010521 il 01 - ongc

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2021, NEW DELHI,LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

New Delhi

2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

SHER-I-KASHMIR INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCESDepartment of Materials Management (Imports Section)

SOURA SRINAGAR, JAMMU & KASHMIR-190011E-mail: [email protected], Fax No: 0194-2403404

e-NIT No.: SIMS-324-NIT 12 (IMPORTS) OF 2021DATED: 30.04.2021

SUBJECT: Abbreviated Notice Inviting Tenders for Supply, Installation,Testing & Commissioning of various Bio-Medical Equipmentsfor Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery &Neurology SKIMS.

On behalf of the Lt. Governor of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir through Director,Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science, Soura, Srinagar, e-tenders are invited from theOriginal Manufacturers/their Indian Subsidiaries/ Indian Agents on the authorization of princi-pal Manufacturers/Indian Subsidiary if 100% Subsidiary of foreign principals (for importedequipment) and Manufacturers/their authorized Dealers for the J&K (for Indigenous Equipment)for Supply, Installation, Testing & Commissioning of following Bio-Medical Equipments:

The detailed tender document is available on www.jktenders.gov.in & on SKIMS web-site www.skims.ac.in. The NIT schedule is as per following:

Complete bidding process will be online on e-Tendering portal www.jktenders.gov.in &the tenders should be submitted strictly in accordance with the provision of the detailedNIT. Sd/-

Asstt. Materials Management Officer (Imports)For & on behalf of

Chief of Materials Management

Last Date for Submission of Online Bids 27.05.2021 upto 02.00 P.M.Opening of Technical Bids 29.05.2021 at 12.30 P.M.

No. SIMS-324-eNIT 12 (Imports) 2021-1694-1700-6336-38Dated: 30.04.2021

SIMS-6338

Group Name of the Item Qty. Tender FeeDEPARTMENT OF CARDIOVASCULAR & THORACIC SURGERYA Surgical Head Lights 06 Rs. 2000

DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGYB Biphasic Defibrillator 01 Rs. 2000

UNION TERRITORY OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

OFFICE OF SENIOR MATERIALS MANAGEMENT OFFICER (PURCHASE-1)SHER-I-KASHMIR INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

SOURA SRINAGAR, J&K (INDIA)-190011, Extension: 2275E-mail: [email protected], Fax No: 0194-2403929

e-NIT No.: SIMS-325 (PI) TENDER 07 OF 2021DATED: 30.04.2021

SUBJECT: Abbreviated E-Tender Notice for Supplying I.V. Fluids on 2 Yearrate contract basis.

E-Tenders are invited for and on behalf of Lt. Governor of Union Territory of Jammu &Kashmir through Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar, only from orig-inal manufacturers or their authorized Distributors/Agents possessing valid durg licence for sup-ply of various types of I.V. Fluids for a period of two years on rate contract basis. The detailedE-Tender documents are also available at www.jktender.gov.in & www.skims.ac.in.

Complete bidding process will be online on Government e-Tendering portal www.jkten-ders.gov.in & the tenders should be submitted strictly in accordance with the provision ofthe detailed NIT.

Sd/-G.M. KHAN

Sr. Materials Management OfficerPurchase-I

NOMENCLATURE SCHEDULEBid Submission End Date 29.05.2021 upto 04.00 P.M.Technical Bids Opening Date 01.06.2021 at 12.30 P.M.

No. SIMS-325 P(I)-e-Tender 07 of 2021-2798-2802-6331-33Dated: 3004.2021

SIMS-6333

Description Tender FeeSupply of I.V. Fluids on 2 Year Contract Basis Rs. 2,000/-

GOVERNMENT OF ODISHAOFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER

RURAL WORKS CIRCLE, KENDRAPARA-JAJPURNo. Tender Online RCK - 08 / 21 Letter No.- 1121 Date :-29.04.21

e-Procurement Notice

Further details can be seen from the websitewww.tendersorissa.gov.in

Sd/-Superintending Engineer,

Rural Works Circle, Kendrapara-Jajpur

OIPR-25129/11/0005/2122

O-117

1. Name of the work : Construction of MCS Building Works in the Districtof Kendrapara.

2. Class of Contractor : A & Special Class as specified in the column 7 ofthe Annexure.

3. Time for Completion : As specified in the Column-8 of the Annexure.4. Detail Projects : As per Annexure attached

5. Other details. :

ProcurementOfficer

BidIdentifica-tion No.

Availability ofTender on-line for

bidding

Last Date &Time ofseekingtender

clarification

Date & Time ofopening of tender

From ToTechnical

BidFinancial

Bid1 2 3 4 5 6 7

SuperintendingEngineer, RuralWorks Circle,Kendrapara-

Jajpur

TenderOnline

RCK -08/ 21

03.05.21At

11.00 A.M

17.05.21At

5.00 P.M

13.05.21Up to

5.00 P.M

18.05.21At

12.00 P.M

27.05.21At

12.00 P.M

To,1. M/s Shalviya Infra Pvt. Ltd. (Defendant No. 03)(Through its Directors) Having Its Office At SL-1, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad-201010, UttarPradesh

Whereas the above named applicant has instituted a case for recovery of Rs. 48,47,163.75

(Rupees Forty Eight Lacs Forty Seven Thousand One Hundred Sixty Three and Seventy

Five Paise Only) against you and whereas it has been shown to the satisfaction of the Tribunal

that it is not possible to serve you in ordinary way. Therefore, this notice is given by advertisement

directing you to make appearance before Ld. Registrar on 05.07.2021 at 10.30 A.M. (for further

details kindly visit DRTwebsite www.etribunal.gov.in Phone Number: 011-23748473).

Take notice that in case of your failure to appear on the above mentioned day before this Tribunal,

the case will be heard and decided in your absence.

Due to ongoing Pandemic Situation, all the matter will be taken up through Video

Conferencing and for that purpose:-

(i)All theAdvocates/Litigants shall download the " Cisco Webex" application/Software;

(ii) "Meeting ID" and "Password" for the next date of hearing qua cases to be taken by '

Registrar/Recovery Officer-I / and Recovery Officer-II shall be available one day prior to the next

date at DRTOfficial Portal i.e. "drt.gov.in" under the Public Notice Head

(iii) In any exigency qua that, the Advocates/Litigants can contact the concerned official at

Ph. No. 011-23748473.

By order of this TribunalFor Registrar

DEBTS RECOVERY TRIBUNAL-I, DELHI4TH FLOOR, JEEVAN TARA BUILDING, PARLIAMENT STREET, NEW DELHI-110001

UCO BANK ApplicantVERSUS

KAPIL MEHTA & ORS. Defendants

OA NO. 809/2018

Given under may hand and seal of the Tribunal on this 08th April of 2021

Respondent may contact under mention Phone number for further enquiry

Mr. Amit K. Dar, Ld. Registrar, DRT-I, New Delhi, Phone No. : 011-23748473, Email : [email protected]

Whereas the above named applicant has instituted a case for recovery of Rs. 73,69,154/-

(Rupees Seventy Three Lacs Sixty Nine Thousand One Hundred Fifty Four Only) against

you and whereas it has been shown to the satisfaction of the Tribunal that it is not possible to

serve you in ordinary way. Therefore, this notice is given by advertisement directing you to make

appearance before Ld. Registrar on 26.07.2021 at 10.30A.M. (for further details kindly visit DRT

website www.etribunal.gov.in Phone Number: 011-23748473).

Take notice that in case of your failure to appear on the above mentioned day before this Tribunal,

the case will be heard and decided in your absence.

Due to ongoing Pandemic Situation, all the matter will be taken up through Video

Conferencing and for that purpose:-

(iv)All theAdvocates/Litigants shall download the " Cisco Webex" application/Software;

(v) "Meeting ID" and "Password" for the next date of hearing qua cases to be taken by '

Registrar/Recovery Officer-I / and Recovery Officer-II shall be available one day prior to the next

date at DRTOfficial Portal i.e. "drt.gov.in" under the Public Notice Head

(vi) In any exigency qua that, the Advocates/Litigants can contact the concerned official at

Ph. No. 011-23748473.



UCO BANK ApplicantVERSUSSHASHI BALA Defendants

OA NO. 1391/2018




To,1. Shashi Bala, W/o Manoj Doomra2. Manoj Doomra, Kul Bhushan Doomra Both R/o A-4/13, Fourth Floor, Rail Vihar, NitiKhand Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh Both also at ; D-57, Manoj Vihar, Opp.Jaipuria Mall, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, UP

To, 1. Mr. Umair Farooqui S/o Late Sh. Suhail Iqbal R/o Plot No. S 12, Flat no. S1, Second Floor, FrontSideHIGwithRoofRights,DLFDilshadGardenExtension,Ghaziabad,UttarPradesh-201005AlsoAt:R/o700/55/1,StreetNo.24,VijayPark,Maujpur,Delhi-110053

2.Sh.Mohd.TousifS/oSh.Mohd.TausifR/o700/55/1,StreetNo.24,VijayPark,Maujpur,Delhi-110053

Whereas the above named applicant has instituted a case for recovery of Rs. 23,94,932.50(Rupees Twenty Three Lacs Ninety Four Thousand Nine Hundred And Thirty Two and

Paise Only) against you and whereas it has been shown to the satisfaction of theTribunal that it is not possible to serve you in ordinary way. Therefore, this notice is given byadvertisement directing you to make appearance before Ld. Registrar on 16.07.2021 at10.30 A.M. (for further details kindly visit DRT website www.etribunal.gov.in Phone Number:011-23748473).Take notice that in case of your failure to appear on the above mentioned day before thisTribunal, the case will be heard and decided in your absence.(i)All theAdvocates/Litigants shall download the " Cisco Webex" application/Software;(ii) "Meeting ID" and "Password" for the next date of hearing qua cases to be taken by 'Registrar/Recovery Officer-I / and Recovery Officer-II shall be available one day prior to thenext date at DRTOfficial Portal i.e. "d02rt.gov.in" under the Public Notice Head(iii) In any exigency qua that, the Advocates/Litigants can contact the concerned official atPh. No. 011-23748473.

Fifty



PUNJAB AND SIND BANK ApplicantVERSUS

MR. UMAIR FAROOQUI & OTRS. Defendant

OA NO. 14/2019




New Delhi

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2021, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

Delhi HC: State has failed to protect mostbasic fundamental right...the right to life’

ANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI, APRIL30

IN A key hearing on the Covidcrisis that covered a range of is-sues, fromvaccines and oxygento testing and hospital admis-sions, the Supreme Court onFriday described the pricing ofvaccines as “extremely impor-

tant”,wanted toknow fromtheGovernmentif it is“doingsome-thing” to regulate that, andasked: “Why should there betwo prices for the Centre andstates?”The court alsowarned state

governments against any clam-pdownongrievancessharedon-lineby thepublicon thecrisis

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Warnsstatesof contempt if actionagainstgrievancesonsocialmedia

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI, APRIL30

THEDELHIHighCourtonFridaysaid the State has failed to pro-tect the most fundamental ofrights — the right to life — afteritwasinformedof thedeathofapersonwho had petitioned the

court foran ICUbed.The court expressed its an-

guishwhen, in themidst of theday’s hearing, advocate AmitSharma said, “My lord, mybrother-in-law has expired. Nomore efforts should bemade. Ihavecompletelyfailed.Sograte-ful toyou.”At this, thedivisionbenchof

JusticesVipinSanghiandRekhaPalli said, “No. The State hasfailed. We have failed. We allhave failed.”The court later recorded in

the order, “During the course ofhearing,MrAmitSharmahasin-formedthatAtulKumarSharmahasexpired.Wemayatthisstage

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COOMIKAPOOR

COVIDROBBEDformerAttorneyGeneralSoliSorabjeetheoppor-tunitytoobservehis90thbirth-day inMarch last year. Itwas anevent that he was looking for-wardtowithmuchanticipation,and should have celebrated amilestone in a truly remarkablelife in law, human rights, pressfreedomandhumanity.ButwiththenumberofCovidcasesrisingsharply, the celebratory dinner

had to be hastily cancelled twodaysbefore theevent. Thisyear,there were festivities but on asubduednote, and themomentwasneverproperlycelebratedasSorabjeedeserved.Sorabjee was a warm, gen-

teel, intellectual practitioner ofthe lawof a different erawherefacts and the interpretation ofthestatutesweretheoverridingconsideration. Where argu-mentswere lacedwithwit,pol-ish and erudition. For Sorabjee,thelawwasacallingandmoneywasnevertheprimemotive,asitis formany leading lawyers to-day. A Parsi who trained at theBombay Law College, he was a

contemporaryofothersfromtheBombay institution such as Fali

Nariman,AshokDesai,andMurliBhandare. The luminaries fromtheBombayBarthendominatedtheSupremeCourt.Sorabjeewhofollowedinthe

footsteps of his mentor NaniPalkhivala, made a significantcontributiontotheinterpretationofconstitutionallawinindepend-ent India. Hewas a championoffreespeechandcitizens’civil lib-erties, and assisted Palkhivala inthe landmark Golaknath andKeshavanandaBharaticases.Thejudgments in these two casesprotected the rights of the indi-vidual,whetherprinceorpauper,againstthestate.ThegenialSorabjeeoftenof-

feredhisservices for free,work-ing pro bono. During theEmergency,heprovidedlegalas-sistance tomany political pris-onersarrestedunderthedracon-ianMISA. It was a challengingtime, and he lived under theshadow of possible imprison-ment. He once recalled to mejokingly that his young sonHormazdwas terrified that hewould bring disgrace on thefamilybybeingsent to jail.

CONTINUEDONPAGE4

PAGE1ANCHOR

A remarkable life in law, tireless championof civil liberties, press freedom, humanity

SOLI SORABJEE1 9 3 0 - 2 0 2 1

Uncertainty overvaccine supply asall 18-44 becomeeligible; big chainssay we are ready

Rubina’shusbandMohammedQasimdiedwhilewaiting foradmission inthehospitalonFriday. JignasaSinha

JIGNASASINHANEWDELHI, APRIL30

WITHOVER 100 patients beingdischarged from Lok NayakHospital overnight, familiesrushedwithCovidpatientstogetabedonFriday—onlytobetoldthatthevacantbedshadalreadybeen filledup,withinminutes.Helpless,thefamiliesandpa-

tients sat outside the hospitalandwaited. Many of them hadalready been refused beds andoxygen cylinders elsewhere inthecity.Among themwas 34-year-

old Mohammed Qasim, whowasbroughtinanambulancebyhis wife and his neighbours.Though he hadn’t been able toget a Covid test, his family said

he had the symptoms. Theguards let theambulance inbutdoctorscouldn’tadmithimrightaway. Within 10 minutes, hestarted coughing and collapsedunder the sun. His wife Rubinascreamed for help as Qasimbreathedhis last.Other familiescame to the entrance andshouted: “At least get him anoxygencylinder.”DoctorstriedtoreviveQasim,

butcouldn’t.Ashospitalstaffersput her husband’s body insidethe ambulance, Rubina said: “Ihave lost everything.We havebeensearchingforahospitalbedsince yesterday. Wewere toldpeople were discharged fromhere…, therecouldbebeds.Wecouldn’t even get tested forCovid.HowwillItellmychildren

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ONLYPRIVATEsites thatareable toprocuredosesfromtheopenmarketcanvaccinate, anddosesnowwith themforpri-oritygroupsmustbe re-turned.Onlya fewpri-vatehospitals areexpected tobeable tovaccinate immediately.

Formany,shotsmaybedelayed

PRABHARAGHAVAN&KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, APRIL30

ON THE eve of the scheduledopening of phase 3 of Covid-19vaccinationscoveringtheentireadultpopulationof thecountry,the Centre said that only “somestates” which have “co-ordi-nated”with vaccinemakers onprocuringfromtheopenmarket,will begin the drive. It providednodetails.Some of India's largest pri-

vate hospitals were, however,gearing up for the vaccination,even ifwith limiteddoses.ApolloHospitalsGroup,Fortis

Healthcare,andMaxHealthcaresaid theywould begin vaccina-tions for those between 18-44yearsinselectlocations,asthesefacilities havemanaged to pro-cure some doses of Covishieldand Covaxin, the two vaccinesthatarecurrentlyavailable.Thehospital chainswill

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BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

(Clockwisefromtop left)JusticesDYChandrachud,LNageswaraRao,andSRavindraBhat

Whytwo rates for vaccine...useyourpowers torampup, don’t clampdownoncomplaints: SC

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

MIGRANTS’SECONDLEAVINGBY MUKTANAIKPAGE10

No beds in Lok Nayak,a death outside: ‘Don’tknow where else to go’

TRIBUTESPOUR INFORTHE LEGENDPAGE9

INSIDE

AMERICANSUPPLIESLAND, JAISHANKARSPEAKS TOBLINKENANDWANGYI PAGE 8

DRANTHONYSFAUCION INDIA’SCOVIDCRISIS

KARISHMAMEHROTRAPATNA,APRIL30

NONATION likes to lock itselfdownbutan“immediate” shut-down for a “fewweeks” couldput an end to the cycle of trans-mission in India, Dr Anthony SFauci,oneofCovid’smosttrustedglobal voices, told The IndianExpress. Thatwillprovideawin-dow,hesaid, totakecritical“im-mediate, intermediate,andlongrange”stepsoutofthis“verydif-ficultanddesperate”situation.Fauci, chief medical advisor

totheBidenAdministrationandwhohasworkedwith sevenUSPresidents, spoke exclusively toTheIndianExpressonFridayfromtheNational Institute of HealthinBethesda,Maryland.

DrFauci, Iwouldliketofocus

thisinterviewonprescriptivesolutionswhenyoulookatthesituationinIndia. Ifyouwere,hypothetically,hiredbytheGovernment,whatwould(yousay)arethetopthingsthatneedtobedone?TheonethingIdon’twantto

doandIhope itdoesn’t turnoutthisway,istogetinvolvedin any sort of criticism ofhow India hashandled thesituation be-cause then itbecomes a po-litical issueandI don’twant to do that since I’ma public health person and I’mnotapoliticalperson.It justseemstomethat, right

now,Indiaisinaverydifficultanddesperate situation. I just gotoff,inpreparation for this interview,I watched a clip from CNN… it

seemstomeit’sadesperatesitu-ation. Sowhenyouhavea situa-tionlikethatyou’vegottolookattheabsoluteimmediate.I mean, first of all, I don’t

know if India has put together acrisisgroupthatwouldmeetandstart getting things organised. Iheardfromsomeofthepeoplein

the street bringing theirmothersandtheir fathers

andtheirsistersandtheirbroth-ers searchingfor oxygen.They seem tothink there re-

allywasnotanyorganisation,anycentralorganisation.The first thing todo is to first

look at what is the immediatething you can do right now.What is the intermediate thingthat you can do in twoweeks?Oneofthethingsthatyoucando

to prevent this prolonging —you’vegottolookatitinmultipledifferentphases.For example, vaccinating

peoplerightnow,whichyouab-solutelymust,mustdo—it’ses-sential—isnotgoingtoalleviatethe immediateproblemof peo-ple needing oxygen, needinghospitalisation,needingmedicalcare.That’snotgoingtofixitnowbecause vaccinating people to-day, it’s going tobea fewweeksbeforeyoualleviate thepreven-tionofotherpeoplegettingsick.So take care of the people

right now. I would think thatyou’ve got to get some sort of acommission, or an emergencygrouptomakeaplanhowtogetoxygen;howdowegetsupplies;howdowegetmedications,andcall — maybe with help fromWHO—countries.

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Setupcrisisgrouptopluggaps inemergencysupplies;mobilisemilitary tobuildhospitals; rush Indianvirussamples toUS,UK;sealvaccinecontractswithasmanycompaniesasyoucan, saysCovid’smost trustedglobalvoice

inanexclusive interviewtoThe IndianExpress

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEWWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

PeteMarovich/TheNewYorkTimes

‘Shut down the country for a fewweeks…hang in there, take care ofeach other, we’ll get to a normal’

Vaccinating people right now, which youabsolutely must, must do, is not going toalleviate the immediate problem of peopleneeding oxygen, needing hospitalisation,

needing medical care.

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

State has failed...recordourcompletehelplessnesswith the situation.We can onlysaythattheStatehasfailedinper-forming its fundamental obliga-tionof protecting themostbasicfundamentalright,thatisrighttolifecontainedunderArticle21oftheConstitutionof India."As Sharma broke the news,

the virtual courtroomwas en-gulfed in silence. Onlyminutesago,thecourthadheardSharma'srequestforhelpforhisbrother-in-law. “May I request allmysenioradvocateswhoarehere... if theycanhelpmebecause theoxygenlevel of my brother-in-law hasgonedownto68...,” Sharmatoldthecourt. “By tomorrowhemaynot be there in theworld. I haveverylimitedtime."Sharmahadbeen appearing

frequentlybeforethecourtforthepast fewdays, seeking its inter-vention for his brother-in-law,whoremainedintheemergencyroom of Maharaja AgrasenHospital, but could not be pro-videdanyICUbedsincetherewasnonevacant.“Ihavenootherop-tion than to beg everyone,”Sharma had told the court onThursday.OnFriday,thecourtrequested

thelawyers,includingAdditionalSolicitorGeneralChetanSharma,to make efforts in this regard.ChetanSharmatoldthecourtthata bed had become available onThursdayatSafdarjungHospital,butitwasnotpossibletoshiftthepatient there given his seriouscondition and, in themeantime,the bedwas provided to someotherseriouspatient.On the allocation ofmedical

oxygen to Delhi, the divisionbench earlier told SolicitorGeneralTusharMehta:“Everydaypeoplearedying.Wearequitefedupwith hearing everyday SOScalls from so many hospitals,nursinghomes. It is reallystrain-ingthewholecity."AfterMehta’srequestfortime,

thecourtsaiditwilldealwiththeissueofallocationonMonday.Whilehearingapetitionfiled

by the Bar Council of Delhi, thecourt earlier in thedayalso saidthatitisa“completefailureoftheState”thateverything,includingmedical oxygen and hospitalbeds, is in short supply. "It is awaranditwouldbewrongtocallit abattle," said thecourt on theongoingCovid-19situationinthecountry.Withoutreferringtoanyparticulargovernment,thedivi-sion bench observed that thecountry is witnessing a hugesurgeofCovid-19,whichhasim-pacted the entiremedical sys-tem. “Nobodycouldhave imag-ineditwouldattackusthisway,”saidthecourt.Onthecrisisof in-frastructure, the court said,“There is such a great dearth ofoxygen that hospitals that havebeds have stopped admissionsbecausetheyareunabletoserv-ice the patients. Doctors arebreakingdown,crying.”

Vaccine supplyprovideCovaxinatRs1,200-1,250perjab,andCovishieldataroundRs800-850a shot, including thecost of administering the dosesandGST.Beneficiarieswillhavetoregister andbook their appoint-ments on the government’s Co-WINplatform.Not every facilitywillbeprovidingbothvaccines.Elevendaysago,withoutcon-

sultingwith states andwith noclarity on stock volumes, theCentrehadmadeaunilateralan-nouncementonopeningvaccina-tions for the 18-44 years agegrouponMay1.Significantchangesinthevac-

cinepolicycomeintoeffectfromSaturday: in order to vaccinateanyone,includingthoseinthepri-ority group of age 45 years orolder, privatehospitalswill havetoprocuresuppliesdirectlyfromtheopenmarket.Apollo Hospitals, India's

largest hospital chain,willmakeboth Covishield and Covaxinavailable at someof its hospitals

at places such as Chennai,Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi,Mumbai,andKolkata.It is also looking atproviding

the shots through its clinics instateslikeRajasthan,accordingtoApolloHospitalsGroupExecutiveVice President ShobanaKamineni. Thehospitalwill pri-oritisethoseabove45yearsofagewhoare yet to receive their sec-onddose.“Whilewehadtoreturnthe stocks of what the govern-ment had given us at...a subsi-dized price (Rs 150 per dose),there are peoplewhohave hadtheirfirstshotandarewaitingforthesecond.Wecannotputthemat risk, which is why we havetaken adecision that, if they arewilling topayfor these, theywillbegivenpriorityfortheirsecondjab from our current stock,”KaminenitoldTheIndianExpress.Apollo initiated discussions

withSIIandBharatBiotech,whomakeCovishieldandCovaxin, inNovember,shesaid.FortisHealthcarewillbepro-

viding only Covaxin for thoseabove18yearsatitscentresacrossNorthIndiafromMay1.MaxHealthcare, which has

procuredCovishield,willbepro-viding the vaccine “from selecthospitalsinthenetwork”inDelhiNCR. The vaccineswill be avail-ableat its facilitiesatPanchsheelPark, Patparganj, ShalimarBagh,Rajinder Place (BLK-MaxHospital),Noida,andVaishali.Max Healthcare plans to

“soon”rolloutvaccinationdrivesinlocalcommunities,corporatesand Resident WelfareAssociations(RWAs),accordingtoits Chairman and ManagingDirector,DrAbhaySoi.Assuppliespickup, thethree

hospital groups plan to providethe jabs at their other facilitiesacrossthecountry.The announcements by the

large chains notwithstanding,manyprivatevaccinationcentresarenotexpectedtoreceivedosesof the vaccine from Saturday –manyhave,infact,receivedcom-munication frommanufacturersthat orderswill be delayed formonths.The Centre has,meanwhile,

underlinedthatonlythoseprivatesitesthatareabletoprocuredosesfrom the openmarket can con-tinue to vaccinate, and that thedoses currently available forpri-oritygroupsmustbereturnedtogovernmentcold-chainpoints.This could effectivelymean

thatalargenumberofbeneficiar-ies who have already receivedtheirfirstdose,willnotbeabletogettheseconddoseatprivatevac-cinationsitesduetodelaysinde-liveryofvaccines.“Wehave already discussed

withstatesandhaveguidedthemthatallthefreedosesgiventopri-vate vaccination centres shouldbe accounted; at the same time,taking these additional (doses)they (state government centres)should run thevaccination sites.Acleardirectionhasbeenissued,”Luv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary,Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare,saidonFriday.“Asper guidelines, thosepri-

vate centreswhichwill procure(fromthe50percentbasketintheopenmarket), can run thevacci-nation sites. According to myknowledge,subjecttoverification,asIamtold,thisiswhatitis;ifthefactsaredifferent,wewillgetbacktoyou,”Aggarwalsaid.Asked how many states

would be able to start vaccina-tions for the 18-44 group, theCentrecouldprovidenoclearre-sponseonFriday.“OnJanuary16,whenthevac-

cinationdrivewaslaunchedtherewerelimitedcentres;slowlytheyincreased. In the sameway, thisdrive toowill slowly stabilise incoordinationwithprivatesector,states, andvaccinemanufactur-ers... The states are coordinatingwith themanufacturers and insome states, it (phase 3)will belaunched. Anynewprocesswilltake time to stabilise andgrow,”Aggarwalsaid.

Aggarwal insisted that theCentrewas “providing requiredsupport”forphase3.“...Alreadystatesgovernments

are coordinatingwith vaccinemanufacturers. Government ofIndia is also providing themtherequired support. Yesterday,wehad adetailed video conferencewith all states... According to theguidance tool given to the statesandthewaywearehandholdingthestates,wethinkthat...thisvac-cinationdrivewillstartaccordingtohowwehavedesigned it,” hesaid.Meanwhile, PrimeMinisterNarendraModimethisCouncilofMinistersonFridaytodiscussthesituationarisingoutofthesecondwave. “TheCouncil ofMinistersmeeting noted that the presentpandemiccrisisisa‘onceinacen-tury crisis’ andhas thrownabigchallengefortheworld,”thePMOsaidinastatement.“PMNarendraModisaidthat

all arms of theGovernment areworkingunitedly&rapidlytodealwiththesituation.HealsourgedtheMinisterstostayintouchwithpeopleoftheirrespectiveregions,helpthemandkeepgettingtheirfeedback. He stressed upon theneed to ensure that issues at thelocallevelarepromptlyidentifiedand addressed,” the PMOstate-mentsaid.

Soli SorabjeePalkhivala and he were leftstunnedbytheextraordinarysus-pensionoffundamentalrightsin-cluding the right to life by theSupreme Court during theEmergency in a 4-1order in thehabeas corpusmatter. Sorabjeefirmlybelievedjudgesafterretire-mentshouldkeepawayfrompo-liticalpositionsintheRajyaSabhaandelsewhere.Sorabjee lent his services for

free to Sikhs in Delhi after the1984 riots. Another importantcaseherepresentedwasthemile-stone St Xavier's College,Ahmedabad petition against

Gujarat state,whichupheld therightsofminoritybodiestosetupandruntheirowneducationalin-stitutions.TheManekaGandhipassport

case of 1979where the courtsheldthataperson’sfundamentalrightentailsthatheorshecannotbedeniedapassportwithoutas-cribingareasonwasarguedwhenSorabjeewasAdditionalSolicitorGeneral. In 1989, he fought thedismissalofthenChiefMinisterSR Bommai by KarnatakaGovernor Buta Singh under or-ders from a hostile CentralGovernment. This judgmenthascometobethelitmustest foras-sessing the constitutionality ofArticle356. Thanks to this singleorder,themisuseofthisarticletodismiss inconvenient state gov-ernmentshasdrasticallyreduced.Sorabjee served as Attorney

Generalbetween1998and2004.HewasSpecialRepresentativetotheUnitedNationsHumanRightsCommission,andhasservedasamemberofthePermanentCourtof Arbitration at theHague. Hewas a life trustee of the IndiaInternationalCentre.Sorabjeewasborninanafflu-

ent business family, but hewasneverdrawntoacommercialca-reer. His interestsweremore inEnglishliteratureandpoetry,andhecouldreeloff theversesof thegreat Englishpoets, often spout-ing aquote to buttress his argu-ment.Hehadahilarioussenseofhumourandwasagreatmimic.Another interestingaspectof

hismulti-facetedpersonalitywashisdeepinterestinjazz,aloveforwhich, he recalled, hepickedupquitebyaccident.Hebeganlifeasa classicalmusic enthusiast, butby mistake the salesman atBombay’s iconic RhythmHousedispatched to him a record ofBennyGoodman instead of theBrahmsHungarian Rhapsodiesthathehadordered.Hefoundtheunfamiliar notes intriguing, andslowlydevelopedanabidingpas-

sionfor jazz.Hewaspresidentofthe Delhi Jazz Association formanyyears. And at his birthdaydinners,youmetaveryvariedsetof people frommany differentwalksof life.Sorabjee leaves behind his

wife Zena, a dedicatedBahai so-cial worker, his daughter ZiaMody, head of the leading legalfirmAZB,his sonHormazd,whoedits a popular automagazine,andanothersonJehangir,whoisa leadingdoctor. Sorabjeewas arecipient of the PadmaVibhushan. As a senior counsel,Sorabjee generouslymentoredandpromotedmanyofhisjuniorswhorose in later life tokeyposi-tions.HarishSalvestartedoutasajuniorinhischamber.

Lok Nayakthattheirfatherisdead?"Qasim'sbodywastakenback

tohishomeinRohini.Outside the hospital's gates,

Balram (40), his brother-in-lawVijayandtheir friendswaitedforanhour but couldn't get admis-sionforhiselderbrotherKanhaiya(48)."We receivedhis report yes-

terdayandfoundhehasCovid.Hehas difficulty in breathing...WewenttoaprivatehospitalinBurarion Thursday night and Fridaymorningbuttheydidn't letusin.We thoughtwewouldget abedhere.Wehavebeenwaiting butnothing seems tobehappening.Doctors aren't talking to us...guardstoldustoleave.Mybrothercan'twalknow,"hesaid.ThefamilywenttoHinduRao

Hospital and Gurunanak EyeCentrebutcouldn'tgetanoxygencylinder.Evenfamilieswhoman-agedtogetadmissionwonderedhow the overwhelmedhospitalwould be able to care for theirloved ones. Rajesh (32) brokedownafter a video callwith hismother Kaushalya. Thehospitalhad allowedhimaminute-long

callwithhismother,whoisintheICU."Ithasbeentwodaysandsheisnotabletospeak. IamworriedImightloseher,butIamhelpless.Her oxygen saturation level hasdropped to 70. I don't knowwhat's goingon inside,whethershe'sokay,"hesaid.Kaushalyawas admitted to

LokNayak onApril 23 after shedevelopedafever.Herfamilyhassince tried tomoveher to a pri-vatehospitalbutcouldn'tarrangeabed.Amedical officer from Lok

Nayaksaid, "Wehave1,500bedsand are admitting hundreds ofpatientseveryday.Forthosewhocan'tbeadmitted,wearesendingthem to nearby hospitals. Wehavenobedsnow.Ourstaffersarestillhelpingfamilieswithoxygencylinders and ambulance serv-ices."Thehospital'smedical direc-

tor, Suresh Kumar, did not re-spondtocallsandmessagesseek-ing comment. According to thehospital, 104patientswere dis-charged and170 admitted as ofThursdaynightitself.As familiesshuttledbetween

hospitals, they complained thatthe ambulance farewas too ex-pensive. Some of themused e-rickshawsandautos to ferrypa-tients. Balramsaid hehas spentmore thanRs 10,000 on an am-bulance to get his brother fromBurari toDelhiGate. Rubina andher familyspentRs7,000to takeherhusband'sbody to theburialground.Jitesh, an autodriver outside

thehospital, said, "These ambu-lancedrivers are lootingpeople.The families nowcome to us toferrypatients.Iknowit'sscarybutIhavealreadyseenseveraldeathsoutsidethehospital.Iwanttohelppeople…can't leavethemtodie.I came from Rohini last nightaround9pm.Sincethen,Ihelpedover 30 patients go either backhome or to another hospital.Peoplearehelpless."

