ˆ - the pioneer · the intern let out a sigh of relief that her quest for justice was over at...

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God sees the truth but waits”,the famous story by Leo

Tolstoy, was exactly the same inthe modern context, the wayNirbhaya’s battered soul andher grieving parents waitedfor the 7 long years to see therapists and killers beinghanged.

Justice was finally deliveredwhen the hangman Pawan

pulled the lever of all the fourdeath-row convicts one afteranother at 5.30 am on Fridaymorning and thus putting anend to the most talked aboutgangrape and subsequent mur-der of a 23-year-old para-medic girl in the independentIndia.

Cheers went up after thehanging with some waving thenational flag and shouting slo-gans of 'Long Live Nirbhaya'and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'. Thecrowd even distributed sweetsamid the chanting 'Nirbhayahas got justice, the other daugh-ters still await'. The brutality ofthe crime on a winter nightmore than seven years agohad shaken the nation. Afterthe execution of the convictsPrime Minister Narendra Modisaid justice has prevailed. "It

was of the utmost importanceto ensure the dignity and safe-ty of women," the PMsaid.While talking to media ather home after a sleepless nightthat also saw the SupremeCourt holding an extraordinaryhearing that continued till 3.30am, Asha Devi, mother ofNirbhaya said they finally gotjustice but their fight will con-tinue for India's daughters.

Mukesh Singh (32), PawanGupta (25), Vinay Sharma (26)and Akshay Kumar Singh (31)were executed at 5.30 am inTihar Jail. And the mother ofthe intern let out a sigh of reliefthat her quest for justice wasover at last.

Nirbhaya was raped andbrutalised by six men, includ-ing a juvenile at the time, in anempty bus that was driventhrough the streets of thenational Capital on December16, 2012. They then dumpedher on the road and left her fordead on the cold winter night.Her friend who was with herwas also severely beaten andthrown out along with her.

She was so severely violat-ed that her insides were spilling

out when she was taken tohospital and died in aSingapore hospital after bat-tling for her life for a fort-night.Of the six, Ram Singhallegedly committed suicidein Tihar Jail days after thetrial began, and the juvenilewas released in 2015 afterspending three years in acorrectional home. On Fridaymorning since 4 am, hun-dreds of people started togather in front of Tiharprison. In view on executionthe authorities has alsoincreased its security in andaround the jail premises.

As the clock ticked forthe execution of the four

convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case and theTihar Prison authorities gearedup for the process, none of theconvict showed any resistancewhile being taken up to gallowson Friday morning.

According to Tihar prisonauthorities, the convicts alsodid not show any signs of anx-iety on the night before theirexecution and skipped break-fast on Friday. Vinay andMukesh had dinner but none ofthe four had breakfast or a bathbefore they were led to the gal-lows. "The meal comprisedroti, dal, rice and sabzi. Akshayhad tea in the evening but didnot have dinner. The four con-victs showed no signs of anxi-ety in the evening. Minutesbefore the execution, Mukeshhad said he would like todonate his organs while Vinaywanted his paintings, doneduring his years in jail, to begiven to the jail superintendentand his 'Hanuman Chalisa' tohis family," he said.

"The bodies were kepthanging for half an hour, amandatory procedure after exe-cution in accordance with theprison manual. bodies weretaken to the DDU Hospital forpost-mortem and later werehanded over to family," said theofficial.

This is the first time thatfour men have been hangedtogether in Tihar Jail, SouthAsia's largest prison complexthat houses more than 16,000inmates.The executions werecarried out after men exhaust-ed every possible legal avenueto escape the gallows. Theirdesperate attempts only post-poned the inevitable by lessthan two months after firstdate of execution was set forJanuary 22.

Continued on Page 4

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India as on Friday reported 55more positive cases of

COVID-19, highest so far in aday, taking the total tally to 249belying hopes that the onset ofsummer will curb the spreadof deadly coronavirus. Amongthose found positive for thenovel coronavirus are 32 for-eign nationals, including 17from Italy, three from thePhilippines, two from the UK,one each belonging to Canada,Indonesia and Singapore. Thefigure also included fourdeaths reported from Delhi,Karnataka, Punjab andMaharashtra so far.

Presently, 6,700 peoplewho came in contact with thepatients are under rigoroussurveillance.A spike in num-bers prompted the States andUTs to reinforce its efforts tocontain the spread. While theMaharashtra Chief Ministersaid all workplaces in majorcities, including in country’scommercial hub Mumbai andPune, will remain closed tillMarch 31, the Delhi ChiefMinister announced shuttingdown of all malls in thenational Capital, but exempt-ed grocery stores and phar-macies.

The Centre extended tillApril 15 the regular visa ande-visa of those foreignersstranded in India due to thecoronavirus pandemic. Indiahas reported four deaths so fardue to the virus that has takentoll on 5,168 people across thecontinent, mostly in Italywhich is now the hardest hitcountry in the world with3,405 fatalities.

As coronavirus continuedits upward trajectory acrossthe country, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Friday helda meeting via video link anddeliberated ways to check itsspread with Chief Ministers ofvarious States. Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan andtop Health Ministry officialswere present in the meeting.

On the other hand, sever-al Indo-Pacific nations onFriday held a teleconference toexchange their assessmentsabout the coronavirus pan-demic and discuss ways towork in synergy to combat theglobal menace. ForeignSecretary Harsh VardhanShringla took part in a US-ini-tiated teleconference duringwhich he briefed the partici-pants on the proactive stepstaken by India to counter thepandemic.

On the issue of Indianstranded in Europe in transitdue to the travel restrictionsimposed by India in the wakeof coronavirus scare, theGovernment said it is workingout the logistics with variousairlines to bring them back.

“The MEA is working out

the logistics with airline com-panies to bring back strandedIndians from EU countries,”the MEA said. The airlines didnot let them fly on board forthe fear of penalty, AdditionalSecretary in MEA, DammuRavi, told reporters here.Healso clarified that no Indiandiplomats and embassy offi-cials or staff have been infect-ed with COVID-19 as per theGovernment’s knowledge evenin the worst affected cities likeWuhan and Italy.

“The total number ofactive COVID-19 cases acrossIndia stands at 196 so far,” LavAgarwal, Joint Secretary,Union Health Ministry saidhere at a Press conference,adding that 23 others haveb e e ncured/discharged/migratedwhile four have died. Delhihas, so far, reported 17 posi-

tive cases, which includes oneforeigner, while Uttar Pradeshhas recorded 23 cases, includ-ing one foreigner. Meanwhile,a 69-year-old Italian touristwho had “recovered” from thenovel coronavirus died at aprivate hospital in Jaipur aftersuffering a massive cardiacarrest late on Thursday night,

SMS Medical College princi-pal Sudhir Bhandari said.States continue to report thecases. Maharashtra has 52cases, including three for-eigners, while Kerala hasrecorded 28 cases whichinclude two foreign nationalswhile Karnataka has 15 coro-navirus patients. The number

of cases in Ladakh rose to 10and Jammu & Kashmir four.Telangana has reported 17cases, which include nine for-eigners.Rajasthan has alsoreported 17 cases, includingthat of two foreigners. TamilNadu has three cases so farwhile Andhra Pradesh hasthree.

In Haryana, there are 17cases, which include 14 for-eigners. Odisha has two caseswhile Uttarakhand has threecases so far. West Bengal andPunjab each reported twocases while Puducherry,Chandigarh and Punjabreported one case each. “Atotal of 14,376 samples from13,486 individuals have beentested for SARS-CoV2 as onMarch 20,” Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR)officials said.

The sources said that theICMR is likely to soon issueinstructions to the accreditedprivate labs who have beengiven nod to conduct tests forthe virus to cap the price of

each test between Rs 4,500 andRs 5,000. The Union HealthMinistry has also asked hos-pitals and medical educationinstitutes to procure sufficientnumber of ventilators andhigh flow oxygen masks andadvised them to decrease gath-erings on their respectivepremises.

Without naming singerKanika Kapoor who evadedtest by escaping from the air-port, and has been found pos-itive for the virus on Friday,Lav Agarwal said that Statesare empowered to take legal

action against those hidingtheir travel status or medicaltreatment. “States are empow-ered to take legal actionagainst those evading or hid-ing their status. There havebeen cases where people havebeen found running awayfrom the test,” he said.

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�� New Delhi: The Delhi Metroservices will be closed onSunday in view of “Janata cur-few”, officials said. “The moveis aimed at encouraging publicto stay indoors and maintainsocial distancing, which isessential in the fight againstCOVID-19,” DMRC said.

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��Mumbai: Snapping its four-day losing streak, equitybenchmark Sensex ralliedover 1,627 points on Friday inline with global markets asGovernments across theworld took drastic measuresto combat the economicblowback of Covid-19. Afterstarting on a volatile note andswinging over 2,485 points,the BSE barometer ended1,627.73 points or 5.75 percent higher at 29,915.96.

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The second part of the BudgetSession of Uttarakhand

assembly would commencefrom March 25 at Dehradun.The governor of UttarakhandBaby Rani Maurya issued thenotification for the session onFriday. In her order,the governorhas said the session would beheld in Dehradun in view of theUttarakhand governmentdeclaring Coronavirus(COVID-19) as epidemic inthe state.

The first part of the budgetsession was organised atBharadisain near Gairsain inChamoli district. As per the con-vention, one session of assemblyis organised at one place only.After the outbreak of COVID-19 and state government declar-ing the disease as pandemic, aconsensus between the rulingparty and opposition wasreached on holding the remain-ing part of session at Dehradun.

It is learnt that the state gov-ernment consulted Congressleaders Indira Hridayesh andPritam Singh before changingthe venue of second part of thebudget session. A proposal for

holding session in Dehradunwas passed by state cabinet onThursday after which the gov-ernor issued a fresh notificationon Friday.

The budget session ofUttarakhand assembly started atBhararidain near Gairsain inChamoli district on March 3.The session was adjourned onMarch 7 (Saturday) by thespeaker Premchand Agarwaltill March 25. The remainingpart of the session is expected tobe of three days.

The chief ministerTrivendra Singh Rawat whoalso holds the finance portfoliohad presented a budget of Rs53526.97 Crore for the financialyear 2020-21 at Gairsain. In thesecond part of the session, thedepartmental budgets would bepassed by the assembly inDehradun.

Meanwhile, the VidhanSabha building in Dehradun wassanitised thoroughly on Friday.

The drive to sanitize thebuilding was done on the ordersof the Speaker Prem ChandAgarwal. All the rooms, lobbiesand all parts of the assemblybuilding were sanitised on theday.

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Discontent is simmeringagain within the ranks of

the association of general andOBC employees after theUttarakhand governmentchanged the roster system ofrecruitment again to benefitthe SC candidates.

The powerful associationwas on strike on the issue ofreservations in promotionsfrom March 2 and it tookback its strike only after thegovernment accepted theirdemand on March 18.

The association howevermade it clear on Friday that ithas no immediate plan to goon any agitation on the issueof roster. In a meeting of the

office bearers of the associa-tion on Friday, the associationdecided that in view of thethreat posed by the novelCoronavirus (COVID-19), itwould cooperate with thegovernment.

The general secretary ofthe association, VirendraGusain told The Pioneer thatall the employees have decid-ed to donate salary of one dayfor the cause of fightingCoronavirus.

He said that the employ-ees have decided to fully co-operate the government incombating the dreaded dis-ease and make the call givenby Prime Minister (PM)Narendra Modi to observe‘Janata Curfew’ on Sunday, asuccess.

Gusain however addedthat the association lodges itsstrong protest on the stategovernment’s decision toplace the candidates of SCcommunity on position onein the roster of recruitment.

He said that in the meet-ing with the chairman of thecabinet subcommittee on ros-

ter, Madan Kaushik onFebruary 11, the minister hadgiven positive assurance toassociation.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that on September 11 lastyear, the Uttarakhand gov-ernment issued a new policyof reservation roster in gov-ernment services, corpora-tions, public enterprises andeducational institutions.

Under the policy the firstfive places in the roster of newrecruitment were kept forcandidates of general catego-ry while the sixth positionwas earmarked for SC candi-dates.

In the pattern followedearlier, the first position waskept for SC candidates. Aftera furore created on the issueby the SC and ST communi-

ty and statement released bythe senior cabinet ministerYashpal Ar ya, the StateGovernment constituted anew Cabinet committee head-ed by Madan Kaushik on theissue. On the recommenda-tion of Kaushik committeeand approval of the cabinet,the Uttarakhand governmenton Thursday restored the firstposition in roster to SC.

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Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat chaired a

video conference with all dis-trict magistrates to take stockof the novel coronavirus(COVID-19) situation in thestate. Before that he attendeda video conference chaired bythe Prime Minister NarendraModi.

Rawat directed all theDMs to ensure that continu-ous publicity is undertaken toraise public awareness onmeasures for safety fromcoronavirus.

The general publicshould be made aware tomaintain social distance.Appealing senior citizens andthose aged below 10 years toremain indoors, he exhortedthe citizens to make the Janatacurfew this Sunday a success.

Rawat directed the dis-trict magistrates to makeadditional district magistraterank officer the nodal officerin their respective districts.

These nodal of f icersshould inspect all the hospi-tals to check the prepara-tions and keep updating thedistrict magistrate consis-tently. They should alsoinform about gaps and other

types of requirements. Thedistrict magistrates shouldmake necessary arrangementsto meet the requirements.

Stressing on the need forsanitising public places, Rawatdirected the DMs to under-take regular monitoring andseek sanitisation report con-sistently. All urban local bod-ies should work in a proactivemanner to tackle the situa-tion, he stressed. The move-

ment of tourists has beenbarred. However, theGovernment of India hasissued directions to extendthe visas of foreign tourists tillApril 15. In addition to takennecessary measures as perprotocol with anyone dis-playing symptoms of coron-avirus, alertness should bemaintained to keep the doc-tors and medical teamshealthy and safe. Rawat

directed all the DMs to regu-larly update the data, addingthat contact be made on 0135-2609500 to clear any confu-sion. Paramedics should becontacted and prepared forlending assistance.

He further directed thatcontact be established withVyapar Mandals , MandiParishads and other suchbodies to ensure regularlysupply of food items. Special

care should be taken to pre-vent any panic type of situa-tion in the public. Further,strict action should be takenagainst those spreadingrumours.

Private hotels, hostels andsuch institutions can be usedfor quarantine facility forwhich the training of staff andother measures should befacilitated, he said.

Hotels and hostels withsingle rooms are better forquarantine facility. Further,there shouldn’t be central airconditioning as this mayaffect a healthy person in aseparate room, he pointed

out. Earlier, the CM attendedthe PM’s video conferencewith chief ministers of all thestates. In the conference, thecentral level officers informedabout efforts being under-taken to stall the spread ofnovel coronavirus.

The PM asked all thechief ministers to stay in reg-ular contact with the businessfraternity through video con-ferencing.The State’s chiefsecretary Utpal Kumar Singh,director general of police AnilK Raturi and other seniorofficials were also amongthose present in the confer-ences.

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Urban DevelopmentMinister Madan Kaushik,

District Magistrate CRavishankar and SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Senthil Avoodai distributedhand sanitisers at Haridwarbus station to bus operatorsand commuters. The sanitiserswere distributed as a measure

to help stop the spread of novelcoronavirus. Kaushik said thatin a crowded place like bus sta-tion, in order to protect thepeople, sanitisers should bemade available to all the citi-zens at a reasonable price.

District Magistrate CRavishankar said that it isvery important to sanitise eachand every person so that viruscannot spread.

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In view of the recent deci-sion of the State

Government of discontinu-ing reservation in promo-tions for SC-ST employees,the members of UttarakhandSC-ST Employees Federationsaid that they will go onstrike from next month. Theunion of sanitation workerswill also support the strike bythe federation.

During a meeting of thefederation and sanitationworkers union on Saturday,the union members decidedto join the protest. The unionis demanding minimumwages, health insurance anddiscontinuation of outsourc-ing.

They were assured bythe federation that until theGovernment would notaccept the demands of sani-tation workers, the SC-STemployees would not returnto their work.

Addressing the media,

the federation head KaramRam said that the StateGovernment has taken thedecision of discontinuingreservations in promotionsin a hurry and under pres-sure neglecting the rules ofthe constitution for SC-STemployees.

Accusing the govern-ment of being biased againstSC-ST community, Ram stat-ed that members of General-OBC Employees Associationhave made insulting remarksagainst SC-ST employees inpublic but still no actionwas taken against themunder SC-ST Act.

“When hundreds ofGeneral-OBC Employeesprotested at Parade Groundin spite of the orders of dis-trict administration pro-hibiting gatherings of morethan 50 people, police didnot detain any of them.

However, when few ofour members protestedagainst the government onThursday, the police imme-

diately detained them,” hesaid.Talking about theplanned strike of SC-STemployees, Ram said, “Thefederation will give a mem-orandum to the ChiefMinister Trivendra SinghRawat explaining outdemands and issues.

We will give the govern-ment time to think about ourdemands and will wait tillApril 15.

If we do not receive anypositive response from thegovernment by April 15, themembers of SC-ST and gen-uine OBCs will begin thestrike from April 16.”

The members of sanita-tion workers association alsoalleged that the Governmentnever pays attention to thesanitation workers who keepthe whole nation clean and ifthe Government does notaccept their demands,

they will go on strike andno sanitation work will bedone across the State by anyworker

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With the StateGovernment’s decision

to remove the ban imposedin promotions, the process ofpromotions in the educationdepartment has started. OnFriday, the departmentreleased first list of promo-tions. In the list, twenty offi-cer of the department werepromoted to the rank ofBlock Education Officer(BEO).

The department has alsocompleted the process ofpromotions on 1949 posts ofLecturers and LicensedTeachers (LT) which isexpected to be released soon.Meanwhile the educationminister Arvind Pandey hasallayed the fears of the guestteachers about their future.

The minister assured thatno guest teacher would beremoved. He said that theseteachers would be appointedon the vacant posts created bythe promotion of teachers.

Recently the educationdepartment had appointedabout 5000 guest teachers onthe vacant posts of Lecturesand LT.The department hadselected 5034 candidates inthe year 2018 for guest teach-ers but the legal tangles pre-vented the department togive them appointment let-ters.

On January 14 this year,the Supreme Court (SC)allowed the education depart-ment to appoint guest teach-ers on vacant posts till per-manent appointment aremade. In its orders the SChad clearly said that theappointment of guest teach-ers should be purely tempo-rary.

The guest teachers arebeing paid a monthly remu-neration of Rs 15000 andwere appointed on the con-dition that they would beremoved once the permanentteachers either from directrecruitment or from promo-tion are appointed on theseposts.

After the state govern-ment removed ban on pro-motion the guest teachersbecome worried about theirfuture.

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The Haridwar police havearrested a man for the mur-

der for Asha Rani on February13. During interrogation, the for-mer tenant accused of murderconfessed to having murderedthe old lady. Addressing themedia, the Haridwar SSP SenthilAvoodai Krishnaraj S said thatAsha Rani was found murdered

on February 13 at her home inKankhal. Jewellery was missingfrom her body and the DVR ofCCTV cameras installed in thehouse was also missing.

About three dozen peoplewere questioned by the police butno solid clue could be found.Footage from CCTV camerasinstalled near the murder siteshowed a man wearing a helmetentering and exiting the house.

The police then got informationabout Almora native VirendraSingh Bisht who was Rani’s ten-ant during 2009-2010 and cur-rently lived in Mehrauli.

His height matched that ofthe person seen in the CCTVfootage. The police also foundthat Bisht was seen in a relative’shome near Gurukul KangriVishwavidyalaya duringFebruary.

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The State administrationhas taken more measures

to stem the spread of novelcoronavirus (COVID-19) inthe state. On Friday, the stategovernment banned the entryof all domestic and foreigntourists in the state.

In addition to this, thestate government has alsoissued an advisory appealingthat children aged below 10years and those aged above 65years remain indoors tillMarch 31.

Using the powers grantedby Uttarakhand EpidemicDiseases COVID-19Regulation 2020 under theEpidemic Disease Act 1897,the entry of all domestic andforeign tourists has beenbanned in Uttarakhand tillfurther orders.

In this order, the Healthand Family Welfare secretaryNitesh Jha has stated that var-ious advisories have beenissued in the past for citizensto refrain from unnecessarytravel in order to stop thespread of COVID-19.

Keeping this in mind, theneed was felt to prohibit theentry of both domestic andforeign tourists in the state sothat the spread of the virus can

be mitigated inUttarakhand.In another devel-opment, the Health andFamily Welfare departmenthas issued an advisory appeal-ing that children aged below10 years and people agedabove 65 years remain indoors

till March 31. In this adviso-ry issued by Jha, it has beenadvised that apart from med-ical professionals and otherpersons working in essentialservices all citizens aged above65 years should remainindoors till March 31. Further,

children aged below 10 yearsshould also be kept indoorsduring this period. This advi-sory has been issued consid-ering the fact that the effect ofnovel coronavirus has beenseen more among the aged andchildren.

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Elaborating on the prohi-bition on entry of all

tourists in Uttarakhand, theTourism secretary DilipJawalkar has said that thisprohibition will be applicableto new tourists coming fromoutside. Those tourists whoare already in the state, willbe able to remain inUttarakhand while observingthe advisories issued by theState and Central govern-ments.

Meanwhile, the tourismdepartment has also set up acontrol room to assist thetourists already in the state.

Jawalkar requested thehoteliers to ensure that those

tourists who are already liv-ing in booked accommoda-tions in hotels and resortsshould not face any type ofdiscrimination. They shouldbe made aware of the guide-lines issued by the govern-ment for protection fromcoronavirus.

He also appealed all thehoteliers to maintain thehighest standards of healthand sanitation.

The tourists who hadpaid for advance bookingsshould be refunded the max-imum amount. Though thecurrent scenario will causeconsiderable financial lossto the hotel and travel indus-try, due to the abnormal sit-uation there is need for all to

rise above this for protectionof human life.Jawalkar fur-ther informed that theUttarakhand TourismDevelopment Board has setup a control room at theTourism department head-quarters in Dehradun toassist domestic and foreigntourists. The control roomcan be contacted at 0135-2559898.

Uttarakhand hotel asso-ciation chairman SandeepSahani said that the stake-holders are following theguidelines issued by theCentral and State govern-ments. He assured thattourists already lodged inhotels and resorts will betaken care of properly.

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The governor Baby RaniMaurya has appealed people

of Uttarakand to observe JanataCurfew proposed by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi onMarch 22. Maurya expressedgratitude to the PM on behalf ofUttarakhand for concern andaffection for the people of thecountry expressed by him. She

said that PM had stressed onawareness about COVID-19pandemic as entire world wasfighting against it. Citizensshould help each other whilemaintaining determination and

patience. Full cooperation ofpeople of nation and state is mustin this regard. She added thatpeople should follow precautionsand social distancing habits sothat infection may not increase.

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President of India, dozens ofParliamentarians, Union

Ministers, and several digni-taries have come under thecoronavirus scanner for com-ing into contact with Lok Sabhamember Dushyant Singh, whohad earlier attended dinner inLucknow with COVID positiveBollywood singer KanikaKapoor, famour for her “BabyDoll” number.

Dushyant’s motherVasundhara Raje as well severaltop officials of the StateGovernment and Uttar PradeshHealth Minister Jai PratapSingh were present at the partyattended by over 180 guests.

Dushyant, who had attend-ed Parliament proceedings forthree days after Kanika’s partyand also attended a dinnerreception hosted by PresidentRam Nath Kovind whereUnion Ministers Rajnath Singh,Smriti Irani, Maneka Gandhi,VK Singh and others werepresent at Rashtrapati Bhawanon Wednesday. The samples ofDushyant and Vasundharahave gone for testing andresults were awaited. Both ofthem have quarantined them-selves.

Several MPs, includingTMC’s Derek O’Brien andSukhendu Shekhar Roy, andApna Dal’s Anupriya Patel, onFriday went into self-quaran-tine following the announce-ment by the BJP MP and hismother that they were self-iso-lating themselves. FormerUnion Minister and seniorCongress leader Jitin Prasadatoo went for self isolation.

Singh was among the manyMPs who attended a breakfastmeeting hosted by PresidentRam Nath Kovind on March 18as well as a Parliamentarypanel meeting on transport,tourism and culture attendedby around 20 MPs on

Wednesday. “While in Lucknow, I

attended a dinner with myson Dushyant and his in-laws.Kanika, who has unfortunate-ly tested positive for COVID-19 was also a guest.

