh cases, two
each are reported from Pathankot and
Jalandhar and one each from Ludhiana
and Mohali, according to a daily medical
bulletin. The figure includes an assistant
commissioner of police posted in Lud-
hiana and two relatives of a newspaper
hawker, who tested positive earlier, in
Pathankot. The test reports of the police
officer came on Sunday night, Ludhiana
Civil Surgeon Rajesh Bagga said. With
54 of the total 176 cases, Mohali district
continued to top the COVID 19-tally in
Punjab, the medical bulletin said. The

for remarks against police
Chandigarh Four Punjab cabi-
net ministers on Monday sought
the registration of a case against
Lok Insaf Party MLA Simarjeet
Singh Bains for allegedly terming
the attack on cops in Patiala a re-
sponse to the “high-handedness”
of police.
A government release here
said the Ludhiana MLA in an in-
terview to a media channel said
the Sunday attack was a “public
backlash against the police high-
handedness” over the past a few
days.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Harjeet
Singh’s hand was chopped off
with a sword while three other
Punjab policemen and a mandi
official sustained injuries when a
group of Nihangs attacked them
after being asked to show cur-
Farmers stand in painted squares maintaining social distancing as BSF soldiers check their IDs before they cross the fencing to check their
few passes at a vegetable market
crops on the occasion of the Vaisakhi festival, during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the in Patiala district. Terming the
coronavirus pandemic, in the Indo-Pak border village of Rajatal in Amritsar district, Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI MLA’s remarks “provocative and
vile”, state ministers Sukhjinder
Singh Randhawa, Balbir Singh
Attack by Nihangs Sidhu, Aruna Choudhary and
Vijay Inder Singla asked the LIP
“By giving such
statements, he is
encouraging anti-
social elements to
attack police.”
cal times and what happened
on Sunday is reprehensible. By
casting aspersions on our police
force, Bains has rubbed salt into
the wounds of the bravehearts,”
Health Minister Sidhu said.
Randhawa said this was time
to fight the enemy unitedly and
support the frontline warriors.
This is gross disrespect to the
great sacrifices being made by
our policemen in the line of duty
and should be condemned by
all, said Education Minister Vijay
Inder Singla.
Terming it yet another attempt
by Bains to grab the limelight,
minister Aruna Choudhary said,
“By giving such statements, he is
district accounts for 31 per cent of the
total coronavirus cases in the state.
Jalandhar has so far reported 24 cases,
followed by Nawanshahr 19, Pathankot
18, Ludhiana, Mansa and Amritsar 11
each, Hoshiarpur seven, Moga four, Rup-
nagar and Faridkot three each, Fateh-
garh Sahib, Sangrur, Patiala, Kapurthala
and Barnala two each, and Muktsar one,
according to the bulletin. One patient
is critical and is on ventilator support
while two are on oxygen support. The
virus has so far claimed 12 lives, while 25
patients have recovered. A total of 4,480
samples have been tested in the state so
far.  / PTI /
134 students
stranded in Punjab
leave for Bhutan
Chandigarh A total of 134 Bhutanese
students, who had been stranded in
Punjab amid coronavirus curfew, were
allowed to leave through a special flight,
a government official said on Monday.
“One hundred and thirty four Bhuta-
nese students, who had been stranded
in the hostels of Lovely Professional
University, Phagwara-Jalandhar, were
allowed to leave for Bhutan through a

CM enquires about ASI’s health;

leader to give up the police secu- encouraging anti-social elements special flight arranged by Bhutanese
rity if he did not trust the force. to attack police.” Meanwhile, government,” Special Chief Secre-
Bains should be immediately police on Monday arrested three tary K.B.S. Sidhu, who is in-charge to

accused get 11-day remand

booked under the Epidemic people for provocative social me- monitor state-wide coronavirus cases,
Diseases Act, 1897, the National dia messages in the wake of the informed in a tweet. A woman hosteller,
Disaster Management Act, 2005 attack. hailing from Maharashtra, of the Lovely
as well as relevant sections of the Bhupinder Singh, a resident Professional University was tested for
DW Bureau / Chandigarh sustained injuries when the Nihangs at- Indian Penal Code, the ministers of Hoshiarpur; Davinder Singh, coronavirus on Saturday. The state has
tacked them after being asked to show demanded in a release here. a resident of Batala; and Kuljeet nearly 2,400 resident students stranded
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh
on Monday enquired about the health
The CM also curfew passes at a vegetable market in
Patiala district on Sunday morning.
They also demanded an un-
equivocal apology from Bains for
Singh Bhullar, a resident of Mukt-
sar, were arrested for allegedly
in the university hostels. / IANS /

of the ASI whose hand was chopped off promised the ASI The CM on Sunday had condemned “politicising the issue for cheap trying to incite communal un- PM remembers
in an attack by a group of ‘Nihangs’ in
Patiala.
of the strictest the attack and warned that anyone vio-
lating the curfew, imposed in the state
publicity” at a time when the
entire police force was “putting
rest with their hate messages
on social media, DGP Dinkar martyrs of
Meanwhile, a Patiala local court re- action against since March 23 to check the spread of their own lives at stake” and Gupta in a statement. These Jallianwala
manded all 11 accused in the case in an
11-day police custody. DGP Dinkar Gupta
those involved COVID-19, would be strictly dealt with.
Commenting on the issue, DGP Dinkar
working round the clock for
providing relief to the needy.
men were indulging in hate pro-
paganda through social media massacre
said they will seek a fast-track trial after in the “brutal Gupta tweeted, “Will complete probe in “The Punjab Police is doing a by lauding the Nihang action, New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra
completing the probe within 10 days.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Harjeet Singh
and unprovoked 10 days & move for trial on fast track to
ensure quick & deterrent action in this
commendable job in these criti- said Gupta. / PTI / Modi on Monday paid tributes to the
martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh mas-
(50) is recovering at the Postgraduate attack” on him. case,” Gupta tweeted. sacre of 1919, saying their valour will
Institute of Medical Education and Re- Gupta said PGI Director Jagat Ram inspire Indians for years to come.
search (PGIMER) in Chandigarh after task of enforcing the curfew and provid- himself met the ASI on Monday. “I bow to those martyrs who were killed
doctors reattached his hand in an over ing relief to the needy, while putting They found the patient doing well but mercilessly in Jallianwala Bagh on this
seven-hour-long surgery on Sunday. their own lives on the line, said the CM, cautioned against too many visitors. Only day. We will never forget their courage
According to an official release, the adding that any such assault on the force his wife is currently allowed to meet him and sacrifice,” he wrote on Twitter. Their
CM wished for his speedy recovery and will not be tolerated. once a day, he said. valour will inspire Indians for the years
said the “entire state was proud of him”. Earlier on Monday, the chief minister DGP Gupta in an official release said all to come, the prime minister said. British
He asked the ASI to convey him through tweeted, “Spoke to ASI Harjeet Singh, 11 people arrested in connection with the Indian troops on the orders of Brigadier
senior officials at the hospital if he had who is recovering after his operation, to case have been remanded in 11-day police Gen Reginald Dyer had opened fire on a
any requirement. enquire about his health. The composure custody by a court in Patiala. large group of people who had gathered
The CM also promised the ASI of the & bravery with which he spoke today is The accused had been booked under at Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar to celebrate
strictest action against those involved in truly worthy of admiration. Wishing him a the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Baisakhi, the harvest festival.At least 400
the “brutal and unprovoked attack” on speedy recovery.” Harjeet Singh’s hand Code, Disaster Management Act, Explo- people were killed and a thousand were
him. The entire police force was currently was cut with a sword while three other sives Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) injured.  / PTI /
engaged in the difficult and momentous Punjab policemen and a mandi official Act and the Arms Act.
Events cancelled as
Khattar praises NGOs’ role, urges them to UK marks Vaisakhi
amid Covid-19
complement govt coronavirus response
People stand guard at the main entrance of their village, to prevent any
outsider from entering the area, during the nationwide lockdown imposed in
wake of the coronavirus pandemic, at Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar district on
safety calls
Monday. / PTI London The Sikh festival of Vaisakhi
DW Bureau / Chandigarh navirus pandemic has affected will not be marked with the customary
millions of people globally. “If large gatherings and melas in different
Haryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on Mon-
I talk of our country, we are
still in a safe zone where we Pakistani Sikhs to celebrate parts of the UK this year as the com-
munity is urged to stay safe amid the
day praised the role of NGOs
during the times of crisis and
can manage things. We have
to now ensure that it does not
Baisakhi today coronavirus pandemic, with all events
cancelled. Vaisakhi, which this year
expressed hope that they will spread in community.” Islamabad The Sikh community Sardar Satwant Singh, president falls on Monday, commemorates the
contribute in a big way in the With Haryana so far reporting in Pakistan will celebrate the tradi- of the Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak creation of the Khalsa, a collective body
fight against coronavirus. 182 coronavirus cases, Khattar tional spring festival of Baisakhi as Committee Pakistan (SGPCP), told of Sikhs. Virtual kirtans and shabads be-
He said that government and said that 115 among those were well as the 321st anniversary of the The Express Tribune that 3,000 ing streamed from gurdwaras are aimed
various other agencies are the Tablighi Jamaat members. founding of the Khalsa on Tuesday, pilgrims come from India, Canada, at supporting the UK government’s
putting in their best efforts Referring to his recent vid- the media reported. Traditionally, the UK, Australia, the US and other stay-at-home message for a festival
to control the spread of coro- eo conference meeting with people mark the two with much parts of the world to attend the usually marked by large gatherings and
navirus “but whenever there Prime Minister Modi, Khattar fanfare, but due to the ongoing coro- Baisakhi festival and Khalsa anni- festivities across different parts of the
have been natural calamities said the nationwide lockdown navirus pandemic in the country, versary in normal circumstances. country. “As households come together
like floods, earthquakes or this said, expressing hope that He also said that more and was expected to be extended celebrations will be low key, The “We also invited them this year, over the coming days for family celebra-
new type of pandemic, the they will contribute in a big more people were coming by another two weeks and Express Tribune said in a report but due to coronavirus lockdown, tions, we will be also thinking about
role of NGOs at such times is way in the fight to eliminate forward to make their contri- Haryana is prepared to en- on Monday. they could not attend.” Hundreds of how we can support our incredible
appreciable”. coronavirus. butions towards the Haryana force it. A ceremony marking the two oc- pilgrims from India also wanted to NHS [National Health Service] people as
In a televised address to the He said NGOs can get in COVID Relief Fund. He again indicated that casions will be held at the Gurdwara participate in the Gurdwara Darbar they care for people through this global
people of Haryana, in which touch with Deputy Commis- So far, donations worth Rs worst-affected COVID dis- Punja Sahib in Punjab province, Sahib in Kartarpur on the occa- health emergency,” said Prerana Issar,
he updated them about the sioners concerned and will 75 crore have been received, tricts of Nuh, Gurgaon, Pal- considered to be particularly im- sion but that event has also been NHS Chief People Officer. “Our NHS
COVID-19 situation in the state, be facilitated in whatever way he said. wal and Faridabad will be portant as the handprint of Guru cancelled. staff are doing extraordinary things at
Khattar said as per rough they want to contribute in the Haryana MLAs cutting placed in the red zone mean- Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, is Sikh leader Sardar Bushan Singh this extraordinary time. The best thing
figures, the total number of present situation. across parties have donated ing stricter restrictions, while believed to be imprinted on a boul- said that he had finalised the ar- we can do is to protect them by follow-
registered and unregistered Khattar informed that so their one-month salary already those with fewer cases will der at the shrine. This year, pilgrims rangements of food, security and ing government guidance and staying
“social organisations or NGOs” far the government had dis- towards the Fund and agreed be placed in the “orange cat- from India and other parts of the accommodation for thousands of indoors and washing our hands. To-
in Haryana was nearly 30,000. tributed 90 lakh food packets to take 30 per cent pay cut for egory” while the places where world will not be able to partici- pilgrims that were due to arrive gether we can then focus on respecting
“During the times of crisis and 4.80 lakh ration kits to one year. Former MLAs and there have been no or a few pate in the festivities as the coun- from India and other countries but and celebrating the important upcom-
such as the present one they the needy people during the pensioners are also contribut- cases will fall in the “green try is under lockdown imposed all preparations have been cancelled ing dates and festivals, safely with our
also put in their efforts,” he lockdown period. ing, he said. Khattar said coro- category”. / PTI / to stem the spread of COVID-19. due to the current situation./ IANS / families,” she said. / PTI /
 3

www.dailyworld.in nation Tuesday 14 april 2020

chandigarh

Attack shocking; strict action need of the hour

B
eing a police officer is
often said to be a thank-
less job. It stands true
especially in India. It is
not because of the fact
that you have to deal
with criminals on a daily basis but
there is actually nobody around to
appreciate and encourage what you
are doing for society’s welfare. In
these unprecedented times of the
entire world down on its knees
due to the fear of spread of corona-
virus, we are all aware that it is the
police community, who along with
the doctors and medical staff, are
on the frontline and sacrificing
Gurjot everything in order to protect the
lives of others on this planet.
Singh Kaler Rather than being appreciated
and applauded for putting their
punjab police officer
own lives at risk and performing
their duties in these critical times,
the policemen in Punjab (India)
are being mocked at, ridiculed and
attacked in vengeance by some
misguided, misinformed and
willful lawbreakers. The shocking
incident is of Patiala, in Punjab,
where a police party doing its duty
under the law early morning was
viciously attacked by a group of
men with brutal intentions of killing
the officers. Going by the details
which have emerged, the police
party had signaled a vehicle be-
ing driven by ‘Nihangs’(sikh men
wearing blue robes and carrying
traditional weapons) to stop near
the vegetable market and asked the
occupants of the vehicle to show
its legal curfew-lockdown passes
for availing restricted travelling
during the corona lockdown pe-
riod. Instead of complying with the
legal requirements, the ‘Nihangs’
forcefully broke down the police
barricade by crashing their vehicle
into it and then, attacked the police-
men with swords and weapons. In
the ensuing scuffle, many police-
men got injured and one of the
‘Nihangs’ chopped off the hand of
an ASI (Assistant Sub-Inspector).
This gruesome incident has indeed
killed the spirit of ‘Baisakhi’ and the
‘Nihangs’ should be ashamed and
punished for their actions.
Is not it really shameful, dis-
gusting and despicable to say the
least? We become police officers
due to our passion for donwning
the ‘khakhi’ uniform, serving the
country and making a good differ-
ence to the society. Is this what you
get being a police officer and doing
your duty under the law?
Though there has been an out-
pouring of huge emotional support
on social media like Facebook, etc
for the policemen who got injured
in the attack, but it is really pain-
ful to note that some negative and
radicalised mindsets are appreci-
ating the actions of ‘Nihangs’ for
‘teaching a lesson to policemen’.
Such fringe elements operating
through fake accounts on social
media need to be condemned and
socially boycotted apart from ex-
ploring the possibility of taking
legal action against them.
The Chief Minister of Punjab,
Captain Amrinder Singh, has cer-
tainly done a very encouraging ges-
ture of recognising the sensitivity of
the current incident and extending
his full support and commitment to
the Punjab police by issuing official
instructions to take the strictest
possible action against the law-
breakers. Similarly, the blitzkrieg
and swiftness of action, displayed
by the Director General of Police,
Shri Dinkar Gupta, in supervis-
ing and ordering the Inspector
General of Police, Patiala range,
Shri Jatinder Singh Aulakh, and
Senior Superintendent of Police,
Patiala, Shri Mandeep Singh Sidhu
to conduct an immediate raid at
the premises of ‘Nihangs’ to arrest
them and recover weapons needs
to be emphasized in true measures.
Such actions are the need of the
hour and indeed, much needed
to instill the required courage and
uplift the morale of the policeman
serving on the ground.
Certainly, this is not the first
time that the police have been at-
tacked in India. This tragic incident
is enough to remind everyone about
the horror of a similar attack which
had happened in June 2019 when a
tempo driver used sword to attack
a policemen in Delhi. Such kinds
of unacceptable incidents where
a policeman doing his duty under
the law is ruthlessly attacked in full
public view should be enough to
lead us into deciphering the danger-
ous psyche of the criminals these
days that have become ultra-daring
to even bother or think about the
fear of any repercussions or adverse
consequences of attacking a police-
man in uniform. Has the legal fear
of ‘Khakhi’ completely eroded is a
question which needs the attention
of the law-makers.
Lastly, I wonder as to what would
have happened had the police party
opened fire against the law-breaking
‘Nihangs’ at the site of incident and
shot them down dead for attacking
with swords? Would the media,
administration and public have
been ready to act as sympathetic
as they are now and been ready
to believe and accept the true ver-
sion of the police officers that they
opened fire because they feared
a threat to their own life? Would
not there have been widespread
condemnation and harassment
of the police officers wherein they
would have been accused of using
brute force on ‘Nihangs’? Would
not the whole incident have taken
communal colors and radical or-
ganisations called for a state-level
bandh (agitation) and demanded
dismissal of police officers like ASI
Harjeet Singh and others? Most
of the times, the public opinion
runs entirely against the policemen
in India and they are vehemently
criticized and blamed for every-
thing. The policemen rarely receive
sympathy and encouragement for
their work. Most of the times, it is
brickbats, censures, disrespect and
blames reserved for them from all
quarters of the society.
wIt pains my heart as a currently
serving police officer to see the
degradation of respect for police-
men in India. What ASI Harjeet
Singh has suffered is not just an
enormous physical pain of chop-
ping off of his hand while doing his
official duty but a severe blow to
his prestige, respect and pride of
serving the society as a police of-
ficer. It is high time that the police
organization takes adequate steps
to reform and rebuild its image as
a law-enforcement agency in order
to create a much-required fear in
the minds of the law-breakers. If
criminals start displaying the audac-
ity to attack policemen in uniform,
the normal citizenry will lose all its
confidence in police for protecting
and defending them. Strict, exem-
plary action under the law needs to
be taken against the ‘Nihangs’ for
their intentional act of planning,
attacking and killing the police of-
ficers on duty in the present case.
After all, it is the morale and respect
of the entire police organization
which is at stake.
Adequate compensation also
needs to be given to the concerned
ASI for displaying bravery and cou-
rageousness in the face of death.
Also, it is high time that the po-
licemen need to be adequately
equipped with personal safety gears
and fully assured in practical terms
that no legal inquiry will be initi-
ated against them for opening fire
against such hardcore miscreants
who make a mockery of the law
and physically attack the policemen
on duty. It is about upholding the
values of the law and run the society
in accordance with the principles
enshrined in the Constitution.
(The writer is a senior police officer in
Punjab Police and the writer of book,
"New India- The Reality Reloaded".)