FROMPAGEONE

Don’t clamp down on complaints: SCand advised High Courts toavoid “off-the-cuff remarks”during Covid hearings as they“can give rise to misgivingsaboutanyindividual”.The bench of Justices D Y

Chandrachud,LNageswaraRaoandSRavindraBhat suggestedseveralmeasuresfortheCentreto consider: increase vaccinemanufacturingfacilities,imple-ment compulsory licensing tomanufacturegenericdrugs,putinplaceadisplaymechanismforreal-time updates on oxygensupply; and, devise a uniformpolicyforhospitaladmission.Thecourtwashearingasuo

motumatter regardingman-agement of Covid. Its remarkscome at a timewhere severalHighCourts,CalcuttatoMadrastoKarnataka,havepulleduptheCentre and state governmentsoverCovidmismanagement --andafterbothvaccinemanufac-turers, Serum Institute of India(Covishield)andBharatBiotech(Covaxin),announcedseparatepricesfortheCentreandstates.“Vaccine pricing is ex-

tremely important.Don't leaveit to themanufacturers. Howwilltheydetermineequity?”thebench asked Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta. It asked theGovernment to “invoke” its“powers to see that additionalfacilitiesarecreatedforvaccinemanufacturing”.“The manufacturers are

chargingyouRs150butRs300orRs400tostates.Whyshouldweasanationpaythis,thepricedifferencebecomesRs30,000-40,000crore...Nopointforpricedifference.Wearenotdirectingit but you should look intoit...AstraZeneca (Covishield) isprovidingvaccines at far lowerprice to the US citizens. Thenwhy shouldwe be paying so

much?”JusticeBhatasked.PointingoutthattheCentre

hadsaidthat50percentofpro-curementwillbedonebystates,thebenchasked:“Willonestatethengetpriorityaccessoveran-other in getting the vaccines...howwill thevaccinemanufac-turersensureequity?”The bench further asked:

“Why is the CentralGovernmentnotbuying100percent of doses since it is bestplacedtodetermineequityanddisburse...why not follow thepatternof national immunisa-tionpolicywherethecentreac-quiresandgivesthevaccinestostates?”Stressing theneed foraddi-

tional infrastructure formanu-facturing, JusticeChandrachudsaid: “We are conscious thathealthinfrastructureisinheritedin thepast 70 to100years andthis isnotacritiqueofwhatwesaid.We are too seasoned tostart value judgments.”Referringtooxygensupplies,thebenchsuggested:“Cantherebea display mechanism put inplaceforrealtimeupdateofthisinformationtopeople?”Onkeydrugs for Covid pa-

tients, the bench referred toBangladesh manufacturingRemdesevir and some Indianstates importingit,andaskedifIndia planned to replicate andenablemanufactureof genericdrugswithout fearing legal ac-tion. Compulsory licenses canbegrantedwithasunsetclause,whichshowsthatsuchlicenseswillbeoveroncethepandemicis over, said JusticeChandrachud, adding that theDoha Declaration on TRIPS(Trade-Related Aspects ofIntellectual Property Rights)shows thatmember states cantake such steps toprotect pub-

lichealth.The court also sought to

knowwhyitshouldnotissuedi-rections under the Patents Actto enable genericmanufactur-ers to make drugs likeRemdesivirwithoutfearoflegalaction. “This is a public healthemergency. S-G, your affidavitsays you have 10 PSUswhichcanmanufacture.Youcangetli-censes throughpatent controlandgetitmanufactured,”JusticeBhatsaid.At the endof thehearing, a

counseltoldthebenchthathos-pitals inNoida andGurugramwerenotenablingadmissionsifpatientsdon'thavelocaladdressproof. Justice Chandrachudreplied: “That iswhywewantthe Centre to frame auniformpolicy onhospital admission.”To another lawyerwho raisedthe issueofmigrant labourers,hesaid:“OneofthereasonswhywehaveaskedtheGovernmentto rework theprice of the vac-cines is because themostmar-ginalisedof sectionsshouldgetit.” In the backdrop of reportsthat various states had issuedwarningsagainstpostingCovid-related pleas on socialmedia,the court said: “We want tomakeitveryclearthatifcitizenscommunicate their grievanceon socialmedia and internetthenitcannotbesaidit'swronginformation.Wedon'twantanyclampdownofinformation.Wewilltreatitascontemptofcourtif such grievances are consid-eredforaction.Letastrongmes-sagegotoallthestatesandDGPsof states. Clampdownof infor-mationiscontrarytobasicpre-cepts”.On theoxygenshortageinDelhiandotherstates,JusticeChandrachud said: “Delhi rep-resents thenation and there ishardlyanyethnicallyDelhite...As

anational authoritywhichhasa responsibility to thenationalcapital, you are answerable tothe citizens. Youhave a specialresponsibilityastheCentre.”Even asMehta assured the

court that the needfulwill bedone,thecourtadvisedtheAAPgovernmentto“coordinatewiththe Centre”. JusticeChandrachudtoldtheDelhigov-ernment's counsel RahulMehra: “Therehas tobeanap-proach of cooperation...Wedonotwantlivestoimpingeonpo-litical bickering...Politics is attimeof elections and it cannotbe allowed to permeate thiswhole process...There are somanythingsstatesmanshipcando.” As Mehta and SeniorAdvocateRanitKumarreferredto some “demoralising” obser-vations byHighCourts, JusticeChandrachud said: “...off-the-cuffremarkscangiverisetomis-givings about any individual...we, as judges, also exercise re-straint.Somaybeoff-the-cuffre-marksbyajudicialofficercanbeavoided.”The court fixed the next

hearing onMay 10 and said itwill pass interimdirections --the orderwill be out Saturdaymorning.Theday-longhearingalsosawsomelightermoments,including when JusticeChandrachudgot loggedout atone point due to technical is-sues,andacourtofficialalertedothers by saying: “It seemsJusticeChandrachudhas fallenoff.” As Justice Chandrachudcame back online, the S-G re-marked that “whoever said itused awrong term...fallenoff”.Justice Chandrachud re-sponded: “Arrey,woh tohpara-matma ke haathmein hai (Oh,that is in the hands of theAlmighty).”

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,APRIL30

FORMERMUMBAI police com-missionerParamBirSinghhasal-leged a “malicious attempt” and“conspiracytothwarttheprelim-inaryenquiryofCBIandattemptto tamper witness” byMaharashtraDirectorGeneral ofPolice(DGP)SanjayPandey,Hemade this allegation in a

lettertotheCBIonApril19.Pandeyhasbeentaskedbythe

Maharashtragovernmenttocon-duct two inquiries against Singhrelatedtocorruption.SinghisalsofacinganFIRagainsthimbyThanepolice. Inhis letter, Singhalso at-tached transcripts of conversa-tionsthathehadwithPandeyviaWhatsApp calls and recordedwithoutPandey'sknowledge.TheCBI is conducting the in-

vestigationintotheFIRregisteredagainst former Maharashtrahomeminister Anil Deshmukh,basedonSingh'sletter.Singh had alleged that

Deshmukh, alongwith others,had asked policemen to collectmoneyandevensetmonthlytar-getsforthem.In the letter addressed to the

CBI,Singhsaid,onApril15,hehadgonetomeetPandeyasa“callon”procedure after the latter was

given additional charge of thestateDGP.Singh alleged that it was

Pandey,whobrought thematteroftheCBIprobeandclaimedthatPandey toldhimto"not fight thesystem".SinghallegedthatPandeyhad

offered tomediatebetweenhimandthestategovernmentsothatthetwosidescouldreachanam-icableresult.Singh further alleged that

Pandeyhadtoldhimthat"Imustwithdraw the letter (based onwhich the CBI inquiry was or-deredagainstDeshmukh)".SinghalsoallegedthatPandey

hadtoldhimtoclaimhewrotetheletter due to "grave and suddenprovocationresultingoutofstate-ments releasedby formerHomeMinister Shri Anil Deshmukh"againsthim.Singhsaidapartfromthis physicalmeeting, he spokewith Pandey on three occasionsandrecordedthetelephonecon-versationonWhatsApp.Singhsaid,"Theenclosedtran-

script of the recorded conversa-tions clearly showsmalicious at-tempt and conspiracy to thwartpreliminaryinquiryofCBIandat-tempttotamperwitnesses."Pandeydidnotrespondtore-

peated calls andmessages seek-inghisresponsetotheallegationsmadebySingh.

Param Bir writes toCBI against DGP

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, APRIL30

ONLY SEVEN out ofMaharashtra’s 36 districts willhave enough isolation beds byMay 11 for a projected rise inCovid-19cases,thestategovern-ment has red-flagged based onits calculations. According totheseprojections,Nagpur,Pune,Nashik, Chandrapur, Yavatmaland Chandrapur will be theworst-hitdistricts.The government has made

theseprojectionstakingintoac-countthecurrentgrowthrateofcasestounderstandwhatthein-frastructuredemandswouldbefor a “worst case scenario”. Theprojections were shared in theCabinetmeetingonWednesday.Nagpur, set to be the worst

hit, is heading towards a short-fallofover43,000isolationbedsif it touches the projected 1.13lakhactive casesbyMay11. Thedistrict will fall short by 8,679oxygenbeds,1,247ICUsand455ventilators.Nashikwill also fall short of

bedsif itsactivecaseloadcrossesthe expected 95,000-mark.Therewill be a dearth of 38,615beds, including 6,253 oxygenbeds,1,535 ICUsand29ventila-tors.InPune,1.2lakhactivecasesarepredictedbyMay11andthedistrict will fall short by 26,345isolationbedsand4,097oxygenbeds. Thane is expected tohaveashortfallof14,430bedsif itsac-tivecaseloadreaches79,095.Districtshavebeengiventhe

estimates and directed to scaleup beds. In Akola division,deputy director in charge DrRajkumar Chavan said they aregoing to start a 200-bed jumbocentre and 50-bed dedicatedCovidhealthcentre.“Wewillget250 more oxygen beds. Thiswon't gowaste, as a thirdwaveisalsoexpected,”headded.OnlyMumbai,Jalgaon,Dhule

and Amravati are set to face noshortage in thenumberof beds,ICU or ventilator, the surveyshowed. All these districts arecurrently showing a decline innew cases. Mumbai, however,planstosetupmorejumbocen-

tresinMaladandDadarandalsoscale up its intensive care treat-menttoprepareforathirdwave.In ruraldistricts, thegovern-

mentplansto linkpatientswithdoctors in urban areas tomoni-tor those needing ICU and ven-tilator treatment. Officials saidthathighdefinitioncameraswillbe installed tomonitor ICU pa-tients and allow specialists sit-ting inothercities todirecthowthepersonshouldbe treated.In Chandrapur, over 40,000

active cases are expected, lead-ing toashortfall of 16,995 isola-tion beds, 3,989 oxygen beds,954 ICUs and 249 ventilators.Yavatmalwillfallshortby13,683isolationbeds if projectedcasescross39,000.Thedistrictwillre-quire 3,000more oxygen bedsand760additional ICUbeds.Mumbai,where the spike in

cases started in February, hasshown signs of having passedthesecondpeak.Itisexpectedtohave64,500activecasesbyMay11,andwillstillhaveover26,000bedsvacant.Thecity'spositivityratehasbeenonaconsistentde-cline thismonth. From 27.9 percentonApril 4, it camedownto19.1percentbyApril14and9.01per cent on April 29. The city’spositivity rate is much lowerthan state average.Until aweekago, Mumbai was strugglingwith dearth of ventilators andICUs.Now,withrapiddecline innew cases this week, it had 35ICUandsixventilatorsvacant inhospitalsonFridaymorning.Amravatiisseeingadeclinein

newcasesalthoughitsdeathrateremainshigh.Otherdistrictsthatwill have enough isolation bedsbyMay11areDhule,Nandurbar,Solapur,JalgaonandAhmednagar.At least 13 districts will fall

short of enough ventilators, 18will witness dearth of ICUs and25 districts will fall short ofoxygen beds, the projectionsstated. “We are trying to speedup vaccination to increase im-munity in the population. Butwhenthenextphaseofimmuni-sationwillbegunisstillnotclear.Itdependsonhowfastwecangetmorevaccines,”saidDrArchanaPatil, Director (FamilyWelfare),DirectorateofHealthServices.

Maharashtra: Only 7districts will haveenough isolation beds

New Delhi

JIGNASASINHANEWDELHI, APRIL30

SARATHPREM(34)andhiswifeSimi, nursing officers at Delhi’sRamManohar Lohia Hospitaland AIIMS, were infectedwithCovid earlier this month. Twoweeks later,ontestingnegative,they found themselves back atwork.Thecoupleareamongsev-eral nursing staff recently in-fectedwith the virus—and stillrecovering —who have had tocut short their leave and comeback to lookafterpatients.With hospitals dealingwith

asurgeinadmissionsduringthesecondwave, staffers said theyare struggling asmany doctorsandnursesarealsoinfectedandcan’tperformtheirduties.Sarath, whoworks in RML’s

surgicalward,said:“MywifeandIdevelopedseveresymptoms—fever,cough,andbreathlessness—andtestedpositiveonApril5.We took leave fromwork andwere under home quarantine.We stayed in different rooms,butourchildrenandmymotheralso got infected.We are luckynoneofushadtobehospitalised.MywifeandItestednegativeaf-tertwoweeksandrejoinedworkonApril 20.”Heworks eight hourswhile

on duty during the day, and 12hoursduring thenight shift.“ItshowsIhaverecoveredon

paperbutIdon’t feelwell. IhavebodyacheandIfeelweakall thetime, but how can I say no?There are nine nurses in ourward. At present, five of themhaveCovid.Wehavetoworkandtreatpatients. It is ourduty, andthehospitalisalsogoingthroughacrisis.Therearenobedsandwehave difficulty sourcing oxygencylindersfromvendorsandsup-pliers.Ourwardisfilledwithpa-tientswhoneedsurgery.Thoughweareonlyperformingsurgeryinemergencycases, therearesomanypatientsnow.Wecan’t sitat home and can’t take leave,”saidSarath,whohasbeenwork-

ingatthehospitalfornineyears.Simi (34) too said she is

dealing with uneasiness andjoint pain. She works at themedicinewardatAIIMS,whichis soon to be converted into aCovid ward, and treats 20-30patientseveryday.Shesaidshecan’t extend her leave as morestaffers will be needed to lookafter theCovidward.Thecouplehadreceivedtheir

secondvaccinedoselastmonth.Athome,theysaidtheycan’tiso-latebecausetheirchildren,agedthree and one, are young andneedcare.A senior officer from RML

said, “We have over 800 activenursesatthehospital.Outof thetotal, around 200 have testedpositiveforCovidinthelast twomonths. Some of them are stillundergoing treatment while

others join after a 14- to 17-dayleave.There’sashortageofstaff;wehave toadjust.”At LokNayakHospital,Delhi

government’slargestCovid-onlyfacility,nursessaidtheinfectionrateamongstaffersishigh.Inthepastweek, fourhospital staffershave died of the virus. A seniordoctor from LokNayak told TheIndian Express that there aremore than 250 active casesamongthenursingstaff.Kiran Anand, a 49-year-old

nursing officer and a singlemother, who tested positive forCovid on April 10, said: “I had afever on April 8 so I took leaveandgottested.MydaughterwaslookingaftermebutonApril18,my oxygen saturation leveldroppedbelow80. Iwasrushedto Lok Nayakwheremy condi-tion deteriorated after I devel-

opedallergiesduringtreatment.IwasshiftedtotheICUandgivenRemdesivir.Therewasanemer-gency case and due to shortageofbeds,soIwastakentoanotherward twodays later.”At the newward, Kiran said

herbloodsugar level spikeddueto steroids. OnApril 25, shewasdischarged but she again devel-opedafeveronTuesday.“It’sbeenvery difficult forme. Now, I amgetting treated at Ganga Ramhospitalthroughvideoconsulta-tion.IgottestedfortyphoidandIamwaitingforresults,”saidKiran.Her son and daughter also

tested positive for Covid andhave recovered. The nurse andherchildrenliveattheLokNayakservicequarters.Kiranhasbeenworking at the hospital since1994. She said she hasn't takentheCovidvaccineyet.

THECITY 5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

HEALTHCARESTAFFSTRUGGLEASMANYDOWNWITHVIRUS

HealthcareworkersatShehnaibanquethall, attachedtoLokNayakHospital. PraveenKhanna

Barely on their feet, nursesgetback toworkafter battlingCovid

Water supply to be hit in parts of capitalEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, APRIL30

WATERSUPPLYinpartsofDelhiwill be affected Saturday on-wardsdue toa reduction inwa-terlevelintheYamuna,theDelhiJalBoard (DJB) said.In a statementonFriday, the

DJBclaimedHaryanawasnotre-leasing the required amount ofrawwater in the river, which iscausingashortageinthecapital.

As a result, the Board said,waterproductionatthreeplantshas been curtailed to a certainlevel. Areas likely to be affectedincludeplacesaroundCivilLines,KamlaNagar,ShaktiNagar,KarolBagh,Paharganj,RajinderNagar,PatelNagar, Kalkaji, Govindpuri,Tughlakabad, Sangam Vihar,GreaterKailash,SouthExtension,Delhi Gate, Burari and areaswithintheNewDelhiMunicipalCouncil.“...Watersupplyshallbeaffected onMay 1 in themorn-

ingandeveningandsoontillthepondlevel improvestonormal,”theDJBstatementsaid.OfficialsintheDJBandalsoin

Haryana government have saidthat due to less snowmelt andinadequaterainfalloverthepastyear, water level in the Yamunahas remained low.Haryana officials have also

claimedthat theyare supplyingtherequiredamountofwatertoDelhi, even as they face a short-agewithin thestate.

Rain expected thisweekDelhi is set to experience

light rain on Sunday andmuchof next week, bringing downsoaring temperatures, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD)haspredicted.ShowersonSundaywould be accompaniedby strong winds of around 40kmph, the IMDforecast states.Delhireceived3mmofrainfall

thisApril against thenormal av-erageof 13mmfor themonth,aspertheIMD’sclimatologicaldata.

New Delhi

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, APRIL30

DELHI CHIEF Minister ArvindKejriwalFridayappealedtopeo-ple to not line up outside vacci-nationcentresonSaturday,May1, the day vaccination for alladultswassupposed tostart.“Vaccineshavenotbeende-

liveredtousyet.Weareinregu-lar touchwithcompaniesmak-ing thevaccine.Wearehopefulthat they will reach by tomor-row or day after. This is whatthey have told us. 3 lakh dosesofCovishieldvaccinewillbede-livered first. Please do not lineup outside vaccination centrestomorrow. It can result in a lawandordersituation. Itcouldalsolead to a situationwhere thereisnosocialdistancing.Pleasedonotdo this,” theCMsaid.

Sofar,Delhihasgiventhefirstdose of the vaccine to over 31lakhpeople.Ofthese,over6lakhpeoplehavegotbothdoses,datasharedby thegovernment says.

Delhi’s estimated population isclose to2crore.As per the Centre’s guide-

lines, inthefirstphase,vaccineswere available only to health-

care workers and frontlineworkers. In the second phase,those above the age of 60 andbetween the ages of 45 and 59with co-morbid conditions

were eligible to take the shot.Thethirdphaseof themass im-munisation drive kicked off onApril 1 with Centre allowingstates to vaccinate all peopleabovetheageof45yearsofage.While registration for vacci-

nation for the 18-44 age groupopenedWednesday,slotsarenotbeingbookedpresently.Kejriwal said that as soon as

the vaccine is available, peoplewillbeinformed.“Assoonasthevaccine comes, we will an-nounce it properly. After that,everyone who has registeredand those who get appoint-mentswillbevaccinated. Ineedyour help. Both companies —producing Covishield andCovaxin—havebeen requestedtoprovide67lakhvaccinedoseseach within the next threemonths. Delhi governmentwillpayforthem.PeopleinDelhi

will be vaccinated for free.Companies have been asked togive their supply schedule. Ourtargetistovaccinateeveryoneinthenextthreemonths.Wehaveprepared all infrastructure forthispurpose. Itnowdependsonthese companies to deliver thevaccine to us. If they are able togiveussufficientvaccines inthestipulated time, wewill vacci-nateeveryone,"hesaid.The Chief Minister also took

hissecondshotof thevaccineonThursday.Hesaidvaccinesweresafe and thosewhowere vacci-natedwere not seeing very se-vere infection inmost cases. “Itis not that you will not get in-fectedaftergettingthevaccine,but if youget thedisease, itwillnot be as severe. Vaccinatingeveryone in three months is amammoth task, I require yourhelp and cooperation,” he said.

ANANDMOHANJNEWDELHI, APRIL30

THEMOBILEphonerings inces-santly. This time it is a family ofsix,allCovidpositiveandlockedinwith thebodyof their grand-father for six hours. Answeringthe call is Jitender SinghShunty(59). The former BJPMLA fromShahdara makes a promise hehasbeen repeating todozensofEastDelhiresidentseveryday:“Iam coming there.Wewill cre-mate the body. He will not bealone.Please rest andrecover.”

Thiswas his 30th phone callonFridayafternoon.Shuntygetsan average of 500 phone callsaskingforarangeofservices.Butmostly,hehasbeenhelpingpeo-ple in East Delhi cremate thedead. His son and wife havetestedpositive,sohavefourofhisstaff. And his driver Arif Khan(55) lost his life to Covid. Yet,Shunty labours on: “The deathsinEastDelhihaveincreasedthreefold.Weburnbodies till11pm.”Hesleepsinhiscaratapark-

ing lot in JhilmilColonywhereafleet of 18 ambulances andhearse vans are parked. He has

setupanofficeatSeemapuricre-matoriumwherehecoordinateswith 22 volunteers fromhis or-ganisation, Shaheed BhagatSinghSewaDal,whichhelpscre-mate bodies of the unclaimedand,of late, of Covidvictims.Shunty said he has helped

cremateover800bodiesinApril.“Someof thepeoplefounddeadinside their homes are young...intheir30s.Theybelongtomid-dle-class families working asmanagers,financiers,shopkeep-ers... They died due to the oxy-gencrisis,”heclaimed.The Indian Express had on

Thursday reported that whiletheofficialtoll inthelast10days(April18toApril27)is3,049,thenumber of people laid to rest asper Covid protocol at the 23MCD-run crematoriums andcemeteries is6,958.On a daily basis, Shunty and

his team track those who diedinside their homes by scrollingthroughsocialmediaposts.Theythen call local beat staff whobreak open the doors, and theyenter thehomes.RajaHashmi(32), a linguistic

teacher at a private college inDilshadGarden,isamongthevol-

unteers.Hehelpssanitisetheun-claimedbodies,wrapthemindis-posablebagsandcremate them.“IamaMuslimandhelpinHinducremations.Indeath,allareequal.Thereisascarcityofstaff.Nofam-ily member of a Covid patientcomes to the funeral. So I amthereforthem,”Hashmisaid.Shuntyandhis staffwork15

hoursaday.Hewakesupat6amand attends to phone calls,chalking out the day’s itinerarywhilewalkingthroughthelanesinEastDelhi.Around25yearsago,Shunty

saw amanwhowas collecting

burntwood at Nigambodh cre-matoriumandthoughthewasathief. “Later, I found he did nothavemoneytobuywoodtocre-matehis son,” he said. This inci-dent, and his love for BhagatSingh,propelledShuntytomoveout of his business of sale andpurchaseofcarstohelptransportbodies fromhospitals to crema-toriums.In the last 10 days, he has

beenwitness tomany horrificscenes: “I have seen little girlscarrytheirfathers’bodies, fami-lies stuck at home with theirdeadrelatives forhours...”

6THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VACCINATIONFORALLADULTSWASTOSTARTONMAY1

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI, APRIL30

FORTHEpast threedays, lawyerAmitSharmawouldregularlyin-terrupt the hearing of cases re-lated to Covid situation in thecapital before the Delhi HighCourt.Attendingtheproceedingsfromhis car, hewould“beg”be-fore the court for an ICUbed forhis brother-in-law, Atul KumarSharma. On Friday, he told thecourtthatnomoreeffortsshouldbemade—Atulwasnomore.Atul (50) developed symp-

tomsofCovidonApril20—amildfever and cough. Unable to gettested,hestartedtakingmedica-tionontheadviceofadoctor.“Thefevervanishedaftertwodaysandhe felt everythingwas okay. Butthenhisoxygen leveldroppedto87. We somehow arranged acylinderandthenaconcentratorfromapersonweknew, but hiscondition continued to deterio-rate andoxygen level slipped to70,”AmittoldTheIndianExpress.With his oxygen levels con-

tinuing to dip, on April 26, thefamily arranged an ambulance—which had only one hour ofoxygenbackup—fromGurgaonand took him to MaharajaAgrasenHospital. He remainedin the emergency andwas pro-vided“semi-ventilator”supportthere but didn’t showany signsof improvement.With no ICU vacant at the

hospital or anywhereelse,Amitapproached the High Courtseeking its intervention. Thecourt on Thursday orally askedlawyerstoprovidewhateveras-sistance possible to him, buttheir effortswere invain.

Atul,whohadawatersupplybusinessinRohini, issurvivedbyhiswifeand17-year-olddaugh-ter. “When top lawyers of Delhican’t arrange an ICU bed, howcan one expect a commonmanto arrange one,” saidAmit,whoalsohas symptomsof Covid.Refrainingfrompassingdirec-

tionsincasesofindividualsseek-ing beds, the court on Thursdayhad said it cannot order priorityasthereis lackof infrastructure.“IamsimplysayingIneedan

ICU.IfwedonotprovidehimtheICU, that means we are tellinghimyoupleasegoanddie. Ican-not say this tomysister andherdaughter. What should I do? Ihave no other option but to begeveryone to please save the lifeof my brother-in-law...,” Amittold thecourtonThursday.“Thetotal systemof thegov-

ernmenthascollapsed.Youonlyhave data about beds. By thetime a person searches andchooses where to go, that bedgetsfilledup,”hetoldTheIndianExpress, hours afterAtul’s deathwhile the court proceedingswereunderwayonFriday.Thecourtdisposedofthepe-

titionseekinganICUbedforAtulas infructuousandsaid itwouldhear the state on the aspect ofcompensation later.

JitenderSinghShunty(inthePPEkit).AmitMehra

IN EAST DELHI

Ex-MLA and team have hard task: Cremating those who die of Covid at home

Total VacantHOSPITAL BEDS 21,156 1,301ICU BEDS 5,020 44

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsApr29 24,235 25,615 395 73,851Apr30 27,047 25,288 375 82,745Total 99,361* 10,33,825 16,147 1,71,51,785

CORONAVIRUSIN THECAPITAL *T

otalactivecases

TOTAL CASES

11,49,333VACCINATIONSIN LAST24HRS

74,250

AAP’s Matia Mahal MLAseeks President’s Rule

Nurse held for stealing Remdesivirfrom hospital, selling it illegally

Ensure personnel gethelp on time, specialbranch tells DCPs


TWOPERSONS, including a 25-year-old nurse at a private hos-pital, have been arrested fromDwarka for allegedly stealingRemdesivir injections from thehospital and selling them ille-gallyatahighprice.DCP(Dwarka)SantoshKumar

Meena said, “Wehave arrestedPriyanka (25), who has beenworking as staff nurse inMataRoop Rani Maggo Hospital in

UttamNagar for the last threeyears, andher associateNaveenGulia (31),whoused towork atthesamehospitalasatechnician.”Meena said their special

team received information onApril 28 that one person wasselling Remdesivir injections inNajafgarh area. “Our team veri-fied the details and came toknowaboutPriyanka.Atrapwaslaid after sending decoy cus-tomers and the duo were ar-rested.SixRemdesivirinjectionswererecoveredfromtheposses-sion of Priyanka and two from

Naveen,”headded.Duringquestioning,Priyanka

said shewas stealing injectionsfrom the hospital to earn quickmoney.“SheropedinNaveenandaskedhimtoselltheinjectionsinthemarket. They initially sold itforRs22,000andwerecurrentlyselling it for Rs 35,000whenwearrestedthem,”anofficersaid.In a recent meeting, all 15

DCPs and units of the crimebranchwere directed by seniorofficersfromPHQtotakeappro-priate legal action against blackmarketingof drugs.

100-bedCovidfacilityunderNorthMCD toopentodayNew Delhi: Inspectingpreparations for a 100-bedCovidfacilityatBalakRamHospital on Friday,North MCD Mayor JaiPrakash said it shouldopen to the public bySaturday evening. CalledtheDeendayalCovidCareCentre, the facility willalso have oxygen supplyfor Covid patients.Prakash said that NorthMCD has prepared thethird Covid-dedicatedhospital within just 15days,theothertwobeingat Hindu Rao Hospitalwith over 150 oxygenbeds and at the RajanBabu institute. “Oxygensupplywill definitely beavailable; every bedshall have one cylinder,”Prakash told The IndianExpress.

Doctoramong5arrestedforforgingCovidtestreportsNew Delhi: Five people,includingadoctor, fromadiagnostic lab were ar-rested for allegedly forg-ing Covid test reports.Police said the accusedapproachedfamilies,col-lectedtheirsamplesfromtheirhome, andgaveoutrandomtestresultsusingGenestrings DiagnosticLab’s name. The accusedhave allegedly cheatedmorethan50peoplewhogavetheirsamplesfortheCovid testwithout regis-tering them at the lab.ChetanKohli,COOof thelab said, “We’re in fullcompliancewith the in-vestigating authoritiesand support anyand every action takenagainst them.”ENS

BRIEFLY

ASHNABUTANINEWDELHI, APRIL30

ATTHEPeeragarhiMohallaclinicon Friday morning, Dr AlkaChaudhary’s phone keepsbuzzingwithSOScallsandmes-sages even as she prescribesmedicines to the dozens wholineuptogetthemforCovidpa-tientsathome.She tells apatient’s family to

keepcalmandtakeprecautionswhile they scramble across thecity for a bed, but barely holdsback her own tears as she addsthat at this point, she won’t beable to arrange a bed for them,her own family members, orevenherself.Her 55-year-old cousin re-

cently succumbedtoCovid.Residents of the neighbour-

hoodfrequenttheclinicformed-icines, mostly relating to Covidsymptoms.Theyaskthroughthewindow, procure a prescriptionfromDrAlka,andarehandedthemedicines by the pharmacist,Manisha.Thedoctormakessuretotellthemtoavoidsteppingoutfor small issues such as minorcutsoraheadache.Two other clinics that The

IndianExpressvisitedinMadipurvillageinWestDelhiat12.30pmand 12.45 pm were shut onFriday. Sources said severalmo-halla clinics — the showcase ofthe AAP government’s health-care model — have been shut

eversincethelockdownwasan-nounced and since severalhealthcareworkers have testedpositive.At the Peeragarhi clinic,

Manisha meticulously madenotes of those who have cometo buy medicines and what isprescribed. Two pages of herregister fill upwithin 1.5 hourson Friday. She says that thesedays, people mostly ask formedicines relating to drycough, cold, fever, achesanddi-arrhoea. Many children havesymptoms like diarrhoea thesedays, she says.Everyday, theclinic receives

a list from district officials of

thosewho have tested positivefor Covid. Healthcare workersreachouttothosewhocomeun-derPeeragarhi,whichhasapop-ulation of around 9,000, andthenmakeroundsof thearea todistribute oximeters andmedi-cinessuchasazithromycin,zincand calcium tablets, rantac andparacetamol.Workers say they have

around 70 oximeters, of which60 are currently in use.When afamily recovers, they are col-lectedsotheycanbegiventoan-other inneed.The clinic does not receive

RT-PCR test kits but has a fewrapidantigen testkits.

