˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training...

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I f the current spate of corona pandemic goes unabated, then it is likely that both Houses of Parliament — Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — may function from the Central Hall and that too on alternate days. Well-placed sources said considering the need to main- tain the social distancing norm, the Monsoon Session begin- ning next month will conduct its proceedings from the spa- cious Central Hall in a stag- gered manner and on a rota- tional basis. For instance, if the Lok Sabha meets on Monday then the Rajya Sabha will sit on Tuesday, in such a scenario, Parliament will function six days a week with three each for both the Houses. Sources said the option of conducting Parliament sittings from the Central Hall is being worked upon. “This (Central Hall) is a bigger place which has a seating capacity of 776 members. While the Lok Sabha has 545 Members of Parliament (MP, Rajya Sabha has 250 MPs. While it will be easier to con- duct the Upper House within the social distancing norms in the Central Hall, feasibility to accommodate all Lower House members while maintaining social distancing norms is being looked upon,” Parliament sources said. A senior official said a separate SOP for the func- tioning of Parliament is also being deliberated. The Central Hall for decades is being used for joint sittings of both the Houses addressed by President of India (twice annually) or any visiting dignitary. In normal days, the space is used by members of both the Houses to spend time and interact and is also a cov- eted place for journalists who have restricted access to the Central Hall where they are privileged to exchange greet- ings. As per the Parliamentary rules, both the Houses should be convened at least once in six months after the President prorogues it. The last time when Parliament functioned was on March 23 after which the Centre imposed a complete national lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. The Budget Session of Parliament which began on January 31 was supposed to end on April 2. “The last Parliament was adjourned sine die on March 23 and we have time till September 22 to convene Parliament for the Monsoon Session. However this prerog- ative is with the Government of India when to begin its leg- islative business. We will be prepared to welcome the mem- bers and keep the democratic norms ahead,” sources privy to the development said. The other option the Government and Parliament is also examining is to allow only half strength of each House on rotation basis and connect the remaining members through various virtual modes to the either House. Members will be able to present themselves on virtual screen mode and raise questions, discuss, participate all in normal functioning of the House. “We just got to know that the United Kingdom Parliament conducted the pro- ceedings in recent times through mix of virtual-real mode and it worked well,” sources added. In order to corner the Narendra Modi Government on issues like handling of coro- na pandemic, labourers and migrants problem, the eco- nomic issue etc, the Opposition parties have been putting pres- sure on the Centre to call either a Special Parliament Session or an early Monsoon Session. “We want to raise several issues and expose this Government on the floor of Parliament. Our constant demand is the Centre convene a Session at earliest and honour the democratic and social prin- ciples of our country and the Constitution above all,” said Congress national secretary Sanjiv Singh. After much pressure, the first meeting of a parliamentary panel on Home headed by Rajya Sabha member Anand Sharma is scheduled on Wednesday. Top officials of the Union Home Ministry are scheduled to brief the panel members on corona related issues. T he Nepal Government on Sunday tabled a Constitution amendment bill in parliament aimed at altering the country’s map amid a bor- der dispute with India. Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shivamaya Tumbahangphe, on behalf of the Government of Nepal, tabled the Bill, a day after the main Opposition Nepali Congress also backed the legislation. Nepal’s Madhesi parties refused to welcome the Bill as of now. It will be the sec- ond amendment to the Constitution. Nepal recently released the revised political and adminis- trative map of the country lay- ing claim over the strategical- ly key areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura. India reacted angrily to the move saying such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claims will not be acceptable and asked the neighbouring country to refrain from such “unjustified cartographic asser- tion”. The Bill seeks to amend the political map of Nepal includ- ed in Schedule 3 of the Constitution. The new map will be used in all official docu- ments including the coat of arms after the bill is endorsed through parliament. Parliament will now delib- erate on the proposal before endorsing the bill. After its endorsement by both the Houses of parlia- ment, the President will order issuance of the bill. The central committee of the main Opposition party Nepali Congress on Saturday decided to back the bill. Last week, the proposed bill was removed from the business schedule of parliament at the last minute at the request of Minister KP Sharma Oli. The discussion on the Constitution amendment bill was delayed as the Nepali Congress asked for more time to discuss the matter in its high-level body. A day after the guidelines by the Centre on opening up economic activities, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, UP, Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, have come out with fresh guidelines extending the lockdown in the containment zones till June 30 and allowing opening of economy in phased wise manner. Inter-state travel by road, air and trains from Maharashtra will remain pro- hibited in the latest phase of the lockdown until June 30 with exceptions being made for migrant workers, stranded peo- ple and 'Shramik' special trains, as per the latest guidelines issued on Sunday. The Chhattisgarh Government on Sunday said inter-state travel without requisite permission from authorities will continue to remain prohibited. Maharashtra, which is worst affected from coron- avirus, extended till June 30 the lockdown and announced eas- ing of restrictions and phase- wise resumption of activities under the “Mission Begin Again”. As per the revised guide- lines issued on Sunday, all markets, market areas and shops, except malls, will be allowed to function from June 5 on odd-even basis. While all private offices can operate with up to 10 per cent their employ- ee strength as per the require- ment from June 8 with others working from home. This will exclude containment zones. Under ‘Mission Begin Again’, outdoor physical activ- ities like morning walks, cycling will be allowed. Self employed persons like plumbers, electricians, pest control staff and technicians will be allowed to work, but they will have to follow social distancing norms. I ndia raced to seventh spot in the global list of the worst affected countries after it left behind Germany and France on Sunday following a spike of over 8,000 confirmed cases during the day. India has now 1,90,536 cases, while France has 1,88,625 cases and Germany has 1,83,420 cases. On Sunday, India saw a rise of 8,677 cases and 221 deaths. Now the US, Brazil, Russian, Spain, the UK and Italy are ahead of India. Maharashtra witnessed another harrowing day on Covid-19 front on Sunday, as the pandemic claimed 89 more lives and another 2,487 people tested positive in various parts of the State. With the fresh fatalities and infections, the total num- ber of deaths mounted to 2,286 and infected cases jumped to a staggering 68,655. With as many as 29,329 patients having been dis- charged, the State health authorities pegged the number of “active cases” in the State at 36,031. Of the total deaths report- ed on Sunday, Mumbai accounted for 52, while there were nine deaths each in Navi Mumbai and Pune, six deaths in Malegaon, five in Thane, four in Kalyan-Dombivli and two in Solapur and one each in Osmanabad and Yavatmal. Gujarat on Sunday report- ed 438 cases and 31 deaths, tak- ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of the deceased to 1,038. T he fourth phase of the countrywide lockdown ending May 31 witnessed a much bigger jump in the num- ber of cases compared to the previous three phases. The number of positive cases went up by 10,828 in the first lockdown, 30,407 cases in second lockdown, and 49,624 cases in third phase of the lock- down. The fourth phase saw addition of nearly 80,000 cases between May 18 and 30. The rise in case during this period account for over 47.20 per cent of the total 1.90 lakh coronavirus infection cases. India has reported over 5,400 fatalities, doubling in the last sixteen days. When India went into the first lockdown on March 25, it had reported 618 confirmed cases and 13 deaths. The number of infections is now twice what it was four- teen days ago, and given the rate of growth in this period, it could hit the 2,00,000-mark by Tuesday, according to experts who said enforcing the use of masks and social distancing norms and isolating everyone with cough and fever is the only protection against infection. Dr Randeep Guleria, pro- fessor of pulmonology, and director of the Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said while the lockdown 4 was stringent, the continuation of migration of workers from the metros to their native towns led to steep rise in the cases. He said the numbers will continue to spike. “The num- bers will spike. The only way you can decrease the numbers from spiking is by aggressive isolation, community partici- pation in terms of very strict wearing of masks, social distancing and hand- washing. “There’s lockdown fatigue now, people have got fed up, they don’t seem to be bothered (about infection spreading), and my fear is that people don’t realise what we are headed for. There are still people who are dying, and the pandemic is yet to peak,” he said. A nother night of unrest in every corner of the US left charred and shattered land- scapes in dozens of US cities on Sunday as years of festering frustrations over the mistreat- ment of African-Americans at the hands of police boiled over in expressions of rage met with tear gas and rubber bullets. Cars and businesses were torched, the words “I can’t breathe” were spray-painted all over buildings, a fire in a trash bin burned near the gates of the White House, and thou- sands marched peacefully through city streets to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who died Monday after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing. His death is one of a litany of racial tragedies that have thrown the country into chaos amid the coronavirus pan- demic that has left millions out of work and killed more than 100,000 people in the US, including disproportionate numbers of black people. “We’re sick of it. The cops are out of control,” protester Olga Hall said in Washington DC. Detailed report on P8 A 22-year-old man who was running a training acade- my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said on Sunday. One juvenile too has been apprehended. The accused identified as Hazikul Sheikh formed a gang of 10 boys, motivating them to commit crimes, said police. “Robbers training school was run in the house of one Manish. He used to train youngsters how to cover their faces with mask before com- mitting a crime. Also, boys were trained to target only pedestrians and cyclists to avoid being caught. The gang members were paid on the basis of commission on items which they looted,” said Gaurav Sharma, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Outer North district. D elhi witnessed the highest single-day spike of about 1,300 coronavirus positive cases on Sunday and with the Delhi Police lost two Assistant Sub-Inspectors to the pan- demic since Saturday evening, taking the overall coronavirus casualty figure in the force to three. While a 52-year-old ASI died around 11.30 am Sunday during treatment at the Army Base Hospital here, another officer of the rank passed away at the same facility Saturday evening, officials said. A Delhi Police spokesper- son said that nearly 500 per- sonnel have tested positive for the deadly virus so far. ASI Vikram was declared negative for the virus in two tests — conducted on May 11 and May 22. However, he felt unwell on May 25 and went to the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital where the doctor advised him one week of med- ical rest, the official said, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava has spoken to all SHO on pre- ventive measures. T he Delhi Government has served show-cause notices on three Central Government- run AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, RML Hospital and Delhi Government-run LNJP Hospital for “delay in reporting Covid-19 death cases”. “Show-cause notices have been issued to AIIMS, LNJP Hospital, RM Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital to explain the reasons for delay in report- ing death cases and for viola- tion of the directions issued by the Delhi Health Department,” the department said in a statement. Besides, memoranda have been issued to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital also to explain the rea- sons for “delay in reporting death cases and for violation of the directions” issued by the health and other authorities. U ttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, his wife Amrita Rawat and 21 others, including members of his family and staff, tested pos- itive for coronavirus, an official said on Sunday. Satpal Maharaj had attend- ed a meeting of the State cab- inet on Friday. Asked whether other Cabinet Ministers who attend- ed the meeting will be quar- antined, State Government spokesman Madan Kaushik told reporters that they will fol- low the advice given by the Health Department as per the guidelines of the Centre. According to State Health Department spokesperson JC Pandey, the Minister’s wife tested positive for the infection on Saturday while his two sons and their wives, along with 17 others, were found infected with the virus on Sunday. Noida: The Noida-Delhi bor- der will remain sealed for movement of people to and from the national Capital, the Gautam Buddh Nagar admin- istration said in its latest guide- lines for the Covid-19 lock- down issued on Sunday.

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Page 1: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training acade-my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said

���������������� ��������

If the current spate of coronapandemic goes unabated,

then it is likely that bothHouses of Parliament — LokSabha and Rajya Sabha — mayfunction from the Central Halland that too on alternate days.

Well-placed sources saidconsidering the need to main-tain the social distancing norm,the Monsoon Session begin-ning next month will conductits proceedings from the spa-cious Central Hall in a stag-gered manner and on a rota-tional basis. For instance, if theLok Sabha meets on Mondaythen the Rajya Sabha will sit onTuesday, in such a scenario,Parliament will function sixdays a week with three each forboth the Houses.

Sources said the option ofconducting Parliament sittingsfrom the Central Hall is beingworked upon. “This (CentralHall) is a bigger place whichhas a seating capacity of 776members. While the Lok Sabhahas 545 Members of Parliament(MP, Rajya Sabha has 250 MPs.While it will be easier to con-duct the Upper House within

the social distancing norms inthe Central Hall, feasibility toaccommodate all Lower Housemembers while maintainingsocial distancing norms isbeing looked upon,” Parliamentsources said.

A senior official said aseparate SOP for the func-tioning of Parliament is alsobeing deliberated.

The Central Hall fordecades is being used for jointsittings of both the Housesaddressed by President of India

(twice annually) or any visitingdignitary. In normal days, thespace is used by members ofboth the Houses to spend timeand interact and is also a cov-eted place for journalists whohave restricted access to theCentral Hall where they areprivileged to exchange greet-ings.

As per the Parliamentaryrules, both the Houses shouldbe convened at least once in sixmonths after the Presidentprorogues it. The last time

when Parliament functionedwas on March 23 after whichthe Centre imposed a completenational lockdown in the wakeof Covid-19 pandemic. TheBudget Session of Parliamentwhich began on January 31 wassupposed to end on April 2.

“The last Parliament wasadjourned sine die on March23 and we have time tillSeptember 22 to conveneParliament for the MonsoonSession. However this prerog-ative is with the Government of

India when to begin its leg-islative business. We will beprepared to welcome the mem-bers and keep the democraticnorms ahead,” sources privy tothe development said.

The other option theGovernment and Parliament isalso examining is to allow onlyhalf strength of each House onrotation basis and connect theremaining members throughvarious virtual modes to theeither House. Members will beable to present themselves onvirtual screen mode and raisequestions, discuss, participateall in normal functioning of theHouse.

“We just got to know thatthe United KingdomParliament conducted the pro-ceedings in recent timesthrough mix of virtual-realmode and it worked well,”sources added.

In order to corner theNarendra Modi Governmenton issues like handling of coro-

na pandemic, labourers andmigrants problem, the eco-nomic issue etc, the Oppositionparties have been putting pres-sure on the Centre to calleither a Special ParliamentSession or an early MonsoonSession.

“We want to raise severalissues and expose thisGovernment on the floor ofParliament. Our constantdemand is the Centre convenea Session at earliest and honourthe democratic and social prin-ciples of our country and theConstitution above all,” saidCongress national secretarySanjiv Singh.

After much pressure, thefirst meeting of a parliamentarypanel on Home headed byRajya Sabha member AnandSharma is scheduled onWednesday. Top officials ofthe Union Home Ministry arescheduled to brief the panelmembers on corona relatedissues.

� ��� ��� ����

The Nepal Government onSunday tabled a

Constitution amendment bill inparliament aimed at alteringthe country’s map amid a bor-der dispute with India.

Minister for Law, Justiceand Parliamentary AffairsShivamaya Tumbahangphe, onbehalf of the Government ofNepal, tabled the Bill, a dayafter the main OppositionNepali Congress also backedthe legislation. Nepal’s Madhesiparties refused to welcome theBill as of now. It will be the sec-ond amendment to theConstitution.

Nepal recently released therevised political and adminis-trative map of the country lay-ing claim over the strategical-ly key areas of Lipulekh,Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.

India reacted angrily tothe move saying such “artificialenlargement” of territorialclaims will not be acceptableand asked the neighbouringcountry to refrain from such“unjustified cartographic asser-tion”.

The Bill seeks to amend thepolitical map of Nepal includ-

ed in Schedule 3 of theConstitution. The new map willbe used in all official docu-ments including the coat ofarms after the bill is endorsedthrough parliament.

Parliament will now delib-erate on the proposal beforeendorsing the bill.

After its endorsement byboth the Houses of parlia-ment, the President will orderissuance of the bill.

The central committee ofthe main Opposition partyNepali Congress on Saturdaydecided to back the bill.

Last week, the proposedbill was removed from thebusiness schedule of parliamentat the last minute at the requestof Minister KP Sharma Oli.

The discussion on theConstitution amendment billwas delayed as the NepaliCongress asked for more timeto discuss the matter in itshigh-level body.

����� ��������

Aday after the guidelines bythe Centre on opening up

economic activities,Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, UP,Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat,Telangana, Tamil Nadu andRajasthan, have come out withfresh guidelines extending thelockdown in the containmentzones till June 30 and allowingopening of economy in phasedwise manner.

Inter-state travel by road,air and trains fromMaharashtra will remain pro-hibited in the latest phase of thelockdown until June 30 withexceptions being made formigrant workers, stranded peo-ple and 'Shramik' special trains,as per the latest guidelinesissued on Sunday. TheChhattisgarh Government onSunday said inter-state travelwithout requisite permissionfrom authorities will continueto remain prohibited.

Maharashtra, which isworst affected from coron-avirus, extended till June 30 thelockdown and announced eas-ing of restrictions and phase-wise resumption of activitiesunder the “Mission BeginAgain”.

As per the revised guide-lines issued on Sunday, allmarkets, market areas andshops, except malls, will beallowed to function from June5 on odd-even basis. While allprivate offices can operate with

up to 10 per cent their employ-ee strength as per the require-ment from June 8 with othersworking from home. This willexclude containment zones.

Under ‘Mission BeginAgain’, outdoor physical activ-ities like morning walks,cycling will be allowed. Selfemployed persons likeplumbers, electricians, pestcontrol staff and technicianswill be allowed to work, butthey will have to follow socialdistancing norms.

����� ��������

India raced to seventh spot inthe global list of the worst

affected countries after it leftbehind Germany and Franceon Sunday following a spike ofover 8,000 confirmed casesduring the day. India has now1,90,536 cases, while France has1,88,625 cases and Germanyhas 1,83,420 cases.

On Sunday, India saw a riseof 8,677 cases and 221 deaths.Now the US, Brazil, Russian,Spain, the UK and Italy areahead of India.

Maharashtra witnessedanother harrowing day onCovid-19 front on Sunday, asthe pandemic claimed 89 morelives and another 2,487 peopletested positive in various partsof the State.

With the fresh fatalitiesand infections, the total num-ber of deaths mounted to 2,286and infected cases jumped to astaggering 68,655.

With as many as 29,329patients having been dis-charged, the State healthauthorities pegged the numberof “active cases” in the State at36,031.

Of the total deaths report-ed on Sunday, Mumbaiaccounted for 52, while therewere nine deaths each in NaviMumbai and Pune, six deathsin Malegaon, five in Thane,four in Kalyan-Dombivli and

two in Solapur and one each inOsmanabad and Yavatmal.

Gujarat on Sunday report-ed 438 cases and 31 deaths, tak-ing the tally of infected peopleto 16,794 and the number ofthe deceased to 1,038.

���������� ��� ��������

The fourth phase of thecountrywide lockdown

ending May 31 witnessed amuch bigger jump in the num-ber of cases compared to theprevious three phases.

The number of positivecases went up by 10,828 in thefirst lockdown, 30,407 cases insecond lockdown, and 49,624cases in third phase of the lock-down. The fourth phase sawaddition of nearly 80,000 casesbetween May 18 and 30.

The rise in case during thisperiod account for over 47.20per cent of the total 1.90 lakhcoronavirus infection cases.India has reported over 5,400fatalities, doubling in the lastsixteen days.

When India went into thefirst lockdown on March 25, ithad reported 618 confirmedcases and 13 deaths.

The number of infections

is now twice what it was four-teen days ago, and given therate of growth in this period, itcould hit the 2,00,000-mark byTuesday, according to expertswho said enforcing the use ofmasks and social distancingnorms and isolating everyonewith cough and fever is the onlyprotection against infection.

Dr Randeep Guleria, pro-fessor of pulmonology, anddirector of the Delhi-based AllIndia Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) said whilethe lockdown 4 was stringent,the continuation of migrationof workers from the metros totheir native towns led to steep

rise in the cases.He said the numbers will

continue to spike. “The num-bers will spike. The only wayyou can decrease the numbersfrom spiking is by aggressiveisolation, community partici-pation in terms of very strictwearing of masks, social distancing and hand-washing.

“There’s lockdown fatiguenow, people have got fed up,they don’t seem to be bothered(about infection spreading),and my fear is that people don’trealise what we are headed for.There are still people who aredying, and the pandemic is yetto peak,” he said.

���� ��������

Another night of unrest inevery corner of the US left

charred and shattered land-scapes in dozens of US cities onSunday as years of festeringfrustrations over the mistreat-ment of African-Americans atthe hands of police boiled overin expressions of rage met withtear gas and rubber bullets.

Cars and businesses weretorched, the words “I can’tbreathe” were spray-paintedall over buildings, a fire in atrash bin burned near the gatesof the White House, and thou-sands marched peacefullythrough city streets to protestthe death of George Floyd, ablack man who died Mondayafter a white Minneapolispolice officer pressed his kneeon his neck until he stoppedbreathing.

His death is one of a litanyof racial tragedies that havethrown the country into chaosamid the coronavirus pan-demic that has left millions outof work and killed more than100,000 people in the US,

including disproportionatenumbers of black people.“We’re sick of it. The cops are

out of control,” protester OlgaHall said in Washington DC.

Detailed report on P8

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A22-year-old man who wasrunning a training acade-

my for robbers in New Delhi’sJJ Colony in Bawana wasarrested, police said on Sunday.One juvenile too has beenapprehended. The accusedidentified as Hazikul Sheikhformed a gang of 10 boys,motivating them to commitcrimes, said police.

“Robbers training schoolwas run in the house of oneManish. He used to trainyoungsters how to cover theirfaces with mask before com-mitting a crime. Also, boyswere trained to target onlypedestrians and cyclists toavoid being caught. The gangmembers were paid on thebasis of commission on itemswhich they looted,” said GauravSharma, the DeputyCommissioner of Police(DCP), Outer North district.

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Delhi witnessed the highestsingle-day spike of about

1,300 coronavirus positivecases on Sunday and with theDelhi Police lost two AssistantSub-Inspectors to the pan-demic since Saturday evening,taking the overall coronaviruscasualty figure in the force tothree.

While a 52-year-old ASIdied around 11.30 am Sundayduring treatment at the ArmyBase Hospital here, anotherofficer of the rank passed awayat the same facility Saturday

evening, officials said.A Delhi Police spokesper-

son said that nearly 500 per-sonnel have tested positive forthe deadly virus so far.

ASI Vikram was declarednegative for the virus in twotests — conducted on May 11and May 22. However, he feltunwell on May 25 and went tothe Sanjay Gandhi MemorialHospital where the doctoradvised him one week of med-ical rest, the official said,

Delhi PoliceCommissioner SN Shrivastavahas spoken to all SHO on pre-ventive measures.

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The Delhi Government hasserved show-cause notices

on three Central Government-run AIIMS, SafdarjungHospital, RML Hospital andDelhi Government-run LNJPHospital for “delay in reportingCovid-19 death cases”.

“Show-cause notices havebeen issued to AIIMS, LNJPHospital, RM Hospital andSafdarjung Hospital to explainthe reasons for delay in report-ing death cases and for viola-tion of the directions issued bythe Delhi Health Department,”the department said in a statement.

Besides, memoranda havebeen issued to Baba SahebAmbedkar Hospital, Guru TegBahadur Hospital and RajivGandhi Super SpecialtyHospital also to explain the rea-sons for “delay in reportingdeath cases and for violation ofthe directions” issued by thehealth and other authorities.

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Uttarakhand TourismMinister Satpal Maharaj,

his wife Amrita Rawat and 21others, including members ofhis family and staff, tested pos-itive for coronavirus, an officialsaid on Sunday.

Satpal Maharaj had attend-ed a meeting of the State cab-inet on Friday.

Asked whether otherCabinet Ministers who attend-ed the meeting will be quar-antined, State Governmentspokesman Madan Kaushiktold reporters that they will fol-low the advice given by theHealth Department as per theguidelines of the Centre.

According to State HealthDepartment spokesperson JCPandey, the Minister’s wifetested positive for the infectionon Saturday while his two sonsand their wives, along with 17others, were found infectedwith the virus on Sunday.

