PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State Health, Medical andWelfare department onThursday issued guidelinespermitting limited opening ofshops in the state as per thenorms issued by the CentralGovernment in the wake of

Covid-19 pandemic. HealthMedical & Family Welfare,Special Chief Secretary KSJawahar Reddy issued guide-lines to this effect.

Accordingly, no shops shallopen in containment zones,core areas and buffer zones asnotified by the district admin-

istration till the containmentoperations are on. In all otherplaces, shops may remain openfrom 10 am to 5 pm only,wherever applicable, exceptshops like pharmacies whichare specially permitted for alonger duration previously.

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 192*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated May 14, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Paush & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi: Ashtami: 08:21 amNakshatram: Dhanishtha: 08:29 amTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 10:36 am – 12:12 pmYamagandam: 03:24 pm – 05:01 pmVarjyam: 04:28 pm – 06:15 pmGulika: 07:24 am - 09:00 amGood Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 03:06 am – 04:53 amAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:46 am – 12:38 pm

VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Partly cloudyTemp: 41/28Humidity: 48%Sunrise: 05:44 amSunset: 06:41 pm

5

UN economicexperts hail India’s‘impressive’stimulus package

8

Sateeshleaves a void

3

Indian troopsmaintaining‘posture’ alongborder with China

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra PradeshGovernment on Thursdayissued orders introducingEnglish as the medium ofeducation for Classes 1 to 6 ingovernment schools in thestate for the academic year2020-21. These orders were issued afterthe State Council ofEducational Research andTraining (SCERT) submitteda 58-page report to the StateGovernment on the intro-duction of English medium inpublic schools in the state.The report emphasised theneed for having English medi-um at the school level.

Earlier on April 15, theAndhra Pradesh High Courthad struck down the GOs 81and 85, making English thecompulsor y medium ofinstruction in all governmentschools.

While striking down the

Government Orders (GOs),the court ruled that mediumof instruction should be thechoice of the children andtheir parents. The GOs hadcleared the way for conversionof all government schoolsinto English medium schoolsfrom the academic year 2020-21.

As per sources, the SCERT

report that was recently sub-mitted, included a compre-hensive analysis and recom-mendations on primary edu-cation in English medium,which enabled the govern-ment to take an “informeddecision on the medium ofinstruction”.

As per the orders, Englishmedium will be implemented

in all schools under thepurview of the Ministry ofEducation includingPanchayati Raj, Municipal,and Tribal WelfareDepartment. Schools thathave minority languages, as amedium of instruction willcontinue to function as usual.

Students will be given theoption to choose and theEnglish medium classes willrun along with them. AP to set up facilities

to feed migrant workers PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Moved by the plight ofmigrant labourers walkingon roads, Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy onThursday instructed officialsto set up a facility atevery 50 km inter-vals to supplyfood, water andbasic necessitiesto them.

He alsoasked officialsto chalk out aplan to help theseworkers get trans-portation to reachtheir destination safely with-out having to walk long dis-tances, an official releasesaid.

“Moved by the scenes onthe roads, the CM hasordered officials to set up afacility at intervals of every50 km to supply food, water

and basic necessities to thesegroups of people who arewalking on the roads," therelease said.

Over 22,000 migrantworkers have been repatriat-ed to various states like

Odisha, Jharkhand andUP and many more

trains are sched-uled, it said. Thestate governmenthas been mak-ing t imelyarrangements to

send back thosemigrant workers

who express a desireto get back to their

respective states, it added.A senior official had ear-

lier said the state governmentwas footing the completeexpenditure of the migrantworkers up to the last mileand also providing Rs 500 toeach person for out-of-pock-et expenses.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

As many as 68 fresh COVID-19 cases were confirmed inAndhra Pradesh, where thetotal number of infectionsrose to 2,205 while one deathdue to the virus was report-ed, taking the toll in thestate to 48, the health depart-ment said on Thursday.

Officials told to ready SOPsfor scenariopost lockdownPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy hasasked officials to prepare apost lockdown exit planwith focus on the measuresto be taken in containmentclusters and prepare aStandard OperationProcedure (SOP) for func-tioning of schools and otherplaces where there wouldlarge gathering.

The SOP in containmentclusters should be aimed atpreventing, containing andminimising the Coronaeffect, the Chief Ministersaid during a review meet-ing on Covid-19 here onThursday.

‘Work from home' to be new normal for govt offices

SSC exams from July 10,only six papers this yearPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The state government onThursday announced the datesfor the rescheduled Class Xexaminations.

As per the new schedulefinalised by the state govern-ment and the state SSC board,the examinations will be heldfrom July 10 to 15 between9.30 am and 12.45 pm.

This brings an end to thestalemate and suspense sur-rounding these crucial exam-inations, much to the relief ofstudents preparing for theBoard examination and theirparents in the state.

While finalising the sched-ule, the State SSC board hasalso decided to reduce thenumber of papers for examina-tions.

It will conduct examina-tions for only six papersinstead of the originally sched-uled 11 for Class X, in view ofthe Covid-19 pandemic and itsresultant lockdown.Accordingly, each of the sixpapers will be for a total of 100marks. Around six lakh stu-dents will be appearing for theSSC examinations for the aca-

demic year 2019-20, whichhad to be postponed due to theenforcement of nationwidelockdown. The decision tothis effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired byEducation MinisterAdimulapu Suresh and seniorofficials of the educationdepartment.

PNS n NEW DELHI

'Work from home' may becomea new normal post-lockdownfor government employees toensure social distancing normstill the coronavirus pandemic ischecked. Draft guidelines inthis regard have been circulat-ed by the Personnel Ministry toall central government depart-ments asking them to sendtheir comments on it by May 21,failing which, it would be pre-sumed that they are in agree-ment with the proposed draft.

Preparing for life amidCOVID-19 pandemic, the min-istry said that the steps were

being initiated because the virusnecessitated many ministries to

operate from home to maintainsocial distancing.

According to the draft, thegovernment may provide optionfor work from home to the eli-gible officers and staff for 15days in a year as a matter of pol-icy. There are 48.34 lakh centralgovernment employees.

"Many of the ministries anddepartments in government

have successfully managed andrendered exemplary results incombat against the ongoingpandemic outbreak during thelockdown period by leveraginge-office and video conferencingfacilities of National InformaticsCentre (NIC). This was thefirst of its kind of experience inGovernment of India," it said.

English back as medium ofeducation in State schoolsl Govt dodges HC rap, says public opinion in favour of its decision

TTD for time-slot darshanPNS n TIRUPATI

The TTD has decided to allowonly time-slot darshan fordevotees after the lockdownrestrictions are relaxed sayingthat it is not feasible to allow60,000-70,000 devotees per dayto have darshan of the deity aswas done earlier. The TTDapparently took the decision toallow devotees to observe socialdistancing.

Accordingly, devotees wouldbe screened at Alipiri at the footof the seven hills and would be

allowed to travel to Tirumala ifthey have time-slot tickets.

The TTD is going to allowgeneral darshan and also spe-cial darshan to those whobooked time slots.

The daily duration of dar-shan would be 14 hours, allow-ing only 500 devotees to havedarshan of the deity. It wouldmean the TTD will allow only7,000 devotees per day.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

In a shocking incident, ninepeople, including sevenwomen, died on the spot whenthe tractor they were travellingin lost control and rammedinto an electricity pole atRaparla of NaguluppalapaduMandal in Prakasam districton Thursday. All the victimswere identified as agricultureworkers who were returningfrom work. According to

sources the speeding tractorwas carrying about 30 work-ers when the driver lost con-trol over the vehicle.

Guidelines issued for opening of shops

English medium willbe implemented inall schools under thepurview of theMinistry of Educationincluding PanchayatiRaj, Municipal, andTribal WelfareDepartment

According to the draft, the government may provideoption for work from home to the eligible officers andstaff for 15 days in a year as a matter of policy. There are48.34 lakh central government employees

Exam scheduleJuly 10 First Language,

July 11 Second Language

July 12 English

July 13 Mathematics

July 14 General Science

July 15 Social Studies

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Thursdayannounced a Rs 3.16 lakh crorepackage of free foodgrains formigrant workers, concessionalcredit to farmers and workingcapital loan for street vendorsas part of the second tranche offiscal stimulus to heal an econ-omy hit hard by coronaviruslockdown.

At a news conference, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sithara-mansaid 8 crore migrant work-ers will get 5 kgs of grainsand 1 kg of pulses free fortwo months, while 50 lakhstreet vendors renderedjobless by the lock-down would begiven a workingcapital loan ofRs 10,000each.

3

Centre extends subsidy formiddle class to boost housing NEW DELHI: Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman todayannounced a Rs 70,000 croreboost to the housing andconstruction sectors that havebeen affected by the coronavirusoutbreak and lockdown, byextending an interest subsidy

scheme meant to helpmiddle class families buildor purchase a house.Sitharaman, unveiling thesecond tranche of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's

Rs 20 lakh crore

stimulus package for acoronavirus-hit economy, said acredit-linked subsidy scheme formiddle-income groups that hadbeen operationalised in May2017 and expired on March 31would be extended by 12 monthsto March 2021. The move, shesaid, would provide the housingand constr-uction sectors bystimulating demand for steel,cement, transportation, and otherconstruc-tion-related materials andactivities.

We are now offering a one-yearextension of the scheme - from

March 2020 to March 2021— NIRMALA SITHARAMAN, Finance Minister

Free foodgrain to migrants,easy credit to farmersFM announces slew of steps to provide relief to farmers, migants

Warning that the coming time will be difficult for the city and its people,Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said he received more

than five lakh suggestions for the relaxations in lockdown 4.0, to beimplemented from next week. Addressing the media, Kejriwal said thelockdown was announced on March 24. "It has been 1.5 months andin this period almost the entire country and city was shut. Closingeverything was easy but opening the economy will be verydifficult. We need to work very hard now. The coming time will bevery difficult for us," he said. Kejriwal said his government receivedmore than five lakh suggestions from the public and afteranalysing them, he will send the suggestions to the Centre.

The APSRTC will ply special buses to bring back people hailing fromAndhra Pradesh and stranded in Hyderabad due to the lockdown from

May 16 onward. However, only those who had registered in the Spandanaportal sponsored by the AP government and agree to be quarantined atthe various centres arranged in the districts willbe allowed to travel and tickets will be issuedonly to such people. Authorities in variousdepots across AP have begun preparationsfollowing a circular issued recently by APSRTCMD Madireddy Pratap to get the buses readyand fit for plying again by May 18.

The Congress on Thursday said the government's economic packagehas so far fallen way short of what the prime minister had promised

the nation and dubbed it as a "jumla package". Seniorspokesperson of the party Anand Sharma said thecountry believed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wasserious when he made the "dramatic" announcement ofgiving 10 per cent of the GDP as a package to revive theeconomy and support workers and migrant labourers,and expectations had soared. "The financeminister's announcement dashed all hopes,"he said.

ALL PASSENGER TRAIN SERVICESCANCELLED TILL JUNE 30

GOVT'S ‘JUMLA PACKAGE' WAY SHORTOF WHAT PM HAD PROMISED: CONG

Indian Railways on Thursday said that it has cancelled all bookings fortrain tickets made till June 30 and given full refunds, adding that Special

and Shramik trains will ply as usual. Regular train services, includingMail, Express, Passenger, and Suburban have been cancelled, said anotification issued by Director, Passenger Marketing, Railway Board."The competent authority has desired that all tickets bookedfor trains for the period up to June 30, 2020 may becancelled and full refund generated," it added. The Railwaysstarted 15 pairs of Special Rajdhani trains from Tuesday.Shramik Special trains to transport stranded migrant workers,students, pilgrims and tourists were resumed from May 1.

RECEIVED OVER FIVE LAKH SUGGESTIONSFOR LOCKDOWN 4.0, SAYS KEJRIWAL

APSRTC TO PLY SPECIAL BUSES FORPEOPLE STRANDED IN HYDERABAD

68 fresh casesin AP, tallyreaches 2,205

State records onemore death, toll 48

2,205cases of

which 860are active

patients makecompleterecovery

3

3

3

3

3

3 3

3 3

Nine die as tractorrams electricity pole

l 50 morepatients

make fullrecovery,

discharged

1,192

32 of 68 newCovid-19patients aremigrants

PNS n HYDERABAD

Two more evacuation flightswith 312 evacuees from thePhilippines and the US land-ed at the Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport onThursday, airport officials said.

The fifth Vande Bharat evac-uation flight of Air India AI1612 from Manila via Delhilanded at 1.58 am with 149passengers. The sixth flight AI104 from Washington viaDelhi reached at 8.22 am with163 passengers.

The passengers of both theflights were serviced throughthe fully sanitised internation-al arrivals of the main passen-ger terminal. After the com-pletion of immigration andother formalities, the passen-gers were transported to des-ignated locations in the city fora mandatory 14-day quaran-tine period as per the rulesframed by the Ministry ofHome Affairs.

The Telangana governmentin coordination with theMinistry of External Affairs,various Central agencies andthe airport authorities madespecial arrangements to handlethe arrivals as per the standardoperating protocol issued bythe Ministry of Home Affairs.All passengers and aircraftcrew were brought out fromthe aircraft in batches of 20-25persons. Each passenger wasscreened by the thermal cam-eras positioned at the aero-bridge exit by airport healthofficials prior to immigration

formalities. Every baggage wasthoroughly sanitised by thedisinfection tunnel integratedto the baggage belt. Glassshields were installed at each ofthe manned immigrationcounters to avoid any person-al contact between the passen-gers and immigration officers.

With the two arrivals onThursday, the Hyderabad air-port has so far handled sixevacuation flights from the US,the UK, Kuwait, the UAE andPhilippines, repatriating over1,000 Indian citizens strandedoffshore. The seventh flightfrom Kuala Lumpur is sched-uled to land at Hyderabad air-port at 8.15 pm on Thursday.

The airport has also handled12 international departuresevacuation flights serving closeto 1,000 foreign nationals, whowere repatriated by variousspecial relief flights to the UK,the UAE, the US, Kenya andGermany.

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Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for anydamage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only. Readers are advised and requested to verify and seek appropriate advice to satisfy themselves about the veracity of any kind of advertisement beforeresponding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020 vijayawada 02

The Telanganagovernment incoordination with theMinistry of ExternalAffairs, variousCentral agencies andthe airport authoritiesmade specialarrangements tohandle the arrivals asper the standardoperating protocolissued by the Ministryof Home Affairs

Officials stop child marriagesbeing solemnised on the slyCHINNAM PRADEEP KUMAR n VIJAYAWADA

It is ironic that when the wholeworld was reeling underCorona pandemic some peopleacross the State made arrange-ments to solemnise the mar-riages of their minor childrenthrowing the lockdown normsinto wind. With this, they arealso violated the law, whichprohibits wedding of minors.

According to informationas many as 165 child marriageswere prevented by theDepartment of Women’sDevelopment and ChildWelfare (WD&CW) throughthe network of Anganwadiworkers (AWW), ICDS and theDistrict Child Protection Unitsacross the State from March 25till date.

Marriages were preventedon a tip-off from Anganwadiworkers, Childline Toll-FreeNo 1098 and Women HelplineNo 181 rescue teams compris-ing Child Marriage PreventionOfficers (CMPOs), DCPU staff,Anganwadi workers and thelocal police. In turn, theDepartment of WD&CWswung into action and prevent-ed 165 child marriages.

Despite initiatives beingtaken by the government andawareness being created byNGOs for the prevention ofchild marriages, some parentsare going ahead with mar-riages. The department ofWomen Development and

Child Welfare (WD&CW),along with Anganwadi workersunder ICDS, has been educat-ing the parents time and againnot to perform marriages oftheir children before attainingthe marriageable age but invain. They have been creatingawareness among parents on illeffects of child marriages.However, child marriages arebeing performed across theState.

Speaking to The Pioneer, theSpecial Officer–DISHA,Director of WD&CW, KrutikaShukla, said most of the childmarriages are identified amonguneducated, rural, tribals andfamilies in the backwardregion. Notably, more childmarriages were prevented inAnantapur and Srikakulamdistricts. After prevention ofchild marriages, follow upaction is being taken by the

department, while the AWWstrack each case with the help ofGram/Ward MahilaSamrakshana Karyadarshi ineach village and ward. ICDSsupervisors and CDPOs aredesignated as Child MarriagePrevention Officers at themandal and block-levels andthey would monitor the situa-tion to take necessary actionbesides counselling the parentsafter the marriage was stopped,she said.

She mentioned that if chil-dren are not willing to stay withtheir parents after the marriagewas stopped, they are being pro-duced before the Child WelfareCommittees and basing on thedecision of the CWCs, childrenare being admitted either toKasturba Balika Vidyalayas tocontinue their education or inSwadhar Homes being run bythe department.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Help, an NGO, secretary NRam Mohan said thatProhibition of Child MarriageAct should be implementedstrictly by the authorities con-cerned. Though there are manyincidents of child marriagesbeing reported, less than twoper cent cases are being regis-tered for various reasons, whichis a major setback to preventchild marriages. He said withthe village/ward volunteer sys-tem, it is easy to identify thefamilies and prevent them fromperforming child marriageseffectively, he added.

Why more men are dying from Covid-19 than womenPNS n NEW DELHI

All over the world at least 2.97lakh people have lost their livesdue to the Covid-19 pandemic.While novel Coronavirus hasequal potential to penetrate andspread irrespective of genderand age, but common notionsthat males are more susceptibleto Covid-19 as compared towomen and even fatalities amongthe males are more, have beenseen in the worldwide data ofCovid-19 fatalities and India is noexception.

On March 17, Dr RandeepGuleria, Director, AIIMS Delhi,said that a trend that is quite con-spicuous in the worldwide dataof Covid-19 is that males aremore vulnerable to Covid-19 ascompared to women but the rea-son for the trend was not ascer-tained. "One interesting trend isalso that it has occurred more inmen compared to women," hehad said adding "the reason is yetto be found behind such a trend."

Well, it seems that the mysteryhas been decoded by the health

community of the world. In areport published on May 10 in'European Heart Journal' it wasfound that more concentration ofAngiotensin-converting enzyme2 or ACE2 in males as comparedto females could be responsiblefor such a trend. The report said,"The current pandemic coron-avirus SARS-CoV-2 infects awide age group but predomi-nantly elderly individuals, espe-cially men and those with cardio-vascular disease."

The study also said that"patients with heart failure, plas-

ma ACE2 concentrations werehigher in men than in women,possibly reflecting higher tissueexpression of this receptor forSARS coronavirus infections.This could explain why menmight be more susceptible toinfection with, or the conse-quences of, SARS-CoV-2."

The sample size for the studywas 1,485 men and 537 womenwith heart failure and the resultswere validated in 1,123 menand 575 women. However noneof them were COVID patients.But the researchers involved in

the study believed that otherresearch on how ACE2 interactswith the virus can help explainthe variance in death ratesbetween men and women. ACE2is an enzyme, present in mostorgans and is attached to the cellmembrane of mainly lung typeII alveolar cells. It binds withCoronaviruses like the one whichcauses Covid-19, and allowsthem to more easily infect healthycells.

The report categorically said,"The conclusions drawn in thisanalysis are mainly restricted toheart failure albeit a group ofpatients at high risk for Covid-19." However experts in Indiaattribute men's lifestyle respon-sible for such a trend.

Dr Vichar Nigam working at

the Internal MedicineDepartment at the ColumbiaAsia Hospital in Pune, said thatthe reason behind such a trendappears to be more logical thanscientific. "The reason why moreand more males are testing pos-itive is the fact that they tend tomove out in search of householditems and involve in generalsocial talk more than the women.Also women, while taking care ofhousehold activities tend to washhands more often. Speciallyduring the lockdown, menwould always be interested ingoing out for whatsoever rea-son. Whereas women, under-standing their responsibility totake care of the household andchildren mostly remainindoors."Echoing the same

rationale, Dr Manoj Goel,Director, Pulmonology at FortisMemorial Research Institute,said that males were moreprone for this infection due tomore social exposure. "Malesare at a higher risk factor ofCovid-19 infection than femalespossibly because their socialexposure is happening morethan females. It is seen mostlymen leaving their houses to getthe essential things whichmakes them more exposed tothe virus than females."

Dr Goel also said, "Variousrisk factors in the form of co-morbidities like heart diseases,hypertension, diabetes, chron-ic lung disease and habit ofexcessive smoking and drinkingare also more common in menas compared to women. Theseco-morbidities are responsiblefor more deaths due to Covid-19 in men than women.Whoever is stepping out of thehouse be it male or female, evento buy essentials, should ensureto follow all necessary precau-tions."

MYSTERY DECODED

LG Polymers begins shiftof Styrene to South KoreaPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A week after gas leak from itsplant near here left 12 peopledead and landed over 400 inhospitals, LG Polymers onThursday said it has beguntransportation the remainingStyrene Monomer to SouthKorea.

"We have begun the trans-portation of Styrene Monomer(SM) inventory within theplant as well as in Styrene tanksat the port by vessels to SouthKorea to prevent and eliminateall risk factors," the companysaid.

A team of technical expertsfrom the company's Seoulheadquarters has also arrivedat LG Polymers India plant.The team of production, envi-ronment and safety experts arecurrently investigating thecause of the tragedy andalready supporting responsiblerehabilitation, which is theirmain objective, the companystatement said.

The team is working close-ly with related authorities toanalyze the cause of the leak onMay 7, prevent a recurrence,and support damage recoveryin a prompt and expedientmanner.

