APERC nod toMarch powerbills for AprilPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The AP ElectricityRegulatory Commission(APERC) has given permis-sion to the Discoms to issueprovisional power bills forApril as per the bill raised inMarch 2020 for all LT con-sumers whose meter readingsare not taken.

The APSPDCL, APEPD-CL and APCPDCL submitteda request to the APERC thatthey are unable to deploymeter readers to take read-ings of LT services at the con-sumer premises as stipulatedin regulations due to lock-down to prevent COVID-19pandemic.

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Bengal plantershope for surge in quininedemand

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Coal ministryannounces steps to boost demandfor dry fuel

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Covid-19 cripplesRs 2,000-crJalandhar sportsindustry

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Current Weather ConditionsUpdated April 10, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Chaitra & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Chaturthi: 07:01 pmNakshatram: Anuradha: 08:11 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 09:11 am – 10:44 amYamagandam: 01:49 pm – 03:22 pmVarjyam: 01:33 am – 03:05 amGulika: 06:06 am - 07:39 amGood Time: (to start any

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VIJAYAWADAWEATHERForecast: Mostly sunnyTemp: 39/24Humidity: 49%Sunrise: 06:02 amSunset: 06:31 pm

3

Jagan sacks maverick SECPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh StateGovernment on Fridayremoved State ElectionCommissioner NimmagaddaRamesh Kumar from officeand brought in SRamasundara Reddy in hisplace on the basis of threeOrdinances.

These Ordinances were notmade public, but affect thetenure and functioning of theSEC.

The move immediatelyattracted harsh criticism by theOpposition parties thataccused Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy of tryingto ‘murder democracy itself ’.

According to sources, theState government promulgat-ed the Ordinances (MS-31,MS-618 and MS-617, all datedApril 10, 2020 and markedconfidential) on Thursday andsent them to GovernorBishwabhushan Harichandanfor approval on Friday.

Matters moved rapidlythereafter, and the govern-ment proceeded to removeRamesh Kumar, who hadpostponed the local body elec-tions due by March-end, cit-ing the threat of Coronavirus.

While the Ordinancesremain confidential, the StateGovernment, with its action ofremoving the SEC, has hintedthat the Governor hasapproved them, though thishas not been officially con-firmed.

According to sources, theOrdinances brought amend-ments to the Andhra Pradesh

Panchayat Raj Act-1994 tochange the tenure, eligibilityand method of appointment ofthe State ElectionCommissioner (SEC) as partof electoral reforms. The gov-ernment, through one of theOrdinances, reduced thetenure of the SEC from fiveyears to three years, thuspreparing the ground for the

removal of Ramesh Kumar asSEC and get a more ‘amenable’appointee in his place. One ofthe Ordinances paved the wayfor Ramesh Kumar’s replace-ment.

The Ordinances said thatsuch an amendment wouldensure an independent, fairand a neutral person holds thehigh office.

The Ordinance appealed toHarichandan to appoint onlya person who has held theoffice of the judge of the HighCourt as the SEC.

Ramesh Kumar, who hailsfrom Guntur, had earlier heldthe post of Special ChiefSecretary to the Governor.

Ordinance won’t stand legalscrutiny, opine expertsHYDERABAD: Experts on Friday opined that the APgovernment's ordinance to sack State ElectionCommissioner N Ramesh Kumar will not standlegal scrutiny. According to the experts, theappointment and removal of SEC is governed byArticle 243K of the Constitution of India. Whilethis Article has no mention about the tenure of theSEC, the orders issued by the then Governor ESLNarasimhan appointing Ramesh Kumar as SEC in 2016, clearlystate that he would continue to remain in the office for five years ortill he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. The APgovernment's ordinance stipulating the tenure of SEC for threeyears would land in legal tangles, according to legal experts. Theysay if the government wants to go ahead with the ordinance, it cando so in the case of fresh appointments but it does not have themandate to extend such an ordinance to an appointment made in2016, as was done in the case of Ramesh Kumar. Legal expertsalso opined that Ramesh Kumar alone can challenge the ordinancein the High Court and there is no scope for others to do so.

Health workers are the realheroes, says Jagan in gratitude

Number of infected in AP at381 after 16 more test positivePNS n VIJAYAWADA

For the second day running,Andhra Pradesh reported a rel-atively lower number of Covid-19 cases, with 16 people test-ing positive for the contagion.

With these 16 cases, the statehas so far recorded a totalnumber of 381 cases, till 8 pmof Friday. It may be noted that10 patients have made a fullrecovery and have been dis-charged while six others havesuccumbed to the deadly infec-tion.

Kurnool continues toremain the most affect; 77positive cases have beenreported from this district.Guntur has recorded 58 posi-tive cases, SPS Nellore 48 andPrakasam 40. The other dis-tricts in the state that have reg-istered infections are Krishnawith 35, YSR Kadapa 29, WestGodavari 22 whileVisakhapatnam and Chittoor

reported 20 positive cases each,followed by East Godavariwith 17 and Anantapur with 15positive cases.

Meanwhile, the governmenthas identified 133 red zones(clusters) across the state thathave reported a higher numberof Covid-19 positive cases.SPS Nellore has the highestnumber of clusters with 30 fol-lowed by 22 in Kurnool, 16 in

Krishna, 12 each in Gunturand West Godavari, 11 inPrakasam eight in EastGodavari, seven in Chittoor,six each in Visakhapatnamand YSR Kadapa and threeclusters in Anantapur district.

Vizianagaram andSrikakulam districts in thestate continue to be free of thevirus.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Chief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy on Friday appreciateddoctors, paramedical staff andsanitation workers for theirrelentless efforts to keep theextremely contagious Covid-19at bay, during a video confer-ence with collectors and doc-tors working in hospitals in the13 districts in the state.

Speaking to the officials inthe videoconference, the ChiefMinister said that the doctors,paramedical staff, and sanita-tion workers are renderingyeoman’s services during thesetough times.

“I salute the doctors andmedical staff,” Jagan said,adding that it was because ofthem that the state was able towithstand the relentless onwardmarch of the pandemic.

“Unlike other states andcities like Hyderabad,Bengaluru, and Chennai, APhas no such hospitals that haveall the amenities but has com-mitted and expert doctors andmedical staff. Despite thisdrawback, only 5 per cent ofthe Covid-19 patients are incritical care, 14 per cent areadmitted in hospitals, and 81

per cent are in home isolation.The best medical services arebeing provided with four crit-ical care hospitals across thestate, and isolation wards with

2,000 beds in every district,” theChief Minister said.

He said that despite fullybeing aware of the risksinvolved in treating Covid-19patients, the medical and san-itation staff are working withdedication, in exemplary dis-play of courage during this dif-ficult times risking their life.

The Chief Minister con-veyed gratitude on behalf ofhimself and the state for theirhard work and contributiontowards the society.

Central teams tohelp check hotspotsl 133 hotspots in AP, 130 in TSL VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The Centre has decided tosend special teams to 'criticalstates’, including Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh, to con-duct rapid testing across thepopulation in the districtsthat are most-affected by coro-navirus.

A team of experts, consist-ing of doctors, epidemiolo-gists, microbiologists and oth-ers, will visit 'critical areas'which are reporting anincrease in number ofCoronavirus cases.

The states will be dividedinto affected and non-affecteddistricts and these teams willstart rapid testing across thepopulation.The NationalCentre for Disease Control(NCDC) will lead this

exercise. These are testswhich can be run on blood,plasma or serum samples, areused to ascertain in less than30 minutes if a person, even ifasymptomatic, is Covid-19positive.

Official sources in healthdepartment revealed that theCentre had conveyed its planto conduct rapid tests in

Telangana and AndhraPradesh, since both the stateswitnessed big jump in Coronacases over the past one week.

The Telangana state govern-ment has already identified130 hotspots in districts, whereCorona threat still looms large.

These areas have been com-pletely sealed off and heavypolice has been deployed whocordoned off these areas tocheck any movement of thepublic by implementing 24-hour curfew. The AP govern-ment too on Friday declared133 hotspots which are badlyaffected by Coronavirus.

NagarimunicipalcommissionersuspendedPNS n NAGARI

Nagari Municipal commis-sioner Venkatrami Reddy hasbeen suspended from servicefor his controversial selfiethat criticised all leadersexcept the local MLA RKRoja. Orders to this effectwere issued on Friday.

Irked at the selfie releasedby Venkatrami Reddy, thestate government placed himunder suspension and direct-ed him not to leave Nagariwithout informing theauthorities. The governmentappointed sanitary inspectorCh Venkateswara Rao as in-charge municipal commis-sioner.

Lightning strikesleave 10 dead in AP PNS n VIJAYAWADA

As many as 10 people havebeen killed in lightning strikesin three districts of AndhraPradesh, the State DisasterManagement Authority saidhere on Friday.

In a release, the SDMA saidseven people were killed inlightning strikes in five man-dals of SPS Nellore district,two in Guntur and one inPrakasam district onThursday.

At Chennur village aloneunder Dagadarthi mandal inSPS Nellore district, threewere killed in the incident.

"We had issued advancewarnings with the likely loca-tion of the lightning and askedpeople to stay in safe places.

But still the deaths occurred,"the SDMA said.

For instance, the SDMAsent out bulk text messagesand also WhatsApp messagesat 10.22 am and 10.58 amalerting people about lightningstrikes in Dagadarthi mandal.

India’s Covid-19 death rate lower than othersPNS n NEW DELHI

Despite India reporting nearly200 COVID-19 deaths in lastone month, the country's deathrate of about 3 per cent is lowerthan the global rate, and alsomuch lower than severalEuropean countries like theUK, Italy and Spain, accordingto some medical experts.

India had reported its firstCOVID-19 death fromKarnataka on March 10.

rt and Spain to their elderlypopulation which are more sus-ceptible to developing compli-cations after contracting the

infection. According to the datashared by the Union healthministry earlier this week, about63 per cent deaths have beenreported among people aged 60

and above, 30 per cent amongpeople between 40 to 60 yearsand seven per cent among peo-ple below 40 years.

India so far has reported

6,412 confirmed cases of coro-navirus with a death toll of near-ly 200, making it 3.1 per centdeath rate — percentage ofdeaths with respect to the totalnumber of confirmed cases.

As per the US official figures,that country has reported4,27,460 COVID-19 cases with14,696 deaths, amounting to adeath rate of 3.4 per cent.However, according to JohnHopkins University andMedicine, 4,66,299 confirmedcases of COVID-19 have beenreported in the US with 16,686deaths (death rate of 3.57 percent).

Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar S Ramasundara Reddy

l Ordinance says any retiredjudge of High Court should

be appointed SECl Ramesh Kumar likely

to take legal route to stay onin post

l Opposition saysYSRCP removingeveryone whotakes a standagainst itsdecisions

I salute the doctors andmedical staff. Unlike other

states and cities like Hyderabad,Bengaluru, and Chennai, AP hasno such hospitals, but hascommitted and expert doctorsand medical staff

— YS JAGANMOHAN REDDYChief Minister

Expertssuggest thata relativelyyoung Indianpopulationmay be one of the reasonsfor the lowmortality ratedue to thepandemic

l Ordinance amending AP PR Act-1994 to reduce tenure of SEC from 5 to 3 years sent to Guv

3

3 3

3

33

PUNJAB GOVERNMENT EXTENDSLOCKDOWN IN STATE TILL APRIL 30

In a first-of-its-kind case in the city, the Saroornagar police arrestedthe driver of a milk van for spitting on the road at Champapet on

Friday morning. The state government recently banned spitting in publicplaces as part of steps introduced to contain the spread ofCovid-19. The police identified the arrested person asMohammed Abdul Muzed, 24, a driver from AlmagalColony in Hayathnagar. On Friday morning, around11 am, Abdul Muzed, who was proceeding in themilk van along with his co-driver from Hayathnagartowards Saroornagar, was stopped for vehiclechecking at Champapet, the police said.

SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY SIXPOTENTIAL DRUGS FOR COVID-19Scientists have identified six drug candidates from more than 10,000

compounds that may help treat COVID-19. The research, published inthe journal Nature, tested the efficacy of approved drugs, drug candidates inclinical trials and other compounds. "Currently there are no targetedtherapeutics or effective treatment options for COVID-19," said ProfessorLuke Guddat from the University of Queensland in Australia. "In order torapidly discover lead compounds for clinical use, we initiated a programmeof high-throughput drug screening, both inlaboratories and also using the latestcomputer software to predict how differentdrugs bind to the virus," Guddat said.

Employers will have to show donation made by employees from theirsalary to PM-CARES fund in Form 16 TDS certificate, the Income Tax

department has said. Donations made to the Prime Minister'sCitizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations(PM-CARES) Fund are eligible for 100 per centdeduction u/s 80G of I-T Act. In a notice, the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes has said that in cases wheredonation is made by an employee through his/heremployer, a separate certificate u/s 80G will not beissued for every employee as contribution to the fundis in the form of consolidated payment.

DONATIONS TO PM-CARES TO REFLECTIN FORM 16 TDS CERTIFICATE

MILK VAN DRIVER ARRESTED FORSPITTING ON ROAD IN HYDERABAD

The Punjab government on Friday extended the coronavirus lockdowntill April 30, becoming the second state after Odisha to

do so. The decision was taken at a meeting of the councilof ministers here. PUNJAB CABINET @capt_amarinderUNANIMOUSLY APPROVES EXTENSION OF PUNJABCURFEW/ LOCKDOWN till 30 April, 2020/1st May, 2020.Extension by 21 days from today. Strict enforcement (sic),Special Chief Secretary KBS Sidhu tweeted. Punjab hasseen a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in thepast few days, pushing the total count to 132 so farwith 11 deaths.

With the 21-day lock-down periodannounced by the

Centre to contain spread ofCovid-19 is coming to anend, one question that is oneveryone's mind is whetherthe restrictions would beextended or not.

Going by internationalexperience and the risingnumber of cases in India,continuing with the lock-down beyond April 14 seemspragmatic. Several state gov-ernments includingMaharastra, Telangana,Kerala, and Punjab have alsorooted for extension.

Rise in the number of cases

There has been a constantrise in the number of casesbeing reported in India withthe total number of infectionscrossing the 5,000 mark onApril 7. While it took nineweeks for the country to seethe rise in infections from 1-2500, it took just six days toadd another 2,500 cases toreach the 5,000 mark.

Adding to this, severalhealth experts have called formore testing in the countryas India is currently testingonly about 100 people permillion population, which isvery less when compared tocountries like South Korea (About 9,000 tests per mil-lion) and Spain (Over 7,000tests per million).

According to data pub-lished in the Indian Councilfor Medical Research (ICMR)website, 1,27,919 sampleshave been tested in India ason April 8 (till 9 pm). Thelow of testing is a worryparticularly because severalstudies indicate that about 80per cent of Covid-19 patientshave mild or no symptomsbut can still act as an activecarriers of the virus andinfect others.Lessons from elsewhere

The experience from sever-al other countries also seems

to indicate that an extensionof lockdown is necessary tofight Covid-19 tooth and nail.Countries like Singapore andJapan, that received globalacclaim for their firefightingmeasures like rapid testing,contact tracing among othersto contain Covid-19, haveimposed a more stricter curbsfollowing a spike in the num-ber of cases.

While Singaporeannounced lockdown for amonth, Japan announced amonth-long state of emer-gency to fight the virus.Hence, India should tread acautious path before taking a

decision on lockdown byweighing in on all possibleoptions.

Creaky public healthinfrastructure

Another worrying factoris the poor state of publichealth infrastructure in India.With less than one hospitalbed per 1,000 people andwith only about 50,000 venti-lators, India's public healthinfrastructure is very fragileand cannot handle any majoroutbreak. The country facesshortage of masks, (personalprotective equipment (PPE),

gloves, sanitisers among oth-ers that are important to fightCovid-19. Further, humanresources in our healthcaresystem is very thin with over-burdened doctors and para-medics working round theclock to stem the spread ofCovid-19.

How India should go ahead

The sudden announcementof nationwide lockdown onMarch 24 has thrown life inrural and urban India out ofgear with the country witness-ing mass exodus of migrantsand several people losing jobs.According to the data releasedby Centre for Monitoring theIndian Economy (CMIE),unemployment rate in Indiasaw a near three-fold jumpsince March 22 from 8.4 percent to 23.8 per cent for theweek ending March 29.

The Central governmentcould have planned the lock-down better by giving earlyadvisories to the state govern-ments asking them to takecare of the migrant workers byconstructing temporary shel-ters, providing food amongothers. Ever since, the Centreannounced a special reliefpackage of 1.7 lakh crore toaddress various challenges

associated with the lockdown.It also announced a 30 percent salary cuts for thePresident, PM and MPs for ayear apart from the suspen-sion of MPLAD scheme fortwo years to mop up funds forfight against Covid-19.

The Centre should alsoconsider announcing amandatory pay cut of 5 percent to 10 per cent on allCentral government employ-ees, leaving Group D andfrontline workers, for at leastthree months to mop upfunds to fight the virus. As itis an unprecedented crisis,government employees, beingthe most secured sections,should take the moral respon-sibility and bite the bullet inorder to empower the vulner-able sections.

However, while it is under-standable that a large sectionof people in India are suffer-ing from various hardships itis also important for India to

extend the lockdown periodas our public health infra-structure is not prepared tohandle any major outbreak.

Further, in the event of anoutbreak, it’s the poor and thedisadvantaged who wouldsuffer the most as the rich andthe middle class would gangup to avail treatment in boththe public and private healthfacilities at the cost of the lessfortunate. Such class segrega-tion is evident now with theregard to the availability anduse of masks and other pro-tective equipment.

At this juncture, it appearsprudent that the Centreshould buy sometime to flat-ten the curve before lifting thelockdown. Till then, it shouldincrease the number of tests,ramp up production of pro-tective equipment, set up plas-ma banks, cut non-essentialexpenditure and above all,announce a new set of mea-sures for the weaker sections.

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, D.No. New 3-88, Old 3-22, Chandra Theatre, Gosala, Penamaluru Mandal, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh - 521 151, Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020 vijayawada 02

PRUDHVI VEGESNA

MARKETING DEPT SELLING AGRI PRODUCE

PNS n GUNTUR

Encouraged by success of sale ofraw bananas produced inRayalaseema region throughwomen's self-help groups in vil-lages and towns, the Marketingdepartment has now extendedthe sale to sweet lemons andvowed to sell vegetables andmangoes through the SHGsacross the State, bringing need-ed relief to farmers, who foundexports stalled due to the lock-down.

Moreover, farmers could savethemselves from the menace ofmiddlemen. In Rayalaseema,area cultivation of tomatoes andhorticultural crops is more. TheMarketing department officialshave purchased them from farm-ers directly and sending them toGuntur coordinating the activi-ties of traders.

Assistant director Marketingdepartment with the help of theDRDA and MEPMA staff hasbeen sending the produce to theplace where there is gooddemand. Under the supervisionof the DRDA, assistant projectmanagers, CCs, animators trans-

porting the farm produce to vil-lages and selling them at the peo-ple's doorstep. In three days, 125tonnes of raw bananas weresold in 36 mandals at the rate of12-15 a dozen, which includestransport costs. They get dozenraw bananas for 10.

After assessing the progress ofsales for a few days, wastage,transport costs and other expens-es, exact price for sale of rawbananas at field-level would befixed. As the Marketing depart-ment is procuring agricultureproduce and selling them direct-

ly to consumers, while farmerswould be exonerated from themenace of middlemen on onehand and on the other hand,consumers get vegetables at alesser price.

The Marketing departmentand DRDA say that the sale ofraw bananas and plan to sellother horticultural and vegetableproduce in this fashion wouldbring farmers some relief at atime when there is no transporta-tion and export orders are hardto come by. Assistant directorSujata said that the export scene

improved a little bit with thelemon market in the district hasbecome functional, raw bananashave been exported to Odisha.

l Assistant director Marketingdepartment with the help ofthe DRDA and MEPMA staffhas been sending the produceto the place where there isgood demand

l As the Marketingdepartment is procuringagriculture produce and sellingthem directly to consumers,while farmers would beexonerated from the menaceof middlemen on one handand on the other hand,consumers get vegetables at alesser price.

l The Marketing departmentand DRDA say that the sale ofraw bananas and plan to sellother horticultural andvegetable produce in thisfashion would bring farmerssome relief at a time whenthere is no transportation andexport orders are hard tocome by

Corona-hit toddy tappersappeal for compensationPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The lockdown in view of thespread of the pandemic has hitthe toddy tappers hard. Due tothe restrictions, the productionof the palm toddy (naturallybrewed liquor) has been halt-ed. Hence, toddy tappers havebeen deprived of livelihood andseeking compensation fromthe government.

Normally, the demand forthe toddy is high during thesummer (from March to May)as the toddy is considered thebest beverage with less alcoholcontent and toddy is insepara-ble from the lives of many peo-ple, including the villages,towns and cities in AndhraPradesh. Traditionally toddytapping requires lot of skills asthe tapper has to climb a palmtree twice a day (adventuretask) and collect the toddyfrom the top of the tree.

In Andhra Pradesh, aroundfour lakh people have beeninvolved in toddy tapping andselling. Among the 13 dis-tricts in Andhra Pradesh, theproduction and consumptionof the palm toddy is high inWest Godavari, Krishna,Guntur and East Godavari dis-tricts, said K Krishna, a toddytapper. During the summer, 10to 15 litres of toddy could be collected from a palm treein a day.

Secretary of Andhra PradeshKallugeeta Karmika Sangham(Toddy Tappers Association) YDemudu said that though for-eign liquor is becoming popu-lar, the naturally brewed toddy

remain the first choice amongsome youngsters and othersduring the summer. However,the Covid-19 has hit hard to therevenue sources of toddy tap-pers as the government askedto stop the production and saleof the toddy citing that toddyis intoxicated.