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Noida: The Noida-Delhi bor-der will remain sealed formovement of people to andfrom the national Capital, theGautam Buddh Nagar admin-istration said in its latest guide-lines for the Covid-19 lock-down issued on Sunday.

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Page 2: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training acade-my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said

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Himachal PradeshGovernment has decided

to give relaxation in the curfewfrom 6 am in the morning to 8pm in the evening now, ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur saidon Sunday.

Presiding over a video con-ferencing in the wake of coro-navirus with all the DeputyC o m m i s s i o n e r s ,Superintendents of Police andChief Medical Officers of theState from Shimla, the ChiefMinister said that since interdistrict buses would start ply-ing from June 1, it must beensured that there was propersocial distancing in the busesand also at the bus stands. Hesaid that the DistrictMagistrates andSuperintendents of Policewould provide adequate policeforce for crowd managementand law and order mainte-nance at all the bus stands.

The buses would beallowed to ply with not morethan 60 percent occupancyand the drivers, conductorsand passengers would follow allthe safety protocols of theHealth Department.

Thakur said effectivemechanism of InformationEducation andCommunication (IEC) shouldbe evolved to sensitize thepeople regarding the preventivesteps to be taken to checkspread of the Covid-19 pan-demic. He said proper hoard-

ing must be installed at busstands and other places tomotivate the people to main-tain social distancing and useface masks besides adequatearrangement for announce-ments through public addresssystem.

The Chief Minister saidinter-district movement of thepeople of the State would beallowed without any pass, butpasses would be required forinter-State movement, addingthat people coming from otherparts of the country would bequarantined.

He said people comingfrom red zones would be keptin institutional quarantine andthose from other areas wouldbe kept in home quarantine,pointing out that persons ininstitutional quarantine wouldbe allowed to go home onlyafter their test for Covid-19 wasnegative.

Thakur said over 1.60 lakhHimachalis stranded in variousparts of the country havereached the State from 25th

April till now, adding thatabout 91,000 have been keptunder home quarantine andover 7000 have been kept underinstitutional quarantine. Hesaid that main focus should belaid on tracing and screening ofall the contacts of Covid posi-tive patients to ensure theirtimely treatment and checkspread of this virus.

The CM said Home quar-antine facilities must bestrengthened and made moreeffective, adding that repre-sentatives of Panchayati RajInstitutions must be involved ina big way to keep track of thepeople arriving from otherparts of the country.

Chief Secretary AnilKhachi, Director General ofPolice Sanjay Kundu,Additional Chief SecretaryHealth R.D. Dhiman, PrincipalSecretaries Prabodh Saxena,J.C. Sharma and Onkar Sharmaand Special Secretary to theChief Minister D.C.Rana othersenior officers were also presentin the meeting.

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Lashing out at the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) in gener-

al and the Badals in particular,Punjab Ministers and seniorCongress leaders on Sundaysaid that Akali Dal’s so-calledcomrade in arms NDAGovernment is blatantly inter-fering in the rights of the statesregarding borrowing.

“The Badal family is anequal partner in the DelhiTakht operation to dismantlethe federal structure of thecountry for which the people ofthe State would never forgivethem,” said Cabinet MinistersSukhjinder Singh Randhawa,Gurpreet Singh Kangar andBharat Bhushan Ashu, in a jointstatement.

They said that ParkashSingh Badal, who had beenharping in the name of feder-al structure all his life, is silenttoday on his son and daughter-in-law joining hands with ene-mies of federal structure.

“Did the Akali Dal presi-dent did not remember his ownparty's Sri Anandpur Sahibresolution? The Akali Dal,which calls itself the championof the rights of the States,today is not only silent on theaction of the UnionGovernment for the sake ofpreserving the political office,but is also an equal partner incrime and completely hand inglove with the NDAGovernment,” they said.

Congress leaders said thatthe Central Government has

“unnecessarily interfered” inthe borrowing rights of thestates beyond its limits. Insteadof opposing this “draconian”decision, the Akali leaders, inorder to cover up for the crimeagainst the people of the nation,are hatching a conspiracy tomislead the masses by makingbaseless statements about elec-tricity bills.

“Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh has alreadymade it clear that as long as heis in power, farmers will con-tinue to get free electricity,”averred the Congress leaders,while challenging senior Badalto break his silence on the issueand Sukhbir Badal to resignfrom the post of SAD presidentand recall his wife HarsimratBadal from the Union Ministry.

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Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)on Sunday demanded

immediate cancellation oflicenses of two seed companiesaccused of engineering themulti-crore inter-state SeedScam which had affected thelivelihood of farmers of Punjaband neighbouring States.

“Following complaints andprotests by farmers in Jalandharand other places, the StateAgriculture Department hadstarted taking action againstfew seed stores for selling spu-rious seeds of PR-128 and PR-129 paddy variety to farmers.However, no concrete actionhas been taken against BrarSeeds, Ludhiana, and KarnalAgri Seeds, Dera Baba Nanak,despite the fact that theirinvolvement in multi-croreseed scam had come to light onMay 11 when the AgricultureDepartment got an FIR regis-tered in the case,” said seniorSAD leaders Balwinder SinghBhundur and Sikander SinghMaluka.

They said that it was clearthat that the accused are beinggiven political shelter and thisis why the police are not tak-ing action against them.

They demanded immedi-ate suspension of the licenses ofLudhiana seed store as well asDera Baba Nanak based seedproducer. They also demand-ed custodial interrogation ofthe proprietors of both man-agements to unravel the SeedScam and expose those who

had patronized the scamsters.“It is shameful that despite

the fact that Cabinet MinisterSukhjinder Singh Randhawa’sname has cropped up in thescam and his proximity toKarnal Seed’s proprietor LuckyDhillon had been highlighted,the Government is yet to orderan independent inquiry intothe case. In fact, the way theGovernment is proceeding inthe matter, it seems the accusedare being given ample time tomove incriminating evidenceout of their premises as well asdoctor their records,” theyadded.

Both leaders also askedwhy the Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh was notintervening in the matterdespite the fact that peoplewere openly claiming that “noaction is being taken against thescamsters because they enjoypolitical patronage”.

The Chief Minister shouldforward the case to the CBI foran inquiry or entrust its probeto a sitting judge of the HighCourt, they demanded.

The leaders asked thefarmers, who had suffered dueto massive scam engineeredwith political patronage, to filecomplaints with the StateAgriculture Department as wellas the Police.

They also demanded thatthe Agriculture Departmentimmediately supply the farm-ers with alternative seed besidescompensating them for thelosses incurred by them by buy-ing the spurious seed at the rate

of Rs 200 per kg against thecontrolled rate of Rs 70 per kgat which PAU Ludhiana hadsold its seed stock to farmersthrough Krishi VigyanKendras.

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As the Asia’s largest wheatprocurement process

comes to an end on Sunday,Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on Sundaythanked the farmers, arhtiyas(commission agents), labour-ers, and all government agen-cies for successful procure-ment of a whopping 128 LMTof wheat despite the Covid-19challenge.

The Chief Minister com-plimented the Departments ofAgriculture and Food and CivilSupplies, along with their agen-cies including MARKFED,Punjab State WarehousingCorporation, PUNSUP, as wellas the Food Corporation ofIndia (FCI), on this remarkablefeat.

Due to the elaborate mandiarrangements and operationalmanagement of the staggeredarrival of wheat, Covid-19failed to put a spoke in thegigantic wheat procurementoperation, lasting one-and-a-half month, during the just-concluded Rabi MarketingSeason, he said.

“The patience and disci-pline, along with adherence ofall involved in the operationwith strict health and safetymeasures put in place for har-vesting, procurement and stor-age of wheat, has ensured zeroCovid cases in the entireprocess. They had togetherensured the country’s sustainedself-sustenance in food even inthese trying circumstances,”said the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister alsoappreciated Food and CivilSupplies Minister BharatBhushan Ashu for successful-ly accomplishing the massivetask of wheat procurement,besides prompt lifting andensuring timely payment to thefarmers for their produce.

He lauded the concertedefforts of the DeputyCommissioners, Guardians ofGovernance (GoGs) and policepersonnel, as well as othergovernment staff involved inthe procurement process.

Meanwhile, the AdditionalChief Secretary (ACS),Development, ViswajeetKhanna said that to facilitate

the pre-harvesting necessitiesduring lockdown, theAgriculture Department hadsuccessfully coordinated track-ing, screening and supervi-sion of all combine operatorsentering Punjab borders, till thecompletion of the harvestingoperation.

Medical check-up of suchcombine operators was ensuredbefore the start of work, andsanitization of combine har-vesting machines and strawreapers was ensured by depart-ment, apart from enforcingsocial distancing, face maskingand hand washing measures.

Khanna said that PunjabMandi Board providedCOVID-19 safety stations inevery mandi, each of which wasequipped with a hands freehand washing unit and sani-tizer, in addition to free distri-bution of 1.6 lakh masks and35,000 litres of sanitizers.

With the innovativearrangements undertaken dur-ing the current procurement,the number of mandis wasincreased from last year’s 1837to 4000, besides issuing 17.39lakh online passes to farmersthrough arhtiyas to regulatearrival of their produce.

The state PrincipalSecretary (Food and CivilSupplies) KAP Sinha said thatof the wheat sown across 35.08lakh hectares, 127.62 LMT hadbeen procured by the agenciesduring this difficult phase.

Sangrur district topped interms of arrival, with 12.23LMT, which is almost 10 per-cent of the state’s total arrival,followed by Muktsar (9.68LMT) and Bathinda (9.64LMT), said Sinha adding thatthe arrival curve that tradi-tionally had spikes of above 11LMT had been relatively flat atabout six to seven LMT per day.

Sinha said the three LMTshortfall in procurement com-pared with last year camemainly from the districts ofPatiala, Fazilka, Amritsar, andTarn Tarn, while Ludhiana,Sangrur and Jalandhar dis-tricts posted higher procure-ment this year.

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Punjab Police on Sundaybusted the alleged paddy

seed scam with the arrest of theowner of a private firm, foundselling spurious seeds to farm-ers at exorbitant rates, underthe guise of some newly devel-oped varieties of seeds whichhave still not been certified bythe Central Seed notifiedCommittee for commercialmarketing.

The private firm has beenidentified as Ludhiana-basedBrar Seeds, owned byHarwinder Singh alias KakaBrar, who has been arrested bythe Special Investigation Team(SIT) of Ludhiana Police, saidthe state DGP Dinkar Gupta onSunday.

He said that the licence ofthe store, located opposite PAUgate no.1 Ludhiana, has beencancelled, and the premiseshave been sealed.

The 56-year-old Kaka Braris being questioned, and inves-tigations are expected to leadmore arrests in the case (FIR no

116 dated May 11, 2020 undersections 2, 3, 7 EssentialCommodities Act and Section3 of Seed Control Act), said theDGP.

The case was registered atDivision No. 5, Ludhiana City,Police Station after Ludhiana’sChief Agriculture OfficerNarinder Singh Benipalchecked Brar Seeds store andfound reasons to suspect mis-deeds.

Giving details, LudhianaCommissioner of PoliceRakesh Aggarwal said that theSIT was formed under a seniorofficer of the rank of DeputyCommissioner of Police,Ludhiana, to investigate thecase, and the Chief AgricultureOfficer was included in theteam as technical expert.

“During extensive raidscarried out by SIT, a hugestock of seeds was seized fromthe Brar Seed Store, and sam-ples were sent to theAgriculture Department labo-ratory for analysis. The analy-sis revealed some of the seedsto be spurious,” said Aggarwal.

Initial investigations showthat Brar was using the names(PR 128 and PR 129) of thenew paddy varieties developedby the Punjab AgricultureUniversity (PAU) to cheat thefarmers by selling spuriousseeds branded as such.Incidentally, PAU is yet tocommercially produce theseeds, which have not beensupplied to any private com-pany.

Following the arrest andseizure of the spurious seeds,the District Administration,accompanied by police andagriculture department offi-cials, carried out extensivechecking of shops selling seedsin Ludhiana, and also tooksamples of the seeds beingsold. These samples have beensent for laboratory checks.

The District Police has alsoissued helpline numbers9115601160, 9115601161, forfarmers to complain about anyover-charging by seed shops,and any suspicion regarding thequality of seeds and fertilizers.

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Rain lashed many parts ofPunjab and Haryana and

UT of Chandigarh on Sundayleading to a sharp fall in thetemperature.

The maximum tempera-ture in Chandigarh settled at31.9 degrees Celsius after thecity received 50 mm of rains,according to theMeteorological Departmenthere.

Narnaul, which received 58mm of rain, recorded a high of32 degrees Celsius 10 notchesbelow normal, while Hisar reg-istered a maximum of 33degrees Celsius. Ambala'smaximum settled at 32.1degrees Celsius, seven belowthe normal while Karnalrecorded a high of 31 degreesCelsius.

In Punjab, Ludhiana,Patiala and Mohali were lashedby rain. Ludhiana recorded a

high of 30.2 degrees Celsius,down 10 notches against thenormal limits. Amritsar regis-tered a maximum of 30.8degrees Celsius, while Patiala'smaximum settled at 31.6degrees Celsius.

According to the MeTDepartment, Haryana mayreceive light to moderate rainor thunderstorms at a fewplaces in the one day. ForPunjab, the forecast is light tomoderate rain thundershowersare likely at a few places in thenext one day and at isolatedplaces thereafter in the state.

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Following an intensive andplanned crackdown on

drug-peddlers in the state,Haryana Police have seized atotal of 2179 kgs of narcoticsubstances worth crores ofrupees during the COVID-19lockdown from across the State.

Director General of Police(DGP), Manoj Yadava saidthat Police had a focused planto keep a tab on all illegal andunlawful activities by enhanc-ing night patrolling, intensivepatrolling and organization ofnakas.

The restriction on publicmovement also gave policeopportunities to make tar-geted efforts which proved astrong deterrent for peddlersand their sympathisers aspolice have thwarted all theirattempts to push drugs in thestate, he said.

“In the two months oflockdown, 326 cases were reg-istered under the provisions ofNDPS Act and 506 accusedarrested on the charges of pos-sessing drugs between March23 and May 23,” he said.

Giving details of theseizure the DGP said that288 kg 341 gram of ganja,1341 kg 462 gram poppy husk,14 kg 91 gram heroine, 11 kg6 gram opium, 331 kg 514gram ganja patti, 56 kg 46gram charas, 844 gram smack,23 kg doda post, 115 kg opiumplants, 92305 pharmatablets/capsules and 1565syrups were seized duringthis period.

The maximum number of97 cases were registered inSirsa district followed by 41 inFatehabad and 27 in Rohtakdistricts, he said.

Taking cover of the lock-down, the drug peddles triedtheir best to push drugs intothe communities however ourvigilant police teams havethwarted most of theirattempts, the DGP added.

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Haryana Government hasdecided to extend the

lockdown in the containmentzones till June 30.

Apart from this, the StateGovernment has decided toopen lockdown restrictions ina phased manner as per theguidelines issued by the CentralGovernment.

The decision was takenduring the meeting held byChief Minister Manohar Lal onSunday evening.

The state has reported 2091Coronavirus positive cases with168 fresh cases reported onSunday.

“During the meeting, it isdecided that the DeputyCommissioners of the respec-tive districts of the state canimpose restrictions on per-sonal movement underSection-144 of CrPC from 9 amto 5 am in their jurisdiction,barring necessary activities,”said an official spokesman.

The spokesman said thatthere will be no restriction onmovement of people and goodsin the inter-state and inter-city.The schedule for movement ofinter-state and inter-districtbuses will be released fromtime to time by the Transport

Department. The taxis andcabs will continue to operate asper the current standard oper-ating procedure (SOP).

In addition, shops in thestate will be open from 9 am to7 pm and the DeputyCommissioners of the con-cerned district may imposeappropriate restrictions on thebasis of assessment in a crowd-ed market in their jurisdiction.

It is also decided that sportsactivities can be started from 5am, while there were instruc-tions to start such activities at7 am earlier. In addition, pre-viously issued guidelines relat-ed to sports activities will con-tinue to be applicable, thespokesman said.

It was informed at themeeting that under the nation-al directives issued for man-

agement of COVID-19, it isnecessary to wear face masks atpublic places, workplaces andduring transportation

Also, at public places adistance of at least 6 feet mustbe maintained individually.Shopkeepers must ensure phys-ical distancing of customersand must not exceed five peo-ple at a time at their shops, thespokesman said.

In addition, there will be aban on mass gathering of peo-ple. Not more than 50 personsmay be gathered during a mar-riage-related gathering and notmore than 20 may be gatheredduring the funeral, thespokesman said.

He further said that theHaryana Government hasdecided that till further orders,the 'A' and 'B' group level offi-cers of the State Governmentwill have 100 percent atten-dance and the 'C' and 'D' levelemployees will have 75 percentattendance.

It was also informed in themeeting that from June 8, foropening religious places, hotels,restaurants and other hospi-tality services and shoppingmalls, standard operating pro-cedure will be issued by UnionMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare ( SOP).

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The Gurugram district hasreported 457 fresh corona

positive patients in just lastfive days including 97 cases onSunday. The district had alsonotified 63 containment zoneson May 28. As per data pro-vided by Gurugram HealthDepartment, 20 corona caseswere detected on May 27, 68on May 28, 115 on May 29and the city also recorded 157cases on May 30.

According to the healthbulletin on May 31, a total of774 people in the district havenow tested positive for theinfection. More than half of thetotal cases 457 have emerged inthe last five days, of those whohave tested positive, 284 haverecovered and three have suc-cumbed to death.

Officials from the districtadministration, however, insistthere is no reason for panicdespite the sudden spike incases.

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Page 3: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training acade-my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said

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In yet another day of a majorspike in Covid-19 cases, 168

cases were reported on Sunday,taking Haryana’s tally to 2091.

A day before, 202 positivecases were reported in thestate. Haryana has so farreported 20 Coronavirus relat-ed fatalities.

“Out of 53 fresh cases, 97were reported from Gurugram,28 from Faridabad, 20 fromBhiwani, 9 from Hisar 4 eachfrom Ambala and Kurukshetra,2 each from Narnual andKarnal, one each from Palwaland Panipat,” according to thestate Health Department’sevening bulletin.

The total active Covid-19patients in the state are 1023while 1048 patients have beencured and discharged fromhospitals, as per the state’shealth bulletin.

On May 18, Haryana’s totalcount of Covid patients hadreached 928, out of which 316were active patients. However,on May 31, the total countcrossed 2000 with 1023 activecases.

The worst-affected districts

of the state with the maximumnumber of positive cases areGurugram with 774 cases,Faridabad with 367 cases andSonepat with 199.

Gurugram, the worst-hitby Coronavirus in Haryana,has reported 369 Covid-19patients in the last three days,surpassing the total number ofcases recorded in the last twomonths. The total cases inGurugram stood at 774 onSunday.

Gurugam had recorded itsbiggest single-day jump in thenumber of Covid-19 cases onSaturday with 157 new patientstesting positive for the highlyinfectious illness in 24 hours.

About 70 per cent of thecases in Haryana are from thedistricts adjoining the nation-al capital, which has the thirdhighest number of Covid-19cases in India, the state's HealthMinister Anil Vij had said ear-lier this week, insisting thatstate borders should remainclosed.

As many as 1.18 lakh sam-ples have been tested till datein Haryana. The report of 4338samples is awaited, the state’s

bulletin stated.The Covid-19 positive rate

stood at 1.84 percent, recoveryrate at 50.12 percent and dou-bling rate of Coronavirus casesat 9 days on Sunday inHaryana, it stated. Meanwhile,more than 52.43 lakh personshave so far downloadedAarogya Setu App in Haryana.

4 NEW CASES IN CHANDI-GARH

Four Covid-19 positivecases including of a foreignreturnee was reported inChandigarh on Sunday. Thetotal number of positive casesnow stood at 293 in the city.

“A 27 years old female,who returned from Canada(Toronto) and is in an institu-tional quarantine has testedpositive for Covid-19. She wasstudying in Canada while herfamily resides in Chandigarh.She has three family membershere,” stated ChandigarhHealth Department’s eveningbulletin.

After her return, she isquarantined at HotelMountview here. As per theCentral guidelines, those flying

from abroad will have to serve14-day mandatory quarantineincluding seven-day paid insti-tutional quarantine at theirown cost, followed by sevendays of isolation at home. Morethan 100 persons have reachedChandigarh from abroad, outof which 29 have been dis-charged after necessary testingtill now.

Other positive casesreported were from BapuDham colony and Khuda AliSher.

With two more cases, theBapu Dham colony, a contain-ment zone has till now report-ed 218 positive persons, whichaccounts for more than 74percent out of the total cases inthe city.

The colony in Sector 26here has an approximate pop-ulation of 60000 people.

“The total cases stood at293 while the active cases are90 in Chandigarh. 199 patientshave so far being declaredcured of Coronavirus and dis-charged from the hospital, thebulletin said. 4785 sampleshave been tested till now whilereport of 13 is awaited, itadded.

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Punjab on Sunday reported30 fresh cases of the novel

coronavirus, of which 10 havethe source of infection from outof the state, besides reportingone more death. In a span of 24hours, the number of totalCovid-19 cases in the statehas gone up to 2,263, while thePunjab’s death toll has reached45. Among the new cases,Ludhiana has reported nine,with eight from Ropar, foureach from Hoshiarpur andJalandhar, three from Amritsar,and one each from Moga andBarnala districts.

Seven of Ludhiana’s ninecases on Sunday were contactsof previously diagnosed cases,while one was a prisoner andone was a patient with severeacute respiratory infection(SARI). Seven of Ropar’s eightcases had travel histories, andthe last case was an ASHAworker.

Three of Hoshiarpur’s fourcases were contacts of already

diagnosed cases and the lastperson had a travel history.Two of Jalandhar’s cases werenew cases and two were con-tacts of already diagnosedcases.

Of Amritsar’s three cases,two were contacts of alreadydiagnosed cases, and one wasfrom the flu corner. Barnalaand Moga both had peoplewith travel histories testingpositive.

Among the districts,Amritsar is having the maxi-mum 377 cases, followed by

Jalandhar (246), Ludhiana(189), Tarn Taran (157),Gurdaspur (136), Patiala (118),Hoshiarpur (120), SAS Nagar(109), SBS Nagar (106),Sangrur (96), Muktsar (66),Faridkot (62), Ropar (70),Moga (62), Pathankot (60),Fatehgarh Sahib (58), Bathinda(47), Ferozepur (46),Kapurthala (36), Mansa (32),and Barnala (24).

20 MORE RECOVERED, 231ACTIVE CASES

As many as 20 more

patients — five fromHoshiarpur, four each fromAmritsar and Ludhiana, threefrom Pathankot, one each fromTarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Patiala,and Mohali— have recovered,taking the total cured and dis-charged patients to 1987 at arecovery rate of 87.80 percent.

Currently, Mansa,Kapurthala, Ferozepur, andMuktsar districts have no activecases, while Tarn Taran,Gurdaspur, Mohali,Nawanshahr, Sangrur, Faridkot,Moga, Fatehgarh Sahib,Bathinda, Fazilka and Barnalahave less than 10 active cases inthe state.

PATHNAKOT MAN DIESOF COVID

One more person suc-cumbed to coronavirus in thestate, pushing the death toll to45. A 54-year-old resident ofPathankot died due to the con-tagion at a Civil Hospital onFriday, a health official said.The patient had diabetes, anofficial said.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Sunday cleared the appoint-ments of eight next of kin of themartyrs in recognition of theirgallantry actions.