"While identifying the extentof the damage, LG PolymersIndia has identified compre-hensive support measures tosolve the situation quickly andresponsibly. A special taskforce is currently supportingthe bereaved families and sur-vivors and visiting them at thehospitals and their homes."

The company is providingfood and medical services tothe returning residents.Various support activities suchas supply of medical andhousehold goods and sanita-tion of homes will be contin-ued.

The firm commissioned

Suraksha Hospital to take careof all residents' health check-ups and future treatment. Italso set up a helpline for thevillagers. "We will soon set upspecialized institutions to con-duct surveys on health andenvironmental impacts anddisclose the results transpar-ently," it said

Stating that it will carry outmid- to long-term CorporateSocial Responsibility (CSR)projects that can contribute tothe local community, the com-pany assured that it will do itsbest to resolve the situation andprevent any such incident infuture.

l The team is workingclosely with related

authorities to analyze thecause of the leak on May7, prevent a recurrence,

and support damagerecovery in a prompt and

expedient mannerl The firm

commissioned SurakshaHospital to take care of

all residents' healthcheckups and future

treatment. It also set upa helpline for the

villagers

l “We will soon set up specialisedinstitutions to conduct surveys onhealth and environmental impactsand disclose the resultstransparently,” the company has said

l According toinformation as many as

165 child marriages wereprevented by the

Department of Women’sDevelopment and Child

Welfare (WD&CW)through the network of

Anganwadi workers(AWW), ICDS and the

District Child ProtectionUnits across the State

from March 25 till date

l The department of WomenDevelopment and Child Welfare(WD&CW), along with Anganwadiworkers under ICDS, has beeneducating the parents time and againnot to perform marriages of theirchildren before attaining themarriageable age but in vain. Theyhave been creating awarenessamong parents on ill effects of childmarriages. However, child marriagesare being performed across theState.

Two flights with 312evacuees land in Hyd

l In a report published on May 10in 'European Heart Journal' it wasfound that more concentration ofAngiotensin-converting enzyme 2or ACE2 in males as compared tofemales could be responsible for

such a trend

l The report said, "Thecurrent pandemic CoronavirusSARS-CoV-2 infects a wide agegroup but predominantlyelderly individuals, especiallymen and those withcardiovascular disease."

Antibodies with potential to block Covid-19 identified

Nellore dist administrationgears up for sand supplyPNS n NELLORE

The district administration isgearing up for the supply ofsand if the governmentapproves online sales. A spe-cial deputy director has beenappointed for monitoring thesales. Officials are also collect-ing details of sand availabilityat all reaches and monitoringsystems for the supply of sand.

It may be noted that thegovernment had recentlyapproved allocation of sandand transportation for govern-ment works and other impor-tant projects.

They are also allowing con-struction activity in rural areasfor supporting the construc-tion labourers under the RuralEmployment GuaranteeScheme strictly implementingsocial distancing measures atthe workplace.

Now, door delivery of sandhas been started for worksbeing taken up by the govern-ment wings and also to con-sumers, who booked onlinebefore the lockdown. For thepast 50 days, labourers havebeen facing a difficult situationwith no employment due tothe lockdown and also ban onconstruction activity. Twostock points have exclusivelybeen earmarked atKondagunta in Kota mandaland another one close toNellore city for the supply ofsand deploying tight monitor-ing mechanism and officialsare planning to stock aroundthree lakh tonnes of sandthere. The government wouldlikely to permit sand supply tothe construction activitieseven in urban areas soon.

Thanks for the mail.Thankyou for your mail.Thanks a lot.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The meteorological depart-ment has issued a rain fore-cast for the State predictingthe low-pressure area in thesoutheastern Bay of Bengal. Itis also stated that the lowpressure would strengthenby May 15 and turn into acyclone by May 16 evening.With this, the heavy rains areexpected to hit the coastalareas of Tamil Nadu andcoastal districts of AndhraPradesh. The meteorologicaldepartment predicts thatthere could be rains, alongwith thunderstorms, andlightning in coastal AndhraPradesh.

Fishermen have beenwarned not to venture intothe sea for fishing after May15. It is also predicted thatthere will be low pressure inthe Andaman in the south-east Bay of Bengal within thenext 24 hours, which wouldresult in rains, along withthunderstorms and lightningin Telangana. It would be bigrelief if the rains occur dur-ing the sunny days in theState.

Heavyrains likely in State

PNS n BEIJING

From a patient, who recov-ered from Covid-19, scien-tists have isolated a pair ofneutralising antibodies thatcould potentially block thevirus responsible for the pan-demic from entering intohost cells.

The study, published inthe journal Science, suggeststhat a "cocktail" containingboth antibodies could pro-vide direct therapeutic ben-efits for Covid-19 patients.

The new informationdetailed in the study couldalso aid the development ofsmall molecule anti-viralsand vaccine candidates tofight the SARS-CoV-2 virus,which causes Covid-19. Thetwin antibodies identified bythe researchers are namedB38 and H4.

The study by Yan Wu fromChinese Academy of Sciencesand colleagues found thatthe two antibodies bind to theglycoprotein spike of theSARS-CoV-2 virus and there-by block the entry of the virusinto host cells.

Preliminary tests of thetwo antibodies in a mousemodel resulted in a reductionof virus titers, suggestingthat the antibodies may offer

therapeutic benefits. Theresearchers found that theantibodies can each bindsimultaneously to differentepitopes on the spike's recep-tor binding domain (RBD),such that both antibodiestogether may confer astronger neutralising effectthan either antibody on its

own — a prediction sup-ported by in vitro experi-ments.

This feature also meansthat, should one of the viralepitopes mutate in a way thatprevents the binding of one ofthe two antibodies, the otherantibody may yet retain itsneutralising activity.

The new information detailed in thestudy could also aid the development ofsmall molecule anti-virals and vaccinecandidates to fight the SARS-CoV-2virus, which causes Covid-19. The twinantibodies identified by the researchersare named B38 and H4

AIIEA extendssolidarity withfrontlineCorona warriorsPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The All India InsuranceEmployees' Association(AIIEA) has extended its sol-idarity with the frontlineworkers. It stated that thou-sands of frontline Coronawarriors are toiling day andnight in containing the pan-demic.

As per the call given by theCentre of Indian TradeUnions (CITU), the frontlineCorona warriors observedthe All India Demands Dayon Thursday. They aredemanding adequate safetymeasures for them. TheCovid-19 pandemic hasalready taken a toll on peo-ple. As the total number ofCorona infected cases keepsmounting, so also the num-ber of infected frontlineworkers.

According to the recentreports, more than 500 doc-tors, nurses and paramedicsacross the country hadalready been infected.However, these figures do notinclude field workers, wardboys, sanitation workers,security guards, lab atten-dants, laundry and kitchenstaff. The AIIEA representa-tives mentioned that workersin the unorganised sectorhave been the worst sufferers.It is ironic that a large num-ber of them are workingwithout any protective gearand other safety measures,they pointed out.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020 vijayawada 03

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy has asked officials toexpedite the work of dedicat-ed courts for implementationof Disha Act and setting up ofone de-addiction centre perparliamentary constituency asa part of the implementation ofprohibition in a phased man-ner.

During a review meeting onDisha Act here on Thursday,the Chief Minister said that thework on setting up of dedicat-ed courts to try cases on atroc-ities on women and childrenshould be expedited.Appointment of PublicProsecutors should be speed-ed up so that the cases could bedisposed of quickly.

To aid the investigation,

work on setting up of forensiclabs with basic infrastructureshould also be speeded up, hetold officials. Disha police sta-tions should also be set up ineach of the 25 Lok Sabha con-stituencies. There should be amonthly review on Disha

police stations. Six Disha policestations got ISO 9001:2015certification and the ChiefMinister held a video confer-ence with the staff.

Vizianagaram, Rajahmundryurban, Visakhapatnam city,Nellore, Kurnool and

Anantapur Disha police sta-tions have received the stan-dard certification. The policestations have disposed of 167cases in just one week, heinformed.

Ever since the Disha Act hascome into force for setting up

of dedicated courts, about 2.8lakh people have downloadedthe Disha app and received19,918 SoS messages, sinceFebruary 9, action was taken in292 cases. The other cases reg-istered were domestic violence(93), harassment of women(42), harassment on minors(eight) missing (seven) amongothers.

The newly coming up 11teaching hospitals should havede-addiction centre facilitiesand there should be one de-addiction centre in each of the25 constituencies. HomeMinister Sucharitha, ChiefSecretary Neelam Sawhney,DGP Gautam Sawang, DishaOfficers Kritika Shukla andDeepika Patil were amongthose present at the reviewmeeting.

Expedite work on dedicated Disha courts: CMPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Stepping his ante against theYSRCP government, BJP Stateunit president KannaLakshminarayana found faultwith the decision of ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy to sell the governmentlands in the name of Build APMission.

In a letter addressed to ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy, he pointed out thatthese lands are meant to beutilised for developing theinfrastructure in order to pro-viding quality life to people.

He reminded that the TDPgovernment had also com-mitted similar mistakes ofmortgaging government’sassets for financing its unpro-ductive and populist pro-grammes resulting in irrepara-ble loss to the State’s exchequer.He alleged that the YSRCP

government had gone one stepahead and decided to disposeof the government lands, andthe decision will not only

harm the interests of the Statebut also future generations.

He said that public welfareprogrammes are laudable andimportant to society but not atthe cost of liquidating theassets for unproductive expen-diture.

“If the government sells thepublic assets one after anoth-er, it would be disastrous anddemanded that the govern-ment immediately cancel thesale of proposed lands inVisakhapatnam and Guntur,which are scheduled for May29,” he demanded.

n To aid the investigation,work on setting up offorensic labs with basicinfrastructure should alsobe speeded up, the ChiefMinister told officials

n Vizianagaram,Rajahmundry urban,Visakhapatnam city,Nellore, Kurnool andAnantapur Disha policestations have received thestandard certification

n In a letter addressed to ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddy,BJP State unit president KannaLakshminarayana pointed outthat these lands are meant tobe utilised for the developingthe infrastructure in order to

providing quality life to people

n Kanna alleged that theYSRCP government had goneone step ahead and decidedto dispose of the governmentlands, and the decision willharm the interests of notonly the State but also futuregenerations

Kanna finds fault with CM’sdecision to sell govt lands

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Rail Land DevelopmentAuthority (RLDA) has suc-cessfully conducted online pre-bid meetings for the redevelop-ment of railway stations inNellore and Tirupati, said VedParkash Dudeja, Vice-Chairman, Railway LandDevelopment Authority.

These redevelopment pro-jects are in line with SmartCities Mission and aim at mak-ing Tirupati and Nellore multi-modal transit hubs endowedwith state-of-the-art amenities,including differently- abled-friendly access ramps and ele-vators and green building fea-tures such as rainwater harvest-ing and solar energy generation,he said.

“The total cost of the pro-jects is estimated at Rs 130 croreand Rs 510 crore for Nelloreand Tirupati respectively, whichinclude Rs 53 crore and Rs 230

crore as the cost of stationdevelopment portion. The ten-der is scheduled to be awardedby mid-June 2020,” he added.

The pre-bid meetings forNellore and Tirupati witnessedparticipation from 25-30prominent firms such as GMR,Oberoi, Ambience, AdaniGroup, Godrej Properties,Reliance Infra, Sobha, Brigade,Embassy Group among others.

This comes after RLDA float-ed an RFP (Request forProposal) inviting bids for theselection of a suitable public or

private entity for re-develop-ment of Nellore and Tirupatirailway stations.

Both stations will be redevel-oped on a PPP (Public-PrivatePartnership) mode on Design,Build, Finance, Operate,Transfer (DBFOT) model. Theywill have operational areas likeadministrative areas, miscella-neous technical area, securityand station operation staff areasbesides world-class amenitiesfor passengers such as shop-ping, hospitality, food court,cloakroom, dormitories and

executive lounges. The Tirupatirailway station is targeted to beredeveloped in three years.

“Amidst the lockdown, weconducted online pre-bid meet-ings for both Nellore andTirupati successfully. This is inline with our commitment toensure seamless operations dur-ing this unprecedented time.We have also started openingonline tenders also,” said VedParkash Dudeja, Vice-Chairman, Railway LandDevelopment Authority.

The Nellore project compris-

es three vacant railway landparcels of total area 4.16 acrethat will be used for commer-cial development as well as gen-erating revenues by the devel-oper. In case of Tirupati, thethree-acre vacant railway landparcel, which forms a part ofthis project, will be used for thesaid purpose.

The concession period forboth the projects under conces-sion agreement is 60 years,which implies that concession-aire must operate and maintain

the railway station buildingsand estate for 60 years.

RLDA is the nodal agency forthe redevelopment of railwaystations across the IndianRailway network and the majorProject Development Agency. Atotal of 62 Railway Stationsacross the country will be re-developed by RLDA on a PPPmodel as a part of Smart CityProjects launched by theCentre. The entire cost of re-development will be met byleveraging commercial develop-ment of spare railway land/air-space in and around the station.

The Rail Land DevelopmentAuthority (RLDA) is a statuto-ry body under the Ministry ofRailways, for the developmentof vacant railway land for com-mercial use in line with theobjective to generate revenue bynon-tariff measures. Currently,the Indian Railway has approx-imately 43,000 hectares ofvacant land across the country.

Nellore, Tpt railway stations to get a makeovern RLDA successfully

conducts online pre-bidmeetings for re-development of Nelloreand Tirupati railwaystations amidst lockdown

n The total cost of Tirupatistation project is Rs 510crore and Nellore stationRs 130 crore

318 passengers arrive at Vijayawada railway stationPNS n VIJAYAWADA

After 50 days, the first passen-ger train reached theVijayawada railway stationwith 318 passengers onThursday. The New Delhi toChennai Central Special trainreached the Vijayawada railwaystation at 2.35 pm and districtadministration headed by JointCollector K Madhavilatha andSub-Collector HMDhyanchand made necessaryarrangements and received thepassengers.

Speaking on the occasion,Madhavilatha said that afterscreening the passengers theywere provided with food andwater. All the passengers werethen divided according to theirdistrict and through APSRTCbuses they were sent to theirhome towns with the expendi-ture of the government. All theinformation was sent to thedistrict nodal officers about thepassengers’ details.

She said that soon after

reaching to their destinations,passengers will be kept inquarantine centres for 14 daysand after testing negative, the

district officers will send themto home quarantine. Amongthe 318 passengers, 70 passen-gers are from Krishna dis-trict. Meanwhile, the Chennaibound train left with 282 pas-sengers on board.

DRM P Srinivas, DEM PBhaskar Reddy, SecurityCommissioner RajendraPrasad, tahsildar Madhuri,Jayasri and others were pre-sent.

Soon afterreaching to theirdestinations,commuters will bekept in quarantinefor 14 days

Continued from page 1

The state government hasreduced the number ofexaminations to minimisethe inconvenience for stu-dents in commuting to theexamination centres due tothe lockdown restrictions.The state government will bemaking all necessaryarrangements in completeadherence to the guidelinesin place to stay safe fromcoronavirus pandemic. Theseating arrangement inexamination halls will bemade in such a way to ensureadequate distance betweenevery two seats as per socialdistancing norms.

The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment has already takenseveral initiatives to makesure that the academic yearis not affected due to thelockdown. It made onlineteaching available for all thestudents through live tele-casts on Doordarshan. FromApril 8, the online classes arebeing telecast live onDoordarshan's Telugu chan-nel Saptagiri.

Continued from page 1

The English medium gov-ernment, municipal, Mandaland Zilla Parishad schoolswill also continue to functionas usual. As envisaged earli-er the introduction of Englishmedium in Classes 7, 8, 9 and10 will be implemented grad-ually, year-wise.

Parents of students study-ing in public governmentschools from classes 1 to 5have already been asked bythe school education depart-ment to chose their option ofmedium for the next acade-mic year. It offers threeoptions. With Telugu as acompulsory subject, parentsare given the opportunity tochoose between Englishmedium, teaching in Telugumedium, and teaching inother mother tongues.

A total of 17,97,168 peoplehave submitted their optionsout of which 53,943 havesought teaching in Telugumedium.

Continued from page 1

Meanwhile Chief MinisterYS Jagan Mohan Reddy dis-cussed the strategies to be fol-lowed while exiting the ongo-ing lockdown to contain thevirus spread and He also soughtstrengthening telemedicine andhome delivery of medicines.

The state government is inthe process of recruiting 550doctors to work in COVID-19designated hospitals across thestate, a state government bul-letin said.

Out of 68 new cases, 32patients were from other statesresulting in a net of 2,100cases from AP, it said.

In the last 24 hours, one per-son died in Kurnool due to thedisease, it said. So far, 1,192people have been dischargedafter treatment in the state.

Of the fresh cases, Nelloredistrict reported 15, nine inChitoor, five in Guntur, twoeach in Kadapa, Krishna andSrikakulam districts, while onein West Godavari.

Continued from page 1

Also, shops selling productslike fruits, vegetables and milkmaybe permitted to open from6 am to 11 am as per local con-ditions and as decided by dis-trict administration.

No shopping malls, marketcomplexes or markets in ruralor urban areas shall be allowedand in rural areas, all stand-alone shops or colony shops orshops within residential com-plexes are permitted to openin the rural areas across thestate.

Cloth shops, jewellery shopsand footwear shops are notpermitted.

In urban areas, colony shopsor shops within residentialcomplexes are permitted toopen. The standalone shopsshall also be allowed to open.

However, in places wherethere are adjacent shops exceptthose selling groceries, phar-macies and other daily essen-tials, the municipal commis-sioners shall be in consultationwith the market associationwill ensure at least one closedshop between two open shopsin order to ensure that there isno crowding. The shops closedon one day may be allowed toopen on the next day as perroster.

In municipal corporationswith a large number of activecases, the district collectorsshall allow only shops sellingessential goods and shops sell-ing material required for con-struction activities, agricul-tural operations likeseeds/pumps etc., andIndustrial operations likespares etc.

Continued from page 1

The officials briefed theChief Minister about the plansto revamp the identified clus-ters across the State as newclusters have been surfacingover the last few days. So far, atotal of 290 clusters have beenidentified in the state in bothurban and rural areas. As 75 ofthem have not recorded anynew cases in the last 28 days,officials sought to de-notifythem for regular movement.

Similarly, 90 more clusters,which didn’t have any freshcases in the last 14 days, are alsoto be de-notified after May 31.However, 22 clusters with morenumber of cases are going tohave a containment zone withradius of 1 km, and 103 clus-ters which have less than 10

positive cases are to be undera containment zone of about400 meter radius, including thebuffer, the officials said.

The Chief Minister told offi-cials to be kind and generousto migrant workers by provid-ing them food and shelter.Officials informed that due tolack of awareness, a large num-ber of migrants belonging toOdisha, Jharkhand, Bihar andother states are passing throughAndhra Pradesh without wait-ing for Shramik trains. Thoseidentified at the border check-points are being sent to reliefcamps, but still many are walk-ing. Briefing the Chief Ministeron the Covid-19 status, officialssaid that 36 new cases were reg-istered in the last 24 hours,alongside 32 new cases frommigrant workers.

Continued from page 1

As many as 2.5 crore farm-ers will be provided Rs 2 lakhcrore of concessional creditthrough Kisan Credit Cards.

Also for post-harvest (Rabi)and current Kharif croprequirements in May and June,NABARD will provide Rs30,000 crore additional emer-gency working capital fundingfor farmers through rural coop-erative banks and regional ruralbanks.

She also announced a Rs70,000 crore boost to the hous-ing sector through one-yearextension of subsidised loan foraffordable houses for the mid-dle-income group with anannual income of Rs 6 lakh toRs 18 lakh.

Sitharaman said the centralgovernment will bear Rs 3,500crore cost of giving free food-grain and pulses to migrantworkers. State governmentswill be responsible for imple-mentation, identification ofmigrants and full distribution.

Also to benefit of migrantworkers, the government plansto allow inter-state portabilityof ration cards under public dis-tribution system (PDS) so as toallow them to use their cardsanywhere to get benefit.

For small businesses, the

minister announced a 2 percent interest subvention underMUDRA-Shishu loans of up toRs 50,000. This would cost thegovernment Rs 1,500 crore.

For street vendors, the work-ing capital loan would cost Rs5,000 crore.

She also announced Rs 6,000crore employment push, usingCompensatory AfforestationManagement and PlanningAuthority (CAMPA) funds.

Prime Minister NarendraModi had on Tuesdayannounced a cumulative pack-age of Rs 20 lakh crore (near-ly 10 per cent of GDP) to pro-vide relief to various segmentsof the economy. This includedRs 1.7 lakh crore package com-prising of free foodgrains andcash to poor for three months

announced in March, and Rs5.6 lakh crore stimulus provid-ed through various monetarypolicy measures by the ReserveBank of India (RBI).

The remaining of the Rs 20lakh crore package is beingannounced in tranches -Sitharman had in the firsttranche on Wednesdayunveiled a Rs 5.94 lakh croreplan that mostly comprises ofoff-budget items such as Rs 3lakh crore of credit line to smallbusinesses as support to shad-ow banks and electricity dis-tributors.

Off-budget items do notresult in any outgo from thegovernment exchequer butthese will aid in easing liquid-ity constraints for businessesonce the lockdown is lifted.