“The threat is for everyoneand we have to win war againstCovid-19, so that we stoppedthe collection and selling oftoddy following the govern-ment instructions. But, whatabout our only revenue source,we are requesting the govern-ment to announce Rs 75,000 toeach toddy tapper in the State

to save the families. Toddy isnot like liquor and we can’t col-lect and sell once the season(March to May) is over,” saidDemudu.

The price of toddy is cheapwhen compared to beers andliquor. The price of 1,000 mlgood quality and fresh toddy isranging between Rs 80 and Rs100 where as the price of 650ml beer is over Rs 160 and theprice of 180 ml liquor is aboveRs 250 in the State. In States likeGoa and Kerala, coconut feniis popular but in AP palmtoddy is very popular, said DSudharkar, who loves to drinktoddy during summer.

Farmers finally are rid offrom middleman menace

Around four lakh people have been involvedin toddy tapping and selling in the State.Among the 13 districts, the production andconsumption of the toddy is high in WestGodavari, Krishna, Guntur and East Godavaridistricts, said K Krishna, a toddy tapper

NASSCOM'S PLEA TO CENTRE

Reimburse ‘paid leave' given to staff during lockdown

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

As a part of Covid-19 pre-paredness measures, theMinistry of Railways advised theZonal Railways to convert sleep-er coaches into quarantine/iso-lation centres in order to aug-ment the additionalquarantine/isolation facilities asa contingency measure andaccomplish the task by April 10.

Coaching depots ofVijayawada Division has suc-cessfully converted 50 sleepercoaches, which are 18 more thanthe prescribed target of 32 sleep-er coaches that include 17 coach-es from coaching depot-Vijayawada, 13 from C&WDepot-Kakinada, 10 each fromcoaching depot-Narsapur andcoaching depot-Machilipatanam.

In addition to this, the staff ofC&W Depot & Electric LocoShed has stitched 8,000 facemasks with the available mate-rial in the depot as a precaution-

ary measure and supplied it tovarious departments as perrequirement. Divisional staffalso undertaken extensive disin-fection of coaches and all therailway assets with sodiumhypochlorite at regular intervalsto contain the spread of thevirus.

Speaking on the occasion, KSrinivas, Senior DivisionalMechanical Engineer,Vijayawada, has lauded theefforts of field staff and officersof the coaching depots inaccomplishing this rare feat

before the target date by bravingagainst all odds.

He said that material procure-ment during the lockdown andconverting the coaches into iso-lation and quarantine centreswith available manpower andresources were the twin chal-lenges faced in completion of thetask.

P Srinivas, Divisional RailwayManager, Vijayawada, compli-mented K Srinivas, Sr DME andhis team, on successful conver-sion of sleeping coaches into iso-lation wards in short time.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Creamline Dairy ProductsLimited (CDPL), a subsidiaryof Godrej Agrovet Limited,has undertaken an initiativethat will enable housing soci-eties to order essential fooditems under their Jersey port-folio, which include- milk,ghee, curd, paneer, butter-milk, milkshakes, flavoredmilk and doodhpeda- fromthe safety of their homes.

This move from CDPLcomes as a response to ensureuninterrupted supply ofessentials to customersamidst the ongoing Covid-19outbreak. CDPL facilitatesdelivery of dairy essentials tocustomers in Hyderabad,Chennai, Bengaluru,Vijayawada andVisakhapatnam.

Commenting on the initia-tive, Raj Kanwar, CEO,Creamline Dairy ProductsLimited, said, "Easy avail-ability of essentials is thecritical need of the hour andso is consumer safety. Milk isan easily available proteinsource and protein is knownto help in maintaining immu-nity.

Godrej Jerseyintroducesuninterruptedsupply to homes

TANA helps strandedTelugu students in USPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The Telugu Association ofNorth America is providingshelter to all theTelugu students,who werestranded afterthe outbreak ofd e a d l yC oronav ir us .They had beenprovided shelter inthe homes of Teluguspeaking people in the US,said TANA vice-presidentLavu Anjaiah Chowdhary ina release from the US.

He said all the Telugu peo-

ple have been observing homequarantine and followingguidelines issued by the USgovernment from time to

time. He said though therewas no lockdown, life

has come to a stand-still in all theprovinces.

Chowdhary fur-ther added that

TANA was arrangingmedicines for the visiting

parents, who could notreturn to India. TheAssociation was also organis-ing virtual lectures by variousexperts on social and religiousissues through websites.

Brahmotsavams concludesat Vontimitta templePNS n VONTIMITTA

The annual Brahmotsavams atSri Kodandarama Swamy tem-ple at Vontimitta in YSRKadapa district concluded withChakrasnanam on Friday.Earlier, priests performedSnapanam to the processionaldeities of Sri Sita, Rama andLakshmana, along withSudarshana Chakrattalwar, at

Ranganayakula Mandapam inthe temple.

Later, at the auspicious hour,Chakrasnanam was performedby immersing the Chakram inthe sacred waters at the manda-pam amidst chanting of Vedichymns. Temple deputy execu-tive officer Lokanatham wasalso present. Meanwhile, theannual Pushpayagam will beperformed on Saturday.

50 sleeper coaches convertedinto isolation, quarantine centres

PNS n HYDERABAD

IT and ITeS industry bodyNasscom has urged the Centreto reimburse the payroll cost ofemployees, who were on 'paidleave' on account of any Covid-19 related lockdown measurestill March 31, among otherconcessions and facilities.

According to a memoran-dum, covering issues related tovarious ministries also, submit-ted to Minister for Finance

Nirmala Sitharaman, the apexbody of the Indian IT industryalso urged the government to

exempt IT-ITeS establishmentsfrom payment of statutorybonus for the fiscal 2020/2021

and allow cross utilisation ofSEZ and STPI locations forBusiness Continuation

Planning (BCP) scenarios.The body requested the

Finance Minister to allowexpenses incurred by compa-nies in enabling Work fromHome (WFH) for its employ-ees as an eligible businessexpense. Currently, suchexpenses are classified asperquisites as a result of whichemployees are liable to pay tax.

"Reimbursing the payrollcost of employees that havebeen placed on 'paid leave' on

account of any Covid-19 relat-ed lockdown measures tillMarch 31, 2021, the Nassomrequested in the memoran-dum saying, "This will helpease the financial burden andwill ensure no job losses".

The novel coronavirus pan-demic has led to the disruptionof several global value chainsand the Indian IT- ITeS indus-try is an integral part of manyof these. It has necessitated asharp re-look at the future of

the industry in the short tomedium term, it said.

A former office-bearer ofNasscom said the US govern-ment last week announcedUSD 349 billion under thePaycheck Protection Program(PPP) to be given as 'forgiv-able loan' to small businessesto pay their employees duringthe COVID-19 crisis andIndia can also do somethingin similar lines to small busi-nesses.

l According to a memorandum, covering issuesrelated to various ministries also, submitted toMinister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, the apexbody of the Indian IT industry also urged thegovernment to exempt IT-ITeS establishments frompayment of statutory bonus for the fiscal 2020/2021and allow cross utilisation of SEZ and STPI locations

Priests peform ‘Chakrasnanam’ to Kondadarama Swamy, His consort Sita andLakshmana at Ontimitta temple in YSR Kadapa district on Friday

Lockdown acause forconcern forfarmers: APCCPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh CongressCommittee has expressed itsconcern overthe lock-d o w nclampeda c r o s sthe Stateto com-bating thespread ofC oronav i r usbecoming a curse to farmers,who could not harvest the rabicrop due to the shortage oflabourers.

President of APCC SakeSailajanath said in a statementhere on Friday that farmerscould not sell even kharifpaddy stock to repay the loans.“Due to the lockdown, there isno transport to take the pro-duce to the market,” he said.

Referring to the woes of hor-ticulture farmers, he said thatthey are incurring heavy loss-es since they could not harvestmango, papaya, pomegranate,sapota and banana, moreover,they are no buyers of these vari-eties. Likewise, chilli, maize andturmeric farmers are also incur-ring heavy losses. The PCCchief appealed to the govern-ment to make available paddy harvesting machines tofarmers.

A CASE FOR LOCKDOWN EXTENSIONThe experience from several other countries also seems to indicate that an extension of Lockdown is necessary to fight Covid-19 tooth and nail

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020 vijayawada 03

Woman fromPrakasam dies in HydHYDERABAD: A womanbelonging to Prakasam district,who was tested positive forCoronavirus, and was kept inan ambulance outside GandhiHospital, died on Fridayafternoon. A high alert hasbeen sounded in Prakasamdistrict following her death. Infact the woman, identified as aresident of Gudluru village inPrakasam district, wassuffering from cancer. Shereceived treatment inSingarayakonda and Ongole.However, after March 15, shetook admission in Yashoda HinHyderabad and receivingtreatment. In this backdrop, sheis understood to have testedpositive for Coronavirus onFriday afternoon.

Corona negativewoman dies

AP official drinks sanitiser,mistaking it for water

TIRUPATI: A woman, whotested negative for theCoronavirus died on Friday, enroute to the CMC in Vellore.However, her husband attributedher death to officials making hervisit various hospitals and delayin providing treatment to her.The deceased was identified asLakshmi Devi, wife of formersarpanch of Attikuppam villagein Ramakuppam mandal ofChittoor district.

AMARAVATI: A HealthDepartment official in AndhraPradesh on Friday took ill afterconsuming a sanitiser,mistaking it for drinking water.The incident occurred inAnantapur district. After DistrictMedical and Health Officer(DMHO) Anil Kumar took twosips of the sanitiser kept in hishouse, his family took him to anearby private hospital. Doctorsexamined him and said therewas no danger to his life. Theysaid the DMHO would bedischarged in a few hours.

CAPSULE

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Jana Sena President PawanKalyan on Friday breathed fireon the YSRCP governmentfor the way the State ElectionCommissioner NimmagaddaRamesh Kumar was removedfrom office. He accused ChiefMinister YS Jaganmohan Reddygovernment of conducted itselfwith a victimisation attitudeand showed adamant behaviouronce again.

By releasing the GO remov-ing Ramesh Kumar as theState Election Commissioner,Jaganmohan Reddy sent feel-ers that there was no changefrom the earlier stand.

In a statement, PawanKalyan described some of thedecisions of Jaganmohan

Reddy as undemocratic. Inspite of the High Court pass-ing strictures against theJaganmohan Reddy govern-ment, he seems to have notlearnt lessons, he opined.

At a time when people of the

State are reeling under theimpact of the Coronavirus,the government should focuson concentrating all its energiesin saving people from the thevirus. Instead, the senior lead-ers in the government were

indulging in vendetta politics,he lamented.

Pawan accuses YSRCPgovt of vendetta politics

REMOVAL OF SEC

PNS n VIZIANAGARAM

The Excise and Prohibitiondepartment officials haveundertaken stock verificationon an elaborate scale in thedistrict following reports ofdiversion of liquor bottles intothe black market.

Ever since clamp down hasbeen implemented in the Statefrom March 22, the wineshops have been sealed and thepersonnel working in theshops have been put on guardduty at the shops.

At some places, politicaloutfits have been maintaininglarge quantities of stocks inview of local body elections.

Moreover, there were allega-tions of smuggling of liquorfrom Odisha into the district.There are also allegations ofliquor finding its way into theblack market from wine shopsin the district.

Following receipt of com-plaints on a large scale, thegovernment has issued ordersto excise personnel to verifystocks. For the past three days,excise officials have been ver-ifying stocks in wine shopsand bars across the district.There are 168 liquor shops inthe district.

Excise officials have beenverifying the stocks in aphased manner. They veri-fied stocks in 21 shops onTuesday and Wednesday.Many lacunae surfaced inParvatipuram division.

Out of 17 wine shops in thecity, stock has been verified insix shops in two days. The nee-dle of suspicion is on salessupervisors, salesmen andwatchmen in diverting thestocks from the shops.

In Gummalakshmipuram,there were discrepancies instock worth Rs 22,000. InMakkuva, the stock discrepan-cy is put at Rs 1.70 lakh.

The excise departmentrecovered the amount fromthe owners of the shops andregistered cases against them.On Thursday also, stock wasverified in many wine shops.

Stock verificationdrive in wine shops

n Jana Sena PresidentPawan Kalyancondemned the GOissued to send SEC outof office

n At a time when peopleof the State are reelingunder the impact ofthe Coronavirus, thegovernment shouldfocus on concentratingall its energies in savingpeople from the virus.Instead, seniors in thegovernment wereindulging in vendettapolitics

n Ever since clamp downhas been implemented inthe State from March 22,the wine shops have beensealed and the personnelworking in the shops havebeen put on guard duty atthe shops

n At some places, politicaloutfits have beenmaintaining largequantities of stocks in viewof local body elections.

n Moreover, there wereallegations of smuggling ofliquor from Odisha intoVizianagaram district.There are also allegationsof liquor finding its wayinto the black market fromwine shops in the district

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for Civil SuppliesKodali Sri VenkateswaraRao aka Nani said that thegovernment has distributedfree ration to 1.3 crore ben-eficiaries across the State.Addressing the media hereon Friday, the ministerrefuted the allegations ofTDP chief N ChandrababuNaidu on cancelling of 14lakh ration cards.

Nani said that with thefear of Covid-19, Naiduwas staying in Hyderabadand was making baselessstatements on the rulingparty without checking thefacts.

The minister pointed outthat after the YSRCP gov-ernment came to power,they came to know that theprevious TDP governmenthad issued 10 lakh rationcards for ineligible benefi-ciaries in the State afterverifying 1.47 lakh rationcards.

The ration cards of inel-igible beneficiaries arebeing cancelled after verifi-cation, however, in the wakeof the Covid-19, ChiefMinister YS JaganmohanReddy has instructedauthorities concerned toissue ration and Rs 1,000 toall the cardholders, includ-ing the old ration card-holders.

He informed that threelakh new applications arereceived for rice cards in theState as per the instructionof the Chief Minister, theywere also given free rationand Rs 1,000. Under theYSRCP government, jus-tice is being rendered to thepoor in the State and theJagan was always for thewelfare of the poor, hepointed out and added thatthe poor were ignoredunder the TDP regime.

Kodali Nanirefutes Naidu’sallegation onration cards

CP warns of action againstred-zone rule violatorsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Police Commissioner ChDwaraka Tirumala Rao paid avisit to Old Rajarajeswaripet inVijayawada, which was declaredas the red zone after the Covid-19 positive cases were identifiedin the area. The Commissioneron Friday gave suggestions toofficers and police personnel onmeasures to be taken in thoseareas where the Corona positivecases were reported.

He said Vidyadhara-puramunder under Bhavani-puram Police Station limits,Old Rajarajeswaripet underTwo Town Police Station limits,Ranigari Thota under KrishnaLanka limits, Khudus Nagarunder Satyanarayanapuram

limits, Payakapuram underNunna Police Station limitsand Sanath Nagar underPenamaluru Police Station lim-its were declared as red zones aspositive cases were reported inthose areas.

He appealed to people underthe red zone areas not to ven-ture out of their houses as

essentials are being supplied attheir doorstep. A Sub-Inspector and municipal offi-cers are monitoring the redzones and food supply compa-nies, politicians and NGOsshould seek police permissionbefore enteromg the zone, orelse stern action will be takenagainst them, he warned.

Jagan sacksmaverick SEC

Continued from Page 1

According to sources,Ramesh Kumar is likely tomove the High Court chal-lenging the government’sdecision to remove him fromoffice.

Reacting to the removal ofRamesh Kumar as SEC,Leader of the Opposition NChandrababu Naidu urgedthe Governor to withhold theOrdinance and uphold therule of law and democraticvalues.

In a letter, Naidu said that,“The YSRCP-ledGovernment brought in anamendment to Section 200 ofAPPR Act, 1994 with viciousdesign to remove the presentSEC”. He questioned thatwhen elections to local bod-ies were postponed midwaydue to the threat of Covid-19,what is the urgency to bringin an amendment throughthe backdoor in the form ofan Ordinance to change thetenure and eligibility of theSEC.

TDP senior leaderYanamala Ramakrishnudusaid that the Chief Ministerwas trying to alter the basicstructure of the Constitutionand such attempts pose athreat to democracy itself. Hedescribed the move toremove Ramesh Kumar asSEC was unconstitutionaland appealed to the Governorto reject the Ordinance.

“The autocratic style offunctioning is against thespirit of democracy. Whoeveris opposing the decisions ofthe government are beingsacked and removed fromoffice,” Terming the YSRCPdispensation as an oppressiveregime, Yanamala said thatthe state government wasresorting to witch-hunting. “

Nagari municipal commissioner suspended Continued from Page 1

The message accompany-ing the selfie, that has sincegone viral, said, “Four testedpositive for Coronavirus inNagari. People are suffering,but MLA (Roja) is really help-ing the people. She offered toprovide free food to people infive mandals. She is a perfectexample of a model MLA. Therest of the leaders are justleaders in namesake. They

have all vanished into thin air.Only MLA is rendering goodservice. Others are just distrib-uting a mask or two. Not a sin-gle rupee is credited to themunicipality. We are facing lotof problems. Bank accountshave been frozen. Knowing allthese problems, MLA cameforward to help people. Peopleshould know all these things.Some traders blame it on offi-cials,” Venkatrami Reddy said,thanking the MLA and offer-

ing to extend any kind of ser-vice to the people.

It may be recalled that amedical officer Dr Sudhakarworking in governmentregional hospital atNarsipatnam was placed undersuspension recently for havingcriticised the state govern-ment’s preparedness in tacklingthe Coronavirus. Dr Sudhakarhad said that there are notenough masks available withthe hospital. The state govern-

ment alleged that the doctor’scomments were part of a TDPplan to malign it. YSRCP lead-ers said that they have videoevidence of doctor meetingTDP leader Ch AyyannaPatrudu.

The government meanwhileclaimed that the region hospi-tal has enough PPEs. The gov-ernment warned the peopleagainst hurting the morale ofthe doctors treating thepatients.

Number of infected...Continued from Page 1

State nodal officer Dr ASrikanth appealed to the peo-ple to take note the red zonesthat have been identified andhelp contain the spread of thevirus by avoiding them. Allprecautionary measures arebeing taken in those clustersto prevent the virus fromspreading, Dr Srikanth said.

He said that places within3 km the radius that comeunder the cluster, 5 km as a

buffer zone and in ruralareas 7 km will be taken as abuffer zone.

Apart for essential ser-vices, people won’t beallowed to come out of thecontainment zone and thedistrict authorities shall alertthe people to create aware-ness on the virus.

Screening will be donewith thermal scanners at allentries and exits of the zonesunder police personnelsupervision

Continued from Page 1

The central teams wouldcarry rapid tests in thesehotspots. The NCDC is theoverarching body that under-takes surveillance and contacttracing. It will help the state gov-ernments devise the new strat-egy that will ensure and guidethem in steps that are to be takenin lifting of the lockdown.

The states will be guidedwith contact tracing and surveil-lance and these experts willprovide all the technical support.

While there are no majorinstance of local transmission,sporadic cases with no travel his-tory has put both TS and APgovernment on their toes.

According to officials thenext few days are crucial and dis-trict-wise targeted strategy willhave an impact on govern-ment's decision on the lock-down. The team of experts havebeen tasked with supervisingand guiding the states which arefacing a challenging situation incontaining the spread ofCoronavirus.

Central teams tohelp check hotspots

Continued from Page 1

However, death rate is highin Europe. As per official fig-ures from European countries,Spain has death rate of 9.73 percent (1,57,022 COVID-19cases and 15,843 deaths) andItaly having a death rate of12.72 per cent(143,626 casesand 18,279 deaths). The UKhas reported a death rate ofover 12 per cent (65,077 casesand 7,978 deaths). All muchhigher than India.

Only Germany seems to beable to contain the spread ofthe fast-spreading virus effec-tively with 1,13,525 confirmedcases and 2,373 deaths report-ed so far, recording about a2.09 per cent death rate.

India's death rate ofCOVID-19 is also lower thanthe global death rate of 5.98 percent with a total of 1,610,055cases and 96,365 deaths world-wide, according to data andstatistics website worldometer.

Dr Ravi Shekhar Jha, SeniorConsultant and Head of the

Department, Pulmonology,Fortis Escorts Faridabad, saidin Italy, Spain and the US,"older population has beenaffected more compared toIndia where the fatalities havebeen less, perhaps because ourpopulation is fairly young".

Jha also attributed an earlyand strict lockdown in India asone of the reasons that mayhave helped in containing theCOVID-19 cases.

He, however, noted that inIndia, the COVID-19 mortal-

ity rates differed from region toregion e.g about 10 per cent inIndore to about 1 per cent inHaryana. Jha lauded Germanyfor being able to keep thedeath rate from coronavirusvery low, because of its "excel-lent healthcare system".

Dr Rommel Tickoo, associ-ate Director, internal medicine,Max healthcare, agreed withJha, saying Germany has beenable to keep the fatalities onlower side with their goodhealthcare system.

"Two reasons can be attrib-uted to less deaths in India---firstly, the high-risk group ofpeople aged 60 and abovebeing affected less compared toin Europe and the US, and sec-ondly, less severity of the virusin India," he told PTI.

"In India, the 20-40 agegroup account for over 40 percent of the cases and above 60age group about 19 per cent.So, in India the younger pop-ulation is getting affected more,and hence, perhaps the lessnumber of deaths," he said.

Earlier this week, the healthministry had said people agedbelow 40 years account for 47per cent of the total confirmedcases, those between 40 and 60for 34 per cent, and thoseaged 60 years and aboveaccount for 19 per cent.

Dr Rajesh Chawla, a pulmo-nologist at Apollo Hospital,also feels India having a rela-tively younger populationcompared to the Europe couldbe a reason for less fatalities inthe country.

