L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The state government has setits eyes on nearly Rs 1,500 croredeposits of its departmentslying in various banks in thedistricts to tide over the tightfinancial position aggravatedby the deepening Covid-19crisis.

On Tuesday, an urgent orderwas issued asking the depart-ments to furnish details oftheir savings and currentaccounts as well as fixeddeposits within a day.

The lockdown since March

14 has almost dried up the trea-sury, with the state govern-ment's revenue earnings fallingfrom Rs 400 crore per day inthe pre-lockdown days to just

Rs 1 crore per day now. Thegovernment is grappling withthe unforeseen corona-inducedsituation that has compound-ed the already stretched

finances of the state so much sothat it has become difficult tomeet even day-to-day expens-es. It is in this backdrop that thestate government has decidedto tap the deposits of variousdepartment lying in banks.

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao indicatedthe pathetic financial conditionof the state government duringthe press conference headdressed at Pragathi Bhavanon Monday. "The state govern-ment should have earned Rs2,400 crore from April 1 to 6 atthe rate of Rs 400 crore per day.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Forty fresh Covid-19 posi-tive cases were confirmed inTelangana on Tuesday, takingthe total number of thoseaffected in the state to 404.The number of active casesstood at 348 as of Tuesday.

The cumulative 404 Covid-19 positive cases in the stateinclude those which resultedin 11 deaths and 45 dis-charges. Most of the freshcases are among thosewho had returnedafter attendingTablighi Jamaat's con-gregation inNizamuddin duringMarch 13-15 or their pri-mary or secondary contacts.

While 17 new cases werereported in Hyderabad, therewere 10 new cases inNizamabad, 9 new cases inJogulamba Gadwal district, 3in Mahabubnagar and 1 inAdilabad on Tuesday.

Hyderabad reported themaximum number of Covid-19

positive cases. There are 150active cases in Hyderabad alone,followed by 36 in Nizamabad,23 in Warangal and 22 in

Jogulamba Gadwal. Containment mea-

sures have been takenup in all the districtswhere positive caseswere reported. Till date,

according to healthauthorities, there is no evi-

dence of community trans-mission in Telangana.

Over the last two days, 70people tested Covid-19 posi-tive in Telangana. Telanganahas been showing a risingtrend of Covid-19 cases.Health officials reported 30positive cases on Monday,apart from 62 on Sunday.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The nationwide tally of con-firmed COVID-19 cases crossed5,000 on Tuesday amid hectic dis-cussions for a possible extensionof the 21-day lockdown beyondApril 14 as several statesannounced plans to ramp uptheir testing infrastructure andput in place strong 'cluster con-tainment' plans in areas identifiedas hotspots of the outbreak.

There were also indicationsabout possible relaxations from acomplete lockdown for some sec-tors, including agriculture andunorganised labour sector, atleast in some states, while therewere also talks about evenstronger area-specific restrictionsin some places.

The Union Health Ministry'sevening update, however, showed4,789 confirmed cases and 124deaths. More than 400 have so farbeen cured and discharged, whilenearly 1.1 lakh tests have beenconducted so far in the country,as per official announcements.

Officials said that the lock-down and social distancing mea-sures have helped contain thepandemic in a big way in India.Citing an ICMR study, the HealthMinistry said just one COVID-19

patient can infect as many as406 people in 30 days in theabsence of preventive mea-sures such as social distanc-ing and the lockdown.

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8‘INDIA'S RENEWABLES INSTALLATION

COULD FALL DUE TO LOCKDOWN’

ANALYSIS 7DON’T DEMONISE A

COMMUNITY

SPORTS 12NOT ENOUGH ROLE MODELS INCURRENT INDIA TEAM: YUVRAJ

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY APRIL 8, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 177*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published FromVIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

}LOCKDOWN DIARIES:SOBHITA IS READING,

WATCHING WEBSERIES AND COOKING{

Page 11

Allow liquor sale;illicit trade burden on exchequer: CIABC

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8

Telanganaimproves healthparameters insix-yr journey

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JAPAN ENDS OLYMPIC FLAME DISPLAY DUE TO VIRUS

The coronavirus pandemic has killed morethan 75,000 people people worldwide, the

majority of them in Europe, since itemerged in China in December, according toa tally compiled by AFP from officialsources at 0945 GMT Tuesday. A total of75,538 deaths have been recorded,including 53,928 in Europe, the continentworst hit by the virus. The official talliesprobably reflect only a fraction of the actualnumber of cases.

TRUMP TALKS "RETALIATION" IFINDIA REJECTS EXPORT OF KEY DRUGUS President Donald Trump has said "there may be retaliation" if India

does not agree to export hydroxychloroquine, a key anti-malaria drugbelieved by many to be effective in the treatment of coronavirus. Hisremarks come nearly two weeks after the government bannedexport of the drug as experts test its efficacy in helping treatCOVID-19 patients."I would be surprised if he (Prime MinisterNarendra Modi) would, you know, because India does verywell with the United States," Mr Trump said at a White Housepress briefing on Monday, when a reporter askedwhether he was worried about "retaliation to the USban on export of medical goods" from India.

Two people, who earlier did not show any symptoms of the novelcoronavirus or COVID-19, have tested positive in Kerala's Pathanamthitta

district, about 100 km from Thiruvananthapuram, officials have said. One ofthem is a 60-year-old man who had traveled from Dubai to Pathanamthitta;another is a 19-year-old student who had travelled fromDelhi. The state has swung into action after the casescame to the fore."This is a warning sign. Thousands ofinnocent, unknown people might also have come incontact with these asymptomatic carriers. The factthat they passed their 14-day quarantine period,without showing any symptoms, is further alarming.

KERALA TEEN, MAN WITH NO COVID-19 SYMPTOMS TEST POSITIVE

GLOBAL DEATH TOLL FROMCORONAVIRUS TOPS 75,000

The Olympic flame will be removed from display in Japan, officials saidTuesday, as the country braces for a state of emergency due to the

coronavirus that also forced the historic postponement of Tokyo 2020. Ithad been on public display in the northeasternFukushima region since last week, but JapaneseOlympic organisers decided to shelve it ascoronavirus cases climb in the country. The ill-fatedflame, lit in Greece, arrived in Japan on March 20for a torch relay originally scheduled to start sixdays later and climax at the Olympics openingceremony on July 24.

BSE revises cut-offtimings for MF subscription,redemption

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated April 07, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Chaitra & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Purnima: 08:03 am, Pratipada: 04:12 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Chitra: 03:02 am (Next Day)Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:17 pm – 01:50 pmYamagandam: 07:40 am – 09:13 amVarjyam: 01:05 pm – 02:29 pmGulika: 10:45 am - 12:17 pmGood Time: (to start any

important work)Amritakalam: 09:27 pm – 10:51 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: NIL

HYDERABADWEATHERForecast: Partly cloudyTemp: 36/24Humidity: 72%Sunrise: 06.05Sunset: 06.30

CENTRE MULLS EXTENDING

157

Confirmed Cases

Deaths

445Recovered

CORONAOUTBREAK

IN INDIA

5337

TIDING OVER FINANCIAL CRISIS

TS eyes its Rs 1,500 cr depositsn Furnish details in a day, departments told

Infant tests positvefor CoronavirusPNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

District Collector VenkatRao on Tuesday said thatthree more persons, includ-ing a 23-day-old baby, test-ed positive for Covid-19 inthe district. Two days ago, thebaby's father and grandmoth-er tested positive for the virusand now the baby has testedpositive. The baby has beenreferred to Gandhi Hospitalfor further treatment.

The trio contracted the virusfrom those who returned hereafter attending Tablighi Jamaat'sreligious congregation inNizamuddin, New Delhi dur-ing March 13-15. So far, sevenCovid-19 positive cases havebeen registered in the district.

Garbage generated down by 1,400 MTCITY A LOT CLEANER UNDER LOCKDOWN

PNS n HYDERABAD

Thanks to the lockdown, theamount of garbage being gen-erated daily in the city hascome down by a whopping1,400 metric tonnes (MT).

According to GHMC's state-ment, "5,000 metric tonnes ofgarbage is lifted from houseson a daily basis now. Prior tothe lockdown, 6,400 MTgarbage used to be collectedaround. Due to the closure ofhotels and business firms, theratio of garbage has reduced."

In all, 2,500 Swachh autosare collecting garbage by goingfrom house to house. This

garbage is sent to dump yardfrom transfer centers.Sanitation workers are takingall sorts of risks to ensure thathygiene is maintained acrossthe city.

According to GHMC offi-cials, sanitation workers areworking dedicatedly to containthe spread of coronavirus onpar with the health staff.Around 22,500 workers are

engaged in sanitation works,including cleaning of roads.Besides, around 2,375-strongstaff of entomology wing and1,100 DRF staffers are engagedin the spraying of disinfectantsin the areas where Covid-19positive cases are traced, areaswhere people are in home quar-antine, government hospitals,quarantine centers, and areassurrounding isolation centers.

TSRTC officials are plying 35buses free of cost so that sanita-tion workers can attend to theirduties in a hassle-free manner.Around 1,600 workers are util-ising this facility on 28 routes.

NEW DELHI: A Group of Ministers onCOVID19 on Tuesday recommendedextension of closure of all educationalinstitutions and restricting all religiousactivities having public participation tillMay 15 irrespective of whether thegovernment extends the 21-daylockdown or not, official sources said.A meeting of the GoM chaired byDefence Minister Rajnath Singh andparticipated by Home Minister AmitShah and Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman concluded that religiouscentres, shopping malls andeducational institutions must not beallowed to resume normal functioning

at least for four weeks from April14 when the current lockdownends.The thinking in thegovernment is that schools andcolleges will more less remainshut till end of June as thesummer vacation will startfrom middle of May.

The GoM recommendedthat activities of all religiousorganisations should not beallowed till May 15 as aprecautionary measure tocheck spread of coronavirusinfection, the sources added.

Sensex zooms 2,476 pointsPNS n MUMBAI

The BSE gauge Sensex onTuesday went past thekey 30,000-level bysurging over 2,476points, the biggestsingle-day gains inabsolute terms, amida broad-based rally in

global equities.After soaring 2,567 points

during the day, the 30-shareBSE barometer ended2,476.26 points or 8.97per cent higher at30,067.21. In percent-age terms, the Sensexrise was the biggest

since May 2009.

Similarly, the NSE Niftysoared 708.40 points, or 8.76per cent, to 8,792.20 -- the bestsession of all time for theindex in absolute termsanaHCL Tech and HeroMotoCorp. Broader BSE mid-cap and smallcap indices ral-lied up to 5.40 per cent.

LOCKDOWN‘Continue closure of educationalreligious institutions till May 15’

It is in thisbackdrop that thestate governmenthas decided totap the depositsof variousdepartmentlying in banks

40 more test Covid-19+ve, TS total now 404 n 10 in Nizamabad and 9 inJogulamba among fresh cases

The cumulative 404Covid-19 positivecases in the stateinclude those whichresulted in 11 deathsand 45 discharges.

Groundwaterlevels dip in staten Situation better than in March last year

PNS n HYDERABAD

With the onset of summer,the groundwater level has fall-en in the state by 0.81m. Thesaving grace is that the situa-tion is better than in Marchlast year.

According to the GroundWater Department, net aver-age fall in groundwater levelsof 0.81 m is observed duringMarch 2020 as compared toFebruary 2020. The fall isobserved in all districts (-0.20 Wanaparthy to -1.89 inMedak) except one -- Jagitialwhere negligible rise of 0.04 mis observed.

The average groundwaterlevel in the State during March2020 was 10.51 meters belowground level (m bgl). It variesfrom 4.90 m bgl (Wanaparthy)to 21.6 m bgl (Medak).

Compared to last year, a netrise in the groundwater levelof 2.89 m is observed duringMarch 2020 as compared toMarch 2019, and the rise isobserved in all districts. This

is because the state witnessed15 percent more rainfall.

A minimum rise of 0.07 mis observed in Bhadradri andmaximum rise of 6.11 m inSiricilla district. While mod-erately deep (15-20 m bgl) andvery deep water levels (>20 mbgl) occupy ~12% and ~7% ofState area respectively, waterlevels in the range of 5-10 mbgl occupy ~43 % of state areaand are more predominant inthe state, 10-15 m bgl waterlevels cover ~26% of statearea during the month.During March-2020 as com-pared to Feb-2020 there is anincrease in the area of deepwater level (>20m) by ~1902km2 (~2%).

IRCTC suspendsbookings till Apr 30 PNS n HYDERABAD

Railway subsidiary IRCTCwhich runs three privatetrains in the country hasdecided to suspend theirservices till April 30, officialssaid on Tuesday.The book-ings for the three trains -- theKashi Mahakal Express on theVaranasi-Indore route, theLucknow-New Delhi Tejasand the Ahmedabad-MumbaiTejas -- were earlier stoppedonly between April 25 andApril 15 during the nation-wide lockdown due to thecoronavirus crisis, and book-ing of tickets for travel after thelockdown period was allowed.

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A lot of stategovernments as

well as experts arerequesting CentralGovernment to extendthe lockdown. TheCentral government isthinking in thisdirection

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HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020 hyderabad 02

As April1 4 ,2 0 2 0 ,

the day the 21-day lockdown

announced tobreak the

chain of COVID-19nears, the question

uppermost in the minds ofthe people is whether the restric-tions will be lifted by this date.

Has the lockdown, part ofthe “war against Coronavirus”been enough to gain controlover the virus? Has the goal ofa Corona-free country beenmet? Or is there anything thatwe could learn from thosecountries that have been thusfar remained untouched bythis extremely infectious con-tagion? The answer to suchquestions may differ, depend-ing on your political leanings.

The fact, however, remainsthat the Central government willfind it extremely tough to take

a decision on lifting the lock-down, as the country faces thepossibility of community spread— Stage-3 — of the Coronavirus.

Even as the entire world isunited in its struggle to defeatCOVID-19, India’s politicalleadership is shockingly leastbothered about the people.Criticism and counter-criti-cism is on expected lines,thanks to the political ‘wisdom’our leaders.

No doubt that this possibil-ity has increased with the sud-den rise of Covid-19 cases dueto three-day Tablighi Jamaatcongregation held in Dehi inmid-March, just ahead of theJanata Curfew. Hundreds ofparticipants of that congrega-tion returned to their homesacross 18 States in the countryand infected at least their closecontacts. The situation was byand large believed to havebeen under control till then.

However, once those who

participated in the TablighiJamaat congregation were test-ed, the number of people test-ing positive for the virus shotby by 30 per cent. As this newsbroke, the country naturallystarted worrying about thepossible spread of the virus.

What was even more wor-risome was that the ‘religiousangle’ came handy for princi-pal political players of thecountry to take on their rivals.

Despite providing strongpolitical leadership, PrimeMinister Narendra Modisilently opened the door for hismen to unleash a war of words,and allowing them to give a

religious colour to the spreadof the pandemic. His sup-porters went to town, attribut-ing the steep rise in the num-ber of Coronavirus cases to theTablighi Jamaat congregation.

Though Modi hasn’t direct-ly involved himself in thisepisode, no one believes thathe would ignore an opportu-nity to gain political mileageout of the present episode.

However, it must be men-tioned here that many politi-cians have gone on recordsaying that it would not be fairon anybody's part to blameone religion for the rapidspread of the lethal virus.

While it’s still to be seenwhether the politics over theTablighi Jamaat episode willhelp the country overcome thepandemic. The reality is thatat present, the only option thatmakes sense is continuingwith the social distancing the-ory. This is considered to bethe best way to break thechain of community spread.

Owners and editors ofmedia houses, during an inter-action with the PrimeMinister, suggested that Indiashould learn lessons from thecountries badly effected byCOVID-19 and these nationsconsulted.

Countries have adopted dif-ferent tactics to deal with thevirus, a very few like SouthKorea have implemented cer-tain restrictions but not com-plete lockdown. This approachcould work in a society that ishighly disciplined — SouthKorea’s track record of hostingthe Olympics and AsianGames proves this.

South Korea implementedits 3T policy — Trace, Test &Treat that yielded good results.The South Korean examplecould be replicated in anycountry, but only with thehelp and cooperation of its dis-ciplined society.

India stands at a crucial

crossroads — extending thelockdown might have graveeconomic impact, but lifting itmay result in a situation priorto implementing it.

The Centre must considerevery eventuality before takinga decision.

Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao has alreadyappealed to Modi to extend thelockdown for at least two moreweeks. Nobody knows howModi would react to KCR’sremarks that he would imple-ment the lockdown in his statefor two more weeks even if theCentre lifted it.

Meanwhile, a political con-troversy brewed in AndhraPradesh, with the ruling YSRCongress Party cadres active-ly involved in disbursingRs1,000 assistance given to theBPL families to meet theirneeds during the lockdown.

They, along with the candi-dates for local bodies' polls

accompanied village volun-teers who are supposed tohand over those amount tobeneficiaries. This led to accu-sations that the YSRCP wasdistributing the money forelection purpose. Enraged, theOpposition lodged complaintswith the Governor and theState Election Commissioner.This controversy might con-tinue till polling day, especial-ly if any ‘concrete evidence’that the YSCRP was ‘bribing’voters, is found.

The TDP at the moment is‘leaderless’ as its supremo NChandrababu Naidu has liter-ally been stranded inHyderabad following the lock-down. Though Naidu has beenmonitoring the situation in APand guiding TDP cadresthrough teleconferences, hisphysical presence would haveundoubtedly made a differenceto the party, and also fetchedhim political dividends.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

The fact, however, remains that the Centralgovernment will find it extremely tough totake a decision on lifting the lockdown, as thecountry faces the possibility of communityspread — Stage-3 — of the Coronavirus

Virus or lockdown, leaders unwilling to stop doing politics

PINPOINT

AVINASH DEEPAK PULIn HYDERABAD

As the number of Corona pos-itive cases are increasing witheach passing day, the people inthe districts across the state aregetting prepared for the exten-sion of lockdown. It may berecalled the on Monday, ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao, addressing the media,stated that he requested thePrime Minister NarendraModi to extend the lockdownas the situation is yet to comeunder control.

Many villagers say the pre-sent condition would becomeclearer if the extension isaccorded. The Ministers ofrespective districts entrustedwith the responsibility of guid-ing the people in the wake ofrise in Corona cases. Theyreviewed the situation in theirrespective areas and are givingtop priority to those areaswhich were declared 'red zones'.

Excise Minister Srinivas Goudreviewed the prevailing condi-tions in the erstwhileMahbubnagar district and calledupon the people to take necessaryprecautions in order to stay keepthe novel Coronavirus at bay.

He conducted a reviewmeeting with the medical andhealth officials, Collectors, SPsand revenue officials. TheMinister asked the officials

concerned in Mahbubnagar,Wanaparthy, Gadwal,Narayanpet and Nagarkurnoolto intensify safety measures inthe wake of rising number ofcases in the state. Reportsfrom Karimnagar indicate thatthe people are quite preparedto the extension of lockdown.

"The present conditions andthe precautions being taken theadministration to prevent the

spurt and spread of the virusseem somewhat helpful. Onlythose who went to Markaz inNizamuddin were tested pos-itive for the virus," villagers inKarimnagar told PNS.

Similarly, Minister GangulaKamalakar reviewed the situ-ation with the officials con-cerned in Karimnagar onTuesday. He called upon theofficials to take up extensiveprecautions to prevent thespread of the virus. Meanwhile,Ministers Errabelli DayakarRao, Satyavathi Rathod alsoreviewed the situation in theirrespective constituencies.

Reports fromvarious districtsindicate that thepeople areprepared for theextension oflockdown in TS

Villagers prepared forextended lockdown

Harish assures MSP for paddyPNS n SIDDIPET

Minister for Finance T HarishRao on Tuesday inauguratedpaddy procurement centre atMundrai and distributed freerice and financial incentives tothe migrant labourers and laterinaugurated the maize pro-curement centre at Arepaliand paddy and maize procure-ment centres at Gatla Malyalavillage. MP KottakotaPrabhakar Reddy, additionaldistrict Collector Padmakarwere also present on the occa-sion.

The paddy output in thecurrent rabi would be more asthe area under the crop isalmost doubled to 1.52 lakhacres as against 60,370 acresduring the last rabi season.

In spite of increase in paddyoutput to 3.16 lakh tonnes, thegovernment made all arrange-ments to procure it at thedoorstep of the farmers, hesaid. The government will paythe MSP of Rs 1,835 a quintalof paddy.

Unlike in many states, thereis no ceiling imposed on thefarmer to sell their produce.

Other states have put a ceilingof 10 or 20 quintals. Similarly,arrangements have been madeto procure 4,29,880 quintals ofmaize produced in 18,000acres in the district.