The appointments wererecommended by a high pow-ered committee, headed by thestate Chief Secretary KaranAvtar Singh, said a spokesper-son of the Chief Minister’sOffice.

The appointees includeAkwinder Kaur as NaibTehsildar, Astha Garg as Exciseand Taxation Officer, MalkeetKaur as Library Restorer inEducation Department,Tanveer Kaur as Tehsildar,Amandeep as Clerk in theDefence Services WelfareDepartment, Gurpal Singh asJunior Engineer (Electrical) inPWD, Radha Rani as Inspectorin Cooperative Societies andAmritbir Singh as Tehsildar.

The State Government hasappointed Amritbir Singh asTehsildar in the RevenueDepartment for the supremesacrifice made by his father,Inspector Raghbir Singh, whobelonged to Sathiala village inAmritsar district and hadjoined CRPF in 1991. “He wasan outstanding sportspersonand had won medals inAthletics at the national level.He attained martyrdom onApril 24, 2017, while fightingNaxalites in Sukma district ofChhattisgarh,” said thespokesperson.

Major Ravi Inder SinghSandhu’s wife Tanveer Kaur hasbeen appointed as Tehsildar inthe Revenue Department.Commissioned in the Corps ofSignals in 2007, the officerhad also done two stints incounter insurgency in Jammuand Kashmir and laid down hislife while serving in the UNMission in South Sudan andwas awarded “Dag

Hammarskjold Medal” by theUnited Nations for courageand sacrifice in line of duty.

Aastha Garg’s husband FltLt Mohit Garg belonged toSamana in Patiala district, andwas commissioned as a pilot inthe Indian Air Force in 2014.The officer died when the AN32 aircraft, which he was flying,crashed in high altitude area ofArunachal Pradesh.

Malkeet Kaur’s husbandConstable (GD) MukhtiarSingh, who belonged toFattuwala village in Ferozepurdistrict, attained martyrdom onJuly 15, 2018, while fightingvaliantly Naxalites inPakhanjure Sub Division inChhattisgarh.

Gurpal Singh, the brotherof martyr Rif lemanSukhwinder Singh, has beengiven appointment of JuniorEngineer (Electrical) in PWD.Born in Fatehpur village inHoshiarpur district, riflemanSukhwinder Singh joined 18

JAK Rifles in 2017 and wasmartyred on December 16,2019 while fighting at the Lineof Control in Sunderbani areaof Jammu and Kashmir.

Radha Rani, sister of GdrSanjay Kumar, has beenappointed as Inspector inRegistrar, Co-operativeSocieties. Kumar belonged tovillage Rajwal in Hoshiarpurdistrict, and died on April 9,2019, while he was carrying outfield firing exercise with liveammunition.

Amandeep’s brother GnrLekh Raj attained martyrdomon August 7, 2018, while he wason patrolling duty on the Lineof Actual Control in ArunachalPradesh.

Akwinder’s husband NaikManwinder Singh, who hailedfrom Ghonewal village inAmritsar district, attained mar-tyrdom on November 18, 2019,when he was on operationalduty in High Altitude area inSiachen Glacier.

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Aday after the CentralGovernment issued guide-

lines for lockdown 5.0, theChandigarh Administration onSunday gave more relaxationsand night curfew will now befrom from 9 pm to 5 am witheffect from June 1. Earlier, thiswas from 7 pm to 7 am.

“There shall be prohibitionof movement of individuals, forall non-essential activitiesbetween 9 pm to 5 am. Anybreach of this order shall inviteaction under Section 188 ofIndian Penal Code,” stated anorder issued by DistrictMagistrate, Chandigarh.

The Union Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) had onSaturday issued the new guide-lines for a phased reopening ofareas outside the containment

zones. The guidelines will comeinto effect from June 1, whenLockdown 4.0 gets over, andwill be effective till June 30.

Manoj Parida, Adviser toUT Administrator said thatChandigarh being a union ter-ritory, the Administration willfollow MHA directions. Thedecision regarding contain-ment zones will be taken by UTAdministration in a meeting onMonday.

The SOP to open salons

will also be issued on Mondayafter approval from theAdministrator, he said.

Restaurants, hotels, placesof worship and shopping mallswill be opened from June 8while educational institutionsare likely to be open in July.However, cinema halls, gym-nasiums, swimming pools,entertainment parks, theatres,bars and auditoriums willremain closed for now.

Among various relaxationsunder lockdown 4.0, theChandigarh Administrationhad resumed public transportincluding autos, buses andtaxis with limited capacity andallowed opening of shops inmain markets from May 19onwards in non-containmentzones, where people can nowmove out of houses from 5 amto 9 pm for essential activities.

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The second internationalflight, after the lockdown

came into effect, to Chandigarhfrom Kiev (Ukraine) via Delhilanded at the ChandigarhInternational Airport Limited(CHIAL) on early Sundaymorning (at 3:12 am) with 144passengers, including 34 fromPunjab.

Mohali DeputyCommissioner Girish Dayalansaid that the flight includedtwo passengers fromChandigarh, 54 fromHimachal Pradesh, 53 fromHaryana, and 34 from Punjabwhich included five fromMohali and one fromRajasthan.

As per the HealthDepartment protocol, all thepassengers belonging toMohali district arrivingthrough International flighthave been put in the institu-tional or hotel quarantine whilethose coming via domesticflights, have been put underhome quarantine for 14 days.

Those passengers whobelong to other States andother districts were sent totheir respective places wherethey would undergo similarquarantine.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Sunday

said that various steps arebeing taken by the StateGovernment in its fight againston-going global pandemicCovid-19 and the topmost pri-ority is that no one remainshungry in this hour of crisis.

“The ration cardholdersas well as those who do nothave any card, have been pro-vided ration through ‘distresstokens’.

This facility was providedto around 4,86,000 (4 lakh 86thousand) people in the state”the Chief Minister said.

He said that the StateGovernment through HaryanaRoadways buses and special

sharmik trains made elaboratearrangements to send labour-ers back to their respectivehome states from Haryana in asafe and systematic manner.

The Chief Minister saidthis while addressing the offi-cers of District Administrationat Kaithal. The Minister ofState for Women and ChildDevelopment Kamlesh Dhandawas also present at the meeting.

Manohar Lal whileaddressing the officers, saidthat to fight the battle againstthis pandemic, the StateGovernment and the DistrictAdministration have workedday and night, as a result ofwhich Haryana is in a betterposition as compared to otherstates.

He said that this is the

worst pandemic which is beingwitnessed worldwide and theworld is badly affected by this.

At the initial stage itselfPrime Minister Narendra Moditook an important decision ofannouncing lockdown in theentire country to prevent thevirus from spreading. Haryanatoo took many important stepsto prevent the spread of infec-tion in the state, he added.

The Chief Minister saidthat as no vaccine is availablefor the treatment of this infec-tion till now, therefore each oneof us has to ensure that pre-cautions like wearing masks,adhering to social distancingnorms are incorporated in ourlifestyle.

He said that the number ofCovid-19 testing labs would be

increased in Haryana. He said that the state as

well as the district administra-tion of Kaithal has workedvigorously in curbing this glob-al pandemic, for which every-one deserves to be applauded.Arrangements were also made

by the government to provideration to all the people. InKaithal district, around 25,416people were provided rationthrough distress tokens, theChief Minister shared.

The Chief Minister furthersaid that additional procure-

ment centers were set up by thegovernment for hassle-free pro-curement of farmers’ cropsduring COVID-19 crisis. Ifthe farmers' payment of thisseason is outstanding, thenthe concerned departmentshould make sure to release thepending amount to the con-cerned farmer immediately, hesaid.

He also said that as lock-down-4 is over, and now theMinistry of Health hasannounced unlock-1, there-fore during this period, every-one should wear masks andensure strict adherence tosocial distancing norms.

As Corona infectionspreads rapidly, therefore we allhave to remain cautious toprevent the spread. A provision

of penalty has also been madefor those found violating guide-lines, he added.

The Chief Minister saidthat the State Government isalso making plans for thefuture. It is very important tosave the water for our futuregenerations which is the mostprecious gift of nature.

The micro-irrigation sys-tem is very beneficial for waterconservation. About 3000-literwater is required for sowingone kg rice. Therefore, to savewater for ourselves and for thecoming generations, we have toadopt crop diversification, headded.

He said that farmers havebeen called upon to save waterby sowing other crops insteadof paddy.

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Aday after Punjab ChiefMinister Capt Amarinder

Singh announced a four-weekextension in the lockdown inthe State till June 30, the StateGovernment on Sunday issuedfresh guidelines regarding‘Unlock 1.0’ announcing cer-tain relaxations in the nightcurfew, opening of shops, inter-state movements, among oth-ers.

Issuing the new guidelines,in line with the Centre’s guide-lines, the State Government haschanged the timing of nightcurfew to 9 pm to 5 am as perguidelines of Union Ministry ofHome Affairs. The timings ofopening of shops have alsobeen changed from 7 am to 7pm.

Allowing all employees,government or private, to movewithout any requirement ofpass during permitted hours —5 am to 9 pm, the guidelinesmaintained that there would beno restriction on inter-statemovement of persons, no sep-arate permission or e-permitrequired for movement, but atthe same time, made the use ofCOVA-app and self-generated'e-pass' mandatory.

As of now, the State

Government has decided toprohibit the functioning ofcinema halls, gymnasiums,swimming pools, entertain-ment parks, theatres, bars,auditoriums, assembly hall,and similar places. Besides,the social, political, sports,entertainment or academic,cultural or religious functionsand other large congregationswould also continue to bebanned.

At the same time, theGovernment has declared thatspitting in public places andconsumption of liquor, pan,gutka, tobacco etc in publicplaces would also continue tobe prohibited, however, therewould be no restriction on theirsale.

As per the guidelines,issued by the Department ofHome Affairs and Justice to allthe Administrative Secretaries,Divisional Commissioners,Deputy Commissioners, ZonalIGPs, Commissioners of Police,DIGs and SSPs in the State, thedine-in services by restaurants,hotels and other hospitalityservices, shopping malls, reli-gious places or places of wor-ship for public would remainclosed till June 7.

“The government wouldresume the dine-in services byrestaurants, open hotels and

other hospitality services, openshopping malls, open religiousplaces or places of worship forpublic after the Union Ministryof Health and Family Welfarewill issue detailed standardoperation procedures (SOPs)before June 8.

“Restaurants may beopened for take-home or homedelivery services, but in-dineservices to remain closed tillJune 7, 2020. However, theState Government, based onthe SOP of the MoHFW, wouldissue SOP before June 8, 2020,for resuming in-dine servicesby restaurants,” read the guide-lines.

Making it clear that theCentral guidelines could not bediluted, it stated that the districtauthorities may, however,impose additional restrictions,as deemed necessary, basedon their assessment of the sit-uation.

Lockdown 5.0 would con-tinue in Containment Zones tillJune 30, 2020. TheContainment Zones will bedemarcated by the districtauthorities after taking intoconsideration the guidelinesof the Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare (MoHFW). Inthe Containment Zones, onlyessential activities shall beallowed.

There shall be a strictperimeter control. There areseparate guidelines of MoHFWin regard to activities in theContainment Zones and thosewill be strictly followed,” itstated.

As per the guidelines, thedistrict authorities would alsoidentify buffer zone; outsidecontainment zones whereinrestrictions as considered nec-essary, may be put in place.

As per the guidelines, themarriage related gatheringshave been limited to 50 guests,while persons not to exceeding20 would be allowed for funer-al or last rites.

The state government hasalso allowed the inter-statemovement of persons bydomestic flights, trains, busesor cars “subject to the conditionthat the inward passengerswould follow the SOP of theHealth Department.

The passengers would berequired to either downloadCOVA-app and get self-gener-ated ‘e-pass’ or declare theirparticulars at airport, railwaystation, bus stand or inter-state border as the case may be”.

Regarding inter-statemovement of buses and vehi-cles, it will be allowed with“mutual consent of the States”,subject to compliance of the

SOP which shall be issued bythe state TransportDepartment. The intra-statemovement of buses is alreadyallowed.

The inter-state movementof passenger vehicles like taxis,cabs, stage carriers, tempo-travellers and cars will be per-mitted against self-generated e-pass, while the intra-statemovement of passenger vehi-cles, like taxis, cabs, stage car-riers, tempo-travellers and cars,will be allowed without anyrestriction.

Bicycles, rickshaws andauto-rickshaws will be allowed,also two-wheelers (1+1 pas-sengers), four-wheelers (1+ 2passengers) will also be allowed“subject to compliance of theSOP as issued by the TransportDepartment”.

“No pass would berequired for permitted activi-ties like shopping, going tooffice and work place,” it stat-ed adding that there would beno restriction on inter-statemovement of goods.

“Shopping malls shall con-tinue to remain closed. Allshops including shops in mainbazars in both urban and ruralareas allowed to open between7 am to 7 pm. Liquor vendsshall, however, remain openfrom 8 am to 8 pm.

However, for shops situat-ed in main bazars, marketcomplexes and rehri marketsand other crowed places, dis-trict authorities can exercisetheir discretion and in order toavoid crowding shall staggerthe opening of shops,” statedthe guidelines.

Barber shops, hair-cutsaloons, beauty parlours andspas will also be allowed tofunction from 7 am to 7 pmsubject to compliance of theSOP as issued by the HealthDepartment, Punjab.

All categories of industriesare allowed to operate in bothrural and urban areas.Likewise, construction activi-ties are allowed without anyrestriction in both the urbanand rural areas. Agricultural,horticultural, animal hus-bandry, veterinary services areallowed without any restriction.E-Commerce are also permit-ted for all goods.

The Central Governmentand Private Offices are alsoallowed to open as per requiredstrength without any restric-tions except that compliance ofsocial distancing and wearingof masks at all times, shall beensured.

All Punjab governmentoffices would remain open asper required strength.

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Page 4: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training acade-my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said

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Ahead of Unlock-1 as PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

on Sunday advised more care-fulness and alertness due to theopening of a major segment ofthe economy, he dwelt at lengthon the “distress of the work-force” which, he said, was “rep-resentative of India’s easternregion” that needs to be devel-oped.

“The last time I spoke toyou through ‘Mann Ki Baat”,passenger train services,busses and flights had come toa standstill. This time aroundmuch has resumed-Shramikspecial trains are operational;other special trains too havebegun. With utmost precau-tions, flights have resumed;industry too is returning tonormalcy…whether it’s themandatory two yards distanc-ing, wearing face masks orstaying at home to the bestextent possible, there shouldbe no laxity on our part incomplete adherence,” he said

On the issue of migrantlabourers, he said: “Today, thedistress our workforce isundergoing is representative ofthat of the country’s easternregion. The very region which

possesses the capacity to be thecountry’s growth engine,whose workforce possessesthe capability and the might totake the country to greaterheights…the eastern regionneeds development. It is onlythe development of the easternregion that can lead to a bal-anced economic developmentof the country.

“We have accorded prior-ity to the development of east-ern India. In the last few years,much has been done in thisdirection which gives me innersatisfaction. And now, con-sidering the migrant labourers,the need of the hour is devis-ing a new solution - para-digm…We are ceaselessly tak-ing steps in that direction. Forexample, at places skill map-ping of labourers is being car-ried out; at other places startups are engaged in doing thesame…the establishment of amigration commission is beingdeliberated upon. Besides that,recent decisions taken by theCentral government haveopened up vast possibilities ofvillage employment, selfemployment and small scaleindustry.”

While Modi cited theexamples of many people will-ing to give their all in the ser-vice of others in the ongoingcrisis, he also revealed howleaders from across the worldhave been asking him if Yogaand Ayurveda could be of

help in this calamitous periodof Corona. Referring to theInternational Yoga Day onJune 21, the PM urged peopleto participate in an onlineyoga competition being organ-ised by the Ayush Ministry.

Ahead of the WorldEnvironment Day on June 5,the PM highlighted how thelockdown, sans little pollution,has led to the revival of bio-diversity and called for deriv-ing inspiration to live life inharmony with nature.

Modi spoke about howpeople in West Bengal andOdisha have collectively facedCyclone Amphan, and at thesame time also cited the ongo-ing locusts’ attack acrossStates.

“Several states in the coun-try have reported locustattacks. These attacks havereminded us that a small crea-ture can be immensely harm-ful. These attacks can go on forseveral days, affect large parts,"he said.

“Be it at the level ofGovernment of India, stategovernment, agriculturedepartment or administra-tion, all are involved usingmodern techniques and newinventions to not only help thefarmers but also lessen the lossaccruing due to this crisis," hesaid adding the governmentwill provide aid to all thosewho are affected by locustsattack.

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As efforts are on to defusethe stand-offs on the Line

of Actual Control(LAC)inLadakh, videos have surfacedon the social media purport-edly showing some Indian sol-diers trussed up in one instanceand soldiers from India andChina exchanging blows inanother incident. While theseclips are not dated, the Indianarmy has said the videos are notauthenticated and attempt tolink them with the current sit-uation is malafide.

The strong rejection cameafter a video was doing therounds on Sunday showingsome soldiers with their feettied and faces bruised lying onground with some Chinesesoldiers looking on.Unconfirmed reports said thisincident took place in earlyMay when an Indian patrol wasaccosted by the Chinese anddetained for some time nearPangong Tso(lake), Ladakh.However, the army had at thattime too denied such an inci-dent had taken place.

Incidentally, out of the fourface-offs now on in variousparts of the LAC in easternLadakh, Pangong Tso is one ofthem. Soldiers from both thesides engaged in fisticuffs onMay 5-6 at this site leading tothe stand-off. Three-fourthsof the lake at a height of 17,000feet is with the Chinese andthey patrol it with high-pow-

ered boats.Since the eye ball to eye ball

confrontation, the Chinesehave increased patrolling bybringing in more boats besidestroops on the banks of the lake.India has also bolstered itstroop strength at the lakebesides the other three stand-off sites after the Chinesebrought in more soldiers andheavy vehicles.

Despite the talks at militaryand diplomatic levels, the sit-uation has not eased off withmore than 5,000 Chinese nowat the four spots.

Meanwhile, the secondvideo shows the Indian andChinese troops jostling witheach other and this clip is alsonot dated. Soldiers are also seenarmed with batons.Responding strongly, theIndian army said here onSunday “it has been brought toour notice that a video is doingrounds on social media on anincident on borders. Contentsof video being circulated aren'tauthenticated. Attempt to linkit with situation on Northernborders is malafide. Currently,

no violence is happening.”It also said differences are

being addressed through inter-action between military com-manders, guided by establishedprotocols on management ofborders between the two coun-tries. “We strongly condemnattempts to sensationalise issuesimpacting national security,” itadded.

On the current situation onthe LAC, sources said anotherround of talks at the MajorGeneral level between the twoarmies is likely shortly besidesongoing diplomatic parleys atvarious levels. At least sevenrounds of military level talkshave already taken placebetween officers of the rank ofBrigadier in the last fortnight.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh on Saturday had said thetwo countries are engaged atthe military and diplomatic lev-els to resolve the tense situationin Ladakh. He also admittedthat “the Chinese soldiers hadcome in a little further thanthey used to earlier” at the LACto “make the situation differentthis time.”

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The Congress on Sundayquestioned Solicitor General

Tushar Mehta's remarks thathigh courts are “running a par-allel Government in the coun-try”, and asked whether thestatement was meant to brow-beat the courts.

Accusing the Governmentof displaying an arrogant atti-tude, former law minister andCongress leader Kapil Sibal said,"I wonder if this is meant tobrowbeat the courts. This is cer-tainly a very arrogant attitudethat should not be articulated inthis fashion."

The Congress also said thatthe Government had displayeda similar arrogance in the past,with Sibal citing instances andalleging that some judges weretransferred after they deliveredjudgements that were “uncom-fortable".

“This Government has inthe past displayed this kind ofarrogance", he said, noting thatboth the courts and theGovernment should take note ofthis.

“Unless the courts are aliveto what is happening on theground, this kind of attack andexpression is not conducive to ademocratic environment," hesaid.

Sibal added that thisGovernment also called a jour-nalist a "vulture", and in sayingso "I feel the government has for-gotten its culture and we con-demn this".

He said journalists are com-mitted by their profession "toclean up the vicious environ-ment" in this country.

Noting that March 24(when the nationwide lock-down was announced) was a"watershed moment", he said the

people of the country haveforced the Government to for-get its agenda of polarisation andinstead focus on problems posedby the coronavirus pandemic.

Sibal also took a swipe at theCentre, saying, "TheGovernment's social distancingwith people has increased somuch that it does not know whatis happening on the ground andhow to address the problemsfaced by people, especially thepoor."

“The future history bookswill recognise this governmentas the harbinger of doom. Theprime minister talks about pro-tecting democracy, until March24 they throttled democracy," healleged. The former law minis-ter said prior to March 24, theagenda of the government wasabout Article 370, UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act,National Register of Citizens(NRC), population register,Citizenship (Amendment) Act,Triple Talaq, and not education,healthcare, concerns of the poor.

“Had this Government inthe last six yrs concentrated onissues concerning people, Indiawould have been differenttoday,” he said.

Sibal noted that theCOVID-19 pandemic hasexposed the Government's help-lessness and the rift that was cre-ated in the society has beenbridged by people themselves asthey stand in solidarity with oneanother to overcome the currentchallenges.

“I want to ask PM that atleast now tell us what is your def-inition of your fellow Indians.Does that definition fit intowhat happened prior to March24. At least now change the wayyou are handling the future ofthis country," the Congressleader asked.

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Supreme Court judge JusticeSanjay Kishan Kaul on

Sunday said imputationsagainst the judiciary or its‘grading’ is a reflection of theintolerance prevalent in allsections of society against allkinds of institutions and alsoindicates the "after me the del-uge" view of some retiredjudges.

“Criticism of a view pointor a judgement is not a prob-lem, but when imputationsand grading start being made,I think we damage the veryinstitution," Justice Kaul said.

“The unfortunate part isthat in some of us, those whohave been part of the institutionitself, there is a problem of ''afterme the deluge''. Which is thatsince we (retired judges) aregone, everything is goingwrong. I will say that itself is adanger.”

He further said "we" are anevolving society and thingshave evolved over a period oftime. “People in the past, whospeak about it, also have com-mitted many mistakes andblunders.”

Justice Kaul was speakingat an online lecture on''Freedom of speech in times ofCOVID-19'', organized by theMadras High Court BarAssociation.

His comments appear to bea response to former SupremeCourt judge Justice Madan BLokur’s recent article, on ablog, which said the apex courtdeserved an ''F'' grade for themanner in which it handled themigrant crisis during theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Justice Kaul is part of thebench hearing the migrant cri-sis issue.

A day before the SupremeCourt had taken cognisance onits own of the "unfortunate and

miserable" plight of migrantlabourers, twenty prominentlawyers from Delhi andMumbai had written a criticalopen letter to Chief Justice ofIndia S A Bobde and otherjudges saying the apex court''s"apparent indifference" to thehumanitarian crisis and its"institutional deference" tostatements of the executivewould amount to abdication ofits constitutional role if not rec-tified immediately.

When the matter was heardby the apex court on May 28,Solicitor General Tushar Mehtahad complained to the courtthat there were "prophets ofdoom" in the country, whowere spreading negativity andthere were "arm-chair intellec-tuals" who were not recogniz-ing the nation''s effort in deal-ing with the migrant workers''crisis during the Covid-19induced lockdown.

Justice Kaul, in his lecture,further said to remain in thenews has become a problemand therefore, “there is a ten-dency to be critical in a man-ner which crosses certain lines".

He said this was to someextent a "misinformation pan-demic".

He said that members ofthe public, bar and the judicia-ry must appreciate the chal-lenges of any time and any sys-tem and added that "whilecriticism is always informationthat must come to us, I thinksome boundaries need to bemaintained".