Himachal to Briefly
take patients Ola launches
discharged from emergency cab
service for non-
Chandigarh COVID-19 related
travel in Gurgaon

Police personnel
check a commuter’s
ID during a
nationwide
lockdown in the
wake of coronavirus
pandemic, at
Chandigarh-Punjab
Chandigarh/Shimla With the intervention of New Delhi Cab aggregator Ola on
Border, Monday,
the Chandigarh Adviser, the Himachal Pradesh April 13, 2020. / PTI Monday announced the ‘Ola Emergency’
government on Monday said it would take back service in Gurgaon for non-COVID-19
its discharged patients and emergency-related related medical travel to over 100 hospi-
travellers. tals in the city. Launched in collabora-

Home Min : Fighting COVID-19 24x7

Chandigarh Adviser Manoj Parida informed tion with the Haryana government, the
this in a tweet. IANS had highlighted this human- service will have a dedicated network of
interest issue earlier. cars equipped with masks and sanitis-
“Good news, a communication has been re- ers that will be operated by specially
ceived from Himachal government that they will New Delhi Led by Union regularly monitor imple- isters -- G Kishan Reddy and his North Block office chair- Punya Salila Srivastava is trained drivers, it said. Users can select
take discharged patients and emergency death/ Home Minister Amit Shah mentation of the 21-day Nityanand Rai - have been ing meetings till late in the another key officer of the the ‘Ola Emergency’ category on the Ola
marriage related travellers. Smiling face with from the front, the MHA has lockdown, is one of the few coming to office regularly evening and for other works, MHA who has been attend- app and enter the drop location from
smiling eyes...Seems tweets are doing wonders,” been tirelessly working and ministries which has contin- and attending various meet- the officials said. ing office without any break a list of available hospitals in the city.
Parida said. coordinating with states and ued functioning amid the ings. Top officials, including Under Bhalla’s signature, for the last three weeks. The service is only for medical travel
A day earlier, Parida said neighbouring states union territories virtually curbs announced by Prime Union Home Secretary Ajay six orders were issued on Srivastava also addresses that is non-COVID-19 related and doesn’t
like Himachal Pradesh have refused to take their on real-time basis to ensure Minister Narendra Modi on Bhalla, has been attend- March 24, 25, 27, April 2, 3 the government’s joint press require an ambulance, like dialysis,
people who had undergone non-Covid treatment at eradication of problems aris- March 24. ing office daily -- even on and 10 giving exemptions conference along with her chemotherapy, scheduled check-ups and
the PGI Hospital here, citing nationwide lockdown. ing out of the lockdown an- Apart from ensuring law holidays and weekly offs, for various categories of ser- colleagues from the Minis- physical injuries among others, it said.
He said this would impact the treatment of nounced to combat novel and order, the MHA has sources said. He attended vices and people from the try of Health and ICMR on Customers will be charged a nominal fare
coronavirus patients in the hospitals here. coronavirus. While senior been tasked with ensuring all video conference with purview of the lockdown. a daily basis. To assist the according to the rate card to compensate
“Outstation patients coming from other states officers in other ministries regular supply of essential chief secretaries convened Over a dozen letters were senior officers, their staff, the drivers-partners for their services,
discharged by hospitals like PGI have no local joined their duties on Mon- commodities across the by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv also written by the home though not in full strength, it added. “Trips to hospitals for medi-
place to go, nor transport to return home. Any day, it has been business country, monitoring of the Gauba. secretary to state chief secre- is coming to office. Junior cal urgencies are unavoidable, even in
solutions,” Parida had informed in a tweet. as usual in the Ministry of situation arising out of large Bhalla is also the chairper- taries keeping them abreast officials, who are not staff the current times. With Ola Emergency,
“Neighboring states like Himachal have refused Home Affairs during the scale movement of migrant son of the National Execu- with various aspects of the members of the senior of- we are able to facilitate trips to and
to take them now saying Central government has lockdown, with it being the workers, ensuring their shel- tive Committee governing lockdown, exemptions and ficers or ministers, have from hospitals across the city through
banned interstate movement. Our hospital beds re- nerve centre for advising ter, food and healthcare fa- the Disaster Management their implementation at the started coming to office the Ola app,” the statement said. “With
maining blocked as discharged non-Covid patients states about almost every- cilities. The MHA has been Act, 2005, under which the ground level. from Monday on rotational over 100+ Hospitals in the city mapped,
not leaving,” the Chandigarh Adviser had said. thing, including shipment the nodal authority for fa- lockdown measures are be- To assist the home secre- basis. Being a key ministry, ‘’Ola Emergency’’ will be available 24x7
Himachal Pradesh Principal Secretary (Disaster of necessary equipment for cilitation, monitoring, fol- ing implemented. Infact, the tary, almost all six additional works of the senior officers and will provide citizens with a reliable,
Management) Onkar Sharma told IANS over phone fighting the virus. low up and taking corrective working hours of the home secretaries and 14 joint sec- in the MHA have been more convenient and safe transport solution
on Monday that the patients who have undergone Officials said the MHA, steps with regards to the secretary has become longer retaries have been coming than normal during the for medical trips that do not require an
treatment outside the state could come back to which has set up a round- lockdown, an official said. in last three weeks than nor- to office regularly. Joint Sec- lockdown period, another ambulance,” it added. The service has
the state as per the medical protocol. / IANS / the clock control room to Shah and his two junior min- mal days as he had to stay at retary (Internal Security) official said. / PTI / already been launched in Bengaluru,
Vizag, Bhubaneshwar, Nashik and Vara-
lockdown: Cong
Taking several measures to facilitate
nasi, and will be launched in other major
asks PM to be bold in Noida: Two cities soon, the statement said.  / PTI /

declaring financial
package
New Delhi The Congress on Monday urged Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to be bold in declaring
a financial package of at least 5 to 6 per cent of
India’s GDP to ensure economic recovery post
the COVID-19 lockdown.
The opposition party also demanded that the
central government pays all pending dues to
states to enable them to fight the coronavirus
outbreak, besides also giving each of them special
economic packages. Senior Congress spokesperson
Anand Sharma said the government must also
allow CSR and industry contributions to the CM
Relief Funds in various states on the same lines
as that granted to PM Cares Fund, as not doing so
would amount to being unfair and discriminatory
towards states.
“These are extraordinary times and require
extraordinary actions. That is why the Prime
Minister should be bold and declare an economic
package to help revive various sectors of the
economy post lockdown,” Sharma said address-
ing a press conference via video. / PTI /
farmers during lockdown: Agri Min
New Delhi The Department of Ag-
riculture, Cooperation and Farmers
Welfare, under the Union Ministry
of Agriculture and Farmers Wel-
fare, said on Monday that it is taking
several measures to facilitate the
farmers and farming activities at
the field level during the nationwide
lockdown to check the spread of
novel coronavirus.
As per the Department of Agri-
culture, Cooperation and Farmers
Welfare, an All-India Agri Trans-
port Call Centre has been started
for coordination between states for
inter-state movement of perishables
-- vegetables and fruits, agri inputs
like seeds, pesticides and fertilis-
ers etc.
Truck drivers, traders, retailers,
transporters or any other stakehold-
ers who are facing problems in inter-
state movement of in getting the
above mentioned commodities may
seek help by calling at the call centre.
Call centre executives will forward
the vehicle and consignment details
along with the help needed to state
government officials for resolution
of issues, said the agriculture de-
partment.
The call centre is accessible at
18001804200 and 14488. These num-
bers can be called from any mobile
or landline phone.
Apart from this, as a measure to
ensure supply of seeds to the states
under the National Food Security
Mission, the subsidy pertaining to
seeds under the scheme shall be
for varieties of less than 10 years,
said the agriculture department in
a statement.
It has also been decided to allow
Truthful Label seeds for subsidy
components for the Northeast, hilly
regions and the UTs of Jammu &
Kashmir for all crops under NFSM.
As per the recent data, around 8.31
crore farmers’ families have been
benefited under the Pradhan Mantri
Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)
Scheme since the lockdown came
into force. An amount of Rs 16,621
crore has been put in the bank ac-
counts of the beneficiaries.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib
Kalyan Yojana (PM-GKY), about 3,985
MT of pulses have been dispatched
for delivery to the states/UTs, said
the department.
In Punjab, organic products are
being delivered at the doorsteps in
the specially designed electric van
under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas
Yojana (PKVY).  / IANS /
coronavirus
patients
who were
discharged,
readmitted in
hospital
Noida (UP) Two people who
had tested negative for coro-
navirus and were discharged
from a hospital in Greater Noida
last week were readmitted after
another test turned out to be
positive, officials said on Mon-
day. However, yet another test
conducted after they were re-ad-
mitted turned out to be negative,
officials said.
The patients were discharged
on Thursday and re-admitted
to the Government Institute
of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in
Greater Noida on Saturday, ac-
cording to Health Department
officials. / PTI /
Haryana COVID
positive cases rise
to 182
Chandigarh Coronavirus cases in
Haryana rose to 182 on Monday, with a
fresh case reported from Sirsa district.
Out of the total positive cases, the
number of active cases in the state is
146, the state health department’s daily
bulletin said, adding 34 patients have
been discharged. The state has recorded
two COVID-19 related deaths. As many
as 4,322 samples have been tested so far,
out of which 2,796 have tested negative.
However, reports of 1,344 samples are
pending. Among the total coronavirus
cases reported in Haryana, 10 are foreign
nationals while 64 are from other states,
as per the bulletin. The worst affected
districts of the state with maximum
number of positive cases are Nuh (45),
Gurugram (32), Faridabad (31) and Pal-
wal (29). / DW Bureau /
 4

Tuesday 14 april 2020

chandigarh
north www.dailyworld.in

COVID-19: 9,352 positive cases Briefly

in India, 324 deaths so far: GoI Modi holds
telephonic talks
with Vietnamese PM;
discusses COVID19

A deserted view of Har Ki Pauri on the occasion of Baisakhi

festival during a nationwide lockdown in the wake of deadly coro-
navirus, in Haridwar, Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI

COVID-19 testing: 14
centres to mentor
medical colleges
New Delhi Seeking to expedi-
tiously expand COVID-19 test-
ing facilities, the government
has identified 14 Centres of
Excellence such as PGIMER
in Chandigarh, AIIMS, New
Delhi and NIMHANS in Banga-
lore to mentor all government
and private medical colleges
in their catchment areas to
create state-of-art molecular
virology setups. In the wake
of spurt in cases of corona-
virus in India, the ICMR has
taken into account the need
to expeditiously expand CO-
VID-19 testing facilities in all
parts of the country and has
initiated a proactive search of
potential laboratories which
could be enabled for corona-
virus testing, a senior official
said.
The ICMR has already in-
vited applications from all
government and private medi-
cal colleges for establishing
COVID-19 testing facilities.
“As per directives of Union
Ministers of Home and Health,
under a core team of Director,
AIIMS, Delhi and Director and
Director General of ICMR, a to-
tal of 14 Centres of Excellence
have been designated. These
Centres have been delegated a
responsibility of mentoring all
government and private medi-
cal colleges in their catchment
area and eventually create
state-of-art molecular virology
setups,” the ICMR said.
In a letter to directors of the
SPO killed, another critically injured in terror attack
Jammu Suspected terrorists killed an
on-duty Special Police Officer (SPOs)
and critically injured his colleague in
a remote village in Kishtwar district
of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday
before fleeing with their service rifles,
police said. The SPOs were attacked
with axes on their patrol duty in
the high-altitude Tander village of
Dachhan around 1.30 pm, a senior
police officer said.
He said while SPO Basit Iqbal suc-
cumbed to injuries, SPO Vishal Singh
is battling for his life and his condition
is stated to be “critical”. The injured
SPO has been airlifted to Jammu for
specialized treatment.
“Two of the attackers were identi-
fied as Ashiq Hussain, a rape accused
who was released on bail from central
New Delhi Prime Narendra Modi on
Monday held a telephonic conversation
14 designated institutes, ICMR with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen
Director General Dr Balram Xuan Phuc, focussing on potential areas
Bhargava said, “This work for bilateral collaboration in fighting
will involve significant due the coronavirus pandemic including
diligence, interaction with supply of medical equipment. The prime
various medical colleges, minister spoke to Phuc as part of his
training and handholding. engagement with world leaders over
Therefore, it has been decided the pandemic which has infected over
to distribute the responsibility 1.8 million people and claimed lives of
evenly across various institu- around 1,10,000 besides wrecking econo-
tions of eminence all across mies in almost all parts of the globe. Viet-
the country.These institutions nam’s efforts to deal with the pandemic
are expected to serve as men- with limited resources by primarily
tors of the medical college focusing on quarantining infected people
in their allotted area and fa- and carrying out a major contact tracing
cilitate the establishment of Vehicles are seen at NH24 as central government offices have resumed working during a nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, exercise of suspected cases earned praise
in New Delhi, Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI
COVID-19 testing facilities in globally. / PTI /
respective states.”
These mentor institutes will
constitute a core team of Di-
New Delhi Twenty-five districts
across 15 states which had de- The Core Telangana.
Agarwal also said that the Core
for six weeks,” an ICMR official
said at the briefing.
channels seek
rector, microbiologists, other tected COVID-19 infections earlier Strategy Group Strategy Group on COVID-19 was The Union Health Ministry waiving of carriage
faculty, administrators and
other relevant staff to conduct
have contained the spread and
reported no new cases in 14 days, on COVID-19 was working on rapid and economical
diagnostics as well as new drugs.
informed that 78,000 self-help
group members of 27 states have
fee for DD Free Dish
site assessments and mentor the Union Health Ministry said on working on rapid “The group has been formed, produced 1.96 crore masks under slots
the allocated government and Monday. The ministry asserted based on a detailed review of the State Rural Livelihood Mis- New Delhi In the wake of the lockdown
private medical colleges for that the government has enough and economical COVID-19 research, undertaken sions. “Under the Pradhan Mantri and financial constraints being faced
setting up COVID-19 diagnostic stocks to conduct tests for up diagnostics as by Union Health Minister Harsh- Garib Kalyan Yojna package, over by broadcasters, the News Broadcast-
facility. They will also conduct to six weeks and over two lakh vardhan along with CSIR and its 30,000 poor people have been ers Association on Monday asked the
a comprehensive review of samples have been tested so far.
well as new 38 labs. The group is working provided financial support of Rs government to waive off the fee for slots
medical colleges to assess the Addressing a press briefing drugs. on digital and molecular sur- 28,256 crore during the lockdown on DD Free Dish for the auction win-
feasibility of setting up a real- here, Health Ministry Joint Sec- veillance, rapid and economical up to April 10. This includes sup- ners for the first quarter of the financial
time RT-PCR testing facility retary Lav Agarwal said 796 new (Maharashtra), Raj Nand Gaon diagnostics, new drugs, repur- port of Rs 19.86 crore to Jan Dhan year and charge 50 per cent in the next
for COVID-19 as per require- COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths (Chhattisgarh), Davangiri (Karna- posing of drugs and associated Yojna women account holders quarter. The DD Free Dish caters to
ments laid down by ICMR and have been reported in the last 24 taka), South Goa, Wayanad and production processes,” he said. who were transferred Rs 9,930 about 30 million households. It has slots
prepare a comprehensive list hours, taking the total number Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal According to ICMR officials, crores. for 80 channels, out of which 26 slots are
of available and deficit infra- of cases to 9,152 and deaths 308. (Manipur), Rajouri ( J&K), Aizwal 2,06,212 tests for COVID-19 have “Under the PM Kisan Yojna, reserved for Doordarshan-run channels
structure, space, staff, exper- “Twenty-five districts across 15 West (Mizoram), Mahe in Puduch- been conducted so far. 6.93 crore farmers have been and the remaining 54 slots are open for
tise, equipments and consum- states which had reported cases erry, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Patna, “Of these 14,855 tests took provided support of Rs 13,855 bidding by private channels. The NBA is
ables at each of the designated earlier have contained the virus Nalanda and Munger in Bihar, place at 156 government labs crore. Under social assistance an association exclusively of round-the-
medical colleges and submit and have not detected new ones Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Panipat, and 1,913 tests happened at 69 programmes 2.82 crore widows, clock news broadcasters in India. It has
it to the respective state gov- in 14 days. This is a positive de- Rohtak and Sirsa in Haryana, private labs on Sunday. There senior citizens and disabled have 27 broadcasters as its members repre-
ernments for fulfilment of velopment,” he said. Pauri Garhwal in Uttrakhand is no need to worry. We have been provided support of Rs senting 77 channels. / PTI /
necessary gaps.  / PTI / The districts are Gondia and Bhadradari Kothagudem in enough stocks to conduct tests 1,405 crore,” Agarwal said. / PTI /
Delhi epicentre of
second quake in
less than 24 hours
New Delhi A low-intensity earthquake
jail Kishtwar about 20 days ago, and against terrorists active in Kishtwar of magnitude 2.7 shook parts of Delhi
Basharat Hussain. Both local resi-
dents,” the official said, adding they
Kishtwar has been when they killed three ultras includ-
ing most wanted Osama Bin Javed
on Monday, the National Centre for
Seismology said, the second quake to hit
are believed to have joined the terror- rocked by a series in an encounter in Ramban while the national capital region in less than 24
ist ranks and carried out the attack
to lay their hands on the weapons.
of terrorist attacks they were fleeing an offensive which
saw dozens of Hizbul Mujahideen
hours but no report of any damage was
received. The quake, with its epicentre
He said whether they were assisted since November members and overground workers near Wazirpur in northeast Delhi, oc-
by any active terrorist in carrying out
the attack is being investigated.
2018, when it saw arrested and several of their hideouts
busted.
curred at 1.26 pm at a shallow depth of 5
km, said JL Gautam, Head (Operations)
The Army and the police have its first terror Senior BJP leader Anil Parihar at NCS, an institute under the Ministry
launched a massive joint search to
track down the attackers and recover
attack in over a and his brother Ajit Parihar were
killed outside their house in Kishtwar
of Earth Sciences. On Sunday, a moder-
ate intensity quake of magnitude 3.5 hit
the stolen weapons, the official said. decade. town on November 1, 2018 in an at- the national capital at a depth of 8 km.
He said Inspector General of Police, tack, followed by the killing of RSS However, unlike Sunday, when people
Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh and DIG, Kishtwar has been rocked by a functionary Chanderkant Sharma rushed out of their homes in panic, no
Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban rage, Abdul series of terrorist attacks since No- and his SO inside district hospital on such report was received on Monday. A
Jabbar have rushed to Kishtwar to vember 2018, when it saw its first April 9, 2019. The ultras also struck nationwide lockdown is in force due to
supervise the operation. terror attack in over a decade. on two more occasions last year and the coronavirus pandemic and people
This was the first terror attack in On September 28 last year, security decamped with service rifles of two are staying indoors. / PTI /
Kishtwar district this year. forces achieved a major breakthrough policemen.  / PTI /

Bahraich: Planning

Prepared for long fight against
corona: Tibetan govt-in-exile
Dharamshala (HP)Like offices
everywhere, the Tibetan govern-
ment-in-exile is following the work
from home norm. The Central
Tibetan Administration complex
here bears a deserted look, the
schools run by it are shut and its
website recommends topics for
essays that children can write at
home. The Tibetan community
here was jolted last month by the
death of one of its members, a
69-year-old who became the first
person in Himachal Pradesh to
succumb to coro-
covid fallout navirus. He had
returned from a
trip to the US. The CTA quaran-
tined his family members and the
death prompted local authorities
to seal off McLeodganj, a tourist
hub in Dharamshala where the
Tibetan body is headquartered.
According to the CTA, nobody
else in the community is known
to have contracted the virus.
The CTA had earlier asked the
1.4 lakh-strong Tibetan community
across India to follow guidelines
from the Centre and state gov-
ernments to fight coronavirus,
stressing the need to stay indoors.
The body represents the inter-
est of the Tibetan refugee com-
munity in India and is unofficially
called a government-in-exile. Ti-
betans spiritual leader the Dalai
Lama is also based in McLeodganj.
With the lockdown coming into
force, the CTA’s own staff members
are working from home. Meet-
ings, training programmes and
workshops are off. They have also
pledged a day’s salary to the prime
minister’s relief fund. In March,
The CTA issued guidelines, calling
on Tibetan monasteries, schools
and elder care homes in India,
Nepal and Bhutan to cancel public
gatherings for one month.
CTA Home Secretary Tsewang
Dolma says guidelines to fight
coronavirus are being followed
across 36 Tibetan settlements and
41 old-age homes in the country.
“We are prepared for a long battle
against the disease,” she says.
CTA president Lobsang Sangay
has sent a message across to stu-
dents to make constructive use
of the lockdown imposed due to
the “Wuhan-originated” virus,
referring also to online classes
available to them. / PTI /
Anxiety escalating as
finances dwindle, 80
Indians stuck in SL
Ananya Sengupta / New Delhi
A husband worried for his
wife slipping into depression
with no medicines and endless
lockdown days in a foreign
country, a sailor stranded
on his way to join a ship, a
business trip stalled – as their
families wait back home, at
least 80 Indians are stuck in
the Sri Lankan capital. Their
anxiety escalating as their fi-
nances dry up, many of the
Indians have been stuck in
the island country for a month
waiting for the coronavirus
pandemic to abate. Most of
them are scattered across ho-
tels, guesthouses and homes
of friends, their stories very
different but their desperation
to return home the same.
Ripusudan Prasad, who was
in the merchant navy, said he is
watching his wife slip into de-
pression. Her anti-depressants
are over and he just doesn’t
know what to do.
“In December last year, the
ship I was sailing in was hi-
jacked and we were in captivity
for five weeks. At this time,
my wife had a breakdown and
slipped into depression.
“Following the advice of
doctors, my wife, my two
children and I arrived in Co-
lombo on March 7. We were
supposed to travel to Dubai on
March 23 and finally back to
Kolkata on April 1,” the 37-year-
old from Kolkata told PTI over
the phone from Colombo.
He knows of at least 80
people in the same situation
as him and his family.
He is worried his wife might
not be able to survive the lock-
down – curfew was imposed in
Colombo on March 20. And
with no information on any
relaxation for international
flights that can take them back
home, this looks endless.
The family is stuck in a hotel
with little food and money
steadily running out.
“What do I do? We have
reached out to the embassy
here but even they have ex-
pressed helplessness,” said
Prasad. As of March end, 2,439
Indians were stranded in Sri
Lanka, the highest among the
number of tourists stranded in
the island nation followed by
the Chinese at 2,167. the Sri
Lanka Tourism and Develop-
ment Authority has said.
Abhinav Chakravarty, a mer-
chant navy sailor from Kolkata
like Prasad, reached Colombo
on March 4 on his way to his
new assignment on board a
ship berthed in Egypt. The
35-year-old admitted that the
isolation is getting to him.
“There was hardly anything to
eat from March 20 to April 3.
It was only after the embassy
helped me out with food that I
have managed. I was supposed
to fly to Egypt on March 20 to
join my ship,” he said.
There is “loneliness, finan-
cial strain and depression”,
he said.
“My body and mind are not
able to sustain the isolation
any more. With news that the
lockdown will be extended we
are really in dire straits,” said
Chakravarty who is staying in
a hotel but mostly confined to
his room like the others.
Back home in Kolkata, the
sailor said, his wife, a six-year-
old child and elderly parents
are waiting for his return.
Thousands of people across
the world have been stranded
in foreign countries due to the
global lockdown to contain the
spread of coronavirus that has
infected more than 1.8 million
people and claimed at least
114,000 lives. The Indian Em-
bassy in Colombo has tried to
help, the men said. However,
despite their best efforts to
provide some relief, they, too,
are hamstrung due to the lock-
down and travel restrictions
in India. The men, along with
their families have tweeted to
the PMO, the MEA with videos
and pictures of themselves
holding placards and posters
with appeals of help written on
them. “I am getting completely
financially exhausted. I have a
one-year-old and a four-year
-old back in Bangalore and
elderly parents. I came here on
March 11 to join a vessel,” said
36-year-old Saurabh Kumar.
 / PTI /
to step out of home
during lockdown?
Watchout for
‘Yamraj’
Bahraich ‘Yamraj’, the God of Death,
roamed the streets of Bahraich in Uttar
Pradesh, reminding people of the perils
of stepping out of their homes during
the coronavirus outbreak and warning to
take anyone not following social distanc-
ing or the lockdown to the underworld.
“I am ‘Yamraj’, I am coronavirus. If you
do not adhere to the rules, no human
will be left on the planet. I will become
the cause of death of all. If you are care-
less, I will take you with me,” he spoke
into a mic on Sunday, with a sickle in the
other hand and policemen in tow. / PTI /
People should stay
where they are,
says SC
New Delhi The Supreme Court Monday
observed that Indian citizens stranded
in various countries due to the COVID-19
pandemic should “stay where they are”
after the Centre said it would not be fea-
sible to “selectively evacuate” those who
want to return due to various reasons. A
bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde
said this while hearing through video-
conferencing a batch of pleas seeking
evacuation of Indian citizens from differ-
ent countries including United Kingdom
and Gulf nations.  / IANS /
 north
5