At many places in the dis-trict, the farmers cultivatedsunflower crop. The govern-ment will procure it at Rs5,650 a quintal. The official sta-tistics put the total quantity ofsunflower crop harvested at20,000 quintals, he said exhort-ing the farmers to make betteruse of the procurement facili-ty. Also, the state governmentset up procurement centres toprocure 58,000 quintals ofBengal gram crop at the MSP

of Rs 4,870, he said. Earlier in the day, Harish

Rao inaugurated Bengal Gramprocurement centre atRimmanaguda villae of Gajwelmandal along with MP KottaPrabhakar Reddy, VanteruPratap Reddy, DCCB chair-man Chitti Devender Reddyand others.

Referring to paddy procure-ment, he called upon farmersto dry paddy well before bring-ing it to the procurement cen-tre since the officials would notpurchase the paddy with mois-ture content. Mositure contentin paddy would delay the pro-curement by at least two days.

Breathing techniques helped JK Rowling recoverPNS n NEW DELHI

Amid the rapid spread ofthe deadly coronavirus(Covid-19) pandemic,acclaimed author JKRowling has shared a poston her Twitter account,showing techniques sheused to overcome the symp-toms of Covid-19 after twoweeks of illness.

The "Harry Potter"author shared the videowith the caption: "Pleasewatch this doc from QueensHospital explain how torelieve respiratory symp-toms. For last 2 weeks, I'vehad all symptoms of C19(tho haven't been tested) &did this on doc husband's

advice. I've fully recovered& technique helped a lot."

"I really am completelyrecovered and wanted toshare a technique that's rec-ommended by doctors,costs nothing, has no nastyside effects but could helpyou/your loved ones a lot, asit did me. Stay safe, every-one," she added.

In the video posted byRowling, a UK hospitaldoctor named SarfarazMunshi describes a vitalbreathing technique forCovid-19 sufferers thatcould prevent the patientsfrom contracting secondarypneumonia, which couldprove dangerous to health.The doctor said that his col-

league Sue Elliot relies onthe technique every day inintensive care. The videofeatures a breathing tech-nique that involves inhalingand exhaling, and holdingbreaths and a 'big cough'.

Speaking about thebreathing techniques rec-ommended in the video,Vivek Nangia, Director andHOD, Pulmonology, FortisHospital in Vasant Kunj,said: "There are two parts of

the video, the first part isdeep breathing and cough-ing. While deep breathing isgood to do (just likepranayama), one will neverask a Covid-19 patient tocough, as there is high riskof transmission of the dis-ease to the others."

"It is always advised tonever ever ask a Covid-19patient to cough. On thecontrary, the patients arealways given a mask tocover their faces so thatthe chances of spreadingthe infection throughdroplets can be min-imised," Nangia said."Lying on the front isreferred to as prone posi-tioning, and is basically

done by patients who haveinvolvement of lungs byCovid-19 or any othersimilar infection and ithelps in improving theoxygen levels and also inpreventing a basal atelec-tasis (collapse of the basalsegments of the lungs),"Nangia said."As describedin the video, it does notprevent a secondary pneu-monia. However, it onlyhelps in improving theoxygen levels in patientswho have a long involve-ment in the presence ofCovid-19 or any other sim-ilar infection, which couldresult in acute respiratorydistress syndrome (ARDS)like situation," he added.

Helping handfor needyadvocatesPNS n HYDERABAD

Citing that the Bar Council ofTelangana state does not havesufficient funds to cater theneeds of poor and the needyadvocates during the ongoinglockdown period, councilchairman A NarasimhaReddy on Tuesday appealed toall the council members andsenior advocates to donateamounts generously to pro-vide helping hand in need ofthe hour to all the poor andthe needy advocates of thestate. He himself donated Rs5 lakh to the council fundbefore making the appeal. Hesaid that they had receivedaround 5,500 applications forthe payment of subsistenceallowance from the poor andneedy advocates. Reddy alsoappealed Telangana StateAdvocates Welfare Board,which has a corpus fund of Rs100 crore to come forwardand contribute to the councilfund to implement the subsis-tence allowance scheme.

I really am completelyrecovered and wantedto share a technique

that's recomm-ended bydoctors, costs nothing, hasno nasty side effects butcould help you/your lovedones a lot, as it did me.Stay safe, everyone

— K ROWLING Acclaimed author

The paddy output inthe current rabiwould be more asthe area under thecrop almost doubledto 1.52 lakh acres asagainst 60,370 acresduring the last rabiseason, said Harish

Sensex zooms2,476 pointsContinued from Page 1

On the global front, bours-es in Shanghai, Hong Kong,Tokyo and Seoul rallied up to2 per cent and benchmarkexchanges in Europe were trad-ing up to 4 per cent higher.Brent crude futures rose 2.48per cent to $33.87 per barrel.

TS eyes its Rs 1,500 cr depositsContinued from Page 1

But what the state governmentgot was just Rs 6 crore at therate of just Rs 1 crore. Theaverage monthly income of thestate government is Rs 2,400crore. But at this rate, we couldhardly earn Rs 50 crore thismonth," KCR said.

The state government hasalready imposed salary cuts onMLAs, MLCs and other pub-lic representatives as well asgovernment employees fromthis month, ranging from 10per cent to 75 per cent as partof austerity measures. Themove is expected to save Rs1,500 crore from the monthlyoutgo of Rs 3,500 croretowards salaries.

Despite this, the state gov-ernment is finding it difficultto meet even its day-to-dayoperational costs. Officialsources said hundreds of bankaccounts were opened by var-ious departments in all the dis-tricts, with nearly Rs 1,500

crore funds lying idle for thepast few years.

It was also found that theauthorities concerned werespending the interest incomegenerated from the depositsfor various purposes withoutobtaining permission fromthe state Finance Department,which is the custodian of allfunds released by the state andUnion governments.

Finance Principal Secretary KRamakrishna Rao on Tuesdaydirected HoDs, unit offices, cor-porations, societies, institutions,committees, agriculture marketcommittees etc to furnish detailsof their deposits in banks as onMarch 31, 2020.

The orders seeking details ofall the bank accounts openedby district heads of depart-ments were issued, amongothers, to Panchayat Raj, RuralDevelopment, Education,Medical and Health,Agriculture, MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment, SCs, STs, BCs

and Minorities Welfare andHousing Departments.

At a recent review, officialsof the Finance Departmenthad drawn the attention ofFinance Minister T HarishRao to issues concerning non-utilization of funds earmarkedfor various schemes due tovarious reasons. Most of thedistrict officials neither utilisedthe funds nor returned themto the government. Forinstance, the governmentreleased funds under Self-Employment Scheme to SCs,STs and BCs WelfareDepartments over the last fewfinancial years. Many of thedistrict officials did not extendthe financial benefits to theidentified beneficiaries andthe funds remain unspent inbanks.Similarly, many of thedistrict authorities did notutilise the Central fundsreleased for healthcare anddevelopment of infrastructurein government educationalinstitutions in many districts.

Continued from Page 1

With the preventive measures, the pos-sibility of the infection can be reducedto an average of just two-and-a-half per-sons per patient in the same period,Health Ministry Joint Secretary LavAgarwal said in the central govern-ment's daily briefing on COVID-19.

He said social distancing works likea "social vaccine" in management ofCOVID-19, but refrained from com-menting on whether the ongoingnationwide lockdown would beextended or lifted after April 14.

"Whenever a decision is taken, itwill be informed. Till a decision isofficially communicated, pleaserefrain from speculation," he said.

Government sources, however, saidmany state governments and expertsare requesting the Centre to extendthe lockdown and the central govern-ment is thinking in that direction.There has been a nationwide lock-down since March 25, though somestates had initiated such measures afew days earlier, to check the pandem-ic that has claimed more than 75,000lives worldwide since its emergence inChina last December. Over 13 lakhpeople have tested positive for the

virus across the world so far.Some states, however, indicated

that the lockdown conditions couldbe relaxed for some segments.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said some relax-ation on work front for unorganisedsector workers was on anvil. She,however, made it clear that all mustpractice social distancing.

Centre mulls extending ...‘Continue closure...Continued from Page 1

The GoM has been tasked withmonitoring the overall situation in thecountry arising out of the coronaviruspandemic and make recommendationsto Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The GoM also briefly discussedpossible scenarios after end of thecurrent spell of the lockdown.

It recommended that the inputs ofthe states are crucial in taking specificdecisions on measures to contain thepandemic. The GoM alsorecommended measures to enhancetesting facilities for coronavirusinfection in medical laboratories, thesources said.

Infant tests...Continued from Page 1

Of them, one person hasbeen discharged from hospi-tal after being cured.Currently, six persons areundergoing treatment for thevirus. The Medical andHealth Department person-nel are identifying primaryand secondary contacts ofthose who have tested posi-tive for the virus.

Garbage...Continued from Page 1Appreciating GHMC sanita-tion workers' services duringthe lockdown, KCRannounced incentive ofRs7,500 for all regular and out-sourced sanitation employeesof GHMC. Around 27,000sanitation workers would ben-efit from the Chief Minister'sannouncement.

IRCTC suspends...Continued from Page 1Officials said the decision tonot run the trains till April 30was taken keeping in mindthat the cases of coronaviruswere increasing by the day.All passengers who havebooked tickets during thatperiod will get full refunds, anofficial said.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020 hyderabad 03

RIMEORNERC Cash is no longer king

during virus pandemicNAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

As the graph of Coronaviruspositive cases in the country issteadily going up, the citizens areresorting to measures like notaccepting cash payments any-more. Some retailers havebanned the use of cash in theirstores to keep employees andcustomers safe, opting for con-tactless payments instead.

The banks have started send-ing awareness messages to avoidvisiting public places and the useof currency notes. "Better con-tingency plans need to be put inplace to avoid vulnerable mem-bers of society struggling tomake ends meet in a cashlesssociety," said an official fromHyderabad Police, who aremaking sure people are safe dur-ing the coronavirus outbreak.

In a broadcast message ofstate-run Punjab National Bank(PNB), it has been suggested touse net banking and UPI modeinstead of cash transactions.The RBI is also encouraging dig-ital payments.

"Given the current situation,contactless cards could provideconsumers who are more con-scious of what they touch with

a new option to pay and couldalso be beneficial as the cardsdon't change hands while mak-ing transactions," Vikas Saraogitold the media, Vice President,Acceptance Development,Mastercard.

"I am using as much cash aspossible for essential supplieshere. If a place doesn't acceptdigital payments, I make sure Ibuy enough items not to get anychange back in return," saysDhanush Naidu, a techie fromMadhapur.

Earlier in March, theConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) had urgedFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman to order an investi-gation to assess the chances ofdiseases spreading via currencynotes as it can be a serious threatof spreading coronavirus.

"We make sure to wear gloveseven in the ATMs and if we arehanded out cash, we leave it ata place for a day or two with-

o u t

using and wash our hands cleanwhen we get home," said GloriaClementia, a private employeefrom Begumpet.

Meanwhile, an SBI researchhas suggested the govern-ment to examine the possibil-ity of using polymer curren-cy notes, instead of paper cur-rency notes. "Although thenew polymer banknotes areconsidered to be three timescleaner than their papercounterparts, they can still

carry harmfulbacteria for

anywhere between six and 24hours," another report said."If you do have to use cash forany reason, ensure that youwash or sanitise your handsthoroughly after every trans-action to ensure no germs arebeing transferred as easily,"police officials said.

While contactless pay-ments are recommended inplace of cash transactions asa way to limit infection, theystill harbour germs, microor-ganisms are able to transfervia point-of-sale terminalsand ATMs. LVPEI develops full

face protective gearPNS n HYDERABAD

At a time when there are many reports onshortage of personal protective equipment, theL.V. Prasad Eye Institute's Centre forInnovation (LVPEI) on Tuesday said it hasdeveloped a low-cost, easy to manufacture,indigenous 'Open Source Visor' (Full-face pro-tective gear) at Rs 50 for their clinicians andfrontline staff. The full-face protective gear isa transparent visor that is worn over the sur-gical mask to protect the entire face.

Minister distributesessentials to needyPNS n HYDERABAD

Excise Minister V Srinivas Goud on Tuesdaydistributed a packet containing 10 essentialcommodities among 200 poor women at LalBahadur stadium here. The TelanganaState Sports Authority with the help of dona-tions from charitable public got the pack-ets prepared for distributing among poorwomen confined to their homes because ofthe lockdown.

Addressing a gathering on the occasion,Srinivas Goud said that the Telangana isahead of other states in reining in the coro-navirus because of the precautions adopt-ed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

On the directions of KCR, essentialcommodities are being supplied to the poorand middle classes with the help of the char-itable public.

451 IMFL BOTTLESSEIZED, ONE HELD

Indian-made foreign liquor(IMFL) bottles being sold

illegally at exorbitant priceswere seized by the KPHB Policeon Tuesday. One person wasarrested and 451 bottles seizedfrom his possession, said thepolice officials. The arrestedperson was identified asGadichanda Vittal Rao, 45, aresident of Dharma Reddycolony of Hyder Nagar, KPHB.Police said that a tip-off wasreceived about a person sellingliquor at his house in DharmaReddy colony without a validlicense. Immediately the Policealong with a Special OperationsTeam (SOT) rushed there andfound the accused inpossession of huge quantitiesof IMFL liquor bottles. Rao wasselling the liquor at muchhigher rates than the MRP,clearly violating thegovernment orders.

DEPRESSED MANIMMOLATES SELF

A35-year-old techiecommitted suicide by

setting himself ablaze at the100 feet road on Madhapur onon Monday. Police said that theman was depressed since along time, before taking theextreme step on Monday. Thedeceased person was identifiedas K Purinder Reddy, a nativeof Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh,was working as a privatesoftware engineer from hishouse. He married Kalpanafour years ago, however, thecouple had no kids. His wifesaid that he was depressedbefore the wedding too. OnMonday, he left homeinforming his wife that hewould be back soon. He thencalled a friend saying that hewas going to kill himself. Soonhis friend learnt that he hadimmolated himself andsuccumbed to his burninjuries. Reddy's wife told thepolice that he often felt upsetthat they could settle in life andtheir financial situation is bad.Police said that Reddy dousedhimself in petrol and sethimself ablaze.

TECHIE HANGSSELF AT KPHB

Asoftware engineercommitted suicide by

hanging himself in a rentedapartment at KPHB on Tuesday.Police said that his live-inpartner had deserted him dueto which he was depressed andtook the extreme step. Thedeceased person has beenidentified as 32-year-oldChandra Kiran, a native ofWarangal and was residing atTulasi nagar in KPHB colony.According to the police, Kiranplunged into depression anddecided to end his life after agirl with whom he was in alive-in relationship identified asRatna Sree left their house andstarted staying indivudially. Hecommitted suicide by hanginghimself in his flat. Based on acomplaint, KPHB Policeregistered a suspicious deathcase and are investigating.

A research has suggested thegovernment to examine the possibility ofusing polymer currency notes, instead ofpaper currency notes.

Mahmood Ali: Adopt strict social isolationPNS n HYDERABAD

Mohammed Mahmood Ali,Minister for Home appealedpeople to adopt strict social iso-lation to flatten the curve of thecoronavirus spread, on Tuesdayin his statement. Mahmood Aliexpressed displeasure overunnecessary travels adding thatin these critical times, everysmall effort on our part willleave a big impact.

The Home Minister askedpeople to follow government

advisories about lockdown asreports of lockdown violationare on the rise.

Telangana's total tally ofcoronavirus cases reached 350-mark and 45 people have beenrecovered and discharged fromhospitals. TelanganaGovernment is making relent-less efforts to break the Covid-19 chain which is impossiblewithout public cooperation,Home Minister said.

To contain the spread ofCovid-19, Chief Minister K

Chandrashekhar Rao has beenmaking necessary arrange-ments since the first case ofCovid-19 was reported.Considering migrant workersas partners in Telangana'sdevelopment the Chief Ministeris providing them food, ration,water and medicines, HomeMinister added.

He further stated that over1,400 vehicles were seized inpast 15 days under threeCommissionerates for lock-down violation.

KTR, Etala inspect healthcarefacility at Gachibowli StadiumPNS n HYDERABAD

The refurbishment works toconvert the Sports Village inthe Gachibowli stadium into a1500-bed healthcare facilityfor Covid-19 patients is expect-ed to be completed in the nextfew days.

On Tuesday, IT MinisterKT Rama Rao and HealthMinister Etela Rajender alongwith senior health officialsvisited the Sport Village toreview the construction activ-ity, which is underway on awar footing.

The Sports Village facility isbeing retrofitted with moderntechnology, on par with infra-structure available at privatehealthcare facilities inHyderabad. The facility will

have individual and sharingrooms for Covid-19 positiveand suspected patients, apartfrom attached washroomsequipped with automatic watertaps that come equipped withproximity sensors.

The Ministers interactedwith health officials, who areinvolved in the planning of the

facility, for more than hour andalso enquired about the avail-ability of fire safety measuresand parking space.

The authorities are alsoplanning to rope in a cateringagency to serve nutritious andclean food to the Covid-19 sus-pects and positive patients atthe new facility.

Case against 6Malaysians fornot disclosingDelhi visitPNS n HYDERABAD

A case has been registeredagainst a group of sixMalaysians on the charge ofviolating visa norms and notdisclosing to the authoritiesabout their attendance at thereligious meeting in Delhi lastmonth and staying in the city,police said on Tuesday.

The six Malaysians hadcome to Hyderabad on touristvisas last month and laterwent to New Delhi and attend-ed the Tablighi Jamaat reli-gious meeting there, and trav-elled back to the city but didnot inform the local authori-ties about their stay here.

Based on information, apolice team shifted them to thestate-run Gandhi Hospitalhere for quarantine aroundone week ago and their med-ical test reports werepending,they said.

The Telangana governmenthad earlier asked the personswho attended the religiousgathering to voluntarily comeforward and report to theofficials. The government alsosaid it would be arrange forconducting tests for them andprovide them with free treat-ment after at least six people,who attended the congrega-tion last month, died in thestate due to the coronavirusinfection.

‘Sahayam' offersonline support formental illness

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad-based vac-cines maker IndianImmunologicals Limited(IIL) will commenceresearch for developing avaccine for Coronavirus(Covid-19), the pandem-ic which has infectedmore than a million andkilled about 55,000 peo-ple across the world so far.The company has enteredinto an agreement withGriffith University ofAustralia for collabora-tion to conductexploratory research todevelop a lead vaccinecandidate forCoronavirus.

In this cross-continen-tal collaboration, scien-tists from IIL and GriffithUniversity will develop a'Live Attenuated SARS -CoV-2 vaccine' or Covid-19 vaccine using the lat-est codon de-optimisa-tion technology. The

partners see promise indeveloping a vaccine forprophylactic, active, sin-gle-dose immunisationagainst coronavirus inhumans, with anenhanced safety profile.

The vaccine is expect-ed to provide protectionwith a single dose admin-istration with an antici-pated safety profile simi-lar to other licensed vac-cines for active immuni-sation.

Upon completion ofthe research, the vaccinestrain will be transferredto IIL and the vaccinemaker will work accord-ingly with the country'sregulator-CDSCO to fur-ther conduct clinical tri-als, which will be taken upin a phased manner.

99 US citizens stuck in Hyderabad airliftedPNS n HYDERABAD

A special relief flight of Air Indiaon Tuesday airlifted 99 US cit-izens stuck in Hyderabad.

The flight, which took offfrom Rajiv Gandhi InternationalAirport, carried the US citizensto Mumbai, from where theywill be further connected withDelta Airlines from Mumbai totheir final destination in the US.

An airbus A 320 aircraftlanded here from Mumbai at3.12 pm and departed forMumbai with the US-boundpassengers at 4.15 pm.

In coordination with the USConsulate and the TelanganaState government, a group of 98adults and one infant US-bound

passengers arrived at the airportfrom various parts ofHyderabad. All these passengerswere serviced through the fully-

sanitised main passenger termi-nal building, which has beenkept ready for evacuation oper-ations.

To meet this emergencyrequirement, a select group ofpersonnel from GHIAL termi-nal operations, airside opera-tions, airport operations & con-trol centre, air traffic control, ITteam, central industrial securi-ty force, security and otherswere present.

Special screening and safetymeasures were in place duringthe flight's handling to protectagainst the Covid-19 threatincluding thermal screeningprior to terminal entry, manda-tory social distancing enforcedthrough special queuingarrangements at all passengerprocessing points.

The airport, shut for regularoperations from March 22, has

so far handled three evacuationflights. On March 31, it ferrieda group of 38 German nation-als to Frankfurt.

The airport on March 28serviced a special medical evac-uation flight of IndiGo, whichdropped its eight crew membersbound for Hyderabad anddeparted to Chennai with fivestranded IndiGo crew members.

RGIA's cargo terminal is alsooperational to keep the vital linkof essential supplies complete-ly alive. The cargo is working inclose coordination with variousagencies to keep rolling thecritical chain of essential sup-plies like medicines, vaccines,medical equipment, pharmamaterial and defence goods.