As a matter of abundantcaution, my son and I haveimmediately self-quarantinedand we’re taking all necessaryprecautions,” Vasundhara saidin a tweet.

According to sources, afterattending the party in Lucknowalong with Kanika who is nowundergoing treatment for coro-navirus, Singh attended birth-day party of an industrialist andformer MP. Dushyant alsoattended the BJP ParliamentaryParty meeting on March 17.“This Government is putting usall at risk.

The PM says self isolateyourself but Parliament is on.I was sitting next to Dushyantthe other day for 2.5 hours.There are two more MPs whoare in self isolation. The sessionshould be deferred,” O’Brientweeted after the news of Singhgoing in self-isolation broke.

Kapoor has become the

first Bollywood celebrity totest positive for coronavirus inthe country. There were reportsthat the singer landed inLucknow from the UnitedKingdom and was admitted ina city hospital after she showedsigns of flu.

Before that she attendedthree well attended parties andhobnobbed with hundreds ofpeople. Kanika reportedly tookhelp of some airport officials toavoid quarantine protocol afterreturning from London.Kanika also addressed a Pressconference in Noida.

Alarmed by the fact thatKanika tested positive onFriday, the UP Chief Minister’soffice issued directives to sani-tise all the places in Lucknow,Kanpur and Noida visitedeither by the celebrity singer orby those who were present indifferent parties with her.

The singer and UP HealthMinister were among 100guests at a party hosted by inte-rior designer Adil Ahmad, thenephew of former BSP MPAkbar Ahmad Dumpy, at hisresidence recently in Lucknow.Several VVIPs including top

bureaucrats and political fig-ures across parties were pre-sent.

The UP Health Minister onFriday took a test for coron-avirus as it emerged that he wasat a party thrown by celebritysinger Kanika Kapoor who isnow suffering from COVID-19, while three BJP MLAs whomet him on Thursday wentinto self-isolation, sources said.

Noida MLA and BJP Stategeneral secretary Pankaj Singh,Jewar MLA Dhirendra Singhand Dadri MLA Tejpal Nagartook to Twitter to say they aregoing into self-isolation as aprecautionary measure as theyhad met the Health Minister onThursday in Greater Noida.

District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash ordered clo-sure of Taj Mahal hotel inLucknow till further orders.Though the official order gaveno reason, sources said Kanikahad attended a party at thehotel.

According to Kanika’sfather Rajiv Kapoor, she attend-ed a few parties between March13 and 15. Nearly 300 peopleattended these parties. In a

statement posted on Instagram,Kanika said she developedsigns of flu only in the last fourdays.

Soon after, Raje, O’Brienand Patel took to Twitter toannounce they have gone intoself-quarantine as a precau-tionary measure.

“I got myself tested and itcame positive for Covid-19. Myfamily and I are in completequarantine now and followingmedical advice on how to moveforward. Contact mapping ofpeople I have been in touchwith is underway as well.

“I was scanned at the air-port as per normal procedure10 days ago when I came backhome, the symptoms havedeveloped only four days ago,”Kanika said in her statement.

Hitting out at theGovernment, O’Brien said thaton one side they are talking ofself-isolation and on the otherhand they are continuing withthe Parliament session.

“Parliament has hardly dis-cussed coronavirus. The LokSabha and the Rajya Sabha dis-cussed COVID19 for only 3 percent of total time. Is this howGovernments inspire confi-dence in crisis? Defer session!Stop conflicting messaging!,” O’Brien said.

“I was present at an eventyesterday and Dushyant Singhwas also present at the event. Asa precaution, I am going for selfisolation. I will follow the nec-essary guidelines by the gov-ernment,” tweeted AnupriyaPatel.

Earlier, MoS ExternalAffairs V Muraleedharan hadself-quarantined after he visit-ed a Kerala-based medicalinstitute whose hospital laterreported a coronavirus case.

Former Union MinisterSuresh Prabhu too went for selfisolation after he returned froman economic seminar fromAbu Dhabi last week.

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Ending days of speculationover the survival of 15-

month-old Madhya PradeshGovernment after 21 CongMLAs rebelled against theirown Government, ChiefMinister Kamal Nath tenderedhis resignation to GovernorLalji Tandon around 1 pm onFriday. Later, the MadhyaPradesh Assembly wasadjourned sine die. TheGovernor asked Kamal Nath tocontinue as the caretaker ChiefMinister until the nextGovernment is formed.

The Congress veteranstepped down a day after theSupreme Court ordered theMadhya Pradesh AssemblySpeaker to conduct a floor teston Friday by 5 pm.

As the House assembled at2 pm for the trust vote, onlyBJP legislators turned up, whilethe Congress MLAs remainedabsent.

Speaker NP Prajapati readout the agenda saying that themeeting was convened as per

the directives of the apex court.He said that since Kamal Nathhas submitted his resignation,there was no point in holdingthe trust vote. He thenannounced the sine dieadjournment of the Assembly.

Earlier on Friday whiletalking to the media, the CMannounced that he is tenderinghis resignation, hours ahead ofthe scheduled floor test.

“I have decided to tendermy resignation to the Governortoday,” he said while address-ing a press conference inBhopal.

On Thursday, the SupremeCourt had ordered a floor testin the state Assembly to be heldon Friday. While addressing thepress conference, Kamal Nathstated that the Bharatiya JanataParty had tried to “destabilise”his government and added,that his government “tried bestto give a new direction to thestate in a span of 15 months”.

He also accused the BJP ofholding Congress’s MLAs cap-tive in Karnataka in order totopple the government in theState. “Over the last 15 months,I have worked for the progressof Madhya Pradesh. BJP got 15years but I only got 15 months,but during this time people ofMadhya Pradesh know theconspiracy that BJP hasindulged in.

From day one, BJP beganplotting. The party also heldour MLAs captive inKarnataka. 22 of our MLAswere held captive in Bengaluru.This was politics spendingcrores of rupees,” he said.

“We delivered on our 400promises in 15 months, BJP didnot like it. It could not stomachour achievements.

We also acted against themafia, it could not thrive.”“People will not forgive thosewho went against their wishes,”he added.

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The Indian Railways onFriday decided to stop the

operation all passenger trainsoriginating from any railwaystation in the country frommidnight to 10 pm on Sundayin view of the “Janata curfew”announced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

According to a railwayorder, mail and express trainswill also stop services from 4am to 10 pm on Sunday whileall suburban train services willbe reduced to a bare minimum.

“All passenger trains orig-inating between midnight ofMarch 21/March 22 to 22:00hours of March 22 (approxi-mately 2,400 services) shallnot be run. However, the pas-

senger train services already onrun at 0700 hours on the daywill be allowed to run to thedestinations. Divisions shouldkeep a watch and trains whichare empty could be short ter-minated, if required,” the rail-way order said.

It also said the decision hasbeen taken in view of the coro-navirus outbreak and the factthat the demand will be lessdue to ‘Janta Curfew’.

Suburban services inMumbai, Delhi, Kolkata,Chennai and Secunderabadshall be reduced to bare mini-mum level only to cater toessential travel.The order stat-ed that passengers alightingfrom trains already on the run,and desirous of staying at thestation will be accommodated

in waiting halls, waiting roomsand concourse without creatingovercrowding conditions whileprovisions for drinking water,refreshments on payment shallbe arranged.

“Adequate arrangementsmay be made to facilitate has-sle-free refund to passengersaffected by train cancellations.Zonal railways will keep aclose watch on the situation atmajor stations and where need-ed order special trains to clearrush of passengers who may bestranded at stations despiteadvance public notice,” it stat-ed.

As of now, the IndianRailways has cancelled 245trains in order to restrictunnecessary travel followingthe coronavirus outbreak.

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From Page 1 In last-gasp attempts, one

of the convicts knocked on thedoors of the Delhi High Courtand the Supreme Court justhours before the hanging. ASupreme Court bench dis-missed Pawan's last plea in alate-night hearing that began at2.30 am and lasted an hour.

It also refused to pass anydirection allowing Pawan andAkshay to meet their familymembers just before they aresent to the gallows. OutsideTihar Jail, hundreds of peoplegathered despite the unearthlyhour and the coronavirus scareto await news of the execution.Union Women and ChildDevelopment Minister SmritiIrani welcomed the news. "Ihave seen Nirbhaya's mother'sstruggle over the years, though

it took time to get justice but ithas been done finally. It is alsoa message to people that youcan run away from law but can-not finally avoid it.PramodSingh Kushwaha, the DeputyCommissioner of Police (DCP),Special Cell, who was duringNirbhaya gangrape and murderin 2012, the additional DCP(South) and headed the inves-tigation team, said the hangingis a tribute to the departed souland this will also act as a deter-rent to other rapists.

Taking a counter view,human rights group AmnestyInternational said death penal-ty is never the solution towardsending violence against womenand called the execution a "darkstain" on India's human rightsrecord. Recalling the days whenNirbhaya was treated in

Safdarjanj Hospital in 2012,the doctors remembered her asa brave woman and said withthe hanging of the four convicts'law had taken its course.

The road to the gallows wasa long and circuitous one, goingthrough the lower courts, theHigh Court, the Supreme Courtand the president's office beforegoing back to the SupremeCourt that heard and rejectedvarious curative petitions. Thedeath warrants were deferred bya court thrice on the groundsthat the convicts had notexhausted all their legal reme-dies and that the mercy petitionof one or the other was beforethe president.On March 5, atrial court issued fresh deathwarrants for March 20 at 5.30am as the final date for the exe-cution.

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Aday after corona-positivepatient died in Punjab,

the state reported its anoth-er COVID-19 positive casefrom Mohali on Friday takingthe total tally to three. A 69-year-old woman, who recent-ly returned from the UnitedKingdom, tested positive forcoronavirus.

At the same time, theauthorities concerned havestarted contact tracing ofpositive cases reported so farin the state, and quarantiningthe suspects or those whohave come in contact with thepositive cases.

“The woman, a residentof Phase III-A in Mohali,has tested (positive) for coro-navirus. "She had returnedfrom the UK,” confirmedMohal i DeputyCommissioner Gir ishDayalan. told PTI.

Her samples were testedat the Postgraduate Instituteof Medical Education andResearch (PGIMER), the offi-cial said, adding that shewould now be admitted to ahospital. “Samples of her twomore family members will betaken for testing,” he said.

She came back from theUK on March 13 at DelhiAirport, and she reported atMax Hospital Mohali onMarch 18.

Her samples were col-lected and found positivefrom the PGIMER. She isadmitted and stable. And her21 contacts have been tracedand are under home quaran-tine. Sample of close contactshave also been taken,” saidthe government official.

The woman's familymembers have been homequarantined, whereas hermother and car driver admit-ted to the hospital their testreports are awaited.

The first case reported inPunjab was of Italy-resident,and he was tracked atAmritsar Airport and isadmitted at GovernmentMedical College, Amritsar.

Out of the three corona-positive cases in the state, 70-year-old Nawanshahr resi-dent died on Wednesday, dueto cardiac arrest.

Already suffering fromdiabetes and hypertension,Baldev Singh had returned

from Germany via Italy onMarch 7. During these days,he also visited Holla Mohallaat Sir Anandpur Sahib, andcame in contact with approx-imately 119 persons.

The Government officialstatement maintained that asmany 83 close contacts andfamily members of BaldevSingh are under surveillanceand samples of 14 familymembers have been taken,and its results are awaited.

Shaheed Bhagat SinghNagar (Nawanshahr) districtadministration has homequarantined as many as 56persons, who came in contactwith a 70-year-old malecoronavirus patient who diedin Banga on March 18.

Among those who camein contact with him were 18members of his family,including six persons from afamily of Moranwali village inHoshiarpur — one HarbhajanSingh, wife, son, and threegrandchildren — who havebeen admitted to HoshiarpurCivil Hospital.

Confirming the develop-ments, Banga Sub-DivisionalMagistrate Gautam Jain saidthat the efforts are on totrace others who contactedBaldev Singh to keep themunder surveillance as per theHealth Department’s instruc-tions.

The health of f ic ia ls ,attending those who havebeen quarantined, said thatthey were keeping a closewatch on all 56 people andconducting medical check-ups, and those developingcoronavirus symptoms will beisolated.

After Baldev Singh’s sam-ples tested positive, theDistrict Administration hasalready sealed his village,Pathlawa, which has a popu-lation of 3,000, and quaran-tined 17 people, includingdoctors and paramedical staffwho treated him.

Hoshiarpur DeputyCommissioner Apneet Riyiathas imposed Section 144 ofthe Criminal Procedure Code(CrPC) that restricts the gath-ering of five or more personsin six villages, includingMoranwali, Imme Jatta, Posi,Nurpur Jatta, Suni and Binjoof Garshankar sub-division inHoshiarpur district till March31.

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The Firozpur railway divi-sion has cancelled 14 trains

in Kangra Valley after theState Government bannedentry of all tourists to the Stateover the coronavirus pan-demic, a railways spokesper-son said.

However, the Ambalarailway division is runningits trains on Kalka-Shimla andSirhind-Daulatpur Chowkroutes on Friday as usual,Ambala senior DCM HariMohan said.

The Ambala division isrunning its trains so that thetourists stuck in HimachalPradesh may reach theirrespective destination and theState's residents of may reachtheir native places.

However, in order toaware the public, announce-ments regarding banningentry of tourists to HimachalPradesh is being made atKalka railway station onKalka-Shimla section and allstations on Sirhind-DaulatpurChowk section.

The Firozpur divisionspokesperson said that all trainservices in Kangra valley(Pathankot-Jogindernagar)had been cancelled from mid-night on Friday till further orders.

Earlier on Thursdayevening, Kangra DeputyCommissioner RakeshPrajapati said the movement ofall the trains from Punjab toKangra district would remainsuspended after midnight tocheck spread of the deadly

COVID-19 (coronavirus dis-ease 2019).

The movement of trains inKangra district was banned asa precautionary measure aftersome positive cases ofCOVID-19 were found posi-tive in Punjab, he added.

Chief Minister JairamThakur had said on Thursdayafternoon that the entry of alltourists, including domesticand international, had beenbanned in the state as a pre-cautionary measure.

HIMACHAL CM MEETSGUV, APPRISES ON STEPSTO CHECK CORON-AVIRUS

Chief Minister Jai RamThakur called on GovernorBandaru Dattatraya at RajBhavan on Friday and apprisedhim about the various stepstaken by the State Governmentbesides guidelines to checkcoronavirus in the State.

The Governor expressedsatisfaction for the steps takenby the State Government andsaid that the virus has affectedthe entire world. But, no casehas been reported in HimachalPradesh so far.

He suggested that in addi-tion to the steps taken by theState Government, the data ofvolunteer and skilled ParaMedical Staff should be pre-pared.

He also suggested to keepan eye on border areas of the

State and it should be ensuredthat black marketing of essen-tial materials did not takeplace.

The Governor urged toinvolve NGOs in the awarenesscampaign against coronavirusand to aware people of thePrime Minister's announce-ment of 'Janata curfew' onSunday.

GUV GIVES DIRECTIONSTO VCs

Governor BandaruDattatraya gave directions tothe Vice-Chancellors of theUniversities on telephoneregarding coronavirus andtook a report of caution beingtaken at the University level.

The Governor directedProf. Ashok Saryal, Vice-Chancellor, AgriculturalUniversity, Palampur and Dr.Parminder Kaushal, Vice-Chancellor of HorticultureUniversity, Nauni to conveyPrime Minister's call of ‘JanataCurfew’ on March 22 to thestudents through social media.

He asked to maintainsocial distance. He said that inthis emergency situation, stu-dents should be made awareand given a positive messageregarding the situation.

Prof. Sikandar Kumar,Vice-Chancellor, HimachalPradesh University, Shimlacalled on Governor at RajBhavan and apprised himabout the steps taken atUniversity level.

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Army Chief General MMNaravane on Friday

reviewed preparations withinthe force to meet the coron-avirus pandemic challenge andordered that at least 35 per centof officers and 50 per centjawans working in offices willobserve home quarantine andwork from there for a weekstarting March 23. The secondbatch will observe these pre-cautions from March 30 as perthe new advisory'.

The advisory issue onFriday also said intermixing of

groups to be avoided and itshall be ensured personnel areavailable on telephone andelectronic means at all times forexigencies of work. Theseadvisories were firmed up afterdiscussions between Naravaneand important functionaries atthe Army Headquarters here,officials said.

These instructions comedays after a Army jawan ofLadakh Scouts was tested pos-itive in Leh and now undergo-ing quarantine in a hospitalthere. AS a precautions, theArmy is now screening manyother soldiers of the Ladakh

Scouts Regimental Centre inLeh as they had come into con-tact with the 34-year-old sol-dier.

*Meanwhile, the Army inits advisory has asked the com-manders to regularly hold*Awareness Campaigns* onprecautions to be taken with-in the Army and also for com-munities in near vicinity toArmy establishments.

Among other measures,all conferences and seminarspostponed have been post-poned till 15 April andTemporary Duty of all ranksrescheduled/cancelled till 15

April. Leave of personnelalready on leave was extendedtill 15 April 2020 at the discre-tion of Competent Authority.

All service personnel (lessArmy Medical Corps) attend-ing courses terminating priorto 15 April 202were to beretained at respective traininginstitution for which addition-al training programme to beissued. The annual MedicalExamination(AME)/PeriodicMedical Examination(PME)was postponed till 15April.

Among other measuresentry to the army canteens will

be regulated and crowding andbunching has to be avoided.Moreover, posting of all per-sonnel was deferred.

The Army also appealed toveterans and civilians livingwithin and in the vicinity ofarmy cantonments and sta-tions to adhere to social dis-tancing norms and to supportadditionalinstituted to preventspread of COVID -19.

Moreover, those personnelworking in army offices willreport for duty in staggeredtimings to avoidcrowding/bunching atentry/exit points.

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Senior Congress leader andformer Finance Minister P

Chidambaram on Friday saidthe war against coronaviruscannot be fought with "moralarmaments" and that lock-down was the only solution.

After he supported PrimeMinister Narendra Modi on thesteps suggested by him in hisaddress to the nation onThursday, the Congress leadersaid the PM must take toughsocial and economic measuresand he should act boldly andnot waste any time.

"ICMR says that the diseaseis still at Stage 2 (local trans-mission) in India. This is the

moment to act. Let us notallow this moment to passwithout decisive action andregret later," he tweeted.

He said he had offeredsupport to the Prime Minister’sannouncements yesterday, “butI am absolutely certain that thePM will have no option but tocome back with tougher socialand economic measures”.

“Yesterday, I got theimpression that PM was testingthe waters. He should act bold-ly. The war against coronaviruscannot be fought with moralarmaments," he said on Twitter.

There has been a buzzabout the janata curfew beinga dry run or trial for a completelockdown in the days to come.

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New Delhi: Amid the coron-avirus outbreak, a Bhopal-based counter-terrorism relat-ed app developer has developedan android-based applicationCorona Virus Monitor fortracking news and develop-ments related to the outbreakof the virus across the globe.Through the application whichcan be downloaded for free, thedeveloper intends to providereal time developments relatedto Covid-19 pandemic andspread situation awareness andprotection from the viral infec-tion. The app http://app.apps-geyser.com/10347701/Coronavirus%20Defence is yet to beuploaded by the Google PlayStore. PNS

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Several Indo-Pacific nations onFriday held a teleconference

to exchange their assessmentsabout the coronavirus pandem-ic and discuss ways to work insynergy to combat the globalmenace.

Foreign Secretary HarshVardhan Shringla took part in aUS-initiated teleconference dur-ing which he briefed the partic-ipants on the proactive stepstaken by India to counter thepandemic.

The telephonic conferencecall, initiated by US DeputySecretary of State Stephen Biegunfor discussions among someIndo-Pacific nations on issuesrelated to countering COVID-19, also included senior repre-sentatives from Australia, SouthKorea, Vietnam, New Zealand,and Japan, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs said in a state-ment. The participants sharedtheir assessments of the currentsituation with respect toCOVID-19, and discussed waysto synergise their efforts tocounter its spread, the MEA said.

"Foreign Secretary Shringlabriefed the participants on theproactive steps taken by Indiaboth nationally and in the regionunder the prime minister's lead-ership," it said.

Shringla conveyed India'sdesire to share its perspectiveswith partners in the region andto work together with others.

The participants are expect-ed to continue the conference callon a weekly basis, coveringissues like cooperation on vac-cine development, challenges ofstranded citizens, assistance tocountries in need and mitigatingthe impact on the global econ-omy, the statement said

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The Government has decid-ed to extend till April 15 the

regular visa and e-visa of thoseforeigners who are currently inIndia and unable to leave thecountry due to the novel coro-navirus pandemic.

According to a UnionHome Ministry notification, anumber of foreign nationals arein the country since imposition

of travel restrictions and areunable to exit the country dur-ing the validity of their visa.

It has been decided to pro-vide the essential consular ser-vices by the office of theForeigners RegionalRegistration Officers andForeigners RegistrationOfficers to foreign nationals,presently in India.

"Regular visa, e-visa or staystipulation of all foreign

nationals which have expired orwould be expiring during theperiod from March 13 (mid-night) to April 15 (midnight)would be extended till mid-night of April 14 on 'Gratis'basis after making online appli-cation by the foreigner.

"Exit of such foreignnationals, if so requested bythem during this period, will begranted without levy of overstaypenalty," the Ministry said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday held video

conference with Chief Ministersto monitor and deliberate in theways to check the spread ofcoronavirus and various mea-sures of preparedness of thepandemic. Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan andtop health ministry officialswere also present in the threehour long meeting held viavideo link, which started at4pm. Many Chief Ministersurged Prime Minister for ban ofinternational flights from sen-sitive countries for some moretime and demanded for finan-cial packages to workers in theun-organised sectors.

Modi appreciated the stepstaken by the States and thankedthem for sharing their experi-ences and giving suggestions.

He talked about the urgentneed of capacity building ofhealthcare workers and aug-mentation of healthcare infra-structure. He suggested thatthe Chief Ministers should dovideo conference with tradebodies in their states to preventblack marketing and undueprice rise. He urged them to usesoft power of persuasion aswell as legal provisions, wher-ever necessary.

"Prime Minister said thatthe COVID-19 Economic TaskForce set up by Government ofIndia will formulate the strate-gy to devise suitable approachto effectively tackle the eco-nomic challenge. He urged theChief Ministers to ensure that allnecessary steps are taken and alladvisories are adhered to inorder to ensure the safety of cit-izens in the country at large. Nostone should be left unturned inour common endeavors to fightCOVID-19," said PMO in astatement.

There was unanimousopinion on need of awarenessand training to the health work-ers in the field. Punjab ChiefMinister Amrinder Singh,Maharashtra CM UddhavThackeray, Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath wereamong those who attended thevideo conference. West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee reiterated for stop-ping international flights to thestate and demanded for finan-cial packages to the workers andthose working the un-organisedsector.

Maharashtra CM urged forthe increase of in the number ofcoronavirus testingLaboratories in the country.

New Delhi: Parliament wouldmeet at 2 pm on Monday andnot at the usual 11 am on therequest of members as they saidthey would be reaching late dueto the changes in their airflights. The decision was takenafter several members said theywould not be able to reach thenational capital from theirrespective constituencies in themorning following relocation offlights and cancellation of trainsdue to coronavirus. SpeakerOm Birla informed Lok Sabhathat the Question Hour wouldremain suspended on Monday.He made it clear that the deci-sion is applicable for March 23only. PNS

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The Government on Fridaydenied in the Lok Sabha

that there was any evidence ofcoronavirus having any ‘suspi-cious origin’ from China asbeing circulated in the socialmedia and asked Oppositionnot to “press panic button” evenas the Congress sought to saythere was spectre of hoarding,and price rise after PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’saddress a day before and sug-gested that the dispensationprovides temporary succourto daily wagers, auto-driversand small vendors.

Asking questions duringthe question hour on the pan-demic coronavirus, memberswanted Government to clarifywhether it has prescribedAurvedic or homeopathy med-icines for curing the disease ofwhich there was yet no clinicaltrial. N Uttam Kumar Reddy(Congress) said having issuedan advisory the Ayush Ministrycontradicted itself saying therewas "no known cure toCOVID-19."