Tuesday 14 april 2020

www.dailyworld.in H i m ac h a l P ra d e s h / u t ta r p ra d e s h / d e l h i / U t t ra k h a n d / J & K chandigarh

SC orders release of detainees lodged for 2 yrs in detention centres Briefly

New Delhi Relaxing its earlier
conditions in view of the coro-
navirus pandemic, the Supreme
Court Monday directed the release
of those detainees who were de-
clared foreigners and have been
lodged in the detention centres of
Assam for two years or more.
A bench of Chief Justice S A
Bobde and Justices L N Rao and
M Shantanagoudar, referring to
the top court’s May 10, 2019 order,
also lowered the personal bond
amount from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5,000
while reducing the minimum pe-
riod of detention from three years
to two years.
The top court had imposed certain
conditions while directing the re-
lease of such detainees including
that they should have spent more
than three years in detention, and
were to be released upon furnish-
ing a bond of Rs 1 lakh along with
two sureties.
The order on Monday came on
intervention application filed by
Justice for Liberty Initiative, a As-
sam based Public Charitable Trust,
seeking the release of detainees
lodged in six Assam detention
centres in view of coronavirus
pandemic.
During the hearing, Attorney
General K K Venugopal objected
to their release apprehending
that they would infect people in
villages or where ever they go
after their release.
Advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing
for the applicant, informed the
court that the apprehension of
the Attorney General was based
on an unfounded premise that
every such person was already
infected by the virus.
The bench observed that the very
purpose of framing of guidelines
and the release of persons was to
prevent these prisons and deten-
tion centres from becoming a
hotspot of infection.
Alam also contended that the
two-year period be dispensed
with or further reduced on ac-
count of unprecedented pandemic
situation.
The bench observed however
that at this stage it would release
only those who have spent two
years or more in the detention
and for further reduction it would
consider later.
Referring to the orders of the apex
court passed on March 16, the
plea filed through advocate Talha
Abdul Rahman, said that the court
has in the present matter already
taken a bold and decisive step
towards ensuring that prisons do
not become breeding grounds of
COVID-19 and has ordered a high
powered committee to come up
with modalities of releasing pris-
oners on parole.
“That in the wake of coronavi-
rus outbreak, there are about 802
detenues in detention centres in
Assam who are now more vulner-
able in the already overcrowded
detention centres with deplorable
living conditions, and with no
parole being made available to
them,” the plea said. / PTI /
plea against PM
CARES Fund rejected
New Delhi The Supreme Court on
Monday refused to entertain a plea seek-
ing quashing of the decision to set up
the PM CARES Fund, where people can
donate money, to deal with the situation
arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A
Bobde described the PIL filed by lawyer
M L Sharma as “misconceived” and dis-
missed it in a hearing conducted through
video conferencing. The bench, which
also comprised justices L Nageswara Rao
and M M Shantanagoudar, did not agree
to the contention of the lawyer that the
fund has been created without following
the schemes enumerated under Articles
266 and 267 (which deal with the con-
tingency and the Consolidated Funds of
India) of the Constitution. / PTI /

BSF provides sanitisers, masks

to farmers for safe harvesting
A Border Security Force (BSF) soldier wearing a mask, in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, stands guard near the fence of a field at Rajatal vil-
lage, near Indo-Pak border about 40 km from Amritsar, Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI
Neelabh Srivastava / New Delhi
The Border Security Force is undertak-
ing massive mobilisation of logistics and
sanitisation equipment along the Indian
borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh to
ensure that farmers, involved in tilling of
fields across the fence, are protected from
coronavirus during the upcoming har-
vesting season, officials said on Monday.
The 553-kms long Punjab frontier
of BSF, which has maximum farming
lands along the Pakistan front that also
runs across Jammu, Rajasthan and Gu-
jarat, had distributed
guarding nation 3,000 face masks till
now to villagers and
those who go for tilling the land across
the fence.
Over 22,000 hand-made masks have
been prepared by the wives welfare as-
sociation of the force in the frontier. These
masks will be distributed to the person-
nel, farmers and villagers in the coming
days as the harvesting work will gather
momentum from the next week, the of-
ficials said. “The distribution of masks
will increase once farmers start moving
ahead of the fencing for harvesting. BSF
posts that man these gates are being sent
adequate number of sanitisation items,
masks and other logistical goods,” a senior
BSF officer said.
The force, the officials said, has de-
ployed trucks to transport digital ther-
mometers, wooden tables, chairs and
plastic tanks to erect hand sanitisation
and wash points at various fence gates so
that the farmers and other farm labourers
can use them while entering and exiting
the fields.
The border fence is erected about
150 yards on the Indian side from the
Indo-Pak international border and the
farmers have to go to designated iron
gates to access their fields.
The Punjab frontier has about 400
such gates, of which about 180-200 gates,
are opened for farmers in different shifts
during peak harvesting or sowing season,
the officer said, adding the agricultural
equipment are also being sanitised.
Some of these farming gates are also in
Jammu, Rajasthan (over 50) and Gujarat
(over 270), another official said.
He, however, said those who cross
over the fence will also be frisked as
usual with a hand-held metal detector as
these areas are vulnerable to narcotics
and arms smuggling.
Over two dozen awareness programs
about the coronavirus pandemic have also
been conducted by the BSF personnel in
border villages, informing the residents
about the importance of hygiene, physi-
cal distance between people and other
medical protocols.
Along the international border with
Bangladesh, the security force has initi-
ated similar measures to ensure that the
virus, which has killed thousands and
infected over 10 lakh people across the
globe, does not spread among the farm-
ers and those who live across the fence.
Various units of the force are also run-
ning special camps providing cooked
food, grains, pulses, rice, water and masks
to the border population.
At the Petrapole crossing at India-
Bangladesh international border in West
Bengal, the force has been providing
food and other essentials everyday to
truck drivers and their associates who
have been stranded on the Indian side
since the countrywide lockdown was
declared, the officer said.
In the South Bengal frontier of the
force, which secures over 900 kms of the
3,096 km long border, there are about
450 fence gates. The North Bengal frontier
has about 600 such gates, out of which
about 300 are operational.
Farmers are being provided with all
COVID-19 related sanitisation materials
before they go to their fields beyond
the fence but before the international
border, an officer of the force posted in
the region said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had
also recently reviewed security measures
at these two sensitive border fronts. He
had directed the force to enhance vigil and
ensure no cross-border movement takes
places, especially in the non-fenced areas.
The minister had also asked the force
to spread coronavirus awareness among
farmers by launching more and more
civic action work. / PTI /
Ministers, officials return
to offices; Govt becomes
‘fully operational’
The ministers
took stock of
the situation
of the sectors
under their
ministries and
were preparing
business
continuity plan.
New Delhi A day before Prime
Minister Narendra Modi is ex-
pected to make an announce-
ment on the lockdown, Union
ministers and senior officials
resumed working from offices
on Monday as the government
scaled up its activities to deal
with the situation arising out
of the coronavirus crisis. The
ministries became fully opera-
tional while following standard
operating procedures (SoPs) for
maintaining social distancing in
offices, officials said.
The ministers and officials had
been following the government’s
work-from-home protocols is-
sued in the wake of the 21-day
lockdown imposed from March
25 to contain the coronavirus pan-
demic. The ministers on Monday
took stock of the situation of the
sectors under their ministries and
were preparing business continu-
Delhi starts disinfection drive
with new machines
ity plan to minimize the economic
impact of the lockdown.
“I was working most of the
time from home during the lock-
down. Today I returned to my
office at Shastri Bhavan after a
week. It feels good to be back.
The Modi government is in full
action on all fronts now,” Coal
and Parliamentary Affairs Min-
ister Pralhad Joshi said.
Information and Broadcast-
ing Minister Prakash Javadekar,
Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi, Railways and Com-
merce Minister Piyush Goyal,
Minister of State for Youth Affairs
Kiren Rijiju, Culture and Tourism
Minister Prahlad Patel were some
of the early office-goers on Mon-
day, along with senior officials.
Officers of the level of joint
secretary also returned to offices
on Monday, as they are entitled
to official transport.
The staff belonging to class 2, 3
and 4 are working on a rotational
basis and one-third of them are
expected to be present in the
ministries.
Modi will address the nation
at 10 am on Tuesday, the last day
of the 21-day nationwide lock-
down, amid indications that the
shutdown could be extended by
another two weeks with certain
relaxations to boost economic
activities.
“While an official announce-
ment on lockdown extension is
awaited, the Union government
has become fully operational,”
an official said.
Besides tackling COVID-19 pan-
demic, steps to prepare for post
lockdown period and handling its
economic impact top the agenda
of the government, officials said.
Even during the lockdown,
ministries such as Health, its of-
ficials and minister Harsh Vard-
han were working more than the
regular days to tackle COVID-19
situation, they said.  / PTI /
Sonia writes to
PM, seeks 10 kg
grains for NFSA
beneficiaries, other
vulnerable people
till Sept
New Delhi Congress president Sonia
Gandhi on Monday asked the govern-
ment to provide 10 kg grains per person
to beneficiaries of National Food Security
Act till September this year. In a letter to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she also
demanded that 10 kg grains per person
be provided free of cost for 6 months to
those who may be facing food insecurity,
but are not holding ration cards. These,
she added, were primarily migrant
labourers who did not have ration cards.
She said lakhs of vulnerable people
across the country face chronic food
insecurity due to the lockdown. This is
tragic given that India has large buffer
stock of food grains precisely for exigen-
cies like the current pandemic, she said.
“The current crisis has pushed many
relatively food secure families into food
insecurity and poverty,” she wrote to the
prime minister. / PTI /
UKD govt imposes
curfew after
residents resist
attempt to
quarantine imam
Dehradun Uttarakhand Chief Minister
Trivendra Singh Rawat on Monday or-
dered imposition of a curfew in Banbhul-
pura area of Haldwani, a day after people
gathered on a street to stop health
department officials from quarantining
the imam of a local mosque. Taking a se-
rious view of the incident, Rawat ordered
the chief secretary and the secretary
(home) to impose a curfew in the area,
according to an official statement. People
had come out on the street in Ban-
bhulpura area on Sunday when health
officials were trying to quarantine the
imam of a local mosque who had come
in contact with members of the Tablighi
Jamaat, Nainital SSP Sunil Kumar Meena
said. However, the matter was resolved
with the intervention of police, the
imam himself and the ulemas, he said.
The imam has been quarantined at the
mosque. A number of Jamaat members
have tested positive for coronavirus after
they attended a religious congregation
in Delhi last month or after they came in
contact with those who attended it. / PTI /
Visa, e-visa

Noida: 40 got corona infection

from UK-based auditor
Noida The Noida district au-
thorities and health officials
have been scrambling for a
month to find out how many
people had come in contact
with a UK-based auditor who
was on a visit to the city for a
Noida-based company.
Noida District Magistrate
Suhas LY said, “Today results
of several samples have come.
It is very difficult to tell the
exact number as to how many
people came in contact with
the UK-based auditor. But ac-
cording to my information,
there are at least 40 people
who got the infection from
the auditor out of a total of
64 positive cases in the city.”
The UK-based auditor, who
works for Ceasefire Industries
Pvt Ltd, landed at Delhi’s In-
dira Gandhi International Air-
port and went to Uttarakhand
for two days before coming
to Noida where he stayed in
a hotel in Sector 135 and left
for England on March 19, a
few days before the lockdown
began in the country.
Coronavirus cases in Noida
began to rise in the third and
fourth week of March and au-
thorities believe this auditor
has a big role to play in this.
Those who have been infected
belong to Ceasefire company
or people who came in contact
with them.
The first coronavirus posi-
tive case in Noida was reported
on March 8 and till March 21
five more cases were found.
The UK-based auditor went
back on March 19 and then
there was a spurt in cases. Till
March 27, the number of Co-
vid-19 cases rose to 17.
On March 23, a woman re-
siding in Sector-137 informed
the health officials about Co-
vid-19 symptoms. She said her
husband was in touch with a
UK-based man in his office.
On March 24, the woman
and her husband tested posi-
tive for the virus, following
which the society was sealed
for three days. On March 25,
their daughter also tested posi-
tive. The same day, another
couple from Noida’s Sector
50 was also examined, who
tested positive after coming
in contact with the Sector-137
couple. This is how the virus
spread in Noida. / PTI /
New Delhi To control the spread
of coronavirus, the Delhi govern-
ment, here on Monday, launched
a disinfection drive in the Rajinder
Nagar Assembly constituency by
using Japanese machines.
These machines are specifically
built to spray disinfectants and are
flexible enough to be used in narrow
lanes as well. They can disinfect up
to 20,000 sq metre area per hour.
The state government also an-
nounced that it would start sani-
tisation and disinfection drives in
the 45 containment zones, created
across the city to prevent the spread
of coronavirus, and high-risk zones,
ascertained by the health depart-
ment, According to Rajinder Nagar
MLA Raghav Chadha, to tackle the
coronavirus outbreak, the Delhi
government has marked various
containment zones and divided
them into red and orange zones.
The disinfection drive will start in
the red zones. “This machine is
equipped to spray disinfectants.
It’s also very flexible. Its length
is adjustable, and can easily en-
ter even narrow lanes,” he said.
Farmers use similar machines
to spray disinfectants in farms,
he added.
The chemical used in the disin-
fection drive was as per the WHO
guidelines, he said. “In Rajinder
Nagar, we have started it as a pi-
lot project with three machines.
The outcome and the machine’s
performance will be analysed by
experts,” said Chadha. Under the
‘Mukhyamantri Delhi Sanitisation
Drive’, these machines were also
used in the Kondli area.  / IANS /
of stranded
foreigners
extended till Apr 30
New Delhi The government on Monday
extended on gratis basis the regular visa
and e-visa of foreign nationals who are
stranded in India due to COVID-19 till
April 30, the Home Ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry said all those
foreigners whose regular visa, e-visa
or stay stipulation expired or would be
expiring during February 1 (midnight) to
April 30 (midnight), would be “extended
till April 30 (midnight) on gratis basis,
after making an online application by the
foreigners”. The foreign nationals are
stranded in the country due to the 21-day
lockdown announced on March 24 to
curb the spread of the disease. In order
to remove any kind of confusion, the
home ministry had on March 28 granted
consular services on gratis basis to the
foreign nationals, presently staying in
India due to travel restrictions in the con-
text of COVID-19 outbreak, till April 30.
Earlier, the government had extended
the regular and e-visa of those foreigners
who are currently in India and unable to
leave the country due to the outbreak of
coronavirus, till April 15. / PTI /
 6

editorial
“Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
Tuesday 14 april 2020
That cannot fly.”
chandigarh La ngsto n Hughe s

US failure When I feel ashamed to be a Muslim!

I
evident now
had penned articles under the
same agonising title in 2006,
The failure of the medical system in the USA is followed in 2007, in the spate
of terrorist attacks by some
becoming evident now as the doctors and nurses wayward Muslim youth, who,
there are used to seeing very few patients daily totally misinterpreting Islam,
and lack the experience needed to battle a crisis of took innocent lives either as
murderers or as suicide bomb-
this sort. On the other hand an average doctor in ers. Today, I think in the aftermath of
Chandigarh sees up to 50 to hundred patients daily the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz at Bang-
leywali Masjid, spreading coronavirus
on a normal day and in a congested and densely throughout India with its participants,
populated state like Uttar Pradesh a doctor in the going for the jugular of the same health
ENT department of the KGMU can see up to 300 to workers who come to give them life,
attacking the selfless police personnel
400 patients a day and prescribe medicine for them and spitting on their faces, misbehaving
based on their symptoms. with nurses by walking nude, urinating
The art of diagnosis without waiting for the test and defecating outside their rooms,
lofting urine-filled bottles outside the
results is still alive in India and doctors specially windows in the isolation centers, as
General practitioners know what to give to a patient alleged, have all resulted in hanging
to provide immediate relief to the person so that my head in shame.
In addition to that what more to be
there is no suffering. lamented is the fact that the commu-
A doctor in India will normally prescribe a cocktail nity has been accusing the media for
of medicines for a patient suffering from a fever and indulging in machinations to demonise
Muslims.
sore throat and a cough and associated ailments In supplication to this is also the
before the test results come in. devilish creation of TikToks, mocking
The kind of experience they gather by going at the coronavirus, imploring Muslims
not to wear masks and maintain social
through more than 200 patients daily allows them distancing and carry on congregations
to gauge what the patient is suffering from and in the mosques. The situation is far
they do their best to provide medicine immedi- more ghastly as the terrorist attacks
take lesser lives while the spread of
ately to put an end to the suffering of the patient. the disease by the followers of Tablighi
Whereas for a stomach ache or a tooth ache you Jamaat might be huge.
could end up waiting for a week before you get an Perhaps, it seems to be a deliber-
ate attempt to overlook and let down
appointment with a doctor in most western countries. the state even in the wake of all the
This lack of experience is now showing up in the instructions of the Prime Minister and
the government warning for the con-
way the medical systems have been overwhelmed sequences of the Covid-19 pandemic
in the USA and Italy and even in places in the Gulf. and for maintaining social distancing
The US government would be well advised to im- and staying at home.
These and many more people are
mediately fly in a team of Indian government doctors also violating the golden mantra given
and give them a free hand to treat the patients there by Prime Minister Narendra Modi -
as they do in India and allow them to prescribe medi- “Janata Curfew” (people’s curfew),
“Lakshman Rekha” (following dead-
cines without waiting for some wonder drug to come lines) and “Jaan hei to Janaan hei” (If
in and save the coronavirus patients. This is because there is life, everything can be done).
Indian doctors will not tire out or get exhausted even In fact, the true “Tabligh” should have
been to get these three instructions be
after seeing hundreds of patients daily and will not announced five times each day from
lose their presence of mind. Their ability to provide the mosques.
symptomatic relief will also help and if they can save The errant preaching of Maulana
Saad catered to nothing in the name
lives in a highly polluted environment in India they of God but misguided his innocent and
will succeed in the USA as well. unassuming followers from all corners
Doctors in India have more experience in dealing of the world. He knew well that he was
doing it in the wake of the government
with crisis than doctors anywhere else in the world. clearly announcing on March 14, 16, 19
and 24 (twice by Prime Minister Modi
on March 19 and March 24) for social
/ Firoz Bakht Ahmed /
ernment has been trying to lock the
mosques, besides it is creating divi-
sions among Muslims by asking them
to discontinue the congregations and
that they avoid getting treated by non-
Muslim doctors and that the best doc-
tors would be from the Jamaat only. It’s
shocking that he has not spared even
science and medicine besides telling
them that it is better to die in mosques.
The Maulana has himself escaped
under the guise of self-quarantine,
leaving in the lurch his faithful fol-
lowers who have been running from
pillar to post spreading the disease.
Besides, carrying the albatross of the
coronavirus, they have been stigma-
tised by one and all.
Wherever they have lodged, they
are refusing to get treated as Maulana
Saad instructed them not to be treated
by non-Muslims.
No one knows the brand of Islam that
Maulana Saab has been propagating
which exactly seems Talibanised rather
than being of Sufi nature, ultimately
providing the guilt edged opportunity
to the Islam baiters.
Certainly the brand of Islam taught
by Maulana Saad is not what was the
hallmark of Prophet Muhammad (Peace
Be Upon Him) that was based on the
teachings of the holy Quran and purely,
the Sufi mannerisms to the extent that
almost half of the world started follow-
ing him. One fails to comprehend as
to what kind of “Tabligh” (preaching)
these Tablighis are propagating.
Frankly speaking, when one sees an
exuberant religious head like Maulana
Saad of the Markaz (other counterparts
of his in other faiths being no lesser)
enjoying an extremely secured and lav-
ish lifestyle, I am reminded of the true
Islamic fakirs and saints like Khwaja
Hazrat Nizamuddin, Ameer Khusro
in lifestyle.
Sadly enough, the value system,
something that must never change even
after 1400 years, if compared to the
times of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be
Upon Him), has presently rattled down
to a bottomless hell among Muslims
who are ready to take or sacrifice life
for the Prophet (PBUH) but wouldn’t
follow him in letter and spirit. God
forbid, the Markaz Maulana, owing to
his recalcitrant, stubborn and arrogant
nature, could now be held responsible
for 10,000 or more coronavirus deaths,
the way he kept on carrying on with
his religious gatherings.
Rather than coming in the open
and asking all his Jamaatis be treated
by the doctors, who have gone into
the hiding unnecessarily weighing on
government and police’s resources in
these times of crisis, like Nero, playing an air of amicability was seen between
on his flute, he has disappeared into
his ivory tower somewhere.
Despite an FIR against him for so
many days, he hasn’t been traced, nor
surrendered - something that he must
have done on the first day. When he
stated that he wasn’t afraid of anything, that time that it is their constitutional
why has he escaped for the fear of
getting arrested?
The congregations continued till
March 28 and it took an Ajit Doval,
the National Security Adviser, to ask
Saad Kandhlawi to get the premises
vacated for fear of huge number of
Covid-19 cases.
Muslims, already cajoled and be-
leaguered owing to being treated as
the Congress vote bank for seven de-
cades, have further been distancing
themselves from the non-Muslims by
aping their so-called belligerent lead-
ers using inflammable language, like
Asaduddin Owaisi, when he stated in
an Aajtak debate, “Hazrat Adam ne
Such people have given a completely
lopsided picture of Islam, otherwise
a completely relaxed, full of accom-
modation and latest creed. People like
Owaisi & Owaisi, Azam Khan, Umar
Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Shehla Rasheed
besides the similar from the ilk, have
done huge damage by distancing the
community from the national stream
of assimilation and passing spiteful
remarks against the government.
Owing to such misleaders and the
utter absence of leadership among
Muslims, the community today has
been at crossroads and now there is
the scare of the backlash of the Hindu
community, the way the Muslims, espe-
cially their leaders, maliciously snide
at Modi and the present government.
In fact, it has just started as in certain
channels, the viewers have started
asking questions of the sort, “Why are
Muslims anti-India?”, “Why do Muslims
want to spread Corona?” or “Why do
Muslims hate Hindus?” Such mindset
is not going to augur well, neither for
Hindus nor for Muslims.
The fallout of the Muslim communi-
ty’s blind support to the Jamaat and the
anti-government stand on the issues
regarding the surgical strikes, triple
talaq, Article 370, Mandir-Masjid and
CAA has been that the ever friendly
Hindus, more than 90 per cent of
whom are truly secular and accommo-
dating, have been feeling frustrated on
account of this recalcitrant behaviour
of Muslims.
Even after the Supreme Court deci-
sion on the Mandir-Masjid issue, when
Hindus and Muslims, the AIMPLB (All
India Muslim Personal Law Board), the
so-called representative body of Mus-
lims, annihilated that air of affability,
and spited all that by filing the review
petition on the unreasonable plea at
right. In almost all walks of life, includ-
ing the televised debates, the way most
Muslim leaders and representatives
set a negative narrative, might result
in the non-Muslims completely slam-
ming whatever the opened doors were
there. These bigots think that they have
the right to dictate terms and espouse
views on issues that extend from the
public domain of Indian Muslims to
the privacy of their bedroom. Stoke a
controversy involving the community
and the usual suspects start emerging
from the murky and infested woodwork
of the Muslim platforms. This might
tear away in the social and secular
fabric of India. / IANS /