IIL ties up withGraffith Varsityfor Covid vaccine

Deploy more machineryto expedite work: Arvind PNS n HYDERABAD

Principal Secretary ofMunicipal AdministrationArvind Kumar on Tuesdayvisited Old City and tookstock of strategic roaddevelopment programme(SRDP) works being takenup in the city.

Arvind asked the officialsto make use of the lock-down period and expeditethe works as there will bevery less vehicular move-ment.

He inspected the con-struction of multilevelgrade separator works nearthe Owaisi Hospital junc-tion flyover and instructedthe GHMC engineers tospeed up the foundationworks.

The engineers briefed thePrincipal secretary aboutthe progress of the work.Later he inspected the pro-posed extension of existinggrade separator atChadrayanagutta to thejunction of Barkas roadwhere the works could notbe taken up as the shiftingof pipelines was not taken

up by the water board offi-cials.

Arvind asked the waterboard officials to initiatesteps to shift the pipelines.He also inspected theBahadurpura junction fly-over works and instructedthe officials to expedite theworks and complete themas per the schedule.

He asked the officials todirect the agencies execut-ing the works to deploymore men and machineryto speed up the works .

The present situationwas favourable for execut-ing the works at a briskpace as there is not muchvehicular movementowing to the lockdown, hesaid. Chief EngineerSridhar, SE Dattupant andother GHMC engineerswere present.

City firm to produceCovid-19 testing kitsPNS n HYDERABAD

Given the huge requirementfor Covid-19 testing kitsacross the country, severalcompanies have started get-ting approvals to produce thekits locally.

The National Institute ofVirology, Pune has apparent-ly validated the QuantiplusCoronavirus (2019nCoV)detection kit made by city-based HUWEL Life Sciencesfor testing Covid-19 patients.

Principal Secretary JayeshRanjan said that the 'solution'given by the company hasbeen the closest to the exist-ing testing kit. The firm gotapprovals on Wednesday.

Dr Shesheer Kumar, adirector of the company, said,"We will be making the kitsin-house. We make enzymesof diagnostics of IVD quali-ty. A lot of manufacturersmake it from Thermo andChina. But we can quicklyscale up.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Sahayam, Centre for Excellence underRUSA 2.0, Osmania University, willoffer free tele-counselling to the vulner-able clients under mental stress in thewake of Covid-19 pandemic. Sahayamdirector Professor C Beena said that ateam of 15 psychology experts are readyto render tele-counselling servicesthrough proactive strategies to min-imise the impact of psychologicalstress.

"We are going through unprecedent-ed times with no clear road map.Ambiguity and uncertainty about coro-navirus and isolation is creatingextremely stressful situations.

Cops launchnon-medicalemergencycab servicesPNS n HYDERABAD

The Rachakonda police,in a joint effort withMahindra LogisticsLimited, have launched‘alyte’, a non-medicalemergency service with10 cabs here on Tuesday.

During the lockdown,ambulance services arebeing provided on a caseby case requirement uponinformation receiveddirect to the officers orthrough Dial 100 facilityor the Covid-19 ControlRoom.

Officials said it wasobserved that citizensrequire transport forother non-emergencies,medical or otherwise yetessential purposes like aregular dialysis treatment,a critical injection to betaken periodically, a fol-low-up checkup after asurgery or any procedure,regular dressing, rationfor a physically handi-capped or elderly.

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020

Telangana improves healthparameters in six-yr journeyPNS n HYDERABAD

India's youngest stateTelangana, like other states andcountries, is celebrating WorldHealth Day on Tuesday at atime when Covid-19 hasbrought everything to a stand-still and impacted even thedelivery of healthcare servicesto non-Covid patients. With 11deaths and nearly 400 Covid-19positive cases, Telangana is oneof the states with a high num-ber of infections.

However, health experts sayas the first state to order a totallockdown and with effectiveimplementation of the restric-tions and social distancing it isshowing the way to many otherstates in the country. In its near-ly six-year journey as a state,Telangana has improved inmany public health parameters.In the overall health indexrankings released by theNational Institution ofTransforming India (NITI)Aayog last year, Telangana wasin the 10th position among 21larger Indian states. It improvedits ranking by a notch comparedto 2018.

The state ranked amongst thetop three states for two consec-

utive years (2018 and 2019) inproviding better medical carethrough public sector healthfacilities. Though Telanganaperformed well in key healthindicators such as NeonatalMortality Rate (NMR) andunder-five mortality rate, itsperformance was found want-ing in other key indicators suchas sex ratio at birth and lowbirth weight among newborns.

Among the southern states,Telangana is lagging behindKerala, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Tamil Nadu."Overall in the country south-ern states are doing very wellcompared to other states. If youcompare with the best, may be

Telangana has to further moveup the ladder but it is reason-ably okay and on track," Dr SShantha Kumari, PresidentElect, Federation of Obstetrics& Gynaecological Society ofIndia, said. Health Departmentauthorities pointed out that thegovernment's initiatives duringthe last six years were focusedon improving the reproductiveand child healthcare services.According to Socio EconomicOutlook 2020 of the state,Maternal Mortality Ratio(MMR) has reduced from 92 in2013 to 76 in 2017.

The IMR has steadilydeclined from 34 in the year2014 to 29 in the year 2017 and

Under-5 Mortality Ratedecreased from 40 in the year2014 to 32 in the year 2017.

The introduction of a 'KCRKit' scheme (with cash andkind support for items neces-sary for pregnant women for asafe delivery) has increased theinstitutional deliveries in pub-lic institutions from 31 percent to 60 per cent. The latestofficial figures for MMR are yetto come out but ShanthaKumari believes it has comedown to below 70. "If the sametrend continues the state canbring it down to a single digitto be on par with the Europeancountries."

As the burden of non-com-municable diseases is at about60 per cent, the governmentplans to conduct awarenessactivities, which will be carriedout on a large scale throughHealth and Wellness Centres(HWC) to sensitize people onlifestyle diseases.

The state is implementing theAarogyasri Scheme (AS), aunique government sponsoredhealth insurance scheme withthe aim to assist families belowthe poverty line and protectthem against a 'catastrophic'health expenditure.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana government is antic-ipating that the layoffs for thenext 1-2 months would beapparently limited to 3-4 percent. Amid Coronavirus pan-demic and economic slow-down, several techies have beencomplaining about layoffs.

After reports of layoffsemerged, IT Department got intouch with companies to takecognisance of the issue. Basedon these discussions, the layoffsare expected predominantlyin SMEs. According to seniorofficial in IT Department,“None of the big companieshave plans to lay-off in thecoming months. Things seemto be in control now, unlesssomething major happens”.

The world today is no longerthe same as it was a month ago,for startups. Some SMEs andstartups may even shutdown bylaying off all employees. SMEsand startups have no invento-ry, fewer cash reserves and asmaller margin of error for

managing such unprecedenteddownturns. However, the ITDepartment reportedly seesthat the overall impact inindustry should be small evenif some SMEs and startupsshutdown. Those with joboffers at hand are at high riskthan those who are working.With the fear that the newcompany may not hire them,some of the techies who haveresigned before lockdown havewithdrawn their resignations.According to IT Department,“Impact is not much on layoffsbut on new recruitments”. Itmay be mentioned here that

Hyderabad is home to about5.5 lakh IT professionals andthe exports from the city havecrossed Rs 1.1 lakh crore

Despite repeated appealsfrom central and state govern-ments not to resort to layoffs,small companies which arebadly hit can no longer fendtheir employees. It may berecalled that in a bid to preventlayoffs and salary cuts, theMinistry of Labour andEmployment issued an adviso-ry in March. The Ministrydirected establishments not tocut salaries or lay off staffamid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Uttam felicitatessanitation workersPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) presidentN Uttam Kumar Reddy onTuesday demanded the Stategovernment to immediatelyrelease pending salaries toentire municipal sanitationstaff across the State andensure supply of adequateProtection Equipment formedical professionals.

Uttam, along with otherCongress leaders, felicitatedthe sanitation staff ofMiryalaguda Municipality onTuesday by showering flowerspetals and washing their feet.Congress leaders also provid-ed them with cash incentives,masks, food items and otherequipment. Uttam applaudedthe services being rendered bythe sanitation staff, medical

professionals and police per-sonnel for the services theyhave been rendering across theTelangana State. He said theywere serving the peopleround-the-clock by taking riskto their health and lives.

Bhatti blamesPM, KCR forspread of Corona PNS n HYDERABAD

Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Mallu BhattiVikramarka on Tuesdayblamed Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao for spread ofCoronavirus. Addressing themedia at Gandhi Bhavan,the Congress leader said thatthough the Congress party isextending support to thelockdown, the Chief Ministeris unnecessarily making sar-castic remarks against theopposition.

"We are ready to supportthe government if it extendslockdown. However, the gov-ernment has to solve theproblems of the people.However, the Chief Ministerused words like 'chillararajakiyalu, 'shava rajakiyalu','daridrulu', 'vedavalu' duringhis press meet," he said.

Komatireddy, Revanth lash out at KCR PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Congress leaderson Tuesday launched ascathing attack on the ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao for allegedly failing toextend helping hand to thepoor amid lockdown crisis.The leaders said that instead ofextending help to the poor theChief Minister was busy inconducting press meets. Theyalleged that the Chief Ministerhas become a brand ambas-sador to the Coronavirus.

Addressing a letter to theChief Minister, Bhongir MPKomatireddy alleged that itwas not proper on part ofChief Minister to conduct pressmeets for hours togetherinstead of serving two meals aday to the poor. He claimedthat the poor were sufferingdue to lockdown. As they haveno work they are sufferingwith hunger. It is not correct onpart of Chief Minister to claimthat the government is doingeverything by spending croresof rupees to tackle the spread

of the virus, he said in the let-ter.

He demanded the ChiefMinister to deposit Rs 1,500immediately and distribute 12-kg rice per head. The MPasked the government to give12-kg rice and Rs 1,500 tothose who don't have whiteration cards. The governmenthas to see that the poor don'tgo hungry during lockdown.

"The poor are not in a posi-tion to come out of their homeswith the fear of Corona and atthe same time they are not in

a position to stay at home asthey have no food. Don't testthe patience of the poor," hesaid demanding the govern-ment to provide quality rice aswell as Rs 1,500 for the poor.

Malkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy too took potshots at theChief Minister for ignoring theopposition party in the state."The Chief Minister claimsthat he speaks with PrimeMinister everyday, but doesn'tconsult the main oppositionparty in the state. Are ChiefMinister and his son, KT Rama

Rao are aware of the thingsacross the world? Don't theyconsult political parties andmedical experts?, he askedwondering as to why the gov-ernment is not utilising the ser-vices of the private medicalinstitutions.

Prime Minister is consultingwith all but KCR is not doingthe same, he pointed out. "WhyKCR is not conducting a meet-ing with eminent doctors likeNageshwar Reddy, GuruvaReddy, Somaraju and others?,he questioned.

HC to continuein presentarrangementPNSnHYDERABAD

A full court meeting ofTelangana High Court judgesdecided to continue the presentarrangement with regard tofunctioning of the HC and thedistrict courts till April 30 .

The meeting of the full courtwas held through video confer-ence. In the present arrange-ment made in the wake of theongoing lockdown in the state,the HC is hearing only urgentmatters through video confer-ence facility. The full court of theHC has also decided to cancelthe summer vacation for HC aswell as subordinate courts andall the courts in the state. It saidthat the courts would continueto function throughout themonth of May till June 5, 2020if required. However a final deci-sion would be taken on April 25.

At atimewhen 133

crore Indian arelocked inside, the one ministryapart from health that becomesextremely vital is that of foodand public distribution. Paswanalso heads the Consumer AffairsMinistry and has to ensureessential food items like rice,wheat, pulses are availableaplenty and reaches each Indian,not hoarders. Paswan has notbeen entirely functioning throughhome. He has been visiting hisministry regularly, and attendingGoMs. Sources say, one of thereasons for the Minister toincreasingly step out, even for ashort while, off late is becausePMO is believed to have directedthat quality of videotransmission with PM NarendraModi cannot be compromised.In other words, Skype or Zoomare not options.Hence they arevisiting theirministries forbetter videoconferencefacilities.

How Modi governmentis running the country from Raj-

nathSingh, who hasbeen chairing theGoM on Covid-19, has

been one of thesincerest followersof work from home.One of his aides says: "Hecan go to South Block. Butthat will mean coming in contact

with at least a dozen people everyday, atthe bare minimum. When you have the

technology available to avoid that, why notuse it?" He is known to be a wide user of Zoomvideo. However all government interactions takeplace through secured video transmission lines. On aheavy work day, le holds nine to ten video conferences aday, while on a lean day that can be one. For instance, therehasn't been any such interaction at all this Sunday.Even whilemeeting his ministerial colleagues like when he had to

chair the GoM on Tuesday, he instructed hisstaff to use a bigger room so that each

chair can be placed a safe distance of one metre.

Numbertwo inthe

government andconsidered the most trusted

person of the Prime Minister in theUnion Cabinet, Shah's core team has

been significantly slashed. In normal time,he has a core team of around 40-42 officersworking for him at the North Block. But now,he has limited his visits to the

ministry and retained less thanone fourth of his workforce.

Since the lockdown, his Krishna Menon Margresidence which previously was late Prime Minister Atal

Bihari Vajpayee's house has been turned into a temporaryoffice. All real time updates from concerned departments are sent

to this office. Shah has visited the Home Ministry four to five timessince the nationwide shutdown was imposed. Whenever he visits North

Block, he ensures only the bare minimum staff, whose presenceis absolutely unavoidable, is present, say sources.Cabinet

Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Home Secretary Ajay Bhallabrief Shah on a regular basis about the steps beingneeded to adopt to contain the spread of Covid-19.Most of Shah's coordination happens throughphone, while at home, say sources.

AMITSHAH,

HomeMinister

RAJNATHSINGHDefenceMinister

The government has been advocating strict social distancingnorms and work for home, for a month now in wake of the

coronavirus outbreak. As of Tuesday, India hassurpassed 4,400 coronavirus cases with 114 deaths

at least. While 133 crore Indians remain lockeddown inside and most of the urban

workforce working from home, howis the government of India and

its top ministers runningthe show from their

home,themselves?HOME

Javadekar has been one of the busiest ministers ever since the shutdown wasenforced, having to take decisions of three key ministries that come under hispurview -Information & Broadcasting; Environment, Forest & Climate Change; &

Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. He is also tasked to brief the media on cabinetdecisions like the one that suspended MPLADS for two years on Monday.

However, he steps into the National Media Center for such briefings.Being the I&B Minister makes him the point person to ensure fakenews regarding COVID-19 is curbed for which a small team workingfrom him liaisons with the ministry and keeps him informed. Fakenews from passing on old fire as a result of

candle burning at the call of PM Modi thisSunday to attaching communal undertones

to the Tablighi Jamaat controversy in Delhi'sNizamuddin, Javadekar has to ensure they are curbedand do it from his home. For most of his ministerialworks, Javadekar prefers to call up and talk withhis Secretaries and Joint Secretaries than goinginto a video conference. The Maharashtraleader' work doesn't end there. He also is

being given party assignmentsthat can be done fromhome in the last three

weeks. For instance,every BJP memberneeds to encourage 40others to donate to PM-CARES. Ministers too are

expected to do that. Asource said that Javadekar

starts his day with yoga tostay focussed amid

juggling manyroles.

PRAKASHJAVEDEKAR,

I&B Minister

NARENDRATOMAR,Agri Minister

RAMVILAS

PASWANFood Minister

With 70 per cent of its rural households still dependentprimarily on agriculture for their livelihood and about 83.3crore people living in rural areas, Tomar's role as Agriculture

Minister becomes extremely crucial when the farmers are confinedin their homes while their harvest is left unattended in fields.What makes Tomar's job tougher is it is the beginning of the Rabiharvest season. There have also been spells of unseasonal rainsdestroying a certain part of the wheat, mustard and chana crops.Tomar has been one of the very few ministers who have beenrelatively regular in going to his ministry even in this time of totalshutdown. Tomar was there in his ministry on Monday, and

Tuesday too. Sources say, he has anothermeeting through a video conference withdifferent states planned for Wednesday,which will go live from his ministry.However, he has ensured the staff presentat his ministry during the shutdown

remains minimum. He is also the RuralDevelopment and Panchayat Raj Minister -

ministries that affect millions. Tomar prefersto be in touch with his officials through text

services and sometimes callsas well. His day ends at 1

a.m. on an averageeveryday, said a source.It is not just the urbansalaried class or thecorporate honchos whowake up, eat breakfastand start working fromtheir home, switching on

their laptop webcams -Narendra Modi's

cabinet is pretty muchdoing the same.

Layoffs to be restricted to 3%-4%

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Gehlot demandsinquiry by SC judgeinto Delhi's TablighiJamaat eventJAIPUR: Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot onTuesday demanded an inquiryby a sitting or retired SupremeCourt judge to fix responsibilityfor the Delhi congregation ofTablighi Jamaat. He saidquestions should not be raisedon the ground of religionbecause any person from anycaste or community cancommit a mistake and onlythose at fault should bepunished. "An inquiry by asitting or retired Supreme Courtjudge should be conducted inthe Nizamuddin episode tomake clear who all areresponsible. Those who are atfault should be booked andpunished. It will also makeclear whether there was anymistake on part of theadministration," Gehlot said.

NCW forms task forceto help elderly duringlockdown

13 people arrested forviolating lockdownorders in UP's AmethiAMETHI: The police havearrested 13 people for violatingthe lockdown orders in UttarPradesh's Amethi district, asenior official said on Tuesday.Superintendent of Police KhyatiGarg said the 13 people hadgathered at a vegetable marketunder the Gauriganj policestation area, violating thelockdown orders. Cases hasbeen registered against themunder various sections of theIPC, she said.

MP CM hints atextendinglockdown periodBHOPAL: The ongoinglockdown, which is in place inview of coronavirus outbreak,might be extended in MadhyaPradesh if needed, ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh Chouhansaid here on Tuesday. "We willtake a decision after seeing thecircumstances. Lives of peopleare more important. We cantolerate lockdown. We canresurrect the economy later onbut can't be able to bring backlives of people," Chouhan saidin a video statement.

NEW DELHI: A task force hasbeen constituted by the NCW tohelp the elderly or those inneed of support during theongoing lockdown imposed inview of the coronavirusoutbreak. The NationalCommission for Women(NCW), on Twitter, shared anemail address mail to:helpatncw@gmail.com"helpatncw@gmail.com which can beused for assistance in case ofmedical emergency or doctorvisit, medicine and groceriespurchase. India is currentlyunder the biggest lockdownwith around 1.3 billion peopleasked to stay home in view ofthe coronavirus outbreak,which has claimed over 100lives and infected more than4000 people in the country.

Allow liquor sale; illicit tradeburden on exchequer: CIABCPNS n NEW DELHI

The Confederation of IndianAlcoholic Beverage Companies(CIABC) has urged 10 states toallow sale of alcoholic beveragessaying that a blanket ban duringthe lockdown to contain coron-avirus has resulted in sale of illic-it and spurious liquor whilecausing burden on exchequer.

The body noted that thenationwide lockdown has result-ed in the shutdown of all whole-sale and retail shops selling alco-holic beverages.

It said the need to close on-shops (bars) is well understoodin light of social distancing.

The CIABC, which is theapex body of the Indian alcoholicbeverage industry, has sent letterson Monday to chief ministers of10 states -- Delhi, Haryana,Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan,Telangana, Uttar Pradesh andWest Bengal.

CIABC Director GeneralVinod Giri stated in the letter that

there are growing reports ofsale of illicit and spurious liquorin the state which can potential-ly lead to serious health hazardsfor people as well as createadverse law and order situation.

It has also requested all stategovernments to extend all liquorlicences and approvals till April30 or one additional month postlockdown, whichever is later.

Giri said alcohol is one of themost important sources of rev-

enue for state governments andby shutting down retail shops,states are depriving themselves ofthe tax revenues that are so vital-ly required in fighting the coro-navirus pandemic.

He also said some peopleneed alcohol on medical groundsthat should also be considered.

The CIABC, which includesmost major Indian companiesthat manufacture and markettheir product range in India

and abroad, pleaded for permit-ting sale of alcoholic beveragesfrom off-shops (retail outlets) inthe state during the lockdownperiod.

It suggested that the state gov-ernments may do so by placingreasonable control measures suchas curtailed shop timings, anddirecting outlets to strictly followsocial distancing norms.

‘Be infected with corona,' lawyercurses judge for unfavourable verdictPNS n KOLKATA

In an "abominable" act of mis-conduct after failing to get afavourable order, a lawyercursed a Calcutta High Courtjudge, swearing he be infectedwith coronavirus, provokingthe judge to recommend con-tempt action against him.