APERC nod toMarch powerbills for April

Continued from Page 1

APERC chairman Justice CV Nagarjuna Reddy held dis-cussions with commissionmembers T Rama Singh andP Rajagopal Reddy on therequest of Discoms and final-ly accorded permission toissue the provisional bills forApril. The commission alsomade it clear that the accep-tance is, however, subject tothe further orders as may bepassed after the restoration ofthe normal situation.

Health workers are the realheroes, says Jagan in gratitude

Continued from Page 1

He said that due to therelentless efforts of the offi-cials, the people who hadattended the religious con-vention in Delhi and their con-tacts have all been traced andisolated.

“The situation is currentlyunder control and hopefully,normalcy would return in a fewdays,” the Chief Minister said.

Meanwhile, in anotherreview meeting withAgriculture Department offi-

cials, Jagan discussed theunseasonal rains that causedsevere damage to the crops invarious places across the state.He directed officials to collect

details of the damaged cropsand provide relief to the farm-ers. Jagan also issued orders tocompensate such farmers withimmediate effect.

He also asked the officials topay the ex-gratia to those whohave died in the boat accidentand due to thunderbolts.

Chief Secretary NilamSawhney, DGP GautamSawang, Special ChiefSecretary Jawahar Reddy andother officials were amongthose present in the reviewmeetings.

PNS n TIRUMALA

The TTD is organising theparayanam of DhanvanthriMaha Mantra daily for 45minutes for the well being ofhumanity f rom theonslaught of Covid-19 pan-demic, said T TD TrustBoard Chairman YV SubbaReddy.

After launching the pro-gramme at Nada NeerajanaMandapam on Friday atTirumala, the TTD chair-man speaking to the mediasaid that the programmewould be telecasted onSVBC channel for devoteesto part ic ipate in theparayanams of DhanvanthriMaha Mantra. “Devoteesacross the world could chantthe maha mantra daily andget relief from Covid scare,”he said.

The TTD chairman saidTTD had launched severalVedic initiatives to fight pan-

demic. “For 20 days sinceMarch 16, we have beenconducting a series of spir-itual programmes, includingSri Srinivasa Veda MantraArogya Japa, ShantyotsavaSahita Dhanvanthri MahaYagam. Now under the aegisof KSS Avadhani, principalof Dharmagir i VedaVigynana Peetham, mantrasfrom Yogavashistam arebring recited for destruc-tion of micro viruses, whichare described in the 69thchapter of the Ramayanapenned by ValmikiMaharshi. The TTD priestsalso conducted parayanamsof Durga Parameswari sto-tram conceived by pontiffs ofSringeri mutts, along withDhanvanthri Mantra.

During the parayanam,performed on Friday, theVeda pundits initially servedall devotees a sankalpam tocombat the Coronavirusthrough all means.

Dhanvanthri Maha Mantrabeing chanted for wellbeing of human beings

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Governor Biswa BushanHarichandan has decided tocontribute Rs 30 lakh to theChief Minister’s Relief Fundfrom the discretionaryfunds/grants available to meetthe expenditure of theGovernor/Governor’sSecretariat, with thebudget allocatedduring the finan-cial year 2020-21.

The Governorobserved that theCOVID-19 pan-demic has posed agrave danger to themankind and the governmentis waging a relentless fight tocurbing the spread of thedreaded disease in the State,which requires huge amountsto be spent for the purpose.

Keeping this in view, theGovernor has decided to con-tribute an amount of Rs 30Lakh from his discretionaryfunds/grants to the ChiefMinister’s Relief Fund to sup-port the government in thisregard.

He appealed to peopleto come forward and

contribute gener-ously to the ChiefMinister’s ReliefFund and extend ahelping hand tothe government in

its fight to combat-ing the spread of

Covid-19 pandemic in theState. Contributions to CMRFwill go a long way in the sup-ply of essential commodities tothe poor in the State in thehour of crisis, said theGovernor.

Guv contributes Rs 30 lakh to CMRFfrom discretionary funds

India’s Covid-19 death rate lower...

Lightningstrikes leave10 dead in AP

Continued from Page 1

The strike happened at 12.30pm and three persons fell vic-tim. Disaster ManagementCommissioner K Kanna Babuadvised people to follow theinstructions sent by the depart-ment and stay in safe places toavoid such tragedies. "Parti-cularly the farmers, farmhandsand cattle-grazers should getback to safer places wheneverthere is a thunderstorm orlightning. This will preventtragedies," Kanna Babu said.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020 nation 04SHORT READS

Shiv Sena objects toGovernor holdingmeeting on covid-19MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena onFriday took objection toGovernor Bhagat SinghKoshyari holding a meeting withadministrative officials on stepsbeing taken to curb the spreadof coronavirus, saying "parallelgovernance" will createconfusion. In an editorial in itsmouthpiece 'Saamana', theruling party said in the prevailing"war-like situation" (a refernce tothe coronavirus crisis), thereshould be a single centre ofcommand to give directives tothe administration. "The PM atthe Centre and CM in the state(should have that authority).Even at the video conferencemeeting with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Wednesday,the Shiv Sena and NCPpresident Sharad Pawar toldModi the entire country wasunited under his leadership tofight the virus," the Marathi dailysaid. CM Uddhav Thackeray andPawar had attended the meetingfrom Mumbai. While laudingThackeray for his handling ofthe coronavirus situation, Pawarapprised Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah about theGovernor's role (in holding themeeting with officials), theeditorial said.

NCW seeks inquiryinto death of 9-monthpregnant woman

Two men wanted inseveral cases held inDelhi; 4 pistols seized

NEW DELHI: Two men, wantedin several cases, were arrestedin Delhi's Narela area after abrief exchange of fire, policesaid on Friday. The accusedhave been identified as PankajDabas (25) and Ajeet (30), theysaid. "Police spotted the duo inNarela on Thursday around9.30 pm, following which theywere arrested after a briefexchange of fire. Two bullets hitthe bullet-proof jackets of asmany policemen," a seniorpolice officer said. Ajeetreceived a bullet injury on hisright ankle during theencounter. He was taken tohospital for treatment. Fourpistols and eight live cartridgeswere recovered from thepossession of the arrested duo,according to police.

NEW DELHI: The NCW hassought an inquiry into thedeath of a nine-month pregnantwoman, who was suspected tohave coronavirus and had totravel for over 70 km formedical attention. According toa media report, a 27-year-oldpregnant woman complained ofnot being able to breathefollowing which she wasrushed to different hospitalscovering 70 km betweenNalasopara and Mumbai. Thenext afternoon, the womanpassed away and the unbornchild could not be saved.Calling the incident "veryunfortunate", the NationalCommission for Women hassought an inquiry into thematter "A 9-month pregnantwoman had to undergo suchtrauma in Maharashtra andpassed away due to suspect forCOVID19 and travelling for over70 km to reach hospitals andfor medical attention, is a veryunfortunate incident. The NCWseeks inquiry into the matter,"the NCW said in a tweet.

PNS n MUMBAI

Maharashtra Home MinisterAnil Deshmukh on Fridaysaid that the state governmentwill probe Principal SecretaryAmitabh Gupta's role inallowing DHFL promotersKapil and Dheeraj Wadhawanto travel despite the ongoinglockdown. He said thatAdditional Chief SecretaryManoj Saunik will conductthe probe. Kapil and DheerajWadhawan are accused in YesBank and DHFL fraud cases.

In a video statement,Deshmukh said that actionwill be taken against theWadhawans under sections188, 269, 270, 34 of the IPC,section 51(b) of the DisasterManagement Act and section11 of the COVID-19 regula-tions. The home ministerlashed out at the BJP leaderKirit Somaiya, who demand-ed his resignation over theincident.

PNS n JALANDHAR

With Covid-19 lockdownresulting in a complete halt oftrading activities, barring someessential commodities, the overRs 2,000-crore sports industryof Jalandhar is having a har-rowing time as the current sit-uation has forced sport goodsmanufacturers to defer orders.

With the nationwide lock-down enforced to contain thespread of novel coronavirus,the manufacturers of sportitems here are apprehensiveabout their future going aheadamid indications that the gov-ernment might decide to fur-ther extend the lockdown inview of rising virus cases inseveral parts of the country.

A sports goods manufactur-ing hub, Jalandhar producesnearly 70 per cent of totalIndia's sports goods and is aleading name in national andinternational brands of crick-et, hockey, football, rugby andfitness range.

In terms of internationalmarket, the industry exports

material to the UK, Australia,South Africa, Germany, France,Netherlands, New Zealand andothers.

Alarmed over the situation,the industrialists while sup-porting the government's moveof lockdown said that losseswere imminent and the indus-try would be hit hard.

Atul Madan, the owner ofcentury-old Sarve Prakash andCompany, Jalandhar, a leadingname in Rugby Export in India,said that in the wake of Covid-

19, all national and internation-al borders were sealed and itwas complete slowdown now.

"Our export material includ-ing footballs, bats, sports acces-sories for New Zealand andSouth Africa were lying stuckat Delhi and Bombay Ports.Similarly, not just internation-al sports events like soccerleagues, IPL, other tourna-ments but those in education-al institutions across the coun-try were also staring at anuncertain future as of now," he

said, adding that post Covid-19, the government shouldprovide comfortable liquidityand package to sustain theindustry operations.

Nitin Mahajan, the owner ofAVM Sports and the generalsecretary of Sports and ToysExporters Association, said aletter has been written toPrincipal Secretary to PM P KMishra and Punjab FinanceMinister Manpreet Singh Badalto sanction GST refunds on

priority and increase the per-centage of MerchandiseExports from India Scheme(MEIS) licences at least for thisyear and provide free ExportCredit Gurantee Cooperationof India (ECGC) support forimport and export to keepbusiness afloat.

The association also sharedconcerns that because sportsgoods do not come under 'essen-tial items', this particular indus-try is facing lots of problems.

"Lack of payment to dealers,distributors, corporates wouldaffect the ability of manufactur-ers to pay dues to the employ-ees. We have requested that thepayments to the manufacturersrelated to government tenders,orders should be expeditedonce lockdown ends,"Mahajan, whose AVM Sportsis famous for cricket bats,cricket equipment and base-balls in India, shared.

He also pointed out thatschools, colleges, universitieshave been closed and stadiumsmight be taken over by the gov-ernment for makeshift hospitals.

PNS n MUMBAI

The BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)on Friday directed a privatehospital to quarantine all itsnurses and stop new admissionsafter two of its nurses tested pos-itive for coronavirus.

A senior BMC official saidtwo nurses from SushrushaHospital in Dadar, aged 27 and42, have tested positive for theviral infection. Following this, asa preventive step, the hospital hasbeen asked to test and quaran-tine all its 28 nurses, he said.

"We have advised them to testall the nurses at their own cost,"said the officer. The officer saidthey have also instructed the hos-pital to stop all new admissions."Forty-eight hours have been

given to the hospital to dischargethe patients undergoing treat-ment there," he said. So far, theBMC has detected six COVID-19 patients in the Dadar area,including the two nurses.Sushrusha Hospital could not bereached for comment.

The BMC has already sealeda few private hospitals, includingJaslok Hospital at Pedder Roadand Wockhardt Hospital atMumbai Central, and quaran-tined their staffers after coron-avirus cases were found in theirpremises. Meanwhile, some staffnurses from Bandra-based KBBhabha Hospital have com-plained to the administrationthat a few doctors were roamingfreely in the hospital and outsidedespite being kept under quar-antine since the past two days.

BMC: Pvt hospital toquarantine its nurses

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reducing occupancy in trains,no linen, health checkup ofpassengers, medics andPersonal Protective Equipment(PPE) kits on board and no-touch ticket checking.

These are some of the mea-sures suggested by theInternational Union ofRailways (which calls itselfUIC) in a report to guide themanagement of COVID-19among railway stakeholdersworldwide during the coron-avirus pandemic.

The paper, titled‘'Management of Covid-19:Guidance for RailwayStakeholders'' will be updatedthrough the pandemic as the sit-uation evolved.

The report shares the bestpractices from UIC memberswhich, besides India, includeAustria, Bulgaria, Canada, China,Denmark, France, Germany,Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan,the Netherlands, Norway, Poland,Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea,Spain and the USA.

Sources here say the IndianRailways, which is working onits strategy to exit the lock-down, is looking at measurestaken globally to fight the pan-demic which has killed 199people in the country andinfected 6,412.

The Railway passenger ser-

vices in India were halted onMarch 25 when a 21-day coun-trywide lockdown came intoeffect to hinder the spread ofcoronavirus.

The UIC, which has 194members spread across theglobe, has said that the ideabehind the paper was to helprailways to manage theirCOVId-19 response.

It has suggested railways adoptpolicies to reduce the likelihoodof transmission, for example:removing magazines, booklets,

menus, blankets, pillows, head-phones, etc. from the carriages;and in night trains change theblankets after every single use.

“Checking before travel startsthat all staff onboard are healthy(via e.g. temperature screening);- Using disposable rubber ornitrile gloves to unpack deliv-eries; - Wearing single-usegloves for ticket controlling, orstop controlling tickets to avoidtouching,'' the report says.

The Korea Railroad in itsbest practices has listed disin-

fecting highly-affected areasand trains more than twice aday, allocating window seatsfirst as an effort to distancingbetween passengers, and dou-bling unreserved seats as someof the measures to control thepandemic.

The Spanish Railroad is sell-ing only one-third of seats intrains which are still running.

Sources said that railwayofficials in India too aremulling if only a certain per-centage of seats can be sold.

The UIC paper also recom-mends forming a task force tomonitor the evolution of thesituation in the respectivecountries and liaison with localauthorities and identify preven-tive measures and proceduresto be taken.

Int'l Union of Railways' guidelines to manage coronaREDUCED OCCUPANCY, THERMAL SCREENING, NO LINEN:

The paper, titled ‘'Management ofCovid-19: Guidance for RailwayStakeholders'' will be updated throughthe pandemic as the situation evolved

Covid-19 cripples Rs 2,000-crJalandhar sports industry

PNS n NEW DELHI

The production of personalprotective equipment (PPE) isbeing ramped up, a meetingheld by the Prime Minister'sOffice to review the efforts totackle the spread of coron-avirus was informed on Friday.

Principal Secretary to thePrime Minister P K Mishrachaired the meeting of theempowered groups of officersset up to tackle the challengesarising out of COVID-19.

The meeting reviewed andexpressed satisfaction on thedetailed testing protocol andprocedure, under which1,45,916 samples have beentested across the country tilldate.

According to an officialstatement, the production ofPPE is being ramped up and

capacity building for health-care personnel is beingensured.

NGOs and civil societygroups are also beingmobilised, the meeting wasinformed.

Mishra suggested that coor-dination with NGOs at the dis-trict level be done to avoidoverlaps and ensure an effica-cious utilisation of resources.

PMO reviews effortsto check virus spread

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court hasrefused to grant interim bail toa man, facing trial in a robberycase, to run the fruit business ofhis father's who is suspected tobe suffering from coronavirus,on the ground that it would bedifficult to arrange for his com-mutation to his native place inthe lockdown situation.

The man sought interim bailfor a month on the ground thathis asthmatic ailing father, 65, isunable to earn livelihood as hehas been quarantined and is onoxygen cylinder.

Justice Suresh Kumar Kait,who conducted the hearingthrough video conferencing,noted that the entire country isunder lockdown due to COVID-19 or coronavirus which hasspread across the world and evenif the accused, Rizwan Iqbal, isreleased on interim bail, hewould not be able to meet hisfather.

The court noted that the res-idence of the parents of the

accused is around 180 km awayfrom Delhi and if he is directedto be released on interim bail, itwill be difficult for the state tomake special arrangements forhis travel from here to Bijnor inUttar Pradesh.

“I am conscious about thedirections passed by the SupremeCourt that in case of extremeurgency, the accused is to bereleased by making specialarrangements so that he canreach the required place safely,"the judge said.

"In the case in hand, petition-er seeks bail to look after hisfather's business to earn so thathe could provide for survival of

his family, but the fact is that hisfather has already completed 7days in quarantine and he is leftwith only 7 more days for thequarantine period to be complet-ed. Thereafter, the situation mayget changed,” he added.

The judge further said: “In thepresent situation, when wholenation is under lockdown and hiscommute from Delhi to Bijnorwill be difficult to arrange andeven thereafter, he will certainlycommute in the society to run hisfather's fruit business, therefore,I am of the considered opinionthat this is not a case whereextreme urgency is there to grantinterim bail to the petition.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Chhattisgarh minister Jai SinghAggarwal on Friday flagged thataround 12 per cent of the pop-ulation in the Korba industrialarea in the state suffers fromasthma and bronchitis due toextreme pollution and is highlyvulnerable to infections likeCOVID-19.

The state minister for disas-ter management in a letter tohis colleague and IndustriesMinister Kawasi Lakhma saidthat the novel coronavirus dis-ease can have a major impacton the population sufferingfrom asthma and bronchitis inthe industrial area.

Korba is extremely polluteddue to open-cast coal minesand coal-fired plants, he said.

“The State Health ResourceCentre (SHRC), Chhattisgarh,has in its report said that around12 per cent of the population inthe Korba industrial area spreadover 11 kilometres is sufferingfrom asthma and bronchitis.These people are highly vulner-

able to the threat of coron-avirus,” Aggarwal wrote.

He has requested Lakhma toinstruct officials in his depart-ment to take immediate stepsto control emissions.

Health impact assessmentshould be made mandatory likeenvironment impact assess-ment before industries are setup, Aggarwal suggested.

Prabir Chatterjee, formerdirector, SHRC Chhattisgarh,said it is encouraging to see thatthe minister has taken notice ofthe report. “We too will encour-age other cabinet ministers to

take up this cause and beginhealth impact assessments in theinterest of the common man, dis-placed and tribal communitieswhom they represent,” he said.

Aarti Khosla, Director atClimate Trends, a Delhi-basedstrategic communicationsbody that specialises in build-ing narratives around climatechange, said, “Predisposition toill health, for example respira-tory conditions like asthma,which are prevalent in indus-trial areas which are thermalpower clusters like Korba, leadto reduced lung function.”

PNS n MUMBAI

In a bid to filter false informa-tion and derogatory messageson social media amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, theMumbai police issued an orderwarning action against admin-istrators of groups who allowposting of such contents. Thepolice have been keeping con-stant tabs on social mediaactivities in light of the pan-demic and the ongoing lock-down, an official said. A lot ofincorrect and derogatory con-tent about certain communitiesin the form of messages, videos,images or memes were beingcirculated on WhatsApp,Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,Tik-Tok and other social mediaplatforms, he said.

Waiver or moratorium?Parents confused aboutschool fee relaxationsPNS n NEW DELHI

To pay or not to pay, waiver ormoratorium--parents of schoolchildren are confused with anno-uncements of several state govern-ments offering relaxations forschool fees during the coronaviruslockdown period in the country.Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana andUttar Pradesh governments haveannounced that schools shouldnot pressurise parents to pay feesduring the lockdown. However,there is no clarity among parentsabout whether no fees will becharged during the period or theywill have to be paid later.

According to various schoolauthorities, some parents haveassumed that there will be no fees

for the period and numerousqueries are being received bythem about fee waivers. "Thereis no clarity. Schools are still charg-ing miscellaneous fees like mealcharges and transport charges. Nobody knows what has beenwaived and what is still there.When we reach out to schoolsthey say its only a relaxation in thetime and not the amount,"Sandeep Makhija, a Gurgaonresident, said. Similar concernsare being faced by Rajasthan'sPreeti Vashishth, "The govern-ment circular says that schoolsshould not take any advance feesduring the period but there is noclarity on whether the fees willhave to be paid later or not for thelockdown period".

PNS n NEW DELHI

As part of its efforts to ramp upthe testing capacity, the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) has approved the use ofdiagnostic machines used fortesting drug-resistant tubercu-losis for conducting coron-avirus tests.

The ICMR has validated'TruenatTM beta CoV test onTruelabTM workstation' andhas recommended it as a screen-ing test, the apex healthresearch body said on Friday.

Issuing a guidance on the useof Truenat beta CoV, the ICMRsaid throat/nasal swabs will becollected in the viral transportmedium (VTM) with virus lysisbuffer provided along with the kit.

"Earlier studies have shownthat virus lysis buffer neutralizesNipah and H1N1 viruses. The

results of stability of viral RNAafter neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by virus lysis buffer areawaited from ICMR-NIV, Pune.

"Till such time, Truenat betaCoV test should only be per-formed with all biosafety pre-cautions in BSL-2 or BSL-3setups at laboratories," it said.

The revised guidelines willbe issued once the results from

ICMR-NIV, Pune are available,it said.

The death toll due to the novelcoronavirus rose to 199 and thenumber of cases climbed to6,412 in the country on Friday,according to the Union HealthMinistry. However, a PTI tally offigures reported by various statesas on Thursday showed at least6640 cases and 227 deaths.

ICMR okays use of diagnostic machineused for drug-resistant TB for COVID-19

PNS n NEW DELHI

The BCCI has cleared thequarterly dues of all its cen-trally-contracted cricketersand vowed not to let anyonesuffer despite the uncertain-ty triggered by the COVID-19pandemic, which has causedfinancial blowback in othercountries. The global econo-my has been badly hit due tothe virus, which has claimedover 95,000 lives so far. Majorcricket boards like Englandand Australia have indicatedthat players will have to takepay cuts. "Despite lockdownbeing announced from March24, the BCCI was ready forany kind of eventuality. Theboard clears quarterly install-ments of central contract pay-ments to its players," a BCCIofficial said.