A few days earlier, Anita, apatient in her 50s with abreathing problem, visited toget an RT-PCR test since herrapidantigenreportwasnega-tivebutheroxygen levelswerearound 80.DrAlkadirectedthefamilyto

afewhospitals,butcouldnotgetadmittedanywhere.Eventually,she passed away. Says Dr Alka:“The government keeps an-nouncing that there are hospi-tals, beds, oxygen... that the sit-uation is under control. But it iswewho are answerable to themasses.Wehave to show themtherealpicture.”The clinic, which is also ad-

ministeringCovidvaccines,hasreceived 320 vaccine dosesfromthedistrictofficeandtheirvaccinationdrivewill restartonSaturday.The usual clinic timings are

7amto1pm,butonce thevac-cination drive starts, it will befrom 9 am to 5 pm. However,the six staff members said thatthey are not compensated forthe extra hours, nor are theygiven any incentives.Anoxygencylinderhasbeen

attheclinicforyears.DrAlkasaidthat it has been in use recently,for short periods of time, sincethey are trying to preserve oxy-gen incaseof anemergency.

DrAlkaChaudharyat thePeeragarhimohallaclinic; (right)pharmacist,Manisha. Residentsof theneighbourhoodfrequenttheclinic formedicines,mostlyrelatingtoCovidsymptoms.AshnaButani

At mohalla clinic in Peeragarhi that catersto hundreds, complaints mostly of Covid

Atavaccinationcentre lastmonth.AmitMehra

NewDelhi:AAPMLAfromMatiaMahal, Shoaib Iqbal, has de-manded President’s Rule inDelhi in themidst of the city’sragingbattlewithCovid-19.Iqbal, who was with the

Congress till month before the2020 Assembly polls, said in avideomessage, “I ampained byDelhi’scondition.Iamverywor-ried, I can’t sleep. People arenotgetting oxygen andmedicines.My friend is suffering. He is inhospitalbutisnotgettingoxygenoraventilator.Ihavehisprescrip-tionforRemdesivirbutwheredoI get it from?... Today, I am

ashamed of being anMLA be-cause we are not being able tohelp. Thegovernment is not be-ingabletohelpeither. Iamasix-timeMLA, the seniormost. Butdespite this, no one is respond-ing, you can’t contact any nodalofficer. In this situation Iwouldlike to request the Delhi HighCourt to imposePresident’s ruleinDelhi otherwise therewill bedeadbodiesontheroad,”hesaid.Iqbal has represented theMatiaMahal in theDelhi Assembly invariouspointssince1993.AAP has not responded to

Iqbal’s comments so far.

Vaccineshavenotbeendelivered tousyet.Weare in

regular touchwithcompaniesmaking thevaccine.Weare hopefultheywill reachbytomorrowor day after...Pleasedonot line upoutside vaccinationcentres tomorrow. It canresult in a lawandordersituation...”—ARVINDKEJRIWAL,DELHI CM

Don’t rush to vaccination centres today,doses yet to reach us: CM issues appeal


WITHSOMEDelhiPoliceperson-nel working through the pan-demicfacingdifficultywithCovidtreatmentandhospitaladmissionfor themselves and their lovedones,theforce’s15DCPsandunitin-chargeshavebeen toldby thespecialbranchtoensureallpossi-blehelpisprovidedtopersonnel.Theinformationsharedbythe

special branch is based on feed-back gathered directly throughfield staff and via their posts onsocialmedia.“Someofthemhavefaceddifficultygettingadmissioninhospitals,arrangingdrugsandoxygencylindersforthemselves.Somemessagesarecirculatingonsocialmediaplatforms,includingWhatsApp groups, which havebeentakencognizanceof,”saidaseniorpoliceofficer.Inthelastthreeweeks,aspe-

cial CP rank officer, three JCPsandfivedistrictDCPshavetestedpositive for Covid. There are al-most2,700policepersonnel in-fectedatthemoment,andsofarover 40 police personnel havedied of the virus. “Over 100 po-lice personnel posted at theDelhi Police Headquarters havetestedpositive,” anofficer said.An officer said they received

inputs that subordinatestaff feelfield functionariesneed tomakeresources such as oxygen cylin-ders,drugsandbedsavailable tothemwhenrequired.This,partic-

ularlywhenpolicepersonnelarethemselves involved in helpingpeopleroundtheclock.“Theyarearrangingoxygenforhospitalsaf-ter coordinatingwithmanufac-tures, escorting oxygen tankers,creatinggreencorridors.Theyarealso helping perform last riteswhen relatives of the deceasedrefusetocome,”theofficersaid.The special branch has sug-

gestedthatstepsbetakentomo-tivate and boost themorale ofstaff and that they be providedpossible safety equipment suchas N-95masks, sanitisers andgloves. But most of all, theyshould be assisted if they needhelpwithtesting,admissionsandpost-admissions at the hospital,seniorofficershavebeentold.When contacted, Delhi

Police spokesperson ChinmoyBiswal said, “Delhi Police is ahighly welfare-oriented forceand takes care of its personnelin the best possible manner...Apart from helping to get hos-pitalbeds,oxygencylinders,wehave constructed two fullyfunctionalCovidcarecentres inShahdaraandRohini...Wehavedecided toopencare centres inview of the freshly rising inci-dentsofCovid infectionamongDelhiPolicepersonnel,whoarefrontline warriors in the battleagainst coronavirus.”“Wehave eight ambulances

keptintheProvisionandLogisticsoffice for staff whenever theyneedandalsoprovidedCovidpro-tectionkittoallofthem...,”hesaid.

AtulKumarSharma(50)

HC hearing plea toget him ICU bed,man dies in wait

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

THESECONDSURGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

7

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, APRIL30

AMOREseverestrainandpeoplenot finding hospital beds in anoverwhelmedhealthcaresystemhave been cited as possible rea-sonsbyAIIMS chief DrRandeepGuleriaforthesurgeofdeathsinthecurrentCovidwave.Speaking to The Indian

Expressatatimewhenthecoun-try has been recording morethan 3 lakh new infections fornine days straight, Dr Guleriasaid:“Weareworkingondiffer-entstrategies.First istotrytoin-creaseturnaroundtimeintermsof triaging. So, if you have a pa-tientwhostabilisesandtheoxy-gen requirement is not there,then send him to the areawithnon-oxygenbeds,butwithclosemonitoring. There is one areawherewe are able to give highflowoxygen, but if the patient’srequirement is less then he canbe shifted to a low-flowoxygenarea. Triaging is becoming im-portantbecausethatwasnotre-

quired in thepast as casesgrad-uallycameup.Therisewasslowin the firstwavebut it is verticalin the secondwave. It’s almostlike a rocket. This is why thehealthcare infrastructure isbadlyshaken;hadthisrisebeenat a slower rate,wewouldhavebeen able tomanage. Themainissue is the rapiditywithwhichthecaseshave increased,whichhascreated theshortage.”On the surge in deaths, he

said “There can be two or threereasons for the increase in thenumber of deaths. One is in ab-solute numbers. If the numberof deaths is more and the per-centage is less, thenweneed tohavemoredatatoseewhatisthepercentage of death. Second,there is some data which hasevenemergedfromtheUKlateron that possibly the UK strainwasassociatedwithhighermor-tality. Itmaybethat thestrain isalsocausingseveredisease, andit’salsopossible that it isassoci-ated with higher mortality.Thirdly,sincethenumberhasin-creased so quickly and the

healthcare system got strained,many patients are not able tofindabedandareavailingtreat-ment athome.By the time theycometothehospital, theyare inbad shape and that is also hav-inganeffectonmortality.”With experts claiming that

the current surge couldpeakbymid-May, DrGuleria said itwilldepend on how the countrybreaksthechainoftransmission.“Peoplehavedonealotofmath-ematical modelling predictingthat by early nextmonth or bythe endof nextmonth thepeakwouldhappen.So, Ithinksome-

where nextmonthwe can startseeing a decline in the numberofcases.Alotof thiswilldependon howwe go about trying tobreakthechainof transmission.Ifwehaveanaggressivecontain-mentstrategyandweareabletoprevent transmission to someextent,wewillbeabletoseethepeakearlieranddeclinehappen-ing quickly. If that is not done,thenwehavealargesusceptiblepopulation and therefore thepeakmaygetdelayed,”hesaid.Amid debate over the need

foranational lockdown,hesaidthatfocusingonaggressivecon-tainment strategy along withstrict localised lockdowns canhelp bringdown thenumber ofcases. “It’s a decisionwhich hastobetakenbypolicymakersbutdefinitely in areas where thepositivityrateishigh,wehavetohave a sort of a situationwhichis akin to lockdown. This is hu-mantohumanvirusspread,andwhatwearenoticing is thatde-spiteallmessagingandrequests,people are still not followingCovid-appropriate behaviour.

Thishastobedonemoreaggres-sively in terms of enforcing itrather than requesting,” DrGuleria said.Healsorequestedpeoplenot

to panic and rush to hospitals ifthesituationcanbemanagedathome:“Weknowthat85%ofthepeople will have only mild ill-ness.Rightnow,twothingshavehappened—oneis thepanicre-action, everyone is running tothe hospital even if the oxygensaturation is alright, worryingthatitmayfallandtheymaynotget a bed. Secondly, the feelingthat there could be shortage ofoxygen so there is hoarding ofoxygen cylinders, which is alsocreatingunnecessaryshortage...WeusedtohaveCovidcarecen-tre, hospitals and then tertiarycare hospitals. Now people aredirectly going to tertiary carehospitals fromtheirhome. Thatintermediary things have to belookedat,youmayjustneedlowflow oxygen and if we have ar-easwhichcanprovidethat,thenthestrainontertiarycarehospi-tals and ICUswill be less.”

AIIMSchief stressesonneedfor localised lockdowns,askspeoplenot torushtohospitals inpanic

Severe strain, stressedhealth systemmayexplain Covid death surge: Guleria

RandeepGuleria

JOHNSONTABENGALURU,APRIL30

AROUND5PMeveryday,relativesof seriously ill Covidpatientsatamakeshift45-bedICUatthegov-ernment-runKCGeneralHospitalinnorthBengaluruareallowedtogather around a CCTV screenplacedonalargeglasswindowtocatchaglimpseoftheirlovedonesinside.Atthesametime,acameraoutsidethewindowrelaysimagesof therelativesintotheICU.OnThursday,awaveofrecog-

nitionfromanelderlywomanin-sidebrought a trickle of tears onthe face of a youngmanwaitingatthewindow.“Wewereataprivatehospital

andwere paying Rs 60,000 perday.Wegot this ICUfacilityallot-ted three days ago. Here, unlikemost other hospitals,we are al-

lowedtoseeourpatientonadailybasis, and this is a relief for thefamily,” says Bala K,whose 32-year-oldbrother-in-lawisunder-goingtreatmentinside.Themodular facilitywas cre-

atedusing10cargocontainersandoperationalised in February thisyear—aheadofthesecondwave.Amidacrisiswhere ICUsand

ICUventilatorbedsareoutof thereachofeventopofficials, thisfa-cility has emerged as one of themost sought-after in thegovern-ment sectorwith asmany as 25ventilators providedunder PM-CARESinthefirstwave.“The ICU facility is almost full

with patients. There are a fewbeds available but we need tokeep themblocked for our ownpatients in other Covidwards intheeventof theirconditiondete-riorating,”saysadutydoctor.Other government hospitals

in Bengalurudidnot fully utilisethe largenumbers of ventilatorssuppliedtothemlastyearthroughPM-CARES after Covid cases be-gan falling in November 2020.ThisresultedinamassiveICUandICU ventilator bed crunch inBengalurufromthesecondweekofAprilonward,whenanaverageof over 15,000 cases and an all-timehighofover1,000deathsoc-curredinjusttwoweeks.Withnearly20,000casesbe-

ing recorded over the last threedays in Bengaluru, Karnataka isnow reviving efforts to createmoremodularICUfacilitiesacrossthecitytorampupthenumberofICUventilatorbeds inpublicsec-torhospitalsfrom117toover250.According to State Health

Minister Dr K Sudhakar, “about3,000-5,000modular ICU bedsare being planned” in the state:Bengaluru(2,000),Mysuru(200),

Gulbarga (200), Tumkur (200)andBidar(200).“In 15 days, at least 2,000

makeshiftICUbedswillbeready.Asmanyas800willhaveventila-tors.IntheVictoriaHospitalcam-pus, 250 ICUbedswill be set upandinanothernewbuilding,150-200ICUbedswillbearrangedand100ofthemwillhaveventilators,”hesaid.At K C General Hospital, the

modularICU,whichwascreatedunderapublic-privateinitiative,canbeshifted toanyother loca-tion tomeet any change in thedemandpattern.Eachcontainerisaroomwithnineof themhav-ing five ICUbedseach.Andyet,what really sets this

facility apart are the CCTV cam-eras in each container that allowremotemonitoring of patientsandinteractionwithrelatives.On Thursday evening, a

nursewentaroundannouncingthenumberoftheICUroomthatwillbeshownnextontheCCTVscreenandthenamesofpatientsso that family members gath-eredintheyardoutsidecantaketurns tohavea look.Almost everyone who ap-

proachesthewindowstakesapic-tureoravideoandsendsthemtofriendsandfamily.Whenthevis-itorsaredone, twodoctorscometothewaitingareatoprovideup-dates—some relatives are told totryandsourcekeymedicines.“Your patient is still on the

ventilator and that means thecondition is still serious.Wearehopinghewillpullthrough,”onefamilyistoldbyadoctor.Thereisbetter news for another family.“Thereisimprovement.Sheisableto breathe better now.WemaymoveheroutoftheICU,”saysthedoctor.

AttheKCGeneralHospitalinBengaluru. Express

PRABHARAGHAVAN&AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI, APRIL29

WITHadaytogoforthevaccinedoor tobeopened to thoseover18, crackshavebegun toappearin the government’s ongoingCovid-19 immunization pro-gramme covering the prioritygroups.Asharpuptickinvaccination

ratesduringthefirstthreeweeksof April -- the lastmonthbeforethecoverage is tobewidened--hasmeant that the cumulativedoseofnearly155milliondosesadministered so far is now justmarginally short of the esti-mated155-165milliondosesofCovid-19 vaccines received bythe Government from the twosuppliers, Serum Institute ofIndiaandBharatBiotech.InApril, Indiawitnessed the

highest demand for vaccines ina month with 90.50 milliondoses administered by 6.30 pmon Friday, more than themonthly production capacitiesof Covishield andCovaxin com-bined.India administered 50.60

million doses in March, 10.05millioninFebruaryand3.71mil-lion in January, according to theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare. After discounting forwastage,thereislittlebufferleft,forcing the daily administereddoses to slide below 2millionshotsadayoverthelastfewdaysfromanaverageofaround2.5-3million daily doses in the initialweeksofApril.As a result, there are reports

of priority groups above 45 be-ing turned away fromhospitalsdespite pre-booked appoint-mentsover the last fewdays.Attherootof thisproblem,is

the limited supply of vaccines

thathasbeenunable tokeepupwith thedemand for jabs in themidst of the second wave ofCovid-19cases.In response toargumentsby

statesthattheywereexperienc-ing shortages of vaccines, the

HealthMinistryonApril28saidthatithadsofarprovided159.60million doses of vaccines tostatesandUnionTerritories freeof cost. Of this, the total con-sumption, includingwastage, is148.98milliondoses, it said.More than 10million doses

hadremainedinstockacrossthecountry at the time, and theCentre plans to supply an addi-tional5.77millionbyMay1.Informationinthepublicdo-

main pegs the estimated num-ber of Covid-19 vaccines dosessupplied to the government sofartobeat least155-165milliondoses -- a little more than the154.85million doses adminis-tered so far.With little buffer tocushion the blow, people in thepriority groups have begun tofeel thestrainedsupply.In January, India had access

to a stockpile of as many as 50million doses of Covishield and20milliondosesofCovaxin,butvaccinations were slow due tohesitancy among healthcareworkers.While the Centre had an-

nouncedanorderof16.5milliondoses of Covid-19 vaccines onJanuary 11, the total number ofvaccinesorderedhadgoneupto41milliondosesbyFebruary12.The country’s overall

wastage rates of Covid-19 hadhovered around 13.5 percent inearly March, before comingdown to around 6.5 percent inApril. However, the wastage ofvaccines within states alsovaries.Withaslowerpickupinpro-

duction, supply has not beenable to match the rise in de-mand, resulting in a number ofthose in the priority groups be-ing turnedaway in the last cou-ple of days. InMumbai, all 136vaccinationcentresarenowshuttillMay2aftervaccinestocksde-pletedThursday.The Centre’s demand that

private facilities return unusedstockafterApril30hasaddedtothedwindlingsupplyofvaccinesacross thecountry.Queries sent to the Health

Ministry, SII and Bharat Biotechremainedunanswered.

AtavaccinationcentreinMumbaiafterjabswerestoppedforthreedaysonFriday.PradipDas

INApril, Indiasawthehighestdemandforvac-cines inamonthwith87.37milliondosesad-ministeredbyFriday,nearlyasmuchasthemonthlyproductionca-pacitiesofCovishieldandCovaxincombined.TheCentre’sdemandthatprivatefacilitiesreturnunusedstockafterApril30hashitsupplytoo.

Hesitancydown,supplystrained

Behind shortage: vaccination surgein April and thinning buffer stocks

Chandigarh:Haryana govern-ment Friday decided to imposeweekend lockdown. To beginwith, the lockdown shall be im-posedonninedistrictsworstaf-fected by pandemic. These arePanchkula,Gurugram.Faridabad,Sonipat, Rohtak, Karnal, Hisar,Sirsa and Fatehabad. The lock-downshallbeginfrom10pmonApril30andremaininforcetill5amonMay3. ENS

Bolpur:TheWestBengalgovern-ment on Friday announced, ef-fective immediately, that allshoppingmalls,beautyparlours,cinema halls, restaurants, bars,sports complexes, gyms, spas,and swimmingpoolswould re-maincloseduntil furthernotice.Thestateadministrationalso

prohibitedallsocial,cultural,ac-ademicandentertainmentgath-erings.Marketswillremainopenfrom7amto10amand3pmto5 pm, according to the notice.However,essentialservicessuchas pharmacies, medical equip-ment shops, and groceries areoutsidethepurviewoftheorder.

Weekend curbsin nine districts

HARYANA

Jaipur:RajasthanFridayextendedits‘PublicDisciplineFortnight’bytwoweeksandaddedstricterre-strictions. Therewill be aweek-end curfew which will beginFriday and last until 5 amMonday.Onweekdays,therewillbe a curfew between 12 noonand5amthenextday. ENS

Lockdown fortwo more weeks

RAJASTHAN

Partial curbs:malls, salonseateries closed

BENGALBiharchiefsecydies,3rdIASdeathPatna: Bihar Chief SecretaryArunKumarSinghdiedofCovid-19 complications at a privatehospitalinPatnaonFriday.Singh(59), a 1985-batch IAS officer,hadtakenoveraschiefsecretaryinFebruary.Heearlier servedasdevelopment commissioner.Singhwillbecrematedwithfullstatehonours.HeisthethirdIASofficer to died of Covid compli-cations in the last threeweeks.AdditionalHealthSecretaryRaviShankar Choudhary andPanchayati Raj department di-rectorVijayRanjanhadfallen tothevirusearlier. ENS

FormerbureaucratSanjiviSundardiesNew Delhi: Former bureaucratSanjiviSundar,whoinitiatedex-ternal commercial borrowingsbyIndianentities,diedofCovid-19Friday,hisfamilysaid.Sundar,a 1963-batch IAS officer ofGujaratcadre,was82.He joinedthecivil services in1963andre-tired as Secretary to theGovernment in theMinistry ofSurface Transport in 1997. Heworked as director in theMinistry of Fertilizers andChemicals and joint secretary inthe Department of EconomicAffairs inFinanceMinistry. PTI

JournalistRohitSardanadeadNoida:TelevisionjournalistRohitSardanadiedhereof cardiac ar-rest Friday, days after he tesingpositive forCovid-19, accordingto his channel Aaj Tak. Hewas41. Sardana, an executive editorand TV news anchor with AajTak of the India TodayGroup, issurvivedbyhiswife,twodaugh-tersandparents. Hewasadmit-ted toaprivatehospital hereaf-ter testingpositive. PTI

‘ShooterDadi’diesat89NewDelhi:Octogenarianshooter Chandro Tomar,who became the oldestwoman sharpshooter intheworldafter takingupthe sport inher 60s, diedFriday after battlingCovid-19. Shewas89andwas being treated at ahospital inMeerut sinceApril 26. “Mera saathchhoot gaya, Chandrokaha chali gayi (She hasleft me, Chandro wherehaveyougone?),”hersis-ter-in-law PrakashiTomar, also among theoldest woman sharp-shooters, wrote on herTwitter page. Tomarwasnicknamed‘ShooterDadi’forherexploits. PTI

ChandroTomar

SHORTSTORIES

In Bengaluru Covid ICU, families and patients cansee each other everyday on CCTV: ‘This is a relief’

VACCINATIONFOR18-44AGEGROUP

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,APRIL30

UTTAR PRADESH on Fridayrecorded thehighest numberofdeathsduetoCovid-19with332people dying due to the virus inthepast24hours. Thedeath tollin the state had crossed the12,000-mark on Thursdaywith298deaths,whichwasthehigh-est till then. Uttar Pradesh onFriday reporteda total of 34,626fresh cases in the last 24 hours,takingtheactivecasesinthestateto 3.10 lakh. In the last 24hours,2.44 lakhsamplesweretested.Thehighestnumberofcasu-

alties in the last 24 hours werereportedfromLucknowwith37deaths, while 19were reportedfrom Kanpur Nagar, 17 fromGhaziabadand15fromVaranasi.LucknowandKanpurhavenowrecorded a total of 1,799 and1,153deaths respectively.Lucknowstillhasthehighest

number of active cases with44,145, followed by KanpurNagar with 17,856, Varanasi(15,454), Prayagraj (13,186).Thehighestnumberof fresh

cases were reported fromLucknowwith3,958freshcases,followed by Kanpur Nagar(1,875), Varanasi (1,573) andMeerut (1,561).Meanwhile, Chief Minister

YogiAdityanath testednegativefor Covid on Friday. He under-took an inspection of a health-care facility being built at HajHouse inLucknowbyDRDO.“The CM has given instruc-

tions to officials to ensure thattheDRDOhospitals inLucknowwithcapacityof500bedsshouldbe operational in the next twodays.Outof the500,300areICUbeds,” said ACS (Information)NavneetSehgalonFridayduringthepressbriefing.Healsosaidallschools for class 1 to 12 andcoaching instituteswill remainshut tillMay10.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, LUCKNOW,JAIPUR,CHENNAI, APRIL30

MAHARASHTRA,UTTARPradeshand Rajasthan on Friday an-nounced they would roll outCovid vaccination for the 18-44age group as scheduled onSaturday, while several otherstates, including Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Goa,Punjaband JammuandKashmir(J&K)deferreditbecauseofshort-age of vaccines, and appealed tothepeopleagainst rushingtothevaccinationcentres.Maharashtra,whichhadear-

lierruledoutstartingthedriveonaccount of shortage of vaccines,madetheannouncementafterre-ceiving three lakh doses fromSerum Institute of India (SII) onFriday.Tilllatenight,officialswereengaged in sending 10,000 to20,000dosestoeachofthe36dis-tricts overnight so that vaccina-tion canbegin, at least symboli-cally,ontherolloutdateofMay1.Whilevaccineswillbeadmin-

istered according topre-bookedslots, until Fridaynight the slotshad not opened on CoWin app.Officials said that slotsmay startappearingbySaturdayontheapp.The UP government an-

nounced free vaccination forevery beneficiary fromMay1. Itsaidithadmadeallarrangementstomeetthevaccinationdemand.It slotted twodays everyweek–FridayandSaturday– for the18-44 age group, and four days forthoseabove45years.A government spokesperson

saidwhile the state alreadyhadonecroredosesinstockforthelat-estphase,atleastfourcroredoses

would be purchased through aglobal tender that has alreadybeen floated. The state adminis-tration estimates there are ninecrore people in the 18-44 yearscategoryinUP.“ToensureregularavailabilityofCovidvaccines...thestatewill receive a total of onecrorevaccines for thenextphaseof vaccination. The SerumInstitute of India and BharatBiotechwilleachprovide50lakhdoses,”saidthespokesperson.Rajasthansaid itwill beopen

vaccination for the 18-44 agegrouponlyinJaipurand, if stockslast, in Ajmer too. State HealthMinister Raghu Sharma said,“Thereareabout3.25crorebene-ficiariesinthestatewhofallintheagegroupof18-45years.Fortwodoses, and accounting forwastage,weneed about 7 croredoses...”Earlier,thestategovern-menthadbooked3.75croredosesfromSIIbutwastoldthattheycanonlyprovide three lakhvaccinesasofnow.LateonFriday,SIIsaiditwill be able to provide an addi-tional5.44lakhdosesinMay.TamilNadu,however,willnot

beabletorolloutthevaccinationdrivefor the18-44agegroupbe-fore the thirdweekofMay, a tophealthofficialsaidonFriday.The Karnataka government

askedeligiblepeoplenot to rushto be vaccinateduntil intimatedbythestategovernment.UttarakhandHealthSecretary

AmitNegisaidvaccinationforthenewagegroupwillbepossibletostart after aweek only. TheGoagovernment also issued an “im-portant alert” requesting eligiblepeoplenot torushtovaccinationcentresonSaturday.

(InputsfromENS,Bengaluru,Srinagar,Panaji)

UP records single-dayhighest Covid toll: 332

425DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING THE SECOND SURGE

NEWCASES: 3,83,909ACTIVE CASES:32,56,881TOTAL VACCINATION: 15,22,45,179

DAILY DEATHS3,417

TOTALDEATHS2,11,747

WEEKLY CFR1.68%

OVERALL CFR1.46%

TESTS TODAY: 19,49,341 | TOTAL TESTS: 28,83,41,427

WEEKLY POSITIVITY: 20.89% | OVERALL POSITIVITY: 6.64%

STATESREPORTINGMOSTCASES

STATE NEW ACTIVE WEEKLY TOTALCASES CASES POSITIVITY VACCINATION

■Maharashtra 62,919 6,62,640 22.81% 1,58,71,153

■Karnataka 48,296 3,82,710 20.01% 94,00,389

■Kerala 37,199 3,04,027 23.46% 72,29,229

■UttarPradesh 34,372 3,10,783 16.11% 1,23,55,555

■Delhi 27,047 99,361 32.40% 32,24,939

STATESREPORTINGMOSTDEATHS

STATE TODAY’S TOTAL WEEKLY OVERALLDEATHS DEATHS CFR CFR

■Maharashtra 870 70,856 1.40% 1.91%

■Delhi 375 16,147 2.68% 2.01%

■UttarPradesh 332 12,570 1.41% 1.58%

■Chhattisgarh 269 8,581 1.73% 1.66%

■Karnataka 217 15,523 1.89% 1.38%

Note:DataasonApr30;vaccinationnumbersasofApr29.Deathsincludethosecausedbycomorbidities.

Small stock arrives,Maharashtra to rollout drive today

New Delhi



THESECONDSURGE

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD,APRIL30

THE UNION Ministry of CivilAviation has given its go-aheadfor a pilot project of theTelangana government whichaimstodelivermedicalsuppliesusingdrones.According to the clearance,

drones can be operatedwithinthe visual line of sight (VLOS)range foraperiodof oneyear.“This is the first step.Weare

alsoseekingpermissiontooper-atedronesbeyondvisual lineofsight (BVLOS) becausewewantto deliver medical supplies atlongerdistances. Thepilot proj-ectwill take place in Vikarabaddistrict, for which we have re-ceived clearances fromAirportAuthority of India. Eight drone

companieswill participate in a22-daytestproject,”saidLRamaDevi, Director of EmergingTechnologies, Telangana ITDepartment.Principal Secretary,

Information Technology, JayeshRanjan however said that in theinitial stages, droneswill not beusedtodeliverCovid-19vaccines.InMarch2020,theTelangana

governmenthadsignedacollab-oration agreement for the‘Medicine from the Sky’ projectwiththeWorldEconomicForumandApolloHospital’sHealthNetGlobal, to conduct a feasibilitystudy to examine how dronescanbeused to improvemedicalsupply chains. The project in-cludesacomprehensivestudyofdrone-baseddeliveriesforblood,vaccines, diagnostic specimens,and lifesaving equipment. The

projectframeworkwaspreparedbyWEF and Group HealthnetGlobal Limited, and was lateradopted by the Telangana gov-ernment.Thestatehadthensubmitted

a proposal to the DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation andsoughtpermissionforBVLOSop-erationsofdrones fordeliveries.The state government had

called for proposals fromdroneserviceproviderstodemonstratesafe,accurate,andreliablepickupanddeliveryofmedicalsupplies.The government has also

signed a MoU with leadingdronemanufacturerDJI forpilottraining.At the Wings India-2020

eventinMarch,thegovernmenthadalsoheldademonstrationofthedeliveriesforDGCAandWEFofficials.

IRAMSIDDIQUEBHOPAL,APRIL30

TWODAYSbefore the results ofits Assembly by-poll, MadhyaPradesh's Damoh is reeling un-dertheburdenofCovid-19casesthatspikedmanifoldduringandafter a high-pitched electioncampaign.ElectioneeringinDamohbe-

gan from the endof lastmonth,soon after nominations werefiled,andcontinuedtillApril15.Inthattime,thebiggestpoliticalnames of the state—ChiefMinisterShivrajSinghChouhan,Rajya Sabha MP JyotriadityaScindia, former Chief MinisterDigvijay Singh and stateCongresschiefKamalNath—de-scended upon the constituency

to hold rallies, roadshows andJanataSabhas.Amidthecampaigning,daily

new cases in Damoh kept ris-ing—11onApril1,36onApril11,54onApril13,and128justthreedays later.All this was happening as

cases soared in the rest of thestate,withalockdownbeingim-posed in urban areas. Damoh,however, was left out of thislockdown, thanks to theby-pollnecessitated by the resignationof Congress MLA Rahul Lodhiwho joinedBJP inOctober.Itwas only onApril 19—two

daysaftervoting—that the lock-down came into effect here. ByApril 29, the district hadrecorded its highest single-dayjumpinnewcases—129.The results will be an-

nouncedonMay2.ChiefMinisterChouhanheld

public gatherings in Damoh onthreeoccasions.RajyaSabhaMPScindia addressed two ralliesduringasingle-dayprogramme.Digvijay Singh had a two-dayprogramme, while Nath heldoneroadshow.On April 16, Digvijay Singh

tweeted thathehad testedpos-itive.Hequarantinedhimself inhisDelhi residence.Chouhan and Scindia can-

celled their roadshowsplannedforApril15.ThiswasalsothedayCongresscandidateAjayTandontestedpositive.On polling day—April 17—

Covidfearhadsetin.Damohsawavoterturnoutof59.6percent—15percentagepoints lower thantheAssemblypollturnoutin2018.

Congress state MahilaMorcha chiefMandvi Chouhan,whowas said to have been lay-ingthegroundworkforthepartyinthepollrun-up,felltothevirusonThursday.BJP's former Damoh district

president, Dev NarayanShrivastav,alsodiedThursdayaf-ter suffering a brain haemor-rhage. Hewas being treated atJabalpur where he also testedpositive forCovid-19.Several local-level leaders

frombothpartiescontractedtheviral infection amid the cam-paigning.Asks Kamaljeet Hurra, who

runsahardwarestoreinDamoh:“Couldn’t these by-polls be de-layed?IstherenoruleintheEC’srule book for such an unprece-dentedsituation?”