Justice Dipankar Dattaadmonished the lawyer, BijoyAdhikary, for failing to upholdthe dignity of the court andacting in a manner "not behov-ing a member of the noble pro-fession," while directing him toreply to the contempt rulewithin a fortnight from thedate on which it is served uponhim.

Justice Datta also directedthat the matter be heard by anappropriate division benchhaving the mandate to hearcriminal contempt mattersupon reopening of the courtafter summer vacation.

The Calcutta High Courthas been hearing only veryurgent matters since March 15owing to the coronavirus out-break, and from March 25, itis taking up such matters only

through video conferencing.Claiming urgency, Adhikary

had moved the court of JusticeDatta seeking a stay on theauction of a bus of his client bya nationalised bank for defaultin loan repayment.

Noting that the bus hadbeen seized by the bank onJanuary 15, the court refusedto grant an urgent hearing.

As the judge began dictatingthe order, a furious Adhikaryrepeatedly tried to interrupthim, thumped a table andbanged the microphone on it.

"Adhikary was warned to

behave but instead of heedingto such warning, he was heardto say that my future shall bedoomed by him and for suchpurpose, he cursed that I beinfected by the coronavirus,"Justice Datta noted in theorder.

"Adhikary was curtly toldthat neither do I fear doomingof my future nor being infect-ed by the virus; the majesty ofthe Court is what is paramountin my mind and to uphold thata rule for contempt could beissued against him," the judgewrote.

SHGs making masks in TripuraPNS n AGARTALA

Alaka Debnath is busy mak-ing double-layered cottonmasks in her small bamboohut at Indranagar in the out-skirts of the capital as thereis a shortage of masks to fightthe spread of COVID-19pandemic.

Debnath is the secretary ofKhumpui self-help group,which along with seven otherself-help groups in the townhave recently received order-from the Agartala MunicipalCorporation (AMC) to manu-facture 10,000 face masks tofight the spread of coronavirusin Tripura.

AMC commissioner DrShailesh Kumar Yadav saidmasks would be distributedamong the frontline workersincluding the health, police andother departments.

A total of 7 self-help groupswith over 100 members aremaking masks for the munic-ipal corporation so that thedemand of 10,000 masks canbe met at the earliest.

Debnath said, "We are work-ing from our houses. The workhas been distributed to individ-ual members and they aremanufacturing the masks asper the guidelines laid down bythe municipal corporation."

Gouri Sinha, president ofEkata-SHG said that they have15 members in the group, whoare working day and night tomake masks from their hous-es.

"We have been asked to pre-

pare the masks as per specifi-cations. After showing a pieceof mask we received order formaking these masks for theAMC," Sinha said.

She also said that thesemasks have been approved bythe AMC with specific criteriaof having 100 per cent cottoncloth with 8 inch length, 9 inchwidth which can be folded inthree parts having double layerof cotton cloth.

Yadav said that the AMC has

decided to make 10,000 cottoncloth double layer face masksfollowing guidelines of thegovernment of India with thehelp of SHG members.

At present there are 7 SHGsmaking these masks. The cor-poration will pay Rs 10 for eachmask as stitching cost. Clothesare being supplied by the cor-poration.

Yadav said, "there is shortageof masks, so we are searchingfor more SHGs, who can makemasks," he said.

PNS n PUNE

In wake of the Central ZooAuthority's (CZA) directivesamid the coronavirus outbreak,the Rajiv Gandhi ZoologicalPark in Pune started sanitisinganimal enclosures and screen-ing its staff. The CZA onMonday asked zoos across thecountry to remain on highalert, after a tiger tested posi-tive for COVID-19 in theUnited States.

Currently, the zoo housesnine tigers, two lions, threeleopards, a bear, among otheranimals. "As per the CZA'sdirectives, vehicles transportingmeat for animals are being dis-infected and animal enclo-sures are being sanitised," zoodirector Rajkumar Jadhav said.

The zoo has also startedscreening its staff and they havebeen asked to wear caps, masksand gloves and take proper pre-cautions while dealing with ani-mals, he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The job losses and pay cuts are"bitter pills" to swallow butcommon man still needs to fig-ure out ways to stay physicallyand mentally fit even asCOVID-19 pandemic wreakshavoc, feels chief national bad-minton coach PullelaGopichand.

The COVID-19 pandemic,which has killed more than 120people in India and over 80,000globally, has brought the wholeworld into a standstill as coun-tries went into lockdown tocontain the deadly disease,leaving a big dent on the econ-

omy. Gopichand, who recent-ly completed his three-weekisolation after coming fromAll England Championshipsin UK, said sports will be a partof this global meltdown buturged people to fight it withpositivity.

Take this break as a bitter pill,find ways to stay physically,mentally fit: Gopichand

PNS n KOHIMA

Churches in Christian-major-ity Nagaland have decided toforego Easter celebration, thatfalls on April 12 during theongoing lockdown, for thefirst time since the formationof the state in 1963.

Nagaland Baptist ChurchCouncil (NBCC), the largestchurch body in the state, hasinformed its associate bodiesthat there would be no sunriseservice on Easter Sunday toprevent mass gathering ofpeople amid the coronavirus

outbreak."Though we will not be

able to congregate to conductpublic sunrise service, we callupon every family to come outof their homes from 4.45 amto 5.40 am to conduct familysunrise service in the com-pound of their houses," astatement issued by NBCCgeneral secretary ZelhouKeyho on Wednesday said.

He said family sunrise ser-vice can be conducted in theporch, yard, terrace, garden orany place outside the housebut within the compound.

Nagaland not tocelebrate Easter

NCR makes masks, sanitizersfor its personnel & familiesPNS n LUCKNOW

In a bid to save its personneland their families from thedeadly coronavirus disease,the North Central Railwayhere is making protectivemasks and sanitizers at itsworkshops, and distributingthem free of cost.

North Central Railway PROAmit Malviya said on Tuesday,"So far, 61,400 masks and4,762 litres of sanitizers havebeen made. These are beingdistributed to railway person-nel and their families free ofcost. Protective masks arebeing made every day."

He said railway personnel atAllahabad, Jhansi and Agra areengaged in making thesemasks and sanitizers.

Apart from this, the NorthCentral Railway (NCR) hasdistributed over 23,000 foodpackets to needy people livingin the vicinity of railway sta-

tions.Malviya also said that social

distancing is being strictlyadhered to by the personnelwhile discharging their duties.

"At Agra Railway Hospital,a provision of talk back hasbeen made at the reception-cum-enquiry centre. Underthis system, communication

between two persons who areseparated by a glass partition,is done using a speaker andmicrophone. Thus, social dis-tancing is being maintainedthrough this system," the pub-lic relations officer said. Headded that this system will beinstalled in other railway hos-pitals as well.

Major air pollutants PM2.5, PM10 andNOx down by at least 50 per cent in DelhiPNS n NEW DELHI

With vehicles off the road andindustries shut due to the ongo-ing lockdown imposed to com-bat the coronavirus outbreak,the presence of major pollutantsin the air — PM2.5, PM10 andNOx — has reduced by at least50 per cent in Delhi.

The three pollutants — PM2.5(atmospheric particulate matterthat have a diameter of less than2.5 micrometers), PM10 (atmos-pheric particulate matter thathave a diameter of less than 10micrometers) and NOx (nitrogenoxide released in traffic emis-sions) — are some of the mostdangerous pollutants and pro-longed exposure to these can leadto serious respiratory disorders.

According to an analysis bythe central government-runSystem of Air Quality andWeather Forecasting andResearch (SAFAR), the highestreduction in these three pollu-tants have been seen in Delhi.

The other cities where a sim-

ilar analysis was done by SAFARwas Mumbai, Pune andAhmedabad.

India is currently under thebiggest lockdown with around1.3 billion people asked to stayhome in view of the coronavirusoutbreak, which has claimedover 100 lives and infectedmore than 4,000 people in thecountry. Under the lockdown,industries have been shut andpeople have been urged to avoidunnecessary travelling, signifi-

cantly reducing the traffic move-ment across the country.

In Delhi, the comparisonmade from the second week ofMarch (before lockdown) to firstweek of April (April 6), reduc-tion in PM2.5 was found to beby 62 per cent, PM10 by 57 percent and NOx by 50 per cent,the latest SAFAR data accessedby PTI showed.

In Mumbai, the comparisonin the same period showed areduction in PM2.5 by 45 per

cent, PM10 by 51 per cent andNOx by 60 per cent, the datashowed.

In Pune, a reduction inPM2.5 by 31 per cent, PM10 by32 per cent and NOx by 62 percent, according to the data.

In Ahmedabad, a reductionin PM2.5 by 57 per cent, PM10by 47 per cent and NOx by 32per cent, according to the data.

PNS n NEW DELHI

To help health workers fight-ing the COVID-19 pandem-ic, senior advocate RakeshDwivedi has donated 15,000N95 masks to the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) here.

He had earlier donated Rs1 crore to the PrimeMinister's Citizens Assistanceand Relief in EmergencySituation (PM-CARES) Fundto aid the fight against thenovel coronavirus that hasclaimed 114 lives and infect-ed 4,421 people across thecountry.

“I have ordered supply of15,000 N95 masks to AIIMSfor 25 lakh for protectiveuse by doctors and the sup-port staff today. Supply wouldbe made in four to five daysto AIIMS,” Dwivedi said onTuesday. The step has beentaken in consultation withAIIMS.

Lawyer donates15,000 N95masks to AIIMS

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh ShiaCentral Waqf Board has decid-ed to close down all ‘Kabristan'(graveyards) on the forthcom-ing occasion of Shab-e-Baratin view of the lockdownimposed due to coronavirusoutbreak in the country.

Shab-e-Barat is marked byMuslims congregating inmosques and visiting graves.

"In view of the lockdown,the board had earlier closeddown its mosques for ‘namaaz'.We have directed all the con-cerned to ensure that Kabristan

should not be open for com-mon people on Shab-e-Baranton April 9," Board chairmanSyed Wasim Rizvi said.

He said employees residinginside the Kabristan premiseshave been asked to cleangraves and light a lamp atevery grave on the day.

Rizvi also urged the peopleto remain at home and pray fortheir loved ones. Shab-e-Barat, in Islamic faith, meansthe Night of Forgiveness or theDay of Atonement. It is consid-ered to be an occasion whenthe Almighty forgives sinnersif they pray.

UP Shia Waqf Boardshuts graveyardsahead of Shab-e-Barat

Don't step out for 'HanumanJayanti', ‘Shab-e-Barat': AjitPNS n MUMBAI

Citing a popular event fromthe epic Ramayan a day aheadof 'Hanuman Jayanti',Maharashtra deputy ChiefMinister Ajit Pawar onTuesday asked people to notstep out like the revered devo-tee of Lord Ram to "lift hill",but stay indoors to avoid thecoronavirus spread.

Pawar also appealed tomembers of the Muslim com-munity to observe 'Shab-e-Barat', when they visit grave-yards to remember the dead,by offering prayers at theirhomes on Wednesday.

"Today, to protect the peo-ple from coronavirus, none

needs to (step out of homeand) lift hills. Instead, theyshould stay inside their homeson the occasion of HanumanJayanti (to contain the spreadof the viral disease)," an offi-cial statement quoted Pawar assaying.

According to the epicRamayan, when Lord Ram'sbrother Laxman lay motionlessafter being hit by an arrowfrom demon Ravana's sonMeghnad, Lord Hanuman wasasked to bring a herb 'Sanjivani'(a kind of panacea) to restorethe life in the woundedLaxman from the Dronagirimountain.

Unable to locate the'Sanjivani', Lord Hanuman lift-ed the entire mountain andflew back.

Wishing people on the occa-sion of the World Health Day,Pawar said that people shouldcelebrate their festivals by stay-ing inside their homes untilfurther notice.

Staff screened;enclosuressanitised atPune zoo

CIABC DirectorGeneral Vinod Giristated in the letterthat there aregrowing reports ofsale of illicit andspurious liquor inthe state whichcan potentially leadto serious healthhazards for peopleas well as createadverse law andorder situation

India is currentlyunder the biggestlockdown witharound 1.3 billionpeople asked tostay home in viewof the coronavirusoutbreak, whichhas claimed over100 lives andinfected morethan 4,000 peoplein the country

A total of 7 self-help groups withover 100members aremaking masks forthe municipalcorporation sothat the demandof 10,000 maskscan be met at theearliest

For Prime Minister NarendraModi, the use of surgical strikeshas become the new-normal inresolving intractable problemslike cross-border terrorism, black

money and Jammu & Kashmir. AfterBalakot, the airstrikes appear to haveturned the page in terrorism but in realterms, little has changed. Black money hasaltered the “colour” and “terrorism” is juston “pause.” The new invisible enemy isCOVID-19. Not even a nuclear strike willconquer this pandemic, which only time,more human lives and a vaccine can cure.Preliminary studies are showing howCoronavirus will change the way we liveand cohabit. One can only hope that ourexistential difficulties with Pakistan willease and end.

The Government and the Indian AirForce (IAF) celebrated February 26 as thefirst anniversary of Balakot. Exaggeratedclaims were made to perpetuate the onesmade last year without new evidence andfactoring the Pakistani perspective. It is tooearly to begin rewriting the doctrine andcall the airstrikes as “game-changer.”Claims on behalf of the IAF have beenmade mainly by former Chief of Air Staff,Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, throughinterviews and parts of an internal IAFreport that were leaked to the media. Hissuccessor, Air Chief Marshal RKSBhadauria, simply reinforced Dhanoa’sclaims through the same medium at a pub-lic event titled, ‘Air Power in No War NoPeace Scenario,’ organised by the Centrefor Air Power Studies, which was presidedby Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF)’s per-spective came from a conference held atthe University of Lahore, which wasjointly organised by the Centre forSecurity Strategy and Policy Research andthe Centre for Aerospace and SecurityStudies (CASS). The event was attendedby former PAF Chief of Air Staff, Air ChiefMarshal Kaleem Saadat. A report was pub-lished in the British Air Force magazineby Alan Warnes through his interviewswith retired PAF officers. The PAF’sresponse to the IAF air strikes was called“Operation Swift Retort.”

On the most provocative, emotionaland in India even anti-national questionof hitting the target, the IAF has stuck toits claim that it hit the target, though theCrystal Maze 142M missile, which was toproduce battle damage assessment, couldnot be fired. Last year, among others whoexpressed doubts whether the IAF missileswere on target, was Ashley Tellis of the US’sCarnegie Endowment and Christine Fairof Johns Hopkins University. The Air Forcemagazine was more direct: Bombs aimedat a religious boarding school atBalakot…hit wooded area a few hundredmetres away…all bombs overshot their tar-gets. The CASS report refers to the mishit

as “tactical error and technicalinadequacy.” Even so, this wasthe first time after the 1971 warthat the IAF bombed Pakistanat Balakot. Perhaps carriedaway, Bhadauria described thebombings as “the most signif-icant air action of the IAF inover four decades.” That was abit unkind to the IAF veterans,who took part supporting theIndian Peace Keeping Force(IPKF) in Sri Lanka for 22months, and the sterling pre-cision IAF bombings at Kargilfor over three months.

Bhadauria further said thatBalakot has shown that youcan use the IAF and still have“escalation control.” He wasbacked by Army Chief, GenMM Naravane, who said: “Foryears we were told that if andwhen air (force) crosses theInternational Border (IB), itwould escalate to a full-fledgedwar. Balakot demonstrated thatif you play the escalatory gamewith skill, military ascendan-cy can be established in shortcycles of conflict that do notnecessarily lead to war.”Elementary, my dear Watson?

In his paper on air escala-tion control circulated by theUS’ Stimson Centre in 2003after Operation Parakram,IAF’s Air Commode, Ramesh

Phadke, argued that limited airoperations against Pakistan inPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) were possible with min-imal escalation. Reason: IAF toPAF air balance ratio at thattime was nearly 2.5 to 1. Today,that ratio has declined to lessthan 1.3 to 1 (IAF 28squadrons versus PAF 21squadrons). The CASS reportfurther says that the probabil-ity of crisis recurrencebetween India and Pakistan ishigh and during a crisis, nei-ther side will be able to guar-antee controlling or domi-nating the escalation ladder.

PAF Air Chief MarshalMujahid Anwar Khan told theAir Force magazine that one les-son for India is not to use airpower “flippantly.” He saidOperation Swift Retort wasinevitable to demonstrate boththe resolve and restraint and wasdesigned to de-escalate. Pakistanhas found wriggle room inexplaining its nuclear bluff beingcalled. The CASS report titled,“Deconstructing Balakot” reads:“Pakistan’s carefully calibratedresponse strategy served well indampening the fears in policyanalysis that portray that anyattack inside Pakistan’s territo-ry would invoke Pakistan’snuclear threshold. However,

Pakistan, through its retaliation,Operation Swift Retort afterIndian strikes in Balakot,demonstrated that it has validconventional means of deter-rence to raise the cost of aggres-sion.”

As someone who has stud-ied Pakistan’s military andstrategic thought, I do notrecall Pakistan seriously threat-ening the use of nuclearweapons against an enemyairstrike. The four conditionsfor that were clearly codified byLt Gen Khalid Kidwai, theintellectual custodian ofPakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Hehad said — and that has notchanged till date — thatPakistan would use its nuclearweapons as weapons of ulti-mate resort in four eventuali-ties: Loss of large territory,especially in Punjab; cripplingmilitary attrition; economicblockade; and largescale polit-ical destabilisation. None ofthese conditions was violatedby the Balakot airstrikes.

One year on, AFM has saidthat PAF will be outnumberedbut will innovate to outma-noeuvre the IAF. It does notmatter what technology theIAF gets, the PAF will have thecapacity to defeat it. CASShas said that for the foreseeable

future, it will be in retaliatorymode but the threat of the useof force is essential whenPakistan’s support for Kashmirwill go beyond political, diplo-matic and moral paradigm.Kashmir has been made cen-tral to crisis and conflict.

Balakot airstrikes had thepotential to escalate and spinout of control. One single fac-tor that enabled the daring andrisky operation was a strategicsurprise. This is not likely to bereplicated. Airstrikes are notthe new-normal but a one-offlike the ground surgical strikes.Surgical strikes after Uri and atBalakot have not ended terror-ism. Infiltration has increaseddespite lockdown and unprece-dented troop density in Jammu& Kashmir.

Pakistan’s support forKashmir will not cease anddespite the internal constitu-tional changes in Jammu &Kashmir, the dispute will ulti-mately have to be resolvedpolitically. The post-COVID-19 environment may provide awindow to restart the process.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the DefencePlanning Staff, currently theIntegrated Defence Staff.)At the start of the spread of the COVID-

19 pandemic, several Indian companieswere extremely concerned as factories

began to shut down across swathes of China’sindustrial heartland and Indian imports fromChinese companies were growing at a fastpace. Indian imports included not just smart-phones or consumer electronics, as most sus-pect, but everything — from toys to batteriesand even fuel-injectors, needed to meet the newstricter BS-VI emission norms for vehicles.Then, of course, there was the worry surround-

ing the pharmaceutical industry as most of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients(APIs), required for key drugs, came from China. Indian drug-makers import around70 per cent of their total bulk drug requirements from China. As supply chainsbroke, Indian companies began to worry. So even those firms, which until nowmade ‘Make in India’ a huge success with their export-orientation, were left depen-dent on Chinese parts, ones that might be small in size and value but were crit-ical. The aftermath of the pandemic will force large economies across the worldto realise the fact that while such dependence is a result of a globalised world,so much reliance on China may not be a good thing. Ergo, the US asking Indiafor supply of hydroxychloroquine instead of China is a result of just that. CanIndian policy-makers and diplomats leverage India’s position as a reliable anddemocratic nation to promote ‘Make in India’ once the world recovers from thepandemic? One certainly hopes so.

However, initially, the Chinese problem for Indian industry might become worse.As factories in China reopen while Indian manufacturing hubs remain closed,there is a lurking fear that once our country reopens, Chinese manufacturers willdump their products on us. It will take weeks, possibly months, for Indian man-ufacturers to get back their speed even with the reduced demand in the after-math of the pandemic. Protecting Indian manufacturers from dumping has tobe the Commerce Ministry’s number one priority. It must then use this as a pivotto boost manufacturing in India for the rest of the world. India should use itsleverage with the White House, no matter what US President Donald Trump said,to get more preferential access to American markets and crucially attract moremanufacturing. India should sell itself more aggressively to the rest of the worldas well and also ease not just land acquisition but also permissions to establishmanufacturing units. The entire global economy has taken a hit over the pastthree months and 2020 might be a “lost year” economically. But Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is right, India must look at this as an opportunity rather than aneconomic disaster. The entire world will be in a state of flux for the next few quar-ters. India will suffer as well but we are to emerge stronger and more powerful.We can do that only if we take the right steps first.