BCCI clears duesof contractedplayers

Cops crackdownon ‘derogatory'posts on socialmedia

HC refuses interim bail toaccused for visiting ailing father

Maha to probeofficer's role intravel nod toWadhawans

A sports goodsmanufacturing hub,Jalandhar producesnearly 70 per centof total India'ssports goods and isa leading name innational andinternational brandsof cricket, hockey,football, rugby andfitness range

12% population in polluted Korba areahighly vulnerable to COVID-19: minister

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Disinfectant tunnel atAzadpur veg marketNEW DELHI: Delhi DevelopmentMinister Gopal Raicommissioned the "disinfectanttunnel" set up at the entrance ofthe wholesale Azadpurvegetable market on Friday inthe wake of the coronavirusoutbreak. Talking to reporters,the minister said people visitingthe market will now passthrough the tunnel, where asodium hydrochloride solutionwill be sprayed on them in a bidto check the spread of the novelcoronavirus. Rai, who is alsothe labour minister, said in thecoming days, more suchtunnels will be set up at otherwholesale vegetable and fruitmarkets in the national capital."Since Azadpur is one of thelargest mandi in the country, ahuge number of traders andcustomers visit it everyday. Thedisinfectant tunnel has been setup as a precautionary measureto deal with COVID-19," headded. The minister said onedisinfectant tunnel costs thegovernment around Rs 1.5 lakh.

Guwahati to limitvehicles of ‘essentialservices' with odd-even scheme

Pakistani troopsviolate ceasefireSRINAGAR: Pakistani troopsviolated the ceasefire byresorting to unprovoked firingtowards the Indian postsalong the Line of Control(LoC) in Uri and Keran sectorsof Kashmir on Friday, officialssaid. Pakistani troops openedfiring towards the Indianpositions along the LoC in Uriand Keran sectors around 1pm, police officials said. TheArmy retaliated to thePakistani firing in equalmeasure, they added. Therewere no reports of anycasualties.

GUWAHATI: The GuwahatiPolice on Friday announced toimplement an odd-even rulefor all vehicles involved inessential services for threedays to further reduce trafficmovement on the city roads.The system, which was firstimplemented in Delhi to tackleair pollution by limiting thenumber of cars as per the lastdigit of their registrationnumber, came into force aftervehicles with stickers saying"essential services" cloggedroads in some areas of thecity. "Even if the vehicles carrypermissions, only those withregistrations ending with aneven number will be allowedto ply on roads today,"Guwahati PoliceCommissioner Munna PrasadGupta said. Likewise, odd-numbered vehicles tomorrowand even numbers on Sundaywill be allowed on the roads,he said.

MHA seeks views ofstate govts on lockdownPNS n NEW DELHI

The Home Ministry has soughtviews of state governments onthe 21-day lockdown includingwhether more categories ofpeople and services need to beexempted, officials said onFriday, amidst indications of apossible two-week extension ofthe restrictions to curb thespread of coronavirus.

In its communication, theHome Ministry informed thestate governments and UnionTerritory administrationsabout the steps taken by theCentre for the strict implemen-tation of the lockdown,announced on March 24.

It also conveyed them aboutthe people and servicesexempted from the purview ofthe lockdown.

The Home Ministry askedthe state governments and UTadministrations to inform itabout different aspects of thelockdown and whether thereare necessities to give exemp-tions to some more categoriesof people and services from therestrictions, a home ministryofficial said.

A few state governments,including Bihar, wrote back to

the home ministry.Among the suggestions of

the state governments includeallowing construction-relatedactivities in rural areas.

The central government,while imposing the lockdown,had announced that shops deal-ing in essential commodities,including the online platforms,will remain open, besides ser-vices like health, sanitation,police, media and bank.

The Home Ministry hadalso asked states and union ter-ritories to ensure smooth har-vesting and sowing operations,saying agricultural activities

were exempted from the lock-down.

It also allowed opening ofshops of agriculture machinery,its spare parts, highway truckrepair shops, preferably inpetrol pumps, tea industry,including plantation with max-imum of 50 per cent workers,during the lockdown period.

Movements of essential andnon-essential cargos were alsoallowed by the government.

After Prime MinisterNarendra Modi held a meetingwith leaders of oppositionpolitical parties earlier thisweek, LoP in Rajya Sabha

Ghulam Nabi Azad had saidthe PM told the meeting thathe had received severalrequests for extension of thelockdown, but will take a callon it only after consultingexperts and the chief ministersof various states.

Azad had said around 80 percent of the leaders from vari-ous political parties, who inter-acted with the prime ministerthrough video-conferencing,favoured extending the lock-down.

The central govern-ment, while impos-ing the lockdown,had announcedthat shops dealingin essentialcommodities,including theonline platforms,will remain open,besides serviceslike health,sanitation, police,media and bank

PNS n NEW DELHI

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh on Fridaysaid the ongoing lockdown tocontain the spread of coron-avirus should continue, whilenoting that predictions byhealth experts about the spreadof the pandemic are "horren-dous and frightening".

He said a decision onwhether Punjab will extendthe lockdown will be taken ata meeting of the state cabinetlater this evening.

Addressing a press confer-ence through video confer-ence, Singh said Punjab willallow district-wise relief fromlockdown only to farmers toallow them for harvesting ofRabi crop.

He said the state was expect-ing a bumper crop of 185 lakhtonnes of wheat and is makingarrangements for harvest ofthe crop.

He said predictions by healthexperts about the spread of thepandemic are "horrendous andfrightening".

"Prediction by experts aboutspread of the virus are horren-dous and frightening," he said,adding that the government ispreparing itself and gearing upfor such a situation.

Quoting a PGIMER study,he said the virus is likely totouch its peak by mid-septem-ber and may likely to affect 58per cent of India's populationand 87 per cent of Punjab'sand other states' population.

"....COVID19 epidemic inIndia is estimated to reach itspeak in mid-September 2020at a point where 58 per cent ofpopulation has been infected,"he said quoting the projectionsmade by the Department ofCommunity Medicine inPGIMER in Chandigarh.

Quoting another figurefrom the projections by PGI,he said the virus can infect upto 87 per cent of population ofPunjab and other states.

He said, "The only goodthing about coronavirus isthat the drugs supply line hasbeen broken".

Punjab will allowdistrict-wise relief tofarmers: Amarinder

PNS n NEW DELHI

The arrival of summer in Indiamay have raised hopes that hotand humid weather could slowthe COVID-19 pandemic, how-ever, experts believe that there isnot enough proof to concludeany significant vulnerability ofthe novel coronavirus to season-al change.

According to a report by theNational Academies of Sciences,Engineering, and Medicine,experimental studies do show arelationship between higher tem-peratures and humidity levels,and reduced survival of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causesCOVID-19, in the laboratory.

However, there are manyother factors besides environ-mental temperature, humidity,and survival of the virus outsideof the host, that influence anddetermine transmission ratesamong humans in the 'realworld', the report said.

The rapid expert consultationreport prepared on April 7 aimsto provide scientifically ground-ed principles that are relevant todecision-making about thepotential for seasonal variation ofSARS-CoV-2.

The laboratory data availableso far indicate reduced survivalof SARS-CoV-2 at elevated tem-

peratures, and variation in tem-perature sensitivity as a functionof the type of surface on whichthe virus is placed, the expertssaid.

However, according to thereport, the number of well-con-trolled studies available at thistime on the topic remains small.There are important conditionsregarding the results from exper-imental studies, it said.

The first concerns the rele-vance of laboratory conditions toreal world conditions, accordingto the academy.

For example, many of theexperimental survival studieshave used virus grown in tissueculture media.

The report said that the nat-ural history studies published so

far also have conflicting resultsregarding potential seasonaleffects.

They are also hampered bypoor data quality, confoundingfactors, and insufficient timesince the beginning of the pan-demic from which to draw con-clusions, the experts noted.

They explained that there issome evidence to suggest thatSARS- CoV-2 may transmit lessefficiently in environments withhigher ambient temperature andhumidity.

"Given the lack of host immu-nity globally, this reduction intransmission efficiency may notlead to a significant reduction indisease spread without the con-comitant adoption of major pub-lic health interventions," the

report said.With experimental studies,

environmental conditions can becontrolled, but almost always theconditions fail to adequatelymimic those of the natural set-ting, it said.

With natural history studies,the conditions are relevant andreflect the real-world, but thereis typically little control of envi-ronmental conditions and thereare many confounding factors,according to the report.

Because the two approachesare so distinct, it is often difficultto harmonise the findings fromthe two, and relate the findingsfrom one to the other, it said.

Studies saying warm weather slowsCOVID-19 not conclusive: Report

The laboratory dataavailable so farindicate reducedsurvival of SARS-CoV-2 at elevatedtemperatures, andvariation intemperaturesensitivity as afunction of the typeof surface on whichthe virus is placed,the experts said

Slash or defer fees: Odisha tells pvt institutesPNS n BHUBANESWAR

Odisha Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik on Friday requested allprivate educational institutes inthe state to consider slashingschool fees or extending thedeadline for payments, amid thenationwide lockdown imposedto contain the spread ofCOVID-19.

Insisting that the lockdown hasdealt a blow to the economy andadversely impacted the income ofparents, he said fees reductionwould provide some relief tothem at this hour of crisis.

"In view of the lockdown &associated economic stress for#COVID19, #Odisha Govtadvised all private educationalinstitutions to be sympathetic toconsider reduction/defermentof school fees from April to June.This will help the parents whose

income has been adversely affect-ed," the official handle of the chiefminister's office tweeted. Theadvisory comes a day after thestate government extended thelockdown in Odisha till April 30.

The government alsoannounced that all educationalinstitutes in the state wouldremain shut till June 17. It saidthat students of Class 9 would bepromoted to Class 10 for this aca-demic session, following evalu-ation of the five papers for whichexams had been conducted.

Arrangements have beenmade for the teachers to evalu-ate the answer scripts fromhome. The School and MassEducation department has alsoformed a committee to take nec-essary measures for 2020-21academic session, sources said,adding that steps were beingtaken to start online classes.

PNS n AHMEDABAD

Over 200 farmers fromAmreli and Bhavnagar dis-tricts in Gujarat have donat-ed their Pradhan MantriKisan Samman Nidhiamount of Rs 2,000 to thePM CARES fund set up tofight the coronavirus out-break, officials said on Friday.

As part of the Centre'sPradhan Mantr i KisanSamman Nidhi, farmers getRs 6 ,000 as minimumincome support in threeequal installments, the lastof which was disbursedrecently, they said.

"The government takescare of farmers by giving usfinancial support in theform of Kisan Nidhi. Nowit is time for us to help.Several farmers from ourvillage have donated theirRs 2 ,000 Kisan Nidhiamount to PM CARESfund," Ukabhai Bhatti ofDitla village of Amreli dis-trict said.

BJP leader from Amreli,Dileep Sanghani, said asmany as 200 farmers fromAmreli have come forwardand deposited cheques of Rs2,000 each into the fund atAmreli District CooperativeBank since Thursday.

PNS n NEW DELHI

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Duttaon Friday said the companywill carry out deep cleaning ofaircraft more frequently, stopin-flight meal service for abrief period and fill maximum50 per cent capacity in airportbuses as precautionary mea-sures once the coronaviruslockdown is over and com-mercial passenger flights arepermitted again.

In an email to employees,Dutta said in the current situa-tion, the singular focus is onmaintaining cash flow and noton growth and profitability.

"We are examining all ourfixed costs and looking for waysto minimize them," he said."

IndiGo's plan post lockdownwill be to first start the flight ser-vices slowly and gradually rampup the capacity, he said in theemail.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) has issued ashow-cause notice to theowner of a pastry shop inBengali Market here after 35workers were found living in"unhygienic conditions" andnot adhering to social distanc-ing norms to contain thespread of COVID-19.

According to the civic bodyofficials, the shop owner hasbeen asked to explain why thehealth license issued by theNDMC to him should not becancelled as the norms havebeen violated.

"As per the provision ofSection 339 of the NDMCAct, 1994 , the NDMC hasdirected the vendor to showcause why the said healthlicense could not be revoked

on account of violations with-in 10 days of issuance of thenotice otherwise NDMC couldbe seal the premise withoutfurther notice," a senior civicbody official said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi airport operator DIAL isassessing post-lockdown domes-tic air traffic demand alongwith the airlines and evaluatingif consolidation of terminals isrequired, it said on Friday.

Four days back, the Singaporegovernment had announcedthat the Changi airport wouldclose its Terminal 2 for 18months from the beginning ofnext month, following a sharpdrop in passenger traffic due tothe novel coronavirus outbreak.

Delhi airport has three termi-

nals while Singapore's Changihas four. The GMR group-ledDelhi Airport InternationalLimited (DIAL) clarified in astatement that it had no imme-diate plans to defer any ongoingexpansion works.

COVID-19 LOCKDOWN EFFECT:

DIAL plans consolidationof its terminals

IndiGo to suspend mealservice for some time

PNS n NEW DELHI

A petition has been filed in theSupreme Court seeking a direc-tion to the Centre to conductmass testing on priority basis foridentifying and treating COVID-19 infected persons, especially inthe hotspot areas across the coun-try, to contain the spread ofcoronavirus pandemic.

It claimed that testing rate inIndia for COVID-19 is amongstthe lowest in the world and the"shocking spike in the number ofcoronavirus infected cases with-in a matter of days, shows that itmay only be the tip of the iceberg

and we are oblivious to the realgravity of the situation".

Mass testing is needed to trace,identify, isolate and treat theinfected people so as to break thechain of virus transmission, it said.

The petition, filed by threelawyers and a law student basedat Allahabad, said this should starton a priority basis, desirablyfrom the states and cities whichare most severely affected by coro-navirus to contain its "exponen-tial spread in every nook and cor-ner of the country otherwisecombating COVID-19 wouldbecome like fighting a fire blind-folded". As of April 7, it said, Indiawas conducting roughly 82 testsper one million even as theWorld Health Organization(WHO) has underlined the needand importance of conductingtests in combating coronavirus.

Plea in SC seeks mass testing toidentify, treat COVID-19 infected PNS n NEW DELHI

Chief Justice S A Bobde willreview the functioning of theapex court every three to fourdays in consultation with otherjudges and officials of health min-istry in view of the nationwidelockdown due to the coron-avirus or COVID-19 pandemic,an office bearer of SCBA said.

Advocate Ashok Arora, secre-tary of Supreme Court BarAssociation (SCBA), said thedemand from bar leaders andother bodies that summer vaca-tion this year be preponed canwait for a while and till then sta-tus quo with regard to function-ing is to be maintained.

“I spoke to Chief Justice ofIndia (CJI) on April 10 at 12 noonand was informed that he wasgoing to review the situation afterevery 3/4 days after consulting theother Judges and health ministry.Till then status quo. So better, wewait for a while,” Arora said.

Meanwhile, senior advocate

Dinesh Goswami, has written tothe CJI requesting suspension ofsummer vacation. He said theway COVID-19 cases are increas-ing in the country it is neitheradvisable nor prudent to start thenormal working of either the

Supreme Court, the High Courtsor the sub-ordinate courts.

At the same time, he said,because of all the courts remainingclosed/ non-functioning/ partial-ly functioning have left the courtsburdened with heavy load of work.

“It is therefore, in terms of theabove situation, my humblerequest to the Chief Justice ofIndia, head of the judiciary, thatthe lockdown maybe extended atleast up to April 30 and it is alsourged that the summer vacationsof the educational institutions andall the courts all over the coun-try including the Supreme Courtof India may be suspended con-sidering the present emergentepidemic situation," he said.

PNS n KOLKATA

US President Donald Trump'sstrong advocacy ofHydroxychloroquine for treatingCOVID-19 patients has rekin-dled hopes of cinchona plantersof Darjeeling hills as the tree'sbark is used for production ofquinine, another frontline anti-malaria medicine.

Beginning in 1862 inDarjeeling, cinchona planta-tions flourished over the nextseveral decades in the verdanthills as Malaria sent chill downthe spine of people in vastswathes of the country. And itstill does.

In 2016, over half of India'spopulation (698 million) was atrisk of contracting malaria,according to the World MalariaReport. The planters, however,started facing a crisis of sorts afterintroduction of synthetic-chem-ical production of quinine.

"We are hopeful that due toincrease in demand for anti-malaria drugs in the wake of thecoronavirus pandemic, cinchonaplantation in Darjeeling willgrow. We are hoping for goodbusiness after years of disap-pointment," Samuel Rai, direc-tor of Cinchona Plantations,WB said.

Pharmaceutical companies,however, still procure cinchona

bark through e-auction, as it isin demand for making variousmedicinal drugs, he said, butadmitted that the heydays of theplantations are over.

So enthusiastic is PresidentTrump about the usefulness ofHydroxychloroquine in thetreatment of the pandemic,which holds his country in avice-like grip, that he warnedIndia, the world's largest produc-er of the generic drug, of retal-iation if it does not lift the April4 ban on export of the drug andsupply it to the US.

He has been consistentlyextolling the benefits of thedrug in the treatment ofCOVID-19, calling it a "gamechanger" despite its unprovenefficacy in mitigation of the pan-demic that has killed over 87,000people globally, infected morethan 1.5 million, sealed off mostof the world and eviscerated theplanet's economy.

Over 200 Gujfarmers giveRs 2k each toPM fund

The demand from barleaders and otherbodies that summervacation this year bepreponed can wait fora while and till thenstatus quo withregard to functioningis to be maintained

Bengal planters hope forsurge in quinine demand

NDMC issues notice to shopowner in Bengali Market

‘CJI to review functioning of apex court every 3-4 days’

Does it seem like a déjà vu? InDecember 1849, cholera wasdetected in Beylik of Tunis(now Tunisia). Ahmad I ibnMustafa (1805-55), a progres-

sive ruler, left the capital city of Tunis ter-rified. He moved to a gardened villa of thethen Prime Minister Mustapha Khaznadarin Carthage along with a personal retinueand armed guards. From his new campoffice, he deployed Italian doctors fromnizam jadid (new European-style Army ofTunisia) for treatment in temporary hospi-tals set up in the barracks. Daily statisticsof the infection, deaths and recovery werecompiled, which along with instructions ofhygiene, were printed in Italian and Arabiclanguage. These were distributed in themosques and churches for the edificationof the people.

Then came the inflection point duringthe Mawlid al-nabi (the Prophet’s Birthday),which fell on January 27, 1850. Ahmad I ibnMustafa was in dilemma regarding the cel-ebratory congregations and the advisabili-ty of his joining them in view of the out-break. Ultimately, he sent a communiqué,ordering the celebrations to be held as usualand for oil to be sent to the minarets. Theevent was held; canons fired; and two vers-es of the Quran were read to “comfort thepeople in times of difficulty.”

Within days, the epidemic was ragingthe Muslim quarters, and before long, theentire city of Tunis was in the grip of cholera.Muhammed Sharif, a notable figure ofTunis, passed away on February 6, whichwas followed by the death of several of hisfamily members and those who had comein contact with him. This incident has beendescribed by Nancy Elizabeth Gallagher inher insightful book, Medicine and power inTunisia, 1780-1900 (1983, CUP).

The worst was yet to come. The epi-demic polarised public opinion in Tunis.Many blamed the European doctors, byextension, their line of treatment. Severaldoctors were abused and manhandled.Ahmad I ibn Mustafa, advised by his per-sonal Italian physician, Abraham Lumbroso,put himself in medical isolation. Hisextreme measures annoyed some of hisMinisters. One day, a Group of Ministerspolitely told him that precaution by meansof quarantine was nowhere to be found inIslam and is an invention of Christendom,whose knowledge of diseases and medicineis inferior to Islam.

The debate over the propriety of quar-antine took a theological turn. PrimeMinister Khaznadar, a critic of Europeanmedicine, condemned the quarantine anddeclared that Muslims, who died of cholera,were martyrs. Bin Dayaf, Ahmad I ibnMustafa’s personal secretary, opined thatself-preservation by quarantine was legaland no religious text disapproved of it. Thetwo reached out to a certain cleric. TayyibAl-Riyahi, son and expected successor

Ibrahim al-Riyahi, Imam ofGreat Mosque of Tunis, issueda fatwa that victims of cholerawere martyrs by citing theHadith of Muwatta (the Malikilaw book) because they died ofinternal wounds. ThenKhazandar and Bin Dayaf wentto Mufti Muhammed binSalama, who ruled that victimsof cholera were not martyrs. Atthis point, Bin Dayaf ended hisdiscussion by observing thatwhatever be the reality, even“alims (scholars of Islam) die ofcholera.”

Combating communicablediseases has often been vitiatedby theological considerationsand confrontations in the past.It took almost four centuries forthe Ottoman Empire to have aquarantine policy. SultanMahmud II, advised by hisAustrian doctor, Anton Lagos,and impressed by the treatise ofHamdan Bin El-MehrumOsman Hoca, finally adoptedquarantine as a measure tocombat plague in 1838 even asthe disease had bedevilled theOttoman Empire at least sincethe mid-15th century. Nodoubt, had there been menlike Idris-i Bitlisi, an Ottomanstatesman, and IsameddinAhmed bin MustafaTasköprüzade, a prominentjudge way back in the 16th cen-tury who advocated a rational

approach, there would be prece-dence. There were prominentmedical doctors like Osman binSuleyman Penah (d.1817) in thereign of Selim III, too. Theyadvocated that quarantine andprecautions against plague andepidemic would signify betray-al of Muslim’s trust in divine fate(tevekkul).

Birsen Bulmus, in his emi-nently readable, Plague,Quarantines and the Geopoliticsof the Ottoman Empire (2012),traces the history of health andmedical policies against plagueand allied epidemics in theTurkish reign. Bulmus exhibitshow it was not only Muslimdivines and physicians whodoubted quarantines/precau-tions but in reality, whateverkills a Christian also kills aMuslim. Whatever cures aHindu, cures a Muslim as well.Physiology is more egalitarianthan theology.