Dignity of work
For too long have we glorified
the bureaucrat and the govern-
ment officer in our nation due to
our hangover of the British Raj. For
years we have looked down upon
others who are simply doing a job.
distancing via lockdown. and Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti, who pehle sarzameen-e-Hind per qadam
The biggest disservice that Maulana used to fast in the day and prayed the rakha tha isliye, yeh hamarey baap ka Firoz Bakht Ahmed is the Chancellor
Saad has done to Muslims is that he whole night while breaking the fast mulk hei!” (Prophet Adam {Peace Be of Maulana Azad National Urdu Uni-
has incited his unassuming devotees with ‘sookhi roti’ (dried bread) and Upon Him} first stepped in India and versity and the grandnephew of Bharat
of medicine? Would be admire against the state, telling that the gov- plain water. What a huge difference it belongs to our father!) Ratna Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
a guard who took a bribe to let
theives in during the lockdown
into our homes or shops or offices?
There is something seriously
wrong with us as a nation and we
‘A to Z corona Pathsala’ -- where even PM got lesson

The guard at our gate or the nurse
in the hospital or for that matter
the social worker out to educate
women on health issues.
We have considered them to be
lesser mortals in our society and
in most states we are today even
admiring the corrupt among the
politician and the administrator
for the amount of illegal wealth
they have accumulated and their
ability to misuse power and twist
the system around in their favour
and for their personal gain.
We admire politicians with well
armed security guards but not the
SI of the Punjab police who was
attacked by nihangs. While we take
corruption in the official machin-
ery as part of the job we will not
tolerate corruption by nurses or
guards today.
Would be admire a nurse who
injected water into patients instead
D
need to rework the way we look Rajnish Singh who is deployed in Kashmir, Not only the Prime Minister, All the 26 letters in the al- important, no to going out,
at those who we put on a pedestal then shared the thought with Ministry of Health and Family phabets teach a precaution online contact, practise your
in society. We need to now con- “ o attend this class others and it turned into real- Welfare (MoHFW) also sug- necessary to contain the pan- passion, quarantine, relax,
demn the corrupt and admire the of our young Co- ity on April 11 with the help gested to join the ‘Pathsala’, demic, which almost crippled sanitaize everything, take care
honest. A banker from Lucknow rona Warriors of of the children of other CRPF tweeting: “Let’s learn about every sector across the world of your elders, untilize time,
who went to Malaysia was seated CRPF soldiers”, personnel of class three to 12. COVID-19 from the “Anti-Covid causing deaths to over 1 lakh volunteer work at home, wear
in a party when a lady walked in was an appeal “The genesis of the anti- Pathshala”. Let’s keep our- people and infectioins to more a mask -- and x expresses ex-
and all the people got up to greet Prime Minister COVID Paathshala is the young selves and others protected.” than 17 lakh. tra precaution, y yoga and z
her. This was years before the Narendra Modi made after he mother teaching her child the The first-of-its-kind initia- “Anti-Covid Pathshala by zero face.
corona crisis. attended the new form of A-Z rules to be followed to prevent tive was taken by a group of children of CRPF personnel: So far, the ‘Pathsala’ on so-
She is a nurse they told him lessons from an anti-COVID-19 COVID-19. She then tried to children of the CRPF person- A-Z of dos & don’ts to keep cial networking site YouTube
when it was his turn to be intro- ‘Pathsala’ (class) being run by teach ABC to her children and nel -- a 3.5 lakh force which is yourself safe from COVID-19. has attracted over 1,326 view-
duced to her. So highly respected the children of the paramili- the idea was born,” CRPF DIG mandated to provide internal Let’s fight corona together. ers, and over 8,000 retweets
were nurses in Malaysia even then tary force. ( Jammu and Kashmir Zone) security in Jammu and Kash- For any assistance 24x7 call on Twitter.
and for that matter in other na- The ‘Pathsala’ concept Nitu told IANS. mir, and Maoist-affected areas CRPF Madadgaar on 14411,” CRPF Director General A.P.
tions as well. clicked in the mind of a mother “The thought is floated to -- that has earned applause the CRPF said. Maheshwari calls it an ador-
In our country we don’t even of a four-year-old Aadiv and the older children who then even from the Indian Embassy So, it has: avoide gather- able initiative taken by the
respect doctors forget nurses which two-year-old Anaya when she make an interesting way to in Turkey for “helping the na- ing, be alert, conquor covid, children of the CRPF person-
is indeed very shocking. We need was teaching them English remember the basis. The CRPF tion to fight COVID-19”. distance of three feet, exercise nel, asking all to “let’s learn
to change and kick out the corrupt alphabets. family bonds together.” The online Pathsala recom- daily, fake news alert, greet the A B C of the fight against
from the pedestals of society and Ashwariya, the mother The officer specifically men- mends fighting the pandemic with namaste, handwash regu- corona”. / IANS /
bring in the honest and the hard- and the wife of an Assistant tioned that it was a joint effort together by following the dos larly, increase immunity, joint
working who really contribute to Commandant in the Central of several children of the CRPF and don’t which keep every- activity at home, keep busy, Rajnish Singh can be con-
society. Reserve Police Force (CRPF), personnel. one safe. learn new things, masks are tacted at rajnish.s@ians.in

Trilemma and the ecodemic contagion rising steadily. businesses and snowball into exit through a sanitation unit. work for the economy. The

T
he war against
the most severe
health emer-
gency in more
than a 100 years
involves three par-
allel battles -- the ones against
the COVID-19 pandemic, the
infodemic and what I call
K. YATISH “ecodemic”. The third term
represents the impact the first
RAJAWAT two have on the economy.
The scenario and the actions
of the government, business
and society are being dictated
by epidemiologists. In the war
of attrition between lives and
livelihood, the former seems
to be winning, though the ver-
dict may not come in a public
proclamation.
The war is being waged in
the echo chambers of social
media and the noise is rising to
a crescendo. The verdict will
not only affect policy making
but also the way in which the
policies are communicated.
The problem with the lives
vs livelihood debate is that its
noise creates panic among the
general public and roils the
markets, resulting in huge loss-
es in notional and economic
value. This results in a triple
whammy -- it slows down the
policy maker, frightens the
businessmen and shakes up
the society.
It is impossible to solve
the trilemma in tranches as
all three are interdependent.
All three need to be resolved
together, using adequate re-
sources, time and effort. The
process should begin with the
delegation of central control to
step up the speed and quality
of response. The pandemic
is a phenomenon that can’t
be addressed centrally. The
government is cognizant of
this and is acting on it. As a
matter of fact, the delegation
shows in the recent sealing of
designated hotspots in sev-
eral districts in Uttar Pradesh,
Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.
This decision has to be made
by the frontline administra-
tion in each district. There is
an administrative glitch here
-- we recognize the district as a
unit of governance and not the
city. The virus is most virulent
in dense urban areas and the
government needs to delegate
both financial, police, health
and administrative control
at the city level. If it was im-
portant earlier, it has become
urgent now with the risk of
Lockdown vs freedom
The pandemic is about con-
trol, and hence the sealing
and quarantine. The word
quarantine derives from the
Latin word for forty, and the
method was first employed
in Venice during the Great
Bubonic Plague of 1377. The
recent sealing of hotspots
means that the government
is moving to the next round
of containment. Parallel to
this, freedom should be given
to the domestic supply chain
to operate in an efficient
manner. It is important to
set the protocol for opening
the factories, move workers
through safe transit routes
and use railways for rerout-
ing the logistics chain. Give
back the freedom to the busi-
nesses to rebuild themselves.
Otherwise, bankruptcies will
mount -- it will start with small
a crisis that will hit the larg-
est. This ecodemic is happen-
ing because of the lockdown
and its contagion needs to be
stopped before it destroys the
economy.
It is not possible for the
government to decide which
sector is essential and which
is not. It is best to be left to
the market to decide. The gov-
ernment can set the protocol
and start giving freedom in
a phased geographical man-
ner, taking into account the
hotspots.
After 9/11, a new industry
of security came into being.
It created a protocol for metal
detectors, sniffer dogs and
guards. A similar industry will
rise post COVID-19 to take on
future virus outbreaks. Facto-
ries, workplaces and offices
will have temperature checks,
make each person enter and
This will not happen through
notification or orders as busi-
nesses need funds and liquid-
ity. The market will create
solutions if we allow them to
operate.
The new cost of operation
will be higher, but businesses
will accept and adapt. The
government needs to rec-
ognize that they do not ad-
dress this problem at any
stage -- it’s not a 40-day
challenge, but an 18-month
marathon.
The government may clas-
sify pharmaceuticals as essen-
tial, but not its supply chain.
The industry may take a hit if
packaging and printing units
are classified as non-essential.
The government can go sector
by sector and remove block-
ages, but it will take forever.
This command-and-control
decision making will not
lockdown has destroyed the
supply chain and sucked out
the liquidity in a matter of
weeks. The panic due to the
infomedic is reflected in the
financial markets. This is a
time for civil society, govern-
ment and business to work
together.
The change in behavior
whether social distancing,
isolation, or lockdown can-
not succeed with diktats. The
system has to see civil society
as an active collaborator on
the ground. It’s time that the
100 per cent tax deduction for
non-profit is made a reality to
enable a fund flow and action
on the ground. / IANS /
K. Yatish Rajawat is the CEO
of Centre for Civil Society. He
tweets @yatishrajawat. The
views expressed are personal