“Otherwise, it (criticism)becomes part of disinformationwhich causes doubt on theinstitution. I don''t think that isgood for any system, because ifyou mistrust everybody, mis-trust the system, then we haveno system, we only have anar-chy. To prevent anarchy, faith ininstitutions is important,"Justice Kaul said.

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Moms should continuebreastfeeding even if they

have confirmed or suspectedCovid-19 and should notdepend on infant formula milkas the nutrition to baby, a newreport by WHO, UNICEF, andthe International Baby FoodAction Network (IBFAN) hassaid.

However, the report notedthat despite efforts to stop theharmful promotion of breast-milk substitutes, many coun-tries are still falling short inprotecting parents from mis-leading information.

In the report, "Marketingof breast-milk substitutes:National implementation ofthe International Code – Statusreport 2020", the UN bodiessaid that current evidence indi-cates that it is unlikely thatCovid-19 would be transmittedthrough breastfeeding or bygiving breastmilk that has beenexpressed by a mother who isconfirmed or suspected to havethe infection. Women withconfirmed or suspected Covid-19 can therefore breastfeedafter following some precau-tions like putting on masks.

Of the 194 countriesanalysed in the report, 136have in place some form of legalmeasure related to theInternational Code ofMarketing of Breast-milkSubstitutes and subsequent res-olutions adopted by the World

Health Assembly.However, the legal restric-

tions in most countries do notfully cover marketing thatoccurs in health facilities whileonly 79 countries prohibit thepromotion of breast-milk sub-stitutes in health facilities.

Only 19 countries haveprohibited the sponsorship ofscientific and health profes-sional association meetings bymanufacturers of breast-milksubstitutes, which includeinfant formula, follow-up for-mula, and growing up milksmarketed for use by infants andchildren up to 36-months old,as per the report.

“The aggressive market-ing of breast-milk substitutes,especially through health pro-fessionals that parents trustfor nutrition and health advice,is a major barrier to improvingnewborn and child healthworldwide,” said Dr FrancescoBranca, Director of WHO’sDepartment of Nutrition andFood Safety.

Babies who are exclusive-ly breastfed are 14 times less

likely to die than babies whoare not breastfed. However,today, only 41% of infants 0–6months old are exclusivelybreastfed.

“As the Covid-19 pandem-ic progresses, health workers arebeing diverted to the responseand health systems are over-stretched. At such time, breast-feeding can protect the lives ofmillions of children, but newmothers cannot do it withoutthe support of health providers,”said Dr. Victor Aguayo,UNICEF’s Chief of Nutrition.

“The fear of Covid-19transmission is eclipsing theimportance of breastfeeding –and in too many countriesmothers and babies are beingseparated at birth – makingbreastfeeding and skin to skincontact difficult if not impos-sible. All on the basis of no evi-dence.

“Meanwhile the baby foodindustry is exploiting fears ofinfection, promoting and dis-tributing free formula and mis-leading advice – claiming thatthe donations are humanitarian and that theyare trustworthy partners,” saidPatti Rundall, of IBFAN’sGlobal Council.

“Breastfeeding is the bestway to protect the baby, par-ticularly from hospitalisationdue to severe gastroenteritis orlower respiratory tract infec-tion,” said Dr Arun Gupta fromBreastfeeding Promotion net-work of India (BPNI).

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Individuals who use e-ciga-rettes could be at risk of

developing oral diseases in thefuture, which could range fromgum disease to cancer, accord-ing to researchers at The OhioState University,.

In a study they looked ata group of 123 people with nosigns of oral disease. Thegroup included 25 smokers,25 non-smokers, 20 e-ciga-rette users, 25 former tobac-co smokers who used e-cig-arettes and 28 people whosmoked both tobacco ciga-rettes and e-cigarettes.

The team col lectedplaque samples taken fromunder the gums of the par-ticipants to analyse the bac-teria in this part of themouth; bacteria here is thelast line of defense againstdisease as it is the least like-ly to be disrupted by envi-ronmental changes in themouth, such as food, tooth-paste and tobacco.

The researchers then car-ried out DNA deep sequenc-ing of the bacteria’s genomesto identify what types of

microbes were living in par-ticipants’ mouths and whattheir functions were.

The findings, publishedin the journal ScienceAdvances, showed thatalthough the e-cigarette usersdidn’t have signs of active dis-ease, their oral bacteria com-position was similar to that ofpeople with severe peri-odontitis, a severe gum infec-tion that can lead to healthproblems such as tooth loss,and, if left untreated, is a riskfactor for serious conditionssuch as heart and lung dis-ease.

The effect of e-cigarettesmoking was also seen withor without nicotine, whichthe researchers say suggeststhat it is the heated and pres-surized liquids in e-cigarettecartridges that are makingvapers’ mouths a welcomingenvironment for a dangerous

combination of microbes.Even long-term current

and former cigarette smokershad worse oral profiles linkedto using e-cigarettes after justthree to 12 months of vaping.

“Vaping is such a bigassault on the oral environ-ment, and the change hap-pens dramatically and over ashort period of time,” saidPurnima Kumar, seniorauthor of the study.

“If you stop smoking andstart vaping instead, you don’tmove back toward a healthybacterial profile but shift upto the vaping profile,” Kumarexplained. “Knowing the vap-ing profile is pathogen-rich,you’re not doing yourself anyfavors by using vaping toquit smoking.”

The researchers said thisis the first human study onthe effects of e-cigarette expo-sure in the mouth, and likeprevious research into e-cig-arettes, also questions theirsafety.

India has already bannedvaping or e-cigarettes in thecountry, but according toreports it is available in theblack market.

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New Delhi: Unhappy with Statepolice forces wearing RapidAction Force (RAF) patternblue uniform, the CRPF hasdecided to take up the matterwith State authorities.

The Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) said that theMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA) had issued directions toall states saying only RAF isauthorised to wear it.

Even after the MHA issueddirections to all state secre-taries (Home) for not usingblue combat uniform by localpolice, some states are stillusing the uniform which isonly for Rapid Action Force(RAF).

The matter was raised at ahigh-level meeting chaired byDirector General (DG) CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF) afew days back.

According to an officialcommunication accessed byANI, police wings of WestBengal, Bihar, Haryana andDelhi are wearing combat uni-forms.

"Police wings Of WestBengal, Bihar, Haryana andDelhi are wearing blue combatuniform (RAF Pattern). Insome recent news/social mediapictures/videos, police per-

sonnel wearing blue combatuniform (RAF Pattern) wereshown chased by mob inKolkata (WB) and similarlypersonnel of Anti-RiotBattalion of Bihar Police wereshown stopping commuters.

This is creating confusion inminds of media personnel anddenting professional image ofRAF/CRPF," say minutes of theCRPF meeting.

CRPF said that the HomeMinistry in its letter of May 9to states and UTs said thatRapid Action Force (RAF),CRPF is authorized by it towear dark and light blue patch-es uniform which cannot beused by any other police force.

CRPF has decided to takeup the matter with stateauthorities.

According to the minutesof the meeting, IG RAF willtake up the matter with IGconcerned of state under inti-mation and provision direc-torate will submit the propos-al to MHA in this connection.

Agencies

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The coronavirus pandemicwill not only impact cam-

paigning for elections but alsobring changes in the politicalnarrative with issues of sus-tainable development, health-care and self-reliant India get-ting more prominence, BJPgeneral secretary and key pollmanager Bhupender Yadav saidon Sunday.

With Assembly elections inBihar due later this year, Yadavasserted that the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government has per-formed well on the develop-ment front and ably handledthe coronavirus crisis includingthe return of migrant workers.

“The impact of coronaviruswould, however, be seen notjust on the mode of commu-nication but also on the polit-ical narrative. In terms of issuesand the discourse on develop-ment, there will be a greaterfocus on sustainable develop-ment, healthcare infrastruc-ture and building an''Aatmanirbhar Bharat'' (self-reliant India),” he told PTI in aninterview.

At the same time, he said,the BJP has always prioritisedissues of governance and devel-opmental politics which hasbeen appreciated by the people,and the results of 2014 and 2019Lok Sabha polls are a testimo-ny to it.

Yadav, whose skills havebeen used by the BJP in strate-gising and handling many cru-cial state assembly electionsincluding Bihar, Maharashtra,Gujarat, Rajasthan andJharkahnd, feels political partiesmay now use digital platformseven more vigorously.

“Previously, it was the printmedia, loudspeakers and pub-lic rallies that served as meansof political communication. Inrecent decades, social media,which has had a big impact onechoing political narratives, hasemerged as a potent medium toreach out to people,” he said.

Asked about the plight ofmigrant workers during thecoronavirus lockdown, Yadavsaid the movement of workerswas minimal in the first threephases and the governmentused that time to build health-care facilities in villages to deal

with the influx.“The Government did not

allow migrant movement in theinitial phases to ensure vil-lages had required healthcarefacilities to deal with the influx.Once it was in place, the gov-ernment arranged trains totake the migrants back home,”he said.

Yadav emphasised that itwas necessary to ensure thatthere were adequate quaranti-ning and isolation facilities atthe village level.

Stressing that the pandem-ic was an “unforeseen disaster”that had caught the world off-guard, the BJP leader said,”The Modi government is tack-ling the crisis with utmost sin-cerity in consultation withexperts and complying withevery possible healthcare crite-rion.”

On the situation in Bihar,the BJP’s in-charge for the statesaid more than 10 lakh migrantworkers have returned mostlythrough Shramik Special trainsand the state government hasbeen making all necessaryarrangements for their quar-antine and other requirements.

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Page 5: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training acade-my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said

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Though the number of coro-navirus afflicted persons is

increasing in the State by leapsand bounds, Tamil NaduGovernment is reluctant to takeup drugs developed by a teamof eminent physicians who hasassured the authorities that itwould cure the pandemic.

Closely on the heels of theUnion Government’s Ministry ofAyush cold shouldering thedrug and treatment protocoldeveloped and submitted by DrPR Krishnakumar, the legendaryayurvedic acharya from theState and his team of researchers,yet another instance of anayurvedic medicine getting rawdeal from Tamil NaduGovernment has come out.

This time a drug protocoldeveloped by Dr PLT Girija, aChennai based Ayurvedicphysician who is also intoresearch and development ofayurvedic medicine, and herteam of scientists has beenignored by the Government ofTamil Nadu despite the evi-dence based proof about theefficacy of the drug.

“According to Ayurveda,Covid-19, with the predomi-nant symptoms of fever, respi-ratory distress and cough, withassociated symptoms can be

classified as Vata-kapha pre-dominant fever. Ayurvedicpractitioners are used to treat-ing similar conditions withmedicines recommended inthe classical Ayurvedic texts,”said Dr Girija in her protocolproposal to the StateGovernment.

Dr CV Krishnaswamy,leading diabetologist andphysician in Tamil Nadu whowas the advisor to the sevenmember research team said itwas unfortunate that theGovernment chose to ignorethe request for clinical trials forthe medicine.

Dr Girija said that she hastreated many patients andcured them of the pandemicwith this ayurvedic drug. “It isonly because of our confi-dence in the medicine that wesubmitted it to the Governmentfor trials or treatment. As suchthere is no need for clinical tri-als for Ayurveda medicine.The clinical trials are for check-ing the possibility of adversedrug reaction (ADR). ButAyurveda system of medicineitself is different and does notrequire trials,” she said.

Dr Girija also disclosedthat she has treated manyCovid-19 patients and all of them had been cured ofthe disease.

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Mumbaikars will have towait for a few more weeks

before the suburban trains andMetro Rail resume their oper-ations, a fact that became evi-dent on Sunday as theMaharashtra governmentextended the lockdown tillJune 30 to facilitate the gradualeasing of restrictions andphase-wise lifting of lockdownacross the State.

Some of the salient featuresof the extended lockdown were:Night curfew will remain inforce from 9 pm to 5 am tillJune 30, complete lockdownwill continue in ‘containmentzones’, except for essential ser-vices, ban will continue oninternational air travel andcinema halls, gymnasiums,swimming pools, entertain-ment parks, theatres, bars andauditoriums, assembly hallsand similar places will contin-ue to remain closed.

“Persons above 65 years ofage, persons with comorbidi-

ties, pregnant women and chil-dren below the age of 10 yearsare advised to stay home,except for essential and med-ical services,” one of the guide-lines stated.

In what it called the orderas “Mission Begins Again”, theMaharashtra government per-mitted easing of restrictionsand phase -wise Opening inMunicipal Corporations ofMMR Region includingMCGM, MunicipalCorporations of Pune, Solapur,Aurangabad, Malegaon,Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Akola,Amravati and Nagpur whereactivities will be additionallypermitted with restrictions, inphases as described belowexcept containment zones. Thisis in addition to the activitiesalready allowed and permittedin these areas.

As part of the new guide-lines, intra-district bus servicewill be allowed with maxi-mum 50% capacity per buswith physical distancing andsanitation measures, while

inter-district bus service orderswill not be permitted. Orderswill be separately issued inthis regard.

“Beginning June 5, all mar-kets/shops will be allowed toremain open from 9 am. to 5p.m on a P1-P2 basis. If anycrowding or failure of social dis-tancing norms is seen, thenauthorities will immediatelyclose down such shops/markets,”one of the guidelines stated. TheState Government has autho-rised the Municipal-districtauthorities after taking into con-sideration the guidelines ofMinistry of Home Affairs.

“The containment zonewill be residential colony,mohall a, slum, building, groupof buildings, lane, ward, policestation area, villages, smallcluster of villages etc. Anythinglarger than this (eg. wholetaluka/ whole MunicipalCorporation etc.) can bedeclared as containment zoneonly after consultation withChief Secretary,” the guide-lines stated.

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Tamil Nadu saw an all timehigh of 1,149 persons test-

ing positive for coronavirus onSunday since the pandemicbroke out in the State in March2020. With Sunday’s figure of1,149 covid-19 patients, thenumber of persons tested pos-itive till date rose to 22,333 inthe State. The day also saw 757persons getting dischargedfrom various hospitals in TamilNadu, making the number ofactive cases in the State 9,400.

This is as per the medicalbulletin released by theGovernment on Sunday. Therelease said that death toll in theState rose to 173 as 13 perosnssuccumbed to the pandemic onSunday.Out of the 1,149 personstested positive on Sunday, 95were people who came back tothe State from various countriesand other places in the country.Chennai has till now tested14,802 positive cases and thedistrict tested 802 positive caseson Sunday.

The data shows that therehas been nearly nine-foldincrease in the number ofactive cases reported in TamilNadu in the last 30 days.

According to the governmentrelease, there were 1,183 activecases and a total of 2, 526 casesin Tamil Nadu as on May 1.Interestingly, C Vijaya Basker,the health minister of the Statehad told reporters on May 1that the lock down which wasto end on May 3 and which wasextended by the Centre to May17 would help Tamil Nadu inflattening the curve.

Chennai and three neigh-boring districts ofKancheepuram, Thiruvallur andChengalpattu would continue tobe no-go areas while the remain-ing 33 districts have been freedfrom the shackles of restrictionsimposed as part of controllingthe spread of coronavirus.

IT companies and othermajor industrial units outsideChennai city limits have beenallowed to function with fullstrength while companies with-in the limits of Chennai Policecould function with 50 per centof their workforce.

A government release onSunday said the re-opening ofschools and colleges have beenpostponed to July 1 as the lock-down has been extended toJune 30. The move by theGovernment to alter the rules

concerning lockdown is in thebackdrop of the unabated hikein the number of coronaviruscases in the State, especially inthe four districts includingcapital city Chennai.

While there would not beany public transport worth itsname in these four districts,buses, trains and cabs wouldoperate in other districts whichhave been categorized into eightzones. But the public transportservices could operate only asper the guidelines and restric-tions which have been put basedon the intensity of the spread ofthe pandemic in these zones,said the release.

Religious places amusementparks will continue to be out ofbound for general public till theend of June while restaurants,hotels and other business premis-es could function by observingsocial distance norms. Only 50per cent of seating capacities willbe allowed in hotels while thereare no restrictions in sale of foodparcels. Postponement ofreopening of schools and collegesmeans that the Government islikely to postpone public exam-inations for 10th standard stu-dents which were scheduled tobegin on June 15.

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At least over two dozenbureaucrats, along with

Principal of GovernmentMedical College, Jammu andseveral other functionaries ofthe health department werehome quarantined in Jammuhours after one of the Principalsecretary rank officer testedpositive for coronavirus late onSaturday.

The said IAS officer wasdeputed to Srinagar to super-vise arrangements of returningpassengers via air.

On his return fromSrinagar he went throughmandatory screening at theJammu airport and late eveninghe tested positive, sendingshock wave among the seniorauthorities in the corridors ofpower.

According to officialsources, the said officer, hadalso attended a high level meet-ing with senior colleagues inJammu on Saturday. The meet-ing was chaired by one of thesenior most bureaucrat of therank of financial commission-er, a principal secretary, asenior bureaucrat in the disas-ter management authority and

officials from health and med-ical education department.

Early Sunday morning,while IAS officer was shifted toa dedicated Covid-19 hospitalin Katra and all others, whohad attended the meeting wereadvised to remain in homequarantine for next couple ofdays. A senior officer told ThePioneer, “senior officers havebeen advised to isolate them-selves and remain in homequarantine”. “We will collecttheir samples at the appropri-ate time”, he added.

Earlier, wife and son of asenior Advisor to Lt-Gov GCMurmu had tested positive and he too was advisedto remain in administrativequarantine.

Meanwhile, 105 Cases weredetected across Jammu &Kashmir on Sunday taking thetotal tally to 2446.

The total number of activecases touched 1491, 380 fromJammu and 1111 fromKashmir division.

According to the mediabulletin, out of 105 freshcases, 90 cases were detectedfrom Kashmir divison and 15 from Jammu division onSunday.

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Amid a desperate attempt bythe powers that be to inject

a ‘feel-better’ impression toupset the corona gloom in thesociety — by effecting a con-trolled relaxation of the lock-down — there has been a steepelevation in Bengal’s number ofcorona cases over the past fewdays, Health Departmentreports suggest.

While Kolkata andHowrah were the more affect-ed places till recently the“graphic worm” has startedclimbing up in the districts too.

Coochbehar in NorthBengal which had reported nocases till the last week hassuddenly found at least 59infected patients most of whom

are migrant workers travellingin from Rajasthan and Delhi,sources said.

Coochbehar DistrictMagistrate P Kandian said the“patients were asymptomaticand perhaps were on the pathof self-recovery. Still we havesent them to the ChangHospital in Siliguri.”

Darjeeling district too hasshown a rise in the number ofcases reporting 4 infectionstill Saturday night, sourcessaid. Down south Brighamwhich had a better perfor-mance till the middle half oflockdown 4.0 has suddenlyseen a spurt in the number ofcases mostly among themigrant workers. The districthas seen 44 new cases whichare in addition to the 54 cases

which were found earlier,sources said.

The neighbouring districtof Banker had 26 new cases tillSaturday evening while EastBirdman has seen 74 cases,sources said. Forty out of the 74cases have been witnessed inthe past 3-4 days, sources saidadding the number of cases wasrising in the adjoining districtof Murshidabad too where 45out of 55 migrant workerswere tested positive.

The report of the suddenspurt in the number of casescomes in the backdrop of at leasttwo people’s representatives get-ting the infection. While anMLA from South Kolkata hasbeen attacked by the coronavirus and is in a critical condi-tion, Bengal Minister Sujit Bosetwo has contracted the diseasealong with his wife. Both have

been in home isolation.With the number of cases in

Bengal crossing the 9,500 markthe 624-year-old Maahesh RathYatra committee in Seeramporesub-division of Hooghly districthas decided to cancel the RathYatra of Lord Jagannath this

time round.“Seerampore and neigh-

bouring areas have witnessedquite a few number of cases andwe do not want to take anychances,” said an official ofIndia’s second oldest andbiggest Rath Yatra (after Puri).

“Chief Minister MamataBanerjee has already appealedto the people not to organizemass festivals involving largecongregation of people. Wewill follow that decision,” saidthe official.

Rath Yatra involves thegrand procession of the Lordvisiting his aunt’s place in com-pany with his sister Subhadraand brother Balram. “Instead ofLord Jagannath this time therewill be a symbolic Yatra of aNarayan Shila (a sacred stonesymbolising Lord Naryan orVishnu),” he maintained.

Meanwhile, the Oppositionparties including the BJP andthe Left have come down heav-ily on Chief Minister MamataBanerjee for suddenly openingthe entire State particularly ata time when the number ofcases have started peaking.

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Jammu: The Pakistan Army onSunday once again targetedcivilian houses along the Lineof Control (LoC) in Mendharsector of Poonch. One civilianreceived injuries while severalcivilian houses were damagedin intense mortar shelling fromacross the line of control.

Defence PRO in Jammu,Lt- Col Devender Anand said,“early Sunday morning Pakistsntargeted civilian areas by firingwith small arms & intenseshelling with mortars alongLoC in Mendhar sector ofPoonch causing damage tocivilian houses”. He said,in theevening at about 7.50 p.mPakistan again initiated unpro-voked ceasefire violation inKirni, Qasba & Degwar sectorsof Poonch.Till the time of filingthe report, Indian Army wasretaliating befittingly. PNS

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Maharashtra witnessedanother harrowing day

on the Covid-19 front onSunday, as the pandemicclaimed 89 more lives andanother 2,487 people testedpositive for coronavirus in var-ious parts of the State.

With the fresh fatalitiesand infections, the total num-ber of deaths mounted to 2,286and infected cases jumped to astaggering 68,655.

With as many as 29,329patients having been dis-charged, the State healthauthorities pegged the numberof “active cases” in the State at36,031.

Of the total deaths report-ed on Sunday, Mumbaiaccounted for 52, while therewere nine deaths each in NaviMumbai and Pune, six deathsin Malegaon, five in Thane,four in Kalyan-Dombivli andtwo in solapour and one eachin Osmanabad and Yavatmal.

There have been a total of591 deaths in Maharashtraduring the six days. On May 26(Tuesday) the State had wit-nessed 97 deaths, while therewere 105 deaths on Wednesday,85 deaths on Thursday, 116deaths on Friday and 99 deathson Saturday. Sunday’s Covid-19

toll was 89.Of the dead, 46 were men

while 43 were women. Fortyseven of them aged over 60years, 35 were from the agegroup 40 to 59 years and 7 wereaged below 40 years.

“Fifty six out of 89 patients(63 per cent) had high-risk co-morbidities such as diabetes,hypertension and heart dis-ease,” a State health bulletinsaid. Out of the total deathsported today, 39 deathsoccurred in the last two daysand the rest are from the peri-od April 27 to May 27, 2020.

Out of 4,62,176 laboratorysamples tested so far, 67,655samples tested have positive forCovid-19.

There are 44 Governmentand 34 private (78 total) labo-ratories functioning in the statecurrently. As many as 3585tests per 10 lakh population arebeing conducted. At thenational level, it is 2722 testsper 10 lakh population.

There are 3157 active con-tainment zones in the state cur-rently. Total 18,490 surveillancesquads worked across the stateon Sunday and surveillance of

70.14 lakh population was done.Some key observations

made in the State health bul-letin were: Patient doublingtime for the State was 11.7 daysin the last week, it has nowimproved· to 17.5 days. Thesame for the country is 15.7days. Recovery rate in the stateis 43.35 per cent. Case fatalityrate in the State: 3.37 per cent.

Currently, 5,58,100 peo-ple are in home quarantine.There are 72,704 beds availablein quarantine institutions and34,480 people are in institu-tional quarantine currently.