As if the human dimension of the crisiswas not enough, turns out the zoonot-ic Coronavirus is now affecting the ani-

mal world and is jumping from its human host.Sometime ago, Hong Kong had reported thecase of a dog owner passing on the virus tohis pet which died. But reports were contra-dictory, claiming that the dog could have alsodied of old age. Be that as it may, the virusstrain, which has been traced genetically toa pangolin at a wildlife market in China, is nowjumping from humans to other animals.

Following reports that a tiger at Bronx Zoo in New York tested COVID-19 posi-tive because of his asymptomatic handler, India, too, has kept its zoos, nation-al parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves on the “highest” alert, askingauthorities to watch the big cats on a 24x7 basis for any abnormal behaviourand take “immediate preventive measures to stop transmission and spread ofthe virus from human to animals and vice versa.” With 2,967 tigers, India iscurrently home to 75 per cent of the global tiger population. Of course, the nation-al lockdown has meant that there is no tourist traffic at our sanctuaries but for-est and zoo staff would have to be particularly careful about not spreading thevirus in case one among them is remotely affected. Just two days ago, therewere reports of how inmates of the Delhi zoo were feeling spirited and free with-out human spectators. Reports have come in of how penguins had been let looseto meet their other aquatic friends at a US water park. Perhaps, this is a reminderfor us that we need to leave the animals in the wild as our proximity to themnow is threatening their existence. In fact, the rapid inter-species jump of thevirus in such a short time indicates how lethal it can become in threatening exis-tence as we knew it.

This news has predictably sent alarm bells ringing across the globe, espe-cially among pet owners, wondering if they should stay away from their furryfriends in case of an infection. The standard distancing protocols hold good foranimals as well. But then there is another fear of pets getting infected some-how externally and transmitting the virus to their owners, which has already result-ed in a lot of pet abandonment in the US. The Bronx zoo went so far as to saythat there is “no evidence that animals play a role in the transmission of COVID-19 to people other than the initial event in the Wuhan market, and no evidencethat any person has been infected with COVID-19 in the US by animals, includ-ing by pet dogs or cats.” The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention hasalso claimed that there is no evidence of a pet anywhere in the world transmit-ting COVID-19 to a person, a fact corroborated by the World Health Organisation(WHO), too. The outbreaks happening now are the result of people passing thevirus to one another. Also, various pets have reacted differently to an infectionof their owners. Turns out it was in Hong Kong again that one pet was infectedby his owner but another dog living in the same home didn’t. More pet cats havebeen affected though. In fact, they might be more susceptible to COVID-19 thandogs, according to one study conducted in China. As part of experiments,researchers placed infected domestic cats next to cats that were not infected.The researchers later found that one of the previously healthy cats caught thevirus after being near the infected felines, most likely through respiratory droplets.Dogs in the study, on the other hand, seemed to be more resistant to the virusand did not pass it to one another. There was no evidence that the cats shedenough of the virus to give it to people. But the study has not been reviewedand had a very limited sample size. Besides, they were given high doses of thevirus and all the human-transmitted cases of pets have shown a weakened strain.These are not real life scenarios, according to virologists. At the moment, it isonly us who are posing a threat to the animal world. Looks like the animals weclaimed and confined on our terms need to be freed from ourselves.

Tiger gets it

Be self-sufficient

Sir — The spread of Coronaviruspandemic has brought to thefore the intricate interdependen-cies that exist within the interna-tional pharmaceutical market. Itis known that China is the largestsupplier of active pharmaceuticalingredients all over the world.India, the leading exporter ofgeneric drugs across the world, isdependent on China for morethan two-thirds of its bulk drugneeds. The spread of Coronavirushas stressed on the need to homeproduce such drugs. We must,therefore, embrace economies ofscale and increase their produc-tion to be self-sufficient.

Rati AgrawalVia email

Focus on real issues

Sir — The Prime Minister’s appealto the people to switch off lightson April 5 was criticised by sever-al Opposition leaders. They right-ly urged the Government to focuson helping the poor amid theCoronavirus pandemic, many ofwhom do not have a roof abovetheir heads nor the money to feed

themselves and their families.Prime Minister Modi had askedpeople to stay inside their homesduring this exercise. But did hethink about those who have been

rendered homeless by this crisisand those who can no longer sparethe money to buy a candle?

Asim SuhailWest Mumbai

Extend lockdown

Sir — Some people are eagerlywaiting for April 14 to come, hop-

ing that the lockdown would bephased out. But the present situ-ation has seen an increasingnumber of infected cases anddeaths. The lockdown has notbeen a total success. Cooperationon the part of the people has beenfound wanting to combat theCoronavirus effectively. The com-pletion of 21 days is no case towithdraw the lockdown.

Despite the lockdown, thenumber of cases and deaths is onthe rise. Phasing out the curfewwould give a fillip to the virus toplay a more destructive role thannow. More infected cases anddeaths can be expected. India maysoon join the likes of the US,Spain, Italy, Iran and Germany,which have seen a large numberof deaths and infected cases. It isnot wise to end the lockdown tilldetections pace down.

Stricter steps are needed tocombat the spread of the virusnot only at the national level butglobally where it has made hugeinroads. Zero number of cases allover the world only matters.Nothing else.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020

06

Diplomacy is the key

ASHOK K MEHTA

Surgical strikes after Uri and at Balakot have not ended terrorism and infiltration has increaseddespite lockdown. The post-COVID-19 environment may provide a window to restart process

India has been proactive andcomprehensive in its approachto fighting the outbreak.Citizens must take a series ofmeasures to secure them-selves and help the vulnerable.

Prime Minister—Narendra Modi

Human contact is limited,we’re not being able to meetour friends. We might feelsad, isolated, these are diffi-cult times, but it’s importantto keep your spirits up.

Actor—Adil Hussain

We are more grateful than everto all of our health workersfighting the #COVID19 pan-demic. You make us proud andyou inspire us. We stand withyou and we count on you.

UN Secretary-General—António Guterres

S O U N D B I T E

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

Worsening rich-poor divide amid Corona scare

Surprise proclamations, mostly after dark, havebrought untold troubles to the poor and the disad-vantaged in the past, too. Faced with a pandemic

lurking around at the doorstep, it was inevitable for thecountry to shut itself down to block the reach of the virus.However, the developments that ensued confirmed theinadequacy of the preparations undertaken by theGovernment. It hit the migrant labourers like a thunder-bolt. Thrown out of their homes and with hunger loom-ing large, migrant workers set out on foot to their homes.Nothing — the scorching sun or difficult terrains andinhuman borders — seemed to deter them. Meanwhile,the rich shifted their wards and loved ones from foreignsoil, spending huge sums on private jets.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declaredCOVID-19 a public health emergency of international con-cern on January 30. The next day, Air India evacuatedthe first batch of Indians trapped in Wuhan in a specialflight and the evacuations from other countries, too, com-menced. An Indian student from the Wuhan universityflew into Kerala in that flight and tested positive. The WHOrecognised it as a pandemic on March 11. Drastic mea-sures were imminent to prevent the march of Corona.Nevertheless, the migrant workers seemed to know lit-tle about the enemy waiting to ambush. They were notalerted about the extreme steps likely as well. For some

time, the Government’s focus remained on the Kashmirissue, the implementation of the Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), theNational Population Register (NPR), Ram temple and onOpposition parties, their leaders and Muslims. When theperils of the lockdown sunk in, the “guest workers,” clue-less, homeless and penniless, flocked to the streets tobegin long and arduous journeys on foot. The sight ofthese less cautious people walking in hordes, some trav-elling in jam-packed buses, were disturbing. Luckily, thesepoor souls are not from the elite class, the global trav-ellers, who infected fellow citizens through handshakes.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

The lion must roar

Friendship isn’t about retalia-tion. India must help all nationsin their hour of need but life-saving medicines should be made available to Indians in ample quantities first.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

Wildlife parks across India have been told to keep a closewatch on tiger clusters and report any abnormal behaviour

Until now, the flagship ‘Make in India’ programme has beena great marketing slogan but will the virus change that?

Don’t demonise a community

THE PRESIDENT, PM, MINISTERS AND GOVERNORSWILL TAKE A 30 PER CENT SALARY CUT. THE MONEY

WILL GO TO THE CONSOLIDATED FUND OF INDIA. —UNION MINISTERPRAKASH JAVADEKAR

PUTTING MONEY IN CONSOLIDATED FUND INSTEAD OFDIRECTING IT TOWARDS FIGHTING COVID IS A BID TODEAL WITH ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION OF SIX YEARS.—CPI-M GENERAL SECRETARYSITARAM YECHURY

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

Arather disconcerting communal atmosphereseems to have enveloped the entire countryat a critical juncture when we all should be

displaying common sense, unity and the resolve tocontain the spread of the deadly COVID-19. We wereon top of things till a week or two ago but now thevirus seems to be spreading at a faster pace. Till nowwe have 4,858 confirmed cases and the deaths havespiked to 136. However, we still seem to be doingbetter than the developed nations with betterhealthcare infrastructure than us. For instance, theUS has 3,67,650 cases and nearly 10,000 fatalitieswhile Spain has 1,36,675 cases and 13,341 deaths andItaly is battling with 1,32,547 cases and has seen16,523 deaths so far.

If we were to compare ourselves to all thesenations, their population density to ours and thenumber of cases they have, we would realise that tillnow we have not done so badly.

Yet, switch on the television and all you will hearare alarming reports about the exponential rise inthe number of positive cases in the last two weeks.Worryingly, these are being linked to the congrega-tion at the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat at HazratNizamuddin.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, too, is cer-tain that criminal proceedings must be initiatedagainst the maulana of the Markaz. The discoursehas become so distorted and warped that it has nowassumed a communal hue. The hawkish rhetoricdirected against the minority community continuesunabated. Compounding this trend are newsreports that there have been instances of stone pelt-ing by the community in question against the health-care professionals and the law enforcement author-ities who were urging citizens to get tested. Manyvideos of these alleged incidents are also doing therounds on social media. This only galvanises the sit-uation and the social context.

A closer look at the chronology of events por-trays a different picture. Were events of this kind heldacross the country in the days that followed the fate-ful gathering? The answer is an unequivocal “yes.”On March 16, the Hindu Mahasabha conducted agau mutra (cow urine) party to “cure” Coronavirusin which thousands of people assembled. The reveredtown of Tirupati hosted close to 40,000 people onMarch 18. It closed only the following day. Whenthe “Janta (people’s) curfew” was announced onMarch 22, we all saw the throng of humanity erupt-ing in ebullient cheers minutes after it ended andthronging the streets. The instructions were clear-ly articulated earlier. Stand on your respective bal-conies and praise the diligence of healthcare profes-sionals, the media, the armed forces, police force,essential commodity providers, the sanitation work-ers and so on, who are on the frontline battling theCoronavirus by going above and beyond their callof duty in these trying times. What did people doinstead? They gathered in disturbing numbers,banged plates and distributed sweets. They prancedaround the streets in different parts of India. Whenthe people were given a four-hour notice by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi before the country wentinto a 21-day lockdown, millions desperately tookto the streets to procure vital rations and groceries.The norms of social distancing were convenientlyforgotten.

The following day, amid the nationwide lock-down, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathconducted the Ram Lalla movement event. It didreceive a lot of flak by the Opposition, the media and

on social media and other platforms butthe story slowly fell into oblivion and isnow far removed from public conscious-ness.

Migrants who are scattered across thecountry embarked on an arduous journeyhome; in large numbers. Could the lock-down have been better planned? Perhapsyes. Was there an acute failure in imple-menting public policy? Most certainly.Why could not the Centre have foreseenthe situation arising and the States not havebeen cautioned that such a mass migra-tion would take place. The UnionGovernment and the States should haveworked together to prevent the humani-tarian crisis that eventually unfolded andalso increased the risk of a spike inCoronavirus cases across the country. TheCentre and States should have planned tohave the necessary infrastructure, trans-port and medical equipment in place tofacilitate a smooth transition instead of thechaos which ensued? We are a nationwhere rural-urban migration is a realityand has been the subject of numerousstudies. So could this not have been fore-seen?

So is Arvind Kejriwal correct in hisassessment in implementing criminalproceedings against the maulana of thecentre? After all, the assembly was a fla-grant violation of the norms. Should thedebate assume a communal context? No.This debate is not about which commu-nity conducted a gathering and which con-formed to the norms of “social distancing”which mind you was emphasised onlyrecently after the Prime Ministerannounced the first nationwide lockdownon March 22. The gathering had a num-ber of international visitors which can par-tially explain the spread of the virus.

But what is disquieting is the lopsidednature of the debate. It is immoral andunfair to attribute the exponential rise inthe number of detected cases to one com-munity. This is because there were otherleakages in the system and with time wewill begin to understand and identify thecausations and patterns. We all need totake collective responsibility because thevirus, as stated innumerable times, doesnot discriminate. You could be PrinceCharles or Boris Johnson. It will not seeyour lineage or blue blood before strikingyou. The Nizamuddin event was a mat-ter of chance with things taking a deadlyturn. The debate needs to be more real-istic and balanced. However, that said, itis also incumbent upon the communityin question to ask its people to behave ina more respectful and cooperative man-ner with those who are looking after themin quarantine. Reports of roaming aroundin the nude to harass the women health-care workers and spitting on people willembarrass and silence even the most neu-tral of observers.

As it is, there have been so many mis-conceptions about the virus that even theso-called “educated” people in society havebecome susceptible to rumours. When mysister-in-law returned from the UnitedKingdom (UK) on March 9, the ResidentWelfare Association (RWA) membersdemanded to see her travel documents.They did not heed the fact that testing wasbeing conducted at airports and she wasanyways adhering to self-quarantinenorms. Much to her consternation, the sit-uation was only defused after the interven-tion of relevant authorities.

There is another unnerving trendwhich seems to be gripping India. TheNizamuddin episode seems to have

polarised the country. At home we havea large live-in staff. At night, post dinner,they all sit upstairs in their bedroom andwatch television. Every day the conversa-tions are invariably about how India willdescend into chaos and anarchy andMuslims are the ones to be blamed for thismayhem. I try to reason with them andapprise them about similar developmentsaround the country but they appearobstinate and are determined to pursue achain of thought. I wonder what thebroader ramifications of such a thoughtprocess will be for the entire nation. Whatif we have more illiterate people who arebeing brainwashed and subscribe to thissame propaganda? It could have a cascad-ing effect, which could arrest the harmo-nious progress of a pluralistic nation likeours. After all, this is a once in a lifetimeoccurrence for many of us and if a certaincommunity is portrayed in poor light thenit will take a lot to erase the scars and thepervasive prejudice.

In such uncertain times, when a lotof negative publicity is being hurled at us,it is vitally important that we are circum-spect and unbiased in our appraisal of thesituation on the ground. Let’s not make thisglobal calamity about a community andisolate them. This is a time to shed grudgesand imagine a new world; a world wherewe all can take a common stand and treada path together. And hopefully we will beable to surmount this malaise which affect-ed one and all, so that we can once againsee each other as human beings who sharethe same needs and have the same vulner-abilities. The boundaries of caste and creedare only imagined because when tragedystrikes it knows no distinctions.

(The writer is a socio-economic commentator)

Switch on the TV and all you will hear are reports about the spike in the number ofCoronavirus cases. These are being linked to the congregation in Nizamuddin

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

Need infectiousdisease hospitals

KARAN THAKUR

Given the advances in design and architecture, itis possible to create a hospital within a hospital

that can be used during outbreaks

ISHAAN SAXENA

A CLOSER LOOK ATTHE CHRONOLOGY

OF EVENTSPORTRAYS A

DIFFERENTPICTURE. WEREEVENTS OF THIS

KIND HELD ACROSSTHE COUNTRY IN

THE DAYS THATFOLLOWED THE

FATEFULGATHERING? THE

ANSWER IS ANUNEQUIVOCAL ‘YES.’

ON MARCH 16, THEHINDU MAHASABHA

CONDUCTED A GAU MUTRA (COWURINE) PARTY TO

‘CURE’CORONAVIRUS IN

WHICH THOUSANDSOF PEOPLE

ASSEMBLED. THEREVERED TOWN OFTIRUPATI HOSTED

CLOSE TO 40,000PEOPLE ON MARCH18. IT CLOSED ONLY

THE FOLLOWINGDAY. WHEN THE

‘JANTA (PEOPLE’S)CURFEW’ WAS

ANNOUNCED ONMARCH 22, WE ALLSAW THE THRONG

OF HUMANITYERUPTING IN

EBULLIENT CHEERSMINUTES AFTER IT

ENDED ANDTHRONGING THE

STREETS

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the emergence of multi-ple global strategies on prevention, containment and man-agement of the disease. Tactical and strategic systemic

approaches that nations have evolved include testing, strict lock-downs and contact tracing with a majority adopting a hybrid modelof all of these approaches.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been espousingidentification, isolation, testing, tracking and treatment as its strat-agem for effective handling of national and cross-border outbreakssince the beginning of the crisis. While most nations adopt thisapproach, a critical unsettled debate revolves around hospital allo-cation and infrastructure division for COVID versus non-COVIDpatients.

Given the precipitous spread across borders, most nationalhealth systems were coming to grips with the pandemic by util-ising all available resources to control the outbreak. Hospitals wereasked to prepare COVID-19 wards, train staff and buffer up inven-tories. As in any disaster management protocol, it was importantto use all levers to manage the crisis given the geographic spreadof the disease. However, a critical differentiator between other dis-asters and this infectious disease variant was the risk posed tostaff and “normal” patients.

The influx in most disaster management cases does not posea direct and significant threat to the well-being of others in the phys-ical proximity of the relief site. Infectious diseases turn that logicon its head. Not only does the disease hold catastrophic poten-tial for a section of those infected, it also poses consequential risksfor others. This has been tragically witnessed in the current out-break with a large number of health workers having contractedthe disease in the line of their work.

The use of personal protective equipment, preventive proce-dures and physical segregation are foremost in our defence againstinfectious diseases but they do have their limitations. Additionally,the exposure to positive cases necessitated the protective quar-antine of a large number of health workers, just as they were requiredto be rendering care in the face of the rising numbers.

Second, the risk posed to those seeking care for other ailmentsposes moral and ethical questions. Already at a higher degree ofrisk because of their underlying condition, the potential exposurein hospitals treating both COVID and non-COVID patients can becatastrophic. This risk is further complicated by the fact that lock-downs and the unavailability of hospital beds for non-COVID patientsbecome a compromised reality in a pandemic. The need to pro-tect these patients and ensure that an adequate number of pre-cious health workers are available make the case for dedicatedCOVID/infectious disease hospitals stronger.

One approach to circumvent the problem above has been totake any patient at the hospital as a potential COVID-positive case.This has an enormous cost attached towards it, in both clinicaland monetary terms. Given that global supply lines, even of invalu-able medical stock and equipment, remain stressed, the judicioususe of preventive goods cannot be adequately underlined.

Given these multitudinous complexities that health systemsare only just coming to terms with, there is a major need to findsolutions for this and future pandemics. The need for dedicatedinfectious disease blocks within hospitals and dedicated hospi-tals themselves is a possible way forward.

Given the advances in hospital design and architecture, it ispossible to create modular health infrastructure — a hospital inhospital model — that can be efficiently “turned on” in times ofoutbreaks. This will help safeguard health resources — manpow-er, material and beds — and enable better allocation on the basisof the burden of the outbreak and peacetime healthcare needs.

Second, the creation of dedicated hospitals that are used totreat infectious diseases needs to be part of the health systemspolicy. These institutions would need specialised manpower, equip-ment and hard infrastructure to adequately manage future outbreaks.The risk pooling of infectious disease loads will help in ensuringthat during outbreaks the entire health system machinery is notthrown into existential peril. In peace times, these institutions coulddouble up as research institutes and also carry out outpatients orambulatory care, which can be relocated in times of acute need.

This approach, though capital intensive, is a dawning realitythat systems across the world need to assess, engender and adoptin order to do equitable justice to those who acquire an infectiousdisease and those who do not, but remain vulnerable due to thestate of their health.

(The writer is a doctor and administrator, Apollo HospitalsGroup)

What is the impact ofCoronavirus on religion?As the well-known German

philosopher and economist KarlMarx said, “Religion is the opium ofthe people.” For believers, worldover it provides psychological, emo-tional as well as moral support.However, the Novel Coronavirus is apandemic, which threatens believersand atheists alike. And it respects noreligion.

But the fact remains thatCoronavirus or no Coronavirus,worldwide religious leaders have amajor moral hold over millions ofbelievers. And irrespective of the faith

they belong to, almost all of themhave risen to the occasion to containthe Coronavirus pandemic. FromMecca to the Vatican, the doors areshut to the public.