Free foodgrain to migrants,easy credit to farmers

Centre extends subsidy formiddle class to boost housing Continued from page 1

"We wish to give middle incomegroups - referring to the loweststrata of the middle class(incomes between Rs 6 and Rs18 lakh only) a scheme forsubsidised housing. We are nowoffering a one-year extension of

the scheme - from March 2020to March 2021," Sitharamansaid. "This had already benefitted3.3 lakh families. The extensionby 12 months will benefitanother 2.5 lakh middle incomefamilies and generate a suddendemand in the housing sector,"she added.

Guidelines issuedfor opening of shops

Officials told to readySOPs for scenario...

Nine die as tractor rams...Continued from page 1

It rammed into the electric-ity pole with such an impactthat the power cables snappedand fell on the workers trav-elling in the tractor.

It is learnt that over speed

and carelessness of the driverled to the fatal accident andthe deceased were fromNaguluppalapadu andMachavaram villages. Theinjured were rushed to thenearest hospital for treat-ment.

SSC examsfrom July 10,only Sixpapers...

68 fresh casesin AP, tallyreaches 2,205

English backas medium ofeducation...

TTD for time-slotdarshanContinued from page 1

Arrangements are going tobe made to allow only TTDemployees for the first threedays after the lockdown isrelaxed. Similarly, afterwards itwill allow local residents to havethe darshan for a fortnight.After the experimental darshan,in phases the TTD allow onlythe people from Chittoor dis-trict. Later, it will allow peoplefrom the state.

Also, the TTD decided toallow only two persons perroom in its guesthouses atopTirumala Hills. It also madearrangements to conduct ther-mal screening of devoteesreaching Tirumala throughsteps route and allow onlythose who have noCoronavirus symptoms.

Once the Coronavirus isbrought under control com-pletely, the TTD will allow nor-mal dracaena for devotees.

‘Work from home' tobe new normal...Continued from page 1

It is quite likely that for thenear future, the central secre-tariat will continue to go forstaggered attendance and vari-able working hours to main-tain social distancing at work-place, the ministry said.

"Therefore, a broad frame-work for work from home isimportant to standardize theoperating procedure evenpost-lockdown situation andto ensure safety and security ofinformation, while accessinggovernment files and informa-tion remotely from home," itsaid.

The draft has given broadStandard OperatingProcedures (SOPs) that willensure smooth and seamlessfunctioning of the govern-ment for continuity of theoffice works besides impartingresilience in the ecosystemeven in post-lockdown situa-tion.

Employees will be providedwith logistic support in theform of laptops or desktops bythe respective ministries ordepartments and employeeswill be reimbursed for Internetservices that they would usewhile working from home.

"Department ofExpenditure may considerreimbursement for data usesto the officers working fromhome and if required mayissue separate guidelines inthis regard," the draft guide-lines said.

However, the draft makes itclear that papers marked "clas-sified or secret" will not beprocessed while working fromhome for the time being till theNIC evaluates existing securi-ty protocol for remote accessof classified files and informa-tion in consultation withHome Ministry and proposesuitable guidelines and SOPfor handling such material one-office.

PNS n NIZAMABAD

On Thursday morning, ThePioneer lost its young reporterV Sateesh Reddy, who battledcomplications caused by a headinjury for two days. He is sur-vived by his wife and hisnewborn baby.

A reporter who hasmade a deep impacton the people heworked with andon those aboutwhom he wrotewith passion, Sateeshwas returning homein Nizamabad late onTuesday night after visitinghis friends when he lost controlover his bike and hit the roaddivider. He was admitted to ahospital, where he suc-cumbed to his head injuries.

Even as staffers at ThePioneer are yet to come toterms with his departure,condolences have pouredin from people and var-ious organisations inTelangana. Whilemourning his demise,they praised his gooddeeds and work. Mildand helpful innature, Satish hadmigrated toHyderabad fromNizamabad with theaim of making it bigin the field of journal-

ism, after having graduated inMass Communication andJournalism from OsmaniaUniversity. His articles, pro-duced during his stints in ThePioneer and (previously) TheHans India have inspired andwon the appreciation of many

artistes and communitiesacross the state.

Telangana StateMedia Academychairman andpresident ofT e l a n g a n aUnion of

W o r k i n gJournalists Allam

Narayana and gener-al secretary Askani

Maruthi Sagar sent their con-dolences to his family andassured them of benefits in linewith norms stipulated by thegovernment for journalists.

Terming his death as a lossto journalism in Telangana,the president and generalsecretaries of Telangana StateUnion of Working JournalistsNagunuri Shekhar andVirahath Ali respectivelyappealed to the Media

Academy to cover the family ofSateesh Reddy in welfareschemes meant for journalists.

The chairperson ofKadiyam Foundation, Dr.Kadiyam Kavya, termed thedemise of Sateesh as a loss tojournalism and expressed hercondolences to the family.

Sateesh leaves a void

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Goa: Rane warns ofaction over leakedCOVID-19 reportsPANAJI: Goa Health MinisterVishwajit Rane on Thursdaywarned of action afterconfidential lab reports ofseven COVID-19 patients werereportedly leaked on socialmedia. At least seven personstested positive for COVID-19 inGoa on Thursday and theirsamples were examined by thevirology lab at Goa MedicalCollege and Hospital. Severalphotographs of the lab reports,with names of the patientsmentioned in them, werereportedly posted on socialmedia platforms. Taking toTwitter, Rane said, "Confidentiallab reports of GMC and DHSare being currently circulatedby many on WhatsApp andsocial media platforms. This actis violation of patients' privacyand request you all to notindulge in leaking or sharingany such information."

Odisha couple skipswedding bash, donatesmoney to CM's fund

Special flight brings 178 Indiansfrom DubaiAMRITSAR: A batch of 178people from Punjab strandedin Dubai due to the COVID-19outbreak was brought back ona special flight here under theVande Bharat Mission,officials said on Thursday.After landing at the Amritsarairport on Wednesday night,the passengers werequarantined at five hotelshere, the officials said.Amritsar Civil Surgeon JugalKishore said all of them willbe tested for coronavirus aftercompletion of the 14-dayquarantine period. They willbe allowed to go home only ifthey test negative for thedisease. All the passengerswill bear charges for their stayat hotels during the quarantineperiod. The returnees werealso given an option of thegovernment-owned quarantinecentres, but they preferredhotels, the officials said.

KENDRAPARA (ODISHA):Putting to rest plans of a grandwedding, a couple in Odisha'sJagatsinghpur district has tiedthe knot in a simple ceremonyand donated a part of the fundsset aside for the occasion to aidthe state in its fight againstCOVID-19. The groom, JyotiRanjan Swain, said the twofamilies had made elaborateplans for the wedding, but thecouple decided to ditch thecelebrations, and donate Rs10,000 to the chief minister'srelief fund. "We had earlierarranged a grand function. Butthe lockdown threw a spannerin the works. So we decided todonate a part of the moneysaved for the wedding to helpthe state combat thepandemic," said the groom, aresident of Erasama block inthe district. Apart from theparents, the inspector ofErasama police station andblock development officer(BDO) attended the wedding.The ceremony was heldmaintaining social distancingnorms, Swain said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Thursday said differenteconomic activities will beallowed in the city from May18 based on decisions taken bythe Centre on lockdown relax-ation.

Addressing an online mediabriefing, he said most peoplesuggested that schools, colleges,barber shops, spa, saloons,cinema halls and swimmingpools should not be openedpost May 17, and there shouldbe just limited operation ofmetro services.

On Tuesday, Kejriwal hadsought suggestions fromDelhiites on lockdown relax-ations post May 17 and askedthem to send their views by 5pm on Wednesday.

During a video conferencechaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi with CMs ofdifferent states on Monday,Kejriwal had said barring con-tainment zones, economicactivities should be allowed toresume in the national capital.

Buses, taxis and autorick-shaws should be allowed tooperate in the city but withsocial-distancing, he said dur-ing the online briefing on

Thursday. He said his government

wants to send a proposal to theCentre by Thursday eveningon lockdown relaxations postMay 17.

"The country, includingDelhi, had been closed for thelast one and a half months dueto coronavirus-forced lock-down.

"It was easy to close, but we

have to work very hard to openup economy. We usually dohard work. The coming timesare very difficult," Kejriwalsaid.

The chief minister said thegovernment had received over5 lakh suggestions fromDelhiites on lockdown relax-ations post May 17 and most ofthem suggested strict actionagainst those not wearing mask

and violating social-distancingnorms.

"Different activities will beallowed in Delhi from Mondaybased on Centre's decisions onlockdown relaxation. But, it issure that we have to followsocial-distancing strictly"Kejriwal said.

"We also got suggestionsfrom market associations andmost of them advocated open-ing of markets on odd-evenbasis.

"Some people said malls canopen by allowing opening ofone-third shops," he said.

Some suggestions werefavour of closure of hotels, butmost of them advocated open-ing of restaurants throughwhich home-delivery of foodand take-away facility can beallowed, he said. He said peo-ple suggested lifting of restric-tions on people's movementbetween 7 pm and 7 am, say-ing it doesn't fulfil any purpose.

However, they advocatedrestrictions on movement ofsenior citizens, heart patients,pregnant women and thosehaving co-morbidities.

He said people also suggest-ed opening of parks where theycould perform yoga and doexercise.

PNS n MUMBAI

Among the most populatedand congested areas ofMumbai, Dharavi may havehad a delayed entry into theCOVID-19 health crisis, butwith over 1,000 cases, it hascertainly found itself in a pre-carious position.

In less than 45 days, Asia'slargest slum has recorded 1,028cases and 40 deaths, indicatingthe extent and intensity withwhich the virus has spreadthere.

With 66 fresh cases detect-ed on Wednesday, Dharavi'sCOVID-19 tally crossed the1,000 mark. It has just been 43days since the city's most con-gested ward detected its firstcase at Dr Baliga Nagar onApril 1, setting the alarm bellsringing for the city's adminis-tration. The progression was,however, slow in the area andit took a little over a fortnightfor Dharavi to add 100 cases toits tally and by May 3, itcrossed the 500 mark.

According to theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation's data till May 6,the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in Dharavi was sixdays and majority of thepatients were in the age groupof 31 to 40 years.

Located at the north end ofthe island city, Dharavi has apopulation of around 6.5 lakhand is spread over 2.5 sq kmarea.

With a population density of2,27,136 persons per sq km,Dharavi is a sort of ticking timebomb for the civic administra-tion, which is working on awar footing to contain thepandemic, a health expert said.

According to BMC sources,the civic body has been supply-ing essentials and medicine in213 containment zones, whichhave reported coronaviruscases.

Raju Korde, president ofDharavi Punarvikas Samitisaid lack of proper sanitation

facilities and crowded housingconditions were primary rea-sons for the spread in thearea.

"Dharavi has small congest-ed houses and narrow lanes.Hence, even if the BMC createscontainment zones, it's impos-sible to follow the norms ofsocial distancing," Korde said.

Volunteers from the organ-isation were distributing sani-tisers and immunity boostinghomeopathy medicines to res-idents, he said.

According to civic officials,Dharavi has around 225 com-munity toilets, 100 public toi-lets and 125 toilets built by theMaharashtra Housing andArea Development Authority.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Rifle Associationof India (NRAI) has nominat-ed ace shooter Anjum Moudgilfor the Khel Ratna -- the coun-try's highest sporting honour -- while recommending JaspalRana for the DronacharyaAward for the second year in arow.

Moudgil, the 26-year-oldrifle ace who started shootingin 2008, is among the first twoIndians to have secured quotaplaces for the Tokyo Olympics.

The NRAI on Thursday saidit will be sending the SportsMinistry the names of cham-pion pistol shooters SaurabhChaudhary, Abhishek Verma,Manu Bhaker and promisingrifle shooter Elavenil Valarivanfor the prestigious Arjuna

Award.Bhaker and Valarivan's

names were added to the list onThursday, according to feder-

ation sources.NRAI President Raninder

Singh said in a statement, "Ourshooters had an outstanding

last season and it was a partic-ularly difficult selection tomake this time around.

"I wish all those recom-mended all the very best andhope those who could notmake it this year, force us to doso next time around with theirperformances.

"I believe all are equally tal-ented and will certainly reaprich awards if they carry on theway they have."

Bhaker and Valarivan'snames were added to the list onThursday.

"Anjum Moudgil has beennominated for Khel Ratnawhile the NRAI has againsend Jaspal 's name forDronacharya. They havealways believed that hedeserves it and are hoping hegets it this time," a federationsource had told PTI earlier inthe day.

Dharavi's journey to becomingMumbai s COVID-19 hotspot

NRAI nominates Anjum Moudgil for KhelRatna, Jaspal for Dronacharya Award

PNS n WAYANAD (KERALA)

Coronovirus scare has grippedthe police in the district asaround 70 personnel, includ-ing their chief, have gone onquarantine as a precautionarymeasure after three colleaguestested positive for thepathogen.

A day after three personnelof Mananthavady police stationtested positive for COVID-19,District Superintendent ofPolice R Illango said onThursday he and others decid-ed to quarantine themselves asthey had been in contact withsome other colleagues from thestation.

Twentyfour personnel,including a DeputySuperintendent of Police, havegone on quarantine after giv-ing their samplesfor testingthree days ago as a measure ofabundant caution after a manquestioned in Manathavadypolice station in connectionwith a case tested positive for

the virus on May 9.Of the 24, results of 18 have

been received so far and threepersonnel tested positive onWednesday, following whichthe station has been disinfect-ed and virtually closed andcontact tracing underway.

On Wednesday, the SP andsome other police personnelhad interacted with the DySpfor close to an hour at a check-post following which over 40

police personnel have volun-tarily decided to go on quaran-tine.

"We are actually being overcautious.I have spoken to allthe policemen. We know weare in high risk job. We areconcerned that we mightspread it to family members,public, or colleagues. So wewant to maintain extreme cau-tion", Illango, who is on homequarantine,told PTI.

PNS n NEW DELHI

President Ram Nath Kovindhas decided to take 30 per centsalary cut for himself besidesannouncing a slew of otherausterity measures to aid thegovernment's fight against theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The domestic tours andprogrammes of the Presidentwill be substantially reduced inorder to follow social distanc-ing restrictions and minimiseexpenditure, according to aRashtrapati Bhavan commu-nique issued on Thursday.

The consumption duringceremonial occasions such asAt-Home ceremonies andstate banquets will also beminimised by keeping small-er guest lists, reducing the foodmenu and lesser usage of flow-ers and other decorative items,it said.

Kovind has also decided todefer purchase of thePresidential Limousine whichwas to be used for ceremoni-al occasions.

"The existing resources ofthe Rashtrapati Bhavan andthe government will be sharedand used for such occasions,"the communique said.

The repair and maintenancework in the RashtrapatiBhavan will be minimised toonly ensure proper upkeep ofassets.

PNS n MUMBAI

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray and eightothers were declared electedunopposed to the stateLegislative Council onThursday.

Apart from Thackeray,Council Deputy ChairpersonNeelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena),four candidates of BJP -Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil,Gopichand Padalkar, PraveenDatke and Ramesh Karad;NCP's Shashikant Shinde andAmol Mitkari and Congress'sRajesh Rathod were in thefray for the nine seats, whichfell vacant on April 24.

"All of them were electedunopposed," an official said.

"The result was officiallyannounced on Thursday afterthe deadline for withdrawalof nominations ended at 3pm," the official said.

PNS n INDORE

As many as 131 more peopletested positive for coronavirusin Indore, taking the totalnumber of such cases in theMadhya Pradesh district to2,238, a health official said onThursday.

Besides, a 58-year-old mansuccumbed to the disease onTuesday, raising the death tollin the district to 96, ChiefMedical and Health OfficerPraveen Jadia said.

He said 131 more peopletested positive for coronavirusin the district in last 24 hours,raising its tally to 2,238 from2,107. So far, 1,046 patients

have been discharged afterrecovery, he said, adding thatas of now there are 1,096active cases in the district,which is the worst hit byCOVID-19 in the state.

The COVID-19 death ratein the district, which falls in thered zone, stood at 4.29 per centon Thursday morning.

For the last 19 days, thefatality rate due to the diseasein the district has stayed belowfive per cent. Despite the impo-sition of curfew since March25, the viral infection contin-ues to spread in the city, whichhas a population of over 30lakh. The city has more than300 COVID-19 containmentzones covering about 8.25 lakhcitizens of the urban areas.

Asked about complaints ofviolation of lockdown normsin densely populated areasand if that is intensifying theCOVID-19 scare in Indore,Jadia said there is a need tostrictly enforce rules in theselocalities.

131 new cases in Indore;tally rises to 2,238PNS n BHUBANESWAR

An 85-year-old woman fromOdishas Jajpur district hasemerged victorious in her fightagainst the deadly COVID-19at a designated hospital here,hospital authorities said.

The woman, weighing only22 kg, was discharged from theSUM COVID Hospital here onTuesday night after being com-pletely cured, they said.

"Her battle continued for 12days before she could defeat thedisease leading to her dis-charge from the hospital. Herrecovery has raised hopesamong others combating thedreaded virus as people agedabove 60 years are consideredto be vulnerable to coron-avirus," the hospital authorities

said.The octogenarian had test-

ed positive for coronavirus onApril 30 and was shifted to thededicated facility on the sameday.

To her advantage, thewoman had no co-morbidityfactors except age-relatedissues.

"She showed no symptom ofCOVID-19 for the last three

days before her discharge,"they said.

Doctors, nurses, paramed-ical staff and healthcare work-ers, who worked relentlessly toprovide necessary care to thewoman, have been hugelyencouraged by her recoverywhile it has infused hope in theminds of other COVID-19patients, they said.

Odisha governments chiefspokesperson on COVID-19Subroto Bagchi attributed theincreased recovery rate of coro-

navirus positive cases and theprogress among elderlypatients to the governments"farsighted move" to make thestate's health infrastructureready for coronavirus pan-demic.

Dedicated COVID-19 hos-pitals have been set up in all the30 districts state with a com-bined bed strength of around6,000.

Meanwhile, 14 persons,including two three-year-oldchildren from Jajpur district,were discharged from the hos-pital on Tuesday.

One of them was a 60-year-old diabetic who was unawareabout his condition when hewas admitted. He was diag-nosed with diabetes in thehospital itself.

85-yr-old Odisha woman defeats virus

PNS n KOLKATA

Private bus operators inKolkata have readied a propos-al to raise the minimum fare toRs 20, which is nearly threetimes the current Rs 7, as theylook to restart services adher-ing to the social distancingnorms.

At a meeting of the JointCouncil of Bus Syndicates, itwas decided that fares will haveto go up by Rs 5 for every con-secutive stage in order to meetthe cost of running the vehi-cles, its secretary TapanBanerjee said on Thursday.

The Transport Departmentwill be informed of the deci-sion, he said.

Transport minister SuvenduAdhikary had on Wednesdayheld a meeting with private busoperators in the city and dis-

tricts for restarting services innon-containment areas.

The minister asked them topropose hikes in fares whichwill be viable for them inorder to ply the vehicles with20 passengers so that socialdistance can be maintained inthe wake of the COVID-19pandemic.

"It was decided that Rs 20

will be charged per passengerfor the first 4 km, Rs 25 for 5to 8 km, Rs 30 for 9 to 12 km,Rs 35 for 13 to 16 km, Rs 40 for17 to 25 km and Re 1 for everykilometre after that," he said.

At present, the fares rise byRs 1-2 every stage.

He said these rates would beapplicable to KolkataMetropolitan Area (KMA).

Kolkata's pvt bus owners proposesteep hike to ensure social distance

PNS n AGARTALA

The Tripura government hasdecided to introduce voca-tional courses on InformationTechnology (IT), retail man-agement, electronics and agri-culture in 55 more schoolsfrom the next academic year,a senior minister said onThursday. State EducationMinister Ratan Lal Nath saidthe Ministry of HumanResource Development(MHRD) has given approval inthis regard. The courses arealready being taught in 80schools for the last two acad-emic years, he said. "We wantto introduce vocational cours-es in the school-level to impartskills to our students so thatthey don't sit jobless aftercompleting their studies," Nathsaid. He said vocational train-ing providers (VTP) with post-graduation or higher qualifica-tions will be engaged by theadministration.

Prez takes 30 per centsalary cut, announcesausterity measures

CM Uddhav, 8otherselectedunopposed

Tripura tointroducevocationalcourses

Addressing an online media briefing, hesaid most people suggested thatschools, colleges, barber shops, spa,saloons, cinema halls and swimmingpools should not be opened post May 17

70 Kerala police including SP, goon quarantine after test positive

To her advantage,the woman had noco-morbidityfactors exceptage-related issues

The NRAI on Thursday said it will besending the Sports Ministry the namesof champion pistol shooters SaurabhChaudhary, Abhishek Verma, ManuBhaker and promising rifle shooterElavenil Valarivan for the prestigiousArjuna Award

Different eco activities to beallowed in Delhi from Monday

PNS n BENGALURU

Around 1,000 passengersarrived here from Delhi onThursday on board the firsttrain to Karnataka since limit-ed rail services resumed in thecountry amidst the lockdown,officials said.

Soon after arrival at theBengaluru City Railway station,the passengers were screenedfor COVID-19 on the stationpremises itself, the officialssaid. There were some com-plaints from the passengers,about services inside the train,alleged lack of prior informa-tion about quarantining themand the absence of a proper cat-alogue of hotels.

Earlier, the train that leftDelhi on Tuesday at 9.30 pmand scheduled to arrive at 6.40am on Thursday was delayedby 40 minutes.