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Page 6: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training acade-my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said

Some back-channelingand rethinkingbetween Nepal’s rul-ing party and theOpposition (despite

the Nepali Congress agreeingto support the amendments)has deferred the ConstitutionalAmendment Bill to sanctify thecountry’s new map. This hascreated an opportunity for it toreturn to diplomacy. It’s for thefirst time that Nepal has alteredthe geography of its map. ItsForeign Minister “summoned”the Indian Ambassador and itsPrime Minister even usedunkind words for us. NewDelhi, too, was high-handed: Itdragged its feet in giving a datefor talks, announced a tarmacroad to Lipulekh Pass while theArmy Chief, who is the hon-orary General of the NepalArmy, made unwarrantedcomments on Nepal’s internalaffairs, too. This certainly is notthe civilisational bonding thatdefined relations between Indiaand Nepal. The Kalapani dis-pute has to be settled political-ly, too. Any further delay willonly widen the trust deficit.

In my 60th and countingtreks from Mahakali to Mechisince 1959, I have come acrossscintillating names of villagesand places: Chisopani,Tatopani, Ratopani, Jumlepani,Pokhripani and also the con-tested Kalapani, not Kalopani.In India, Kalapani is a curseand is associated with banish-ment, jail or exile. Still, it hasbeen the bone of contentionbetween India and Nepal formany years and forKathmandu, it denotes an areaof 335 sq km, encompassingLimpiyadhura, Lipulekh Passand Kalapani. For it, the sourceof the Mahakali river, whichdelineates its western bound-ary, is Limpiyadhura.

For India, Kalapani is theorigin of the river near wheremilitary posts have existedsince the mid-1960s and fromwhere the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP) patrols regular-ly up to the Lipulekh Pass.When King Tribhuvan invitedthe Indian Military Mission in1952 to Nepal, besides trainingthe Royal Nepal Army (RNA),it had established, according toborder expert on Nepal, BNShreshta, 18 border check-posts on the Tibet border start-

ing from Tinker Pass in thewest to Chhayangthap in theeast. These posts were vacatedin 1969 under pressure fromthe communist lobby in thepalace. Conspicuously,Kalapani and Lipulekh Passwere not part of the border sur-veillance scheme and, therefore,there was no question of Indiavacating them. Trade betweenIndia and China acrossLipulekh Pass started in 1954and an agreement in 2015 rat-ified the border trade.

Kalapani has a spiritualand strategic value since it is thegateway to Kailash Mansarovar,dominates Lipulekh Pass andcan monitor the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) campat Taklakot. It appears inNepal’s official and touristmaps and its adverse militarypossession is a highly emotiveissue. Twenty-six years of fieldreconnaissance by a joint tech-nical boundary committee andnegotiations since 1997 havefailed to find a mutually-acceptable solution. Protestsin Nepal over Kalapani startedin the mid-1990s when a com-munist Government was inpower. It has since become apolitical football.

India’s new map inNovember last year, after thenullification of Article 370 inJammu & Kashmir, showedKalapani in Uttarakhand with-out any change in the bound-ary with Nepal. It was verymuch similar to the old map.But this triggered countrywideprotests and exchange of diplo-

matic notes. India announcingthe black-topping of the roadto Lipulekh Pass in Mayreignited protests at a timewhen the power struggle in theruling Nepal Communist Party(NCP) peaked.

It was only with Chineseintervention that PrimeMinister KP Oli was able toretain his seat. Adept at usingultra-nationalism for India-bashing and reviving his polit-ical stock, Oli published a newmap of Nepal, incorporatingclaimed areas. He wants anational consensus on the legit-imacy of the new map througha Constitutional amendment.The Bill should pass muster asthe Government needs justnine lawmakers to secure a two-third majority but that willdamage irreparably India-Nepalrelations, which have been onthe mend since 2015 followingthe economic blockade.

Nepal has deployed itsarmed police force on the west-ern border near Kalapani withthe Nepal Army building a newroad to Tinker Pass. Thesedevelopments, coupled with aparliamentary resolution toreclaim all land and theConstitutional AmendmentBill are likely to escalate ten-sion. The beneficiary from thisdiplomatic stand-off will onlybe a third country with whomtroubles along the India alongthe Line of Actual Control(LAC) are mounting. Nepal’spolitical class must realise thatthe move to unilaterally alter,validate and internationalise

the new map, especially at theheight of a pandemic, is unwise.Both sides need to cool off.

Any adverse and escalato-ry steps will also undermine thelong-standing and embeddedArmy-to-Army relations,which were initiated by KingTribhuvan and his son, KingMahendra, for modernisingthe RNA. The Chiefs of the twoArmies are honorary Generalsin each other’s armies, anunprecedented exchange ofmilitary honour started by thelegendary Field Marshal SamManekshaw in 1969. Gorkhasoldiers from Nepal haveserved the Indian Army withvalour during all the wars post-independence, winning highgallantry awards. More than40,000 Gorkha soldiers servethe Indian Army and another1,50,000 ex-servicemen areprivileged by unique welfareservices in Nepal that are notavailable to other soldiers inIndia. These are 22 district sol-dier boards, two pension pay-ing offices along with the Ex-servicemen ContributoryHealth Scheme (ECHS),Kendriya Vidyalayas andnumerous other assistance andgrants projects. Gorkha remit-tances are upwards of �15,000crore (NC), almost one-third ofNepal’s total remittances of $8billion.

India-Nepal relations are ata tipping point due to map-making and the political row ithas generated is at the height ofa pandemic. Nepal’s new maphas broken the agreement

between the two countries tomaintain status quo till nego-tiations help resolve the borderdispute. India had initially saidit would resume ForeignSecretary-level dialogue mech-anism after the COVID-19emergency. After Nepal issuedits new map and Oli’s intemper-ate reference to India inParliament, New Delhi hasurged Kathmandu to create apositive atmosphere for dia-logue. After deferment of theBill, New Delhi says it is opento engaging to solve borderrow.

The media on both sidesshould call a truce. OnWednesday afternoon, NepaliTV channels were playingpatriotic music centred onKalapani and showing clips ofits legendary military prowessthat extended the HimalayanKingdom from the riversChenab to Teesta, inducingfears of “Greater Nepal.” Nepal’sdecision to put on hold the sec-ond ConstitutionalAmendment Bill is a prudentstep welcomed by India thathas averted a showdown.Already, strained India-Nepalrelations are too precious to bedamaged by territorial nation-alism. Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla must call uphis counterpart Shankar DasBairagi and break the ice.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Labour woes” (May 29). Itwas surprising to note that over91 lakh migrants have been sentback to their home States sinceMay 1. Arranging basic screen-ing facilities for the safety of pas-sengers in trains has been aHerculean task. Besides, themigrants need not just protec-tion from the pandemic butjobs, too.

By the Government’s ownadmission, we simply do nothave data on the migrant work-ers. This reason is often citedby officials for their failure toprovide generous cash relief inthe economic package to themigrant workers. It is wel-come that several States are set-ting up migrant commissions.This will not only capture dataon the number of workers butalso generate employment forworkers. State Governmentsmust ensure that they provideadequate wages, a safe workenvironment, a sound skilldevelopment ecosystem anduniversal social safety coverage.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

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Sir — With the easing down oflockdown norms, life is limpingback to the new normal. Butschools and colleges remainclosed. Online education systemhas become the norm. The sideeffects of long exposure to

screens on children are known.Besides, the poor have been leftout of the ambit of online learn-ing due to the digital divide. Aclassroom environment pro-vides equal learning opportuni-ties. Schools and colleges mustreopen with caution.

SritomaVia email

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Sir — New Delhi was right toreject US President DonaldTrump’s offer to mediatebetween India and China.Instead, Trump must focus onputting his own house in orderfirst with regard to China.

Besides, he has the pandemic totackle, too. While the numberof new cases is declining in partsof the US, several models indi-cate the death toll will contin-ue rising in the next weeks.

The Indian Governmentmust be complimented formaking it clear to China that itwould not settle for anythingless than the withdrawal of itstroops from the LAC. NewDelhi must stand firm.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — India has done well tonot pay heed to US PresidentDonald Trump’s offer to medi-ate between India and China toend border standoff. It is alwayswiser to settle burning issueswith China amicably and indi-vidually without bringing in anoutsider or introducing irritants. It is better for India tostrengthen ties with Chinawith sobriety of mind.

Prakash SainiVia email

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Every war brings death and destruction in itswake. It also opens windows of opportunitiesfor those who seek it. Though the global war

on the COVID-19 is by no means over it has broughta host of opportunities with it. So, do we Indianscontinue to remain in the abyss of poverty or do wetake a plunge into the new world that is openingup? It needs to be remembered that in the past, Indiawas a leader in manufacturing. As per WilliamDalrymple’s book The Anarchy, in 1608, India “wasproducing about a quarter of global manufactur-ing; indeed in many ways it was the world’s indus-trial powerhouse and world’s leader in manufacturedtextiles.” Whatever happened thereafter is historyand during the British rule, India lost the leader-ship role in manufacturing. We missed the IndustrialRevolution and it had a telling effect on impover-ishing India.

Thankfully, we did catch the train of DigitalRevolution but the gains were not inclusive enoughto pull us out of poverty. The opportunity that theCOVID revolution is presenting needs to begrabbed with everything that we have. As PrimeMinister Narendra Modi put across to the country,his vision of “Atma nirbhar (self-reliant)” India androlled out financial packages to support the vision,many opportunities could open up, particularly indefence production.

India is one of the biggest arms importers inthe world. In 2013-2017, India topped the list as itaccounted for 12 per cent of the world’s armsimports. The US was the highest arms exporteramounting to 34 per cent of the global share. EvenNetherlands, which is 79 times smaller in size thanIndia, was the tenth-largest exporter of arms,accounting for 2.1 per cent of the global armsexports. Surely, a renewed Make in India will pro-vide the country with unparalleled benefits. Self-reliance in defence could have the best advantagesfor India, as, besides the economic benefits that willaccrue, it will also result in strategic independence,which is a key ingredient of national security.

Threat perception is mostly what drives forcestructuring and weaponisation. With the break-upof the USSR, the threat perception reduced signif-icantly and it was possible for some Europeannations to scale down their armed forces. However,in the Indian context, the perceived threat from theNorthern and Western neighbours does not appearto be reducing in the foreseeable future. While thespectrum and type of conflict that may manifest canbe debated, what is of importance is that the pre-paredness has to be long-term in the interest of over-all national security.

Though there has been indigenisation in thefield of defence production for the last decade, itsoutput has obviously not been as desired. Also, interms of quality, there have been instances of theproduct not being suitable for combat conditions.One can take the case of the INSAS rifle with prob-lems of moving parts and magazines. Time takenfor developing a product is also important — as inthe case of MBT Arjun.

Indigenisation for defence is simply not “Madein India” or “Manufactured in India.” To be success-ful, “Make in India” has to include the entire processand this includes: Identification of the weapon orequipment or platform to be manufactured; tech-nology; design; patent/IPR and related issues;manufacturing ecosystem and operational mainte-nance and logistics.

Identification of the weapon/equip-ment/platform: Based on the threat per-ception and a long-term integrated plan,each weapon/equipment/platform is to bedecided. This is an important process,needing strategic perception and long-term capability development and wouldbe in the realms of the armed forces, withinputs from sources as desired by them.The process also includes formulation ofGeneral Service Qualitative Requirements(GSQR), which need to be realistic whilemeeting the operational requirements ofthe armed forces.

I am reminded of the days when I wasserving in the Siachen glacier, in one ofthe most challenging posts, in 1992.Since our post was on an ice-wall and waspartially under enemy observation, thehelipad was located some distance away.Due to the restriction of the valley widthas also very limited availability of landingground, only the smallest helicopter, theCheetah (French Allouette engine) couldfly there. In its first sortie, with full fuelload, all that it could carry was either oneman without his equipment or his equip-ment or a jerrican (20 litres) of keroseneoil.

I wondered at that time as a youngMajor, that, whereas a sizeable portion ofour army is deployed in high altitude andsuper high altitude areas, why is it that wedon’t have an Indian helicopter to meet ouroperational requirements?

Through “Make in India,” we canachieve to get what we need for our oper-ational conditions and not what someother country wants to sell, which couldbe quite unrelated to our requirements. Noother country would be fighting wars inthe varied terrain and other conditionsthat prevail along our borders.

Technology and Design: For the suc-cess of “Make in India,” the process of tech-nology and design would probably be the

most significant one. This applies equal-ly to both, i.e. platforms made by largeindustries or smaller sub-systems manu-factured by MSMEs. Technology mustdrive the equipment to be unfailingly com-bat-effective, be it a platform like the air-craft carrier, an aircraft, main battle tank;or a small part like the magazine of a rifle;each needs combat-worthy technology.

Fortunately, India has enough tech-nology experts in this field but their exper-tise needs to be harnessed in a highlyorganised manner.

A conducive ecosystem needs to becreated, wherein they can contribute tonational security as a matter of pride, whiletheir individual aspirations are also takencare of. There is also a need to harnessIndian technology experts who may havemoved to the US/Europe or other coun-tries, giving them the option of repatriat-ing, including those who may have losttheir jobs in the current situation.Alternatively, they could work on a pro-ject basis in India. An opportunity canthus be created for them to “give back” totheir country which, in a large number ofcases, would have given them basic edu-cation to achieve success.

There are, of course, products utilis-ing very high-end technology, whichmay not be readily available. There is aneed to acquire such technology leverag-ing India’s other strengths. For the long-term success of “Make in India,” such bor-rowed/acquired technology cannot be ananswer. Dedicated investment must bemade on R&D of short and long-termdefence equipment requirements, takingadvantage of the technology experts of theentire country, on a project basis. Suchresearch projects and their byproductscould also be utilised for civilian purpos-es, in the long-term.

Patent/IPR: All existing patent/IPRrules/regulations must be fully implement-

ed. Excellence/innovation needs to behonoured and rewarded. Even individualinterests of scientists, where applicable, inrelation to patents must be respected.Clauses of national security, where desir-able can be enunciated.

Manufacturing Ecosystem: Withthe “Make in India” friendly packagesannounced by the Government, includ-ing items that cannot be imported, bothlarge industrial houses and MSMEs havean unprecedented opportunity. However,to compete, their standards have to be real-ly world-class. For long-term success, themanufacturing capabilities need to beupgraded where required, to supply fail-proof combat equipment. Promisingmanufacturing units, including start-ups,could be provided appropriate efficiencyand output-based support.

Operational Maintenance andLogistics: In the varied terrain conditionsthat Indian Armed Forces operate in,including a major portion in high altitudeand super-high altitude areas, opera-tional maintenance and logistics wouldplay a significant role. In situations wherefeasible, the original equipment manufac-turer could take on the responsibility oflogistics and sustenance. The design of theweapon/equipment must take into con-sideration the requirements of field main-tenance in extremely challenging situa-tions and terrain.

The 21st century has presented Indiawith an unique opportunity, which couldfulfil the requirements of inclusive growthas well as meet many other existing chal-lenges. Through ‘Make in India’, thecountry gains strategic independence, theindustry makes progress, jobs are creat-ed and most importantly the soldier getsindigenously-manufactured equipmentmeeting world standards.

(The writer is former Director-Generalof the National Cadet Corps)

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Judges rule on the basis of law, notpublic opinion.” This take on therole of judges by the former Chief

Justice of the US, Warren Burger, wastaken as a maxim across the world.However, in the last decade or so,things in this context seem to havegone the other way. Now, one oftenhears terms such as “judicial populism”and “judicial activism” used in com-mentaries and political rhetoric. Innone of the two books by JusticeBurger that I read did he even oncemention any of the two aforemen-tioned terms. There is thus enough evi-dence to suggest that “judicial pop-ulism” is a current coinage. However,

the term “judicial activism” is mucholder but it was not used as frequent-ly as it is being now.

The American attorney KeenanKmiec writes that the first time theterm “judicial activism” was used wasby the US historian Arthur SchlesingerJunior in 1947. But since he was astaunch liberal and supporter of theDemocratic Party, one can conclude hewas vaguely criticising the SupremeCourt judges who had initially over-turned the many unprecedented eco-nomic policies outlined by PresidentFranklin Roosevelt to address theeconomic depression in the US in the1930s.

Ever since the 1950s, there havebeen at least seven well-known casesin the US which experts have describedas being influenced by judicialactivism. But even though some ofthese judgments have been hailed asbold and timely, the idea of judicialactivism has largely been criticised bylaw experts and many sitting govern-ments. The Black’s Law Dictionary, oneof the most used law dictionaries in theUS, explains judicial activism as a deci-

sion-making process whereby judgesallow their personal views about pub-lic policy to guide their decisions.Other critics have claimed that itintrudes in the workings of the exec-utive and legislative branches of theGovernment and disturbs democrat-ic order.

But there are also those, such asthe US professor of law BrianTamanaha, who says that an absolute-ly objective interpretation of law isimpossible and, therefore, a judge’s per-sonality and/or views are bound toinfluence his/her judgments.

The debate around the idea andact of judicial activism is now decadesold. But many commentators are of theview that, instead of aiding the judi-ciary to come to a middle-ground,judicial activism has broken away andsprinted towards populism. Eightyears ago, the Pakistani academic andauthor Mohammad Waseem more-than-hinted that judicial activism inPakistan was transforming into “judi-cial populism” in his essay for the 2012edition of the Journal of ContemporarySouth Asia.

Dr Waseem was writing whenChaudhry Iftikhar was the country’sChief Justice (CJP), brought back tothis position by a “lawyers’ movement”against the Pervez Musharraf regimethat had ousted him on charges of cor-ruption.

On the former CJP’s style of judg-ing, Dr Waseem says: “Confrontationbetween the executive and judiciaryunder him led to speculation about theimminent collapse of the democraticsystem. The use of judicial review byhim was widely criticised as an attemptto encroach on the territory of the leg-islature. The court’s pursuit of publicinterest litigations through frequent suomotu actions taken in a populistmode led to brinkmanship on the partof the judiciary. However, the court’spursuit of judicial reform relating tospeedy justice and accountability of thehigher judiciary remained far from sat-isfactory.”

In order to explain what a “pop-ulist” judge is, SOAS University ofLondon’s Yasser Kureshi in an essay forDawn writes: “The populist judgeembraces a more aggressive form of

judicial activism, prioritising not onlypolicy over precedent but also out-comes over processes. The populistjudge is unbound by precedent andprocedure, interpreting away any con-stitutional limitations on what thejudge can and cannot do.”

Indeed, a lot has been written onjudicial populism in Pakistan since thereturn of Chaudhry Iftikhar. SaqibNisar, who was CJP from December2016 till January 2019, was alsodescribed by many as a populistjudge. Only recently, when the currentCJP, Justice Gulzar Ahmad, orderedthe Sindh Government to allow theopening of shopping malls in Karachi— when the number of COVID-19infections were on the rise — criticsof the decision explained it as populistand even ill-informed.

But is judicial populism squarelya Pakistani phenomenon? Not quite.A similar decision was delivered by theSupreme Court of the US State ofWisconsin. The US has the highestnumber of COVID-19 cases anddeaths. So it was understandable thatthis decision was roundly criticised.

The Supreme Courts of Israel andBrazil are also seen as dealing in judi-cial populism, even though theyhaven’t yet said much on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Brazilian professorof law, Diego Werneck, published aninsightful essay, exploring why judicialactivism mutates and becomes judicialpopulism. According to Werneck,courts have traditionally been targetsof populists who criticise them forbeing elitist and bureaucratic. Tocounter this, especially in an era oframpant populism and unabashedpopulists heading governments invarious countries, Werneck writesthat courts have begun to preservetheir authority by adjusting their deci-sions to trends in public opinion.Werneck then adds: “By adopting thepopulist vocabulary, the courts claimto represent and vindicate currentmajority sentiment against what areperceived as corrupt politicians.”

Werneck writes that this can betriggered by general discontent or aprotest movement. He gave the exam-ple of the mass 2015 protests in Brazil,during which its Supreme Court

judges and some trial judges did nothold back in castigating “corruptpoliticians” in the media and gainedsignificant popularity. This encouragedtheir populist style.

This scenario is remarkably sim-ilar to how the higher judiciary evolvedin Pakistan after the 2007 lawyers’movement and then again, after the2014 protests held by Imran Khan’sPTI. But Dr Waseem adds anotherdimension to this. He writes that whenelected representatives clash in devel-oping countries, non-elected Stateinstitutions are invited by both tomediate. In the past, the militaryused to be that sole mediator, despitethe fact that it often ended up gettingrid of both the bickering parties.Waseem then adds that, ever since thetime of Iftikhar, the judiciary, too, hasbeen approached by politicians to set-tle scores against opponents. But, themore this happens, the more space theexecutive and the legislative lose,because the judiciary now believes itrepresents the people’s will and inter-ests more than the politicians.

(Courtesy: Dawn)

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-����-����Madrid: Spanish PrimeMinister Pedro Sánchez says hewill ask Spain’s Parliament fora final two-week extension ofthe nation’s state of emergencythat has allowed the govern-ment to take lockdown mea-sures to control its coronavirusoutbreak.

Sánchez says this will be“the last, definitive extension of15 days.” The current state ofemergency is set to expire onJune 7. The government willask for the extension in thecoming days.

The lockdown measureshave succeeded to reining in aCOVID-19 outbreak that hasclaimed at least 27,000 lives inSpain.

Sánchez says this finalstretch of the lockdown willinclude the handing back of

control over health care to theregions that have shown themost progress in containing thevirus.

“We have almost reachedsafe harbor,” Sánchez said.

The central government isslowing rolling back confine-ment measures depending onwhich areas have fewer infec-tions and are better preparedfor a possible second outbreak.

The focus is now on main-taining the virus in check whilereactivating an economy thatSánchez’s said will shrink byover 9% this year and take twoyears to recover. AP

Beijing/Hong Kong: The pro-mulgation of new security lawfor Hong Kong by China hasresulted in a sharp increase ininquiries for immigration fromthe former British colony espe-cially the city’s residents whoemigrated en masse there whenit returned to the Chinese con-trol in 1997.

Immigration consultantshave fielded hundreds of newcalls since China’s legislature -the National People’s Congress(NPC) - unveiled the contro-versial plan on May 21, bypass-ing the local legislature, HongKong-based South ChinaMorning Post reported onSunday.

The legislation was subse-quently approved by the NPC,much on the expected lineswith an overwhelming major-ity on May 28, prompting US

President Donald Trump toorder the removal of exemp-tions that gave Hong Kongspecial status.

Trump said on Saturdaythat Hong Kong has no longersufficiently autonomous fromChina to enjoy the special priv-ileges with the US, in place sinceit left the British control in 1997.

The new law under whichChina can establish the pres-ence of its security forces inHong Kong for the first-timeevoked strong protests fromthousands of local people. Theprotests were expected to beintensified in the coming weeks.

China says the new law isaimed at throttling secession,subversion, terrorism, foreigninterference or activities thatthreaten national security.

With Hong Kong nowbecoming the centre of the

emerging Cold War betweenthe US and China, a number oflocal people especially the city’srich are looking to migrate todifferent countries.

Some are accelerating theirdecision to buy property over-seas, while others are cuttingtheir asking price for local prop-erties, immigration consultan-cy firms in Hong Kong said.

“The day after that propos-al, we received over a hundredcalls,” said Andrew Lo, chiefexecutive at Anlex, a HongKong-based immigration con-sultancy firm. “People are rest-less. They ask if they can leavethe next day,” he told the Post.

Requests for emigrationadvice have jumped as a result,breaking a lull caused by thecoronavirus pandemic, accord-ing to Midland ImmigrationConsultancy.