www.dailyworld.in
ra ja s t h an / g u ja rat / n o rt h e a s t / M P / b i h a r / w e s t b e n g a l / o r i s sa / j h a r k h an d g oa / ma h a ra s t ra / t e l an g ana /
Briefly
Veteran Cong
leader,former
union minister
Rajasekharan is
dead
Bengaluru Veteran Congress leader
andformer union minister M V Ra-
jasekharan died at a private hospital here
on Monday after a prolonged illness,
family sources said. The 91-year-old, who
had served as a Lok Sabha member, MLC
and Minister of State for Planning in the
Manmohan Singh government, was ailing
from old age related health issues. Son-
in-law of former Karnataka chief minister
S Nijalingappa, he is survived by wife
Girija Rajasekharan, two sons and two
daughters. An agriculturist and a noted
rural development consultant, he was
born on September 12, 1928 at Marala-
wadi in Ramanagara district. / PTI /
Police officer
accuses Akola SP
of foul language;
probe on
Nagpur A police inspector from Akola
district in Maharashtra has alleged that
the district superintendent of police
used foul language against him during
an official meeting. On the complaint of
the police inspector Suresh Naiknawre,
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Nag-
pur Range, Mallikarjun Prasanna has
launched an inquiry into the alleged inci-
dent. The incident was confirmed by the
IGP on Monday. Akola Superintendent of
Police Amogh Gaonkar was not available
for comments. “Although the field force
is performing duties quite well even
during the outbreak of coronavirus, still
in a meeting held on Friday, SP Gaonkar
called me idiot and **** for issuing a let-
ter to the Municipal Commissioner about
disposal of bodies,” Naiknawre stated in
his letter addressed to the IGP, Amravati
Range.Naiknawre has been transferred to
neighbouring Buldhana district. / PTI /
Muslim neighbours
carry Hindu’s man
bier in Rajasthan’s
Jaipur
Jaipur Muslim neighbours carried the
bier of 35-year-old Rajendra Bagri, who
died of cancer in the locked down Jaipur,
amid the chanting of ‘Ram naam satya
hai’ on Monday. Due to the lockdown
imposed to check the coronavirus
spread, no other relative, except his wife,
children and a younger brother, was at
home. In this situation, their Muslim
neighbours came forward and made
arrangements for the cremation. Two
videos related to the procession have
surfaced, in which Muslims can be seen
carrying the bier amid the chanting of
‘Ram naam satya hai’ as per the Hindu
tradition. A resident of Bajrang Nagar in
Jaipur’s Bhatta Basti, Rajendra Bagri had
died on Sunday night after prolonged
illness. The locality where he lived is
dominated by Muslims. “He was a cancer
patient for a long time. Since there were
no other relatives, we all decided to make
arrangements for his last rites,” Pappu, a
Muslim and area resident said. / PTI /
Bedi says
Narayanasamy
lying through his
teeth
Puducherry, Puducherry Lieutenant
Governor Kiran Bedi on Monday termed
as a lie and misrepresentation Chief Min-
ister V Narayanasamy’s briefing to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi that she had
been hindering the implementation of
the rice scheme for APL (above poverty
line) families in the Union territory. Bedi
said in a whatsapp message that the issue
of supply of rice to APL families was
still under consideration of the govern-
ment and not with her. Referring to the
representation by the Chief Minister, she
said he misinforms and tells lies so often
which is unfortunate. She further said
by indulging in misinformation and by
telling lies to Prime Minister and Home
Minister, the Chief Minister continues to
lower the trust and respect of his posi-
tion as a Chief Minister. / PTI /
Coronavirus:
Rajasthan reports
43 new cases, total
now 847
Jaipur Forty-three people tested positive
for coronavirus in Rajasthan on Monday,
taking the total in the state to 847, an
official said here.The virus has so far
claimed 11 lives in the state. “As many as
43 new cases have come up today in four
districts of the state,” Additional Chief
Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said. Of the
fresh cases, 20 are in Jaipur, 11 in Bharat-
pur, three in Dausa and one in Jhalawar,
he said. Singh said the total number of
coronavirus positive cases in the state
has risen to 847. The figure includes two
Italian citizens and 52 people evacuated
from Iran and lodged at Army health
centres in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. / PTI /
east & west south
Stranded UK citizens stand in a queue to catch a flight to their home country, during the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, at the
SC upholds MP Governor’s decision
asking Kamal Nath govt to hold floor test
New Delhi The Supreme Court
on Monday upheld the decision
of Madhya Pradesh governor Lalji
Tondon asking the then Kamal
Nath-led Congress government
to undertake floor test holding
that if Governor has reasons
to believe that the government
has lost confidence of the house,
constitutional propriety requires
that the issue can be resolved by
the trust vote. However, the top
court expressed concern over the
trend that legislators are taken
away by rival political parties
at safe hideouts like hotels and
resorts which does little credit to
the democratic politics.
“The spectacle of rival politi-
cal parties whisking away their
political flock to safe destinations
does little credit to the state of
our democratic politics. It is an
unfortunate reflection on the
confidence which political parties
hold in their own constituents
and a reflection of what happens
in the real world of politics,” said
a bench comprising Justices D Y
Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta.
The apex court, which had on
Corona blindsides visually
impaired as they worry
about social distancing
Kolkata The visually im-
paired are knownto have a
heightened sense of sound
and they can echolocate
their destination with rea-
sonable ease. They also have
enhanced tactile sense.
However, COVID-19, the
disease that has brought the
world to its knees, has com-
pounded their difficulties as
they navigate the maze of
their dark, humdrum lives
where touching, largely, is
taboo and social distancing
the norm.
Students of a premier Kol-
kata school for the visually
impaired, who are currently
at home due to the lockdown,
are a worried lot, clueless
about how will they maintain
social distancing once the
institute reopens in June.
“A visually impaired person
often touches an object or
holds the arm of a person
to navigate his or her way.
However, with social distanc-
ing norms in place, this has
become a problem for them,”
a teacher at Calcutta Blind
School said.
7
Tuesday 14 april 2020
chandigarh
s e e man d h ra / ka r nata ka / tam i l na d u / k e ra l a
Locals commute in a crowded boat, violating curfew norms, dur-
ing the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus,
in Patna, Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI
TN CM extends
lockdown till Apr 30,
announces doles for
people
Chennai Chief Minister K of the contagion.
airport in Ahmedabad, Monday, April 13, 2020. / PTI
Palaniswami onMonday an-
nounced extension of the
While Tamil Nadu as on
Sunday had 1,075 COVID-19
lockdown in Tamil Nadu till positive cases, he said all re-
April 30 in line with states like strictions currently in place
Odisha and Telangana and said will continue to be on.
the move was in accordance Shops selling essential com-
with the recommendations modities alone are allowed to
of medical and public health be open between 6 AM and 1
experts. PM. Also, select sectors like
In view of the continuation pharmaceutial manufacturing
of curbs, rice ration card hold- are permitted to work with
March 19, asked Madhya Pradesh of power by the Governor to of the material available to the ers will get essential commodi- riders.
Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati convene a floor test cannot be Governor it becomes evident ties, including rice, toor dhal, The Chief Minister clarified
to reconvene a special session regarded as constitutionally im- that the issue as to whether the sugar and cooking oil free of that only take away facilities
the next day with a sole agenda proper,” the bench said. government commands the con- cost for the month of May too, will continue to be allowed in
of conducting the floor test, gave It relied upon the nine-judge fidence of the house requires to he said. restaurants and bakeries (from
a detailed order on Monday. Constitution bench verdict of be assessed on the basis of a floor Also, families of workers in 6 am to 1 pm).
Following the apex court order, apex court in S R Bommai case test. Undoubtedly, the purpose the construction and unorgan- Pointing out that he had fa-
senior Congress leader Kamal of 1994 and said the observations of entrusting such a function to ised sectors will get Rs 1,000 voured prolonging the curbs
Nath had resigned as Chief Min- made in it indicate the question of the Governor is not to destabilise as finanicial asssistance for the till April end in a meeting
ister on March 20. He was chief whether the Council of Ministers an existing government”. second time, he said. with Prime Minister Naren-
minister for 15 months. in an ongoing legislative assembly The bench said when the sat- Migrant workers will get 15 dra Modi on Saturday via a
Nath’s resignation paved the commands the confidence of the isfaction on the basis of which kg of rice, a kg each of toor video link, he said Chief Min-
way for formation of BJP gov- house is a matter, which has to the Governor has ordered a floor dhal and cooking oil for May isters of many other states had
ernment led by Shivraj Singh been determined only on the test is called into question, the as well, the Chief Minister said. also batted for extending the
Chauhan. floor of the house. decision of the Governor is not Palaniswami said the gov- restrictions.
On Monday, the bench in its “In the circumstances as they immune from judicial review. ernment had offered Rs 1,000 Based on the deliberations
detailed verdict, said the decision have emerged in this case, the The top court said that in ex- assistance for rice ration card at the meeting and in tune
of the governor calling for a floor exercise of authority by the ercising the constitutional au- holders, apart from several with the recommendations of
test cannot be construed to have
acted “beyond the bounds of
Governor was based on circum-
stances which were legitimate to
thority to demand a trust vote,
the Governor must do so with
other beneficiary categories,
including construction work-
an expert committee, public
health experts and the World
constitutional authority”. the purpose of ensuring that the “circumspection in a manner ers for the current month. Health Organisation, and as
“Based on the resignation of
six ministers of the incumbent
norm of collective responsibility
is duly preserved. There existed
that ensures that the authority of
the House to determine the exis-
Also, beneficiaries were pro-
vided essential commodities
per a Cabinet decision, the
“lockdown is extended till
government (accepted by the no extraordinary circumstances tence or loss of confidence in the free of cost in ration shops. April 30 as per CrPc and the
Speaker), the purported resigna- for the Governor to determine government is not undermined. In an official release, Disaster Management Act
tion of sixteen more Members that a trust vote was not the ap- Absent exigent and compelling Palaniswami said the rate of 2005,” he said.
belonging to the Congress, and propriate course of action on circumstances, there is no reason infection in the state has been A State committee of medi-
the refusal of the Chief Minister March 16, 2020,” it said. for the Governor to prevent the reined in since the lockdown cal experts had days ago rec-
to conduct a floor test despite It said, “The Governor is not ordinary legislative process of a was implemented vigorously ommended to Palaniswami
the House having been convened denuded of the power to order no confidence motion from run- and if the curbs were eased, it to extend curbs beyond
on March 16, 2020, the exercise a floor test where on the basis ning its due course”. / PTI / might lead to a spurt in spread April 14. / PTI /
Karnataka focus on resource mobilisation to
overcome “financial trouble” due to COVID-19
Bengaluru Karnataka Chief Min- departments along with his cabinet to speed up the disposal of cases development authorities across the
ister on Monday said the COVID-19 colleagues and the Chief Secretary. related to regularisation of unau- state. “By auction of corner sites
situation has thrown the state into a “The possible situation once thorised constructions which are in Bengaluru, we plan to mobalise
deep financial trouble and there is the lockdown is released, was pending before the High Court about Rs 14,000-15,000 crore. BDA
a need to to find ways to overcome widely discussed in the meeting. and Supreme Court, during the is preparing for it, only if we get
the present crisis, as he announced Discussion was also held about meeting. good market value we will sell or
certain measures aimed at resource the financial situation of the state “If the court decides the matter, else no,” he added.
mobalisation. government and how to mobilise thousands of people who own un- It was also decided to amend
fiscal health He said the state govern- resources. Many suggestions were authorised houses will be relieved,” the law governing permission to
ment was awaiting guide- given and it was decided to imple- he said, adding that this will also allow sites in private and co-oper-
lines from the Centre regarding ment those suggestions,” the Chief help government in mobilising re- ative housing societies, the Chief
the implementation of lockdown
during the next two weeks, and
Minister said.
Speaking to reporters after the
sources for fund starved develop-
ment works.
Minister further said, adding that
hundreds of societies were waiting
noted that discussions were on meeting, he said, “...the COVID-19 He said in addition to this the for approval from government for
regarding relaxations on the sale
of liquor and the decision will be
situation has thrown our state into
deep financial trouble and there is
government is planning to auction
more than 12,000 corner sites lying
releasing the sites. Yediyurappa said
it was decided to use Rs 1,000 crore
taken after April 14. a need to to find ways to overcome idle in Bengaluru, and it was also available in Rajiv Gandhi Health
Yediyurappa on Monday held a present financial crisis.” decided to allow auction of corner University to upgrade medical col-
meeting with officials of various Yediyurappa said it was decided and vacant sites in respective urban lege hospitals. / PTI /
ties and science are taught
through audio lectures, he
Dog
War of words in Kerala after SC
sacrifices
said.
“Their Braille mathematics life to save turns down plea to evacuate
books have been kept in the
classrooms,” the teacher said. owner from Indians from Middle East
At home, they are some-
how managing their daily
The institute has given mo-
bile handsets to the guardians
snake Thiruvananthapuram Soon af- political points.
lives, but when the lockdown so they can be in touch with Hyderabad Proving its faith- ter the Supreme Court on Monday “The first thing what Jaleel
is lifted, they may face difficul- the authorities, if needed. fulness to man, a pet dog sac- turned down a petition demanding should understand is that I was
ties in maintaining the social The arrangement was made rificed its life to save its owner evacuation of Indians from the not the only petitioner, as there
distancing norms, which are before the classes were sus- from a poisonous snake. Middle East in the wake of the were many. I am hearing numer-
expected to remain in force pended, he said. The owner was sleeping coronavirus pandemic, a Kerala ous sob tales from our people
for some time, he said. Many students feel home when the dog, a Pomeranian, minister and a Lok Sabha member who are stuck in various Middle
Subir Das, a class 11 stu- study was no match to class- engaged a snake which had got engaged in a war of words. East countries. I have got requests
dent of the institute said, “At room learning, the teacher slithered into the house. Hearing the news that the apex from people who are even willing
home, I think it is still safe said. The incident occurred in court has decided not to intervene to charter their own flights for
to navigate our way. We can
touch the doorknob or the
Examinations for classes 11
and 12 were conducted before
Kallur in Telangana’s Kham-
mam district on Sunday.
in the matter as the Centre’s di-
rective was “stay where you are”,
which they need permission from
the Civil Aviation Ministry.
switchboard. But I have to the nationwide lockdown was Kishore, a Registered Medi- Kerala Higher Education Minister “Today I got a request from a
learn to move around without
touching anything once I go
imposed.
However, one of the 22
cal Practitioner (RMP), was
enjoying his siesta when the
K.T. Jaleel slammed Congress MP
from Kozhikode, M.K. Raghavan,
nurse who is nine months preg-
nant and wants to return. The is
out after the lockdown is over. boarders got stranded due to canine spotted a snake en- the petitioner. lockdown is about to complete
“I will go out either with the lockdown and school au- tering the house. It started “The MP’s attempt could well three weeks, and the demand to
my mother or sister after the thorities dropped him home barking and sensing danger have been avoided. He was trying bring our people back from the
lockdown is lifted. Maintain- in Nabadwip in Nadia district, to its master’s life, engaged to score political brownie points Middle East has been there for
ing social distancing during the teacher said. the reptile in a fight. and wanted to portray the Kerala some time now. Judiciary is the
that time will be a challenge,” A total of 180 students of On hearing the cries of the government in poor light. And last resort in this matter,” said
he added. The suspension of another school for the visually dog, which had suffered a ven- now that the apex court has come Raghavan.
the classes has posed another impaired at Chaitanyapur in omous bite, Kishore found out with this decision, people Ever since India closed its air
problem. East Midnapore district are, the snake. He killed the snake stuck there (Middle East) will space, thousands of Keralites have
Over 100 students of the however, currently lodged in with a stick and took his pet have to wait. We were handling been demanding the state and
school are not able to learn the hostel, a spokesperson for to a veterinarian but it died this issue and the Chief Minister the Centre to see that they are
mathematics lessons as the the institute said. on the way. even raised it at the video confer- brought back to Kerala. There
subject is taught only with “They are devising ways to Kishore and his other family ence with the Prime Minister,” are about 2.5 million Keralites in
Braille books under the su- maintain social distancing. members were seen wailing said Jaleel. Hitting back at Jaleel, the Middle East, of which a large
pervision of a teacher, an They are facing difficulties at the body of Snoopi, the Raghavan said his response of was number of people are labourers
educator at the institute said. but are still coping with it,” name they had given to their not befitting of a minister and it who are presently holed up in
Other subjects of humani- he added. / PTI / pet dog. / IANS / was Jaleel who was trying to score labour camps there. / IANS /
 8

Tuesday 14 april 2020

chandigarh
asia www.dailyworld.in

Japan PM Abe criticized for ‘stay 20 more doctors tested COVID-19 Inflammatory bowel disease linked
home’ message positive in Pak’s Punjab province to adverse pregnancy outcomes
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “stay home” message he At least 20 more doctors were tested CO- Researchers have found that inflammatory
tweeted Sunday has drawn angry reactions on social VID-19 positive on Monday in Punjab, bring- bowel disease (IBD) - including Crohn’s disease
Newsmakers

networks from those calling him insensitive to people ing the number of the medical staff infected by and ulcerative colitis - often affects women of
who cannot rest at home because of the govern- the deadly virus in Pakistan’s most populous childbearing age. Inflammatory bowel disease
ment’s social distancing measures that do not come province to 50. The Pakistan Medical Asso- (IBD) is an umbrella term used to describe dis-
with compensation. Some tweets said he acted as if ciation has said that more than 100 doctors, orders that involve chronic inflammation of your
“an aristocrat,” and others said “What does he think nurses and para medical staff have been digestive tract. “Previous studies could be easily
he is!” A one-minute video shows Abe sitting at home, infected so far across the country, blaming the biased since considerable numbers of pregnant
expressionless, cuddling his dog, reading a book, sip- Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government for not women with IBD with quiescent or mild activity
ping from a cup and clicking on a remote control. providing them required protective gear. were likely to be excluded.

Briefly China’s reports 108 new COVID-19 Pak Army trainer

Coronavirus: 334
new cases reported
in Pakistan, death
toll reaches 93
Islamabad Pakistan’s coronavirus cases
have reached 5,374 with 334 new infec-
tions reported, while seven more people
have died due to the disease, taking the
death toll in the country to 93, health
officials said on Monday. The Ministry of
National Health Services reported that
1,095 people had recovered fully, but 44
are still in critical condition. The number
of coronavirus cases on Monday reached
5,374 with 334 new patients added dur-
ing the last 24 hours, it said. Seven more
people died during this period, taking
the total toll in Pakistan to 93, it added.
According to the ministry data, Punjab
has 2,594 cases, Sindh 1,411, Khyber-
Pakhtunkhwa 744, Balochistan 230,
Gilgit-Baltistan 224, Islamabad 131 and
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 40 patients.
So far, 65,114 tests have been carried out,
including 3,233 during the last 24 hours,
the data showed. / PTI /
South Korea to ship
coronavirus test
kits to US this week:
report
Seoul South Korean firms will make
their first shipment of coronavirus test
kits to the US this week after a request by
President Donald Trump, Yonhap news
agency reported on Monday. The US has
more confirmed COVID-19 cases than
anywhere else in the world and also has
the highest toll, with more than 22,000
deaths. In contrast South Korea was once
the hardest-hit country outside China,
cases, death toll reaches 3,341: NHC
K J M Varma / Beijing
China has reported over
100 new COVID-19 cases for
the first time in recent weeks,
while two more people have
died in the central Hubei
Province, the epicentre of
the novel coronavirus, taking
the death toll in the country
to 3,341, health officials said
on Monday.
According to China’s Nation-
al Health Commission (NHC),
a total of 1,378 imported and
1,064 asymptomatic cases, as
well as ten local infections have
been reported.
Ten new domestically trans-
mitted cases were reported,
seven in Heilongjiang Province
and three in Guangdong Prov-
ince, the NHC said.
As many as 108 new CO-
VID-19 cases were confirmed
in the country on Sunday, of
which 98 were people return-
ing from abroad. Two deaths
were reported all in epicentre
Hubei Province, taking the
overall death toll to 3,341, it
said. With the new increase
in cases, the total number of
cases in China has gone to
82,160 by Sunday.
Also as of Sunday, China had
a total of 1,378 imported cases,
of which 511 were discharged
It also said that 61 new as-
“The proportion ymptomatic cases, including
12 from abroad, were reported,
of COVID-19 taking their tally to 1,064 cases,
patients has including 307 from abroad.
been very high
They are all under medical
observation.
at between 10 Asymptomatic cases refer
per cent to 20
to people who are tested posi-
tive for the coronavirus but
per cent in each develop no symptoms such
as fever, cough or sore throat.
batch of inbound They are infectious and pose
personnel.” a risk of spreading to others.
Chinese officials say import-
from hospitals after recovery ed cases are on the rise as hun-
and 867 were being treated dreds of people are returning
with 38 in severe condition, to the country from various
the NHC said. COVID-19 hotspots abroad,
even though the deadly virus
has been contained in epicen-
tres of Hubei province and its
capital Wuhan.
China on Sunday rushed a
team of medical experts to its
north-eastern city of Suifenhe,
bordering Russia, after a spike
in the number of imported
coronavirus cases from the
neighbouring country.
Suifenhe has so far reported
194 confirmed cases and more
than 100 asymptomatic coro-
navirus carriers, the state-run
Xinhua news agency reported
on Saturday. Most of the pa-
tients were Chinese nation-
als who crossed the border
in recent days.
Experts said the number
may increase.
“The proportion of COV-
ID-19 patients has been very
high at between 10 per cent
to 20 per cent in each batch
of inbound personnel,” said
Yu Kaijiang, head of the local
medical treatment team.
“The ratio in some batches
was even higher,” he said.
Official data showed that so
far a total of 2,497 people have
entered Suifenhe from Russia.
By Sunday, 1,004 confirmed
cases including four deaths
had been reported in Hong
Kong, 45 confirmed cases in
the Macao and 388 in Taiwan
including six deaths.
The novel coronavirus
which originated from China
in December has killed 114,185
people and infected over 1.8
million people globally. The
US has the highest number
of infections (556,044) and
deaths (over 20,000), accord-
ing to Johns Hopkins University
data. / PTI /
aircraft crashes,
kills two pilots
M Zulqernain / Sajjad Hussain / Islamabad
Two Pakistan Army Aviation pilots
were killed on Monday when their trainer
aircraft crashed during a routine training
mission in Punjab province, the military
said. The Mushshak aircraft crashed in
Gujrat ciy, some 150 kilometres from
Lahore, the military’s media wing Inter-
Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
Both the pilots, Major Umer - who
was the Instructor Pilot and Lieutenant
Fiazan, a Student Pilot - were killed in the
accident, the army said in a statement.
Major Umer is survived by his wife, it
said, adding that the exact cause of the
crash is yet to be ascertained.
There were no casualties on ground,
the military said. Developed from Saab
Safari, the Mushshak is a license-built
fixed-gear basic trainer aircraft used by
the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force.
Pakistan has a chequered military
and civilian aviation safety record, with
plane and helicopter crashes frequent
over the years.
On March 23, a Pakistan Air Force
F-16 aircraft crashed near Shakarparian
in Islamabad during rehearsals for the
Pakistan Day Parade. Wing Commander
Nauman Akram was killed in the crash.
In July 2019, 17 people lost their lives
after a military aircraft crashed into a
populated area in the suburbs of Rawal-
pindi. Five army officials and 12 civilians
were killed in the crash, the ISPR had said.
Another 12 civilians were injured in
the crash as the aircraft slammed into
houses below where most of the people
were sleeping at the time.
And in 2016 a Pakistan International
Airlines plane burst into flames after one
of its engines failed while travelling from
northern Pakistan to Islamabad, killing
more than 40 people.
Pakistan’s powerful military consumes
a major chunk of the country’s budget,
spending millions on sophisticated hard-
ware in the impoverished nation, which
critics say has come at the expense of
investment in other sectors. / PTI /

COVID-19: 59 Indians among 233 new cases in Singapore

but appears to have brought its outbreak
under control with a huge “trace, test
and treat” strategy. It has tested more
than half a million people in a process
free to anyone referred by doctors or
those who have links to a confirmed
case. The Trump administration has
been accused of being slow to respond
to the outbreak, although the president
now regularly re-iterates that the US has
tested more individuals than any other
country. / PTI /
US envoy calls
Afghan prisoner
releases ‘important
step’
Gurdip Singh / Singapore mon places of gatherings, were being isolated and cared for at testing in dormitories”, said the riod, which lasts from April 7 to
found, including one linked to a community facilities, said the ministry. May 4, Singaporeans are to leave
Fifty-nine Indians are among restaurant at a five-star casino- ministry. Authorities further tightened their homes only for essential
233 new coronavirus cases re- resort complex. The restaurant is The death toll stands at eight. circuit breaker measures to con- activities such as buying food
ported in Singapore, taking the linked to eight cases and McDon- Four additional cases are trol the spread of the deadly and groceries.
total number of COVID-19 pa- ald’s is linked to five infections. linked to the Indian-origin mega disease, recommending that The novel coronavirus which
tients in the city-state to 2,532, Thirty-one of the 976 patients store Mustafa Centre, taking its commuters wear masks on public originated from China in Decem-
the Health Ministry has said. still in hospital are in critical total to 82. transport and closing all beaches. ber has killed 114,185 people and
Of the new cases, 51 are linked condition in the intensive care The number of work permit Markets will also refuse entry infected over 1.8 million people
to known clusters while 15 to
earlier cases. The remaining 167
unit while most others are stable
or improving.
holders working in Singapore
and dormitory-related cases has
to people not wearing face masks
and food outlets will face fines if
globally. The US has the highest
number of infections (556,044)
have no links to earlier cases, There are 988 cases who are increased sharply and this is their workers do not wear masks and deaths (over 20,000), ac-
pending contact tracing, the
ministry said in its daily update
on Sunday. clinically well but still tested
Seven new clusters, or com- positive for COVID-19. They are
likely to go up, “especially as
we undertake more aggressive
or face shields.
During the circuit breaker pe-
cording to Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity data.
/ PTI /