In run-up to by-poll and after, Covidcases saw a jump in MP’s Damoh

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, APRIL30

A DAY AFTER questioning theCentre on its preparations overthe last 10-15months for tack-ling the secondwave of Covid-19,theMadrasHighCourtFridayrefusedtoentertainapetitionbytheElectionCommissionofIndia(ECI) on Friday seeking to re-strainmediafrompublishingthecourt’s oral observations blam-ing the poll body for the rise inCovid-19cases.Earlier onMonday, the first

bench of Chief Justice SanjibBanerjee and JusticeSenthilkumar Ramamoorthycame down heavily on the ECIfor“notstoppingpoliticalpartiesfrom violating the Covid proto-col” in their rallies forAssemblyelections. It was hearing a peti-tion by AIADMK leader andTamil Nadu TransportMinisterMRVijayabhaskarwhichsoughtdirections for the ECI to followspecificmeasuresduringcount-ingonMay2inhisconstituencyKarur.Asmanyas77candidatescontested are in the fray for theKarur seat.The court had told ECI on

Mondaythat“youshouldbeputonmurder charges probably”,that“youarethemostirrespon-sibleoverthelastfewmonthsinnot stopping political partiesfromwantonabuseoftheCovid-

19 protocol” and that “you arethe only institution responsiblefor the situation that we are intoday.”On Friday, the ECI said these

oral observations had caused itgrave prejudice and that policecomplaints were being filedagainst it seeking action forcriminal offence. Rejecting re-quests by senior advocateRakesh Dwivedi, representingECI, to direct media houses toconfine their reports towrittenorders and to refrain from re-porting oral observations ofjudgesduringthecourtproceed-ings, the court said theCommission can anyway ap-proach the courts “if any frivo-louscomplaintsaremade”.A day before, on Thursday,

theMadrasHighCourtwasirkedat the poor preparedness of theCentralgovernmentinhandlingthe secondwave of pandemic.On a suomotu public interestwrit proceeding initiated tocheck the preparedness of thestate to tackle the secondwavebesides assessing the availabil-ity of oxygen, beds, drugs andventilators to treat Covid pa-tients, the first bench of CJBanerjee and RamamoorthyaskedtheCentrewhattheyweredoing for the past 10 to 15months.“Whyareweactingonlynow

inApril,thiswillhelponlyinJuly.Despite having almost a year-

longlockdown,seethesituationweare in,” thecourt said.When the Additional

Solicitor-General RShankaranarayanan represent-ing the Centre said the govern-ment did not expect a secondwave in the country, the courtsaid: “Do you even consult ex-pertsonsuchissues?Wedidnotmeantodisrespectanyone…”CJBanerjeesaidhewasyetto

meet“arespectabledoctorwhoadvised”him“todroptheguard”andremindedthattherecannotbe ad-hocism in dealingwith apandemic. “The Centre shouldhave acted in a planned and in-formedmannerwithexpertad-vice,” thecourt said.In its orderpostedonFriday,

the court said post-mortem onboth theCentre’s “endeavour toindicate that the surge in num-bersmayhavebeenunexpectedand that preparatorymeasureshad been taken for quite sometime”andEC'sconcernatsensa-tionalism“mayhavetowaitpar-ticularlyinthelightoftheimme-diatemeasures thatmaybeputinplace.”Referringtotheproceedings,

the order said it was to “ensurethat theauthorities taskedwithsuch obligation devote theircomplete attention in such re-gard, so that themeasuresmaybemonitored insomedegree.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Madras HC raps ECI,refuses to gagmediaon oral observations

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, APRIL30

EXTERNAL AFFAIRSMinister SJaishankaronFridayspoketoUSSecretary of State AntonyBlinken and Chinese ForeignMinisterWangYianddiscussedcooperationinemergencymed-ical supplieswith bothof them.ChinesePresidentXiJinpinghasalso written to PrimeMinisterNarendraModiofferingsupport.Jaishankar'scallwithBlinken

cameon a daywhenUS aircraftbrought 440 oxygen cylinders,210 oximeters, 8.84 lakh RapidDiagnostic Test Kits, and 84,000N-95 facemasks. This is the firstconsignment fromtheUS.Chinese President Xi, in his

letter to PM Modi, said, “TheChinese side stands ready tostrengthencooperationwiththeIndian side in fighting the pan-demic andprovide support and

helpinthisregard.”TheChineseForeign Minister called upJaishankar to convey Beijing’s“sympathyandsolidarity”.


TOHELP the armed forces en-hancetheircapabilitiestohelpthecountryfightCovid-19challenge,DefenceMinister Rajnath SinghonFriday gave thememergencyfinancialpowerstoestablishquar-antinefacilitiesandhospitals.In a statement, the Defence

Ministry said Singh “invokedspecial provisions and grantedEmergency Financial Powers tothe Armed Forces to empowerthemandspeedup their effortsin tide over the current” secondwaveof thepandemic.Thepowers, it said,will help

the formation commanders “toestablishandoperatequarantinefacilities/hospitals and under-take procurement/repair ofequipment/items/material/stores,besidesprovisioningofvariousservices andworks required tosupport the ongoing effortagainst thepandemic”.ViceChiefsoftheArmy,Navy

andAirForce, includingChief ofIntegrated Defence Staff To TheChairman Chiefs Of StaffCommittee (CISC) and GeneralOfficer Commanding-in-Chiefsandequivalentsofallthreeserv-iceshavebeengivenfullpowers,the ministry said. The CorpsCommanders and AreaCommandersof the forceshavebeen delegated powers upto Rs50 lakhpercase.

Lucknow: Following theSupreme Court’s directive, theUttar Pradesh government onFridayshiftedjournalistSiddiqueKappan, lodgedatMathuradis-trict jail, to All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) forbetter treatment.“Adeputyjailorandamedical

officer has also been sentwithhimforanyemergencywhileonthewaytoDelhiandalsogethelpKappan admitted in hospital,”saidMathurajailSuperintendent,ShailendraMaitrey adding thathehasbeeninformedlaterinthedaythatKappanhasbeenadmit-ted at AIIMS. Kappan was ar-restedinMathurainOctoberoncharges of conspiracy to createcasteviolenceinHathras,wherea Dalit girl was allegedly rapedand murdered. The UP policebookedhimunderUAPA. ENS

Centre nod to Telangana project fordrone deliveries of medical supplies

TwoUSAirForceaircraftarrivedatDelhionFridaywithshipmentsofCovid-19aidmaterial.ANI

Armed Forcesgiven emergencyfinancial powersto combat Covid

Kappan shiftedto AIIMS, Delhifor treatment

CONTINUEDFROMPAGE 1

And the US, thankfully, I’mvery pleased to see, they havenow moved to make a majorcommitment for medications,foroxygen, forPPE, and forven-tilators. But we’ve got to getother countries to come in andhelp India right now becauseIndiahasbeenverygenerous inthe past crises in helping othercountries. Now is the time forothercountriestotrytoalleviatethe immediate problem thatIndiahas. That’s the first thing.Then the intermediate. I

think you need — what theChinesedidwhentheyhadacri-sis, you might recall, literally,withinafewdaystoweekstheybuilttheseemergencyunitsthatserved as hospitals to take careofpeople. Itwasanaccomplish-mentthateverybodymarvelledat.Itjustseemstome,whatIwasviewingontelevision,whatpeo-plewerelookingfor,adesperateneedforhospitalandcare.That’sthe first thing.The second thing, you can

mobilisedifferentgroupsofgov-ernment. For example, what isthe roleof themilitary?Can themilitary come in and help? Imean, you can immediately getmilitaryhelp thewaywe, in theUnited States, have used ourNational Guard to help us dis-tribute thevaccinations.Ithinkitshouldatleastbese-

riouslyconsidered.Theinterme-diate — to get hospitals builtquickly. I mean really quickly,within amatter of — you know,theyputupthesefieldhospitalsthat they built duringwar. Youshould thinkof this, in somere-spects, like awar. The enemy isthe virus. So you knowwheretheenemyis, so Iwouldmake italmostlikewartimebecauseit’sanemergency.And, finally, in the longer

range, in a matter of a coupleweeks, Iwoulddowhateveryoucandotogetvaccinated.Tohavea country like India, where twoper cent of people are vacci-nated, isaveryserioussituation.Youabsolutelyhave togetmorepeoplevaccinated.So that’s my take on it.

Addresstheabsoluteimmediateproblem, get the intermediatethings going, and then take alook at the longer range in re-gards tovaccines.

Whenyouthinkabouttheearlysignsof something likethis, thesecondwave,wereyousurprised?Wasitinevitable?Should ithavebeenanticipated?Whatwereyouseeing,whatweretheearlysigns?Well,againIdon’twanttoget

into a criticism of the responseof the Indian government so Iwouldprefernot todo that.

Withoutcriticising…ingeneral, across theworld,notjust foryou,werethereearlysigns?It isn’t necessarily an early

sign.It’sarealisationofwhatthecapability of this virus is. Thisvirushas shownus that if left toits own devices, it will explodein society. It happened to us inthe US. You might recall, I amspeakingtoyouasanAmerican.But, infact, theUnitedStates, forawhile,wastheworst-hitcoun-try in theworld and the UnitedStates is the richest country.Wewere supposedly the best pre-paredandwegothitverybadly.So you know, the reason is thatthe virus doesn’t care how richyouare.Orhowadvancedorde-velopedyouare. If youdon’t re-spect its ability to cause seriousdamage,youaregoingtogetintotrouble.I thinkoneof thethingsthat

maybeshouldhavebeenrecog-nised, that victorywasdeclaredmaybe tooprematurely.

HastheCenters forDiseaseControlandPrevention(USnationalhealthprotectionagency)askedtohelp ingenomesequencingof theIndianvariants?HasCDCobtainedsamplesof thevariants?Well, we absolutely need to

study it intensively to findout ifthevaccinesthatarebeingusedare inducing a response thatwouldbeprotectiveagainst thisvariant.Weheardsomeprelim-inary announcements that thevaccineappearedtobeokay.Butthere are another announce-ments that were saying wearen’tsosureaboutthat.SowhatI think needs to be done very,veryquickly is to get specimensandmaterialoutsideof Indiaandsent to the CDC of the UnitedStates, the NIH (NationalInstituteofHealth)of theUnitedStates, to theWellcomeTrust intheUK.Therearea lotof groupsthat would like very much tohelp out and they can help outbydoingthesequencingandthesurveillanceandthedetermina-tion if the virus is, in fact, sensi-tivetotheantibodiesthatarein-ducedby thevaccine.

Onvaccines,wehavea50/50foropenmarketandgovernmentownership.There’sdebateovercosting.What isyourviewonthis,whenyoulookat theUSmodel?What is thebestwaytoget thepublic interest

servedonthevaccinationfront?Howdowerampitup?You’ve got to get supplies.

You’ve got tomake contractualarrangementswith the variouscompanies that are out there intheworld.Therearemanycom-paniesthatnowhavevaccines. Ithinkyouhavetonegotiatewiththem to try and get a commit-ment. India is what, 1.4 billionpeople? You have a lot of vac-cines that youneed to get, and Iwould go tomultiple differentcompanies and try to get con-tractual arrangements so thatyou can get vaccines as quicklyasyoupossiblycan.

Sogetting it fromChina,getting it fromRussia,makingthevaccinebasketlarger. Is that theroutetotake inthesituation?

Absolutely, absolutely. Youonly have two per cent of yourpeoplevaccinated.ThisiswhatIheard. I don’t know if that’s ac-curatebut that’swhat I’mhear-ing (2% is the number of thosewho have got both doses, 11%havegotat leastonedose).And,if that’sthecase,youhavealongway to go if you really want toprotect the people in India. Iwould leave no stone unturnedingettingasmanycompaniesasyou possibly can to be able tomakeacontractualarrangementtogetvaccines.Andalso, Indiaisthe largest vaccine-producingcountry in theworld. That’s thething— you should rev up yourown capabilities to make vac-cines.You have seen (tackling

Covid) from the frontlines intheUS,butwhatdoesittakeinabillionplus,developingcoun-try?With theUSmodel, somethingswork,butwhenyouarelookingatabillion-plus,whatare the public health chal-

lenges?Well, one of the things you

really need to do that to the ex-tentthatyoucan—isshutdowntemporarily the country, I thinkis important. Ifwewant to timeout and go back to what I said.There is the immediate, the in-termediate,andthelongrange. Ithink themost important thingin the immediate is to get oxy-gen,getsupplies,getmedication,getPPE,thosekindsofthingsbutalso, one of the immediatethings to do is to essentially calla shutdownof thecountry.We know that when China

hadthisbigexplosionayearago,theycompletelyshutdown.Andifyoushutdown,youdon’thavetoshutdownforsixmonths.Youcan shut down temporarily toput anend to the cycle of trans-mission. So one of the things to

be considered is to temporarilyshut down. Literally, lock downso that youwinduphaving lessspread. No one likes to lockdownthecountry.Well, that’s aproblemwhen you do it for sixmonths.Butifyoudoit justforafewweeks,youcouldhaveasig-nificantimpactonthedynamicsof theoutbreak.

IwouldberemissnottoaskyouaboutthesituationintheUSrightnow. I’malsocurioushowyour jobhaschangedunderthenewadministrationascomparedtothepreviousone.The current status of the

United States, you probablyknow,we are doing a very, verygood job of getting our peoplevaccinated. We now have 100million people fully vaccinatedandwehave aboutmore than athird--closeto40%of thecoun-try fully vaccinated. More than50%of the countryhas receivedat leastonedose.

Andif youlookattheelderlywho are the most vulnerable,nowabout, 50% ofwho are eld-erly—65yearsof ageorolder—have received one dose, andabout65%of theelderlypopula-tionhasbeen fullyvaccinated.So the very vulnerable peo-

pleinthecountrywhoarereallygetting into trouble and havinga higher rate of death, that hasdramatically diminished. So ifyou look at the hospitalisationrate,thedeathrateof theelderlypeople in our country. That hasgonedownanywherefrom75to85%.We are doingmuch,muchbetter.But you know that several

monthsagoweweredoingverypoorly. In fact, last Fall andearlywinter,weweredoingasbadasIndiaisdoingnow.Wewerehav-ing 300,000 new cases per day.And we were having 3-4000deathsperday.Butweturned itaround. We turned it aroundwitha really concertedeffort.So as far as what I’m doing

now (under theBiden adminis-tration)…I’mnot going to com-pare it to the previous adminis-tration…But I can just say thatwhatwearedoing isverymuchbased on science. PresidentBidenhaspromisedthathispol-icywill always be based on sci-enceandevidenceanddata.Andthat’s whatwe’ve done. I meanoneof thegreat successesof hisfirst days is the extraordinarysuccess of the distribution ofvaccines. That has really beenvery, verysuccessful.

Youareknownasthevoiceofhopeandcalm.Doyouhaveanywordsonthewayforward, tothosesufferinghere?Yes, first of all, I say that the

entireworldispullingforandinsolidarity with India, for sure.Weare verypained to see Indiasuffering so much. And that’sthe reason why the rest of theworldreallyneedstochipinandhelp. But to the people of India,I’llsay,hangtogether.Everybodyis in this together. And just as IsaidintheSenatehearing, itwillend. We will get to a normal.There is suffering now but Iguarantee that we will get itback to normal. Hang in there,help each other. Take care ofeach other and things will getback tonormal.

‘We’ve got to get other countries to help...because India has been very generous’

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

WITH

DRANTHONY FAUCI

The virus doesn’t care how rich you are. Or howadvanced or developed you are. If you don’t

respect its ability to cause serious damage, youare going to get into trouble. I think one of the

things that maybe should have been recognised,that victory was declared maybe too prematurely.

TheNYT

Washington: The USwill re-strict travel fromIndia start-ingMay 4, theWhiteHousesaidonFriday,citingthedev-astating rise in Covid-19cases in the country and theemergence of potentiallydangerous variants of thecoronavirus. White HousepresssecretaryJenPsakisaidPresidentJoeBiden’sadmin-istrationmade the determi-nation on the advice of theCenters for Disease ControlandPrevention. AP

USTORESTRICTTRAVEL FROMINDIA FROMMAY4

Jaishankar discusses medicalsupplies with Blinken, Wang

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK 9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

ADVT.2/2021Applications are invited for the post of Chief Director in NCDC on deputation basis as under:-

For the details of age, educational qualification, experience & other eligibility criteria interested officers mayvisit website www.ncdc.in. Last date for submission of application is 08.06.2021.

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENTCORPORATION

(A statutory body under an Act of Parliament)

Post Eligibility Conditions No. of Vacancies

1. ChiefDirector Level-13 of paymatrix as per7th CPC

Persons working in Central/ State Govt./Cooperative organizations/ PSU/ Autonomous bodies etc.holding analogous posts; or with 5 years’ service on posts in Level-12 of pay matrix as per 7th CPC(in pre-revised Pay Band-3 Rs.15600-39100/- & Grade Pay of Rs.7600/-) or equivalent. Officershaving 10 years experience in Co-operative/ Finance/Banking Sector would be given preferencefor consideration of appointment to the post of Chief Director on deputation basis in NCDC.

8

DAVP 01142/11/0001/2122


THE SUPREMECourt Friday is-sued notice to the Centre on aplea challenging theConstitutional validity ofSection 124-A of the IPC thatpenalises sedition.Abenchof JusticesUULalit,

IndiraBanerjeeandKMJosephsought the Centre’sresponse on a plea by twojournalists—KishorechandraWangkhemcha fromManipurand Kanhaiya Lal Shukla fromChhattisgarh.The petitioners said

they were charged with sedi-tion for questioning thestate governments and theCentre, and for commentsand cartoons shared on socialmedia platforms. They con-tended that the provision in-fringes upon the fundamentalright of freedomof speech andexpression, guaranteed under

Article 19(1)(a) of theConstitution.Alleging frequent misuse

and misapplication of thelaw since 1962, they saidthat its “abuse” points toits vagueness and uncertainty,which, in turn, exerts a“chilling effect” on thedemocratic freedoms of indi-viduals.The plea said that sections

of seditionhavebeen repealedin comparative post-colonialdemocratic jurisdictionsaroundtheworldwheretheof-fence has been condemned as

undemocratic,undesirableandunnecessary.Referring to the Supreme

Court decision upholding itsvalidity in the 1962 case ofKedar Nath Singh v. State ofBihar, the duo said that whilethe court may have been cor-rect in its finding nearlysixty decades ago, the law nolonger passes constitutionalmuster today.In February, the top

court had rejected a pleaurging it to re-examine theconstitutional validity of thesedition law.Abenchheadedbythe then

Chief JusticeSABobderejectedthe plea by a group of lawyerspointing out that the SupremeCourthad in thepast laiddownthat there should be an appro-priate cause of action (materi-als to sue) to challenge a law,which the petition lacked.The court said the petition-

ers were not the affected par-ties in any case.

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI, APRIL30

PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModihas askedofficials to explore in-volvingcivilsocietyvolunteersin“non-specialisedtasks”totakethepressureoffthehealthcaresectoramidthesurgeinCovid-19cases.Thiswas conveyed during a

meeting to review the function-ing of different empoweredgroups. The Prime Ministerchaired the meeting throughvideoconferencing.In a statement, the Prime

Minister’sOfficesaid: “PMaskedtheofficialstoexplorehowvolun-teers from civil society can beutilised to lessenthepressureonhealthcare sector by invokingtheminnon-specialisedtasks.”“Itwas discussed thatNGOs

couldhelptoestablishandmain-tain lines of communicationbe-tweenthepatients,theirdepend-ents&healthcarepersonnel,”the

statementsaid.“Ex Servicemencouldbe en-

couragedtohandlecallcentresforcommunicatingwithpeopleun-derhomequarantine,” the state-mentsaid.During the meeting, the

EmpoweredGrouponcoordinat-ingwithprivatesector,NGOsandinternational organisations,headed by NITI Aayog CEOAmitabhKant, briefed thePrimeMinister“onhowthegovernmentisworking in active partnershipwiththem.Two other Empowered

Groups also briefed the PrimeMinisterabouttheiractivities.“The EmpoweredGroup on

EconomicandWelfaremeasuresmade a presentation to PM onsteps taken such as extensionofPMGarib KalyanAnna Yojana,”the statement said. “It was dis-cussed that portability enableddue to One Nation One RationCardinitiativehashelpedtoben-efit more people. Insurance

schemeforfrontlinehealthwork-ershasbeenextendedforanother6months.”“PM directed Central

Governmentshouldworkincloseco-ordinationwith the states toensurethatthepoorgettheben-efits of free food-grainwithoutanyissues,” itsaid.OnApril23,theCentrehadan-

nounced the restarting of thePradhan Mantri Garib KalyanAnnaYojana (PM-GKAY) topro-vide an additional 5 kg of food-

grainspermonthfreetobenefici-ariescoveredbytheNationalFoodSecurityAct(NFSA),2013.The new version of the

scheme does not, however, in-cludeanimportantcomponentoflastyear'sPM-GKAY—1kgpulsespermonthfreetoeachhouseholdundertheNFSA.The statement further said,

“PMalsosaidthatstepsshouldbetaken toexpedite the settlementof pending Insurance claims sothat the dependents of the de-ceasedareabletoavailofbenefitsintime.”“TheEmpoweredGrouponis-

suesrelatingtofacilitatingsupplychain & logisticsmanagementgaveapresentationonvariousad-visoriesrelatingtomeasurestobetaken to contain thepandemic,”thestatementsaid.“PMinstructedofficials toplanholistically toen-sureseamlessmovementofgoodsso that supply chaindisruptionsareavoided,”itadded.Earlier in the day, the Prime

MinisteralsochairedtheCouncilof Ministers meeting and dis-cussedthesecondwave.Inastatementissuedafterthe

meeting, the Ministry ofInformation and Broadcastingsaid: “The Council of Ministersmeeting noted that the presentpandemic crisis is ‘once ina cen-tury crisis’ andhas thrownabigchallengefortheworld.”“PMNarendraModisaid that

all arms of theGovernment areworkingunitedly&rapidlytodealwith the situation.HealsourgedtheMinisterstostayintouchwithpeopleoftheirrespectiveregions,helpthemandkeepgettingtheirfeedback. He stressed upon theneed to ensure that issues at thelocallevelarepromptlyidentifiedandaddressed,”theMinistrysaid.“Thesupportmeasurestothevul-nerablepopulationintheformofprovision of food-grains and fi-nancial support to JanDhan ac-countholderswere alsopointedout,”theMinistrystatementsaid.


TRIBUTES POURED in fromacross the country after formerAttorney General of India andrenowned jurist Soli Sorabjeediedinaprivatehospital inNewDelhionFridaymorning.The91-year-oldwas undergoing treat-mentaftercontractingCovid-19.Serving as a legal profes-

sional for nearly sevendecades,Sorabjee occupied the office ofthe Attorney General of Indiatwice— first from 1989-90 andthen from1998-2004.President RamNath Kovind

and PrimeMinister NarendraModiwere among those to paytribute.“In passing of Soli Sorabjee,

we lost an icon of India’s legalsystem. He was among selectfewwho deeply influenced theevolution of the constitutionallawandjusticesystem.Awardedwith PadmaVibhushan, hewasamong most eminent jurists.Condolences to his family andassociates,”Kovindsaid.Prime Minister Narendra

ModiwroteonTwitter:“ShriSoliSorabjee was an outstandinglawyerandintellectual.Throughlaw, he was at the forefront ofhelpingthepooranddowntrod-den.HewillberememberedforhisnoteworthytenuresasIndia’sAttorney General. Saddened byhis demise. Condolences to hisfamilyandadmirers.”TheSupremeCourtalsopaid

homage to Sorabjee. A bench ofChief Justice N V Ramana andJustices Surya Kant and ASBopanna, justbefore thestartof

the day’s court proceedings viavideo conference, said, “It’s averysadnewsthathumanrightsfighterSolihaspassedawaythismorning.Weprayforthegentlesoul.”ViveckGoenka, chairman of

theIndianExpressGroup,said:“IwasdeeplygrievedtohearofSoli’spassingaway. Toallofthosewhochampioned thecauseof consti-tutionalrightsandthefreedomofthepress,hewasasourceofinspi-rationandunflinchingsupport.Tothosewhohad thegood fortunetoknowhim,hewastheveryepit-ome of intelligence allied tocourage, integrity andgrace.Mysincere condolences to his chil-drenHormadz,JehangirandZia.”Sorabjeestartedhiscareerin

1953at theBombayHighCourt.He famously assisted NaniPalkhivala in the landmarkKeshavananda Bharati case. In1971,Sorabjeewasdesignatedasenioradvocate. In2002,hewasawardedthePadmaVibhushan,India’s second-highest civilianhonour.Inhis longinningsat theBar,

Sorabjeeappearedinseveralcivillibertiescases. In the1978land-markrulinginManekaGandhivUnion of India — known as thepassport impounding case —Sorabjee, despite appearing for

the government, defended thepetitioner’srighttobeheard.Thecourt in this case held that dueprocess is substantive and notmerely procedural when itcomes topersonal liberty.In the 1994 SR Bommai v

Unionof Indiacase,Sorabjeear-gued that the proclamation ofPresident’s rule is subject to ju-dicialreview,despitetheprotec-tion that the office of theGovernor enjoys under theConstitution. The Bommai caseisstill theoperativelawforscru-tinisingactionsofGovernors.In the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

case, Sorabjee represented thevictims, leading the criminalprosecution against UnionCarbide. Although as AttorneyGeneral,hewascriticisedforad-vising the government not topursuetheextraditionofWarrenAnderson, Sorabjeehadalso re-fusedtoappearforthecompanywhen approached even thoughNani Palkhiwala, Fali Nariman,AnilDivanwereamongthestal-wart lawyers whowere on theother sideof thecase.He was renowned for his

work on human rights globally.In1997,hewasappointedbytheUN as a Special Rapporteur forNigeria to report on the humanrightsconditionsinthecountry.From1998-2004,hewasalso

the chairman of the UN sub-committeeontheProtectionandPromotionofHumanRights.Incourt,Sorabjeewasknown

for his quickwit andperceptivestyleof argument.Hewasalsoajazzenthusiast.Sorabjee is survived by his

wife Zena Sorabjee and threechildren.

New Delhi: Western RailwayGeneral Manager Alok Kansalhas taken additional charge ofGeneral Manager, CentralRailway. He took charge fromSanjeev Mittal, who has beenpromoted as MemberInfrastructure, Railway Board.Kansal was appointed GeneralManagerofWesternRailwayonJanuary14 lastyear. ENS

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

WORD PLAYDURINGAhearing in theSupremeCourt onFriday, JusticeDYChandrachudgot loggedoff, towhichalawyersaidthejus-tice had “fallen off”.When he reconnected, hewas told bySolicitor General TusharMehta about the termused. To thisJusticeChandrachudresponded,“That isonly inthehandsofGod. Ihadonlybeen loggedoff.”

COURT PRAISESUMITADAWRA,AdditionalSecretaryintheDepartmentforPromotionof IndustryandInternalTrade,madeanelaboratepresentation in theSupremeCourtonFridayon the fineras-pectsofdistributingoxygentostatesandhowitisbeingman-aged.ShediditdespitebeingtestedpositiveforCovidherself.ShesaidthedepartmentSecretary,whowascoordinatingthework so far, is in the ICU. The court appreciated her dedica-tionandremarkedthatshehadtakenalotofpaindespiteherpersonal indisposition.

DELETED, CORRECTEDTHEDEFENCEMinister'sOfficeonFridaytweetedaboutgivingemergency financial powers to the armed forces to fight thepandemic, butdeleted the tweetwithin10minutes. Reason:amisplacedword, that flipped themeaning. The correctedtweet, posted later, read to “empower theArmed Forces andspeed up their efforts in the nationwide fight against COVID19situation”,DefenceMinisterRajnathSinghhadgiventhemthespecial powers. Thedeleted tweetearlierhadmistakenlysaid that the powers had been given to empower the armedforces“andspeeduptheirefforts inNationwideabetmentofCovid19crisis”.

SoliSorabjee

SC issues notice to Centre onplea challenging sedition law

Virus variants from UK,S Africa found in TripuraDEBRAJDEBAGARTALA,APRIL30

TRIPURAON Friday urged resi-dents to remain cautious andstrictly follow Covid-19 guide-lines, saying that the state haddetectedcoronavirusstrainsthatoriginated from the UK andSouth Africa. The state govern-ment also announced freshcurbs on public movement byextending thenight curfew, be-tween 10 pm and 5 am, for thenextonemonth.Speakingtoreportershereon

Friday,DirectorofFamilyWelfare

and Preventive Medicine DrRadhaDebbarmasaid19sampleswere collected from Covid af-fected persons from outsideTripura for advanced virologicaltests. Seventeen samples out ofthesewerefoundpositive.“11outof thesepositivesam-

pleshad thedoublemutantvari-ety which is troublingMaharashtraseverely.FiveofthesewereofthemutatedUKstrainandoneisof thenewstrainofAfricanorigin. Peopleneed to strictly fol-lowallCovidregulationsfortheirsafety,”DrTapanMajumder,headof microbiology at AgartalaGovernmentMedicalCollegesaid.

Pinarayi pushesfor doublemasking; morecurbs plannedin Kerala

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,APRIL30

KERALACHIEFMinisterPinarayiVijayan on Friday urged peopleto use double masking to pre-vent thespreadof Covid-19.Reiteratingthatwearingtwo

masksshouldbecomeahabitforpeoplewhen they are steppingoutof theirhomes,Vijayansaid:“Doublemaskingdoesnotmeanuse of two cloth masks. Afterwearingasurgicalmask, a clothmask should be used. Doublemasking and frequenthandhy-gienewould prevent the infec-tion inabigway.”Hesaidfilmstars,culturallead-

ers, politicians andheadsof reli-giousbodies shouldmake inter-ventionstoenlightenpeopleaboutthesignificanceofusingmasks.Morerestrictionsareplanned

for the state to combat the risingnumberof cases. “There is aplanto limit the functioning of theCentralandtheStateGovernmentoffices for essential servicesonly.Shops selling essential itemswould function and restaurantswouldbeallowedonlyhomede-livery.However,freightmovementwouldgosmoothly.Therewouldnot be restrictions formigrantworkerstoengageintheirworkintheirplacesofstay,’’hesaid.ThesecurbsarelikelytobeimplementedfromMay4toMay9.

‘An icon of India’s legal system’:Tributes pour in for Soli Sorabjee

PM wants NGOs, volunteers to help health sector

Modichairedameetingtoreviewfunctioningofvariousempoweredgroups.File

ThetwopetitionerssaidtheywerechargedwithseditionforquestioningstategovernmentsandtheCentre,andforcommentsandcartoonssharedonsocialmedia

ALOKKANSALTAKESADDLCHARGEOFGM,CENTRALRLY

New Delhi

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MAY 1, MAY 2Sunday’soutcomewon't changeMonday’s imperative:

Its labharthipolitics shownup,governmentneeds tostepup

ONMAY1, the official opening up of the vaccination drive to the 18-45 agegroupishardly likely tostir thingsupontheground.Stateafterstate, fromBJP-ruledMadhyaPradeshtoCongress-ruledPunjab,fromLeft-ruledKeralato AAP-ruled Delhi, has indicated an inability to start. This is due to the

shortageofvaccinestocksandtheimperativetofirstgivetheseconddosetothosewait-ingforit inthe45-plusagegroup.OnMay2,resultsof fiveimportantelectionswillcomeinand theoutcomes, inWestBengal inparticular,will be closely read forwhat they sayabout thewayof thepoliticalwinds.Can the failure to launchonMay1becounteredorovertakenby thewritingon theelectionscoreboardonMay2?Can theBJP-ledgovern-ment that is in chargeof thenation’s flailing anti-Covid fight look for validationor evenabsolution from its electoral showing in the states?On themorning of the abortive ex-pansionof the vaccinationdrive, those arenot thequestions. Indeed,May1 is joined toMay2—but thequestion that links them is this:Howdid aparty that has perfected animpressive electionmachinery, andwhichhas, in government, designedapolitical andpolicywelfarism that seamlessly feeds into its electoral campaigns, lead the nation tothis terriblydepletedarsenal againstCovid?This questionneeds to be askednot just because responsibilitymust be ownedand

accountabilityneedstobefixed.Butalso,andmore,becausethere'sajobtobedone,afighthas tobefoughtandwon,andsogoingforward, lessonsmustbe learnt.Thefact is thatasubstantial part of the BJP’s political-electoral successes flows from its ability to targetthe citizen as “labharthi”, the beneficiary of schemes that deliver visibly, in the publicprovisioningof privategoods—be it theUjjwalacylinderor theAyushmanBharat card.Thehard fact also is that, today, onvaccines andoxygen, the strongestweapons againstavirusthatspreadsanddevastates, thenetworksandstrategiesanddata-gatheringthatfuel theBJP’s labharthipolitics, are comingupwoefully short. This failure is also framedinthepandemic’ssecondwaveintheModigovernment’scommunication—orlackof it.A government led by a leaderwho is an effective communicator, a primeminister

who speaks directly to the people even if thatmeans by-passing themediating insti-tutions, has not found the reassuring words or extended the healing touch at a timewhen the people need it most. Even its most experiencedministers, it seems, havelapsed into silence. This is not to say that awell-worded speechwas, or is, the upper-mostneedof thehour. It is topointout thatamidthesoundsof thecreakingandcrum-bling health infrastructure, a sense of helplessness and abandonment is growing,unchecked. Thepandemic’sdevastating secondwavecalls for thegovernment to stepupto itandtothepeople.That imperativewill remain justasurgentonMonday,what-ever the outcomeonSunday.