The holy city of Mecca wasaffected by cholera in 1831,which recurred almost annual-ly during the pilgrimage. Itsinvasion was particularly seri-ous in 1865, when almost athird of the pilgrims reported-ly perished. It was the mostdominant issue at theInternational SanitaryConference at Constantinople(Istanbul) in 1866. A six-mem-ber committee, comprising

Arabs and Europeans, drew upa report to regulate the mar-itime traffic for Hajj pilgrimagein 1867.

Thus, if Saudi Arabia hasnow put Mecca and Medinaunder lockdown and is contem-plating on deferring the annu-al Hajj scheduled for July 28-August 2 due to the COVID-19outbreak, it is only becausethey know their history better.Mosques are likewise closed tocongregations in India. TheUlema has appealed theMuslims to tender namaz athome, including on Friday.

However, the irresponsiblebehaviour of a section of thecommunity in India is puttingits collective safety againstCOVID-19 at great risk. TheTablighi Jamat’s grand event atNizamuddin Markaz Masjidbetween March 13 and 15 hasled to a huge spike inCoronavirus cases. Thoughthere was no lockdown in Indiaat the time of the conference,the Delhi Government hadalready prohibited all types ofgathering above 200 people bythen. They continued to holdback more than 2,000 partici-pants in a six-floor dormitorylong after the event had ended.The management refused tobuckle even after receivingnotice from the Delhi Police. Ittook 36 hours to evacuate 2,361

people from the premises to putthem into hospitals and quaran-tine centres.

The misinformation cam-paign over Tik Tok, targettingimpressionable young boysfrom the Muslim community tothrow caution to the wind, issinister. Those paying heed tosuch evil counsel will jeopardisetheir own health before they risksomeone else’s. If Muslims hadreally been depending upon thedivine will for health instead ofmodern medicine all theseyears, the hospitals in Delhiwould not have a large percent-age of them. Nor would thesuper speciality hospitals inIndia receive a large number of“medical tourists” fromAfghanistan, Iran and CentralAsia, among others. Muslims,like anyone else, wear woollenclothes when it is winter andshed them in springtime. Whypass on all responsibility toAllah in the COVID season?

As Ahmad I ibn Mustafahad said in 1850 cholera season,“If divine decree and fate arriveand I die with the disease, I fearI would say, ‘if only I hadobserved quarantine, this wouldnot have happened’ because ofmy belief that everything comesfrom Allah.”

(The writer is an indepen-dent researcher based in NewDelhi. Views are personal)

So Bernie Sander’s second shot at a polit-ical revolution was stillborn yet again.Some may blame the Democratic

Party’s establishment for sidelining him, oth-ers will point to the fact that Sanders wasbacked by polarising figures such as AlexandriaOcasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, the two rook-ie members of the US Congress, whose viewsare considered an anathema to “middle”America, a very important vote-bank whichpropelled President Donald Trump to power.However, Joe Biden, the winner of the race to

stand against Trump, the 45th President of the US, may not be the best candi-date. Sure, he will have the backing of former President Barack Obama, the manunder whom Biden served as Vice President, and the entire Democratic Partyestablishment as well as much of the celebrity and media world, who are des-perate to see the back of Trump. But say what you will about Trump and theRepublican Party, the ground game that “team Trump” has is tremendous as ishis ability to focus the media narrative on himself.

The fact is that the longer Trump stays in power, the more focussed his vot-ers become on keeping him there. He is a lightning rod for many media issuesand say what you will about his often mindless foreign policy and his verbal gaffes,Trump always has had a point about the duplicitous nature of the Chinese drag-on, which is now on full show during the Coronavirus crisis. The fact is also thatstrangely for a Republican President, he has never had to actually resort to hugeacts of American military aggression. Indeed, he has been less trigger happythan his predecessor, the aforementioned Obama. Defeating Trump will take asharp focus and gritty determination. And Biden, who is actually older than Trump,despite his five decades of public life, might not have what it takes to beat Trump.However, even a day is a long time in politics and the American response to theCoronavirus crisis might help either side much more than they expect. And thenthere is the American Presidential election system, flawed but fair at the sametime, giving some smaller States an outsize responsibility in choosing the win-ner and discarding larger ones completely. Voting is not at all easy for some minori-ties across the US; some States have actually made it harder. And if Bernie Sanderssupporters or “Bros,” as they were pejoratively known, don’t come to the pollsthis time as they did in the last election, things will definitely not be all that greatfor Biden.

Cluster containment, sealing, testing andlockdowns are now no longer adminis-trative decisions. Affected people are

beginning to internalise these choices as a nec-essary evil and are rewiring their lives aroundthem. When you read reports of somewomen in Jammu, wearing plastic gear, com-pletely sealing their locality from outsiders andmaintaining vigil themselves, then you knowthat nobody wants to make a fatal flaw. Yes,the overnight building of invisible walls and thepossibility of prolonged house arrest did dis-

tress people in hotspot clusters in Uttar Pradesh (UP), particularly Noida, send-ing them into war-time paranoia of stocking up more than was needed, but twodays on, there is a drill. There is an essential service hotline and an app, a ded-icated vendor assigned to each sealed area for fruits, vegetables, rations andmedicines, and an SMS alert to pick up rations from a neighbourhood or soci-ety gate, according to time slots mentioned over such alerts. This means thereis no over-crowding. Other than that, every resident is being confined indoorsand not allowed to stray into any common space. Masks are mandatory andneighbourhood watchdogs are themselves handing over violators to the police.The Bhilwara model has pretty much become the drill for cluster containment,particularly in UP. In fact, apartment blocks and condominiums in Noida andGreater Noida had already ensured that their inmates with a travel history wentinto quarantine much before the national lockdown. The jump in the number ofthe Coronavirus cases is a cause of concern and the State Government is pret-ty much firm it won’t ease the lockdown till there is no possibility of prospectivespread of the disease. Like Delhi, UP’s spike has been fuelled by Tablighi atten-dees. Nearly 1,600 Tablighi members have so far been identified in the State, ofwhich over 1,200 have been quarantined. The authorities are in the process oftracking down the remaining Tablighi members for screening and quarantiningand have even urged them to voluntarily come forward in the interest of theirfamily’s health. No study is required to understand that there is a subterraneantrellis of the disease that has quietly spread to communities that regularly engagewith each other and form a part of the economic chain of demand and supply.This is why it is a challenge in UP to even get the agricultural chain going, fromharvesting to procurement depots. The flight of migrant labourers has causedan acute shortage of farm hands. But if the lockdown is withdrawn premature-ly, then it could defeat the purpose of the 21-day brakes and lead to a runawaysituation. Also food rations are available now but without containment at this stage,there could be no economic activity going forward with the disease swamp. Thatcould lead to more shortages, crops wasting in the farms and no supplies, spark-ing off a second humanitarian crisis that nobody wants. No agricultural belt inIndia can afford a compound crisis at this point.

However, UP needs to follow up this disciplined confinement with active test-ing. The State Government is expanding the network of testing facilities to 24and is upgrading various district hospitals in 14 districts, including Kannauj, Jalaun,Noida, Greater Noida, Ayodhya, Bahraich, Shahjahanpur and Saharanpur, to dealnot only with the Coronavirus but any medical emergency of the future. Givenits size and population, UP needs aggressive testing in clusters and faster serol-ogy tests besides pool tests. Once the trend is clearer district-wise, then it canget the local economy going with agricultural businesses and perhaps industri-al production in zero districts. But at this point of time, both UP and Maharashtra,despite having high clusters, have to pretty much just hold fort as the shipmentsof serological test kits have not arrived in the country yet. Sources say at leastfive deadlines have been missed. So rapid testing is not possible at the momentand there can only be RT-PCR tests in clusters. Neither can we let precious testkits go waste. Till the data is not clear, only a lockdown at this point can pushback a bulge. Wuhan did it for 76 days, in London it has been a month and Odishahas voluntarily shut itself off till April 30. Delhi’s Operation Shield in Dilshad Garden,where every house was screened and isolated, is now virus-free. Without capac-ity-building, India’s fight against COVID-19 will have to be about choking a silentmonster at the earliest than allowing it a crack to slip through.

Lockdown grammar

Address home issues

Sir — Brazilian President Jair MBolsonaro referred to theRamayana on Hanuman Jayantiwhile asking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for help in battlingthe shortage of medical suppliesdue to the onslaught of COVID-19. Bolsonaro was quoted as say-ing, “Like Lord Hanuman broughtthe holy medicine from theHimalayas to save the life of LordRam’s brother Lakshman... Indiaand Brazil will overcome thisglobal crisis by joining forces...”

The Brazilian President’srequest is, however, not unexpect-ed as it is commensurate with theglobal role India is playing amidthe Coronavirus crisis. India hasemerged like a messiah as theworld fights COVID-19, withmore than 30 countries request-ing Modi to export hydroxy-chloroquine. Although India ishelping the SAARC nations withsupplies, exporting the medicinetouted to be the “game changer”to 30 other nations does notseem like a good idea, especiallywith numbers increasing manifoldin our own country.

Gaurav Agarwal Guwahati

Well done Odisha

Sir — This refers to the report,“Odisha 1st State to extend Covidlockdown by 16 days till April 30”(April 10). In a wake-up call to thefight against the deadly NovelCoronavirus, the OdishaGovernment’s mandate to extendthe lockdown period in the State

till April 30 is welcome. In orderto obliterate the COVID-19 pan-demic, it is crucial to disintegratethe chain of transmission of thisinfectious disease. This can bedone effectively only when peo-ple are completely confined phys-ically to their homes.

With an escalating number ofpositive Coronavirus cases, theextension of an absolute lockdown

in the entire nation has becomeimperative. Extension is impor-tant since in a highly populatedcountry like India, the spread ofthe virus, once out of hands, willbe uncontrollable. TheGovernment must ensure that thebasic means of livelihood is nothampered due to the lockdown.

Tushar AnandPatna

Animal safety concerns

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Tiger gets it” (April 8). Newsreports that a tigress at the BronxZoo in New York tested positivefor the Novel Coronavirus hascome as a surprising develop-ment. Wildlife enthusiasts, peo-ple, the medical fraternity andveterinarians are all puzzled.Apart from the four-year-oldMalayan tiger named Nadia, sixother tigers and lions have alsofallen ill. They are believed tohave been inflected by a zooemployee, who hasn’t yet shownsymptoms. The zoo has beenclosed for the public.

Now that the first case hasbeen confirmed, the inhabitants ofthe zoo must undergo a thoroughprognosis. The finding under-scores the need for scientific stud-ies about the chances of transmis-sion of the virus in animals. Thesusceptibility of different animalspecies to the virus, too, must bestudied. A new challenge now con-fronts veterinary science.

Venu GSKollam

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

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionVIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020

06

Theology over pathology?

PRIYADARSHI DUTTA

An ill-advised section of Muslims is disregarding precautionary measures against Corona, thusimperiling safety. There’s history but no reason why that view should guide their choice

We have to seriously consid-er extending the lockdownand curfew in view of theincreased number of positivecases. Community transmis-sion has started in Punjab.

Punjab Chief Minister—Capt Amarinder Singh

The fake news and messagesare more infectious than thecoronavirus. It’s infecting usand only spreading negativityand fear. And I refuse to becontrolled by that.

Actor—Boman Irani

I want to be close to priests, allpriests. From the most recentlyordained to the Pope, we’re allpriests. We’re all anointed bythe Lord, anointed for theEucharist, anointed to serve.

Head of the Catholic Church—Pope Francis

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

Inculcate habits that lead to collective well-being

One significant and refreshing change inculcated dur-ing the Coronavirus pandemic is the exemplary andnear-exhaustive personal care and hygiene people

across the globe have learnt to adopt. The use of facemasks and washing hands regularly are being touted asthe panacea for many ills surrounding mankind.Hopefully, people will live to debate as to which maskwas cost-effective than the other and which virus wasbetter arrested. COVID-19 has traversed some distancesince its outbreak, yet the jury is still out, struggling toput the pieces together on the efficacy of different typesof masks. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare work-ers must sport masks as a part of their daily profession-al routine.

Wearing face mask will help prevent the spread ofthe infection from the wearer to the atmosphere and tothose in the vicinity while also protecting the wearer,depending upon the type of mask. That said, frequenthand wash, another method advocated to keep theCoronavirus at bay, has been a revelation because a largechunk of the global population has added this as a

weapon in their “hygiene armoury” that is going to holdthem in good stead in the years to come. The art andscience of hand washing, so beautifully depicted in dif-ferent advertisements and by healthcare personnel, hascome as a blessing for people across the world to keepcrippling respiratory infections away. Hand hygiene playsa big role in the prevention of common health problemsaround the world, including India.

Ganapathi BhatAkola

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Biden vs TrumpWe expect China to recogniseand condemn the scourge ofcross-border terrorism thataffects the lives of the peopleof India, including in Jammuand Kashmir.

Foreign Ministry spokesman—Anurag Srivastava

Aggressive cluster containment and flushout, be it in UP orDelhi, is the only way to tackle COVID-19

The race to win the White House this November has comedown to two old, White men. Not a perfect match

A disastrous Act

IT IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE THAT THE WORLD’SGLOBAL HEALTH ORGANISATION HAS BECOME A POLITICAL

PUPPET OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT.—US PRESIDENT

DONALD TRUMP

ONCE WE HAVE TURNED THE PAGE ON THIS EPIDEMIC,THERE MUST BE A TIME TO LOOK BACK TO UNDERSTANDHOW ALL THOSE INVOLVED REACTED TO THE CRISIS.—UN SECRETARY GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The complete lockdown of the country withinthree-four hours of the announcement regard-ing it in a televised address by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and the plight of migrant workersaround the country, forced to trudge back to theirhometowns, thousands of kilometres away, hungry,thirsty and tired, reflect that India was not preparedfor the impending disaster. This is despite the factthat the danger had been looming over us since theoutbreak of the Coronavirus in China months ago.

An overconfident Government had not thoughtit prudent to devise a plan for the efficient manage-ment of the pandemic that has brought developedcountries, with better healthcare systems thanours, to their knees.

The Government was ill-prepared to handle adisaster, the likes of which this world has not seenafter the 1918 Spanish fever which infected nearly500 million people worldwide and killed an estimat-ed 30-50 million.

Obviously, the plans that were devised by theCentre under the provisions of the DisasterManagement Act, 2005, did not foresee such a hugecalamity and the humanitarian crisis emerging outof it. Disaster management concentrates on mak-ing arrangements to diminish the impact of a calami-ty. Failure to make such an arrangement couldprompt large-scale human casualties, loss of incometo the masses and losses to India Inc, which in turn,prove disastrous for the economy.

Hence, plans relating to disaster managementshould pursue the nature of disaster vis-a-vis its man-agement. The Government mainly functions basedon the enactments made by the legislature. Hence,all the programmes, conceived plans and guidelineswould be within the framework of the legislationsmade in the said regard.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)decided to observe the ’90s as the InternationalDecade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR).It initiated a global campaign towards creating socio-economic strategies for countries during natural dis-asters. Now, due to the UNGA’s efforts, many coun-tries around the world have disaster related legisla-tions. Pursuant to the same, in 1999 the IndianGovernment, too, set up a High Powered Committee(HPC) on disaster management.

Thereafter, a series of catastrophic natural dis-asters such as the Gujarat earthquake in 2001 andthe tsunami in 2004, led to the enactment of theDisaster Management Act, 2005. Though it was thefirst step in the right direction, the entire legislationwas drafted with a myopic view. The definition of“disaster” under Section 2(d) of the Act defines dis-aster as a catastrophic, mishap, calamity or graveoccurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes or by accident/negligence whichresults in substantial loss of life or human sufferingor damage to property or degradation of the envi-ronment and is of such nature or magnitude that itis beyond the coping capacity of the community ofthe affected area.

A reading of the aforesaid definition shows thatthe same has been drafted keeping in mind disas-ters such as tsunamis, cyclones, earthquakes, indus-trial or fire accidents and so on, vis-a-vis specifiedareas. It did not visualise a situation wherein a dis-aster may be caused because of cross-border viralcontaminations spreading throughout the country.The use of the words “any area” in the definition of“disaster” is very confined. It relates to only a par-ticular area within the country wherein such a nat-

ural disaster occurs. On the whole, thematter of public health has been unableto find any space in the legislation.

The Act also provides for establish-ment of a number of statutory bodies suchas the National Disaster ManagementAuthority (NDMA), the State DisasterManagement Authorities (SDMAs), advi-sory committees, executive committeesand sub-committees under theGovernment. The establishment of somany committees and authorities does notseem to have a strong logical foundation.There are such overlapping duties foundamong various authorities in the Act thatthey are bound to confuse people. Further,the coordination among these bodiesappears to be very cumbersome.

Though Section 3 of the Act contem-plates establishment of the NDMA withthe Prime Minister as its Chairperson andother members, not exceeding nine,being nominated by him/her, no qualifi-cation has been specified for the members.This should have been done because it isan authority at the national level, dealingwith an issue of national importance. Inthe context of the political scenario of ourcountry, the appointments to the nation-al authority can be strongly influenced bypolitical motives, which defeats the wholepurpose.

Section 6 of the Act contemplates thepowers of the national authority and it isempowered to formulate policies, plansand guidelines in relation to disaster man-agement. However, these would be in con-sonance with the definition of “disaster”contained in Section 2(d) of the Act, whichis quite narrow.

Obviously the entire Act would beimplemented in the backdrop of the def-inition of “disaster” contained in Section2(d). Therefore, all the plans would beshort-sighted, confined only to disasters

of a particular nature which relate to par-ticular areas.

Our lack of preparedness to meet apandemic like the Coronavirus requiresan amendment to the definition of “dis-aster” as contained in the Act, so as toenable the Government to formulateplans and policies in consonance with it.

At present, we are witnessing an exo-dus of migratory workers from the cities,deprivation of livelihood of daily-wageearners, break in supply chains, hardshipin distribution of essential commodity tothose who live Below the Poverty Line(BPL), hospital management/facilitiesand so on.

We have to devise plans in such amanner that they minimise the adverseeffects of a disaster as enormous as theCoronavirus outbreak.

Anticipating a disaster is one aspectand post-disaster management is anoth-er. In order to anticipate a disaster and toformulate a policy, the definition alsoshould include such disasters which mayaffect the whole country and not just beconfined to the extent of those disasterswhich are limited to a specific area. If suchan amendment is brought in, a suitableplan would be formulated by the compe-tent authorities under the Act.

Section 42 of the Act empowered theCentral Government to constitute aNational Institute of Disaster Management(NIDM), the main function of which is todevelop, undertake research and docu-mentation in relation to disaster manage-ment.

The NIDM also conducts pro-grammes and formulates comprehensivehuman resource development plans cov-ering all aspects of disaster management.But as stated earlier, the entire actionwould be directed against only thoseaspects which can be termed as a “disas-

ter” in accordance with Section 2(d) of theAct.

Section 35 contemplates measures tobe taken by the Government in relationto disaster management. The CentralGovernment shall coordinate with all theMinistries, State Governments, the nation-al and State authorities. Though Section35 empowers the Central Government totake measures, in the light of the narrowdefinition of disaster, it would be very dif-ficult to visualise a situation that has arisenright now.

No disaster can be ever dealt witheffectively only through administrative set-up, alienating the community as a whole.But unfortunately, the Act entirely ignoresthis very important aspect. The Act isimplemented entirely through theGovernment system.

Now the Government has to bring ina suitable amendment to the 2005 Act toeffectively deal with such situations as pre-sented by the Coronavirus pandemic.More particularly the definition of “dis-aster” under Section 2(d) has to beamended so as to bring into its fold calami-ties/disasters like the one which thecountry is facing now in order for theGovernment to be able to effectively han-dle the present calamity.

Unfortunately, the DisasterManagement (Amendment) Bill, 2016moved by Mullappally Ramachandran forthe amendment to the DisasterManagement Act, 2005 also does not con-template any amendment to the definitionof “disaster.” It only proposes an amend-ment to Section 11 and Section 35 whichrelate to preparation of plans and stipu-lating guidelines. But the same would befutile unless the definition is amended.

(The writer is an Advocate at theTelangana and Andhra Pradesh HighCourts)

The plans that were devised by the Centre under the provisions of the Disaster ManagementAct, 2005, did not foresee such a huge calamity and the humanitarian crisis emerging out of it

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

Still a big ‘Yes’for the bank

YASH PAUL NARULA

Between ‘yes’ and ‘no’, there is an untold story.There’s much more to the Yes Bank revival

than meets the eye

CHITTARVU RAGHU

THE ACT HAS BEENDRAFTED KEEPING

IN MIND DISASTERSSUCH AS TSUNAMIS,

CYCLONES,EARTHQUAKES,

INDUSTRIAL OR FIREACCIDENTS AND SO

ON, VIS-A-VISSPECIFIED AREAS. ITDID NOT VISUALISE

A SITUATIONWHEREIN A

DISASTER MAY BECAUSED BECAUSE

OF CROSS-BORDERVIRAL

CONTAMINATIONSSPREADING

THROUGHOUT THECOUNTRY. THE USE

OF THE WORDS ‘ANYAREA’ IN THE

DEFINITION OF‘DISASTER’ IS VERY

CONFINED. ITRELATES TO ONLY A

PARTICULAR AREAWITHIN THE

COUNTRY WHEREINSUCH A NATURAL

DISASTER OCCURS.ON THE WHOLE, THE

MATTER OF PUBLICHEALTH HAS BEEN

UNABLE TO FINDANY SPACE IN THE

LEGISLATION

Incredible but true! For years before it hit the headlines for all the wrongreasons all these weeks and came perilously close to being reducedto No Bank, Yes Bank stood tall and trusted for countless ordinary and

not so ordinary account holders across India as a bank unlike any other:Cool, smart, savvy, professional, profitable and cheerfully at customers’service 24x7. Coming as this high-sounding certificate does from a long-time Yes Bank account holder who actually had every reason to be fret-ting and fuming for days — yes, that’s me, with a lion’s share of mylife’s savings eerily locked away inside its vaults until the moratoriumclamped down on it by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on March 5 waslifted two weeks later — isn’t it a bit of an oddity ? Yes and no, as we’llsee. Like me, many customers’ journey with Yes Bank began after yearsof drudgery and misery that passed for banking in what now seems amedieval era. Opening an account at the Central Bank of India (found-ed 1911) was a Himalayan feat, accomplished after crossing numer-ous hurdles. To book a fixed deposit at the State Bank of India (SBI) —born in 1806 as the Bank of Calcutta before its reincarnation in 1955as the SBI — you had to wait for hours in queues. Cashing a fixed deposit(FD) upon maturity at UCO Bank (circa 1943) was very like a stripteaseshow as the FD receipt moved slowly, agonisingly, from one desk toanother before bouncing back to you for want of a revenue stamp….Arriving dramatically as it did in 2004 against this dismal backdrop, YesBank sounded too good to be true with its promise of internet banking,digital accounts, online deposits, balance alerts, round-the-clock helplineand, the cherry on the cake, highest interest rates.