Kabul The US special envoy who

negotiated a deal with the Taliban on
Monday said an initial prisoner exchange
between the insurgents and the Afghan
government was an “important step”
toward peace. According to the Interna-
tional Committee of the Red Cross, the
Taliban on Sunday released 20 Afghan
security-force prisoners. The move came
after the government last week released
hundreds of insurgent captives. “The
release of prisoners is an important step
in the peace process and the reduction
of violence,” US Special Representative
for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay
Khalilzad said on Twitter. / AFP /
Pak summons
Indian diplomat
over ‘unprovoked
ceasefire violations’
Islamabad Pakistan on Monday sum-
moned Indian Charge d’Affaires Gaurav
Ahluwalia and lodged a protest over
the alleged ceasefire violation by the
Indian troops along the Line of Control
that killed a civillian. The Foreign Office
said that Director General (South Asia &
SAARC) Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri sum-
moned Ahluwalia and “condemned
the unprovoked ceasefire violations”
in Dhudnial, Rakhchikri, Chirikot and
Baroh Sectors on April 12. Chaudhry
said that a two-year-old boy was killed
in Dhudnial Sector and in Rakhchikri
and Chirikot Sectors, two civilians were
injured respectively. The FO alleged
that the Indian forces along the LoC and
Working Boundary (WB) have continu-
ously been targeting civilian populated
areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber
mortars and automatic weapons which
still continues. / PTI /
Countries facing North Korea’s Kim reshuffles
pressure to loosen top governing body
virus restrictions
Tokyo South Korean officials warned Monday
that hard-earned progress fighting the coronavi-
rus pandemic could be upset by new infections
at bars and leisure spots, highlighting global
tensions between governments desperate to
maintain social distancing and citizens eager
to resume their lives as economic pressure
mounts and infections slow in some places.
Some European nations have started tenta-
tive moves to ease their shutdowns. Hard-hit
Spain, which on Sunday reported its lowest
daily growth in infections in three weeks, will
allow workers in some nonessential industries
to return to factories and construction sites
Monday. South Korea’s caseload has slowed from
early March, when it was reporting around 500
new cases a day, but officials have warned of a
broader “quiet spread,” pointing to transmis-
sions at locations such as bars that may indicate
eased attitudes toward social distancing.
South Korean Prime Minster Chung Sye-kyun
said officials were discussing new public guide-
lines that would allow for people to engage in
“certain levels of economic and social activity”
while also maintaining distance to slow the
spread of the virus. Social distancing was still
on full display for Easter Sunday celebrations
around the globe, with many Christians marking
the day isolated in their homes while pastors
preached to empty pews. St. Peter’s Square
was barricaded to keep out crowds, while one
Florida church drew a large turnout for a drive-
in service in a parking lot. Pope Francis called
for global solidarity to confront the “epochal
challenge” of the pandemic. He urged political
leaders to give hope and opportunity to the
millions laid off from work. / AP /
This Sunday, April 12, 2020, photo provided by the North Korean government on
Monday, April 13, 2020, shows a session of North Korea’s parliament in Pyong-
yang. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted
in this image distributed by the North Korean government. / AP/ PTI
Seoul North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un has carried out a major
reshuffle of his State Affairs Com-
mission, official media reported
Monday, replacing more than a
third of its members.
Kim has established an iron grip
on the levers of authority in his
nuclear-armed country since inher-
iting power in his late 20s in 2011.
He is chairman of the SAC -- the
North’s highest decision-making
body -- and five of its 13 other mem-
bers were replaced at a meeting of
the country’s rubber-stamp Su-
preme People’s Assembly (SPA)
parliament on Sunday, the state
KCNA news agency reported.
“This is a rather large scale of
SAC membership shuffle,” said
former US government North Korea
analyst Rachel Lee.
Pictures carried by the offi-
cial Rodong Sinmun newspaper
showed hundreds of lawmakers
sitting in close proximity to each
other without wearing protective
masks. A cabinet report reiterated
the North’s insistence that “not a
single case” of the coronavirus
pandemic that has swept the world
since emerging in neighbouring
China has been reported in the
country.
Pyongyang put thousands of
its own people and hundreds of
foreigners -- including diplomats
-- into isolation and mounted dis-
infection drives as it sought to pre-
vent an outbreak, which experts
say could be devastating given its
weak health sector and widespread
malnutrition.
“State emergency anti-epidemic
campaign will continue to be in-
tensified to prevent the spread of
COVID-19,” the cabinet report said.
There was no mention on KCNA
of Kim presiding over the meeting
himself, and he did not appear in
photos of it.
“The fact that North Korea went
ahead with the SPA suggests the
country’s confidence in managing
the coronavirus situation,” Lee
told AFP. “The fact that the at-
tendees were not wearing masks
only reconfirms that.” The
new SAC members include Ri Son
Gwon, a former senior army officer
named as foreign minister earlier
this year, while his predecessor,
career diplomat Ri Yong Ho, was
removed. Another former foreign
minister, Ri Su Yong, was also taken
off the committee.
Under Kim the North has made
rapid progress on its nuclear ar-
senal, launching missiles capable
of reaching the whole of the US
mainland, and has been subject to
increasingly stringent UN Security
Council sanctions as a result.
Talks with the US have been
largely deadlocked since the col-
lapse of the Hanoi summit last year
over sanctions relief and what the
North would be willing to give up
in exchange. / AFP /
Security
heightened at
Pak borders:
Govt tells SC
Islamabad The Pakistan
government has apprised the
Supreme Court that security
measures at Taftan, Chaman
and Torkham borders have been
strengthened, extra staff has
been deployed and emergency
declared in the border areas of
Balochistan with Iran in the wake
of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Special counters have been
established at all major Inter-
national airports of Pakistan,”
according to a progress report
submitted to the apex court
by the federal government on
Sunday in a suo motu case re-
garding preventive measures for
COVID-19.
“All passengers are required
to fill mandatory health dec-
laration forms before landing
in Pakistan. Two hundred and
seven hospitals in all major cities
and 154 districts of Pakistan
have been identified for isola-
tion of suspected patients and
their isolation capacity has been
increased,” The Express Tribune
quoted the report as saying. It is
also stated that standard operat-
ing procedures and guidelines
were being regularly updated
and developed in consultation
with the provinces and leading
epidemiological experts. / IANS /

www.dailyworld.in
Putin tells Russian officials to prepare
for worst-case surge in cases
President Vladimir Putin says Russia is facing a surge
in the number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients and
Newsmakers
needs to prepare for the worst-case scenarios. Putin
told officials during a conference call that they should
be ready to move medical personnel and equipment
between regions to respond to the rapidly changing
situation. He said the preparations must anticipate
“any possible scenarios, including the most difficult and
extraordinary.” Putin ordered officials to recruit addi-
tional personnel from universities and medical schools.
Spain death toll falls as some sectors go back to work
Boris Johnson
recuperates at Chequers
with pregnant fiancee
Aditi Khanna / London
British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson is on Monday recuper-
ating from his Covid-19 hospi-
talisation at his country retreat
of Chequers, where he has been
joined by his pregnant fiancee
Carrie Symonds.
Downing Street has said that
the prime minister would not
be returning to work immedi-
ately and will be based at the
sprawling 1,000-acre estate in
Buckinghamshire, south-east
England, for a recovery period
on medical advice.
UK Foreign Secretary Domi-
nic Raab continues to deputise
for Johnson as the UK entered
a fourth week in lockdown on
Monday and the country’s total
coronavirus death toll hit 10,612.
UK ministers are required by
law to review the strict social
distancing measures by Thurs-
day. In a video message issued
after his discharge from St
Thomas’ Hospital in London
on Sunday, Johnson, 55, urged
the public to continue to follow
the stay-at-home advice in the
ongoing “fight we never picked
against an enemy we still don’t
entirely understand”.
“I can only imagine how
Moscow tightens virus lockdown with digital travel permits
Moscow Moscow authori-
ties are issuing digital per-
mits to reduce violations of
the coronavirus lockdown as
Russia on Monday reported
more than 2,500 new in-
fections, its highest daily
rise yet.
Officials said that more
than 800,000 passes had al-
ready been issued to people
planning to travel by car or
public transport ahead of
the system’s formal launch
on Wednesday.
europe & Australia
tough it has been to follow the
rules on social distancing,” he
said.
“I do believe that your ef-
forts are worth it, and are daily
proving their worth… we are
now making progress in this
incredible national battle
against coronavirus.”He went
on to credit the National Health
Service (NHS) doctors and nurs-
es with saving his life because
things could have gone “either
way” after he had to be shifted
to intensive care with breath-
ing difficulties with worsening
coronavirus symptoms.
“The NHS has saved my life,
no question. It’s hard to find
the words to express my debt,”
said Johnson.
“We will defeat this corona-
virus and defeat it together. We
will win because our NHS is the
beating heart of this country. It
is the best of this country. It is
unconquerable. It is powered
by love,” he added.
Symonds, who is expecting
the couple’s first baby within
weeks, has now been reunited
with Johnson at Chequers and
said she felt “incredibly lucky”
as she expressed her own
thanks to all the well-wishers
and the NHS.
But they said that hackers until April 30, while passes
have targeted the mayor’s obtained to go to a doctor
office website and applicants or elsewhere will have to be
complained on social media renewed.
they were not able to get Police patrols will be able
a pass despite multiple at- to check the passes on the
tempts. streets and could fine people
People will be assigned a for violations. Exempt are
special code consisting of a armed forces personnel, mu-
sequence of figures and let- nicipal officials and journal-
ters -- which can be printed ists, among others.
out or received by email -- if The digital permit sys-
people report where they tem may be expanded to
are planning to go. monitor people going out
Work passes will be valid on foot even within their
9
Tuesday 14 april 2020
chandigarh
UK coronavirus death toll Over 10K Brits have taken up EU
rises by 717, to 11,329 citizenship since 2016 vote
The death toll in Britain from corona- More than 10,000 Britons have taken up
virus has risen to 11,329, according to citizenship of a European Union (EU) mwmbwe
health ministry figures published Mon- country since the UK voted to exit the bloc in
day -- an increase of 717 on the previ- 2016, according to official figures. According to
ous day’s figures. The daily increase is Eurostat, the EU’s statistical body, more than
the lowest for several days, although it 6,000 UK nationals have become German and
is not unusual for numbers to drop after over 3,000 have taken up French citizenship
a weekend due to delays in collating since the June 23, 2016 vote, the Metro news-
data. The numbers only refer to deaths paper reported on Sunday. The figures suggest
in hospital. that the Brexit vote is the cause.
Pope prays for
lockdown victims
Madrid Workers in Spain’s con-
struction and manufacturing
Although health chiefs say the
outbreak in Spain has peaked,
their trips to work.
“It’s wonderful because it’s
of domestic abuse
sectors cautiously returned to they have urged the popula- “I work in health so necessary and it helps those
work Monday as the daily death
toll resumed its downward trend
tion to keep observing a strict
national lockdown imposed on
care and we have of us who have to use public
transport,” said office worker
and new infections fell to the March 14 to slow the spread of them but very Jose Antonio Cruces.
lowest level in three weeks.
Spain is one of the worst-
the virus.
The restrictions were further
few of them, so I “Most people (on public
transport) don’t have masks
hit countries in the world, tightened on March 30 when didn’t have one or gloves.” Although public
and saw the daily death rate
fall for three consecutive days
all non-essential activities were
frozen for two weeks -- largely
to travel to and transport in much of Spain
has been largely empty in re-
last week, only to rise again on targeting the construction and from work.” cent weeks, the few commut-
Sunday. manufacturing sectors. ers using it often do not have
But on Monday it fell again, But those restrictions were ment is doing this because either protective gear. Vatican City Pope Francis prayed Mon-
with 517 deaths in 24 hours, lifted on Monday, and train sta- you can’t find them in shops or “I work in health care and day for the growing number of women
putting the overall death toll tions were staffed with police they’re very expensive,” said we have them but very few of subjected to domestic abuse while living
at 17,489 with the number of and Red Cross volunteers hand- nurse Brenda Palacios, who took them, so I didn’t have one to under coronavirus lockdown.
cases now standing at 169,496. ing out face masks for those two of them. travel to and from work,” said The Argentine pontiff livestreamed an
Confirmed cases also rose by returning to work. “I have one at work but I can’t Maria Martinez. Easter Monday prayer from his private
3,477 -- the lowest daily figure At Madrid’s Atocha station, take it home with me so I leave For commuters, having a library as the Vatican and Italy entered
since March 20 -- as Spain began commuters took the masks from it there.” Masks have been hard mask was essential as “we don’t a second month of restrictions on most
reopening parts of its economy officers at arm’s length to avoid to come by in recent weeks and know who’s infected or if we outdoor activities.
after a two-week “economic getting too close. some commuters said the hand- ourselves are asymptomatic,” Worries about domestic abuse have spread
hibernation” period. “It’s amazing that the govern- outs put them at ease during she said. / AFP / across the world as nations force billions to
stay at home to stop the spread of a disease
that has officially killed nearly 115,000
people.
“There were times last week
that were very dark indeed. Global coronavirus Aditi Khanna The pope offered a prayer to the “many
mothers and sisters who find themselves
My heart goes out to all those
in similar situations, worried toll rises to 114,539 Rishi Sunak grants
locked in the house with the whole family,
with children, with the elderly and the
sick about their loved ones,”
she said.
“I cannot thank our magnifi-
Paris The worldwide death toll from the novel
coronavirus pandemic rose to 114,539 on Mon-
day, according to a tally compiled by AFP from
more public service
disabled.
“Sometimes they are at risk of being
subjected to violence, for a coexistence
cent NHS enough. The staff at official sources.
funds in Covid-19 in which they carry too great a burden,”
St. Thomas’ Hospital have been More than 1,853,300 declared cases have fightback Francis said.
incredible. I will never, ever been registered in 193 countries and territories “We pray for them, that God may give
be able to repay you and I will since the epidemic first emerged in China in them strength and that our communities can
never stop thanking you,” said December. Of these cases, at least 395,000 are support them together with their families.”
the 32-year-old, who had also now considered recovered. Countries from Australia to France have seen
experienced symptoms of coro- The tallies, using data collected by AFP from surges in the number of domestic violence
navirus while in self-isolation national authorities and information from the cases reported to the police.
but later confirmed that she World Health Organization (WHO), probably But worries persist that many abuses go
was “on the mend”. reflect only a fraction of the actual number unreported and that the true scale of the
Johnson had been working of infections. violence is unknown.
remotely from his Downing Many countries are testing only the most Italy’s interior ministry is using a phone
Street flat after testing posi- serious cases. app to help geo-locate reports of domestic
tive for coronavirus over two In the United States, now the epicentre of of violence. The government has also al-
weeks ago, but had to be shifted the pandemic, the death toll stands at 22,109 located USD 32.8 million to help shelter
to hospital as his symptoms with 557,590 infections. At least 41,831 patients women victims of domestic abuse. / AFP /
persisted. have recovered.
After his week-long stay in Italy is the second worst-hit country with
hospital including a few days
in intensive care, he singled
out for praise some “utterly
19,899 deaths from 156,363 infections.
It is followed by Spain with 17,489 fatalities
from 169,496 confirmed infections, France
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Monday
announced more than 14 billion pounds
from Britain’s Coronavirus Emergency
Briefly
brilliant” doctors as well as a with 14,393 deaths and 132,591 infections and Response Fund for the country’s public ser- ‘Too early’ to relax
couple of nurses who stayed Britain with 10,612 deaths from 84,270 cases. vices, including the National Health Service
by his side through the worst China -- excluding Hong Kong and Macau -- has (NHS) and local authorities involved in the Aus restrictions
period before his body started to date declared 3,341 deaths and 82,160 cases fight against the pandemic. despite slowing
to get “enough oxygen”. including 108 new ones, with 77,663 recoveries. The funding unveiled by the Indian-origin
“And I hope they won’t mind It reported two new deaths. finance minister includes more than 6 billion curve
if I mention in particular two Europe has listed 932,340 cases and 78,152 pounds to support the NHS, free up hospital Canberra Australia’s fight against CO-
nurses who stood by my bed- deaths to date, the US and Canada togeth- beds and deliver urgent priorities including VID-19 has achieved a new progress, with
side for 48 hours when things er have 581,883 cases with 22,857 deaths, acquiring ventilators, diagnostic tests and less than 50 cases confirmed between
could have gone either way. Asia 140,154 cases with 4,989 deaths, the protective equipment for NHS staff. Sunday and Monday, but it was “too
They are Jenny from New Zea- Middle East 101,742 cases with 4,901 deaths, “Our public services and its incredible early” to decide on lifting the restric-
land – Invercargill on the South Latin America and the Caribbean 64,924 workers are working with immense resolve tions, health officials said. According
Island to be exact – and Luis cases with 2,778 deaths, Africa 14,440 cas- and skill to keep us safe. We depend on to the Department of Health there had
from Portugal – near Porto,” es with 791 deaths and Oceania 7,825 cases them, which is why we are doing everything been 6,322 confirmed cases of COVID-19
he said. / PTI / with 71 deaths. / AFP / we can to provide our NHS, local authorities in Australia as of Monday morning,
and others, with the resources and tools an increase of 33 cases from Sunday
they need to tackle the virus,” said Sunak. morning, reports Xinhua news agency.
“From the start, I’ve been clear our vital It represents an increase of only 0.5 per
public services will get
whatever they need to
cent, a recent record-low for Australia.
However, Chief Medical Officer Brendan
neighbourhood, if needed, to leave their homes to walk UKdiary protect this country and Murphy warned that the figure could be
authorities said. their dogs, take out trash London its people from coronavi- misleading because of a downtrend in
Authorities had initially and visit their nearest shop. rus. We are delivering on Australia’s testing rate over the four-day
planned to introduce an ag- Moscow has been under our pledge,” he said. Easter weekend. Of the 6,322 confirmed
gressive surveillance system lockdown since March 30, The UK’s Treasury department said that cases in Australia, 61 have died from
and assign Muscovites scan- but is now struggling to the support will also enable home delivery COVID-19. More than 356,000 tests have
nable bar codes each time cope with the influx of new of medicines to the most vulnerable people been conducted across Australia. Au-
they wanted to leave their patients and officials said in the country, and it has already helped thorities arned that the Easter weekend,
homes, but that sparked that clinics were approach- support medical and nursing students which spanned from Friday to Monday,
huge controversy. ing their limits.Russia on and retired doctors and nurses to join the would be one of the most important pe-
The plan was dropped in Monday reported 2,558 new frontline. riods in Australia’s fight against the virus
favour of the current system. infections -- the biggest daily Alongside 1.6 billion pounds of new fund- and reiterated the importance of social
Under strict confinement increase to date -- bringing ing for local authorities, the department distancing rules. / IANS /
rules in the Russian capital, the total tally to 18,328 cases headed by Sunak said that it has provided a
Muscovites are only allowed and 148 fatalities. / AFP / total of 2.9 billion pounds to support local
services and hospital discharge, reinforcing
Keto diet may be
care for the vulnerable, and meaning that good for asthma
those who are strong enough can leave
hospital more quickly, freeing up bed space
patients
for patients that need it. London Suffering from asthma? A spe-
It is also working closely with the de- cial diet might help as researchers have
volved administrations in Scotland, Wales found that popular ketogenic diet may
and Northern Ireland to provide access to reduce inflammation of the respiratory
the emergency funding set aside for dealing tract. According to the study, published
with the fallout of the pandemic. in the journal Immunity, mice that were
During his maiden Budget on March switched to a so-called ketogenic diet
11, Sunak had initially set aside a 5 billion showed significantly reduced inflamma-
pounds fund as a rapid response during the tion of the respiratory tract. Asthma pa-
early stages of the coronavirus crisis and tients react even to low concentrations of
pledged extra resources needed by the NHS some allergens with severe inflammation
and public services over time. of the bronchi. This is also accompanied
The latest funds injection comes as some by increased mucus production, which
media reports indicate that the UK Chancel- makes breathing even more difficult,
lor has warned his Cabinet colleagues that the researchers said. A central role here
the country’s GDP could fall by as much as is played by cells of the innate immune
A couple watches 30 per cent in the April-June quarter as a system, which were only discovered
the buildings of the
banking district after result of the pandemic. a few years ago and are called Innate
the sun set in Frankfurt, This estimate would be in line with the Lymphoid Cells (ILC). They perform an
Germany, Sunday, UK’s National Institute of Economic and important protective function in the
April 12, 2020. Due to Social Research’s recent forecast that the lungs by regenerating damaged mucous
the coronavirus the UK GDP could shrink by 15-25 per cent membranes. For this purpose, they
economy worldwide
expects heavy losses.
in the second quarter of the year, with produce inflammatory messengers from
/ AP/ PTI the economy entering a fourth week of the group of cytokines, which stimulate
lockdown.  / PTI / the division of the mucosal cells and
promote mucus production. / IANS /
 10

Tuesday 14 april 2020

chandigarh

Fauci says ‘rolling reentry’ of US

canada & USA 33% US voters lost jobs or furloughed, 3 Indian-Americans show recovery
www.dailyworld.in

economy possible in May young ones worst-hit: Survey after transfused with plasma from
New cases of the coronavirus are certain to The financial impact of the coronavirus has begun to recovered COVID19 patients
arise when restrictions imposed to limit the hit Americans hard as nearly 33 per cent of voters have Three Indian-Americans, who were hospitalised in a
Newsmakers

spread of the virus are eased, said Anthony already lost their job, been furloughed, placed on tem- critical condition for COVID-19 here, are showing
Fauci, the top infectious disease expert for the porary leave, or had hours reduced - with 41 per cent of signs of recovery after being transfused with plasma
US. But Fauci said Sunday that the economy those whove lost a job already reporting having trouble from the recovered coronavirus patients, hospital
in parts of the country could have a “roll- covering basic costs. According to a new survey by non- sources have said. As the vaccine for COVID-19 is
ing reentry” as early as next month, profit research group Data for Progress, while over half not expected for months and new cases are increas-
provided health authorities can quickly of voters under age 45 (52 per cent) have lost their job, ing daily, doctors in Texas and around the country are
identify and isolate people who will been placed on leave or had hours cut, only 26 per cent experimenting with a new treatment based on an old
inevitably be infected. of those over 45 fall into this category. technique, but aren’t sure if it to be fully effective.