This is quite a commendableachievement for the Church in par-ticular, as Christians are observing theHoly month of Lent that ends on theeve of Good Friday. The number ofChristians attending services aroundthe world swells exponentially dur-ing this time. But now all services andprayer meetings during the Lentenseason are being held online, livestreamed or pre-recorded to keep thefaithful confined to their homes andhelp stop the spread of the contagion.Even the Church of Nativity inBethlehem was closed after aCoronavirus case was confirmed inthe area.

However, Pope Francis has urgedthe priests to “have the courage to getout. Going to the sick to bring themthe comfort of God,” after taking dueprecautions and support the health-care workers, too. Many countries like

Japan, Israel, South Korea and Iranhave also shut their religious institu-tions. In an unprecedented move,Saudi Arabia has temporarily sus-pended Umrah (the non-mandatorylesser pilgrimage made by Muslimsto Mecca). Riyadh also briefly shut theGreat Mosque in Mecca and theProphet’s Mosque in Medina.

India, which believes in reli-gion, spirituality, gurus and godmen,has also followed suit. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi called upon the reli-gious leaders in the country to takethe lead and ask their communitiesto adhere to the Government’s guide-lines to contain the pandemic. Ropingin Chief Ministers, too, Modi askedthem to convene a meeting of reli-gious leaders across all faiths and urgethem to convince their people toadhere to social distancing guidelines.

Significantly, Modi’s appeal camein the wake of the recent religiousgathering in Nizamuddin in violationof Government guidelines, which hadturned into a major hotspot forspreading the Coronavirus. Nearly

2,100 people were evacuated fromMarkaz Nizamuddin, the Delhi head-quarters of the Tablighi Jamaat groupand over 1,100 are now quarantinedin different parts of the city near thereligious centre.

Prior to that, at least 15,000people might have caught the virusfrom a Sikh spiritual guru who hadreturned from Europe and wentabout preaching in more than a dozenvillages in Punjab. He later died of theCOVID-19. All the 15,000 attendeesare now under quarantine. It wasindeed fortunate that communalclashes did not follow this event.

So, how have the religious lead-ers and institutions responded toModi’s appeal? For many religiousleaders, the decision to shut thedoors of their institutions was diffi-cult but they had realised the sever-ity of the pandemic had respondedpositively. The Christian communi-ty in India closed all churches andeven held its services on Palm Sunday,which herald the beginning of theHoly Week leading up to Good

Friday, services online in keeping withthe Prime Minister’s plea for socialdistancing.

This was a significant move, aswith Good Friday, Easter, Ramzanand other festivals approaching it isimperative that communities recog-nise the need for preventing largegatherings, even after the lockdownis lifted. Thus, despite the beliefacross all faiths in the country thatpeople need God more in times oftrouble, the religious leaders haveheeded Modi’s call.

In an unprecedented manner,several temples in India have alsoclosed darshan (viewing) for thedevotees. These include the SiddiVinayakswamy temple, Kamakhyatemple, Tirupathi Balaji temple andPuri Jagannath temple among others.Even the Ganga aarti (worship) at theghats of Varanasi and theGarbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) ofKashi Vishwanath temple have been made off-limits to the pub-lic.

Setting aside their differences and

responding to the Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan’s appeal, thereligious leaders in the State, includ-ing Cardinals, Bishops, Muslim reli-gious leaders and leaders of Hinducommunities issued a joint statementon March 20, asking the people to“stand together with determinationand to overcome the trauma causedby the outbreak of the NovelCoronavirus.”

Hundreds of people from variousreligions came together in Patna tooffer an all-religion prayer, to stop theoutbreak of COVID-19. They offeredprayers in their own ways on March17 to seek divine intervention.

Spiritual gurus and godmen,who depend on huge political sup-port, are also not lagging behind intheir efforts to do the Government’sbidding. Spiritual leaders includingAmritanandamayi, Jaggi Vasudevand Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have shuttheir ashrams and asked their follow-ers not to congregate until the pan-demic is over.

“The virus knows no caste, creed

or religion. Let us beat the virus,” istheir dictum to their followers.

They also offer remedies likeyoga and meditation to their follow-ers. They are gurus of the rich and thepoor, alike. Many of them commandhuge following at home and abroad.Their followers include politicians,actors, sportsmen and bureaucrats.Many like the Baba Ramdev are alsosuccessful entrepreneurs and runmassive business empires.

Hence, the role that spiritual lead-ers can play in getting the word outabout public health measures is con-siderable.

In India, where religion plays amajor role, even in politics, the wordof a religious leader will go a long wayto help contain the pandemic. It is awelcome measure that they havejoined the fight against the virus alongwith their followers.

After all India is home to innu-merable gurus and god-men — bothgenuine and fake.

(The writer is a seniorjournalist)

Religious leaders have a vital role in COVID warIn India, where religion plays a major role, even in politics, the word of a religious leader will go a long way to help contain the pandemic.

It is a welcome measure that they have joined the fight against the virus along with their followers

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

PNS n NEW DELHI

Leading stock exchange BSEhas revised cut-off timings forsubscription and redemptionof liquid, overnight and otherschemes on its mutual funddistribution platform - StARMF. This revised “timings shallbe applicable with effect fromApril 7, 2020,” BSE said in acircular.

In case of subscription of liq-uid and overnight schemes,BSE said new timing for L0transactions on the StAR MFplatform will be 12 noon and1 pm for normal transactions(for both subscription andredemption).

For subscription of otherschemes, BSE said it hasrevised the timing for L1transactions on the platform to12.30 pm. Earlier, L1 transac-tions were accepted till 2:30pm. With respect to redemp-tion and subscription for othermutual fund schemes, timinghas been revised to 1 pm fornormal transactions. Earlier,the timing was 3 pm.

The purchase transactionsare classified under three dif-ferent categories — normal, L0and L1.

L0 transactions are placed topurchase units of liquid MFschemes by selecting L0 as a

suffix to the scheme type. L1transactions are placed to pur-chase units of non-liquid MFschemes and have a value of Rs2 lakh and above.

Normal transactions areplaced to purchase units ofnon-liquid MF schemes andhave a value of less than Rs 2lakh. Any Liquid transaction,which is not placed by suffix-ing L0 in the scheme type isalso called normal transac-

tion.With respect to normal

orders, the exchange said cut-off time for receipt of funds byIndian Clearing Corporationin their account for ordersrouted by distributors to getthe historic day net asset value(NAV) in case of liquid trans-actions and same day's NAV incase of L0 transactions is 11:30am and L1 transactions 12:00noon.

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Cargo volume at 12 major portsmarginally up at643 MT in Apr-Feb

Zydus Cadila getsUSFDA nod to marketgeneric schizophreni

Spot gold marketsremain shut due tolockdown: HDFCSecuritiesNew Delhi: Spot gold marketsin India remained shut onTuesday amid countrywidelockdown to prevent spreadingof COVID-19, according toHDFC Securities. Meanwhile, inthe international market bothgold and silver were quotingflat at USD 1,653 per ounceand USD 15.14 per ounce,respectively. "Gold pricestraded steady with spotinternational gold priceskeeping the upper tradingrange near USD 1,653 perounce after gaining onMonday," it said.

New Delhi: Drug firm ZydusCadila on Tuesday said it hasreceived final nod from the UShealth regulator to marketgeneric Perphenazine tabletsused for treatment ofschizophrenia. The companyhas received final approvalfrom the United States Foodand Drug Administration(USFDA) to marketPerphenazine tablets USP inthe strengths of 2 mg, 4 mg, 8mg and 16 mg, Zydus Cadilasaid in a statement. "The drugwill be manufactured at thegroup's formulationmanufacturing facility at Baddi.

New Delhi: The country's 12major ports recorded amarginal 1.42 per centgrowth in cargo volumes at642.95 million tonne (MT)during April-February of thejust-concluded fiscal,according to Indian PortsAssociation. The ports hadhandled 633.93 MT of cargo inthe same period of 2018-19.India has 12 major ports --Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla),Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao,New Mangalore, Cochin,Chennai, Kamarajar (earlierEnnore), V O Chidambaranar,Visakhapatnam, Paradip andKolkata (including Haldia).While the handling of iron oresaw 43.11 per cent jump to49.98 MT during the period,thermal coal shipmentsdeclined 14 per cent to 82.47MT, the IPA data showed. The12 ports had handled 34.92MT of iron ore and 95.97 MTof coal during April-Februaryperiod of 2018-19. Handling ofcoking and other coal rose2.49 per cent to 51.87 MTduring the eleven months ascompared to 50.61 MT in theyear-ago period. Finishedfertiliser volumes jumped19.49 per cent but rawfertiliser dipped 0.68 per cent.Containers recorded a growthof 2.45 per cent in terms ofTEUs (twenty-foot equivalentunits).

‘India's renewables installationcould fall due to lockdown’PNS n NEW DELHI

India could face over 21.6 percent of 3 gigawatts (GW) ofsolar power and wind energyprojects being delayed due tothe nationwide lockdownimposed to check the spread ofcoronavirus, Wood Mackenziesaid in a report.

While wind projects wouldbe hit by supply and labour dis-ruptions in the peak season,solar photovoltaic (PV) instal-lations are expected to be hithard as the industry is heavilydependent on Chinese PVmodule imports, which havebeen disrupted due to coron-avirus.

"Wood Mackenzie projectsthat India could face over 21.6per cent or 3 gigawatts (GW)of solar photovoltaic (PV) andwind installations beingdelayed as a result of the coun-try's lockdown," it said in thereport.

Wood Mackenzie principalanalyst Robert Liew said: "Thetiming of the lockdown isunfortunate as Q1 is typicallyone of the busiest periods forwind project installations. Thelockdown will delay some pro-jects until summer, and if thelockdown is extended past

April, wind farm construc-tion could be further delayedinto the monsoon season,where wind installations aretypically at their lowest".

With over 3 GW of windprojects under constructionscheduled for 2020 completion,supply and labour disruptionsfrom the current lockdowncould delay 400 megawatts(MW) into 2021, equating to adowngrade of 11 per cent for2020.

Similar to the wind sector,India's solar PV installations isexpected to be hit hard as theindustry is heavily dependenton Chinese PV moduleimports (80 per cent of totalvolume) which has been dis-rupted due to the coronavirus.

"Current supply and labour

dis-r u p -t i o n swill havean outsizednegative impact on 2020installations. Q1 is expect-ed to be stronglyimpacted with a poten-tial 60 per cent year-on-yearquarterly downgrade, or 1.2GW, down from about 3 GWin Q1 2019.

"We remain cautious on theoutlook for the second half ofthe year as supply and logis-t ics bott lenecks l inger.Consequently, our full-yeardowngrade stands at 2.9 GW,a 24.8 per cent reductionresulting in a revised 2020outlook of 8.9 GW of solarPV installations," Senior ana-

lyst Rishab Shrestha said.States with the highest

coronavirus infection ratesalso correspond with the

areas that arefavourable to the windand solar develop-ment.

Gujarat delivered58 per cent or 1.4 GWof newly added windcapacity in India in2019 and is one of thetop ten worst-hit

states in terms of coronavirusinfections.

On the solar f ront,Karnataka (2.0 GW), TamilNadu (1.6 GW) andRajasthan (1.7 GW) were thetop three states accountingfor 55 per cent of solar PVinstallations in 2019. All ofwhich are in the top tenworst-hit states.

Wood Mackenzieprojects that Indiacould face over21.6 per cent or 3gigawatts (GW) ofsolar photovoltaic(PV)

For subscription of other schemes,BSE said it has revised the timing forL1 transactions on the platform to12.30 pm

BSE revises cut-off timings forMF subscription, redemption

Ensuring smooth shipping ops: Ministry of ShippingPNS n NEW DELHI

The government on Tuesdaysaid it is committed to main-taining smooth operationsacross its shipping ports andhas initiated a number ofsteps, including waivingrentals and thermal scanningof 46,000 crew and passen-gers, in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

Total traffic handling atmajor ports has also increasedmarginally by 0.82 per cent to705 million tonnes (MT) dur-ing the last fiscal.

"In the wake of unprece-dented crisis due to Covid-19,the Ministry of Shipping hasbeen taking pro-active steps toensure smooth running ofshipping and port operations,ease the hardships, and at thesame time, following therestrictions imposed during

the lockdown," the Ministry ofShipping said in a statement.

A total of 46,202 passengershave been scanned betweenJanuary 27 and February 4using thermal scanners atIndian ports, including 39,225people scanned at majorports.

Elaborating the steps taken

to ensure smooth shippingoperations, the governmentsaid it has asked each majorport to ensure that no penal-ties, demurrage, charges, fee,rentals are levied on any portuser (traders, shipping lines,concessionaires, licensees etc.)for any delay in berthing orloading/unloading operations

or evacuation of cargo causedby the reasons attributable tolockdown measures fromMarch 22 to April 14, 2020.

It said each major port shallexempt or remit demurrage,ground rent over and abovethe free period, penal anchor-age/berth hire charges and anyother performance-related

penalties that may be leviedon port-related activitiesincluding minimum perfor-mance guarantee, whereverapplicable. Besides for existingand operational PPP projects,the major ports can permitwaiver of all penal conse-quences on a case-to-casebasis along with deferment ofcertain performance obliga-tions. On preparedness ofhospitals across the majorport trusts, it said these havebeen supplied with the per-sonal protective equipment(PPEs) and the arrangementof sufficient staff round theclock has been made.

"In some port hospitals, a

part of the hospital can be ear-marked for Covid-19 withseparate entry and exit," it said.

Ports and PSUs under theMinistry of Shipping havecontributed more than Rs 52crore from the CSR fundstowards PM CARES Fund.About EXIM trade, the state-ment said in order to ensurethat the EXIM trade does notsuffer due to certain unavoid-able delays in loading anddischarge of cargo due to thelockdown, the shipping lineshave been advised to notimpose any container deten-tion charge on export andimport shipments of con-tainerised cargo till April 14.

Total traffic handling at major ports hasalso increased marginally by 0.82 percent to 705 MT during the last fiscal

MSF supports Bihar govtin fight against COVID-19PNS n NEW DELHI

The international medicalhumanitarian organisationDoctors Without Borders(MSF) has said it is support-ing the Bihar government byproviding crucially neededpersonal protective equipmentfor frontline healthcare work-ers in fight against COVID-19pandemic.

The list of equipmentincludes N-95 masks, eye/faceprotection, gloves and highquality body protection. Inaddition, viral transport medi-ums used in the testing ofCOVID-19 patients are beingprovided, MSF said in a state-ment. The total value of thedonation is valued at over Rs1.1 crore, it added.

The equipment will be used

by medical staff at NalandaMedical College and Hospital,and other facilities in Bihar toensure their safety, the MSFsaid.

"It is critical to reinforce andprotect healthcare personnelwho are the first line ofresponse against the disease.Responding to epidemics andassisting vulnerable popula-tions in crises is something theMSF has done over manydecades globally," DoctorsWithout Borders, IndiaCountry Director PrinceMathew said.

In the next few weeks, theMSF will also potentially sup-port the Bihar state healthauthorities in the direct man-agement of patients throughfacility decongestion prepared-ness, he added.

Wind turbine maker Senvionsigns pact to sell Indian entityPNS n MUMBAI

Wind turbine manufacturerSenvion on Tuesday said it hasentered into a binding agree-ment to sell and transfer itsfully operational Indian enti-ty to a strategic investor.

Last year, the Germany-based company hadannounced its decision to spinoff Indian operations into astandalone and separate enti-ty after it filed for insolvencyin a German court.

"Senvion has entered into abinding agreement with astrategic investor to sell andtransfer its fully operationalIndian entity. This is further toour announcement last yearwhere Senvion India was madean independent entity to man-ufacture, supply and operatethe turbines," the companysaid in a statement.

The company, however, didnot provide any financialdetails of the deal.

It further said the partieshave now entered in the finalclosure stage where legal doc-

umentations and agreementsare being discussed andexpects the transaction to closebefore June 2020, after regula-tory approvals.

"This is a positive outcomefor our Indian entity to finda safe harbour and continueto serve one of the largestrenewable energy markets.We have started workingtowards an earliest closureand transfer of the Indian

business to the new share-holders," Thorsten Bieg,Partner at GÖRG who joinedthe Management Board ofSenvion as a restructuringexpert, said.

He further said the compa-ny has also signed legallybinding agreements to trans-fer the relevant intellectualproperty and knowhow toSenvion India, which will beeffective upon the closure.

Total's arm invests Rs 3.7K crto form JV with Adani GroupPNS n NEW DELHI

French energy firm Total SA onTuesday said it has invested Rs3,707 crore to set up 50:50 jointventure with Adani GreenEnergy Ltd (AGEL) through itsstep-down subsidiary.

The JV houses 2.148 GWoperating solar projects across11 states in India, the companysaid in a statement.

The portfolio includes theRestricted Group 1 & 2 projects,which had recently raised USD

862.5 million from the interna-tional bond markets, the state-ment said. Restricted Group 2was the first Investment Graderated issuance (rated BBB-/Baa3/BBB-) by a renewablebusiness in India and was wide-

ly recognized by global capitalmarkets and international pub-lications, it added. Through theestablishment of the joint ven-ture, both partners aim to adhereto highest standards of gover-nance and strengthen the foun-dation of the partnershipbetween the two groups. Theclosing of the transaction in thecurrent environment reinforcesthe strength of the relationshipbetween the partners and fur-ther underscores robust climatecommitment of both partners.

Last year, the company had announcedits decision to spin off Indian operationsinto a standalone and separate entity

Bank of Baroda to providesupport to SHGs, FPOsPNS n MUMBAI

State-run Bank of Baroda onTuesday said it will providefinancial assistance of up to Rs1 lakh to women self-helpgroups (SHGs) to help meettheir funding demand amidthe COVID-19 crisis.

The bank has also announcedan emergency credit line forfarmers producer organisations(FPO/FPC) to deal with any liq-uidity mismatches.

Under the AdditionalAssurance to SHGs-COVID19scheme, the bank will providesupport to existing SHGs' facil-ities in the form of cash creditor overdraft or term loans.

"The minimum loan amount

is Rs 30,000 per SHG and max-imum loan amount grantedunder the scheme is Rs one lakhper member, repayable in 24months," the bank said in astatement.

The repayment for thisscheme would be on a month-ly or quarterly basis and themoratorium will be for a peri-od of six months from the dateof disbursement.

For FPO/FPC, a limit of 10per cent of the combined lim-its will be sanctioned with max-imum amount of Rs 5 lakh withthe tenor of 36 months. Themoratorium period is for amaximum of six months. Forborrowers in dairy and fisheriessegment, the lender will provideinstant credit to farming com-munity to meet emergent fundsrequirement for farm mainte-nance and other farm relatedactivities due to COVID-19.

"The limit stands at 10 percent of other agriculture sanc-tion limit (i.e. minimum Rs10,000) and maximum Rs50,000 for existing regularinvestment credit agricultureaccounts," it said.

RBI relaxesoverdraftfacility normsfor statesPNS n NEW DELHI

The Reserve Bank on Tuesdayrelaxed norms for state govern-ments to avail overdraft facil-ities for a longer period untilSeptember 30 as they are fac-ing cashflow mismatches amidcoronavirus outbreak leadingto countrywide lockdown.

In a circular, the centralbank said it has permitted"greater space" to state govern-ments/ Union Territories foravailing overdraft facilities. Inorder to provide greater flexi-bility to the state governmentsto tide over their cashflowmismatches, the RBI hasincreased the number of daysfor which a state can be in over-draft.

The number of days forwhich a State/ UT can be inoverdraft continuously hasbeen increased to 21 workingdays from the current stipula-tion of 14 working days.

Most mutualfundsunderperformedbenchmarksPNS n MUMBAI

Even before the COVID-19worries-led market rout dent-ed the value of mutual fundinvestments, there arechances that the fund wasanyways underperformingfrom a long-term perspective.

According to a study byS&P Indices Versus Active(SPIVA), for the five yearsending December 2019, amajority of funds wereunderperforming. Typically,asset management companiessay one must invest in mutu-al funds for the medium tolong-term and see throughnear-term volatilities.

Rupee spurts49 paise to75.64 againstUS dollarPNS n MUMBAI

The Indian rupee surged by49 paise to 75.64 (provision-al) against the US dollar onTuesday, taking cues frompositive equity market senti-ment. At the interbank for-eign exchange, the rupeeopened at 75.92 and gainedfurther ground to touch theday's high of 75.60. TheIndian unit finally settled forthe day at 75.64, registering arise of 49 paise over its pre-vious close.

On Friday, the rupee hadsettled at 76.13 against the USdollar.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has reduced the timingof market hours for callmoney market, governmentsecurities market, currencymarket from April 7 to April17 (from 10 am to 2 pm) fol-lowing the unprecedentedsituation that has emergeddue to the spread of coron-avirus.