SOSAsilentpandemicof anxietyandmentalailments ishere.Governmentandsocietymustmountaresponse

THESARS-COV-2’SDAMAGEtomentalhealth,andnotjustthebodyalone,hasbeendescribedasacreeping, shadowpandemic.But in themiddleof adev-astating second surge, this crisis is no longer in the shadows. It ismaking it-selfvisible.Asthecurveofcoronavirusinfectionsspikesincityaftercity, lead-

ingtodisease,deathanddesperatequestsformedicalcare,sodoesthecurveofanguish.Inahumantragedyof this scale, thathassparedneither therichnor theprivileged, thathasorphanedchildrenandclaimed theold, the loss isnotonlypersonal, but is drawinglarger circles of grief and devastation.While a vaccination drive onmissionmode canbendthepandemic’scurve,thespikeindepressionanddespairislikelytohavealongtail— a recent Lancet study estimates that one in three COVID-19 survivors suffers from aneurological orpsychiatric ailmentwithin sixmonthsof being infected— if the scaleofthementalhealthproblemisnotacknowledgedandaddressed.Thechallengewasthere,evenbeforethepandemic.AccordingtotheNationalMental

HealthSurvey2015-16,closeto150millionIndianswereinneedofmentalhealthcaresup-port.NotonlydoesIndialackinresources(onepsychiatristfor1lakhpatients)andbudg-etaryallocations, societyhasnotyetdevelopedavocabulary that allowsanarticulationof this distress. The hierarchywithin the family, and hyper-competition outside it de-mandconformity from individuals—and repressionof anger and suffering. In this sec-ondsurge, thishas sometimes led toamisguideddemand for “positivity”.A similarde-nialhasmadepolicymakersignorethecrisisthatthepandemicposestoIndia’schildren.Foroverayearnow, theclosureof schoolshasdeprivedchildrenof friendship,mid-daymeals and the care of teachers, not tomention the physical release of playgrounds andsport—all essential to theirwell-being.Thestatemustprepareforamentalhealthcrisis,especiallybyputtingtheneedsofthe

vulnerableat thecentreof its response. Itmust startwith therecognition thateveryoneis vulnerable. Society as awholemust clear a space for a conversation about the toll ofwork,burnout,exhaustionandgriefonthepeoplewhohavekeptitseconomyandinsti-tutionsrunning,toreachouttothosewhoneedhelp.Thecoronavirusmighthaveforcedisolation, but solidarity, as is evident in themanyordinarypeopleorganisingCOVIDas-sistance forothers, ispartof thehuman immunesystem.

LISTENING & LEARNINGAjudgewants tounderstandLGBTQI+mattersand ‘evolve’.

Otherauthority figuresmust followhisexample

INAWELCOMEsubversionoftheUncleKnowsBestattitudeofmostIndians,JusticeNAnandVenkateshof theMadrasHighCourtdeclaredhis intentionof undergo-inga“psycho-educationsession”withanexpertonLGBTQI+matterssothathemaydeliver a better judgement in the case of a same-sex couple seeking protection

fromtheirparents.Thejudgesaidthathewasnotsufficiently“woke”onqueerissues,sothesessionwould lead tohis “evolution”.Whenwas the last time an authority figure decided to listen and learn, instead of

preaching their often ill-founded assumptions, especially onquestions that challengedtheheteronormative statusquo?As recently as February, theCentrehad cited “societalmorality”beforetheDelhiHC,whileseekingdismissalofaclutchofpetitionsprayingforrecognition of same-sexmarriage. Nevermind that queerness has an ancient, socially-sanctioned presence in India and that the “morality” being invoked is of more recent,Victorian vintage. It can’t bedenied that therehas been someprogress onqueer issues,but it has been painfully slow and oftenmisguided. Take the Transgender Persons’(ProtectionofRights)Act,2019,whichdilutestheverythingitseekstoprotect.Apparently,it’s not enough that transgender persons self-identify as such; theymust have a certifi-cate fromthedistrictmagistrate toprove it.Itisagainstthisdiscouragingbackgroundoftop-downactionsandemptygesturesthat

JusticeVenkateshacceptedhislimitationsandexpressedadesiretooutgrowthem.Otherjudges and lawmakers should pay attention. Because hiswords are a gentle reminderthateveryone, even thepowers thatbe, canandmust listenand learn, andevolve.

MuktaNaik

Indira Jaising

Migrantsaregoinghometovillagesagain, fromcities thatoffer lessopportunity,more threat

A DEFENDER OF FREE SPEECHSorabjee representedanera, focussedhisattentiononcivil andpolitical rights

ASTHESECONDwaveof theCOVID-19pan-demictakesIndia inadeathlygrip, imagesofreturningmigrants crowding transport ter-minals in large cities likeDelhi andMumbaihave returned to our television screens. Butwhereas last year’s longwalk home bymi-grantswastriggeredbytheeconomicshockoflosing livelihoods and compounded by thestringentmobility restrictionsof thenation-wide lockdown, this year’s return to the vil-lagesseemsarelativelywellthoughtstrategyofexitfromcitiesthatarefailingtoserveeventhosewithwealth and connections.Whilethey continue tomistrust the state, a year ofdealing with uncertainties may have im-provedmigrants’ ability to anticipate shockandrespondwithdeliberationandagency.Last year’s lockdown startingMarch 25

was implemented overnight, in a top-downmanner,acrosstheentirecountry.Diversefac-tors, including the sudden loss of income,mountingdebtandthefearofthedisease,co-alesced to set off what anthropologist BiaoXiangcalls“shockmobilities”,simplyunder-stoodassuddenmovementsthatrespondtoacutedisruptions.Theabsenceofpublictrans-portandthesealingofstatebordersplacedanimmediate and severe constraint on allmo-bilities,includingthosethatwereessentialforthe survival of theurbanpoor, includingmi-grantlabourwhoneedtotravelwithinthecityoracrosslocationsinordertoaccessadequateemployment,orreturntohomebase.Indoingso, itcreatedawaveofuncertaintyandpanicthat triggered dangerousmeans of escapesimilartothoseusedbyrefugeesandasylumseekers,likewalkinglongdistancesorengag-ing the services of illegal and expensive pri-vatetransporters.In the past year, migrantworkers have

made considered choices aboutwhether tostay or return. Inmanymigrant households,malemembershavemadeforaysintothecitytotestopportunities,whilewomenandchil-drenremainedbehind.Manymademultipleback and forth trips, as opportunities in thecitywaxedandwaned.Anothersetofmigranthouseholds—usually thosewith long-termwork relationships in the city— chose to re-mainintheirvillagesformonthsandreturnedonlywhen their contacts in the city assuredthemof theavailabilityofworkandhousing.

Construction,brickkilnandagriculturework-ers restarted their seasonalmigration cyclesassoonascontractorsrehiredthem.Workershave constantly leveraged (im)mobility tomaximiseemploymentopportunitiesandcutbackoncostsof survival.Butawholeyearof uncertaintyanddep-

rivation,ofconstantlyadaptingtoshocksandnewrealities, has left India’s informalwork-forceinaneconomicallyandemotionallybrit-tlecondition.Despitetheinordinateattentionof themedia anddevelopment communityon issues ofmigrants and informalworkers,littlehaschangedonthegroundforthem.An economic recovery in fits and starts

has meant inadequate work and lowerwages. The jury is still out on howwell thesocial protection system has delivered.Additional employment created at sourcevillages by bolstering theMGNREGA pro-gramme has provided little succour. Cashtransfers and additional rations via the PDShave been helpful, but short-lived, and in-debtednesshas risendramatically.These experiences appear to have pre-

paredmigrantworkers to face the secondwave.Theiractionsthisyearseemdriven,notsomuchbydesperation,asbytheirability tostrategicallyweigh their options. Last year,they suspected the governmentwould notcometotheirrescue.Thisyear,theyknowthatthesystemistoooverwhelmedtoheedtheirneed for cash, food andhealthcare. The gov-ernment’sresponseinthesecondwaveisalsodistinct from last year. Dispersedmini-lock-downs, instead of a centralised one, havemeantopenstatebordersandaccessiblepub-lictransport,allowingmigrantsaplannedexitinsteadofpanicflight.Thisplannedexitappears tobedrivenby

a clear rationale, the pros and cons ofwhichareexaminedagainst thebackdropofantici-patedstateaction that controlsmobilityandimpacts livelihoods, that is, lockdowns. First,exit is an economic strategy to avoid furtherdebtfrommountingcostsoffoodandhousingrent in the city, in the face of uncertain in-comes. For instance,migrants in Delhi andMumbai left after collecting March-endsalaries, amid rumours of impending lock-downs. Concurrently, pro-active cash trans-fersbystategovernmentsinMaharashtraand

Delhimight have delayed exit decisions forsome,providingurgentsustenancewhentheyneededit.Second, it is an emotional response.

Migrantsremainscarredbymemoriesof lastyear’s arduous journeys homeand this timeround,may bemore fearful of health risks.Fallingsickcouldmean lossofworkand fur-ther debt, but also a lurking fear of death.Migrantlabourcannothopetoaccessanover-burdenedhealth system that even thewell-off arestrugglingtonegotiate.A third experience from last year,which

migrantswould have taken onboard, is theincreased likelihood of accessing welfaremechanisms including employment oppor-tunitiesunderMGNREGAandincreasedPDSallocations if theyareback in theirhomevil-lages. The practical ineffectiveness of porta-bilitymechanismsiswellunderstoodbymi-grantcommunities.ThatmigrantsfromUttarPradesh andWest Bengal returnedhome tovoteinlocalandstateelections,despitearag-ingpandemic,onlyunderscorestheabsoluteimportance of being politically relevant insourcelocations.Theplannedexitofmigrantsfromthecity

inthewakeofCovid-19’ssecondwaveinIndia,therefore, simply adds on to the continued(im)mobilitiesthroughayearofconstantun-certaintyandstruggle.Rapidlychangingrules,uneveneconomicrecoveryandastillbrokensocialsecuritysystemdonotinspireanyfaithineitherthestateorthemarket.Byallaccounts,migrantsfullyunderstand

thatwithlowerbargainingpoweratworkandno political commitment towards systemicinclusion, the city remains a hostile place.Correspondingly,mobility— the proverbialaanajaana—remainsastrategytoabsorbthecity’sdualcharacterasbothopportunityandthreat,whiletheideaofhomeasaplaceofre-treat—albeitimperfect—isreinforced.Apost-Covid imagination of sustainable develop-mentmust account for the importance ofvarious formsofmobility as a strategyof re-silienceforthecountry’spoor.

Thewriter isFellow,CentreforPolicyResearch.Herworkfocusesonunderstandingthelinksbetweeninternalmigrationandurbanisation

intheIndiancontext

WITHTHEPASSINGawayofSoliSorabjee,wehave lost one of the few people remainingfrom the first generation of post-coloniallawyers.HewastheunmistakableproductofBombay, nowMumbai, and of the original-side bar, where lawyers were divided be-tweensolicitorsandadvocates.Hisadvocacywas in the Britishmould in style and sub-stance—hemastered the art of adversariallitigation.Havingdominatedthebarforoversevendecades,he left an impactonagener-ationof lawyerswhocameafterhim,thoughtheywereverydifferent fromhim.When Sorabjeewas a young lawyer, the

BombaybarwasdominatedbytheParsiandGujarati communities.Healreadyhadarolecutoutforhiminthelegalcommunityintheheart of the commercial capital of India. HecarriedwithhimtillhislastdayshisBombayParsi style of advocacy. It was rumoured inthe 1980s that the Bombay bar dominatedtheSupremeCourtuntilthingschanged.Thisimpressionwas in no smallmeasure due tothe presence of Sorabjee, whowas a solici-tor-general and twice attorney-general ofIndia. His juniors includedHarish Salve andsittingSupremeCourt judgeUULalit.Ever since I can remember, Sorabjee fo-

cusedhisattentiononcivilandpoliticalrightsand,more particularly, on the right to free-domof speech and expression. His genera-tion of lawyers did not focus their attentiononsocialandeconomicrights,whichwasleft

tothelawyerswhocameafterthem.Hisop-position to the Emergency earned him thepositionofsolicitor-generalof India—awell-deservedposition.Althoughhearguedmanyhistory-making cases, speaking formyself, Ifound hismostmemorable contribution inthechallengetothesettlementbetweentheUnion of India and Union Carbide in theBhopalgastragedycase.ThesettlementwassignedwhenaCongressgovernmentwas inpowerandKParasaranwasattorney-general.In return for $450million, the settlementagreed that all civil and criminal chargeswould be dropped against Union Carbide.Withthechangeinpoliticalpower,VPSinghappointed Sorabjee attorney-general, and itfell upon him to argue the review petitionfiledbythevictimstosetasidethesettlement.To his credit, he stoodby the victimsnot forpolitical reasonsbutoutof his commitmenttohuman rights andpersuaded the court toset aside the closure of the criminal cases. ItwasnoaccidentthatUnionCarbidewasrep-resentedbyyetanotherBombaylawyer,FaliSNariman,whowasequallydistinguished.Of all of Sorabjee’s children, it was his

daughter Zia Mody who took to the law.Once again, starting her career in the com-mercial capital of India, shehascarried for-wardher father’s legacy inthe fieldof com-mercial lawandhasgoneontofoundoneofthemost successful lawfirms in Indiadeal-ing with transactional law. His sons are

renownedintheirownfieldofexpertiseanddid him proud. His wife was a foundingmember of the Bahai faith in India andSorabjee supported her in every possibleway inher religiousendeavours.Soliwasamanofmultipletalents.Hewas

knownnotonlyasalawyer,butalsoasajazzlover,artcritic,andhiscolumnsinTheIndianExpresswerewidelyread.Despitehismulti-ple successes, henever lost contactwithor-dinarymembers of the bar andwas oftenfound in theSupremeCourtbar roominter-actingwithallofus.Hiswasatimewhenthebarwasnotpoliticised.Hedidnotparticipatein party politics nor the politics of the bar.Today, itwouldbealmost impossible to findsuchaperson, forsuccess isalmost impossi-blewithoutpoliticalalignments.WehavelostSorabjeeatatimewhenour

civilandpolitical rightsareendangered.TheSupreme Court went through a phase fo-cussing on civil and political rights in the1970s,andthenonsocialandeconomicrightsin the1980-90s.Andnowthetimehasonceagaincomeforthecourttofocusonpoliticalandcivil rights—mostimportantlytherightto free speech and dissent. His contributionwouldhavematteredtothecountry.Thetasknowfallsonyoungergenerationsof lawyers.

Thewriter is formeradditional solicitorgeneralof Indiaandsenioradvocate,

SupremeCourt

A whole year of uncertaintyand deprivation, ofconstantly adapting toshocks and new realities, hasleft India’s informalworkforce in aneconomically andemotionally brittlecondition. Despite theinordinate attention of themedia and developmentcommunity on issues ofmigrants and informalworkers, little has changedon the ground for them. Aneconomic recovery in fitsand starts has meantinadequate work and lowerwages. The jury is stillout on how well thesocial protection systemhas delivered.

Despite his multiplesuccesses, he never lostcontact with ordinarymembers of the bar and wasoften found in the SupremeCourt bar room interactingwith all of us. His was a timewhen the bar was notpoliticised. He did notparticipate in party politicsnor the politics of the bar.Today, it would be almostimpossible to find such aperson, for success isalmost impossible withoutpolitical alignments.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021WORDLYWISE

Asick thought candevour the body's fleshmore than fever or consumption.

— Guy deMaupassantTHEEDITORIALPAGE

BLACK MONEY BONDSTHE LASTMINUTE rush for “blackmoneybonds”atthespecialcountersof theReserveBank and the State Bank of India inmajorcities on Thursday helped the Governmenttonarrowthewidegapinitsexpectationandactualrealisationoftheunaccountedmoneylying in private vaults. After the close of thesaleof thespecialbearerbonds, theFinanceMinistry officials could not say till late atnighthowmuchblackmoneyhadbeende-livered to the banks in exchange for thebonds. As on April 25, the government hadnotbeenable togetmore thanRs203croreofunaccountedmoney.Buttherewasasud-denspurtinsalessincethenandbankswere

crowdedwith those bringing large sums ofcash. Yet it was doubtful if the collectionwouldbeanywhereclosetotheanticipatedRs 1000 croreswhich the Government hadhopedtomobilise.

YOUTH CONG FOR RAJIVTHE TWO-DAY MEETING of the nationalcouncil of the youth Congress (I) ended onThursdaywiththeadoptionofaunanimousresolution requesting the PrimeMinister’sson, Mr Rajiv Gandhi, to enter active poli-tics and lead the Indian youth. The YouthCongress (I) president, Mr Ghulam NabiAzad, toldnewsmenafter themeetingthat“the Youth Congress (I) feels that he (Mr

RajivGandhi)hastheenergyandthecapac-ity to guide the Indian youth.” He said thenational council had also accepted anamendmentproposedbyseveralmembersthat Mr Rajiv Gandhi should be requestedto contest the forthcoming by-election tothe Lok Sabha.

SOVIETS IN LEBANONLEBANONTHREATENSTObecomeanewfo-calpointofcrisiswithSaudiArabiachargingthat Soviet advisers have moved intoLebanonwiththeSAManti-aircraftmissilesbroughtinbytheSyriansafterIsraeliaircraftshot down two Syrian helicopter gunshipsfiringat theChristians.

MAY 1, 1981, FORTYYEARSAGO

The second leaving

New Delhi


WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“The richest nations account for 16 per cent of the global population but hold 53per cent of all purchased coronavirus doses.” —THENEWYORKTIMESTHE IDEASPAGE


What is worrying, though, isthat the ruling partyconsiders an election win —it outspends most of itspolitical opponents manifold— as a ringing endorsementfor its worst decisions. TheOpposition, too, appears tolimit its political action toelectoralism. WithParliament barelyfunctioning as a forum fordebate and accountability,this has meant, essentially,that the ruling party and itsleaders face no consequences,even for criminal negligence.

IN MARCH 2017, when the national econ-omywasstill reeling fromtheeffectsofde-monetisation, the BJP swept the UttarPradesh assembly elections. That poll wasseenas a referendumonwhat appeared tobe failedpolicy: Theabrupt cancellationofnearly nine-tenths of India's legal tenderdid not achieve any of its purported aims,which ranged from ending terrorism andcrime, to destroying blackmoney and for-malisinganddigitisingtheeconomy(cash,in the current pandemic-induced panic, isback with a bang). For both the winningparty and its detractors, the electoral vic-torymeant theendofpolitical action,evendebate, around the issue. For theBJP, itwasaringingendorsementof thepolicyandthePM; for others, the people had made thewrong choice, become irreversibly“Hindutva-ised”.OnSunday,astheelectionresults fromfourstatesandPuducherryrollin, there is a danger that the mistakes of2017 are repeated; that an electionwin orloss for theBJP—especially inWestBengal— could be seen as an endorsement of itshandlingof thepandemicoracomplete in-dictment of Hindutvapolitics.Over the last fewweeks, a devastating

health crisis—at least partially the result ofanill-preparedandineptgovernment—hasunfolded. On social media andWhatsAppgroups,theangeratlosinglovedones,atim-ages that show how cheap human life anddignitycanbeinthiscountry,ispalpable.Thepolitical and governmental response to thepandemic,rightfromitsonset,hasfollowedascriptthatwearealltoofamiliarwithfromthe demonetisation exercise. The last-minute lockdownlastMarch; thepanicandsubsequentdeathandsufferingthatmigrantworkers sufferedwere both avoidable. TheonlyjustificationsforthepaincausedbytheMahabharata-likewarontheviruswerethatitwould“breakthechain”(itdidnot,clearly)andthatIndiawouldusetherespitefromthevirus to build up itsmedical infrastructure.Yet, if the last fewweeks are anything to goby, that time has beenwasted. And as peo-plearedying,gasping forair, aUnionminis-ter has called the need for oxygen a “de-mand-sideproblem”andtheCentre’slawyertoldtheDelhigovernmentintheHighCourtnot “to be a cry baby”. And while vaccineshortage appears tobea real issue, the gov-ernment is boasting of howmany SMSes ithassenttothosewhohaveregisteredontheCoWinapp inhopeof ashot. Tweetscriticalof thegovernmenthavebeenremoved,oth-ershavebeen toldnot topoliticise the issuewhentheydemandaccountability.India's politics is at aprecipice. Ifwe fall,

theabilitytogovernmaywellhavenobear-ingonwhowinsanelection.Before democracy became the most

widely accepted formof government—es-peciallyafterthewaveofdecolonisationpostWorldWarII—political legitimacywasafarmore complex thing to determine. It camefrom gods, through “divinely ordained”kings, brute force and compacts betweenhereditary elites. Now, though, things are

muchsimpler.Atleast160outofthe195sov-ereign states claim to be democratic; theirgovernments derive the right to rule in theultimateanalysisthroughthewillofthepeo-ple. The near-universal acceptance of elec-tions as a basic prerequisite for ruling a na-tion-statecomesinnosmallpartfromIndia'ssuccess in this regard. In1947, and for somedecades thereafter,manyaround theworldthought thatapoor,diversenationwith thegapingwound of Partition inflicted on it atthemoment of its birthwould not survivethe chaos of periodic elections.We provedthemwrong.Andifwecouldbedemocratic,anycountrycould.In2014, andmoreemphatically in2019,

Indiavotedinasingle-partymajoritywithastrongideologicalcommitment.Simplyput,the difference between an ordinarymasspartyandanideology-drivenoneisthis:Forthe latter, thepeoplemustbechanged to fita vision of society; politics does not in itsessencerespondtothedemandsof thepeo-ple.The2019generalelectionwin,forexam-ple, paved the way for the dismantling ofsome of the basic tenets of India's politicalmorality — federalism (the abrogation ofArticle 370, and now the LG replacing theelected government in Delhi) and secular-ism(asittingprimeminister inauguratingatemple on the site of a criminal demolitionandtheCAAenshrininginlawanideaofdif-ferential access to citizenship rights basedonreligion), toname just two.The question, then, is this: Is the obses-

sion with elections actually underminingIndiandemocracy?Isittrue,asPlatopointedout way back, that thosemost able to gainpowerare the least suited towield it?It is important to remember that every

electoral victorydoesnotmarkan ideologi-calchangeinthepeople.TheBJP iscertainlygreat atwinningelections.And itwieldsdi-visiveness like a prizefighter. But a vote for

the saffron party is not necessarily a voteagainstminorities.ManyIndiansdovoteforchangeforitsownsakeorliketogowiththeperceivedwinner. Yet, this does notmakethem“a basket of deplorables”. Or life-longSanghParivarloyalists.NordoesalossfortheBJP in, say, Bengal or Assam, mean that awave of Nehruvian secularism has swepteastern India.Whatisworrying,though, isthattherul-

ingpartyconsidersanelectionwin—itout-spendsmostof itspoliticalopponentsman-ifold — as a ringing endorsement for itsworst decisions. The Opposition, too, ap-pearstolimit itspoliticalactiontoelectoral-ism.WithParliamentbarely functioningasa forum for debate and accountability, thishasmeant,essentially, that therulingpartyand its leaders face no consequences, evenfor criminalnegligence.Indiandemocracy, initsessenceandori-

gins, is not thevoiceof amob findingutter-ance in periodic elections. It ismeant to bethewill of thepublic. Andwhilepublics areself-consciousandreasonable,mobsareledfrom the outside, bending to the frenziedmanipulations of great leaderswho are of-ten quite petty. What prevents the publicfromturning into amobare theother insti-tutionsofdemocracy:Electioncommissionsmeanttoensurealevel-playingfield;ajudi-ciary that is impartial and just; amedia thatenrichesthepublicdiscourseandquestionsthose in power. Andwhile eachof these in-stitutionshas failed to somedegree, bent topressure, hopefully, none of themhas bro-ken.If theyhave,electionsmaywellpavethepathforIndiatobecomeanunconstitutionaldemocracy, in opposition to the values andstructuresthatprotect Indians.Andthecur-renthealthcrisis, inall itstragedy,couldjustbe thebeginning.

[email protected]

COVID IS THEoverwhelming tragedy of ourtimes. After emerging, seemingly relativelyunscathed, from the firstwave— althoughbearingwitness to the forcedmarch ofmil-lionsofmigrantlabourbereftofhopeandhelpwassoul-searing—thesecondwavehasbe-siegedourbatteredadministrativeandinfra-structural defences. Grieving families areshockedbytheferocityandthehorrorof thisinfection.Noonehasbeensparedthewrathofthedisease.Smoulderingpyresandmakeshiftgraveyardsaresignifiersof themagnitudeofthecalamity.Wepause toacknowledge the tirelessef-

forts of those selfless Indiansmanning thefrontlines of this battle with tremendouscourageandselflessdedication.Theheroinesandheroesofthisstrugglearenotnecessarilyin elected offices. They constitute thegroundswell of decent, every day, ordinaryIndianswho,inthemiddleof theirownexis-tential struggles ensure that the light of lifecontinuestoshine.Therehasbeenafailureofaccountability.

Inademocracy,accountabilitycannotonlybeelectoral. Accountability remains a dailyprocess,steeredbytheintegrityofinstitutions—courts, civil servants, auditors in anunfet-teredmedia—toensurethatgovernmentpol-icy and interventions remain faithful to thestated objectives of publicwelfare. In publiclife, accountability remains amoral impera-tive,drivenbyconscienceandintrospection.

Despite the remarkablepaceof scientificinnovationindevelopingavaccineouradmin-istrative,economicandgovernancestructuresfailedtoanticipatethenecessityforaparallelscalingofthepublichealthinfrastructure.Thisoversighthasproved tobeourundoing. Themutation of viruseswith the advance of thepandemicwaslargelyignoredwhenmutantstrainswerefirstdetectedwithinourborders.As the firstwave subsided, the governmentthought they had slain the Hydra. In themonthswhenahigh-level task force shouldhavebeenconveningdaily,developingtacti-calandstrategicresponsesforinoculationandadvancingtreatmentprotocolsinbothurbancentresandmofussiltowns,weslippedintoasmugstupor.Thiscomplacencyledtoprema-ture declarations of victory, unthinking roll-out of state elections, and congregation ofmasses at religious gatherings. These super-spreader events simply enabled the virus toproliferateexponentially.Themountingeconomiccostswillbeim-

possible to ignore in the comingmonths. Intheabsenceofastreamlinedandcoordinatedstrategybetweenalllevelsofadministration,themultipleshocksof thepandemicshallbefelt,andremembered.Thethreetiersofgov-ernmenthavedifferent strengths, resources,andreach.Thesystematicweakeningofcom-plementaritiesbetweenthemhascontributedtotheescalationof thecrisis. Institutingmu-tually supportive decisionmaking between

tiersofgovernmentiscriticaltorestoringthefaith of citizens in their government. Evenamid the pandemic, the first steps towardsthis remediation of institutional rupturesmustcommence.Transparent communication is the need

of thishour.This isa timefor truthandcom-passion. In this spirit, the governmentmustacceptplain-speakingandcriticismof itsac-tions, rather than expending precious ener-gies instiflingvoicesof dissent. Socialmediaplatformsshouldbefreetodisseminateuse-fulinformationratherthanbeingpersecuted.AlleviatingthesufferingofmillionsofIndianswill require the cooperation and support ofeachoneofus.This isnotimeforscientificnationalism.

We must be open to help in the form ofknowledge,vaccines,technology,andequip-ment from themost qualified global agen-cies. At the same time, national resourcesmust be converged on themanufacturingand supplying of pandemic-related equip-ment.Repurposingsomepublicsectorplantsto supply oxygen has begun belatedly, butmore can be done. On international plat-forms, wemust push for the suspension ofpatent protection for pandemic-relatedmedicines.Theinternationalcommunityhasbeenwillingtoextendanopenhandofferinghelp.Wemustacceptthiswithgrace.Finally,thisisatimeforhumanitarianism.Allactionsmustbeselflesslynon-partisan.

Victory over the pandemic and succourfor the traumatised soul of the nationwillnot come so easily. A three-pronged ap-proachwithmassvaccination,massivesup-portforhealthcareinfrastructure,andanun-precedented deployment and distributionof provisionsandmedicationmustbecare-fully planned, logistically streamlined andimplementedquickly.Assetslikeourpostof-ficenetworkandcommunityservicecentresmust supplement theeffortsof theexistinghealthinfrastructure.Wemustswiftlyadoptbestpractices fromothernationswhereac-tive inoculation, widespread public use ofmasks,directfinancialsupporttotheneedy,andsuccessfulmessagingof treatmentpro-tocolshavemitigatedtheworstof theongo-ingpandemic.We may have lost this battle, but we

must still prevail in this war. This is a timefor our national leadership to lookwithin,to put aside differences, and to come to-gether in a great outpouring of support forour people. Irrespective of our political af-filiations or ideological leaning, we shouldall be committed to the resolution of thepresentcrisis.Noindividualororganisationcanachievethisalone.Thoughtful, inclusiveanddeliberativemeasurestocourse-correctareurgentlyneeded.

Pilot is formerUnionMinisterofCorporateAffair

Anationincrisisneedstruthandcompassion,andtransparentcommunication

Let’s put up a better fight

Aakash Joshi

CR Sasikumar

Theelectionresults fromfourstatesandPuducherrymustnotobscurethegrowinggapbetweenelectoralpoweranddemocraticaccountability

What the ballot says, and doesn’t

Sachin Pilot

THOSEOFUSwhothoughttheendof2020marked the end of grim times, have beenprovedwrongbythefirsthalf of2021.TheCOVID-19 situation, which had signifi-cantly improved as recently as February2021,hasagainbroughtfreshchallengestothefore.Healthcareinfrastructureisunderheavystrain.Buttherearesomethingsdis-tinctly different from the previous year.Most importantly,wehavevaccines. Indiaremainsamongthelargestvaccinemanu-facturers of theworld and is also runningthe largest vaccination drive in theworld.Ourstrategyofvaccinatingfrontlinework-ersearlyonhasalsobeenbeneficial.Adversities are supposed touniteus—

torisetotheoccasionanddefeat thecom-mon enemywhich, in this case, is a once-in-a-lifetimeglobalpandemic.Unityisverydifferentfromaccountability.Byallmeans,ask the right questions and seek the rightanswers. Offer constructive feedback aswell. But, in India, it’s the opposite. Thesame cast has reorganised with a newscript,wherethefocushasshiftedfromthepandemic to the PrimeMinister. In thistragedy, they smell an opportunity to re-vive fallingpolitical fortunes.It is unfortunate that while frontline

workersarefightingthetoughestbattleoftheirlivesandcountlesspatientslieinhos-pitals, there’s a groupof peoplewhohavea “find and feast approach” — find thebiggest tragedy and feast on it. Never be-fore has every death beenmetwith suchback-handedjoyjustbecauseitcanpoten-tiallyembarrassthegovernment.Neverbe-forehavewereducedfunerals,otherwiseaverysolemnandprivateaffair, toaspecta-cle aimedat taunting thepresent govern-ment. To justify suchbehaviour,manyex-planations have been given— “MahatmaGandhi’s funeralhasbeenphotographed”or “Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji’s funeral wasshownonliveTV.”GandhijiandVajpayeejiwerepublicfigureswhoseliveswereaboutthepeople.Noteverypersonwishestoliveanddie like this.Every life lost due to COVID-19 is a

tragedy. Yet, we did not see back-to-backcoverage of mass graveyards in theWestwhen their numberswere looking bleak.Themanner inwhich India’smisery isbe-ing“marketed”globally ispainful.Today,everytragedyishighlightedasa

"politicalturningpoint”.Theheart-wrench-ingsceneofmigrantswalkinghomeinpeaksummerwassimilarlyshownasa“turningpoint”. The gruesome killing of our forcesinPulwamawasalsoseenasone.