The member sought toknow what advisory AyushMinistry has given on the issue.Responding to queries, AyushMinister of State (indepen-dent) Shripad Naik said hisministry's advisory neverclaimed "effective treatment" ofcoronovirus by Aurveda (orhomeopathy) as it has sug-gested that its treatment mayhelp respiratory and immunesystem of the patients.

Reacting to the concerns ofmembers, Union HealthMinister Harshvardhan saidwhosoever is being tested, isbeing tested with "perfect sci-entific rationale."

At this stage, ManishTewary (Congress) sought to

say that origin of coronavirusis surrounded with suspicionsaying World HealthOrganization (WHO) was notgiven access to Wuhan inChina, the place from wherecoronavirus first broke out andlater affected the global popu-lation. Would India speak tothe WHO and have the originof Coronavirus investigated?",the Congress MP asked andwanted to know "..whether itwas naturally originated andnot grown out of a scientificexperiment ..?"

Responding to Congressmember's question,Harshvardhan said hisGovernment was in regulartouch with the WHO and anysuspicion on the count of theorigin of the virus was linkedto what was being circulated inthe social media platforms likeWhatsUp. The Minister saidthere was "no authenticity" inthe report. Hashvarshan saidIndian research organisationsare in touch with other globalorganisations on the origin ofthe virus. He maintained thatIndia was the first to knowabout the coronavirus onJanuary 8th a day after Chinaestablished that there was a"new coronavirus" in Wuhan.

Speaking on theCoronavirus issue CongressMP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurysaid while his party was withthe Prime Minister on the sub-ject, the government shouldtake note of hoarding of essen-tial eatables and general price

rise after his address to thenation on Thursday night.Chowdhury suggested thatgovernment provide tempo-rary assistance to daily wageearners, auto drivers , securityguards , vendors who havebeen hard-hit by the self-imposed curfew of the people.

The Congress leader saidadvance wage payments shouldbe made to MNREGA dailywagers.

Intervening from the gov-ernment aide, Parliamentaryaffairs minister Pralhad Joshievery one should honour thegood suggestions given by thePrime Minister in the light ofthe global crisis. He deniedthere was any shortage ofessential commodities andurged opposition to not to"press panic button".

Chowdhury , however,went on to say that PrimeMinister's address " se Bazarmain aag lag gayi.." There wasan uproar and Congress mem-bers were seen walking out ofthe house. Later, at Zero hour,Speaker Om Birla saidParliament is with PM's reso-lution and his appeal fora"Janata curfew" on Sunday.

Kanimozhi (DMK) saideconomically poor section hasbeen the worst hit due to coro-navirus pandemic and theEconomic task forceannounced by the PrimeMinister should take note ofthe informal sector which is induress in the wake of the shut-down.

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The Government on Fridayassured Parliament that there

is no shortage of masks and handsanitisers which are necessarypreventive steps in the fightagainst coronavirus pandemic.This assertion came in the RajyaSabha after some MPs drew theattention to reports of paucity ofthese items since the outbreak.

Allaying their apprehen-sions, Minister of Chemicalsand Fertilisers MansukhMandaviya said more than 100manufacturing units all overthe country were producing

more than one and half croremasks every day. Therefore, fearsabout shortage were unfounded,he said. The minister alsoassured the Elders that there wasno paucity of sanitisers.

In another coronavirus relat-ed issues figuring in the house,two MPs namely Satish ChandraDubey and Kirodi LalMeena(both BJP)sought imme-diate government intervention tobring back stranded students inPhilipines.

The two MPs said morethan 540 students includingthose from Bihar and Rajathanwere stranded in Manila after an

emergency was declared follow-ing coronavirus and flights werecancelled.

Earlier in the day, ChairmanM Venkaiah Naidu announcedthat Sukhendu ShekharRoy(TMC) had sought permis-sion of the house to remainabsent and be self-quarantinedue to coronavirus.

The House unanimouslylauded Prime Minister NarendraModi's address to the nation onThursday urging people to unit-edly fight the challenge of coro-navirus. However, AnandSharma(Congress)said the gov-ernment by a notification had

asked people above the age of 65to remain at home but manyMPs above this age were comingto Parliament. He wanted toknow if Parliament was exemptfrom the government rulesincluding imposition of section144 and Epidemic Act.

Naidu and minister PiyushGoyal said essential serviceswere exempted and Parliamentwas fulfilling its respponsbility ofpassing the budget. Moreover,functioning of Parliament sent amessage to the nation that it wasleading the nation from thefront in the fight against coron-avirus.

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In an effort to give a boost to'Make in India' project of the

NDA Government in defencemanufacturing, the draft ofDefence ProcurementProcedure(DPP) 2020 propos-es higher indigenous contentand incentives for local mate-rial and software.

The draft unveiled byDefence Minister RajnathSingh on Friday here also pro-vides for making after salessupport a part of capital acqui-sition contract, leasing ofdefence equipment introducedfor the first time and emphasison product export under off-sets. The proposed DPP alsooffers incentive under offsetsfor units in Defence corridor.

The main focus of the DPP2020 is to further increaseindigenous manufacturing andreducing timelines for pro-curement of defence equip-ment. These and several othersuch innovative measures werepart the draft finalized by ahigh-level committee headedby Director GeneralAcquisition, Ministry ofDefence that was set up inAugust 2019.

Speaking on the occasion,the defence minister said theobjective of the DPP is tomake India self-reliant and aglobal manufacturing hub. Thegovernment is constantly striv-ing to formulate policies toempower the private industryincluding MSMEs in order todevelop the eco-system forindigenous defence produc-tion. The defence industry ofIndia is a strategically impor-tant sector having huge poten-tial for growth. It needs to be

the catalyst for India's eco-nomic growth and realisationof our global ambitions.

With experience gained bythe industry and the Ministryof Defence , it is now time totake further steps to strength-en 'Make in India' initiative,refine Life Cycle Support ofprocured equipment and plat-forms and hasten the defenceacquisition process by furthersimplifying the procedures &reducing the overall procure-ment timelines, he added.

The major changes pro-posed in the new DPP are hikein indigenous content ratio bymore than ten per cent to sup-port Make In India. Also, useof raw materials, special alloysand software incentivised asuse of indigenous raw materi-al is a very important aspect of'Make in India' and IndianCompanies are world leaders insoftware. A new categoryBuy(Global-Manufacture inIndia) is part of the proposedDPP with minimum 50 percent indigenous content.

Leasing has been intro-duced as a new category foracquisition in addition to exist-ing 'Buy' & 'Make' categories tosubstitute huge initial capitaloutlays with periodical rentalpayments. Leasing is permittedunder two categories i.e, Lease

(Indian) where Lessor is anIndian entity and is the ownerof the assets and Lease (Global)where Lessor is a Global enti-ty. This will be useful for mil-itary equipment not used inactual warfare like transportfleets, trainers and simulators.

The scope and options forProduct Support have beenwidened to include contempo-rary concepts in vogue, name-ly Performance Based Logistics(PBL), Life Cycle SupportContract (LCSC),Comprehensive MaintenanceContract (CMC)to optimiselife cycle support for equip-ment. The capital acquisitioncontract would normally alsoinclude support for five yearsbeyond the warranty period.

The DPP draft was pre-pared by a Review Committeebased on the recommenda-tions of all stakeholders, includ-ing private industry. In order toaccrue advantage of domainspecialisation of various subjectmatter experts, eight sub-com-mittees headed by LtGen/equivalent officers wereconstituted to assist the reviewcommittee. These committeescarried out extensive delibera-tions and interactions over aperiod of six months to for-mulate their respective char-ters.

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As many as 32 political par-ties, including seven

national parties have spent thehighest of �1495.41 crore onpublicity, followed by �567.19crore on travel expenses,�528.94 crore on lumpsumamounts paid to candidatesand �399.03 crore on other ormiscellaneous expenses duringthe Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

According to a report pre-pared by the Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR) onthe basis of expenditure detailssubmitted by the political par-ties to the ElectionCommission, these politicalparties have recollected�6405.59 crore in 2019. Ofthem, a major chunk of�5544.34 crore (86.55%) wasreceived by seven political par-ties while 25 regional partiesreceived �861.25 crore(13.45%).

According to the report,political parties have declaredtheir expenditure under theheads of publicity, travelexpenses, other/miscellaneousexpenses and lumpsumamounts paid to their contest-ing candidates. The expendi-ture on publicity is 49.94 per-cent of the overall expendituredeclared under various headswhile expensesincurredtowards candidates constituted17.67 percent of the totalex-penditure," it said.

The ADR report said the32 political parties analyzedspent the maximum on mediaadvertisement (�1166.15 croreor 77.98 percent) followed byexpenditure on publicity mate-rials (�222.1 crore or 14.85 per-cent) and public meetings

(�107.16 crore or7.17 per cent).Of the total expenditure of the32 political parties on publici-ty, �1223.71 cr or 81.83% per-cent was spent by the nationalparties and �271.70 cr or18.17% was spent by theregional parties.

On the travel expenses,the ADR has divided expendi-ture incurred by star cam-paigners and the party leaders.Political parties have spent atotal of �567.19 crore on'Travel'. Of this, national par-ties have spent �487.33 cr(85.92 %) and regional partiesspent Rs 79.86 cr (14.08%).

National and Regionalpolitical parties collectivelyspent 98.53% of their totaltravel expenses or �558.88crore on their star campaign-ers and the remaining 1.47% or�8.31 crore on the travel oftheir party leaders.

The 32 national andregional parties together spent�2591.39 crore during the 2019Lok Sabha polls, of which anexpenditure of �2004.99 crore(77.37%) was incurred by theseven national parties.

According to ADR, theelection expenditure statementsof 18 Regionalparties includingDMDK, JD(S), RJD, JKNPP,RLD etc. for the 2019 LokSabhaelections are unavailable on thewebsite of ECI till date.Theexpenditure statements ofIUML and SHS are not avail-able for theAndhra PradeshAssembly elections 2019.

"Regional Parties namelyMGP, MPC and MNS submit-ted their election expenditurestatements for the general elec-tions despite not having con-tested the elections - asdeclared by them.

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Intensifying the measures tocombat Coronavirus in

Maharashtra, Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Fridayordered closure of all shops,business establishments andprivate firms in MumbaiMetropolitan Region (MMR),Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad andNagpur till March 31 andreduced the employees’ atten-dance limit in governmentoffices to 25 per cent, even asthe total number of confirmedCovid-19 cases rose to 52.

Hours after the chief min-ister made an announcementabout the lockdown till March31, Deputy Chief Minister AjitPawar said in Pune that allshops, business establishmentsand private firms in MMRand three other cities in thestate will remain closed not justtill March 31 but the closureorder would remain in force tillfurther orders.

Simultaneously, StateEducation Minister VashaGaikwad announced the can-cellation of examinations for

first to eighth standards inschools across the State andsaid the remaining examina-tions for the ninth and 11thstandards would be held afterApril 15. “However, the ongo-ing SSC examinations for theremaining subjects will be heldas scheduled. All teachersexcept those taking classes forthe 10th standard have beenasked to work from home,” theminister said.

With three more personstesting positive for Coronavirusin different parts of the state onThursday, the total number ofconfirmed Covid-19 rose to 52.Pune and the neighbouringPimpri-Chinchwad haveaccounted for a maximum of21 cases, the break-up of pos-itive Coronavirus cases else-where in the State is: Mumbai-11, Nagpur-4, Yavatmal-3, NaviMumbai-3, Kalyan-3, Panvel-1,Thane-1, Ulhasnagar,Ahmednagar-2, Aurangabad-1and Ratnagiri-1. Of the patientswho had tested positive forCovid-19, a 63-year-old dis-ease-infected had died at theKasurba Hospital on Tuesday.

Addressing the peopleacross the State live throughsocial media, the ChiefMinister said the order closingdown all shops, business estab-lishments and private firms inMMR and three other cities inthe state would come in forceat 12 midnight. “The sale ofessential goods, food grains,

drugs and supply of milk havebeen spared from the lock-down,” Uddhav said.

“In case there is confusionabout the closure announce-ment, the affected people maycontact the local district col-lector and divisional commis-sioner. I have a request tomake to the shopkeepers and

owners of the business estab-lishments who are closed downtheir units as per theGovernment orders pay minimum wages to the affect-ed employees,” the ChiefMinister said.

Uddhav said there were noimmediate plans to discontinueoperation of suburban trains and

buses in Mumbai. “For now, wehave no plans to close down sub-urban train and bus services.But, as part of our crowd reduc-ing initiative, rwe are bringingdown further the limit ofemployees attending the gov-ernment offices from the earli-er 50 per cent to 25 per cent”.

Meanwhile, interacting withmediapersons at Pune, DeputyChief Minister Ajit Pawarexhorted people not to con-tribute to crowds by invitingpeople for marriages andensure against crowds at funer-als. “During the period of clo-sure for shops, business estab-lishments and private firms, Irequest the owners to pay remu-neration to daily wage earners”.

“Since the next 15 days arevery crucial, I request the peo-ple to co-operate with the gov-ernment in implementing mea-sures to combat Coronavirus,”the Deputy Chief Minister said.

Pawar said the collectorsand divisional commissionershad been given powers to pur-chase whatever drugs neededfrom the market. “We have lift-ed all the restrictions on the pur-

chase of drugs by the district col-lectors and divisional commis-sioners. We do not need fundsfrom the Centre. We are capa-ble of handling the situation. Wewill ensure that there is nodearth for funds”.

Meanwhile, MumbaiMunicipal CommissionerPraveen Pardeshi announcedrestrictions on vehicular move-ment in the areas of Isolationcentres and quarantine centresdeclared by the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC)like Kasturba Hospital, KEMHospital and Seven HillsHospital.

Through an amendedorder for “social distancing”issued under the rule 10 of theRegulations for Prevention andContainment of COVID-19framed under the EpidemicDiseases Act, 1897, the BMCCommissioner also announcedthe closure of schools, cinemahalls, swimming pools, gyms,malls/mill compound, SpaCentres, Clubs, Pubs, dis-cotheques, Sanjay GandhiNational Park, AmusementPark and banning of mass con-

gregations and functions.“All private, Corporates

and establishments to be com-pletely shut down, However,essential services like drinkingwater supply, sewerage ser-vices, banking services, RBI,telephone and internet ser-vices, rail and transportationservices, food, vegetables andgroceries, hospitals, medicalcentres, medical stores,Electricity, petroleum, Oil,energy, media, Port, IT servicesprovided for essential serviceshave been excluded from theshut down. Production/ man-ufacturing processes whichrequire continuity of processmay continue to continue at 50per cent staff strength,” theamended order stated.

Among other things,Pardeshi asked the police toissue advisories to not to gath-er in masses at sea beaches andpublic places and said thatspitting at public places,premises and road wouldattract a fine of Rs 1000. Hesaid that the sanitary staff andpolice would enforce the penal-ty on spitting strictly.

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Ahead of ‘Janta curfew’ onSunday, the entire Jammu

district locked down complete-ly on Friday to ‘effectively’ fightcoronavirus pandemic. Thoughno fresh case tested positive inthe last 24 hours in Jammu andKashmir, the Government agen-cies reviewed their preparednessto ensure success of the ‘Jantacurfew’ on Sunday.

In Srinagar, all out effortswere being made to sanitise thedensely populated areas andtracking down any suspectedcase of coronavirus who mayhave come in contact with thelone positive case.

In Jammu, all the localmarkets wore a deserted lookas shops remained closed.

The district administra-tion also suspended publictransport mini buses on dif-ferent routes across the districtto prevent movement of com-mon people. All the religiousplaces are also observing com-plete shut down.

Late in the evening, the gov-ernment ordered that theemployees shall attend theiroffices on alternate weeksexcepting those who are asso-ciated with Coronavirus controlefforts and essential services.

The concerned head of thedepartments were directed todraft a weekly roaster of duty forall employees till further orders.

In order to strictly enforcethe lock down, the DistrictAdministration, also sealedtwo business premises forviolating the Orders of DistrictDisaster ManagementAuthority (DDMA).

According to the MediaBulletin on novel coronavirus(COVID-19), at present 2465

persons have been kept underhome quarantine while as 44are in hospital quarantine.

Persons who are underhome surveillance stand at 416while as 405 persons havecompleted their 28-day sur-veillance period. The Bulletinadded 186 samples have beensent for testing of which 178tested as negative and only fourcases have tested positive, so farwhile as four reports are await-ed till March 20, 2020.

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Mamata Banerjee hasappealed to the Centre to

“immediately stop all the inter-national flights.” The BengalChief Minister who interact-edwith Prime MinisterNarendra Modi through video-conferencing later told themedia on Friday that she had“told the Prime Minister to stopall the international flights” toBengal.

“The coronavirus is com-ing from outside the country.Why should the people ofIndia suffer for the diseasethat is coming from outside?”the Chief Minister said addingMaharashtra and Telenganatoo had made similar requeststo the Central Government.

The Centre had onThursday announced a banon all international flights to

the country for a week begin-ning March 22.

Banerjee’s appeal camewithin hours of a second youthwas found to be infected bycoronavirus. The 22-year-oldwho had returned fromLondon on March 13 and hadbeen in home-isolation wasreported positive after he vis-ited the hospital with flu-likecondition on March 17, sourcessaid, adding all the 11 membersof the jointly family he lives inhave been quarantined in aGovernment facility.

A third person a plasticsurgeon who had visited Dubaihad also beenquarantined withsuspected corona infection.His pathological samples havebeen sent for tests.

Alleging that New Delhiwas not cooperative enoughregarding the StateGovernment’s requisitions for

corona preparedness the ChiefMinister said, “I reported himabout how our demands fornecessary kits have thus farbeen ignored.” On how thePrime Minister responded toher allegations she said “he saidthat he was taking note of it butdid not give any assurance… Isaid that all the equipment weare manufacturing here inBengal through MSMEs butsome other things like per-mission for setting up labsthat only the Centre can give

has to come from there.”Banerjee also said she had

placed demands for food grainsduring the coming months ofcrisis. The Chief Ministerannounced that theGovernment will provide 5kgs of ration free to the peopletill the month of September.“Either we will supply it home-to-home or we will ask theguardians to come and collectit from the ration shops whichhave been asked to remainopen at least five-and-a-halfdays a week.”

The Chief Minister alsosaid she had requested thePrime Minister to come out aplan for the unorganised sec-tor that is likely to suffer fromloss of jobs in case of biggereventualities in the comingweeks. She is also said to haverequested the prime ministerfor a plan for the unorganised

sector which is expected to beworst-hit due to a considerabledrop in economic activities aspart of containment efforts.

“I have requested the PMto come up with a plan for theunorganised sector, sufferingdue to COVID-19 pandemic,”she said, adding herGovernment was taking all theprecautionary steps to handlethe pandemic.

“We have a near-seven starfacility at Rajarhat New Townfor those who will have to bequarantined. This facility canaccommodate about a thou-sand people,” she said addingall the districts have been askedto create such isolation centres.

As on Friday she said about5.63 lakh people had beenscreened in the State. Out ofthem 57 people have been quar-antined and 18,700 people havebeen kept in home isolation.

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Asking people to follow the guide-lines of Uttar Pradesh and Central

Governments for preventing the spreadof coronavirus, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that people should can-cel all religious and social functions tillApril 2.

The Chief Minister also orderedthat the State-run hospitals provide onlyemergency services to avoid unneces-sary crowding.

“Non-essential tests and OPD con-sultations should be postponed tillMarch 31. This is being done to ensurethere is no unnecessary crowding inhospitals,” he said.

“It is mandatory to observe socialquarantine to prevent spread of coro-navirus. People should follow theguidelines issued by the Union and stategovernments in letter and spirit,” Yogisaid in a statement issued in Lucknow

on Friday.Yogi also appealed to all

religious leaders to spread awarenessabout coronavirus and how dangerousit was.

“Religious and social functionsshould be deferred till April 2 and incase of marriages, the number of invi-tees should not be more than 10.Efforts should be made to minimisecrowding at one venue. People shouldstay at their homes and avoid meetingpeople,” the chief minister said.

Yogi said that orders had beenissued to intensify checking at bus andrailway stations and in buses enteringUP from different states.

“Important cities like Lucknow, Noida and Kanpurshould be sanitised. Schools and col-leges should remain closed and teach-ers and non-teaching staff too should not come to school tillApril 2,” he said.

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An attempt by a tippler tomake the Kerala State

Beverages Corporation, theState-owned retail and whole-sale dealer of Indian MadeForeign Liquor, to home deliv-er the usual quota of spirit mis-fired on Friday as the KeralaHigh Court not only dismissedhis petition in this regard butimposed a fine of Rs 50,000 as

cost of the case on Jyothish, thepetitioner.

The demand of Jyothishwas to make the liquor availablethrough online platforms. Hiscontention was that in the back-drop of coronavirus COVID, ithas become risky to stand in thelong queue in front of the retailoutlets to purchase the regularquota of liquor. There are nodearth of customers queuing upin front of the BEVCO countersbecause the State is one of the

largest guzzlers of liquor in thecountry.

Jyothish pleaded before thecourt that the retails werecrowded during business hoursand it was unsafe to wait hoursin front of the “watering holes”for procuring alcohol for con-sumption. His suggestion wasthat the BEVCO could start dis-tributing the spirits through on-line service whereby the mate-rial would be home delivered.

But AK Jayasankaran

Nambiar, the judge who heardthe petition was neither amusednor humored by the contentionof the petitioner. “The citizen-ry ought to realize that therestrictions imposed by thisCourt on the filing of cases iswith a view to ensuring thattheir fundamental rights as cit-izens, for access to justice is,guaranteed to the extent possi-ble, even at the cost of exposingthe judges, lawyers, Clerks andstaff of this court to the risk of

viral infection. When measuressuch as these are adopted by theInstitution in public Interest ,the very least that is expectedfrom the litigating public is asensitivity to the interests oftheir fellow citizens in societywho like them have a funda-mental right to a safe place ofwork and a healthy environ-ment. One cannot help butlament at the selfishness of thepetitioner in the instant case ,and others like him in society

whose obsession with perceivedrights blinds them to the oblig-atory duty that they owe to thefellow citizens,” said the judgewhile dismissing the petition.

He also pointed out that‘the petitioner’s conduct in fil-ing a frivolous petition at a timelike this while making a mock-ery of the salutary concept ofaccess to justice which thisinstitution strives to guaranteealso ridicules the functioning ofthis noble institution. For the

said reckless, insensitive andinsolent action, the petitionercannot be let away lightly.’

The amount of Rs 50,000will be paid to the ChiefMinister’s Distress Relief Fund.

Old timers in the capital cityof Thiruvananthapuram recalledan incident that took place in1986 when late Prof M PManmathan, a Gandhian whodevoted his life to bring in totalprohibition in the State staged ademonstration in front of the

State secretariat demanding theclosure of all liquor shops. Arenowned film personality led arally of 100 tipplers demandingthe provision of ‘quality’ liquorthrough retail outlets!

Though Kerala is reelingunder the impact of CoronaVirus, the liquor outlets areoperating to capacity much tothe shock of the population.The Government has orderedthe closure of schools and col-leges but not the liquor outlets.

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An encounter with PradeepKumar Banerjee, the ace

footballer who breathed his laston Friday is like watching amovie being shown on widescreen. He was one of the fewquintessential football coachesthe country had seen. “As aplayer, he was the prince of theera and reigned supreme in themaidans. Speed, agile and ballcontrol were his forte,” remem-

bers T K Chathunni, formerIndian defender who had rep-resented Bombay’s Orkay Millsand Goa’s Vascoe Club duringhis playing days.

Chathunni said PK was aloving personality who lovedanything about football includ-ing the rival team members.“The Salgaonkar team coachedby me had beaten East Bengalin the Federation Cup finalsheld in Kolkata in the early 70s.PK Sir was the coach of EastBengal. Immediately after the

match, he was gracious enoughto come to us and congratulateeach and every member of theSalgaonkar team,” saidChathunni.

The last time PK Daa cameto Kerala was in 1985 as thecoach of Indian team thatplayed in the Nehru CupInternational football matchheld at Thiruvananthapuram.That was the first time footballlovers in Kerala saw AnaadiBarua, a surprise inclusion inthe team.

India was pitted againstUSSR in the opening match ofthe tournament. The Sovietswho were getting readied for the1986 world cup at Mexico hadsent a team that included play-ers like Igor Belanov, VasslyRats, Andrei Baal and RinatDassayev who ultimately madeit to the national team thatplayed in Mexico. It seems theSoviets never wanted to leaveany stones and unturned in theirmarch to the final. They literallybutchered the Indian team 5-0.