Tempted but not quite trustful of such fancy talk, many chose towait and watch before shifting their money to this Johnnie-come-latelywho seemed straight from another planet. But when they did, they lovedwhat they saw. Each fresh account, opened after multiple rounds of duediligence by officers visiting you to thoroughly verify and vet, came witha personalised chequebook, a global debit card and a warm letter fromthe CEO promising “a brand new experience in banking.” As customersdiscovered to their delight soon, a brand new experience it certainly was.In nine cases out of 10, an ordinary savings account got a “Yes First”upgrade with “zero balance” facility waiving the requirement for a min-imum mandatory balance, a complimentary balance update by SMS (ShortMessage Service) first thing every morning, an e-mail alert after everytransaction, any number of withdrawals from your account at any bank’sATM (Automated Teller Machine) without a charge, unlimited electron-ic money transfers without a fee, instant transfer of FD proceeds to yoursavings account on maturity…. Yes, much before it became fashion-able to gush about the “ease of business”, Yes Bank introduced Indiato the “ease of banking.”

It was this quantum leap in banking culture — rather than just lureof higher returns through higher interest rates — that drew many to YesBank. Other banks were quick to follow suit with different offers but theseproved to be half-baked. The SBI, for instance, jacked up interest ratesfor senior citizens a wee bit but backtracked soon after. ICICI Bank cameup with “Privilege Banking” add-ons but with riders: A minimum bal-ance of `10,000, with penalties for violations. Bandhan Bank brandishedan international debit card but only for customers with balances above`25,000. For many senior citizens looking to park their retirement cor-pus of Gratuity and Provident Fund (PF) — running generally into lakhs— the SBI had been the best bet for long with a surety of safe returns.As this captive clientele grew over the years, the SBI, under ArundhatiBhattacharya started lowering interest rates to shore up its profit mar-gins. This drove many customers to ICICI Bank and Yes Bank. Soon ICICIunder Chanda Kochhar, too, started reducing interest rates, pushing moreand more accounts to Yes Bank. With Yes Bank maintaining its interestrates all along and upgrading services constantly to next levels, thesecustomers stayed on and they were the ones who ironically got trappedin the nightmarish moratorium for two suspenseful weeks.

By all accounts the due diligence that went into the screening ofthese small fry didn’t extend to big bulls and their borrowings. Whetherit was limitless greed for big bucks to bolster the bank’s coffers or no-holds-barred malfeasance for Big Boss’ personal ends that brought thebank to this sorry pass, will hopefully come to light after ongoing inves-tigations into wide-ranging allegations of omission and commission.

Meanwhile, thanks to swift fire-fighting by the Government, the roadahead looks safe and clear for depositors, investors and other stake-holders. After years of poor oversight, the RBI eventually did well to comeup with the Yes Bank revival package the way it did to put it back in busi-ness. But what now for Yes Bank 2.0? The SBI Chairman, Rajnish Kumar,put it best when asked if Yes Bank’s troubles dating back to founder RanaKapoor’s days hadn’t damaged the brand. “We must clearly distinguish,”he reasoned, “Yes Bank is an entity; Rana Kapoor is an individual. If anindividual has done something wrong, he will pay the price for that. Whyshould the enterprise suffer?” Yes, why indeed?

(The writer is a senior journalist and seasoned money-watcher)

On March 28, the FederalMinister for Science andTechnology Fawad Chaudhry

posted a tweet in which he asked whyPakistani universities were silent whenelsewhere in the world they were pro-ducing research to help governmentsaddress the impact of the COVID-19pandemic. A valid query. Even thoughmost of the replies that this tweetreceived were from the usual trolls who,even in times like these are falling overeach other to shout out inarticulaterants, his question received some sanereplies too.

For example, a few respondentsimmediately asked how the Minister

could criticise his country’s universitiesin this context when the Governmentthat he is part of forked out millions ofrupees to an already wealthy madrasain Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? Then therewere those who asked how much hisGovernment invests in the researchcapabilities of the country’s universities.

These, too, are valid queries. Butthe problem is much deeper. Whiledoing research for my fifth book in2019, I came across a news item pub-lished in the June 1967 issue of the nowdefunct Pakistani English daily MorningNews. The report was about a group ofcollege students from Lahore, who hadbuilt a small car from scrap metalpieces. They had also built the engineof the car from scratch. In the very nextedition of the same newspaper was aninterview of another group of students,this time belonging to Karachi’s NEDUniversity of Engineering andTechnology. They said they were excit-ed about the manner in which the stu-dents from Lahore had built the carbecause they, too, were in the processof building something similar. It was-

n’t a car but an unmanned rocket, whichthey planned to pitch to Pakistan’s“space programme.”

According to an essay in theFebruary 2019 issue of the Swiss aca-demic journal Environmental Science &Policy, Pakistan was one of the first 10countries in the world to formulate aspace programme. The programme waslaunched by the Ayub Khan regime in1961. It was headed by the theoreticalphysicist Abdus Salam. The pro-gramme, however, ran into trouble dueto economic and political instabilityfrom 1970 onwards.

Till the mid-1970s, theGovernment and students of science inPakistan were genuinely driven by theurge to remove the country’s “ThirdWorld” tag with the aid of science. Atleast this is what one of the NED stu-dents interviewed by Morning Newstold the paper. In 1977 when I was just10 years old, I remember a much oldercousin of mine, who was studying biol-ogy at Karachi University. He told myparents that he and his team were work-ing closely (through written correspon-

dence) with the American epidemiol-ogist Donald Henderson, to developvaccines against viruses that werelargely found in humid regions such asPakistan. Henderson, as we laterlearned, was the man who had initiat-ed a robust plan in 1968 to eradicate thedeadly smallpox virus that had haunt-ed the human race for centuries.

Even though an anti-smallpoxvaccine had been developed in the UKin the 18th century, its more effectivevariations were still unavailable tomost people. Due to Henderson’sefforts, backed by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), by 1974, over 90per cent of the world’s population hadbeen vaccinated. In 1975, WHOdeclared that the virus had been com-pletely eradicated. I was also pleasant-ly surprised to note that newspapersand children’s magazines, both Englishand Urdu, used to have pages dedicat-ed to science. Some of these pages were,in fact, edited by scientists. PTV usedto telecast a weekly show on the scienceshosted by the late educationist LaiqAhmad. The show lasted from 1965 till

1977. Fast forward to today: On March27 this year, while Twitter trends inmost European countries were aboutpossible vaccines against the elusiveCoronavirus, the leading Twitter trendin Pakistan was #Dajjal. So what hap-pened?

Even in the most scientifically-advanced societies, there are groups ofpeople who consider science to be aconspiracy against their theologicalbeliefs. But they hardly ever manage toenter and disrupt the focus of the sci-entific order in developed countries. Butthey did in Pakistan. The country’s oncepromising scientific order was invad-ed and then littered with pseudoscien-tific hogwash.

The outspoken Pakistani physicistProfessor Pervez Hoodbhoy’s 1991book Religious Orthodoxy and theBattle for Rationality demonstrateshow this happened. He writes that theGovernment of Pakistan, during thereactionary General Zia dictatorship inthe 1980s, pumped in millions ofrupees to organise “Islamic science con-ferences” in which not-very-credible

“scientists” from various Muslim coun-tries spent days showcasing how ener-gy could be derived from djinns andhow one could “measure the velocity ofheaven.” But Pakistan wasn’t the onlycountry that let go of the universalistidea of science to create a nonsensicalversion of an “indigenous science.” TheBritish-Pakistani author ZiauddinSardar writes in his 2005 bookDesperately Seeking Paradise that, till thelate 1970s, Muslim societies wereinspired by scientific breakthroughs inthe West and also by seminal works inastronomy, chemistry, biology andphysics of ancient Muslim scientists.

But from 1976, according to Sardar,the Saudi monarchy began to investmillions of petro-dollars in a differentkind of so-called “Islamic science”that had nothing to do with the influ-ential works of past Muslims.

The “Islamic science” that thesepetro-dollars pushed did not require ascientist to work hard in a lab to inventor discover things. Instead scientistswere to spend all their time in “prov-ing” that Muslims already knew every-

thing because everything scientistscreate or discover was already men-tioned in the Muslim sacred texts. Butthe fact is, this too was not an originalidea. Hindu nationalists writers werefirst to claim that their sacred texts con-tained “scientific truths.” Mohan Roy’sVedic Physics: Scientific Origin ofHinduism is one example. This emergedlong before some Muslims got into thesame meaningless act.

My cousin gave up his research inthe early 1980s due to a lack of supportfrom the Government and the univer-sity. In 1980, he was once asked by agroup of younger students to “not wastetime trying to discover somethingwhich was already mentioned in theholy book.”

He responded by saying that in thebook, the Almighty encourages peopleto discover the mysteries of His creationand that these could only be discoveredthrough scientific research.

The reaction to his response could-n’t have been good, because the verynext year he migrated to Denmark.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

What ails scientific research in Pakistan?Federal Science Minister Fawad Chaudhry asked why Pakistani universities were not producing good research.

It is a good question. But is he willing to listen to an answer?

NADEEM PARACHA

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Zydus Cadila getsUSFDA nod tomarket generic type2 diabetes drug

Exports sector maywitness 15 millionjob losses

New Delhi: Drug firm ZydusCadila on Friday said it hasreceived tentative nod fromthe US health regulator tomarket generic Empagliflozintablets, used for improvementof blood sugar control inadults with type 2 diabetes inthe American market. Thecompany has receivedtentative approval from theUnited States Food and DrugAdministration (USFDA) tomarket Empagliflozin tablets,in the strengths of 10 mg and25 mg, Zydus Cadila said in astatement. The drug will bemanufactured at the group'smanufacturing facility at SEZ,Ahmedabad, it added. Thegroup now has 286 approvalsand has so far filed over 386abbreviated new drugapplications (ANDAs) sincethe commencement of itsfiling process, Zydus Cadilasaid.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Telecom infrastructure compa-nies have asked state-run firmBSNL to clear dues totalling Rs1,500 crore on urgent basis, say-ing they are unable to meet crit-ical expenses necessary formaintaining the telco's net-work.

The non-payment, the firmssaid, so far has already result-ed in mobile service outage atvarious places in the country.

The group of eight infra-structure firm under the aegisof industry body Tower &infrastructure ProvidersAssociation (TAIPA) has writ-ten to BSNL Chairman andManaging Director P K Purwaron Thursday, seeking clear-ance of dues as they are facingproblem in paying for electric-ity, diesel, batteries procure-ment, etc for maintaining thetelecom PSU's network whichled to service outage in sever-al areas.

"The situation has becomehighly critical now with totaloutstanding dues from BSNLamounting to approximately Rs1,500 crore which has beenpending for long. We are look-ing forward to an urgent inter-vention and support from the

CMD, BSNL in the matter,"TAIPA Director General T RDua said in a statement.

He said that the telecominfrastructure companies arealready facing financial woesand working hard to managenetworks during the ongoinglockdown period.

A query sent to BSNL in thisregard did not elicit any imme-diate response.

TAIPA has sought urgentintervention on behalf of IndusTowers Ltd, ATC Telecom

Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, BhartiInfratel Ltd, Tower Vision Ltd,Sterlite Technologies Ltd, SpaceTelelink Ltd, Applied SolarTechnologies and CoslightIndia Limited.

Out of the total, BSNL owesRs 606.4 crore to mobile towerfirm ATC, Rs 488 crore tobroadband technology firmSterlite Technologies, Rs 127crore to Indus Towers, Rs 118.2crore to Tower Vision and Rs100 crore to Bharti Infratel.

"There is an urgent need for

intervention and supportregarding clearance of out-standing dues of our(Infrastructure Providers cate-gory) IP – 1 members due towhich our members are facinghuge cash crunch," Dua said.

TAIPA said that telecominfrastructure companies arefacing problems in makingpayment of rentals to the land-lords where BSNL sites areinstalled, payment of electric-ity bills of BSNL towers, pro-curement of diesel and batter-ies and other backup storagedevices for telecom towers sitesof BSNL.

It said that there are chal-lenges in keeping the uptime asper service level agreements"for BSNL tower sites which isleading to BSNL network out-age and blackouts in nearbyareas of the sites."

Telecom operators bodyCOAI has also urged the tele-com department onWednesday to direct PSUs,including BSNL and MTNL, toclear Rs 20,000 crore of cumu-lative outstanding dues of com-munications and networkequipment manufacturers,infrastructure providers andother vendors.

The non-payment, the firms said, so farhas already resulted in mobile serviceoutage at various places in the country

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid COVID-19 lockdown,pre-monsoon sowing of kharifcrops has begun across thecountry with paddy acreage 27per cent higher at 32.58 lakhhectare so far as compared tolast season, according to theagriculture ministry.

The sowing will pick up withthe onset of south-west mon-soon (June-September), whichdelivers about 70 per cent ofthe country's annual rainfall.

Paddy is the main kharifcrop besides pulses andoilseeds.

As per the latest data by theministry, farmers have sownpaddy in 32.58 lakh hectare ason Friday, up 27 per cent, from23.81 lakh hectare in the cor-responding period of last year.

Kharif season starts fromJune and ends in September.

The sowing area has beenreported mainly from WestBengal (11.25 lakh hectare),Telangana (7.45 lakh hectare),Odisha (3.13 lakh hectare),Assam (2.73 lakh hectare),Karnataka (1.64 lakh hectare)and Chhattisgarh (1.50 lakhhectare).

Some other states are also onthe list including Tamil Nadu(1.30 lakh hectare), Bihar (1.22lakh hectare), Maharashtra

(0.65 lakh hectare), MadhyaPradesh (0.59 lakh hectare),Gujarat (0.54 lakh hectare)and Kerala (0.46 lakh hectare),the ministry said.

Area sown to pulses hasincreased to 3.97 lakh hectarefrom 3.01 lakh hectare in thesaid period. Of which, green-gram has been planted in 2.59lakh hectare and blackgram in1.23 lakh hectare and otherpulses in 0.15 lakh hectare sofar.

Similarly, area under coarsecereals has increased to 5.54

lakh hectare so far in the cur-rent kharif season of this yearfrom 4.33 lakh hectare a year-ago. Of which, maize has beenplanted in 2.81 lakh hectareand bajra in 2.51 lakh hectarein the said period.

In case of oilseeds too, thesowing area has increased to6.66 lakh hectare from 5.97lakh hectare in the said peri-od. Of which, groundnut hasbeen sown in 4.08 lakhhectare, while that of sesamumin 2.13 lakh hectare in the saidperiod.

Amazon extends global Amazon Relief FundPNS n NEW DELHI

E-commerce major Amazonon Friday said it will extend itsglobal USD 25 million relieffund to associates part of itsdelivery programmes in Indiato provide support amid thecoronovirus pandemic.

Amazon has extended theAmazon Relief Fund to associ-ates part of its Delivery ServicePartner Programme, AmazonFlex programme and truckingpartners providing middle-mile logistics support, a state-ment said.

"This fund can be utilised byqualifying individuals whohave been quarantined or diag-nosed with Covid-19. WhileAmazon hopes none of theassociates who are workinghard to deliver essentials tocustomers are affected by hard-ship, the fund is there to sup-

port them financially with thehelp of a grant," it added.

This, the company said, pro-tects thousands of associatesnot employed by Amazon butwho play an integral role in thelogistics network helping cus-tomers stay home in this chal-lenging time.

The Amazon Relief Fundwas announced in March withan initial contribution of USD25 million to support employ-

ees, qualified independent con-tractors, and employees ofqualified vendors who facefinancial hardships from qual-ifying events.

These events could be natur-al disasters, governmentdeclared emergencies, orunforeseen personal hardship.

"In these unprecedentedtimes, the health and safety ofall our partners and associatesin India continues to be our top

priority as we face the chal-lenges associated with Covid-19," Amazon Vice PresidentAsia Pacific and EmergingMarkets (Customer FulfilmentOperations) Akhil Saxena said.

He added that the AmazonRelief Fund is one such step toextend financial support tothousands of associates part ofthe Delivery Service PartnerProgram, Amazon Flex part-ners and trucking partnersproviding middle mile logisticsin the event any of them arequarantined or diagnosed withCovid-19.

All associates working inAmazon buildings directly or

through staffing agencies arealready covered for medicalinsurance under the ESIC(Employee State InsuranceProgram).

In case, they test positive forCOVID-19 or are placed underquarantine based on directionfrom the government or byAmazon, they will receive twoweeks of pay over and abovetheir available leave balance.

With the Indian govern-ment imposing a 21-day lock-down, e-commerce compa-nies have been allowed tomake deliveries of only essen-tial items like food and medi-cines.

Facebook sues Indian techiefor running deceptive adsPNS n NEW YORK

Facebook has filed a lawsuitagainst an Indian man forrunning a software companythat pushed deceptive adver-tisements and misinforma-tion about coronavirus out-break on social media plat-forms by bypassing its adver-tising review process. Thesuit, filed in federal court inCalifornia, alleges that Basant

Gajjar's companyLeadCloak provided ad-cloak-ing software designed to sneakfake news and scams related toCOVID-19, cryptocurrency,diet pills and more pastFacebook and Instagram'sautomated advertising reviewprocess.

Using the name

“LeadCloak,” Gajjar, said to bebased in Thailand, violatedFacebook Terms and Policiesby providing cloaking softwareand services designed to cir-cumvent automated ad reviewsystems, and ultimately rundeceptive ads on Facebookand Instagram, Jessica

Romero, Director of PlatformEnforcement and Litigation atFacebook said in a statement.

LeadCloak's software alsotargeted a number of othertechnology companies includ-ing Google, Oath, WordPress,Shopify, and others, Romerosaid.

The sowing will pick up with the onsetof south-west monsoon, which deliversabout 70 per cent of the country'sannual rainfall

The Amazon Relief Fund wasannounced in March with an initialcontribution of USD 25 million

BSNL told to to immediatelyclear Rs 1,500 crore dues

Pre-monsoon sowing of kharif cropsbegins; paddy acreage up 27 pc

PNS n NEW DELHI

Budget carrier SpiceJet oper-ated its first freighter serviceon Friday to Ho Chi MinhCity in Vietnam fromHyderabad, carrying around16 tonnes of medicals u p p l i e samid thecoronaviruspandemic.

Besides,one ofits freightersflew with critical medicalequipment from Singapore toBangaluru, while a passengeraircraft transported medicalsupplies as in-cabin cargo toGuwahati from Kolkata, itsaid in a release.

On Thursday also, SpiceJethad performed a cargo flightto Singapore from Chennaiand back with a dedicatedBoeing 737 freighter, trans-porting critical medical equip-

ment and devices to India."SpiceJet on Friday operat-

ed its first-ever cargo flightfrom Hyderabad to Ho ChiMinh City carrying medicalsupplies, while anothercargo freighter of oursbrought in

c r i t i c a lmedical equipment to

Bangaluru from Singapore.We are actively utilising ourpassenger planes carryingcargo-on-seat with one flyingmedical supplies from Kolkatato Guwahati today (Friday),"SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singhwas quoted as saying in therelease.

SpiceJet has operated morethan 220 cargo flights since thelockdown began transportingmore than 1,850 tonnes of vitalsupplies, Singh said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The small- and mid-cap indicesof the BSE plunged up to 30 percent last month, underperform-ing the benchmark, as markets

had a harrowingtime due to the

Covid-19 crisis. March turned out

be a nightmare for thedomestic stock markets as wor-ries related to the impact ofCovid-19 badly hit investorsentiment. The coronaviruspandemic led to lockdownsacross the world, triggeringfears of a global recession.

In the month of March, theBSE mid-cap index fell 4,030.09points or 27.60 per cent, whilethe small-cap gauge tanked4,100.09 points or 29.90 percent.

The benchmark Sensex fell by8,828.8 points or 23 per centduring the past month.

"Indian equity markets havecorrected significantly over thelast one month (Nifty down 23

per cent in Mar'20) in tandemwith global equity markets dueto headwinds from the Covid-19 outbreak," a report by MotilalOswal Securities Limited hadsaid.

Selling in the market wasso strong that the benchmarkindex came crashing to its one-year low of 25,638.9 on March24 in just about two monthsafter scaling its all-time peak of42,273.87 on January 20 thisyear.

The mid-cap index also fell to

its one-year low of 9,555.24 onMarch 24 after hitting its 52-weekhigh of 15,930.78 on February 12.

Likewise, the small-cap indexhit its all-time low of 8,622.24 onMarch 24.

Equity benchmarks postedtheir biggest ever one-day fallsin March, in tandem with otherglobal markets, as investorsfled risky assets amid theCovid-19 outbreak. Accordingto market analysts, mid- and

small-cap stocks are moreprone to selling during

times of uncertainty.