Trump thanks Briefly

Russian President Easter storms
and Saudi Crown sweep South, killing
at least 19 people
Prince for striking
big deal to stabilise
oil prices

Jackson (US) Severe weather has

Lalit K Jha / Washington
US President Donald Trump has thanked his
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud
for striking a “big” deal with other major crude
producers to slash oil production in a bid to
stabilise a market that has been jolted by the
coronavirus pandemic. Global oil demand is
estimated to have fallen by a third as more
swept across the South, killing at least
19 people and damaging hundreds of
homes from Louisiana into the Appala-
chian Mountains. Many people spent
part of the night early Monday shelter-
ing in basements, closets and bathroom
tubs as sirens wailed to warn of possible
tornadoes. Eleven people were killed
in Mississippi, and six more died in
northwest Georgia. Two other bodies
were pulled from damaged homes in Ar-
People wearing a protective mask ride by on a motorcycle close to a burning effigy representing Judas Iscariot during Holy Week in the Catia neighborhood, one of the kansas and South Carolina. The storms
poorest slums in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, April 12, 2020, during a government-imposed quarantine to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus. The Burning of Judas blew onward through the night, causing
is an Easter-time ritual in many communities, where an effigy of Judas Iscariot is hanged on Good Friday, then burned on Easter Sunday. / AP/ PTI flooding and mudslides in mountainous
areas, and knocking out electricity for

New York City now has more COVID-19

than three billion people are locked down in about 750,000 customers in a 10-state
their homes in countries like India due to the swath ranging from Texas to Georgia up
coronavirus outbreak that has claimed over to West Virginia, according to power-

cases than China, UK

100,000 lives and infected over 1,850,000 outages.us. / AP /
across the world.
An oil price war between Russia and Saudi
Arabia amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic
Police collect
had threatened to put producers in the US out Yoshita Singh / New York China and the UK. According “And we have never, ever stressed he will work with open. “People want to nearly 800 bodies
of business, jeopardising the jobs of thousands
of Americans. This forced President Trump to New York City, the epicen-
to estimates by Johns Hopkins
University, there are 85,208
underestimated this enemy
we’re fighting. Coronavirus is
New Jersey and Connecti-
cut on a coordinated plan
get on with their lives, people
want to get out of the house.
from Ecuador’s
intervene. ter of the COVID19 pandemic coronavirus cases in the UK, ferocious and has presented to reopen the economy that (They have) cabin fever. We virus epicentre
Members of the Organisation of the Petroleum in the US, now alone has over 83,135 in China and 71,686 us with challenges that we also safeguards public health. need the economy working, Guayaquil (Ecuador) Ecuador said po-
Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies an- 100,000 novel coronavirus in Iran. The US has 557,300 have never ever seen before. The state is witnessing people need a paycheck. Life lice have removed almost 800 bodies in
nounced on Sunday that they have agreed to cases, more than the con- cases and over 22,000 people And that certainly our nation mixed results as change in has to function,” he said at recent weeks from homes in Guayaquil,
slash production by 9.7 million barrels a day in firmed cases in China and have died so far. Globally the has not seen anything like in total number of hospitalisa- his daily briefing Sunday. the epicenter of the country’s coronavi-
May and June. The slashing of the global output the UK, according to the of- number of COVID19 cases is a century.” tions is down but the ICU The Governor stressed that rus outbreak, after the disease over-
by about 10 per cent is among the deepest cuts ficial data. According to the over 1.8 million and 114,185 He said while it was a admissions and intubations he wants to reopen the state whelmed emergency services, hospitals
ever agreed to by the world’s oil producers. data from the New York City people have died from the “tough and painful week” ticked up. and the economy as soon as and funeral parlours. Mortuary workers
Trump spoke with the two leaders over government, an increase of disease. More than 189,000 for New York City, it was not “You’re not seeing a great possible. “Let’s just end this in the Pacific port city have been unable
phone, the White House said on Sunday. at least 5,695 cases on Sun- cases have been reported in as worse as had been initially decline in the numbers, but nightmare right. (It’s like) to cope with a backlog, with residents
In separate readouts of the call, the White day put New York City’s to- New York state, the hardest- expected. you’re seeing a flattening. Groundhog Day. You get up posting videos on social media showing
House said Trump welcomed the commitment tal number of coronavirus hit state in the US, and the New York Governor An- And you’re also seeing a re- every day, it’s the same rou- abandoned bodies in the streets. “The
by Russia and Saudi Arabia to return oil pro- infections at over 104,410 as death toll now stands at 9385. drew Cuomo said 758 more currence of the terrible news, tine, you almost lose track number we have collected with the task
duction to levels consistent with global energy of April 12 and 27,676 hospi- New York City Mayor Bill people died in the state from which is the number of lives of what day of the week it is force from people’s homes exceeded 700
and financial market stability. Trump thanked talisations. The city’s death de Blasio told reporters on coronavirus in a 24-hour pe- lost, which is 758” on April 11. because they don’t even have people,” said Jorge Wated, who leads a
the two leaders for working with each other, toll is 6,898. Sunday that the past week riod, describing it as “terrible Cuomo said the big ques- meaning anymore,” he said team of police and military personnel
and other oil producing states to calm global New York City now has was a “very, very tough” one news” even as the infection tion on everyone’s mind is making a reference to the created by the government to help with
energy markets, the White House said. / PTI / more coronavirus cases than in the city’s hospitals. rate continues to slow and when will the economy re- movie. / PTI / the chaos unleashed by COVID-19. / AFP /

middle east & africa

19 Indians stuck in
Briefly Dubai airport for 3
weeks desperate to
Iran reports 111 return home
virus deaths,
raising total to
Virtual Palm Virus ‘disaster in the making’ Dubai Nineteen Indians are stuck at the
Dubai International Airport for the last

Sunday Mass for

in war-torn Syria
21 days after India announced its CO-
4,585 VID-19 lockdown, leaving them tired,

Tehran Iran’s health ministry on
Monday reported another 111 deaths
from the novel coronavirus, taking the
official overall toll in the worst-hit Middle
East country to 4,585. Ministry spokes-
man Kianoush Jahanpour said 1,617 new
infections took the total number of cases
in the country’s outbreak to 73,303,
of whom 45,983 had recovered. “The
trend of relatively stable and decreas-
ing new cases of contamination, which
has been observed in recent days, has
also continued over the past 24 hours,”
he told a televised news conference.
“People must always continue to avoid
unnecessary travel,” he said, in order to
stop the spread of the virus that causes
the COVID-19 disease. / AFP /
Second Ebola
death in DR Congo
ahead of hoped-for
deadline
Kinshasa A second death from Ebola
has been recorded in eastern DR Congo
in the final days before a deadline, now
scrapped, in which health authorities
hoped to declare an end to a 20-month
epidemic. Hopes had been high that the
World Health Organization (WHO) on
Monday would officially bring the curtain
down on the country’s 10th known
outbreak of the notorious haemor-
rhagic fever. But on Friday, a 26-year-old
man was listed as having died from the
disease, and a young girl who was being
treated in the same health centre passed
away on Sunday. Both died in the city
of Beni, an epicentre of the outbreak,
the health authorities said late Sunday.
The epidemic, which began in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo on August
1 2018, has claimed 2,276 lives, according
to an official tally. / AFP /
Coptic Christians
in Egypt
Cairo Due to an ongoing lockdown imposed in
the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Coptic
Christians across Egypt witnessed a virtual Palm
Sunday Mass while staying at home.
The mass on Sunday led by Pope Tawadros II
of Alexandria was broadcast online and on TV
for the Christian community - who represent 10
per cent of Egypt’s population, reports Efe news.
“Before the appearance of the disease (the
churches) were quite full, but today we must
think that life must change,” the leader of the
Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria said,
adding that “it is important to follow the (pre-
cautionary) measures”.
“Today under the circumstances of the epi-
demic, we tell God: ‘Come dwell within us,’”
Tawadros II said at the Mass, which was attended
by only a few priests and archbishops at the
Monastery of St. Pishoy in Wadi El Natrun in
Beheira, north of Cairo.
This year, the head of Egypt’s Coptic Chris-
tian community celebrated the Mass at the St.
Pishoy monastery and not at the Cathedral of
Abaseya, located in central Cairo, where the
annual Mass usually takes place.
The Wadi El Natrun religious site, located
in the desert northwest of Cairo, comprises
monasteries, residences and churches.
The site has even served as a refuge for the
religious and Coptic popes persecuted in the
past. Coptic Holy Week began on Sunday and
will last until April 19, when Egyptian Christians
celebrate Easter.
This year, there will be no Masses or other
ceremonies or rites at which people physi-
cally gather due to the restrictions imposed
by the Cairo government to deal with the coro-
navirus, including the closure of mosques
and churches in late March. Egypt has regis-
tered nearly 2,000 coronavirus cases and 146
deaths, according to the Health Ministry’s most
recent figures. / IANS /
Paris As Europe and the United
States struggle to contain the coro-
navirus pandemic, experts warn
that disaster looms in war-torn
Syria, where hospitals are unable
to meet existing needs and hygiene
conditions are dire.
The outbreak has infected more
than 1.8 million people and killed
more than 112,000 around the
world since emerging in China in
December last year.
In Syria, the Damascus govern-
ment has closed borders, forbid-
den movement between provinces
and shut schools and restaurants
in an effort to stem the spread of
the virus. Official numbers are low
with two deaths and 19 confirmed
cases, but only 100 patients are
being tested daily, with half of the
testing carried out in the capital Da-
mascus. And while the government
has regained control of most of the
country after almost a decade of
civil war, some areas are still held
by pro-Ankara rebels and Kurds.
Experts accuse Damascus of
minimising its death toll for po-
litical motives.
“Medical staff believe that there
are many people who are dying in
Syria with the symptoms of the
virus,” said Zaki Mehchy, senior
consulting fellow at London-based
think tank Chatham House.
“But the security agencies ask
them or order them not to men-
tion it, especially to the media,” he
added. Aid groups are sounding
the alarm on the potentially dev-
astating consequences of a severe
homesick and desperate to return home,
according to a media report. Most of
outbreak in Syria, where nine years these stranded persons were in transit
of war have hit hospitals and left
them ill-equipped to deal with the
when India stopped inbound flights in
view of the coronavirus pandemic, the
pandemic. “There is a disaster in Gulf News reported.
the making,” said Emile Hokayem, The following few days these stranded
Middle East analyst at the Interna- persons made the airport benches their
tional Institute for Strategic Studies home. After COVID-19 tests on March
in London (IISS). According to the 21 -- which was negative for all -- they
World Health Organisation (WHO), were shifted to the Dubai International
less than two-thirds of hospitals Airport Hotel on March 25. Currently, all
were up and running at the end of the stranded Indians are lodged at the
2019 and 70 per cent of healthcare airport hotel. One of the stranded persons
workers have fled since the war is 37-year-old Arun Singh, who missed his
began in 2011. The International 4 am Emirates flight to Ahmedabad on
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) March 22. Singh says it is cruel irony that
warned that physical distancing is sleep is what he does for most of the day
impossible in displacement camps now. “I have been eating and sleeping and
in Idlib, the last rebel-held prov- eating and sleeping ever since they put
ince, which was already enduring
a humanitarian crisis before the
us here (airport hotel). I am comfortable
but am desperate to go home,” said Singh,
pandemic started. / AFP / an IT employee at a UAE bank.
Singh, unlike the other stranded In-
dians, has a UAE residency visa but he
cannot leave the airport because of sus-
pension of visas.
In this handout Singh does not know when he will
photo provided by leave for India. “Every few days I send
Istanbul Mayor’s messages to the Indian consulate officials
office, workers but am yet to hear back from them,” he
clean and disinfect told the Gulf News.
surfaces in the city’s
iconic Taksim Square “Today, I came across a heartwarming
amid the coronavirus news report which said that UAE has of-
outbreak, in Istanbul, fered to repatriate Indians who are stuck
Sunday, April 12, in the UAE. I hope that happens soon,”
2020. The new Singh was quoted by the daily.
coronavirus causes
mild or moderate Deepak Gupta, who has been stranded
symptoms for most since March 18, said he is concerned about
people, but for some, his pregnant wife in New Delhi.
especially older “She needs me by her side. Soon I will
adults and people complete one month at the airport, I
with existing health
problems, it can
am beginning to lose hope,” said Gupta,
cause more severe a senior employee at a multi-national
illness or company in Gurugram. Gupta, like many
death. / AP/ PTI others, landed in Dubai from Europe for
a connecting flight to New Delhi. / PTI /
 11

www.dailyworld.in
business & finance Tuesday 14 april 2020
chandigarh

Bengal imposes 30 per cent sales Sundar Pichai donates Rs 5 Amazon to start online ‘queues’ for
tax on liquor crore to Give India new customers as demand surges
In an apparent bid to shore up revenues, the Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Hit by unprecedented online orders amid lock-
West Bengal government has decided to impose Pichai has donated Rs 5 crore to downs and social distancing, Amazon has an-
Newsmakers

30 per cent sales tax on wine and beer, sources non-profit Give India, thus matching nounced to put customers on a waiting list, and
in the finance department said on Monday. The Googles earlier donation of Rs 5 crore will invite new customers to shop every week. The
government issued a notification in this regard to the online donation platform. “Thank ecommerce giant said while it has increased order
on April 7 and the new prices came into effect you @sundarpichai for matching @ capacity by more than 60 per cent due to COV-
from April 9. Post imposition of GST in July 2017, Googleorg’s Rs 5 crore grant to provide ID-19, it still expects the combination of restricted
the state government withdrew the sales tax on desperately needed cash assistance for capacity due to social distancing and customer
liquor and introduced additional excise duty along vulnerable daily wage worker families,” demand will continue to make finding available
with the excise duty which was already there. Give India tweeted. delivery windows challenging for customers.

RBI to use any Briefly

means necessary Sensex slides 470 pts;
to revive growth, Nifty gives up 9K
preserve financial
stability: Das

Mumbai Equity benchmark Sensex

on Monday tumbled about 470 points,
dragged by losses mainly in index
Union Finance heavyweights HDFC twins, RIL and ICICI
Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman wearing
Bank as investors weighed the pos-
a home-made sibility of a lockdown extension amid
Mumbai All-out efforts are needed to mitigate protective mask mounting Covid-19 cases in the country.
the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, arrives to resume After hitting a low of 30,474.15 during
and the RBI will use any instrument necessary office, in New Delhi, the day, the 30-share BSE barometer
Monday, April 13,
to revive growth and preserve financial stabil- 2020. Ministers and
ended 469.60 points or 1.51 per cent
ity, according to the minutes of the central senior government lower at 30,690.02. Similarly, the NSE
bank’s policy meeting. The Monetary Policy officers partly Nifty dropped 118.05 points or 1.30 per
Committee (MPC), headed by Reserve Bank resumed offices cent to 8,993.85. Bajaj Finance was the
of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, was today, since the top laggard in the Sensex pack, slump-
originally scheduled for March 31, April 1 and lockdown. / PTI ing over 10 per cent, followed by M&M,
3, 2020, but was advanced in view of the coro- Titan, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and

ADB hikes Covid-19 financial aid

navirus pandemic. Tech Mahindra. On the other hand, L&T,
After the three-day meeting which ended on Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech
March 27, the RBI reduced the key policy rate Cements and NTPC were among the gain-
by 75 basis points. ers. Sensex heavyweights HDFC twins fell

to USD 20 bn for member nations

To mitigate the economic difficulties arising as much as 3.12 per cent, while Reliance
out of the virus outbreak, the government of Industries shed 2.46 per cent. ICICI Bank
India has announced a comprehensive package dropped 3.44 per cent. Indian bourses
of Rs 1.70 lakh crore, covering cash transfers and opened on a negative note tracking sub-
food security, for vulnerable sections of society. New Delhi The Asian De- ic, social and development demic, with a particular focus The response package in- dued global market peers in Asia, said
As per the minutes of the MPC meet, released velopment Bank (ADB) on gains in Asia and the Pacific, on the poor and the vulner- cludes a number of adjust- Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research
by the RBI, Das said the global macroeconomic Monday said it has tripled the reverse progress on poverty “This pandemic able, ADB said. ments to policies and busi- (Fundamental), Anand Rathi. / PTI /
situation has abruptly worsened in the last size of its Covid-19 response reduction, and throw econ- threatens to Grant resources will con- ness processes that will allow
fortnight or so.
He stated that the authorities and central
package for its member na-
tions to USD 20 billion. The
omies into recession,” said
ADB President Masatsugu severely set tinue to be deployed quickly
for providing medical and
ADB to respond more rapidly
and flexibly to the crisis.
TAIPA urges Centre
banks in many countries have deployed an ex- multilateral funding agency Asakawa. The package will back economic, personal protective equip- These include measures to for nonstop power
tensive range of targeted policy instruments to
deal with the macroeconomic fallout of Covid-19
said it has also approved
measures to streamline its
be delivered more quickly,
flexibly and forcefully to social, and ment and supplies from ex-
panded procurement sourc-
streamline internal business
processes, widen the eligibil-
supply to telecom
caused by lockdowns and social distancing. operations for quicker and the governments and the development es. “Some USD 2 billion from ity and scope of various sup- towers
In his opinion, “there is a rising probability” more flexible delivery of as- private sector in our devel- the USD 20 billion package port facilities, and make the New Delhi The Tower & infrastructure
of a global recession, which may be deeper sistance. oping member countries to
gains in Asia will be made available for terms and conditions of lend- Providers Association (TAIPA) has urged
than the one experienced during the global The package expands help them address the ur- and the Pacific.” the private sector. Loans and ing more tailored, it added. the Union Power Ministry to ensure un-
financial crisis. ADB’s USD 6.5 billion ini- gent challenges in tackling guarantees will be provided ADB said that all support interrupted electricity supply to telecom
“In India also, the near-term growth outlook tial response announced the pandemic and economic ADB’s new package of to financial institutions to under the expanded package towers across the country during the
has deteriorated sharply: initially reflecting on March 18, adding USD downturn, Asakawa added. USD 20 billion includes es- rejuvenate trade and supply will be provided in close col- lockdown period. In a letter to the Sec-
global spillovers and the amplification of the 13.5 billion in resources to The funding agency’s most tablishment of a COVID-19 chains. Enhanced microfi- laboration with international retary, Ministry of Power, Sanjiv Nandan
impact of Covid-19; and thereafter, due to the help its developing member recent assessment earlier this Pandemic Response Option nance loan and guarantee organisations, including Sahai, the industry body said: “While the
much-needed efforts by the government to countries counter the severe month has estimated the under ADB’s Countercyclical support and a facility to help the International Monetary necessary support has been extended by
contain the pandemic by declaring a nationwide macroeconomic and health global impact of the pan- Support Facility. liquidity-starved small and Fund; World Bank Group; the various state electricity distribution
lockdown,” he said. / PTI / impacts caused by Covid-19, demic to about 2.3-4.8 per Up to USD 13 billion will medium-sized enterprises, World Health Organization, companies so far, we would further like
it said in a release. cent of the gross domestic be provided through this including those run by fe- UNICEF and other UN agen- to seek your support in ensuring uninter-
The USD 20 billion package product (GDP), wherein the new option to help govern- male entrepreneurs, will be cies; and the broader global rupted electricity supply for telecom
Top oil producers includes about USD 2.5 billion
in concessional and grant
regional growth forecast for
the Asia and Pacific is forecast
ments of developing member
countries implement effective
implemented alongside di-
rect financing of companies
community. The coronavirus
pandemic has so far claimed
towers, which is critical for continued
operations of telecom services.” TAIPA
agree ‘historic’ cuts resources, it added.
“This pandemic threatens
to decline to 2.2 per cent dur-
ing 2020 from 5.2 per cent in
countercyclical expenditure
progrmmes to mitigate im-
responding to, or impacted
by, COVID-19,” the funding
around 1,15,000 lives globally
and has left over 1.8 million
said that as telecom is classified as criti-
cal service during the present lockdown
due to coronavirus to severely set back econom- the last year. pacts of the COVID-19 pan- agency said. people infected. / PTI / and amid work-from-home situation in
the country, it is serving as the back-
crisis IMF to consider USD 1.4 bn loan to Pak to deal CIL’s production
bone for various other services such
as e-commerce, banking and finance,
Top oil-producing countries agreed e-governance, e-education, healthcare
with adverse economic impact of COVID-19
Vienna
on “historic” output cuts to prop up prices
hammered by the coronavirus crisis and a
moderates to among others. / IANS /