IIL ties up with Ozuniversity forCOVID-19 vaccinePNS n HYDERABAD

The Indian ImmunologicalsLimited (IIL), a leading vac-cines-manufacturing company,is going to commence researchfor developing avaccine forcoronavirus which has infectedover a million and killed about55,000 people across the worldso far.

The IIL joined hands withGriffith University of Australiaby entering into an agreementfor research collaboration toconduct exploratory research todevelop a lead vaccine candidatefor coronavirus, a press releasesaid. As part of the collabora-tion, scientists from the city-

based vaccine maker and theuniversity would develop a LiveAttenuated SARS CoV-2 vac-cine orCOVID- 19 vaccineusingthe latestcodon de-optimisa-tion technology, the releasesaid.

The technology lookspromising for developing a vac-cine for prophylactic, active, sin-gle dose immunisation againstcoronavirus in humans, with anenhanced safety profile. Thevaccine is expected to provide-long-lasting protection with asingle dose administrationwithan anticipated safety profilesimilar to other licensed vac-cines for active immunisation,it said.

hildren of all ageslove playing withtoys. All of us havesome or the othermemory of toys weloved playing with,

during our childhood. The sight of building blocks or

a toy train or a motorcar in a toyshop makes a child throwtantrums to make their parentsbuy them. And the advent oftoys like the Beyblade, Yo-yos,Hotwheels, Power Rangers, etc.,makes the child want to buy thelatest ones to stay updated withwhatever toys are the currenttrend.

Buying toys for a toddler isnecessary, since it sparks achild’s imagination, which is saidto be the highest at this stage.But what and how much to buyis a concern for most parents.We’ve all seen how a childbehaves when in a toy store.Most of us too, have been there.

Some of us have put our footdown and few others have goneto the extent of rolling on thefloor to coerce our parents tobuy what we ask for. And thissort of behaviour has, many atime, left parents of toddlers red-faced in public. Most parents areworried about their child'sbehaviour and wonder if theiradamant child could turnaggressive too.

Explaining this behaviour,Dr Haseeb Jafferi, a child psy-chologist, tells us that such areaction is result of a phenom-enon in a child’s brain called‘theta’. “When children arebetween the ages 2-8 years,they live in a state of ‘theta’, animaginary land which is beyondreality. When they connect witha toy they want their ‘Theta land’to be satisfied,” he explains.

“It is difficult for an adult tocomprehend what a child hap-pens in a child’s mind whenhe/she demands that a particu-lar toy be bought. When ayoung boy wants a remote con-trolled car, the child imagineshimself to be the hero who is

driving the car and saving thehuman race,” he adds.

To tackle this, Dr Haseeb sug-gest parents to try the newconcept of activity boxes forchildren of all age groups.These activities, he says, area smart way to keep the kidsengaged. The activitiesare aimed at keeping thechildren and theirminds busy and enter-tained. He howeversays that once theseactivities are done,boredom will creepin. “These activi-ties are just a wayto keep themengaged. Aphysical toy isany day the bestway to spark cre-ativity and imagina-tion in a child,” he adds.

Dr Haseeb sees videogames as a major threat to achild’s mind, during his/herformative years. ‘Videogames kill creativity in achild,” he says. Anotherproblem that a parent facesis when their child, duringthe course of watching avideo on YouTube andelsewhere, goes throughan advertisement of a toyand pesters the parent tobuy it. "Ultimately, it's leftto the parents on how theyfacilitate the child's needs,with toys that matter andare enough," he concludes.

ailing from Kolar GoldFields of Karnataka,television actressPooja Murthy hasnow become ahousehold name

among the Telugu audience.The actress has wowed audi-ence with her acting skills in theserial Gundamma Katha. Beforeproving her mettle in the Teluguindustry, Pooja had a brief stintin the Kannada industry too.

STARTED AS A CHILD ARTIST

Pooja started her career as a childartist in various Kannada serials.She acted in serials since herkindergarten days. “I played vari-ous roles in serials as a child artist.Later, my parents realised that Ineed to focus on higher studies.After my graduation, I went to meetone of my friends who was from theindustry. There, one managerrecognised me and advised me totake up acting again. I did, andreceived great response from theKannada audience,” she reminisces.

ENTRY INTO TELUGUINDUSTRY

Her entry into Telugu indus-try came knocking at her door.“I got a call from theGundamma Katha team andthey asked me to attend ascreen test. After auditioningfor the role, I was roped into play Geetha,” she recalls.Speaking about her charac-ter in the serial she says, “Iplay the role of Geethawho is homely andalways places the interestof others above her own.She is also on the heav-ier side, so the serial

revolves around howGeetha battles life and body

shaming among other issues. Thecharacter has been well received,”she says.

‘HEY GUNDAMMA'Pooja’s role is so loved that

when she is out and not shoot-ing, people recognise her andcall her ‘Gundamma’.

“Whenever I meet peopleoutside, most of them call meby my character’s name —Gundamma and Geetha. Theylove the role so much and areworried about what might hap-pen next,” she says.

FLUENT IN TELUGU Despite hailing from Karnataka,

the actress is fluent with the locallanguage. On how she picked upthe language, Pooja says, “My grandmother would speak alot of Telugu and that’s how I learntit. I gained fluency and perfectionin Telugu language in two years.”

LOVE PLAYINGCHALLENGING ROLES

Asked if she has any dream roleshe’d like to play, she replies in thenegative. “I’ve no dream role but Ilove to play challenging roles thatpush me beyond my boundaries. Iam looking for roles like those,”informs Pooja, who loves horrorfilms and is a fan of Tollywoodactor Vijay Deverakonda’sTelanagana slang.

GRATEFUL FOR LOVEFROM BOTH INDUSTRIES

Asked if she has a favoritebetween the two industries, shesays, “Both the industries treat mewell. People in villages have alwayswelcomed us warmly, some cele-brated our presence like a festival.I’m forever grateful for the loveboth industries have given me.”

DON’T TAKE SERIALSSERIOUSLY

On OTT platforms’ impact onserials, Pooja adds, “Some likecinema, some like serials and somelike web series. It’s all up to themnow, to choose what they want towatch. Cinema and web seriesend after a particular time but seri-als continue for a long period oftime. Once connected, they travelwith us for years.” Pooja also urgedpeople not to take serials serious-ly but only as entertainment.

On a concluding note, she saysthat she hopes to also work for aTelugu film some day.

Hotel hoteleverywhere, not aplace to hang out,seems to be thegrouch thatHyderabadis have asthey crave for foodfrom hotels. Thelockdown may haveplayed spoilsport,but as always, thereis someone whocomes to the rescue.Case in point beingthe star hotels in thecity as K RAMYASREE finds out

H

C

out of the

BOX

eople in Hyderabad being food loversis a renowned known fact. The innu-merable biryani joints and dhabasstand testament to that. However, asthe whole nation is on lockdown tocontain the spread of Coronavirus

(Covid-19), the food and beverages industry isthe worst hit. Everyone from small to 5-starhotels are bearing the brunt. Adding to their

woes is the rumour doing the rounds that non-vegetarian food or food cooked outside is

not safe.However, as the NHRAI (NationalHotels and Restaurants Association

of India) lobbies with the govern-ment for relief measures aimed

at reviving the industry, restau-rants in Hyderabad have

taken matters into theirhands to cut losses byundertaking orders forhome delivery and alsosatisfying the taste budsof its customers.

The Hyatt Place, TajKrishna, The ParkHyderabad, Marigoldand Roastery CoffeeHouse, to name a few,are among the hotels

that have started onlinedeliveries with dishes

cooked in hygienic condi-tions, packaged efficiently

and delivered smoking hot. Beit Hyderabadi Biryani or Kathi

Rolls from The Park Hyderabad,combo lunch boxes, paranthas to

pancakes or lip smacking Italiancuisines from The Hyatt Place, or some-

thing as basic as coffee beans from TheRoastery Coffee House, all items are delivered

at your door step. While some have partneredwith popular food delivery apps, others aredepending on their hotel staff itself to makedeliveries.

The Park Hyderabad hasstarted ‘Love Aj Kal’, an initia-tive to deliver food to its cus-tomers. “We have not yetenrolled on any food deliveryapps and our staff is delivering thedish at the customer’s desired locationwithin a 5-km radius,” said Kamalika GuhaThakurata of The Park Hyderabad.

“Due to the lockdown, our operations havebeen badly affected. Many customers have saidthat they are missing our dishes. This made usstart Love Aj Kal so that people can enjoy home-cooked food without having to cook at home,”she added.

Despite having a spread of over 16 dishes,Biryani and Chicken 65 remain the mostordered dishes at The Park Hyderabad.

“We have quarantined ourselves for 14 daysand have started cooking and delivering foodonly after ensuring that our staff is not infect-ed,” said Nishaath Sinha of Roastery CoffeeHouse.

Among all dishes, the coffee beans of Roasteryare in high demand. They make a minimum of10 deliveries just for coffee beans every day.There are many such star hotels and restaurantsthat are trying to ensure that their customer basedoes not feel deprived. This being said, a fewhotels are also sharing their recipes so that peo-ple can cook at home and enjoy the same taste.

“Many people might be living alone who can-not cook and are dependent on hotels and restau-rants. And then there are people who care aboutwhere the food is coming from. So we thoughtthat we should reach out to such people to givethem the food they love and not deprive anyoneof what they love,” said a spokesperson from TheHyatt Place, Banjara Hills.

They have started combo packs that are beingwell received by customers. Italian cuisines,Burgers, Pastas, Noodles and Fried Rice are themost ordered dishes from The Hyatt Place.

(To place your order, one can make a call to the hotel’s number listed on their website or

through food delivery apps)

P

Speaking to V SATEESH

REDDY, televisionactress Pooja

Murthy talks abouther entry into

television industry,learning Telugu

language, playingchallenging roles,OTT platforms,

love for cinema andmore

From child artistto lead actress

To buy or not to buy

Crave to eat out? Hotelsare here to your rescue

Buying toys for atoddler is necessary,

since it sparks achild’s imagination.But what and how

much to buy is aconcern for most

parents. To tacklethis, Dr Haseeb

Jafferi, childpsychologist, suggest

parents to try the newconcept of activity

boxes for children ofall age groups

facebook.com/dailypioneer

@TheDailyPioneerFollow us on

WednesdayApril 8, 2020

ctress TaapseePannu says she wasan extremely brightstudent in schooland, for her excel-lence, she was even

chosen head girl of her school.Taapsee took to social media

on Tuesday to go down thememory lane and shared athrowback picture from herschool days. In the image, sheis seen taking an oath.

“Throwback which makesme partly proud and partlyembarrassed. Since the time Iknew what being a prefect inschool is I had dreamt to be theHead Girl of my school and thiswas the day that dream cametrue.”

“One of those rare things inlife I planned and it actually

happened (considering all myother plans for life have failedbut probably for good) standingthere taking oath I am probablyjust lost in thought of howwhen u wish for something sobad it can actually come true nthat’s y probably I am (embar-rassingly) not looking ahead!Which I should!”

“Considering the Head boy ismore interested to look into mycamera, I don’t think I shouldbe the only one embarrassed ofthis picture,” she quipped.

Taapsee was accompaniedby her father and mother for theoath taking ceremony.

On the film front, Taapsee will be seen in HaseenDillruba, Rashmi Rocket andShabaash Mithu in the comingmonths.

10

Hyderabad Wednesday April 8, 2020

ollywood actors Shah Rukh Khanand Priyanka Chopra Jonas alongwith names like Billie Eilish andPaul McCartney have united forpop star Lady Gaga’s One World:Together At Home, a mega live-

streamed and televised benefit concert in sup-port of the World Health Organization’s

(WHO) Covid-19 solidarityresponse fund and in celebrationof health workers around theworld.

The lineup also includesnames like Chris Martin of

Coldplay, Eddie Vedder of PearlJam, Elton John, John Legend,Lizzo, J Balvin, Stevie Wonder,Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day,Alanis Morissette, Burna Boy,Andrea Bocelli, Kacey Musgraves,Keith Urban and Lang Lang, reportstheguardian.com.

SRK and Priyanka are among several celebritiesexpected atthe event, along with DavidBeckham, Idris and Sabrina Elba, KerryWashington, and Sesame Street cast members.

Popular US talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon,Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert will hostthe event, which broadcasts live across the UStelevision networks ABC, CBS and NBC, aswell as being streamed online on April 18.

BBC One will show an adapted version ofthe concert on April 19, including exclusiveperformances from UK artists and interviews

with frontline health workers.The details of the broadcast are yet to be

announced.The WHO and the social action platform

Global Citizen have partnered to produce theevent.

The latter’s Together at Home series,launched last month, has featured per-formances from artists in isolationincluding Shawn Mendes, CamilaCabello and Rufus Wainwright.

In a WHO press conference,Lady Gaga said she had helpedto raise $35m for Global Citizenin the past week.

She said that One World wasnot a fundraising telethonand would focus on enter-tainment and messages ofsolidarity, with philan-thropists and businessesurged to donate to theCovid-19 solidarityresponse fund ahead of theevent.

“We may have to beapart physically for a littlewhile, but we can still cometogether virtually to enjoygreat music. The One World: Together atHome concert represents a powerful showof solidarity against a common threat,”WHO’s general director, Dr TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus, said.

ctor Jay Benedict, best known for his rolesin film Aliens and TV show Emmerdale,has passed away due to complicationsarising from the coronavirus. He was 68.The actor died on April 4, a week beforehis 69th birthday, following a battle with

the COVID-19 virus.In a statement shared on Twitter, Benedict’s man-

agement team said, “It is with profound sorrow thatwe must announce Jay’s death on the 4th of Aprildue to complications arising from a Covid-19 infec-tion.” The American actor was best known for play-ing Russ Jordan in James Cameron’s 1986 sci-fi epicAliens, also featuring Sigourney Weaver and BillPaxton.

Born in California, Benedict’s family left the USfor Europe when he was a child. He also starred inBritish soap opera Emmerdale in 1997, in which heplayed businessman Doug Hamilton.

In a career spanning four decades, Benedict alsoappeared in The Dark Knight Rises and playedthe role of John Kieffer, the US Army officerand friend of detective Christopher Foyle inBritish period drama Foyle’s War.

He also has UK shows such as The Bill,Jonathan Creek, and Casualty to his credit.

Benedict is survived by his actor-wifePhoebe Scholfield and their two sonsLeopold and Freddie. The actor also hadanother daughter from a previous relation-ship.

Actor Jay Benedict,known for Aliens andThe Dark Knight Rises,dies due to Covid-19

A

A

BENEDICT IS SURVIVED BYHIS ACTOR-WIFE PHOEBESCHOLFIELD AND THEIR TWOSONS LEOPOLD ANDFREDDIE AND ANOTHERDAUGHTER FROM HISPREVIOUS RELATIONSHIP

SRK, Priyanka for Lady GaGa'smega COVID-19 fundraiser concert

B

what’s brewing

Taapsee recalls ‘proud'moment of becomingschool's head girl

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

oining his colleagues from theindustry in doing his bit topeople who’ve been affected byCovid-19, actor Gopichanddonated essentials of onemonth to 1,000 needy people.

He also appealed to people to stay homeand stay safe. Writer-actor Posani KrishnaMurali too donated essentials of onemonth to 50 poor people.

On the other hand, the TelanganaChief Minister’s Relief Fund continued toreceive more donations from film indus-

try. Aditya Music, the leading musiccompany of South India, has donated Rs31 lakh to the CMRF to continue their bat-tle against Covid-19. The music label'schief decision makers, Umesh Gupta,Dinesh Gupta, Subhash Gupta and AdityaGupta met IT minister KTR in Hyderabadon Monday and handed over the cheque.

Umesh, MD of Aditya Music, said, “Asa nation we need to abide by the rules andwe urge one and all to stay home and pre-vent the spread of this virus.”

Disco Raja producer Ram Talluri, onbehalf of his firms Lead IT India PVT Ltd& Skyzone India, has pledged to contributeRs 5 lakh to CMRF of Telangana State.

Meanwhile, some unconfirmed reportsindicate that Mohan Babu along with hisson Vishnu have adopted eight villages inChandragiri constituency, AP and help-ing the residents of villages with food twicedaily. They want to continue the gesture

until the lock-down is lift-

ed.

V Creations was at the receiving endof Prabhas’ fans fury once again. Theproduction house which last monthannounced that the first look oftheir next with the actor will be

unveiled soon, failed to honour their promise,leaving the fans a frustrated lot. Peeved, theytook to social media to vent their anger fora good part on Monday evening, where theytweeted with #BanUVCreations. The hash-tag even trended on nation-wide trends.Some of the fans noted that the film’s title hasnot been revealed yet despite it going to floorsmore than a year ago, while some claimed theproduction house is not doing justice tothe stardom of Prabhas by not disclos-ing regular updates which satiatethem. The fans even didn’t spareUV’s PR team. What compound-

ed to their problem isother production

house MythriMovie Makers

u p d a t eabout their

next withA l l uA r j u non hisbirth-d a y

Wednesday. The fans were of the opinion thatArjun is yet to begin the shoot of the film, stillMythri were ready with the updates, unlike UV.

UV tried to easy fans nerves with a statementon Tuesday. Stating that the current situ-

ation led them to differ some of theirpromotional plans, the production

house wrote on Twitter, “We areamidst a global pandemic andmany lives are at stake due to thecurrent situation. Owing to thecurrent situation, we have paused

all our activities. After all this isover, we promise to come

up with many moreupdates. We urgeeveryone to stayhome & stay safe!#Prabhas20 (sic).”

The untitledfilm, directed byJil fame RadhaKrishna, is apure romanticdrama set inEurope. PoojaHegde is castopposite Prabhas.

— NG

ctor Vijay Deverakonda hasurged fans to use homemademasks and continue to remainsafe at home.

“My loves, hope you are allstaying safe. Cloth face cover-

ing will help slow disease spread. Leave themedical masks for doctors and instead, usehandkerchief, use a scarf of your mom’s

chunni. Cover your face, stay safe.#MaskIndia,” the actor wrote in his new

Instagram post.Vijay Deverakonda’s view comes

at a time when medical profession-als are taking to social media,

complaining about the lack of PPEsand masks.

Deverakonda isn’t the only star torequest fans to stay at home. FromChiranjeevi to Mahesh Babu, thebiggest Tollywood stars are postingmessages and videos asking fans tofollow safety. Chiranjeevi evenappeared in a video featuringAmitabh Bachchan, RanbirKapoor, Mohanlal, Sivarajkumarand Mammootty which wasshot separately in their respec-tive homes. It gave the messageto stay home and stay safe.

espite belting out chartbuster albums likeBhale Bhale Magadivoy, Ninnu Kori andGeetha Govindam among others over hisfive-year Tollywood career, projects of bigTelugu superstars have eluded Malayalamcomposer Gopi Sundar. But that is going to

change with his next assignment if our sources areanything to go by. We have reliably learnt that hehas been picked by Parasuram to compose musicfor his next with superstar Mahesh Babu.

A source close to the film’s unit tells us, “Likewith his earlier music directors, Parasuram hasforged a great working relation with Gopiwhen he worked with him for GeethaGovindam. Everybody knows the impactGeetha Govindam soundtrack had on thefilm’s opening. So when Parasuram landeda chance to direct Mahesh up next, the firstname that crossed his mind for music wasGopi. When he broached the topic toMahesh, the actor had no issues in giv-ing his consent, as he was looking for afresh soundtrack, having mostly workedwith Devi Sri Prasad in the recentpast.”

The source further adds the musicsessions of the project will start afterthe lockdown is lifted. “With the filmset to go to floors in June, Parasuramhas ample time to sit on the music.Gopi is keen on delivering an albumthat he will be remembered for along time. He has taken it as achallenge upon himself. He isalso happy to work withParasuram again who hebelieves has a great taste forgood music,” the source con-cludes.

The untitled film, a jointproduction venture betweenMythri Movie Makers, 14Reels Plus, and GMBEntertainment, is a lovestory laced with familyemotions, plenty ofhumour and action. Anofficial announcementabout the project isaround thecorner.

D

11

tollywoodHyderabad Wednesday April 8, 2020

Gopi bags hisfirst biggie!

The composerhas been pickedby Parasuram tocompose music

for his next withsuperstar

Mahesh Babu,finds NAGARAJ

GOUD

Trivikram settles his duewith Mythri

financial issue between Trivikram Srinivas andMythri Movie Makers, which has been pend-ing for a long while, has been cleared. The pre-mier production house, according to reports,paid the director Rs 4 crore as an advanceamount some four-five years ago to do a film

for them. Pawan Kalyan was attached to star in the pro-ject. However, with the director choosing to make filmsonly for Haarika & Hassine Creations since S/OSatyamurthy, Mythri’s constant requests went in vain. Theywere hoping that the director would oblige one day butas it never came by, they put in a request that he returns

their advance fee back with theinterests combined. While thebuzz states that the director hasreturned Rs 11 crore, our sourceclose to the director — withoutdivulging the figure — did con-firm the matter has beenresolved for once and all.