“This is all I have to offeras Indian stars,” said PK afterthe match . The likes ofMauricio Afonso, ParminderSingh, V P Sathyan, KrishanuDey and Babu Mani stoodbewildered as the Sovites mes-merized them with top quali-ty football. “We don’t haveplayers now. What you seehere is stars and they arenowhere near the likes of InderSingh or Subhash Bhowmick,”said PK after the match.

One could feel the pain in

his words because he was theplayer who made the Europeansunderstand that football isplayed in India too. “With thiskind of stars and administration,I don’t have any hope or dreams,”he said after India’s last match inthe tournament in which thehosts failed to score even a sin-gle goal. When K Bhaskaran,sports journalist wrote a book onIndian football as part of theWills Book of Excellence series,he chose PK as his adviser andconsultant.

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The Lok Sabha on Fridaypassed the Indian Institutes

of Information Technology(IIITs) Laws (Amendment)Bill, 2020 Bill which seeks toconfer the status of Institutionof National Importance (INI)on five more Indian Institutesof Information Technology(IIITs). It proposes to bring thefive institutions under the IIIT(Public-private Partnership)Act, 2017, similar to the other15 IIITs established under thescheme in Public-privatePartnership (PPP) mode.

The five IIITs which areproposed to be given the INI

status are located in Surat,Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartalaand Raichur. These five IIITsalong with 15 others which arealso build in PPP mode willnow be able to use the nomen-clature of Bachelor ofTechnology (BTech) or Masterof Technology (MTech) or PhDdegree. Replying to the debateon the Bill, Human ResourceDevelopment Minister RameshPokhiriyal ‘Nishank’ said thatsuch institutes have recorded100 per cent placement.

Clarifying the apprehen-sions raised by some membersof the House, he said theseinstitutes also follow the reser-vation policy announced by thegovernment. The minister alsosaid the quality of educationwas improving and the coun-try was moving ahead inresearch and development.

New Delhi: The CBI hasbooked four former seniorofficials of Mahanadi CoalfieldsLimited (MCL) and 25 com-panies, including Adani PowerLimited, Jindal Steel and PowerLimited, ACC and Vedanta, forallegedly causing a loss of Rs 97crore to the public sectorundertaking in the supply ofcoal from it.

The agency has bookedfour of the then officials in thefinance department of MCL —

chief manager KaberiMukherjee, senior managersAnil Kumar Bhowmik,Debajyoti Chakraborty anddeputy manager SripalliVeeraghanta, along with 25big companies, for the allegedconspiracy hatched between2013 and 2017, according tothe FIR.

The major companiesbooked by the CBI includeACC, Adani Power Limited,Adani Power Maharashtra

Unit-3, Adani PowerMaharashtra Unit-1, Vedanta,Sesa Sterlite Limited (nowVedanta), JK Paper Limited,Jindal Steel and Power Limited, IFFCO and EmamiBiotech Limited, according tothe FIR.

Other companies booked asaccused include ACC Ltd.,Haldia Energy Ltd., Hadia SteelsLtd., BILT Graphic ProductsLtd., JSL Ltd., Jindal Steel &Power Ltd and IFFCO. PNS

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The Ministry of Agriculturehas urged the States to

release their share of premiumunder crop insurance to ben-efit farmers, citing the examplesof Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan that have notreleased Rs 2,731 crore and Rs1,482 crore respectively.

Replying to a query duringthe Question Hour in Rajya

Sabha on Friday, Minister of Statefor Agriculture and FarmersWelfare Kailash Choudhary saidthe Centre was in touch withstates for early release of theirshare so that it can release thepremium to farmers. The pre-mium subsidy sharing patternbetween the Centre and Stateshas been 50:50.

“The states which have notgiven premium for crop insur-ance include Madhya Pradesh

which owes Rs 2,731 croreand Rajasthan which owes Rs1,482 crore,” Choudhary said.

The other states with pend-ing premiums includeMahrarashtra, Telangana,Karnataka and West Bengal.He said the Centre was readyto release the premium tofarmers the same day.

“We are in constant touchso that the farmers get theirclaim,” he said.

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The chairman, Animal WelfareBoard of India (AWBI), Dr OPChaudhary, has acted commend-ably in issuing a circular, datedMarch 11, 2020, to the Chief

Secretaries of all States and Union Territoriesabout pet animals at a time of Coronavirus.Stating that it was being brought to the board’snotice that animal owners were “leaving theiranimals to stray without proper food, wateror shelter” due to the spread of COVID-19,the circular added, “In this regard, the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) has clarified thatdogs and cats are not involved in spreadinginfection in the current episode ofCoronavirus infection.” Further, the circularreminded that cruelty to animals was anoffence under Sections 3 and 11(1) of thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960and the rules thereunder, as well as violativeof the Supreme Court’s directives in thisregard.

The circular stated that AWBI hadalready advised the Governments of States andUnion Territories to see that stray animalswere looked after by local bodies, which wereresponsible for the matter. It requested ChiefSecretaries to issue circulars to all concernedto create awareness among the public aboutnot leaving the animals they were taking careof to stray or not inflicting unnecessary painand suffering on animals because of the spreadof COVID-19 and directing the law enforce-ment authorities to ensure the same. A copyof the circulars, it ended by saying, might beforwarded to the board.

Here is a kind of pro-active action on thepart of authorities one does not ordinarily see.Irrespective of the results that follow in itsimmediate aftermath, it will add to the pres-sure, building up over time, on the authori-ties and the public, to treat animals humane-ly and according to law. It is going to be a longhaul. Cruelty to animals is part of a widerproneness to hatred and cruelty that is as inte-gral a component of the human psyche as loveand compassion. Humans enjoy being cruel,whether to other humans or animals. As ErichFromm points out in his seminal work, TheAnatomy of Human Destructiveness, animals“do not enjoy inflicting pain and suffering onother animals, nor to ‘they kill for nothing.’Sometimes an animal seems to display sadis-tic behaviour — for instance, a cat playing witha mouse; but it is an anthropomorphic inter-pretation to assume that the cat enjoys the suf-fering of the mouse; any fast-moving objectcan serve as a plaything whether it is a mouseor a ball of wool.”

“Man,” Fromm points out, “is the onlymammal who is a large-scale killer and asadist.” He holds that indulgence in destruc-tion and cruelty can always cause a man tofeel “intense satisfaction; masses of men cansuddenly be seized by lust for blood.Individuals and groups may have a charac-ter structure that makes them eagerly wait for— or create — situations that permit expres-sions of destructiveness.”

Animals have been a specialtarget of human savagery becausethe dominant global discoursearising in the background of theEuropean Renaissance and the18th century Enlightenment haveexcluded them from the moraluniverse of the humans. The twoprincipal grounds for doing so isthat they, unlike people, lackedrationality and were created toserve humans. Neither groundsurvives scrutiny. Irrationality isas much a part of the human psy-che as rationality. Otherwise somany people would not havecheered Hitler and Mussolini orclung to countless superstitiousbeliefs. Elizabeth Costello, themain protagonist in JM Coetzee’sThe Lives of Animals, puts thingsin perspective when she says,“Both reason and seven decadesof life experience tell me that rea-son is neither the being of theuniverse nor the being of god. Onthe contrary, reason looks to mesuspiciously like the being ofhuman thought; worse than that,like the being of one tendency ofhuman thought. Reason is thebeing of a certain spectrum inhuman thinking.”

Reason, the cutting edge ofrationality, is an instrument foranalysing and assessing informa-tion and integrating it into theconsciousness. Equally, it is aninstrument for solving problemsand coping with the worldthrough the establishment of

causal relationships based onthought process like induction,the drawing of conclusions fromempirical observation anddeduction, the drawing of con-clusions from premises derivedthrough induction. The conclu-sions it has yielded have, how-ever, often proved wrong, espe-cially when the process of rea-soning has been based on incor-rect premises. As important,reason is value neutral. It canequally serve moral andimmoral causes.

Second, reason has not beenthe only instrument for copingwith and modifying the world.Sometimes instinct has workedwhere reason has failed orinstinctive responses have trig-gered rational speculationwidening the frontiers of knowl-edge and technology and chang-ing the world materially, philo-sophically and morally. Animalshave far sharper instincts — orthe sixth sense if you will — thanhuman beings. More, they havefar stronger and sharper facul-ties like that of hearing andsmell, can often see in the darkand have far stronger survivalcapacities than men and women.Coetzee further makes ElizabethCostello say, “scientific experi-mentation that leads you toconclude that animals are imbe-ciles is profoundly anthropocen-tric. It values your ability to findyour way out of a sterile maze,

ignoring the fact that if theresearcher who designed themaze were to be parachuted intothe jungles of Borneo, he or shewould be dead of starvation ina week. If I as a human beingwere told that the standards bywhich animals are measured arehuman standards, I would beinsulted. It is experiments them-selves that are imbecile.”

Finally, animals may not berational in the manner humansare but they can reach conclu-sions by weighing options andmap courses of action to be fol-lowed. They feel emotions suchas grief and joy exactly the sameway that humans do. They are asentitled to free and joyous livesas humans. Most of them do notdo so because they have eitherbeen enslaved and mercilesslyexploited or savagely hunted assport. Things have improved.Many countries have legislatedagainst cruelty to animals,banned or limited animal exper-imentation and banned orrestricted hunting. It is, howev-er, still a long way to a world inwhich humans and animals aretreated legally and morally at par.Time was when people thoughtthat human slavery could not beabolished. It was. There will alsobe a time when animal slaverywill cease to exist.

(The writer is ConsultantEditor, The Pioneer, and anauthor)

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Sir — It was indeed surprising andshocking that �1.76 was levied astransaction charges on recharge of�200 on the Delhi Metro card.Such incidents discourage digitalpayments. If the Governmentreally wants to promote digital sys-tems, transaction charges on pay-ment through credit cards shouldbe reduced and must be paid bythe Centre, rather than the traders.Presently, people avoid makingpayments through credit cardsbecause traders demand an addi-tional transaction charge of twoper cent.

Banks can discontinueexchangeable credit points for useof credit cards. They will, in turn,benefit from the manifold rise intransactions through credit cards.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)should fix the maximum interestrate on delayed payments for cred-it cards. Malpractices of imposingpenalties should also be regulated.The system of over-limit penaltyshould be abolished with bankshaving the liberty to decline pay-ment beyond the permissible limitto the customer.

SC AgrawalDelhi

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Sir — The star-crossed relationsbetween the telecom companiesand the revenue department ofthe Government are unlikely tochange. In the retrospective taxissue, the Supreme Court was per-suaded by the view that the busi-ness connection rule did not

apply to capital transactions. Subsequently, the apex court

held a similar view over revenueevaluation for taxation as that wasthe legal position arising out ofthe Government’s own ham-handed construct. The court’s lat-est observations — on theGovernment’s fresh submissionsover adjusted gross revenue —

have been also been severe.The malady is quite basic —

the inability to foresee the explo-sive impact of modern technolo-gy, both by service providers andthe government. In 2004, the tele-com companies had gross rev-enues pegged at �4,855 croreand by 2015, it had jumped to�2.37 trillion. The Government,

on its part, used law enactment tomake up for its lack of foresight.Caught in a bind, theGovernment must be ruing theineptness of its blindsided babus.

R NarayananMumbai

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Sir — Amid growing fear andparanoia in society due to thespread of Coronavirus, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s messageto the nation, asking the citizensto observe janta curfew thisSunday, is welcome. In fact, hisassurance was much-needed tocalm anxious nerves. In suchtimes of crisis, it is not just the Statemachinery but people, too, whomust show the resolve and worktogether for a larger cause. ThePrime Minister’s call for self-imposed curfew is meant to pre-pare us for tougher times and isdoable. We need to understandthat in such desperate times, weneed to be ready for some sacri-fices and pain to emerge stronger.

Bal GovindNoida

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American statesman and prominent attorneyDaniel Webster once said, “Justice is the great-est interest of man on Earth. It is the ligament

which holds civilised beings and a civilised societytogether.” We, the people of India, were gifted withone of the most significant Constitutions ever writ-ten, on January 26, 1950 and are fortunate to haveour freedoms and rights acknowledged and definedin it. The framers of the Constitution recognised thatpeople have inherent fundamental rights that areinalienable and constitutionally-enforceable throughcourts, subject to reasonable restrictions. They areuniversally recognised and include the right to equal-ity, freedom of expression, freedom of conscienceand religion and the right to approach courts toenforce them. These rights are contained in Part IIIof the Constitution. Part IV deals with the DirectivePrinciples of State Policy that act as instruments ofinstruction for the implementation of fundamen-tal rights in Part III.

Unlike the Indian Constitution, the AmericanConstitution written in 1787 was probably flawedat first. It did not have a written provision or a “Billof Rights” which guaranteed protection of funda-mental personal freedoms and rights of its citizens.Seeing the need for it Thomas Jefferson argued thatthe people were entitled to it against everyGovernment on the planet and “no just Governmentshould refuse a Bill of Rights to its people.” After that,in 1791, the “Bill of Rights” was introduced in theUS Constitution by the first ten amendments andit prohibited the Congress from making any lawwhich impedes the free exercise of religion, speech,right to peaceably assemble and the right to a fairtrial and several other personal rights of individu-als.

According to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor inthe “Bill of Rights”, the framers of the AmericanConstitution built a wall around certain fundamen-tal individual freedoms, forever limiting the major-ity’s ability to intrude upon them. Fundamental rightsare recognised in every civilised nation and arefounded on the rule of law which no law can depriveits citizen of, in a civilised and secular society.

Justice Patanjali Sastri in the AK Gopalan vsState of Madras case in 1950 noted that Part III formsa new feature of the Constitution and it is the Indian“Bill of Rights.” It is modelled on the first ten amend-ments of the American Constitution which declarethe fundamental rights of US citizens.

The rule of law and secularism are at the heartof the Indian Constitution and Indian laws. The ruleof law assures us of equality before it and equal treat-ment of laws, liberty, dignity, personal freedom andthe right to life. The Preamble to our Constitutionand Articles 25 and 26 dealing with freedom of reli-gion guarantee equality to all individuals and groupsirrespective of their beliefs. They also emphasise thatthere is no religion of the State itself. The conceptof secularism is one facet of the right to equalitywoven as the central golden thread in the fabricdepicting the pattern of the scheme of theConstitution as noted in the M Ismail Faruqui vsthe Union of India case.

There may be times when the Governmentmust be reminded about the rule of law and secu-larism as reflected in our Constitution. Recently, astatue of Lord Jesus and 14 crosses portraying eventsin the Passion of Christ, from his condemnation byPontius Pilate to his entombment, were removedfrom a cemetery in Karnataka near Bengaluru by

the district administration. It was allegedthat the church was encroaching on pub-lic land and involved in forcible conver-sions. The church says that the propertywas being used on the basis of a validGovernment sanction for several years.The church also says that the statue andthe crosses were removed at the behest ofmajoritarian groups amid false accusationsof forcible conversions.

The church requested the Stateadministration to allow them to contin-ue with their Lenten observances whichthey have been doing for the last severalyears at the cemetery. Lent is a 40-day peri-od before the crucifixion and burial ofLord Jesus on Good Friday and his res-urrection from the dead on Easter Sunday,that is observed by Christians by fastingand praying. The belief in the crucifixionand resurrection of Lord Jesus is the cen-tral belief of Christianity. The church saysthat the removal of the statue of Christ andthe 14 crosses is illegal as the land wassanctioned for a Christian graveyard andthey have the documents to prove it. Theysay that the State administration showedundue haste to remove the statue andcrosses and could have at least waited tillafter Easter and not obstruct the religiousobservances that have been going on forseveral years.

There are other incidents whenChristians have wrongly been accused offorcible conversions. In 2017, eightChristians were intercepted and arrestedon charges of forcible conversion underthe Madhya Pradesh Freedom of ReligionAct and kidnapping under the IndianPenal Code. They were travelling for aBible camp along with 60 children fromMadhya Pradesh to Nagpur. After a longand arduous trial, a court in MadhyaPradesh acquitted the eight Christians in

February, as they were proved innocent ofall charges. Increasingly, churches are tar-getted by mobs and their Sunday servicesdisrupted. Disturbingly, more often thannot, no action is taken against the attack-ers. However, the pastors and church lead-ers are assaulted and are arrested andaccused of forcible conversion. In 2015 inJhajjar, Haryana, Sunday services in onechurch were stopped by the districtadministration on account of a processionand puja which happened to be takingplace near it. The district administrationdid not respond to the pleas of thechurch to allow the members to worship.

However, the administration hastilywithdrew its illegal order as soon as thechurch approached the Punjab andHaryana High Court. The court directedthe State to provide adequate security asand when required, especially when thechurch services were in progress. Thechurch was allowed to function as per thefundamental rights guaranteed by theConstitution and the established princi-ples of the rule of law.

States such as Madhya Pradesh,Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat andHimachal Pradesh have Freedom ofReligion Acts which are also referred toas anti-conversion laws. These laws right-ly prohibit religious conversions by force,fraud and inducement. Some of these Statelaws have been in existence for more than50 years in Madhya Pradesh and Odishaand there have been many false convic-tions under these laws. It appears that suchlaws only serve the purpose of intimidat-ing and harassing Christian pastors andnot others who indulge in conversions andforced re-conversions. Such Acts impedeon the rights of Christians only and arebeing used to threaten religious leadersand congregations even in States where no

such laws exist. Accusing church leadersand pastors of forceful conversion hasbecome a convenient method for the per-petrators of crimes against Christians, toassault and silence them, just like thedreaded Blasphemy law in Pakistan is usedagainst minorities. The anti-conversionlaws only promote communal hatred anddo not subserve any Constitutional pur-pose and are a blot on our democracy. Allcitizens of India are equally entitled to free-dom of conscience and the right to freelyprofess, practice and propagate religion ascontained in Article 25 of the Constitution.

The Government must be remindedof its duty, as reflected in the observationsof the Supreme Court in the State ofKarnataka vs Praveen Bhai Togadia casewhich said that secularism is not to be con-fused with the communal or religious con-cept of an individual or a group of per-sons. It means that the State should haveno religion of its own and no one couldproclaim to make the State have one suchor endeavour to create a theocratic State.Each person, whatever be his religion,must get an assurance from the State thathe has the protection of law to freely pro-fess, practice and propagate his religionand freedom of conscience.

The anti-conversion laws are imped-ing the rights of the Christian minorityand must be repealed. The abrupt removalof the statue of Lord Jesus in Karnatakaand the promptitude with which theadministration acts to appease groups whoaccuse pastors of forcible conversion area few real incidents of a travesty of justiceand the misapplication of laws. The anti-conversion laws are an antithesis to therule of law and must be struck down fromthe statute books.

(The writer is Advocate Partner, DuaAssociates)

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With March 22 being celebrat-ed as World Water Day eachyear, it is pertinent to take

stock of India’s efforts to clean the mostrevered river of the country, the Ganga.Namami Gange the flagship pro-gramme which aims to clean Ganga ona mission mode, gets considerableattention from the Central Governmentin terms of funds and priority. NamamiGange lays much emphasis on pollu-tion abatement through the improve-ment of sewage infrastructure.However, despite the concerted effortsbeing made towards cleaning the river,the results have not been very promis-

ing. The data from the Central PollutionControl Board (CPCB) indicate thatthere was no change in the water qual-ity of the river between 2014-2018 interms of bacteriological parameters. TheCPCB has also been monitoring theorganic load in the priority drains enter-ing the river. In 2018, the pre-monsoondata showed that the drains dischargedwater of biochemical oxygen demand(BOD) varying from 2.48 tonnes perday (TPD) to as high as 241.17 TPD.Further, the CPCB has also installedreal-time water quality monitoring ofthe Ganga near the ghats and the drainsentering the river, which highlights theareas with BOD higher than threemg/L. Further, the data from CPCBindicates that most of the river waterfrom the stretch between Uttar Pradeshto West Bengal is unfit for drinking andat some places for bathing as well.

Another major cause of concern isthe non-point source of pollution. TheGovernment’s effort, in this case, hasonly been restricted to provide toiletsin the villages at the bank of the riverbut there has been no strategy for othernon-point sources of pollution such as

farm and cattle waste runoff. Regulatoryauthorities do not monitor these pol-lution sources and the focus is only onmonitoring sewage-related contami-nants.

There clearly exists a gap in theeffective implementation of this missionmode programme. The main objectiveof this flagship programme was to stopdirect dumping of waste into the riverby having effluent treatment plants andsewage infrastructure in all majorriverine cities. Under this objective, thetarget was to create sewage treatmentcapacity for 3,700 million litres per day(MLD). However, by February 2019, theGovernment could only create a capac-ity of 480 MLD.

Some of the reasons for ineffectiveimplementation can be sourced fromthe report of the Comptroller andAuditor General in 2017, which high-lighted unused funds, lack of staff andthe absence of long-term planning.Because of this mismanagement alarge amount of solid and liquid wastestill finds its way into the riverunchecked. The extended deadline of2020 has promised that most of the

drains would stop discharging filth intothe river but this seems difficult toachieve unless the focus changes fromcentralised solutions to a decentralisedones.

One of the main interventions bythe Government was setting up efflu-ent/sewage treatment plants at a citylevel i.e. the centralised systems. Thiswas because a greater population couldbe served and also to maximise theenvironmental and social gains. Suchsystems have been able to improve thequality of the river to some extent andalso reduce further deterioration. Butat many places, these treatment plantswere designed according to the futureneeds and hence involved huge costs,while running under capacity. TheGovernment’s plan to clean the river onmission mode might not lead to thedesired results unless there is a shifttowards the decentralised systemswhich is further strengthened throughactive stakeholders’ participation. Thesesystems should be supported by the bye-laws of city management rules. It helpsto treat the wastewater generated insmall localities. The treated waste-

water could be reused in replenishingthe local water bodies. Further, such sys-tems have several advantages such aslower costs, the potential to graduallyincrease the capacity, environmentalbenefits and also increased opportuni-ties for reuse of the effluents.

Decentralised systems that can beundertaken for wastewater manage-ment include septic tanks, waste stabil-isation ponds, constructed wetlands,membrane bioreactors (MBR) andland treatment. A constructed wetlandin Pompia, Greece is one examplewhere it was used for treating the waste-water generated by the local commu-nity. Due to the wetland, the treatedeffluent was equivalent in terms of qual-ity to the tertiary treated municipalwastewater. There were high removalrates for Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS),Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), phos-phorus, Total Coliform (TC) and FecalColiform (FC). Hence, it has a poten-tial to be reused in several areas, espe-cially irrigation. Given that the worldis facing the exacerbating effects of cli-mate change, the availability of treated

water for non-potable purposes canreduce its deleterious impact on dwin-dling water resources. Decentralisedsystems in such scenarios can bedependable and cost-effective solutionsand the treated effluent can either bereused in some application or forreplenishing the drains/channels whichfeed into the rivers.

India has also been able to build thetechnologies of constructed (floating)wetlands such as the PhytoridWastewater Treatment, which has beendesigned especially to treat industrial,municipal and agricultural wastewater.Siddheshwar Lake in Pachpakhadi,Dawala Lake in Ovala as well asDativali Lake in Diva are a few exam-ples in Thane, where this decentralisedsystem has been used and was success-ful in reducing BOD and COD in thewastewater.

Such systems can be replicated atmost of the places, especially the 100riverine cities at the bank of the riverGanga. These systems can help India insolving two major problems of the sec-tor — wastewater pollution and adeclining availability of the resource by

treating the wastewater and putting itto use for irrigation, landscaping and soon, which will reduce the burden onfreshwater resources. It is also a way ofadapting to the mounting stress of cli-mate change.

The emphasis should be on break-ing down the puzzle of river cleaninginto smaller problems and the provisionof sewerage infrastructure cannot be aone-size-fits-all solution. Each smallerproblem should have a customised solu-tion addressing it locally. Local bodiesplay a crucial role in this and theyshould be empowered to participate inthe process of decision-making, imple-mentation and facilitation to reuse treat-ed wastewater.

There is a need to undertake thecleaning of individual watersheds of thebasin on a decentralised basis, provid-ing local solutions to local problems/ori-gins of pollution. Tapping pollution atthe local level will not only help in curb-ing it at the source but will also makethe system sustainable.