Russia-Saudi price war, sending crude prices
soaring on Monday.
The US benchmark WTI climbed 7.7 percent
to $24.52 a barrel in early Asian trade while
Brent was up 5.0 percent at $33.08.
OPEC producers dominated by Saudi Arabia
and allies led by Russia thrashed out a compro-
mise deal via videoconference Sunday after
Mexico had balked at an earlier agreement
struck on Friday. In the compromise reached
Sunday they agreed to a cut of 9.7 million bar-
rels per day from May, according to Mexican
Energy Minister Rocio Nahle, down slightly
from 10 million barrels a day envisioned earlier.
OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo
called the cuts “historic”.
“They are largest in volume and the longest
in duration, as they are planned to last for two
years,” he said.
The agreement between the Vienna-based
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Coun-
tries and partners foresees deep output cuts in
May and June followed by a gradual reduction
in cuts until April 2022.
Barkindo added that the deal “paved the way
for a global alliance with the participation of the
G20”. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz
bin Salman, who chaired the meeting together
with his Russian and Algerian counterparts, also
confirmed that the discussions “ended with con-
sensus”. US President Donald Trump welcomed
a “great deal for all”, saying on Twitter it would
“save hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in
the United States”. He added he “would like
to thank and congratulate” Russian President
Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince and de
facto leader Mohammed bin Salman, both of
whom he had spoken to.
The Kremlin confirmed the joint phone call,
adding that Putin and Trump agreed on the
“great importance” of the deal.
“This is good,” Canadian Natural Resources
Minister Seamus O’Regan tweeted. “We wel-
come any news that brings stability to global
oil markets.” Initial reticence from Mexico to
introduce output cuts had led to a standoff
that cast doubt on efforts to bolster oil prices,
pushed to near two-decade lows. / AFP /
Sajjad Hussain / Islamabad
The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) is all set to consider
a loan of USD 1.4 billion for cash-
strapped Pakistan to boost its
foreign exchange reserves in the
wake of the economic slowdown
due to the coronavirus crisis.The
USD 1.4 billion loan is in addition
to the USD 6 billion bailout package
that Pakistan has signed with the
IMF in July last year to stave off a
balance of payment crisis.
The global money lender has
called its executive board meeting
on April 16 to consider an extra
loan of USD 1.4 billion for Paki-
stan to boost its foreign exchange
Asia markets down as oil
rallies on output cuts deal
Hong Kong Asia markets fell
Monday with investors cautious
on news of an international deal
to shore up oil prices and tentative
signs of progress in efforts to com-
bat the coronavirus pandemic.
OPEC producers dominated
by Saudi Arabia and allies led by
Russia thrashed out a compromise
deal on Sunday to cut production
by nearly 10 million barrels per
day from May.
Oil benchmarks surged in early
Asian trade, with WTI climbing
nearly eight percent and Brent up
five percent before lunch.
The rally followed months of
slumping prices after the COV-
ID-19 outbreak sapped demand
as countries around the world
have put their populations under
lockdown.
reserves and extend budgetary sup-
port in the wake of the economic
slowdown the country is facing
due to the deadly viral infection,
the Express Tribune reported on
Monday.
Pakistan in March had requested
the IMF for a low-cost, fast-disburs-
ing loan under the fund’s Rapid
Financing Instrument (RFI) to deal
with the adverse economic impact
of COVID-19.
“We have been working with
the Pakistani authorities since the
request was placed. This USD 1.4
billion disbursement is scheduled
to happen next week,” IMF Resi-
dent Representative in Pakistan
Teresa Daban Sanchez was quoted
A Saudi-Russian price war also
saw the ramping up of production
as both countries bid to hold on
to market share and undercut US
shale producers.
OPEC Secretary General Mo-
hammad Barkindo called the cuts
“historic” in size but analysts
said the measures may not go
far enough to secure a long-term
rebound.
“There remain concerns the
agreement could be a day late
and a ‘barrel short’ to prevent a
decline in prices in the coming
weeks as storage capacity brims,”
said AxiCorp chief market strate-
gist Stephen Innes.
Investors are waiting for signs
that the world is winning the
battle against the disease, which
has now infected more than 1.8
as saying by the report.
The RFI is used to provide fi-
nancial assistance to IMF member
countries facing an urgent bal-
ance of payments need without
requiring them to put a full-fledged
programme in place.
Sanchez said the IMF was work-
ing with the finance ministry
to make sure that Pakistan has
“enough resources to navigate
through this difficult time”.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister
Imran Khan has appealed for a
“global initiative on debt relief”
to help developing countries like
Pakistan to overcome disastrous
impacts of the novel coronavirus
pandemic. / PTI /
million people and claimed more
than 112,500 lives globally.
The weekend saw glimmers
of hope that the crisis may have
peaked in some of the hardest-hit
countries.
Italy recorded its lowest death
toll in three weeks on Easter Sun-
day and fatalities fell in France,
while British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson left hospital praising Na-
tional Health Service staff for hav-
ing “saved my life, no question”.
Washington’s top health advi-
sor Anthony Fauci meanwhile
said the United States could be
ready to start gradually reopening
for business from next month,
despite the country leading the
world in both confirmed cases
and deaths.
“The most critical question for
the economic outlook is whether,
and how quickly, the coronavi-
rus outbreak will decrease,” said
Innes. / AFP /
keep pace with
demand
Kolkata Coal India has moderated its
production in April keeping in mind the
demand and fire hazard threats at mine
pitheads and power plant stockyards
in summer months, an official said on
Monday.
In the first 11 days of April, the aver-
age daily production stood at 1.3 million
tonne as against 2.7 million tonne for the
month of March, the official said.
Cumulative production in this month
till Saturday last week was 14.50 million
tonne and an offtake of 14.70 million
tonne indicated that the miner was pro-
ducing in line with demand.
For the new fiscal (FY’21), the company
had earlier set a production target of 710
million tonne based on previous goals.
“Coal production is normal but it has
to be done considering several factors
like offtake, demand situation and limi-
tations of the stock as the fuel is a high
combustible item,” the official said.
Coal stocks in the country now stand
at 120 million tonnes.
Pithead stock of around 75 million
tonne and 45 million tonne of coal avail-
able with thermal power plants are suf-
ficient for 28 days, the official said.
Demand for the dry fuel has plum-
meted from power plants and the re-
quirement of non-power consumers has
also been impacted due to lockdown as
plants are either closed or running at
lower levels, he said.
According to the official, the miner has
maintained supplies and offered relax-
ations to its customers despite default
by some generating companies.
The company has also extended the
time limit for payment of coal, booked
by its customers, by two more weeks
till April 21 from April 7 announced
earlier. / PTI /
States mount
pressure on Centre
for early release of
GST dues
New Delhi States have started demand-
ing early release of GST compensation
for FY20 in view of the Covid-19 crisis
putting the already stretched financial
position of the Centre under further
stress. Sources said that at least three
states - Punjab, West Bengal and Tamil
Nadu raised the issue of GST compensa-
tion dues with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi during his April 9 video conferenc-
ing with chief ministers on coronavirus
outbreak. The three together have GST
dues of around Rs 15,000 crore till Janu-
ary 2020. The total dues of all states as
Goods and Services Tax (GST) compen-
sation for December 2019 and January
2020 works out to about Rs 30,000
crore. GST compensation is released at
the end of every two months’ period.
So, for FY20, dues are actually paid
only upto January with compensation
for the February-March period getting
settled in next fiscal. / IANS /
Goodricke Group
MD opts for 60pc
cut in salary
Kolkata Premium tea maker Goodricke
Group’s Managing Director & CEO Atul
Asthana and Wholetime Director & CFO
Arjun Sengupta have opted to take a 60
per cent cut on their respective salaries
in the crisis arising out of the Covid-19
outbreak. Senior management of Go-
odricke had approached the Board with
their concern to control the expenses
and suggested a voluntary pay cut across
all staff designations up to a maximum
of 60 per cent, the company informed
bourses. / PTI /
 12

Tuesday 14 april 2020

chandigarh www.dailyworld.in

COVID-19: Messi calls health COVID-19: Maradona urges fans to Admire the intensity which Kohli
workers ‘anonymous heroes’ stay healthy and happy brings to the game: Laxman
Football star Lionel Messi has thanked the Diego Maradona has sent words of support to Former India batsman VVS Laxman has heaped
health workers for the brilliant job that they are Argentinian football fans longing for a return to praise on Virat Kohli, saying he really admires the
Newsmakers

doing in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. action amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 1986 intensity which the current Indian skipper brings
The world might have come to a standstill, but World Cup winner, who is currently the head to the game. “I really admire the intensity Virat
the health workers have been working non-stop coach of Argentinian first division club Gimnasia Kohli brings to the game because when he started
to save the lives of millions across the globe. La Plata, urged his compatriots to stay healthy off in 2010-11 against the West Indies in which I
Taking to Instagram, Messi wrote: “Yesterday and positive, reports Xinhua news agency. “I want played with him, you could see that he was taking
the World Health Worker Week came to an end to wish everyone a very happy Easter, especially his game to the next level, with every season he
and, together with @unicef, I want to express my the Argentines, and my guys from Gimnasia,” just kept on getting better,” Laxman said while
deepest gratitude for the work they do. Maradona said in a social media post. speaking on Star Sports’ ‘Cricket Connected’ show.

Hayden’s 93 with
Mongoose bat
my favourite IPL
moment: Raina
Chennai India batsman Suresh Raina has
picked Mathew Hayden’s swashbuckling
93 in just 43 deliveries using the unique
‘Mongoose Bat for Chennai Super Kings
in a 2010 Indian Premier League (IPL)
game as his favourite memory from the
cash-rich league.
Raina was leading three-time winners
CSK in that game against Delhi Daredevils
(now Delhi Capitals) at the Feroz Shah
Kotla and had also chipped in with 49.
But it was Australia legend Hayden’s 93
that stole the show as the men in yellow
won by five wickets.
Hayden was using a unique bat at that
time which had a longer handle and a
short but bulky base.
“I want to say one good inning of your’s
against Delhi. You scored 93 with that
mongoose bat. Every ball was going out
of the park. You played so well on that
particular wicket because the wicket was
turning and Delhi played so really well.
They scored 190 or 185 something and
you were looking so solid,” Raina said
in a video posted on his Twitter handle
while replying to Hayden.
“We had a good partnership, I scored
49 in that game. I was captaining the
side, you made me believe we can win
from that situation. That was a very
very good knock of yours. I still have
the signed bat that you gave to me. I’m
gonna share it with you, I hope you re-
member the autograph that you gave me,”
he added. / IANS /
I won’t create false hopes: De Villiers on playing for South Africa again
Johannesburg South African
swashbuckler AB de Villiers says
he doesn’t want to create any
“false hopes” of a much-awaited
comeback at the T20 World Cup
this year, which, he feels, could
be postponed due to the CO-
VID-19 pandemic.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has
forced the cancellation or post-
ponement of many events but
the T20 World Cup remains on
schedule in Australia later this
year for now.
“I can’t see six months into
the future. If the tournament is
postponed to next year a whole
lot of things will change. At the
India hockey Saumojyoti S Choudhury /
New Delhi
Delay costs IOC ‘several hundred
million’; Japan pays rest
Tokyo The International
Olympic Committee will face
“several hundred million dol-
lars” of added costs because
of the postponement of the
Tokyo Games, the body’s presi-
dent said.
Thomas Bach spoke in an
interview with German news-
paper Die Welt on Sunday.
Estimates in Japan put the
overall cost of the postpone-
ment at USD 2 billion-USD 6
billion. Except for the IOC
portion, all added costs will
be borne by the Japanese side
according to an agreement
“Like everyone else, I have
my difficult moments, not
signed in 2013 when Tokyo million dollars of additional
was awarded the Olympics. costs.” Before the postpone-
Bach said it was “impossible ment, Japanese organizers put
to say for now” the extent of the official cost of the games
the added costs for the IOC
caused by the coronavirus
at USD 12.6 billion.
However, a government
pandemic. “We agreed with audit report in 2019 said the
the prime minister that Japan
will continue to cover the costs
costs were at least twice that.
All but USD 5.6 billion of it is
it would have done under the in taxpayer money.
terms of the existing agree- Tokyo said the 2020 Games
ment for 2020, and the IOC would cost about USD 7.3 bil-
will continue to be responsible lion when it won the bid seven
for its share of the costs,” Bach years ago. On Friday, the CEO
said. “For us, the IOC, it is al- of the Tokyo organizing com-
ready clear that we shall be mittee said the pandemic left
faced with several hundred some doubts about the games
moment I feel available, but at
the same time I don’t know how
my body will see it and if I will be
healthy at that time,” De Villiers
told Afrikaans-language Sunday
newspaper ‘Rapport’.
“...I might get to a point where
I have to tell ‘Bouch’ (coach
Mark Boucher) I was interest-
ed, I would like to play a role
but I’m not going to be able to
play myself. I’m afraid of such a
commitment and creating false
hope,” he added. De Villiers said
he does not feel entitled to walk
into the South African team as
has been alleged in the past. “If I
am 100 per cent as good as I want
full training as nation-wide
lockdown had not been an-
India to host Asian Boxing C’ship in
Nov-Dec this year, BFI confident of
going ahead next year.
“I don’t think anyone would
be able to say if it is going to be
possible to get it under control
by next July or not,” Toshiro
Muto said, speaking through
an interpreter.
“We certainly are not in a
position to give you a clear
answer.” Bach was asked
about the possibility of an-
other postponement.
He did not answer directly,
but said later in the interview
that Japanese organizers and
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
“made it very clear to me that
to be, then I will be available. But
if I am not I won’t open myself
up to that because I am not the
type of person who does things
at 80 per cent. Then I have to do
trials and show ‘Bouchie’ I’m still
good enough.
“They should choose me be-
cause I’m really better than the
guy next to me. I’ve never been
the type of person who felt I
should get just what I wanted.”
The T20 World Cup in Australia
in October and November could
be a perfect stage for de Villiers
coming back but he was mind-
ful of avoiding a repeat of the
debacle that unfolded during
Japan could not manage a post-
ponement beyond next sum-
mer at the latest.” Bach was
also asked if the pandemic
provided an opportunity for
some athletes to violate the
doping rules with no threat of
testing. Bach countered that
the delay could allow new test-
ing methods to be developed.
He also said tests made before
the Olympics would be saved
for 10 years for retesting.
“No one should feel con-
fident that they don’t get
caught,” he said.
Bach was asked about Rus-
sia’s status for the Olympics
in 2021. Last year, Russia was
hit with a four-year ban from
international sports — includ-
ing the Olympics — because of
a doping scandal. However,
many Russian athletes were
expected to be allowed to
compete if they could show
they were clean.
“The Russia question is cur-
rently under consideration
by the CAS, the independent
international Court of Arbitra-
tion for Sport, so it wouldn’t
be right for me to comment
on it,” Bach said.
Bach said he had not decid-
ed if he will run for re-election
next year. He also pointed out
that the IOC had insurance that
covered a cancellation, but not
a postponement.
The election will take place
in 2021, and Bach is required
to notify of his intentions six
months before the vote. He
was first elected in 2013 and
is widely expected to seek an-
other term.
“There’s still plenty of time,”
he said. / AP /
last year’s 50-over World Cup in
England after reports emerged
that he casually expressed offer
to come back and was rejected.
“I am uncertain about giving
a definite answer because I have
been very hurt and burned in
the past. Then people will again
think I have turned my back on
our country. I can’t just walk into
the team. “...I have to work for
my place and deserve it. It was
very hurtful for me last year when
people thought I assumed there
was a place for me. I feel avail-
able and I will give it a go with
everything I have, but I don’t
want special treatment.” / PTI /
Briefly
Sports Minister
visits SAI
headquarters,
essential staff
resumes office
New Delhi Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju
on Monday visited the Sports Author-
ity of India’s headquarter where senior
officials and other essential staff resumed
operations after more than a fortnight of
working remotely due to the COVID-19
pandemic. The minister visited the SAI
headquarters here wearing a mask and
sanitised his hands before entering the
premises. “The ministry has started its
office with minimum staff because work
has to go on. We are ensuring strict com-
pliance of rules like social distancing,
wearing masks and temperature checks,”
Rijjiju said. The SAI office was shut down
on March 21 as part of precautionary
measures to contain the virus. All minis-
ters were on Saturday asked to resume
office from Monday along with joint
secretary level officers and one-third of
their essential staff. / PTI /
Twenty years
on, cricket still
reeling from Cronje
scandal
London It may be two decades since the
Hansie Cronje corruption scandal rocked
cricket, but even now the ripples are still
being felt. This month marks the 20th
anniversary of Cronje being stripped of
the South Africa captaincy following an
extraordinary sequence of events earlier
in 2000. In January, come the last day
of a ‘dead’ Test against England (South
Africa had already won the series) a draw
seemed inevitable after rain had washed
out three days’ play. Yet Cronje contrived
a positive result by getting England cap-
tain Nasser Hussain to agree that both
sides would forfeit an innings. England
were left with a target of 249 for victory
after Cronje declared and eventually won
by two wickets. / PTI /
Rahul apt
replacement for
Dhoni at T20 WC:
Gambhir
New Delhi Former cricketer Gautam
Gambhir believes it will become very dif-
ficult for M.S. Dhoni to make a comeback
to Team India for the T20 World Cup if
the 13th edition of the Indian Premier
League (IPL) doesnt take place this year
because of COVID-19 pandemic. “If the
IPL does not happen this year, then it
will become very difficult for MS Dhoni
to make a comeback. On what basis
can he be selected since he’s not been

coach Sjoerd being with my family. I try to nounced. It’s good the entire playing for the last one or one and a half

Marijne
Miles away from family
amid a global health crisis,
the Indian women’s hockey
turns author
team chief coach Sjoerd
Marijne is keeping anxiety
in lockdown at bay by focussing on writing
a book on his India experi-
ence during the coronavirus-
forced lockdown period. The
45-year-old Dutchman, who
is based in ‘s-Hertogenbosch,
admitted that it is tough to
be away from his wife and
children -- three daughters
and a son --, during the dif-
ficult time.
keep myself as busy as pos-
sible. I am writing a book in
the free time I have,” Marijne
told PTI in an interview from
SAI Centre in Bengaluru.
“I have been in India for
three and half years and many
interesting stuff happened
which can be very helpful for
coaches and in business life,”
he said. Marijne was on his
way to the Netherlands just
before the national lockdown
but changed his mind and
returned midway considering
the well-being of his family
and his team.
“I take it day-by-day and
don’t look too much ahead.
My family is doing well back
home and handled the situa-
tion very well. A big admira-
tion for my wife about how
she is doing this. Not easy
always with the children back
home and no social life any-
more. Without her (support),
I couldn’t be here,” he said.
“It was tough (decision)
but I also have a responsibil-
ity to the team and India.
“When I decided to stay
back, we were still able to do
core group is together so we
can do other things to make
this period productive.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic
keeping all sporting events
shut and the Indian women’s
hockey side stuck in Benga-
luru, Marijne is utilising the
time to work on team bond-
ing. They are also working
on their spoken English.
“I want to make sure that
this time we have, is spent
usefully so that once this is
all over, we can look back at
this period as a productive
time spent,” he said.
Marijne said he knows
he is not the only one going
through hard times. “The
girls are also living by the day
and do miss their families
but they are also thinking of
the future. They do a lot of
workouts everyday to stay as
fit as possible.
“They have also been given
tasks like analysing all the op-
ponent countries and make a
presentation to us (support
staff ). We also watch motiva-
tional movies like Mary Kom
and Dangal,” he said. / PTI /
COVID-19 storm passing
Poonam Mehra/ New Delhi
India will host the Asian Boxing
Championships for men and women
in November-December this year,
the national federation revealed
on Monday, expressing confidence
that the COVID-19 pandemic will
be well and truly under control
by that time. India last hosted the
men’s Asian meet back in 1980 in
Mumbai, while it conducted the
women’s event in 2003 in Hisar. The
tournament became a combined
event for men and women last year.
“We were awarded the hosting
rights in February after a meeting
of the Asian Boxing Confederation.
The tournament will be held in
November-December and the host
city will be finalised after things
normalise,” Boxing Federation of
India’s (BFI) Executive Director R
K Sacheti told PTI.
“It is an extraordinary situation
no doubt but we are all hoping for
this to be brought under control
by June. Then another three-four
months will go into resuming nor-
mal activities,” he said.
The event is usually a biennial
competition but has been held in
consecutive years in the past.
“Bids were sought in January.
The formal announcement by the
Asian Boxing Confederation will be
made once the COVID-19 situation
improves a bit,” Sacheti said.
Nothing, in recent memory, quite
compares to the situation that the
world is facing right now -- more
than 100,000 deaths by the spread
of a virus, which has no known
cure or vaccination available at
this point. In India, the toll has
crossed 300 and the number of
positive cases is going up by hun-
dreds everyday. “The window we
have kept for the championship
allows us time to plan. The Olympic
qualification programme is also
likely to resume around Novem-
ber-December, according to the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC),” Sacheti reasoned.
“So, if things can start rolling
elsewhere, we can also conduct
the championship. That’s why we
haven’t zeroed in on a host city right
now. That discussion will have to
wait until the end of the lockdown,”
he added. / PTI /
year,” Gambhir said while speaking on
Star Sports’ ‘Cricket Connected’ show.
“If the IPL does not happen, then MS
Dhoni’s chances for a comeback look
dim. Ultimately, you are representing
India, so whoever dishes out the best
performance and can win the match
for India should play for the team,” he
added. / IANS /
Asif was the best I
faced, had no idea
against him: KP
London The coronavirus outbreak has
brought the world to a standstill with
sporting events across the globe either
being suspended or cancelled. That has
seen former and current cricketers take
to social media to discuss the game with
the fans and former England skipper
Kevin Pietersen has revealed that he had
no clue while facing Pakistan pacer Mo-
hammad Asif. Taking to Twitter, Pieters-
en wrote: “I think there’s plenty batters
around the world that were happy he got
banned! He was the best I faced! I had no
idea against him!” The Pakistani trio of
Salam Butt, Asif and Mohammed Amir
were handed bans for their involvement
in spot-fixing during the tour of England
in 2010. / IANS /

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