While the latest number inapplications for good citizen-ship is not yet available, ana-lysts expect them to rise withpolitical temperature, thereport said.

“People who were justengaging us on basic informa-tion before are now firmlycommitting by putting downdeposits,” Gillott said, citing onecustomer who asked to movehis “millions and millions ofdollars” to Portugal. “Neverseen that before.”

The political factor hasencouraged some high-net-worth individuals – defined asthose having more than HKD10 million (USD 1.29 million)of wealth – to diversify theirassets into other cities likeLondon, Singapore and Taiwan.

Taiwan, which is having astormy relationship with China

as Beijing claims the territory tobe part of the Chinese main-land, is an attractive destinationfor many seeking to flee the tur-moil in Hong Kong. The self-ruling island allows foreignersto gain citizenship with USD199,680 in investments in abusiness that hires local staff.

Almost 2,400 Hongkongersfiled residency applications forTaiwan from January to Aprilthis year, compared to 948 lastyear in the same period, saidMidland’s director of strategyTina Cheng, citing governmentdata. In all, 5,585 people leftHong Kong for Taiwan in 2019,an increase of 41 per cent, thegovernment said.

Despite the interest inTaiwan, the top destinationsremain English-speaking coun-tries such as Ireland, Canada,and Australia. PTI

New York: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomosigned a bill Saturday granting death benefitsto the families of police officers, public healthworkers and other front-line workers who havedied of the coronavirus.

The bill passed by state lawmakers providesan accidental death benefit that is more sub-stantial than the regular death benefit that pub-lic workers’ families receive.

Dozens of police officers, public healthworkers, transit workers and paramedicshave died of COVID-19 in the months sinceNew York became the epicenter of the pan-demic in the United States. Cuomo said 67people died of COVID-19 in the state onFriday, the same number as Thursday and asteep drop from the height of New York’s out-break in April, when more than 700 peoplewere dying of the disease daily. AP

Athens: Greek officials saidSunday said that the countrywill not limit incoming touriststo those from a list of 29nations, but travelers fromcountries not on the list will besubject to mandatory testing onarrival and a period of quar-antine depending on testresults.

The policy will only beapplied during the final twoweeks of June, although Greekauthorities left open theprospect of additional restric-tions after that date.

The list announced onFriday includes Albania,Australia, Austria, NorthMacedonia, Bulgaria, Germany,Denmark, Switzerland, Estonia,Japan, Israel, China, Croatia,Cyprus, Latvia, Lebanon, NewZealand and others. AP

Houston: Researchers havedemonstrated that exposing thenovel coronavirus to the vitaminriboflavin and ultraviolet lightreduces the viral count inhuman plasma and whole-blood products, an advancethat may help lower the possi-bility of transmission of thevirus via blood transfusion.

The scientists fromColorado State University(CSU) in the US, said it is stillunknown if the novel coron-avirus, or SARS-CoV-2, behindthe COVID-19 pandemic, canbe transmitted by blood trans-fusion.

In the study, published inthe journal PLOS ONE, theyused a device called the Mirasol

Pathogen ReductionTechnology System to treat nineplasma and three whole-bloodproducts.

“We eliminated a hugeamount of virus and we couldnot detect the virus post-treat-ment,” said Izabela Ragan, studyco-author from CSU.

The device, invented byRay Goodrich, senior author ofthe study from CSU, works byexposing the blood product orplasma to UV light.

Heather Pidcoke, anotherco-author on the study,explained that the blood prod-uct or plasma is placed in a spe-cially designed storage bag, fol-lowing which riboflavin solutionis added to this, and the mixture

is then exposed to UV light. The device gently shakes

the bag to circulate the bloodcells, so the cells come to thesurface where they are exposedto the UV light, the study noted.

However, the authors cau-tion that this is not an experi-ment to try at home.

They said the light does notpenetrate the entire bag, so it’snot the same as exposing bodyparts to UV light. Theresearchers said the device mayhelp avoid what happened in the1980s, when HIV was trans-mitted through blood and bloodproducts while scientists werestill trying to isolate and iden-tify what might be causing thespread of the virus. PTI

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has postponedthe G7 Summit till Septemberand expressed his desire toexpand the “outdated” bloc toG10 or G11, including India andthree other nations to the group-ing of the world’s top economies.

Trump has been over theweeks suggesting that there is“no greater example” of reopen-ing amid the COVID-19 pan-demic than holding an in-per-son G7 summit in America bythe end of June.

The president, in an inter-action with reporters travel-ling with him aboard the AirForce One from Florida toWashington DC on Saturday,said that he is “postponing it(the summit) until September”

and plans to invite Russia, SouthKorea, Australia and India.

“I don’t feel that as a G7, itproperly represents what’sgoing on in the world. It’s a veryoutdated group of countries,”he said.

“So it might be a G10, G11,and it could be after the elec-tion (in the US) is over...,”Trump said.

He said the G7 Summitcould happen before the UNGeneral Assembly session inSeptember. “Maybe I’ll do itafter the election. I think agood time would be before theelection,” he said. The presi-dential election in the US isscheduled for November 3.Trump is seeking a secondterm in the White House. PTI

Minneapolis (US): Anothernight of unrest in every cornerof the country left charred andshattered landscapes in dozensof US cities on Sunday as yearsof festering frustrations over themistreatment of African-Americans at the hands ofpolice boiled over in expres-sions of rage met with tear gasand rubber bullets.

Cars and businesses weretorched, the words “I can’tbreathe” were spray-painted allover buildings, a fire in a trashbin burned near the gates of theWhite House, and thousandsmarched peacefully throughcity streets to protest the deathof George Floyd, a black manwho died Monday after a whiteMinneapolis police officerpressed his knee on his neckuntil he stopped breathing.

His death is one of a litanyof racial tragedies that havethrown the country into chaosamid the coronavirus pandemicthat has left millions out ofwork and killed more than100,000 people in the US,including disproportionatenumbers of black people.

“We’re sick of it. The copsare out of control,” protesterOlga Hall said in WashingtonDC. “They’re wild. There’s justbeen too many dead boys.”

People set fire to police cars,threw bottles at police officersand busted windows of store-fronts, carrying away TVs andother items even as some pro-testers urged them to stop.

In Indianapolis, police wereinvestigating multiple shoot-ings, including one that left aperson dead amid the protests

— adding to deaths in Detroitand Minneapolis in recent days.

In Minneapolis, the citywhere the protests began,police, state troopers andNational Guard membersmoved in soon after an 8 pmcurfew took effect to break upprotests, firing tear gas and rub-ber bullets to clear streets out-side a police precinct and else-where. At least 13 police officerswere injured in Philadelphiawhen peaceful protests turnedviolent and at least four policevehicles were set on fire. In NewYork City, dangerous con-frontations flared repeatedlyas officers made arrests andcleared streets. A video showed

two NYPD cruisers lurchinginto a crowd of demonstratorswho were pushing a barricadeagainst one of them and peltingit with objects.

Several people wereknocked to the ground, and itwas unclear if anyone was hurt.

“The mistakes that are hap-pening are not mistakes.They’re repeated violent ter-rorist offenses and people needto stop killing black people,”Brooklyn protester MerylMakielski said.

Few corners of Americawere untouched, from protest-ers setting fires inside Reno’scity hall, to police launchingtear gas at rock-throwing

demonstrators in Fargo, NorthDakota. In Salt Lake City,demonstrators flipped a policecar and lit it on fire. Police saidsix people were arrested and apolice officer was injured afterbeing struck in the head with abaseball bat.

Police have arrested at least1,669 people in 22 cities sinceThursday. Nearly a third ofthose arrests came in LosAngeles, where the governordeclared a state of emergencyand ordered the National Guardto back up the city’s 10,000police officers as dozens offires burned across the city.

The damage in US citiescame as many Americans plan

to return to in-person churchservices on Sunday for the firsttime in several weeks since thepandemic forced a ban on largegatherings. Pastors in pulpitsacross the country will likely beurging peace amid the rubble ofriots. Trump appeared to cheeron the tougher tactics Saturdaynight, commending theNational Guard deployment inMinneapolis, declaring “Nogames!” and saying police inNew York City “must beallowed to do their job!”

Presumptive Democraticpresidential nominee Joe Bidencondemned the violence as hecontinued to express commoncause with those demonstratingafter Floyd’s death.

“The act of protestingshould never be allowed toovershadow the reason weprotest,” Biden said in a state-ment Saturday night.

Overnight curfews wereimposed in more than a dozenmajor cities nationwide, includ-ing Atlanta, Denver, LosAngeles, Minneapolis, SanFrancisco and Seattle.

This week’s unrest recalledthe riots in Los Angeles nearly30 years ago after the acquittalof the white police officerswho beat Rodney King, a blackmotorist who had led them ona high-speed chase.

The protests of Floyd’skilling have gripped many morecities, but the losses inMinneapolis have yet toapproach the staggering totalsLos Angeles saw during fivedays of rioting in 1992, whenmore than 60 people died,2,000-plus were injured and

thousands arrested, with prop-erty damage topping $1 billion.

But not all protests weremarred by violence. In Juneau,Alaska, local police joined pro-testers at a rally in front of agiant whale sculpture on thecity’s waterfront.

“We don’t tolerate excessiveuse of force,” Juneau PoliceChief Ed Mercer told a gather-ing where most people woremasks and some sang AlaskaNative songs.

The show of force inMinneapolis came after threedays when police largely avoid-ed engaging protesters, andafter the state poured in over4,000 National Guard troops toMinneapolis and said the num-ber would soon rise to nearly11,000. AP

Jerusalem: Israel’s defense min-ister apologised on Sunday forthe Israeli police’s deadly shoot-ing of an unarmed, autisticPalestinian man.

The shooting of IyadHalak, 32, in Jerusalem’s OldCity on Saturday, drew broadcondemnations and revivedcomplaints alleging excessiveforce by Israeli security forces.

Benny Gantz, who is alsoIsrael’s “alternate” prime minis-ter under a power-sharing deal,made the remarks at the week-ly meeting of the Israeli Cabinet.

He was sat near PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu,who made no mention of theincident in his opening remarks.

“We are really sorry aboutthe incident in which Iyad Halakwas shot to death and we sharein the family’s grief,” Gantz said.

“I am sure this subject will beinvestigated swiftly and conclu-sions will be reached.”

Halak’s relatives said hehad autism and was heading toa school for students with spe-cial needs where he studiedeach day when he was shot.

In a statement, Israelipolice said they spotted a sus-pect “with a suspicious objectthat looked like a pistol.” Whenhe failed to obey orders to stop,officers opened fire, the state-ment said. Police spokesmanMicky Rosenfeld later said noweapon was found. Israelimedia reported the officersinvolved were questioned afterthe incident as per protocol anda lawyer representing one ofthem sent his condolences tothe family in an interview withIsraeli Army Radio. AP

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The work on the flight andthe cockpit voice recorders

of the Pakistani airplane thatcrashed in a densely populat-ed area, killing 97 people, willstart from June 2 in France, theFrench aviation investigationauthority has said.

The Airbus A320 aircraft ofthe national carrier PakistanInternational Airlines (PIA)had 91 passengers and a crewof eight when it crashed into theJinnah Garden area near ModelColony in Malir on Friday,minutes before its landing.

Ninety Seven passengerswere killed. Eleven people onthe ground were injured.

An 11-member team of

experts from an Airbus facili-ty in the French city ofToulouse arrived in Pakistanlast week to conduct an inde-pendent probe into the crashinvolving its aircraft.

“@Airbus #A320 AP-BLD@Official_PIA. Technical workon FDR & CVR will start at@BEA_Aero 02/06/20.@BEA_aero thanks a lot AAIBfrom Pakistan for the coordi-nation, organization and sup-port provided,” BEA, France’sCivil Aviation SafetyInvestigation Authority, said ina tweet on Saturday.

The flight data recorder(FDR) records time, altitude,airspeed, heading, and aircraftattitude and other in-flightcharacteristics.

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Washington: PresumptiveDemocratic presidential nom-inee Joe Biden condemnedthe violence in a statement, ashe continued to express com-mon cause with those demon-strating after Floyd’s death.

“The act of protestingshould never be allowed toovershadow the reason weprotest,” Biden said in a state-ment Saturday night.

“It should not drive peopleaway from the just cause thatprotest is meant to advance.”

Officials in Minneapolis

say they’ve succeeded for nowin stopping the violent proteststhat ravaged parts of the cityfor several days after the deathof George Floyd.

Police, state troopers andNational Guard membersmoved in to break up protestsafter an 8 p.M. Curfew tookeffect, firing tear gas and rub-ber bullets to clear streets out-side a police precinct and else-where. The show of force cameafter three days where policemostly declined to engage withprotesters. It also came after

the state poured in more than4,000 National Guard mem-bers and said the numberwould soon rise to nearly11,000. As Minneapolis streetsappeared largely quiet,Corrections CommissionerPaul Schnell said the heavyresponse would remain as longas it takes

to “quell this situation.”Floyd, a handcuffed black man,died after

a Minneapolis police offi-cer kneeled on his neck for sev-eral minutes. AP

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Los Angeles: A fourth day ofviolence in Los Angelesprompted the mayor to imposea rare citywide curfew and callin the National Guard afterdemonstrators clashed repeat-edly with officers, torchedpolice vehicles and pillagedbusinesses in a popular shop-ping district.

Mayor Eric Garcetti saidSaturday he asked Gov. GavinNewsom for 500 to 700 mem-bers of the Guard to assist the10,000 Los Angeles PoliceDepartment officers. TheGuard members were expect-

ed to arrive early Sunday.Garcetti said the soldiers

would be deployed “to supportour local response to maintainpeace and safety on the streetsof our city.” Firefightersresponded to dozens of fires,and scores of businesses weredamaged. One of the hardest-hit areas was the area aroundthe Grove, a popular high-endoutdoor mall west of down-town where hundreds of pro-testers swarmed the area,showering police with rocksand other objects and vandal-ising shops. AP

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0�(;��&>������������5����������������5�����������$���������� ����(��&��� Lahore: A fresh picture of Pakistan’s ‘ail-

ing’ former Prime Minister Nawaz Shariftaking tea at a London café along withsome members of his family went viralon social media, sparking a debate on hishealth with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf members demanding his returnto face corruption cases.

In the picture, the 70-year-old three-time premier is seen sitting at a roadsidecafé with his granddaughters. He sport-ed a blue shalwar kameez and a cap andapparently looked in better health.

Some ministers got skeptical aboutthe serious nature of his health, sayingSharif is roaming on London streets andhe even did not bother to wear mask inthis COVID-19 testing time.

“This picture of Sharif having tea incafé is exposing our law, justice and judi-cial system. This picture also tells how

much people can trust on the account-ability system in the country,” ScienceMinister Fawad Chaudhry said.

Prime Minister’s adviser ShahbazGill said that Sharif had gone abroad afterlying in the court. “The Sharifs think thepeople are fool,” Gill said and asked MrSharif to return Pakistan to face cor-ruption cases against him.

Punjab Information MinisterFayyazul Hasan Chohan said that howcome Sharif roam on London’s streetswithout a mask. He should be broughtback to face corruption cases against him.

As the picture went viral on socialmedia on Saturday it became top trend,sparking a debate about Sharif ’s healthwith his detractors asking why he does notreturn to Pakistan if he is well while hissupporters expressed joy at seeing theirleader in good health and spirits. PTI

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Page 9: ˘ ˇ ˆ · ing the tally of infected people to 16,794 and the number of ... running a training acade-my for robbers in New Delhi’s JJ Colony in Bawana was arrested, police said

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Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Sunday said Indian economy ison the path of revival andwomen will play a leading rolein the post Covid-19 economy.

“Women’s economic con-tribution will be included goingforward, which has been closeto negligible till now,” he saidadding that women entrepre-neurs can become businessaggregators in the country.

Addressing a webinarorganised by FICCI FLO on‘Atmanirbhar Bharat: InclusiveGrowth for TransformingIndia’, Pradhan said, “With

Covid-19, technology hasbrought equalisation in thesociety. There will be an expo-nential growth in the use oftechnology for conducting busi-ness. Under the leadership ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiand with the stimulus packagesbeing announced, the Centraland State governments areworking towards securing bothlives and livelihoods of people.He also spoke about the city gasdistribution network in thecountry.”

Jahnabi Phookan,President, FLO said for an‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, it is important to take thewomen along.

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Noida witnessed a surge inoffice space leasing in the

third and fourth quarters of2019 and recorded the highestleasing in the NCR, accordingto a report by 360 Realtors.Around 80% of the total sup-ply of office spaces was leasedout during July-December of2019.”In Q3 and Q4 of 2019,the Noida market witnessedunprecedented growth in leas-ing, leading in NCR & becom-ing the front runner witharound 80% leasing,” it said.

New Delhi: It is notified for theinformation of the all con-cerned that Northern Railwayshall run one way LucknowMail Special train on01.06.2020 from New Delhi toLucknow as per the followingprogramme: The 02232 NewDelhi-Lucknow Mail Specialtrain will depart from NewDelhi at 10.05 pm on June 1 toarrive at Lucknow at 06.55 amthe next day.

Comprising of AC, SleeperClass and General class coach-es, the 02232 New Delhi-Lucknow Mail Special train

will stop at Ghaziabad, Hapur,Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly,Shahjehanpur, Hardoi andAlamnagar Nagar stationsenroute.

Stoppage of 02425 / 02426New Delhi-Jammutawi- NewDelhi Special train at PathankotCantt station from June 1 toJune 30.

It is notified for the infor-mation of the all concernedthat stoppage to 02425/02426New Delhi-Jammutawi- NewDelhi Special train will be pro-vided at Pathankot Cantt sta-tion from June 1 to June 30.

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Indian software major Infosysis among the many UK com-

panies to benefit from UKChancellor Rishi Sunak’sCoronavirus Job RetentionScheme, it emerged on Sunday.

Infosys, co-founded bySunak’s father-in-law NarayanaMurthy, said it had used thefurlough - or forced leave -option for 3 per cent of its staffin order to tide through thelockdown imposed to curb thespread of the deadly virus.

“In light of the current sit-uation, Infosys has furloughed3 per cent of its UK workforce.

We are reviewing this on aweekly basis,” Infosys told ‘TheSunday Times’.

The scheme was unveiledby the Indian-origin FinanceMinister, married to Murthy’sdaughter Akshata, at the peakof the crisis and is set to grad-ually wind down until it is fullyclosed at the end of October.

Under the provisions, theGovt covers 80 per cent ofsalaries of furloughed staff, upto the value of GBP 2,500 amonth, in order to preventcompanies having to resort toredundancies. In a latest set ofannouncements earlier thisweek, Sunak had added more

flexibility into the programmeso that employers can make useof the scheme in the most effec-tive way. “Our top priority hasalways been to support people,protect jobs and businessesthrough this crisis. The fur-lough and self-employmentschemes have been a lifeline formillions of people and busi-nesses,” said Sunak, who isleading the UK Government’seconomic response to the coro-navirus pandemic. “We stoodbehind Britain’s businesses andworkers as we came into thiscrisis and we stand behindthem as we come through theother side.

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The rights entitlements cre-ated nearly �9,500 crore

wealth for Reliance IndustriesLimited shareholders. This hasset the tone for the final leg of

the rights issue process begin-ning Mon. With trading inright entitlements (RIL-REs)closed on Friday, May 29(ended 41% higher than Day1)ushering the final leg of theRIL rights Issue process.

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Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal on

Sunday asked pharmaceuticalcompanies to explore exportopportunities in untappedmarkets of Russia and EasternEuropean nations.

The Minister also advisedthe firms to bring to his noticeif the companies face any road-block or unfair competition ina country, with which India hasa free trade agreement (FTA).

He said this while inter-acting with representatives ofpharmaceutical industry, andoffice-bearers of pharma asso-ciations, through video con-ference.

The Minister said, “Theyshould look at large untappedmarket in Eastern Europe andRussia and in case of ongoing

bilateral FTAs, if any roadblockor unfair competition is beingnoticed, the Government maybe informed and prompt reme-dial action will be taken”.

Pharma exports in 2019-20grew by 8 per cent to USD 20.7billion as against USD 19.14billion in 2018-19.

Eastern european nationsinclude Romania, Lithuania,Latvia, Estonia, and Moldova.

Calling upon a collabora-tive route in the R&D efforts,Goyal said academicians, uni-versities, ICMR and privatesector should join hands.

Informing the industrythat the government has decid-ed to disinvest in certain phar-ma PSUs, the minister invitedthe Indian companies to usePSUs for plug and play modelof manufacturing.

He assured that all sugges-

tions presented in the meetingwill be quickly examined andwherever required, the inter-ministerial consultations will becompleted at the earliest.

The Minister also said thatthe country should becomeself reliant in APIs (activepharma ingredients) as early aspossible, as the Governmenthas taken a number of steps inthis regard.

It has already approvedthe scheme on promotion ofbulk drug parks for financingcommon infrastructure facili-ties in three such parks.

Also, production linkedincentive scheme for promo-tion of domestic manufactur-ing of critical KSMs (key start-ing materials)/drug interme-diates and APIs in the countryhas been given a go ahead, hesaid.

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The Government has noti-fied income tax return

forms for 2019-20 and made itmandatory for entities to fileITR if deposits in a currentaccount exceed �1 crore orelectricity bill in the fiscal isover �1 lakh or spent above �2lakh on foreign travels.

The Central Board ofDirect Taxes (CBDT) onSaturday notified Sahaj (ITR-1),Form ITR-2, Form ITR-3, FormSugam (ITR-4), Form ITR-5,Form ITR-6, Form ITR-7 andForm ITR-V (Verification) forthe assessment year 2020-21(income earned between April1, 2019, and March 31, 2020).The new ITR forms require

entities to furnish details ofspecified high spend transac-tions, such as deposit of �1crore or more in a currentaccount, expenditure of �2 lakhor more on foreign travel orspending of �1 lakh or more onconsumption of electricity. Also,joint owners of a house prop-erty can file ITR-1 Sahaj.

The CBDT has introducednew column in ITR-1, 2, 3 and4 wherein it has asked threespecific questions to theassessee - have you depositedamount or aggregate ofamounts exceeding �1 crore inone or more current accountduring the previous year? Haveyou incurred expenditure of anamount or aggregate of amountexceeding �2 lakh for travel to

a foreign country for yourselfor for any other person?

Have you incurred expen-diture of amount or aggregateof amount exceeding �1 lakhon consumption of electricityduring the previous year?

Hence, any entity, that isotherwise not required to fileITR, will have to file it for thefinancial year 2019-20 if theanswer to any the above ques-tions is ‘Yes’. The CBDT, whichis the apex policy-making bodyon direct taxes, has also revisedthe I-T return forms to allowassessees to avail benefits ofvarious timeline extensiongranted by the Govt followingthe COVID-19 pandemic.

Accordingly, the new ITRforms have introduced

Schedule DI which requirestaxpayers to furnish details oftax-saving investments ordonations made between April1, 2020, and June 30, 2020, for2019-20 separately.

The Govt had extendedvarious timelines under theIncome Tax Act, 1961, throughthe Taxation and Other Laws(Relaxation of CertainProvisions) Ordinance, 2020.Accordingly, the time for mak-ing investment or payments forclaiming deduction underChapter-VIA-B of IT Act thatinclude Section 80C (LIC, PPF,NSC etc.), 80D (Mediclaim)and 80G (Donations) for thefinancial year 2019-20 hadbeen extended by 3 months tillJune 30, 2020. Nangia

Andersen Consulting DirectorShailesh Kumar said the Govthas introduced seventh provi-so to the Section 139(1) underwhich a person will be requiredto file ITR though not liableunder 139(1).