According to a senior rail-way official, the Bengalurucivic agency along with theKarnataka Health Departmenthad set up 10 health check-up

counters to screen the passen-gers. The passengers were dis-embarked coach-wise asRailway Protection Force per-sonnel kept a strict vigil on

them."It's heartening that everyone

is maintaining discipline andseated inside. No chaos," theSouth Western Railway publicrelations officer said.

Once they came out of theplatform, they were directed toboard the buses ready to takethem to the hotels and otherinstitutions, which have beenconverted into quarantine cen-tres, the officials said.

Around 15 buses ofBangalore MetropolitanTransport Corporation(BMTC), a subsidiary of thestate government, weredeployed at the railway stationto take these passengers to thequarantine centres.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

3 more test positive forCOVID-19 in U'khand,tally rises to 75DEHRADUN: Three morepeople tested positive forCOVID-19 in Uttarakhand,taking the total number ofcoronavirus cases in the stateto 75, a Health departmentbulletin said here on Thursday.The latest cases were reportedfrom Dehradun late onWednesday night, it said. All ofthem had a travel history fromoutside the state, a healthdepartment spokesperson said.Two patients, including a manand a woman, had travelledfrom Delhi recently whileanother man had arrived in thestate in a taxi from Goregaonin Mumbai, he said. FiftyCOVID-19 patients inUttarakhand have beendischarged after recovery, onehas died and the number ofactive cases stands at 24.

MP: Teacher held for raping teendaughter

Woman with COVID-19delivers babyTHANE: A 35-year-old woman,who tested positive forCOVID-19, gave birth to ahealthy baby girl at ahospital in Navi Mumbai,officials said. The womantested positive for the diseasein the 36th week of herpregnancy and her treatmentand delivery plans had to bechalked out meticulously by amulti-disciplinary COVID taskforce team at the privatehospital, they said. "The patientwas given treatment as per thehealth ministry guidelines andshe responded well to it, DrFarah Ingale, from thedepartment of internal medicineat Vashi-based HiranandaniHospital, said. Later, a team ofdoctors took a unanimousdecision to proceed withCesarean Section delivery andthe woman gave birth to ahealth baby girl, weighing threekg, on May 8, Dr Manjiri Mehtafrom the department ofgynecology and obstetricssaid.

MORENA (MP): A 55-year-oldteacher was arrested forallegedly raping his 18-year-olddaughter in Porsa town ofMadhya Pradesh's Morenadistrict, police said onThursday. The police arrestedthe accused teacher and his 53-year-old wife on Tuesday underrelevant sections of the IndianPenal Code, sub-divisionalofficer police (SDOP) AvnishBansal. The complainant hasalleged that her father hadraped her on two occasionswith the help of her mother andthe couple had locked her up athome to prevent her fromlodging a complaint, he said.The victim confided in her eldersister, who subsequentlyinformed the police, followingwhich the girl was rescuedfrom her home on Tuesday, theofficial said.

According to asenior railwayofficial, theBengaluru civicagency along withthe KarnatakaHealth Dept hadset up 10 healthcheck-up countersto screen thepassengers

PNS n LUCKNOW

Fourteen migrant labourerswere killed and nearly 60injured in two road accidentson Thursday while they wereon the way to their homes inUttar Pradesh and Bihar, policesaid.

In an early morning acci-dent in Guna, around 180 kmfrom Madhya Pradesh capitalBhopal, eight Uttar Pradesh-bound migrant workers werekilled and nearly 55 injuredwhen the truck they were trav-elling in collided with a bus, theMP police said.

The second accident tookplace in Uttar Pradesh'sMuzaffarnagar when sixmigrant workers walking totheir homes in Bihar fromPunjab were killed and fourseriously injured after being hitby a roadways bus on theDelhi-Saharanpur Highway,officials said.

The Guna accident tookplace around 3 am when thetruck carrying nearly 65migrant labourers fromMaharashtra to Uttar Pradeshcollided with a bus, which

only had a driver, comingfrom the wrong side on theGuna bypass road,Superintendent of Police TarunNayak said.

The injured were undergo-ing treatment at the Guna dis-trict hospital, he said, addingthat none of them sustainedany serious injury.

Prima facie, it seems thecarelessness of the bus drivercaused the accident, Nayaksaid, adding a case has beenregistered against the bus dri-ver and further investigation is

underway.The deceased were residents

of Unnao and Raebareli dis-tricts of Uttar Pradesh, accord-ing to police, who also said thetruck carrying the migrantlabourers was going to Unnao.

Guna Collector SVishwanathan said the districtadministration is makingarrangements to send theinjured labourers home safelyafter they recover.

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan condoled the death

of the migrant labourers andsaid he has directed officialsconcerned to ensure propertreatment of the injured per-sons.

In Lucknow, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathannounced an ex gratia pay-ment of Rs. 2 lakh each to thenext of the kin of the deceasedand Rs. 50,000 each for theseriously injured, officials said.

Yogi directed officials tocoordinate with the MadhyaPradesh government for ensur-ing proper treatment of theinjured, they added.

He also asked them to makearrangements for bringing thebodies of the deceased to theirhomes.Policemen involved inthe rescue work were laterquarantined in the wake of theCOVID-19 scare, a police offi-cial said.

Meanwhile, six migrantworkers, walking to theirhomes in Bihar from Punjab,were killed and four seriouslyinjured when a roadways busran them over on the Delhi-Saharanpur Highway in UttarPradesh's Muzaffarnagar, offi-cials said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The government has decidedto use one time RT-PCR basedpooled sampling for COVID-19 screening among migrantworkers and returnees fromabroad kept in quarantinefacilities.

The same testing techniquewould also be used for moni-toring in green zones districtswhich have reported no casestill now or in the last 21 days,the Union Health ministrysaid while issuing 'Guidelinesfor RT-PCR based pooled sam-pling for migrants/returneesfrom abroad/green zones' onThursday.

"A decision has been takento use one time RT-PCR basedpooled sampling for surveil-lance purposes for migrantworkers in institutional quar-antine facilities, internationalpassengers in institutionalquarantine facilities/hotels ear-marked for quarantine andfor surveillance purposes ingreen zones (districts with no

case/no case reported in last 21days)," the guidelines stated.

According to the guidelinesto be followed for pooling ofsamples, a cohort of 25 peoplewill be identified, andthroat/nasal swab will be col-lected as per the laid downprotocol by trained laboratorypersonnel wearing appropriateprotective gear such as apron,hand glove, face-shield/goggles

and N-95 mask.Proper labelling

(name/age/gender/specimenID) needs to be done on spec-imen container, it said.

The guidelines stated that 25such samples of such cohortwould be packed in triple layerpackaging and will be trans-ported to the identified labo-ratory under cold-chain asper ICMR guidelines.

14 home-bound migrantworkers killed, 60 injured

Spl train reaches Bengaluru from Delhi,passengers to undergo 14-day quarantine

PNS n NEW DELHI

In the first case of coronavirusin a Delhi prison, a 28-year-old inmate of Rohini jail hastested positive for the disease,officials said on Thursday.

The prisoner who wasasymptomatic tested positiveon Wednesday and was lateradmitted to Lok NayakHospital, a senior jail officialsaid, adding that five to sixofficials who came in contactwith the inmate have been sentto home quarantine.

The quarantined personsalso don't have any symptomof COVID-19, the prison offi-cials said. They also said thatthe prisoner shared a barrackwith 19 other inmates whohave been isolated.

"The prisoner had someintestinal problem and wasadmitted to Deen DayalUpadhyay hospital on Sunday.His intestine surgery was con-ducted on Sunday. OnMonday, doctors took thesamples for COVID-19 andthe result came positive onWednesday," Director General

(Prisons) Sandeep Goel said. The inmate didn't have any

coronavirus symptoms. Hewas lodged inside the jailaround five to six months agoin a robbery and attempt tomurder case and used to stayin a barrack with 19 otherinmates who have been isolat-ed, the DG said. This is thefirst positive case of coron-avirus in a Delhi Prison.

Earlier, three inmates ofTihar Jail were put underquarantine after one of them,a rape accused, was suspectedto have come in contact witha coronavirus-infected per-son. He was lodged in a sep-arate cell in central jail num-ber 2 of Tihar. The victim inthe rape case had tested pos-itive for coronavirus.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Indian troops were maintain-ing their "posture" along theborder with China whileinfrastructure developmentin the frontier areas was ontrack, Army Chief Gen M MNaravane said on Thursday,days after personnel of thetwo countries were locked intwo separate incidents of vio-lent face-offs.

Gen Naravane said the inci-dents in Eastern Ladakh andNorth Sikkim involvedaggressive behaviour byChinese and Indian troopsresulting in minor injuries topersonnel from both thesides.

The Army Chief said bothsides "disengaged" after dia-logue and interaction at thelocal level.

"It is reiterated that boththese incidents are neitherco-related nor do theyhave any connection withother global or localactivities," he told jour-nalists when askedabout the face-offs.

"All such incidents aremanaged by establishedmechanisms where-in localformations from both sidesresolve issues mutually as perestablished protocols andstrategic guidelines given bythe prime minister after theWuhan and Mamallapuramsummits," Gen Naravane said.

He said Indian Bordertroops have always beenupholding peace and tran-quillity along the borderareas.

"I can saywith confi-dence thatd e v e l o p -ment ofi n f r a -structurecapabilitiesalong ourn o r t h e r n

borders is on track. Our forceposture will not suffer due tothe COVID-19 pandemic,"he said.

It is learnt that the situationin the Eastern Ladakh regionremained tense with troops ofthe two countries maintaininga close watch on each otherdemonstrating aggressiveposturing, even nine daysafter the violent clash involv-ing 250 soldiers from bothsides.

The confrontation beganon the evening of May 5 and

both sides decided to "disen-gage" the next day.

In a separate incident,nearly 150 Indian and

Chinese military person-nel were engaged in a face-

off near Naku La Pass in theSikkim sector of the Sino-

India border on Saturday. Atleast 10 soldiers

from bothsides sus-

t a i n e dinjuries in

the inci-dent.

PNS n PATNA

Several bottles of liquor werefound in a vehicle owned bya Congress MLA in Bihar,where a stringent prohibitionlaw has been in place for fouryears, police said onThursday.

The incident took place inBuxar district and the MLASanjay Tiwari- said he was"shocked" and in favour oflegal action against four occu-pants of the car who havebeen arrested if they werefound guilty.

Superintendent of Police,Buxar, Upendranath Vermasaid information was receivedlate Wednesday night that anSUV spotted in Simri policestation area was carryingliquor.

"We intercepted the SUVand found eight bottles ofliquor inside. Its occupantswere arrested and bookedunder the relevant sections.

"From the cars registrationcertificate we learnt that it isowned by the MLA. Furtherinvestigations are on", theSP said.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Uttar Pradesh Congress pres-ident Ajay Kumar Lallu onThursday accused the BJPgovernments in Uttar Pradeshand Gujarat of not giving per-mission to trains booked by hisparty for bringing strandedmigrant labourers back home.

He said about 10 lakhlabourers are stranded in otherstates because of the coron-avirus-forced lockdown.

"The Gujarat Congress hadbooked 12 trains from Suratfor the migrant workers, butthe collector there is not giv-ing permission for it. Trainshad been booked to bringpeople back to Amethi,Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Faizabad,Gonda, Gorakhpur, Prayagrajand Ballia among others," thestate Congress chief said in a

statement.About 19,200 labourers are

stranded in Surat alone, andthe DM there has said that hewould allow the trains once theUttar Pradesh governmentgives permission. BesidesSurat, permission was also notbeing given to six trains fromValsad and five from Bharuchin Gujarat, he claimed.

"The BJP govern-ments had madethe migrantsbelieve that theywill be broughtback for free. But,the reality is thatthe BJP and mid-dleman associat-ed with it arer e a l i s i n gm u c hm o r et h a n

the fare set for it," Lallu said.Accusing the BJP govern-

ments of indulging in a "polit-ical conspiracy" over the issue,he said that earlier too the UPCongress had repeatedly askedthe Yogi Adityanath dispensa-tion to provide details ofstranded labourers but got noreply.

The state Congress chiefclaimed that 13 trains

booked by the Congresshave brought thousandsof migrants fromRajasthan to UP's Ballia,

G o r a k h p u r ,F a t e h p u r ,

J a u n p u r ,Saharanpur,G a z i p u r ,K a n p u r ,Lucknowa n dSultanpur.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi on Thursday recordedthe highest single-day spike incoronavirus cases, with 472fresh infections taking its tallyto 8,470 and the death toll inthe national capital rose to 115,the health department said.

Delhi's previous highestspike of 448 cases was record-ed on May 7.

On Wednesday, the totalnumber of cases in the nation-al capital stood at 7,998,including 106 deaths.

With 472 fresh infections,the total number of coron-avirus cases in Delhi climbedto 8,470 on Thursday, accord-ing to a health department bul-

letin.The death toll due to coro-

navirus infection has risen to

115, the bulletin said.The cumulative toll is as per

the case sheets received from

hospitals, and after beingaudited by the death commit-tee, it added.

Facing criticism for "under-reporting" COVID-19 deaths,the Delhi government had onSunday issued a standard oper-ating procedure (SOP) forhospitals and other healthfacilities in the city on report-ing fatalities due to coron-avirus.

Of the total number ofdeceased patients, 59 wereaged 60 and above, accountingfor over 51 per cent of thefatalities, the bulletin said.

Thirty-four of them wereaged between 50-59 and 22were below 50 years of age, itsaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Top cricketers might start skill-based outdoor training afterMay 18 if restrictions are easedin the fourth phase of thenational lockdown, BCCITreasurer Arun Dhumal toldPTI on Thursday while talkingabout a roadmap to resume thesport.

Due to the countrywidelockdown, all top athletes areconfined to their homes andare just doing some exercisesto keep themselves fit in thelockdown to contain theCOVID-19 pandemic, whichwill enter its fourth phasefrom May 18.

"Yes, the BCCI is exploringoptions to see how our players

can start their skill-based out-door training provided thereare favourable guidelines fromcentral government post May18," Dhumal said.

Asked to elaborate,Dhumal said: "Sinceplayers can't travel, weare looking at options tosee if they can starttheir skills training (netsessions) atgrounds neartheir resi-d e n c e s .T h eBCCI isin con-s t a n tt o u c hwith thegovern-

ment.""We have a roadmap in

place for the players in the postlockdown phase."

It is expected that even ifthe players train at

local grounds, netsessions for a bats-man might mean theplayer and three netbowlers.

Currently, eachof the Indian

players arefo l low ingcustomisedfitness drillcharts pro-vided bytheir train-er NickWebb.

PNS n SHIMLA

A seven-year-old girl andtwo women have tested pos-itive for coronavirus inHimachal Pradesh, takingthe total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 71,officials said on Thursday.

The three fresh cases werereported from Sirmaur andKangra districts in the state,they said.

A 24-year-old woman whorecently returned toHimachal Pradesh fromMumbai tested positive forthe dreaded virus at DrRajendra Prasad GovernmentMedical College (RPGMC) inKangra on Thursday, the offi-cials said.

On Wednesday night, a30-year-old woman and herdaughter from Sirmaur'sPaonta Sahib tested positivefor COVID-19, SpecialSecretary (Health) NipunJindal said. The two hadreturned from Delhi onMay 4.

The injuredwereundergoingtreatment atthe Gunadistricthospital, hesaid, addingthat none ofthemsustained anyserious injury

Guidelines issued for RT-PCRbased pool sampling

Liquor foundfrom vehicleowned byCongress MLA7-year-old

girl, twowomen testpositive in HP

BJP govts in UP, Gujarat not allowing trains booked by Cong

Indian troops maintaining‘posture' along border with China

In first case in Delhiprison, Rohini jailinmate tests positive

In highest single-day spike Delhi's COVID-19 cases jump by 472 to 8,470

If govt eases restrictions, playerscan start skill-based training

On May 12, following his ownset pattern of building upcuriosity and hype thatleads to slogan-loadedheadlines and ear-catching

sound bites, the Prime Ministerannounced a `20 lakh crore “fiscalpackage,” the details of which werecommunicated by the Finance Ministerone day later to the eagerly waiting lockeddown people of the country. Prior to theunveiling of the package, there was nodispute in any quarter with respect to therequirement of the dole. But there weresuspicions regarding the contours, con-tent and intent of the Government qua,the restoration of the economy, which hasbeen lying demolished in the debris ofclosing businesses, shrinking savings,evaporating jobs, rising bad loans, ruraldistress and a bleeding agriculture sec-tor. Post the announcement, the questionthat is begging an answer is: Can the fis-cal package give any stimulus to analready sluggish and sinking economy?To answer this, we need to test and weighthe package on the scales of political reli-ability and economic effectiveness andscope for implementation.

As for the latter, at this crucial andsensitive juncture when the entire nationis going through one of the darkest phas-es of “health and wealth” recession, it wasexpected that the Central Governmentwould loosen the strings of its purses tofill the pockets of people with extraincome without any terms and condi-tions. However, at 5:45 pm on May 13,when the Finance Minister finished her1.5 hour-long Press briefing, the net resultwas that of “operation successful, patientdead.” It failed to show any colour of realmoney to the people. Much to everyone’sdismay, the vulnerable section of the soci-ety ie, the migrant labourers, farmers,shopkeepers and salaried class, who havebeen the most affected due to the lock-down, were left completely ignored in thescheme of things. Further, even the slewof announcements that was made gavethe impression that the Finance Ministrywas presenting a “loan marketingbrochure” rather than a “rescue plan.”Simply put, the fiscal package (contain-ing the fund of legally due tax refunds),misleadingly projected as “stimuluspackage,” failed at the altar of genuineexpectation and needs of the people forvarious reasons that shall be discussedin this column.

To begin with, instead of adoptingan all-inclusive formula of “something foreveryone,” our framers opted for aninsensitive policy of “nothing for the oneswho need the most,” completely leavingout the 48 crore informal sector work-force, 13.62 crore families, the farmers,lower middle and the salaried class fromthe ambit of the package. As was the case

during demonetisation, the mostvulnerable section of society hasended up paying a heavy pricedue to the Government’s ill-planned, indifferent and irra-tional approach in handling thelockdown. Its decision to confine1.3 billion people to their homes,without building any economicbunker at a mere notice of fourhours, was juxtaposed with thethree to four days intimation itgave prior to the celebration ofevents like tali thali and diya jalao.The lockdown has had a visiblecatastrophic effect on the people,especially the daily wagers, whoearn ̀ 300-400 a day and survivehand-to-mouth. They are all leftstarving. The unemploymentrate has been at a 45-year high.Overall, it slowed to 24 per centfrom 27 per cent in the weekended May 10 (as per CMIE).Last but not the least, even themost economically sound corpo-rations have been forced todeclare salary cuts and undertakemassive lay-offs.

To make matters worse, theGovernment adopted theapproach of the “East IndiaCompany” during the lockdownperiod by extracting a pound offlesh from the economicallyfatigued citizens through a seriesof insensitive decisions, includ-ing but not limited to an increasein taxes on fuel. This, despite thefact that international crude oilprice has hit an 18-year low.Further, interest rates on varioussmall savings schemes have beencut. This has hurt more than 30crore depositors. The State Bankof India, too, has reduced savingsaccount interest rate from 3.25per cent to 2.75 per cent for 44

crore account holders. All of thesehave further dried the incomestream of depositors in this hourof grave crisis. At a time when thecountry is visibly trapped in thevortex of an economic recession,natural expectations of the peo-ple were that the NDAGovernment would balm thewounds of those economicallyaffected. It was expected of it tomake a minimum `7,500 directcash transfer to each and everyJan Dhan account holder. Itshould have announced unem-ployment benefits and promisedmonthly stipend. It should haveincreased the Minimum SupportPrice (MSP) for the farmers, low-ered the fuel prices and given thesurplus income vide tax incen-tives to the salaried class. Instead,the Government chose to leaveeveryone “high and dry” andeuphemistically labelled the “fendfor yourself ” scheme as“Atmanirbhar Bharat” abhiyan(self-reliant India mission).

Despite a previous ̀ 1.7 lakhcrore package announced underthe PM Garib Kalyan Yojana onMarch 26, the deaths of morethan 55 migrants, disturbingvisuals of reverse migration, ofthe poor craving for “roti andsabzi” are a living testimony to thefact that lofty announcements,catchy slogans and repackagingof existing measures are all non-effective measures. The onlymodus operandi to prepare for thelong journey ahead is to place realmoney in the palms of those whopull the ropes of the economy.Minus this, the package is simi-lar to a mirage in the desert thatprojects an illusion rather thanconcrete substance.

Second, the raison d'être ofany stimulus package is to spurdemand in the economy by wayof ensuring availability of surplusincome rather than increasing thedebt burden. Our policy-makersclearly missed this visible skylinein their script this time, too. Thedecision to establish a `3 lakhcrore credit guarantee fund toprovide collateral-free loan to 45lakh Micro, Small and MediumEnterprises (MSMEs) with amoratorium of 12 months con-veniently ignores the harsh real-ity that the Achilles heel of thissector is a shortage of demandrather than of loans. Even if wepresume but not concede that the`3 lakh crore credit guaranteeplan would provide a breather,why were a majority of the 6.5crore MSMEs, employingapproximately 11.5 crore of thepopulation, left out of thisscheme? Furthermore, instead ofhanding over a political lollipopin the form of a moratorium, aninterest waiver on bank loan/EMIfor a minimum period of 12months should have beendeclared so as to make surplusincome available and off-set thelosses they are incurring on adaily basis due to a complete clog-ging of the pipelines of the econ-omy.