Evenreformsandfairlawsareopposed.ThebringinginofGSTanddemonetisationwere seen as “turning points”. CAA andNRC, too. Discussions around themwerefilledwithprematurecelebration.This tendencywillhaverepercussions

for our nation. Power comes and goes.Someonemay have ruled this nation formany decades earlier but the fact thatsuchpowerdoesnotexistwiththemnowcannotbecomeabasis forpoliticisingsen-sitive issues.Unfortunately for suchelements, their

efforts palebefore thewisdomof our citi-zens.Theycampaignedhardondemoneti-sation during the UP 2017 elections.Wesaw how that panned out. Theywent totown citing a “failed GST” in Gujarat butthat,too,didnotpanoutasplanned.BasedonCAAandNRC,theyfelttheywouldreaprich harvests in the Northeast but wereprovenwrong.Lastyear,asmostmigrantsmadetheirwaytoBihar,theyfelttheyhavehit gold. But thepeople of Bihar preferredstable and experienced hands over shrillpoliticalrhetoric.Every"turningpoint”be-camea"trippingpoint”.Thepeopleof Indiahaveseenthetrack

record of PM Modi. Kutch was turnedaround after one of India’s worst earth-quakes under his leadership. Ahmedabadand Surat were saved from life-threaten-ing floods. I can list many examples.Recently, themigrant crisis was handledby ushering the largest poverty supportmeasureintheformofthePMGaribKalyanpackage.Thenumberofeconomicreformslast year were welcomed even byModicritics.Evennow,thegainsinvaccinationoreffortstoaddmedicalaswellasoxygenca-pacities continue. In such times, it wouldbe insensitive toseekpoliticalgainswhenthe futureof theplanet is at stake.Our political rejects bringwith thema

burdensome legacy, a hunger for powerand a demanding ecosystemwhich haslongenjoyedthebenefitsofthegravytrain.Today’sIndiadoesnotacceptthat.Theyarewatching with dismay every effort thismotley group hasmade to create furtherpanic.Evenaprojectofglobalgoodlikethevaccines became about NarendraModi.ThroughDecember, JanuaryandFebruarythe vaccinewasmocked, questioned andridiculed.Forapartywhichhasrunthena-tion for several years and even initiatedvaccination drives in the past, their topleadership has not once boosted publicconfidencebyurgingothers to take it.A strong and healthy India is vital for

globalgood.Theneedofthehouristofightthis crisis as one,with a spirit of coopera-tion. Politics canwait. Therewill bemanyopportunities to do that. The “turningpoints” canwait but onewrong turnwilltake us to a point of no return and by thetimewerealise itwouldbe too late.

Thewriter isanactorandformerchairperson, FilmandTelevision Instituteof India

YOGA ISN’T ENOUGHTHIS REFERS TO ‘The kids are not al-right’ (IE30Apr).Thoughweall realisethat the pandemic has impacted themental wellbeing of our children andyoung people, precious little is beingdone to mitigate the negativity andother ill effects precipitated byCOVID.Weneedtothinkbeyondyoga,consid-eredapanaceaforallmentalandphys-ical ailments these days in India. Yoga,forall itsgreatqualities,cannotaddresseveryproblem. It ishightimethechildand adolescent psychiatrists (peoplelike Amit Sen) designedmodules forteachers and parents and administerthese online or press upon the regula-torybodieslikeCBSEorstateeducationboards tomake them available to thestakeholders.

JaskaranSingh,Pilani

BUILD PRESSURETHISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘Maximummisgovernance’ (IE, April 30). The au-thor highlights the failure of gover-nancewithin the frame of democracyand calls the official approach in han-dling the COVID crises as “eventman-agement”withcheerleadersdoingtherest to worsen the situation. In fact,democracy—thesoulofgovernance—is, unfortunately, breathingonaventi-lator. In sucha situation, no amount ofwishful thinking or even despair willhelp. The onlyway one can copewiththe crisis is to buildmass pressure onthepoliticaldispensation.

GJavaidRasool,Lucknow

THISREFERSTOthearticle, ‘Maximummisgovernance’ (IE, April 30).What isalmost as disturbing as the gross in-

competenceofthegovernmentisitsre-fusal, even now, to let go of its shrillcampaign. On social media, it is busyblaming the Opposition and trying tocensorthosewhooppose it.Evennow,there is no daily — what is neededtwice-a-day—press conferenceswithexperts.Who is in charge?Whywon’tthey answerquestions?This is not thetime forone-waysermons.

ShantanuRay,viaemail

A PIONEERTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Thethirdman’(IE,April30).Peoplearedeeplysad-denedat thedemiseofMichaelCollins,theNASAastronautwho, aspilot of theApollo11commandmodulestayedbe-hind on July 20, 1969, while NeilArmstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrintravelledtothelunarsurfacetobecomethefirsthumanstowalkonthemoon.

SSPaul,Nadia

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●ENDVACCINEAPARTHEID,PUTPEOPLEABOVEPROFIT:

ANJELATANEJA

●COVID-19ANDPULMONARY

REHABILITATION:SAIMAZAKI

www.indianexpress.com

AnupamKher

Acastof political rejectsmuststopseekinggains in thepandemic, anduniteagainst

aonce-in-a-lifetimecrisis

No time forpartisanship

New Delhi

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

Chief Engineer PMGSY (JKRRDA) Jammu on behalf of The Government of Jammu & Kashmir, invites e-tenders on %ageAbove/Excess (+) OR %age Below/ Less (-) basis (i.e. on Percentage-Rate Basis) from approved and eligible Contractors registered withJ&K State Govt, CPWD, Railways or equivalent and other State Govts up to 5.00 PM on 05-05-2021 for each of the following works.

Government of Jammu and KashmirOFFICE OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER PMGSY (JKRRDA) JAMMU.

NOTICE INVITING e-TENDERSe-NIT No:-CEJ/PMGSY/644 of 2021-22 Dated:-26/04/2021

1. (a) The Bidding documents can be downloaded from the website http://pmgsytendersjk.gov.in from 06.55 P.M On 27-04-2021 to 05-05-2021 (5.00PM).(b) The Bids shall be deposited in electronic format on the website http://pmgsytendersjk.gov.infrom 05.00 PM on 29-04-2021 to 05.00 PM on 05-05-2021.(c) A Pre bid meeting will be held on 28-04-2021 at 12.00 Noon in the Office of The Chief Engineer PMGSY (JKRRDA) Jammu to clarify the issues and to

answer questions on any matter that may be raised at that stage as stated in Clause 9 of instruction to bidders of the Bidding documents.Sd/- Chief Engineer PMGSY (JKRRDA) Jammu

For and on behalf of The GovernmentJammu and Kashmir

Sr. Name of Work/Package No. Name of Constt. Cost of Earnest Time Call of Time and Class ofNo. the PIU Part Document Money Allowed Tender Date of Contractors

(Rs. in (Rs. in (Rs. in for Opening ofLacs) Lacs) Lacs) Compl- Tenders

etion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Reasi 82.48 0.06 - 09 Months 1st

2 61.82 0.06 - 09 Months 1st

Restoration of road damaged due to laying ofOFC by JIO Digital Fibre Ltd. from Gran toSukhalghati (UptoToot) Package No. JK14-514,Upgradation of Gran to Sukhalghati Km 4th to8th Package No. JK14- 735 and Gran toSukhalghati (Part-II) Package No. JK14-544,under PMGSY, Block Reasi, District Reasi.(Length = 26.00 Kms)(Advertised Cost) = Rs.82.48 Lacs

Restoration of road damaged due to laying ofOFC by JIO Digital Fibre Ltd. from KainthgaliBlock Boundary Udhampur toBarioteuptoMoungri (Part-I), Package No.JK14-683, and Kainthgali Block Boundary Udhampurto BarioteBeyond Moungri(Part-II) Package No.JK14-684 under PMGSY, Block Panchari,District Reasi. (Length = 37.360 Kms)(Advertised Cost) = Rs.61.82 Lacs

No:-CEJ/PMGSY/1186-1255Dated:- 26-04-2021

Any registeredcontractor with

State PWD/CPWD/

Railways orequivalent

qualifying eligi-bility criteria asprovided in the

StandardBidding

Documentscan tender for

the works

08-05-202110.00 AM

DIPJ-792

e- TENDER NOTICE

Ref. No/SSCDL/2021/Tender/02/256 Satna, Dated: 28.04.2021

Tender No: 2021_UAD_ 141151_1

Online tender through e-tendering is invited by Satna Smart CityDevelopment Limited (SSCDL), Satna, MP. for the work ofDesign, Engineering, Procurement & Construction works of TwoHybrid (Electrical & Gas) Crematorium & Redevelopment ofexisting Muktidhaams In Satna, Madhya Pradesh.

The brief details of the project are as below:

(i) Estimated Project Cost: INR 42199800.00/- (ExcludingTaxes)

(ii) Bid Submission Start Date : 30.04.2021, 18:30 Hrs

(ii) Bid Submission Closing Date: 31.05.2021, 17:30 Hrs

For eligibility details, EMD and terms & condition of the tenderplease visit https://mptenders.gov.in

Sr.No.

1.

NAME OFBOARD

CORP./AUTH

UHBVN

OLD REFER-ENCE/NIT NO.

35/PROJECTS/2020

WEBSITE OFTHE BOARDCORP./AUTH

www.uhbvn.org.in

NODAL OFFI-CER/CONTACTDETAILS/EMAIL

9317554907seprojects@uhbv

n.org.in

NATURE OFCORRIGENDUM

AMENDMENTS & DATEEXTENDED UPTO

12.05.2021

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION KINDLY VISIT: www.haryanaeprocurement.gov.in or www.etenders.hry.nic.in2801/HRY

BÊ-d³fd½fQf Af¸faÂf¯f Àfc¨f³ff A³fb·f½feAf´fcd°fÊI °ffÊAûÔ ÀfZ ´ffSm¿f¯f ´fdV¨f¸f ÃfZÂf, ¸fZSN IZA³°f¦fÊ°f d³f¸³f Àff¸f¦fie WZ°fb BÊ-d³fd½fQf BÊ-´fûMÊ»fetender.up.nic.in ´fS Qû ·ff¦fûÔ ¸fZÔ 12.00¶fªfZ °fI Af¸fadÂf°f I e ªff°fe W`Ü BÊ-d³fd½fQfJb»f³fZ I e d°fd±f ´fS A½fI fVf I e dÀ±fd°f ¸fZÔ BÊ-d³fd½fQf A¦f»fZ I f¹fÊ dQ½fÀf ¸fZÔ Jû»fe ªff¹fZ¦feÜ 1.d³fd½fQf Àfa£¹ff- Me-02/2021-22: d½fôb°f´ffSm¿f¯f J¯O, ¶fb»f³QVfWS IZ A³°f¦fÊ°f d½fd·f³³fC´fIZ ³ýiûÔ ´fS Ad¦³f Vf¸f³f ¹f³ÂfûÔ I e Af´fcd°fÊÜ²fSûWS SfdVf ÷ . 3,000/- (÷ . °fe³f WªffS¸ffÂf)Ü d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf Vfb»I ÷ . 590/- (I SÀfdW°f)Ü Jb»f³fZ I e dQ³ffaI 02.06.2021Ü BÊ-d³fd½fQf IZ ´fi±f¸f ·ff¦f CÀfe dQ³f d³f²ffÊdS°f Àf¸f¹f´fS Àff½fÊªfd³fI ø ´f ÀfZ Jû»ff ªff¹fZ¦ff E½fa ·ff¦fdõ°fe¹f (´fifBªfd¶fO) Jb»f³fZ I e d°fd±f °fQû³fbÀffS½fZ¶fÀffBM ´fS Àfcd¨f°f I e ªff¹fZ¦feÜ BÊ-d³fd½fQfAûÔI û d¶f³ff I ûBÊ I fS¯f ¶f°ff¹fZAÀ½feI fS/d½f·ffdªf°f I S³fZ I f Ad²fI fSA²fûWÀ°ffÃfSI °ffÊ IZ ´ffÀf ÀfbSdÃf°f SWZ¦ffÜIÈ ´f¹ff d½fÀ°fÈ°f ªff³fI fSe OfC³f»fûO A³¹fÀfaVfû²f³fûÔ E½fa BÊ-d³fd½fQf ´fiÀ°fb°f I S³fZ IZ dQ³ffaI°fI d½fÀ°ffS AfdQ IZ Àf¸¶f³²f ¸fZÔ IÈ ´f¹ffetender.up.nic.in ´fS »ffg¦f Afg³f I SmÔÜWÀ°ff./- ¸fb£¹f Ad·f¹f³°ff (´ffSm¿f¯f ´fdV¨f¸f)130-Oe, ´ffSm¿f¯f ·f½f³f, d½f¢MûdS¹ff ´ffIÊ ,¸fZSNÜ kkSf¿MÑdW°f ¸fZÔ D ªffÊ ¶f¨ff¹fZÔllÜ ´fÂffaI3166/¸fb.A.(´ff.´f.)¸fZSN/T-02/2021-22dQ³ffaI : 30.04.2021

DIRECTORATE OF ENERGYGOVERNMENT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

SHANTI BHAWAN, PHASE-III, SECTOR-6, NEW SHIMLA-171009Ph. +91 177 2673552, FAX +91 177 2673553, [email protected]

NOTICE INVITING TENDER (NIT)Directorate of Energy, Government of Himachal Pradesh, hereby

invites Bid/Tender from Distribution Licensees, Power Utilities andEligible Electricity Traders having Interstate trading License(Category-II and above) from the Central Electricity RegulatoryCommission (CERC), for Sale of Hydro Power Entitlement of GoHPduring summer/monsoon months (June, 21 to Sep, 21) on ShortTerm Basis. The Bid Document containing detailed terms & condi-tions and quantum of power are available at official website ofDirectorate of Energy i.e. http://admis.hp.nic.in/doe w.e.f. 30th April,2021. The last date of receipt of Bid/Tender shall be on 12th May,2021 upto 14.30 Hrs and Bid/Tender shall be opened on same dayat 15.30 Hrs onwards.

Sd/-Superintending Engineer (Elect.),

Directorate of Energy, GoHP, Shimla-09.0048/HP

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER,PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING DIVISION BILASPUR (C.G.)

Notice Inviting Expression of InterestEOI-08 Date 26.04.2021 System No. 76533

ForNAME OF WORK:-EMPANELMENT OF IMPLEMENTATIONSUPPORT AGENCIES (ISAs DWSM) FOR SUCCESSFULIMPLEMENTATION OF JAL JEEVAN MISSION IN THE DIS-TRICT BILASPUR OF CHHATTISGARH.

ESTT COST OF PROPOSED WORk-Rs. 305.916 CroresOn behalf of Governor of Chhattisgarh, The Executive Engineer,PHED & Member Secretary (DWSM) District Bilaspur invitesExpression of Interest (Eol) from national and internationalNGOs/Self Help Groups (SHGs)/(CBos/VOs/ similar SocialDevelopment Oriented Organization/ Foundations/Trusts for empan-elment as Implementation Support Agencies (ISA) under Jal JeevanMission being implemented by District Water and Sanitation Missiondetailed Eol at e-procurement portal https://eproc.cgstate.gov.in upto10.30 hrs of 04.05.2021 Bids are to be submitted online in the portalhttps://eproc.cgstate.gov.in on or before 17.30 hrs of 18.05.2021 Inno case manual Eol will be entertianed.

sd/-Executie Engineer

60408 P.H.E. Divison, Bilaspur

e- TENDER NOTICE

Ref. No/SSCDL/2021/Tender/02/258 Satna, Dated: 28.04.2021

Tender No: 2021_UAD_ 141209_1

For eligibility details, EMD and terms & condition of the tenderplease visit https://mptenders.gov.in

Online tender through e-tendering is invited by Satna Smart CityDevelopment Limited (SSCDL), Satna, M. P. for Request forProposal (RFP) for Selection of Agency for implementation andoperations of City App and Information Dissemination for various

thMunicipal Services in Satna (4 call). The brief details of theproject are as below:(i) Document Download/Sale Start Date: 29.04.2021, 17:00 Hrs(ii) Bid Submission Start Date: 29.04.2021, 17:00 Hrs(iii) Pre-Bid meeting Date: 13.05.2021, 11:00 Hrs at SSCDL

office(iv) Bid Submission Closing Date: 27.05.2021, 17:00 Hrs

GUJARAT MEDICAL SERVICES CORPORATION LIMITED(A Government of Gujarat Undertaking)

Regd. Office : Block No. 14/1, Dr. Jivraj MehtaBhavan, Sector-10, Gandhinagar079-23250767, 23250766, 23257698

Tenders are invited online from reputed Manufactures/formulators/direct importers for purchase of Rapid Antigen Detection TestKit for COVID-19 on quantity contract basis, details of specifica-tion, quantity is available on https://gmscl.gujarat.gov.in All tenderdocuments can be downloaded free on the website:https://gmscl.nprocure.com Interested bidders are requested tosubmit the tender through e-tender process.

Duration of Downloading of tender document (online) :-01/05/2021 to 05/05/2021 up to 12.00 Hrs.Last date for Submission (online): 05/05/2021 upto 18.00 Hrs.Last date for Submission of Physical document : 06/05/2021 upto18.00 Hrs.Opening of Technical Bid Date (online): 07/05/2021 At 13-00 Hrs.

INF/137/21-22 MANAGING DIRECTOR

SHORT TENDER NOTICE: DS-01/2021-2022

PPEERRSSOONNAALL

Classifieds

PPUUBBLLIICCNNOOTTIICCEE

II,,SShhaarraaddChand,S/oBhanuPrakash,R/o.Q.No.288,D.P.Flats,3rd-Floor,Sector-16-B,Dwarka,Delhi,want to changethenameofmysonKavyaShaunak toKavyanshShaunak.Mysonwill be knownasKavyanshShaunak,infuture,for all purposes.

0040570486-2

II,,KKHHAANNAMANMAKSUD,S/OMAKSADAHEMADKHAN,R/o.FLAT.NO.2101,TOWER-K, SECTOR-168,NOIDA,GAUTAMBUDH-NAGAR, U.P-201305, Changedmyname toAMANMAKSADKHAN.

0040570486-1

II,, SAGARSINGHS/oBalwantSinghR/oK-12, 2nd Floor, Left,Block - K, Khirki Extn.,MalviyaNagar, SouthDelhi, Delhi -110017have changedmynameasSAGAR for all futurepurposes.

0040570464-1

II,, R JEYABHARATHI YadavarW/oRameshKannanR/o 7/1047A,Middle Street,Alagankulam,Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu-623512havechangedmyname toR.JEYABHARATHI

0040570477-1

II RitabrataMandal S/oAsishKumarMandal R/o 801, PavilionHeights-1, JaypeeGreensSector-128, Noida, GautamBudhNagar, UP-201301, havechangedmyname toRitabrataRay.

0070739702-1

II AnubrataMandal S/oAsishMandal R/oMissionCompound, NearChitraCinemaHall, BolpurM, Bolpur,Birbhum,WB-731204, havechangedmyname toAnubrataRay.

0070739703-1

PUBLIC NOTICETo be known to all by this notice that my clients Shri

Ram Narayan Aggarwal, S/o Panna Lal Aggarwal,

and Ms. Sapna Aggarwal, W/o Sh. Ram Narayan

Aggarwal, Both R/o D-251, (RZ-9B/1), Gali No. 8A,

Sadh Nagar, Palam Colony, New Delhi-110045 has

been abused, mis-behaved by his son namely Sh.

Harish Kumar Singla and his wife namely Smt.

Puneeta. That therefore, my clients have already

severed their relations with them and now by way of

this public notice hereby dis-inherit Sh. Harish

Kumar Singla and his wife namely Smt. Puneeta

from inheriting any movable and immovable

properties of my clients including property bearing

No. D-251, (RZ -9B / 1), Gali No. 8A , Sadh Nagar,

Palam Colony, Palam Village, New Delhi-110045,

RZ-29/A, Gali No. 3, Kailash Puri, New Delhi and

plot at Dharam Colony, 30 Foot Road, Gurugram.

Sd/-

(PRAVEEN SURI)

ADVOCATE

OFFICE CUM RESI.: B-1/594-B, JANAK PURI,

NEW DELHI -110058

PH:011-45528711, 011-25595555

PUBLIC NOTICEThis Is To Certify That My Client Smt.Kiran Tandon W/o. Late Sh. SunilTandon, R/o. A-28, Kewal ParkExtension, Gurunanak Road,Azadpur, Delh i -110033, HasSevered Her All Relations From HerSon Namely Amit Tandon & His WifeBhawna Tandon. She Has AlsoDisowned The Above Said Son &Daughter-in-law From Her AllMoveable & Immoveable Properties.Whosoever Deals With Him/her InAny Manner Whatsoever, He/sheWill Be Doing So At His/her Risk AndResponsibility.

RADHEY SHYAM ADVOCATEOff.:- Chamber No.- X-25, Civil Side,

Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi-110054

12

Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance ofadvertising copy, it is not possible to verify itscontants. The Indian Express (P) Limited cannotbe held responsible for such contents, nor for anyloss or damage incurred as a result oftransactions with companies, associations orindividuals adversing in its newspapers orPublications. We therefore recommend thatreaders make necessary inquiries before sendingany monies or entering into any agreements withadvertisers or otherwise acting on anadvertisement in any manner whatsoever.

“IMPORTANT”

New Delhi

JAYMAZOOMDAARNEWDELHI,APRIL30

ASINDIAstrugglestocopewiththeunprece-denteddemandforRT-PCRtests,reportssug-gestthatupto20%symptomaticCovid-19pa-tientsaretestingnegative.Thisapparenttrendoffalsenegativeresults

maydenyseriouspatientshospitaladmissionand critical carewhile letting asymptomaticonesmovearoundand spread thevirus. Thetrendhaspromptedexperts, includingAIIMSdirectorDrRandeepGuleria, to recommendCovid-19treatmentforeveryoneshowingclas-sicsymptomsirrespectiveofRT-PCRresults.

Why falsenegativesRT-PCRtests,consideredthegoldstandard

inthediagnosisofCovid-19,arenotmeanttobeperfect.Theminimumsensitivity(abilitytodetect positives) demanded by the IndianCouncil ofMedical Research (ICMR) for vali-datinganRT-PCRtestis95%.Thatmeansupto5%falsenegativeresultsareexpected.While anecdotal reports suggest that the

share of false negative results is on the riseacrossIndia,thereisnostudyyettobackthis.Intheory,fourbroadfactorsdeterminethe

accuracyofanRT-PCRtest:theviralloadintheperson, the quality of sample collection andprocessing,theefficacyofthetestkititself,andalsothebenchmarkfortestinterpretation.VIRALLOAD:Typically, Covid-19mani-

festsadequatelybythefifthdayofaninfectioncycle.Testedanysoonerpostexposure,anin-fectedpersonmay turn out Covid-negative.Thismaynotbeamajor factorbehindthere-cent false negative trendas certainCovid-19mutantsapparentlyshowearlysymptoms.Anumber of symptomatic patientswho

testedfalsenegativeinRT-PCRassayshavesub-sequently been confirmedCovid-positive inBronchoalveolarLavage(BAL)teststhatcollectsamples from the lower respiratory tractthroughabronchoscope.Thishasledtoconjec-tures that certainmutants bypass theupperrespiratorytracttotargetthelung—ascenariothatmaydenyanRT-PCRtest,basedonsam-plecollectedfromthenasalcavityandthroat,theviral loadrequiredforanaccurateresult.CAPACITYEXPLOSION:Thenumberof

Covid test labs in India increased from14 inFebruary 2020 tomore than 2,400 in April2021. Sucharapidexpansionrequiredapprov-ing hundreds of labs for RT-PCR testing andtrainingthousandsof techniciansinahurry.Asasafeguard,ICMRinJuly2020listed30

QualityControl labs to checkonall theCovidlabsitapproved.Another8QClabshavebeenaddedsince.However,sourcesinmultiplelabs

acrossthreestatessaid“onlyafewinspectionsof facilitiesandinstruments”tookplace.“Ideally,amixofpositiveandnegativesam-

plesshouldbepickedupatrandomfromeverylabperiodically for re-testing.Was that everdone?Yes.Was that done consistently?No,”saida scientistwithan ICMRinstitutewho isnotauthorisedtospeaktothemedia.Approached for periodic labmonitoring

andquality compliancedata since July2020,ICMRandanumberofQClabsremainedsilent.HUMANELEMENT:Tests cangowrong

atvariousstages—frombadsamplecollectionandstoragetofaultyextractionandamplifica-tion. All RT-PCRkits include an internal con-trol (IC) tosafeguardagainstascenariowhennoRNAisextracted/amplified,leadingtoafalsenegative.TheICcanbeexogenousorendoge-nous. It is exogenouswhenan artificial RNAtemplatemoleculeisaddedtoeachsamplebe-foreRNAextraction.ThetestisconsideredvoidwhenthesyntheticRNAisnotdetectedpost-extractionandare-test isprescribed.And,anendogenous control uses a human ‘house-keeping’genepresent inthesample; itsnon-detectionafter theRNAextractionprocedureinvalidatesthetest.“A humanhouse-keeping gene also en-

sures the samplequality…But over 75%RT-PCRkits intheIndianmarketusethecheaperexogenousinternalcontrols,”saidaMumbai-basedmolecularbiologist.ICMR’sApril2020SOPonRT-PCRheldthat

exogenous control for extraction “canbe ig-nored as itwill not reflect the quality of thesamplecollected”.Itrecommended“separateRNasePor anyotherhumanhouse-keeping

gene…should be run parallel in a separatetube…(to) checkboth thequality of samplecollected”andtheextractionprocedure.InMay2020, themega tender floatedby

ICMR/HLLforRT-PCRkitsspecifiedsimilarre-quirements. Anumber ofmanufacturers ar-gueddifferentcompaniesusedifferent inter-nalcontrols includingexogenousoneswhichwereapprovedbyregulatoryagenciessuchasFDA and CEIVD, and that adverse selectionbasedonhouse-keepinggeneswoulddiscour-agefaircompetition.Eventually,thetenderwasrevised to includeboth endogenous andex-ogenousoptionsforinternalcontrol.VIRALMUTATION:ARTR-PCR test tar-

getsspecificarea/sof oneormoreviralgenestodetect its presence.A testmay return falsenegativeresultsifamutationoccursintheseg-ment of the genomeassessed. Tests that usemultiplegenetictargets,liketheonesinuseinIndia,arelesslikelytobefooledbymutations.Regulators such as theUS FDA routinely

monitor the impact ofmutations onRT-PCRtestsWhileexpertssuchasDrRakeshMishra,directorofHyderabad’sCentreforCellularandMolecular Biology (CCMB), feel ICMRshouldinitiateasimilarexercise,itmaynotbeeasytomonitor real-time over 200RT-PCRkits ap-provedinIndiaagainstemergingmutations.For one, nomanufacturer has (orwill)

madepublic thedetailed sequences its teststarget. “While submitting for validation toICMR,theyonlymentionthetargetgenesandnot the primer sequence,” said a senior re-searcherwiththeHealthMinistry.Until now, though, there is ground to feel

fairlyconfidentevenintheabsenceofanyreal-

timeefficacycheck. “So far,Covid-19variantshavemainlySgene(spikeprotein)mutations.Majority of kits here use conserved (un-changed) regions of targets,” saidDr ShantaDutta,directorofNationalInstituteofCholeraandEntericDiseases(NICED),Kolkata.

Price crashInoneyear, thepriceof theRT-PCRkit fell

fromoverRs 1,100 tounderRs 40. Since im-port duty exemption was withdrawn inOctober 2020,most foreign brands left theIndianmarket due to theadditional 15%costburden.Anumberof Indianbrands, too,havebeenrefusingtosellbelowRs100.Manyhavefounddedicated corporate clientelewhodonotmindpayinga little extra to ensurequal-ity. Someare evenofferingmultiple PCRkitsatdifferentpricelevels.While nobody says it on record, many

question thequality of the cheaper competi-tion.Thecounterviewisthateverytestkitavail-able in themarketmeets ICMR’s validationbenchmarksandthatanypricewarultimatelybenefitstheconsumer.Not everyone is convinced, though. “The

correspondingdropinthecostofthelabtestisfromRs4,500toRs800.Besides,doesonevis-itingherlocal labforaCovidtestknowwhichkit is beingused?Howmany labswill spendRs100when they canget awaywithusing aRs-40kit?” saidoneof the first Indianmanu-facturersofCovidPCRkits.

TheCt valueAnRT-PCR test amplifies thenucleic acid

extracted fromthe sample to detect the onespecific to theCovid-19virus. The amplifica-tionhappens in cycleswith a threshold (Ct)value. Clearly, the higher the viralpresence/load, the lower theCt value or thenumber of amplification cycles required tomakeitdetectable.ICMRsettheCtvalueat35fornegativere-

sults.Beyondthis,anytraceofviruspotentiallypresentisdeemednegligibleandthesampleisruledCovidnegative.But certain states such asMaharashtra

sought to stretch the limitof admissibilitybysuggestingaCtvalueof 24.As thiswouldex-clude potentially a large number of peoplewithquantitativelylowerbutclinicallysignif-icantviralload,ICMRreiterateditspositiononaCtvalueof35.However,thereislittleclarityifallthestates

are following the same Ct benchmark.Accordingtoseniorexecutivesof at least twomulti-state labnetworks, theyhave receivedcontradictoryandattimesunwarrantedverbalinstructions on such test parameters. Evenamoleculartestisnotimmunetosubjectivebias.


POOJAPILLAINEWDELHI,APRIL30

ONMONDAY,Epicurious,oneof theworld’smost popular recipewebsites, announcedthatitwillnolongerbepublishinganybeef-related content— recipes, articles, newslet-ters—aspartof itseffort toenvisionamoresustainableway to cook. Themeatwill becompletelyshutoutof anynewcontentap-pearinganywhereonthewebsiteandonitsInstagramfeed,althougholdrecipesandar-ticlesfeaturingbeefremainavailable.

Whatwasthereasonbehindthedecision?Epicurious said thedecision isnot “anti-

beef” but “pro-planet”, describing themeatas “oneof theworld’sworst climateoffend-ers”.Thenotefromthewebsite’seditorssaid,“Theconversationaboutsustainablecooking

clearlyneeds tobe louder; this policy is ourcontributiontothatconversation.”Itsaidthatthewebsitehadactuallybegunphasingoutbeefoverayearago,puttingoutavegetarianrecipe inplaceof everybeef recipenotpub-lished, and that the traffic andengagementonthoserecipeshadmadeitclearthathomecooks(primarilyAmerican,thewebsite’star-getaudience)hadembracedthechange.

Howwasthenewsreceived?The decisionwaswelcomedby animal

rights and sustainability activists, includingPeople for Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA),which described themove as “ter-rific”.Givenwhatthewebsitesaidabouttraf-ficandengagement for itsnon-beef recipes,themovewasalsoapplaudedbymanyusersonsocialmedia,whoappreciated thespacethisopenedupformorediverserecipes,espe-ciallyplant-based.The overwhelming response, however,

wasnegative.Manyusersrespondedonsocialmediabypostingphotosoftheirbeefdishes,someclaiming that “cattle are sustainable”andthattheirpasturesaregreenspacesthatwouldotherwisebe“developedforhousing”.OthersraiseddoubtsaboutEpicurious’s“con-cernforanimals”(whichwasnotareasonof-fered by thewebsite itself) by pointing outthatithadn’tmadeanymovetobanpoultry,seafoodandotheranimalproteins.

Isthereanysubstancetothewebsite’schargeagainstbeef?It iswidely-accepted by thoseworking

in climate science and sustainability thatagriculture,particularlyanimalhusbandry,hasanoutsize impacton theenvironment,especiallywhenitcomestolanduse,biodi-versity and greenhouse gas production.According to data from the UN Food andAgricultureOrganization, forexample,50%oftheworld’shabitablelandisusedforagri-

culture, of which 77% is used formeat anddairyproduction.Raisingruminants(cattle,sheep,goats)hasaparticularlymassiveim-pact: for119.49sqmof land isused topro-duce1000kilocaloriesofbeef,comparedto6.61sqmforpoultry,4.35sqmforeggsand1.44sqmforwheatandrye.Moreover,asig-nificantchunkofthislandisusednottoraisebeef cattle, but to grow crops like soybeanforcattlefeed.Allof thismatters,especiallyin a country like theUS (where Epicuriousisbased),wheredespitetherisingpopular-ityofchickenandgreateravailabilityofalter-nativeproteinproducts,58.8poundsofbeefper person was consumed in 2020 (USDepartmentofAgriculture).

ButwillEpicurious’decisionhaveanyimpact?Perhapsonlyalittle.Thisissomethingthat

the editors’ note fromEpicurious itself ac-knowledged: “Individual actions…can feel

so small they’re essentially pointless. Buteverytimeyouabstainfrombeefat thegro-cerystoreorarestaurant,yousendasignal—tothegrocerystore,yes,butalso,andperhapsmore influentially, towhomeveryou talk toaboutyourdecision”.Sosendingoutasignalaboutsustainable

cookingwaswhy thewebsite announcedadecisionthatithadactuallytakenayearago.Thismayalsoexplainwhythereactionsfromagriculture andmeat industry bodies havemostly beenmuted,withmuchof theout-rageagainstthedecisioncomingfromread-erswho,inanycase,canstillaccesstheolderbeef recipesonthewebsite.It’s important to note, however, that

Epicurious’s decision is part of a larger shiftaway fromanimal protein, particularly redmeat, as the environmental impact of theglobal food system becomes clearer.Accordingtoareport,‘FoodforThought:TheProteinTransformation’,releasedlastmonth

by the Boston Consulting Group and BlueHorizonCorp,themarketforalternativemeat,seafoodandeggscouldgrowto$290billionby2035,makingup11%of the total proteinmarket.Well-known figures fromculture,business andpolitics, besides environmen-talistsandclimatescientists,havealsothrowntheirweightbehindthemovementtowardsamore plant-based diet. For example, inFebruarythisyear,BillGatesurgedconsumerstomake the change, saying rich countriesshouldmake a100% switch toplant-basedmeat to avert the climate crisis, andOscar2020BestActorwinnerJoaquinPhoenixus-inghisspeechtoadvocateaplant-baseddiet.While a purely editorial decisionmay

not immediately convert readers, it sendsout an important signal about the need totalk about sustainabilitywhen discussingfood. As one of theworld’s most popularrecipe banks, Epicurious is hoping to am-plify this conversation.