“The ITR forms are mod-ified in line with new disclosurerequirements made in theIncome Tax Act for AY 2020-21. Taxpayers would need to becareful of these new disclosurerequirements, before filing theirITR and to select an appropri-ate ITR form,” Kumarsaid.AKM Global Tax PartnerAmit Maheshwari said thiscomes as a relief as now jointowners of house propertiesand big spenders can use thesame Sahaj and Sugam forms,

which are easier to fill.The Government has

already extended the deadlinefor filing all ITRs for the finan-cial year 2019-20 till November30. Also the deadline for filingthe tax audit report has beenextended by a month tillOctober 31.

Currently, individuals andother non-corporate taxpayersnot subject to tax audit andtransfer pricing are required tofile ITR by July 31. Corporatetaxpayers and other non-cor-porate taxpayers subject to taxaudit (including partners/directors of firms/ companiessubject to tax audit) but not subject to transfer pricingare required to file ITR byOctober 31.

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India Inc welcomed theCentre’s norms — Unlock 1

— meant to ease restrictions onbusinesses and other dailyaspect of life.

Accordingly, the fifth phaseof the nationwide lockdownwas announced which wouldlast in the containment zonesfrom June 8-30.

The guidelines said thatonly a limited number of activ-ities will remain prohibitedthroughout the country, includ-ing international air travel tillJune-end.

However, baring essentialservices, no activity will beallowed in the containmentzones.

Industry body Assocham’sSecretary General DeepakSood said the phased re-open-ing of activities from June 1,termed as ‘Unlock 1’ with aneconomic focus, has come in asa great relief for the industryand trade, including millions ofMSMEs which should steadilyreturn to normalcy while main-taining vigil against the spreadof Covid-19.

“After a stringent lock-down of over two months, theeconomic dimension of thepandemic had to be consideredensuring both life and liveli-hood,” Sood said.

“The Central Governmenthas taken a right call, freeing a

large part of the economy out-side the containment zones.With these measures, theIndian economy should bounceback steadily but surely,” headded.

However, he pointed outthat states need to work in awell-coordinated manner toensure that the movement ofgoods and persons, restric-tions on which have now beenlifted, must be adhered to.

“We need to realise, forsure, that the country is stillgrappling with the Covid-19crisis, reaching a critical stage.The coming weeks wouldremain critical and the newnormal must be respected for

the desired results,” Sood said.Exporters’ body EEPC

India’s Chairman Ravi Sehgalsaid: “Substantial lifting oflockdown is a sentiment boost-er for exporters, after monthsof difficulties and challenges.Even as we count our losses,easing of restrictions on eco-nomic activities would savemillions of jobs, though anarduous task of re-buildingthe business lies ahead.”

On its part, GeojitFinancial Services’ ChiefInvestment Strategist V.K.Vijayakumar said: “Phasedreopening of the economy, inline with global trends, will goa long way in boosting business

confidence apart from openingopportunities for jobs andincomes. It is important tounderstan d that the unprece-dented high global unemploy-ment is the product of the greatlockdown and not due to anyeconomic crisis.

“Therefore, we can expectjobs and incomes to bounceback sharply. However, man-aging the spread of the diseasearising out of opening would bea challenge.”

According to AnkurBhatia, Executive Director, BirdGroup: “We are already pushedto the walls. A little moreextension of lockdown wouldhave done irreversible eco-

nomic damage. We welcomegovernment’s move to allow usto operate.”

In a statement, ZubinSaxena, Managing Directorand Vice President, Operations,South Asia, Radisson HotelGroup, said: “We are lookingforward to resuming operationswithin government guidelines.

“Apart from hygiene, ourgo forward business model isconcentrated o n leveraging thesynergies of our network whichwe believe will work in a sus-tainable manner to ensure busi-ness uplift overtime. We remaindedicated to exceeding guestexpectations in the new era ofhospitality that awaits us.”

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India’s hotel industry has wel-comed the Centre’s norms

under ‘Unlock 1, which allowthem to re-commence opera-tions.

These norms are part of thefifth phase of the nationwidelockdown which wasannounced on Saturday forthe containment zones till June30, providing relaxations forthe hotel industry from June 8onwards.

This phase relaxes many

restrictions on businesses.Hotel Association of India

Vice President K.B. Kachrusaid: “The pandemic and con-sequent lockdowns have haddisastrous impact on the hotelsector.” “We welcome the gov-ernment’s decision to allowrestaurants, hotels and malls toopen in areas outside the con-tainment zones from June 8.We hope this landmark deci-sion will pave the way forgraded resurgence of the hotelindustry,” Kachru said.

He urged the Centre to

consider setting up of aTourism COVID 19 Fund foren abling the tourism industryto meet its salary and workingcapital needs.

Major Industry player suchas Ritesh Agarwal, Founder &Group CEO - OYO Hote ls &Homes said: “We welcome thegovernment’s decision toreopen hotels. We are excit edand prepared to host guestswith the new sanitised stayexperience.a Similarly, NakulAnand, Executive Director,ITC, and Chairman of the

Federation of Associations inIndian Tourism & Hospitality, thanked the Centre for real-lowing the commencement ofbusiness operations of hotels,restaurants and other hospi-tality services under Unlock 1.

“We welcome the govern-ment’s decision to reopenhotels. We are excited and pre-pared to host guests with thenew sanitised stay experience.At OYO, our topmost prioritiesare maintaining health, hygiene& well-being of our guests andstaff.

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Trader’s body CAIT onSunday expressed solidar-

ity with Ladakh-based educa-tional reformer and visionarySonam Wangchuk’s appeal toboycott Chinese goods.

Amid tensions betweenIndia and China, Wangchuk,the man who inspired theBollywood block-buster ‘3Idiots’, has appealed and askedIndians to boycott all Chinesecompanies.In a tweet, engineer-turned-educational reformerasked people to boycott allChinese products to stopBeijing’s “bullying” in Ladakhand liberate 1.4 billion bondedlabourers in the country.

Confederation of All India

Traders , which claims to rep-resent 7 crore traders, said ithas identified about 3,000 cat-egories of heavily importedChinese products “which mustimmediately be replaced byIndian products as good qual-ity Indian replacements areavailable for such products”.

CAIT Secretary GeneralPraveen Khandelwal said itwill educate traders across thecountry to stop importing aswell as selling these products,and more products will soon beverified and added to thelist.The trader’s body said, “Thewhole country understands theimportance of hurting Chinaeconomically and therefore wewholeheartedly welcome thisgreat initiative.

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Mutual funds have investedjust �1,230 crore in stock

markets during the lockdownand industry experts believethey are still waiting for a good“entry point” and maintaininghigh liquidity for any possibleredemptions by corporatehouses.

Going ahead, the primaryfactor that will determinemutual fund (MF) investmentinto equity will be their owninflows from investors. Thiswill be put to test as many retail

investors are facing risk of paycuts and job loss over the nextquarter or so, said Vidya Bala,co-founder of Primeinvestor.InOverall, mutual funds havemade a net investment of�1,230 crore in stocks since thenationwide lockdown wasannounced on March 24 totackle the coronavirus , latestdata available with theSecurities and Exchange Boardof India showed.

MFs invested �6,363 crorein stocks in the last week ofMarch, while they pulled out �7,965 crore in April. Reversingthe selling trend in May, theyput in �2,832 crore, the datashowed. Amit Jain, co-founderand CEO at Ashika WealthAdvisors, said mutual fundsare not investing big amountsin equities as they are waitingfor a good entry point, whichhe believes will come withintwo months.

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Equity market sentiment thisweek will be guided by

macroeconomic data, globalcues and COVID-19 trendsamid the phased reopening ofthe economy, analysts said.

The Home Ministry onSaturday said ‘Unlock-1’ will beinitiated in the country fromJune 8 under which the nation-wide lockdown effectuated onMarch 25 will be relaxed to agreat extent, including openingof shopping malls, restaurantsand religious places.

However, strict restrictionswill remain in place till June 30in the containment zones.“Phased reopening of the econ-omy, in line with global trends,

will go a long way in boostingbusiness confidence apart fromopening opportunities for jobsand incomes. It is important tounderstand that the unprece-dented high global unemploy-ment is the product of theGreat Lockdown and not dueto any economic crisis.

“Therefore, we can expectjobs and incomes to bounceback sharply. However, man-aging the spread of the diseasearising out of opening would bea challenge,” said VKVijayakumar, Chief InvestmentStrategist, Geojit FinancialServices.

Bourses may also react tothe GDP numbers releasedpost market hours on Friday.

India’s economic growth

slowed to 3.1 per cent inJanuary-March and to an 11-year low of 4.2 per cent for thefull fiscal 2019-20, reflectingthe early impact of the coron-avirus crisis.

Fiscal deficit soared to aseven-year high of 4.6 per centof GDP in 2019-20 mainly onaccount of poor revenue real-isation. “Auto monthly salesdata for the month of May willstart coming from Mondaywhich would reflect consumersentiment. On the positiveside, as per IMD, monsoon islikely to reach Kerala earlythis week which would beclosely tracked,” saidSiddhartha Khemka, Head -Retail Research, Motilal OswalFinancial Services Ltd.

Religare Broking Ltd, VP -Research, Ajit Mishra, said theUS-China tensions would alsobe on the radar of market par-ticipants.

“India PMI Manufacturingfor May will be announced onJune 1, PMI May services datawill be out on June 3.

US non farm payrolls datafor May will be announced onJune 5,” said Deepak Jasani,Head Retail Research, HDFCSecurities.

Quarterly earnings fromcompanies such as InterGlobeAviation, Motherson SumiSystems, BPCL and Larsen andToubro will also be tracked.During the last week, theSensex rallied 1,751.51 pointsor 5.71 per cent.

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Telecom regulator Trai onSunday said it has not rec-

ommended 11 digit mobilenumbers but only suggestedprefixing ‘0’ when mobilenumbers are called from land-lines.

The recommendation onprefixing ‘0’ for calls fromfixed line to mobile numberswill generate 2,544 millionadditional numberingresources for mobile services to

cater to the future require-ments, it said. As per Trai rec-ommendation, the country willcontinue to follow a 10-digitnumbering for mobile services,and the regulator has “categor-ically rejected” shifting to an11-digit mobile numberingplan.

“Trai has not recommend-ed 11-digit numbering schemefor mobile services,” theTelecom Regulatory Authorityof India (Trai) said in a state-ment. Trai has recommendeda dialling prefix ‘0’ while mak-ing a call from a fixed linenumber to mobile number,the statement said, adding that

introduction of a dialling pre-fix for a particular type of call“is not akin to increasing thenumber of digits in the tele-phone number”. “This changein dialling pattern will gener-ate 2,544 million additionalnumbering resources formobile services to cater to thefuture requirements,” it added.The regulator on Friday hadsaid that migration to a unifiedor single numbering schemefor fixed line and mobile ser-vices is not required for nowand that sufficient numberingspace can be created by variousmethods, including prefixing‘0’ for all fixed to mobile calls.

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Toyota Kirloskar MotoronSunday reported a 86.49

per cent decline in domesticvehicle sales to 1,639 units inMay. Company had postedsales of 12,138 units in May2019, TKM said in a state-ment.”We are conscious of thedealer business conditions invarious parts of the countryand we have been prioritisingproduction at our end as perdealer requirements, both interms of quantity as well as thegrades that they require,” TKMSenior Vice president, Sales &Service, Naveen Soni said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will share his vision

on ‘Getting Growth Back’ withIndia Inc during an address atthe annual session of industrybody CII on Tuesday, sourcessaid. The address comes at atime when companies areresuming operations followingrelaxations and gradual easingof the nationwide lockdown,which was imposed on March25 to curb spreading of coro-navirus infections.

The Prime Minister will deliv-er the inaugural address at the

Annual Session of theConfederation of IndianIndustry (CII) to mark 125years since its inception in1895, sources in the industrychamber told PTI.

The day-long virtual event onthe theme ‘Getting Growth

Back’ will also witness partic-ipation from top corporatehonchos.

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In a first of its kind initiative,corporates, academia and

individuals from across theworld have signed up toadvocate for inclusion of theLGBT+ community. The#21DaysAllyChallenge, aninitiative by Pride Circle, aimsto bring a holistic social changeby building a community ofpassionate allies, across theworld. The campaign will startfrom today as it marks thebeginning of the Global PrideMonth.

As the world is trying tostabilise in the currentcircumstances, this is an effortto push forward for inclusion.The movement is joined byindividuals, influencers from 28nations and 70 organisations,and also academic institutionssuch as IIMs, IITs, NMIMS,MICA, Tagore InternationalSchool. This will also led tocreating safer schools,workplaces and society for thenext generation.

Under the initiative, alliesfrom across the world willengage in a series of 21 mini-challenges spread over a periodof 21 days in the month. This is

based on science that it takes 21days to form a new habit.

“We know that the future ofworkforce inclusion isdependent on culture change —made of seemingly small butvital everyday acts of allyshipand support. The challenge is afun and innovative way to spurindividual action for change,”says Deena Fidas, ManagingDirector, Chief Programme andPartnerships Officer, Out &Equal Workplace Advocates(USA).

“People across the worldcan come together in support ofequality for lesbian, gay, bi and

trans people. Visible allies to theLGBT community make a hugedifference, whether that’schampioning LGBT rights inyour work, or supporting LGBTfamily members or friends.Now, more than ever, weencourage everyone whobelieves in their equality tocome out for equality and findout more about how they canbe an ally,” says Pete Mercer,Head of Global Programmes,Stonewall (UK).

“In our country wherehomosexuality legalisation isyet to complete two years, thisis our leap of faith to create a

large-scale, global movementto advocate for equal rights andfair treatment for the LGBT+.We believe that allies are someof the most effective andpowerful voices for thismovement. The contributionof allies in terms of helpingcreate a space of comfort, helpbridge the gap inunderstanding of others withrespect to the importance ofequality, fairness, acceptanceand mutual respect, can bevast,” says Ramkrishna Sinha,Co-Founder, Pride Circle,commenting on thisempowering initiative.

“In the dark times Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times.”

—Bertolt Brecht(German theatre practition-

er, playwright, and poet)

At no other time in livingmemory do these lineshold as much truth as

they do now for art, is but, areflection of life. Or so they say.And theatre, more than any artform has tried to hold up a mir-ror to the society. But then, it isalso a social medium, wherepeople come and perform whilethe audience congregates in anauditorium to witness some-thing live as it happens. But inCovidian times of staggered vis-its, little circles on the floor toensure social distancing, howwould theatre unfold? Wouldthere be masks and sanitisers onstage or will we see plays on themigrant misery?

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Bhanu Bharti, theatre direc-tor, playwright and the founderof Aaj Rangmandal theatregroup is of the view that the pan-demic will affect it positively ina big way. “Modern society wasdisintegrated and we werebecoming self-centered.Ironically, it was social distanc-ing that made us realise theworth of society and the impor-tance of social interaction.Whenever the threat of the pan-demic ebbs, people will return tothe theatre with a vengeancebecause they have realised itsvalue.”

However, playwright anddirector M Sayeed Alam, wholeads the Pierrot’s Troupe, isconcerned about the people forwhom theatre is a means of sus-tenance and whom he calls“white collar labourers” as theylack pension and the other perksthat come with a job. “Comparedto any other industries, we willbe more affected. Even if thingsnormalise around January 2021,people would not start comingto theatres before June as theywould be afraid of crowds ini-tially.”

����� ��� �� ����Theatre is often the first to

tap into any significant occur-rence in history whether it is thePartition of the country or warsthat we have fought with ourneighbours. It is certainly the go-to art form to experience thetime in depth.

Shivani Wazir Pasrich,founder of CommonwealthCultural Forum and director ofStudy School, says, “Theatre is areflection of life. It is a way ofcataloguing history. It evolvesaccording to the time. The firsttheatre performance was thedance in a temple, which was aprayer to God, and these evolvedover time to be put on stage. Sotheatre, as it existed, wouldchange according to the times.”

Bharti says that theatrewould not step back when doc-umenting the misery that isbeing witnessed among themigrant labourers during thelockdown.

Alam on the other handpoints out that existing playswould have to incorporatechanges to reflect the new real-ity. “One of our most popularcomedy, Ghalib in New Delhi willsee the poet take rebirth inCorona times and would prob-ably be seen with a mask in thefirst scene itself,” he says wit889ha laugh. Besides masks becom-ing a new normal on stage, therecould also be change in thescript to include no shaking ofhands, sitting at a distance andcertainly no touching, feels thedirector.

Papiha Desai, theatre artist,dancer and choreographer wholeads the Indian Revival Group,a dance ensemble, says that therecould be masks which match theoutfits of the actors. The otherchange that she sees is, “Solo per-formances taking centre stage forsometime to come. The oneswith ensemble cast would pickup slowly after the audiencegains confidence and starts com-ing in.”

Mauraya Sharma, Director,Painting Tongue Productionsagrees that masks would be thenew accessory and a prop dur-ing performances. Foreseeing

that these might prove to be ahindrance in delivering dia-logues, he says, “We have toolswhich can pre record dialoguesthough, I agree, the seal ofauthenticity might go from aperformance.”

He goes on to add that therecould be a new form of theatrewhere the audience will be thespectacle. “Theatre based organ-isations in New York are releas-ing reading materials and perfor-mance clips for people to watchat home and take part in. Actorsask questions in a pre-recordedperformance and the audiencehas to respond to it.”

However, Amal Allana, the-atre director, scenic and costumedesigner who was the chairper-son of National School of Dramafor two consecutive termsbelieves that there would beinnovation with technologywhich would lead to a differentkinds of performances thatmight be more exciting. “Onecan easily use technology, lightand music for creating visuals.”

However she feels that the-atre really can’t bring the despairof the people on the roads to life— for a reason. She says, “Forme, no play can equate with evenone shot of masses of peoplewalking in heat. Should weduplicate it when we can seewhat is happening so blatantly in

front of our eyes? Can it beencapsulated? There are toomany questions.”

��������To put together any produc-

tion needs at least a month ofpractice with the ensemble castand the interactions during it arelikely to be affected. Alam says,“It is not like I go on stage oneday and use a sanitiser or keepwashing hands frequently. Wewould be rehearsing for days ina smaller space as compared toa theatre. Earlier, a drawingroom was enough for therehearsals. But now the RWA ormy neighbours could object to it.We would have to rehearse inpark or hire a large space so thatsocial distancing can be main-tained.”

�������� ��� �� ��������For any play to be successful

or for that matter just be puttogether on the stage requires anaudience which would applaudthe effort and also, fund it.However, the days of packedshows, where two people sittingbesides each other were jostlingfor space on the arm rest, can beconsidered a scene of yore.Alternate seats to ensure somedistance in between two peopleis an option. However, Alampoints out, “The auditorium

would have to reduce the rent ifwe do enforce something likethis. If that is not done and wesell 100 tickets instead of 300, wewould be incurring a loss unlesswe are funded by the govern-ment or have a sponsor.”

�� ��������� �� ���E�When the lockdown started,

many of the popular theatrecompanies started putting theircontent online. So one could seeBolshoi Theatre’s Swan Lake orthe past performances ofNational Centre for thePerforming Arts (NCPA),Mumbai sitting in the comfort ofour homes. Allana says, “Theatreis a lived experience. But giventhe times, art, dance perfor-mances and more can be putonline with the help of technol-ogy. There are multiple things wecan actually do in theatre.Musicals, where musicians are atdifferent locations or even soloperformances online are someoptions that are already beingexplored.”

Pasrich feels that this time isa tremendous opportunity fortheatre to go online. “Be it theactor or the audience, the oppor-tunity lies in curation. It is a toolto be integrated in people’s livesand to further the profession. Asan economic activity, we have toreinvent this space. Now is thetime to see what will people dositting at home. Maybe, you canstart online theatre or readingand have fees or contributions forthose.”

Desai says that discussionswith artistes, performances andmore has already moved to theweb space and that is the way for-ward. “Sangeet Natak Akademi isgetting senior artistes for discus-sions as it is evident that therewould be no performances for atleast a year and a half. Moreover,countries are closing borders, sothere wouldn’t be any perfor-mances abroad as well.Humankind knows how to inno-vate and adapt in order to surviveand that is the way forward.”

However many feel that,while this option is fine for thetime being, it is not viable in thelong run. Bharti says, “I see a lotof my friends doing things online

and even though it is somethingvery interesting but that is nottheatre. Theatre is comingtogether for putting up a deeperand more meaningful play.”

Alam too has reservationsabout the online path which hefeels ,“is a poor alternative andwon’t survive as there are somany things to watch online. Thespeciality of an auditorium is thatyou cannot watch anything else.”He also points out that he madea three-minute film which manypeople, who love his two-hourplays, found long and lacking inpace. “So, logically how can theywatch a two-hour online play?”

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Will theatre be born in a newavatar or will the pandemic giveit a new direction? The practi-tioners believe that changes areinevitable. Sharma says, “Theatrehas been something very tempo-rary. So the big question iswhether it wants to remain tran-sient or record itself?”

Pasrich on the other hand isall for a stepping up of content.She says, “In order to sustaintheir passion and homes throughthe love they have for theatre,artistes would have to come outwith exceptional work whichusually happens during chal-lenge times and situations. Thisis the time to write and create andreinvent. We have the tools,which are unbelievable, to do so.”Beyond the economic dimen-sions, the creator of plays likeDraupadi and Tiger says that athome theatre can offer the optionto heal. “By means of role playyou might be able to react differ-ently to a situation and keep yoursanity in these trying times byscripting your response andbeing in control.”

Allana too feels that theactivities around theatre do nothave to be centered around justputting a performance on stage.“This is a good time to createarchives of theatre, engage inresearch, write books, discussplays — all of which theatreneeds. It will give us a good timeto reflect on the art and see thedirection we want to take.”

We all look forward to that.

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Three friends in alow-incomeneighbourhood findhumour and hope intheir lives as theygrapple with badboyfriends and theirdysfunctional families.Starring Mélissa Bédard,Ève Landry andFlorence Longpré,season 1 releases onJune 4 on Netflix.

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Following four hope-ful competitors, this doc-umentary explores IndianAmericans’ decades-longsuccess at the biggestspelling contest in theUS. The film releases onJune 3 on Netflix.

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A bank robber joins aplot to commit one final,historic heist before thegovernment turns on amind-altering signal that willend all criminal behaviour.Starring Edgar Ramírez,Michael Pitt and AnnaBrewster, the film releases onJune 5 on Netflix.

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We live in a society that appears increasinglynumb to the causes and effects of human suf-

fering,” pens popular author Michelle MaryLelwica. So what exactly is ailing the world we livein? Today, if one turns on the television to watchnews, the level of misery shown through the visu-als is simply unprecedented. Despite so much dis-tress around, we still fail to take any action. Ourhearts ache for the tragedies, we witness, but onlytemporarily. For if we were to absorb the misery,then we would no longer be able to function ineveryday life. Isn’t it?

Many people have tried to diagnose the pre-sent ailments of society from their own stand-pointbased on their discipline. For example, if you askan economist, he would say that all the present-day social, political and biological maladiesemerge mainly from economic disparities andinequalities. The two economic systems are main-ly responsible for poverty, malnutrition, armamentrace, political strife and what not. He might say thatthe rest of the prob-lems are the off-shoots or the othersufferings could beeliminated oncehumans are freefrom their econom-ic burdens. Someother person wouldemphasise that aproper political sys-tem is the need ofthe hour as it,alone, can act toremove economicinequalities, endarmament race,safeguard humanrights and eliminate disharmony between varioussections of society.