On the one hand, there is anunrealistic expectation from theindustry to pay itsemployees/workers even in theabsence of any source of revenue.On the other, not even a singlerupee worth “interest-free” ben-efit has been passed on to them.This highlights Government apa-thy and chicanery. In a nutshell,the fiscal package ended up

being focussed on creating debtrather than demand, leavingeveryone flummoxed and disap-pointed.

Most importantly, the fiscalpackage failed to give wings to thePrime Minister’s catchy slogan,“It is time to be vocal about local.”The sleeping paper tiger of “Makein India” is a gentle yet crudereminder of the fact that the hall-marks for the presentGovernment are catchy slogansand sketchy implementation. Forlocal industries to be successful,it will take a lot more than sell-ing indigenous products at theCentral Armed Police Forcescanteens. To unleash the fullpotential of the local industry, thepackage ought to have provideda solution to arrest sliding indus-trial output growth rate. Lastly, itshould have provided for a “wageprotection package” to cushionthe ongoing saga of losses. In theabsence of a holistic approach, the“vocal for local” slogan will die anatural death and be buried likeother slogans in the vast ceme-tery of the BJP Government’sunfulfilled promises.

Overall, looking at the non-beneficial, non-inclusive, zeroincome generation potential ofthe package, it will not be anexaggeration to say that it hasfailed the test of economic effec-tiveness and political reliability.The package lacks a plan to over-come the deadlock created dueto the lack of demand in theeconomy.

The way forward and polit-ical reliability: At present, thenation has only got a glimpse ofthe promised `20 lakh crorepackage. Looking at the preview,the future does not look promis-ing. One must exercise cautionbefore politically relying on theGovernment to salvage the cur-rent situation. In pure publicinterest, the Opposition sincere-ly hopes that the remainingscript will not be written with thesame pen that made numerouspromises like depositing `15lakh in every citizen’s bankaccount, bringing back blackmoney within 100 days, cleaningthe river Ganga, ending terrorismthrough demonetisation, build-ing a $5 trillion economy, gener-ating two crore jobs every year,transforming Varanasi into Kyotoand the invisible ̀ 1.25 lakh crorepackage for Bihar. These exam-ples also highlight that theGovernment’s report card ondelivering promises is full of redlines. Given the current “arrogantand ignorant” mindset of theUnion Government, the possibil-ity of the economy coming out ofthe quicksand of recession looksbleak.

(The author is a SupremeCourt Lawyer and NationalSpokesperson of the IndianNational Congress)

As nations around the world prepare to restart theireconomies after months of being in a state oflockdown, the World Health Organisation (WHO)

has warned that the Coronavirus is here to stay andmay never go away. And as the virus is still mutat-ing, the world health watchdog is not even sure if therewill be a surge in cases or a petering out after the lock-downs are lifted. As nations across the world hopethat it will be the latter, the WHO wants countries notto let their guard down and continue to keep a hawk’s

eye on the spread. Seems we will just have to live with the Coronavirus the waywe live with HIV, Tuberculosis (TB) and even Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).For instance, in India, despite the best of efforts and huge amounts of money spent,approximately 220,000 deaths occur due to TB every year. Similarly, the numberof people living with HIV currently is 36 million as a whopping two million peoplebecome newly infected with it every year. We are living with equally dangerous NCDsas they account for approximately 41 million casualties (which is 71 per cent ofglobal deaths) each year. In India, the number of people who die of NCDs yearlyis 5.8 million and according to WHO projections, the total annual number of deathsworldwide will increase to 55 million by 2030.

Just like in the case of HIV, a vaccine for COVID-19 may not materialise any-time soon. Six Indian companies are working on one and at least three have goneinto a human clinical trial phase. Mass use, therefore, is not expected before 2021.And the worst part is that these pandemics are only set to become more frequentas the years go by. According to a 2016 United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) report, there has been a worldwide increase in zoonotic epidemics. In thelast century, a combination of population growth and reduction in ecosystems andbiodiversity has culminated in unprecedented opportunities for pathogens to passbetween animals and people and on average, one new infectious disease emergesin humans every four months, the report says. So, the choice is before us. Eitherwe wake up and start respecting nature and behave more responsibly towards it,or we just learn to live with these pandemics that will keep on coming at us till wehave learnt our lesson.

If there is one big lesson that COVID-19 has taughtus, it is the need to be self-sufficient and shedsome dependencies of globalisation, which have

been good for market economics but have beentested during the pandemic that has found us want-ing in preparedness. From testing kits to drugs, ven-tilators and hospital equipment and capacity, weare relying on imports. The poor budgetary sup-port to healthcare and education over the years hasmeant our public health system is extremely frag-ile while our R&D is languishing. Yet if some rapidinventions of the last month-and-a-half are any-

thing to go by — indigenous test kits, ventilators and aggressive vaccine efforts thatare both reliable and cost-effective — then the crisis has also opened up the pos-sibility of capitalising on our innovation and skill sets. If we prime and encouragethese efforts through incentive and funding hereon, we could at least develop someresistance given the frailty of our healthcare services. For example, the pharmaceu-tical industry imports nearly 70 per cent of crucial chemical ingredients from China.It is with the idea of building self-sufficiency in mind that Prime Minister NarendraModi has given a clarion call about being “vocal about local” goods but set off aneo-Swadeshi movement in motion. Canteens of military personnel have even beenasked to stock up “made in India” products, including FMCGs. While we must attemptour own recovery in crucial sectors bit by bit, a blanket call may sound a bit like slo-ganeering, considering we depend on global brands for 70 per cent of all consumergoods. The fact is all such home-grown enterprises have failed in the past withouteconomies of scale and the depth of experience. In the end, the imports have alwayscome cheaper. So till we generate a mass demand, develop scale and upgrade qual-ity benchmarks, “be Swadeshi buy Swadeshi” will just be a sonic boom. Perhaps,this is a good time as any to at least push “Make in India” at the granular level. Atthe same time, we also have to take care about not being too insular and protection-ist but competitive. Once we graduate to a level-playing field and comply with themarket insistence on evolved standards of quality, our brands could see greater vis-ibility internationally instead of having curated presence. But that’s still a long wayoff. Anyway, most MNC majors, who have been doing business in India for over 50years, source raw materials locally and manufacture them here. So it is not like theyshould be turfed out or that we should be left without stocks of essentials. There isno doubt that India should promote local manufacturing, which will create jobs anddevelop critical engineering and manufacturing skills. But that “import substitution”should be done by encouraging foreign firms to bring in their expertise and moneyto India, not discourage them.

The Gandhian ideal of self-reliance did birth several home-grown majors, someof which have survived though most have fallen by the wayside. JN Tata establishedhis Swadeshi Mill in 1886. And Ardeshir Godrej believed that India could realise itsdream of self-rule by reducing its dependence on the West for manufactured goods.But we aren’t a colonial outpost anymore. One has to look at what happened to home-grown soft drinks, born after the American giants were chucked out by the JanataGovernment in 1977. While Thums Up survives today, it is owned by Coca-Cola.Localisation did not give birth to globally competitive companies, so we must tem-per our reactionary responses. Similarly, Bajaj Auto’s incredible international suc-cess today is because it competed in the crucible of the Indian market with foreigngiants. And the success of the Tata Group, Mahindra and Hero, all Indian multina-tionals, is because they have weathered competition and have collaborated with thebest foreign partners. India is particularly dependent on China, importing goods andservices worth $50 billion more than it exports. We are deficient in rare-earth met-als and cannot produce solar power equipment, wind turbines, cellphones, laptopsand electronics. Many international manufacturers already have plants here, assem-ble 90-100 per cent of their portfolio here, are expanding their R&D facilities and com-ponent sourcing from India. Global brands dominate 90 per cent of the market in thesmartphone and television categories, although the latter did have a healthy domes-tic brand showing till about the 80s. Our own brands of refrigerators, washing machinesand ACs have long lost out to Chinese, Japanese and South Korean imports. Ourdiscretionary and luxury segments are totally dominated by global brands. Khadi isstill a home-spun effort that has slim international acceptability as Indian linen. Butif our experiments with home-grown retail majors, hypermarket chains and fast foodbrands are any indication, then we have stood up quite well despite global players.Promoting Indian firms for smaller contracts is a worthwhile cause. But we shouldstop conflating self-reliance with Swadeshi. India is an integral part of the global econ-omy and we do not want to go back towards the bankrupt days of India in the 1970s.

Swadeshi vs Make in India

Condemnable attack

Sir — It was heart-wrenching tohear that a mosque in Telanganawas attacked by goons while fivepersons — this number has beenallowed by the government —were offering namaaz there.Members of the majority commu-nity not only created an unneces-sary ruckus but also pelted stones,injuring some people. The policehave taken cognisance of thematter; four cases have been reg-istered and Section 144 has beenimposed in the area. TheTelangana Government must takestrict action so that such a dread-ful incident does not recur.

Ibn-KatibAzamgarh

False promises

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Economic rescue” (May 14).The Prime Minister’s idea of a self-reliant India (atmanirbhar Bharat)is like old wine in a new bottle. Foreven our scriptures mention eshahpanthah — that is, self-sufficientIndia. In fact, Make in India, theeconomic slogan of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has

Swadeshi overtones rather thanbeing an original concept.

Coming to Modi’s fourthnationwide address to the peoplein the wake of the pandemic, itlasted for about 30 minutes butlacked enthusiasm. Make in India,Digital India, Startup India andthe Smart Cities project were allaimed at creating jobs for the

country’s youth but theGovernment has failed miserably.Had these projects been a success,the Prime Minister would nothave talked about making Indiaself-dependent. It’s time to comeup with real ideas to tackle theeconomy than show oratory skills.

Navneet SethDhuri

Language barriers

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Economic rescue” (May 14).The Prime Minister’s widely-tele-vised speeches during theCOVID-19 lockdown have beenGreek and Latin to many non-Hindi speaking Indians, especial-

ly in the South where a majoritydo not understand the language.Most people were unable to fol-low the speeches in real-time aswe had to wait for the translation.

During the demonetisationannouncement in 2016, thePrime Minister’s message wasaired in English and Hindi. Theleast the Ministry of Informationand Broadcasting can do is todub the speeches in regional lan-guages and air them in States. Ina crisis of this magnitude, clearand instant communicationacross India is essential.

Adrian DavidChennai

Stand united

Sir — In these crucial timeswhen Governments across theworld are struggling to fight theCorona pandemic, Central aswell as State Governments mustfunction with stability for thesafety of mankind. Political agen-da can be addressed later ifpeople survive the present crisis.

SumitVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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op nionVIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020

06

Broken promises, again

JAIVEER SHERGILL

The Government’s fiscal package has failed the test of economic effectivity and politicalreliability. It lacks a plan to overcome the deadlock created by the lack of economic demand

We need to understandthe art of living withCorona. This is veryimportant as it is not anatural virus. It is anartificial virus.

Union Minister—Nitin Gadkari

I am old-school when it comesto love. I like to be pursuedand wooed, meet someone inmore than a digital way. I am a die-hard romantic andbelieve in true love.

Actor—Kiara Advani

It is important to put this on the table: This virus(Corona) may become justanother endemic virus in our communities. It may never go away.

WHO official—Mike Ryan

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Convert crisis into an opportunity

This refers to the editorial, “Onus is on us” (May 13).The Prime Minister’s announcement of a ̀ 20 trillionstimulus package is the fifth largest in the world dur-

ing COVID-19 times after Japan, the US, Sweden andGermany. Representing around 10 per cent of the coun-try’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it aims to cover awider spectrum of society, including the cottage indus-try, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),labourers and the middle class. The main objective is toput more money into people's pockets to suitably boostdomestic consumption and demand. With nationsdeveloping a trust deficit in the wake of the pandemic,the present bounty aims to make India self-reliant anda manufacturing hub. But for this to happen, India mustbecome an important player in the global supply chain.The underlying message is quite clear: India has to con-vert the current crisis into an opportunity.

What’s heartening is the fact that artificial intelli-gence-driven technology has been proposed for bothsupply chain management and agriculture. Labourreforms, too, have been proposed. But the Government

will have to exhibit strong political will in carrying outbold labour reforms coupled with a supportive tax regimein order to lure companies to set up a manufacturingbase in India. The onus now is also on Indian Inc toseize this huge opportunity. Since it is more than clearthat the Corona pandemic is here to stay, we will haveto start learning to live with it and bring a paradigm shiftin our way of living.

Bal GovindNoida

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

WHO’s caution I would probably ask him(Dhoni) to bat at number 3 or4. Or, if I have only 10 oversleft, I will tell him go and justplay his game the way heplays as a finisher.

Former cricketer—MSK Prasad

For a sentiment to become reality, we need to generate massconfidence, demand and scale of home-grown brands, a tall order

The global health watchdog warns that COVID-19 couldbecome endemic and a vaccine could take some time coming

A different kind of illness

RELAXING STAY-AT-HOME RULES TOO QUICKLY INAMERICA COULD BRING MORE SUFFERING

AND DEATH TO THE COUNTRY.—DIRECTOR, NIAID

ANTHONY FAUCI

LOOK, HE WANTS TO PLAY ALL SIDES OF THEEQUATION. IT’S NOT AN ACCEPTABLE ANSWER,ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO SCHOOLS.—US PRESIDENTDONALD TRUMP

Noble words like “justice”, “liberty” and“equality” in the Indian Constitution’s pre-amble — “We the people of India... do here-

by adopt, enact and give to ourselves thisConstitution” — safeguard the staggering popu-lation of above 137 crore citizens amid adversities.Pitching real issues over rhetoric to improve ourHuman Development Index (HDI) ought to besensed pragmatically. With a plan to impose lock-down 4.0 to wage war against the Coronavirus, theGovernment announced a `20 lakh crore specialeconomic package. This is equivalent to around 10per cent of India’s GDP, which is the componentof Aatma Nirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India.Further, the Prime Minister has stated, “Corona willbe with us for a long time but our lives cannotrevolve around it. We will wear masks, we will fol-low doh gaj doori (keep a distance of six feet) butwe won’t let it derail our targets.”

However, stories of starvation are becoming thenew normal. The migrant population is strugglingto manage one meal a day. Unemployment and des-peration are all around, be it in rural or urban areas.In the aftermath of the lockdown, distribution net-works of crops are choked and sometimes the StateGovernments are clueless on how to move the foodto where it is most needed. At the beginning of thisyear, the World Economic Forum reported thatIndia ranked 76th out of 82 countries on the socialmobility index. This precisely signals the sordidstate of social justice. Reflecting on inclusive devel-opment, the United Nations (UN) has underlinedthe aspects of HDI, equality and justice in its ambi-tious 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)comprising 17 objectives. Nonetheless, the Coronacrisis will upend the timeline and derail the devel-opment of prescribed goals. It has infected the SDGsat the very core.

The National Institution for TransformingIndia (NITI Aayog) has taken up the challenge toachieve the SDGs. Aroya Setu, the Government’sapp, is enabling the machinery to identify poten-tial COVID-19 cases in the country. However, theinfection has claimed above 2,500 lives, renderedmillions jobless and stranded people at numerouslocations with empty bellies. This makes one ques-tion the achievement of inclusive development andsocial justice on the constitutional apparatus as 5.5per cent of India’s total population is under theextreme poverty line and is battling the epidemicalone. Rights groups have demanded adequatesocial security measures for women and labourerson a war footing.

Social justice in India is in shambles. Sixteenmigrant labourers, who were fatigued and fell asleepon railway tracks in Aurangabad district ofMaharashtra, were crushed to death. This humanloss could have been averted if they had beenpromised free travel home. Millions are starvingand the Public Distribution System (PDS) in manyStates is unable to address food insecurity as thegap between demand and supply is widening eachday. To combat the Coronavirus, the nation is reel-ing under lockdown 3.0, which will extend into 4.0after May 17. There are potential problems risingto counter the infection. The doorstep delivery offree rations and other essentials for vulnerable sec-tions of society is yet to be intensified. When nor-malcy is limping back in a regulated manner, liquor

shops have opened which contradicts thetheory of meagre supply of essentials forthe deprived. In a startling note, theConfederation of Indian AlcoholicBeverage Companies and the SupremeCourt have asked States to contemplateonline sales and home delivery of liquor.

Usually, the five southern States —Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Kerala — consume halfof India’s liquor and also provide majorexcise to the Government. In the wakeof the opening of liquor shops in Delhi,the Government has imposed 70 per cent“special Corona fee” on the sale ofliquor, aiming at enhancing revenue,which has been hit hard due to the lock-downs. However, there is chaos outsideshops, forcing police to use batons to dis-perse crowds jostling to buy alcohol. Inthe melee, social distancing norms aregrossly violated. Though the police haddrawn chalk circles at the appropriate dis-tances for people to stand in a queue, alltheir effort was in vain.

With COVID-19 looming large,social justice, the signature tune of ourConstitution, still eludes scores of citizensin these troubled times.The UnionGovernment has taken a $1.5 billion loanfrom the Asian Development Bank toprovide social protection to the needy.Understanding that constitutional justiceis non-negotiable, State Governments areon their toes to deliver basic amenitiesto citizens. The MaharashtraGovernment has announced free rationto the disabled for a month. The police-men, who are above 55 years of age inMumbai, have been asked to go on leave.The Rajasthan Corona Sahayata Yojanais catering to the needs of the disadvan-taged.

The Odisha Government is trying tobring out a whopping 4.86 lakh strand-

ed migrant workers from Maharashtraand Gujarat. The Uttar PradeshGovernment has brought back thousandsof labourers from neighbouring States.The Government has started train ser-vices from the national Capital to vari-ous cities. The passengers are made toadhere to social distancing norms andstand inside circles marked on the path-way and the platform. They are subject-ed to thermal scanning and the trains arebeing sanitised. However, it still seemsthat there is a dearth of efforts to meetthe requirements of the people in the timeof crisis.

In order to achieve its SDGs, Indiacannot afford to leave anyone behind andthere is no other way to end stigma anddiscrimination than through social jus-tice and inclusive societies. Previously,abject poverty, lack of education, health-care facilities, gender parity and theinability to reduce maternal mortalityrates were the factors due to which Indiafailed to achieve its 2015 MillenniumDevelopment Goals. That cannot happenagain.

Currently, glaring instance of laps-es in securing social justice worldwidecannot be ruled out, too. Older BlackAmericans dying in greater numbers issetting a disturbing trend in the socialmilieu, warranting a probe in socio-eco-nomic and racial justice issues. In Spain,older people were found dead and aban-doned and elderly homes were not paidthe required attention. In India, suchcommunity issues are yet to come to thefore. However, these issues of neglectedsocial justice, human rights and unad-dressed social insecurity are not new. Itis not during COVID-19 alone, theissues of social unrest were also therewhenever any major epidemic broke outin the past. When the Zika epidemic

broke out in South and Central Americaamong sugarcane workers, they were sub-jected to racial, gender and economicinequity. Women in El Salvador fromCentral America encountered seriousbarriers in exercising their sexual andreproductive rights.

The West African Ebola epidemic,which killed above 11,000 people, exac-erbated the poverty crisis. The endemicwas neglected as a social justice issue.Human rights violations were prevalentwhile dealing with the H1N1 Swine Flupandemic and the Asian Flu. Similarly,the outbreak of SARS caused socialexclusion of a racial minority — theAsian-Canadian group.

Social justice remains a distantdream. Millions were denied social, eco-nomic and political justice when epi-demics were dealt with from time to time.There are several precedents of noncha-lance in enforcing laws and initiativesduring epidemics. The Indian Swine Fluoutbreak in 2015 resulted in socio-eco-nomic inequities. Dana Majhi, a tribalfrom Malkangiri district of Odisha car-ried his wife’s corpse on his shoulders ashe failed to get a hearse. His wife had diedof Japanese Encephalitis and he walkedaround 10 km from the hospital with hiswife’s body.

Social justice, equity and humanrights are at the borderline. At this junc-ture, no one should be left behind andwe must end discrimination throughsocial justice and inclusive societies.The politics of epidemics is not thepanacea. The approach to the epidemicshould be holistic by bringing science,governance and social justice into onefold.

(Biswal and Chakraborty areAssistant Professors at SIBM and are work-ing at Symbiosis International, Pune)

With COVID-19 looming large, social justice, the signature tune of our Constitution,

still eludes scores of citizens in these troubled times

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Lockdown 4.0 notneeded Mr PM

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

The Government must bring in ease ofliving with safety and hygiene

practices post May 17

IN ORDER TOACHIEVE ITS SDGS,

INDIA CANNOTAFFORD TO LEAVE

ANYONEBEHIND AND THERE IS NO

OTHER WAY TO ENDSTIGMA AND

DISCRIMINATIONTHAN THROUGHSOCIAL JUSTICEAND INCLUSIVE

SOCIETIES.PREVIOUSLY, ABJECT

POVERTY, LACK OFEDUCATION,

HEALTHCAREFACILITIES, GENDER

PARITY AND THEINABILITY TO

REDUCEMATERNALMORTALITY

RATES WERE THEFACTORS DUE TO

WHICH INDIA FAILED TO ACHIEVE

ITS 2015MILLENNIUM

DEVELOPMENTGOALS. THAT

CANNOTHAPPEN AGAIN

Ok, the clapping, torch lights, lamps and petal showers haveall been done. Now we need to get back to the slow, frustrat-ing task of getting back to our livelihoods, amid an almost

Schrodinger equation- equivalent of a virus wreaking havoc and cre-ating a “panic-demic.” This is my fourth “at home” column on theissue of what does it take to get back to ‘Make in India’ and live therest of 2020.