(Grover is Fellow and Seth isResearch Associate, Water Resources,TERI)

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Putting in place a tighterframework to curb high

market volatility, Sebi on Fridayannounced revising marketwide position limit for stocks inthe derivatives segment, flexingdynamic price bands and othermeasures for one month start-ing from March 23.

The slew of measurescomes amidst sharp move-ment in stocks and continuingvolatility in the wake of thecoronavirus pandemic that hasalso adversely impacted eco-nomic activities.

The measures would beeffective from March 23 andwould be in place for onemonth.

Among other steps, revisedpositions limits would beapplicable in equity indexderivatives (F&O) and therewould be flexing in dynamicprice bands in the F&O(Futures & Options) segmentonly after a cooling period of15 minutes after fulfilling cer-tain criteria, Sebi said in a state-ment. Taking note of the con-tinued abnormally high volatil-ity in the market, Sebi said itdiscussed with stock exchanges,clearing corporations anddepositories appropriate mea-sures that may be taken in theexisting circumstances.

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Global stock markets pushedhigher Friday at the end of

another volatile week, as wearyinvestors welcomed a world-wide fightback against thecoronavirus fallout by govern-ments and central banks.

In the eurozone, marketsjumped after the EuropeanCentral Bank launched a vaststimulus this week, withFrankfurt, Paris, Milan andMadrid scoring gains ofbetween 2 and 4 per cent.

London's stock marketwon about 2 per cent one dayafter the Bank of Englandslashed interest rates to arecord-low 0.1 per cent andahead of new UK state stimu-lus plans later Friday.

The dollar eased some-what after a lengthy rallyfuelled by traders cashing outof their investments, while theembattled oil market extendedThursday's gains.

US stocks rose at the open-ing bell, with the Dow adding0.5 per cent in the first coupleminutes of trading, as USauthorities move forward withstimulus plans.

"The stock markets' upsideis a result of a number of bigbazookas fired off by centralbanks," Scope Markets analyst

James Hughes told AFP, beforesounding a note of grim cau-tion.

"The markets hate uncer-tainty — and we could not bein a more uncertain time," headded in reference to theCOVID-19 pandemic that haskilled more than 10,000 peoplearound the world.

"So overall I feel marketsmay recover from here in theshort term, but we mustremember it has been a weekwhere this crisis escalated in animmeasurable and unprece-dented way. Who knows whatnext week has in store."

Coronavirus threatens toengulf the whole of Europeafter it emerged Thursday thateurozone member Italy hasovertaken China's death total -- and is now braced for anextended lockdown.

The ECB this weekembarked upon a massive 750-billion-euro (USD 820-billion)stimulus package designed tohelp virus-wracked economies,by buying extra governmentand corporate bonds.

On Thursday, US SenateMajority Leader MitchMcConnell presented a USD 1trillion emergency relief pack-age to combat the turmoil,with USD 1,200 cash handoutsfor individuals.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday said

an economic package for thecoronavirus-hit sectors will beannounced "as soon as possi-ble".

The Minister, however, didnot give any timeline by whenthe package will be unveiled.

Sitharaman was speakingto reporters after meeting min-isters and officials of civil avi-ation, animal husbandry,tourism and MSME ministriesto take stock of the situationfollowing the Covid-19 out-break.

"I had a meeting withtourism, MSME, civil aviation,animal husbandry sectors.These ministries presented

assessment of their sector afterconsultation with their stake-holders.

"We had a detailed discus-sion in the presence of theFinance Secretary andEconomic Affairs Secretary.We are compiling their sug-gestions," she said after thefour-hour meeting here.

The Ministry will hold aninternal meeting on Saturday tofirm up the action plan to dealwith the crisis, she added.

When asked by when thepackage will be announced, shesaid "it will be difficult to givetimeline but it will be done assoon as possible."

The finance minister alsosaid the task force announcedby Prime Minister NarendraModi is yet to be constituted.

On Thursday, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inhis address to the nation hadsaid the government is settingup a 'Covid-19 EconomicResponse Task Force' to decideon relief package for sectors hitby the coronavirus outbreak.

"Task force is not yet con-stituted but keeping in mindthe sense of urgency, the min-istry was holding this meeting.Of course when the task forceis constituted it will also get thebenefit of these meetings.Other ministries are also send-ing us their suggestions," shesaid.

Asked about relief mea-sures for the financial sector,Sitharaman said, "SEBI hascome up with a list of regula-tions which will also sort of

keep the markets a bit stable.But I can't say what I am doingfor the markets. At themoment, we are at a criticalstage of collecting everybody'sinputs and also the ministry isworking in detail about all theinputs which have come."

Speaking after the meeting,Tourism Minister PrahladSingh Patel said the Ministry has been assessing thesituation.

"We all know that thetourism sector has beenimpacted. The finance minis-ter is already concerned aboutthe impact of coronavirus on allthe sectors. We will properlyassess the losses to the sectorand then decide if any packagehas to be granted for the indus-try," he said.

Mumbai: The rupee gave up itsday's gains to settle 8 paiselower at a fresh life-time low of75.20 against the US dollar onFriday as forex market contin-ued to grapple with economicuncertainties.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the domesticcurrency opened higher at 74.82and gained more strength as theday progressed. It went on to hita high of 74.72 before succumb-ing to weakening sentiments.

"The progression of fast-spreading coronavirus has cre-ated havoc ... This uncertaintyand hysteria have grappled theforex market, depreciating allemerging market currenciesand taking rupee to record lowof 75.30 zone," Rahul Gupta,Head of Research — Currency,Emkay Global FinancialServices, said. PTI

New Delhi: The Governmentis mulling measures like allow-ing late repayment of loans bythe micro, small and mediumenterprises to support the sec-tor amid the coronavirus out-break, sources said on Friday.

"We have discussed variousthings including fiscal sup-port... Some kind of defer-ment to ease the whole thing.The issues related to GST werealso discussed," said an officialafter meeting Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman here.

Senior officials from theunion MSME Ministry metthe Finance Minister here andsuggested various measures tohelp the country's micro, smalland medium enterprises sector.

The industry is facingmajor disruptions in the sup-ply chain owing to the coron-avirus outbreak amid weaknessin consumption demand. PTI

Mumbai: Yes Bank founderRana Kapoor, Arrested in amoney laundering case, is "eas-ily susceptible" to getting infect-ed by the coronavirus in prison,his lawyer told a court here onFriday. Kapoor, arrested by theEnforcement Directorate (ED)under the Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) earli-er this month, was remandedin judicial custody till April 2as the investigation agency didnot seek his further remand.

The CBI, meanwhile,obtained a production warrantagainst him in another case.

As his earlier remandended, the ED produced the 62-year-old Kapoor, former MDand CEO of the beleaguered YesBank, before the court here.When the judge asked if he hadany complaints, Kapoor said hehas been suffering from asthmafor the last six-seven years, haslow immunity, and he was inacute depression.

Advocate Abbad Ponda,his lawyer, said a person withlow immunity is "easily sus-ceptible" to catching coron-avirus.

"The virus is spreadingvery fast....It is a very precari-ous situation.

If he goes there (to the jail)he might catch somethingwhich is very very serious," thelawyer said, requesting thatKapoor should be kept in alarger cell. PTI

New Delhi: With malls, shops,commercial establishments andretail stores being shut amidgrowing new coronavirus scarein India, leading etailers likeAmazon and Flipkart haveannounced drastic measures tokeep the orders moving albeitslowly as panic buying continues.

According to Amazon, asCOVID-19 has spread, it hasseen an increase in peopleshopping online.

"In the short term, this ishaving an impact on how weserve our customers. In par-ticular, you will notice that weare currently out of stock onsome popular brands anditems, especially in householdstaples categories," the compa-ny said in a recent blog post.

"You will also notice thatsome of our delivery promisesare longer than usual. We areworking around the clock withour selling partners ," it added.

IANS

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The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) will inject liquidity of

�30,000 crore through openmarket operations next week tomaintain financial stability inthe system in the wake of thecoronavirus outbreak.

The RBI has decided toconduct purchase ofGovernment securities underopen market operations(OMOs) for an aggregateamount of �30,000 crore in twotranches of �15,000 crore eachin March, the central banksaid in a statement. The auc-tions would be conducted onMarch 24 and March 30, it said.

It said, "With the COVID-19 related dislocations, stress incertain financial market seg-ments is still severe and finan-cial conditions remain tight. TheRBI's endeavour is to ensure thatall markets segments functionnormally with adequate liquid-ity and turnover."

The central bank infused�10,000 crore through openmarket operations on Friday.

It will purchase securitieswith a coupon rate of 6.84 percent (maturity December 19,

2022); 7.72 per cent (May 25,2025); 8.33 per cent (July 9,2026) and 7.26 per cent (January14, 2029). The RBI said there isno notified amount against anyof these securities within theaggregate ceiling of �15,000crore set for the operation.

The Reserve Bank reservesthe right to decide on thequantum of purchase of indi-vidual securities, accept offersfor less than or higher than theaggregate amount of �15,000crore (including due to round-ing off) and also to accept orreject any or all the offerseither wholly or partially with-out assigning any reason.

Earlier on Monday, RBIGovernor Shaktikanta Das saidthe regulator has "enough poli-cy tools and stands ready to takeany measures" needed to help theeconomy tide over the impact ofthe coronavirus pandemic.

In two liquidity-enhancingmeasures, Das announcedanother round of $2 billion dol-lar-rupee swap on March 23, andin another measure, he said theRBI will continue to conduct thelong-term repo operations(LTROs) of up to �1 lakh croreas and when the market needs it.

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New Delhi: IndiGo said onFriday that it will be operating60 per cent of its domesticflights on Sunday when 'Jantacurfew' would be in force.

Moreover, as the airline hasseen reduction in demand dueto the pandemic, it will be oper-ating 25 per cent less domesticflights for now. On Thursday,Prime Minister Narendra Modihad urged citizens to observeJanta curfew by not going out oftheir homes from 7 am to 9 amon Sunday amid novel coron-avirus pandemic.

"On Sunday 22nd March,in line with the Janta curfewannounced by the PrimeMinister on 19th March, theairline will be operating approx-imately 60 per cent of its nor-mal domestic schedule, in orderto accommodate those withurgent travel requirements onthat day," the airline said. PTI

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Snapping its four-day losingstreak, equity benchmark

Sensex rallied over 1,627 pointson Friday in line with globalmarkets as governments acrossthe world took drastic mea-sures to combat the economicblowback of Covid-19.

Domestic sentiment turnedpositive on hopes of a stimuluspackage after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced afinancial task force to supportsectors battered by the pan-demic, experts said.

After starting on a volatilenote and swinging over 2,485points, the BSE barometerended 1,627.73 points or 5.75per cent higher at 29,915.96. Ithit a high of 30,418.20 and alow of 27,932.67.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyzoomed 482 points, or 5.83 percent, to close at 8,745.45.

During the week, Sensexplummeted 4,187.52 points or12.27 per cent, while Niftysank 1,209.75 points or 12.15per cent.

ONGC was the top gainerin the Sensex pack on Friday,rallying 18.58 per cent, fol-lowed by UltraTech Cement(13.01 per cent), HUL (11.75per cent), RIL (11.24 per cent),TCS (9.90 per cent), Tata Steel(9.60 per cent) and Asian Paints

(8.91 per cent).Only HDFC Bank and

IndusInd Bank settled in thered, shedding up to 1.39 percent.

Modi on Thursdayannounced setting up of atask force under FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanto take necessary actions “inthe near future” after analysingthe coronavirus pandemic sit-uation.

Experts were of the viewthat the Covid-19 task forcemay come out with concreteproposals very soon.

The huge oil bounty fromthe crude crash can be used forthis, said VK Vijayakumar,chief investment strategist atGeojit Financial Services,adding that the PM’s appeal isa curtain raiser for the concreteactions to follow soon.

Covid-19 cases in Indiarose to 195 on Friday after 22fresh cases were reported fromvarious parts of the country,according to the HealthMinistry.

“Tracking positive senti-ments in the global markets,Indian indices closed up by

around 6 per cent. It was insync with Asian and Europeanmarkets and was more of arelief rally driven by technicalsrather than any fundamentalchange in outlook.

“Hopes of further stimulusfrom Central banks across theworld to contain the econom-ic damage boosted global mar-kets. The broader marketindices were also up by around4 per cent.” said Vinod Nair,head of research at GeojitFinancial Services.

All sectoral indices endedwith gains, with BSE energy, oiland gas, IT, FMCG, teck, met-als and utilities rallying up to9.96 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices surged up to4.18 per cent.

World over, market senti-ments improved as govern-ments stepped up measures tocushion the financial blow ofthe pandemic.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Seoul closed up to 7 percent higher.

Stock exchanges in Europetoo rallied up to 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the rupeeappreciated 6 paise to 74.72against US dollar intra-day.

Global oil benchmark,Brent crude futures rose over8.18 per cent to USD 30.80per barrel.

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Fitch Ratings on Friday cutIndia growth forecast to

5.1% for FY 2020-21, sayingsupply chain disruptions inthe wake of coronavirus out-break are likely to hit invest-ment and exports.

It also said that with glob-al GDP falling, the world wasin “recession territory”.

Fitch had in December2019 projected India to grow at5.6% in 2020-21 and 6.5% inthe following year.

In its Global EconomicOutlook 2020, Fitch said thenumber of people affected bycoronavirus in India wouldkeep rising in the comingweeks but that the outbreakwould remain contained.However, there are downsiderisks to this scenario.

“Supply-chain disruptionsare expected to hit businessinvestment and exports... Wesee GDP growth to remainbroadly steady at 5.1% in thefiscal year 2020-2021 followinggrowth of 5.0% in 2019-2020,”Fitch said. For 2021-22, Fitchprojected India’s growth to be6.4%.

Stating that the coron-avirus crisis is “crushing” glob-al GDP growth, Fitch halvedits baseline global growth fore-cast for 2020 — to just 1.3%from 2.5% projected inDecember 2019.

“The level of world GDP isfalling. For all intents and pur-poses we are in global recessionterritory,” said Brian Coulton,chief economist at FitchRatings.

Fitch said the outbreak ofthe virus was hitting sentiment,while local governments hadrolled out measures to containthe spread of the virus, such asclosing schools, cinemas andtheatres.

“While India’s linkageswith China (e.g. trade andtourism) are modest, manu-facturers in India are heavilyreliant on key Chinese inter-mediate inputs, especially ofelectronics and machinery andequipment,” it said.

It also projected the Indianrupee to be at 74 to the US dol-lar by the end of December 2020.The rupee is currently tradingaround 74.78 to a dollar.

WHO has declared coron-avirus pandemic. Over twolakh people have been infect-ed globally and the diseasecaused by it — COVID-19 —has claimed over 9,000 lives. InIndia there are over 160 posi-tive cases and four deaths so far.

The difficulties facing theIndian economy have beenexacerbated by Yes Bank failure.

“Fragilities in the financialsystem will further underminesentiment and domestic spend-ing. The overall financial systemremains burdened with weak

balance sheets, which will limitany upside to credit and growthdespite policymakers’ effortsin recent months to ease stress-es,” it added.

Fitch said the Reserve Bankof India (RBI) held an emer-gency meeting in mid-Marchand announced measures toshore up liquidity in moneymarkets, including the launchof further long-term repo oper-ations.

“Given downside pressureson growth, we think the RBIwill have to take additionalmeasures and we forecast a cutin the policy rate to 4.5% beforethe end of the year,” said Fitchwhich has a ‘BBB-’ rating onIndia with a stable outlook.

On the fiscal front, theauthorities announced targetedstimulus measures to mitigatethe impact of the outbreak, itadded.

Fitch said the number ofconfirmed COVID-19 casesin India was low, but was pick-ing up, at the time of project-ing growth in the Global eco-nomic outlook report.

“Our scenario assumes thenumber of people affected willkeep rising in the comingweeks but that the outbreak willremain contained. However,there are downside risks to thisscenario,” it added.

Fitch also lowered its oilprice forecast to USD 41%(Brent) for 2020 (annual aver-

age) from USD 62.5 per barrelin December.

“With the collapse of‘OPEC+’ co-operation boostingprospects for OPEC supply, wenow expect oil prices to aver-age USD 48 per barrel in 2021compared to our previous fore-cast of USD 60 per barrel,” itsaid.

Fitch said the global healthcrisis sparked by the outbreakof the coronavirus is taking anextraordinarily heavy toll onthe world economy.

Fitch further said it sees anoutright decline in global GDPthis year if more pervasivelockdown measures have to berolled out across all the G7economies, but a recoverycould be in sight in the secondhalf of calendar year 2020.

“Emergency macro policyresponses are purely aboutdamage limitation at this stagebut should help secure a ‘V-shaped’ recovery..., althoughthis assumes that the health cri-sis eases,” it added.

Fitch said even though itexpects a recovery in Chinafrom the second quarter of2020, Chinese growth isexpected to fall just 3.7 year forthe year as a whole, downfrom 6.1 year in 2019.

“The shock to the Chineseeconomy – primarily resultingfrom the official ‘lockdown’response to contain the virus –has been very severe,” it added.

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$�� 3��456��&�� New Delhi (PTI): Gold prices on Friday jumped �1,395 to�41,705 per 10 gram in the national capital following rally inthe international prices of the precious metal, according toHDFC Securities.

On Thursday, the precious metal had closed at �40,310 per10 gram.

Silver prices also advanced �2,889 to �38,100 per kg againstthe previous close of �35,211 per kg.

“Spot gold of 24 karat in Delhi shot up by �1,395 withovernight rally in international gold prices,” HDFC Securitiessenior analyst (commodities) Tapan Patel said.

In the international market, both the metals were tradingwith hefty gains, with gold quoting higher at USD 1,514 perounce and silver at USD 12.96 per ounce.

“Gold prices traded higher with broad-based recovery incommodities,” he added.

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Script Open High Low LTPRELIANCE 939.00 1033.70 930.05 1020.20HDFCBANK 876.00 914.50 824.55 882.40INFY 554.00 617.00 549.65 584.95ICICIBANK 332.00 359.85 323.10 345.70SBIN 205.45 215.60 200.10 209.65KOTAKBANK 1223.00 1282.00 1147.40 1263.35BAJFINANCE 2750.00 3043.60 2623.95 2962.70IBULHSGFIN 92.35 114.30 81.25 91.10THERMAX 690.00 765.00 656.45 718.20TCS 1637.00 1867.95 1627.00 1798.00MARUTI 4929.00 5222.00 4815.35 5077.10HDFC 1640.00 1778.00 1536.05 1753.90INDUSINDBK 453.00 479.25 405.00 439.95AXISBANK 434.70 449.50 414.05 428.35ONGC 63.55 74.30 62.75 72.45ITC 164.00 176.55 164.00 175.55LT 852.00 878.30 832.00 864.75TATAMOTORS 74.30 79.55 72.70 77.40TATASTEEL 277.70 305.00 274.70 298.05BAJAJFINSV 5780.00 6373.60 5700.00 6263.25HINDUNILVR 1846.00 2080.00 1846.00 2052.50POWERGRID 149.50 161.40 149.00 157.50BHARTIARTL 449.90 472.15 437.00 461.90SHILPAMED 290.25 309.40 290.25 291.65JUSTDIAL 328.00 335.50 305.40 332.95CUMMINSIND 424.00 436.25 415.55 421.00APOLLOHOSP 1178.60 1399.90 1160.90 1363.95ESCORTS 595.00 700.50 562.65 675.20IDEA 3.58 3.58 3.32 3.46ASIANPAINT 1614.00 1757.45 1574.15 1745.85HDFCLIFE 423.05 442.00 411.60 419.15RBLBANK 177.50 187.20 167.90 171.50JUBLFOOD 1206.10 1596.40 1166.00 1466.80INDIACEM 98.00 104.00 97.00 98.15INDIGO 860.00 955.65 836.00 871.90M&MFIN 204.55 218.80 189.30 210.50ASHOKLEY 49.70 49.70 41.10 43.90SUNPHARMA 369.80 379.10 362.80 365.80NAUKRI 1949.95 2072.30 1865.85 1943.05CERA 2095.00 2467.50 2095.00 2401.50IBREALEST 43.70 48.20 43.70 45.10ICICIGI 1020.00 1057.70 953.70 1004.45WESTLIFE 285.15 336.95 285.15 323.95OIL 79.90 85.55 75.20 81.50TITAN 910.00 934.05 866.25 906.55MOTHERSUMI 65.00 69.35 62.75 66.75HDFCAMC 2300.05 2534.00 2280.00 2411.95THYROCARE 505.70 519.40 485.45 505.75PETRONET 194.65 208.80 179.30 207.70NTPC 79.00 82.20 76.30 81.50ZEEL 143.60 153.25 136.35 144.80PVR 1200.00 1367.10 1162.80 1313.95EICHERMOT 15648.00 15960.80 14474.85 15661.30FDC 203.00 208.95 194.20 202.65JINDALSTEL 95.15 106.95 92.90 104.70BANDHANBNK 207.00 236.40 204.30 232.35VEDL 71.90 77.95 70.50 75.35BPCL 306.80 323.05 298.65 318.50PEL 780.00 818.55 663.30 684.80DLF 129.90 141.85 121.40 139.90ADANIPORTS 259.00 264.60 247.65 257.05NESTLEIND 13430.00 14425.95 13206.20 14148.85MUTHOOTFIN 585.00 636.00 584.20 625.45DRREDDY 2750.00 2946.35 2650.00 2898.10JSWSTEEL 169.85 179.35 164.85 176.45PIDILITIND 1450.00 1543.00 1420.70 1501.85COALINDIA 124.70 134.50 122.60 132.45TECHM 535.00 583.90 528.00 576.45ISEC 308.70 312.95 273.00 282.75UNIONBANK 29.50 29.90 28.60 29.20WIPRO 165.00 185.60 162.60 179.40AMBUJACEM 154.00 168.65 151.95 160.90L&TFH 59.65 62.40 56.85 59.55MANAPPURAM 85.35 100.00 85.35 97.20GAIL 69.55 82.30 69.55 80.90IDFCFIRSTB 21.00 21.65 18.60 20.60BANKBARODA 62.20 66.80 61.90 63.25LAXMIMACH 2701.75 2701.75 2476.70 2546.75INFRATEL 125.05 155.45 123.30 149.80FORTIS 122.60 136.00 121.90 131.75IOC 90.00 92.95 88.30 90.60M&M 315.05 327.25 308.25 322.95BATAINDIA 1090.05 1284.80 1090.05 1230.10DIVISLAB 1899.90 2010.00 1866.70 1993.60ULTRACEMCO 3200.00 3657.20 3144.70 3580.45SRF 2925.00 3320.00 2866.05 3221.00MGL 757.00 817.15 731.30 792.35HINDPETRO 192.10 212.40 189.60 209.25NMDC 69.50 74.80 66.15 71.95UPL 297.00 320.10 287.30 298.90GRASIM 491.00 548.95 488.45 528.35AUROPHARMA 361.50 372.00 341.20 347.00LUPIN 636.30 665.00 620.00 641.60CANBK 100.70 102.95 95.45 96.15NCC 20.15 22.70 19.60 22.10AMARAJABAT 469.00 474.25 421.95 434.70LICHSGFIN 227.00 234.00 218.00 223.70PNB 37.50 38.95 36.70 38.20IPCALAB 1345.00 1500.00 1310.00 1371.85SRTRANSFIN 636.30 664.35 570.50 582.15CADILAHC 254.00 290.00 254.00 286.10SBILIFE 610.00 680.00 605.65 636.45HINDALCO 103.75 107.65 99.00 105.45FEDERALBNK 52.20 55.80 52.20 52.85HEROMOTOCO 1706.00 1839.00 1680.00 1817.50ADANIPOWER 28.00 29.50 26.75 29.05DABUR 419.55 452.40 415.25 444.50NIITTECH 1064.30 1163.15 1005.00 1142.20