SIMPLYPUT

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,APRIL30

THEUK’SElectoralCommissionhaslaunchedan inquiry into how PrimeMinister BorisJohnson’s flat on Downing Street is beingfunded. Simultaneously,No. 10hasbegun itsowninvestigation.

Whyisitbeingprobed?Johnsonandhis fiancéeCarrier Symonds

moved into the flat above11DowningStreetin July 2019. Tony Blairwas the first PrimeMinistertoliveinthisflat,and,accordingtotheBBC, itwas thepreferred choice for JohnsonandSymondsbecause it ismuch larger thantheoneabovenumber10.Accordingtomediareports,therehasbeenspeculationthatreno-vationsworth£200,000arebeingcarriedoutontheflat,whenthePMreceivesannualpub-licgrantof£30,000thattospendontheflat.

WhatistheCommissionprobing?The inquiryaims to findoutwhopaid for

therefurbishmentandtheamountofmoneyspent.Itisthepartythatisunderinvestigation,not Johnson. According to an article in TheGuardian,theCommissionisexaminingclaimsthatConservativePartyfundsinitiallypaidfortherenovations,thatthepartymayhaveloanedJohnsonthemoney,andthatcashwashandedoverbyTorydonorstopay for thework and set up atrustthroughwhichmoneycouldbefunnelled.

Howdidtherowstart?Last week, Dominic

Cummings,Johnson’sformerchiefadviser, claimed that the PrimeMinister planned to illegally getdonorstopayforhisflat.Inablog,Cummings wrote, “The PMstoppedspeakingtomeaboutthismatterin2020asItoldhimIthoughthisplanstohavedonorssecretlypayfortherenovationwereunethical, foolish,possiblyillegalandal-most certainlybroke the rulesonproperdis-closureof political donations if conducted in

thewayheintended. Irefusedtohelphimor-ganisethesepayments.”

HasJohnsonrespondedtotheclaims?OnThursday, Johnsontoldreportersthat

the rowwas a “farrago of nonsense”. ThePrimeMinistersaidhewouldco-operate fullywith the investiga-tion, after the ElectoralCommission said there were“reasonablegrounds”tosuspectanoffencehadbeencommittedinthefundingof the flat.Earlier,ministerLordTruehad

said nomoney from the publicgrantwas spent in the financialyear 2019-2020 and that “anycosts ofwider refurbishment inthis year have beenmet by thePrimeMinisterpersonally”.

WhatcouldbetheimplicationsoftheElectoralCommissionprobe?If it finds that theparty failed todeclare a

donation, the Electoral Commissionhas the

powerto imposea fineofupto£20,000.Andif itbelievesthat thefailuretodeclarethedo-nationwas intentional then the commissioncouldreferitsfindingstothepolice,whocouldopenacriminalinvestigation,TheGuardianar-ticlesaid.“LaboursaysJohnsoncouldbedraggedinto

the inquirypersonally becausehe is a ‘regu-lateddonee’ and is obliged toprovidedetailsof anydonation that couldbe considered forhispersonalbenefit.Thecommissionremainstight-lippedonthispoint,” itsaid.TheUK’s Political Parties, Elections and

ReferendumsAct,2000requiresthosewhore-ceive donations or loans to check that thedonorispermittedandtoreportanydonationtotheElectoralCommissionwithinamonth.

WhatwilltheprobebythePM’sofficelookat?TheBBChasreportedthatJohnsonhasap-

pointedCabinet Secretary SimonCase to re-viewhow the refurbishment of his flat hasbeenpaid for.No. 10has said its own inquirywouldnotbepublishedinfull.

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to [email protected]

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

Besides initiating infection,coronavirus spike proteinhas key role in illness: studySCIENTISTS HAVE known for awhilethatSARS-CoV-2’sspikeproteinshelpthevirus infect itshostby latchingonto healthy cells. Now, a major newstudy shows that the spike proteinsalsoplayakeyroleinthediseaseitself.Thepaper,publishedonApril30in

the journal Circulation Research, alsofinds that Covid-19 is a vascular dis-ease, demonstrating exactly how theSARS-CoV-2 virus damages and at-tacksthevascularsystem(comprisingthebloodvessels)onacellular level.The findings help explain Covid-

19’swidevarietyofseeminglyuncon-nected complications,and could open thedoorfor new research intomoreeffectivetherapies,theSalkInstitutesaidinamedia release. Salk re-searchers collaboratedwith scientists at theUniversity of CaliforniaSanDiegoonthepaper.“Alotofpeoplethink

of it as a respiratory dis-ease, but it’s really a vas-culardisease. That couldexplainwhysome people have strokes, andwhysomepeoplehaveissuesinotherpartsof the body. The commonality be-tweenthemisthattheyallhavevascu-lar underpinnings,” the Salk InstitutequotedProfessorUriManor,co-seniorauthorof thestudy, as saying.There’sbeenagrowingconsensus

that SARS-CoV-2 affects the vascularsystem,butexactlyhowitdid sowasnot understood. Similarly, scientistsstudying other coronaviruses havelongsuspected that thespikeproteincontributedtodamagingvascularen-dothelialcells,butthis isthefirsttimetheprocesshasbeendocumented.So,the findings themselves aren’t en-tirely a surprise. But the paper pro-videsforthefirsttimeclearconfirma-tionandadetailedexplanationof the

mechanism throughwhich the pro-tein damages vascular cells, the SalkInstitute said.In the new study, the researchers

createda“pseudovirus” thatwassur-roundedbySARS-CoV-2classiccrownof spike proteins, but did not containany actual virus. Exposure to thispseudovirusresultedindamagetothelungs and arteries of an animalmodel—provingthatthespikeproteinalone was enough to cause disease.Tissuesamplesshowedinflammationin endothelial cells lining the pul-monaryarterywalls.

The team then repli-cated this process in thelab, exposing healthy en-dothelial cells (which linearteries) to the spike pro-tein.Theyshowedthatthespikeproteindamagedthecells by binding ACE2 (ahumanprotein).Thisbind-ing disrupted ACE2’smo-lecular signalling tomito-chondria (organelles thatgenerate energy for cells),

causing themitochondria to becomedamagedand fragmented.Previous studies have shown a

similareffectwhencellswereexposedtotheSARS-CoV-2virus,butthisisthefirststudytoshowthatthedamageoc-curs when cells are exposed to thespike protein on its own, the SalkInstitute said.“If you remove the replicating ca-

pabilitiesof thevirus, it stillhasama-jor damaging effect on the vascularcells, simply by virtue of its ability tobind to this ACE2 receptor, the S pro-tein receptor, now famous thanks toCOVID. Further studies withmutantspike proteinswill also provide newinsight towards the infectivity andseverity of mutant SARS CoV-2viruses,”Manorwasquotedassaying.

Source: Salk Institute

E EXPLAINEDTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,MAY1,2021

13

Testscangowrongatvariousstages, frombadsamplecollectionandstoragetofaultyextractionandamplification.VishalSrivastav

Why a leading foodwebsite has chosen not to publish on beef anymore

ManypeoplewithCovid-19symptomshavebeentestingnegative.Thereareseveral likelyreasons,suchasmutationsof thevirusescapingdetection,qualityof samplingandtesting,andefficacyofRT-PCRkits.

INDIAACTIVECASES 3,170,228

Note: TheApril 29 figure in this graph isbasedon thegovernmentupdateonApril 30

April20 April 29LAST 10 DAYS

3500,000

2500,000

1500,000

INDIATOTALCASES18,762,976

Source:Ministry of Health& FamilyWelfare, updated at 11 pmonApril 30

WORLDTOTALCASES150,699,791

Source: JohnsHopkins University,updated at 11 pmonApril 30

2,031,977 3,170,228

Nonsense, saysPM

Why Boris Johnson’s flat is under probe

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

The surge in false negatives

New Delhi


THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

LEBANON

TONNESOFDEADFISHWASHUPONLAKESHORETonnesofdeadfishhavewasheduponthebanksofalakeonLebanon’sLitaniriver,engulfinganearbyvillageinapungentsmell, inadisasterblamedonpollutedwaters.VolunteerscollectedrottingfishcarcassesneartheQaraounlakeontheriverLitani,whereactivistshavewarnedforyearsofwaterpollutioncausedbysewageandwaste.

RUSSIA

Navalny’sofficesin‘extremism’ listRUSSIA’SFINANCIALmoni-toringagencysaidonFridayithadaddedjailedKremlincritic AlexeiNavalny’s net-workof regionalcampaignoffices to a list of organisa-tionsinvolvedin“terrorismand extremism”. AlliesofNavalnysaidonThursdaythey were disbandingthenetworkas theauthor-ities sought to banthem. REUTERS

TOPOFTHEWORLD

ETHIOPIA

20killedinattackonethnicgroupGUNMENKILLEDatleast20peoplelastweekinwesternEthiopia,aregionalgovern-ment official said onThursday, in what he de-scribedasanattackoncivil-ians fromtheAmharaeth-nic group. The incidentoccurred in the district ofLimmuKosa,intheOromiyaregion. REUTERS

HONGKONG

Wongpleadsguiltyto‘illegalassembly’PROMINENTHONGKongdemocracy activist JoshuaWongwasamongfourpeo-plewhopleaded guilty onFridayofparticipatinginanillegal assembly on June 4last year to commemoratethe 1989 crackdown inBeijing’s TiananmenSquare. REUTERS

NavalnyisoneofPutin’smostprominentcritics

JOSEFFEDERMANJERUSALEM,APRIL30

ASTAMPEDEatareligiousfesti-val attended by tens of thou-sandsof ultra-Orthodox Jews innorthern Israel killedat least45people and injured about 150early Friday, medical officialssaid. Itwas one of the country’sdeadliest civiliandisasters.The stampede beganwhen

largenumbersofpeoplethrongedanarrowtunnel-likepassagedur-ing the event, according towit-nesses andvideo footage. Peoplebeganfallingontopofeachothernear the endof thewalkway, asthey descended slipperymetalstairs,witnessessaid.Oneof the injured,Avraham

Leibe, told Israeli public broad-casterKanthatacrushofpeopletrying todescend themountaincaused a “general bedlam” on a

slipperymetalslopefollowedbystairs. “Nobody managed tohalt,”hesaidfromahospitalbed.“I sawoneafter theother fall.”Video footage showed large

numbers of people, most ofthemblack-cladultra-Orthodoxmen, squeezed in the tunnel.

Initialreportsandwitnessessaidpolicebarricadeshadpreventedpeople fromexitingquickly.Thestampedeoccurreddur-

ing the celebrations of LagBaOmer at Mount Meron, thefirstmass religious gathering tobeheld legally since Israel lifted

nearly all restrictions related tothe coronavirus pandemic. Thecountryhasseencasesplummetsince launching one of theworld’smostsuccessfulvaccina-tioncampaigns late lastyear.Lag BaOmer draws tens of

thousands of people, most ofthemultra-OrthodoxJews,eachyear tohonorRabbiShimonBarYochai, a 2nd century sage andmystic who is believed to beburied there. Large crowds tra-ditionallylightbonfires,prayanddanceaspartofthecelebrations.Thisyear,mediaestimatedthe

crowdatabout100,000people.Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu, who briefly visitedMount Meron aroundmiddayFriday, said it was “one of theworstdisastersthathasbefallenthe state of Israel” and offeredcondolences to the families. Hesaid Sundaywould be a day ofnationalmourning. AP

ADITIKHANNALONDON,APRIL30

UKHEALTHauthorities said twofurther strandswith the same“parent lineage” as the so-calledIndian variant of coronavirushavebeenidentifiedandarenowbeingmonitoredasseparatevari-antsunderinvestigation(VUIs).PublicHealthEngland(PHE)

said it has tracked around 400cases of the B.1.617 variant ofcoronavirus first found in India.The two further variants are

fromtheB.1.617lineage,describedasa“distinctfingerprintofgeneticmutations”,making the twoad-ditionalVUIsgeneticallysimilar.“While closely related, their

geneticprofilesaredifferentandhave been designated as sepa-ratevariantsunderinvestigationsothatwecantrackthemprop-erly and take fast public healthaction asneeded,” PHE said in aweeklyupdateonThursday.Thehealthauthoritypointed

outthattheidentifiedcasenum-bersof theVUIsremainlowandare geographically dispersed inEngland. PTI

JOSEPHAXAPRIL30

ASIAN-AMERICAN BUSINESSandcommunityleaders, includ-ingbillionaireYahooco-founderJerryYang,havequietlylinedupwhat they aim to be the largestprivate investment in AsianAmerican and Pacific Islandercauses inUShistory following arise inanti-Asianbigotry.The Asian American

Foundation,which is set to an-nounceitsinitialfundraisingcom-mitments onMonday, is amongdozensofAAPIgroupsseekingtoharness a floodof resources thathas accelerated since a gunmankilled eight people, including six

women of Asian descent, atAtlanta-areadayspasinMarch.The foundation will fill in

funding gaps for awide array ofAAPIorganisationsthathavebeenunder-financed for years. Part ofitsrolewillbetoserveastheAAPIcounterparttoothernationalcivilrightsbulwarks,suchastheAnti-Defamation League or the

National Association for theAdvancementof ColoredPeople,whichadvocatefortheJewishandBlackcommunities,respectively.The influxofmoneyhas also

boostedpoliticalgroupsaimingtosustainvoterengagementafterarecord surge in AAPI turnout inlastyear'spresidentialelection.Asian Americans are the

country's fastest growing ethnicgroup, yet have long been over-looked in national discussionsaboutdiversityandracialequity.IninterviewswithReuters,morethanadozenadvocates,activistsanddonorssaidtherushoffundsand political interest show thattheAAPIcommunityhasreacheda seminalmoment as a culturalandpolitical force. REUTERS

ONEOFTHECOUNTRY’SDEADLIESTCIVILIANDISASTERS

Stampede at Israel religiousfestival kills 45, injures 150

UltraOrthodoxJewsat thesiteof thestampedeonFriday.AP

With funding surge, Asian-Americangroups push for socio-political clout

ROBERTBURNSWASHINGTON,APRIL30

THEPENTAGONispreparingforpossible Taliban attacks on USandcoalitionforcesastheywith-draw from Afghanistan, aprospect that complicates theoutlook for winding downAmerica’s longestwar.May 1 was the date all US

and other foreign forces wereto have departed AfghanistanunderaFebruary2020dealbe-tween the Taliban and theTrump administration. As partof that agreement, the Talibanhalted attacks on U.S. troops,and none has been killed since

then.But theTalibansaid itwillconsider theUnitedStates tobein violation of the agreementformissing thedeadline for fullwithdrawal. Their representa-tives have been vague aboutwhether they intend to attackstartingMay 1.President Joe Biden’s deci-

sion to proceedwith a final butdelayedwithdrawaladdsanewelementofsecurityriskasthere-maining 2,500 to 3,500American troops, along withabout7,000coalitiontroopsandthousands of contractors, begindeparting.Bidenhassaidallwillbe gone by Sept. 11, the date ofthe 2001 terrorist attacks thatprompted the US to invade

Afghanistan in the firstplace.“Wehavetoassumethatthis

drawdown will be opposed,”Pentagon press secretary JohnKirbysaidTuesdayinexplainingwhy Defence Secretary LloydAustin decided to keep an air-craft carrier in theMiddle Eastand tomove at least four B-52bombers and portions of anArmyRangertaskforcetothere-gionasaprecaution.Gen.MarkMilley, chairman

oftheJointChiefsofStaff,toldre-porters traveling with himThursday that the pullout is“complexandnotwithoutrisk.”Themilitarytypicallyplansfor

worst-case scenarios to try toavoidbeingcaughtbysurprise.AP

Yahooco-founderJerryYang

Car bomb kills30 in easternAfghanistanKabul: A huge car bomb blastkilled at least 30 people and in-jured dozens more inAfghanistan’s eastern LogarprovinceonFriday,officialssaid.The car detonated in Logar’s

capital of Pul-e Alam near thehomeof the former head of theprovincial council and not farfrom a hospital, Didar Lawang,the spokesman for Logar’s gov-ernor, said.Itwasnot immediatelyclear

whowasbehind theblast.Violence in Afghanistan has

escalated in recentweeks afterUS President Joe Biden an-nounced the US would with-drawtroopsbySeptember11toend twodecadesof foreignmil-itarypresence. REUTERS

Covid spreadingat pace beyondcapacity of ourhealth system,Nepal govt says

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,APRIL30

WITH THE Covid-19 pandemicescalating across the country,Nepal’s government said onFridaythatthesurgeincaseswashappeningat a speed thatput itbeyondthecapacityof itshealthsystemstoprovidehospitalbedsandtreatment to the infected.The statement issued by

Nepal’s Ministry of Health andPopulationcameas thecountryrecorded35deaths fromCovid-19onThursday,and33onFriday.The government also stated

that 19 out of 77 districts in thecountry have been severely hitby the pandemic. “As the pan-demicisrisingataspeedbeyondthecapacityof thehealthsystemtotackleitandprovidebedsinthehospitals,we appeal to the gen-eral public to be sensitive to thesituationandtakenecessarypre-caution,”thestatementsaid.

ASU.S.MOVESTOEND ITSWAR INAFGHANISTAN

Pentagon preparing for Talibanattacks during US troop withdrawal

CROSSWORD4418

ACROSS1 Idealvaletbecomesupsetandis relieved(10)

6 Mercurywill godownwith it -somaypeople (4)

10 Speedof agencytypistwithacircular letter (5)

11 Apet’shome(3,6)12 Inusecanturn intoaproblem(8)

13 Beatandserveoutbroth(5)15 Liventhingsup inateamperhaps (7)

17 Clearoff unrulycampers (7)19 Smoking jackets? (7)21 Report rewrittenaboutonecomiccharacter (7)

22 Cookrightontheoven(5)24 Beable tosaywho’swhoI findyetall confused(8)

27 Kindof steakthat is rarelyserved(9)

28 Pauland Icookeda foreigndish (5)

29 Aninfusionof energy(4)30 Extendan invitationtosleeponthe floor? (7,3)

DOWN1 Awayonetakeswine(4)2 Carmaybeminusoilnote (9)3 Lois is involvedwith fivebigfiddles (5)

4 Notice indicatingago-slowcouldbeatanend(7)

5 Littlecreaturesofhighbirth (7)7 Apossessive type(5)8 Consider it’s intentional (10)9 Twotrials settingaprecedent(4,4)

14 Thereappearsgoodreasontohave funhere (10)

16 Opening foraphotographer(8)

18Leftasheet inone’sbriefcase(9)

20 Try tomakea littleyarngoalongway?(4,3)

21 Head’squiet retreat (7)23 Afatefulday formilitaryassistants (5)

25 It’s talkedaboutamongpotato-pickers (5)

26 Diamondscouldbemadeto fit(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Thiscouldbeaturbulentday,andcashandcareerissueswilldisturb

yourweekendpeace.Atouchofcompetitionwill addspice toroutineactivities, andyou'dbeadvisedto followupnewideaswithoutdelay.Don't let the factthatyou'rea littleover-emotionalblindyouto justhowmuchisgoingyourway.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Apowerfulplanetaryalignmentmakes foranexcitingday,butplease try to

strikeabalancebetweenpromotingyourowninterestsand lookingafter friends'affairs. This isnotimetogive intomindlessaggression,especiallyassoonasyou loseyour temperyou'llbebeggingfor forgiveness.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Dynamicplanetaryaspectscanbeturnedtoyouradvantage,soleavenothingto

chance. Ifyouhavebeenheldupbyoppositionfromcolleagues,theremaybewaysinwhichyoucanturnthetablesonthem.Infact, Isuspectthatyou'llbeabletomakeupfortheslightsandinsultsofyears.

CANCER(June22- July23)There'salotoftensionintheairandfamilymembersandfriendsmaybeina

fightingmood.It'suptoyoutoturnfrictiontoeverybody'sadvantagebysuggestingpositivealternatives.It'salltodowiththeMoon'schallengingalignment,soitwillpassverysoon.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Stormyplanetaryinfluencescouldbeuseful if theyhelpyouclear theair.

However, if youdohavesomethingtogetoff yourchest,makesureyour feelingsarepointed intherightdirection.Otherwiseyou'll soundoff atthewrongpeopleandsowtheseeds forproblemssomewaydownthe line.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sept23)There'llbeplentyofscope foryourdiplomaticandhealingpowers

today, largelybecause friendsandcolleagueswillbe fallingoutwitheachother.Relativeswill seekyoursupport,butdon'tget sucked intopersonaldisputes.Try togetpeople toseethatpublicgood isbetterthanprivategreed.

LIBRA(Sept24-Oct23)Your peacefulmoodwill not squarewithcombativecircumstances.

Other peoplewill be puttingyouon the spot, challengingyou to comeupwiththe goods. Relationsmaybeonyour side, though theymaynot necessarilybe anyhelp. But, at leastthey'll listen.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov22)Energetic friendsandassociates relyonyouforyoursteadyqualities,but

you'reunlikely tobemuchusetoday.You'llbe far toopreoccupiedwithyourownproblemsandambitions tospare timeforotherpeople.But,then, they're toobusywiththeirownideas toworry.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov23-Dec22)It's anenergeticday,celestially speaking.Nothingturnsoutasplanned,butdelays

andsuddenobstaclesmaybeblessings indisguise if theydivertyoufromaproblematicandhighlyriskycourseofaction.Thetimehascometoreconsideryourprogress inalldirections.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Therehasbeenaninteresting tie-uprecentlybetweenpersonalandpublic

aspirationsontheonehandandbusinessprospectsandsociallife,ontheother.Youshouldseriouslyconsiderarangeofoptions inall fields.Thereasonthat there'snoneedtorush intofinal choicesnowis thatcircumstancesareabout toshiftmarkedly.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)There'splentyofscopeto indulgeyourdramaticcharacteristicsand

qualitiesand, themoreenterprisingyouare, thegreaterwillbe theprospectsof success.Donotbedisturbed if partnersare inanangrymood- just letthemgetover it.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)The accent is onhardwork andenergetic activity.However, if you

achieve toomuch, too soon,youmay risk a short-term lossor failure of somekind. Don'tallow such aprospect to pushyouoff course. Anddoplanahead for nextmonth,whenyour financial situationbeginsto pick up.

SUDOKU4458

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4457

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Runningcrosscountryistheclosestmanwillevergetto___-JosephVanderstel (6)

SOLUTION:IMPLY,MANGY,ENDING,FACADEAnswer:Runningcrosscountryistheclosestmanwillevergettoflying-JosephVanderstel

MPYIL GINNED

AGMNY AACDEF

SolutionsCrossword4417:Across:1Chamois,5Caper,8Institute,9Imp,10Fall,12Contacts,14Earthy,15Graphs,17Canister,18Flea,21Set,22Magicwand,24Skein,25Samoyed.Down:1Cliff,2Ass,3Omit,4Stupor,5Cheaters,6Principal,7Repasts,11Lorgnette,13Chessmen,14Excuses,16Weighs,19Added,20Scum,23Any.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

PUBLICHEALTHEnglandhasfound400casesof theB.1.617variant—firstfoundinIndia—intheUK,butithasn’tyetdesignateditavariantofcon-cern(VOC).AVOCisavariantthatisdeemedmoredanger-ousthantheoriginal—byspreadingmorequickly,caus-ingmoresevereillnessorre-ducingvaccines’effective-ness,amongotherfactors.UKsaysthereisnoevidenceyetthattheIndianvariantismoredangerous.So, it isclas-sifiedasavariantunderin-vestigation, insteadofaVOC.

NotyetavariantofconcernE●EX

PLAINED

UK health authoritiesfind 2 further strandsof ‘Indian variant’

New Delhi

15SENSEX: 48,782.36 ▼ 983.58 (-1.98%) NIFTY: 14,631.10 ▼ 263.80 (-1.77%) NIKKEI: 28,812.63 ▼ 241.34 HANG SENG: 28,724.88 ▼ 578.38 FTSE: 6,948.36 ▼ 13.12 DAX: 15,167.63 ▲ 13.43


ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

GOLD`46,283

RUPEE`74.09

OIL$65.82

SILVER`67,795

Note:Gold, silverratesatDelhi spotmarket;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Crudeoil (Indianbasket)asonApril29,2021

FOOYUNCHEEBRUSSELS,APRIL30

EUREGULATORSaccusedAppleon Friday of distorting competi-tioninthemusicstreamingmar-ket, sidingwith Spotify in a casethatcouldleadtoaheftyfineandchangesintheiPhonemaker’slu-crativebusinesspractices.Thepreliminaryfindingsare

the first time Brussels has lev-elled anti-competitive chargesagainstApple,althoughthetwosides have had bruising clashesinthepast,mostnotablyamulti-billion-dollartaxdisputeinvolv-ing Ireland.Apple, Spotify andotherpar-

ties cannowrespond. If the caseispursued,theEUcoulddemandconcessions andpotentially im-

posea fineofupto10percentofApple’sglobalturnover-asmuch

as $27 billion, although it rarelyleviesthemaximumpenalty.Apple found itself in the

European Commission’scrosshairs after Sweden-basedSpotify complained two yearsago that the US tech giant un-fairly restricted rivals to its ownmusic streaming service AppleMusicon iPhones.TheEUcompetitionenforcer,

initsso-calledstatementofobjec-tions settingout the charge, saidtheissuerelatedtoApple’srestric-tive rules for its App Store thatforcedeveloperstouseitsownin-apppaymentsystemandpreventthem from informing users ofotherpurchasingoptions.European Competition

Commissioner Margrethe

Vestager said therewere clearsignsApple’sAppStoreruleswereaffectingmusic streaming rivals’businessdevelopmentandaffect-ingappdevelopersmorewidely.“They (app developers) de-

pendonAppleAppStoreasagate-keeper to accessusers of Apple’siPhonesandiPads.Thissignificantmarket power cannot gouncheckedastheconditionsofac-cesstotheAppleAppStorearekeyforthesuccessofappdevelopers,”shetoldanewsconference.Vestager said Apple should

end restrictivepractices and re-frain from doing anything thatwould replicate them.She also said that other

authoritieswerelookingintotheissue. REUTERS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI, APRIL30

NON-FOODBANKcreditgrowthdeclinedto4.9percentinMarch2021 against 6.7 per cent inMarchlastyear,followingdecel-eration in growth to the largeand micro industries and theservices sector.However, the silver lining

was the rise in growth to theagriculture sector andmediumindustries.Housingloangrowthdeclined to 9.1 per cent to Rs14.59 lakh crore inMarch 2021asagainstagrowthof15percentayearago.As per the latest Reserve

Bank of India (RBI) data, creditgrowth toagricultureandalliedactivitiesacceleratedto12.3percent inMarch2021from4.2percentayearago.Creditgrowthtoindustrydeceleratedmarginallyto 0.4 per cent in March 2021from0.7percentinMarch2020.However, credit tomedium

industries registered a robustgrowth of 28.8 per cent Rs136,054 crore inMarch 2021 ascomparedtoacontractionof0.7per cent a year ago. Creditgrowth tomicro and small in-dustries decelerated to 0.5 percentthisMarchfrom1.7percenta year ago, while credit to largeindustries contractedby0.8percent to Rs 23.98 lakh crore asagainst0.6percentgrowth.

According to the RBI,withinindustry, credit to foodprocess-ing, textiles, gems & jewellery,paper&paperproducts, glass&glassware, wood&wood prod-uctsand leather& leatherprod-ucts registered acceleratedgrowththisMarchascomparedto the correspondingmonth ofthepreviousyear.However, credit growth to

mining & quarrying, rubber,

plastic&theirproducts,vehicle,vehicleparts&transportequip-ment,basicmetal&metalprod-ucts,cement&cementproducts,all engineering, chemical &chemicalproductsandconstruc-tioncontracted.“Credit growth to the serv-

icessectordeceleratedto1.4percent inMarch2021from7.4percent inMarch2020,mainlyduetodeceleration incredit growthto NBFCs and contraction incredit to professional services,”RBIsaid.However,credittotradesegment continued to performwell, registering acceleratedgrowthof11.8percentinMarch2021ascomparedto4.6percentayearago.It said slowdown in growth

of personal loans continued, asitdeceleratedto10.2percent inMarch2021from15.0percentayearago.However,vehicleloansandloansagainstgoldjewellerycontinued to performwell dur-ingthemonth,registeringaccel-eratedgrowth, theRBI said.

MARCH2021NON-FOODBANKCREDITGROWTH

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, APRIL30

THE OUTPUT of eight coresectors expanded by 6.8 percent inMarch— the highestin 32months — driven by abaseeffect-leduptickinpro-duction of natural gas, steel,cement and electricity, offi-cialdata showedonFriday.The growth rate of the

eightinfrastructuresectors—coal,crudeoil,naturalgas,re-finery products, fertilisers,steel, cement and electricity—wasrecordedat (-)8.6percent inMarch lastyear.According to the data re-

leasedbytheCommerceandIndustryMinistry on Friday,production of natural gas,steel, cement and electricityjumped12.3percent,23percent, 32.5 per cent and 21.6per cent this March, asagainst (-) 15.1 per cent, (-)21.9percent,(-)25.1percentand (-)8.2per cent inMarch2020, respectively.Coal, crude oil, refinery

products and fertiliser seg-ments,meanwhile,recordednegative growth during themonthunder review.During the full fiscal

2020-21 (April-March), theproduction of the eight sec-torscontractedby7percentas against a positive growthof 0.4percent in2019-20.Commenting on the

numbers, IcraLtdchiefecon-omist Aditi Nayar said the6.8-per cent growth inMarch,a“32-monthhigh”, isdue to thebaseeffect.The lowbaseof the lock-

down-affected April 2020would push up the year-on-year expansion of the indexof eight core industries to a

sharp50-70percent inApril2021,withexceptionallyhighgrowth expected in cementandsteel, she further said.“However, we have ob-

servedaslackeninginthese-quentialmomentuminApril2021 in electricity demand,vehicle registrations, andgenerationofGST(goodsandservices tax) e-way bills, re-vealing the impact of the re-centsurgeinCovidinfectionsand localisedrestrictions.“Based on the available

data,weproject the IndexofIndustrialProduction(IIP) torecord a sharp growth of17.5-25 per cent in March2021,”Nayaradded.InFebruary2021,theout-

put of these sectors haddippedby3.8percent.

ECONOMYWATCHEIGHT INFRASECTORS

BRIEFLYJCBIndiahaltsoperationsNew Delhi: JCB India onFridaysaiditwilltemporar-ilysuspendoperationsfor10days, startingMay1, acrossitsmanufacturingfacilities.

OxygenimportrelaxationsNewDelhi:ThegovernmentonFridaypermittedimportofoxygenconcentrators forpersonal use, throughpost,courierore-commercepor-talsundergiftcategory.

InternationalflightcurbsNew Delhi: The Covid-in-ducedsuspensionofsched-uledinternationalpassengerflightshasbeenextendedtillMay 31, the DirectorateGeneralofCivilAviationsaidonFriday.

DronetocarryjabinTelanganaNewDelhi:TheCivilAviationMinistry on Fridaypermit-ted the Telangana govern-ment to use drones for ex-perimental delivery ofvaccineswithin the visuallineofsight.Theministrydidnotmentionwhichparticu-larvaccinewillbepartofthisexperiment. PTI

EuropeanUnionGDPcontractionBrussels:TheEuropeanUni-on’sstatisticsofficeEurostatsaidGDPinthe19countriessharingtheeurocontracted0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter for a 1.8 per centyear-on-yearfall,puttingthesinglecurrencyareainasec-ondtechnicalrecessionin12months. REUTERS

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,APRIL30

SOCIALMEDIA giant Facebook’sOversight Board has reversed adecision of the platform to re-moveapostthatwascritical of the Rash-triya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) andPrime MinisterNarendraModi. TheOversightBoardalsosaid that it waswrongofFacebooktonot have given the user whoshared the post, a chance to ap-pealagainsttheoriginaldecision.