Small stocks hit hard in massiveMarch sell-off, plummet up to 30 pc

The coronaviruspandemic led tolockdownsacross the world,triggering fearsof a globalrecession

SpiceJet operates 1stfreighter service to Ho Chi Minh City PNS n NEW DELHI

Investors are preferring SIPoption for investing in mutualfunds, as the industry gar-nered over Rs 1 lakh crorethrough this route in 2019-20,up 8 per cent from the preced-ing fiscal, even as the broadermarket witnessed extremevolatility amid concerns overthe impact of coronavirus pan-demic.

Systematic investment planor SIP has been the preferredroute for retail investors toinvest in mutual funds as ithelps them reduce market tim-ing risk.

According to the Associationof Mutual Funds in India(Amfi), SIP contribution inthe just concluded fiscal 2019-20 rose to Rs 1,00,084 crorefrom Rs 92,693 crore in 2018-19.

Inflows into SIPs have aver-aged about Rs 8,200 crore inthe past 12 months.

Investors are showing great

maturity in handling thisdownturn by sticking to SIPs,said Harsh Jain, Co-founderand COO of Groww.

“It is very encouraging to seethe faith with which a lot ofretail investors have continuedto put their trust behind mutu-al funds through SIP route.Number of SIP accounts haskept up the pace of growth withincrease of 19 per cent betweenMarch 2019 and March 2020,”said G Pradeepkumar, CEOUnion AMC.

N S Venkatesh, ChiefExecutive, Amfisaid,”Unprecedented situa-tions warrant equally unprece-dented response, to help makethe most of the crisis anopportunity.

MFs garner over Rs 1Lakh crore in FY20

Coal ministry announces stepsto boost demand for dry fuelPNS n NEW DELHI

To boost the coal demand hitby the ongoing lockdown, thegovernment on Fridayannounced a slew of measureslike increased dry fuel supplyfor linkage consumers.

After a meeting with PowerMinister R K Singh on provid-ing suo power producers,Coal Minister Pralhad Joshiannounced several relief mea-sures for the consumers ofCoal India Ltd (CIL), includ-ing the power sector, in thewake of situation arising fromcoronavirus, according to acoal ministry statement.

"Now, all coal consumers ofCIL will be extended the facil-ity of Usance Letter of Credit

(LC) which will enable powerproducers and other coal con-sumers to avail....credit inpurchase of coal," it said.Moreover, the Union coalminister also approved relax-ation in quantity of coal forlinkage consumers.

"Now, they can lift quanti-ties even beyond their con-

tracted quantity, if coal isavailable at the mines," thestatement said.

The minister alsoannounced that no perfor-mance incentive shall belevied on the power con-sumers, if CIL supplies morethan the upper limit of FuelSupply Agreement (FSA).

Covid-19: NLC Indiasets up 'fever clinic'PNSnNEW DELHI

From setting up 'fever clinic' to'disinfecting tunnel', NLC Indiahas taken several initiatives toensure the safety of its employ-ees against the deadly Covid-19.The navratna said, the disinfect-ing tunnel ensures protection toall employees before they enterthe plants and mines, whilefever clinic is for those withsymptoms like fever, coughand breathing difficulties.

"NLC Thermal team has fab-ricated disinfecting tunnels byusing packing material andspares available with powerplants which are now beingused by all the power plantsand mines in Neyveli," a com-

pany official said.Moreover, NLC India Ltd

(NLCIL) has introduced 'feverclinic' which function from6:00 AM to 10:00 PM forsymptomatic patients who havea travel history to affectedplaces and those who reportwith symptoms like fever,cough and breathing difficul-ties, the official said.

Such patients with symptomsand travel history are recom-mended for home quarantine,he added Moreover, throughpublic screening and massivedoor-to-door enumeration, thecompany has also identifiedsymptomatic patients who havea travel history to affectedplaces.

World shares steady asOPEC struggles PNS n BANGKOK

Asian shares are steady inquiet Good Friday tradingafter Wall Street closed out itsbest week in 45 years thanksto the Federal Reserve's titan-ic effort to support the econ-omy through the coronaviruscrisis.

Many world markets wereclosed for Easter weekendholidays. In Asia, Japan'sNikkei 225 index advanced,gaining 0.8% to 19,498.50. InSouth Korea, the Kospijumped 1.3% to 1,860.70.Shares also rose in Taiwan,Thailand and Malaysia. Butthe Shanghai Composite indexlost 1%, to 2,796.63.

European and U.S. marketsare closed for Good Friday.

The long weekend offers arespite from the drama thathas wracked markets for weeksdue to the coronavirus out-break.

Overnight, the U.S. centralbank announced programs toprovide up to $2.3 trillion inloans to households, local gov-ernments and businesses asthe country tips into whateconomists say may be theworst recession in decades.

The Fed's actions complete-ly overshadowed a govern-ment report that another 6.6million people applied forunemployment benefits lastweek. Stock investors expect-ed such dismal numbers, andsome are looking ahead to apossible reopening of theeconomy.

PNS n NOIDA (UP)

ICICI Bank on Fridayannounced that it will deploytwo mobile ATM vans inNoida and other districts ofUttar Pradesh from nextweek to bring key bankingservices to the doorsteps ofpeople amid the coronavirusoutbreak.

These vans will be sta-tioned from 10.00 AM to 7.00PM at the areas quarantinedby the authorities, a pressrelease issued on behalf of thebank said.

The mobile ATMs willoffer all the services that areavailable at normal ATMs, itstated.

New Delhi: About 15 millionpeople face job losses inIndia's exports sector followingcancellation of over half of theorders and gloomy forecast forglobal trade due to the Covid-19 pandemic, exporters' bodyFIEO said on Friday. Seekingimmediate announcement of arelief package for exports,Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations (FIEO) PresidentSharad Kumar Saraf said a finebalancing is required betweenlife and livelihood, as opting foronly one can be disastrous forthe country. He said thatexporters are left with "very"few orders and if factories arenot allowed to work with aminimum workforce, many ofthem will suffer "irreparablelosses" which will bring themto the brink of closure as theyare saddled with fixed cost thatin any case has to be absorbedby them.

ICICI to deploymobile ATMvans in Noida,other districts

Health officialsand other

frontline workershave been playing a

key role in the world'sfight against COVID-19.

Nursing officials of both theTelugu states of Telanganaand Andhra Pradesh have

been working round the clockmaking several sacrifices on

a daily basis, writesV SATEESH REDDY

SaturdayApril 11, 2020

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

uggling hecticwork scheduleswith elderly carewas always a ques-tion of achieving afine balance. At

times you wanted to go backhome at regular intervals justto check on your eldersbecause you were anxious. Itwas a tussle to make themfeel independent while ensur-ing that they took every med-icine on time. Well, allof this overthinking hascome to a grinding haltas the world experiencesthe COVID-19 pandem-ic which demands a

change in elderly care as ithas given rise to anxieties ofan altogether different kind.

Across the world seniorcitizens are more susceptibleto the Coronavirus becausetheir immunity is compro-mised which is coupled withco-morbidities and pre-exist-ing conditions such as dia-betes, hypertension and heartdisease. A survey of theCoronavirus death has achilling report. It says thatone in every 12 elders willdie from COVID-19 if agedbetween 70-80. This willclimb up to one in seven ifaged over 80.

Suffice it to say that it isnot an easy time to be asenior citizen currently. Itmay be worthwhile to take alook at different categories ofsenior citizens and see howthey were leading their lifebefore the lockdown.

There are seniors in theirlate 60s, early 70s who enjoyan active life. They go to thelocal shops, watch a film atthe nearest cinema hall andlove going to the local marketto buy vegetables and meatand hire someone to helpthem bring the grocerieshome. They have maids whocook, do the householdchores and act as company.They also have relatives visit-ing them every now andthen. They cope well and arenot fully dependent on any-one, but they need help withdaily activities.

Then there are seniors whoare fully dependent on peo-ple and need a support sys-

tem. They are not in a posi-tion to run their householdsby themselves. Typical casesinclude those that are 80years and older, who livealone and have attendantsround-the-clock who lookafter the household whiletheir children live and workin another city or are abroad.Another example is of thosewho live with their familiesand need full time monitor-ing and physical assistancebecause of health issue, leav-ing them semi-bedridden.

It is well known thatseniors are dependent onsome kind of support system,whether through a personalnetwork of care providers —care takers, neighbours, fami-

ly andfriends, or on a professionalhealthcare provider.

With the lockdown inplace, the areas where theyhave been affected include:

Disruption of routineactivities: Most of theseelders depend on local shopsand outlets for their dailyrequirements right from gro-ceries to medicines. Access tobank accounts is difficultgiven the restrictions, longqueues, hygiene issues andtheir limited knowledge inmanaging ATMs and onlinebanking platforms.

Loneliness and depres-sion: The seniors are goingthrough stress, anxiety and

isolation as aresult ofbeing underlockdown.Their recre-ational activi-ties usuallyinclude morn-ing and eveningwalks or a teawith an old friend.Low usage of tech-nology by them hasimpacted their digitalparticipation. They can’teven seek help from closefamily and friends.

Healthcare access limita-tions: The lockdown hasaffected healthcare delivery athospitals and clinics, both forchronic and acute illnesses.Purchase of medicines,

orderingblood tests at home, access todoctor consultations andelective surgeries — everyaspect of healthcare has beenimpacted as a result of lock-down. We also need to takeinto account that the seniors

are the biggest users of thesefacilities and now they

have lost access tothese.

However, withthe pandemic hit-ting worldwideelderly care willchange, giventhe need of thehour whereyou need tostay indoors,restrict move-ment and limitoutside contact.

Whether thelockdown lasts

for four weeks ortwo months, it is

safe to assume thatthe lifestyle of seniors,

as well as their care, willchange for good. The elderlycare has witnessed a massivechange as they have a higherrisk of getting infected. Oneneeds to maintain the conti-nuity of care while protectingthem from exposure to possi-ble infection. The main goalnow is to create an envelopeof care by a selected group of

people who can provide themall the assistance requiredwhile maintaining hygienethemselves.

Keeping these in mind, thecare for elders will need tochange to help them in theareas that are the most diffi-cult, and will now have to besolved differently. Some sim-ple initial changes in care arerequired:

An attendant: Having asingle live-in attendant whocan help with daily activitiesand provide physical assis-tance will help them in theirroutine activities. This willhelp in full-time monitoring,physical assistance and limitsoutside contact.

Home delivery: Homedelivery of essentials is anabsolute must, as it is one ofthe main reasons why seniorsgo out. They go to buy sta-ples, food and medicines.While online deliveryproviders can provide thebasic essentials, it is betterfor seniors to be able tohave access to localproviders who can super-

vise the entire deliveryprocess and ensure sensitivitytowards seniors, while main-taining hygiene.

Telephonic consultationwith doctors: Seniors shouldconsult their doctor on callfor basic issues or regularhealth updates. It is the bestway to reach out to them andmake payments online, thusavoiding a physical visit.

It is also important to doc-ument all aspects that needto be covered during anemergency — ambulancenumbers, choice of hospitalfor admission, identificationdocuments and fundsrequired. All of this shouldbe planned on a structuredbasis. It is best to get profes-sional help for this to avoidstress or unpreparedness at alater stage.

Most importantly, be vigi-lant at all times abouthygiene for both seniors andthose living with them —washing hands, using sanitis-ers and maintaining socialdistance, even if it is a familymember.

the real heroes of COVID-19

he number ofpositive casesofCoronavirusis climbingwith each

passing day. While therehave been close to 1.5lakh cases world-wide,

Indiahas

recordedmore than

6,000 positive cases.The state and central

governments are toilinghard to fight the spread ofCOVID-19.

Since the lockdown hasproved to have yielded goodresults, experts believe that it islikely to be extended. As we allcomplain about being tired andbored staying home and safe,another section of people areleaving their homes to tend tothese patients. The healthcareworkers have put themselvesout there, so we could stay safe

at home. The nursing staff, inparticular, have been riskingtheir lives to save us from thedeadly virus.

It takes 2 or more weeks fora healthy person to completelyrecover from

the virus.And it’s the

nurses thatattend to their

needs — somethingthat one’s family members

would dread doing. And sincethere is the fear of infectinganother human, the nurses areall keeping away from theirloved ones.

Explaining what their daylooks like, Rajeshwar, a nursingofficer in a private hospital inHyderabad says, “Most of thehospitals have no Out-Patientservices, hence we’re treatingonly emergency cases like car-diac and accident victims. Weare informing governmentauthorities instantly if we findanyone with COVID-19 symp-toms. Some hospitals haveopened special units to treatCOVID-19 patients and aremaintaining isolation andquarantine wards.”

Since most of the general

Out-Patient services are closed,Rajeshwar informs thatpatients have now taken toconsulting doctors over videoconference. He adds, “Doctorsare guiding pregnant womenand others over what medi-cines to take. Some are alsoreferring them to visit certainhospitals in case of emergen-cies.”

Like most nurses, Rajeshwarurges people to stay home. “Itis important for everyone tostay home.Since symp-toms won’tshow early,we mightthink we’reokay, butcould end upharming otherstoo,” he says.

How arehealthcareworkers coping?Rajeshwar says,“We are taking allthe necessary pre-cautions like wear-ing masks, usinghand-sanitizersevery time we meeta patient.”

Renuka, another nurse says,“Families of nursing staff arecurrently worried because ofthe potential danger we walkin to, every day. There havebeen some parents who’veforced their children to quittheir job to stay alive. But we’reconvincing them that this isour job and that being exposedto danger is an important partof our services in crucialtimes like

this.”“We don’t get paid well and

the recognition we get for ourwork is minimal. We hope thatafter this is all over, we will berecognised and be paid respectand money duly,” she hopes.

Another nursing officerRaghu shares, “All over theworld, some doctors and nurs-es too, have lost their lives

while treating COVID-19patients. Even our familymembers are worriedabout us getting infected,but we're taking necessaryprecautions to save our-selves. Strict lockdownimplementation in Indiais helping us prevent thespread of the virus to agreat extent. We cantackle this deadly viruswith a few more weeksof lockdown andproper cooperationfrom the people.”

Let us all appreci-ate the efforts byhealthcare workersand pay respect tothem by stayingindoors and main-taining social dis-tance!

J

T

HEALTHCARE

WORKERS,

ALL OVER THE

WORLD, SOME

DOCTORS AND

NURSES TOO, HAVE

LOST THEIR LIVES

WHILE TREATING

COVID-19 PATIENTS,

SAYS A NURSING

OFFICER

A sliver of silverPrateep Senand Tamojit

Dutta saythat the care

of seniors hasto change

keeping thepandemic

in mind

‘THE MAIN GOAL NOW ISTO CREATE AN ENVELOPE OF

CARE BY A SELECTED GROUP OFPEOPLE WHO CAN PROVIDE

ASSISTANCE TO THE ELDERS WHILEMAINTAINING HYGIENE

THEMSELVES. THE ELDERLY CAREWILL NOW HAVE TO BE SOLVED

DIFFERENTLY’

everal Bollywoodactors followedAkshay Kumar’scall to acknowl-edge the contribu-tion of all essential

workers during the lockdownperiod with the hashtag‘#DilSe Thank you’. ActorsKatrina Kaif, Vicky Kaushaland many others followed suitas they put out their gratitudeon their social media handles.

In a video message sharedon Twitter, Akshay recalled aconversation he had with aMumbai police officer yester-day, who is also a good friendof the actor, and said that theconservation gave him a newinsight into the situation.“Akshay, you people are scaredto come out of your homes,

and the irony is we are afraidto go home. We do not wantto transfer any sort of diseaseto our family as we are on thestreets the whole day, meetingdifferent kinds of people,” hequoted his friend in the policeas saying.

Later in the two-minutesand 12-seconds video, headdressed of the people, theessential workforce, be it“police force, city workers,doctors, nurses, NGO volun-teers, government officials,even the ration and vegetabledealer and the watchmen”who are working putting theirhealth at risk to ensure oursafety”.

Soon after, Katrina Kaifhopped on to Instagram andthanked the police officials

through both an Instagrampost and a story. In the story,Kaif posted a picture of the‘Mumbai Police’ badge on theuniform of the officials andwrote: “Thank You.”

Vicky Kaushal took toTwitter and thankedMumbai’s DirectorGeneral of Police(DGP) andthe rest ofthe offi-cials.

kshay Kumar hasdonated Rs 3 croreto BrihanmumbaiMunicipalCorporation(BMC) for the

manufacture of PersonalProtective Equipment (PPE),masks, and rapid testing kits,in the fight against theCOVID-19 pandemic.

This comes after theBollywood superstar recentlydonated Rs 25 crore to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sPM-CARES fund.

The actor took to Twitterto express gratitude toMumbai Police and BMC.“There’s an army of peopleworking day and night tokeep us safe, our families safe.Lets together say#DilSeThankYou to thembecause that’s the least we cando. @mybmc@MumbaiPolice,” he wrote.

Recently, Akshay’s wife,author-actress Khanna ,revealed on social media whatprompted him to donate sucha huge amount to the PM-

CARES fund. “The manmakes me proud.When I asked him ifhe was sure as itwas such a mas-sive amount andwe needed toliquidate funds,he just said, ‘Ihad nothingwhen I startedand now thatI am in thisposition, howcan I holdback fromdoing whatev-er I can forthose who havenothing,” shewrote.

10

Vijayawada Saturday April 11, 2020 what’s brewing?

S

AKSHAY KUMARdonates Rs 3 cr forrapid testing kits, PPE

A

Kat, Vicky, Shilpa join Akshayto say ‘Dil Se thank you’

he has belted out some ofthe biggest foot-tapping hits

including Garmi, Aankhmarey, O saki, Dilbar and

Kala chashma among manyothers, and enjoys as much

popularity as any top singer in contempo-rary Bollywood. Yet, Neha Kakkar tells

you, that singers hardly ever get paidin the film industry.

“We don’t get paid for singing inBollywood at all. What happens isthey feel that if we give a superhit

song, the singer will earnthrough shows,” Neha told

IANSThe 31-year-old added, “I

get a good amount from liveconcerts and everything, butBollywood doesn’t have this

scene. To make us sing a song,they don't pay."

On the work front, Nehawill feature in a song with

rapper Yo Yo Honey Singhtitled Moscow suka. The num-

ber is a mix of Punjabi andRussian language.

The Russian vocals aregiven by Ekaterina

Sizova.On Thursday, Neha

took to herInstagram stories,

where sheuploaded a string

of pictures ofherself along

with her brotherTony Kakkar,

whom shewished a happy

birthday.Tony and

Neha havetogether collabo-

rated for num-bers like Carmain music,

Dheeme dheemeand Coca Cola.

S

We don't getpaid for singing

in Bollywood:Neha Kakkar

awazuddinSiddiqui is aperfect exampleof a rags-to-riches story ashe rose from

being a struggling farmerto a much in demand actorwith several criticallyacclaimed performances toboast about. The actor hasan inspiring tale of howdetermination, persistenceand talent never go unre-warded as it took 12 yearsof struggle for Nawazuddinto bag a lead role, which hecould proudly brag aboutto his father.

Nawazuddin did everytiny role that came his wayand was seen in blink-and-miss roles like that of apickpocketer in MunnabhaiMBBS (2003), a terror sus-pect in Sarfarosh (1999)and many others like BlackFriday (2007) and EkChalis Ki Last Local (2007).

Sharing his late father’sdisappointment with hischoice of work, the actorhad told Cinestaan in aninterview, “My father usedto get upset when I didsmall roles. He used to say,‘why do you do these smallroles where you get bashedup. Please don’t come here,it’s embarrassing for thefamily. Neighbours say that your son is gettinghammered’. He felt I was beaten for real, but hewas fine upon learning thatit’s only drama. He askedme to stop doing suchroles.”

Finally, when the actorgot a lead role in AnuragKashyap’s Gangs ofWasseypur, he went to hisfather and told him, “whydon’t you watch my filmnow?” He, however, didnot face any disapprovalfrom his father about hiscareer choice.

When Siddiqui’sfather told him ‘notto come home asit embarrassedfamily’

N

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

IANS n WARSAW

The Polish goalkeeper ofJuventus FC Wojciech

Szczesny praised his teammateCristiano Ronaldo as thePortuguese “is obsessed withwinning and he thinks just aboutwork, even at trainings”.

On Friday the Pole was askedby the Polish TV Eleven Sports tocompare Cristiano Ronaldo toSzczesny’s compatriot RobertLewandowski from BayernMunich.

“I think Cristiano is morefocused on work. There are jokesbefore and during the training.

He is a machine. Lewandowski isa little more relaxed. I don’tcompare who works more, butwho is obsessed with this work.It’s definitely Cristiano,” said theJuventus custodian.

“Cristiano has an egoist faceon the pitch and I think that facemakes him one of the best play-ers in football history. It some-times makes him look frustrat-ed and thus looks selfish. It’s justan obsession with winning, anobsession with being the best andrequiring others to help him. Itwould be unhealthy if there weresix, seven or ten people with sucha character in the dressing room,but one that pushes others to bebetter is positive,” addedSzczesny.

sport 11VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | APRIL 11, 2020

AFP n SYDNEY

Australian pace bowling starPat Cummins says he is pre-pared to play in the Indian

Premier League behind closeddoors as it would restore a degreeof “normality” into daily life dur-ing the coronavirus pandemic.

The 26-year-old ICC Test play-er of the year — he took 59 wick-ets in 12 Tests — told the BBC thatit would mean fans could at leastwatch some live sport at home.

The IPL season was post-poned from March 29 until April15 because of the pandemic,although the expectation is thetournament will be either delayedagain or even cancelled should thelockdown in India be extended.