HCLTECH 415.00 461.70 412.80 445.45ICICIPRULI 289.30 313.00 282.30 304.35EQUITAS 48.00 54.05 47.10 51.40RECLTD 89.20 95.20 89.00 91.85BHEL 23.25 23.90 22.10 23.40BAJAJ-AUTO 2225.00 2297.95 2157.00 2251.65TATACONSUM 247.25 273.65 235.60 264.15TATAELXSI 581.15 631.65 572.80 599.10LTI 1340.00 1598.95 1320.55 1520.55BANKINDIA 36.00 36.65 34.70 35.25TORNTPOWER 271.60 294.00 263.25 287.10OMAXE 162.90 164.40 158.10 163.10BEL 67.00 73.75 64.45 71.80BIOCON 259.80 276.95 253.70 274.85AUBANK 640.00 682.95 598.55 650.00DMART 1760.15 1923.10 1740.00 1923.10DEEPAKNI 360.00 398.80 347.60 380.10GMRINFRA 16.05 17.60 16.00 17.20BALKRISIND 779.00 845.90 734.50 826.50NAM-INDIA 240.00 258.15 233.00 257.00GLENMARK 206.20 218.50 203.90 210.50PTC 34.50 37.85 34.50 36.25BERGEPAINT 403.00 455.85 400.70 452.15SAIL 25.70 27.00 25.35 26.75BRITANNIA 2366.60 2507.00 2297.70 2471.20ADANIENT 131.00 141.45 128.70 137.20ATUL 3987.00 4300.00 3744.90 4210.75MINDTREE 725.00 879.45 711.75 848.30STAR 277.00 303.10 271.00 303.10MRF 58967.50 60998.50 57479.65 59191.85SHK 85.00 89.25 68.90 82.20SHREECEM 17732.00 19133.50 17122.70 18945.70HEXAWARE 217.05 245.45 203.95 238.30COLPAL 1115.15 1209.95 1115.15 1188.30PAGEIND 18304.80 19000.00 17956.80 18096.95CIPLA 380.00 399.75 372.95 393.60BHARATFORG 305.25 327.45 292.90 301.35IGL 335.00 349.05 326.00 344.10GODREJPROP 656.50 724.95 612.00 711.85DIXON 3540.00 3698.00 3274.55 3589.00MFSL 381.00 413.80 371.00 407.85SIEMENS 1120.75 1177.60 1085.40 1168.85TORNTPHARM 1830.50 1934.15 1798.60 1906.30MCX 945.00 1050.00 935.00 1041.35NHPC 18.65 21.70 18.50 21.20CONCOR 292.10 351.90 289.65 331.05BOSCHLTD 9600.00 9833.20 9204.75 9661.65SPICEJET 34.50 35.80 32.50 35.25NAVINFLUOR 1136.40 1215.00 1122.20 1189.25MIDHANI 183.50 191.90 170.95 175.30PFC 89.20 94.60 88.20 91.85APOLLOTYRE 87.95 92.35 84.80 89.10

EXIDEIND 140.00 149.25 137.40 146.40UJJIVAN 185.00 200.80 177.80 186.25TATAMTRDVR 32.65 34.10 31.95 32.55GODFRYPHLP 815.00 880.00 810.00 850.50DCBBANK 109.00 112.60 105.45 108.85CEATLTD 719.50 748.15 708.00 714.25GODREJCP 485.00 509.35 475.55 500.05METROPOLIS 1560.00 1609.00 1455.00 1550.20HAVELLS 536.10 554.80 522.00 538.80GRAPHITE 131.10 134.85 124.95 129.65INFIBEAM 34.50 37.00 32.10 33.25RAJESHEXPO 599.95 604.20 578.00 583.50CANFINHOME 319.00 347.25 310.60 336.45TATAPOWER 34.55 37.50 34.10 36.80HEG 560.00 600.00 532.85 554.85VOLTAS 547.65 585.20 547.65 566.30STRTECH 74.50 79.95 72.10 72.85ABBOTINDIA 13260.00 15268.00 13260.00 14791.75ACC 1081.25 1145.65 1063.65 1128.40TRENT 477.70 524.00 448.85 505.15CASTROLIND 115.25 118.90 111.00 113.85RAYMOND 271.50 284.30 265.00 274.80GRANULES 132.15 143.65 131.15 138.25TVSMOTOR 369.90 383.55 354.70 379.80ADANIGAS 100.50 103.10 96.30 99.00BASF 1075.00 1152.70 1075.00 1125.35HAWKINCOOK 4099.95 4200.00 3650.25 3880.80SANOFI 6439.40 6600.00 6225.00 6368.85DBL 255.00 297.10 255.00 271.90SUNTV 334.80 339.70 319.20 325.90SUZLON 1.92 1.98 1.85 1.93PRSMJOHNSN 36.85 40.20 35.70 37.60MARICO 250.00 260.90 247.80 256.00SPARC 93.00 106.60 93.00 104.55LALPATHLAB 1454.70 1457.90 1362.55 1408.80GSKCONS 8100.00 9090.00 8100.00 8953.70AVANTI 283.45 295.00 279.70 285.30

WOCKPHARMA 184.85 193.00 172.90 177.25FSL 29.00 32.60 28.95 29.85RPOWER 1.14 1.19 1.10 1.19GICRE 99.00 104.40 94.35 94.90KAJARIACER 424.15 451.15 419.30 435.85CHOLAFIN 178.85 200.65 175.40 193.75IDBI 20.60 22.75 19.95 22.15POLYCAB 757.00 797.60 757.00 774.70VENKYS 644.00 699.25 634.95 684.45DELTACORP 61.00 66.20 61.00 62.85HONAUT 24998.70 27000.00 24000.10 25177.45NOCIL 60.60 66.30 59.70 64.00SUNTECK 241.65 248.05 212.30 227.80UBL 887.70 930.15 864.00 895.30RADICO 299.90 311.30 293.00 304.05BEML 502.00 527.10 465.25 473.00BOMDYEING 42.55 45.80 42.00 43.85ABCAPITAL 46.50 48.45 45.45 46.00WELCORP 74.65 79.20 71.70 72.05EDELWEISS 38.10 43.25 38.10 40.80ALKEM 2210.00 2365.85 2190.00 2351.35IRCON 336.00 362.40 326.95 355.90GSPL 170.00 189.20 156.80 186.90ITI 48.00 57.80 48.00 56.85NATIONALUM 30.35 32.55 29.80 32.35TV18BRDCST 14.70 15.10 13.85 14.65ALKYLAMINE 1148.00 1293.90 1094.45 1250.75DEEPAKFERT 76.00 87.20 76.00 78.90NBCC 16.00 17.05 15.40 17.05BLISSGVS 101.45 104.70 99.65 101.60GUJGAS 230.05 245.00 225.00 241.75PNBHOUSING 207.90 211.20 190.00 192.10PFIZER 4094.10 4140.00 3970.00 4020.85ABFRL 188.00 189.00 174.55 186.85LTTS 1210.05 1267.95 1152.50 1240.45ASTRAZEN 2110.00 2429.00 2080.00 2357.75CUB 153.00 165.95 141.25 163.35GODREJIND 318.25 325.20 313.50 315.00BALRAMCHIN 88.35 90.85 86.00 89.25RITES 239.00 249.80 226.35 245.25IDFC 17.20 17.45 15.40 16.15BAJAJHLDNG 2320.00 2411.40 2211.60 2299.75ASTRAL 970.35 973.75 910.00 934.55JKCEMENT 1038.00 1060.95 946.65 987.10AMBER 1151.20 1250.95 1128.05 1221.25VIPIND 237.00 237.90 213.00 231.55FORCEMOT 751.55 784.90 733.25 760.80RELAXO 560.00 607.85 538.60 597.75KTKBANK 45.50 49.45 45.50 47.90PGHH 9650.00 10001.00 9460.00 9842.40HEIDELBERG 147.00 159.05 140.00 152.40GSFC 37.40 39.50 36.70 37.10WHIRLPOOL 1832.80 2073.45 1794.05 2016.20PIIND 1182.50 1272.90 1160.00 1199.40ENGINERSIN 55.95 58.30 53.70 57.20INOXLEISUR 261.70 283.55 259.00 283.55HINDCOPPER 21.60 23.70 21.60 22.80IRB 58.05 60.70 57.15 58.45GNFC 115.50 117.45 109.00 115.75RVNL 13.80 14.80 13.60 13.90LUXIND 1043.00 1056.70 982.45 1016.00AJANTPHARM 1199.25 1254.00 1156.60 1203.203MINDIA 17051.00 17576.00 16932.05 17316.25HUDCO 21.50 22.25 21.15 21.65JUBILANT 265.00 280.65 250.00 280.65PCJEWELLER 10.20 10.60 9.40 9.65AKZOINDIA 2000.00 2189.00 1970.55 2143.30PHILIPCARB 61.00 67.15 61.00 66.80HINDZINC 130.00 142.65 127.25 135.95PRESTIGE 160.30 175.00 153.00 157.95APLAPOLLO 1211.00 1419.95 1211.00 1309.05EMAMILTD 176.00 193.60 176.00 184.45HFCL 8.95 9.60 8.95 9.36SOUTHBANK 5.50 5.73 5.45 5.67NLCINDIA 42.85 47.20 41.55 45.65JAICORPLTD 51.30 53.60 49.35 52.90SUDARSCHEM 368.00 384.00 345.00 367.40BBTC 729.00 768.00 726.90 738.90INDHOTEL 85.00 92.00 82.50 90.65FINEORG 1823.00 1915.00 1775.45 1852.15GODREJAGRO 307.60 332.20 303.15 315.00FCONSUMER 9.98 9.98 9.98 9.98VINATIORGA 740.00 804.85 735.00 785.95COCHINSHIP 235.00 272.90 230.60 270.15COROMANDEL 525.00 560.00 475.40 555.20JSWENERGY 47.00 50.50 42.55 46.65GLAXO 1202.45 1256.55 1182.10 1235.30KANSAINER 375.00 380.75 360.10 370.35GESHIP 191.00 205.05 186.65 197.50MOTILALOFS 560.00 614.50 555.00 605.60JINDALSAW 50.40 57.90 49.80 53.00INTELLECT 48.70 53.75 48.65 51.20RELINFRA 10.25 11.25 10.25 10.50SUPREMEIND 958.00 960.75 920.00 945.60CHAMBLFERT 107.95 111.55 104.40 107.70CREDITACC 589.95 602.00 513.20 519.75SCI 38.00 40.95 38.00 40.00VBL 663.00 663.00 567.45 604.75CRISIL 1227.50 1310.95 1166.35 1227.60ADANIGREEN 142.00 142.15 138.55 142.05GMDCLTD 33.30 36.05 33.00 34.85WELSPUNIND 27.30 27.55 25.00 25.35RAIN 51.50 56.30 51.50 55.35INDIANB 50.35 54.10 49.40 52.00RESPONIND 81.80 84.70 81.00 84.60ASHOKA 53.90 56.70 51.20 55.90KEI 267.45 279.25 252.00 257.25KEC 234.00 235.35 220.00 222.00SONATSOFTW 190.00 196.80 176.80 182.55

GREAVESCOT 79.90 89.90 76.60 86.20LAKSHVILAS 13.45 14.35 13.25 13.40NESCO 540.00 540.00 495.00 502.50RCF 27.00 28.85 26.80 28.05REPCOHOME 160.55 161.65 145.70 151.90ARVINDFASN 156.95 166.95 151.75 162.70JKPAPER 78.05 82.25 78.05 79.90APLLTD 507.55 553.00 507.55 545.10

EIDPARRY 116.80 129.00 115.00 127.10NATCOPHARM 516.65 554.25 516.65 533.65QUESS 257.35 267.30 247.20 247.20BALMLAWRIE 79.90 84.85 78.00 79.65NIACL 85.10 94.00 83.00 89.05AEGISLOG 141.35 154.15 132.30 140.75BAYERCROP 3600.00 3828.15 3415.00 3519.10SOBHA 179.75 200.00 176.00 180.70KRBL 164.10 174.95 164.10 169.05RELCAPITAL 4.35 4.53 4.15 4.30WABAG 110.20 112.00 100.20 102.05RALLIS 182.90 203.90 179.25 187.90FINOLEXIND 374.35 388.70 343.90 381.95VGUARD 165.00 186.25 162.00 179.10KALPATPOWR 217.45 217.45 206.80 211.95VSTIND 3242.00 3502.75 3208.90 3231.10LINDEINDIA 474.30 484.85 441.90 471.70MPHASIS 665.00 707.00 655.00 699.40SUNDRMFAST 286.95 295.80 283.65 294.45JCHAC 2220.15 2527.55 2210.05 2408.40MEGH 38.00 40.35 38.00 38.70CROMPTON 209.85 226.75 203.20 211.45DCMSHRIRAM 238.00 254.00 230.65 249.45PARAGMILK 55.90 62.60 55.00 58.45DISHTV 5.12 5.27 5.10 5.14GHCL 87.85 93.35 86.00 89.85ADANITRANS 215.00 215.00 195.45 195.50JBCHEPHARM 529.40 540.80 502.00 506.95EIHOTEL 70.85 73.90 63.00 73.15BAJAJELEC 320.00 370.40 307.80 341.05NH 266.00 282.85 240.95 247.55CYIENT 281.00 287.50 266.00 270.30JMFINANCIL 67.00 73.80 65.50 73.15TATAINVEST 713.50 756.55 696.00 737.35NETWORK18 16.60 17.60 16.50 17.05SWANENERGY 100.65 102.00 100.00 100.00WABCOINDIA 5800.90 5980.55 5766.45 5966.00GRINDWELL 472.00 479.95 444.45 461.50ORIENTELEC 164.05 180.00 164.05 172.65GARFIBRES 1022.85 1138.55 1020.85 1070.30TATACOFFEE 59.45 60.95 58.40 59.90SHANKARA 285.15 304.35 285.15 285.15HSCL 34.80 36.10 32.60 34.75SJVN 19.50 21.00 19.50 20.50CAPPL 243.95 248.15 231.00 238.90TVSSRICHAK 919.00 982.65 910.00 949.95TIMKEN 800.00 841.70 734.40 824.00MINDAIND 252.00 292.00 238.00 269.80RAMCOCEM 553.20 597.00 551.00 593.00BIRLACORPN 505.00 519.85 497.20 508.15JKTYRE 42.20 44.35 41.30 43.05J&KBANK 14.15 14.35 11.30 12.80MOIL 96.50 99.85 93.15 97.15CGCL 182.40 199.90 169.50 178.80OFSS 1860.00 1924.00 1810.70 1871.85OBEROIRLTY 432.00 450.90 412.20 431.25HAL 568.70 582.80 555.55 572.50SOLARINDS 970.70 981.20 922.10 962.20GILLETTE 4881.50 5004.95 4834.85 4959.10MAHSCOOTER 2500.00 2575.20 2419.00 2488.45LAOPALA 158.00 174.20 137.00 161.20SIS 355.00 431.50 337.25 423.05SYMPHONY 964.00 978.30 935.00 941.55CARERATING 325.55 338.00 309.10 332.45JAMNAAUTO 25.20 29.90 24.20 26.40TRIDENT 3.65 3.84 3.60 3.66ASTERDM 90.10 95.50 89.55 92.75IEX 136.40 143.00 131.50 137.05CESC 467.15 480.50 456.00 471.55REDINGTON 73.00 80.05 72.85 75.05MRPL 29.50 30.90 28.00 28.45MASFIN 595.00 628.00 568.00 573.20JISLJALEQS 3.55 3.83 3.47 3.73BAJAJCON 136.00 140.35 134.00 138.80IFCI 3.45 3.77 3.36 3.53CHENNPETRO 65.15 69.30 64.35 66.45ADVENZYMES 111.50 115.85 108.50 112.20PGHL 3460.00 3574.95 3337.15 3419.80

GRSE 136.90 141.50 130.75 139.30TATAMETALI 430.00 438.00 390.00 394.10IIFL 92.30 97.00 85.60 90.20BRIGADE 164.95 168.00 154.10 156.40CCL 168.50 182.50 166.25 181.35LAURUSLABS 362.55 379.75 359.25 364.90PHOENIXLTD 648.00 664.65 585.90 646.80VMART 1701.00 1807.95 1667.30 1700.05BLUESTARCO 630.00 630.00 553.00 561.55SCHNEIDER 67.00 68.50 66.00 66.95GUJALKALI 202.60 232.50 202.00 223.80TIINDIA 387.50 401.60 377.50 385.65JYOTHYLAB 95.00 100.00 93.00 98.35DALBHARAT 503.95 519.20 494.25 511.10TTKPRESTIG 4759.10 4953.70 4578.20 4603.35LEMONTREE 31.00 32.45 28.70 31.30PNCINFRA 118.75 130.00 112.50 123.85IOB 7.05 7.19 6.94 7.12ESABINDIA 1086.30 1147.00 1070.00 1132.50BLUEDART 2101.05 2435.00 2047.05 2315.25PERSISTENT 530.00 555.00 480.00 507.50BDL 172.00 190.00 172.00 182.65CENTURYPLY 105.00 119.90 101.25 113.00KNRCON 217.45 224.95 207.65 221.00NILKAMAL 1035.00 1126.50 1016.05 1097.35VARROC 180.00 189.70 169.10 183.35ALLCARGO 69.30 74.75 67.90 68.55HERITGFOOD 198.35 198.35 181.40 184.90FINCABLES 216.40 216.40 180.00 202.30RATNAMANI 1066.00 1066.00 990.70 1013.60DCAL* 58.40 60.70 58.00 59.75ZENSARTECH 92.80 93.00 85.95 87.85ITDC 114.60 123.80 114.40 116.25JSLHISAR 36.15 39.30 35.75 38.35ESSELPRO 151.90 156.65 149.65 154.65DHANUKA 326.65 344.95 318.50 319.15UCOBANK 10.25 10.25 9.65 9.71AAVAS 1300.00 1325.00 1233.95 1305.10MMTC 12.40 12.65 11.65 12.05MINDACORP 57.70 62.85 57.30 62.85SKFINDIA 1565.00 1600.15 1493.15 1546.85ECLERX 358.95 405.00 356.20 377.45VRLLOG 150.00 160.00 143.20 146.65CENTRALBK 12.35 12.70 12.05 12.45AIAENG 1402.50 1430.10 1350.45 1379.20MAHINDCIE 78.10 78.10 74.40 74.90SYNGENE 242.95 259.00 235.30 238.60VAIBHAVGBL 780.00 780.00 748.50 764.60ZYDUSWELL 1228.35 1250.80 1202.00 1230.05JKLAKSHMI 230.30 238.50 222.15 229.75JSL 28.00 28.75 26.25 27.90HIMATSEIDE 61.05 69.00 58.20 62.00UFLEX 150.25 157.85 146.25 155.25ENDURANCE 714.75 742.35 709.00 729.55ERIS 370.00 391.60 370.00 379.85SFL 1369.00 1470.00 1300.00 1358.05NAVNETEDUL 58.20 61.25 49.00 58.50GALAXYSURF 1160.05 1200.00 1110.00 1184.50ORIENTREF 150.50 160.40 147.00 149.85GET&D 79.90 81.25 70.05 73.15TCNSBRANDS 410.20 498.10 340.90 461.80CENTRUM 9.00 9.80 8.90 8.95IFBIND 283.00 289.45 268.25 270.10GPPL 58.55 68.00 57.85 58.45ORIENTCEM 48.45 49.60 46.00 49.00TEJASNET 36.50 39.65 36.50 36.90TCIEXP 614.20 639.25 592.00 614.80KPITTECH 48.80 48.80 42.90 44.95MAGMA 20.80 20.80 19.40 20.00MAHABANK 9.12 9.16 8.81 9.05ITDCEM 31.20 32.90 30.00 31.70MAHSEAMLES 224.45 241.00 220.10 237.75CHOLAHLDNG 426.60 433.95 406.10 414.55MHRIL 148.20 156.40 145.95 149.25MAHLOG 250.45 252.05 233.90 242.60TEAMLEASE 1845.00 1991.75 1834.10 1963.80TNPL 109.60 112.50 105.85 107.85FLFL 187.05 187.05 187.05 187.05JAGRAN 46.00 46.00 41.40 42.70DBCORP 95.00 95.00 81.05 84.05INDOSTAR 254.45 272.55 250.05 260.05GICHSGFIN 61.15 65.00 60.00 61.55NBVENTURES 39.25 41.15 38.00 39.30CARBORUNIV 229.15 230.35 220.00 221.85SADBHAV 39.50 39.70 37.60 38.05FRETAIL 112.50 112.50 112.50 112.50MAHLIFE 225.00 262.60 220.00 241.00TIMETECHNO 30.95 31.10 28.60 29.35KPRMILL 404.50 421.20 402.05 418.05TAKE 41.00 41.90 40.00 41.15SUPRAJIT 123.90 137.75 123.90 130.75JTEKTINDIA 40.00 43.50 39.00 42.85GDL 90.25 95.00 85.75 86.80MAXINDIA 66.40 66.55 63.95 65.35GEPIL 524.00 556.45 513.40 553.30DHFL 10.58 10.58 10.58 10.58STARCEMENT 68.50 73.00 66.20 69.90SOMANYCERA 121.75 121.75 111.55 111.90SCHAEFFLER 3900.00 3950.00 3844.85 3900.95SHOPERSTOP 219.15 230.00 203.00 208.25GULFOILLUB 515.00 556.20 515.00 544.45HATHWAY 12.65 13.30 12.20 12.80VTL 870.00 876.95 867.60 867.75CHALET 215.00 221.20 205.00 221.20INOXWIND 19.75 21.10 19.70 20.85TVTODAY 145.80 154.65 143.25 154.65IBULISL 60.90 60.90 60.90 60.90SHRIRAMCIT 990.00 1022.20 971.90 1017.75GAYAPROJ 10.85 10.85 10.85 10.85

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 8284.45 8883.00 8178.20 8745.45 482.00INFRATEL 124.20 155.90 122.80 152.10 28.05ONGC 63.05 74.40 62.75 71.90 10.85GAIL 71.00 82.40 70.30 80.80 11.40HINDUNILVR 1850.00 2078.90 1850.00 2075.00 236.70ULTRACEMCO 3185.00 3656.80 3140.35 3561.00 394.95RELIANCE 939.50 1034.90 930.00 1028.00 110.30GRASIM 495.00 564.70 488.05 543.55 52.50HDFC 1624.00 1776.90 1535.20 1776.90 159.30DRREDDY 2641.00 2949.00 2641.00 2879.80 255.85WIPRO 163.10 185.80 162.50 178.00 15.65VEDL 72.40 78.00 70.40 76.00 6.65TCS 1630.00 1869.00 1627.00 1792.95 156.60ITC 165.10 176.50 165.10 176.35 14.50TATASTEEL 279.70 305.00 274.15 296.00 24.15JSWSTEEL 167.00 179.10 164.65 177.65 14.35ASIANPAINT 1610.00 1757.40 1570.55 1737.30 136.10BAJAJFINSV 5725.20 6391.95 5700.00 6240.00 454.50HCLTECH 413.50 461.95 411.85 444.70 31.25NESTLEIND 13198.00 14433.10 13150.00 14100.00 979.70BAJFINANCE 2799.85 3044.00 2621.65 2950.00 203.90BPCL 305.00 323.00 298.60 322.00 21.75COALINDIA 124.50 135.80 122.65 132.40 8.85TECHM 525.10 595.45 525.10 567.00 37.00TATAMOTORS 74.00 79.60 72.65 77.80 4.85INFY 549.50 617.45 548.00 580.90 35.35SHREECEM 17385.00 19186.30 17026.75 18880.00 1148.55HEROMOTOCO1725.00 1845.70 1675.00 1822.00 109.55BRITANNIA 2341.30 2500.90 2294.25 2455.80 137.65HINDALCO 101.20 107.70 98.70 105.50 5.75MARUTI 4869.00 5225.00 4812.60 5094.00 274.45POWERGRID 148.25 161.85 148.25 154.70 7.55EICHERMOT 15394.50 15999.00 14465.65 15750.00 703.55KOTAKBANK 1217.00 1283.60 1146.50 1266.95 56.10BHARTIARTL 445.00 472.00 436.65 461.60 16.85IOC 89.00 92.95 88.10 90.90 2.95NTPC 78.50 82.35 76.35 80.95 2.60BAJAJ-AUTO 2189.90 2298.90 2153.95 2228.20 61.60CIPLA 379.80 399.80 372.45 385.20 10.50SBIN 205.55 215.70 200.00 208.85 5.20M&M 316.00 328.20 308.25 321.30 7.10ZEEL 144.20 153.30 136.20 144.00 2.80ICICIBANK 328.00 359.80 323.00 344.40 5.85UPL 294.00 320.65 287.00 300.00 3.25LT 849.00 877.80 831.30 852.00 8.90SUNPHARMA 365.20 379.50 362.20 363.05 2.65TITAN 906.10 934.00 866.00 905.00 1.50AXISBANK 431.40 449.70 414.20 425.00 -3.25INDUSINDBK 444.05 478.90 405.25 440.10 -3.95ADANIPORTS 257.60 264.50 247.20 255.20 -3.15HDFCBANK 875.00 914.60 824.55 881.25 -14.30