Let me draw attention to some real life experiences in the lasttwo months and then I shall derive some inferences. My friend is aneighborhood doctor, kind and tax-paying with a worldview. He hasa family of four, including an 80-plus mother, a teenage daughterand a doctor wife. His clinic, which employs three persons, has beenshut for two months now. He has a salary, taxes and many suchrecurring incidentals, to pay every month. As per Government orders,opening up a healthcare standalone unit is/was always allowed buthe didn’t have access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ini-tially. Now he has procured some, but the cost of each suit whichhas to be disposed after single use is `2,000, which is a recurringcapital expenditure he has to bear daily. The question is, can a pri-vate healthcare personnel incur this expense every day?

The second instance is from a food distribution initiative organ-ised by the Delhi Government. During the first phase of the lock-down and its concurrent State responses, people queued for foodtwice daily, but soon they started losing patience. At one instanceI was mobbed by a group, who with folded hands, requested meto get them a pass back to their homes in distant villages.

All these are real-life, individual experiences of common peo-ple caught in a lockdown. We can always get into an informed argu-ment of what worked and what didn’t and why something is wrong,based on our respective ideologies and political, religious identities.But today we need to act up and free India from these new massgatherings and miseries. Here are a few suggestions for good gov-ernance.

The Central Government has been for nearly two months over-ruling State Governments due to the powers given it by the DisasterManagement Act. The significant point here being Central rule, throughDistrict Magistrates who mostly would also report to their State ChiefSecretaries and would be answerable to Central Government boss-es. The key challenge here is the unwillingness of the bureaucracyto accept this public service not-for-profit job as also being a fac-simile version of a corporate job. Agree, many District Magistratesgo on to becoming some of the most diligent secretaries (highestlevel of bureaucracy) but do they become visionary leaders? ThePrime Minister has done an good job of empowering this bunch ofbureaucrats by getting them to present slide decks and showing tar-gets. Did he get it down to the district level? Atma Nirbhar Bharator self-reliant India will only happen if each District Magistrate is des-ignated as the CEO. S/he should be able to produce two slides ofpre and post-COVID decks on the GDP in the district. They shouldbe empowered with adequate checks, to revive their own district’seconomy in a relatively short span of time. Maybe the DisasterManagement Act can be utilised for economic empowerment.

Second, the Government should put in more than generous effortsto remove bureaucratic language in policy announcements. Nobodyunderstands “`20,000 crore Subordinate Debt for StressedMSMEs” to take an example. Do we expect an entry-level staff in abank, facing a loan-seeking local tailor, employing five, to explain,nuances of this policy to him? Can we expect the Government tosimplify with FAQs who are and who aren’t beneficiaries of itsschemes? Can governance simplify its language for the people? Land,labour, liquidity and laws can change only when authorities deliver-ing them, start to speak a language understood by citizens. Is it timefor simplified communications governance?

Also, can governance be unified? It can be a rhetorical ques-tion to ask if, local, district, Central and State Governments can bealigned for a resilient and self-dependent India? Is it possible to breakand get an elephant’s share of global supply chains? Can we as anation, besides shunning ‘Made in China’ Diwali lamps, electricalswitches and textiles think about `5,000 phones? Do we acknowl-edge all these electronic gadgets and their spare parts are an assem-bly line of global supply chains with origins in China?

Finally, and again related to language, the nomenclature “lock-down” signifying a red line, needs to go away. Yes, the pandemicisn’t going to subside anytime soon and restrictions on movementof people and goods along with significant economic activity are hereto stay for some time. However, changes in language will at leastprevent the local police from lording over those who can’t afford toargue. Do not bring in “lockdown 4.0”, bring in ease of living withsafety and hygiene practices post May 17.

(The writer is Country Manager, India, ITI Council)

It is hard being born Canadian ifyour ambition is to be a real-lifeversion of movie tough guy Jean-

Claude Van Damme (Blood Sport,Death Warrant, Universal Soldier,Last Action Hero and so on). Thesame goes for being Belgian, ofcourse, but Van Damme just want-ed to be in the movies. JordanGoudreau wanted the real thingand joining the Canadian armyreserves while studying computer sci-ence at the University of Calgary did-n’t quite do it for him. So he movedto the United States (US) and joinedthe Green Berets, which provides a

much better mix of derring-do, mar-tial arts, and exotic foreigners to kill.(Sudden Death, Die Fast Die Furious,6 Bullets, Kill ‘Em All and so on).

Goudreau was not a fake. He didseveral tours in Afghanistan and Iraq,killing real people and by all accountswas a brave and competent soldier.But action heroes have early expirydates.

At 60, Jean-Claude Van Dammeis doing self-mocking tough-guycommercials for Coors Light. JordanGoudreau’s luck ran out in 2016,when he was injured in a parachuteaccident and had to retire from hisbeloved Special Forces at the youngage of 40.

Nobody offered him any beercommercials and his great idea to sellthe services of military veterans toschools to stop mass shooters — par-ents would pay a subscription of$8.99 a month — didn’t fly. So heended up doing what washed-upAmerican action heroes always do:He went to Latin America (Butch

Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, TheMagnificent Seven and so on.)

Specifically, he went toColombia. Having set up a “securi-ty company” called Silvercorp inFlorida, he got in touch with theVenezuelan Congressional leaderwho claims to be the legitimatePresident, Juan Guaidó, offering tooverthrow Nicolás Maduro (whoactually lives in the presidentialpalace). This would be done in thetime-honoured way, by recruitingand training exiles and mercenarieswho would go in, attack the regime,and trigger a mass uprising. (Thinkthe 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion ofCuba, only successful.) And forabout two weeks last October,Guaidó was tempted. He even signeda $213 million contract withGoudreau’s Silvercorp for unspecified“general services”, but he cancelledthe contract in early November.Maybe Guaidó is not quite as gullibleas he seems, or maybe he justremembered that hiring foreigners to

overthrow your country’sGovernment, even in the name ofdemocracy, is a bad look.

Anyway, that was the end of thegrand plan but Goudreau didn’tgive up. The US Government hadrecently declared Maduro a “narco-terrorist” (whatever that is) and puta $15 million price on theVenezuelan dictator’s head. SoGoudreau’s Plan B was to send in acrack team (they’re always called“crack teams”) to capture Maduro,airlift him out of the country and col-lect the reward.

However, by now Venezuela’sIntelligence service and practicallyeverybody else knew aboutGoudreau’s plan. The AssociatedPress even ran a story about it on May1, quoting associates of Goudreau assaying he was “in way over hishead.” But before we get to the endof the story, a brief pause to contem-plate the equally spectacular incom-petence of the other side.

By late March the Venezuelan

Government was on hair-triggeralert for Goudreau’s planned raid,and on March 30 the VenezuelanNavy spotted a Canadian-ownedcruise-ship, the RCGS Resolute,stopped off the Venezuelan island ofTortuga. So the Navy patrol shipNaiguatá ordered the ship to proceedto port for inspection.

Resolute didn’t move, because itcouldn’t. It had already sufferedsome mechanical failure and put outa warning that it was “not undercommand.” But the Venezuelansthought it was stalling and after fir-ing some shots at or near the cruise-ship it started ramming it repeated-ly on the starboard bow, apparentlytrying to force it around in the rightdirection.

Now, Naiguatá was not some lit-tle speedboat; it was a 90-metre steelship with a crew of 44 and a heli-copter on the aft deck. But Resolutehas four times the displacement andits hull is ice-strengthened for cruis-ing in polar waters. Ramming it was

like running at a brick wall again andagain with your head, hoping tomake an impression. Eventually, theNaiguatá just sank.

Another ship picked up its crew,and eventually Resolute got under-way again. It’s now parked in Curaçaoand no, there weren’t any mercenar-ies aboard. No passengers of anykind, in fact. And finally, the tragi-comic end. A few dozen volunteersand mercenaries tried to land on theVenezuelan coast near Caracas aweek ago. Six were killed, all the restwere arrested. Goudreau would havebeen there, too. “He would have 100per cent gone out in a blaze of gun-fire because that’s who he is,” said afriend. But he couldn’t leave Floridabecause of Coronavirus travel restric-tions. US President Donald Trumpdenies any official American involve-ment in the incident, and for once Ialmost believe him.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)

The fantasy life of Jordan GoudreauA few dozen volunteers and mercenaries tried to land on the Venezuelan coast near Caracas a week ago. Six were killed, all the rest

were arrested. Goudreau would have been there, too, but he couldn’t leave Florida because of Coronavirus travel restrictions

GWYNNE DYER

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

SANTOSHBISWAL

UTTAM CHAKRABORTY

F O R E I G N E Y E

The UK Government’sannouncement that studentsshould go back to school inJune was wrong. Nowchildren, parents andteachers, need clarity aboutthe Government’s intentions.But they also need to knowthat ministers are thinkingabout the longer-term. It willbe disastrous if theinequalities in our society areallowed to entrenchthemselves in the nextgeneration, in the shadow ofthe virus.

(The Guardian editorial)

SCHOOL IS GOODBUT NOT NOW

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

PNS n UNITED NATIONS

Top UN experts have hailed as“impressive” India's Rs 20 lakhcrore stimulus package, thelargest so far among the devel-oping countries, to revive itseconomy, which has beenseverely hit by the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday announcedmassive new financial incen-tives on top of the previouslyannounced packages for acombined stimulus of Rs 20lakh crore (USD 260 billion).

While launching the WorldEconomic Situation andProspect (WESP) reportupdate on Wednesday, Chief ofthe Global EconomicMonitoring Branch HamidRashid told reporters inresponse to a question that thestimulus package announcedby the Indian government onTuesday “is a very welcomedevelopment.”

He said the Rs 20 lakh crorepackage, which is 10 per centof India's GDP is the “largest sofar in the developing countries”because most developing coun-tries have been rolling outstimulus packages that arebetween 0.5 per cent and 1 percent of the GDP.

“India's stimulus packagesare very large. And also India

has the domestic financial mar-ket and the large capacity toimplement that large stimuluspackage,” he said, adding thatimpact of the package woulddepend on the design of thestimulus.

The mega Rs 20 lakh crorestimulus package includes pre-viously announced measures tosave the lockdown-batteredeconomy, and focuses on taxbreaks for small businesses aswell as incentives for domesticmanufacturing.

The combined packageworks out to roughly 10 percent of the GDP, making it

among the most substantial inthe world after the financialpackages announced by theUS, which is 13 per cent of itsGDP, and by Japan, which isover 21 per cent of its GDP.

Associate Economic AffairsOfficer, Economic Analysisand Policy Division,Department of Economic andSocial Affairs (EAPD/UNDESA) Julian Slotman toldPTI in an interview that the sizeof India's stimulus package is“impressive” and “seems to beof a magnitude that will help toreassure markets and to boostdomestic consumption.

VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Fino PaymentsBank sees rise inapplications forBC points

New Delhi: To examine thefeasibility of resuming exportof alcohol-based handsanitiser amid the COVID-19pandemic, the central drugscontroller has asked statesand union territories to submitby Friday noon details ofmanufacturers, theirproduction capacity and if theyfulfil domestic demand. Thegovernment had on May 6banned exports of alcohol-based hand sanitiser to ensureits availability in the domesticmarket as the novelcoronavirus cases soared inthe country. In a letter to theState and UT Drug Controllerson Wednesday, the DrugsController General of India(DCGI) has sought details ofhand sanitiser manufacturers,including their names andaddresses, average productioncapacity, and average actualmonthly production in April2020.

Sanitiser: Centreasks states aboutproduction capacity

Mumbai: Notwithstanding thesluggish economic activity,Fino Payments Bank iswitnessing a surge inapplications from thosewanting to act as bankingcorrespondents in rural Indiasince the lockdown began, atop official has said. This canbe due to renewed attempts atspotting incomesupplementing opportunitiesby rural households or alsodue to the high incidence ofmigration back to the villages,where the returnees arelooking for income generationopportunities. "This is the startof entrepreneurial journeys formany. The enquiries andapplications which we aregetting for 'BC Point' isincreasing," chief executiveand managing director RishiGupta told PTI. He said asagainst about 600 suchenquiries earlier, the companyis now getting 1,000enquiries.

Sensex plummets 886 pts;Nifty cracks below 9,200PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexplunged 886 points onThursday, tracking heavy loss-es in index heavyweightsReliance Industries, HDFCtwins, Infosys and ICICI Bankamid a selloff in global markets.

Further, market players weredisappointed as the immediatespend out of the government'sRs 20 lakh crore fiscal stimuluspackage was seen to be relative-ly small, raising doubts aboutthe revival of growth any timesoon, experts said.

After crashing over 955points during the day, the 30-share index settled 885.72points or 2.77 per cent lower at31,122.89.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty tanked 240.80 points, or2.57 per cent, to 9,142.75.

Tech Mahindra was the toplaggard in the Sensex pack,cracking over 5 per cent, fol-lowed by Infosys, HDFC,IndusInd Bank, RelianceIndustries and NTPC.

On the other hand, HeroMotoCorp, L&T, Maruti,UltraTech Cement and SunPharma led the gainers' chart.

Indian market opened on anegative note following

overnight negative close in USmarkets as the Fed warned thatthe coronavirus crisis raiseslonger-term growth concernsand could result in an extend-ed period of low productivitygrowth and stagnant incomes,said Narendra Solanki, Head-Equity Research(Fundamental), Anand Rathi.

Further, investor reaction tothe first set of measures in therelief package announcementby Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman was mixed andtraders await follow upannouncements, he noted.

"During the afternoon ses-sion, market further weakenedas truncated WPI data added tothe pessimism," he said.

As per data released by theCommerce and IndustryMinistry, wholesale price index(WPI) deflation in primaryarticles was 0.79 per cent inApril, as against an inflation of3.72 per cent in March.

The fuel and power basketsaw a deflation of 10.12 percent in April, against 1.76 percent deflation in the previousmonth.

Meanwhile, Asian marketswere in the red after the WorldHealth Organization warnedthat the coronavirus "maynever go away".

On top of that, US FederalReserve chief Jerome Powellwarned of a "highly uncertain"outlook for the world's topeconomy.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Tokyo and Seoul closedwith losses. Stock exchanges inEurope were also trading on anegative note in early deals.

International oil benchmarkBrent crude futures surged3.85 per cent to USD 30.32 perbarrel. On the currency front,the rupee slipped 10 paise toprovisionally close at 75.56against the US dollar.

In India, the death toll dueto COVID-19 rose to 2,549 andthe number of cases climbed to78,003, according to the healthministry.

Globally, the number ofcases linked to the disease hascrossed 43.47 lakh and thedeath toll has topped 2.97lakh.

After crashing over 955 points duringthe day, the 30-share index settled885.72 points or 2.77 per cent lower at31,122.89

UN economic experts hail India's‘impressive' stimulus package

The mega stimulus package includespreviously announced measures tosave the lockdown-battered economy

Airtel to launch online concerts on Wynk MusicPNS n NEW DELHI

Telecom operator Bharti Airtelhas started pilots for hostinglive online concerts on itsWynk Music app, according toa source.

The move is aimed atexpanding the adoption ofstreaming platforms andcomes at a time when thecoronavirus pandemic trig-gered movement restrictions,and social distancing normsare prompting performingartists to explore live steamingand virtual concerts.

Wynk Music has alreadydone two live concerts in thepast one month to validate thetechnology and plans areunderway to launch the plat-

form under the#WynkConcerts umbrella byas early as next month, asource told PTI.

Airtel declined to comment

on an e-mail query.The source, meanwhile, said

that Airtel's live concert tech-nology platform has beendeveloped completely in-

house and is designed to han-dle lakhs of users concur-rently. Over 35,000 concurrentusers attended a recent liveconcert by singer Astha Gilland the results from the pilothave encouraged the WynkMusic team to accelerate thelaunch process, the sourceadded.

With music recordingscoming to a complete stand-still due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Wynk

Music's online concerts areaimed at offering artists theopportunity to connect digi-tally with fans and even sharefresh content in a live environ-ment.

The source said that sincesocial distancing norms arelikely to be around in the fore-seeable future, digital musicconcerts could well become amainstay and bring the con-cert industry online in a bigway.

The move is aimed at expanding theadoption of streaming platforms andcomes at a time when the pandemictriggered movement restrictions

Organised pvt sector planslayoff, salary cut: ReportPNS n NEW DELHI

The organised private sector inIndia is planning to have majorjob cuts/layoffs due to the coro-navirus pandemic and lock-down that have significant-ly impacted the economicactivities, says a report.

According to the latestresults of MyHiringClub.comand Sarkari-Naukri.info LayoffSurvey 2020, 68 per cent of theemployers surveyed have eitherstarted the layoff process or areplanning to.

The online survey cov-ered 1,124 companiesacross 11 industry sectorsin 25 major cities. Thesurvey was conductedbetween May 1 to May 10,2020.

Among the surveyed organi-zations, 73 per cent said theyhave plans to decrease thesalary of employees, 57 per centsaid this layoff is temporary,while 21 per cent said they aredoing permanent layoffs for atleast 2 years.

Interestingly, 32 per centemployers did not have any jobcut/layoff plans.

"All industries are sufferingin the current pandemic situa-tion and the pain is now trans-

lating into layoff in every indus-try at every level. Companiesare even cutting salaries ofthose employees whom they areplanning to retain.

"This crisis is very much tem-porary and oncecompanies comeout of this,

new job

creation and hiring will surelystart," said Rajesh Kumar, CEO,MyHiringClub.com & Sarkari-

Naukri.info.Kumar further said "indus-

tries like aviation, hospitality,travel, FMCG, retail, automo-bile & manufacturing will suf-fer more and will take longerduration to recover due to a halt

in spending. Job cuts, salaryreduction and businessdownfall are major reasons

for spending less in thecurrent situation."

The survey notedthat the percentageof layoff is highest

in Retail & FMCGsector at 49 per cent, fol-

lowed by Hospitality / Aviation/ Travel (48 per cent),Automobile / Manufacturing &Engineering (41 per cent), RealEstate (39 per cent), PowerSector (38 per cent).

As per the survey, employeeswith experience between 6-10years are likely to witness high-est number of layoff at 31 percent, followed by those withexperience between 11-15 years(30 per cent).

For employees with morethan 15 years of experience, thelikely layoff percentage stood at21 per cent, while for juniorlevel employees (experiencebetween 1-5 years), it was 18per cent.

The onlinesurvey

covered 1,124companies across11 industrysectors in 25major cities.Survey was heldbetween May 1 toMay 10, 2020

PNS n MUMBAI

The poor in general, and thosesuffering from malnutritionamong them, are at higher risksof contracting coronavirusinfection, highlighting theweakness of the food andhealth systems across the worldand more so in India, says areport.

The Global Nutrition Report2020 comes amidst theCOVID-19 pandemic spread-ing at a much faster clip in thecountry, leaving over 78,000infected and killing over 2,500.Tens of thousands of poor anddaily wagers are on transit inmost daring conditions across

the country where public trans-port is still patchy, it said.

The report notes that one innine of the world's populationor a whopping 820 million arehungry wherein India alone isthe single largest contributor asmost of them cannot access or

afford healthy food, while onein three is overweight or obese.

Ironically, the report said,both the under-fedpoor/undernourished and theover-fed or the obese are atrisks with the latter facing 10times more risk from the dead-

ly virus infection.It further said that following

the spread of the pandemic,millions of households in for-merly food-secure regions ofthe world have fallen intosevere food insecurity, while inIndia various media reports saytens of millions of the migrantworkers and their poor fami-lies face starvation as the lock-down lingers. The report saysmost of the poor across theworld cannot access or affordhealthy food primarily becauseof agricultural systems thatfavour calories over nutritionon one hand and on the otherthe ubiquity and low cost ofhighly processed foods.

Poor facing more risks from coronavirus

Fiscal deficit to balloon to 7.9pc in FY21, says ReportPNS n MUMBAI

With the government's Rs 20lakh crore stimulus package,the country's fiscal deficit islikely to be more than doubleto 7.9 per cent in the currentfinancial year, according toan SBI research report.

The report had earlier esti-mated the fiscal deficit to be 3.5per cent of GDP this fiscal.

The government hasannounced a cumulative pack-age of Rs 20 lakh crore, whichis nearly 10 per cent of GDP toprovide relief to various seg-ments of the coronavirus-hit

economy. "After taking into account

cash outflow of these measuresas well as the previous and therecent excise duty hike and DAfreeze (amounting to around0.8 per cent of GDP), we nowrevise our baseline fiscal deficit(excluding extra budgetaryresources (EBR)) to 7.9 per

cent of the revised GDP inFY21 from 3.5 per cent earli-er, owing to lower revenuesand higher expenditure againstthe backdrop of COVID-19pandemic," the SBI's researchreport Ecowrap. said.

Baseline fiscal deficit basedon CSO's earlier estimates ofGDP is around 7.1 per cent ofGDP, it added.

"We estimate a 4.5 per centdirect impact on fiscal deficitpurely because of revenueshortfall / automatic fiscal sta-bilizer and a 0.9 per cent indi-rect effect because of GDPchange," the report said.

Heavy storm, lightening damage partof 125-MW Sakri solar power projectPNS n MUMBAI

Heavy storm and lightening inDhule district of Maharahstrahave caused severe damage toa part of the 125-megawatt(MW) solar power projectlocated at Sakri.