Another problem forCummins and his compatriots isthere are restrictions on Australianstravelling overseas.

The two-month tournament— Cummins is contracted to theKolkata Knight Riders — is ahuge revenue earner.

The T20 competition is esti-mated to generate more than $11billion for the Indian economy andinvolves cricket’s top internation-al stars like England's Ben Stokes,Australia’s David Warner andIndian captain Virat Kohli.

“Of course — whatever it takesto try and get cricket up and playthose big events safely,” saidCummins in answer to whether hewould welcome playing in front of

empty stands.“The first priority is safety but

the second one is getting back tonormality.

“It’s finding that balance. If thatunfortunately means no crowds fora while then that’s that but hope-fully people can watch at home ontelevision.”

Cummins’s outstanding 2019was recognised on Wednesdaywhen he was named one of the fivecricketers of the year by Wisden.

“The first I heard about it wasa couple of months ago,” he said.

“The award is held in highregard in Australia, I remember mydad and grandad talking about it.

“It caught me off guard to getit but I feel very honoured andprivileged to win it. I had to keepit quiet, I hadn’t told anyone.”

He was the pick of theAustralian attack as they retainedthe Ashes taking 29 wickets in thefive Test series which ended in a 2-2 draw.

“I have so many favouritemoments from the Ashes series,”he said.

“There was a plan years inadvance, I was in good form andfitness.

“To have a good series per-sonally is great.

“It’s the one big event youreally look forward to, and I’mproud to get through five Tests.”

Cummins, when asked to

select his best memories of theseries, shied away from personalachievements to the collectiveone.

“In terms of moments, thetwo wins — the first win atEdgbaston, starting the first Testmatch with a win,” he said.

“Then obviously retainingthe Ashes at Manchester late inday five would be anothermoment.”

PTI n NEW DELHI

All India Football Federation is in discus-sion with world body FIFA to retain the

original age criteria of the participating play-ers and finalise new dates for the U-17Women’s World Cup, AIFF president PrafulPatel said on Friday.

The Under-17 Women’s World Cup,which was scheduled to be held in India inNovember, was postponed by football’s gov-

erning body (FIFA) last week due to theworsening of the COVID-19 pandemicacross the globe.

Patel said the Local OrganisingCommittee (LOC) is working in close col-laboration with FIFA to finalise the dates inthe “earliest possible timeline”.

“I am happy to share that we are work-ing with #FIFA to choose a new and earli-est possible timeline to host the U-17Women’s World Cup. The LOC and FIFA areworking in close collaboration to finalise newdates keeping health and safety a priority,”Patel wrote on his Twitter handle.

“We are also in discussions with #FIFAto keep the age criteria of U-17 Women’sWorld Cup the same as originally planned,so that all the players who have been work-ing very hard to prepare for the tournament,do not miss an opportunity to play due tothe postponement,” Patel added.

The women’s age group showpiece eventwas to be held at five venues in the country—Kolkata,Guwahati, Bhubaneswar,Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai — fromNovember 2-21.

LONDON: England cricket team chief AshleyGiles has forecast a significant delay to the homeseries against the West Indies in June shouldthe coronavirus relent sufficiently to allow thethree Tests to go ahead.

The county championship, comprisingfour-day matches, was due to start on Sundaybut English cricket is shut down until at leastMay 28, with the expectation of further post-ponements.

England are meant to play a three-Testseries against the West Indies in June, with theopening match at The Oval starting on June4.

But England team director Giles toldreporters in a conference call on Thursday:“The deadline of May 28 still stands but it’s look-ing less and less likely that we’re going to be outthere in June.

“We have to look at alternatives.”Following the visit of the West Indies,

England are meant to play home series againstPakistan, Australia and Ireland as well.

“We are looking at scenarios where we canpush those matches back as far as possible with-out losing any cricket,” said Giles.

“Whether eventually games start falling offthe calendar right now we don’t know.

“If we can’t get it all, it’s really importantwe work in partnership with all the other boardsto fulfil those fixtures but with a priority onkeeping people safe.”

SQUAD MMATCH IIDEAMeanwhile the former England spinner

said an intra-squad match similar to the oneAustralia played before last year’s Ashes couldserve as a warm-up fixture for his side if theseason can get underway.

With Britain currently in lockdown, play-ers cannot go straight from their homes intothe international arena.

“From a playing point of view certainly, Ithink we’ll need to play a couple of warm-upgames,” Giles said.

“They could be behind closed doors, theycould be among England players — none of usreally know until we get there.”

Following last year’s one-day World Cupin England, the Australians played a three-day12-a-side match at Southampton as their solewarm-up fixture for the Ashes.

Giles, asked about an intra-squad match,replied: “If we had to, I think that would be adecent way around a problem if we weren’t play-ing cricket more broadly. I think we could dothat.” Giles added he was also open to the pos-sibility of England’s Test and one-day teamsplaying at the same time if that was the best wayto fulfil fixtures in a shortened season.

“We have got enough depth where we cansplit our resources but we haven’t got that far,”he said. AFP

MELBOURNE: Former Australian captainMichael Clarke feels Virat Kohli’s fetish forbig hundreds is similar to the iconic SachinTendulkar, who was the “hardest to get out”with a technique which “didn’t have a weak-ness”.

Clarke said he can’t recall a batsman ascomplete as Sachin during his playing days.

“Probably technically the best batsman(Tendulkar) I ever saw. The hardest batsmanto get out. I think Sachin, technically, didn’thave a weakness. Part of you hoped that hemade a mistake,” Clarke told the Big sportsBreakfast radio show.

He then went on heap praise on Kohli,calling him the best batsman across all for-mats among the current lot.

“I think right now the best batsmanacross all three formats. His one day and T20records are phenomenal and he’s also founda way to dominate Test cricket.

“What Kohli and Tendulkar have in com-mon is they love making big hundreds,” hesaid. PTI

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan Test captainAzhar Ali has backed

head coach-cum-chiefselector Misbah-ul-Haq’ssuggestion that the coro-navirus-affected WorldTest Championshipshould be extended in thewake of the global pan-demic.

He believes cricket-ing action should returnto action in future “evenit is behind closed doors”but without compromis-ing on the health of theplayers.

“If, hopefully, in thenear future cricket is pos-sible and the health of

people is not compro-mised, I’m sure everycricketer will say weshould get cricket backon, even if it is behindclosed doors,” Ali said ina video conference withreporters.

“There is no sport onTV right now that peoplecan watch. They will behappy to get sport backon TV. People’s health ismore important, but if wecan get sport going with-out imperilling that, I’d

support it.”Ali is confident that

world body ICC will dothe needful.

“I’m sure the ICCwill look at this. The TestChampionship was a longcompetition anyway, so Idon’t think it would be abig deal to extend it if theseries cannot be held intime; I’d support extend-ing the Test champi-onship,” he added.

Azhar’s statementcame after Misbah calledfor an extension of theWorld Test C’ship as andwhen cricket resumes inorder to provide a fairand equal playing field toall teams.

AP n TOKYO

As the coronavirusspreads in Japan, the

chief executive of the TokyoGames on Friday said hecan’t guarantee the post-poned Olympics will bestaged next year — evenwith a 16-month delay.

Japanese PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe issuedan emergency declarationthis week to battle the virus,putting the country underrestrictions after it seemedit had avoided the spread.

“I don’t think anyonewould be able to sayif it is going to bepossible to get itunder control bynext July or not,”

Tokyo organizing commit-tee CEO Toshiro Muto said,speaking through an inter-preter at a news conferenceconducted remotely.

“We’re certainly are notin a position to give you a

clear answer.”The Olympics were

postponed last month witha new opening set for July23, 2021, followed by theParalympics on August 24.

Abe has been criticizedfor being slow to act againstthe coronavirus. Oppositionpolitical leaders have sug-gested he downplayed theseverity of the virus andhave said it may have beentied to wanting to hold theOlympics this year.

“We have made thedecision to postpone the

games by one year,”Muto added.

“So this meansthat all we can do iswork hard to pre-pare for the games.

We sincerely hope thatcome next year mankindwill manage to overcomethe coronavirus crisis.”Muto was asked if there arealternative plans to 2021.

“Rather than thinkabout alternatives plans, weshould put in all of oureffort,” he said.

“Mankind should bringtogether all of its technolo-gy and wisdom to workhard so they can develop-ment treatments, medicinesand vaccines.”

Japan has reportedabout 5,000 cases and 100deaths. The country hasthe world’s oldest popula-tion, and COVID-19 can beespecially serious for theelderly.

IANS n LONDON

Brazilian football greatRonaldo has said that for-

mer England captain and hisReal Madrid teammate DavidBeckham is one of the bestplayers of all time.

Ronaldo and Beckhamwere both part of the famousGalacticos’ team between2003 until 2007.

“One of the first peo-ple that I ever saw wasyou,” Beckham said toRonaldo overInstagram Live. “Whenyou walked into thechanging room it made mecomfortable to be in the

club.”Ronaldo replied, saying:

“Man, you are amazing. Forme, you are one of the best ofall time in the centre.

“The way you wouldtouch the ball, the way youcould get the ball wherever

you want, and without look-ing at me. I should thankyou for the many balls you

gave to me,” said theace striker.

W h i l eBeckham movedto the SantiagoBernabeu in 2003,

Ronaldo joinedthem one year earli-er from Inter Milan.

IANS n BUENOS AIRES

FC Barcelona superstar footballer Lionel Messi hasdenied reports of him moving to Italian giants

Inter Milan.The Argentina forward also denied rumours of

a possible transfer to his former Argentinian sideNewell’s Old Boys.

“What they said about Newell’s Old Boys a fewweeks ago is also false, thank God no one believedthem,” Messi said in an Instagram post.

He also distanced himself from a rumour thatsaid he had paid the bail money to allow the releaseof Brazilian star Ronaldinho from a Paraguay jail.

Messi shared a tweet from a football news por-tal and singled out the Inter move and Ronaldinhobail money reports as ‘Lie No 1’ and ‘Lie No 2’ onInstagram.

Ronaldinho was released from jail and has beenplaced under house arrest in Paraguay. TheBrazilian football great and his brother, Roberto Assis,have been held at a prison in Asuncion since March6 for using fake passports.

AFP n ZURICH

FIFA president GianniInfantino on Friday said

that “no match” is worth“risking a single human life”and that world football’sgoverning body would beable to help financiallynational federations duringthe coronavirus pandemic.The majority of top footballleagues and internationalcompetitions have been sus-pended due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Infantino insisted thatgames would not resumeuntil it was safe.

“Our first priority, ourprinciple, the one we willuse for our competitions

and encourage everyone tofollow is that health comesfirst,” he said in a video mes-sage.

“I cannot stress thisenough. No match, no com-petition, no league is worthrisking a single human life.”

The GermanBundesliga reportedly couldrestart behind closed doorsin May, with players alreadyback in training, while otherleagues could also resume inthe summer.

“It would be more thanirresponsible to force com-petitions to resume if thingsare not 100% safe,” addedInfantino.

“If we have to wait a lit-tle longer we must do so. It’s

better to wait a little bitlonger than to take anyrisks.”

Infantino said thatnational football associa-tions which are strugglingfinancially would receivehelp from FIFA’s emergencyrelief fund.

FIFA last week post-poned all internationalmatches scheduled for June.“We are today in a verystrong financial situation,”Infantino said.

“But our reserves arenot FIFA’s money. It is foot-ball’s money. So when foot-ball is in need, we mustthink what we can do tohelp... It is our responsibil-ity and our duty.”

PTI n MUMBAI

Race walker K T Irfan has no complaintsregrading the postponement of the Olympics

to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemicas he says it will give him more time to preparefor the Tokyo Games.

The 30-year-old Irfan qualified for his sec-ond Olympics after finishing fourth in the 20km race walk event in the Asian Race WalkingChampionship last year.

“It’s good that it (Tokyo Games) got post-poned. We can take this as a base to train moreand get closer to win a medal. Race Walking isa technical event, so I will get time to focus onit more, this will help us do better next year,”Irfan said.

Asked about his target in the TokyoOlympics, he said, “My main aim is to win amedal. In Rio Olympics, I had injured myself,in London also I had chance of winning a medal.

Irfan finished 10th in the 2012 LondonOlympics with a national record time of 1 hour20 minute 21 seconds. He did not qualify for2016 Olympics.

“If I work harder there ischance of getting a medal. I havementally prepared myself andam strong with the aim ofwinning a medal,” said Irfan.

The country is under a21-day lockdown and justlike any other athlete, Irfanis confined to his hostel at theSAI Centre in Bengaluru asnobody can train outside.

“There was a good place totrain outside the campus whereI used to train. But we aren’tallowed to go outside the campusbecause of the lockdown,” said theathlete from Kerala.

“We have been asked to trainalone and not in groups. We doskipping etc in the room, andsometimes go out in the campusto practice the walk. Fornow this is what we aredoing,” he said.

PTI n NEW DELHI

India’s last round of homematches in the FIH Pro

League next month was can-celled on Friday after the NewZealand men’s hockey teamcalled off its Asian leg of theevent due to the travel restric-tions imposed in the wake ofCOVID-19 pandemic.

India were scheduled tohost New Zealand for the two-leg tie on May 23 and 24 inBhubaneswar.

New Zealand, in fact, havealso cancelled its trip to China.

“Following the New Zealandgovernment’s travel restrictionsand government lockdownwhich we find ourselves in atpresent, combined with themedical advice of our team doc-tors and in the interests of thehealth, safety and well-being ofour players and support staff, thedecision has been made by

Hockey New Zealand to cancelour tour of India (Men) andChina (Women) at this presenttime,” HNZ chief executive IanFrancis said.

New Zealand made thedecision after the InternationalHockey Federation (FIH) hint-ed of extending the suspensionof Pro League matches till July-August due to the COVID-19pandemic.

The FIH, in fact, had sus-pended the Pro League twiceearlier due to the pandemic.

India made an impressivedebut in the second edition ofthe FIH Pro League, currentlyplaced fourth in the standingsafter three ties againstNetherlands, world championsBelgium and Australia.

New Zealand, on the otherhand, are at the sixth spot.Both sides have recorded twovictories each in the competitionso far.

Giles expects delayto Windies series

CUMMINS UP FOR PLAYING IPL BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Pat Cummins celebrates with skipper Aaron Finch after Australia beat Kiwis in the 1st ODI of three-match series in March ICC/File Picture

‘Played less aggressively due torepercussions of sandpapergate’PTI n MELBOURNE

Australian cricket team’s lowkey aggression against India

during the 2018-19 Test serieswas more about winning backfans rather than protect theirIPL contracts, said pace spear-head Pat Cummins, rejectingformer skipper Michael Clarke’scontentious claims.

The India series was onlythe second Test series after theball tampering controversy thatled to Steve Smith and DavidWarner’s suspensions and anoverall criticism of their win atall cost mentality.

“I think probably a biggerfactor was six months beforeleading into that Indian series

the media and everyone com-mentating on the Aussie crick-et team were pretty clear in theirdirection in the way they want-ed the Aussies team to go andthat was playing a little bit lessaggressively out on the field,”Cummins told BBC.

However he didn’t rule outthat some players might haveharboured thoughts aboutClarke’s assumption that they“sucked up to” Indian skipperVirat Kohli in fear of losing outon IPL pay-checks.

“I’d say that would havebeen a bigger factor than tryingto win or lose friends out on thecricket field. But you neverknow, that might have been afactor for some players.”

Beckham one of all timegreat in midfield: R9

Virus-affected WTC should be extended: Azhar

Tendulkar best I ever saw, Kohlibest among current lot: Clarke

‘Cristiano obsessed with winning’

India-NZ Pro League tie cancelled AIFF working with FIFA to finalisenew dates for Women’s U-17 WC

‘No match worth risking a life': Infantino

Oly postponement gives more timefor preparation: Race walker Irfan

Messi denies move to Inter

Tokyo games could be in doubt even in 2021

ontinu-ing histrystwithhorror-come-

dies, choreograph-er-turned-actor-turned-filmmakerRaghavaLawrence on

Thursday eveningannounced that he

would be spearheadingthe sequel to 2005

Tamil, Telugu box-office smash

Chandramukhi,starring

Rajinikanth.He indi-

catedthat hesigned

up for theproject after getting theblessings from superstarRajinikanth. P Vasureturns to the director’schair.

“One of my next pro-ject is my thailavar’smovie chandramuki 2,I’m so lucky to act in

this project withThalaivar’s permissionand blessings which isDirected by P. Vasu sirand produced by mylucky producer sun pic-tures kalanithi maran sir(sic),” wrote Lawrenceon Twitter.

Also featuringJyothika, Nayanthara,Prabhu, Nasser, Vadiveluand Vineeth,Chandramukhi helpedRajini to stamp hisauthority at the box-office once again—threeyears after the flop showthat Baba was. In fact, hewas almost written offby some critics. The filmwas the Tamil adaptationof the 1993 Malalayamfilm Manichitrathazhudirected by Fazil.

Lawrence, who will bemaking his Hindi direc-torial debut withLaxmmi Bomb later thisyear, also revealed thathe will be donating Rs 3crore of the advancepayment from the sequelto coronavirus funds.

nnounced earlierthis January, RaviTeja’s next withRamesh Varma isnot an originalscreenplay. We’ve

learnt from a reliable sourcethe director drew inspirationfrom a Tamil filmSathuranga Vettai 2 anddecided to give the Teluguversion a tweak to suit ournativity. The Tamil original,starring Arvind Swamy andTrisha, though hasn’t made itto the screens due to finan-cial reasons.

A source close to thedevelopment tells us,“Ramesh Varma watchedSathuranga Vettai 2 last yearin Hyderabad and was high-ly impressed with it, espe-cially the writing by HVinoth. He bought theremake rights from theTamil producer later. Hetook close to 10 scenes fromthe original and gave theother scenes a new spinalong with his team. Hefeared being branded as aremake filmmaker as his ear-lier film, Rakshasudu was aremake of a Tamil film,Ratsasan, and so ensuredthat his team promotes it afresh screenplay altogether.”

The source goes on toclarify that Ravi Teja willnot be seen in dual roles.“He is playing one rolewith two shades — oneas an innocent guy and

the other as a con man. Raviwas impressed with this partof the characterization anddecided to give his nod tothe film. The interval bagwill come as a revelation tothe audience,” the sourceconcludes.

The untitled film, anaction-thriller, was supposedto have gone to floors bynow but Covid-19 derailedthe schedule plans. In fact,the team considered shoot-ing some portions inAzerbaijan but they are nowtrying to shift the setting toother parts of India. Thedirector, however, will beginfilming the Hyderabadepisodes first.Educationalist KoneruSatyanarayana is pro-ducing the film underA Studios.

Vijayawada Saturday April 11, 2020

12

tollywood

ed by SunilNarang of AsianCinemas,Telangana FilmChamber ofCommerce

donated Rs 25 lakhs toCMRF of Telangana State.The cheque was handedover to IT minister KTRamarao in Hyderabad onFriday. Minister TalasaniSrinivas Yadav, TS FDCchairman P Rammohan

Rao, Chamber presidentMuralimohan Rao and pro-ducer Abhishek Nama werealso present at the occasion.The members praised thegovernment’s fight againstCovid-19 and also appealedeveryone to stay at home.

In other news, actorBrahmanandam on Fridayannounced that he will bedonating Rs 3 lakh toCorona Crisis Charity thatwas formed to help the

daily wage employees of theindustrywhohave

been hit by lack of work.Senior producerChadalawada Srinivasa Raohas contributed Rs 10,11,111 to Producer’s

Council and asked thebody to help producerswho are financially suf-fering because of the

lockdown. He addedthat he wouldextend his help fur-ther if need be.

TS Film Chamber donatesRs 25 lakh to CMRFL

ctor Ram Pothineni,who hasn’tannounced his nextdespite wrapping upRed last month, islooking at a comedy

entertainer for his next. Asource close to the actor tellsus, “With Red too being anintense drama like his lastrelease iSmart Shankar, Ram islooking at a change of genre —preferably light — heartedromantic entertainer with fami-ly emotions and dollops ofhumour. He hasn’t got such astory yet, which is why thedelay in announcing his next.Also, he is looking at elementsthat take his image forward.”

The source adds that theactor started listening to scriptswhen the lockdown wasimposed. “He heard a couple oflines from filmmakers andwriters who worked with himin the past. He was to meet

them for a second round ofnarration but for the lock-

down. He will take a call onhis next by this month-end,” informs the source.

RAM islooking ata comedyentertainer

A

The directordrew

inspiration froma Tamil filmSathuranga

Vettai 2 anddecided to give

the Teluguversion a tweak

to suit ournativity, finds

NAGARAJGOUD

A

RAMESH VARMAWATCHEDSATHURANGA VETTAI 2LAST YEAR INHYDERABAD AND WASHIGHLY IMPRESSEDWITH IT, ESPECIALLYTHE WRITING BY H

VINOTH.

RAVI TEJA toplay a con man

C

Lawrence inChandramukhi2; gets Rajini’sblessings

ike most of her col-leagues, RashmikaMandanna, who hada successful year sofar, with two of herreleases — Sarileru

Neekevvaru and Bheeshma —doing well at the ticket coun-ters, is binge watching showson Netflix in her native placeKarnataka. “She is catchingsome shows that she wanted tosee from a long time but could-n’t because of her tight sched-ule in the last one year or so.Some of her friends referredher shows on other streaminggiants as well. Plus, she is alsoreading scripts and is gorgingon healthy food to be in rightphysique for her next set ofassignments,” said a sourceclose to the actress.

Rashmika, who will startshooting for Sukumar’sPushpa with Allu Arjun inJune, is hopeful that humanswill emerge victorious inthe war against coronavirus.“Just a while long to winthis war,” she wrote on herInstagram page recently.

L

It’s Netflixand workforRashmika