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 20421.75 21369.40 20071.05 20982.90 744.65BANDHANBNK 203.75 239.85 203.75 235.00 34.25CONCOR 288.45 352.35 288.45 334.55 48.65CADILAHC 252.00 290.00 252.00 285.20 39.35NHPC 18.70 21.75 18.45 20.85 2.40BERGEPAINT 413.90 456.00 400.00 450.40 46.35HINDPETRO 195.40 212.45 189.60 210.00 19.90DLF 129.00 141.75 121.35 141.00 12.55HINDZINC 130.00 142.50 127.30 138.65 11.40BIOCON 258.20 276.95 253.50 275.15 22.25COLPAL 1125.00 1212.00 1115.00 1197.15 84.60ICICIPRULI 288.00 313.00 282.10 302.20 20.65NMDC 67.00 74.80 66.20 71.50 4.85DIVISLAB 1875.55 2017.15 1864.40 2000.05 129.10DABUR 419.00 452.70 415.00 446.50 27.65OFSS 1782.10 1950.00 1782.10 1880.00 114.60IDEA 3.60 3.60 3.30 3.50 0.20PGHH 9750.00 10000.00 9478.80 9999.00 492.00DMART 1790.00 1916.10 1733.70 1916.10 91.20ACC 1085.10 1146.50 1060.60 1142.90 52.95NIACL 86.00 94.75 82.75 89.00 4.05SIEMENS 1120.55 1178.80 1085.00 1165.00 51.80HDFCAMC 2313.00 2533.00 2272.30 2405.00 105.55PETRONET 193.90 208.75 179.25 205.90 8.25MOTHERSUMI 64.10 69.45 62.60 66.70 2.55MCDOWELL-N 500.00 529.95 499.10 519.00 19.55PIDILITIND 1459.00 1543.95 1423.10 1499.95 54.25PFC 91.40 94.80 88.15 92.40 3.30GODREJCP 488.20 509.80 475.55 499.85 16.80AMBUJACEM 153.95 168.55 151.40 159.10 5.15BANKBARODA 62.05 66.90 61.85 63.25 1.80MARICO 250.55 260.90 247.80 255.00 6.70PNB 37.50 39.00 36.70 38.20 1.00IBULHSGFIN 93.00 115.50 81.00 92.00 2.25UBL 870.00 932.95 863.80 900.15 21.15L&TFH 60.00 62.40 56.75 59.55 1.30LUPIN 640.70 665.10 631.25 644.70 9.70AUROPHARMA 364.00 372.20 341.00 350.10 4.10BAJAJHLDNG 2301.60 2419.25 2210.80 2325.00 24.40BOSCHLTD 9579.95 9849.00 9200.05 9650.00 95.40HAVELLS 537.00 554.90 521.35 537.80 2.60SBILIFE 627.00 680.75 606.00 610.00 2.30HDFCLIFE 425.10 442.00 411.30 415.90 -1.05PAGEIND 18269.50 19018.70 17921.85 18000.00 -156.10ICICIGI 1050.00 1074.25 950.00 1013.00 -16.40INDIGO 850.10 949.20 835.10 870.00 -39.20ADANITRANS 209.00 214.00 195.65 195.65 -10.25SRTRANSFIN 637.00 664.75 569.80 588.00 -34.65GICRE 100.20 104.90 94.30 95.00 -8.45ASHOKLEY 49.20 49.40 41.10 44.10 -3.95PEL 779.90 819.25 665.00 682.95 -94.25

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Southern Europe buckledunder the strain of the coro-

navirus pandemic on Friday,with gasping patients filling sickwards in Spain and Italy andfield hospitals going up in hotelsand a convention centre, as theglobal death toll surpassed10,000 people worldwide.

In the US, California’s gov-ernor barred nonessentialmovement for all 40 million res-idents, and the Trump admin-istration warned Americansabroad to return home or riskspending an “indefinite” peri-od away. And the income taxfiling deadline was moved fromApril 15 to July 15.

Meanwhile, John HopkinsUniversity’s coronavirusresource centre says that over86,000 infected patients havebeen recovered to date.

The World HealthOrganization noted the dra-matic speed of the virus’ spread.

“It took over three monthsto reach the first 10,000 con-firmed cases and only 12 daysto reach the next 100,000,” theUN health agency said.

In Bergamo, the epicentre ofthe virus in Italy, cemeteries wereoverwhelmed. Sky News videofrom inside the city’s main hos-pital showed patients lined up ina narrow ward, struggling forbreath as doctors and nursesmoved swiftly from one beepingmachine to the next.

“When the virus arrivedhere, there was no containmentand it spread through the val-leys very quickly... Some said itwas the normal flu. We doctorsknew it was not,” said Dr LucaLorini, head of intensive care atthe hospital, where nearly 500beds were dedicated to peoplesuffering severe symptoms ofthe virus, 80 of those in inten-sive care.

In the farm town of Fondithat has the largest wholesaleproduce market serving Romeand Naples, a new ordinancebanned all but essential peoplefrom entering or leaving after40 elderly residents becameinfected. At a convent on theoutskirts of Rome, 19 of 21nuns were infected, accordingto the Italian daily IlMessaggero. The Vatican pub-

lished a decree absolving thesins of the faithful who are sickor in quarantine as well as theircaregivers if they met certainconditions.

Wuhan, China, where theoutbreak began, offered a ray ofhope with no new infectionsreported for a second day in arow and only 39 cases report-ed nationwide — all of thembrought from the outside, theGovernment said.

The effects of a global econ-omy grinding to a halt were alsotaking a toll, from millions ofunsold flowers rotting in pilesin Kenya to the slow emptyingof the world’s skies. The UNchief warned of a loomingglobal recession “perhaps ofrecord dimensions.”

Scientists advising theBritish Government warnedthat restrictions on daily life mayhave to be in place for a year,with periods of less stringentand more stringent measures.

In the US, Congress workedto put together a $1 trillionemergency package that wouldprop up industry and smallbusiness and dispense reliefchecks to households of $1,200for adults and $500 per child.

In a measure of how thefortunes of East and West haveshifted, a Chinese Red Crossofficial heading an aid delega-tion to Milan castigated Italiansfor failing to take their nation-

al lockdown seriously. SunShuopeng said he was shockedto see so many people walkingaround, using public trans-portation and eating out inhotels, adding: “All peopleshould be staying at home inquarantine.”

China also sent medicalequipment to the Czech capi-tal, Prague.

Governments are trying tobalance locking down resi-dents with the need to keepfood, medicine and otheressentials flowing. In Britain,the category of vital workersincludes doctors, nurses andparamedics — and also vicars,truckers, garbage collectorsand journalists.

French PresidentEmmanuel Macron urgedemployees to keep working insupermarkets, production sitesand other necessary business-es amid stringent movementrestrictions.

“We need to keep thecountry running,” Macron said.

Worldwide, the death tollfrom COVID-19 passed 10,000and infections exceeded2,44,000, according to a JohnsHopkins University tally. Italy,

with 60 million citizens, hasrecorded 3,405 deaths, exceed-ing the 3,248 in China, a coun-try with a population over 20times larger. Spain, secondbehind Italy in Europe, report-ed 1,002 deaths and 19,980infections. The US death tollrose to 206.

“Certain medical centresare suffering stress that isreaching the limit,” saidFernando Simón, director ofSpain’s center for health alertsand emergencies. “The difficultdays in which we must beardown are coming now. Wemust keep our focus.”

A convention centre andhotels were being prepared asfield hospitals for nearly 10,000beds in Madrid, and France’s mil-itary worked to build a makeshiftmedical center in the country’shard-hit eastern town ofMulhouse. Although the illnessis mild in most people, theelderly are particularly suscepti-ble to serious symptoms. Italy hasthe world’s second-oldest popu-lation, and the vast majority ofits dead — 87% — were over 70.

Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, avirologist at Germany’sBernhard Nocht Institute for

Tropical Medicine, offeredanother reason for Italy’s highmortality rate: “That’s whathappens when the health sys-tem collapses.”

More than 86,000 peoplehave recovered, mostly inChina. Recovery takes twoweeks or so for mild cases butcan be up to six weeks for thosethat turn serious, according tothe WHO.

Iran’s official toll of morethan 1,400 deaths was risingquickly as well amid fears it isunderreporting its cases.Tehran accused Washingtonof helping spread the virus byretaining sanctions that preventit importing desperately need-ed medicine and medicalequipment.

“While the US is trying tocurb the virus internally, it ishelping the spread of the virusexternally,” Iran’s UN missionsaid in a statement.

Meanwhile, NASA said ithas suspended work on build-ing and testing the rocket andcapsule for its Artemis mannedmission to the Moon due to therising number of coronaviruscases in the community.

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No new domestic coron-avirus cases were con-

firmed in China for the secondconsecutive day even as threemore fatalities have beenreported, taking the death tollin the country to 3,248, theChinese health authority saidon Friday.

No new domestically trans-mitted cases of the novel coro-navirus disease were reportedon the Chinese mainland onThursday, the National HealthCommission (NHC) said.

Meanwhile, Beijing

accused US President DonaldTrump on Friday of trying to“shift the blame” for the glob-al coronavirus pandemic inan escalating row between thetwo powers.

Trump charged onThursday that the world is“paying a big price” for China’slack of transparency on the outbreak when it emergedin the central city of Wuhan latelast year.

China has been criticisedfor suppressing informationand punishing whistleblowersduring the early stages of thecontagion, which an AFP tally

shows has now killed nearly10,000 people with more than232,000 cases worldwide.

“Some people on the USside are trying to stigmatiseChina’s fight against the epi-demic, and shift the blameonto China,” foreign ministryspokesman Geng Shuang said.

Trump has defended hisdescription of the virus, sayingit was “not racist at all”.

China achieved a newmilestone in its efforts to con-tain the spread of the COVID-19 in the last three months byreporting zero cases onWednesday.

However, the NHC said onFriday that it received reportsof 39 newly confirmedCOVID-19 cases on theChinese mainland onThursday, all of which wereimported taking the total ofconfirmed cases of people com-ing from abroad to 228.

Of them, 14 were reportedin the Guangdong Province,eight in Shanghai, six in Beijingand three in the Fujian Province.Provincial-level regions ofTianjin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang,Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangxi,Sichuan and Gansu each report-ed one case.

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Rome: Italy Government onFriday said it is consideringeven further restrictions on itsalready locked-down popula-tion as the country reels underthe continued spread of thecoronavirus.

The country now has themost coronavirus fatalities in theworld, after it surpassed Chinaon Thursday with a rise of 427

deaths to an overall toll of 3,405.“In the next 24 to 48 hours,

new restrictions are possible,”Italy’s Minister of regional affairsFrancesco Boccia said Friday, cit-ing the possibility of banningopen-air activities. ThePresidents of regions in thenorth — Italy’s richest and themost devastated by the virus —have been pressing Prime

Minister Giuseppe Conte toclamp down even harder on themovement of people, calling forthe deployment of the army tohelp enforce the measures.Unfortunately, even today thestatistics aren’t going in the rightdirection, neither in terms of newinfections or in terms of deaths,”Lombardy’s Pesident AttilioFontana said. AFP

Tehran: Iran’s leaders on Fridayannounced 149 more fatalitiesfrom the new coronavirus, bring-ing its death toll to 1,433 amidnearly 20,000 confirmed cases.

Iran is battling the worstoutbreak in the Middle East,and has been widely criticised

for its slow response. The coun-try’s leaders struck an upbeattone earlier Friday, issuing mes-sages in honor of the Persiannew year in which they vowedto overcome the pandemic.

Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei, who has final

say on all state matters, calledthe new year “the year of leapsin production” in Iran’s econ-omy, which has been underheavy US sanctions sincePresident Donald Trump with-drew from the 2015 nuclearaccord. AFP

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She has always been looked atthrough the prism of her husband.Commonly called ‘Ba’, Kasturba

Gandhi was an ideal model, great sup-port and the perfect co-voyager ofMohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s jour-ney from South Africa to India and histransformation into the Mahatma.She devoted herself to the dharma ofbeing a true Hindu wife and followedit her entire life. However, as authorRM Bhalla argues, “she was muchmore than that.” She weathered onestorm after another and successfullyfaced unexpected challenges. Sheemerged to become one of the bright-est faces of womanhood during India’sfreedom struggle while remainingwithin the precincts of her home.

While the Father of the Nation hasbeen the topic of many debates anddiscussions by various authors and byGandhi himself, not many accountsmention Kasturba and her life atlength. People know her through a fewletters written to her by Gandhi thathe has talked about in hisAutobiography. However, she has nopersonal memoirs about her thoughtsand experiences. Bhalla, in his bookKasturba Gandhi: A Biography, talksabout how her contributions to India’sstruggle for independence have notbeen given the critical importance theydeserve. Excerpts:

�Why Kasturba? How is she relevanttoday?

The book deals with the life ofKasturba, who took her own consciousdecision to participate in theSatyagraha movement in South Africa

along with a large contingent of une-ducated poor Indian women there. Herstory is very relevant today becauseuneducated poor women are stillstruggling for their rights.

�Documenting a prominent per-son’s life could be challenging, espe-cially if s/he is related to the historyof the nation. How did you gatherinformation for the book aboutKasturba Gandhi?

Kasturba was not educated. Sheherself left no records of her thoughts,feelings, struggles, associations, expe-riences or any details of events she wasa part of. She never thought of it norwas she intellectually equipped for it.So we don’t have Kasturba’s version ofthe events in which she was involved.Not many detailed accounts or remi-niscences have been left by the mem-bers of her family or friends in publiclife.

Kasturba’s life and work can’t evenbe imagined or assessed indepen-dently; it was enmeshed in the day-to-day engagements of her husband andthe alchemy of his life. Her situationdid not allow her to initiate any actionoutside her home. All initiatives andinnovations were initiated by her hus-band and obeying his dictates becamean opportunity for her to learn, reactand resist. So the facts about her lifeand work are part of the history of theeventful years in the 19th and 20thcentury in South Africa and India.

An author has to cope with thehuge material about Gandhi’s strugglewith himself and the mighty forcesagainst which he pitched himself.Kasturba was a perpetual partner inthese struggles. Her life andwork can only beassessed in an imag-inative and contextu-al framework of thishistorical epoch and itis indeed a challengingtask for any author.

�An author who is pen-ning a biography alwayshas this pressure of show-casing his protagonist inthe right light since ques-tions could be raised laterover the accuracy and actu-ality of the facts presented inthe book...

A biographer is an inter-preter of events in respect of his pro-tagonist and he has to decide what the“right light” for his interpretation is.The facts presented in the book haveto be documented and the events asthey unfold in the life of the protago-nist should be presented accurately. Yetthe author’s own set of values gives acertain slant to his interpretations.How convincingly he argues in pre-senting the facts is a matter of his art.

�Kasturba Gandhi’s life experienceshave never been properly document-ed or even talked about much. Wheredid you source your data from?

Yes. It is a fact that the Gandhiindustry has definitely expandedworldwide but any bibliography deal-ing with Kasturba would not list morethan a dozen entries even today.However, in the last few decades,Gandhi has been rescued — to someextent, out of myths, legends, apoth-

eoses — and dealt with more critical-ly.

Kasturba’s life and work call forthe same critical approach. Her storyhas to be read in terms of the strug-gle of Indian women for identity,equality and self-empowerment. Thedata for the book has been sourcedfrom Gandhi literature, his completeworks in 100 volumes and historicalnarrations. But in Kasturba’s case,interpretations are more important asthe data has its limits.

�How do you think womanhoodwas neglected during India’s free-dom struggle? How does the book

present it? Also, giventoday ’s nationwideprotests, most of whichare being led by women(for instance, at ShaheenBagh), how do youthink the understand-ing of women’s role inchallenging times hasevolved?

The struggle ofwomen for emanci-pation started withthe spread ofdemocracy andtechnologica ldevelopmentall over the

world and it isstill continuing in India

and in other countries. Womenwere not neglected during India’sfreedom struggle. Rather they werebrought out of the confines of thefour walls of their homes to thepublic arena and they participatedboth in the revolutionary strugglesand the social reform movements.

After Independence, the unfold-ing of the democratic process, spreadof education and different move-ments across India have resulted inwomen’s participation in all walks oflife. Different groups are now vyingwith each other for a share in eco-nomic and political power andwomen are trying to become a votebank to achieve their rights.

�How long did it take to compile thework into a book?

The book was conceptualisedover many years and it was out of myinterest in the life and work ofMahatma Gandhi.

� What made you believe inmagic?

It all started when I used to goto Harvard Business School withmy father. There, he learnt creativ-ity and innovation from a magi-cian. It was surprising to see howmagic was treated with a complete-ly different perspective outsideIndia. So that changed my thoughtprocess. I always thought magicwas only Abra-Ca-Dabra.

I remember my father onceinvited me to Harvard to watch amagic show. For some reason, Iwas late, which angered me.Negative emotions were runningthrough my mind but a glimpse ofthe magic show changed some-thing in me. Long story short —the magician literally had thepower to take away all the negativ-ity that I had in me. After twohours or so, I did not even realisethat I was angry or sad. I felt likehe had the superpower to just takeaway all woes. I understood thatgood magic had the power to healyou in a certain way. And I thoughtmaybe in this world, somethinglike this is very essential. That’swhen I knew what I wanted to beand ended up becoming a magi-cian.

� How is You’ve Got Magic WithNeel Madhav different from otherexploration shows?

I am very excited. I am over themoon. I am elated. I am trying tofind more words in the dictionaryright now to tell you how excitedI am but I can’t think of many. Ithink it’s high time that magic as

a genre gets accepted. And thistime, it’s accepted by such a greatmedia house. Who could be betterthan Sony BBC Earth? I think it’san amalgamation of all good thingsto make the right potion. It’s thebest of magic, travel, food, culture,history and heritage. It’s a showthrough which most number ofpeople in India and across theworld will be able to exploreIndian heritage and culture in themost magical way.

� What draws you more — thetravel or the reactions of peoplewhile you perform the magic?

I think they go hand in hand.In my experience of travelling,magic is a major part of theinteraction that I do. Alot of communica-tion and conver-sation hap-pens afterthe magic,w h i c ha c t u a l l yacts l ikean iceb r e a k e rb e t w e e nthe audi-ence andme. It breaksthrough thegeneral norm,the thoughtprocesses and the per-ception that someone has.

We look at it through a regu-lar person’s perspective. If a ran-dom person woke up in the morn-ing not knowing that he will see

magic today orhe’s going to expe-

rience something asmagical as that, the

perception of the personis different because if you

take someone off guard, the con-versation just gets better. Itbecomes more real and truer.

� What kind of practice does

magic require? How do you stayon top of the game?

To have expertise at anything,you need practice. If you know youwant to become better than DavidCopperfield, you work hard for it.It’s as simple as that. There are noshortcuts. I wasn’t born with extra-terrestrial powers or this art ofmagic. This is just skin and Ibelieve that in the process of want-

ing to master things, each day is agift to practice and learn more.And every performance is practicein itself. So just keep adding on andon.

� Which was that one locationyou would like to revisit?

All of them. We under appre-ciate our Indian heritage, cultureand history. All the places have

been amazing and I’m the luckiestperson to have experienced somany of them. I have spent the lastsix years of my life travellingacross India and now, I have offi-cially been to all the 29 states inIndia. I have done the most mag-ical things and not so magicalthings — all at once!

� Have you performed your artfor any celebrity or influencer? Ifyes, then how was that experi-ence? And if not, then who wouldyou like to perform for?

My go-to magic effect is defi-nitely to reveal someone’s ATMpin. So whenever I meet a celebri-ty or artiste, that is the first trickI try with them. This obviously hasone and only one reaction where

they call me a ‘deadly guy’ or a‘dangerous guy’. I kind of knowalmost every celebrity’s ATM pinsranging from the Queen of Bhutan,who does not actually have one butshe made it up for the trick, to thePrince of Kuwait and knightedpeople from London. Well, the listgoes on...

� Your favourite trick?As mentioned, I love finding

peoples ATM pins. It’s the creepi-est and fun magic I have ever per-formed on celebrities. It’s interest-ing, keeps people on their toes andalso enough for them to not wantme to dive deeper into the game(Laughs).

(The show premieres on March23 at 10 pm on Sony BBC Earth.)

It was 1995 when Salman Khan and Shah RukhKhan shared screen space together for the first

time in the film Karan Arjun. Whether it was theMere Karan Arjun aayenge dialogue or the songs orthe actors’ performances, the Rakesh Roshan direc-torial became a huge hit for several reasons.

Reminiscing about the film’s 25 year long jour-ney, Salman said: “Karan Arjun was a special film.It is the first time that Shah Rukh and I had cometogether on-screen. I have so many beautiful mem-ories attached to this film. Karan Arjun is a com-plete entertainment package and even 25 years afterits release, fans can sit together with their familiesand enjoy it.”

The film also featured Raakhee Gulzar, Kajol andMamta Kulkarni in the lead roles. Rakesh Roshantoo shared his experience of working on the icon-ic film.

“When I had written Karan Arjun, I knew I hadto write a different kind of a story

from all the work I had done.Reincarnation as a topic wasdoing the rounds since theblack-and-white era but whenI decided to make a film on thetheme but using two brothers,

I faced a lot of criticism andrejection. So, I wrote the

film with a differentlens like that about amother-son bond. Ihad immense beliefin the story andsomehow knewthat my audiencewould feel andbelieve every dia-logue narrated bythe characters. Thereaction the filmreceived then andeven today is still

overwhelming. Thefact that a mother’s dia-

logue like Mere Karan-Arjun aayenge got the status

it has, is all because of theconviction it was deliveredwith. If at that time theyreturned from an unimagin-able place, it would have beenaccepted by the audience.Conviction is the one elementthat is behind the success of themovie and the milestone beingcelebrated today,” Rakeshadded.

As Karan Arjun completed25 years a few months ago, ZeeCinema will air the film to cel-ebrate the milestone.

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It was supposed to be arecord 22-race world cham-pionship but with seven

Grands Prix already either post-poned or cancelled, FormulaOne in 2020 has become ashorter, tightly-packed and eco-nomically challenging sprintfor the title.

The season-opener inAustralia and F1’s iconic Rivierashowpiece in Monaco havebeen axed.

Races in Bahrain, Vietnam,China, Netherlands and Spainhave also been shelved but withorganisers still hoping to shoe-horn them into a breathlessfinale once the threat of thecoronavirus had subsided.

A season which shouldhave started in Melbourne onMarch 14 will now not startuntil Azerbaijan on June 7 — atthe earliest.

“It’s super complicated toredo a calendar because youdon’t know when everythingwill be operational,” FredericVasseur, the team principal ofthe Alfa Romeo F1 team, said.

“You need to have a globalvision. England is not too affect-ed at the moment but it couldbe when Italy is less affected,” headded in reference to the twocountries which play host tomost of the teams in the worldchampionship.

There are still 15 races lefton the schedule before the con-cluding race at Abu Dhabi onNovember 29.

Last weekend, Ross Brawn,the sporting director of F1,said he was optimistic of a “17-18 race” championship.

However, that was when

only Australia, Bahrain,Vietnam and China had beendropped.

On Thursday, the DutchGrand Prix, slated to make itsreturn to the calendar for thefirst time since 1985 on May 3,and the Spanish event, set forMay 10, were postponed.

The Monaco GP, an annu-al showstopper since 1955 andset for May 24 this year, wascancelled completely.

‘UNCHARTERED TERRITORY’“We are in unchartered ter-

ritory. I’m pretty optimistic thatwe can have a good 17-18 racechampionship or more,” Brawntold Sky Sports.

“I think we can squeezethem in. But it depends onwhen the season can start.”

There is wriggle room.The traditional three-week

summer shutdown in Augusthas been scrapped to bereplaced by a 21-day break inMarch and April while the rac-ing season hunkers down.

The championship nowbecomes a frantic six-month

sprint rather than a nine-monthmarathon.