WhatwasthepostbannedbyFacebook?According to the details

sharedbytheOversightBoard,inNovember last year, a user inPunjabshareda17-minutevideoclipthatwasoriginallyuploadedby a Punjabi media channelcalledGlobalPunjabTV.Thevideo

clip showedan interviewwith aprofessor.Inthepostaccompanyingthe

video, the user claimed that theRSS and BJP were moving to-wards “extremism” and werethreatening andplanning to kill

Sikhs in a style thatwould repeat the“deadly saga” of the1984anti-Sikhriots.After being

flagged by anotheruser,thepostwasre-viewed by a humanreviewer at

Facebook,whodetermined thatthe post violates the platforms’Dangerous Individuals andOrganisations CommunityStandard,andwasthenremoved.

WhatistheDangerousIndividualsandOrganisationsCommunityStandardofFacebook?Asper Facebook’s policy, the

platform,inordertopreventanddisrupt any real-world harm,

does not allowany organisationor individual thatproclaimsavi-olentmissionorisengagedinvi-olence tobepresenton theplat-form.

WhydidtheOversightBoardoverturntheplatform’sdecisiontobanthepost?TheOversightBoardreversed

thedecision to ban theuser andremove his postmainly on twoaccounts.Thefirstproblemwithremovalof the content andban-ning of the user was thatFacebookwasunable to identifyspecific words in the contentwhichitdeemed“dangerous”forthecommunity.Secondly,Facebook’sremoval

of the post was not consistentwith itsownpoliciesonprotect-ing and safeguarding humanrights as the post that wasshared“highlightedtheconcernsof minority and oppositionvoices in India that are allegedlybeing discriminated against bythegovernment”.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,APRIL30

AFTER FOURdays of successiverise, domestic stockmarkets lostnearly twoper cent amid risingCovidcasesanduncertaintiessur-roundingvaccination.Thebench-mark Sensex slumped by 984points to 48,782.36 and theNSENifty Index fell 264 points to14,631.10inthesell-off.Accordingtoanalysts,thesell-

off was led by foreign investorswho pulled out Rs 3,465 crorefromtheequitymarketonFriday.The broadermarket performedmarginally betterwithmid- andsmall-cap indices fallingbyarel-ativelysmallerextent.Onthesec-toral front, pharmawas thebestperforming sector and the onlyonetocloseinthegreen.Bankingwastheworstperformingsector.Joseph Thomas, head of re-

search,EmkayWealthManagem-ent,said,“Thecontinuousspreadofthepandemicwasthekeycon-

cerngoverningmarketsentiment.The impact of the localised lock-downs to control the pandemicand its impact on the economicvariableswouldbethesignificantmarketdriversovernearterm.”Themarketturnedintoacor-

rectionphasefollowingweaknessintheAsianmarketdespitehope-fulsignsfromWallStreet.“RisingCovidcasesanduncer-

tainties surroundingvaccinationaddedmorepressureonthemar-ket.Alongwithsmall-capstocks,pharma,metal,andoil&gaswere

the sectoral gainers,” saidVinodNair, head of research, GeojitFinancialServices.“Markets will first react to

RelianceIndustries’earningsandmonthly auto sales numbers inearly tradeonMonday,” saidAjitMishra, VP—research, ReligareBrokingLtd.Meanwhile, the rupee

snapped its four-day winningstreakandsettled2paiselowerat74.09 against the US dollar onFriday amida lacklustre trend inthedomesticequitymarket.

NewDelhi: Sevenmonths afterSashi Jagdishan took over as itsCEO and MD, HDFC Bank onFriday announcedwide-rangingorganisationalchanges.Thebankhas been reorganised into threepillars of ‘business verticals’, ‘de-livery channels’ and, ‘technologyanddigital’,asperastatement.Among the changes an-

nouncedbythebankarecurrentgroupheadforcorporatebankingRahul Shukla being entrustedwith the commercial banking(MSME)andruralvertical.The initiativehasbeen chris-

tenedas‘ProjectFuture-Ready’in-ternally. ENS

HDFC Bankannouncesrejig, with 3focus areas

■ThebenchmarkSensexslumpedby984pointsto48,782.36andtheNSENiftyIndexfell264pointsto14,631.10inthesell-off

■Therupeesnappeditsfour-daywinningstreaktoend2paiselowerat74.09

SENSEXFALLS984POINTSTO48,782

Post on PM, RSS: What causedFB oversight body to reverse ban

■Thesilver liningwastherise ingrowthtotheagriculturesectorandmediumindustries.Housing loangrowthdeclinedto9.1percent toRs14.59 lakhcrore inMarch2021asagainstagrowthof15percentayearago

■Asper latestdata fromtheReserveBankof India (RBI),

creditgrowthtoagricultureandalliedactivitiesacceleratedto12.3percentinMarchthisyearcomparedto 4.2percent inthesamemonthayearago

■Creditgrowthto industrydeceleratedmarginally to0.4percent inMarch2021ascomparedto 0.7percentinMarch lastyear

HOUSINGLOANGROWTHDECLINESTO9.1%

Creditgrowthdeclines to4.9%;loans tomediumindustries jump

Markets slip after four days onvaccine worries, Covid surge

EuropeanCommissioner forEuropefit for theDigitalAgeMargretheVestageratanonlinenewsconferenceontheAppleantitrustcase inBrussels, Friday.Reuters

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI, APRIL30

THE GOVERNMENT has kickedoff theexercisetoselectthenextChairman of the InsuranceRegulatory and DevelopmentAuthorityof India(Irdai),thereg-ulatorof the insurancesector.Thethree-yeartenureofcur-

rent Irdai Chairman SubhashChandra Khuntia, a retiredIndianAdministrativeServiceof-ficer,will end inMay2021.Accordingtoanotificationof

theFinanceMinistry,applicantsshould have at least 30 years ofwork experience, should haveworked as Secretary toGovernmentofIndiaoritsequiv-alent level in Government ofIndia or state governments orother institutions, and shouldhave had a proven track recordof leadership and authority indecision-making.Thenotification stated, “The

appointment will be made bythe Central Government on therecommendation of theFinancial Sector RegulatoryAppointment SearchCommittee.”“The committee is also free

to identify and recommend,basedonmerit,anypersonotherthanthosewhohaveappliedfortheoffice,” it further said.In respect of outstanding

candidates, the committeemayalso recommend relaxation ineligibilityandqualificationsandexperiencecriteria, it added.The consolidated pay and

allowances of the Chairpersonof the insurance regulatorybody will be Rs 4.50 lakh permonth without the facility ofhouseandcar.“Applicants fromtheprivate

sector should have worked asCEO or equivalent of a large fi-nancial institution,” it said.

Govt startsexercise toselect nextIrdai chief

MAY DEMAND CONCESSIONS, IMPOSE FINE OF UP TO 10% OF APPLE’S GLOBAL TURNOVER

EU hits Apple with music streaming charge

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,APRIL30

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES Ltd (RIL)onFridayreportedaconsolidatednetprofitofRs13,227croreforthequarterendedMarch2021,up108per cent from Rs 6,348 croreloggedinthecorrespondingquar-ter of last year. The company’sboarddeclaredadividendofRs7per share for the financial year2020-21.RIL’srevenuefromoper-ations rose11per cent toRs1.54lakhcroreascomparedtoRs1.39lakhcroreintheyear-agoperiod.RIL said revenue fromopera-

tions of Jio Platforms was Rs18,278 crore as againstRs15,373croreintheyear-agoquarter,ariseof 18.9 per cent. Jio Platformsclocked a net profit of Rs 3,508croreforthequarterunderreview,up by 47 per cent as against Rs2,379croreintheyear-agoperiod.Theconsolidatedrevenuesof

the company’s retail business(RelianceRetail)wereatRs47,064croreforthequarterunderreview,a rise of 24.4 per cent. Retail netprofit rose 22.8 per cent to Rs2,247crore.Duringthequarter,Jioposted a strong customer grossadditionat31.2million(anetad-dition of 15.4million)with im-proved traction acrossmobilityandhomes.Gross subscriber ad-ditionwas99.3millioninFY21de-spiteCovid-relatedchallenges.Theoil-to-telecomconglom-

eratepostedthehighesteveran-nualnetprofitofRs53,739crore,up34.8percentyear-on-year.RILchairmanandMDMukesh

Ambanisaid:“Theseareextraor-dinarily challenging times forIndia.OurimmediatepriorityistohelpourcountryandcommunitytideovertheCovidcrisis.Wehavedeployed our best resources instrengthening thenation’s fightagainst thepandemic.Our facili-ties in Jamnagar are producinglifesavingmedical gradeoxygen,which is the crucial need of thehourinmanystates.”

“Wehaveregisteredrobustre-covery in theO2Cand retail seg-ment,andresilientgrowthinthedigital services business.Sustained high utilisation ratesacross sites and improvement indownstreamproduct deltas aswell as transportation fuelmar-gins aidedO2Cearningsgrowth.Our consumer businesses haveprovedtobeadigitalandphysicallifelineforthenationinthesechal-lengingtimes,”Ambanisaid.He said Jio’s high-speed con-

nectivityservicesenabledmillionsofIndiansworkfromhome,studyfrom home and even receivehealthcare fromhome. RelianceRetailensuredsafesuppliesofes-sentialgoodsandservicestocus-tomerhomes.“AndwhileCovid-19has disrupted livelihoods,wehaveaddednearly75,000jobstotheeconomy,whileensuringthehealthandsafetyof ouremploy-eesandtheirfamilies,”headded.

RIL Q4 net morethan doubles onO2C, retail, digital`13,227crconsolidatednetforMarchqtr;recordannualprofitof`53,739cr

atthenational levelwithasinglesource informationcentre

HealthyGSTmop-up:Goodsandservicestax(GST)collections, thebarometerofeconomicactivity,have likelycrossedtheRs1 lakhcrore-markfor theseventhmonth inarowinApril, afterbreaking intothe league lastOctober

COVID-19 IMPACT

‘Reversemigration rising; demandforMGNREGS jobs up 2X inApril’Demand for work by households under rural employmentscheme orMGNREGS has almost doubled in April over ayear ago, indicatingmassive reversemigration to villagesamid the second Covidwave, an SBI Research report said

`1.15-1.20LAKHCRORE:EXPECTEDRANGEOFAPRILGSTCOLLECTIONS,ACCORDINGTOSBI’S INTERNALSIMULATIONMODEL;WOULDBE IMPRESSIVEASMOSTSTATESWEREUNDERPARTIALLOCKDOWNSINAPRIL

92%RISE INWORKDEMAND:The demand forwork byhouseholds under the rural employment scheme

(MGNREGS) has increased by92%to2.57 crore households inApril 2021— the highest in anyApril since compilation of thedata started in 2013—so far, as against 1.34 crore in April 2020

Indicationofreversemigration: Inashortnote,SBIChiefEconomicAdviserSoumyaKantiGhoshsaidthisindicatestheextentof reversemigrationfromthe lockdownstatestotheirnativestates

Noofficialdata:There isnoofficialdataon internalmigrationor reversemigration

Last year’s migration: During the 2020 lockdown, all modesof movement had fully snapped, forcing tens of thousandsmigrant workers to leave cities for their home villages on foot

Source: SBIResearch/PTI

Disruptions not a worry: Any disruption in GSTcollections will be transient and the states willhave comfortable State GST collections as well

■ Theoutputofeightcoresectorsexpandedby6.8percentinMarch

■Duringthefullfiscal2020-21(April-March),theproductionoftheeightsectorscontractedby7percentasagainstapositivegrowthof0.4percentin2019-20

OUTPUTUP6.8% INMARCH

Low base effectpropels Marchcore sector outputto 32-month high JIO PLATFORMS

NETUPBY47%

■MukeshAmbani-ledRelianceIndustriessaidrevenuefromoperationsof JioPlatformswas`18,278croreagainst`15,373croreintheyear-agoquarter,an18.9%rise

■JioPlatformsclockedanetprofitof`3,508croreforthequarterunderreview,upby47%ascomparedto`2,379croreintheyear-agoperiod

New Delhi



SPORT16

VolLXXXIXNo.147Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andDBCorpLtd,DainikBhaskarVillageUnanTola,NearDanapurCantt, ShivylyaRoad,Post

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ON THE TUBEIndian Premier LeagueMumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings,7.30pm, Live on Star Sports Network

SYNOPSIS■ Bangalore fried,Brarsizzles

DEVENDRAPANDEYMUMBAI, APRIL30

Prashant Singh, a 21-year-old fast bowlerfromBihar,hasnotbeenpaidmatch feesbythe Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI)forthelasttwoseasons. Withthepan-demicragingacrossthecountry,Prashant isworried about treatment costs for his elderbrotherwhoisCovid-19positiveandisolat-ing at home in Chhapra. His mother too isfinding itdifficult tobreathe.Prashant, an Under-23 cricketer, is the

sole breadwinner in his family. He isn't theonlyplayer fromBiharwho isunpaid.Cricketers fromthestate’sUnder-23, the

Under-19 and the senior team await pay-ment from the BCCI for the 2019-20 and2020-21season.TheBCCIhas alsodragged its feet on the

compensation package for players, an-nounced in December by its secretary JayShah, following a truncated seasonminustheRanji Trophy.Atthesametime,Biharplayershavebeen

waiting formatch fees.“EverytimeIgetamessageonmyphone

I presumemoney has been deposited. Lastyear I had to getmy elder sister married. Iborrowedmoney,hopingtorepaywhenIgetmatchfees. I lostmyfather in2016. Ihaven'treceived money till date. Now my elderbrother has tested positive for the coron-avirus. I don't knowwhere Iwill getmoneyfrom,”Prashant,whoistoreceiveaboutRs8lakh, toldThe IndianExpress fromChhapra.The reason for the delay, according to a

senior BCA official, was ‘error in vouchers’submittedby thestateunit to theBCCI.BCApresidentRakeshTiwaryclaimedthevouch-ers have been forwarded to the BCCI onceagain.AseniorBCCIofficial said theywouldhave to scrutinise the documents again be-fore releasingpayments.“Wehadearliersent invoicestoBCCIbut

they informedus that therewas an error inthe documentation. All the invoices havebeensentagain(inMarch)andpaymentwillbe receivedsoon,”Tiwarysaid.Asaresultof thisadministrativeimpasse,

theplayershavebeen left in the lurch.

Prashant says Bihar Cricket Associationofficials,whohavebeenwrangling,continuetomakeemptypromises.“We have been hearing this for the last

one year. ‘Money will be deposited nextmonth’ iswhatwearetold.Ourfinancialsit-uationisdireatthemoment,”Prashantsaid.

Board blames BCAThe BCCI official passed the buck to the

stateassociation. “Duetosomeissuewithintheassociationthissituationhasarisen,”theBCCIofficial said.

The Indian Express spoke to cricketersacross agegroupswhoconfirmed that theyhavenotbeenpaidyet.“Wearetalkingaboutitalmosteveryday.

We checkwith eachother if themoneyhasbeendeposited. Butnobodyhas received it.In these tough times,money is very impor-tant. Someof ushaveemailed topBCCIoffi-cials but we have not got a reply,” a seniorplayer said.Matchfeesforcricketersvaryforeachfor-

mat. A cricketer is paid approximately Rs40,000 per day for the Ranji Trophy, whichwasnotconducted last season.TheBCCIheldtheSyedMushtaqT20and

the 50-over Vijay Hazare tournaments in2020-21.Thematchfees fora50-overgameisRs25,000, andRs12,500 foraT20match.Under-23 players are paid Rs 63,000 for afour-day game and Rs 17,500 for a one-daygame. Asperprocedure,playershavetosub-mitan invoicetotheir respectivestateasso-ciations at theendof a tournament. Theas-sociationthenverifies themandforwards itto the BCCI which releases the payment totheplayers.

Bihar cricketers in the lurch, BCCI hasn’t paid fees in two years

Under-23fastbowlerPrashantSingh,thesolebreadwinnerof thefamily,withhismother inChhapra. HisbrotherhastestedpositiveforCovid-19.

“Last year I had togetmyeldersistermarried. I borrowedmoney,hoping to repaywhen I getmatchfees. I lostmy father in2016. Ihaven't receivedmoney till date.Nowmyelder brother has testedpositive for the coronavirus. I don'tknowwhere Iwill getmoney from.”

PRASHANTSINGHU-23BIHARCRICKETER

SHASHANKNAIRNEWDELHI, APRIL30

■ Played5outof6gamesandmade26savesacrossAFCChampionsLeaguegroupphase.

■ Most of these saves were high-qualitystops,where hewas in a one-on-one situa-tionwithoppositionplayers.

■Kepttwocleansheetsinfivegamesandletina totalof fourgoalswhilebeing ingoal.

THEFIRSTevercampaignforanIndianteamintheAsianChampionsLeagueendedinthegroupstage itself. In their sixgames, FCGoaturnedheadswith twoscorelessdraws.Butthenthetiringschedule, injuriesand

apilingyellowcard list took its toll.Andyet,oneIndianplayerwasthebestacrossAsiainhispositionandabright spot in the inaugu-ralcampaign.Fivegames,26saves(themostintheACLandeightmorethanthenexthigh-est),twocleansheetsandonlyfourgoalscon-ceded–Dheeraj Singhhad a tournament toremember.TheManipurigoalkeeperwasthestar by consensus of this teamon the conti-nent’sbigstage.

A notable instance of Singh saving Goacame in their secondgroupgame.In the dyingminutes of thematchwith

the score at 0-0, Al Wahad winger KhalilIbrahim launched a perfectlyweighted ballinto thebox fromthe right tohis teammateOmarKhribin,ayardawayfromthenearestFC Goa player. Khribin directed his headertowards the Gaurs goal where somehowSinghmade himself big and pulled out amatch-savingsave.Singhpumpedhisfistsatthegroundand

screamed,but thematchwasn’toveryet.AlWahad quickly took a corner and it wasDheeraj again, leapingpast a slewof bodiesandpunchinganyhopesof theUAEclubget-ting more than a point. The 20-year-oldshowed courage, and the man who firstpickedhimasan11-year-oldwasremindedof thesparkhesawinDheeraj then.“He had heart,” remembers Surendro

Singh, a coach at the All Moirang FootballAssociation academy. “We selected him inour academy in2012.Within ayear, hewasalreadyplayingforthestateteam,”Dheeraj’sfirst coach toldThe IndianExpress.From there, it was a fairly rapid rise for

Dheeraj. TheAIFF academy inKalyani camecalling, and then the FIFA U-17World Cup

happened. During the tournament held inIndia, Singh’s stock rose considerably as hewasrecognisedasoneof thestand-outper-formersdespitea shortgroup-stagestint.A trial at Scottish Premiership club

Motherwellfollowed,butnotmuchcameofit.NowatFCGoa,twocleansheetsinhisfirsttwo games at the AFC Champions Leaguehavenotjustreceivedattentionfromhisowncoaches,butalsoAsianelites.

A decent cropDheerajisanotherqualitygoalkeeperthe

Indianfootballsystemhaschurnedoutinre-centyears.With the national team facing a serious

shortagewhenitcomestostrikersandcen-traldefenders, a lookat thegoalkeepingsit-uation isawelcomechange.ShanmugamVenkatesh, assistant coach

of thenational team,spokeaboutthegrow-ing role of a goalkeeper inmodern footballand howDheeraj is a better custodian be-cause of the attention provided from ayounger age, something that didn’t happenearlier.“Overtheyears,theroleoftechniqueand

fitnesshasbecomeextremelyimportantforgoalkeepersandthe’keeperisnowrequiredtobeasfitastheoutfieldplayers.Now,thingslikefatpercentageandtrainingintensityaremajorfactorsforgoalkeepersandtechnique-wise, ’keepers today are more sound andmorecomfortablewiththeballattheirfeet,”Venkatesh toldThe IndianExpress.“With Indian football and clubs across

India gettingmore andmore professional,therearenowspecificcoachesforgoalkeep-ers. It is very important for them as goal-keeper training is different, with specific

drills and requirements, and a player likeDheeraj getting such quality training rightfrom the start is a very important factor inhisdevelopment.”Despitethebetterqualityofgoalkeepers

atthedisposalof thenationalteamnow,theAsianChampionsLeaguehasshownthepathtothenextstagethattheseyoungstersneedto take.In the Indian Super League, custodians

arenotexpected tobequickontheir feet.Apoint regularly emphasisedby FCGoa

coach Juan Ferrando in Champions Leaguepress conferences was the Indian style ofplay, which is to take two, maybe three,touches on the ball beforemoving forward.The top teams in Asia rarely allow somuchtimeontheball,andthatneedstobeunder-stoodbyallplayers,includingthegoalkeeper.Astherestof theworldcheeredthesaves

madeby FCGoa’s hero, FerrandowasquicktobringSinghdowntoearth,bypointingoutwhereheneedsmorework. “Dheerajmadegoodsaves.Heneedstoimprovepassingbecausewe

play a style where we build up from theback,”thecoachsaid,layingtheblueprintforwhat’s next for a young goalie beginning toshowhismettle in thebig league.

With 26 saves, two clean sheets Dheeraj shines in Asian Champions League

DheerajSingh’sgoalkeepingwasthetakeawayforFCGoa. File

Most Indianswhohavequalified forTokyoaregroundedduetopandemic,whichcoulddent theirOlympicprospects

All dressed up but nowhere to goNIHALKOSHIE&MIHIRVASAVDANEWDELHI, APRIL30

THESHOOTERSarescrambling,andpraying,to get their visas for Croatia stamped. Toptrack and field athletes, after four proposedtrips fell through,will behappy if any coun-tryacceptsthemsothattheycangetoutofascorchingPatiala.Thewomen’sandmen’shockeyteamsare

keepingtheirfingerscrossedthattheirplanstotourtheNetherlandsandSpain-Germany,respectively, do not get derailed. And tabletennis veteran Sharath Kamal has amoremodest hope – to be able to travel fromChennai to Pune, where he can train withmixeddoublespartnerManikaBatra.Ascountriesoneafteranothershutdoors

on travellers from India due to the secondwaveof thepandemic, those seekingquali-fication for the Tokyo Olympics aren’t theonlyones impacted.Amajorityofthe91athleteswhohaveal-

readymadethecutfortheGames,scheduledto begin on July 23, fear the home stretch oftheirpreparationswillbeseverelyimpacted,especially if they continue to trainwith thesame intensity during the peak summermonths.OnFriday,theNationalRifleAssociationof

India (NRAI) held a virtualmeetingwith thecoaches, inwhichitwasdecidedtoassemblethe15Tokyo-boundshootersinNewDelhibythethirdweekofMayincasetheplantotraveltoCroatiadoesnotmaterialise.Theshooters,whowereinexemplaryformbeforethepan-demic began in 2020 and continued in thesame vein this year, with several of themtippedforapodiumfinishattheGames.Apart fromAngadVirBajwa,who left for

Italy a couple of weeks ago to fix his equip-mentandisalsosettoparticipateattheWorldCup in Lonato fromMay 7, all others are inIndiaandmostof themhavebeenpractisingattheirhomes,likelastyear.TheNRAIhopedtosendtheteamtoOsijek,Croatiaforanexpo-surecamp.The teamwasalso set to shoot inthe non-competitiveMinimumQualifyingScore category during the EuropeanChampionship,whichbeginthereonMay20.“We are trying to gather all the required

documentsfromshooterssothatwecanap-plyforthevisa.Thegovernmentishelpingusbutiteventuallydependsonwhethertheem-bassy is functioning and if they grant us thevisas,”anNRAIofficialsaid.“Ifwearenotableto send the team to Croatia, a campwill beheld inNewDelhi tentatively fromMay20.”

Toprepare for theOlympics in theharshDelhiweatherofMayandJune,whentemper-atures can reach thehigh40s inCelsius,willcomewithitsownsetofchallenges,especiallyfor shooters in the 25mand50mrifle/pistolandshotgunevents forwhichtraining isout-doors. “Itwill be counterproductive to havelongpracticesessionsatthattimeasthereisarisk of falling ill,” a coach said. “Wehave tomakedowithwhateverthescenariois.Maybewecanstartreallyearlyinthemorning,intheTokyotimezone,tobeattheheat.ThatwillbeonewaytopreparefortheGames.”

Search for cooler climesShootersaren’ttheonlyonesfrettingover

the prospect of training in extremeheat. Atthe National Institute of Sports (NIS) inPatiala, thetopjavelinthrowersandthe100metre and400metre runnerswho are partoftherelaysquads,arefindingitincreasinglydifficult topractisewith thesame intensity.The trackand fieldathleteshavealready

seentheirplansof travellingtoSouthAfrica,Turkey,PolandandtheCzechRepublicfailingtomaterialisebecauseof pandemic-relatedrestrictions.Athletics Federation of India President

AdilleSumariwallasaidtheyaretryingtoget

a‘Schengenvisafromacountry,whichcouldbethetrainingbaseandfromwhereourath-letescouldtravelforcompetitionsinEuropeandreturn.’“There are two reasonswhywewant to

move them(tocooler climes).One isevery-where the temperature is very bad in Indiaduringthistime.Thesecondreasonistohelpthemprepare for amajor competition (liketheOlympics). Youhave tobe competition-readyandtobecompetition-readyyouhavetocompete,”Sumariwallasaid.“Whatwedoiswebuilduptopeak.Werunacompetition,we build up, train, and then run anothercompetition. But we have not been able togetSchengenvisas so far.”Javelin throwers, including medal

prospectsNeeraj ChopraandShivpal Singh,alongwith their coaches, were to travel toSouth Africa inMarch. However, the SouthAfricanvariant of the coronavirusmade it atrip fraughtwith risk. Finlandwas the nextdestinationofchoiceforthembutvisaswerenotissuedtoIndians.TheCzechRepublictoodidn'tissuevisasdespitethepresidentofthecountry's athletics association issuing a let-ter for India's javelin throwersandrunners.Turkeywasapossibilityatonepoint.“But

itwon’t be very helpful in terms of athletes

travelling for competitions because Turkeyis not a Schengen visa (country). That is theproblem,”Sumariwalla said.Athletes inPatialawill have to stayput at

NIS in thepeakof summer insteadof travel-lingtoothertrainingcentreswithinIndiawithmoderatetemperatures.“Movingthemcouldbedisastrouswiththewaythevirusisspread-ing.IfwemovethemtoBangaloreoranywhereelse,itcouldbeaveryhighriskforthem.Howdo we create a bubble and move them?”Sumariwalla said. “Athletes have tobe inno-vative,maybetrainveryearly inthemorningoratnighttoavoidthesummerheat.”

Partner far awayFor the table tennis players, even travel-

lingwithin India is starting tobeaproblem.Sharath Kamal andManika, who have anoutsidechanceofamedalinmixeddoubles,are hoping to have five or six days of ‘goodpractice’everymonth.ButshuttlingbetweenChennai andPune, their respectivebases, isnotproving tobeeasy.“Initially the plan was for me to go to

Pune, butwithMaharashtra being in a badcondition she (Manika) decided to comedown.Wewere just discussingwhen I cangothere,andwhenwecanhavethenextset

oftrainingsessions,”KamalsaidduringaSAI-facilitatedpressconference.The 38-year-old will be playing in his

fourth Olympics, havingmade his debut attheAthensGames in 2004. This is themostconfidenthe’s felt going intoanOlympics.But the second wave has complicated

preparations.“Wedon’tknowhowmuchofthiswillaffectusattheOlympics.Thesedis-tractions, the negativity with everythingaround,”hesaid. “It’snotthewaywegener-allyprepare forotherOlympics. Butwewillhavetofindasolutionwherewearestillableto focus on our performance at Tokyo andwork towards it.”

Javelin throwerNeerajChopra(L) is stuck inPatiala.Table tennisstarSharathKamalandmixeddoublespartnerManikaBatrahavehadtochangeplans.ShooterAngadVirBajwagot luckywhenheleft for Italy twoweeksagotofixequipment.

SRIRAMVEERAMUMBAI, APRIL30

THISIShowHarpreetBrarwonthegameforPunjab Kings. Seven balls, no run, and thethree big wickets of Virat Kohli, GlennMaxwell and AB de Villiers in the chase. Amomentum-turning 25 with the bat thathelpedKLRahul(91*)andPunjabfinishonahighwith 179/5. Until Brar’s breezy knock,RoyalChallengersBangalorewereincontrol.Until Brar’s deadly spell, Kohli’s teamwasalive, even if in a bit of trouble at 62/1 in 10overs. But the collapse he engineered re-sulted in a 34-runwin for KL Rahul’s men.Not a bad outing for someonewho had towaitsevenyearsandslogthroughfourtrialsbeforean IPL teampickedhimin2018.

Bangalore friedFor awhile, Kohli hadbeenexposinghis

cards: attacking the first ball of overs asBangalorereached62/1after10overs.Itwas-n’t an ideal start to the chase as both Kohliand Rajat Patidar, whose stance is clonedfrom his captain, struggled to find bound-ariesbutatleasttheyhadwicketsintactwiththeir enforcers tocome.EnterBrar.Kohlichargeddownthetrack,

thefirstballagain,butBrarwasreadywithaskidder from short of a length that rushedpast theheave tobreak thestumps.Nextball,Brardecidedtoshownewbats-

manMaxwellthathecouldalsoturntheballsharply, if he chooses. TheAussie’s bat-flowonmiddle stump suggested hewas playingforthestraighterone,butitspunpastthewaftto take the off-bail. Even deVilliers couldn’tstop that over from being a double-wicketmaiden.Brarwasn’tdoneyet.Hedeliveredashort-of-lengthskidderthatstuckinthepitchand de Villiers punched it straight to shortcover.Threebigfishfornoruns,andthrowinthat25, itwasadreamynight forBrar.

Brar sizzlesFor six overs from 11.1, Punjab couldn’t

getaboundary.And lostwickets inaclutch.ChrisGaylehadfalleninthe11thoverafterawhirlwind46andNicholasPooranforaduckinthe12th–asPunjabbegantostutter.Theylost Deepak Hooda and enforcer ShahrukhKhan cheaply, entering the 18th over withthe score reading 132 for 5 – theyhadbeen99 for1whenGayle fell.EnterBrar.AgainsthimwasHarshalPatel,

whowould go on to relive his Jadeja night-marealloveragain.Notquitebutalmost.Brarbashedhim for a six anda four ashe leaked18inthe18thover.MohammedSirajpluggedthingswith a seven-run over but KL RahulandBrar looted22off Patel in the final over.Abelow-par totalhad jumpedto179.Much credit, understandably, would go

toRahulforhis91(off57balls)butitwasBrarwho had reignited Punjab’s spark. Rahul’swas a fine knock, especially for theway hemanagedtostopandstartinvariousphases.Atfirst, itwasGaylewhocreatedhavocwithfive fours in the lastPowerplayoveroff KyleJamieson. Rahul too joined in themayhemwhenGayle fell. Butwhen threemorebats-mendeparted,Rahulretreatedtoawait-and-watchgame.BrarprovidedthekickstartandRahul thumpedasixandtwofours inthefi-naloverof the innings.BRIEF SCORES: Punjab Kings 179/5 in 20ovs (KLRahul 91, 57b, 7x4, 5x6; Chris Gayle46,24b,6x4,2x6;HarpreetBrar25,17b,1x4,2x6 Kyle Jamieson 2/32, 7 dots) bt RoyalChallengersBangalore145/8in20ovs(ViratKohli35,34b,3x4,1x6;RajatPatidar31,30b,2x4,1x6;HBrar3/19,15dots)

Kings usesurprise weaponBrar to tameVirat & Co.

New Delhi: Weightlifter MirabaiChanuwill shift her base to St. Louis,USA, until the Olympics after SportsAuthorityof India’sMissionOlympicCell(MOC)fast-trackedandapprovedherproposalonFriday.Chanu, who recently won a

bronze medal at the AsianChampionship, setting the worldrecordincleanandjerksectionintheprocess, had said during a SAI-facili-tatedinteractiononThursdaythatshe‘hoped’ to travel to the USA butwasconcernedaboutthepossibilityofthetourgettingcancelledbecauseof theCovid-19situation in India.However, theMOC acted swiftly

anddecidedtosendChanutotheUSAon Saturday, before any restrictionsare imposed on visitors from India.Chanuwill be accompanied by hercoaches Vijay Sharma and SandeepKumar. The weightlifter, who com-petesinthe49kgclass,willspendthenext 83 days in the build-up to theOlympicsatSt.Louisandwilldirectlytravel to Tokyo from there. Whilethere, Chanuwill also get treated forher back and shoulder problems byphysiotherapistAaronHorschig,whoworked on her during her first visitlastyear.ChanuandSharmacreditedHorschig for improving her fitness,whichtheysaidenabledhertosetthecleanand jerkworld record.ENS

Lifter Chanu to setout for USA, to staytill Tokyo Games

New Delhi