Trivikram, who is on a highpost the record-breaking successof Ala Vaikunthapuramlo, will bedirecting NTR up next forHaarika & Hassine Creations.Kalyanram’s NTR Arts is a jointproducer on the project, whichmoves to sets once NTR wrapsup RRR.

— NG

A

oodachari girl Sobhita Dhulipala, who hadthree films on floor when lockdown stoppedall shooting activity in the film industry, saysshe is trying to keep her body and mindhealthy instead of feeling anxious about notbeing “productive” in these times of isolation.

In fact, the actress was shooting for the Telugu-Hindibilingual Major with Adivi Sesh when the lockdown wasannounced.

“So initially, I was feeling restless over what had hap-pened so suddenly. I had planned everything, I had a flow-chart and I had prepared myself as an actor. Now whatshould I do? Of course, we are artiste and things affectus emotionally. But now I am not fighting it anymore. Iknow this too shall pass. I am not anxious about thefuture, that is not productive,” mentioned theactress, who is also a part of Mani Ratnam’speriod drama Ponniyin Selvan and RSVP’sSitara.

So how is she dealing with the lockdowntime? “Now I am taking care of my bodyand mind. I am evaluating my decisionsand putting things in retrospect. I amwatching web series, films and I amalso reading books. I remember asa child I was such a geek, lovedreading books. In the last fewyears, things have been dif-ferent. I am finishingsome books that I sowanted to read for long.And also, I started cook-ing again after three years.So my days are packed,”Sobhita signed off.

GU

J

A

Lockdown diaries:Sobhita is reading,watching webseries and cooking

Ban UV Creations trends; banner responds

Donationsgalore!

While the buzzstates that thedirector has retur-ned Rs 11 crore,our source closeto the director —without divulgingthe figure —confirm thematter has beenresolved for onceand all

Deverakonda's piece of advice

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 8, 2020

NEYMAR HHAS TTO BBE MMORE PPROFESSIONAL: ZICORio: Brazil legend Zico said that the one thingseparating Neymar from Lionel Messi & CristianoRonaldo is professionalism. Long touted as thesuccessor to the crown of best player in the world afterRonaldo and Messi wind down, Neymar has not hit theheights that were expected of him when he made theworld record switch to PSG from Barcelona in 2017. “Ireally like Ney, his way of playing is incredible. But hehas to be more professional like Ronaldo and Messi,who live for football,” Zico told Gazzetta Dello Sport.“Ney has too many thoughts that distract him. I spoketo him recently and asked him to be more professional.He is 28 years old now and there is a good team at PSG.They can win the Champions League.”

UNCERTAINTY GGROW OOVER TTHOMAS && UUBER CCUPNew Delhi: The already rescheduled Thomas and UberCup on Tuesday came under fresh doubts following theDanish govt decision to extend a ban on “largergatherings” in the country until the end of August. Thebadminton tournament was rescheduled to be heldbetween August 15-23 in Denmark but BWF andBadminton Denmark are now seeking clarification fromDanish authorities on the definition of “largergatherings”. “....And how this might affect the ability tostage the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2020 on therescheduled dates of 15-23 August,” the BWF said.

JAPAN EEND OOLYMPIC FFLAME DDISPLAYTokyo: The Olympic flame will be removed fromdisplay in Japan, officials said on Tuesday, as thecountry braces for a state of emergency due to thecoronavirus. It had been on public display in thenortheastern Fukushima region since last week, butJapanese Olympic organisers decided to shelve it ascoronavirus cases climb in the country. “Originally wewanted to hold the public display until the end of April.But considering recent developments, we decided tostop,” said organising committee spokesman.

NEW DDATES AANNOUNCED FFOR IITTF WWORLDSLausanne: The world championships of table tennis,originally scheduled for March 2020, will now he heldfrom September 27 to October 4. “On 29 March 2020,the ITTF Executive Committee held a follow-up meetingto confirm that new dates would be announced for the2020 World Team Table Tennis C’ships, in light of thefact that all currently planned ITTF events and activitiesare suspended until 30 June 2020,” ITTF said in astatement. “Now with new provisional dates proposedfor 27 September - 4 October 2020, the ITTF and KTTA(Korean TT body) continue to monitor the situation, withthe priority being placed on the health and safety.”

NO IINT’L HHOCKEY EEVENTS FFOR IINDIA TTILL JJUNENew Delhi: Two FIH Pro League ties involving thesenior men's team, junior men's Asia Cup and seniorwomen's Asian Champions Trophy are among a host ofinternational hockey events, where India was scheduledto take part, that have been postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to TOPS CEO RajeshRajagopalan, Hockey India informed about thepostponement of the events which were a part of itsAnnual Calendar for Training and Competitions (ACTC).

UWW SSUSPEND AALL EEVENTS TTILL JJUNE 330New Delhi: National wrestling federation, WFI, onTuesday cancelled the upcoming Under-15 nationalc’ship after world governing body UWW directed allmembers to cancel domestic events and alsoannounced cancellation of all international tourneysplanned until June 30. UWW also announced that theremaining Tokyo Games qualifiers shall be organised in2021 in the same period as in 2020 but there could beminor adjustments to the exact dates. AGENCIES

SINGLES

AFP n LIVERPOOL

UEFA president AleksanderCeferin said on Monday

that there is “no way” Liverpoolshould finish the season without thePremier League title, even if the campaignis cancelled due to the coronavirus pan-demic.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool appeared setto secure a first English top-flight title in30 years when the season was suspended,sitting 25 points clear of second-placedManchester City.

“There is no way Liverpool could endwithout the title. If the matches are played,then they will almost certainly win it — the-oretically, they still haven’t earned the titlebut they almost certainly will,” Ceferin toldSlovenian sports daily Ekipa.

“In case the matches cannot be played,we will need to find a way...

“And, once again, I see no scenarioaccording to which Liverpool would not bethe winners. I realise fans might be disap-pointed if the match is played in an emptystadium or even if it is resolved around atable, but I believe that one way or anoth-er they will win the title.”

When asked if Ceferin thought gamescould played this summer, he said he was“optimistic”.

PTI n NEW DELHI

His unorthodox batting stance has left manybefuddled but Australian run-machine Steve

Smith says though it depends on number of fac-tors, he generally positions himself outside the off-stump to limit ways in which he can be dismissed.

Smith, the world number 1 Test batsman, hasamassed 7227 runs in 73 Tests and 4162 runs inODIs with an unconventional technique, whichmost have failed to decode.

During a podcast organised by inaugural IPLchampions Rajasthan Royals, Smith opened upabout his unusual technique to New Zealand spin-ner Ish Sodhi.

Talking about his open batting stance, Smith,the former Rajasthan Royals captain, said: “Itdepends on who’s bowling, how is the wicket play-ing, how I gonna score and stuff like that or howpeople are trying to get me out, probably that deter-mines how open I am or otherwise how closed Iam.

“But my general stance where my back foot isgoing to almost off stump, or may be even outsideat stages, I know that anything outside my eyelineisn’t hitting the stumps,” he said.

“For me, you shouldn’t get out if the ball is nothitting the stumps, so that is just a trick from mewhen I first started doing it, just limiting the waysI get out,” he explained.

The 30-year-old said his off-stump stance helpshim to leave the ball which are outside his line ofsight.

“Sometimes, I get trapped in front but I’m okaywith that at stages, knowing that if it is outside myeyeline, I don’t need to try and play the ball, I canjust leave that,” he said.

PTI n MELBOURNE

Australian cricketers were sokeen on protecting their

lucrative IPL deals that they felt“scared” of sledging India cap-tain Virat Kohli and his team-mates during a particular peri-od and instead “sucked up” tothem, former skipper MichaelClarke has claimed.

India and Australia havehad some memorable bilateralduels but Clarke felt that when-ever the Australians would faceIndia, their eyes would betrained on the cash-rich leaguewhich is played in April-Mayevery year.

“Everybody knows howpowerful India are in regards tothe financial part of the game,internationally or domesticallywith the IPL,” Clarke told BigSports Breakfast.

“I feel that Australian crick-et, and probably every otherteam over a little period, wentthe opposite and actually suckedup to India. They were tooscared to sledge Kohli or theother Indian players becausethey had to play with them inApril,” the World Cup winning

Australian skipper said drop-ping a bombshell.

Clarke believes that some ofAustralia’s ruthless on-fieldcharacter got compromisedbecause the top-10 draws at theIPL auctions gave an impressionthat they would never sledgeKohli.

“Name a list of ten playersand they are bidding for theseAustralian players to get intotheir IPL team,” he said.

“The players were like: ‘I’mnot going to sledge Kohli, I wanthim to pick me for Bangalore soI can make my $1 million formy six weeks’.

“I feel like that’s whereAustralia went through that lit-tle phase where our cricketbecome a little bit softer or notas hard as we’re accustomed toseeing,” Clarke said about thetime after the ball-tamperingscandal when terms like Elitehonesty were propagated.

India and Australia havealways enjoyed a fiery on-fieldchemistry with the two teamsengaging in many verbal wars inthe past, which include thetours of Down Under in 2007-08 and 2018.

PTI n LONDON

IPL is “massive” in terms of stature andit is a “big shame” that it cannot be

held at the moment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said star England batsmanJos Buttler, who is expecting the cash-rich event to be slotted later in the year.

Buttler, who plays for RajasthanRoyals, underlined the importance of a

tournament like IPL.“I don’t know any more than you

know about when IPL would be playedor people talking about whether it canbe pushed back. At the moment, every-thing is quite indefinite as no one knowshow long it will last. So it can’t be decid-ed at the moment when it could or couldnot happen,” Buttler was quoted as say-ing by ESPNcricinfo.

Buttler, who made massive stridesas a white ball player after a few seasonsof IPL, spoke about the impact of nothaving an IPL and the effect it couldhave on revenue.

“As for the stature of the tourna-ment, it’s a massive, massive tournament.Revenue that is involved in IPL is mas-sive. It is a very important competitionto cricket and it’s a big shame that it’s notgoing ahead or whether it does have theway to push it in the schedule and allowit,” he said.

PTI n MUMBAI

Veteran off-spinner HarbhajanSingh says he won’t mind an IPL

played in empty stadiums but theevent should go ahead when theCOVID-19 pandemic is broughtunder control as several liveli-hoods are dependent on the it.

“Spectators are impor-tant, but if the situationarises, I don’t mind playingwithout them. Yes, as aplayer I won’t get the vibe,but this will ensure thatevery fan will get to watch IPLon their TV,” Harbhajan, whoplays for Chennai Super Kings,told Star Sports CricketConnected.

“We will have to be cautious

about everything and should priori-tise players’ safety by ensuring that

the match venues, team hotels,flights are properly sanitized. Alot of lives are on line so weshould organise IPL when

everything is fine,” he added.“I miss matches the

most, was hoping that Iwould get to play 17matches (includingfinals) after a year’sgap,” Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan said heis keeping himself fit for

the league as and when ithappens.

“I hope that IPL happenssoon, till then I will keepmyself fit,” quipped the 39-year-old veteran of 103 Tests.

NEW DELHI: Out of the Indianteam since 2015, dashingKarnataka batsman RobinUthappa is eying a comeback inthe T20 format as a finisher andbelieves he still has another“World Cup left” in him.

Uthappa, who was a mem-ber of the 2007 ODI World Cupteam and the inaugural T20World Cup-winning squad, lastplayed for senior team in July2015 during Zimbabwe tour.

The 34-year-old batsmanhas featured in just eight ODIsand four T20 matches sinceOctober 2011.

“Right now I want to becompetitive. I still have that fireburning in me, I really want tocompete and do well. I honest-ly believe I have a World Cup leftin me, so I’m pursuing that,especially the shortest format,”

Uthappa was quoted as sayingby ESPNcricinfo.com.

He, however, understandsthat for that to happen, heneeds a bit of luck as well.

“The blessings of LadyLuck or God or whatever youcall it, plays a massive factor.Especially in India, itbecomes so much moreevident. I don’t think it isas evident when you’replaying cricket outsideof India,” Uthappa said.

“But in the subcon-tinent and India espe-cially, with the amountof talent that we dohave in our coun-try, all of thosea s p e c t sbecomeevident.”

Insisting that he has not yetgiven up hope, Uthappa said he

won’t hang up hisboots till he realis-

es his dreams.“You can

never write yourselfoff. You would beunfair to yourself if

you write yourself off.Especially if you believe

you have the ability andyou know that there is

an outside chance.So I still believe inthat outsidechance.

“I still believethat things can go

my way and I proba-bly can be a part of a

World Cup-winningteam and play anintegral role in that

as well. Those dreams are stillalive and I think I’ll keep play-ing cricket till that is alive,” hesaid.

Even though he prefers tobat up the order, Uthappa saidhe is now eyeing the role of a fin-isher in the Indian team and hasalready stated his training athome.

“What I’ve been trying to dois to make sure that I’m well pre-pared. Opening the batting issomething I can do at any pointof time. I’m trying to make sureI’m well equipped to bat in themiddle order as well,” he said.

“One of the things that weneed today in Indian cricket isa good finisher, and that’s some-thing that I’m pursuing andworking hard on. It’s somethingI’m looking forward to improv-ing on a day to day basis.” PTI

PTI n NEW DELHI

There are not many rolemodels in the currentIndian cricket set up other

than Virat Kohli and RohitSharma and the seniors do notcommand much respect fromthe youngsters, feels formerflamboyant all-rounder YuvrajSingh.

In a live Instagram Livequestion and answer session,deputy skipper Rohit askedYuvraj about the differencebetween the current team andthe players who played along-side the left-hander.

“When I came into the teamor when you (Rohit) came intothe team, our seniors were verydisciplined. Obviously therewas no social media so therewere no distractions,” saidYuvraj.

“There was a certain behav-iour that we boys had to carry,how they talk to people, how

they talk to media. Becausethey were the ambassadors ofthe game and India.”

But it is not the same any-more, feels Yuvraj.

“So that is what I had toldyou guys. After playing forIndia, you have to be more care-ful about your image. But I feelthe third generation. There areonly you two seniors, Virat andyou, who are playing all the for-mats, rest of the guys are com-ing and going.

“I just feel there are veryfewer guys to look up to and Ifeel that a sense of respecttowards seniors, that hasbecome a thin line now. Koibhee kisiko kuch bhee keh detahain (anyone can say anythingto anyone,” said Yuvraj.

Yuvraj, one of the best crick-eters the world cricket has seen,said the players during his timewere conscious of whatever theydid.

“I think juniors, because of

social media, party scenes, thesethings, we could not even thinkabout that in our time. Becausewe had that fear that if we dosome mistake our senior will tellus that do not do this, this is notright,” he said.

Commenting the infamousincident involving HardikPandya and K L Rahul, whowere suspended for their loosetalk on women on a chat show,Yuvraj added: “That incidentcould not have happened in ourtime.”

Rohit on his part said theatmosphere in the team is “verylight” at the moment.

“When I came into theteam, there were so manyseniors. I think I was the onlyyoungster alongside PiyushChawla and Suresh Raina. Theatmosphere is light now. I keeptalking to the youngsters, thefive-six of them.

“I speak to Rishabh a lot.There was so much scrutiny on

him and he got worked up.Media should also think beforewriting about him. But scruti-ny will be there as long as youare playing for India.”

On the mindset of theyounger generation, Yuvraj saidmost of them only want to playlimited overs cricket.

“Sachin paaji told me once‘if you perform on field, every-thing else will follow’. I was atNational Cricket Acadmey(NCA) once and I interactedwith the younger lot. I felt mostof them did not want to playTest cricket which is real crick-et. They are happy playing one-day cricket.

“I feel even the players whohave already played for Indiashould play domestic cricketwhen they are not nationalduty. It would give them valu-able experience of playing ondifferent surfaces around thecountry,” the former Indian all-rounder added.

AFP n MADRID

La Liga could return to actionas early as next month, its

president Javier Tebas said onTuesday, as the league awaits achance to restart following thecoronavirus shutdown.

Tebas also warned Spanishclubs could lose as much as onebillion euros ($1.1 billion) if theseason is not completed, pushingfootball bosses in the country tosearch for a late finish to the cur-rent campaign.

“The different scenarios wehave been looking at with UEFAto go back to competing are mostprobably starting on the May 28-29, June 6-7 or June 28-29,” Tebassaid.

“We’re not just looking atwhat happens in Spain... the jobis to get all our calendars (inEurope) in line so all the compe-titions are able to finish together.”

But Tebas said no teamtraining could take placeuntil after the state ofemergency ends in Spain— currently set until April26. Should that end date bepushed back the chances ofrestarting in May wouldlikely vanish.

Tebas said “it is not anoption” to cancel the seasongiven the massive hit to revenueSpain’s top clubs would have toabsorb, with 150 million eurosgone even if La Liga finishes theseason with fans at matches.

“We are not considering atall that we will not get back to

playing matches,” he said.“It is not just league rev-

enues, it is league revenues plusall the other revenue fromthe Champions Leaguethat teams wouldn’treceive.

“We are talking aboutone billion euros if wedon’t get back to playing,

300 million euros if we playbehind closed doors and 150million euros if we do to get backto playing with fans.”

Fixtures are expected to beheld behind closed doors, at leastat first, with some Spanish clubsfacing the prospect of playingaway from their own groundsdue to scheduled building work.

MUNICH: Thomas Mueller looksset to spend his entire career atBayern Munich, who hedescribes as his ‘passion’, after

signing a contract extensionuntil 2023, the reigningBundesliga championsannounced on Tuesday.

The 30-year-oldjoined the club as aschoolboy in 2000,making his debut forthe Bavarians eightyears later and has sinceracked up more than 500appearances.

“I am really pleased that Ihave extended with BayernMunich... and will continue togive everything for my club,” the2014 World Cup winner said onTwitter.

“Because this club is not justan employer for me — it is a pas-sion.”

Having risen up through theyouth ranks, Mueller is a

club icon who has woneight league titles, fiveGerman Cups and the 2013Champions League.

“I’m happy that we’vereached agreement withThomas. Thomas is a specialplayer for us, a figurehead for theclub and our fans, a leader whoshows the way on the pitch andhas achieved a lot with FCBayern,” sporting director HasanSalihamidzic said. AFP

IANS n BRISBANE

Spin legend Shane Warnefeels one day internation-

als (ODIs) are losing rele-vance far too often and thereshould be something done onthe lines of ICC TestChampionship to revive the50-over format.

In February, after Indiawere blanked by hosts NewZealand 0-3 in the ODIs,India skipper Virat Kohli hadsaid this format is not muchrelevant this year, referring tothe T20 World Cup and theengrossing fight for WorldTest Championship.

“I like the concept (TestChampionship) and I wishthere was something like thisin ODIs too,” Warne said dur-ing an Instagram Live.

“Then ODIs have contextleading up to the World Cup.Maybe points or something Idon’t know. But there are toomany meaningless ODIs,”said the legendary Australianleg-spinner, regarded as thebest the game has ever seen.

Warne also put hisweight behind three-matchODI series and not five. “Ithink three matches are justfine in 50-over contests. Fiveis too much.”

ROME: Italian top-flightfootball clubs have unan-imously reached agree-ment to cut the salaries ofplayers, coaches and staffas a result of the coronavirus crisis,the Lega Serie A announced.

Players’ salaries will be reducedby a third of their gross annual earn-ings if the season should be cancelled,and a sixth if it resumes.

The decision was unanimouslyapproved by Serie A clubs, with theexception of Juventus, which hadalready hammered out a deal with itsown players, said Lega Serie A.

Individual agreements must stillbe signed between the clubs and play-ers, who will waive between two andfour months salary. AFP

Indian skipper Virat Kohli chats with Rohit Sharma during second Test against Proteas PTI

Not enough role models incurrent India team: Yuvraj

Unsual batting stance is methodto limit ways of getting out: Smith

Aussies didn’t sledge Kohli & Co to protect IPL deals: Clarke

Indian players wait for third umpire’s decision during third Test AP/File Picture

Bhajji fine with IPLin empty stadiums

Buttler hopes there is way toschedule IPL later in the year

R Ashwin mankads Jos Buttler in IPL 2019 game

Uthappa eyeing India return as finisher

Liverpool should be awardedPL title: UEFA Prez

ODIs need Test C’shiplike revamp: Warne

Italian top-flight clubsagree players’ pay cuts

Mueller extends Bayern stay

Thomas Mueller poses for photo afteragreeing new Bayern deal FCB/Twitter

La Liga look for May return

Lionel Messi prepares to take spot kick

Liverpool is 25 points ahead of Man City in PL table

Steve Smith bats during Australia’s nets session PTI/File Picture