Similarly, others will give their point of viewand explain their own theories and justify theirsignificance for eliminating the present miseries.However, most of these views are quite illusory anddepressing. In response to these, we have becomedefeatist regarding complex issues, yet we jump onto the more trivial causes to deliver equally triv-ial solutions. Our perceptions have been soundermined that the most pertinent issues remainas they are. Whereas, the bulk of activism that gainsmass attention and hype focuses on the superfi-cial. The media provides ridiculous distractions,which the public responds to with excitement. Ata time where we, as a society, should be discussingabout real issues affecting lives of millions of ourbrethren, we entertain ourselves watching the so-called important people fight during news chan-nel debates.

Amid this chaos, the real issues are being sweptunder the rug because they are too complex andthey require some critical analysis. The mainstreammedia avoids tackling these because they are tooboring and puzzling for the audience. A spectaclehas seeped into our culture and into our very wayof life. We are constantly inundated with illusionsand pretense. In front of the curtain is entertain-ment, distraction and superficiality, while behindthe curtain lurks the truth and the critical voicethat is often silenced. So who is to blame for this?If we go deeper within, our analysis would revealthat the root cause of all these sufferings is iden-tity crisis. Yes, it’s a truth that man does not knowhimself, nor does he correctly know his place inthe cosmic scheme. As a result, he does not knowhis correct relationship with other human beings.This, in turn, leads to a lack of moral or spiritualvalues and it is that which has ultimately led to thebreak-down of all the systems. We should under-stand that nothing can work unless man has a cor-dial relationship with his fellow beings based onsome values, which determine his rights and duties.So what is utmost necessary in the present crisisis the rational, practical knowledge of the self thatcan serve as the correct basis for all human rela-tionships. So start some soul searching andembark on a wonderful journey of self discovery.

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One of the greatest challengesfacing the medical world

today, is mental health. Thestress of modern life has beentaking a great toll on the peaceand inner happiness of thehuman beings. Modern life andthe pressure of material acqui-sitions have taken away thesense of deep harmony and val-ues which once pervaded thelives of men and women insociety. As Sujata Chatterji andI travelled across the world to 10countries for shooting our filmYoga for Health & GlobalHarmony, we saw how thisancient system has helped torestore a sense of balance andhappiness in practitioners. Truly,in a world being torn by men-tal ill-health and an all-pervasivesense of dissatisfaction as well asdisorientation, yoga appearstoday to be the one workablesolution.

In an interview with Dr BNGangadhar, director of NationalInstitute of Mental Health andNeuro-Sciences, Bengaluru, hesays, “Yoga research atNIMHANS has shown veryimpressive results with respect to

the biological changes in thebrain and other organs of thebody. It should be conducive forbetter emotional recovery aswell as mental health promotion.Yoga can help repair the brain.There is an inbuilt system bywhich the brain could dynami-cally keep getting ‘repaired’ andone of the chemicals required forthis is called the ‘brain derived

neurotropic factor’. We havedemonstrated that the practiceof yoga produced an increase inits level. So it means that thebrain started developing someinherent strength to repair itself.”

Esther Seegers, TeachersTraining Course Student,Sivananda Yoga Farm, USA,explains, “I have seen the chaosamong teenagers, especially thesubstance abuse in high schools.

They need help. They have noidea about whom they shouldturn to and they are basicallynumbing their feelings and theirtrue nature because they feel thatthey are not able to be who they

are. And yes, there is not enoughcompassion or it’s just that theyneed help at the end of the day.It is yoga that can give us that.”

Yoga researcher and expert,Dr Sat Bir Khalsa from Brighamand Women’s Hospital, Boston,USA, believes that yoga has a rel-evance. “It provides skills andoutcomes that society current-ly doesn’t have. These are essen-tially behavioural skills thatallow us to manage our minds,bodies and emotions in veryeffective ways,” shares he.

In another interview,Landon Gallant, sportsman andTeachers Training CourseStudent, Sivananda Yoga Farm,USA, says, “I played soccer for28 years and the last half of thattime was very aggressive. Thephysical nature of game calledfor a certain body type. So as Ihave slowly evolved away fromthat, I have completely surren-dered to the practice of yoga. Iwas able to transform myselffrom an animal warrior to a spir-itual warrior. This allows yourego to soften and become likewater. Your life, your heart willopen up and so will your mind.”

According to a recently publishedWorld Bank report, “Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in India have

risen to the extraordinary challenge ofCOVID-19 pandemic. They are meetingthe shortfalls in masks, sanitisers andprotective equipment, running com-munity kitchens, fighting misinformationand even providing banking and finan-cial solutions to far-flung communities.”The data from the same report suggeststhat around 20,000 SHGs across 27Indian states had produced more than 19million masks, over 1,00,000 litres ofsanitiser and nearly 50,000 litres ofhand wash by April 11.

This is not the first time that SHGshave come forward to help the nation indealing with a disaster. In four decades,they have helped our country survivethrough droughts, floods, famines, earth-quakes and riots. Started with the pur-pose of promoting financial indepen-dence among rural communities, espe-cially among women, and offering themloans on special rates, SHGs have comea long way.

It was in 1980s that the self-helpgroup movement had begun in Indiawhen several “NGOs mobilised andorganised poor communities in ruralareas to provide formal channels forsocial and financial support.” Accordingto researchers, Misha Sharma and ShreyaChatterjee, “This programme gainedmomentum with the National Bank forAgriculture and Rural Development(NABARD) linking a small number ofgroups with banks. Called the Self-HelpGroup Bank Linkage Programme(SBLP), the revolutionary initiative con-nected group members — many ofwhom never had a bank account before— to formal financial services in a sus-tainable and scalable manner.”

Today, SHGs are at the core ofdevelopment in rural societies, helpingthose below poverty line secure loans tosustain their micro and small-scale agri-culture and agriculture-allied endeavours.In hilly areas, where earning opportuni-ties are meagre (and even lesser forwomen), SHGs have become a platformsynonymous with financial indepen-dence. According to Ministry of RuralDevelopment’s website, of the total64,53,268 SHGs in the country, 30,802groups are working in the hill state ofUttarakhand.

They have changed the outlook ofwomen in this state. “Earlier, my familycould not afford to fulfill even the sim-plest of its wishes. Whatever little weearned, was spent on meeting our basicneeds. After becoming a member of theSHG, I learnt the art of saving money andthat has helped me become financiallyindependent,” shared Parvati Devi, anactive member of Parvati Self-HelpGroup which is active in Toli, a small vil-

lage.With over two decades of existence,

the SHGs have become more than justa medium for securing loans and savings.Several livelihood schemes are launchedby government every financial year toempower women economically — thesegroups act as delivery mechanism forimplementation of such programmes.Their active presence in every villagehelps both, government and non-govern-ment organisations, to reach out tomaximum number of women andencourage them to participate in liveli-hood and skill trainings, communitydevelopment programmes and muchmore.

One of the many organisations inUttarakhand, the Central HimalayanEnvironment Association (CHEA),Nainital, adopted 33 women SHGs inAlmora and Nainital districts in 2018under its project funded by Departmentof Science and Technology. With the par-ticipation of 345 women, these adoptedgroups were able to save ̀ 4,75,000 underthis project. This money was then

offered as a loan to its group membersto fulfill their urgent household needs.A part of the amount was also borrowedby members for agriculture-related activ-ities. The low-interest rates and smoothprocess of returning money throughEMIs without going to the banks helpedvillagers pay back their loans on time.

“In the last two years, CHEA hashelped us to grow — right from educat-ing and encouraging us to save moneyand invest the borrowed amount in liveli-hood generation activities — and guid-ed us at every step. Attending their groupmeetings has improved our knowledgeabout several schemes. We are informedabout different government and non-government projects running in our areasand have benefitted from them,” sharedDeepa Devi, a member of a SHG groupadopted by CHEA.

The SBLP has helped rural commu-nities in Uttarakhand and in other states,especially the women, become financial-ly empowered. Women and men work-ing as small and marginal farmers, farmlabourers, artisans have found guidance

in these SHGs which promote the con-cept of mutual support among the com-munities. Their collective strengthbecomes even more visible during diffi-cult times such as these when the entirecountry is fighting the pandemic. It is theSHGs across the country which havecome forward to help the most vulnera-

ble sections of their respective societies.This proves that the training provided tothem over the years is not only for ‘self-help’ but to serve others in difficult timeslike the ones we are witnessing.

(This article has been written underSanjoy Ghose Media Fellowship 2019-20.)

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Bo r u s s i aMo e n c h e n g l a d b a c hrouted Union Berlin 4-

1 on Sunday to go third in theBundesliga with French strik-er Marcus Thuram scoringtwice and taking a knee inprotest at the death of anunarmed black man in theUnited States.

"Marcus has made thepoint. He has set an exampleagainst racism that we allsupport," Gladbach coachMarco Rose said of Thuram'sprotest.

First-half goals by mid-fielder Florian Neuhaus, whobagged Gladbach's 3,000thgoal in the Bundesliga, andThuram put Gladbach 2-0 upat the break when he headedhome unmarked at the farpost.

The 22-year-old French strikerthen took a kneeon the BorussiaPark turf, imitat-ing NFL star ColinKaepernick.

"No explana-tion needed,"wrote BorussiaMoenchengladbach on theclub's official Twitter account.

It was the latest show ofBundesliga solidarity with thecurrent protests sweeping theUnited States.

Schalke's US midfielderWeston McKennie wore anarmband in Saturday's defeatto Werder Bremen bearing thewords "Justice for George".

George Floyd, 46, died inMinneapolis during an arrestby a police officer who pinnedhim to the ground for sever-al minutes by kneeling on his

neck.Just after the break in

Gladbach, Union's Swedishstriker Sebastian Anderssonpulled one back after being

left unmarked.Gladbach pulled away

when Thuram added his sec-ond after pressing the Uniondefence.

Alassane Plea thengrabbed a goal of his own forGladbach, having set upThuram's first, when he firedhome off his left foot to make

it 4-1 on 81 minutes when hebeat Union goalkeeper RafalGikiewicz.

After the final whistle,the Gladbach squad celebrat-ed in front of terraces filledwith cardboard figures of fans.

There were 15,000 cut-outs on the terraces atBorussia Park with home sup-porters paying 19 euros ($21)each to have their image at thegame as fans remain shut outto prevent the spread of theCOVID-19 virus.

After a 3-1 defeat toLeverkusen last weekend, anda goalless draw with relega-tion-threatened WerderBremen on Tuesday, this wasan important win forGladbach.

It lifted them to third inthe table, but RB Leipzig cantake their place if they win atCologne on Monday.

On Saturday, reigningchampions Bayern Munichopened a 10-point lead with a5-0 thrashing of FortunaDuesseldorf with the league'stop-scorer RobertLewandowski netting twice.

Later Sunday, second-placed Borussia Dortmundcan trim Bayern's lead if theywin at bottom side Paderborn.

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����2�� A group of 13 Sri Lankan crick-eters, comprising mainly bowlers, willresume training on Monday following thecoronavirus hiatus, the country’s cricketboard said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said in a state-ment that a “selected squad of 13 memberswill undergo a 12-day Residential TrainingCamp at the Colombo Cricket Club”.

“The players taking part in the camprepresents a general squad chosen fromacross all formats, and primarily consist ofbowlers, as they need more time for ‘con-ditioning’ before going into active compe-tition,” the statement said.

The coaching and support staff oversee-ing the training of the players will consistof a four-member unit. All the players willstrictly adhere to the health regulationsimposed by the Government.

The SLC said it has “taken all requiredmeasures in consultation with the Ministryof Sports and the Ministry of Health to

ensure the safety of every individual involvedin this exercise, and has formulated a set ofprocedures to adhere, during the camp peri-od and before”.

The governing body said “members tak-ing part in the camp, will not be allowed toleave the hotel premises or the practice venueto attend personal matters during the train-ing period”.

The South African Government has alsoallowed non-contact sports, including crick-et, to return to play, a decision hailed byCricket South Africa (CSA) acting CEOJacques Faul as a “big boost”.

He said the Covid Steering Committeewill meet on Monday to draw up a proto-col covering the return to training and play-ing. “At this stage these regulations applyonly to professional cricket and our next stepwill be to draw up a protocol covering thereturn to training and playing and submitit to SRSA for approval.

“Both our national teams and ourfranchises will in due time be given the greenlight to return to training.”

Faul, however, said no one will be forcedto resume training. PTI

������ :�����

The common perceptionmight be that Mahendra

Singh Dhoni does not show a lotof emotion on the field and isCaptain Cool. But on Sunday, theiconic former India captain’swife Sakshi said that Dhoni isalways emotional about thegame as it is his love.

While talking about Dhonigetting emotional after leadingChennai Super Kings to theirthird Indian Premier League titlein 2018, Sakshi said during anInstagram Live chat on CSK’sofficial handle: “Mahi (Dhoni’spet name) is always emotionalabout cricket. It’s his love.”

Rajasthan Royals (RR) alongwith CSK were making a come-back to the IPL after a two-yearban. Sakshi also revealed howthe avid gamer in Dhoni helpsthe veteran wicketkeeper-bats-man relax.

“Video games are a stressbuster for him. He has a think-ing brain which doesn’t rest. Sovideo games help him and he is

now too much into Call Of Dutyand PlayerUnknownsBattlegrounds (PUBG).”

Sakshi also joked that onlyshe can pick up a fight with ice-cool Dhoni who last turned outfor India during their loss toNew Zealand in the 2019 WorldCup semi-final.

“Nobody picks up a fightwith him. I am the only one,” shesmiled. Sakshi also revealedthat Dhoni has always kept hisdoor open during tours andplayers could walk in any time

they wanted.“Mahi has always kept his

door open. It has been like thatsince 2010 (when we got mar-ried). People come...we chatsometimes till 3-4 in the morn-ing. When they come to talk to

Mahi about cricket, I go away.”Sakshi also said CSK has

always been a family to them.“It is nice to be part of the

family. They take the sport assport and there are no hard feel-ings.”

��3��������He has been phenomenal inthe last few years and India pacer IshantSharma simply believes that it has to dowith him “enjoying his cricket”.

The 31-year-old, who is India’ssenior-most cricketer in the current set-up with 97 Tests, said that he wouldn’tprobably like to sledge Steve Smith dur-ing the next tour of Australia, unlike the2017 home series game in Bengaluruwhere his facial expression became ameme.

“I am in that phase of my careerwhere I am enjoying my cricket and moreI enjoy, better it is. I will take more wick-ets and win matches for the team unlessyou guys want to provoke me and get me

banned,” Ishant, known for his drysense of humour, said. He was speakingto teammate Mayank Agarwal during apodcast, Open Nets with Mayank, andaired by bcci.Tv.

When Agarwal asked about hisnow-famous facial gesture to the formerAustralian captain, the senior speedstersaid that the sole aim was to upset Smith’srhythm.

“I was trying to upset Steve Smith’srhythm. We knew if we could get thatwicket, we would have a better chanceof winning. Virat doesn’t mind aggres-sion. He is an aggressive captain and onlything he will tell is ‘just get me the wick-et but make sure you don’t get banned’.”

Ishant, who was a part of the pacequartet during the 2018-19 historicseries win in Australia, still cherishes thefeat. “I have been on for tours toAustralia (since 2007-08) and I knowhow tough it is. Havingheard all these yearsthat we don’t win inAustralia, you have thateagerness and urge towin.” PTI

����� ��*�

Paris Saint-Germainhave signed Argentina

international MauroIcardi from Inter Milanon a four-year deal aftertaking up the option to

buy the on-loan forward,the two clubs announcedon Sunday.

Icardi joined PSGthis season and impressedwith 20 goals in 31 games,before the Ligue 1 cam-paign was stopped andhis club crowned cham-pions because of the coro-navirus pandemic.

“Paris Saint-Germainare delighted to announcethe signing of MauroIcardi on a permanentdeal, following the strik-er’s loan from Inter Milanduring the 2019-2020season,” the French clubsaid in a statement.

Icardi, who has eight

caps for Argentina, butalso holds an Italian pass-port, has signed a four-year deal until June 30,2024.

Given the currenteconomic situation theFrench champions suc-ceeded in reducing the fee“to under” 60 millioneuros ($66 million), asopposed to the 70 millioneuros initially requested,according to the Frenchand Italian sports press.

Inter Milan thankedIcardi “for the six seasonshe spent with us andwish him the best for hisfuture professionalcareer”.

����� Real Madrid left-back Marcelo said thatthe players ‘can’t wait’ to get back to playing reg-ular football.

“We had never gone so long without being ableto train out on the pitch and our desire to play foot-ball has been growing ever since we stopped. Nowwe’re close to getting going again and we can’t wait,”Marcelo told Real Madrid’s official website.

“It’s been different to what we’re used to. Wehave to take the positives from it and now we’reused to the routine; it’s not like it usedto be but everything’s good. We’re allhealthy, the training sessions havebeen fantastic in recovering ourrhythm. “Having not touched a ballfor so long, when you go back outon the pitch you’ve lost yourtouch a bit, but now we just can’twait to start playing games,” headded. IANS

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Pakistan’s head coach-cum-chief selectorMisbah-ul-Haq has backed Babar Azam to

succeed as the national team’s ODI and T20 cap-tain despite former batting coach Grant Flowerexpressing concerns over his ability to handle thepressure that comes with the job.

Misbah said the 25-year-old Azam has shownhe is capable of dealing with the expectations.

“Making Babar captain of the T20 team lastyear was a tester really. We wanted to see how hewill respond to the challenge and how it will affecthis batting,” Misbah said in an interview.

“But all of us agreed that he handled the pres-sure well and if anything the responsibility of beingcaptain only made him show more responsibili-ty as a batsman,” he added.

Azam was given leadership of Pakistan’s ODIteam earlier this month.

Flower, who worked with the Pakistan teamas batting coach from 2014 till after last year’sWorld Cup, expressed concerns about Azam’scapability to captain in two formats and be theteam’s best batsman as well.

����� -�*'� �

Atalanta coach Gian PieroGasperini on Sunday

slammed as ‘awful’ the new rulewhich now allows teams tomake five substitutions in amatch instead of three.

“Five subs? Terrible. Thegame is distorted,” Gasperinitold Gazzetta Dello Sport.

“We become basketball.There may be ten new players onthe pitch at the end.”

FIFA has made the tempo-rary change to ease the physicalstrain on players, who arereturning to a congested periodof games after a lengthy breakdue to the coronavirus pandem-ic. But it could favour the biggerclubs, such as Juventus, whohave deeper squads and betterplayers ready to come off thebench.

“Who’s the genius whoclaims that injuries can be avoid-ed?” continued the former InterMilan coach.

“On that basis? Better tochange players from one gameto another.

“How can you be allowed tochange your engine halfwaythrough the Grand Prix. It takesaway from the show.”

Serie A returns on June 20with Gasperini’s side in fourth,and battling for the final

Champions League berth inItaly. “I don’t like football with-out fans either, but it’s the onlyway to start again,” he continued.

“During the first day of theBundesliga I zapped, I could notfollow. Borussia-Bayern, on theother hand, was a good game.

“I saw many technical errorseven from important players —in an empty stadium it is moredifficult to stay focused.”

Sampdoria coach ClaudioRanieri, however, hailed fivesubstitutions “a great thing” ashis side battle relegation.

“The heat and matches closetogether carry a risk for players,”said the former Leicester Citymanager.

“When there are threegames a week the stress will beconsiderable.”

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World ChampionshipBronze medallist

Vinesh Phogat is set to benominated for Khel Ratnafor the second year in arow while Rio OlympicBronze winner SakshiMalik wants to be in con-tention for the Arjunaaward, although she isalready a recipient ofcountry’s highest sportinghonour.

Vinesh, who is thelone woman wrestler tohave qualified for the now-postponed TokyoOlympics, had missed outon the honour last yearwith fel low grapplerBajrang Punia getting theprestigious award.

She has been consis-tent in the last three years,winning Asian GamesGold in Jakarta. She qual-ified for the Tokyo Gamesby winning a Bronze at the

World Championship inNur Sultan in 2019.

Early this year, shewon a Bronze at the AsianChampionship, held inNew Delhi.

“We will send Vinesh’sapplication on Monday forKhel Ratna. She will be astrong contender. But wehave not yet decided onArjuna award applicationbecause we have receivedmany applications. TheWFI President will have alook and decide whoseapplication is to be for-warded to the ministry,”WFI Assiatant SecretaryVinod Tomar said.

“We still have time tillJune 3. But most likely thenames will be sent tomor-row (Monday),” he added.

A WFI source saidSakshi, who has beenstruggling badly of late,has sent her application forthe Arjuna. She had gotKhel Ratna in 2016 along

with gymnast DipaKarmakar and shooter JituRai.

Recently she lost twiceto young grappler SonamMalik, who stopped theelite athlete from makingthe cut even for the AsianOlympic Qualifiers.

It will be interesting tosee if WFI sends her namesince 2019 WorldChampionship Si lvermedallist Deepak Punia(86kg) and very-talentedRahul Aware (61kg, non-olympic category) havealso sent their applica-tions for the Arjuna.

“She had no achieve-ment before the RioGames, so her name wasnot sent for Arjuna. Sinceshe won a Bronze in Rio,she (directly) got the KhelRatna that time. Now shewants the Arjuna award aswell,” the source said.

If WFI goes by perfor-mance, it will not send

Sakshi’s name because bet-ter performers like DeepakPunia and Rahul Awarestand a better chance to getthe award as they willcompete with brilliant ath-letes from other disci-plines.

Also sending his appli-cation to WFI for theArjuna is Sandeep Tomar,who was a strong candi-date in the 57kg before therise of Ravi Dahiya, the2019 World C’ship Bronzemedallist.

While application haveto be filled by the athletes,it is the national federationwhich has to recommendnames for the sportsawards to the ministry.

The athletes can stillsend their applications iftheir form is endorsed bytheir state unit or a formernational awardee —Arjuna, Khel Ratna,Dhyan Chand or orDronacharya.

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Charter flights to ferry US Opentennis players and limited

entourages from Europe, SouthAmerica and the Middle East to NewYork.

Negative Covid-19 tests beforetravelling. Centralized housing. Dailytemperature checks.

No spectators. Fewer on-courtofficials. No locker-room access onpractice days.

All are among the scenarios beingconsidered for the 2020 US Open —

if it is held at all amid the coronaviruspandemic — and described to TheAssociated Press by a high-rankingofficial at the Grand Slam tournament.

“All of this is still fluid,” StaceyAllaster, the US Tennis Association’schief executive for professional tennis,said in a telephone interview onSaturday. “We have made no decisionsat all.”

With that caveat, Allaster addedthat if the USTA board does decide togo forward with the Open, she expectsit to be held at its usual site and in itsusual spot on the calendar. The maindraw is scheduled to start August 31.

“We continue to be, I would say,150% focused on staging a safe envi-ronment for conducting a US Open atthe Billie Jean King National TennisCenter in New York on our dates. It’sall I wake up — our team wakes up —thinking about,” Allaster said.

“The idea of an alternative venue,an alternative date ... We’ve got aresponsibility to explore it, but it does-n’t have a lot of momentum."

An announcement should comefrom “mid-June to end of June,”Allaster said.

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A hashtag, namely#DhoniRetires, recently startedtrending on social media butsoon, it became apparent thatit was just another falserumour.

“He has had zero presenceon social media during this

lockdown, I don’t know wherethese things come from. I justdon’t know,” Sakshi said.

Sakshi had previously rub-bished rumours of the veteranwicketkeeper-batsman’s retire-ment from international crick-et following the Twitter trends.

“Its only rumours ! Iunderstand Lockdown hasmade people mentally unsta-ble ! #DhoniRetires .. Get a life! (sic),” Sakshi had written onTwitter.

However, just a few min-utes after posting the tweet, shedeleted it.

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