Nearly 50-MW plant of this125-MW solar project of statepower generator Mahagencosuffered damages as lighten-ing struck one of the isolatorsat the plant and the stormdamaged the solar panels ataround 5 pm on Wednesday,according to the officials ofthe utility.

"The damage was to theextent of 30 kV (kilovolts) andall the restoration works werecarried on immediately. Theisolator has been replacedand the generation has start-ed from today as soon as theplant started getting sun radi-

ation," one of the officialssaid.

Till many years ago, this125-MW plant, commis-sioned in 2013, was touted asthe world's largest single loca-tion plant as it was spreadacross 400 acres of land.

This project was developedby two firms, including LancoPower for 75 MW capacityand Megha Engineering andInfrastructures Ltd (MEIL)for 50 MW capacity, at a costof over Rs 1,600 crore.

The project was backed byGerman financial institutionKfW.

‘No adverse impact onbiz due to COVID-19’PNS n NEW DELHI

Snowman Logistics onThursday said COVID-19 hasnot impacted its business asthe company's operationscontinued during the lock-down.

The statement comes daysafter the proposed sale ofentire 40.25 per cent stake ofGateway Distriparks inSnowman Logistics to AdaniGroup firm was called off.

"The business of SnowmanLogistics Ltd is consideredunder the ‘essential services'category as per the Ministryof Home Affairs (MHA), andaccordingly all the warehous-es of the company are func-tional and fully operational.

"Thus, the pandemic hasnot had any adverse impact

on the company's business asits operations continued dur-ing the lockdown period aswell," the company said in afiling to BSE.

The clarification from thecompany came in response tosome media reports whichsaid Snowman Logistics' busi-ness was being impacted dueto COVID-19, according tothe filing.

However, the companyfaced some logistics relatedissues due to lack of availabil-ity of drivers, it said.

Further, this year the prawnculture crop is excellent andexports are slow leading tomore storage of seafood,thereby increasingSnowman's core business ofcold store warehousing, itsaid.

Corona to eat up halfof restaurants' revenuePNS n MUMBAI

The COVID-19 pandemic islikely to cut 40-50 per cent rev-enue of the country's organ-ised dine-in restaurants thisfinancial year, according to areport.

Slow recovery should beginfrom June, Crisil Researchsaid in a report.

Given low demand andsocial distancing norms,restaurants will operate at 25-30 per cent of their monthlyservice levels in the first 45days after lifting of the lock-down, it said.

Besides, with restrictionson gatherings and publicmovement likely to be extend-ed again in Mumbai andDelhi-NCR (National Capital

Region), curbs on dine-inswill continue, or they may beallowed to operate only atlow service levels, it added.

"The organised sector hasseen a 90 per cent reduction insales since the lockdown.Dine-in is not operational andonline orders have declined50-70 per cent," CrisilResearch Director RahulPrithiani said.

"And when the lockdown islifted, the rebound is expect-ed to be only gradual. Thisholds especially for Mumbaiand Delhi-NCR, which makeup nearly half of the organisedrestaurant industry in India,but are red zones accountingfor over 30 per cent of theCOVID-19 cases in India,"Prithani added.

Corona to havedeflationaryimpact:CEAPNS n NEW DELHI

Ruling out any impact ofstimulus on the price situa-tion, Chief Economic AdvisorK V Subramanian onThursday said the COVID-19pandemic has severely dent-ed the demand for non-essential or discretionarygoods, creating deflationaryconditions. He also said thata good part of the Rs 20 lakhcrore stimulus package isdesigned in a manner that thefiscal deficit remains undercontrol. "COVID has a signif-icant deflationary impactbecause demand especiallyfor non-essential or discre-tionary goods and serviceswill go down significantly.

Janani Rao, a journalist who believes in equality ofsexes and has been a part of renowned panels likeRise 2020 and India Youth Conclave as a speaker,

considers this incident to be unacceptable at allterms. What concerns her more is how ordinarily a

bunch of teenage boys were having an indecent con-versation on an online platform. Janani, whowent against stereotypes and became the first

in the city to enter a male-dominatedmeadow of delivering food parcels,

claims that normalisation of objectifi-cation of women needs to stop. “I

have been on the radar too,from being hurled abuses at,

to physical harassment - Ihave had enough of it.

What’s worse is peo-ple thinking it's

okay on theguy’s part

because‘ladka hai’, she

fumes.On the lack of

healthy socialisation,Janani says, “Men and

women are conditioned tobe a certain way. Statements

like ‘men don’t cry’ or ‘womenare born to compromise and sacri-fice’ normalise patriarchal culture.

Topics like consent, equality, how toprogress as a society, need to be taught to

every child during hir/her formative years.”The recent revelation of a minor girl instigat-

ing a conversation on sexual assault was a separateconversation between two individuals, which coinci-

dentally got mixed up with the ‘Bois Locker Room’case, led to the advent of rampant online trolling offeminists ranging from insensitive comments, rape

and death threats.

KadaliSathyanarayana, afeminist writer

whose debut book was abest seller on Amazonin the category ofTelugu literature, tells usthat being unafraid tocall out women whenthey are wrong and notwith the aim of vilifyingactions of only one gen-der is the truest sense offeminism. “Locker roomscandal is a mirror ofour society, the actualproblem lies in howwe're imparting educa-tion and parenting ourchildren. The case of theSnapchat conversationof a girl pretending tobe a boy to check his

moralvalues isheartwrenchingand unjustifiedbut also shows howinsecure girls areregarding their safetyand how it suddenlybrings in gender-basedmorality.”

Kadali also laysemphasis on persistentmale entitlement.Speaking on subjectslike patriarchy, cyber-bullying, violenceagainst women, etc. onher social media plat-form has brought in

numer-ous face-

less accountsbullying her,

forcing her toturn off her com-

ments. “Male entitle-ment is a product ofsocietal norms. ‘Puttinga woman in her place’ iscultivated in some ofour boys’ minds. Thereare some men activelychoosing to be sexistand that’s the thingabout male entitlementwhich needs to change,”Kadali opines.

“Lack of parents’ responsibilityin handling teenage boys on

matters like sexuality, reinforcinghumanity of girls and pornogra-

phy leads to incidents like the‘Bois Locker Room’,” says Linda

Louis, a lawyer who has alsobeen a participant of Women’s

Film Festival held at Hyderabad.According to Linda, sexist jokes

are a manifestation of howteenage boys value girls and

casually dehumanise women intheir surroundings.

“Objectification by the media,culture, and liberal brainwash

persist. Patriarchal priorities stilldominate us, women are com-

pared to other women who don’tcross boundaries, who don’t

obey, and this is considered to bea transgression,” she adds.

There is no easier way to saythat this horrifying incident thatcame to light is just of the manygroups on the internet, and they

will not see an end anytimesoon. What one can do is, outdotheir sexist friends, stop shield-

ing women abusers, call outmisogyny and try to terminate

rape culture.

The 'Bois locker room' incident hasforced us to act NOW. Focussing on

issues like gender education,misogyny, gender-based

morality, sexism, patriarchy,etc., The Pioneer's

SHIKHA DUGGALspeaks to some of thecity's feminists onwhat they haveto say on the

incident

Bois L

ocker

Roo

m:

ASSER

TION OF

PATR

IARCHY?

Strings to keep one's sanitytogether during lockdown

ave you ever triedan arrangement ofcoloured threadsstrung betweenpoints forming rep-resentational

designs? City-based softwareengineer Prakya Shetty is busyindulging in this interestingform of art during the lock-down.

With the help of 1 inch-longnails, it’s a fun art form that isextremely easy to make athome. “This new love of mineis called String art. It was morepopular in the 70’s and wasused mostly to add decor torooms,” informs Prakya. Withminimal use of materials likeLinoleum nails, embellishedwood, and floss for embroi-dery, it sure is an economicalway of adding ornamentationto your beautiful home.

Explaining that there’s nospecific process to it, Prakyasuggests that one places his orher nails in the desiredshape/design and simply gofrom side to side and top to

bottom in varying lengths andvoila, you have your outstand-ing output in just 90 minutes.“It may seem too complicatedat first, but it isn’t.Hammering can be noisy for awhile but it’s worth spendingtime with after all, whenyou're stuck in the middle of alockdown,” this resident ofNagole tells us.

DOS AND DONTS OF NAILSTRING ARTo Use solid plywood to offer

a hard surface to securethe nails in one place.

o Avoid panels withmelamine coating.

o Keep your image as simpleas you can.

o Avoid fancy or complicatedimages that have detailed parts.

o Use 25mm long brass orLinoleum nails with a head.

o Don't place nails too close

to each other.HOW TO MAKE STRING ARTo Prepare a desirable object

on an appropriate board.o Make marks to position the

nails at equal intervals.o Place a paper template on

the board and tape it.o Hammer the nails.o Remove the paper.o Make a small loop at one

end of the string and applyglue on the knot. Then,hook the loop onto one ofthe nails.

Hyderabad's Prakya Shetty, a softwareengineer by profession, has found the

newly surfacing DIY string art amidthe quarantine period, to keep herself

busy, reports SHIKHA DUGGAL

H ave you noticed alot of men, whowould otherwisenot sport the‘beardo’ look, havebeen doing so, and

a lot, in the past few months?Thanks to the lockdown,men have been forced tosport various looks, and withmost of them not even goingout, they seem to take it as achallenge.

Beardo, an organisationthat celebrates and promotesbeards and facial hair acrossthe country, has made themost of this trend with acatchy upbeat original musictrack called ‘Always a Beardo’,which is free to downloadfrom an Instagram post.

The new campaign unitesmen across India in a newcrowdsourced music video toembrace and salute theirbeards. In the cool new videoshows that the spotlight onthe beards grown during thelockdown. Men are encour-

aging more me to sharevideos and images of theirlockdown beards using theALWAYS A BEARDO songas the soundtrack.

What started as a fun ideasnowballed into a massiveproject given the overwhelm-ing 10,000 strong responsesreceived across India. With afocus on embracing the quar-antine beard and remainingcool and classy in your ownskin, the video features over50 of India’s coolest beardoswhose entries were shortlist-ed and edited to the finalcrowdsourced video.

“ALWAYS A BEARDO isall about being loud andproud of your beards, old andnew. If there’s anything thatisolation has done, it’s renewand reignite the passion inmen, giving them the timethey needed to grow the bad-ass beards or style the mus-tache they’ve always wanted,”said Sujot Malhotra, ChiefBusiness Officer. — PNS

H

Celebrating theQuarantine Beard

FridayMay 15, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

10

Vijayawada Friday May 15 2020 what’s brewing?

Big B, Ayushmannconfirm Gulabo Sitabowill release on OTT

fter much speculation,film director ShoojitSircar along with actorsAmitabh Bachchan andAyushmann Khurranahave confirmed that

their upcoming film, Gulabo Sitabo,will directly release on an OTTstreaming platform instead of goingto the big screen first.

The quirky dramedy has beenwritten by Juhi Chaturvedi of Pikufame. It will release on AmazonPrime Video on June 12.

“Gulabo Sitabo is a slice of life,dramedy that is a must watch forfamilies at home,” said Big B.

Talking about his experience ofworking on the film, he added, “Iwas excited about my role since thetime Shoojit showed me the charac-ter’s look. It took me almost threehours each day to get into characterwith its different look. I had a won-derful time working with my verytalented co-star AyushmannKhurrana. Even though we are con-stantly bantering in the film, it hasbeen a pleasure working with himfor the first time. This family enter-tainer has the power to cut acrossgeographic boundaries and we arepleased to bring Gulabo Sitabo toaudiences across the globe.”

Ayushmann also noted thatGulabo Sitabo is a special film forhim.

“It made me reunite with mymentor Shoojit da after VickyDonor. Whatever I’m today isbecause of him and I’m happy thathe made me a part of his visionagain. Gulabo Sitabo also sees meshare screen space with MrAmitabh Bachchan for the first time

and it’s a huge moment, it’s a dreamcome true for me. I have secretlywished to work with him for many,many years and Shoojit da madethis happen, and I will be indebtedto him forever. It has truly been anhonour for me to work with a leg-end and I feel enriched as an actorafter the experience,” he said.

Ayushmann added, “What I loveabout the film is its sheer simplicity— the fleeting moments of simplehumour in the banter between alandlord and tenant makes this filmreally special. I hope audiences lovethe film and our chemistry when itpremieres.”

Gulabo Sitabo was slated for atheatrical release earlier this year,before the COVID-19 pandemic ledto a complete lockdown of the nar-tion.

“This is the dawn of a new era forIndian entertainment,” said directorSircar.

“I am happy that a global audi-ence will be able to watch our grittydramedy, and enjoy what the filmhas in store for them. Gulabo Sitabois a quirky, lighthearted movie thatthe audience can enjoy with theirfamilies. It has been a wonderfulexperience working with AmitabhBachchan and AyushmannKhurrana on the film,” added thedirector.

Gulabo Sitabo is being describedas the story “of two slimy schemingfoxes in a game of one upmanship,each one attracting other membersto their clan and each one with anagenda of his own”.

With the digital release, GulaboSitabo will premiere across 200countries and territories.

Grammy winner SharonIsbin teams up with UstadAmjad Ali Khan, sons

unique collaborationbetween sarod maestroUstad Amjad Ali Khan,his sons Amaan AliBangash and Ayaan AliBangash and multiple

Grammy-winning classical guitaristSharon Isbin, allows viewers to lis-ten to the two music instrumentsbeing strummed together.

The album titled Strings for Peaceis slated for release next week onthe ZOHO label (ZM 202004).

The music is an amalgamation ofclassics wherein listeners will wit-ness the magical combination ofsarod and classical guitar in aneclectic East-West fusion, theorganisers said.

“Each of the artists brings thespirit of sharing the great uniquetreasures of their own artistic tradi-tions, as well as finding commonground in ragas and medievalmodes. The idea is to achieve across-fertilisation at both the cellu-lar and cosmic levels of two classi-cal music traditions, which areoften held to be radically different,”Khan said.

The album’s four tracks cover awide range of expression, lyricism,colour and virtuosity. The ragascomposed by Amjad Ali Khanreceive their world premiere in set-tings for guitar and sarod: By TheMoon-Behag, Love Avalanche-Mishra Bhairav, Romancing Earth-

Pilu, and Sacred Evening-Yaman.Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and

Sharon, who have known eachother for over a decade, have con-templated a collaboration for yearswhich has now come to fruition.

“It took a long time to get theright partners to realise this uniquevision on the guitar. Our instru-ments have so many interestingsimilarities and differences.Combining the sarod and guitarresults in an extraordinary blend.It's a pleasure and inspiration toperform with the finest. Strings forPeace is a beautiful compilation ofmusic that successfully interweavesthe rhythms of sarod and guitar.Listeners will experience a remark-able spiritual and emotional jour-ney,” Sharon Isbin shared.

“It’s been a real pleasure and anhonour to make this album withSharon. She’s a world renownedartiste who recently won the awardfor Best Acoustic Guitarist andwe’ve done many shows with her.We also had around 30 shows linedup together in the United States,which due to the ongoing situationwill probably be postponed for nextyear. It’s been an honour to workwith her,” states Amman AliBangash.

The recording will be releasedMay 22. CDs and digital copies bepre-ordered now from Amazon andother retailers.

he COVID-19 pandemichas brought the worlddown to its knees. It haschanged almost every-thing — especially peo-ples perspective of look-

ing at life. Katrina Kaif isnt feelinganything different.

“The pandemic, followed by thelockdown has surely left many of usintrospecting, on how blessed ourlives are and how much we take forgranted in our normal lives. Also,with the alarming number of cases, Ifeel we all should work towards athaving better immunity through ourfood habits and lifestyle. It alsochanged my perspective about life insome ways,” Katrina told IANS.

She also shared how she gets wor-ried about the situation attimes, and she shares afew tips on how tocontrol anxiety dur-ing the lockdown.

“I take one day ata time but, yes,there are dayswhen I miss beingon a shoot.Sometimes I alsoget worried aboutwhen will life goback to normalagain. But Iunderstand thecrisis the worldis dealing with,and the impor-tance of every-thing that isbeing prac-tised todefeat thepandemic.

“Whileanxiety is aseriousissue, Iwould sug-gest that every-one keeps calm,meditate or per-form yoga, andthink of thebrighter side.Think aboutthe days tocome afterthis phaseand howto notrepeatthemis-

takes

we have been making towards theenvironment. In this phase whenev-er I have felt low, I have resorted tomeditating, doing yoga, or watchinga movie or a show that cheers meup,” Katrina added.

Not only this, the crisis has helpedthe actress polish her housekeepingskills, in the absence of caretakers.

“This phase has helped me polishmy cooking skills and kitchen skillsin a big way. It has helped meimprove in managing many house-hold chores at once and has alsogiven me a newfound respect for thehomemakers who do it on a regularbasis,” she expressed.

Also, Katrina has contributed herbit in the fight against the coron-avirus. Her make-up brand KayBeauty has partnered with De’Haat

to support daily-wage earners inrural areas of Maharashtra.

“Right from the start, wehad plans for Kay Beauty col-laborating with variousfoundations. There was a lotplanned in terms of creatingawareness and helping peo-ple, and also associatingwith several causes. Fromthe start, Kay Beautystands for a brand thatcares. De’Haat has beenour first collaboration

and considering thepandemic they were

really happy towork together on

this initiative,”said Vrundan,the founderand CEO of

De’Haat.

A

T

A

Katrina Kaif: COVID-19pandemic changed myperspective about life

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | FRIDAY | MAY 15, 2020

AFP n DORTMUND

Borussia Dortmund’s youngstars Erling Braut Haalandand Jadon Sancho will be

hunting more goals on Saturday in“the most unusual derby in history”against Schalke as the GermanBundesliga returns behind lockeddoors.

Dortmund usually expect82,000 spectators at Signal IdunaPark for a home derby, but the sta-dium will be near-empty with onlya handful of media and officialsadmitted.

Even national team coachJoachim Loew will not be allowed into watch his Germany players Liveon their return to action.

“It will be the most unusualderby in history,” former Dortmundcaptain Sebastian Kehl told Germandaily Welt.

Normally, a home derby againstSchalke comes alive “through thefans, from their emotions, from theenthusiasm in the stadium,” Kehladded.

Dortmund are looking to closethe four-point gap behind leadersBayern Munich, who visit UnionBerlin on Sunday.

However, Dortmund’s iconicsouth stand, dubbed The Yellow Walland normally packed with 25,000passionate fans will — like the restof the stadium — stand empty.

“The players will miss thechance for extra motivation by thefans and the atmosphere,” admittedKehl.

While league action in England,Spain and Italy is still at least a monthaway, the German Football League(DFL) has drawn up detailedhygiene guidelines to restart.

At games around the country,

substitutes will wear masks, goal cel-ebrations will be replaced by elbowtaps while handshakes and hugsbefore kick-off are a no-go.

“A lot of things will start fromscratch on Saturday,” Dortmundwinger Julian Brandt told Sky.

“There will be no real advan-tages and disadvantages to playinghome or away.

“In the end, it depends on who

best accepts this situation and canbest deal with it.”

The pressure is on Haaland, 19,and Sancho, 20, to continue theirgoal-rich partnership, despite theempty terraces, and steer injury-depleted Dortmund to victory.

Midfield enforcers Emre Canand Axel Witsel are out with mus-cle strains, while playmaker MarcoReus is recovering from a groin

problem.Haaland was in stunning form

when the league was suspended inmid-March with nine goals ineight Bundesliga appearancessince joining from Salzburg.

Sancho also terroriseddefences with 14 goals and 16assists in 23 league games.

At third-placed RBLeipzig, Germany striker TimoWerner is aiming to move closer tohis goal target for the season against

Freiburg on Saturday. “Not manyplayers my age have scored 20 goalsin a season once and I’ve done it

twice,” said the 24-year-oldWerner who has netted 21times this term. “I’d like toscore 30 in a season.”

Julian Nagelsmann’sLeipzig trail leaders Bayern byfive points following draws

against Leverkusen and Wolfsburgbefore matches were halted due tothe virus outbreak.

AFP n LONDON

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinhosays he is “desperate” for the

return of Premier League actiondespite mounting concerns about theEnglish top-flight’s restart plans.

Some top-flight bosses understood to haveexpressed concerns about the plan to play from mid-June when they spoke during a League ManagersAssociation meeting on Wednesday.

But Mourinho said he would relish the chanceto get back to work despite the challenges and risksposed by the pandemic.

“I have not asked for any delay,” Mourinho saidin a statement on Thursday.

“I want to train, and I am desperate for thePremier League to return as soon as it is safe to doso, particularly now we are seeing other leaguespreparing to return to action.”

Mourinho said he is happy with the way hissquad have kept themselves fit during the lockdown.

“I am extremely proud of the way my playershave maintained their fitness,” he said. “They haveshown great professionalism, passion and dedication.

“We have all been working extremely hardthrough remote squad training sessions and isolat-ed running now the pitches are available to use againat the training centre.

“Every player has been extremelycommitted in terms of their individ-ual work and now we wait for clear-ance to commence working insmall groups again, which I will fully

support.”

MURRAY FFEARS ‘‘RUSH’Brighton striker Glenn Murray

fears English football is beingrushed back too soon, with deathrates still stubbornly high in theworst-hit country in Europe.

“Football isn’t necessarily anecessity — it’s a game, it’s asport,” Murray told Sky Sports.

“I mean, what if we gothrough all this rigmarole of try-

ing to get back started, and we havea second peak and we’re stopped

anyway?“I just can’t understand after just

sort of loosening the lockdown whywe’re in such a rush to get it back. Whycan’t we just wait sort of a month or soto see if things go to plan?”