To rescue the calendar,there is an option of two racesorganised on the same weekend.

“It’s possible,” said Brawn,eyeing the three weeks betweenthe Hungarian Grand Prix onAugust 2 and at Spa in Belgiumon August 30.

“One thing we have alsobeen talking about is two-dayweekends, and therefore if wehave a triple header with two-day weekends, that could be anoption.”

F1 experimented with threeraces in a row in 2018 but sup-port was lukewarm from teamswho sweated over staff fatigue.

“I think what we need fromthe teams this year is flexibili-ty, I think they’ve got to givesome scope to do these things,”added Brawn.

“Because we are in veryunusual circumstances, andwe’ve got to make sure we’ve gota season that gives a good eco-nomic opportunity for theteams.

“For sure we’re going to

have a quiet start. I’m sure theteams will be flexible to allowus to fit those things in.”

More than ever, bank bal-ances and income will be key in2020 as teams and organisersgrapple with the implications ofa shorter, crammed season.

“The costs are not necessar-ily much lower if you do 18races rather than 22,” saidVasseur.

“Also, our income will beless — we do fewer races, wewill have less commercialrights.”

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French defender AymericLaporte has urged his

Manchester City teammates tokeep up their home trainingroutines during their self-isola-tion — but admits he cannotstop thinking about the club’spossible exclusion from theChampions League.

The 25-year-old is present-ly recovering from a hamstringproblem, the latest in a litany ofinjuries that has limited him toeight appearances this season.

City’s players have had tostay at home and been giventraining plans since the reign-ing Premier League championsclosed the training ground fol-lowing British governmentadvice on Monday to avoid allnon-essential travel and con-tact.

“That’s (personal trainingschedule) the best thing foreveryone, that we do it everyday,” Laporte said, quoted inThe Times on Friday.

“They trust in you andyou have to be professional. Youhave to follow what they sayand we have to be responsiblein this case. “When we returnto normality, when we starttraining again outside, we haveto be ready.”

Premier League chiefs onThursday fixed a plannedresumption of domestic footballfor April 30. Britain has onlyjust begun to take the samerestrictive measures as otherEuropean countries to fightthe pandemic. Laporte saidCity players had been advisedto adhere to the guidance onavoiding social contact.

“We have the same proto-col as has been given out in allcountries: stay at home as muchas possible, don’t go out in thestreet, don’t shake hands withanyone,” said Laporte.

Laporte said he was wor-ried about City’s ban fromEuropean football for two yearsfor breaching financial fair-play rules, although the club hasappealed to the Court ofArbitration for Sport (CAS).

“We are waiting for a finaldecision,” said Laporte “We aregoing to see what happens nextseason.

“Obviously it would hurt usa lot if we aren’t in theChampions League next season.

“I am very happy here atManchester City. I am enjoyingmy football here. We are doinggreat things here. In the last twoyears we have won eight tro-phies.”

�!��

Star Australian opener David Warner has reported-ly decided to pull out of England Cricket Board’s The

Hundred league as it is clashing with national team’slimited overs series against Zimbabwe.

According to Australian website WAtoday, Warner’smanager James Erskine said that the decision has gotnothing to do with prevailing COVID-19 pandemic thathas caused a global lock-down of cricketing activities.

“David Warner has pulled out of the Hundred inwhat could be the first of multiple withdrawals fromEngland’s new franchise league by international play-

ers as the coronavirus pandemic grips world sport,” thewebsite reported.

Warner at a fee of GBP 125,000 was the highest paidplayer for the 100-ball-a-side spectacle which was setto be held from July 17 to August 15.

“His decision to withdraw from the competitionwas unrelated to the COVID-19 outbreak, his manag-er James Erskine said as he confirmed the move onFriday,” the report further stated.

Erskine on Thursday had said that Warner will beplaying IPL if the COVID-19 pandemic is under con-trol and the league gets rolling after April 15, the timetill which the league has been suspended.

+�..�!(A New Zealandcricketers and support staffmembers have gone into a 14-day self-isolation period afterreturning from their abortedAustralia tour, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

New Zealand Cricket con-firmed that all 15 players andsupport staff members whoreturned from Sydney last week-end have gone into lockdown athome as per the government’sdirective. “They [Black Capsplayers and touring staff] haveall gone into self-isolation,” NewZealand Cricket’s public affairsmanager Richard Boock toldstuff.Co.Nz

“We’ve passed on all thedetails about what self-isolationmeans and as far as we knowthey’re all following it strictly,” headded. New Zealand werescheduled to play three ODIsand as many T20s but theChappell-Hadlee series wascalled off after just one ODI,which was held without specta-tors. PTI

�+� ��.�A Former India captainSunil Gavaskar believes the BCCI hastaken the right decision to suspendthe 13th edition of the Indian PremierLeague (IPL) amid the ongoingcoronavirus outbreak.

“The decision by the BCCI tosuspend the IPL till April 15 is a laud-able one. The health and safety of anation are more important thansport and it’s wonderful that the usu-ally much-maligned BCCI has putthat before anything else,” Gavaskarwrote in a column for Sportstar.

Gavaskar also said that the fateof the IPL depends upon how quick-ly the spread of coronavirus is con-trolled in the country.

“Whether the IPL will be playedat all depends on how quickly thespread of COVID-19 is controlled.Till April 15 overseas players won’tget a visa so it may take a bit longerfor the tournament to take off.Foreign players bring a differentflavour to the tournament and addto the excitement, so it’s important to

have them,” he said.The former Indian skipper also

lashed out at a BCCI official for thesuggestion that they did not want IPLto be like a Mushtaq Ali tournamentwithout the participation of foreignplayers.

“Having said that, for a so-calledtop BCCI official to comment that‘the BCCI has to ensure the qualityof the game is not poor. We did notwant a Mushtaq Ali tournament,’ isan incredibly insensitive statement ifindeed it is true,” wrote Gavaskar.

“Firstly, it’s insulting to the greatman after whom the tournament isnamed and secondly begs the ques-tion that if it’s such a ‘poor’ tourna-ment, then why have it at all? Also,can light be shed on why the quali-ty of the tournament is poor? Surelyit’s not simply because there are nointernational players in it, but alsobecause there are no Indian interna-tionals in it! That is a scheduling issuethat the BCCI has to look at,” headded. IANS

��$�A Former Pakistan captain andcurrent bowling coach Waqar Younis saidthat he won’t mind putting his papers ifhe is unable to deliver set targets.

Waqar, who has a three-year contractwith the Pakistan Cricket Board said hewould review his own performance asbowling coach after a year.

“I will be reviewing myself after ayear and let me make it clear, if I feel Iam not good enough for the job and I amnot doing justice to it I will resign andleave myself,” he told a YouTube channelCricketBaaz.

“It is not as if because I have a three-year contract I will hang around. I havesome set targets in mind and I want tohelp and groom the young fast bowlers.

“The way I look at it my plan is pre-pare a settled bowling attack for testcricket and keep a rotation policy for thewhite ball formats. Where we adopt a

horses for courses policy. Pick those whoare in form for us.”

He said so far he was satisfied aftertaking over as bowling coach lastOctober.

“We have got some exciting youngfast bowlers like Shaheen Shah, NaseemShah, Muhammad Hasnain and we arelooking at more talent. That does notmean I will ignore those who had donewell in domestic cricket.” PTI

��$�A Pakistan Cricket Board is confident ofgaining profit from the Pakistan Super Leaguedespite the T20 competition was suspended atthe semi-final stage.

According to official sources, the PCB is setto make profits from four major commercialdeals, including broadcasting and digital media.

“We will earn more compared to the fourprevious editions because majority of thematches (in earlier editions) had to be held inthe UAE where we generally had low crowds andcommercial deals were also not very profitable,”a source said.

“The losses will come from four matchesbeing held behind closed doors in Karachi andLahore but the gate money receipts are minimalcompared to the profits we will make from com-mercial, sponsorship and broadcasting deals.”

The PSL was on Tuesday suspended after thePCB revealed that a foreign player showed symp-toms of the dreaded COVID-19. The PCB hadalso shortened the league by four days consid-ering the worsening coronavirus situation butwas forced to call it off on Tuesday.

One source said 24 off the 30 matches heldbefore the semi-finals and final were full hous-es in Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachiand gate money earnings were very good.

“But yes, some matches were hit by badweather and reduced overs but we will still makegood profits from the PSL this time despite fourmatches being held in empty stadiums,” he said.

He also said the Board would refundmoney to ticket holders of the semi-finals andfinal. PTI

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PK Banerjee, a footballing colos-sus of his time and a raconteur for

life, died here on Friday aged 83, hav-ing dribbled and dazzled for a goodpart of his mind-boggling 51 yearsof service to the game.

He was suffering from respira-tory problems due to pneumonia andhad an underlying history ofParkinson’s disease, dementia andheart problem. Banerjee, who was onlife support at a hospital here sinceMarch 2, breathed his last at12:40pm.

Born on June 23, 1936 inMoynaguri on the outskirts ofJalpaiguri in West Bengal, Banerjee’sfamily relocated to his uncle’s placein Jamshedpur before partition.

The 1962 Asian Games Gold-medallist’s best days as a playercoincided with Indian football’sgolden era. He scored 65 internation-al goals in 84 appearances for thenational team.

His contribution was duly recog-nised by FIFA which rated him asIndia’s greatest player of the 20th cen-tury, bestowing him with theCentennial Order of Merit in 2004.

From his debut for Bihar in theSantosh Trophy as a 16-year-old in1952 to a stint as MohammedanSporting coach 51 years later,Banerjee takes leave as one of India’s

greatest.A member of the holy trinity,

that also included Chuni Goswamiand Tulsidas Balaram, Banerjee wasthe last surviving scorer of the 1962Asiad Gold-winning team.

Another one his bright momentswith the national team was a fourth-place finish at the 1956 Olympics,where India beat Australia 4-1.

In the final of the 1962 Asiad,India prevailed in front of a hostilecrowd angered by chef de mission

Guru Dutt Sondhi’s remark that itwas ‘Jakarta Games’, for barringcountries like Taiwan and Israel.

Banerjee scored the opener inthat game.

He was captain of the Indianteam that last played the Olympicsin Rome 1960.

He retired as a player in 1967after being laid low by recurringinjuries. But then went on accumu-late a staggering 54 trophies as acoach.

He pulled off a heist as MohunBagan coach when they famouslyheld New York Cosmos 2-2 in anexhibition match starring Pele in1977.

The star of Indian football whenthe sport was at its peak, Banerjeenever played for Mohun Bagan andEast Bengal, representing EasternRailways all his life.

A FIFA-certified coach, Banerjeehad a coaching career as illustriousas his playing one, beginning withBata SC and Eastern Railway.

Having struck gold as a player,a young 35-year-old Banerjee wasmade a joint India coach with G MBasha, and they delivered a Bronzeat the Bangkok Asiad in 1970.

Within a year at the helm,Banerjee guided India to a joint tri-umph at the Singapore Pesta SukanCup in 1971.

East Bengal won five CFL titleson the trot under his tutelage.

He also delivered at MohunBagan, guiding them to a treble —IFA Shield, Rovers Cup and DurandCup — in 1977.

He was coach of the MohunBagan that famously held the thenSoviet Union team, Ararat Yerevan,in the 1978 IFA Shield final.

Back at East Bengal, Banerjeeoversaw their famous 4-1 win overthe arch-rivals in the 1997 FederationCup semifinal.

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Formula One’s drivers willbattle it out in an Esports

Virtual Grand Prix series in abid to give fans their racing fixwhile the season is delayed bythe coronavirus.

Formula One chiefs areaiming to start racing inAzerbaijan on June 7, but to fillthe void for now the sport hasasked current F1 drivers to playa racing game featuring as-yetunnamed celebrity guests.

“Featuring a number ofcurrent F1 drivers, the series hasbeen created to enable fans tocontinue watching Formula 1races virtually, despite the ongo-ing COVID-19 situation thathas affected this season’s open-ing race calendar,” a statementsaid.

“The first race of the serieswill see current F1 drivers lineup on the grid alongside a hostof stars to be announced in duecourse.

“In order to guarantee theparticipants safety at this time,each driver will join the raceremotely.”

F1 drivers Max Verstappenand Lando Norris took part intwo separate virtual races lastweekend following the cancel-lation of the Australian GrandPrix.

The races will be run for 28laps for around 90 minutes andwill take place at the same timeas the postponed Grands Prixwould have occurred.

The events start this week-end with the Virtual BahrainGrand Prix run on the official2019 F1 video game.

Viewers will be able totune in via YouTube, Facebookand Twitch with a qualifyingsession to determine the gridpreceding the race itself.

Results will not counttowards the F1 world champi-onship, but the plan is to runthe virtual tournament untilreal racing can return.

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Indian footballer N BalaDevi, the first to sign a

contract with Scottishwomen’s Premier League clubRangers, has been forced toextend her stay with the teamin Glasgow owing to the trav-el restrictions forced by theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The 30-year-old strikerdoes not have professionalcommitments right now afterthe Premier League was post-poned till April 30 owing tothe COVID-19 pandemic. Buther return to India has alsobeen stalled after the govern-ment on Thursday barred allincoming international flightsfrom March 22 to 31 to tack-le the deadly outbreak.

“There are no matchesnow as the league has beenpostponed and will start onApril 30. But even if she want-ed to go back home, the flightsfrom UK to India have beenstopped two days back,” BalaDevi’s agent Anuj Kichlu said.

“So she can’t go backhome, she will remain train-ing there, there is no otherway out. We will see the situ-ation. If the league re-starts onApril 30, she can stay thereand play.

“But if it does not startand is postponed again, wehave to see what to do or if anyflight is available at that timeand decide accordingly,” headded.

Devi was a captain ofIndia’s Gold-medal winningteam at the South AsianGames last year. She scored 16goals in five matches.

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Real Madrid striker LukaJovic apologised on

Thursday after travelling toSerbia and breaking self-isola-tion rules put in place to limitthe spread of coronavirus.

Jovic claims he was givenpermission to fly to his homecountry of Serbia by RealMadrid, who went into quar-antine last week after one of theclub's basketball players testedpositive for the virus.

But after arriving inBelgrade, according to Spanishnewspaper AS, the 22-year-oldwas "seen on the streets of thecapital, celebrating the birthdayof his girlfriend".

The local press in Belgradehave reported that Jovic wasvisited by police, although it isnot clear whether charges willbe brought against him.

"First of all, I am very sorrythat I am the main topic (ofdebate) these days, and I amsorry that people are con-stantly writing about me andnot about the main protago-nists in the fight against thiscrisis, who are the doctorsand all those who work inhealthcare," Jovic wrote onsocial media.

"In Madrid, my Covid-19test was negative. So I decidedto travel to Serbia, to help andsupport our people, in additionto being close to my family,with the permission of myclub.

"When I arrived in Serbia,they gave me the test and itcame out negative. I am verysorry that some people havenot done their job profession-ally and have not given me spe-cific instructions on how Ishould behave during my iso-lation.

"In Spain it is allowed to goto buy food or buy products inpharmacies, which does nothappen here (in Serbia). I apol-ogise to everyone if in any wayI have hurt or put someone indanger. I hope that together wecan overcome all this."

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The Olympic flame arrived inJapan on Friday to a muted

reception, what should havebeen a joyous celebration dra-matically scaled down due to thecoronavirus pandemic.

The flame landed on a spe-cial charter flight intoMatsushima Air Base in Miyagiprovince, chosen as part of the“Recovery Olympics” to show-case the region’s revival after the2011 earthquake, tsunami andnuclear meltdown.

Former JapaneseOlympians Saori Yoshida andTadahiro Nomura collected theflame from the aircraft andtook it to a cauldron in theshape of a cherry blossom on astage in front of selected guests.

But some 200 local childrenthat were due to welcome theflame were kept away as part ofwhat organisers called the“heartbreaking” decision to pareback events as the world battlesthe virus.

After a speech by chieforganiser Yoshiro Mori, theformer Olympians lit the caul-dron with the torch, also

designed to represent Japan’scherished cherry blossom.

“Children had planned towelcome the Olympic flame, butwe decided to scale it down, giv-ing priority to their safety,” Morisaid.

The actual torch relay beginson March 26, starting from theJ-Village sports complex inFukushima that was comman-deered as a base by workersscrambling to contain the fall-out from the nuclear meltdown.

“The Olympic flame relay isthe biggest event ahead of theOlympics. It is very importantfor us to carry it out at any cost,”said Tokyo 2020 CEO ToshiroMuto ahead of the ceremony.

But organisers have beenforced to scale back what shouldhave been a key event to raiseawareness and excitement aheadof the July 24 opening ceremo-ny.

While spectators areallowed to watch from the road-side, fans have been urged to“avoid forming crowds”, withorganisers warning there couldbe a change of programme inthe event of “excessive conges-tion”.

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International Olympic Committeepresident Thomas Bach said itwould be “premature” to postpone

the Tokyo Games but admitted thebody was “considering different sce-narios” as the coronavirus pandem-ic advances.

The IOC will act on advice fromits own taskforce and the WorldHealth Organization, Bach told theNew York Times, after a week whenthe IOC has weathered criticismover its response to the crisis.

But he remained optimistic aboutholding the Tokyo Olympics onschedule from July 24 to August 9,and said there was no question ofcancelling the Games altogether.

“Of course we are consideringdifferent scenarios, but we are con-trary to many other sports organiza-tions or professional leagues in thatwe are four-and-a-half months awayfrom the Games,” Bach said.

“For us, (postponement) wouldnot be responsible now and it wouldbe premature to start speculation ormake a decision at a time when wedo not have any recommendationfrom the task force,” he added.

Speculation has been growingover the Games, scheduled to start onJuly 24, after the COVID-19 outbreakclosed sports competitions aroundthe world, and paralysed many coun-tries along with international travel.

Olympic qualifiers are among thetournaments affected, with 43 per-cent of athletes yet to book theirspots. But Bach said the situation wasstill too uncertain to make a decisionabout Tokyo.

“What makes this crisis sounique and so difficult to overcome

is the uncertainty. Nobody today cantell you what the developments aretomorrow, what they are in onemonth, not to mention in more thanfour months,” he said.

“Therefore it would not beresponsible in any way to set a dateor take a decision right now, whichwould be based on the speculationabout the future developments.”

Athletes lashed out at IOC advice

this week to continue training “asbest they can” but Bach said healthconsiderations were “first and fore-most”, adding “the decision of theIOC will not be determined by anyfinancial interest”. “For us, while notknowing how long this tunnel willbe, we would like the Olympic flameto be a light at the end of the tunnel,”he said.

Despite remaining hopeful of

starting the Games on time, Bachsaid the IOC’s risk-managementpolicies and insurance “will make itpossible for us to continue our oper-ations and organize future OlympicGames”.

“The IOC has no cash-flowproblem,” he added, when askedabout the potential problem ofbroadcast payments not arriving inJuly.

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Weightlifting’s Olympicqualifying schedule has

gone haywire due to theCovid-19 pandemic but India’sMirabai Chanu is a sure-shotfor the Tokyo Games, if theyare held, while young JeremyLalrinnunga is also set to makethe cut for the mega sportingspectacle.

Former world championChanu currently occupies thirdplace in the women’s 49kgworld rankings following thecancellation of the AsianChampionships, the lastOlympics qualifying event ofthe continent due to the coro-navirus outbreak.

She has taken part in fiveevents out of the six mandat-ed in the new qualificationrules.

In a meeting of theExecutive Board of theInternational WeightliftingFederation held on March 17-18 via video conference, theworld body has made somerecommendations to theInternational OlympicAssociation (IOC) regardingthe Olympic qualifying events.

One of the key recommen-dations, sources said, mayclose the qualification processas all the five continental

championships were can-celled.

This would mean theOlympics qualification slotswill be decided based on thecurrent world rankings. TheIOC will, however, take a finalcall on the recommendationsof the InternationalWeightlifting Federation.

“Mirabai is certain to thequalify for the Olympics, she iscurrently at third spot in theworld rankings. The top eightfrom the world rankings afterthe end of the qualificationperiod automatically qualifiesfor Tokyo Olympics,” IndianWeightlifting FederationSecretary General SahdevYadav said.

“She has competed in fivequalifying events but the sixthone, the Asian Championshipsin Tashkent was cancelled. Ithink there will be no morequalifying events and the worldrankings is set to be based onwhat it currently is.”

Under the new rules, toqualify for the TokyoOlympics, a weightlifter mustcompete in at least one eventin each of the three periods ofsix months (spread overNovember 2018 to April 2020),at least six events overall andin at least one gold and silver-level event.

The 25-year-old Chanuhas now collected 3869 Robipoints — the IWF’s official cal-culation method — to beplaced third behind HouZhihui (4703) of China and RiSong Gum (4209) of NorthKorea.

Regarding the 17-year-oldJeremey (men’s 67kg), who wona Gold in 62kg in the 2018Youth Olympic Games, Yadavsaid, “In the Olympics, therewill be 14 competitors in eachweight category, men andwomen. Besides the top eightfrom the world rankings, the topranker from each of the fivecontinents will also qualify.Jeremy is at the top of Asianrankings and if the internation-al federation’s recommenda-tions are accepted by the IOC,he will also qualify.”

Jeremy is at the top of Asianrankings with 3119 Robi points,far ahead of second-placedMohammed Almazyadi Nawaf(2672) from Saudi Arabia. He isset for his maiden Olympics.

The last slot will be from thehost country, if that country(Japan) has not qualified fromthis method. But if a weightlifterfrom the host country has qual-ified, the last slot will be giventhrough the tripartite com-mission process.

�+� ��.�A The BadmintonWorld Federation (BWF) onFriday suspended five moretournaments, including threecontinental championships cru-cial for Tokyo Olympics quali-fication but stripped of that sig-nificance now, in view of theCOVID-19 pandemic in thehost cities.

The announcement came aweek after the BWF put a halt toall of its events till April 12.

“...A further five tourna-ments have also been cancelledor postponed,” BWF said in astatement.

“This includes the suspen-sion of the three ContinentalConfederation championshipsscheduled for week 17 on theBWF Tournament Calendar —one of the last chances for ath-letes to gain qualification for

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Gamesbefore the April 26 deadline,” itadded.

The suspended tourna-ments are Croatian International(April 16-19 ), PeruInternational 2020 (April 16-19),European C’ships (April 21-26),Badminton Asia C’ships (April21-26) and Pan Am IndividualChampionships 2020 (April 23-26).

The EuropeanChampionships were scheduledin Ukraine, while Asia event wasto be held in Philippines.

The Asia Championshipshad already relocated once,switching from Wuhan, Chinato Manila due to the COVID-19outbreak in that city. All topIndian shuttlers, including PVSindhu, Saina Nehwal, B SaiPraneeth and Kidambi Srikanth

were scheduled to compete atthe event.

“Badminton Pan Am alsosaid it was no longer feasible tostage the XXIV Pan AmIndividual Championships 2020in Peru because of health andsafety fears linked to COVID-19.

“The tournament was orig-inally planned for GuatemalaCity,” BWF said.

All five tournaments wereto be played within the TokyoOlympic Games qualifying peri-od, but will “no longer con-tribute to Olympic qualifying asthey will now fall outside thequalification window.”

“BWF will make a furtherannouncement on any implica-tions related to the Olympicqualification period at a laterdate,” BWF said. PTI

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‘Premature’ to postpone Tokyo Games: IOC chief

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Australia’s swimmers are moreconcerned about a level playing

field than ruling the pool at theOlympics.

Due to travel bans, isolationrequirements and other issues thou-sands of athletes still haven’t qual-ified for their events.

“We are still preparing for theOlympics and Paralympics to thebest of our ability but we absolute-ly understand that for a lot of ourpeers and colleagues this isn’t thereality anymore, as it may not be forus soon,” Swimming Australia saidin a release co-signed by headcoach Jacco Verhaeren on Friday.

“We hope the IOC and(Paralympic organizers) are consid-ering everything they can to ensurethat there is a level playing field,with athletes being able to performin healthy conditions.”

The key theme? It would be fair-er to postpone the Olympics.

Swimming has been a regularsource of medals at the Olympicsand world championships forAustralia, where the climate, loca-tion and relatively high number ofOlympic-size pools is an advantage,but not an insurmountable one.

“At the heart of the Olympic andParalympic competition is thenotion of fair play — a value wehold very close, and we do not wantthat to be compromised,” the state-ment continued.

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