PNS n NEW DELHI

Emphasising that long term goals can putstress and pressure on a player, star India

opener Rohit Sharma says he prefers short termgoals and would continue with the same strat-egy in future.

Sharma, who has played 224 ODIs and 32Tests, said he likes setting a target for himselfbefore the start of a series.

“Over the years, I’ve realised that long-termgoals won’t help you in anyway. On the contraryit will add to your pressure and stress. I havealways focused on short term goals which aremainly the next few games in the upcoming 2-3 months — who is it against, what can I dobest,” the Sharma said on Star Sports showCricket Connected: Chats.

“Setting goals for each series or tournamenthelps me a lot and I will continue to follow thismethod in the future,” added the Mumbaikar,who has scored 9,115 ODI runs.

All the sports persons are stuck in theirhouses due to the lockdown, enforced to con-tain the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. Sharmasaid considering the situation, they can only waitfor action to begin.

“I hope we get the opportunity to play crick-et, as we don’t know when we will play again.When we resume playing cricket, we will haveto see what’sc o m i n gour way —whether itsT20 WorldCup or (the)IPL,” he said.

“We evenhad a big bilateralseries againstAustralia planned —we will have toanalyse and seewho we are play-ing against,” hesigned off.

AFP n LOS ANGELES

Former world number oneNaomi Osaka has admitted

having “a lot of regrets” andsaid she’s soul-searching dur-ing the coronavirus lockdownfor ways to become moreassertive.

The 22-year-old Japanese,who stormed to prominenceby winning back-to-backGrand Slam titles at the 2018US Open and 2019 AustralianOpen, said she believed hershyness was holding her back.

“I think people know meas being really shy,” she toldCNN Sport.

“I want to also take thequarantine time to just thinkabout everything, and for me,I have a lot of regrets before Igo to sleep.

“And most of the regrets isdue to (the fact) that I don’tspeak out about what I’mthinking.”

The soft-spoken Osakahas spoken candidly abouther struggles with success,

and said last year that she feltdepressed after reaching worldnumber one following herwin in Australia.

She said she would feelmore comfortable if she spokeup and took more control ofwhat was happening around

her.“There’s a lot of times

where I see myself in situa-tions where I could have putmy input in, but instead I’veheld my tongue and thingskept moving in a way that Ididn’t really enjoy,” she said.

“I feel like if I assertedmyself, I would have gottenthe opportunity to see whatwould have happened.”

With return dates for ten-nis still uncertain, Osaka saidshe was using the unexpectedfree time to try new things,like drawing and sketching.

“Part of me is a bit con-cerned (about not playingtennis), but also I know thatother players are in the sameposition as me, probably,” shesaid.

“I just think that, it’s notlike I’ll forget how to play ten-nis. I also don’t want to trainfive hours a day right nowbecause I think that’s how youget burned out and you neverknow when tournaments willstart again.”

AFP nMILAN

Spanish driver Carlos Sainz willreplace four-time Formula One

world champion Sebastian Vettel atFerrari next season, while DanielRicciardo has signed a “multi-year”deal with McLaren from 2021.

Sainz, 25, will leave McLaren fol-lowing the 2020 season to partner 22-year-old Charles Leclerc at Ferrari,forming the team’s youngest pairing inthe past 50 years.

“With five seasons already behindhim, Carlos has proved to be very tal-ented and has shown that he has thetechnical ability and the right attribut-es to make him an ideal fit with ourfamily,” Ferrari team boss MattiaBinotto said in a statement onThursday.

“We believe that a driver pairingwith the talent and personality ofCharles and Carlos... will be the bestpossible combination to help us reachthe goals we have set ourselves.”

Sainz emerged in pole position tosucceed Vettel at Maranello after theGerman announced on Tuesday he wasquitting Ferrari after talks over a newcontract broke down.

Sainz, whose father, also Carlos, isa two-time world rally champion, haspreviously driven for Red Bull’s feed-er team Toro Rosso and Renault beforeimpressing with McLaren last season.

He secured the once all-conquer-ing British team’s first podium place inalmost six years in Brazil last year.

Signing Sainz will also end any lin-gering speculation about six-timechampion Lewis Hamilton leavingMercedes for Ferrari.

“I am very happy that I will be dri-ving for Scuderia Ferrari in 2021 andI’m excited about my future with theteam,” said Sainz, who is expected toplay a supporting role alongsideLeclerc.

Australian Ricciardo will drive

for McLaren next season when he takesover the seat left vacant by Sainz.

Ricciardo, 30, will line up along-side Britain’s Lando Norris, 20, in 2021after he leaves Renault at the end of thisseason.

“Daniel is a proven race-winnerand his experience, commitment andenergy will be a valuable addition toMcLaren and our mission to return tothe front of the field,” said McLarenteam principal Andreas Seidl.

“With Daniel and Lando as team-mates, I believe we have two racers whowill continue to excite our fans and helpthe team grow.”

Ricciardo has won seven races andrecorded 29 podium finishes since hisF1 debut with the HRT team at theBritish Grand Prix in 2011.

He drove for Red Bull’s juniorteam Toro Rosso in 2012 and 2013before making the jump to the flagshipRed Bull team in 2014. He finishedthird in the drivers’ standings in 2014and 2016.

Vettel’s future meanwhile remainsuncertain.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The National Rifle Association ofIndia (NRAI) has nominated ace

shooter Anjum Moudgil for the KhelRatna — the country’s highest sportinghonour — while recommending JaspalRana for the Dronacharya Award for thesecond year in a row.

Moudgil, the 26-year-old rifle acewho started shooting in 2008, is amongthe first two Indians to have securedquota places for the Tokyo Olympics.

The NRAI on Thursday said it willbe sending the Sports Ministry thenames of champion pistol shootersSaurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma,Manu Bhaker and promising rifle shoot-er Elavenil Valarivan for the prestigiousArjuna Award.

Bhaker and Valarivan’s names wereadded to the list on Thursday, according

to federation sources. NRAI PresidentRaninder Singh said in a statement, “Ourshooters had an outstanding last seasonand it was a particularly difficult selec-tion to make this time around.

“I wish all those recommended all thevery best and hope those who could notmake it this year, force us to do so nexttime around with their performances.

“I believe all are equally talented andwill certainly reap rich awards if theycarry on the way they have.”

Bhaker and Valarivan’s names wereadded to the list on Thursday.

“Anjum Moudgil has been nominat-ed for Khel Ratna while the NRAI hasagain send Jaspal’s name for Dronacharya.They have always believed that hedeserves it and are hoping he gets it thistime,” a federation source said.

“Saurabh Chaudhary, AbhishekVerma, Manu Bhaker and Elavenil have

been recommended for Arjuna.”Moudgil, the shooter from

Chandigarh earned the quota in the 10mAir Rifle event when she won the Silvermedal in the ISSF World Cup in Koreain 2018.

Last year, Moudgil paired up withDivyansh Singh Panwar to claim the 10mAir Rifle mixed team Gold medal in theISSF World Cup in Munich and Beijing.

She also reached the final in the 10mAir Rifle event in the ISSF World Cup inMunich and Rio de Janeiro.

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardcarries a medallion, a certificate and acash prize of `7.5 lakh.

While, the 43-year-old Rana, a mul-tiple Asian Games Gold-medallist marks-man, is credited to have groomed the likesof teen sensations Bhaker, Saurabh andAnish Bhanwala into world-class shoot-ers.

NEW DELHI: MS Dhoni is anunconventional and uniqueleader, whose biggest strength ishis incredible gut feeling, sayshis Chennai Super Kings team-mate Faf du Plessis.

The former South Africaskipper has spent considerabletime with Dhoni after joiningthe IPL side in 2011 and hasbeen an integral part of its suc-cessful journey.

“He reads the others play-er really well and he uses that tomake instinctive decisions onthe field. He’s got an incrediblegut feeling on the game and Ithink that’s his biggest strength,”du Plessis said in a Facebook Livesession with Tamim Iqbal.

The 35-year-old said Dhonichanged his perception of howa captain should be.

“It was amazing for me to

see how different MS was as acaptain. I used to think a cap-tain must speak all the time inteam meetings etc but MS wascompletely different.

“He doesn’t believe a lot inteam meetings. He’s a veryinstinctive captain he’s got sucha good cricket brain that herelies on it to make the rightdecisions on the field,” du Plessissaid of former India skipper.

Calling Dhoni the best fin-isher he has played with, DuPlessis said no one can emulatewhat the dasher from Ranchican do with the bat.

“He’s extremely calm. Ihaven’t played with someonewho is a better finisher thanhim. It’s just remarkable towatch him from the side of thefield. If someone else tries to doit like him they won’t be able to.

He’s just so unique like he timesthe ball so late he’s got anincredible calmness. He knowshis game and he picks a bowlerand goes for it.”

Du Plessis said that playingfor CSK alongside Dhoni andunder the guidance head coachStephen Fleming has taught

him a lot about leadership.“I’m lucky to have started

my journey there at CSKbecause I have really learned alot from a leadership point ofview. I tried to learn as much aspossible from Dhoni andStephen Fleming because bothare great captains.” PTI

PTI n LONDON

England playerscould tentatively

start their outdoor skill-based training in the

coming weeks withthe ECB eyeingresumption ofInternational cricket

with a series againstWest Indies in July,

said its director ofcricket Ashley Giles.

However, as perhealth directive issuedby Government wing,the players — acrossall sports in UK —

will have an option to‘opt out” of training ifthey have any appre-hensions of health risk.

“These are the veryfirst tentative steps backto playing cricket,” Gileswas quoted as saying byESPNCricinfo, indicat-ing that it could bedone in controlled envi-ronment.

“This is individual-based training, so inmany ways we shouldbe able to get control ofthe environment so it’ssafer to go back to prac-tice than it is to go to

ROME: The president ofthe Italian OlympicCommittee (CONI) saidon Thursday that he is“99 percent” sure thatthe Serie A season willrestart next month fol-lowing its coronavirus-enforced suspension.

“From one to 100,what do I think thechances are Serie A startson June 13? I’d say 99 per-cent,” Giovanni Malagotold broadcaster RAI.

“Everything is readyfor a restart, to put thesystem in a position tobegin again. However ifyou asked me what thechances are of the seasonfinishing once it’s begun,I’d need a crystal ball.”

On Wednesday SerieA clubs announced theywanted to return to com-petition on June 13, over

three months since theseason was halted, if theyget the all-clear from theItalian Government.

The country’s sportsminister VincenzoSpadafora has given clubsthe green light to restartteam training sessionsfrom Monday after play-ers were allowed to enterclub facilities for individ-ual sessions earlier.

On Thursday theFIGC announced that it

was sending a team ofinspectors to check thatclubs were respecting thecurrent medical protocolput in place to enable thereturn to training.

“The team will checkthat professional clubsare conforming to theprotocols, first theone for individualsessions and thenas of May 18 forcollective train-ing,” the FIGCsaid in a state-ment.

The announce-ment comes afternewspaper CorriereDella Sera reportedthat Lazio players wereplaying three-on-threematches at the end of ses-sions, which if true wouldbe a violation of the pro-tocol. AFP

the supermarket. It should bethat controlled an environ-ment.”

However as per protocolsissued by the Department forDigital, Culture, Media andSport (DCMS), players willhave an option.

The ECB Director alsoagreed that they have to createan environment where WestIndies and Pakistan both feelsafe while travelling to theUnited Kingdom.

Bundesliga back with Der KlassikerDortmund braced to host Schalke in ‘most unusual derby in history’

Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Braut Haaland and Jadon Sancho in action during Bundesliga

Brandt ready for historic gameIANS nMUNICH

Borussia Dortmund midfielderJulian Brandt has said while he

is not feeling the same pressure ashe would in normal circumstanceswhen they take on local rivalsSchalke, the sense of occasion is notlost on him.

“You have to say that it’s the fanswho always make it special. Ifyou’re a few days before such a gameyou’ll notice that your neighboursare only speaking about the gamewhen they see you,” Brandt toldbundesliga.com in their midweekinterview.

“You notice that the mediafocuses heavily on the game andthat creates a certain tension in theair. At the moment, this isn’t thecase. Although I think the fans stillreally care about the result of the fix-ture, you don’t notice it, especiallyin this hotel. The only tension thatyou could potentially feel is throughthe media but they have many othertopics to cover so I think BVB vsSchalke is at the bottom of their pri-

orities.“Therefore, you don’t feel the

same pressure as you would in nor-mal circumstances, but in the end,this is the situation that we’re in.Everyone will be watching us onSaturday, the Dortmund fans willwatch us and the Schalke fans willwatch their team. The result of thegame will be important to them soit’s not like we just say that it’s irrel-evant who wins or loses, it won’t belike this. We do recognise that itwould be an important tone to setif we win the game,” said the 24-yearold.

Sainz to succeedVettel at Ferrari

Rohit prefersshort-term targets

Faf backs double quarantine to salvage T20 WCNEW DELHI: Veteran SouthAfrica batsman Faf du Plessishas proposed a two-week iso-lation period for players beforeand after the T20 World Cup asa way to stage the event as perschedule later this year.

“I am not sure... Readingthat travelling is going to be anissue for lot of countries andthey are talking aboutDecember or January. Even if

Australia is not affected likeother countries, to get peoplefrom Bangladesh, South Africaor India where there is moredanger, obviously it's a healthrisk to them,” du Plessis said.

“But you can go in beforethe tournament (for) two weeksisolation and then play thetournament and afterwardstwo weeks isolation,” said theformer captain. PTI

MS Dhoni in action during IPL game

Mourinho ‘desperate’for PL return

Serie A on course of June restart

Osaka says shyness is holding her back

Naomi Osaka arrives on court Twitter

Poms may start training in coming weeks

NRAI nominates Moudgil for Khel Ratna

Anjum Moudgil poses with Silver medal PTI

‘Dhoni’s gut feeling is his biggest strength’

12

Vijayawada Friday May 15 2020tollywood

ilmmakerRavikanth Perepuhad the idea of a“boy falling in lovewith two womensimultaneously”

even before he went on tomake his debut film, Kshanam.He shared it with his friendSiddu Jonnalagadda back thenitse, who is playing the leadrole in Krishna and his Leela.And when they decided tocome together for a film a fewyears later, they felt the story ofthe old idea was obsolete.“Plus, we have evolved in ourcrafts after our respective filmsKshanam and Guntur Talkies.So, we decided to borrow theold idea and write it from thescratch. The idea was to makeit contemporary. Rana was nar-rated it later and he immedi-ately green-lit to produce it.Overall, we took around eight-

nine months to have a com-plete script of Krishna and hisLeela,” Siddu tells us in a con-versation.

He admits to have had inter-est towards writing from a longtime but it wasn’t until he satdown with Praveen Sattaru todiscover that he has a naturalflair for it. The director intro-duced the actor through LBWearlier this decade. “AfterChandamama Kathalu,Praveen sir wanted to attemptsomething new and interesting.The idea of Guntur Talkies wasborn as we kept having conver-

sations over beers. The filmgave me a formal introductionto writing,” he points out.

Siddu believes it was a hugeleap he had to take, to play arole who says that he is lovewith multiple women at a timein Krishna and his Leela. “He isnot stating it for physical rea-sons. It took a while for me tobelieve his reason as a writer. Iwas sure that if I was faking iton screen as an actor, peoplewill discover it. In fact at onepoint, I had to take that leapand say it to myself, ‘You knowwhat, this is what the characteris. My personal belief shouldn’tdeter the flow of the character’,”he states, promising thatKrishna will resonate with theyouth. “He is there in everysingle boy. He is an average Joewho is cute, sweet and girls likehim. He gets emotional andgets carried away at places butthere is this constant want offalling in love. He wants to getmarried and be a good hus-band. But generally one doesn’tget 100 per cent with their rela-tionship and it’s a way of life.That is when he starts lookingelsewhere. It is the same herein the film. At the same time ithas nothing to do with physicalintimacy. It’s more for emo-tional reasons.”

As he was dealing with asensitive subject, he and Ravihad to be extra careful. “We arenot putting it across in a funnyway. Of course, the film willevoke laughter but we are gen-uinely addressing the point.We are not making slapstick,which is generally the easy wayout,” he clarifies.

For Siddu, a rank outsider,its more about finding hisplace in the industry thatfighting that fact that he is anoutsider and is deprived ofmore opportunities despite histalent. “It takes time to findyour place in the industry andit’s the same for star kids aswell. The only difference beingthey have a lot of experience attheir disposal, courtesy theirparents. But they are subjectedto a lot more scrutiny than us

and are under the pump con-stantly. At the end of the daythough, it doesn’t matter whoyou are if your films don’twork. You are still battling thesame battle. Honestly, I’venever felt like an outsider.Friends like Lakshmi Manchunever made me feel-so.Multiple times in the past shehad taken the initiative of ring-ing filmmakers and recom-mending my name in highesteem,” he explains.

He, however, had to do a lotof other jobs to do what heloves the most — acting. “Inever wanted to become awriter. I’m talkative, interactiveand I’ve been told that I’mexpressive as well. So, I had tocreate my own opportunities.There were a certain set offilms that were offered to mein the past and I was nothappy with them. Later whenthey released, my analysis ofnot signing them proved to bebang on. This is a place whereyou can’t afford to do wrongfilms when you are relativelynew and when you have nobacking. You have to wait andwait. The patience wears youout. In the process, you tell toyourselves, ‘Screw it, youhave to create yourown chancesinstead of wait-ing for someoneto offer them toyou. When Istarted writing,there was thisbuzz that ‘Oh, heis an actor, why is heinto writing?’ If I wouldn’thave written for myself in thepast, I wouldn’t have had theline-up (of three films) that Ihave up next. I believe that justbecause you are desperate, itdoesn’t mean you are wrong.Nobody will do anything foranyone in this place,” he signsoff, while gently remindingthat all he is doing these days,besides hitting the gym, is towrite, edit what he writes andedit his films. And he is alsohelping his mom by mixingingredients for mango pickle.

CREATING HIS OWNOPPORTUNITIES

The idea of Krishna andhis Leela was to make itcontemporary. Rana was

narrated it later and heimmediately green-lit to

produce it, findsNAGARAJ GOUD

F

FOR SIDDU, A RANKOUTSIDER, ITS MOREABOUT FINDING HISPLACE IN THE INDUSTRYTHAT FIGHTING THATFACT THAT HE IS ANOUTSIDER AND ISDEPRIVED OF MOREOPPORTUNITIESDESPITE HIS TALENT.

Vishnu wants toshare stories ofbrave TeluguArmy personnelto the world

ctor ManchuVishnu appealed tonetizens to sharehim pictures orvideos of Telugubrave hearts of

Indian army to his socialmedia account. He saidthat it was his effort totell their stories to theworld. “In this world, weshould bow and offer ourrespects to onlythree people— mother,farmerand armyperson-nel. Ibelievetheyhaven’t gotthe recog-nition theydeserve. I’ve

already met the mothersand farmers of the twoTelugu states but haven’tmet the army personnel.I want to know aboutIndian army and espe-cially Telugu brave heartswho have left theirimpression with theirvalour and sacrifices,”Vishnu said on his socialmedia pages on

Wednesday evening.Vishnu, who will

be next seen inMosagallu, hasrecently pro-ducedChadrangam,starring

Srikanth. It’scurrently

streaming onZEE5.

A

amantha Akkinenihas shared a pho-tograph onInstagram whereshe is seen takinga nap with her pet

French bulldog, saying noone does it better than them!

“No one does it better thanus,” she wrote on the image.

She also shared a photo-graph with the dog where sheflaunts her perfect skin.

“Good light, good skin,good puppy kinda day...#nofilter #bareskin #happy-heart,” she wrote.

On the work front, Sam,last seen in Jaanu, is said tohave signed Game Overdirector Ashwin Saravanan’sTelugu-Tamil bilingual as hernext but there is no officialword yet on the project. Sheis also rumoured to be intalks with Sony Pictures for anew film, which will behelmed by a debutant. It willbe another Telugu-Tamilbilingual, according to thebuzz. Her next release, how-ever, will be The Family Man2, which marks her Hindiand digital debut.

SSamantha and her pet dogcannot be beaten in this job!

esides Nikhil’s wedding,Thursday also witnessedanother wedding of aTelugu supporting actor.

Jabardusth fame Mahesh, who wonrich laurels for his act in RamCharan-starrer Rangasthalam, wedPavani at 6: 31 am in Sivakodu vil-lage, Rajolu. The wedding was aprivate affair with only the family

members and friends from the cou-ple attending it. It is an arrangedmatch, we hear, for the actor, whowas also seen playing a role withnegative streak in Mahanati. Whilethe wedding guests seem to havenot worn masks as coronavirus pre-ventive measure going by the pic-tures, the ceremony thoughappeared to have gone smoothly.

BMahesh gets hitched

Nikhil ties the knotikhil Siddharth tied the knot with his fiancée Dr Pallavi Varma onThursday in Shamirpet, Hyderabad. A traditional affair, thewedding venue was well decked up with flowers. With the coupleentered marital bliss amid lockdown, the family made sure to take

precautions and sported masks. The actor wore a golden sherwani for theceremony, while his wife was every bit the Telugu bride, donning red-and-gold silk saree. Soon after, congratulatory messages poured in for theactor from the fraternity, with the likes of Allari Naresh, Harish Shankar andSai Tej among others extending their marriage wishes.

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